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Nugge soppu/Moringa leaves Pathrode:

September 28, 2020

Pathrode is a much-loved Mangalorean delicacy made with colocasia leaves and spice batter. We also make two versions of Pathrode, one is masala batter smeared, rolled, and steamed. Other one is by chopping the greens, mixed with masala laced batter, wrapped in wilted banana leaves , and steam cooked. This version can be prepared by using many other greens as well as banana blossom or flower as well.

After steaming these flat steamed dumplings/ pathrode’s, they can be enjoyed in many ways. We usually steam cook this, the previous evening and relish hot Pathrode paired with fresh coconut oil when it is hot. Next day, we normally, break those dumplings by using hand, prepare 2 types of seasoning. One is Sweet- with coconut and jaggery. Other one is – without jaggery, by adding onion. This version is my childhood favourite and even now, I cherish it to the core.

In the evening, if Pathrode is left, we even make Pathrode bendi. It is nothing but big chunks of Pathrode, dropped in masala gravy , simmered, and cooked. It is the most loved version in my husband’s family.

I would share all the possible relishing methods in this post. First, we should look into the main preparation,

Ingredients:

Moringa leaves – 1 big bowl

Rice – 2 cups (1 cup red boiled rice or Kerala matta rice +1 cup dosa rice) OR only dosa rice

Coconut – from half coconut

Red chillies – 10 -12 ( Byadagi variety)

Coriander – 2 tablespoons

Cumin – 1 tsp

Tamarind – 1 big lemon size

Hing – 1 peanut size (optional)

Salt

Jaggery – 2 teaspoons

Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons

Method:

-Soak rice for 3 to 4 hours after washing it.

-separate moringa leaves from the twig, wash, drain, chop and keep aside.

-In the meantime, wilt banana leaves over a gas flame, wipe in a wet cloth and keep them ready.

-Make masala by adding coconut, coriander, cumin, hing, salt, jaggery, and red chillies. Add soaked, drained rice, and grind into a batter. A batter needs to be thick in consistency. Add very minimal water, and grind.

-Mix chopped moringa leaves with the batter, add coconut oil, and adjust the consistency, it should be semi-solid but pourable.

-Pour the mixture, fold it, and steam cook in an idli steamer for one hr on a low flame. You can leave these overnight in an idli steamer itself.

-At night, you can remove a couple of pathrode, and relish hot Pathrode paired with fresh coconut oil when it is hot. This is an experience in itself 😀

Next day morning,

For Sweet Oggarane/ seasoning:

Take 2 pathrode’s, break them into pieces and keep them aside.

To make coconut jaggery mixture, take a fistful of grated coconut, 2 to 3 tablespoons of grated jaggery and mix by hand.

For seasoning, take 2 tsp of coconut oil, splutter mustard, urad dal, one broken red chilli, fry until it turns red, and add a spring of curry leaves.

Mix in crushed Pathrode, coconut jaggery mixture and mix everything and allow it to heat and jaggery to melt and hold the flavour.

For Khara Oggarane/ Seasoning:

Take 2 pathrode’s, break them and keep them aside.

Chop one small onion little fresh coconut gratings.

For seasoning, take 2 tsp of coconut oil, splutter mustard, urad dal, 1 broken red chilli, fry until it turns red, and add a spring of curry leaves.

-Add chopped onion, fry until it turns transparent, mix in crushed Pathrode, coconut gratings and, mix everything and allow it to heat as well as to hold the flavour.

Now comes the,

Pathrode Bendi/ dumpling in masala gravy:

Here, we must break Pathrode into big chunks and keep it ready.

For Masala: Take one bowl of grated coconut, roasted red chillies – 3 to 4 , 1 tsp of coriander, ¼ tsp of cumin, and two cloves of garlic and grind into a smooth paste.

Heat 2 tsp of coconut oil in a wok, splutter mustard, and one broken red chilli, and add curry leaves. Add half the finely chopped onion and fry until it turns brown.

Now, add ground masala paste into the seasoning and adjust the consistency; add salt and a pinch of jaggery and boil.

When it starts to boil, add Pathrode chunks, and boil for five more minutes or until it reaches a thick consistency.

Serve hot, and enjoy.

Sprouted Ragi Idli:

September 20, 2020

We all know, Ragi is extremely healthy plant-based grain, which is fibre rich, calcium rich and what not? It is a new age “Super food” which was earlier considered as a staple, poor man’s food, or farmer’s diet.

Ragi also known as finger millet or Nachni. Interesting part is, when we sprout the ragi, its nutritional benefits increases 10 folds.

Soaking and sprouting ragi is easy to digest, high in calcium, protein, low in glycaemic index as well as high in vitamin B12, which is a boon to vegetarians. Ragi has the natural property to balance sugar levels in our body, hence it is an extremely good option for all the age groups, including diabetics.

Some people do not like ragi for varied reasons, it may be due to its bland taste or something else. If that is the case, one can try to sneak in Ragi in various forms, combining with the other grains in cooking or while baking.

Here, I have tried to make sprouted Ragi idli with mixing rice. When it is combined with sambar or chutney it tastes delicious and my family likes it a lot.

Preparation goes like this-

Ingredients:

Whole Ragi -1 cup

Idli rice – 2 cups ( you can use normal rice as well)

Urad dal – 1 cup

Poha – 1 cup (loosely packed)

Salt

Method:

-Wash Ragi, soak overnight, drain and keep aside to sprout, In Bangalore weather it takes almost a day or day and a half. After sprouting it swells and becomes 1 ½ cup.

-Next day, wash , soak Idli rice in one vessel. In another vessel, Urad dal and poha. Soak for 3 to 4 hrs.

-According to your weather, opt the timing to grind. Ragi batter ferments little quick, compared to normal idli batter. SO, keep that in mind as well.

-I normally opt for a wet grinder to make idli or dosa batter.

-While grinding, first grind urad dal into fine batter, then add sprouted ragi, it takes little longer to grind. While halfway through add soaked idli rice, salt and grind the batter into small rava consistency.

-Remove from the wet grinder, adjust the consistency of the batter, mix nicely, and keep aside to ferment.

-Next day morning, steam idlies like a Regular idli and enjoy with little hot coconut chutney or any vegetable sambar.

Thondekai melara / Ivy gourd Kayi huli:

September 16, 2020

Melara is one of our specialities, only found in our community and must in our functions or any festivity. Melara has different names according to the region from which we belong to such as Kayi Huli / Majjige Huli. This post was long due and glad to be able to post at least now.

Kayi is nothing but Coconut. Here, fresh coconut ( which is known as Hasi kayi/ not dried/should be filled with coconut water, not dehydrated one) is ground without any masala and added to cooked veggie , lastly one serving spoon of slightly sour buttermilk or beaten curd has been added and seasoned.

Melara can be done with extremely limited choices of vegetables. Well known suitable vegetables which can be used in this curry are, Ivy gourd, Tender Mangalore coloured cucumber( which should be green and white) , Ivy gourd and Mangalore cucumber mixed together, Yam alone or with White Kabuli Chana , Bread fruit ,Giant Taro alone or with White Kabuli chana, White Bitter gourd , Red Amaranth greens, yard long beans, brined raw jackfruit etc are some of our traditional “qualified” vegetables to cook melara.

As time passes by, even this list has some additional English vegetables 😉 (Yes! Other than our native veggies are known by this name) like Raw green tomato, Capsicum, potato, and beans)

Now we would move towards the recipe –

Ingredients:

Ivy gourd – 500 grams ( Or Vegetable of your choice)

Green chillies – 2

Salt

Grated fresh coconut – from ½ to ¾ coconut

Thick buttermilk – 1 serving spoon

Coconut oil – 2 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

-Wash ivy gourd ,chop into 4 pieces lengthwise. Cook with just enough water to immerse, by adding salt, slit green chillies.

-Make a really fine paste of fresh grated coconut. When veggie cooks, add this ground masala, adjust the consistency and boil for 2 minutes.

-Add buttermilk or beaten curd and when it starts to boil, switch off.

-Prepare seasoning, heat oil, splutter mustard, add red chilli and curry leaves fry and pour over melara.

Buckwheat Dosa:

September 13, 2020

For some people, eating gluten -free is a necessity due to their sensitive gut or any other medical conditions. They normally prefer whole food without gluten , which is highly nutritious with many health benefits. As a good source of fibre, buck wheat is known for its low Glycemic index, hence it is safe to eat people with diabetic condition as well.

Buckwheat Is one such Super food and earlier I have posted Buck wheat honey Noodle recipe and now it is my experiment with the whole seed, which my sister has carried and got it for me. You must be wondering, why I have written Buckwheat as a seed? Yes! The name buckwheat causes confusion and usually people think that, it is some other form of grain and related to wheat. It is seed of the flower from the plant, which belong to the same family as Sorrel and Rhubarb. The seeds are in triangular shape. These categories of seeds, which we normally consume as a grain is known as “pseudo cereals” and Amaranth and Quinoa are commonly used other pseudo cereals.

After seeing the seed/grain, I wanted to try our traditional Whole wheat dosa recipe by replacing whole wheat to Buckwheat. It tasted really good and loved the earthy taste and grainy texture, just like whole wheat. It is quick, no fermentation and instant recipe with all the goodness.

How I made:

Ingredients:

Whole Buckwheat – 3 cups

Green chillies – 2

Ginger – ½ inch

Coconut – 1 cup (freshly grated)

Salt

Method:

-Soak Buckwheat after washing for a couple of hours.

-In a mixer grinder, put soaked buckwheat, little water, salt, chilli, ginger , coconut and make a batter.

-Batter should not be very thin and watery. It should be like idli batter consistency.

-Heat iron griddle. When it is hot, spread thin dosas, cook both the sides by pouring little ghee or oil.

-Serve with chutney or sambar.

Avalakki – Genasina upkari/ Seasoned Poha with Sweet potato and chana curry:

September 5, 2020

Bajil/ Avalakki is a default name for seasoned paper thin poha either with added chopped onion or plain. It is a speciality of our native, Mangalore .

When it is combined with Chana curry, which is known as Kadle- Bajil. It is very nutritious ,protein rich combo breakfast option and truly filling to our tummy as well. Here I have used my home-grown Sweet potato with soaked black chana or Bengal gram. It is two very easy dishes combined together to make a pair. It is a no onion dish and appropriate breakfast option for any day either feast / Vrat .

Even though many people would have tasted Avalakki oggarane in any of our temples. This particular dish is almost extinct in today’s world. Hence wanted to share it with you all.

At first, we would see, how to prepare Kadle/Chana curry: Addition of Sweet potato is an optional.

It is a semi solid ,simple, little sweet as well as spicy seasoned dish.

Ingredients:

Black Chana – ½ cup

Sweet potato – 1 or 2 (optional)

Salt

Jaggery (optional)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

Mustard – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Red chilli – 1 or 2

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Coconut – (grated)

Method:

-Soak Chana , on previous night.

-Cook chana with little water and salt in a cooker. Dice Sweet potato with outer skin intact.

-When Chana is done, add sweet potato pieces and cook that as well.

-Prepare seasoning, heat oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal, red chilli, when dal becomes red, add curry leaves.

-Now add cooked chana and sweet potato and mash a little, to give a texture.

-Add jaggery, red chilli powder, adjust salt and Boil. when it becomes little thick, add grated fresh coconut, and switch off the gas. Serve with Seasoned Poha/ Avalakki Oggarane.

Now We would how to prepare Seasoned Poha/ Avalakki Oggarane:

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup

Salt

Rasam powder OR Roasted coriander, cumin, red chilli, little hing.

Little tamarind

Jaggery – ½ tsp

Paper thin poha – as needed

For seasoning:

Mustard – 1 tsp

Urad dal – ½ tsp

Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-At first, dry grind coconut, Rasam powder or roasted masala , jaggery, tamarind ,salt.

-To this mixture, add seasoning mix nicely by hand.

-Add required amount of poha and mix nicely by using your hand and serve with Chana and Sweet potato curry.

-Relish the Age-old filling breakfast with your near and dear ones.

Apple Halwa

August 28, 2020

Yesterday, while preparing Apple jam, my Research oriented husband came in and asked me what I was doing, I said – Apple jam , planning to finish the stock which we bought couple of weeks back

He said, “why not halwa?” I was like 🙄🤔

Then, I changed my mind and took my share of jam when it was done. Proceeded to make Halwa with the remaining quantity, by adding little ghee in-between at a regular interval.

Surprisingly, it turned out super delicious and here I am presenting my end result which was experimental.

Here I have used fruit as a whole /with skin. Normally Apple turns out sour when you cook /boil . To avoid the sour taste, normally I bake it until it is done, then grind into a puree, sieved, and proceed to make jam then halwa with the added mild cinnamon flavour. One can add cardamom as well. Sugar can be replaced with an organic jaggery as well. Even though I have not tried with the jaggery, my friend Aruna has tried with the jaggery and result was just amazing, which was deep brown in colour.

Ingredients:

Golden yellow Apple – 1 kg (Any variety would do)

Sugar – ¾ kg

Ghee – ½ to ¾ cup

Cinnamon or Cardamom – 1 or 2 pinches

Method:

-Wash Apples, dice ,remove seed part and arrange in a baking dish. For Initial preparation, please refer here.

-Bake this in a 170°C pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at first.

-Remove, flip those apple pieces, and continue further 15 minutes.

-After 30 minutes, check the doneness. If it is soft, well cooked ,remove it.

-If it is not done, bake for further 5 or 10 minutes.

-When it is cool, add a little water and churn in a juicer by adding 1 or 2 cups of water.

-Sieve ,discard the roughage ( fibre as well as outer skin remains)

-Put this pulp in a thick bottomed kadai, add sugar, cook until it turns into little thick and turns into mass.

-Add ghee 2 tablespoons at a time in-between while stirring. If you feel that the Apple puree needs a little more ghee, add up to ¾ cup, some varieties of Apple 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 quite 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 my 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).

Carrot Greens Thepla:

August 25, 2020

Usually carrot tops are chopped off and discarded. I do not get carrot tops very frequently and if I get the greens, I normally make 3 batches, while cleaning the greens. Tender, medium and dark green, almost woody.

Tender one would go to Roti or any saag. Medium one would go to dhal . 3^rd batch would go to vegetable stock. If you are worried about carrot greens edibility status, no need to worry on that aspect. Yes! It is safe and absolutely edible.

Only concern is its taste. It has its own, slight bitter taste with astringent after effect due to its high Potassium content. It has more beta carotene than the actual carrot root as well as fibre rich. So, it is time to rethink before trashing these super nutritious greens and we need to act smartly to include all this goodness in our diet, at least occasionally.

We would jump into the details of these tasty thepla’s –

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – 2 to 3 cups

Chopped tender greens – 1 cup

Salt

Oil or ghee – 2 tsp

Sesame seeds – 2 tsp

Carom seeds – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Method:

-Take everything , mix nicely. Add sufficient water and make a pliable dough.

-Keep it aside for half an hour, to rest by closing it.

–Now take lemon sized chapati dough in hand, roll this ball by using a roller, like regular chapati.

-Cook both the sides by using either oil, ghee, or butter.

-Serve with sweetened curd or pickle.

Almond Cashew Mawa Burfi:

August 9, 2020

Who does not love Almond or Kaju Katli? Here I have combined the much loved two raw materials, with milk solid/ khoya, to give a melt in a mouth Indian dessert, In the form of burfi.

Almond cashew mawa Barfi is a super delicious, easy to make, melt in mouth Indian sweet or fudge recipe. A perfect sweet to make on any special occasion! Or festive time.

Ingredients:

Almond – ¾ cup

Cashew – 1/3 cup

Khoya /mawa – ½ cup / 100 grams ( unsweetened)

Sugar – 1 ½ cup

Water – ½ cup

Ghee – ¼ cup

Saffron – 10 – 12 strands

Method:

-Heat a cup of water, soak almond and cashew. Close the lid and keep it for 2 hours.

-After two hours, peel the almonds, drain the water, spread these on kitchen towel to remove extra moisture.

-Grind them in a small mixer jar, by using pulse option by giving intervals for mixing in between to get a smooth paste. Grease one steel plate and keep it ready as well.

-Now, take one thick kadai, pour sugar, water, and boil until it reaches one thread consistency. It takes hardly 5 minutes, after initial boil.

-Add in Almond, cashew paste, after it melts and forms a homogeneous mix, add in grated Mawa.

-Stir everything in a low fire, without leaving hand. While stirring, add a tsp of ghee at regular interval and add saffron strands as well.

-When mixture leaves the sides, as well as thickens, check for the doneness. Take out little mixture, hold a small quantity, in between your thumb and forefinger, try to make a ball. Formed ball should shine as well as should not stick to your finger.

-If it passes the test, switch off the gas, and keep stirring for another 5 to 7 minutes, if any ghee is remaining, pour in between stirring.

-Take the greased plate, pour the mixture, and spread evenly and leave it for 10 minutes. Mark the line and keep it aside for cooling. After cooling, take out pieces, store it in an airtight box.

Kantola Palya / Subzi/ dry curry:

August 4, 2020

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 antioxidants and low in calories. It is high in fibre too.

In my family, we usually relish this in two ways. One is crunchy, tawa fry form or as a palya. I make palya in two ways. One is garnished with fresh coconut. Other one is with coconut, along with little crushed roasted peanut. Both side dishes tastes equally good.

Ingredients:

Kantola – 500 grams

Onion – 1

Garlic – 7 to8

Turmeric – 1 tsp

Tamarind – small gooseberry size.

Red chilli powder – 1 to 2 tsp

Salt – to taste

Jaggery – to taste

Fresh Coconut – to garnish

For seasoning: Coconut/ Vegetable oil, Mustard, urad dal, chana dal, cumin , curry leaves.

Method:

-Wash Kantola, chop into small slices. Chop onion and crush garlic. Soak tamarind in a cup of water.

– Take one kadai, heat oil, splutter mustard, add urad and chana dal. Fry until it turns red. Add cumin and curry leaves as well as crushed garlic.

-Add chopped onion, add turmeric, fry until onion turns transparent. Add tamarind water, red chilli powder, salt, jaggery.

-When it starts boiling, add chopped Kantola and mix everything , close the lid, and cook in a low flame.

-After water drains, Kantola turns soft, garnish with coconut or coconut as well as crushed roasted peanuts.

Mix everything and cook further 3 more minutes and switch off. Serve as a side dish with rice or roti.

Mexican Rice Bowl:

July 27, 2020

One of the much-loved foods for my daughters is the Californian Burrito rice bowls. It is a healthy, balanced meal which has protein, carbohydrate, good fat as well as all the goodness of vegetables. As rice eaters, it used to be our choice as a go to meal.

When my daughters asked me to replicate their favourite meal at home, I tried my best to attain the taste and it was turned into a super hit and it got a thumbs up from everyone. So, thought of sharing my recipe in my blog as well.

Here, I have teamed up garlic – celery flavoured rice , Red beans/ dry rajma , pan roasted capsicum – zucchini, Tomato – sweet corn salsa , Avocado guacamole, and healthy sour cream by mixing hung curd with little mayonnaise.

Let us see how I made this: For 4 servings

For Garlic – Celery Rice:

Rice – 1 ½ cup (small grain rice)

Butter – 1 tablespoon

Garlic – 6 ( sliced)

Celery greens with stalk – 2

Salt , pepper

Method:

-Wash rice, Boil 6 to 8 cups of water in a vessel , add little salt, 1 tsp of oil. When it starts boiling, add rice, cook for 7 to 8 min ( al dente ). Drain the starch , cool, and keep aside.

-For seasoning, take one wok, heat butter, add garlic, chopped celery, and toss until it is done. Add little salt, pepper powder, and mix in cooled rice. Adjust the seasoning.

For Dry Rajma/ Red beans:

Rajma/ Red kidney beans – ¾ cup

Butter – 1 tbl sp

Onion – ½

Tomato – 1

Garlic – 4 cloves (sliced)

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

MDH curry powder – 1 tsp (or any other masala of your choice)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Salt

Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbl sp

Method:

-Take a short variety of Kashmiri Rajma. Soak for 7 to 8 hrs. Cook soaked beans in sufficient water for 6 to 8 whistles in a pressure cooker. Remove the content and do the seasoning.

-take the cooker, add butter, fry garlic and onion, add turmeric, red chilli powder, Curry powder, cumin powder, salt and if you prefer add pinch of sugar as well, fry for 2 min and add chopped tomatoes.

-When tomatoes become mushy, add cooked rajma, close the lid, switch off after the first whistle.

-Open the lid, keep it in a simmer to drain, remaining water content. When it is semi solid, garnish with coriander leaves and switch off.

For Pan roasted Capsicum – zucchini :

Capsicum – 2 (diced)

Zucchini – ½ (diced)

Onion – 1 (diced)

Salt , seasoning of your choice or red chilli flakes or slit green chilli

Olive oil or butter

Method: Heat oil or butter, if you are adding green chilli, add now. Then diced veggies and toss until it is half cooked, sprinkle salt and preferred seasoning.

For Sweet corn – Tomato salsa:

Cooked sweet corn – ½ cup

Tomato – 1 big

Onion – ½

Green chilli – 1

Salt

Lemon – ½

Chopped coriander – little

Method: Chop onion, tomato , green chilli into tiny bits ,add salt, lemon juice and mix. Garnish with chopped coriander.

For Guacamole:

Recipe is here

For low calorie Sour cream:

Take a 2 tbl spoon of hung curd, mix it with garlic mayo and beat a little.

How to Assemble:

Take one wide bowl, serve 1 serving spoon of prepared rice, then beans, roasted veggies, salsa in a circular manner. Top it with Guacamole and sour cream and serve with couple of tortilla chips or without chips.