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.

Nelli Pundi recipe

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice - 2 cups

Salt for taste

Cooking Oil - 2-3 tsps

Seasoning:

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Coconut (grated) - 5 tsps

Red Chillies - 1 or 2

Onion - 1/2

Curry leaves - 4-5 - chop into small pieces

Sugar - 2 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.

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 small balls. 

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. Keep these balls 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. 

Once they are cooked, heat oil in a pan and add all the items that are listed under Seasoning, except Coconut and Sugar. When the mustard seeds start popping, add the cooked tiny pundis to the pan. Saute them well. Put off the flame, add coconut and sugar. 

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

Nesal Pundi recipe

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice - 2 cups

Salt for taste

Seasoning:

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Coconut (grated) - 5 tsps

Red Chillies - 1 or 2

Procedure:

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

Once you are done, heat little oil in a frying pan, add mustard seeds, red chillies, and urad dal. When the mustard seeds start popping, add the batter to this pan. Add grated coconut. Mix the batter thoroughly. When the batter looks thick and smooth, rub little oil to your palms and start making small balls. 

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. Keep these balls 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. 

You can serve this with chutney. 

Pundi recipe (Basic)

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice - 2 cups

Salt for taste

Procedure:

Soak Dosa rice in water at least for four hours. Grind rice along with salt; do not make it very watery. 

Once you are done, heat little oil in a frying pan, and add the batter to this pan. Keep mixing it thoroughly. When it becomes little thick, rub little oil to your palms and start making small balls. 

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. Keep these balls 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. 

You can serve this with chutney or sambhar or fish curry.

Chayote Squash (Seeme Badane Kai) recipe

Ingredients:

Chayote Squash - 2 

Coriander leaves 

Turmeric 

Salt

Oil

Mixture:

Coconut - 6 teaspoons

Ginger - Small piece

Green Chillies - 4

Garnish:

Mustard Seeds

Urad Dal

Asofoetida

Curry leaves

Procedure:

Peel off the outer skin of Chayote Squash, cut into smaller cubes and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles (add little bit of salt). 

Meanwhile, grind the ingredients listed under Mixture. 

Next heat some oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it starts popping, add urad dal, asofoetida, and curry leaves. Saute for a minute. Now, add the ground mixture, little turmeric and salt. Add pressure cooked vegetable cubes, and add little water (preferably the remaining water after pressure cooking the vegetable). Mix well and add coriander leaves. 
This can be served with chapathi or rice. 

Fish Fry

Recipe 1:

This a typical Mangalorean Recipe:

Ingredients:

Chilli Powder

Turmeric Powder

Salt

When you are done with cutting and cleaning, mix all the above mentioned ingredients into a coarse paste. Rub this masala all over the fish inside out. Let it absorb for 15-30 minutes. You can try out a deep fry or a thava fry. You can roll the marinated fishes in rava (bombay rava) to make a rava fry.

Note:

Let the mixture remain thick. Do not make it watery.

It's always a good practice to make horizontal slits on the surface of a fish, so that it absorbs masala.
You can also add maida /corn flour to the mixture to make it thick and a drop of vinegar.
Marinate and leave it for an hour or more. Thus, it absorbs the masala and gives you a better taste. 

Recipe 2:

My experiments with the above recipe as a base:

Ingredients:

Fishes - 4 to 5

Chilli Powder - 2 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt - as per taste

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/4 teaspoon

Coriander Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Vinegar - 2 drops

When you are done with cutting and cleaning, mix all the above mentioned ingredients into a coarse paste. Rub this masala all over the fish inside out. Let it absorb for 15-30 minutes. You can try out a deep fry or a thava fry. You can roll the marinated fishes in rava (bombay rava) to make a rava fry.




Review:
I tried several fish fry masalas earlier, but was not very happy, as they took away the real taste of the fish. These masalas were more like manchurian masalas. This time, I decided to try Aachi Fish Fry Masala. It turned out to be good, like a typical fish fry masala. In the instructions, they have mentioned that you can add lemon juice. Instead, I added a drop of vinegar and added water to make a masala. Marinate fish slices and leave it for hours. The more the number of hours of marination, the better the taste. Everyone in the family liked the taste.So, a big Yes for Aachi.
http://www.aachigroup.com/fish-fry-masala/

Neer Dosa(e)

Ingredients:
Dosa Rice (Normal cooking rice/sona masoori will also do) - 1 glass
Salt

Procedure:
Soak rice in water for 3-4 hours. You can soak it overnight too. Grind rice; let the batter be fine. Add salt for taste. Add enough water. You can add 1.25 glasses of water to this batter. Ensure that salt is fine. Advantage of this dosa is that, you do not have to keep it for fermentation.

Heat the dosa pan (iron one).  Below is a picture of the neer dosa pan. Spread oil over the surface. 

Pour the batter. Unlike normal dosa, you have to pour it from outwards to inwards. Take very little amount of batter in the ladle as shown below and pour it towards the center from the outer edge.

Remember, the flame should be in medium. Cover the pan with a lid as soon as you pour the batter. Remove the lid after 2 minutes and take out the dosa. You do not have to fry the other side.

Serve with chutney or any coconut gravy. Neer Dosa with chicken or fish curry is a well known breakfast item in Mangalore.