Jeer Meerya Kadi / Cumin-Pepper Coconut curry

Kadis and Tamblis are popular in Konkani cooking...Undoubtedly, coconuts are the base for this...Both use almost a similar set of ingredients, with some variations here and there...
The basic difference is that tamblis are served cold, they are not heated at all, just grind the ingredients and serve, Kadis on the other hand involve some roasting, grinding and boiling...



Jeera (cumin) and meerya (pepper) are considered very good at helping with gastric problems, Ma used to always make this when we had a stomach upset, or anyway make it about twice a month, to help with any gastric problems...She even uses the skin of a pomegranate in this, which added a bitterish but nice flavour...

This kadi/curry with rice is one of my total comfort foods...

What you need -

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp pepper corns
3/4 cup grated fresh coconut
6-8 cloves garlic
skin of 1/2 pomegranate (optional)
4-5 red chillies
small ball of tamarind / 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp ghee
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Dry out the skin of the pomegranate and then cut into pieces
Heat ghee in a small pan and add the cumin, pepper, 3-4 cloves of garlic and the pomegranate skin and roast for 2-3 mins
Grind together the coconut gratings, chillies, tamarind and salt
Add the roasted ingredients and grind to a smooth paste
Add 2-3 cups of water to this and bring to a boil
to season, heat some ghee/oil and fry the remaining garlic till it turns brown
add to the kadi and serve with hot rice and papads

Orange Glazed Sesame Vegetables

Back in Bangalore, we had the super fast home delivery of Chinese food. There is this chain of restaurants called Chung Wah and their exclusive home delivery outlets are called Chung's kitchen...We had one of these just up the road from our place and we'd order out often. Once I make the call, I'd set out the plates and forks and the it really needed just that much time for the delivery boy to appear at our doorstep with the food !! It was really that fast...

Here, we need to do a bit of planning and reservations before we head out for a decent Chinese meal...This cuisine doesnt seem to be very popular here and a few places I tried serve noodles with a whole lot of tomato ketchup, passing it up as Chinese food...



On one of these dull rainy days last week, I was really craving for Chung Wah style chinese food - it would have been ideal to make some gobi manchurian and noodles - the quintessential Bangalorean Chinese, but since I didnt have most of what was required, I got down to making this from Nita Mehta's book...

I had never tried using orange juice in my cooking, so settled on this recipe - it turned out really nice and went very well with rice...

What you need -

100 gm paneer or enough to make about 6-7 strips
1 green / red capsicum
1 cup button mushrooms
broccoli / babycorn (didnt have these)
1 cup orange juice
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp peanuts
oil
salt and pepper
pinch of sugar

What you do with it -

Roast sesame seeds ad peanuts on a tava or pan till golden
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and add the paneer stripsand stir fry till it turns brown. Remove the strips and keep aside
To the same pan, add the vegetables you are using. Stir fry for 2-3 mins
Mix soya sauce, orange juice and cornflour in a cup till its blended well
Stir this mixture in to the pan with the vegetables
Cook for 4-5 mins till the sauce thickens well
Add the sesame seeds, peanuts, salt, pepper, sugar and the paneer pieces
Cook for a minute more and serve hot with rice

Curry leaf chutney powder / Karabevu chutneypodi

This one is from Ma's recipes...
She would make this for me ever so often and drop a jar of it at my place, when I was in Bangalore
Now since I've moved, I've got the packet just once over the last two years, and its always over in less than two weeks.. This time, I decided to make it myself and got the recipe from her
I had never attempted making any of these chutney podis earlier, but after I tried making the molagapodi from Usha's blog, its become a monthly ritual. We are so hooked on to the taste of this molagapodi, that the store bought ones just don't cut it for us, anymore.
I'm pretty sure the karabevu chutneypodi is also going to be added to my list of to-dos every month...



The flavour from the roasted curry leaves in this chutney powder really lingers in your mouth. Goes best with idlis and dosas.
I even had it with some toast and butter, thats something I first tasted at my aunt's place when I was little...tastes fabulous in this combinaton too !!

What you need

15-20 red chillies (depending on how spicy you want this)
2 cup packed curry leaves / kadipata / karabevu
1 cup pottu kadalai / roasted bengal gram / hurgadle bele
1/2 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
pinch of asafoetida / hing
1 cup dessicated dry coconut / kopra / kobri
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

What you do with it -

Wash the curry leaves, strain out the water and dry it in the sun or a covered cloth, till all the moisture is gone
In a large kadai / pan, heat the oil and add the asafoetida
Add the chillies and roast for 3-4 mins on a low flame
Add the dried curry leaves and the dessicated dry coconut
Roast for about 2-3 mins
Add the roasted gram and stir for a minute or two
Once this cools, grind it to a smooth powder, with the amchur powder and salt
If you are using the sugar, add it and run thru the blender one more time
Do not add any water while grinding
Tamarind can be used instead of amchur powder. Ma uses amchur powder, since it is a dry powder and so it can be stored easily. With tamarind, you will need to refrigerate it