Cabbage with turmeric

Holy cabbage, batman!!! It's 2012. This blog has been revived again! whoohoo!!

I decided to try out the local CSA box and just my luck, they give me a giant head of lettuce. It's HUGE! There's no way I would ever buy this much cabbage. It's enough to feed a small country.

Coincidentally I had a potluck to get to the following day and decided to make this classic indian style cabbage. It is generally paired with rice and something like this or this to make a complete classic Konkani/Indian meal. Pair with some yoghurt and you are set. Another selling point? Brassica/Cruciferous veggie paired with turmeric = anti-cancer all the waaaaaay!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

Cabbage - chopped or sliced - 2 liberal hand-full [2 cups, maybe?]
Onion- yellow (or other)- chopped fine - 2 tbspn
Black mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Asafoetida - 1 pinch [1/4 tspn]
Green Chillies [serrano or thai]- 1/2 [remove seeds depending on spice tolerance]
Canola or other vegetable oil - 1/2 tbspn
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Split chick pea / bengal gram [ can find in indian store] (optional) - about 15
Salt to taste
water -1-2 Tbspn

Method

1. Heat up oil in a wok [medium-high]. Add the bengal gram. Saute until it seems a little bit swollen and brown. Add mustard seeds and asafoetida. This will pop all over the place. use a lid to contain them.
2. Once the popping subsides, add in the onion. Saute until translucent.
3. Add chillies and cabbage. On top of cabbage add the turmeric and salt. Toss in the wok.
4. Sprinkle the water on this and then lower the heat to medium low and cover. Let cook for about 5 or so minutes. Uncover and let the water cook out.
5. Cook until completely cooked. I like it to have a little bit of a bite to it but also completely cooked. So keep an eye on it.

Enjoy.

Desi Pan-Fried Shrimp/ Shrimp Rava fry

Ingredients:

Fresh Shrimp - 10
Red Chilli powder 1/2-1tspn
Salt - 1/2-1tspn
Rice Flour - 2 tbspn
Bombay Rava - 2tbspn
Asafoetida - a pinch
Veg. Oil - to pan-fry (not deep fry)

Method:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Assuming shrimps are a little damp, roll them around in the dry mix and fry them up in the pan. This shouldn't take long, maybe a couple of minutes on each side.

Serve with a wedge of lemon alongside rice and this and this.

Pigeon Pea Soup Version 2 aka Varn

I like this version more than the previous one. I could eat this everyday. This is extremely simple to make and has very subtle flavoring. Pair it up with white rice and a spicy side dish, and you're set.

Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients

Pigeon Pea - 3/4 cup (soaked overnight in water)
salt to taste
cumin powder - 2
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn-1/2 tspn
ghee (optional; oil or butter is not a substitute in this case) - 1/2 tbspn
water

Method

1. Boil pigeon peas in water until mashable consistency.

2. Mash and add water until desired consistency is reached. I like mine semi-liquidy so I can enjoy it on rice.

3. To this add the turmeric, cumin powder, salt, and ghee. Mix well and bring to a boil on the stove.

4. Serve over hot white rice and that's it!

Seasoned Beans / Beans Upkari

One of my favorite upkaris....nothing against this and this, but beans..mmmm i love me some crunchy beans. I picked up some crunchy tender young beans from Costco the other day and decided to do this.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

green french beans (that's right, i didnt measure) -2-3 fistfuls (chop to desire length or leave whole)
salt to taste
mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tspn - 1 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Vegetable oil - 2 tspn

Method

1. In a wok/pan, heat up the oil (on medium-high) and add the mustard seeds. Wait for this pop around. At that point add the chilli and turmeric powder.

2. Add the beans to this (enjoy nice sizzling sound) and saute until the powders and mustard seeds are coated around the beans. Add salt and saute some more (about 1 minute)

3. Add some water, cover and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Cook until desired 'crunch.'

4. Done! Eat as an accompaniment or as is with some pita!

Yellow Pohvu / Seasoned Flattened Rice Flakes

I went to little India in Artesia for (what felt like) the first time with my friend, LV. I picked up two versions of flattened rice : a "thin" one and a "thick" one. I enjoyed the WTH-is-that-look on LV's face and I hope this recipe will clear up some of that look.


Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
thick poha - 2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
salt to taste
mustard seeds - 1tspn
thai green chilli - 1 sliced roughly
Curry leaves - about 7
Vegetable oil - 1 tbspn or tspn
Dried Red chilli - 1
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbspn

Method

1. Wash the rice flakes with water and squeeze out the excess water and let it dry a bit in a bowl. To this add the coconut, turmeric, and salt. Mix.

2. On the stove in a wok, heat up the oil. Time to temper it!Add the mustard seeds and red chilli and wait for the popping to begin, once this happens, add the curry leaves and green chillies (enjoy the hissing sound). Saute for about 30 or so seconds and then add the poha.

3. stir until the turmeric is evenly distributed and the mustard seeds are spread out evenly. Takes about 3 minutes.

4. Serve Hot!

there are various versions of this: some people add some sugar and finely chopped potatoes. some add onions. some add carrots and peas...I like it simple.

Sweet Pepper Pakoras/ Bajjaes/Fritters

Hmmm hot masala chai and bajjaes at my kuladev temple in Aversa. Hmmm, hot bajjaes alongwith hot rice served with dalithoy....*drool face* Well nothing to it, its a vegetable of your choice (sweet peppers in the picture above) dipped in a savory batter and deep-fried. Often served as an accompaniment or appetizer with or without chutney.

Ingredients

1 cup besan/chick-pea flour
1/2-3/4 cup water (give or take, the batter needs to coat veggies)
1-2 tspn red chilli powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
a couple of pinches of asafoetida
salt to taste
1 tbspn corn flour (optional)
Vegetable of your choice: Sweet peppers (onions, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, squash, sweet potato...anything works, really)
Vegetable oil to deep fry

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients and then slowly add the water in. Too much water, and the coating will fall apart in the hot oil. Mix thoroughly and test out one pepper to see if the batter is seasoned right and if it stays on! If it doesn't add some more besan.

2. Heat oil on medium heat and deep fry coated peppers. Let it brown on both sides and strain on paper towels and serve hot!

Enjoy with a nice cup of masala tea or as is.

Maida-Peetaché Bakri / All-purpose Flour Pancake

My go-to breakfast. Actually a lot of the Konkani breakfast recipes that I will be posting shortly are going to be my go-to recipes soon. I love breakfast. I don't usually eat breakfast except when my mom makes it and that's only if I visit India or if she visits here. Time has come to rectify that, so here is my konkani breakfast recipe #1 : maida (all purpose)peet (flour) bakris (dosa/bread/pancake/whatever; everyone should pick up konkani words anyway).

Makes about 4 bakris
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water (give or take, the batter should be fluid but not liquidy)
10 torn up Curry leaves
1 Serrano or about 3 thai chillies (fresh green chillies) roughly chopped
1/2 cup of fresh shredded coconut (can find this frozen in Indian stores)
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar (give or take)
Vegetable oil to cook the batter in a pan.


Method

1. Mix the flour and water until there are absolutely no lumps. To this add the salt, sugar, curry leaves, shredded coconut, and green chillies.

2. The batter should be relatively thick but not too thick that it doesn't fall off a spoon.

3. In a non-stick pan, add some oil and let it heat up at medium-low heat. then using your hand or a ladle, ladle out some of the batter and slowly spread it around until its about the same thickness all over.. a little thinner than a pancake. I just used my hands to spread out the batter.

4. Cover it and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. then uncover, the top should be as in the picture. Turn the heat up just a little and let it brown up on the other side. Flip and let the cooked side brown up.

5. Serve with some butter! that's how I like it, but you could use any leftover curry or eat as it!

Pigeon Pea/Lentil Soup version 1 aka Dali Thoy

Another konkani staple, in my opinion. There are different ways to make this soup so if you end up buying a pound of Pigeon peas to try this one out, don't worry!

note: Pigeon peas look like split yellow peas, but they are not the same. Make sure you buy the right lentil.

Serves: 1-2
Ingredients:

Pigeon Pea - 1/2 cup, soaked in water overnight
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Dried Red Chilli - 1
Vegetable Oil- 1 tspn
Curry leaves - about 5
Asafoetida - 1/4 tspn (literally a pinch) (optional)
Coriander (fresh) leaves- for garnish (optional; I didn't have any when I made it this time)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cook the lentils until well done. I use a pressure cooker, but you could just slow cook it for hours (I'm overestimating!). This is why soaking it overnight will help a ton.

2. If possible, mash the lentils when they are well done. Add water to desired consitency. I like mine liquidy. My brother prefers his thick. So add water accordingly. Add salt. Let it slowly simmer on low heat.

3. On the side in a small wok (teeny tiny wok, can also use a pan. you just want to really season the oil) heat up the oil. To this add the mustard seeds and dried red chilli (if u dare, cut this in half, I don't reccommend this) and wait for the seeds to pop all over the place. At this point add the asafoetida and curry leaves. I would recommend adding the leaves and getting your hand out of the way. Sometimes the hot oil that's splashing hits the open flame and little bursts of fire can happen. dont panic and don't worry, just stand back.

4. Before everything burns, add this very hot delicious spicy oil to the simmering lentil solution. Its going to sputter and crackle and hiss, but that's good.

5. DONE! Serve hot over freshly cooked basmati rice and some upkari or pathrodo, and yoghurt.


Note: You could use those yellow split peas or split green peas (dried) and try this out. My dad said it was a great substitute for lentils when he couldn't find lentils.

Spicy Spinach Cake / Pathrodo

Pathrodo. Say that again. brr. Fortunately, this dish is a complete opposite of how it sounds. This is a typical Mangalorean dish. The original dish is made with a specific leaf which is abundantly found in the Southern part of Karnataka. I used to eat this only when I visited with my grandparents and uncle in Mangalore. It was an absolute treat (and still is) whenever I get to eat this when I'm back in India. Anyway my mom, the genius that she is, concocted the same recipe for spinach. It is a little complicated but hey, if I can do it...well, you know how it goes. Oh and it's RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS, in a Konkani way.

Prep time: overnight

Serves 2 (minimum; depends how you eat it ;) )

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal/yellow pigeon pea (soaked overnight, uncooked)
1 cup rice (basmati works) (also soaked overnight, uncooked)
5 dried red chillies (i'd stick to 2-3 thai dried red chillies; soaked overnight with the above two)
3/4 tspn Asafoetida
1 tbspn tamarind paste
1/4 cup coconut milk (approx. )
1/2 tbspn vegetable oil
1 tspn black mustard seeds
1-1.5 cups of very roughly chopped spinach (i used baby spinach. just tearing a leaf in half is more than enough. Do not add the stems)
Salt to taste.

You need a food processor for this one..a blender might work as well. you need something with a blade. If you're really retro (try getting one of these...haha. that's what some of my family members used when electricity was shut for the entire day).

Method:

1. Soak dal, rice, and red chillies overnight (12 hours) in water in the same bowl.

2. Strain it and let it dry a little bit (I gave it about 20 minutes).

3. In your food processor add the coconut milk and red chillies. Grind.

4. It will be coarsely ground. To this add the dal and rice and grind. Also add the tamarind paste, asafoetida and salt.

5. It should be a semi-liquid with coarse granules of dal and rice. Grind it until you can no longer tell if it's dal or rice, but you can feel the coarseness with your fingers. taste this to see if it's sufficiently salty. it will be really pungent and strong.

6. Add the spinach to the mix. It's not going to coat very well as you can see in the picture, but that's fine.

7. In a pan, add oil and let it heat up. Add the mustard seeds to the hot oil. Let it pop, crackle and sizzle. at this point add the mixture. Stir it around a little bit on medium low heat (2 minutes), just enough to coat it all with the essence of the mustard seeds.

8. Next transfer it to your pressure cooker (without the weight) or steamer and steam it until it is cooked. If it is gooey and sticks to your toothpick when you poke it, let it cook. It took me about 20-30mins to cook it.

9. Let sit for about 10 mins and then serve!!!

10. If you are obsessed with mustard seeds like me, then do this: after you let it sit, cut it up into bite size pieces. In a pan, heat up some oil (1/2 tbspn oil) and add mustard seeds to it. You know the drill, once it starts jumping all over your pan, add the pieces and just pan fry them on both sides. Serve hot!

Note: It is generally eaten as an accompaniment. My brother enjoys them as is. I eat it rice+ yoghurt or rice+ dal soup (next recipe). SO GOOD.

Also this was my first time ever making it. Epic success.

Atomic Navy Bean Soup - Desi Style

I had such a hard time coming up with a name for this dish in English. This is a Konkani staple. The beans change but the method of preparation is the same. I've tried googling the English names of the beans/lentils that I grew up eating but I wasn't very successful. But that's ok because I haven't seen them in any store here (yes, not even in Little India) except for Mung dal.

The Konkani name is: dhavé (white) Beea (bean/seed) saar upkari or thinglauro saar upkari.

Without further adieu...
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 cup of navy beans (I've never tried this out with canned beans...and I won't be trying it out either).
1/2 tbspn vegetable oil
1-2 dried red chillies (Thai chillies will work. break in Half if you dare)
Salt to taste
About 5 whole cloves of garlic, but smashed (Atomic!!)

Method

1. Soak beans overnight in water.

2. Slow cook the beans until done in water (1cup beans to 2 cups of water approx.). I own a pressure cooker and a rice cooker and either of them should work fine. You could also just cook them on the stove at low heat. Make sure there is enough water and add more if it evaporates. Cook it until you can squish it between your thumb and index finger...no al dente nonsense here.

3. Once they are cooked make sure there is enough water to cover it and then some.

4. On the side in a small wok add the oil and let it heat up. To the very hot oil add the red chilli and garlic. It's going to cackle and sizzle and sputter. this is good. Let all the flavors infuse in the oil until garlic turns brown.

5. Then immediately add the hot oil, chilli, and garlic to your beans mix. It's going to make the biggest hissing noise when the oil hits the water, but its sooo much fun! Also dont forget to take some liquid and rinse out the wok with the oil before you throw it into the sink.

6. Stir and add salt.

AND THAT IS IT!!!!

Typically eaten with white rice, some yoghurt, papad and some sort of upkari. This time I paired it with Cauliflower upkari. I'll upload a recipe for that one too. It's a little different from the beetroot recipe that I linked to.

Note: In the pic on the right, I made more than 1 cup worth and added 10 cloves of garlic and a total of 3 red chillies.

Curli Sukke / Crab Masala/ Crab Varuval

The crabs in the picture are not entirely cooked yet

Curli Sukke / Crab Masala/ Crab Varuval

This is a favorite in my family. I am a huge fan of this dish, but with prawns instead. It’s ridiculously tasty and goes well with steamed basmati rice or pitas.

Ingredients- Serves 2

Crabs – 2 →cleaned and cut in half with claws separated [ Just so the masala can infiltrate every possible area of the crab. The size of crabs in India are rather small so you may have to adjust the amount of masala]

Oil (vegetable) – 2tbsp

Onions (red) – 3 (American red onions – 1 would suffice. Indian onions are pretty small!)
Green Chilli peppers (Serrano) – 1
Fresh Coriander (Cilantro) – chopped, for garnish
Indian Red Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Coriander powder – 1tsp
Tamarind paste ***– ½ tsp or you could substitute 1 roma tomato (this is to get tartness)
Salt – to taste

Directions:

1. In a shallow pan/pot add oil and let it heat up.
2. Add the chopped up onions, green chilli, and all the powders (chilli, turmeric, and coriander). Fry until you can see the oil separating out from the masala again.
3. Add the crabs, mix and then add 1-2tbsp water. Add salt (1/2 tsp).
4. Cover and cook on low.
5. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander (Cilantro) leaves.

*** - One can purhase this at any Indian/Asian store. You can also find whole tamarinds in Mexican/South American Markets. In this case you can remove them from their shells, and place them in very little warm water and let is soak for a few hours. Then squeeze as much essence as you can.

Enjoy!

Seasoned Beets / Beetroot Upkari

I grew up in a city called Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. My parents are from the South and North part of Karnataka and our ancestors are from Goa. The food I grew up with was a natural mix of all of the above, mostly Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Konkani cuisine. One can’t really pinpoint what this is, but we have our staples and our variations on someone else’s staples ;)
Rice is an important part of our meal. Our meal consists of, usually, white rice, some sort of a lentil soup/curry to go with the rice or/and yoghurt, and some seasoned and cooked vegetables or greens. To drink, besides water (how boring!), we drink buttermilk/lassi. Indian pickles and fried papads/poppadams/appalam (that is how they are referred to in Tamil Nadu) also may be present. A meal fit for a king, or at least for me.

Today I present to you seasoned beets. In Konkani we call it beetroot upkari (basically, upkari and porriyal = stir-fried vegetable, indian style) and in the regional language here it is called beetroot porriyal. One could eat this as is, or maybe with some white rice and yoghurt.


Beetroot Upkari – Serves 2
Ingredients:

Beetroot – 1 (chopped up) **
Black mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Vegetable oil – 1/2tsp
Serrano Pepper (Green Chilli) – 1
Salt – to taste
Water – enough to cover the beets in your pan
OPTIONAL Asafoetida (hing) – pinch of a pinch of a pinch!

Procedure:

1. In a shallow non-stick pan, add the oil and let it heat up on medium heat. Then add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop and crackle all over the place. This means that the seeds are breaking open to release their flavor into the hot oil.

2. As this is occurring add the Serrano pepper and hing (Halved for us spicy monkeys, but keep whole or remove the seeds if not a big fan of heat. Although in this particular upkari, the sweetness of the beets should offset the excess heat from the chilli pepper).

3. Add the chopped up beats and salt and stir. Then add water such that you cover the beets. Place a lid over your pan and cook until beets are semi-tender, then remove lid and let water evaporate. One can, if they have enough time, just cook them covered on really low heat and the water will evaporate eventually. The amount of water to be added depends on the beets. In India it takes longer for things to cook, we’re not sure why. In America, the beets cook up faster so some experimentation may be required to perfect the amount.

4. Serve hot!

**In California, when we cook this we add in the tender and young leaves of the beets. they have their own unique flavor and contain a lot of fibers. Here in India, they are sold without their leaves.