Konkani Recipes Archives - Aayi's Recipes

Black Chana Sidedish (Chane randayi)

1 Comment / Konkani Recipes, Side dishes / By Shilpa

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

Green Moong Sweetdish(Mooga Khichdi)

6 Comments / Festival food, Konkani festivals, Konkani Recipes, Sweets / By Shilpa

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

Bittergourd sweet pickle (Karate Goad Nonche)

Leave a Comment / Konkani Recipes, Pickles and powders / By Shilpa

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.

Apply some salt and keep aside for 15-20mins

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.

Banana Vada

Leave a Comment / Breakfast or snacks, Konkani festivals, Konkani Recipes / By Shilpa

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.

Roasted eggplant(Vayngana Bharth)

4 Comments / Konkani Recipes, Side dishes / By Shilpa

There are so many different ways of using a roast eggplant (vayngan in Konkani) and there are so many ways to roast an eggplant. Bharth, Bharith or Bhartha are different names of this dish, which is prepared in few different ways. This particular recipe is for a Konkani special vayngana bharth.

There are so many ways to roast an eggplant. You can directly do it on stove/fire or bake in oven or broil in oven. But I have found that this method of roasting on tava is by far the easiest and mess free way, especially when you don’t have access to oven or don’t want to start it. Aayi learnt this from my pachi and has been following it for years when she does not have burning coals(they still burn wood to heat water at my hometown).

There are few other roasted eggplant recipes that you could try – another bharth recipe, bajji recipe.

Ingredients:
1 big eggplant
4 red chillies
1/2 cup coconut
A pinch or small stone hing(optional)
A small piece tamarind
Oil
Salt

Method:
Apply oil to eggplant.
Heat a tava(do not use nonstick). Keep the eggplant on it and cover with vessel.
Turn it around few times till it is completely roasted.
Put it in water. Peel the skin.
Discard the water.
Grind coconut, tamarind, hing(optional) with red chillies. At the end, add the eggplant and pulse couple of times.
Take it out in a bowl and add onion and salt.
Serve with a papad.

Serves : 4
Preparation time : 20mins

Fried ivy gourds(Tendli talasani)

21 Comments / Konkani Recipes, Side dishes, Simple and Easy / By Shilpa

Ivy gourd is the vegetable loved by most. It is one of my favorite vegetables. I love it in any form. ‘Fried ivy gourd’ is a very easy to make and amazingly delicious dish. I was not very fond of this dish when I was a kid, but recently I have become a big fan. It tastes great when it is fried till the ivy gourds become almost black and you can’t even say those are ivy gourds. Hot rice, a simple daal and these fried ivy gourd is a complete meal I would cherish anytime.

Earlier we used to smash one tendli at a time in mortal and pestle. It would take a lot of time to prep them. Now I just cut the ends, take them in a ziploc bag and smash them using a meat tenderdizer/pestle.

‘Talasani’ are the dishes prepared by frying the vegetables in oil. So water should not be used at any point. The other popular talasani is ‘batate talasani‘.

Aayi’s version does not include garlic in this. But my brother tasted this dish at one of his friend’s place and they had used garlic. So he started using it in this dish. I love both the varieties. Although aayi does not use curry leaves, I like to use it.

The other ivy gourd dish I make frequently is tendli upkari. We use these in different types of daals and sambars also.

Ingredients:
Ivy gourds(tendli) 2 cups
Red chili powder 3/4 tea spn
Turmeric a pinch
Oil 1 tbl spn
Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn
Asafoetida a pinch or garlic cloves 2 (4-5 if Indian garlic is used)
Salt

Increase the chili powder if required.

Method:
Remove the ends of ivy gourds and crush them slightly.

Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add mustard (add curry leaves at this point if using). When they start popping, add asafoetida (or crushed garlic). Add the gourds, turmeric, chilli powder and salt.

Fry on a low flame till the gourds turn dark brown/black.

Serve hot with rice and daal.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins

PS: These should be fried on a very low flame. If they are not fried till dark brown/black, they remain tender from inside and do not taste good. These taste great when made spicy.

Originally posted on Octbober 9, 2006. Reposting by adding a video(demonstrated by my 6 year old).

Beetroot Leaves Tambli

2 Comments / Gravy (Curry and daals), Konkani Recipes, Simple and Easy / By Shilpa

This year I went a little crazy with my vegetable patch. When the year started, I only wanted to grow tomatoes. I thought I would have a couple of plants, that is all. It was really hard to find time to care for the garden with a busy schedule. But then Covid-19 happened. We weren’t even getting groceries on time. I got worried and I wanted to grow everything possible in my garden. V’s cousin had brought some vegetable seed packets 3 years ago. I did not have too much hope but I put them all in the ground. It took a while but some of them sprouted and grew beautifully. One of them was beetroot. I have made all kinds of things with these fresh beautiful leaves. One of them was this refreshing, cooling beetroot leaves tambli.

Tambli is usually a raw, uncooked gravy. It sometimes has yogurt, sometimes made just with coconut. We make many varieties of tamblis. Each have their unique flavor. Here’s a list you may want to explore,

Gooseberry tambli made with Indian gooseberry/avale,
Palak tambli made with spinach/palak,
Menthe tambli made with fenugreek/methi seeds,
Kande tambli made with onion,
Ankre tambli made with watercress/ankre,
Beetroot tambli made with the beetroot

This beetroot leaves version is new but it worked out so well. It was spicy, had an intense cumin flavor. The ghee seasoning increased the taste many folds. On a hot summer day, this was a perfect dish to go with some rice and side of beetroot upkari.

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped beetroot leaves and stems
2 green chillies
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup thick plain yogurt/curds
1 tea spn cumin seeds
1 tea spn ghee + 1/2 tea spn oil
1 tea spn mustards seeds
4-5 curry leaves
A pinch asafoetida/hing
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and add cumin seeds.
When they are fried, add slit green chillies followed by chopped leaves and stems.
Fry for few mins till the leaves are wilted.
Grind the leaves with salt and coconut to a smooth paste.
Take the ground paste in a bowl, add the beaten yogurt/curds.
Add enough water to make it a gravy consistancy.
Heat ghee and add mustard seeds.
When they start popping, add asafoetida, curry leaves.
Add the seasoning to the tambli.
Serve with rice.

Serves : 3-4
Preparation time: 20mins

Moringa Gravy(Maskasangi Ambat)

2 Comments / Gravy (Curry and daals), Konkani Recipes / By Shilpa

It has been a while since I posted something new here. A lot of things are going on and somehow the blogging took a back seat. But I do update my instagram page regularly(which is much easier and less time consuming!). So please do checkout my page. Link at the top. This moringa gravy or maskasangi ambat was on my list to post for a very long time.

Maskasangi or Moringa has become a huge health food fascination lately. But in our part of the world, it was/is always a hit. Everyone has a moringa/drumstick tree in their backyard. My parents have one tree in their garden too, but it never really yield anything. But our neighbors always shared their bounty with us. My parents reminded us to eat maskasangi – they reminded us it was full of iron. It was added to so many dishes like kolmbo, sukke, sagle and many more. The flowers were made into phodi. The leaves are used in many dishes too like this rotti.

This ambat is a very simple dish that aayi makes very regularly. It is spiced with just teppal(tirphal) and kokum. The main vegetable in this gravy shines through. You can also make this with cauliflower.

Ingredients:
10-12 drumstick pieces
1 cup fresh frozen coconut
4-5 red chillies (add more if you can handle spice)
5-6 teppal
3-4 kokum
Salt

Method:
Cook drumstick pieces in water and salt.
Grind coconut with red chillies to a very smooth paste.
Slightly crush teppal in water to extract the aroma. Add the water to the cooked drumstick, discard the teppal pieces.
Add the ground masala, kokum to drumsticks.
Cook till the gravy starts boiling.
Serve hot with rice.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins

Here is the video of the recipe

Spicy Okra (Bhende Song)

19 Comments / Konkani Recipes, Side dishes / By Varada

Okra/bhende is one of the most loved vegetables at our home. My grandmother used to prepare this dish very often. Song is a very spicy Konkani side dish. The most popular song being the batate song – version with coconut and without coconut.

The okra version is made with lot of onion, sliced okra, lot of chillies, tamarind and a little coconut. The final dish becomes spicy, sweetish from onion, tangy from tamarind.

Ingredients:
2 cups okra chopped into thin strips
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut
10-15 red chillies (use as much as you can handle)
1/2 tea spn thick tamarind extract
1 tea spn coriander seeds
Oil
Salt

Method:
Dry roast coconut. Grind it with red chillies, coriander seeds, tamarind.
Heat oil and fry onion for few minutes. Add okra pieces, salt and fry till okra is done.
Add coconut paste, cook for 3-4mins. Serve hot with rice or chapatis.

Serves: 3-4
Preparation time : 20mins

Pictorial:

Okra Bharta (Bhende Bharth)

15 Comments / Konkani Recipes, Side dishes, Simple and Easy / By Shilpa

V’s grandmother mentioned about this dish during our last India trip, somehow it had slipped out of my mind. Cooked okra is mixed with raw onion, coconut and some other ingredients to make this delicious bharth. It makes a great combination with some spicy papad(happal). This is a classic Konkani recipe. It can be made with roasted eggplant(brinjal), cooked okra or some other vegetables.

I personally didn’t care much for it because of the raw onion. So aayi makes any bharth without onion for me and with onion for everyone else. So if you are a raw onion hater like me, go ahead and leave it out.

Ingredients:
2 cups okra(bhinde/bhende) cut into pieces
1/4 cups fresh/frozen coconut
1/4 cup chopped onion
A pinch asafoetida(optional)
4 green chillies
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat a little oil and fry okra for 5-6mins. Then add very little water and let it cook. (Traditionally it is not fried, just cooked with little water, but since it becomes too slimy that way, I fried it before adding water. Alternatively, okra could be steamed without adding any water).
In a bowl, mix coconut, onion with green chillies, tamarind, asafoetida(optional). Mix very well using your fingers. Now add the cooked okra and mix well, mashing the okra a bit. Serve with papad as a side dish.

Serves : 1-2
Preparation time : 15mins

Pictorial –