Brownies

I learnt this recently from a cook-book by Ann Nicol. It is extremely tasty.( In Marathi, Khamanga!). Do give it a try!

Ingradients:

Butter 100g
Cocoa powder 1tbsp
Plain chocolate 50g
Dark Muscovado sugar (I unfortunately, do not know its equivalent in India) 175g
Eggs 2 (beaten)
Self-raising flour 150g
Walnut pieces 100g ( or less)

Direction:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 8inch shallow square cake tin with non-stick paper.

2. Melt 50g of the butter with the cocoa and then add the chocolate broken into pieces.

3. Remove from the heat and stir until the chocolate has melted, then put aside to cool.

4. Beat the remaining butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Gradually beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour, nuts and the cooled, melted mixture.

6. Spread into the tin and spread the top level. Bake for about35 minutes until firm to the touch in the centre.

7. Cool in the tin, and then turn out. Peel away the lining paper and cut into the pieces.

Batatyachi Bhaji (Potato Dry Curry)

One of our most liked recipes! It is quite hot (tikhat) but extremely enjoyable. People who like to have hot food once in a while would certainly love this. This is very different than the usual Marathi batata bhaji we make. I especially like it because it neither needs onions nor any spices.

Ingredients:

Potatoes: 5
Garlic : 2-3 pods
Peas: 1cup

Hing
Turmeric powder
Red chili powder
Cumin-coriander(Dhana-jeera) powder

Karuri-methi – 1 tbsp

Salt To taste

Direction:
1.Wash and dice the potatoes. It is important to dice the potatoes in a particular way. Have a look at the photo below. You can either peel them or keep them as they are. We quite like the unpeeled potato taste. But it is up to you.

2. Heat oil in a kadhai, add the crushed garlic and saute over medium heat until it turns brown. Please note that this recipe needs a little more oil than one normally uses for cooking potato bhaji.

3. Add kasuri-methi, hing, turmeric powder, red chili powder in the oil and fry for a couple of minutes. Make sure to add lot of chili powder. The potatoes in this recipe cook over head and chili powder. No or very little water is added in order to cook the potatoes.

4. Add the cumin-coriander powder and fry for a few seconds.

5. Now add the diced potato pieces. Stir well. All the potato pieces should be covered in oil (not immersed, but rather should have a thin layer of oil on the surfaces).

6. Add peas and salt to this and stir well. Add very little (about 2tbsp) water and again stir. Cover the kadhai with a lid. Cook until the potatoes are tender and soft. Stir intermittently for uniform cooking.

7. Serve with hot naan / paratha / roti etc.