Puttani chutni pudi

Some years back, we were visiting Dharwar.We were invited by my dad's friend for cup of tea. We were served upma with chutni pudi.It was a different chtuni pudi.I asked & was told that this was daaliya chutni pudi.I  have been wanting to make that chutni pudi since long.So , googled & got the recipe here .There are other versions too.

Ingredients : 1 cup roasted chana dal or daalia or buna chana dal, 1/4 cup roasted peanuts ( either roast the peanuts till they turn slightly brown & deskin the browned peels ) or buy roasted peanuts which have been stripped of their brown skins,1/4 tsp hing, 1/4 tsp haldi, 2-3 sprigs of curry leaves, 8-10 byadgi mirchi or red chilli powder, salt to taste.

Method : Dry roast all ingredients except salt, haldi & hing separately one by one. Keep aside. After the dry roasted items have reached room temperature , add them all to the grinder.Grind once to get a coarsely ground powder. Add haldi , hing & salt to taste.Grind once again.The powder obtained will be coarse & yet not fine. Powder is ready. This can be mixed with thick dahi to make instant chutni for idlis & dosas.It is also eaten by adding dollops of ghee or til oil for doasa, idlis & even rice.

A small amount of dry tamarind, some garlic ( 5-6 pods or less or more as per taste) , jaggery can all be added after some slight roasting .Roast all ingredients & add them to the other ingredients.Grind them all together & the powder is ready .

Roasted poha chivda in microwave.

I have been trying to use my microwave for cooking. Towards this end, I had made this roasted poha chivda in the microwave. This roasted poha chivda is a boon for my community as we are Vaishnavas .We can eat this poha chivda for breakfast, lunch , snack & dinner. It is allowed in our sect. Sudama had given poha to Krishna as gift. And so we relish this gift of poha.

Whenever, there is a function  such as a puja or even during fast, we can consume this poha without any reservations. It is allowed to eat this poha during fasting & before any religious function &  socio religious functions.

Even plain poha ( both thick & thin varieties) & dahi can be mixed. Add a little vagar of kadipattas, byadgi mirchi, hari mirch, urad dal & hing.And  maybe, some grated fresh veggies like cucumbers, carrots, a few anardana, grated raw mango & it makes a cool nashta ! Remember to add salt to taste  as well.It is sumptuous.


I have followed Tarla Dalal's recipe while making this. There are other versions as well.


Ingredients : 1/4 kg thin poha, 2-3 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp peanuts, 2 tbsp daalia, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1 tsp mustard seeds, , 1 tsp til ( optional ) , 1-2 green chillies finely chopped,1/2 -1 tsp sugar, salt to taste.

Method : Roast til on slow flame of gas in a kadhai or tawa .Very soon ,they will crackle. Put off gas. Keep aside.

In a shallow microwave able vessel , take the poha & microwave on high for 1 minutes.Take out the bowl with poha aside.

In a shallow microwave able vessel , take 2-3 tbsp oil & put mustard seeds .Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Put off microwave. To the mustard seeds ,add peanuts, daalia, chopped green chillies, dry byadgi mirchis ( optional - roughly broken into bits ) ,kadipattas, haldi & hing. Microwave on high for 1.minute.After a gap of 3/4 minutes, mix all ingredients inside bowl & microwave again for another minute.

Mix the poha & the oil mix together nicely. Add roasted til.Add salt & sugar to poha mix.Mix nicely. Microwave on high for 1 more minute. Poha chivda is ready !

Notes : 
I roasted til on gas as I was not sure about how much time is need to dry roast the til in microwave. A

Byadgi lal mirchi broken into 2-3 pieces can added to vagar if needed. Byadgi mirchi is hardly pungent & yet adds on to the taste.

I did not have sookha khopra ( dry coconut ) .So, did not add it. Flakes of dry khopra are a common item in roasted chivda.Likewise, even kismis & cashews can be added to make this chivda rich !

Please add salt very carefully as poha has an inherent salt content.

The day,I made this poha,I mixed it with chopped capsicum & grated carrots & had my evening snack.Even finely chopped onions, grated cucumber, raw mango ( kairi ) or few drops of lemon juice  can be added. Garnish with fresh dessicated coconut & hara dhania & it makes for chatpata snack.

Eggless banana oats bread.

I have been following this food blog called Lite Bite for quite some time. The food blogger at Lite Bite is Sanjeeta & she is superb at food photography as well.I have made her recipes earlier. And they have turned out quite well.

Since I had some oats left over, I thought of using them in a baking recipe.I had over ripe bananas as well.And this eggless banana & oats quick bread at Lite Bite seemed to fit my need of the day. I made some changes & got a slightly burnt cake.And to my surprise, my daughter ate it as well !

Ingredients : 1 cup whole wheat flour ( I used Aashirwad ...even chakki ka atta would do ) , 1/3 cup oats ( Quaker brand ...I should have soaked it & I didn't ) , 1 cup bananas mashed & pureed in mixer ( I got 1 cup puree from 3 over ripe bananas ) , 1/4 cup  jaggery sugar, 2 tbsp   yoghurt or dahi , 7-8 chopped walnuts , 1/4-1/2 tsp elaichi powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, water as needed.


Method : Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius.

Mix all dry ingredients like atta, oats, baking powder, baking soda ,salt & elaichi powder. Mix all nicely with fork or whisk many times over. This is because ,I do not ever use a sieve to mix dry ingredients. Keep aside.

I have noticed that once sugar added to wet ingredients, there is more moisture for the batter.So preferable to mix sugar with wet ingredients.

Mix banana puree, dahi & jaggery sugar nicely. Make a well in the dry ingredient mix & pour the wet ingredient mix into it. Mix dry & wet ingredients to get a batter.Make a smooth batter so that no lumps remain in it.If , batter is too dry, add water drop by drop till a smooth batter is obtained.In no case, will more than 1/4 to 1/3 cup water will be required.Add chopped walnuts to the batter & mix once again .

Line a baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Bake the batter at 190 degrees celsius for 3-35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My cake got a little burnt on top by appearance as my daughter confirmed that there was no burnt taste. The walnuts had turned black & yet the taste was perfect. Yes, the sugar was just perfect for the cake as a majority of the sweetness for the cake is due to the overripe bananas.

Instead of water 1-2 tbsp oil would be agood idea as that would make for an even better cake !

Well, isn't this cake very healthy ? Over ripe bananas can be used.Instead of maida, use atta as that is healthy.Add walnuts for the nutty flavour & dahi  & banana puree replace eggs ! What more ,could one possibly ask for ? !

Basale Soppu sambar

This vegetable ,basale soppu is Malabar spinach. It is supposed to be a cooling vegetable .Hence, must be eaten during summers.Mangaloreans eat this leafy vegetable a lot. My neighbour, a Mangalorean had introduced this vegetable to us. She would make a delicious sambar with fresh coconut, spices & tur dal with this Ceylon spinach. Wikipedia has a whole lot of information about this leafy green vegetable .It is called maayalu in Marathi by locals in the veggie market.

Maayalu is available as a bundle of greens for RS 20 /- ( brought it last week in market ) for Rs 20 ?-.The bundle can be split into two parts & used. Because that one bundle will be too big to be used all at once in case, family has just 4 people.It is somewhat  sticky when cut, so be careful.To neutralise its stickiness, it is  cooked with tamarind .

Ingredients : 1/2 bundle of maayalu, cleaned & chopped ( even stems are fleshy & chopped & used in sambar ) , 1 tbsp tamarind, 1/3 cup tur dal soaked for 1/2 an hour after washing,  1-2 onions roughly chopped,1-2 green chillies, roughly chopped, 1/2 tsp haldi, 1/2 tsp powdered hing, 1tbsp  oil ,1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 red byadgi mirchi ( optional ) ,1 tsp sambar powder, 1 tsp jaggery ( optional ) ,salt  to taste.

Method : Pressure cook tur dal  in one container. In another container,in the same cooker, arrange chopped basale soppu along with tamarind & chopped onions , green chillies.Pressure cook the way , in which you cook tur dal.1-2 whistles & then on slow flame for 10 minutes or so. or any other pressure cooking manner that you follow. Put off gas. Let the cooker cool.

In a kadhai take 1 tbsp oil for making vagar.Heat it up. Add mustard seeds .After they splutter add, byadgi mirchi which has been split into 2-3 pieces.Put off gas. Keep aside.

After cooker has cooled, in one vessel transfer cooked tur dal & the veggie mix. Add sambar powder, salt & jaggery. Keep the vessel on gas & bring the mixture to a boil.If , sambar consistency is too thick ,some water can be added. After it has come to boil,add the vagar.

Serve basale soppu sambar as accompaniment to rotis and or rice ! It is so delicious that you will make it again & again.