simplefoodsforcomplicatedpeople

  Plain moong dal-rice khichdi with some paneer It's a bit of challenge to plan meals day after day after day for the person who cooks in normal times, more so when there is a patient - either admitted to a hospital or recovering at home. I went through this past few days and thought of sharing what I cooked for the patient, who was a 75+ person with no teeth and bed ridden. There are also some suggestions. And, these dishes can be cooked otherwise too, they are almost like one dish meals. I guess these are the dishes that are typically cooked in Maharashtrian households, or to be more precise in Marathi speaking households in Mumbai. I would love to read what's cooked in other regions.  The first dish that my Aai would cook when I had a fever as a child was Kanheri - a type of rice porridge or kanji. She would grind rice in the mixer and then cook it in more water than usual. Add some jeera powder, salt, ghee, metkut. It was so soothing that I still remember the taste and the...

रुग्णालयात दाखल असणाऱ्या, विशेषकरून वयस्कर व्यक्तींना, देता येतील असे काही पदार्थ नोंदवते आहे. सध्या या अनुभवातून जाते आहे. म्हणून लिहावंसं वाटलं.   रुग्णालयात असताना अनेकदा औषधांमुळे मळमळतं किंवा झोपून राहिल्यामुळे भूक लागत नाही. एका वेळी नेहमीइतकं खाल्लं जात नाही. तसंच वयस्कर व्यक्तींना दात नसले किंवा कवळी आहे पण लावायचा कंटाळा असेल तर काही पदार्थ चावता येत नाहीत. उदा. कांदेपोहे. पोहे जरा गार झाले की सहसा कोरडे पडतात. अशा लोकांना उपमा, सांजा, इडली, मऊ डोसा, मऊ भात, भाताची पेज, कण्हेरी असे पदार्थ असले तर खायला सोपे पडतात. तसंच उपमा, सांजा करताना त्यात भाज्या घालता येतात. मऊ भात किंवा कण्हेरी करताना त्यात तांदळाबरोबरच मुगाची डाळ घालावी, प्रथिनं मिळतात त्यातून. मी डाळतांदूळ धुऊन थोडे वाळवून लोखंडाच्या कढईत भाजून घेते. गार झाल्यावर मिक्सरला लावते. कण्हेरी करताना दोन मोठे चमचे ही पूड, वाटीभर पाणी, मीठ, हळद, चवीपुरतं तिखट आणि गाजर/भोपळा/दुधी/बीट किसून किंवा एखादी पालेभाजी घालून कुकरला दोन शिट्या काढते. खायला देताना पातळ हवं असेल तर पाणी घालता येतं. सूप, किंवा स्टाॅक किंवा वरणाच...

Howmuchever I wash the white butter, some of the particles do get stuck to the pan in which I melt it to make Ghee. I just don't feel like throwing it away. So I make laddus adding lots of other stuff to it. Today, I had about 3/4 cup of beri. I roasted about one cup of Nachni/ragi flour with half a tbsp of ghee, and added it to the pan which I had used to make ghee. I made powder of about 15 cashewnuts and 15 almonds, and about 7-8 walnuts. I took about 10 seedless dates, mashed with hands and lightly stirred them in half a tbsp of ghee. Added all this to the pan. Also added one tbsp of dry ginger powder and 2 tbsp of jaggery powder. Mixed everything and gave it a whirl in the mixie jar. I usually keep it in powder form, but today the mixture had more ghee than usual so I was able to roll the laddus. I wanted to add gond/dink to this but I remembered it only when I was rolling the laddus. Too late. Some wheat flour also can be added. Or any seeds like chia, sunflower, pumpki...

December is the month when juicy lemons are available cheap, so it's mandatory to make pickle. So are green chilies. Chili pickle This recipe is from a book called 'Hamkhas Paaksiddhi' by Jayashree Deshpande which was gifted to me by my Aai when my daughter was born. I often refer to this book. I took 250 gram green chilies, the normal ones, not the very hot ones. Washed, dried them and then chopped into small pieces. Heat a small tadka pan, take 2 tbs of oil, add one tbsp methi seeds, remove, then switch off the flame. Add 2 tbsp asafoetida powder to the oil and stir well. Heat half a cup of water and let it cool. Also heat half a cup of oil and let it cool. Add 1/4 cup mustard dal or split mustard, 1 tbsp turmeric powder and 1/4 cup of lemon juice in the mixer jar and make a paste. Keep adding the cooled water gradually and keep running the mixer. Stop when you get the heady smell of the mustard and the mixture has turned frothy and light. Add this to the lemon pie...

डिसेंबरात लिंबं चांगली येतात बाजारात, पातळ सालीची आणि स्वस्त. त्यामुळे लोणचं करायलाच हवं. मिरच्याही चांगल्या असतात, मग त्याचंही लोणचं करावं. खाराच्या मिरच्या खाराच्या मिरच्या हमखास पाकसिद्धी पुस्तकात आहेत तशा. त्या भन्नाट चविष्ट होतात, अनेक वर्षांचा अनुभव आहे. पाव किलाे मिरच्या चिरून घ्यायच्या. छोट्या कढल्यात एक चमचा तेलावर एक चमचा मेथीदाणे आणि नंतर २ चमचे हिंग पूड भाजून घ्यायची. एक वाटी लिंबाचा रस घ्यायचा. पाव वाटी मोहरीची डाळ, हळद, आणि थोडा लिंबाचा रस असं मिक्सरला एकदा फिरवून घ्यायचं. मग त्यात उकळून गार केलेलं पाणी थोडं थोडं करत घालत फेसून घ्यायचं मिक्सरमध्येच. हलकी झाली की हे मिश्रण मिरच्यांच्या फोडींवर घालायचं. त्यात उरलेला लिंबाचा रस, अर्धी वाटी मीठ, मेथीहिंग, घालून कालवायचं. मग अर्धी वाटी तेल गरम करून गार झाल्यावर ओतायचं. नीट कालवायचं. आठेक दिवस तरी रोज कालवावं लागतं. यात लिंबू, मीठ नंतर वाढवता येतं. इतकंच काय खार जास्त झाला तर मिरच्यांचे तुकडेही वाढवता येतात. मी सहसा छोटी बाटली रोज वापराला बाहेर ठेवते, बाकी फ्रिजात. वापरायला काढताना पुन्हा हवं असल्यास तेल घालता येतं. आमच्याकडे ...

  A simple dish that is filling, tasty and is ready in no time. We call it MuTke मुटके, similar to muthiyo. It literally means shaped using the fist - Mutthi. I have used dudhi/lauki in this. You can use coriander, methi leaves, cabbage, sweet corn, carrot anything. I grated a 5 inch long piece of lauki. Added salt, dhania-jeera powder, a pinch of sugar, amchur, green chilies, 2 tablespoons curd. Mixed it all well. Lauki releases a lot of water so you need to quickly add the flours. I have used 2 tablespoons of besan and some jowar and ragi flours. I guess you can use any flours. Make a soft dough. And make small mutke. You can make balls, or small patties too. Steam them like Dhokla. In a large pan, make a tadka of oil, mustard, asafoetida and sesame seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add the mutke whole, or you can chop in small pieces. I added turmeric to the tadka as i had forgotten to do so to the dough. Stir well. You can deep fry the mutke as well. Or eat without any frying at ...