All About Konkan

Bhendya Gojju/Okra in Yogurt..

2008-07-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most simplest and delicious recipes that I have tried. If you are an Okra lover, then its for you to try. I have no idea why its called Gojju, coz the preparation is not like other gojjus we make in Konkani cuisine.

Just a little note, make and eat it fresh, coz if left over, it gets sour and slimy with the okra sitting in there.

Also, this is made with little tender whole okras with the stem area chopped. So try and get the tender most okras and use whole. Cut the Okra near the stem end and make a tiny slit lengthwise. The slit shld be shallow and not cut the okra into pieces.

You can either use red or green chillies for this.

There are only a few ingredients used and this is the way I made it.

In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil, add some mustard seeds and udad dal. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the red chillies or green chillies ( I have used red chillies, 3 nos.), a pinch of hing and drop in the okra. Add very little water, just enough for the okra to cook, add salt and cook covered until the okra is done. The okra should be cooked and firm, should not break open. Once this whole thing cools down, add whipped yogurt and mix well. Serve as a side with rice and curry.

Leftover Pakodas and I Hate...

2008-07-22T22:00:00.002-05:00

A great tip from a friend which turned out to be an excellent chaat/snack for us with some leftover pakodas. After a potluck the other day, we were all wondering what to do with a whole tray of leftover pakodas. One of my friends gave us all this idea.

This is what she said : Just slice some onions very finely, spread them over the pakodas, sprinkle lemon juice and some chaat masala and eat them like a snack. I tried her tip and must say it tasted really nice. Just make sure you use a generous amount of lemon juice and the chaat masala.

Also, Purnima had tagged me for this ' I hate- MeMe' quite sometime back. She probably must have forgotten about it too :D. Sorry Purnima, took me this long.

Just putting down randomly, these are a few of my Hates..

1. I hate to be so far-away from my parents and family and get to see them only once in a while.

2. I hate to see how lonely my son feels inspite of friends being there and having so many toys. I feel that he is missing out on the simple pleasures of life that we got to enjoy.

3. I hate it when I lose patience with my son, and have to be hard with him. Doesn't make me or him or anyone around a happy person :).

4. I hate Migraines. Makes me a handicap when I have one and can ruin many days in a row.

5. Hate it even more when I have to pop pills to get rid of the headaches.

6. I hate it when I am brave and hold up on the big things that upset me and then break down at the slightest thing and make a fool of myself.

7. I hate to see what poverty and hunger does to people.

8. I hate making decisions coz I'm really bad at them and fickle minded too, so you see, can't make up my mind sometimes even about the littlest things in life :).

9. I hate cereal for breakfast. I have tried many many kinds but nothing seems to go down my throat.

10. I just hate hate hate Good-byes. Yes, hate them that much. However much I prepare myself, just can't deal with them.

Black Chickpeas and Snake gourd Curry/ Kannadiga Style..

2008-07-15T21:58:00.001-05:00

This is a recipe by my friend who said its a very common gravy in Karnataka among a particular section of people. I had tasted this once, and absolutely liked it. I tried it at home and since then, I have used this gravy as a base for many other veggie and legume combinations.

This curry uses black pepper corns and garlic, so when having a cold, increasing the pepper helps and soothes the throat too.

So here goes..

Ingredients

Black chickpeas - 3/4 cup

Raw rice - 2 tsp
Black pepper corns - 6-7
Dry red chillies - 4-5
Fresh/Frozen grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Garlic cloves - 7-8
Snake gourd, cleaned, de-seeded and cut into bite size pieces - 1 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/8 cup
Tamarind - 1 small piece ( See note below for this )
Salt - to taste

Method

- Soak the chickpeas in water for about 8 hours. Then, pressure cook the snake gourd pieces and the chickpeas with enough water and salt for 1 whistle. I had the sprouted ones ready, so used the sprouted chickpeas.

- Roast the raw rice for a few seconds.

- Now, alongwith the rice, grind the coconut, red chillies, garlic, tamarind & black pepper together.

- Add this ground paste to the boiled gourd and chickpeas. Once this comes to a boil, adjust salt, add milk, bring to a boil and take off heat.

- Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Note :

- I am not sure if tamarind is used in this recipe, I didn't get a chance to clarify this again with my friend, but I added it anyhow. I hadn't noted it down when she told me the recipe. But I think the curry tastes good with the hint of tamarind in it. So feel free to try it without it.

- I used sprouted chickpeas coz I had them ready, but the original recipe doesn't call for the sprouted ones.

- Vary the quantity of pepper corns and red chillies according to your spice intake level.

Mixed Vegetable Kurma..

2008-07-14T21:22:00.002-05:00

This is the recipe of a Kurma that I had tasted at my friends place, so I called her and got the recipe when I wanted to make it. Am sure there are many variations for a kurma, but I just followed this coz we liked its taste. Apart from what my friend told, I added the Poppy seeds (khuskhus) and the cashews to the gravy..

Ingredients

Garlic - 4 cloves
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Saunf/Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Khuskus/Poppy seeds - 2 tsp
Pepper - 4 corns
Green chillies - 3
Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves/Lavang - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut milk - half a can ( 4 oz.)

Carrots - 1 1/2 cup
Potatoes, medium chunks - 3 medium ( Boil one of these pototoes in a microwave and mash it and keep aside )
Zucchini, cut in to chunks - 1 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1 1/2 cup
Peas - 1/2 cup
Green beans , long pieces - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 2 big, to be pureed.
Onions, chopped fine - 1 big
Cilantro - to garnish
Salt - to taste

Method

- Heat a pan and roast the poppy seeds till lightly browned, but take care not to burn.
- Make a paste by grinding together the garlic, jeera, fennel seeds, cashews, pepper, green chilli, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and the poppy seeds.
- Separately, make a puree of the tomatoes also.
- Heat oil in a pan, add the onions to it and fry till soft and translucent.
- Add the pureed tomatoes to the pan and fry till oil separates.
- Now add the ground paste and fry well such that the raw smell from the paste goes away and oil separates from mixture.Add the red chilli powder, haldi powder and salt and fry for some more time.
- Then, we have to add the vegetables in order of which takes longer to cook. So, first add the beans with little water, cover & cook for sometime, then add the potatoes & carrots, after about half-done, add the cauliflower, zucchini and peas and add salt, cook till almost done.
- Now add the mashed potato and the coconut milk, add salt if needed and bring to a boil and switch off the stove.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
- Serve hot with rice, rotis or dosas.

This is my contribution to the Curry mela for (Dosa, Idli, Roti, Rice) hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons. Thank you for hosting Srivalli.

Udad Methi or Rosu

2008-06-30T23:30:00.003-05:00

This was one of my very first posts. I had posted just the recipe then and not a picture of the dish. Since its a coconut based dish, and I hadn't made it in a long time, I thought of making it today and re-posting it for Suganya's 'AFAM- Coconut' event.

The dish is called Udad Methi/Rosu, and the recipe goes like this..

Ingredients

Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Udad dal - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red Byadagi chillies - 6
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder - a pinch
Bitter gourd ( kaarate ) - 1/2 , cut into small pieces (optional)
Okra ( Bhende ) - 4, cut into big pieces (optional)
Bamboo shoots ( Keerlu ) - abt 10 small pieces ( optional )
Capsicum - 1 Small, cut into small pieces ( optional)
Curry leaves - 4
Salt - to taste
Tamarind - 1 small marble sized ball OR Hog Plums ( Goad Aambaade) - 2, each cut into 4 pieces lengthwise OR Raw Green mango - big chunks of 3/4 a mango.

Method.

- Take little oil in a pan and roast the coriander seeds, Half the quantities of methi seeds, udad dal and hing. Add red chillies to it and roast that also. Grind this mixture with the grated coconut & turmeric by adding little water.The ground masala should be a little coarse in texture.
- Take little oil in pan, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, udad dal, methi seeds and season.
- Then add the cut vegetables, and little water, cover and let them cook.
- Then add the ground masala, jaggery and add salt and adjust water for consistency and boil.
- Udad methi is ready to serve with hot rice.

Note :

- You could use few of these vegetables together or use them all. I have used Okra, Bamboo Shoots and Hog Plums today.

- As mentioned above, since I used Hog Plums/Goad Aambaade, I did not use the tamarind.

- I have not used curry leaves, but highly recommended.

- The ground masala should be slightly coarse in texture and not very fine.

- The final consistency of the dish should be slightly thick, so do not add too much water.

Another entry for you Suganya :)....

Soi PoLe/Dosas with rice and coconut..

2008-06-30T22:05:00.001-05:00

Another post today rushing in to Suganya for her 'AFAM-Coconut' event. Being a Konkani, there is hardly any dish for which we don't use coconut. So it was all the more difficult to think and decide what to make for this event. Well, since most of the time is gone in thinking and today is the last day, I went ahead and made these dosas with coconut, which we call Soi PoLe ( Soi meaning grated coconut and PoLe meaning dosas).

These are one the easiest dosas to prepare and very very tasty ones.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup

Fresh grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

Salt - to taste

Oil - to fry

Method

- Wash the rice and soak it in water overnight.

- In the morning, grind the rice, coconut and salt with water to a smooth batter.

- Add water to the batter to make it very thin consistency. It should be almost like watery consistency.

- Heat a non-stick tawa, when very hot, pour the batter over it. Since this batter is very thin, it will just flow and take its own shape. As much as possible, try to pour it such a manner that it takes a round shape.

- Drizzle oil over and on the sides and take it off the tawa when cooked on one side. This dosa should not be flipped and cooked on the other side.

- Serve with chutney or liquid jaggery.

Note :

- The more coconut you add to this dosa, the softer it becomes. So its good if you can add upto 3/4 cup of it.

- My mom usually serves this with the liquid jaggery which we get back home. At times when she runs out of it, she just melts the regular jaggery with a few drops of water and adds some elaichi powder to it and serves these dosas with it. So, this is what I have done too. Another way we have it in our home is with Loshni Chutney ( a coconut- garlic chutney).

So, off these go to Suganya. Thank-you Suganya for choosing this wonderful fruit.

Saagwaala Murgh/Chicken with greens..

2008-06-30T14:10:00.002-05:00

I want to rush in this entry to Vandana's 'Chicken-My favorite' event.

This is a recipe I found on the net. I had made it a few days back and wanted to post it, but never hapened till now. I have modified and made variations to the original one.

So this is how I made this Chicken with greens.

Ingredients

Spinach - 1 1/2 cup
Collard greens, with hard stem removed - 1 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 4 -6
Bay leaves - 2
Green cardamoms/elaichi - 2
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 3
Onions, chopped - 1 big
Tomatoes, finely chopped - 1 big
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Kasuri Methi - 1 tsp ( optional)
Chicken pieces, medium sized - 8-10
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - to fry

Method

- In a pan with very little water, cook the spinach, collard greens, green chillies with little salt just till they wilt. Now, drain and put them in cold water. Puree without any water in a mixie.
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and add the bay leaves, elaichi, cinnamon, cloves and fry till the aroma comes out. Add the onions and fry till they turn light brown.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and fry till they turn pulpy and the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan.
- Add the chicken and sprinkle salt to taste. Mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Now, add in the greens puree. Cook on low heat for about 8 minutes or till the chicken is tender.
- Stir in the yogurt, garam masala powder and the crushed kasuri methi. Simmer till one boil.
- Serve hot with plain rice, peas pulav or rotis.

Note :

- Collard greens is my addition to this and was not mentioned in the original recipe. I think its a good way to include other greens like methi and mustard in this too. Am not sure if this is the way its supposed to be cooked, its just the way I followed.

- Be sure to discard any hard stems from the greens you are using.

- Whisking the yogurt with a spoon before adding to pan, ensures that it blends in uniformly without breaking.
- Kasuri methi addition is also my addition, I find it gives a nice flavour to any dish, but you can omit it if you want to.

So, off this goes to Vandana.....

Mango-Ricotta Burfi/ Aambya burfi..

2008-06-29T17:45:00.001-05:00

Mango season in India is one which am sure most of us would have many pleasant memories of, since this was the vacation time from schools and we would be visiting our natives. Talking of native, at my Mom's place, they had plenty of mango trees and many varieties. I still don't know many of the varieties. There was a tree in the Aangan/frontyard also and we kids used to have competitions sometimes as to who would run and get hold of the mango everytime one fell down. And there is no count for the number of raw mangoes we used to eat with a pinch of salt. Ah, the little things we had pleasures in.

One of the regular during this season was a Aambya Khadi ( a burfi like sweet but which is harder) that my mom used to make. I made a variation to this when I made it and made a softer variety of it and added Ricotta cheese also. We liked the way it came out.

Ingredients

Ripe Mangoes - 3 (Please see note below)

Ricotta cheese - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 1/4 cup

Elaichi/Cardamom powder - 1/3 tsp

Ghee - about 1 tbsp.

Method

- Peel the skin off the mangoes. Cut the fruit off the seed, chop roughly, and pulse for about 3-4 times in mixie till semi-fine paste is formed. Don't make smooth puree, there should be a few very tiny pieces of mango left in the mixture.

- In a non-stick heavy pan, combine the mango mixture and the sugar and cook the mixture with regular stirring. After a few minutes, the mixture will start spluttering, so reduce heat to low and now you to continuously keep stirring the mixture.

- Once you feel the mixture starts becoming thick, add the ricotta cheese and the ghee and keep stirring again.

- With continuous stirring, the mixture will start leaving the sides of the pan and form one uniform ball.

- Now, take out this mass and put on a greased plate.

- With a greased flat spatula, pat the mixture and try to spread uniformly on the plate to make of the burfi consistency that you desire.

- Once cooled, cut into square or diagonal shapes and enjoy :)..

Note :

1. Its best to use mangoes which have no stringy texture for this. More the pulp and lesser the strings, the better.

2. The measure of sugar is to be taken equal to the amount of the mango after getting the pulp out of it. I have used slightly less sugar, and we found that fine for our liking. For the 3 mangoes that I used, the pulp amounted to about 1 1/2 cups , so I have used 1 1/4 cups of sugar.

I'd like to send this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle-Mango Mania. Thank-you for hosting Meeta.

Your Recipe Rocks(YRR)-Palak Alu Paratha from Suma's..

2008-06-29T15:45:00.000-05:00

I always make the Palak rotis by mixing the ground spinach in the roti dough and also make parathas using different veggies. It never occured to me combine the two until I saw it in Suma's blog. Yes, the moment I saw her Palak-Alu Parathas, I knew I had to try them.

Suma's recipe is here.

I followed her recipe almost except for the stuffing, I fried onions in little oil, added ajwain/carom seeds, haldi, garam masala powder, red chilli powder and cilantro and added the boiled potatoes to it and made a mashed uniform mixture.

Do try these parathas. They sure are filling and good to taste. Thanx Suma for sharing with us such a great idea and recipe :)..

I'd like to send this to 'Your recipe rocks-No rice dish' event hosted by Madhuram. Thank you for hosting Madhuram.

Malvani Kombdi/Malvani Chicken curry..

2008-06-27T23:35:00.001-05:00

Some events going on are right for me to try dishes from other blogs. Today I tried this Malvani dish from Meera's blog. Making it was sure easy, why ?? The lovely Meera sent me her awesome masalas a few days back. To be precise, I now have the Goda Masala, Kolhapuri Masala and the Malvani Masala. The Malvani chicken that I tried yesterday came out so good, that I made it again today when my friends came over and they loved it too. Thank you dear Meera for your friendship and for being there :)..

I will just link to the recipe since I just followed it step by step. The only variation I did was that I cooked it in pan and not pressure cooker, following the steps that Meera had mentioned. As I said above that I made this curry twice, I made a very thick consistency of the gravy the first time( as the pics seen here ) and a normal slightly thinner consistency of the gravy the other time. Both times the curry was lipsmacking good :). See the recipe for Malvani chicken here. Two thumbs up for your recipe Meera :)..

I am sending this recipe to 'Chicken-My favourite' hosted by Vandana.
Thankyou for hosting Vandana.

A simple Gherkin/Tendli Fry..

2008-06-25T21:46:00.016-05:00

There are times when I just don't feel like entering the kitchen or budging from my seat. And those are times when my husband does the needful. He never follows any recipe in particular, so if something comes out good, most of the times, I write down how he does that :D..
This is one dish he made once and I truly just love it. So, he made this again a couple of days back and this time I made sure I took pictures. Yaay, isn't it so simple, when someone does the cooking for you and all you do is take pictures ?? I like it once in a while. Back home, we make something called Talasani , which is made differently, but we have stick to this recipe since its so easy and yet tastes great.

So here is the recipe..

Ingredients

Tendli/Tondli/Tondekayi/Gherkins - 1/2 lb.
Methi/Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Haldi/Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon Juice - 6-10 drops
Salt - to taste
Oil.

Method

- Cut off both the ends (near the stem and the opposite end) of the Tendli. Crush them slightly with a pestle so that they are slightly open but still as one whole piece.
- Heat oil in the pan, add mustard, let it splutter, and then add methi seeds.
- Add the crushed tendli to the pan, saute it well in the oil till it turns light brown in color and you see it slightly wrinkling from the frying.
- Add the haldi, chili powder, salt, jeera powder and garam masala powder and mix well.
- Now, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and let it cook for a few more mins.
- Keep checking for doneness.
- Finally add the lemon juice and switch off the heat.
- Serve hot as a side with rice and some curry.

Note :

- If you feel its a lot to keep sauteing the tendli in oil completely, you can saute initially with very little oil, and then sprinkle a few drops of water and cover and cook the tendli in its steam and follow the rest of the steps.

A few days back, Meera of Enjoy Indian Food & Uma of Essence of Andhra passed on the Inspiration Award and Blogging with a Purpose Award respectively. Thank you, both you dear friends, for thinking of me and passing these awards onto me. It really makes me happy and I humbly accept the same :)...

Thank you Meera and Uma once again...

Kotambari Paalya Gojju ( Cilantro & Jaggery Chutney)

2008-06-21T15:05:00.000-05:00

This is an old post but am re-posting it, as I want to send this to “JFI – Jihva For Tamarind” event being hosted by Sig of Live to eat. JFI(Jihva For Ingredients) is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.
Initially, I had this post without pictures, so since I made it today, I have some pictures too.

This Gojju is a Konkani item eaten as a side with the usual lunch items and is more often made with festival menus.
I like this gojju so much, that I go would go on licking it till Aayi would give me a warning, since its got so much spice in it :). We make it very spicy, but the spice level can be adjusted according to your taste. Its a perfect combination of sweet, spicy and sourness.

Gojju Ingredients

Ingredients

Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - 1 cup packed
Jaggery grated - 1/2 cup
Byadagi dry red chillies - 7 or more, depending on your taste level.

Tamarind - lemon sized ball
Salt - to taste

Method

- Dry roast the red chillies .
- Grind the red chillies with all other ingredients ( except salt ), with very little water. Add salt.
- Serve as a side with rice and dal. Can also be had with dosas and idlis.

Note :

- You can add the tender stems of cilantro also in this. Need not add just the leaves.

- Also, the sweetness can be compensated by combining Dates along with jaggery. Just cut the dates into pieces,soak in water for about 5 minutes and grind it as above with other ingredients. Dates are not used in the Konkani version, but I have tried it using dates and it tastes great too.

- The gojju that my mom makes gets a reddish brown color, but mine somehow didn't turn out to be that colour.

Today, we had this gojju with the delicious Ghavane that I made looking at Meera's blog.

Please check the recipe here. As Meera had said that they also make it with all coconut milk also, I added 1/2 cup of coconut milk with 1 1/2 cup water for 1 cup of rice.

Such an easy recipe for these delicious lacey dosas, can't get any better. Also, these are the quickest dosas I've made so far. Thank-you Meera for sharing this wonderful recipe from Malwan :).

2 Chutneys with RidgeGourd..

2008-06-19T23:43:00.000-05:00

I am not too fond of ridge-gourd, but chutneys made out it, I can die for :). We make a chutney out of the ridges ( skin on the ridges), and its truly amazing. Another chutney made out of whole ridgegourd pieces is what I'd learnt from my friend. I think its a very common chutney in Andhra region. So today, I'd like to blog about both the chutneys here.

So here are both the chutneys..

Ridge Gourd peels chutney/Ghosaale Sheerya Chutney

Ingredients

Ridge Gourd Peels - 3/4 cup
Black pepper corns - 5
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Fresh/frozen coconut - 1/4 cup
Tamarind - one small piece
Salt - to taste
Oil

Method

- Heat little oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds, pepper corns and green chillies. Once they sizzle a little, add the peels to the pan, fry this for sometime.
- Then add the coconut also to the pan, and fry for about a minute. Switch off the gas and let the mixture cool.
- Once cool, take the mixture in a mixie, add the tamarind and salt and grind to get chutney consistency. You can add water if needed while grinding.
- Eat hot or cold as a side with rice or with chapatis.

Ridge gourd pieces Chutney

This chutney is made with the whole ridge gourd pieces, but excluding the ridges. So cut off the ridges and use the rest of the ridge gourd.

Ingredients

Ridge gourd, diced - 1 whole, about 1 1/2 cups.
Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Udad dal - 1 tsp
Garlic cloves, roughly chopped - 4
Green Chillies - 3-4
Tamarind - a small marble sized ball
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil

This is the mixture before grinding

Method

- Heat little oil in a pan. Add the udad dal and cumin seeds. Once the dal turns brown, add the green chillies, ridge gourd pieces and turmeric and saute well and let it cook till its slightly tender.
- Then, add the garlic pieces and tamarind and cover the pan and reduce flame to low.
- Switch off the flame.
- Once the mixture cools down, grind it in the mixie WITHOUT WATER to a fine paste.
- Add salt and its ready to serve.

Surnoli/ Watermelon Sweet Dosa/ Goad PoLe.

2008-06-18T18:00:00.003-05:00

This sweet dosas are a common dish in most Konkani homes. We make these during the watermelon season mostly, but Cucumber or Magge/Dosekai can also be used instead. The pinkish white part of the watermelon near to the skin is used for this dosa.

Ingredients

Watermelon - 1 cup

Rice - 1 cup

Poha/Beaten rice - a fistful

Grated fresh/frozen coconut - 1/4 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup. You can add upto 3/4 cup to vary according to your taste.

Haldi/Turmeric powder - a pinch

Cashewnut pieces - a handful ( optional )

Salt - to taste

Method

- Wash the rice and soak it in water for 2 hours.

- Soak the poha in water for about 10 minutes. Squeeze the water out from the poha.

- In a mixie, grind the rice, poha, watermelon pieces, jaggery, coconut and salt together. You don't need to add water as the watermelon will leave out water.

- Let the batter ferment overnight.

- In the morning, add the haldi powder and mix well.

- On a hot tawa, put a ladlefull of batter. Do not spread the batter in circle. It should be a thick dosa, let the batter flow on its own.

- Drop a few cashewnut pieces on top of the dosa, drizzle oil on all sides and on top.

- Let it cook on medium flame on only one side.

- Serve hot with a chutney by the side.

Note :

- This dosa has to be fried on only one side, so there is no need to flip it over.

- Once you pour the batter on hot tawa, do not use ladle to spread the batter, it should be thick like a set dosa.

- As it gets cooked, it will form a porous texture, then it will be very soft.

- These dosas should be very small, like set dosas.

- Adding cashewnuts is optional. My MIL always adds them, so I thought of sharing it with you all as it lends a nice flavour.

- The watermelon pieces that we add in this are the pinkish white parts near the skin after cutting up all the fruit, but take care not to take too much of the white part.

Karaatya Kosumbari/ Karela kosumbari..

2008-06-17T21:20:00.001-05:00

Karela Kosumbari is a dish very often made by my Mom. Simple and tasty, its a must try for karela/bittergourd lovers.

Ingredients

Karela/Bittergourd, chopped fine - 2
Red Onion, chopped fine - 1 small
Fresh/Frozen grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Green chillies, chopped fine - 2, or as per your taste
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil

Method

- Sprinkle salt over the chopped karela pieces, mix well and set it aside for about 30 minutes.
- Now, squeeze out the extra water from the karela pieces.
- Heat a tawa/griddle, add about a tbsp of oil and spread the karela pieces evenly so that most of them are lying on the hot surface. On a very low flame, let them fry till they turn brown in color and slightly crisp. Keep tossing so that they are evenly browned on all sides.
- In a bowl, take the grated coconut, chopped onions, green chillies, and salt ( remember karela pieces already have the salt, so add accordingly)and mix nicely using your fingers.
- To this, add the fried karela mixture, add lemon juice, mix well and serve immediately as a side with rice and some curry.

Note :

- Eat this kosumbari fresh. Leftovers of it will get soggy.

- Crispier the fried karela, tastier is the kosumbari here. My picture here shows the Karela not too much fried, I realised after mixing everything.

Sabbakki DoSe/ Sabudana Dosa..

2008-06-16T17:20:00.002-05:00

This is a recipe that my Mom had given me sometime back. I tried this a few days back and it tastes really good. So do give it a try.

Ingredients

Sabudana - 1 cup

Rava/Semolina - 1/2 cup

Grated fresh/frozen coconut - 2 tbsp

Onions, finely chopped - 1

Green chillies, chopped - 4

Tomato, finely chopped - 1 medium

Cilantro, finely chopped - abt 2 tbsp

Curry leaves, finely chopped - 3-4

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method

- Soak the Sabudana overnight.

- In the morning, grind it in a mixie with enough water.

- To the ground mixture, add the Rava, coconut, chillies, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, curry leaves and salt. Mix well.

- Heat a tawa, and pour ladle full of batter and spread the dosa. Drizzle few drops of oil on all sides and on top.

- When done on one side, flip the dosa and cook on the other side till crispy and done.

- Serve hot with chutney of your choice or it tastes great just by itself also.

Please Note:

-This dosa takes slightly longer to cook than a regular dosa. It will be crispy on the outside and still have a little chewyness of the sabudana inside. See that it cooks on medium flame so that the inside is also fully cooked, else the sabudana texture remains slimy inside.

- Serve this dosa hot immediately, else it gets soggy if left for later.

Kadhi-Pakoda and Yellow for Bri..

2008-06-14T22:55:00.002-05:00

Just by the title itself, you might have known that this post is for Bri and the Click event this month hosted by Bee & Jai of Jugalbandi is Click Yellow for Bri. All of us are doing whatever we can best, but its still an appeal to each one of you, to try and reach out and contribute whatever you can and help Bri with her fight with the dreadful disease cancer she is so bravely fighting with. Wishing you all the very best Bri and hope for the best.

Check out all the details of the event and how you can contribute here.

I had decided to make Kadhi-Pakoda for this event, but it took me quite long than expected to actually cook it up and then even longer to post it. I had tasted this dish only a couple of times at a friends place, so upon searching for recipes, came across a lot of variations. I decided to go ahead and tweak it with what I though we would like best and here it is.

I made 2 different varieties of pakodas, one onion-methi and the other just onion. The kadhi tasted just great with both of them and was a success.

You will find the recipe for Onion-Methi Pakoda here.

For the Kadhi

Ingredients

Buttermilk - 1 cup + 1 cup water. ( I used the Schepps Cultured Buttermilk, which is very thick. So diluted it with equal amount of water ).
Besan - 2 tbsps
Methi/Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Ginger paste - 1/4 tsp
Green chillies, finely sliced - 1
Salt - to taste
Cilantro, roughly chopped - a handful

Method

- Mix the besan in the buttermilk and water so that there are no lumps and the mixture is uniform. Keep aside.
-In a pan, heat little oil, add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the cumin seeds, methi seeds, hing, green chillies and ginger paste.
- Add the besan-buttermilk mix to the pan, add turmeric powder and salt and bring the mixture to a boil, while sitrring in between. Add water if needed to adjust the consistency.
- Once the mixture is boiled and the raw smell from the besan goes, add the fried pakodas and simmer for about 2 minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.

Also, check out Meera's yummy Mahararashtrian Yellow Kadhi here.

I'm sending the first photograph as my entry to this month's Click- for Bri. All our best wishes are with you Bri. And thank- you Jai & Bee for hosting such a wonderful event for a great cause.

Onion- Methi Pakoda

2008-06-14T20:22:00.007-05:00

I can't think of a person who does not like pakodas. The varieties and variations that can be done to a pakoda are just too many and they all taste just great.

The pakoda here today is Onion-Methi. So here it is. If you haven't tried it before, do give it a try. The fresh methi leaves impart a very nice taste alongwith the onions.

Ingredients

Onion,finely sliced lengthwise - 1
Fresh/frozen Methi leaves, finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies, finely chopped - 1
Cilantro, finely - a handful
Ginger, finely grated - 1 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch ( optional)
Besan/Gramflour - approx. 1/4 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - to deep fry

Method

- Transfer the cut onions to a bowl. Sprinkle salt on it, and leave aside for about 10 mins.
- Then, add to it the methi leaves, cumin seeds, ginger, cilantro, red chilli powder, green chillies, and mix well.
- To this add the besan and the rice flour and combine such that the mixture binds well. The consistency should be not too thick and not too runny.
- In a kadhai/pan, heat oil, drop spoonfuls of the prepared mixture in it and fry on both sides till lightly browned and cooked.
- Serve hot or with a green chutney or just by themselves.

Note :
- You can add just Red Chilli powder or green chillies. But i find the combination of both of them lend a nice flavour, so like to add it.
- If using froxen methi leaves, defrost it, squeeze out the extra water and then add to mixture.
- Add besan according to your judgement, coz sometimes, if the mixture is very thin, then you will need to add more besan.
- Baking soda makes the pakodas puff up and soft. So you can use it optionally. I have not added it this time. Also note that adding too much baking soda makes the pakodas absorb more oil, so be careful.

Vermicelli Pulav/Upma with grated Veggies..

2008-05-31T20:19:00.019-05:00

I tried this Vermicelli Upma/Pulav with a twist today. I grated some of the vegetables and added tomatillo in it. In addition to getting cooked fast, they get nicely combined uniformly and have fussy kids from not picking out the veggies. Most of all, this dish turned out to be just great with tomatillo imparting a slight tang contrasting with the spice of the chillies and the garam masala and ofcourse all the goodness of the veggies. This is a keeper recipe.

Ingredients

Rice Vermicelli - 4 cups

Carrots, grated - 2

Red Potato, grated - 1 medium

Green Bell Pepper, very thinly sliced - 1

Yellow corn kernels - 1/4 cup

Tomatillo, very thinly sliced - 2 small

Onions, finely chopped - 1 medium

Ginger, grated - 1" piece

Garlic cloves, finely chopped - 3

Green Chillies, finely chopped - 4 -5

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Haldi/Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cilantro - a handful

Salt - to taste

Hot Water - 3 cups approx.

Oil - to fry

Method

- In a hot non-stick pan, take little oil. Add the cumin seeds and once they sizzle, add the onions, garlic, ginger and fry well till onions turn translucent.

- Then add the green chillies and the tomatillo and fry till they change color and soften and turn pulpy.

- Then add the grated potato, fry well for a minute or so, then add the carrots and fry for another minute.

- Add the corn, green pepper and fry for sometime.

- Then add salt, haldi powder, garam masala powder, and saute.

- Add the broken rice vermicelli, fry well till the vermicelli gets coated with all the rest of the ingredients and separates instead of becoming sticky.

- Now, add the hot water to the above. Turn the heat on medium high till the whole thing comes to a boil.

- Then, add the cilantro,lower the heat to medium, stir once or twice in between and cook till the vermicelli softens and all the water evaporates.

Note :

- The water measurement is approx. here. Please use your judgement such that the vermicelli is only slightly submerged in the water. Else the whole thing will become very mushy.
- The addition of Tomatillo sure was a good idea. It gives a slightly tang to the dish.
- Grating the veggies like potato and carrots saves frying time also, since they cook very fast this way.

Fresh Corn Pakodi/Patties..

2008-05-30T15:56:00.003-05:00

Well, its the season of Corn. I was looking for some easy snack recipes with it and came across this one at Vahrehvah.com.

The first time I made it last week when my friends were over, but that time they turned out pretty hard as I added too much flour to make the batter thick and hold shape.

Today I tried it again and instead of adding flour, I decided to use bread crumbs for the binding. The patties turned out to be great in taste, even my son liked them a lot ( ya, usually it takes a lot to get him to eat something which I take pains to make ;) .

So here goes..

Ingredients

Fresh Corn - 1

Green Chillies - 2

Dalia /Putani/ Split dehusked Chana Dal - 1/4 cup or more

Mint Leaves - a handful

Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1/2 piece
Garlic - 2 cloves
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Bread Crumbs - as needed for binding. Alternatively, use maida/all-purpose flour.
Oil - to fry
Salt - to taste

Method

- Using your knife, scrape the kernels off the corn. Just hold the corn vertically with one hand and run your knife through it with the other. Keep aside.
- In a mixie/blender, add the dalia, green chillies, cilantro, ginger, garlic, garam masala powder, and jeera and pulse till a dry coarse mixture is formed. DO NOT ADD WATER during this.
- While still retaining the mixture in the mixie, add the scraed corn also to it and pulse again till its all well combined but the mixture is still slightly coarse.
- Remove from the mixie into a bowl ( it might be little wet at this point). Add salt and bread crumbs/all purpose flour accordingly so that the mixture holds and you are able to hold shape.
- Now, take a small ball of mixture, flatten it with the palm of your hand and place on hot tawa. Drizzle oil all around and on top of it. When one side is browned, turn and fry till done on other side too.

- Serve hot with chutney or ketchup.

Note: Deep frying gives them get a better color, but I made the shallow fry ones so that little less oil. So you can use the same mixture and make slightly thick and oval shape patties or balls and deep fry them till they turn golden brown in color.

I found bread crumbs give a better taste than flour, so I prefer bread crumbs.

Even though these vadas here don't look as good as the deep-fried version, they were very good in taste. So do try them :)..

This is my contribution to Mansi Desai's Monthly Mingle event - Appetizers, originated by Meeta of What's for lunch, honey.

Also, a big hug and heartfelt thank-you to dear Meera and Purnima for passing me the Good Chat Award. Its a really cute award I think. I'm honored to be in your circle of Chat friends :). Thank-You once again..

Goad Aambaade Gojju/ Hog Plum chutney..

2008-05-27T21:56:00.001-05:00

Goad Aambaade/Hog Plums have been a favourite of mine ever since childhood. Some of my aunts who knew this would make sure they would send us some whenever available in their homes. I would just like to eat it whole with a touch of salt. Its eaten raw, when it is bright green in color, and has a sweet and sour taste to it. The more bigger the fruit, the sweeter it will be ( atleast that's what I thought). It has a tough pith inside it, almost prickly as you get your teeth near it :D. So takes some patience to eat the whole of it. But its well worth it if you like that kind of taste.

So when I came across this a few days back in a Desi Store in the frozen section, I immediately picked up a pack. We make a few types of dishes also with it apart from eating raw, like Khol, and Gojjus.

The cut fruit looks like this

My mom makes 2 different types of Gojjus, this is one of them. This particular one tastes sweet, sour and spicy. I will post the other dishes also soon.

Ingredients

Goad Aambade/Raw Hog Plums - 4, cut into little pieces

Dry red chillies - 4

Jaggery - 3-4 tbsps

Fresh/frozen grated coconut - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method

- Cut the dried chillies into small pieces and crush them using the pestle to form a coarse mixture.

- Grind the chopped plums in a mixie to get a smooth paste. Put it in a non-stick pan and heat it on a low flame.

- Once it comes to a boil, add the jaggery, salt and crushed chilli and keep mixing everything well till it all combines together.

- Then add the grated coconut to the above, put off the flame and mix well together.

- Serve hot or cold as a side with rice and curry or enjoy just by itself.

Raspberry Kulfi..

2008-05-26T22:32:00.006-05:00

It is getting really hot here and we were wanting to eat something cold. So, what better than a Kulfi ?? I thought of trying out with Raspberries since this event was in my mind. And we were very pleased with the results. I am going to try next time with other berries too :).

This is my contribution to AFAM-Raspberries, hosted by Dee of Ammaluskitchen.

I followed the same method that I'd used for the Mango Kulfi.

So here it is..

Ingredients

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 3/4 can ( I used the Fat-free version)

Frozen/Fresh Raspberries - 1 cup

Heavy Whipping cream - 1/2 pint

Whole milk - 1/4 cup

Coarsely crushed Pistachios - 1/4 cup

Powdered Elaichi - 1/2 tsp

Method

- I used frozen raspberries, so after thawing them, using a spoon, I just crushed them and they became a paste easily.

- Mix the condensed milk, the crushed raspberries the whipping cream & milk together well.

- Add the elaichi and the pistachios also. Pour into kulfi moulds or any containers you like and freeze till done.

Val Papdi-Surti Papdi Curry..

2008-05-25T22:47:00.002-05:00

This is a super simple and yet very tasty curry that I'd learnt from a friend of mine.
So here it is..

Ingredients

Val Papdi - 1 cup
Surti Papdi - 1 cup
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Udad Dal - 1 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garlic Cloves - 4, crushed and finely sliced
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or more, depending on your choice
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5 ( I did not add them )
Salt - to taste
Oil

Method

- In a pressure cooker, add the surti and val papdi with enough water and salt and cook for 1 whistle. Keep aside till the pressure subsides from the cooker.
- In a wide pan, take little oil, when hot add the mustard seeds, udad dal, chana dal, cumin seeds, garlic and curry leaves. When the seeds have stopped spluttering and the dals turn light brown, add the boiled Surti & Val papdi to the pan.
- Now, add the turmeric and chilli powder and mix everything well.
- Add the tamarind pulp and mix well and cook till any water present evaporates and the mixture becomes dry.
- Serve hot as a side with rice and dal/any other curry.

Also, these are 2 awards passed on to me by dear Purnima of FantasyCookBlog. Thank you so much Purnima for thinking of me for these awards. I'm really pleased and honored to get it from you. Thank you Asha also, for passing on the 'You make my day' award to me. Am very happy :)

All those whom I wanted to pass this on to, have already got these, since I'm late in posting this. So congratulations to all you wonderful bloggers out there who make our day and rock the blogging world :)...

Enchilada - A Mexican dish..

2008-05-12T20:28:00.008-05:00

Today I tried making Enchilada for the first time. Enchilada is a Mexican dish which can be made many different ways (according to Wikipedia). This is my version of it, am not sure if this is the exact recipe for making it or not, but I just had tasted this one time at a friends place and after googling, came up with what I have here now. So, this is just an attempt.

The taste was very good. So do try it and any suggestions would be welcome too.

Ingredients

Onion, roughly chopped - 1 medium

Tomatoes, chopped - 1 medium

Spinach, chopped - 8 oz. ( I used the frozen pack )

Black Beans, boiled - 8 oz. can

Mexican 3 Cheese, grated( Cheddar, Mozzarella, Monteray Jack) - 8 oz.

Wheat Tortillas, fajita size - 7

For the Enchilada Sauce

Tomato Sauce - 8 oz. can

Jalapeno, chopped - 1

Garlic, finely chopped - 1 clove

Water - 4 oz.

To make the sauce - In a saucepan, mix the water and tomato sauce, bring to a boil, then add the garlic and jalapeno. Cook for 2 mins and switch off stove. Let it cool down.

If you want, you can avoid this and buy the ready available Enchilada Sauce from the stores.

To make the Enchilada Filling :

- In a saucepan, take little oil, add onions and fry till translucent.

- Add the spinach and tomatoes, saute for a min, then add the canned black beans.

- Add a little salt, and cook everything for about 2 mins.

To assemble Enchilada :

- On a plate, take a tortilla, add a generous amount of filling, roll it. Similarly, roll all other tortillas also.

- In a oven-safe dish, place the rolled tortillas next to each other. I placed the tortillas in 2 layers, one on top of another.

- Pour the enchilada sauce generously such that it covers all the tortillas nicely.

- On top of the sauce, add the grated cheese generously.

- Cover the dish either with its lid or with aluminium foil.

- Bake in pre-heated oven at 350F for 30 mins.

- Let stand for sometime, and enjoy hot.

Happy Mother's Day..

2008-05-05T21:54:00.011-05:00

Here's wishing all you mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day !! I didn't know what to post on this special day, but nevertheless couldn't but stop and write something. Back in India, I don't remember wishing my mom on this day, but after being away from India and so far away from parents, have started to appreciate this day. And yes, more so after I turned mom too :). It feels really good to dedicate just one day to all the mothers who make this world just extra pecial!!
A special wish for my mom who has always put everyone else in the family before her, happy and content with whatever little she ever had, with a whole lot of patience and mind-blowing endurance to everything. I always think of her and think I'm not even half as good. So, to you Aayi, ' Wish you a very happy Mother's Day', and I couldn't have had a better mom than you :)...

Well, I really didn't make anything sweet today, but did try this wonderful cake from Asha's blog a couple of days back. Her MW Orange Streusal Cake was just awesome. Yes, its made in the microwave, and the entire time you will spend on making this less than half an hour. Now, for something to taste this good, that being a cake, and the time it takes to get done, can you ask for anything better ?? The cake was just moist, with the distinct orange flavour( inspite of me skipping the orange essence, since I didn't have it), and the perfect streusel part to compliment it..

Check out her recipe at AromaHope here..Thanx so much Asha, for this lovely recipe, we just loved it.

Also, few days back, I got the 'Yummy Blog Award' from Meera, my dear friend of EnjoyIndianFood. Thank-you so much Meera for thinking of my blog for this one. I really am inspired by your variety of posts and amazed by each and every one of them.

Going by the rules, I have to list 4 of my favourites desserts which I have ever tasted/prepared. So here they are..

1. Mango Cake
2. Dharwad Pedha
3. Peach & Cranberry Spice Cake
4. Cadbury- Dairy Milk Chocolate

Now, its time to pass it on to 4 other bloggers. This is really really tough coz each and every blog out here is yummy and excellent in its own special way. Although these people have already got this award, I would still like to mention their names : Meera, Purnima, Asha, Shilpa and many more blogs, whom I am truly inspired by and look forward to each and every post of theirs. So I'd like to pass this on to all the wonderful bloggers out there who put in that extra special in all their posts.