Instant Pohe Chivda

Instant Chivda is a very simple Maharashtrian snacks recipe. I planned to make a video of my recipes, since it's festival season I thought of starting with a simple festive recipe which could be useful for people. The things that came immediately into my mind was Chivda. As we already know there are various ways of preparing chivda, a savory snack ex: using flattened rice, murmura, bundi / sev mixture, sabudana chivda to name few. I have already posted the recipe for Pohe Chivda earlier that was using thin poha. This recipe is using the same poha that we use for making kanda pohe and can be prepared easily with all the available ingredients in your kitchen.

Modak Recipe

Ganapati Bappa Morya!!! When it's Ganesh Chaturthi festival we will surely not forget about one of the most favorite dish of our own Ganesha :) There are various ways a Modak can be prepared, steamed, fried, chocolate, khava,with coconut stuffing, with Puran stuffing etc.. The one I am listing here is the basic form which can be prepared using coconut filling with vary less number of ingredients available easily at home.

Chivda Recipe

Chivda is most famous tea time snack in India in fact more famous in Maharashtra. It is prepared in large quantity by my mum during the festival season like Diwali/Dasara. When I was small and used to stay in hostel for studies, I remember my mom used to prepare laddoo and chivda and pack for me. Even now she gives whenever I return from my native :). I used to think preparing it  is a very big task since the quantity she would prepare would be large! but don't think so that its too difficult. We can prepare in small quantities with easily available set of ingredients. There are different forms of Murmure (flattened rice in marathi) available in the market like kanda pohe type, or the typical Maharashtrian ones which are little puffy. I am using the thin flattened rice that is usually used for preparing Kanda Pohe. We will see below steps on how it can be prepared.

Dates & Nuts Laddoo

Dates & Nuts laddoo, you can also call it dry fruits laddoo with lots of dry fruits and essential energy in it. I make this usually for my little son who is 2 years old. Its quick and easy to prepare with whatever raisins you have in your house. Since my son does not eat dates I make use of it in this form so that he has it :) A slight variation of this laddoo with lots of dry roasted dried coconut and few more raisins usually my mom prepares and this is usually preferred to give to women after the child birth to get all the strength back :) If you have roasted peanuts at your home then preparing this laddoo should not take much time. We will see the way that I prepare this laddoo.

Kadubu Recipe

Before starting I would like to wish everyone a very "Happy Ugadi". Ugadi/Gudi Padwa is considered to be a start of new year in Hindu culture. So to start a fresh year early in the morning the first thing that we have is "Bevu Bella" which is a mixture of Neem leaves and Jaggery, which signifies that our life is both the combination of joy and sorrow and we should accept it happily.

  At our place my mom usually makes "Puran Poli" on this day which I have already shared the recipe. But since I yet to buy the 'Puran machine' and that requires lots of experience I tried the other version of sweet with same ingredients i.e "Kadubu" which looks like karanjikai / Ghujjia  and is deeply fired but with puran as stuffing inside. 

Katachi Amti

In Maharashtra  any festive meal with puran poli is incomplete without "Katachi Amti". This is a kind of dal which is prepared from split bengal gram which is used for making the Puran poli. We usually use the drained water that is collected after boiling the bengal gram and mix little amount of left over puran to it and use it for making amti which is nothing but a dal in marathi. It has got all the tastes, the sweetness of puran, tamarind tangy taste and chilli powder spicy taste.

Instant Jalebi

Jalebiiiiiiii!! I never thought that even I could prepare it. Since its a Valentines day I decided to prepare a sweet item, as I am scared of baking and never tried so had to choose something which can be prepared in instantly, Jalebi was the option that came to my mind. I saw few videos on internet most of them were to soak the batter overnight and I had not done that, finally came with the site which explained the instant jalebi steps and followed the procedure accordingly. I had to make the Jalebi's twice because I was not satisfied with the Jalebi shapes that I made for the first time and the problem was due to the piping paper hole that I had made for the polythene bag. I had to send my husband again to market to get the piping paper. But unluckily he dint find it, so instead he got a sauce bottle which was too bigger in size. I had no option than cutting the polythene bag again. I took a polythene bag which was not folded at the sides, basically a square shaped bag, had cut a small hole at one corner. Added the batter and then made jalebi's, they came very well in fact one of the jalebi came out in a heart shape size ;) may be it was due to the practice as well :)

Puran Poli/Holige

When its Sankranthi festival how can you forget about “Puran Poli” its sweet paratha and is generally prepared in Maharashtra. This is a classical Marathi dish which is served as dessert / sweet item during the festival season. The stuffing is known as ‘Puran’ and outer cover is known as poli. In Karnataka it is called as “Huranada Holige”. It is made from Bengal gram and Jaggery. Preparing holige needs lots of patience and concentration. My mom prepares it with much care and sees that it does not break and it becomes very soft. Even I still haven’t learn the way of preparing poli perfectly. We will see below the step by step procedure to prepare this. The measurement I am sharing here is for 1 kg Bengal gram which from which we can prepare upto 20 -22 poli.