Fried Ladies Finger in yogurt/ Bhindi Gojju

During our childhood we used to have more of gojju, kadi, rasam, upkari etc for lunch and dinner than ghasi or any other coconut dishes. This was my grand-mom's one of "eating healthy" rule. Even today I prefer non-coconut food more than our authentic konkani "masla randhai" (food which has coconut).

Last week I saw really fresh bhindi which were irresistible. I picked very few of them without any specific recipe in my mind. Well I am glad I bought those. Just prepared simple gojju which my grand-mom used to prepare. I relished it for couple of days. I must mention anything prepared with yogurt or butter milk is delectable for me :).

Asafoetida Chutney/ Hinga Chutney

I am not at all a "chutney person". I eat chutney only if I have nothing else. But this chutney is an exception. I really enjoy eating Ramdhan with this chutney. I got this recipe from my MIL and she said ramdhan is the best match for this chutney. She was so true. Now whenever I prepare ramdhan or ghatti I prepare this chutney without fail.

Ridge Gourd Chutney/ Ghosale Shira Chutney

Its been more than a month I did not post any recipes on my blog. I did prepare couple of interesting dishes but was held up with several things at a time. One of the recipe is "ghosale shira chutney".  Ghosale shira means the sharp edges of ridge gourd skin. I prepared this when we got ridge gourd last time. I like ridge gourd stir fry and I used the skin to prepare this chutney and also tambli. My husband was surprised to hear I prepared chutney with ridge gourd skin. Well, he did like this :) 

Spicy Potato Curry/Batata Chutney

It was one sunday night both me and Pr felt like eating porridge for dinner. Porridge always tastes good either with kanchi or some spicy pickle/chutney. My husband came up with this wonderful recipe. This for sure goes very well with porridge and also panna polo (neer dosa). Now everytime we eat porridge we have this chutney.

Coconut Chutney/ Narla Chutney

We eat this chutney only with Mumbri. This is the simplest chutney I have ever had. I like this chutney because this doesn't need grinding and can be prepared instantly. With frozen coconut this is even easier. Just thaw the coconut and mix all the other ingredients.

Bitter Gourd Sweet Pickle/ Karathe God Nonche

I know the name of this dish contradicts :) sweet and bitter gourd. Believe me it is sweet as well as slightly bitter. A great dish which can be stored for more than 15 days in fridge and goes well with any dosa especially urad-maida dosa. Learnt this from one of my aunt who is truly a treasure of great recipes. You name the ingredient and she has atleast one recipe for it !


Ingredients:
4-5 bitter gourd
5 table spoon grated jaggery
4-5 red chillies
1/2 tea spoon black til (sesame seeds)
1 tea spoon mustard seeds
1 tea spoon methi seeds
3 cloves
1 tea spoon tamarind extract
water
salt

Method:
Wash and cut bitter gourd into desired shape.
Cook this in a pan with water, jaggery, tamarind extract and salt.
Mean while fry red chillies, black til, mustard seeds, methi seeds and cloves.This needs to be fried dry without oil or water.
Make a fine powder of above ingredients.
Pour this powder into cooked bitter gourd and simmer it for 8-10 minutes.
Serve as required.

Serves:8-10
Preparation time: 30-35 minutes

Lemon pickle/Limbia Kanchi

I have tried to understand the difference between lemon and lime and I am always confused. Well I guess I am thick headed :). Now I use lemon for pickles and lime for preparing juice or any other cooking. This pickle is very bland without any spices. I feel this tastes heavenly with porridge or curd rice. Got this recipe from my mom who is also a "Limbia kanchi" fan. Limbio is lemon in konkani and we call this particular pickle as "kanchi".


Ingredients:
4-5 large lemon
1 cup salt

Method:
Wash and clean lemons. Dry it completely with a cloth before cutting into desired shapes.
In a pan on a very low flame fry both lemon pieces and salt for about 10 minutes.Keep stirring.
Let it cool completely for about 8 hours.
Store it in a air-tight container for atleast 15 days before using this.
The longer you store it the better. It is always believed that old pickle tastes best than newly prepared.

Preparation time: 25 minutes (excludes cooling time)

Note: I stored for more than 1 month before using it. You can also add slit green chillies and chopped ginger with lemon pieces. The chillies tastes too good once it completes absorbs salt in it.