Sankranti specials

Saag

Ingredients
500 gm fresh mustard leaves  (washed and made into a paste)
200 gm spinach chopped
100 gm chenopodium leaves
A few red chillies
100 gm onions
50 gm fenugreek leaves
5 to 6 green chilli, chopped
2 tsp ginger, chopped
2 tsp garlic
150 gm ghee
1� tsp roasted cumin powder
l � tsp red chilli powder

Method
Heat a pan and then add ghee, add chopped garlic and whole red chillies and cook until slightly brown. Add onions and sauté till light brown. Add ginger, green chilies and sauté for a few minutes. Add the red chilli powder, cumin powder, mustard leaves paste, spinach leaves and chenopodium leaves and continue to cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Add salt. Finish with cornmeal, butter and ghee and cook for another five to eight minutes. Serve with makki ki roti.

Til ke laddu from Maharashtra

Ingredients
4 cups of sesame seeds
� cup water
1� cup powdered jaggery
1 cup coconut, chopped finely into small pieces.

Method
Dry roast the sesame seeds until light brown in color. Prepare syrup by boiling water and jaggery on low heat. Add coconut pieces and simmer until syrup becomes thick and sticky. Turn the heat off. Add sesame seeds and mix well. Allow the mixture to cool down. Shape into balls quickly.

Ven Pongal from Tamil Nadu

Nagalakshmi, Food blogger cookingandme.com

Ingredients
1 cup raw rice
� cup moong dal
� tsp whole black peppercorns
� tsp whole cumin seeds
A small piece of ginger
Salt to taste
To temper
� tsp each of cumin (jeera) and black pepper powdered together
A few cashew nuts
A few curry leaves
�  tsp of asafoetida
2 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp oil

Method
Soak the moong dal in advance for 30 minutes. The rice and dal need to be cooked together until mushy and soft. Add the soaked dal to washed rice (add about 2.5 to 3 cups water) and place in a bowl in a pressure cooker. Add a few whole peppercorns and cumin seeds to this along with the ginger, chopped. Cook for three-four whistles or 15-20 minutes until the mixture is soft and mushy.

Heat oil in a pan (you can use only ghee too) and add some more cumin seeds, curry leaves, cashew nuts, and the asafoetida. Fry until the cashew nuts turn golden brown. Add the cooked rice-dal mixture. Add salt and stir well to combine all the ingredients. Once mixed well, add the ghee and stir again, making sure everything is mixed thoroughly.


Kadi Pakora from Punjab

Chef Mukesh Sharma, Westin Hyderabad Mindspace

Ingredients
120 gm gram flour
� tsp carom seed
� tsp red chilli powder
100 ml water
150 gm yoghurt
� tsp turmeric powder, salt to taste
� sliced onion
1 tsp chopped

Coriander
For tempering
� tsp cumin seed
3 red chili whole
� tsp methi seeds
� tsp crushed coriander seeds
� tsp fennel seeds
40 ml oil mustard
6 curry leaves
3 green chilli slit
A pinch of asafoetida
� tsp cumin seed
3 red chili whole

Method
Take a large bowl and add yoghurt, water, 60 gm flour, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder and mix together and pour into another pan. Heat while slowly stirring with a spatula, for 25 minutes on a low flame. Make the tempering for the kadi. Heat a large pan, add all the required ingredients for the tempering and sauté for a few minutes, pour the kadi mixture into the tempering and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the pakoras in the kadi. Served with rice.

For the pakora
In a bowl add around 60 gm gram flour, carom seeds, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, chopped coriander, sliced onions and salt. Pour the water and make a smooth mixture. Heat oil on medium heat and slowly drop dumplings of the mixture into the oil. Once done, add to the kadi.