Eggplant salad is very nutritious and the healthy recipe for diabetic people….. I had added kidney beans in it to make it protein rich …..
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
½ cup dry kidney beans or canned kidney beans (you can also used fresh kidney beans)
250gms eggplant cut into ½ inch pieces (any purple or violet color variety of eggplant)
1 potato peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces (optional)
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
10 -15 mint leaves finely chopped (optional but it gives very refreshing flavor)
1 tomato
2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon olive oil(optional)
1 teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper
Salt to taste
[/ingredients]
[directions title=”Directions”]
Soak the dry kidney beans in water drain the water wash it properly…cook it in 2 cups of water and salt in a pressure pan for 20 minutes … it should become soft …..Remove the water if it’s there… I generally use this water in any soup… if you r using fresh beans directly cook in salt water no need of soaking overnight it takes 10- 15 minutes to cook…. If you r using canned beans you can directly use it …
Roast tomato on gas stove …remove its charred skin and chop it finely(remove the seeds of tomatoes if you don’t like)
Deep the eggplant pieces in salt water for 10 – 15 minutes …drain the water and add 1 teaspoon oil and salt to it, mix it well…. either roast it in microwave oven or grill it till it becomes tender and roasted …repeat the same procedure with potato pieces
Let the roasted or grilled potato and eggplant cool at room temperature …when you want to serve it at that time mix this grilled or roasted eggplant and potato and add kidney beans, roasted and chopped tomato , finely chopped onions, finely chopped garlic cloves, finely chopped mint leaves, lemon juice, freshly crushed black pepper in it ….toss them very well…. Serve it with lemon slices
Before roasting the whole Eggplant ( Brinjal/ Aubergines) you should read following tips of buying good and fresh eggplant
[directions title=”Directions”]
Fresh, younger, slender and the size and weight ratio are the things you should remember while choosing a eggplant for roasting or making any other eggplant recipe .
the size and weight ratio of eggplant means when you hold the egg plant it should be light in weight as compare to its size . when you tap such eggplant it gives sound that indicates hollow inside. Such eggplant does not contain lots of seeds and the seeds r tender. Larger seeds of eggplants hold lots of bitterness
fresh egg plant contains less seeds and less stringy the reason for this is as eggplants mature they become rich in alkaloids which gives bitter flavor.
Also follow the instructions of buying eggplant which i have written in All about eggplants
Even after checking all this fundas sometimes there are hard seeds inside eggplant….remove it with spoon after roasting and also remove the strings otherwise it spoil the taste of your recipe.
There r lots of ways to roast eggplant to get the smoky flavor
[/directions]
Roasting whole eggplant directly on stove
Roasting whole eggplant on coal
Roasting whole eggplant on bonfire
You can roast eggplant also in oven but it doesn’t give the smoky flavour … roasted eggplant on bonfire gives the best smoky flavour 🙂
For roasting eggplant you need following preparations
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
1 whole Eggplant
Oil for brushing the eggplant
[/ingredients]
[directions title=”Directions”]
Wash and dry the eggplant . with a fork pierce it all over few times to vent .
Brush it with oil….place this eggplant on top of gas stove or coal or inside the bonfire …..if your roasting it on gas stove turn the flame little higher .. when the skin starts looking little burn make the flame medium and then roast it until the eggplant becomes very soft ..
If your using grill coal on bonfire preheat before you start roasting
Use tongs while roasting to turn the eggplant ….in case of bonfire you have to check it by removing it and pressing it ..
When the stem side of eggplant becomes soft that means the roasting is done
Before removing the charred skin allow it to cool for few minutes ….remove the charred skin ….cut the eggplant pulp and see if there is any worm if it’s there discard it immediately it happens some time so you have to check it before proceeding to roasted eggplant recipe.
[/directions]
you can use this roasted smoky flavoured eggplant for—
Spicy recipe of roasted eggplant with onion and tomatoes /baingan bhartha
Roasting Eggplant in microwave oven
If u want to roast whole eggplant in microwave just remember one thing it will not give smoky flavour …..
Still you want to roast eggplant in a microwave just wash and dry the eggplant , with a fork pierce it all over few times to vent ,brush it with oil(brushing with oil will enhance the process of roasting eggplant)…keep this eggplant in microwave safe dish… and keep on high power for 8-12 minutes …time of roasting will depend on size of eggplant…
Roasted or Baked eggplant tastes best in microwave if its in the form of pieces or slices… If u want to cook eggplant in microwave for some recipe just cut it into pieces and cook it according to its weight in microwave oven…
Eggplant recipes which tastes best in microwave cooking are
How to select eggplant(Brinjal/aubergines)when you go for buying it?
[directions title=”Directions”]
The stem and cap of the eggplant should be bright green. It should not be dried. You should see its stem and cap it should not be very thin in ratio with size of the eggplant bulb…
Check the cap of stem and the bulb contact of eggplant, generally worms penetrate from this area .
Avoid buying eggplant in rainy season as it comes with lots of worms in it. In south Asian countries eggplant tastes better in winters.
Choose the eggplant that are firm and their skin should be smooth and shiny . weight of egg plant should be light as compare to their size. This indicates that it has less seeds . the eggplant which have lots of hard seed taste bad..If the eggplant is soft and have wrinkles on it indicates that it is the older one …older eggplant have more bitter taste and their shelf life is less.
Egg plant looks hardy but actually they are very perishable. They r sensitive to both heat and cold and should be ideally stores in 8-10 degree Celsius. Do not cut the eggplant while storing as it perishes quickly as its skin punctured. Store it in crisper of refrigerator.
[/directions]
Instruction to follow while cooking eggplant
[directions title=”Directions”]
Use stainless steel knife to cut eggplant .
If you find that there is some itchy sensation while cutting eggplant, put it in salt water and keep it for 10- 15 minutes.
Never keep egg plant for a long time after dicing it ..it turns out black very faste . Marinate it with a pinch of turmeric and little oil.
Avoid cooking eggplant with tomatoes as it takes long time for eggplant to get cook with tomatoes. but eggplant taste really good with tomato so either cook them separately and then combine it or add tomatoes in egg plant when its already cooked ..
Avoid eggplant and milk to cook together as in ayurveda its said to be virudha ana i.e. not to be eat together
There are lots of ways to cook eggplant … kids generally love eggplant wedges in different forms …roasted eggplant goes very well with green onion and garlic , the other way of cooking this roasted eggplant is with onion and tomatoes with lots spices .. The one recipe which I and my family loves is stuffed eggplant with crushed peanut and coconut either in dried or gravy form.
Keep the slices in salt water for about 10 – 15 minutes; this generally removes the bitter taste and itchiness of eggplant.
Drain the water from eggplant and wash it with plain water. marinate it with turmeric , salt , red chili powder ,onion slices, chickpea flour ,cumin seed and oil. Leave it for 10 minutes. add sesame seed and toss it well
Microwave it on high power for 10 – 12 minutes or till done. onion should turn little crispy
Notes
1) If you like fried wedges you can fry it …it taste really good after frying but not for health conscious people
2) If you’re planning to fry this wedges add baking soda . if you’re going to use microwave no need to add baking soda .
Cut the eggplant into thick slices of ½ inch . I don’t remove the skin as it has lots of nutrients and it keeps the wedges intact and looks good. If you don’t like the skin remove it while eating it .
Keep the slices in salt water for about 10 – 15 minutes; this generally removes the bitter taste and itchiness of eggplant.
Drain the water from eggplant and wash it with plain water. marinate it with turmeric , salt , red chili powder and oil. Leave it for 10 minutes. add sesame seed and toss it well
Microwave it for 8 minutes on high power . or bake it 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes or till done.
Happy Ganesh chaturthi to all of you . We all enjoy lots of modak and ladoo during this festival. Modak is a sweet dumpling prepared on auspicious festival of ganesh chaturthi. It is very popular recipe of Maharashtra ,Goa ,Gujarat and now a days in all parts of India during Ganesh chaurthi festival .I make variety of Modak and Ladoo Prasad on ganesh chaturthi .
Covering of Modak are generally made from wheat flour ( kanik / gheu ka atta) , rice flour ( tandalachi pithi/ chawal ka atta) or semolina ( rava / sooji) . Stuffing if Modak are generally made from coconut, jaggery, dry fruits etc. Some modaks are without covering like dry fruit Modak , Halwa / Sheera Modak , Gajar Halwa Modak , Gulab jamun Modak , chocolate Modak , Mawa / Khoya Modak etc . you can do lots of variation in Modak and each year you can try different Modak on this auspicious occasion.
This is the authentic recipe of fried Modak with coconut jaggery stuffing. I made the covering if this Modak by using whole wheat flour. Fried Modak are made with variety of stuffings like sweet cooked chana dal with jaggery ( Puran) stuffing , coconut sugar stuffing or dry fruits khoya stuffing . Ucan make any stuffing of ur choice. Read the recipe…
This is quick and easy recipe of Modak . you just have to cook fresh or dry desiccated coconut with condensed milk (Nestlé milkmaid/ amul mithaimate ) . This Modak are easy and tastes good . Add dryfruitModak of ur choice to make this recipe rich. you can also add coco powder in this Modak to make chocolate Modak . Read the recipe….
This are easy and tasty Modak made from whole wheat flour, dry fruits and ghee. This Modak are generally made in Maharashtra and Gujarat during Ganesh festival. Ther is no need of stuffing in this modak . you simply have to fill the Churma mixture in Modak Mould and demould it . Read the recipe.….
These Modak are very tasty and healthy. It contains khoya ( mava) and dry fruits. You can make this Modak with sugar / sugarfree natura Modak . Everybody loves this Modak . Read the recipe….
This tasty chocolate Modak I make with khoya ( khawa/ mawa ) or chenna base. This Modak are favorite Ganesh pooja Prasad for kids. i made this modak in two ways either from paneer ( curdled milk) or Khoa (mawa / khoya) . Both this recipe of chocolate modak are prepared without ready made chocolate . Read the recipe…..
Carrot Halwa / Gajar ka halwa cooked with fresh grated coconut is the recipe of this Modak . This Modak has very tempting colour . You can cook this Halwa in coconut milk, almond milk or cashew milk to make this Modak vegan (without milk ) . This Modak tastes awesome and can be served hot or cold. Read the recipe….
This Modak are very tasty and nutritious. There is no need to add sugar or ghee in this Modak . Dates and dry fruits gives nice sweet taste to this Modak and dates helps for the binding of Modak . Read the recipe…..
This Modak can be made with ready to use gulab jamun dough , shape the gulab jamun dough into Modak shape deep fry and deep it in sugar syrup. Read the recipe….
This Modak are made from Halwa/ Sheera made from semolina ( rava/ sooji). Just need feel up Sheera in Modak mold or shape it with ur fingers. You can also make this Modak with banana Halwa which we make satyanarayan pooja mahaprasad. you can stuff this Modak with little dry fruits . Read the recipe….
Many Modak has coconut jaggery stuffing in it. You can make this stuffing with fresh or dry coconut with sugar or jaggery . This stuffing is very easy to make and you can fill it up this stuffing in traditional fried Modak, ukadiceh Modak or semolina Modak ( ravyache Modak / sooji ke Modak). Read the recipe…..
This Modak is a traditional recipe of maharashtra , kokan and goa . Ukadiche Modak are rice flour dumpling with sweet coconut jaggery stuffing. This Modak are served hot . This Modak requires lot of practice especially the making if ukad I.e cooking the rice flour with right amount of water molding of Modak . Fresh and good quality of rice flour is used to make this Modak . A special rice called ambe mohar is used to make rice flour , basmati rice flour also works best to make this Modak . They are served hot with ghee to lord Ganesha . Read the recipe...
This Modak recipe is same as ukadiche Modak recipe . The only difference is the covering of the Modak is made from rava or sooji in place of rice flour. This Modak are simple as compare to ukadiche Modak . it tastes good and can be served hot or cool .Read the recipe…
Churma Ladoo are also offered to lord Ganesha . this Ladoo are called as Churma ke Laddu in hindi , Churma na Ladwa in gujarati and churmyache Ladooo in Marathi. Both Ladoo and Modak are offered to ganpati. This Ladoo has long shelflife and can be stored for all 11 days of ganesh chaturthi. Read the recipe….
This dry fruits modak recipe is very healthy and nutritious . in this recipe i haven’t add sugar and ghee, sweet dates are enough to give sweet taste to this modak. if u dont want to add dates u can use dry figs .
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
2 cup deseeded Dates (remove the seeds of dates and then measure it for 2 cups )use soft and sticky dates don’t use the dry ones/2 cup dry figs (anjeer)
1 cup dry fruits (almond or badam, cashew or kaju nuts, pistachios)
Hazel nut or raisins or cashew nut for stuffing (don’t cut or chop this nut keep it whole )
Chop 1 cup of dry fruits into small pieces …in a pan roast this chopped dry fruits on low flame or take them in a microwave safe container and roast it for 1 minute on high power.
Mix the chopped roasted dry fruits , coarsely ground dates and cardamom powder …mix it nicely with a spoon
Take the modak mold and all you have to do is stuff it with this this dry fruits mixture by keeping the middle portion hollow ….put raisins or 1 hazelnut in the hollow space and again fill the modak mold with dry fruits mixture …do remember to grease the modak mold with ghee before use ..make all the modaks in this way
Sprinkle desiccated coconut or roasted poppy seeds(khus khus )on this modak before serving it to lord ganesha .
My kids love gulab jamuns … I use to make it in round or oval shape…. And one day while making gulab jamun this idea come to my mind to make gulab jamuns in modak shape….it looks good…. Serve the gulab jamun modak without the syrup and sprinkled little desiccated coconut on it … I hope you will love to serve this recipe to lord ganesha and obliviously to your family ….
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
Ingredients
2 cups khoya(mawa)
¾ cup Paneer or chenna (follow the how to make chena recipe in easy sandesh modak)
2 tablespoon maida (all purpose flour)
1 ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder
2 ½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon rosewater
2 tablespoon milk to make the dough
Water 4 cups
Ghee for deep frying
For stuffing —
10 cashew nuts and 10 almonds coarsely ground together and add 25 30 raisins in it and mix it ….
Desiccated coconut for garnishing
[/ingredients]
[directions title=”Directions”]
Grate khoya(mawa) and paneer or chenna add maida (all-purpose flour) and 1 teaspoon cardamom powder and mix them well in food preocessor….if you find it hard add 2 tablespoon milk and mix it well…this dough shoul be soft
The main part which is actually very intresting is to make modak of this dough… you can modak mould by greasing it with ghee and stuff it with this dough by keeping the middle portion hollow put little stuffing into hollow space and again fill the modak mould with the dough …do remember to grease the modak mould with ghee before use ..Make all the modaks in this way…the other way of making this modak is by hands ….first make 2 inch balls by filling little stuffing in each ball of this dough and then give them the shape of modak using your fingers …
Mix water and sugar in a container and bring it to boil on medium flame …boil this sugar syrup until it reaches single thread consistency…. Remove it from flame ….To this syrup add ½ teaspoon cardamom powder and rose water ….
Now heat ghee in frying pan ….once it becomes hot gently drop modak in the ghee … fry it on low flame ….it will take some time but the gulab jamun modak will not be cooked from inside if you fry it on high flame … once it becomes dark brown remove it from ghee and add it immediately in sugar syrup…fry all the the gulab jamun modak in this way and transfer them in syrup immediately …..Let it get soaked for couple of hours ….
Now remove the gulab jamun modak from the syrup and garnish them with desiccated coconut or roasted khu khus
Serve it warm or chilled ….personally I prefer the chilled one…this modak r super surprise for your family members …
[/directions]
Notes
If you find this gulab jamun modak making little tedious job ..just bring gulab jamun mix of gits or milkmaid or mothers recipe or bambino….follow the recipe…..but you have to make stuffing…and that’s really easy…and then follow the modak shaping procedure , frying procedure and garnishing procedure…
Ukadiche modak (Steamed Rice Modak) are famous in Maharashtra and konkan ……it is served with sajuk tup(desi ghee / home-made ghee/clarified butter)
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
For outer modak covering
1 ½ cup rice flour(if your in pune or Mumbai you get tandalachi pithi for ukadiche modak …. If you want to make rice flour at your home use ambemohar or basmati rice for this flour)
Mix jaggery and grated coconut and keep it aside for ½ hour
After ½ an hour In a heavy bottom pan add this jaggery coconut mixture ..stir the mixture ..cook this mixture till the jaggery starts thickening .
Don’t overcook as then the mixture will become very hard. Keep it aside for cooling
Add cashew nuts and almond powder and cardamom powder …mix it well..allow it to cool
As the stuffing mixture cools it will thicken …
For covering
:-)Warning –This the most important task in this modak …don’t do any other work when you are doing this covering part ……
Mix water butter/ghee and salt in a pan keep it on flame …bring it to boil ….remove 1 cup of boiling water and keep it aside…..we will add this water later if the mixture becomes very stiff…we don’t want the mixture sticky or wet …remove the pan from flame
Now start adding little little rice flour stirring it continuously in the pan containing the boiled water with ghee and salt….add all the rice flour in it …stir it continuously there should not be single lump in it….add the boiled water which we have removed if required the dough should not be very stiff …if the dough becomes very wet or sticky then add little more rice four to it ….consistency of ukad is the important part in ukadich modak …mix it properly with spatula…
Now keep this pan again on low flame and let the rice flour cook by covering its lid …steam should be trap inside to cook the dough….stir in between so that it should not stick the pan …the mixture will become little transparent that means its cooked
Now remove the dough over flat surface…let it become little warm then knead the mixture ….the dough will stick to your fingers ,for that apply little water or ghee to your palm ….knead it nicely
Make 2 inch ball of the dough (keep the remaining dough covered otherwise hard layer will start forming on dough … whenever the dough is required take it and cover it again) roll the dough on your palm and make a nice thin disc with your fingers and then make a bowl of it …now add 1 tablespoon of stuffing inside this bowl shape dough and make 5 -6 pinches on the edges of this dough bowl
Now bring all the edges together and close the top shape and taper the top of the modak
Make all the modak this way 🙂
Grease steaming plate or cooker vessels with ghee or put muslin cloth on it this will help you to remove the modak …you can also use banana leaf , just keep banana leaf pieces on the plate or cooker veesel and keep ukadiche modak on it gives very nice flavor to your modak …steam modak for 6-7 minutes …transfer it in a serving bowl and serve them hot with ghee …..
[/directions]
Top 6 Tips for making ukdiche modak perfect
Use fresh rice flour for ukadiche modak …older rice flour will get crack while steaming ….….
Sieve the rice flour before using it …
Knead the dough when its hot otherwise it won’t be pliable …..
Some people use freshly harvested rice for the rice flour ..This rice has sticky consistency and the dough which is form is very pliable to make modak covering…
Use non stick pan for making ukad for ukadiche modak….
Don’t do any other work while making ukadiche modak
My mother use to make banana semolina(rava )sheera as Satyanarayan MahaPrasad and panchamrutham each year at the time of ganpati days as we use to perform this Satyanarayan vrath pooja on one of the 11 days during ganpati festival…this Mahaprasad has nice flavor of basil (tulsi) which is consider to be very auspicious ….we use to serve this Prasad in the form of modak to the people who come for darshan of both satyanarayan and ganpati….this modak doesn’t take much time to make ….banana, basil(tulsi ) and cardamom gives very nice flavor to this Prasad modak…the aroma is so good that you could smell it down the street ..This is the food that add pleasant aroma of festival in your house….
[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]
1 cup semolina(sooji/rava)
¾ cup whole milk
¾ cup water
¾ cup ghee
1 ripe banana
3/4cup sugar or sugarfree natura
1 teaspoon cardamom
20 – 25 raisins
1 tablespoon chopped cashew nuts
Few strands of saffron(kesar)
1 tablespoon Charoli/chironji
10-15 Tulsi or basil leaves
[/ingredients]
[directions title=”Directions”]
Mix water an milk in a container and bring to boil….
In a microwave safe bowl first roast the cashewnut pieces and charoli or chironji for 1 minute with a teaspoon of ghee in it ..then add raisins to it and again microwave it for 20 seconds ….if your not using microwave roas it a pan with little ghee …
Roast the semolina in a heavy bottom pan until it becomes very light….(basically the moisture should evaporate and each particle should get roasted nicely) remove it from the pan….
Add ½ cup ghee in the same pan add basil leaves in the ghee ….add the roasted semolina in it… roast it again until the semolina get light pink in colorand the basil leaves becomes crispy…add finely chopped banana to it …roast it again with banana stirring it continuously…banana will start melting ….make the heat low and Add the boiling water milk mixture to this roasted mixture and mix it properly
Add sugar or sugarfree natura in the mixture …mix it properly and cover the lid and let it cook for 3-4 minutes…
Open the lid ….add cardamom powder , saffron(kesar) and the remaining ghee in it …now remove it from the heat …cool it slightly…your halwa or sheera or you can say Mahaprasad is now ready for modak preperation…
As it becomes cool it will become little dense…this is the time when you have to fill up the modak mold with this halwa(sheera) .If you have modak mold take it and all you have to do is stuff it with this halwa(sheera)by pressing it nicely with your index finger and demold ……for first modak you have to grease the modak mould after that its not necessary to grease it again as this modak contains already lots of ghee in it ,if u dont have modak shape it with the help of finger and palm….serve this nicely flavored modak to our lord ganesha …..
semolina modak for ganpati
prasad modak
[/directions]
Notes
Roast the semolina nicely otherwise your modak will taste sticky….
Some people add pinch of edible camphor to this halwa(sheera) especially in south India it taste really good
If your using fine semolina (rava or sooji) this quantity of water milk is ok. But if your using coarse semolina add extra ½ cup milk in the water milk mixture , otherwise it will become very dry ….
When you r seving this modak microwave it for 10 – 15 seconds it taste good when its warm…
Eggplant salad is very nutritious and the healthy recipe for diabetic people….. I had added kidney beans in it to make it protein rich …..
