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! 

Veg Hakka Noodles in Instapot

I’m probably joining in late to this Insta pot craze culture :) To be frank, I was not that impressed.. It’s good, it is convenient, but instant? Not really.. my pressure cooker does the same thing.

I admit, I haven’t explored it much… just been using it to make big batches of something. Well, it surely has its advantages, like vegetables aren’t mushed like in a pressure cooker, and you don’t need to babysit..etc. Currently I am exploring more and understanding why everybody is going gaga over it..

So recently I tried Hakka noodles and wow! was it convenient. Everything happened in 1 pot - no separate pot for cooking hakka noodles, then strainer for straining, then again a wok for making it... As easy as dump everything and cook. But aren’t you supposed to strain starchy water.. like for health reasons.. or is it just for rice? gah, I don’t know.. I’ll stop pretending to know :) 

Taste wise, it was good, vegetables were neither mushy nor crunchy. In the original recipe, vegetables are sautéd and taken out before cooking the noodles, keeping them crunchy, but I just put everything together. Noodles were starchy when hot, but was good after cooling down a bit. 

Do try! 

Kayi Kadubu - Sweet dumplings for Ganesha Chaturthi

With Ganesha habba only few days away, I want to share how to make kayi kadubu recipe. 

Kayi kadubu is traditional sweet made for Ganesha specially during Ganesha habba. Rice flour dumplings filled with coconut-jaggery filling. My favorite sweet! 

It requires certain skill to pat thin shells with your hand and make sure they don’t break while steaming. The ones I made used to break. As usual my mom came to my rescue and gave few tips which saved my kadubus. I’ve shared the details below. Either shape them like kadubu or modak, recipe is the same. You can also make sweet undlakka - more like inside out kayi kadubu… maybe I’ll save the recipe(method) for next year :D

Happy Ganesha Chaturthi everyone!

HuLi Avalakki/ Udupi style Spiced poha

Avalakki is considererd “shreshta”(rough translation: superior) to Lord Krishna. HuLi(literally sour/tangy) avalakki, is a sweet and tangy tasting avalakki - tasting very close to gojjavalakki. 

This is generally made during festival times as an evening snack along with some kadle usli(channa stir fry) and badam milk, for no-rice diets. In Kota community this is popularly made during engagement-ceremonies, or as one of the breakfast items during weddings.  

This is one of my favorite dishes. My mom makes it best, very close to the ones made by Adige battru(cooks in marriages) :)

This is her recipe. 

Do try!

Happy Krishnashtami!! 

Rave guliyappa

Tried this easy, quick breakfast recipe recently - Rave guliyappa. Loved the taste. It tasted somewhat in between rave idli and rave dosa - more like crunchiness of dosa and softness of idlis put together. 

Something different from regular idli dosa. Easy recipe - just mix everything together and pour into guliyappa kallu, roast to crispiness and enjoy with some chutney. 

Do try!

Hara bhara Kabab - Green Cutlets

I tried this recipe from Hebbar’s kitchen, with minor modifications. It was not as Hara(green) as original, but tasty nevertheless. Taste wise, this was very similar to cutlets(no surprises there), but yes, just green vegetables gives its own unique flavor. Green color surely makes it visually unique. Great appetizer for parties and potlucks. Can be prepared beforehand and fried just before serving. 

Do try!

Whole black urad dal vada/ medu vada

The thing about black urad dal is you cannot do anything with it other than dal makhni!! At least I don’t know anything else! And for dal makhni you only use about 1 cup or so…  What to do with the remaining urad dal?!!

All my google search led to only dal makhni or other similar curries. Then an idea hit me and I searched for black urad dal vada, and voila! I found out that you can actually make medu vada using black urad dal. Who knew?! 

Firstly, taste was same to same like white urad dal medu vada.

Secondly, making a hole in the vada was easy-peasy like you wouldn’t believe. The dough was much firmer and held-together than its white counterpart. 

The few differences were in its color and texture - which was slightly different(little rubbery) after cooling down. 

Do try!