Oggarane Anna/Anna oggarane/Seasoned Rice

Back at home, left over rice is a rare thing to happen. Moms, aunts prepare exactly the needed amount of rice for the family. Even now at my mom's & in-laws place, keeping the rice in the fridge is considered sin! How can somebody eat stale food is what my mom & mom-in-law would always say.

However accidents did happen then & happen even now. Once in a blue moon when some cooked rice had to be carried for the next day, my mom made this anna oggarane. This would be her breakfast. She would not give the left over rice to her children or her husband. She used to cook normal breakfast for all of us & secretly prepare this for herself.

Over the years, we have seen her eating this oggarane anna once a while & we started demanding a portion of it. It is so delicious that you can never say "NO" to it. This simple seasoned rice is sure to woo your taste buds. I'm sure that this anna oggarane tradition is followed for many generations & I am doing my bit to continue it.Now my son loves to eat this anna oggarane whenever I make it.

Each & every household has its own anna oggarane recipe. I'm posting my mom's version today. Will come back again for my mom-in-law's recipe some other day!

Cooking time: 5 mins
Preparation time: 5 mins

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
Left over cooked rice: Around 3 cups
Salt: According to taste
Sugar: A big pinch, optional

For seasoning:
Oil: 1 tbsp
Onion/erulli: 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Green chili/hasi menasu: 2-3 nos
Curry leaves/karibebu: 6 nos
Mustard seeds/saasive: 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeerige: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal/Skinned black lentils/uddina bele: 2 tsp
Gram dal/Channa dal/kadalebele: 2 tsp
Peanuts/kadale beeja: 2 tsp, optional (my mom doesn't add this)

Method:

• Break the lumps in the rice & keep them aside.
• Heat oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, add mustard & cumin seeds. When seeds begin to crackle add the dals & peanuts. Cook until the dals turn golden brown & peanuts begin to crackle.
• Add the green chili, curry leaves & chopped onion. Cook till the onion become translucent. Do not brown the onion.
• Add the rice, salt & sugar. Mix well & turn off the heat.
• Serve it warm with a pickle or papad of your choice.

Notes:

• Unlike the normal pulao or bath dishes, this dish do not call for rice grains separated & fluffy. A little mushy rice makes this dish more tasty!
• You could add grated carrots, finely chopped capsicum too.
• Garnishing with coriander leaves will give a nice aroma to this dish.
• I do not add grated coconut or lemon juice to this dish as I feel they over power the seasoning.

Corn Sandwich: Beginner series

Another quick breakfast or a evening snack recipe. You could make it for your dinner too!

Adapted from here.
Ingredients: (For around 3 sandwiches)
Sandwich bread: 6 slices
Sweet corn: 1 cup, fresh or frozen
Jalapeño peppers*: 1 tbsp, finely chopped (adjust according to your family needs)
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp, finely chopped
Mayo/Mayonnaise garlic**: 1tbsp
Salt: According to taste
Pepper powder: 1/4 tsp
Butter: 1 tsp, for each toast

* Jalapeño peppers could be replaced with capsicum. If you want the sandwich spicy, add finely chopped green chili + capsicum to it.
** The mayonnaise I use has garlic in it. If you have plain mayo without garlic, add a pod of minced garlic to it or just use plain mayo. 

Method:

• Boil the sweet corn & drain the water.Allow the corn to cool.
• Add the mayo, salt, jalapeño peppers, coriander leaves, pepper & mix them well.

• Keep the mixture in the fridge for 10-15mins.
• Smear the butter on both the sides of the bread (Repeat it for all the breads)

• Scoop out a tablespoon of the corn mixture & spread the corn mixture over the bread evenly. 

• Cover the corn mixture with another bread. 

• Toast both the sides of the sandwich on a low heat over a griddle/tava/pan, toaster or griller.

• Cut them into 2 & serve them hot with a dip of your choice. 

Notes:

• Mayo or mayonnaise is easily available in most of the supermarkets in India. I use eggless mayo. 
• The measurement mentioned above is just a reference. You could alter it according to your preference. 
• Other vegetables like mashed potato, chopped tomato, shredded cauliflower, grated paneer/Indian cottage cheese could also be added to this. 

Other sandwich recipes in Savi-Ruchi:

Grilled sandwich

Baby corn-capsicum sandwich in Mumbai style

Open semolina sandwich

Grilled cheese tomato sandwich

Coconut Shavige/Coconut Sevai

Whenever akki shavige/rice noodles were prepared at home, my mom used to prepare two types of savory dishes out of it. I have blogged about the first one, shavige oggarane. Here comes the second, a mildly spiced akki shavige oggarane.

This dish is a little similar to tuppanna(Ghee Rice - recipe coming soon) & is a perfect dish for a festive day(Because it has no onion & garlic!!)

Serves: 3-4
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
Rice noodles: 200gms
Water: about 1.5 liters
Salt: As needed

For tempering:
Oil: 1.5 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2tsp
Urad dal: 2 tsp
Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp, slit (mom uses peanuts)
Green chilies: 4 nos, more or less (chopped)
Curry leaves: 2 strings, about 10-15 nos
Asafoetida: a big pinch
Grated coconut: 1/2 cup, fresh
Salt: as needed

Method:

• Cook the rice noodles as per the package instructions. Normally rice noodles is cooked in heavily salted boiling water for 3-4mins. When noodles become soft, turn off the heat & let the noodles sit in hot water for another minute.
• Drain the noodles & run the noodles under cold water. Break the noodles into manageable size.
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a broad wok. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When seeds begin to pop, add urad dal & saute till the dal turns golden. Throw in the cashews & saute. 
• Add the curry leaves, green chilies. Let the curry leaves become crisp. 
• Add the asafoetida, grated coconut & saute the coconut until it leaves out a nice aroma (take care not to brown the coconut). Saute for a maximum of 1 min. 
• Finally add the cooked rice noodles, adjust the seasoning & mix well. 
• Turn off the heat. 
• Serve it warm with a chutney of your choice.

Notes:

• Traditionally this dish is prepared using home made rice noodles/akki shavige. 
• For better results, try to use good quality fresh coconut. 
• Do not saute the coconut for  long !
• Cashew nuts could be replaced with peanuts. 

Broccoli ka kheema/Minced broccoli with Indian spices

These days, I am experimenting more with broccoli recipes with Indian spices. This is a very simple, subtle & a crunchy dish that goes well with rice. This is unlike the normal gobi kheema recipe that uses tomato puree. I make this often for weekday lunch. My son relishes this dish with some ghee & rice. I coined the name broccoli ka kheema, could not think of a better one :)

Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 5-7mins

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
Broccoli: 2 cups, shredded
Garlic: 3 pods, minced
Spice powder: 1.5 tsp (I used this spice powder. Infact you could use any spice powder of your choice)
Red chilli powder: 1/2tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp
Nigella seeds/Kalonji: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Salt: According to taste
Lemon juice: 1 tsp, optional
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Method:

• Shred the broccoli. I let my chopper do it for me!
• Heat oil in a broad skillet. When oil is hot, add kalonji & cumin seeds. When seeds leave out a nice aroma, add the garlic & saute till the garlic turns golden.
• Throw in the shredded broccoli & mix.
• Add the salt, spice powder, red chilli powder & cook it on a medium heat for 3-5mins. Keep stirring in between. 
• After the broccoli is cooked, increase the heat to high-medium & keep stirring continuously for 2-3mins. This step will ensure to remove all the moisture from the broccoli & make it crisp & crunchy.
• Turn off the heat. Add lemon juice & coriander leaves. Mix well & serve it as a side dish for rice.

Notes: 

• Do not get tempted to sprinkle water, we need this dish crunchy! 
• I have tried this dish with variety of spice powders including sambar powder. Some spice powders that could be tried are kitchen king masala, pulao masala, sambar powder, curry powder. 
• You could even mix the spice powder, oil, garlic, broccoli & roast it in the oven! I will try it next time & update the result here. 

Vegetable & Oats Porridge: For a healthier you

Here is the recipe for one of my usual morning breakfast. I make them for myself at least once a week.

Preparation time: 2-3mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients: (Serves a hungry human!)

Quick cook oats: 3/4th cup

Mixed vegetables: 3/4th cup, shredded or finely chopped.

Water: 2 cups

Salt: a pinch, more or less

Pepper powder: a pinch

Parmesan cheese: 1 tsp, optional

Method:

In a saucepan, boil the water along with the shredded vegetables.When water starts boiling add the salt.

Throw in the oats & cook on a medium heat for 2-3mins.

Turn off the heat, add the pepper, Parmesan cheese & mix well.

Enjoy your porridge.

Notes:

• I have used vegetables like broccoli, carrot, french beans, cauliflower, potato to prepare this porridge. You could add any vegetable you have. Ensure to chop it really fine. If you could mince them, there is nothing like it!
• Oats are easily available in India too. I am not sure about the small towns, but in big cities, you will easily find them. 

Few other interesting savory oats porridge recipes could be found here.

Prathibha's savory oats porridge. I love this recipe of hers.

Raks kitchen: Oats savory porridge. Yet to try this. Will try soon. 

Mashed broccoli & cottage cheese/Broccoli-paneer burji

I love broccoli where as my family prefers to avoid it. Hence I try to hide this vegetable. One trick that always work for me is to mix it with the vegetable that they absolutely love. I tweaked the Paneer Burji recipe by adding loads of my favorite spices. This gets done very fast & is a great side dish for phulkas or plain paratha (whole wheat Indian bread).

Bland paneer & broccoli becomes very flavorful with this spice powder & tastes great.The spice powder mentioned below comes handy while preparing many dishes.

Ingredients:
Paneer/Indian cottage cheese: 1.5 cups, grated
Broccoli: 2 cups, shred
Green peas: a fistfsul, fresh or frozen (optional)
Oil: 1 tbsp
Garlic: 2 pods, minced
Onion: 1, med sized, finely chopped
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Kalonji/Nigella: 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder: 1/2 tsp, optional
Spice powder: 1 tbsp, refer below for the ingredients.
Salt: According to taste
Lemon juice: 1/2 tsp, optional.
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp, finely chopped

For spice powder:
Fennel seeds: 1 tsp
Coriander seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Garam masala: 1 tsp
Amchur powder: a big pinch

Method: 
Spice powder:
Dry roast the fennel seeds, cumin seeds & coriander seeds. Allow them to cool. Make a fine powder of the dry roasted seeds. Scoop out the powder & mix the garam masala, red chili powder, amchur powder. Store this powder in a air-tight container. You could use this spice powder to make several types of stir-fry/sabzi or curry.

For burji:

• Wash the broccoli. Drain it in a kitchen towel & shred/grate the broccoli.
• Grate or mash the paneer. 
• Heat oil in a broad wok/pan. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When seeds turn golden brown, add kalonji. Saute for 10secs. Throw in the garlic & saute till garlic turn golden. 
• Add the onion & saute till the onions sweat (around 2-3 mins).
• Add the shred broccoli, green peas to the oil & saute for 2-3mins.
• Add the paneer, salt, spice powder, extra red chili powder & mix well. 
• Cook the mixture on a medium flame for 5-7mins. Turn off the heat.
• Add lemon juice, coriander leaves & mix.
• Serve it hot with a bread of your choice.

Notes:

The measurement mentioned for broccoli & paneer in this recipe is completely your choice. Adjust according to what you have at hand. 

Starfruit appehuli saaru/Starfruit rasam

I see star-fruits in almost all the veggie shops, supermarkets here. I always loved the looks of the beautiful fruit. I even got a couple of them home & ripped them apart. Aiyyo!, looks deceived me & my taste-buds said not a bite more!! That ended my love with this lovely fruit until I saw the recipe from Mangala. I love her blog because of the authentic Havyaka Brahmin (a community of Karnataka) dishes. I love her recipes & the drool worthy pictures.

Rough translation of appehuli, is a kind of rasam/soup that is sour, spicy & sweet. It is served as an appetizer in the Havyaka community. The vegetable/fruit used for making this soup needs to have a strong sourness factor. Most common vegetable/fruit used for making appehuli are mango (a different variety of mango grown in Malnad/coastal region of Karnataka is used), amtekayi (Sorry, I do not have much info about it) & lemon/lime.

When I first saw the recipe in her blog, I was not very convinced to try them. But knowing the fact that Mangala must have grown up eating them & also for my crazy love towards appehuli made me try it.  I loved them so much that I prepared them 2 times in the same week! I have been making them ever since for my lonely lunches. You can have it as a soup too. I bet you will serve yourself more rice to have this heavenly saaru. 

Serves 2-3 

Ingredients: 

Starfruit: 1 no, a greener one* (around 150gms)

Water: Around 2 cups

Salt: As needed

Jaggery: 1 tsp

Thai red chilies: 2 nos, more or less**

For tempering:

Coconut oil: 1 tsp

Curry leaves: 4-5 nos

Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp

Garlic: 2 cloves, crushed or finely chopped

*Star fruit is green when raw & as it ripens it turns yellow. Look for a greener starfruit for this dish as raw ones are comparatively sour than the ripened. Have a look below.

** Thai red chilies are very spicy, adjust accordingly. 

Method:

• Cut the starfruit into big chunks. Add water, salt, jaggery, Thai red chilies & starfruit to a saucepan/vessel.
• Boil until the starfruit is cooked properly. It would be perfect if you slightly overcook the fruit.
• Allow it to cool. Take out the cooked starfruit chunks from the cooked water. Mash the chunks, chili using a hand mixer or a masher. You could put it in the food processor too. Add the mashed fruit paste to the cooked water. Adjust the seasoning & mix well. 
• Prepare the tempering. Heat oil. When oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When seeds pop, add garlic & saute till nice golden brown. Add the curry leaves & turn off the heat.
• Pour the tempering over the appehuli. Mix well & serve warm/cold. 

Btw, you may also want to have a look at Mango appehuli recipe.