Category: coconut

Pumpkin/Cheenikayi Kalasu:

October 25, 2018

Pumpkin Kalasu is a traditional recipe of our community. It is a semi solid, sweetish coconut based curry, which goes very well with hot rice or Chapati.

Usually we use tender, greenish sweet pumpkin for this curry, paired with white Kabuli chana.

Ingredients:

Green sweet pumpkin – ½

White chana – 1 cup

Coconut – 1 bowl

Cumin – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1 to 2

Salt

Jaggery

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

  • Soak white chana for 7 to 8 hours or overnight.
  • Cut pumpkin into half; remove inner soft pith and seed. Chop this into small pieces with skin intact.
  • Wash soaked chana, put fresh water and cook in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles.

  • When pressure relieves, open the lid and add chopped pumpkin, salt, red chilli powder and jaggery. If needed add little more water and cook until pumpkin is done.
  • Now grind coconut, cumin and red chilli into fine paste by adding required amount of water.
  • Add this masala to cooked veggie. Adjust the consistency by adding water. Consistency should be semi solid. Boil this and add seasoning.
  • For seasoning heat coconut oil, mustard, red chilli and curry leaves.
  • Enjoy this curry with hot rice or Chapati.

 

Thambittu Unde / Brown Rice Laddu:

October 18, 2018

Brown rice laddu is also known as “Thambittu unde” in our coastal region of Karnataka. It is an age-old recipe of my aunt’s family. This tasty laddu is very dear to my heart, which I used to relish whenever I visited my maternal uncles place.

Brown rice, also known as boiled rice/matta rice/Kerala rice is very healthy and packed with many nutrients, at the same time it is gluten free and you can have it without any hesitation. It requires very minimum ingredients but tastes heavenly.

Now we will see the procedure –

Ingredients:

Brown rice /matta rice – 500 grams.

Fresh Coconut – 1 (grated)

Jaggery – 500 grams (used organic, hence the colour is dark)

Ghee – 50 -100 ml

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp.

Cashew bits – ½ to 1 cup

Method:

-Wash rice once or twice, drain completely and Spread this on a clean cloth and let it air dry. It takes one to two hours. After one to two hours, check the moisture.

-If it is completely dry while handling, it is ready to use.

-Heat one thick bottomed wok/vessel, add dried rice little by little and roast, it will pop a little and texture will become brittle and little puffy.

-Do this procedure in 3 to 4 batches and cool.

-When it cools down, make powder either in a mixer jar or nearby flour mill. Sieve this powder and keep aside.

-Now dry roast grated coconut until it emits fragrance. Keep aside. (you can use mixer jar and pulse once or twice to get uniform tiny gratings. This would help in uniform roasting)

-Boil jaggery by putting one cup of water. When it melts sieve this solution to remove any impurities.

-Take this liquid and boil further till it reaches one thread consistency. At this stage you will hear “Tup” “Tup” bubbling sound too (this is the clue which I have received from the elders)

-When it reaches one thread consistency, mix in roasted coconut gratings, ghee, roasted cashew bits, rice powder and cardamom powder.

-Mix nicely. At this stage mixture will be too wet to handle. So, keep aside for half to one hour, till mixture becomes little dry and ready to handle.

-When you feel it is ready, take a small amount in a hand and make laddu and keep aside.

-When all the mixture gets over and you have finished the process, store these laddu’s in an airtight container. This laddu stays good for long even in room temperature.

 

 

Vegetable Pulav (Bangalore Style):

October 6, 2018

Vegetable Pulav is very versatile and made in many ways. Each house or family has their own favourite recipes. But this one is found in any small darshini or small eateries in Bangalore. It is a native Bangalore style Pulav which is green in colour due to the usage of Pudina and coriander leaves. It is fried with onion and other masalas and ground to paste. Selection of the vegetable is also unique. With other vegetables, Knol khol, double beans as an added attraction, when compared to normal Pulav. Added to all this, we find deep fried bread croutons.  

Ingredients:

Basmati rice – 3 cups (small steel tumbler)

Beans – 10

Carrot – 1

Knol khol – 2

Green peas – ¾ cup

Double beans – ¾ cup

Lemon – 1

Bread slices – 3

For Masala: (please refer the picture)

Oil – 2 table spoons

Cinnamon – 4 to 5 small pieces

Clove – 4

Cardamom – 2

Black pepper – 10 to 15

Cumin – 1 table spoon

Onion – 2 (medium)

Green chillies – 5 to 8

Ginger – 2-inch piece

Garlic – 12 to 14

Mint / Pudina leaves – 1 fist full

Coriander leaves – 1 fist full

Fresh Coconut – 1 small cup

Seasoning:

Oil – 8 to 10 table spoons

Cumin – 1 tea spoon

Bay leaves – 3 half pieces

Marathi moggu – 2

Star anise – 2

Method:

-Wash rice a couple of times, soak and keep aside.

-Wash pudina, coriander leaves, Chop veggies, onions etc. If you are adding double beans and green Peas keep it ready.

-Now prepare ground masala: Take everything under masala and keep it ready by washing or chopping.

-Take one wok, heat oil, drop all the dry spices from cinnamon to cumin.

-Fry onions, garlic, ginger, green chillies when onion becomes transparent add pudina and coriander.

-Fry until it wilts. Add coconut and fry for 2 minutes and switch off the gas.

-Cool, grind into paste by adding very minimum water. Keep aside.

-Now we would move towards the main preparation. It is the time to drain the soaking rice.

-Take one pressure cooker, pour oil for the seasoning, drop all the dry spices from cumin to star anise, fry for 2 minutes.

-Now put all the veggies, green peas, double beans and fry nicely until raw smell vanishes and all the pieces coats with the oil.

-Next comes the turn of adding ground green masala and salt. Fry nicely and lastly add drained rice and fry for couple of minutes.

-Add water (I normally add 1: 2 for Basmati rice or Sona masuri rice) If you are using small grain (Jeera rice) Use 1: 1 ½ ratio for water. Here 1 is rice and 2 or 1 ½ is water.

-Use rice measured cup for water measurement.

-Check for salt and squeeze lemon and close the lid. Cook for 1 whistle and keep it in a simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

-During this time, we can prepare bread croutons. Usually bread pieces will be deep fried, drained and added.

But, I normally avoid deep frying and make it like this.

-Take one tawa, drop couple of spoons of ghee or oil, when it is hot, drop the bread pieces and fry for 2 to 4 minutes, until all the bread pieces coats partially and half roasted.

-Now switch off the gas, spread those bread pieces in a baking dish, bake for 20 minutes or until it is crisp in a pre-heated oven or convection microwave at 170-degree C.

-When Pressure relieves, open the cooker lid and mix in bread croutons and mix well. Close the lid and leave for some time to soak all these bread pieces to absorb the aroma.

-Then serve with Onion raita at the side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raw Plantain / Raw Banana Pepper Curry

September 20, 2018

This is an age old recipe, which we used to enjoy during our childhood. Usually my paternal aunt used to make this curry by using the small variety of banana. Banana I have used is home grown, small variety which we call as Kadali / Yelakki banana. Non-ripe, green one.

This curry is prepared using little bit of Toor dal and good amount of pepper for heat. Plantain pepper curry is tangy, spicy and little bit sweet all at the same time. This curry goes along with plain rice with a dollop of ghee or Coconut oil.

Ingredients:

Plantain/Raw banana – 7-8 (if it is small variety) 1 or 2 (if it is big variety)

Toor dal – ¾ cup

Salt – to taste

Jaggery – 1 to 2 tsp.

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.

Turmeric powder – ½  tsp.

Tamarind – 1 small lemon size.

For masala: Toor dal – ½ tsp, Fenugreek seeds-¼ tsp, coriander- 1tsp, Cumin – ½ tsp, black pepper – 2 tsp, garlic – 5 -6 cloves, coconut- 2 tsp.

Seasoning: Coconut oil – 2tsp, mustard -1 tsp, Cumin – ½ tsp, red chillies -1 to 2, curry leaves –little.

Method:

-Cook toor dal in sufficient water and keep aside.

– Peel banana and chop it into a tiny bit, immerse in water to avoid discoloration.

– Now take one vessel and prepare tamarind water (by putting tamarind in 2 cups of water). Keep it for boiling.

-To this, add salt, red chilli powder, jaggery, and turmeric powder. When it starts boiling, add banana bits by draining the water in which it was immersed.

-Now prepare masala by roasting toor dal, fenugreek, coriander, Cumin, pepper and garlic with little oil (preferably coconut oil) .

-When dal becomes light brown, remove from the flame and grind this into a smooth paste with coconut.

– When banana is done, add cooked dal, ground paste, required amount of water (adjust according to your requirement), check for salt and sweetness.

-Boil this mixture and add seasoning by using all seasoning ingredients.

-Serve with hot rice with dollop of ghee or coconut oil.

 

 

Steamed Modaka / Steamed Rice dumpling with Coconut Jaggery filling:

September 12, 2018

Ganesha Festival aka Vinayaka Chaturthi is the time, when we indulge in so many varieties of traditional delicacies- Genasale, patholi, Chakkuli or Chakli– to name a few. Two varieties of Modaka (steamed and deep fried) Panchakajjaya, Halittu (nothing but rice noodles), Guliyappa are the main things which we normally find in our region.

Ganesha has one more name as a “Modaka Priya” means, he loves to eat Modaka. Steamed medakas are also known as Ukkarisida Modaka / Ukdiche modak in India.

Which is ground rice batter, which is cooked until it reaches a ball form and kneaded and stuffed with a coconut jaggery filling and steam cooked.

Some people or in some region, people do use rice flour, instead of soaked and ground batter.

Now a days, people make various kinds of modak from, khoya, chocolate, dry fruits etc. But traditionally it is done in this way.

Procedure goes like this –

Ingredients:  

Dosa rice /white rice – 2 cups

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Grated Jaggery – ½ cup (to taste).

Ghee/ Clarified butter – 4 tsp.

Salt to taste

Modaka mould – (optional)

Method:

-Wash rice and soak it for 2 to 3 hours.

-Grind soaked rice into smooth paste by adding water and salt.

-Now keep thick bottomed kadai, pour the ground batter and add some water to make thin consistency.

– Now add 2 tsp of ghee and start heating this mixture by continuous stirring. When it becomes little thick and forms a mass, switch off the gas and keep it aside to cool.

-When it is ready to handle, knead it further and form a smooth dough.

-Cover the dough with wet cloth, to retain moisture.

In the meantime, make sweet coconut-jaggery mixture. In a thick bottomed vessel add jaggery and ½ cup of water and heat. If you find some impurities in jaggery syrup, sieve this liquid and heat further and add fresh grated coconut and cook until it is sticky and forms mass. Add remaining ghee to this and mix. Now stuffing is ready.

Method to make Modaka by using mould-

-Grease the mould by using ghee.

-Take a lemon sized dough at a time, knead a little and use.

-Close the mould, apply the dough all around the mould, fill a tea spoon of coconut jaggery mixture by leaving very little place at the neck of the mould.

-Now take a tea spoon of dough and seal it. Now Stuffed Modaka is ready.

-Proceed until all the dough is over and arrange all these medakas in an idli steamer.

-Steam cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

If you are using Rice flour or Modaka flour:

Ingredients:

Rice flour – 2 cups

Water – 2 cups

Salt

Ghee – 1 tea spoon

Method:

-Boil water by adding salt, ghee in a thick bottomed pan.

-When water starts to boil, add rice flour and keep in a simmer for 5 minutes.

– Switch off the gas. After some time, knead the dough and follow the same procedure as above. 

-While kneading, if needed , sprinkle some hot water and proceed.

-Proceed until all the dough is over and arrange all these medakas in an idli steamer.

-Steam cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Note:

-If you don’t have Modaka mould, take a lemon sized dough, make a 4” disc by using your thumb and fore finger of both hands.

-Keep this in your left palm, in a cup shape, put filling (smaller in size) and cover it. Arrange all these medakas in an idli steamer.

-Steam cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Halasina Hannu Berati Payasa / Preserved jack fruit payasam:

September 2, 2018

First, I want to wish a very very happy “Krishna Janmashtami” to all my readers. On the eve of this festival I made our traditional payasam and enjoyed with my family.

“Berati” is nothing but preserved jackfruit pulp, which is cooked until it forms into thick mass and usually made during Jack fruit season and stored for future use.

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

In Coastal region we love jack in many forms. Berati Payasa is one of them.

Now we will see traditionally how it is made:

Ingredients:

Berati / jackfruit preserve – 1 bowl

Coconut – 1 (To extract milk)

-OR-

Thin coconut milk – 2cups

Thick coconut milk – ½ cup

Jaggery – to taste

Salt – ½ tsp

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

For Seasoning:

Ghee – 1 tbl sp

Thin Coconut slices – 2 tbl sp

Cashew pieces – 2 tbl sp

OR

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 little jaggery, so add required amount of jaggery and boil until raw smell of the jaggery vanishes.
  • 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.

Kanile palya/Bamboo Shoot and jack seed palya:

August 5, 2018

Kanile is nothing but Bamboo shoot. We coastal people, prepare some delicacies from this seasonal high fiber veggie, such as Bamboo shoot and green gram gravy or this dry Subzi/palya is prepared by mixing with crushed Jackfruit seed. It is protein rich, subtle in flavor, blends very well with bamboo shoot. This palya goes very well with hot Rice with a dollop of ghee or as a side dish with any kind of gravy, Rasam or sambar.  So, it is a seasonal monsoon season’s treat for us.

We normally use fresh bamboo shoot and chop it in circular manner. (please refer to the Post of How to chop Bamboo shoot)

I normally preserve jack seeds in frozen form and procedure is already shared in my blog as well.

Ingredients:

Ready Bamboo shoot – 1 cup

Fresh or Frozen jack seeds –2 fists full

Grated coconut – 3 table spoons

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Salt- as needed

Jaggery – as needed (optional)

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

 Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Method:

-I normally crush and store the jack seeds. So, no need of chopping or crushing. If you have fresh seeds with you, please crush the seed by using hitting stone and remove outer stiff cover and use inner seed.

– Take one thick bottomed pan, do seasoning. Heat oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal. When dal becomes light brown, add cumin, red chilli and curry leaves.

-Now add in crushed jack seeds, a cup of water and cook at low fire by closing the lid.

– When it is half done, add chopped and ready bamboo pieces, Red chilli powder, salt and jaggery, required amount of water.

-Close the lid and cook this in a low flame, until it is cooked or up to water drains.

-If water drains first, add some more water and make sure to cook properly.

Garnish with fresh grated coconut and mix, cook for 2 minutes and switch off the gas.

-Serve with hot rice and enjoy as a side dish.

 

 

Instant Stuffed Brinjal:

July 29, 2018

Tiny brinjals are very delicious in dry curries as well as in gravies. When I have plenty of home grown organic brinjals, I normally make this quick dish, which can be handy as well as tasty when you are super lazy to cook. If chutney powder (any chutney powder will do) is around, within no time you will be able to make this delicious dish. It can be relished as a starter, side dish or with curd rice.

Ingredients:

Tiny Brinjals – 12

Garlic Chutney powder – 2 to 3 table spoons

Hucchellu/ gurellu or Nigella seed powder – 1 tea spoon (optional)

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Amchur powder – ½ tea spoon

Salt

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Cooking oil – 2 tea spoons

Method:

-Hucchellu powder is purely optional. If you have roasted Hucchellu powder, use it.

-Take one bowl, mix chutney powder, gurellu powder, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, amchur powder, salt.

-Wash brinjal, make 2 slits (+ shape) and fill this mixture and keep aside. If any mixture is remaining, keep aside.

-Take one kadai, add oil. When oil becomes hot, add masala filled brinjals and toss for couple of minutes.

-Sprinkle little (1 table spoon) water and close the lid and cook in a low flame.

-Once again sprinkle water in between and cook until brinjal shrinks and cooks properly.

-Lastly, sprinkle remaining masala mixture, give one stir and serve as you wish.

 

 

Garlic Chutney Powder:

July 25, 2018

Basically, it is a very simple garlic flavoured dry coconut chutney. One of the most loved condiments of my kitchen. It works wonders when you sprinkle it on Dosa or onion uthappam while making. When you are lazy to prepare fresh coconut chutney, take this chutney powder and drizzle some coconut oil and relish with any south Indian breakfast items. It works just fine with North Indian Parata as plain or mix it with sweetened curds and relish. It tastes yummy with hot rice as well with ghee. Sometimes I even use this chutney powder as a stuffing for some veggies as well 😉. So, overall it is a multi-dimensional ingredient.

Garlic is intensely high on aroma as well as flavour. When you roast it and use it, aroma increases even more. It is considered as very good for human health. Garlic is widely used in medicinal purpose to combat many illnesses.

As we grow coconut in our coastal area, chutney powder will be made by adding dried coconut and because of its no moisture content, shelf life of the powder increases, and health benefit of dry coconut can be included by this way as well. Health benefit of dry coconut is many, and it contains many essential nutrients, dietary fibres and some important minerals as well.

I use Urad dal for its nutritional benefit as well as for its aroma with added benefits from the Chillies and curry leaves as well as sharing one more version of  chutney powder with added neem  flower at the end of this post.   

Now I will jump into the procedure –

Ingredients:

Dry coconut / Copra – 2

Dry red chillies – 20 to 25 (Byadagi)

Urad dal – 1 to 2 table spoons

Garlic – 2 (whole)

Curry leaves – 10 – 15 strings

Tamarind – 1 tea spoon

Salt – as needed

Sugar or jaggery powder – as needed.

-At first, slice coconut into thin chips.

-I usually air dry these slices for one or two days in open air (optional)

-Wash curry leaves and spread this to air dry.

-Dry coconut has high degree of oil content and while roasting and powdering, it tends to leave oil and becomes wet. When I tried to make after air drying, it never becomes wet and powdering becomes very easy.

-After air drying, make powder by using mixer grinder. This step will help in equal roasting.

-Take one kadai, dry roast urad dal until it becomes light brown.

-Dry roast garlic (I usually clean only loose skin of garlic clove and leave inner skin intact).

-Dry roast air dried curry leaves until crisp.

-Roast Red chillies by sprinkling some coconut oil.

-Dry roast coconut powder.

-Spread everything and cool.

-Take one mixer grinder, powder urad dal, red chillies at first. Then add curry leaves and powder.

-To this add garlic and use “PULSE” option and churn for a short interval.

-Now you will see a mass of masala.

-Take out all this and mix with roasted and cooled coconut.

-Now add salt, sugar or jaggery, tamarind and mix.

-Now take this mixture little by little and “pulse” in a mixer grinder to attain powder form.

-After completing the procedure, use dry hand and mix a whole lot of chutney powder nicely in one vessel.

-Check for salt, sugar, chilli.

-If needed add red chilli powder, salt or sugar and adjust.

-After it cools down, store it in a dry container. It stays good for 3 to 4 months in normal temperature or without any refrigeration.

Garlic Chutney powder with Neem Flower: Perfect for winter months.

Same recipe to follow and If you want to add Neem flowers in this chutney recipe, you can use dried neem flowers with all the other ingredients of garlic chutney powder.

Dry roast sun dried flowers for a couple of minutes, cool and add with other ingredients while dry grinding the powder and enhance the nutrition value during winter months.

It equally tastes great like regular garlic chutney powder.

 

 

 

 

Kendathadya/ Baked Cucumber-Rice cake:

July 1, 2018

Every adult has a nostalgic dish from their childhood. I have a “secret” love for this dish because of fond memories of my maternal Ajji (grandmother), who used to pamper me to the core and prepare many such dishes by using the fresh produce that she grew in her kitchen garden.

Kendathadya is a traditional recipe of our Coastal Karnataka region, a special baked dish made by putting “Kenda” (hot burning firewood) on top and at the bottom of the earthen pot or thick metal vessel. Creating an oven affects burning firewood at the top and bottom of the closed vessel containing the batter.

Here, Cucumber used is our heirloom (local) variety, known as Mullu southe, which is light in colour, watery, and flavourful. Soaked rice is mixed with grated Cucumber, jaggery syrup, and fresh coconut to make a flavorful cake with homemade ghee. 

In modern life, we don’t have access to traditional firewood chulha. So, I make this age-old recipe in my OTG and satisfy my craving year after year and relive my childhood while having it.

Ingredient:

Raw Rice/Dosa rice – 1 cup

Cooked rice – 1 serving spoon. ( Red boiled rice or white rice)

Well grown Cucumber – 2 cups (grated)

Coconut – ½ cup (fresh, grated)

Jaggery – ¾ cup (grated)

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Ghee –2 to 3 tbl spoons

Salt – as needed

Eno or Cooking soda – 1 tsp

Method:

-Wash and soak the rice for 3 to 4 hours.

-Make jaggery syrup by adding ¼ cup of water to the grated jaggery, boil until its raw smell goes away, strain the liquid and keep it ready.

-Peel the outer skin, make halves, remove the seeded inner core. Grate it. Mix salt and allow the Cucumber to release its water.

-Drain the water from the soaked rice and discard.

-Collect water from grated Cucumber by sieving it in a strainer and using it for grinding as needed.

-Grind drained rice into a slightly coarse paste by adding collected water from the Cucumber, cooked rice, grated coconut, jaggery syrup.

-At the last round, add grated Cucumber and whip once and remove. Add ghee, Eno fruit salt and give a nice whip. The batter should not be too runny or too thick.

-Pour this into greased, lined baking tin and bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes, and a knife comes out clean when you insert it into the baking cake.

-Serve Hot with a drop of ghee.

Note:

– Addition of Eno fruit salt is optional. If you wish for a softer and lighter cake, add Eno or cooking soda.

-Without Eno, it turns out to be a firm and dense cake. I sometimes don’t add Eno and enjoy my dense cake to relive my memories of Ajji.