Ragi Rotti and Ennegayi

Rottis are one of the tiffin items commonly made in every household, its either made with rice flour or Ragi flour. In north karnataka region it usually made with jowar flour and which is called jolada Rotti/jowar Rotti.

Ennegayi- enne (oil), kayi/gayi- coconut, made with eggplant/brinjal(badanekayi) goes very well with any kind of rottis. This is my favorite side dish and this is my mother's recipe. My entry for RCI-Karnataka hosted by Asha of Foodie,s hope.

For Ragi Rotti

• Ragi flour- 3cups, boiling water-2 cups or more, cumin seeds-1tsp,red onion chopped- 1 medium size,curry leaves - few.
• Bring water to boil, to the flour mix onion,cumin and curry leaves add salt and boiling water.
• Mix well, cover for 10 mins steam from the hot water soften the flour. Then with little oil mix the dough. It should be soft and not too hard.
• Smear oil on flat griddle or round bottomed wok (bandle), spread in circular motion with the help of some oil or water.
• Cover and cook on medium high heat for 2-3 mins, once the edges start leaving the vessel take out and serve.

Enjoy it when its warm.

* leaving for too long on griddle makes it hard. so cook on med-high heat for few mins. For detail on making rotti check the link here for akki-rotti.

Ennegayi


As the name itself it needs lots of coconut and oil, but I have used just few tbsp of each.

• Veggies I used - eggplant, tomato and onion.
• For grinding into paste: Small piece of onion, coconut-2 tbsp,roasted-channa dal(hurigadale)-2 tbsp,poppy seeds(gasagase)-2 tbsp, ginger- 1inch piece, green chili- 1, cinnamon-clove- 2 each.

1. Heat oil in thick vessel add mustard and cumin seeds then add veggies and fry till onions are soft. In the mean while grind the above ingredients to smooth paste using water.
2. Then add the ground paste to the veggies, add salt and pinch of turmeric mix well , add enough water. Cover and cook for 10 mins.
3. It will be ready by now. Enjoy with rottis.

Rave Idly-Kadalebele Chutney

For RCI-Karnataka hosted by Asha of Foodie's hope, I'll be making some of my favorite breakfast or as we call it morning tiffin. So this week its all tiffin items.


Rave(soji,semolina) idly or mosaru(curd,yogurt) idly its called, is one of my favorite rava dishes. To this day at my mother's house its rava item on Monday mornings, its either upiitu (upma) 80% of the time or rave-mosaru idly. During school day every Monday morning I was hoping it would be rave idly instead of upiitu.

So here is the recipe for very simple and satisfying Rave or mosaru idly.

• Curds - 2 cups (I make at home, with low fat milk)
• Rava(Upma rava) - 2 cups
• Oil- 1tbsp, channa dal-1tsp, curry leaves, cumin-mustard-1tsp, Carrot- 1/2cup Grated. Can also add corriander leaves and green chillies.

* This measurement make about 16 idlies.

Method :

1. Heat oil in a vessel, when hot add mustard, cumin and channadal and curry leaves, then add rava and fry till light brown or untill raw smell of rave is gone(Can make this part night before and in morning just add curds and make idlies).
2. When the rave mixture is cool enough add 1 cup of curd and mix and keep aside for 10 mins or so. Rave will absorb all the moisture from rave and becomes like a thick dough
3. When ready to make idlies add the remaining curds and make like thick batter and pour over greased idly moulds.(If its too thick add little water or more curds)
4. Steam them for about 20 mins.
5. Let it cool for a while before taking from the Idly moulds (allowing it to cool makes eldy come off easily without sticking to the moulds).
6. We had it with kadalebele(channa dal) chutney.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kadalebele chutney.



Channadal 3/4 th cup, red onion- 1 small, garlic-1pod, tamrind water/paste- 2tbsp, red chillies -2 and salt.

1. Fry all the above ingredints one by one with little oil and when cool grind it using tamarind water or plain water.
2. Do the tempering with oil, mustard seeds.

Enjoy with idlies.

Raddish Raitha with Cumin.

I use cumin in my cooking almost daily either in form of seeds for tempering or in powder form for curries or rasam. For red-raddish raitha(Mulangi pachadi in kannada) I have used cumin in both forms as a whole seeds and powder.

Recipe is very simple..

Curd/yogurt - 1 cup (i used low fat home made yogurt)

Veggies - Radish 2 small grated, tomato - 1 and red onion- about 2 tbsp

For tempering : Oil- tsp, cumin(freshly made) powder-1/2 tsp each and cumin seed 1 tsp.

Salt for taste

• Grate, chop veggies and add this too yogurt.




• Dry fry cumin seeds on medium heat for minute or so and using mortar and pestle, couresly pound cumin.




• Heat oil add cumin seeds when is start crackling switch off the heat and add red chilli and cumin powder(Adding powders to the hot oil enhances the flavour).Immedietly add to veggi-yogurt mixture.




• Mix well and serve.

When eating raitha you can taste crunchy cumin seeds with smokey aroma of cumin powder. Raitha goes well with rice or as side for chapthis. Simple, healthy and tasty.

Enjoy!

Mint Rice/ Pudina Pulav

This is an one pot meal. With few simple ingredients, this dish will be done in under 20 mins. Simple, fragrance full and tasty quick fix rice.

Vegetables I Used.

• Carrots - 2
• Peas - 1/2 cup (frozen)
• Onion- 1 small

Spices

• Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
• Cloves - 2

For Grining : Cilantro and Mint leaves 1 cup and green chilli 1.

Others

Rice - 1 cup, Oil for tempering and salt for taste.

Method :

1. Wash and soak rice (I use basmathi) for 10 mins or till the time you chop veggies and saute them.
2. Take the thick bottemed vessel(can use pressure cooker too) add oil when hot add fennel seeds and cloves, than add veggies saute till onions are soft and translucent. In a meanwhile gring cilantro,mint and chilles to smooth paste using enough water.
3. When veggies are half cooked add grinded paste and 2 cups of water(for 1 cup rice). When water comes to boil add soaked rice, salt. Cover the pot with lid simmer it down for 10-12 min. It will be doen by this time.

Enjoy !

Ghuguni- RCI Orissa Cuisine

Hello everyone I am back after a break, has been on vacation for a week and was feeling under the weather for a while but now feeling good and back in time for this months RCI.



I really was very excited to cook oriya food for this months RCI hosted by Swapna of Swad , I haven't eaten any oriya food or familier with their names. So I had to go and search online for some Orissa recipies, while looking I discovered that they use lots of paneer and coconut , spices like bayleaf, cinnamon and cardamom are more widely used.



I make Chapthi everyday for dinner so was looking for a Orissa style curry and came across Ghuguni. Ghuguni is a curry made of dried peas as the main ingredient along with potatoes. I reffered a website named Orissa Dairy and followed the recipe mostly except for yellow dried peas I used green dried peas.



Here is how I made it

Vegetables and spices :

Dried green peas - 1cup

Red potatoes - 2

Tomatoes - 1 medium size

For grinding into paste:

Onion, garlic, ginger, 1 green chillie, clove-cinnamon-cardamom -2 each.

Powders:

Cumin-corriander,turmeric,red chilli and garam masala - 1 tsp each.

cumin seeds - 1tsb, Oil - 2tbsp and salt as per taste.

• Soak dried peas for atleast 6 hrs. After that chop veggeis.



• Grind the above mentioned masala into smooth paste using enough water.



• I used pressure cooker to cook both peas and potatoes,peas turned out bit mushy. So I would cook them on open vessle from here on.



• Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel, when hot enough add cumin seeds , then grounded masala and powders. Cook untill all the mixture combins and raw smell is gone.



• Now to the above mixture add tomatoes , potatoes and peas that are pre-cooked. Add salt and adjust to taste. Add water if needed, to desired consistancy, cover and simmer it down to 10 mins.

Enjoy with chapathis, puri or rice.

I very much enjoyed exploring about Oriya cuisine, experimenting with new food in my kitchen and most of all eating. When tasted it was like sweet surprise with cardamom added along with the other ground spices. Will make this Ghuguni more often from now on.