Poha (Rice Flakes) Cutlets

Poha/Povu or Rice flakes/Beaten Rice or Avalakki  (as it is known in different languages- Marathi, Konkani, English & Kannada respectively) is available in the market in two varieties – thin one and a thick one. To prepare the cutlets, you need the thin variety.

The thin variety gets soggy very quickly when soaked in water. So instead of soaking it in water directly, place the poha in a strainer (keep a bowl underneath the strainer to collect the water) and pour water over it with one hand and mix it with the other. This way you will reduce your work and get the desired result too.

This snack is easy to prepare and tasty too. It can be easily subsituted for potato cutlets (patties).
You may also be interested in another variation of cutlets made from left over rice,  here.

 Poha Cutlets with Tomato Ketchup

Ingredients:

Poha (Rice Flakes)	1 cup
Gram Flour (Besan)	3-4 tbsps
Onion (chopped)	1 medium
Green chilies (crushed)	2
Coriander leaves (chopped)	1 tbsp
Salt	As per taste
Turmeric powder	½ tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	½ tsp
Sugar	A pinch
Oil	For shallow frying
Semolina (fine sooji)	2 tbsps

Method:

1. Wash poha in a strainer till it becomes soft (it takes a minute) and allow the water to drain.
2. Place the drained poha (rice flakes) in a bowl. Add the gram four, together with all the other ingredients (chopped onions, crushed green chilies, salt, turmeric powder, jeera powder and sugar) and knead it into dough.
3. Smear a little oil on your palms while kneading it to avoid the dough sticking to your palm and make small balls and flatten it to form cutlets.
4. Dredge each cutlet in semolina on both sides and keep aside.
5. Now heat a frying pan or skillet (preferable non-stick) and dribble oil on it. When the pan is hot, lower the flame and place the dredged cutlets onto the pan and shallow fry them on both the sides till golden brown. Switch off the gas.
6. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or any chutney of your choice.

 

1. Ingredients for Poha cutlets

3.  Poha cutlets ready for frying

2. Poha drained in a strainer

4.  Poha cutlets being shallow fried

                                                                                                                             

Preparation time : 30 mins

Cooking time      : about 10 mins

Makes: 6- 8 cutlets (depending upon the size and shape)

Note:

• Breadcrumbs can be used instead of semolina to dredge the cutlets in before shallow frying.
• These cutlets can also be deep fried.

Happy Birthday !

2^nd Anniversary of my blog

                                           “The discovery of a new dish

                                           does more for human happiness

                                           than the discovery of a new star.”

                                                                                               - Brillat-Savarin

 

I hope I am able to give you all the happiness that a new dish gives in the way it gives me pleasure when I post a new one.

Time flies so fast! Its celebration time again ! This month is the 2^nd anniversary of my blog. And it is growing each year for which I have to give due credit to all my readers and well wishers.

I also take this opportunity to thank each one of you – all my friends including my blogger friends and those from Facebook, KAF (Konkani Amchi Food), Flickr, food blogs, and last but not the least my close friends and family members without whose help and inputs, all this would not have been possible.

Cheers ! This is my way of saying "Thank you"  with this sweet and sour Mint & Ginger drink ! It is easy to prepare, tasty, and healthy too.

Mint and Ginger Drink

Ingredients :

Mint leaves (1cup), Ginger (11/2” pc), Jaggery/Palm sugar (powdered – 2tsps, lime juice of ½ a lime, chaat masala – 2-3 tsps, Water or club soda – 3 glasses.

Method :

Grind mint leaves, ginger, jaggery, lime juice and a little water to a smooth paste. Place this paste in a jar and add water or club-soda. Finally add chaat masala. Mix well and serve chilled. 

Note : You can use sugar instead of jaggery. Its an ideal summer drink.

Broken Wheat Khichdi

Khichdi is served generally in the northern part of India. It is a mixture of rice and moong dal. It’s a meal by itself and is very healthy too.

Not to be confused with the khichdi from the GSB community (Konkani speaking ) which is sweet in taste and a mixture of jaggery, thick Semolina /Bansi rawa (broken wheat can also be used) and channa dal (split black gram).
In Tamil Nadu, Khichdi is called as "Pongal" and is slightly different from the way it is prepared in the north.

However this recipe is from the TV-personality and Chef, Sanjeev Kapoor which I found is not only healthy and tasty but also easy to prepare. Since it is liked by all in the family, I make it quite often.

Ingredients:

Broken wheat	1 cup
Green gram (moong) dal	½ cup
Carrots diced	¼ cup
Green Peas	¼ cup
Salt	As per taste
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Water	21/2cups
For seasoning
Oil	2-3 tsps
Cumin (jeera)	1 tsp
Onions (chopped)	1 medium
Black pepper (whole)	4-5
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Green chilies	1 (or as per taste)
Ginger (chopped)	1/2 inch pc

Method:

1. Wash & soak separately, green gram (moong) dal and the broken wheat in water for about 1 hour.  Then drain the water and keep them aside.
2. Heat a pan on a medium flame. Add the seasoning ingredients one by one in the order mentioned above.
3. When the onions turn translucent, add the diced carrots and green peas. Fry for a while and then add turmeric and salt. Mix well.
4. Finally add the soaked and drained broken wheat and green gram dal. Give it a good stir.
5. Add water. Now increase the flame. Once the water starts boiling, lower the flame to minimum, cover the pan and let it cook. This will take about 12-15 mins.
6. Serve hot.

Note:

• You can add any vegetables of your choice – beans, cauliflower, capsicum etc.
• I used frozen greenpeas. You can use fresh ones too in which case it will take a little longer to cook.
• This goes well with tomato & onion  raita. You can make any raita of your choice.

Tasty Snacks (from left over chapattis)

You must have faced this situation sometime or the other - what to do with the left-over chapattis? Well ofcourse, the easy way out would be to eat the same boring thing by warming it up!!

Next time, may be you can try out these two interesting ways of eating the left over chapattis. Do not be surprised if you are tempted to make more chapattis than you normally need to, so that you can make these tasty snacks the next day!!

As I am writing this, I suddenly remembered that there is also a third way of transforming the humble chapatti into an interesting one. This will have to wait for now as I had only six (leftover) chapattis. I used four for the usli and two for the pizza.

If anyone has any new ideas for left-over chapattis, please do write in.

Snack Number 1 – Chapatti Usli

• Roughly tear off the chapattis into small pieces.
• Heat a pan and add to it – oil, mustard seeds and salt. When mustard seed starts to pop, add turmeric powder, chopped onions, curry leaves and green chilies and chopped tomatoes. Saute it for a while till the onions are translucent.
• Lower the flame and add the chapatti pieces and mix well. Cover the lid. After about a few minutes, switch off the gas.
• Garnish with lime juice, coconut scrapings and coriander leaves.

Snack Number 2 – Chapatti Pizza

• Heat a pan or a tawa. See that the pan/tawa is hot. Then lower the flame to minimum.
• Lightly smear the chapattis with ghee or oil on both sides and place the chapattis on the pan one by one and heat it on either side till golden spots appear on both the sides and it loses all its moisture and softness and becomes nice and crisp.
• Heat all the chapattis in this way.
• While the chapattis are being heated, you can chop onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves and make a mixture of this adding salt and pepper or any other masala of your choice.
• Spread this mixture over each chapatti. You can also top it with some grated cheese, tomato ketchup and any other ingredients of your choice. Serve and relish.

Note :

• Chappati Usli can be made for breakfast or served as an evening snack or as a side-dish during lunch or dinner.
• Chapatti pizza can be served as an appetiser.

Ginger Brinjal

Brinjal is also known as eggplant, aubergine, baingan etc. A brinjal by any other name would taste just the same you may say but certain variety especially the “Matti Gulla” variety is unique and the people from Udipi district will vouch for its taste. As the name suggests, it is grown in “Mattu” in Udupi district of Karnataka.

Generally, Brinjal is one of the most hated vegetables by children. However, I have observed that over the years we learn to appreciate the taste of this vegetable and the goodness as well as the health benefits. A variety of dishes can be prepared to suit the individual taste buds. This is one such dish that is easy to prepare, and also tastes good.

Ingredients:

Brinjal (medium size)	3
Tomatoes (medium)	3
Ginger (fresh)	1” piece
For seasoning
Oil	1 tbsp
Mustard	1 tsp
Cumin /Jeera seeds	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Chilly powder	½ tsp
Coriander powder	1 tsp
Cumin powder	¼ tsp
Salt	as per taste
For Garnish
Coriander leaves (chopped)	1 tbsp

Method:

• Cut the brinjal into small pieces and cook it in water adding salt and turmeric.
• Chop the tomatoes and ginger and keep aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan and add to it mustard and cumin seeds.
• When it starts spluttering, lower the heat and add all the powders.
• Immediately, add the chopped ginger and tomatoes. Give it a good stir.
• Next add the cooked brinjal. Stir well and let it simmer in the gravy for a few minutes.
• Remove from flame.
• Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Serves: 3

Note:

Instead of fresh tomatoes you can also use tomato puree. Addition of drumsticks will enhance the taste of this dish.

It tastes good with Rice and dal or with chapattis.

For info on eggplant and Matti Gulla :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matti,_Karnataka

Sweet & Sour Mango Chutney

Hello Folks! After the Gir posts on my blog, I am back with more recipes.

The mango season is still on, and so many varieties of them are available in the market. Many delicious recipes can be prepared from either raw or the ripe ones. I decided on an easy mango recipe that can be done quickly without spending much time in the kitchen but at the same time can be preserved. No oil is used in this recipe.

For this you need “Totapuri” or “Rajapuri” mango. The mango should not be soft or over ripened. It should be firm and just ripe or slightly under ripened. Once the selection of the mango is made, you can proceed with the recipe.

Ingredients :

Totapuri Mango	1
Onion (chopped)	1 medium
Garlic (chopped)	3-4 cloves
Sugar	¼ cup
Chilly powder	1 tsp or as per taste
Cummin seeds	1 tsp
Pepper corns	4-5
Cinnamon sticks	1’
Cloves	4
Salt	1 level tsp or as per taste
water	2-3 tbsps
Vinegar	1 tsp

Method :

1. Wash and skin the mango, grate it and keep aside.
2. Grind pepper, cumin seeds, cinnamon, and cloves to a powder.
3. In a pan, cook the grated mango with a little quantity of water.
4. When the grated mango is cooked ( cooks within minutes), add the sugar.
5. When the sugar starts melting, add to it the chopped onions, chopped garlic and the ground powder together with the chilly powder and salt.
6. Cook for a few minutes and then remove from the flame.
7. Then add a teaspoon of vinegar and mix well.
8. Cool and preserve it in a bottle.

Note:

Instead of grating the mango, you can also cut it into small cubes. The chutney when finished will fill 200-250gms size bottle/jar.

This chutney tastes good with chapattis or puris. Can be used instead of jam on bread slices.

If refrigerated this chutney will last for a month.

Kosambari (Salad)

This attractive dish is not only tasty but healthy too ! It seems unbelievable - as the words healthy, tasty and beauty is a rare combination at least where food is concerned. Moreover, it is very easy to prepare too.

Yesterday while chatting with my brother, I realised that it was Ramnavami day ( I am not a very religious type of person) and this kosambari or salad is a must have during such festivities in Bangalore. I had prepared it during our "Ugadi" festival .

Ingredients:

Moong dal / Split green gram	½ cup
Cucumber	1 small
Carrot grated	2 tbsps
Green chillies (chopped)	1 or as per taste
Corriander leaves (chopped)	2 tbsps
Lime juice	2 tsps
Asafoetida	A pinch
Curry leaves	1 sprig
oil	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Salt	As per taste

Method:

1. Wash & soak Moong dal in water for an hour. Then drain and keep aside.
2. Wash all the vegetables. Skin and grate cucumber and carrot.
3. In a bowl, mix moong dal & grated cucumber.
4. Heat oil in a small pan and add to it mustard seeds and when it splutters, add green chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida. Mix and remove from flame and add this to the bowl of moong dal and grated cucumber .
5. Add salt and lime juice. Mix well and garnish it with grated carrots & chopped coriander leaves.
6. Serve immediately.

Serves : 4

Note:

Instead of grating the cucumber, you may cut it into small cubes.

If you need to serve the salad at a later time, add the salt just before serving.

Bread Usli

“Usli” is a word in Konkani language. It generally means a dry dish. This is a breakfast dish or an evening snack. It is a very tasty dish and can be prepared quickly. This “usli” can also be prepared from leftover bread slices.

Ingredients :

Bread slices	8 - 10
Onion	1 medium
Potatoes boiled (optional)	1 medium
Green chillies	2
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Corriander leaves	1 small bunch
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Oil	1 tbsp
Turmeric	½ tsp
Buttermilk	2 tbsps
Salt	to taste

Method :

1. Cut bread slices into small cubes and sprinkle buttermilk over it and mix well so that all the bread cubes becomes slightly moist. Keep aside.
2. Cut boiled potato (if using) also into small cubes.
3. Wash and chop onions, green chillies and coriander leaves.
4. Heat a pan or a wok (preferably non-stick) and in it add the oil and mustard seeds.
5. When mustard seeds start spluttering, add the chopped onions, boiled potato cubes, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric.
6. Stir this mixture on a low flame till the onions are transparent but not browned.
7. Add salt and give it a good stir again.
8. Finally add the moistened bread cubes. Mix well and cover the pan for about two minutes and remove from heat
9. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves. Serve hot.
   

Note : Serves 4

Instead of buttermilk you can sprinkle water in which case, squeeze lemon juice

while garnishing. Grated coconut can also be added for garnishing.

Green Pea Pod (outer skin) Curry

Everybody is aware of green peas and various dishes that can be prepared out of this vegetable. I wonder how many of you have heard or tasted a curry made out of the skin of the pea pod. Yes, you have heard it right and I am not joking and neither is it April Fools day !!

This dish was initially made by my aunt during my school days. Of course at that time we were more interested in the taste and the looks of the dish rather than the vegetable itself.

We first tasted it and found it very interesting and to our liking. So the next step was to identify the vegetable. But sadly enough, none of us could do it.

So when she revealed that it was made from the skin of the green pea-pod, we just could not believe it. She then actually bought a kilo of green peas (with the pod ofcourse)

and showed us how to peel the skin of the pod. Even though it is slightly laborious, it is worth going through it due to its nutritional value ( I believe it is full of fibre) as well as the taste.

How to skin the pod :

First of all the pods of the Green Peas should be fresh and green (not the dry and pale ones). After shelling the peas, choose only the tender green (pod only) ones and discard the dry pale ones. Wash them thoroughly and drain off the water.

First, separate the pod i.e. take it apart. Take one half of the pod, and press one of the pointed edge inwards and gently pull it along till it reaches the other end and peel off completely from the pod as shown above. You will notice that a thin hard skin is being peeled. Discard this. And what remains behind is the tender outer skin. Just use your hands to cut them into 2/3 pieces. (See the picture below) Follow the same procedure for the rest of the pods.

Initially, you may find it difficult, but ones you get the hang of it, you will be able to do it faster. But take care to see that the peel is removed completely or else the dish will turn chewy. Ones this is done, (see above picture) you are ready for the preparation of the curry which is very simple and tasty too.

Ingredients

Green Pea pods	1/2 kg Washed peeled and cut
Potato	1 washed and chopped
Onion	1peeled & chopped
Tomato	1 washed & chopped
Green chilies	2
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Oil	3-4 tsps
Mustard seeds	1-2 tsps
Salt	To taste
Water	1 cup
Corriander leaves	Small bunch –washed and chopped

Method :

• Heat oil in a wok/pan/kadai. Add to it the mustard seeds.
• When mustard seeds start spluttering, add chopped onion, turmeric powder and split green chilies.
• Saute it for awhile till the onions are transparent but not browned.
• Now add the chopped potatoes, peeled and cut pea pods and chopped tomatoes.
• Stir well and add half the water (the skin of the pea pods leave its own water).
• Keep it covered on a medium flame. Occasionally stir.
• When half cooked, add the salt and the remaining water if necessary.
• Cook till done. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.

Note :

1 Kg of fresh green peas produces about 1/2kg pods ( i.e. after shelling).

It cooks within 10-15 minutes. It goes well with chapattis and also with rice and dal.

Mixed Vegetable Pickle

This is my mother’s wonderful pickle recipe. In Konkani language it is known as ”Kochla Naunche”. This is generally prepared during rainy season when a lot of vegetables are available.

I make this often as my daughter and my husband are very fond of it. When some of the dishes are not to their liking, then out comes the pickle bottle !! As my daughter always says that whenever a dish does not turn out well, then a spoonful of this pickle on it will make that dish very delicious !!

Ingredients :

Lemon or Raw Mango	1 ½
Cauliflower	a small bunch
Tendle/Gherkin	7-8
Ginger	½” piece
Green chilies	4
Dry Red chilies	10
Mustard seeds	5 tsps
Asafoetida	½ tsp
Water	1 cup
Salt	5 heaped tsps

Method :

• Boil water with the salt and allow it to cool completely.
• Wash cauliflower, gherkin/tendle, ginger, lemon/raw mango, and pat them dry with a clean towel.
  
• Cut cauliflower into tiny florets, chop lemon/raw mango, gherkin, ginger and green chilies into tiny pieces.
• Add all the chopped vegetables into the cooled salted water and keep it covered overnight .
• Next day, grind red chilies finely with the same salted water (in which the chopped vegetables are added). No additional water is to be used.
• Then add mustard seeds and grind (coarsely) for a few minutes. Add asafoetida to it and run the mixer to mix it well.
• Add this ground mixture to the vegetable-salted water mixture. Mix well.
• Fill this in an aritight glass jar and refrigerate it.

Note :

This is a very tasty, easy to prepare and colorful looking pickle. You can also add carrots to it. It contains no oil and no drying in the sun. The amount of chilies used depends on individual taste.The pickle when refrigerated will last for a fortnight or so.

Suggestion: It is normally eaten with freshly made Shevai, idli/Khotto, aappau etc. Ofcourse, it tastes good with rice and chapattis too.