The delights of blogging: Funke/Waffole

From the day I became a blogger I have seen so many different varieties of foods from all over the globe. I have even tried out a few and loved them. But for a few weeks now I have been Googling away on the Internet like never before for something not global but very close to home. The reason behind it is this very interesting project that I am doing with a group of friends. The project is to create an attractive display of Maharashtrian Culinary Delights (in pictures of course) for our local library. Everyday as we are prepare for this I realise what a vast variety of Maharashtrian recipes there is to choose from and it is mind boggling having to choose which ones will go up on the display and which ones won't. And this is the case inspite of the fact that we are dealing with only one state of India. God knows we would probably have gone crazy had it been a project about Indian Cuisine in general. Now Maharashtra being a large state (as the name itself denotes) boasts of a cuisine so varied that some of the dishes that are commonly cooked in the north of the state are not even heard of in the south and vice versa of course. I must say this project has provided the perfect opportunity for us to explore the delightful cuisine of our own state.

Just a couple of days back while I was on one such culinary journey on the net I discovered this fabulous and very very simple recipe from Khandesh. Khandesh is an area to the north of Maharashtra and Khandeshi cuisine is particularly known for it's earthy and spicy flavours. I read the original recipe on Aarti's Corner and it was the simplicity of the recipe that really appealed to me. I made just a couple of changes. Firstly I reduced the number of chillies so my son would not make a fuss , secondly I mixed in the sesame seeds along with all the other ingredients in the dough and I also added a bit of sugar .

You need:

1 cup Toor Daal

2 onions finely chopped

1/3 cup coriander, finely chopped

1 inch ginger minced( or use a tblspn of store bought bottled minced ginger)

3 cloves garlic minced

2 green chillies minced

4-5 tsp sesame seeds

1 -2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tspn sugar

salt to taste

Method:

1) Soak Toor Daal for 1-2 hrs

2) Drain all water and coarsely grind it

3) Mix all the remaining ingredients and knead together

4) Make small dumplings of any shape you like

5) Put these dumplings in a steamer/cooker and steam it for 15-20 mins .

The healthy version of this dish is the steamed one . But if you are in an indulgent mood like I was you can fry the dumplings. Eitherway they are irresistable.

If any of you have any typically Maharashtrian recipes that could be used for my project ,do mail me your suggestions . I would be more than happy to research them.