Few days back Pai asked me about the famous ‘Kashaya pitto’. Since I was not having the recipe, it took me some time to find it out. As always, I got it from Aayi.
‘Kashaya’ is a beverage which replaces ‘tea’ or ‘coffee’ in many of North kanara homes. People prefer it because this is supposed to have cooling effect on body (do not drink it if you have cold).
Kashaya powder(called ‘kashaya pitto’) is readily available in the shops, so my aayi usually does not prepare it at home. But I found the recipe very very simple, and I wish to make it on my own in future. This can be preserved for months (like sambar powder) in air tight containers. Those who want to cut down on their tea/coffee intake, but wish to drink something healthy, do try this drink.
Kashaya powder(pitto)
Ingredients: Coriander seeds 1 cup Cumin seeds(jeera) 1/2 cup Fennel seeds(Badishep) 1/2 cup Wheat (optional) Method: Roast the ingredients seperately(without adding oil). Grind them to a smooth powder. Preserve in air tight container.
Kashay (the beverage)
Ingredients: Milk 1/2 cup Water 1/2 cup Sugar 1 tea spn Kashaya powder(pitto) 1 tea spn
Method: Boil milk and water in a bowl. Add sugar and kashaya powder when it boils. Remove from flame, and close the lid for 5min. Strain it using tea strainer. Serve hot.
I like more milk in this kashaya. So I used 1:1 ratio of milk and water. This ratio can be varied as per individual taste. Basically you have to follow the same procedure as tea.
Most of the Konkani dishes contain coconut as the main ingredient. But a very few dishes like ‘Tomato saru’,which does not contain coconut, are very famous. I guess these were prepared when the ladies were bored of cooking and still wanted to prepare something delicious. My aayi usually prepared this for dinner.
In North Kanara, people usually cook(except rice, which is prepared fresh for lunch/dinner) in the morning for both lunch & dinner. Sometimes when the main dishes get over in the lunch, simple items like this is prepared for dinner. (Mainly because, people did not have electric mixer or grinders at home. Grinding was done using the hand grinders. So all the cooking was done once in a day. A lot has changed in recent years. All the people have these electric appliances, but since most of the places i am refering to are villages and there is power cut 10 hrs a day, and sometimes more than that, people still follow the old tradition of cooking once in a day).
Ingredients: Tomatos(ripe) 2 Green chillies 2 Sambar powder 1 tea spn Sugar 1/2 tea spn Mustard 1/2 tea spn Cumin seeds(Jeera) 1/2 tea spn Asafoetida(hingu) a pinch Coriander leaves 3-4 strands Oil/ghee 1/2 tea spn Curry leaves 1 Salt
Method: Heat oil and add mustard and jeera. When they start spluttering, add curry leaves, slitted green chillies and asafoetida. Fry for sometime. Add 3 cups of water and tomatoes cut into big cubes. Cover and cook till tomatoes become soft. Add salt, sugar and sambar powder. Cook for 1min. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 10min
