The white coconut chutney is most popularly served in restaurants, alongside idlies and dosas. The addition of garlic is tricky, and you have to be careful not to overdose, as this is raw garlic and people are often sensitive to it.
It was in a small ashram that I had this chutney with a crunchy tempering – with the fenugreek seeds and urad dal. It gives the chutney a lovely crunch. Skip these two items if you like it soft.
Time taken: 10 min
Serves 2
Ingredients
½ coconut, grated
1 green chili
½ tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dhuli urad or split black gram dal
¼ tsp methi or fenugreek seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp coconut oil
Salt to taste
Method
Grind the coconut, chili, garlic and salt together. Add water bit by bit to help with the grinding, until it reaches the consistency you desire.
Heat oil, add the mustard and fenugreek seeds, urad dal, coriander and curry leaves. Pour this on top of the chutney. Serve.
Dal idlies came about in my kitchen as a variation of Nuchchina unde. I found the traditional recipe of nuchchina unde too dry, so I set about experimenting, trying to make a softer version. One day, I added too much water by mistake. Not able to think of any other option, I simply poured the batter into idly molds and steamed them, thinking, oh, how different could they be?
It is somewhat hard to understand how just a little extra water can change the taste so much. But it does. And so, I proudly present, the dal idly.
Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal
½ cup bengal gram/ chana dal
¼ cup black gram/ urad dal, split, without skin
¼ cup mung dal
3-4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
2-3 tbsp chopped dill leaves (optional)
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp chopped green chili
½ cup chopped onion (optional: This is usually skipped during festivals)
A pinch of asafetida
Salt
(As with nuchchina unde, if I want to make this immediately, I grind the dals into a powder first, and then soak in just enough warm water for about half an hour. )
While you could proceed to the next step immediately with a slightly drier result, you could let it sit for some time to increase the softness. Overnight is the best, if you can afford the time.
Mix in the leaves, asafetida, onion, grated ginger, chilies and salt.
Pour into idly molds and steam for 10 minutes.
Let it sit for about 5 minutes before removing from the molds. Serve with chutney or ghee.
This chutney is probably the most healthy of all coconut chutney options. A generous helping of the greens in the morning will help to flush the kidney and liver, thereby detoxifying your system.
In restaurants, they often add roasted chana dal/ gram dal, as this increases the life of the chutney. It changes the taste quite a bit, and is optional – add it if you like the taste.
Time taken: 10 min
Serves 2
Ingredients
½ coconut, grated
1 cup mint or coriander leaves, or both
½ cup roasted chana dal or gram dal (optional)
1 green chili
1 dried red chili, broken
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp coconut oil
Salt to taste
Method
Grind the coconut, dal, leaves, chili and salt together. Add water bit by bit, to help with the grinding, until it reaches the consistency you desire.
Heat oil, add the mustard seeds, red chili and curry leaves. Pour this on top of the chutney. Serve.
My grandfather was very, VERY particular about picking vegetables. As a result all his children, including my dad, received very strict training. And my mother made sure that dad passed on as much knowledge as he could, to us.
Learning to pick fresh veggies is the first thing you’ll need to learn if you are starting to cook, because without fresh ingredients that are thriving, vibrating with life, your food is going to be pretty lifeless. The easiest way to learn is to touch, gently press and smell as many of them as you can while you pick. With just a little practice, you’ll know with a glance which ones are good.
Tomatoes, squash, eggplants, cucumber, bell peppers, etc.
These can be picked easily – check for three things – color/ evenness, firmness and smell.
Check their colour to make sure they are ripe (the colour should be bright and deep), and inspect the surface to see that they have no cuts, holes or bruises.
Press them a little and see if they are firm. Many vegetables today are picked raw and transported, and often sprayed with chemicals to ripen them prematurely. If this is the case, the color will be bright, but the vegetable will be hard. There should be a little give under pressure. The over-ripe ones are soft.
Lastly, smell them near the stem. Fresh vegetables smell wonderful!
Avocados
The first two rules about even surface and hardness apply to avocados as well.
Another thing you can do, is remove the stem and check the surface underneath. It should be a nice green color. Black indicates an over ripe avocado.
Cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage
Look around it to check if you see any holes anywhere – that indicates it has worms, so you better avoid it. If they are firm to touch, they are fresh. Old ones will be soft. In case of cauliflower and broccoli, the florets should be of even color and not brown.
Potatoes, onions, carrots or other root vegetables
Check to see that they don’t have holes either.
Tubers will be firm under pressure if they are fresh. Old ones get soft. Fresh carrots are usually bright in colour, and older ones start looking dry and pale.
For onions, see that the entire onion is pretty much the same colour. Old onions start drying up from bottom up, so the larger the dry area, the older your onion is – and the less edible.
Beans, Okra (ladies finger), etc.
Vegetables like beans and okra are crisp when they are fresh, and break easily. To check for freshness, just bend the tip, and if it breaks, then it is fresh. With age, the beans or okra become fiberous and bend with pressure, becoming hard to break.
Leafy Vegetables
Check the bunch to ensure there are no rotting or dry leaves. When you touch the leaves, they should be firm and crisp. Soft and tender leaves indicate that the bunch is old.
Peas
With peas, much of the previous knowledge doesn’t apply. If you pick the brightest pods, you will end up with baby peas – a lot of work and very little to cook with! One has to be a little careful here, because pea pods are prone to having worms. So make sure there are no holes in the pods, and pick the dry looking ones that seem filled up and are firm to touch.
This chutney is most popular in Kerala homes. They make it quite diluted, and it is usually served warm alongside idlies or dosas. I prefer using Byadige or Kashmiri chilies as they impart a lovely flavor, without making the chutney spicy. If you prefer the burning sensation that chilies bring, Guntur chilies would be your choice.
Time taken: 10 min
Serves 2
Ingredients
½ coconut, grated
3 dried red chilies, broken
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp coconut oil
Salt to taste
Method
Grind the coconut, 2 red chilies and salt together. Add water bit by bit to help with the grinding, until it reaches the consistency you desire.
Heat oil, add the mustard, chili and curry leaves. Pour this on top of the chutney. Serve.
OR
To make it Kerala style, heat oil in a vessel large enough to hold the chutney, and add mustard seeds, chili and curry leaves. Now pour the chutney into this vessel and warm the chutney. Do not boil. Serve warm.
Having grown up eating the Kerala style idly, I was always intrigued by the grainy texture of the idlies we ate in various parts of Karnataka. And after moving to Bangalore, I fell head over heels in love with them – Bangalore darshnis are absolutely the best place to try idly in my experience. My personal favourite joint is SLV at Ragi gudda.
So if you are in love with Bangalore idlies like I am, this recipe is dedicated to you.
Ingredients:
1 cup idly rava (this is not the usual rava. Idly rava is made by grinding parboiled rice)
1 cup black gram/ uraddal (traditionally, this would be ½ cup)
¼ cup beaten rice/ poha or cooked rice (optional)
¼ tsp fenugreek/ methi seeds
water, oil, salt as needed
Soak the idly rava in sufficient water. Separately, soak the dal along with methi seeds.
Let these soak for 4-8 hours.
Soak poha for 20 min in just enough water to cover it.
Drain the dal and reserve the water. Grind it along with the poha/ cooked rice, using the reserved water to bring it to a smooth, thick batter consistency.
Mix the batters with the idly rava. Place this batter in a large vessel as it will rise.
Cover with a cloth or a lid and let it ferment for about 8-10 hours.
This process works great in summers, but if the room temperature is under 25°C, the results can be a bit disappointing. To counter this, you could place the vessel with the batter inside a casserole, warmed up pressure cooker or pre-heated (40°C) oven.
Mix the batter, add salt.
Prepare the steamer. If you are using a pressure cooker, remember to remove the vent, pour about an inch of water inside, and bring to a boil.
Smear oil on the idly moulds to prevent sticking. Pour the batter into them and steam for 10 min. For best results, let the idlies rest for another 5 minutes before you take them out of the moulds.
Serve hot with chutney and sambar.
Note: The batter can be refrigerated upto 3 days.
Tips: I know we all love to wash the rice and dal to remove any chemical residues, but this also washes off the precious bacteria that help in the rising process. I’ve seen better results when I don’t wash the rice and dal. Use organic ingredients to skimp on the chemicals.
I first ate this salad as a 14 year old in France, as I watched the sun streaming in through the windows, the smell of freshly baked baguettes floating in on a beautiful Sunday morning. It was also the first time I ate salad for breakfast. And it was love at first bite.
Couscous is often confused with broken wheat. They are not the same. Couscous is really a pasta that looks like a grain, and is made from semolina. It is much faster to cook when compared to broken wheat. If you don’t have couscous, you could probably substitute it with cooked broken wheat.
The most special ingredient in this dish is the parsley. It adds a wonderful freshness.
Time taken: 10 min
Serves 3-4
Measuring cup used: 200 ml
Ingredients
1 cup couscous
1 cup chopped Greek cucumber
1 cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cook the couscous as per instructions. Usually this involves soaking it in an equal amount of boiling water and letting it sit covered for 10 min.
Make the dressing by mixing the lemon juice and the olive oil and adding salt and pepper.
Mix the couscous with the chopped cucumber, tomatoes and parsley. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.
Serve cold, topped with pumpkin seeds if you like the crunch.
Rice is staple food in many countries. And for good reason! Rice is very nutritious – when eaten in the right form. It is such a pity that the beauty of food took precedence over it’s nutritive value, and today brown rice is consumed only by the health conscious.
Unpolished Red Matta Rice
There are many, many varieties of rice.
Unpolished, red matta rice is the raw version of the parboiled rice that is commonly consumed in Kerala and Tamil nadu.
Brown Rice
Most other varieties of rice, when unpolished, are usually a lighter brown and are commonly called Brown rice.
Unpolished rice retains the most nutritive content of the grain. Rice is very nutritious. It has selenium, manganese, naturally occurring oils, antioxidants and is also rich in fiber. Click here to read about the benefits of eating brown rice. Those who initially experiment with brown rice find the texture unappealing, but with a little practice it is possible to cook it so it is soft.
Parboiled ‘Red’ Matta rice
‘Red rice’ as it is commonly called, is parboiled rice. This is red rice which is boiled with it’s husk on, before being polished. Because of the boiling, the rice absorbs the nutrition from the husk. So, while this rice is definitely more nutritious than white rice, it contains less fibre than unpolished rice. Some Brahmin communities in India do not eat twice cooked foods, and this rice is avoided by them as it has been boiled once already.
Polished Sona Masoori rice
There are really many, many varieties of rice in the world. Believe it or not, 90,000 types of rice are known of, out of which 40,000 types are cultivated in the world. Here are a few varieties that we commonly use.
Sona masuri rice is the most popular variety in Karnataka. It is typical to find 4-5 grades of this rice. It’s grain is fairly short and it has a soft texture if cooked right.
Polished Basmati rice
Basmati rice is used very commonly in North India. Good quality Basmati rice has very, very long grain, almost an inch long. Basmati rice has a wonderful aroma and is usually soaked for half an hour before cooking so that each grain is separate when it is cooked by boiling. If you are making pulao/ pilaf or biryani, this is the best rice to use.
Polished Jasmine rice
Jasmine rice comes from Thailand and has a delicate, floral aroma. It is usually cooked by steaming or by absorption method. The texture of cooked Jasmine rice is usually soft and slightly sticky. This is the rice you should use if you are making a South East Asian dish.
Polished Risotto rice
Risotto rice (Arborio) is from Italy and is used in making risottos. This rice is usually cooked very slowly, adding boiling water or stock ladle by ladle. The result is a very creamy rice texture.
I’ve reduced the entry of maida (refined flour) into my house to quite an extent. Refined flour is too sticky for the intestines to process, and it compromises the functions of the small as well as the large intestines quite drastically, leading to poor absorption of nutrients, and obesity among many other problems.
In most dishes, you can replace it with whole wheat flour and get away with it. Except cakes. And that is why these few cakes where you can easily make a switch without much ado, are a blessing.
Preparation time : 20 min
Baking time : 10 – 12 min
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1 tsp baking powder or ½ tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cocoa pd OR raisins
½ cup sunflower oil
1 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 over ripe banana, mashed (Optional)
2 tbsp nuts or chocolate chips (Optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F.
Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together, or put them in a bowl and whisk to remove lumps.
Mix oil and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat until fluffy.
Add flour and milk alternately, gently folding it in. Do not beat anymore.
Finally mix in raisins, banana, nuts or chocolate chips.
Grease the muffin trays and fill up to half with batter.
Bake for about 10-12 min and remove from tray after cooling.
1 cup of dal will usually suffice 2 people. If you like your dal a little thin, then ½ cup of dal might be enough for 2 people.
Identifying the Dals
My post on Lentils and Legumes, gives detailed information, with pictures and description of several varieties to help you understand and identify the various dals.
The Pressure-Cooker Method
Ingredients:
1 cup tuvar dal, dhuli mung or dhuli masoor dal
2½ cups water
1 Tomato (optional)
A pinch of hing/ asafetida
1 tsp haldi/ turmeric powder
½ tsp chili powder
Salt Method:
Wash the dal once.
Put the dal into the pressure cooker and add the water. Add turmeric powder, chili powder and asafetida.
Cook on high flame until the first whistle.
TIME: Reduce the flame to minimum and cook for 5 minutes.
OR
WHISTLE: Cook on high flame till second whistle, and then reduce flame and cook till third whistle.
Open the pressure cooker, add chopped tomato and some more water if necessary, and then simmer for about 5 minutes.
Optionally, you may heat some ghee or butter, add a few cumin or mustard seeds until they splutter, and then pour it into the dal. This adds a delicious flavour.
The Open Cooking Method
I strongly recommend soaking the dals overnight if you plan to open-cook it, since otherwise, the dals take a long time to cook, over half an hour.
Wash the dal
Put the dal into the vessel and add about 4-5 times the water.
Cook on high flame until it begins boiling and then reduce the flame.
Let it simmer until the dal and water seem to blend with each other, about 30-40 min.
Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder, and season with mustard or cumin seeds as described above.
