Pineapple Menaskai (Pineapple in sesame coconut sauce)

Menaskai(Curry) is a real treat to your taste buds. For those who love the combination of sour, sweet & spice.., this is the perfect dish. Everytime I eat this , i feel rejuvenated.

This is again a Udupi cuisine. During the weddings, naming ceremony or any festivities, this dish is again one of the must in the innumerable items prepared & served. There is pineapple gojju(gravy/curry) also prepared during Karnataka weddings (Mysore/Bangalore side). I do not know if both menaskai & gojju use the same ingredients. Will check with my grandmom during my next visit to India & update here.

Ingredients: (Recipe source: Mom-in-law)
Chopped pineapple: 1 cup
Tamarind: 1 medium lemon sized ball (adjust according to the sourness of the pineapple)
Jaggery: 1 medium lemon sized ball or 1.5 tsp (adjust according to the sourness of the pineapple)
Water: 1 to 1.5 cups
Salt: According to taste

 

For the spice paste/masala paste:
Grated dry coconut: 1 cup
Sesame seeds: 1.5 tbsp (I use white sesame)
Dry red chilli: 6-8nos (adjust according to your family needs)

 

For tempering:
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 4-6 nos
Dry red chilli: 1 broken
Asafetida: a pinch

Method:

• Soak the tamarind in warm water(about 1/4th cup water)  for 10mins. Extract the thick juice from the tamarind & discard the pulp.
• Boil the pineapple in 1/2 cup of water. When pineapple is half cooked, add tamarind extract, jaggery, salt to the pineapple & cook again until soft.
• Meantime, dry roast the sesame seeds & red chilli seperately. Allow them to cool.
• Make a fine paste of coconut, sesame seeds & red chilli.
• Pour the paste to the pineapple mixture, 1/4th cup water & cook it on a low heat for another 5-7mins.
• Prepare the tempering. Add oil to a small pan, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves, red chilli & saute for 5-8secs. Finally add the asafoetida & turn off the heat.
• Pour this tempering to the prepared pineapple menaskayi/curry.
• Serve it hot/warm as a side dish to rice.

Tips:

• The dish is usually made using fresh coconut. I replace it with dry coconut because that way I can preserve it for 3-5days in my refrigirator. If you are sure to use this in a day or two, feel free to add fresh coconut.
• Pineapple could be replaced with mango, bittergourd, ambade/amtekayi(Thanks to Shilpa of Aayisrecipe for this picture) or capsicum.
• This dish tastes better the next day. Donot forget to boil this once a day, cool it & then store it in the refrigirator.

Avalakki Pineapple Kesaribhath (Beaten rice-Pineapple Kesaribhath)

Let me tell you the entire story about how I find out my hubby’s first love from his relatives!! My hubby is crazy about sweet dishes, he loves any damn dish if it has sugar or jaggery(brown sugar) in it. Just after our wedding, we planned to visit his native to get blessings from the kuladevatha temple. The temple is in his maternal grandparents’ village.

Though, his maternal grandparents are no more, 4 of his uncle’s family were staying in nearby villages. As per my mom-in-law’s suggestion, we visited everyone’s home for either lunch or dinner. First, we went to mom-in-law’s brother’s house in Udupi. There, my hubby’s aunty served yummy south canara meals & kesaribhath. She mentioned that my hubby loves kesaribhath the most. Night, it was another relatives place, where we were invited & again kesaribhath. I remember going to four of their relatives place & all of them served us kesaribhath, be it morning breakfast, lunch, evening snacks or dinner. Huh!!, me being choosy about desserts, felt like puking after seeing kesaribhath everywhere.

Though, I knew him from college days, I was not aware that he liked kesaribhath so much. Everybody served kesaribhath with loads of ghee & love, mentioning “it is your hubby’s favorite dish”. This is how I got to know about my hubby’s first love, kesaribhath!!! Although, I don’t like this sweet dish much, I love to prepare it for my hubby. I take not more than 2 tbsp & the remaining kesaribhath finds its way happily inside his tummy.

I recently found avalakki kesaribhath(Beaten rice kesaribhath) recipe in Zee Kannada Channel. Noted down the recipe at once & modified a little by adding pineapple. Here, you see the mouth-watering avalakki pineapple kesaribhath.



Ingredients:
1 cup beaten rice/aval/avalakki/poha
1/4th cup pureed pineapple or finely chopped pineapple
1 cup sugar
1 cup full cream milk
1 cup water
½ tsp powdered cardamom
A pinch of saffron strands
1 drop orange color or 1/4th tsp saffron powder mixed in milk.
1 tsp fried dry fruits in ghee (optional)
1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

Method:

• Powder the beaten rice (the powdered beaten rice should look like small rawa/semolina)


• Mix water & milk in a broad pan, allow it to boil.


• When milk starts boiling, add powdered beaten rice & mix it well. Keep stirring the mixture as it might stick to the pan & get burnt easily. Let the beaten rice cook in milk for 3-4 mins.


• Add pureed pineapple, saffron color, sugar & mix well.


• As soon as the sugar is added, the thick mixture loosens & becomes little watery or sticky.


• Add ghee at this stage & cook on slow flame, by constantly stirring until extra water is evaporated.


• Add saffron strands, cardamom powder, fried dry fruits & mix well.


• Serve it hot or warm.

I'm happy to send this recipe to "FIC-Orange" hosted by Aparna & the original creator tongueticklers. The orange ingredient used in my recipe is saffron strands & saffron powder.