Rice And Sago Kheer / Dudhpak

Dudhpak is a very easy to make dessert. I just adore the saffron flavor and the dry fruits in dudhpak. It can be made with a combination of rice and sabudana (sago) or just rice. Basmati rice imparts a great flavor to the dudhpak, however you can also use ordinary rice. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 cup basmati rice (if sabudana is not available use 1 cup rice)
1/2 cup sabudana (soaked for around 3-4 hours)
2 pinches of keshar or saffron
1 tablespoon powdered cardamom
2 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts(cashewnut, non-salted almonds, dried raisins)
1 cup sugar or as per taste
4 cups of whole milk

Method
Boil the milk and let it reduce on slow flame for 15 minutes. Ensure that you sit it occasionally to avoid sticking to the bottom of the pan. Keep the milk aside to cool it down to room temperature. Take 2 tablespoons of this hot milk and add keshar to it and keep it aside. Chop the nuts into desired sized pieces and fry them in 2 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter. Wash the basmati rice. Boil around 3 cups of water add the rice to it. Cook the rice till it is 3/4 done and drain the remaining water. The rice grains should not stick to each other and it should not be overcooked. Spread the rice on a plate to cool it. Meanwhile boil 2 cups of water and add the sabudana to it. Cook for around 4-5 minutes and drain the water. Mix the sabudana, rice, sugar, cardamom, milk with saffron and dry fruits. Stir it gently to fold in the rest of the ingredients with sabudana and rice. Now add the cooled milk and stir well. Keep the dudhpak in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

If you want to serve the dudhpak hot, use the same procedure above, but add hot milk to the rice and sabudana mixture and serve immediately.

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Serves: 5-6

Eggplant and Drumstick Sabzi / Vaigana Ani Mashigasange Upkari

This is one of my favorite sabzis and it goes well with spicy sambhar or rasam. Both drumstick and brinjal contain lot of iron and other minerals, so it is a very nutritious combination of vegetables. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
4-5 drumsticks
1 medium brinjal or eggplant
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 red chilies
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)
salt for taste

Method
Cut the ends of the drumsticks and cut each drumstick into 2 inch pieces each. Cook the drumstick in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle or until soft. Cut the brinjal into approximately 1/2 inch cubes. Add oil in a pan and add add mustard seeds. Add red chilies and fry for a minute. Add cut eggplant and cook covered till the eggplant is soft. Add very little while cooking if needed. Mix the cut drumstick and mix it well with the eggplant. Add salt and grated coconut and cook for 5 minutes or till the salt is well blended with the vegetables. Serve hot with rice.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Konkani Fish Curry / Mangalore Pomfret Curry

This fish curry is one of my favorites. I got frozen white pomfret from Coconut hill Grocery store in Sunnyvale and found that it better than the fresh fish I get at the Chinese Ranch market. This is curry made at my home back in India. It is also called "alle piyava ambat" as it uses ginger and onion to make the curry. In many households like one of my aunt's, it is called "Jhalke Randayi". All mean the same yummy curry. Here is the recipe.

Tips: Never stir the fish curry with a ladle as it can break up the fish. Stir the curry gently with a small spoon avoiding the fish or better shake the vessel to mix the masala.

Ingredients
1 cup grated coconut
1 medium size pomfret fish
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 finely chopped green chili
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3-4 roasted red byadgi chilies (I roast red chilies on a medium flame for around 10 minutes and cool it. This imparts a better flavor to the curry)
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or 1/2 inch piece of tamarind
1 teapoon coconut oil
salt for taste

Method
Clean and cut the fish into thin slices. Add the onion, ginger, green chili and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a pan and crush it with hand or back of a spoon. Add 1/2 cup water and cook till th onion is soft. Grind the coconut, red chilies and tamarind into a very fine paste. Add this masala to the onion masala. Cover and cook for around 5 minutes or till the masala comes to a boil. Add fish and cook for another 5-8 minutes or till the fish is cooked. Adjust salt as per taste and sprinkle coconut oil on the curry. Mix very gently with a spoon and cover the curry with a lid. This will enable the flavor of the coconut oil to blend with the curry. Serve hot with rice.


Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Chana Sabzi

Kala Chana Sabzi a great for tiffins and goes well with roti. It is very simple to prepare and here is the recipe.

Ingredients
100 gms kala chana
1 1/2 cup chopped onion
3 medium tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon oil
5 tablespoon chopped coriander
chili powder and salt as per taste

Method
Wash and soak the chana for 8-10 hours or overnight. Wash the chana well and keep it aside. Add 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and add chopped ginger and garlic. Saute till the color changes to golden brown. Add the onion and fry till the onion is brown in color. Add 3 chopped tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are soft. Now add all the powders and cook for 5 minutes so that the masala flavors are absorbed by the gravy. Add the kala chana and 3 cups of water. Pressure cook for 3 whistles or till the chana is soft and well cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti.


Preparation time: 40 minutes excluding soaking time
Serves:2-3

Beans Sabzi

This is a new kind of beans sabzi with green masala. I always feel like making beans in a different way than the regular Konkani Upkari. At the same time, I don't want to use a lot of masala as it overpowers the flavor of the beans. So I tried garnishing it with coconut and coriander leaves and it turned out to be superb. This sabzi goes well with chapatti. Here is the recipe.


Ingredients
3 cups chopped french beans
3 tablespoon grated coconut
5 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon coconut oil or any other oil
4 pinches asafoetida
2 finely chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
salt for taste

Method
Take oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Fry for a minute on medium heat and add asafoetida and green chilies.Fry for another minute. Add the chopped french beans. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook the beans till they are tender. Add the coconut and coriander leaves in the food processor and give it a pulse or two, till the coconut and coriander leaves are coarsely blended ( The coconut and coriander should not be ground into a fine paste). Add this mixture to the beans and mix well. Cook covered for around 5 minutes. Serve hot with roti.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2-3

Mangalore Buns - Step by Step

Mangalore buns is one of my favorite snack or breakfast dish. It is a specialty of the Mangalore region in Karnataka. I usually make it on weekends and we have it for brunch. This dish is quite heavy and filling. Whenever I see over ripe bananas in the house I usually make these buns. My mom serves this with chutney pitti. It is a great snack to take on travels and hikes. Recently, I visited one of our relatives and came to know that they serve it with a special potato bhaji. I made buns with potato bhaji when some of our friends visited us for dinner and this dish was a great hit. Here is the recipe to make buns.

Ingredients
2 medium sized over ripe bananas
2 1/2 cups maida
6 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup yogurt or home made curd
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (not baking powder--see differences here. )
1/8 teaspoon salt
milk for kneading
oil for deep frying

Method
Blend the over ripe bananas. Add yogurt, salt, sugar and baking powder to the banana paste. Mix 2 cups of flour, and add milk ( if needed )to make the dough. The dough should not be like chapatti or roti dough. It will be a little sticky.
Cover the dough with oil on top to prevent it from drying . Cover it with a cloth keep it in a warm place overnight or for around 8-10 hours. In winters, I heat the oven to 100 degrees and turn the heat off once it is heated. Then I leave the dough overnight in the oven. You can leave the dough outside in the summers. The dough should rise to almost double its previous quantity.
Cover your fingers with flour and pick out small balls of the dough. The balls should be the size of a small lemon.

Press the balls of dough well in the flour and stretch them to make small puris.

Fry these puris in hot oil till they are golden brown. Put them on a kitchen paper to drain the oil.

Mangalore buns are ready to eat. Serve them hot with potato bhaji.


Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: makes around 30 buns