MAHARASHTRIAN CUISINE

Geographical Location:       

·         West of India – Green hills of western ghats.

·         Coastal plains (Arabian sea) and deccan plateau.

·         Hot and humid climate.

·         Divided into Konkan , Vidarbha, Marathwad, Kolhapur and western ghats.

·         Popular tourist destination for coasts, natural beauty, forts and major cities are business destinations.

·         Mainly agricultural land – popular for cotton, sugarcane, alphonso mango, oranges, peppers and kokum.

Festivals: Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, all major Hindu festivals

Ingredients:   

·         Fish – Being the coastal belt, different varieties of marine water fish and some fresh water fish from rivers are popular. Pomfret from Arabian sea is popularly eaten,

·         Yam (suran) – A large root vegetable is extensively used in maharashtrian cuisine.

·         Pepper – Variety of peppers are grown and used in local cuisine.

·         Kokum – Wild mangosteen a dark coloured fruit which is salted and dried. It is used as souring agent and also used to prepare sol kadhi – a popular beverage.

·         Val – small white beans used to make rice or as a vegetable.

·         Bombay duck – a type of fish popularly eaten in Mumbai.

·         Tindli – Fresh green gherkins used to prepare vegetable or pulao.

·         Coconut –Being in coastal belt, use of coconut is common.

·         Seasame seeds – White ones often combined with jaggery in sweets.

·         Goda Masala – A mixture of roasted and powdered spices coriander seed, cumin, sesame seed, cinnamon, cloves,coconut,mace, cardamom, perppercorns, bay leaf, mustard seeds, asafetida, poppy seed, fenugreek seeds.

·         Malvani Masala – A mixture of roasted and powdered spices dry red chillies, corander seeds, cloves, peppercorns, cumin seed, dagadphool, turmeric, asafetida, nutmeg, star anise and fennel.

·         Vatana – Dried yellow peas called usal.

·         Khuskhus (Poppy seed) – Used as thickening agent in form of paste.

·         Sago (Saboodana) – used to prepare sweets.

·         Peanuts – Often added to gravy for thickening and taste. Also added to rice.

·         Fast food –Batata vada, paani poori, bhel etc

Cooking Equipments:

·         Modak patra – copper vessel used for preparing modaks

·         Coconut scrapper – very useful in kitchen to scrape coconut.

·         Khalbatta- A vessel similar to kundi sota of Punjab used to powder dry spices.

Staple food: Majorly rice even though wheat is also popular.

Serving food: Taat vadhani (method of setting food in a platter) The top end starts with salt, lemon wedge and pickle

Dishes:

·         Modak – steamed rice flour dumpling stuffed with jaggery, coconut and steamed. Offered to Lord Ganesha.

·         Amti – A lentil preparation thin and flavourfull.

·         Bhareli Wangi – Baby brinjals stuffed with a mix of spices, coconut, peanut etc and cooked dry.

·         Gavalaychi kheer – A sweet made by sooji flakes, milk and nuts.

·         Puran poli – A wholewheat bread stuffed with split yellowpeas cooked with sugar and cardamom…popularly prepared on Holi.

·         Valachi khichdi – A rice preparation made with rice, spices and vals.

·         Sol kadhi – A drink with digestive properties, kokum extract with coconut milk and seasoned.

·         Zunka bhakar: Zunka is made with gram flour, onions, salt, and tempered with chillies and garlic. Bhakar is a bread made from dough of jowar flour and water baked on charcoal.