Do you have a brother or sister whose tastes are very different than yours? I do. While growing up, my brother and I had exact opposite favorites. It was so bad that if he liked something, I would just hate it and vice versa. He never liked crabs and I never liked fish. If idli was prepared, he would always ask for chutney and I would ask for sambar . He liked chicken with chapathis and I liked it with rice. In case aayi made something he liked, I would accuse that she loves him more than me and he would do the same if she cooked something I liked. There were many times, aayi would prepare two sets of dishes just to keep both of us happy.
This is one such dish over which we both would fight. I liked this version very much and he would ask for rice flour bhakri (pita bhakri) . Even if he made peace with this, he would ask for onion version and I loved it without onion :).
When we were growing up, the idli rava ( rava is also called sooji or rullavu ) was not readily available in markets. So it was made fresh at home using rice mills ( dante or chakki ) . Whenever aayi prepared this rava on these mills, she would make it in big quantities and use it for idli , tausalli , kadamb , this simple bhakri and many more dishes. After few years, these mills were completely replaced by mixers. I am a very lazy person, so I use ready made idli rava for it. It makes a very hearty breakfast for me. As soon as I get up, I just mix up all the ingredients and keep it aside. By the time I finish cooking lunch and complete my yoga, this gets ready to go on the pan. I simply love it.
Ingredients: 1 cup rice rava or idli rava 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1/2 tea spn chopped ginger(optional) 1/2 tea spn chopped green chilies(optional) 1 tea spn sugar(optional) 1/2 cup onions (optional) Ghee /oil Salt
Rice rava (normally called as idli rava ) is usually available in grocery stores. If it is not available, soak rice in water for about 30mins. Drain all water and spread it on a clean towel for about 30mins. Then grind it to a coarse powder (do not add water).
Method: Mix all the ingredients (except oil/ ghee ) with enough water to make a semi liquid mixture. Leave it for about 30mins. Heat a tava , apply ghee /oil. Spread the mixture into about 1/2 to 1 inch thick circle using your hands. Fry from both sides. To help in turning the bhakri upside down, use one more tava . When one side is done, lift the tava, cover it with second tava and turn upside down. This can be done with the help of a wooden spoon also, but since this bhakri crumbles easily, I find two tavas very helpful. Serve hot with honey or chutney powder .
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins(excluding soaking time).
One of my readers asked me for this recipe few days ago. This dish is not known to people in North Kanara (like me). I ignored it for sometime, but then, I was very curious. So I asked aayi, she said it is a version of cabbage vada that is prepared in South Kanara . Some of my aayi’s relatives are from SK, so she is very familiar with all SK names and dishes. She said she had tasted this at one of her aunt’s homes in Udupi many years ago. She knew that it was a deep fried cabbage vada, but she didn’t know the recipe. So we referred to Jaya V. Shenoy’s book “Oota Upahara” (which is Kannada version of “amgele khana javan”, I think) for this dish.
Most of you might know about Jaya V. Shenoy, if you are in to Konkan food. She is very popular among Konkanis for her cookbooks. These cookbooks are like bibles for most of SK style Konkani dishes. I don’t have this book with me, so I can’t write more about it as of now, but I can surely say it is a great book to have, for any SK Konkani dishes. For those of you, who are very curious to know if this is the book from which I get all my recipes, the answer is No. I don’t. Thus, daangar becomes the very first recipe I picked up from this book.
Dangar is very similar to the cabbage vada that I grew up eating. Cabbage vada is slightly sweetish but this one does not include jaggery. Traditionally it is deep fried in hot oil, but I decided to shallow fry. Some of my readers mentioned, in Goa, this dish is shallow fried. So I think there is more than one way of making it. It tastes great when consumed when it is very hot.
Ingredients: 1 tbl spn toor dal or chana dal 1 tbl spn rice 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 4-5 red chilies 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 1-2 pieces of tamarind 1/2 cup of any one of the following – Cabbage – Cabbage and onion – Drumstick leaves – Pumpkin leaves Salt Oil
Method: Soak dal and rice in water for about 30mins. Grind coconut with red chilies and tamarind without adding water. You can add few drops of water if required, but make sure not to make it watery. If you add more water, you can’t make the balls. Now grind dal and rice to a coarse paste. Add this and salt to coconut paste. Then add the shredded cabbage(or any option given above). Make small balls of the mixture, slightly flatten them and deep fry(or shallow fry as I did). Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
