Muthias are one of my favorite Gujarati snacks. They are steamed cakes made with a combination of healthy flours such as semolina, whole wheat, chickpea flour and so on combined with grated bottle gourd or zucchini. I make these all the time – it’s an acid friendly food – you just have to omit the chili from this recipe.
I learned this recipe from our family friend Neha Mazumdar who makes some of the best Muthias. This dish goes really well with a nice mint or coriander chutney.
Here is the first of my acid watcher friendly recipes.
Sundal is a super nutritious snack made with boiled chickpeas which we grew up on in my hometown of Chennai. I remember when I was young, we would go to Marina beach and there would be vendors selling “Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal” (coconut, mango , chickpeas) that they would carry in these large stainless steel tins. There was nothing quite like enjoying sundal sitting beachside, smelling the salty air with family and good friends in the good old days of Madras.
You can use any kind of dried beans to make sundal. I used chickpeas and corn in this recipe because it was what I had on hand but just use what you have. You can add things like shredded coconut, mango and so on. All the ingredients listed below are available at any Indian grocery store. I buy a bunch of packets of curry leaves and put them in the freezer. Click here to print recipe
Manni Sel is one of my very favorite Sindhi dishes. Sindh is a province that used to be in India before partition, but is now in Pakistan. Manni Sel is usually made with rotis or bread ( Indian bread) that is at least a day old. These rotis are soaked in a delicious cilantro and mint based gravy.
I don’t make rotis so I just use Trader Joe’s tortillas as a substitute. They work great. You could use any of your favorite tortillas or rotis in this recipe. Make sure that when you cook this dish – you don’t put too much of the rotis in it – as it will become too dry. Keep the dish nice and gravied as the rotis tend to continue soaking the gravy long after the cooking process is done. This dish freezes really well too.
Nobody makes Manni Sel better than my best friends mother, Veena Thani does. I just love all her recipes because they are simple, really healthy and so so yummy!
Bitter gourd (karela) is a vegetable that I really didn’t grow up loving. The only way I could tolerate it when I was younger was when it was deep fried and covered in spice.
This spicy sautéed karela recipe however, changed my whole relationship with this vegetable for me. Maggie who makes the best Trini food ever – makes Karela in the simplest, most delicious way.
You can make this dish as spicy as you wish – just increase or reduce the number of chili peppers – and you can use whatever peppers you have but tasty peppers is the key to this recipe. This recipe is best cooked in a cast iron or nonstick pan.
All I need is a bowl of dal to go with this karela and life is good!
A while back I posted this recipe for a keema (minced meat) with kale. Here is what I did with the leftovers. I just stir fry it with rice – kind of like a desi version of fried rice – dollop some ghee on top and you have a band new dish. Here is the recipe for the keema with kale. Serve this rice with my Beet Raita.
You can adjust the quantities in this recipe as per how much you have leftover.
Here is a gorgeous twist on a traditional raita. I had made a spicy rice and needed something to go with it. I found some pureed beets in my fridge and decided to experiment with them. The results were really delicious! Beets take quite a long time to cook – make sure when you are boiling them that they are cooked through. The next time around I might just boil and grate them versus pureeing for more texture.
I added ingredients I had lying around ( I have a lot of kale thanks to my farmer freind Peter) but you can substitute it with spinach or any leafy green. I also decided to top it with some lightly toasted nuts and hemp seeds last minute and it made such a difference to the taste. Use any nuts you have – if they are larger nuts like almond or walnuts – chop them down.
Keema is one of those classic Indian comfort foods. It is usually made with ground mutton (goat) but I use ground dark meat chicken or beef. Keema is traditionally cooked with green peas but I added spinach and kale to mine as I find the greens add a nice softness to the texture of the ground meat – it’s also what I had in my fridge! I add a lot of greens to this dish – more than what the recipe calls for here but you can adjust that to your preference. This dish must be eaten with rice!
There are many different kinds of Kathi rolls and ways I make them but these are the ones that we grew up eating in my mother’s kitchen in India . The chicken filling recipe is really easy and tastes better if you marinate it overnight or for a few hours at least.
For the roti (wrap) part you can make your own (which I never do) or use any ready made medium sized tortillas or rotis. You can choose to add the egg or skip it but let me tell you that my favorite kathis are always the ones where the egg on the roti is doubled!
This recipe has multiple steps to it but is actually quite easy.
Here is a quick and tasty way to brighten up any hardy, crunchy green vegetable. I have used asparagus in this recipe but you can substitute it with green beans, broccoli, snow peas etc. This recipe is based on a wonderful dish I learned from my dear friend Rula.
Luchi aloo is Kolkata’s version of Puri Aloo but it’s so much better especially if you eat it on the streets. There’s nothing like a piping hot luchi, smothered with spicy curried aloo. Here’s a great homemade version of this recipe.
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