Horse Gram Curry and Rasam (Kultha saar upkari)

Konkani cuisine uses lot of Horse Gram (called as Kulith) in its cooking; there is the ghashi, koddel, chutney, dosa and this saar/upkari. This is a simple dry curry and rasam, delicious and nutritious as well. Horse gram is first soaked, cooked and then finally seasoned. The cooked water is used to make the rasam by flavoring with seasoning of garlic. Since the cooked water is used, there is no wastage or loss of nutrients of any sort.     Horse gram is an excellent source of iron and molybdenum.  It is considered helpful for people with iron deficiencies, weight loss…

Cabbage Chutney

Wishing dear Readers a Happy Makar Sankranthi/ Pongal. Intrigued by the title? I know I was when I first heard this concept of cabbage chutney.  As I have said earlier for me chutney is something that is made of coconut, chilies, spices, herbs and souring agent like tamarind etc.  And vegetables like cabbage are used for making sabjis/palya like this. So this chutney with only cabbage and raw mango came as a surprise. In this chutney there is no trace of coconut but then it has taste and texture of chutney. I learnt this recipe from my colleague Sudha, after…

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a staple in America and represent half of the cookies baked in each year. They sure are a delight for young and old alike with their soft cores, crispy edges and rich chocolate taste.  The Holiday week last month gave me opportunity to do some baking experiments. I had a packet of Ener-G egg replacer that needed to be used and among many others I tried these Chocolate Chip Cookies.  These are kiddo’s favorite cookie and as far as I know this is the only cookie he likes (What does a mom know, anyway). He was…

Kid’s Snack: Chana Aloo Tikki

This recipe draws inspiration from the beloved Aloo Tikki, a crispy and flavorful potato-based snack. Tikki, which means “patties” in Hindi, is a versatile dish often enjoyed with chutney or as a filling in chaat recipes. The other day, I had some leftover cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas) and decided to experiment. Combining the idea of Falafel with traditional Tikki, I mixed the mashed chickpeas into the regular Tikki dough to create these protein-packed Chana Aloo Tikki. While the addition of chickpeas doesn’t change the taste drastically, it boosts the nutritional value with plenty of protein and fiber. The kiddo has…

Spicy Pepper Jeera Rasam

  Winter is upon us and along with it comes the essential cold, cough sneezing sniffling etc. So at home, I try avoiding medicines as far as possible and look for some easy home made remedies. So far we have had good success with black pepper (Kali Mirchi in Hindi) and so I use it in different ways and among them one is this Pepper Jeera Rasam. As I understand this is referred to as Milagu Rasam in TamilNadu. Milagu means pepper in Tamil. This Black Pepper Jeera rasam is a medicated rasam and because of black pepper in it…

Coconut Burfi/ Nariyal Burfee

Wish you all a Happy New Year. Hope the Year brings you joy, health and of course good food. (But not the extra weight!)  Hope you are all having a great time with family and friends, celebrating in style. We have a simple family tradition that we follow every year on New Year’s Eve. We stock up on varieties of cakes earlier in the day from our favorite bakery. Then at the stroke of midnight we snack on them while watching some countdown TV program. Intentionally or not we like to keep it simple and have been following this for…

Lauki ki Sabji

  Lauki does not get cooked often in our house. This vegetable along with zucchini has been deemed as having sweet taste when cooked by DH and so they get ignored. Hence they do not find a good place in our kitchen. However recently one of my colleague had brought this curry for lunch and I took a liking to it. I noted down the recipe and made it when DH was away for the day.  It is a simple curry that gets done in no time and forms a good accompaniment with either rice or rotis. Lauki (Hindi) is…