Mangalore bajji and Product review of Fortune Rice Bran Health oil

With the increase in the number of lifestyle related diseases, it has become so important for us to review our food and lifestyle habits regularly and see what changes we can make, however small they may be, for us to have a better life.
We, as a family, love food and I make conscious changes wherever possible, to improve the quality of food we have.

I have been using different oils over the many years that I have been cooking. Doctors usually recommend using different oils, so that the body does not get used to any one type of oil. In my daily cooking, the usage of oil is really minimal and deep frying is at most a once-a-month event and usually for puris, which my son loves. I use sunflower oil and safflower oil for my everyday cooking, sesame oil for Chinese stir-frys and some Tamilian style dishes, mustard oil when I make Bengali / UP style food and olive oil when I make Italian and for baking breads. Rice bran oil was something new and something I had heard about and seen in advertisements, but I had never used it.



Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil

Rice bran oil is the oil extracted from the germ and inner husk of rice. It has a high smoke point of 213°C (415°F) and has a mild flavour, making it suitable for high-temperature cooking methods like stir frying and deep frying.
Thanks to Blogadda, I got a 2 litre pack of Fortune Rice Bran Health oil a couple of days back and started using it. I am reviewing healthy heart oil as a part of the BlogAdda's Product Review Program for Indian Bloggers.

Fortune Rice Bran Health oil is a 100% vegetarian oil and comes from the reputed Adani Wilmar group that has a number of brands.
It is an odourless oil and the colour and density is the same as the regular oils that I am used to, so it was easy to switch over. To put this oil to test, I used it in my daily cooking, in baking and in deep frying. Here's how it went...

I used this oil for the last few days in my everyday sabjis, stir frys and for tempering. Here is a matar paneer that I made using rice bran oil. The recipe will follow in the next post.



Matar Paneer

I also decided to use the oil to bake a cake. I adapted this recipe to bake a date cake, substituting the butter with oil, and making a few more changes. I baked it in a loaf pan and it turned out moist and delicious and we didn't miss the butter in it at all. The oil has a mild flavour which only enhanced the taste, so it scores well on the baking front too.



Date Loaf

This rice bran oil contains an antioxidant γ-oryzanol, which has been proven to decrease cholesterol. Research shows that rice bran oil and its active constituents improve blood cholesterol by reducing total plasma cholesterol and triglycerides, and increasing the proportion of HDL cholesterol (Good cholesterol), which helps in reducing heart related diseases. Studies have shown the antioxidant stability in rice bran oil remains almost constant even when heated at frying temperatures. The density of rice bran oil is found to be constant throughout the time of heating. The oxidative stability of rice bran oil was equivalent to or better than soybean, corn, canola, cottonseed, and safflower oil in deep frying conditions.

I decided to test this oil by doing some deep frying, since it is a low-absorption oil. I made these Mangalore bajjis / Goli bajji which is a very popular snack from Karnataka.The oil did not cling on to the fried food and we had no oily fingers when we picked up these bajjis. Lower oil consumption even in deep fried foods is a real big plus.



Deep fried Mangalore bajji

Rice bran oil reduces blood triglycerides (fat molecules in the blood). It is good for the skin and has squalene which acts as a natural moisturiser. This oil has a balanced ratio of PUFA (Poly unsaturated fatty acids) and MUFA (Mono-unsaturated Fatty Acid) which keeps our blood vessels clean.
The price for a litre of Fortune Rice bran Health oil is Rs 115/-, which is comparable to any standard cooking oil in the market. At this price, it is definitely worth switching over, given all the benefits this oil has.
For a complete list of benefits, check this link



Goli bajji

These Mangalore bajjis or Golibajis are a favourite of mine. I have always enjoyed these at a this little restaurant in the Malleswaram area of Bangalore called Shree Sagar (CTR). The masala dosas and the goli bajjis here are simply awesome.

These are spongy little bajjis / fried dumplings made with flour and buttermilk. This was my first try making it at home and it turned out really delicious. Crisp from outside, melt-in-the-mouth soft from inside. Gets done in less than 10 mins. Great idea to serve when unexpected guests arrive.

Goli bajji / Mangalore Bajji
(Recipe source - Mane Adige)

What you need -

1 cup maida
1/2 cup buttermilk or curds (preferably sour)
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsps chopped coriander leaves
1 small piece of ginger chopped fine or grated (I prefer grating it)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Salt as per taste
Oil for deep frying

What you do with it -

If you are using curds, and its very thick, add 2 tbsp of water to it
Add the salt to the curds / buttermilk and beat it well
Mix the maida, cumin seeds, chillies, coriander and baking soda in a bowl.
Pour the curds / buttermilk into the maida and mix well
There should be no lumps
The consistency of the batter should be like dosa batter
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
Using your fingers, take a small amount of batter and gently drop it into the hot oil
Cook on medium heat till they turn golden brown in colour
Remove and drain any excess oil on paper towels
Serve with coconut chutney

Book Review : Southern Flavours by Chandra Padmanabhan

For many years now, I have been reading cookbooks like I read any other novel, its always been as interesting, if not more ! At first I assumed I was the only one, but after I started my blog, I realised I have lots of company !!

I got this beautiful book called 'Southern Flavours, the best of South Indian Cuisine' by Chandra Padmanabhan from Blogadda, as part of their book review program. I have read some of her recipes from other blogs, but never owned any of her books until now


Luckily for me, this book has the best recipes from her three previous books, Dakshin, Southern Spice and Simply South with an added 50 new recipes

Southern Flavours has a wide array of vegetarian recipes from all four southern states - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, all neatly categorized into various sections like Sambar, Rasam, Poriyal and Kootu, Rice, Snacks, Sweets and Accompaniments like Chutneys, Podi and Pachadi.
The category names are more Tamil-centric, but it does have many recipes from each region
Like the section on 'Sambar' has a Vatral Kuzhambu from Tamil Nadu, Nupindi Pulusu from Andhra, Theeyal from Kerala and Majjige Huli from Karnataka, in addition to many more.
This book has a good share of recipes from all four states, though I felt a few more from Kerala would have balanced it better.


If you have a kitchen that stocks basic ingredients used in an Indian kitchen, then you should be able to make almost all the dishes mentioned in the book. The instructions are detailed and clear, making it simple to follow.
There is also a 'Table of measures' with metric and US equivalents
A list of the special utensils like the paniyaram chatti, used in South Indian cooking is also mentioned, with pictures

This book even has the right way to cook rice - in a pressure cooker, on the stove-top or in the microwave. I thought this is very useful to new cooks and to people who are not very confident with cooking rice in either one of these methods



It features some typical Udupi recipes, Chettinad recipes and recipes from the Hebbar Iyengar and Palghat Iyer communities, in addition to the more popular recipes from the four states
What really warmed my heart was that there were quite a few recipes from the Saraswat Konkani kitchens of Mangalore like Song, Ghashhi, Mangalore Saar and Kairas. This cuisine doesn’t get featured so much in any of the regular South Indian cookbooks, from what I have seen so far, so it was a nice surprise to these here !

A real value add here in this book is the number of healthy options for some traditional recipes, like an oats upma, ragi (finger millet) idli, oats rava idli, ragi (finger millet) vadai, kadhamba dosai (multigrain pancakes) and some recipes that use broken wheat instead of rice. This is very useful especially now, when more and more people are getting conscious about cooking and eating healthy.



There are quite a few family favourite recipes, some from her sister-in-law, mother, aunts and her mother-in-law, who had the biggest influence on her cooking. There are some recipes picked up from cooks she had along the way and some from her friends.
An interesting one is Chitra’s keerai parrapu ussili – I have always had and heard of ussili made with different varieties of beans, but never with greens. There is also a Vendhayam poriyal, fenugreek sprouts stir fry, which is something really unusual and as she says, its considered good for diabetic patients

A really interesting feature in this book is the section on ‘Buffet Spreads’ and ‘Suggested Menus’. The buffet spreads have 2 options that cover recipes from all four states and there are 6 ‘Suggested Menu’ options that are something that can be made for a regular meal and not as elaborate as the buffet spread
This will definitely be a big help to people who are not familiar with South Indian cuisine and are not sure what to pair with what, and even to the ones cooking it regularly who would like to add some twists to a routine combination of dishes



Colourful pictures of some mouth-watering food (though I would have loved to see more of them), easily explained recipes for a new cook, some unique and interesting recipes and healthy alternatives to traditional recipes makes this book a really good one for a collection of South Indian recipes!

About the author

Chandra Padmanabhan, a graduate from Calcutta University, has been associated with the publishing industry for a long time. 'Dakshin', her best selling book published in '94 is still popular in many countries across the world. Her other book 'Simply South' has won the GOURMAND award for the second best Vegetarian cookbook in 2009

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

This is my first ever book review and the longest post I've written !
I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I am sure many recipes from this book will show up here soon.



Update:
April '12: Made Mangai Ogaray / Raw Mango Rice from this book. Click here to see the recipe



Aug '12: Made Kancheepuram idlis from this book. Click here to see the recipe