Category: Karnataka

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.

 

 

Kantola Tawa Fry:

September 16, 2018

Kantola has many names like Spine gourd, Teasel Gourd, phagila, Mada hagala, locally we call this as “Kaadu peere” in Mangalore. Kantola is one of the famous and nutritious vegetable of coastal region and some Eastern parts of states. This monsoon vegetable is loved by all. This resembles a bitter gourd in structure, but not in taste. It is a crunchy mild flavoured vegetable.  It is a great health food as it is rich in proteins, iron and anti-oxidants and low in calories. It is high in fibre too.       

In my family, we usually relish this in tawa fry form. Let’s see how I do this.

Ingredients:

Kantola: 5 to 6

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Asafoetida / hing powder – ¼ tea spoon

Coconut oil – to shallow fry

Ingredients for outer cover:

Chiroti/fine rawa – 1 small cup

Rice flour – 1 table spoon

Salt

Asafoetida  powder – ¼ to ½ tsp.

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Method:

-Wash Kantola and slice them into a very thin slices. Don’t remove outer skin or inner seeds. Use as it is.

– Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder, hing, turmeric on these slices and mix this nicely by using your hand and   keep aside for 10 to 15 minutes to marinate.

-While marinating it will leave some water and it helps to hold outer coating.

 – Now take one bowl, dry mix all the ingredients like fine rawa, rice flour,salt, asafoetida, red chilli powder, for outer cover.don’t add any water.

– Now take each marinated Kantola piece and roll both the sides over rawa mix, keep aside after coating one by one.     

-Take one iron Dosa tawa ,heat it ,keep 6 to 7 coated pieces over it and pour one or two teaspoon of coconut oil and fry nicely on one side.

-After some time, flip the side, once again pour one tsp of coconut oil and fry this side too.

– After frying both the sides, serve this as a side dish with dhal -rice, Rasam –rice or curd- rice.

  Note: You should use coconut oil and more asafoetida to get authentic taste.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Chakkuli / Chakli:( Traditional Way)

September 10, 2018

Chakli is a default and very important savory in Ganesh Chaturthi offerings. This chakli is the one, I have learnt from my close family friend which she prepares during the Krishnashtami / Janmashtami festival which is very important in their Iyengari community.

She usually prepares Chakkuli flour little ahead of the festival. This can be stored in room temperature for up to 6 months. If ready chakli flour is in hand, you can make these super soft butter chaklis in no time and can relish whenever you want.

First, I would explain how to prepare the powder and then we will move towards chakli making.

For Chakli Flour:

Use One glass for measurement.

Ingredients :

Sona masuri or Dosa rice – 4 cups

Urad dal – 1 cup

Method:

-Wash Rice and Urad dal separately, couple of times.

-Drain water, keep this in a strainer for some time.

-Then spread this on a clean towel and dry this for couple of hours by keeping it indoors.

-When it is dry, if you feel little cold while touching, it is ok.

– Keep one kadai, when it is hot, pour rice little by little and heat a little in batches. You should fry only for 2 minutes.

-Spread this on a towel or paper and cool.

-Next Dry roast washed and dried Urad dal until it is light brown and emits nice fragrance.

-Cool these two ingredients and give it to nearby flour mill and make powder.

-After powdering, mix everything nicely or sieve couple of times and keep it in a cool dry place. It is your Basic Chakli flour.

For Chakli:

Ingredients:

Chakli flour – 1 cup

Butter – 2 table spoons (small lemon sized ball)

Salt

Hing – ½ tea spoon

White sesame seeds – 1 tea spoon

Water – to bind the dough

Oil – For frying

Method:

-Take one wide bowl, put flour, salt, hing, sesame, butter and rub everything nicely.

-Pour water little by little and bind to make a dough. It should be soft and non-sticky.

-Set aside this dough for 5 to 10 minutes or until oil heats.

-Take oil in a kadai, when it is hot, start making chakli on a piece of paper or butter paper, by using chakli press.

-Drop these chaklis in hot oil and fry in a low flame.

-When it is done, remove and drain the excess oil and cool.

-Store these chaklis in an air tight container.

NOTE:

-When you drop the chaklis, initially you will hear bubbly noise and gradually noise becomes less and stops. That is the time, you should remove the ready, fried chaklis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Healthy “Brown” Neer Dosa:

September 6, 2018

Usually Neer dosa is made from using only white Dosa rice and it contains only carbohydrate and recipe is already shared and it is here

Couple of years back, when I was thinking of including millets in our regular neerdosa to make a healthier version, dosa used to turn out hard and crispy and I was not at all satisfied with the result. After couple of trial and errors, addition and deletion of ingredients, I got this soft and smooth textured neer dosa like the regular white one and henceforth it is one of our regular breakfast items and we named this as “Brown Neer Dosa”.

How I included these many items? As I mentioned above, I wanted to make soft neerdosa without any compromise on taste. Usually when we add millet in Dosa batter, Dosa becomes little hard and brittle. So, I thought of adding Whole Ragi to give softness with Fox tail millet.

Here I have added Ragi, Organic red unpolished rice with normal white rice to enhance the value, and fox tail millet. Instead of fox tail millet, one can use any other millet as well.

It is an excellent breakfast option for Toddler’s, weight watchers, diabetic diet or low carb diet as well as tiffin box options. It is very soft, easy to chew, digestible and at the same time filled with nutrients and fibre apart from carbohydrates. It doesn’t need any fermentation or planning. Soak in the night, grind and make it in the morning in a jiffy.

Recipe goes like this-

Ingredients:

White Dosa rice – 1 cup

Whole Ragi / finger millet – ½ cup

Red organic unpolished rice – ½ cup

Fox tail millet -1 cup

Salt

Method:

-Measure everything and put it in one bowl, wash twice and soak this in water for 2 to 3 hours or during the previous night like me.

-Next morning, grind this soaked rice into fine paste with water (I use soaked water while grinding, it gives nice aroma for the Dosa) and salt as per requirement.

-Make batter into pourable consistency like this (refer a picture) and check for the salt.

-Now keep Iron griddle for heat.

-When it is ready, apply oil like this.

-Pour one serving spoon of batter like how we make Rawa Dosa, you can see it in the picture below.

-Now close the lid by keeping the gas on full flame.

-After two minutes, remove the lid and keep the gas in simmer the edges of the Dosa rise a little, like this.

-Now flip this Dosa on the plate, leave for 2 minutes, then fold like this.

– Now keep repeating this with the remaining batter and stack one over the other or take one big plate and stalk one opposite another alternately.

-Serve these Dosa with coconut and grated jaggery mixture or coconut chutney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Moringa / Drumstick leaves chutney and Rice:

August 22, 2018

Nugge Soppu ,Moringa or Drumstick leaves are a power house of nutrients.  Back in 2016 I had tried a bunch of drumstick recipes to publish in Vijaya next kannada daily. This chutney recipe is from that trial and after that it is in my regular menu and I have made it many times, as well as tried to mix this same chutney into cooked rice after doing some seasoning and liked it a lot and It is an awesome way to feed small kids with added goodness of moringa.

I will first describe how to make chutney and at last I will add the procedure of rice as well.

This chutney stays good for up to one week and we can store this in a refrigerator and can be enjoyed as a side dish or make rice item and relish and can be packed as a carry meal in a tiffin box as well.

Procedure for  Chutney:

Moringa leaves – 4 cups (keep aside some young leaves for seasoning)

To be ground:

Roasted red chillies – 3

Black pepper – 3

Garlic – 10 cloves

Tamarind – ¼ tea spoon

Coriander leaves – 3 table spoons (chopped)

Cumin – 1 tea spoon

Jaggery – ½ to 1 tea spoon

Salt

Seasoning;

Oil – 2 table spoons

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Curry leaves – 2 strings

Garlic – 10 cloves (chopped)

Onion – 1 (chopped)

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Method:

-Take moringa leaves (keep aside a little) and grind with all the items under “To be Ground” from Roasted red chillies to salt in the list by adding little water into coarse paste.

-Now take one kadai, do seasoning part. Heat oil, splutter mustard, add curry leaves, chopped garlic, onion ,turmeric and fry until onion and garlic becomes light brown.

-Add moringa leaves, which we have kept aside and fry till it wilts and add ground paste and fry for 3 to 5 minutes or until raw smell vanishes and mixture changes in colour.

-You can serve this as a side dish with hot rice and ghee. This chutney stays good under refrigeration and can be used as a moringa rice mix as well.

Now we will see the procedure for Moringa Rice:

It is simple. Take some oil and put one tea spoon of cumin, little curry leaves and one or two table spoons of ready chutney, little salt and mix nicely. Switch off the gas. Mix required amount of ready cooked rice in this mixture and mix nicely to devour aromatic moringa rice. If you have ready chutney around, it is a quick recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aralu laddu / Puffed Paddy snow ball:

August 11, 2018

Aralu, Hodalu or Puffed paddy is made by roasting paddy itself. Usually we see puffed rice in the market. Puffed paddy is very rare to find nowadays. It has a very important role in any divine occasions like marriage, Ganapathi havan, Nag Panchami or chauthi festivals in our region.

Normally we don’t eat rice preparations during vrath (fasting) and Aralu fits the bill. Aralu or puffed paddy is prepared by roasting the paddy in an iron tawa. Usually in villages, they do it in an open air. Normally, in open air, wood fire setting will be laid, iron tawa is heated uniformly by putting little sand into it. When sand becomes hot, fist full of dried paddy would be dropped and tossed regularly until paddy puffs and bursts into white popped rice. It is not cooked or done by using water and it is done by roasting. That is the reason it is considered as Pure /auspicious thing and used in prasadam or any divine purposes.

We can make this and use as a regular energy ball as well. It has all the goodness that our body needs. It fits the bill as #eatlocal #healthy #natural #ironrich #fibrerich #refinedfree #holistic #glutenfree #healthysnack #kidfriendly as well.

We normally get puffed paddy in two forms. Either whole or powdered.

Here in this laddu, I have used powdered form. If you have whole paddy, nothing to worry. Make powder by using mixer jar and use it.

I have used chikki jaggery which is also known as Antu bella. One can use normal jaggery as well.

Ingredients:

Powdered puffed paddy – 1 ½ cup

Jaggery – ½ cup (I have used chikki jaggery)

Black Sesame – 2 tea spoons

Broken peanuts – 3 to 4 table spoons

Ghee – 2 table spoons

Water – 2 table spoons

Cardamom powder – ½ to 1 tea spoon

Method:

-Clean puffed paddy powder, by removing any leftover paddy husks and keep it ready.

-Dry roast peanuts, remove outer skin and make it into halves or use roasted and halved peanuts itself.

-Dry roast sesame seeds as well.

-Dilute jaggery in water by boiling. When jaggery melts, sieve and collect. In this way, we can discard the impurities from the jaggery.

-Take one thick bottomed kadai, add jaggery solution, 1 table spoon of ghee and boil until it reaches one thread consistency.

-If you are confused with this stage, take one small tumbler, filled with water. Drop the jaggery mixture and see. If jaggery becomes hard when it drops, and you can make a ball when you press and rotate it by placing in between your thumb and forefinger.

-Mix in puffed paddy powder, roasted sesame, peanut halves, cardamom powder, remaining one table spoon of ghee and mix everything.

-Switch off the gas.

– Apply little ghee on your palm and start making roundels. Sometimes, In-between If it cools down completely, it doesn’t bind, and you can keep the vessel on fire, re heat a little and proceed and finish off the mixture by making roundels.

 

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.