Cluster beans (Chitmitki in Konkani) is a vegetable that is frequently used in Konkani cooking. Many people do not like this. Chitmitki upkari is a very common side dish prepared with this vegetable. I add a little bit of jaggery to give a slight sweetish taste. Another variation is to combine it with pumpkin which gives a very nice sweetish taste. Since we all like pumpkin, we enjoy this combination very much.
Ingredients: 1 cup pumpkin (or butternut squash) pieces 1 cup cluster beans (chitmitki/gawar) Oil 1 tea spn mustard seeds 3-4 green chillies A pinch asafoetida 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut(optional) Salt
Method: Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add green chillies, asafoetida. Add cluster beans and little water. When they are half cooked, add pumpkin pieces, salt. Cook till done. To reduce the cooking time, cluster beans can be cooked in pressure cooker and then added to pumpkin. Garnish with coconut(if using). Serve hot as a side dish with rice or chapatis.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
Most of our sweets take a lot of time and energy. Very few are very fast to make and do not require much skill, yet taste very good. This is one such recipe. These burfis take hardly any time to make. They taste almost like Kaju(cashew) burfis.
I very rarely make sweets at home. No one in the family has any sweet tooth. So I haven’t made these in a long time. These used to be regulars at home. Last week I made a big batch of it for one of Shilpa’s friends. Most of it was finished by us and next day my son-in-law had request for one more batch.
Ingredients: 1 cup maida (or all purpose flour) 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 tbl spn ghee 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder 6-7 saffron strands (optional)
Method: Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pan. Add maida and fry till a nice aroma comes out. Take it out on a clean plate. Take milk and sugar in the pan and boil. Add saffron. Boil till the syrup starts to get to one string consistency. Add fried maida and keep mixing till it forms a ball. Add cardamom powder and mix well. Apply some ghee to a plate and spread the mixture. When it is cooled a bit, cut into desired shapes.
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