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 . 3rd 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.

Fusion Veggie Wraps/Rolls:

July 16, 2020

Why do I call this a Fusion wrap? It has an Indian Roti with Mexican filling. This is a Colourful veggie wrap which can be served hot or cold. These wraps are filling and at the same time very healthy too. 

It’s ideal for kid’s / office lunch boxes.

 -Here I have used

1) Ragi/finger millet, whole wheat roti. ( you can use plain wholewheat roti as well.

2) Avocado dip which is mixed with chopped lettuce and used as a bottom bed.

3) Roasted veggie: here I have taken capsicum. You can use chopped and roasted mushroom or any other veggie as well.

4) Salsa: here I have taken tomato salsa, you can use any salsa like pineapple, mango etc.

First, we will see how to make Roti:

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour-1 cup

Ragi /finger millet flour-½ cup

Water-1 cup

Salt

 Chopped dill leaves-1 cup (optional)

Oil -1 tsp.

Method: Take one cup of water, add oil, salt and boil. Now add Ragi flour and keep this for 2 to 3 minutes or until it cooks. Now remove from the flame and keep aside. When it is a little cool and ready to handle, add whole wheat flour and chopped greens, make a firm ball like Chapati dough. Cover and keep this aside 10 minutes for resting. Then start making little thicker Chapati than the regular Chapati and cook both the sides by applying some ghee or oil and keep it ready.

Secondly, we will see how to make Lettuce – Avocado dip:

Ingredients:

Avocado -1 large

Yogurt- ½ cup

Sugar – 1 tsp.

Green chilli -1

Garlic salt – to taste.

Cumin powder – ½ tsp.

Red chilli flakes- ¼ tsp.

2 to 3 table spoons –chopped coriander leaves.

Chopped Lettuce or Napa cabbage – as required 

Method:

-Remove flesh from the avocado and discard its seed.

-Grind green chilli, coriander at first, then add all other ingredients and churn these by putting all of them together and adjust the seasoning.

-you can serve this as a side dish, as a dip or dressing.

-This dip stays good for a week under refrigeration.

-Now Chop lettuce like long strips and mix this avocado dip according to the requirement. Now your second ingredient for the wrap is ready.

Thirdly, the Roasted veggie:

-Here I have taken capsicum. Wash, remove seeds and dice .Now take some olive oil, sauté this and sprinkle some garlic salt. Now your third ingredient for the wrap is ready too.

Fourth and last one is Tomato Salsa:

Ingredients:

 Tomato -1 finely chopped

 Onion- ½ finely chopped 

 Green chilli -1 finely chopped   

 Salt, sugar and lemon juice –according to your taste

 Coriander leaves –chopped

Method: add all these ingredients, mix and adjust the seasoning. Now your fourth and last ingredient for the wrap is ready.                             

Now we will proceed to make Fusion veggie wrap:   

          

-Keep everything ready and Take one roti, spread avocado and lettuce mix, sprinkle roasted veggie, lastly salsa. Now roll it and pack it in a lunch box or serve as a lunch or snack.

 

Raw Mango Pickle ( No oil version)

July 9, 2020

Mango pickle, who does not like it?! It is a perfect accompaniment to any Indian meal. As a south Indian, I need to have one piece of pickle with curd rice to end each meal of mine. 😉

Due to lockdown, I was thinking of not indulging in pickle making. But, around two weeks back, when I happen to see huge Mangoes which are specifically meant for the pickle, I could not resist. Picked up only one, which itself was weighing one kilogram. It is our coastal recipe, which does not need loads of oil nor any added preservative . It has freshly ground masala and if you wish, added seasoning to enhance the taste and  known as Adangai.

Now we would see the procedure-

Ingredients:

1 big mango – weighed 900 grams

Salt – 1 glass tumbler ( 150 ml)

Hing – ½ tsp (solid hing) If it is powder add little more.

For pickle masala:

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard – 2 tbl spoons

Cumin – 1 ½ tsp

Byadagi red chillies – 20 – 25 (acc to taste)

Black pepper corns – 10

Method:

-Dry roast crystal salt and remove all the moisture. Cool.

-Wash mango, dry it out, chop into small chunks.

-Take one glass bowl or stainless-steel bowl, add roasted and cooled salt, mango pieces, hing. Mix everything, close and keep aside for 12  to 24 hours.

-Next day, dry roast methi until it is brown. Next, mustard until it splutters. Next roast red chillies, by adding 1 tsp of coconut oil   until crisp. Add pepper and roast for 2 minutes.

-Cool all these, make a powder. After that, collect the water, oozed out from the mango. Add into mixer jar and grind further to make a fine paste.

-Add the paste, marinated mango and mix together. Store it in a clean , dry glass bottle.

-If you want the seasoning – you can heat 2 tsp of coconut oil, splutter mustard, add hing and pour it over the ready pickle.

-Rest the pickle for at least ten days to absorb all the masalas , while doing so, in between give a stir by using dry spoon once in two days. It would fasten the marination process and pickle would turn out best by absorbing all the masalas.

 

Tri colour Capsicum Rice :

July 2, 2020

Capsicum flavoured one pot rice item, with added richness by coconut milk as well as lots of curry leaves and goes very well with any side dish of your choice. It is an absolute favourite at our office potlucks or any parties. It is rich in taste ,easy to make and nutritious too. I normally serve this with simple dhal fry .

I normally Use Basmati rice or small grain Jeera samba rice to make rice and all the three colours of capsicums.

Ingredients:

 Basmati rice – 2 cups

Onion – 1 big (sliced)

Green chilli – 1 (slit)

Ginger garlic paste – 1tsp

Ghee + Oil – 1 + 1 tablespoon

Bay leaves – 2

Cardamom – 2

Cinnamon – 1”

Clove – 2

Coconut milk powder – 2 tablespoons (I normally use Maggi brand)

To Garnish:

Red, Green and yellow capsicum – 1 each

Ghee or Oil – 2 tablespoons

Cumin – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Green chilli – 1 (slit )

Method:

-Wash ,soak rice for 10 minutes and drain.

-Take one cooker, add ghee and oil, Bay leaves, cinnamon,  clove and cardamom.

-Add sliced onion, green chilli and fry until it is golden. Continue frying with adding ginger garlic paste.

– Add drained rice, coconut milk powder ,4 cups of water ,salt and cook for one whistle ,keep it in a simmer for 3 minutes and switch off. 

To Prepare capsicum garnishing – dice all the three-coloured capsicum.

-Heat ghee, cumin ,curry leaves and slit green chilli and fry.

-Add capsicum ,toss for a while and sprinkle some salt and when it is done, add the ready rice and mix with a light hand and serve with your favourite side dish or simple dhal fry.