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(coconut and jaggery filled in wheat dough)

My mom prepared this on Ganesh Chaturti, Sept 3rd. It is Lord Ganesha's birthday and we celebrate by bringing a Ganesh idol home, preparing bhog (traditional festive food) and sweets and culminate the evening pooja with arati (devotional song). In my place here, we don't bring the idol home (my tauji in Bombay does it). Mom prepared modaks, Lord Ganesha's favourtite sweet. Here's the recipe:

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Ingredients:
1 cup fresh coconut, grated
2 tbsp jaggery
Wheat dough
Oil, to fry

Method:
1. Mix the grated coconut and powdered jaggery well. Fry it until the jaggery blends with the coconut and turns light brown in colour. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a deep-fry pan. Make small balls of the dough, sized such that they fit in your palm when you close them.
3. Now roll it a little, in round shape. Fill it with coconut+jaggery mixture, enough to be able to close it on all sides. Bring the dough, when closing, to the center of the round spread. Secure it such that the filling doesn't come out. Make 3-4 of these and fry them in oil.
4. Once done, drain the oil as much as possible (I used tissue papers). Put half a tsp of ghee on top and now its ready to eat!




Only that, we offer it to Lord Ganesha first, and then we take it as prasad :-)

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Modaks are very popular in Maharashtra and north Karnataka, and are easy to prepare. Varieties of modaks exist, some which you can even boil in water (instead of frying in oil) and eat! For now, I've learnt how to make yummy coconut modaks :-)

This recipe is courtesy my mother-in-law (hugs and love to her) who in turn, got it from chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Now, ever bored of plain dosas? Ever though how to bring a zing to it? Here's how:

I've skipped the part of preparing the dosa batter. This shows what makes dosa yummier.

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Ingredients:
Dosa batter
7-8 carrots, peeled and grated
2 bowls of mozarella cheese, grated
2 bowls of sweet corn
1 cup finel chopped coriander
3 parts tomato sauce and 1 part chilli sauce, mixed together in a bowl.
Method:
1. Heat the non-stick tawa. Add 1-2 drop of oil and spread it.
2. Spread the dosa on the tawa in a circular motion.
3. Let it cook for 2 min.
4. Once you see that the batter on top has almost dried, spread the sauce evenly.



5. Sprinkle some grated cheese, corn, carrots and coriander leaves.





6. Cover it with an aluminium or steel lid.
7. Remove the lid after 2-3 mins, and lo! Turn it and see how yummy!



Now roll-it frankie style and serve! Or eat! :D

Repeat for other dosas.

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It was one of those weekends when the cook didn't turn up. I thank God on such days, cuz it gives me the freehand to cook whatever I want, at the pace I want. As I pondered *ahem* on what to cook, my eyes fell on the Exciting Vegetarian Cooking by Tarla Dalal. I bought this book soon after I got married, when I was all gung-ho about cooking and experimenting. I chose one of the dishes that looked lovely, and made some changes/additions of my own to it. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
5-6 medium sized potatoes
2 medium onions
3-4 cashew nuts, pounded into pieces
2-3 cardamoms
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 red chilli
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teacup curd (yoghurt)
3/4 teacup finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
salt, to taste

Method:
1. Wash the potatoes, and boil them in cooker.
2. Once done, peel the skin, and cut them into big chunky pieces (but not too big, just that don't mash them)
3. Cut the onions in quarters, and boil them. Use water enough to soak the onions.
4. When done, drain the water. Transfer them into the mixer along with chashewnut pieces, and grind them into a paste.
5. In a pan, heat ghee. Fry cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf for half a min.
6. Now add the onions+cashew paste and fry for sometime.
7. Add green chillies and fry some more.
8. Pound the red chilli and add it to the above along with coriander powder. Fry for a while.
9. Turn it to sim, and add the beaten curd and salt. Cook on low flame.
10. Add half of coriander and cook for a min.
11. Add the potato cubes and cook for few more mins. Mix well.

Garnish with remaining coriander leaves.

Serving suggestion: Serve with hot rotis or parathas!

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Its simple and quick to make. The original recipe had asked for paneer instead of potatoes (there wasn't any paneer at home) and added sugar at the end. I skipped the sugar part. Try and let me know if you liked it!