87) KHEERI

KHEERI

FRAGRANT RICE & COCONUT MILK PORRIDGE

Ingredients:

1)    Fine raw rice – 200 gm.

2)    Fresh big coconuts – 1½

3)    Turmeric leaf – 1

To Cook:

Grate the coconut and extract the first (thick), the second (medium thick), and the third (thin) coconut milk as described in my valval recipe. As a second choice, you can use canned thick coconut milk, diluting it appropriately.

Set a thick porridge pot on the stove. Pour in the second and third coconut milk together with a couple of glasses of water. When it starts to boil, wash and drain the rice and tip it in. as soon as it starts to boil again, cover with a lid and switch off the heat. Leave it for half an hour.

Now open the lid. You will see that the rice is cooked and that the porridge has become fairly thick. Turn on the heat. Stir and mash lightly with a ladle. Add a little water if it is too thick. If it starts to boil, lower the heat to minimum.

Tear up the turmeric leaf to 2 or 3 pieces and chuck it in (the leaf is used only for its wonderful aroma and flavor. It is not to be eaten). Stir for 2 minutes and pour in the thick coconut milk. As soon as it starts to boil, stir well and switch off the heat. Cover at once with a lid and let rest for 30 minutes. Your fragrant delicious kheeri is ready to serve.

You can enjoy it as it is or you can add sugar or salt to suit your taste. Our family prefers to take kheeri with sugar.

Note:

Kheeri is traditionally prepared on special days such as ‘Naagar panchami’ or ‘Gowri pooja’ or for the ‘Brahmopadesham’ of Konkani Brahmin adolescent boys. The mother seats her boy on her lap and lovingly feeds him kheeri from a coconut leaf with her hands.

86) WHOLE WHEAT DOSA

WHOLE WHEAT DOSA

A HEALTHY BREAKFAST FOOD

Ingredients:

1)    Alsa wheat (polished skinned thick whole wheat) – 500 gm.

2)    Hot green chilies – 3 Nos.

3)    Small fresh coconut – 1

4)    Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon

5)    Salt – 1 teaspoon

6)    Coconut oil or ghee to grease the pan

To make the batter:

Soak the wheat overnight in water. Grate the coconut. Wash and drain the wheat. Put the grated coconut, the soaked wheat, the green chilies, the salt and half of the cumin seeds into a food processor and grind to fine paste by adding a little water from time to time.

Transfer to a vessel and throw in the rest of the cumin seeds. Pour in around 500 ml. of water and mix well to get a loose batter. The batter should be thinner than pancake batter but not too runny.

To Cook:

Set a flat cast iron pan on the stove (you can also use a nonstick pan but the cast iron pan dosa is much tastier). As soon as the pan is hot, grease it with a little coconut oil or ghee (clarified butter). Pour a small ladleful of batter in the center. Using the bottom of your ladle, spread out the batter thinly in a perfectly round shape by making ever widening circles, starting from the center and ending near the edges of the pan.

Turn down the heat and cover with a cloche or lid. After 30 seconds, lift up the lid and use a lightweight triangular headed flat ladle of thin iron or stainless steel to work the dosa loose. Smatter a few drops of oil or ghee on the dosa and flip it over. It will be lightly caramelized within a minute. Lift out and serve hot with roasted coconut saambar or with coconut chutney (recipes given separately). You can also serve with honey or with butter.

Note:

This delicious, wholesome, nutritious dosa has plenty of dietary fibre and is far healthier than bread or other refined flour food. An excellent breakfast food for all, it has to be specially recommended for diabetic patients.

85) ROASTED COCONUT SAAMBAR

ROASTED COCONUT SAAMBAR

Ingredients:

1)    Tor dal (split pigeon pea lentils) – 100 gm.

2)    Roasted coconut curry masala (see my recipe) – 3 Tablespoons

3)    Carrot – 100 gm.

4)    Beetroot – 100 gm.

5)    Onion – 100 gm.

6)    Potato – 200 gm.

7)    Tomato – 100 gm.

8)    Drumsticks – 2 Nos.

9)    Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

10)                      Mustard seeds – 1/2  teaspoon

11)                      Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon

12)                      Coconut oil – 2 teaspoons

13)                      Coriander leaves (cilantro) – 1 small plant

14)                      Salt – 1½ teaspoons

15)                      Sambar powder – 1 tablespoon

To Cook:

Wash the tor dal and put in a pressure cooker. Peel and wash the carrot, the beetroot, the onion and the potato. Cut into big chunks of roughly 1 inch cubes and chuck them into the cooker. Pour enough water to fully submerge the chunks. Put on the lid and set on high heat. As soon as you hear the first whistle, lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat and let cool naturally.

From the time you put the cooker on the stove and wait for the lentils and vegetables to cook, you will have some time to do the rest of the preparations. Lightly scrape a very thin peel of the drumsticks and cut into 2½ inch long pieces. Set a 2 or 3 litre vessel on the stove. Pour water an inch deep and chuck in the drumstick pieces. Dice the tomatoes into big chunks and drop them in. Cover with lid.

When it comes to a boil, turn down the heat and let cook until the pressure cooker has cooled down enough to be opened. The drumstick in the vessel should be soft by now. You can check if it is cooked by pressing it with a knife. Now add the contents off the pressure cooker to the drumsticks and tomatoes. Add the salt, the turmeric powder and the roasted coconut curry masala. Stir and let it boil for 5 minutes on low heat. Now add the sambar powder and taste. Add more salt or sambar powder if your palate asks for it. Garnish with plucked coriander leaves and cover with lid.

Set a 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 crackling, pull of the curry leaves from the sprigs and throw them in. now tip over the contents of the pan into the saambar. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Your super delicious, appetizingly aromatic roasted coconut saambar is ready.

Serve hot with whole wheat dosas, idlis, dosas, vadas, uthappams, rice, chappatis, porottas, pongal and soyyea polos.