Anjal/Surma Rava Fry | Crispy Spicy King Fish Fry

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King Fish, Sear Fish, Anjal, Surma or Surmai called by so many different names, this is a very famous fish in Coastal Karnataka, Goa and Konkan Area. My personal favorite is Masala Fry.

Rava fry gives a different texture to this fish which is crispy from outside and succulent inside. This spicy, tangy and aromatic fish is very easy to make. If you like it spicy please add more red chilli powder. I serve it with simple Rice and Dal and my husband being a cricketer doesn't fail to tell me that it's also Sachin Tendulkar's favorite food ;-). It can be served as an appetizing starter also.

Here is a simple step by step recipe to make this spicy fish fry.

Ingredients:

King Fish Slices : 4

For the marinade paste:
Beaten Egg : 1
Corn Flour: 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder: 2 tbsp
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 tbsp
Garam Masala : 1/4 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste: 2 tsp
Lemon juice: 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil: 1/2 tsp

To Fry:
Oil: 2 tbsp
Rava/Semolina : 1/4 cup

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl mix all the marinade ingredients and whisk it well.

2. Wash and clean the slices of fish and rub the marinade paste well so the fish is well coated with the paste. Keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour to one hour.

3. Heat oil in a big frying pan, dip the fish slice in semolina and coat it from all sides and arrange on the hot pan in a single layer. Let it roast on medium heat for 5 minutes on one side and carefully flip the slices. Once it turns golden brown in color turn off the flame and remove the fish on a paper towel. It will take abt 10-15 minutes depending on the size.

4. Serve hot with lemon wedges and Onion roundels.

Notes:
1. Egg is added for better binding but you can skip it and it will taste just as great.
2. You can also add rice flour along with rava for the outer coating.
3. Adjust the amount of chilli powder as per your taste.
4. You can freeze the marinated fish for a week without it losing the taste.
5. Please sprinkle little salt, lemon juice and turmeric if you want to freeze the kingfish without the full marination. It will help to retain the taste of the fish.
6. This fish can be deep fried as well, I usually shallow fry it with only 2 tbsp oil. Either ways it tastes good as long as the fish is well roasted in hot oil :)

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Gari Gari Shankarpali | Sweet Crispy Fritters

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Shankarpali is a great tea time snack. A little sweetish with a wee bit of salt makes this a perfect sweet cum savory to munch on anytime of the day. It can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 weeks. You can pack it for picnics or munch on while watching movies. Here is the simple and easy recipe to make these crispy shankarpalis.

Ingredients:

Maida/All Purpose Flour: 4 cups
Clarified Butter/Ghee: 3/4 cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda: 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Heat Sugar, ghee and water in a pan until the sugar melts completely. Turn off the flame and let it cool down completely.

2. Mix in flour, salt and baking soda and add the cooled water part by part and start kneading the flour. Make a thick dough. Adjust the quantity of flour if the dough is soft. Cover the dough and keep it for one hour.

3. Roll a lemon sized dough into 1/2 cm thick sheet and cut it into diamond shaped pieces. Deep fry in hot oil on medium flame until golden brown color.

4. Remove on absorbent paper towel and store in the airtight jar. You can store it for 15 days at room temperature. I wonder who's going to leave them for 15 days ;-)

Notes:
1.Keep the flame on medium always to evenly fry the shankarpali.

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Kodubale | A special snack from Karnataka

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Kodubale is a special snack from Karnataka - a festive snack usually made during ganesha festival or deepavali. The list pof ingredients is quite simple but just need a little effort to roll and fry them. Once you start munching on this crispy snack all the effort will seem worth it :-) It's a very addictive snack and I must say the tagline 'no one can eat just one' suits kodubale aptly.

I have adapted the recipe from Swayampaka channel. It's an easy recipe. Do give it a try and impress your family members :-)

Ingredients:
Chiroti Rava/Semolina/Small Sooji: 1/4 cup
All purpose Flour/Maida: 1/5 cup (little less than 1/4 cup)
Rice Flour: 1 cup
Oma/Ajawain/Carom seeds: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Asafoetida/Hingu : 1/4 tsp
Oil: 3 tbsp + for deep frying
Fresh Coconut: 1/2 cup
Dry red chillies: 8-10 (Byadagi / kashmir non spicy variety)

Method:

1. Heat a pan and add all purpose flour and semolina and warm them for a min. Transfer to a mixing bowl, when it is still warm add 1 tsp oil and mix it well and keep it aside.

2. In a mixer jar grind together coconut and dry red chillies with a little water.

3. Add the ground coconut paste, rice flour, asafoetida, salt and ajwain seeds to Rava and maida mixture and combine everything well.

4. Heat 2 tbsp oil until it's smoking hot and add to the mixture and mix them with a spoon. Do not touch with bare hands as the oil will be too hot.

5. Once its cooled down a bit, knead into a soft dough with hands by adding very little water at a time to get a soft kodubale dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes.

6. Heat oil in frying pan or a deep wok on medium heat.

7. While the oil is heating, take a spoonful of dough and hand roll it into 1/2" thick rope size and join the ends to make a circle. Repeat the steps and make about 6-8 kodubale in one batch.

8. Drop them into hot oil one by one and deep fry on low- medium heat for about 2-3 minutes and flip it and fry the other side also until both sides turn into golden brown color. 

9. Remove on a kitchen towel, bring them to room temperature and store in an air tight jar.

Notes:
1. Make the oil very hot before adding to the flour mixture and it should make sound when poured on the flour mix.
2. Be careful while kneading the dough as the hot oil can scald your palm.
3. Keep the flame on low-medium while deep frying and give it enough time to fry, otherwise the kodubale will be crisp from outside but raw inside.
4. If the dough breaks while rolling, touch a little water or oil and knead the dough well and roll again. If it doesn't help add a little all purpose flour/maida and try again.
5. Fry Kodubale immediately after rolling if not it will break while frying.

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Banana Halwa | Festive Sweet and Deepavali Celebration

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Deepavali - the festival of lights spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a three to five-day period, but the main festival night of Deepavali coincides with the darkest, no moon night of the year. 

It's one my favorite festivals. lights, colors, sweets, savories and family get-togethers always make this festival very dear to me. I have very fond memories of Deepavali since my childhood. When we all grew up and went to different places to study and work, it was the only time of the year when my sisters, my brother and I would meet up at home. We always looked forward to this festival. 

The night before the Deepavali traditionally the water wells (bavi) and copper pots were cleaned and decorated with marigold flowers and Creepers. Bathroom is cleaned and the fireplace is worshiped before the water is filled in the decorated pots (hande). My job was to beat the jagante (metallic plate with a stick to beat it) while my mother filled water in the pot. This is filling water or 'Neeru tumbuva habba'. I never missed to be home for this day even if that meant taking an additional day off from college or work.

Next morning (Naraka Chaturdashi) we did oil bath (Enne Snana) and in the evening we lit clay lamps and lined them inside and outside the house along Veranda, windowsills, Tulsi and compound wall and gate. Me and my sisters made big rangolis together and decorated with colors and flower petals. This was done for all three days of the festival and 2 clay lamps were lit for one full month of Kartika.

We did Lakshmi Puja (prayer to goddess of Wealth and Prosperity) on no moon day (Amavasye) with all the family members together, it was followed by setting off crackers, pots, rockets and other fireworks.

Next day (Bali padyami) we usually had puja in my father's and uncles' hotels. We all cousins used to dress up and go from one hotel to the other enjoying puja, prasad and most importantly the chit-chat and photo time we all got together :)

My mother makes holige, karchikayi, Avalakki Chooda and other Sweets. From last 2 years I am missing the festival at my mother's place. Yet another year has gone by and my kitchen is gearing up for the festival.

Like the clay lamp which burns itself to spread the light in darkness, let's spread happiness around us this Deepavali. Here is a sweet recipe from coastal Karnataka to indulge on this festive occasion. I wish you and you family a very happy and prosperous Deepavali.  - ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯ ಸಿಹಿ ಹಾರೈಕೆಗಳು.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
6 Medium size Ripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Cardamom Powder
4 Tbsp Clarified butter /Ghee
8-10 Cashew - chopped into small pieces
1 Tbsp Roasted White sesame seeds for garnish

Method:
1. Peel Bananas, add cardamom powder and Sugar and grind it into a smooth paste in a mixer.

2. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed pot and roast broken cashews until it turns to golden color.

3. Add the ground banana paste and start sauteing. It will take about one hour to cook completely.
   Scrape the sides and mix it well every 10-15 minutes and add the remaining ghee little by little.

4. Once the banana mixture turns transparent and becomes sticky turn off the flame.

5. Pour it on a greased plate and level with back of a spoon. Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds on top and let it cool down completely.

6. Cut them into small cubes and enjoy the delicious sweet on this festive season.

Notes:
1. Adjust the amount of sugar according to sweetness of banana, usually this dish is made with nendra balehannu  (Musa Nendran Banana) but you can pretty much use any type of banana.
2. You can use sliced almonds or pistachio for garnishing instead of sesame seeds.

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Avalakki Chooda | Poha Chiwda |Spicy beaten rice Mixture.

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Avalakki chooda or poha chiwda. Learn how to make crispy beaten rice mixture.

This is my favorite snack since childhood. 100s of things rush through my memory lane when I think of chooda. It was my snack in the tiffin box on all Saturdays in school days. My savior when I hated the hostel food or when late night hunger pangs striked us girls during exams.

Talking about my hostel life we had a unique way of eating the softened/limp chooda after we have it in store for more than a month :P We would mix up all sort of choodas which has lost the crispiness, sprinkle water and sauce from pickle and mix it well and that was the perfect and the most tastiest midnight snack for us. 

To cut the long story short this snack has been part of my school and college days and still continues to be my favorite:-)) 

Traditionally the beaten rice was sun dried until it was crunchy and then mixed with spicy, nutty masala. I like it with a lot of rich nuts, spice and a bit of sweetness. Adjust the amount of ingredients as per your taste.

Ingredients: 
Medium Avalakki (Beaten rice/Poha) : 1/2 kg
Peanuts: 4 tbsp
Cashew: 12-15
Raisins: 4 tbsp
Sliced dry coconut: few pieces
Roasted Bengal Gram (Putani/Hurigadle/Dalia): 3 tbsp
Asafoetida: 1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp
Curry Leaves: 3 sprigs
Green chilli : 4-5
Powdered Sugar : 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil: 3-4 tbsp

Method: 
1. Heat a big deep pan and dry roast avalakki/beaten rice. Keep mixing it for 3-4 minutes or until the avalakki turns crunchy.

2. Remove it and keep aside and heat oil in the same pan.

3. Add Mustard seeds, when it splutters add peanuts and sauté for 30 seconds and then mix in Halved Cashews and fry them for a while. Next add Raisins, Dry coconut, roasted Bengal Gram and fry on low flame for 30 seconds.Add asafoetida, curry leaves, finely chopped green chillies and turmeric.Saute until the curry leaves and chillies turn crispy. Keep the flame low so that the nuts are not burnt.

4. Next add roasted avalakki, sugar and salt and mix everything up nicely.

5. Keep it on low flame for 2 minutes and turn off the flame and let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes, do not cover with lid.

6. Let it cool down and store the crispy beaten rice mixture or chooda in an airtight container.

Notes: 
1. You can fry all dry fruits and nuts one by one and remove and keep it aside. When the tempering is ready add them back to pan along with roasted avalakki. This way the nuts will not burn although it takes a little extra time.
2. If there is space and option to sun dry the avalakki until they turn crisp, you can skip roasting them on the pan and directly add them to the tempering.
3. You can skip raisins if you do not like the sweet taste in the mixture.
4. Adjust number of chillies as per your taste, you can also add 1/2 tsp red chilli powder if you like it very spicy.

5. Deep fry the beaten rice if you are using thick variety.

6. If you are using thin variety, roast it just for a minute. After mixing the masala turn off the flame immidiately as thin poha is easily broken and the mixture gets powdered when stored.

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Mavinkayi Chitranna | Raw Mango Rice

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Mango rice is one of my favorite rice dishes. I have tried many recipes from Internet but found the perfect recipe in my favorite blog Monsoon Spice. Sia is my favorite blogger, I admire her blogging, photography and her recipes. In fact she is the one who suggested that I should create my own blog and I took it seriously :D 

I have made small changes to the original recipe, I always make this rice with raw mango. Sometimes I add broken cashew nuts to the tempering that adds a rich flavor to the rice. Today I have added a lot of peanuts. Thats how my family likes it:)

Prep time: 10 mins | cooking time :20 mins.

Recipe type: Rice, main course

Recipe source: Monsoon Spice 

Ingredients:

1 raw mango grated (with the peel)

2 cup long grain basmati rice, 

2 medium onion finely chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopped

3-4 green chillies finely chopped

1 sprig Curry leaves 

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves finely chopped

2 tbsp mint leaves finely chopped

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp ghee

1 tsp urad dal

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

3 tbsp ground nut 

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pressure cooker and add soaked rice to it and fry for a minute, add 4 cups of water and salt. Cook for 2-3 whistles and turn off. Let the rice cool down.

3. Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add peanuts and sauté. Add urad daal and fry until it's golden brown in color, add cumin seeds and let it splutter.

4. Mix in curry leaves and chopped green chillies and fry for 30 seconds.

5. Add ginger and onion and fry until onions turn translucent.

6. Add turmeric powder,sugar, salt and grated mango and mix well. Add mint leaves and half of coriander leaves. Cook for 3-4 minutes and turn off the flame.

7. Mix in rice and add remaining coriander leaves and lemon juice. Combine everything well and the delicious mango rice is ready to devour :-)

Serve hot with pickle, chutney or raita.

Notes:

1. Adjust lemon juice and sugar based on the sourness of mango.
2. As a variation I fry a piece of cinnamon, 2 cloves and 2 cadamoms in ghee before cooking the rice to give a subtle spice flavor.

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Cheese and Corn Sandwich

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White or wheat? Mayo or mustard? Hero or gyro?

 However you slice it - there are a million ways -- almost everyone has a favorite sandwich.

The origins of this hands-on meal date back centuries, but it was popularized in 1700s in England by John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who ordered meat between slices of bread so that he could eat while continuing to play cards :-) It makes me believe that all great things are invented by lazy people. Now some 250 years later, the humble sandwich has grown to encompass infinite regional variations. 

Today, 3rd November is the national Sandwich Day in United States. Like many of these days I have no idea why it's celebrated but here is how I made my cheese and sweet corn sandwich with mayonnaise :-)

Ingredients: 

Bread slices : 4

Boiled Sweet Corn : 1/2 cup

Green chilli : 1
Chopped garlic : 1 tsp

Butter: 1 tbsp

Grated cheddar cheese: 2 tbsp

Mayonnaise: 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat 1/2 tsp butter in a pan and add finely chopped chilli and sauté for 10 seconds, add chopped garlic and fry then add boiled corn, salt and sauté it for 2 minutes and cool it. Mix in mayonnaise and grated cheese.

2. Apply butter on bread slice and spread corn and cheese mixture and cover with another slice of bread. 

3. Apply butter on griller/sandwich maker and grill the sandwich for 5 minutes or until it's golden brown in color.

4. Enjoy hot sandwich with tomato ketchup.

Notes:

1. Do not add more salt as Cheese and mayonnaise have a bit of salt.

2. If you are making it on a pan then roast on both sides on low flame for about 10 minutes.

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Coconut Rice | Flavored rice cooked in coconut milk

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Coconut rice a traditional South Indian recipe. It's an easy one pot rice recipe cooked with flavorful tempering and creamy coconut milk. It goes really well with spicy potato curry or chicken curries. I make this easy dish when I am not in a mood for elaborate cooking. I use ready made coconut cream, you can also make it with fresh milk extracted from grated coconut.

Ingredients:

Rice : 1 cup

Onion : 1 finely chopped

Garlic : 3-4 cloves finely chopped

Ginger : 1 inch finely chopped

Green chillies : 2

Thin Coconut milk : 2 cups

Coconut oil: 1 tbsp

Cinnamon: 1 stick

Clove : 2

Cardamom: 2 

Peppercorns: 5-6

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes, drain water and keep it aside. 

2. Heat oil in the pressure cooker add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pepper and fry until the oil is fragrant.

3. Add garlic and ginger and sauté until the raw smell disappears. Add onion and green chillies and fry until onions turn translucent.

4. Mix in rice and fry it for 2 mins, add coconut milk and salt and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

5. Mix and serve with chicken or veg stew.

Notes: 

1. You can replace coconut oil with vegetable oil.

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