2011 in review – need to post some more!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. One of the items we are working on is creating a coffee table book with the recipes. Stay tuned!

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 97,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Bisibelebhaat

Bishi bele bhaat – is a rice dish with rice, daal and LOTs of vegetables! When you have it with ghee and a papad on the side – it is amazingly tasty! I love the way Leela attewaree makes this! Too tasty!!

Ingredients:
1 cup turdal, 2 cups rice, 1 tea spoon cumin powder, 2 tea spoons coriander powder, vegetables like carrots, beans, awarekai (papdi), peas etc, 2 table spoon bishibelebhat powder (any brand – MTR is usually very good), mustard, cumin seeds, asaphoetida, turmeric powder, tamrind paste, jagri, salt, oil, ghee.
.
Process:

• Cook rice extra soft with 3 times water.
• Cook  turdal along with veg like carrot, beans,  little dry grams (hurbhara-just 1 table spoon) , green peas, avare kaayi and other vegetables of your choice in pressure cooker along with rice but is a separate vessel in the cooker.
• Heat oil in a vessel, and season with mustard, cumin seeds and asaphotida. 
• Add cut onion, curry leaves coriander and cumin powder and turmeric powder.
• After 2 minutes put tamarind paste diluted in water, jaggery and salt and allow to boil.
• Now transfer cooked dal to it.
• Add 2 table spoons of bishibele bhat masala powder,  salt, and then the cooked rice.
• Mix well and boil for 5 min.
• Garnish with coriander and serve hot with ghee!

Typically Served With:

papad, pickle and curd

Tamarind Chutney (Hunsi Takku)

Hunasi takku (hunchi tak) is something that will get anybody’s taste buds going “tak!”. You can eat it with chapatis, rotis or just apply a bit to bread or who knows – some of us like me might just like to nibble on a bit to get the taste buds active!

Ingredients

1 kg Green and hard tamarind (not the tender ones or also the ripe brown ones), green chillis, cumin seeds, 200 g salt, asaphotida (hingu), mustard, turmeric powder, jaggery

Process

• Peel the tamrind and remove the threadlike portion and the stem(end) portion.
• Cut green chillis into big pieces.
• Mix tamrind, chillis and salt and grind together to a coarse mixture and store in a glass jar or mud vessel(matka) which can be kept for upto an year .
• Whenever required for serving (eating), take a small portion from this, add little jaggery and cumin seeds and grind to form a less coarse ( not paste) mixture.
• Heat oil in a small kadai, add mustard.
• After mustard cracks, add asaphoetida, turmeric powder and pour this seasoning on the coarse mixture.

Typically Served with:

Chapatis, Rice, Rotti, bread

Masargayi

Masar kai or Masargayi is basically dried chilly which can be fried before eating. It is typically eaten with curd rice.

Ingredients:

25 Long and spicy green chillis, 1/2 cup + 1 tea spoon cumin powder (for stuffing and curd), 1 table spoon + 1 tea spoon hingu (asaphotida powder), 2  tea spoons+ 1 tea  spoons salt, 1 tea spoon sugar, 1/2 litre sour and soft  curd or thick butter milk and oil for frying.

Process:

• Make longitudinal slits in the chills.
• Mix 1/2 cup cumin powder(jeera powder), 1 tea spoon hingu (asafoetida) and salt.
• Stuff the chillis with this mixture.
• Add 1 tea spoon salt, 1 tea spoon cumin powder, 1 tea spoon hingu powder and 1 tea spoon sugar to the curd and mix well.
• Transfer the stuffed chillis in this curd and keep those for soaking in the curd overnight.
• Remove the soaked chillis from the curd and dry in hot sun by spreading on plastic sheet, for 2-3 days till they are crisp and dry.
• Store in plastic or glass container.
• Deep fry in hot oil in kadai just before you want to eat it.

Tips and Tricks:

• The soaked chillies could be dried in microwave oven too). 

Typically Served With:

Curd rice and other rice dishes or sweet dishes like holige, payasam etc

Bharta (Baigan Barta)

Bharta is made with grilled, mashed eggplant – badnekai. It is usually made during Sankranti. It is my brother’s favorite recipe!

Ingredients:
Baingan (badanekai) 250 gms, carrots 100gms, fresh green grams, green chillis, til, gural powder ,cumin seeds and salt.
Process:

• Roast til and cumin seeds and powder it.
• Also roast green chillis in oil.
• Apply oil on the brinjal and roast on low fire.
• Steam carrots after cutting into small pieces.
• Mix all the ingredients and mash to coarse consistency.
• Mix gural powder, cumin and sesame(til) powder.
• Add salt to taste and mix well.

Typically Served With:

Chapati, rotti, Sajji rotti, katak rotti etc

Kusubi huggi

Kusubi huggi is a specialty of Haveri. Padma attewaree (my daddy’s elder sister) always has this when we visit her place. It is made of kusubi seeds or saffolla (safola) seeds. This is a salty preparation and is also called akki huggi sometimes. This salty kheer is served during a feast, specially feast of wheat payasam (ghodi huggi) or holige, before serving the sweet feast.

Ingredients:

Rice 1 cup, saffola (kusabi) seeds 1/2 cup, salt to taste.

Process:

• Soak saffolla seeds overnight or atleast for 4-6 hours.
• Grind in a blender with 2 cups of water and filter through cheese cloth.
• Grind the pulp once or twice more with 1 cup water, filter and  keep aside the milky part.
• Discard the pulp.
• Cook rice in pressure cooker to soft consistency.
• Transfer the cooked rice to a thick bottom vessel.
• Add the kusabi milk and salt to this, mix well and cook well on low fire for 30 minutes, with intermittent stirring to get white and tasty kheer.

Lima beans

Lima beans is my mom’s favourite “kaal” and again it is another high protein recipe. Here goes the recipe

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen lima beans1 cup, 1 finely chopped medium sized onion, 1 tea spoon ginger garlic paste, 1/2 table spoon ground green chilli paste,1 table spoon garam masala, 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut, 1/4 cup finely cut fresh coriander, 1 tea spoon lemon juice, 1 tea spoon sugar and salt to taste, 1 table spoon veg oil and cumin seeds for seasoning.

Process:

• Heat oil in a vessel.
• Add cumin seeds and chopped onion.
• After 2 minutes, add ginger garlic paste and green chilli paste.
• Cook for 2 minutes.
• Add fresh or thawed lima beans, green chilli paste, garam masala, salt and sugar and cook for 5 minutes.
• Now add grated coconut and mix well with a spoon.
• Then add 1 cup of hot water and lemon juice and cook for 5 more minutes.
• Garnish with fresh chopped coriander (cilantro).

Typically Served With

serve hot with chapati, fulka or puri.

Kadle Kalu – brown or green whole grams or harbhara usal

Kadli kaal as it is pronounced in Dharwad is basically the same as chana masala sabji from the north. We make it a little differently.

Ingredients:

Kadle kaalu 1 cup, 1 medium sized onion chopped into small pieces, 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped and pounded, 1 table spoon cooking oil, red chilli powder or green chilli paste 1 tea spoon, cumin powder 1 tea spoon, dhania powder 2 tea spoons, mustard and cumin seeds and  asaphotida (hingu) for seasoning ,lemon juice  1 tea spoon, jaggery or brown sugar powder 1 tea spoon, salt to taste.

Process:

• Cook kadle kalu in pressure cooker by adding 3 cups of water, for 10 minutes after attaining high pressure.
• Remove the watery part.
• Heat oil in a vessel.
• Season with mustard, cumin seeds and asphotida.
• Add chopped garlic and then onion and green chilli paste or red chilli powder and heat till garlic turns brownish.
• Add cumin powder and  dhania powder.
• Transfer the cooked kadli kalu to this.
• Now add salt, lemon juice, jaggery and little water, mix well and cook for 5 more minutes with lid closed.

Typically Served With:

Chapati or Rotti

Hurli kattin saaru

Kattin saar is basically a curry made of the “kat” or stock obtained by cooking lentils like chana dal, black eyed peas (alsandi) or even hurli! Did you know that? So anytime you make hurli or alsandi kaalu, you can make kattin saar. Doesn’t always have to be in conjunction with chana daal preparation.

Ingredients:

Hurli kattu (watery part), curry leaves, turmeric powder, 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped and diced, 1 table spoon cooking oil, masale khara 1 table spoon, cumin powder 1 tea spoon, dhania powder 2 tea spoons,  mustard and cumin seeds and  asaphotida (hingu) for seasoning, tamarind paste 1 tea spoon, jaggery or brown sugar powder 1 tea spoon, salt to taste. 

Process:

• Heat oil in a vessel.
• Season with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, asaphotida and then garlic.
• When garlic turns brown, add turmeric powder, cumin and dhania powder and curry leaves.
• Then add 2 cups water containing 1 tea spoon tamarind paste and heat to boil.
• To this add 1 tea spoon jaggery or brown sugar, 1 tea spoon masale khara or chilli powder, salt to taste and boil for 5 minutes.

Tips and Tricks:

You can garnish with fresh chopped cilantro (coriander) if needed.

Typically Served With:

Rice

Hurli kalu – Horse gram ( hulge or kulith)

Hurali kaal or horse gram is another high protein recipe. It is said that this is fed to race horses so they get a lot of strength!

Ingredients:

Hurli kalu 1 cup, 1 medium sized onion chopped into small pieces, 2-3 cloves of garlic diced and crushed, 1 table spoon cooking oil, masale khara 1 table spoon, cumin powder 1 tea spoon, dhania powder 2 tea spoons,  mustard and cumin seeds and  asaphotida (hingu) for seasoning, tamarind paste 1 tea spoon, jaggery or brown sugar powder 1 tea spoon, salt to taste.

Process:

• Cook hurli kalu in pressure cooker by adding 3 cups of water, for 10 minutes after attaining high pressure.
• Remove the watery part from the cooked hurli (this can be used to prepare tili or hurli kattin saroo i.e.  curry).
• Heat oil in a vessel. Season with mustard, cumin seeds and asphotida.
• Add diced and crushed garlic and then chopped onion and heat till it turns brownish.
• Add cumin powder, dhania powder.
• After 2-3 minutes, add 1/2 cup water and bring to boil.
• Put tamarind paste, jaggery and salt in boilng mixture.
• To this transfer the cooked hurli, add masale khara and boil for 5 more minutes with lid closed.

Tips and Tricks

• The liquid that is drained after cooking the lentil can be used to make curry (saaru). This “kat” gives higher density and acts as a vegetarian stock
• The hurli kalu can be also prepared by sprouting hurli and following the same recipee. For sprouting, hurli should be soaked overnight and tied in cheese cloth and kept warm( around 37 degree C) for 24 to 48 hours

Typically Served With:

Hot chapatis or rotti