Ambo Upkari/ Spicy Mango Curry

This one is one of the classic Konkani dishes. Mango upkari is very simple to make and a very few ingredients. If cooking with fruit is not your thing, try this and you would want to do it over and over again. My kiddos took some time to warm up to upkari, but me and my hubby love this. So usually we both finish it up without forcing the kids too much. :o)

Prep time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 5

Ingredients:
Small Mangos - 3
Water - 2 Cups
Salt - 1tsp.
Green Chilies - 3
Jaggery - small lime size
All Purpose Flour / Maida - 2 tsp.

For tempering
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Urad Dal - 1 tsp.
Kadipatta/ Curry Leaves - 1 spring
Red Chili - 1

Method of Preparation:
~ Wash and clean the mangoes. Peel the skin off and put skin in a large bowl. Keep peeled mangoes aside.
~ Now add the water to the bowl with skin. Using hands gently rub the inside part of the skin. Discard the squeezed skin. Now you will have a bowlful of thick mango water.
~ In thick bottomed wide pan, add this mango squeezed water, mango (you can cut the side slices off or use the whole mango), salt, green chili and jaggery. Place it on the gas and let it cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, turning the mangoes once half way through. Mango color changes to lighter color at this point of time.
~ In a small bowl, place AP flour and add 2 tablespoons of water. Mix them to make a fine paste.
~ Now slowly add it the cooked mixture. Combine gently and let the flour cook. The curry starts to thicken, then it's time to switch off the heat.
~ In a tempering spoon, heat some oil and let mustard seeds splutter.
~ Add urad dal, curry leaves and broken red chili, remove from heat and immediately temper on top of the mango curry.
~ Serve it hot with rice or as a side dish with roti's.

If you like to cook with fruits, you might also like:
Ambo Sasam/ Sweet and Spicy Mango CurryCorn Mango saladMango MousseMango Fruit Salad

Linking the recipe to HearthAndSoulBlogHop, ProjectInspired, TurnItUpTuesday, AnythingGoes, RecipeOfTheWeek, ShareYourStuff, DareToShare, TryANewRecipe, BragAboutIt, DIYSunday,FridayFrenzy, HappinessIsHomemade, WeekendRetreat, ShareItSunday, MeltInYourMouthMonday, What'dYouDoThisWeekend, MuchAdoAboutMonday, FiveFridayFinds,

Suran Sukke/ Elephant Foot Yam Subzi

Did the name "Elephant Foot Yam" catch your attention? :o) Yeah, pretty neat name for this tuber. We call it "Churna" in konkani or "Suvarna Gadde" in Kannada. These tubers are quite huge and my mom would buy the cut pieces or the whole. Then we would end up eating them for several days in form of several dishes. It has several medicinal values is what I have heard and it's quite popularly used in Ayurveda medicine.

You have to be careful though while using this tuber. If you don't cook it right, it leaves a little scratchy feeling in your throat. My mom would actually wash them thoroughly, cut and add pieces in salt water for few minutes. In the recipes she would add more sore taste, either with tangy tamarind or tomatoes or lemon juice.

Ingredients:
Suran - 3 Cups (I use frozen cut pieces)
Onion - 1 medium (finely chopped)
Garlic - 3 pods (finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 medium
Chili Powder - 1 tsp.
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp.
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Shredded Coconut - 1 Cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:
~ Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel. Add cut onion and garlic. Fry until onion becomes translucent.
~ Add turmeric powder, chili powder and fry for few minutes.
~ Add Suran and continue to fry. Cover and cook them for 7 to 10 minutes.
~ Add cut tomatoes and fry until they are cooked.
~ Add shredded coconut, Garam masala powder and salt to taste. Mix everything for few more minutes until everything is combined.
~ Serve hot with rotis.

Linking this recipe to
HearthAndSoulBlogHop, ProjectInspired, TurnItUpTuesday, AnythingGoes, RecipeOfTheWeek, ShareYourStuff, CreativeCorner, DareToShare, TryANewRecipe, BragAboutIt, DIYSunday,FridayFrenzy, HappinessIsHomemade, WeekendRetreat, ShareItSunday, MeltInYourMouthMonday, What'dYouDoThisWeekend, MuchAdoAboutMonday, FiveFridayFinds,

Mackerel Fish Curry/ Bangda Thaiphal Ambat

I love seafood. And out of all the fishes, I am crazy about mackerel or bangda as we call it. The curry or the fry any way you make it, you will win me over. In US it's very hard to find; forget fresh, even good mackerel. Since I don't take chances with seafood, I never bought after first try.

Recently we found a place that sells good quality mackerel. And I called my second sister for help. She is VERY good at making seafood, infact non-vegetarian. I love almost all of her preparations. Whenever I am at her place, she spoils us good with loads of non-vegetarian food. This is her recipe that I am holding on to now to make the bangda curry every time.:o)

Thaiphal/ Teppal is less known spice which is used in Konkani dishes. It has pretty strong taste. I don't grind it into the curry, but put it later, it makes it infuse the curry with nice Teppal aroma. You can always skip this in the curry.  To know more about Teppal, visit this link here.

Ingredients:

Mackerel - 2 large (Cut into about 10 pieces)
Coconut - 2 1/2 Cups
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp.
Chili - Around 8 to 10
Haldi/ Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.
Tamarind - 1 1/2 tsp.
ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 2 or 3
Thaiphal/ Teppal - 5 or 6
Salt

Method of Preparation:

~ Clean and wash mackerel and keep aside.
~ Grind coconut, coriander seeds, chilies, turmeric powder and tamarind together.
~ When its almost grounded, add  ginger, garlic and continue to grind it fine.
~ In a wide thick bottomed pan, bring the ground masala to boil with salt and thaipal.
~ Add fish, cover 3/4th the pan and bring to boil again.
~ Serve it warm, at least after an hour so that the fish soaks in the flavors, along with rice.

Sending this to  Hearth And Soul Blog Hop, ProjectInspired, TurnItUpTuesday, In&OutOfTheKitchen, AnythingGoes, RecipeOfTheWeek, ShareYourStuff, CreativeCorner, DareToShare, TryANewRecipe, HeartsForHome, DIYSunday, BragAboutIt, FoodFriday, PinWorthyProjects, Sweet&Savory, TheYuckStopsHere

Sardines in Spicy Tomato Sauce/ Tarli Phanna Upkari

I remember in my summer vacation when we used to visit my maternal grandma, she would keep tarli prepared in a small earthen pot. The more days you keep the tastier it would become. It's almost like pickle, when you think of it, it makes your mouth water. It's spicy and tangy. One of the dish that my mom prepares well too. I was always apprehensive of preparing the authentic tarli sol or upkari. This particular dish is courtesy of my friend Shubhi. One day she prepared this right in front of my eyes and I couldn't believe how good it was. It didn't needed an earthen pot (am sure that will enhance the taste though), nor needed to sit longer to taste better. This Sardines dish has become one of mine and my DH's favorite, and can be prepared in jiffy.

Prep Time: 2 min. | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 6

Recipe Source: Shubhangi
Ingredients:
Sardine - 1 can (Sardines in Tomato sauce)
Tomato Sauce - 1 Can (or Tomato Juice)
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard - 1/2 tsp.
Hing/ Asafeotida - 1/2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 1 tbsp. *
Salt - 1 tsp.
Sugar - 1/2 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ In a thick iron cast pan heat oil and add mustard seeds.
~ When the mustard starts crackling, add hing and fry for few seconds.
~ Now add chili powder, tomato sauce and sardines.
~ Bring everything to boil, add salt and sugar, mix it all gently.
~ Simmer for couple of minutes and take it out of heat.
~ It goes really well with just plain rice.

NOTE:
~ Chili should be added according to your spice level. It has to be little spicier.
~ Instead of tomato sauce you could use V8 tomato juice. Just hold the sugar.
~ Check on the salt since canned sardines and tomato sauce has some salt in it.

Cilantro Chutney/ Coriander Chutney/ Green Chutney Konkani Style

Last night I had made Idly and Chutney. When I posted the picture on my Facebook page, I got lot of inquiry for the chutney. The chutney that was in that picture was Celery Chutney. Then I noticed that I didn't had the green chutney recipe that I usually do. This is my mom's way of doing the chutney. This goes great not only with Idly and Dosa, you can put it on a sandwich and add some vegetables and voila your lunch sandwich is ready. This can be saved in the fridge for 3 or 4 days. While reusing, warm it a little bit in a microwave.

Ingredients:

To Grind:
Coconut - 1 and 1/2 Cup
Coriander/ Cilantro - a bunch (about a cup not packed)
Putani/ Dalia split lentil/ Hurigadale - 2 tbsp.
Tamarind concentrate - 1 tsp. extract
Green Chili - 4 to 5 (depends on the spiciness level you can handle)
Ginger - Half lemon size
Salt to taste

For Tempering:
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
Curry / Kadipatta leaves - 1 spring
Garlic - 1 Crushed
Red Chili - 1

Method of Preparation:

~ Grind everything in the ingredients list under "To Grind" to fine paste. You can check half way through on the spice, salt and add if needed. Take it out in a service bowl.
~ In a small pan heat oil, let the mustard start crackling, add crushed garlic, red chili and curry leaves.
~ Pour it over the prepared chutney. Serve it after mixing them.

This will go really good with
Rava Idly 
Urid Dosa
Oatmeal Dosa
Dill Dosa/ Sweet Green Dosa
Onion Uttappa
Pan Pole/ Neer Dosa/ Thin Lacey Dosa

Karathe Kismuri/ Hagalkaayi Kosumbari/ Bitter Gourd Relish

Karathe or Bitter Gourd is extremely bitter if you try to eat it as is. It is considered to be very good for diabetic patients. And today happens to be World Diabetics Day! When I was looking to see if there were any scientific proof about bitter gourd reducing the blood glucose levels, I stumbled across this link. Didn't know there was a website dedicated to bitter gourd.

My mom would make variety of dishes using karathe and this is one of the relish that she would make. Being part of Konkani group reminding me all these dishes that my mom would serve us. Me and my hubby loved karathe since childhood and I see the same trend in my son. He just loves any variations of bitter gourd. You can adjust the jaggery as per your taste. If you can handle the bitterness then more power to you and less to jaggery. :o)

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 10 min| Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd - 2 medium
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Jaggery - 1 tbsp.
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp.
Chili Powder - 1 tsp.
Grated Coconut - 1 Cup
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Onion - 1 small finely chopped.
Coriander Leaves - half a handful
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and scrape off bitter gourd skin. Cut it lengthwise and de-seed. Chop them in small pieces, add salt and leave it for few minutes.
~ Heat oil in a pan, squeeze the bitter gourd a little to take out the moisture and add it to the hot pan.
~ Shallow fry until they are almost done. This needs patience since you have to keep it on medium heat and keep frying. Now add haldi/ turmeric powder and jaggery. Give it a nice mix and take it out of heat. Allow to cool for few minutes
~ In a bowl add onion, chili powder, coriander powder and little salt. Nicely mix them together. It turns out good when you squeeze everything together and mix with hand (yeah, I said it.. magic of hand mixing)
~ Add in freshly grated coconut, chopped coriander leaves and fried bitter gourd pieces. Mix it all up and serve on the side with Plain Rice and Daali Thoy.

You may be also interested in Bitter Gourd Subzi

Sending this dish to Nandoo's event Dish it out - Coconut & Salt

Vaali Ambat/ Basale Soppu Curry/ Malabar Spinach Curry

I have previously shared Vaali Ani Sungat Randhyi that uses Malabar Spinach and Shrimp as the main ingredients. This is another Konkani delicacy that's very common to most households. Many have the vine growing in their backyard, so that whenever they want they can just go over and bring in the fresh produce and use it. I can never make up my mind if I like the vegetarian or non-veg version better. Try both and let me know your view. :o)

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 30 min | Serves : 6

Recipe Courtesy: My Aayi
Ingredients:
Vaali/ Basale Soppu/ Malabar Spinach - 1 bunch (About 4 Cups)
Split Red Gram/ Tuvar Dal - 1/2 Cup
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium size
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp.
Salt - 2 tsp.

For grinding Masala:
Grated Coconut - 2 Cups
Red Chili - 4
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp.
Garlic - 2 pods

Method of preparation:

~ Wash Dal, add a cup of water along with chopped Onion and Tomato. Add turmeric powder and pressure cook for three whistles.
~ While the pressure cooker is cooling down, prepare the masala. Grind everything under the grinding masala list to a fine paste while adding a cup of water in intervals.
~ Wash Vaali thoroughly with water. Chop them coarsely.
~ In a wide, heavy bottomed pan cook the greens first.
~ Once it starts to wilt and change to darker green color, add the ground masala.
~ Let the mixture bring to a boil.
~ Mash the contents in the pressure cooker and add it to the pan. Add enough water as required.
~ Add salt to taste and mix them all together. Bring the curry to a boil and switch off the heat.
~ Serve it hot with plain white rice.

Vermicelli Kheer/ Sevai Payas/ Vermicelli Pudding

Kheer is one of the basic sweet that many household in India do. This is one of quickest dessert to prepare. Even here in US I have seen most of the Indian restaurants have either Rice Kheer or Vermicelli Kheer on their buffet menu. This is my mom's recipe that I prepared for Durgashtami. This can be served hot or chilled.

Prep Time : 10 min | Cooking Time : 15 min | Serves : 4

Ingredients:
Ghee - 1 tbsp.
Vermicelli Noodles - 1/2 Cup
2% Milk - 2 1/2 Cups *
Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Safron - Few strands
Raisins and Cashews - 1/4 Cup

Method of Preparation:
~ Heat ghee in a sauce pan, fry raisins and cashews until cashews turn slight brown and raisins plump up (1 minute)
~ Fish them out onto a small plate. Now in the same pan add noodles and fry them until they are golden brown (Note that you can use fried noodles to make it quicker.)
~ In another pan bring milk to first boil with saffron. Immediately add vermicelli and cook vermicelli while stirring. Make sure none of them stick together.
~ Once the milk comes to another boil, add sugar, mix it thoroughly and take it out of heat.
~ Serve it garnished with fried raisins and cashews

Notes:
- Once cooked, the noodles fluff up and absorb the milk. I use 1:5 ratio which gives nice consistency. If you like it thicker you can lower the milk upto 1:3 ratio. If you like it thinner, increase milk to 1:6 ratio.

Sending this delectable dish to Kids Delight @Spice your life
Nupur's Festive Collection
Vardhini's Diwali event

Baked Whole Black Pomfret

Baking is like therapy. And when it's fish that's baking then it's Nirvaana! Yes. I love baked fish and I do it many times. Why baking you ask? Let's look at some of the pros. I don't have to baby sit, uses way less oil than pan fried and tastes juicier. Long time back when I first baked, my son, who was a little toddler and my DH sat around and just devoured the fish. I was really amused by my little ones love for the fish. Bake or no bake he never faltered on that tradition of sitting with Dad and eating that first before anything else. As he is getting older he wants me to bake it more than pan frying it. So here is our favorite recipe of mine.

Prep Time: 20 min | Marinating Time: 1 Hr or more | Cooking Time : 30 ~ 35 minutes* | Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Black Pomfret/ Paplet - 4
Chili Powder - 2 tbsp.
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Tamarind Concentrate - 1 tbsp.
Ginger - small lime size
Garlic - 7 big cloves
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - 2 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ In a small bowl, grate ginger and garlic. Add everything else but fish, in the ingredient list and mix thoroughly to make a paste and keep it aside.
~ Cut the tail and fins off of the fish. Make a slit near the stomach and clean out everything from inside the stomach. Wash all the fish thoroughly with running water.
~ On each side of the fish, make two slits.
~ Rub the prepared paste onto the fish and inside the hollow stomach area.
~ Cover and let the fish marinate for atleast an hour. (More the better :o)). If you are planning to marinate for more, leave it in the refrigerator.
~ When ready to bake, take out the fish if it's in refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 300 deg Fahrenheit.
~ On a baking sheet, cover with a foil and spray with a non-sticking spray. Line the fish on the sheet and spray again.
~ Stick it in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Half way through at around 20 minutes, flip the fish and continue to bake until a light crust forms on top of the fish.
~ Squeeze some lemon and serve them hot. Meat just slides off the bones if you want to serve in little pieces instead of whole fish.

Best served with some hot rice and Daali Thoy.
* Note that cooking time needs to be increased or decreased depending upon the number of fish. Here I have given approximate time for baking four large fish.

Sending this to Valli's event 'Side Dish Mela'

Beetroot Bhaaji/ Beets Upkari

My favorite way of making beetroot is chutney which I have previously blogged about. Another way is this, a simple low calorie bhaaji. Beetroot is one of the vegetable that stays in the refrigerator for pretty long duration. So I put them on my grocery list the minute I run out of it. I add them to my vegetable breakfast juices, which gives it a rich bright color. Juices are for another day! Today I present you this humble root in it's simple form of bhaaji.  

Prep Time : 5 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Beetroot - 2 medium size
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard - 1/2 tsp.
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Urad Daal - 1 tsp.
Curry Leaves - Leaves from one spring
Red Chili - 1 split
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and peel the skin off of beetroots. Remove the hard top and bottom parts. Chop them.
~ Steam until they are little tender or pressure cook for 5 minutes. (Don't put any water in the container with beetroots)
~ In a wide pan, heat oil and add mustard.
~ Once the mustard starts spluttering, add urad daal, hing, red chili and lastly curry leaves.
~ Add the cooked beetroots, salt and mix them all thoroughly. Switch off the heat and serve it hot.

Crab Sukka/ Kurle Sukke

After almost three months in India, I have gotten so many recipes to share. One of my favorite is this crab sukka. In konkani we call it "Kurle". While visiting mom she was whipping out her delicacies one after the other. This is one of her dishes that I love. Crab was really fresh that day, so dad bought it home. Once Aayi started preparing the curry it was smelling great in the whole house. I was so hungry smelling the dish that I took some quick pictures and sat down to gobble it.

This typical Konkani dish is made in different versions. Sukka or dry version is what I have presented here. You can make more finer paste of coconut paste and use more water and turn it into curry. Now to the recipe.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time : 20 min | Serves : 6

Recipe Source : My Aayi

Ingredients:

Fresh Crab - 2 lb. / 1 Kg
Onion - 1 medium for frying
Onion - 1/4 cup for blending
Oil - 2 tsp.
Tomato/ green mango - 1 cup *
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp.
Coconut - 1 cup
Coriander powder - 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Red chilies - 3
Garlic - 5 to 6
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Clean crabs thoroughly with water. Remove hard shell top part and discard. Break the claw or Dongo. This will be used in the sukka. Rinse it all again and keep it aside.
~ In a heavy bottom vessel, add cooking oil and onion. Fry till onion becomes translucent.
~ Add the cleaned crab and tomato. Cook until nice kurle aroma starts to come (about 5 minutes)
~ Then add turmeric, chili powder and Garam masala powder. Mix them all well.
~ Meanwhile, make dry coarse paste of Coconut, Coriander powder, Mustard seeds, Red chili, Onion, and garlic.
~ Once crab is almost cooked (smells divine) add prepared coconut paste.
~ Add little salt (careful since the shell seafood have salt mostly), mix them all nicely. Crab is ready to be served.

Note: You can use Tamarind paste instead of tomato. Use about a tbsp. of fresh tamarind extract. I have been trying to reduce the usage of tamarind, since it's known to cause severe acidity. 

Ambe Sasam / Sweet & Sour Mango Curry

Ambe Sasam is one of the common konkani household dish during mango season. After almost 12 years I am in India during summer and this time around I ate them almost like every other day. Some may turn up their nose to hear about mango in a curry, that too whole mangoes. Even my daughter didn't quite like the whole idea of having mango inside the curry. But sunny boy loved them. But serve me up this, I am the happiest person. They go well with pooris, roti's or even plain rice. These pictures were taken at my sister's place in Pune. And she helped me with this writeup. Thanks Vittai :o)

Prep Time : 15 min | Cooking Time : 20 min | Serves : 5

Ingredients:
Small Ripe Whole Mango - 10 
Coconut (grated) - 1 and 1/2 Cup
Mustard / Saasam seeds - 1 tsp.
Red Chilies (Byadagi variety) - 4 to 5
Jaggery - 1/2 Cup (see notes)
Salt - a pinch

Method of Preparation:

~ Clean Mangoes and peel the skin off, put it in a big pan with jaggery.
~ Keep the skin aside in a small pot. Add half a cup of water and squeeze out the juice out of skin. Discard all the skin, keeping the juice. Add the juice to the pan above and bring everything to boil.
~ Meanwhile grind coconut, mustard and chilies.
~ Add this ground masala to the big pan.
~ Bring everything to boil, add salt to taste.
~ Serve it hot.

Note:
~ Choose small variety of mangoes. If they have more fiber in it, it's better.  ~ You can use sour ones in this recipe, just add more of jaggery, about 3/4 of a cup.

Dill Pancake / Sheppu Bhaaji Poley/ Sabasige Soppu Dosa

One of my childhood memories is of eating these aromatic green dosa's/ pancakes for breakfast. The aroma of Dill leaves would fill the whole house. I used to call it "Godda Poley", meaning Jaggery Dosa. I didn't know the name of Shepu bhaaji, as we call it in Konkani, until I moved to US. And knowing it's called "Dill" added more fun to it. For those who don't know Hindi language, Dill means "Heart". Isn't it pretty cool. :o)

Dill is supposed to be zero in cholesterol and low in calories. My mom used to say it promotes good digestion. Find more health benefits of Dill here. You can make the batter ahead and keep it in the refrigerator for a day or two.  
Prep Time: 10 min + 3 hrs to soak | Cooking Time : 2 min/ dosa |
Makes : About 20

Ingredients:

Dill Leaves / Shepu Bhaaji - 1 Bunch (About 2 cups packed)
Rice - 2 Cups 
Cooked Rice - 1/2 Cup
Coconut - 1/2 Cup
Jaggery - 1/2 Cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp.
Chili Powder (optional) - 1/4 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and soak rice for 2 to 3 hours.
~ Clean and wash dill leaves. Grind all the ingredients using a cup of water to a fine paste.
~ Transfer the contents to a bowl and use the water to make a pancake/ dosa consistency. 
~ Heat a non-stick pan or a griddle. 
~ Pour a ladle of batter onto the hot pan and quickly spread it into a circle.
~ Cover and cook for a minute. Open the cover and continue to cook on the same side to get crisp dosa or flip it over to make it soft. 
~ Serve it hot with ghee spread on top.

Note:
- You can make this using Dosa batter too. Just skip rice and cooked rice. Grind everything else and add the 4 cups of dosa batter.
- There is no need to ferment the batter. Since there is cooked rice and jaggery, the dosa turns out pretty soft and fluffy.

Sending this to,
Nayna's let's Cook Rice Dishes

Vaali Sungat Randhayi/ Basale leaves with Shrimp Curry

Vaali leaves are one of our favorite type of vegetable. It is commonly used in Konkani household. When we were younger, it was hard to find these in Bangalore. Whenever we were in native place, coastal Karnataka, they were in abundance. Most of my relatives had these vines growing in their backyard. The curry made out of these turns out so good, that you can combine it with any other vegetable or seafood. Shrimp or Prawn are most commonly used combination. 

In US I had not realized for a while that we get this in Chinese stores. When one of my Konkani friend pointed out that they are called Saan Choy. Since then there is no turning back. My mom gave me this recipe. I have added a little twist to it to by frying the shrimp first, giving it a nice crunch. It's our family favorite. My little one who usually runs away from any green leafy things actually loves this and always asks for seconds. :) The pictures are from when I prepared this for my DH's birthday on his special request.

Prep Time : 20 min | Cooking Time : 20 min | Serves : 4

Photo Credit - Wiki 

Ingredients:

Shrimp/ Prawn/ Sungat - 30 count
Vaali/ Basale/ Malabar Spinach/ Saan Choy - 1 lb or 1/2 Kg.
Shredded coconut - 1 cup
Red Chilies - 5
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp.

Coriander powder - 2 tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp.
Garlic - 3 or 4 pods
Water - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~  Remove shell, de-vein and clean the shrimp. Put some salt, turmeric powder and chili powder and set it aside.
~ Clean the Vaali leaves and stems thoroughly to remove any dirt. Note that these leave ooze out some stickiness if handled roughly, so clean them very gently, by soaking them in big tub of water and draining.
~ If you have too much thick stems, it's better to pressure cook, otherwise, roughly chop them. Chop the leaves and set it aside.
~ Dry fry mustard seeds, red chilies and garlic. Take them out and grind them with coconut and coriander powder. 
~ Add oil in a thick bottomed vessel. Fry the marinated shrimp for few minutes, until they start to turn pink. Take them out in a bowl and set aside. 
~ Add water to the same vessel and bring it to boil. Add the stem part first and then the leaves of Vaali. Cover and cook them for at-least 5 to 7 minutes. The sliminess of the leaves should be gone. 
~ Now add the coconut masala that was prepared before and bring everything to boil. Takes another 5 to 7 minutes.
~ Lastly add the fried shrimps, salt to taste and continue to cook for few more minutes.
~ Serve hot with plain rice. 

Serving this family favorite at Bon Vivant #12 - Quixotic Fixes - Check out this month's detail and giveaway.

And
Cusine Delight's Spotlight - Valentine treat
Sara's Tasty Buds - Traditional & Native Recipes event

Beans Upkari/ Beans dry subzi

This is one of the simple recipes of konkani's. You can replace beans with any kind other of beans or vegetables. It's quick to put together (especially if your vegetables are cut). If you do not want to cut it smaller, you can cut it bigger and cook it in pressure cooker for a whistle (in upper container). But when you cook it on the stove top, it gives a very different taste. You can add potatoes with it, which is usually what my mom does. Today I did without potatoes, since I had potatoes in the curry. Here is a run down on the recipe.

Ingredients:
Tender beans -  2 to 3 cups - Finely chopped
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin/ Jeera seeds - 1 tsp.
Chana Daal -  1 tsp.
Urad Daal - 2 tsp.
Asefoetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp.
Green chili - 2 - finely chopped
Curry / Kadipatta leaves - 1 spring
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp.
Jaggery - 1/2 tsp. (optional)
Salt to taste
Water - 1 tbsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Heat oil in a kadai, and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add chana daal, urad daal and jeera seeds.
~ After frying for few seconds add hing, green chilies and kadipatta.
~ Now add the chopped beans. Fry for few minutes and then add water, cover and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes.
~ Remove the cover and mix throughly, check to make sure it's almost cooked. Now add salt, grated coconut and jaggery (if using).
~ Mix it all up and serve it with rice and daali thoy!

Sending this yummy side dish to my Bon Vivant event - Bon Vivant #9 - Simply Sides.

Jackfruit Pancake/ Phanas Poale

Jackfruit or Phanas as we call it, is one of my favorite fruits. We used to get that in abundance in my native place in North Canara. During our summer visits first thing I used to do was to run to the big jackfruit trees in the backyard and count how many we could have before we leave. We would keep a watch on the ripening jackfruit so no monkeys can harm them. Even before they ripe sometimes my granny would take it out to make curries, chips etc. Ripe ones were usually attacked by all the grandkids.. But she would sometime ask us to leave some of it so she can make dosa or idli out of it.

Here I don't have the luxury of getting fresh fruit. But I always stock up on canned ones. My kids love it too. So when I was blog hopping Kaveri, I jumped to this recipe of jackfruit pancakes. Though I have had this many times before, it's never enough for me. :o) Kaveri has lot of Palakkad recipes on her space. These pancakes turned out really good. Jackfruit gives real nice flavor to common dishes. Try it out and let me know.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time | Pressure cook time + making each pancake

Ingredients:

Jackfruit - 1 Cup (1 can full of jackfruits)

Paraboiled rice/ Long grain rice - 1 1/2 Cup

Jaggery - 1 Cup (Brown Sugar)

Salt - 1/4 tsp.

Oil to grease the pan

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash rice and leave it to soak for 3 to 4 hours.
~ Soak jaggery in little water and let the impurities settle down.
~ Meanwhile if you have fresh jackfruit, remove the shell, pull out each fruits from it. Deseed and wash the fruits. If it's from canned, remove the syrup and rinse with water
~ Roughly chop the fruit and pressure cook for 2 or 3 whistles.
~ Grind the rice adding little water. When the batter is coarse, add cooked jackfruit and jaggery, grind to smooth paste.
~ Heat a thick pan and pour a ladle full of batter onto the pan. Drizzle some oil on and around the pancake/ dosa. Let it cook on that side for a minute.
~ Flip it over gently using a flat spatula and cook the other side.
~ Serve it hot with some butter on top.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

These are cooked up to go for Radhika of Tickling Palates blog hop event.

Sharing this at May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted at UK-Rasoi,
Chandrani's Spotlight - Healthy Breakfast ,
Divya's Let's Party - Breakfast 

Daali Thoy / Tur Daal Konkani Style

Daali thoy is a classic Konkani style daal. Almost all Konkani kids grow up learning this one first I think. It’s my favorite kind of daal, not only because of the simplicity it has to offer, also coz I remember my childhood slurping on the hot daali thoy and rice. Though it’s same recipe as what my mom does, I feel I miss her touch in that.

Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 10 min. | Cooking Time: 10 min.

Ingredients:

·         Toor Dal/ Tuvar Dal / Split pigeon peas – 1 cup

·         Green chilies – 3 – 4 - Slit

·         Turmeric – ¼ tsp.

·         Ginger – 1 tsp. finely chopped

·         Oil / ghee – 1 tsp.

·         Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.

·         Hing / Asafetida – a pinch

·         Curry leaves

·         Red chili – 1

·         Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

~ Wash Toor daal and pressure cook with green chili, turmeric, some drops of oil and ginger.

~ Take out the cooked daal in a pan, add water to get required consistency. Add salt and bring it to boil.

~ In a small pan, heat the ghee, add mustard seeds. Once it starts to splutter, add asafetida, red chili and curry leaves. Add this tadka to the daal and switch off. Nice aromatic daali thoy is ready! Serve it up with hot rice and pickle.

Linking this to Ayeesha's Any One can cook for the ease of preparation and time taken.