Aate ka Laddu | How to Make Wheat Flour Ladoo

Aate ka Laddu | Learn how to make Wheat Flour Ladoo flavoured with ghee and cardamoms

Wishing you all who are celebrating, a very Happy Ganesha Chathurthi!

Being not very religious person, I share a very close relationship with this elephant headed God who has always looked after me and lifted my spirit when I was at my lowest point. He has pulled me from the dark hole and brought me into light which is very humbling to say the least. So it’s no surprise that, this festival is and will always remain my most favourite and closest to heart. Although I had plans of cooking a strom, literally, I am keeping it simple this year with these delicious Aate ka Laddu for my Bappa!

Aate ka Laddu or whole wheat flour ladoos is one of LD’s most favourite Indian sweets made by his Ajji (Paternal grandmother). This simple Indian sweet is made using just 4 ingredients; whole wheat flour, powdered sugar, ghee and cardamom powder. Really! That’s all it needs…

Beetroot Halwa Recipe | How to make Beetroot Halwa

Learn how to make Beetroot Halwa ~ Sweet beetroot pudding flavoured with ghee and cardamoms

Year 2016 is coming to an end and what a year it has been! As the year draws to an end, I can’t help but introspect the days gone by. This year has been a year of surprises; some good and some not so good. It’s been a year where I have laughed a lot, cried my heart out, gracefully accepted the new laughter lines few more silver-grey hairs, lost few pounds only to gain them back, made few mistakes and learnt some valuable lessons, been more conscious of what I cook and serve for my family n friends, did a lot of travelling and road trips, spent more time in the arms of mother nature, did some creative work that I enjoyed a lot, walked minimum 10K steps a day, grew a lot of vegetables, spent more time with my family, and learnt to live in a moment by finding joys in little things in life from LD.

AND… Monsoon Spice completed 10 years of blogging in the end of September 2016 which ~gasp~ I completely forgot to mention, let alone celebrate! Well, that was a year 2016 in nutshell and I can go on with my unceasing rants. But I am running out of time as we are leaving to India to meet a brand new member of our family, celebrate Christmas and welcome a brand new year with our families. It's going to be a short holiday, but we are planning to make the most it and have a blast.

Mango Panna Cotta Recipe | How to Make Panna Cotta

How to make Mango Panna Cotta ~ Italian dessert of layered cream flavoured with vanilla and a Desi twist of mango flavoured with cardamoms 

She looked at pregnancy test kit in her hands again to make sure what she was seeing was true! There they were two pink lines as clear as they could be! 

She came running out of the bathroom screaming at top of her voice, “We really are pregnant! The nurse was right. We really are pregnant!” 

 “Of course she is right”, husband said with big smile on his face. 

“What are we going to do? We don’t know anything about babies!” wife said with worry lines etched on her face. 

“Well, we will figure out”, husband tried to reassure her. 

And figuring out is what we are still doing after 3 years!!! ;)

Mango Lassi Recipe | How to Make Punjabi Mango Lassi

Learn how to make Mango Lassi ~ Thick, sweet and creamy mango and yogurt drink flavoured with aromatic cardamom, a refreshing Indian summer drink

It was hot summer day when the sun scorched every object that came in direct contact under his blazing rays. On that particular day the temperature shot up by another few degrees making already miserable hot day even more difficult to bear! People looked up at the sky eagerly looking for the sign of rain to bring the temperature down to bearable degrees, but all they could see by squinting eyes was the sun god shining bright with his full glory, blissfully unaware of the complaints that were thrown at him from one part of the world below him! Amidst all the complaining people, the girl wearing white salwar kameez breezed through the crowd. There was only one thing that was going in her teenage mind as she quickly walked through the street lined with shops and complaining people. She knew where she wanted to go, away from curious glances and gossiping tongues, to meet her beloved who was waiting for her with bated breath.

Peanut Chikki/Laddu Recipe | How to Make Peanut Brittle

Learn how to make Peanut Chikki or Peanut Laddu or Peanut Brittle ~ Sweet vegan treats of roasted peanuts and jaggery

It was a good 2012 for Monsoon Spice. Unlike the year before, I was regular at posting the recipes that left a deep impression on our taste buds and it was a wonderful experience sharing them with you all… 49 posts in 12 months!!! The number sounds really good to my ears as I was balancing full time job, home, travelling (both business and family trips), family, friends and one really hyperactive toddler. Having my own space in the form of food blog not only gives me the freedom to express myself, but also challenges my creativity. Monsoon Spice has proved once again that if you love something and are really passionate about it, you will somehow find time for it! :) Everyone needs a space/place of their own where they can let their creativity go wild and speak for themselves! And my creative outlet is here, at Monsoon Spice. :)

15 Minutes Microwave Doodh Peda (Milk Peda) Recipe | Step by Step Doodh Peda Recipe | Diwali Sweet Recipe

Learn how to make simple and quick 15 Minutes Microwave Doodh Peda (Milk Peda) using Milk Powder and flavoured with cardamom

This Diwali is special in two ways… One it is Diwali, an Indian festival of lights, and the second being it marks our 7th wedding anniversary! After ‘saying yes’ and committing ourselves to lifetime some 8 years ago, it has been a wonderful seven years of blissful married life! In these seven years we have seen many ups, faced few lows, lot of laughter, few and far between tears, a handful of tantrums, spiced with few fights, peppered with handful of arguments and sweetened with joy!

Mysore Pak Recipe | How to Make Mysore Pak | Diwali Sweet Recipe

Learn how to make Mysore Pak or Mysore Paak/Gram Flour Fudge ~ Traditional sweet of Bengal gram/chickpea flour, ghee and sugar flavoured with cardamom powder from Karnataka, a South Indian state  

Once upon a time, many many years ago, there was royal cook named Kakasura Madappa. He was an expert in creating magic with sugar and ghee. Bored with making same kind of sweets and pudding with exquisite and expensive ingredients, one day he decided to experiment with very common and inexpensive ingredient which all aam junta (common man of India) could easily afford. The main ingredient of this sweet which Madappa was experimenting was type casted as ‘to be used in making savoury dishes only’ in the cooking world. Madappa ignored the looks of unapprovals and the little murmurs of snide remarks from fellow cooks and continued his experiment in cooking something remarkable. Little did Madappa and his contemporaries knew that his simple concoction of gram flour, sugar and ghee was about to create a history in the world of sweet confections!

Sweet & Savoury Seasoned Jowar – A Guest Post by Pavithra @ Dishes from My Kitchen

Seasoned Jowar - Sweet and Savoury

Recently I became acquainted with the multi talented Pavithra of Dishes from My Kitchen on social networking site. I was overjoyed when she readily agreed to guest post for the readers of Monsoon Spice in spite of her busy schedule. Her blog is a virtual treat where she dishes out modern Indian cooking using traditional recipes and techniques but giving it her own unique twist. Just like the beautiful lady here, her blog is gorgeous with one of the kind recipe repertoire and stunning food photography that will make you run to the kitchen to create the same magic! From scrumptious sweets to daring bakes, from traditional cooking to modern twists, her blog has wonderful collection of recipes to please every one of you. A heartfelt thank you to Pavithra for gracing my virtual kitchen and sharing her childhood favourite recipes with us all! Please follow her on Facebook if you don’t want to miss out her wonderful recipes.

Pineapple Kesari Bhath/Suji ka Halwa Recipe | Pineapple & Semolina Pudding for Deepavali

Pineapple Kesari Bhath or Suji ka Halwa

Fill the Heart with the oil of love.
Place in it the wick of single-pointed mind.
Light it with the Knowledge of Truth and remove
the darkness of ignorance around you.
Just as one lamp can light many lamps; let each
youth kindle this Light in many hearts.'
~Unknown

Rava Laddu/Ladoo Recipe (Suji ka Laddu) | How to make Indian Rava Laddu/Ladoo

Rava Laddu/Ladoo (Suji Laddu)

We live in a busy world, with busy people doing busy things and always busy rushing from point A to B saying they have one tight and busy schedule. This busy world makes you choose things that are simple and are not time consuming and provides resources that will not make your lives busier. So we choose things that will work quickly and without fuss. With all things happening so quickly, we forget to stop and appreciate small, little things. Wondering where this blog post is going to?

Saffron Nan Khatai (Eggless Saffron Cookies Recipe) | Basic Eggless Cookies Recipe

Saffron Nan Khatai/Eggless Saffron Cookies

Little girl with pig tail came running home and her little sister, also in pigtails, was just trailing her. With their big, heavy school bag promptly dumped on their beds, they were just about to rush into wash room to wash their hands and legs when the heady, sweet aroma wafted from their mother’s kitchen.

Vegan Avalakki Payasa/Poha Kheer: Vegan Beaten/Flat Rice & Coconut Pudding

Vegan Avalakki Payasa/Poha Kheer

Life is so much beautiful with lil dumpling and my ‘much’ better half by my side. A lot of friends ask me how my life has changed after lil dumpling came in to picture and I just smile and say it couldn’t have been any better! The one with their own lil dumplings understand it and we share knowing look and secret smiles. But the ones who are single or couples with no kid/s give me either amused look or surprised look. They are not exactly ready to believe me when they see or hear a fourteen month old screaming with joy or annoyance in the background! I don’t blame them as I know exactly what they are thinking. Few months back I too was sailing with them in the same boat…

Sabudana Kheer/Payasa: Sweet Pearly Delight

Sabudana Kheer/Payasa (Tapioca Pearls Pudding)

I am one of those unfortunate people born without sweet tooth! I run a mile away when I am presented with a platter of sweets whenever we visit friends and family. And to add to that my 'much' better half and now my lil moppet dives into anything sweet at a drop of a hat! So they both balance the lack of sugar in my life (pun intended ;)!

Kesari Bhath/Suji Halwa: A fool-proof recipe

Kesari Bhath/Suji Halwa

I am not too fond of sweets! Period.

~sigh~ Wish I could just stop it there and pen down today’s recipe. Being a chatty person that I am, I have this urge to write a long post before giving the recipe! So bear with me for few more minutes and few more lines of my ramblings… or else simply skip to the recipe part and I won’t mind at all!

Banana Appam: Sweet Treats for Festival of Lights

Sweet Banana Appams

First and foremost,
Wishing you all a very happy Deepavali.
May this festival of lights bring happiness and prosperity to you and your loved ones.

I hope you all are having a wonderful time celebrating Diwali with your friends and family. As for us, it’s another working day with deadlines to meet and usual grind. So we are enjoying quite Diwali with long day at office and simple dal and rice for lunch and dinner :) These days by the time I reach home I feel physically and emotionally drained after staring long and hard at the jumble of codes on screen and breaking my head in trying to figure out that small bit of code responsible for creating havoc in the main system. No wonder I prefer to snuggle under the blanket with warm bowl of soup and toast than actually stand in front of stove for hours together cooking an elaborate meals for the festival. Ahem, it’s not like I used to cook elaborate meals before ;) No wonder weekends have become real luxuries for us and are spent either reading books or watching some movies and sleeping till noon. When it comes to kitchen part, we have been cooking very simple food these days and we have been cooking everything in bulk which lasts for 3-4 days. It helps a lot when you come home exhausted and want to eat some home cooked food immediately.

I had no plans of cooking anything for Diwali this time. But somehow I got caught with the festival spirit while I talked to my Amma, Atte and sister who were busy making their menu for this festival of lights. I made up my mind to make something as long as it doesn’t exceed half an hour of cooking time and first thing that came to my mind was the sweet Appams that my mother makes. Last summer during our short trip to India, I had purchased the non-stick Appam pan which I had tucked on top shelf and it has been acquiring dust since then. With in a minute I washed and soaked two cups of rice in water for an hour and went on to finish few chapters from the novel I was reading. Then it was just the matter of using two poor looking bananas which were on the last stage of their life, a cup of powdered jaggery, few pinches of cardamoms to ground rice paste and voila, the smooth batter for Banana Appams was ready with in few minutes. With small ladle of batter poured on every hole of appam pan with a touch of Ghee for flavour, I was left with two dozens of small, sweet Banana Appams to enjoy for this Diwali. The aroma of sweet jaggery, bananas and cardamom wafting from my kitchen sure made me feel festive and transported me back to my home back in India. And off this goes to four events, Sweet Vegan hosted by Vaishali where Ghee can be substituted with oil, JFI-Festival Treats guest hosted by dear Valli, Sweet Celebrations at Aparna’s space where she is celebrating her first blog anniversary and WYF-Party Foods hosted by EC.

Sweet Banana Appams

Print This Recipe

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Banana Appams (Sweet Rice Cakes with Banana, Jaggery and Cardamom)
Prep Time: 5-10 mins
Cooking Time: 15-20 mins
Makes: 20-25 small Appams

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Ingredients:
2 cups Rice, washed and soaked in water for 1-2 hours
1 cup Jaggery (Adjust acc to taste)
½ cup fresh/frozen Coconut
½ tsp Green Cardamom Powder
2 very ripe Bananas, peeled and roughly chopped
A pinch of Salt
Little Oil or Ghee

Sweet Banana Appams

Method:

Grind rice to smooth paste adding very little water in which it is soaked. Now add jaggery, grated coconut, bananas and cardamom powder, pinch of salt and pulse the mixer till all the ingredients blend well.
Let this batter rest for at least 15 minutes for all the flavours to blend well before you proceed to next step.
Now either you can deep fry or use Appam pan to make these Banana Appams. If using Appam pan, grease the Appam pan with little ghee and heat it on medium flame.
Pour the batter into each hole and cover the pan with a lid and let it cook on low-medium heat on both sides till it turns golden brown and cooked through.
Serve it hot with any spicy Chutney or hot Tomato Ketchup or as it is and enjoy.

Sweet Banana Appams

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Notes:

If deep frying, make sure the paste is thicker. And if using Appam pan, the batter can be little thinner, of pancake consistency.
I used non-stick Appam pan and it hardly required any oil of ghee due to coconut used which releases its natural oil when cooked. If using iron pan, make sure that you grease it properly.

Dates Obbattu

Dates Obbattu

Winter is beautiful in India. This is the time when dawn is lightly touched with frost; a soft new light appears from heavenly sky. The thundering monsoon and damp earth give way to ‘Kartika Maasa’, the golden season of October and November. Kartika is a season of silky and golden sunlight and blossoming trees. There is the shivering anticipation among every form of life waiting in anticipation for what mother earth has to offer. It is the season when the mother earth is all dewy and she takes on a delicious newness. The sun turns pleasing honey-gold spreading golden sparkles to whatever he touches. It is the season of festivals, and it is the time to celebrate Deepavali, a festival of lights.

Diwali is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Deepavali’, meaning "row of lamps". It is a time for feasts, fireworks, remembrance, forgiveness and a renewal of life. Clay lamps of all size and shape are lit along verandas, on rooftops, on windowsills, along driveways, in gardens and courtyards and colourful paper lanterns are strung to the high roof. All pooja utensils, the prayer room is washed and cleaned to their sparkling best. The pooja mantap with all kinds of god and goddess radiates a different glow of energy decorated with colourful array of marigolds, roses and jasmines and the heady aroma of incense sticks and dhupa. Each and every streets and nook ‘n corners are decorated with bright colourful lights and paper lanterns, shops are dressed in shimmering golden streamers, and fairy lights are wound around trees transferring the whole world to festive season.


For three little kids, the Diwali day would start at the very wink of dawn with sandalwood and oil bath called ‘Abhyanga’. Although it was not one of the things they enjoyed, just the thought of the day ahead would make it for getting up that early and oil baths. Their parents would exchange smiles looking at their kids smeared in oil, yawning and rubbing their eyes to get rid of slumber and lightly shivering to the cool breeze of dawn tickling their scantly clad bodies. After hot water bath the kids were dressed in their new and crisp cloths ironed by their father and ready to receive their family and friends. While their mother created beautiful Rangolis, colourful geometric and floral patterns made from coloured rice flour, at the entrance to the house; the kids were given the task of making small S-shaped foot prints with five dots on top arch from door step to pooja room. It is believed that these prints represent the little feet of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, who makes a trip to every home on Diwali night to survey family fortune and decides whether they need any boost. The little kids made it sure that they painted it well so that the goddess didn’t get lost on her way to pooja room.


After heavy breakfast, mother would start cooking special treats apart from the one’s which she had prepared days before with the help of her mother and cooks to send it to relatives and friends. Different sizes of colourful boxes of dry fruits and nuts, sweets, gifts wrapped in colourful papers would sit in corner table to be given to the guests visiting. It is the day when foe becomes a friend and generations of hatred seems to dissolve in the soft glow of light from diyas. It is the day when tradition is passed from one generation to the next while the lamps illuminate quietly, shimmering over night, encircling the parents and children in its golden glow. As the late night approaches and as the harsh electric lights are switched off, small quiet flames from diyas and candles flicker amid bunches of marigold, hibiscus, roses and jasmines. While whole street sleeps under the dark blanket of glittering stars, the kids dreams of goddess Lakshmi emerging from the soft glow of diyas and stepping into home bringing wealth and well-being with her.


For three days and nights families and friends gather to celebrate the festival of lights. While the kids set off fireworks, elders sit behind, keeping an eye on kids and chat about passing years. The smile on every kid’s face matches that of sparkling diyas. Sparkles, rockets and torches explode in the sky, shedding red-orange, blue-green flames. When the noise of bursting fire crackers drowns conversations, the ladies bring out the feast to be devoured. There is no dining table with silver cutleries and delicate china sets. Families and friends sit together under the sparkling sky and eat from green banana leaves which looked like an artist’s colour palette with different savouries and sweets and with range of curries, rice and roties… The noise of Diwali does not distract from its serenity. This is the festival which brings together families and friends and thus brings happiness and content of being with your loved ones and sharing that joy. Diwali is the time to stop, to sit back, to gaze at the sparkling sky and to allow ourselves to be braced with the love and affection of our loved ones.


I always loved quiet Diwali than noisy firecrackers where I would light the clay lamps with my siblings and parents. I guess I am among the few who liked noiseless Diwali with hundreds of small lamps glittering like stars around me. With the electric lights switched off, these small diyas radiated sense of calmness and serenity which I always feel is the true meaning of Diwali, a festival of lights. Sitting under an open sky, laying my head on my Appa’s lap, we kids enjoyed stories of Lord Rama, devil Narakasura, goddess Lakshmi with keen interest even though we had heard the same stories for zillionth time. With all these fond memories and nostalgia K and I made Kharjura Obbattu (Date stuffed Poli) on Deepavali eve. I have many sweet memories attached with this dish and I couldn’t think of any other thing to cook for this Diwali. Steam cooked sweet dates is ground with dash of jaggery and lightly spiced with cardamom and nutmeg is stuffed between the maida dough and tawa fried with ghee is one dish which sure to win everyone’s heart. Looking at the picturea you can easily guess that its my first attempt at making Obbattu ;) True to my Flow Chart, I am sending this to Vee’s Jhiva Special Edition-The Festive Series, Meeta’s MM-Traditional Feasts and Chandrika’s AFAM-Dates. Ek teer, teen shikar ;)

Print This Recipe

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Dates Obbattu (Date Stuffed Indian Flat Bread)
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Makes: 5-6

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Ingredients:
For Kanaka/Dough:
1 heaped cup Maida/All Purpose Flour
A big pinch of Salt
2-3 tbsp Oil
Ghee for frying

For Hoorana/Stuffing:
1 cup Dates, deseeded and quartered
1 tbsp Jaggery (adjust acc to taste)
1 tbsp Ghee
¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
A big pinch Nutmeg

Kanaka with Dates Hoorana

Dates Obbattu

Method:
Place plain flour and salt in a vessel and make it into stiff dough of chapatti consistency by adding little water at a time. Keep it aside covered with wet cloth for around half an hour.
After ½ to 1 hour, add oil and knead the dough till all the oil is absorbed and the dough becomes soft and elastic. Keep this dough aside for another half an hour or so.
Mean while, steam cook dates for around 10 mins till they become soft and mushy.
Cool these dates and place them in a blender with jaggery and blend them without adding any water.
Heat ghee in a pan and to this add ground paste and keep stirring on moderate heat for around five minutes. Make sure to stir at medium flame so that the stuffing doesn’t stick to the bottom of pan.
Mix in cardamom and nutmeg powder and switch off the flame. Let the stuffing mixture cool for sometime.
Make golf sized balls of dough and date stuffing by applying little ghee to your hands.
Grease an aluminum foil/banana leaf/thick plastic wrap with little oil and place maida dough ball in center.
Press the dough with your fingers and start spreading it to a circle stating from center, working towards the edge. Make poori sized circle of about 3 inch diameter and place date hoorana/stuffing ball at center. Close the hoorana/stuffing by pulling the dough on all sides.
Slowly press the dough with your fingers to about ½ cm thick and 6 inch diameter. Use little ghee/oil if the dough sticks to your fingers.
Heat griddle/tawa and gently transfer the obbattu to tawa and cook on both sides by applying little ghee till little brown patches appear and they are cooked well.
Serve warm with ghee and enjoy.

Dates Obbattu with Ghee

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Tips:
If you find it difficult to spread the dough with your hands then place another greased sheet on top of the dough and roll it gently using rolling pin.
The left over obbattu can be freezed once it is completely cooled down for about 3 weeks in freezer. Place a parchment paper in between each obbattu and place them in zip lock bag and freeze. When required, thaw and heat it using a griddle/pan and serve.
You can replace jaggery with honey or sugar based on your preferance and maida with wheat if you are health conscious.

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Dates Obbattu

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Note:
Another Sweet recipe on Monsoon Spice using Date is Kharjura/Date Payasa.
Here is Richa's recipe for Poli where she adds pistachio powder to dates stuffing.

Akki Shavige with Rasayana & Menthe Chutney

Akki Shavige with Rasayana & Menthe Chutney

She was sleeping soundly, smiling in her sleep while she dreamt of chasing colourful butterflies in garden. When the persistent sun shone brightly on her face, little girl with pigtails sighed and snuggled back under the covers, blissfully embracing slumber. The mild caress of heavenly aroma coming from kitchen nudged her gently to open her heavy eyelids. Dragging her feet on cool marble floor with her favourite doll tucked under one arm and blinking her eyes to the golden glow of sunshine streaming from high ventilator and windows, she blissfully inhaled the wonderful aroma of ground coffee beans and spices. The sight of her mother with long hair tied in a loose knot adorned with pearls of water, standing in kitchen stirred the feeling of love and happiness. She ran and hugged her mother inhaling the heady perfume of her herbal soap and shampoo. Mother gently lifted her daughter planting kisses on her daughter’s blushed chubby cheeks and placed her away from heat, close to window where she could see the world waking up to the glorious sunshine. As her mother churned delicious food in lightening speed, little girl watched her dad entering the kitchen with special device to make one of her favourite food. As her dad and mom smiled at each other knowingly, little girl sat on the floor cross legged with a twinkle in her eyes as she watched her dad rotate the noodles presser which turned the steaming rice dough into thin, stringy white noodles. She smiled brightly at her parents looking over the food, simple home food, food that made her happy and content.

Yes, I am talking about my favourite breakfast item, Rice Semige/Shavige. Also known as Sevai or Santhakai in Tamil and Idiappam or Noolappam in Malayalam, Shavige is made from rice and coconut in my native Mangalore and it is usually served with sweetened coconut milk and spicy chutney or sambar. This was the only time when my mother would allow my dad to help her in kitchen as it required an extra pair of helping hand to make these stringy rice noodles. While my mom inserted the steaming balls of rice dough in the Sevai container and rotated the plate kept under the container collecting Shavige, dad would quickly rotate the sturdy handle in clock-wise direction. This Shavige Presser although might look like something out of medieval torture device to some people is a must device in every house-hold in Mangalore. Back in my Ajji’s house she had wooden Shavige Presser which looks quite different to what we have now. Instead of rotating the handle, the wooden one would press down the dough like hand water pumps in rural India. Unlike my Ajji and Amma, I use simple Chakkli Presser to make Shavige. Chakkli presser works fine for two growling tummies and moreover it’s quite easy to clean. But I must add that rotating Shavige Presser is equlivalent to working out those muscles in gym, so will not get enough of arm exercise when using Chakkli press ;)

Akki Shavige with Menthe/Methi Chutney and Baale Hannu Rasayana is my contribution to this month’s RCI-Karnataka hosted by our blog queen Asha of Foodie’s Hope and also to this month’s JFI-Banana hosted by lovely Mandira of Ahaar.

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Akki Shavige (Rice Noodles)
Prep Time: 30 mins (excluding soaking time)
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2-3

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Ingredients:
1 cup Rice
1 cup Fresh/Frozen Coconut
2 tbsp Oil, preferably Coconut Oil
Salt to taste

Akki Shavige

Method:
Wash and soak rice in 2 cups of water for 4-5 hours or overnight.
Drain and grind this rice with grated coconut and salt to taste adding little water at a time to very smooth paste. Note that there shouldn’t be any lumps and the paste should be silky smooth. Usually my Ajji and Amma make very thin batter of buttermilk consistency but I grind it to Dosa batter consistency which works fine for me.
Apply coconut oil to heavy bottomed kadai/wok covering it well. Pour the batter in this wok and keep mixing this batter in medium flame till all the water evaporates and it turns to a thick lump of dough.
Switch off the gas and start making big lemon sized balls by applying little cold water to stop it from sticking to your hand.
Steam cook these rice balls in a steamer or pressure cooker without putting its weight for about 10 minutes.
Place two steaming rice balls in Shavige presser or Chakkli maker and press the noodles. Place these noodles in a banana leaf or wet cloth and let it cool. This noodle needs to be cooled down to hold their shape. Serve these noodles with Chutney, sweetened Coconut Milk or Sambar. You can also make Tamarind or Lemon Rice Noodles with the leftovers.

Check Shilpa or Aayi's Recipes and Manjula of Dalitoy's recipes for Shavige where they use Shavige Press here and here. And also check here for Viji of Vcuisine's recipe for Vella, Lemon and Ulundhu Sevai using Chakkli Press.

My Ajji and Amma usually served Akki Shavige with Sweetened Coconut Milk or Rasayana and Menthe Chutney. Rasayana (Rasa means Juice/essence/flavour/taste in Sanskrit) is basically a sweetened coconut milk mixed with chopped Bananas or Mangoes depending on seasonal availability of fruits. Freshly extracted Coconut milk is flavoured with Jaggery and pinch of Cardamom and made wholesome by adding chopped bananas or mangoes.

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Rasayana (Banana in Sweetened Coconut Milk)
Prep Time: 20-25 mins
Cooking Time: -
Serves: 2-3

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Ingredients:
1 cup Bananas, quartered and sliced
1½ cup freshly extracted Coconut Milk (big no-no to Canned Coconut milk)
1-2 tbsp grated Jaggery, adjust according to taste
2 Green Cardamoms, skins removed and seeds crushed
1 tsp roasted Sesame Seeds (Optional)
Small pinch of Salt

Rasayana

Method:
Dissolve grated Jaggery in coconut milk and mix all the ingredients.
Serve cold with Akki Shavige or drink as it is.

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Variation:
You can use ripe sweet mango in place of bananas.
Replace coconut milk with milk and add 2-3 tbsp of banana or mango puree to give it thick base.

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Akki Shavige with Rasayana & Menthe Chutney

Methi/Fenugreek seeds are one of the most importance spices in Mangalorean cuisine. My Ajji would soak few methi seeds in buttermilk and make us drink after heavy meals as methi is good for digestion. Read more about benefits of Methi here and here. Menthe Chutney is one dish which is full of different flavours. Bitter methi is ground with creamy coconut and spicy chilli and then cooked with dash of jaggery to give it little sweet flavour.

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Menthe Chuteny (Methi Seeds Chuteny)
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Serves: 2-3

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Ingredients:

1 tsp Methi/Fenugreek Seeds
1 cup grated Fresh/Frozen Coconut
3-4 Dry Red Chillies
1-2 tbsp Jaggery, adjust acc to taste
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
Few Curry Leaves
Pinch of Hing/Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Menthe Chutney

Method:
Dry roast methi and broken red chillies in a pan for around 1 minute till you get nice aroma of roasted methi.
Grind sautéed spices with coconut adding little water at a time to smooth paste.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, hing and curry leaves.
Once mustard starts to pop and sputter, add ground paste, jaggery, salt to taste and ½ cup of water.
Cook it on a low flame for 10-15 minutes stirring in between. Serve hot with steamed rice or akki shavige.

Kharjura(Date) Payasa

Its spring time in India and the magic touch of spring makes everything look so beautiful. I can imagine mango trees dressed up like brides with garland of flowers and fruits swinging to the tunes of cool breeze. Farms and fields all set for harvesting. Kids ready to wind up their final exams and eagerly waiting for summer holidays to spend at granny’s place. Young lovers walking on the red and crimson carpets of newly fallen delicate gulmohar flowers. The air is filled with joy, enthusiasm and gaiety. Ah!!! Heaven on earth…

Kharjura(Date) Payasa

This is the time when we celebrate the beginning of new era. According to Hindu calendar, Ugadi is the beginning of new lunar calendar. Vedas say that the creator of the World, Lord Brahma started creation on this day of Ugadi. It is very auspicious for Hindus all around the world as we celebrate the new year. Ugadi comes close on the heels of Holi, the festival of colours. While the bright colours of Holi starts to fade away, the freshness of spring lingers on all around. The trees with bright red flowers that blossom during Holi are in full bloom signifying the spring in full blossom.

In Karnataka Ugadi is celebrated by offering Bevu-Bella, which is Neem buds/leaves for bitterness and Jaggery for sweetness. They symbolize the fact that life is a mixture of pleasure and pain and they both should be in equilibrium for happy life. For more information on ugadi click here.

I made Kharjura(Dates) Payasa for Neivedya(offering to God). It is a simple yet very delicious dish which is my hubby’s all time favorite payasa. I am posting this recipe for my best friend Archu who is in Dubai and very soon gonna make me Chikki/Aunty (I want a sweet, lovely niece like you, ok? :) This is for you sweetie with all our good wishes and love. Cant wait to hold little Archie in my arms:)

Kharjura(Date) Payasa

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Kharjura(Date) Payasa
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Serves: 2-4

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Ingredients:
1 cup Dates, deseeded
1 cup Coconut Milk, freshly sqeezed
1 cup Water
½ - ¾ cup Jaggery (Adjust acc to taste)
¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
Few Cashew Nuts, fried to golden in Ghee

Kharjura(Date) Payasa

Method:

Chop dates into small bite size pieces and cook them in ½ glass of water till they become soft. It usually takes 8-10 minutes in medium flame.
Drain the remaining water and keep it aside.
Cool these cooked dates before grinding them to rough, coarse paste without adding any water.
Take ½ cup of water in heavy bottomed pan and add this date mixture to it.
To this add thin coconut milk, jaggery and keep stirring in medium heat.
When it starts boiling add cardamom powder and cashew nuts and cook further for 2-3 minutes.
Serve it hot or chilled and enjoy.

Kharjura(Date) Payasa

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Did You Know?
Date, name for a palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and for its edible fruit.
Probably native to Arabia and North Africa, it has from earliest times been a principal food in many desert and tropical regions.
For some 4,000 years it has been grown near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is cultivated in many other warm regions, including parts of the SW United States and Mexico.
The trees sometimes reach a height of 100 ft (30.5 m) and yield fruit for generations.
taminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers are borne on separate trees, and pollination of those grown commercially is usually done by hand.
In the Old World, a sugar and a fermented drink are made from the sap of the date palm and other species of Phoenix, and the seeds are sometimes roasted and used as a coffee substitute or pressed for oil, leaving a residue useful for stock feed.
The wood of the trunk is often used in construction and the leaves are used for weaving mats and baskets.
Dates are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Arecales, family Palmae. (Source:www.factmonster.com)

Kashi Halwa

My MIL has so many traditional recipes in her magic hat and always surprises me with one thing or the other. I always wonder if I will have that kind of enthusiasm, patience and energy to cook complicated and very time consuming delicacies. She always makes me speechless with her delicious parade of dishes. I feel like an amateur when I compare my cooking with that of my Amma and Atte. I guess most of us will have same kind of feeling. The extra oomph comes with the love with which they cook and serve.

Kashi Halwa

Today is a time to share one of the very few sweets I love. (Oh yes!!! I am not a sweet person but my hubby compensates that part for me.) This delicacy is popularly known as Kashi Halwa. Ok!!! Now I need a favour from you guys. I have no idea as why it’s called as Kashi Halwa. Is it because it’s served as Prasad in Kashi or these are some other reason? All I know is its made using white pumpkin and its tastes heavenly. So here is the recipe.

Kashi Halwa

Ingredients:
1 kg Ash Gourd
2 cups Sugar (Adjust according to your taste)
2 cups Ghee
Few Cashew Nuts

Kashi Halwa

Method:
Remove the skin and seeds of the ash gourd and grate it.
Cook it till it looses all its moisture and becomes dry.
Now add sugar and again keep stirring till it becomes dry and changes its colour to golden brown.
Now add ghee and keep stirring continuously till the ghee floats on top.
Add cashew nuts and mix well.
Remove from fire and transfer it into storage container once it cools.
You can serve it hot or cold as desired.

Kashi Halwa

I love eating it as it is as it simply melts in your mouth. Or if you want to make it more interesting you can serve this with a dollop of vanilla or any other ice cream. I have figured out that it tastes divine with saffron ice cream. Although it’s very time consuming the end result is simply superb.

Genasale (Coconut+Jaggery stuffed Rice Cakes) and 3 Things MEME

Well friends, at last I am over (not entirely) with jetlag and homesickness. Thought I will start my new year's blog entry with our all time favourite Genasale aka Kai Kadabu (Kai means Coconut in Kannada) which is very well known and loved dish in Karnataka, especially in South Canara. It’s so much loved back in India that its one of the main Prasad offered to Lord Ganesha on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.
It is one of the easiest recipes and requires very less preparation and ingredients. So not wasting much of your time I’ll straight away come to the point.

Genasale Served with Coconut-chilly chutney and Ghee

Ingredients:
2 Cups Rice
2 Cups grated Fresh Coconut
¾ Cup Jaggery (according to taste)
½ tsp Cardamom Powder
Salt to taste
Few Banana Leaves

Genasale

Method:
Soak rice in water for 1-2 hours and them grind to smooth batter with salt and enough water. The batter should be of pouring consistency.

In a bowl mix grated coconut, jaggery powder, cardamom powder and a pinch of salt. Mix them well. You can add more jaggery if you like.

Take a banana leaf and spread the batter thinly.

To this spread the coconut mixture evenly covering the batter well.

Fold the leaf like hand kerchief (as shown above).

Place them in a steamer and steam cook them for 10 minutes in high flame and another 20-30 minutes in medium flame.

Traditional Steamer

Let them cool down a bit before you serve. Serve them with dash of Ghee and Spicy Coconut Chilli Chutney.

Kai Genasale/Kai Kadabu

3 THINGS MEME:

Thank you Seema and Pooja for tagging me for 3 Things MEME..

3 Things that scare me:
Being alone
Rats
Losing loved ones

3 people who make me laugh:
Homer Simpson from "The Simpsons"
My little sis and hubby with their PJs
My Appa and Amma with their debates ;)

3 Things I love:
First rain and the smell of earth
Shopping
Long walks (Usually when I go out for shopping it also becomes long walks)

3 Things I hate:
Messy house
Mean and cruel people
Abuse in any form and mean.

3 Things I don't understand:
Finance Subjects
Spanish, Greek, German, French…
Some PJ’s cracked by my hubby

3 Things on my desk:
Laptop
Flowers
Cell Phone

3 Things I am doing right now:
Listening to music
Waiting for my hubby to return from his office
Thinking what to cook for dinner

3 Things I want to do before I die:
Bake tiered cake
Learn as many languages as possible
Learn pottery

3 Things I can do:
Watch boring movies till “The End”
Become a kid with kids and watch cartoon with them at streach
Listen (means actually listen) to anything my family and friends want to say

3 Things one should listen to:
Your loved ones
Music, any music which cheers you
Good advice which can make you a better person

3 Things I would never want to listen to:
Weather reports (Always give wrong info, but i still listen ;)
Liers
Nonsense

3 Favourite foods:
Masala Dosa
Ganji (Boiled rice)
Pickles, lots of them

3 beverages I drink regularly:
Water
Orange Juice
Butter milk/ Curds

3 TV shows I watched as a kid:
Udaan
Ramayan
Tom and Jerry Cartoons

3 books I read as a kid:
Amar Chitra Katha
Nancy Drew
Tinkle (I still have got shelf full of them)

3 of my dearest friends whom I would like to tag for this meme:
I guess most of my blog buddies have already been tagged...
So no point in tagging again:) Will check everyone's blog at leisure and tag..

Thanks to Seema and Pooja once again... I enjoyed writing this MEME...