Thalipeeth

Ingredients:

Total 2 cups flour mixture
-1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
-1/2 cup rice flour
-1/2 cup atta (whole-wheat flour)
-1/2 cup ragi (millet) flour
2 tbsp rava (cream of wheat)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp minced onion
4-5 green chillies, minced
2 tbsp cilantro, minced
salt to taste
vegetable oil for cooking

Method:

Mix all the ingredients (except oil) together to make a soft pliable dough.

1.The dough is fairly sticky and the traditional way is to use your hands to pat it into a pancake before cooking it.

2. A thick plastic bag rubbed with some oil is ideal as a work surface.

3.Oil the bag, then oil your hands lightly and place a golf-ball sized ball of dough on the plastic. Use the tips of your hands to pat the dough into a flat shape.

4.Make a few small holes in the pancake (while cooking, you can slip drops of oil into these holes to cook the thalipeeth more evenly).

5.Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick pan.

6.Gently turn the plastic sheet upside down and ease off the thalipeeth onto the pan.

7.Use a small spoon to place tiny drops of oil into the holes in the thalipeeth.

8.Cook till browned and crispy on both sides.

9.The traditional way to serve thalipeeth is with green chutney and either some plain yogurt or a dollop of butter.

Sago Khichdi (Shabudana)

Sago Khichdi (Shabudana)

Almost every culture has some days when a "fast" is observed...a days when the intake of regular food and drink is restricted, a day of religious observence and prayer. When I was growing up, there were several days of the year which were thus observed. Luckily for us, the rules were rather relaxed: although a great many everyday foods like rice, onion, turmeric were forbidden, there was an equal number of foods that were "allowed" and they made for many delicious dishes indeed. We kids certainly ended up eating twice as much on "fast" days ;Sago (called sabudana in the local language), or the pearls of the sago palm, is one food that is eaten on these fast days. I'm not religious at all but I love eating preparations of sago and often make sago khichdi for breakfast any old day of the year.

Looks pretty innocent, but its very easy to mess up sago preparations! All recipes call for soaking the sago to rehydrate it and if this is not done right, you end up with a gummy disaster. In addition, the sago is tasteless almost and needs careful seasoning. Making sago khichdi is an art and I would love to share a couple of tips I have learnt.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Roasted peanuts (powdered)
Handful Cilantro
1 tspoon Geera (Cumin seeds)
1 cup Sago
Oil/Ghee
1 Potato peeled
Lemon
2-3 Green Chili

Method:
1.Soak 1 cup of sago by placing it in a bowl, then rinsing once with water, then adding enough water to just cover the sago in the bowl. Cover and leave overnight. This results in perfectly fluffed sago.

2.Season the fluffed sago by adding 3/4 cup coarsely powdered roasted peanuts, salt to taste and 2 tbsp sugar. I know thats a lot of sugar .

3.Saute a tsp of cumin seeds in a pan containing {1 tbsp oil + 1 tbsp ghee...or just 2 tbsp oil}.

4.Add 3-4 slit green chillies and one diced potato.

5.Cover and cook till potatoes are tender.

6.Then add the seasoned sago and saute for 5-7 minutes, cover and cook for another couple of minutes and taste for seasoning.

7.Finally, garnish with minced cilantro and sprintz on some lemon juice and you are done! This is fast food in more ways than one!