Thursday 31 January 2008

Kodubale!!!!!!! Tasty and spicy flour rings

"On the whole, WELCOME is a fun ride all the way. The tremendous hype for the film has resulted in a tremendous start at the ticket window and the 5-day weekend as also the lack of biggies in the subsequent weeks will help WELCOME reach the ‘Smash Hit’ status in days to come".

This was the review on the BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA site and a feedback that it was good that made us watch the movie WELCOME over the weekend. The movie did start of well but It was pure torture to say within half an hour’s time... I knew it would be brainless comedy but not in such a silly way. The whole movie went really crazy and even the locked brains in the house bled badly I felt.God , what a movie!!! even though I feel bad for all the actors who put in time and hardwork.. I would not recommend to anyone other than as punishment.
The director tries to pull every possible string to make us laugh, and to make it hilarious but fails so badly... It was the worst I have seen in a long time... specially
After seeing movies like Taare Zameen par; this was a like rotten egg.

I wish I had read this review in Apun ka choice before seeing the movie.
"Exit from the hall at the end of the movie was the better part of watching ‘Welcome’, director Anees Bazmee’s latest comedy film. The movie falls way short of expectations. To see ‘the end’ of Bazmee’s film was a welcome relief for me. And when the movie’s after-effects faded away, I felt my sense of humour returning back".
I am really not sure if anyone has liked it at all.. if you are one who has liked this movie, please take that this opinion is only mine... you are entitled to yours...

Kodubale,( spicy and tasty rings):


The best part of all this was the snack I had made that day and that it was a DVD which we saw and did not pay thru the nose to see in a theatre. And to tell u the truth we all concentrated more on the Kodubale (spicy rings made out of Rice flour....) I had tried them quite a few times but always they were a failure, something or other hard sometimes and sometimes real soft.... different recipes from as many food recipes I could handle... finally a recipe from a friend in Mysore (Lalita).Kids enjoyed as much as we did, though it was spicy for their taste. No one can
They turned our exceptionally good and made the Saturday great inspite of seeing Welcome!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the snacks very popular in other parts of South India. It is fairly easy to prepare, but needs some patience and little effort to get it right. The name KoduBale, is as the thing looks like a bangle(BaLe) with a Horn (Kodu) in kannada...Kodubale.They seem very similar to the onion rings found in Burger king.

Kasigondu Kodubale, is a very popular line in kannada meaning one for a penny... similar to the line , one a penny two a penny hot cross buns.

Ingredients

2 cup Rice flour (slightly coarse, gives more crispy touch)
1/2 cup ground Dry roasted Gram dal (hurigadale/phutana/chutney dal)
1 spoon Red chilli powder
2 spoon Jeer (cumin seeds)
A pinch of Hing (asafoetida)
A pinch of baking soda
Dried & crushed curry leaves
2spoon White sesame seeds
Handful crushed (roasted) peanuts
1 cup melted Butter
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
(3 spoons of grated coconut- Optional)

Method
Mix the rice flour, red chilli powder, salt, butter and all the above ingredients in the dry form. Knead with palm to ensure that butter gets uniformly mixed in the dry flour. Make thick dough using very little water. The dough has to be little thicker than puri dough. Rice flour sticks well
enough and is not gluey as wheat flour.
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(The proper method is not to mix water to the flour all at once, but to sprinkle, enough to make a handful of wet dough at a time, finish that and proceed again. )

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In a big Kadai (pan) place the oil for heating.
Take a lemon sized ball and start rolling on a flat area, kitchen board.
The consistency should be sufficient to roll, gently roll to a long rod (the consistency of the dough is very important here... so if it is too dry sprinkle some water to make it pliable)
Roll the dough to the thickness of about the little finger on the hand.
When the rolled rod becomes few inches long, slowly turn around the ends, join them to form a circle (like a bangle).

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The correct consistency is that at the points of bending, small cracks may appear, but the roll will not break.Put in 5 to 6 Kodubale at a time and deep fry slowly till brown.

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To test consistency, break one after cooling; it must be crispy with crumbs at the centre.
The Kodubale, can be stored for a month or more in airtight boxes, making them excellent snacks for lunchbox.
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Yummy , Crunchy kodubale's are ready to savour and devour....

To add to the taste many people fry dry red chillies in oil, and crush them to get a traditional taste instead of red chilli powder.
Using coconut water gives a great taste (instead of using water) while mixing.
Hot oil instead of butter is a possibility but reduces the taste.
Fresh coconut gives a better taste than desiccated coconut.

I am sure you will try this and enjoy.Let me know how you liked them..ciao..

Saturday 26 January 2008

Silly Adult Mind

Walking kids to the school is the everyday routine of mine.I enjoy it very much , fresh air in the morning does good isn't it? The other day wasn’t any different… walking down the alley I was listening to the non-stop chatter of my girls. Elder one said, thank god today is Tuesday and it is not a three some day. I didn’t understand her statement and asked to explain. She did and it left me stunned.

The whole situation is so... We keep moving children with us in the name of job, location, relocation what not, putting them into the real tough moments of adjusting to the new place, new school and making new friends... My elder daughter Shriya was finding it tough to adjust in class 4, especially in a British School where all the kids had started their school from Nursery together. For her to break the group and enter but she managed to make friends with three girls and slowly found herself enjoying with those three girls who are all British. Lets say they are A, B and C out of which the girl C is a little older and a little dominating and the these three younger ones love to idolise. All of going very well .I was glad girls were settling into it now ,until the last two weeks where they started having threesome days where in Shriya wasn’t a part of their weekly activities for three days a week.Only the three of them would be to themselves.
So now she was glad it was not a threesome day and she got to hang around with the ABC. I reacted really sharp and said , why don’t u leave them, why don’t u make new friends.. Why is it that you have to hang around only with them/If they don’t want you why would you want them (In my mind I was really raging with fury thinking that they were pushing her out because of her colour… God!!!! What all was going through my mind) .do you want me to talk to them or you teacher I asked her almost shouting .I think I really over reacted with my daughters confession and she was taken aback..
"Well amma, I cannot stay away from them now you know... it is so tough to be alone again... I spent the first whole month alone... No amma if they don’t want me for a few days in a week, what is the problem... I don’t think it is wrong. It is fair they are friends from a long time"she said in a quite firm voice.I could not answer anything, but to just think why I was reacting…
Came home spoke to my husband… was almost in tears about moving the girls so much and not actually giving them nice base and group to grow with , but was consoled by him to just keep calm and if she is happy we should be fine.
I had gone through a little of being alone , and not fitting into any of the groups of other students into eh class who were either in the groups of beauty, brawns or brains.. Now I did not have neither of the three. It was not until 8th standard that I had my own group of 5 including me. I am in touch with two still and would love to get in touch with two again. Slowly as the day passed by I just left it at that. Took it easy seeing her happy…
On Thursday, A’s mom asked me if Shriya could join the girls party on Friday evening. And I took the chance and said; well you know they have been a little aloof form Shriya this week. Does u think they will like to have her in the party ((how smart of me to voice my concern in such a way? Isn’t it?)) She said, well I knew this was coming up... You know they are making a friendship poster for Shriya and did not want her to know, this is going on for two weeks. So don’t worry about that. They plan to give it to her in tomorrow’s party. It brought such glee to me to think I was the one who was overreacting where as there wasn’t any cause to think so much at all..We adults think too much and make things complicated by our real reading between lines and putting out experience in the situation. The agony I went through for a few days was too much.

This is the poster they made... It took them two weeks and so much effort…. now it is going up the wall in Shriya's as a constant reminder of their friendship and my silly mind.

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My question remains though
Why do we adults react so fast and so much?????why do we attribute motives to every word and every action? Any answers there? help is appreciated.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Monday 21 January 2008

MEDU VADA

A few days ago,when I had guests I made Idli sambar.Though it is a complete meal by itself, I made medu vada to go with it... The Idli - vada combination has always been my favourite meals at places like Saravana Bhavan or the Darshinis of Mysore and Bangalore.
Even in the age where people preferred to eat pizzas and french fries, for me Idli - vada combo remains a must in the menu. During college days eating small meduvadas at the college canteen was such a pleasure. Then end the snacking with very hot filter coffee.. yummy gone are those days I guess. I don't see people eating vadas or pakodas on roads anymore... it has been seriously replaced by noodles and gobimanchuri .. , MacDonald's and pizza huts. are changing the way our kids eat,,,the way they are penetrating the Indian market.



MEDUVADA

These lovely meduvadas are full of proteins with Black gram Dal as the main ingredients and of course is high calorie diet as it is deep fried.It is delicious when served with Sambar known as Sambar vada or can be dipped in Curds/yogurt to make Tairode

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Ingredients
1 cup: Urad dal ( uddina bele)
1 big piece: Ginger (finely chopped or grated)
1/2 tsp: Pepper corns
few finely chopped fresh coconut pieces
1 tsp: Hing
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
A few: Curry leaves
Oil to fry
Salt to taste

Method
Soak the urad dal in water for an two to three hours.Grind to a paste with as little water as possible.
Mix all other ingredients except oil.Heat oil in deep pan for deep frying.
Take a bowl of water and slowly take small ball on the palm smearing your hand with water... make a small hole in the middle and deep fry on both sides till brown.
Remove from oil onto a tissue paper to drain the excess oil, Serve hot with Sambar/chutney

TAIRODE

The Vadas can either be served with sambar or made as Dahivadas known as Tariode in South (Tair in Tamil being Curds/yogurt)
The vadas are dipped in some flavoured and seasoned curds and Tairode is ready
The Curds is beaten well to make a homogeneous mixture. Make a paste of some fresh cumin, coriander, freshly grated coconut and salt. Add this to the curds and then soak the fried Meduvadas.


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In a small pan add half a spoon oil,when it is hot add some mustard seeds when they splutter add some curry leaves and asafoetida. Garnish this on the Dahivadas and serve chilled.

I am sure you all will enjoy this dish as much as I did with my family and guests loved it too.

Tuesday 15 January 2008

HAPPY SANKRANTI

SANKRANTI, this important day marks the commencement of the Sun's northern course in the Heavens, known as the Uttaraayana patha. This turn in the Sun's course takes place at the point of time when it enters the sign of Makara or Capricorn.This is the only festival in Hindu calendar that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year (all other Hindu festivals are computed using the lunar calendar .
Sankranti is the first festival of the year, bringing in the memories of childhood every year... I grew up in my Ajji , tata (grandparents) house,, and the festive arrangements began almost 15 days ahead, with the selection of whitest of sesame.. Bili yellu, nylon yellu,( idu kappu idu brown) not brown, not black , good quality sesame/til.So much of deliberation and pondering before buying the best rounded groundnuts, best of gram dhal (phutana/hurigadle).Back then it felt like a chore ,but on hindsight now I feel it was such a family quality time spent with all the cousins around making noise and bonding together... my girls are missing on all that fun.The wonderful bit of sankranti is making the sugar moulds and distributing them to houses of friends and family .What a great way of maintaining relations with all the strain and pressure it takes all round the year. The yellu- bella suggests the jist of the whole festival... sesame with jaggery is given with the wish of speaking good all round the year. yellu bella tindu olle matadu (meaning speak sweet as jaggery)
The euphoria of dressing up in great zari langa (silk lehenga) and running round like princess and as though the whole responsibility was ours was such a booster to the small tiny ego....
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The plates ready for distribution had a piece of sugarcane, fruits ( two bananas or apple or orange) one sugar mould , sakkare acchu and the packet of Yellu Bella. I have taken it on myself to make the yellu bella at home , but unfortunately could not master the art of making the Sakkare acchu... My aunt makes them excellent and hoping to post the method and some pictures which she promises to send soon.

The festive menu on sankranti have a few musts and they are Sweet pongal and Yellu Holige,This year I just made the sweet pongal , chana usli and Chitranna.

SIHI PONGAL

This famous south Indian, Sankranthi sweet, is traditionally made with freshly harvested rice. Though simple to make it is amazing in taste, the ordinary rice becomes mouth wateringly extraordinary. In sweet pongal, rice soaks up the milk, absorbs the jaggery, picks up the cardamom scent and takes up the generously added moong dal, cashews and golden raisins. And in this new avatar, becomes an offering to the Gods (naivedya)and also simply irresistibly tasty.

I follow the recipe which I have taken from my Sister in law who is an excellent cook, to be frank half the items I cook, have learnt from her.Her Method is neat and easy and the end result is always like the prasadam offering of temples. Jaggery is the traditional sweetener of sweet pongal simply because it tastes better than when made with sugar.
Sweet pongal is like a rice-dal porridge, consistency must be a little thick and sticky.



INGREDIENTS

1 cup of rice

½ cup of yellow moong dal (Hesaru bele)

1 to 1½ cups of powdered jaggery - sweet can be to your taste

¼ cup each of cashews and golden raisins

¼ cup of melted ghee

4 cardamom pods, skins removed and seeds powdered finely

3 cups each of milk and water
( I use some grated copra for extra taste)

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METHOD

Heat one teaspoon of ghee in a kadai or pan.Add and roast yellow moong dal until they turn from yellow to reddish pink in colour. Do not wait till they get brown, that’s too much roasting. remove them into a plate..
Heat three teaspoons of ghee in the same skillet, roast cashews and golden raisins till they turn light gold in colour. Remove and keep them aside.
In a pressure cooker take rice and roasted moong dal, add water and milk, stir once and cook.
Jaggery and water: Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed vessel add powdered jaggery and one cup of water, stir and cook them till jaggery melts for at least 10 minutes on high heat. Turn off the heat after 10 minutes and allow the jaggery solution to cool little bit. (Jaggery is added separately as it cannot be added with raw and uncooked rice.. then rice wouldnt cook well.)
Add the cooked rice-dal mixture to the jaggery syrup. Keep the heat on medium; add the ghee and cardamom powder. keep stirring in a simmer mode till the whole thing gets to a sticky thick and deliciously semlling pudding .. Switch off the heat. Cover and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Sweet pongal thickens further on cooling. Garnish with nuts and grated copra....
Serve hot with a dash of ghee




KOSAMBARI

This Kosambari , is basically the same type I have posted earlier with moong dal only that I made it mostly with Chana dal this time. On a festive occassion we are not supposed to make only of one dal so just managed to sprinkle a little moong dal too.the recipe remains the same , instead of Carrot I used finely chopped cucumber. Using both is also as delicious.

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Ingredients
1 cup chana dal (Bengal Gram)
1 cup finely chopped cucumber
1 cup freshly grated coconut
1 green chilly finely chopped
2tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 inch ginger finely chopped
1 spoon oil, a few curry leaves
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Method: Soak the Chana dal for a minimum of 4 to 5 hours. Add it with cucumber, coconut , ginger and coriander. Heat the oil and let the mustard splutter.. add curry leaves, green chillies and mix with the chana dal... add lemon juice and salt to taste...



Hara chana USLI...

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dry Hara Chana

2 tbsp oil

1 inch ginger and

2 green chillies finely chopped

1gm asafoetida

Lemon juice

1/2 cup grated coconut

chopped coriander and salt to taste

METHOD

Soak the hara chana ( hasiru kadlekalu) overnight. Drain and cook in the pressure cooker with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.Heat oil, add mustard seeds, when they splutter add chopped ginger, green chilli, and saute for 2 minutes. Add hara channa and cook until done. Add lemon juice, chopped coriander and freshly grated coconut . Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with some some cucumber slices...

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Had a few friends over for lunch yesterday.. The chana usli was delicious .


Ciao, friends.Try a few of these and let me know.....

,

Wednesday 9 January 2008

KOSAMBARI - THE YUMMY SALAD

New year brings a resolution session also for most of the world, and I am sure 90% of the resolutions include a balanced diet and loss of weight programme.. contributing towards the healthy diet.. I am just giving the recipe of KOSAMBARI - basically a salad with lentils and carrot which is integral part of a festive meal in Karnataka meal. There are two types one with Green gram dal (moongdal/hesarubele) and another with Bengal gram dal (chanadal/ kadalebele).Both are as delicious.. I made the Greengram one today.

The Green Gram dal used in this dish is very easy to digest and can be used cooked or uncooked.The calorific value is relatively less and fat percentage is next to nil. The only drawback I see is the liberal use of fresh coconut but it certainly enhances the taste and I wouldn't complain much about it.

Whenever I attend a wedding or festivity where the meal is served on a green plantain leaf this is served as a add on dish and is quite less in serving for me..I don't shy to to ask again , I do not mind licking fingers either...try it and let me know if you did the same...


KOSAMBARI - THE YUMMY SALAD

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Ingredients

1 cup Moong dal ( split green gram dal)

1 cup Fresh grated carrot

1 cup Fresh grated coconut

1 fresh green chilli (finely chopped)

finely chopped coriander leaves,

few curry leaves

finely chopped ginger

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp of lemon juice

and salt to taste

Method:

Soak the Green gram dal (hesarubele) for about 3 to 4 hours..Drain and soak of all the water on a thin cloth or tissue paper. Add grated carrot, coconut, coriander leaves ginger,lemon juice and salt.


Heat the oil, add mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds splutter add the curry leaves and finely chopped green chillies .

Mix the seasoning to the salad. It can be a full meal by itself or served with Chitranna (Lemon rice) or any meal.






Monday 7 January 2008

OKRA/ BENDEKAYI GOJJU

Okra (the angrezi name of our own lady's finger /Bhindi/Bendekayi) , the one vegetable I never thought I would miss ever in my life time..But seems like leaving it back in homeland has made me okra - lover. My grandfather had a notion that when if you eat fresh bhindi , a very tender one it helps to get the brain sharper in maths,.( I never ate, I am very bad at maths... so guess his theory is true!!!!!!!!)

It was not in my favourite list, to say so not even edible list before I started living in Romania...This beautiful country as any other European country mainly survives on potatoes...As I browsed to the market without knowing the languages and managing with sign language to buy the vegetables I wanted , my eyes went wide seeing the Okra pods there..They were a little smaller , like shorter ones but who cares after eating only Cabbage, Potatoes and Carrots for two odd months I was ready to grab whatever other vegetable was available in that store.

It was a little disastrous try with that lot as it was too small , too pricky and understood that they just boil it with some onions and tomatoes for their dish so it becoming glutinous did not matter . It was called Bama in Romanian ... Slowly when summer arrived the vegetables arrived in market and I did find my kind of Okras finally and with all that effort it had gained a privileged corner for itself in my food list. Enjoyed the tender bame/okras as long as we stayed. Here in UK it is easily available so tried as many dishes with it Bhindi fry, Sambar, normal sabzi with coconut but the favourite remains Gojju, which can be delicious with Rice or Chapati, which is OKRAS IN A SPICY COCONUT GRAVY.



Todays dish is BENDEKAYI GOJJU/ OKRA IN SPICY GRAVY

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Okra.
2 tbsp Urad dal ( black gram dal)
4 Dry red chillies
1 pinch asafoetida
1 tbsp of raw rice
small piece of cinnamon
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 cup grated coconut
two sprigs of curry leaves
1/2 spoon of turmeric
1/2 cup tamarind juice ( if using concentrate then 1/2 tbsp).
3 to 4 tbsp of Oil and
salt to taste

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Method:


Dry roast Uraddal, dry red chillies, asafoetida, cinnamon,raw rice, cumin seeds,curry leaves and grated coconut and grind to a smooth paste with some water. Keep aside.


Wash, wipe the Okras clean and cut them into half inch pieces . In a pan add two spoons oil and roast the Okra pieces till it gives out aroma.. Take care that the okras are dry or else it might give a slimy , glutinous substance might spoil the look and taste of the dish.

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When the okras are done they are tender , now add salt turmeric and the ground paste with two cups of water.
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Season with mustard seeds,and curry leaves.

I am sure this will be on your list too sooner or later.

Pa pentru astazi... (bye for today in Romanian).








Thursday 3 January 2008

INCREDIBLE POORI SAGU

Typical Karnataka dish series is really shaping up now... with poori sagu coming into the picture .Typically at my parents place we would have it Thursday evenings or Saturday evenings when we had the fast of not eating the traditional rice meals.It was such a treat to be eating puri and aloo, or puri sagu.
I however enjoy it with hot and puffed puri's. Puri's are always a hot favourite with kids. and making them is fun .... thought for oily food, weight gain , fat, obese all these run away miles from my mind when I see puri's and so very often make them.I looked on the web and saw so many recipes but none of them seemed to match with each other.
I happened to see the programme of Worlds heaviest woman and the programme said that 200,000 people in America are overweight , and above 40 stone limit ( 1 stone is roughly 6.350 something kilograms) doing the math average weight of each of these persons would be above 200 kilos... no wonder I should not see such programmes with PURI's in front of me... But with such delicious dish in front of me, Who cares!!! yaha kal kya ho kisne jaana?So friends , try cook and enjoy this tasty dish.


Poori - Sagu:
Sagu is traditionally dish with vegetables and spicy coconut gravy. I use very few vegetables in sagu as did my mother - in - law , however my mom used quite a few other vegetables like capsicum, cauliflower in it and it would taste as good.


Ingredients for the masala
1/2 cup grated coconut,
3-4 green chillies,
2 tbsp phutana(roasted chana dal/chutney dal),
2 tsp soaked raw rice,
1 tbsp cumin seeds
few coriander leaves
few mint leaves,Curry leaves,
salt to taste,
1" cinnamon,
2 cloves
2 tbsp soaked poppy seeds
few peppercorns

Method:

Grind all these ingredients together to a smooth paste with little water and set aside.

Steam 2 cubed Carrots,1/2 cup sliced and finely chopped green beans, 1 cup cubed potatos , 2 cup chayotes (seeme badnekayi or chow chow)1 cup frozen or fresh Green peas

In a pan add oil when it is hot add some mustard seeds, cumin , dry red chillies curry leaves for aroma..., add the cooked vegetables and the ground paste and let it cook.Please do take care and add water since the sagu thickens very fast and gets thicker as it gets colder.

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Poori:
I am sure many reading here surely know how to make puris.. I am just putting down my way of doing it.. I enjoy my puris very puffy so intend to keep them so till I get to the dining table which is at the end of the last puris..
Ingredients:
3 cups wheat flour (atta)

1/2 cup fine sooji ( fine semolina)

1 cup milk

salt to taste

water to knead


oil to fry


Method:
Mix atta , sooji, milk, salt with enough water to make a thick pliable dough.

In a kadai (pan) heat enough oil to deep fry the puris.

Take small balls of the kneaded dough and roll out to small flat round puris

Deep fry and enjoy them with the sagu.

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It is heavenly I assure you.The sagu in this photo looks a little reddish becasue of the yellow light bulb in our house.It is usually quite lovely green in colour. Hoping I will add a nicer picture soon.
thats the tasty bye bye from me today.




Wednesday 2 January 2008

SNACK - GOJJAVALAKKI

I am a tea person... with tea I like snacking a bit ( does not help with my weight control anyway).I have always been a plump person , fondly termed as 'khaate peete ghar ki ladki by my dad. Pakodas, samosa, chat items anything deep fried, unhealthy oily dish and I am for it.
Of late have discovered the traditional snacks of Karnataka (to say so they are low in fat but quite high in calories but always better than french fries and crisps) and started making them regularly, it was revealing to me that kids did like them and asked me to try many more dishes.I expected them to say... no not these but then they were eagar to try more dishes.Good for me now I do try many more dishes of course from all parts of world and once they turn out right... never make them again. .

My favourite tea time snack typical of Karnataka is Gojjavalakki... made of poha or rice flakes. It can as much be translated as tamarind poha. It is delicious and filling too. Easy to make this dish can be really a family favourite soon.


GOJJAVALAKKI:

Poha : 3 cups
Tamarind : ball of lemon size
Rasam powder : 2 tbsp
Jaggery : 2 tbsp
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
dessicated /grated coconut : half a cup
For seasoning
Oil
Groundnuts
mustard seeds
cumin seeds
curry leaves
Dry red chillies
chana dal( bengal gram)
urad dal ( dehusked black gram )

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Method:
Grind the poha /thick rice flakes coarsely in a mixer grinder. almost to coarse semolina consistency. Soak the tamarind in three cups of water for half an hour.squeeze the juice into a large bowl and add the rasam powder, jaggery , asafoetida and salt. Soak the ground poha in it for two to three hours till the flakes absorb every drop of the tamarind juice and look dry.

In a large kadai (pan) heat three spoons of oil.When the oil is hot pop the mustard seeds, add cumin seeds, Chana dal, urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves. When done add the above soaked poha in the seasoning , fry till it mixes with the seasoning thoroughly and add some dessicated coconut and salt to taste....

Serve hot with some fryums/papad/ ( akki sandige to be precise).


Tuesday 1 January 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR

WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR



We are back to a brand new year... 2008,How different this year will be from the rest I am yet to discover. We started the year visiting the temple, with the belief God will be with us in every step of this year too.Time for making resolutions and finding way to break them too.


I was off from the house for a week and it was then I realised how addicted I had become to net surfing and chatting. Though we were in the beautiful area of Somerset it was evident when I was logging in as though I had missed some important section of life for a week. There were loads of New Year Messages...and of course a few requests for some dishes with a traditional taste of Karnataka.... There are quite a few which I am trying to write in the coming few days.


If anyone asks me about Karnataka flavour the first thing that comes to mind is AKKI ROTTI, my favourite breakfast.

This dish is high in calorie and is very rich in carbohydrates. Made of rice flour it is very tasty and very filling as a breakfast.I use the rice flour available in stores by my mother prefers to wash and dry the rice and get it ground to flour in a rice mill.( the taste seems different I should say).


Ingredients:
(to make 4 pieces)


2 cups rice flour
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 spoon oil
pinch of asafoetida
and salt to taste



Method:


Mix all the above ingredients with required amount of water to make a fairly thick dough.On a kadai or a tava add few drops of oil . Take a ball of the above dough and slowly spread it on the tawa or kadai with fingers. Spread as thin as you can and let it cook on medium flame.
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The Akki rotti comes out red and crisp in a few minutes time. Serve with the coconut chutney(recipe is in one of the earlier post)

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So new year begins with a lovely recipe friends,, let me know how your trial with recipes go and if you