Pomegranate leaves in yogurt sauce/Dalimebe yele tambuli

I am back with a tambuli recipe. A very unique & mild flavored tambuli that cools your body.

Preparation + cooking time: Less than 5 minutes
Serves: 2 

Ingredients:
Tender pomegranate leaves/Dalimbe chiguru: 3 tbsp, washed & roughly chopped
Grated coconut: 1.5 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Green chilies: 2-3 nos, adjust accordingly
Salt: to taste
Oil: 1 tsp
Buttermilk: 1.5 cups(Around 350ml)

Method:

• Heat oil in a small pan. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn golden brown, add green chilies & pomegranate leaves & saute till the leaves turn crisp. Turn off the heat.
• Add the grated coconut & allow the mixture to cool.
• Grind it to a very smooth paste by adding buttermilk. 
• Scoop out the mixture. Add the remaining buttermilk, salt & mix well. 
• Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Notes:

• If you need, you could prepare the tempering & pour over the tambuli. I normally do not add tempering. 

Karibevu Tambuli (Curry leaves in yogurt sauce)

Curry leaves tambuli is good for digestion, has cooling effect on the body & rich in iron. Just like other tambuli, this is very easy to prepare. This dish goes well with rice. 

Refer here to know more about curry leaves.

Ingredients:

For tambuli:

Grated coconut: 2 tbsp (fresh/frozen)

Curry leaves: a fistful (use tender leaves. Use light colored leaves. Refer here to understand on how to choose tender leaves) 

Green chilli: 3 nos (adjust according to the spice level needed)

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Buttermilk: 2 cups

Salt: According to taste

For tempering:

Oil: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida/hing: a pinch

Curry leaves: 4 nos

Method:

• Make a smooth paste of coconut, curry leaves, green chillies, cumin seeds. Scoop out the paste. Add buttermilk, salt to the paste prepared & mix well. 
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small pan. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When seeds splutter, add curry leaves, asafoetida & finally pour the tempering on the tambuli prepared. 
• Serve it cold or at room temperature with rice & fritters/papad/pickle.

Other tambuli recipes:
Shunti(Ginger) tambuli
Menthya(Fenugreek seeds) tambuli
Brahmi leaves tambuli
Basale(Malabar spinach) tambuli
Heerekayi(Ridge gourd) tambuli

Doddapatre Tambuli (Coleus aromaticus in yogurt sauce)

I feel doddapatre leaves (they look like this ) are underrated considering the medicinal values. Also, visit this link for language translations. BTW, tambuli is part of Udupi cuisine and its loose translation is yogurt coconut sauce.

Some of the home-remedies using doddapatre leaves are as follows:
1. It has a cooling effect when mixed with yogurt/curd. Hence, this tambuli cools your body.
2. It helps get rid of common cold. These leaves must be heated on a griddle & when they start oozing out the juice, remove it from the griddle & squeeze the juice from these leaves. Mix this juice with equal amount of ginger juice + few drops of honey. Give to infants ( more than 6 months old) or young children. It is a very effective medicine.
3. It reduces the phlegm in young children. Follow the same procedure as above, but do not add ginger juice, just the doddapatre leaves juice + honey.
4. It works wonders for constipation & acidity. Consume the doddapatre chutney/tambuli three times a day for 2 days & notice the change. For treating acidity, don't add green chilli while preparing the tambuli or chutney. Avoid coconut too. Prepare a chutney/tambuli with loads of doddapatre leaves.
5. Read in a newspaper that, doddapatre juice is consumed and applied externally against measles.
6. Doddapatre juice helps to cleanse our system.

Ingredients:
Doddapatre leaves: 30-40nos
Black Pepper: 1/2 tsp
Green chilli: 1 no (optional, I normally don't add this)
Cumin seeds: 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut: 3 tbsp
Curd/Yogurt: 2 cups
Salt: According to taste
Oil: 1/2 tsp

For tempering:
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves: a string (optional)
Red chilli: 1 no (broken)
Asafoetida: a pinch


Method:

• Wash the leaves thoroughly & chop them.
• Heat oil in a small wok. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn golden, add pepper & saute for 10secs. Add the doddapatre leaves & saute them till the leaves wilt. Turn off the heat & allow it to cool.
• Transfer the leaves, coconut to a mixer jar & pulse it until a smooth paste is formed.
• Scoop out the paste & pulse the yogurt with water for 2-3secs.
• Add the diluted yogurt/buttermilk, salt to the paste & mix well.
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a pan. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds, when mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves, broken red chilli, asafoetida & pour this tempering to the prepared yogurt mixture.
• Tambuli is ready to be served with steaming hot rice & papad/fritters.

I happened to update the picture of bittergourd chips. Have a look at the same here.

Timare Tambli (Brahmi Tambli)

Here in Singapore, I don’t always get the brahmi leaves. Hence, I have started freezing & storing timare/brahmi/ondelaga leaves for up to a month. I really do not know whether it is good to preserve the leaves for such a long period, but I’m doing this since 2 months & am using the frozen leaves while preparing chutney or tambli. Have a look at my frozen timare.

Brahmi leaves are very good in improving the memory skills, intelligence level of an individual; relieve stress & helps in the growth of nerve cells. In South Canara, Karnataka, India, people squeeze the juice from this leaves & give the infants (as early as 2 months old infants) 2 drops of this juice, early in the morning. There is a belief among our grand moms that, this juice increases the memory power, intelligence level of the kid. Ever since I knew about this, I have somewhat taken an oath to myself that, I’ll give brahmi leaves to my son once or twice a month. This time, I prepared tambli, using frozen brahmi leaves.

Ingredients:
Brahmi leaves: ½ cup (I used 4 cubes frozen leaves)
Grated coconut: 3/4th cup (fresh/frozen)
Buttermilk: 2 cups (we like the tambli thin like rasam)
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp (optional)
Green chilli: 1-2
Salt: According to taste
Coconut Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds: ½ tsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Curry leaves: 4-6
Broken red chilli: 1 (optional)

Method:

• Grind together the brahmi leaves, grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chilli with little yogurt/curd. Prepare a very smooth paste with this.
• Mix the buttermilk with the chutney prepared. Add salt & mix well.
• Prepare the tempering by adding oil, followed by mustard seeds, curry leaves, broken red chilli & finally asafoetida/hing. Pour this tempering over the tambli prepared. Refrigerate it & use it within the next couple of hours with rice, pickle or papad.

Steps followed to freeze brahmi leaves:
Wash the leaves thoroughly, include the tender stem. Add very little water & prepare a puree out of the leaves.Pour the puree to the freezing tray.Once brahmi cubes are formed, store the cubes in the ziplock bags for up to a month.

One more brahmi recipe can be found here at my blog.

Broccoli Raitha (Broccoli in Yogurt)

When I saw "SWC- Salads under 15 minutes" event hosted by Lakshmi, lot of thoughts passed by. Thought of preparing this salad, that salad!!! But, never realised that days are passing by & last day is nearing.When I visited her blog today, I found today is the last day for sending the entries to SWC-salad. So, decided to post something that I have already tried, for which I had a photo taken already!! When I prepared this raitha for the first time, I had used the basic recipe from "SpiceIndiaOnline", later customized to meet our family needs.

Hope you all enjoy this as much as we do :)


Ingredients:
1 small cup broccoli (chop it into medium sized pieces)
1 cup curd/yogurt
1/2 tsp jeera powder/cumin seed powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
4 drops of olive oil
salt according to taste
1 tsp chopped cliantro (coriander leaves)

Method:

• Chop the broccoli into medium sized pieces & cook it by adding sufficient water for 2-4 mins.
• Meantime, beat yogurt. Mix cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, salt & keep it aside
• Drain out the water from broccoli & add olive oil to it. Mix well.
• Add the cooked broccoli, coriander leaves to the yogurt mixture.
• Mix well & serve it either with parantha or vegetable pulao.

Menthya Tambli (Fenugreek seeds tambli)

I know you people would be thinking how many tambli recipes do I post?? What to do, this simple dish attracts me so much that I end up preparing & enjoy eating it very often.

Here I go with one more tambli recipe:


Ingredients:
1/2 tsp methi seeds /fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2 cups curd/yogurt/butter milk
2-3 tbsp grated coconut
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch asafoetida
1 broken red chilli
1/4 tsp ghee
salt according to taste

Method:

• Add ghee to a kadai, fry jeera & methi seeds until it turns golden brown (it leaves a nice aroma by then)
• Make a fine paste of jeera, methi seeds & coconut using curd.
• Add the remaining curd, salt to this paste & mix well (tambli should be like a thick milkshake).
• In a kadka pan, prepare the tempering by adding oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds, asafoetida & red chilli.
• Pour this tadka/oggarane to the tambli prepared & serve it with rice, papad or pickle.

PS: If you need it little spicy, you could add 1-2 green chillies when preparing the paste.

Time for the tip:
This tambli helps in reducing the stomach ache. So, if you are having stomach ache, go ahead & prepare this, it gives relief in as early as 30 mins

Shunti Tambuli ( Ginger Tambuli)

This dish can be prepared in minutes & shunti (ginger) is available at home almost always!! So, prepare this whenever you are in a jiffy & cannot afford to spend more time cooking :)

Tambuli can be prepared like a thick curry by adding thick yogurt or could be prepared like rasam by adding buttermilk (blended yogurt). Choice is left to individuals. My mother prepares tambuli like chutney & my mom-in-law adds lot of butter milk & makes it like rasam.

Thought of adding few cooking tips from now on along with the recipes.

Tip Of The Day: If you have gastric problem, using raw green chilli could harm your stomach, hence always fry it in little oil for about 30 secs & then use green chillies.

Note down the ingredients & prepare it at your ease.
1.5 inch ginger ( roughly chopped)
1/2 tbsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 green chilli (optional)
3 tbsp grated coconut
1.5 cups buttermilk/curd/yogurt

For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 red chilli
1 pinch asafoetida
2 curry leaves

Method:

• Grind the coconut, ginger, green chilli & jeera to a smooth paste
• Add curd, salt to the paste & mix it well.
• In a small kadai, add oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add red chilli. asafoetida, curry leaves & add this tempering/tadka to the curd mixture.
  
• Tambuli is ready to be served.

Bhendi Saasime (Stir fried okra in mustard,coconut paste)

Very soothing side dish for people during summer. Saasime(some people call it saasive), hashi, methi tambli, are all said to have cooling effects on the body & helps one to fight summer temperatures. Hence, one of them will definitely feature in a 'hot day' menu in South Canara/Udupi.

As Singapore's climate is very similar to Mangalore/South Canara's weather, I prefer doing this atleast 2 times a week or sometimes more.

Here is one such saasime prepared using bendekayi/ladies finger.


6-8 thinly sliced bendekayi
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 big pinch turmeric
1 big pinch tamarind powder/amchur powder
1/2 cup curd
3 tbsp grated coconut(fresh/frozen)
1 green chilli
salt according to taste
1 tsp oil

Method:

• Add the oil to a broad kadai, when oil is hot, add jeera & urad dal.
• When urad dal becomes golden brown, add bendekayi (sliced), amchur powder & fry it in oil until crisp. Remove from flame & allow it to cool.
  

• Make a fine paste of grated coconut, green chilli, turmeric & mustard seeds.
• Add this paste, curd & salt to the cooled bendekayi. Bhendi saasime is ready to be served. It is a great side dish for rice & also for roti.
  

Note: For bhendi to be crispier, add the paste, curd & salt just before serving.

Sutta badane hashi (Smoked Brinjal Raitha)

There are umpteen dishes that could be prepared with smoked brinjal (sutta badane). Some of them being, baigan bartha, sutta badanekayi bajji etc. Here is one more interesting recipe using smoked brinjal.

To prepare this, I usually prefer Udupi Gulla (one of the brinjal varieties), but after leaving India, there was hardly any chance of getting it. So, I started preparing this with any kind of brinjal available. To know more about Udupi gulla, see this & also this.

This is easy to cook, yet tastier side dish for rice, pulav or chapathi/roti. As said by one of my friend, it tastes great with ragi mudde (finger millet balls) too :))



Ingredients:

1 brinjal
1-2 green chillies
2 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 cup curd/yogurt
1 tsp chopped cliantro/coriander leaves
salt according to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 curry leaves

Preparation:

• Wash & dry the brinjal. Smear a little oil throughout to the brinjal.
• Cook this brinjal over hot charcoal or gas flame or in a microwave for 3-5 minutes (The brinjal looks burnt from outside, but need not worry)
• Now, remove the outer skin of the brinjal & mash it thoroughly.
• Make a paste of grated coconut & green chilli using little water.
• Add this paste & salt to the mashed brinjal.
• Also, add curd to this.
• Prepare the tempering/oggarane. In a seperate pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves & add this tadka to the brinjal mixture.
• Garnish it with coriander. Sutta badane hashi is ready.

Note: Serve this hashi after 10 mins, as the sutta badane absorbs the curd & the coconut mixture. As said before, it goes well as a side dish for rice or can even be consumed as a raitha for any pulav prepared.

Basale Tambli

I got red spinach (kempu basale) from NTUC today to cook basale tambli. They say, kempu basale is a very effective medicine for curing mouth ulcers.

This tambli can be prepared using normal basale(malabar spinach) also. Tambli turned out very tasty, unfortunate that I had cold, I had to restrict myself from eating. My husband enjoyed this tambli. He even drank it after finishing the dinner ;)

Let's see the recipe for this tambli.

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch of kempu basale finely chopped (use only the leaves & discard the stem)
1.5 tablespoons of grated coconut
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1.5 cups of curd/yogurt ( buttermilk can also be used for this)
1 green chilli
1 tsp oil

For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
a pinch of hing
1 red chilli

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, when oil is hot, add jeera.
• When jeera becomes golden brown, add onions & saute for 45 secs. (Onions need not be sauted till golden brown)
• Add chopped basale(spinach) leaves to it & saute for 2 mins. No need to cook the leaves completely by adding water. Saute till the leaves become soft. Allow it cool.
• Make a paste of the spinach leaves (together with onion & jeera), coconut, green chilli by adding buttermilk/majjige/curd/yogurt
• Now add salt according to taste & add enough curd. The tambli should have the consistency of thick milkshake.
• Prepare the tadka/tempering. In a seperate pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add urad dal, red chilli, hing & add this tadka to the hashi prepared.
• Basale tambli is ready to be served.

Tamblis (various kinds) are consumed as an appetizer. If I try to recollect, festive food for the people from north canara, starts from tambli or appe huli & then followed by rasam/sambar.

Peas Pudina Pulav

Colorful, attractive pulav with a great aroma. What else do you need to relish?? You will enjoy eating every byte of it..

Conversation between myself and my hubby:
Me: Pulav is ready & I'm very hungry. Come we'll have our dinner. (Usually, we both have our dinner together :))
Hubby: I'm not hungry as I had snacks in the evening
Me: Okay, I'm hungry & will have my dinner. Will serve you later.
Hubby: Okay.

When I got the plate, he liked the aroma & the color of the pulav so much that.., his next statement was....

"nangu hakikodu, ootada kelsa mugidu hogli.." (English: Serve me also, I'll finish my dinner).
ha ha ha..

The pulav served its purpose of attracting people. My mother used to prepare this in a different method.., I made some modifications to suit our requirement & here it goes...

Ingredients:
2 cups pudina/mint leaves
1 cup green peas
3 green chillies
1 onion
1/2 inch ginger
1 pod garlic (I didn't add this as it is not my personal choice..)
1 tablespoon grated coconut.
2 cups basmati rice (even normal rice would do.., I added normal + basmati as I had less of later)
1.5 teaspoons garam masala
1 inch cinnamon (powdered)
1 star anise
2-3 cloves
1 cardamom
2-3 tablespoons butter or oil
4 cups water.
salt according to taste

For tempering/oggarane/tadka:
1 cup capsicum (cut into cubes.., it would become colorful, if all the 3 colors of capsicum are added.., I added green & yellow, as I didn't get red capsicum)
1 onion sliced
1 tablespoon oil

For garnishing:
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice(optional)

Method:

• Mix pudina, ginger, garlic, onion, chilli and grated coconut together and grind in a mixer to form a smooth paste (without adding much water)
  
• Soak the rice for 10 mins.
• In a pressure cooker or pan, heat oil/butter.
• When oil is hot add, cinnamon(powdered), cardamom, star anise, clove & fry for a minute.
• Now add the paste prepared & fry in oil until all the water evaporates.
• Add green peas & rice, when paste starts leaving oil from the sides.
• Mix the rice, green peas well with the paste & add garam masala, salt & water.
• Close the lid of the cooker & cook for 1 whistle.
• Now prepare the tadka in a seperate kadai(vessel), add oil & when oil is hot, add onions. When onions become translucent, add capsicum & fry for a minute.
• Add this tadka & lemon juice to the rice cooked
• Mix well and serve it hot with carrot raitha

Carrot raitha:
Mix finely chopped onions, tomatoes , grated carrot with curd (yogurt)
Add salt according to taste
Carrot raitha is ready :)