Aayi’s Recipes Konkan/Konkani food blog, Indian culinary treasures

Few days ago, we had invited our friends for dinner. Our friend Jyoti told us, she makes this delicious Pad Thai atleast once a week to take in her lunch box. What interested me most was the fact that she told me, she does not use any kind of sauces in it. Though I have used Soy sauce, fish sauce etc in the past, I am making a conscious effort not to use them now due to various reasons. The only sauce I have on hand these days is hot sauce. I asked Jyoti for her recipe. I made some minor modifications and absolutely loved the end result. This is not a traditional Thai recipe, but I can safely say it is a healthy and easy version of the classic.

Read more about Pad thai. Check Nupur’s version.
I don’t have exact measurements for this. I used whatever vegetables I had on hand instead of buying specially for the dish.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb Pad Thai noodles
1 Egg
1 tea spn garlic
1 tea spn red chilli flakes
1 tea spn red chilli sauce
2-3 tbl spn brown sugar
3 tbl spns coarse peanut powder
1 tbl spn coriander leaves
2 tbl spns lemon juice
Oil
Salt
Vegetables -
Green beans cut into thin long pieces
Carrot cut into thin long pieces
Snow peas
Zucchini
Extra firm Tofu (did not use these)
Bean sprouts (did not use these)
Broccoli (did not use these)

Method:
Cook noodles according to packet instructions.
Heat 2 tbl spns water, sugar and red chilli flakes till it thickens a bit.
Heat oil in a big wok and add tofu. Stir fry them for few minutes. With a spoon, push them to a side of wok and add eggs in the remaining space. Scramble the eggs.
Now add all the vegetables, garlic and fry them for few minutes. Let them cook for a bit.
Add cooked noodles, salt and the prepared sugar-red chilli sauce. Add the red chilli sauce(if using). Mix everything well. (Taste it at this point and add more chilli flakes or sugar if necessary).
Add lemon juice, peanut powder and mix well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Serves : 1-2

Now, the authenticity police may beat me down for this recipe here. This is not a authentic recipe, but inspired by my Mexican favorites. Quesadilla - pronounced as kisadia, is made of melted cheese between folded corn tortilla. While I try it sometimes, V does not go anywhere near this.

Salsa is kind of condiment served with many Mexican dishes. We get salsas made of tomato, corn, fruit etc. I think it goes very well with Quesadilla.

Now, let’s see how this recipe was born. On one of those grocery shopping sprees, I brought home a pack of jalapeño jack cheese – which I was pretty sure would be very hot. I spent more than 30 minutes in the cheese aisle that day. I was in a mood to try a new cheese. We see so many varieties here and I have no clue about most of them. So I wanted to give a try. (Did I say, I tried two more new cheeses that day and didn’t like their taste at all).

Then, on one of my farmer’s market visits, I bought peaches. I had my eyes on them for a while, but never bought them. That day when I was passing infront of one of the vegetable/fruit stalls there, the lady asked me to taste one. And there I was, walking with 5 peaches in next couple of minutes. The one I tasted there was extremely sweet. The ones I brought home, not so much.

So now I had to think of something to do with the cheese and the peach. I made a bread using that cheese(but forgot to write down recipe). Now, next I wanted something extremely simple. So I thought of making Quesadilla – salsa combo. I am not a big fan of tortilla – the smell puts me off every time. So I decided to make my own wheat tortillas – in other words, I made huge, thin phulkas. I roasted them half and stacked them till I was ready to make the Quesadilla. The salsa was quick one too.

We enjoyed this so much that, I have already made it more than 2 times in last 2 weeks. I think it will be a regular from now on.

In the picture above, I didn’t use corn in salsa and jalapeño in Quisadilla. The second time when I used them, we thought these two enhanced the taste to a large extent. So I am writing them down in the recipe.

Quisadilla
Tortillas or big, thinly phulkas
Pepper jack or jalapeño jack cheese
Few jalapeños(optional)
Olive oil

Method:
Spread olive oil on a heated frying pan/tava.
Keep a tortilla on it.

After few seconds, turn it upside down and spread a handful of cheese and jalapeño pieces on half portion.

Fold the other half over it. Press it down a bit. Turn upside down, till the cheese melts and the tortilla is crisped up.

Cut into pieces and serve hot.

Peach-corn salsa
1/2 cup peaches(or mangoes) finely chopped
1/2 cup corn cooked till done
2 tbl spns tender capsicum finely chopped
2 tbl spns onion finely chopped
1-2 tea spns lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 tea spns coriander leaves finely chopped

Method:
Take all the ingredients in a bowl. Be careful while adding lemon juice, if peaches are too sour, add less amount. Mix everything with a spoon and serve.

We get two types of edible Amaranth – red ones called as ‘tambdi bhajji’ and green one(we call it white) called as dhavi(white) bhajji. Any greens are called bhajji in Konkani and stems are called as dento/dente. These greens are full of iron. Moreover all parts – stem and leaves of it are delicious especially when it is tender. We prepare sukke, saasam and raandayi using this bhajji dento. Both of these varieties are very popular here. The amaranth that we get here have thick stems unlike the ones that are commonly available in Bangalore. Any kind of green amaranth can be used for this dish.

Peel the thick stems and cut them into pieces. Thick roots can also be used after washing.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup black eyes beans(alsande) or dried peas(vatana) or green moong
2 cups amarath(bhajji dente) about 4 – 5 cms length pieces with leaves
1/4 cup baamboo shoot(keerlu) pieces (optional )
7–8 jackfruit seeds(bikkand) crushed (optional )
1 cup grated Coconut
5–6 red chillies
5–6 Teppal
2–3 Kokum pieces
1 tea spn Jaggery
Salt

Method:
Cook black eyed beans, amaranth pieces/leaves with bamboo shoot pieces and jackfruit seeds in cooker. Grind coconut with red chillies. Add the paste to the cooked mixture and heat. Add kokum pieces (or tamarind water),salt, jaggery and teppal crushed lightly.Cook for about 4 – 5 minutes. Serve as a side dish with rice or chapati.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins