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,

Full meals ready(ಊಟ ತಯಾರಿದೆ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

When you travel for a long distance, as lunch or dinner time comes, you search for this board on the roads. And once you get inside the hotel or restaurant,  you will search for a menu card which is not available in this type of small shops. If you ask the waiter he will come and say something very fast which you will not understand! Again you  have to request!!! him to tell the menu slowly. Then you will realize he is saying the things available in a Thali.

And this is Thali in my restaurant!!!

I will go on giving recipes for each food,

First comes Rice, I love rice in any form!!!!!!

This is Plain Jeera Rice :

Long grain basmati or any other type rice - 200 gm

Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Tej Patta - 1

Salt to taste

Water to cook the rice

Wash the rice and drain it and keep aside for 15 minutes.

Heat oil and ghee in a cooker.

Add Jeera and fry for 10 seconds. Add Tej patta(bay leaf) and immediately add rice. Fry it for a minute. Add salt and water till the rice is covered. Cover the lid and give just one whistle. Allow the cooker to cool.

Rice is ready! (single and ready to mingle with Dal)

Next is Dal Tadka

Toor Dal - 1 cup

Onion - 1 small, peeled and cut into long thin slices

Tomato - 2 big, washed and cut into long slices

Garlic - 8 to 10 cloves, cleaned and cut into small pieces

Curry leaves - few

Dry long red chilly - 4 to 6

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Dhania (Coriander powder) - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Fresh Coriander - hand full, cleaned, washed and chopped
Oil - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Wash the toor dal, soak it for half an hour. Till it is soaked, keep other ingredients ready.

Boil the dal till real soft. You can blend for half a minute if it is not fully cooked.

Now heat oil in a kadai and add mustard and cumin seeds. Fry till the mustards start talking :-)

Put onion and garlic. Fry till brown. Add curry leaves and red dry chilly. Add dhania powder, red chilly powder, salt , sugar and turmeric powder. Mix well and add tomatoes. Without waiting add the boiled dal. Let it cook till first boil. Adjust the seasoning and water consistency. I like it thick but you can add little more water to make like a curry. 

Add lime juice and Fresh coriander and keep it with rice to serve.

 Third is Dry beans subji

long beans - 200 gm, cleaned, washed and chopped

Oil - 1 tbsp

Urad dal - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Green chilly - 2 slit

Fresh coconut - 1/4 cup, grated

Salt to taste

Hing - pinch

Keep chopped beans in a microwave for 3 minutes or boil in a vessel with little water on flame. Drain the water and keep aside

Add oil in a kadai and keep it on the flame. When hot, add mustard seeds add urad dal. When dal turns into golden color add curry leaves and green chilly. Add hing and boiled beans. Mix properly before adding salt. cook for a minute. Add coconut and boil for 2 more minutes, taking care of not to burn the beans. 

Beans sabji is ready to serve.

All these serve for 3 to 4 people.

   Photos taken by my elder daughter!!!

Sending this to "Cooking Basics Event" held by Mahimaa of  Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.

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,

Potato Fritters or Aloo Pakoda

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All, 

(Don't you feel it looks like crane st anding on a stone and  waiting to catch a fish!!)

                                         

        

(here for details of the image.)

Last week, I posted Can any one guess what is it? when I caught this photo. When I read Nithu's post (Potato Bajji), I remembered that I also promised that I will post the recipe for it in this week. Even she got different recipe.

So here is my recipe!

Potato - 3 big

Keep potatoes in water for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove clean and cut into round thick slices. If you feel potatoes are not clean, peel the skin and cut in to thick round slices.

  

Oil to fry pakodas

For batter :

Gram flour -  1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Hot oil - 1 tbsp

Eating soda ( soda-bi carb) -  a pinch

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Mix all in a bowl with little water to make the thick batter. Keep it aside for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a thick kadai. Dip the potato slices slowly seeing that the slice is covered with full batter and slide them in to oil. Fry till golden color, in batches slowly on medium flame. 

Potato Pakodas are ready to eat with tea or kurmura(churmuri).

Linking it to

http://sindhirasoi.com/link/potato/

Keep Smiling,

Moong Salad (Reposted)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi all,

Here is my favorite food. I am ready to eat this any time, any day! I can stay with this for more than week, just changing few ingredients and small portion of chapati. 

The grains used here can be either partially cooked or even raw. Raw will taste better. But if you are not used to raw food, it is good to cook it in a microwave for one minute and use it.

  

The recipe is here,

Green moong -1 cup 

Yellow moong(Whole moth bean, madaki kalu in Kannada) - 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds(Methi seeds) - 2 tbsp

Cucumber - 1 small (chopped into very small pieces)

Carrot - 1 small (grated)

Fresh coconut(grated) - 1/4 cup or less

Salt to taste

Green chilly - 1 chopped(skip this if you are giving it to kids)

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Soak both the moong and fenugreek seeds  in water overnight. Remove the water. Keep them tied in the muslin cloth for a day to sprout the moongs(or if you know any other way to sprout it , follow it!)

Wash the beans(moong) with fresh water.

Keep it in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or till the beans are 3/4th cooked. (Skip this step if you want to have it raw!!)

Take it out in a bowl. Add all other ingredients. Mix it properly. Adjust the seasoning.

Salad is ready to serve.

Click Moong Salad for my older post.

Sending this to Divya's  Show Me Your Salad! event!

(What a lovely logo for the event! Thanks Divya)

Keep smiling,

Forgotten Indian games!! (Edited and re written), Event Announcement!!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,
Hurray!!! I am here with my first event!!

I took a long time to  re write this! My older post(Fogotten Indian games!!!!!!!!) got very supportive responses. But I was lazy to take it in to action.  And I was not confident enough to held an event all by myself. But the support I am getting from you all has given me that courage and confidence to do this! I am really very much excited and feeling like as if my first movie is going to release!!! Now I can empathize what actors go through before their movies releases!!! 

My first event is going to be on blog! I hope you all will support me and participate , which is totally away from cooking. So, relax and take some time. This is all about the games, we used to play during our child hood. I want all of you to relive your child hood  by remembering the olden games and playing with your kids.

In the child hood, we used to stay in a chawl. (Many houses together in a big compound, or one big lane having houses built either side of the road.) I had many friends and there was no one to stop us playing the whole day during summer vacations. We used to play many games, which are totally disappeared now a days. Lagori, Halpi, Vattappa, sarbadgi, muttata, hide and seek(stop), kabaddi, gilli dandu, aali guli mani, kuntata, bali churu(broken banlgles), Chakka vacchi, playing house house game with kitchen set and dolls, kalla police(thief and police), dum sharara, goli, writing our own script and playing the dramas.(I do not know the English names for the games, sorry!! These all are Kannada names!) I still do not remember many games.

That included, stealing pickles from the kitchen and then sharing and eating.

Collecting the ingredients for making Chigali(made up of fresh tamarind, jaggery, chilly powder, lime leaves, salt and few more!!). Then making small balls of chigali, sharing and enjoying the spicy, tangy, lemony and salty taste.

Preparing mehandi at home and applying in the evenings.

And not to forget, educational games, like writing names of four things from same alphabet, memory game, Antakshari!!!

Just a thought came in my mind!! Why we can not post all old games one by one, trying to explain it with photo(if possible) !!!
(image from here)

Simple rules to participate in the event,

1. Post any forgotten,old Indian game (If possible with photo). Explain the game and try to share maximum information you have. 

2. I will appreciate if you can place the logo in your blog.

3. Send me an email to nivedita(DOT)mt(AT)gmail(DOT)com,(nivedita.mt@gmail.com), "Forgotten Indian games" as a subject,  by March 31, 2010 with the following details,

Name :

Your Blog Name :

Name of the game :

url of your post :

Picture(if any) :

4. You could send any number of entries.

5. If any archived posts are there, please update and repost it to link back to my post.

6. Please link back to my announcement. 

7. Non bloggers can send the details to my mail.

From My side,

As this is my first event, I will try to finish up the work and come up with event round up by April 15th or before.

Start Playing!!!

(I hope you all will not disappoint me!)

( I have read more than 50 times in a preview before going to publish it!)

Keep Smiling,

Brown rice,green veg curry and brinjal fry!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Brown rice and green veg curry is nothing but Bhooga Chaawar aur Sai bhaji. A traditional Sindhi dish. A wonderful combo for a hungry stomach.

Brown Rice(Bhooga chawar) :

Long grain rice : 200 gm

Onion - 2 big, long, thin slices

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Cloves - 3

Bay leaf - 1

Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

Warm water to cook the rice.

Wash the rice and keep aside to remove all the water from it.

Heat oil in a cooker, add bay leaf, cumin seeds and cloves. Then put onions and fry for a minute. Add sugar and keep on frying till the onions turn dark brown but not burnt. Now add Chilly powder and salt with rice. Fry for a minute so that all gets mixed well. Now add warm water till the rice is just covered. Close the lid and give 2 whistles.

Brown rice is ready. Garnish with Fried onions(optional).

Coming to Sai bhaji, click here for old post., Still giving the details again as this post is going for an event.

Green Veg Curry(Sai Bhaji)  :

Palak(Spinach) - 1 bunch
Methi leaves(Fenugreek leaves) - 1/2 bunchSabbasgi (Dill leaves) - 1/4 bunch(Optional)

(While making for this post, I did not had dill leaves and brinjal, so you can not see in the photo)
Brinjal - 1 medium (cut into cubes), its optional.
Potato - 1 medium(cut into cubes)
Tomato - 2 big(cut in to cubes)
Carrot - 1 medium(cut into cubes)
Channa dal - 1/2 cup (Soaked in water at least for an hour)
Salt to taste
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Haldi - 1/2 tsp
For tempering,
Oil - 1 tbsp(Ghee will taste better)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Ginger Crushed - 1tsp
Mix all the ingredients for bhaji in a cooker and make 4 whistles. When cooker is cool, remove the lid, churn it with churner or with blender. Adjust the taste for salt.Give bhagar with mustard seeds and crushed ginger in a oil.Sai Bhaji is ready to serve.
(You will enjoy the same in  Alka's  Sindhi Traditional Food also. (Being Sindhi, our preparations are almost the same!) This is just for your information. I am not in to any copy cat thing!! I am a regular follower of her blog, as I love to learn more of Sindhi Cuisine. She got a lovely blog about All Sindhi Recipes.)
Next is
Brinjal fry :
Brinjal - 1 big, cut in to round, medium thin slices.
Salt to taste
Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Curry powder - 1 tsp
Oil to shallow fry
Mix the powders with salt. Rub this powder to all the brinjal slices. Keep it for 5 minutes.
Heat tawa or frying pan. Put the slices on the pan and shallow fry by turning the slices often for 10 minutes. 
Brinjal fry is also ready to serve.
Arrange every thing in the plate and enjoy with your family on Sunday afternoon.

Sending this to Pari's  THE COMBO EVENT 

Keep Smiling,