Update on Meals on Wheels event

It's been a great pleasure to receive entries from many enthusiastic blogger's for Meals on Wheels event. I am not the only human who gets stressed up while packing bags for holidays. I think many of you have not gone through the event details thoroughly. Shelf Life is the key word here. Please take a look here again :

1. Food shelf life = 2 days (without refrigeration)

2. Veg and Non Veg both accepted
3. From Chutneys to Chapathi to Rice you can send any dish which falls under the above category.
4. Details to be included :
Name of the Dish
Url of the Dish
Photo : 350 pixel (width) length does not matter
Subject line : Meals on Wheels event Entry

Send in your entry to lakshmi (at) tasteofmysore(dot)com

The round up will come very late somewhere in the last week of April, with my tried and tasted comments. I may not be able to cook all items which was sent for the event, but I have picked few of them and will be trying soon ....Few friends have emailed tips, few passed them over chatting, and I have noted them all.

Till then, keep sending in your entries and I will publish them together.

LAST DATE FOR SENDING ENTRIES 25 April 2009

Uddinahittu Gojju & Pongal; Instant Rave & Shavige Idli - A double treat

Gayatri's Tamarind/Hunase hannu Gojju with Pongal  reminded me of Uddinahittu gojju for Pongal. What else? I remembered it so gotta cook it and I did it :D

I have already blogged Uddinahittu recipe (Click on the word Uddinahittu and Pongal) and Pongal recipe. Rest of the recipe for making gojju is here :

Tamarind Juice/Extract : 1/2 cup (thick juice)
Jaggery : 1 big piece
Sambar Pudi : 1 or 2 tsp (according to your taste)
Salt as required
Uddinahittu : 1 tbsp (Mixed in 4 tbsp of water)

Seasoning : Oil, Asafoetida/hing, mustard -1/8 tsp, urad dal/uddinabele-1/8 tsp, few curry leaves, broken red chillies- 2 pieces

Heat Oil and season the oil by adding ingredients mentioned in the order above.
After adding red chillies, stir for 1 sec and add tamarind extract. Add 150 ml of water, powedered jaggery, slat and bring to boil. Check the liquid and adjust with jaggery or salt if required. Reduce the heat.
Add sambar pudi, uddinahittu mixed with water to the tamarind solution. Keep stirring while you add or else lumps might form while adding.
Bring this mixture to boil. Check the gojju for salt and finally finish off by adding half tsp of chopped coriander leaves ( if you have) and serve hot with Pongal.

Instant Rave & Shavige Idli

We tried instant Rave Shavige Idli/ Rava Semiya Idli from Sowmya's blog and it was given double thumbs up at home! Thanks Sowmya.

You need the following to make instant Rave & Shavige Idli :
Rave : 1 cup
Shavige/Semiya : 3 tbsp (you can add more if you like)
Sour Curd : 2 cups (1 cup curd+1 cups water is also fine)
Soda bi carbonate : 1/2 tsp (cooking soda)
Chopped Coriander : 2 tsp (optional)

Seasoning :
Oil, hing, mustard, cashewnuts(optional), uddinabele/urad dal, chanadal, curry leaves, green chili paste,

 Step numbers 1-3 can be made previous day or any day which is convinitnent for you and store it in your refrigerator.  If you want to store it outside please do not add coriander leaves to the mixture.

1.Roast rave/rava and shavige/semiya separately till nice aroma emanates in a thick bottomed pan.
2.Season the oil by adding the ingredients mentioned above in the same order. Let cashewnuts and dals brown before adding chilli paste. Add salt and chopped coriander leaves.
3.Add roasted rave and shavige and switch off the stove. Mix the ingredients.

4.Once the above mixture cools down add sour curd and mix well. Leave it aside for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, you can see a tight mixture of rava and semiya.  
6.Add soda bi carb and extra water to make a loose batter (don't make it runny ). Adding soda bi carb just before laddling the batter to idli plates makes softer idlis.
7.Laddle/spoon the batter to idli plates and steam the idlis for next 8-10 minutes till they are done.
8.Enjoy hot idlis with your favorite accompaniment.

Vankaya Pulugura (Brinjal & lentils)

Sagari's post on Vankaya Pulugura brought back many fond memories associated with it. Our way of making Pulugura was slightly different and also ingredient had few additions. I think every one cooks according to their taste. V.Pulugura was my grandmother's favorite followed by my dad's. Dad says 'it tastes yumm with a dollop of curd over it'. My dear hubby drank the left over pulugura without rice :D. He bought a bag of brinjals over the weekend and he is now 'sleeves up' for next batch of pulugura :)) Here you go with a simple yet flavorful brinjal/Vankaya Pulugura:

Brinjal : 1 big (purple brinjal was what I used, you can use which ever variety is available)
Onion : 1 big (chopped into big chunks)
Tomato: 1 big (chopped into big chunks)
Coriander Leaves : 1/2 cup (chopped)
Green Chillies : 8
Togaribele/Tuvar dal/deskinned split pigeon peas : 1/2 cup
Turmeric : 1 pinch

Tamarin Juice : 2-3 tbsp

Seasoning :
Oil : 1tbsp
Mustard seeds : 1tsp
Asafoetida/Hing : 1 pinch
Red Chillies : 1 (broken)
Curry Leaves : few
Kadalebele/chana dal : 1 tsp
Uddinbele/Urad dal : 1tsp

Pressure cook chopped brinjals, onion, tomato, chillies, coriander, toordal and turmeric with enough water. We do not add extra water at a later stage.
Once the pressure comes down, take out the vessel and run hand blender for 30 seconds or mash it using majjige kolu/with the back of the spoon. The intention is to mix the ingredients.
Add tamarind juice and salt.
Take a deep pan and heat a tbsp of oil. Add mustard seeds followed by a pinch of hing. When mustard stops crackling add red chillies, curry leaves and dals. When dals turn gold color add the mashed ingredients. Bring to boil. Check for salt, adjust if required. Switch off the stove, cover and keept it for next 10 mins till the flavors settle down.
Serve hot with rice.

I tried Carrot Malai/ Payasa from Chitra Amma's blog. I just used cashewnuts instead of almonds mentioned there. It was delicious. Thanks Chitra Amma for sharing your recipe with us.

Paakada Kadale ~ Brittles

Pakada kadale made its presence in almost all auspicious occasions. These days it is substituted with peanut brittles which is easily available in stores. We still prefer paakada kadale to chikki. My son love this papum poppu (ehehhee..pakum pappu in telugu) and he devoures it. I don't have any more left except this photograph to share with you all : D

I have not measured any ingredients so I will just give you approximate measurements.

peanuts ~3 cups
hurgadale/bhunahua chana/deskinned roasted chickpeas  ~ 2tbsp
grated dry coconut ~ 2 tbsp
roasted white sesame seeds ~ 2tbsp
jaggery ~ 1 cup (1 cup holds 100ml water)
ghee ~ 2tsp

a thick plastic sheet.

Method :
1.Dry roast peanuts and deskin them. Roast sesame seeds till they are golden brown. Mix deskinned peanuts, hurgadale,dry coconut, roasted white sesame seeds.
2.Add 3 tbsp water to 1 cup of jaggery and melt it in a thick bottomed pan on low heat. Add a teaspoon of ghee and keep it stirring till the jaggery solution thickens.
3.You can see the color of the jaggery solution deeping. At this stage start adding the peanut mixture to the solution. Keep stirring for next 1-2 mins.
4.Switch off the stove and leave it aside for 3 -4 mins.
5.Grease a thick plastic sheet with ghee and take little mixture in the sheet and make round laddus. The mixture is very hot at this stage CAUTION needed... My mother, granny everyone had great tolerence to heat so they managed to make laddus with greased hands. My sis taught me this shortcut : D which comes handy.
6.Let these laddus cool down completely before you enjoy them.

Entry for Blogger Aid Cook Book

Blogger Aid Cook Book

BloggerAid is a committed group of international food bloggers who have joined forces in raising awareness and funds for those suffering from hunger. The BloggerAid Cookbook will host a collection of original recipes by food bloggers, and is slated for release, later this year. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be given to the school-meals program, which is part of the World Food Program. Our heartfelt thanks to Ivy of Kopiaste, Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen , and Val of More Than Burnt Toast,for coming up with the wonderful idea of BloggerAid !

I am sending Gattisoppu for the cookbook. It is my grandmother's recipe and I am happy to submit that love filled recipe to the cookbook. A dish which may not look tempting but definitely tasty and also it is rich is Protien and Iron which children need during their growing years. Good Luck to Ivy and her team.

Southekayi Koddel

I got this recipe from Sushma's blog. I prepare this atleast once in fortnight. It is now in our 'fav' list. You have to just visit Sushma for the yummy recipe. She has used Winter melon and I substituted it for Cucumber!.

You need the following to make Koddel :

1 big Old Cucumber (Peel and Chop, deseed the cucumber)
1/2 coconut grated (about1.5 cups fresh/frozen)
3-4 red chillies
1 tsp jeerige/cumin
2.5 tsp dhania/coriander seeds
1/4th tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp thick tamarind extract
jaggery (1 medium grape size)
salt according to taste

Seasoning:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
6 curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
coriander leaves (for garneshing)

Method :
1.Season the vegetable in a vessel you intend to make sambar. Add chopped cucumber pieces, 1 cup of water and cook the cucumber.
2.Meanwhile roast cumin, coriander, fenugreek, redchillies separately on a hot pan. Let them cool
3.Grind the cumin, coriander,fenugreek, redchillies with fresh grated coconut to a smooth paste.
4.Add this to cooked cucumber, add little more water if required, salt, tamarind juice, and jaggery.
5.Bring to boil. Taste the Koddel before you switch off the stove.

Southekayi Koddel is my entry for AFAM-Cucumber hosted by Neha of Tasty Recipes. AFAM was the brain child of Maheshwari of Beyond the usual blog.

Broken Wheat with Lentils and Veggies

A healthy version/cross over of Pongal of south india and tahiri of UP probably...not sure anyways it tasted good and 'nice rice' in it makes it interesting for people who don't eat rice for health reasons. Broken Wheat fortified with lentils and Vegetables :D interesting? It is, if you don't mind chewing ! It is little chewy because of broken wheat.

I packed it for my lunch. It was quite filling. Lately I am very busy with the office work and not able to click pictures of food tried and tasted from other blogs. The below photo was clicked in my office. I used my mobile phone, so photo is not that clear!

You need the following:
Broken Wheat : 2 cups
Split, deskinned green beans/Hesarubele : 1/2 cup
Mixed Vegetables of your choice : 1 cup
Green  Chillies : 10 (slit lengthwise)
Mustard seeds : 1/4 tsp
Oil : 1tbsp
Salt
lemon juice : optional

Roast broken wheat on hot pan till the raw smell of wheat dissappears and you start getting the aroma of roasted wheat. Keep it aside. Roast yellow lentils/Split, deskinned green beans/Hesarubele in the same hot pan till lentils turn golden brown.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker pan. Add mustard seeds when it stops spluttering add green chillies, chopped onions, and all other vegetables along with curry leaves. Sautee for next 2 minutes.
Add in roasted broken wheat, lentils and mix. Add 3.5 cups of water and little salt. Allow the mixture to boil. Check salt and adjust if required. Close the cooker lid and cook for 3 whistles. Set the pressure cooker aside and let it cool.
THIS DISH DOES NOT TASTE GOOD WHEN IT IS HOT
YES, you read it right! Serve an hour after1 hr. By this time the broken wheat would have settled down well and it tastes good to eat. If you eat it hot you may feel as though you are eating half cooked wheat! Add lemon juice, mix well and then serve.

I am sending this to JFI-Wheat hosted by Roma of Roma's Space. I loved the beautiful wheat poem at Roma's place, so re-posting it here. 

 

On a different note, I need an umbrella too as I am showered with various awards. Thanks to Uma, Smitha, Priti, Raks, Mangala Bhat, Indrani, Shama

One of the awards which Uma has shared says "The award states that-These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Award goes to more than 8 people-Uma of Essence of Andhra, Smithaof Kannada Cuisine, Priti of Indian Khanna, Raks of Raks Kitchen, Indrani of Apyayan, Mangala of Recipes 24 by 7, Priyanka of Asan Khana, Sowmya of Creative Saga, Cham of Spice Club, Roma of Roma's Space,  Rekha of Plantain Leaf, Rekha and Sharon of The Key Bunch, Jayashree of Samayal Arai, Happy Cook, Sushma of Savi Ruchi, Ashvini of Nanna Adige, Gayatri of My Adige Mane, Asha of Foodies Hope, Sia of Monsoon Spice, Namratha of Finger Licking Food, Shama of My Handicrafts, Sanghi of Sanghis Food Delight, YOSEE of Jalan Jalan, Dibs of Chitra Ammas Kitchen, Deesha of Vegetable Platter, Maya of Konkan World, Shubha of Colors of Nomadic Life, Priya of Priya's Easy nTasty Recipes, Chitra of Ratatoulie,AnuSriram of Chandrabhaga, Aand N of Delectably Yours, Lubna of Kitchen Flavours,Swapna Praveen of Cooking with Swapna, Meera of Enjoy Indian Food, EC of Easy Crafts, Nithya Praveen of Culinary Odyssey, and All those who take precious few minutes to appreciate the food blogged here and try them with full confidence. Kudos to all friends around the blogworld. I will upload the pictures of the award in the awards page in few days time. Till then you all take care,eat helathy and be healthy! :D

I tried alasande vade/black eyed bean vada from Shubha's Blog(Colors of Nomadic Life) , Flax Seeds Chutney Powder from Maya of Konkan World,  Ridge Gourd Dal from cook book "cooking with pedatha" for our week end lunch plate (2 weeks ago). All were fantastic!

From left to right - tomato chutney/pickle, flax seeds chutney powder, Ridge Gourd Dal, Majjige Huli with cucumber, Alasande Vade and Rice.

Many thanks to all lovely ladies who shared their tasty recipes. Keep Blogging ladies :)

Sapsige Pulav/Dill Leaves Pulav

I found this recipe while googling for various types of pulav. It tastes yumm! Thanks Mamta for sharing this recipe with us. Please visit Karnataka Recipes for the original recipe.

However I always document the recipe in my blog, just in case I need it for my later reference.

Ponni/Sonamasuri/Basmati Rice - 2 cups (washed)
Peas/Avarekaalu - 1/2 cup

Dill leaves- 1.5 cups(chopped finely)

Onions : 2 (chopped)

Tomatoes - 3 Nos.

Garlic - 2 big pods

Ginger - 1 inch

Green Chillies - 10 Nos.

Bay leaf - 1 (I did not use at all)

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 2 * 1"sticks

Oil: 3 tbsp

Grind to smooth paste ginger, garlic, green chillies and tomato.

1.Heat oil in a cooker pan, add bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon. Let them brown.

2.Add chopped onions and fry till they turn transclucent.

3.Add half cup of chopped dill leaves, avarekaalu/peas and fry for next 3-4 minutes.

4.Add ground paste and fry for 5 minutes.

5.Add salt, washed rice, required amount of water to cook rice. When water starts boiling taste water and check for salt adjust if necessary. Add remaining dill leaves and mix. Close the cooker lid and cook till 3 whistles. Wait til the pressure comes down.

6.Enjoy Pulav hot with thick curds.


Do not forget to send in your entries to SWC-Meals on Wheels.

Fresh Chickpeas and Carrot Salad and storage tips

I am a crazy fan of fresh chickpeas. We get chickpeas separated from its pod in India. 2 months back when I returned to Singapore after spending good time with family and friends I bought half a kilo of these fresh chickpeas. Thanks to Singapore immigration, they allow us to bring food products to Singapore :-).
I prepare salad with these chickpeas when ever I miss them!

Fresh Chickpeas and Carrot Salad
Fresh Chickpeas : 1 small cup
Grated carrot : 2 tbsp
Green chilli paste : 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice : 1/2 tsp
Seasoning/Oggarane : little

Toss everything and serve. Enjoy !!

Storing Fresh Chickpeas :
Clean chickpeas in water, drain the water. Spread it on a clean thick towel. Let the moisture in peas escape to towel. Transfer the peas to another fresh dry towel and pat them well to remove any adhering moisture. Pack them in the freezer safe ziplock bags/containers and store in freezer. I stored fresh chickpeas and hyacinth beans. Thaw and use!

Frozen Fresh Hyacinth Beans/Avarekalu

Storing Lemon Juice
Are you getting lemons at a cheaper price ? Store the lemon juice and use it whenever you want.

Wash lemons, pat dry them and squeeze the juice using a juicer. Note that the juicer must be wiped dry before you start squeezing lemons. Store the juice in a clean, dry glass bottle or a tupperware container. Store in the coolest part (not freezer) of your refrigerator.

AFAM-Jackfruit Round Up

Many many thanks to all those who participated by sending in their favorite Jackfruit recipes to my favorite fruit event. AFAM/A Fruit A Month is the brainchild of Maheshwari of Beyond the Usual blog. My sincere thanks to Maheshwari for accepting my blog to guest host this event. I enjoyed reading all recipes and amazed to see at the variety of dishes that can be cooked using Jackfruit.

Before I proceed to introduce you to my entrees let me guide you to use the links given in this round up. It saves your time :)

Jackfruit Halwa from Lakshmi of Taste of Mysore
(link to recipe)                              (link to the blog)

If you are someone who does not know about Jackfruit then read it at Cham's place where she says.. "Just give an illusion of huge prickly green oblong shape fruit, which contains a numerous number of yellow fruits with seeds inside. The ripe fruit has very pungent smell (very aromatic I feel) the seeds are edible after roasting or boiled.
Unripe small variety is prepared in form of curry!"

If you could not visualize it, then let me show you the tree with 2 huge Jackfruits. Alamelu's father sent her this picture and she has shared this tree which is in their backyard (in India) .......

Various parts of fruit which are edible :

Flesh and Seeds

Non-edible parts like skin of the fruit is used to make bowls in Phillipines giving it a natural look. I call them one bunch of creative wood crafters!

Wood is used to make body of Indian drums like Mridangam and Kanjira. In Indonesia and Philippines they are used to make their musical instruments like Gamelon and Kutiyapi. Music and Jackfruit were so close to each other :D and I never knew this.

Back to business, let us talk about curries, halwas, pickeles, Vadas, Smoothie, milkshake, idli and dosas and yes!!! all made of Jackfruit!

South Karnataka houses have Jack Fruit trees in abundance. So they are very creative in conjuring up these fruits which are grown in their backyard. Let me start with some breakfast ideas with jackfruit :)

Jackfruit-Breakfast Ideas:

Jackfruit is locally(in South Karnataka or South Canara) known as Gujje . Sushma of Savi Ruchi has sent us Dosa made of unripe and ripe jackfruit.

How about some idlis ?...presenting Panasa Dhodak from Maya of Konkan World

Jackfruit Kadubu from Mangala Bhat of Recipes 24 Seven ..check out the interesting way of making kadubu with banana leaves! I bet the aroma of banana leaf with jackfruit kadubu must be amazing!

Appe/Gunponglu from Sushma of Savi Ruchi

After Appe of Karnataka we have Idichakka Appam from Kerala (Chakka=Jackfruit)

Poornima Nair of Tasty Treats has sent me this tasty treat wraped & steamed in malabar leaves/Tejpatta/Indian Bayleaves. Just imagine the the flavor of the cooked appam in tejpatta ..aaahhaaa...

Jackfruit- Curries

The very first entry for the event was sent by my dear 'akka' of blog world. I am the eldest in my family so I did not have that opportunity to call some one akka (elder sis) but blog world has managed to get me one! Haven't seen her but her encouraging comments leave you happy post after post! Ashakka has fondly sent Raw Jackfruit-Chana Gashi from Aroma

After coastal Karnataka we have a delicious entry from Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Panasa Kaya/baby raw Jackfruit Curry or Panasapottu avapetti kura which roughly translates to steamed raw jackfruit curry a coastal Andhra delicacy from Rekha of Plantain Leaf

Raw Jackfruit and Cashewnut Spicy Curry/Panasakaya Jeedipappu masala kura

Our dear Priyanka of AsanKhana blog has sent Kathal Sabji which is Jackfruit Curry. Priyanka missed eating Kathal when she was in Singapore and asks her mom to cook ;) two in one Pri..Event and your craving both done! Thanks aunty for sending us this dish and I suppose this curry is made in UP style knowing Priyanka and family :)

From the land of Kerala comes Idichakka thoran (Stirfried Tender Jackfruit). Kerala also has innumerabble varieties of Jackfruit dishes because of its wide availability in the region. Check out Poornima Nair's Tasty Treats.

Stirfried Raw Jackfruit Palya/Gujje Palya from Sushma of Savi Ruchi

Tallelya Phanaschi Bhaji/Fried Jackfruit Stir Fry and Fanaschi Thech Bhaji ek dam Malvani Style mein from Meera of Enjoy Indian Food

 

Jackfuit- Fried Goodies

Jackfruit Vada from Rekha of Plantain Leaf/Panasakya Vadalu

Jackfruit Mulka by Alamelu of Rasagavala

Jackfruit Seeds Vadai from Priya Suresh of Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes

Sushma has sent maximum entries for the event and a huge round of applause for her please..Do visit her blog for all Gujje recipes and we have ruchi ruchi Halasina Mulka from Savi-Ruchi.

Desserts and Drinks with Jackfruit

Microwave Jackfruit and Almond Kheer from Priya Suresh of Priya's easy and tasty recipes

 

Jackfruit and Banana Halwa from Alamelu of Rasagavala 

Inspired by Alamelu's halwa myself and Shruti Hebbur of Shrunil blog tried and we both polished away the plates!

Halwa from Taste of Mysore......:

My creative side of Jackfruit ;-)

Shruthi's version of Halwa :

Sushma of Savi Ruchi could not prepare Mangalore Buns for the event, but instead she kindly gave me the recipe to make them. Here they are ! and I made them for Sushma..please grab them Sush .. ;-)

Mangalore Buns with Jackfruit

Recipe in Sushma's words :

1.5 cups maida
0.5 cup wheatflour
0.5 cup sour curd
0.5 cup pureed jackfriut (use less than 0.5 cup, ideal to use around 0.3 cup)
3 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Combine all the above mentioned ingredients & allow it to soak for 5-7 hours (add water if required, dought should be similar to chapathi dough, but little firm that chapathi dough), roll out like poori's & deep fry in oil.

Sushma serves them with coffee. It is mildly sweet, and the fruit flavor is retained even after frying :-)

Cham has sent me yet another glass of delicious smoothie..please help yourself ;-)

Jackfruit - Pickle , Jackfruit Seeds - Sambar

After all that sweet overload, Priyanka brings us Kathal Achar for us. I thought of serving you all with Jackfruit seeds sambar for your hot steaming rice. So, the buffet table is ready. Help yourself to your favorite curry, dessert and vadais. You have no choice with sambar and pickle though :D

Jackfruit Seeds Sambar from Taste of Mysore

I can also serve you few Jackfruit papad which I bought from India. These are not available in Singapore. They are thinnner than paper almost see thro' the papad :D and they taste crisp and spicy when fried/microwaved. If anyone knows the recipe to make jackfruit papd please email me and you can use the form here to contribute your recipe.

Try out various dishes and enjoy the fruit of the month - Jackfruit :-)