Festive Menu and A Comeback...Ganesh Chathurthi 2025

  Its been a very long time since I could post anything. A drastic shift in social media use and popularity of shorter and more dynamic content has led to a definite decline in blogging. In my case, motherhood, health and personal losses have kept me away. 

Though I have been clicking decent pictures of the food made at home, i could not get to posting them on the blogging platform. Instagram made coming back to blogspot difficult.  What better than restarting with a post about Lord Ganesha and the food made for the chathurthi this year. Lets get rolling :)

our humble pooja for this year 

My son arranged the idols we have at home 

Now, the menu... 

Urundai kuzhakattai

Chakkara pongal

Moong dal and chana dal jaggery payasam

Tamarind rice

Ammini kuzhakattai

curd rice 

Matki sundal salad

simple paruppu 

urad vadai made oil free ona tawa  :)

Lots of wishes and love from my kitchen to yours!

Baingan Ka Bartha - Smoked Brinjal and capsicum in tomato gravy

A long time since I wrote down some traditional, go to recipes. I learnt this while in school from my mom. She is very fond of roasted brinjal recipes. There is another one apart from Baigan ka bartha. The other one is made with fresh ground spices and curd. The king of the vegetables is a favorite in the Andhra (Telugu) cuisine and is almost a must have in wedding and festive menus. Most friends of mine die hard fans of brinjal and a stuffed brinjal recipe being one of the most sought after (Gutthi vankaya).

The original roasted brinjal recipe is originally from middle eastern/Persian kitchens and is called Baba Ghanoush, Indian versions use a few more spices and different oils (original Persian recipe uses olive oil). My recipe is a little different from the conventional baingan (brinjal) ka Bartha as i add the smoked/roasted capsicum for a very unique twist to the dish

Allergy: Soy free, dairy free, vegan, low spice and low fat

You need:

(serves 4 sumptiously)

Dish type: Sabzi/gravy/soup
Origin: Middle east 
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Author: Sudha

Main Ingredients
Brinjal (big variety)- 1/2 kg 

Capsicum - 2  (large ones)

tomatoes - 4 (large ones)

onion- 2 large

ginger - 1 inch piece

garlic - 3 cloves

Spices:

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Sambhar / Khuzhambhu powder - 2 tsp

garam masala - 1/4 tsp

salt (to taste)

Ghoda masala - 1/4 tsp (optional)

chilli powder -1/2 tsp (optional) (i skipped it )

Water - 1/4 cup 

Tempering

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

bay leaf - 1

red chilli - 1 

oil - 2 tsp 

Procedure

1- Slit the brinjal lightly on the skin and rub a little olive oil on the brinjal and the capsicum. It helps in roasting better

2- Fire roast them

3- Crush Ginger and garlic and chop tomatoes

4- Peel (lightly) and Chop the roasted brinjal and capsicum, and chop onions as well

5- Pour oil in the pan and add tempering ingredients (cumin, red chilli, bay leaf)

6- Add in onions, ginger garlic paste and saute on low flame until the onion turns translucent and browns a little

7- add turmeric powder, sambhar /kuxhambhu powder, ghoda masala and saute for a minute

8 - add tomatoes and pour a little water and saute until the gravy is well done. 

9- add the capsicuma and brinjal and saute for another two to three minutes on medium flame. pour the remaining water or as needed and add salt and cook until the ingredients come together 

All done

Works very well with breads/ roit / rice. I love them with cooked millets :)

Pumpkin and Black chana (Black chickpeas) in coconut and kokam gravy

Moving to the current city helped me understand the local cuisine and the other regional cuisines within the state. Konkan being one of them. A distinct feature of maharastrian/konkani (a few kannada) kitchens is the use extensive use of kokam for the tangy flavour. (Tamarind does this job in Tamil, telugu and kannada recipes)

Kokam lends a beautiful pink-purple colour to the dish. And when mixed with coconut milk or paste the dish looks an exotic pink. :)

This recipe is something i came up with just because I wanted to use kokam. Now for some pics...and then the recipe :)

Allergy information: Vegan, Soy free, dairy free, nut free, low fat and mild spice
Author/recipe owner: sudha What you need: (serves 2-4 people)
Main
Pumpkin (peeled and diced) - 1 cup
Black chickpeas/ kala chana - 3/4 cup
Salt - to taste
turmeric powder - pinch

Gravy
Fresh Coconut - grated - 1/2 cup
Kokam - 3 rinds or florets (soaked in just enough water)
green chilli -1/2 (optional)
cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

Tempering
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
cumin - 1/4 tsp
red chilli - 1
curry leaves - 4
Asafoetida- 1 pinch

Process:
1-Soak 3/4 cup Chana/chickpeas overnight and pressure cook with salt
2- Boil the pumpkin with just enough water, a pinch of salt and turmeric powder (Salt optional as we add sufficient amount of salt in the chickpeas.)
3-Grind ingredients for the gravy/coconut masala
4- Separate the cooked chana from the water it was cooked in (you could use it but it lends a dark colour to the gravy)
5- when the pumpkin is half done, add the cooked chana and saute for a minute.
6- Add the coconut masala and simmer for five minutes or until the gravy looks evenly looks.
7- Temper with mustard, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves and red chilli

serve!

Works well with roti and rice