Fresh muskmelon seed and Watermelon smoothie:

If you are calorie conscious or under restricted diet, this smoothie is especially for you. It is nutty flavoured, rich, creamy and at the same time, No sugar and Less in Calories. It is a “No guilt” smoothie for scorching heat.With Summer at its peak, we are one happy family who consumes lots of musk melon and water melon on every day basis. I usually feel very bad to discard power packed melon seeds into dustbin.

Muskmelon has lot to offer, fruit itself is fibre rich, vitamin rich and seeds which you usually throw it away is even more nutritious. Seeds are high in fibre, plant-based protein, minerals, calcium and Omega-3 and when you add this to prepare smoothies, it gives very smooth, creamy texture without adding any high calorie substance. It is very ideal for diabetic, weight loss or even for children.

Here I have added inner core (flesh and seed part) of one musk melon fruit to give thick texture as well as nutty taste and water melon chunks to give sweetish taste.

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Ingredients:

Muskmelon inner core – from one muskmelon

Watermelon – one cup

Sea salt – ¼ tea spoon

Pepper powder – ¼ tea spoon

Method:

-Peel outer skin from one muskmelon, collect inner core with seed and proceed.

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-I have not used fruit part. It can be consumed as you wish.

-Take water melon chunks.

-Take your juicer jar, put inner core of musk melon, water melon chunks, sea salt, pepper powder and churn.

– Sieve this liquid and discard the roughage and serve smoothie by adding a couple of ice cubes to beat the heat.

 

Gujje kadle gashi / Tender jackfruit and whole black chickpeas curry:

Tender jackfruit is an integral part of our traditional cooking. Till now I have shared a couple of recipes and today I am going to share one more tender jack recipe which is prepared by pairing it with protein rich black chickpea, which is also known as kala chana, black chana in India.

Tender jackfruit is a super food, which is high in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers and at the same time, less in calories, salt and fats. Now a day, it is available in almost all parts of the globe as fresh or frozen.

This curry is double beneficial because of additional benefit by adding black chickpea. Which is also known as Bengal grams, Garbanzo beans or Kala chana which has darker skin and thick outer cover and has high roughage.

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Ingredients:

Tender jack or Gujje pieces – 1 bowl.

Black chick peas/chana – 1 cup

Salt

Jaggery – 1 tea spoon

Red chili powder – 1 tea spoon

Coconut oil – 1+2 tea spoon

Masala:

Grated Coconut – from half coconut

Coriander seeds – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Methi – ¼ tea spoon

Hing – one pinch

Red chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind – ½ tea spoon

Season:

Coconut oil – 1 tea spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Red chilli – 1 (optional)

Curry leaves – 1 or 2 springs

Method:

-Wash and soak Black chana overnight. Drain the soaked water the next morning.

-Take one pressure cooker, cook chana by adding sufficient water. It requires around 4 to 5 whistles.

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-Add Tender jack pieces into cooked chana, if needed some water, salt, red chilli powder and jaggery and cook in an open fire, until jack pieces are soft.

-In the meantime, prepare masala:

-Take 1 tsp of coconut oil in a tawa, fry methi, add coriander, hing, urad dal, red chillies and fry until urad dal becomes red. Next add coconut and fry until it emits fragrance.

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-Cool the mixture, add tamarind and grind into little rough paste by adding water.

-Add the ground masala into cooked veggie mixture, boil.

-Add seasoning, heat coconut oil, splutter mustard, add red chilli (optional), curry leaves into oil and pour the mixture over boiled curry.

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-After adding the seasoning, add 2 tsp of raw coconut oil and keep it covered until u serve. This is to get an authentic taste.

 

Mavinakai Chutney/ Raw Mango and Coconut chutney:

There are so many ways to make lip smacking good Mango chutney. This is traditional mango chutney from Mangalore, South of Karnataka and it is mostly ground to a thicker consistency and is also called as Gatti chutney, which means thick raw mango chutney and is served with Kanji (Brown rice gruel) and ghee. It is our comfort food.     DSC_0037_Fotor

Ingredients:

Grated Fresh coconut – 1 cup

Grated fresh green mango – ¼ cup

Green chillies – 2 to 3

Salt

Seasoning: Coconut oil, mustard, curry leaves.

Method:

-Put freshly grated coconut, grated green mango, green chillies and salt in a mixer grinder.

-Instead of green chillies, traditionally people use small bird eye chillies too. If you have that, you can use those chillies as well.

– Now blend the mixture in the mixer grinder coarsely, without adding any water. If juice from the raw mango is not sufficient, then add 1 to 2 tsp of water and grind to get this thick consistency.

-Prepare the seasoning and serve with Brown rice kanji and ghee.

Baby corn Fritters:

Baby corn is one such vegetable, which tastes good in any form, from salad to curries. If it is deep fried, then there’s nothing like it. It is crunchy and flavourful.

Deep fried items are my weakness and I enjoy my evening tea with any kind of bajji’s or pakodas.

This dish was a cross between bajji and Tandoori. So, I call them fritters.

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Now we will see the procedure.

Ingredients:

Baby corn – 200 grams

Onion – 1

Coriander leaves – 1 table spoon

Salt

Ginger- garlic paste – 1 tea spoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Tandoori masala – 1 table spoon

Besan – 2 table spoons

Rice flour – 2 table spoons

Curd – 2 table spoons

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Oil – to deep fry

Method:

-Slice baby corn, onion. Chop coriander leaves.

-Put everything other than curry leaves and mix nicely.

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-Heat oil in a kadai, when it is hot, drop curry leaves, fry and keep aside.

-Now fry baby corn mixture by dropping baby corn and onion individually little by little.

-When it is fried, remove from the oil and drain on a tissue laden plate.

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-When all the mixture has been fried and ready, mix in curry leaves and enjoy.

 

Nendra Sippe Palya/Plantain peel dry curry:

Nendra is also known as Kerala Banana. Which is mainly used in chips, if it is raw and firm or Halwa making, when it is ripe and black.

When Chips is made, all the healthy, iron rich and fibre rich peel will be wasted, and it is some what a bi -product of chips making activity.

This palya is normally prepared on previous night of wedding celebrations in our region. Normally plantain chips are an integral part of any festivity meal and it is prepared well in advance, usually process starts from the previous afternoon and peels will be fresh and ready to be used in the previous night’s dinner menu.

It is a very tasty side dish with hot Rasam or as it is with hot rice topped with ghee.

Taste of this dish will be a mixture of sweet, hot and sour and only Raw Nendra banana peel can be used to make this palya.

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Ingredients:

Plantain Peel – of 8 to 10 Raw bananas

Tamarind water – ½ to 1 cup

Salt

Jaggery – 1 to 2 table spoons

Red chilli powder – 2 tea spoons

Fresh grated coconut- ¼ cup

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 2 table spoons

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Method:

-Make thin buttermilk water to immerse the chopping’s:-Take one vessel, put 1 spoon of curd or butter milk and add two cups of water.

-Soak one tea spoon of tamarind in a half to one cup of hot water and make tamarind water and keep.

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Wash Plantain peel and keep aside.

-Chop plantain peel into thin strips and put it into thin buttermilk water.

-Take one tawa, add one table spoon of oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal, red chilli and fry until dal becomes red. Add one spring of curry leaves.

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-Pour tamarind water, salt, jaggery, red chilli powder and boil.

-Discard butter milk water and keep chopping’s ready for use.

-When it starts boiling, add drained plantain peel chopping’s.

-Close the lid and cook this in a simmer.

-Check for water in-between. If peel is not cooked add some more water.

-When chopping’s are soft and cooked, after water drains, add grated coconut, remaining 1 table spoon of oil and one spring curry leaf.

-Mix everything and cook for 2 to 3 minutes and then switch off.

-Serve with hot rice topped with ghee or as a side dish with rice and Rasam.

Nendra Balekai Chips / Kerala plantain chips:

A person who can resist chips, let alone not like them, is unheard of.

Nendra is a variety of banana, which is very popular in Kerala and our coastal region. We usually use this in various snack preparations. Raw banana chips are very popular in South India and it’s usually served as a savoury side dish in a traditional meal or just as munchies. This is very addictive and has a distinct flavour due to usage of coconut oil for frying.

I got this raw banana from my cousin brother’s farm and prepared these chips after ages. All thanks to them.

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Now we will proceed towards the recipe-

Ingredients:

Green Nendra Banana – 10

Salt – 1 tbl sp

Water – 1 small cup

Coconut oil – To deep fry.

Chips slicer – to slice

Method:

Apply some oil to your hand. To some extent it will protect your hand from blackening.

Take fresh, green plantain, wash properly. Take one small sharp knife, remove top and bottom part and give slits on outer skin at regular intervals (may be 4 to 5) from top to bottom.

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Now slowly insert your thumb at the slit and open the outer skin.

Don’t throw away this skin; you can make very tasty palya/Subzi out of this.

Immerse these peeled bananas in a bowl of water.

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Take one small bowl of water and mix salt and keep aside.it is your salted water, which is used while frying chips.

Now you can keep coconut oil for heating. When it is very hot, start making chips. To test the hotness of oil, drop one small piece of plantain, if it pops up immediately, it is ready.

Take out plantain from water, pat dry and start slicing directly to the hot oil by using slicer.

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Use one or two plantains at a time.

Keep flame at medium. When the slices of plantain cook, the bubbling sound of the oil becomes faint. Now you can add 1 tbl spoon of salted water, and you will hear lot of bubbles and bubbling sound. When the sound reduces, the chips are ready to be removed from the oil.

Remove the chips from the oil and keep them on a tissue-laid plate.

After cooling store, it in an air tight container and proceed with the remaining plantain.

 

Bell fruit -Raw Mango- Mint juice:

Summer is the season, when we need lot of water to keep our body hydrated. The humble bell fruit is one such fruit, which we had in our front yard while I was a kid. It is the most underrated fruit when I was growing and other than eating, fruits used to be wasted on the ground after it fell from the tree.

 Almost all the household has one or the other watery fruit plant in our native. It has several names like wax apple, java apple, water apple, Syzygium, Jambi fruit or jambu nerale.

Last week when I tried this otherwise bland, watery fruit with Raw mango and mint in the form of juice, we liked the flavour and enjoyed it.

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Recipe goes like this-

Ingredients:

Bell fruits – 8 to 10

Raw mango – ¼ piece of one mango

Mint – 1to 2 strings

Sea Salt – ¼ teas poon

Sugar – as needed.

Water – 2 cups

Ice cubes – if needed

Method:

-Wash, make half, remove seed and clean the bell fruit.

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-Chop mango

-Take one juicer jar and put everything and churn until sugar dissolves.

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-Strain the juice, pour this into a serving glass, put couple of ice cubes and serve.

Bell fruit –carrot and Bottle gourd juice:

Star apple, bell fruit, Jambi, water apple, what not? So many names for this tropical fruit. This abundantly grows in a hot climate and is loved by all.

I had mixed this tropical fruit with grated carrots and bottle gourd to make an early morning dose of nutrients.

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Ingredient:

Bell fruit – 4 to 5

Bottle gourd – ¼ cup (grated)

Carrot – 1 (Grated)

Ginger powder – ½ tsp.

Water – 1 cup

Salt – ¼ tsp.

Any Sweetener – (if u need) I am using very little sugar free natura.

Method:

-Clean and slice the bell fruit.

-Blend bell fruit, grated carrot and bottle gourd, water, ginger powder, and salt. If needed, add any form of sugar and churn nicely.

-Sieve this mixture and collect juice. Your nutrition rich, power packed juice is ready, to kick start your day.

 

Capsicum Ennegayi:

Ennegayi is a North Karnataka style peanut-based curry. Flavoured with Niger seed powder, also known as Hucchellu or Gurellu in that region. Normally it is done by using tiny brinjals. As a “not so fond of brinjal” person, I have used Capsicum as it is a very good option for those who do not like brinjal and yet enjoy this side dish with any millet-based roti’s or with simple whole wheat pulka’s.

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Ingredients:

Capsicum/Bell pepper – 4- 5 (big)

Onions – 2

Gren chillies – 1 to 2 (optional)

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Tomato – 2 (small)

Oil – 2 table spoons

Cumin – 1 tea spoon

Hing – ¼ tea spoon

Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon

Salt

Jaggery – a little

Roasted peanut powder – 3 to 4 table spoons

Roasted Hucchellu powder – 2 to 3 table spoons (Niger/Gurellu powder)

Curd – 2 table spoons

Coriander leaves- 2 table spoon (chopped)

Method:

-Wash capsicum, Chop it into bite size square pieces.

-If it is spicy, don’t add any green chillies while making, otherwise you can add one or two.

-If you are adding green chillies, slit and keep.

-Chop onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves.

-Take one cooker vessel, add oil. When it is hot, add cumin and hing.

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-Then comes onions, fry a little and add curry leaves, green chilli, turmeric.

-When onion becomes light brown, add chopped tomatoes, salt and jaggery.

-Fry until tomato becomes mushy.

-Switch off the gas for once and add roasted peanut powder, Niger seed (Hucchellu) powder, curd and mix everything.

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-Now mix in capsicum pieces and once again mix everything together, add one small cup of water.

-Now switch on the gas, close the cooker lid and cook until one whistle and switch off.

-When pressure relieves, open the lid, check for the salt and jaggery or any other seasoning.

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-Adjust, garnish with the chopped coriander leaves and serve with any kind of millet roti’s or with phulka’s.