नारळी भात/ Narali Bhat/ Sweet Coconut Rice

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Today is Narali Pornima. A festival where the fishermen worship Sea. Usually celebrated in Maharashtra-Goa region of India. To know more about this festival click here. We also celebrate Raksha Bandhan on the same pornima i.e. Full moon day. Raksha Bandhan is nothing but a day when a brother takes an oath to protect his sister for life, and sister ties a Rakhee (a decorated thread) on his right wrist and feeds him sweets.

This rice is made on this day all across Maharashtra. It has great flavor of coconut, jaggery and a few spices. Very easy to make.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice: 2 Cups
2. Gul/ Jaggery: 3 ½ Cups 
3. Khavlela Naral/ Shredded Coconut (Fresh or frozen): 1 ½ Cups 
4. Desi ghee/ Clarified butter: 5-6 Tbsp. 
5. Lavang/ Cloves: 10-12
   
6. Dalchini/ cinnamon stick: 2-3 (small) 
7. Veldoda/ Whole Green cardamom: 7-8 
8. Slivered almonds: A fistful 
9. Golden Raisins:  A fistful
10. Cashews: A fistful 
11. Hot Water: 3 Cups 
12. Saffron strands soaked in warm milk (2 Tbsp.)  
13. Salt: A pinch
14. Lemon juice: 1 Tsp.

Method:

1. Wash the rice till the water is clear and keep it aside for an hour or so. Do not soak it in the water after washing it. 
2. After an hour put the rice in a pan and add hot water to it. 
3. Add a pinch of salt and lemon juice to it. Lemon juice will help the rice grain to separate and will keep the white color intact. 
4. Cook the rice either in rice cooker or on the stove top. Do not pressure cook it otherwise it will be mushy. 
5. After the rice is cooked, immediately pour it on a flat surface like a big plate, tray or simply lay silver foil on your counter top and spread the rice on it to cool down. 
   
6. Take a big wok and add ghee to it. 
7. Put cloves, cinnamon sticks to the tempering. 
   
8. Put cashews and roast a bit. (Optional step)
   
9. Now put the jaggery and coconut to the tempering. 
   
   
   
   
10. Stir it well. At this time the jaggery will start to melt, so keep the flame on low to avoid burning or caramelizing the jaggery. 
11. Put all the remaining dry fruits now. This step is completely optional. Nuts taste good but they aren’t the necessary item in this dish. 
    
12. Once the all the ingredients are mixed properly and you see a little bubbles of the jaggery, add the rice to it. 
    
13. Please be very gentle while handling the rice. We want the grains to be intact so be very careful while mixing it with the jaggery mixture. 
14. Now add saffron milk to it and put a lid. 
    
    
    
    
15. Put the gas on the lowest possible setting for 5-7 minutes. Please be careful not to burn the rice. 
    
16. Once it is done, take a bowl and serve it hot. 
17. Honestly in my opinion this rice tastes better the next day but obviously you can serve it right after making it.
    

Hope you like this super easy and super quick recipe of नारळी भात /Narali Bhat/ sweet coconut rice.

P.S.: In many regions it is made with sugar instead of jaggery. So add 3 ½ cups of Sugar instead of jaggery and follow all the steps in the same way.

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Kokum Sar/ Aamsul che Sar (Soup) / को क म सार / आमसुलाचे सार

को क म  सार 

Kokum or Aamsul is widely used in Indian cooking. It has lot of medicinal benefits too. It is found majorly in coastal region of India. Kokum has beautiful purple color to it. It is usually used to prevent infections, treat sores, majorly to treat stomach ulcers or acidity, improve digestion, etc.

Kokum is used literally daily at our place in India. I don’t use it much here but if there are any acidity related issues or if my kid is having gas issues then I make this one of the easiest sar or soup made with kokum. This is best consumed with Khichadi and Papad. Yummmm :)

We just need very few ingredients and most importantly very less time to make this soup.

Ingredients:

1. Kokum: 10-12 in number (depends on the sourness of the kokum)
2. Jeera/ Cumin seeds: 1 Tbsp. 
3. Desi Ghee/ Clarified butter: 1 Tbsp. 
4. Hing/ Asafoetida: ¼ Table spoon
5. Salt: To taste
6. Sugar: To taste (just to eliminate the extremely sour taste)
7. Kadhi Patta: 3-4 leaves (optional)
8. Akkhi Lal Mirchi/ whole Red Chilies: 1-2 (optional)
9. Water: 2-3 Cups
10. Coriander leaves: For garnish

Method:

1. Take a bowl, put kokum and one cup water in it. 
2. Put the bowl in microwave for one minute. 
3. Now crush the hot kokum with the help of a spoon in the same hot water.
4. Now take a tea strainer and strain the crushed kokum and water in another bowl. 
5. Put a thick bottom pan on gas. 
6. Add ghee, jeera, hing, kadhi patta to the tempering or tadaka. 
7. Since I was making it for my small kids, I didn’t put the red chilies to the tempering but if you may add it at this time. 
8. Add strained kokum mixture to the tempering. Let it come to a soft boil.
9. Now add salt and sugar to your taste. Kokum is very sour in taste so to eliminate the taste we need to add sugar. 
10. Add couple of cups of water to increase the quantity or put it as necessary. 
11. Let it boil for another 3-4 minutes. 
12. Put it in serving bowl and garnish it with coriander leaves. 
13. Consume it when it’s hot with khichadi, papad etc. Many a times my family consume it just like that without any other food item with it. Trust me it is delicious to all the taste buds.

आमसुलाचे सार 

Hope you like this super easy and super quick recipe of Aamsulache or Kokumache sar.

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