DRY PAAN... best homemade paan/ mouth freshner

Dry Paan 

by Latha Murthy

Festive season is here. I hope you all had a wonderful Dasara. Most of us have experienced that after every festival or function we are left with plenty of betel leaves which is a must in our festivities. People who are preparing themselves for the confinement of their daughter/daughter-in-law.can prepare this which will be very handy specially when you are going abroad to help them out.

This time do not wonder or despair try this simple dry paan which is healthy and tasty. 

Ingredients

1 cup finely chopped Betel leaves 

1/2 cup of Sugar. 

optional to be mixed later : betelnut powder (supari), saunf/Fennel seeds , diamond sugar .

Method.

Wash and dry the betel leaves without traces of water. Remove the nodal part ( thumbo kudi) and chop the leaves into fine bits.

In a kadai, add sugar and leaves together ( please remember absolutely no water). Keep stirring occasionally , the sugar starts to melt. Before it completely melts take it out of the heat and keep stirring. Soon the crispy paan is ready. 

Simple isnt it... The consistency can be mastered in a few trials.

After this cools store in a airtight container for a long time.

For added taste add saunf,diamond sugar and ready supari . It can be used without all these too.

Have a great season . Do let me know how it is . 

KOBRI CHATNIPUDI../SPICY COPRA CHUTNEY POWDER

LATHA'S MAGIC series

Author: Latha Murthy


 I would like to start with a simple and tasty chutney powder recipe. This is a perfect side dish for hot rice, dosa, idli and chapatis...Simple and yummilicious. I give here the measurements for one cup of copra. It can be doubled as per requirement.

      KOBRI CHUTNEYPUDI

Ingredients:
The ingredients are simple and available at home usually.

Grated Copra          -  1 cup

Garlic cloves           -  5 to 6 ( optional)
Red chilli powder   - 1 tsp
( Byadigi red chilli can be used 2 or 3 red chillies in that case)      Tamarind                -  small marble size
Jaggery                  -   1 tsp 
Salt                         - to taste

METHOD

1. Dry roast the grated copra, till the remaining moisture evaporates, Keep aside.
2. Garlic is optional but adds to the taste.
3.  Peel and dry roast the Garlic cloves to take out the slight moisture in it so that the Powder can be stored for long. 
4. Turn the heat off and add the red chilli powder ( dry roast the red chilli if you are using the chillies instead of powder) and salt to the garlic and let it stay for a while. 
5. Dry Grind together Copra, Garlic, salt and chilli powder.
6. Add the jaggery and Tamarind and grind again till it mixes well. 

 Your Kobri Chutney powder is ready.

Enjoy with food of your choice...

Dheeli Khicdi.. a simple healthy porridge.

Dheeli Khichdi is a very tasty, healthy and wholesome one pot meal . The fresh khichdi with a spoon of ghee provides right amounts of macro nutrients... Moong dal ( split mung bean ) is easy to digest and so khichdi is given as a diet for many digestive problems.In Karnataka khicdhi is made as huggi and in Tamil  Cuisine it is known as pongal. The major ingredients are same but the process and consistency are a bit different. I made Gujarathi Dheeli khichdi , a favourite one pot meal at my place for any meal.

Dheeli Khichdi

Gujarathi Dheeli Khichdi:
 An unusally simple and super tasty dish is very easy to make. You can just make it out of few basic ingredients. I have made the simplest version you can try variations by adding vegetables and green chillies to spice it up. Here is the recipe.


INGREDIENTS:


2 small cups moong dal
2  small cups  rice
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
7-8 whole black pepper-corns
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
salt - to taste (about 1 1/2-2 tbsp)


METHOD


Soak the Rice and Moong dal for about half hour. In a pressure pan add 3 tbsp of Ghee/Oil. 
When the Ghee/oil heats up add cumin seed, pepper corns , turmeric powder and Asafoetida.  Wait till the cumin seeds go reddish and then add the Rice and Moongdal mixture with  salt to taste.
 Pour in about 10 to 12 small cups of water ( to get the watery consistency, lesser if you want it a  bit dry)and pressure cook for about 10 minutes or 3 whistles. Let the pressure go down.


Serve with a spoon of ghee.Enjoy the watery Dheeli Khichdi with pickle or bhujiya.

Nucchinunde and Majjige huLi ( steamed lentil dumplings)

Nagarapanchami is a festival dedicated to God Ananta ( the snake god). It is celebrated on the fifth day of the Shravana month people worship snakes , usually now -a- days a serpent made of silver is worshipped at home. Then, all the ladies will wait for their brothers to visit them. Once brothers are home the sisters wash their brother's back with milk..(bennu toleyuvudu) a little mud is rubbed on the wet back with the idea that the sisters pray to Nagaraja to keep their brothers cool in temper and with abundance and with peace of mind like the cold milk,and the mud from the mound asking Nagaraja to protect their brothers from all harm and providing complete protection.
After this little ritual, the sisters give brothers a gift of cash or kind, usually clothes.This is followed by a sumptuous lunch. The festive meal of this particular day does not have any fried dish. So most of the dishes are steamed...( so healthy ).

The festive spread generally has two salads (kosambari), to vegetable dry curry ( palya), a sweet dish (payasa) and many others to fill the leaf and tummy.




NUCCINUNDE /NUCCHINA UNDE : Steamed Lentil Dumplings:

my sister in law made Nucchinunde (tuvar dal steamed dumplings) which I had not had in a while. She gave me the right proportions and today I did make them successfully. Here's the recipe for you..Ingredients
1 cup of Tuvar dal/Yellow Lentils (Togri Bele)

1/2 cup of Chana dal/Bengal gram

½ cup Freshly grated coconut

two tbsp of chopped Coriander leaves (Cilantro)

4 Dry Red Chilies (or to taste)

2 green chillies

a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing/Ingu)

1/4 cup finely chopped dill leaves (optional Sabbasige soppu)

Salt to taste

Method:
Wash tuvar dal and chana dal 3 to 5 times and soak for 5 to 6 hours.Add the dry red chillies to the water and let it soak.Drain the soaked dal and grind 3/4ths of it coarsely without adding water . Grind the rest of the dal into a paste with coconut, red chillies,green chillies ( ginger can be added for a different taste). In a bowl add the paste and other ingredients . Mix well. Make egg shaped balls with your fingers and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Eat them sizzling hot with ghee, coconut chutney and Majjige huli ( a delicacy with butter milk).

Majjige huLi:This is a delicacy made out of simple butter milk.Literally meaning a gravy with butter milk this is a treat with hot steamed rice and of course with Nucchinude it makes a super hit combination.Made out of almost all vegetables of the gourd family , usually cucumber, ash gourd, snake gourd,chow chow this dish is as tasty with Okra, Eggplant , peas and fresh greens.simple to make this is an excellent dish for a rainy day.

Ingredients:
1 cup of chopped vegetables

2 cups of butter milk

2 spoons of Ghee or oil

1 spoon mustard seeds

curry leaves a sprig...

two dry red chillies
Ground paste of :

2 tbsp of fresly grated coconut,

2 tsp of soaked chanda dal or 2 tsp of Besan ( Kadle hittu)

2 green chillies

spoon cumin seeds

1/4 spoon of mustard seeds

a pinch of Asafoetida( hing)

1/4 spoon of turmeric powder (haldi)

few strands of coriander leaves

Salt to taste.

Method:

In a wide pan boil the cut vegetables with turmeric powder, salt and water till they are firm but cooked. Add the ground paste to the cooked vegetables and boil with some more minutes adding little water. Add the butter milk, mix well and let it get to one more boil.In a small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds when they splutter add curry leaves and dry red chilies..
serve with the above Nucchinunde or hot steamed rice.

AvarekaLu Bhath (revisited) and Sabsige Palya

Summer holidays is on and so is the Mango season. We are enjoying a few variteties at the minute.I enjoy all the seasonal fruits and vegetables but I was surprised to see that these days AvrekaLu has no season these days. I found them yesterday in the market and so todays menu at my place was AvrekaLu bhath and Sabsige palya (Sauteed Dill leaves). With girls being home it is a not easy to have a traditional menu of this sort.

Sabbasige or Dill leaves is a herb which has a typical aroma. The is used in cooking for aroma and taste. I use it with rice flour... for Akkirotti, in Dal.. with Moong or Arhar dal. These leaves add a lot of taste to Ambode (dal vada or lentil dumplings).

This is known for Anti -Gas property and so used as a mouth freshener and digestive ,It is also known to enhance lactation in mothers.. so given to mothers as post natal diet.

Avarekalu Bhath is quite simple .

Please do find the recipe in here .


Sabbasige palya (Sauteed Dill leaves with Onions)

This particular palya is a simple one with just two main ingredients... Onions and Dill leaves .

Ingredients:

2 fresh bunches of abbasige soppu (dill leaves)

1 Onion (finely chopped)

dry red chillies - 2
jeera/cumin seeds -one spoon
sasive/mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Ingu/asafoetida - one pinch
turmeric powder - one pinch
curry leaves - a sprig
oil to saute
and salt to taste.

Method:
Wash and chop the dill leaves very fine, strain and keep aside. In a pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds. When they sputter add jeera, red chillies, asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves. Add the chopped onions and saute for a few minutes. Then add the chopped Dill leaves , saute for a few minutes. Add salt to taste and mix properly.
Add a dash of lemon to enhance the taste. Serve with Rotis or Rice. Goes well with both.
I am sure you will like it too.

Thalipettu

This is one of the best breakfast I can ever think of. Extremely nutritious and filling. My grandmother used to make it a lot.She mentioned a bhajnee (typically roasted mixture made specially for thalipeet, as it is known in Maharashtra).Guess the literal meaning would be patting on a plate!!! I could really use with some help with the meaning. When I started cooking I forgot about this and made a lot of the akki rotti...(just of rice flour).Recently remembered this Thalipettu ,It was an instant hit in my house. This easy to digest, nutritious stuff makes a great snack in the evenings as well.I have prepared with the flours I had at home. Adding some soya flour and Ragi flour should add to its nutritional value.This is great on its own. But JHUNKA would be excellent to go with it.

TASTY THALIPETTU /THALIPEET

Ingredients:
1 cup of wheat flour
1 cup of Jowar flour ( Sorghum)
1 cup of rice flour
4 tbsp of Besan (gram flour)
3 Green chillies chopped
1Grated cucumber grated
1 Carrot Grated
1 Turnip Grated
Finely chopped radish leaves or palak/spinach (optional)
Cumin seeds
2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
a pinch of hing/asafoetida
salt to taste and
2 spoons of oil
Onion or freshly grated coconut are optional.
Method:
Mix all the grated vegetables with cumin seeds, hing and salt with little bit of oil. On this add the above mentioned flours, mix well to a pliable dough .The grated vegetables will have enough water to make the dough, but if necessary add water to make the dough.Take an Orange sized ball and spread slowly on the tawa or pan. Pat them with fingers to spread them evenly. Make a hole in the centre and add a drop of oil to help the cooking faster and even.cover it with a lid and allow to roast on slow fire for about 10 minutes... then turn over and cook for 2 more minutes.
Serve with chutney pudi and dahi..

Ciao... I enjoyed hope you will too..