Okra(English), Bhende(Konkani) is one of the most loved vegetables for Konkanis. The okra we get here is pale green in color and quite big in size. When my father in law was alive, we used to grow lot of vegetables in our garden and okra was one of them. There is nothing like cooking with very fresh ones. Now we have more coconut/mango/banana plants in the garden taking up the space....

Years ago, I discovered an Omlet pulao recipe and have since experimented with various modifications. Now, I’ve perfected a version that my family loves, which I’d like to share for future use. I usually make this on busy weekdays for a delicious dinner. Serve with a raita and a simple salad for a complete meal. Omelette Pulao Recipe: Ingredients: 1 cup basmati rice 1 can thick coconut milk 2 cardamom pods 2 cloves 1 tsp chili powder 1 tea spn garam masala 1 tea spn fresh garlic-ginger paste 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped tomato Oil Coriander leaves for garnishing For Omlet: 2 eggs 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 2 tbl spn onion Oil Coriander leaves Salt Method:...

Few days back, one of my reader had requested for this recipe. So far I have tried making many types of prawn/fish pulavs. But I always loved this delicious prawn pulav from my Aayi. It is very simple to make, yet amazingly tasty. When we were kids, my brother and I always loved this. As we grew up, somehow this pulav was forgotten, though we still can feel the taste of green pulav , peas pulav ....

Pulav is a complete one pot dish loved by rice lovers. It is an elegant complete meal in itself and very nutritious because of all the vegetables in it. Pulav was not a common dish at our place 20 years ago. People here prefer rice and gravies to these dishes. I started making different types of pulavs at my home because my husband and kids loved these. There are still many houses where pulavs are never prepared, though they are becoming part of functions these days....

Sukke(Konkani) translates to dry. Sukke is a type of dry sidedish with coconut. Some times, it has a coconut paste and sometimes it has grated coconut. Maskasangi – drumstick sukke is a very simple and delicious dish. V’s grandmother shared this with me during my last India visit. I tried it with frozen drumsticks and it turned out delicious. Rice, a simple dal and this sidedish, you can literally get a delicious dinner on the table in no time....

It has been a challenge for me to make my husband eat Pongal . He never touched it whenever I tried it in Bangalore. I had never made it at home. The success rate with my friend Poornima’s recipes is almost 100% at my home. So I asked for her Pongal recipe and tried it. As always, this was a huge success. My husband and I loved it so much that, we had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a weekend....

Mooga – Moong , moLe – sprout, randayi – a watery sidedish with coconut, is a name very well known to Konkanis. I had posted the recipe of mooga moLe randayi few days back – this is the dish made in most of the houses during festivals, like Ganesh Chaturthi . But today’s post is about a special Mooga moLe randayi made at the Shri Lakshmi Narayana Mahamaya Temple, Ankola ....

From the day I heard about “ JFI for Strawberry “, I am thinking about it. It was so difficult for me to participate in this event, mainly because strawberry is not very famous in Karnataka. We can find it in one or two shops in Bangalore and we never bought them there. After coming to US, I bought strawberries every time I saw them in any shop. They are so beautiful, I feel they are the most beautiful fruits in the world....

Some 1 month ago, Purnima and I were discussing something. Few of you might know what happens when two extremely talkative people start talking(or chatting). We go on and on and on for a long time till her two kids take control over her keyboard and start typing in some alien language like – sdafgqdsmcbjkrtg. On one such day, she sent me a link to a nice pie, banana toffee pie and asked me to check it out....

Batata vada is one of the most popular snacks. My aayi prepares it with a little difference. But I learnt this version of batata vada from my friend Poornima. When I went to her house last time, she had prepared this and I just loved it. Last week one of our friend had visited us. He told us that he is going to some place for eating batata vada in the evening....

This is one simple to do dish. This is one of those dishes, which can be prepared by people who are learning cooking. Upkari in Konkani means some side dish, it contains some kind of vegetable cooked in water and garnished with mustard, asafoetida, curry leaves seasoning(tadka) and coconut. Ingredients: Cabbage (shredded) 2 cups Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Curry leaves 5-6 Oil 1 tea spn Asafoetida(hingu) a pinch Coconut (grated) 1 tbl spn Chana dal(optional) ½ tea spn Green chillies 4-5 Turmeric powder a pinch Salt...

This has a very strong smell of cardamom. This is a dry dish. I have done some modifications to the original recipe. It came out very delicious. Ingredients: Boneless chicken ½ kg Cumin seeds 1 tea spn Tomato 1 Onions (Sliced and fried golden crisp) 1 big Curds 1 cup Ghee/Oil 1 tbl spn Ginger 2” piece Garlic 4-5 cloves Coriander powder 1/2 tea spn Cumin powder ½ tea spn Chilli powder ½ tea spn Cardamoms 3 Salt...

Aruna sent me this recipe few days back. She said, “I don’t know what the below recipe is called, but it is a snack which is liked by all at my place. I made this today after about 2 months. In Mumbai it is very famous and is always made out of green chana . It is available on all road side stalls till midnight. I haven’t seen it in any other places or restaurants....

I am a huge biryani fan. So if anyone even mentions biryani in front of me, I start getting cravings. Last week, we were invited to one of our friend’s home for dinner. She had made a very nice biryani. The next day again I wanted to eat it. So I was pretty much thinking about it whole week. Then my brother mentioned he had been to a biryani festival....

Aayi makes these dosas whenever we get watermelon. Many people throw out the white part between green skin and the red sweet part. We normally use this white part (or the red part of not-so-sweet watermelons) to make this dosa. Cucumber can also be used instead of watermelons. Ingredients: 2 cups dosa rice(or any normal white rice) 1 and 1/2 cup water melon or cucumber( taushe or magge ) pieces 1 cup fresh/frozen coconut grated Oil/ ghee Salt...

It has been a very long time we ate any fish. So last weekend, I bought a beautiful salmon piece. I normally stay away from this fish due to its strong smell. If at all I buy it, my favorite dish to make is Sig’s Roasted Salmon Steaks with on a bed of potatoes, leeks and fennel . I have tried this so many times now and this alone makes a filling meal....

From last few days, I am reading about this event in different blogs. But never actually thought what I would write if someone tags me. This ‘event’ (or rather a meme) was started by The Traveler’s lunchbox and I am tagged by Meeta . If I have to pick up some dishes which I want to eat before I die, they would be anything from this list . But then, I eat them frequently and It’s kinda become normal....

I am not sure why I haven’t posted this dish so far. This is one of the most loved dishes at my home. I don’t know if anyone is aware of the ‘lemon saru – varn ‘ combination. Aayi always prepares either this saru or kokum kadi when she makes varn . Varn is quite bland in taste, so this saru gives the sweet and sour taste to it. Some of our guests did not understand this combination when she served rice, poured some varn on top and then saru on top....

This is called Punjabi batata . I donno for what reason it is called so. I have no idea if it is a Punjabi dish or not. Ingredients: Onion 2 Potatoes 2 Capsicum 2 Chilli powder 1 tea spn Turmeric powder a pinch Coriander powder 1 tea spn Cumin(jeera) powder 1 tea spn Cloves (lavang) 2-3 Cinnamon(dalchini) 1 inch piece Salt Method: Cut all vegetables into square pieces. Heat oil....

First time I ate this when I was in Sydney. We were invited to Ganesh Chaturthi by one of our friend. All of us took some or the other dish. One lady, I forgot her name, had brought this. I asked her the recipe, as I always do. But had forgotten the masala she had put. So I used to make it with any masala I had at home. Recently I saw this recipe again on TV....