GAAJAR KA or CARROT HALWA

Hm mm....!!!!!!!! My brother's D day is around the corner. It's his wedding. We were all relaxed thinking there's a month & a half for it, but time fly's. Now that we have to leave B'lore in a day or two, I'm just bent upon emptying my vegetable basket.

I found these carrots lying around. Thought of preparing the easy & time saving dessert, "THE GAAJAR KA HALWA".

I've got a sweet tooth. That has indeed made me lose a tooth. It had decayed so bad that doctor said it was impossible for me to retain it. So they plucked my sweet tooth. Now that space is empty waiting for an implantation, which I've not, thought about as yet. Amma keeps taunting me everyday for not doing anything about it. I know & understand, but still !!!!

Anyways.... let us enjoy the preparation of Gaajar Ka Halwa.



Ingredients:

Gaajar (carrot) - 1/2 kg grated
Milk boiled - 2 lts
Sugar - 2 cup
Cardamom - 6 cloves, powdered
Dry Fruits (Cashew & Dry Grapes or anything you have at home or all) - as required
Milk Maid - 1 small tin
Ghee - 1 small katori or as required



Method:

Heat ghee in a wok. Then add the dry fruits & brown it. Once done add the grated carrots & stir fry for 5 mins. Now sprinkle the powdered cardomom over it. Stir for another couple of minutes. Now add milk maid & stir for 2 mins. Now add the boiled milk & stir fry it for say 7 - 10 mins with the help of a dosa turnover spoon. When the consistency turns to get thicker, add sugar & lower the flame & keep stirring till the consistency thickens & dries up. Now garnish with chopped & grated dry fruits & serve hot.

BIHARI CUISINE: SATTU PARATA

'SATTU' is a popular flour known to all homes in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh & Jharkhand.

North Indian black chick peas is roasted along with sand in a thick bottomed wok. When the dal turns brown, it is then sieved to separate the chick pea dal from sand. Then it is ground, dry. The result is the sattu powder.



Say about twenty years back, it was the staple food of people below poverty line as the sattu powder was the cheapest. They ate it as a meal in itself. A plate was served with the sattu powder, green chillies chopped, onions chopped, salt & a glass of water. They mixed a small portion of sattu with green chilli, onion, salt & water. Made small balls (like the Ragi Balls of Karnataka) of this & ate along with a bite of green chilli & onion.

But that does not mean that it is restricted to just them. Now everybody likes it either by itself or in any preparation like Litti Chokha, Sattu Parata & Sattu as a health drink.

As a health drink it is a regular, at almost every home in Bihar during the summers, inorder to beat the effects of the scorching sunny days. It is said to have a cooling effect in hot summers. In the mornings, it serves as a high energy drink. It is usually mixed with a dash of black salt, lemon juice & water. Yumm! isn't it?

Sattu is mixed with other spices to prepare stuffed rotis (chapatis), where the stuffing is locally called as "Makuni".

Ingredients:

For Roti Dough:

Atta or wheat flour - 2 cups
Water as required to make a soft dough

For Makuni or the Stuffing:

Sattu Powder - 1 1/2 cup
Green Chilli - 2 finely chopped
Onion medium sized - 1 finely chopped
Garlic Cloves - 5-6 peeled & finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2 inch, finely chopped
Ajwain Seeds (Carom Seeds) - 1/2 tsp
Mangrela (Black Sesame Seeds) - 1/2 tsp (I keep a mix of both Ajawain Mangrela)
Mustard Oil & any Pickle Oil - 4 tsp
Any Pickle Masala - 2 tsp (as it gives the chatakdar taste of all masals)
Salt to Taste
Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp, finely chopped



Method:

Atta Dough:
In a wide mouth vessel, knead the flour with enough water to prepare a soft dough. Now cover & keep it aside to let it set.

Makuni:
Mix all the above stuffing ingredients in a mixing bowl.



Can mix a little water if you want the stuffing to be a bit sticky & fine in texture. But not much to turn it into a batter. If not you can leave it coarse.



Can taste the stuffing to check the consistency of the mix.

Now make small balls of the dough. Dust it with a little parthan(wheat flour used to roll the rotis).



Make small cup shaped bowls & stuff the 'makuni' into the dough.







Once set, twist & turn the dough to cover the mixture & get a tail like end.







Now lock the end secure by twisting the tail.





Dust it with the flour again & roll the balls into flat & round rotis with the help of a rollpin.



Now heat the non stick pan or tawa. Dab a little oil & let it heat. Once the oil's hot, place the rolled flour on the pan.



Brown the side a bit & turn it over to brown the other side.





Now smear a spoon of oil on the parata & see it puffing. With the help of a turning spoon, jsut keep pressing the parata to help it puff to the fullest. Now turn it over again to cook the other side & remove.









Serve it on a plate with any gravy you like.





Veg or non-veg.





But goes well with chicken gravy. Can also eat with tomato ketchup chatakdaar & a bowl of thick set curd.

Eat it hot & you will remember & relish it for the rest of your life.

All THE BEST !!!! Try to Break - it - Fast.

BINDI BHOONJIYA

Some delectable dry & quick side dishes prepared in the Norther parts of India includes bhoonjiya.

Usually of potatoes, egg, cauliflower, bindis etc.,

The name Bhoonjiya because these veggies are thoroughly stir fried or sauted (hindi:bhoonjna) in oil with other basic masalas of course.

I just love all these bhoonjiyas prepared at my in laws. Maa, bhabhi, 4 nanads each one of them prepares it with much ease & expertise. I know for them it is something very simple, but then to get the same consistency of their preparation, is not difficult, but takes time to master it. I have merely managed to get that feel, look & taste but could be better. I know I will some day.

Ingredients:

Bindi (Lady's Finger) - washed & chopped 1 cm long - 1/2 kg
Onions - 2 medium sized - chopped in length
Dry Red Chilli - 2-3 (depending on its taste)
Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp (better with mustard oil/can use refined as well)
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli Powder - 1 tsp or depending on your taste
salt as per taste



Method:

Heat a dry thick bottomed wok on low flame till the wok is hot. Then heat mustard oil in it. Once done & the oil is ready, drop broken dry red chilli. Following that add chopped onions. Once it turns translucent, add chopped bindis & slightly increase the flame. Do not stir it frequently & with a rush as that would shred the bindis. In order to let it be whole, just stir it once in a while lightly so that you do not harm the bindis. Now let the bindis dry down with no more of its sticky, gelatinous substance being seen. It is now that we add the salt, turmeric powder & red chilli powder to get that wanted texture, finish & taste. Now stir it occasionally till the bindi is well cooked.







Serve it hot with rice & dal for lunch or roti (chapati) for dinner.

FRENCH TOAST

'Eggs' are my favorite. I just love anything made of eggs. Rather eggs by itself, boiled or used in any preparation, is something I just can not resist. I keep hogging them & my mom keeps yelling at me saying DON'T. She says control, its cholesterol. Even if I am full & have no space in my tummy for water, my tummy somehow finds space for at least a crumble of egg.

French Toast is an easy & yumm preparation. It has two variations. Can be prepared sweet as well as Theekha ! Spicy !

Ingredients:

Bread slices - 2-4
Eggs - 2
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp or as per taste
Oil - As required

Method:

In a bowl blend eggs, milk & sugar well with a help of a whisk. Let it set for a couple of minutes.



Now heat a non stick pan on medium flame. When hot smear or greese it with a little oil.
Now dip the bread slices in the egg mixture & place it on the pan. Heat it till the bottom is golden brown & then turn to brown the other side.



Now remove from pan & serve it hot for breakfast.



Note: As a variation for a spicy toast just substitute the mixture with chopped green chillies, onion & salt. Prepare as said above & serve it hot for breakfast with tomato sauce or ketchup.

VEGETATION AT PUTTUR

There are many fruits & vegetables at my place in Puttur. It is a festival to our eyes to even get a glimpse of these vegetations. What we see here in the city are the ones sold in the vegetable markets, after few hours of transportation from their fields. By the time they reach our place they are all half dead. But here to see them grow on their plants & trees is a feast in itself. I get all thrilled looking at them. When in use, to pluck them by your own hands, the feel of their tightness & freshness with dew drops on them is great. You also get to see them in their original form completely alive & in gay. Once they are cooked & eaten, the satisfaction that I ate fresh veggies & fruits, free of chemicals, is worth the trouble taken in plucking them.

We have many fruits like Butter Fruit, Cashew, Different Kinds of Mango, Chiku or the Sapota, Guava, Kokum, Coconut, Jack fruit, Kinds of Banana, Arecanut etc.,

ONAGIDA ADIKE (SUPARI or DRIED ARECANUT)


TENGINAKAAYI(COCONUT)


BUTTER FRUIT (BENNE HANNU)


GUJJE (RAW JACKFRUIT)


HALASINA SOLE (JACKFRUIT)



MAAVINA HANNU or KUKU or MANGO


ADIKE


GERU HANNU (CASHEW FRUIT)


MAAVINA KAAYI


GERU HANNU


PUNAR PULI or BIRINDA (KOKUM)


In vegetables we have Alasande called as Yard Long Beans or Runner Beans, Lady's Finger, Brinjal (Eggplant KING of vegetables), Noolkol (Kohlrabi or Cabbage Turnip), Green Chilli, Green & Lal (Red) Saag, Gooseberry, Jeegujje (Breadfruit), Bimbuli (a sweet & sour fruit used to make Pickle, Chutney & curries prepared mostly in M'lore) etc.,

BIMBULI


ALASANDE


BENDEKAYI


BADANEKAYI


NOOLKHOL


HASI MENASINAKAAYI


CABBAGE TURNIP (NOOLKHOL)


JEEGUJJE (BREAD FRUIT)


BIMBULI


There are other vegetation's which are medicinal as well as used in some Mangalorean Cuisine like Thimare (Brahmi leaves), Basale Soppu (Basella Alba or the Malabar Spinach which comes both red stemmed as well as gree stemmed), Sambrani Soppu(Doddapatre in Kannada), Neem, Curry Leaves, Turmeric Leaves & many many more which I hardly remember right now.

SAMBRANI SOPPU




THEEMARE SOPPU (BRAHMI LEAVES)


There were many more, but no more, after my Badepapa passed away. Fruit like Pineapple.

They also made honey (bee keeping) at home then, but history now as it takes a lot of patience & your time.