FOOD : Star Starters : The 'Phodi'- the favourite amongst all Konkani's

Guys, you must try this.. its simply easy and delicious, and the best part about this?!?! it can be done with any veggie that you get ur hands on. Potato(slice), Banana(slice), Cauliflower(thick florets), Jackfruit(when its not ripened, sliced), sweet potato(sliced), brinjal(sliced), bhendi(halved and slit), onion(when its held tight, and cut into rings), ridge gourd(sliced), Taro root (sliced, when u slice this, either have tamarind paste on ur hands/use gloves, Ull have a bad itch thro the rest of the day otherwise, but this tastes awesome-like they say-nothing comes easy), Kantolas(best with this prep, sliced).. and goes excellent with curd rice. You will forget all those pickles that have accompanied the curd rice all these days.

So, once you have decided which veggie it is going to be, you take them in a bowl, wash them, and put salt over it (this purely is your judgement, cause its only here that we will be adding the salt and no-where later). mix the veggies in the salt, enough to coat it all over. Now in a separate bowl, mix Semolina(small rava) and rice flour (semolina to give the crunchy taste, and rice flour to soak the oil and let the coating stick to the veggie), chilli powder-lots and the coating is ready.

Before anything, let the tava heat up, oil it, once u think its hot, take each slice (shouldnt be dry by the time all this is done, the veggie would not hold on to the semolina mix), coat it with the mix, and put it on the tava. the tava should be hot now, once you lay all the veggies on the tava, flip it immediately. the coating sticks to the veggie, only when theres lots of heat. once you flip it, reduce the flame, spooon in some oil, sprinkle water over the veggies (careful with the amount of water u sprinkle), cover with lid, and let it cook on one side. Potatoes, banana, cauliflower, bhendi hardly take time, the Taro root, jackfruit take a little longer to cook. So now, flip them over, spoon in some oil again, sprinkle little water, cover with lid, let them cook. once done, take off the lid, and let them be, so that the moisture is all gone. you could even flip them again if u wish to. Each side, shouldnt take more than 2 min to cook, so this is like real fast.

there are times, when i get back, and i have this craving for 'phodi' when i know there is either the Dalitoy/rasam/curd rice waiting, so i just slice up whatever veggie is available and the mix of semolina and rice flour is forever ready in my kitchen...so make them and have a blissful meal. Mah husband happened to once call my kitchen 'Phod'ya Factory'.

a simple 'Homecooked meal' is the best anyways! :) and to be honest, my mouths begun to water at the very thought of 'Potato Phodi'. So you surely know whats cooking today!!

P.S-you could try this preparation with prawns too, just make sure along with salt, you coat the prawn with lots of chilli powder and tamarind paste, the rest is the same. (you dont have to sprinkle water here) It would look something like this.