Adults only chutney – Attempt this only if your taste buds are mature enough to handle very spicy dishes :).
North Karnataka food is very popular for its spicy dishes. This must be one of the spiciest cuisines of world. People here eat raw green chilies with rice or rottis . When I say raw green chilies, they are not the mild ones available here in US. They are the very spicy variety. Most of the North Karnataka people are vegetarians. Most of the recipes are centered around onion, garlic, chilies and peanuts. Even though I can’t tolerate so much heat, I absolutely love the taste of all these dishes. When I cook at home, I make these dishes a bit less spicy.
This chutney is a classic example of very hot chutneys served along with rice or rottis . This is one of those dishes that are made in advance and saved for a week or so. When people eat this, most of the times their faces turn red, but still everyone likes this. I reduced the amount of chilies to suit our taste buds.
Ingredients: 20 green chilies 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup peanuts 1 tea spn jaggery 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 2 pieces of tamarind 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1 tea spn chopped ginger 3-4 strands coriander leaves 4-5 curry leaves Oil Salt
Increase the amount of green chilies if you can handle more spicy dishes.
Method: Heat a little oil and fry green chilies. Take them out and add peanuts. Fry for sometime. Take them out. Now add curry leaves, onion, garlic, ginger and fry till onions turn translucent. Cool to room temperature. Grind all the ingredients and tamarind without adding water. Take out in an airtight container and refrigerate. This remains good for about 1 week. Serve with rice or chapathis or rottis .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 15mins
Sajje (Kannada) or Bajra (Hindi) are Indian names for pearl millet . Sajje Rotti is very popular in some parts of Karnataka, similarly, Bajra Roti is an important part of Rajastani cuisine. Pearl millet flour has a very different taste that takes a little while to get used to.
According to a USDA , both pearl millet and sorghum ( Jola or Jowar ) have many nutritional contents.
Recent work has suggested that these cereals possess unique characteristics that have both nutritional and functional properties that lend themselves to the development of healthy, nutritious foods. Both cereals are gluten-free, have unique phenolic compounds, which are being identified as having medicinal properties and contain proteins and starch characteristics that lend themselves to functional food uses that may impact health.
I had got many requests for this recipe in last few days, so finally here it is. About 2-3 months ago, I bought a pack of pearl millet flour thinking it was ragi flour(finger millet). Since this flour is also a bit darker like ragi (but lighter), I didn’t realize the mistake till I brought it home. I didn’t want to return it back, so it sat in my pantry begging to be used. Finally I tried these popular rotis .
Ingredients: 2 cups pearl millet( bajra or sajje ) flour 1 tea spn sesame seeds (optional) Ghee /butter Salt
Method: Heat about 3/4 cup water with salt. When it has become warm, add it to flour. Mix it immediately. Add sesame seeds and mix into dough. Alternately, flour can be added to boiling water and mixed as I have mentioned in jolad rotti recipe . Take a ball of dough and roll it into a big circle with the help of rolling pin. Dust the rolling board with enough dry flour to help in rolling. Roast it on a hot tava . Apply ghee or butter. I served it with green chili chutney , chutney powder and yogurt.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 45mins
