Tag: age old recipe

Bilimbi Saaru /Tree Sorrel Rasam :

May 23, 2021

Bimbuli / Beempuli, anyone? Yes! It is our local name to Bilimbi 😀
Averrhoa bilimbi, commonly known as Bilimbi, “Cucumber tree”, “tree sorrel”, is a tiny, tangy, juicy fruit that regularly appears in Coastal Karnataka cuisine.

Bimbuli is what we call it, and it is also known as Tree sorrel. It is a common backyard tree, and you would find it in every house of the coastal region. The beauty of our traditional cuisine is impressive. When we take only Mangalore cuisine, we find at least 6 to 7 varieties of souring agents used for specific purposes according to the ingredient and the recipe. For example, Kokum, tamarind, Monkey jack (known as Unde Huli or Kethe Huli), Hog plum, Bilimbi (beempuli), Raw mango and the list goes on.

Before the lockdown, I found this in my locality during our evening walk and introduced it to my daughter.

We used to eat this watery fruit by dipping it in salt and asked her to eat it with salt. She, who is fond of any khatta/ souring agent, enjoyed and asked for more. Besides eating, I loved pickle, which my paternal aunt used to prepare and get it.

While talking, remembering good old memories, my mother in law mentioned Bimpuli saaru, which her mom-in-law used to prepare. As a curious learner, I started asking her about the recipe? How did she use to make etc.?

As always, she said, what is the recipe? There is nothing in that saru—a little bit of cooked dal, green chilli and hing.

The next day, I made the saru, which I never tasted before, and it was indeed flavourful and delicious and thought of documenting it in my blog for future reference.

 Ingredients:

Bilimbi /Tree sorrel – 6 to 7 or acc to your taste

Cooked toor dal – 1 small Katori

Salt

Jaggery – to taste

Green chillies – 6 to 8 (slit)

Hing – peanut size

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tbl sp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Take a one cooking pot, put Chopped tree sorrel, slit green chillies, salt, jaggery, hing, 2 cups of water as well as cooked, mashed dal.

-When chillies and sliced tree sorrels are cooked, adjust the consistency by adding water, if necessary, salt, jaggery or hing. Boil a couple of minutes more and add seasoning.

-To season, heat oil, splutter mustard, red chilli and curry leaves. Yes! It is so simple and tasty.

-This tasty saru is pairs well with hot rice and papad with any vegetable side dish to accompany.

 

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.

 

Mango ginger Thokku:

March 17, 2020

Mango ginger! Yes, it is a rhizome, resembles more of a ginger and tastes like Mango sans tanginess.

It is locally known as Mangannari /mavinakai shunti in Kannada and Aam Haldi in Hindi. Mango ginger is an antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory.

In our native, it is widely used in our traditional cooking.  We usually make Chutney or Tambli and add lemon to the pickle. I’ve never tried or eaten the Thokku version. My dear friend Smitha sent me her grandmom’s recipe and asked me to prepare and post it on my blog. Heirloom recipes are very dear to my heart, and I am fortunate to get the soul-satisfying, tasty, and flavorful recipe of mango ginger Thokku.

 Ingredients:

Mango ginger – 200 – 250 grams (grated or ground to semi-coarse texture)

Hing/ Asafetida – A generous pinch (1/2 Teaspoon)

 Curry Leaves – A sprig or two

 Byadagi Red Chillies – 4 (broken into pieces)

Tamarind – the size of a big gooseberry (soak in a hot water and extract the pulp)

 Fenugreek/Methi seeds – 2 Teaspoons (Roasted and powdered)

Jaggery Powder – 1 to 2 Teaspoons

Oil – ¼ to ½ cup.

Mustard Seeds – 2 Teaspoons

Red chilli powder – 1 to 2 Tbsps.

 Salt – To taste

Turmeric Powder – 2 Teaspoons (You can use freshly grated turmeric too)

Method:

-After Washing, peel the mango ginger, grind it into a semi-coarse texture or grate it.

-Take one kadai, heat oil, splutter mustard, add hing, red chillies, curry leaves and fry.

-Add mango ginger and sauté it well. At this time, add turmeric, roasted methi powder, and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

-Add salt, jaggery and tamarind extract and cook on a low flame.

-When almost done, oil leaves on the sides and the mixture becomes a shiny mass.

 -Switch off the gas, allow it to cool and store it in a clean glass jar.

-Stays well for months. If refrigerated, it stays for a year. Just like any other Thokku. Voila! Enjoy with idli, dosa, Uppittu or steaming hot rice with a dollop of ghee or any preferred oil.

Note: If using fresh turmeric, add it with the mango ginger or halfway through.

Whether grinding or grating, the final texture will be like that of chutney… smooth. So, grind it to a coarse texture, as grating can be tedious. If cooking on low heat, occasional stirring and tossing is enough.

Tip: You can grind two green chillies along with the mango ginger. That enhances the taste. In that case, you can reduce the chilli powder by half a teaspoon and one or two dried red chillies in the tempering. Jaggery balances it and tastes Thokku to the next level.

Jackfruit kottige:

May 10, 2018

Halasina hannu is Jack fruit and Kottige is nothing but idly or kadubu,also known as Halasina Hannina kottige Or Gatti in local language. In which mixture is wrapped in pre-wilted banana leaves like pockets and steam cooked. Like bottle gourd kottige, which I have posted earlier, it is not a savoury kind, it is sweetish and bustling with jackfruit flavour which is enhanced even more with the usage of banana leaves wrap.

Jackfruit season is considered as a feast time in our region. Usage starts from tiny raw fruit form to ripened stage. You will find couple of curry recipes in my blog which I have posted earlier as well as Ripe jack fruit Dosa.

Now we will see how to make kottige, in our traditional method.

Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 2 cups

Jackfruit – 2 cups (cleaned)

Fresh coconut gratings – 1 cup

Grated jaggery – ¼ to ½ cup (according to your taste)

Ghee – 1 table spoon

Salt

Method:

-Wash Dosa rice (white raw rice) and soak for 2 to 3 hours.

-If you are using banana leaves, wilt the leaves on gas flame, wipe with a wet cloth and keep it ready.

-If you are using idli mould, grease the moulds with little ghee and keep aside.

-Chop jack fruit, separate fruit pods, remove outer thin white fibres as well as inner seed and take only yellow fruit part.

-Mix grated coconut and jaggery as well as ghee and keep aside.

-Grind rice into fine paste by adding very little water and salt.

-Now take jack fruit little by little and whip a little to chop roughly by using same mixer jar in which rice batter is ground.

-Take one wide bowl, mix in ground batter, roughly whipped fruit pulp, coconut-jaggery mixture.

-Mix nicely, spread the wilted banana leaves and pour one spoon and fold it like a sealed pocket. (refer the below pictures)

-Assemble all these packets in a water filled idli steamer or Momo steamer and cook this for half an hour to 40 minutes in medium to slow heat.

-If you are using idli mould, pour required amount of batter and steam cook like an idli.

-Relish this jackfruit idli or kottige with ghee or coconut and ginger chutney.

-We usually steam cook this on the previous night and keep it ready for the next day’s breakfast. In this way, It will be easy in the morning as now you just have to prepare chutney and serve.