These days, my mind is on overdrive - thinking. Thinking even in my sleep. An endless euphoria about nothing in particular. Perhaps it is the yog-asanas and all. I get these really unusual ideas and storylines - my dreams roll over to actual stories to write, but when I wake up, it is a gorgeous day and I have forgotten my 'stories'. Morning, especially a crisp spring morning is the favourite time of the day for me. Recently, I had this funny dream that I rafted on white water from India to France! There was this endless river where one could get off the raft and take a nap in the woods and resume one's journey.

Anyhow, changing gears - I read or hear about comfort food - soups, bean chili, macaroni and cheese, etc. Here are some of my favourite comfort foods :

• Phodnichi bhakri : Bhakri is flatbread made out of jowar or bajra - a rural staple although it is gaining popularity amongst health-conscious circles now. Leftover bhakris crumbled to bite-size pieces and sauteed in a tadka of oil, mustard seeds, cumin, green chillies, chopped onion and roasted peanuts. Salt and sugar added as seasoning and it makes a perfect mid-morning snack!

• Roti Laddoo : Leftover rotis crumbled and mixed with ghee, jaggery pieces or sugar and rolled into balls.

• Breakfast bread : My Nani would lightly toast bread slices and slather them with homemade white butter. After that, meticulously sprinkle sugar over the slices. These slices were best with a tall glass of room-temperature milk! Yummm

• Herbed bhakri : a fancy name to an earthy dish. Maa makes these often. Crush some garlic, green chillies with salt and add chopped cilantro leaves, ajwain and sesame seeds. Add the jowar flour and warm water to make the dough. Make bhakris out of this and put some ghee on each disc.

• Wada Pav : common man's burger in Maharashtra. Bro and I sometimes go to the 'Joshi Wadewale' stall. There is a rush of customers around the stall and one has to jostle and struggle a bit to get into the crowd and place the order. In minutes after paying for the order, the guy hands us a paper parcel, warm to the touch. At home, we hasten to open it. Inside are the hot potato wadas, buns and some dry garlic chutney and lots of fried green chillies.

• Sabudana Khichadi : this is usually prepared during the Ekadashi, Mahashivratri fasts. It is soaked sago which is cooked in hot oil tempered with cumin, green chillies. Peanut powder and boiled potato pieces are added to the mix, with salt and sugar. It is served with a sprinkling of cut cilantro leaves and fresh grated coconut. Any time Grandma made this dish, she would some for us, in a steel tiffin......a totally unexpected treat!

• Varan-bhaat : I am not a fan of rice but absolutely love this combo. Pressure cook the rice and dal in separate vessels. The dal is a mix of split tuvar and moong dals to which water, hing and some turmeric has been added before the pressure cooking. One can add a slice of lime at the cooker base to get a fresher aroma. After opening the cooker, add some water to the dal and churn it to make it of a watery consistency (texture is crucial otherwise the taste would be completely ruined if the dal becomes thick)!  Serve over the hot rice with salt and ghee and a spoonful of mango pickle.

• Pithla : I like the rustic cooking of Rajasthan which seems to use a lot of besan, gowar, millet and ghee. This dish is Maharashtrian though. Chopped garlic is added to hot oil in a kadhai and allowed to brown; following which some cut green chillies and mustard is added. Immediately, a few cups of water are added to the kadhai. If one likes lumps of the besan in the pithla, add some tablespoons of besan to the water before it starts boiling. For a lumpless pithla, let the water boil and then add the besan. Mix the besan and add some jeera powder and salt. Cover and let it steam until cooked. Tastes great with bhakri and raw shallots.

• Gola bhaat : Another rice dish. Made from besan. Roast the besan flour over oil. Add garlic pieces, peanut powder, coriander and cumin powder, dessicated coconut, salt and chopped cilantro and continue roasting. After mix has cooled, add water and roll into balls or golas. Steam in a vessel with rice in the pressure cooker. Make a tadka of oil, mustard seeds, hing. Pour a teaspoon over the hot rice and add the crushed 'gola's. Tastes good served with a glass of spiced buttermilk.

• Idli Wada sambar : I have never tried making the wadas at home, but for the idlis, I like to experiment by using split moong instead of urad dal or red rice instead of parboiled rice, etc. A delicacy had with sambar (with signature masalas from each household) and coconut or  gunpowder chutney.

• Herbed roasted potatoes : Use 'new potatoes' or small red potatoes halved.  One could also use a mix of root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, fennel bulbs, carrots, turnips. Boil these in water until fork tender. Mix fresh rosemary, crushed black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes and olive oil and toss the potatoes in this mix. You can also use oil and any Mrs.Dash salt-free seasoning. Scatter on a baking dish and bake until done. Finish by broiling (or roasting - top heating element in the oven).

• Roast Spring vegetables : A medley of baby corn, baby zucchini, tender green beans, red and yellow bell peppers, new potatoes, shallots or pearl onions, asparagus tips, cauliflower, garlic bulbs tossed in oil and herbs and roasted. Sometimes these can be marinated in spices in yoghurt and roasted over skewers.

• Rava cake : Grandma would make this cake on a cast iron griddle on the cooking range, using homemade butter and buttermilk. I modified the recipe a bit. The measures are approximate.
  2.5 cups semolina, 1 cup all purpose flour (maida), 1.5 cups buttermilk, 1 cup whole milk, a mix of sugar, powdered jaggery and honey to taste, 10-15 almonds coarsely crushed, 2 tablespoons cashew butter, 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (4 if not using the cashew butter), 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons finely ground cardamom
  1. Cream the butter.
  2. Add the semolina, flour, sugar, jaggery, honey and mix, slowly adding the buttermilk and milk. Continue mixing, incorporating air into the batter (around 200 whisks by hand).
  3. Cover the mixture and keep in a cool place for 2-3 hours, to allow the semolina to absorb the liquid ingredients.
  4. Preheat oven to 325 deg Fahrenheit.
  5. Fold in the ground almonds, cashew butter, cardamom and salt and lastly the baking soda. At this stage, the batter may seem too viscous and you can add more milk to get a cake consistency batter.
  6. Pour into a greased pan and bake in the oven for 25 minutes (at 325 deg for the first 5 mins and then 360 deg for remaining time).

7. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean (but not dry)!

• Jaggery Shira : this is sooji halva but made with jaggery instead of sugar. Mum makes this using jaggery since it is healthier. The only difference from shira with sugar is that the jaggery pieces are melted in hot water to make a syrup and then added to the roasted rava, and *no* bananas in the halva I make for sure!  Topped with crushed cardamom.
  
  If you have any favourites (with the rough recipe), do share!