Jackfruit Seed (Bikkanda) Koddel

As promised in my earlier post, I am presenting here the recipe made from Jackfruit seeds or Bikkand as it is known in Konkani language. Since the tempering is done with garlic it is called "Koddel".

 It's a simple recipe and is generally prepared by the GSB ( konkani speaking communities). Jackfruit seeds are gassy, hence it is generally combined with "Magge" (Yellow Cucumber) and/or with drumsticks. On the whole this combination makes it very nutritious and tasty too. 

Firstly, jackfruit seeds should be washed and dried in the sun for a day or two. Once dried, you can easily peel off the outer white skin. Once this is done, it's ready for cooking. So let's begin.

Ingredients:

Jackfruit seeds               -     about 15

Yellow Cucumber          -     1/4th Pc

Drumstick                      -     1 

Garlic                             -     5-6 garlic cloves

Oil for tempering           -    2 tsps

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste

Grated coconut              -      1 cup

Dry Red Chillies            -     2-3

Tamarind                        -     a small marble size

Method:

1.  Wash the Yellow cucumber, Jackfruit seeds & drumstick. Then cut the jackfruit seeds into half,      yellow cucumber into bite-size pieces and drumstick into 2 inch pieces.
2. Then cook the cut vegetables either in water or pressure cook it for about 10 mins till it is cooked well but not mushy.
3. In the meantime, grind all the ingredients ( grated coconut, red chilles & tamarind) to a smooth paste.
4. Now, take a vessel, add little water along with the cooked vegetables  and keep it on a medium flame. Also add the required salt and allow it to boil for few mins, for the salt to be absorbed. 
5.  Lower the flame and add the ground paste and mix it well with a wooden spoon/ladle. Let it boil for a few minutes. Then remove from flame.
6. Now heat a tempering pan, add oil in it and let the oil warm up
7. In the meantime, crush the garlic cloves. Once the oil is heated, add the crushed garlic cloves and fry them till they turn brown. Switch off the flame and immediately transfer it to the vessel containing the mixture of cooked vegetables & the ground paste. Cover the lid immediately.
8. Koddel is now ready to be served.

Dried Jackfruit seeds

Peeled & Cut Jackfruit seeds

Vegetables being cut

                                                                                 

Vegetables boiled in pressure cooker

                                      

Grated coconut, Red chillies & Tamarind ground to a paste

                                   

Ground paste added to the cooked vegetables

Garlic cloves being fried in oil

                                            

Fried garlic cloves transferred into the vessel

Preparation Time : 20 mins

Cooking time   :  20 mins

Serves       : 3- 4 persons

Note:

• The gravy should not be very thick or thin.
• If garlic is not your choice, you can totally omit it. Instead you can add a teaspoon of asafetida water OR  half a teaspoon of the powder along with coconut oil or any other oil of your choice to the boiled veg and ground paste mix. In which case, this dish will be called Bikkanda Humman.  
• I have previously posted Cookaa (Chinese Potato) Humman. Jackfruit seed Humman can also be prepared in the same manner

Black Gram (whole) in Spinach

Hello friends – It’s been a long time since I posted any recipe on my blog.  I was quite occupied this September month with one thing or the other. We just returned from our annual visit to our home town, Katapady, a tiny village in Udupi district for Ganesha festival. We had a nice relaxed time there after the festival and now I am all geared up with some delicious recipes which I shall be sharing with you all.

See here for yet another Dil & Spinach curry

 

Ingredients:

Spinach	2 bunches
Dil / Fenugreek leaves (optional)	1 small bunch
Boiled Black gram (Kala Channa)	1/2 cup
Onion	1 large
Ginger	1’ piece
Green (Or Red) chilies	3-4
Red chilly powder	1 tsp
Coriander powder	11/2 tsp
Turmeric powder	½ tsp
Garam Masala powder	1 tsp
Tamarind juice/pulp	2-3 tbsps
Oil	1 tbsp
Salt	As per taste

Method:

1. Clean, wash and roughly chop all the greens.
2. Cook them in very little water for about 10 mins and allow it to cool. When cooled, grind them ( for a few seconds) to a coarse paste and keep it aside.
3. Next chop onions and ginger finely and slit, green chilies.
4. Heat oil in a pan and add to it the chopped onions, ginger, green chilies and turmeric powder. Saute it for a while till onions are lightly browned.
5. Then add the boiled black gram (channa), spinach paste, coriander powder, chilly powder, garam masala, tamarind juice and salt. Bring it to boil and let it simmer for about 10-12 minutes till the gravy becomes thick.  Remove from flame.
6. Serve hot.

Spinach and  Dil - cleaned and washed

Frying - onions and chilies

Curry kept on simmer

Ingredients - kept ready

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Note:

• This tastes excellent with chapattis or puris or even with plain rice or khichadi.
• In this recipe, I have used Dil leaves. It also tastes delicious with fenugreek (methi) leaves.
• You can also substitute Kabuli Channa (Chick Peas) for Black Gram.
• I had a small boiled potato in the fridge, so I cut it into pieces and added this in the recipe.

Bendekayi Gojju (Okra curry)

This is a typical Banglorean dish and a very tasty one too. In kannada language, "bendekayi" means lady's finger or okra as it is also called and "gojju" means curry.

I got this recipe from TOI (Times Of India) some months ago and tried this with a few alterations. Since its  a hit in our family, I do this quite often. Appearance wise, this dish looks like our regular Konkani "Sagle" which all the "Amchis" relish and are familiar with! The similarity however ends here. Tastewise, it differs though both are equally good.  I will leave it to you to try it out and judge for yourself!

Another easy and tasty recipe made form lady's finger is the "Stuffed Okra", which you can see here.

Ingredients:

Okra	250 gms
Onion (chopped)	1 medium
Grated coconut	1 cup
Tamarind	A marble sized ball
Jaggery powder	1 tsp
Sambhar powder	2 heaped tsp
Coriander leaves	A small bunch
Salt	As per taste
Seasoning ingredients
Oil	4 tsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Hing/asafetida	A pinch

Method:

Okras being Stir-Fried

Ground Masala

1. Wash the okras and pat them dry with a kitchen towel and after cutting off the edges, cut them into 2”-3” in length and keep aside.
2. Heat half the oil in a pan (preferably non-stick or a heavy bottomed one) and fry the chopped onions till golden brown in colour. Remove and allow it to cool.
3. Combine grated coconut, the fried and cooled onions, jaggery, sambhar powder, tamarind and coriander leaves (washed and chopped) in a blender and grind it into a smooth paste.
4. Heat the same pan (where onions were fried) on medium flame, add the remaining oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing. Once it stops spluttering, add the cut okras and fry them till they are almost cooked. Sprinkle a little water if necessary so that the okras do not stick to the pan.
5. Add salt and stir fry till they are cooked.
6. Now add the ground masala. Mix well. Add a little water if necessary. Allow the masala to be absorbed for a few minutes and then remove from flame.
7. Serve hot.

Serves: 3

Note:

• If the okras or lady's finger are small in size, you can keep them whole (after chopping the ends) and making a slit lengthwise (to check for any worms). I am a little paranoid about this.
• Stir-Frying the okras is necessary to prevent them from letting out a glue like substance.
• Instead of the regular tamarind, you can also use the tamarind extract whch is now easily available in the super market - in which case you can use about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of the tamarind extract.
• This dish tastes good with rice and dal or rice and curd or even with chapatis.

Soorna (Yam) Tambude

"Tambude” is a sweet & sour, hot & spicy and of course it goes without saying, a tasty Konkani dish. One can come across this dish during festivals or weddings. It is a sort of a pickle.

This root vegetable is called “Soornu” in Konkani, “Elephant Foot Yam” in English and “Suran” in Hindi. Varieties of dishes can be prepared from this tuber.

It cooks quickly though cleaning this tuber might pose a problem for a few. I feel itchy all over my hands if I am not careful while cleaning it. Hence take care.

Once the hard exterior portion which is dark brown in color, is cut off, you will notice the pinkish colour on the inside. After removing the entire hard brown portion, immerse it in water to clean it. If exposed to air for a long time, it will show discoloration.

As soon as it is cleaned, chop it into desired pieces. If for some reason, you need to keep a portion of the cleaned yam (to be used later), then immerse it in a container full of water and refrigerate it. It will retain its color this way.

Ingredients

Yam/Suran Mustard seeds Methi (fenugreek) seeds Corriander (dhania) seeds Dry red chillies Turmeric Asafoetida Tamarind Salt Jaggery (powdered) Curry leaves Oil Water

200gms 2 tsps 1 tsp 2 tsps 8 or 9 ½ tsp ½ tsp A big marble size lump To taste 2 tsps 1 sprig 3 tsps 11/2 cups

Method:

1. Wash and cut the yam into small cubes.
2. Boil the cubes in water till soft.
3. Roast in a small quantity of oil – mustard seeds(1 tsp), fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, dry red chilies, asafetida and turmeric for about 4-5 mins.
4. When cooled, grind the above roasted mixture along with tamarind and a little water to a fine paste.
5. To the cooked yam/suran cubes, add salt and jaggery. Stir well.
6. Finally add the ground masala. Mix well and allow it to boil. Remove from flame.
7. Season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil.

Serves : 6

Note:

• Raw Jackfruit Tambude (Kadagi in konkani) is also prepared in the same manner as above.
• Red Chilies can be added according to ones taste. The red chilies (Byadagi variety) which I generally use are not very hot but give good color to the masala.
  

Cookaa (Chinese Potato) Humman - Konkani Dish

Coook (in Konkani language) is a potato like vegetable, slightly smaller in size, dark brown colour on the outside has a distinct flavour and unlike potato its skin can be peeled off by applying a little pressure of the thumb and index finger. Caution : it leaves black stain mark on your fingers.

The skin of Coook is generally peeled by putting them in a gunny /jute bag and rubbing vigorously back and forth on the ground. This process though laborious removes the skin of the Coook all at one go ! If any stubborn peels are still left, it has to be peeled individually by hand. As soon as it is peeled, it should be immersed in water to prevent it from changing colour.

Peeled and washed Coook

But believe me, for some of the Konkanis this task is worth all the trouble as the “jibbe ruchi” (taste) overtakes all hard ships!!

Coook (Konkani) or Coork (Malayalam) or Sambrani (Kannada) or Chinese Potato (English) is available in Karnataka & Kerala States and, in some other states mostly in Mangalore stores.

During our recent Katapady trip,I bought some Coook as, it's ages since I last had them and as I said earlier, it is worth a little trouble !!

Cookaa Humman

Ingredients :

Coook	250 gms
Coconut (grated)	1 cup
Dry red chilies	4 /5
Tamarind	A small lump (size of a marble)
Asafoetida	¼ tsp
Water	2 cups or as required
Salt	as per taste
Oil	1-2 tsps

Method :

• Peel and wash the Coook (whole) in water and then boil till tender. Add Salt.
• Grind coconut, dry red chilies, tamarind, asafoetida with a little water to a smooth paste.
• Add the ground paste into the boiled coook and mix well. Add water if required.
• Bring to boil again and remove from flame.
• Add the raw oil on top. Serve hot.

Serves: 4

Note:

Coook if large,can be halved. The gravy should not be watery. Traditionally coconut oil is used. But any other oil tastes just fine. This curry tastes good with rice or chappatis.

Potato Humman and Jackfruit seed (Bikkand in Konkani language) Humman is prepared in the same way, with the exception, that in the case of potatoes, they need to be cut into quarters and peeling of the skin can be omitted. In the case of “Bikkand”, they need to be cut lengthwise and the skin removed. The rest of the method remains the same.