Katol - a fantastic Gujrati bean curry

Katol

1 Cup black eyes bean- Soak overnight and cook in a pressure cooker
2 Medium sized tomatoes- Chopped into small pieces.
1/2 inch ball of tamrind or 1 tespoon tamrind concentrate
4 green chilies slit
1 teaspoon coriander seed (Dhaniya) powder
1/2 teaspoon Cumin (Jeera) powder
1/2 teaspoon haldi
1/2 teaspoon hing powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 inch piece jaggery
Few curry leaves.

For the phaaN (baghaar/tempering)
2 tsp oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 red chilli

In a pan add the soaked and boiled beans.Add the tomatoes, green chilies, haldi, dhaniya powder, jeera powder, garam masala, hing, chili powder,. Boil. Add salt. Add the tamrind concentrate or soaked tamrind ball. Continue simmering. Add the jaggery. In a small pan heat the oil. add the hing, the kadipatta,mustard, chilli and after 2 minutes and some spluttering pour over the simmering beans. cover and let simmer for a few minutes. Add chopped coriander ;leaves as a garnish.

Ajinkyatara - The impenetrable fortress

Satara , one of the most beautiful towns of Maharashtra is surrounded by 7 mountains or the saat taaras(Seven stars) and hence called satara.

One of the mountains is a fortress called as Ajinkyatara or the impenetrable fortress.

It has the television tower on the fortress which looks very beautiful. It can be seen from everywhere in the city of Satara.

I will try to put more pictures of the city of satara but here are two pictures of the famous AJINKYATARA

Kolhapur Ambabai temple.

The Bhawani Mandap in Kolhapur holds the ancient and revered temple of Mahalakshmi, lovingly called as Ambabai.

Initially Built in the 7 th Century AD and then re built on several occasions especially by the Shilaharas of western India this temple of Black granite is trult beautiful. It has a wooden Mandap , perhaps built in the 18th century.

Pictures say it better than words and hence I put up some pictures of the Bhawani Mandap and the Ambabai temple.