Vermicelli Kheer( (ಶ್ಯಾವಿಗೆ ಪಾಯಸ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Vermicelli, used in Payasam, Idly, upma, halwa or burfi!! tastes great!! Vermicelli  payasam is my husband's favorite. He loves it hot and with lot of milk!!

A very easy and quickest sweet dish, for any unexpected happy occasion!! All  ingredients are easily available at home, no need to buy specially for this!

Ingredients for this,

Thin vermicelli - 1 cup, roasted with little ghee 

(Or we get roasted ready packet also in the market)

Water - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 to 2 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1/8th tsp

Dry fruits (Cashew nuts, almonds, Pista and raisins) - 1/4 cup

Milk powder or condensed milk - 1 tbsp

Roast the vermicelli in very slow heat with little ghee. Or if you have the roasted one keep it aside.

Heat ghee in a thick bottom kadai. Fry the dry fruits and remove it into a bowl. Add water in the same kadai and bring it to boil. Add vermicelli and boil it for a minute. Now add sugar and milk. Let it boil for 2 minutes. Check whether the vermicelli is cooked! If not, add some more water or milk. Add milk powder or condensed milk. After boiling it for half a minute add dry fruits and remove from the heat. 

Vermicelli kheer is ready to serve.

Sending this to Shama's  "Kheer Event"

                             

Keep Smiling,

Peanut Gujiya (ಶೇಂಗಾ ಕರ್ಚಿಕಾಯಿ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Sweets!!! Deserts!!! I love sweets!!! I love to eat in any form!! I have written before also, if I do not get anything, I will have 1 tbsp Boost! 

Here is a sweet, which is usually prepared during Diwali. Gujiya or Karchikai is very common sweet in India. And the stuffing differs in each state and each region.

Mom always prepares the stuffing with, dry coconut, jaggery, dalia powder and cardamom powder. The one I have prepared was shown in a Kannada TV Show, which mom liked it so much and prepared it on Ugadi.

Giving you the recipe,

All purpose flour - 250 gm

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Milk - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1tbsp

Mix all with little water to make into soft dough, cover it with moist cloth. Keep it aside for an hour.

For stuffing,

Peanut - 1 cup, roasted. Remove the skin and clean it

Jaggery - 1 cup or less, depending on the sweetness of the jaggery

Dry Coconut, grated - 2 tbsp, roasted

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil to fry

                                 

First, dry grind the peanuts for one round to make it coarse powder. Then add the jaggery, cardamom powder and coconut. Grind it again to make smooth powder. Transfer it into a bowl and add salt, mix it nicely.

Divide all purpose flour in to equal small lemon size balls. Roll into oval shape of palm size. Take one tbsp of ready peanut powder mix and put it slowly in the middle of  rolled puri.  Close it to neatly and bind it with water to give gujia shape. Repeat with other balls. 

Heat the oil in a kadai. When its hot, keep it on medium flame and fry all the gujiyas in batches.

You can store it for a week or 10 days.

Keep smiling,

Thaali peeth! (Masala Rotti)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One more traditional food of India. Yes! The name is different, but prepared all over India with available fresh vegetables or simply with onions.

It is a very common breakfast in North Karnataka and Maharashtra. We call it as thalipettu (ಥಾಲಿ ಪೆಟ್ಟು ) and in Maharashtra it is famous as Thali peeth. Sindhis call it Dhoda and is prepared only with jowar flour and onion.
 I think Kannada name is influenced by Marathi word. Thali means palm, pettu means beat. Basically it is prepared with bare hands by keeping the dough and pressing it in between the palms to make round and thick rottis. But, I prepare it keeping it on an aluminum foil and press it or roll it to make a thin thalipeeth. My mom always used clean white cotton cloth to make.

And few people directly press it to the tawa to spread it thin and big. Then they fry the thali peeths on medium flame with covered lid . These come out very crispy!

Thali peeth is the best healthy break fast! It is easy, quick and can be prepared with any available vegetables in the fridge. It makes your child eat all the vegetables and Jowar flour without their knowledge. Ohh! I always love this food. You can make thali peets with

ONION, CABBAGE, SPRING ONION, METHI LEAVES, SPINACH LEAVES, CUCUMBER, CARROT, RADISH, BOTTLE GOURD, ASH GOURD, the list goes on!!!

Basically, the flour used for thali peeth is Jowar flour. But you can add other flours in little quanitity, like, WHEAT FLOUR, RICE FLOUR, OATS POWDER, SOYA POWDER, GRAM FLOUR, SEMOLINA, MAIZE FLOUR.... again the list goes on. You can check the shelves in the kitchen, and make these with whatever is available.

So it is the most versatile and friendly and healthy breakfast which is always handy and saves you from worrying about the breakfast.

Here goes the ingredients :

Jowar flour - 1 cup

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Any other flour of your choice - 1/4 cup

Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped

Green chilly - 2 chopped finely OR Red Chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste 

Any vegetable or green leaves of your choice - 1 cup grated

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few, chopped

Water to make dough - 1/2 cup or more

Slowly keep on adding water and mix everything in a big bowl or plate to make medium hard (not very soft, nor very hard). Do not keep it for long time or else thali peeth will be torn.

Take the aluminium foil, cut into a square. Keep a bowl of water ready to spread on the foil before making thalipeeth. Sprinkle little water and oil on the foil. Take big lemon size of dough and make a round ball. Keep it on the foil and press slowly to give round shape to make thin rotis. Mean while, heat the tawa and sprinkle oil and put the pressed roti and fry it both the ways with little oil. 

If you want to make directly on tawa,

Take thick bottomed tawa, it should be cold. spread little oil and water on that. Take the ready dough and keep it in the center. Go on pressing it with little water on fingers and give round and thin shape. Make three hoes randomly on the roti to put oil. Cover it with lid and fry on medium flame. Fry it only on one side.

Serve with Butter or ghee or curds or coconut chutney.

Sending this to Suma's  on going event, JIHVA - Breakfast which is linked to Indira's Main announcement-JIHVA

Keep Smiling,

Stuffed brinjal masala(ಬದನೆಕಾಯಿ ಏಣ್ಣಗಾಯಿ), reposted for the event

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi all
Reposting this recipe for the event. (click here for old link)

(As I was new to blogging and taking photos, the photo is not clear!!)

Very tasty and spicy vegetable masala which is perfect with Jowar rotti. This is a very common food in North Karnataka. And it is compulsory in the menu in marriages. Here is the regular recipe, what my mother makes, and even I follow the same.

Brinjal – 4 to 6 (small)

Onion – 1 big (finely chopped)

Curry leaves – 1 line, chopped

Tamarind paste – 2 tbsp (soak the tamarind in warm water for half an hour then squeeze the juice)

Fresh coriander – 2 tbsp

Gurellu chutney powder – 2 tbsp (Check the recipe here), If you don't have it, no problem, you can add crushed pea nut powder and dry coconut powder. event though taste differs, but that also tastes great.

Red chilly powder – 1tbsp

Jaggery powdered – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tsp

For stuffed brinjal

Oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Jeera – 1 tsp

Slit the brinjal in the middle and keep in the water.

Fry chopped onion in a pan till slightly brown. Remove in a plate, add all other ingredients except oil and mix it nicely.

This masala is so tasty, that we used to finish it with chapatti or rotti, before it was stuffed in the brinjal.

Now remove the brinjal from water and stuff the ready masala.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. After they start crackle, add jeera, and stuffed brinjal. Fry for one minute. Now add remaining masala and little water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Stuffed brinjal masala(ಬದನೆಕಾಯಿ ಏಣ್ಣಗಾಯಿ) is ready to serve with hot rottis or chapattis.

Sending this to silpa of Anita' s Kitchen's event Vegetable Marathon:Event Announcement

Keep smiling,

Masala stuffed Brinjal Fritters (ಮಸಾಲೆ ಬದನೆ ಕಾಯಿ ಭಜಿ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Brinjal fritter is prepared in many ways. It depends on your taste, your time and the occasion. Each region has its own way to prepare this bhaji. I am trying to do it the way it is prepared in Gadag District in Karnataka. When my mother was still working she got transferred to Gadag for 2 years. Every day she used travel from Dharwad to Gadag by 3 types of transportation. First, early in the morning I used to drop her to bus stand. From there she will travel in bus till Hubli, From Hubli to Gadag in train and from Gadag station to her office in mini cab!!! While coming back from the office, she used to  have this bhaji which is a famous street food. I never had this as I never got chance to have it when ever I traveled to Gadag. So I have taken mom's instructions and took her help to make it with little changes, as I felt the taste will be better if I do the changes.

Going to the recipe,

Brinjal - 4, medium, purple

Oil to fry the fritters

Wash, cut brinjal into very thick round pieces(3 pieces in one brinjal)

Again slit the brinjal in to two  pieces, keeping one end intact. Put them in salt water and keep aside.

For batter,

Gram flour - 1/ cup

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

salt - very little only for the cover, as we are going to add again in stuffing

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp crushed

Ajwain - 1/4 tsp crushed

Haldi - pinch

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Hot oil - 1 tbsp

Mix all in a bowl and keep aside.

For stuffed masala,

Green chilly - 4

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Fresh coriander - handful

Salt to taste

Curry leaves few

Mix everything in a blender and make into a paste.

Take the brinjal out in a plate. Drain the water. Stuff the green masala in to it as shown in the photo. 

Heat the oil in a kadai.

Dip the stuffed brinjal in to a batter and fry them in a oil. Remove from oil and keep it on a tissue paper to remove any excess oil.

But, when I tasted these, I felt the stuffed masala is still raw, So I fried the green masala and then stuffed it. This also tastes good. 

So the choice is yours!!!

Sending this to silpa of Anita' s Kitchen's event Vegetable Marathon:Event Announcement

Keep smiling,

Green Gram flour curry (Hesarittana Pallya)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One of my follower has requested for this recipe. This one is also a common food in North Karnataka. This is also one of famous food of Maharashtra. They call it as Pitla. We have named it as Jhunaka or Hittina Pallya. Here Hittu means flour. Usually it is prepared with gram flour, but it is prepared with green moong flour also.

Gram flour vadi(ಜ್ಹುನಕದ ವಡಿ) is my one more post where I have prepared the vadi. here, instead of cooking it for more time without water, Add more water and cook it for little time. The gram flour jhanka will be ready to eat.

Coming to the recipe,

Green gram moong flour : 1 cup

(usually it is not readily available in store, we put it in flour mill, you can use the grinder or mixie to make the flour)

Onion - 1 big, chopped in to fine cubes

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Green chilly paste ( green chilly -2, Jeera or cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp, A tsp salt  and 2 tbsp fresh coriander , mix all these and grind into coarse paste)

Curry leaves - few

Tamarind Paste - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste(take care as there is salt already in chilly paste.)

Oil - 2 tbsp

water - 1 cup or more

Heat oil in a thick kadai. Add mustard seeds, wait till they splutter. Add curry leaves and onion. Fry till onion changes its color. Now add the green chilly paste, cook for a minute.(Check down for my mom's version)

Add the gram flour and fry till you get aroma. Add salt tamarind paste and turmeric powder. Mix well and add the water slowly. Mix it properly to remove lumps. Usually in this method the lumps will not be formed. Cook for few minute. Adjust the seasoning. 

Hesarittina Pallya is ready.

At this point mom add tamarind paste and turmeric powder with water. When water boils she will go on adding the green gram flour slowly and mixing at the same time. In this method, there is a chance to get the lumps if you are not very fast or new to cooking. Then she will cook it it the gram flour is fully cooked.

Keep Smiling,

Dal roti khao, Prabhu ke gun gaao!!!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

The most favorite combo in North Karnataka. A very common food for farmers in villages. They eat raw green chilly also with it. The most tastiest combo(as per me) that too if you have one day old Jowar rotti.

When I checked my post, I was surprised and angry with myself for not posting any typical North Karnataka Dal or Saaru! So here is one of common saaru :

Whole Masoor  (Channangi bele or ಚನ್ನಂಗಿ ಬೇಳೆ) dal is very tasty to eat with rotti, chapati or rice. 

                                

Coming to the recipe,

Whole masoor - 1/2 cup

Onion - 1 small, chopped lengthwise

Tomato - 2 big, chopped

Curry leaves - few

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Garlic - 1 small pod(jawari), cleaned and crushed    

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Wash masoor dal and soak for 15 minutes. Cook it till tender either in a vessel or cooker. Remove any skin comes out after boiling.

Heat oil in a vessel. Add mustard seeds, Jeera and curry leaves. Put onion and garlic. Fry till the color is changed. Now add all dry powders and tomato. Cover and cook till the tomato is almost cooked(may take 10 minutes). Now add jaggery and cooked dal. Add 1 cup of water. Boil for few minutes. Check the consistency of dal you need and adjust the seasoning. Cook for few more minutes. Dal is ready to eat.

For Jowar rotti (old post, click here)

Jowar(Millet) flour - 1 cup

Salt -1 tsp
Water – 1 cup (to make dough)
A square piece of cloth
Keep water in a vessel to boil. Add salt to it. Take Jowar flour in a big plate or wide vessel. Add little boiling water slowly to the flour and add little cold water and make the dough ready. It is not sticky like chapatti atta. It will be little softer. When you take it in hand and press it will spread easily. Keep little warm water in a vessel with cloth piece ready.
Now take a big lemon size and press it slowly to make it round. Spread little Jowar atta on the platform where you want to make rottis. Keep the flattened ball and slowly start patting. This is the tricky thing. You should be moving it circular while patting.(I don’t know whether “patting” is right word or not?). Again the tricky thing comes, to take it in hand and put it on hot tawa. Be very careful while doing this, otherwise rotti will be into pieces. After putting rotti in tawa, immediately spread little water with soaked cloth piece on the upper part. After few minutes, turn the rotti and just cook other side. You can press it with spatula to be sure that it’s cooked properly.

Serve hot with dal or wait for a day and eat with dal.

If you can eat only just one day old rotti, it tastes delicious. 

You can eat with any type of dal like toor dal, yellow moong dal or green moong dal.

Sending this to Pari's  THE COMBO EVENT 

Keep Smiling,

Girmitt (Puffed rice with onion masala)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One of regular food in North Karnataka. It is a street food available at any time in small tea stalls. (another taste of Girmitt.)

Easy to make and it does not need any cooking. Great filler if you are very hungry and no patience to cook. Only to take care is do not drink water immediately after you eat it.(thats what our granny's tell, do not know the proper reason!! but they say if you drink water you will have upset stomach. 

I have posted the recipe with cooking in my previous entries. Lets try this one without cooking.

All you need is,

Puffed rice - 1big bowl 

for masala 

Onion - 1 big,  chopped into small cubes

Red Chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Fresh coriander - handful, cleaned and chopped

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - 6 to 8, cleaned and chopped

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tsp 

Dalia powder - 1 tbsp(optional)

Sugar - 1 tsp

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl. Then add the puffed rice and mix well just before you eat otherwise it will become soft and you will not enjoy the taste. 

                  Sending this to PJ's 

The 'no cook' event

Keep Smiling,

Polished wheat halwa (ಗೋಧಿ ಹುಗ್ಗಿ ) for new year!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Starting my first post in this year with traditional sweet called Godhi Huggi or polished wheet halwa. This is the heaviest sweet which is common in most of the functions in North Karnataka. It is not for weight watchers, as it has lot of dry fruits, jaggery and cups of ghee in to it. And its like, some medicines have instructions written  "not to drive when you take the medicine". You will feel drowsy and lazy after you have this.

Again, one of my favorite sweet.

Here is the recipe,

Polished Wheat : 200gm (Available in Indian store)

Chana dal - 4 tbsp

Jaggery - 200gm, powdered

Cardamom - 4 to 6 crushed

Nutmeg powder - 1 tsp

Poppy seeds - 4 tbsp

Dry desiccated coconut - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 cup

Water depends on the wheat.

Soak the wheat overnight. In the morning, soak chana dal for an hour or two. Mix wheat and chana dal in a cooker with double the water of soaked wheat. Give 10 to 12 whistles. Yes, wheat takes time to cook. Once cool, open and check the wheat, I mean, take one seed in the hand and press it. If it breaks into pieces then its done. Otherwise you have to grind it to coarse paste.

Once this is done, add powdered jaggery, salt and 1/4 cup ghee and mix well with hand or churner. Keep it on medium heat to boil, keeping in mind to stir in between. once it starts boiling, check the sweetness of the dish and if you feel you need more sweet add some more jaggery(because, it has different taste always, depending upon the sugarcane)

If you feel the sweet is fine, add salt, poppy seeds and coconut. Mix properly and allow it to boil for few more minutes. Now add cardamom powder and nutmeg powder with 1/4 cup ghee. Let it boil for 10 minutes with stirring it often. 

The sweet is ready to eat with more ghee on the top with some spicy chilly and sandige.

Wishing everyone a very happy, prosperous and beautiful new year.

Keep Smiling,

Fresh chana green rice(ಕಡಲೆ ಕಾಳು ಅನ್ನ )

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi all,

One more interesting and very tasty rice which I love the most and the whole year I wait for this, as I have to prepare this only during November till January end.

We get this only from November till January. I love to eat this just like that. (We call it Kadli geeda in Kannada). Great time pass when chatting with your friends! But I take care not to spread all the skin and leaves on the ground and my environment dirty.

When I was browsing the net for this, I got these links, which explains in detail about this. (http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/the-turkish-domestication-of-the-chickpea/)

and (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cicer_arietinum_HabitusFruits_BotGardBln0906a.jpg)

And the rice prepared using these chana really has different taste! NO other dry chana can replace this taste as each chana has its own taste. After Avare kalu I love this one very much. But we make lot of dishes with Avare kalu, and this girly chana (What!???!? Now a days, without my knowledge,  I am getting funny words for my kitchen things, girly because of its beautiful fresh curves on its body!!!) is used to make very few dishes.

Here is the recipe,

Long grain or normal rice - 1 cup(soak in a water for a minute and keep it to dry at least for 15 minutes.

Fresh chana(ಕಡಲೆ ಕಾಳು) - 1 cup

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Fry and paste the below ingradients:

(Go on adding one by one after each minute in a tbsp oil and fry till nice aroma comes)

Onion - 1 big, (this needs 2 minutes to fry). After the onion is fried go on adding others.

Fresh coconut -1/4 cup

Ginger - 1/2"

Green chilly - 2 to 3

Cardamom - 1

Cinnamon - 1"

Tomato - 1 small

Pudina (Mint leaves) - 1 bunch

When cool, make into a fine paste and keep aside

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Heat oil in a cooker. Add the ready paste and fry till it starts leaving oil on the side. Now add fresh chana and salt. Cook it for a minute and add rice. Mix properly and fry for a minute or so. Add hot or warm water, according to how much the rice needs water. (usually what I do is, I do not measure the water for rice, but pour the water till the rice is just covered, but each rice has its own quality. So be sure about the water intake of the rice or else it will turn into kichadi!!)

Cover the cooker with lid and give two whistle. When done, add lime juice before transferring into serving bowl.

Fresh chana green rice is ready to serve. Enjoy each bite of chana!

Keep smiling,