Sago(sabudana) thalipeet

 

This is a delicious alternative for the popular fasting dish, sabudana khichdi.

Ingredients

1 cup sago soaked overnight with equal quantity of water- for four thalipeets

3 potatoes, cooked, peeled and mashed

1 tbsp roasted, powdered peanuts

Salt to taste

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

1 green chilli cut fine

1 tbsp finely cut coriander leaves.

2 tbsps oil or ghee to roast on thave

Instruction

-          Knead all the ingredients together into soft dough.

-          Heat thava on medium flame, oil it and spread one fourth of the dough on the thava into a circle. 

      Cover and let it cook for three minutes.

-          Now remove the lid, pour some oil on the thalipeet, flip it over and let cook for two minutes without covering with the lid.

-          Serve hot with curds, tomato ketchup or pickle.

                                                          Sago thalipeet served with curds

Versatile gravy

 

Recently we had lunch in a friend’s hotel and my husband loved the gravy that was provided with the meals. He asked for the recipe and graciously the owner gave it to us. Any vegetable can be added to this gravy. I had some raw papaya at hand and decided to add it.

Ingredients

1 cup raw papaya skinned and cut into small cubes.

1 ½ cups water

1 small onion sliced

1 tomato cut small

1 tbsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

Salt to taste

To grind:

1 cup grated coconut

6 pepper corns

2 large byadige chilli

½ tbsp coriander seeds

Instruction

-          Boil the cut papaya in water with salt till it is cooked and tender, takes about 10 minutes

-          Grind the coconut with pepper, red chilli and coriander seeds. Add this to the cooked papaya and mix. Add more water if needed.

-          Heat the oil, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cut onion, reduce the flame. When they become translucent, add cut tomato. Keep on low flame, stirring in between till they become mushy.

-          Add this to the papaya with gravy, adust the salt, and simmer for five minutes.

Jackfruit seed hummus

It is easy to prepare Jackfruit seed hummus, a great accompaniment with rice, chapati or bread rolls. We have experienced that hummus is easier to digest as compared with other jackfruit seed preparations.

Ingredients:

2 cups jackfruit seeds, with outer covering removed

4 cloves of peeled garlic

1/3 tsp cumin seeds

Salt to taste

1/4 sesame oil

1/2 cup vegetable broth OR water

Juice of one lemon (or more according to your taste)

For garnishing

1/3 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp finely cut coriander leaves

Instruction:

-         -     Pressure cook the jackfruit seeds with 2 ½ cups water and salt for 15 to 20 minutes till soft. Cool, open, drain, and discard the water.

-          -      Let the seeds cool down, add all other ingredients and grind in the food processor until smooth.

-          Pour into a plate, drizzle some oil on the top, garnish with red chilli powder and cut coriander leaves. 

Jackfruit seed hummus served with toasted 'pav', 

sautéed baby corn and fresh fruits 

Jackfruit Cake (Panache Dhonas)

I am always on the lookout for ripe jackfruit preparations and this year I came across jackfruit cake or Panache dhonas, which is a traditional dish of Goa. I got the recipe from the net  and baked it. It was so delicious, my husband went gaga over it!

 

Ingredients:

2 cups deseeded jackfruit bulbs made into pulp

1 cup semolina

1 cup grated coconut

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup jaggery

½ tsp dried ginger powder

½  tsp cardamon powder

10 chopped cashewnuts

10 raisins

1 ½ tbsps melted ghee

Procedure:

 

-           Roast the semolina till it is light brown or it gives out a nice aroma. Keep aside and let it cool for about 20 minutes.

-          Remove the jackfruit seeds and grind the bulbs.

-           Mix all the other ingredients and put them into an oiled flat baking dish.

-          Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. If a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, it is done.

-        Let it cool bit, then invert onto a plate. Heat the ghee and pour over it. Cut into pieces and serve. 

Pathrode -2

 

This is a type of pathrode that my family likes, though I like the other one. This is easier and faster to prepare, so it is fine with me J

Ingredients

2 colocasia leaves

1 cup besan

Salt to taste

¼ tsp ajwain

¾ tsp dried mango powder

¼ tsp turmeric powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp oil

Water to make into a thick paste

Oil to shallow fry

Instruction

-  Gently remove the thick veins on the outer surface of the colocasia leaves with a sharp knife.

-  Wash the leaves, lightly shake off the excess water and keep aside for the remaining water to evaporate.

-  Mix all the ingredients with the besan, slowly adding water to make a thick paste.

-  Keep one leaf upside down, spread besan paste onto the whole of outer surface. Now keep the second leaf over this, and spread the remaining besan mix over the leaf.

-  Now gently roll them together, keep inside a container and steam for 20 minutes. Take out and allow to cool slightly.

- Slice the roll into pieces of about 1 ½ cm thickness

-  Heat oil on a thava, roast the both sides of the slices on medium heat and serve.

-  It can be served as a snack along with tomato sauce, or as an accompaniment of rice or chapati.

Dahi vada, Kerala style

 

Ingredients

For vada:

1 cup udad dal soaked for 6 hours – for 6 vadas

½ tsp cut green chilli

¼ tsp cut ginger

Salt to taste

1 tbsp small coconut pieces

¼ tsp crushed pepper

A small pinch of baking soda

Oil for deep frying the vadas

Prepare curds

2 cups thick curds

2 cups water

1 tbsp finely cut onion

¼ tsp finely cut ginger

¼  tsp cut green chilli

A few curry leaves

A pinch of salt

1 ½ tsp sugar

To temper

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Instruction

-          Drain the soaked dal and grind it to a slightly rough consistency. Mix all the other ingredients and deep fry the vadas in oil on medium heat.

-          Drain the golden colored vada from the oil, drop it into water, leave for a few seconds, and squeeze gently between the palms and keep aside.

-          If you want to make left over, cold vadas into dahi vada,  pour hot water over the vadas till they are immersed in the water, leave for a few seconds, gently squeeze between the palms.

-          Beat the curds to a smooth consistency, add water and beat again. Add all other ingredients, mix well.

-          Pour some of the prepared curd onto a serving bowl, arrange the vadas on it and pour the remaining curds over them.

-          Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter, pour over the dahi vadas and serve.

Karkidaka Kanji

 In Kerala parboiled rice is the staple food. It is also known as matta rice, Rose matta rice, Kerala red rice, Red parboiled rice and Palakkadan matta rice, as locally it is sourced from the Palakkad region of Kerala. It takes longer time to cook as compared to polished white rice. What I usually do is, soak rice in water overnight, pressure cook with four times water for 5 to 6 minutes, cool and drain.

Karkidaka Kanji is made during the Malayalam month of Karkidakam when it rains heavily, which can cause ill health. It has been part of the traditional monsoon food regimen in Kerala for long as it gives our system the immunity boost it needs at the time. It also helps in detoxification, aids digestion, reduces cholesterol, and improves bowel movement.

Ingredients

1 cup or 100 gms of Red rice (for two people)

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

4 cups water

½ tsp Dried ginger powder

½ tsp Crushed pepper

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp Turmeric powder

3 flakes of Garlic peeled and chopped

Salt to taste

Coconut milk – 1/2 cup

Instruction

-          Wash the rice, fenugreek seeds  and soak  them together overnight or at least for 3-4 hours

-          Pressure cook all the ingredients together, except coconut milk for 8 minues.

-          Cool, open the pressure cooker, add the coconut milk and simmer for two minutes.

-          Serve with boiled and seasoned green gram or coconut chammanthi (chutney).