Simple Biriyani

For me planning a menu is more difficult than executing it. I’m sure this is true for many. Initially, when I was new to this “inviting guests over for dinner” thing, I would try to make everything special, right from appetizers, chapathis, curries to rice baths, sweets, and then rasam rice and what not. I would make so much and so many of them(fearing that it might not be enough) that hubby and I always ended up eating leftovers for days on end!

Now I’m experienced :) I tend to make just enough dishes in just enough quantities. Also, I try to keep it simple so that the guests are not overwhelmed and then eat only little bit of every dish in an attempt to taste everything. Nowadays, if I have an appetizer, I keep a simple main course. If I have an elaborate menu, I skip appetizer. I’ve also noticed over the years that, whenever I prepare two main courses(rice bath and chapathi), only one tends to get over, and again we get stuck with the left overs!.. So, in the process of cutting down on the leftovers and trying to keep the menu simple, I started making chapathi, two curies and then a simple rice bath which would go with the already prepared curry. This ‘Simple Biriyani’ fits perfectly in this scheme. 

Every time I prepare it, I marvel at its simplicity, and am amazed by its divine taste. I think I’ve fed it to almost every other guest who has come to our house!

This bath tastes exotic. Aromatic basmathi rice, cooked with Indian spices fills the air in the kitchen with a nice fragrance... and did I already mention that it's super duper easy to make! and it can hardly go wrong, even in my hands :) 

win-win-win-win situation :) 

Oh! I almost forgot, it doesn’t use any garlic or onion btw. 

Kadlekayi Unde - a failed attempt/ Godambi Unde - a success! (Peanut and Cashew Laddoos for Ganesha Chaturthi)

Whenever I’ve tried any new dish, it has failed.... almost every time! simplest of simplest dish has failed in my hands.. somehow I thought this time would be different. Also since I was making this for Ganesha habba, I thought God will shower his grace upon me and miraculously make it a success. Actually this is not the first time I’m trying a new dish for Ganesha habba. In the past, I have had tried couple of other sweets for Ganesha habba for the first time and they’d come out pretty well. I was optimistic... but alas! God had other plans!! 

I do wonder sometimes if God is doing this on purpose? To think about it, the general trend in my dishes is ‘success after failures’. So generally, before I get anything right, I’ve tried it so many times that I know what not to do, what I need to be careful about, etc...  And surprisingly, my failures are bringing traffic to my blog!! Like if someone is googling for ‘why such and such dish failed?’, they land directly in my blog!  :) May be I’m here to give solace to those, who are as troubled as me in this area! 

So Lord Ganesha, I will not question your infinite wisdom... I had planned to put up this recipe for Ganesha habba, so I will still do it! 

Ganesha habba season also marks the anniversary of my blog!!! yay!! 1 year of blogging this time :) !!

Coming to the part why it might’ve failed - I think I overdid the 'bellada paaka'(jaggery caramelization) part,  put too much peanuts to jaggery ratio, and also didn't crush the peanuts enough. 

My second attempt to make bellada paaka for goadambi unde(cashew laddoos) was successful. But I’m not sure why it came out right. So, hopefully I’ll put a detailed post on that sometime soon with all the warnings and tips (when I discover it) :)

The procedure for making peanut and cashew unde is exactly the same. Just replace peanuts with cashews, that’s all.

Successful cashew undes

Here is the recipe - 

Badnekayi bolu huli - (Brinjal/Eggplant sambar-powder less sambar)

Udupi cuisine extensively uses coconut in almost every other dish. In fact, some sambars hardly use any toor dal, but are made with just ground coconut and sambar masala. A 'boLu huLi' neither requires coconut, nor requires sambar powder. The use of tamarind differentiates this huli from a regular tovve(dal).

Green chili, gives this huli a distinctive taste. Of course, you need to add a lot of them to  compensate for the lack of sambar masala. 

Sabbakki uppittu / Sabudana upma/ Sago Kichadi

Whenever I find something new and interesting to make, I end up googling for the same recipe and check for the consistency in the recipe among different bloggers... what were their experiences, their tips and tricks, and then make my own “kichadi” of those recipes picking bits and pieces I think might work for me(read - easy for me :) ). But then I don’t write it down immediately, I forget, and then beat myself up for not taking notes in time. This sabbakki kichadi recipe is thankfully consistent through many blogs. So I don’t have to worry about which one I followed or what changes I made.

Sabbakki has got to be one of the cutest foods out there... those pearly texture makes it irresistible, at least visually :)

My daughter was so drawn to it that she kept on pestering me to give it to taste even before it was cooked.. "those ball things” as she calls them. 

Apart from soaking time, everything else could be made in a jiffy. So, if you soak sabbakki overnight, then this kichadi is great for quick morning breakfasts. My little one didn’t like the taste of it though, because she thought it was chewy!! God! so many preferences!! 

Turnip Curry

I always cribbed about my inability to make North Indian curries just like North Indians do. Whenever I made any North Indian dish, it tasted more like a mix of North and South Indian cuisine. But that changed with this curry :)

I have to confess, I’d never seen turnip before in my life. My cousin introduced me to this vegetable. She had made palya with it. I was googling for newer ways of using it, when I found this one interesting recipe.

For some reason, instead of using methi seeds, I used saunf in the curry. And there it was, a pukka(this word is actually in English dictionary!) North Indian curry.. I had achieved it! The secret unraveled itself in front of me.... 

“We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents” - Bob Ross :)

Mango Ice Cream

One thing that I miss about Indian Summers is “The King of fruits”, Mangoes!!! The smell, the taste, the color, the texture - is there anything wrong about this fruit?

I badly miss mangoes here! The fruit that is available here in Indian stores is just not the same. May be I’m not going to the right stores, I don’t know... 

There are mango trees everywhere in my native place. Eating them was the highlight of our summer vacations. During summer, anything and everything is made from mangoes over there. Mango payasa(kheer), mango panaka(juice), mango in sambar, mango payasa with dosa, mango chutney... the list just goes on.

Somewhere in my childhood, my mom learnt to make mango ice cream, and ever since it has been a regular in my house every summer! My brother and I would finish the whole batch in just one go. 

I had a big can of mango pulp in my pantry for a while. I had brought it to recreate my mom’s mango Ice cream, but somehow never got to it. Now since Father’s day was  coming up, I thought why not make my little one help me make this. She was instantly ready to help(no surprises there!).

Little Miss Grown-up didn’t want me to help her with anything! All the while my heart was in my mouth watching her handle all delicate glasswares! Nevertheless, it was fun having her in the kitchen.  Moreover, she did handle everything carefully and properly.

This ice cream is not as creamy as the store bought ones. The texture is little granular. You need to put it in the mixer many number of times to get a creamy texture. I did it only couple of times and was okay with the texture. My friend suggested to add heavy cream. I need to try it sometime. 

Ade Dose/Adai

Ade Dose is a highly nutritious, protein rich dose. It has four kinds of dals in it. It is also a very good way of giving protein to your child. A great dish for their lunch box too.

This dose/dosa is very familiar in Bangalore, but unheard of in Kota region. So even though I grew up in Bangalore, I never heard about this dose until I came to US.

My cousin Chethana and a friend of mine had given this recipe to me long back. But somehow when I tried it, I found the taste of dals very overpowering and never really bothered to try it again. After I had my daughter, I was on a lookout for new ways of feeding her dal. I tried this dosa again, but she didn’t like it much either. So, I had basically given up on this dosa until my friend Prathibha served this to me at her house. The taste of it simply blew me away!! It was mind blowing-ly delicious! More importantly, my daughter liked it and asked for more! I asked Prathibha for the proportions, and to my surprise it was the same I had tried before. Then she gave me a secret - that the batter should be very coarse! 

I took her advice and voila! I too started making yummy dosa!! Coarse batter makes the dosa very crunchy. Crunchiness subdues the taste of the dal. 

You can add spices to this batter and eat it without any accompaniments. But it is not necessary. You can skip spices and eat it with chutney or chutney powder. My daughter likes to eat it with sugar. 
For her lunch box, I spread some ghee and then sprinkle some sugar and then roll it like a burritto. 

This is a great, healthy, nutritional lunch box recipe.