Savory Puffed Rice | Murmura Chiwda | Churmuri Chiwda | Khara Kadle Puri | Bhadang

It was such an awesome day to sleep in and do absolutely nothing...

Unfortunately, it was a Tuesday!! Working day, guys. 

There is nothing worse than having to work on a day as cold, humid and lazy as today. Well, may be getting stuck on an island with no chocolate is worse, but hey, let's stick to reality. 

There is also something about cold rainy days that gets my appetite worked up. I'm always HUNGRY... Well, I'm "always" hungry most other times as well, but this rainy day hunger is different. It is just not my stomach, but my heart and my head as well that craves all sorts of deep fried goodness and endless cups of piping hot tea.

I know deep fried food is bad especially when I've missed 4 days of my workout. The first was justified, I was super tired and my back ached. But the other 3 days were just plain laziness and excuses. So no matter how much the heart or the head craves, I let my guilty conscience take over and snacked on this Savory Puffed Rice (Murmura Chiwda | Churmuri Chiwda | Bhadang | Khara Kadle Puri) the whole day with at least 3 cups of tea. 

I've always loved Savory Puffed Rice,what's not ot love in it? It's crispy, it's light, it is spicy without being overpowering, and the best part - Peanuts, I make sure every handful has a minimum of 2 peanuts in it.

Savory Puffed Rice | Murmura Chiwda | Churmuri Chiwda | Bhadang | Khara Kadle Puri is plain salted puffed rice that has been mixed with a tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, peanuts, fried gram, dry red chillies, turmeric powder, salt and a little bit of sugar. See how easy that is? The list of ingredients may seem long, but the best part of making something from scratch is infact that you can omit what you don't want. Skip what you don't have. Just make sure you have turmeric and salt. A lot of people I know add a lot more ingredients like dried coconut slices or cashewnuts or fried garlic to their chiwda, but I prefer the basic one with just fried Peanuts.

The instructions to make this Savory Puffed Rice must be the shortest ever on One Teaspoon Of Life... All you need to do is, heat oil, and then add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, chuck in the peanuts and fried gram. Fry them until the peanuts are slightly browned, then add everything else and mix and pour onto the Puffed Rice or Murmura or Churmuri or Kadle Puri. Carefully (cause the oil is hot), mix everything until every grain of puffed rice is bright yellow. Initally use a spoon to mix, but later, just get your hands dirty and mix it. If you feel anything is lacking, like turmeric or you feel you need more peanuts ( I always feel I need more), just heat a little oil, add whatever is missing and pour that oil to the puffed rice and mix again.

This is just the basic snack, there is so much more you can do with it. You can use it as a base for Bhel Puri instead of plain murmura or chop up some onions, tomato and coriander, mix well and enjoy a quick fresh snack. It also makes a great travel snack - a lot of vegetarians travelling abroad usually carry it or like me, you can just snack on it when stuck in traffic on your way back from work (and you don't have to even feel guilty about it)

Store it at room temperature in an air tight box and it will easily last you 3-4 weeks. 

Savory Puffed Rice is easily available at local stores, but I've found that many a times, the store bought one smells like old oil. Also, they skimp on the peanuts and load it up with dried coconut or sugar, both of which I don't enjoy. I assure you, what you make at home is definitely better than the one at the store.

There is just one thing you need to remember, use the crispiest puffed rice (murmura | churmuri | kadle puri) you can find. And preferably one that does not have sand in it. If you are based out of Bangalore, I highly recommend the one from Nilgiris, it's the best I've found till date - clean and crisp and it stays crisp longer.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Crispy Spicy Flat Rice or Poha Chiwda or Avalakki Mixture - Poha/Flattened rice deep fried and flavored with spices and peanuts.
• Churmuri Soosla or Kadle Puri Oggarne or Savory Puffed Rice Breakfast - A light South Indian breakfast made with puffed rice made with moist puffed rice.

Savory Puffed Rice | Murmura Chiwda | Churmuri Chiwda | Khara Kadle Puri | Bhadang

Savory Puffed Rice | Murmura Chiwda | Churmuri Chiwda | Khara Kadle Puri | Bhadang is a simple crispy snack made by mixing plain puffed rice with peanuts and spices.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     5 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:                200 gms

Ingredients:

200gms salted Puffed Rice (Churmuri / Kadle Puri/ Murmura)
1/3 cup Oil
4-5 Tbsp Peanuts
1 Tbsp Fried Gram
1 sprig Curry leaves
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
4-5 dried Red Chillies
1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

Method:

Pour the puffed rice to a large bowl or onto newspapers and keep aside.
Heat oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds.
Once the seeds splutter, add the dry red chillies, peanuts and the fried gram and fry until the peanuts are slightly browned.
Add the curry leaves, turmeric powder and salt.
Allow it to cool for 1-2 minutes and then pour onto the puffed rice. Add sugar and red chilli powder.
Using a spoon mix the oil with the puffed rice until the mixture is cool enough to handle with your hands.
Now using your hands, mix well until every grain of puffed rice is bright yellow.
Adjust the salt and sugar as required.
If you feel the need to add anything else like turmeric powder or peanuts or curry leaves, heat a little more oil and add the ingredient to it and then add it to the puffed rice. Mix well.
Store at room temperature in an air tight container after it cools.

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Avarekalu Uppit | How to make Hyacinth Beans Upma

Avarekalu Uppit or Upma is a basic South Indian breakfast made by cooking toasted semolina in a vegetable broth containing boiled Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans.

I had a nice chat with one of my friend's in the bus yesterday. We were chatting away about food, we are both obsessed foodies and were super hungry by the time we reached halfway, thanks to our little chitter chatter. During our extremely animated food talk, we realized some universal truths:

•  "What to cook?" is a more exhausting question than actually cooking that "What" on a daily basis
•  Every Indian mother thinks their children should stop cooking "Special" dishes and learn to make the basic mundane daily food.

Do you agree with me? Or have some more universal truths? Leave me a comment and we can discuss it in length.

"What to cook next week?" is a regular question I ask myself and the people around me every weekend so I can stock up on the raw material. And pretty much every woman I ask, asks me back the same question. Sigh. 

And the second point takes me back almost 15 years in time when I was still living with my parents and had recently discovered I love to cook. I'd flip through the magazines at the library and find some new recipe and rush home to try it. And my mom had just the same response my friend's mom had - Learn to cook basic everyday food and then learn the "Specials". 

The wisdom in those words dawned on me much later in life when I moved to Bangalore for a job and had to eat out everyday. I craved for simple home cooked meals like my mom made. So now I balance my simple meals with my special meals. And sometimes, I mix the two.

This Avarekalu Uppit is my version of special and simple, all combined together. Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans are extremely seasonal and make their appearance for a short time in the winter. Imagine my surprise when I found street vendors selling it at this time of the year. I had to pick them up. Addition of avarekalu made my simple uppit, special for me. 

Avarekalu is a local name for Hyacinth beans. They have a very subtle delicate flavor. In winter, there is a fest dedicated just for Avarekalu in Bangalore where the creativity of the chefs is displayed as they make anything and everything using avarekalu. Ah! Simple special moments in life!!!

Uppit or Upma is a dish usually had for breakfast in South India. It is made my cooking toasted semolina or rava in a vegetable broth. You can make uppit with just onions and tomatoes or load it up with veggies like carrots, peas, green beans, cabbage, capsicum or like in this recipe - Avarekalu. To make a simple Avarekalu Uppit, you can skip all the other vegetables except the avarekalu, onion and the tomato.

You may also like to check out the recipes for Uppit/Upma or Avarekalu Saaru.

Avarekalu Uppit or Hyacinth Beans Upma

Avarekalu Uppit or Upma is a basic South Indian breakfast made by cooking toasted semolina in a vegetable broth containing boiled Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina or Rava or Sooji
1/2 cup Avarekalu
1 small Carrot
6-8 Green Beans
1 small Potato
1 Onion
1 small Tomato
1 sprig Curry leaves
1-2 Green Chilli
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
2.5 cups Water
4-5 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp Lemon juice
2 Tbsp finely chopped Coriander leaves for garnish
1 Tbsp grated fresh Coconut for garnish

Method:

In a kadhai or pan, toast the rava for 4-5 minutes on low heat until fragrant.
Chop the onion, beans, carrot, potato, tomato and the chillies.
Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves.
Immediately add the onions and green chillies and fry until the onions are translucent.
Add the other vegetables along with the avarekalu to the kadhai and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Add the water and cover and cook until the avarekalu and the beans are cooked.
Add salt.
Add the rava while stirring continuously to avoid forming lumps.
Cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow the uppit to rest for another 5 minutes.
Now add the lemon juice and garnish with coriander and coconut and mix well.
Serve hot.

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Instant Ragi Dosa

Continuing with my Instant recipes with this Instant Ragi Dosa. It is an instant dosa or crepe  made with rava or semolina and ragi flour (finger millet flour).

As much as I love Bangalore, I also love getting out of Bangalore once in a while. There are but only a few roads that lead out. One of them is the Mysore road. I'm not too fond of the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Too many speed breakers and way too many vehicles. Barely feels like you have left Bangalore. But it has some silver lining, in the form of the various eating joints all along the way. There is this Kamat restaurant on the way where I first ate the Ragi Dosa. And it was love at first bite. Crispy dosa served with some coconut chutney. I'd never imagined Ragi could taste sooo good.

I'd had ragi in the form of Ragi Rotti or the Ragi Mudde, but never the Ragi Dosa. I simply loved it and when we came back, I was off to buy Ragi Flour to make it. Ragi Dosa is made exactly like the Rava Dosa, only the rice flour is replaced with ragi flour.

Ragi Dosa is perfect for those mornings when you haven't planned ahead for breakfast. All you do is mix stuff together and throw them on a hot griddle or tava. Yup no spreading it with love like the regular Dosa or pancake, you have to throw it on and let it take the shape it likes. No obsessing over the round shape. 

It is also perfect for that 5pm hunger of mine. A great alternative to all that fried stuff around. 

Making awesomely crispy Ragi Dosa requires patience, something I lack, so sometimes I'm just okay with soft ones. But I have the following tips to making a great Ragi Dosa. The same work for Rava Dosa as well.

• Mix and make the dosa immediately. Do not leave it to soak. Soaking allows the rava or semolina to soak up all the water and it won't get crisp.
• The batter needs to be thin. Make a few and try, you will know if you need to add more water. The consistency should be similar to that of buttermilk.
• Pour the batter when the tava or the griddle is really hot and then lower the heat and leave it to crisp up.
• Don't skimp on the oil. The dosa needs oil to crisp up, at least 1-2 tsp per Dosa. Oil-less Ragi Dosa is just not as tasty. 
• I add onions, curry leaves, cumin seeds, coriander leaves and chilli. A well seasoned Ragi Dosa does not even need any accompaniments, it tastes delicious on its own. All these are optional and you can leave them out to make a plain Ragi Dosa

Buttermilk consistency Batter

Spoon the mixture on a hot tava. Flip when browned.

Instant Ragi Dosa

Instant dosa made with Ragi flour and Semolina

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                5-6 Dosas

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Semolina (Rava)
1/4 cup Ragi flour
1 Tbsp All purpose flour (Maida)
1 Tbsp Yogurt (Curd)
1 small Onion (finely chopped)
5-6 Curry leaves
2 Tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1.5 cups Water
Salt
Oil for frying

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients except oil and whisk until free of lumps
Heat a tava and grease it
Pour spoonfuls of the batter on the tava
Allow it to cook on low flame
Spoon oil on the dosa
Once the dosa is cooked, it will leave the sides of the tava, else use a spatula to loosen the dosa from the tava
Flip and cook for 1 minute
Serve hot with chutney

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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!!

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.

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Mysore Masala Dosa

Mysore Masala Dosa is a rice and lentil pancake that has a chilli and garlic chutney spread on the inside and stuffed with a potato bhaji and served with a simple coconut chutney.

Weekends are meant to be slept in. Aren't they? But sometimes, waking up early on a weekend has it's own excitement - that slight chill in the air, the sky all grey and cloudy, birds chirping away from their hiding places and an occasional car or bus on the road. At times like this, all I need is a steaming hot cup of coffee and a blanket to wrap myself as I sit in the balcony watching the world go by. And you know what's better than that? Having a plate of absolutely delicious homemade Mysore Masala Dosa to eat.

There is absolutely nothing like a Mysore Masala Dosa for breakfast. The good thing about Bangalore is you can eat a Masala Dosa morning, evening or night and for as little as Rs.20 and for as much as Rs.200. But this homemade Masala Dosa is sooo much better than the restaurant ones. I swear you won't like those once you have tasted one that YOU made at home.

A Mysore Masala Dosa is crisp and golden brown on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. It has a spicy red chilli and garlic chutney spread on the inside and is always stuffed with a potato bhaji. Served with a simple coconut chutney, it actually makes one of the most delicious breakfast. Sometimes, dinner too. Skip the red chilli chutney, to get a regular Masala Dosa.

In the age of fast food, a Dosa is a mix of both food movements - slow and fast. It needs to go through the slow process of fermentation but after that, it is a matter of minutes to cook it. 

Points to keep in mind:

• There are many recipes out there that replace the rice with rice flour or with all purpose flour, but a Dosa tastes authentic only when it is made with with rice grains as opposed to flour. 
• I ALWAYS use an age old cast iron griddle or tava to make Dosa. It gives it that amazing color and crispness, but my sister swears by her non stick tava or griddle. Either way, a Dosa tava is meant to be absolutely flat, non stick or cast iron. You can also use a flat frying pan. 
• In winters or if the day is cold, you may need more time to ferment the batter. Keeping it near a warm stove or oven helps. If you live in a hot region or it is summer, you may need only 6-8 hours for the batter to ferment. 
• You will know that the batter is fermented when it has risen and tastes sour. 
• If you do not plan to use the entire batter at one go, remove the excess and only add salt to the batter you plan to use immediately. 

Mysore Masala Dosa

Mysore Masala Dosa is a rice and lentil pancake that has a chilli and garlic chutney spread on the inside and stuffed with a potato bhaji.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     24 Hours (Including soaking and fermenting)
Cook time:     5 minutes per Masala Dosa
Yield:                Makes 12-15

Ingredients:

For the Dosa:

1.5 cups Dosa Rice (Use regular rice if you don't have dosa rice)
0.5 cup Urad Dal or Split Black Gram
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds or Methi seeds
Water to grind
1-2 tsp Salt
1.5-2 tsp Oil per Dosa

For the Red Chilli Chutney:

8-10 dry Red Chillies
1-2 Garlic cloves
1-2 Tbsp Water
1/2-1 tsp Salt

For the Potato Bhaji:

3-4 medium sized Potatoes (Boiled and Peeled)
1 large Onion
3-4 Green Chillies
1 sprig Curry Leaves
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
3-4 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp finely chopped Coriander Leaves

Method:

To make the Dosa Batter:

Soak the rice, urad dal and methi seeds for 8-10 hours. To make Dosa for breakfast, soak the grains the previous morning. So you can grind the batter at night.
Drain the water and grind the soaked rice and dal into a fine batter. Use as little water as possible while grinding. Adding too much of water will not allow the batter to become fine. Start with 1/4-1/2 cups of water and then add more if required.
Pour the batter into a deep vessel. Mix well if you ground the batter in batches.
Cover and keep in a warm place to ferment overnight.
When the batter has risen and become sour, it has fermented enough and can be used to make Dosa.
The batter keeps well in the fridge for almost a week. See "Points to keep in mind" above for more information on storage.

To make the Red Chilli Chutney:

Remove the seeds from the dry red chillies and soak them in warm water for 30 minutes.
Grind them into a fine paste along with the garlic, salt and a little water.
Store in an airtight box in the fridge. It keeps well for 2 weeks in the fridge.

To make the Potato Bhaji:

Mash the potatoes into rough cubes.
Slice the onions and chop green chillies.
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
Once they splutter, add the curry leaves, onions and the green chillies.
Fry the onions until they are translucent.
Add the potato and mix well. 
Now add the salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.
Fry for 1-2 minutes.
Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.

To make the Mysore Masala Dosa:

Grease a cast iron or non stick griddle and heat it.
Once the griddle is hot (not smoking), pour one ladle full of batter on the griddle and spread it from the inside out into a thin circle.
Drizzle a spoonful of oil on it and allow it to cook on medium heat.
When the side touching the griddle turns golden brown and crisp and the side facing you is cooked and there is no raw batter there, spread 1/2-1 tsp of the red chilli chutney on the dosa.
Place a spoonful of potato bhaji on the dosa and fold the dosa into half.
Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

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Khara Pongal

I spent 10 hours travelling by train yesterday. 10 long HOURS.
Can you imagine starting out at 5am, travelling by train for 5 hours and then spending a few hours at your destination and then travelling 5 hours in train coming back and then charging through the horrible HORRIBLE traffic home and having to cook your own dinner???

5am is close to mid night for me. I'm so not a morning person.

I was exhausted. I was more than exhausted, I don't even have a word for it. It was late to order food or parcel something from a restaurant. I was hungry and I had to eat. At times like this, come out the simplest recipes where I don't need to do a thing and magically delicious food appears on the table.

Khara Pongal is one of those magic recipes. Pongal is a South Indian version of Khichdi. To make khara pongal, all you need to do is dump rice, moong dal, water, ginger and a few other things into the rice cooker or pressure cooker and let it do its thing. And VOILA! 15-20 mins later, food on your table. It is just as simple as that.

So I washed and soaked my rice and moong dal as soon as I walked into the house. You can skip the soaking and directly cook it together but it may take you a little more time than what I took. Soaking for at least 30 minutes is recommended.

I'd never had Pongal until I moved to Bangalore. I'd never eaten rice for breakfast either until I moved to Bangalore. Then in the office cafeteria, I had khara pongal with masala vada for the first time for breakfast and it was love at first bite. Since then, I've been making it when ever I'm short of time.

Pongal is meant to be mushy, so don't worry about overcooking it. In fact, go ahead overcook it. This is why is generally fed to little kids as it needs no chewing. If serving it to kids, do not add the peppercorns and the chilli. 

Pongal is a vegan dish, but what takes it to a totally different level is the Ghee or clarified butter tempering that's poured over it. I say, the more the ghee, the better it tastes. If you are not vegan, don't forget this step. 

Khara Pongal

Khara Pongal is a quick dish made by cooking together rice and moong dal with ginger and tempered with ghee.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Rice (uncooked)
1/2 cup Moong Dal (uncooked)
3 cups Water 1/2 tsp Black Peppercorns
3/4" Ginger
1/2 tsp of Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
3-4 tsp Ghee
8-10 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Cumin seeds

Method:

Method:

Wash the rice and dal and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Add the washed rice and dal to a pressure cooker with the water, turmeric powder, black peppercorns, grated or sliced ginger and salt.
Pressure cook for 15 minutes or for 5-6 whistles. Pongal is meant to be mushy so don't worry about overcooking it.
Heat the ghee in a small pan and add cumin seeds to it.
Once they brown slightly, turn off the heat and add the curry leaves.
Pour this tempering over the khara pongal and mix well.
Serve hot with some raita

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Coorg Pumpkin Curry

This Coorg style pumpkin curry is made with ripe pumpkin, coconut and spices. It is a spicy curry unlike most other pumpkin curries.

I don't usually crave pumpkins, at least not like I crave chocolate. But recently after eating a small bowl of pumpkin curry in office, I wanted more. And telepathically, my mother in law gave me a huge organic homegrown pumpkin. What's better than a pumpkin? A HOMEGROWN one.

The thing I hate most about pumpkins is actually peeling them. By the time I got through peeling this huge pumpkin, my palms were sore with the knife handle rubbing against them, my arms ached with all that effort. But the slightly sweet yet hot spicy coconut-ty curry made it totally worth it.

I usually make a simple dry pumpkin curry by boiling diced pumpkins with some fresh green chillies and garnishing it with freshly grated coconut. Simple and easy. It lets the sweetness of the pumpkin shine through. But this time I did not want a very sweet pumpkin curry. I wanted a change. I had something in mind but absolutely no idea how to make it.

Coorg is this beautiful place nestled among the Western Ghats of India. A bunch of friends went there several years ago and we stayed in this humble but beautiful homestay with a wonderfully warm family. The family cooked up all the traditional Coorgi delicacies and I remember one of them was this pumpkin curry with coconut, unlike I had ever eaten before. So I searched online for this curry and as usual Google spewed off many results, so I had to mix and match recipes to find the ONE. I tried this dish until I made something closer to the one in memory. 

Coorg Pumpkin Curry

Coorg style Pumpkin curry made with ripe pumpkin, coconut and spices.

Recipe Type:  Side
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:                Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

3 cups diced Pumpkin
3-4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
6-8 Curry Leaves
1 Onion
2-3 Garlic cloves
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 cup grated Coconut or 1 cup of Coconut milk
1 tsp Tamarind pulp
3-4 dry red Chillies or 1-2 tsp of red chilli powder
1-2 tsp of Jaggery powder or Sugar
1 cup Water
Salt
Fresh Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds.
Once they splutter, add the curry leaves, finely chopped onion and garlic. Fry until the onion is translucent.
Add the pumpkin.
Add the turmeric and water and cover and cook until the pumpkin is done.
If using grated coconut, grind together the coconut, tamarind, dry red chillies or chilli powder, cumin powder and the coriander powder with a little bit of water to make a fine masala paste.
Add it to the pumpkin in the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes.
If using coconut milk, then add the coconut milk along with the coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and the tamarind paste to the pumpkin and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add salt and the jaggery powder or sugar and mix well.
Serve hot.

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Gojju Avalakki | Tamarind Beaten Rice

Some things get better with time - wine, cheese, wounds are some. I am inclined towards believing this Gojju Avalakki is one of them too. 

I made it for breakfast yesterday, and I thought it was good. But was it good enough to surpass all those Drafts I have and immediately make it to the blog? I wasn't so sure. May be it could wait a week? This was the first time I made it. I've eaten it before but never cooked it myself, so I overestimated the quantity and made enough for breakfast and more. So when I had my 5pm hunger pangs, I took it out of the fridge and microwaved it. One spoon down and I was thinking, this is good... Second spoon and I was like this IS GOOD and I have to take photos before I finish this entire bowl.

Then it was a rush to catch the last few rays of natural light and no time to think about composition or background or anything, just click click click and hope they turned out good enough. I'm happy with the clicks. 

Gojju Avalakki or Huli Avalakki is a simple and quick dish from Karnataka that is made with beaten rice or poha or avalakki and tamarind. It is flavored with Sambar or Rasam powder. 

I searched online for recipes and found so many different versions. A lot of them powdered the beaten rice and somehow that did not appeal to me. I like the texture of the beaten rice flakes, so I skipped that step. A lot of the recipes also used both rasam and sambar powders, so did I since I had both at home. You can use either one or both depending what is stocked in your house. I used store bought ready made powders. 

There were many complicated recipes, but I made my own that is extremely simple. All you need to do is squeeze out the juice of tamarind and add all spices to it. Add it to the tempering and then add washed beaten rice to it. Very simple and easy - I guarentee you.

Have I mentioned how much I love fresh coconut? I love to garnish anything and everything with coconut. I was super generous with it, I definitely used 1-2 Tbsp more that what I have in the recipe, but I listed down what any normal person without my fetish for coconut would add. I always believe the more the coconut the tastier the dish. I even used coconut oil. 

I have mentioned 2 Tbsp for peanuts too, but then you can go all NUTS over peanuts and add more. 

Gojju Avalakki | Tamarind Beaten Rice

Gojju Avalakki or Huli Avalakki is a simple and quick dish from Karnataka that is made with beaten rice or poha or avalakki and tamarind. It is flavored with Sambar or Rasam powder. 

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:      15 minutes
Yield:                 Serves 3


Ingredients:

3 cups of Beaten Rice or Poha or Avalakki (Use the medium or thick variety, not the paper thin one)
1/2 cup warm Water
1 big lemon sized ball of Tamarind
2 tsp of Rasam Powder
1 tsp of Sambar Powder (Replace with 1 tsp of Rasam powder if you don't have sambar powder)
1 tsp of Red Chilli Powder (Optional)
A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida
2 Tbsp of Peanuts
2 Tbsp of fresh grated Coconut
3-4 tsp of Coconut Oil or vegetable oil
1 tsp of Mustard seeds
1 sprig of Curry Leaves
1 tsp of Jaggery Powder or Sugar
2 Tbsp of finely chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water and keep it aside for 10 mins.
Squeeze the tamarind pulp into the water to get tamarind juice.
Add the rasam powder, sambar powder, hing, red chilli powder, jaggery powder or sugar and 1 tsp of salt and mix well.
Wash the avalakki twice and drain the water completely and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadhai or pan and add the mustard seeds.
Once they splutter, add the peanuts and fry until the peanuts turn slightly dark.
Add the curry leaves and the tamarind juice.
Cook on medium low heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add the avalakki and mix well. Add salt as needed.
Cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat.
Garnish with fresh grated coconut and finely chopped coriander leaves and serve.

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Maavina Hannu Seekarne or Aamras

The best thing about summer??? MANGOES. My sweet dreams are made of eating a ripe juicy mango dripping juice all over my hands. I never saw any other reason for the month of May to appear on the Calendar. I mean, May is the HOTTEST month of the year. In school, it marked the end of one month of summer vacations. The only saving grace for the month of May was the mangoes it brought with it.

Every Indian household I know uses mangoes to make either their favorite milkshake, or lassi, or dessert or pickle. There are so many dishes that you can make with Mangoes - both raw and ripe. I've made a few in the past:

Mavinkayee Chitranna or Mango Rice - Flavored rice made with grated raw mangoes and leftover rice.

Hagalkai Mavinkayee Gojju or Bittergourd & Raw Mango Curry - Bitter sweet sour and spicy curry made with bitter gourd and raw mangoes

Sweet and Sour Mango Curry or Saasav or Pashingiri - Mango curry made with ripe mangoes and fresh coconut famous along the Konkan coast of India.

Aam Panna or Sweet and Spicy Raw Mango Cooler - A sweet and spicy beverage made using raw mangoes

Mango Cheesecake - Cheesecake made using fresh mangoes, paneer and agar agar.

Raw Mango Gojju - South Indian raw mango curry and coconut curry

Corn and Raw Mango Salsa - A Simple Salsa made with boiled sweet corn and raw mango.

Don't you just want to grab that bowl of luscious Seekarne and eat it right now?

Maavina hannu Seekane or Aamras is probably the easiest delicacy you can make with Mangoes. All you need are ripe fresh JUICY mangoes. India is the birthplace of Mango and every state has it's own favorite. Alphonso, Kesar, Dasheri, Badami, Mankurad (Being a Goan, I had to list this one), Raspuri etc.There are so many more varieties, I don't even know all the names. 

Maavinahannu Seekarne or Aamras was my Mom's favorite Mango dish, she made it every summer, without fail. I made this today as a dedication to her. 

Maavinahannu Seekarne can be made in two ways, either by finely chopping the mangoes, like my mom made it or squeezing the mango to get a fine puree, the way my grandmother made it. The only difference in the 2 methods, is the way the mango pulp is treated - chopped or pureed. It is typically flavored with cardamom and almost always has a little milk added to it.

Traditionally, the Maharastrians eat their aamras with deep fried puris and here in Karnataka, it is eaten with chapati - the pan fried wholewheat flatbread. But you can eat it just like that as a dessert. Seekarne tastes best chilled for an hour or two in the fridge. But you can eat it at room temperature as well.

Maavina Hannu Seekarne or Aamras

Maavina Hannu Seekarne or Aamras is a simple traditional dessert made with mango pulp and milk and flavored with cardamom.

Recipe Type:  Dessert/ Drink
Cuisine:         Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Yield:             2-3 bowls

Ingredients:

2 ripe Mangoes
1/2 cup of Milk
1 tsp Cardamom Powder
1-2 tsp Jaggery Powder or Sugar

Method:

Peel the mangoes and chop the mango cheeks finely. Alternatively, instead of chopping it, you can just puree the mango.
Add cardamom powder and milk. Mix well.
Taste and check if you want it sweeter, then add jaggery or sugar.

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Churmuri Soosla | Puffed Rice Breakfast

I LOVE ___ This is usually how I start my posts. You must think I love practically everything that I can eat (i.e. Vegetarian). I do hate some food. Well, hate may be a strong word. More like dislike. And I dislike something that more than half the world loves - Breakfast Cereals.

I'll replay a usual breakfast discussion between me and my hubby dearest Raj.

Me (crestfallen, yet optimistically looking for answers) - "I don't know what to make for breakfast"

Raj - "Don't worry, lets eat cornflakes"

Me - "Nooooo... I'll make something, give me 10 minutes"

He loves it, I dislike it (at least the ones currently in the market). All those cereal lovers out there, please FORGIVE me for my next statement. I somehow feel Cereals are just loaded with sugar and offer nothing health wise. And I'm somehow not a big fan of sweet breakfast.

So this promise of 10 minutes isn't always upheld, but then, he's out there with the Newspaper and doesn't really keep track of time.

Isn't a girl allowed plus or minus 10 minutes? I'm sure she is. This wonderfully light breakfast of puffed rice (Churmuri or murmura or mandakki or kadle puri. Whew! that's a lot of "or"s) is done and on your plate in less than 20 minutes. And no - I'm not exaggerating at all.

Puffed rice is exactly what the name says - it is puffed up rice. It is basically Rice Popcorn (more like popRICE). There are varieties in it - salted and unsalted. They both differ slightly texture wise. I've always used the salted variety.

This Churmuri Soosla as I call it, it my goto breakfast when I'm short of time. It's light, quick and it has the sweetness from the onions, tartness from the tomatoes and the lime, the heat from the green chillies and freshness from the coriander leaves. Basic spices like cumin seeds (jeera) and turmeric (haldi) just make it all the more delicious. You can skip the roasted gram, but I highly recommend it. If you cannot find it, I'd say try replacing it with powdered roasted peanuts and that should do.

Churmuri Soosla | Puffed Rice Breakfast

A light South Indian breakfast made with puffed rice.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:          South Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Yield:              Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

150 gms of Puffed Rice / Churmuri
1 small Onion
1 medium sized Tomato
1-2 Green Chillies
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 Lemon / Lime
1/3 cup of Roasted Gram / Puthani
3 tsp of Oil
1 tsp of Cumin seeds
6-8 Curry leaves
1 Tbsp of finely chopped Coriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai.
Add the cumin seeds and allow them to brown slightly.
Add finely chopped onions, curry leaves and slit green chillies. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
Add chopped tomatoes and fry them for around 2 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
Add the turmeric powder and mix well.
Wash the puffed rice and squeeze out the water.
Add to the pan and mix well.
Now add salt and lemon juice.
Grind the roasted gram into a fine powder and add to the pan. Mix well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

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