Mingle it up

Bharela Marcha or stuffed chili peppers are mine & my husband’s one of the favorite Gujarati side dish. It’s mildly spicy chili pepper like Anaheim chili stuffed with roasted & seasoned chick pea flour. It’s a simple dish but extremely tasty.My mom had given me this recipe 6 years back while I was studying. I still have this email that my dad had written & my mummy must be probably dictating to him the procedure on how to make it. It’s such a sweet email where my dad has tried his level best to convert my mom’s Gujarati into appropriate English translations .

Let’s get started

Ingredients

6 Long Anaheim Chilies
2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp of oil - You can use more oil if you prefer but I like to use as little as the dish requires. Of course I use enough so that I don’t compromise on the taste and the texture.
pinch of hing
1/2 cup Besan (Chick pea flour)
3 tbsp of roasted & crushed peanut powder
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 tsp of tumeric
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp amchur/dry mango powder (optional)
1.5 tsp salt (to taste)
1 tsp of sugar (to taste)

Steps

1. Dry roast the chickpea flour (besan) on low heat for about 10 minutes till you smell nice aroma from it. Constantly keep mixing the flour to ensure even roasting.

2. Take it off the flame & rest it for some time to cool.

3. After it’s cooled, add the roasted peanut powder, all the dry spices & rub in 1.5-2 tbsp of oil. Mix everything well & adjust the salt as per your taste.

4. Slit the chilies lengthwise just from one side leaving the stem intact and de-seed it.

5. Fill in around 1 heaping tbsp of besan mixture in the slit chili carefully & nicely pack it.

6. Take a wide mouth pan such that all the chilies can fit into the pan. Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil in the pan & add pinch of hing once it is hot.

7. Nicely arrange all the stuffed chilies in the pan, so that all of them are in direct contact with the pan. Sprinkle remaining stuffing mixture (if any) on the chilies.

Hi Friends,

I am back with great, healthy & quick snack item - sooji dhokla. In a gujarati household, Dhokla is a very common food item. Dhoklas are steamed & most commonly served as an appetizer or tea time snack. They are soft, fluffy in texture & awesome in taste. They are very filling & healthy as well.

My mom makes lots of different kinds of dhoklas like

-Mixed Dal (Yellow Mung Dal, split mung dal, Channa Dal) Dhokla
-Khaman (Besan - Chickpea flour) Dhokla
-Rice Dhokla
-Sooji Dhokla

Today we will go over on how to make Sooji Dhokla
Serves 2-3 people

1 Cup Sooji (Cream of wheat)
1/2 Yogurt + 1/2 cup water
2 tsp of oil
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp ginger/chili paste (to taste)
1 tsp of Eno Fruit Salt Or 1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of Lemon juice
few sprigs of cilantro for garnishing.
1/2 tsp ajwain / Carrom seeds (optional)

Oil Tempering

2 tsp of oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
1 /4 tsp of sesame seeds
1 green chili (slit lengthwise)
3-4 curry leaves

Step up used to steam the dhoklas

If you already have a Dhokla stand with the plates, then you are already set. If don’t have one no need to worry you can still make these spongy goodness without any problem.
All you need is a
-container with a lid
-a round plate that has some depth to it that fits in the container above.
-a small stand that can give the round plate an elevated platform when placed inside the container.

1. Take the container & fill about 1 inch of water in it or the amount which is lesser than the height of the small stand.
2. Place the stand in the container filled with water.
3. Place the greased round plate filled with Dhokla batter on top of the stand. Such that it is little high above the water level. Make sure that water should not enter the dhokla batter. Water is used to steam the dhoklas.
4. Cover the container with the lid & leave very small room for steam to escape the vessel.
5. You can use Pressure cooker with its lid as a container but make sure not to put its whistle while steaming the dhoklas.