Bhendya Gojju/Okra in Yogurt..

This is one of the most simplest and delicious recipes that I have tried. If you are an Okra lover, then its for you to try. I have no idea why its called Gojju, coz the preparation is not like other gojjus we make in Konkani cuisine.

Just a little note, make and eat it fresh, coz if left over, it gets sour and slimy with the okra sitting in there.

Also, this is made with little tender whole okras with the stem area chopped. So try and get the tender most okras and use whole. Cut the Okra near the stem end and make a tiny slit lengthwise. The slit shld be shallow and not cut the okra into pieces.

You can either use red or green chillies for this.

There are only a few ingredients used and this is the way I made it.

In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil, add some mustard seeds and udad dal. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the red chillies or green chillies ( I have used red chillies, 3 nos.), a pinch of hing and drop in the okra. Add very little water, just enough for the okra to cook, add salt and cook covered until the okra is done. The okra should be cooked and firm, should not break open. Once this whole thing cools down, add whipped yogurt and mix well. Serve as a side with rice and curry.

Leftover Pakodas and I Hate...

A great tip from a friend which turned out to be an excellent chaat/snack for us with some leftover pakodas. After a potluck the other day, we were all wondering what to do with a whole tray of leftover pakodas. One of my friends gave us all this idea.

This is what she said : Just slice some onions very finely, spread them over the pakodas, sprinkle lemon juice and some chaat masala and eat them like a snack. I tried her tip and must say it tasted really nice. Just make sure you use a generous amount of lemon juice and the chaat masala.

Also, Purnima had tagged me for this ' I hate- MeMe' quite sometime back. She probably must have forgotten about it too :D. Sorry Purnima, took me this long.

Just putting down randomly, these are a few of my Hates..

1. I hate to be so far-away from my parents and family and get to see them only once in a while.

2. I hate to see how lonely my son feels inspite of friends being there and having so many toys. I feel that he is missing out on the simple pleasures of life that we got to enjoy.

3. I hate it when I lose patience with my son, and have to be hard with him. Doesn't make me or him or anyone around a happy person :).

4. I hate Migraines. Makes me a handicap when I have one and can ruin many days in a row.

5. Hate it even more when I have to pop pills to get rid of the headaches.

6. I hate it when I am brave and hold up on the big things that upset me and then break down at the slightest thing and make a fool of myself.

7. I hate to see what poverty and hunger does to people.

8. I hate making decisions coz I'm really bad at them and fickle minded too, so you see, can't make up my mind sometimes even about the littlest things in life :).

9. I hate cereal for breakfast. I have tried many many kinds but nothing seems to go down my throat.

10. I just hate hate hate Good-byes. Yes, hate them that much. However much I prepare myself, just can't deal with them.

Black Chickpeas and Snake gourd Curry/ Kannadiga Style..

This is a recipe by my friend who said its a very common gravy in Karnataka among a particular section of people. I had tasted this once, and absolutely liked it. I tried it at home and since then, I have used this gravy as a base for many other veggie and legume combinations.

This curry uses black pepper corns and garlic, so when having a cold, increasing the pepper helps and soothes the throat too.

So here goes..

Ingredients

Black chickpeas - 3/4 cup

Raw rice - 2 tsp
Black pepper corns - 6-7
Dry red chillies - 4-5
Fresh/Frozen grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Garlic cloves - 7-8
Snake gourd, cleaned, de-seeded and cut into bite size pieces - 1 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/8 cup
Tamarind - 1 small piece ( See note below for this )
Salt - to taste

Method

- Soak the chickpeas in water for about 8 hours. Then, pressure cook the snake gourd pieces and the chickpeas with enough water and salt for 1 whistle. I had the sprouted ones ready, so used the sprouted chickpeas.

- Roast the raw rice for a few seconds.

- Now, alongwith the rice, grind the coconut, red chillies, garlic, tamarind & black pepper together.

- Add this ground paste to the boiled gourd and chickpeas. Once this comes to a boil, adjust salt, add milk, bring to a boil and take off heat.

- Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Note :

- I am not sure if tamarind is used in this recipe, I didn't get a chance to clarify this again with my friend, but I added it anyhow. I hadn't noted it down when she told me the recipe. But I think the curry tastes good with the hint of tamarind in it. So feel free to try it without it.

- I used sprouted chickpeas coz I had them ready, but the original recipe doesn't call for the sprouted ones.

- Vary the quantity of pepper corns and red chillies according to your spice intake level.

Mixed Vegetable Kurma..

This is the recipe of a Kurma that I had tasted at my friends place, so I called her and got the recipe when I wanted to make it. Am sure there are many variations for a kurma, but I just followed this coz we liked its taste. Apart from what my friend told, I added the Poppy seeds (khuskhus) and the cashews to the gravy..

Ingredients

Garlic - 4 cloves
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Saunf/Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Khuskus/Poppy seeds - 2 tsp
Pepper - 4 corns
Green chillies - 3
Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves/Lavang - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut milk - half a can ( 4 oz.)

Carrots - 1 1/2 cup
Potatoes, medium chunks - 3 medium ( Boil one of these pototoes in a microwave and mash it and keep aside )
Zucchini, cut in to chunks - 1 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1 1/2 cup
Peas - 1/2 cup
Green beans , long pieces - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 2 big, to be pureed.
Onions, chopped fine - 1 big
Cilantro - to garnish
Salt - to taste

Method

- Heat a pan and roast the poppy seeds till lightly browned, but take care not to burn.
- Make a paste by grinding together the garlic, jeera, fennel seeds, cashews, pepper, green chilli, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and the poppy seeds.
- Separately, make a puree of the tomatoes also.
- Heat oil in a pan, add the onions to it and fry till soft and translucent.
- Add the pureed tomatoes to the pan and fry till oil separates.
- Now add the ground paste and fry well such that the raw smell from the paste goes away and oil separates from mixture.Add the red chilli powder, haldi powder and salt and fry for some more time.
- Then, we have to add the vegetables in order of which takes longer to cook. So, first add the beans with little water, cover & cook for sometime, then add the potatoes & carrots, after about half-done, add the cauliflower, zucchini and peas and add salt, cook till almost done.
- Now add the mashed potato and the coconut milk, add salt if needed and bring to a boil and switch off the stove.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
- Serve hot with rice, rotis or dosas.

This is my contribution to the Curry mela for (Dosa, Idli, Roti, Rice) hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons. Thank you for hosting Srivalli.