Month: August 2015

AKKI THARI UPMA (Broken Rice Upma)

| sarapaka
Kannada cuisine cannot be complete without using Avarekaayi.  Known by many names like flat beans, field beans, hyacinth beans, Surti Papdi, Val etc. it is used for making endless varieties of dishes like Saaru, Sambar, Saagu, Usli, Upma, Curry, Kurma, Gojju, Rotti, Pongal, Pancake, Pulao to name a few. Heavenly to our tongue and healthy to our tummy is Avarekayi Uppittu a typical winter breakfast, prepared chiefly using broken rice and avarekaayi that add value and variety for nutrition and taste.

 Dish Type:  South Indian Rice Variety Akki Thari Uppittu copy

Preparation Time:  10 min

Cooking time:  20  min

Serves:  6 persons

Ingredients

For cooking:

Avarekaalu         500 gms (pressed ones i.e., deseeded from the pod)

Water                   750 ml

Salt                         1 tsp

For seasoning:

Oil                                     50 ml

Mustard seeds                  ½ tsp

Cumin seeds                      ½ tsp

Pepper corns                     ½ tsp (coarsely crushed)

Green chilli                         4 nos. (slit)

Curry leaves                       1 sprig

Ginger                                 ½” pc (grated)

Turmeric pwd                      A pinch

Broken Rice                        500 gms

Salt to taste                        1 tsp approx.

Cooked avarekaalu

For garnishing:

Raw coconut                      ½ coconut (grated)

Coriander leaves              1 cup (fresh and fine chopped)

Directions:

Wash pressed avarekaalu , green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and ginger. Drain out the water. Chop, grate or split them as mentioned above (under “Ingredients”). Keep them aside.

Cook avarekaalu with water and salt in a pressure cooker upto 2 whistles.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add cumin seeds and pepper corns. When they splutter, add slit green chillies, grated ginger and coarsely chopped curry leaves, salt  and turmeric powder. Now add broken rice and fry them together for 6 to 8 min. Add grated coconut. Add the cooked avarekaalu along with the water used for cooking. Mix well. Adjust the quantity of water and salt at this stage. If more water is required, then add boiling water. Add fine chopped fresh coriander leaves. Mix well. Switch off the flame.

Shape them into balls with your hands made damp for making each ball. Arrange them on a greased plate and steam them in pressure cooker like idlis for about 10 min.

Switch off the flame. Let it cool a bit.

Akki Thari Kadabus are now ready. Serve them with a dash of ghee.

Choice of side dish: Coconut chutney, gojju, majjige huli.

Preferred side dish: Urad Dal Chutney

Chefs’Chat:

To make broken rice, wash rice thoroughly with water.Drain out the water completely. Dry the washed rice in shade by spreading it on a thin clean cloth. It takes 4 to 6 hours or more depending on the weather. Grind the dried rice coarsely to rava consistency.

Rice Rawa need not be roasted like Upma Rava. If Idli Rawa is used, upma becomes a bit sticky.

MUNG BEAN (GREEN GRAM) BASSAARU

| sarapaka
Down to earth traditional. Farmer’s favourite. Authentic Karnataka dish handpicked from an endless list of rasam varieties and served on a platter! Prepared by using greens, vegetables, lentils, sprouts stock (i.e., the water strained after cooking greens, grains or vegetables) this delicious Bassaaru derives its name from two Kannada words “Basidu” (which means strained) and “Saaru” (which means Rasam).

Dish Type:  South Indian Vegetarian Stew gg bassaru 2 copy

Preparation Time:  20 min

Cooking time:  30 min

Serves:  5 persons

Ingredients

Green Gram                            250 gms

Curry leaves                            1 sprig

Green chilly                             1 no.

Cumin seeds                            less than ½ tsp

Peppercorns                            4 or 5 nos.

Ginger                                     ¼”

Grated raw or dry coconut     2 tbsps

Jaggery                                    1 tsp

Salt to taste                             1 tbsp approx.

Tomato                                    1 no. fine chopped

Water                                      1000 ml

Dry fry green gram for a minute. Let it cool. Wash it well and drain out the water. Cook in pressure cooker along with water and salt, in low flame upto 2 whistles and then switch off the burner.

Grind cumin seeds, peppercorns, ginger, green chilly, fine chopped tomato and grated coconut to a paste. Add this to the cooked green gram and let it boil.

Green gram Bassaaru is now ready.

Also view in our blog “Mung Bean Rasam”, ‘Toor Dal Rasam” and “Moong Dal Rasam”

Chefs’Chat:

Lime juice may also be used instead of tomatoes. Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime and add to the bassaaru at the end.

A portion of the cooked green gram can be ground along with masala if thicker consistency is required.

In this recipe, excess water is added to green gram while cooking. However, you can use just the required amount of water for cooking green gram and reuse broth i.e., water strained after boiling any dal, grains or vegetables and add to the cooked green gram before boiling.

 

RAW MANGO RICE (Maavinakaayi Chitranna) Type 2

| sarapaka
Go for mango …green in colour, combine it with rice…. white in colour and see it turn… red in colour. Can’t imagine cooking getting more magical!

Raw Mango is tasty. It’s great fun eating raw specially with salt and a sprinkle of chilli powder. Raw mango grows with a bounty of benefits. It prevents excessive loss of water, minerals and much more…like stroke from the sun, sickness more so that of morning, disease like scurvy since it is rich in Vit C highly. It brings to order blood disorders and is friendly to our teeth too.

 Dish Type:  South Indian Rice Variety Mango Rice Type 2 - A copy

Preparation Time:  10 min

Cooking time:  20  min

Serves:  4 persons

Ingredients

For cooking:

Rice                        500 gms

Water                   500 ml

For grinding (to make raw mango chutney):

Raw mango                        1 no. (grated)

Green chilli                         1 no.

Red chilli                              4 nos.

Mustard seeds                  ¼ tsp

Raw coconut                      ½ coconut (grated)

For seasoning:

Oil                                           4 tbsps

Groundnuts                       2 tbsps

Mustard seeds                  ½ tsp

Black gram dal                   ½ tsp

Red chilly                             4 nos.

Curry leaves                       1 sprig

Salt to taste                        1 tsp approx.

Turmeric pwdr                  A pinch

Asafoetida                          A pinch

Raw mango chutney       (mix that you get after grinding)

For garnishing:

Fresh coriander leaves  2 tbsps (fine chopped)

Directions:

Wash rice thoroughly. Cook rice along with water in a pressure cooker. After 2 whistles switch off the burner and let the pressure subside from the cooker.

While rice is getting cooked….

Wash raw mango, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves in salt water. Drain out the water. Grate raw mango, raw coconut and keep aside. Fine chop fresh coriander leaves and keep aside.

Now prepare raw mango chutney. For this….

Grind raw mustard seeds, raw grated coconut, green chilli, red chillies and grated raw mango to chutney consistency. Transfer the chutney to a bowl.

Now prepare the seasoning. Heat oil in a large kadai. Add mustard seeds, groundnuts, red chillies, curry leaves, ground raw mango chutney, salt, turmeric and asafoetida in that order. Put each of the above ingredients at few seconds interval between them. Sauté for about 5 min. and switch off the burner.

When the cooker is cool, remove the lid. Spread the cooked rice on to a big plate. Let it cool a bit (not too much). Sprinkle a tsp of salt on this. Transfer the seasoned raw mango chutney from the kadai on to the rice. Mix well. Garnish with fine chopped coriander leaves.

Maavinakayi Chitranna (Raw Mango Rice) is ready.

Also view in this blog “Ellina Chitra Anna” and “Raw Mango Rice – Type 1”

Chefs’Chat:

While mixing the seasoned raw mango chutney with rice, keep a portion of the chutney aside. After mixing with rice, check the taste. If required add more of the chutney. This chutney can also be stored in an air tight container and kept in the fridge for later use.

Every grain of the cooked rice must be soft, fluffy and should stand out independently of the other grains. At the same time, rice should neither be half boiled nor too mushy. This can be checked by pressing a few grains between your fingers.

Green raw mango can also be used to make gojju, chutney, pickles or used in place of tamarind while making rasam or sambar.

MUNG BEAN (GREEN GRAM) DOSA

| sarapaka
Those grams of green…want to eat them raw or cooked, sprouted or unsprouted, dash them on desserts or sip on soup? Take your pick. While there are endless choices, we at Sarapaaka, offer you a recipe where Green Gram or Mung Bean is used raw but soaked (wanna sprout…go ahead) and then ground to a batter with other ingredients listed right below in the recipe to make a delicious dish called Dosa!. A super healthy wholesome recipe without pinching your purse. Ask for more…did you?

Dish type: South Indian Breakfast Variety Hesarukaalu Dose 1 copy

Preparation time: 5 min

Soaking time:  5 hours

Grinding time: 10 min

Fermenting time: not required

Yield: 1 litre (approx.)

Ingredients

Mung bean                  250 gms (sprouted mung beans are also fine)

Rice                             1 fistful

Coriander seeds          1 tsp

Cumin seeds                ½ tsp

Green chilly                 1 or 2 nos.

White chilly                 4 nos. (grown in North Karnataka)

Ginger                         1” piece

Salt                              1 tsp approx.

Coriander leaves         1 cup

Directions

Soak rice and green gram in water together for 5 hours.

Grind both along with all other ingredients (except salt and coriander leaves) in grinder or mixie.

Keep adding little quantities of water and stir the batter at intervals. Lesser water is better to get smoother batter.

The batter keeps sticking to the sides of the grinder/mixie. Keep clearing the sides off the batter by pushing the batter towards the centre.

Let the grinding continue till the texture of batter becomes smooth.

Transfer it to a vessel. This batter will be quite thick since only small quantities of water will be used for grinding. Add required quantity of water to get the correct consistency of batter.

Now add salt and thoroughly washed and chopped fresh coriander leaves. Mix well.

Mung Bean Dosa Batter is now ready.

To prepare dosa, heat a non stick pan/tava. Sprinkle little water on the tava and let it evaporate. Now pour a ladleful of batter on the tava in a circular pattern starting outwards and filling it towards inside of the circle. Pour ½ a tsp of oil or ghee all around the batter and on top. Cover with a lid for a minute or so. Remove the lid. When the batter looks cooked and the edges are turning crisp and brown, flip upside down to cook the other side. Let it cook for a few seconds. Now transfer it to a plate.

Mung Bean Dosa is ready. Preferred side dish: Coconut chutney

Also view in this website Recipe for “Plain Dosa” “Curd Dosa” and “Neeru Dosa”

Chefs’Chat

Fine chopped onions, dil, grated carrot may also be added to the batter for added nutrition and taste.

Health Tip: Follow this simple remedy for high blood pressure.

Boil water in a bowl first thing in the morning. Put 2 to 3 tbsps of mung bean in it. Switch off the flame. Let it stand till it is cool enough to drink. Drain the water and drink it. Repeat this 2 or 3 times a day by adding boiling water to the same mung beans. In the evening, consume the broth and the beans.

 

GARLIC CHUTNEY POWDER

| sarapaka
Beautiful bulb that builds your bones and brightens your health…hidden within are those lovely pearls called cloves. Awed by its aroma? No surprise then…with these garlic cloves, you have fallen in love.

Garlic Chutney Powder is an ubiquitous, signature condiment, that is used pretty commonly in South Indian breakfast and snacks, be it plain roti, Pav Bhaji or Bhakri, Idli or Dosa, mixed with rice or sprinkled on sandwich. Its powerful pungent scent making its strong presence felt when smelt. Well known for its health benefits, brought about chiefly by Allicin, a sulphur compound that is also responsible for lending that distinct aroma, it is most commonly used to combat common cold.

 Dish type: Spice Powder Powder Garlic Cloves copy

Preparation time: 5 min

Roasting time: 10 min

Cooling time: 15 min

Quantity: 100 gms

Ingredients

Garlic                          250 gms

Pepper corns               10 gms

Cumin seeds                10 gms

Methi seeds                10 gms

Coriander seeds          20 gms

Red chillies                  4 nos.

Tamarind                    A small piece (marble size)

Dry coconut grated     200 gms

Salt to taste                 1 tsp approx.

Directions

Roast all the above ingredients separately over low flame in a pan. After each ingredient is roasted keep transferring to a plate. Let them cool thoroughly at room temparature.

A drop of oil can be used for roasting red chilies only.

Dry coconut can be roasted last. When you are done with roasting all other ingredients, turn off the flame. Heat that still remains in the pan after switching off the flame is enough to roast dry coconut.

Powder them coarsely. Store Garlic Chutney Powder in an absolutely dry air tight container.

Chefs’Chat:

While preparing, storing or serving any spice powder, pan used for frying, grinder used for grinding, container used for storing and spoon used for serving, all have to be absolutely dry. Even a drop of water for grinding is a big No-No!

Garlic Chutney Powder is excellent for health during winter season.

While preparing any masala powder, it is always advisable to dry fry ingredients separately due to variance in size, thickness and texture of ingredients.

Healthy Tips:

To get rid of itchy athlete’s foot, soak your feet in a bath of warm water and crushed garlic.

Did you know…you can fix hairline cracks on glass using garlic? Crush some pods and rub the juice on the crack. Wipe away any excess.

Few cloves of garlic squeezed through a garlic press and mixed with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt makes for a healthy dress!