Recipes

Cook with the ghaani

Everyday Indian recipes, made with Truly Cold Pressed oils and bilona ghee.

Vada Pav, two soft ladi pav pressed shut around a craggy deep-golden besan-coated potato vada
Snack

Vada Pav

Crunch first, then soft hot potato, then the dry garlic chutney catching the back of your throat. Eight rupees of Mumbai, in...

Prep 40 min Cook 35 min Serves 8

See the recipe
Thalipeeth, one thick hand-patted multigrain flatbread, deep brown with dark speckled blisters and a crisp uneven rim
Breakfast

Thalipeeth

Patted thin by hand, cooked till the edges go dark and crisp, and eaten the minute a knob of white butter starts...

Prep 20 min Cook 30 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Handvo, a thick round Gujarati savoury lentil and rice cake cut into wedges
Breakfast

Handvo

The crust cracks like a biscuit under the knife, then gives way to a soft savoury middle flecked with dudhi and green...

Prep 20 min Cook 45 min Serves 6

See the recipe
Sabudana Vada, five deep-golden craggy patties with a rough blistered surface
Snack

Sabudana Vada

A rough golden shell you can hear break, then soft sago inside with halves of crushed peanut in it. Cold thick curd...

Prep 20 min Cook 25 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Rava Dosa, a large paper-thin rava dosa on a black iron tawa
Breakfast

Rava Dosa

Thin, brittle, full of holes and gold at the edges, so crisp it crackles when you fold it off the tawa and...

Prep 15 min Cook 30 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Dhuska, three golden deep-fried dhuska
Breakfast

Dhuska

The batter hits hot oil and swells into a puffed golden disc in seconds, crisp all around the rim and soft in...

Prep 20 min Cook 30 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Punjabi Samosa, three large triangular samosas with smooth pale-golden matte shells
Snack

Punjabi Samosa

The crust cracks under your thumb and drops flakes down your shirt. Inside, coarse potato with crushed coriander seed and a sour...

Prep 45 min Cook 40 min Serves 6

See the recipe
Pani Puri, a row of crisp hollow pale golden rava puris
Snack

Pani Puri

You crack the top, spoon in potato, dunk it in cold green pani and put the whole thing in at once. Sharp,...

Prep 60 min Cook 40 min Serves 6

See the recipe
Dahi Vada, plump pale golden urad dal vadas sitting low in thick chilled white curd on a wide steel plate
Snack

Dahi Vada

Press one gently with a spoon and chilled sweet curd runs out of it. Roasted jeera, dark tamarind chutney and a dusting...

Prep 30 min Cook 30 min Serves 6

See the recipe
Chole Bhature, one huge golden bhatura still ballooned and blistered, torn open at the edge with steam escaping
Lunch

Chole Bhature

A bhatura the size of a plate, still ballooned, tearing open with a rush of steam over a bowl of near-black chole.

Prep 30 min Cook 60 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Luchi with Aloor Dom, four puffed white luchi, pale and unbrowned
Breakfast

Luchi with Aloor Dom

The luchi swells into a white balloon in eight seconds. Beside it, small potatoes sit dented and dark in a mustard oil...

Prep 30 min Cook 45 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Mixed vegetable undhiyu with stuffed brinjals, yam and muthiya in a clay pot
Lunch

Undhiyu

Papdi, purple yam, baby brinjals and methi muthiya stuffed with green masala and steamed under a lid until everything is soft but...

Prep 50 min Cook 55 min Serves 6

See the recipe
Spicy sprouted matki usal under farsan, onion and lemon, served with soft pav
Breakfast

Misal Pav

Sprouted matki under a layer of red kat that floats a slick of chilli oil on top, buried in farsan and raw...

Prep 25 min Cook 45 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Soft spiced methi theplas stacked warm, served with thick curd and mango pickle
Breakfast

Methi Thepla

Soft, thin, speckled green flatbreads that stay tender for two days in a dabba. Slightly bitter from fresh methi, warm with ajwain,...

Prep 20 min Cook 25 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Crisp golden urad dal vadas served hot with sambar and coconut chutney
Breakfast

Medu Vada

Dark gold and craggy outside, white and airy inside, dropped hot into sambar or eaten with coconut chutney. The crunch only lasts...

Prep 20 min Cook 25 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Dark glossy chickpea curry topped with ginger juliennes and green chillies, served with bhature
Lunch

Amritsari Chole

Chickpeas boiled dark with tea and amla, then simmered into a thick, glossy, near-black masala sharp with anardana and amchur. Kulcha, raw...

Prep 20 min Cook 70 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Thick yellow kadhi with onion pakoras and red chilli tadka, served with rice
Lunch

Punjabi Kadhi Pakora

Thick yellow kadhi simmered for the better part of an hour, soft onion pakoras dropped in to drink it up, and a...

Prep 20 min Cook 55 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Yellow khaman squares topped with grated coconut and coriander, served with green chutney
Snack

Khaman Dhokla

Bright yellow squares so light they wobble, soaked in a sweet mustard and green chilli tempering, with coconut and coriander scattered thick...

Prep 15 min Cook 20 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Crispy onion bhajiya on a steel plate with green chutney and a cup of chai by a rainy window
Snack

Crispy Onion Bhajiya (Kanda Bhaji)

Ragged, lacy onion bhajiya straight out of the kadhai, hissing on the plate, with green chutney and a cup of chai. The...

Prep 15 min Cook 20 min Serves 4

See the recipe
Gujarati dal dhokli simmering in a brass kadhai, with a bowl of ghee on the side
Lunch

Gujarati Dal Dhokli

Soft wheat diamonds simmered right in a sweet, sour, spiced toor dal until they swell and go slippery. One pot, one bowl,...

Prep 25 min Cook 40 min Serves 4

See the recipe