Avarekalu-Menthya soppina bhaath - a single pot rice dish needing no pre-made powders

Before I forget to wish you all, Happy Sri Rama Navami to all my readers celebrating the birth of Lord Rama. By the time I got to writing this post, Ramanavami for 2015 had already slid into the past making me late again with my wishes. But as I always say, "better late than never". Hope you all had a good celebration, ours was simple with kosambari, panaka & hesaru bele payasa. Filling, very satisfying and saatvik :-).

On my not posting regularly, I won't even go there :-(.  I was thinking yesterday of making a really catchy poster to adorn my home page and say something to the effect of, "Gone missing, will be back as soon as life slows down a teeny bit" but then I thought if I have the time to think up and make up fancy posters, I might as well sit myself down and write the posts for some of the recipes that have been languishing in the draft folder for a while now. Ironically enough, I was attending a 3 day talk last weekend about life management and managing time was the topic of day-1 :-).

Here I am with a family favorite and extremely easy to cook up, one pot rice dish that brings together 2 of my favorite ingredients - fresh fenugreek leaves for its characteristic fragrance & taste and avarekalu (papdi lilva) for the love of beans :-). I have another delicious version of rice made with fenugreek leaves that uses Vangibhaath powder, check it out here if interested.

I believe I have already professed my love for avarekalu and written my ode to this humble beans many times over on the blog, here, here and here. Recently a reader from Michigan reached out to ask some questions about averekalu and I felt as glad as he did when he wrote back a week or so later to say he did find them in his local grocery store and made yummy dishes with it. It feels good to come across folks with similar tastes and I am glad my little posts spread some (avarekalu) love to others living away from home.

Nammamma made this version of the bhaath towards the end of avarekalu season when the beans would be mature and plump but not very juicy or fragrant. Back home in Mysore, the beans would first announce their arrive with that very distinct fragrance and as soon you picked them, your hands would undoubtedly be coated with a thin layer of sticky substance (we called it 'sone' in kannada, not sure if it has a name in other languages) which was all part of the avarekalu experience. Adding methi or fenugreek leaves perfectly complements the flavor in this rice. I made this rice recently knowing fully well that my few weeks of avarekalu enjoyment was coming to an end here.

This dish does not need any pre-made spice powders and is very easy to prepare. It has carbs(rice), protiens (beans), nutrients & flavor (fenugreek leaves) and hence makes a perfectly wholesome meal. This can be done in a single vessel from start to end - less cleaning, less wastage and environment friendly :-)

What do you need to make averekalu-menthya bhaath? 
2 packed cups of fresh fenugreen leaves
1-1.5 cups avarekalu (Papdi lilva)
2 cups rice (use sona masoori preferably)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 Tsp cumin
1 inch piece of ginger
1 inch piece of cinnamon
2 cloves
4-6 black pepper corns
3-4 green chilies (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup coconut (fresh or frozen)
1 Tsp salt (Adjust to taste)
2 Tbsp oil

How do you make averekalu-menthya soppina bhaath?

• Chop washed fenugreek leaves. 
• Wash and soak rice for about 20 minutes (this speeds up the cooking process)
• Take a heavy bottom pan (or pressure cooker) and heat it on medium heat. 
• Add cinnamon, black pepper & cloves and roast for about a minute until they warm up and become fragrant. Take them aside and let cool. 
• Make a rough powder of the spices when cool, add ginger, green chilies and coconut to the blender jar, use 1/4 cup water and grind into a fine mixture. 
• Add 1 tbsp oil into the pan (or cooker) and let it heat up. 
• Add cumin and when it sizzles, add chopped onion and let it sweat lightly.
• Add chopped fenugreek leaves and fry until they wilt, 2-3 minutes. 
• Add the averekalu (or other beans you choose) to the pan and mix it with the fenugreek leaves. 
• Add salt and mix them together. 
• Add the ground masala mixture and let it cook for just a minute. 

• Taste and adjust salt if needed. 
• Drain all the water from the soaked rice and add it to the pan. 
• I use 1:2 (rice:water) ratio for making these rice preparations, and add 3 & 3/4 cup (discount 1/4 cup used for grinding) water into the pan. 
• Let it come to a boil. 

• Close the pressure pan with the weight and cook it for 3 whistles. 
• If you like to open cook, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and cook until rice is soft. 
• Let it stand until it is warm. 

• Fluff it gently with a spoon, and serve it warm with any kind chips, fryums or yogurt based raita. 

Notes: 

• You can precook rice (make sure you use the right amount of water to get fluffy rice) and mix the rest of the ingredients, I think the flavor is more enhanced when you cook them all together. 
• If you don't get avarekalu, replace it with mutter or green peas, frozen lima beans or other beans you prefer. 
• The spice comes from the black pepper, ginger & green chilies - adjust them to your liking. 

Baked Kale crisps - 'guilt' is not the emotion you feel while gorging on this nutritious snacks

The other day when we went out, we took a ferry and went to a charming little island 30 minutes off of downtown. It is a little town in the middle of water (well, I guess that is what they call as islands :-)), hilly roads to walk up and down, a quaint little downtown and beautiful waterfront trails. We saw some boards for bike rentals but unfortunately they were closed on that day. Though it has every potential to be a typical 'touristy' place, I am glad it was not too crowded, mostly just the locals hurrying towards their weekly farmer's market. Yes, that was the highlight, we found ourselves in a small farmer's market lot after a good walk and a very filling panini. I didn't want to purchase a whole lot since we were dependent on public transport but wanted to check out the farmer's market at this new place. Yes, I have this self declared affinity to farmer's markets, for one these are seasonal in most American cities and towns and are open only during the summer months and secondly a visit to the farmer's market invariably is a 'lift me up' on my spirits as I get lost in the memories of the bylanes of Mysore and Bengaluru vegetable markets. And then there is definitely the bonus of bringing home something fresh and locally grown.

So off we went exploring the farmer's market here on the island. The first thing to catch my eye was this gorgeous looking fresh Kale. Now, I love all leafy green vegetables, and I use them in umpteen different ways. Kale is a green on steroids (before I alarm anyone, it was just an expression), it is called 'Queen of greens' for no mean reason. Infact adding a regular dose of Kale in your food has the advantage of cancer protection and lowered cholesterol. If you are a seeker of knowledge, continue reading here for some good information. Since it was not going to be heavy on the back packs, I got a bunch and came home :-). 

I was not sure what I would be making with it when I bought it, I thought may be a good dal or a stir fry or put it in a Huli/sambar. But then I had come across these Kale chips/crisps recipes many times in magazines and online and had also seen a packed bag in our grocery store.  So, I set out to try the new taste. Honestly I didn't have any intention or rather expectation of writing a blog post on Kale chips, there is no recipe really here. But when the first batch came out of the oven, they looked so crispy and crunchy and tasted just like a good chip should - delicious and addictive and convinced me that they did deserve a place on the blog. So here are some last minute (read completely unplanned) pictures to explain the process. As I said before, there is no recipe here so I will try to show you what I did with my pictures and point out the obvious to get the right consistency of the final product.

The only problem with these delicious crisps is that they are not a camera (wo)man's joy and they are not great models for photography. Infact DD said they looked like dried leaves found abundantly under trees during Autumn :-). What can say other than reminding you that looks are deceiving.

How did I make baked Kale crisps?
Pick leaves, wash and wipe thoroughly with no trace of water on the leaves - this is important as any residual water will make the crisps very 'uncrispy' :-) and soggy.

Lay upside down on a cutting board, cut out the middle thick stem and discard. Tear or cut into big pieces, remember it shrinks in size after baking and too small a size will make it burn fast.

Put the leaves in a wide bowl, add salt and freshly ground black pepper on top, drizzle olive oil (just enough to coat the leaves) and work it with your fingers to coat all the leaves uniformly.

Spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes in a pre heated oven at 350F.

When you take it of the oven, they look like they are stuck to the sheet, gently run your finger (if you are ok with the hot surface) or use a spoon to give it a little nudge, crackling, crispy chips are ready to eat.

I also made a batch of sweet potato wedges flavored with salt, pepper and some dry oregano. Dinner plate looked more inviting and healthy with these additions :-)

The crisps look deceivingly like the fallen autumn leaves but go ahead and give it a try. You will be bowled over by the distinct flavor of Kale and the crunchiness of this healthy snack.

Notes: 

• 8 minutes per batch was perfect for my oven settings, you may want to check after 7 minutes and determine the best time for your oven settings. The leaves should not turn black. 
• You can add any other flavorings of choice. Sea salt on top would definitely enhance the flavor. 

Menthya Matvadi palya - Fenugreek flavored, lentils loaded dry curry

If you haven't heard this name before, it sounds funny. Well, it sounds funny even if you are familiar with it. I really don't know the origin of the name. But just walk with me past the funny sounding name and let me introduce a recipe bursting with flavors. I love greens and menthya soppu or methi or fenugreek leaves are my favorite. This is one of the items regularly on my grocery shopping list (yes, I have a list but mostly stray away from my list:-) depending on what catches my eye in the grocery store). In spring and summer, I grow my own menthya soppu. If you love Menthya soppu like I do, go ahead and give this healthy recipe a try. It is wholesome with proteins, greens and just a tiny spoon of oil.

This year, I have menthya growing in multiple containers on the deck to be harvested at different times, smart yeh? There is so much difference in the freshness and flavor of a home grown menthya soppu and a store bought bunch. It is easy to grow menthya in containers and you do not have to fret for not having a backyard vegetable patch. Make sure you take a pot of atleast a foot and half depth so the roots can grow into the soil. If your pot is not deep enough, the roots will get squiggly and go all around the soil horizontally which makes them stringy to bite. Deeper pots ensure the roots go in and you can pull them up easily and chop the ends. The sprouts show up on 4th day if the weather is warm enough and continues to grow. You can harvest tender and flavorful menthya leaves in 2.5-3 weeks.

Back to today's recipe, matvadi palya or maatoti palya (as we called it when we were kids) is an easy to prepare dry curry that goes well with your rotis/chapatis or rice. I follow nammamma's suit and make a yogurt based gravy such as raita or majjige huli to make a complete meal. The palya can be eaten just by itself which is what I love do :-)

What do you need to make Menthya matvadi palya? 
1 cup toor dal/togari bele
2 cups chopped fresh menthya soppu/fenugreek leaves
1 inch piece of fresh ginger root
3-4 green chilies (adjust to suit your spice tolerance)
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 Tsp grated coconut (fresh or frozen)

For seasoning/vaggarane: 
1 Tsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves
1 red chili broken into 2-3 pieces

How do you make Menthya matvadi palya? 

• Soak toor dal in 3 cups of water for 1.5 - 2 hours.
• Wash, drain the soaked toor dal.
• Take the drained toor dal, green chilies and ginger into a blender/chopper and pulse them to a coarse paste. Use 1-2 Tsp of water if needed for the blender to operate - See notes. 

• Clean menthya leaves thoroughly and chop them discarding the root ends. 
• Add salt, coconut and chopped menthya soppu to the ground mixture and mix well. 

• The mixture needs to be steamed until the dal cooks. I use my presssure pan, with water at the bottom and a pan containing the dal-greens mixture in it.

• Steam it (no weight if you are using pressure cooker) for 20 minutes, switch off, take the pan out and let it come to room temperature.

• Using your fingers or a fork, break the cooked mixture up and fluff it up. 
• In a wide pan, heat a Tsp of oil, add mustard, asafoetida, red chili pieces and curry leaves. When mustard splutters, add the cooked mixture in and give it a good mix. 

• Let it roast on low heat for 5 minutes before taking it off the heat. Serve it piping hot with rice or rotis. 

Notes: 

• I use my Indian mixie/grinder in pulse mode for this and do not use water while grinding - use small portions to allow the mixie to do its job. 
• The toor dal needs to break down but not become a paste, so take care not to grind for long.
• You can use your idli stand and place small balls of the dal-greens mixture for steaming in it. 
• Use fresh, tender menthya leaves and feel free to load it with extra leaves in this recipe. 
• There is no onion, garlic in this recipe. Remember it is the menthya soppu in the limelight and do not over crowd it with ingredients.

Variation: 

• You can replace Chana dal/kadle bele for toor dal but nammamma always makes matvadi palya with toor dal as it makes the menthya soppu flavor stand out better than chana dal. 
• You can use a combination of chana dal and toor dal (use 1:1) for a blended taste. 

Greens galore - Sabsige soppu (Dill leaves) kootu

While we enjoyed the faux-summer created with the Mango pappu earlier this week at home, reality strikes when you see outside and notice a cloudy sky and the chilly breeze. Yesterday was honestly crazy when mother nature thought of showing all her capabilities within a span of 30 minutes, I saw 5 minutes of rain coming straight down switching to 5 minutes of hard hails followed by the white fluffy snow and within the next 5 minutes, there was the glorious Sun smiling. I was sitting inside my closed car waiting for DD to finish up her sports practice. It was like the weather couldn't make up its mind or asking for help deciding. All the time I was sitting inside the car, I was amazed as much at the fickle changes in the sky as at the tenacity of the kids playing in the rough weather.

So when the weather is cloudy, gloomy and cold, we need something to warm up the system from inside. Kootu is such a comforting recipe for this season especially with the pepper and its super medicinal benefits. When we visited India last summer, dear friend M gave me some home grown (read farm house grown) dried black pepper. The amount she gave me was so huge that it will last me for a long long time, but looking at those fresh, strong smelling pepper corns I decided to take the entire offer (yes, I hoard quality ingredients). It is so flavorful and stood apart from all the store bought pepper corns I have used over the years. Thanks M, I have preserved the packets in the deep freezer and take out only what I need :-) and now I know where to go when the stock needs replenishing.

I generally use the kootu to throw in vegetables so I can get two things done at once but today's kootu is special as I am sending it to Vardhini's monthly event featuring greens. She asked for greens based recipes, I love greens, and here comes the first one. Dill has a strong flavor unlike the mild spinach or amarnath and works well in few specific recipes. I use them in kootu, bassaru (recipe to follow), akki rotti, masala breads so I can taste and smell the distinct Dill flavor. The comforting Sabsige soppu kootu recipe for a cold day is from nammamma's kitchen.

What do you need to make Dill leaves kootu? 
1 cup Toor dal/togari bele
2 packed cups cleaned, chopped Dill leaves
1/2 cup milk (I used skim milk)
3 cups water to cook
1 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)

Kootu masala: 
1 Tsp chana dal/Kadle bele
1/2 Tsp Urad dal/uddina bele
1 Tsp black pepper corns/menasu
1/2 Tsp cumin seeds/jeerige
1/2 Tsp coriander seeds/kothambari
1 dry red chili
2 Tsp grated coconut -fresh or frozen

How do you make Dill Leaves kootu?

• Wash the toor dal in water and cook it until soft but the dal holds shape, I used my pressure cooker and cooked it for 10 minutes. 
• Dill leaves take longer to cook/wilt than spinach, so cook it in the pressure cooker along with the toor dal.

• Dry roast the masala ingredients except for the coconut on medium heat until your kitchen is surrounded in a heavenly aroma :-), it will take about 5 minutes to fry them till done. 
• Once cool, grind them with coconut to a smooth paste. 
• Add the ground masala to the cooked dal and Dill mixture, salt and milk. 
• Add water to get desired consistency and bring it to a rolling boil. 
• Enjoy the spicy, flavorful kootu with rice, it tastes good as an accompaniment to chapatis, dosa & ildy also. 

Tips: 

• The Dill I get locally are much longer than what I have seen back home in India, I pick the leaves and chop them and discard the long stalks. 
• The kootu should be just a tad bit more watery compared to a curry so it mixes well with the rice and sticks well to rotis or dosa.
• Dal needs to be cooked tender yet holding its shape.  

The Dill leaves kootu goes to Tickling Palates monthly event featuring greens.

 

Methi Muthia - snack from Gujarat

I love Gujarati food, the first time I ever tasted a Gujarati meal was at this restaurant near Edison in NJ called Jhupdi which my brother & SIL took me to. It has been years and I still remember how I fell in love with their Undhiyu, I can feel the taste of it on my tongue even now :-), well you know what I mean.. There is a small family run eatery in Fremont, CA called Krishna and they serve you a Gujarati Thali just like one you might get if you visited someone's home. The phulkas are soft, fresh and directly from the tawa. I relish everything in a Gujarati thali except for the rasam which is too sweet for my taste.

A few years back, one of my colleagues S got married, he is from Ahmadabad and his wife was a sweet, young girl who was just out of college. When we had a pot luck at work, she had made sheera (sweet sooji pudding) and doodhi/bottlegourd muthias and sent it with S. They were both gone in such a hurry that people really wanted to meet the cook behind the delicious dishes. The moment I see/taste a new dish, I go after the recipe and asked S to get the recipe and to my surprise next day when I went to work, he handed me this very meticulously typed instructions from dear E to make the yummy muthias. I still have that print out in my collection of recipes but don't need to refer to it anymore as I have made it so many times and know it by heart. Thanks E for the delicious muthias and generous sharing of a family recipe.

I have made changes to E's original recipe to suit the way we like it and I experiment with the vegetables since I am confident now of the basic recipe. I know this is a traditional recipe and here is my way of making the delicious Methi muthias as I love methi to bits :-).

What do you need to make Methi muthias?
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup basan/chick pea flour/gram flour/kadle hittu
1/2 cup fine sooji/chiroti rava
1 cup chopped fresh methi leaves/fenugreek leaves
11/2 cups grated bottle gourd
2 Tblsp fresh ginger+green chilies paste (I used about 5 green chilies and an inch of ginger root and pounded them together in mortar-pestle)
1 Tblsp salt
2 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp sugar

For Tadka/vaggarane:
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp white sesame seeds
3-4 curry leaves

How do you make Methi Muthias?

• Mix the grated bottle gourd, methi and salt in a wide bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Squeeze out the vegetables and keep the water aside, this is very nutritious and you can use it in any of your soups, gravies etc.
• Mix ginger-green chilies paste, sugar, baking soda and oil with the vegetables.
• Add the wheat flour, basan and chiroti rava into the bowl and mix it to get a soft mass. 
• Your exact amount of dry flours depend on the water content from the bottle gourd, so adjust them - I keep the wheat flour and basan equal and sooji at half the other two as we like the taste better with this proportion. 
• Squeeze out big tennis ball size of the mixed dough and roll them into thick logs. 

• Arrange them in your pressure cooker vessel and steam (no weight) for 30 minutes on medium heat. 

• Let the cooked logs cool down before cutting them into 1/2 inch thick discs.

• Heat oil in a wide pan and add mustard, sesame seeds and curry leaves into it. 
• Once the mustard and sesame seeds splutter, add the cut muthia discs into it. 

• Keep the heat on medium and stirring occasionally roast the muthias until they turn light brown. 
• Serve it with your choice of chutney/dip. 

Variations: 

• Add palak/spinach instead of or in addition to methi leaves. 
• Change the proportion of the flours - wheat flour makes muthias dense, rava turns them crisper and basan is for the taste, adjust to suit your taste.
• You can use grated carrots, finely chopped onion in muthias. 

Tips: 

• Squeeze the water content as much as you can out of the bottle gourd and keep it aside, I prefer to add the water later if needed than having to end up with an liquidy paste that will consume lot of dry flours and leave you with large portions of bland muthias :-)

Eat your greens - Menthya soppina bhath (methi leaves rice)

I love greens and usually end up bringing home atleast 2 varieties of greens with every round of grocery shopping I do, honestly there are so many different ways you can cook greens and it is easy to incorporate the nutrients in every day meal. I am sure I can cook greens for more than a week without repeating a preparation, will keep the counting to another day :-). Though I like all types of greens, menthya soppu/methi leaves/fenugreek leaves have a special place in my heart, just because they are so naturally flavorful. This is one of things that vanish very quickly from the Indian grocery store isles every week on the 'fresh veggie day', I know there are lot methi fanatics just like me out there. Methi is very easy to grow even in pots and that is exactly what I do from time to time to beat the crowd :-).

Menthya soppina bhath (methi leaves rice) is a one pot dish, very easy to prepare and needs only the usual suspects you will have in your kitchen. Bhath is a generic term used in Kannada for various rice preparations such as Vangi bhath, bisi bele bhath, vegetable bhath etc, they have some common and some unique spices in each and the proportion and preparations turns each one quite distinct from the other. Nammamma is an expert 'Bhath' cook, she has a trick up her sleeve for most preparations of this genre which I am going to share with you today :-). Again, this recipe is very flexible and forgiving, so you can add/delete some of the ingredients based on availability and your taste, I will show you how in the variations.

What do you need to make Menthya soppina bhath?
1 big bunch of methi leaves - pick the leaves, wash them thoroughly and chop finely
1 cup cooked white rice - make rice in your usual method insuring that the grains are well cooked but separate
Juice of a small lime sized tamarind soaked for 20 mins in warm water or 1 Tsp of tamarind paste
2 Tblsp Vangibhath powder (I used MTR brand, will post my home made powder soon)
2 Tblsp salt (adjust to taste)
2 medium sized potatoes boiled to hold shape and cut into bite sized pieces
1 Tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 Tblsp fresh/frozen grated coconut
1/2 Tsp crushed jaggery/brown sugar
1 Tsp cooking oil
1/2 Tsp turmeric powder

Fresh Methi leaves picked and washed

Ingredients for Vaggarane/seasoning:
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp urad dal/uddina bele
1 Tsp chana dal/kadle bele
2 Tsp raw peanuts
1 pinch asefoetida

How do you make Menthya Soppina bhath?

• Heat 1 Tsp oil in a pan, add the finely chopped methi leaves and let them wilt for a few minutes stirring once in a while, keep the pan on medium heat
• Once the methi leaves are cooked, add salt, vangibhath powder, turmeric powder, tamarind paste or tamarind juice, jaggery/brown sugar and keep stirring for a few minutes until any water content is absorbed and it becomes a semi solid paste.
• Add the coconut gratings and give it a stir.
• Spread the cooked rice in a wide bowl/plate and pour the methi paste on top of it.
• Toast the cooked, cut potato pieces in the same pan until they crisp up a little and keep it aside. 
• When the rice is cool, mix it together by hand so the grains are well coated by the paste, taste and adjust salt/jaggery. 
• Add potato pieces and mix lightly.
• Prepare vaggarane or seasoning: Heat the oil, add asafoetida, mustard seeds, dals and peanuts and stir it until mustard crackles and peanuts are done. Pour it on top of the rice and mix it well. 
• Add the ghee and mix the rice once more and keep it aside for atleast 30 minutes to settle in before serving. **
• A faintly sweet, spicy and methi flavored bhath is ready to eat, you can serve it with a yogurt based raita or roasted papads.

Cooked methi leaves with the masala

Menthya soppina bhath ready with Vaggarane

NOTE: Adding the ghee and leaving the bhath for a 'settling time' enhances the taste greatly, but I assure you that impatient ones will not be disappointed if they were to taste it right off the the stove like BH does at our home :-)

Variations:

• You can omit potatoes, use green peas - if using frozen, defrost and fry them along with the methi leaves. If using dry peas, soak overnight and boil them till tender. 
• You can add 1 Tsp grated ginger while frying methi leaves to get a slightly 'gingerish' flavor
• You can use dry coconut (kobbari) gratings instead of fresh coconut for a nuttier flavor.

Tips: 

• Cook rice with a 1:2 (rice:water) ratio to get fluffy rice, add a few drops of cooking oil to keep the grains separate. 
• Let the rice cool down before mixing the paste to get the  right texture.
• Pouring hot methi paste on top of steaming rice gets the juices to flow into the rice and make it flavor rich. 
• You can choose to omit the ghee if you are health conscious, I put it only when I have company.