Bonda Soup

Bonda is a South Indian word for any snack that is round in shape and deep fried. To give an example, the famous Medhu Vada, is actually a “Bonda with a hole”!

The ‘Bonda Soup” is a specialty of Karnataka. I have been told that it is a delicacy of North Karnataka. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Few restaurants in Bangalore have this tasty snack on their menu. I have eaten this in one of the restaurants in Bangalore and found it to be very delicious. The Bonda is actually our “Biscut Aambado” (Konkani word for Medhu Vada) and the soup is our good old “Daali-Thoy”; except that the soup is made a little watery and instead of asafetida, ginger is used.

 

Bonda Soup

Ingredients for Bonda

Udad Dal (split black gram dal)	1 cup
Green chilies (chopped)	2
Curry leaves only (chopped)	3-4 sprigs
Fresh Coconut gratings/pieces	2 tbsps
Asafoetida	½ tsp
Salt	As per taste
Oil	For deep frying
Water (for dipping fingers)	1 small bowl

Method :

Bonda Batter

1. Wash and soak the udad dal for about 3 hours.
2. Then drain the water and grind them to a fine paste preferably without adding any water.  A little water may be added for the mixie to run.
3. Place the ground batter in a bowl. To this add the green chilies, curry leaves, grated/small pieces of fresh coconut, asafetida and salt. Mix well and keep it aside.
4. In a kadai or a deep frying pan, heat oil till it is hot and then lower the flame to medium.
5. First wet your fingers in a bowl of water and take a small quantity of the above prepared mixture and drop them gently in the hot oil.
6. At a time, drop about 6 -7 bondas (depending upon the size of your kadai) in the hot oil.
7. If the batter is ground well, the bondas will float on top within a few seconds. Fry them till they are golden brown in colour.
8.  Then remove them with a slotted spoon.
9. Continue in this manner for the remaining batter.

Ingredients for Soup

Toor Dal	¾ cup
Moong Dal	¼ cup
Green chilies (slit)	2
Ginger (chopped)	½ inch piece
Tomatoes (medium) chopped	2
Lime juice	2tsps
Salt	As per taste
Coriander leaves (chopped)	2 tbsps
Seasoning Ingredients:
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Dry red chilies	1-2
Curry leaves	1-2 sprigs

Method:

1. Wash the Toor Dal and Moong Dal together and cook them in a pressure cooker for 12 mins.
2. Remove the cooked dals from the cooker and place it in a saucepan and mash well.
3. Add about 2-3 cups of water, slit green chillies, chopped tomatoes, chopped ginger and salt and bring it to a boil. Lower the flame and let it simmer for a few minutes.
4. In a small pan, add oil and then add the seasoning ingredients (mustard seeds and dry red chilies) and when the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the curry leaves. Remove from the flame and immediately pour it over the cooked dal.
5. Mix well and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and lime juice.
6. Serve hot.

Makes: 24 Bondas

Bondas

Close-up of  Bondas

  
Soup

How to serve:

Bond Soup

• While serving, place the bondas and the soup in two separate bowls.
• Just before eating, dunk bonda in the soup.

Note:

• Grind the batter till its smooth and a few bubbles come on top. The crispiness of the bondas is directly proportional to the smoothness and fluffiness of the ground batter.
• For the soup, I added moong dal too. You may omit it if you so desire.

Safari - Part II – Nagarhole

Nagarhole is about 11/2 hours drive from Kabini. It is also a wild life Sanctuary. Here, it is said that the sighting of elephants is guaranteed. We were really lucky enough to sight five elephants (three on one side of the road and two on the other) late in the day. But our luck seem to have disappeared suddenly. Cause, at that precise moment, my camera displayed “Battery empty”. And as though this was not enough, my husband’s camera was displaying “use the flash” and he dare not use “the flash” as the elephants were pretty close (to our jeep) for comfort and the sudden use of flash may annoy them and they could come charging.

My husband somehow managed to click a Tusker (who was camera shy) a little earlier in the day.

I however, had to be satisfied with the pictures of flora on the following day after the batteries were recharged. Fortunately the place where we stayed (King’s Sanctuary) was fantastic with a lot of greenery and exotic plants and flowers. I am sharing these with you.

The sight that greeted us when we entered the gates of King's Sanctuary

   Tusker - picture borrowed from my husband

Crested Serpent Eagle - Picture borrowed from my husband

 Bird of Paradise

Heliconia (Lobster Claw)

Safari - Part I - Kabini

Hi ! Friends – Last month (May 2011) was quite busy in the sense that a lot of family functions were lined up and as you all know during these times, relatives meet after a long gap and naturally after the event is over generally we tend to spend whatever time left to get together and make the most of it.

So, this time too, we (me & my hubby) along with my cousin’s family planned a short trip to Kabini, Nagarhole and Coorg.

We just returned from this wonderful vacation and came back rejuvenated. We have always loved the nature and wild life. The greenery is amazing and the natural beauty of these places is something to cherish especially after a few showers.

In this post I would like to share the wild life that we spotted during our safaris (jeep as well as boat) in Kabini. We spotted so many birds that it is difficult to upload all the pictures.

We were greeted by this heavenly sight at the Kabini Jungle Lodges and Resorts.

 

Mom & Baby  - I borrowed this picture from my husband 

Spot Billed Duck

Night Heron - Isn't he cute?

Grey Heron - Picture borrowed from my husband

Apart from these animals and birds, we also saw sloth bear (unfortunately no picture), Gaur (Indian Bison), wild boar, Ibis (both black as well as white), egrets (little  as well as great egret), Osprey (Migratory bird from Scotland), peacock, cormorants, kingfisher, painted stork, open billed stork etc.

 Watch out for the Part II of Safari at Nagarhole

Ratha Utsav (Teru) in Katapdy, Udupi District

We just returned from Katapady (our village in Udupi District) after witnessing the annual Ratha Utsav or "Teru" in Konkani language. This year it was from 19^th Jan 2010 to 25^th Jan 2010.

"Teru" is a very big event in the village for the GSB (Gowd Saraswath Brahmin) community and everybody looks forward for this festival.

It was a very interesting experience for me and since we were there from start to finish, I managed to take a few photographs (though not very great ! ) and decided to write about it. My husband helped me with the details.

This Utsav is annually held in the month of “Maagha” i.e. in the month of Jan/Feb from “Chavati” to “Dashami” – a total of seven days.

The 1^st day is called “Ankuraarpan” which means offering seeds for germination to the God.

The 2^nd day is called “Dhwaja-Aarohan” meaning, hoisting of the (Garuda) flag. On this day, all the activities (from morning to evening) in the Venkatramana Temple is performed by the Raikar Kamath Family Trust (our family has formed this trust about 25 years ago) located at Doddamane Katapady.

Dhwaja Sthamba

Dhwaja Aarohana

The activities begin in the morning (around 10.00 am) with the puja to the “Garuda Pratima” on the silver plaque which is hoisted on the Dhwaja-Sthambha (located in front of all the temples) accompanied by the beating of drums to variety of musical instruments.

Vegetable cutting in progress

People then gather for community service like cutting of vegetables, coconut scraping etc for preparing the “Annasantharpane” i.e. partaking of meals with the entire community – also called “Mahaprasad”. A light breakfast is served for all the volunteers involved in this activity.

My sister-in-law and I volunteered to cut vegetables. Immediately a huge pile of long beans (Aalsando or chowli) was dumped in front of us !!

We then enjoyed the breakfast consisting of Poha chutney, Sheera, Gulla Bajje and coffee. It was fantastic !!

Around 12.00 noon, Mahapuja and Mangal aarti are performed.

In the evening there is a ceremony called “Balipradan” which starts around 4.00pm. During this time, the silver “Pallaki” is decorated with fresh flowers of various kind and the “Utsava Moorti” is installed in the “Pallaki” and taken around (3 times) the temple courtyard accompanied by beating of drums and various musical instruments.

Decorated Silver Pallaki

Pallaki taken in procession

In the evening, (around 6.30 – 7.00 pm) the community meals ( Mahaprasad) is arranged on the ground adjacent to the temple. Meals are served on Plantain(Banana) leaves. The whole village people (approx. 1500) assemble for this event. Also called “Gaavn Jevan” in Konkani.

I came to know that during this entire period (7 days) of Ratha Utsav, no cooking is done at home in the whole village !!

Illuminated Ratha Beedhi in front of the Venkatramana temple

At around 8.30 – 9.00 pm the “Utsava Moorti” is installed in the “Ratha” (a wooden chariot with four wheels) and is then pulled using two thick ropes and taken out from the temple premises on to the street upto the centre of the village (approx 1 km) and back again to the temple by all the devotees with great pomp and music and bhajans. This is called “Ratha Yatra”. This is followed by puja and mangal aarti in the temple.

This brings us to the end of the days’ activities.

Ratha Yatra, Annasantharpane and all other activites mentioned above takes place everyday for the next five days.

Brahma Ratha just before Ratha Aarohana

Brahma Ratha - just before sunset

On Madhvanavami day a very big Ratha called “Brahma Ratha” is decorated with fresh flowers, fruits, vegetables and electrical lightings for a function called “Ratha Aarohana” which begins around 6.00 pm. This is a very special day as all the devotees from the nearby villages, towns and cities come in huge numbers to witness this great event.

On this day around 5000 people partake the meals (Mahaprasad) in batches of about one thousand persons per batch.

At around mid-night, this Brahma Ratha is pulled in the same path from the temple to the centre of the village and back.

This spectacular scene is worth waiting for and attending in person as the road/street is only as wide as the Ratha itself !

The following morning, the Dhwaja is lowered - this is called Dhwaja Avarohana (lowering of the flag) and that marks the end of the “Ratha Utsav” ceremony.