We had some problem with our computer for last few days. Finally it was fixed yesterday. Here, due to electricity fluctuations and other problems, all the electronic appliances go bad every so often. It takes too long to get them fixed as we have to take help from someone from nearby Taluka place Kumta . Also, since ours is the only home with a broadband connection here, whenever something goes wrong in the telephone exchange, it takes a very long time to get it fixed.
It was some 8 years back, my son had moved to Bangalore for his job. Whenever he visited us, he would bring some baked goodies from the famous bakeries there. One such thing he always got for us was ragi biscuits. (By the way, do not confuse these with American biscuits, in Indian English, biscuit means cookies). Then I saw a recipe for these biscuits in one Kannada magazine, we followed it and the result was a disaster. So this time, we made them like nankatayi .
The most important thing to remember here is, roast the flour before making the dough. If this step is skipped, they get a muddy taste. We love these, do give them a try.
Ingredients: 2 cups ragi flour 1 cup powdered sugar 1 cup butter 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder 1 tea spn baking powder
Method: Roast ragi flour in a big pan, on a medium heat, for about 5-10mins (do not burn it). Take off the heat. Now add sugar, melted butter, baking powder, cardamom powder to it and mix well. Preheat the oven at 300F for 10mins. Make small balls of the dough and keep it on a greased or (lined with parchment paper) baking tray. Leave enough space between two biscuits as they double in size after baking.
Bake in oven at 300F for about 20mins. Take off the oven. Cool to room temperature and store in air tight container.
Makes about 2 dozen biscuits Preparation time : 20mins + baking time
I was waiting to post this recipe here for last couple of days. Today while typing it, I wasn’t sure if I had to translate the name of the dish to English. Many times when I translate it, I feel I am beating the name to death, it just takes away the unique mouth watering feeling that we get when hearing the name of dish that we grew up eating. So I am leaving it alone for now.
For those who do not know about it – Chivda is usually a spicy mixture, made of beaten rice( poha ) or puffed rice( murmura/chirmure ), having lots of peanuts, dalia etc. It is a dry mixture, so usually people make it in large quantities and store for later use. Chivda at my home always meant either this Konkani version or poha upkari . But I had tasted this another version which had less spices which my friends used to carry when we were in hostel.
Couple of months ago, our dear friend Sunil got married and now I have a very dear friend here. His wife P and I are parteners in crime now :). There are times when we go on and on and on talking for a long time. We get together quite often either at their home or our home. Though she claims she does not know much cooking, she dishes out these mouth watering items very often. A couple of days ago she sent me this chivda . I simply loved it. I have tasted it innumerable times before during my hostel days and had never liked it, because the poha always was too chewy or the spice was not right or salt was not distributed properly. But P’s version was perfectly done. It was very crispy and what I liked most about it was, she had used a combination of poha and chirmure .
Then I asked her for the recipe and I have made it atleast 3-4 times in last 2 weeks now. I can say I am addicted to it because first of all, this is very simple to make and hardly takes any time (I take enough shortcuts while making this) and it is quite filling.
Ingredients: 2 cups thin poha 2 cups chirmure/murmura 2 tbl spns peanuts 2 tbl spns dalia 1 tbl spn dry coconut pieces 1 tea spn mustard seeds 4 green chillies 7-8 curry leaves 2 red chillies Oil A pinch turmeric Amchoor powder(optional) A pinch asafoetida(optional) Salt
Method: Roast poha and chirmure in a big pan till they crisp up. I preheated the oven to 200F for 5mins. I lined both poha and chirmure on a cookie sheet and kept it in the oven and baked it at 200F, which is the lowest heat on my oven, for 5-10mins till they crisped up. They can also be left under hot sun for couple of hours till they crisp up. Heat oil in a big pan, keep the heat to medium. Add peanuts, dalia, coconut pieces. When they are fried, add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add curry leaves, green chillies chopped into rounds, red chillies broken into pieces, turmeric, asafoetida. (Ideally these all should be fried one after the other. But I normally do it at once). Now add amchoor powder(which gives little tangy flavor) and salt. Add poha, chirmure and mix well. Take off the heat. Cool to room temperature and then store in an air tight container.
Preparation time: 30mins (including the initial roasting/baking time)
PS: – Salt can be added to the seasoning or after adding the poha/chirmure . My cousin Usha gave me a tip to add it in seasoning so that it gets evenly distributed. – Be very careful whie adding salt. Sometimes, the salt stays at the botton even after mixing and it becomes very salty. So I mix it well by shaking the container before serving. – Do not store it while it is still hot. It should come to room temparature and then it can be stored. Otherwise it gets chewy.
