Hi, Welcome to veggiekhana. I am Swetha, happily married to a caring and inspiring man who adds beauty and perfection to my life. I am a day dreamer and love cooking, crafting, singing and writing. Blogging is a great way for me to share my culinary recipes. I am thankful to my mother for teaching me the "A, B, C, D" of cooking and constantly enriching my list of traditional recipes. All the traditional recipes here are from my mom and I am just a media to share them. My father has always been my greatest encouragement. He used to be the taste tester of all the foods I used to cook since my childhood! All the praises and complements from him has boosted my interest in cooking. Majority of the recipes include Mysore and North Karnataka cuisine and the rest are the ones I tryout after improvising them which I get from various sources. Hope you enjoy and thank you for your visit....
Akki rotti / rice flour roti is one of the most popular dishes in Karnataka. This simple yet delicious dish can be customized according to our taste and requirement.
Ambode/Masala Vada is a mouth watering South Indian snacks which can be relished either with the tea/coffee or can be eaten accompanying a meal. This spicy deep fried dal patties are equally liked by all age groups...
Apple Kheer - In kannada Sebina Payasa. This is a type of sweeth dish in which Apple is used as main ingredient with the mixture of Milk and Sugar. To expore more, please visit Apple Kheer Post.
Belladanna which literally translates to Jaggery rice is one of the simplest sweets that can be prepared with minimum number of ingredients. Its believed that the Godess Lakshmi, the Hindu Godess of wealth is very fond of this dish. Its kid friendly, filling as well as tasty.
Ingredients:
Cooked rice - 1 1/2 cup
Jaggery powder - 1 cup
Dry coconut gratings - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 2 tbs
Cardamom - 1 to 2
Clove - 1 (optional)
Cashews - 1 tbs
Raisins - 1 1/2 tbs
Method:
Crush the cardamom into powder.
Heat a pan and add 1tbs ghee. As the ghee melts add cashews and raisins, roast them well and take out to a bowl.
To the same pan with remaining hot ghee add clove and warm it.
then add in jaggery powder and water sufficient enough to dissolve it. Its desirable that the jaggery melts in water completely, no need to heat and boil further.
Now add the cooked rice and dry coconut gratings and mix.
Add in the remaining ghee, roasted cashews and raisins and powdered cardamom and give a final thorough mixing.
"Bendekai Gojju" / "Okra (ladies finger) curry" is one of the easiest and simplest form of curries and tastes scrumptious with aroma of freshly ground spices. Its one of the simple traditional recipe of Karnataka and goes excellently well with rice, chapatis, phulka and rotis.
"Bendekai Gojju" brings me a lot of childhood memories. The aroma that ignited the huger while returning home after playing with friends during holidays, "Kaituttu Oota" enjoyed with my cousins at grandmas home, savoring chapatis with this gojju during lunch break in school and much more. My mother and grandma are the wonderful cooks that I have seen in my life and have always been my inspiration to cook good food and this post is dedicated to them.
Ingredients:
Cut okra (ladies finger) - 2 1/2 cups
Tamarind - 1 marble size, soak in 1/4 cup warm water and extract juice
Jaggery (brown sugar) - 2 to 3 tsp
Oil - As required
Cilantro - for garnishing
Salt - to taste
Ingredients For Masala Paste:
Channa dal - 1 tbs
Urad dal - 1/2 tbs
Dry red chilis - 3 to 4, use according to the spiciness of the chilis
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 7 to 8
Sesame seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafetida - A generous pinch
Ingredients For Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 8 to 10 leaves
Turmeric powder - A pinch
Asafetida - A pinch
Method:
Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and roast until they brown. Then add dry red chilies followed by channa dal and urad dal.
Add in the frnugreek seeds, sesame seeds, turmeric powder, asafetida and curry leaves one after the other and saute.
Finally add in the grated coconut and saute for only few seconds so that the moisture is gone. Remove from stove top and allow to cool.
Transfer the roasted mixture to a blender and grind into a paste by adding little water.
Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and saute the cut okra until the sides become brown & crispy and the slime is gone. (If using frozen okra cook according to the instructions given on the packaging)
Add in the tamarind juice and saute until it evaporates.
Add the ground masala paste and 1 1/2 cups of water and mix well. Add in the jaggery and salt and allow it to boil for around 5 minutes.
Meanwhile heat 1 tsp oil and prepare a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder and asafetida.
Add the tempering on to the boiling "gojju".
Finally garnish with cilantro and remove from stove top.
Enjoy the "Gojju" with steaming rice or chapati.
Note:
Using the same method "gojju" can also be prepared by using onion, tomato, brinjal (egg plant), capsicum (bell peppers) or a combination of these veggies.
To remove the slime from the okra, the cut okra can be spread on a plate and placed in a refrigerator 5 to 6 hrs prior to the preparation of the food.
If time does not permit the above step, 1 or 2 tsp curd (yogurt) can be added to the okra while sauteing so that the slime will go away fast.
Tawa pulao / butter pulao is a famous Maharashtrian street food available in many of the pav-bhaji thelas. It is quick and easy to prepare yet tastes delicious. Even novice cook can create this wonderful rice dish within minutes as no special skills of selecting, roasting and grinding of any of the spices are required! The pav - bhaji masala itself is the sole and unique taste giver which is readily available in all the Indian grocery stores. This also forms an excellent way to give a new life to the left-over rice!
Ingredients:
Basmati rice - 1 cup (If not available regular sona masoori rice can also be used)
chopped onion - 1cup
Chopped capsicum (Bell peppers) - 1 cup
Chopped tomato - 1 cup
Cooked and cut potato - 1 cup
Boiled green peas - 1/2 cup
(Along with these vegetables cooked beans, carrots, cauliflower can also be used)
Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Pav - bhaji masala - 1 1/2 tsp
Chili powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp
Finely chopped cilantro (green coriander) - 1/4 cup
Lemon juice - 2 tbs
Butter - 2 to 3 tbs ( Ghee or oil can also be used instead)
Salt - to taste
Method:
Wash the basmati rice thoroughly add two cups of water, 1/4tsp salt (optional) and 1tsp oil and cook in a rice cooker or pressure cooker until 3 whistles. Adding oil prevents the rice from getting sticky. Allow the cooked rice to rest undisturbed for atleast 30 min - 1 hr or until it is completely cool and then separate the grains so that they remain unbroken.
Heat the butter in a large tawa (skillet) or pan. Add cumin seeds followed by fennel seeds
When they are brown add onion and saute until they sweat. Add the capsicum and saute them until they are done. Its OK if they retain slight crunchiness. Then add tomato and saute.
Add in the ginger-garlic paste followed by potato and green peas, mix well.
Add turmeric powder, pav-bhaji masala, chili powder and mix.
Add 1/2 cup water, mix and let it boil for some time. This prevents masala powders from getting burnt and also add some moisture to the rice added.
Add in the rice, cilantro, lemon juice, salt (be cautious if some salt has been added while cooking rice) and give a thorough mix.
Remove from stove top and serve hot with raita, pickle and papad of your choice.
