I was in between moving to a new place, so could not post anything here. Once I moved, I fell sick. I thought to go slow on blog front so that I could take some rest. I didn’t want to disappoint my regular readers by a long silence. So here I am back :).
“ Narnga ” or “ Kanchi kaayi ” or “ HeraLe kaayi ” is a kind of lemon available in some(or all) parts of India. These lemons are slightly bitter in taste so they cannot be consumed directly.
Narnga/Naranga batto/batti is one thing that almost all Konkanis like. These are usually given to the people who are suffering from fever and lost their taste. These are spicy, saltly and sour. They taste heavenly when consumed with rice congee( Pej/ganji ). These are a must in most of the Konkani houses throughout the year.
My aayi makes a chutney with these Narnga batto and serves with rice congee. This is usually served at around 11 in the morning, in between breakfast and lunch. With just with the mention of it, my mouth has started watering.
Read for a pickle recipe from these bitter oranges in Inji’s post.
For Naranga batto Cut Naranga into long pieces. In a clean jar, take the pieces and add salt so that all the pieces are immersed in salt. Keep this aside for around 10-15 days till the skin becomes little soft. Take out the pieces from salt and mix generous amount of chili powder and asafoetida to it. Mix well. Sun dry these pieces till they have become dry. Store in air tight container, they remain well for more than year. As time passes, they become black.
For chutney: Grind 5-6 naranga batto with 3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut and grind to smooth paste.
Do not add extra salt or chili powder since the pieces already have them.
Few of my friends want me to post some non vegetarian dishes here. Its been a long time I tasted any non veg except for shrimps. So I was wondering when I would post this classic dish. Few days back, my dear friend Deepa reminded me of this. So when my brother went for a short trip to my native, Aayi prepared this and my brother took pictures.
For vagetarian version, click cabbage vada .
Ingredients: 3/4 cup clams 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (or 2 pieces of tamarind) 3-4 red chilies 1 cup sooji/rava Oil Salt
Method: Heat little oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind them with coconut, red chilies, tamarind, salt without adding too much water. To this paste, add clams and onions. Mix all together and make balls.
Roll the balls in rava/sooji , slightly press them with hand and shallow fry on tava. Serve with rice as a side dish.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 25mins
