Melange full of yumminess!

With Ganpati festival.. I was going veggie for 10 days and had to conjure up some yummy treats to truly enjoy this time.. and we definitely had some delicious meals.. Of course no Ganeshotsav is complete without modaks, and I made a small batch this season..
I have definitely had better times with them..my rice flour wasn't fresh and I had to pay a price for that. It took me a real long time to make the modaks, because my dough would crack easily if it was made too thin..urgh.. nonetheless I did not give up and at the end they came up pretty good..the flavor was dot on.. that's one pat on my back..especially since the better half enjoyed them a lot!

But Ganpati brings back some lovely memories and more often than not makes me really emotional. With the ten days of Ganpati I was intent on recreating some of these lovely dinners that I truly cherish. A simple yet fun meal which was loved by everyone at home is misal!
I was googling around for various versions posted by other people and I infact found an official wiki page for it right here. :) Here is my version of the misal, more rather my mom's version with my dad's specifics. Yes, very few recipes had my dad's input in them..and he made sure that if this recipe was made it would have his required ingredients in them. So here goes:

Misal meaning mixture in Marathi is comprised of a bunch of components, namely:

Usal, matki (moth beans) curry

Ingredients:

1.5 cups sprouted matki boiled
1 medium onion sliced
1 medium tomato chopped
1-2 tbsp Garam masala

1 tbsp Dhaniya-jeera powder

1-2 tbsp red chili powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric power

1-2 tbsp grated/shaved jaggery (gul)

4-5 curry leaves

1.5 tbsp oil

salt to taste

• Heat oil and saute the mustard seeds,curry leaves and onions followed by tomatoes
• Add the jaggery and the spices, let it simmer for a few minutes.
• Add the matki with all the residual water. Adjust the water if required.
• Season with salt and adjust the flavors to your liking.

Tarri (Spicy gravy)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion chopped

1 medium tomato chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 tbsp red chili powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp oil

1.5 cups water

salt to taste

• Heat oil and saute the mustard seeds,ginger,garlic and onions followed by tomatoes
• Add the spices and the water. Let it simmer and keep it on until it reduces to half. Season with salt.

The rest of the ingredients for misal are: 

Batata Bhaji - boiled, diced potatoes seasoned with spices and lightly sauteed in oil. This is a requisite for my dad, he says the bhaji makes the misal a more complete meal.

Chivda, farsan & sev (My dad had to have a specific kind of chivda for the misal, I was so excited when I found it in the Indian store here,surely something to have when he visits again.)

Chopped onions,tomatoes and cilantro

To assemble the misal, start of with the bhaji, followed by the usal. Add the chopped onions and tomatoes followed by the chivda and top it off with the tarri and some sev. A delicious melange of yumminess is ready to be enjoyed! Enjoy!