Categories
Healthy Options Instantpot recipes My lunchbox Rice items

Mixed Greens Khichdi

Mixed Greens Khichdi


I usually get a huge pack of mixed greens from Costco that gets used enthusiastically for few days. Since it goes bad quickly, I try to make few different recipes – this also makes sure we consume all of those greens in two-three weeks’ time. This Mixed Greens Khichdi is one of those dishes. It tastes great, it is a one-pot dish that comes together quickly, it is healthy, so it checks all the right boxes.

I prefer making this dish in InstantPot because I can start the dish and walk away. But this can be easily prepared in a normal pressure cooker – I prepared it pressure cooker before I bought InstantPot.

You can make this Khichdi with just spinach or with a combination of few different greens. I have tried both and it comes out great with any combination. I have used masoor dal here, but this can also be prepared using moong dal.

Also check out sweet khichdi, pongal and other pongal recipes.

Ingredients

    • For the paste

    • Seasoning

Instructions

  1. Grind mixed greens with green chillies, garlic, ginger, water to a smooth paste.
  2. Wash rice, masoor dal.
  3. Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
  4. When they start popping, add cumin seeds.
  5. Add onions, salt, fry till the onions soften a bit.
  6. Add rice, dal, fry for few mins.
  7. Now pour in the ground masala, 4 cups water, goda masala or garam masala.
  8. Close the lid and cook – if using instantpot, cook on rice mode. If using pressure cooker, cook for 2 whistles.
  9. Adjust the consistency by adding more water (optional).
  10. In a separate pan, heat ghee.
  11. Add curry leaves, hing, cashews. Fry for few mins.
  12. Pour this seasoning over pongal.
  13. Serve hot with some ghee, pickle and curd/yogurt.
Categories
Breakfast or snacks Dosa Corner

Matta Rice Idli/Dosas (Ukdo tandul poLe/idli)

Idli

Few days ago I was chatting with my friend Priya and she mentioned using parboiled rice in idli/dosas. I don’t usually like the texture of idlis/dosas made with ukdo tandul(matta rice). She mentioned that she makes idlis with all parboiled rice. This is the only parboiled rice I have in the pantry. So I thought I would have to try Matta Rice idli/dosas again. I have to say this was one of the best idlis I have made in a while. They were pillowy soft and delicious.

This Matta Rice Idli/Dosa batter was used for a week in different forms – dosas, idlis, appe, uttappa. This became sour a bit faster than the all idli rice batter but it also made very soft and delicious idlis. I used 50% urad dal with skin. The skin gives some fiber. You can use all this or the whole black urad or dal/whole urad without skin. All the versions work well.

The next day, I made dosas with the same batter. Use a well-oiled tava for making the dosas. I served the dosas with a spicy chutney and they tasted amazing.

Dosas(PoLe)

Then the next day was appe. They had outer crispy sides and but very soft in the center, just the way appe should be.

Appe

Last was uttappa. By now the batter had a sourness. The addition of a lot of onions and coriander leaves offsets the sourness. Give these a try and I am sure you would love these.

Uttappa

Check out these matta rice appe recipe too where the batter is specifically made for appe.
Check out the idli post here.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Soak dals (use urad dal with skin or skinless or the mixture like I did) and rice separately for about 3-4 hours.
  2. Grind dals till the batter is super soft,. You should see lot of bubbled on the top after grinding it the batter should be very smooth to touch. I let my wet grinder go for almost 45 mins.
  3. Then add the rice to the grinder and grind again for another 20mins. If your wet grinder cannot handle the load, make it in two batches.
  4. Add salt at the end and let the grinder go for another 1-2 mins.
  5. Ferment the batter overnight.
  6. For the best results, make idlis on the first day with freshly fermented batter.
  7. Keep the remaining batter in fridge in airtight container.
  8. On subsequent days when making dosas or appe, use a clean spoon to transfer required amount of batter in a different utensil. Do not mix the spoon used for making dosas in the saved batter (mixing with same spoon will transfer some heat to batter and it will get sour faster).
Categories
Chutneys and bhajis

Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney

Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney
Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney


I prepared this Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney a few days ago for dosas and we absolutely loved it. We had a lot of green (unripe) tomatoes in my freezer from last summer grown in our vegetable garden. Well, that means I need to find new and creative ways to turn them in to food. I decided to make a Tomato-Coconut chutney taking inspiration from some other chutneys I make like coconut-onion chutney, garlic chutney, tomato chutney.

Usually I make green tomato pickle from these unripe tomatoes. This time I had a huge stock of them and also had a lot of other pickles in fridge, so decided to just freeze them to use in different recipes.

Now about the coriander stems I used in this Spicy Tomato-Coriander Chutney – I usually take out the coriander leaves for garnish but leave the stems in fridge. Then I add those stems to chutney or pulavs. They provide thickness and flavor without overpowering the dish.

You can use red or green tomatoes to your liking. I have tried both and turn out great.

Ingredients

    • Seasoning

Instructions

  1. Heat oil, add coriander seeds.
  2. When fried, add ginger, green chillies, tomatoes, coconut, salt.
  3. Cook covered.
  4. Grind with coriander stems.
  5. For the seasoning, heat oil.
  6. Add mustard seeds.When they start popping, add urad dal.
    When it turns brownish, add curry leaves and hing.
  7. Add this seasoning to chutney.
  8. Serve with dosas, idlis or appe.


Check out a short video of this on my instagram –

Categories
Konkani Recipes Side dishes

Black Chana Sidedish (Chane randayi)

Chane Randayi

Chane randayi is a very popular Konkani sidedish from North Kanara. It is slightly different from the Chane Ghashi which has slightly different spices, so the taste of the dish changes based on these few spices.

Chne randayi is prepared with either black or the kabuli chana. A vegetable like banana(cooking kind), suran etc are added along with it to give a nice taste. This was a regular on the menu at my home.

Ingredients:
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup banana or suran(elephant yam) cut into pieces
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
1 tea spn coriander seeds
4-5 red chillies
1 tea spn mustard seeds
1/4 tea spn asafoetida(hing)
4-5 curry leaves
4-5 pieces kokum or 1 tea spn thick tamarind extract
Oil
Salt

Method:
Soak chana in water for 7-8 hrs.
Pressure cook chana with banana or yam for about 3-4 whistles. (If the chana used is old, it will take more whistles).
Heat a little oil, add coriander seeds.
Grind with coconut, red chillies.
Add the ground masala to the cooked chana, add kokum or tamarind, salt.
Cook till it starts boiling.
In a small pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds.
When it starts popping, add hing, curry leaves.
Add this seasoning to chana.

Serves : 4-5
Preparation time: 20mins

Categories
Cakes, Cookies, Pies

Almond Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almond Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almond double chocolate chip cookies are crispy delicious cookies with an intense chocolate flavor. My 10 year old son has been very interested in baking, so we pick some recipe and make it together. He made these almond chocolate chip cookies with added M&Ms to give a crunch to them. These can be amazing gifts for the Valentines day.

For these almond chocolate chip cookies, we took Nestle chocolate chip cookies and modified it to make it more nutritious. We added coco powder to give the intense chocolate flavor to these almond double chocolate chip cookies. Here is the original recipe.

This recipe made about 4 dozen cookies that were all gone in no time. They are very crispy and melt in the mouth, bake them for few minutes less to make them less crunchy.

We always use salted butter for baking to give it a nice taste. If you don’t have salted butter, just add a 1/4 tea spn salt.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cup almond flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tea spn vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tea spn baking soda
1 and 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup M&Ms

Method:
Preheat the oven at 375F for 10mins.
Seive together cocoa powder, all purpose flour, baking soda. Add almond flour and mix everything. Keep aside.
Beat together sugar and butter till they are well mixed.
Add the eggs and mix again.
Now add the flour mix, little at a time and mix.
Now add chocolate chip cookies, M&Ms and mix with a spatula.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
With a spoon, drop the mix on the paper leaving enough space for them to expand.
Bake at 375F for 13mins.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Categories
Festival food Konkani festivals Konkani Recipes Sweets

Green Moong Sweetdish(Mooga Khichdi)

Mooga Khichdi

This green moong sweetdish – Mooga Khichdi is a traditional Konkani dish specifically prepared for the festival of Sankranti. Mooga Khichdi is also called Moog Shijayile, literally means cooked moong.

Mooga Khichdi is prepared during Sankranti and a little of it kept on the window for the birds to eat. It is believed that Sankrant Purush(God of this festival) comes in the form of a crow to eat the food. This is a classic example of Konkanis worshipping, feeding the animals, birds surrounding us. After it is offered to god, this Mooga Khichdi is consumed. 

This Mooga Khichdi is flavored just with ghee and cardamom. When it is being cooked, the delicious aroma of the dish fills the entire house. Based on the quality of jaggery used, this can become very dry or very juicy/wet.

Aayi usually prepares the moong dal khichdi – mooga dali khichdi for Sankranti instead of this since that was the sweet made in her maternal home. Both have their own deliciousness.

Ingredients:
1 cup green moong
1 cup jaggery
1/2 cup coconut 
1 tbl spn ghee
5-6 cardamom 

Method: 
Cook green moong in pressure cooker till it is cooked through. If the moong is very old, make sure to soak it in water for 1 hr.
Heat ghee and add moong, jaggery, coconut.
Cover the lid and cook till jaggery is melted.
Mix well and take off heat.
Add powdered cardamom. Mix well.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 20 mins

Categories
Healthy Options Rice items

Spinach Chickpeas Biryani

Spinach Chickpeas Biryani

We are huge biryani fans. I usually try to make different kinds for variety and keeping it exciting. This Spinach Chickpeas Biryani is something I make often. It is full of nutrition and tastes delicious. I usually make this on weekdays, which means this has to be a quick dish or atleast something that does not need hands-on time. This works perfectly, with all the shortcuts I manage to take.

Pictorial:

Spinach, coriander leaves, ginger, garlic, green chillies
Grind to a smooth paste with just little water
Pressure cook chickpeas
Cook basmati rice with black cardamom, cloves, cinnamom, salt
Fry onions
Add tomato (I used green tomatoes, use any kind)
Add the paste
Fry till the oil separates
Add chickpeas, carrots
Add the rice on top, then saffron milk
Cook on very low heat for 30mis

Ingredients:
2 cups basmati rice
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup coriander leaves
4 green chillies
2 cloves garlic
1″ ginger
Few strands saffron + 2 tbl spn milk
2 tea spns biryani masala
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup onions
1/2 cup tomatoes
3 cloves
2″ cinnamon
2 black cardamoms (or green cardamom)
Salt

Method:
Wash rice and add 3 cups water (little less than needed to completely cook rice), salt, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom.
Grind together spinach, coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic and little water.
Heat oil and fry onions.
Add tomatoes (I used green tomatoes, use any kind), salt.
Now add the biryani masala, fry for few minutes.
Add the paste, fry till the raw smell goes away.
Now add the cooked chickpeas, carrots, cook it down to a thick gravy.
Cover the gravy with cooked rice.
Add the saffron to warm milk and mix it to get the bright color. Spoon the milk on top of rice.
Cook on low for 30mins.
Switch off heat and leave it undisturbed for another 15mins.
Serve hot with raita.

Serves :4-5
Preparation time: 90mins

Notes :
You can layer it in multiple layers of rice and chickpeas gravy. I just layer the rice on top of gravy to save time.
Add a layer of fried onions on top for extra crunch.
Any biryani masala is ok, here is a homemade version.
Instead of cooking on stovetop, it can be finished in oven. I just prefer stovetop cooking.

Categories
Breakfast or snacks Side dishes

Mixed Vegetable Sagu

Sagu

Most of the restaurants in Bangalore serve setdosa – mixed vegetable sagu or puri and sagu. This spicy, delicious, filled with vegetables sidedish makes a great side for so many dishes. My brother started making this and now my aayi makes this very often. When I tried this, it was a hit with my family.

Set dosa recipe is here.

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetables (carrots, potato, green peas, beans)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup tomato
5-6 curry leaves
1 tea spn mustard seeds
Oil
Salt

For the masala –
1 tbl spn hurigadale (putani/dalia/roasted chana dal) (optional)
1 cup coconut
1/4 cup coriander leaves
1/4 cup onion
A small piece ginger
3-4 garlic
3-4 green chillies
4 cloves
1/2″ cinnamon
2-3 cardamom
1 tea spn coriander seeds

Method:
Pressure cook the vegetables with little salt for 2 whistles.
Grind the ingredients under masala without too much water.
In a pan, heat a little oil, add mustard, curry leaves.
Add 1/2 cup onion and fry for few minutes.
Add 1/2 cup tomatoes and fry for few minutes.Now add masala and fry till the raw smell goes away.Add the cooked vegetables, adjust salt. 
Cook till the masala boils for few minutes.
Serve hot.

Serves :5-6
Preparation time : 30mins

Categories
Konkani Recipes Pickles and powders

Bittergourd sweet pickle (Karate Goad Nonche)


Bittergourd/Karate is one of the vegetables that is full of medicinal values. I have tried including it in our diet as much as possible. Few days ago aayi told me about this delicious karate goaD nonche (bittergourd sweet pickle) prepared by my sister in law. Aayi usually prepares the spicy version of karate nonche, so this was new to me. I prepared it here and it was lipsmacking good. This pickle does not stay for too long. Refrigerate it after it is completely cooled down and finish it off in couple of weeks.

Fresh bittergourd
Remove the seeds
Cut into thin strips
Apply some salt and keep aside for 15-20mins
Fry them in little oil for 10mins
Add chilli powder, tamarinc, jaggery
Mix very well
Make the spice mix with fried mustard, methi, hing
Add the spice powder and mix. Cool well.

Ingredients:
2 cups bittergourd pieces
2 tbl spns jaggery
2 tea spns chilli powder
1 tea spn thick tamarind extract
2 tea spns oil
1 tea spn mustard seeds
1/2 tea spn methi seeds
A small stone of asafoetida(hing)
Salt

Method:
Remove the seeds from bittergourd and cut into thin pieces.
Apply salt and leave it aside for sometime.
If you want, squeeze them to remove the water, but this also removes the nutrients, so I use them directly.
Heat a little oil and fry the pieces for 10mins on a medium low heat.
Add chilli powder, jaggery, tamarind. Mix well.
Heat remaining oil, fry mustard seeds, methi seeds and asafoetida. Powder them when they are slightly cooled.
Add the powder to bittergourd pieces and mix well.
Take off heat, cool down to room temperature.
Store in an air tight container in refrigerator.

Categories
Breakfast or snacks Konkani festivals Konkani Recipes

Banana Vada

Banana vada

It was vade panchami few days ago – it is celebrated at my kuldevasthan – family god’s temple at Ankola. Thousands of deities gather for the pooja. One of the biggest things (other than super delicious lunch) during this function is these banana vada prasad – so the function is called vade panchami. Many men gather to make these vadas and then the vadas are deep fried in huge pan. Some remove the vadas from the hot oil just by their bare hands without a ladle/spoon. It has been a long tradition going on for decades. I found this video on youtube of this. I have explained more about vade panchami in this post.

I was missing all these celebrations, so decided to try something similar. Ofcourse this is not the recipe followed at our temple but I just made it up. The vadas came out so delicious that I think I have to save the recipe.

Pictorial:

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup milk
2 tbl spn jaggery
1 big banana (about 2/3rd cup mashed banana)
Salt
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl.
Take a big ball of the mixture and flatten it on a plastic.
Gently pick up the vada and deep fry in hot oil.
Enjoy while it is still warm with chutney.

Makes about 8
Preparation time :30 mins

Note: If you don’t have almond flour, substitute with wheat flour or rice flour.