Authentic tried and tested simple recipes in mainly Indian cooking, including traditional mangalorean, Goan, East Indian, North Indian recipes and much more…
Wash the dal well and soak in water for 15 minutes. Place in a vessel and boil till almost soft. Clean and cut the tendlis into 4 and add to the dal, add salt and cook till vegetable is tender. Grind the masala to a paste and add to the dal vegetable mixture. Rinse the grinder jar and add to the curry adjusting to desired consistency. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 to15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard and when it splutters add the garlic, curry leaves and onion and fry on medium low till light brown. Just before switching off the heat, garnish the curry with the tempering. Serve hot with rice or any bread of your choice.
Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes. In others, especially those where it is called Mardi Gras or some translation thereof, this is a carnival day, and also the last day of “fat eating” or “gorging” before the fasting period of Lent.
This moveable feast is determined by Easter. The expression “Shrove Tuesday” comes from the word shrive, meaning “absolve.[1] Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodistsand Roman Catholics,[2] who “make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God’s help in dealing with.”[3]
As this is the last day of the liturgical season historically known as Shrovetide, before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one gives up for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations. The term Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday.
I always loved this curry when my mother made it. Searing the fish or lightly frying it with just a little salt and turmeric powder and then including it in a curry that is not too spicy, just made the fish and the curry absolutely delicious. The same curry can be made with Rawas (Indian Salmon) or Surmai (King Fish) and is sometimes made into a Roce curry with coconut milk added to the curry at the end of cooking and then garnished with some golden fried onions. Absolutely lip smacking!
Fried Fish Curry
Ingredients
2 medium pomfrets (750 gms. Total approx.)
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. turmeric
For tempering
1 medium onion
2 green chillies
1” pc. Ginger
2 tbsp. coconut oil
Masala to grind to a paste
4 Kashmiri chillies
4 heaped tbsp. coconut powder
½ tbsp. coriander seeds
¼ tsp. cumin seeds
6 to 8 peppercorns
1 small onion
2 flakes garlic
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
Small marble sized ball tamarind
1 tsp. salt or to taste
Method
Clean the fish and cut into desired pieces.
Wash well and drain.
Apply salt & turmeric powder and toss the fish lightly. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the spices for the masala and grind to a smooth paste adding a cup or two of water.
Heat a frying pan and add 2 tbsp. of oil to the pan and fry the fish pieces lightly on both sides. Remove and set aside.
For tempering, slice the onion, shred the ginger and slit the green chillies.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the chillies, ginger and onion and fry till light brown.
Add the masala paste with the masala water, 1 tsp. salt, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
Add the fried fish, bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes till oil surfaces.
Serve hot with boiled rice, vegetable and some pickle for a light but delicious meal.
This is my mother-in-laws signature mutton curry which she served with much love Sunday after Sunday. Sadly she passed away too early for me to enjoy her delicious cooking. Apart from our holiday trips, after marriage, I was fortunate to stay three months with her before joining my husband in Kuwait.
My husband has just not had enough of this mutton curry and the turnips that go with it! He relishes the curry especially the turnips. Whenever turnips are in season, he invariably picks them up and when they enter our home they must end up in this curry. No, they absolutely cannot be cooked in any other way! But the truth of the matter is that they are amazingly delicious in this mutton curry. For those who are not very fond of turnips, potatoes are included and make sure to cut them in a shape different from the turnips, either in wedges or halves if the turnips are in cubes, because once cooked it is difficult to differentiate between the potatoes and the turnips in the curry. My children rarely eat turnips so the usual question when serving will be “Mama are the long pieces potatoes”?
So do cook and enjoy this tasty lip smacking curry, the only dish I learnt from my mother-in-law!!
Ingredients
To cook meat
1 Kg. Mutton/Lamb
2 medium onions
2 tomatoes
2” pcs. Cinnamon
4 to 5 cloves
3 to 4 cardamoms
¼ tsp. peppercorns
1 tsp. salt or to taste
Vegetables
1 or 2 turnips
1 or 2 potatoes
1 to 2 cups French beans
1 cup green peas
Grind to a paste
One bunch coriander leaves
6 green chillies
1.5”pc. ginger
6 flakes garlic
1 small onion
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
½ tsp. mustard seeds
¼ tsp. pepper corns
¼ tsp. turmeric powder
1” pc cinnamon
4 cloves
4 cardamoms
4 to 5 flakes tamarind
4 tbsp. heaped coconut powder
2 to 3 tbsp. coconut oil or ghee
Method
Clean, cut and wash mutton. Drain and set aside.
Chop the onions and tomatoes.
Heat oil in a wide vessel.
Add the onion and saute.
Add the whole spices.
When onions are light brown, add the tomatoes and fry till soft.
Add the meat and saute, cook till meat changes color.
Then add sufficient hot water to cook the meat and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and cook for one hour, stirring once or twice in between.
After one hour add 1 tsp. salt, and check if meat is cooked.
If still to cook, add hot water if required and cook further 15 to 20 minutes till tender.
As the meat is cooking, clean and prepare the vegetables.
Cube the turnip into 8 pieces each, the potato into four wedges each, the French beans break into 2 to 3 pieces. Shell the green peas clean if using fresh. Set the vegetables aside.
Meanwhile grind the masala to a paste.
When the meat is tender add to the meat with the masala water and check required consistency.
Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
Add the turnips and French beans and cook 10 minutes.
When turnips and French beans are almost done, add the potatoes and green peas and cook further 10 minutes till potatoes are cooked.
Check seasoning and take off heat when oil surfaces.
Serve with steamed rice, pulao, sannas, panpole, appam, bread, etc.
Enjoy healthy and nutritious drumstick leaves, popularly known as ‘Moringa leaves’ which are a powerhouse of nutrition. There are several ways to cook drumstick leaves some of which are herebelow. We used to have plenty of the drumstick trees around our houses and don’t think our mothers ever had to purchase drumsticks or the leaves for cooking.
As they are currently available in the market decided to make a few dishes and post recipes.
These cakes are usually steamed in teak leaves, which impart a unique fragrance and reddish color to the cake. In the absence of teak leaves here, I have used banana leaves but would surely use teak leaves whenever I can get some and re-post the pictures. Canned jackfruit has been used in this recipe.
Ponsache Patoleo – Jackfruit cakes steamed in banana leaves (Pelakai da ghatti in Tulu)
Jaggery 1/4 cup, or as required (may be omitted if jackfruit is extra sweet)
Salt to taste.
8 Teak leaves (or 5 to 6 banana leaves cut into medium sized pieces)
Wash and soak rice for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
Grind along with jackfruit, coconut and jaggery to a very thick paste using very little water. Add salt.
If using rice rava, soak for 15 minutes. Grind the jackfruit, coconut, jaggery to a paste and mix with the rava.
Place 2 ladles (or more depending on the size of the leaf) and fold into a packet and place in steamer, seam side down and steam for 30 minutes. Cooking time would vary according to size and thickness of the jackfruit cake.
Remove and cut into pieces, if cakes are large.
Serve for breakfast or as tea-time snack. Also goes well with curries on festival menus.
Slice the almonds and pistas. Clean the raisins, removing stems if any.
Heat ghee in a kadai and fry the raisins till they swell. Remove and set aside. Fry the cashewnuts lightly and remove.
Add the rawa to the kadai and fry on medium low flame till it turns light brown and you get a nice aroma. Takes about 15 to 20 minutes. You can fry it longer if you prefer it nice and brown. Do not fry on high flame or the rawa will get burnt ruining the sheera.
Add the hot water and stir quickly to avoid lumps being formed.
Add the saffron and stir and mix well. When the rawa thickens add the sugar and mix till dissolved.
Then add the nuts and raisins. Keep stirring till it begins to leave the sides of the kadai and forms a ball.
Put into bowls and press lightly and turn out onto a serving plate. Garnish with nuts and serve hot.
Avoided saffron (kesar), but intend to make kesari baath soon, going all out with the ghee and sugar in equal quantities to the rava!!
And the Kesari Baath is now published do check it out!
Radish is in season in winters and an excellent way to add fibre and nutrients to your diet. Radish also helps in fighting cough and cold. Have your tried eating fresh radish marinated in vinegar? If you have a blocked nose, it provides instant relief. East Indians make a lamb curry with radish called Lonvas using east indian bottle masala. Turns out delicious. Mooli parathas a North Indian speciality are famous all over. So enjoy the goodness of radish this winter.
Radish Vegetable (Moolo Bhaji)
Ingredients
1 large bunch radishes with leaves
1 onion sliced
2 red chillies
4 flakes garlic
¼ cup fresh coconut
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. salt
Method
Clean the radish by discarding the yellow and stained leaves and reserve the tender and unblemished leaves.
Peel the radish
Place everything in salted water for 10 minutes.
Drain an rinse well.
Chop the leaves and slice the radish into thin slices.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the crushed garlic, and red chillies broken into half. Saute a few seconds.
Add the sliced onion and toss, then add the vegetable, salt, cover and cook 5 to 7 minutes.
Not necessary to add water as the vegetable releases water.
However, half way through cooking if the water has dried up, add a quarter cup of water, cover and cook till the radish is tender.
Add the coconut, mix and cook further 2 minutes.
Remove and serve hot as accompaniment with Rice curry or serve with rotis.
Makes a light and healthy dinner with just chapatis (rotis) and moolo bhaji.
A delicious Prawn curry made by adding Ash Pumpkin. Same can be made with Lady Fingers, Spinach, White Pumpkin (Doodhi), Potatoes, etc. Or simply with prawns and raw mango. If mango is used in any preparation, tamarind is omitted, as the raw mango adds the required tartness. Serve this delicious lip-smacking curry with steamed rice, chapattis, or kadak pav (hard bread) that Mumbai is famous for, to mop up the gravy…. Leaving the shells on the prawns adds another dimension to the preparation, it renders the prawns juicy and succulent. Suck the juicy curry trapped in the shell of the prawns before removing the peel and devouring them!!
Ingredients
1 Cup Large or medium prawns
½ kg. Kuwalo (Ash Gourd)
2 medium onions, sliced
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. oil
Grind to a paste
2 to 3 red chillies
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/4 tsp. peppercorns
¼ tsp. turmeric
2 to 3 tbsp. coconut
1 raw mango
2 flakes garlic
1 small onion
Method
Keeping the shell intact, remove the head, tail and legs of prawns and carefully pull out the vein.
Wash, apply little salt and set aside.
Cut the kuwalo into wedges, deseed and peel. Check out my ‘Mutton Polov’ recipe – to prepare the Kuwalo
Cut into 1” cubes and rinse in water, drain.
Heat oil in a vessel, add 1 sliced onion and fry till light brown.
Add the kuwalo cubes, 1 tsp. salt and cook till half done.
Add the ground masala paste, masala water, adjust the curry.
Bring to a boil, reduce flame and simmer till oil appears around the edges.
Add the prawns and cook 10 minutes or till oil surfaces.
Check salt and add if necessary. Serve with steamed rice.
A delicious tart & spicy curry made with 6 fleshy mango seeds. I had used the mango flesh to make “God Lonche” pickle (Sweet & Sour Mango Pickle) and didn’t want to waste the mango seeds.
Served the curry for lunch with boiled rice, valchi bhaji tel piyav, kaane fry (lady fish fry) and prawn balchao (made by my friend Melville). Lip smacking!!
Ingredients
3 raw mangoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1” pc. Ginger, shredded
2 green chillies, slit
3 flakes garlic, chopped
1 onion, sliced
½ tsp. mustard seeds
½ tsp. cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1 tsp. jaggery
2 tbsp. oil
Grind to a paste
2 tbsp. Bafat masala powder
2 to 3 tbsp. coconut
Method
Heat oil in a vessel, add the mustard seeds and cumin,
When they pop, add the garlic, ginger, chillies and onion and fry till light brown.
Add the masala paste, with the masala water, salt, stir and cook till oil appears on the edges.
Add the raw mangoes and bring to a boil, lower flame and simmer till oil surfaces.
Add jaggery, cook further 2 minutes and take off flame.
Serve hot with plain boiled (steamed) rice.
We had this curry with rice, valchi bhaji (check out my Valchi Bhaji Tel Piyav video) and Kaane fry (Lady fish fry)
Always a delight to lay hands on fresh and tender valchi bhaji in this part of the world. In India it is grown in home gardens and easily available. A very simple and easy way to cook is just steaming it with oil, garlic, chillies and onion and garnished with fresh coconut and hence referred to as “Tel Piyav”. Other variations of cooking this spinach is a curry with shrimp or with tur dal or black-eyed beans for a vegetarian version.
Thoroughly enjoyed the vegetable with a meal of steamed rice, raw mango curry and lady fish fry!!
Ingredients
1 Large Bunch Valchi Bhaji about 1 kg.
1 Onion
4 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
¼ cup fresh coconut
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. coconut oil
Method
Clean the valchi bhaji. Separate the leaves from the thick stems, the tender stems keep with the leaves.
Cut stems into large pieces, keep the leaves whole and soak in salted water for 10 minutes to loosen dirt & kill insects if any.
Drain, rinse in clean water and drain again.
Chop the thick stems, tender stems and leaves into 1” pieces.
Transfer the vegetable to a cooking pot.
Slice the onion, slit the green chillies and crush the garlic and add to the vegetable alongwith the salt and oil.
Keep on medium flame and cook 10 minutes until stems are tender.
Not necessary to add water as the vegetable will leave water while cooking.
Add the fresh coconut and cook 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve hot.
Makes a very healthy and satisfying addition to any main meal.
This is a traditional Mangalorean dish typically served at Roce ceremonies. The Lunch or dinner at Roce ceremonies is either fish curry or mutton polov alongwith the other main items of the menu like chone tendli sukhe, sannas, vorn etc.
In Mangalore in old times, “Korpo” was used for this preparation i.e. fresh coconut and sliced onion would be put out to dry in the sun and used with the spices for the masala paste. I am sure this is still being done when cooking is done on a large scale for weddings, etc. For home cooking, we would go with the quicker method of roasting the coconut and onion on a pan!
Clean and cut mutton into cubes, wash and drain well.
Clean the ash gourd, cut into wedges, remove the seeds, peel and cut into ½” cubes. Wash and drain.
Slice one onion and fry in a little oil to light brown
Add the mutton pieces and cook till they change color and most of the water that is released evaporates.
Add sufficient hot water to the mutton, bring to a boil and cook for about 60 minutes. If using a cooker, it will be quicker.
Stir in between and add salt half way through cooking.
When the mutton is tender remove to another dish and set aside.
In the same vessel add a cup of water, the ash pumpkin cubes, 3 bay leaves, 1 tsp. salt (or to taste) and cook the vegetable adding a cup of thin coconut milk.
When half done, add the cooked mutton alongwith the stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
Then add the ground masala paste, adjust the curry by adding the masala water.
Cook on medium till oil surfaces.
Test seasoning and add salt if required.
Meanwhile, take a frying pan add a tbsp. of coconut oil and fry the sliced onion till golden brown.
Garnish the curry and serve hot with rice or sannas, etc.
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