Mushroom-Almond Rice

Mushroom-Almond Rice

How long it takes: 1 Hour

Number of servings: 4-5

Mushrooms are probably the trendiest ingredient these days, as I’ve noticed all kinds of mushroom based dishes served at restaurants – such as mushroom masala, mushroom soup with spring onions and mushroom biryani etc. I have also noticed that they have a divisive character – either you eat it or you hate it. I also have put up mushroom masala, and mushroom stir fry on this blog. Today’s one pot meal with mushrooms is an easy recipe that can be prepared even by beginners. Here it is:

What you need to have: 

1. Basmati Rice – 1 Cup

2. Butter – 3-4 Tablespoons

3. Chopped Onions – 2/3 Cup

4. Garlic cloves  6-8 (sliced long)

5. Green Bell Pepper – 1/2 Cup

6. Cumin seeds – 1 Teaspoon

7. Raisins – A handful

8. Sliced Almonds – 2/3 cup

9. Mushrooms – 1 Cup

10. Coconut milk – 1/3 cup

11. Ground Pepper powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

12. Lemon juice – 1 Teaspoon (before serving)

Basmati Rice

Ingredients of Mushroom-Almond Rice

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash, drain water from rice and spread it on a plate as shown in Image-1.

2. Wash and chop capsicum, onions, mushroom and keep it aside as shown in Image 2.

3. Slice almonds, peel and slice garlic cloves too and keep aside.

Sliced garlic, almonds & other ingredients

4. Place a spatula with a little cooking oil in it on low flame and fry diced almonds in it till done.

Almonds being fried

5. Place a cooker with 4-5 Teaspoons of cooking oil on medium flame. When hot, add jeera/cumin seeds to it. When it splutters, add sliced garlic pods and fry till done.

Cumin & Garlic being fried in oil

6. When done, add raisins and chopped onions and fry till onions are transparent. Adding some salt prevents the frying onions from getting burnt. When onions are fried transparent, add chopped capsicum and saute for a while.

Onions & raisins being fried in the seasoning

7. Finally add chopped mushroom and rice and fry for a while. Add half the quantity of Almonds as well and also add 1/3 cup of coconut milk and remaining quantity of water and cook till done.  Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of pepper powder while cooking.

Chopped mushroom and rice being fried in the Seasoning

Ready to be cooked

8. Pressure cook the rice / cook it until done. Decorate it with remaing quantity of fried Almonds, lemon juice and a little pepper powder and enjoy either plain or with a spicy dish or raita.

Ready to serve Mushroom-Almond rice

How long it takes: 1 Hour

Number of servings: 4-5

Good to remember:

1. Use fresh mushrooms for the dish.

2. Pepper powder is optional.

3. A dash of lemon juice gives a unique flavour to the dish.

Kooka bendi (Chinese potato spicy side-dish)

Ready to serve Kooka bendi

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 3-4

Chinese Potato is the lesser known but healthier cousin of the ubiquitous potato. It is less acidic than potato and is commonly recommended for convalescing patients and lactating mothers as well. It is usually available only for 2-3 months in the year and is known as kooka in Konkani and sambrani in Kannada. Kooka bendi is spicy and can be eaten with rotis or as a side-dish with rice and dal, and I’m adding it to a growing list of Chinese potato based recipes –  Chinese potato upkari and kooka tikki.

Fresh Chinese Potato/Kooka

What you need to have:

1.Fresh Chinese potato/ Kooka – 25-30

Ingredients of Wet Masala:

1. Fresh grated coconut – 4 Tablespoons

2. Red chillies – 8-10

3. Tamarind or Bilimbi – 4-5

4. Coriander seeds – 2 Teaspoons

5. Turmeric powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

6. Salt – As per taste

Steamed and peeled Chinese potato

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash and cook Chinese potato in the cooker with a little water for about 20 minutes. Once the pressure is released, peel it and keep aside as shown in image-2.  Cut into bite size pieces / cubes.

2. In a spatula with 1 Teaspoon of cooking oil kept on medium flame, warm up the red chillies. Grind the ingredients of wet masala in the mixer adding water in steps to a medium fine consistency. Transfer the chillies and wet masala to a skillet.

Wet Masala being heated

3. When the masala is cooked (boiling), add peeled Chinese potato from step-1 and just mash a few of the cooked pieces to thicken the gravy and help release the flavour of the potatoes. Check for salt and bring it to boil.                                                                                  Cooked Chinese potato pieces being added to the wet masala

Ingredients of Garnishing.

1. Asafoetida solution – 1/2 Teaspoon

2. Coconut oil – 1 Teaspoon

4. Once the dish comes to boil switch off and add 1 Teaspoon of coconut oil.  Dissolve Asafoetida (soft) in water and add this also to the dish. One can even season it with fried Garlic pods. Enjoy with either rice and dal or even with chapati and roti                                                                       Ready to serve Kooka bendi

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 3-4

Good to remember:

1. Use fresh Kooka for the dish. Else peeling will be tough, and it’ll take longer to cook too.

2. One can even use garlic seasoning instead of Asafoetida.

3. This dish can be either side dish for roti or a lunch side dish as well.

Hithukubele (Surthi beans dal)

Hithukubele

How long it takes: 45 minutes (Excluding double pealing)

Number of servings: 2-3 Hithukubele

Avrekalu/Surthi beans  is likely the most abundantly available among the fresh beans in Bangalore, and popular too.  I have memories of having avrekalu dishes prepared at the homes of my friends, not so much at my home. I have already put up avrekayi chithranna, surthi beans saru (avrekalu hasi khara), surthi beans roti, avrekayi melogra gravy, avrekalu mixture, and today, I’d like to share the recipe for a dal with squeezed out avrebele – hithukubele. Here it is:

What you need to have:

1. Hithukubele / Peeled avrekalu or surthi beans- 1 Cup

2. Turmeric powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

3. Asafoetida powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

Fresh Surthi Beans (Avrekalyi)

Peeled Avrekayi/Surthi Beans

Double peeled Surthi beans /Hithukubele

Ingredients of Seasoning & Garnishing

1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon

2. Green chilly – 2

3. Curry leaves – 2-3 Sprigs

4. Coriander leaves – A handful

5. Salt – To taste

Ingredients of the dish

What you do with what you have:

1. Peel out the main skin of Avrekayi (Image-1) and the beans is as shown in Image-2. Soak that beans in water over night and peel it again and is called by the name Hithukubele which is as shown in Image-3.

2. Cook hithukubele in a broad bowl adding sufficient water, turmeric powder, asafoetida powder and cook till smooth.

Surthi beans being cooked

3. When cooked smooth, just smash a part of the cooked lentils with the help of a spatula to gain consistency to the dish. Add required quantity of salt to the dish and bring it to boil.

Cooked Hithukubele/Surthi Beans

4. Place a spatula with 2-3 Teaspoons of cooking oil on low flame.When hot, add mustard seeds to it. When it splutters, add chopped green chilly to it and later add a little asafoetida powder and finally curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the dish and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy hot with rice.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Seasoning in progress

Hithukubele

How long it takes: 45 minutes (Excluding double pealing)

Number of servings: 2-3 Hithukubele

Sweet Potato Poli

Sweet Potato Poli

How long it takes: 1 hour

Number of servings: 10 polis

Called by different names in different cultures but relished by all cultures, I’m talking about the humble sweet potato/kananaga/genasu/ratalu in English, Konkani, Kannada and Marathi respectively. Unlike the more popular but cumbersome puran poli, this poli is delicious AND can be easily prepared at an hour’s notice. Readers of this blog have loved the recipe for sweet potato chips and I hope you will enjoy this poli with equal relish.

What you need to have:

1.  Cooked sweet potato pieces – 1 cup

2. Chopped jaggery – adjust according to the sweetness level of the sweet potatoes

3. Cardamom – 10

4. Poppy seeds – 2 Teaspoon

5. Fresh grated coconut – 2 Tablespoons

6. Pure ghee – 2 Tablespoons( as required)

Fresh Sweet Potatoes

Peeled and chopped sweet potato pieces

Other ingredients of stuffing

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash, peel and cut the sweet potatoes into cubes / bite size pieces (image-2)  and cook it in the cooker for about 20 minutes / until soft. If you cook the cut pieces in a vessel that is then placed in the cooker, you do not need water into the vessel and need to only use as much water as the pressure cooker itself needs for the cooking process. On cooling, grate the cooked sweet potato pieces and keep it aside.

Cooked sweet potato pieces waiting to be grated

2. Place a skillet on medium flame with 2 teaspoons of pure ghee.  When hot, add jaggery and grated coconut and grated sweet potato from step-1 to it and mix well into a chapati dough-like consistency. Switch off the flame and allow to cool.

3. In a spatula, dry roast poppy seeds, powder it on cooling and add it to the sweet potato stuffing.

The stuffing

4. Shape it into round balls and keep it aside.

The stuffing being shaped into round balls

Ingredients of the outer dough:

1. Wheat atta – 1 Cup

2. Cooking oil – 2 Tablespoons

3. Salt – As required

Ingredients of the outer dough

5. Sieve atta with salt and add water in steps to prepare a soft dough. Add drops of cooking oil while kneading and keep aside for around 20 minutes.  Pinch out the required quantity of the atta and knead it into round balls. Flatten and roll them inro 3″ circles and place the stuffing balls from step-3 into it. Fold the edges in such a way that it is closed well.

Dough, pinched out ball and the roti in which stuffing is placed

6. Close the edges and roll it on a thick plastic sheet and as shown in the image below.

Rolled out poli ready to be fried

7. Place a non-stick tawa on medium flame, spurt a little ghee on it and place the rolled roti on it.

Sweet Potato poli being fried

Sweet Potato poli being fried

8. Flip and roast it on the other side splashing a little pure ghee. Repeat the same process for the remaining polis. Enjoy it with pure ghee or plain.  It will remain fresh for about 3-4 days at room temperature else, can preserved in the refrigerator.

Poli being flipped and roasted

A closer view of poli

How long it takes: 1 hour

Number of servings: 10 polis

Good to remember:

 1. Two varieties of sweet potato are available.  One of them when cooked is a little hard and the other one turns very smooth and also will be light cream and pink in colour.  We can use any but it needs to be grated or crushed to make a smooth stuffing.

2. Quantity of jaggery depends upon the sweetness of the root.

Almond (Badam) – Peas Masala

Almond-Peas Masala 

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 2-3

Badam/Almonds/Badami  in Konkani, English and Kannada respectively are used to improve the texture and consistency of most gravies, as an alternative to cashews. I find that almond-based gravy tastes better and is also healthier (than cashews).  Today I am sharing this recipe for Badam-Peas masala which can be relished by adults and kids since it is light on the appetite, not too spicy, but very tasty.

What you need to have:

1. Fresh Green Peas – 1 cup

2. Bay leaf – 1-2

3. Cumin seeds – 1/2 Teaspoon

4. Chopped Onions – 1/4 Cup

5. Green chilly – 2 (less spicy)

6.  Almonds – 10-12

7. Milk – 2 Cups

8. Oil – 2 Teaspoons/ Pure ghee

9. Chopped Cilantro – A handful

10. Salt – To taste

Fresh Green Peas

Ingredients of seasoning & garnishing

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash, peel and chop onions lengthwise. Wash and chop coriander/cilantro and slit green chilli. Soak almonds in water for an hour and peel it and keep aside as shown in image-2.

2. Cook green peas in cooker adding a little salt till done. Grind peeled almonds in the mixer with required quantity of milk till smooth.

Peeled almonds being ground with milk

3. Place a skillet with 2 Teaspoons of cooking oil in it on medium flame. When hot, add bay leaf (tejpatta) to it after frying for a bit, add cumin seeds.  When they splutter, add slit green chilli and chopped onions and fry till transparent.  Adding salt to it helps prevent it from getting burnt.

Seasoning of the dish in progress

4. When onions turn transparent, add ground almond milk mixture to the skillet and stir well for a while till the gravy thickens.

Ground almond milk mixture being added to the seasoning

5. Add cooked green peas from step-2, the remaining quantity of milk and also a little water if necessary to adjust the gravy to the required consistency.

Cooked Peas being added to the gravy

6. Adjust the consistency of the gravy and decorate with chopped cilantro while transferring it to a bowl.

Almond Peas Masala

7. Enjoy with either Roti or Chapati.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

Almond-Peas Masala with Chapati

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 2-3

Good to remember:

1. Use fresh green peas as they enhance the flavour of the dish.

2. I have used branded milk for the dish. Any thick milk will serve the purpose.

Chana Gashi

How long it takes: 45 minutes

Number of servings: 4-5

We make ghashi with any Lentils and among them Chane ghashi is the most popular one. It is really a combination of Chana and a vegetable with coconut gravy as the base. This dish is a must in the menu in most of our functions like the wedding, house warming ceremony and also in any parties too.  Here I have used white radish which is not typical but turned out great when I tried anyway. My mom used to prepare this combination in my childhood due to the non availability of the more appropriate vegetable for this dish – namely raw jackfruit. Never mind, here now is my version of Chane ghashi.

What you need to have:

1. Kabul chana – 1/3 Cup

2. Chopped White Radish pieces – 1 and 1/3 cup

Ingredients of Kabul Chana Ghashi

Ingredients of Wet Masala:

1. Fresh grated Coconut – 1/3 Cup

2. Red Chillies – 4-5(Byadgi)

3. Almonds – 6-8 (Soaked in warm water an hour before later pealed)

4. Bilimbi or Tamarind – A little

5. Turmeric powder – 1/2 Teaspoon

Ingredients of Wet Masala

What you do with what you have:

1. Soak Kabuli Chana in water over night. Wash, peel and chop white radish into small pieces to match the size of chana and cook both in the cooker till done sprinkling a little salt and adding required quantity of water.

Kabuli Chana & Radish being cooked

2. Once condensed, transfer the cooked ingredients to a bowl.

Cooked Chana and Radish

3. Place a spatula with 1 teaspoon of cooking oil in it on low flame. On heating, fry red chilly in it till crispy. Switch off the flame and add turmeric powder to it to get rid of the raw smell.

Red Chilli  fried in oil

4. Grind the ingredients of wet masala adding fried chilli in the mixer adding water in steps to a medium fine consistency.  Ground Wet Masala is as shown in the image below.

     

Ground Wet Masala

5. Add the ground wet masala to cooked ingredients from step-4 to it adding required quantity of water to bring it to the required consistency.  Check for salt and bring it to boil.

Masala being added to cooked veggie

Ingredients of Seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon

2. Asafoetida powder – 1/4 Teaspoon

3. Red chilli – 1

4. Fenugreek seeds – 5-6

4. Curry leaves – 3-4 Sprigs

Ingredients of Seasoning

6. Place a spatula with 2 teaspoons  of cooking oil in it on low flame. Once heater, add mustard seeds to it. When they splutters, add asafoetida powder, red chilli pieces and finally add curry leaves.  Season it to the dish from step 5 to it.

Ready to serve Kabul Chana Ghashi

Note:

1. Actually, you can other lentils for the dish as well – not just this chana.

2. Cooking it to make sure its soft makes a big difference to the taste. Sometimes due to the quality it may not cook at the first instance. Check and cook again.

3. People even use Yam as a combination for the dish.

Beans Stir-fry (Garlic Version)

French Beans Stir-fry (Garlic version)

How long it takes: 15 Minutes

Number of servings : 4-5

French Beans is ubiquitous and used in side dishes, one pot meals and also combined with other vegetables in the preparation of curry, sambar, and the like. I have already put up beans upkari, bharith. Today I would like to put up this simple version of stir fry with garlic which is commonly made by Mangalorean Konkanis as a side dish for lunch. Here it is:

What you need to have:

1. Chopped French Beans – 3 Cups

2. Red chilli pieces – 20-25 (Byadgi chilli)

3. Dhania-Jeera powder – 3-4 Teaspoons

4. Garlic pods – 10-15

5. Fresh grated coconut – 2 Tablespoons

6. Cooking oil – 3-4 Teaspoons

Fresh tender French beans

Ingredients of Seasoning and Garnishing

What you do with what you have:

1. Wash, and chop beans finely and keep it aside. Peel garlic pods, cut red chilli into pieces,grate coconut and keep aside as shown in image-2.

2. Place a skillet with 3-4 Teaspoons of cooking oil on medium flame. When hot, add peeled garlic from step-1 to it till it turns light brown. When garlic looks nearly well fried, add red chilli pieces too to it and fry for a while.

Seasoning in progress

3. Add chopped French beans from step-1; also add dhania-jeera powder and salt into the skillet.  Place water in a plate above the dish so that the beans cooks faster without loosing the oil content or nutrients.

French Beans being cooked with the seasoning

4. When done add fresh grated coconut and serve hot with rice and Rasam.  Yummmmmm

 Ready to serve Beans stir fry

A closer view of the dish

How long it takes: 15 Minutes

Number of servings : 4-5

Good to remember:

1. We need fresh and very tender beans for this dish.

2. Garlic pods can even be increased/decreased as per one’s taste.

3. The dish should not be highly spiced and hence use Byadgi chilli.

4. The reason to place water above the dish is to make the dish aromatic and also to preserve the nutrients and the oil content.

Sankashti Dates for 2012

Let me wish all the viewers of this blog a very happy new year and start 2012 on my blog with a post of Lord Ganeshji’s Sankashti dates for this year.

Date	Moon rise
Thursday, January 12	9:17 pm
Friday, February 10	9:03 pm
Sunday, March 11	9:44 pm
Monday, April 9	9:32 pm
Wednesday, May 9	10:20 pm
Thursday, June 7	9:57 pm
Friday, July 6	9:28 pm
Sunday, August 5	9:24 pm
Tuesday, September 4 (Angarika Santashti)	9:15 pm
Wednesday, October 3	8:32 pm
Friday, Novermber 2	8:43 pm
Sunday, December 2	9:09 pm

Oats Appam

Oats Appam

How long it takes: 1 hour

Makes : 28 Appams

Surprisingly oats preparations have become the most popular demand from the readers, and even more surprisingly they are actually quite yummy ! I have put up a few dishes from oats like the oats roti, oats paratha, oats upma, oats-poha upma, oats-poha chivda, oats-chana dal laddoos and now comes the appam.  It is a sweet appam, and I plan to attempt a spicy version in the upcoming weeks.  Here is my version of Oats Appam.

What you need to have:

1. Oats – 3/4 Cup

2. Wheat atta – 2 Tablespoons

3. Bombay sujee – 3 Tablespoons

4. Cooking soda – A pinch

5. Chopped jaggery – As per taste

6. Fresh grated coconut – 2 Tablespoons

7. Chopped cavendish banana – 1/4 cup

8. Grated cashews – A handful

9. Sesame seeds (white) -  1/4 Teaspoon (optional)

10. Cardamom – 5-6 (powdered)

11. Salt – A pinch

12. Cooking oil or pure ghee – 4-5 Tablespoons butter

13. Water – 1 Cup in all (approx to make the dough)

Ingredients of Oats Appam

Other ingredients of the dish

What you do with what you have:

1. Place a skillet with oats in it and dry roast it on medium flame till you get a nutty aroma.  On cooling it powder to a medium fine consistency

Oats being dry roasted

Oats being powdered

2. Sieve the oats powder, wheat atta, cooking soda in the atta siever.  Transfer it to a broad bowl.

Sieved oats powder, atta and soda

3. Grind chopped bananas, jaggery, fresh grated coconut in the mixer. Add water in steps to a medium fine consistency.

Ground mixture of jaggery, banana & coconut

4. Add this mix to the bowl from step-3 and mix well adding grated cashews, sesame seeds, cardamom powder and remaining water to bring it to a smooth batter consistency.

Ground mixture being added to the oats atta mix

Oats appam dough

5. Place an appam griddle on medium flame.  Add cooking oil or butter in each of the appam mould and when hot, pour appam batter in it. Adjust the flame as per the size of your burner and cook till done on a low/medium flame.

Oats appam being cooked

6. Flip and cook on the reverse adding a little ghee or oil.

Ready to serve Oats Appam

7. Enjoy with coconut chutney or even with butter

Ready to serve Oats Appam with coconut chutney

How long it takes : 1 hour (Including making the dough and frying the same)

Number of servings : 28

Good to remember:

1. Dry roasting of oats should be done on low flame.

2. Quantity of water depends upon the brand of oats.

3. Always use cavendish ripe bananas else it will not have the aroma of bananas at all. Also consistency of the dough will be right.

4. Fry Appams always on low/medium flame adjusting as per the size of your burner.

Indian Food Court on the Konkani Sammelan Video

Some of you might be familiar with the biennial Konkani Sammelan in North America. Now, it so happens that a few photographs of the recipes from this blog have made it to the  Sammelan promotional video ! I thank Mr. Dinkar, one of the blog readers who is also associated with the Sammelan organization, for the opportunity.