Pineapple Kesari Bath/ Semolina Pudding

Kesari Bath is a south Indian version of the sooji halwa. This recipe is a specialty in the sense that it makes use of pinapple in a sweet dish which is not very common amongst the south Indian sweets. This is usually served as a prasada on the Satyanarayana Swamy poojas, Which used to love. Last week end i had a couple of friends over and i had made this for the dessert! We all loved it!

We will need,

Sooji   1 cup (Use chiroti rawa for best results)

Sugar 1 cup (or more if you like your desserts sweeter)

Water 2 1/2cups

Saffron 1 big pinch soaked in a tablespoon of warm water

Pineapple canned  1/4 cup  diced

Ghee 3 tablespoons

Method:

• Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pot. Add the sooji and keep stirring till fragrant. Take it off the heat.
• Combine water, sugar and saffron in another pot and simmer till the sugar dissolves.
• Drop the warm toasted sooji into the hot syrup over low flame, one tablespoon at a time stirring vigorously. Make sure there are no lumps and Be careful to keep your hands safe from the hot spluttering mixture. 
• Stir in the pineapple pieces. Cover and cook for a few more minutes. This dessert can be served either hot or cold.

P.S:
One of my readers suggests chopping the pineapple into tiny cubes and cooking it in sugar syrup before continuing with the recipe. This is one nice twist for those who appreciate sweeter sweets :)

Chicken Curry/ Koli saaru

Honey loves Chicken Curry. Something I do not make very often. I find it rather cumbersome to make this curry for him and then something else for me..... I did rather make a vegetarian curry and chicken on the side to go along. Besides, watching food network has prepared me well enough to make such chicken side dishes!! Finally I made Chicken Curry. This is one of the most popular recipes for Chicken Curry in south Karnataka.
Chicken 1 pound (The 'curry-cut' chicken is generally with bones and innards. This is the best choice for a curry. The bones and skin somehow seem to add to the taste of the curry. However Boneless Thighs work fine. Since i cook for Honey and he has cholesterol problem, I use low fat chicken breast and use an additional tablespoon of vegetable oil in the curry.)




We will need,

Cloves 6-7

Star Annise 1

Cinnamon 1/4 inch

Cardamon 3 whole

Mint leaves chopped 3 tablespoons

Coconut fresh 3 tablespoons

Poppy Seeds 1/2 tablespoon

Red Chillies 6 and above

Coriander seeds 1/2 tablespoon

Coriander leaves 3 tablespoons (chopped)

Onion 1 big

Tomatoes 2 medium

Garlic 5 cloves

Ginger 3/4 inch

Oil 1 tablespoon(2 more if using chicken Breasts)

Method

• Roughly chop onions and toast it on a hot skillet till translucent and charred at the edges. Also toast the red chillies and Coriander seeds.  
• Grind the toasted onion, red chillies, coriander seeds, clove, Cinnamon into a fine paste. Set aside. Also grind coconut tomatoes and poppy seeds into a smooth paste. (Toast poppy seeds and crush it in a mortar pestle to get this mixture into a fine paste)
• Heat a thick bottomed wide pot. Drop the chicken pieces and salt.Do not stir it. Turn it over after 10 minutes. And cook for 10 minutes.
• After the 10 minutes and most of the water from the chicken is evaporated, add the spice mixture. Stir well to coat the chicken. Simmer it for 20 minutes.
• Add the coconut mixture and cook for 30-40 minutes till the chicken is cooked through and the oil floats on top. 
• Adjust salt and finish with coriander leaves on top. Also if not watching the waist line a tablespoon of ghee can be added just before serving.

Ghee Rice

Ghee Rice is one such dish which is popular in north-south-east-west ..all over India, each recipe slightly different from the other. This is my mother's recipe which is intended to be a little lighter than the traditional recipe. I love it and i make it for parties and occasions. For me it is the Ultimate comfort food.

Basmati Rice 2 cups
Garlic Cloves 4-6
Red Onion 1 small
Bay leaf 1
Cardamon 3-4
Green Chillies 6 and above
Ghee 2 tablespoons
Cloves 5
Cinnamon 1/4 inch piece
Salt
Mint 1 small bunch roughly chopped
Coriander 1 small bunch (chopped)
Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon

Method
Heat the ghee in a thick bottomed pan. Drop the bay leaf, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, mint, garlic, onion, turmeric one after the other. Keep stirring and once the onion is translucent add washed basmati rice.Stir very gently for a few minutes and when the rice is fragrant add a little over 4 cups of water and the coriander. Cover and cook till the rice is done. Serve with Chicken curry/Vegetable Khorma.

Tamarind Chitranna/ Tamarind Rice

This recipe is a again that of a Chitranna. Chitranna is a generic rice dish made of vegetables, a prominent sour ingredient, coconut and other spices. It is a main course and very convenient for lunch boxes!
This particular recipe is endemic to the Tumkur district of Karnataka, though it is popular in other districts as well. In fact Tumkur happens to be one of the most prominent Tamarind growing regions. Also the Tumkur Tamarind is well known all over south India.

Rice cooked and cooled 2 cups
Oil 2 tablespoons
Urad Dal 2 teaspoon
Channa Dal 2 teaspoon
Peanuts one handful (optional)
Curry Leaves 5-8
Green Chillies 6 and above
Coriander chopped 1 cup (loosely filled)
Coconut 2 tablespoon
Tamarind concentrate 2-3 teaspoons
Mustard 1+1 teaspoons
Jeera 1 teaspoon
Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon
Fenugreek 1 teaspoon
Salt

Method

1. Heat a skillet. Toast one teaspoon mustard and the fenugreek till fragrant. Remove from fire and grind it into a coarse powder.
2. In the same skillet heat oil, drop the remaining mustard seeds, turmeric, jeera, urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves fry for a few seconds. 
3. Drop the slit green chillies, coconut and fry till fragrant. 
4. Thin the tamarind concentrate with a little water and mix the ground spices. 
5. Pour the mixture into the skillet and cook till most of the water has evaporated and the mixture is no longer smelling raw. 
6. Add salt to taste and finish with Coriander. Once the mixture is cool enough to handle fold in the rice taking care not the break the rice grains.

P.S: This is a Onion free recipe. But 1 diced onion can be added into the hot skillet along with green chillies if desired.

Avalakki Pulioggare

Avalakki Pulioggare is a dish typically served on the occasion of Shiv ratri . The festival is indeed one of the few Hindu festivals involving fasting instead of feasting. This dish is the one that is served in temples as prasada and also consumed to break the fast.

We will need,

Beated rice (avalakki, poha)
Peanuts 2 tablespoon
Channa dal 1 tablespoon
Urad Dal 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves
Hing
Peanut Oil
Dry red chillies
MTR puliggare spice powder
Jaggery 1 small piece
Tamarind paste 1/4 tbsp
salt

Method

• Wash the beaten rice and drain well. Sprinkle some water and keep it aside to swell.
• Mix the Pulioggare powder and tamarind paste in some warm water. Set it aside.
•  Heat oil in a skillet. Drop mustard seeds, hing, channa dal, urad dal, red chillies and peanuts. Keep stirring.  Add the pulioggare mixture. 
• Drop the jaggery and salt and keep stirring till oil floats on top and the tamarind is completely cooked. Reduce the heat and mix in the softened beated rice gently and throughly. Serve with Yogurt on the side.

Cabbage Vangibath

My favorite rice dish is unmistakably Vangibath. It is traditionally prepared with egg-plants also known as brinjal in India. A particular variety Mysore brinjal(also known as Erengere Brinjal) which is very tender, light green shinny and long are the preferred variety. However the variety is restricted to southern Karnataka and is hard is find it elsewhere. So one of the available alternative is cabbage. They make a good substitute. For the brinjal vangibath here in the USA i tend to use baby egg plants which is the second best alternative.

Cabbage (i used the red one because of the colour, but green will be just as good) cleaned and chopped
Oil
Mustard Seeds
Curry leaves
Hing
tamarind concentrate 1/4 tbsp

Vangi bath spice mixture
Urad Dal 1 tablespoon
Channa Dal 1 tablespoon
Corriander seeds 2 tbsp
Clove 2
Red Chillies 14 and above
Dry Coconut 2 tbsp

Method
Toast all the spices for the spice bend on a hot skillet and blend it into a course powder. I use a coffee grinder. I make a big jar of it and it will last me for a month or so.

Heat oil in a skillet. Drop the mustard seeds, curry leaves and cabbage. Add a little salt to wilt the cabbage. When the cabbage is half cooked, stir in the spice blend and the tamarind concentrate (thinned out in about 2-3 tbsp of water) mix well cook on medium heat till well done.

Mix it with rice and sprinkle some lemon juice before serving.

Chitranna/ Lemon Rice

Chitranna is a rice dish very typical of Kannadigas. It is a very special dish. Chitranna is made as an offering to gods, it features prominently on festive menus, it is also a much preferred dish for the lunch box... or even for a simple breakfast... very versatile indeed. Of course there are as many varieties as one could possibly conjure. It is basically rice mixed with sauteed chillies, a crunchy tempering of grams and a prominent sour flavour which can come from lemon, lime, tamarind, raw mango etc...Here is my version of lemon chitranna.

Rice (cooked and cooled)

Oil 2 tbsp

Channa Dal 2 tsp

Urad Dal 2 tsp

Green chillies 6 and above

Fresh Coconut 3-4 tbsp

Mustard

Turmeric

Curry Leaves

Hing a big pinch

Lemon juice 1 tbsp

salt

Cilantro (a small bunch)
Peas (optional)

1. Heat oil in a wok. 
2. Drop the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, hing and the green chillies. Saute for a couple of minutes till fragrant. 
3. Mix in the peas, coconut and turmeric. 
4. Keep stirring till the coconut becomes almost translucent. 
5. Reduce the heat and mix in lemon juice and salt. Cook for a few more minutes. 
6. Drop the cilantro before turning off the heat. Mix in the rice just before serving .

Mushroom curry

Mushroom happens to be one of my favorite vegetables. This is one of the many ways i indulge in mushrooms!!

Mushrooms 1 pack (chopped into chunks)

Panner (optional ) 100 gms

Onion 1 small

Garlic 3 pods

Ginger 1/4''

Cloves 4

Cinnamon small piece (about 1/6'')

Salt

Yogurt 1 tablespoon

Tomato paste 1/2 table spoon

Butter 4 tablespoons

Cilantro/Coriander 1/4 cup

Dhania 1/2 tablespoon

Chilly powder 1/2 to 2 tablespoons

Turmeric 1 teaspoon

Jeera

Grind onion, ginger garlic cloves and Cinnamon into a smooth paste. Heat butter in a pot. Drop some jeera and wait for it to crackle. Stir in the ground spice and cook till fat floats on top. Mix in the powders and the tomato paste. Toss the mushroom chunks and add about 1/4 cup of water to bring everything together. Toss in toasted panner if using. Stir in the yogurt and bring it to a boil. Finish with some fresh coriander. Serve hot with Roti, Naan or any other Indian flat breads...

Jolada Rotti Ennegai Junka

When my tongue craves for some comfort food, Jolada Rotti, Ennegai and Junka never fails me.This is something that is not my traditional food. But i grew fond of it because of our wonderful neighbour who hails from north-Karnataka where this is a typical comfort food. I had to reconstruct her recipies for i did not have any options. Besides Indian restaurants here dont sell things like these at all..They serve something more fancy like Shaam Savera which is pathetic compared to this traditional meal.

Ennegai

There are obviously various versions of this dish which is popular through out Karnataka. My mother's recipe is distinctly differnet from that of our north kannadiga neighbours.. I used to like both so i sort of combined both the recipes to make my own version. Here it is.

Indian egg plant (small round purple egg plants /brinjals are they are known in India) 5
Oil
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves

For the spice paste
Onion 1 small
Garlic 4 pods
Ginger 1/2 '' piece
Cloves 4
Cinammon 1/4 ''
Cilantro 1/4 cup chopped
Chilly powder 1-3 tablespoons
Dhania powder 1 tablespoon
Garam masala 1 teaspoon
Turmeric 1 teaspoon
Tomato paste 1 tablespoon
Coconut 2 tablespoon
Toasted peanuts 2 tablespoons


Method:

Cut the Egg-plants into quarters while keeping them intact at the top. So that the Egg plant spreads out into 4 quarters but still joined at the top. Grind the spices to a smooth paste. Stuff the spice mixture into the eggpant. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pot. Drop the mustard seeds and the curry leaves. When they stop spluttering, drop the egg plants. Arrange them in a single file making sure that they do not get steamed but roast in the hot oil. Turn sides to cook all around and throughly. Add some water if you need a little gravy (Like i always do.. i simple adore the gravy in this dish) And serve hot with Jolada Rotti.

RR Style Chilly Chicken

Back home in Bangalore one of the most popular cuisines is the Andhra-styled cuisine. There are tons and tons of Andhra style hotels through out Bangalore.... My firm belief is like any other style this is also highly influenced by the local culinary tradition. For hard core non-vegetarians, Andhra style means spicy chicken and mutton dishes. My husband's favorite joint happened to be a very popular hotel called RR somewhere near Church Street Bangalore..I myself have never been there. Nor have i ever tasted its famous chicken. But i was able to reproduce my own version of the dish based on my husband's inputs.. The wonderful taste-master he is, i was able to reproduce it pretty close...(that's what his verdict was!!!!)

Chicken (boneless thigh 1 to 2'' cubes) 1 lb
Green chillies 10
Long hot peppers 5
coriander leaves 1/2 cup
mint 2 tablespoon (chopped)
Garlic 4 small cloves
Ginger 1/2 '' piece
Clove 5-6
Cinnamon 1/2''
lemon juice
pepper 1/2 tablespoon
Oil for deep frying
Method

• Combine lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss the chicken cubes in the lemon juice marinade and sit it for at least 30 minutes. Pat it dry. Deep fry the cubes in hot oil till golden brown.
• Grind coriander, mint, green chillies,ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon to a smooth paste.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Drop the slit long hot peppers and saute for a minute. When the spluttering stops add the ground spices. Keep stirring once in a while for 7 minutes.
• Drop the fried chicken pieces and simmer for 30 minutes till well done and gravy is just thick enough to coat the chicken.

Mutter panner

My father job took us to various parts of India! One such place was Punjab that too at a time when angels feared to tread there..But our stay there was pretty good. The best part about Amritsar (thats where we lived) was the food and the Darbar Sahiba (commonly known as The Golden Temple) I was still in my high school but that did not dampen me to learn punjabi dishes from our matronly land lady. In fact the first dish i ever learned to make was Palak panner...And i have always fallen in love with punjabi food. For me it is the comfort food along with the normal south karnataka food that i later picked up...

Here is a version of mutter panner thats so widely consumed in the north and that too with relish! i love it too.. In fact i had mutter panner twice this day..like always i m gonna eat till i finish it!

Ingredients

Peas 1 cup

Panner 150 grams

Onion 1 medium

Tomato paste 1 table spoon

Garlic 4 small cloves

Ginger 1/2 "

Cloves 4

Jeera 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon a small piece

Chilly pwder 1/2 tablespoon

Corriander powder 1/2 tablespoon

Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala 1/2 tablespoon

Oil 3 tablespoon

Butter 3 tablespoon

Corriander (Cilantro) chopped

Salt to taste

Grind onion, garlic, ginger, clove and cinnamon into a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan and drop the jeera. Mix in the ground onion etc into it and fry till fragrant. Stir in the chilly powder, corriander powder and turmeric and cook till the rawness of the spices is gone.Throw in the Tomato Paste.

Heat oil in another pan when hot drop the Panner cubes(i prefer smaller cubes 2cm*2cm*2cm)

sear the Panner on all sides and cool.

Now add the peas into the masala and a little water if the masala paste is too thick. Cook for 5 minutes. Mix the panner and cook covered for 5-10 minutes more. Stir occassionally but be very gentle as to not to break the panner. Finally drop the butter and fresh corriander and serve hot with Chapatis and pooris.

Great cooks blog roll!!

Well.. this week has been a bit busy for me to try new things in my kitchen! but then i became a member of the great cooks blog roll!!!
i m so very glad and i m sure being a part of a big community is gonna be fun!

Gobi Manchuri

One of the few changes in the street food senario during my growing-up years was the evolution of Gobi Manchuri. Now ubiquitous street food was early on a preserve of fancy hotels. I remember we used to go to this restaurant called "The Hut" on M.G.Road in Tumkur to get our dose of gobi manchuri!! what ever its actual name is we have called it thus and it remains so. This particular dish is supposed to have originated in the kitchens of Tangra- in calcutta where the Chinese settlers had their restaurants. I don't know its journey to south-Indian kitchens. But by late eighties and early nineties i was pretty familiar with these Chinese dishes as i knew Masala-Dose!During those years when i was still in school my tongue used to crave of Gobi manchuri and we could not go out to eat as often. So that motivated me to try making this snack in my mother's kitchen. After various disasters i came to perfect a recipe that suited my family and my palate. Last night i made it again after a long time. Here is the recipe.

Cauliflower florets banched in salted water 1/2 lb

Corn flour (corn starch) 1/4 cup

All purpose flour (Maida) 2 heaping tablespoon

Dark Soya sauce a few dashes

pepper powder

salt

chilly powder (optional)

For the sauce:

Tomato ketchup (Indian brands maggi/ kisans works better than american brands like heinz)Garlic fine chopped 1/2 tablespoon

Onion fine chopped 1/2 tablespoon

Green chillies fine chopped 1/2 table spoon

Soy sauce a few dashes

Salt

Coriander (Cilantro)

Salt

Oil

Method

Mix corn starch, maida, salt pepper and soy sauce. Make a thick batter with enough water. The batter should resemble the Bajji batter. Dip the cauliflower florets in the batter and deep fry it till golden brown. (If you desire a rich golden brown color mix in a couple of teaspoons of kashmiri chilly powder in the batter) Set aside.

To prepare the sauce, heat oil in a pan. Saute garlic onions and green chillies on very high heat till fragrant. (It should smell like Chinese food stalls!!!!) mix in the tomato ketchup, chilly sauce and the soy sauce. Adjust salt and the heat. Stir in the chopped corinader. Keep stirring constantly. Once the sauce is all combined, toss the fried cauliflower florets and make sure it is all evenly coated. remove from heat and serve hot...Enjoy

P.S: A recipes call for ajinomoto or MSG. I have used it before and found that taste does not alter significantly if it is omitted given its adverse impact on our health. It should be remembered that MSG is just a flavor enhancer and has no taste of its own. Since we cook on small scale it is better to do without it altogether.