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Randayis (Konkani) are watery side dishes(almost of gravy consistency) with coconut masala . Depending on the vegetables used in this, the taste differs. I have posted most of these. I grew up eating these dishes. They go very well with rice congee (rice cooked in lot of water called as ‘ pej ‘ in Konkani or ‘ ganji ‘ in Kannada) or simple rice and daal . I usually make this dish with different vegetables every now and then to include the peas and other kind of dried beans and vegetables in my meal....

I am back from a relaxing and very enjoyable trip. My parents are here with us now. My house is more organized now (thanks to pappa) and I get tasty food to eat (thanks to aayi). They have brought loads of home made stuff which we were dying to eat. Apart from anything else, our apartment feels like a home now :). The Konkani dish saru-upkari is something similar to this....

For the last 3 years, I have been managing this blog (601 posts and counting…) and it was my experiences and my memories here, but Aayi was my mentor, editor and force behind it. As many of you know, I started this blog for my aayi. Since she was not very comfortable using computer, I was doing it on her behalf. So now, I have created a new account for aayi and she will be posting here once in a while....

This month’s bread in “We Knead to Bake” group was Julekake. It is a Norwegian Cardamom scented Christmas bread. I was so excited when Aparna posted the recipe in the beginning of the month. I always wanted to try a bread with dried fruits, it reminds of the bread I used to eat when I was a kid. Also, everyone keeps talking about Christmas breads/cakes during this season. I thought I would bake this soon and post the recipe on time (24th ie)....

Garcinia Indica or Kokum(called ‘ bhirnda ‘ or ‘ bhinda ‘ in Konkani, ‘ murugala hannu ‘ in Kannada) can be called as one of the most used ingredient in Konkani cooking. Almost every household at our native and Goa has a Kokum tree. I was very lucky to go to India during kokum season this year. So I took the opportunity to take pictures of this beautiful fruit. The seeds of the fruit have a white colored fleshy coating on it....

This is one of those very simple and nutritious rice dishes that I cooked few days ago. I am tired of giving same things in lunch box for V. So I try to make something different whenever possible. Sometimes they turn out good, and sometimes they become flop. I am trying to keep track of the recipes that we liked, so that I can cook them exactly same the next time....

This is a very common dish at my pachi’s home ( Pachi is Konkani word for mother’s sister). Her home is the place where I got introduced to matki . I love the taste of these tiny beans. Pachi makes this sweetish usal very frequently and it goes very well as a side dish with either rice or chapathis . Moong version was not as popular as the matki version....

‘KaDamb’ is one of the most popular Konkani breakfasts. It is usually prepared using pumpkin or a special kind of cooking cucumber called as ‘Magge’ or ‘Mangalore southekayi’ (See this for more details of this cucumber). The cucumber version is more popular than the pumpkin version. Pumpkin(dudde) Kadamb is usually made sweet. When I heard about Meeta’s FMR event , I did not know what would be my entry. Then I remembered, Aayi had mentioned about this dish a few days back....

After the persistence of the previous ‘Watermelon’ theme for so many months, it was time for a change. Aayi’s Recipes has a new look and feel now. The redesign is an effort to improve neatness and reduce clutter. At the same time improve usability. Still there is lots to do and fix a few missing elements from the earlier theme. That will be done in a phased manner. Upkari is a Konkani stir fry....

We are a family of Italian food lovers. While V almost always takes angel hair pasta when we are at any Italian restaurant, I have tried most of the different options available. I love different cheese stuffed pastas/lasagnas, but I feel really guilty about eating them. I wanted to find out a good alternative to all the cheese, without changing the taste. Then last week, I watched a cooking show where Laura used tofu in the stuffing....

Cheppi (bland taste) kheeri ( kheer in Marathi means ‘ payasam ‘ or ‘pudding’, the dish I am referring to is ‘ kheeri ‘ the difference may be because there is no sugar in it) is a festival dish. At my native it is usually prepared as the offering to god on the next day of Janmashtami. (I explained about Janmashtami rituals yesterday, I have uploaded some of the pictures that I had clicked last year on Janmashtami)....

This is another Konkani dish that I absolutely love. This is sweet, spicy and sour all at the same time. If you are using the fresh Suran or elephant root yam for this, be very careful while cutting it. These roots are very itchy when they are raw. So do not touch water while cutting it. Apply some thick tamarind juice to hands and then wash hands. I use frozen suran here....

Layyi/layya (Konkani) or araLu/hodlu (Kannada) is a kind of unsalted popcorn. Two types of popcorn are usually available. One variety is made from corn and the other one is made from rice(well, I can’t call these popcorns because they are not popped corns, but they look similar to the corn versions). The rice variety is readily available at my native. The coarse powder of these popcorns can also be found ready made in market....

Vada pav – Indian version of burger, must be one of the most loved street foods. Vada is a spicy potato mixture with a coating of gram flour, deep fried in oil. Pav is a special kind of soft bread, almost square in shape. V and I are great fans of this absolutely yummy dish from our college days in Belgaum . Somehow I was always hesitant to try vada pav as I was not too sure....

Chicken has become a very rare sight at my home. But whenever I cook it, I make sure to cook a new dish with it, so that I have enough recipes when I need them. This is one such dish I cooked a while ago. Frying chicken in ghee /butter before adding it to a dish gives it a very unique taste, something I learnt very recently. I love the sweetness from onions, yogurt and spicy taste from chili powder in this....

This is my first entry in chaat section. While in India, I never tried preparing any chaat because we used to get very good chaats at a walkable distance from home. Some 3 years back, I never had any roadside chaats. But once I tasted it, I felt the taste is better than any good restaurants. So I just stopped eating them in restaurants and always used to have in roadside chaat vehicles....

When I visited India last November, I spent almost a month and a half in Bangalore. My in-laws were at my MIL’s brother’s home that time. I stayed with them for a couple of days. They have a new cook at their home now. This cook comes around 11AM and makes couple of sidedishes and chapatis every day. I was told that the guy is from Orissa and cooks very tasty dishes....

Few months ago, one of my friends asked me if I can cook for a function in temple. I had to make a large tray of Chole . I said yes, but I had no idea how much chickpeas were needed to make that. I bought 8lb of chickpeas and soaked about 6lb. But I used about 4lbs from it. Remaining, I froze to use later. For next two weeks, I prepared few dishes with those frozen chickpeas....

Few days back I had posted Khubbe/Tisre/Kalva sukke , I gave introduction to these three types of clams and where to find them. This gravy is my all time favourite (as I mentioned here ). I fondly remember my father preparing Kalva ambat when I was a kid and my mother had been to visit my grand mother. I still remember that taste. Usually my mom prepares Kubbe/tisre ambat because this kind of clams are easily available at our native (we have a river called ‘Aghanashini’ near to my home....

Cucumber is called “Taushe” in Konkani. “Taushe hulel” is a side dish which is usually a part of meal that is offered to god during festivals. I saw a similar dish here , the only difference being, we use the cucumbers (used for salads) and everything is used raw. So this dish can be prepared in just 10mins :). This dish is a must in Shri Krishna janmashtami festival meal....