Pomegranate Peel Tambli:

June 27, 2020

Like coconut tree and banana plant , pomegranate is also an extremely useful plant to mankind. Starting from its bark, young leaves , fruits, and its outer peel have many medicinal properties.

In olden days, people never used to buy a fruit from outside. In our villages, people used to eat home grown seasonal fruits , which included wildly grown many berries, guava, chikoo, mango , bell fruits etc. Banana bunch used to be hanged at one corner of the house and it was the only fruit which was available  365 days. Pomegranate was rare, if any person is ill or recuperating after surgery etc  then only, it used to enter our houses. So, lady of the house used to treat that not less than the gold 😉 . She used to make it a point to clean the peel by removing all those white covers, break it into 4 to 6 pieces, carefully sun drying and used to store it near “chulha” / we call it as a “ole katte” ( it is basically a olden day’s cooking platform, which used wood as fuel). Throwing out the peel was not heard of and it had an enormous importance in every family in our region.

According to my co sister, who is an ayurvedic doctor, Ayurveda holds Pomegranate fruit in higher regards because of its antioxidant, pro biotic nature. Due to its anti-bacterial and anti-microbial quality, it helps to bind the stools and helps to control the diarrhoea. She says, Astringent- bitter taste of the peel is the reason behind its anti-diarrhoea quality. Hence, it can be used to cure diarrhoea and not in constipation. Pomegranate peel powder is good for oily skin. If powder is mixed with rose water and applied as a face pack , it reduces acne and brings glow to oily face.

In traditional home remedies When fruit has been used to treat Anaemia , peel has been used to treat dysentery/ diarrhoea (even with blood) . We normally prepare Kashaya by boiling couple of pieces of dried peel in a cup of water, reduced to half and consumed either plain or by adding little jaggery. Otherwise, every now and then, prepare Tambli and consume to maintain our gut health .

Tambli is preferred to total wellbeing of our gut because , it is more palatable than the Kashaya, as well as it consists  curd ,which again is a pro-biotic. Hence, if we include pomegranate peel in our regular diet every now and then, it helps in intestinal detoxifying and cleansing. In return it would helps to improve digestion.

Now we would see how to dry those fruit peels at first: It is quite simple. Remove all the white sheath beneath the fruit kernels, dry under the sun or keep it near the windowsill . When it is crisp ,breaks while folding, that is it. Store it in an airtight jar or zip lock. Use whenever it is needed.

Tambli preparation:

Ingredients:

Dried Pomegranate peel – 2 pieces

Black whole pepper – 6 to 8

Cumin – ½ – ¾ tsp

Fresh grated Coconut – 1 fistful

Curd – 1 to 1 ½  small serving spoon

Salt

Ghee

Method:

-Fry pepper, cumin, broken pieces of the peel until it is  crispy.

-Grind these into fine paste by adding coconut ,salt and sufficient water.

-Add curd, adjust the consistency by adding water.

-If needed season with ghee, cumin and curry leaves and serve with rice or drink as it is.

NOTE:

1) For vegan version, instead of ghee or clarified butter one can use coconut oil .

2)You can use whole black pepper corns or white pepper corns.

 

 

 

 

Salted jackfruit Vada / Sole vade:

June 24, 2020

Sole , uppad pachir , uppinalli hakida halasinakai , these are all different names of salted / brined jackfruit. Which is basically a firm fully grown, matured but un-ripened jackfruit which is preserved in salt water. We usually relish this in the rainy season or in the off season by preparing some of our traditional dishes.

Salting the jackfruit, side by side preparing the chips is part of our childhood memories – sort of a preparation for rainy season. Which used to be a family affair and real fun altogether. Now a days, if I need to do something, either ask mom or buy it locally from Mangalore stores . Last weekend got a fistful of brined jack from my sister in law and made this age old / my grand mom’s recipe. Which I used to relish during my childhood. Just before the process of putting the fresh ones, there used to be a process of cleaning and sterilising the porcelain jars or Barani.  Which used to include, the process of emptying last year’s stock as well 😀 . So, all these delicacies used to be a result of such operations 😉 . You can call this as Salted jackfruit Vada or thattai or Nippattu. We hardly need any preparation for this delicacy. Curry leaves is the main flavour over here.

Ingredients:

Salted / brined jack – around 2 fistfuls

Rice flour – around ½ cup

Cumin – 1 to 2 tsp

Chopped green chillies – 2

Chopped curry leaves – around ½ cup

If needed – little salt.

Oil – to deep fry

Method:

-Soak salted jack in a big bowl of water. Wash couple of times to remove excess salt.

-If salt is excess, sometimes it needs little extra soaking time in fresh water.

-Squeeze and as much as possible, drain the water and grind jackfruit pieces in a mixer jar.

-After grinding into smooth paste, add cumin, chopped green chillies, curry leaves, and mix it nicely.

-Now, take required amount of rice flour and make a pliable dough.

-Check for the salt, if needed add and adjust.

-Take one small piece of banana leaf or  butter paper. Pat small Vada.

-Heat oil and deep fry like any other deep-fried savouries. Enjoy with your evening tea or coffee.

 

 

Coconut-Fresh Coriander chutney (Grandma’s style)

June 17, 2020

One more recipe from Smitha, dear friend of mine.  which I always relish with Oats and rava idli is age old recipe of her grandma. Though I have done little changes to the original recipe, taste wise it is the same and if you like khatta meeta chutneys, this is for you to enjoy with vegetable Oats rava idlies or plain oats – rava idlies or Rava idli with oats.

Ingredients

Fresh Coconut, shredded – 1 Cup
Fresh Coriander – A little more than half cup
Green Chilies – 4 to 6

Tamarind – Size of a Gooseberry
Hing – ½ tsp
Jaggery – 1 & 1/2 Tablespoon
Oil – 2 tsp

For Tempering: Oil, Mustard, Curry Leaves

Method

-Soak tamarind and jaggery in little bit of water to make it soft.

-Heat a pan. Add oil, Sauté the green chilies, until the outer skin looks partially white. Add the coconut and give it a mix. Once the coconut has turned warm, turn off the flame. Cool it.

– In a blender jar, put this mixture, along with tamarind-jaggery mix, hing, salt, fresh coriander and blend into smooth paste by adding water.

-Do seasoning, by heating oil, splutter mustard add curry leaves and add  ground paste, boil for 2 minutes.

-Cool and serve with Oats Rava idli. This chutney stays good for couple of days, under refrigeration.

Oats Rava Vegetable Idli :

June 10, 2020

I normally prefer rava idli by adding oats. As you all are aware, I have 2 types of oats idlies in my blog. One is plain Oats Rava idli and another one is Regular Rava idli style by adding oats to it. I normally prefer Rava idli style and if it is for tiffin box or Brunch adding vegetable is an incredibly good option. It is my dear friend Smitha’s recipe and I want to thank her for sharing such a filling, nutritious and healthy recipe in our Foodie group. 

Addition of vegetables with oats increases the nutritional value of the dish. This recipe doesn’t demand much curd as well. Hence for me,  this is one more recipe to indulge in that too without any grinding and prior planning.

I normally prepare the dry mixture the previous night and keep it ready to cut short my early morning job. It works very well. Dry mix consists of seasoning and roasting part.

How I did:

Ingredients:

 (a) Main Ingredients

Upma Rava – 2 Cups
Quick cooking Oats – 1 Cup

(b) To be ground into a coarse paste

Black Pepper Corns – 10 -12 or, as desired
Cumin Seeds – 1&1/2 Teaspoons
Ginger Root – 1 Inch Piece
Green Chillies – 4 to 6 or, as per your spice levels

(c) Vegetables –

Preferably grated, or very finely chopped

Bottle Gourd – 1/4 Cup (grated)Carrots, medium sized – 2 (grated)
Green Peas, slightly crushed – 1/4 Cup
French Beans, Finely Chopped – About 8 to 10
Fresh Coriander Leaves, finely chopped – 4 Tablespoons

Fresh Curry Leaves, finely chopped – 2 to 3 Sprigs

(d) Other Ingredients

Cashew nuts – A few or, as required (For garnish)
Salt – To taste
Cooking Soda / Baking Soda – ½ Teaspoon
Lemon Juice – 1 Teaspoon
Water – As required
Yogurt – 1/4 to 1/2 Cup + 2 Spoons to mix with soda
Oil – To grease the idli plates/molds

(e) For Tempering

Asafetida – A generous pinch
Black Mustard – 2 Teaspoons
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 Teaspoon
Chana Dal & Urad Dal – 1 Teaspoons each
Oil – 4 Tablespoons

Method:

-Dry roast Rava, halfway through add oats and fry further until it is done. Cool.

-Dry roast pepper, cumin. Dry grind these by adding ginger, green chilli and keep aside.

-For Seasoning part, Take one wok, do the seasoning, heat oil, splutter mustard, fry chana and urad dal, add cumin, hing, ground spice mix, chopped curry leaves , coriander leaves and fry a little.

– Add crushed peas, finely chopped beans, and grated bottle gourd. Add salt and switch off. Cool completely. 

-Now  Mix in roasted Rava and oats with veggie seasoning.

-Add ½ cup yogurt, keep it aside for 15 minutes.

-In another bowl take lemon juice, curd, cooking soda mix nicely and add to batter.

-Then adjust with water, make idlies by keeping cashew at center.

-Serve with Hot and sweet coriander chutney.

 

Mango Yogurt Parfait:

June 7, 2020

Everyone loves mango season and enjoy as much as possible before it vanishes from the fruit carts.

Today, I am sharing my little healthier version of mango parfait, when compared to other versions, which usually has loads of fresh creams.

Here, I normally use digestive biscuit base, hung curd with little fresh cream which is flavoured with fresh cardamom ( I like cardamom with mango 😀 ) , Chopped fresh fruit , lastly garnished with crushed almond praline (chikki).

Let us see the procedure , which suffice for 4 tall glasses –

Ingredients:

For Biscuit base:

Digestive biscuits – 12

Sugar – 1 to 2 tbl sp of brown sugar ( can use normal sugar as well)

Butter – 1 tbl sp

For Fruit base:

Mangoes – 2 (Alphonso works well)

Sugar – 1 tsp

For Cream base:

Hung curd or yogurt – 1 to 1½  cup ( adjust accordingly)

Fresh cream – 50  to 100 grams ( adjust accordingly)

Sugar – 3 to 4 tbl sp ( according to your taste)

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

For Almond Praline: ( you can use cashew as well)

Brown sugar  – 2 tbl sp ( you can use normal sugar as well )

Slivered almonds – ½  cup

Butter – 1 tbl sp

Method:

-Make Praline by heating sugar until it turns brown liquid form without stirring or disturbing in low flame. When it turns golden, add almond, butter give a stir and spread on kitchen counter.

-When it is cool, take the crunchy block and crush by using pestle . keep aside.

-Now, Chop mangoes into small chunks, add sugar and give a stir and keep it in a fridge.

-Next, Biscuit base. Crush biscuits make a powder. Add sugar, butter, and mix all these by using your hand. It should hold the shape, while pressing in between your palm and fingers.

-Now, for the cream base, take a wire whisk ,beat hung curd, add cream, sugar, cardamom powder and whisk until it is creamy.

Now comes the assembling part:

-Take 4 tall glasses. First pour 2 spoons of yogurt mix. Over to that, biscuit crumb, then chopped mangoes.

-Repeat the same sequence: yogurt, crumb , fruit. Lastly divide all the leftover curd equally into 4 glasses at the top and garnish with almond praline and serve, enjoy your treat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackfruit seed Hummus :

June 2, 2020

In our native, jackfruit cutting is a family affair. Amma used to sit on the ‘ mettu katthi” which is a special type of sickle attached to the raised wooden plank. She used to chop the fruit, and we all used to sit in front of her and  do the odd job, like removal of jack bulbs, cut open the bulb and the separation of the seeds. Every seed used to be collected, washed, and  preserved it for the future use. In off season/ monsoon it used to be the main source of protein in our traditional cooking. I have shared couple of jackfruit seed recipes with Bamboo shoot as well as with coloured cucumber. I even preserve jack seed in a frozen form and procedure is already shared in my blog as well.

In our region, people have been using jackfruit seeds in their traditional cooking for ages. We are accustomed to its taste as well as love it in any form. This time, I tried my hand at making Hummus, as my family hates the usual hummus made of chickpeas, which is popular in Middle east and Mediterranean cuisine. Usually it is made from cooked, blended chickpeas with tahini, olive oil and some basic seasoning.

It turned out to be super delicious and we enjoyed it as a dip with some steamed vegetables as well as with pita bread pocket. Highly recommend if you don’t like the usual chickpea hummus.

Now we will see how I made this –

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

Jackfruit seeds – 10 to 15

Garlic – 6 to 8

White Sesame seeds – 1 tablespoon

Salt

Lemon juice – as needed.

Cold chilled water – to grind ( helps to achieve creamy texture)

Olive oil –1 to  3 tablespoons

Chilli flakes – 1 tsp

Method:

-I prefer crushing the seed at the beginning. Take a thick kitchen towel, keep the seeds and crush. ( it gives the grip. otherwise, seeds flip while crushing)

-Wash those seeds a couple of times to remove all those white traces, which oozes out from the seed.

-Put all this in a cooker, after 3 whistles, switch off the gas.

-Dry roast sesame seeds and keep it ready.

-In the meantime , slice garlic cloves , heat little oil, fry this into a golden brown and keep aside.

-When jack seed cools down , take a mixer jar or food processor, powder roasted sesame seed first. Add golden fried garlic chunks, lemon juice, salt, jack seed and sufficient cold water (it is an important to use cold water to achieve final creamy textured hummus)

-While grinding, use low speed / pulse option in your processor.

-After grinding, I have used hot olive oil ( you can blame my Indian gene 😉 who loves hot seasoning over any curries)  with red chilli flakes to give an extra zing. It is really simple.

-Take a seasoning ladle, heat olive oil, switch off the flame. Add red chilli flakes to hot oil. Now pour this over the hummus.

-Either you can enjoy as a dip with some steamed veggies like carrot, broccoli, or cucumber sticks.

-You can use as a sandwich spread or with pita bread or our Indian roti or  to prepare Rolls.

 

 

 

 

Jackfruit Cup cake:

May 24, 2020

My idea behind this cup cake is our very own, traditional Jackfruit Kottige or Idli, that we have been making for ages. When I wanted to try cup cake, somehow, I was not convinced to use All-purpose flour due to my motto of healthy baking . Also, I was not ready to use an egg with jack.

Now, the biggest challenge was how to make it? That is when I thought of incorporating our traditional ingredients, which pairs very well with Jackfruit.

So, I took Rice flour , instead of fresh coconut opted for a homemade coconut flour. It would have helped to give an airy texture to cake. Now comes the egg replacer, without any doubt went with flax gel. Worked out really well.

Now comes the tasting session, whoever loves the Jackfruit and its preparation? They all loved it. Whoever does not love jack fruit or its flavour, they said…No 😉

My verdict: Cake was soft, airy ,not at all dense. Tasted more of Jackfruit. After all it is Jackfruit cake 😀

 

Now, we would move towards the procedure 😀

Ingredients:

Rice flour – 1 cup

Coconut flour – 1 cup

Baking powder – ¾ tsp

Baking soda – ¾ tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Flax gel – Replacement for 1 egg

Buttermilk – ¾ cup

Jaggery powder – 2/3 cup ( you can add brown sugar or normal sugar as well)

Ghee / clarified butter – 1/3 cup

Jack fruit chunks – ½ cup (heaped)

Method:

-Pre heat oven at 180 °C , grease the muffin pan. If you want to keep jack fruit piece at the bottom, you can keep one piece on each mould and keep it ready.

-Make flax gel: The basic ratio is 2 ½ tsp of flax seed powder and three tablespoons of  hot water  and then you simply whisk in the mixture until it becomes gelatinous  to replace one egg.

-Make  Jack fruit pieces by using chopper or mixer jar (by opting Pulse option)

-Take one bowl, add both the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix nicely or sieve couple of times. It is our dry mixture.

-Take one more bowl, make a wet mix. Take flax gel, ghee, buttermilk, and beat nicely.

-Now add jaggery or sugar and beat until frothy. Now add Jack fruit and mix.

-Pour  wet mixture into dry mixture and fold in and make a uniform mixture. Do not over mix.

-Pour the ready batter to muffin mould and bake in a Pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Check the doneness and take out. 

-Cool and enjoy gluten free Jack fruit cupcake.

NOTE: – if you want to use all-purpose flour, please go ahead, and use 1 ½ cup and follow the same recipe.

Coconut Flour and Buck wheat Chocolate chip cookies:

May 17, 2020

In my earlier posts I have discussed regarding homemade coconut flour as well as  eggless coconut flour cookie with chocolate chip.

One thing we must keep in our minds while using coconut flour is, do not underestimate its absorption power by seeing its light and airy texture. It absorbs moisture like a sponge. What I learnt from my previous experience is, it needs almost equal amount of moisture content as flour volume.

Here I have tried with egg as well as without egg by adding  flax gel as an egg replacer, mainly because of its gel like texture. Coconut flour does not have any holding capacity, so thought of using flax gel.

In this experiment I have taken equal amount of coconut flour and buck wheat flour ( I did try with millet flour as well)  it did absorb the liquid, swell and gave me Eleven  cookies 😊 More than everything, this was interesting!! Baking Coconut Flour by adding millet/ buck wheat flour . This was a little experiment, and the results were not bad at all! I got the big thumbs up from my twins.

Let us see the procedure for With Egg Version –

Ingredients:

Coconut flour – ½ cup

Millet/ Buck wheat flour – ½ cup

Choco chip – ¼ to ½ cup

Pink salt – ¼ teaspoon ( you can use normal salt as well)

Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp

Cooking soda  + baking powder – ¼ tsp ( 1/8th  tsp  each)

Eggs – 2

Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Vanilla – ½  teaspoon

Organic Natural brown sugar – ½ cup (you can use normal sugar or jaggery as well)

Method:

-take one bowl, add all the dry ingredients: Both the flours, salt, cinnamon powder, cooking soda, baking powder and Choco chip. Mix everything and keep it aside.

-Beat the egg , add vanilla, sugar, and ghee. Beat everything until you see a bubbly texture.

– Pour wet mix into dry ingredient and fold everything and prepare a dough. It would be sticky and wet.

-Keep this in a refrigerator at least for a half an hour. By this time, coconut flour would absorb the moisture and batter would be perfect to scoop out.

-Pre heat oven at 170 °C. Line the baking tray with the butter paper.

-Scoop out the mix by using ice cream scooper and arrange in a lined baking tray.

-Bake this in a pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

-Do not touch while removing, it will be incredibly soft. Remove the tray and cool as it is.

-After cooling, it will harden a bit. After it cools down completely, store it in an airtight container.

– These cookies are slightly crunchier at outer circle, soft and chewy at the centre.

– It becomes a little harder and firmer the next day .

For Without Egg Version:

For Egg less version, please use any egg replacer or 

Flax gel: The basic ratio is 2 ½ tsp of flax seed powder and three tablespoons of  hot water  and then you simply whisk in the mixture until it becomes gelatinous  to replace one egg.

-Here, after mixing the wet and dry mixture, you can directly proceed to baking. No need to keep it in the fridge. Dough is less liquid, compared to the with egg version.

-Cookies turn out much more heavy and crunchier than the with egg version. Does not spread while baking. It holds the shape very nicely.

Beans Palya:

May 10, 2020

Fresh French beans are really tasty and loaded with high fibre and nutrients. One of my twin daughters doesn’t like beans in any form and it is very tedious to make her eat this veggie. Whenever I want to cook this veggie, I surely reach out to this fool proof recipe of my mom, which is really simple with very minimal ingredients, at the same time, full of flavours of green chilli and onions. This Subzi tastes good with rice or roti.

Ingredients:

French beans – ½ kg

Onion – 1 or 2 (medium)

Green chillies – 2

Salt – as needed

Jaggery -as needed

Fresh grated coconut – 2 table spoons

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Curry leaves – 2 springs.

Method:

-Wash, remove fibre from both sides by breaking both the tops of French beans.

-Hold fistful of beans in your left hand and chop uniformly.

-Chop onions and green chilli.

-Take one thick kadai or wok, do seasoning. Heat oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal, cumin.

-When urad dal becomes red, add curry leaves, onion and green chillies and fry for a while until onion becomes transparent and glossy.

-Next add chopped beans, salt, jaggery and toss for two minutes.

-Add one cup of water, close the lid and cook this in a low fire.

-When water evaporates, if beans are yet to cook, add little extra water and cook further.

-When it is done, garnish with fresh coconut and mix this mixture. Cook further for 2 minutes and enjoy this super delicious, simple palya/ Subzi either with hot rice, Rasam or with chapati/Roti.

 

 

Vegan/ Vegetarian Thai Massaman Curry:

May 3, 2020

Massaman curry, is a wholesome, flavourful ,peanut based Thai curry. It originated from the south part of Thailand, near Malaysia. It has Red fresh masala, which includes Red chilli, whole spices, lemon grass, galangal and roasted peanuts to give a creamy texture as well as the richness of coconut flavour by adding coconut milk.

Massaman curry pairs really well with small grain rice either steamed, normal or flavoured one.

Vegetables which I have used are Broccoli, beans, capsicum and carrots. Since the lock down, I am not finding all the options due to my restricted outing. Hence, it is also proved as a non-fussy curry 😉

How I made:

For homemade Massaman Curry paste: (For single use/Serves 4)

Dried red chilli – 3 to 4 (According to the required hotness)

Whole coriander – 1 tablespoon

Cumin – ¾ tsp

Cinnamon – 1” piece

Clove – 3

Whole black pepper corns – 4

Galangal – 1” piece (you can substitute with ginger as well) 

Lemon grass bulbs – 2

Garlic cloves – 3

Shallot/ tiny onion – 1

Lemon rind – From 1 small lemon

Soy sauce – 1 tablespoon

Maple syrup / jaggery syrup – 1 tablespoon

Juice of lemon – from 1 small lemon

Roasted peanuts – ½  to ¾ cup

Method:

-Take ½ cup of water, boil and add broken red chillies , close and keep aside to soak.

-Dry roast Coriander ,cumin, whole pepper corns, clove, cinnamon until it changes colour and you feel the aroma.

-Dry roast peanuts and keep aside.

-Grate lemon rind, make it half, take out the juice from the same lemon and keep it ready.

-Slice shallot,  lemon grass bulbs, galangal ( I had my home-grown harvest, sliced and frozen)

-Now, take one mixer jar, powder peanuts, add roasted masala, soaked chilli with water, lemon rind, lemon juice, maple syrup, soy sauce, shallot ,lemon grass ,galangal and make a fine paste. Now you have a fresh homemade curry paste with you 😀

Next Comes the Easy part:

For Vegetable Massaman Curry:

Ingredients:

Massaman Curry paste – Whatever you have prepared and kept.

Vegetables of your choice – 1 bowl (Broccoli, beans, carrot, capsicum)

Shallot – 1 (sliced)

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Salt

Coconut milk –1- 1 ½  cup fresh or 1 tetra pack or 1 coconut milk powder sachet.

Method:

-Take one wok, heat oil, fry sliced onion, add washed ,cleaned veggies and fry for a while.

-Add salt and when vegetables start wilting, add prepared curry paste mix everything and fry for 2 minutes.

-Add sufficient water, allow to boil , adjust salt. Lastly add coconut milk and allow to boil once and switch off.

-Serve with choice of rice you wish to have. I normally make small grain flavoured steamed rice.