Jackfruit Pakoda

Ingredients:
10 jackfruit pieces (finely chopped,boiled and mashed)
1/2 cup rice flour/akki hittu
1 cup gram flour/kadlehittu/besan
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt and red chilli powder for seasoning
a pinch of baking soda
ginger paste
oil for frying

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients except the oil into a batter.Heat oil for deep frying.Add around 2 teaspoons of the hot oil into the batter.Take small portions and deep fry in oil.

Stuffed Hagalkai/Bitter gourd

Ingredients:
6 baby bittegourds/hagalkai
1 medium sized onion(finely chopped)
2 medium sized tomatoes/tamarind (finely chopped)
3 tsp fresh coriander leaves(finely chopped)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp amchoor/dry mango powder(not required when tamarind is used)
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp kitchen king powder
salt and red chilli powder for seasoning
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ginger paste(garlic paste can also be used with it)
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp sugar
2-3 tsp lemon juice
oil for frying

Procedure:Peel the outer skin of bitter gourds and slit in the middle.Remove all the seeds.Mix these bitter gourds with 3 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of turmeric thoroughly and leave it for 12 hours.Mix the onion and tamarind with the dry ingredients and stuff it into each of the bitter gourds.Heat sufficient amount of oil for shallow frying.Add the cumin seeds ,asafoetida and ginger paste and roast.Now add in the stuffed bitter gours.Place a lid on top of the pan and fill it with water.Allow it to cook until the bitter gourds are completely soft.Finally add a pinch of sugar and lemon juice.Garnish it with coriander leaves.Serve it with rice/chapati.


If  a gravy has to be prepared to go with chapati/roti it is preferable to use tomatoes.For a dry gravy for rice use tamarind.

Sweet corn and vegetable soup

Bajjis! pakoda! with a cup of steaming hot soup or chai is something I yearn for during the monsoons...Today seemed to be the perfect day.. a cloudy,chilly,rainy day to snuggle up in bed with a good book and enjoy these hot yummy treats..slurrp!

Ingredients:

1/2 litre milk(boiled)

2 tsp butter

1 cup boiled vegetables(finely chopped carrots,beans,cauliflower and sliced baby corns)

1/2 cup sweet corn

salt and pepper for seasoning

2 tsp cornflour/flour

Procedure:

Heat butter in a pan.Boil the milk in the butter.Add the vegetables and corn into the milk and allow it to cook until the corn is soft.Take cornflour in a bowl and mix it with some water to get a liquid paste.Add the paste into milk to thicken the soup.Season the soup with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Doddapatre soppina thambuli

I have always been told that doddapatre soppu /coleus aromaticus has a lot of medicinal values.I found some information about it in wikipedia as well.

The juice of the leaves for dyspepsia, asthma, chronic coughs, bronchits, colic, flatulence, rheumatism. The dose is one tablespoonful of the fresh juice every hour for adults and one teaspoonful every two hours, four times daily, for children. As an infusion, 50 to 60 grams to a pint of boiling water, and drink the tea, 4 to 5 glasses a day. For chilldren, 1/2 cup 4 times daily.

· For otalgia (ear aches), pour the fresh, pure juice into the ear for 10 minutes.
· For carbuncles, boils, sprains, felons, painful swellings: Apply the poultice of leaves to the affected area, four times daily.
· For sore throats, a decoction of two tablespoonfuls of dried leaves to a pint of boiling water, taken one hour before or after meals.
· Decoction of leaves is given after childbirth.
• In India, leaves are used traditionally for bronchitis, asthma, diarrhea, epilepsy, nephro-cystolithiasi, fever, indigestion and cough.

Ingredients:

10 doddapatre leaves

1 1/2 tsp urad dal

1 tsp peppercorns

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp oil

1/2 cup dried or fresh coconut (optional)

salt for seasoning

1 cup yogurt

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan .Add the cumin seeds,urad dal and peppercorns and roast.Add in the leaves after the dal turns golden brown and roast for around 3 minutes frequently stirring it.Grind this mixture with coconut into a very fine paste.Mix it with yogurt and salt.Serve it with rice.

Rotti

Rottis are traditional quick breakfast recipes in karnataka.Healthy,nutrious and very filling.You can make all kinds of variations with these,wheat/godi rotti,akki/rice rotti,ragi rotti,mosaru/curd rotti ,jolada rotti ,tholadakki hittina rotti etc

Ingredients:

Mosaru/curd rotti:

2 cups rice flour

1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

yogurt

1 cup grated coconut (optional)

2 green chillies(chopped finely)

salt for seasoning

oil for frying

Akki/rice rotti:

2 cups of rice flour

1 cup grated cocunut

2 greeen chillies

1 carrot (grated)

1/2 cup coriander leaves(finely chopped)

1 capsicum (very finely chopped)(optional)

onions(finely chopped)

1 tsp cumin seeds

salt for seasoning

water(to mix into a dough)

oil for frying

Raagi rotti:

2 cups of ragi

1/2 cup sabakki soppu/dill leaves or tender drumstick leaves

2 green chillies

1/2 cup onion(optional)

salt for seasoning

water

oil for frying

Godi/wheat rotti:

2 cups wheat flour

2 green chillies

1/2 cup curry leaves

1 cup grated cocunut

salt for seasoning

water

oil for frying

Procedure:Mix all the ingredients except yogurt/water and oil.Add the yogurt/water depending on the requirement and knead into a soft dough.Grease a tava and spread a small portion of the dough evenly through out the tava by patting it.Make sure the dough spread is not very thin.Roast by adding a teaspoon of oil on it.Serve it hot with chutney,pickle and yogurt.

Hara Bhara Kebab

Ingredients:

500 gms of fresh palak leaves(blanched)

100 gms paneer

10 salt bread slices

salt for seasoning

1 1\4 tsp green chilli paste

2 tsp flour(maida)

2-3 tsp kitchen king\garam masala powder

cashew nuts for garnishing

oil for frying

Procedure:Grind all the above ingredients into a dough .Heat the oil for frying and add around 2-3 tsp of hot oil into the dough.If the dough gets watery add maida and adjust the dough.Make small round cutlets .Stick one small cashew nut piece on top of each one of them and deep fry.If you find that the cutlets are breaking up due to excess of water either add in some more bread slices into the dough or shallow fry into tikkis.Make sure excessive amount of paneer is not added into the dish,this is one of the reasons why the kebabs may break when you fry them.

Paneer kofta curry

Ingredients:

For kofta:

Paneer tikki(previous recipe)

For gravy:

1 bunch spinach leaves

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 onions (cut into halves)

6-7 cashew nuts

2 tsp khus khus

1 tsp cumin

1 1\2 tsp chilli powder

1 1\2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp kitchen king\garam masala

1\2 tsp amchoor powder

1\2 tsp turmeric powder

salt for seasoning

cream and fresh coriander for garnishing

Procedure-For the koftas follow the paneer tikki recipe.I prefer shallow frying the koftas when all the ingredients are cooked or do not need much of cooking than deep frying the koftas as you get to use very less oil and its healthier.For the curry,palak as a base for paneer koftas enhances the taste of paneer so I opted for palak rather than the normal tomato based curries.Blanch the palak leaves.Do not overcook it as by doing this the nutrients and the colour is lost.Grind it into a coarse paste.Let it not be very smooth as in the case of palak paneer.Soak the cashews,khus khus and onions in some milk for 5 minutes and then grind into a very fine paste.Heat oil in a pan and add jeera and ginger garlic paste and roast till golden brown.Now add the palak paste and cook for 5 minuts.Add the ground cashew paste and allow the curry to cook for 2 minutes.Add all the dry ingredients and stir well.Finally add in the koftas.After adding the koftas ,stir only if necessary to ensure the koftas do not break.Garnish with fresh cream and coriander.Serve hot with roti,naan,parantha etc.

Paneer Tikki

These are multipurpose tikkis :) you can have them as tikkis,stuff them in burgers or even use them in kofta curries they go perfectly with every dish. :)

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed paneer/1 block of commercially available paneer (150 gms)

1 cup american corn

2 green chillies(finely chopped)

3 tsp chopped coriander

salt for seasoning

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp amchoor

3-4 slices of salt bread(for binding)

2 tsp kitchen king

salt for garnishing

Butter

Procedure:Mix all the above ingredients into a soft dough and make small tikkis.Heat butter in a pan and roast the tikkis until brown and crisp.Serve it with green chutney.

Cheeselings

Ingredients:

1 cube cheddar cheese(grated)

1 cup maida

1 tsp butter

water

salt and pepper for seasoning

oil for frying

Procedure:Mix all the ingredients with water and knead into a fine dough.The consistency of the dough should be similar to the puri dough.Now using a rolling pin make thin.Using a rolling -pin,roll out the dough into a thin ,round patty and cut it into small diamonds.Deep fry these diamonds in adequate amount of oil.

Raw Banana Kebab

Ingredients:

1 Raw Banana

1 cheese cube(grated)

5 tsp butter

1/4 tsp jeera powder

1/4 tsp dhania powder

1 tsp kitchen king powder

salt and pepper for seasoning

2 tsp of flour (maida)

Procedure:

• Cut the raw banana in the centre and boil it in hot water.Do not remove the peel.
• Remove the peel of the soft boiled banana and mash it completely.
• Roast the banana in a teaspoon of butter until it turns golden brown.
• mix the grated cheese into the roasted mixture and add all the dry spices and knead well.If the dough is a little watery and some flour and knead.
• Make a watery paste of maida in a bowl.
• Roll the dough into small cutlets ,dip it into the maida paste and shallow fry in butter till the kebabs are crisp and brown.