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puri and bhajji

There is nothing special about puris. But this pataL(means watery) bhajji is a speciality of Honavar, Kumta and nearby places. It has the simplest of ingredients, highlighting the basic taste of potatoes and also gets ready in a jiffy :)

Ingredients

• Potatoes - 2 medium sized potatoes
• Grated coconut - 2 tablespoons
• Green chillies - 4
• A sprig of curry leaves
• Mustard - 1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Oil for tempering

Method

• Boil and peel the potatoes and set aside.
• Mash the potatoes and add the grated coconut, salt and water.
• In a kadai, heat some oil and add the mustard. Once the mustard stops sputtering, add the green chillies and curry leaves and finally add the potato/coconut mixture.
• Boil well and simmer for a few minutes.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

dosa with curry

Dosas are the most common breakfast items in konkani households. But it doesnt get boring as there are a lot of varieties of dosas to choose from. One such dosa is this ‘Urid maida polo’. I havent eaten this dosa in any other place or hotels apart from konkani households. It can be served with coconut chutney (again there are different chutney variations). But I like this particular potato and onion curry with this dosa.

Urid maida poLo

One advantage of this dosa is that it doesnt require fermentation and can be made instantly.

Ingredients

• Urid daal - 1 cup
• Maida flour (all purpose flour) - 4 cups
• Salt to taste

Method

• Soak the urid daal in water for one hour (even 30 mins would suffice) and grind it to a smooth batter. You can prepare upto this stage the previous evening and then refrigerate this batter. Or you can also make this batter in the morning.
• Now in a separate vessel mix the maida with cold water and make a thin paste. Add some salt. Mix it thoroughly to remove any lumps. Do not add a lot of water.
• Finally mix the maida and the urid batter and make thin dosas out of it.

Preparation time: 1 hour

baTaTa ani kaandya bhajji

It means potato and onion curry.

Ingredients

• Potato cut into small pieces - 2 medium sizedhe
• Onion cut into small pieces - 4 (or 5) medium sized
• Grated coconut - 1 cup
• Red chillies - 4
• Cloves - 8 to 10
• Black Pepper (whole)- half teaspoon
• Coriander/dhania seeds - 1.5 teaspoons
• Tamarind - a small piece
• Salt to taste

Method

• In a vessel mix the potato and onion pieces, add some salt and water and cook it well till the vegetables are soft.
• In a kadai take a little oil and fry the cloves, pepper, coriander and red chillies one by one in that order on a small flame.
• Grind these masala items with coconut and tamarind to a smooth mixture to match the consistency of a chutney.
• Add this chutney to the boiled potato/onion mixture, add salt to taste and let it boil well. Simmer for a few minutes and the bhajji is ready.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Serve the bhajji with piping hot dosas. This bhajji can also be had with other kinds of dosas, idlis, bread etc.

prawns sidedish

Most of the people who eat non-veg love prawns and there are many prawn delicacies to choose from. I made this khoLu yesterday especially for my husband who loves prawns. khoLu in Konkani means the liquid part of the pickle. Though this item does not taste like pickle, I guess it infers its name from the amshe, miTshe, thikshe (sour,salty and spicy) tastes. This is also extremely easy to make.

Ingredients

• Cleaned prawns - 1 cup
• Onions cut into small pieces - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2 to 3
• Chilli powder - 3 teaspoons
• Tamarind extract - made from a lemon sized ball
• Oil
• Salt to taste

Method

• In a kadai heat some oil and add the onion pieces and green chillies. Fry for a few minutes on a low flame.
• Now add the prawns to this, add a little salt and fry till the prawns start looking solid and white.
• At this stage, add a little water, close the vessel with a lid and cook for 5-6 minutes to ensure that the prawns are cooked.
• In a separate bowl, mix the tamarind extract, chilli powder and some salt. You can vary the proportion of the tamarind and chilli powder to suit your taste.
• Add this mixture to the onions and prawns, add some water and see if the proportion of the salt and tamarind is fine. Do not add a lot of water. Allow it to boil well and then simmer for another 5-6 minutes. By the end of this, you will be getting a yummy smelling flavour :)

Serve with rice as a sidedish or with chapatis, bread etc.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

cabbage stir-fry

There are 2 types of Konkani stir-fries. One is ‘upkari’ and the other is ‘taLasaNi’.Coconut is added to upkari and also some water is added to it while cooking. On the other hand, taLasaNi is more spicy, is cooked on very low flame with more oil and no coconut is added. Upkari is typically a very common item in everyday meals.

Ingredients

• Shredded cabbage - 2.5 cups
• Grated coconut - half cup
• Green chillies / Red chillies - 2 to 3
• A sprig of curry leaves
• Corainder leaves - few
• Mustard
• Jeera (optional)
• Turmeric (optional)
• Oil
• Salt to taste

Method

• In a kadai heat some oil and add mustard, jeera, green chillies and curry leaves in that order.
• Now add the shredded cabbage, salt, turmeric and fry for sometime.
• Add some water and cover it with a lid.
• When it is more than half-cooked, add the grated coconut and cover the lid again till it completely cooks.

Serve with rice and curry or chapatis.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

appe / paddu

Appe (paDDu in Kannada) is a very popular south indian breakfast item. The basic ingredient is rice and the proportion of other ingredients varies. I have written my MIL’s recipe here. A special tava is available to make this appe. The best one is the traditional cast-iron thick, black and heavy tava. (the one I have shown in the picture). Care should be taken to grease the tava properly or the paDDus are going to stick to the tava.

Ingredients

• Rice - 2 cups
• Urad daal - half cup
• Channa daal - half cup
• Oil
• Salt to taste

Method

• Soak the rice and daals for a couple of hours and grind to a smooth batter (little thicker than dosa batter)
• Add salt and let the batter stand overnight.
• In the morning make paDDus out of it. Fry on medium or low flame and use oil generously, otherwise the paDDus will be sticking to the tava.

Serve hot with coconut chutney

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes

Tips

You can also add ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves to the batter just before making the paDDus to make it tastier and more colourful.

tempered chickpeas

This is a favourite tea-time snack for me. It is very tasty, nutritious and easy to prepare. This usli is given out as prasada in many temples (and it is very delicious like any other prasada). It can also be served as a side-dish with rice.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas - 2 cups
• Grated coconut - half cup
• Green chillies - 2 to 3
• A sprig of curry leaves
• Lemon juice - 1 teaspoon (more if you like it)
• Corainder leaves - few
• Mustard
• Oil
• Salt to taste

Method

• Wash the chickpeas and soak it in water for 3-4 hours. (If you are planning to use Kabuli channa, soak overnight)
• Pressure cook the channa with some salt.
• In a kadai heat some oil and add mustard, green chillies and curry leaves in that order.
• Now add the channa and fry for a few minutes. Add more salt if required.
• Garnish with coconut, coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Serve hot.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

vegetable pulav

Everybody has their own version of making pulavs and their own favourites. This is my mother’s version and also the best I like. My sister and I have named it as Ammale Pulav (meaning Amma’s pulav :) This is a rather elaborate way of making pulav and hence will turn out best when you have ample time and are in the mood for it. Today was one of those days for me.

This pulav also has also a very generous proportion of vegetables. It is made in 3 stages: masala, vegetables and the rice.

Ingredients

• Rice - 3 cups
• Onions - 2 medium sized
• Mixed vegetables (Beans, carrot, peas, potato) - 2.5 cups cups
• Green chillies - 4 to 5
• Corainder leaves - a generous portion
• Garlic pods - 10 to 12
• Ginger - half inch
• Pepper - half teaspoon
• Fennel seeds - half teaspoon
• Cloves - half teaspoon
• Cinnamon stick - a small one
• Cardamom - 1
• Ghee / Butter
• Oil
• Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

Method

• Wash the rice, drain the water and set it aside.
• Cut all the vegetables into about a inch long pieces (depending on your liking) and set them aside separately.
• Cut the onions into thin long pieces and set it aside.
• Grind all the masala items with a few pieces of onions into a smooth paste. It will look like green chutney and smell yummy. Fry this paste with a little oil for a few minutes till the raw smell goes.
• To cook the rice, heat some ghee in a cooker and add 2 cloves and a small piece of cinnammon. Add the washed rice, turmeric and salt and fry it for a few minutes. Add sufficient quantity of water and pressure cook the rice.
• The vegetables can be cooked in 2 ways: Either cook by stir frying them with a little oil or first steam them and then fry for a few minutes. The second method will take less time. I boil the vegetables with some salt in water in the following order: beans, potatoes, carrots and lastly peas with some time interval between each vegetable, as beans takes the maximum time to cook and peas the least. After cooking the vegetables, drain them and set aside. Remember that the vegeatbles must not become very soft, else they lose the taste and the whole purpose of cooking them separately is lost.
• Now in a wide bottomed kadai, take some oil and fry the onons till they become transparent. Now add the vegetables and fry for a few more minutes. (My mother does not boil the vegetables. ….. she cooks them at this stage by frying with the onions on a very low flame till all the vegetables are cooked)
• Now add the masala to these vegetables, salt to taste and fry for a few more minutes. Now turn off the flame.
• Finally mix the rice to these vegetables, add some ghee and cover the container for 10-15 minutes so that it blends well. You can utilise this time to make salad/raita.

Serve this pulav with raita and enjoy your sumptuous meal.

Preparation time: 90 minutes

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• courtesy Shantabai Pai (my grandmother)