Kadabu and panchgajaya on Ganesh chaturti Event

Normal menu at my native usually consists of 21 different variety of sweets and savory items along with 2 kosumbaris, 2 types of palya(vegetable fry), 2 types of Hasi/pachadi with coconut and yogurt base, gojju/kayirasa, tilisaru, thambli, huli(sambhar), majjige huli, masala bhath, bhajjis/vadas, 2 types of kadabu and lot more. I restricted our food to one of each and even skipped some of them as the effort is baseless when we cannot afford to eat so many items.

My Banana leaf consists of from 3 colums, the first left column carrot kosumbari, beans palya, ginger-coriander chutney
The Second column goes with karikadabu, Karji kayi, modak, panchgajaya, potato/plaitain bajji (fritters),Chakli, Rave undde, followed by Pumpkin and cucumber kadabu, rice Sambhar and Thili saaru.

I will share some of the recipes

Panchgajaya

kari kadale/Brown Chick peas - 1 cup
jaggery - 1/2 cup
Seaseme seeds - 1 tbsp
coconut grated - 1 tbsp

Method:

• Wash the peas well and dry it well
• Roast the seaseme seeds until golden brown
• Dry roast the peas until fragrant and powder to a coarsely in a blender
• Heat jaggery in 1 tbsp of water strain to remove impurities
• Continue to boil with coconut grating until is sticky and add the powdered peas mix well
• add the seseme seeds and mix well.

For a dry version make it with Channa Dhall/Kadale Bhele

Pumpkin kadabu

Raw Rice - 1 cup soaked for 2 hrs
pumpkin grated - 1/2 cup
jaggery - 1/4 cup or more
coconut grated - 1/4 cup
cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

• mix grated pumpkin and jaggery in a seperate vessel
• Drain the water from rice and grind it coarsely with the jaggery liquid from 1
• Mix in all the other ingredients to the paste along with the grated pumpkin
• if the mixture feels very thin heat the mixture in a thick bottom vessel until it forms a batter of texture like rava iddili batter
• Take a tumeric leaf spread the a small amount of dough with required thickness on one half of the leaf fold it, continue for the rest or if the leaf is too small use 2 leaves crossed add the batter in the center and fold it from four sides tightly.
• Steam the iddlis in a steamer for 15-20 mins. The leaves must change color or wilt for the flavour to build in the iddilies

For cucumber just follow the same way leave the jaggery and cardamom powder. Serve with chutney of your desired choice.

Sorry I could not take picture of iddlies/kadabu exclusively. I will try to post it next time.

Ready for Steaming iddilies in turmeric leaf

Kadabu at the left most on banana leaf

This goes to my contribution to Latha’s yum blog for the Ganesh chaturti event

ಬಾಳೆಹಣ್ಣು ದೊಡ್ಡನ/Banana Dosa(Pancake)

This is one of the dosas made at my home. This dosa/pancake has a very soft and spongy texture. One of my favorite dosa with a dollop of ghee tastes delicious. I have used the dark brown liquid jaggery from my native prepared freshly from cane sugar just after Makara Sankranti/Pongal. My Mother in law makes sure to place order just before sankranti. When its fresh it tastes so good like honey. My MIL place even iddilis, dosas, chapaties are had with jaggery and ghee,though we avoid using ghee. Every year I carry back atleast 5 kilos of jaggery from home. This does not contain sodium carbonate which is added in the process to solidify the jaggery. Look at the preparation of jaggery here.

 This goes to my contribution to JFI-Banana hosted by Mandira from Ahaar which is initiated by Indira of Mahanandi and also for RCI hosted by Asha from Foodieshope initiated by Laskshmi from Veggiecuisine.

All you need
parboiled rice/iddli rice - 1 (1 cup - 150ml) cups
raw rice - 1 cup
Ripe bananas - 2
methi seeds - 2 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup(according to taste)
salt as required

Method:

• Soak rice  with methi seeds for 2-3 hrs in water along with methi seeds
• Drain water and grind to a slightly coarse batter like we make for dosas. Batter should feel like very fine rava in it not ground like a paste
• Make a fine paste of bananas
• Mix the banana paste to the ground rice. let it ferment overnight in a warm place
• Next morning add jaggery and salt mix well.
• Make sure the batter is of pouring consistency like pancake/dosa batter.
• Heat a dosa/pancake pan, smear some oil/ghee
• When the pan is hot, spread the pancake in circular direction cook on low flame covered with a enclosed plate so that it covers the dosa and has place for steam to develop.
• Wait for few a minute check whether the dosa has steamed, flip the dosa and slighlty roast the other side
• Serve with a dollop of ghee.

Note: Take care while over turning it will be slightly sticky. Add correct amount of jaggery adding too much will be difficult to lift the dosa. Subsitute jackfruit for bananas to make variation.Add 1/2 cup of Poha while grinding to make crisper dosas suggested by Sia and Sushma. Make dosas on a non stick pan to avoid sticking suggested by Asha

ಗಣೇಶ ಚತುರ್ಥಿಯ ಶುಭಾಷೇಯಗಳು/Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

ಗಜಮುಖನೆ ಗಣಪತಿಯೆ

ನಿನಗೆ ವಂದನೆ

ನಂಬಿದವರ ಪಾಲಿನ

ಕಲ್ಪತರು ನೀನೆ.

♦ಗಣೇಶ ಚತುರ್ಥಿಯ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಶುಭಾಷೇಯಗಳು ♦

Happy Ganesh Chaturti to one and all

May God bless you all and bring you all the success and prosperity always!

 

RCI_Karnataka with ತೆಳೆವು/Neer dose, ಮನೊಹರ/manohara and maddur vade

My origin is from north kanara or uttara kannada with RCI for karnataka thought of sharing some glimpses of this part of karnataka.  Though I spent most of my childhood and education near Bangalore my moms native sagar(my moms place), sirsi where my Doddamma, my In-laws stay and mathikoppa near Ekkeri, vardahalli where my another aunt stays are very close to my heart and would love to visit during our summer vacation. The main cultivation wise near my native they grow paddy, betelnut, coconut, cashew nut. I think not many have tasted the fruit of cashew. So every year my aunts family who have their own plantation are busy in the process of picking betelnuts drying them and selling them eventually during the season. I am not much aware of the technics but me my sis and cousins would stroll round the village to have fun plucking the fresh fruits, veges and of course used to drink lots of tender coconut water. Only wish I had the pictures so that I could post them along. If we happen to peek in their lifestyle is so different and really very amazing though they have to go along quite a tough path. They all are so healthy even at this age cross my fingers but the fact is the nature and type of living makes a lot of difference.

The chief language of the district is Kannada, with minorities of Konkani, Marathi, and Tulu speakers. The population is predominantly Hindu, comprising of many communities like Havyaka, Nadavas, Gowda Saraswat brahmins, Vokkaligas, Sherugars, Namdharis and Vanis.

The Havyakas are united by their unique language. They speak a dialect of Kannada known as Havyaka Kannada. It is similar to mainstream Kannada but draws more words from ancient Kannada. However, most mainstream Kannada speakers find it difficult to understand Havyaka Kannada. The Havyaka dialect is supposed to be quite old. Its origins, like many other things in India, are shrouded in mystery. Notably certain Havigannada(Havyaka Kannada) speakers , more so in Uttara kannada, use neutral gender in place of feminine gender while addressing females. But Havyaks in certain part of Karnataka, like Kundapur, Thirthahalli, Kodagu do not speak Havigannada.

One of the most ancient Madukeshwara temple in Banavasi. If any friends/guests would visit the first one which my Dodappa would ask lets take them to Banavasi.The annual December cultural festival, Kadambothsav, is a huge gathering, organized by the state government, and featuring folk dancers, drama troupes, classical musicians, art exhibitions, while drawing together performers, artists, and writers from all of south IndiaBanavasi has long been a cultural centre, especially the Yakshagana art form. Today local artisans craft and sell the classical folk art Yakshagana masks here. Read more about Banavasi here

source:Wikipedia

JOG Falls

If you happen to go karanataka don’t miss the jog falls which is located near Sagar in Shimoga dist. This year the falls were breathtaking. These are  some of the photos sent by my friend. The best time would be in mansoon to visit these falls.River Sharavati falls  from the height of around 253 mts  and splits itself into four major falls called as Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer. Whenever i visited it would be dry never had been able to visit at the right time. Trekking up and down is really fun i made it only once during summer.

 

Coming to the dishes

Morning breakfast normally we are lovers of dosa, like uddina dose(urad dhall dosa thick ones), Bele dose(thin dhall dosa), Banana dosa(balehannu doddana), halasina hannu(jackfruit) dose, mogekai dose(cucumber dosa even made sweet and plain), Neer dosa(tellevu), uppitu/upuma, avallaki/poha various kinds. Plain iddilis are quite rare. We have sweet kadabu, chappe(plain) kadabu different kinds of steamed dumplings, rotis(phulkas)of wheat, jowar and rice, chapatis and thalipeetu of jowar, rice, wheat, ragi or mixed too.

Neer dose/Thellevu

All you need

par boiled  Rice - 1 cup
raw rice - 1 cup
fresh grated coconut - 1 cup

Method:

• Soak rice the previous night in water

• Next morning grind the rice and coconut to a fine paste

• The mixture should be thin like butter milk like we do for rava dose

• Heat the tava wait until it is hot

• Pour the batter like for rava dosa, the batter will spread itself and make sure to pour other sides just like rava dosa

• Once it has cooked just remove and serve immediately. Do not over turn the dosa

• The texture will be thin and spongy. Serve hot along with spicy chutney

Beluli chutney

All you need: 2 pods of garlic, 1 tsp jeera, 1 tsp urad dhall, 2 -dry chillies, 1/2 cup grated coconut, tamarind and salt as per taste.

Method: fry garlic, jeera, urad dhall chillies in 1 tsp of oil. Grind with all the other ingrediants. No tadka is required.

Avallaki Manohara

This sweet is normally made with fried boondi too. I just loved this sweet very first time i had at my mothe in laws place and was totally flat at it. But as i queried my mother in law she told we could as well make with poha. So this was a great way for me to skip the making of boondis.So here i go

 

All you need
Thick poha - 1 cup
jaggery - 1 cup
grated coconut - 1/4 cup
seseme seeds - 1 big tbsp

Method:

• Deep fry Avallaki(poha) in oil keep aside

• Dry roast seseme seeds until fragrant

• In a saucepan take jaggery add 2-3 tbsp water, grated coconut and let it boil until 2 thread consistency

• now turn off fire, add fried poha mix well add the seseme seeds and give a nice stir taking care not to break the poha

• Wait for 15 minute to cool it will seperate out like sweet boondis but a little crispy. This can be stored for a week.

• At my native they prepare with the natural jaggery ( neer bella/joni bella) color will be dark brown will write about this in my next post

Maddur vade

This has been blogged at various bloggers but I could not resist so I had make some maduravada vade maddur vade

All you need
Maida - 1/4 cup
Chiroti Rava/ fine semolina - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
curry leaves - 1/2 cup
green chillies - 5-6
onions - 2 big
salt to taste

Method:

• cut chillies, onions. coriander leaves, curry leaves finely

• Mix all the three flours well with salt

• heat 1 tbsp of oil and add to the flour

• Add the chillies, onions, coriander leaves and curry leaves to the flour

• Add water and mix until to get a dough of consistency for vadas

• Pat on your palm or a plastic/waxed paper to a round circle and deep fry vadas in oil serve hot.

note: This is dough can be made a little stiff like for puris. Roll them to small puris, deep fry and can be stored like crunchy snack. Goes very well along with hot tea/coffee.

This goes for RCI Karnataka hosted by our dear blogger Asha from Foodieshope which is orginated from Lakshmi of VeggeCuisine

Thanks Sandeepa, Bharathi  and Tee for the inspiring awards.

ವರಲಕ್ಷ್ಮೀ ಹಬ್ಬ/Varalakshmi festival

 This post had to be posted long ago took so long to appear. It was busy month visiting my friends houses in the evenings and sweets and sweets and kara with all the yummy frieds crisp vadas. Basically every other day we ended up with lot of yummy food.

Here comes my lakshmi pooje. Usually it is celebrated on the 2nd friday of shravana. This year I celebrated on the 3rd friday due to time constraint. I had decided to take photos at each step but failed to get everything in time. The previous day I make ready with the cleaning the pooja room and get ready with all the items. My day started at 5 in the morning. By the time I started my son is wide awake thinking his mum is gonna leave him to work asking her to come to bed and pat him with the cosy cosy look …. oh no so i carry him on my waist try to make him sleep he is not happy try various ways this went on until 6.45. Well finally got him to wake up and start with the day with oil bath and sent him for an hour to play now got time. Just rushed and prepared kadale haigreeva, kesari and kadale usuli. Made ready to fry Ammanavra Vade. By then gang is back is back amma i am here. Washed him up sit for the pooja along with him.

Varalakshmi pooja is given in various websites. This custom I follow as given in the book Varakshmi pooje book. Pooja starts with kalsha stapane,ganapati pooje, chanting strotras on lakshmi and finally naivedyam. For naivedyam panchgajaya, panchamruta, kadale maddi/haigreeva, usuli and amman vade is considered auspicious and most liked by lakshmi. The kalasha is decorated stapane made on a bed of rice. This year I failed to buy banana leaves on which the plate of rice is placed.  My son was a playfull and let me continue with the pooja. At last when I bought the items for naivedyam one by one vada and usuli started to dissapear  who else our little krishna Anku was all the while eyeing it and gulped as it was placed  In the evening i had invited my friends around my place and was really tiring day. For the evening I prepared vangibhath, rava iddilis and ginger-coriander chutney, rave kesari bhath and fried vadas so was like a full day work. It so happened i expected guests even before planned I could not take a photo too :0.

Haigreeva/kaddale maddi

All you need
channa dhall - 1 cup
toor dhall - 2 tbsp
jaggery - 1.5 to 2 cups
cashew/almonds/raisins - handfull
cardomom powder - 1 tsp

Method

• Wash channa dhall and toor dhall pressure cook until soft but still in shape
• Mean while in another bowl mix jaggery with 1/4 cup water boil until jaggery dissolves strain to remove any impurities
• Return the jaggery mixture to heat again until slightly sticky mix in dhall mixture and let it simmer until all liquid evaporates
• Fry cashew/almonds/raisins in Ghee until golden brown and add to the dhall mixture
• mix in cardamon powder add a tbsp of ghee and mix.

Ammavara vade( most recommended to try)

This is one of most flavoured urad vada and only vadas made during lakshmi festives with a hole  at my home. my son ate the maximum vadas and in no time I started to feel whether it would be enough for my friends coming over. Luckily it was just nice since some of my friends were not able to make it too This is my entry for RCI hosted by one ofmy favorite blogger Asha from foodieshope!

All you need
urad dhall - 1 cup
chiroti rava/semolina - 1.5 to 2 cups
rice flour - 1/4 cup
coconut grated - 1/2 cup
dry chilles - 4-5
coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
jeera seeds - 1 tsp
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
tamarind paste - 1 tsp
jaggery - 1 tbsp
curry leaves - cut finely
ajwain - 1 tbsp

Method:

• soak urad dhall in water for 1 hour
• grind coconut and masala like chillies, coriander,jeera,methi, mustard to a fine powder
• Grind  urad dhall along with the fine powder, tamarind salt and jaggery to a fine paste using minumum water
• Mix rice flour and Rava to the urad dhall paste . i did not measure rava i added as much to make the paste thick like for vadas
• mix ajwain and curry leaves (very important) to the paste
• Deep fry the vadas until golden brown. make sure you make it slightly thick with a hole in the centre else the taste will be raw and will not fry well.