coastal karnataka recipe

Masala Dosa:

May 9, 2019

Who doesn’t love Masala Dosa? It is an absolute favourite in our family.

A properly made crisp Dosa is very delicious if the batter is perfectly fermented with little sour flavour and correct consistency.

Normally Masala Dosa can be served either by applying Red chutney or Green chutney.

Red chutney what I make is not very hot and made with only chillies. It is coconut-based garlic flavoured chutney.

In other hand, green chutney smeared Dosa is something I relish in Hotel MTR outlet in Bangalore. I tried to replicate the taste at home, and it is once again a coconut chutney, which is flavoured by coriander leaves.

In our coastal region, you never get to see red chutney applied Masala dosas. It is normal paper plain Dosa with bhaji at the centre and rolled like a paper roll and served with the watery ginger chutney and sambar as an accompaniment.

In our house we normally make red chutney and apply and enjoy garlicky flavoured chutney with aloo masala.

First, we will see How to make Dosa Batter:

Ingredient:

Dosa rice -1 cup

Idly rice -1 cup

Urad dal – ½ cup

Bengal gram/Chana dal – 1 tbl sp

Fenugreek/methi seeds – 1 tsp.

Beaten rice – ¼ cup

Method:

-Wash all these ingredients couple of times.

-Soak this in a sufficient water (washed rice and dal should submerge) for 3 to 4 hours. Drain water from the rice and keep aside. This water is used while grinding according to the requirement. Grind soaked rice –dal mixture by adding salt in to a very fine /smooth batter by using wet grinder or Mixer grinder. I prefer Wet grinder and it certainly gives much finer, perfect batter. After removing the batter adjust the consistency by mixing properly. Now keep this ground batter for fermentation in a big vessel, so that it will allow room for puffed/fermented batter. It will take anywhere between 8 to 16 hours (according to the outside weather)

Note: In Bangalore I usually soak my lentils around morning, grinding happens around afternoon 2 to 3 pm and until next morning I keep the batter for fermentation. This is how I get my perfectly fermented batter.

Potato Bhaji/ filling:

Ingredients:

Potato – 6 big

Onion – 3 big

Green chilli – 2 to 3

Grated ginger – ½ “

Turmeric – ½ tsp.

Salt

Seasoning: Coconut oil -2 tbl sp, mustard- 1tsp, Urad dal -1 tsp., chana dal-1 tsp, Cumin seeds – ½ tsp, hing – ¼ tsp, Red chilli -1, curry leaves -2 springs.

Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method:

-Wash potato cut in to half and put this in a cooker with sufficient water. Cook for two whistles. Cool, remove outer skin, mash and keep aside.

-Slice onion and slit green chillies.

-Take one kadai, add coconut oil, mustard, when it starts to splutter, add cumin, hing, Urad dal, chana dal, red chilli. When dal becomes red add Curry leaves, slit green chillies and onions.

-Add turmeric and fry onions till it becomes light brown.

-Now add one to two cups of water, add salt.

-When water starts boiling add mashed potato and mix nicely. Check for the seasoning and close the lid and cook for a while until it becomes homogenised and water drains.

-Switch off the gas and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Red Chutney: It is garlic flavoured very thick coconut chutney.

Ingredients:

Grated fresh coconut – 1 cup

Red chilli – 2

Garlic cloves -7 to 8

Tamarind – ¼ tsp.

Salt

Method: Roast Red chillies by putting ¼ tsp of oil.

Put all the ingredients together in a mixer jar, dry grind at first and then put very little water and make very thick consistency. This chutney is used for applying over the Dosa while making.

Green chutney: This chutney can be smeared as well as served as an accompaniment with Dosa. If you are smearing, keep the consistency little thick and if you are serving as a side, you can add little water and make it thin.

Ingredient:

Grated fresh coconut – 1 cup

Roasted gram/ puffed gram – ½ cup (putani or Hurigadale)

Green chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind – little

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt

Coriander leaves – 1 small cup

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

Fist grind coconut, puffed gram, salt, tamarind by adding little water. Then add chopped coriander and curry leaves and churn a little and add seasoning with mustard and curry leaves.

White Coconut Chutney: This is served as a side dish and usually with ginger flavour.

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup

Green chilli – 1 or 2

Tamarind – ¼ tsp.

Salt

Ginger – ½ “

Method: Grind all these by putting sufficient water and adjust the consistency. Do seasoning by putting coconut oil, mustard, red chilli and curry leaves.

How to Prepare Masala Dosa:

Now everything is ready, and we can proceed with our preparation.

-Keep the Dosa griddle over the gas stove for heating. You can use Iron griddle or Non-stick one.

-Nicely mix fermented Dosa batter and check for the consistency. If it is thick add ½ cup of water and adjust and keep it ready.

-When Dosa tawa becomes hot, pour one serving spoon of Dosa batter, move spatula in to a circular motion and spread the batter.

-sprinkle little ghee /butter/oil and cook until it is little brown in a low flame.

-when it is light brown spread Red garlic chutney or Thick green chutney at the centre of the Dosa in a circular motion and keep one serving spoon of potato filling at the centre and fold.

-Now serve this ready Masala Dosa with White coconut chutney and Enjoy.

Kadu Mavina hannina Hasi Gojji/ Wild Mango Gojju:

May 1, 2019

Wild mangoes are known as Kadu mavina hannu in our local language. Which is very fibrous, tangy as well as sweet in taste. It has distinct taste; it is widely used in varieties of curries in our region. Hasi Gojju is nothing but, raw form of curry. Which can be prepared in a jiffy and doesn’t need any heating and is a perfect treat for summer. Usually we enjoy this with hot rice as well as devoured like a dessert :D. In Mango season, we do prepare varieties of curries like Sasame or Sasive, saaru and Gojju are the most loved dishes of our region.

Ingredients:

Wild mangoes -5-6

Salt – to taste

Jaggery – to taste

Green chillies – 1 or 2

Seasoning: Coconut oil – 1 tsp, mustard – 1 tsp, Red chilli – 1, Curry leaves – little.

Method:

Wash wild mangoes, remove top part of the mango, remove outer skin and keep this in a separate vessel. Keep inner fruit part in another vessel.

Add one cup of water to outer skin, mash nicely, collect pulpy water and add this to fruit.
Discard outer remaining skin. Add required amount of jaggery, salt and crush green chillies by using your hand.
Mix everything, check for the seasoning. If needed add some more grated jaggery or salt.
Season by using coconut oil. When it is hot, add mustard, after it splutters, add red chilli and curry leaves, add this to mango curry.

Enjoy this with hot rice.

NOTE:

-If you don’t have access to wild mango, don’t worry. Pick up any (little sour) varieties of mango, peel the outer skin and chop the fruit into bite size pieces or mash a little and proceed with above method.

Ellu Juice / Sesame Juice:

April 26, 2019

Ellu juice is a well-known coolant drink of summer, especially in and around Mangalore and Udupi region. As I grew up in Puttur, little away from the coastal line, never tasted this juice until my marriage. I came to know about this healthy drink very recently, may be around three years back.

Ellu juice and masala buttermilk is sold in and around coastal temples, during summer. After tasting chilled, soothing drink I asked the shopkeeper to elaborate the recipe and noted it down and tried it at home here in Bangalore. According to me, chilled juice tastes really nice in hot weather.

Sesame seeds are tiny, healthy, oil rich seeds. Un-hulled seeds are black or dark brown in colour and hulled seeds look off white and fully polished one look pure white and known as Nylon variety.

To prepare this juice, one can use any type of sesame seeds and can be used raw as well as toasted.

Here I have used raw seeds and mixed coconut milk as well as regular milk. If you want to make Vegan drink, please use coconut little more or replace milk with any other plant-based milk and proceed. Now, we will proceed with the method.

Ingredients:

Sesame seeds – 1 table spoon (for 2 cups)

Coconut – 2 table spoon (grated)

Milk – ½ to ¾ cup

Whole Cardamom – 1 or 2

Jaggery – as needed

Water – approximately one cup

Method:

-Wash sesame, grind into paste by adding coconut, cardamom, jaggery and quarter cup of water.

-Strain and collect the sesame milk. Repeat the process by adding little water until coconut and sesame turns into small, rough fibre.

-Now, discard the roughage and use collected milk, add plain milk and adjust the consistency.

-Cool this and serve.

Balehannina Berati Payasa / Payasam by plantain preserve:

April 7, 2019

First, I want to wish a very very happy “Ugadi” to all my readers. Ugadi marks the beginning of the new Hindu lunar Calendar, which is based on the change in the moon’s orbit. Ugadi is a Lunar New year for us.

On the eve of this festival I made our traditional payasam and enjoyed with my family.

“Berati” is nothing but preserved fruit pulp, which is cooked until it forms into thick mass and usually made when it is in abundance and stored for future use.

How to preserve jackfruit and Banana / Berati is already shared in my blog.

In Coastal region we love jack and Banana in many forms. Berati Payasa (preserved Banana or Jack) is one of them.

Now we will see traditionally how it is made:

Ingredients:

Berati / Banana preserve – 1 bowl

Coconut – 1 (To extract milk)

-OR-

Thin coconut milk – 2cups

Thick coconut milk – ½ cup

Salt – ½ tsp

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

For Seasoning:

Ghee – 1 tbl sp

Thin Coconut slices – 2 tbl sp

Cashew pieces – 2 tbl sp

Toasted black sesame – 1 table spoon

Fresh coconut slices – 1 to 2 table spoons

Method:

Take out Berati from your freezer and keep aside for some time to attain room temperature.

Slice coconut by using small knife, chop these sliced pieces into small bits.
Toast black sesame and keep aside.
Take little ghee and fry coconut bits and keep aside.
If you want to, you can add ghee roasted cashew bits as well.
Grate coconut (coconut should be fresh), put one cup of water and grind this in a mixer jar and extract milk by sieving this ground mixture. This is thick coconut milk and you should keep this separately. We use this at the end stage of Payasa making.
Do this procedure a couple of times to get a thin extract and lastly discard coconut fibre.
If you are using readymade coconut milk, please skip this step.
Now take one thick bottomed vessel, put Berati, thin coconut milk and dissolve Berati and keep this on a gas stove to boil.
Usually while making Berati, we put Sugar, so no need of additional sugar.

Lastly add thick extract of coconut milk and give one boil. Don’t boil it much. Add Cardamom powder and mix.
Remove from fire and add fried coconut pieces, toasted black sesame or cashew brittles to prepared Payasa.
Serve with lunch thali or as a dessert.

NOTE:

Traditionally only toasted sesame and coconut bits are added.
Vegans can omit ghee and roast all the items, instead of frying.

Barley water/Juice:

March 25, 2019

Barley is an ancient grain and a very popular grain as a healing or soothing food. In olden days, people used to have Barley water or ganji (porridge) to heal vomiting, diarrhoea or Urinary tract infection naturally. People never used to have medicines or chemicals.

It is a wonderful healing, easily digestible food, even during recuperating from any surgery.

Sipping on barley water with a pinch of salt is an excellent remedy to overcome nausea.

Other than all this goodness, barley water when combined with a dash of lime, is recommended for kidney stones.

So, all in all it has several health benefits starting from cooling down our body temperature, detoxifying by flushing toxins from the body and keeping you hydrated, to improve immunity level, to maintain gut health by high fibre content, rich in Vit B as well as E.

This year summer is very harsh, and it is our responsibility to stay hydrated and provide natural supplements to our body according to the situation or season. It is very simple to make Barley water or juice at home. Soak cook and strain. Cooked grains can be used as it is or can be used in making salads by draining.

Ingredients:

Whole barley – 2 to 3 table spoons

Method:

-Wash, soak barley in a cup of water for overnight.

-Next day, cook this in a pressure cooker by adding very little salt for 2 to 3 whistles. When pressure releases add required amount of water. (approximately 3 big glass)

-Boil for 5 to 10 min in a low flame and switch off.

-Stain and use as plain barley water for sipping throughout the day, instead of plain water.

-OR

Make lemonade by adding lemon juice, sugar or any other natural sweetener according to your preference.

-You can add chopped Pudina or mint leaves or a tsp of ginger juice.

-OR

Mix buttermilk and can have as a low-calorie drink. In this way, diabetics or weight watchers can have. One can add pudina and grated ginger to this as well.

Baked Vada by using Leftover upma/ Uppittu:

March 11, 2019

When we have left over Uppittu/ upma, it is a wonderful opportunity to turn it into evening tea time snack, that too lip smacking good Nippattu /vade. Which is a perfect pair with Hot tea or coffee.

Normally, left overs would sit idle in the corner of dining table and will not attract any one’s attention. For this reason, I normally make it a point to give some modification and present it as a new dish 😉 😀

Here I have taken Lima beans added Avarekai Uppittu. You can take any Uppittu/ upma of your choice.

How I made this-

Ingredients:

Left over Upma – one bowl

Onion – 1 big

Green chillies – 2

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Coriander leaves – 2 table spoons (chopped)

Crushed peanuts – little

Rice flour – to bind.

Salt

Method:

-Chop onion, curry leaves, green chillies, coriander leaves.

-Mix in all the chopped items, salt, peanuts into left over upma and mix nicely.Add required amount of rice flour, bind and make a small roundel, pat a flat disc .

– Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180° C for 15 to 20 minutes or until done.

-Upma already has oil or ghee content in it. So, no need to put any oil. If at all needed, you can add couple of tea spoons of oil while binding.

-Serve with Coffee or tea as a evening snack.

Lemongrass Tambli:

March 8, 2019

Lemongrass is used as a culinary as well as medicinal herb in the Asian continent. It has a mild citrus flavour with sweetish taste. It can be used in a dried, powdered or fresh form in various things like teas, soups and curries. This particular curry is called “Tambli” and it is prepared by grinding fresh leaves with coconut and mixing in buttermilk and it doesn’t need boiling. You can savour this like an appetiser or mixing with piping hot rice in this really hot summer. It has healing properties and is very good for the digestive system.

How to prepare this:

Ingredients:

Lemongrass sticks – 5-6

Fresh grated Coconut – ½ cup

Green chilli -1

Salt –to taste

Lemon – ½

Buttermilk – ½ cup

Method:

Chop lemongrass into bite size.
Take your mixer jar, grind lemongrass pieces, coconut gratings, green chilli and salt by adding ½ cup of water into smooth paste. Sieve this mixture to get smooth liquid. (Sieving is very important over here, otherwise lemongrass will irritate your throat)

Once again add half cup of water, do exactly like earlier and repeat this process for two or three times, so that we will remove all the traces of liquid and discard the remaining fibre.
Now mix in buttermilk, adjust the consistency by adding water. Check the salt and add lemon juice.
Now your Tambli is ready to savour.
If you want to add the seasoning, heat one tsp of ghee, fry little cumin and curry leaves and add to Tambli.
Beat the heat by having this either as an appetiser or with hot rice.

NOTE:

To make vegan version, please omit the buttermilk and rest you can proceed as it is.

Malabar spinach and Raw papaya curry:

February 25, 2019

Malabar spinach is commonly known as Basale in our coastal area. It is a common creeping vein in the backyard of every household.

Its leaf is very rich in iron, fibre, antioxidants and vitamins and low in calorie. Malabar spinach is a go getter veggie at any given point of time. You can harvest, as soon as the main stem is growing and spreads all over. Snip the leaves and use the stems as well.

On the other hand, raw papaya is also a power house of nutrients and it is a natural cleanser of intestine and colon.

Like Malabar spinach, Papaya tree also plays an integral part in our garden. May be because of the easy availability, we have a couple of traditional dishes with Raw papaya and one curry is this. Our elders had so much knowledge to include all the goodness in their cooking. One such recipe is Raw papaya and Malabar spinach with a freshly ground coconut masala. It can be relished with Boiled rice or white rice. It is an overall package of health benefits from both the veggies.

Ingredients:

Malabar spinach – one small bundle

Raw papaya – 1 small

Onion – 1

Salt

Jaggery (optional)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Toor dal – ½ cup

For Masala paste:

Coriander – 1-2 tablespoon

Cumin – 1 tsp

Methi – ½ tsp

Dried red chillies – 5 to 6

Tamarind – 1 tsp

Coconut – 1 to 1 ½ cup

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Small onion – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Wash Malabar spinach leaves, chop them and keep them aside. Cut it into 2 to 3-inch pieces if you are using its stem.

-Chop Raw papaya by removing the outer skin and the inner seeds. Dump in a water bowl to remove all the oozed latex and drain.

-Wash Toor dal; if you have chopped Malabar spinach stem, combine it and cook with dal by adding turmeric and salt.

-When toor dal is ready, remove the lid, add a little water, salt, jaggery, red chilli powder, Papaya pieces, and chopped leaves. Cook for one whistle.

-Now prepare masala by roasting methi, coriander, cumin and red chillies in a little oil. Grind into a paste by adding coconut, tamarind and water.

-Add the ground paste to cooked veggies, adjust everything, boil and add seasoning.

-To season, heat oil, splutter mustard, red chilli, curry leaves and chopped onion. When the onion becomes brown, add it to the curry.

-Serve with Hot rice.

Bannangayi Dosey /tender (young) coconut Dosa:

February 20, 2019

When I was a little girl, my mom used to work, and I used to spend the summer vacation at my grandparents’ house. I used to enjoy at the farm house by having an unlimited supply of Mangoes, tender coconut, pineapples etc.

There used to be abundant supply of fallen young coconuts, also called ‘bannangayi’ which have much harder flesh than what we get in the normal tender coconut carts over.

My aunt used to make a very tasty Dosa out of this and we used to relish this along with chutney and Jaggery syrup topped with homemade ghee.

Yesterday, when we had tender coconuts here in Bangalore, inner pulp was very thick and couldn’t eat. So, I thought about Dosa and prepared this after ages. It was such a nostalgic moment for me. Let us see how to make this tasty Dosa.

Ingredients:

Tender coconut – 1

Dosa rice – 2 cups

Salt

Method:

-wash and soak Dosa rice for 3 to 4 hours.

-Grate or chop tender /young coconut and keep aside.

-Grind soaked rice with grated young coconut by adding little water and salt and make smooth paste. This batter must be like our regular Dosa batter and there is no need of fermentation.

-You can make use of this batter straight away. Usually we prepare this batter in the morning itself.

-If you want to prepare this batter in the evening, to make the Dosa in the morning, you can store the batter in the refrigerator.

-To prepare Dosa, heat iron Dosa tawa. When it is hot, don’t apply any oil. You can pour one serving spoon of batter and make Dosa like our regular Dosa. Pour ½ tsp of ghee and Close the lid.

When it shows little brownish spots here and there, flip the side, cook upper side and serve with Coconut and onion chutney , jaggery syrup which is topped with ghee or honey.

Sundried Amla/ Preserved Indian gooseberries:

February 12, 2019

Amla is good for human kind. It is a great source of Vitamin C and antioxidant as well as anti-inflammatory which boosts the immune system. It is a source of total nourishment for our hair as well as skin.

Traditionally each region has its own method to preserve the goodness of Amla. Be it in a morabba form or as a candy. In our household, I make it a point to preserve it by Sun drying. One with salt and other one with plain, powder form.

Salted Amla is used for making chutney or Tambli for any stomach ailments. To drink with buttermilk by mixing it. (Raw form of goodness)

Powder form for any smoothies, hair pack or face pack.

Method:

-Wash, either grate it or cut open and remove the seed.

-Put all the pieces in a vegetable chopper / small processor. In this way, you would get nice uniform chunks in an easy way.

-If you want to make powder, don’t add any salt. Straightway sundry until it is crisp and powder and store it.

-If you want a salted one. Add some salt to gratings, mix by hand and sundry until it is crisp and store it in an air tight pouch or container.

-I normally keep it in a fridge.

How to use these salted chunks: Soak 1 tsp of dried amla chunks in a table spoon of water and after 10minutes, use it for chutneys, tambli’s or drink with buttermilk.