ValVal/Yogirathna (Vegetables in Coconut milk)

Val val is a favorite dish of Konkani community. It is a dish with combination of different vegetables - suran, ridge gourd, sweet potato, carrots, yard long beans, ivy gourd, beans, pumpkin etc. I like the combination of vegetables that I have used in this recipe. Inorder to keep the vegetables equally cooked, each of them is cooked separately. I pressure cook alsando and tendle since they take a little longer to cook than the others. Keep all the vegetables 3/4 cooked , so they remain a little crunchy. Over cooked vegetables will make the dish very mushy. Since this recipe was cooked in bulk, I cooked this dish in 3 batches and it roughly made close to 4 half size aluminum disposable trays.
         

Ingredients:

2 lbs alsando (yard long beans)
2 lbs tendle/tindora (Ivy gourd)
2 lbs green beans
2 lbs potatoes
4 lbs yellow pumpkin
3 zucchini
3 cups Bibbo (tender cashewnut) or whole cashew
30 green chilies, slit in half
6 cans coconut milk
3 heaped tsp maida (all purpose flour)
1/4 cup ghee (clarified butter)
6-8 tsp oil
9 tsp black mustard seeds
9 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
30 curry leaves

How it's made:

Cut alsando (yard long beans) to 1"pieces, tendle (Ivy Gourd) in 2-3 pieces, green beans to 1"pieces, potatoes and pumpkin to 1"cubes and zucchini into chunks.
Cook tender cashewnuts in 1/2 cup water until soft and set aside.
In a large heavy bottom pot add 1/3 of green bean and cook with 2-3 cups of water. Half way through cooking, add potatoes. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Add 1/3 of cooked alsano and tendle, yellow pumpkin, zucchini, tender cashewnut, 10 green chilies and salt to taste. Add 1-2 cups water if needed. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 cans of coconut milk. If coconut milk is too thick add a little water (only if needed). Cover and let it boil for 5 minutes.
Combine flour with 1/4 cup water. Stir well and make sure there are no lumps. Add 1/3 of this to the vegetables. (Make sure the curry is not too thick as it thickens over time).
In the meantime, heat ghee with oil combined together in a deep frying pan. Add 3 tsp of mustard seeds. When it splutters, add jeera and curry leaves. Add seasoning to val val and serve hot with dalitoy and white rice.
Repeat the same process twice.

Serves: approximately 80-100 people (with 2 more side dishes)

Tendle Batate Bibbe Upkari (Ivy Gourd with Potato and Cashewnut Stir Fry)

This is a recipe for bulk cooking and yields about 2 small aluminum foil trays (half size).

Ingredients:

5lb tendle/tindora (Ivy gourd)
2 1/2 lbs potatoes
4 cups Bibbo (tender cashewnut)
8-10 tsp oil
6 tsp black mustard seeds
8 red chillies, cut into 2"pieces (I use Byadgi)
salt to taste
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut

How its made:

Soak Bibbo (tender cashewnuts) in warm water overnight and peel the skin off. Cook in 1/2 cup water for 5 mins or until tender.
Cut ends of tendle and slice each tendle into four. Pressure cook for 5 minutes or until it is 3/4th cooked.
Peel potatoes and slice them into 2-3"long strips. Set aside.
To make cooking easy, cook in two batches.
In a wide deep pan, heat 4-5 tsp oil. Add 3 tsp mustard seeds When it splutters, add 4 red chilies cut in pieces. Once it changes color, add half the potatoes and salt to taste. When its 3/4 cooked, add half of cooked tendle and cashewnut. Add salt again. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Garnish with grated coconut.
Repeat process once again.

Serves: approximately 40-50 people

Chana Gashi

This dish is traditionally made with brown chana. With a large number of kids at the event, I decided to substitute with chick peas which is more kid friendly.
I initially thought 4 cans of jack-fruit would be a little too much. But by the end of the evening, all the jack-fruit pieces were fished out and I had about 2 cups of curry left with just chick peas!

Ingredients:

3 lbs whole chana (chick peas/garbanzo)
4 cans kadgi (raw jack-fruit)
1 1/2 packet frozen grated coconut (I used daily delight 1lb pack)
24-30 roasted red chilies (I use Byadgi)
marble size tamarind
salt to taste
oil
9 tsp black mustard seeds
9 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
30 curry leaves

How its made:

Soak chana overnight. Pressure cook in 3 batches.
In a blender, blend 1/2 packet of grated coconut with 8-10 red chilies (adjust chilies as per spice level) along with a piece of tamarind. Grind with warm water until smooth.
In the meantime, drain and discard liquid from jack-fruit. Cut into smaller pieces. Cook jack-fruit for 8-10 minutes or until soft.
In a large heavy bottom pot, combine first batch of cooked chana with 1/3 of cooked jack-fruit and ground masala. Add salt and cook together for 10-15 minutes.
In a "phanna davlo" or iron skillet, heat oil. Add 3 tsp mustard seeds. When it splutters, add 3 tsp jeera and 10 curry leaves. Season to chana with jack-fruit. Cover and set aside.
Repeat the same process twice. Each batch fills one small aluminum disposable tray and this recipe yields 3 trays.

Serves: 60-80 people

Matar Paneer (Indian Cheese with Green Peas)

This is a recipe for bulk cooking and yields about 3 half size aluminum foil trays.

Ingredients:

56 oz paneer
4 lb frozen green peas
5 cups tomato puree
6 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
3/4 cup dry kasoori methi
1 1/2 tsp hing (asafoetida)
3 tsp heaped red chili powder
1 1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
4 1/2 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp garam masala powder
3-4 tsp sugar
salt to taste
oil
3/4 cup half and half

How it's made:

Cut paneer into cubes and saute them in a skillet with a few tsp of oil until light brown. Set aside.
Cook frozen green peas with a few tsp of salt. Set aside.
Divide all the ingredients in 3 parts and cook in 3 batches.
In a heavy bottom pan, add oil. When hot but not smoking, add 2 tsp cumin seeds. When it changes color, add 1/4 cup kasoori methi and 1/2 tsp hing. Fry for 30 seconds, then add chili powder and turmeric. Add approximately 1 1/2 cups of tomato puree. Stir well, cover and cook for 2-3 mins. To it, add 1/3 of green peas and paneer. Stir gently together making sure paneer cubes do not break. Add sugar and salt to taste.
Add garam masala and 1/4 cup half and half. Boil for a minute. Serve hot with roti/jeera rice/white rice.

Serves: approximately 60-70 people

Lemon Rice

This is a recipe for bulk cooking and yields approximately 4-5 half size aluminum foil trays. For smaller portion, you can find the recipe here.

Ingredients:

10 cups uncooked basmati rice
10 tsp black mustard seeds
5 tsp hing (asafoetida)
15 green chilies
30-50 curry leaves
10 tsp grated ginger
10 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
15 tbsp chana dal (yellow split peas)
15 tbsp cashewnut bits
10-15 dried red chilies (I use Byadgi)
5 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
5 lemons
oil
salt to taste
2 cups coriander leaves, chopped fine

How it's made:

Cook rice with salt. (I cooked 2 cups at a time to make sure rice is evenly cooked. Rice cooker can be used to cook rice. I like to boil rice and drain out excess water - similar to cooking pasta). Cool and refrigerate overnight.
In a wok, heat oil. Add 2 tsp mustard seeds. When it splutters, add a tsp of hing, 3 green chilies, 6-10 curry leaves and about 2 tsp of grated ginger. Saute for a minute. Add 2 tsp of urad dal, 3 tbsp of chana dal, 3 tbsp of cashewnuts, 2-3 dried red chilies, a tsp of haldi and salt if needed. Fry until chana dal and cashewnut turn light golden. Add 1/5th of rice, juice of 1/2 a lemon and coriander leaves. Stir well. Cover and let it heat through. Adjust seasoning.
Repeat the same process 4 more times.

Serves: approximately 50 people

Sabudana Kheer/Doodpak (Tapioca Pudding)

This is a recipe for bulk cooking.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sabudana (pearl tapioca)
1 gallon whole milk
1 gallon 2% milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup uncooked basmati rice
3 cups water
a generous pinch of saffron
1/2 -1 tsp caradmom powder
1/2 -1 cup raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup warm water

How it's made:

Wash and soak sabudana for 2 hrs.
Wash and rinse basmati rice.
In a heavy bottom pot, combine rice and sabudana. Add 3 cups water and cook until sabudana is transparent and rice is half cooked. (More water can be added if required). Add milk, sugar and saffron. Boil and stir frequently making sure it doesn't get burnt at the bottom. Cook on medium low flame for 20-25 minutes. It will gradually thicken. Add cardamom powder and raisin.

Serves: 60-70 people

Tomato Saar

This is a recipe for bulk cooking.

Ingredients:

20 tomatoes
3 lbs of canned tomato puree
10 green chilies, slit in half
6 tbsp heaped MTR Rasam powder
1/4 cup oil
4 tbsp mustard seeds
20 curry leaves
salt to taste
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped

How its made:

Cut tomatoes in half and cook in 4 cups of water until soft. Cool and blend leaving a few chunks. Transfer to large pot and add tomato puree. Add 4-5 cups water, green chilies, salt and sugar. Boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
In a deep frying pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add rasam powder and curry leaves. Add seasoning to tomatoes and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves: approximately 50 people

Dalitoy

This is a recipe for bulk cooking.

Ingredients:

4 cups toor dal
12-15 green chilies, slit in half
salt to taste
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
3 tsp canola oil
3 tbsp black mustard seeds
8 dried red chilies
1 1/2 tsp hing (asafotedia)
20 curry leaves
coriander leaves (optional)

How it's made:

Wash toor dal under running water. Divide into 3 batches and pressure cook until dal is soft. Transfer dal into one large pot and add 4-6 cups water (approximately). Add green chilies, salt to taste and boil for 10-12 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid scorching.
In a deep frying pan, heat ghee and oil together. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add red chilies, hing and curry leaves. Keep a lid handy to avoid oil and mustard seeds splattering everywhere! Add seasoning to dal. Adjust salt and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves: approximately 60-80 people

White Rice

This is a recipe for bulk cooking and serves approximately 50-60 people.

Ingredients:

10 cups uncooked white rice
water

How it's made:

Wash 2 cups of rice under running water. Boil 2 quarts of water in a large pot. When water boils, add rice. Boil, turn heat off, cover with lid and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Check to see if rice is done. Drain and set aside.
Repeat process once again 4 more times.