coconut oil – Page 6

Coloured Cucumber Seeds Rasam:

March 4, 2018

Coloured or Mangalore cucumber has fleshy interior centre part, which has jelly like watery fleshy part with edible seeds. Which are rich minerals and rich in nutrition. Traditionally we call this Rasam as Sauthe kai beeja da saaru. Literal translation of this is, sauthe kai beeja means cucumber seed, saaru is Rasam, which is watery in texture and consumed as an appetizer or with hot rice during summer season to maintain our body temperature.

Before using the core, check the fleshy part for bitterness. If it has bitterness, discard and don’t use in cooking. If you find core part to be flavourful or without bitterness, go ahead and use it in your cooking to enrich your body, like our elders did.

How to make this traditional goodness –

Ingredients:

Fleshy seeded part – of one coloured cucumber

Coriander seeds – 1 table spoon

Cumin seeds – 1 tea spoon

Hing – peanut size

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tea spoon

Red chillies – 4 t0 5

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Coconut – ½ cup (grated)

Tamarind – ½ to 1 tea spoon

Coconut oil – 1 tea spoon

Salt – as needed

Jaggery – ½ tea spoon (optional)

For Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tea spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Collect seed coated flesh part of one coloured cucumber.

-Cook this in a small cooker for one whistle (cooking will help in extracting the pulp) and cool.

-Grind cooked pulp by adding one cup of water and tamarind and collect the liquid by sieving.

-Grind the roughage one more time, by adding one more cup of water and sieve once more.

-Discard the remaining roughage if any.

-Now prepare masala by heating oil. Add fenugreek at first.

-When it becomes light brown, add coriander, cumin, hing, red chillies and fry until fenugreek becomes dark and coriander becomes light brown.

-Add coconut, turmeric and fry for two minutes or until you get nice aroma.

-Cool this roasted masala and grind into smooth paste by adding sufficient water.

-Add the masala to extracted cucumber seed water.

-Adjust the consistency, add salt, jaggery and boil the Rasam.

-Add seasoning, heat oil, add mustard, red chilli.

-When mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and add the seasoning to boiled Rasam and close the lid.

-Serve this as an appetiser or with hot rice with a couple of papads.

Mangalore Cucumber curry:

February 27, 2018

Traditionally we call this Sauthe kai Huli menasina Kodilu/Koddel. The literal translation of this is, Sauthe kai means sambar cucumber, Huli is tamarind, menasu is chilli, koddel is sambar or curry. It is sambar cucumber or coloured cucumber curry with a raw masala of fresh coconut flavoured with non-roasted masala.

Here we only use fresh coconut, Byadagi red chillies, tamarind as the main ingredient, and after boiling, seasoned with curry leaves, roasted garlic by using coconut oil.

To get an authentic taste, one should use coconut oil and freshly grated coconut for this curry.

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Now we will see the recipe part.

Ingredients:

Coloured cucumber – 1

Salt

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Fresh coconut – 1 bowl

Red Byadagi chillies – 2 to 3

Tamarind – gooseberry size

Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

For seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

Mustard – 1 teaspoon

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Garlic – 10 cloves (crushed)

Method:

-Wash Mangalore/Coloured/sambar cucumber.

Chop off two ends, slice into four pieces, remove the inner core (seed part), and chop into bite-sized pieces.

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-Check now for the taste. If it is bitter, soak the pieces in plain water for 5 minutes.

-Discard the water and proceed. If cucumber tastes good, there is no need to soak in water, and you can directly proceed with cooking.

-Cook these pieces in a sufficient amount of water. Add salt and red chilli powder as well.

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-In the meantime, grind masala by putting coconut, tamarind, red chillies and turmeric.

-When cucumber cooks well, add ground masala, adjust the consistency and boil.

-When the mixture boils nicely, switch off the gas.

-Prepare seasoning, heat oil, splutter mustard, add garlic, red chilli, curry leaves.

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-When garlic becomes deep brown, add the seasoning over boiled gravy.

-Keep this closed for a while before serving to absorb all the flavours.

-Serve with hot rice.

One more variation of this curry is by adding –Turkey berry.

To know about the Turkey berry, you can click the link HERE.

The method is straightforward. Crush those washed turkey berries/ Kudane, put them in water, rinse them a couple of times, and remove the seeds as much as possible; in this way, the tartness of the berries vanishes. Keep as it is and follow the above procedure to make Cucumber curry.

-When cucumber cooks partially, add those washed and cleaned berries and cook further. Then, add freshly ground masala and curry by following the above description.

Note:

To maintain authentic taste,

-use fresh coconut, Coconut oil.

-Retain the outer skin of garlic and crush.

-Inner core or seed is used in a couple of recipes.

-One is Chutney, and the other one is Rasam. I will update ASAP.

Pumpkin Flower Tawa fry:

February 16, 2018

Pumpkin flower is bright yellow coloured, which is loaded with essential nutrients, minerals and used in a different cuisine around the world and considered as a rare delicacy in a gourmet cuisine as well.

Pumpkin plant bears male as well as female flowers separately. Usually Male flowers appears initially, and female flower is a rarity. These flowers last only for a day and wither by the evening. That is the reason why we see only Male flower in cooking. It has a main role in pollination and after that it will wither, and female flower will grow as a Pumpkin. If you have a doubt in distinguishing between male and female flowers, male has only a long stalk and the female has a round green, big swollen structure(ovary) at the base of the petals.

Pumpkin flowers are used either in a raw, tossed, pan fried, cooked forms in various recipes and it is found occasionally in salads, soups or batter fried. Here I am showing Mangalore style tawa fry in which pumpkin flower will be coated with seasoned fine semolina and tawa roasted by drizzling some coconut oil to give coastal touch.

If you have Pumpkin, squash or Zucchini plant in your garden, collect all the male flowers and make this and enjoy your meal. You can collect the fresh flowers every day and store it in an air tight box for 3 to 4 days and utilise in your cooking.

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This is how I make-

Ingredients:

Pumpkin flowers – 5 to 6

Fine semolina – 1 small cup (chiroti rawa)

Salt

Hing – ¼ tea spoon

Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Coconut oil – as needed

Method:

-Wash flower, give one fine slit at the bottom of the flower and cut open.

-Remove stamen.

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-Dry mix all seasoning items from rawa, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and hing.

-Take each flower and coat with the seasoning, by rolling.

-Heat iron tawa/ griddle, place all these coated flowers.

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-Roast these by using sufficient coconut oil on both the sides.

-Serve these with hot rice and Rasam or dhal.

Gujje palya/ Tender jackfruit Subzi:

February 3, 2018

Gujje is nothing but tender jackfruit. We Mangalore people start using Gujje from its very tender form. This particular recipe is for very tender means even before its formation of eyes (seed) and known as “Guddhi palya” as it is prepared after crushing. We will see how to prepare this in a traditional way.

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Ingredient:

Tender jackfruit – 1

Mustard- 1 tsp.

Black gram dal – 1 tsp.

Red chilli – 1 (for seasoning)

Curry leaves – 4 springs

Coconut oil – 4 tsp.

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.

Turmeric – ½ tsp.

Tamarind – ½ tsp.

Salt and jaggery – for taste.

Grated coconut – 3 tbl sp.

Methi seeds – ½ tsp(roasted)

Red chilli – 2 to 3 (roasted)

Method:

Remove outer thorny skin and centre core. Cut the inner pith into one-inch cubes. Immerse in water for 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Take one thick-bottomed kadai or pressure cooker. I usually prefer one whistle a pressure cooker. This method fastens the procedure.
Put chopped jack pieces, salt, tamarind, jaggery, red chilli powder, turmeric. Now add a cup of water and cook until one whistle.

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When it becomes cool, remove the cooker lid.
Mash the cooked jack a little so that all the segments of the jack pieces will open, and it will help to enhance the taste and structure of the palya.
Dry grind coconut, roasted methi and red chilli into rough powder and add.

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Now check for the seasoning and cook until any remaining water is dried and the masala cooks and coats well.
Garnish with curry leaves, two tsp. Take raw coconut oil, keep it closed, and cook for a while so the coconut and curry leaves’ flavours will spread to give a very authentic “homely” flavour.
Season it by heating coconut oil and adding mustard. When it splits, add Urad dal, red chilli and curry leaves and pour over the ready palya/sabzi.
This palya will taste great with ghee and hot rice or as a side dish with Rasam rice.

Pineapple Menaskai/ Gojju:

December 12, 2017

Menaskai/Menaskayi is one of our coastal specialities, which is a hot, sweet and sour, sesame flavoured coconut-based curry. Normally made with bitter or tangy things like Bitter gourd, raw mango, wild mango or pineapple. We even prepare by mixing Bitter gourd and raw mango as well. It is a common dish in any of our elaborate menus for festivities, usually served on a plantain leaf, like poojas or weddings. This same curry is prepared in a little different way in other parts of Karnataka and known as “Gojju”.

Here, the main trick is-balancing of all the flavours.

If you are preparing with sour vegetable or fruit, there is no need to add additional tamarind. For example, if you are preparing raw mango or mixture of bitter gourd and raw mango Menaskai, there is no need to add tamarind. If you are using pineapple, tamarind should be added.

Here I have used pineapple and the procedure goes like this-

Ingredients:

Pineapple – 1/2 (chopped into bits)

Raw mango – 1/4 (chopped into bits)

Tamarind – gooseberry size (if the mango is not available)

Jaggery – as needed

Salt

Green chillies – 2 (slit)

For masala:

Fresh Coconut gratings – 1 to 1 ½ cups

Methi seeds – 1/4 tsp

Urad dal – 2 teaspoons

Sesame seeds – 2 teaspoons (U can use black or white)

Dried red chillies – 8 – 10 (we use Byadagi variety)

Coconut oil – 2 to 3 teaspoons (1 for roasting + 1 for seasoning + 1 tsp to garnish)

Mustard – 1 tsp

Dried red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Method:

-Clean pineapple by removing the outer skin, chop into bite-size pieces.

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-Cook pineapple pieces and mango pieces or tamarind with little water, turmeric, salt, jaggery, green chillies and curry leaves.

-Dry roast sesame seeds. Now fry all the masalas for grinding. First heat 1 tsp of oil, put methi(fenugreek) seeds. When it is light brown, add all the other ingredients like urad dal, red chillies and fry until urad dal is light brown. Now it is the time to put coconut and fry further for 2 minutes or until you smell the nice aroma.

-Cool the mixture, grind into a paste by adding sesame seeds and sufficient water as well.

-Add this paste to the cooked pineapple, check for salt and jaggery. Adjust the consistency by adding water and boil nicely in a simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

-After boiling, add 1 tsp of raw coconut oil as well as the seasoning with coconut oil, mustard, red chilli and curry leaves. Close the lid and leave it to soak all the masalas for half an hour.

-Serve with hot rice.

Note:

-After boiling, the gravy should be a little thicker than normal sambar.

-Taste should be sweet, sour, hot. So adjust the addition of jaggery accordingly.

– We usually relish this dish the next day of preparation, usually with Neer Dosa or chapati/Roti. 😊

Sambrani gadde Palya /Chinese potato stir fry:

November 27, 2017

Chinese potato is commonly known as koorka or kooka. These are tiny tubers, with deep brown skin, unlike potato. Otherwise, it looks like baby potatoes. It is a less known, neglected vegetable and tastes good with a very little seasoning or additives. It is high in nutritional value and carbohydrate.

Ingredients:

Chinese potato – ½ kg

Salt

Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds -1 teaspoon

Urad dal – 1 teaspoon

Hing – ¼ tsp

Dried Red chillies – 2

Curry leaves – 2 strings

Onion – 1/2 ( chopped)

Tamarind – 1/2 tsp (soak it in a tbl sp of water)

Turmeric – ½ teaspoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Jaggery – ½ teaspoon

Grated coconut – 2 tablespoons

Method:

-Soak Chinese potato for 20 minutes, it will help in cleaning as well as while peeling the outer skin.

-After washing, peel outer skin by scraping it and keep immerse in water.

-Chop like a match stick and immerse it in water to avoid blackening.

-Now take a thick vessel, add little water, turmeric, salt, jaggery and boil. Add drained kooka pieces and cook in low heat, until it is firm and soft.

-Now, proceed with the seasoning. Take one Kadai, heat 1 a spoon of coconut oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal, hing, broken red chillies, onion and fry for 2 min.

-Add cooked kooka, red chilli powder, little tamarind water, freshly grated coconut and fry for a while.

-Lastly, add 1 tsp of raw coconut oil, curry leaves, mix everything, close the lid and keep this for 2 to 5 min on a low flame.

-Flavour of Raw coconut oil and curry leaves would give a nice aroma to this side dish. Enjoy hot rice and dhal topped with ghee.

Seasoned Neer Dosa / Thellavu Oggarane:

November 2, 2017

Neer Dosa batter usually finished off as a fresh batter. We traditionally don’t keep Neer Dosa batter to ferment. We finish off all the batter by preparing dosas and keep. My family likes the seasoned sweet version of this at evenings as after school or office snack. That is the reason why I make it a point to soak more rice and prepare more dosas in the morning and keep them. Now we will see how I make this-

Ingredients;

Left over dosas – 8

Coconut oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Dried Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Salt – ¼ tea spoon

Coconut – ½ cup (grated)

Jaggery – grated (as needed)

Method:

-Break Neer Dosa into pieces by using hand.

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-Prepare mixture of grated jaggery and coconut and keep aside.

-Heat one tawa, add oil, splutter mustard, fry urad dal, red chilli and add curry leaves.

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-Add pieces of Dosa, sprinkle salt and add coconut jaggery mixture.

-Heat until it all mixes and then switch off the gas and serve as a snack.

Spaghetti squash palya/stir-fry:

October 24, 2017

Spaghetti squash is oblong shaped spring vegetable. Like any other squash it has creamy yellow outer hard skin and inner core and seed part. It is rich in vitamins, rich in antioxidants and low in carbohydrate. Hence it is loved by weight watchers and one can enjoy this super magical veggie in many forms after baking it for a half an hour. After initial baking/cooking ,inner flesh tends to become thread like texture and which can be enjoyed in many ways as salads, as substitution for noodles etc.

I wanted to try this vegetable from so long. In my recent visit to USA, I asked my sister to bring this veggie when I was at her place. She did struggle a lot to find this vegetable in the Summer and finally managed to find one and handed it over to me. I knew it was extensively used as a substitute to noodles in salads, hence I wanted to incorporate it in our south Indian cooking and tried simple palya and it tasted great with rice and Rasam.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti squash – 1

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Salt

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Jaggery – 1 tea spoon

Grated fresh coconut – 2 table spoons

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Red chilli -1 (broken in to half)

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

How to remove or prepare spaghetti, out of squash before making palya-

If you have not used spaghetti squash before, there are couple of things one should know. First you should cut this veggie into half lengthwise and carefully remove the seeds and attached fibre. Place these two pieces on a lined cookie sheet or any baking tray. Next spray some olive oil or any other vegetable oil and bake this in a pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes at 180 ®C or until it is cooked and water oozes and accumulates at the centre hollow region.

Next, remove from the oven, cool a bit. Take one fork and scrape all over and see the magic. Yup!!! You will see lots of noodle like strands and collect all these and keep it ready for further cooking.

How to make Palya:

-Take one kadai/wok add oil and heat. Splutter mustard, add urad dal, cumin, red chilli.

-When urad dal becomes light brown, add curry leaves, collected spaghetti squash strands, salt, jaggery, red chilli powder and little water.

-Cook until veggie absorbs all the flavours and water dries up. Garnish with coconut gratings.

-Serve with rice or roti.

Lemon Rasam:

October 21, 2017

After all these festivities and indulgence, our digestive system surely needs some soothing, healing and a simple lunch. This lemon Rasam surely fits the bill and we can enjoy this Rasam with some hot rice, vegetable Subzi and little pickle. This time I had some huge lemons from my native. which we call as Dudle huli /Citrus medica. This Rasam is very good for treating sour throat as well. You can enjoy this as a soup and heal the throat pain.

Ingredients-

Toor dal – 1 cup (cooked)

Green chillies – 4

Ginger – ½ inch

Hing – Toor dal size

Salt

Jaggery – 1 table spoon

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Lemon juice – ½ of big lemon or 1 small lemon

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Chop green chillies, cut ginger julienne and keep.

-Take Four to five cups of water in a pot, put ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, salt, jaggery, hing and cook for a while.

-When ginger and green chillies are cooked, add cooked dal and adjust the consistency, check for salt and jaggery.

– Boil for 3 to 5 minutes and switch off. Now add lemon juice by removing the seeds if any.

-Do the seasoning by heating oil, add mustard and splutter. Next add cumin, broken red chilli and curry leaves and mix all these and add this over ready boiled Rasam.

Close the lid and rest this for 10 minutes to absorb all the flavours and then serve.

Ash gourd peel chutney:

October 20, 2017

In our native, we get very good, thick fleshed Ash gourd and usually outer skin (we call it as Odu) will be hard and usually remove ¼ an inch thick. After this we usually scrape the outer green part and use it in a dry curry/Subzi/palya. But what I get it in Bangalore has very thin outer skin and I usually peel only outer green part and use it in a really tasty chutney and it is very healthy as well as pairs very well with hot rice or Dosa or idly.

Ingredient:

Ash gourd peel – Whatever is available.

Green chillies – 2 to 3

Salt

Tamarind – ½ tea spoon

Coconut – ¼ cup to ½ cup

Method:

-Chop the peels and cook this with green chillies, tamarind and salt by adding very little water.

-When it is cooked, switch off the gas and cool the mixture.

-Grind with coconut by adding little water.

-Add seasoning as you wish.

-Serve either with rice or Dosa.