Tag: traditional cooking

Appa kajjaya/Sweet Guliyappa:

September 6, 2024

Appakajjaya, also known as sweet Guliyappa or sweet Paddu, is a cherished delicacy in the coastal regions of Karnataka and Kerala. This traditional offering holds a special place in the rituals associated with Lord Ganesha, particularly during Gana-homa and Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations.

The preparation of Appakajjaya typically involves a blend of ground rice or rice flour, jaggery, banana, and coconut, resulting in a sweet, soft treat often served as Prasada in temples after offering to the deity as a naivedyam (offering). This dish represents the region’s culinary heritage and symbolizes devotion and gratitude towards the god.

In temples, devotees partake in “Appa Seve,” where they offer these delicious sweets to God, enhancing the spiritual experience of the occasion. The unique flavour and texture of Appakajjaya make it a beloved choice among devotees, reinforcing its significance in the cultural and religious practices of the area. In this blog post, we will explore the reparation method of Appakajjaya in the vibrant traditions surrounding Ganesha worship.

You can smell these beauties in any Ganesha temple in our region, cooking early in the morning or evening, and it was a trip down memory lane to my childhood to gobble these exquisite, ghee-soaked “treats” in no time.

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup

Overripe banana – 1 big or 2 small sized

Jaggery – ½ cup

Cardamom – 1

Fresh grated Coconut – 1 small cup

Ghee – as needed

Method:

-Soak Rice for 3 to 4 hrs. Drain the rice while grinding the batter.

-make a jaggery syrup with very little water and boil nicely until the jaggery melts completely and its raw smell vanishes. Sieve the syrup, remove all the impurities, and keep it ready.

-Now, dry grind the rice, add jaggery syrup, banana, coconut, and cardamom, and grind it into a not-so-smooth batter. Mix in 2 tsp of ghee and mix well or beat well and

-Allow the batter to ferment for at least 2 to 3 hrs. It results in the porous and soft Appakajjaya.

-Prepare the guliyappa in Paddu tawa by heating it and using ghee. Offer these guliyappa to lord Ganesha or have it as a snack.

Suvarna gadde- Kadle Melara / Elephant foot yam -Kabuli chana Kayi Huli :

June 5, 2021

Yam and Chana Melara is the Most loved dish of our community. It is an absolute favourite of my family as well. Today, I will share one more traditional recipe of our region and one of the favourite dishes you find on our wedding menu.

-Now prepare the Elephant foot yam or simply Yam;  if you are new to the usage of Yam, please go through my detailed description of handling Yam, how to chop etc., in “Understanding the roots and tubers.” And go down until Tubers, and you would find the Yam under Number 6, and it is HERE.

Ingredient:

yam – around ¼ kg

White chickpeas – ½ cup

Salt- as needed.

Green chillies – 2

tamarind – one gooseberry size (soak in 1 cup of water)

To grind: Fresh Coconut – 1 ½  cup

For Seasoning: Ghee or Coconut oil- 1 tablespoon, mustard – 1tsp, red chilli – 1 (optional), curry leaves- 1 spring.

Method:

-Soak dry chickpeas overnight and cook in a pressure cooker for 3 to 4 whistles or until done.

-Cook Yam until it is half done, add tamarind pulp, slit green chillies, cooked chickpeas, salt, jaggery and cook until Yam is soft and perfect.

Now, grind the coconut into a fine paste, add the paste into cooked veggies, 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. Serve with Rice.

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.

 

Fresh Turmeric Gojju:

January 16, 2020

Turmeric is a  popular spice of Indian Cuisine and we normally use it in powder form almost in all the recipes. In this time of the year, we do use fresh root in our kitchen. The fragrance of the fresh raw turmeric is very different than the powder. If you haven’t tried fresh turmeric root yet, this recipe is a delicious and refreshing way to get a taste of its earthy, sweet flavour of fresh produce.

Our ancestors had a really nice way to taking care of their health . According to the season, and depending on the local produce, they used to make and consume all the goodness of the nature in a natural way.  This recipe is one of them and it is  one of the age-old recipes which I learnt from my atte .

How it is made-

Ingredients:

Fresh Turmeric rhizome – 2 pieces

Coconut – ½ cup

Coriander – 1 table sp

Urad dal – 1 tsp

White sesame seed – ½ tsp

Red chilli – 3

Tamarind – 1 tsp

Salt

Jaggery – 2 table sp

Coconut oil – 2 tablespoons

Method:

-Clean the turmeric rhizome, grate and keep it ready.

-To prepare masala: Fry coriander, urad dal, red chilli and sesame seed in little oil. Grind this with coconut, into smooth paste.

-Now take one tawa, pour oil, fry grated turmeric, add tamarind water, salt, jaggery and cook .

-When turmeric changes its colour, add ground masala. Check for the salt and jaggery.

-Boil this nicely, serve with Hot rice and ghee. It is indeed  pure bliss and oodles of goodness for your body.

 

 

Malabar spinach and Raw papaya curry:

February 25, 2019

Malabar spinach is commonly known as Basale in our coastal area. It is a common creeping vein in the backyard of every household.

Its leaf is very rich in iron, fibre, antioxidants and vitamins and low in calorie. Malabar spinach is a go getter veggie at any given point of time. You can harvest, as soon as the main stem is growing and spreads all over. Snip the leaves and use the stems as well.

On the other hand, raw papaya is also a power house of nutrients and it is a natural cleanser of intestine and colon.

Like Malabar spinach, Papaya tree also plays an integral part in our garden. May be because of the easy availability, we have a couple of traditional dishes with Raw papaya and one curry is this. Our elders had so much knowledge to include all the goodness in their cooking. One such recipe is Raw papaya and Malabar spinach with a freshly ground coconut masala. It can be relished with Boiled rice or white rice. It is an overall package of health benefits from both the veggies.

Ingredients:

Malabar spinach – one small bundle

Raw papaya – 1 small

Onion – 1

Salt

Jaggery (optional)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Toor dal – ½ cup

For Masala paste:

Coriander – 1-2 tablespoon

Cumin – 1 tsp

Methi – ½ tsp

Dried red chillies – 5 to 6

Tamarind – 1 tsp

Coconut – 1 to 1 ½ cup

Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

Mustard – 1 tsp

Red chilli – 1

Small onion – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Wash Malabar spinach leaves, chop them and keep them aside. Cut it into 2 to 3-inch pieces if you are using its stem.

-Chop Raw papaya by removing the outer skin and the inner seeds. Dump in a water bowl to remove all the oozed latex and drain.

-Wash Toor dal; if you have chopped Malabar spinach stem, combine it and cook with dal by adding turmeric and salt.

-When toor dal is ready, remove the lid, add a little water, salt, jaggery, red chilli powder, Papaya pieces, and chopped leaves. Cook for one whistle.

-Now prepare masala by roasting methi, coriander, cumin and red chillies in a little oil. Grind into a paste by adding coconut, tamarind and water.

-Add the ground paste to cooked veggies, adjust everything, boil and add seasoning.

-To season, heat oil, splutter mustard, red chilli, curry leaves and chopped onion. When the onion becomes brown, add it to the curry.

-Serve with Hot rice.

Bannangayi Dosey /tender (young) coconut Dosa:

February 20, 2019

When I was a little girl, my mom used to work, and I used to spend the summer vacation at my grandparents’ house. I used to enjoy at the farm house by having an unlimited supply of Mangoes, tender coconut, pineapples etc.

There used to be abundant supply of fallen young coconuts, also called ‘bannangayi’ which have much harder flesh than what we get in the normal tender coconut carts over.

My aunt used to make a very tasty Dosa out of this and we used to relish this along with chutney and Jaggery syrup topped with homemade ghee.

Yesterday, when we had tender coconuts here in Bangalore, inner pulp was very thick and couldn’t eat. So, I thought about Dosa and prepared this after ages. It was such a nostalgic moment for me. Let us see how to make this tasty Dosa.

Ingredients:

Tender coconut – 1

Dosa rice – 2 cups

Salt

Method:

-wash and soak Dosa rice for 3 to 4 hours.

-Grate or chop tender /young coconut and keep aside.        

            

-Grind soaked rice with grated young coconut by adding little water and salt and make smooth paste. This batter must be like our regular Dosa batter and there is no need of fermentation.                           

-You can make use of this batter straight away. Usually we prepare this batter in the morning itself.

-If you want to prepare this batter in the evening, to make the Dosa in the morning, you can store the batter in the refrigerator.

-To prepare Dosa, heat iron Dosa tawa. When it is hot, don’t apply any oil. You can pour one serving spoon of batter and make Dosa like our regular Dosa. Pour ½ tsp of ghee and Close the lid.     

             

When it shows little brownish spots here and there, flip the side, cook upper side and serve with Coconut and onion chutney , jaggery syrup which is topped with ghee or honey.

 

Halasina Hannu Berati Payasa / Preserved jack fruit payasam:

September 2, 2018

First, I want to wish a very very happy “Krishna Janmashtami” to all my readers. On the eve of this festival I made our traditional payasam and enjoyed with my family.

“Berati” is nothing but preserved jackfruit pulp, which is cooked until it forms into thick mass and usually made during Jack fruit season and stored for future use.

How to preserve jackfruit / Berati is already shared in my blog and it is here .

In Coastal region we love jack in many forms. Berati Payasa is one of them.

Now we will see traditionally how it is made:

Ingredients:

Berati / jackfruit preserve – 1 bowl

Coconut – 1 (To extract milk)

-OR-

Thin coconut milk – 2cups

Thick coconut milk – ½ cup

Jaggery – to taste

Salt – ½ tsp

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

For Seasoning:

Ghee – 1 tbl sp

Thin Coconut slices – 2 tbl sp

Cashew pieces – 2 tbl sp

OR

Toasted black sesame – 1 table spoon

Fresh coconut slices – 1 to 2 table spoons

Method:

  • Take out Berati from your freezer and keep aside for some time to attain room temperature.
  • Slice coconut by using small knife, chop these sliced pieces into small bits.

  • Toast black sesame and keep aside.
  • Take little ghee and fry coconut bits and keep aside.

  • If you want to, you can add ghee roasted cashew bits as well.
  • Grate coconut (coconut should be fresh), put one cup of water and grind this in a mixer jar and extract milk by sieving this ground mixture.
  • This is thick coconut milk and you should keep this separately. We use this at the end stage of Payasa making.
  • Do this procedure a couple of times to get a thin extract and lastly discard coconut fibre.
  • If you are using readymade coconut milk, please skip this step.
  • Now take one thick bottomed vessel, put Berati, thin coconut milk and dissolve Berati and keep this on a gas stove to boil.

  • Usually while making Berati, we put little jaggery, so add required amount of jaggery and boil until raw smell of the jaggery vanishes.
  • Lastly add thick extract of coconut milk and give one boil. Don’t boil it much. Add Cardamom powder and mix.    

  • Remove from fire and add fried coconut pieces, toasted black sesame or cashew brittles to prepared Payasa.
  • Serve with lunch thali or as a dessert.

NOTE:

  • Traditionally only toasted sesame and coconut bits are added.

Kendathadya/ Baked Cucumber-Rice cake:

July 1, 2018

Every adult has a nostalgic dish from their childhood. I have a “secret” love for this dish because of fond memories of my maternal Ajji (grandmother), who used to pamper me to the core and prepare many such dishes by using the fresh produce that she grew in her kitchen garden.

Kendathadya is a traditional recipe of our Coastal Karnataka region, a special baked dish made by putting “Kenda” (hot burning firewood) on top and at the bottom of the earthen pot or thick metal vessel. Creating an oven affects burning firewood at the top and bottom of the closed vessel containing the batter.

Here, Cucumber used is our heirloom (local) variety, known as Mullu southe, which is light in colour, watery, and flavourful. Soaked rice is mixed with grated Cucumber, jaggery syrup, and fresh coconut to make a flavorful cake with homemade ghee. 

In modern life, we don’t have access to traditional firewood chulha. So, I make this age-old recipe in my OTG and satisfy my craving year after year and relive my childhood while having it.

Ingredient:

Raw Rice/Dosa rice – 1 cup

Cooked rice – 1 serving spoon. ( Red boiled rice or white rice)

Well grown Cucumber – 2 cups (grated)

Coconut – ½ cup (fresh, grated)

Jaggery – ¾ cup (grated)

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Ghee –2 to 3 tbl spoons

Salt – as needed

Eno or Cooking soda – 1 tsp

Method:

-Wash and soak the rice for 3 to 4 hours.

-Make jaggery syrup by adding ¼ cup of water to the grated jaggery, boil until its raw smell goes away, strain the liquid and keep it ready.

-Peel the outer skin, make halves, remove the seeded inner core. Grate it. Mix salt and allow the Cucumber to release its water.

-Drain the water from the soaked rice and discard.

-Collect water from grated Cucumber by sieving it in a strainer and using it for grinding as needed.

-Grind drained rice into a slightly coarse paste by adding collected water from the Cucumber, cooked rice, grated coconut, jaggery syrup.

-At the last round, add grated Cucumber and whip once and remove. Add ghee, Eno fruit salt and give a nice whip. The batter should not be too runny or too thick.

-Pour this into greased, lined baking tin and bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes, and a knife comes out clean when you insert it into the baking cake.

-Serve Hot with a drop of ghee.

Note:

– Addition of Eno fruit salt is optional. If you wish for a softer and lighter cake, add Eno or cooking soda.

-Without Eno, it turns out to be a firm and dense cake. I sometimes don’t add Eno and enjoy my dense cake to relive my memories of Ajji.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Coloured Cucumber Seeds Rasam:

March 4, 2018

Coloured or Mangalore cucumber has fleshy interior centre part, which has jelly like watery fleshy part with edible seeds. Which are rich minerals and rich in nutrition. Traditionally we call this Rasam as Sauthe kai beeja da saaru. Literal translation of this is, sauthe kai beeja means cucumber seed, saaru is Rasam, which is watery in texture and consumed as an appetizer or with hot rice during summer season to maintain our body temperature.

Before using the core, check the fleshy part for bitterness. If it has bitterness, discard and don’t use in cooking. If you find core part to be flavourful or without bitterness, go ahead and use it in your cooking to enrich your body, like our elders did.

DSC03506_Fotor

How to make this traditional goodness –

Ingredients:

Fleshy seeded part – of one coloured cucumber

Coriander seeds – 1 table spoon

Cumin seeds – 1 tea spoon

Hing – peanut size

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tea spoon

Red chillies – 4 t0 5

Turmeric – ½ tea spoon

Coconut – ½ cup (grated)

Tamarind – ½ to 1 tea spoon

Coconut oil – 1 tea spoon

Salt – as needed

Jaggery – ½ tea spoon (optional)

For Seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tea spoon

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Red chilli – 1

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Collect seed coated flesh part of one coloured cucumber.

-Cook this in a small cooker for one whistle (cooking will help in extracting the pulp) and cool.

Ribbet collage 1

-Grind cooked pulp by adding one cup of water and tamarind and collect the liquid by sieving.

-Grind the roughage one more time, by adding one more cup of water and sieve once more.

Ribbet collage 2

-Discard the remaining roughage if any.

-Now prepare masala by heating oil. Add fenugreek at first.

-When it becomes light brown, add coriander, cumin, hing, red chillies and fry until fenugreek becomes dark and coriander becomes light brown.

-Add coconut, turmeric and fry for two minutes or until you get nice aroma.

-Cool this roasted masala and grind into smooth paste by adding sufficient water.

-Add the masala to extracted cucumber seed water.

-Adjust the consistency, add salt, jaggery and boil the Rasam.

-Add seasoning, heat oil, add mustard, red chilli.

-When mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and add the seasoning to boiled Rasam and close the lid.

-Serve this as an appetiser or with hot rice with a couple of papads.