Akki Rotti / Thalipeeth and Coconut Chutney

      Akki Rotti means rice flour pancake in Kannada and is a rice-based specialty breakfast item from the sate of Karnataka. This is also very similar to “Thalipeeth” made in Maharashtra. This is served along with chutney and a dollop of ghee or butter on the side. As with every other recipe there are so many different ways of doing this “Rotti”, some add shredded carrots, papdi liva (avarekai), dill etc to the dough. I pretty much follow my mother’s recipe here using the basic ingredients like onion, coriander, cumin seeds. She adds some oil/butter and cream to the…

Gulya Ambat (Steamed Besan Koftas in Coconut Curry)

  When Shri Subodh Mathur of DadiNani Foundation requested me to write a recipe for DadiNani cooking I agreed without hesitation. Call it a strange co-incidence, but that request came just a day before my maternal grandmother’s 4th year death anniversary. So I thought that this was a wonderful way to cherish her memory by sharing some of her recipes.    “Aaji” as we called her was an expert cook and her cooking skill was well known and appreciated among our families, friends and the neighborhood she grew up in.  She spared no expense in showering us grand kids with…

Pumpkin Coconut Curry (Dudhi Ghashi)

 Last week, we had a visit to the local Pumpkin Patch. Dear Son’s school had a trip there and we had a fun time with the other kids and the parents. The weather was good and the kids had a great time playing, exploring, and running around while the adults had a good change from the usual grind. While returning back we got to carry some pumpkins back home.      I am a huge fan of pumpkins and could not wait to try out different things with that. I am not good at carving or baking so the next best thing…