traditional – Page 11

Tiffin Sambar:

January 29, 2019

Tiffin usually depicts south Indian breakfast. Normally Idli, Dosa, Pongal. This particular sambar is very good combination with Idlies or dosas as well as goes very well with mini idlies which normally known or served as 14 idlies, mini idlies or button idlies at restaurants.

In this sambar, we don’t use any coconut and basically a seasoned mixed dhal with sambar powder as well as baby onions, tomatoes and with or without drumstick pieces.

Ingredients:

Toor dal – 1 cup

Moong dal – ½ cup

Green chillies – 2 (slit)

Baby onions /shallots – 20 (halved)

Tomato – 1 (chopped)

Drum stick – 1 (Cut into 2” pieces) (optional)

Tamarind – 1 tsp

Salt

Jaggery – 1 tsp

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Sambar powder – As needed

Chopped coriander leaves – 2 table spoons

Seasoning:

Oil – 2 table spoons

Mustard – 1 tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Hing – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

-Wash and cook toor and moong dal in a pressure cooker. Mash and keep aside.

-Take one tawa, do seasoning. Heat Oil, splutter mustard, cumin, hing and curry leaves.

-Fry onion until it is transparent. Add turmeric, green chillies, tomato and drumstick pieces as well as salt and fry until tomato cooks.

-Add Sambar powder toss for 2 minutes and pour tamarind water, jaggery and boil.

-Add Cooked dal and adjust the consistency and boil nicely.

-Garnish with chopped coriander and serve as a side dish for any south Indian breakfast items.

-If you are serving with Button idlies/ mini idlies Pour one to two serving spoons of sambar, place 14 idlies and once again pour some sambar over those idlies and serve.

Surnoli: (Bread dosa/ Buttermilk dosa)

January 24, 2019

Surnoli is a traditional breakfast recipe of south canara; it is also called as bread dosa or buttermilk dosa. This is usually prepared if you have left over buttermilk or curds in excess. Usually we make this by adding jaggery.

Here I am giving both sweet and normal dosa version.

Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 3 cups

Fenugreek seeds – 2 tsp.

Beaten rice /poha – 1 ½ cup

Salt – to taste

Buttermilk /curd – 2 cups

Grated coconut – from half coconut or 2 fists full.

Eno fruit salt – 1 tsp. each (for sweet/normal version)

Grated jaggery – according to taste (2 to 3tbl sp) (For sweeter version)

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp. (for sweeter version)

Method:

Wash dosa rice, fenugreek and beaten rice twice; discard water. Pour curds and soak this for 3 to 4 hours.
Grind this in to a smooth paste by adding coconut and salt to an idly batter consistency (little thicker than normal dosa)
If butter milk is very sour add milk while grinding or else you can add water too (if batter is too thick)
Now divide this batter into two, take out one portion of batter into a steel vessel in which you keep it for fermenting. This is our normal dosa batter.
For sweeter version, add turmeric and jaggery to the mixer jar and grind until it is homogenous.
Remove this batter to another vessel and keep it for fermentation.
Next day morning add 1 tsp. Eno fruit salt to both the batter and leave it aside for 10 min.

Make a dosa by pouring one serving spoon of the batter on hot iron griddle, don’t spread.
You will see thousands of holes on upper surface, smear with butter(Vegan’s can avoid) and cook this in a low flame by closing it with a lid.
Cook this dosa only on one side and don’t flip.

-Spongy bread dosa is ready to serve and indulge in it with homemade butter or any chutney. Here I have served this with Onion-coconut chutney.

Mangalore Buns:

January 13, 2019

Mangalore Buns is a mildly sweet, deep-fried poori which has a honeycomb texture inside. It is pure bliss to have this super tasty breakfast occasionally. The main ingredient of this delicacy is Banana and curd. That is the reason it has the fragrance, a little sour, melt-in-a-mouth texture and a sweetish taste.

In Mangalore, each hotel in any nook and corner will offer this super yummy dish throughout the day as a snack. Usually, they serve this with coconut chutney or super thin dhal which is called Thovve.

In our household, we relish this with Thovve. Thovve is nothing but cooked Toor dal boiled with slit green chillies, lots of asafoetida/hing and salt and seasoned with coconut oil or ghee, mustard and curry leaves.

Usually, buns are prepared by using all-purpose flour, but I normally make this by using whole wheat as a healthy choice.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – 3 to 4 cups

Curd – ½ cup

Sugar – 6 to 7 teaspoons

Salt – 1tsp

Cooking soda – 1 teaspoon.

Bananas – 4 (small variety)

Cumin seed – 1 tablespoon.

Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons.

Oil- to fry

Method:

-Take one mixing bowl; pour in curd, sugar, salt, and cooking soda. Mix nicely in a circular motion by using your hand.

-When sugar dissolves, add in bananas and mash or add mashed bananas. Now add cumin.

-Starts making the dough by adding Whole wheat flour or All-purpose flour or half and half, however you prefer.

-Dough should be a little sticky, hope you are clear over here, if not please refer to the above picture and refer to my fingers.

-At this stage, pour in coconut oil and coat this on the outer side of the dough. Now keep this oil-applied dough in a bigger container or in that same vessel by closing the lid.

-It should ferment, rise and becomes double. It will take almost 7 to 8 hours in normal weather. In cold areas, even more, time is needed. I keep it for almost 20 hours rising in Bangalore weather.

-Next day morning, Keep oil in a thick Kadai for heating. When it becomes hot, take the fermented dough and keep it ready.

-Don’t mix or knead the dough. Take a small amount of dough, make this into a ball and roll the ball into discs with thickness as shown, by applying flour while rolling. (please refer to the above picture).

-Check the oil, if it is hot start frying buns.

-Slip the rolled disc into hot oil, when it comes up, immediately starts pressing from the back of the frying spoon. (please refer the picture no. 1) Now disc will fluff (No. 2) and fry nicely on both sides.

-Serve these fluffy and soft buns either with Thovve or coconut chutney.

Mango Pickle (North Indian style):

January 10, 2019

This pickle happened due to my daughters. It is a perfect accompaniment for any parathas or Thepla. I came to know about this recipe from my friend Kavita, who had gifted me this pickle, prepared by her. When it was about to finish my daughters insisted that I prepare it at home and this is the result of their insistence. I want to thank Kavita, who did answer all my queries patiently and guided me through the process.

According to my friend, Thothapuri variety of mango tastes good for this masala. Hence I tried with the same.

Ingredients:

Mango – 1 kg (used Thothapuri variety)

Salt

Turmeric – 1 table spoon

Mustard oil – 1 cup

For Masala:

Red chilli powder – 2 table spoons

Hing – 1 table spoon

Fennel seeds -2 table spoons

Kalonji – 2 table spoons

Yellow mustard seeds – 3 table spoons

Fenugreek/Methi seeds- 1 ½ table spoons

Method:

-Wash, dry and cut the mango into pieces.

-Marinate these pieces with 2 fistful of salt, 1 table spoon of Haldi/ turmeric and mix thoroughly by using dry hand.

-Keep this for two hours and drain the oozed-out water and reserve it for future use.

-Spread these marinated mango pieces over dry cloth and dry under partial sun light or air dry.

-In the evening , remove those shrunken mango pieces and once again mix it with oozed out salted water which we have reserved from previous Marination process.

– The next (second) morning, drain and repeat the process of drying.

-On the second evening, those mango pieces will be ready to mix masala.

-First heat half a cup of mustard oil until it is very hot, then cool it.

-Take all the ingredients from fennel seeds to methi seeds and lightly pound in a small mixer jar by using pulse option. Don’t make fine powder.

-Now take one bowl, mix in all the masalas, sun dried mango, additional salt and mix nicely by using your clean and dry hand.

-Fill the mixture in a glass bottle and pour cooled mustard oil and cover the bottle with muslin cloth and keep it under sunlight for 1 week or partial sunlight.

-After one week, pickle would reduce in quantity. Pour remaining half of mustard oil by heating at first, then cooling it.

-Cover the cloth and repeat the process of keeping it in sunlight for some more days.

-Now it is ready to consume.

Ubbu Rotti : ( In a Traditional way)

December 24, 2018

Made Ubbu Rotti for today’s lunch, one of the most laborious and very tasty dishes of south canara region. It is a simple rice flat bread and made by soaking Red rice. This is an age old, gluten free and healthy flat bread.

Ubbu Rotti is made as well as served in different styles. Each household has their own method even though the basic ingredient is the same Red rice which is also known as boiled rice or Kerala Matta rice.

In our household we make the Rotti by soaking Red rice and Idli rice in hot water and ground to smooth batter with salt. The ready batter is then cooked on a low heat to make a dough. Then it is pressed into discs by keeping in-between the two plantation leaves. In our native, people use clay tawa to cook the roti. I normally use my Iron Roti tawa. After cooking on both the sides, normally in villages, we put it on “Kenda” (hot burning firewood) to puff up nicely. Here I normally use direct gas flame to do the same. It is low in calorie as well as very healthy and tasty.

While serving, some families prefer chutney and some Malabar spinach gravy. It depends on one’s family preference. In our household, my Mom used to serve Garlic or Onion chutney and Mom -in -law used to serve with Raw mango chutney.

I have mentioned that it is laborious at the beginning itself. You must be thinking by now, why? It is very simple and straight forward and sounds easy as well. I am telling you, it is one of the most difficult recipes to master! Because it needs a lot of patience and time. Roti cooks really slow and vanishes very fast as well 😉 Once you get a hold of it, you can make it very easily. So, if you attempt and practice you will get the hang of it and can make easily.

Ingredients:

Boiled rice – 1 cup

Idli rice – 1 cup

Salt

Coconut oil – to apply

Method:

-Wash rice and soak it for one to two hours by adding hot boiling water and close the lid.

-Grind into smooth batter by adding enough water.

-Cook the batter( I normally add 1 tsp of coconut oil to batter to enhance the taste) until it forms a dough consistency.

-Take out and cool a little and start making the discs.

-Take small banana leaves, wash and keep it ready as well as a roti presser or two wooden planks to press.

-Take a big lemon size dough and knead a little and form a round shape.

-Take one banana leaf, place it on a roti presser. Place the dough roundel over it and close it with another leaf and press the presser. If you are using plank, do it exactly like this by using the plank.

-Heat the griddle, place the discs (including banana leaf) over the hot iron griddle. Cook in a medium heat.

-Flip the sides couple of times, when roti cooks, leaf will become loose and at that moment, remove the leaf and discard it.

-continue to cook the roti, until you see the light brown spots. Now it is the time to place it on the direct fire and do it. Some would puff, some would not or partially puff.

-That is it. Remove, apply some coconut oil and enjoy with Onion/garlic chutney or Raw mango chutney or Malabar spinach curry.

Broken wheat Huggi:

December 17, 2018

Huggi is a very popular, semi solid dessert of North Karnataka and each house has its own method. It is a sort of homely recipe and you would not find in any restaurant. Broken wheat is known as Godhi nucchu in Kannada language. I learnt Some of my favourite North Karnataka recipes from my previous neighbour aunty, who hails from Solapur near Gulbarga. I used to enjoy whatever she used to offer, starting from simple triangle chapati, obbattu, obbattu saru, chapparadavarekai palya, chavlikai palya and khara byale saru to Godhi nucchina Huggi, which she used to offer to God, every Friday evening and used to offer as a prasadam to us.

Aunty used to use hardly 3 ingredients and it used to taste divine. It is no coconut dessert and you can feel the texture of wheat as well as flavour. Preparation is very quick and simple and needs hardly any pre-preparation.

Recipe goes like this-

Ingredients:

Broken wheat – 1 cup

Jaggery – ¾ cup

Salt – ¼ tsp

Ghee – ¼ cup

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Cashew pieces – Roasted (Optional)

Method:

-Wash broken wheat twice. Cook with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt for 2 to 3 whistles.

-Mean time, heat jaggery by adding ½ cup of water. Strain the liquid and remove the impurities.

-Add strained jaggery syrup to cooked wheat and cook further at a very low temperature.

-When raw smell of jaggery vanishes, add ghee and cook further by mixing in between.

-Lastly when mixture becomes like a mass, add cardamom powder, garnish with roasted cashew and serve.

Chole Bhature (Chana Bhatura) and Alu subzi:

November 26, 2018

Do I need to introduce every one’s favourite dish? It is basically a deep-fried bread with the fermented / proofed flour dough which Is served with semi dried chick pea curry and potato dry Subzi. This is how we eat or were introduced to this loved-by-all dish.

To prepare we need –

For Chole:

Ingredients:

Chana / white chickpea – 1 cup (soaked and swelled)

Black salt – 1 table spoon

Amla powder / Anardana powder – 1 tea spoon

Oil – 1 table spoon

Ghee – 1 table spoon + 1 tea spoon

Onion – 1 (chopped)

Green chilli – 1 (slit)

Ginger – ½ inch (sliced)

Garlic – 4 (crushed)

Tomatoes – 2 (chopped)

Turmeric – 1 ½ tea spoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Coriander powder – 2 tea spoons

Cumin powder – 1 tea spoon

Garam masala – 1 ½ tea spoon

Kasuri methi – 1 table spoon

Salt

Coriander leaves – chopped

Method:

-Cook soaked chana with enough water, black salt and amla powder. It would take any where between 5 to 6 whistles in the pressure cooker.

-Take one tawa, Heat oil and 1 table spoon of ghee. Add onion, green chilli, garlic and ginger fry until it is transparent and light brown.

-Add in all the masalas, from turmeric to Kasuri methi and salt fry for a while. Add tomato, continue frying until tomato wilts. If needed sprinkle some cooked water from the chana and cook tomato well.

-Cool this mixture and grind this into a smooth paste by adding ladle of cooked chana as well. (it would help gravy to thicken)

-Now mix in this paste with cooked chana and start boiling until oil oozes out and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and 1 tea spoon of ghee.

Now we will move towards Bhature / Bhatura :

Ingredients:

Whole wheat – 2 ½ cups

Maida – 1 cup

Chiroti Rava – 1 cup

Curd – ½ cup

Water – ½ cup

Salt

Sugar – 1 tea spoon

Yeast – 1 tea spoon

Oil – 2 tea spoons

Method:

-Take Luke warm water- mix in curd, sugar, salt and yeast. Close the lid and wait until it proofs and bubbles.

-Dry mix all the flours or you can take only Maida as well. Make a dough by using yeast water and apply an oil and keep aside for 2 to 3 hours or until doubles the volume.

-When it is ready or time to serve, roll a small disc and deep fry.

Now one more dish, which is purely an optional item:

Alu Subzi / potato dry:

Ingredient:

Potatoes – 5 to 6

Mustard oil – 2 table spoons

Sun flower oil – 2 table spoons

Cumin – 1 tea spoon

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 to 2 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 to 2 tsps.

Amchur powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Little Subzi masala – 1 tsp (optional)

Sugar – 1 pinch

Salt

Coriander leaves – chopped (to garnish)

Method:

-Cook potato in pressure cooker for 1 whistle. Peel the skin and dice.

-Take one tawa, heat oil, cumin, diced potatoes, all the powders and fry until masala is coated and becomes little crispy.

Garnish with coriander greens.

For deep fried chillies and Onions :

I normally slit the chillies, put a drop of lemon and salt inside and marinate. While frying bhature, deep fry and serve.

Half the onion, slice width wise and separate the layers by hand and sprinkle some salt and chopped coriander.

While plating, place Bhature, chana , potato, little onions and one chilli and serve with love 😊

Gujiya / Dry fruits Karanji/ Karjikai:

November 5, 2018

Deepavali aka Diwali is an important festival of India and is spread between three days. Indian festivals are incomplete without sweets and savouries. In India, each festival has its own significance in celebration as well as its menu. Gujiya is one of them and has a very important role during Diwali.

Gujiya is a deep-fried flour-based delicacy, with different fillings in different regions. It is known by a different name in each region. Outer cover will be the same and inner stuffing varies from Rava – sugar, coconut – jaggery, coconut – sugar, mawa (milk solids) with dry fruits or with only dry fruits are traditionally seen. Nowadays you get to see so many variations from chocolate to cheese filling as well as baked version.

In North India, after frying the Gujiya, they usually dip it in a sugar syrup and outer cover would be wet and shiny. In south India, we normally deep fry and serve as it is and it’s known as Karanji / Karjikai.

I used to follow Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and learnt so many recipes from him and this is one such recipe. Over the years, I tweaked it a little and adjusted it according to our taste and it has one added advantage of longer shelf life, due to the usage of milkmaid instead of khoya.

Ingredients:

For the outer cover / shell:

All-purpose flour – 2 ½ cups

Salt – ¼ tsp

Ghee – 6 table spoons

Water – As needed (normal water)

Oil – for Deep frying

For the stuffing /filling:

Desiccated coconut – 200 grams

Semolina – 2 table spoons

Almonds – ¼ cup

Cashew – ¼ cup

Raisin – ¼ cup

Cardamom – 1 tsp

Condensed milk – 1 tin (400 grams)

Method:

For the outer cover-

-In a bowl, add flour and pour ghee. Rub the ghee and flour by using your hand for 5 to 10 minutes.

-After a while, flour would resemble like a semi wet crumb.

-Now add required amount of water to make a firm dough.

-Cover the dough with wet cloth and keep aside for half an hour.

Note: Dough approximately holds ½ cup of water.

In the meantime, prepare the stuffing –

-Roast semolina in a low flame, switch off the gas. Mix in all the other ingredients from almond to condensed milk.

-Keep it until mixture is non-sticky while touching.

-Now comes the actual procedure. You can use three methods.

Use Gujiya mould.

2.Take a dough, roll into big thin circle, use cookie cutter to make small, uniform circle.

Take little dough, make small poori like discs.

Here I have followed the third method.

This quantity has yielded 28 Gujiya.

-Divide the dough, make roundels, fill the stuffing, close into half.

-Dip your hand in water, now, start folding the edges from one corner and go on folding like a half diamond shape at regular intervals until you reach the other end.

-Keep this ready, stuffed, yet to fry Gujiya to air dry.

-Repeat the procedure and finish off the filling work.

-Heat the oil for deep frying in low temperature.

-When oil is hot, drop one by one Gujiya, fry in a low flame to get good results.

-When everything is fried and cooled, store it in an air tight container.

NOTE:

To get a perfect Gujiya – these points are very important.

1- Rubbing the ghee + flour.

2-Frying in a low fire

Banana Halwa:

November 3, 2018

Banana or Plantain Halwa was an integral part of my childhood. Usually this Halwa is made by using Kerala big banana which is called as” Nendra variety” but in our home, we used to have lots of overripe bananas from our family farm. To finish off all those overripe small bananas (Kadali variety of Mangalore), amma used to make Halwa or Banana Preserve/ Berati all the time. It was a very regular sweet at our house hold. Today I will share this recipe to all our readers-

Ingredients:

Over ripe banana – 22

Sugar – 1 bowl

Ghee – ½ to ¾ cup

Cashew nuts – 2 tbl sp.

Method:

-Put all the peeled bananas to mixer grinder and make a smooth paste. Measure this by using any bowl of your choice.

-If this paste is 3 cups in quantity take one cup of sugar in that same measurement cup. So, your ratio of banana paste and sugar will be 3:1.

-Fry cashew bits in a teaspoon of ghee and keep aside. Grease one plate with ghee and keep it ready.

-Take one thick bottomed kadai, put this paste and keep gas flame in a very low flame and cook for a while.

-When it changes its colour to milky white and then to a pale colour and when you smell the banana flavour in the air, add sugar and mix this in at a regular interval.

-Add ghee 2 table spoons at a time in-between while stirring. If you feel that the banana paste needs a little more ghee, add up to ¾ cup, some varieties of bananas need very less ghee and some need more.

-Now we will see, how we decide the quantity of ghee. While stirring if you feel that the mixture is a little dry and the bottom part becomes a little brown, keep adding it.

-If the ghee starts oozing at the sides, it is an indication to stop the addition of ghee.

-Now we will see how you know the doneness. It is very simple, keep on stirring until mixture leaves the sides of the kadai and ghee oozes out from the mixture.

-You can add cashew pieces at this stage or spread those pieces in a greased plate like me. After you are done with this, it is almost ready to shift to the plate.

-Before shifting I prefer to check, by taking one small peanut sized portion of the mixture and rolling it in-between your thumb and forefinger to make a small ball like structure. If it holds a ball like structure and does not stick to your finger, it is ready.

-Now remove from the flame, shift to a greased plate and pat this mixture evenly by using a flat, greased (apply some ghee) back of the spoon.

-Keep this aside for two or three hours to cool. Then cut this into the desired shape and store it in an airtight container.

-You can store this Halwa for a really long time (up to a month or two).

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.