Chakkuli, Damrot and an Award; WinterMelon Halwa & Chakkuli

My blog received 'yummy blog' award from Asha and Sowmya. Thanks to you both for taging my blog as 'yummy' and my blog is very happy and demanded for some celebration. I made Damrot (Wintermelon halwa) and Chakli (instant) for my blog. My blog is savoring them so even you guys out there pick few chaklis and have some halwa!

Dhidir Chakkuli/Instant Chakkuli



You need the following to make it :
Kadalehittu/Besan : 4 cups
Akkihittu/Rice Flour: 2 cups
Roasted Chanadal/Huridakadale/pottukadalai powder: 1 cups
Ompudi (Ajwain) , RedChilli Powder, Salt according to taste
Benne/Butter: 1/2 cup
Baking Soda: 1 big pinch
Chilled water for mixing dough
Oil for deep frying Chakkuli

Heat oil on a low flame in a thick bottomed pan. Mix all the ingrediants nicely and add little water at a time and mix the dough. Dough should be firm and should resemble chapathi dough. Fill the dough in a chakkuli maker and make rounds like chakkuli/chakli. Deep fry in oil till golden brown and remove on a paper towel. Let it cool down before you enjoy them with hot cuppa.

My 5yr old was very excited to make them. You can see 'little chef' at work with chakkuli maker. He made almost all chakkulis for me.



All excited making rounds after rounds....ehehhehee..



DAMROT
If you have attended a kannadiga wedding, you might not have forgotten Damrot, Idli, Chutney and Pongal you might have had for breakfast. Slurr..p..I was longing to make it for a long time! You can have a spoonful from here



Here is how you make Damrot/Wintermelon Halwa
You need:
BoodukumbalakayiWintermelon/Petha - 4 full cups grated (without removing water)
Ghee- 1/2 cup
Fullcream milk-1cup
Sugar - 1cup or according to your taste
Saffron food color : 1big pinch
Elaichi Powder:1 tsp
Dry Fruits for garnishing

Take grated winter melon in a nonstick kadahi/vessel. Cook it under medium flame till the water evaporates. By this time winter melon would have half cooked in it's own water. Add half the amount of ghee and sautéed for a while and continue to cook further. Stir in between. When melon juliennes are cooked add saffron color, milk and sugar. Continue to cook melon pieces in milk till milk gets condensed and ghee separates from the mixture. Garnish with dry fruits and serve.

I will be passing on the award to other bloggers in my next post. I am on a look for 'yummy blog' now. Till then, all of you enjoy Chakkuli and Damrot!

Tomato Masala and Chat Party

Pani Poori, Ragda Patties, Khatte Chane, Samosa, Bhelpuri, Tomato Masala, Cucumber Masala, Raw Mango Masala...slurrrpp....these were on the menu in our chat party. I was so full after eating all chat that dinner and next day's breakfast was skipped without any problem. Tomato Masala was liked by all and the raw mango chutney spread on cucumber masala made their eyes and nose tear!! Raw Mango went into everyone's stomuch without any invitation to eat!!!

Stomach asked for another Samosa. Pani poori and bhel puri brought back mumbaii days. Khatte Chane made a good accompaniment to Ragda Patties and Bhelpuri. We finished off the party with Rosogulla and Ice Cream while Coke went in batches in-between chat. It was a pot- luck party so all participating ladies made/contributed one dish. My contribution was Tomato Masala, Cucumber Masala, Raw Mango Masala. Here is the recipe of Tomato Masala.

Ingrediants:
Tomatoes, grated carrots, chopped onions & coriander. Roasted peanuts, khara sev, and deep fried and salted moongdal. A mix of salt, redchilli powder and roasted cumin powder

How to Assemble:
Place sliced tomatoes on a plate. Sprinkle salt, redchilli powder and roasted cumin powder mixture over the tomatoes. Top it with grated carrot, chopped onion, peanuts, moongal, sev and finally finish it off by garnishing with coriander leaves. Tomato Masala is ready to eat.

A closer look,

ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ ಹುಳಿ/Wintermelon in yogurt sauce

ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ ಹುಳಿ or Winter melon(Ash Gourd) in yogurt sauce is one of our favorite item. Rice, ಮಜ್ಜಿಗೆ ಹುಳಿ, sundried chillies are mouth watering combination...sluurrrrp...... I could lick my fingers off when my mom and granny used to make this. My son does it now :D



We need the following to make Majjige Huli :

Boodukumbalakayi/Winter Melon/Ash Gourd pieces : 2 cups(Closely packed)
Mosaru/Yogurt : 4 cups (sour types, 2 day old yogurt works well)

Grind the following into smooth paste to make sauce :

Kadalebele/Chanadal : 1tbsp (soaked in water for atleast 2hrs)
Jeerige/Cumin/Jeera : 1tbsp
Hasiru menasinakayi/Green Chillies : 4 (adjust according to your req)
Tenginakayi turi/Grated Wet Coconut : 2 heaped tbsp
Salt

for tampering :Oil, mustard, curry leaves, red chillies (1 broken into small pieces) and asafoetida/hing

How to proceed :
1.Do the tampering in a wide skillet by adding the ingrediants in order mentioned above.
2. Add Winter Melon pieces, sautee for a while and add salt and water. Close the lid and let those winter melon pieces get cooked.
3. Meanwhile grind the ingrediants for making sauce. Add this paste to cooked winter melon pieces and continue to boil.
4. Beat yogurt well, add water if required. Add this beaten yogurt to the sauce above. Mix to form a uniform sauce.
5. Check taste and adjust the flavors accordingly. Serve hot with rice and sundried chillies.

E N J O Y Y Y Y Y!!!!!

Vangibath Powder & Vangibath/Fried Rice with Brinjal

Our love for rice never ends :)... what else can you expect from a SouthIndian?...hehehhee... so here you go with yet another recipe on Rice.
I have seen many Vangibath (VB)/Fried Rice with Brinjal recipes around, here is my version. Before telling you the recipe for VB, let me tell you the recipe for VB powder.

Vangibath Powder:

Uddinabele/blackgram/Urad dal 400gm

Kadalebele/bengalgram/Chanadal 400gm

Chakke/Cinnamon/dalchini 25gm

Lavanga/Clove/Laung 5gm

Marati moggu/Dried Capers 10gm

Ananas hoovu/Star Anise 7gm

Byadagi Menasinakayi/Kashmiri Mirch 50gm (this is for color)

Chikabalapura menasinakayi/A spicier version of Red Chillies 75gm

Kottambari Beeja/Coriander seeds/Dhaniya100 gm

Dry coconut grated/Dessicated dry coconut = 500gm (Do not fry this)

salt to taste

Pan roast all the ingrediants separately and grind them to a coarse powder with Coconut and salt. Store in a airtight container in your refrigerator.

Vangibath
Brinjals (Long Green Variety) : 5 medium sized (clean and chop into 1''thick and 2''long pieces)
Cooked Rice (Basmati/SonaMasuri/Ponni)- 3 cups
Vangibath Powder : 2 heaped tbsp
Oil : 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp
Uddinabele(uraddal)/kadalebele(chanadal) : 1tsp each
Curry leaves 1 line
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Salt, Lemon Juice according to taste
Coriander for garnishing

Heat oil in a pan, when it is hot add mustard seeds. When mustard stops popping, add two bele's/dals, curry leaves and turmeric. Let bele's/dals turn golden brown, now add in brinjals. Cover and cook brinjals till they are soft. Add VB powder, salt and remove from stove. Add rice and lemonjuice and mix. Check the rice for salt, adjust the flavors. You can add more VB powder at this stage if you like it more spicy. Garnish with coriander and serve it with curd

Mango Seekarane/ಸೀಕರಣೆ A delicious dip for holige/ಹೋಳಿಗೆ/ puran poli

Yipeee....Mango season is back! With the first rain before ugadi, we are all set to eat those yummy, juicy, tasty mangoes in all avtars. Tangy ones in rice, sour ones in pickle, sweet n ripe ones in dips..it is all Mango at home. How much we adore mangoes goes beyond writing and saying. Saying all these I must also add that I miss all variety of Indian Mangoes here. Inflating prices of exported goods have made mango prices soar high :( !!

Thai mangoes are no less in taste compared to Indian mangoes. All I can say is that one would not get any sour ones between sweet ones in a batch like Indian mangoes! We are currently on a rich diet of Thai Mangoes ;) Here is a delicious ultra simple dip for mango seekarane. It is a delicious accompaniment for chapathi/Parantha, Dose/dosa, idli etc., Most of the time holige is made to eat with seekarane during mango season :D. We love it so much. Try it out for yourself if you have mangoes at home.

All you need is

Mangoes (fully ripe) : 4
Sugar as per taste if mangoes are not sweet (which does not happen most of the times)
Cardamom powder : 1/2tsp
Bananas: 2 (cut into small pieces)

1.Wash mangoes nicely. Peel the skin with your hands. Soak the skin in water, do not throw them. Repeat the same with all mangoes.
2.Take the fruit in a large pan and hand squeeze all these fruits. break down larger lumps if there are any.
3. If the seed has any fruit adhered to it, soak them along with those mango skin. Now squeeze all the juice from skin and seed using your hands. Do not apply more pressure while doing this. Add the juice obtained from squeezing the skin and seed to mango pulp.
4.Mix rest of the ingrediants with the mango juice. Chill and serve with hot holige/puran poli

Other related posts :
Biliholige/white puranpoli
Holige Saru

This post goes to Live StrongWith a TasteofYellow
event hosted by Winos and Foodies blog. LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. LIVESTRONG Day 2008 will occur on Tuesday, May 13. When cancer affects your loved ones, it hits home. So fight cancer from your own backyard. Thanks for hosting the event Winos and Foodies.

Mixed Flour and Veggie Akkirotti

A thin crisp rotti made of the combination of Rice Flour and Sorghum/Jowar Flour along with grated carrots and finely chopped spinach and onions are a treat to eat with a dollop of white butter and stuffed brinjals. If you are lazy to make any side dish you can even do away by eating with chutni powder
and curd. This rotti is made on a thin tava which is specially made to make this rotti. If you do not have one, just pat the dough on a food-paper (laminated paper). You can even pat them on banana leaf and transfer it on to tava directly. The rotti surface should be placed on the tava with the leaf and the leaf is removed carefully from the surface. Fry rotti on both sides with oil.

You need the following :

Rice Flour : 1 cup
Sorghum/Jowar Flour: 1 cup
Coriander : 2tbsp Chopped finely
Green Chilli Paste : 1tsp
Grated Carrot : 3tbsp
Chinese Spinach : 3tbsp (you can use indian spinach too)
Other optional veggie that can be added : Dill leaves, grated cabbage, onions, avarekaalu/surtipapdi, etc
Salt to taste and water to mix the flour

How do you make it :

Mix all the ingrediants first without any lumps. Then slowly add water and make dough. The dough here should be a bit loose, a finger inserted into the dough should go inside without any effort.
Grease the rotti pan with oil, and take a orange sized dough ball and pat on the tava to make a thin rotti.



Place the rotti on stove and cover it with a lid. Slowly turn the tava around so that the whole rotti is baked properly from all sides. You can open the lid to see the unbaked portion and then turn it to the appropriate direction.



Remove it from the pan using a steel spatula and enjoy it hot with your curry of choice.



We also call it banale (pan) rotti because it is directly made on pan and then roasted.

Wishing All Bloggers a Very Happy Ugadi

ಸಂತೋಷ, ಸಂವ್ರುಧಿ, ನೆಮ್ಮದಿ, ಶಾಂತಿ, ಈ ಉಗಾದಿಯಂದು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಬಾಳಿನ ಬಾಳೆಲೆ ಮೇಲೆ ತೃಪ್ತಿಯ ಮೃಷ್ಟಾನ್ನವೇ ಸಿಗಲಿ

Image from www.shubhashaya.com