Surnoli

Surnoli is a delicious Konkani dish from Goa eaten for breakfast, as a snack, or even for dinner. It can be made in sweet and savory versions.

Sweet (yellow) surnoli with butter an savory surnoli with fresh coconut chutney and dry coconut chutney

Ingredients

2 cups raw rice ( for 10 surnolis)

1 cup beaten rice (poha)

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 cup beaten yoghurt mixed with 1 cup water

1 cup grated coconut

Salt to taste for savory portion

Jaggery to taste and ½ tsp turmeric powder for sweet portion

Instruction

-          Wash the rice, beaten rice and fenugreek seeds, mix with the beaten yoghurt and water and let it soak for 3 to 4 hours.

-          Grind the soaked rice with grated coconut.

-          Divide the batter into two parts. Grind one part with jaggery and turmeric powder.

-          Allow the batter to ferment for 12 hours. It should rise well. If that has not happened, add a pinch of baking soda just before making surnolis.

-          To the savory portion, add salt and mix well.

-          Heat an oiled thava and pour the batter, don’t spread it.

-          Let it cook on medium flame and remove when cooked. No need to turn upside down.

Sweet Surnolis are served with butter while savory ones are eaten with coconut chutney and/or sambar. 

Cabbage Kofta

Kofta is a preparation that has onion tomato gravy in which different vegetables mixed with gram flour and other ingredients are deep fried are added.

Ingredients

For koftas

2  cups finely cut cabbage

2 tbsps gram flour ( besan)

1 tbsp cut coriander leaves

Salt to taste

A pinch of baking soda

¼  tsp red chilli powder

A pinch of asafoetida

Oil for frying

For gravy

1 big onion sliced

3 tomatoes cut

2 tbsps oil

½  cup beaten yoghurt

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

¼  tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/3  tsp garam masala powder

3 cups water

Instruction

·         Grind the sliced onion and cut tomatoes. 

Heat oil in a kadai and add this. Reduce the flame and let it cook, keep stirring in between. When it starts separating from the sides, add the beaten yoghurt and masala powders. Mix well and add the water and salt.  Let it come to a boil.

·         Steam the cut cabbage in a colander for about 8 minutes. Squeeze the cabbage lightly (keep aside the juice).

·         Add all other ingredients, adding the cabbage juice if needed (otherwise add it to the gravy), to make into a smooth dough. Make small balls from this and deep dry till golden brown.

·         Add the fried koftas into the boiling gravy. Reduce the flame and simmer for ten minutes.

·         Garnish with cut coriander leaves before serving with chapatis.

·         You can make koftas with grated carrots, grated bottle gourd ( my favorite), or mixed vegetables.  There is no need to steam grated carrots or bottle gourd. Grated bottle gourd need to be squeezed before mixing with besan, and the juice added if needed for the correct consistency.  

                           Bottle gourd kofta with paratha, string beans potato sabzi, and aamras

Easy Semolina Handvo

Handvo, the savory lentil cake, is a traditional Gujarati dish. I loved it the moment I had in Gujarat and took its recipe. Later I got another recipe which is easier to make, with semolina and bottle gourd. Now it is a regular breakfast item in our home. It is so yummy, with the crispy crust and soft inner portion. We have it with green coriander chutney, tomato ketchup or a mix of tomato ketchup and mustard sauce.

Ingredients

1 cup sooji (semolina)

1 cup grated bottle gourd

½ cup yoghurt

1 tsp Eno fruit salt- You get small sachets of Eno salt, one sachet is enough here.

Salt to taste

To season:

1 tbsp sesame oil (or any other oil)

¼ tsp mustard seeds

1 ½ tsp white sesame seeds

1 green chilli cut fine

1 tbsp cut coriander leaves

Instruction

-          Squeeze the grated bottle gourd (keep the squeezed out liquid, we will be using it later)

-          Mix the semolina with grated, squeezed out bottle gourd and beaten yoghurt, keep aside for about 20 minutes.

-          Now heat the sesame oil, add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add the sesame seeds, cut green chilli and coriander leaves. Cover and switch off the flame. Heat a thick bottomed thava, pour some sesame oil on the surface and reduce the flame.

-          Add 1 tsp Eno salt to the bottle gourd juice and mix. Add this, salt, and the seasoning to the semolina mix.

-          Lightly knead and spread it on the oiled thava. Cover it and let it cook for 8 minutes.  

-          Now turn it over, cook for 6 minutes and it is ready to be served. 

-      It is good for breakfast and also as a snack. 

What is your bitter today?

The Ayurvedic diet is based on the principles of Ayurvedic medicine and focuses on balancing different types of energy within your body, which is said to improve health. It is an eating pattern that's been around for thousands of years. In Ayurveda, there are six tastes that can be found in our diet: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent (spicy), Bitter, Astringent. To maintain proper health it is necessary to consume food with all these tastes. I have found that bitter is one taste that is commonly missing from daily diet.

Bitter taste?

To encourage my kids to eat bitter foods like bitter gourd, I would ask them, “What do you feel like on putting a bitter item into your mouth?”

“Feel like spitting it out.”

“Right, so when this reaches the cells of your body, that is what they would do. They spit out all the toxins inside and your body remains healthy.”

This approach, along with giving Reiki to the food made sure they developed healthy eating habit.

A leaf a day

When I had sciatica type pain years back, I started eating parijat leaves, which gives relief. Later I made it a habit to eat one parijat leaf every day in the morning. It makes sure I have my bitter taste for the day. The leaves juice is bitter and works as a tonic. Its decoction is excellent for arthritis, constipation, and worm infestation. The beautiful parijat flowers are steeped in boiled water to make tea for drinking.