Mosaru Avalakki (Curd Poha)

Wanna celebrate “No Rice Day”… think of Lord Krishna’s favourite…homely, humble Avalakki (Poha). Soak it in a bowl of curd. Garnish it, taste it….hmmm…find yourself soaking in bliss. Cool dish this….for there is nothing warm about it. Consumed best in a mildly chilled and slightly sweet state, “Mosaru Avalakki” is a fitting substitute for curd rice. Typically served at the fag end of a meal, it is known to soothe the stomach, acting as a coolant especially after eating hot n spicy stuff or rich fat food.

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Rice Variety

Preparation Time:  10 min

Cooking time:  2 min

Serves:  4 persons

Ingredients

For soaking:

Poha                            1 cup (paper thin variety)

Curd/Yogurt                ½ cup

Salt to taste                 ½ tsp approx.

For seasoning:

Oil                               ½ tsp

Mustard seeds                        ½ tsp

Bengal gram dal         ½ tsp

Black gram dal                        ½ tsp

Green chilli                 1 no. chopped to circular pieces

Red chilli                     2 nos.

Curry leaves                few

Cashew nuts                2 nos. (broken to smaller pieces)

Asafoetida                   A pinch

Optional Ingredients for garnish, nutrition and taste: (Add all, some or none of these. It’s your choice alone!)

Onion                          1 tbsp. fine chopped

Carrot                          1 tbsp. grated

Cucumber                   1 tbsp. fine chopped

Ginger                         ¼” pc grated

Coriander leaves         1 tbsp fresh and fine chopped

Raisins                         1 tsp

Pomegranate seeds    1 tbsp

Fresh green grapes     1 tbsp (big size grapes can be sliced to half)

Cumin powder                        A pinch

Black salt powder       A pinch

Raw grated coconut    2 tbsps (fresh)

Directions:

Wash poha thoroughly in water – preferably twice. Drain out the water. Whisk curd well with salt. Add this to the washed poha. Mix them gently. Keep aside for just 5 min. Get ready to season it….

Heat oil in a small skillet. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add bengal gram dal and black gram dal. When they turn golden brown, add chopped green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and cashew nuts. Switch off and add asafoetida. Let it cool.

Now add any or all of the ingredients listed above for garnish, to suit your taste and convenience. Finally add the seasoning that you just prepared. Mix them well and yes, gently.

Mosaru Avalakki is now ready. Serve it straight (with / without accompaniment) or chill n serve.

Tete – a - Tete

Thick variety of poha may also be used. It needs more soaking time and comparatively greater quantity of water. When kept soaked for a longer time, poha mix thickens. You may have to add more curd and also water if required. Also remember to check the taste for this revised quantity. A bit more of salt….sure you can add.

Adding veggies and fruits like onion, cucumber, grapes, pomegranate not only enhances nutrition n taste, but also prevents the mixture from becoming thick.

Store it in refrigerator if needed for later use. Add milk if curd turns sour.

If you wish to pack it for travel, mix all ingredients except curd. Store boiled and cooled milk separately with just a spoon of curd added to it. Mix it well with rest of the ingredients just before serving.

Same recipe holds good for Curd Rice too. Here, in place of poha, use cooked rice. Cook rice with rice: water ratio of 1:3. Let rice cool completely before adding curd, salt, seasoning and garnish.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Dry Chutney Powder (Type 2)

Marathon morning sessions driving you mad? Relax….here comes a recipe to your rescue! Can be prepared in advance and stored for long. Gives you comfort and generously offers company to idlis, dosas, bread, hot steamed rice when they long for one. Combine it with plain yogurt and serve with crispy South Indian snacks as a dip!

Just a minute….don’t miss reading a tip or two that we share at the tail end of this recipe.

Dish type: Spice powder

Preparation time: 5 min

Roasting time: 10 min

Quantity: 1000 gms (approx.)

Ingredients

Red chillies                  100 gms (Byadagi variety)

Red chillies                  100 gms (Guntur variety)

Black gram                  250 gms

Bengal gram               250 gms

Tamarind                    25 gms

Crystal salt                  1 tbsp

Groundnuts                 50 gms

Roasted gram             50 gms

Curry leaves                1 bunch

Dry coconut grated     250 gms

Asafoetida                   5 gms

Jaggery                        1 tsp (optional and if used, no need to roast)

Directions

Before you begin…

Wash curry leaves in salt water and dry them thoroughly (keeping it indoors) before roasting them.

Make sure your hands, all ingredients, plates, spoons, kadai, container for storing etc. are all absolutely dry all through the process right from preparation till storage of the powder.

Grate dry coconut and keep it aside.

Measure and keep all ingredients required for roasting, ready in different plates.

Now you are ready to start roasting….

Roast all the above ingredients separately (in the same order listed under ingredients) over low flame in a pan.

After each ingredient is roasted keep transferring to respective plates.

Let them cool thoroughly at room temparature.

Dals have to be roasted till they turn light brown.

Dry coconut can be roasted last. When you are done with roasting all other ingredients, turn off the flame. Heat that remains in the pan after switching off the flame is enough to roast dry coconut.

Grind the ingredients in a mixie in the following order: Dry chillies, bengal gram, black gram, groundnuts, tamarind, salt, curry leaves, roasted gram, dry coconut, asafoetida, jaggery. Powder them neither too coarse nor too fine. Store it in an absolutely dry air tight container.

Tete - a - Tete:

While preparing any masala powder, it is always advisable to dry fry ingredients separately due to variance in size, thickness and texture of ingredients. The time and temperature required for each ingredient also varies.

Roasting tips:

Roast byadegi (or Kashmiri) variety of red chillies for approx. 2 to 3 min. These chillies don’t change colour easily. Hence, as soon as you smell the roasted flavour of chillies, remove them from the pan. Roasting Guntur variety of red chillies takes even lesser time as they are not wrinkled like the former. However, the exact time for roasting depends on the amount and type of heat (depends on gas burner, electric stove or microwave). Best method to judge the roasting time for chillies is by sensing the smell.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Dry Chutney Powder (Type 1)

This  is the most versatile spice powder, popular in Karnataka, South India and offers itself as a tempting companion to Idlis, Dosas, Chapathis and Hot rice, a spicy spread for toasts and sandwiches.

Dish type: Spice powder

Preparation time: 5 min

Roasting time: 10 min

Quantity: 100 gms

Ingredients

Bengal gram                       50 gms

Black gram                          50 gms

Red chillies                          8 nos.

Tamarind                             A small piece (curry leaf size)

Curry leaves                       2 sprigs

Dry coconut grated         100 gms

Asafoetida                          2 granules (pepper size)

Directions

Roast all the above ingredients separately over low flame in a pan. After each ingredient is roasted keep transferring to a plate. Let them cool thoroughly at room temparature.

Dals have to be roasted till they turn light brown.

Dry coconut can be roasted last. When you are done with roasting all other ingredients, turn off the flame. Heat of the pan that still remains in the pan after switching off the flame is enough to roast dry coconut.

Curry leaves have to be washed and dried thoroughly (keeping it indoors) before roasting them.

Powder them coarsely. Store in an air tight container.

Tete – a – Tete:

While preparing any masala powder, It is always advisable to dry fry ingredients separately due to variance in size, thickness and texture of ingredients.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Puranache Dive

Dish type: Traditional Indian Dessert

Time taken: 15 min approx

Roasting time: 10 min

Quantity: 100 gms

Ingredients

Bengal gram dal                   125 gms

Jaggery                                 150 gms

Directions:

Cook dal in a pressure cooker with enough water (say twice the quantity of dal) till it is soft. Drain water completely. While dal is cooking….pound jaggery to powder form.

Mix both powdered jiggery and cooked dal in a kadai. Heat till jaggery melts. Continue stirring and heating the mix on low flame till water content disappears and mix turns into ball like consistency. It also starts leaving the sides of the kadai.  Grind this mass in a “puran yantra” or in a mixie. When done with a mixie, it becomes liquidy.  Keep it in the fridge for a few hours to allow it to cool down and become tight. Now shape them into diyas, place wick inside each of the diyas, fill diya with ghee . Use it to perform “Arati”

Tete – a – Tete:

Recipe Contributor Smitha Kiran Desai says “We pray to Goddess jivati to protect our children… on Friday of Shravan month. On Nagapanchami we Deshastha Brahmins make a recipe called Dinda. This is also made with puran. Puran is placed on a wheat roti. Roti is then folded into pocket shape and it is steamed. It is eaten with ghee.”

Plain Dosa Batter

Welcome to “The World of Dosas”! Call it “Crispy Crepe” in its thinner, crispier version or a “Plain Pancake” in its softer, thicker avatar, these rice and lentil based dosas made from fermented batter are here to stay!

Dosa is one of the commonest dishes in Homes and Darshinis (chain of restaurants) of South India. Thanks to its ingredients, Dosa is rich in carbohydrates, poor in saturated fats and sugar, free of gluten, filled with protein, fermenting process further augmenting the Vitamin B and C content.

This heavenly staple dish, indigenous to South India, has its origins linked to Udupi town of Karnataka, India. The earliest mention of dosa can also be found in the 6^th century Tamil literature.

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast/Supper Dish

Preparation time: 5 min

Soaking time:  5 hours

Grinding time: 45 min

Fermenting time: 12 hrs

Yield: 2 kgs (approx..)

Ingredients

Rice                             1000 gms

Black gram dhal          250 gms

Methi seeds                20 gms

Poha (Avalakki)           100 gms (thick variety)

Salt                              50 gms

Directions

Soak rice and methi seeds together for 5 hours. Soak poha separately for 5 hours

Soak black gram dhal for 3 hours (after 2 hours of soaking rice, methi and poha)

Pour about ½ litre water into the wet grinder and switch on the grinder.

Now start putting rice, urad dhal and poha one after another into the grinder.

Keep adding very little quantities of water and stir the batter at intervals.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre.

Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Now transfer it to a vessel big enough to hold all the batter in less than half its height. This is to prevent the batter that rises up on fermenting from spilling out of the vessel.

Now add salt and mix the batter thoroughly. Close the vessel with a lid and let it stand for about 12 hours.

Plain Dosa Batter is now ready.

Tete – a – Tete:

Procedure for preparing batter remains the same even when done with “mixie”, a popular short n sweet name for Indian mixer grinders!

You can use this batter to make a variety of dosas like steam dosa, masala dosa, vegetable dosa, etc.

Poha or Avalakki is known by many other names like “beaten rice, “pressed rice”, “flattened rice and “flaked rice”

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Avare Rice (South Indian Pulao style)

Dish Type: South Indian Rice Variety

Time Taken: 45 min (approx. )

Serves: 3 persons

Ingredients:

Rice                1 bowl soak for 30 min

Avare             1 bowl

Onion             1 medium

Tomato          1 big or 2 small

Oil

Salt

Ground spices mix (see below)

For grinding:

Coriander leaves                 2 tbsp

Ginger                                 1 small piece

Garlic                                   2-3 cloves

Raw grated coconut            2-3 tbsp

Green chilli                         2 nos. add more if you want more spicy

Cardamom                          1 no.

Clove                                  1 no.

Cinnamon                           1 small piece

Saunf                                   ¼ tsp (about 10-grains)

Since spices are ground, don’t exceed the above  quantity. Or, you can use whole spices and grind only the rest of ingredients listed above.

Other Ingredients:

Turmeric pwd          ¼ tsp

Asafoetida (hing)   1 tiny pinch

Kasuri methi            ½ tbsp.

For added flavor and garnish:

Lemon                       1/4^th (optional)

Coriander leaves to garnish

Directions:

Wash and soak semi-polished rice/raw rice for 20 -30min

Grind the masala

In 2-3 tbsp oil in pressure cooker sauté the masala, until raw smell goes off

Add onion chopped to long pieces

Add tomatoes cut to small pieces, salt and fry till tomatoes get mashed well

Add Avare, followed by drained rice. Add 1 tbsp oil

Saute for a minute. Add hing followed by kasuri methi

Add water (quantity enough to submerge the ingredients) and turmeric powder. Cook upto 1 whistle in pressure cooker and about 3-4 min on low flame. Open when pressure drops down.

Garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and lemon juice squeezed (optional). Mix well.

Avare Rice is now ready.

Recipe Contributor: Ms. Sreeja M

Rava Laddoo

Dish Type: Indian Traditional Dessert

Time required: 45 min

Yield: 30 nos. (approx. )

Ingredients

Sooji Rava                            2 bowl

PC: Sooraj Nair

Ghee                                       ¾ bowl

Cardamom                            4-6 nos.

Vegan sugar                         1 1/4 to 1 1/2 bowl, 
                                                        depending on how sweet you like

Mawa/khoya                        Made out of ½ ltr milk

Desiccated coconut or raw coconut 1/2 bowl

Broken cashews/badam and raisins 1/2 bowl

Milk for rolling

Directions:

Fry sooji rava on low flame adding ghee little by little. Towards the end add coconut, cashew/badam raisins. Continue frying for another 5 min

As you fry rava on the other stove, boil and reduce the milk to make khova ready.

Powder sugar and cardamom and add to rava mix and mix well

Add khova and mix well

Add hot milk and roll the laddoos. Rava Laddoos are ready.

Offer to Sun

Recipe Contributor: Ms. Sreeja M

Curry Recipes

Green gram (mung bean) Curry with Greens
Baingan Bhartha (Brinjal Curry) / Badanekaayi palya

Green Gram (Mung Bean) Curry with Greens

All izzz well when heart is well. What better way to keep it that way than teeming our lifestyle with this magical green coloured gram called Mung Bean. This tiny bean plays a mighty role in combating heart diseases since its rich magnesium content relaxes arteries and veins keeping the heart healthy.

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Side Dish

Preparation Time:  20 min

Cooking time:  30 min

Serves:  4 persons

Ingredients

For pressure cooking:

Green gram                75 gms

Water                          250 ml

Ghee                            1 tsp

Turmeric                     A pinch

Dantina soppu             1 bunch (amaranth leaves)

Tomato                        2 nos.

Salt to taste                 ½ tbsp. (at the time of adding chopped greens)

For seasoning:

Ghee                            1 tsp

Mustard seeds                        ½ tsp

Black gram                  ½ tsp

Green chillies              2 nos. (red chillies or salted chillies can also be used)

Onions                         2 nos. (medium size, fine chopped)

Salt to taste                 ½ tsp approx.

For garnishing:

Raw grated coconut    1 tbsp approx. (optional)

Directions

Wash green gram thoroughly. Keep it for boiling on low flame in a pressure cooker along with water, turmeric and ghee. 

Wash greens (dantina soppu) and tomatoes thoroughly in salt water. Drain out the water.

Chop greens finely. No need to chop tomatoes.

Peel the skin of onions and finely chop them. Wash the 2 green chillies, slit them and keep aside.

By this time, green gram would have been half cooked. Remove the lid of the pressure cooker. Add the chopped greens and salt and over this, add tomatoes. After 2 whistles, switch off the pressure cooker. Let it cool.

While the cooker is cooling….do spare time to read footnotes given at the end of this recipe.

By now, pressure in the cooker would have subsided. Transfer the contents on to a colander to drain the water to another vessel. Preserve this precious nutritious water, a tbsp. of cooked green gram and greens and the 2 cooked tomatoes aside to make “Green Gram Rasam with Greens”  later. (Recipe posted separately at Sarapaaka).

Now is the time for seasoning. Heat a drop of ghee in a small skillet. Do not heat it too much. When it is just hot, put mustard seeds. When they crackle, immediately put black gram, slit green chillies and then the finely chopped onions. Now add a pinch of salt and the remaining cooked green gram and greens. (Do you remember keeping a tbsp. of this aside to use for Rasam?) Mix them well and toss it for a minute or two. Garnish with raw grated coconut if desired.

 Hmmm….Green Gram Curry with Greens is ready. Let this side dish occupy the altar, next to Rothis n Parathas.

Tete – a – Tete:

Don’t forget to use the remaining cooked green gram and greens and the boiled and drained water to make “Green Gram Rasam with Greens”.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Baingan (Badanekaayi/Eggplant) Bhartha

Beauty of an accompaniment embraced equally well by rotis or rice. A delightful dish made with Brinjal, cooked or roasted, peeled and mashed making it awesomely aromatic; cooked tomatoes making it tangy; ginger, garlic making it gently pungent; spice powders making it spicier and onions marking a broad baseline of sweet and earthy flavour.

The term “Bhartha” is used when ingredients are mashed roughly either before or after the dish is done. Baingan (also known as Badanekaayi, Brinjal, Eggplant, Aubergine, Guinea Squash, Melanzane, Melongene, Garden Egg) is a low calorie vegetable. Antioxidants present in the vegetable keeps the arteries healthy and prevents heart attack. Being rich in fibre, it helps clear toxins from the digestive tract, prevents colon cancer and prevents overeating since even a small serving makes one feel full. Its high water content also flushes the toxins away….see your skin glowing the fairy way!

Dish Type:  Indian Vegetarian Curry

Preparation Time:  10 min

Cooking time:  20 min

Serves:  2 persons

Ingredients

Brinjal                         1 no. (purple coloured, big size, round variety)

Oil                               1 tbsp

Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

Onions                         4 nos.

Tomato                        2 nos.

Ginger Garlic paste     1 tsp

Coriander powder       1 tsp

Cumin powder                        1 tsp

Chilli powder               1 tsp

Masala powder           A pinch

Turmeric powder        A pinch

Salt to taste                 2 tbsps. approx.

Coriander leaves         1 tbsp (fine chopped)

Directions

Cook brinjal in tandoor style for that distinct smoky flavour….greased in oil (with a few pricks all over for fast and uniform cooking) and roasted over an open flame on low setting till it is cooked well. Keep turning and cooking till the entire skin is charred, the inner flesh looks really soft, the skin starts curling and is in a ready to peel state. (hello “easyroutefinders”, cook brinjal in pressure cooker with water like you cook potatoes. Let it cool.)

Peel the skin of onions and chop them fine. Pour oil (2 tbsps.) in a kadai. Heat the oil and put cumin seeds. When they splutter, add ginger garlic paste. Fry it and then put chopped onions. Add salt and turmeric powder. Stir well. Fry in low flame slowly. When onions have fried well, they would have reduced in quantity. Now put coriander (dhania) powder, cumin (jeera) powder, chilli powder and masala powder. Mix well and continue frying in low flame. Fried onions appear further reduced in quantity. Now add finely chopped tomatoes and continue frying.

Meanwhile, try piercing the cooked brinjal with the back of a spoon. Did the spoon make its way in, just as it would into soft butter? Yes…now peel the skin of cooked brinjal. Open the brinjal into half. Make sure brinjal is not spoilt inside. Sure fire check systems in place…right? Now mash it and add to the onion tomato mix that is being fried. Mix well. Let it simmer for few more minutes. Switch off the flame. Garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Baigan Bhartha is now ready. Serve hot with rotis, chapathis, phulkas, plain rice, jeera rice, crunchy toast…hmmm can’t resist!

Tete – a – Tete:

Brinjals that are big in size, with smooth and shiny surface are more likely to have lesser number of seeds. Pick the ones that look firm, shiny, healthy, heavy and solid. Check to see if the stalk is green, firm and stout. The whole vegetable including its skin and small, fine seeds are edible.

It is preferable to use a stainless steel knife to cut brinjals since it prevents the chemical reaction between phytochemicals present in brinjal and the metal.

If you have itching problems et al, prefer not to go for brinjal.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Mysore Pak

Dish type: South Indian Dessert

Time required: 45 min

Yield: 35 to 40 pieces

Ingredients

Besan                                   400 gms

Brown Sugar                       500 gms

Pure Ghee                            500 gms

Cardamom                           2 nos. (powdered)

Sandalwood powder            ¼ tsp

Directions:

Fry besan till you can feel a nutty flavour. Mix this with cardamom powder, sandal powder, ghee and keep it aside. Boil sugar along with water (Sugar: Water = 1: 1.5) till it reaches 1 string consistency. Now pour besan-ghee mixture into this. Keep stirring gently and continuously till the mixture reaches a thick paste consistency and starts leaving ghee on the sides of the kadai. Now transfer it to a greased plate. It takes atleast an hour to set. Cut them to pieces of desired shape and size.

Soft Mysore Pak is ready.

Tete a Tete

Cardamom powder can be added either to sugar syrup or to besan mix.

Softness of Mysore Pak depends on the quantity of ghee (more quantity required than for rough looking textured type) as well as syrup consistency (1 string is must).

Recipe contributor: Ms. Sreeja M

Buttermilk Dosa

Can you stop that vata vata vata and come down right now for breakfast?  Dosa is S…colding, Butter is S..hotting, n Oh that Milk sulking “how long should I stay warm” Look, even milk is reacting cold!  enacts Paati to Vidy – Vaasi “Chatters of V2 Sisters fame”.

 “Whatta Paati we no noising vata vata. We only chatpatta chatting on facebook…. Should we neatly scribble songs in a notebook or shall we keep chequeing on VAT, or concentrate completely only on writing CAT or sit also for SAT or better still, numbly kneel down on a yoga mat and extract fat” reacts  Vaasi.

While V2 wait for a pat on their back in admiration of their brainy chat, Paati is wise. She thinks otherwise! “These two deserve a whack on their back”. Pat comes Paati’s reply.

“Facebook, notebook, chequebook … Oho  shut those books n  show your face first. Health is what begets Wealth, do you get me?” screams Paati bold, those old n healthy words of gold.

Utterly rundown, down run V2 combine for a faceoff with Paati. Trapped in the heart of Paati’s love, they felt it fair to wage a war. With face down on Butter n Milk they sign off hunger striking…No Butter, No Milk Only Dosa! Off rushes Paati to the kitchen grumbling “Enna idi romba mosa” (This isn’t fair at all)

Did Paati punish them with none of these or pamper them with all of these? Find out right below :) 

Freezing collection! Cups of buttermilk curdling, each of them crying “please use me” “find friends for me” Are you going frenzy…don’t be crazy! Just chill…..all they need is a bit of cuddling and cajoling. Call for rice and black gram. Give crying buttermilk their company, just so they don’t sulk. Let these pals soak, swim or simply enjoy a “sleepover” but for not more than 1.5 hours. Get ready for the grind. Once you grind them to a batter, they are up awake n ready for banter. Now you get steady. Just pour one ladleful on a hot tava and see the sumptuous surpp…rise! Heavenly Crepe bubbling only for you…just go gobble!!

Dish Type: South Indian Breakfast

PC: Mrs. Vasanthi Hariprakash

Batter type: Buttermilk Dosa

Soaking time:  1.5 hrs

Ingredients

Buttermilk                   1 cup (say 100 ml)

Rice                             2 handsful

Black gram dal           1 handful (use either full round dal or that split kind)

Salt to taste                 1/2 tsp approx.

Directions

Soak ingredients except salt, in buttermilk for 1.5 hours.

Grind to get a smooth batter.

Continue grinding till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Now transfer the batter to a vessel. Add salt. Mix thoroughly.

Buttermilk Dosa Batter is now ready.

Tete - a -Tete:

Recipe contributed by nonagenarian Smt. Padmini Rangarajan, expert cook and grandmother of Vasanthi Hariprakash

Vasanthi Hariprakash says and I quote:

Smt. Padmini Rangarajan

“My Chikkamma (younger aunt) Godha says Curd Dosa is same as our Usual Dosa 1 (urad) : 3 (rice) just that instead of soaking in water, it soaks in buttermilk. But Doddamma (older aunt J) Gayathri says Urad Dal should be less. Grandma Padmini feebly corrects her younger daughter “You don’t need more urad dal for Buttermilk Dosa because buttermilk itself lends the required ferment and lift”

For that “higher taste” use buttermilk that remains when you make butter. Don't know how to make? Click "How to make butter and ghee"

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog  

Tur Dal Rasam (using Lime Juice)

Wanna to cook a dish really quick n easy, yet “oh so light n delicious”? Don‘t know where to begin…here it is!

Weaned your baby off mother’s milk? Wish to introduce the li’l one to a healthy, tasty, easily digestible solid food? ...here it is!

Your tummy throwing tantrums? Yes we are busy cooking medicine for you…here it is!

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew

Preparation Time:  20 min

Cooking time:  30 min

Serves:  5 persons

Ingredients

For pressure cooking:

Tur dal                         50 gms

Water                          250 ml

Turmeric powder        A pinch

Curry leaves                1 sprig

Ghee                            A drop

For grinding:

Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

Pepper corns               ¼  tsp

Ginger (grated)           ½” piece

Green chilly                 1 no.

Raw coconut               2 tsps (optional)

While boiling

Water                          500 ml

Salt to taste                 1 tbsp (approx.)

For seasoning:

Ghee                            1 tsp

Mustard seeds                        ½ tsp

Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

For flavour and garnishing

Lime juice (extracted from 1 lime) and coriander leaves

Directions

Wash dhal with water, drain and keep aside.

Wash ginger, curry leaves and coriander leaves in salt water. Drain and keep aside.

Cook dhal in a pressure cooker along with water, turmeric powder, curry leaves and a dash of ghee.

While dal is getting cooked….

You can do grinding. For this, first, grate raw coconut. Grate ginger after peeling its skin. Grind all ingredients listed under “For grinding” using a few spoonfuls of water.

Add this ground chutney, water and salt to the cooked dhal and boil it for 5 to 10 min. on low flame. As you feast your eyes watching the light and bright yellow coloured rasam boiling with the jeera-ginger-pepper combine, it’s time to reach out for a small skillet to prepare seasoning.

Heat ghee in this skillet. Put mustard seeds. When they crackle put cumin seeds. Switch off the flame. Immediately pour it on to the boiling rasam.

Squeeze out the juice from fresh lime and add to the rasam. Garnish it with thoroughly washed and chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Tur Dal (with lime juice) Rasam is now ready.

Serve hot with steamed rice or as plain soup.

Tete – a – Tete:

Quantity of water, salt and spices can be altered to suit the consistency and taste that you desire.

While there are plenty of Rasam varieties, with a bit of experimentation, imagination and creativity, one can customize and create many more! Mangala’s Potluck presents select Rasam recipes that are healthy, nutritious, tried and tested over generations, easy to prepare and kindle you with ideas that help create variations on your own.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Hesarukaalina Bassaaru (Green Gram Rasam)

Down to earth traditional. Farmer’s favourite. Authentic Karnataka dish handpicked from an endless list of rasam varieties and served on a platter! Prepared by using greens, vegetables, lentils, sprouts stock (i.e., the water strained after cooking greens, grains or vegetables) this delicious Bassaaru derives its name from two Kannada words “Basidu” (which means strained) and “Saaru” (which means Rasam).

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew

Preparation Time:  20 min

Cooking time:  30 min

Serves:  5 persons

Ingredients

Green Gram                            250 gms                     

Curry leaves                            1 sprig

Green chilly                             1 no.

Cumin seeds                            less than ½ tsp

Peppercorns                            4 or 5 nos.

Ginger                                     ¼”

Grated raw or dry coconut     2 tbsps

Jaggery                                    1 tsp

Salt to taste                             1 tbsp approx.

Tomato                                    1 no. fine chopped

Water                                      1000 ml

Dry fry green gram for a minute. Let it cool. Wash it well and drain out the water. Cook in pressure cooker along with water and salt, in low flame upto 2 whistles and then switch off the burner.

Grind cumin seeds, peppercorns, ginger, green chilly, fine chopped tomato and grated coconut to a paste. Add this to the cooked green gram and let it boil.

Green gram Bassaaru is now ready.

Tete – a – Tete:

Lime juice may also be used instead of tomatoes. Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime and add to the bassaaru at the end.

A portion of the cooked green gram can be ground along with masala if thicker consistency is required.

In this recipe, excess water is added to green gram while cooking. However, you can use just the required amount of water for cooking green gram and reuse broth i.e., water strained after boiling any dal, grains or vegetables and add to the cooked green gram before boiling.

Recipe Contributor: Smt. Saraswathi

Maavinakaayi Chitranna (Raw Mango Rice) Type 2

Go for mango …green in colour, combine it with rice…. white in colour and see it turn… red in colour. Can’t imagine cooking getting more magical!

Raw Mango is tasty. It’s great fun eating raw specially with salt and a sprinkle of chilli powder. Raw mango grows with a bounty of benefits. It prevents excessive loss of water, minerals and much more…like stroke from the sun, sickness more so that of morning, disease like scurvy since it is rich in Vit C highly. It brings to order blood disorders and is friendly to our teeth too.

Dish Type:  South Indian Rice Variety

Preparation Time:  10 min

Cooking time:  20  min

Serves:  4 persons

Ingredients

For cooking:

Rice                        500 gms

Water                   500 ml

For grinding (to make raw mango chutney):

Raw mango                       1 no. (grated)

Green chilli                       1 no.

Red chilli                           4 nos.

Mustard seeds                   ¼ tsp

Raw coconut                      ½ coconut (grated)

For seasoning:

Oil                                     4 tbsps

Groundnuts                       2 tbsps

Mustard seeds                  ½ tsp

Black gram dal                  ½ tsp

Red chilly                          4 nos.

Curry leaves                      1 sprig

Salt to taste                        1 tsp approx.

Turmeric pwdr                  A pinch

Asafoetida                         A pinch

Raw mango chutney       (mix that you get after grinding)

For garnishing:

Fresh coriander leaves  2 tbsps (fine chopped)

Directions:

Wash rice thoroughly. Cook rice along with water in a pressure cooker. After 2 whistles switch off the burner and let the pressure subside from the cooker.

While rice is getting cooked….

Wash raw mango, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves in salt water. Drain out the water. Grate raw mango, raw coconut and keep aside. Fine chop fresh coriander leaves and keep aside.

Now prepare raw mango chutney. For this….

Grind raw mustard seeds, raw grated coconut, green chilli, red chillies and grated raw mango to chutney consistency. Transfer the chutney to a bowl.

Now prepare the seasoning. Heat oil in a large kadai. Add mustard seeds, groundnuts, red chillies, curry leaves, ground raw mango chutney, salt, turmeric and asafoetida in that order. Put each of the above ingredients at few seconds interval between them. Sauté for about 5 min. and switch off the burner.

When the cooker is cool, remove the lid. Spread the cooked rice on to a big plate. Let it cool a bit (not too much). Sprinkle a tsp of salt on this. Transfer the seasoned raw mango chutney from the kadai on to the rice. Mix well. Garnish with fine chopped coriander leaves.

Maavinakayi Chitranna (Raw Mango Rice) is ready.

Tete – a - Tete:

While mixing the seasoned raw mango chutney with rice, keep a portion of the chutney aside. After mixing with rice, check the taste. If required add more of the chutney. This chutney can also be stored in an air tight container and kept in the fridge for later use.

Every grain of the cooked rice must be soft, fluffy and should stand out independently of the other grains. At the same time, rice should neither be half boiled nor too mushy. This can be checked by pressing a few grains between your fingers.

Green raw mango can also be used to make gojju, chutney, pickles or used in place of tamarind while making rasam or sambar.

Recipe contributor: Smt. Saraswathi