Side dishes

Every Indian cusine has its own recipe for this dish. I have been reading about this (‘Baingan ka bhartha’) in many blogs now. So I thought of posting the Konkani recipe of this dish.

At my native, we never had electric boiler to heat water for bath. Instead we have a big iron vessel where water is heated (the vessel is called ‘bhaan’). Dry wood is used to heat water (the arrangement where the fire is put is called as ‘bhaana ranni’). So at the day time, mom used to make smoked eggplant by carefully frying the eggplants in this ‘bhaana ranni’. But as time passed, this method became obsolete. Though people still use this arrangement to heat water, nobody actually uses it for frying eggplant.

I have seen some people who directly keep the eggplant on stove to smoke it. But the problem with this method is, when egg plant is fried, the water starts falling on the burner. So what is the easy way? I felt Pachi’s way as the easiest one. Apply some oil to all sides of eggplant. Keep it on a hot tava and close the eggplant with a vessel and heat the tava. After every five minutes or so, just check if the egg plant is cooked, if yes, turn it. It takes around 10mins to smoke a big eggplant.

This bharth is usually served along with urad-papad (which are very very famous in North Kanara and called as ‘udida happal’ in Konkani. These papads have a strong asafoetida smell) as a side dish with rice.

Ingredients:
Eggplant 1 big
Coconut 1/2 cup
Green chillies or red chillies 3-4
Tamarind 1/2 tea spn
Asafoetida a pinch
Salt

If the eggplants available in India are used, increase the number. After smoking, atleast 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of pulp should remain.

Method:
Smoke the eggplant as explained above.

Remove the skin.

Grind coconut, chillies, tamarind, salt and asafoetida adding very little or no water (since eggplant has a lot of water in it, do not use more water while grinding).
Mash the eggplant with hand and mix it with chutney. (Aayi adds the eggplant directly to mixer/blender before removing the chutney and grind just for one round. Eggpant should NOT be ground completely).

If red chilli is used, raw onion pieces are added to this bharth.
Serve with urad papad.

Serves : 4
Preparation time : 20mins

Konkani food is usually based around coconut. We make a variety of dishes with it. Though the masala which we use is almost same, there is a remarkable difference in taste from one dish to the other. I usually prepare two-three stapled side dishes like Mooga randayi(also called as Mooga ambat), dudde randayi and few others which I would be posting in coming days. I had forgotten about the others, but thanks to “aayisrecipes”, I am learning most of them now.

One such delicious recipe is, ‘Chana ghashi’. Madhura sent me this recipe as well as the picture. I have tasted it many times when I was a kid and it has amazing taste. I am surprised at the way our older generations used almost all the vegetables and the whole grains in their cooking. Thanks Madhura for the recipe and the picture :D.

Ingredients:
Kala Chana(small black chickpea) 1 Cup
Grated coconut 1/2 Cup
Curry leaves 1 strand
Hing(Asafoetida) a pinch
Mustard seeds 1 tea spn
Red chillies 6-7
Tamarind
Raw banana(plantain) 1 ( cut into square pieces)
Oil 1 tea spn
Salt

Method:
Soak kala chana overnight. Next day pressure cook it (4 wistles). Grind together coconut, tamarind and red chillies. Cook the raw banana with a little salt seperately in a different vessel, as the raw banana cooks fast. Now in a vessel pour the ground masala, add the boiled chana , banana. Add salt and give it a boil for 5 to 7 mins, remove from heat. Heat oil, add mustard seeds, when they start popping, add curry leaves and asafoetida and season the curry. Serve as a side dish with rice.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 30min (Including the cooking time)

A few days back, one of my reader, Suma left a comment saying, “Just one request..can you post recipe of brinjal curry dharwad style if possible, i tasted it back in India & it was mouth watering!!”. So here I am with this delicious dish.

I have seen ‘N’ number of ways of making ennegayi. I have atleast 4-5 recipes of this dish. But I thought the best way to have the authentic recipe would be to ask any Lingayat friends, because they are the experts in making this dish. This recipe is from my friend Smitha’s mother. I had collected it 1 year back. On Suma’s request, I prepared it again and as always, I fell in love with it.

Ingredients:
7 small round eggplants(brinjals)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 tea spn very thick tamarind extract
1 tea spn jaggery
1 tea spn chopped garlic
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
1/2 cup ground nuts(peanuts)
1 tea spn garam masala
4-5 red chillies
1 strand curry leaves
2-3 strands coriander leaves
1 tbl spn oil
Salt

Instead of ground nut(peanut), sesame seeds or gurellu/huchchellu(which is probably available only in India, while searching for this on the net, I got this) can be used.

Method:
Heat 1 tea spn of oil and fry onions till they turn translucent. Now add curry leaves, garlic, peanuts, red chillies and coconut. Fry for some time. Grind this with all other ingredients ( except brinjal and oil) to paste without adding water (if required, add very little water).
Put 4 slits in the brinjal keeping the stems intact. Stuff the ground masala in them.

Heat oil in a non stick pan. Add the brinjals, pour the remaining masala on top and fry for some time. Now add 1/2 cup water and cover the lid.

Cook on a very low flame till brinjals are completely done (it takes around 20-25mins).

Serve hot with Jowar roti/Jolad rotti.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 40min

These days I can see lots and lots of corn in all the farmer’s markets. Whenever I see them, I think of my college days in Balgaum. We used to eat a lot of ‘butta’, which was fried on charcoal. The road side gadiwalas applied salt, lemon and some spicy chutney. They were so tasty.

In Bangalore, we get the masala corn, butter corn etc. In my pachi’s house, they prepare some dish with for Ganesh Chaturthi, where in the corn cobs are cut into two and they are cooked with some other vegetables in coconut gravy. I will post that recipe sometime later.

Corn upkari is a very simple and very tasty dish. I have learnt it from Pachi and since then, I am a big fan of it.

Ingredients:
Corn 1 cup
Onion 3/4 cup
Coconut 1 tbl spn
Green chillies 3-4
Coriander leaves 2-3 strands
Oil 1 tea spn
Asafoetida a pinch
Curry leaves 4-5
Mustard 1/2 tea spn
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and fry mustard. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida, green chillies and onion. Fry till the onions turn translucent. Now add corn and coconut, add 1/2 cup water, salt, close the lid and cook till corn becomes tender. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with chapathi or rice.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 15min

Few months back, one of my friend had brought a capsicum dish in her lunch box. I tasted it and immediately liked the sweet and spicy taste of it. I thought she had put some coconut in it, bacause of the name Kairas, Coconut being called as kaayi in Kannada. But I was surprised when she gave me the recipe, there was no coconut in it!!!. All this discussion had happened on lunch table and by the time I reached my desk, I had forgotten the recipe (thanks to my poor memory). So I kept on searching for the recipe.

Then few months back, I was going through a recipe book and found the Kairas recipe in the “Goa Cuisine” section. When I tried it, it was superb. Recently I saw one more version of it in Ashwini’s blog.

Ingredients:
Capsicums 4
Potatoes 2
Asafoetida(hingu) a pinch
Cashews and pea nuts 2 tbl spns
Tamarind extract 1 tea spn
Jaggery 1 tbl spn
Coriander leaves 5-6 strands
Chana dal 2 tbl spns
Sesame seeds(Til) 2 tbl spns
Coriander seeds 1 tbl spn
Red chillies 5-6
Oil
Salt

Method:
Roast(without oil) chana dal, sesame seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies and grind them to powder.
Heat oil and fry peanuts/cashews, capsicums and potatoes(both cut into large pieces) for about 5mins. Add asafoetida and nuts. Fry for another 2-3 mins.
Add the ground powder, tamarind, salt and jaggery. Add very little water if required. Close the lid and cook on a low flame.
Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with chapathi or rice.

Serves : 4
Preparation time : 30mins.

I was planning to post this recipe from many days. One of my reader, Manoj had inquired about this recipe a few days ago. In fact he had asked for the authentic Konkani “Methi Sukke“. ‘Sukke‘ is some dry side dish usually containing coconut. So I started my quest for the recipe. Though I did not get the authentic ‘Sukke’, I made this absolutely delicious sukke :). I got this recipe from Sunil. Since I try to cook at least one non-coconut dish daily, either sambar or side dish, I loved this recipe.Well..I am saying that because, usually Konkani food contains coconut in almost all of the recipes. One more thing was, it looked something different and a healthy one too :).

Ingredients:
1 cup methi leaves(chopped)
3/4 cup toor daal or masoor daal
1/2 cup potato(boiled and cut into cubes)
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tea spn mustard seeds
3-4 green chilies
1/2 tea spn coriander powder(optional)
4-5 curry leaves

Oil
Salt

Method:
Cook daal (do not mash it) and keep aside.
Heat oil and add 1/2 tea spoon mustard. When they start popping, add chopped onion. Fry till they become translucent (do not make them brown). Add chillies and grind it into a smooth mixture.
Heat remaining oil and add mustard and curry leaves. Fry for some time and then add chopped tomatoes. Close the lid and cook till the tomatoes are completely cooked and all water is evaporated.
Add methi leaves and cook for 5min. Now add the cooked daal, ground mixture, potatoes and salt. Mix everything and cook for 2-3 min. Add coriander powder, mix well and cook for about 2min again.
Serve hot with chapathi or rice.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 30min