Bendekayi Gojju/Okra in tangy sauce

Okra is known as Bendekayi in kannada and has been my favourite veggie since my childhood:)! Okra in any form grabs my attention and loyalty. Yeah I love bendekayi palya, bendekayi gojju, bendekayi huLi, bendekayi majjige paldya – all these are Karnataka’s delicacies.

There was this dish called ‘Sunheri Bhindi’ (kinda deep fried spicy appetiser) in 1 of the Restaurants in Hyderabad and it used to vanish within few seconds it was brought on to our table – Yummmmmm I really miss all those opulence here ;).

Again this time around our London trip got us some divine veggies :-p and here’s 1 of the preparation from me for this week )!

Serves: 2-4 preparation time: 15min cooking time: 30min

Ingredients

Oil – 2 tsp
Mustard Seed – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Pinch of Turmeric
Few Curry Leaves
Chopped Okra – 2 Cups
Salt to taste
Tamarind Juice – 1 Cup
Grated Jaggery – ½ Cup
Rasam Powder/Sarina Pudi – 4 tsp

Method

1. Heat Oil in a pan, add Mustard Seeds and allow it to splutter.
2. Next add Asafoetida, Turmeric, Curry Leaves and Okra in order. Fry Okra for 10-15min or till it kinda shrinks.
3. Add Tamarind juice, Jaggery, Salt and Rasam Powder in order and mix well. Bring this to boil and simmer it for almost 15-20min or till it becomes slightly thick.
4. Bendekayi Gojju is ready to be served with hot Rice topped with Ghee!!!

And namma ajji maadida bendekayi gojju used to be the ultimate one – believe it or not finger licking was inevitable :-p

Have a Nice Day)!!!

Valentines Hearts

V-day is always exciting to party with lots of yummy dishes and memorable presents from loved ones – well...that’s the way I adore my dear ones:)!

Valentine symbols, cupid- roses- hearts- love birds-love knots are quite famous even to this day and are made so attractive that it’s hard to take away one’s eye from them. But I wonder why cupid was chosen as an icon of Valentine’s Day – Because when I think about romance, a short chubby toddler coming to me with a weapon in his hand would be the last thing that comes on my mind LOL......too ingenious isn’t it ;)...Hmmm anyways....

Well...this time I made a perfect treat for my Valentine, a heart shaped dessert with cream & strawberries sandwiched and topped with chocolaty sugar Ummmmm yum yum!

And a sweet addition for our V-day gifts this time was a red colour heart decorated with lots and lots of glitters was the best from our little valentine -Yep my 28months old toddler came up with this charming heart with the help of his teachers at school, really amazed at those little hands ability:), take a look at it -

Here goes the recipe....

Ingredients

Jus-rol puff pastry sheet – 1
Beaten egg to glaze
Castor sugar for sprinkling
Crème fraiche – 8 to 10 tbspn (you can add according to your choice both crème and strawberries)
Fresh strawberries – 100g
Plain chocolate melted – ½ cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220deg.


2. Thaw the pastry sheet according to the instructions on the box. Unroll pastry sheet and cut around 8 hearts with a heart shaped cookie cutter. (i used medium sized cutter of a set of 3)


3. Prick each heart with a fork, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with some sugar.


4. Place these hearts on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 10min until risen and golden brown in colour. Let it cool.


5. Slice the strawberries and split the heart horizontally using a sharp knife.


6. Sandwich the heart together with crème fraiche and sliced strawberries. Drizzle the chocolate and dust some castor sugar over the tops of the heart.

Make your day with this gorgeous Valentines Hearts with few fresh strawberries :)!!!
Happy Valentine's Day!!!


Chocolate Valentine Cookies

Sorekayi Palya/bottle gourd curry

Bottle gourd is also known as sorekayi in kannada or lauki in hindi. This is an easily digestible vegetable and can be given for kids as well. Though the appearance is not so inviting to eat, when you know the nutrients of this vegetable sometimes you need to let go on the looks ;).

This veggie is not only highly rich in iron and protein but also in fibre. The more fibre your intake has the more is good for your system (i remember this ‘fibre’ term really was like a bootha sitting on my head throughout my pregnancy). Recently I tried a new style of making sorekayi palya from a book that my dad gifted me and felt it quite interesting with chapathi! Here’s how it goes – for all who have just tried the same monotonous style of lauki subzi, maybe you could give this a try J

Ingredients

Serves: 2

Sorekayi/bottle gourd chopped – 1 ½ cups

Cilantro – ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp

Oil – 5tsp

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Green chillies – 2 or 3

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds –1tsp

Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Plain yogurt ( i prefer onken smooth) – ½ cup

Salt to taste

Method

1. Grind together coconut, green chillies, fenugreek seeds, ginger, cilantro, mustard seeds and salt to a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan and make the tempering with cumin seeds, turmeric, and asafoetida. To this add the chopped bottle gourd, cover and cook. Once the pieces are cooked well add the masala paste and yogurt and mix well.
3. Let this come to boil and then take it off from heat to serve it with hot rice or chapathi!

Bottle Gourd Kofta With Gravy

Heerekai bonda/Ridge gourd fritters

The thought of eating ridge gourd makes me feel :-&. I just don’t like the texture when it gets cooked. And the most commonly prepared item in our house is heerekai tovve or dal - I can’t stand the look and feel of it :-p. But I don’t mind eating heerekai bonda or fritters ;) – Yep after all the spice and the smear enhances the flavour of heerekai/ridge gourd.

This heerekai bonda is generally prepared during festivals or any special occasions as 1 of the items. BisibeLebath and heerekayi bonda is an evergreen combo for habbada oota (a festive meal). But I think when it comes to bonda you need not have to wait for any special occasion rather any day is a festive day ;). So come and enjoy Heerekai bonda/ridge gourd fritters with me:)!!!

Ingredients

Makes around 30 bondas

Heerekai – 1
Gram flour – 1 cup
Red chilli powder – 2tsp
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Ajwain – ½ tsp

Pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method

1. Wash and peel the ridge gourd. Then slice them into circles ((gal galiyagi hechuvudu). Heat oil in a pan on medium heat for frying.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix gram flour, red chilli powder, salt, asafoetida, ajwain and some hot oil. Mix together with water to make a smooth batter (batter consistency should be similar to that of dosa dough).
3. Dip each heerekai circle into this batter and immdtly lift and drop them in the hot oil. Fry them in batches of 5-6 till they are golden brown in colour. Lift them out of the oil and drain the oil by keeping them on a paper towel.

Delicious hot bondas are ready to be served with the dip of your choice!
Have a nice day:)

HuNasehannu avalakki/Tamarind poha

Poha is nothing but another form of rice. Beaten rice is called as Poha in hindi or avalakki in kannada. The rice, after removing the husk is flattened to thin flakes. They come in varieties – thick/thin/medium poha, paper/nylon poha (quite famous in Karnataka). Poha is consumed in many ways – few items are prepared by soaking them in water and then tempering them lightly, few are just seasoned directly and also powdering and then spicing it up!

This last method is 1 of my favourite dish called ‘HuNasehannu avalakki’ or ‘Gojjavalakki’ or ‘HuLi avalakki’. This has an intense uplifting flavour - its yummy with tangy + sweet (huLi huLi + see see) taste and is a very good snack item with evening tea. I adore my Damma’s (aunt) style of making and serving huNasehannu avalakki with some fried sandige – she makes it so lovely with spicy and crunchy effect I just luv them yum yum.......As a kid Iused to go to her house with my mom only to eat this :d

It can be easily carried in a box with spoons (no hassle of hands getting soiled) so we prefer this over anything else for our day trips too and of course with plain yogurtJ!!(a typical south Indian when it comes to yogurt ;))

So if you want to have a huLi huLi- see see effect all you need to do is – follow me ;)

Ingredients

Serves around 2-4 people

Beaten rice/Avalakki – 1 ½ cups

Tamarind juice – ¾ cup (soak seedless tamarind in warm water for few min and squeeze it)

Sarina pudi/Rasam powder – 2tsp

Jaggery – 1 ½ tbsp

Salt to taste

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Oil – 2tbsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Chana dal – 1tsp

Blackgram – 1tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Pinch of asafoetida

Dry red chillies – 2

Groundnuts – 2tbsp

Curry leaves – 6 to8

Finely chopped cilantro – 2 tbsp

Method

1. First, coarsely grind the poha in a mixer and transfer it to a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, mix together tamarind juice + sarina pudi/rasam powder + jaggery + salt
3. Now add this juice mixture to the poha and mix well (i prefer mixing it with hands so that it’s distributed well). Leave this soaked for at least 45min.
4. Meanwhile make the tempering – heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Next add the grams, turmeric, asafoetida, curry leaves and red chillies. Lastly add the peanuts and fry on low flame till you hear the crackling sound of the nuts (be careful... not to burn the tadka).
5. After the poha is soaked well, add this tempering along with grated coconut and mix well. Lastly, garnish with cilantro and ready to be served!

Enjoy your huLi huLi – see see ‘HuNasehannu avalakki’ with araLu sandige + seeme akki happaLa and have a sensational week aheadJ!!!

I hope you are enjoying my array of cooking. Any suggestions/feedbacks to perk-up abhi-ruchi are always welcome at abhiruchi_kitchen@yahoo.com

Khara Biscuit/Spicy biscuits

Khara biscuit is 1 of those tasty, forever existing items in those bangalore bakery glass containers :). Khara in kannada means spicy. These cookies along with a tinge of mint and coriander brings out a nice flavour which is perfect with a cuppa coffee!

We badly needed a break from the same tea time cookies here - now heres a reason for me to get skilled though not to the bakery level but atleast to satify our cravings :). Again this recipe is from my mom's dairy, she preserved this from her samaja bakery classes or a ladies club that she used to attend when we were kids.

Here goes the recipe for khara biscuit/ Spicy biscuits

Makes around 20 biscuits
Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Margarine at room temperature - 75gms
Castor sugar - 2tsp
Salt - 1tsp
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Green chillies finely chopped - 4 (medium spice)
Plain yogurt - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves chopped - 10
Grater ginger - 1/2 inch
Mint leaves finely chopped - 6 to 8
Ajwain - 1/4 tsp

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Sieve the flour, baking powder and castor sugar in a large plate or a bowl.
2. Beat the margarine with an electric mixer for about 3min.
3. Next stir in the chillies, curry leaves, mint, ginger , ajwain, salt and yogurt. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix well.Transfer this to a lightly floured surface and knead well till it becomes a smooth ball.
4. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness and with a biscuit cutter cut the dough into as many biscuits as possible. Lift the biscuits and keep on a baking sheet. Bring together the remaining dough, repeat the procedure of knead-roll-cut.
5. Next place these biscuits on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15min till light brown on the edges.

Hot hot khara biscuits/Spicy biscuits are ready to be served with drink of your choice :)!!

Have a nice weekend!!!

Coconut-mint chutney

‘Chutney’ is a term used to describe a dip or a spread. Chutneys come in variety of flavours as well as texture - sweet, spicy, fruity....some r wet and fine and some are dry and coarse. So it depends on your liking and willingness to choose:).

Last week I posted Masal dose’s palya and this week I would be sharing chutney. Generally Masala dosa is served with coconut chutney. But I prefer a tinge of mint in coco chutney – due to the color and also the tangy taste ;). You can make the coconut chutney by following the same method but eliminating the mint leaves. So here’s coconut-mint chutney which goes together with dosa, idli, gundpongalu, rotti, shavige uppittu or many a times we use it as a spread for cucumber+tomato SW as well :)!!

Ingredients

Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup
Mint leaves – 5tbsp
Oil – 1tsp
Green chillies – 3 to4
Tamarind – 1 tbsp (with the seeds removed)Putani/hurgadle/roasted Bengal gram – 2tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Jaggery – 1tsp
Cilantro – ½ cup
Salt to taste

For tempering/tadka
Oil – 1tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2tsp
Chanadal – 1/2tsp
Urad dal – 1/2tspPinch of turmeric powder and asafoetida
Curry leaves – 6 to 8

Method

1. Heat oil in a small pan, fry green chillies & tamarind till the tamarind becomes soft. Then add mint leaves and further fry for a min.
2. Next grind this with rest of the ingredients to make a smooth paste. Add little water while grinding to get the desired consistency. Keep this mixture in a bowl.
3. Next to make the tadka, heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Then add chanadal, uradal dal, asafoetida, turmeric and lastly curry leaves and take it off the heat to top the chutney!

Aloogadde eerulli palya/Potato-onion curry

Who will not like to have masala dosa for breakfast on a hassle-free Sunday morning......Am sure most of us would luv to snuggle there and end up in a brunch on sundays :). Yep we generally feast on masala dose Ummmmm yum yumm.

Masal dose, as it’s commonly known is a speciality of South india. Dosa is something similar to crepe but rice and lenthil being the main ingredient. There are varieties of doses like khali dose, paper dose, set dose; recently I also heard from my SIL that they tasted chocolate dosa @ dubai - modern twist ;).

Anyways I think the basic dough remains the same for most of the dosa types. What makes the difference is, the side dishes along with the dosa – chutney, sambar, playa, sagu.......

Today I would be sharing the aloogadde-eerulli playa or the potato-onion curry i.e the masala that is kept on one side of the dose and the other side is rolled over this masala to form the delectable ‘Masala Dosa’

Ingredients

Serves: 2

Potatoes - 3
Onions finely chopped – 2

Oil – 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1tsp
Chana dal – ½ tsp
Blackgram dal – 1tsp
Turmeric powder – 1tsp
Asafoetida – 1/4tsp
Green chilli – 1
Curry leaves – 5 to 6
Ginger grated – 1tsp
Salt to taste
Chopped cilantro or grated carrot and lemon juice for garnishing

Method

• Cut potato into 4 pieces and cook them in boiling water till they are soft but not mushy. Once done, drain the water, let it cool & then peel the skin and keep them aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, chana dal, black gram dal, hing, curry leaves, green chillies and grated ginger. Fry them for few seconds and then add turmeric powder and sauté the onions.
• Next slightly mash the potatoes and add to this, add salt and mix well. (At this stage if you feel that the curry looks too dry, you could probably add few spoons of water and mix)
• Garnish with coriander leaves or grated carrot. Give it a dash of lemon juice & this is ready to go inside the fold now.

Enjoy your own home made masal dose in Vidyarthi bhavan style or CTR Benne masale with a dollop of butter on the top!!!

Ragi Rotti

Finger millet in kannada is known as ragi. Ragi is a highly nutritious grain. Ragi is probably the only grain that can be stored for many days without any risk of insect attacks or fungus. The powdered ragi is consumed in various forms like pancakes, flatbread, porridge, ragi balls...Ragi malt, an infant food is quite popular in south Indian families.

Ragi balls is the staple food of rural Karnataka people who mainly work in farms. Ragi mudde with soppina huli is a classic combination which forms a satisfying meal for the hardworking farmer with all the nutrition as well. My uncle, being a diabetic patient used to have ragi mudde regularly instead of rice – doctors recommend this as its rich in iron and low in fat. I am in the process of learning this recipe, once i succeed wud post the details here soon...

Some years ago, eating ragi mudde or ragi rotti was considered as low status but now, it will not be wrong if I say it’s in trend! Yes I noticed so many ragi mudde mess or ragi doses available all over Bangalore during our recent trip to India. People have become so conscious about their health that I saw so many of them even eating that unattractive brown rice for their 3 meals uffff unbelievable......
This time around we got ragi flour from my FIL’s village where it’s grown in their own farm and we tried making ragi rotti – it tasted yummy with spicy touch of onions and green chillies.
Ragi rotti which means finger millet pancake is a famous breakfast item in Karnataka and served with chutney. We had it with chutney pudi and yogurt and remembered an old kannada song- ragi rotti uchellu chutney tinno nan magane.......... mugina matta jadidu malago kal nan magne......Here goes the recipe for ragi rotti

Ingredients

Makes around 6 rottis

Ragi flour sieved – 2 cups
Onions finely chopped – 1 cup
Cumin seeds – 1Tsp
Green chilly finely chopped – 1 (this is for medium spice)
Cilantro finely chopped – ¼ cup
Curry leaves finely chopped – 2 sticks
Fresh coconut grated – ½ cup
Oil
Salt to taste

Method

• Place all the above ingredients in a thali or a large bowl, mix well with hand first. Then add water little at a time and mix to form smooth-firm dough.

• Grease the tava/griddle and take lemon sized dough and pat it evenly on the griddle to a thin pancake. Make few holes on the dough so that you can pour the oil in them and rotti gets cooked consistently.

• Keep this griddle on the medium heat; pour some oil in the holes and cool till it becomes slightly brown in colour. Then turn over the rotti and continue cooking for about a minute or so.

Rotti is ready to be served

Serving suggestions: Ragi rotti is served with uchellu chutney i.e sesame seed chutney or we also enjoy it with chutney pudi + yogurt or pickle + yogurt yummmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Variations: Some of them like making ½ & ½ i.e mixture of ragi + rice flour rotti while rest of the ingredients remain the same.

Have a nice day:)!!!

Celebrations!!!

1 year ago I posted my first entry on this blog....time just flies I just can’t believe that it’s been 1 year now that abhi-ruchi has been a part of our life:)!

My desire to collect good recipes and share it with friends was actually started off as a hobby but within few days with all your encouraging comments it became a serious affair for me :D. I started doing things quite competently. During this time, I met many wonderful foodies, learnt a lot of new stuff and certainly improved my cooking skills. And as well, have found a new love – photography ;).

On this occasion I would like to appreciate my friend S for stimulating my brain. Thanks to all of them who read and comment regularly, they mean a lot to me. Thanks to my mom and MIL for all those traditional recipes and last but not the least special thanks to my DH for being with me through all my experimentation & execution:).

To celebrate this lovely day, I made a south indian sweet dish – Kobbari mithai or coconut barfi.
Here’s the recipe for Kobbari Mithai

Ingredients

Makes around 15pieces

Freshly grated coconut – 2 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Elachi– 3 crushed
Milk – ¼ cup
Ghee– 2 tsp

Method

• Mix freshly grated coconut and sugar in a large bowl and let it sit for 20-30min. Meanwhile grease a plate and keep it aside.
• Transfer the coco-sugar mixture into a pan, add milk and bring it to boil on medium flame. Make sure you stir it continuously so that it doesn’t catch the bottom.
• You need to do this until all the sugar is melted and the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan. Next add the elachi powder and mix well.
• Transfer the mixture immediately to the greased plate and spread evenly quickly. Let it cool for a min or two and then with the help of a knife cut into desired shape, garnish with dry fruits. Kobbari mithai can be stored in air tight containers for upto 10days

All in all I feel recipe writing is a skilled task and theres no bigger reward than the thought that something I have written is being enjoyed by others in the same spirit as I write!!!

Thanks for visiting and making this year fantastic for me!

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year to all readers, regular visitors of abhi-ruchi and also blogger friends of abhi-ruchi :)!!!!

Cheers and Wishing you all many more happy days, good health/wealth and good luck!!!!