Kadle Bele –Gerubeeja Payasa / Chana dal and Cashew Kheer:

Happy Yugadi! Yugadi is celebrated as the beginning of a new year in India (but through different names). In Bangalore, we start this festival by eating neem and jaggery. Neem denotes the bitterness we face in life, and the jaggery represents all the sweet things of life. By eating the neem and jaggery together, it is a symbol of promising ourselves to face the bitterness and sweetness of life with confidence.           

In Mangalore, we celebrate this festival by savouring a kadle Bele (Bengal gram or chanadal) and gerubeeja (raw cashew) Payasa. It is a delicious dessert which is made more delightful because of the cashew nuts which are present in every spoonful.

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We will see the procedure –

Ingredients:

Chana dal/Split Bengal gram – 1 cup

Whole raw Cashew – 1 cup

Coconut milk – 1 tetra pack

Jaggery – 1 ½ block (used Organic jaggery blocks)

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp.

Salt – ½ tsp.

Method:

-At first we have to remove outer cover of the young cashew. Take one bowl, put all those young and raw cashew kernels into it, pour boiling water and keep it aside for 10 to 15 minutes by closing the lid.

-When outer cover of the kernels swells, remove the outer cover and keep aside.

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-Wash chana dal and cook this in a cooker by putting sufficient water for two whistles.

-Cook dal till it is perfectly cooked. Dal should be well cooked and easily crushed. Doneness is very important, after adding jaggery, dal becomes little stiff and firm.

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– When its pressure relieves add cashew kernels and cook. After one whistle, switch off the gas and cool this.

-Now add salt and jaggery and boil till you get a nice aroma and till the raw smell of jaggery disappears.

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 – When it is done, add one tetra pack of coconut milk and give one boil. That is it. Garnish with powdered cardamom and enjoy.              

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        Note: –

          If you don’t have access to raw cashew kernels, you can use regular cashew and you can cook this with Chana dal for 3 whistles and proceed by adding jaggery.

           If you are using fresh coconut for extracting milk, take grated coconut (from one coconut), add one cup of water and grind, and extract milk. (This is a thick extract and should be added at the end)

          Once again add little water and grind, to take out thin milk and you can add this while boiling jaggery.

          If you are using regular jaggery, at first self-boil this with little water, make a liquid and sieve this before adding to the kheer, to remove impurities.

 

Ridge gourd Tambli:

Here is a low calorie option with ridge gourd, which is healthy, refreshing as well as soothing in this summer season. This particular Tambli is prepared by grinding tossed ridge gourd with fresh grated coconut and mixing in buttermilk and it doesn’t need boiling. You can savour this like an appetiser or mixing with piping hot rice .It has healing properties and is very good for the digestive system. Recently I tasted this curry at my sister in laws place and just loved this.

ridge gourd tambli

How to prepare this:

Ingredients:

Ridge gourd – 6” with skin

Cumin – ½ tsp

Black pepper – 5

Bird eye chilli – 2

Ghee – 1 tsp

Coconut – ½ cup

Salt

Butter milk – ½ cup

Seasoning: ghee – ½ Tsp, cumin – ½ tsp, curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

-Chop ridge gourd with skin intact.

-take 1 tsp of ghee in a small kadai. When it is hot, add jeera, pepper and bird eye chilli. If you don’t have bird eye chillies, instead you can use half green chilli and roast. Then add chopped ridge gourd and fry until it wilts.

– Now take out all these fried items and cool.

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-Grind this into smooth paste by adding coconut, salt and little water.

-remove this into a vessel, add buttermilk, and adjust the consistency by adding little water if needed.

-Consistency should be like normal milk.

– Add seasoning by heating ghee, cumin and curry leaves.

– Enjoy this with hot rice.

Tamarind Pickle:

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Tamarind has a very important place in the Indian kitchen and it has loads of health benefits as well as it is a treasure of anti-oxidants and dietary fibres.

Indians love its tangy and sweetish taste and enjoy this in chutney, relish, digestive candies, pickles and more.

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From childhood, I used to enjoy tamarind pickle and never knew about the recipe. Thanks to my brother-in-law who sourced the recipe and made it possible for me to enjoy this relish after so many years.

This is a family recipe of one of our friends from Mangalore and speciality of the local Jain community form coastal region.

Ingredients:

Tamarind- 100 grams

Dried red chillies – 200 grams (Byadagi variety)

Jaggery – 250 grams

Salt – 8 to 10 teaspoons

Water – 3 to 4 cups

Fenugreek /methi seeds – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – 2 tea spoon

Gingelly oil – 1 to 2 table spoon.

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Garlic – 5 to 6 cloves (crushed)

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

  • Soak tamarind and grated jaggery in water for some time.
  • When it becomes soft, nicely squeeze out and sieve the liquid.

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  • Discard all the roughage and fibres.
  • Dry roast methi and cumin.
  • Roast red chillies by putting very little oil.
  • Powder all the roasted items by using dry mixer jar.
  • Now keep one thick bottomed vessel on the gas stove, put oil and do seasoning.
  • When oil is hot, splutter mustard seeds, then add crushed garlic and curry leaves.

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  • Pour tamarind and jaggery concentrate, salt, ground masala powder and boil.
  • After boiling it for some time, upper layer of the mixture will look glossy and it is the sign for its doneness.
  • Switch off the gas, cool this mixture completely and store it in dry glass bottles and keep outside for two days to set and afterwards keep it in the fridge.

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  • It will stay up to one year if you store it in the fridge.

 

 

Alasande- Hesaru kaalu Jeerige Bendi:

It is nothing but Yard long beans and whole green gram with cumin flavoured coconut gravy.

This is an age old combination and a traditional recipe from Mangalore. Jeerige Bendi is very mild, flavourful and not spicy. It can be enjoyed with hot rice, Whole wheat Roti’s, Dosa or Rice rotti.

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Ingredients:

Yard long beans / Alasande – 250 grams

Green gram – 1 cup

Coconut – 1 bowl

Cumin – 1 teaspoon

Dried Red chilli – 2

Salt

Jaggery – ½ teaspoon

Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon

Tamarind – peanut size.

Seasoning: Coconut oil – 1tsp, mustard – 1 teaspoon, Red chilli -1, curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

  • Wash green gram and soak it overnight.
  • Next day, wash yard long beans and make one inch pieces.
  • Cook Soaked green gram with sufficient water, salt, jaggery and red chilli powder.
  • When it is half done, add chopped yard long beans and cook.

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  • Meanwhile, grind coconut, red chillies, cumin and tamarind into a smooth paste and add this paste to cooked vegetable and boil.
  • Check for the salt and add seasoning.
  • For seasoning, heat oil, add mustard, red chilli. When mustard starts spluttering, add curry leaves and pour this into boiled curry.

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  • It can be enjoyed with hot rice, Whole wheat Roti’s, Dosa or Rice rotti.