Menthe dose | Fenugreek Seeds Dose

0

Menthe Dose | Fenugreek Seeds dose is a lesser known dish from Karnataka. It's made with fermented batter of fenugreek seeds, rice, coconut and jaggery. This sweetish and utterly delicious  dose is served with a big dollop of ghee at home. While you can also pair it with spicy chutneys, I like mine dunked in ghee. 




 
Fenugreek seeds (menthe/methi seeds) are known to have many medicinal values, it aids in digestion, good for lactating mothers and also used to control diabetes. It's used widely in many Indian recipes specially curries. Today I am posting a sweet dish  - Menthe Bella dose. 

Here is the recipe that my mom passed to me. Do give it a try!



Ingredients:

2 cups rice (sona masoori raw rice/dose rice)

1 cup freshly grated coconut 

2 tbsp fenugreek (methi) seeds 

1 cup jaggery

Salt to taste

Method:
 

1. Wash and soak rice and methi seeds separately for 3-4 hours.

2.  Grind it with fresh coconut. Let the batter be a bit coarse and thicker than the usual dosa batter.

3. Add salt and let it ferment overnight, add powdered jaggery in the morning and mix well.

4.  Heat a dosa pan, grease it and pour a laddle full of batter, spread a little and cover with the lid. Flip and cook on both sides and serve with ghee or chutney of your choice.





Notes:
1. Methi seeds should be very soft to grind in the mixer.
2. Keep the batter slightly coarse so the dose will turn fluffy.
3. Let the batter ferment well, if the weather is cold it's better to grind it a bit in advance.
4. Don't spread the dosa very thin, it should be thicker similar to set dose.

Read More »

Neer Dose

0

   

Neer Dose is a specialty from coastal Karnataka. It's simplicity has spread to other parts of India now, mainly through Mangalorean restaurants. It's a very simple recipe made with handful of ingredients mainly rice, salt and water. Neer in Kannada/Tulu means water, in kundapur kannada it's also called Tellin Dose (thin dose). I add onions and a little coconut that makes it more tastier. There are other variations to this simple dose. Spicy version that my grandma used to make. When there was no time for elaborate cooking she would add some dry red chillies, cumin and coriander seeds while grinding the rice and eat the spicy neer dose without any sides/dips (chutney/curries). My mother also makes a healthier version by mixing half of finger millet seeds (ragi) and half raw rice to make the batter. It takes very little oil to make it, you can also skip the oil if you are making it on nonstick pan but I prick a fork into half onion and use it to grease the pan a bit. I somehow don't like the oilfree neer dose :-)

Here is the recipe that I learnt from my mother when I was in high school. It was such a proud moment for me that I learnt to make perfect neer dose like her. Since then I wanted to show off my skill whenever my mother made it. The story continued even after I got married and started living with my in laws. When we had guests at home my job was to make just neer dose :-) It's not a rocket science but many still fear trying it. It will take couple of really thick doses before one can learn to sprinkle it the right way and make good neer dose. It's so thin that you can easily eat 4-5 of them in one sitting. Read on for the ingredients and method.

 

Ingredients:
1 cup Sona masoori Raw Rice
2-3 tbsp of fresh coconut
1 small onion (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil to grease the pan

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice in enough water for 2-3 hours (1-2 hours is sufficient if you are using a wet grinder/stone grinder).


2. Drain the water from rice and put it in the mixer jar, add coconut and grind to smooth paste. Do not add more water while grinding. Check the batter between your fingers, it should be smooth in texture.


3.When the batter is almost done add the sliced onions and grind for 2 more minutes.

4. Remove in a big pot, add salt to taste and enough water to make thin batter. The consistency is similar to Rava Dosa. Do not add more water at once, check the consistency by making a dose and add water as desired.

5. Heat a pan/tawa and rub a little oil with the help of a cut onion or banana stem and sprinkle the dose batter to form a thin dose (similar to Rava Dose). Cover and cook for 30 seconds and remove it. Fold as you like.

6. Serve with coconut chutney /coconut-jaggery mixture or even spicy curries. 

Notes: 
1. Do not add too much water at once, try to sprinkle the batter on the hot pan and see if it makes thin dose with pores.

2. If the pan is too hot you can not make thin dose as it will not spread properly and makes thick ones. 

3. It just needs a little practise to play with water for right consistency and adjust the flame as needed to make thin dose. 

Thanks for reading, please comment and let me know if you try it:-)

Read More »

Hesarubele panchakajjaya / Split green gram panchakajjaya

0

Panchakajjaya is a sweet dish popular from coastal Karnataka made mostly during Ganesha Festival as offering (Naivedya). There are five main ingredients in this, green gram, jaggery, coconut, Ghee and Cashews.  It's believed that panchakajjaya is Lord Ganesha's favorite food. Here is my mother's recipe that I follow.

Ingredients:

Hesaru bele / Split green gram: 1/2 cup
Grated Coconut: 1/2 cup
Jaggery: 1/4 cup
Cashew: 10
Clarified Butter/Ghee: 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder: 1 pinch

Method:

1. Dry Roast green gram in a pan until they are golden in color and keep aside.

2. Heat ghee in the same pan and fry cashews and transfer into a plate and keep aside.

3. In the same pan mix freshly grated coconut, jaggery and cardamom and cook for 2-3 mins. Jaggery will melt and combine with coconut.

4. To this mixture add roasted green gram and cashews and mix.

5. Alternatively you can grind the roasted green gram into a coarse powder and mix with coconut and jaggery.

5. Serve as an offering to lord Ganesha.

Read More »

Kundapura Chicken Sukka | Chicken cooked in coconut masala

1

Chicken sukka is by far one of the most popular bunt dishes. It's made differently in different regions of coastal Karnataka. It's a dry dish made with a perfect blend of coconut and spices.

My grandma would dry roast the spices and make a paste and cook chicken in it along with roasted coconut paste. that's the authentic way of doing it. I follow my mother's quick fix sukka recipe that she makes with Kundapura Masala Powder. The result is almost the same and the method is much easier and quicker.

It can be made as a dry item or with a little gravy. It tastes delicious with Neer dose or white/brown rice. Here is the recipe from my mother's kitchen to yours.

Ingredients:

Chicken : 1/2 kg

Turmeric : 1 tsp

Lemon juice: 1 tbsp

Clarified butter/ghee: 1 tsp

Garlic: 6-8 cloves

Ginger: 1 inch

Onion: 3 medium sized

Kundapura masala powder: 2 tbsp

Fresh coconut: 1 cup

Coconut oil: 2 tbsp

Tomato: 1

Salt to taste.

Method:
1. Clean chicken and cut into medium size pieces. Apply turmeric, lemon juice and ghee and keep it aside for 15 minutes.

2. Heat coconut oil in a pot and fry chopped garlic for a min. Mix in chopped onion and ginger and saute until onions turn light golden in color.

3. Add the marinated chicken and saute until the raw smell disappears - about 5 minutes.

4. Add salt and Kundapur masala powder and mix well, cover and cook until the chicken is almost cooked. Chicken will cook in its own juices but sprinkle a little water if it's too dry.

5. While the chicken is cooking roast the fresh coconut on low flame for 3-4 minutes, put it in the mixer jar and pulse it 2-3 times. Add this coconut to the chicken and mix well.

6. Adjust salt and water and cook the chicken on low flame for another 10-15 minutes. 

7. Next add in chopped tomatoes and mix well. Let it cook until all the flavors have combined well and the chicken is well cooked.

Note:

If you want a drier version you can skip tomatoes and add very little water while cooking the chicken. 

Click here to know how to make Kundapura Masala Powder.

Read More »

Kodubale | A special snack from Karnataka

0

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.

Read More »

Coconut Rice | Flavored rice cooked in coconut milk

0

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.

Read More »

Charred Brinjal and Coconut Chutney | Smoky Eggplant-Coconut Dip

0

I spent my childhood in North Karnataka with a mixture of cultures and food around, my parents are from coastal Karnataka so at home lunch was always a combination of South Canara and Dharwad style recipes, which my mother learnt from our neighbors. Back in my ajji's house they always cook matta rice (boiled red rice) and most of the times we had this rice ganji (water wasn't drained from the rice) for dinner.

It is very healthy and can be eaten with pickle, vegetable palya, happala (papad) or any chutney. My mother used to make different types of chutneys to go with it like raw mango chutney, green tomato chutney or ridge guard peel chutney etc. These chutneys are simple to make with very few ingredients and tastes good with even chapathi or white rice.

Continuing with the recipes from my mother's kitchen, today's post is about delicious and smoky Charred brinjal and coconut chutney.

Learn how to make brinjal- coconut chutney:

Prep time: 5 mins | Cooking time: 15 minutes.
Recipe type: Chutney | Dip | Side Dish

Recipe Source: My mother

Ingredients:
1 medium sized purple Brinjal/Eggplant
1 medium sized Onion
4-5 green chillies
4-5 cloves of Garlic
1 cup fresh coconut
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 slice raw mango cut into pieces
Salt to taste

Method: 
1. Wash and wipe dry the brinjal and roast it on direct flame on the burner. Keep rotating it so it's evenly roasted from all sides.  Discard the charred skin and roughly chop the Brinjal once its cooled down.

2. In Mixer Jar add fresh coconut, raw mango pieces, green chillies, cumin seeds, garlic cloves and salt and grind for a minute, do not make a fine paste. 

3. Mix in roughly chopped onion and charred brinjal pieces and pulse it couple of times, add a little water if needed. This is just to combine everything well. Do not grind continuously as it will turn into a fine thick paste.

4. Serve the delicious smoky chutney with Rice or roti/chapathi. 

Notes:
1. You can replace raw mango with tamarind pulp but the mango flavor is highly recommended.
2. Roast the brinjal thoroughly from all sides, it's easier to remove the skin when its well cooked.
3. Do not grind the brinjal to fine paste as the taste will completely change.

Read More »

Coconut Stuffed Capcisum | Bellpeppers stuffed with coconut mixture

0

Stuffed Capsicum or Bharwan Shimla Mirch as called in North India is an interesting dish. You can use pretty much anything as filling from Paneer (cottage cheese), potato to onion masala. I have tried to replicate my mother's way of making it with spicy coconut filling. She uses small spicy variety of capsicum. It tastes heavenly with Chapathi or Jawar roti. It's very difficult to find them in Singapore so I have used the regular capsicum, I tried hard to pick the smaller ones :-) You can make it with any color or size of capsicum.

Ingredients:

Small capsicum/bell peppers: 4

Onion: 2

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Fresh coconut: 1/2 cup

Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Dry mango powder: 1/2 tsp

Sugar : 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt to taste

Oil: 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and dry the bell peppers and carefully remove the seeds and pith and empty the peppers.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep pan and sauté the bell peppers until the skin withers and peppers turn soft for 3-4 minutes. Keep turning the peppers.

3. Remove the peppers and add another tbsp of oil in the same pan and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Sauté for 30 seconds.

4. Add finely chopped garlic and onion and sauté until onions turn translucent.

5. Mix in grated fresh coconut and sesame seeds and sauté until it turns golden brown in color.

6. Next add in all spice powders - red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder, garam masala powder and stir well.

7. Mix in salt and freshly chopped coriander leaves and let it cool for a minute.

8. Fill this mixture into the peppers and arrange them in a microwave/oven safe dish and cook them in microwave for 3-5 minutes on high or grill in oven for 10 minutes 

9. Alternatively you can saute them in a nonstick pan and cook on all sides for 7-8 minutes.

10. Serve hot with chapathi or any Indian flat breads. It also be served as a side dish.

Read More »

Prawns Curry | A Mangalorean delight

0

Prawns curry is a thick, creamy and spicy coconut based masala gravy cooked with prawn. Like any other curry it can be made in several different ways. I follow my mother in law's Mangalorean recipe with a small change. I add 2 tbsp of coconut cream to get a smoother and creamy gravy which is completely optional :-) Here is the quick recipe to make this super easy prawns curry.

Ingredients:

Prawns: 1/2 kg

Medium sized Onion: 1 

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Tomato : 1

Ginger: 1 inch

Green chilli : 2

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Coconut cream : 2 tbsp (optional)

Coconut oil: 2 tbsp

Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste.

Lemon juice: 1/2 tsp

For masala paste:

Fresh coconut: 1 cup

Dry red chillies: 6-7

Coriander seeds : 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tbsp

Peppercorn: 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds: 1/4 tsp

Garlic : 2-3 cloves

Tamarind : small marble size

Method:

1. Wash, devein and clean the prawns, sprinkle salt, turmeric powder and lemon juice and keep it aside for 15 mins.

2. In a deep pan dry roast red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper and fenugreek seeds until the spices turn crispy and aromatic.

3. Grind it along with coconut, tamarind and garlic with 1/2 cup water to a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

4. Finely chop onion, garlic, tomato and ginger and slit green chillies.

5. Heat oil in the same pot and add garlic and curry leaves and sauté for 30 seconds.

6. Add onion and ginger and fry them until onions turn golden brown in color.

7. Add tomato and cook until it turns soft and oil separates.

8. Mix in ground paste, salt and 1 cup water and bring it to boil.

9. Add prawns and cook for 7-8 minutes.

10.Add coconut cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

11. Serve hot with boiled rice or steamed rice and lemon wedges.

Read More »

Hot and Spicy Green Chillies - Chillies stuffed with Spicy Coconut and Peanut Mixture.

0

Long Green chillies made super delicious by stuffing coconut, peanut and other spice mixture. This can be a tasty starter and also can be served as a side dish with dal rice. I have used mild variety chillies and added pepper powder and red chilli powder to make it hot and spicy. You can adjust the amount of chilli and pepper powder according to your taste.

Ingredients

Large green chillies : 6

Dry / desiccated coconut: 5 tbsp

Roasted ground nut: 2-3 tbsp

White Sesame seeds: 1 tsp

Garlic: 3 big cloves

Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp

Black pepper powder : 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Dry mango powder: 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves : 1 tbsp

Oil : 1+2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add coconut and roast it. When the coconut is warm add coarsely crushed ground nuts and sauté for a minute.

2. Add finely chopped garlic and white sesame seeds and saute until the mixture is aromatic.

3. Next add in black pepper powder, red chilli powder, Cumin powder, dry mango powder and salt and give a quick stir.

4. Turn off the flame and mix in chopped fresh coriander leaves and the stuffing for the chillies is ready.

5. Make a vertical slit on the chilli, be careful not to break it. and remove the seeds with the help of a spoon. (You can skip this if you like more spice)

6. Stuff the coconut peanut mixture into all the chillies carefully.

7. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a pan and arrange the chillies in a line so that all the chillies are touching the pan. Leave it for a minute on medium flame and flip the chillies and fry on all sides. Do not over cook as the chillies will turn soggy.

8. Remove on a paper towel and serve hot as a starter or a side dish with rice curry. 

Read More »

Fried Modak for Ganesha festival.

0

Fried modak is a sweet fried dumpling usually filled with coconut jaggery stuffing. It can be made with many different fillings like mawa, chocolate etc. it has crunchy outer cover and a chewy coconut filling inside. It's also believed to be Lord Ganesha's favorite snack and 21 modaks are offered on Ganesha festival.

Ingredients:

For filling:

Fresh coconut: 1.5 cup

Jaggery:1/2 cup

Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp

Powdered pistachio: 2 tbsp (optional)

For cover:

All purpose flour: 1 cup

Semolina/Rava: 1/2 cup

Oil :  2 tbsp

Milk: 1/4 cup

Makes about 21-23 modaks.

Method: 

1. In a mixing bowl combine all purpose flour, semolina and salt to taste. 

2. Add 2 tbsp of hot oil and mix well with a spoon. Knead it into a soft dough by adding little milk at a time. Cover with cling wrap and keep it aside for 30 mins.

3. To prepare the filling, add powdered jaggery and grated coconut in a pan and cook on low flame for 2-3 mins.

4. The mixture will become a bit dry then turn off the flame and add cardamom powder and powdered pistachio and mix well.

5. Take a marble sized dough and roll it into a thin sheet (poori size).

6. Put a spoonful of coconut filling in the center of the rolled sheet.

7. Apply little water to the edges and start pinching the edges as shown in the picture and join all the pinched edges in the center and seal it.

8. Follow the same steps and make other modaks.

9. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry modak on medium flame until they turn golden brown in color

10. Drain them on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

11. Cool the modaks before serving. 

Note:

1. Roll the dough into very thin sheets so the outer layer will be crispy.

2. You can replace fresh coconut with dry/ desiccated coconut, add 1-2 tsp milk while making the filling.

Read More »