Avare kalu (Surti paapdi ) Pallye

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Being a seasonal vegetable, it tastes great after waiting for many months. I have already written more about this in my last post Avare kalu sambhar(Surti papdi sambhar) and Counti...  

Here is the recipe for Dry sabji.

Directly coming to the recipe,

Ingredients :

Surti paapdi or avare kalu - 1 cup, clean, wash and give one boil to make it tender.

Onion - 1 big, cleaned and chopped

Oil - 1tbsp

Curry leaves - few

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Gurellu Chutney(Niger seeds,ಗುರೆಳ್ಳು) powder - 1 tsp(optional, I used here, because its very common in my house)

Salt to taste

Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder

Fresh coconut grated - 1 tbsp(optional, I did not put)

Fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

Heat  oil in a kadai. 

Add cumin seeds and curry leaves.

Add onion and fry till it changes its color.

Add salt, tamarind paste, turmeric powder and gurellu powder. Fry for a minute.

Add boiled papdi and coconut. Mix well. Adjust the seasoning. Cook for a minute. 

Its ready to eat.

Sending this to 

Siri's My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) # 25 - an event annoucement and linking this to  Susan's main MLLA host line up 

Keep Smiling,

Broken wheat(or thick rava) and jaggery Halwa (ಸಜ್ಜಕಾ )

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One more healthy  halwa from my land, North Karnataka. 

In North Karnataka, Jowar(Sorghum) rotti is a must food in villages. Women make more than 50 rottis each day and its a tiresome job. So, the new moon day or Amavasye is like a festival for them. As there will be more work like special pujas for vehicles, cows, buffaloes, tractors, rotti is skipped from their menu. Instead, they prepare only rice, rasam and this sweet, Broken wheat halwa.It is called as Sajjaka in Kannada. It is prepared using rava or thick semolina, usually smaller in size than bulgur. 

Ingredients :

Broken wheat or rava : 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 1/2 cup, grated or powdered

Ghee - 1/4 cup + 2 tsp

Nut Meg powder - 1tsp

Salt a pinch

Water - 3 cups or more to cook the rava.

Mixed nuts - 1 tbsp

Method :

Fry the rava with 2 tsp of ghee till you get the aroma

Keep water to boil.

Once it starts boiling, add the rava. Cook it for a minute. 

Add jaggery and keep on stirring for a minute

Now add salt and cook till the rava is cooked. 

Heat the ghee in a separate kadai. Fry the nuts.

Add ghee and nuts together to the boiling rava. Cook till it starts leaving the edges. 

Transfer it into a bowl and serve it with pickle and paapad. 

This can be used to make polis, called as sajjakada holige.

This is going to my event  

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT - CELEBRATE SWEETS~HALWA!!!!!

Keep Smiling,

Sprouted whole moth Dry sabji (ಮಡಕೆ ಕಾಳು ಪಲ್ಲ್ಯೆ )

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

In North Karnataka,  in particular marriages, this sprouted whole moth dry masala is must along with, brinjal and onion masala, all types of dry chutney powders and curds. Giving you the recipe for the same :

It is called madake kaalu (ಮಡಕೆ ಕಾಳು ಪಲ್ಲ್ಯೆ) in Kannada. Very healthy and easy to prepare. It goes well with hot chapati, peanut chutney powder and curds. I love the combination.

To sprout the moong :

Whole moth - 1 cup

Wash and soak it in water for 8 hours. Drain the water. Tie it in a white cloth for one day. or keep in a bowl covered.  It may take more time in cold weather. 

You will get sprouted moth ready to cook.


Ingredients :

Sprouted moth - 1 cup

Onion - 1 medium, cleaned and cubed

Curry leaves few

Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Green chilly - 2 finely chopped

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch or 1/2 chopped tomato

Sugar - 1 tsp

Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp chopped

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fresh coriander to garnish

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds and wait to splutter. Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, onions and green chilly. Fry for 2 minutes. Now add salt, tamarind paste and turmeric powder. MIx it and add sprouted moong. Fry for a minute. Add sugar.Sprinkle little water. Cover and cook on medium heat till the moong gets tender. If you feel the water is less add in between and keep on stirring. It may take 8 to 10 minutes to get tender. Adjust the seasoning.

Do not over cook, it may make the moong like rubber. 

Garnish it with fresh coriander and serve with chapati or roti or just like that.

 Sending this to two events :

Priya's Announcing Let's Sprout - A New Event

AND

Siri's My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) # 25 - an event annoucement and linking this to  Susan's main MLLA host line up 

Keep Smiling,

Sprouted Sorghum and onion masala

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

One more recipe from North Karnataka. A very healthy, nutritious and tasty food and tastes different. My mother used to make this when we were in school. But I do not know when we stopped eating this or when mom stopped making this.

Last week when I brought  Jowar or Sorghum to make flour (in flour mill). I remembered this recipe and thought of trying with very little quantity. I was not sure, whether I will like it now or not.

But, the taste was so good that I have decided to sprout the sorghum again and try it in salads or curry.

Here is the recipe for Sprouted Sorghum and onion Masala :

To sprout :
Sorghum - 1 cup

Wash the Sorghum and soak it in 3 cups of water for 24 hours.

Drain the water, wash it 2 times with fresh water. 

Tie in a muslin or cotton cloth for 12 hours. Open and check whether its sprouted or not, If not, tie it and keep it for another 8 to 10 hours.

Sprouting time depends on the weather. In cold weather, it takes more time than in hot weather. 

Ingredients :

Boiled Sprouted Sorghum - 1 cup

(Add 2 cups of water to the sprout and keep in a cooker to give 2 whistles. Let it cool and drain the water in a bowl to use it later.)

Onion - 1 big, cleaned, chopped into cubes

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 10 to 12, cleaned and chopped finely

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

or green chilly - 1 finely chopped

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. When splutter add curry leaves and onion. Fry till onion changes its color. (Now add green chilly if you are using it). Or add red chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix it properly. Add the boiled water about 1/8 cup. Cook for a minute. Add the boiled sorghum. Cover and cook it for 2 minutes. Remove the lid add lime juice and fresh coriander. Mix it and remove from the Fire. 

You can use fresh coriander also.

Serve it with chapati or rice or even puri!!

I would love to thank Nithu of  Nithu's Kitchen, who made me to feel happy and proud of myself by taking my interview and posting in her blog.

Check out my  interview  in her blog and enjoy her unique recipes too.
Sending this to 

Priya's Announcing Let's Sprout - A New Event

Keep Smiling,

Green gram flour rotti (Rotti Sandige)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

One more traditional food from North Karnataka. It is usually prepared  in villages on No moon day with some sweet. It is taken to the fields also on Sheege Hunnive and Kar Hunnive.

The preparation is same as Thaali peeth.  It is served as a side dish in small pieces.

Ingredients :

Green moong flour - 1 cup

(You will get ready flour packet in any Indian stores,here in India or villages, we take the whole green moong to the flour mill to make it into flour)

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp, crushed

Green chilly - 2 to 3 crushed

Curry leaves - 10-12, chopped finely

Salt to taste

Water to make dough

Oil to fry these.

To make

Aluminium foil - 1 square sheet (12" x 12")

(in olden days, the small white clean cloth was used for the purpose)

water to apply on the foil

Take the flour in a big plate with the edges. Make the small well in the middle. Add all the ingredients except water and oil. 

Go on adding water slowly and mix it properly to get nice dough(Not very hard or very soft) The dough should be little softer than chapati atta.

Divide the dough into equal balls of small orange size.

Take one ball. Keep it on the foil. 

Start pressing it from the middle to make it into thick rotti or a bigger size puri.

Heat tawa and apply oil. 

Hold the foil carefully and put it with the rotti down side on tawa. Slowly remove the foil after few seconds.

Let it cook for a minute. 

Now spread 1/2 tsp oil and turn the rotti. Fry both the sides till it is cooked. Keep on pressing everywhere for rotti to cook evenly.

Repeat with other balls.

Remove it and keep it open for 10 minutes. If you cover the rottis immediately they will leave the water and the rotti gets spoiled.

Have it with Jowar rotti and other vegetable preparations.

Keep Smiling,

Green Moong with Dill leaves

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Now a days I have made it compulsory to have green leafy vegetables for our dinner. And morning breakfast is replaced with Chapati and any veg. preparation or grains or pulses. 

And this Green Moong and Dill leaves serves both!! 

My kids do not like this leaves in any other form. So this is the best way to feed them. We make Thalipeeth, dosa, Paddh using these leaves. Mom makes yummy "Dill and Chana vada". I love the smell of Dill leaves. This is a common preparation in North Karnataka.

It has many health benefits too. It is benefited in Digestion, Dysentery and Diarrhea, bad breath, swelling, Menstrual disorders. Read more here for details. It is very useful article on this herb.

Coming to the recipe,

Dill leaves - 1 bunch, cleaned, washed  properly and chopped finely

Green moong - 1cup, soaked for  2 hours

Garlic - 1/2 bulb if it is small, cleaned and crushed

Green Chilly - 1 or 2 as per your taste, chopped

Oil - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Transfer every thing in to a cooker vessel or directly in to a small cooker. Give 3 whistles. When cold, mash it to mix properly. It is ready to serve with chapati or jowar rotti. I like to have it with curd rice or rice and milk!!!

Another way...

If you like, you can give tadka ,

Do not put the garlic in the cooker. 

for tempering :

Oil - 1 tsp

Crushed garlic 

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and garlic. Add it to  the cooked moong and Dill. Mix it properly.

Keep Smiling,

Capsicum Masala(ಡೊಣ್ಣ ಮೆಣಸಿನ ಕಾಯಿ ಪಲ್ಯೆ )

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I have a starting problem!!! I take more than half an hour before I start typing here. Once I start, it goes without break. I know I am not a very good writer and my vocabulary ends only with kitchen or cooking words!! Still I take a lot of time to finish writing one post!! 

Here is one more recipe from North Karnataka. Capsicum or bell peppers or chili pepper call it by any name. It is an universal vegetable and is used in many preparations all over the world. I like the colors of bell peppers, green, yellow, red, purple.. and the shapes : long, short, fat, thin, tiny, big....The big one are not very tasty like the small varieties.

But I like the variety we get in our places. We call these as "Donna Menasinakai" These capsicum are very small in size and have wonderful curved surface. And very very spicy. If you are used to eat spicy food then you will enjoy it. 

The recipe I am giving is an usual way prepared in North Karnataka. It is easy and fast to make. 

Small capsicum - 8 to 10, wash and cut into small or medium cubes.

Oil - 1 tbsp to fry the capsicum 

Onion - 1 big, washed, peeled and cubed

Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Jaggery - 2 tsp

Turmeric - pinch

Oil - 1 tsp

Jeera or cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Gurellu (Niger seeds) powder - 1 tsp(recipe here), No problem if you do not have. Use dry coconut powder. The taste will definitely differ but that also tastes good.

Fresh Coriander - 1 tbsp, chopped

Water - 1/2 cup

Fry the capsicum cubes in a oil till they change the color. Be careful to keep the kids far as the smell is very strong. It makes you cough.

Add oil in a kadai. When hot, add jeera, curry leaves and onion. Fry till the onion turns brown. Now add salt, jaggery, tamarind paste, gurellu powder and Turmeric powder. Mix well and add the fried capsicum cubes.  Mix well again. Add water. Cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Garnish with Fresh coriander.

It goes well with Jowar rotti or chapati. 

Again reminding, it is very spicy to eat.

Keep Smiling,

Lemon rice (ಚಿತ್ರಾನ್ನ )

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I was in tension and worried as my daughter was not well. Still she is on medicine for a week and doctor told to give her only soft food. I am confused about the menu as doctor has advised her only the soft food.

However, this recipe is not connected with her illness and diet food. But last week, it is prepared for her lunch box.

                                  

Here is the recipe,

Cooked rice - 200 gm, Prepare the rice at least half an hour before and let it be cold before adding to the masala.

(Left over rice also tastes good, but I  make fresh rice as it has to be packed for lunch)

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Peanut - 1 tbsp(Optional, tastes good), I did not add it as my daughter does not like peanuts

Red dry chilly - 2, break into pieces

Lime juice - 2 tbsp or more depends on the lime

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Sugar - 2 tsp

Fresh Coconut grated - 1 tbsp(optional)

(I did not use it as I was short of time)

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp

Heat oil in a kadai. Put mustard seeds and let the seeds splutter. Add Urad dal and fry for 10 seconds or till they change the color to light brown. Do not delay to add curry leaves otherwise dal will get burnt. Be quick to add Coconut(if adding) with Red dry chilly. Fry for half a minute and off the heat. Now add Salt, Turmeric powder and lime juice. Mix it and add cooked rice. Add sugar and fresh coriander. Mix well. Keep it on heat again and cook for a minute on low flame. 

Lemon rice is ready to eat with pickle and papad. 

It is very good to pack and take while travelling but to be consumed before 4 to 6 hours of preparation as it will get spoiled soon.

Keep Smiling,

Green chilly fries(ಬಾಳಕದ ಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I think I delayed posting this recipe as this is prepared in summer and kept for a year. This is also a very common summer preparation with paapad and other fryums. We call it 'baalakad menasina kai" and have it in our regular meals. But as all of you know that I was in Pune for than a month. Actually I had kept few recipes in my draft thinking that I will post them regularly. But my brother's house computer was under repair and I did not get much time to use his personal laptop when he was at home in the evenings.( talking, going out!!!) This time was a real holiday for me. Soon, I will come with details about my holidays in Pune.

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING WITH ME WHEN I WAS NOT POSTING REGULARLY.

Coming to this recipe,  these type of green chillies are available only during February and March month. So it is perfect to prepare these in Summer as these chillies need sundry. 

Fresh long green chilly - 1 kilo

Fresh yogurt or curds - 1/2 kilo, adjust less or more as per required

Salt to taste

Hing - 1 tbsp or a pea nut size(crushed) if using hard hing

Long thick needle to slit the chillies

Wash the green chillies and dry with soft towel or cloth to remove any water. Slit all the chillies on one side so that the curd gets mixed.

Transfer the curd in a big plastic or glass bowl. 

Add salt and hing. Mix it well.

Add slit green chillies in to it and with a wooden spatula or bare hands(if you can bear the pain later :-)  ) mix the chillies with curds.

This should be prepared in the morning so that you can keep it to dry. 

Spread a thick cleaned plastic sheet in a place where there is lot of sun rays. Take only the chillies(leave the curds in a bowl itself and keep it covered)and spread these on the plastic sheet. Allow to dry till evening. In the evening, again put the chillies back into curds. Mix it properly and keep it till next morning. Again take only chillies and put to dry like previous day. Repeat it for 3 days. From 4th day, dry the chillies till they are totally dry. This may take 2 days depending on the weather. Once the chillies are dry, the color will also change to brown. 

Store in air tight container (good plastic or glass will be fine ). You can store it for a year also.

When ever required, take the chillies out and fry in hot oil. Use it with rice, chapati as a side dish.

Soon I will post a recipe using these chillies.

Keep Smiling,

Baingan ka Bharta(brinjal chutney)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Brinjal is the main vegetable used in North Karnataka. Brinjal and Onion sabji is a must in every marriage in few communities in Hubli and Dharawad.

Brijnal is known as zero life vegetable also. Many people do not like the taste of brinjal! But, as usual I love this vegetable also. And I love the most in brinjal preparation is this Baingan bharta.

I know two methods to make this one. This time I am giving you the method that is used in North Karnataka. One more is Punjabi style which has its own flavor and method.

Coming to the recipe,

Ingredients used are,

Brinjal - 1 big

Green chilly - 1 or 2

Onion - 1 medium, chopped in to fine cubes

Garlic - 2 flakes(optional)

Fresh coriander - handful

Salt to taste

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Wash and wipe the brinjal. Prick to make holes all the over. Brush it with oil and roast it on a flame or in a microwave. When cold, keep in water for few minutes. Peel the skin and take the flesh out carefully, Avoid the skin as it tastes bitter.

Roast the green chilly and garlic(if using) Grind  it to make a coarse paste. or you can use  pestle, it gives better taste,

Now, add the roasted brinjal and other ingredients. Again use pestle and mortar to mix all the masalas properly. Check and adjust the taste.

Baingan ka bharta is ready to eat with Jowar rotti or chapati. My dauguter loves it, if I spread it on chapati with curds and make the roll.

Bharta tastes great with Jowar rotti and curds.

Please bear with me and give me some time to post the recipes regularly.

Keep Smiling,