Recipe : Andhra style Peanut Chutney (Vegan / Keto)

Once I'd left the batter for fermenting overnight, I was thinking up what chutneys I wanted to go with it. Since I was making the idlis with ragi, I knew I wanted a slightly more robust chutney too. A strong contender was the Maharashtrian fiery Garlic Chilli Coconut chutney. But since the sambhar would be the same colour and super spicy, I finally decided that I wanted to make an Andhra style peanut chutney as an ode to my 2 working stints in Hyderabad.

If you've read my other posts today, do you sense the theme?

A quick online search and a recipe from Neha at Whisk Affair seemed to be the flavours I was looking to recreate.

 

I absolutely loved this one and will definitely be making it again and again. It's a chutney that can be used as a substitute for peanut butter. Totally delicious!

For the original recipe and for loads of other yummy dishes too : please visit Neha's Blog - Whisk Affair

The recipe that follows has my minor tweaks.

Ingredients :

1 tsp neutral cooking oil

1 cup roasted peanuts

1 medium onion - roughly chopped

1 tsp ginger paste or 1 inch ginger

3 cloves garlic

4-5 dry red chillies

1 tsp tamarind paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp coconut oil (or any neutral oil)

pinch of hing

1 tsp urad dhal

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp sesame seeds (optional - I just felt like using them today)

1 dry red chilli

a few curry leaves

 

Method :

Heat the neutral oil and gently fry the peanuts in it. Be careful not to burn it. Keep aside to cool

In the same pan, fry the onions, garlic, ginger, red chilli and fry for 3-4 minutes, then take off from the heat.

When everything has cooled, grind the roasted peanuts, onions, garlic, ginger, red chilli, tamarind to an almost fine paste - I like to leave a slight crunch to it..

Add water as needed when grinding.

Transfer the ground chutney to a serving bowl.

Adjust salt to taste and mix well.

Heat oil in a tempering vessel.

Add tempering ingredients quickly and don't let any of them burn.

Pour the seasoned oil and spices over the chutney. 

I made double the quantity of tempering and used the same one for both chutneys today.

 

Serve at room temperature with hot idlis / dosas or even rice and dhal or sandwiched between bread.

Recipe : Bangalore Thela style Green Coconut Chutney (Vegan)

Having lived and worked in Bangalore in two separate stints as a bachelorette :), on the rare occasions that I needed breakfast before office (normally an after effect of partying too hard on a week night), there used to be these thelawalas or cyclewalas who would serve just idli, vadas and a watery chutney.

I suspect that this chutney is more Tamilian in origin, since growing up in Mangalore, right next to Udupi, I'd not seen this particular chutney. Or maybe it was just the thelawalas ingenuity to let a little chutney go a long way and avoid having to carry a tin of sambhar too which would also need to be kept hot .

 

It is however, quite delicious and this is a chutney I made based on nostalgic memory which may be off the mark, but I loved it and that's what food is about right?

Ingredients :

1/2 cup channa dhal (split pigeon peas)

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/2 cup corriander leaves and stems

5 green chillies (spicy - adjust to your taste)

2 cloves garlic

Salt to taste

1 tsp coconut oil (or any neutral oil)

pinch of hing

1 tsp urad dhal

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp sesame seeds (optional - I just felt like using them today)

1 dry red chilli

a few curry leaves

 

Method :

Dry roast the channa dhal on a medium flame and cool. Be careful not to burn it.

Grind the roasted dhal, coconut, corriander, chillies and garlic to a fine paste.

Add water as needed when grinding.

Transfer the ground chutney to a large bowl.

Add 1 - 2 cups water depending on how liquidy you want it. (Feel free to rinse your mixi with plain water and add it to the chutney - its what our grandmas taught us after all)

Adjust salt to taste and mix well.

Heat oil in a tempering vessel.

Add tempering ingredients quickly and don't let any of them burn.

Pour the seasoned oil and spices over the chutney. 

I made double the quantity of tempering and used the same one for both chutneys today.

 

Serve at room temperature with hot idlis / dosas.

Recipe : Ragi Idlis (Vegan)

I don’t remember the last time I made an overnight fermented batch of idlis from scratch (easy availability of ready made idli batter in most cities I've lived in or my instant rava idlis with sour curd recipe were the culprits 😁)

Totally inspired by Deepa (Paticheri)'s session at last weekends Desi Cultures workshop, I decided to make idlis from scratch.

 

I'd bought powdered ragi at the start of the lockdown and I knew I wanted to make idlis with ragi, rather than just rice to make it slightly more nutritious.

Using idli rava and ragi powder, helped shorten the process slightly. 

Ingredients:

1 cup urad dhal (split and skinned black gram)

1 tsp methi (fenugreek seeds)

1 cup ragi powder / ragi hittu / ragi flour

1 cup idli rava (this is ground idli rice)

Water to balance

Salt to taste

 

Method :

Soak the urad dhal & the methi seeds for  2 - 4 hours.

Grind smooth with a little water as necessary.

Transfer the ground urad dhal to a large vessel (10-12 cups volume)

Gently fold in the ragi flour and the idli rawa to the ground urad dhal.

Add water as necessary to get a thick idli batter.

 

Leave to ferment and rise for 8 hours / overnight.

 

Add salt to taste and give a gentle stir (I know some people add salt before fermenting, my nana always added salt just before cooking, so thats how I do it now)

Prepare your idli steamer (stove top or microwave)

Pour the batter into greased idli moulds (75% full) and steam until done.

It took me 5 minutes in my microwave steamer of 12 idlis at a time. The time is dependent on your steaming mechanism and how deep each idli mould is.

This quantity of batter gave me 36 medium idlis.

Take the idlis out of the moulds.

Serve hot with sambhar and chutney.

Today I served the idlis with spicy sambhar, Bangalore thela style green coconut chutney, Andhra style peanut chutney, a bit of chutney pudi in sesame oil.

 

Tips :

It’s been super cold here 3C in Joburg, but my friend Ajit Iyer & @paticheri’s tip to leave the maavu/batter in the oven with the pilot light on totally worked like a charm. 

Deepa's other suggestion, was to leave it on top of the fridge, but my fridge does not get warm on the top (rather on the rear)

Kim's Tips:

The batter is going to rise a lot, so when leaving it to ferment, put it in a vessel where it fills around half the volume.

Keep that vessel on a deep plate or bowl to catch any spills (especially if you are leaving to ferment overnight, inside your oven or on top of your fridge - it will save you valuable time if the batter overflows)

Work Backwards on timings. 

- If you want idlis for breakfast, you want to grind & mix everything just before you close the kitchen for the night. So soak the dhal around tea time.

- if you want idlis for dinner, then soak the dhal as soon as you wake up and give the batter at least 8 hours to fernent before you need to cook it for dinner.

 

Leftovers :

Leftover idlis work well later in the day, just give them a mild steam or sprinkle water and warm in a microwave.

Turn idlis into Masala Idlis.

Warm ghee, put some chutney powder in it and fry quartered idlis in it.

If batter remains and turns a bit sour, you can make ragi dosas from that batter or appes.

Recipe : Pork Chidkan / Kodava Pandi Chidkana

I first tasted chidkan in Bangalore last December when @spiceupthekari ordered it in for me from Kodava Samaja.

It was instant love at first bite! I searched high and low for a recipe for the last 8 months to no avail. Requests to Kodava friends were unsuccessful and I was wondering how to entice the chefs at Kodava Samaja to part with the recipe on my next trip to India. 

My general enquiry into this seemed to indicate that this is a recipe mostly made as a bar snack.

Then last week, I listened to @historywali chatting with @pigout_coorgkitchen and when I checked out Anjali Ganapathy's insta, I found a recipe that looked extremely promising.

Below is a pic of Anjali's original recipe on instagram at @pigout_coorgkitchen. I highly recommend following her for accessible insights into Kodava cuisine.

 
We haven’t been getting a wide variety of pork cuts during lockdown, but I found some Kassler chops that had the right fat meat ratio, so that’s what I used.

A bit of smokiness and saltiness in this brined meat, worked quite well even in the finished product.

I fried the cooked pork in a tbsp of oil, rather than deep frying it, but I still got a good crispness.

No access to parangi malu or jirgi mirsang, so I used the spiciest green chillies available here in Joburg.

This recipe may not be as famous as pandi curry, but is definitely a keeper and will be made often. Thanks so much Anjali!

I first thought I'd turn the water the pork was cooked in, into soup, but then I cooked moong dhal with that pork flavoured water for the same dinner, which just added oodles of umami flavour.

I also served Gomen / Hamli / Collard Greens with this dinner

Very very satisfying dinner indeed.

Do not be tempted to cook more than 250gms of pork per person as this dish needs to be consumed immediately after cooking, otherwise it just won't work - it will turn too hard.  

This is how I cooked it with my substitutes. 

Ingredients:

500gms boneless pork with fat  - chopped in 1 inch pieces - don't stint on the fat, it gives lovely crispy fatty flavour and texture. I used kassler chops, sorpotel cut works too

1.5 cups water 

7-8 green chillies, the spiciest you can find if you have no access to parangi malu / jirgi mirsang / birds eye chilli

2 cloves garlic

a pinch or 2 of rock salt ( I used less since kassler chops are smoked and brined) 

lemon / lime juice

 

Method :

Boil pork with 1.5 cups water in a pressure cooker until 3/4 cooked (Anjali recommends approx 2 whistles on high).

You can either chop the pork and then cook or cook the pork and then chop, whatever works better for you. 

Drain all water from the pork. 

The water can be used as stock, for a soup or I just cooked the dhal for dinner in it. 

As the pork is drying, make a fresh coarsely ground paste of  green chillies, garlic and salt (feel free to adjust quantities to your liking, this ratio worked well for us) - think thecha.

 

In 1 tbsp oil fry the pork, it will also release a fair amount of oil. This is going to spatter. 

Remove the pork from the oil (I ended up with about 2.5 tbsp oil + fat which went into tadka for the dhal)

Mix the ground chilli paste into it and squeeze lemon / lime juice generously. I used half a large lemon.

 

 

Serve immediately and be transported into heaven.

This dish is served as a snack / "tastings" with drinks, but it worked well for our dinner too.

This is exactly the version I had from Kodava Samaja. I have another half kg of the pork chops left, which I'm thinking of cooking into another version of chidkana that Anjali has shared, but that one uses kachampulli vinegar.

Recipe : Hamli / Gomen - Eritrean / Ethiopian Greens - Vegetarian - (Vegan Option)

I first tasted Hamli at Mosob in London - we have eaten so many meals here and taken so many friends to this place to introduce them to Eritrean food.

Hamli and Gomen (the Ethiopian version) are on the menu of most Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurants in London.

When I visited Ethiopia last year, I also got to taste a few versions made with niter kibbeh or tesmi - a spiced clarified butter, which obviously adds layers to the taste. I make it with regular ghee (Indian clarified butter) which is a mild cop-out but still very very flavourful.

Given the fantastic 3 day workshop on Desi Cultures that I attended last weekend, I may just venture to make ghee at home myself and if I can find the spices, I'll try making a bit of niter kibbeh too.

Mosob makes their hamli with spinach as it is easily available in the UK, however the traditional recipe calls for something closer to collard greens.

The last packet of spinach I bought at the grocery seemed more collard greens in texture and smell than what we commonly know as spinach, which is when I remembered this recipe that I hadn't cooked in a while. 

Collard greens give you a much more substantial texture without any slipperiness, kale works well too. But I've cooked it with regular spinach in London and that is also good. 

Ghee is low in lactose and milk solids, hence keto friendly, so this recipe works for a keto diet too. 

Vegan Version:

A lot of the flavour of this dish comes from the niter kibbeh or ghee, but if you want to keep it vegan, use any suitable cooking oil

 

Ingredients: 

2 tbsps niter kibbeh or ghee 

1 onion - chopped

2-4 cloves garlic - chopped

1.5 tsp minced ginger 

1 tsp jeera powder (cumin) 

1 tsp dhaniya powder (corriander) 

1 bunch collard greens / kale (about 350-400 gms) (If using regular spinach - 500 gms because this wilts much more) - roughly chopped. 

 - if you have very thick hard stems, remove them and use them in stock or tehri or any dish that gets cooked for a longer period of time. 

Salt to taste 

a little squeeze of lemon - optional 

 

Method: 

Heat 1 tbsp niter kibbeh / ghee in a pan. 

Add chopped onions, cook for 2-3 minutes until transluscent. 

Add, garlic, ginger, cumin and corriander, saute for 2-3 minutes. 

Now add your greens (collard / kale / spinach) with another tbsp of niter kibbeh / ghee. 

As it cooks down, add salt to taste. (remember greens wilt and hence the volume once cooked, will be much lower than what you start with - salt accordingly) 

Cook to your level of doneness - with kale and collard greens, I let it get a bit crispy, with regular spinach crispiness doesn't work as well. 

 

Traditional preparation does not include a squeeze of lemon, but:  

Kim's Nana's Tip: Lemon helps the body absorb iron from the greens more easily, something about Vitamin C making the soluble iron absorption into the body easier, so I always add a squeeze of lemon whenever I'm cooking green leaves. 

 

In the picture above, I've served it with rice, moong dhal and pork chidkan. This recipe pairs well with rotis and dhal too.

Fridge Cleanout : Chicken and Mushroom Pasta with Arctic Thyme (Vegan option)

In winter, it feels like our tastebuds are a bit frozen and sluggish, so the 2 of us need more intense flavours than we need in summer. Not necessarily spicier, but just more robust.

The food we ordered in last week from Norma & Vilma Caterers was fantastic, but the flavours in the Aji De Galina - chicken casserole - were a bit too mild for us in this weather.

I had ordered 2 plates of this, so I had quite a large quantity. I knew the flavours and texture would go very well with pasta.

Since I did not want to “mask” / “override” the original flavours, I just sautéed 3 cloves of garlic, and a mix of fresh Shiitake and oyster mushrooms with a smidgen of coarsely ground pepper, a large pinch of Arctic Thyme and 2 tsps sunflower seeds for crunch.

Put in about 20-30gms of cheese bits and ends lying in the fridge that were drying out and a soup cube dissolved in 1 cup of hot water.

Now added the chicken casserole to the pan and warmed it up gently.

When hot, I added 250 gms of cooked whole wheat pasta and gave it a quick stir. Sprinkled some arctic thyme that I think Aunty Sujata gifted me from her Iceland trip and served hot. So delicious.

For a veggie/vegan version, consider using a creamy mushroom soup or a sweet corn soup instead of a chicken casserole.

Using a tinned soup and adding some herbs and fresh veggies is a quick fix to making a pasta sauce.

Kim's Tips on Leftovers :

Sometimes when we order in from a new restaurant or a new cuisine, we may find that their balance of flavours doesn’t suit us.

My nana taught me her hard learned lessons in frugality. Never throw away anything that is usable / consumable, instead adjust, tinker, add flavour etc to suit yourself.

*Too salty, add boiled potatoes.

*Too spicy, add yoghurt / coconut milk depending on the base.

*Too plain, add herbs.

*Meat is too tender, turn into kebabs/ cutlets/samosa stuffing.

It’s not too difficult to tweak a cooked dish to give a completely new flavour profile at the next meal and #LoveYourLeftovers

We often have  leftover bits of cheese in the fridge that get dried out, before they are consumed or bits and ends that don't look pretty or don't fit in a sandwich. Pop all those bits and bobs into a pasta sauce for a bit more creaminess.

Recipe : Dahi Ke Kebab - Vegetarian

Rakhi special - Dahi ke kebab / Yoghurt kebabs.

Rakhi / rakshabandhan is an Indian festival that celebrates the sibling bond. This also includes cousins and friends who feel like family.

I'm trying to test our willpower on how much sweet & deep fried stuff we can avoid, now that the Indian festive season has kicked off. Given that we will not be able to visit anyone or have anyone over, I’m hoping it won’t be too hard this year.

So instead of making something sweet I tried something new for rakhi - these dahi & paneer kebabs.

I first tried them in a restaurant in Rajasthan and the meltingly soft, mildly flavoured kebabs were a revelation. The subsequent ones that I've had across Rajasthan & Punjab could never measure up to my initial experience, but this recipe came quite close

Excellent as a tea time snack or to turn into sandwiches or rolls.

Ingredients :

2 cups hung curd + paneer

For a true dahi kebab, you need to use 75% dahi and 25% paneer.

I’d made fresh paneer at home and when hanging it, I added some soured up yoghurt too, So it ended up a 50:50 paneer and dahi mix. Which meant the kebabs were marginally grainier than they should have been..

1.5 - 2 tbsp of besan / chickpea flour - roast till fragrant

1/2 medium onion finely chopped

2-5 green chillies finely chopped

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp jeera / cumin powder

salt to taste

1/2 - 1 cup breadcrumbs

Oil to fry

Method :

In a large bowl, mix the hung curd and paneer, this should be very dry.

If your paneer isn't the crumbly variety, then grate it before mixing with the dahi, so you get a smooth paste.

Mix all the other ingredients into the paste except the oil & breadcrumbs.

It should be dry enough to hold its shape and fry, if it isn't dry enough, add more roasted besan.

Form shapes of your choice - flat tikkis / cylindrical or soccer ball shaped croquettes.

Since I shallow fry, I prefer the flat tikki shape for even cooking.

You can either shallow or deep fry these kebabs.

Heat a pan and then heat some vegetable oil in it.

In a flat plate, take the breadcrumbs. Roll the kebabs in the breadcrumbs and then fry on medium heat for about a minute each side till done.

You only need to crisp up the outside, not cook the inside.

Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup.

So yum!

Kim's Tips :

I didn’t have a stock of breadcrumbs and I didn’t feel like making some after my last disaster (over dried the bread, the mixi cover flew off and I spent half the day cleaning the breadcrumbs that had flown all over the kitchen), so I rolled them in rava/ soji / semolina before pan frying them.

Dahi kebabs are normally mildly flavoured, so the flavour of the yoghurt can shine through.

You also want to use minimal spices to preserve the white colour of the mix.

But if you want a stronger flavoured kebab, go ahead and add spices as per your taste - garam masala / amchoor / kasoori methi / cardamom powder / fresh chopped coriander / nutmeg powder are all good variations.

Recipe : Sheviyo Upma / Multigrain Vermicelli Upma - Vegan

I found a packet of dried multigrain vermicelli at the Indian store on our last trip. I had thought that I’d just steam it and serve it like sheviyos/idiyappam with coconut curry. But after the khao swey last week, this idea wasn’t as exciting and felt repetitive.

I remembered a dish that nana would make with leftover sheviyos and tried to recreate it. Not bad at all.

Ingredients:

200gms pack of multigrain or ragi vermicelli

1 tsp oil (coconut oil preferred, but any neutral oil works)

1 tbsp split channa dhal

2 tbsp split urad dhal

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 sprigs fresh curry leaves

2 dried red chillies - broken

1/2 cup fresh or frozen grated coconut

1-3 chopped green chillies for taste

Salt to taste

A squeeze of lime

Sugar - optional

Method :

Multigrain or ragi vermicelli is different from regular maida vermicelli and needs slightly different treatment.

If you packet comes with instructions, follow those.

If it doesn't have instructions, soak the multigrain or ragi vermicelli in warm to hot (not boiling water for precisely 3 minutes.

Don't leave it too long, it will start to dissolve.

Now drain the multigrain / ragi vermicelli and steam for 5-6 minutes either in a steamer or in a covered bowl in the microwave

If using, leftover sheviyos/idiyappam, they can be given a light steam only if they have begun to dry out too much, they don't need soaking

Take a wide bottom vessel, heat it and add the oil.

To this add channa and urad dhal and let them crisp up (not burn)

Now add mustard seeds, curry leaves and the dried red chilli.

When they splutter, add the coconut and stir fry for a bit, to your level of doneness 30sec - 4 minutes.

To this add the steamed vermicelli and stir fry. If it is too dry, add little splashes of water at a time.

Add chopped green chillies and salt to taste.

Mix well and take it off the heat. The vermicelli does not cook for more than 2 minutes.

Squeeze a bit of lemon on top.

Serving Options :

* a sprinkling of sugar

* a coconut chutney

* a salty mango pickle with a bit of coconut oil

Recipe : Peach Sheera / Sooji Halwa / Rava Halwa / Sweet Upma / Semolina Pudding - (Vegan option)

Sooji halwa in Mangalore and around is called sheera.

Pineapple sheera / pineapple kesari / kesari bath  is the most common variant of this dish and Hotel Woodlands in Mangalore used to make an excellent version.  However in the recent season, mango sheera has been all over my social media feeds.

Friends and family know my aversion to fruits. The smell of most fruits makes me nauseous.

However, I do enjoy a few types of fruits and I do love a very select few. Preserved peaches are not really fresh fruit, but I Love them.

I found this brand called Brenda’s here in Johannesburg that are organic and low on added sugar that I really love, so I pick up a couple of jars each time.

This time instead of adding sugar to the sheera, I used the sweetness of the raisins and peaches with a little canning liquid.

I'm first going to give you the recipe of regular sheera, that is often served as breakfast or tiffin in Mangalore / Udupi. One of my uncles, loves pairing it with pooris for a more filling start to the day. Our Manglorean version of Poori + Shrikhand I guess.

Mum often gave us this for breakfast before heading off to school

Ingredients :

2 tbsp ghee

2 tbsp raisins - (optional)

1 tbsp broken cashewnuts - (optional)

1 cup fine sooji / Bombay rava / semolina

2 cups milk (or water or a mix of the 2 - the more milk, the richer the taste)

1/2 cup sugar

Method :

Soak raisins in a little water to rehydrate.

Heat your liquid component - milk / water / milk + water to boiling hot.

In a large pan or kadhai, heat the ghee.

Toast the nuts to golden brown if using and remove from the pan.

Roast the soji / rava / semolina on a medium flame until lightly browned.

Now add the raisins if using.

Add the boiling liquid and stir continuously to prevent lumps.

When it smells cooked and starts to come together, add the sugar and mix well.

When it starts to dry, turn off the heat, add cashewnuts and serve hot.

You can also set it on a greased plate and cut shapes when cooled and serve it at room temperature.

Variations & Tips :

You can add 2 pinches of cardamom powder / cinnamon powder / nutmeg powder at the end, for a more fragrant version.

Since the liquid in preserved fruit always seems to get leftover, instead of 2 cups milk + 1/2 cup sugar, I used 1/2 cup canning liquid and 1.5 cup milk.

I think the original recipe would call for about 1 cup sugar, that's way too much for us and I have found that 1/2 cup works well. You may want to adjust the sweetness to your personal preference.

If you are making a fruit version, then remember to account for the sweetness of the fruit.

Fruit Versions - Pineapple kesari / Mango sheera/ Peach sheera ...

For the above quantities, use 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup fruit chopped fine (or even pulped if you want a super smooth version)

If you are using an acidic /sour fruit like pineapple, then the liquid is only water, no milk.

Fruits that are traditionally added are bananas or pineapple, but you can use mangoes, peaches or any other fruit that you have on hand.

The fruit is added AFTER you turn off the gas, as it really doesn't need to cook. It will just be gently warmed in the residual heat of the halwa / sheera.

A Note on Udupi Tiffin Rooms Menus:

Pineapple sheera is called kesari bath - the kesar (saffron) colour often coming from turmeric rather than the more expensive herb.

Kesari bath could also be just a yellow coloured sheera without pineapple - but definitely sweet.

Upma is referred to as khara bath (salty)

So if you see a dish called chow chow bath on the menu, it means one serving of sweet sheera and one serving of salty upma.

Recipe : Manglorean Burmese Khow Suey / Ohn No Khao Swe (Vegan Option)

Many many years ago, I posted an alternative recipe for Khow Suey and I promised to share my regular recipe too. It's only taken me 10 years to post this! 🤦

Khow Suey is a Burmese noodle soup with coconut milk which I have accompanied with Burmese split pea crackers (channa dhal) among other toppings.

I’m not sure how “authentic” my recipe is, given that I broadly follow one from the Manglorean Ladies Club Cookery Book that is over 25 years old. (My copy is the 5th edition in 1988, but the first edition was in 1978) So I suspect that this may be heavily modified - Russian Salad anyone?

But we love the flavours, so I continue to make it this way. The curry is very yum and can also be eaten with Rice or rotis, especially if you have leftovers.

While I make this curry with chicken, you can use boiled eggs, potatoes, veggies of your choice, tofu, or rehydrated beans, thus making this dish vegetarian or vegan as per your choice.

Ingredients :

750 gms boneless chicken - clean & cut into tikka size cubes

1/2 kg onions

2" ginger cleaned

1 pod garlic cleaned

20 long dry red chillies destemmed

1 tbsp fresh ground turmeric or 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 can coconut milk (or milk of 1 coconut)

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

4 - 6 nests Egg noodles - cooked as per instructions on packet

Method:

Grind together half the onions (250 gms), ginger, garlic, red chillies.

In a pan, heat some oil.

Add the other half of the onions and fry till opaque.

Add turmeric and fry for a minute or so, until the raw smell goes away.

Now, add the ground masala and fry on a medium flame till cooked and the oil seperates. You can add masala water (water got from rinsing your grinder jar) or thin coconut milk to maintain moisture as you are cooking.

When the masala is cooked, add chicken (or veggies / tofu) and cook till tender.

Now add the coconut milk (medium flame) and cook till it boils. If you want to add any veggies that just need a bit of a steam, add them now.

I added 200 gms sugar snap peas and 200 gms mangetout.

Turn off the flame.

Serve noodles and curry separately with an array of toppings, so everyone can assemble their own.

Toppings Ideas:

Fried noodles

Lime wedges,

Fried onion

Chilli flakes

Fresh coriander

Fried garlic

Boiled eggs

Green chillies

Fresh onion

Pe kyaw

Roasted peanuts

Recipe : Gond aur Atte ka Halwa. Indian gum and wheat flour dessert. Kada Prasad

I’ve been craving something sweet for a couple of days. Pre-lockdown that normally meant buying one portion of dessert - cake / macaron / pudding / ice cream. But now I was stuck at home wanting something sweet, with no enthu to bake and I didn’t want kheer, but something with texture.

Aunty Shikha (My brothers MIL) used to whip up halwas so easily when I visited with her in February. Halwa and papad is a regular breakfast in her Rajasthani household. So I decided that a wheat halwa would be simple enough and hit the spot.

This literally took less than 15 minutes to prepare.

I started with a basic Kada Prasad idea - ghee : wheat flour : water : sugar :: 1 : 1 : 1 : 1.

I had gond (Indian gum - see how pretty it is) in my pantry (I think I originally bought it because of how pretty and shiny it is ☺️). Gond is used liberally in winter sweets in Gujarat and UP for its warming properties. Given that it’s winter here, I deep fried the Gond and a mix of nuts before starting on the halwa. Removed them and then added them when the halwa was done.

Ingredients :

1 cup ghee

2 tbsp gond - Indian gum - tragacanth gum - gond katira

2 tbsp nuts (your choice of almonds, cashews, pista)

1 cup wheat flour

1 cup hot water

1 cup sugar

Method:

Heat the ghee in a wide mouthed pan - ideally, a kadhai.

Drop the gond into it, and remove as soon as it fluffs up (a few seconds)

Now put the nuts in and take them out as soon as they are done (again, just a few seconds).

The ghee might turn a bit cloudy after the nuts are fried, don't worry about it.

Now add the wheat flour, stirring continuously, so it doesn't form lumps.

As soon as you start smelling that the wheat flour is roasted (a few seconds), add the hot water.

Stir continuously as you are adding water, so it doesn't form lumps.

Once it starts melding into a halwa, add the sugar and stir continuously.

When the ghee starts to separate from the mixture, your halwa is done.

Mix in the fried gond and the nuts before serving.

Yummy and very satisfying.The husband was delighted with the totally unexpected sweet treat .

For a traditional Gurudwara style Kada Prasad, drop the gondh and dry fruits and follow the rest of the recipe.

Kim's Tip 1 : Since this recipe cooks so quickly, measure all ingredients and keep ready before you start cooking.

Kim's Tip 2 : You can decrease the sugar if you want, but do not decrease the ghee, you can remove the ghee that separates from the halwa before serving, if you are worried about it.

Kim's Tip 4 : Gond can be very sticky like 'gum' when you eat it. If you don't like the sticky feeling in your mouth, you can powder it after you have fried it. It then blends in better and you don't get sticky lumps.

Since this is cooked in ghee, the recipe is vegetarian, not vegan.  My cousin Jenny who runs an organic cafe in Mumbai, recommends substituting the ghee with a nut butter, but given how the ghee is supposed to work in this dish, I’m not sure if any vegan substitute would work here. Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Recipe : Haleem - Mutton and Wheat Porridge

Haleem is a traditional dish of meat (mutton) and wheat that is stewed overnight during Ramadan, so it can be had as a nutritious and filling breakfast before sunrise the following day. Hyderabad has the most amazing varities of Haleem available during this period and we endeavoured to taste our way through as many of them as possible. It's a dish that is definitely worth waking up early for , but these days its available all around the year.

Haleem at home is served with toppings on the side, so everyone can choose their favourite flavours.

Since I wanted to recreate the recipe at home with better quality boneless mutton, I followed the recipe from the Essential Andhra Cookbook by Bilkees Latif, with my minor adjustments

Ingredients :

1/2 kg boneless mutton (or chicken)

1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste

Juice of half a lime

1/2 kg broken wheat (dalia)

1 handful each masoor (Egyptian / red), channa (Bengal gram) and moong (husked green gram) dhals/lentils
2 tbsp ghee (Bilkees recommends 1/2 cup)
2 onions finely sliced
6 cloves
6 cardamom
2 " cinnamon
1 tbsp corriander powder
red chilli powder to taste
1 tsp ground caraway seeds - I skipped this
3-6 green chillies sliced or ground
1/2 tsp haldi - for colour I added
water
salt to taste

Options For Garnish :
chopped mint
quartered limes
chopped corriander leaves

chopped green chillies

ginger juliennes

Method :

Marinate mutton overnight in ginger garlic paste and lime juice.

Wash the dhals.
Soak dhals and broken wheat for 1 hour (or overnight if you want to cook this as soon as you wake up as a breakfast dish)

Heat ghee

Fry sliced onions till crispy brown and then remove from the pan.

In the same ghee, fry cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon for a minute.

Add the spice powders and stir a bit.

Before the powders begin to burn, add the meat and marinade and saute till brown.

Add green chillies, soaked wheat, soaked dhal, 4 cups water and close the pressure cooker.

Cook under pressure for 30-45 minutes.

Open and dry out to desired consistency (like porridge)

Mash the meat and wheat a bit.

Add salt to taste.

Garnish with your choice and combination of fried onions, chopped chillies, chopped mint, ginger  or chopped corriander

Recipe : Pork Jalfrezi - Indian Pulled Pork

This is not the jalfrezi curry made “famous” in the “Indian” restaurants of London. Think of it as an Indian version of pulled pork.

Chef Atul Kocchar in his book Atul's Curries of the World writes that, "in the UK, the word 'jalfrezi' is commonly misunderstood to represent the heat level of a curry...it's thought of as a 'medium heat' curry...in fact, the word derives from the Bengali word 'jhal' meaning 'spicy' and 'jalfrezi' is the term for the original dish in which cooked meats are stir-fried over a high heat with vegetables such as pepper and onion.

Jalfrezi can be made with any meat of your choice including chicken, but red meat works better in texture for this dish.

This was a dish my nana cooked when there were leftover bits of meat (mostly beef) from a roast or if she felt the meat was “kisparla” - i.e. meat falling apart like pulled meat.

I had stewed pork in ginger, lemon and red chillies and was using the stock in other dishes, while the meat just kept getting more and more kisparla lending beautiful flavour, but too flimsy/fiddly to eat.

So I fried it up with onions, tomatoes, chillies, potatoes and spices - such a taste of eating at my grandparents home.

The recipe below is the way I made I made it this time, scroll to the end to see the way my nana would make it.

Ingredients:

250 gms leftover boneless cooked roast or stewed meat or meat leftover when making stock (see option at end of post)

3 tbsp mustard oil (can use regular oil, but mustard oil gives a nice bite)

2" cinnamon

1 star anise

1 large onion halved and sliced thin

2 tbsp chopped ginger

100 gms boiled potato skinned and chopped large (I used halved skin on baby potatoes this time)

2 large fully ripe tomatoes sliced thin

2-8 green chillies chopped (as per taste)

salt to taste

handful fresh corriander chopped

Method:

Pull the meat apart - so it forms threads / reshis.

Pork fat and skin or chicken skin can also be added chopped in small chunks.

Take a large frying pan on high heat.

When it is hot, add the oil.

When the oil is almost smoking, add the cinnamon and star anise.

As soon as the spices start releasing their aroma, add the sliced onions and fry until they start to caramelise.

From here on, the recipe needs constant monitoring and gentle stirring.

Now add the ginger and boiled potatoes and fry, till the edges of the potato start to crisp up.

Now add the tomatoes and turn the heat to medium.

Cook until the tomatoes release all their pulp and the tomato skins start to curl up on themselves. This will take a little time, but this caramelisation of the onion and tomatoes is where all the taste in this dish comes from.

Now add the chopped green chillies , give a quick stir, then add the shredded meat. You can increase the heat now, but keep an eye and keep stirring.

Adjust salt to taste (you would have most likely added salt when initially cooking the meat, so be cautious.)

Fry until the meat starts crisping up.

Garnish with corriander and serve hot with rice and dhal or rotis and dhal.

I served it with rice, leftover rajma madra and cabbage stir fried with crisped up garlic, topped with chilli oil.

Kim's Tip 1 : If you don't have leftover meat, slow cook 300 - 400 gms meat (bones extra if you want) with chopped onions, ginger, garlic, red chillies or spices and veggies of your choice in lots of water. Use the liquid as stock in any dish and use the meat for this recipe.

Kim's Tip 2 : If your tomatoes have no tartness at all, you may like to add a squeeze of lime and stir, once the meat is fried.

Kim's Tip 3 : Do not stint on the oil in this recipe. I rarely use a lot of oil, but this recipe needs the oil to fry the onions, the tomatoes, the potatoes and the meat. It will seperate at the end and you can remove it before serving.

Kim's Tip 4 : Do not make this in very large quantities, the meat needs space in the pan to cook properly.

Kim's Tip 5 : Garnish with sliced fresh onion rings for a stunning presentation

Nana's Version Ingredients:

250 gms leftover boneless cooked roast or stewed meat or meat leftover when making stock.

3 tbsp sunflower oil

2" cinnamon

3-4 cloves

1 large onion halved and sliced thin

2 tbsp chopped ginger

2 large fully ripe tomatoes sliced thin

2-8 green chillies chopped (as per taste)

salt to taste

100 gms boiled potato cut in slices and deep fried

handful fresh corriander chopped

Method :

Same as above, except the deep fried potatoes are added at the end just before serving.

Recipe : Sajjige Rotti / Rawa Rotti / Rulavanchi Bhakri / Thick Semolina Dosas

Sajjige rotti / rulavanchi bhakri / rava rotti / thick semolina dosas with 2 types of chutney.

I may have mentioned before, but weekend brunches are special. These are the only 2 days that the husband has time for a leisurely noonish meal - without being on a conference call or rushing for one.

While he loves eggs made any which way for a weekend brunch, I’m taking the opportunity during this lockdown to cook dishes from my childhood or other memories. I'm not a breakfast person at all. I normally have One Meal a Day, since long before OMAD was a thing. During our 5 years in London, weekends meant heading out to see / do  / experience something and breakfast / brunch was built into the day's schedule.

This is the first time, I'm actually cooking so many breakfast / brunches at home - albeit only on the weekends. This is also the 2 meals of the week that I enjoy a carb heavy meal (since its eaten so much earlier in the day) and a cup of coffee with sugar - during the week, its green tea without sugar.

Coming back to the sajjige rotti, the way I made today’s rotti was not the thinner crispy version that’s made like a crepe. This is a very rustic style thick batter (almost chapatti dough consistency) that is shaped by hand on the pan / tawa, so its much thicker like a bhakri.

Since I was doing the hand shaping for the first time, the first dosas / rotis were a bit uneven shaped. Once I got the hang of it, they became much rounder, but since they are slow fried on a low flame, we were gobbling them as soon as they came off the pan - so didn’t take a better picture.

Ingredients:

2 cups Bombay Rava - medium fine semolina

2 cups sour curd (slightly liquidy, not as thick as store bought yoghurt - for store yoghurt, make it 1.5 cups yoghurt + 1/2 cup water)

2 tbsp coconut / dessicated coconut (optional)

1 medium onion chopped

1-6 green chillies chopped (depending on spice tolerance)

2 sprigs curry leaves chopped (only leaf not stem)

2 sprigs corriander chopped - with stem

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger (don't use the stringy bits)

1 tsp jeera / cumin

salt to taste

oil to fry

Method:

Mix the Bombay rava, coconut if using and the curd / yoghurt.

Mix well and leave overnight.

You want a dough, that is much thicker than a dosa batter and actually comes together, but not as tight as a chapatti dough.

You can keep the dough for just 20-30 minutes too, but I like the way the flavour / sourness develops overnight.

It also means a tiny bit of extra sleep in the morning :)

If you have left it overnight, depending on the weather conditions, you may notice that your batter has become drier or wetter than the night before.

Don't adjust it at this stage.

Add  the onions, chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves, ginger, jeera and mix well.

These are the traditional additions, feel free to experiment with flavours you like.  For eg. my chillies are now 3 weeks old (grocery run in the coming week), so I felt they weren't spicy enough, so I also added a 1/2 tbsp of crushed black pepper.

Mix well, preferably use your hands to get a more even mix. (be sure you have washed with soap and not just used santizer :) )

There will be some liquid content in the onions, ginger and herbs.

Now if the dough feels too dry, add a few drops of water.

If the dough feels too wet, add a little rava to the mix.

The picture above shows the consistency that you want.

Make portions. With the above quantities, I got about 10 portions.

The next step is shaping them.

Traditionally, the rottis are shaped on banana leaves or some other traditional leaves (I forget which ones my nana used) and flipped onto the pan.

Modern methods, involve shaping the rotti on a greased plate or on plastic sheets.

Personally, I found these methods very fiddly and also I was only cooking for 2, so I shaped them directly on the pan.

Take a flat frying pan  / crepe pan or dosa tawa.

Heat the pan on medium heat.

Grease the pan with a few drops of oil. The traditional method is to use a small onion or potato cut in half speared onto a fork (don't let the tines come all the way through, you will end up scraping your pan). I currently use a silicon pastry brush to grease the pan.

I made portions like above, popped one on the pan. Dipped hand in a bowl of water and then flattened  the dough directly on the pan itself.

You need wet hands to use this method, doughy hands will make the dough stick to your hands. So rinse hands in a bowl of water, before shaping the rotti.

Flatten the rotti evenly to between 1/2 - 1 cm thickness.

Don't make them too large or they will be very difficult to flip over.

Fry for a few minutes on each side until slightly browned.

I served it hot off the pan with 2 types of chutney, although I have to say that the coconut chutney went better with this dosa / rotti. The advantage of this rotti, is that it can even be eaten without chutney, making it a one pot meal.

A dab of white butter on top is also a perfect accompaniment.

Kim's Tip 1 : If you have just a little chutney left in the fridge, you can add it to the rotti dough.

Kim's Tip 2 : This recipe is an excellent way to use up curd / yoghurt that has turned a bit sour. If you don't have sour yoghurt, add a tsp of fresh lemon / lime juice to your yoghurt and use.

Let me know if you try this out.

We got a good warm bit of sun this winter noon.  So, after this meal, someone decided a nap was in order, followed by a cheery wake up with South Indian Filter Coffee.

While the other someone was out in the sun tending to the garden and feeding our sparrows, laughing doves, wagtails and other birds who have become extremely demanding. They chirrup loudly if the feeders are approaching empty to let me know it’s time for a top up.

Recipe : Green Coconut Chutney

In Manglorean / Udupi cuisine, chutneys are eaten with breakfast items - dosas, idlis , vadas, sometimes even with hot rice. They are a very essential condiment and there are multiple versions and variations of them. I have quite a few on this blog.  These chutneys do not resemble the bottled "chutneys" of the UK in any shape or form.

Also, its not just different from the UK chutneys. For eg : My mum-in-law who is from UP once tasted a mild coconut chutney I had made at home and her feedback was "iss mein khatai hi nahin hain" (there is no sourness in this). In their house in UP, a chutney has to be sour.

This chutney is one of those that will go well with any South Indian / Udupi / Tamilian type of snack or breakfast. In the picture above, I have served it with chattambade / dalvada.

Ingredients :

1 cup fresh/frozen coconut

1 cup tightly packed corriander leaves & stems (if you don't normally use stems, save them for this chutney)

1-2 cloves garlic

2-6 green chillies

salt to taste

Method:

Grind all the ingredients to a fine paste.

Do not add any water, unless absolutely necessary.

Adjust salt to taste.

If the coconut is too sweet for your taste or the garlic / chillies too sharp, a little squeeze of lime (<1/2 tsp), can help round up the flavours

Kim's Tip: If you do not have fresh/frozen coconut, you can substitute with good quality dessicated coconut as follows.

Take 3/4 cup of dessicated coconut, add warm water slowly and keep mixing. Do not go above the 1 cup level. Let is sit for at least 15-20 minutes, then use like regular coconut.