ChouChou/Chayote/ Seemae BaDhanekayi bonda/bhajji

Chayote belongs to cucurbitaceae family. few vegetables of this family are squashes, Cucumber,Luffa (Herakai) and melons.


In English speaking countries its called as chouchou. In Kannada its called Seemae BaDahanekayi, In tamil Its called vilati vanga. In Southern part of India people make different kinds of recipes like magige huli, curries, dry sabbji, bonda .I usually mix this vegetable to make upama, sambar, sabbji .

Mexican use this for salads, they called it as chayote. You can find this vegetable in American stores.

It can be used without peeling the skin . Both fruit & its inner white part seeds have amino acid and vitamin C.



You Need


one chouchou
2 table spoon of Red chili powder
one cup of besan gram flour
salt to taste
1 tbs of rice floor (crispness)
oil for deep fry
water to make medium batter


Method

peel the skin of chouchou and make a thin slice of it.

Heat the oil in a pan.

In a blow mix the gram flour and red chili powder, rice flour & salt. put water to make batter in thick consistency.




Dip the chou chou in the batter and put this dipped chou chou in the oil, fry it in oil till it turns brown color

Serve hot with pudina chutney.

Ugadi Habbada Subhashayagalu

Kanasu Nanasagali,
Manasu Malligeyagali,
Baduku Bangaravagali,
Beviirali Bellavirali,
ellavanu sweekarisuva manavirali,
Aaa manadalli malligeya tampirali,
Aaa tampinalli nammellara snehada savinenapu nenapu sadaa hasiragirali,
Bevubelladha habbadha harthika subhashayagalu

Yugadi or Ugadi is the first day of the Hindu calendar (first day of the first month, the Chaitra).

In Karnataka and also in some parts of the country, the tender leaves of neem mixed with jaggery are distributed on the occasion. The neem, extremely bitter in taste, and jaggery sweet and delicious, signify the two conflicting aspects of human life - joy and sorrow, called as ‘Bevu-Bella’ (a mixture of neem and jaggery in equal measure). This denotes the acceptance by man of all the sweet (jaggery) and bitter (neem) things that are in store for him in the coming year, with gratitude.

People look forward on this occasion is the Obattu, a sweet prepared mostly in Karnataka which comes in various varieties like Kai Obbattu, Bele Obbattu, Sakkare Obbattu etc.Another important festival for the Kannadigas.

Every year I used to listen yuga yugadi kaledaru a famous kannada song written by Dara Bendra. Chandan channel telecasts his song every ugadi which I would like to share lyrics of the song

http://www.udbhava.com/udbhava/songs.jsp?id=72


Here is the lyrics below

yuga yugAdi kaLedarU yugAdi maraLi barutide
hosa varushake hosa harushava hosatu hosatu tarutide

honge hUva tongalalli bhrungada sangIta kEli matte kELabarutide
bEvina kahi bALinalli hUvina nasugampu sUsi jIvakaLeya tarutide

varushakondu hosatu janma harushakondu hosatu neleyu akhila jIvajAtake
onde ondu janmadali onde bAlya onde haraya namagadashTE EtakO

niddegomme nitya maraNa edda sala navIna janana namage Eke bAradO
elE sanatkumAradEva elE sAhasi chiranjIva ninage lIle sEradO

yuga yugAdi kaLedarU yugAdi maraLi barutide
hosa varushake hosa harushava hosatu hosatu tarutide nammanashTe maretide

On the occasion of Ugadi I would like to thank all my friends for encouraging and supporting me to post more recipes.

Ragi Mudde/ Ragi kali / Finger millet

Ragi is a variety of millet. It is usually called finger millet or red millet in English.The Latin name of ragi is Elusine coracana; ragi is quite essentially a crop indigenous to India.This so called coarse grain or poor man’s millet is actually superior to rice or wheat in nutritional terms being rich in proteins and high levels of fiber which makes it digestible slowly, thereby ensuring the release of carbohydrates in small quantities.


Ragi Mudde is very simple to prepare. its v rich in highly nutritious with good quality protein, rich in minerals, dietary fiber , photochemical and vitamins. It is the richest source of calcium providing 8-10 times more calcium than wheat and rice….. In India from ragi they prepare a ragi malt & they feed the baby from 8 months as a solid food. they don't use the cereal.

In ragi flour i make roti, dosa, one of the friend tried to make even ragi butter biscuit .

Ingredients

for 2 people
large mouthed vessel
3 glass of water
2 cup of ragi flour
salt to taste
one drop of oil
one wooden stick
Take a large mouth vessel.








Method

Put 3 glass of water. bring the water to boil & add salt &oil to it... when water starts boiling . Add the 2 cups of ragi flour to water( remember when water starts boiling reduce the heat) pout ragi flour into boiling water..stir it with wooden stick so that it can be lumps (guntu). after mixing well still it becomes soft like dough. their should be lumps &bake it well for 5 minutes by covering lid. after five minutes u find white vapors. remove it from stove & make a small ball of ragi..(By wetting you hands with little water, press the dough and make them to a round shaped balls) & sever the ragi with sambar... while serving with sambar u can use ghee with sambar.



How to eat

Funny thing i experienced with most people they chew it like rice & tortilla(roti). u have to swallow it. make a small ball of dip with sambar & swallow it...

what i did is traditional way of doing ragi mudde. this need practice to make it soft dough without lumps.. u can using another method
instead of directly pouring the ragi floor to water u can mix it in cold water make a tick dough & add to boiling water( to avoid forming lumps). u can make this way also. but i make a traditional way.

Morupuli (spicy curd/yogurt)

This is my hubby's favorite side dish. Usually I prepare this with kolumbu (Tamil) / kuttu (Kannada) . With kolumbu its good combination.

This is recipe I learn't it from my chitti ( aunt). She makes especially with avarekai(French Beans) kolumbu .

I will post the recipe of kolumbu in next week.

Total preparation time 5-10 min.

You need to grind
1/4 cup fresh coconut or dry coconut
coriander powder 4-5 tbs
a small piece of tamarind
5-8 red chili
Mustard seeds 1/2 tbs
turmeric a pinch
Asafoetida a pinch
a rice one tbs for thickness
curd 1 cup
salt


For seasoning

1 tbs of oil
1 tbs mustard seeds
2-3 curry leaves
pinch of Hing


For Garnish
coriander leaves


Method


Grind the above ingredients expect crud... make a smooth paste.


























Now add curd to this smooth paste and mix it well



Give the seasoning & garnish with coriander leaves..

Tondakai Fry (Tondali/Tinda/Gherkins )

This is very simple recipe , its easy to prepare and can be done in short time. Depending upon your taste it can made spicy.


Ingredients :

1. Tondakai
2. oil 2 tbs
3. jeera cumin seeds
4. ginger paste
5. Red chili powder as per taste
6. Turmeric powder
7. cumin powder 1 tbs
8. salt
9. Asafoetida
Method:


Remove the end of the Tondakai & crush them take care it should not break


Take a pan.. heat the oil, then add jeera and ginger paste and asafoetida.


Add crushed tondakai in to the pan & fry it for 5 min with salt. now add red chili , jeera,turmeric powder . Fry on a low flame till the tondakai turn dark brown.Don't add water .

Server with rice or chapati.

Stuffed Capsicum with Couscous

This is my first post to adige yenu ? I came across a new recipe in cooking blog , I was excited by the picture of this dish. Its called Stuffed Capsicum with Couscous http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couscous . This is an Mediterranean recipe, I tried it to make to spicy.


Ingredients: (For Two people)

1 cups couscous (You get this in all American stores)
2 cups of water
1 Red belly pepper (red capsicum) Finely chopped
2 Green Capsicum
Fresh Ginger,garlic
1/2 cup Sweet corn
1/2 cup green Peas
1/2 tbs Turmeric
3 Green chillies
1/2 tbs Jeera powder
1 tbs jeera (cumin seeds)
3 tbs of oil
Red chili powder , black pepper , salt to taste

Method

1. In rice cooker,steam the couscous with 2 cup of water (1:2)
2. Cut the Green Capsicum into half and remove the seeds and the white part.

3. Boil the water in vessel and put the cut capsicum for 5 min. Remove from the start and dry it.

4. Heat oil in a pan/kadai,add jeera , cut chillies,Ginger ,garlic,turmeric ,red capsicum , corn and peas. Fry it for 5 -10 min, add red chili powder , cumin powder. Mix the cooked the couscous.
Mix it well with salt.

5. Pre- heat the oven at 150 F.

6. Now stuff this mix into capsicum and keep it in oven still the capsicum start changes its color. ( approx 15-20 min).



Here is the delicious dish ready to eat....





Variations: Instead of stuffing the Green Capsicum , you can server the couscous mix as a pulao.