I saw Kale vatane or black peas first time in Belgaum. I have not seen these in Konkani cooking. My pachi uses kale vatane a lot in her cooking. I just love these. I still remember the taste of this amti (gravy). I think she also used fresh kale vatane (not very sure though) in her cooking. I make my own version of this, but this is the way she makes it.
Many times on this blog, my readers think that since I live in Kansas, I may not be finding many Indian ingredients. But I have noticed that, we have one of the best Indian grocery stores in US. We have about 7-8 Indian stores not all of them are good, so during those initial days in Kansas, I was pretty much frustrated by these stores. Then we heard about this very famous store Ambica. Ohh..it is like living in India. So far, whenever I want anything, I find it there. After we found this store, we stopped going to any others. Every time I enter the store, the uncle gives me a big smile and says hello. V is pretty much sure that the uncle gets extremely happy looking at me as he knows I am going to buy many things :). So finally he said he won’t be taking me anymore to the store.
Anyway, on one of those days when I was roaming around the store (these days V sits in a corner with hands on his head!!), I found a pack of these vatane . As usual, it was a huge pack, I grabbed it. I made my own version of amti first. Then it was Manisha’s chitkya ani kale vatanyachi bhaji . This time I got pachi ‘s recipe. Do I still need to say I love this gravy?
Ingredients: 1/2 cup kale vatane 1/4 cup dried coconut 1/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1/2 cup chopped onion A pinch turmeric 1/2 tea spn goda masala 1 tea spn chilli powder 3-4 strands coriander leaves(optional) Oil Salt
Method: Soak kale vatane overnight and pressure cook. Heat oil and add coriander seeds. Add 1/4 cup onion and fry till they turn brownish. Now add dry and fresh coconut, fry for few minutes. Add red chilli powder, turmeric, goda masala . Grind to a smooth paste. Heat a little oil and fry remaining onion. When they turn brownish, add cooked vatane , ground masala , salt and cook. Garnish with coriander leaves(optional). Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 25mins
PS: When I took above picture, I was not having goda masala , so I used curry powder.
My cousin was with us for long weekend. After a long time, meeting a family member was great. I cooked few new things for him. I wanted to make something for him and his friends which he could carry when he returned. Since he loves cookies and they are easy to make, I baked these cookies.
These cookies are very easy to make and taste great when they are fresh, they became a bit soft the next day. These are not very crispy(as much as I like). By the time I finished baking the whole batch, it got over. Three of us ate so much that, I had serious doubt if there will be anything remaining for him to carry. So I baked another batch. These were simply awesome.
I got this recipe from here .
Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup peeled and finely chopped apple 1 tea spn baking powder 1 tea spn baking soda 2/3 cup butter 1 tea spn vanilla extract 1/2 tea spn salt 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tea spn cinnamon powder 1/2 cup walnuts
Method: Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla extract and mix well. Now add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, salt and mix well. Now add apple, chopped walnuts. Preheat the oevn at 375F for 10mins. Lineup a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray baking spray(or apply butter). Keep small rounds of the dough on the sheet, take care to leave enough space between two cookies because they expand after baking. Bake in oven at 375F for about 15mins or until golden brown. Store in airtight container when they cool to room temperature.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
