Showing posts with label Karnataka. Show all posts

Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe [Video]

Mangalore Buns or Banana Buns are deep fried slightly sweet puris flavored with ripe bananas.
These Mangalore buns are vegan and are popularly enjoyed as breakfast or tea time snacks.

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Hi Peeps, how are you doing? All set for the holiday season? Plans made with family?

Holidays with family are the best, aren't they? You create so many memories that you can feel nostalgic about in the future. Most of my favorite memories are of vacations with my family. This dish of Mangalore Buns features prominently in one of my childhood vacation memories.

Memories....

Early in the 90's Indian Railways started changing all meter gauge trains to broad gauge and that meant that trains were no longer accessible to the general public. Until then, we always traveled by train to my grandma's house, a tiny village near the city of Mangalore. Then started the days of bus travel. Since the village was so tiny, there was no direct bus from Goa. We had to alight at the closest point and wait for a connecting bus, all at 5am in the morning. While waking up that early was a torture, there was a silver or rather golden lining there. Before the first connecting bus arrived, a small restaurant would open its doors and start selling breakfast and these golden Mangalore Buns were always on the menu. My mom introduced us to these buns, and what an introduction it was. My love affair with these Mangalore Buns started back then!

Till today, when we are around Mangalore, we go in search of tiny restaurants that make fresh buns. If you want to know some of my favorite places, ask me in comments.

What is not to love? The buns are banana flavored and deep fried. They are more like Banana Puris. Mildly sweet with specks of cumin all over, they are just super delicious. Mangalore Buns are one of the only sweet breakfast that I enjoy, otherwise, I'm a savory breakfast girl. Mangalore Buns are commonly served with a simple coconut chutney and a piping hot sambar.

Traditionally, all purpose flour or maida is used to make the Mangalore Buns. But I usually use 50% all purpose flour and 50% wholewheat flour (atta). I've made it also with 100% wholewheat flour and it did not absolutely take away from the flavor, the texture however wasn't as spongy and the bins were slightly flat. I still did not mind that, they still tasted amazing. The dough can be rested overnight if the temperature is lower, else you can rest it in the fridge in warmer weather. These buns are a perfect way to use overripe bananas that you may have discarded otherwise. Ripe to overripe bananas work best in this recipe. Serve the buns with chutney or just plain.

Go ahead, make them this holiday season, and create your own special memories.

Fun fact - No matter whether it is just one bun or multiple, it is always called "buns".

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family!

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Video Recipe

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Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe

Mangalore buns are banana flavored deep fried buns made from either all purpose or whole wheat flour. These vegan buns are a popular breakfast around the city of Mangalore.

Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Indian
Prep Time: 2.5 Hours (includes dough resting time)
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 3 Hours
Yield: Makes 10-12

Ingredients:

2 ripe Bananas
0.25 cups Curd (Yoghurt)
3 cups All Purpose Flour or Wholewheat Flour
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
0.25 tsp Salt
A pinch of Baking Soda
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Mash the bananas with powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Add in the cumin seeds, whisked curd, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3. Add in the flour and knead into a stiff dough.
4. Apply a little oil on the dough to prevent it from drying. Cover and rest for 2-4 hours. The dough can be rested overnight too. If the weather is warm, rest in the fridge.
5. Dust the kitchen counter with some dry flour.
6. Pull out a ball of dough and roll it out on the dusted counter.
7. Heat oil for deep frying.
8. Carefully drop in the rolled out buns and fry on medium high heat until one side browns.
9. Flip over and fry until the other side browns.
10. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
11. Serve hot or at room temperature with chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Banana Bread

Cucumber Pakoda

Menthe Pathrode

Avarekalu Saaru Recipe | How to make Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar (Huli) [Video]

Avarekalu Saaru or Avarekaalu Huli is a winter special curry made in Bangalore, with seasonal hyacinth beans by double peeling them and cooking them in a coconut and spice based masala. This Avarekalu Sambar is vegan.

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Avarekalu, is a delicious bean that is very local to the region around Bangalore-Mysore. It is very similar in profile with edamame beans, just much smaller in size. They flood the markets in Bangalore around this time of the year aka winter. They are either sold whole, with the beans still in their pods or sometimes, loose beans removed from the pods. There is even an entire fest dedicated to these beans at the Food Street near V.V. Puram in Bangalore. The entire food street gets obsessed with these avarekalu and you will see them being used so creatively in so many recipes. There are dosa, thalipettu, curries, sweets, and what not. If you are in Bangalore, this is one traditional fest you should not miss.

I first ate avarekalu when I moved to Bangalore. The first time I ate in this avatar of Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru was when my friend got it for lunch at work. It was her grandma's specialty and it was super delicious. I managed to get the recipe from her and after several confusions about the quantities of the ingredients, I finally got it right to suit my palate. Since then, come winter, I make this curry multiple times.

When I first posted this recipe back in 2014, I never imagined it would be my most popular recipe on the blog. Come winter and the popularity of this Avarekaalu Saaru recipe starts rising. After 5 years, I decided it was time I reposted this recipe along with a video that gives you step by step instructions on how to make this Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru.

(Clockwise from top left) Whole avarekai, Shelled avarekalu, peeled avarekalu, peeled and unpeeled avarekalu

Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru is a South Indian vegan curry made from double peeled avarekaalu or hyacinth beans. You can make this curry with any fresh beans you have available - edamame, fava, double beans, toovar or even avarebele (lentils of hyacinth beans). Hitikida refers to the process of squeezing out the beans from their cover. The beans are double peeled to make the curry, first the beans are removed from the pods and next from their really thin cover. If you are bored to do the second step, you can cook it with the cover on, only they will take a tad longer to cook. While soaking the beans in water before squeezing them out is the traditional way to peel them, I found that freezing them overnight in a bag works wonders. It is much easier to squeeze them out when frozen and thawed.

The curry is actually a sambar or huli which is made with freshly ground sambar masala. The masala is simple and contains coconut, aromatics, whole spices and ground spices. The curry can be enjoyed as a side with akki rotti or chapati when it is thicker in consistency and with rice when it is thinner in consistency.

Enjoy!

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family!

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Video Recipe

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Avarekalu Saaru | Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar

Ingredients:

2 cups Avarekalu or Hyacinth Beans
0.75 cups grated Coconut
1 Tbsp Poppy seeds
1 small Onion
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
A pinch Asafoetida
1 - 2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1/2" piece Cinnamon
1-2 Cloves/
1 tsp Tamarind
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
8-10 Curry leaves
2 tsp Oil
Salt
Water

Method:

1. To double peel the avarekalu or hyacinth beans, remove the beans from their pods.
2. Soak the beans in water for 30-45 minutes or freeze them ovenight in a ziploc bag or a box.
3. Pat the beans dry on a kitchen towel.
4. Gently squeeze out the bean from its peel.
5. Boil the beans in mildly salted water until soft.
6. While the beans cook, make the sambar masala by grinding together coconut, onion, garlic, poppy seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida or hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and tamarind along with a little water.
7. Once the beans are cooked, add the sambar masala along with 1-2 cups of water and allow it to reach a boil.
8. If you are planning to eat it with rice, add more water, and if with chapati or rotti, add less water.
9. Add salt as required. Remember the water was salted while cooking the beans.
10. Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.
11. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves.
12. Pour this tempering into the curry and remove from heat.
13. Serve hot with rice, rotti or chapati.

If you liked this, you may also like:

avarekalu avarekaalu uppit upma hyacinth beans semolina rava suji sooji

Avarekalu Uppit

Rasam

Kaalu Palya

Instant Rava Idli

I had an INDULGENT weekend. I-N-D-U-L-G-E-N-T!!!

I'm spelling out stuff, so I guess you get the picture.

Spicy Biryani lunch, Cheesy Pasta for dinner, Deep fried Bread Rolls for snacks and a heavenly TRIPLE Chocolate Milkshake, I’ve had it all. And I cooked none of it. Nada.

I’m sure it will take me a month to work it off. Sigh!!

How to make MTR style instant rava idli at www.oneteaspoonoflife.com

All those guilty pleasures made me want to eat a healthier breakfast this Monday morning. I’d never been a Rava Idli fan, regular Idli, give it to me anyday and I’ll eat it. But I wondered why would one eat that hard lump of rava (semolina) for any meal? This was until I made my own.

Eye opener – Rava Idli does not have to be a hard lump. It can be soft like the regular rice Idlis. It can actually be delicious.

All credit goes to Gee, my sis. Someday she got the MTR instant rava idli packet and made it and repeatedly kept telling me how good they had become. MTR is a legendary restaurant in Bangalore that actually invented the Rava Idli when there was food shortage during a war. A place you should visit for some rich South Indian food.

The restaurant rocks, but I won’t accept defeat from a packet. Na-ah.

So I made just to show her that she can make equally good Rava Idlis with just the ingredients she has at home. I had no plans of liking them at all. It was just a competition with the packet, that’s IT. (I'm competitive that way). At least that’s what I thought, until I ate them. I mean if I make them, I have to taste it, right? And what a pleasant surprise it was. Soft smooth Rava Idli. And so easy to make as well. No overnight soaking, no overnight fermenting. Just mix and steam.

I'm always on a lookout for breakfast recipes. And they obviously have to be HEALTHY and EASY to make. These Rava Idlis satisfy all my criteria. So they have been back on the menu time and again since that day.

Some additional steps that you may have to do if making your own healthy Rava Idlis, and it is totally worth it:

Toast the Rava / Semolina - You can either toast it when you decide to make the Rava Idlis or you can toast the rava whenever you have time and store it. Toasting helps increase the shelf life of rava. You can then use it instantly while making Upma too.
Grate a carrot, Chop a chilli - Yup, you will need to grate a carrot and chop some chilli and coriander.
Tempering - Heat a little oil, throw in some lentils (dals), mustard seeds, curry leaves and chilli. This is seriously a 10 seconds job.
Mix once - Mix tempering with the rava.

The rest is exactly like the packet. Mix in the ingredients. Allow it to rest for some time. Then steam them as usual. Ta-da - Instant soft smooth Rava Idli.

Instant Rava Idli

Popular South Indian instant steamed breakfast cakes made from semolina or rava and yogurt.

Recipe Type: Breakfast
Cuisine: South Indian
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8 Idlis

Ingredients:

1.25 cups Semolina or Upma Rava
1 cup Yogurt (Curd)
1 small Carrot
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2-3 tsp Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Chana Dal
8-10 Curry leaves
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
1 chopped Green Chilli
1/2 cup Water
Salt to taste
Oil to grease

Method:

Toast the rava in a kadhai on low flame for 8-10 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Remove it into a large bowl once done.
Heat oil in the kadhai and add mustard seeds to it.
Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the urad dal and the chana dal.
Once the dals brown slightly, add the curry leaves and chilli. Pour this tempering to the toasted rava.
Mix well and allow to cool.
Once the rava has cooled, add grated carrot, yogurt, chopped coriander, baking soda and salt and mix well.
Add water by the spoonful. The consistency of the batter should be similar to the regular idli batter.
Leave aside for 10-15 minutes.
In the meanwhile, prepare the idli steamer. The water in the steamer should be boiling when we put in the idli, else the idli will become hard.
Now grease the idli mould, and pour in the batter.
Steam for 10-15 minutes.
Serve hot with chutney or sagu.

Menthe Pathrode | Methi Pathrode

I never knew gardening could be so much fun. My heart swells with pride every time a seed I sowed, breaks the mud barrier and rises up to face the earth. Those two little green leaves soaking in the sunlight, fill me with hope and love. Some of the easiest things to grow have never worked with me - tomatoes & chillies. For some reason these just refuse to bear fruit in my garden no matter what I do or how much nutrition I give them :( But there are some others which ask for nothing and just give give and give. Spinach is one of them and the other is Fenugreek or Methi or Menthe. I had my own fresh bunch of methi leaves, so I decided to make something special.

I love Pathrode. Traditionally, pathrode is made by rubbing a paste of rice, lentils, coconut and spices onto

Colocasia leaves/ Kesavina ele, rolling and steaming them. Colocasia leaves are a little difficult to find in Bangalore, they are more common along the Konkan coast of India. In their absence, Methi makes for a good substitute. Here instead of rubbing the leaves with the spice paste, the leaves are chopped and added to the paste and steamed wrapped in banana leaves. If you cannot get banana leaf, do not worry, you can just just steam them in greased bowls.

Clockwise L-R: Ground rice, Spice paste, Steamed pathrode, Pathrode to be steamed

Once they are cooked and cooled, crumble them and stir fry with a tempering of mustard and curry leaves. And don't forget to garnish with desiccated fresh coconut.

Menthe Pathrode | Methi Pathrode

A traditional Mangalore snack made by steaming rice and fenugreek/methi leaves together with a spice paste

Recipe Type: Snacks / Appetizer
Cuisine: South Indian / Mangalorean
Prep Time: 8 Hours (Includes soaking of rice)
Cook time: 90 minutes
Yield: 3-4 Servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup White Rice
1/2 cup Red Rice
2 cups chopped or 1 bunch Methi
2-3 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Tamarind paste
3-4 dry Red Chillies (I used 3 red chillies and added 1/2 tsp of chilli powder)
1/2 tsp Jaggery (You can use sugar instead)
1/2 Tbsp Urad dal
2-3 cloves Garlic
4 Tbsp dessicated Coconut
2-3 Tbsp Water
3 tsp Oil
8-10 Curry leaves
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt

Method:

Soak rice overnight.

Drain out all the water and grind it. It should not be fine, it should remain coarse. It will attain a sticky consistency.

Dry roast the urad dal and coriander seeds until they are slightly brown.

Add 1 tsp of oil and fry the red chillies until they are crisp.

Allow them to cool and then grind into a powder along with the coriander seeds and urad dal.

Add the coconut, jaggery, garlic and tamarind and grind into a paste along with 1-2 tbsp of water.

Add this masala to the rice and mix well. Preferably just mix in the mixer.

Add salt.

Add the chopped methi leaves and mix well.

You now need to steam this.

If using a cooker or an idli steamer, allow it to heat up and produce steam before placing the pathrode in it.

It is better to steam it wrapped in banana leaves, but if you don't have it steam in bowls. Grease the bowls before you spoon in the pathrode.

Steam on medium flame for 18-20 mins until it is cooked. Depending on the size of the parcels or the bowl, you may need more or less time. If using banana leaf, the change in colour is a good indication that it is cooked.

Allow it to cool and then crumble it using your fingers.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds once the oil is hot.

After they splutter, add the curry leaves and pour this tempering into the crumbled pathrode.

Add dessicated fresh coconut and mix well.

Serve hot as a snack/ appetizer.

Raw Banana / Plantain / Balekaayi fry

For the coastal people of Konkan, the banana plant forms an integral part of life. Every part of the plant is used for something. The fruit is eaten when ripe, it is used in cooking when raw, the blossom and the stem are also used for cooking. Of all these, the raw banana is probably the most versatile. We make chips out of it, bhajji, sabzi / palya etc. But I recently learnt that a few Jains use it as a replacement to potato in sabzis and paratha. I'm yet to try that out, but apparently you just cannot make out the difference once you add all those aromatic spices...

The recipe serves 2-3

Raw Banana / Plantain / Balekaayi fry

Raw banana fry/dry curry.

Recipe Type: Side
Cuisine: South Indian
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2-3 Servings

Ingredients:

2 Raw banana/ Plantain/ Balekaayi
2-3 tbsp Oil
8-10 Curry leaves
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt to taste
A handful of Coriander leaves (Optional)

Method:

Cut off the edges of the banana and peel it.

Slice the banana lengthwise and then cut into semicircle.

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds

Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and the banana

Stir well

Add the turmeric, red chilli powder and a little salt and mix well

Cover and allow it to cook until the banana is cooked through

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with chapatis