Ganji | Godrh Pulao | Jaggery Rice

I think every South Asian cuisine has their own version of "sweet rice". Here we have Zarda that's saffron yellow coloured rice cooked in sugar syrup with lots of nuts and some fresh fruits like pineapple and it's usually served as a heavy dessert or evening tea accompaniment. Then we have this dish prepared with Jagger known as "Ganji" or "Godrh Pulao" or some people call it "Gud Waale Chawal". Ganji is served as

Sweet and Sour Mango Pickle | Corn Flour ka Achar

It's that time of the year again when we koknis are busy making and preserving delicacies out of mangoes. Pickles, marmalades, chutney, khatayi (amchur), pulp and squash are the popular mango preparations across the Kokan coast. There are so many varieties of pickles though but the cracked mustard tarka achar is quite popular and considered traditional but during last few years this sweet and sour mango pickle has took over it for its comparatively less oil content and more flavours. Plus this one is easier to prepare, takes less time as you don't have to keep mango pieces in salt for hours and hours plus there's no need to prepare any special masala as almost the powdered spices used are already found in the pantry. So here goes the recipe

Fish Haldoni Recipe | Kokni Fish Curry Recipe | Machli Ka Salan Recipe

There were so many requests in our Facebook page inbox for this particular recipe. And though this fish curry is a kind of every day affair at my place I was just too lazy to post the recipe. (Procrastination! 😣😑)
This kokni style fish curry or haldoni is a red chili and tomato based tangy curry with a little too much if oil and pleasantly dominant garlic flavour. Though it looks hot and fiery but the ingredients blend so well that the resulting dish is a tangy soup that can go just fine with plain cooked rice. But wait, let me tell you one thing that

Aloo bhajji | Potato Pakora | Aloo Pakoda Recipe

Aloo bhajji/potato pakora

Because it's raining and everyone is craving pakoras at tea time so made these simple aloo bhajjiye. :) no glam, nothing fancy bas jhat-pat teatime fixes. 😇

How to make Aloo bhajji | Potato Pakora | Aloo Pakoda Recipe:

Green Moong Dal Bhajiye | Mung Bean Pakora | Moong Dal Pakora

When it's raining, what everyone wants? Yes! You guessed it right! Pakora! So here it's been raining for last few days and we have had different savouries as tea time snacks. Apart from all the jhat-pat or quick fix snacks there are these few that requires a little bit of advance planning like soaking the beans and grinding etc. These Moong Dal Bhajiye is one of them.

Scrumptious Green Moong Dal Pakora is an easy tea time savoury snack having a simple recipe and requires just a little efforts. I'm sure you will love

Tender Cashew Nut Curry Recipe | How to Cook Fresh Cashew Nuts

Tender cashew nuts or you can say fresh or wet cashewnuts are one of the regional and seasonal delicacies. There are different local names for tender cashew nuts like at my place they are called as "kaju ke beej or cashew beans or biyo" while at some places they call it "gir". There are several ways to cook these delicious tender nuts including sweet and savoury, this coconut milk based curry is most popular in our area. Though sometimes we make masala fried dry gir but that's more common in some other places. My mom makes delicious cashew pudding (I will share recipe later, in sha Allah) and one more way is to cook sweet cashew nuts in dessicated coconut and that tastes yummy as well.

Anyway, coming back to this coconut milk based cashew curry, we prefer it with rice flour roti, fried fish or prawns and some chutney, salad on side. One more thing, though the nuts are yet tender they take time to cook and become soft so you can use pressure cooker but just take care that they shouldn't break or become mushy.

Another important thing is How to peel/clean cashewnuts: they are sticky and

Tilkoot Stuffed Eggplants | Sesame Stuffed Eggplant | Stuffed Eggplant Recipe

Juts another version of humble vegetable - Biangan/Vainga/Brinjal/Aubergine or Eggplant whatever you call it! This dish has rich flavours and preparation is really easy with minimal oil as the vegetable is slow cooked with tight lids and without letting any steam go. Tilacha vainga or tilkoot ka baingan as it's called in kokni is considered dawat side dish along with mutton curry and bagara rice with fried papads and mango masala pickel. 

Tilkoot is prepared first and then it is mixed with sliced onions to prepare the filling. Then the eggplants are cut into two halves lengthwise and then horizontally into small pieces and then the slots are made to fill in the prepared filling. As shown in the picture below.

How to make 

Paya Curry Recipe | Goat Trotters Recipe | Mutton Paya Recipe | How to make Goat Trotters

Paya Curry in traditional Kokni style

Paya or trotters (or dawke in kokni) curry are  one of the most relished mutton curries in the region especially during winters as the it makes a soothing comfort food. As a child I didn't like Paya as such but with time I developed my taste buds and now it's one of my favorite meal paired with Chawal ki Roti, yum!! 😋😋

Though the recipe is easy but it's quite difficult to clean and wash trotters properly. Here we get roasted trotters from the local butcher (and this time we got over roasted ones hence the colour lol) so all the hair are already removed and they are cut into pieces already so we only have to wash them well. Here is the 3 steps guide about washing Paya.

How to wash Goat Trotters/Paya:

1. Rinse well the trotters under running tap water. (If the trotters are whole then cut them into approximately about 3 inches pieces).

2. Apply some dry flour and salt and keep them for 5-10 minutes then was rub with butter knife to remove the flour, this ensures removal of all the hair and impurity, if there's any.

3. Now wash well undr running tap water. Rub them well to wash off all the flour. Your trotters are ready to be cooked.

How to Make Paya Curry:

Almond Pudding Recipe | Almond Pez Recipe | Badam Gehu Ki Pez

The most popular Ramadan dessert in Kokan is Pez! We have many different varieties of pez but this almond one is very common. People usually make pez in large quantities and share it with neighbours. It's a healthy dessert that keeps you cool after a long day of fasting and Taraweeh prayer.

The authentic recipe calls for milky extract from soaked whole wheat but you can replace that with wheat starch for a quick fix. You can skip ghee altogether if you are avoiding fats. And if allergic to dairy, you can replace milk with coconut milk but then you'll have to compromise for taste. ;)

Almond Pudding Recipe | Almond Pez Recipe | Badam Gehu Ki Pez

Chicken Clear Soup Salt Free Recipe | Alni Pani Recipe

PC: Asma Dhanshe

A traditional kokani soup popularly known as ‘Alni Pani’ in kokani language and that translates to “water without salt”. This soup is preferably made with home grown organic chicken and homemade ‘desi ghee’. The spices are made fragrant by spluttering in desi ghee and then the chicken is cooked covered in fragrant water for several minutes. The resulting soup is so healthy and yummy that you can’t even guess that it doesn’t have any salt in it. This soup is an amazing remedy for cough and cold and relaxes those aching muscles of your sore throat in no time.

Chicken Clear Soup Salt Free Recipe | Alni Pani Recipe

Dreamy Creamy Delight

I don't follow recipes but my heart for making desserts! And Ramadan is the time when there has been at least one dessert a day. Yes, I said at least one because traditionally they prepare 2-3 sweet dishes a day including puddings (like pez, khawru, gauty halwa etc.) and pancakes for example malpua, pelway and all). So, here's one such dessert from this Ramadan. I didn't follow any particular measurements for this recipe so just sharing how I made it.

Dreamy Creamy Delight Recipe:

Spring Fried Chicken Recipe

Thousands of recipes for fried chicken still we keep browsing Internet for more ideas and recipes to give a twist to the dish everytime we are going to fry chicken (at least in my case) and sometimes we come across really great recipes. But once when I was tired of scrolling through different web pages my sis came to my rescue and shared this recipe she had tried. I decided to follow the recipe to the T (tee?) :D and it came out so so good that I have decided to follow the same recipe without any variations.

How To Make Spring Fried Chicken: