Oh, I was thinking of growing this. Not gonna be ready by March, though!
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CHIVDA
This is such a standard household fixture that I forgot it on that long list 
Chivda is a quintessentially Maharashtrian snack mix. Other regions have their own versions of snack mix (bhoosa, “mixture”, and so on), but chivda is a celebrity in its own right (heard of Bombay snack mix? = Chivda).
It’s an any-time snack, but shines with afternoon tea. Crunchy, salty, sweet, sometimes spicy, sometimes tangy.
There are many, many varieties, and towns in the state are famous for specific types (people take special requests and carry back enough to distribute among friends and family if they’re traveling somewhere chivda-famous like Nashik, with its Onion Chivda). There’s a type for everyone. Trader Joe’s even makes one that isn’t anything like anything you’d find in India, and yet it’s definitely Chivda with all its signature characteristics (even though they call it Chakri Mix).
But the most basic, and arguably the most delicious, is Poha Chivda, made with beaten rice / rice flakes. Even within this, there are myriad versions, though a key bifurcation is whether the poha is roasted (which gives it a sharp but soft crunch) or deep fried (which makes it puffy and light-textured).
My mom made the simple, roasted version at home this week because it was apparently my favorite kind when I was little.
So: poha, “roasted” plain in the microwave, then seasoned with spiced oil (turmeric, chilli, curry leaves, asafoetida, cumin, mustard), peanuts, bengal gram (chickpea’s little flavor-packed sibling), and chopped cashews. All mixed together carefully until the seasonings are evenly distributed, and adjusted to taste with salt and sugar. Still to be added: dried coconut slivers (my favorite part - I used to pick them out surreptitiously, leading to eaters after me thinking the coconut had inadvertently been forgotten )
In the US, Indian immigrants in the 60s and 70s adapted this recipe to use any easily available cereal instead of traditional ingredients like rice flakes which weren’t as easily accessible back then. Cereal chivda is different, but also delicious because hits all the familiar notes.
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SABUDANA VADA
Checking off greatest hits before I leave Maharashtra, apparently 
Sabudana = tapioca pearls, a local favorite in (mostly) savory snack applications. (They are also an allowed “fasting food” for Hindu religious purposes, so appear in many interesting formats as a result.)
These fried patties (or balls) are composed of fluffed sabudana (soaked and drained till they absorb sufficient water), boiled potatoes, peanuts, and scant spices (cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chillies), seasoned with salt, sugar, and lemon juice. We pan-fried them, though they are often deep fried
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BATATAWADA / VADA – homemade this time
Like I said, greatest hits.
This is iconic Mumbai / Maharashtra street food. There are tiny stops along highway routes that are so famous for their Batatawadas that they are automatic stops when folks are driving out of town on holiday (Khopoli I’m looking at you).
I described the street food version above, but we also make a few different versions at home:
- my grandmother’s: seasoned with dry spices, green chilli, and fresh ginger. Very thin coating of gram flour, just enough to hold the potato together.
- my great-aunt’s (my favorite, and a signature dish in the extended family; my mom procured the recipe for me): heavy on aromatics, plus a few dry spices, slightly thicker coating than my grandma’s but I prefer the thinner version
- adapted street version (my dad’s favorite): heavier on everything, tempering inside, thicker coating
These Vadas were made specially for my dad, who loves them more than anyone but can no longer eat his beloved street version as they’re way too spicy for him now. And we’ve been eating them left, right, and center, while the poor guy watches. So I asked mom to make them at home for him without chillies. Mom likes using her appe / paniyaram pan sometimes instead of deep frying.
Really tasty even without chillies, and dad was so happy!
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Ragda pattice, from this recipe
It was a great albeit heavy/filling meal on a cold and rainy evening.
Good solid recipe.
I hadn’t realized that getting whole dried peas, be they yellow or green, was impossible in local grocery stores (only available online or in the Indian stores). Even the local Mexican store didn’t have any, though they had so many other kinds of beans and Goya does package whole green peas. Every store had split green peas. None had split yellow peas, only split chickpeas (chana dal). Luckily I had a pantry stash from the Indian store and used it up.
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Tonight was a full Maharashtrian dinner made at home - a first for us.
I wanted to make tomato sheer: tomatoes in coconut milk + besan slurry. I first had it in my aunt’s house, it was sooo delectable. This dish comes in a shrimp and non-shrimp version, hers is the n-s version. She made my cousin type out the recipe and email me. Very simple and ultra yummy.
Matki usal: sprouts in coconutty masala - delicious but hella work: started sprouting the beans on Tuesday to be ready on Friday. Made goda masala the next day - lots of measuring, toasting, grinding. Funny story: the goda masala recipe I followed includes niger seed. I didn’t have any that I knew of, so started without that. DH said: here you go, and brought in a 5 lb bag of nyjer seed from the shed; sold locally as birdseed!! I hadn’t even noticed. Google confirmed it was the same thing so in it went. Then today was another coconut masala paste, then chopped onion, tomato, etc. then finally the washed sprouts are added.
This had many flavours similar to South Indian kurma: coconut, coriander seed, fennel seed, etc.
Khamang kakdi: chopped cucumber salad.
Batata bhaji: dry ish potatoes.
Ghadichi Polis: folded chapatis. Ok folks, I am a challenged chapati maker. I can make regular chapatis though I rarely make them even though I prefer them to rice. These chapatis are oiled, folded into triangles, then rolled out round. Mine just stayed as triangles or made odd shapes. But they puffed out fine, so there’s that.
Interesting to me was how the flavours and ingredients of Maharashtra are very South adjacent: similar dishes, slightly different spices.
With all of this I hope I expended a good fraction of the calories ingested, in making everything. Phew. TGIF.
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I think the goda masala had the lengthiest ingredient list (18 spices + coconut + oil = 20 items) of any masala I have ever made.
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Looks wonderful! Kudos on making good masala - I buy it every now and again, but don’t use it enough to stock it on the regular.
I love usal, misal, and everything in between.
(And a big container of a similar Batatyachi bhaji was my flight food earlier this week 
)
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Beautiful food! Wonderful explanations! Thanks.
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Wonder what the security people thought or said about that? 
Within India a few years ago, I carried in my hand bag a packet of homemade South Indian masala podi as a gift for my friend. The Hindi-speaking security lady asked what was in it, and I said ‘chutney powder’ with a deadpan face, trying not even to think of the name ‘gunpowder’. 
. She asked me if it was chilli powder, and I just said no, though that is an ingredient of course, and she let me through. Previously, I hadn’t realized that carrying masala podi would be an issue.
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Absolutely nothing – carrying food for any travel is so commonplace (and flight food has gotten ever worse, so also advisable).
Now what the security people think when I carry a bakers’ dozen of bagels, baguettes and other NYC favorites to the west coast as 75% of my carry-on, that’s a better question. (I keep wondering when the bagel lobby will make cream cheese allowable through security, because it still gets confiscated, and the cream cheese elsewhere is a travesty to put on a New York bagel.)
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DHIRDA (aka Pooda)
I was reading through one of my Marathi cookbooks for ideas, and while it’s not surprising that there is overlap with Gujarati food (they used to be a single state), the extent is still surprising to me.
So, today I learned that the simple, anytime crepe I know as Pooda is known as Dhirda (pl. Dhirdi) in Marathi.
It’s made from a simple flour-and-water batter with powdered spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander, red chilli, salt, sugar) and optional aromatics (which I skipped today). The flour can vary from wheat to lentil to assorted millets to a mixture; I used mainly wheat today.
Simple and quick, this was a nice breakfast with a cup of ginger tea (Alyachi Chaha).
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Just noticed it’s on kindle sale for $1.99 if anyone is looking for a reference:
https://www.amazon.com/Pangat-Feast-Food-Marathi-Kitchens-ebook/dp/B07Z3C6BW4
As is the other general one I referenced earlier with a Maharashtrian author, for $5.99:
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Some chefs / cooks on social media are calling these as ‘liquid batter parathas’ or ‘no knead parathas’ and when made with wheat flour, they puff up almost like a phulka on a hot pan.
Yours came out lacy like a pudla/cheela/adai typically is.
SAOJI EGG CURRY
Saoji Egg Curry was brunch today. I learned from the recipe introduction that this style of cuisine is intended to by fiery and use Bhiwapuri chiles (100,000-300,000 Scoville units). This is not a chile I can get in my area and does not seem to be available on Amazon. The author of the recipe has made this somewhat less spicy, using a mix of Kashmiri and Guntar chiles. My sanaam chiles from Penzey’s are listed as 40,000 Scoville units on the bag. I decided to make up the difference of the heat by adding a fresh habanero to the ginger-garlic paste when I made it.
I made the masala powder for the recipe yesterday in anticipation of brunch today. You roast the chiles, along with dried coconut, poppy seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, ajwain (I subbed caraway and a little thyme), green cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick, cloves, mace, and a new to me spice, kapok bud. It is peppery and a little mustard seed like in flavor. Then everything is ground together.
Cook some onion in oil and then add the ginger-garlic (and habanero) paste. Add tomatoes (I used a mix of canned and fresh to accommodate what was in my pantry/fridge), turmeric, the masala powder, water, and salt to taste. Let simmer until it thickens (about 10 minutes). Then add hard boiled eggs and simmer another 4 minutes. I decided to poach eggs in the sauce instead, since we like runny yolks.
Garnish with cilantro.
I served this with the suggested Burani Raita and some pita bread that needed to be used up. With the habanero, it definitely reached “fiery”, at least to us. The garlicky yogurt was a nice foil to the heat. This was a welcome meal on a chilly late morning!
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Can you share a recipe for the tomato sheer?
Try this one: https://www.archanaskitchen.com/tomato-sheer-tomato-and-coconut-curry
Quite similar to what my aunt shared with me so must be a good variation.
Per Aunty’s recipe, I used mustard seeds, not fenugreek.
Added sliced hot green chillies (which do get tamed by the coconut milk) after popping the spices.
Also added a little red chilli powder and turmeric along with the coconut milk.
Aunty strongly recommended homemade coconut milk, with the besan added to the ‘second press’ or thin coconut milk.
But try it with store bought coconut milk and add the besan to a little water t make the slurry.
Garnish with cilantro.
Take care when simmering not to boil strongly or the besan will become lumpy. Also, must make sure that the besan slurry is well mixed, and keep stirring when adding it and when cooking, to avoid lumps. Rest the dish awhile after cooking, while you finish other things.
Sheer is overall a pleasant and mild dish, so it’s a good counterpoint to other stronger flavours.
Serve warm with chapatis or rice, potato or greens sabzi, some kind of dal, and chopped salad or raita, e.g. koshimbir with or without yogurt.
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Wandering the internet for more unusual-to-me Maharashtrian cuisine, I came across this blog that focuses on the cuisine of the Pathare Prabhu community (one of the historic communities of Mumbai), and here is an example of a very unique dish rice, banana, and prawn ‘cake’:
It mentions a >100 year Maharashtrian cookbook called Gruhini Mitra (Housewife’s Friend)
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If you happen to live in the NY/NJ area, we just visited a very good Maharashtrian in Edison.
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KONKANI STYLE KOLI MASALA RECIPE
Dipping a toe back into the Cuisine of the Quarter. Yesterday, I made this masala recipe. There are, indeed, about 19 items in the list. I ended up with a couple more on top of that, as I subbed a mix of caraway and thyme for the ajwain and used a mixture of kashmiri, sanaam, and piquin chiles for the Sankeshwari and Byadagi chiles. Toasting and grinding everything made the kitchen smell delightful! I ended up with about a cup of masala powder, which is more than enough for our two person household.
So, this got used today in:
MAHARASHTRIAN KALA CHANA COOKED IN KOLI MASALA
This was my first time working with black chickpeas (Rancho Gordo!). I had soaked and cooked them yesterday and stored them in the fridge in their cooking liquid. Today I made the masala paste (onion, coconut (I used a judicious fistful of unsweetened flakes), chiles, new to me ingredient kokum, the koli masala powder, and other dry spices). Then I proceeded with the recipe, using some of the cooking liquid in place of the water called for. Rather than just letting it go for 5 minutes on the stovetop, once I brought it to a boil, I covered it and put it in a 300F oven, topping it off from time to time with a little more of the cooking liquid, for about an hour. We had the resulting stew for lunch today. It was very welcome after shoveling cars out! I would absolutely make this again. Now I need to find other recipes where I can use this ground masala.
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