Doddapatre Thambuli (Spicy Yogurt with Coleus)

Cold, cough, sore throat, congestion, indigestion…oho!....then no more procrastination! Off to our gardens, let’s pluck them…and be back soon….Doddapatre leaves, fresh from my garden…those succulent, strong scented (has the aroma of oregano but a bit more pungent), thick, roundish, spongy, green foliage with toothed edges from an evergreen shrub that grows and spreads so easily even in gentle weather.

Pluck a leaf or two, boil them in hot water and sip the decoction (kashaya) when you feel sick especially with common cold or abdominal ailments. Wanna add a drop of honey and lime for that zing thing….yes please!

Even as I am chatting with you….

Mangala’s Potluck is ready to serve you Doddapatre Thambuli fresh from its kitchen. Thambuli, a simple yogurt and fresh coconut based preparation, cool dish ideal for hot summers, so healthy n tasty, so lovingly prepared and sweetly served by moms, yet so easily turned down by kids, only to realise later in life….”Well, it’s our turn now to be turned down by our kids”!!! 

Dish Type:  South Indian Side Dish

Time required:  10 min

Serves:  4 persons

Ingredients                 

For sautéing:

Ghee                            ½ tsp
Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

Pepper corns               ½ tsp (5 to 6 nos.)

Doddapatre leaves      12 nos.

For grinding:

All the above sautéed ingredients

Salt to taste                      ½ tsp

Fresh grated coconut       1 tbsp

Jaggery                            1 tsp (optional)

Curd                                1 cup

For seasoning:

Ghee                            ½ tsp

Mustard seeds              ½ tsp

Urad dal                      ½ tsp

Curry leaves                4 to 6 nos.

Green chilli                   1 no.

Red chilli                      1 no. (split to half or a tad smaller, optional)

Directions:

Wash doddapatre leaves thoroughly in salt water. Drain out the water and keep the leaves aside. Wash curry leaves also and keep aside.

Grate fresh coconut and keep aside.

Heat ghee in a skillet. Add cumin seeds and pepper corns. When jeera turns brown, add washed doddapatre leaves. Sauté them on low flame for 3 to 4 min. till you see the leaves wilting, watering and changing colour. Switch off the flame and transfer the contents to a plate. Let it cool.

Now added grated fresh coconut and salt to this plate. Grind them in a mixie jar using minimum amount of water to a paste consistency. Transfer the contents to a bowl and now add fresh curd / buttermilk and blend them well with a spoon. It’s time to do seasoning….

Heat ghee in a small skillet. Add mustard seeds, urad dal, green chilli (slit), red chilli and curry leaves (in that order). Fry for five seconds. Switch off the flame. Pour this seasoning on to the bowl.

Doddapatre Thambuli is now ready. Serve it cool with hot steaming rice, pickle and papad.

Tete a Tete:

Leaves can even be chopped to smaller size before sautéing.

You can use pepper corns / green chillies or a combination of both for the spicy taste.

Asafoetida is not required for Doddapatre Thambuli

Doddapatre leaves can be just chewed after a mild n gentle wash along with a pinch of pepper n salt. Good for cough n sore throat. Great stuff gifted by Mother Nature! 
Doddapatre is also used for making Bhajji, Pathrode. 
Grind few leaves of Doddapatre along with Thulasi (Basil), Hibiscus leaves, Curry leaves and soaked methi seeds and use it as a pack for conditioning your hair.

Coleus Aromaticus, Plectranthus Amboinicus, Cuban Oregano, Country Borage, French Thyme, Spanish Thyme, Mexican Thyme, Mother of Herbs, Saviara Sambara, Sambrani soppu, Sambara balli, Karpooravalli, Pattharchur and Ajwain are a few other terms used to describe Doddapatre leaves.

Recipe contributed by Smt. Mankali, a septauagenarian lady and an expert cook from Idagunji Taluk, Karnataka State.

Other recipes contributed by Smt. Mankali
Beetroot Gojju (Sauce)

Brahmi leaves Yogurt Sauce (Ondelaga Thambuli)

Cucumber Dosa

Banana Fritters / Yeridevu

Other Curd Recipes in this blog:
Ondelaga Thambuli (Spicy Yogurt with Brahmi leaves)
Hasi Majjige Huli (Veg Sambar using Yogurt)

                        

Ondelaga Thambuli (Spicy Yogurt with Brahmi Leaves)

Omigosh, can you believe? Just now I finished making a dish, penned and posted the recipe too in my blog and now I forget its name too! While I recharge my memory cells, don’t miss reading this story…

Adam n Eve upon their creation, as a gesture of celebration, performed intense penance to appease The Creator Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma in turn, pleased by their penance granted a boon. Buoyed by the boon, they asked Him, “Oh Lord, bestow us something from nature, which when used, makes our memory All Powerful.” Thus rose from the earth, to make our memories memorable, leaves of Brahmi bestowed by Brahma The Lord.

 On sharing this story with “Honey” my hubby, hoping he will be inspired to make sincere attempts to boost his power of memory instead of using me as a Ready Reckoner for his bills n pills, the boss in him quickly quipped in admiration, “From this day on, you‘ve been promoted as ‘My Permanent Reminder’ for the remainder of our lives!”

While there is no magic bullet heard of, so far, to fight Alzheimer’s disease, Brahmi leaves, a traditional therapeutic herb, botanically known as “Bacopa monnieri”, if used regularly from a early age, promises to be theraupetic enough to keep us away from brain degeneration at old age.  A potent therapy for neuropathy, a reducer of stress and booster of cognitive abilty, let’s include these leaves in our daily menu and pride ourselves with a bounty of benefits offered only by Brahmi.

Ha see…now I remember this unforgettable recipe! Brahmi Soppina Thambuli  (Spicy Yogurt with Brahmi Leaves) 

Dish type: South Indian Side Dish

Time required: 10 min

Ingredients

Brahmi leaves                     1 small bunch

Raw grated coconut            ¼ coconut

Cumin seeds                         1 tsp

Yogurt (Curd)                      3 tbsps

Jaggery                                 1 tbsp

Salt to taste                          1 tsp approx.

Directions:

Wash Brahmi leaves along with its roots in water 2 or 3 times thoroughly till the leaves and roots are completely clean. Drain out the water.

Grind the leaves and roots and filter the ground paste. Now grind raw grated coconut and cumin seeds to a smooth consistency. Add the brahmi paste and grind for few more seconds till they blend well. Transfer this to a bowl. Add curd, jaggery and salt. Mix them well. Let it stand for a while till salt and jaggery dissolve.

Spicy yogurt with Brahmi leaves is now ready. Use it at the start of lunch as first course by mixing with hot rice. Savour the beauty of Brahmi!

Tete a Tete

Extremely easy recipe. No need to switch on the stove since all ingredients are used raw. No need of seasoning too!

Ideal for summer. Brahmi leaves are known as “Ondelaga soppu” in Kannada.
Recipe contributor: Smt. Mankali, a septuagenarian lady from Idagunji Taluk and an expert cook

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

You may also view:

Few other Dessert Recipes
Sambar Varieties
Side Dish Recipes
Breakfast Recipes

Rice Varieties

Gojju Varieties

Spice Powders

Snack Recipes

Few other recipes contributed by Smt. Mankali
Banana Fritters / Yeridevu
Brahmi leaves Yogurt Sauce (Ondelaga Thambuli)
Cucumber Dosa
Banana Fritters / Yeridevu

Other Recipes using Curd:
Doddapatre Thambuli (Spicy Yogurt using Coleus)
Hasi Majjige Huli (Sambar using Vegetable and Curd)

Akki Thari Upma (Broken Rice Uppittu)

Arise, awake, up…up…up Ma! Make your mark by cooking this….

Dish with a difference! This uppittish dish is just like you Ma. Wow…for its feel of fresh green charm and old world charisma. And like you, this dish too plays pranks Ma. Starts with seasoning saying it is Upma and ends up steaming out like an Idli…hee hee. Made out of Akki Thari….so don’t you worry. 

“Bapa” my father held an unbeatable record amngst our kith n kin of having nothing but “Uppittu” or “Upma” for breakfast all through his 4+ decades of service. A slight deviation from this rule, if at all permitted, during his lighter, brighter moods was “Avalakki”, so much so that, my mom would mumly experiment endlessly with Uppittus of several kinds.

 My joy knew no bounds in 1977 or so, when I, the handpicked one amongst v4 sibs, accompanied my father, an avid movie buff, to watch my first ever Hindi film “Amar Akbar Anthony”at Kapali Theatre. I barely understood the story, yet I enjoyed the movie. For the first time ever, if I remember right, I was the privileged one to be taken to a restaurant, when then, watching movie and going to a restaurant or two (“Vidyarthi Bhavan” or “Dwarka Hotel”) was almost always a “Housefull Family” event. When I shared about this “Away Alone with Bapa” with the rest of my family, they asked me wide eyed “What did Bapa buy for you?” The proud me declared “Khara Bhaath” only to be bullied by my brothers back home “Ayyo dinaaglu thinno uppittu, ashtenaa?!!”. My overjoy toppled with a tear or two. How tasteless I was about taste and how ignorant I was about cooking! That timeless, endless JOY however remains evergreen!

One of those Uppittu experiments by Amma done under the able guidance of my Bapa was “Akki Thari Upma”. Read down for Recipe.

Dish Type:  South Indian Rice Variety

Cooking time: 30  to 40 min

Serves:  8 to 10 persons

Ingredients

Oil                                   50 ml

Mustard seeds                 ½ tsp

Cumin seeds                    ½ tsp

Pepper corns                   ½ tsp (coarsely crushed)

Green chilli                      4 nos. (slit)

Curry leaves                    1 sprig

Ginger                             ½” pc (grated)

Turmeric pwd                 A pinch

Broken Rice                    500 gms

Salt to taste                     1 tsp approx.

Cooked avarekaalu         (optional)

For garnishing:

Raw coconut                  ½ coconut (grated)

Coriander leaves            1 cup (fresh and fine chopped) 

Directions:

Wash green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and ginger. Drain out the water. Chop, grate or split them as mentioned above (under “Ingredients”). Keep them aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add cumin seeds and crushed pepper corns. When they splutter, add slit green chillies, grated ginger and coarsely chopped curry leaves, salt  and turmeric powder. Now add broken rice and fry them together for 6 to 8 min. Add grated coconut. (If using cooked avarekaalu, add them at this stage along with the water used for cooking.)  If not add 500 ml of boiled water.  Mix well. Adjust the quantity of water and salt at this stage. If more water is required, then add more boiling water as required. Add fine chopped fresh coriander leaves. Mix well. Switch off the flame.

Shape them into balls with your hands made damp for making each ball. Arrange them on a greased plate and steam them in pressure cooker like idlis for about 10 min.

Switch off the flame. Let it cool a bit.

Akki Thari Upma is now ready. Serve this with a dash of ghee.

Choice of side dish: Urad Dal Chutney, Coconut chutney, Green Chillies Gojju, Hasi Majjige Huli.

Tete a Tete:

To make broken rice, wash rice thoroughly with water.Drain out the water completely. Dry the washed rice in shade by spreading it on a thin clean cloth. It takes 4 to 6 hours or more depending on the weather. Grind the dried rice coarsely to rava consistency. Or.

Soak the washed rice in curd (quantity just enough to cover the rice) for 15 to 20 min. and then grind.

Rice Rawa need not be roasted like Upma Rava. If Idli Rawa is used, upma becomes a bit sticky.

A handful of Tur dal can also be powdered and added along with broken rice.

Recipe Contributor: My sis Shyla H Rao on behalf of our dear mother Late Smt. Indira J Rao (Kaveri) 

 

Also view: Cucumber Dosa Gulipaavate
Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog