Receta Masala Pav and Misal ..... quick cooking meals during the tough days of lockdown

by Sharmila

The one thing that this lockdown has taught us, among others, is the value of time.  As well as 'me time'.  Which is possible only when we ration our time in the kitchen, while putting a proper balanced meal on our plates .... a huge necessity these days for good health and immunity.  Life has been overwhelming of sorts these days. Even if we did not have much of house helps all our married lives, except for when I am down ill, it is with time .... and age .... that I am realising the need for one in our lives now. All the following of precautions, loads of laundry every time we go out .... which we have kept to the barest of minimum , not getting to buy the produce and things we are used to and having to make do with whatever is available online or at the nearest shop .... the list is endless, has been eating into my time, leaving me with little left to do what I love to.  Or even to just plain rest. All through the summer and the monsoons, I had to rack my brains to be able to put a full meal on the table using a limited number of vegetables. We had no options other than the bottle gourd, the okra, eggplants once in a while and potatoes. Monsoons, we avoid all leafy vegetables, and so were again confined to the above few and then some more.  So I turned to legumes.  Soaked, un soaked, sprouted, ground into a batter, fried dumplings, dosas / pancakes ..... numerous ways to use them. And way more healthy too.  Sprouted Moong beans are a favourite of mine. I use  them in salads, in stir fries, in khichadis, .... in almost everything. And since we both love Maharashtrian food, the Misal is also a regular at home.  Usually B makes the misal .... see my insta stories.  But this time I made it .... albeit using the same masala that he had used ( I had frozen the extra ).  And paired it with some gorgeous Masala Pav .... the recipe I got from the awesome The Gutlessfoodie.  The masala is so good ... I have already made it thrice ... and tastes great when paired with bread. Especially a day old bread, crisped up in the oven. Since I made a lot of changes to the original recipe ..... purely based on the availabilty of things in my pantry, I am writing down the recipe here.  Also, although I have been baking a lot of bread and Pao during this lockdown ( again on my insta feed ), I have never got around to posting any here on the blog .... something I am going to correct soon, .... I have used store bought pavs this time.  The Masala :  Need :  Tomatoes  - 3 medium sized Onions - 1 medium sized Garlic - 10 to 15 cloves Green chillies - 5 to 6 Toasted Peanuts - half a cup Ginger - 1" Curry leaves Red chilli powder Turmeric powderJeera powder Salt - to taste Sugar - to taste  Cooking oil - 2 tbsp  How to :  Make a coarse paste of everything except the powders and oil.  Heat oil.  Add the paste and cook till all moisture dries up.  Store in an airtight bottle in the fridge.  To assemble ....  Heat butter in a flat pan.  Slather the pavs with the masala and fry them on the pan till crisp on both sides.  These are great as is with tea or with some bhaji on the side.  The Misal :  Need :  Mung bean sprouts - 1 cup Chopped potatoes - half cup Chopped onions - 2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste - I used one cube of my homemade ones Turmeric powderRed chilli powderCumin / Jeera seeds - 1 pinch Salt - to taste Cooking oil - 1 tbsp  How to :  Heat oil.  Add the jeera.  Once it starts to splutter, add the  onions.  Fry well and then add the ginger garlic paste.  Add the powder masalas and the chopped potatoes and moong sprouts.  Mix well and add enough water for a gravy.  Cover and cook till done.  Serve hot.  Ideally it should be served with a topping of chopped onions, green chillies , any farsan or mixture, chopped coriander leaves and a good squeeze of lime juice.  Like this one that B had made. 😊 He declared that his was better than mine.  Well .... if one can judge by the looks, what do you think??  😉 Enjoy!!  Stay home. Stay safe.