..... and everything else

  मराठी The one thing i miss most when not in Pune, is all that chaat : Bhel , pani-puri , shev puri ..yumm! The main ingredient in all these recipes is the tamarind sauce. This is the one that gives the taste to all these items. So there you go with the recipe Ingredients Tamarind , the size of a medium lemon** Jaggery - thrice that of tamarind Dates - 5-6 Cloves 4-5 Black Peppercorns 10-12 Black salt   to taste (about a teaspoon may be required) Rock salt to taste   (about half a teaspoon may be required) Cumin powder  2 teaspoon Optionally - half a cup of mint leaves. ** In India, the tamarind is available in the form of pressed squares/rounds, we have to pull out a round the size of a medium lemon Procedure Soak the tamarind in water. you may have to remove the seeds in the tamarind. You may put the cloves and the peppercorns in the same vessel as the tamarind to soak. De-seed the dates, in case they have seeds and soak them in water too. Mix slight amount o

मराठीत This is the sambar I learnt from my mother-in-law. So far, all those whom I have served this, have loved it! Ingredients Tur Dal   1 cup Tomato 3 Grated coconut  2 tablespoon Sambar masala powder 3 tablespoons** Tamarind  size of one medium lemon vegetables of your choice ( usually, all sorts of gourds, drumstick, brinjal, small onions, normal onions, cauliflower may be used) 200 g. Please note that this proportion may vary, but I feel adding good amount of veggies makes sambar healthy. salt to taste Red chilli powder to taste Jaggery, one teaspoon only if you prefer a hint of the sweet taste For the tadka Oil  1 tablespoon Mustard Seeds 1/2 teaspoon Asafoetida a pinch Urad Dal 1 teaspoon Dry Red chillies 4 Curry Leaves 2-3 twigs Coriander leaves for garnish ** You may use sambar masala powder of any brand like everest or MTR , else I have included the sambar masala powder recipe at the end of the post Procedure Soak the tamarind in water for about

For those who are looking for relevant information to travel to Bandung, please scroll down to the end of the post. Feel free to email me, and I can share whatever limited knowledge I have. Last weekend, we went to Bandung , a city about 120 km. from Jakarta. This was our first outing since we came to Jakarta, and we were really excited about it. The plan was to start at about 6am and be back by 10pm. We had gathered a list of places to visit in Bandung, a pretty long one :). Then as friends suggested, we had to choose only 3 or 4 as that was all that we could have done justice to, in a span of 8-9 hours. The travel started along the crowded toll road, as we navigated through the traffic leading to Bekasi and  Chikampek (Industrial settlements outside of Jakrta). As we moved ahead, the traffic started reducing, the road getting more and more beautiful. This country seems to be blessed with each and every colour of green that is possible. Hill slope farming could be seen along the