Menaskai - Udupi style ripe mango in spicy curry

Ripe mango in spicy sweet gravy.
This dish is from the Madwa community of Udupi area, Karnataka, South India. It is Satvik (no onion, no garlic) and is served during 'sadya' at the Hanuman temple at Ernakulathappan Temple Complex during Rama Navami.

Recipe source: Mrs. Madwa Raj

Ingredients:
Ripe mango - 2
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Til seeds - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp
Channa Dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1 pinch
Dry Red chilly - 4 to 6
Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 tbsp

For spluttering:
Refined oil / coconut oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilly - 1
Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Method:
Start by peeling the mango and removing the flesh from the seed.
Extract any left over pulp from the skin and discard it.
Add this pulp to the cut mango pieces.
Add in the mango seeds too.
Boil in ample water with salt and turmeric powder.

Dry fry the til seeds, till they pop. Keep aside.

Next fry the coriander seeds, urad dal, channa dal, jeera and red chilly in 1/2 tsp oil, till the dals turn red.

Add the fried seeds and dal with the til seeds.

Once the mango gets cooked, add the jaggery and mix well.

Grind the fried ingredients with fresh coconut.

Add the ground paste to the cooked mango.

Mix well and bring to a boil.
Splutter mustard, red chilly and curry leaf in the rest of the oil and add to the boiled curry.

Curry is ready.

Carrot Muthia / Steamed savoury carrot cake from Gujarat

Muthia is a 'no-onion-no-garlic' recipe from Gujarat. And I was introduced to muthias by Mrs.Shefali Arvind.  

This recipe is from a book presented to me by Shefali - 'Gujarati Cook Book' by Kanchan Gopal Kabra.

Muthia is a steamed savory log cake which is then chopped and sauteed in oil. Shefali tells me that the steamed logs taste excellent with some ghee. Next time, will try.

Usually Muthias are made with (old) rice, pumpkin, methi / fenugreek leaf or cabbage. Here I have made Muthias with Carrot.

Ingredients:

Rava / semolina - 1/3 cup

Aata / wheat flour -  1/2 cup (minus 1 tbsp)
Kadalamav / besan / chick pea flour - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Kayam / asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tbsp
Green chilly paste - 1 tbsp
Curd - 1&1/2 tbsp
Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp
Carrot - 1 (medium) grated
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Tadka:

Oil - 2 tbsp

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Asafoetida powder / kayam - 1/2 tsp

Til seed / ellu - 1 tbsp

Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Ground nut / kappalandi - 2 tbsp

Method:

Mix all above ingredients (except those mentioned under tadka) and make a thick dough. Add water, if necessary, little by little. The dough must not be very loose, but must hold shape.

Make 2 logs of 2 inch diameter and steam (like idly) over water for 15-20 minutes.
When knife is inserted in the middle, it should come out clean.

If it does not come out clean, steam a further 5 minutes.

Cool a bit and cut into disc of 1 inch thickness.

Heat the oil and splutter jeera.

Now fry the groundnuts. Once they start popping / changing colour add asafoetida powder, til seed and curry leaf.

Sauté the cut muthias in this till edges get slightly brown.

Serve with Green chutney.

Sabudana Khichdi / Javvarisi upma for ekadeshi

Sabudana or Sago are small white balls which turn translucent / transparent on cooking. It is used in making varieties of poppadom and also to make my brother's favorite 'muthu payasam'.

Sabudana is very starchy and are made completely from Tapioca. If you which to see the the process involved in making Tapioca into sago, watch this youtube video.

On fasting days, Sabudana is allowed to be eaten. No onion and no garlic is used and meals are generally restricted to one time a day.

This helps in healing the digestive tract and other organs in disposing existing waste. This year's Noble Prize winner for Medicine, Dr.Yoshinori Ohsumi, has done research on auto-phagy...or self-eating cells. Looks like our ancestors knew about the benefits of fasting and wanted us to include this in our day-to day habits...thus ekadesi was born!

Ingredients:
Sabudana / Javvarisi / Sago - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder / kayam - 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - 2, chopped
Ground nuts - 2 tbsp
Curry leaf - 1 sprig
Potato boiled - 1 large ( 3/4 cup, cubed)
Carrot - 1/2 cup, grated
Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut grated - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method:
Wash the sago twice and remove all water. 
Add 3/4 cup of water and soak for 4 hours or overnight.
The sago would have puffed up and begun soft to touch.
Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel with a tight lid.
Splutter jeera, add asafoetida, green chilly, curry leaf and ground nuts.
Fry for 1 minute.
Next add the boiled potato, salt and turmeric powder.
Mix well, reduce flame and cook covered for 1 minute.
Add the soaked sabudana, grated carrot and mix well.
Cook covered, stirring in between on a low flame for 10 minutes till it becomes transparent.
Turn off flame, add the lemon juice and garnish with coconut (optional) and coriander leaf.
Serve at room temperature.

Aloo Baingan shaak

A dry curry from Gujarat made with Potato and Brinjal / aubergine / egg plant.
This is north Indian dish.
If you want to try a tangy watery South Indian curry made with potato and brinjal, try - Kosu malli.

Ingredients:
Potato - 4, medium, unpeeled cut into thick wedges
Brinjal / egg plant - 3, medium, cut into thick wedges
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mestard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jeera / cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp (more or less to suit your family's taste)
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida powder / kayam - 1 tsp

Method:
Heat the oil in a thick bottomed vessel with a tight lid.
Splutter the mustard seeds and then add the jeera.
Reduce flame and add the asafoetida powder, chilly powder and coriander powder.
Mix well and after a minute add the potato, salt and turmeric powder.
Reduce flame and cook covered till the potato gets half cooked.
Now add the Brinjal and cook till the vegetables all soften.
Open and fry for 1 minute.
Serve hot garnished with green chilly and coriander leaf.

Ghatte ki subji / Marwari chickpea dumplings in curd gravy

Rajasthan is the desert area of India. The people there rely a lot on dry goods like powders and seeds. Fresh vegetables are not available, but curd and other milk products are, so the curries have a very different flavor.

I was allowed into the kitchen of my Rajasthani neighbor when she made their speciality - ghatte ki subzi.
It reminded me a lot of Italian Gnocchi, where boiled potato is poached in water and then used in various dishes.

The taste is really acquired. It will be a long time before I retry this dish at home.
The following photos were all taken in my neighbor - Mrs.Monica's house and she is a VERY fast cook. So excuse the photographs!

Ingredients:
Chick pea flour / besan - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Salt
Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 tbsp
Dry mango powder / aamchoor powder - 1 tsp*
*Used only if curd is not sour

Method:
Keep 1 glass of water for boiling.
Mix together the besan, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp chilly powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, salt.
Add in 2 tbsp oil and mix it in well.

Add luke-warm water and make a stiff dough.

The kneading  is a tough process and this stiff dough when I kneaded the first time, looked like this!

Ghatte when I kneaded.;)

Divide the dough into small balls and roll into thin cylinders.

Add this to boiling water and cook covered on low flame for 10 minutes.

Once it cooks and expands, transfer to a plate and dice into small pieces.

Do not throw away the water you used for cooking.
In the same kadai, heat the ghee and splutter the jeera.
Add the cut ghatte, and fry for 1 minute.

Add the rest of the salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and chilly powder.

Taste your curd and if it is not sour, add in the aamchoor powder too.
Mix well and add the curd.

Mix the wheat flour with leftover water inside the curd vessel and stir to remove all lumps.

Add this to the gravy and cook till ghee floats on top.

Serve hot with chappathy / rice.

Marthangali / manathakkali thoran

Marthankali flowers

Marthankali berries

 Marthankali ripe berries and flowers

Marthankali thoran

Marthangali is a herb with great medicinal properties. The scientific name is Solanum americanum.

My maternal grandmother used to treat mouth ulcers with this plant. Just chew the leaf and berries. Almost like magic, the ulcer disappears. It has a high content of Vitamin B.

It belongs to the 'nightshade' family and is thus related to tomatoes and brinjal.

Read more about this family here.

All the fruits of this family sport the same adorable little green elfish hat.

We usually dry the berries and use it in vathakozhambu.

This thoran is a great way to consume the leaves of the plant.

Note: This thoran has a tart taste and may not be relished by children.

Ingredients:
Marthangali - 1 bunch
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal / uzhundu parippu - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly - 1, broken
Salt
Turmeric powder / manjal podi - 1/4 tsp
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Green chilly - 1

Method:
Remove the leaf and berries from the stalk.
Wash the leaf and berries well as the plant is a herb and is quite short, so mud / sand / dirt will be there.
Cut the leaves and keep aside.

Grind the coconut with the green chilly without adding any water. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a kadai, splutter the mustard seeds. Then add the urad dal and broken red chilly.

Add the chopped leaves and berry.
Stir continuously and when it wilts, it shrinks considerable.

Now add the ground coconut, salt and turmeric powder.
Mix well and cook for 1 more minute or until all the water evaporates.

Sabudana vada / Javvarisi vada

My neighbor invited us to her house on karva chauth and she gave us this vada to eat. Usually here in South india we make payasam with chowari ( my brother's favorite muthu payasam) and I have heard from my grandmother that kumkum or tikka worn on forehead is also made using this. How can I forget the colourful pappadams made using chowari!

Chowari / sabu dana - 4 tbsp

Potato - 3 large or 4 medium

Green chilli - 2 chopped fine

Salt - use lesser than you think is needed

Coriander leaf - 2 tbsp 

Pepper - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala (opt) - 1 pinch

Dry mango powder / aamchoor (opt) - 1/2 tsp

Oil for deep frying 

Soak the sabudana / chowari in water for 2 hrs. Drain well.

Boil the potatoes. Peel and mash.

Add salt, pepper, chilli powder, green chilli and coriander leaf to this. Add the garam masala and aamchoor now, if using.

At last add the soaked chowari and knead well.

If you feel the mixture is wet, add some bread crumbs / rice flour.

Make small patties and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown.

If the patties are not holding shape, place the prepared mix in the freezer for 15 minutes or fridge for 1 hour and try again.

Arbi / Chembu dry fry

Arbi / Chembu / Chempam kizhangu / Colacasia is supposed to be excellent for women ; especially those in the wrong side of 30's. It helps balance their estrogen.

Recipe Courtesy: Mr. Santosh Namboodiri, the passionate owner of Elements Restaurant.

I have used the bigger variety of 'chembu' to make this recipe. He had asked me to make it with the small variety....But I had only these at hand and I HAD to make this recipe!!!

And I plan to make this same recipe once, with potato!

It is a fairly easy saatvik (no onion, no garlic) recipe and like the recipes of yore, uses pepper for spiciness and dry mango powder for giving it a zing.

It tastes good - both with chappathy and raitha ; and with curd rice.
Almost like a 'chaat'??

Serves : 2

Ingredients:
Arbi / Chembu - 2
Salt - to taste
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1 heaped tsp, preferably freshly pound
Aamchoor powder / dry mango powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp
Garnish : Coriander leaf (optional)

Wash clean the Arbi / chembu and pressure cook for 2 whistles, reduce flame and wait for 1 more whistle. Caution: I have used the large ones, small ones will take lesser time to cook. If you overcook, the Arbi will lose shape. So be careful.

When cooled removed skin and dice into pieces.
If you are using the small ones, then smash in between your palms to flatten them.

Heat oil in a kadai and add in the diced / flattened arbi to it.
Fry for one minute and add in all the powders.

Mix well, reduce flame and cook covered for 2 minutes or more if the insides need to be cooked. Keep stirring often.
Then open and cook till it gets golden brown around the edges.
It is ready for serving. Garnish, if you please.

Notes:
1. I have decorated with spring onion.
2. If you want to use this as a starter, then thinly slice onions, chop green chilly and finely dice some tomato. Add these and mix them lightly with the arbi and serve.