Spring onions - 2 bunches
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Red chilly powder - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Salt - to taste
oil - 1 teaspoon

1.  Pick fresh spring onions with crisp leaves since they are much taster and healthy.
2. Wash them nicely under tap water and let them dry for few minutes.
3. Peel the outer layer of the spring onion . This is would give you good crispness to the food as the outer layer tends to wilted and tasteless due to over exposure to the environment.
4. Chop them into 1 inch pieces . Chop the bulbs in a way that you get in ring shapes as it them look nice especially to the childrens.
5. Keep a kadai over flame and add oil in it. Let the oil to heat for a minute.
6. Once the oil gets hot, add Asafoetida and  Mustard seeds. Let the seeds crackle.
7. Now add the chopped spring onions and saute them for a minute. Don't add water. Spring onions have natural moisture in them and let the vegetable to cook in its own water content so that becomes tastier and healthier.
8. Add the turmeric powder and chilly powder and saute for a minute.
9. Add salt as per taste and saute it well. 
10. Keep sating for some 7-8 minutes.
11. Once the vegetable is cooked well, it will be tender soft and will be transparent .
12. Remove and serve hot with chapatis or dal chawal.

Preparation time: 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 10 miutes.
Serves : 4 -6 persons.
Shelflife: Best fresh.
Serving suggestion: Serve hot with Chapati or Dal chawal.

• To pick good quality spring onion , always check the leaves. The one with crisp leaves are best.
• Also pick those spring onions which are bit green. ( Not necessary that it should be fully green, a part of it should be greener). Those are healthier as per nutritional value.
• Always peel off and discard the outer layer of the Spring onion, since they are not much crisp and tend to spoil the other parts which cooking.

Click here to learn and know more about Maharashtrian foods and cuisines- An Introduction To Maharashtrian Cuisine.

In my last post, I mentioned that sweet potatoes are used as fasting food by many Maharashtrians. Here is one such simple recipe. In Maharashtra, only simple starchy foods are allowed during fasting times. This starchy foods gives stamina to keep going without letting the meaning of fasting go-by. Sabudhana wada, Aroratachi poli etc are some well known fasting foods of Maharashtrians.

Those staying in Maharashtra must be well know to this recipes. Often most restaurants and Hotels in the city includes fasting recipes in menu especially during Chaturthi and Sankashti. Even groceries stores sell fasting products in most parts of Maharashtra like Rajgira ladoo, Rajgira roti, Sabudhana Wada etc. Special flours are sold in most local grocery stores for fasting purpose like Rajgira flour, Arorat flour, Upvaasachi Bhajni, Mukhane and Mukhane flour etc. I would post fasting recipes in my blog with most of the fasting ingredients available in market.

Today am posting a simple fasting recipe which can be taken during evening time when human body is really exhausted after fasting for long hours. Its a simple recipe and needs very few ingredients and can be cooked fast.




Ingredients:
Sweet Potato - 1/2 kg
Desi Ghee - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry Leaves - 10-12 nos
Dry whole red chilly - 2-3 nos
Grated Coconut - 2-3 tablespoon
Salt -to taste.




Method:

1. Wash the vegetable nicely. Root Vegetables tends to have more mud on the skin than any ohter vegetables. So wash properly under tap water.
2. Let them dry or just clean the vegetable using a clean cloth.
3. Steam the Sweet Potato in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. If you are using steamer then steam it for 15 minutes.
4. Don't remove the sweet potato from the cooker or steamer that sooner. Remove it only after further 15 minutes. This will make the vegetable softer and it will be well cooked inside.
5. Remove them, allow it to cool . But don't wait till its completely cooled or else the skin would be again hard to peel. So wait for 2-3 minutes and then peel the skin. It comes off easily. Just peel it with help of your fingers the way you peel the skin off from boiled potatoes.
6. Once the skin is peeled, cut the sweet potatoes into cubes of 1 inch and keep aside.
7. Take a kadai and keep it over flame. Heat oil in it and add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle.
8. Add dry red chillies, curry leaves and saute for a minute.
9. Add the sweet potatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and saute.
   
10. Spread the grated coconut over it from top and saute well for 2-3 minutes.
11. The dish is ready to be served. Have it as a evening food during fasting times. It is a ideal food for fasting and gives enough stamina for the body.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time : 7 minutes
Serves : 4 persons
Shelflife: Best fresh
Serving Suggestion: Serve as a evening snack.


Note:

• Fasting foods are meant to be simple without much taste , so avoid masalas and powders. But it still tastes excellent this way. Give it a try.
• Steaming the vegetable before hand makes it easy to peel off the skin. But avoid letting them to cool down completely since it tends to harden fast.
• Oil is avoided during fasting , and only ghee is consumed in fasting food or I have used desi ghee. On normal occasion , oil can be used.