Brinjal Curry - Udupi style

I started liking this vegetable very recently, when we visited croatia a few months before. In hotels, they make so many varieties with this. Since then, I used to try those at my home as well.
This is anot any dish which I had from Croatia. This is an authentic dish from Udupi. It is flavorful, spicy, tangy and sweet and goes well with hot steamed rice.I was grown up with this kind of yummy dishes prepared by my mom and grand ma.
I used to prepare this using brinjals, raddish, beetroot, raw banan etc. The spices are roasted and ground along with freshly grated coconut. The measurement of the spices added in this curry is very important for its unique taste.
I have no words to express my happiness when my pregnant friend who had this was blown away by the taste.
It hardly takes 15 minutes to prepare this dish. So, let's start on this recipe.

Ingredients

• Brinjal - 4 medium sized
• Turmeric powder- a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized
• Jaggery - 1 tblspn

To Grind

• Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
• Red chillies - 4 (or according to spice preference)
• Split black gram dal (Urad dal) - 3/4 tsp
• Bengal gram dal - 3/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds -3/4 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - a few
• Fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 1 tsp

To temper

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 1 or 2, broken
• Curry leaves - 1 spring

Method

• Wash the brinjals well and cut them in to cubes or length wise. All the brinjal pieces should be even in size, to get the even cooking. If not using immediately, keep it soaked in water until use.
• In a vessel, combine brinjal , tamarind, turmeric powder and water up to the level of brinjals. Cook until brinjals are soft
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan and roast coriander seeds, red chillies, urad dal, bengal gram dal, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Roast until the lentils turn slightly brown.
• Once done, turn off the heat and mix coconut. Allow the mixure to cool completely and grind it smoothly.
• Add this prepared paste to cooked brinjals along with some salt and jaggery. 
• Bring this just to one boil and turn off the heat.
• In a seasoning pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add urad dal and fry till golden brown. Then add red chillies and curry leaves. Pour this seasoning in to the curry and mix well.
• Serve hot with hot steamed rice.

Potato basket chaat

These are baskets which are made of grated starch free potatoes and are filled with tawa fried chick peas, onion, tomato, chutneys and well beaten yoghurt. If you are looking for a chaat item for a party, this is one good option. 

Making filling for these baskets are all your choice. You can add paneer / Sprouts / cheese etc, according to your taste. I have seasoned the potatoes with pepper, tandoori masala and cumin powder. But the choice is again up to you. You can season them or just keep it plain.

Always try to use starch free potatoes / old potatoes in order to make it crispy.

You can store this in room temperature for about 1 or 2 days prior or you can store it in an air tight container and freeze it for about a week. 

I will show you the baked version of potato baskets. There is another option also to make these baskets by frying them

Ingredients

For tawa channa

• Channa / Garbanzo beans - 1/2 cup
• Oil- 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Onion - 1/2 no, finely chopped
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato / Tomato puree - 1/4 no / 3 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - to garnish
• Salt - to taste

For Potato Basket

• Potato - 2 cups , Grated
• Salt - 2 tsp
• Water - 2 cups
• Corn flour / All purpose flour - 1 tblspn
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Tandoori masala powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Oil - to sprat on muffin trays

Other Ingredients

• Onions - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Tomatoes - 1/4 cup , finely chopped
• Chaat masala powder - 2 tsp
• Dry mango powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 2 tsp
• Yoghurt - 1/2 cup, well beaten
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Sweet chutney - 1 tblspn
• Chaat green chutney - 1 tblspn
• Coriander leaves - few, finely chopped
• Lemon juice - 1 tblspn

Method

For Tawa Channa

• Soak chick peas over night or for about 6 hours minimum. Pressure cook until soft.
• In a tawa, heat oil and crackle the cumin seeds. Add ginger garlic paste and chopped onions and salt. Fry till onions become transparent and raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone completely.

• Sprinkle some chilli powder , garam masala powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder

• Add tomatoes and cook till mushy.

• Now add the garbanzo beans and cook for a minute. Mix everything well and turn off the heat.

• Garnish with coriander leaves and keep aside.

For Potato Baskets

• Preheat the oven @ 200 deg
• Grate the potatoes and soak them in warm water for about half an hour. Squeeze out the water completely from them. You can use either the fine grater or medium ones. But make sure to squeeze out as much water as possible to get crispy potato cups

 

• Add cornflour, pepper powder, chilli powder, cumin powder and tandoori masala powder. Mix everything really well

 

• Grease your muffin tray with some oil

 

• Place the potato filling in each muffin mold. With the help of your fingers, move them to sides and make the shape of a basket. Spread hem as evenly as possible.

 

• Bake them in the preheated ovenfor about 25 to 30 minutes or until it becomes crispy.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
• With the help of the fork, carefully take out the potato baskets from each muffin molds.

• Let it cool completely before you tranfer them to air tight containers.
• You can freeze it up to a week. When you are ready to make the chaat, preheat your oven @ 200 deg, and bake for about 10 minutes or until it is crispy again.

 How to Proceed?

• In a bowl, whisk the curds well. Add salt, sugar, cumin powder, chat masala powder and dry mango powder. Mix well.
• Take 1 potato basket. Start by filling the tawa fried garbanzo beans. Place 2 or 3 garbazo beans. Then add chopped onions and tomatoes
• Top them with chaat green chutney, sweet chutney, coriander leaves, yoghurt and sev. 
• Finally sprinkle some chaat masala, salt, dry mango powder, cumin powder and chilli powder. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on top

• Repeat the same for all and serve

Inji puli

Inji puli / Puli Inji is a popular dish made in Kerala during any festivals/ occasions as a part of Sadhya(lunch). This is prepared using ginger (inji in malayalam), tamarind, green chillies and jaggery. I am so fond of this, that I used to have as an accompaniment for anything and everything, like dosa, idli, chapathi, rice or just like that. It is more or less like a pickle. Tastes awesomely delicious with hot steamed rice, curd rice or with sambar rice. My ammama always used to say that it is very good for digestion. This is spicy, tangy and sweet and is a perfect treat for spice lovers. It is very easy to prepare with very limited ingredients. It can be refrigerated for about a month. Just give a try and I am sure you will love this preparation.

Ingredients

• Ginger - 1 cup, skin peeled and chopped very finely
• Green chillies - 1/4 cup , chopped very finely
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Tamarind - pulp extracted from 1 lemon sized tamarind
• Jaggery powdered- 2 tblspn
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp (optional)
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Salt - to taste

Method

• Dry roast fenugreek seeds for a minute or two in a medium heat until it just starts to change the color. It will release its aroma. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Powder it very finely.
• In a pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, asafoetida and red chillies, broken in to 2 each. Fry for few seconds
•  Add the finely chopped ginger and green chillies. Some people crush these both using a mortar and then add. But I prefer to have some chunks of ginger and green chillies in this.
• Saute them until both are cooked and browned. 
• Add the tamarind pulp and salt. Bring this to boil until the raw smell of tamarind leaves from it. 
• Reduce the heat to medium and allow it to thicken. This might take 8 to 10 minutes. 
• Once it is thickened, add the powdered jaggery and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Finally, add  the powdered fenugreek seeds (step 1) and give it a good mix. Switch off the heat.
• Serve with hot steamed rice or as an accompaniment with curd rice / sambar rice.

Masala Kozhukattai

 

Kozhukattai is an important food which we offer to lord Ganesha during Ganesh Chathurthi. There are many varieties in this. I will post them soon. Here I am going to show you a slight variation from the regular ones. I prepared regular kozhukattais, roasted the spices separately and then mixed both together

Ingredients

For Kozhukattais

• Raw Rice - 1 cup
• Water - 2 cups -  1 cup to soak , 1 cup to boil
• Salt - as per taste
• Oil- 1 tsp
• Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

To Roast and Grind

• Urad dal - 1 tblspn
• Channa Dal - 1 tblspn
• Pepper - 2 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 3 tsp
• Red Chillies - 4 (according to your spice preference)
• Grated coconut - 2 tblspn
• Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
• Oil - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients

•  Oil - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Jaggery - 1 tblspn

Method

• Wash the rice well and soak them in 1 cup of water for at least 4 hours. Grind the rice along with the soaked water, in to a very smooth paste.

 

• In a pan  (I used non-stick to ease my job) , bring 1 cup of water to boil. Add salt and oil to the water.

 

• When it starts to bubble, add the ground rice

• Keep the flame in low and keep stirring it continuously breaking the lumps.

 

• It will start getting thicker. When it is in semi solid consistency(refer pic), add the grated coconut and mix well.

 

• It will become like a dough in some time. Switch off the heat, cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes.

 

• After 15 minutes, grease your hands with oil and knead the dough well for 1 minute. Divide the dough into small portions and make round balls out of it. (You can make any shape as per your wish. Round, oval, flat, etc).

 

• Grease your idli plates, arrange these rice flour balls in that and let it steam in a medium heat for about 10 - 12 minutes.

 

• Once done, transfer it to another plate and keep them aside.

  

For the Spice Powder

•  Heat oil in a pan and roast everything which is under "To Roast and Grind" heading in the ingredients list, except coconut

• Once the all the lentils become golden in colour and you get nice aroma, swich off the heat and add coconut.

 

• Add it to the blender and make a coarse powder, without adding any water.

 

• Keep it ready

How to Proceed?

• Heat oil in a pan. Crackle mustard seeds and urad dal. Add curry leaves.

• Add the Kozhukattais and keep stirring for a minute

• Add the spice powder, powdered jaggery and give it a quick toss. Switch off the heat.

 

• Serve