kayi Holige - A dessert with coconut and jaggery

Kayi Holige is a dessert of the Karnataka cuisine mainly. But where the coconut trees are grown in abundance also, people indulge in these desserts as its a favorite among many. Here the dish is complimented by a nice rich aroma of poppy seeds. It also gives a nice texture and fine taste to the Holige. Holiges can be enjoyed with clarified butter/ghee for added taste.

Simple Mutton Biryani

Simple Mutton Biryani is an aromatic one-pot curry with mild flavour. The dish is an easy to make with fresh ingredients for a comforting day and a great treat to the family. Here in mutton Biryani, in addition to the choice of herbs and seasoning, the timing of when the flavours are added will affect the dish. Here ghee/clarified butter condiments the dish. To compliment the Mutton Biryani serve with Salads, Mutton Curry, boiled egg, Egg curry or even Brinjal curry (Gutti Vankaaya Kura). 

Bhindi Masala - Lady's Finger/Okra Stir Fry

Bhindi Masala - Lady's Finger/Okra Stir Fry is a spicy yet delicious vegetable dish. Not everyone finds this gluey texture pleasing, but cooking the vegetable in a right way will reduce the glue-like texture, allowing okra to be enjoyed on its own as an interesting and nutritious side dish. This unusual vegetable has a lot to offer nutritionally, like good source of vitamin C, folate (folic acid) and other B vitamins, as well as magnesium, potassium and manganese. Okra is high in dietary fibre.

Kandagadda Vepudu - Elephant Yam Stir Fry

Kandagadda vepudu - Elephant Yam Stir Fry is spicy stir fry with a lot of flavours added for the best taste. Though here I have used a particular cuisine (Andhra cuisine) and given a Telugu name for the dish, but all other cuisines also   make the same way, more or less I think, just the addition and deletion of the few ingredients, suitable to their palates. The dish more or less taste like potato fry but its got little more crunchiness.

Curd Vada

Curd Vada is the deep-fried vadas soaked in Yogurt. The dish here is purely a South-Indian cuisine. The hot deep-fried vadas are first put in buttermilk or water and then transferred to thick beaten yogurt. For best results, the vadas are soaked for at least a couple of hours before serving. To give a flavor, tempering is done to these curd vadas by adding cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red whole chilies, curry leaves and garnished with coriander leaves and boondi (a spicy savory). There are so many variations in flavoring the dish like in Northern India, after the vadas are soaked in buttermilk or water, it is served with yogurt, coriander chutney, dates chutney or tamarind chutney, chat masala, cumin powder and chilly powder. Here the dish is given totally a different twist.

Sabudana Kichdi - Sago Pilaf

Sabudana Kichdi is a Sago Pilaf cooked with peanuts and potato, and flavored with spices. The dish is usually cooked with clarified butter (ghee) for an added taste, though you can cook this in any preferred oil. This makes a complete meal,  better tastes with yogurt and also with coriander chutney. 

Pearl sago closely resembles pearl tapioca. Both typically are small (about 2 mm diameter) dry, opaque balls. Both may be white (if very pure) or colored naturally grey, brown or black, or artificially pink, yellow, green, etc. When soaked and cooked, both become much larger, translucent, soft and spongy. In India, sago pearls are considered an acceptable form of nutrition during periods of fasts for religious purposes.

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes - 2 medium size

2. Sago (Sabuodana) - 1 cup (medium Size granules)

3. Ground nuts - 1/4 cup

4. Green chillies - 2 nos.

5. Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp.

6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp. (optional)

7. Clarified butter (ghee)/oil - 2 tbsp.

8. Rock salt/sendha namak as per taste

Cooking Method:

1. Clean and soak the sago granules in water overnight. The water should not be more, just till the granules are immersed. If the water is more, then the granules will get sticky. The sago granules will be swelled up. 

2. Roast the groundnuts and then skin them out. 

3. Cut the potatoes into smaller sizes and chop the green chillies.

4. Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, and then add potatoes and keep it covered until it becomes tender.

5. Add the sago pearls to it and give it a stir, adding salt, chopped green chilies and chilly powder. Finally add the roasted peanuts and give it a complete mix. After adding the sago pearls, do not cover the pan with the lid. Otherwise it might turn sticky. Let it sit on flame for 10 minutes until all the spices blends well.

6. The Sabudana Kichdi is ready, and before serving, you can squeeze some lemon juice on it relish with yogurt.

Note:

1. The peanuts after getting roasted, can be powdered coarsely   and added to the dish. Can follow this too depending upon your convenience and preference.

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Sabudana Vada (Sago Cutlets)

Sago Pudding

Sabudana Vada (Sago Cutlets)

Sabudana Vada (Sago Cutlets) is a very tasty snack, which can had as a main dish along with any dip of your choice or can be relished as a side dish. The Sabudana Vada's flavour is so wonderful because of the fresh peanuts used in the recipe and fried later. This gives the cutlets the crispy texture from outside and soft texture from inside. The dish is very popular in Northern part of India. This is enjoyed as a main dish during the fasting and festival days.

Jeera Aloo - Potato Cumin Seeds Stir Fry

Jeera Aloo is a perfect simple stir fry with cumin seeds being a major ingredient. Cumin seeds are used as a spice for their distinctive flavour and aroma. It is globally popular and an essential flavouring in many cuisines, particularly South Asian, Northern African and Latin American cuisines. Cumin can be used ground or as whole seeds but here in this dish, the cumin seeds are dry roasted and coarsely ground and added, which adds an earthy and warming feeling to the dish, making it a staple in  JeeraAloo.

Molake Hurali Saaru - Sprouted Horse Gram Curry

Molake Hurali Saaru is a sprouted horsegram curry. People usually comment saying 'consuming horsegram is like gaining horse power'. This is so true because of the amount of protein content in the horse gram. The Hurali Saaru is made with  the sprouted horse gram seeds, which are soaked in water overnight and then sprouted wrapped in a muslin cloth. Though both the seeds and the sprouted beans require prolonged cooking, a soak solution has been shown to reduce cooking time and improve protein quality. 

Potato Peas Stir Fry

Potato Peas Stir Fry is a most common method of cooking potatoes in most of the northern Indian cuisine. Here the peas are so tender and gets cooked quickly. Here I have paired the peas with all-time favorite vegetable potato and made a stir-fry and the result is always delicious. Here the potatoes can be cooked at your own convenience. You can make it crunchy or soft tender.