This is ‘the most wanted recipe’ of aayisrecipes, because many people had asked me to post this. For no reason I kept it on hold till now. Finally today I thought its the time to post it.
Now let me write something about this dish. This can be either prepared with spring onion or the normal onion. When I was a kid my aayi prepared this with spring onion, which I loved to grow in our garden. Since raw onion is used, this dish is not for those who do not prefer eating raw onion(like me!!). This dish has hardly 2-3 steps, so I can say this is one of the easy-to-do dishes.
Ingredients: Onion or spring onion (chopped) 1/2 cup Coconut 3/4 cup Tamarind extract 1/2 tea spn Red chillies 4-5 Salt
Method: Grind together coconut, tamarind and red chillies to a very smooth paste, adding sufficient water. Mix salt and onions with hand. Add these onions to ground masala and mix well. Serve with rice. (This gravy is not cooked. So keep it refrigerated. Remove from refrigerator 1/2 an hour before serving).
Serves : 3 Preparation time : 10min
Few days back Pai asked me about the famous ‘Kashaya pitto’. Since I was not having the recipe, it took me some time to find it out. As always, I got it from Aayi.
‘Kashaya’ is a beverage which replaces ‘tea’ or ‘coffee’ in many of North kanara homes. People prefer it because this is supposed to have cooling effect on body (do not drink it if you have cold).
Kashaya powder(called ‘kashaya pitto’) is readily available in the shops, so my aayi usually does not prepare it at home. But I found the recipe very very simple, and I wish to make it on my own in future. This can be preserved for months (like sambar powder) in air tight containers. Those who want to cut down on their tea/coffee intake, but wish to drink something healthy, do try this drink.
Kashaya powder(pitto)
Ingredients: Coriander seeds 1 cup Cumin seeds(jeera) 1/2 cup Fennel seeds(Badishep) 1/2 cup Wheat (optional) Method: Roast the ingredients seperately(without adding oil). Grind them to a smooth powder. Preserve in air tight container.
Kashay (the beverage)
Ingredients: Milk 1/2 cup Water 1/2 cup Sugar 1 tea spn Kashaya powder(pitto) 1 tea spn
Method: Boil milk and water in a bowl. Add sugar and kashaya powder when it boils. Remove from flame, and close the lid for 5min. Strain it using tea strainer. Serve hot.
I like more milk in this kashaya. So I used 1:1 ratio of milk and water. This ratio can be varied as per individual taste. Basically you have to follow the same procedure as tea.
