Bendekayi Podi (Okra Pakora)

Let me tell you my story about this podi. I'm married to a person who belongs to South Canara District, Karnataka, India. His mother tongue is Tulu & I dont understand that :( But, in my in-laws house, they normally speak Kannada ( a regional language of India). I face a lot of problem (even now!!)when I go to his village, as they dont speak Kannada. Meanwhile, let me tell you.., podi means bonda/bajji or pakora in Tulu.

First time when I went to his village, I was amazed to see the variety of food prepared there. Even though I ate most of them for the first time, they tasted so good & felt like eating again & again. I can never forget the halasina kayi dose (raw jacfruit dosa)!! I'm missing them :(( After going there, I started eating lot of leafy vegetables like ondelaga(Alternate Name: timare, English : Brahmi) & kesuvina yele(English: taro leaf, colocasia leaves). Their food preparation was quite interesting & was amazed at the variety of items they prepare. Some of them to name are patrode (made from kesuvina yele), jee gujje podi ( breadfruit bajji/pakora), jee gujje idli, nendra bale hannina jamoon ( A sweet dish made from banana), timare tambli(brahmi tambli), karjoora barfi (a sweet made from dates). Aren't they sounding yummy?? I'll try to learn the recipe of each of them & try to publish.

Seems like, I'm lost in those memories.Let me come back to bendekayi podi...
I attended a Brahmopadesham function in his village & when they were serving the food.., they said...., podi.., podi. I didn't understand what it was" ??? " & said " no" to that. My husband's aunty who was sitting next to me suggested me to taste that as it was a different kind of pakora/bajji. I ate it & then realized it is ladies finger pakora :)) I had never heard or tasted before this pakora.It was sooooo tasty that I fell in love with it. I asked few of his relatives for the recipe but.., didnot get any response. Finally, I got the recipe..........., I was so happy that I tried it on the very next day & it turned out to be a disaster.

Relax ...., dont be shocked. I'm not posting that disaster recipe here. I have learnt it quite well now & here goes the recipe. Do prepare & enjoy eating!!. Dont forget to post me a comment..,after eating.



Ingredients:
Gram Flour (Besan) - 1 small cup
Corn Flour - 1 table spoon
Ajwain - 1 pinch
Chilli powder - According to taste
Salt - According to taste
Baking Soda - 1/2 pinch
Bendekaayi/Ladies Finger/Bhindi/Okra - 4 - 5 nos
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

• Wash and dry bendekayi and cut into small rings
  
• Mix together besan, corn flour, chilli powder, baking soda, ajwain and salt in a bowl
• Add water and make a paste (thicker than idli batter).
• Heat the oil in a kadai
  
• Mix ladies finger to the paste. (If you prepare this in large quantities, dont add all the ladies finger to the paste. Add as much required to fry once in a kadai. If you add all, the paste becomes sticky).
  
• Make small balls of the mixture & deep fry in oil. It should be fried on a very slow flame. The ladies finger needs to be cooked properly.
  
• Remove once it becomes crispy & golden brown in color.
• Serve hot with sauce.

Bisi bele Bath Recipe

Well..I must say that I love this dish..I can eat it in mornings, eat it for lunch, eat it as evening snacks or eat during supper !!! Though preparing this takes more time than average, it is worthwhile...There are many versions of this bath and what I am going to share with you is the version, without onions and garlic...I will post my mom-in-law's version of bisibele bath soon

Here we go:

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Pigeon pea dal / Toor Dal - 1 cup - use the same cup what you used above :)
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (Carrot, beans, green peas, potatoes)
Tomato - 1
Tamarind - 1 (small lemon size)
Jaggery - According to taste
Salt - According to taste
Homemade bisi bele bath powder: About 1/4th cup

Ingredients for tempering (Tadka):
Ground Nuts - 1 table spoon
Cashew Nuts - 4-6
Ghee - 2 table spoons
Red Chilly - 1
Curry Leaves
Mustard Seeds
Asafoetida
Bell peppers/capsicum - 1 finely chopped (Optional)

Method:

For main dish:

Wash toor dal and cook it in pressure cooker with 2 cups of water for 4-5 whistles. You could cook the toor dal & vegetables together. 

 Cook the rice separately.

 In a pan, add water and tomatoes; cook until tomato is soft. 
To this, add tamarind water, jaggery, salt.

Add the bisi bele bath powder and the cooked vegetables and the dal. 

Keep it in a slow flame and boil it for 5 minutes until the flavors blend well. 
To this, add the cooked rice slowly. Keep mixing the rice in between to ensure there are no lumps. 

Add enough water to make it semi-solid
Cook the mixture in a slow flame for 10-15 minutes (Keep the flame very slow as all the ingredients are already well-cooked).

For tempering:

• Add ghee to a kadai
• When the ghee is hot, add mustard seeds
• After the mustard seeds crackle, add asafoetida
• Add ground nuts and cashewnuts
• Fry till these becomes golden in color
• Add bell peppers and fry for a while
• Add curry leaves and red chiily (cut into 2 pieces)

Add this tempering to the main dish. 

The bisibele bath is ready to serve. Serve it hot with khara boondi / paapad / chips.

Congrats if you have come this far..I had warned you beforehand that the procedure is lengthy...anyways, the taste of the bath just makes you forget all the effort you have put...everytime, i just love to see my hubby and my son's expressions when they take their first bite of this :)

Also, this can be stored & used for 1 or 2 days. The best part of this recipe is..., it tastes better the next day!!

Notes:
I use MTR bisi bele bath powder whenever I am in no mood to prepare the powder at home. I am in no way affiliated with MTR. 

Quick carrot paratha

Making kids eat vegetables would become a big challenge for every mom. This paratha is one such effort to make my kid eat carrots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot)....

Ingredients:
(For making around 5-6 parathas)


2 cups atta (wheat flour)
1 medium sized carrot grated.
1/2 spoon of chilli powder
1/4 spoon garam masala
1 spoon lemon juice or little amchur powder.
salt according to taste
water for preparing the dough.

Preparation:
Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl.
Add enough water & prepare a dough similar to chapathi dough.
Knead it well.
Keep it aside for 30 mins.
Divide the dough into 6 portions
Roll out each portion (It should be rolled thick like a paratha).
Spread butter/ghee on top of each paratha.
Serve hot with pickle, curd.

Hayagreeva (Maddi ) !!!

Dont go by the name of this dish..this sweet dish is delicious...you should taste it to believe it...well, let me help you... i will provide the recipe of this dish...prepare it an d let me know how did it taste :)

Ingredients:
1 cup channa dal (kadale bele)
1 to 1.25 cups jaggery (bella)
1/4th cup of water
1 cardamom
4-6 cashewnuts & raisins
1 tablespoon grateddry coconut/dessicated coconut (kobbari)
1 tablespoon ghee

Preparation:
- Dry roast the channa dal.
- Soak the roasted channa dal for an hour
- Pressure cook the soaked dal (channa dal takes more time to cook than toor dal).
- Heat a kadai, add water & powdered jaggery to it.
- Jaggery should get dissolved completely in water.
- Heat until bubbles start forming in the syrup.
- Drain the water from the cooked channa dal & add the channa dal to this syrup.
- Add cardamom powder & grated dry-coconut.
- Mix all the ingredients added & cook on a slow flame for about 10-15 mins.
- Heat the ghee in another kadai, fry the cashewnuts & raisins in it.
- Add the fried cashewnuts & raisins to the channa dal mixture.
- Hayagreeva (maddi) is ready to serve.

Ragi Dosa

Ragi (Finger millet - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragi) is very rich in Calcium and hence, given to infants as ragi ganji / ragi porridge (as early as 4 months old). People in South Karnataka consume ragi in the form of ragi mudde / ragi balls (remember our ex PM Devegowda ??) and ragi rotti. So, today I am going to share a very simple and easy-to-make recipe for ragi dosa. This recipe is passed on to me by my grand mother and my family loves to eat this.

Here we go:



Ingredients:
Urad Dal (Uddina Bele) - 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds (Menthya) - 1 table spoon
Ragi flour - 2.5 cups
Salt - According to taste

Method:

• Soak Urad dal and fengreek seeds for 2-3 hours
• Grind this into a smooth batter
• Sieve the ragi flour and add the flour to the batter
• Mix it properly. Avoid lumps
• Add enough water to make a smooth batter of pouring consistency
• Allow it to ferment overnight (6-8 hours)
• Add salt according to taste
• Now, the batter is ready for making dosas
• Serve it with a dollop of butter (or ghee) and chutney

Note: You can prepare paper-thin dosas with this batter.

Coconut Pulav

After coming to Singapore, cooking has become quite easy & interesting because of the ready availability of frozen items like.., grated coconut, fresh coconut milk, chopped & frozen vegetables :)
So, one can cook prepare this within 30 mins & impress people!!

When I was in India, I was not preparing coconut pulov that often because, the procedure to get coconut milk itself was tiring. As rightly said by a friend of mine "Life has become very easy after coming to Singapore". Though, personally I am missing my people who are in India.

This is my hubby & son's favorite item for dinner.

Coconut Pulov

This is a very mildly spiced rice & tastes great. It will turn out good always!!


Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Cardamom - 1 or 2
Carrot - 1 (Medium sized - chopped into small cubes)
Cashewnuts - 6-8 nos
Cinnamon - 3/4 inch
Cloves - 2
Coconut Milk - 1/2 cup
Green Chillies - According to taste
Green Peas - 1/4 cup
Hot Water - 1 cup
Oil or Butter - 2 Tablespoons
Onion - 1 (Small)
Salt - According to taste

For Garnishing:
Lemon - 1/2
Coriander Leaves

Method:

- Wash and Soak the Basmati Rice for 10 minutes
- Heat the oil in a cooker
- Add finely-cut Cinnamon, cloves, Cardamom and fry it for a minute
- Add cashewnuts and fry till it turns golden brown in color
- Add onion & chillies and fry till onion becomes translucent
- Add carrot, green peas & saute for a minute.
- Now add soaked rice, coconut milk & hot (warm) water.
- Add salt according to taste.
- Close the lid, cook in a slow flame for 1 whistle only.
- Allow the cooker to become cool & after that add lemon juice & coriander leaves.

Tip: Serve this with any kind of raita.

Here goes the first recipe - Karibevu Chutney pudi

I belong to a small village from Chikmagalur, Karnataka, India. I'm proud for being born in Chikmagalur, awesome place on earth. We at our home prepare varieties of chutney powders (chutney pudi) & a variety of gojju (something like curry). This one's is my ever favorite. It also helps people in reducing the body weight[ladies, keep a note on this]. I remember my granny preparing fenugreek powder (menthyada hittu), om kalu chutney pudi(ajwain chutney powder) & many more to quote, along with the one mentioned below. We eat this chutney pudi with anything like rice, chapathi, dosa, idli. I love eating this with steaming hot rice & ghee.

You know what, just after my delivery(post pregnancy or bananthana in kannada), I was made to eat this every night (along with rice, ghee). After eating this, i used to get little pepper rasam or rice & milk( anna-haalu). I enjoyed those days.., ehhahha.....

Karibevu chutneypudi (Curry leaves chutney powder)


Ingredients:
2-3 bunches of curry leaves(karibevu),
2-3 spoons of urad dal(uddina bele)
1 spoon channa dal(kadale bele)
1 small cup of grated dry coconut or dessicated cocounut (kobbari)
6-8 red chilli (depends on the taste)
jaggery, salt & tamarind (according to taste)

Procedure:

1. Wash & dry the curry leaves.
2. Dry fry or roast the curry leaves on pan till it becomes crisp.(Leaves should break easily). Allow it to cool for sometime.
3. Then dry roast the channa dal & urad dal.
4. Roast the red chilli & grated coconut seperately.
5. Allow all the roasted items to cool for a while.
6. Then put curry leaves, roasted channa dal, urad dal, red chilli in the mixie jar & make a course powder out of it.
7. Now, add tamarind, jaggery, salt, dry coconut & make a final powder out of it.

This powder lasts for almost 3-4 months without refrigiration.


Tip: Keep the chutney powder in air for 30 mins before keeping it in a closed container.

This is my recipe for SWC-Karnataka