Black Chickpeas and Ivy Gourd Fugadh

Nutty black chickpeas cooked in spicy gravy; accompanied by the sweetish Ivy gourd and gently tempered with coconut and jaggery. This is one dish that is close to my heart, the one that takes me back to my childhood every single time, with the taste still lingering in my memory forever.

Though my mum makes this dish often, she confesses to learning it from her mother.  My dear grandmother at whose place I’ve spent many a happy holidays. Even to date, whenever my mum gets black chickpeas; I know for sure what’s on the menu. Every step of the recipe is magical, right from the moment when the chickpeas are pressure cooked to when the masalas are being sautéed and then finally the coconut garnish; food porn if I could call it that. And that’s not all, there is a bit of tradition involved as well.  The 8^th of September, is a special day; where Christians celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day, the menu is special and is called ‘Noven Jowaan’ roughly translated to ‘new meal’; the new signifying that the meal has been prepared from the new harvest as a thanksgiving to the almighty for his graces. The dishes are prepared in series of odd numbers and this one definitely makes it to that spread. 

Somehow, very honestly, I had long wanted to post this but somehow didn't get to do it. It was the only the other day when I headed to a meeting outside office and had to eat a restaurant. I ordered this one and believe me, the beauty of the dish had been massacred. Seriously, nothing pains me more than Manglorean food gone wrong. I decided to come home and  get it done. 

So then, here is a family recipe. Like its made at my home. Try it, garnish it with spices, temper it with coconut and serve it love. My family loves it, I'm sure yours would too.

Black Chickpeas and Ivy Gourd Fugadh

Ingredients:

• 200 grams, black chickpeas, refer cooking instructions below in the procedure
• 100 grams, Ivy gourd, cut length wise
• 50 grams fresh coconut, grated
• 50 grams jaggery, roughly chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 5-8 cloves of garlic, minced 
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons corriander seeds
• 1 tablespoons, black pepper corns
• 1 tablespoon, cummin seeds
• 1 teaspoon, mustard seeds
• 7-8 Whole red chillies
• 1 small teaspoon, turmeric powder
• 1 Sprig Curry leaves
• 3 tablespoons oil
• Salt to taste
• 300 ml water

Procedure:

• Soak the black chickpeas in 300 ml water overnight or atleast 6-8 hours. Wash them under running water till water runs clear.
• After washing, pressure cook for about 15 minutes or till you hear about 3 whistles. Retain the water if you wish to have some gravy
• Dry roast the corriander seeds, pepper corns, cummin seeds, and red chillies till they give out a nice aroma. Once done, cool for a while and then, grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan, add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. Wait till the seeds splutter.
• Add the garlic and let it . Then add the onions and saute till the onions turns translucent.
• Now, add the coconut, turmeric and the powder. Saute, till the oil has started leaving the sides
• Now, add the chickpeas and the Ivy gourd and mix well.
• Add the salt, jaggery and tomatoes and give it a good mix. Cover and cook for about 7 minutes.
• If required, add some water from the boiled chickpeas.
• Serve hot with rice or chapattis.

Vorn- Mangalorean Green Gram Pudding- Celebrating 100 likes on the facebook page.

A very special dish for a very special occasion. This recipe is by none other than the original masterchef herself! Yes, it my mums recipe and a Mangalorean classic, Vorn (pronounced- War-rn). So then, what’s the special occasion? Well friends, my face book page has reached 100 fans and that calls for a celebration, doesn’t it? Remember, I told you special dish for a special occasion. Thanks a ton, dear readers, without each of you being there to cheer me on, this would not be possible. And yes, a special mention to my mum and sister who have been the backbone of this blog. Tasting, criticizing, cheering, suggesting and almost everything backstage is done by them and their input goes a long way in deciding what goes on the blog and what is left out.

It was only obvious that I would choose Vorn for this post. It is a sweet dish reserved for very special Mangalorean functions. I remember, sometime back I attended about 3 weddings in 4 days and then there was roce (which is the pre-wedding function) & every roce had vorn. Just goes to show what it means to us Mangaloreans. I remember my mum and even my grand mum making vorn in a large vessel that was specially reserved only for that purpose. As with most Mangalorean recipes, this one too doesn’t have a standard recipe, each household claims theirs is original and authentic. We’ll leave it to the food historians to investigate.

Now, vorn is best had when it is piping hot, straight out of the cooking vessel. Whenever, mum makes it, I readily volunteer to do the tasting bit. When I was younger, I would deliberately sneak into the kitchen and ask that I taste the vorn at almost every stage of the cooking process. Complex as it may sound, it’s fairly simple to make and doesn’t require any alchemy. Just a few household ingredients that are readily available in the everyday pantry and your set to wow your family, friends or guest. And if you are of the diet conscious sorts who cringe at the mere mention of desserts, worry not. This one’s for you as well since unlike other oil/ ghee laden desserts this one doesn’t use any fat. Indulgence at its best!!

And before I began writing, I promised my self that I would keep the post short and sweet. The dish has enough magnanimity to carry it through. As I always believe, food tastes best when eaten with love and shared. I do hope my dear friends you will try this recipe and share it with your family and those who you love.

Vorn- Mangalorean Green Gram Pudding

Ingredients:

• 200 grams Moong dal (Indian Greem Gram)
• 150 grams jaggery
• 60 grams rice paste (Instructions below)
• 80 grams mixed dry fruits (Cashewnuts, Raisins, Pistachios), roughly chopped
• 120 ml thick coconut milk
• 4-5 green cardamom, powdered
• 300 ml water

Procedure:

• Dry roast the moong dal in a pan till it is golden brown on all sides. Once its brown, rinse twice under running water.
• In a deep vessel, boil the dal and the water together. The texture of the dal should be whole but not entirely mashed.
• Once the dal reaches this stage, add the jaggery and stir well. The jaggery should melt entirely. 
• Add the cardamom powder and the mixed dry fruits. Keep stirring well so that there are no lumps in the liquid.
• To make the rice paste, soak (any variety of short grained) rice in water for about half an hour and then grind to a liquidy paste. Add this paste to the vorn mixture.
• When you add the rice paste, the vorn will attain a thick consistency. Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk. Stir well.
• Ganish with dry fruits and serve hot.

Goli Bajje

One of the 'must dos' while planning any trip is to research on the best eating place in that city. I did the same when I had been to Mangalore on a recent trip. On reaching there, I couldn't help, but admire the tall coconut trees swaying in the summer breeze as if performing a well-choreographed dance. The  rivers forming a neat maze, and endless number of jackfruit trees almost seducing you come over and pluck a ripe fruit. A sight, anyone from the concrete jungle would die for. But for me, deep down, something was not complete; the fabled Mangalorean cuisine was yet to show up. The first two days passed by and I was getting worried. Very worried. Almost wondering if the trip would end without exploring Mangalore's cuisine? What a waste! We had planned a trip to a place called Karkala. On the way back home, our tummies started growling and somehow everyone in the vehicle said in a single chorus "let's stop for tea and goli bajje". Wow!!! That was the moment I had been waiting for. Goli Bajje, the first of the many culinary adventures that followed.

Goli Bajje (goli- round & bajje- fried) is another snack from Mangalore. It’s stature in the minds of all Mangaloreans is no less than what 'Vada-pav' is to us Mumbaikars or what 'Sondesh' is to every Kolkattan. Available at almost all snack joints as well as fine dines across Mangalore, it is a hit with office goers and the college students who probably give the boring lecture a slip and sit in a college canteen hogging them by the plateful. Ask someone where you would get the best goli bajje in Mangalore and be rest assured you have stirred up a controversy. For me, I couldn’t have timed this post better. With the rain Gods being benevolent (and surprisingly on time this year), a lazy week end and an India- Pakistan cricket match on TV, all you need to do is make yourself a hot cup of coffee and a huge tubful of these babies and curl on the couch whilst watching your favorite movie or sport. I got this recipe from my aunt in Mangalore, honestly, there’s no fixed recipe to make goli bajje, each house has its own proportion for the ingredients. Play around with the spices to suit your taste.

I got a big thumbs up for this recipe from my mum and sister. And yes, at the restaurant where we stopped to have Goli Bajje in Karkala; we lost count of the number of plates we ordered.  Absolutely delicious!

Goli Bajje

Ingredients:

• 160 grams Maida (All purpose flour)
• 80 grams Besan (Gram flour)
• 100 grams thick yoghurt
• 1 green chilli (increase if you want to up the spice quotient)
• 1 tablespoon, baking powder
• Small piece of ginger, finely chopped
• Coconut bits
• Few curry leaves, roughly shredded.
• 80 ml water
• Oil to deep fry.
• Salt- to taste

Procedure:-

• In a large mixing bowl, sieve together the maida, besan and the baking powder.
• Add the curd and mix well slowly incorporating air into the mixture. Add water bit by bit until the mixture comes together. The mixture should be of a thick pouring consistency.
• Add the chilli, ginger, coconut bits and salt. Mix well and let the batter rest for atleast an hour.
• Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. You could test the heat by dropping a bit of the mixture in the oil. The batter should rise to the surface. It is important to keep an eye on the temperature of the oil as overheating the oil will result in the possibility of the inside remaining uncooked.
• Now, take a spoonful of the batter and let it slide into the oil. Repeat the process for the remainder of the batch.
• Once a nice golden brown colour is obtained; remove and drain on an absorbent paper.
• Enjoy hot with equally hot coffee or tea and chutney.

Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha (Authentic Manglorean Style Recipe)

If there was one cuisine that I would have for the rest of my life, without a doubt, it would be Mangalorean. I am not being partial since I am from Mangalore, but come on, as they home is where the heart is.

Here is another recipe from one of Mangalore’s famous sub- cuisines, called the “Bunt Cuisine”.  The Bunts are a trading community primarily from the Udupi and Dakshin Kanada districts of Karnataka credited with being the pioneers of the ubiquitous Udupi hotels in Mumbai.  As you would have guessed by now, their cuisine is to die for.

This is one recipe that I would have eaten it a zillion times and yet, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mum makes it in the most awesome manner and I tried it for the first time. As the pictures below will tell you, it was lip- smacking.  The mandate (from the taste queens) when I made it was to go easy on the spice, which I tried my best to do. You could replace the chicken with mutton and get the same result.

Do give it a try, I am sure you will want to make it again and again 

Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg Chicken (on the bone)
• 2 Onions (Medium Sized, finely chopped)
• 1 Tomato (Large Sized, Finely chopped)
• 2 Green Chillies, Cut into 2 parts
• 2 Tablespoon Garlic Paste
• 1 Tablespoon ginger paste
• 4 Tablespoons Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Bafat Masala
• 1 Tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
• 3 Sprigs of Curry Leaves 
• Salt- to taste

Grind to a coarse paste

• 1 Coconut Grated
• 7-10 Red Chillies
• 1 Tablespoon Cummin Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 2 Green Cardamoms
• 8-10 Peppercorns
• 1/2 cup Cashewnuts
• 3 Cloves
• 1 Inch stick of Cinnamon

Procedure:

• Grind together all the ingredients mentioned under the head "grind to a coarse paste". The texture has to be coarse but make sure ingredients have integrated well with the coconut. Add a little water when you are grinding.
• In a pan, add oil and let it come to its smoking point. Once it does, add the curry leaves.
• When the curry leaves begin to change colour, add the onions and allow them to caramelise. This is an important step so let the onions cook well.
• Add in the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a while.Once the smell leaves, add in tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft.
• Add the coconut paste and stir well. You may need to add some water at this point so that the paste doesn’t stick to the base of the pan. Cook till the oil leaves the sides of the pan.
• When the oil begins to leave the sides add the green chillies, bafat, powder, red chilli powder and stir well.  Keep a watch that the paste is not getting to dry and judiciously add water.
• Once the masala’s are mixed well add the chicken and salt.
• Cover and cook over a medium flame. Should be done in about 15-20 minutes

Pork Sorpotel- The Ultimate feast

It is always fun when you have a wedding in the family.Now speaking of weddings, An Indian wedding usually means a huge family affair with almost everyone getting involved with something or the other. Great pains are taken to ensure that the couples special day is indeed laden with memories they would cherish for the rest of their lives. That said, detailed attention is paid to the menu planning. Meals are planned with taking into account culinary preferences of guest from both sides. Considering how much we Catholics love pork, it is a given that a pork dish would take center stage in the buffet. Now in case you are reading this and are health conscious let me tell you that the remainder of the blog is laden with fats. For the rest it’s a meal you would run to your kitchen to prepare.

Now the dish for today is Pork Sorpotel. Though not much is known of the origin of the dish, some say it has its roots in Portugal. The secret lies in the tangy sauce and getting the proper mix of the vinegar and spices where the sweet, spicy, and tangy flavor all marrying together and none holds dominance over the other. The soft, succulent meat covered with a sauce and the fat is a delight.

Here is the recipe. I do hope you enjoy making it as much as I did

Pork Sorpotel

Ingredients:-

• 1 kg pork with Fat
• 3 Large onions
• 15-20 large cloves of garlic
• 1 large piece of fresh ginger
• 2 Green Chillies
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt to taste
• 1 small tablespoon oil
• 1 table spoon Bafat powder

Grind to a paste:-

• 8 Bedki Chilies                                      * Refer notes below
• 12-15 Kashmir Chillies
• 15 pepper corns
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tablespoon Poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
• 1 large cinnamon stick
• A lemon sized ball of tamarind
• Vinegar for grinding

Method:

• Wash, drain and dry the pork
• Now, this pork needs to be cooked in a large vessel on a slow flame. I do not add oil during this time as the pork usually cooks in its own fat. However, if you feel like, you could add a teaspoon of oil. Make sure the pork is nicely cooked if there is some water in the vessel you could either drain out or let it evaporate. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour.
• Once the pork is done, cut into small pieces and keep aside.
• In a vessel add the oil and sauté the pork.
• Chop the onions fine and fry in the same oil till they turn brown. Do not burn them. Remove and keep aside.
• Repeat the process with the ginger, garlic and chillies. You could fry them together as well.
• Now, combine all ingredients mentioned under “grind to a paste” and grind to a fine paste. Use vinegar as a lubricant for the mixing. You may need to reserve the masala water to adjust the thickness of the gravy later on.* Refer notes below.
• In a large vessel, add just a teaspoon of oil, and quickly stir the onions, ginger, garlic and the chillies.
• Now, add in the ground masala and let it cook for a while. Add in the bay leaf and the bafat powder.
• Add in the pork, Salt and cook on medium flame for 15-20 minutes.
• Serve hot with sanna or polay (dosa)

Chef’s Tip: Try making this a day or two prior to consumption. This will allow the spices to permeate well will the meat and will only help to enhance the flavor.

Important Notes:

• I have combined bedki and Kashmir chillies for a mix and match of taste and colour. The spice comes from the bedki chillies and colour from Kashmir ones. However, please note that bedki chillies are spicier and so you will need to adjust accordingly.
• Usually, any pork gravy is neither too thick nor too thin. The water from the masala was to adjust the thick should your gravy be too thick. Adding plain water will reduce the pungency of the masala.

Hello everyone, since this is my first post of the year. Let me begin by wishing all of you a very Happy New Year. May the coming 365 days bring you joy, peace, love and yes, delicious food in plenty.

Although I have only recently started blogging, I have been fortunate enough to get to know people from across the globe; some who follow my blog and some who read it. It is great fun interacting with you all sharing tips, tricks, recipes and above all the love for good food. A co-blogger (who follows my blog and loves Indian food) recently wrote to me asking if preparing all kinds of Indian food involved detailed technique and consumed a lot of time. My answer? Yes and No. Because of the cultural diversity existing in the country, certain regions do have an elaborate cooking process, some places it’s a quick fix meal. Nevertheless, I promised her to put up Indian recipes that didn’t involve a lot of technique and would be quick to prepare. That set the creative juices flowing and the recipe you see below is the result of one such endeavor.

The Red Roast Chicken (well, that’s what I called it) gets done in about forty five minutes and with a minimal of ingredients. Although I originally thought of only using the masala as a base, the gravy lover in me wouldn’t budge and I added curd towards the end to give the dish some more depth. The dark red colour comes from using a secret trick that I would share with you a little later. The roasted chicken when combined with the aromatic spices and the fragrant curry leaves combines into something that is almost impossible to resist. It is slightly heavier on the spices and oil; however, you could adjust to your taste.

I would be glad to hear from you on whether you’ve  tried it and the results.

Red Roast Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 Kg Chicken (I used boneless chicken)
• 5 Tablespoons Ghee (Clarified Butter)
• 3 Tablespoons Refined Oil
• 150 grams curd
• 2 ½ tablespoons Red Chili Powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons Garam Masala Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds (and some Cumin powder)
• 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cardamom Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon Powder
• 1 tablespoon Garlic Paste
• 1 tablespoon Ginger Paste
• 1 Big sprig of Curry leaves
• 1 Lemon sized ball of tamarind (Soaked in warm water)
• Green Coriander Leaves (For garnishing)
• Juice of One lime
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Clean, wash, dry and cut the chicken. Add in salt, lime juice, and some turmeric powder and keep aside for 20 minutes.
• Now, heat the Ghee and oil together in a pan. When it is hot, add in the chicken pieces and roast them well. Once the chicken pieces start to brown, take them out from the pan and keep aside.
• In the same pan, add in the cumin seeds and the curry leaves and let them splutter.
• Once they start spluttering, add in the Ginger and Garlic paste and let it cook for a while. Once it starts to brown, add in all the other masalas (spice powders) except for the red chili powder.
• At this point, your mixture may be dry so add in a little water, just enough to keep it moist.
• Well now is the time for the secret I promised earlier. When the oil begins leaving the masalas; beat the curd well and add the red chili powder to it. This is done so that the beautiful red colour is released enhancing the end colour of the dish. Add the curd to the mixture along with the roasted chicken and allow it to cook.
• Squeeze the pulp of the tamarind well and add the water to the mixture. Add in the salt.
• Add a little water if you would like it have gravy, else the chicken should be done in 10 minutes.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.
• That’s it. Red Roast Chicken is ready!!!