Spicy pongal

Ingredients:

• Rice 1cup
• Mung dal 1 cup
• Oil
• Mustard seeds ½ tsp
• Cumin seeds 1tsp
• Pepper corn 4-5
• Cloves 2-3
• Curry leaves
• Cashew nut 10
• Green chillies 2-3
• Asafoetida
• Turmeric powder
• Salt
• Grated coconut ½ cups

Method:

• Heat oil in a cooker; add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Wait till it flutters, then add pepper corn, cloves, curry leaves, cashew nut, green chillies, ginger, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Fry them for one minute. Now add  rice, mung dal, water and salt. Close it with the lid. Cook it for 15minutes. 3 whistles should be enough. 
• Wait for 15minutes, open the lid and finaly add grated coconut.
• Serve this with ginger chutney.

AshGourd halwa

Ingredients:

• Grated ash gourd 4cup
• Sugar 1 cup
• Milk 3cups
• Cardamom powder ½ tsp-1tsp
• Butter or ghee (optional) 1tsp
• Dry fruits 

Preparation:

• Heat the pan. Add butter and dry fruits. Wait for about a minute, then add grated ash gourd and milk. Boil it for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Now add sugar. Keep stirring it for another 10-15 minutes.
• Add cardamom and stir it well. Finally add dry fruits and switch off the flame.
• Ash gourd halwa  tastes well with vanilla ice cream.

Capsicum masala rice

 

Ingredients:

• Capsicum 1 sliced
• Onion 1 sliced
• Cooked rice 1bowl
• Oil 3tsp
• Red chillies 5
• Cloves 5
• Split black gram 2tsp
• Peanut 1tsp
• Fenugreek seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves
• Salt

Preparation:

• Dry roast and powder red chillies, cloves, split black gram, peanut, fenugreek seeds and coriander seeds. Keep this masala powder aside.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add curry leaves, onion and capsicum. Fry them for 10minutes.
• Now add the masala powder and coriander leaves.
• Finally, add cooked rice and salt to the frying pan and mix it well.
• Serve this hot with chutney of your choice.

Rice Noodles(Akki shavige)

Ingredients:

• Rice 2cups
• Cumin seeds 1tsp
• Noodle/Spaghetti maker
• Salt

Preparation:

• Soak rice in water for about 4hours.
• Wash soaked rice and grind it into the milk consistency.
• Add cumin seeds while grinding.
• Take heavy bottomed pan, add ground batter and salt.
• Boil it for about 10-15minutes in low to medium flame. Continue stirring until it thickens(should be able to make balls of it). Let it cool down.
•  Knead the dough and make medium sized balls (may be oval shaped as it has to go into the maker) of it.Then steam it in a cooker for 15 -20 mins Or boil it in  water for 15-20 minutes.
• Transfer the balls one by one at a time into the maker and press carefully while the balls are hot else dough will get sticky. It goes well with any payasa or BananaKaayalu.

Pulao

Ingredients:

• Carrot 1 sliced
• Beans 10-12 sliced
• Potato 1sliced
• Green Peas half a cup
• Green Chilli 2-3
• Rice 2cup
• Coriander Leaves – handful
• Mint (optional)
• Ginger – 1inch
• Garlic cloves  3-4
• Oil
• Cumin seeds
• Mustard seeds
• Salt
• Water

Preparation:

• Add green chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves in a mixi jar and grind them into thick paste.
• Switch on the flame, heat oil in a cooker, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and the ground paste. Now add all the vegetables, pulao powder, rice, salt and water.
• Close the cooker with the lid and cook this for 10-15 minutes in high flame.
• Now. Switch off the flames and leave the cooker to cool down.
• After 20minutes open the cooker lid and mix the cooked ingredients by stirring with a serving spoon.
• That’s it, Pulao is ready to serve. Have this with any kind of raita.

Cucumber pickle(ಸೌತೆಕಾಯಿ ಉಪ್ಪಿನಕಾಯಿ )

Ingredients:

• Cucumber 1 chopped
• Salt 2-3 spoons
• Red chilli powder 5-6 spoons
• Mustard  powder 1-2 spoons 
• Lemon 1

For tempering:

• Oil
• Cumin seeds ½spoon
• Mustard seeds 1-2 spoons
• Asafoetida (hing)
• Turmeric powder

Method:

• Take a bowl, add cucumber, salt, red chilli powder,mustard powder and add lemon juice to it.
• Temper it with, oil,cumin seeds,musturd seeds,asafoetida and turmeric powder.
• Mix it well.
• To preserve it for long-term add vinegar.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice 1 bowl
• Oil 3-4tsps
• Beans 4-5 chopped
• Carrot 1 chopped
• Cabbage chopped (optional)
• Soy sauce
• Salt 
• Green chilli (optional)

Preparation:

• Heat the heavy bottomed pan, add oil, then add beans, carrot, cabbage.
• Stir it for 30 seconds.Then add rice, soy sauce, salt  and mix it well.
• Thats it. Enjoy while its hot.

Akki and menthe payasa

This is one of the helathy and tasty recipes, especialy for ladies who are just into the motherhood.

Ingredients:

• Rice 1cup cooked
• Fenugreek seeds ½ cup
• Sugar or Jaggery ½ -3/4 cup
• Cashew nut
• Raisin/Dry grapes
• Grated coconut 1cup
• Cloves 2
• Cardamom powder 1tsp
• Pinch of salt

Preparation:

• Soak fenugreek seeds in hot water for 15 minutes.
•  Wash soaked fenugreek seeds and boil it for 20minutes in microwave.
• Take a pan. Add boiled fenugreek seeds, rice, cashew nuts, raisin, jaggery, pinch of salt  and boil it for 10-15minutes.
• Now add cloves and cardamom powder.
• Grind the coconut and add to payasa and stir it well.

Brahmi tambli

Ingredients:

• Brahmi whole plant ½ cup chopped
• Peppercorn  6-7
• Cumin seeds/jeerige 1tsp
• Grated coconut 1 cup
• Salt
• Jaggery
• Yogurt/curd/majjige 
• Oil
• Red chilli 
• Mustard seeds

Preparation:

• Dry roast peppercorn, cumin.
• Mix coconut, roasted  ingredients and  grind it.
• Grind brahmi separately and filter it.
• Mix ground coconut mixture, ground brahmi juice, yogurt, salt and jaggery.
• Temper this with oil, red chilli and mustard seeds.

Akki Soolagadu

Its one of the difficult to cook, but tasty traditional recipe of  Karnataka. Our grandpa’s favourite too.

Ingredients:

• Rice 2bowls
• Jaggery 3bowls
• Grated Coconut 1bowl
• Water

 Preparation:

• Soak rice in water for 3 to 4 hours.
• Grind the soaked rice to milk consistency.
• Add 2 bowls of Jaggery to the ground paste
• Boil this syrup till you get thick syrup or Paka (similar to paka for Kajjaya).
• Wait till Paka cools down and becomes just warm so that it does not burn your hand.
• Meanwhile prepare hoorana by adding a bowl of jaggery to a bowl of grated coconut. Mix it well.
• Now, Soak your hands with little water, take warm Paka little by little and  stuff it with hoorana. Give it oval shape.
• Garnish with grated coconut.
• Enjoy soolagadu with ghee or Kaayalu(coconut milk).

Note: Getting proper Paka is the challenging. Unless you are a cookery expert, you may not succeed the first time.