Moolangi/ Radish Chutney

I was not familiar with the pink radishes when i was in India.. Never can remember ever finding them even in Nilgiris, Brigade road..But they are so cute and pretty i wanted to try then. So i adapted it to an age old recipe from Karnataka .. that my mom, my grand mother all have made so many times. Besides this is a dish that does not need a lot of cooking. So it is best for hot sunny days when standing in front of the stove is not actually a good idea.

Radish- pink 1 pack
Coconut grated 2 tbsp (up to 4 tbsp can be added)
Green chillies 4 and above
Tamarind 1 tsp
Salt
Jaggery (size of half a lime)
mustard 1/4 tsp
oil 2 tsp
Hing one big pinch
Fresh Coriander
Jeera 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Remove the top and bottom of the radish and chop them into quarters. Keep it aside. 
• Slit the green chillies.
• Heat oil in a pan. Drop the mustard, jeera Hing and green chillies. Toss it around for about a minute. Add the radishes. Toss for a 8-10 minutes. Remover from heat and cool.
• When cool, combine it with the other ingredients in a blender and puree it to combine everything into a coarse paste.Serve with hot rice.

Aloo Gobi

I love Aloo Gobi... my love for this dish has its roots in my stay in Punjab as a kid. Well Aloo that is potato and Gobi which is cauliflower might just be the post popular vegetables in the whole of northern plains! And I am not complaining about it.. Aloo.... may be a second thought .. but Gobi .. i am gonna eat it all. I love cauliflower. I remember back in those days when we were in Punjab- Amritsar to be precise, cauliflowers were mostly available during winter, and were dirt cheap during the winter. Summer.. it used to be so rare and so pricey we also went without it!!! It has remained a favorite for many years. If time were to be a criteria, aloo gobi will definitely stay of the list of my favorites!

Potatoes 2 (i use Maine potatoes, somehow they cook faster and are much softer compared to say the Idaho potatoes.)
Cauliflower 1 small head, cleaned, florets separates.
Chilly powder 1 tbsp
dhania powder 1/2 tbsp
Amchoor powder 1 tsp
Garam Masala 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil 2 tbsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Turmeric a generous pinch
fresh Coriander chopped 2 tbsp
tomato 1 (optional)

Method:

• Clean potatoes and chop them approximately the size of the cauliflower florets.
• Heat oil in a thick pan(preferably with a lid). Drop the cumin. Once it stops spluttering add the potatoes and the cauliflower. 
• Maine potatoes cook in the same time as cauliflower but other potatoes might take longer. If using other potatoes, saute the potatoes for about 10 minutes before adding the cauliflower florets. 
• Mix in all the spices, salt and tomato if using. Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle the coriander and remove from heat.

Serve it with fresh Phulkas...

Black Bean Churmuri

In the past few months i have acquired a taste for beans.. black beans to be precise. My years in a North Indian hostel left me a Rajma-hater! I cant stand the sight of Rajma (Kidney beans) now.. That's probably the only thing on earth that i would rather die than eat. Naturally my aversion of Rajma, left me skeptical about similar looking black beans. It took me one whole year just to try it. And looks like i tried it at the right place. In fact there are food carts near my office where i occasionally grab my lunch. There is a couple of carts vending Mexican food too. So I tried something called Taco salad- vegetarian of course.. Where in they give you a box layered with lettuce at the bottom, taco chips, rice, beans, tomatoes, guacamole, cheese, sour cream and hot sauce. Its yummy. I like it a lot. In fact i had the same dish for my lunch today.
So i wanted to try the dish at home. So i assembled a can of black beans, a packet of taco chips etc. We enjoyed the 'snack'. But there were some left over beans and my spouse suggested that i make a sort of churmuri using it! So this dish was born!

Black bean 1 can
Tomatoes 2 diced
Red Onion 1/2 fine diced
Lettuce 1/2 head small
Chilly powder 1 tsp
Cumin ground 1/2 tsp
Fresh Coriander 1 tbsp
Salt
Chat Masala optional 1 heaping pinch
Juice of 1 lime

Method:

Toss in all the ingredients except salt and lime juice. Check and adjust salt and lime juice. Sit the mixture for about 10 minutes before serving..
Enjoy!!

Short cut Spanakopita

Last week of so, of Namratha had posted the recipe for spanakopita..they looked so yummy.. i simple could not resist. So i headed out to Shop and Stop determined to get phillo sheets, even though i knew phillos could be pretty tricky for a gauche person like me! Phillo are after all the princess of pastry, me a lowly, lazy bum of a cook.
However there was a surprise awaiting for me in the departmental stores. To make lives of lazy piggies like me, there are packets are pre baked pillo cups sitting in the frozen food aisles!! So go ahead people explore the product( well if i m a late entrant in discovering this product, excuse me! and welcome me aboard!!!)
So this is 'Rachel Ray' styled Greek snack!

Phillo cups 4
Spinach 1 and 1/2 cups chopped
Chilly flakes 1 pinch
Cumin ground 2 liberal pinch
salt
Olive oil just a tad
Feta cheese 1/4 cup
mozzarella 1 tsbp

Method:
Thaw the phillo cups to room temperature. Gently heat the olive oil with the chilly flakes. When just warm, toss in the spinach. Wilt it. Mix in the cumin and a tiny pinch of salt.(can omit salt altogether because feta as well as the phillo cup are salty, but i need more!!)
When cool mix in the feta.
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Stuff the phillo cups with the spinach-feta mixture. cover the top with the mozzarella. Bake it in oven for a few minutes till the mozzarella melts.

Set Dose/ Pancakes

When i was young, Parry's confectioneries introduced this candy called coffee bite. I assume it is still very popular back home. Their advertisements were cool.. It always ended up with the punch line ...'......coffee... toffee.................and the argument continues' very smart indeed. If the punchline were to endorse the best amongst dose (that's the way we Kannadigas call Dosa!) then it would be ...'set dose...masale dose.....and the argument continues..Personally for me, the best of the doses is the Set Dose.. I just love it.. more than Masale Dose. Both were created and popularised by the udupi hotels... (yes dose is a very very kannada preparation according to food historians and there were no Dosais in Sangam age...may be somebody can do a PhD on Dosais in Sangam age sometime..afterall there are far more deemed universities than there are eligible graduates these days) Though set dose did not become as popular as its sibling the masale dose, but it is very popular in the heart of Darshinis. It will be a sacrilege to not have set dose on a Darshini menu!!!! In my house its always the argument... i used to pester mom to make set dose always, my sister on the other hand is a big big fan of masale dose. Now in my own kitchen, i m the boss ..so more often then not its set dose that my kitchen smells of.. though there is a greater than palpable demand for masale dose! The odds of been skewed against masale dose for quite some time now..and its high i make masale dosa ..may be this week end! My fascination for set dose is not an old one though. Making an honest confession, only my father has been an ardent and devoted fan of set dosa. So when ever we went to Janta hotel/ Malleshwaram, Mahalaxmi tiffin room/Mahalaxmi layout/ SLV, J.P.Nagar or any of the Darshinis it was always 'maani, mur masale dose ondu set dose, by two coffee kodappa' which translates into 'waiter, 3 masale dose, one set dose and 1 one by two coffee'...me, my mom, my sister against my solitary eater-dad!!!But as i grew older, my preferences started changing. I used to find masale dose too heavy, too greasy and bad for my bathroom scales!!!! May be it was just one introduction that was long waiting to happen and i fell in love with set dose after that first encounter.. it was love at first bite!! Now for the difference between the masale and set..

Masale dose is thick (it should never be thin, thin masale dose is a sign of a pathetic..not even bad one..the thin ones are paper dose which passes off as masale dose in the rest of the country!!!) very moist, crisp and richly caramelised on the outside that you can taste the sweetness of caramelised rice and slightly tart from the fermentation. It should be very soft and spongy inside. When you break the dose, you should hear the crunch but when you put it in your mouth, it should just melt..without complaints. It should be a bit greasy, rich from butter and ghee which also makes the dose more fragrant and moist. Then there should be a red chutney that had been slightly smeared inside, and the potato palya should just be just slightly dry, just right not to make the dose soggy. The chutney can be either thin or thick based on ones preference.. for me both are good. ..(even as i write it my mouth started watering!! will definitely make masala dose this week end!) As far the set dose goes, it is non greasy. It resembles the Ethiopian 'ingeera' It is far more thicker than masale dose, little less caramelised and softer, mostly because of the restricted use of butter and ghee while cooking set dose! And it always comes in a set of three. Because they are smaller in size, demolishing a plate of set dose is never a big deal, in fact i probably would order a second plate if i m very hungry (or may be greedy). Also, set dose is served with saagu instead of aloo palya. Of course chutney is always there. But i love my saagu because it had a lot of vegetable and therefore a lot healthy.

So last week end i had made some set dose and saagu. Saagu recipes vary and there might be as many recipies as there are Darshinis in Bengaluru.. This is the my mom's version..
We will need,

Mixed vegetables 3 cups cubed to uniform length(carrots, potatoes, string beans, avrekai,double beans, cauliflower any vegetable of choice)
Coconut grated 1/2 cup
Green chillies (can be substituted for red chillies, i preferred the flavour of green chillies) 10 and above
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Cumin 1 tsp
Cinnamon 1/6 "
Clove 4
Fresh coriander 1 cup
Pudina 1 bunch (optional)
Ginger 1/2"
Salt
Tamarind extract 1 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Hing 1 pinch
Curry leaves 8-10
Oil tbsp

Method:

• Toast coriander and cumin separately. 
• Grind the toasted spice, coconut, fresh coriander, pudina, ginger, clove Cinnamon, tamarind extract, green chillies into a fine paste. 
• Heat oil in a pot, drop the hing, mustard and curry leaves. Once the mustard stops spluttering, mix in the spice mixture. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes till the raw smell disappears. 
• Cook the vegetable in salted water alternately combine the vegetables in a microwave proof dish, sprinkle salt and microwave high for 4-5 minutes till the vegetables are tender. 
• Mix in the cooked vegetables into the spice mixture. Simmer for about 20 minutes or till everything is well combined
• A dollop of butter can be added right at the end.

Serve it hot with set dose/rawe idlis. Enjoy...

Gadsoppu/ Mixed Greens & Lentils

Gadsoppu is a generic dish which is particularly popular in and around Tumkur, Bangalore and Mysore. It is generally made with a combination of pulses and greens, the most popular being moong, alasande (pigeon peas), moth dal and greens like palak and methi. It is very nutritious given the goodness of both pulses and greens. I love it and my mom makes it often with chapatis, akki rottis for breakfast. Well now for me making this dish for breakfast might not be a good idea ... but i love to eat it for lunch/dinner! Of course this reminds me of the neighbours back in Tumkur when we were growing up! This was probably one dish that every body's moms made (the other dish being chitranna!!) And during the avarekai season, as usual avarekai (cow beans/ papdi liluva) finds its way into everything including the gadsoppu. How i miss the fresh smell of avarekai.. this time around when i was back in India i missed the avarekai season just by a whisker. I wish i could have some hisikid bele saaru/averekai huli!!But for now, Kabuli channa should do the job! If its me who's cooking, it's got to be slightly different, so i decided to use the kabuli channa that's been sitting in my pantry for god knows how long...crying 'pick me up'!!! So i decided to make a gadsoppu of kabuli channa! Here is what i did. (Which is indeed unsual!!!)

Serves 6 ||  Calories per serving (Kcl) | total 228 | Protein 9 |  fat 9 || Fiber 10 gm |

Kabuli channa 1 cup
Spinach 1 bag (as much as you like)
Indian round Brinjal (egg plants/ aubergines) 3
Cummin toasted and ground 1 tsp
Green Chillies 2
Chilly Powder 1 teaspoon and upwards
Dhania powder 1 tsp
Paste of one Onion
Garlic crushed 2 cloves
Onion fine diced 1
Tomato diced 1
Fresh Coriander chopped 1 tbsp
fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Oil 2 teaspoon
Hing a pinch
Butter 1 tbsp (optional)
Yogurt 1 tbsp
Salt

Method:

• Soak channa dal overnight. Pressure cook it till tender, about 3-4 whistles.
• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan. Add the hing mustard seeds, fennel seeds ( this is my addition, my mom, nor would any body i know of adds fennel seeds to this dish, but it makes the dish so much more fragrant). Stir for a few seconds.
• Add the diced onions and the garlic paste, fry for a few minutes. Add the onion paste and all the spice powders. Mix well. Also add some of the water used to cook the channa. Cook the spice mixture till the raw smell disappears. 
• Mix in the channa dal, tomatoes and brinjal. Simmer for 20 minutes. Mix the palak and simmer for 10-15 more minutes. Do not simmer the palak for too long, it will loose its colour and makes the dish look very dull. Finish with butter, yogurt and coriander. Serve it hot with rice or chapati.

Habanero Habba!!!

Habaneros!! the very name makes me break out in sweat. The other day i was just doing my favorite pass time!! browsing the aisles of the super market... Right on the chilly aisle, there were these stubby orange peppers.. they looked cute. I read the name - HABANERO! I remembered they were supposed to be hot chillies, hotter than jalapenos. But Jalapenos are nothing to me and my family. We fry them up and eat it in our Bhajjis!! and they are yummy. So my adventurous instincts prodded me to buy a few of those. I got 4 of them, used three of them in a chicken dish for about 1/2 a kilo of chicken. ...The story began after we ate the chicken.. my first mouthful was OK....The second mouthful was a bomb-blast in my mouth.. I am sure there was steam oozing our of my ears and nostrils!! The third mouthful was the nuclear disaster.. and that was it!!! We stopped eating.. i had to mix it up with rice and other other stuff to make it milder.. we ate the diluted version though..
One thing about habaneros is the sweet flavour in the background. Its actually good to be used
in chutney, pickles.. because it is extremely hot but rather sweetish in the background.

Anyways it will be some time before i sue it again in my kitchen.

This definitely was the hottest chilly i have had in my life... The hottest i had just once in my life was the bhoot mirchi pickle. During my hostel life in JNU, we had a dinning tradition where we did share pickles, chutneys etc on the dining table. Pema, my Tibetan hostel mate one day got this bhoot mirchi pickle. She offered me a taste cautioning me on the level of heat in the chilly pickle. I took it rather lightly. Because being a south indian, exposed to Andhra spicy food, i thought i was very well equipped to handle the heat. But i was wrong.. i licked the bhoot mirchi pickle just the way we lick our pickles before actually eating it with food!! and that was the last thing i remember! It could see the whole universe... the sun, the stars, the planets, the comets everything!! How will i ever forget it! Recently i was reading the article on chillies in wikipedia.. I got to know that Bhoot mirchi is the hottest chilly on whole planet earth! I knew it after all i had burnt my intestine fiddling with it!!!

Padvalakai Gojju

Padavalkai or snake gourd is something banned in my mother's kitchen. There is a story to it... long long time ago when me and my sibling was not even born. ...and my parents were not even married, my father had an accident and my grandparents decided to appease the snake god!!! they performed a puja in this place called Vidhuraswattha (Also known as the Jallianwala bagh of Karnataka.. there was a massacre of freedom fighters) and they erected the statue of the snake god. Since then my father was forbidden from eating the snake gourd. So my mom never made it. It was not something i liked much, so we did not miss it. However, my father relishes it like all forbidden foods are.Last week, when we went for our ritual trip to the Asian market, my eyes caught this fresh and beautiful looking Padavalakai.So it was time to try it.

Padavala Kai (snake gourd) 1

Channa Dal 1/2 cup

Tomato 1

Jeera 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric 1 pinch

Mustard 1 pinch

Curry leaves 6-7

Oil

Hing 1 pinch

Huli Puli 1 generous pinch (Sambar Powder)

Red Chillies 6 and up

Dhania 1 teaspoon

Coconut grated 2 tablespoon

Tamarind 1 teaspoon

Salt

Method:

• Pressure cook Channa dal with a pinch of turmeric and oil till tender(about 2-3 whistles)Wash the Padavalakai and Slit it into half. Scoop the seeds and veins and chop. Cook the padavalakai in little water till tender.
• Heat a pan, toast on medium low flame, chilly, dhania and jeera separately till fragrant. Grind it along with coconut, Huli pudi,turmeric, tamarind into a course paste.
• Heat oil in a pot. Drop the mustard, hing and curry leaves, fry it for half a minute. Add the coconut and spice paste. Cook it till the rawness disappear.
• Mix in the Cooked channa dal, cooked padavalakai and diced tomatoes. Adjust the salt and simmer till everything is well combined.
• Add a little water to thin it down if serving with rice.

Stuffed Mushrooms

For some weeks now, my palate has been craving for different foods, not the regular anna,huli,rasam that is typically conjured in my kitchen! So this is one more recipe that i cooked up on a week day.. so obviously it is very simple and tasty as well

Mushroom 6 caps
Potato 1 medium chopped fine
chilly flakes one generous pinch
salt
Oil
Garlic 1 clove
Mozarella Cheese a handful (or more if desired)
Coriander 1 tablespoon

Method:
Clean the mushrooms remove the steam and save it for stocks/soups etc.
Drop the chopped potatoes into a microwave proof bowl and microwave high for about 3 minutes or till the potatoes are soft.
Heat oil in a pan. Drop the chilly flakes and minced garlic, cook it till fragrant (about a minute) add the cooked potatoes. heat it throughly mixing the chilly flakes and the galic. Adjust salt. mix well breaking down the potatoes. Finish with coriander.Set aside and cool.

Preheat oven at 350. Salt the cleaned mushrooms. (I have used baby portobella here, any mushroom is fine though)Stuff the potato filling and Top it with cheese. Pop the stuffed mushrooms into the oven for 10-12 minutes till the cheese is all melted and the mushroom is tender.

Yummy Blog Award

Yuppy!!! I got this yummu blog award from easycrafts . This is the first time i ever got an award like this in these six months of food blogging!!! Wow it feels great. Thanks a lot Easycrafts! luv it!
So if i am pass this award on i wud pass it on to
Namratha of http://www.fingerlickingfood.blogspot.com/
Asha of http://www.foodieshop.blogspot.com/ but i look at their blogs, they have already received it !! Being lazy to spend more time on blogspot and learn more techniques to handle my blog better!! (like getting the picture to run all the time in one of the corners on the blog!!!)

Until then, the yummy blog award is passed on to all those not so html-techonology savy but still attempting to make their blog look decent!!! ;-)

Cheers!! This to party!!! Hic hic hurr......zzzzzzzzzz