Dahi Pohe (दही पोहे) (Flattened rice with curd)

Thick Flattened Rice

We have a saying, if someone offers you poha (any flattened rice dish), you never say no to it. At least eat a spoonful of it. It has relevance of Shree Krisha and his friend Sudama’s friendship story from Hindu Mythology. Stories apart Poha (flattened rice) is staple food in any Maharashtrian household. Be it, kanda pohe, dadape pohe or dahi pohe. Dahi pohe is also called gopal kala, as it is also specially made at the time of Shree Krishn Janamashtami. It is quite similar to curd rice but is a little different. It is filling and easy to make. It can be a breakfast, snack or light dinner as well.

We get 2 different types of poha thick(Jad-जाड) and thin(Patal-पातळ). For dahi pohe we need thick variety.

Ingredients

Jad Pohe - 1 Cup
Curd - ½ Cup
Milk - 2-3 tbsp as needed

Bharali Mirachi

Ghee for tadka - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 3-4
Bharali mirachi - 1-2 (this is specially stuffed and dried chilli, you can use regular green chilli if you don’t have this)
Salt to taste
Coarsely ground peanut powder (I learned this trick - adding peanut powder from one of my friend)
Fresh coriander to garnish

Recipe

1. Soak poha in water for just a couple of minutes and immediately drain the water from it.
2. Now add salt, peanut powder (if using) and mix it really well
3. Prepare tadaka with ghee, add jeera when ghee is hot enough. Once jeera starts crackling add chillies, curry leaves to it.
4. Now add the tadaka to poha mixture. Let it cool and then add curd and start mixing everything. Add little milk to adjust the consistency. Garnish with cilantro and dahi pohe are ready to serve.

Note

I also use tsp of metkut powder (special maharashtrian mixture, made up of different dals, wheat, rice and spices). It gives really nice flavour and aroma to poha

Bharali Vaangi (भरली वांगी) (Maharashtrian style stuffed eggplants)

Here is an easy-to-make yet delicious, recipe of a special maharashtrian dish. This is a staple dish back in my hometown where we get a really flavorful variety of eggplants known as “Krishna kathachi vangi” (Eggplants grown on banks of Krishna river). Sometimes I love to use the frozen small brinjals that we get in Indian grocery shops. I find them really close to the ones we get back home. I have used goda masala here which is the traditional maharashtrian masala, but you can substitute it with garam masala.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• Vangi/Brinjal/Eggplants - 5-6 medium size
• Onion - 1 small onion finely chopped
• Garlic - 3-4 small cloves of garlic finely chopped/grated
• Roasted peanuts ground coarsely - ¼ cup
• Fresh coconut - ¼ cup
• Fresh coriander finely chopped
• Goda masala - 1 tbsp (If you don’t have it, you can substitute with garam masala)
• Jaggery - 2 tsp 
• Chili powder - 1 tbsp (use more or less according to taste)
• Salt to taste

Recipe

• Wash and slit brinjals into 4 parts without breaking them apart.
• Put them in the water until your masala is ready to stuff them.
• Now mix onions, garlic, peanut powder, fresh coconut with jaggery, chilli powder and salt.
• Mix the masala really well. You can taste it and adjust the spice and salt accordingly before stuffing eggplants.
• Now stuff the eggplants with prepared masala.
• In a heavy bottom pan, heat oil and make the tadaka with mustard seeds. 
• Add hing and turmeric once mustard seeds start crackling.
• Now add stuffed eggplants and stir them for a minute or two.
• Now add remaining masala to it and mix it with eggplants.
• Add little water, just enough to cook the brinjals.
• Cover it with a lid and cook on low flame until brinjals are cooked.
• Garnish with coriander and fresh coconut and serve hot with roti or bhakri.

Note
If you are using frozen eggplants like I said before, then simply mix those eggplant with masala and add everything into tadaka.
Add a tsp of byadagi chili powder or kashimiri chili powder in the tadka for reddish color gravy

Homemade Shrikhand (घरचे श्रीखंड)

My memory attached with this delicacy is getting fresh buffalo milk, making fresh chakka (hung curd) out of it and then making delicious, smooth and sweet shrikhand out of it. I grew up in a small village where we would get everything fresh from dairy to vegetables. So making shrikhand was fun for us. It was hard work to strain the hung curd through muslin cloth with hand. But at the end it was all worth it. I always loved my grandma's hand made shrikhand. For a long time I was hesitant to try readymade shrikhand. So I started making it at home with the same method using some easy steps to replicate the same taste that I used to love.

I set yogurt at home using whole milk. 2 cups of milk gave me around 1 cup of hung curd (चक्का).

Ingredients

1 cup hung curd
¾ cup powdered sugar + ¼ cup if needed
½ tsp cardamom powder
Pinch of nutmeg powder
Pinch of salt

To add the variation
1 tsp saffron (soaked in milk)
1-2 tbsp chopped almond

Recipe

1. Use the muslin cloth to make hung curd yogurt. Hang it overnight to strain all the water and to get nice thick hung curd (चक्का)

2. Use a food mill or simple strainer or you can use your hand to push it through muslin cloth to make the hung curd really smooth without any lumps. Mix sugar while you are doing this step.



3. Now add cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and pinch of salt to taste and your shrikhand is ready.

4. If you feel shrikhand has come out really thick, you can add little milk to get better consistency.

Now for variation add saffron soaked milk and chopped almond.

(You can use mango pulp to make it Aamrakhand)