Sambrani gadde Palya /Chinese potato stir fry:

Chinese potato is commonly known as koorka or kooka. These are tiny tubers, with deep brown skin, unlike potato. Otherwise, it looks like baby potatoes. It is a less known, neglected vegetable and tastes good with a very little seasoning or additives. It is high in nutritional value and carbohydrate.

Ingredients:

Chinese potato – ½ kg

Salt

Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds -1 teaspoon

Urad dal – 1 teaspoon

Hing – ¼ tsp

Dried Red chillies – 2

Curry leaves – 2 strings

Onion – 1/2 ( chopped)

Tamarind – 1/2 tsp (soak it in a tbl sp of water)

Turmeric – ½ teaspoon

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Jaggery – ½ teaspoon

Grated coconut – 2 tablespoons

Method:

-Soak Chinese potato for 20 minutes, it will help in cleaning as well as while peeling the outer skin.

-After washing, peel outer skin by scraping it and keep immerse in water. 

-Chop like a match stick and immerse it in water to avoid blackening. 

-Now take a thick vessel, add little water, turmeric, salt, jaggery and boil. Add drained kooka pieces and cook in low heat, until it is firm and soft.

-Now, proceed with the seasoning. Take one Kadai, heat  1 a spoon of coconut oil, splutter mustard, add urad dal, hing, broken red chillies, onion and fry for 2 min.

-Add cooked kooka, red chilli powder, little tamarind water, freshly grated coconut and fry for a while.

-Lastly, add 1 tsp of raw coconut oil, curry leaves, mix everything, close the lid and keep this for 2 to 5 min on a low flame. 

-Flavour of Raw coconut oil and curry leaves would give a nice aroma to this side dish. Enjoy hot rice and dhal topped with ghee.

 

Onion Garlic Kulambu / Poondu – Vengaya Kulambu:

As I said in earlier post of Tamilnadu style Idli, Kulambu is a very good side dish for idli, if you like sweet and sour kind of taste. We all enjoyed this flavourful curry with idli and I had promised to post this recipe in my earlier post. Basically, it is a simple curry with tamarind base, which has shallots and garlic as the main veggies in it. Once again, all thanks to Senguttuvan Subburathina and his wife, Jayanthi Senguttuvan for this amazing recipe. I have made some changes to suit our requirement.

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Ingredient:

Peeled garlic – 20

Shallots /sambar onions – 20

Tamarind – small lemon size.

Salt

Jaggery – as needed.

Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon

Sambar powder – 1 tea spoon

Hing – pea size

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Coconut – ¼ cup

Rice flour – 1 tea spoon

Seasoning: Gingelly oil – 1 tea spoon, refined oil – 1 tea spoon, fenugreek seeds – ½ tea spoon, mustard – 1 tea spoon, curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

-Remove outer skin of shallots and garlic. If shallots are big, make couple of pieces.

-Soak tamarind in one cup of water.

-Take a vessel, do seasoning by pouring both the oils, when it is hot, add fenugreek, when it is light brown, add mustard. When it crackles, add curry leaves.

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-Add garlic and shallots and fry for a while. Meanwhile add turmeric, hing and toss for a while.

-Add tamarind water, red chilli powder, sambar powder, salt, jaggery and cook onions and garlic.

-Grind coconut and rice flour into smooth paste and add the paste to cooked onion.

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-Adjust the consistency by adding some water, check the seasoning like salt, sweet and hot. If needed add and adjust the taste.

– Boil this for 5 minutes, so that rice flour and coconut paste also cooks and becomes little thick.

-When it is ready, enjoy with hot idlies.

Note:

-Original recipe is a little hot, hence I reduced the quantity of chilli and sambar powder.

-Usage of gingelly oil gives the authentic taste. If you are not accustomed to its taste, mix half of any vegetable oil.

-Usage of coconut paste is optional.

-We like little thick texture Kolumbu, so I added rice flour as well. It gives a little creamy texture and is also tasty.

 

Seasoned Neer Dosa / Thellavu Oggarane:

Neer Dosa batter usually finished off as a fresh batter. We traditionally don’t keep Neer Dosa batter to ferment. We finish off all the batter by preparing dosas and keep. My family likes the seasoned sweet version of this at evenings as after school or office snack. That is the reason why I make it a point to soak more rice and prepare more dosas in the morning and keep them. Now we will see how I make this-

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Ingredients;

Left over dosas – 8

Coconut oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad dal – 1 tea spoon

Dried Red chilli -1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Salt – ¼ tea spoon

Coconut – ½ cup (grated)

Jaggery – grated (as needed)

Method:

-Break Neer Dosa into pieces by using hand.

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-Prepare mixture of grated jaggery and coconut and keep aside.

-Heat one tawa, add oil, splutter mustard, fry urad dal, red chilli and add curry leaves.

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-Add pieces of Dosa, sprinkle salt and add coconut jaggery mixture.

-Heat until it all mixes and then switch off the gas and serve as a snack.

Ash gourd peel chutney:

In our native, we get very good, thick fleshed Ash gourd and usually outer skin (we call it as Odu) will be hard and usually remove ¼ an inch thick. After this we usually scrape the outer green part and use it in a dry curry/Subzi/palya. But what I get it in Bangalore has very thin outer skin and I usually peel only outer green part and use it in a really tasty chutney and it is very healthy as well as pairs very well with hot rice or Dosa or idly.

chutney

Ingredient:

Ash gourd peel – Whatever is available.

Green chillies – 2 to 3

Salt

Tamarind – ½ tea spoon

Coconut – ¼ cup to ½ cup

Method:

-Chop the peels and cook this with green chillies, tamarind and salt by adding very little water.

-When it is cooked, switch off the gas and cool the mixture.

-Grind with coconut by adding little water.

-Add seasoning as you wish.

-Serve either with rice or Dosa.

 

 

 

Ash gourd Sweet Dosa:

Ash gourd or winter melon or white pumpkin has so many health benefits and it is literally the most ignored veggie of all. In our native we prepare so many varieties of dishes from this white coloured veggie. This Dosa is prepared by using the inner core of the vegetable by removing its seeds. You can make it sweet or plain, that is your choice. I like the sweeter version. It is very soft and melts in your mouth. Today we will see how it’s made.

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Ingredients:

Dosa rice – 3 cups

Poha – 1cup

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Ash gourd inner soft part – 1 cup (you can use white part as well)

Coconut gratings – ½ cup

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Salt and jaggery- to taste

If you want sweeter versions add jaggery or else you can omit.

Eno fruit salt – ½ tsp

Method:

-Wash Ash gourd, peel outer skin and remove inner core with seeded part. (Core part can be used to make Dosa batter)

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-Remove seeds and take white part and keep it ready.

-Wash, soak rice, fenugreek seeds with sufficient water by putting beaten rice as well.

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-After 3 to 4 hours of soaking, grind this by putting Ash gourd, jaggery, salt, turmeric, coconut into smooth batter. Check for sweetness or salt.

– Keep this batter for fermentation. In Bangalore weather, I usually grind any batter around afternoon, so that the next morning it will be perfect.

-The next morning add Eno fruit salt, mix nicely and keep aside for 10 minutes.

– Then you can start making Dosa on heated iron griddle. Take one serving spoon of batter and pour, don’t spread. Keep gas flame in simmer, spread little ghee, close the lid and cook. Don’t flip the Dosa. Only one side cooking is needed for this. Here I have used half serving spoon of batter for each small roundel. Personally, I like to serve this as small cute roundels.

-This Dosa tastes good with honey or onion and coconut chutney with red chillies.

Genasale/Steamed rice cake with coconut jaggery filling:

Genasale is coconut and jaggery filled steamed kadubu or steamed rice cake, usually folded and steam cooked in banana leaves. Banana leaf gives beautiful aroma and a good taste to this Genasale. Genasale is prepared using few basic ingredients but the end result is mouth watering, everyone’s favourite dish. 

In my ancestral home, Navaratri/Dasara is celebrated by worshiping Goddess Durga. This Genasale is the main offering to the Goddess during night puja. I still vividly remember waiting for this Genasale prasadam to be served, while having a scrumptious traditional dinner. Now let us learn how to prepare this Genasale or kayi kadubu (kayi = coconut).

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Ingredients:

Dosa rice /white rice – 2 cups

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Grated Jaggery –  ½ cup (to taste).

Ghee/ Clarified butter – 4 tsp.

Salt to taste

Banana leaves

Method:

-Wash Dosa rice and soak it for 2 to 3 hours.

 Grind soaked rice in to a fine paste with minimal water and salt.

Batter should be a little thick but of spreadable consistency.

Add 2 tea spoon of ghee and mix nicely, keep aside.

Now prepare filling by mixing coconut, jaggery, and little ghee and mix everything nicely. keep it aside.

Now take banana leaf, hold this on a gas flame (for wilting), then clean it with a wet cloth.

-Now take one spoon of rice batter, apply on banana leaf like a thin Dosa. 

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  Take one spoon of jaggery mixture and Spread it over the thin Dosa and fold the banana leaf like a pocket. 

  Steam cook for 30 min.

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Serve this Genasale with dollop of Ghee and Enjoy.

Citrus medica / Dudle huli Chithranna:

Dudle huli is a big lemon and is known as Citrus medica. Citrus medica is much bigger than normal lemon with thick outer rind and less sour and sweeter than normal lemon, excellent for thin Rasam, juice, pickles or Chithranna. This Chithranna is fragrant, rich in vitamin C and very tasty. We normally serve this in any festivals or weddings. It is a no onion no garlic recipe and we use mustard, dry red chilli and coconut for flavour. This is our traditional and much-loved recipe for Chithranna.

chithranna main

Ingredients:

Rice – 3 cups

Citrus medica – 1 (big citrus fruit)

Dried red chillies – 2 to 3

Mustard – 1 tsp

Coconut – ½ cup

Jaggery – 1 to 2 tsp

Salt

Oil – 1 tsp

Seasoning:

Coconut Oil – 3 tbl sp (any refined oil is ok)

Mustard – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves – 2 springs

Ground nuts – ¼ cup

Method:

-For cooking rice:

Boil water in a big vessel by putting 1 tsp of salt and oil. Add washed rice and cook for 7 to 8 minutes or until it is soft and firm and cooks. Drain cooked water and spread this rice in a colander.

– Grind masala by putting coconut, roasted red chillies, mustard, jaggery and dry run without adding any water.

-Seasoning:

-Take one thick bottomed kadai, add oil and heat. When it is hot, add mustard.

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-When it starts splutter, add urad dal and ground nut and fry until it becomes little dark. Next add cumin, hing and curry leaves.

-Now add ground masala and fry for 2 minutes. Add drained rice, juice of citrus medica and salt.

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-Mix well and switch off the gas. Check for the seasoning and adjust according to your taste.

– This is very ideal vitamin C rich option for tiffin box as well.

 

Neeru Mavinakayi/ Brined mango chutney:

The word “Neeru Mavinakayi” makes me nostalgic and my mouth water. I am sure that is the case with every Mangalorean. We grew up with very basic comfort food during monsoons. Which consists of kucchilakki (Red rice) ganji accompanied with ghee and this chutney, which is made by using coconut and dried red chillies.

Raw mango in brine is known as Neeru Mavinakayi. During its season we normally preserve raw, firm mangoes by putting it in brine solution. This way, the mangoes can be enjoyed throughout the year. We do make varieties of recipes and this chutney is one of them.

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Ingredients:

Brined mango – 1

Fresh Coconut – 1 cup

Dried red chillies – 3 to 4

Hing – ¼ tsp

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

– Take out one mango from the brine, wash properly and peel outer skin and chop.

-Roast red chillies and hing in a drop of coconut oil.

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– Grind chopped mango, roasted items and coconut into coarse paste by adding very minimal water.

-It usually doesn’t require salt, if needed you can check the taste and add accordingly.

-Add seasoning by heating oil, when mustard splutters add curry leaves and add this to the chutney.

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-Enjoy either with white rice or like us with boiled rice (red rice) ganji and ghee.

 

 

 

Panchakajjaya /Naivedym which offered to lord Ganapathi:

Panchakajjaya is integral part of Ganesh Chaturthi Naivedyam. Pancha means Five. As the name suggests it is made up of five ingredients. Chana dal, sugar, coconut, Ghee, black sesame seed. cashew nuts are optional. This powdery Prasadam is a treat which we look forward to every year on this auspicious day.

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Ingredients:

Chana dal / Bengal gram dal – 1 cup

Grated fresh coconut – 1cup

Sugar – 1cup

Black sesame seed – 2 tbl sp

Cashew bits – ½ cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Ghee – ½ tsp

Method:

         Dry roast Chana dal until it is light golden and fragrant. Cool and make powder by using small mixer jar. Sieve and collect fine powder. Do this in small batches, little by little.

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         Powder sugar.

         Dry roast sesame seed and cool.

         Dry roast coconut gratings until light golden. Cool this.

         Fry cashew bits in ghee and keep aside.

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         Now take one bowl, mix everything together, and sprinkle cardamom powder. Offer to God.

Bendekayi/Okra Palya:

Bendekai/lady’s finger/okra/bhindi- so many names for this simple, high fibre, low calorie vegetable. Some people just avoid this slimy vegetable without knowing how to cook. It is just simple, if you know the right technique.

We normally don’t use any onion, garlic or tomato in festive cooking. In Mangalore, we prefer this simple coconut based side dishes for any weddings or festivities.

Here we use tamarind base to cook Bendekai to remove its slime. To avoid sliminess , you should remember 2 to 3 things. First thing, drops the veggie, only after tamarind water starts boiling. secondly, don’t over mix the veggie, while cooking. Thirdly, don’t cover the lid, while cooking lady’s finger. These are all the tricks I learnt from my elder’s while learning cooking from over the years.

You can use any varieties of lady’s finger for this recipe. Here I have used local variety from Mangalore which I have grown and harvested from my terrace garden. It is Red Okra and after cooking, it becomes like any other okra.

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Ingredients:

Ladies’ finger – ½ kg

Tamarind – 1 tsp

Salt

Jaggery

Red chilli powder – ½ tsp

To grind:

Fresh Coconut – 1 small cup

Red chillies – 2 to 3

Mustard – ½ tsp

Hing – very little

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tbl sp

Mustard – 1tsp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 string

Method:

-Wash and cut the bhindi into half inch pieces.

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-soak tamarind in one cup of water.

-Roast red chillies and hing in a drop of coconut oil.

-Dry grind coconut, roasted red chillies, hing, mustard and keep it aside.

– Take one tawa, do the seasoning by putting oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilli.

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-When mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and pour tamarind water (squeeze soaked tamarind in water and use)

-Add required amount of salt, jaggery and red chilli powder.

-When it starts boiling, add chopped Bendekai and cook this in a low flame.

-when water drains or Bendekai cooks, add ground coconut mixture and mix thoroughly and keep this in a simmer for couple of minutes.

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-serve this as a side dish with hot rice or Chapati.