Recipe world

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ

Cucumber is one of those vegetables which is widely used in Indian cooking. Its summer here, and we are making a good use of cucumbers. My cooking style goes more towards my native style food when its summer; we enjoy preparing and eating native style curries like Hashi, Tambli, etc which are mainly yogurt based. But when the winter starts, we prefer more of soups, chapathi and curries.

Hashi or Saasive is a yogurt and coconut based curry which is a good combination with rice. We Havyakas can prepare Hashi or Saasive using almost every variety of vegetables and edible leaves.

Today, I am going to share the recipe of Savatekayi Hashi (Sasive) with you all. When we were school age kids, we cousins were all very keen to watch how Amma / Aunty / Grandma chop the cucumber so finely using 'Ilige mane' or coconut scraper. We all loved that aroma which comes when the cucumber is chopped finely. And, we used to wait for that small leftover pieces of cucumber which they give at the end!

Below is the recipe of Soutekayi (Savatekayi) Hashi for you all..

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves - 5
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Finely chopped cucumber - 1 cup (see Tips)
Fresh grated coconut (or frozen) - 1 to 1 1/4 cup
Fresh curd - 1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Water - about 1 cup (approx)

For Seasoning: Cooking oil - 2 1/2 tsp, Dried red chilli - 2 small pieces, Urid dal - 1 tsp, Till seeds - 1 tsp, Sesame seeds - 1 tsp, Asafoetida (hing) - a pinch, green chilly - 1

Recipe Instructions:

Grind the grated coconut into a thick, fine paste by adding around half a cup of water. Transfer it into a bowl.
Cut the green chillies and keep it ready for seasoning.
Heat a thick bottom pan for seasoning. To this, add around 2.5 tea spoon of oil. Once its heated, add red chilli pieces and 1 tsp urid dal. Saute it for half a minute and add 1 tsp till seeds, 1 tsp sesame seeds followed by a pinch of hing.
When the sesame seeds start crackling, add the green chilly pieces and sauté it for 1 - 2 minutes and turn off the flame. To this seasoning, add the finely chopped cucumber when the pan is still hot. Mix it once, and transfer this mixture into bowl where we kept the coconut paste.
Crush the chilli pieces using a spoon or using your fingertips (if its not too hot). Add 1.5 cups of curd, 1/2 tsp sugar and salt to taste.
Mix everything well, check and adjust the taste. If the mixture is too thick, you can add a few spoons of water to adjust the consistency.
Enjoy this Hashi along with rice and pickle.

Tips:

If you are using the young cucumbers no need to take off the peel while chopping.
Fully grown cucumbers are not good for this recipe. I normally use lebanese cucumbers for this.
Pull chopper comes in very handy to chop the cucumber finely.
Some varieties of cucumbers comes with a bitter taste. Hence, make sure to taste a small piece before you proceed with the preparation.
For that authentic taste, I prefer using coconut oil for the seasoning.

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ

Healthy food habits are good for everyone. Our daily food intake should have a balanced portion of pulses, dairy, fruits, nuts and other things. Being hard core vegetarians, I always try to serve the best food for my family.

Today, I am sharing a healthy recipe with you all. These Energy Balls are so delicious to eat, and comes very handy while you are on a trip, hiking, sports activity and also for kids snacks. I have not used any nuts in this recipe since my kids love to carry them for school snacks, and nuts are not allowed in school. You can use any combination of dried fruits and nuts for this recipe.

Preparation time: 20 - 25 minutes

Difficulty level: Medium

Yield: Around 23 balls of medium size

Ingredients:

Oats: 1 cup
Desiccated coconut: 1/2 cup
Pitted dates: 2 1/2 cup
Chia seeds: 4 tbsp
Cocoa powder: 2 tbsp
Orange zest: 1 tbsp
Coconut oil: 2 tbsp

Recipe Instructions:

Take the oats and make a coarse powder using a mixie or food processor.
Lightly roast the coarsely powdered oats, desiccated coconut and chia seeds separately and allow to cool. Each one would take a few minutes to turn aromatic.
Roughly chop the pitted dates and transfer it to mixie jar or food processor. Blend the dates till it turns into a sticky mixture.
Add all the remaining ingredients to the dates mixture in 2 - 3 stages and run the mixie or food processor till everything blends well. I have used the 'whip' setting in the mixie to do this.
Take small portions of dough, and shape them into balls of desired size.
Transfer the Energy balls into an air tight container. They stay well at room temperature for 4 - 5 days. Or, you can store them in the refrigerator for 2 - 3 weeks.

Tips:

Replace the ingredients with dried fruits and nuts of your choice.

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ.

Zucchini - this vegetable was originated from Italy and is popular in many countries. Look-wise its like cucumber, but tastes like ridge-gourd. Since zucchini won't have any strong taste or smell, it goes well with many other veggies in cooking.

It was during our initial days in Australia. Dear hubby had brought home a big box full of Zucchini, thinking they were cucumbers! I had no clue how to use zucchini in cooking. I had to look for zucchini recipes over the net, tried using using it in my style of dishes too. Finally, the box got over without wasting too much of them 😅 But now, I love to use zucchini in my day-to-day cooking and kids enjoy eating them. Zucchini is the most common veggie in our grocery list these days.

Today, I am sharing the South Indian style Akki Rotti recipe (Rice flour roti) using zucchini. Do try this recipe for your breakfast or dinner.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 - 40 minutes
Difficulty level: Medium
Serves: 7 pieces

Ingredients:

Medium sized Zucchini - 1 (or grated zucchini 1 1/4 cup)
Onion - 1 (medium size)
Green chillies - 2 or 3 (adjust according to taste - see tips)
Capsicum - 1
Curry leaves - 10 to 12
Fresh ginger - 1/2 inch
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Rice flour - 2 1/2 cup (approx)

Recipe Instructions:

Grate the zucchini and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Finely chop the onion and mix with grated zucchini. My pull chopper is very helpful to chop the onion finely.
Add finely chopped capsicum, crushed ginger and finely chopped curry leaves to the zucchini mixture.
Crush the green chillies or make them into a paste and add to the veggie mix.
Add 1/2 tsp of sugar and salt for taste. Also add 2 table spoons of curd and combine everything well. Leave it for 10 minutes, if you have time. Water content in the veggies will come out and it helps to mix the dough without adding any extra water.
Add the flour in small batches to the veggie mix and keep mixing. Add the flour till you reach the soft, non sticky dough consistency.
Grease a plantain leaf or a non-sticky sheet with 1 - 2 tea spoons of oil.
Take a lemon size of dough, pat it thinly into a circle on the greased sheet using your finger tips. Make a hole in the middle of the dough circle (See tips).
Transfer it carefully onto the heated tava and cook on medium or low flame. Add a spoonful of oil or butter while cooking. More the oil or butter, more tastier the Rotis are.
Cook it on both the sides till you see brownish spots. If you like the Rotti to be crispy, cook it on low flame for a little longer time.
Serve the hot Roti along with butter or coconut chutney!

Tips:

Green chillies can be replaced with red chilli powder.
If you don't have plantain leaf or non-sticky sheet handy, just grease the tava when its not yet hot, and pat the dough on the tava directly and cook it.

Balekai or plantain is one of our family favourite vegetables. We get raw banana or plantains once in a while in the Indian grocery stores here. We love different dishes made using plantains in our native style.

I had brought raw bananas after a long time during my recent grocery shopping. My daughter requested to prepare Banana chips since its her all time favourite. Hence, I had to make some Banana / Plantain Chips for her. One dish we never want to miss is Plantain Palya / Poriyal / Fry / Thoran.

Here is the recipe of Havyaka Style Balekayi / Plantain Palya for you all!

Preparation time: 20 -25 minutes
Difficulty level: Medium
Serves: 4 - 5

Ingredients:

Medium sized plantains - 3
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp (fresh / frozen or desiccated coconut)
Green chilli - 1 (according to taste)
Salt - to taste
Sugar - big pinch
Lime squeeze - 2 tbsp or to taste
Curry leaves - 1 string
Dry red chilli - 1 inch piece
Urid dal - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Hing / Asafoetida - generous pinch
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 1/2 tbsp (use Coconut oil for authentic Havyaka taste)
Water - 4 to 5 cups (to cook the bananas)

Recipe Instructions:

Heat 4 - 5 cups of water in a pan. Add 2 - 3 drops of oil to avoid stickiness. Once the water is hot enough, add the whole plantains and cook for 8 - 10 minutes or till they are nearly cooked, but still firm. Once cooked, their skin will turn darker brown and plantains will be a bit soft than before.
Take out the cooked plantains and allow them to cool.
Peel the skin and grate the plantains using a grater.
Take the grated plantains in a mixing bowl. Add grated coconut, salt, sugar and lime juice for taste.
Heat 2 1/2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottom pan for seasoning. Once the oil is hot, add red chilli, urid dal, mustard seeds and hing. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add turmeric powder, slit green chillies and curry leaves. Sauté it for half a minute.
Add grated plantain to the seasoning and mix it well. Close the lid half way and cook it for 5 more minutes.
Serve it as a side dish with Rice, Sambar and Curd.

Tips:

While cooking, if the plantains became softer than required, wash them in cold water immediately. This will avoid them from becoming smoother again.
Lime squeeze can be replaced with Aamchur powder / Hulipudi.

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ

We do prepare varieties of sweet dishes using different vegetables. Beetroot Burfi is one of those delicious sweets which I frequently prepare. My kids love to eat non - sticky sweets. This colourful burfi tastes divine and is the perfect Indian sweet for any occation!

Below is the recipe of Beetroot Burfi / Beetroot Barfi for you all..

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Difficulty level: difficult

Yield: 12 pieces

Ingredients:

Grated beetroot - 1 cup
Grated coconut (fresh / frozen) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee / clarified butter - 3 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Recipe Instructions:

Pulse the grated coconut in a mixie or blender for a few seconds to make it evenly course.
Take a heavy bottom pan. Mix 2 tbsp of ghee and grated beetroot on medium flame for about 2 minutes or till the raw smell is gone.
Add grated coconut and sugar to this mixture and keep mixing on medium flame till it thickens. It took me around 30 minutes to achieve this stage. If the quantity is more, you may need a bit more time.
When the mixture starts leaving the sides and becomes like a lump, add a tablespoon of ghee and cook for a few more minutes.
Once it starts leaving the vessel and it feel very hard to stir the mixture, its time to add cardamom powder.
Spread the mixture evenly on a greased plate and cut into desired shapes when it's warm.
Allow it to cool completely and enjoy the sweet burfi!

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ