Cochi-Konkani style Beets

A sect of Konkanis moved to parts of Kerala many many generations ago (I'm talking like 13th century) and over the years have adapted a lot of Kerala in their dialect and cuisine.
They are known as Cochi-Konkanis and their Konkani has so much of Malayalam that I may not understand it too well.

This recipe is from my mom's friend, who's spent the better part of her life in Kerala. This one has garlic, which really makes it different from the regular upkaris / poriyals we make.

I love beets and so does my little one, so I make it quite often in some form or the other. Beets have a good nutritional value, scoring high on potassium, calcium, antioxidants and folic acid ! Juice of beets combined with other juices like carrot and cucumber are supposed to be great for cleansing the kidneys and gallbladder and being a fibrous root, is excellent for eliminating constipation.

All this apart, I love the colour, though my chopping board, peeler, grater, basically half my kitchen and my son's clothes have a nice pink hue when I make anything with beets at home..




What you need -

3 medium sized beets
3 cloves garlic
6-8 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp grated coconut

What you do with it -

Peel and chop the beets into small pieces.
In a pan, add a little oil and season the mustard seeds and curry leaves
Add the beets, salt and a little water and cook covered on low heat
Grind together 3 tbsp coconut, cumin and garlic
When the beet is almost done, add the coconut paste and cook till done
Garnish with the remaining grated coconut

Burmese Khow Suey

There were a lot of Indians living in Burma and had to leave everything behind and flee during the war. Ma's older sister's husband's family was one of them. They left a lot behind, but carried back many memories and a bit of the Burmese culture and cuisine.Living in a different place always adds so much to your cuisine, if you are open to it.

This recipe for Khow Suey is from this aunt and may have got Indianised along the way, but its a nice blend of veggies and noodles with coconut milk.



Simple, quick and delicious with the creamy coconut milk, the tangy lemon and the crunchy vegetables.
To serve this, place the coconut curry in one bowl, the noodles in another and have all the garnishes in separate bowls. You can serve the noodles first, then pour the curry over it. Garnishes can be added as per individual tastes



For variation, add chicken to the curry, or keep halved boiled eggs as part of the garnish
For an all vegetarian / vegan version, make the curry using only vegetables.
Here, I used carrots and coloured peppers / capsicums in the curry. The garnishes are spring onions, coriander leaves, lemon wedges and chillies in vinegar

Burmese Khow Suey

What you need -

1-2 capsicums (coloured ones make the dish pretty)
2 carrots
1 onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1" piece ginger
3-4 green chillies
4-5 stalks of spring onions
3 eggs
a pinch of turmeric powder
1 pkt noodles (thinner the better)
coconut milk from 1 coconut / 1 can ready coconut milk / coconut cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chickpea flour / besan

What you do with it -

Grind together the onions, garlic, green chillies and ginger
Chop carrots and capsicum lengthwise into thin strips
Slice the spring onions
Hard boil the eggs. Peel and quarter
Boil water with a little salt in a large pot.
Drop in the noodles and keep for 5-6 mins, or as per the packet instructions
Drain the noodles and set aside
Fry the onion paste in a large pan till the raw smell goes away
Add in the capsicum and carrot
Add a little oil and stir on high heat till the carrots are almost done
Add in the salt, turmeric powder and coconut milk and the chickpea flour mixed in a little water
Simmer till done
Serve noodles first. Pour the coconut milk with veggies over the noodles
Place the boiled eggs over it
Garnish with spring onions, coriander leaves, lime wedges and chillies in vinegar

Kumta Phovu (Avalakki/Poha/Beaten Rice)

This poha has a story behind it which my mom heard from hers..

Kumta is a town in North Karnataka and there was this woman who made this poha (supposed to be the cheapest and most easily available) with this spicy masala and sold it at the bus stop in Kumta.
This was apparently her only source of income and it was so popular that it got to be known as Kumta phovu.
I dont really know the authenticity of this story, so dont sue me for it, but naming a dish after a place or person is quite common.
We make a dal at home called 'Veena pachchi(aunt in Konkani) dal'. Thats the only way its known. Veena pachchi is an old friend of my mom and we had it at her place once and loved it, so thats how its known at home. I must post the recipe for this dal too - its a lovely yellow dal, simply and super tasty.



Beaten rice is available in this really thin 'chivda' variety, then a thin one, medium and really thick. If you use the thin one (not chivda variety), then you just put the poha in a colander and run it under some water and let the water drain. If its the medium variety, then you soak it in water for 3-4 mins and then drain. This needs to be done with a little care or the poha gets too soggy to eat.

What you need

4 tbsp grated coconut
3 red chillies
small ball of tamarind
2 cloves
1 inch cinnamon
1 tbp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 cups poha
1 medium sized onion
a few curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp grated coconut (optional)

What you do with it -

The poha / avalakki should be slightly thick and not thin like the one used for chivda(In Bangalore, we get this as Medium Avalakki an in Gujarat is its sold as Kanda Poha)
Soak the poha in water for about 3-4 mins and drain the water out
Grind the coconut, chillies, tamarind, cumin, cinnamon and cloves to a coarse chutney
Mix in the chutney with the washed poha
Chop the onion into really small pieces
Prepare a seasoning of mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil and add over the poha
Garnish with grated coconut if you like and sprinkle the chopped raw onion over it
Serve with chivda / mixture or something crunchy

Spicy chutney with a suprise ingredient !

Asha and Suparna requested for the chutney recipe from the previous post. Told my mom and she decided to make it again, so that I can get a better pic of it.
So, here is your chutney, staright from Ma's kitchen !

I assumed it was pretty much the standard chutney ingredients, but guess what - this one has a carrot in it - it adds to the nice orangey colour and of course, tastes wonderful...

These days my little one is big time into 'Suprise ...ta daa' when he makes something with his blocks, he hides it behind his back and then comes to the kitchen (where i generally live) and goes "mamma, surprise...ta daa' and shows me what he's made...so i couldn't resist adding the 'suprise...' ingredient up there in the title :)





What you need

4 tbsp grated coconut
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 carrot chopped into little pieces
3-4 red chillies
small ball of tamarind
1/2 tsp salt

Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste and your chutney is ready

Bangalore, Ma and Jolada Rotti

Mom-cooked food, sunny weather with a hint of rain, family chatting around, tea at midnight to keep us awake to chat up some more - life doesnt get better than this.

Its been just a few months since I visited Bangalore last, but the routine back in Ahmedabad - alarm at 6 every morning, rushing my son to school, ridiculously hot weather and the lonliness was getting to me so much, that I have really been waiting for this nice break.
I packed my bags almost a week before i actually travelled. It feels wonderful to be back in the familiar environment here..you never realise all the little things that you like about a place till you actually move away and long for things that you had taken so for granted that it didnt merit a thought back here..I even missed the Radio channels played here and was so thrilled to hear all those RJs again..

I know I am going a little overboard, but the move after all these years has been most difficult on me. My son seemed to adjust real fast with his school, S is super busy with his new job, and change of place seems to have the least effect on him.
For me, it meant leaving behind everything familiar- home, work, friends and family..



This morning for breakfast, ma made these lovely soft jolada rotti with homemade butter and a spicy cumin-coriander chutney.
Jolada Rotti is a popular typr of rotti made in Noth Karnataka and also called as Jowar bhakri in Maharashtra.
The dough with this flour is generally not rolled out with a rolling pin, its instead patted into shape by the palm of your hand and I personally think its an art to get that right...I am terrible at making those, so ma decided to show me an easier version which I can actually roll out

Here's what you need -

1 cup water
1 cup jowar flour
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp grated jaggery

Heat the water in a pan and add salt and jaggery
Keep it on a real low flame and mix in the jowar flour little at a time, stirring in continuously
Mix and stir till its well 'cooked'
Allow to cool and then roll into a dough
This dough can then be rolled out with a rolling pin, though you need to handle it with very careful hands

Seemed easier than flattening it with the hand and tastes awesome with some butter and a spicy chutney

Varsha Pirrapu - Tamil New Year

Its interesting that with so much diversity in India, almost each state celebrates a different New year (or a New year called by different names), based on whether they follow the solar or lunar calendar.

We celebrated Udagi (the New Year for Kannadigas, Telugus and Konkanis), Gudi Padwa for Maharashtrians, Cheti Chand for Sindhis about a fortnight back and now its time for the Tamil new year.
The Tamil New Year (Varsha Pirrapu) is celebrated around the same time as Baisakhi in Punjab, Rongali Bihu in Assam, Vishuva Sankranti in Orisa and Nobo Borsho in Bengal !!

Anyway, for us, it means 2 days of celebration and good food !!
My Ugadi lunch was wiped out before I took any pictures, so here's the Varsha Pirrapu lunch with some Ugadi features !!

The menu is pretty much the same, the main highlight being on the 'raw mango, neem, jaggery'. The idea is that you take the bitter and the sweet, which symbolizes that you accept/face the good and difficult events that happen in your life, with equal conviction. The 'panchanga' is read on this day, which I assume is the prediction for the year ahead.

Have a great year ahead and here's a peek at my lunch thali today



Clockwise from top: Mavinkkai Chitranna (idea borrowed from my Ugadi menu), maanga pachadi, beans poriyal, sepankezhangu(arbi) fry, pal payasam, biscuit ambode(similar to vadas, but simpler) and rice with drumstick, pumpkin, brinjal sambar in the centre.
There was the rasam, appalams and thair saadam, of course.

Aother look at the maanga pachadi, which was the star of the day



What you need -

1 cup peeled and sliced raw mango
2 tbsp grated jaggery
1 tsp chilli powder
2 neem leaves
a pinch of salt
1 tsp gingelly oil
1 tsp mustard seeds

What you do with it -

Steam the raw mango pieces with the jaggery, chilli powder and salt till the mago turns all soft
Heat oil and add mustard seeds
When they splutter, add the mango and mash it in a bit
Adjust salt if required

Mushroom Spinach Biryani

I am not very orthodox with my cooking, but I realised that I am a little boring and conventional sometimes. I like all kinds of cuisines and love to experiment, but somehow tend to stick to some basic combinations.

When I was working in Bangalore, there were these caterers at office who made sabjis of the wierdest combinations of vegetables and I decided I didnt like it even before I tasted it.
There used to be chana with beetroot, brinjal with okra - not really bad, but like I told you, the idea of combining two ingredients which didnt fall in my category of 'good combinations' was a bad idea !! They, of course, did it just because they had it in stock and not with the intent of making us taste new combinations !!

Mushroom and spinach always seemed like a very 'quiche' combination, or something that would go with pasta or some sauces and cheese, basically I never imagined it in an Indian food context.
But I once saw this recipe for a spinach and mushroom pulav and thought it actually was a pretty interesting combination.



I tried a biryani version with this combination and it turn out pretty good
The problem is that when I make pulav, it always needs a side dish - a raita wouldn't do, cos the pulav is generally not so spicy, but with this biryani, a salad or raita was just fine !

What you need -

2 cups mushroom
2 cups basmati/long grain rice
1.5 cup chopped spinach
2 onions
1 tomato
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fennel seeds
1" stick cinnamon
3-4 cloves
3-4 green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1/2" piece ginger
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tsp salt

What you do with it -

Grind to a paste the fennel seeds, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, green chillies and pepper corns
Soak the rice for about 20-30 mins
Chop onions length-wise and the tomato into small pieces
Wash and quarter the mushrooms
Wash and chop the spinach

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a large pan
Add the bayleaf and onion and fry till onion turns brown
Add spinach and mushroom and saute till the spinach changes colour and mushrooms shrink in size
Add the ground paste and fry till raw smell goes away
Add the chopped tomato and fry till it becomes soft

Add the soaked basmati rice and fry for 2 to 3 minutes
Add 3 cups of water and a tsp of salt
Cover and cook till done

Vegan Corn Chowder Soup

This is one more recipe from the Good Food show that I mentioned here

I am not a big fan of soya milk. A friend who loved her flavoured soya milk once offered me some, and lets just say, I had it only because I didnt want to be impolite. Thats really not for me.

When i saw this recipe which uses soya milk, I was sure its going to be one of the recipes that I will never turn to, or even if I did, I would replace the soya with milk !
But I decided to be really brave and picked up some natural soya milk just to make this and it tasted awesome. Not that I will ever drink soya milk again, but will definately use it for this.



The corn here is really good, its almost out of season now, but during winter, there was so much of it all over the place, that I used corn in cutlets, pulav, salads and anything else I could find. It was so tender, crunchy and sweet and it added that extra something to every dish I used it in...

Here's my corn chowder, try it with soya milk and you will love it.
I did try it with regular milk and it was nowhere as good as the one with soya milk.

What you need -

2 medium potatoes
1 onion
3 cups corn nibblets
4 cups water
2 cups soya milk (natural flavour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp soup powder (if you have some, I didnt)

What you do with it -

Peel potatoes and chop the potatoes and onion into small pieces
Put the potatoes, onions, water, salt and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil
(Add the soup powder too with this if you are using it)
Reduce heat and simmer till potatoes are tender
Remove from heat and stir in the corn
Take 2 cups of this and put thru the blender
Return the puree to the pan
Stir in soya milk and heat

Garnish with oregano and more pepper, if you can take the heat

Eggless Banana Walnut Bread

I am really not an oats person, but I do push S to have it - he needs a power breakfast, with his erratic lunch timings and with the cholesterol levels reaching the not-so-good highs, this was a good option and thankfully, he didnt complain that much !

When I saw the lovely oats dosas at Usha's blog, I knew there was a much better way to get our quota of dietery fibre !

My first attempt with oatmeal was this banana walnut oatmeal bread, which I adapted from Usha's Eggless Cardamom Flavoured Banana Oat Wheat Bread with a few modifications.
It had most of what I added in his oats - bananas, cinnamon and milk and looked way better, and S was not complaining at all !!

It turned out really moist and soft



A slice of healthy goodness...



What you need -

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (I used Quackers quick cooking oats and processed it in the blender)
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 really ripe bananas
1 apple
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup walnut pieces

What you do with it -

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
Peel and grate the apple
Puree the bananas to a smooth paste with milk in a blender
Add the banana puree and apple to the flour mix
Add sugar and butter to this and mix well
Pre heat the oven to 200 deg C
Grease a baking dish with a little butter
Pour in the batter and bake for about 30 mins (or till done)

Spicy Chilli Garlic Noodles

One of the first 'outside' food my son had was noodles, from this really nice Chinese takeaway place in Bangalore. It was Indianized of course, but really awesome food.

We realised that this was a great option for us to have a meal in peace - he would sit in his chair with his plate of noodles and pick up each one and try getting it into his mouth. His clothes, the high-chair, the plate and the floor had noodles all over, but it was hilarious watching him do it with such sincerity.
When he was little, he had real pouty lips and they got even more pouty, like a little snout, when he tried concentrating on something and it was a real sight watching him pick and eat the noodles with such focussed concentration



I've been making noodles at home pretty often since then and I prefer him having it at home, cos the MSG (ajinomoto) they add in most dishes in Chinese restaurants is something I am not comfortable with. There are different views on whether MSG is good for your health or not, but I personally prefer to keep it away from my cooking, especially for my son.

Made a simple chilli garlic noodles and a chilli-less version for my son and he still seems to enjoy eating his noodles. I think its the process of eating it that fascinates him more that the noodles itself !

What you need -

2 packets noodles (I used egg noodles)
2-3 capsicums
a handful of beans
3 carrots
1/2 cabbage
6 pods garlic
3 red chillies
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper

What you do with it -

Bring a big pot of water to boil with a little salt and a drop of oil
Add the noodles and keep on medium flame till done
Drain the water from the noodles and add a tsp of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from getting all sticky
Chop the capsicum, beans, carrot and cabbage lengthwise
In a wok, add a tsp of oil and heat. Break the red chillies into long pieces and add to the oil. Turn off the heat and allow the red chillies to soak in the oil for about 8-10 mins. Remove the chillies from the oil and discard
Heat the wok with oil again and add sliced garlic to it
Add the capsicum, cabbage, carrot and beans and stir on high heat till it is almost done
Add vinegar, salt and pepper and stir for 2-3 mins
Add the cooked noodles and stir in the soy sauce
Stir and blend the soy sauce for 2 mins

Wholesome healthy lunch menu - Palakwali Moong Dal, Paneer Burjee and Carrot Raita

I made this for lunch a couple of days back and then saw this event on Kid's lunches, hosted by Srivalli. I was not sure if this qualified - its healthy and all that, but would a kid relish this ?



I found the answer in all the slurps from my son when he had it for lunch and decided I will go ahead and post this and make it my entry for the Monthly Mingle- Kids Lunches, which is hosted by Srivalli this month and originally concieved by Meeta of the very popular Whats for lunch, honey.

My son's a little over 3 and he is really a no-fuss child(thank God for that !!) Already a budding foodie,(with parents like us, what did you expect ??) who relishes even his khichdis, which I make when I am really not upto cooking anything else !
Even on the days, I think I am being a cool mom and ask him if he wants to eat out at McDonald's (thats next door to where we stay), he will insist that I make roti sabji / khichdi at home. He does have his days when he wants just potato chips as a meal, but overall, he's a total sweetheart !

What I made for lunch that day was Palak with moong dal (Spinach and green gram dal), paneer burjee (cottage cheese), carrot raita and rotis - complete balanced meal



For the Palakwali Moong Dal

1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup green gram dal
1 small onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 green chillies
1 tomato
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp butter / ghee

Wash the dal and soak in water for about 15 mins
Chop the spinach and blanch
Chop garlic, onions and tomatoes into small pieces
Cook the dal in the pressure cooker
Prepare a seasoning in oil with cumin seeds, slit green chillies and garlic
Add onions and fry for 2 mins
Then add tomatoes and the spinach
Add the cooked dal and salt and allow it to simmer
Add a little butter or ghee. Serve hot.



Carrot Raita

2 carrots
2 cups curd / plain yoghurt
1 tsp cumin powder
a pinch of salt

Peel and grate the carrots
In a bowl, which the curd / yoghurt with salt and cumin powder
Add the grated carrot and mix well
Garnish with a little cumin powder
Chill and serve



Paneer Burjee (Scrambled cottage cheese)

2 cups crumbled paneer (Made mine at home - method below)
1 onion
1 tomato
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder or 1 green chilli
1/4 tsp salt
a few coriander leaves

Finely chop the onion and tomato
Heat oil in a pan and add the onion and tomato
Add the cumin powder, chilli powder and salt
Add the crumbled cottage cheese
Stir for about 3 mins
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

The days I forget to keep the milk in the 'fridge and it doesnt seem so good(there is no way it will survive the hot weather here), I make paneer out of it, so paneer at home is never intended, it just happens !!
To make cottage cheese /paneer at home, add 1 tsp of vinegar / juice of half lemon to milk when it is boiling. The milk will start to split. Keep it on a low flame for about 8-10 mins. The water will start separating and your paneer is ready. Drain the water out and the paneer is all done.

Vegetarian Massaman Curry with Burnt Garlic Rice

There is this really nice cookery show called 'Good Food', hosted by the very elegant Seema Chandra which is telecast on NDTV, and now NDTV Good Times. Its also shown as part of a package called 'Active cooking' which is provided by one of the leading DTH service providers here in India. It features 6-9 new recipes everyday and runs thru the day, which is a big help for me !!

I always enjoyed this show and was hooked to it - am sure the guys noticed and they quickly made it into a pay channel, and like you can imagine, I promptly subscribed to it.
They have interesting recipes from all across the globe and I love the ones hosted by Seema Chandra. She visits interesting people, the ambassadors of various countries in India, celebrities, authors of cook books, even politicians, and asks them to cook up something



On one such show, I saw this Massaman curry, which looked pretty much Thai, but I thought it sounded more Indonesian, perhaps because of the 'Massaman'. It had spices and coconut milk and that totally suits my palate. The recipe is from the show - this was by a chef from a leading restaurant in Delhi, and this little info here is from Wikipedia, when I googled to confirm if it was actually Thai or, Indonesian like I imagined.

"Massaman curry is a Thai dish that is Muslim in origin. It is most commonly made with beef, but can also be made with duck or chicken.

The flavoring for Massaman curry is called Massaman curry paste (nam prik kaeng masaman). The dish usually contains coconut milk, roasted peanuts, potatoes, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, palm sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind sauce. Muslim, and later Portuguese, traders brought spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and nutmeg from the Middle East and India to the south coast of Thailand.
The name Massaman is thought to be derived from the word "Musulman", the older form of the word "Muslim"."

It really has an interesting combination of spices - I made a vegetarian version with yellow capsicum and broccoli and I made a burnt garlic basil rice with it.

Update: Asha said I could send this to the Vegan Thai event being hosted by Priya this month. This event features cuisines across continents every month, all Vegan, and is the brainchild of Vaishali of Holy Cow.
Thanks Asha. Priya, this is all yours...

What you need -

Massaman Curry Paste

5 red chillies
rind of 1/2 lemon
1 onions
6 pods garlic
2 tsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 stick of cinnamon
2 cloves
4 peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds
seeds of 2 black cardamoms
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Massaman curry

2 yellow capsicums / bell peppers
1 medium sized broccoli
(You can use baby corn, potatoes also)
2 cups coconut milk
rind of 1 lemon
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp jamarind juice
1 black cardamom
1 cup roasted and crushed peanuts
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1.5 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp oil

Burnt garlic and Basil rice

1.5 cups rice
5-6 pods garlic
2 tbsp basil leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tsp oil

What you do with it -

For the Massaman curry paste, just grind all the ingredients in a blender

Chop the capsicum into bite-sized pieces and the broccoli into florets
Heat oil in a large pan and add the massaman curry paste and turmeric powder
Fry for 2-3 mins and add the capsicums and broccoli and stir fry for another 3-4 mins
Add coconut milk and all ingredients except peanuts and the lemon rind
Cook on low heat for 3-4 mins and then add the crushed peanuts and lemon rind
Stir and allow to cook for 2 mins

Chop the garlic lengthwise
In a deep bottomed pan, add the oil and fry the garlic in it till it turns brown
Add basil leaves, rice and salt
Stir for 2-3 mins
Add water, cover and cook on a medium flame till done
Should take about 15 mins

Tendle Bhutti (Kovakkai / Tondekai / Tindora / Ivy Gourd in coconut masala)

The most popular tendle dish in Konkani cuisine is, of course, the tendle-bibbe upkari.
This bhutti has a nice fresh masala which I really like with chapatis and dal.



When we were kids, I was not so big on tendles - I never did fuss over food, but this was not on my 'favourites' list. Actually the only vegetable I really cared about, was the magnificient potato !!

Anyway, a few years back, when my brother had called and we were talking about food (we talk a lot about food - he is on his way to becoming a really good cook !!) and he mentioned this tendle bhutti which ma had made. He made it sound so good, that the next thing I did was to make tendle bhutti. It was really nice. The masala is ground coarse and gives you a taste of all the ingredients that go into it.

Tendle Bhutti

Recipe Source - Rasachandrika, the ultimate Saraswat cookery book

What you need -

250 gm tendle
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tbsp grated jaggery
small ball of tamarind
salt to taste

For the Masala -
5 red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp black gram/ urad dal
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 coconut grated

What you do with it -

Wash the tendles, slice off both ends and cut them into small pieces
Heat oil in a pan and prepare a seasoning with mustard seeds and asafoetida
Add tendle pieces, salt, jaggery and a little water. Cover and allow it to cook
Roast the grated coconut
In oil, fry the red chillies, coriander seeds, urad dal, garlic and fenugreek seeds
Make a coarse paste with the coconut and the fried ingredients
Add the masala to the cooked tendles and stir well on heat, till all the water is absorbed