I was planning to post this recipe from many days. One of my reader, Manoj had inquired about this recipe a few days ago. In fact he had asked for the authentic Konkani “ Methi Sukke “. ‘ Sukke ‘ is some dry side dish usually containing coconut. So I started my quest for the recipe. Though I did not get the authentic ‘Sukke’, I made this absolutely delicious sukke :). I got this recipe from Sunil. Since I try to cook at least one non-coconut dish daily, either sambar or side dish, I loved this recipe.Well..I am saying that because, usually Konkani food contains coconut in almost all of the recipes. One more thing was, it looked something different and a healthy one too :).
Ingredients: 1 cup methi leaves(chopped) 3/4 cup toor daal or masoor daal 1/2 cup potato(boiled and cut into cubes) 1/2 cup chopped tomato 1/2 cup chopped onion 1 tea spn mustard seeds 3-4 green chilies 1/2 tea spn coriander powder(optional) 4-5 curry leaves
Oil Salt
Method: Cook daal (do not mash it) and keep aside. Heat oil and add 1/2 tea spoon mustard. When they start popping, add chopped onion. Fry till they become translucent (do not make them brown). Add chillies and grind it into a smooth mixture. Heat remaining oil and add mustard and curry leaves. Fry for some time and then add chopped tomatoes. Close the lid and cook till the tomatoes are completely cooked and all water is evaporated. Add methi leaves and cook for 5min. Now add the cooked daal , ground mixture, potatoes and salt. Mix everything and cook for 2-3 min. Add coriander powder, mix well and cook for about 2min again. Serve hot with chapathi or rice.
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 30min
Few months back, one of my friend had brought a capsicum dish in her lunch box. I tasted it and immediately liked the sweet and spicy taste of it. I thought she had put some coconut in it, bacause of the name Kairas, Coconut being called as kaayi in Kannada. But I was surprised when she gave me the recipe, there was no coconut in it!!!. All this discussion had happened on lunch table and by the time I reached my desk, I had forgotten the recipe (thanks to my poor memory). So I kept on searching for the recipe.
Then few months back, I was going through a recipe book and found the Kairas recipe in the “Goa Cuisine” section. When I tried it, it was superb. Recently I saw one more version of it in Ashwini’s blog .
Ingredients: Capsicums 4 Potatoes 2 Asafoetida(hingu) a pinch Cashews and pea nuts 2 tbl spns Tamarind extract 1 tea spn Jaggery 1 tbl spn Coriander leaves 5-6 strands Chana dal 2 tbl spns Sesame seeds(Til) 2 tbl spns Coriander seeds 1 tbl spn Red chillies 5-6 Oil Salt
Method: Roast(without oil) chana dal, sesame seeds, coriander seeds and red chillies and grind them to powder. Heat oil and fry peanuts/cashews, capsicums and potatoes(both cut into large pieces) for about 5mins. Add asafoetida and nuts. Fry for another 2-3 mins. Add the ground powder, tamarind, salt and jaggery. Add very little water if required. Close the lid and cook on a low flame. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with chapathi or rice.
Serves : 4 Preparation time : 30mins.
