Kande Chutney

Kande Chutney is the konkani version of onion chutney. Kande in konkani refers to onion. This chutney is most frequently served with Urda appe, but it can also be an accompaniment to idli, dosa, uthapam and the like. Here's my mom's authentic recipe for make this delicious side dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Coconut - 0.5 cup (grated)

Red Chilly - 3

Tamarind - small piece

Salt - to taste

Onion - 0.5 

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan. 

2. Once the oil heats up, add red chilly and tamarind.

3. Turn off the flame and add grated coconut and salt. Mix well.

4. Grind the above into a smooth paste.

5. Add onion and just pulse grind coarsely.

Serve it as a side to appe or the like.

Urda Appe

Urda Appe is a popular Konkani breakfast item. In Konkan cuisine, two versions of appe are prepared - one is this which is prepared with urad dal and rice and the other is a sweet appe. Both taste great. We eat this urda appe with kande chutney (onion chutney). Here is my mom's recipe to make this amazing appe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Urad Dal - 1 cup

Rice - 1.5 cup

Onion - 1

Preparation:

1. Soak Urad Dal for 6 hrs. In another container, soak rice for the same duration.

2. Grind the urad dal and rice separately and then mix them.

3. Let it ferment for about 6 hrs.

4. Take small portions of the batter and add chopped onions as required into the batter.

5. Next grease the appe pan with some oil. The appe pan looks like below.

6. Add a spoon of batter in each hole. Cover the lis and let it fry.

7. Once they are done on one side, flip them over and fry the other side till they are done.

Once they are crisp, serve them hot with kande chutney.

Nik's Baingan Bahar

Baingan Bahaar is one of my hubby's speciality dishes which I love a lot. This curry is made with small brinjals and has a tinge of sweetness, tanginess and spice, which makes it a great accompaniment with rotis. Whenever this curry is made at our home, we lose track of how many rotis we've eaten - it's that addictive of a dish. Special thanks to my hubby for sharing this recipe.

Preparation:

Ingredients:

Peanuts - 2 handful

Poppy Seeds - 2 tsp

Gurala (optional) - 2 tsp (This spice is only available and used in Karnataka state in India)

Dry coconut powder - 1/2 cup

Red Chilly - 2

Tamarind - medium round ball

Garlic - 3 pods

Joshi Bagara Baingan Powder (optional) -  3 tsp (You get this at Joshi Brothers in Hyderabad)

Salt - to taste

Oil - 10 tsp

Brinjal (small eggplants) - 6 (slit into 4 parts)

Mustard Seeds - 1tsp

Hing - a pinch

Ginger - 1in (grated)

Onion - 1

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Red Chilly Powder - 2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Jaggery - 1 cube

Curry Leaves - 6

Aayis Gurala Masala (optional) - 2 tsp

Recipe:

1. Roast peanut, poppy seeds, gurala, red chilly, tamarind and garlic. Once they are slightly brown, add dry coconut powder, joshi powder and salt. 

2. Once the above ingredients are roasted, grind it into a powder.

3. Next, heat 5 tsp of oil in a pan.

4. Add the brinjal and fry it. Add salt and cover it with a lid to help it cook faster. Once cooked, keep it aside.

5. In another pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then, add hing, grated ginger, Onion. Salt, Turmeric powder, Red chilly powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. 

7. Add the dry peanut powder made in step 2. 

8. Put water and add jaggery. Grind it into a paste.

9. In another pan, heat oil, add curry leaves, add the paste made above. Let it cook.

10. Once the paste cooks, add fried brinjal and Salt. Then add Aayi's gurala masala. Cover with a lid and cook.

Serve it hot with chapathis.

Puran Poli

Puran Poli, a sweet roti is generally prepared during festivals in many Indian households. The preparation process involves stuffing a sweet filling in the dough and then rolling it like a roti . It is served hot with lots of ghee or milk. When I was a kid, my mom used to engage me in the preparation process of this dessert and the whole exercise has made me grow very fond of this great dish. Recently, we tried this for the first time on our own and I must say, the results were quite amazing. Here's my mom's recipe for this lovely dish.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

For Dough:

Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 cup

Wheat Flour - 1/4 cup

Salt - to taste

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Water - as needed to knead

Oil - 1 cup

For Puran (sweet filling):

Chana Dal - 1 cup

Toor Dal - 1/8 cup

Water - as required for boiling

Jaggery - 6 cubes

Cardamom  - 4 (Powdered)

Preparation:

1. Knead maida, wheat flour, turmeric powder, oil, salt and water into a dough.

2. Put the dough in a bowl containing 1 cup of oil and keep it aside. This extra oil will be used later when we are making the dough balls stuffed with sweet filling. It also helps in making the puran polis soft.

3. Pressure cook the chana dal and toor dal for 3 whistles. The boiled mix should be mashy.

4. Remove the excess water and you can use it to make saar or discard it.

5. Add jaggery and powdered cardamom to the boiled dal mix and stir it till it becomes thick. Once it cools down, gring this so that it becomes a smooth paste.

6. Make small round balls and keep aside. This is the filling that we stuff in the dough, also known as puran.

7. Now comes the part where we stuff this in the dough. Apply oil from the bowl to your palm, spread a small piece of dough on your palm so that it completely covers the center of your palm. Then take the chana dal ball (sweet filling) and place it in the center. Next wrap the dough around this ball completely so that we don't see a trace of the filling. 

7. Coat some maida to this stuffed dough and roll it into a round roti shape. Its best to cover the rolling board with plastic to prevent sticking while rolling and its also helps with the cleaning process for the board.

8. Apply a bit of oil to a pan and to both sides of the rolled polis and fry these on both sides.

Serve it hot with ghee. 

Its always best to make less of the dough and more of the filling because we can make another sweet dish called Sukrondo with the leftover filling.

Surnoli

Surnoli is a sweet dosa that is made with cucumber or Mugge (Mangalore cucumber - if available) and is a speciality in Konkani cuisine. Traditionally, these dosas are to be prepared fluffy and not crispy like the Masala Dosas. They are served with white coconut chutney or with ghee mixed with chutney powder (also known as gun powder). Below is my Mom's recipe for preparing these green dosas.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Cucumber/Mugge - 1

Uncooked Rice - 2 cup

Fenugreek seeds (Methi seeds) - 2 tsp

Fresh Grated Coconut - 1 cup

Poha - 1/2 cup (1 mushti)

Jaggery - 1 cup

Tuermeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Preparation;

1. Wash rice thoroughly and Soak it in water along with fenugreek seeds for 5 hrs.

2. Grind cucumber, soaked rice and fenugreek seeds and grated coconut to make a smooth paste.

3. In the final stage of grinding, add poha and jaggery and grind it. Don't dilute the batter while grinding it. Make sure the batter is thick so we are able to make dosa with it.

4. Add turmeric powder to the batter along with salt and keep it for fermenting for 7-8 hrs (overnight).

5. Next day make dosas. If the batter was kept in fridge, make sure you keep it at room temperature for atleast an hour so you can make dosas out of it.

Apply ghee to the dosa and serve it hot with white coconut chutney and chutney powder + ghee.

Egg Fry

Egg Fry is one of the most simplest dish that you can make when you are running short of time but you still want to have something delicious. My mom makes these spicy egg fries and they are my all time favorite. This goes well with curd rice or rice mixed with any dal or gravy. Since the boiled egg are very blande, my mom used to marinate them with a  special chilly paste and fry them which gave it a great flavor and a crispy outer texture. Here goes her secret recipe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Egg - 4 (Boiled)

Red Chilly Powder - 3 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Tamarind - small piece (Alternatively, Lemon juice can be used instead of tamarind juice too.)

Salt

Garlic - 1 (finely chopped/paste)

Ginger - a small piece (finely chopped/paste)

Sooji (Rava) - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Boil the eggs. Once boiled, peel them and cut them vertically.

2. Make a tamarind pulp by heating tamarind in some water.

3. In the tamarind paste, add red chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, garlic and ginger.

4. Coat each egg with the above paste.

5. Take Sooji in a separate plate and roll the coated eggs in that.

6. Heat a pan and spread some oil on it. Fry the rava coated eggs on both sides.

Egg Fry is ready to be eaten with rice.

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.