Beans SagLe

SagLe in konkani means "whole" as in we add larger pieces of veggies to this dish than we do in other dishes. I guess we are supposed to add the veggies as a whole, but I guess over time it has evolved into using larger pieces - keeping in mind the amount of time it would actually take to cook the whole veggies.

Whenever I make this dish, my friends in the US relish it a lot. This dish can be prepared with a variety of vegetables: eggplant, beans, okra are some of the commonly used ones. This dish has a strong coconutty flavor, but it is not that of raw coconuts and is also masked a bit by the spices used in the dish. So, if you are the kind who does not like coconut-based dishes, you should still try it once.. you might just end up liking it.

FOOD FOOD and more FOOD ............... !!!

So, I have been on this whole cooking spree the last few days, mainly because I did not have many vegetables at home (ironic huh !!) and I dint have the time to go grocery shopping.... So, I had to make do with other stuff, like daal, dosas and stuff which you buy at some point of life :) but have almost not used in a long long time (peanuts etc.,)

So, I made the following dishes in the past week or 2 (recipes coming soon....... just click on the food titles for the recipe links).

Panpolo, Peanut Garlic Chutney, Aloo Carrot Curry, Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes, Benda Sagle, Kyala Koddel

Panpolo -- This is a konkani delicacy, also called Neer Dosa in kannada, which literally means Water Dosa (mainly because its batter is of the consistency of water). Anyway, as I said earlier recipes will follow soon...

Peanut Garlic Chutney -- The bestest (I know double superlative, but still) chutney after of-course coriander chutney.

Benda Sagle, another konkani delicacy with coconut based gravy (Lady's finger / Okra -- had some frozen ones from god knows how long ago - just kidding). This was probably the only vegetable I had that you can call a proper vegetable.

Kyala Koddel (raw banana with a coconut based gravy) --- this I prepared at my friend's place -- she asked me what's the best dish using raw bananas w/o making it feel sweet and this is it.....

Aloo Carrot Curry (Dry) -- A couple of days ago, I had few potatoes and loads of carrots, which I wanted to finish off --- had bought it the last time I made Carrot Halwa.


Chickpeas Usal with Tomatoes -- Today is the last day that I can cook anything at all, because I had just 4 small tomatoes, which I used up in this dish. I absolutely need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Anyway, this was a very easy and simple dish with a subtle coconut flavor to it.

So the whole point of this post is that, I am amazed to know that if you love cooking and experimenting, you can manage to go a whole year without repeating the same dish. I soon plan to do that ONE DAY :) Also, you can always manage with any small items at home too. You dont always need fresh veggies in your refrigerator to cook something. This is like a week's worth of dishes. There are 6 dishes here, and the one left out day I think I managed with simple daalithoy (konkani style of making daal).

So long guys !!! Keep reading for more recipes.