Manbhog (a Nepali sweet)

1 cup maida
or
1/2 cup maida
and
1/2 cup besan
1 cup desi ghee
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk (full cream)
1 tspn cardamum powder
some sliced almonds/pista
little kesar dissolved in milk


Method:
Heat ghee in karai and fry the maida in slow heat till pink in color. Slowly add the milk and keep stirring and add sugar. Cook on slow heat, stirring till Manbhog leaves sides of karai. Add cardamum, nuts and kesar. Serve hot.
Note: this preparation is very much like the sooji-ka-halwa.

Kohli Mutton

This is a dish prepared by the Kohlis, fisher folk of Mumbai

1/2kg mutton,cut into cubes
4oogrms onions, sliced
2oogrms ginger-garlic paste (both in equal quantities)
2tspns haldi
3tspns red chilli powder (can make it as hot as you want)
3tspns degi/kashmiri chilli powder
200ml refined oil
4tspns garam masala powder
Salt to taste

marinate mutton in all the ingredients except garam masala and oil
for atleast 2-4 hours. (I prefer to keep it in the fridge overnight)
Next, in a thick bottomed degchi (may use a pressure cooker without the lid)put in the marinated mutton with the oil and cover with a deep lid with water in the lid. A thali may be used as a lid. Initially keep the heat high till the juices come out. then stir well, cover and bring the heat down to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally till the meat is well done and oil floats on top. Add the garam masala powder and stir well. Serve with thick chapatis/ tandoori rotis/ nan or steamed rice

Roti-Roti

Don't discard leftover chapatis, especially if there are quite a lot left uneaten(this is for fulkas). They can be used in a number of ways as snacks.
1 Cut them in to thin strips and deep fry till golden and crisp. Sprinkle salt pepper/chat masala for a chatpata snack.
2 Sprinkle castor sugar on them as soon as they are out of the kadhai, nice and hot. This will make the sugar stick to the fried strips.This makes a sweet snack.
3 Dry grind the chapatis to coarse crumbs, and eat with sugar and milk/cream or dahi and have it as a hearty breakfast.
4 Spread some leftover dry sabzi which has been spiced up with some chat masala, tomato sause, chilli sauce etc to your taste. Fold in half, then shallow fry on a tawa till golden and crisp. Eat it hot
5 Dry grind chapatis to coarse crumbs. Heat some oil in a kadhai. Throw in some mustard seeds, dry chillies, curry leaves and chopped onions. Add some chopped adrak and green chillies.
S tir till onions are slightly cooked Add the chapati crumbs and salt to taste. Stir and mix well. Garnish with chopped corriander, and finely chopped tomatoes from which the seeds have been removed. Makes a good tea-time snack

Kathiawadi Kadhi

Mix buttermilk with little besan according to reqd consistency till no lumps remain
Add Dhaniya-jeera powder, chillies powder, little haldi, adrak-green chillies ground together, curry leaves,salt to taste, and gur or sugar. Whole or bits of green chillies may also be added.
Heat ghee and add jeera, rai, laung, dalchini, hing and dry red chillies. In this baghar pour in the above mixture.
Boil. Serve hot with steamed rice
Chillies and sugar/gur may be adjusted according to taste.

Easy Shahi Tukra ( Moghalai sweet)

Prepare one thread chashni with sugar and flavour it with cardamum, kesar and rose essence
Trim off sides from slices of bread and cut into triangles. Deep fry to a dark golden colour. Put into the chashni and remove almost immediately. Keep aside.
Whip up some double cream. When the slices are cold, arrange them on a flat dish. Spread the cream on top of each slice. Garnish with thinly sliced almonds, pista, kaju, chironji and kishmish. Serve at room temperature, Silver warq may be used to decorate.

Mungdal Payas ( Kerala dish)

Pressure cook dhuli mung dal with little deshi ghee( optional) till soft. Add gur to taste, chopped cashew nuts,kishmish and finely chopped copra. Stir and cook on low heat till gur dissolvs and it is well mixed, adding a little water as necessary. Add enough thick coconut milk till it looks milky and creamy. Serve either hot or cold. It can be eaten with puris also.
Suggest: use ready made coconut milk.
Variation: Add boiled vermicelli (Bambino is good)
Milk or cream may be added just before serving.