Shepi Idli

Shepi leaves or Dill leaves are one of the  healthiest leafy vegetables and a great source of iron. In Konkani cuisine, we make a type of idli with these leaves along with jaggery and coconut. Wait a min - Jaggery - yes! You read that right. The traditional way of eating these sweet idlis is with dollops of ghee, but you may choose to have a coconut chutney as an accompaniment, whatever suits your tastebuds! This is unique to Konkani cuisine and one of the specialities of my mom. As a kid, I used to relish these green colored idlis and I've recently revisited those memories when I prepared this dish at home from the great recipe that my mom gave. Here we go...

Preparation:

Ingredients:

Shepi Leaves - 2 (cut the roots)

Coconut - 1.5 cup (1 full coconut)

Cardomom Powder - 0.5 tsp

Thick Poha - 2 cups (2 handfuls)

Jaggery - 1 cube (or as per your sweet levels)

Rice - 2 cup (soak for 2 hrs)

Salt

Reicpe:

1. Grind the Shepi leaves in a mixie.

2. Next add coconut, cardaomom powder, thick poha and grind the last 2 rounds. Make a smooth paste. We use a lot of coconut in this dish to get the great flavors.

3. Add jaggery to the mixture and keep aside.

4. Next grind the soaked rice without water in the mixie.

5. Mix all - rice powder with the shepi paste and keep aside for 2 hrs.

6. Add salt to the batter and then make idlis in the idli cooker. 

7. After steaming for 20 mins on low to medium flame, the idlis should be ready.

Shepi idli is ready to be served with your choice of accompaniment.

Satyanaryana Pooja Sheera

On Satyanarayana Pooja, this sweet is prepared as a prasad. It's my all time favorite dessert with a lot of deliciousness and goodness of the bananas. Here is the recipe from my hubby that always takes me back in time to my childhood days when I used to eat it in temples. This is one of his signature dish and highly praised by anyone who has ever got an opportunity to eat it.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Milk - 1.5 cup

Ghee - 1 cup

Water - 0.5 cup

Rava - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Cashews - 8

Chiroli - 10 (optional)

Banana - 3 (chopped)

Cardomom Powder - 0.5 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat 3/4 cup of ghee in a pan. 

2. Fry rava in ghee and then put banana. Mix well.

3. In another pan, boil milk and water.

4. After the rava and banana mix is fried and mashy, put it in the milk and water mix.

5. Once the mixture dries in the milk, add sugar and cardamom powder.

6. Fry the dry fruits and chiroli in ghee and garnish to the above mix.

Satyanarayana Sheera is now ready. Eat it when hot!

Farfalle Parmigiana

Farfalle is a type of pasta in the shape of a bow-tie, hence it is popularly know as bow-tie pasta in the US. I had read somewhere that the name Farfalla in Italian means "Butterfly". Here is a simple and quick recipe that I tried at home using the butterfly pasta and it turned out yummy.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Farfalle - 3/4 cup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 4 tsp

Salt

Pepper - 0.5 tsp

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Tomato - 1(chopped)

Garlic - 1 clove (crushed)

Basil Leaves - 6 (chopped)

Parmesan - 1 cup

Water - 3 cups

Preparation:

1. Bring water with some salt to a rolling boil and add the pasta to it until the pasta is al dente.

2. Meanwhile, until the pasta is ready, we can start with the sauce. Heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and saute it until the onion cooks completely.

3. Add crushed garlic and mix.

4. Once onions are cooked, add tomato, salt and pepper. Let it cook.

5. Once the tomato cooks completely, add farfalle pasta and mix well on low flame.

6. Add parmigiano (parmesan) and mix well.

Basil Farfalle parmigiano is ready to be served.

Paneer Vindaloo

We went to this Indian restaurant - Kiran's for celebrating our anniversary and this starter just made me fall in love with paneer and this dish. It was so delicious and full of flavors that it left me guessing the ingredients that went into making it. Luckily, when i tried this at home, it turned out almost like the one I had at the restaurant. So here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy its myriad flavors.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Paneer - 1 cube (cut into rectangular pieces. Make sure the paneer is fresh and soft)

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 8 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Coconut - 1/4 cup (grated)

Red chillies - 3

Cinnamon stick - small piece

Cloves - 4

Lime juice - 1 tsp

Onion - 1/2 (finely chopped)

Jaggery - 1 small cube (grated)

Salt - to taste

Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp 

Preparation:

1. Roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, grated coconut, red chillies, cinnamon stick and cloves for few minutes and then keep it aside.

2. Next, add turmeric powder, 1/2inch ginger, 6 garlic and lime juice and grind it into a fine paste. 

3. Marinate the paneer cubes with this paste and leave it for 30 mins.

4. Heat oil in a pan, add finely chopped onions and fry till brown, next add ginger-garlic paste (prepared from remaining ginger & garlic) and let it cook.

5. Next add the red chilly powder, grated jaggery, salt and marinated paneer pieces and let it cook for few mins.

Paneer Vindaloo is ready. Serve it hot!

Thousoli

Another amchi dish from the heart of Konkani land is this quick and healthy breakfast item - Thousoli. Thousoli (Cucumber dosa) derives its name from the konkani word for cucumber i.e thoushe. This is served with white chutney and tastes great!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Cucumber - 1 (Grated)

Salt - to taste

Coconut - 1/2 cup (Grated)

Water - 1 cup

Oil - for making dosas

Preparation:

1. Mix rice flour, grated cucumber, grated coconut, salt and water. Make sure you mix well so that no lumps are formed.

2. Heat a pan, put 1 tsp oil and spread over the pan. Put a big spoon of batter and spread it on the pan. Allow some time for it to cook. Turn it around when done so that the other side now cooks.

This is best eaten with white chutney on the side.

White Coconut Chutney

Almost every other day for breakfast, my mom used to make this white coconut chutney as a side for idlis, urda vada, batata vada and her many varieties of dosas. She used to sometimes also make the red coconut chutney - the difference between the two being the kind of chillies you use for preparing it - this one is prepared with green chillies and the red one, of course with the dry red chillies. The recipe for this chutney is very simple as you can see below. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Coconut - 1 cup (Grated)

Green Chillies - 2

Tamarind - a small piece

Salt - to taste

For tadka:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6

Hing - a pinch

Oil - 2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Grind coconut, green chillies, tamarind and salt into a fine paste.

2. For the tadka, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter, next add curry leaves and hing. Add this sizzling tadka into the grinded paste.

White chutney is ready!

Masala Dosa Masala

Many of us love the Masala Dosa - not just any dosa, but the masala dosa. Obviously the aloo masala served with the dosa appeases our palate the most. Well, this delightful dish is also served with puri and chapathi. Making this dish has been quite a challenge - although its a very simple recipe, I just couldn't get the restaurant style taste during my attempts. Luckily, one fine day, my hubby made it and many memories came gushing down. I was elated to learn the perfect recipe, better than in any restaurant I had. Take a bow, here comes the awesome recipe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil - 4 tsp

Peanut - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - small pinch

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Ginger - 1/2 tsp (grated)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt

Green chillies - 2

Curry leaves - 6 (chopped)

Potato - 2.5

Water - very little

Sugar - 1tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes until three whistles and keep aside. Once it cools down, remove the skin and mash it.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Once heated, add peanuts and let it fry for few mins.

3. Add mustard seeds and let it crackle, then add hing and onion. Fry till the onion  cooks.

4. Next add grated ginger, turmeric powder, salt, green chillies, curry leaves, and mashed potato. Add a little water if the curry looks dry.

5. Add sugar, lemon juice and garam masala and mix it well.

Aloo Masala is ready!

Alternate way to present it - Below we've used avacado skin to present.