Etti (Prawn) Sukka - Traditional way

This the usual way how we prepare this dish. I'll post another version of this recipe soon.

Ingredients:

Prawns - 20 large or small prawns, peeled and cleaned

Red chillies (Large) - 8.5

Coriander seeds - 1.5 tsps

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsps

Tamarind - very small piece 

Onion - 1/2

Garlic - 2 pearls

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coconut (grated) - 1/2 cup 

Tomato - 1/2

Salt for taste

Oil - 1-2 tsps

Curry leaves(minced) - 5-6 
Coriander - 5-6 leaves

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan. Add red chillies, coriander seeds, mustard, and cumin seeds. Saute until you get the aroma; do not burn the ingredients. Chop onion and garlic. Meanwhile, soak tamarind in water (6-8 tsps of water).

Grind all these sauteed ingredients along with chopped onions, garlic, and turmeric powder. Add 2 teaspoons of grated coconut and grind. Add tamarind puree as you grind. Let the mixture be coarse. 

Heat oil in a pan, add minced curry leaves. Saute for 2 minutes, add ground mixture. Add 1.5 cups of water, and salt. After you take off the ground mixture, add remaining grated coconut and grind for 2 minutes. Add this to the boiling mixture. Close the lid and let it boil. When the mixture starts boiling, add chopped tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes. Add prawns and coriander leaves. Let it cook. Put off the flame when all the water is drained.   

You can have this with rice or roti. 

You can view another version of this recipe in here: http://katmandige.blogspot.in/2011/10/etti-prawn-sukka.html

Soya Biryani

I was hunting for soya biryani recipe and found some beautiful blogs. Here are a few: 

http://sumthinzcooking.blogspot.in/2009/11/soya-bean-biryani.html#.UULZBtZaZi

http://www.tarladalal.com/Soya-Biryani-15513r

http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/soya-biryani.php

Ingredients:

Rice (Basmati or Sona Masoori) -2.5 glass 

Soya Chunks - 1 cup

Cloves - 2

Cardamom -2 

Bay Leaf - 1

Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch

Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/4 tsp

Green Chillies - 1 or 2

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Tomato (medium size) - 1 (chopped)

Salt for taste

Curd/Yogurt - 3-4 tsps

Ghee/Cooking Oil - 2-3 tsps

Procedure:

Wash and soak rice in water for at least 20 minutes. Boil some water in a pan and add the soys chunks to it, add some salt. Put off the flame after 5 minutes.

 Heat the pressure cooker on medium flame, and add ghee. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf. Saute them for a minute or so, until you get the aroma. 

Do not burn the ingredients. Add onions and fry until translucent. Add ginger garlic paste. Saute until it's fried. Add green chillies and chopped tomatoes. Saute until tomatoes lose water. Add turmeric and chilli powder. Saute for a minute. 

Drain water and add rice. Mix well. Add salt. Drain water from soya chunks and chop them into required size. Add them to the pressure cooker. Now add 4 glasses of water. Mix everything once and check if salt and spice is fine. If not, you can add required amount of salt and chilli powder.  Add curd, mix well, and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

P.S: While you saute the ingredients, see that you don't burn them.

Your soya biryani is ready. You can have it with raita. 

Thimmare (Brahmi) Chutney

Thanks to my sis-in-law and her MIL for this  wonderful recipe. Brahmi comes with a lot of medicinal values. They say, it's a good memory booster and is given to children to have it raw, first thing in the morning. Usually this is found on the wet land, near fields or ponds. You can also grow this in a pot. To learn more about this leaf and to know its medicinal values, please refer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centella_asiatica

The usual way how we make this in Mangalore is different. We grind jaggery, Brahmi leaves,green chillies, few rice grains together along with salt. And this chutney is served along with boiled rice. However, most of them will not like the bitter taste of Brahmi, so the following recipe :).

Ingredients:

Thimmare (Brahmi) leaves - 8-10 

Onion - Small piece

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Coconut (grated) - 1 cup

Green chillies - 1 or 2

Salt for taste

Procedure:

Wash Brahmi leaves thoroughly to remove mud particles. 

 Grind all the above mentioned ingredients.  Add required quantity of water based on whether you wish to keep it watery or thick.  

You can have it with or without garnishing. It tastes great and is good for health :)

You can serve this chutney along with dosa, idly, pundis, etc.