Vangibath - 2 (from scratch)

 Here is one more recipe for vangibath by making vangibath powder from scratch. This recipe(link given below) uses stone flower, which gives a very distinctive taste to the vangibath. I have tweaked(guessed) the quantity for one time serving and given it below. Do try.. 

Coconut Milk Pulav

 One of the very simple yet rich tasting pulavs I fell in love with instantly when I tasted it at my friends place. InstaPot makes it even more simple. Do try!

OraLu Chitranna/ green kaayi saasive chitranna

 We also make kayi sasive chitranna, but differently. This masala uses green chilies and the ingredients are roasted before grinding. I really loved the flavors and the convenience of making this. You can keep the gojju(masala paste) ready beforehand and mix it with rice (just like puliyogare gojju) whenever needed. This is ideal for festivals. Enjoy! 

Cabbage Rice

This is a very simple rice bath with simple flavors and can be made in no time. Cabbage is generally not liked by kids. But sneak it in a rice bath, they’ll not mind, hopefully :)

Along with cabbage, I added capsicum and chick peas for extra flavor. Do try!

Aloo-Matar Pulav

This pulav is THE TASTE I wanted to achieve all these years. Hence I am writing a very detailed recipe on what exactly I did to be able to recreate next time. For people who don’t know about my struggle with pulav, they can refer here to get the inside story. Now I can sleep peacefully :)

To top this, a “sone pe suhaaga” kind of a deal is - this is a 1 pot meal. I made this in InstaPot. This recipe is from Hebbar's kitchen(link given below). 

Do try!

Capsicum Rice Bath

Here’s another unique rice bath with simple taste and simple flavors. Very easy to make, and tastes like a variation of vangi bath. Makes for a great lunch box item. Onion can be skipped for festivals. Do try! 

Mint Pulav in InstaPot

Presenting another one-pot/InstaPot dish - mint pulav. 

Advantages of cooking in InstaPot - vegetables were perfectly cooked… onions too. Flavor was retained. 

Instant? Not really! 

Less baby sitting - if you call turning off the cooker on time baby sitting, then yes! I really don’t get this guys! It took me 1 hr from start to finish, how is that instant :)

Anyways, rice bath was flavorful…  Enjoy! 

Vangi bath - from scratch

There’s a youtube channel from Mallamma ajji - cooking granny or something(link given below), from which I have cooked couple of recipes, which turned out very good. Very authentic. I like mallamma ajji’s granny vibes and how she explains every recipe in a simple manner. 

Coming to the recipe, Vangi bath or Brinjal rice, is a famous Karnataka dish/rice bath. You can make a big batch of Vangi bath powder just like Sambar/Rasam powders and use it whenever needed. Original recipe has proportions for a big batch, but here I have also given proportions for one time serving in brackets along with the original. Also, original recipe uses onion - garlic, which I generally don’t use for vangi bath and they can be easily skipped. 

Do try! 

Nellikayi(Amla) Chitranna

Happy New Year! Happy Sankranthi!

This year I want to start off with something healthy. I got this recipe (again) from Oggarane Dabbi cooking show. Nellikayi is supposed to be very healthy. Most Ayurvedic lehas(that I know of) have nellikayi in them. 

Nellikayi has an astringent taste. I tried many recipes with nellikayi recently. Out of all the recipes, this recipe stands out. This recipe is a good way of including nellikayi in your diet.

Do try!

Mavinakayi Chitranna - Raw Mango rice

I only knew one way of making mavinakayi chitranna, which is make tadka with mustard, urad dal, chana dal, hing, peanuts green/red chili and turmeric, add grated raw mango, sauté and mix with cooked rice. But I recently got to know about this recipe (through a Kannada sangha we are involved with), which is slightly different, but definitely more delicious than what I make. The recipe uses methi seeds, which makes it unique. I particularly loved the subtle methi taste + tanginess of raw mango. 

This recipe is from another favorite food blog of mine, which has many authentic Karnataka recipes. 

Make this delicious mavinakayi chitranna for upcoming festival season and enjoy!      

Spinach Pulav

This recipe is similar to the last recipe. Almost same recipe, just change in vegetable, gives you a very different tasting rice bath. It is very easy to make and a good option for lunch box. 

It tastes like palak paneer mixed with rice and kids will love it. I felt addition of potatoes or fried paneer would’ve gone well with the taste. 

Do try!

Corn Pulav

It’s interesting how change of vegetables can change the flavor of rice baths drastically. I tried couple of rice baths from the same blog, with almost similar masala, but just change in vegetables. I was very happy with the outcome. I just tweaked the recipe a little bit. Other than that everything else was followed as in original recipe. 

Corn makes it very likable for kids too. 

Do try! 

Tawa Pulao

Tawa pulao, or Pav Bhaji Pulao. This is another recipe from my drafts. Had tried it long time back. This recipe is from Tarla Dalal. I love her easy to follow short videos on youtube. 

I had never heard of this dish before. I was intrigued how pav bhaji masala would taste with rice. I didn’t think they would go well together. But it tasted good. Different than other rice baths for sure. 

If you are having a pav bhaji party or chat party, this(along with some raita) could serve as an additional dish to go with the theme. 

Do try!

BisiBeleBath Powder

Bisi Bele Bath is a popular Karnataka Dish which needs no introduction. It is made out of vegetables, lentil and rice and is a wholesome meal in itself. You use BBB powder for flavoring, which is a special blend of spices roasted and ground to a fine powder.

The Bisi bele bath powder available in Indian stores is pretty good and serves the purpose very well. But if you want to take it up a notch, try homemade BBB powder. Homemade is always homemade. You can smell and taste the freshness... 

I found this recipe in a FB group. The only change I did was to reduce the red chili quantity, otherwise everything else is the same. The blogger has other authentic Karnataka recipes, which I intend to make sometime soon. Check out her link below.

Enjoy!

Tomato Bath - Version 1

I always look for recipes...

I always collect recipes...

If anybody makes anything interesting, I ask them for recipe..

I watch cooking episodes tirelessly online...

and yet I claim that I’m least interested in cooking...

So why do I do all the above? 

The answer is that I’m an enthusiastic eater, not an enthusiastic cook! My main motivation behind experimenting in the kitchen is eating good food..  or rather the lack of having good restaurants around.. My cooking drive diminishes the moment I set foot in India..

I shouldn’t complain living in the Bay area.. but c’mon how can a street vendor in India make better chats than here..? how come nobody gets that THE Masala Dosa flavor from India...? bakery items.. no where close!! Does any restaurant owner care to learn what they are missing? seriously I can make better dosas at home...  where is THAT Dosa which would slide off a plate with so much grease in it and where is this Dosa, which wouldn’t even come off the plate... *sigh* 

So until those kind of restaurants open up, I’ll be a trooper and experiment in my kitchen...

Coming to the recipe.. 

This particular recipe I got from the Oggarane Dabbi cooking series which is on youtube. 

It is a healthy one pot meal which is very very simple and very very tasty, close to the ones you’d get in restaurants in India. One of the restaurant owners made it at the show.. 

Beetroot Pulav

My cousin Archana is an avid follower of the blog “Monsoon Spice”. If I have to try anything from that blog, I simply ask her if she has tried it before, and she’ll give me all details as to what she tried, how it was, what she did differently.. etc :)

So recently when I asked her if she tried anything new, she told me about this Beetroot Pulav from the same blog, and said it came out good. 

So I also tried.. Beetroot gives this bath mild sweetness and nice pink hue(or red hue depending upon the quantity of beetroot you put).  I really loved it.

This is a very good item to take to potlucks and a good option for your lunch box.  It tastes even better the next day.

Do make it and impress your family and friends!

Capsicum Biriyani

We are in the middle of a move right now, and needless to say it’s a very stressful time for me. It’s not just the actual work that stresses me, but more so the anticipation of the work, because I know exactly what to expect. You see, within a span of 11 years, we have relocated to 6 different cities and within a city we have shifted form one house to another at least 2 times.. and we are not minimalists you know, we have stuff and it needs to be shifted... and it’s all manual labour!!!

In chaotic times like these, I take refuge in food. 

If generally I prepare just sambar and rice for dinner, during these times I prepare an elaborate meal, like chapathi, sabzi, and rice bath.

It’s not only during shifting, it could be during any boring or tiresome activity. Even when I am vacationing, my first priority is food :) 

It’s not junk food that I look for, just some comfort food. Knowing that I’ll be eating something nice gets me through the day. I have something to look forward to, some assurance that all this stress is temporary, to know that there is light(aka good food) by the end of the day. 

Thank you food! 

And incidentally I came across this, which brought a huge smile on my face :)

“But the one thing that has stayed consistent through our crazy transient life is the hand of our Lord over it all. We've seen it day in and day out. Moving in and moving out.

He stays the same and we can be confident as we can rely on Him as our Rock when the storms pick up and toss us in a new direction” (read full story here)

Okay, it’s food and God! Thank you God :)

Well, moving on from my love affair with food..

Capsicum Biriyani is again from “YummyTummy..”, my favorite blog. It tastes heavenly. 

The recipe asks to pressure cook the whole thing directly, but I loved it more when I cooked the rice separately and mixed it with the masala paste. 

Do try!

Simple Fried Rice

One of my cousins was asking me for some easy rice dishes that she could whip up in few minutes after coming home from work. I generally make only easy rice baths, but this recipe I got to say, beats the race for easiness. According to me, the only next easiest thing to cook is plain rice :)

It virtually has no masala, but yet is so unbelievably tasty. And it’s healthy too!! 

This recipe is for those days when you just want to chill and not bother much about cooking but still want to eat something healthy and tasty....

I got this recipe from my friend’s mother-in-law.