Ashgourd Dosa

Ok, now you have saved that ash gourd pulp after making majjige huLi, right? Well, soak some rice and dal for a soft, and fluffy dosa! Don't waste any edible part of any veggies, is my policy! Especially if it can be converted into a new variety of dosa! Though i'm not a big fan of this actually nice and healthy veggie, i never say no to it in dosa form!
Go ahead and make these and you'll surely love it!

Ash gourd Dosa

Preparation time : 30 min, excluding time for soaking Cooking time : 2 min per dosa Serves : 4 Ingredients: Dosa Rice - 2 cups Ash gourd (inner part) - 2 cups (chopped into chunks, deseeded) Beaten Rice / Avalakki - ½ cup Urad dal - 1 Tbsp Salt - ¾ th tsp or according to taste Cooking oil - to make dosas Method: Batter: • Soak the rice & dal in enough amount of water for 4-6 hours, and soak avalakki for about 15 minutes • Chop and deseed the ash gourd • Grind the rice-dal mixture along with avalakki and the ash gourd in a mixie or grinder and prepare a smooth batter. Batter should be like a thick milkshake. • Let the batter ferment overnight or for about 8-10hours. Batter would slightly rise by then. Dosa: • Add salt to the batter & mix well. • Heat the griddle • When the griddle is hot, smear a few drops of oil • Pour 1 to 1 ½ Tbsp of batter on the griddle. Do not try to spread it thin like for normal dos. Just allow it to spread itself or slightly spread it, making a thick pan cake like dosa • Cook on medium heat, covering. • Turn over the dosa and cook on the other side too, till it becomes light golden brown • Serve hot with coconut chutney. Tips n Tricks: • Do not cook the dosa on high flame. They’ll not be done in the middle but get brown on the outer layer, since these are thick

Sending this to Akila's event: Dish name starts with A.

Ashgourd in yoghurt sauce (Majjige HuLi)

What do you do if you have excess of curds or buttermilk? And some juicy vegetable like ash gourd or cucumber or bottle gourd? In our house it is Majjige HuLi, a special side dish for rice having veggies in a spicy yoghurt sauce. And this is generally accompanied by baLaka/majjige menasinakai (salted, fried green chilies) and sandige (fritters).It makes a nice change from the usual rasam and sambhar and in a very healthy way.

This time it is Majjige HuLi with ash gourd. Peel off the gourd and chop the outer part of the gourd for this. And what do you do with the inner pulp? Well, deseed it and save it in the refrigerator for another exciting recipe coming soon!
Here’s the recipe...

Ash gourd Majjige HuLi

Preparation time : 15 min, excluding time for soaking Cooking time : 15 min Serves : 4-5 Ingredients: Ash gourd - 2 cups (chopped into chunks, outer part) Chana dal - 1 Tbsp, soaked for at least ½ an hr Cumin seeds - 2 tsp Ginger - 1” cube Green chilies - 5-6, depending on taste Coconut - 3 Tbsp, grated Coriander leaves - 2 sprigs Curds - 1 cup Buttermilk - ½ cup Turmeric - 2 pinches Salt - 1 tsp or according to taste For tempering: Oil - 1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Method: • Soak the dal in enough amount of water • Cook the chopped ash gourd in enough water till tender. Do not over cook • Meanwhile, grind the soaked dal, cumin, coriander, ginger, green chilies, turmeric and coconut to a fine paste, adding a little water • Once the vegetable is cooked, add the ground paste and salt and bring to a boil • Add curds and adjust the consistency with buttermilk and continue to boil for a couple of minutes. • Make tempering with cumin seeds, add and serve with rice. Tastes good even when cold Tips n Tricks: • Do not overcook the ash gourd • Let the sauce not be too thick. Adjust the consistency with more or less buttermilk Variations: • Veggies like ash gourd, cucumber, winter melon, bottle gourd make this dish good • The same can be prepared with greens too

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Hurali Saru, Usli (Horsegram Rasam and Palya)

When it is raining and cold outside, and you’re craving for some simple food here’s the best thing that can pep you up! A simple rasam made out of horse gram stock and an accompaniment of usli/palya (a stir fry of cooked horse gram). This tastes good when hot and tastes better even when cold. An ideal combination to beat the cold!

HuraLi Saru

Preparation time : 10 min Cooking time : 20 min Serves : 4 Ingredients: Horse gram / HuraLi - 1 cup Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp Dry red chilies - 8-10 (byadagi or guntur variety based on your taste buds) Cumin seeds - 2 tsp Fenugreek /Methi seeds - ¾ tsp Cinnamon - one small stick Maratha Moggu - 2 Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated Onion - 1 small, chopped into chunks Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste Jaggery - 1 inch cube Tamarind pulp - 2 tsp Coriander - A few sprigs For tadka / Oggarane Cooking oil - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Asafetida - a small pinch Method: • Cook horse gram in pressure cooker with sufficient water till tender and cool it • Meanwhile in a skillet, roast the spices - coriander seeds to curry leaves till aromatic • Allow to cool slightly and grind to a smooth paste along with onion and coconut. Add water to facilitate the mixie/blender • Drain the cooked horse gram and separate the liquid. Keep the gram aside for usli • To the liquid, add tamarind pulp, jaggery, salt, ground paste, coriander and bring to boil. • Adjust consistency by adding water if required. Let it boil for at least 10 minutes. For tadka / Oggarane • Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter • Add asafetida • Garnish the rasam with tadka and a few coriander leaves • Serve hot, with piping hot rice and ghee. • It tastes great when cold too Tips n Tricks: • Check the horsegram at least twice for little stones. Generally, even the cleaned variety will contain a few stones.

Usli

Ingredients: Cooked Horse gram / HuraLi - 1 cup Coconut - 1 Tbsp, grated Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste Coriander - A few sprigs For tadka / Oggarane Cooking oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp Black gram dal - 1 tsp Green chilies - 4-5 (based on your taste buds) Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Method: • Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter • Add the dals and stir till golden brown • Add slit green chilies, curry leaves and sauté • Mix in the cooked horsegram, add salt, grated coconut and stir well • Garnish with a few coriander leaves chopped • Serve with rice and huraLi saru.

Avarekalu Akki Rotti

Indian beans, or avarekaLu is one of the specialties of South India, especially Karnataka. There are a wide variety of dishes prepared from this bean. The taste, flavor and texture of these beans are just awesome. Almost every other famous regional cuisine here, can be modified to include these beans, which then give an entirely special variety.
Along with making unique dishes with it, you can add these beans to Rasam, Sambhar, Upma, Bisi Bele Bhaath, make pulav out of it, add to lemon rice, so on and so forth. And the most special one is akki rotti with avarekaLu, which is considered as a real specialty. The taste and flavor it adds to the already mouth watering akki rotti is simply unique. Especially when made directly on a skillet, and served hot with a coconut chutney!
Check out the recipe....

Avarekalu Akki Rotti

Preparation time : 15 min Cooking time : ~3 min per rotti Serves : 4 Ingredients: Rice flour - 2 cups Avarekalu/Indian beans - 1 ½ cups Coconut - ½ cup, grated Cumin seeds - 1 tsp, optional Cooking oil - 2-3 Tbsp Ginger - 1 tsp, grated Curry leaves - 2 Tbsp, finely chopped Green chilies - 2-3, optional Coriander - 2 Tbsp, finely chopped Salt - ½ tsp or as per taste Method: • Cook Avarekalu/Indian beans in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water and ½ tsp of salt for 3 whistles, or till cooked soft • Once cool enough to handle, add rice flour, grated coconut, cumin seeds, chopped coriander and curry leaves, green chilies, grated ginger, more salt if required and mix • Add more water if necessary. Do not make the dough too watery, neither too tight. • The consistency should be soft enough to pat it with fingers easily, without sticking • Take a skillet, preferably non stick, or otherwise a well seasoned one, and smear a teaspoon of oil on the inside, till about ¾ths from the centre • Take a ball of the dough (for a medium sized kadai take a small orange sized ball) and place on the centre • Pat it with your fingers, and spread it evenly till the ¾ths, where oil was already smeared • Make sure that the rotti thus patted is evenly spread. Since it contains beans, it cannot be patted too thin, do don’t worry about that • Smear another teaspoon of oil over it • Place the kadai on medium high flame and cover with a lid/plate • After half a minute, remove the plate and let it crisp for another half a minute as per your choice • Once done, the rotti comes out of the skillet very easily with hardly any effort to remove it manually • Cool the skillet and repeat the same for the other rotties (See tips below) • Serve hot with a coconut chutney Tips n Tricks: • Use at least two skillets if you have to make this for 2 to 4 people. Use one, by the time it is cooking pat on the other. When the second one is cooking, cool the first one and reuse. This way, time can be managed well • To cool the skillet keep it under running cold water, inverted. Do not wet the inside, only outside should get wet and cool • Any sized kadai can be used. The small, iron skillet used for making tempering is the best. Vary the size of the dough taken and the cooking time based on the size • Use tender, fresh Indian beans for the best taste Variations: If you are pressed for time and cannot afford to cool the pans and pat each rotti, then, here’s an alternative: • Use a thick polythene sheet and cut it into a circle of desired size (size that fits on you tawa), or use a plantain leaf • Smear the sheet with oil and pat the dough on it. • Heat the tawa and invert the sheet over and after a few seconds remove and let cook on the tawa on both sides. Meanwhile pat another one and keep ready before removing the first one • This is easier in preparation, saves time and also consumes less resource like heat and water. However, you’ll be compromising a great deal on the taste. I do not say it tastes bad, but the one made on skillet cannot be compared for sure.

Sending this to Akila's event: Dish name starts with A.