In my last post I promised to be more regular here, then at the last moment we decided to visit India. To say I was homesick would be putting it mildly. We decided to squeeze in the trip before Ishaan’s school started. Some of you asked to post pictures of food/garden back home. So decided to post this.
We mostly stayed in Bangalore this time with few days trip to Belgaum and my hometown Kodkani in between. Kids had a fantastic time with family. Ishaan bonded immediately with my brother’s 3 year old. It was such a delight to see them moving around everywhere hand-in-hand. Before we left from here, my brother asked me what I wanted to do in India. I said spend time with you all and eat a LOT. While my parents made sure to feed me every one of my childhood favorites, my brother took me to all his favorite restaurants in Bangalore (we ate out twice a day sometimes!!).
When we landed, my brother had loaded the freezer with all kinds of fish. Aayi made this yummy spread on the second day.
Above thali had spicy fish fry, crab gravy(kurle ambat) , buttermilk kadi(taka kadi) , pickle, rice.
Although mango season was over, we could find some in the market of Neelam variety. Kids loved them. We enjoyed them in ambe humane one day.
I had all plans of clicking pictures of the food we had in restaurants. But whenever we went out, we all got busy in managing 4 little ones, it was a miracle that we could eat anything. After few times of my 15 month old throwing food all over me, we decided to take the booster seat to all restaurants. That was such a big help. So whenever we went out, I just forgot all about camera and concentrated on enjoying great food.
It is rainy season in India. That meant we could get all the specialities of this season. Our breadfruit tree was full of breadfruits. My all time favorite with these is the phodi , so easy to make and delicious.
Above vegetarian thali had cauliflower pickle , limbe saru , varn , phodi , bhende upkari, rice.
Whenever we visit my parents, they make these lovely baskets out of jackfruit trees and make hittu/khotte . Ishaan had a great time watching my mom make these. The pillowy idlis wrapped in these leaves were to die for.
Although we stayed only couple of days in Kumta, we were lucky to get the naturally grown mushrooms. These are big delicacies during the season. They are sold by hundreds.
My parents frontyard had a lot of turmeric leaves, our neighbors shared some from their garden too. So kadamb was on the menu one day.
My maternal uncle(mama) came visiting us one day and he sent us very fresh jilebis from Sirsi. These are sold only one day a week and they are just out of this world when enjoyed fresh.
For me, rainy season means enjoying lot of pathrode and ankre tambli( will post soon ). No matter how busy she is, aayi makes sure to prepare this combination for me. Pathrode leaves were abundant in our garden. Ankre are different leaves available during the season. The garden was full of elephant yam/Surnu/Suvarnagadde plants. The plants grow wherever the roots are. Only few of these will eventually have big beautiful yams (shown in below picture).
My toddler has a serious sweet tooth. These wheat flour laddus(ganva guli/churmundo) were perfect for him. Any time he had melt downs, he would get a guli and he would sit happily for a while.
Different people call it by different names – Palapanas, Neerpanas, jeev kadgi to name a few. Many years ago, we had a l ong discussion about Konkani name of breadfruit. When I visited India this time, our tree was full of beautiful breadfruits. My parents were very happy that I visited during that time and I could enjoy one of my childhood favorites. They tell me that they have kept this tree mainly because of me. I also saw lot of tiny breadfruits getting sold in the market. Aayi had prepared a huge batch of chips for me. She also prepared the delicious randayi . But my favorite has to be the phodi. Fresh breadfruits make the best phodis.
Pictorial: Breadfruit on the tree Cut breadfruit put in water. Apply salt, turmeric and asafoetida to pieces. Roll the pieces in rava and shallow fry.
Breadfruit Phodi (Palapansa phodi /jeev kadgi phodi)
Ingredients
- 2 tbl spns rava sooji
- A pinch asafoetida
- 1 tea spn chilli powder
- A pinch turmeric powder
- Oil
- 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- Salt
- 8 breadfruit pieces
Instructions
- Remove the green skin and inner most hard white part of breadfruit.
- Cut the edible part into pieces(refer pictures).
- Put the pieces in water while cutting them.
- Mix pieces with asafoetida, turmeric powder, salt, tamarind juice.
- Keep aside for 10-15min.
- Heat a tava and apply little oil to it.
- Mix rava with chilli powder and little salt.
- Apply it on all sides of breadfruit pieces and shallow fry on the tava.
- Close the lid and let it cook.
- After few minutes, turn them upside down.
- Check the phodis after few minutes by poking them with a knife/spoon.
- If they are still not done, sprinkle some water, cover and cook for another 5-10mins.
- Serve hot with rice and dal.
