KodubaLe or crispy fried rings

Hello everybody! Sorry for an abrupt break from my side. I didn’t have a clue either about my time off until just a day before we boarded the jet. Today I am back with a yummy spicy karum kuram KodubaLe......KodubaLe kodubaLe kaasigondu kodubaLe i remember hearing this kannada song sometime ago.......

KodubaLe is a famous traditional snack of Karnataka, particularly in south india. It’s a spicy fried item that goes well with tea; coffee or now-a-days even with a mug of beer ;). This particular dish originated many years back and I can vouch that grandmas age band used to make the best of the lot – after all the experience, patience and skill required to do it.

It’s fairly easy to prepare but involves persistence and a bit of endeavour:). But once ready, you can keep it in an air tight container for about 15days to 1month and enjoy it whenever you want - as a evening snack with hot hot coffee on a rainy day or just as a nibble while studying for your exams or even just while watching some TV program or just to give some company for your guests......you just need a bahana to take the pleasure of this crunchy snack!

Yesterday along with my mom, I attempted making these kodubaLes and it was really an enjoyment – initially we went on eating kodubaLes while checking if the spice/salt was right proportion and finally got just the right thing in there. Now-a-days all these foods items r so easily accessible in most of the stores which has made the busy city life much simpler but still somehow I fancy homemade ones where you know what all goes into it and of course the flavours does matter :)!
Heres my version of KodubaLe which I have picked up from my mom :)

Ingredients

Rice flour – ½ kg
Red chilli powder – 4tsp
Freshly grated coconut – 1cup
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Maida/Plain flour – 2tsp (dry roasted maida)
Hot oil/Ghee – 2 tbsp
Putani pudi/hurgadle pudi/roasted Bengal gram powder– ½ cup
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method

• Grind cumin seeds and coconut in a mixie without adding water to a fine powder. Add all the above ingredients along with the grinded mixture in a thali or a big plate one after the other and mix well with hands.
• To this add hot oil or ghee and mix well again with hands. Next add little water at a time and blend with your hands to make smooth firm dough. Knead well and keep it covered.
  
• Take lemon sized dough and roll it smoothly on a flat plate without putting much pressure to form a long thread like structure. Then join this thread end to end to form the ring shape or bangle shape OR you could also make 2 or 3 rounds and keep it aside as show in the picture (You can give the desired shape).

• Repeat the same procedure with rest of the dough.
• Heat oil in a kadai or a pan, drop around 6-8 of these prepared rings into the oil and deep fry them on a medium flame.
• Turn around couple of times and fry them until golden brown in color. Remove them on a paper towel to take off the excess oil.
• Now once KodubaLe is cooled, its ready to get into an air tight container and later into our tummy as and when required ;)

Hope you all enjoy my KodubaLes :)! Have a nice day!

Shavige uppittu

Shavige in kannada means vermicelli or kind of thin noodles. Most commonly used one is akki shavige which means rice vermicelli. We make different dishes like shavige uppittu or upma or bath, shavige payasa (kheer). Shavige uppittu is served as a breakfast item in most of the houses in south india. I use the shavige/vermicelli that we get in the market. Homemade shavige tastes best and I believe making shavige/rice noodles is an art and 1 has to have lots of patience to achieve good results.

I remember Upahara Darshini was the 1st among the restaurants to serve this scrumptious dish along with chutney and there used to be such heavy rush irrespective of the day/time. It was the fastest way to get a meal nearer to homemade ones.

We prefer Shavige uppittu as our dinner item as its quite healthy and filling with varieties of vegetables of our choice, not oily at all and of course can be made colourful in no time:)!

Ingredients

Shavige/Rice noodles – 100gms
Chopped carrots – 1 cup
Chopped beans – 1 cup
Green Peas – ¼ cup
Grated ginger – 1 tsp
Spring onions cut into circles for garnishing
Chopped green chillies -1
Finely chopped onion – 1
Handful of curry leaves
Oil – 4tspn
Mustard – 1/2tsp
Chanadal/Kadale beLe – 1tsp
Urad dal/ Uddina beLe – 1tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1tsp
Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
Asafoetida - pinch

Method

• Microwave carrot and beans in a MW safe bowl with some amount of water for 3-4min and keep aside.
• Cook rice noodles in boiling water for 5min and once done, transfer all of the rice noodles into a colander & run under the tap water (this is a tip to avoid the stickiness of the rice noodles)
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Next add chana dal, urad dal, turmeric, asafoetida, green chillies, grated ginger and curry leaves.
• To this add the finely chopped onions and sauté. Then add the boiled vegetables along with green peas and fry for some time. Add salt and mix well.
• Next add the cooked shavige or vermicelli to the above vegetable base and mix well on low flame.
• Lastly take off from the heat and enhance the freshness with some zesty lemon juice. Generally chopped cilantro or coriander leaves is used for garnishing but I like garnishing with spring onion circles which gives a fiery effect:)!!!

Have a colourful week ahead and ciao all soon!