Karnataka – Page 18

Red Amaranth and Beet Pulav:

December 3, 2017

Red amaranth is very beautiful and a natural source of energy, rich in iron and a whole lot of micro nutrients and fibre. It is very high in calcium and very good for all ages, from infants to adults.

On the other hand, beets are also packed with anti-oxidants, Folic acid and Iron. Which is considered as a super food to fight anaemia.

When my home grown red amaranth is harvested, this rice dish is what we love to eat, by adding Beetroot chunks to enhance the nutritional value. One can enjoy this one pot super tasty dish with any form of yogurt based side dish or even with plain yogurt and pickle. One can carry this in a tiffin box as well. It is a very good idea to feed greens to those who don’t like them, without they even noticing 😉

This time, when I harvested red amaranth, I thought of using fresh ground masala and it really tasted divine, oozing with flavours.

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Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 3 cups

Beet root – 1 big

Red Amaranth – 1 Small bunch

Onions – 2 (sliced)

Ghee/oil– 3 table spoons+1 tea spoon

Cumin -1 tea spoon

Bay leaves – 2 (small)

Ginger garlic paste – 1 table spoon

Milk – 1 cup

Curd -1 cup

Brown Bread – 3 slices

For Fresh masala:

Coriander – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Cardamom -2

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon – 1”

Black pepper – 8

Nutmeg – 1 pinch

Dried Red chillies – 2

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp

Method:

-Wash rice and soak for 15 minutes.

-Wash Beetroot, chop into bite size pieces.

– Wash Amaranth greens, chop.

-Dry roast fenugreek seeds. When it is slightly brown, add all the other ingredients under masala and fry.

Ribbet collage 1

-Make a powder and keep it.

-Now take one pressure cooker. Add ghee or oil, fry cumin and bay leaves.

Ribbet collage 2

-Add sliced onion, fry until it is brown.

-Add ginger garlic paste, fry for 2 minutes.

-Add beetroot, chopped greens, fry until green wilts.

Ribbet collage 3

-Next add fresh ground masala powder, drained rice, salt.

-Mix everything and add milk, curd , 4 cups of water and 1 tea spoon of ghee,close the lid.

-After one whistle, keep it in a simmer for one/two minutes and switch off the gas.

Ribbet collage 4

-Now make small square size pieces of brown bread and deep fry and drain out excess oil.

-When pressure releases, add bread croutons and lightly mix everything.

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– serve with any raita or plain curd and pickle.

Antinunde /Dry fruit laddu with edible gum:

November 29, 2017

Antinunde aka dry fruits laddu with edible gum is a super food for everyone, especially new moms or girls in their puberty, especially after their first cycle of menstruation. I came to know about this super food through my close friend’s mom, Chandu aunty.

According to her, if you are using it for a girl, after her first cycle. Traditionally it is a practice that, 5^th day onwards girl should consume a little amount of ghee, small piece of copra (which is dried coconut) followed by one dry fruit laddu and a cup of milk for continuous 48 days. It is believed that, all the combined nutrition of dry fruits, edible gum and milk will take care of her and retain the calcium, iron and much needed supplements through the natural form.

If you are using after delivery, for a new mom as a postpartum supplement, method will be slightly different and here we should take care of the new born baby’s health as well. In this case, lady should consume, 1 spoon of postpartum lehya (which is a mixture of so many ayurvedic natural medicines) followed with little ghee, piece of dry coconut, one laddu and a glass of milk from 11^th day onwards until 3^rd month. Initial 1 ½ months content of the sesame should be more (for example 1 cup) other than this one should use ½ tsp of ajwain as well and after 2^nd half one should decrease the quantity of sesame to half and quantity of the dried dates and edible gum should be more to pass on the supplements to the baby as well.

Other than these two instances, one can enjoy these delicious laddu at any given point of time with a whole lot of goodness. I will show you how I prepare this for a regular use –

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Ingredients:

Dates – 300 grams

Almonds – 100 grams

Cashew – 50 grams

Raisins – 50 grams

Fig – 50 grams (optional)

Melon seeds – 50 grams (optional)

Flax seeds – 25 grams (optional)

Desiccated coconut – 50 grams

Edible gum – 40 to 50 grams

Jaggery – 100 grams

Saffron – 10 strings

Nutmeg – 1 pinch (grated)

Cloves – 4

Ghee – 2 to 3 table spoons

Method:

-Chop dates and dry grind this in a small jar of the mixer grinder.

-Chop almonds and cashews

-Dry roast saffron then coconut powder for 3-4 minutes, till you get a nice aroma.

-Dry roast flax seed.

-Heat one teaspoon of ghee and fry one by one, cloves, almond, cashew, melon seed and raisins.

-Put one more teaspoon of ghee to same tawa, fry those edible gum crystals, until it pops up and becomes fluffy.

Ribbet collage 2

-Make powder of this by using mixer jar and keep aside.

-Lastly, fry those chopped or churned dates and add all these items together in a bowl and keep aside.

-Now take jaggery in a small vessel and take ½ a cup of water, boil and sieve this to remove any impurities.

-Put this sieved liquid in a thick tawa, in which we have fried all those dry fruits.

Ribbet collage 1

-Boil this until it reaches one thread consistency. Switch off the gas.

-Mix in all those fried items, nutmeg powder, saffron and mix nicely.

-Rub your hand with little ghee and start to make laddu’s.

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-Eat one laddu a day and enjoy.

Note:

Ratio of dry fruits and jaggery is 600 Grams:150 grams. If Fig is added, you can reduce a little.
I normally use normal dates, traditionally they use dried dates.
Instead of dry coconut (copra) I have used desiccated coconut.
One can use palm jaggery while making it for a new mom or use palm jaggery half and regular jaggery half.
My kids don’t like either poppy seeds or sesame seeds, instead I have added Melon seeds and flax seeds.
I normally add sugar candy crystals to enhance the crunchiness.

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.

Stuffed Capsicum (South Indian style)

November 12, 2017

Stuffed capsicum is usually done with potato, paneer, cheese or moong dal. In this recipe I have used coconut and onion which is mixed with south Indian style masala powder for the filling. It can be relished with plain roti or rice as a side dish. It is very tasty, and we relish it every now and then, whenever I get to catch hold of tiny capsicums. This recipe I learnt almost a decade ago by Radha athe. She is a treasure house of North canara traditional recipes and I have learnt so many things from her.

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Ingredient:

Capsicum – ½ kg (small sized)

Onion – 2 to 3

Coconut – 1 cup

Salt – as needed

Tamarind powder – ½ tsp

Oil – 2 table spoons

For masala powder:

Chana dal – 2 table spoons

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – 1 tea spoon

Hing – small pea size

Dried red chillies – 6 to 8

White sesame seed (til) – 1 tea spoon

Mustard – ½ tea spoon

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Method:

-For masala, dry roast Chana dal, urad dal, cumin, white sesame and mustard and keep it aside.

-Next take couple of drops of oil and fry red chillies and hing.

-Cool everything and make powder by using mixer jar.

-Now take one bowl, add chopped onion, grated coconut, salt, tamarind powder and required amount of masala powder (don’t pour at once, use as required).

-Here salt and masala should be on a slightly higher side, because while cooking, even capsicum will absorb the masala and salt.

-Next wash small sized capsicum, make a round mark near the stalk region and cut open that top part. If possible, keep it intact.

Ribbet collage 1

-Remove inner seed part and clean inside.

-Fill ready coconut and onion masala and close it with upper stalk part and make it firm.

-Now take one wide nonstick pan, pour oil and heat.

-Place all the masala filled capsicum and sprinkle little water and close the lid.

-Cook in a simmer, check in between and turn the sides.

Ribbet collage 2

-All the sides should be uniformly cooked and outer skin should have charred effect.

-When it is done, switch off and serve hot with rice or plain phulka’s.

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.

Ribbet collage 1

-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.

Ribbet collage 2

-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.

Neer Dosa:

November 1, 2017

Hi all! Today I’m posting a south Karnataka special- Neer Dosa! Its literal translation to English is watery Dosa and we call this as “Thellavu”. It is soft lace like and many people enjoy this Dosa. Friends always want to have this Dosa when they visit our home and it is a joy to prepare and eat. Everyone keeps asking for the recipe and I thought I would post it. So, here’s how you make this simple, soft and delicious Dosa. This Dosa stays fresh for hours and very good option for tiffin boxes or gatherings. One can prepare in advance and keep it in a hot box.

Ingredients needed:

Dosa rice -2 cups

Salt

Iron griddle /tawa.

Method:

Wash and soak Dosa rice at night or 2 to 3-hour soaking is needed.

In the 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 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 above.
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(See in 2nd picture “cook in a simmer”)
Now flip this Dosa on the plate, leave for 2 minutes, then fold (upper shiny part will stay upwards)
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.
This type of folding will help to keep Dosa without sticking to one another.

Serve these Dosa with coconut and grated jaggery mixture or coconut chutney. People even enjoy Neer Dosa with Egg curry or Chicken curry as well.

Note:

Use soaked water while grinding.
If you are using any other variety of rice,please add half cup of fresh coconut to give softness to Dosa.

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.

Kumbalakai/Ash gourd Dosa:

October 19, 2017

When I prepared Kashi halwa, so much quantity of the inner fleshy part was left and I was not in the mood to throw it away. I immediately made a couple of breakfast options from the remaining inner fleshy part, which can be made by adding ash gourd pieces as well. I feel that the inner core has more flavour than real ash gourd: D Ash gourd is considered as super food which has many healing properties and it is very good for the human body. It is low in calories hence it is good for weight watchers as well as diabetics.

This Dosa batter is like normal urad dal Dosa and one can prepare paper thin roasted Dosa or thick set Dosa as you wish.

Ingredients:

Dosa rice / White normal rice – 3 cups

Urad dal – ¼ cup

Ash gourd inner soft part – 3 cups (you can use ash gourd pieces as well)

Salt

Method:

-Wash Ash gourd, peel outer skin and remove inner core with seeded part. (Core part can be used to make Dosa batter)

-Remove seeds and take white part and keep it ready.

-Wash rice and dal together. Soak for 2 hours.

-Grind soaked rice and dal with ash gourd core part or pieces by adding sufficient salt.

-Batter should be smooth and consistency is like normal Dosa batter.

-Ferment this ground batter for 8 hours or overnight.

-Next day prepare Dosa as you wish.

-If you like crisp roasted one, spread as thin as possible on heated iron griddle.

-If you wish soft, porous kind, spread like a set Dosa and enjoy with coconut chutney.