Sutarfeni/ Sutar Pheni

Sutarfeni or સુતરફેણી means threadlike noodles spun together. These noodles could be sweetened or unsweetened. Unsweetened noodles can be eaten with warm milk and nuts to form a noodle porridge. Sweetened ones can be eaten as it is from the box :) Being brought up in Mumbai,  I remember eating sweetened sutarfeni. I had not even seen unsweetened ones until I moved to the US. In fact, it is really difficult to find the sweetened sutarfeni here. This is one of my favorite sweets since the childhood. And the best sutarfeni in Mumbai was sold at 'Parsi Dairy Farm', a famous Parsi sweet shop at Princess street, Mumbai.

It is easy to make and for all the sweet lovers out there, these shredded noodles are lightly sweetened and melt in the mouth. Your guests will be super impressed by you if you serve them this fine and delicate sweet!

To begin with, I found the shredded filo dough packet at a Mediterranean grocery store near my house. I had bought the packet to wrap paneer (cottage cheese) and to fry it. Basically I wanted to make an appetizer. Instead, I thought of making a sweet of it! Shredded filo dough is also called Kataifi and is found in the frozen section of the store.

I pulled out few long strands and arranged them in a circular fashion in a metal sieve/strainer. 

These strands were then fried in hot ghee or clarified butter for 15 seconds.

I gently removed them from the stainer on a paper towel. Made remaining sutarfenis! These were small ones, each of 3 inch diameter. Big round ones can also be prepared depending on the size of metal strainer.

I let all the prepared circular sutarfenis cool well. 

While they were cooling, I prepared a thick sugar syrup with 2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup water. I added a tsp of cardamon powder the the syrup and allowed the sugar syrup to cool completely.

 

I arranged all the fenis on a cooling rack. Then poured cool sugar syrup  over the fenis. Around 2-3 tbsps. of sugar syrup should be enough for each feni.

Here comes my favorite part! Sprinkling chopped  almonds and pistachios over the sutarfeni so that the nuts are held by the dried sugar. Also, sprinkling some freshly ground cardamon powder gives fresh and wonderful flavor as you bite into the sweet.  Although I felt like picking up one, I let these noodles absorb the sugar syrup and set well. Once the sugar dries, sutarfeni is ready to serve. I immediately offered one to GOD (as we do before tasting any sweet or food) and then got the bite of it!

Here is a batch of Sutarfeni I prepared for the Annukut at BAYVP Vaishnav temple Milpitas.

  Enjoy these delicate sweet threads, Sutarfeni!

Potato Pancake/ Batata Na Pudla

Potato pancake or બટાટા ના પુડલા, a delicious, mouthwatering snack :) Who does not like potatoes!! One of our favorite food during fast (and even otherwise:)) With all Hindu fasts and festivals lined up, variety in food is a must! This pancake is prepared by just using grated potatoes and spices.

Ingredients (Makes 8 pancakes)
6-7 large potatoes
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ginger and green chili paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp. red chili powder
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 fresh lime
Oil for shallow frying 

• Peel and grate potatoes.
• Add salt, finely chopped green chilies, or ginger and green chili paste, finely chopped cilantro, lime juice, turmeric powder, red chilly powder (and any other spice you would prefer, like garam masala.) 
• Depending on your family values/culture, you can add spices that are permitted during fasts.
• Mix spices well with grated potatoes. I like to use my fingers and palm for good mixing :)
• Heat a non stick pan or a skillet. Add few drop of oil. Take a handful of potato mixture and spread it on the pan or a skillet. Do not squeeze out starch water that potatoes have let out. This starch water will allow grated potato to bind. Lower the heat or get the skillet off your stove while spreading the mixture. This is a popular Maharashtrian cooking method while cooking Thalipeeth.
• Size, shape and thickness, entirely depends on how comfortable you are handling grated potatoes on hot skillet. Don't worry, this is sure to taste yummy!
• Add few drops of oil. Oil seeps through the potato mesh to make it crispy. The steam allow the potato to cook and binds all the strings. 
• Allow the bottom to cook and turn golden brown before you flip it. Use your spatula to press the pancake, which will allow it to bind and not come apart when you flip it.  
• Use a wide spatula to flip the pancake ad let it turn golden brown and crisp on both sides.
• Serve with cilantro chutney, peanut chutney, and some sliced cucumbers salad.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:
Peel and grate potatoes.

One of my favorite appliance in my kitchen, Food processor! I use this all the time to chop, grind, make a dough or grate. Today I used it to grate potatoes. Specially in a recipe like this, where you need lot of potatoes, grating them manually is time consuming and laborious.

I love my Food Processor!!

Grate potatoes to obtain long potato strings. If you are grating it manually, avoid making it too thin or it turns mussy.

 Transfer in a large mixing bowl.

Add salt, finely chopped green chilies, or ginger and green chili paste, finely chopped cilantro, lime juice, turmeric powder, red chilly powder (and any other spice you would prefer, like garam masala.)
Depending on your family values/culture, you can add spices that are permitted during fasts.
Mix well.

Mix spices well with grated potatoes. I like to use my fingers and palm for good mixing :)

Heat a non stick pan or a skillet. Add few drop of oil. Take a handful of potato mixture and spread it on the pan or a skillet. Do not squeeze out starch water that potatoes have let out. This starch water will allow grated potato to bind. Lower the heat or get the skillet off your stove while spreading the mixture. This is a popular Maharashtrian cooking method while cooking Thalipeeth.

Size, shape and thickness, entirely depends on how comfortable you are handling grated potatoes on hot skillet. Don't worry, this is sure to taste yummy!

Add few drops of oil. Oil seeps through the potato mesh to make it crispy. The steam allow the potato to cook and binds all the strings.

Allow the bottom to cook and turn golden brown before you flip it. Use your spatula to press the pancake, which will allow it to bind and not come apart when you flip it.  

Use a wide spatula to flip the pancake ad let it turn golden brown and crisp on both sides.

Serve with cilantro chutney, peanut chutney, and some sliced cucumbers salad.

Enjoy!!

Healthy Veggie Frankie

Frankie, reminds me of my childhood days! A tangy, spicy veggie cutlet wrapped in wheat flour pancake, is a healthy and delicious snack or a to-go meal.
Frankie is a weekend breakfast menu in my house. My father in law loves this recipe and I hope he comes here soon!

Ingredients.

To make cutlets: This is my moms cutlet recipe, Makes delicious, mouthwatering cutlets. Beetroot in this recipe not only added nutrition, but also a wonderful color and taste.

Boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes

Beans

Carrot

Beet root

Green peas

finely chopped ginger

finely chopped green chilly

chopped cilantro

lime juice

salt

Steam grated beet root, grate carrot, finely chopped beans, and peas.

I like to arrange these ingredients in a metal sieve and steam it. Do not over cook the veggies as it may destroy the nutritive value.

Remove steamed veggies in a mixing bowl.

Add boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes to the veggies. Add salt, lime juice, finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped ginger. Mix well steamed veggies let out lot of water. Do not discard the water. Lets save the nutritive value :) Add some dry poha or rice flakes to absorb water and to bind the cutlets well. (you could add bread crumbs) My mom never used bread or bread crumbs in most of her recipes since my grand mother like many old people in my country would not prefer bread or bread products. Mix the veggies well. Take 2 tbsp of mixture in your palm and make rectangular shaped cutlets and shallow fry using little oil.

To make pancakes: These pancakes can be made either using maida or all purpose flour. But I would like to use whole wheat flour, again to make it fiber rich and nutritive.

2 cups whole wheat flour

Water

Salt

1 tsp red chilly powder (optional)

Pinch on baking soda

Mix the ingredients to form a batter (pancake or dosa consistency)

In a frying pan, make wheat pancakes with few drop of oil to fry (avoid making too thin or too thick

Stack the pancakes. Make enough for the whole family :) Its okay for pancakes to cool down since we will be re-frying them before serving. Cover the pancake to prevent them from drying out. You could prepare this a day before and refrigerating it. I have done this a lot, specially when we need to carry them for picnics :)

Here comes the main part, arranging the Frankie :) 

Re-fry the pancake till its hot but not crisp. It might not allow you to make a roll.

Arrange cutlets in the center of the pan cake.

Sprinkle chopped onions and chopped cabbage (optional).

Sprinkle good amount of chaat masala. A main ingredient of frankie. Cutlets could be made with any ingredient you want, but chaat masala cannot be omitted. The combination of onions and chaat masala give the tangy (chatpata) taste to this healthy snack or a meal.

 

Tightly roll the pancake over the cutlets. Serve hot!

Wrap each frankie in aluminum foil. A great to go or picnic food. Each person gets their frankie. Easy to eat, filling, and healthy!

Enjoy!

Suggestions: 
Cutlet could be made only of potatoes or veggies of your choice.
Add grated cheese or paneer for kids (for adults too) :)
Add left over paneer tikka, or chicken tikka ( remember to add chaat masala and onions for taste).

Kesar Shrikhand

Shrikhand, a traditional Gujarati and Maharashtrian sweet yogurt prepared during auspicious occasions. This sweet/dessert is very easy to make and makes a great accompaniment with rotis and puris. In fact, a Gujarati Thali is incomplete with serving shrikhand. Aam ras/ Aam shrikhand also know as Aamrakhand or mango flavored shrikhand can be substituted during mango season.

Although Shrikhand is easily available in the Indian store, it is totally worth to make it at home with fresh ingredients and high quality products. Actual time needed to make this is just 10 minutes. Flavor intensifies and become delicious while left covered in the refrigerator. I think I might just take orders to cater Bay Area people with this easy and fresh recipe with best quality ingredients :)

Updated: On January 14th 2017, I invited some of my friends over for Undhiyu party. It was a potluck where my friends brought delicious Gujju food while I prepared Undhiyu and Shrikhand. Although I had published this post in 2012 the pictures were from 2008 and had made Shrikhand plenty of times after that, I was finally able to take fresh new pictures to update this post :) I am so glad my friends loved this Shrikhand. It is the happiest moment for a chef/cook when the entire bowl is licked.  HAPPY HAPPY ME!!!

Ingredients (serves 3-4 people)

4 cups regular plain yogurt (homemade or store bought or greek yogurt)

2 - 2+1/2 cups regular sugar powdered at home

A pinch or two of good quality saffron

1/4 cup slivered almonds and pistachios

Method: (Also check pictures at the bottom)

• Use a clean, white, muslin cloth to hang curd/plain yogurt to separate excess water. You could also use a fine mesh colander over a big bowl to collect excess water that drips. Let it remain for 3-4 hours to remove water and make thick and creamy dessert. If the climate is hot and humid, leave the colander and bowl in the refrigerator. That way yogurt will not turn sour and also drain excess water. Do not discard this water. Use it to make roti dough or kadhi/curry.
• Empty thick curd/yogurt in a mixing bowl.
• Add sugar. I do not add confectionery/icing sugar as it contains cornstarch and cannot be used during Hindu fasts.
• Add saffron and mix well to obtain maximum color. The color, taste, and flavor intensifies with time. I would like to make this ahead of time: before few hours or a day before to get delicious shrikhand.
• Mix sugar and saffron well.
• Add nuts and mix well.
• Cover and leave it in the refrigerator for few hours or overnight.
• Mix well, remove in a serving bowl.
• Garnish with nuts, and serve chilled.
• Enjoy!! 

 

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:
Use a clean, white, muslin cloth to hang curd/plain yogurt to separate excess water. You could also use a fine mesh colander over a big bowl to collect excess water that drips. Let it remain for 3-4 hours to remove water and make thick and creamy dessert. If the climate is hot and humid, leave the colander and bowl in the refrigerator. That way yogurt will not turn sour and also drain excess water. Do not discard this water. Use it to make roti dough or kadhi/curry.

Look at the amount of water collected in the bowl. If the water is not removed from yogurt, it would make a runny lassi drink and not shrikhand.

Empty thick curd/yogurt in a mixing bowl.

Add sugar. I do not add confectionery/icing sugar as it contains cornstarch and cannot be used during Hindu fasts.

Add saffron and mix well to obtain maximum color. The color, taste, and flavor intensifies with time.

Loo how kesar/saffron imparts color. 

There is no artificial color or flavor added to this.

Mix in slivered nuts. I like the texture of nuts in my skrikhand so I don't mind adding a lot of these.

Cover well and leave it in the fridge for few hours or overnight.

After few hours: See how saffron bleeds the color and flavor.

I love this picture...saffron strands with various intensities of color in yogurt.

Mix well and see how the color intensifies.

Pour in a serving bowl and garnish with slivered nuts and few strand of saffron (optional)