Thekkareda Dose (Cucumber Dosa)

You can make dosas out of the batter that remains after making thekkareda adya. For ingredients and procedure, see http://katmandige.blogspot.in/2014/04/thekkareda-cucumber-adya_24.html

When the batter is ready, heat a dosa griddle/pan and apply some oil on the surface. When the griddle/pan is hot, pour some batter using a ladle. Cover the griddle/pan. When you know that the dosa is cooked, add some oil on the upper surface and turn it over to fry the other side. 

Thekkareda Adya / Cucumber Pancake

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice - 2 cups
Cucumber - 1/2 of medium sized - cut into pieces
Peppercorns - 2
Cardamom - 1 pod
Jaggery - 1 cup

Salt for taste
Oil

Procedure:

1. Soak Dosa rice in water for at least four hours. You can soak it overnight. Grind rice along with cucumber, jaggery, cardamom, peppercorns,  and salt. Ensure that the batter is smooth without any pieces of cucumber.
2. Grease a steel plate with oil. You can also use idly bowls/plates. Grease them with oil. 
3. Boil water in an idly cooker, pour the batter to the plate/idly bowls. Note that you must add the batter only upto 1 inch.  If you add more batter, it doesn't get cooked well. 
4. Place the plate/idly bowls on the idly cooker and insert the lid.
5. Let it get cooked in medium flame.
6. Wait for 15-20 mins  and check if it's ready using a knife. Insert a knife randomly, if it comes out clean, it's cooked, if not, let it get cooked for some more time. Repeat the test before you put off the flame.   
7. Once it is ready, remember to draw lines on the adya using a knife to cut them into pieces of medium size.  

This is what I do every time. I pour batter into idly bowls, place them in the idly cooker and above those bowls place the plate with batter. This is a breakfast item and easy to make. You do not have to keep it for fermentation, instead you can use the batter immediately. It's healthy too. 

Thekkareda Adya  is ready to be served. You can have this with chutney. 

Refreshing Drinks for Summer

Buttermilk / Ale / Majjige

This is my version of butermilk recipe. I prepared and served this for family get-together and yes, everyone liked. So thought of sharing this recipe in here.

Ingredients:

Curd - 4-5 tsps
Coriander Leaves (Cilantro) - 1/2 cup
Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 11/2 -2
Hing (Asafoetida) - A pinch
Ginger - A small piece
Salt for taste

Procedure:

1. Grind all the above ingredients in a mixer to a fine paste.    
2. Take out the ground mixture and add add 11/2 cup of curd. Add a glass of water and whip it until tiny curd particles dissolve properly. 

Yummy buttermilk is ready.

Ragi Juice 

This recipe comes from my mom. She makes this juice daily without fail,  in summer.  Ragi also known as finger millet or nachani and has several health benefits. You can go through its health benefits in here: http://health.india.com/fitness/did-you-know-these-10-health-benefits-of-ragi-or-nachni/  

Ingredients:

Ragi (finger millets) - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Cardamom - 1

Procedure:

1. Soak Ragi/Finger millets in water for 2-3 hours. You can also soak it overnight.
2. After soaking it for the  required amount of time, be sure to wash it twice with clean water. 
3. Grind it along with jaggery and cardamom  in a mixer. You can add 1/4 cup water when you grind the ingredients.
4. Strain the mixture using a sieve twice or thrice.  This is because, the ground mixture is thick. So, you can add enough water to reduce its thickness; however, be sure to add enough jaggery to make it sweet.  

Note: Do not add too much water, it might lose its taste.
You can have this juice immediately or refrigerate and have it as and when you wish. It tastes better when its refrigerated.

Jeerige Neer (Jeera / Cumin Water)

This one is again from my mother's kitchen. Jeera/Cumin is considered to be a cooling agent. It cures indigestion and heals mouth ulcer. It hardly takes 5 minutes to make Jeera water. You can go through its health benefits in here:http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/benefits-of-jeeracumin-water-for-skin-hair-and-health
http://www.womenplanet.in/health-fitness/benefits-of-jeera-cumin-jeera-water-its-powder-and-seeds-oil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumin
When we were kids, my mom used to soak jeera overnight and we used to have this water first thing in the morning. 

Ingredients:

Jeera /Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Water - 2 cups
Salt for taste

Procedure:

1. Grind Jeera/Cumin seeds using a mixer to make a fine powder. Do not add water.
2. Meanwhile, boil two cups of water. Add the ground powder to it along with a pinch of salt. 
3. Let it boil until you get the aroma. 
4. Strain the water and serve. 

Some use sugar instead of salt. You can try that as well. I personally feel salt goes well with this. 

Tips:

• After you make ginger paste, add some oil to preserve it for long. 

           Source: NDTV chef Marut Sikka

• To preserve green chillies for long, remove the stem and store them in a air-tight container or plastic cover. 

              Source: My Mother-in-law, and Yes!! it worked. I did a Google search too and found the same solution.

                                                               Do come back for more......

Buttermilk Dosa

I got this recipe from a local magazine and I tried it this morning. It really turned out well. 

Ingredients:

Rice (Sona Masoori or dosa rice) -1 glass

Fenugreek seeds (methi) - 1/2 tsp 

Buttermilk - 1 glass
Jaggery - 1.5 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Salt 

Oil 

Procedure:

Soak rice and fenugreek seeds  in water 

for 2 hours. 

Later grind soaked rice, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, salt, and jaggery. Grind all the ingredients using buttermilk (instead of water as we do when we grind for normal dosa). Note that you must grind and keep the batter ready the previous day. 

Heat dosa pan, apply oil on the surface, and pour batter using a laddle when the pan is hot. When dosa turns golden brown, you can take it off.

Have these yummy dosas with Brahmi Chutney. 

Gaarige / Pelakaida appa (Ripened Jackfruit appa)

This one comes from my mother's kitchen. These jackfruit recipes are prepared especially during the rainy season. I remember these being prepared in every M'lorean household during monsoon. My grandmom used to dry jackfruit seeds and make yummy curry out of them. During rainy season, when there's not much sunlight, she used to keep all these jackfruit seeds near the chula in the kitchen, so that they dry soon.  

Ingredients:

Rice (Sona Masoori or dosa rice) -1 glass

Ripe Jackfruit flesh- 2-3 pieces 

Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Green Cardamom - 1 (powdered)

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil 

Procedure:

Soak rice in water for at least 3-4 hours. You can soak it overnight too.  Wash and drain water from rice.

Remove seeds from the jackfruit flesh and chop them into tiny pieces.

Grind rice, chopped jackfruit, and jaggery. Add little water when you grind. The ground batter must be fine and thick (not watery).

Add powdered cardamom to the ground batter. Add salt if required and mix them well. 

Heat oil in a skillet. Remember to pour enough oil as you will be deep frying these appas. When the oil is hot, take a spoonful of batter and pour it into the oil. 

Let it fry well. 

You can have these with spicy chutney or honey.  And yes, you can have them without chutney/honey too.

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. 

Cheepe (Sweet) Pundi recipe

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice - 2 cups

Salt for taste

Cooking Oil - 2-3 tsps

Filling Mixture:

Coconut (grated) - 5 tsps

Jaggery - 1/2 of one piece 

Beaten rice - 10 tsps

Procedure:

Soak Dosa rice in water for at least four hours. Grind rice along with salt; do not make it very watery. You can keep it fine or coarse.

P.S: Do not worry, if the batter is watery. You can still make it smooth and thick.

Once you are done, heat little oil in a frying pan, add the batter to this pan. Mix the batter thoroughly. When the batter looks thick and smooth, rub little oil to your palms and start making medium-sized balls. When you make balls, press one side inwards using your thumb to insert the mixture.

P.S: You can avoid heating the batter in a pan. Instead you can grind the mixture thick and immediately make small balls and keep them in the idly vessel.
But I always suggest, you mix it thoroughly in a pan. This makes the surface smooth and soft.

Meanwhile, boil water in an idly vessel. Mix ingredients mentioned under Mixture. Do not add water. Just mix them well.  Insert the mixture and keep these pundis in the idly vessel. Insert the lid and let them cook. Let the flame be in medium. Wait for 15 minutes. To see if it's cooked, insert a knife randomly on these and check. If the knife comes out clean, these are cooked. If not, the under-cooked pundis will stick to the knife. 

Pundis are ready to be served. You can have this without chutney.