340) VEGETABLE PUTTE (PUTTU)

VEGETABLE PUTTE (PUTTU)

A TRADITIONAL KERALA STEAMED BREAKFAST DISH MADE EVEN HEALTHIER AND TASTIER, HOT AND SPICY

Ingredients:

     1)    Putte podi (roasted raw rice powder) – 500 gm.

     2)    Grated coconut – 125 gm.

     3)    Peeled potato – 175 gm.

     4)    Peeled beetroot – 300 gm.

     5)    Peeled carrot – 150 gm.

     6)    Onion – 50 gm.

     7)    Hot green chilies – 15 gm.

     8)    Coriander leaves – 10 gm.

     9)    Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

     10)    Powdered salt – 12 gm.

     11)    Garam masala powder – 3 gm.

To prepare:

          Grate the potatoes, the beets and the carrots. Chop the onion, the green chilies, the coriander leaves and the curry leaves to superfine pieces. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Tip in 25 gm. of the grated coconut. Add the rice powder (putte podi), the powdered salt and the garam masala powder. Mix well with your fingertips and set aside.

To steam:

          Fill three fourth of the putte steamer with water, cover with its lid and put it on high heat. Place the perforated disc at the bottom of the putte kutti (cylinder).

 

Putte / Puttu Kutti

Tip in a couple of teaspoons of grated coconut. Fill a third of the cylinder with a vegetable rice mixture. Tip in a teaspoonful of grated coconut and fill up another third of the cylinder with the mixture. Repeat with grated coconut and the mixture once again till the cylinder is full. Top up with a teaspoonful of grated coconut. Take care never to press the mixture for the steam has to pass through freely. Put on the perforated lid and set the cylinder on the putte steamer which should be boiling by now. In 2 to 4 minutes, the steam will start coming out at the top. Keep for a minute longer, turn down the heat and lift up the cylinder. Remove the lid. Keeping the cylinder horizontally over a plate, insert the steel rod into the bottom of the cylinder and gently push your delicious steaming hot vegetable putte onto the plate. Enjoy hot. You need no other accompaniment for this healthy dish. Hungry kids coming back from school just love to gobble up this putte. So does everyone else!

Enjoy!!!

Note:

          The moisture from the vegetables is just right to make the putte, so long as you are steaming it immediately after mixing. If, however, you take an hour or more to start steaming the putte, you may need to sprinkle a few drops of water and mix again, since the rice flour tends to absorb water, rendering the mixture too dry to bind properly.

338) KHARKHARI BAKRI / BHAKRI

KHARKHARI BAKRI

A SCRUMPTIOUS, FLAVOURSOME KONKANI BLACK GRAM PANCAKE

Introduction:

          I can never forget the taste and texture of the yummy kharkhari bakris my mother would make in the morning for us hungry kids. Often, the aroma of roasting bakris wafting from the kitchen would bring us scrambling to the dining table together with our father, where we would sit dipping hot pieces of fresh bhakris in curd chili chutneys or in salted dry chili chutneys, munching, our faces shining in joy. This high protein, balanced carb dish is a must-be-eaten breakfast for all food lovers, so delicious and healthy. Do cook and enjoy!

Ingredients (for a dozen bakris):

     1)    Urud (whole or split black gram with skin) – 200 gm.

 

     2)    Raw rice – 200 gm.

     3)    Grated coconut – 100 gm.

     4)    Cumin seeds – 2 gm. (⅓ teaspoon)

     5)    Pepper corns – 2 gm. (½ teaspoon)

     6)    Salt – 7 gm. (1½ teaspoons)

     7)    Water – 400 ml.

     8)    Cooking oil – to grease the pan

To prepare:

          Soak the black gram and the rice together in water for an hour. Wash well, drain and grind to coarse paste, after mixing in the rest of the ingredients except the cooking oil (though traditionally kharkhari bhakri batter is ground in old fashioned granite wet grinders for unmatched taste and texture, I have used the food processor for ease). Grind to paste in 2 or 3 batches, taking care to keep the batter a bit coarse for texture. Transfer to a vessel and mix up the batter thoroughly.

To make:

Set a thick cast-iron pan on high heat. As soon as the pan is hot, pour in a teaspoonful of cooking oil and spread it over the pan. Now tip in a ladleful (150 ml.) of batter at the center. Use the bottom of the ladle to spread the batter to a semi-thick, round bakri. Cover with a cloche and lower the heat.

Wait for 5 minutes before opening the cloche. Dribble a teaspoonful of cooking oil over the bakri and flip it over. Let the bakri roast for 5 more minutes. Serve hot with curd chili chutney or with coconut chutney or with ekpanni chutney or with any Konkani pickle.

Kharkhari Bakri with Curd Chili Chutney

Bon appétit!

334) MASALA DOSA

MASALA DOSA

A SOUTH-INDIAN DREAM FOOD

Masala dosa with Green curry leaf chutney and Tomato chutney

Introduction:

          Masala dosas are created in several ways and varied tastes all over South India. Yet, all of them invariably bring forth that unique, mouthwatering aroma and that addictively enticing look which charms your nostalgic memories and makes you want to enjoy them forevermore. My dear children, who seem to have inherited my father’s gourmet palate, often pester me to make for them tummyfuls of my tastiest masala dosas. I happily share with you one of my finest masala dosa recipes. Do cook and enjoy!

Ingredients for the dosa batter:

     1)    Aged raw rice (see note) – 875 gm.

     2)    Parboiled Ponni rice – 125 gm.

     3)    Fenugreek seeds – 5 gm. (1 teaspoon)

     4)    Urud dal (split black gram lentils) – 250 gm.

     5)    Salt – 10 gm. (2 teaspoons)

Ingredients for the masala (filling):

     1)    Peeled potatoes – 750 gm.

     2)    Peeled beetroot – 250 gm.

     3)    Peeled carrot – 100 gm.

     4)    Stemless hot green chilies – 20 gm.

     5)    Peeled ginger – 7 gm.

     6)    Peeled onion – 150 gm.

     7)    Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

     8)    Cooking oil – 15 ml. (1 tablespoon)

     9)    Mustard seeds – 5 gm. (1 teaspoon)

     10)    Urud dal (split black gram lentils) – 10 gm. (2 teaspoons)

     11)    Garam masala powder – 2 gm. (½ teaspoon)

     12)    Kashmiri chili powder – 10 gm. (2 teaspoons)

     13)    Salt – 10 gm (2 teaspoons)

     14)    Water – 250 ml.

     15)    Coriander leaves of one plant (optional)

Ingredient for roasting the dosa:

     1)    Cooking oil to grease the pan (for cast-iron pan) or to sprinkle over the dosa as it starts to crisp (for non-stick pan) – 7.5 ml. (1 ½ teaspoons for each dosa)

To prepare the batter (make the batter today for masala dosas tomorrow):

          Soak the rice (both) and the fenugreek seeds together in water for 5 to 8 hours. Soak the urud dal (250 gm.) separately likewise.

          Rinse and drain the urud dal. Transfer to a wet grinder (for best results) and grind to superfine fluffy paste, adding water from time to time (when you feel the paste is getting too thick for the grinder). Take out the paste and put it in a large vessel (a 10 litre vessel would be ideal as you do not want the batter to overflow when it rises).

          Now rinse the soaked rice and the fenugreek in water, drain and transfer to the wet grinder. Grind likewise to superfine paste (The paste should not be too thick or too watery – if thick, the wet grinder will suffer, if watery, the dosa will. Dosa batter is just a shade thinner than cake batter).

          Transfer the paste to the same vessel. Cover with a lid and leave to rise overnight. Rinse the wet grinder with a little water and save the wash in a separate vessel.

          After resting overnight, the batter would have risen quite well. Take a look at the vessel in which you kept the milky water from washing the grinder. Gently tilt the vessel and drain off the clear water. Add the paste at the bottom to the dosa batter. Tip in the salt. Stir thoroughly, since the heavier rice paste tends to sink to the bottom. Set aside.

To make the masala:

          Dice the potatoes, the beetroot and the carrot roughly to chunks and put them in a pressure cooker. Pour in a cup (250 ml.) of water, put on the lid and set on high heat. As soon as you hear the first whistle, lower the heat and let cook for 10 minutes. Switch off the heat and let the cooker cool naturally (this provides enough time for the vegetables to cook to perfection).

          Meanwhile, chop the onion to superfine pieces and set aside. Chop the green chilies and the ginger together to superfine pieces and set aside. Pull the curry leaves off their sprigs and set aside.

          Check to see if the cooker is cool enough to open the lid (the steam should have subsided fully). If yes, transfer the contents to a mixing bowl and mash the vegetables with the bottom of a stainless steel glass. It is good to leave some small chunks for texture.

          Set a large cast-iron wok (for better taste) or frying pan on high heat. Pour in the cooking oil (15 ml.) and tip in the mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds are about to finish spluttering, tip in the urud dal (10 gm.) and lower the heat. Stir till they turn a light brown in colour.

Throw in the chopped green chilies, the ginger and the curry leaves. Stir for a minute and tip in the powdered salt, the garam masala powder and the Kashmiri chili powder. Stir once. Now put in the mashed vegetables, turn up the heat and stir to mix thoroughly. As soon as the masala is hot, switch off the heat (if you are using coriander leaves to make the masala more aromatic, chop or break, add and stir once more).

To make the masala dosa:

          Set a flat cast-iron pan or a non-stick pan on high heat. Use a ladle (which can hold 150 ml. of batter) to stir the batter thoroughly. If you are using a cast-iron pan, grease it with 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml.) of cooking oil as soon as it is hot. If you are using a non-stick pan, greasing has to be avoided since the batter will refuse to stick to the pan to form the dosa.

          Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the pan. Put the bottom of the ladle at the center and softly spread the batter in continuous, ever-widening circles till you get a perfect round dosa.

Cover with a cloche and lower the heat. A minute later, lift off the cloche. If you are using a non-stick wok, just sprinkle 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml.) of cooking oil over the dosa. Let the dosa roast slowly. Soon, you can see golden spots appearing here and there on the dosa. Use a spoon to spread some masala in a line across the length of the dosa. Use a flat showel headed trowel or spatula to fold either side of the dosa over the masala.

          Lift up the masala dosa and serve hot with green curry leaf chutney or coconut chutney or ekpanni chutney or with tomato chutney and sambar or okra sambar. Eat crispy hot masala dosas, dipping pieces in sambar and different chutneys one after the other as my kids do!

Masala dosa with Kappa bonda and Ekpanni chutney

Enjoy!!!

Note:

          New rice from freshly harvested paddy is a translucent white in appearance and tends to be too sticky or gooey for the dosa. So it would be better to buy aged raw rice which is opaque and slightly cream in colour to get the perfect dosa. B.T. rice (Bombay Terminus rice) gives excellent results.

329) UKDE TANDLA BAKRI

UKDE TANDLA BAKRI

A DELICIOUS, HEALTHY, TRADITIONAL KONKANI RICE FLATBREAD

Introduction:

          Ukde tandla bakri / bhakri is a breakfast dish which evokes nostalgic memories in the heart of every person who has enjoyed it even once in childhood. The smell of the cooked, slightly roasted rice and coconut suffused with the welcome fragrance of roasted green banana leaves in which it has been cooked on a cast-iron pan over a wood burning stove turns one into a hungry child, anxiously awaiting the delicious bakri.

The hot bakri is served to children, topped with a dollop of fresh, homemade butter or ghee, sprinkled with sugar whereas adults have their first one likewise and the next with hot torin ghashi or with soyi bhajjile ghashi or with poached egg masala curry or with niliye kholu or with mushroom curry or with any Konkani pickle.

Ingredients:

     1)    Parboiled rice (preferably ponni rice) – 1 kg.

     2)    Grated coconut – 350 gm.

     3)    Salt – 10 gm. (2 teaspoons)

     4)    Water – 520 ml.

     5)    Banana leaf pieces of around 8” x 8” (20 cm. x 20 cm.) – 24 Nos.

To prepare:

          Soak the rice in water overnight (for urgent cooking, see note). Rinse the banana pieces carefully in water, wipe dry and set aside. Wash and drain the soaked rice. Use the measured water (no more than 520 ml.) to grind the rice together with the grated coconut to fine paste in your food processor (a little coarseness in the paste is alright).

Transfer the paste to a bowl, tip in the powdered salt and mix well. Set a cast iron pan on high heat. As soon as it is hot, place a banana leaf on the pan (dark side up) and put a dollop of batter in the center (around 150 ml. to 175 ml. would be ideal). Cover with another leaf (dark side down) and press it uniformly either with your fingers (the traditional way) or with the flat bottom of a vessel (my style, for an easy and more uniform result). Cover the upper leaf with a cloche.

A minute later, turn down the heat and let cook slowly for 7 minutes. Now lift up the cloche and flip over the leaf sandwich carefully. Cover again with the cloche and let cook for 7 more minutes.

Open the cloche and peel off the upper leaf. Flip over and peel off the lower leaf too. Roast each side for 2½ minutes. Your mouthwatering ukde tandla bakri is now ready to serve. Serve hot as suggested in the introduction.

Enjoy!!!

Tip:

          As it takes 20 minutes of cooking time to roast a bakri, I always use two cast-iron pans side by side to save on time.

Note:

          For urgent cooking, put the rice in a vessel and pour in enough boiling water to immerse it fully. Cover with a lid and keep for an hour. Drain, rinse in cold water and drain again before grinding. However, I like the traditional method better as it gives a fresher taste and a nicer smell to the bakri.

321) KAPPA WITH MULAKE CHAMMANDI

KAPPA WITH MULAKE CHAMMANDI

DELICIOUS KERALA CASSAVA WITH HOT AND TANGY CHILI SALAD

Introduction:

          For centuries, the people of Kerala and cassava (or kappa as it is called in Malayalam) have been conjoined as inseparably as body and soul. Ever since the Portuguese introduced cassava in India nearly 4 centuries ago, the farmers of Kerala have come to consider it as the poor man’s bread and have developed a staunch liking for this delicious root.

The Christian community in particular, accepted this food crop so wholeheartedly that the first settlers in the hill districts of Wayanad and Idukki as well as the foothills of most other districts subsisted almost entirely on cassava grown on land cleared of forests.

Even today, many families are happy to enjoy cassava in place of rice or wheat 4 to 5 times a day, having it with mulake / mulaku chammandi, meen mulakittathe, wheat curries, bone marrow biriyani or as sardine cassava. From the poor man’s kitchen, cassava has now earned its place with royal splendour upon the dining tables in 5 star hotels. Cassava is called kappa, mara kizhangu, poola and kolli kizhangu in Malayalam and badi kanange in Konkani. In Wayanad district, tens of delicious varieties of cassava are cultivated, the tastiest of them being Aambakkadan.

My children love cassava and often ask me to make dishes like kozhikkal, kizhangu pori, cassava sticklets, kappa with mulake chammandi, chendan (boiled pieces) kappa with losune gojju, cassava upma, kappa bonda or cassava bhaji. Here is a fine recipe for kappa with mulake chammandi. Do cook and enjoy!

Ingredients for the kappa:

     1)    Peeled, washed and roughly chopped cassava cubes (see note) – 1300 gm.

     2)    Water – 1500 ml.

     3)    Salt – 15 gm. (3 teaspoons)

     4)    Turmeric powder – 3 gm. (½ teaspoon)

     5)    Hot green chilies – 10 gm.

     6)    Dry hot red chilies – 2 gm.

     7)    Mustard seeds – 5 gm. (1 teaspoon)

     8)    Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

     9)    Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

     10)    Grated coconut – 100 gm.

     11)    Coconut water – 75 ml.

Ingredients for the mulake chammandi:

     1)    Hot green chilies or pigeon eye chilies (kandari mulake) – 20 gm.

     2)    Dry hot red chilies – 2 gm.

     3)    Peeled garlic cloves – 10 gm.

     4)    Vinegar / tamarind juice / garcinia cambogia (kudampuli) juice – 50 ml.

     5)    Salt – 10 gm. (2 teaspoons)

 

To make the mulake chammandi:

          Chop both the chilies and the garlic cloves to fine bits and put them in a tiny serving bowl. Tip in the salt, pour in the vinegar, mix well. Your simple, mouthwatering mulake chammandi is ready.

To cook the kappa:

          Put the cassava cubes, the water, the salt and the turmeric powder into a vessel and set on high heat. Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and cover partially with a lid. Stir occasionally and let the cassava cook for 15 minutes. Press upon a cube with the edge of a sharp ladle or a knife to see if it is cooked. The cube should slice easily. If not, continue to cook for a few more minutes (cooking times may vary slightly for different cultivars grown in different soils).

          Switch off the heat and drain off the broth. It is important to drain off all the water as it gets rid of the sap of the cassava as well as any soil borne pollutants, rendering it quite safe to eat (see note). Now pour in the coconut water and set aside.

          Chop the hot green chilies as well as the dry hot red chilies to fine bits. Pull the curry leaves off their sprig and set aside. Set a skillet or small pan on low heat. Pour in the coconut oil and throw in the mustard seeds.

          As soon as the mustard seeds are about to finish popping, throw in the curry leaves and the chili bits. Stir once, switch off the heat and empty the contents into the kappa.

          Turn on the heat and stir the kappa well for a minute. Tip in the grated coconut and stir nicely. Switch off the heat. Enjoy your delicious kappa hot with mulake chammandi. I am sure you will love this dish.

Bon appétit!

Notes:

     1)    While chopping the cassava tubers, be sure to remove the thick, hard, long fibre that runs through the centre as well as the hard, bony end where the cassava connects to the stem of the plant. 2 kg. of freshly dug cassava will give you over 1300 gm. of clean, usable portions.

     2)    Raw cassava is poisonous. So it is always best eaten well cooked. Rats and bandicoots consume large quantities of raw cassava without ill effects as they are wise enough to eat charcoal to nullify the toxic sap. This technique, however, is definitely not for us humans!

319) UNDI

UNDI

A HEARTY, TASTY, TRADITIONAL KONKANI RICE DUMPLING

A FILLING BREAKFAST DISH

Ingredients (to make 25 to 27 small undis):

     1)    Raw rice – 1 kg. (see note)

     2)    Grated coconut – 200 gm.

     3)    Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons

     4)    Mustard seeds – 5 gm. (1 teaspoons)

     5)    Fenugreek seeds – 1 gm. (¼ teaspoon)

     6)    Urud dal (split black gram lentils) – 10 gm. (2 teaspoon)

     7)    Salt – 7 gm. (1¼ teaspoons)

     8)    Water – 500 ml.

To prepare:

          Soak the rice for an hour. Rinse well and drain. Transfer to a food processor in two or three portions together with the grated coconut and grind to paste (Traditionally, it is made into a rough paste, but my family loves a fines texture to the undi, so I grind it to fine paste, Try both on different occasions). Take care to use up only 500 ml. of water for the entire grinding process. Transfer to a mixing bowl, tip in the salt and mix thoroughly.

To cook:

          Set a deep, wide non-stick wok or pan on high heat. Pour in the coconut oil and throw in the mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds are about to finish bursting, tip in the fenugreek seeds and the urud dal. Stir till the urud turns a light brown in color. Now, pour in the rice paste. Stir continuously for 2½ minutes.

          The paste will turn lumpy. Now lower the heat and continue to stir for another 5½ minutes. The paste would have thickened like chappathi dough by now. Switch off the heat.

As soon as the dough is cool enough to touch, make several small balls of the shape of your choice (some make round undis whereas others make long, oval undis). Transfer them to a steamer and set on high heat.

Once the steamer starts to whistle, continue to cook on high heat for 16 minutes. Your delicious undis should have cooked to perfection by now. Open the lid and push in the tip of a knife to check an undi. If well cooked, the knife will come out clean. If not, steam on for a few more minutes.

Serve hot with Konkani cut mango pickle or bimbla nonché or with tender mango pickle. You can also serve with hot veg curries like dali toye, ghashis, bendis or with hot fish curries like raja kholu, niliyé kholu, fish phanna upkari or with chili prawn fry.

Note:

Undis are also made using parboiled rice. In that case, the rice needs to be soaked for 6 hours before grinding and the paste has to be rough because the undi made using parboiled rice is softer. Some people make undis using a mixture (50:50) of raw rice and parboiled rice. Here too, the rice mix requires a 6 hour soaking period.