2. Ghevadaa Usal [Black Bean Seeds Fry]

Ingredients
2 Table Spoon Edible Oil
1 Medium sized Onion
1 Big Tomato
2 Tea Spoon Red Chilly Powder
5-7 Green Coriander leaves for dressing
½ Cup Black Bean Seeds [KaaLa Ghevadaa]
½ Tea spoon Salt
½ Tea spoon Turmeric Powder

Recipe
1. Cut Onion in small square slices
2. Cut Tomato in small pieces, cut coriander leaves and keep ready for dressing
3. Boil the Bean Seed with double the water till it becomes soft.
4. Start by pouring oil in the cooking pan. Remember to keep the flame low, in case you are a newbie to cooking.
5. When the oil is hot, put the cut onion in it and then keep on stirring till the onion gets fried to become brownish in color.
6. Put in the Tomato pieces in the pan now. Stir for a while and put in the turmeric powder, Chilly Powder and Salt.
7. Put the cooked Bean seeds [without water] in the pan. Add little water if you feel all ingredients are not getting mixed well.
8. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes and keep the flame low.
9. Switch off the gas.
10. Your Usal for the Day is ready. Season it with the cut Coriander leaves and serve hot!!

1. Ghar ki Daal [Daal Fry]

Ingredients
5 Curry Leaves
1 Tea Spoon Cummin Seed
2 Table Spoon Edible Oil
1 Table Spoon Ghee
1 Medium sized Onion
3 Green Chillies
1 Big Tomato
5 Petals Garlic
5 thin slices of Ginger
5-7 Green Coriander leaves for dressing
½ Cup Lentil Seed [Daal]
½ Tea spoon Salt
½ Tea spoon Turmeric Powder


Recipe
1. Cut Onion in thin vertical slices
2. Cut chilies in 3 pieces each, cut coriander leaves and keep ready for dressing
3. Personally, I prefer to grind the tomato along with Ginger and Garlic in the mixer, but you can also cut Tomato in small pieces and then grind only Ginger and Garlic in the mixer.
4. Boil the Lentil Seed with double the water till it becomes soft.
5. Start by pouring oil in the cooking pan. Remember to keep the flame low, in case you are a newbie to cooking.
6. When the oil is hot, put the curry leaves and cumin seeds in it. Stir for a moment and then put chilly pieces in the hot oil.
7. Out the chopped Onion now and then keep on stirring till the onion gets fried to become brownish in color.
8. Put in the Tomato + Ginger + Garlic paste in the pan now. Stir for a while and put in the turmeric powder and Salt.
9. Beat the cooked Lentil seed for a while and then pour it in the pan. Add 1 cup of water to the pan and allow the mix to boil.
10. When the mix starts boiling, pour the ghee.
11. Allow the mix to boil for 2-3 minutes and then switch off the gas.
12. Your Daal Fry is ready. Season it with the cut Coriander leaves and serve hot!!

The journey begins ..

Cooking is my hobby and I cook very often. Last year, I volunteered for teaching Indian Recipes to the hearing impaired students of Japan. I taught them to cook Chicken Biryani, Raita and Kheer and the event was a huge success.

What more, it got in to the Japanese National Newspaper ‘Asahi Shinbun’.

So, I already had a background of displaying my culinary skills in front of an audience and teaching them to cook as well.

That was the flashback of this tale!!

Now comes a regular day in my life, where-in I get tired of eating the same vegetables every week. So, once in a while, I take the charge of kitchen and start cooking myself. I try to make some new recipe, which I had tried recently in a restaurant, or try to do a fusion act on Indian food items and create something new or try my hand at some delicious food item, just to check if I can do it as good as my mom and dad cook it. Sometimes, I just make tried-and-tested Indian/Maharashtrian home food.

During one of these days, I was browsing my movie collection to lend a few to a friend and I came across the movie – Julia and Julia!!

Immediately an idea struck!! Let’s try something on similar lines!!

Let's cook and lets blog about all those cooking experiments and adventures. And, Let's have a photo of the ingredients to be used and final cuisine, blog the ingredients and recipe steps for each one of the food items I make and thus make a collection of simple but yummy cuisines.

The journey of this blog begins with the most common cuisines made in a typical Maharashtrian family – Ghar ki Daal – the Daal Fry and the Black Beans Usal.

Enjoy Reading, Love Cooking and Cherish Eating!!