Methi chi bhaaji - Fenugreek stir fry

As i had mentioned in my Methi thepla post that it is important to keep in touch with your "girl-friends", my happiness knew no bounds when recently i got in touch with all my beautiful school friends. So we have made a "girls-only" whatsapp group and kept it small and close, so we can share anything and everything there without getting biased or judgmental. Imagine a place where you can blabber anything and everything and no one really bothers to make comments about you - Just what we need in our day-to-day stressful lives, right? Well, so one of my friend there ( I don't know if she will like me taking her name here on a public page, so keeping it as N ) had mentioned about this simple Methi bhaaji that she used to get in tiffin that her mom used to make. 

"The best way to make this bhaaji delicious is to use tons of onion and garlic", these were her words. True to that, the garlic gives a terrific twist to the otherwise simple bhaaji which has nothing but regular spices (Tadka as we call it popularly). I also feel that addition of coconut takes it to other level altogether. Or maybe i am just a little biased towards coconut. I love adding fresh coconut to anything and everything. The Maharashtrian genes you see ;)

This bhaaji makes a perfect tiffin recipe and goes very well with rotis/phulkas. It tastes great with daal-chawal too.

Ingredients:

Methi leaves (Fenugreek leaves) - 1 bunch

Onions - 2 medium

Garlic - I used around 8-10 pods

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Green chillies - 2

Fresh grated coconut - to garnish

Salt - to taste

Recipe:

Remove the methi leaves from the stem and wash them well. 

You can either chop them roughly.

Crush the garlic pods in a mortar and pestle. You can also chop it or make a paste.

Chop the green chillies.

Chop the onions finely.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Wait till the oil is smoking hot.

Now add the mustard leaves. Let them pop. Add in cumin seeds, asafoetida and turmeric.

Now add the crushed garlic and green chillies. Saute for about 30 seconds.

Add in onions and saute till they are translucent (Don't over fry or brown the onions).

Now add in methi leaves, salt and mix everything well.

Cook covered for about 8-10 minutes checking and stirring after every 2-3 minutes, so the methi gets cooked well and doesn't stick to the kadhai. If you feel it is sticking to the kadhai, you can add about 1 tbsp of water or more, but methi leaves water, so normally it shouldn't stick when you steam cook.

Once the methi is cooked, stir fry it in the open (without the lid) for about 1-2 minutes.

Garnish with coconut.

Quite easy and tastes delicious!

Happy Cooking :))

Batatyachya Kaachrya

Holiday season is over and we are back to eating the basics - our standard meal of roti, sabzi, daal, chawal. A typical maharashtrian meal would be rice- Saadha varan (plain daal) and batata bhaaji (Potato sabzi). This sabzi can be made in different ways, but the most common and most easiest when you have nothing left in the kitchen but just potatoes is Kaachrya. Also known as Pivlya batatyachi bhaaji (Yellow potato sabzi), this one tastes perfect with daal-chawal (Rice and daal) or even with chapatis. I even love to eat chapatis, kaachrya and lahsun chutney (Garlic chutney). 

Traditionally this dish is made with potatoes, salt and phodni (tadka of hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and turmeric powder). But just for change of taste, here i have added a pinch of sesame seeds and fennel seeds to the phodni. You can add onions if you wish, or even roasted peanut powder in the end for change of taste. Any other vegetable can be added to it too, like capsicum, brinjal or french beans as per choice. But i prefer having kaachrya just plain without much of additions. Sometimes, minimalism is the key, right?

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium

Salt - to taste

For phodni (tadka) :

Oil - 2 tbsp

mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Sesame seeds - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Hing (Asafoetida) - a pinch

If you want a little spice, you can add red chilli powder or green chillies but traditionally it is not added.

Recipe:

Wash and peel the potatoes (In villages, they don't even skin the potatoes. Tastes great even that way)

Cut these potatoes into half and then into thin slices. The slices should not be too thin or too thick. Check photo for reference. If the slices are too thin, the sabzi turns out crispy. If they are too thick, it takes longer to cook and at times, the potatoes remain raw from the middle or inside. 

Heat oil in a kadhai (We normally make this in a kadhai, but you can make it in a pan too)

Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add hing and cumin seeds. 

Add the sesame, methi and fennel seeds now (if adding).

Don't let it brown too much, just saute for 30 seconds or so.

Now add the turmeric powder and then the potatoes.

I normally cook this sabzi uncovered and always on low flame, but if you are in a hurry, you can cover and cook or saute on medium/high flame, but make sure the potatoes don't burn.

Add salt and mix well.

Now cover for about 3-4 minutes and cook till potatoes are done.

Now isn't that too simple?

Note : You can even add some lemon juice or garnish with corriander leaves for change of taste.

There are immense options to make this sabzi, try a different one each time and taste the different flavours. But don't forget to make it the traditional style once. - Potatoes, salt and simple phodni cooked in kadhai!!!

Happy Cooking :)