Recipe world

Dosa is one of the most common breakfast item in South India. South Indian people are good at making varieties of dosas. In rural places like my native, they prepare dosas using different vegetables which are available locally. Colocasia Stems Dosa or Kesuvina Dantina Dose is one such dosas which will be prepared mainly after the rainy season has started when plenty of colocasia plants are grown in the backyard. Colocasia Dosa is the main dish for Gangashtami festival, which will be celebrated at my native place.

Here in Australia, sometimes we will get colocasia plants in the farmers markets. When we buy them, I would love to prepare my native style dishes using them. One of them is Colocasia Stems Dosa or Kesuvina Dantina Dose. Do try this sweet dosa and enjoy eating them with butter!

Time required: 15 minutes

Soaking/fermentation time: 4 - 5 hours

Difficulty level: Medium

Yield: 10 - 11 dosas

Ingredients:

Rice - 3 cups (1 cup = 110 gm)
Colocasia Stems chopped into medium size pieces - 7 to 8 cups
Jaggery - 1/2 cup or for sweetness
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the rice and soak it in water for 2 - 3 hours.
Transfer the chopped Colocasia Stems into a vessel. Add salt and jaggery for taste and cook it covered on low flame till soft. Don't add any water, the water content in the Colocasia Stems will be sufficient to cook them.
Once the cooked mixture cools down, mix it with drained rice and grind them into fine paste. No need to add any water while making the batter coz the cooked mixture will be watery which helps to make a smooth batter.
Allow the batter to set for 1 - 2 hours before making dosas.
Heat the dosa pan. Pour a ladle full of batter and gently spread it into a semi-thick circle. Pour few drops of oil and cook it on both the sides.
Enjoy them hot with some butter on the top!

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Besan Ladoo is one among those famous sweets which are prepared during special occasions in India. In my home, we three are huge fans of these delicious sweet balls. Being made of besan flour along with generous amount of ghee, sugar, dry fruit and nuts, its good for health too.
Below is the recipe of Besan Ladoo, try them and enjoy with your loved ones!

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Yield: 8 Ladoos
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Besan flour / Gram flour - 2 cups (1 cup= 125 gm)
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee / clarified butter - 3/4 cup minus 1 tbsp
Cardamom / Elachi powder - 1 tsp (See Tips)
Raisins - 15
Broken cashews - 2 tbsp

Method:

Combine besan flour and ghee in a heavy bottom pan and keep stirring it on low flame till nice aroma comes.
When the flour is toasted half - way, add raisins and broken cashews and continue toasting. Otherwise, you can toast them separately with few drops of ghee and mix with the flour after its toasted.
Take the sugar and make a fine powder out of it.
Allow the toasted flour to cool down for a while till it becomes lukewarm. Add powdered sugar and cardamom powder. Mix it well.
Make equal sized balls from the mixture. Store them in an air tight container.

Tips:

If you add more ghee to this recipe, mixture will become very soft and the ladoos won't hold the shape. In such cases, you can refrigerate the ladoos for around 15 - 20 minutes immediately after preparing them.
If cardamom powder is not there, mix the cardamom seeds along with sugar while powdering it.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Its the summer season in India now. We were on a vacation to India last month. Since the mango season has started, we enjoyed eating varieties of mangoes there. In my home, everyday we were having one or the other dish prepared from mango for the lunch.

Ripened mangoes are also good for preparing few types of curries like Neer Gojju, Sasive, etc. We get a wild mango variety called 'Sasive Maavu' at our place which has a sweet and sour taste. It is good for preparing curries like Saasive and Neer Gojju. I am sharing the recipe of Mango Neergojju with you all today. Try this simple and tasty curry before the mango season ends!

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves - 4

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

Saasive mango / wild mangoes - 5 to 6
Liquid jaggery (Joni bella) - 7 tbsp or to taste
Salt - 1 1/4 tsp or to taste
Water - 2 cups

For tempering: Oil - 3 tsp, Dry red chilli- 1, Urid dal - 1 tsp, Mustard seeds - 1 1/4 tsp, Asafoetida / Hing - a pinch, Green chilli - 1, Curry leaves - 4 or 5

Method:

Wash the mangoes cleanly. Peel off the green skin and put them in a mixing bowl.
Add salt and jaggery to the mangoes and squeeze the mangoes nicely. Add water and leave it for ten minutes. Check and adjust the taste.
Heat oil in a small wok. Add red chilli pieces, urid dal, mustard seeds and asafoetida. Once the mustard seeds start crackling, add curry leaves and slit green chilli. Saute it for a minute and switch off the flame.
Add the seasoning to the mango mixture and mix it nicely.
Serve this sweet - sour curry along with rice!

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Amla or Indian Gooseberry is well known in Ayurveda because of its medicinal values. It is told that eating one Gooseberry daily is good for our health. Gooseberry is commonly used in varieties of pickles, murabba, squash, chyavan prash, chutney, tambli, etc. Gooseberry is good for keeping the hair and skin healthy. For all the stomach related problems, gooseberry is a good remedy.
During our school days, we used to pick fresh gooseberries when its the season and were dipping them in water with added salt and crushed hot chillies. They taste very good and we enjoyed eating them daily.
One of my friends was asking me couple of months back to share the recipe of Gooseberry Pickle. I prepared the pickle and clicked the picks to share, but didn't get time to share! Now, after coming back from my India trip, I am sharing the recipe of Gooseberry Pickle with you all. Do try this pickle when you get gooseberries next time and share your feedback!

Preparation time: 35 - 40 minutes
Difficulty level: Medium
Yield: 400 to 450 gm pickle (approx)

Ingredients:

Indian Gooseberry / Amla - 340 gm (14 - 15 large gooseberries)
Water - 2 cups (1 cup = 180 ml)
Salt - 10 tbsp or as needed
Asafoetida / hing - 1/2 tsp
Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 3 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 6 tbsp (or as needed)
Lemon - 1 large

For tempering: Oil - 5 tbsp, Mustard seeds - 1 tsp, Asafoetida - big pinch

Method:

Take 2 cups of water, add around 4 table spoon of salt to it. Bring it to boil. After its boiled for 4 - 5 minutes, add gooseberries. Cook them for 4 - 5 minutes and switch off the flame. Close the lid and allow to cool.
Dry roast cumin seeds, mustard seeds and asafoetida till aromatic. Add turmeric powder and switch off the flame. Make it a fine powder along with 2 tbsp of salt.
When the gooseberries are cool, cut them and separate the seeds. Don't discard the salt water.
Take the gooseberry pieces in a mixing bowl. Add the pickle masala powder you prepared before. Add red chilli powder as required. Add around 7 tbsp of salt water to adjust the consistency. Also add lime squeeze and mix it nicely. Check and adjust the taste.
Heat oil in a wok. Temper with mustard seeds and asafoetida. Once it cools down, mix it with the pickle.
Enjoy the tasty pickle with rice and curd!

Tips:

If fresh gooseberries are not available, you can you frozen ones! I have used frozen gooseberries here.

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

Its the peak summer here..hot days makes us feel tired all the time. Drinking plenty of water and other cool drinks will give some kind of relief. Since its too hot outside, we prefer having more of juice and milkshakes these days instead of tea and coffee. These home made cool drinks are good for our health more than tea and coffee!

My daughter is a big fan of strawberries these days. Whenever we insist her to have some fruits, she demands for strawberries! So whenever I have more strawberries in the fridge, I will preserve some in the freezer for her emergency needs! And sometimes, those fruits will be used to prepare delicious milkshakes just like this!