Tangy and Tasty

What sets Indian cuisine apart from a lot of others is the spices. In fact, it is for these spices, the traders from all over the world came to India. Spices is what makes the Indian cuisine special. All the same you just don’t douse the food with spices. Which spice to add and how much is the essence of Indian cooking.

For the poor souls like me who don’t know all the spice proportions or don’t have time to prepare fresh spices every time, there is still hope. Unlike Vasco da Gama or those European traders we don’t have to cross the seven seas. Just go around the corner to the nearby store. In my case I simply had to reply to a review request for spice mixes by Eastern Condiments. And the spices landed at my door step.

Spices

Puliyogare/ಪುಳಿಯೋಗರೆ/tamarind rice is a traditional South-Indian recipe. The mixture can be prepared and stored for a long time and mixed with rice while eating. And if you don’t know how to prepare the mixture. Here is a super-quick way to make it.

• Heat about 2 & 1/2 tablespoons of cooking oil.
• Add 4 tablespoons of Eastern Puliogare.
• Stir for about 2 mins.
• Add about 600 gms of rice and mix thoroughly.

Puliogare/Tamarind Rice

You may or may not relish brinjal but Vangi Bhath/Brinjal Rice is surely a dish you will relish. Again the method is simple.

• Fry Brinjal and other vegetables of your choice with a pinch of turmeric in cooking oil and keep aside.
• For the tempering, to heated cooking oil add mustard seeds, gram dal, green chilli, hing and cashew nuts.
• To this add and stir fry about 3 & 1/2 teaspoons of Eastern Vangi Bhath powder, tamarind extract, shredded coconut(optional) , salt and jaggery.
• Add the veggies and brinjal.
• Add uncooked rice and mix them well.
• Now add required amount of water for rice and let the rice cook.

Vangi Bhath/ Brinjal Rice

While neither of these need any side-dishes, you can eat it with some nice hot papad or pickle. My mom prefers it with thin Majjige Saaru and I like it with thin coconut chutney.

Hope you try them out and love the dishes too 🙂 Thanks to Eastern Condiments for the spices. Made my long weekend at home a tasty one!

Tuppahirekai/Ghosale/Gilki/Sponge Gourd bhajji

Dhamargava/Tuppahirekai/ತುಪ್ಪಹೀರೇಕಾಯಿ/Sponge Gourd or what is referred to as tirprikai in colloquial Kannada is a vegetable that belongs to ridge gourd family. Looks like a ridge gourd but it is without ridges. Since it is slightly unheard of for most people I spoke to, I am giving the names in different languages from web. Plus the pic is there to see and recognize 🙂

Marathi – Ghosale
Kannada – Tuppahirekai
Hindi – Ghiatorui/Gilki

Tuppahirekayi

The subzi can be made very similar to a Turai subzi but the interesting twist here is this is used to make a bhajji/pakoda. Monsoons are just beginning and what better way to enjoy a rainy evening. So here goes the recipe

Ingredients:

• Besan/chickpea flour – 1/2 cup
• Sponge-gourd – 1 medium(peeled and cut into round slices)
• Hing – a pinch
• Soda – If you wish to. I don’t add any
• Ajwain – as per taste
• Jeera/cumin – as per taste
• Salt – as per taste
• Red Chilli powder – as per taste
• White sesame seeds – as per taste
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Coriander – finely chopped – again as per taste
• Oil for frying and a tsp in the mix/batter
• Water for preparing the mix

Method:

• Peel, wash, dry and cut the sponge-gourd into round slices. Keep aside.
• Add all the other above dry ingredients and mix.
• Add a tsp of oil to the mixture.
• Now gradually add water to the mixture to prepare the batter. Caution: Do not make the batter thin. Since sponge-gourd is high in water content if not coated properly oil splutters.
• Heat oil for frying.
• Now take a slice of the veggie, coat it with batter and deep fry to get nice bhajiyas 🙂

Tiprikai bhajji

• Eat it with any chutney/sauce you like.

I didn’t know how this is going to turn out but the moment I tasted the pakoras I knew I was on the money 🙂

Banana Dosa/Balehannu dose

Banana is a staple in this part of the world. A fruit available for all the 12 months of the year. And even most of our festival rituals include giving away fruits and mostly banana and betel leaves. On numerous such occasions where everyone is buying and giving away bananas one tend to go bananas wondering what to do with them. Here is nice way of including them in your food. This one will be relished by even those who normally don’t like banana.

The fruit has numerous health benefits ranging from providing vital micro-nutrients, aiding digestion, providing energy, improving mood, strengthen your bones, blood, hair,skin etc. Most people avoid it as it is fattening/high in sugar, a fact they conveniently forget while eating sweets and junk food.

Anyway here is the quick & simple recipe for Banana dosa/ಬಾಳೆಹಣ್ಣು ದೋಸೆ without any more ‘gyan’.

Ingredients:

• Banana – 4 medium ones(ripe)
• Rice – 1 cup
• Water – for batter
• Oil/Ghee – for frying
• Salt – as per taste

Method:

• Soak rice for about an hour
• After it is soaked, grind the rice to make a coarse paste
• Now add the bananas and grind again to make a fine paste
• Once you are done, the batter for banana dosa is ready
• Pour some oil/ghee on a hot flat tawa and spread the batter for delicious dosa.

Spread dosa batter

You can have this with any traditional dosa accompaniments or with some yumm sabzi, chutney and curd like we did.

Banana Dosa/Balehannu dose

Hirekai/Ridge Gourd peel chutney

Hirekai/ಹೀರೇಕಾಯಿ/Ridge gourd is supposed to contain loads of nutrients. Just like the vegetable,  the skin/peel also has its benefits but we throw it away. Not any more. Here is a nice way to utilize that.

Ridge gourd peel

Ingredients:

• Hirekai/Ridge gourd peel – I have taken peels from three medium-sized gourds
• Garlic – 2-3 pods(optional)
• Onions – 1/2 small(optional)
• Dry/desiccated coconut powder – a little
• White sesame seeds – 1/2 tbsp
• Jeera – 1/2 tbsp
• Salt – as per taste
• Green Chilli – 1 & 1/2
• Curry leaves
• Coriander/Cilantro
• Oil – 1 tbsp – for frying
• Jaggery/sugar – optional
• Lemon – 1/2 big

chutney ingredients

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the ridge gourd peel, onion, garlic, curry leaves and coriander and sauté for 7-8 minutes on a medium flame.
• Towards the end, add all the other ingredients except salt and lemon and take it off the heat.
• Once the mixture cools down, grind it to a coarse paste along with salt, water and lemon.

Hirekai Chutney

• You can add tempering to the chutney to give it more taste. I haven’t in this case.
• Also you can add roasted groundnut powder instead of coconut powder. That works beautifully too.

Tasted best with roti of any kind 🙂

Mosaravalakki/Curd Poha – Recipe

I was done with my morning dose of the Internet and was getting up to prepare breakfast when I saw this comment by GVji on my earlier poha recipe. That reminded me I haven’t been trying out the different poha recipes for a while and started on this. A great breakfast option for the summer.

Ingredients:

ingredients

• Poha/Beaten rice/Avalakki/ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ – 2 cups (take the medium or thick variety)
• Beaten Curd – 2 cups
• Ginger – finely chopped – 1/4 tsp
• Jeera – for tempering
• Green chilli – 1 large
• Salt – to taste
• Mustard seeds – for tempering
• Asafoetida/Hing – for tempering
• Coriander leaves/Cilantro – finely chopped
• Onion – finely chopped
• Curry leaves – finely chopped
• Sugar – 1/4 tsp
• Oil – for tempering
• Ground nuts – roasted and peeled

Method:

• Beat the curd, add salt,sugar and keep it aside.
• Soak the poha and drain it immediately. Using a sieve works out best for this.
• Temper with oil, mustard seeds, jeera, hing, curry leaves, green chilli, ginger.
• Add the poha, tempering mixture and curd. To this add onions, groundnut and coriander and serve.

Ingredients

mosaravalakki / curd poha

Note: Mix the poha and curd only when you are ready to serve else it absorbs all the curd and becomes dry.

Ragi Malt/Ambali

Summer has just started and we are already seeing the Sun shine in full glory. Air-conditioner is no respite in a small town India where power cuts everyday are a norm and not an exception. The best way to beat the heat then is summer foods. The one that tops the list in our family is “Ragi Ambali/ರಾಗಿ ಅಂಬಲಿ” or what is more popularly known as ragi malt. I won’t go into the health benefits of ragi. This gluten-free millet is now known widely among the health freaks and rightly so.

Ragi Malt/Ambali

This can be served as breakfast or after lunch/dinner or can even act as a meal substitute esp in the afternoons when you don’t feel like eating anything.

Ingredients:

• Ragi flour/ರಾಗಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು – 2 tablespoons
• Water – 1 – 1/2 cups(varies according to how thick or thin you want it to be)
• Buttermilk – 1 cup(you can even use curd in place of buttermilk)
• Salt – as required
• Cilantro – for garnishing
• Garlic – 3-4 pods
• Onion – 1/2 small finely chopped
• Jeera – powdered/crushed

Method:

• Mix ragi flour in water ensuring no lumps are formed.
• Simmer the mixture for about 5-7 mins/Till you see the mixture boil. Keep stirring continuously. Also ensure you boil it properly else it tastes like flour while having the drink.
• Once you see it start boiling, add the salt, garlic and jeera. And take it off the stove once the mixture boils properly.
• Don’t worry if it is too thick/thin. It can be adjusted to your taste while serving.
• Once the mixture cools down put it in a refrigerator(optional step but preferred as this is best served when chilled).
• While serving add the buttermilk/curd and garnish it with cilantro and finely chopped onions. Omit the onions if you don’t like the raw onions.

Ragi Malt_2

Optional – you can also add some Jowar flour along with ragi flour. Although in this recipe I haven’t added, it is commonly added in North-Karnataka recipes.

Whenever I try introducing ragi to my friends(esp the ones from the North), they run away from it on seeing the colour. But guys trust me, it tastes great and this is one occasion where you need to see content over colour. It isn’t fair but lovely for sure. 🙂

Green Peas dal/Matar Dal – recipe

Yummy Matar ki dal

When my room-mate Rajni said matar ki dal I assumed it is a dish with green peas in some yellow dal. But this turned out to be a recipe I have never heard of. A dal made of green peas and cauliflower and no lentils. It is a recipe from Northern Uttar Pradesh(a region in Northern India). It tastes yummier than it sounds and very healthy too. And the recipe is very easy too. So I am posting it here for you guys to try and enjoy. This dish is prepared by my roomie Rajni. I am just the photographer and the helper here.

Ingredients:

• Green Peas – 250 gms
• Cauliflower – 250 gms
• Onion – 1 big
• Tomato – 1 medium
• Garlic – 3-4 cloves
• Fresh Coriander/Cilantro – quantity as desired
• Ginger – a small knob
• Green chilli- 2 medium
• Dry Mango Powder – a pinch
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Bay leaf – 1 leaf
• Cloves – 2-3
• Black Cardamom – 1
• Cinnamon – a small stick
• jeera – for tadka
• Salt – to taste
• Mustard Oil – for frying

Method:

• Blanch the peas and cauliflower. Set some peas aside and make the rest into a fine paste.
• Make a paste of other ingredients as well i.e. Onion, tomato, chillies, garlic, ginger, cilantro.

Fresh ingredients. Replace the frozen peas with fresh ones for better taste

Boil the peas for 2-3 mins.

Blanch the cauliflowers

Make a paste of the green peas

• In a frying pan, heat mustard oil, add jeera and the garam masala i.e. cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon and black cardamom.
• Then add the onion paste and sauté for a minute or two. Add the green peas paste now and sauté for another minute.
• Now add the rest of the peas and the cauliflower and fry for some time.
• Add turmeric powder, salt, dry mango powder and any other dry masala that you’d like to add to this.

Fry all the pastes before adding the peas and cauliflower

• Add water to this and close the cooker. Let it cook for about 3-4 whistles.

Add peas and cauliflowers and fry. Then add desired amount of water.

After the pressure is released, you have your hot dal ready to be served. Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves and serve it with hot rice.

Serve the hot dal with some hot basmati rice, fresh salad and some hot-n-tangy chutney

I hope you like trying this recipe and eating it as much as we did.

Bajra Roti

Bajra Millet

After registering for the Marathon, I decided to eat healthy but cornflakes or plain oats aren’t my kind of food. I’ll go for poha, idli, upma any day (Of course they need to be prepared nicely not the hostel-food kind).  So I started looking for other options and that reminded me of bajra rotis which are usually prepared around Sankranti time. They are an awesome food esp during winters.

One thing I totally love about the healthy food fads is millets are back in style. Bajra/Pearl millet/ಸಜ್ಜೆ is one of them. It is a gluten -free grain and comes with a plenty of other benefits.

Here is how to make some tasty rotis. They are made the same way as Jowar/Sorghum rotis. For better pictures and a more detailed recipe check this out and just replace jowar with bajra. In this recipe, I have added some jowar with bajra and also some more spices to make the roti tastier.

Ingredients:

• Bajra atta – 1/2 cup
• Jowar atta – 1 tbsp
• salt – to taste
• red chilli powder – to taste
• turmeric – to taste
• white sesame seeds/till – to taste
• Hot water for kneading the dough

Ingredients

Method:

Bring the water to boil.

Start kneading with the spoon. You can use your hands and cold water once you add hot water and mix

• Don’t put all the water at once. Keep adding a little every time. Also, use a spoon to mix the water as it is very hot.

knead the dough properly to get nice rotis

Take a small portion of the dough and make it into a ball

Use a rolling-pin or flatten the roti using your hands

Once rolled out, put it on hot tawa.

• Make sure the tawa is hot for good rotis. In the next few seconds, as the roti gets a little dry, use a clean muslin cloth and apply a thin layer of water on the upper surface.
• Let it remain till water evaporates a little and flip it over and press slightly with a soft cloth to make sure it is done properly on all sides.

Roti flipped over

You can eat it with any subzi, but I can’t wait these rotis so I am eating it right away with cucumber slices, sprouts, channa dal/ಪುಟಾಣಿ chutney and awesome curd.

Hot bajra roti ready to eat 🙂

Rava Dosa – Recipe

Onion Rava Dosa with Coconut chutney

If you are craving for dosa and if you have forgotten to soak the rice and dal the previous day and keep the batter overnight then you are in for a disappointment. That is when instant dosa comes to your rescue. This is one of the instant dosas and a yummy one at that . Here are the ingredients you’ll need

• Rava/Semolina – 1 cup
• Rice Flour – 1 cup
• Maida/All purpose flour – 1/2 cup
• Green chillies(finely chopped) – 3 medium
• Onion(finely chopped) – 1 large
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Hing/ Asafoetida – a pinch
• Ginger(grated) – 1/2 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Water – to make the batter
• Oil – for making the dosas

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, mix rava, rice flour, maida, chopped green chillies, cumin seeds, ginger, hing and salt.

Dry ingredients

• Then add water to this dry mixture. The consistency should be that of buttermilk. I tried getting a pic not sure if you can make out from the pic.

Batter consistency

• Keep it aside for 10 mins. Now heat the dosa-tawa, apply some oil and sprinkle a bit the finely shopped onion

Sprinkle Onion

• You cannot spread this dosa batter with a ladle like the other dosas because the batter is very thin. You need to pour the batter and swirl the tawa or sprinkle the batter starting from outside and finishing in the centre and filling the gaps later. In this pic I have sprinkled the dosa but the gaps need to be filled.

Sprinkle the dosa batter on the tawa

• Now put some more oil on the dosa. Keep the tawa on high heat and remember this one takes a little more time than your normal dosa. Once you see the dosa getting brown on the bottom side, flip it with a spatula.

Dosa on the tawa

• Don’t worry about the shape of the dosa when you sprinkle the batter like water you can’t expect it to take any shape that you can define unless it resembles a country map 🙂
• In case you cannot flip it, that means either you haven’t cooked it properly on the other side or that it is too thick. Don’t worry you can still cook and eat those dosa crumbles if browned properly 🙂
• Anyway if it doesn’t come out properly, don’t despair. For the next one pray to your favorite god and start again from cleaning your tawa, adding some oil and sprinkling some onions on it. Keep repeating the above steps till you get a nice, brown, crispy dosa. You will get it soon. It ain’t no rocket science!
• And once done, take it out on a plate and eat it hot with any of the dosa accompaniments.

Rava Dosa – ready to eat.
Awesomeness \m/

 

Methi Palak Paratha

Methi Palak Paratha

Methi Paratha and Palak Paratha are favorites at home. But I had not tried a combination before. I got this recipe for vinicooksveg and folks at home loved it. Only I did not add Fennel seeds and lemon juice and also decreased the quantity of coriander leaves. She has used yoghurt to knead the dough but I just added about 3 tbsp of yoghurt and used water to knead the dough. I don’t think she used hing, you can skip it too but at my place nothing can be prepared without hing.

Again this is tasty, healthy and easy to make and a great breakfast option.

Hail the greens!

Ingredients:

Methi/Fenugreek leaves(chopped) – 1 bunch medium
Palak/Spinach(chopped) – 1 bunch medium
Coriander leaves(chopped) – a few(you can increase the measure to 1 cup if you wish)
Whole wheat flour – 3 bowls
Chick pea flour/besan – 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Asafoetida/ Hing – pinch
Ginger paste – 1 tsp (I used fresh ginger)
Garlic – 4 pods
Green chilli – 4 medium
Yoghurt – 3 tbsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 2 tsps
Water – to knead the dough
Salt – to taste
Oil – 2 tsp to knead the dough, 2 tsp for green leaves & the rest to fry the parathas.

Method:

• Grind the ginger, garlic and green chilli with salt to make a paste

Green Chilli, ginger & garlic paste with salt

• Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to it. As the seeds splutter, add hing and the green chilli paste and sauté for a minute.

Saute the paste and cumin seeds

• Now add the chopped greens.

Greens added

• Saute for a minute and add the coriander powder and garam masala powder. Saute for another two minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
• Now to the wheat flour add the chick pea flour, salt, yoghurt and greens mix.

Flour to be mixed

• Knead the dough and let it rest for 20-25 mins.

Dough for Methi-Palak Paratha

• Take a ball sized dough and roll it out using a rolling-pin. You can use any of the folding methods to fold the paratha. I made a triangle and rolled them out.

Rolled out

• Put it on a hot tawa and fry the paratha from both sides.

On Tawa

• Once fried, serve it hot with any of the paratha accompaniments. We had it the North Karnataka style. Add ತುಪ್ಪ(ghee) and ಪುಟಾಣಿ ಹಿಂಡಿ/ಚಟ್ನೀ( chutney), roll the paratha and gobble it up.

Add ghee and chutney

Rolled Paratha

Happy Weekend! 🙂