Idli Few days ago I was chatting with my friend Priya and she mentioned using parboiled rice in idli/dosas. I don’t usually like the texture of idlis/dosas made with ukdo tandul( matta rice ). She mentioned that she makes idlis with all parboiled rice. This is the only parboiled rice I have in the pantry. So I thought I would have to try Matta Rice idli/dosas again. I have to say this was one of the best idlis I have made in a while....
Moong dal(muga dali) usli is very dear to most of the Konkanis. Some people eat it as a breakfast and some as a side dish. For me, it is mostly known as a prasad of Ramnavami festival . However you eat it, this is a very tasty and filling dish with or without any combination. I love to cook this because it is very easy and very nutritious. Make it a bit spicy and it goes well with chapathis too(This is just my way of eating it, others might not like this combination)....
V and I are big fans of pizza. When we were in India, I had thought, pizza always had tomato sauce, vegetables(or meat) and cheese. But after coming to US, I learned about many different toppings and different sauces for pizza. While I love these different tastes, V loves Pizza Hut types with tomato sauce and the standard toppings. My latest love is Spin Nepolitan pizza . I became a huge fan of it when we ate there couple of months ago....
Aayi serves this bhaji with chapathi during Saturdays when we don’t eat nonveg, garlic and onions. I had written more about these fasting days in my potato bhaji with poha masala post. Usually this and chapathi are served for breakfast. Aayi has many such no-onion, no-garlic side dishes that go well in such days. This bhaji was always at the back of my mind, but I had never prepared it....
The process of cooking the flour in hot water is called Alayle . Flour is called as Peet . This is a bit difficult to make initially but with practice, it can be easily mastered. Aayi’s rottis come out perfectly soft and circular. I have practiced it a lot, though initially it was a failure, I could master it after few days. This is usually served for breakfast at my home with different sides like Vayngana nonche , Masoori bhaji , Almbe ambat , losney chutney , Engayi etc....
Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney I prepared this Spicy Tomato-Coconut Chutney a few days ago for dosas and we absolutely loved it. We had a lot of green (unripe) tomatoes in my freezer from last summer grown in our vegetable garden. Well, that means I need to find new and creative ways to turn them in to food. I decided to make a Tomato-Coconut chutney taking inspiration from some other chutneys I make like coconut-onion chutney , garlic chutney , tomato chutney ....
Since my parents are here, I am getting good home made food. I asked aayi to make something delicious and something that is not already on this blog so that I can post them :). They have also brought many recipes that they had collected from different sources, I will try those dishes only after my parents return back to India. My main concentration during their stay here would be to get as many authentic recipes as possible....
When I was a kid, I had this once in a picnic. I liked it very much, but I did not know what was its name. Just last year, my Maushi had come home, she prepared this for us. Try this, very delicious one. Ingredients: 1 cup potatoes (cooked & mashed) 1/2 cup green peas (cooked) 6-7 strands coriander leaves 4-5 green chillies 2 tbl spn rice Flour 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste 5 bread slices Salt Oil for deep frying...
Usually ‘ennegayi’ are stuffed brinjal(eggplant). But since the tiny brinjals are not available at our native, aayi usually prepares this dish with normal brinjal cut into big pieces. Though I used small brinjals, I cut them into pieces to get the similar look and feel of the dish, also save time. This dish has the amazing aroma though the ingredients used are very simple. She usually makes it with alayle pita rotti(akki rotti) for breakfast....
Generally these Muliks(as they are called by some Konkanis) or Modaks(as they are called at our place) are prepared with bananas. Some people prepare them using jackfruit also.The other day my neighbor gave me a few modaks made of cashew fruits. I did not know about them till then. They were tasty. I prepared them as I get cashew fruits easily near our Gramdevi Temple where we have cultivated hundreds of cashew trees....
Coorg or Kodagu is one of the most beautiful places in Karnataka. Just before we moved to US, we had been to Madikeri . This has some of the breath taking sceneries with very beautiful water falls. For some reason, whenever I hear the name Madikeri, I think of the beautiful Kannada song Madikeri sipayee from film Muttina haara . As far as I remember, that was the film that gave me a glimpse of this beautiful paradise on earth....
This daal is an adaptation from 2-3 recipes. I always loved the North Indian type ‘daal palak’ and Andhra ‘pappu’. I learnt the Andhra version from my friend Lakshmi. I experimented a lot on the authentic dish. I absolutely loved all the versions. I usually make this a bit thick compared to Konkani daal , but a bit watery compared to the Andhra version. I do not like it too much sour, as sourness overcomes the taste of this dish....
There will be a quiet time on this blog for next one month. I am leaving for India today and will be back in the last week of April. I am hoping to take complete rest while I am there as life had become extremely busy here. Happy Holi and Easter to you all 🙂 Garcinia Indica or Kokum(called ‘ bhirnda ‘ or ‘ bhinda ‘ in Konkani, ‘ murugala hannu ‘ in Kannada) can be called as one of the most used ingredient in Konkani cooking....
I was working on my art & craft blog for about 2 months now. I moved it from one place to another and then finally made it as a sub-blog in Aayi’s Recipes itself. ArtCampus is a place to showcase some of my hobbies. I was never going to make it public, but few of my friends and well wishers pushed me enough to make it public. Since my school going days, I loved any kind of crafts....
This post was originally published on Sept 12 -2006. I am reposting it with updated pictures which I clicked this time. This is a dish loved by all the Konkanis who like Mackerel. This dish gets its amazing taste by the method it is prepared. Everybody at our native grows turmeric during monsoon. Basically it is grown for the aromatic turmeric leaves which are used in many traditional dishes. I must admit, some people absolutely hate this aroma....
These traditional Konkani buns were in my draft for a very long time now. I agree, this should have been one of the early posts on this blog. Because this is very popular among Konkanis. But at my home, buns with pumpkin is more popular than these ones with bananas, although this version would made an occasional appearance. I have a strong aversion for banana flavor, though I eat bananas, its the aroma of bananas in any dish that bothers me....
Hi friends, Here’s a new design that was in the pipeline for quite some time. Finally it is live. I’ve tried my best to give a unique identity to Aayi’s Recipes with a matching color scheme, a header and more. I also invite you to provide your feedback and constructive suggestions. Thanks to those of you that have already provided your feedback. Thanks a lot. As always your support and encouragement is the backbone of Aayi’s Recipes....
We had great weather over the weekend and I thought we are done with winter. But as they say, mid west weather is extremely unpredictable. This week again, we have very cold weather :(. When I came home yesterday, I wanted something spicy to eat. I was missing home so much. So I thought of making something special for us. It took a while to prepare this, but was totally worth the effort....
I am feeling that, my knowledge about non Indian cuisines is very low. I am trying my best to learn as much as possible about them . It is very difficult for a person like me, who has not tasted many different cuisines, to search for such recipes without knowing their names. So I asked a person who has a vast knowledge about Indian as well as non Indian food....
This is the 500th post on this blog. So thanks to all my readers who have given their immense support to me for last 2+ years. I always wanted to do something about bringing my aayi(mom)’s culinary skills to people, since I knew every person who tasted her food had praised her. Her pickles were not only popular at my home but also my relative’s relative’s relatives knew about them. We thought of creating a website but that looked like lot of work at a time....
