Ukkarisida Rotti, Avarekaalu Usali n Kosambari

Ukkarisida Rotti with Avarekaalu Usali and Kosambari

Celebrating RCI-Karnataka once again this time with Ukkarisida Rotti (also called as akki roti or rice roti) with Avarekaalu Usali (toovar lilva-beans seeds stir fry) along with green moong sprouts kosumbari. Without much wasting time I am straight away going to these recipes.
Click here to see Ukkarisida Rotti Avarekaalu Usali Kosambari

Ukkarisida Rotti

Pile of Ukkarisida Rottis

Source : from Payaswini's Recipes
Cuisine: Kannada, South Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Makes: 4 people
Ingredients:
2 cups rice flour
2 ½ cups Water
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds/jeera
6 pepper corns, crushed
½ tsp salt or accordingly
Oil for roasting
All purpose flour for dusting
Method:

1. In a sauce pan boil water, when it's boiling add oil, cumin seeds, pepper and mix well.
2. Turn the heat low and add rice flour, stirring all the time. Mix well, break up any lumps.
3. Stir constantly for 5 minutes, so that it becomes thick. Remove from the heat, cover and allow it to cool.
4. When it is warm, knead well and make medium size balls out of rice dough with the greased hand.
5. Roll them into round rottis with the help of all purpose flour. Heat the griddle over a medium heat.
6. Place one rotti in the hot griddle and brush with little oil on both sides of rotti.
7. Fry both sides until light brown. Remove from the griddle/tava and fry the remaining rottis in the same way.
8. Serve hot with Avarekaalu Usali Or any Gojju recipe like Green Beans Gojju
   

Click here to see Ukkarisida Rotti Avarekaalu Usali Kosambari

Avarekaalu Usali

Avarekaalu Usali

Source : from Payaswini's Recipes
Cuisine: Kannada, South Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins
Makes: 4 people
Ingredients:
2 cups Avarekaalu, boiled (toovar lilva, bean seeds) canned/Fresh/frozen
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 onions, chopped
½ tsp turmeric powder
6-8 curry leaves
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt as per taste
grind into smooth paste:
½ cup grated coconut
pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
3-4 green chillies
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander leaves
Method:

1. Boil the toovar lilva beans in pressure cooker with salt for 3 whistles and keep aside.
   
2. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add mustard seeds allow to splutter, add onions, turmeric, curry leaves.
3. Fry till onions become light brown, Add ground paste, bean seeds, salt, and water.
4. Bring it to boil on medium heat. Cook for 5-8 minutes and remove from the heat.
5. Add lemon juice and mix well.
6. Serve with Rice Rotti's/ Ukkarisida rotti or Chapati's

Click here to see Ukkarisida Rotti Avarekaalu Usali Kosambari

Green Moong Kosambari

green moong sprouts Kosambari

I was talking to my friend Ganga on phone inquiring about kannada recipes, thought she can help me in this as she is from Anantapur (border to Karnataka). Ganga makes lovely Jonna Rottis(jowar rotis). I tried to learn from her but can never make such soft, thin and very big sized jonna rottis. She then told me about this famous and easy recipe of Kosambari (Kannadiga Salad) which mainly has soaked green moong beans as the main ingredient with coconut, cucumber, tomatoes etc. Thanks Ganga for sharing this wonderful salad, JB loved it so much!
Source : My friend Ganga Nagalla
Cuisine: Karnataka, South Indian
Prep time: 5 mins
Soak time: 2-3 hrs
Makes: 2 people
Ingredients:
½ cup green moong beans (I used moong sprouts)
1 plum tomato, chopped
½ red onion, finely chopped 1 cucmber, chopped
2 green chilles, finely chopped
2 inch fresh coconut piece, grated
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 carrot, grated (I didn't have handy)
salt as per taste
Method:

1. Soak the green moong beans for at least 2 hrs, here I used moong sprouts instead of the soaked ones.
2. Mix all the veggies with moong beans, add lemon juice and salt as per your taste and a quick and healthy Kosambari is ready.
3. A quick note, my friend also told that this can be offered as naivedyam to God, if you minus onions in it.

Click here to see Ukkarisida Rotti Avarekaalu Usali Kosambari

RCI-Karnataka Cuisine

Food Event: I am sending all these lovely entries to Asha of Foodie's Hope for RCI-Karnataka. Regional Cuisine of India RCI in short, was initiated by Lakshmi K of Veggie Cuisine. Thanks to her that we get to tour these beautiful states and their cuisines each month and get a chance to cook and taste them too. Enjoy the RCI- Karnataka Feast currently going on food blogs these days, Asha can't wait to see the round-up!

My other recipes of Karnataka blogged so far:
Akki Roti
Udipi Sambhar
Green Beans Gojju

Banana Chocolate chip muffins

Gorgeous looking Muffins

Baking happened to me when I came to US, back at my mother's place in Bombay my kitchen endeavors were very minimum. Never helped her in kitchen, but I did other things like decorating my house, cleaning, gardening, taking care of my fish tank, arts & crafts etc..etc. We did not have oven or microwave there so there were no baking sessions at home except that my mother used to bake tutty-fruity round cake in an old styled aluminum vessel we get in India.

USA- Land of opportunities was like exploring things in and around New Jersey and also in my kitchen too. I landed in US in Nov-2004 and my first baking session started with a birthday cake for JB (after 3 months). I was so scared to touch the oven so I used it to store dishes. Operating oven and dishwasher was totally new to me and I took the help of my childhood friend Lalita initially, (sigh) now I laugh looking back to myself.

Since then I was playing around with my oven and baking things. I have noticed that I didn't post any baking recipes so far on my blog so taking this opportunity to post this incredible recipe from My favorite cook book, Kid's Snacks from Better Homes & Gardens. I purchased this book at my local Library sale. I don't have much collection as I did not bring any books from India. Since luggage weight is the main factor to carry things from India to set up a new life in US, books and wedding album were last on my priority list. I know many of us can relate this story of mine with your initial days in US :)

Kid's Snack is a wonderful collection of easy and beautiful looking recipes, kid's love. I also have some other books on healthy home cooking, 101 pasta recipes, low carb diet which I bought from library sale, I tried some of them and much satisfied with the taste but will showcase sometime later on my blog.

thats me!

As Nags asked us to write in one line, I love this book to " Treat the Kid in me" Sending this post to Nags for Show me your cook books event and to JFI-Banana hosted by Ahaar.

Source : adapted from Kid's Snacks
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 10 mins
Baking time: 25 mins
Makes: 6 people
Ingredients:
1 large egg
3 tbsps vegetable oil
3 tbsps milk (I used 2% milk)
3 tbsps orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
2 cups all purpose flour (unbleached)
½ cup castor sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips/morsels
Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Place the egg, oil, mashed bananas, orange juice, vanilla extract and milk in a mixing bowl and beat together with your hand mixer.
3. In another bowl sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder mix.
4. Pour in the liquid into the dry mix and stir until just blended.
5. Add chocolate chips and stir one more time.
6. Line a muffin tray with paper muffin cases, spray with non-stick spray and then fill each case to just below the muffin tray level.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes, reducing heat towards the end of baking if the top of the muffins gets brown quickly.
8. This recipe makes 10-12 muffins, depends upon the tray size you use, I used 2 ¾” size here.
9. They taste better the next day, just m/w for 10 seconds and its ready to munch on!

Banana Chocolate chip muffins

Prasadam for Ganesh Chaturthi

This is in continuation to my previous post on Ganesh Chaturthi. A little more about the puja before going to the recipes of the Prasadam or naivedyam I prepared.

Puja Procedure: We get up early in the morning, sanctify ourselves, the house and the puja area where we will be installing the Ganesh idol/murti. I took a big carton box and placed a book on top of it, covered with white cloth and this is our puja mandapam for the day. On top of the book placed some rice grains, made small rangoli, offered pasupu and kumkuma and placed the silver Ganesh idol on top of it. I prepared a Pasupu Ganapati (out of haldi/ turmeric), took a betel leaf, placed some rice grains and kept on top of it. On this day we offer different kinds of fruits, 21 types of patri including durva (Sanskrit word for 21 different variety of leaves) to God Ganesh. makes Undarallu which is his favorite food and we prepare so many varieties of prasadam that Ganesh will be seated in our home and will bless us. We first do puja for Pasupu Ganapati and then to the silver idol.or the installed idol.

Here in US it is difficult to get new idol, I kept the silver one for the puja. Performed as per the puja vidham written in the book and concluded the puja with ashtotaram, Vinayaka Chaviti Katha and followed my aarathi. Since childhood I am singing the same aarathi every year "Sukha karta dukha harta varth vignachi" a marathi one, I am so used to it. I feel its incomplete without this song.

On this day a small miracle happened, I bowed to Ganesha saying I will prepare eight varieties of prasadam for Ashtavinayaka on this event, when I placed everything in thali and started counting and to my astonishment they were nine in total. I was talking to my mother on phone about this and she told me that "We should offer odd no. of food items to the God not even no. May be Ganesha wanted this and made you prepare nine items instead of eight". I was so happy to hear this.

And we ate the prasadam, shared with our friends and in the evening perfomed aarathi and chanted few slokhas of Lord Ganesha and did nimarjana/visarjan (immersion) of God Ganesha in the late evening. "Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pucha Varshi Laukar ya" -Come soon next year!

Sri Siddhi Vinayak of Prabhadevi, Mumbai

Recipes for the Prasadam/Naivedyam I prepared on Vinayaka chavithi. Special care is taken when I prepare the food offered to God, I never taste, otherwise it cannot be offered. So it needs little experience in judging the amount salt n sugar goes in the food you are preparing. Hope you will enjoy making them and offer to the God. This post goes to The Yum Blog for their event on Vinayaka Chaturthi.

1. Malai Modaks/Pedas

Source : adapted from Keep trying

Cuisine: Maharashtrian, India
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Makes: 6 people
Ingredients:

15oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
3-4 Strands Saffron
1/2 cup Sugar
Method:

• I almost followed the way its explained in the recipe from keeptrying.
• Only thing is I have not used the ghee as this sweet already contained lot of grease in it.
• I divided half of the dough and made pedas and modaks.
• Its really simple and very mush resemble like store bought.

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2. Kudumullu - rice flour dumplings with coconut and jaggery stuffing

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Makes: 6 people





Ingredients:
for the filling
1 cup shredded coconut fresh or frozen
1/2 cup jaggery, grated
1 tsp poppy seeds/khus khus, roasted
1 tsp rice flour, for binding
a pinch of elaichi/cardamom powder
for the outer cover
1 cup rice flour
1 1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp ghee/clarified butter
a pinch of salt
Method:

• For the filling:Combine and cook coconut, jaggery together on medium heat.
  
• Stir continuously add cardamom powder, poppy seeds and 1 tsp rice flour to it, cook for some time. The filling is ready now, remove from the heat and let it cool.
• For the outer cover: Next step is to make the outer cover. This has to be done very carefully. The dough should be neither too sticky nor too dry.
• Boil 1 cup of water. When bubbles rise on top, add ghee, salt and oil and immediately add rice flour. Stir well. Cover for some time. Remove the lid and stir again and again cover for a minute.
  
• Then remove from heat. Take all the mixture in a flat plate. Knead it properly while hot (You can use a flat bowl for kneading to keep the hands from burning). Make a soft pliable dough.
• Divide this dough into small balls. Roll each ball into 1.5 inch diameter circle. Hold it in a hand and make a small bowl of it. Put some coconut filling into this bowl shaped dough. Dip thumb and index finger in the oil and make 5-6 small pinches side by side on the edges of the bowl. Bring them together, join to form a peak. It should look like a whole garlic.
• Like this, prepare all modaks. Spread a damp cloth onto a flat round sifter and arrange all the modaks onto it. Place the sifter in a steamer and cover. Steam for about 15 minutes. Use a big size saucepan or pressure cooker if you don't have a steamer. Do not put the whistle if you use the pressure cooker.

Note: The proportion of water and rice flour for the cover should be accurate as written above. Also it is advisable to sieve the flour once.

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3. Uppu Undrallu- steamed salted rice balls

Method: I made the same way seeing from here
courtesy: Pravs of Simply spicy.

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4. Pala Undrallu-rice flour dumplings in coconut, milk and sesame sauce

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Makes: 6 people





Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour, sieved
2 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut, grated
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toast and coarsely grind
1/2 tsp elaichi/cardamom powder
Method:

• Boil 2 cups of water and once you can see a small steady bubbles coming, pour the rice flour ans stir for few seconds. Cover and let it cook for 2-3 mins more. Switch off the heat and leave it for another 2 mins. Let is cool but the dough should be still warm, shape into 1" diameter balls and keep aside. You will get roughly 17-20 balls.
• Heat sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup water in a deep, medium pan, add the grated coconut, cardamom powder and keep stirring till everything gets blended well.
  
• Add the milk and rice balls and stir for another 3-5 mins, you will see the syrup gets thick. Don't worry about the cracked balls, that will help in the consistency of the sauce. Stir in the ground sesame seeds and turn off the heat.

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5. Semya Payasam/Kheer - vermicelli milk pudding

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Makes: 6 people





Ingredients:
1 cup vermicelli (I use Bambino brand)
3 cups of whole milk/2 % milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
few strands of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds powder
1/2 cups nuts of your choice (cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios)
2 tsp ghee/clarified butter for tempering
Method:

• Fry the vermicelli in a tsp of ghee/clarified butter till they turn golden brown and keep aside.
• Meanwhile heat 3 cups of milk in a pan, to this add cardamom powder and saffron. Let it come to a boil then stir in the fried vermicelli.
• Cook the vermicelli till it turns soft and constantly stirring it. By this time the milk is been absorbed by the vermicelli and you can see a the consistency will be thick.
• Add the sugar and heavy cream and cook for another 2-3 mins till the sugar dissolves. Payasam is ready
  
• Temper the nuts in ghee and pour over it.
  

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6. Paramannam/ Chakkari Pongal - Long grain rice pudding

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep & Soaking time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Makes: 6 people

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice or any Indian rice
3 cups of whole milk/ 2% milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds powder
1/2 cups nuts of your choice (cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios)
1 tsp ghee/clarified butter for tempering
Method:

• Wash and soak the basmati rice for 15 mins. Drain and add to the milk and cook till the rice is soft, this will take around 30 mins.
• Add the cardamom powder and heavy cream, mix well and cover with lid.
• After 3-4 mins add sugar and mix till it dissolves.
• Temper with your favorite nuts and raisins.

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7. Pulihora- Tamarind sesame flavored rice

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Makes: 6 people






Ingredients:
3 cups of sona masoori rice or any Indian rice
big lemon size tamarind
7-8 green chillies, slit lengthwise
2 inch ginger, chopped finely
1.2 tsp of turmeric powder/haldi
2 tsp grated jaggery
1/2 cup toasted and grd sesame seeds
4-5 dried red chillies
1/4 cup peanuts
2 tbsp chana dal/bengal gram dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/black gram dal
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 tsp asafeotida
3 tbsp of oil
salt as per taste.
Method:

• Soak tamarind in a cup of hot water for about an hour, mash and squeese the pulp out of it.
• Heat a tsp of oil add the freshly made pulp, let it cook for 4-5 mins, then add jaggery, turmeric powder, asafeotida, salt and cook further till the pulp gets thicken.
• Pour it over the cooked rice and mix well.
• Heat oil and add the dry ingredients and fry for 2-3 mins, then add the green chillies, chopped ginger and curry leaves, add a pinch or turmeric and mix in the grounded sesame seeds. Mix well combine everything with rice.
  

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8. Pachi chengapappu vadalu - bengal gram patties

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
soaking time: overnight or 3-4 hrs
Makes: 6 people




Ingredients:
2 cups of chana dal/bengal gram dal
4-5 green chillies
1 inch ginger
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt as per taste
oil for deep frying
Method:

• Soak the dal over night or for 3-4 hrs, coarsely grind with very little water, chillies, ginger and salt. You should end up with patties like dough
• Add cilantro and make flat patties shape.
• Deep fry in oil.

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9. Guggullam - sauted chick peas

Source : My Mother
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Cooking time: 5 mins
soaking time: overnight or 3-4 hrs
Makes: 6 people





Ingredients:
2 cups of chick peas, soaked
a pinch of turmeric powder/haldi
1 tsp salt
for tempering:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp black gram dal/urad dal
3-4 curry leaves
2 dried red chillies
2 tbsp grated coconut
a pinch of asafeotida
salt to taste
1 tsp oil
Method:

• Soak overnight chick peas and pressure cook it with salt and turmeric for 3-4 whistles. Drain and keep aside
  
• Heat a tsp of oil in a sauce pan, to this add the tempering ingredients one by one, let the mustard seeds temper before you add the grated coconut.
• Mix in the boiled chick peas, add salt and the guggullum is ready.
  

Phewwww! this was more tough to write than cook....and lastly check in the browsers for any formatting errors. I k now many of you might saw the incomplete post. But I hope there will be no more formatting now :)
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Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations

|| Om Ganeshaya Namah ||

|| वक्रतुंडा महाकाय कोटी सुर्य समप्रभः ||

|| निर्विग्नम कुरुमे देव सर्व कर्येशु सर्वदः ||

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesh (Ganapati), the god of wisdom and prosperity on the fourth day of the moons bright fortnight, or period from new moon in the lunar month of Bhadrapada. The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi continue for one, five, seven, or ten days. In the tradition of the right hand path the first day is the most important. In the left hand path tradition the final day is most important.

Ganesha is the god of wisdom and prosperity and is invoked before the beginning of any auspicious work by the Hindus. It is believed that for the fulfillment of one's desires, his blessing is absolutely necessary. According to the mythology, he is the son of Shiva and Parvati, brother of Kartikeya - the general of the gods, Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and Saraswati-the goddess of learning. There are numerous stories in Hindu mythology, associated with the birth of this elephant-headed god, whose vehicle is the Mooshak vahana or rat and who loves Modaks (droplet shaped Indian sweet). If you are interested in knowing further story on this dig in here and here

Vinayaka Chavithi Pooja @ my home

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebrations

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and many other parts of India. On this day we sanctify the house and pooja room for Ganesh Puja, prepare naivedyam/ prasadam/food offerings to God Ganesha. I am sharing some of my Ganesh Chaturthi celebration pictures with you all.

Pasupu(Haldi/turmeric) Ganapati and Silver Ganapati Idol

I made 9 varieties of naivedyam this time: Undarallu, Kudumullu, Paalundrallu, Pulihora, Modaks, Payasam, Vada, Chakkari Pongal and Gugullam, all are favorites of Ganapati. I will post the recipes for the below items later in this week.

Peda and Modak/Modakallu, JB helped me in preparing them,
well most of the part he only did, the stirring part!

Kudumullu-Steamed rice flour dumplings with jaggery, coconut stuffing.
A very favorite dish for Sri Ganesh


Uppu Undarallu-salted rice flour dumplings with chana dal, jeera (cumin seeds)

Paalundrallu- rice flour dumplings in coconut, milk and sesame seeds sauce


Semya Payasam-vermicelli milk pudding


Chakkari Pongal/ Paramannam-long grain rice pudding


Pulihora- Tamarind-Sesame flavored rice


Chenagapappu Vadalu-bengal gram patties


Guggullam-sauted chick peas

Afterwards we made puja, JB(my dh) read the story and we chanted Ganesh Ashtotaram (108 names of Ganesha) and slokhas, performed Aarthi in the end. We kept both our books for puja which you can see below.

In the evening we again performed aarthi and did visarjan/nirmarjana/immersion of Lord Ganesha's Idol. I love this festival and celebrate it very much and every yearI eagerly wait for this. Back at my mother's place in Mumbai we had a blast during those 11 days for the festival. Oh Man! I so much miss this event.

During evening arathi

You can find more on Bombay Ganesh festival from here, here, here and on mid-day. A photo of an artist giving touch-ups to the idol. With the immersion of the idol amidst the chanting of "Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai!" (Hail Lord Ganesh). The festival ends with pleas to Ganesha to return the next year with chants of "Ganpati bappa morya, pudcha varshi laukar ya" (Hail Lord Ganesh, return again soon next year.

Info courtesy: Tajonline

Udipi Sambhar and Green Beans Gojju

Karnataka Cuisine has always fascinated me because of its rich and healthy ingredients. I had kannadigas and mangaloreans as my neighbours and tasted much of their food as a kid and grown up too. But not older enough to note down their recipes ^_^ I loved their jonna-rottis (jowar rotis/bread), uppit, kosumbari's, thalipit, chutney powders, etc...so on and so forth, half of them I cannot even recollect their names but truly enjoyed eating them.

Nevertheless I didn't have any hands on experience cooking Karnataka cuisine so internet and google were at my rescue. I wanted some good, authentic and common recipes which are also famous in every house from this state and delicious too. Finally after a week long of research I ended up cooking the famous Udipi Sambhar from here and Green Beans Gojju from here. Also you can find my first post when I started this blog was Akki Roti, if you want to see the detailed recipe, click here. I hope you all will enjoy the celebration of this great state Karnataka and its cuisine.


Udipi Sambhar

Click here to see Green Beans Gojju





Source: Adapted from Pachakam
Cuisine: South Indian, Karnataka
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Makes: 5-6 people
Ingredients:
1 cup Red gram dal/toovar dal/kandi pappu
2 cups mixed vegetables of your choice (Drumsticks/Eggplant/Yellow pumpkin, etc diced or cubed)
6-8 whole shallots/madras sambhar onions, peeled
1 plum tomato, cut into large chunks
3-4 green chillies, cut lengthwise-slit
2 tsps tamarind pulp (I used the readymade one here)
1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
2 tsps of cilantro/coriander chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1 tbsp jaggery, grated
salt as per taste
for poppu/tadaka:
½ tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dry red chillies/endumirapakayalu ¼ tsp asafoetida
2 tsps cooking oil
Dry roast and grind to fine paste:
2 tsps of black gram dal/minapappu/urad dal
2 tsps of cumin seeds/jeera
3 tsps of coriander seeds
½ tsp of fenugreek seeds/methi
4 dry red chillies/endumirapakayalu
¾ cup fresh or frozen (thawed) grated coconut
water as required to make smooth paste
Method:

1. Cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric and a tsp of oil in a cooker upto 3-4 whistles, mash it and while its still hot/warm and keep as side.
2. Meanwhile heat oil in a deep heavy bottom pan to make the sambhar.
3. Add asafoetida followed by shallots/madras sambhar onions, green chillies and half of the curry leaves off the sprig, and sauté until the onions become transparent and start to leave the juices.
4. Add the vegetables of your choice, tomato pieces and turmeric powder, if not adding any vegetables then add more shallots/madras sambhar onions.
   
5. Cook covered until the vegetables are cooked with enough water to cover the veggies, take care to retain their shape/texture.
6. Once thoroughly cooked add the tamarind pulp and cook covered until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off, approx 5 mins.
7. Add the ground paste, jaggery and salt to taste. Sambhar should not be too thick nor too watery, so add more water if necessary. You will notice that your kitchen is filled with nice aroma of this sambhar.
   
8. Once the mixture comes to a boil add the cooked dal, mix well and check for salt.
9. When the sambhar just begins to boil, switch off the stove. Make sure you don’t boil the sambhar after adding the dal coz the dal will lose its soft texture.

For tempering/poppu/tadka:

• Heat a tsp of oil in a small kadai, add the mustard seeds, when it starts to splutter add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. fry for a min and pour over the sambhar.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with idlis, dosas, or plain rice.

Note: You may also make this sambhar powder/paste in large quantity without the coconut and store in air-tight container for future use. Just dry roast coconut and grind along with a couple of spoons of this sambar powder whenever needed.

Udipi sambhar with green beans gojju

Green Beans Gojju

Click here to see Udipi Sambhar

Source: Adapted from Payaswini's
Cuisine: South Indian, Karnataka
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Makes: 4-5 people
Ingredients: 1/2 kg or 1 pound green beans, chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 long spring curry leaves (optional)
1-2 tsp tamarind juice (I used 1/2 tsp of store bought tamarind pulp)
1 tsp jaggery, grated
1 tbs oil Salt as per taste
Dry roast and grind to fine paste:
1/2 cup grated, coconut(fresh or frozen)
4 green chillies
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1 tbsp coriander leaves/cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tbsp bengal gram dal/chana dal
1 tsp sesame seeds/til
Method:

1. In a pan, dry roast the cumin/jeera, bengal gram dal/chana dal, sesame seeds/til until light brown. Grind in the mixie with coconut, green chillies, asafoetida, coriander and little water to a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a suce pan, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add chopped beans, turmeric powder and curry leaves.
3. Add water and bring it to boil of cook till the beans turn soft.
4. Then add the grinded paste, tamarind juicer/pulp jaggery and salt.
5. Cook for another 10-15 minutes till the gojju thickens.
6. Serve hot with chapatis, rotis/Indian flat bread or plain rice.
   

Green beans gojju with rice

Food Event: This straight away goes to Asha of Foodie's Hope, Asha is hosting this month's RCI-Karnataka. RCI-Regional Cuisines of India is celebration of various cuisine across India. Each month we get an opportunity to learn, explore and experiment food from different states of India. Of course the thought process was started by Lakshmi K of Veggie Cuisine.Asha dear I am sending here with two entries on RCI, Udipi Sambhar and Green Beans Gojju your way.

Enjoying Orzo while watching Indian Idol 3

Orzo (from Latin hordeum) is Italian and means "barley" but in common usage in the United States, orzo is understood to mean rice-shaped pasta, slightly smaller than a pine nut its rice shape, orzo is not made out of rice but of hard wheat semolina. This type of pasta is incorporated in many delicious recipes and this one is yet another salad kind of dish from Giada's Everyday Italian aired on foodtv.

I am so in love with her recipes which are simple, quick and easy to prepare. I made few variations like using fresh methi sprouts (the first pair of leaves from fenugreek seeds) instead of baby Arugula to match the nutty bitter taste. I used sweetened dried cranberries instead of dried cherries as her recipe suggests. And here is a salad meal which leaves our taste buds dance to the tunes of Amit Paul-Indian Idol 3.

I am sure those who devotedly follow II-3 will know whom I am referring too. This guy rocked my heart specially while singing "Nasha yeh pyar ka nasha hain" and "Pehla Nasha" the romantic numbers of Aamir Khan (my favo). Check this also. Amit Paul is coincidentally an AK fan and from Shillong and is a versatile and completely mind blowing singer and I hope he wins the title. f you want more info on Amit check here and lastly don't forget to check what Javed Akhtar comments. All the best Amit, you rock! If you want more info check these Bloglinks for Indian Idol 3 click here and here.

Now back to pavilion, here is the recipe:
Orzo with lemon, feta, dried cranberries, basil and methi sprouts




Source: Adapted from Giada's Everyday Italian Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 5 mins
Makes: 2 people
Ingredients:
1 cup of orzo pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup of fresh methi sprouts
¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup sweetened dried cranberries
7 fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tbsps pine nuts, toasted 2 tbsps lemon juice
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Method:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.
2. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Drain pasta and put the pasta on a large cookie sheet.
4. Drizzle the pasta with a tablespoons olive oil, toss, spread out, and set aside to cool.
5. Once the orzo is cool, transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss gently to combine and serve with your favorite lunch or dinner menu.