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 : 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 : Chattambade / Dalwada/ Parippu Vadai/ Masala Vada - Vegan

Chattambade/ Dalwada/ Parippu Vadai/ Masala Vada with Green Coconut Chutney.

This vegan fried snack made with split channa dhal / split Bengal gram / split chickpea lentils is made across India and is called different names across the country. Each household uses their own spicing and ratios. Some add a mix of different lentils to their wadas.

This one is my method and suits our tastebuds best.

Ingredients:

2 cups channa dhal / split chickpea lentils

1 chopped onion
2-10 chopped green chillies depending on spice tolerance
1 handful chopped coriander
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste

Oil to fry

Method:

Soak 2 cups channa dhal / split chickpea lentils overnight (8 hours at least)

Drain to remove as much of the water as possible.

Some people coarsely grind the entire lot. We like the crunch from the whole bits, so I coarsely grind 80% of the dhal and use 20% whole.

Mix the ground and whole lentils together.

Add all other ingredients except oil

The mix should be dry enough to form vadas/cutlets.

If it’s too wet, you can add besan/chickpea flour.

My batter was just a bit wet (I didn’t have time to leave the soaked dhal to dry), so I formed the wadas (slightly flattened balls) and left them on a sheet of kitchen roll to get rid of the slight excess.

Deep fry in hot oil on medium flame until golden.

Don't be tempted to increase the heat, you will get burnt outsides and raw insides.

Serve hot with chutney / ketchup.

Nana occasionally made these as a tea time snack, but we had these for brunch on a cold winter day.

Kim’s tip : If grinding fresh chutney, do that first and then grind the dhal in the same jar without rinsing/washing. The leftover chutney imparts good flavour to the dhal. 

Recipe: Food made from Prashad of Gaay-Bachde ki Puja

The day before Dhanteras (i.e. 3 days before Diwali) is celebrated as Gaay-Bachde ki Puja - veneration of cows and calves by some families in UP. My husbands Naani (maternal grandmother) and Maami (mothers brother's wife) observe this, while his mother doesn't. (From what I have come to understand, married women here, observe the rites and rituals followed by the matriarchs of their husbands family and add on any rites and rituals from their own families if they feel very strongly about them - There are so many festivals and rituals in the UPite Hindu Calendar that there is ample choice to pick and choose.)

On this day, the women offer various kinds of grams/dhals/lentils to a cow and her calf and for the whole day, they only eat foods made from grams/dhals/lentils or their flours (primarily besan). While lentil soup/dhal seems the most straight forward option, it feels weird to eat just that without rice or rotis. So pakodas (deep fried balls) are what tends to be made of these dhals.

We reached after the puja was over, so I unfortunately don't have any pictures of that, but I do have plenty of pictures of the food.

Any kind of dhal needs to be soaked before it can be ground for pakodas. Urad dhal needs the longest time 6-8 hours. Channa dhal needs 4-6 hours and moong dhal can be soaked for an hour or so.

To make the pakodas, the soaked dhal is ground to a paste with enough water. You can then add flavourings like onions, green chilli, coriander leaves, ginger. But technically you only mix enough for them to be flavourings, but not so much that they turn into onion pakodas.

Urad dhal pakodas aren't very tasty on their own or even with cuttings, so these get turned into dahi vadas. Just grind soaked urad dhal, you can add a little ginger and green chilli if you like. Personally I also like to split a few raisins in half and add it to the batter. Drop little balls of batter into hot oil and deep fry.

As soon as you take them out of the pan, they are dropped into a bowl of water. If you want to cool them first, then they need to be soaked in hot water later. Soak for about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of your pakodas/vadas). Then squeeze out all the liquid from the soaked vadas.

Layer them in a deep bowl. Pour lightly whipped curd/yoghurt over these vadas.

Sprinkle with chilli and jeera powder.

Serve topped with sweet and sour chutneys.

Mamiji made some pakodas with channa dhal and some with moong dhal, some with onions and some without.

While most of us kept merrily popping these golden balls of deep fried goodness into our mouths, those who wanted a slightly more substantial snack, smashed them between slices of bread for a more filling option.

Guest Chef - Mrs Anju Mishra

Recipe: Spring Rolls

My friend Shilme had given me her recipe for spring rolls awhile ago, but I'd been postponing making them myself, as I had the mistaken notion that it would be a lengthy process.

I just made them myself with store bought frozen spring roll wrappers and while it took some time to gather speed and my shapes aren't all even, it was actually quite easy.

These freeze well, so you can make them and fry immediately or freeze and fry when needed.

Ingredients for Stuffing:
250gms chicken mince (can make this at home with boneless breast pulsed in the food processor)
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 large Onion - chopped
1/2 cup carrot - minced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 chopped spring onion
1 tbsp veg oil
Salt, white pepper , a dash of sugar to taste

Other Ingredients for Spring Rolls:
1 packet Spring roll wrappers - about 40 sheets
oil for deep frying

Method:
Heat oil till smoking hot.
Add garlic, sweat for a few seconds then add the minced chicken.
Stir fry till the chicken is cooked and looks fairly dry .
Add chopped onion, carrot and peas, stir till the vegetables are half cooked.
Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
Sprinkle the spring onion just before turning off the fire and give a quick stir.
Set aside to cool.

Roll into spring rolls using the following steps:

Then roll in a forward motion to get this cigar shape

Fry immediately or stack in a box for freezing.

When you want to use them, take them out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before and deep fry. If you still have pieces leftover - pop them back in the freezer. I used my batch for over a month. It tastes best when fresh but the frozen ones are good too.

Serve hot with readymade sauces or the sauces given below.

*These will yield about 20-25 pcs of spring rolls, depending how generous you like the stuffing in your rolls.
* You can just make the vegetarian ones by omitting the chicken and doubling the vegetables.

Red Chilli Sauce:
5 Fresh red chillies
3 cloves garlic
salt, sugar, vinegar to taste

Whiz in blender with some water till smooth, heat in a pan till it reaches your desired consistency.

Alternative Red Chilli Sauce:
Same process as above but I use dried chillies instead, cut them into a few pieces to remove the seeds, and saute in hot smoking oil for about a minute. Don't cook for too long it will get bitter and lose all the taste. Blend with other ingredients and heat in a pan till it reaches your desired consistency.

Recipe: Puris/Lucchis - deep fried puffed Indian Bread

Puris are a dish eaten across India. In Mangalore, it is eaten for breakfast with a dry potato bhaji similar to the filling of a masala dosa. It is eaten at lunch or dinner with a dry spicy mince dish.My uncle has a unique combination - where he eats puris with sheera

 In the North, puris for breakfast are served with a watery potato curry or halwa. In Maharashtra, puris are paired with Shrikhand (thickened, sweetened, sometimes flavoured yoghurt) for a special treat. In the North puris are often consumed at meal times as an alternate to rotis. My grandmother-in-law insists that on festive occassions, rotis/phulkas will not be consumed at home - it has to be puris!

While puris are made with wheat flour, in Bengal they make them with maida and call them lucchis. The recipe is the same with just this one substitution.

Making puris used to be a pain, when I had to use the traditional chakla & belan. If one is making puris alone, its a tricky matter of timing of rolling them out and frying them before the puris get burnt or the rolled dough drying out. It is so much easier with my roti maker. Also with the roti maker, there are no extra bits of dry wheat flour sticking to the dough - which tend to burn at the bottom of the deep frying pan.

Ingredients:
2 cups wheat flour (or maida for lucchis)
salt to taste
water to adjust

Method:
Make a dough with all the ingredients by slowly adding water and mixing to form a ball.

 

The dough is done if - when pressing it, it gets depressed and then slowly springs back into shape. Leave the dough to rest for at least half an hour in summer and one hour in winter. (I refrigerate leftover dough and it can be used for rotis or puris for upto 3-4 days)

Roll out into little rounds and deep fry.

With the roti maker, I  rolled them all out into circles and stacked them and then fried them one after another. Without fail, each and everyone of the puris fluffed up completely.

I served the puris with hari dhaniya ki aloo (fried potatoes in a green corriander chutney) and a Manglorean dry dish of mince, potatoes and peas.

Shilme's Spring Rolls

My friend Shilme whose husband was posted in Cairo the same time as us, has now come to India, after short stints in Johannesburg and Ireland in between.

While Shilme is Malaysian, her sojourns across the globe have added depth and layers to her food and cooking style. She invited me over for a Malaysian home cooked soul-food lunch the other day. The food was so good that I was so busy eating, I did not take pictures.

I think I will start a series of posts on home made food cooked by my friends. Many of whom are wonderful cooks, but do not blog. They will be henceforth tagged as Guest Chef. They might include recipes, but at the least they will include photos.

Coming back to Shilme, she had made a wonderful beef broth with noodles and a variety of home made sauces. The broth was light and flavoursome. The noodles made it a filling dish as well. This dish is a kind of Malay soul food.

Shilme also fried up some home made spring rolls. While the pastry is the store bought variety, she makes the stuffing at home. Shredded cooked chicken and vegetables with salt, pepper and a hint of sugar make the stuffing.

She said that she stuffs and rolls the spring rolls and then freezes them. Then she just takes them out and immediately deep fries them for a tasy snack or side dish when needed.

She gave me some frozen rolls to take home and husband averred that these were the best spring rolls he has ever eaten in his life (he had no idea they were home made before I served them to him)

Thanks Shilme.

Edited on 1st December 2010 to add Shilme's Recipe
Ingredients for Stuffing:
250gms chicken mince (I usually make this at home with boneless breast and pulse in the food processor)
3 cloves garlic - minced
1 large Onion - chopped
1/2 cup carrot - minced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 chopped spring onion
1 tbsp veg oil
Salt, white pepper , a dash of sugar to taste

Method:
Heat oil till smoking hot.
Add garlic, sweat for a few seconds then add the minced chicken.
Stir fry till the chicken is cooked and looks fairly dry .
Add chopped onion, carrot and peas, stir till the vegetables are half cooked.
Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
Sprinkle the spring onion just before turning off the fire and give a quick stir.
Set aside to cool.

*These will yield about 20-25 pcs of spring rolls, depending how generous you like the stuffing in your rolls.
* You can just make the vegetarian ones by omitting the chicken and doubling the vegetables.

Red Chilli Sauce:
5 Fresh red chillies
3 cloves garlic
salt, sugar, vinegar to taste

Whiz in blender with some water till smooth, heat in a pan till it reaches your desired consistency.

Alternative Red Chilli Sauce:
Same process as above but I use dried chillies instead, cut them into a few pieces to remove the seeds, and saute in hot smoking oil for about a minute. Don't cook for too long it will get bitter and lose all the taste. Blend with other ingredients and heat in a pan till it reaches your desired consistency.

Good Luck.
Shilme

Recipe : Mummy Lorna's Kacche Kele Ke Kebab - Plantain Kebabs - Vegan

This is my mum's recipe. Her quantities are even vaguer to define than mine when cooking from old favorites. Where the recipes are in our head rather than in a book. I have tried to approximate them the best I can, but you may need to tweak this a little, especially given the difference in sizes of plantains across the country. Back home mum gets really large plantains, so she uses a handful of dhal for each plantain. The ones I got in Delhi were much smaller and thinner, so I used just 2 tablespoons dhal per plantain.

This is a healthier version than aloo tikkis because it uses fibre rich vegetable plantains rather than carbohydrate rich potatoes. There is some similarity in the taste too, so its an easy substitute for diabetics for whom potatoes need to be consumed in moderation.

Although the original recipe calls for deep frying. I roasted them on a non stick pan on a slow fire. It didn't have the crunchy texture of a deep fried kebab, but the taste was still very good.

Ingredients:
5 medium vegetable plantains - kela (this is not the same as raw plantains)
1 medium onion
10 tablespoons channa dhal (split chickpeas)
1" ginger (or ginger paste)
green chillies to taste
salt to taste
a pinch of haldi (turmeric) powder
1-2 tsps of your favorite vegetable powder
(mum uses a Manglorean mix called Stew powder, but you can use Kitchen King, Chole Masala or your own blend)
oil to deep fry or shallow fry (based on your preference)

Preparation:

Soak the channa dhal for at least 1 hour. And then pressure cook it with a little water so it is completely soft. Drain and reserve the water.

Seperate the plaintains from the bunch but leave their stem on top (the plaintain shouldn't be open)

Pressure cook the plaintains in some water. Their skin is thick, so it will need a little longer cooking than potatoes.

Cool & skin the plaintains.

Chop onions, ginger and chillies very fine

Method:

Smash the boiled channa dhal and the plaintains and mash them together.

Add the chopped onions, ginger and chillies and mix well

Add salt to taste and your favorite vegetable powder (you can even use meat masala if you wish)

Mix well.

Adjust the consistency by adding the reserved liquid from the boiled channa and if by chance it has become too watery, you can always add besan (chickpea flour)

Raw plaintains are much drier than potatoes so the extra liquid may be needed.

Shape into round cutlets or oblong croquettes.

Best results can be got by deep frying the kebabs.

I roasted them in a non stick pan with hardly any oil.

Serve hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

This dish is great as a snack or even as a side with dinner.