Eggplant in Spicy Coconut Sauce / Vaigana Sagle

We get small green eggplants in the Bay Area. It is smaller in size than the gulla we get in Mangalore. I made sagle which is a kind of coconut curry with ground coriander and methi seeds. The curry has a sweetish taste. it goes well with spicy sambhar or rasam. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
7 small thai green eggplants (purple eggplant if the green one is not available)
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
6 methi or fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon jaggery
3-4 roasted red chilies
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or small piece of tamarind
5 curry leaves
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon coconut oil or any other oil
salt for taste

Method
Cut the top of all the eggplants. Cut each eggplants into four pieces. Put half cup water in a pan and cook the eggplants till soft. Meanwhile dry-roast the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds for 3-5 minutes. Grind the tamarind, grated coconut, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and red chilies into a fine paste. Add this masala to the cooked eggplant with jaggery and salt for taste. Get the curry to a boil on medium heat. In a seasoning pan, add oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, remove from heat and add curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the curry and keep the curry covered for 5 minutes. This will allow all the seasoning flavors to blend with the curry. Serve hot with rice or roti.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Cold Coffee

Why am I writing this simple a post? Sometimes, when I and my husband are very tired and hungry after a hard day's work...I have just one question in my mind- what to make which will be energizing, quick, and requires minimum effort to prepare? We both are not regular coffee drinkers but enjoy cold coffee on hot summer evenings. During my college days, I and my sister used to reach home at around 4 in the afternoon and would usually make cold coffee with cream biscuits. I usually use Nescafe instant coffee to make cold coffee.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
2 cups cold milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
sugar for taste
crushed ice

Method

Blend all the ingredients well and serve. To make it more rich, you can use 25% half and half milk and 75 % whole milk. Or add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the cold coffee while serving, instead of the vanilla extract. If you like cinnamon, then add a pinch of cinnamon powder to enhance the flavor. Enjoy the chilled coffee.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Mushroom in Spicy Tamarind Sauce / Mushroom Song

Song is a Konkani dish which is supposed to be very spicy. It goes well with bland dal or roti. I also like to have it with panna polo or very thin rice dosa or any other dosa. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
400 gms mushroom
2 medium onions
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 tablespoon tamarind concentrate dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon chili powder or as per taste.
salt for taste

Method
Chop the onions into small pieces. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds. Add the onion after the mustard splutters and fry the onion on medium heat till transparent. The onions should not caramelize or turn light brown. Chop the mushrooms into 4 pieces each and add it in the pan. Cook the mushrooms covered for 4-5 minutes. Add 4-5 tablespoon water if the mushrooms turn dry. Add the tamarind juice and chili powder and cook for another 5 minutes. Then remove cover and add salt as per taste. Serve hot.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Chole

Recently when my friends came home, I had made chole. Chole is one of my comfort foods after rajma chawal and sambhar. Every one enjoyed my chole. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients
100 gms kabuli chana
2 medium onions
4 medium tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
1 tablespoon coriander
2 teaspoon jeera or cumin
1 teaspoon anardana
1 tablespoon MDH chana masala
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 boiled potato (optional)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger
2 green chilies
2 tablespoon oil
4 tablespoon coriander leaves
salt for taste


Method
Soak Kabuli chana for 8- 12 hours. Boil the potato. Pressure cook kabuli chana with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder till soft. The kabuli chana should not be mushy. Don't drain the water after boiling. Chop the ginger and garlic and grind it into a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan and add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and turmeric. Add ginger and garlic paste. Fry for 30 seconds and add finely chopped onion. Fry till the onion is golden brown. Coarsely grind the tomatoes and green chilies. Add the tomato and chili paste in the pan and fry till the tomatoes are soft. Grind the coriander, remaining cumin and anardana. Add the ground powder, turmeric powder, sugar and chana masala to the chole. Add chili powder as per taste. Fry for a minute. Add the boiled chole with the water in which it was boiled and chopped boiled potato. Add more water as per desired consistency. Cook the chole on a low flame for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Adjust the salt and chili powder. Garnish with coriander leaves and garam masala. Serve with thinly sliced onion and lemon.


Preparation time: 1 hr 15 min excluding the soaking time
Serves: 4-5

Dal- I

This is the north Indian style dal. It can be had with rice or rotis. I use both masoor and toor dal to make it.
I am not very fond of toor dal, so I make this dal very often.


Ingredients
1/2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup masoor dal
1 teaspoon jeera
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
salt for taste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon ghee (preferably) or oil

Method
Wash and boil the toor and masoor dal in a pressure cooker till the dal is soft. Whisk the dal to remove any lumps. Put the dal in a vessel and add water and salt as per desired consistency. Get the dal to a boil. In a seasoning pan, add ghee or oil. Heat it and add cumin seeds and asafoetida to it. Fry for a minute and add red chili powder and turmeric powder. Stir well and add the seasoning to the dal. Cook and cover for around 3-4 minutes so that all the flavors of the seasoning are absorbed well by the dal. Serve hot.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ivy Gourd and Cashew Nut Sabzi / Tendli Ani Bibbe Upkari / Tendli Upkari

Tendli bibbe upkari is one of the dishes which is a must in any Konkani or Goan wedding lunch. In Karnataka and Goa we get unpeepled wet cashew nuts with the skin on. These cashew nuts are boiled or pressure cooked in salt water till tender and the skin is peeled. Later the skinned cashews are cut in half and added to the curry. In US, I skinned cashewnuts available in the Indian store and pressure cook them in salt water. If you want to make healthy recipe, don't add the cashew nuts and coconut. Here is the recipe.

IvyGourd and Unpeeled Wet Cashews

Ingredients
400 gms tendli
100 gms cashew nut (optional)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
3-4 green chilies
1 dried red chili
1 tablespoon coconut oil or any other oil
4 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)
salt as per taste

Method
Wash and soak the cashew nuts for 4-5 hours. Cut the tendli length wise into thin stripes. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard. When the mustard seeds splutter, add red chili and slit green chili and fry for a minute. Add the cut tendli and cashew nuts. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and cook covered till the tendli and cashew nut is soft, and the water is evaporated. 


Add salt as per taste. Garnish with grated coconut and serve hot with rice.


Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves: 3-4