Kadamb – Cucumber Idli
“Kadamb” is another dish that always I wanted to include in Aayisrecipes. But like hittu/khotte , for this, the ‘turmeric leaves’ were not available here. So I always prepared either tausalli or made these in banana leaves like this . So this was one of the dishes in “most-wanted-pictures” list. Like hittu/khotte, these pictures are also taken by my brother at my native.
“Kadamb” is a kind of idli prepared in turmeric leaves and steamed. Some people make it sweet, some bland and few people like it with a mustard-chili seasoning. At my home, I like them bland and my brother with seasoning. So Aayi always kept 3-4 for me separately and adds seasoning to others. With or without seasoning, this dish tastes amazing. The turmeric leaves give a very different and amazing aroma to this dish. Turmeric is grown almost by everyone at my native for both the leaves and the root.
Ingredient: Cucumber(grated) 2 cups Rice 1 cup or rice rava(idli rava) 1 cup Coconut(fresh or frozen) 1/2 cup Sugar/jaggery 1/2 tea spn Salt For lining up vessel Turmeric leaves 5-6 For seasoning(optional) Oil 1/2 tea spn Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Red chilies 2-3
Method: Soak rice in water fr around 2hrs. Drain the water and spread it on a dry cloth or paper. When it becomes dry, grind it into coarse rava (alternatively, use the idli rava directly). Mix rava with all other ingredients.
Heat oil and add mustard. When they start popping, add red chilies cut into small pieces. Add this to the above mixture and mix well (the seasoning is optional).
Arrange two turmeric leaves in following manner.
Keep a handful of mixture in the center.
Fold the leaves very tightly.
Line these in a cooker vessel with the folded leaves downwards.
Steam for around 10mins.
While serving, discard the leaves. Serve with asafoetida chutney .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 45mins (excluding the grating of cucumber)
“ KhoLu ” is the red liquid part of pickles (generally mango pickle). But here, I think KhoLu means pickle. So this can be called as Shrimp pickle. ‘Kokum’ is called as ‘Sola ‘. The most popular shrimp pickle among Konkanis is here . But “Kokum Shrimp” is my Aayi’s own recipe adapted from kokum bangada .
This is one of the simplest and tastiest shrimp recipes. This literally gets ready in 10mins. As I am a big fan of shrimp, I keep making this dish very frequently. I found a pack of kokum in Indian store here. So I prepare this when I want to have something tasty but don’t want to spend too much time in kitchen.
Ingredients: 15-20 shrimps 1 tea spn finely chopped garlic 3/4 tea spn coriander powder A pinch turmeric 3/4 tea spn chili powder 2-3 kokum pieces Oil Salt
Method: Add chopped garlic, coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric and salt to the cleaned shrimp. Heat oil and fry shrimp for few mins. Add 1/4 cup water in the vessel used for mixing spices. Then pour it over shrimp.(optional, if using frozen shrimp, it usually has lot of water in it). Now add kokum pieces. Cook till the shrimps are completely done. Serve hot.
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 10min
PS: If you don’t find Kokum, replace it with tamarind extract. Following is a picture of kokum.
