Bellappa

Bellappa is a traditional , lovely spongy Dosa which I learnt from my mom and this recipe is truly awesome as it nails the texture so well. There are different ways which I prepare this dosa ...here is the one I follow most of the time as it comes out so perfect all the time and it's a no compromise on the taste as well !....You can serve with any chutney of your choice and relish it you will def love it :D

Ingredients 

1 Cup Sona Masoori Rice /Basmati Rice /Dosa Rice (any one will work fine)

1 cup Cooked Rice 

1/4 cup coconut 

1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp sugar to taste 

salt to taste 

Oil to drizzle while taking out the dosa

Method

• wash and Soak Rice for 2 hrs. Then Drain the water and grind it with coconut, cooked rice adding water to making it like a semi thick consistency ( Note : The consistency you are looking here is like normal dosa batter.
• Now take it out in a container and then add in soda, sugar , salt to taste and mix well. Cover it and leave it to ferment it overnight .
• Next morning Drizzle the non stick tawa with little oil heat it on a med flame spread a ladle full of batter cook it covered just for a min or 2 then take it out in a pan and serve with chutney of your choice ...Enjoy ( Note : Here you don't flip the dosa and cook ) 

Semolina Banana Dosa

There are so many ways to use your ripened banana ...this is one breakfast recipe which I use ripened banana for ....it's a quick recipe and what's more is that this dosa can be made really quickly without any fermentation required ...just a mix of few ingredients and you can get a lovely spicy dosa without much to worry about....serve it with a dollop of butter it tastes yumm !....Do try this you will absolutely love it ....Do drop in a feedback if you try and loved it :D

Ingredients

1 ripened banana

3/4 cup semolina ( I usually take 1/2 of fine semolina + 1/4 cup of coarse semolina)

3-4 green chillies (finely minced)

small piece of jaggery  ( may be 1/2 tsp)

salt to taste 

1/4 cup wheat flour 

1/2 cup water or more to bring it to dosa batter consistency 

Method

• Mash one ripened banana well with the help of a fork. Add in Jaggery , salt, minced green chillies, 
• Add in semolina, wheat flour and mix well. add little water and mix and bring it to the consistency which is slightly thicker then the regular dosa batter,
• Now heat a non stick pan add in oil and rub in evenly spread a ladle full of batter a spread it to form a medium sized dosa.
• Lower the heat to med flame and simmer and roast on both sides till golden . Serve hot with a dollop of butter. Done !

Karathe Kudko /Pathrado

I simply love Bitter gourd / Karela (in hindi) / Karathe (konkani) and though it's little bitter in taste it's my fav and has got great health benefits like good dietary fiber, good in vitamins , low in fat and it's definitely proven to lower blood sugar levels . Nevertheless I love this veg and try to do various dishes out of it and this was the one recipe I was hooked too which was contributed by Priya R shenoy ...on my  recent visit to India I prepared this for my mom and she absolutely loved it and told me that she used to prepare this dish earlier and it was called as karathe Kudko and they used to add a thick slurry of tamarind and Jaggery so the 2nd time when I prepared it I prepared the way she told me and it was surely a wow tasted even better the next day when the flavours got mixed in so well ....was a perfect blend of sweet, tangy and bitter flavour just the way I love it to be....Thanks to Priya for contributing such a lovely recipe which is featured in KKAJ blog and I have tweaked the recipe and loved it ...so here goes the recipe for this and this recipe is truly a winner and a must try for those who love this veg like me :D...Do drop in your feedbacks and comments on the space below would love to hear from you :)

Ingredients 

4-5  med sized Karela (snip of the tips and cut into halves remove the seeds and cut into small strips)

4 tsp Red chilli powder ( I have used mild kashmiri chilli powder here)

2 tsp Hing water ( You can use Hing powder but I have used Hing water ...dissolve fresh hing in little water and mix well till dissolved )

lemon sized Tamarind ...or 3 tbsp tamarind paste

3 tbsp Jaggery ( It should be same size as lemon)

salt to taste

For tempering 

2 tbsp coconut oil ( you can use any oil but i highly recommend coconut oil)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal 

6-7 methi seeds 

Method

• Heat 1/2 cup water add in tamarind and jaggery and boil till Jaggery is melted and with the help of the masher bring to one boil and switch off the gas and keep aside.
• Add salt to the bittergourd strips and keep it aside for 10 -15 mins then squeeze out the water and keep it aside. Boil this bitter gourd strips in water till cooked then drain in all the water.
• Then add in red chilli powder, hing water and mix well till all the karela / karathe is well coated with this powder. Leave in the marination for 5- 10 mins .
• Take a kadai add in coconut oil when hot add mustard seeds, methi, urad dal and when dal slightly changes the colour then add in marinated karela then simmer and cook till the masala gets cooked well add in salt if required. Add in thick slurry of Jaggery and tamarind and give it a good mix and cook on simmer flame till the gravy thickens and coats all the karela well .
• Done !....Allow it to rest for 2 hrs and then try as I said earlier tastes even better the next day ..I loved it with Chapathi or you can even serve as a side for rice and dal ...Too good !

Jatpat Mushroom Capsicum Masala

Happy New Year to all my readers ....hope you all have a lovely and blessed year ....and this is one special post for you :) .....I love experimenting with curries and this is one of my fav one which my family loved ...actually this happened when i fell short of time and wanted to cook some curry in a jiffy and this was what I came up with.... you can add any vegs of your choice in this dish ....feel free to experiment and use the vegs of your choice, I have used mushroom and capsicum as this is one of my fav combo of vegs and this dish is truly a winner too ...Do try this and do leave in your feedback would love to read in your comments :) 

Ingredients 

10 - 12 button Mushroom / chestnut Mushroom (cut into Quarters)

1 green capsicum (cubed) 

1 med sized onion 

2-3 big cloves of garlic 

1' small ginger 

2 Red chilles (used Bedagi /Kashmiri Chillies here)

1/4 tsp Kasoori Methi

1 Green chilli

1/2 tsp haldi 

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp Jeera  / Cumin seeds

2 tbsp broken cashews 

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp oil + 1 tbsp ghee

2 tomatoes pureed 

1/4 cup cream 

salt to taste

Method 

• Grind ginger, garlic, green chilli, haldi, red chilli, Garam masala, kasoori methi, cashew nuts, onion ...grind all this to a fine paste.
• Heat oil in a kadai  add ghee when it's hot add little jeera when it splutters add in the paste and fry in for 10 -12 mins till it leaves out nice aroma and leaves out oil too  do it on a simmer flame( this is very important step as u have ground raw onion to a paste so you need to fry till it's nicely cooked. 
• Now add in pureed tomato and fry well till it leaves out oil add in coriander leaves and fry well  till it's well cooked . Add in salt and taste it if you feel it's a bit less spicy then add in 1/4 tsp Red chilli powder.
• Now add in cream  and mix it well. Add in 1/2 cup water and simmer and cook for 10 mins . Base of the curry is ready ...Now it's time to saute vegs :)
• Now take a non stick pan add in mushroom , capsicum and fry well now add in to the curry . Serve this with chapathi ....I seriously enjoyed this curry as tasted so yumm ! ...Try it you will love it too :D