Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Chibbada Hasale (Cantaloupe Pudding)

Chibbada Hasale is a very simple sweet dish. This is commonly prepared during summer to beat the heat. Chibbada in konkani means Cantaloupe. In Mangalore- Udupi region, a special variety of cantaloupe is available which has a distinct smell. Chibbada (Cantaloupe) in its unripe state looks like a yellow cucumber and as it ripens, there is a formation of a slit and smells heavenly. It looks like this-


Try making this simple sweet dish and enjoy!

Ingredients:
  • Chibbada/Cantaloupe, ripe- 1
  • Milk/Coconut Milk- 1- 1 1/4 cup
  • Jaggery, powdered- 1/2 cup
  • Cardamom Powder- 1/2 tsp
  • Flattened rice- As required

Procedure:

Wash and peel the cantaloupe. Cut it and remove the seeds (over ripe cntaloupe works well).


Then mash the cantaloupe using hand or chop it and blend it in a blender to get a paste. Transfer it into a bowl.


Now in another bowl add jaggery and milk/coconut milk. Mix well until the jaggery melts. Then add cardamom powder to it. Sweet milk is ready.


Now mix the pureed cantaloupe and sweet milk. Mix well. Chibbada Hasale is ready!!


Serve it immediately/refrigerated. Add 1-2 Tbsp of flattened rice while serving (which is optional). Above measurement serves 3-4 people.


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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sambarballi Chutney (Cuban Oregano Chutney)

Sambarballi Chutney is a very simple and healthy chutney. Sambarballi leaves are very healthy and the juice extracted from the leaves is used to cure cough and cold. The juice is especially given to small children for curing cough and cold. 


This is my husband's grandma's recipe and my MIL made this for me. I loved the taste. Try making this healthy chutney.

Ingredients:
  • Sambarballi/ Cuban Oregano leaves, small- 10-12
  • Grated Coconut, fresh/frozen- 1/2 cup
  • Green Chillies- 2-3
  • Tamarind- A very small piece
  • Cumin seeds/Jeera- 1/2 tsp
  • Ghee- 1/2 tsp
  • Salt- To taste

Procedure:

Wash the leaves and give a rough chop to them.


Then take a small kadai and add ghee. Start heating it on a low flame and add cumin seeds and chopped leaves. Fry for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool.


Then grind the fried leaves, cumin along with grated coconut, green chilli, tamarind and salt with little water. The consistency is similar to other coconut chutney. Transfer to a bowl. Sambarballi Chutney is ready!


Serve it with dosa, idli. Above measurement serves 3-4 people.

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Monday, March 5, 2012

Takka Idli (Buttermilk Idli)

Takka Idli is a very delicious breakfast. It looks like rava idli and comes out extremely soft. This is my husband's paternal grandma's recipe. My MIL made this for me and I loved it. Hence thought of posting it. This idli has a very different texture. Try making this and I am sure you all will love it.


Ingredients:
  • Rice- 1 1/2 cup
  • Buttermilk- 2 cup
  • Coconut pieces- Fistful
  • Flattened rice- 1 cup
  • Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
  • Finely chopped ginger- 1 tsp (we didn't add) 
  • Salt- To taste
For Seasoning:
  • Oil- 2-3 tsp
  • Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
  • Urad dal/Split black gram- 1 1/2 tsp
  • Hurikadle/Dalia/Roasted split chana- 2 tsp
  • Green chilli- 3-4
  • Curry leaves- Few 

Procedure:

Wash the rice and drain the water completely. Dry it on a cotton cloth for 2-3 hours. Then fry the dried rice on a medium flame until it turns light brown. Allow it to cool.


Now take the dry roasted rice in a bowl and add buttermilk. Mix it well and leave it for 3-4 hours, so that the rice soaks up the buttermilk completely.
Then add little water to beaten rice, to soften it.
Add this to the soaked rice and grind them to get a fine paste. Add water or buttermilk while grinding, if it is too dry. The consistency of the batter should be that of idli or rava idli (not too thick or too thin). Transfer this batter to a bowl and let it sit for 8 hours or over night.
After 8 hours, add chopped coconut, ginger (if adding).
For seasoning: Heat oil. Add mustard seeds. Once it starts spluttering, add urad dal, dlia, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Fry until they turn light brown. Then add this to the batter.


Mix well. Finally add baking soda and salt. Give a final mix. Then pour the batter in the greased idli moulds, half way through.


Steam them in a steamer or cooker (without whistle) for 15 minutes.


Cool them for 3-4 minutes and remove them from the mould. Takka Idli is ready!!


Serve it hot with ghee or chutney or any spicy curry of your choice. Above measurement serves five people.

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Gova Shevai (Sun dried Wheat Vermicelli)

Gova Shevai is a very popular sun dried item.I had already posted in one of my posts- Shevai usli about the sun dried wheat noodles. Making these noodles requires lot of effort but the output is worthy. Making these noodles is a 7-8 days process and I remember my amma making them and me help her with it, in my school days! Now the number of people making it has decreased. Now people buy the ones available readily in the stores.


Posting the procedure of this noodles was my long time dream. Never thought I will post it so soon! All the credit goes to my Mother in law. She was the one who made this and I was happily clicking the photos. She likes making it every year and use them through out the year. I have tried to capture each step and have tried to explain as much as possible. Hope this helps and motivates few of you to try this!


Ingredients:
  • Wheat- 1 kg
  • Salt- To taste
  • Noodles Maker 
You will also need big plastic sheets (for drying the noodles) and big flattened boxes, to support the plastic sheets.

Procedure:

Wash and soak wheat for two days. 
Wash it again with generous amount of water, 7-8 times to remove the bad smell.


Now grind the soaked wheat in a grinder (preferred) or a mixer grinder to get a paste, adding sufficient amount of water (the paste will not turn out fine and don't worry if it becomes watery). Transfer the watery paste into a bowl.


Now take a very big container like a stock pot or any other big dish you have in hand. The extracted milk has to be stored in this. Then take another container and a big strainer (you can also use a muslin cloth)  to extract milk (like) from the ground wheat.


 Step 1: Start pouring the ground wheat in batches.


Once the strainer is full, stir the mixture using hand. This will fasten the process of the extraction of milk from wheat.


Once the white liquid drains completely, you will be left with the wheat residue.


Don't throw the residue at this point. Collect it in a big bowl. Also transfer the extracted milk of wheat to the big dish. Now add the next batch of the ground wheat to the strainer and repeat Step 1 until everything gets over. 
Then add generous amount of water to the wheat residue and mix well. Repeat step 1 and again extract the milk. Now the white liquid extracted is little dilute than the first batch. In this way Step 1 has to be repeated 3-4 times, until all the milk from wheat is extracted. The milk extracted from wheat ( thick as well as dilute) is taken together in the big dish.


Allow the milk to settle for 8-10 hours (generally over night). After 10 hours the thick paste of wheat settles at the bottom and the top layer is water. We want just the settled thick wheat paste and hence the top layer (water) is unwanted. Without much disturbance, the the water has to be discarded by slowly bending it near a sink. once the water is thrown completely, transfer the white paste to a kadai (non stick works good. If you are not using non stick then grease the kadai with little oil). Add salt to taste.


Now start heating it on a medium flame and stir it continuously. After few minutes, the liquid starts to solidify.


Continue stirring continuously until the whole mixture solidifies and forms a single mass.


Turn off the heat. Now the mixture is ready to make noodles (it has to be done when hot. The mixture hardens as it cools). I used the traditional noodles maker.


Step 2: Put little mixture in the mould.


Make small noodles and collect them on a plate.


Spread them on a greased plastic sheet.


Repeat step 2 until all the mixture is used up. Dry these noodles under sunlight for 4-5 days.


Gova Shevai is ready!!


Store it in a air tight container. It can be used for more than a year. These noodles are used to make Shevai Usli. It can also be deep fried.

Note: You can as well make Sun dried Ragi noodles. The whole procedure remains the same. Just substitute half of the wheat with ragi i.e 1/2 kg of wheat and 1/2 kg of ragi. The resulting noodles looks like this.


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