MAHARASHTRIAN - Winter 2023 (Jan-Mar) Cuisine of the Quarter

Rasam · January 23, 2023, 1:05am

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.

Rasam · January 28, 2023, 12:59am

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.

Rasam · January 28, 2023, 1:34am

I think the goda masala had the lengthiest ingredient list (18 spices + coconut + oil = 20 items) of any masala I have ever made.

Saregama · January 28, 2023, 5:51pm

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 )

brucesw · January 28, 2023, 7:14pm

Beautiful food! Wonderful explanations! Thanks.

Rasam · January 28, 2023, 7:25pm

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.

Saregama · January 29, 2023, 1:17pm

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.)

Saregama · January 29, 2023, 1:33pm

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).

Saregama · January 29, 2023, 3:12pm

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:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DC25GMH

Rasam · January 29, 2023, 4:09pm

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.

Amandarama · January 29, 2023, 6:58pm

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!

jiaozi · February 3, 2023, 11:48pm

Can you share a recipe for the tomato sheer?

Rasam · February 4, 2023, 1:29am

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.

Rasam · February 4, 2023, 1:56am

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)

Ziggy · February 7, 2023, 2:54pm

If you happen to live in the NY/NJ area, we just visited a very good Maharashtrian in Edison.

Amandarama · February 23, 2023, 8:07pm

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.

fooddabbler · February 24, 2023, 1:18am

Fascinating recipe. I happen to have a later edition of Gruhini Mitra:

Loosely translating, the title on the cover says “Housewives Friend”, and on the title page it adds “or a thousand preparations”.

Further information:

MelMM · February 24, 2023, 8:37pm

Folks, voting for the March COTM is happening now. It has been extended until Sunday evening. Please check out the nominees and vote if you are inclined to cook along with us.

fooddabbler · February 24, 2023, 10:02pm

Talking to myself, Gruhini Mitra is a fascinating book on multiple levels. Here (from the title page) are the author’s credentials:

Having trouble with it? Where’s your Marathi when you friggin’ need it?
What you see is a transliteration of

Embroidery Medalist and Certificate Holder
of First National Congress Exhibition;
Highly recommended Silk Photographist
of Indore Exhibition, etc.

[Marathi (like other Indian languages) has no capitals, so the capitalization above is mine.]

ETA: I know many of you here have been clamoring for Marathi. Match my words to the originals above and you’ll know how to write (literally, not in translation) “and”, “of”, and most importantly “embroidery”.

Rasam · February 24, 2023, 10:21pm

I noticed exactly the same thing, but didn’t comment on it. I was wondering how being a great silk photographer and embroidery medalist etc. was a qualification to write a cookbook, but I guess all women in that era in default learned how to cook, unlike embroidery or photography, so no one would really seek a credential for that?

Since Marathi is written in the same Devanagari script as Hindi I could read it, despite not knowing the language.
The use of English transliterated to Hindi script was remarkable rather than just saying the same thing in Marathi or Hindi languages. I wonder if this was a way of signaling a higher status - that the writer and reader and author know what these English words meant?