One of my reader Vanishree sent me this recipe few months back. I forgot to try this for a long time. When I was checking my mails few days back, I saw this recipe and thought of giving it a try immediately.
As most of us know, upma is usually prepared with wheat rava/sooji . Akki tari is the Kannada name for rice rava . I had read many recipes with akki tari , but for the first time heard about akki tari uppittu . Vanishree had sent 2 variations, one was simple upma with peas(in the following recipe, exclude sambar powder and tamarind to get simple upma) and second was with sambar powder. I tried the sambar powder version because I thought it would be more tasty.
See Sailu’s version of this upma .
Ingredients: 2 cups akki tari (rice rava ) 2 tbl spn grated coconut(fresh or frozen) 1/4 cup green peas or dehusked tender field beans avare kalu/hidakavare bele ) 1/2 cup chopped onion (optional) 1-2 green chillies 1/2†grated or chopped ginger 1/2 tea spoon mustard seeds 2 red (dry)chillies 1 tea spn urad daal 2 tea spns chana daal 4-5 curry leaves 1 tbl spn cashew nuts ½ tea spn sambar powder(optional) 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (if using normal tamarind, extract thick juice of 2-3 pieces) A pinch of asafoetida(optional) Oil/ ghee 2-3 strands coriander leaves(optional) Salt
Method: Heat oil ghee add mustard,when it starts popping, add red chillies, urad daal, chana daal ,cashew nuts and curry leaves. Now add onion, chopped ginger and green chillies. Fry till onions turn slightly brownish. Add green peas, tamarind, rice rava and fry for 5-6 minutes or till the rava is well roasted. Then add boiling water(around 4 cups) and salt. Stir well and close the lid, cook on a low flame. Rice rava takes more time to get cooked. Once it is cooked add grated coconut and cut coriander leaves.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: For idli rava – Wash and soak rice for 1/2 an hour. Drain and dry in shade by spreading over a cloth. Mill or pound till fine rava consistency. It is available in market as “rice rava ” or “ idli rava “.
“ Sagle ” is a Konkani dish with coarsely ground coconut, urad dal , coriander seeds masala having some kind of vegetable in it. This is a sweetish spicy side dish. I think this is also called as Sukke in some places. Eggplant sagle is one of the favorites at my home.
Gulla is a special kind of green eggplant available mainly in Mangalore. This is very popular among Konkanis. Taste wise, it is almost like any other eggplant. I use normal eggplant for this Sagle here. The main vegetable used for vayngana (normal eggplant)/ gulla sagle is eggplant, but drumsticks and sugarcane pieces can also be added to this dish. I used eggplant and drumsticks for this.
Sagle can also be made with bhindi, this version is called bhende sagle .
Eggplant in coconut sauce (Vayngana/GuLLa Sagle)
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups chopped eggplant/gulla
- 1 cup drumsticks optional
- 1 cup sugarcane pieces optional
- 1 and ½ cups grated coconut fresh or frozen
- 1 and ½ tea spns urad dal
- 1 tea spn coriander seeds
- 4-5 red chilies
- 5-6 curry leaves
- ½ tea spn tamarind extract or 2-3 pieces of normal tamarind
- ½ tea spn mustard seeds
- 1 tbl spn jaggery
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- After cutting the eggplants, put them in water for at least 5-10mins. Discard the water.
- Heat oil, fry coriander seeds and 1 tea spn urad dal till dal turns slightly brownish.
- Grind them with coconut, tamarind, red chilies, jaggery and salt to a coarse paste (do not make the paste too smooth).
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds and remaining urad dal.
- When mustard starts popping and dal becomes slightly brownish, add curry leaves.
- Fry for sometime.
- Now add the vegetables, 1 cup water and cook till the vegetables are 3/4th done.
- Add the ground paste and cook till the vegetables are completely done.
- Serve hot as a side dish with rice.
