Uppittu

This is a Karnataka breakfast dish which is sometimes called upma. But I will never call it upma, it is always uppittu  because upma is for me my favourite Kerala dish. Uppittu is a very soothing comfort food, and easy and fast to make.

Ingredients

1 cup sooji (semolina)

2 ½ cups water

1 tbsp milk (optional)

1 tbsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

¼ tsp cumin seeds

A few broken cashew nuts

2 tbsps finely cut onion

 A few curry leaves

1green chilli

1 ½ tsps sugar

Salt to taste

2 tbsps grated coconut

Instruction

-          Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter, add cumin seeds, broken cashews, then the cut onion, green chilli and curry leaves.

-          When the onion become translucent, add the water, sugar and salt (also milk, if you plan to keep the uppittu for a long time because the milk prevents discoloration of onion pieces in that case)

-          When the water boils, reduce the flame and stirring continuously, slowly add the semolina. Keep stirring and when it is still liquidy, after a minute or two, switch off the gas and cover it.

-          Garnish with grated coconut while serving.

Broken wheat upma- Kerala style

This is like the Kerala upma that is eaten with plantain, but the taste is different. It is made in a different way than the other type of broken wheat upma and they also vary in taste.

Ingredients

1 cup broken wheat

2 tbsps ghee

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 small onion chopped fine

A few curry leaves

½ tsp finely cut ginger

1 green chilli cut

7 cashews split into halves

Salt to taste

2 cups boiling/hot water

2 tbsps grated coconut

Instruction

Heat the ghee in a pan, add the cumin seeds when the ghee is hot.

When they brown, add the cut onion, curry leaves, ginger, and chilli. When the onion becomes transparent, add the cashew nuts, stir for a few seconds and add the broken wheat.

Keep stirring for about two minutes when the aroma comes.

Now add the boiling water and salt, stir, cover and keep on low fire for about three minutes.

Open and check, when it is cooked, add the grated coconut, mix well, cover and remove from fire. Let it sit for five minutes and serve hot with plantain.

Baingan bharta (Roasted brinjal mash)

Ingredients:

1 large brinjal ( for 2 people)

2 onions cut fine

3 tomatoes

1 green chilli

8 garlic flakes crushed

Salt to taste

2  tbsps of mustard oil

1/3 tsp mustard seeds

1/3 tsp red chilli powder

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp garam masala powder

Cut coriander leaves to garnish

Insruction:

-          Keep the brinjal directly over the high gas flame and keep rotating it to get it uniformly roasted. Cool and peel off the charred skin and mash the roasted brinjal.

-          Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cut onions, green chilli and crused garlic, and cook on low flame till onion becomes transparent.

-          Add the grated tomatoes and cook on low flame till it starts separating from the sides. Add all the masala powders and salt, stir well, and add the mashed brinjal. Remove from fire after two minutes. The roasting of brinjal imparts a very appetizing aroma to the dish.

-          Garnish with cut coriander leaves while serving, with chapatis or steamed rice and dal.

Star gooseberry pickle

Just like amla (gooseberry), star gooseberry is also packed with nutrients. It acts as a liver tonic and blood enrichment remedy. They are used as remedy for biliousness, bronchitis, diarrhoea and piles. We have a star gooseberry tree, but found it difficult to eat raw gooseberries as the taste is pungent, overwhelmingly sour and astringent. Tried making pickle, but that was also so sour. This time, tried making sweet and sour pickle and voila! It is delicious and can be taken with chapatis or steamed rice.

Ingredients:

250 gms star gooseberries

250 gms jaggery

Pinch of black salt

Pinch of salt.

Instruction:

-          Wash and dry the star gooseberries. Pressure cook them for five minutes. Put them in a closed container inside the pressure cooker so that they remain dry.

-          Cool the gooseberries and remove the seeds to be discarded.

-          Put the deseeded gooseberries in a thick bottomed pan keep on medium fire and add the jaggery.  Keep stirring occasionally till it becomes somewhat thick. Add the black salt and salt, stir well and remove from fire. Cool and bottle it. 

      Refrigerate if you want to keep for many days. 

Sweet potato patties

This is a nice tea time snack, but serves for breakfast and I have it for lunch too.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized sweet potatoes (for 4 patties)

4 tbps of Ghee

Instruction:

 - Wash and dry the sweet potatoes, smear them with oil, put in a container.

- Pour two cups of water inside the pressure cooker, keep the container inside the cooker and pressure cook for 5 minutes.

- Cool, peel and mash the sweet potatoes.

- Divide them into 4 portions. Take each portion, roll them between the palms, flatten and roast on medium hot pan smeared with ghee and while turning the patties upside down, pour some more ghee. Serve hot.

- It can be stuffed with anything you like. Today I stuffed it with Amul cheese cube and really enjoyed it for lunch, along with salad and pumpkin sabzi.

29 September 2021

Today I just mixed cooked and mashed sweet potato with a pinch of salt and 1 ½ tablespoons of grated coconut and made patties. They were delicious, with a different flavour. 

Pumpkin curry- Sri Lankan style

I love Sri Lankan preparations and look at Apé Amma’srecipes for guidance. This is a mouth watering side dish.

Ingredients:

4 cups of cleaned and cubed pumpkin pieces

¼ cup green gram sprouts(optional)

2 cinnamon stick pieces

2 green chillies

Some curry leaves

1 onion thinly sliced

½ tsp turmeric powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

¼ tsp garam masala powder

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

1/3 tsp broken mustard seeds or mustard powder

Salt to taste

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups coconut milk

¼ tsp pepper powder

Instuction

Take all the ingredients upto the water in a thick bottomed pan, cover and put on high flame.

When it starts boiling, reduce the flame and let the pumpkin pieces get cooked and become soft, takes about ten minutes.

Add the coconut milk and pepper powder and simmer for five minutes. Remove from fire.

Serve with chapatis or steamed rice and Sri Lankan chilli chutney..

Lemon sweet pickle

Limes are small, round, and green, while lemons are usually larger, oval-shaped, and bright yellow. Nutritionally, they're almost identical and share many of the same potential health benefits. Both fruits are acidic and sour, but lemons tend to be sweeter, while limes have a more bitter flavor.

This is a very easy method to prepare tasty lemon pickle that is ready to be consumed in two days time.

Ingredients

3 lemons deseeded and cut into small pieces

2 cups sugar

½ tsp salt

1/3 tsp red chilli powder

Instruction

-          Pour 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Put the cut lemon pieces into the separator; cover it with a lid so that water won’t enter it.

-        Put the separator inside the pressure cooker and close. When it whistles, reduce the flame and cook for 5 minutes. Cool and open.

-           Let the lemon pieces cool (it may take about an hour). Put them in a pan (karahi) and add sugar.

-        It will become quite watery now. Let it thicken, when you take the syrup in a ladle and pour down, it should look viscous. Now add the salt, red chilli powder and mix well, and remove from fire.

-        If you cook it longer, the lemon rind will toughen.
  It is an amazing accompaniment for thalipeeth, apart from steamed rice and chapatis.