Snake Gourd Upkari (Poddaley Upkari)

We all have pet peeves in terms of vegetables, drinks, food types et al. Ever since I was able to recognize flavors and tastes I could never muster enough courage to like this vegetable – Snake Gourd. However, as I grew up and sometimes had to cook health and nutrition food I realized the flavor if cooked wisely wasn’t all that bad. Snake Gourd can be used for various curries and side dish. It also goes as side dish and is mostly prepared in the prescribed manner by GSB Konkanis. The nutrition value of Snake Gourd is extremely high and is specially good for women's health. We call this dish Poddaley Upkari. Poddaley or Padwaley in Konkanis stands for Snake Gourd.

Cooking time: 30 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-3 individuals

Ingredients:
Snake Gourd – chopped - 4 cups
Grated Coconut – 2-4 tablespoon

For Seasoning:
Mustard seeds – ½ t easpoon
Curry Leaves – 5-6 leaves
Green Chillies – 2 (sliced vertically)
Salt – As per taste
Ghee/Oil

Method:
Keep a cooking pot on medium flame, add the ingredients for tempering and stir gently. Be cautious as the oil droplets might spurt on your face. Turn the flame to low, and add the chopped gourd pieces. Keep stirring in between to ensure the vegetable gets evenly cooked. Add salt. Stir well. Keep on flame till vegetable pieces are well cooked. Remove the pot from flame and garnish with grated coconut while serving and cover the lid immediately.

Special Tip: To retain the color of this green vegetable, one needs to cook it on steam with little milk (2-3 tablespoons), which implies that there is no additional water which requires to be added. Once covered the vegetable cooks with the power of steam. However its advisable to stir the dish once in a while while on flame. Thereby we end up using less resources as opposed to more which is water, etc otherwise required for boiling the vegetables.

Potato Gojju (Bataatey Gojju)

Of late its been p0uring cats and dogs in Bangalore. Sometimes I wonder if Mother Earth is heading to dooms day. The weather cycle is getting displaced at an erratic pace. Today when I woke up it was bright Saturday noon and suddenly it was followed by a heavy deluge. Potato Gojju and Paej seemed to be the perfect combination for this day. Paej is a Brown Rice Soup, this rice is available in abundance at Mangalore stores in and around Bangalore. I always like combining Gojju’s with Paej. The combination is yummy and simply delicious.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Processing time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-3 Individuals

Ingredients:
Potatoes – boiled and mashed - 3 cups
Green Chillies – 2
Grated Coconut – 1/2 cup
Asafoetida – Just a pinch or two
Room temperature water – 2-3 cups
Salt – As per taste

Tempering:
Coconut oil – 2 teaspoon
Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves
Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon

Method:
In a mixing bowl, crush the chillies alongwith grated coconut, chillies and salt. Crush vigorously till an even paste is formed and the ingredients blend well with each other. Now add the mashed potatoes to this mixture. In a pot, heat coconut oil on medium flame. Add curry leaves and mustard seeds and allow the seeds to pop. Temper the ingredients with the curry leaves, coconut oil and mustard seeds. Add Asafoetida powder and mix with water to form a good consistency which is not too brothy. Serve with hot Paej.Enjoy your meal.

Mom’s Special Tip – The consistency and taste of Gojju depends on the taste and flavour of coconut used. Suggested usage of Jeevo Narlu(Raw Coconut) brings about a good flavour. This should not be mistaken for Tender coconut. Jeevo Narlu in Konkanis is the one which has plenty of water in it and has ample of fresh kernel which is super white.

Bhindi Bhaaja

I sampled this dish at my friend's place and simply loved the flavours. I loved the taste especially of the spices and immediately thought of trying it out yesterday. It turned to be pretty easy and the taste was very different. This dish gels pretty well with hot phulkas.

Serves: 2-3 individuals

Ingredients:
Okra – ¼ kg (chopped vertically and further chopped into 1 inch size)
Mustard oil – 2 teaspoon
Coriander powder – 2 teaspoon
Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
Fennel powder – ½ teaspoon
Green Chillies – 2 (sliced vertically)
Salt – as per taste

Method:
1. Wash the Okra and chop and keep aside. Heat sesame oil in a sauce pan and sauté the green chillies.
2. Now add the Okra (chopped) and add the masala along with salt.
3. Keep on low flame and stir once in a while. Turn off flame once the vegetable is completely cooked.
4. Serve hot with Phulkas.

Update - The oil used here is Mustard oil. I realised using a different oil as base just changes the flavour of the subzi.

Mum's Bachelor Pulao

One quick dish which can satiate your hunger during any day is Pulao. I specially like this one made by Mommy and rejoice the taste when she prepares it. This Pulao is easy and quick to dish out. Specially recommended for Bachelor cooking where one has minimum resources and less time to dish out a quick meal. I also learnt while preparing this dish that adding one spoonful of ghee towards the end adds special aroma to the Pulao. One can use the regular MTR Pulao masala one gets at Food World et al. Try it out and enjoy!!

Serves: 2-3 Individuals

Ingredients:
Rice – 1 Cup
Chopped Vegetables – 2-3 Cups (Cauliflower, Onions, French Beans)
Ghee – 3-5 teaspoon
MTR Pulao Masala – 2 teaspoon
Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon
Hot water – 2 Cup
Salt – As per taste

Method:
1.Wash the rice and keep aside.
2.Add 3 t ghee in a pot and saute the vegetables. Once the veggies get a coat of fat
all over, add hot water and leave to parboil.
3.After the vegetables are parboiled and the water evaporates, add the rice
pre-washed.
4.Add rest of the ingredients and once mixed well, add 2 t ghee and leave on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Serve hot with pickle or Raita.

Gung-ho with Garlic Bread!!

I wanted a warm spread for a very light dinner. Found Bagel French Bread at the local store, so thought of dishing out a light snack with Garlic Bread. The final outcome was very tasty and I was surprised that the dish is actually very easy as opposed to the feedback which I had received.

For all those who have a Daredevil Baker’s spirit and wish to know more about Bread and Bread making, here is a site: http://www.bakeinfo.co.nz/school/school_info/types_of_bread.php).
I found the site useful in terms of providing the history and details related to Bread making. It talk about three types of Breads – High Rising Bread, Mid Volume Bread (e.g French Bread), Minimal volume Bread ( e.g Flat Bread aka Indian Naan, Chapatti, Pita).

Serves: 3-4 individuals

Ingredients:
French Bread – 1 loaf
Garlic oil or finely shredded garlic – 1/8th t for each slice
Unsalted butter – 8-12 t (melted)
Mushrooms – ½ C (thinly sliced)
Parmesan Cheese – 1 Cup (grated)
Paprika – as per taste
Oregano seasoning – as per taste


Method:
1. Slice the French Bread loaf to 1 inch size each.
2. Slather the melted butter and garlic oil on the bread surface.
3. Add mushrooms, parmesam cheese, paprika and oregano seasoning.
4. Place in the microwave grill mode on 100% heat for 1 minute.
5. Serve hot with Lasagna or Cream of mushroom soup.

Pampering with Cheese Pasta

I consider Cheese as a total comfort food. Cheese has this innane sublime quality to lift my spirits especially when it’s a tiring day. I was frantically hunting through my pantry stock to check what I can cook and dish out in 10 minutes flat (this is my highest saturation time when I am hungry). I found Sunfeast Pasta packet lying in the jar. I quickly picked the packet and began my cooking process. Next time around, would try to create my own sauce and cook pasta. Since I was feeling lazy this time aound, I decided to take the short cut route

Serves: 1-2 individuals

Ingredients:
Water – 2 C
Pasta pack – 100 gms
Cheese slice – 1 slice
Herbs – ¼ t

Method:
1.Unpack the pasta content in a pot of boiling water.
2.Add the tastemaker sauce and stir vigourously.
3.Caution: Do not leave the pot unattended. The stirring process
ensures that the sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
4.Stir for around 8 minutes on low flame.
5.Add cheese slice and herbs and continue stirring. When the volume
decreases to half, discontinue and put off the flame and allow the pasta
to settle.
6.After a minute, transfer to serving dish.
7.Serve with bread sticks if you will. Serve when its piping hot.

Spicy Puffed Rice (Churmurey Upkari/ Charmuri Pachhadi)

During our childhood days, eating Churmurey was a grand affair. We used to help Mum with her kitchen chores for chopping onions, cilantro and relish the experience. The best I have enjoyed is the one which we get in Udupi Krishna temple premise. They garnish the snack with raw mango (Ambuli) and it tastes amazing. The person there serves it in paper cones and dabs mounds of raw mango on top of the snack while serving.
I prefer Churmuri with Hot Tea. The combination is good and also ensures that your tummy is full with a dry snack and hot tea. A beverage/ drink is always suggested with Churmurey Upkari as the tummy gets dry food alone due to dry-snack nature of Churmurey.

Serves: 1-3 individuals

Ingredients:
Puffed Rice – 6-8 C
Coconut oil – 6 T
Nayak’s Churmuri Powder or Sambhar Powder – 3 T
Red Chillie Powder – 1 t
Finely chopped Onions – 1 C
Finely chopped Cilantro leaves – 1 C
Raw Mango – 1 C (Finely chopped): optional
Salt – As per taste

Method:
1.Fry the puffed rice on kadhai on very low flame (dry without oil). My mum does this exercise before preparing Churmurey Upkari. This also ensures that puffed rice are crispy and fresh and thereby enhance the flavor of the dish. 2.Add the coconut oil, Churmuri and Red Chillie powder. Nayak’s Churmuri powder is easily available in all Mangalore stores in Bangalore and Mangalore. Mix in rigorously to avoid lumps. If one cannot find this powder, plain red chillie powder also serves the purpose.
3.Finally add in salt and chopped onions. This process ensures that onions absorb the oil. Add cilantro leaves while serving the dish.
4.Serve this dish as an evening snack with Cardamom Tea.