Coconut milk for Shaavige (shaavige kaai haalu)

Ingredients

1 Whole Coconut grated
1/2 cup roasted and ground Poppy seeds (gasgase)
1/4 cup cashew nuts
5 Cardamom
3 to 4 balls of white jagerry (according to the taste)
Salt

Method

Put jagerry in a vessel.
Add some water and heat it until it dissolves.
Remove the jagerry syrup from the flame and strain the syrup and keep it aside.
Grind poppy seeds, coconut, cashew nuts and cardamom into fine paste by adding water.
If it becomes thick, add some more water to it.
Add pinch of salt.
Pour jagerry syrup to the paste as per the required sweetness.

Hulisaaru

Ingredients

Red chilli powder 3tsp
Corriander seeds 1 1/2 tsp
Tamarind 2 lemo size
Jeera 1 tsp
Garlic 5-6 cloves
Grated coconut 1 tsp
Curry leaves

Method

Grind all the above ingredients except curry leaves.
Add water and curry leaves and bring it to boil.
Add plenty of water and make it very thin.

Coconut milk for Shaavige (shaavige kaai haalu)

Hulisaaru

Hurali Saaru

Kesuvina Gantu

Majjige Huli(kumbalakaai)

Majjige Saaru

Masala dosa

Menasina saaru

Mushroom curry(anabe saaru)

Tilisaaru Rasam

Arasina yele Kadabu(turmaric leaves kadabu)

halasina hannina kadabu

Benne kadabu(butter kadabu)

Sihi kaayi kadabu

Kaalu menasina saaru(pepper corn)

Zunkad Vadi

Junkad vadi is made of gram flour and it comes in two different flavors. Plain and with Fenugreek (methy, menthe leaves). It goes really well with hot chapatis or rottis.

Type 1 - Plain Vadi:

Ingredients:

2 cups besan(gram) flour, 1 cup finely cut onion, 1 table spoon ground green chilli, 3 table spoon veg oil, turmeric powder, tamarind paste 1 spoon, jagri powder 1 spoon,1 teaspoon cumin powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asaphoetida powder for seasoning, salt to taste.

Process:

Heat oil in pan. Put cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asaphoetida powder (hingu). After mustard seeds crack, put the chopped onion, turmeric powder, green chilli paste and cumin powder and stir well. After 2 minutes, transfer the cut methy leaves and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add 2 cups water containing the tamarind paste, jaggery and salt and let it boil. Transfer besan flour with left hand to this boiling mix and stirring constantly with the right hand in order to avoid lump formation. Close the vessel and let the ‘zunka' get cookedon low fire for about 5 minutes. There should be formation of solid mass. Now grease a plate (preferably rectangular) and spread the zunka uniformly on it and cut into square pieces of 1by 1 inch size. Transfer into a serving bowl piece by piece and serve with chapati or roti.

Type 2 - With Fenugreek leaves

Ingredients: 2 cup fresh coarsely cut methy leaves, 2 cups besan (gram) flour, 1 cup finely cut onion, 1 table spoon ground green chilli, 3 table spoon veg oil, turmeric powder, tamarind paste 1 spoon, jaggery powder 1 spoon, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, cumin seeds , mustard seeds and asaphoetida powder for seasoning, salt to taste

Process:

Heat oil in pan. Put cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asaphoetida powder (hingu). After mustard seeds crackle, put the cut onion, turmeric powder, cumin powder and green chilli paste and stir well. After 2 minutes, transfer the cut methy leaves and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add 2 cups water containing the tamarind paste, jaggery and salt and let it boil. Transfer besan flour with left hand to this boiling mix while stirring constantly with the right hand in order to avoid lump formation. Close the vessel and let the ‘zunka' get cooked on low fire for about 5 minutes. There should be formation of solid mass. Now grease a plate (preferably rectangular) and spread the zunka uniformly on it and cut into square pieces of 1by 1 inch size. Transfer into a serving bowl and serve with chapati or roti.

Tips and Tricks:

If the zunka is a little soft, you need to heat it for longer until some more water evaporates. That way the rectangular vadis retain the shape. Don't make it too dry either - it can then become brittle.

Typically Served With:

chapatis, rotti, sajji rotti, katak rotti

Filed under: Meals (Oota) | Tagged: asaphotida, jaggery, jeera, jhunkad vadi, tamrind.

Pundi palle

You really have to be a hard-core north Karnatak-ian to know this palle :). Or you might have heard the following:

Ganapati Ganapati Moraya!

Pundi palle sorya!

We do get this in NJ sometimes. It is called Bimli Jute in English. The botanical name of this is Hibiscus Cannabinus. This plant is mostly found in India and is distributed throughout the country up to an elevation of 3000 feet in the lower Himalayas . Here is what it is called in various languages:

English: Bimli Jute, Deccan Hemp, Kenaf

Sanskrit: Nalita
Hindi: Ambari, patsan, pitwa
Bengali: Mestapat
Marathi: Ambadi, Ambada
Gujarati: Ambari, sheria
Telugu: Gogu, gonkura
Tamil: Pulichhai, pulimanji, kasini
Kannada: Pundi
Malayalam: Kanjaru
Oriya: Kanuriya
Bihari: Kudrum
Punjabi: Sankokla

It is amazing to know that the plant is used to make ropes, jute bags, fishing nets, strings for tying rafters, floor mats, rug and chair backing etc. If the plant has less fibre, then it is used to manufacture paper. The leaves on the other hand are used as a herb. Tender leaves are also used as cattle fodder and seeds as cattle feed. They have a fatty oil used to make soaps, linoleum, paints and varnishes and after refining..

Here goes the recipe that is again rich in Iron!

Ingredients:

2 cups cleaned and separated Pundi (ambadi) leaves , about 1 cup coarsely broken Sorghum (jolad nuchchu) or coarsely broken rice (akke nuchchu) or thick wheat rawa, 2 bulbs pealed garlic separated into cloves, salt, 2 spoons veg oil.

Process:

Boil pundi leaves in 4-5 cups water till the leaves are cooked soft. Decant the water. Put the garlic cloves, jolad nuchchu, salt, mix well and cook for about 20 minutes with intermittent stirring till the nuchchu is well cooked and there is homogeneous mass formed. Put the oil and mix well.

Typically Served With:

Serve with ground (kudsid khara) made with green chilli or red chilli (ranjaka) and oil to be eaten with jolad roti

Kuchida kadabu

Kuchida kadabu is another tasty preparation that is a healthier alternative for fried kadabu. We make it at home during festivals. It is basically steamed kadabu.

Shongi Payasa (Dharwad kannada) or vermicelli payasa is a very quick and easy dessert that tastes really good too. This can be made when you have unexpected guests or as a last minute preparation for any meal.

Ingredients:

2 cups gram dal (channa daal), 1 and a 1/2 cup jaggery or brown sugar, 2 cups maida or fine wheat flour, 1/2 spoon cardamom powder, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil and a pinch of salt.

Process:

Prepare the dough with maida or wheat flour by adding a little bit of oil and salt and required quantity of water to soft consistency and keep it aside closed. Cook gram dal in pressure cooker for 7 - 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked dal along with water to a thick bottomed vessel and cook for 5 more minutes with stirring and remove the watery part (called as cutt, for making curry i e kattin saaru), into a separate vessel. Add jaggery or brown sugar to the cooked dal, mix well and cook for 5-10 minutes till the raw smell of jaggery disappears. Add cardmum powder and cool. Grind the cooked mixture in blender and divide into about 20 small portions. Prepare paste by mixing 1 table spoon maida powder with 1 spoon water. This is used to stick the edges of the kadabu together. Divide the dough also into 20 balls. Roll each dough ball into oval shaped sheet and place one part of dal lengthwise (done by pressing the dal mix on palm by closing with four fingures) in the centre. Apply the maida paste on the sides by using cotton bud fixed on a stick like Q tip and seal the ends by pressing between thumb and forefingure-this is kadaboo. Keep water for boiling in pressure cooker or wide mouth vessel. Transfer few kadbbos to a steel vessel or pan with small holes and a handle and dip in boiling water and allow the kadboos to cook for 5 minutes. Alternately, the kadboos can be subjected to steam cooking in idli stand by using pressure cooker and steaming for 5 minutes.

Typically Served With

The kadbood should be be served hot with lot of semisold ghee!

Shevagi Payasa

Shongi Payasa (Dharwad kannada) or vermicelli payasa is a very quick and easy dessert that tastes really good too. This can be made when you have unexpected guests or as a last minute preparation for any meal.

Ingredients:

2 cups broken shevai, 1 cup sugar, dry fruits, 1/2 litre milk, 1 table spoon ghee, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder, few shreds or pinch of powdered saffron (keshar).

Process:

Heat ghee in a thick bottomed vessel. Transfer dry fruits and shevai and roast till goden brown. Add hot milk and saffron and cook for 5-10 minutes till shevai is soft. Add sugar and cook for 2 more minutes. Add cardamom powder and mix it well. (More milk can be used to get the desired consistency).

Typically Served With

Serve hot or cold as a desert.

Ghodi (wheat) Huggi(payasam)

Godhi huggi is another delicacy and if people make this during weddings, all the guests are profusely happy.

Ingredients:

2 cups cracked Wheat for huggi(readily available in grocery stores), 1 cup jaggery, 1 table spoon roasted and powdered khaskhas + dry coconut, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom + nutmeg powder, dry fruits like cashewnuts, kerbeeja, pista, raisins

Process:

Soak wheat for 3-4 hours in 6 cups of water or overnight in cool weather. Then cook in pressure cooker for 10 minutes at high pressure. If the grains are not very soft to be mashed by stirring with wooden spoon, subject the cooked wheat to grinding in blender .Transfer the soft cooked mass to a thick bottomed and narrow mouth vessel. Add jaggery and cook the mixed contents with constant stirring by using a wooden spoon till the raw smell of jaggery completely disappears and the mixture attains a homogeneous consistency. Add khaskhas, coconut powder and dry fruits and cook for 5 more minutes. Then add cardamom + nutmeg powder and boil for 2 minutes and keep the container covered.

Typically Served With:

Serve hot with ghee. Can be eaten with hot milk when cold.

Khaskhasi Payasa

Khaskhas or khaskhasi is poppy seeds. This is a dessert preparation.

Ingredients:

1 cup khaskhasi, 1/2 cup almonds, 1/2 cup dry grated coconut, milk, 1/2 cup sugar, cardamom powder.

Process:

Soak khaskhasi, almonds and coconut in water for 1/2 hour.Grind to a paste with minimum water.Boil the paste in 1 litre milk or milk + water for 15 to 20 minutes till the raw smell of khaskhas disappears.Add sugar and boil for 5 more minutes.Add cardamom powder

Tips and Tricks:

Khaskhasi payasa is recommended for very new moms. It not only induces milk production but it also has some natural stuff that helps with making the baby feel sleepy. That way new moms get rest ;-).

Typically Served With:

Serve hot or cold.

Bastid shevgi (vermicelli)

Bastid shavangi is a dessert and it is typically done on festival days. This is a variation of shavgi payasa.

Ingredients:

100 grams long strand(shiwdu)shevai or vermicelli, jaggery/jagri or sugar, water

Process:

Keep about 1/2 litre water for boiling in a vessel. When water starts boiling, add shevai(shavgi) in it and boil for 2 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer the cooked shevai into a vessel containing cold water. Drain the water and serve this in a plate. Eat with jagri or sugar and milk.

Typically Served With:

Eat with jaggery, brown sugar or simple sugar and milk.

Hirekai (Ridge Gourd) chutney

Hirekai is one of my favourite subjis. But more than the subji, I like the chutney that is made with its edges and peel. There are two versions that my mom makes. So here they go:

Wet Chutney

Ingredients: Ridge Gourd peel or scrapings from the gourds (hirekai cover) or tender hirekai cut into small pieces, onion - 1 small, 4-5 green chillies, 1 bulb of garlic cloves, cilantro (coriander) leaves, curry leaves, 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, 1 fistful peanuts, 1 teaspoon gural powder, tamarind paste to taste, salt, 1 teaspoon oil, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds and asafoetida

Process:

Heat oil in a small kadai. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, til seeds and asafoetida. Then add peanuts and stir till they turn brownish. Now transfer onion and hirekai pieces and roast till brownish. Add garlic, coriander leaves, gural powder, tamarind paste, brown sugar or jaggery and salt. Transfer to a grinder/mixer and grind to a coarse consistency.

Tips and Tricks:

To peel the gourd, you can use a fruit peeler and keep the peel aside.

Typically Served With

Tastes very good with chapattis, rotti or thalipet.

Sajji Rotti

Sajji rotti is another all time favorite and I had a recipe request for the same. So here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:

4 cups Sajji(Bajri) flour containing 1/2 cup udid flour, 1 table spoonwhite or black til, salt to taste.

Process:

Take sajji flour in a big flat bottom vessel, add salt and til (sesame seeds) to it. Pour hot boiling water to make a solid dough. Knead the dough thoroughly by pressing several times with palm and fingers of right hand till the dough appears sticky. Take a small ball of the dough (size of ping-pong ball) and dip it in dry flour. Put it on the platform (or a flat surface) and make rotis by patting softly first with one palm and then with both the palms. Once it attains a certain size (approximately 3-4 cm diameter), pat and rotate it on the platform as you pat. Use dry flour on the platform to keep it from sticking. Tranfer the roti on hot tawa, apply water on the upper side using a wash cloth soaked in water. Turn it upside down and bake on low fire till it is crisp. Keep the rotis in open flat container till they are totally dry.

Tips and Tricks:

These rotis can remain fresh for many days and are tasty with different dry chutneys and curd. These serve as appetizer and are usually served in the begining of meals, specially heavy festival lunches. When you make the rottis, you can keep two tavas. Once it gets cooked, you can transfer to the second tava that is on very very low fire so it becomes extra crunchy.

Typically Served With:

sajji rotti, jhunkad vadi, different chutneys like agashi hindi, shenga chutney, dry coconut chutney, karindi and hesar kaal..sluuuurrrrp!!!

Methy with half cooked or soaked dal - udar bele

Menthe palle with udar byali is another tasty recipe and simple too.

Ingredients:

2 cups Fresh methy leaves cleaned and coarsely cut(not finely cut),2 cups half cooked or soaked turdal (soaked in water for 1 hour), finely cut and pound 5-6 peeled cloves of garlic, 1 medium sized onion finely cut (optional), 1 or 2 longitudinally cut green chillies, oil for seasoning, cumin seeds and hing (asafoetida) and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder.

Process:

Heat oil in a vessel. Season with cumin seeds, mustard seeds and hing. When the mustard seeds crack, add cut and pounded garlic and the cut green chillis. When the garlic turns brown add turmeric powder and cut onion and allow it to turn reddish brown. Now add cut methy leaves and salt and cook with the vessel covering it with a lid for 5 minutes. Now transfer the soaked or half cooked dal to the vessel Add some more salt and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder Cook for 5 more minutes with covered lid

Tips and Tricks:

You can also use red chilly powder instead of green chilly

The same can be made with dil leaves (sabasgi palle). This is really tasty with rotti. slurrrp!

Typically Served With:

Serve hot with chapati or rotti

Coorg Rice-Roti:

Ingredients: 1 cup cooked rice, 2 cups rice flour (raw rice washed, dried and powdered) and salt to taste.

Method: Knead the rice along with salt. Add the rice flour little by and continue kneading with little water till the dough is of right consistency. Divide the dough into slightly bigger than lemon-size balls and roll them into chapaties. Roast them on tava evenly brown on both the sides. Cook on direct flame till it puffs up like phulkas. Serve with bamboo shoot curry etc.

BAKED CRISPY MUSHROOMS

Ingredients:
1. 10 large mushrooms
2. 1 and half tsps.
3. Worcestershire sauce or Soya sauce.
4. 12 slices bread (cubed)
5. 225 Gms. Bacon
6. 60 Gms butter
7. 175 Gms cheese (cubed)
8. ¼ tsp. Nutmeg powder
9. Pepper and salt to taste
10. 10 cashew nuts 11. 3 green chilies, chopped fine

Method:

Pre- heat the oven. Wipe the mushrooms and remove the stalks carefully. Invert each mushroom cap and arrange them lightly on a greased baking dish. Sprinkle salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Remove the bacon rind and cut into thin strips. Fry till crisp. Melt butter in a pan. Add the mushroom stalks, bread cubes and cashew nuts. Fry for a few minutes, add the fried bacon, nutmeg, pepper, green chilies and salt. Lastly add cheese and fry for a minute. Remove. Carefully remove the cashew nuts in stuff one in, and spoon a heap of the mixture on, each mushroom. Bake for 25 minutes.

Coorgi Pork Vindaloo

Ingredients:
1. 1 ½ kg. Pork,
2. 30 dry red chilies,
3. 12 onions,
4. 1 tsp. Cumin seeds,
5. A small piece turmeric,
6. 3 tsp. Coriander seeds,
7. 1 dstsp. Peppercorns,
8. 3 dstsps. Vinegar,
9. 4 boiled potatoes,
10. Salt to taste.

Method: Cut the pork into small pieces and wash in lukewarm water. Mix the pork with the freshly ground chilly powder and salt and set aside for about 15 minutes. Slice 10 onions, ad to the pork and put it on the fire in a heavy saucepan with one cup of warm water. Remember to cover the vessel as this preserves the flavor. Let it simmer for an hour or until the meat is cooked. Grind two onions, the cumin seed, turmeric and pepper and add this paste to the meat. Add the vinegar and salt and cook for another 15 minutes. Then add the boiled potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters.

Coorgi Pork Curry

Required:
1. 1 kg. Pork,
2. 5 green chilies,
3. 8 to 10 cloves garlic,
4. 4 big onions,
5. ½ inch piece ginger,
6. 1 tsp. Turmeric,
7. 3 tbsps. Vinegar or Coorgi kachampuli,
8. Salt to taste,
9. 1 tsp. Chilly powder.

Roast and powder finely: 1. 1tbsp. Coriander seeds, 2. ½ tsp. Mustard seeds, 3. 2 tsp. Cumin seeds, 4. 2 tsps. Peppercorns.

Method: Cut the pork into medium - sized pieces. Wash and smear with turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Grind the green chilies, onions, ginger and garlic coarsely. Put the cut meat in a dekchi with the ground masala and a cup of hot water. Let it cook well. When almost cooked, add the powdered masalas. When well cooked add the vinegar or kachampuli and remove from the fire. There should be thick gravy for the curry.

Coorgi Mulligatawny:

Required: 500 gms breast of mutton or 1 large chicken, cut into pieces; A large fresh, coconut, finely grated; 1 tsp salt.

Grind to a paste:

4 dry chilies; 1 dtsp coriander seeds; ½ inch piece green ginger; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp mustard seeds; 4 cloves garlic, flaked; 1 large onion; a spring dry curry leaves.

Method:

Extract milk from the grated coconut with two tbsps of hot water only. Set this aside and extract a further quantity with one large breakfast cup or more of hot water. Boil the meat in this with the ground ingredients and salt to taste. When tender, remove the meat and keep the stock aside. Heat in a separate vessel desert spoonful ghee and fry the pieces of meat in it until light brown, then add the stock and the remaining coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Serve with rice and lemon slices.

This dish can be varied and made into a complete meal in a dish by addition of boiled vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and green peas to the stock and coconut milk, along with the meat.

Coorgi Pineapple Curry

Ingredients: 1 large pineapple (1 kg), 8 dry red chilies, coriander seeds 1 tsp, 1 pint water, 1 large onion, ghee 1 tsp and jaggery (size of a lemon).

Method: Grind the red chilies and coriander seeds to a paste, adding a little water while grinding. Cut the ripe juicy pineapple into ¾ inch cubes. Slice the onions. Heat the ghee in saucepan, and fry the onion until golden brown. Add pineapple cubes and the masala paste. Cook for 5 minutes. Add jaggery, 2 cups water and salt to taste. Lower heat and cook till the gravy thickens.