Curd Kodubale

I landed in India a couple of weeks ago(yes, time flies!) and I must say it’s a warm overwhelming feeling to be back home. Memories of time spent come flooding back with every visit to mom’s place. The sights, the sounds, the smells (yes, smells! :D) …. Divine on one end and a strong reminder on the other that I’m in India…hehe! I’m thoroughly enjoying mom’s cooking and I had almost forgotten about my blog..my bad. I have been learning a lort of new stuff from mom and I've in turn been teaching her a thing or few in baking :)

This morning mom made Kodabale, steamed rice flour which is shaped into ‘bangles’ and deep fried. Eaten with either chutney or ketchup,this makes an appetizing snack or a meal by itself. As kids we loved these, since they looked different and were fun to eat.

You will need:

1 ½ Cups Rice flour
1 ¾ cups Sour, plain yoghurt
¼ cup Water
Salt to taste
2 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds

Lightly beat the yoghurt and blend in the water. Heat the yoghurt water mixture over medium heat. Add salt, oil, cumin seeds and stir. Bring to a simmering boil. Place a wooden spoon in the pan and pour the rice flour in the centre. Do not stir, otherwise it will get lumpy. Lower heat and cook for 10 mins. Remove from heat and stir vigorously in one direction to bring the mixture together. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.

Oil a plate lightly. Transfer steamed dough onto plate. And while its still hot, knead the dough well to make a smooth ball. Kneading the dough well helps shape the bangles better.

Break off a small piece of dough, roll into a rope and then connect the two ends.

Heat oil over medium heat in a deep pan. When the oil is hot enough, drop each bangle into the oil, about 6-8 at a time. Fry till golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels to remove excess oil. Serve hot with coconut chutney, ketchup or pudina chutney.

Kodubale is best when made fresh and eaten while still hot.

I have been unable to visit all your blogs, I will do so soon. Thanks to all of you for stopping by :)

Fried Rice

At some point each of us would have made "fried rice"' at home in an attempt to put left over cooked rice to use. It could be the Chinese version, or the more popular Indo-Chinese version.....well this one is just my version and would simply like to call it Fried Rice, no strings attached.

You will need:

1 Cup Jasmine rice or alternately any long grained rice
2 Cups Water
½ cup Carrots, cut into 1” strips
½ cup Frozen Peas
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, grated
½” pc Ginger, peeled and grated
2 Eggs
1 tsp Dark Soy sauce (low-sodium)
2 tsp Hot Sauce (Sriracha)
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil

Wash rice and cook in 2 cups water till done. Fluff rice with a fork when done and let cool completely. This can be made ahead of time so its ready to use when required.

Heat 1 tsp Oil in a non-stick pan. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork. Season with salt. Pour into hot pan and scramble eggs with the help of a wooden or silicon spatula. When done, transfer to a bowl.

Heat the remaining oil in the same pan. Add the sliced onions, grated ginger and garlic, carrots and the frozen peas. Saute on medium heat till onions and carrots are softened, about 5-7 minutes.

Stir in the soy sauce and hot sauce. Add the fluffed cooked rice and stir to coat the rice with the sauces. Stir in the scrambled egg and season with salt as required. Cook for 2-3 minutes till the rice is heated through. Serve.

Note: Not an Eggetarian, simply leave the eggs out!

Potato Spinach and Feta Cheese Omelet

This is an omelet with a few of my favourite ingredients put together. Spinach and Feta make a delicious pair, and with potatoes and eggs, it couldn't get any better!

You will need:

1 Idaho baking potato, peeled and grated
4 tbsp olive oil (or any cooking oil)
2 cloves garlic
1 (10-ounce) bag of spinach, washed, stemmed, and spun dry
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
4 eggs
1 tbsp butter

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a 4 to 6-inch nonstick pan. Transfer grated potato to the hot pan. Pat into thin pancake. Cook until golden on one side, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn pancake over and cook until golden on other side, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Pour remaining olive oil into another non-stick pan. Thinly slice 2 cloves of garlic. Place garlic in cold oil and bring up to heat slowly. Saute until garlic is just golden. Remove garlic from pan and add spinach. Cook until just wilted. Remove from pan.

Beat 4 eggs until just combined. Do not beat in too much air into eggs or the texture will be dry. Add 1 tbsp butter to spinach pan. After foam has subsided, pour in the eggs. While stirring the eggs with a fork, shake the pan back and forth.

Once the bottom of the omelet has set, slide in potato pancake. Add spinach and crumbled feta cheese on top of potato. Run omelet under broiler until cheese starts to melt. Remove from broiler and fold into half moon shape. Sprinkle sauted garlic slices over top of omelet. Serve.

This is a fully 'loaded' omelet...enough to satisfy any hunger pang!

Happy Gowri and Ganesha habba!

It’s festival time again and that means time to make all those delicious festive goodies.

Back home in India, it’s a tradition to buy the Gowri and Ganesha idols made out of mud or plaster of paris. Here, it’s almost impossible to find these idols and even if we do find some, the idols are too big. So I decided to make the idols at home this time, out of play clay. Two of my friends have been doing it since a few years and I saw their work last year. That was an inspiration and I gave it a try.

Gowri Idol

Ganesha

Gowri habba oota (lunch):

Lime Rice with lima beans, Moong Dal and Carrot palya, Rice, Obattu/Holige Rasam(Saaru) and Obattu.

My aunt was here a couple of weeks ago and she taught me how to make Obattu. Last year I made them with instructions from mom over the phone and also with memories of how I had seen mom make them. They turned out well but not as good as the ones I had eaten at home. This year, with a demo from aunt, these were easy to make and turned out far better too.

Ganesha habba:

Idlis, Chutney and Steamed Kadabus

We usually make Bell pepper gojju to go with the idlis, but this time I made coconut chutney. More steamed varieties here.

Hope all of you had a wonderful festival too!