Vattana baaji

This is a Goan gravy, which goes well with pav or chapatti. Goans call this dish as Feijoada. Last week my sister reminded me about this recipe. We used to have it with pav at my grandfather’s hotel in Panjim.

Ingredients:

1 cup vattana or dry peas (soaked overnight)
1 cup grated coconut
5-6 dry red chillies
2 onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, julienned
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
A small piece of cinnamon
3-4 cloves
1/2 teaspoon mace (outer cover of nutmeg)
1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the vattana overnight and cook in a pressure cooker along with half the chopped onions. Fry the dry red chillies with a few drops of oil and keep aside. Now fry the coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves, and mace with little oil. Grind the grated coconut, dry red chillies, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, and mace to a fine paste. Heat oil in a wok and fry the rest of the chopped onions. Add the ginger and tomatoes and fry for 2 minutes. Now add the ground masala and the cooked vattana and salt and bring it to a boil. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with pav or chapattis.

Karathe kismur or bitter gourd chutney

This is one of my favorite dishes. This spicy chutney goes well with boiled rice pez. This also can be prepared with dried fish or dried shrimps. When you are making fish kismur, add garlic to the following ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 bitter gourd, finely cut into cubes
1 big onion, finely chopped
1 cup grated coconut
5-6 dry red chillies (Indeed, it is going to be hot)
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 lemon-sized tamarind ball
Salt to taste.

Method:

Fry the bitter gourd pieces in a little oil until it turns dark brown in color. Grind the coconut, dry red chillies, coriander seeds, tamarind, and salt. Do not add water. Mix the fried bitter gourd pieces and finely chopped onions to the chutney and serve it with boiled rice pez. Pez is made by cooking red colored boiled rice in a big vessel with plenty of water. The boiled rice should be cooked on a slow heat until it becomes soft. It is served hot with salt and ghee.

PHENORI (SWEET PURIS)

Ingredients:

2 cups maida

200 gm of dalda or ghee

3/4 cup of powdered sugar

4-5 cardamom

2 teaspoon corn flour

1 cup water

Method:

Heat 1 tablespoon dalda and rub it into the maida. Add sufficient water to make a soft dough. Roll out into thin chapattis. Brush dalda on one chapatti and sprinkle some corn flour. Take another chapatti and keep it on the first one and spread dalda over it and sprinkle some corn flour. In this manner, make a thick sandwich of four to five chapattis. You start folding it from one end and fold it into a tight roll. Now cut the roll into thin slices. Roll the slices into small puris.

Heat rest of the dalda or ghee in a pan and fry the puris or phenori over moderate heat. When it is hot, roll it in sugar and cardamom powder. Store it in an airtight container. This sweet dish is normally made on festival days. It is not too sweet as we are only coating the puris with the sugar powder.

Cabbage sannapolo

This is a spicy side dish prepared with shredded cabbage. This Konkani dish goes very well with rice and saar upkari or dali thove. I have prepared this today and I think I should share this simple recipe with you. This sanna polo can also be prepared only with onions.

Ingredients:

2 cups of shredded cabbage

2 onions finely chopped

1 cup grated coconut

1 cup rice soaked in water

One half-cup tuvar dal soaked in water

A small piece of tamarind

6-7 red chillies

Salt to taste

Method

Wash and soak the rice and tuvar dal for half an hour. Chop the onions and cabbage into very small pieces and keep it aside. Grind together red chillies, tamarind, and half of the grated coconut to form a thick masala. To this masala add the rice and tuvar dal and grind to form a coarse batter. To this mixture, add the onions, cabbage, rest of the grated coconut and salt to taste and mix well.

Now heat a nonstick tava and pour the mixture with a ladle and make small dosas. Fry it well on both sides by adding little oil. Serve this hot spicy cabbage sanna polo with rice and dali thove. This is somewhat similar to cabbage sannakotto, which I have written earlier.

Tendle-bibbo upkari

This is a simple stir-fry dish mostly served in Konkani weddings and other functions. Tendle (pronounced tend lae) is the Indian gherkin easily available in South India. Bibbo is the fresh cashew nut before it is dried to form the usual cashew nut, which we all are familiar with. If this fresh cashew nut is not available then we may use the dry ones by soaking them in water for an hour or so.

Ingredients:

500 gm tendle

200 gm bibbo or cashew nut soaked in warm water for an hour

1 teaspoon oil (coconut oil preferred)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon urad dal

2-3 dry red chillies

2 tablespoon shredded coconut

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot add the mustard seeds, urad dal, and 2-3 dry red chillies. Once they start to crackle, add the tendle, bibbo, salt, and sufficient water to cook the vegetables. Once it is softly cooked and the water has evaporated add the grated coconut and serve hot with rice and dalitoi.

Colocasia leaf curry or alavathi

Ingredients:

A bunch of colocasia leaves along with the stem

1 cup shredded coconut

5-6 red chillies

1 lemon-sized tamarind ball

2-3 slit green chillies

1-inch piece julienned ginger

2 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

Method:

Clean and cut the colocasia leaves along with the stem. Add a cup of water and the slit green chillies and julienned ginger and cook it in the pressure cooker until it is cooked to a soft consistency.

To give the curry a tangy flavor, in Karwar and Mangalore, we add bimbul or ambado. (Sorry I do not know the English name for these vegetables). Since it is not easily available in Mumbai, I use the tamarind. Now grind the shredded coconut, red chillies, and the tamarind to a paste.

Remove the colocasia leaves from the cooker and add the ground masala and salt and bring it to a boil. Heat oil in a saucepan and add the mustard seeds. Once they start to crackle, season the curry or alavathi with it.

I simply love this dish. When the colocasia leaves are cooked in the coconut gravy, it gives a distinct aroma. Hope you will like this recipe.

Buns

This is one Konkani dish that I do not prepare very often because my daughters do not like it much. Since I had guests last week I had prepared this snack, which is very good. They liked it very much. Hope you like it too.

Ingredients:

1 Banana

1/2 cup curd

Maida or plain flour

3-4 tablespoon sugar

A pinch of salt

Cooking soda

Oil for frying

Method:

Mix banana, sugar, salt, and cooking soda in a pan. Add curds and mix well. Now add sufficient maida or plain flour to make a smooth and soft dough without adding water. Leave the dough to ferment for at least 5-6 hours. Make small thick puris and deep fry them in hot oil. The puris should be fried in a moderate heat so that the buns get cooked inside. It can be had with sambar or chutney. It is a great evening snack.