Paaka Shastra

Badane Kaayi Gojju / Roasted Brinjal Curry

2009-08-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Of brinjal/eggplant varieties, "Matti Gulla" is a verity grown in Costal part of the Karnataka. This vegetable has its own flavor. One typical Mangalorean dish made out of this brinjal is "gojju"/curry.

Recipe from the same goes as follows:

Ingredients

1 medium size brinjal/eggplant
1/2 lemon size tamarind
1 medium size Onion
3-4 Green chillies
2 tbls chopped Coriander leaves
1/2 tsp oil

For thadka
2 tsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard
1 red chili
4-5 curry leaves
2 pinches of hing powder

Method

Spread some oil on matti gulla / brinjal and roast it in flame for 5-8 mins. Keep turning the brinjal so that it gets evenly roasted. Keep it aside for it to cool down.
Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water for about 10 mins.
Chop onions, green chillies and coriander. Add these chopped ingredients to the tamarind water.
Now peel off brinjal and mash till it comes to curry consistency.
Finally add mashed brinjal with tamarind water and beat it for about a min so that it gets mixed well with the tamarind solution.
For preparing tadka, heat oil in small pan. Add mustard to hot oil. Add urad dal just before mustard starts cracking. Now add curry leaves and red chilly (cut into small pieces). Wait till red chillies to turn its color before turning off the flame. Add 2 pinches of hing to complete tadka.
Add this tadka to curry and mix well

Notes

Oil is spread on brinjal to make peeling easier
These brinjals can also be roasted in oven
Any variety of the brinjal could be used. But the roasting varies with different variety

This can be served with both rice or rotis.

Tambuli / Tambli / Flavoured Raitha

2009-08-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

"Tambuli" is regular side-dish in Mangalorean meal. Its usually served in the beginning of the meal. Tambuli is prepared with various leaves and vegetables, each of them having its own taste and flavor. Its usually prepared using green leaves as main ingredient. The greens at times get replaced by ginger/onion/few seeds etc.

However today I want to share "tambuli" recipe prepared from leaves of Ivy gourd plant / "Tonde balli". Here we are using tender leaves (at the end of a branch) from plant that blossom during rainy season.

This is a very simple dish that scores high on nutritional values.

Ingredients

10 tender leaves of Ivy gourd plant (Tonde kudi)
3 tbs freshly grated coconut
1 tsp jeera
4-5 curry leaves
4-6 peppercorns
2 cups of Butter milk
1 tsp ghee

For tadka/Tempering
1 tsp mustard
3-5 curry leaves
1 pinch hing powder

Method

Chop the leaves into small pieces
Frey pepper in ghee in a pan. Add jeera for the same and fry for addition 1 min.
Now add copped leaves along with curry leaves into pan and fry it for about 2-3 mins.
Add grated coconut at the end and stir it for 1 min.
Let it the mixture cool (keeping lids closed). Grind this mixture into fine paste with little water.
Now add curd or butter milk to complete "tambuli"

Note

I prefer having "tambuli" without tadka. However for those who prefer tadka could make one using mustard, curry leaves and pinch of hing in quantity mentioned above.
At #3 is essential to give pleasant aroma for the dish
Replacing pepper with green chillies or red chillies will give a different flavor and taste to same dish
Curd could be used in place of butter milk.
Green leaves such as Doddapatre/ Brahmi leaves/ Kaaki Soppu / Spinach could be used instead of "tonde soppu".

It is best served with hot rice. It has a soothing effect perticularly in summer.

Pathrode

2009-08-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

Today's post is about another Mangalorean dish, Pathrode. Its prepared using colocasia leaves that is usually grown in backyards of most of the houses in Mangalore region. Not all verity of the leaves are good for cooking as few of them tend to be itchy. One has to be careful in picking the right leaves. The plant would look as follows.

The leaves are cut leaving any stem in plant.

Ingredients

10-15 pathrode leaves
For Masala
1 cup Rice
4 tbls Coriander
2 tbls Jeera
2 tbsp Jaggry
5-6 chords of red chillies
Salt as per taste
1/2 lemon size Tamarind
1 pinch of Turmaric
1 cup grated coconut

Method

1. Wash the leaves and remove any thick veins in the back of the leaves using knif.
2. Soak the rice in water for 4-6 hours.
3. Grind all of above mentioned ingredients (except the leaves) to chutney/spread consistency.
4. Keep leaf upside down (softer and light colored side down) and smear a layer of masala on upper side (side with visible veins).
5. Keep second leaf on top of this in the same direction and spread another layer of masala. Repeat this for 3-4 leaves.
6. Now pathrode is ready for rolls. Firstly fold the sides of the leaf towards the center and then roll along length of the leaves to make a roll.
7. Step #4 and #5 is repeated for multiple bunch of leaves (3-4 leaves in each bunch).

8. The rolls will look as shown in the above picture. Now steam these rolls in for about 15 mins.
9. Wait till the pathrode cools down a bit before cutting them into smaller cylindrical pieces

These can be served hot with oil (use Coconut oil for authentic Mangaloren flavour). I like it best with honey as it gives mixsture of spicy/tangy and sweet taste to it.

Other well know variation of the same is to chop these rolls into smaller pieces and make usili of the same. You would need following ingredients to make usuli. The measurement here are appropriate for single roll of length 6-inches.

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil (any refined oil will do)
1 tsp of Chana Dal
1 tsp of urad dal
10 leaves of curry leaves
2 stp mustard
2 tblsp Grated coconut (optionl)

Method

1. Prepare seasoning/tadka with chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and mustard.
2. Add chopped pathrode and fry it for about 2 mins
3. Finally add some grated coconut and fry it for addition 2 mins.

Serve it hot as it is.

Notes
- Tamarind helps in beating itchiness in pathrode leaves. It would be better to wash leaves in tamarind water as an additional step to handle itchiness in the leaves.
- While steaming in cooker, don't use weight as it has to be steamed without pressure

Arisina ele kadubu / Coconut dumplings in turmaric leaf / Patholi

2009-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here I go with my first post. With this journey I intend to re-discover my passion for food and cherish all the good dishes I have known. Like everyone I love mom's food and she has a great Mangalorean influence in her cooking. I never realized how much I loved these cuisines until I had to stay away from home. Now its been more than 6 years and older I grow, more I crave for her food.

One such dish is "Arisina eLe Kadubu". I take the liberty to name this dish as "Turmeric leaf dumplings" ( as I have no clue what would suit this better ). Main essence of this dish is the flavor that turmeric leaves give to this dish.

I have grown seeing turmeric plants in the backyard. The picture shows how turmeric leaves would look. The dish tastes best when prepared with fresh leaves.

This blog is dedication to my sweet mom. This is about a dish that my all time favorite. This gets cooked every time visit my parents.

Here we begin with the preparation procedure:
Ingredients

6-8 Turmeric leaves
1 cup rice
1/2 cup Grated coconut
For stuffing

1/ cup Jaggry
1 cup Grated coconut
4-5 Cardamom
few pinches of salt

Method

1. Soak water for about 2 hours.
2. Grind rice with the coconut to consistency little ticker than dosa.
3. For the stuffing Heat jagarry in a pan with little water.
4. Once all the jaggary dissolves add grated coconut and stir it for 5 mins
in medium flame.
5. Make a powder of cloves and add it to the mixture.
6. Finally add few pinches of salt and mix well.

"Kadubu" / Dumpling Preparation

7. Smear the rice dough prepared for outer covering on leaves as shown in the picture.
8. Keep dumpling in the middle and fold the leaves as shown in the picture.
9. Now bake the covered leaves in steam for about 15 mins.

Notes

I have used a tradition kadai to bake. Cooker(without weight) could also be used.
Leaves should be arranged in such a way that the steam reaches every leaf when stacked in a vessel. The picture could give some clue on this.

The dumplings after peeling off the leave would look like this:

Serve it hot with some ghee for the best taste.