Pineapple is called ananas in most of the Indian languages. Palya (Kannada) meaning side dish. Many people asked me for this recipe. I had seen this in one of the Kannada TV shows. From the day I saw it, I wanted to try it. Finally when I got many requests, I tried it.
I used to eat pineapple as it is or in ananas paank or in ananas sasam . First time I cooked them in a spicy sauce for pineapple stew . I realized cooked pineapple with jaggery and chilies taste heavenly. So when I saw this recipe, I knew it is going to be a super hit. Roasted urad daal gives a very nice flavor to this. I served it with Gujrathi daal and beans koddel , to make a perfect sweetish meal.
Please be careful not to taste this dish while cooking, otherwise you will eat it all and nothing will remain for others :).
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple 1 tea spn urad daal 1 tbl spn dry coconut (or dessicated coconut) A pinch asafoetida 4-5 pepper 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves 4-5 red chillies 1/2 tea spn jaggery Oil Salt
Method: Roast urad daal on a medium flame till they are fragrant, do not add oil. Roast coconut, asafoetida, red chillies, pepper. Grind them into a powder. Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, curry leaves, fry for sometime. Now add pineapple, 1/2 cup water, close and cook. When they are almost done, add the powder, jaggery, salt and cook till jaggery is melted and well mixed.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: Do not use canned pineapple for this. Fresh one tastes very good. Canned pineapple has some smell and taste which overcomes the aroma and taste of this dish.
Magge or moggem is a special kind of cucumber available at my native and the places around it. In Bangalore it is called “ Mangalooru Southekayi ” (Mangalore cucumber). Unlike any other cucumber, this is added to different dishes and normally people don’t eat it raw. According to this article , it is called Field marrow in English.
We use it in all the dishes that needs cooked cucumber like kadamb , gajbaje , tausalli , bhakri etc. These are available in Indian store here, most of the time, though they have only smaller ones. Before using they are peeled and seeds are removed, like for cucumber. Below is a picture of this vegetable.
This gravy, ambat in Konkani, is a classic dish with a strong aroma of teppal (sichuan pepper) and kokum . Cooked toor daal gives a thick base to this gravy. This can be labeled as one of my “comfort foods”. Aayi (my mom) uses fresh teppal during it’s season. So that gives an additional boost to the aroma. But since it is not available everywhere, dried teppal can be used.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup toor daal 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1-2 kokum pieces 3-4 teppal(sichuan pepper) 3-4 red chilies 1 cup magge/moggem pieces A pinch turmeric Salt
Method: Cook daal with turmeric till it becomes mushy. Cook magge pieces, the pieces should not get mashed. (I usually keep daal in lower cooker vessel and magge in topmost vessel, I don’t close the uppermost vessel). Cook till 3-4 whistles. Grind coconut and red chilies to a very smooth paste. Cook the paste with daal , magge pieces, kokum and teppal (slightly crushed in one table spoon water to take out white juice). Add salt and cook for 5-6mins. Serve with rice.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
