Jeera-Pepper Tambuli (jeer-meerya tambuli)

Keep cool in this hot weather with this amazing dish.

I am suffering from cold and cough lately and the cold is the kind that you get from excessively hot and humid weather. Also, I was alone this weekend and in need of some serious pampering - so I thought I will cook myself some good food and get rid of my cold :P

The best internal cooling for the body is either by a glass of buttermilk or this "sorta" cold soup. Its a famous Konkani dish. Its eaten raw (uncooked) and the ingredients are mostly healthy spices which help to keep your body cool and also aid in digestion. So theres your two reasons to try this dish out :)

Beans Upkari

Beans Upkari is a very simple dish, which gets ready in like 15 mins or so and is a very delicious dish (for people who love beans that is). It is prepared by tempering the green beans and cooking them just tender enough to leave them crunchy and then topping them off with grated coconut.

We konkani people are always accused of using a lot of coconut, but what can we do... our tongues have gotten used to that flavor and we just cannot get enff of it :) We LOVE coconut !! and use it in almost every dish that we make, either grind it for the masala gravy or top it off like garnish !! Beans upkari is my sister's favorite dish and she likes it with potatoes added.

Beans SagLe

SagLe in konkani means "whole" as in we add larger pieces of veggies to this dish than we do in other dishes. I guess we are supposed to add the veggies as a whole, but I guess over time it has evolved into using larger pieces - keeping in mind the amount of time it would actually take to cook the whole veggies.

Whenever I make this dish, my friends in the US relish it a lot. This dish can be prepared with a variety of vegetables: eggplant, beans, okra are some of the commonly used ones. This dish has a strong coconutty flavor, but it is not that of raw coconuts and is also masked a bit by the spices used in the dish. So, if you are the kind who does not like coconut-based dishes, you should still try it once.. you might just end up liking it.

Badnekayi Palya

Just love this karnataka style dish, for its simplicity and mouth-watering flavors. I hate capsicum (green peppers) in almost everything else, except for this dish. I just love the twist it gives to this dish and how it enhances the flavors.

Whenever I prepare this dish, I feel like eating Akki rotti along with it - the kind they make by pre-cooking the rice flour and rolling it out into chapathis. I absolutely love the combination - you should try it sometime :D

Medu Vada

Medu Vada, meaning soft vadas, are a very famous snack / breakfast item in South India. They are generally served as a side item with Idlis / Dosas with either chutney or sambar. Generally people eat a single medu vada with a heavy breakfast and still crave for more :)

Medu vadas are soft inside and crispy on the outside when they are hot. They are super yummy and you cannot just have one :) Here is my recipe for medu vadas. I used to hate idlis back in India. So if we went to a hotel for breakfast, everyone used to order idlis with one vada each and I would get 2 vadas and skip the idlis altogether :P I just love medu vadas.

Panpolo / Neer Dosa

Panpolo or Neer dosa is a very common breakfast dosa in a konkaNi household. Neer - meaning water in kannada - is a main constituent of this dosa along with soaked rice. The consistency of this dosa is also watery, which is why the name probably. In konkaNi, I think it associates with Paani (water) polo (dosa). However, this is just a guess :) There are several versions of this dosa, with coconut, cucumber, magge (mangalore cucumber / melon), water melon peel etc., I love all these versions, but they all have distinct flavors and I think they are all acquired tastes.

Rava Bhakri / Rullava Bhakri

"Bhakri" in konkani means a hybrid of a dosa and rotti (rotti in kannada - not roti in hindi). So, its a kind of a thick pancake type dish which is a bit crunchier and has a bite compared to a soft pancake. Bhakri can be made out of rice flour, wheat rava, idli rava etc.,

Cabbage Upkari

Serves 2
Preparation Time (10 min)
Cooking Time - 15 mins approx

Ingredients
 

1/2 Cabbage (medium sized - chopped)
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Green Chillies - 2 - slit lengthwise
Salt - as per taste

Peas Pulao

Serves 2
Preparation Time (10 min)
Cooking Time - 20 mins approx

Ingredients

Fresh / Frozen green peas - 2 cups
Rice (preferably basmati) - 2 cups
Water - 3 cups (1.5 times of rice)
Salt - to taste

Chana Usal with Tomatoes

Did you know that chickpeas are rich in iron content ? My doc recently advised me to start eating iron-rich foods. So I started researching a bit and found that chickpeas have more iron content than cooked spinach, contrary to popular belief. Also I found this article on the internet which said most of the iron in spinach is not bio-available. Not sure how much true the article is, but here it is for your reference. Also found this amazing article on chickpeas alone and loved it. Here it is for all of you to enjoy !!! I would surely love to know what the connection is between Lord Shiva and chickpeas too.

Anyway, so I had these cans of chickpeas at home and I decided to make some Chana Usli.

"Usli" in konkani is a simple dish prepared with / without onions and garnished with shredded coconut and coriander leaves before serving. It can be prepared with any kind of whole pulses, like kabuli chana (white chickpeas), moong (green gram), chana (bengal gram - black chickpeas) etc.,

When my mom makes this dish, she always uses the black chanas. I am ONE HELL of a lazy person, and I never used to eat it, because it needed a lot of chewing work. Even though the chanas are cooked separately in a cooker, they will still be harder than the white chickpeas. "Height of laziness" do you say ??? I totally agree. I have used just a minor variation from my mom's recipe here. I have used tomatoes in my recipe. Tomatoes lend a slight tanginess to the dish.

I regret to say that I don't use accurate measurements in my recipes, because for me its a matter of taste and preferences. So all the measurements are just approximate.

Ingredients

Serves 2
Preparation Time (requires overnight soaking and around 20 mins to cook the chickpeas if you are using dried chickpeas, else this recipe is instant)
Cooking Time - 15 mins

Dried Chickpeas - 1 cup (soaked overnight) (Remember that any kind of dried beans will always double in size when soaked - so this would be approximately 2 cups of soaked chickpeas)
OR
Chickpeas, canned - 2 cans
Tomatoes, medium chopped - 1 medium sized (optional)
Onions, finely chopped - 1 small (optional)
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbsp
Coriander Leaves / Cilantro, finely chopped - 1 tbsp (for garnishing)
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 3 (more if you want it spicier -- remember, spiciness varies with different kinds of chillies)
Curry Leaves (optional)
Oil

Method

Note: If you are using dried chickpeas, cook them in a pressure cooker before-hand with just as much water as required to cover them and cook them for around 10 mins or until you start to get the first whistle. Then reduce the flame and cook on sim for another 10 mins and then switch off the stove and let cool. Cooking normally in an open vessel may take anywhere between 45 mins to 1 hr.

1. Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the rest of the tempering ingredients and stir for 2 secs.

Note: If you are adding onions, add it to the tempering before adding the chickpeas and roast them till they turn transparent.

2. Reduce the flame to medium and add in the chickpeas. Add salt as per taste and mix well. Cook this mixture covered for 10 mins. The chickpeas should be cooked soft and should break between your fingers with a little pressure. If you are using pre-cooked chickpeas, you can just add the cooked and drained chickpeas.... Its ok to add a little bit of the water from the cooked chickpeas.

Note: If you are adding tomatoes, add them now, mix well and cook until the tomatoes start oozing out water and blend into the mixture well.

4. Switch off the flame and add coconut and coriander leaves and mix.

Note: If you are adding frozen shredded coconut, then cook for 2 more mins, just to remove the raw flavor and then switch of the flame and add coriander leaves. Same procedure if you are adding (unsweetened) coconut powder available in Indian stores in the US. This is to ensure the coconut powder cooks and softens.

Serve hot as a side-dish with any main course. Can be eaten with rice or breads. It also serves as a snack at all times.

Potatoes and Carrots Curry

Carrots, the only vegetable that I hate probably, especially when it comes to eating it raw. Neither am I a fan of any carrot dishes, except maybe carrot halwa, which I like only because I am a die-hard fan of sweets.

People munch on carrots all the time, but somehow, not my cup of tea, or rather not my bowl of carrots :) My mom always used to get us to eat carrots somehow, but I never fell in the trap. A few days back however, we went to this potluck dinner and me and my friends got together and made Carrot Halwa. There were a load of carrots remaining from that shopping round. So I decided to finish them before they went bad.

Got me thinking though as to what dish I can make from carrots, which did not turn out to be sweet, because, carrots have an inherent sweet flavor. Then I suddenly remembered that my mom used to make this beans and potatoes combination, whenever she didn't cook onions in the house, due to some religious reasons, but it was nevertheless awesome. My sister's favorite dish. I just adapted the same recipe to potatoes and carrots. Its a dry curry, which just a little tempering and a sprinkling of coconut on the top before serving. Makes an awesome side dish with sambar, rasam or daal, or even plain yogurt rice.

Moreover carrots are very healthy, good for your eyes and all the rest of the healthy advice, which I don't wanna give, because I don't want to be called a hypocrite. But even if you don't like carrots, you should definitely try out this dish. Who knows, you might just end up liking it. This recipe is specially for my friend who asked for a onion-less side dish. So here goes.

I regret to say that I don't use accurate measurements in my recipes, because for me its a matter of taste and preferences. So all the measurements are just approximate.

Ingredients

Serves 2
Preparation Time - 10 mins
Cooking Time - 20 mins

Carrots, chopped into small cubes - 1 1/2 cups
Potatoes, chopped into small cubes - 1 1/2 cups
Onions, finely chopped - 1 small (optional --- I did not use it, but you can)
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbsp
Coriander Leaves / Cilantro, finely chopped - 1 tbsp (for garnishing)
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 3 (more if you want it spicier -- remember, spiciness varies with different kinds of chillies)
Curry Leaves (optional)
Oil

Method

1. Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, add the rest of the tempering ingredients and stir for 2 secs.

Note: If you are adding onions, add it to the tempering before adding the vegetables and roast them till they turn transparent.

2. Reduce the flame to medium and add in all the vegetables (potatoes and carrots). Add salt as per taste and mix well. Cook this mixture covered for 10-15 mins or until the vegetables are cooked and become tender.

3. Switch off the flame and add coconut and coriander leaves and mix.

Note: If you are adding frozen shredded coconut, then cook for 2 more mins, just to remove the raw flavor and then switch of the flame and add coriander leaves. Same procedure if you are adding (unsweetened) coconut powder available in Indian stores in the US. This is to ensure the coconut powder cooks and softens.

Aloo and Carrot Curry is ready to serve. You can eat it as a side dish with rice or with chapathis and rotis. I made this with Tomato & Daal Rasam and I received a lot of praises. Adding the potatoes was a good decision, because they managed to reduce the sweetness of the carrots somehow and the curry ended up being subtly spicy to my surprise.

Keep reading guys... for more recipes and adventures !!!