Simple south Karnataka oota; Our Sunday Dinner

After practically 'less cooking' on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning...I thought of cooking something which would really make us run to the dining table for dinner! Akash has term tests and cooking had least priority during weekend. It rained soooooo much here from past 3 days (fri, sat and sun) that, there was no mood to cook :(

Oota in Kannada is either lunch or dinner indicates a major meal of the day. Our Sunday dinner plate had Nellikayi thokku (gooseberries chutney pickle), Bendekayi Palya (Stirfried Okra), Hongone Soppina Tovve (Lentil and greens), Moolangi huli (Raddish and lentils in thick coconut sauce), Rice and fritters.

Bonda madla ri? (Shall I fry some fritters?)....... there came an answer...I am not ready to cycle another half an hour to take off those cals :( ....  huh..how I wish I (my body was) were ever young at metabolism ....anyways bonda (deep fried stuffed peppers in chickpea flour ) making was postponed :D and not called off! by me..As I told you elsewhere..growing up in the district of Chitradurga, bonda has looooootzzz of influence in meals. In the districts of Chitradurga, there is no wedding meal without bonda nor there is any rainy or lazy evenings without bonda. We all needed reasons to buy them :D. I miss bonda mandakki (deep fried stuffed peppers in chickpea flour with spiced up puffed rice a super duper combination!  )  ....now, I am again going off the track..before I miss it completely let me come back. We had a bounty of hongone soppu/alternanthera sessilis in our little balcony garden. I decided to make tovve for chapathi/Indian flat bread made of wheat flour.



You can find the recipe of a stirfried palya on TOM here.The only change I made this time is to add a mixture of lentils : Split Pigeon Peas/Togaribele + Hesarubele/split mung beanswithout skins + Masoor dal 2tbsp each and pressure cooked it. Cooked lentils is then added to the stirfried greens. Since the amount of lentils is more here I have renamed it as tovve. Tovve is a lentil dish with vegetables like bottlegourd, greens, ridgegourd etc seasoned with green chillies and salt and tampered with mustard and ghee;served with hot rice/bread. The dish is popular in Karnataka. It made a good match for chapathi.



Apart from Hongone soppu I have doddapatre soppu, Brahmi, Basil, Mint, in my little garden. Hope to blog them soon. This goes to Grow Your Own Event hosted by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes.

Here is our Ootada thatte (dinner plate) with Nellikayi thokku (gooseberries chutney pickle), Bendekayi Palya (Stirfried Okra), Hongone Soppina Tovve (Lentil and greens), Moolangi huli (Raddish and lentils in thick coconut sauce), Rice and fritters. You add  Kosambari (Karnataka style salad), Chitranna (stirfried rice), Paayasa and Mosaru (Curd/Yogurt) to make a festive meal :D.



I will blog nellikayi thokku separately.

Bendekayi palya/stirfried okra :
Wash and pat dry okra and chop them. Clean and chop onions. Cut green chillies or if u have chilli paste just use 1tsp of it.
Okra/Bendekayi - 250g
Onion-1 Big/Huge ;) (chopped lengthwise)
Oil - 2tbsp
Green Chillies-2/1tsp of chilli paste
Curry leaves and salt
Mustard/Jeera for tampering
chopped coriander and grated fresh coconut for garnishing.
Lemon Juice from half lime or 2tsp of tamarind juice

Method:
1.Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add jeera/mustard. Let it pop.
2.Throw in chopped okra and fry till they no longer stick to each other. Do this step on a high heat with continuous stirring.
3.Next step should be done in low heat. Add chopped onions, curry leaves and salt. Stir and let it cook with lid closed. Keep stiring in between. When onions are tender add green chilli paste and stir. Cover and cook for 2 more minutes.
4.If you are using tamarind juice add the juice and continue frying for 30 more seconds till the juice gets mixed with okra and onions .Switch off the stove and lemon juice, garnish with coconut and coriander. Serve hot with chapathi or rice.

Raddish Huli:
Recipe for Huli can be found on TOM here
I have used Raddish and Tomato as vegetables. Rest of the recipe is the same.

This ootada thatte goes to Sheetal of My-Kitchen for SWC-Karnataka

 

Hongone Soppina Tovve to Grow Your Own Event  hosted by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes