The weekend turned rainy, and we hardly saw any blue sky at all. By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around we were all in need of a little pick-me-up. That's when I remembered Raji of Talimpu's wonderful recipe a few days ago for Aratikaya Bajji Chat.

What could be better on a gloomy day than the golden color of bajji with the taste of sunshine inside, mixed with the freshness of the onion, chilli and coriander leaves that will explode in your mouth?

So, off to my bookmarks, pulled up the recipe and printed it out (if you haven't yet tried it, you should take a look at Raji's cool "Print" button that creates a copy perfect for printing), then downstairs to start the preparation.

Like many other favorite recipes, this one is simplicity itself, relying on the innate flavors of the ingredients and their interaction with one another to produce a great-tasting result.

The first part of the recipe calls for making little golden coins of plantain bajji. That is simple enough, and the bajji were good enough just like that that we were sorely tempted to forget the rest of the recipe and eat them right then!

We had a little bit of the batter left, and no more plantain, so we sliced thin discs of zucchini and made bajji of them as well. Those we did eat right away - after all, you can stand only so much temptation, don't you think?

Ingredients for the chatNext we filled the kitchen with the aroma of roasting peanuts - I lightly stomp them with mortar and pestle first to split them in half, but not so hard as to break them into little pieces. After letting them cool, I rubbed them lightly between my palms to loosen the skins, and went out onto the deck to blow them away. The old ways still work the best!

Mixing it in a large bowl with the chopped bajji, we could already tell it was going to be a winner. We added a few pinches of chat masala at this stage, just before squeezing over the lemon.

On the plateI didn't bother making tamarind chutney for this, but used a lovely store-bought tamarind-date chutney instead. What I did make was just a quick yogurt sauce: on 1.5 cups of yogurt I added half a teaspoon each of cumin powder and coriander powder, a quarter teaspoon each of black pepper and red chilli powder, and salt to taste. After stirring it up, we served it over the chat to complete the experience.

Simple and brilliant! Thanks Raji for the recipe.