This chutney brings back memories of a trip to Bangalore when my brother whipped it up to comfort my under-the-weather kid. Its unique taste and long shelf life set it apart from our usual recipe. Plus, it’s surprisingly simple to make (peeling garlic aside, of course!)
Here is the way of preparation :
Ingredients required
Garlic pods – around 30
Byadgi chilli -6-7
Dry coconut – half
Tamarind – gooseberry size
Salt to taste
Method of preparation:
Peel the garlic, cut the dry coconut into small pieces
Take a deep pan and dry roast garlic, red chilli, dry coconut one after the other
Let it cool for a while
Add it to a mixie jar along with tamarind and salt to taste. Grind to a coarse paste.
Enjoy this along with pej(kanji) or dosa or eat just like that.
I had never prepared menaskayi before as my sister prepares it very well. Now that we have started getting fully grown hogplums(ambado) and one dish we prepare every year with it is menaskayi. Since my sister had a leg injury and could not move and wanted to prepare and relish this dish we decided to work together on it.
Ingredients required for menaskayi
Even though procedure is lengthg it was a nice experience to cook and casually chat with sister about things around us.. It used to be a every day affair before and now rare and more special!
Listing below step by step procedure to prepare menaskayi
Ingredients required
Hogplums -10
Urad dal – 5tsp
Black til – 5tsp
Methi seeds- 1/2tsp
Tamarind – gooseberry side
Red chilly – around 10
Grated Coconut – 1/2 coconut
Jaggery – 2 small piece (as shown the pic above, can vary based on sweetness preferred)
Curry leaves – 2 strands
For tadka
Red chilly – 1(for tadka)
Urad dal – 1/2tsp(for tadka)
Coconut Oil – 2tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp
Curry leaves – 1 strand
Ambade Menaskayi
Steps are as below. Please follow the order while grinding masala which is important.
First clean the hogplums and then roughly crush them
Also soak the tamarind in warm water
Now take a frying pan and dry roast black til(seseme), urad dal and methi seeds one by one
Next add very little oil and roast the red chilli
Then add grated coconut and curry leaves and roast on low flame till aromatic
Now cool all the roasted items completely. Extract juice from tamarind.
Now in the same pan add hogplums and little water and let it cook for 5-10min
Meanwhile grind the masala – coconut, red chilly, curry leaves and tamarind pulp which remains after extracting juice
Once these items are ground to fine paste add urad dal and grind again. Next add methi and grind.
Finally add black til and grind.
Now once hogplums are cooked add salt and jaggery and let it cook.
Once jaggery melts and syrup thickens add the ground masala
Let it cook well for about 10min
Once done add a tampering of the items mentioned above under heading tadka
Menaskayi can be refrigerated for 4-5 days. Usually prepared in functions – tastes best with daali toy.
We have been using sabudana(sabakki in kannada/ sabu tandulu in konkani) in the preparation of payasam but never tried in other forms. Recently learnt sabudana vada(I have posted sometime back). But since it had to be deep fried, I started exploring about sabudana khichdi. Got a few suggestions from my sister as well on soaking sabudana. During the previous attempts the sabudana had turned soggy and I always struggled with that perfect pearl like texture of sabudana. Mostly prepared during fasting days it is tasty and filling preparation which doesn’t take longer time if you get the things right. Here is how we made it.
Ingredients required
Green chilli – 3-4
Ginger – small piece
Peanut – 1cup
Sabudana – 1cup
Potato – 1 big
Coriander leave
Salt to taste
Oil -3tsp
Jeera – 1/4tsp
Method of preparation
Boil the potato. Cool it, peel it and cut into pieces. If not boiling before, peel and cut into cubes. It may require more cooking time.
Dry Roast the peanuts. Coarsely crush them in mixer
Soak the sabudana for 4-5hrs in water before preparation.
During preparation,Remove excess water from sabudana. Then mix with crushed peanut and keep ready.
Use a heavy bottom pan on medium flame. Add oil and jeera.
Once it splutters add finely chopped ginger and green chilly. Fry well.
Now add potato. If uncooked then fry for about 5-7min Or until it cooks, on medium flame. If cooked then can fry for 1min.
Add salt to taste and mix well.
Now add sabudana and peanut mixture and mix well.
Sprinkle some water and cook on low flame for 2-3min till sabudana turns transparent.
While mixing take care not to make it soggy.
Note
It takes little bit of time and experience to get right consistency. Also the quality of sabudana also matters. Once the sabudana became very sticky during soaking itself so take care!
‘Spread the batter as thin as possible’ – heard Amma’s advice amidst toddler screams. Even though I have been seeing Amma prepare these pattoli’s for years now and roughly know the way it is prepared, I never went ahead and prepared. Always helped her in cleaning the leaves or spreading the choornu(inner filling). So when I heard her say this I had already spread thick batter on a few leaves which I had to correct later 😁 Khotto, chutney, patrado, haldi panna pattoli, kheeri and batate humman has been the menu for nagara panchami in our house. Mainly because we do not fry anything or add tampering (phanna) on this day.
As I was spreading the batter and carefully placing the choornu in the middle so many thoughts crossed my mind. Nagara panchami marks the beginning of the festive season. Also it is the time rains starts reducing. The food which is being prepared on this day has variety of leaves involved and also most of the things are steamed. How thoughtfully our Ansistors have curated the festive menu as per season!
Pattoli ready to steam
Well, even though I took bit longer than Amma finally I got the things together and the pattolis came out well. Cooking is definitely an art! Interest and experience are the additional ingredients every well cooked food item. Here is how we make Pattoli.
Steamed pattoli
Ingredients required –
Rice – 1 cup
Grated coconut -1/4(batter) + 1/2(choornu)
Jaggery – 2/3 cup(or as per sweetness preferred)
Poha – fistful
Turmeric leaves – around 25
Salt – 1/2tsp
Method of preparation :
Soak the rice overnight
The next morning grind the rice along with 1/4 coconut, salt and fistful of poha
Add very little water the batter should be thick – to spread on the turmeric leaves
Prepare choornu(the inner filling) with jaggery and 1/2 grated coconut
Clean the leaves and keep them ready
Once batter and choornu are ready, spread a thin layer of batter on the leaf
After spreading batter on leaves, place the choornu in the center as shown in the picture.
Fold the leaves and stack them on a plate
Pre heat the steamer(pedavana). You can put water in the steamer, switch on the gas and start putting batter and choornu to manage time better.
Place the plate with stacked pattolis in the steamer and steam for 20min.
Once done enjoy the pattoli with ghee or as it is.
Ambado/hog plum/amate kaayi is mostly foraged seasonal souring agent which is widely used in ghashi, sukke, gajbaje, bharshi upkari etc. Tender hog plums are called ambadi and used in making pickles. The raw hog plums are brined and used in curries and gojju just like brined mango.
So if you find them in plenty next time after using in the curries do not waste them. Clean them well. Dry and then cook in water till the outer skin becomes soft. Cool them completely and then preserve in salt water for future use.
We had brined some ambado which were plucked and then prepare this gojju which hardly takes 10min. It makes a delicious side dish and a perfect combo for pej/ganji. Below is the simple procedure if you have brined hog plums.
Ingredients required:
Brined hog plums – 4
Green chilly – 4-5
Grated coconut – about 5 spoon
Garlic cloves -7-8
Salt to taste
Method of preparation:
Remove the skin of the garlic cloves
In a mixie take green chilly, grated coconut , garlic cloves and salt
Grind it to coarse paste with little water
Gently wash the hog plums
Transfer the ground paste to a bowl, squeeze the hog plums in this till it’s flesh is well mixed with the paste.
