Enne Badnekai / Ennagai / Stuffed Brinjal - South Indian Style!!

Are you a lover of brinjal? Then this recipe is for u!!
This dish will leave you licking your fingers.

This is very commonly done in South India, for rice, akki rotti, chapathi and it tastes good with any of it.
My kids do not like brinjal at all, but somehow make exception to this :P

So without further details.. let us launch into the preparation.

I make this stuffed brinjal with many variations, but let us first see the traditional method.

Ingredients
-----------
Small purple brinjals - 6 to 8
Onion - 1 big
Groundnut
Tamarind
Oil
Chilli powder/Sambhar powder/Rasam powder
Coconut
White Seasame seeds - White Ellu

Method
--------
Dry roast ground nuts and remove the skin of the ground nuts.
Dry fry ellu a little.
Grind grated coconut, ground nuts and ellu in mixie into a powder.
To this powder, add salt, sugar, chilli powder, tamarind pulp and chopped raw onions and mix well.

Wash the brinjals and make 4 slits in the brinjal keeping the stem part intact.
Now stuff part of the above mixture into the slit brinjals.

Next, in a thick bottom kadai, add oil.
This recipe needs a little more oil - as the name suggests - it is enne badnekai - literally meaning brinjals in oil :)
Once oil is hot, season with mustard , curry leaves and hing.
Add the remaining part of the ground mixture, mix well for 2 mins and add the stuffed brinjals.
Let the brinjal fry for sometime.
Meanwhile boil some water in a container.
Once brinjals are cooked about 70%, add the boiling water into the kadai.
This makes a nice gravy with stuffed brinjal.


Method 2
----------
This method is for a quick turn around.
But it requires you to have vangi bath/ bisi bele bath mix ready with you.
The taste of this recipe differs from the above method.

You can slice up the brinjals and put in water to remove the bitterness.

Grind grated coconut, tamarind pulp, vangi bath powder, fried gram, salt and sugar with water into a smooth paste.
Now in a pressure cooker, add some oil and season with mustard, hing and curry leaves.
Add the sliced brinjals and fry for a min.
Add the ground paste and mix everything well.
Close the cooker lid and let it for 1 whistle.
And ennegai is ready.

The same can be done with capsicum.
My kids dont like brinjals, and so I used to make the same recipe with capsicum instead of brinjals.

Masala Dosa..!!

My family and friends love the yummy crispy masala dosas..
So I usually make the dosas during weekends so that everyone can relish it at leisurely! :)
There are many versions of making masala dosa batter.
I follow the below recipe and it works well..
You can give it a try too...

For batter,
Soak the below
1 cup raw rice
1 cup boiled/salem rice
1/2 cup urad dal (uddina bele)
1/4 cup channa dal (kadle bele)
few grains of methi seeds.

Soak rice and dals separately.
This should be soaked for a minimum of 4-5 hours.
I usually soak in the morning and grind the batter in the evening, so that the batter will ferment by next morning... fresh and foamy.. for delicious dosas... :)

Batter should not be thick. It should be slightly runny.

Once batter is fermented well, it is time to prepare the famous masala dosa.

Curry for Masala Dosa
------------------------
Boiled potatoes
2 onions
Peas (optional)
Green chillies

Peel and mash the boiled potatoes and keep aside.
Chop two onions finely and in a pan, add some oil and season with mustard and curry leaves.
Add the chopped green chillies, turmeric and onions and fry till onions are tender.
Now add a little water to the onions and salt according to taste.
Mix the mashed potatoes, and boil all together.

Red chutney for filling inside
----------------------------
Onion
1 garlic
Red chillies
Coconut

Fry onion, red chillies and 1 garlic pod with little oil.
Add grated coconut to this and grind along with salt, jaggery and tamarind in a mixie.

Green chutney for masala dosa
-------------------------------
Coconut
Green Chillies
Coriander

Grind grated coconut, green chillies, coriander, salt, sugar and tamarind in mixie.

Preparing Dosa
----------------
Heat a thick tava on stove.
Sprinkle little water, and add oil.
Next pour a ladle of batter in the center and move in circles to make the dosa.
After it is done, turn around.
Add the red chutney inside and spread.
Add a spoon of potato curry inside.
Fold the dosa.
Add ghee and roast the dosa till crispy.

Serve hot with green chutney!!
Enjoyyyy.. :)

Musk Melon magic

All of you must be familiar with musk melon.
By itself it tastes a little bland, but makes a good product for a nice cool beverage.

In Karnataka, we use musk melon to make Panakam (a kind of juice) during Ramanavami.
I will post the recipe for it some other time.

This time it is musk melon with a twist.

Below is the method..

In a mixie jar, take some musk melon pieces (skin peeled).
To this add some sugar, honey, mint leaves, ice cubes and a little salt.
Grind all these together with some water and your musk melon drink is ready.
Musk melon + mint combination is a nice cool drink that can be enjoyed, especially during hot summers!!

Paneer capsicum fritters

Today I saw this recipe on tv and looked simple and tasty..
Wanted to try it out immediately but could not find time today and so it is in pipeline for preparation as of now..

May be you can try it meanwhile..

Ingredients
-----------
Potatoes - 2 boiled
Capsicum - 1
Grated paneer - 1 cup
Green chillies
Maida - 2 tsp
Corn flour - 2 tsp
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Coriander
Pepper
Salt

Method
--------
Mash the boiled potatoes into a fine paste.
To this paste, add all the rest of the ingredients and mix well to form a dough.

Make rounds or bullet shaped balls with the dough and fry in oil.
It need not turn dark brown, just a light golden brown would do good.

Try and let me know if it turns out good.

Groundnut chutney (Kadlekai chutney)

My younger daughter enjoys having groundnut chutney and so I prepare it quite frequently.
And this chutney does not need coconut and so can be prepared anytime easily since groundnuts will be available at home anyway.

Recipe for it is below..

Ingredients
-----------
Groundnuts
Tamarind
Salt
Jaggery
Chillies
Onion - 1

Method
--------
Dry roast groundnuts and let it cool. Remove the skin of the groundnuts.
Fry red chillies and an onion and keep aside.

Grind together, groundnuts, red chillies, onion, salt, tamarind (small piece), jaggery (very little) with little water.
And the chuney is ready.

Tastes good with Rave Dosae.

Tomato Instant Pickle (Tomato Bisi Uppinakayi)

Tomato is something which is most commonly available and so can be prepared at any time of the year.
This recipe can be prepared and stored for a week or 15 days (refrigerated and used) since the preparation does not involve the usage of water.

Ingredients
------------
Ripe Tomatoes - 1kg
Mustard - 1tsp
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Dry chillies - 3 or 4
Red Chilli powder
Salt
Jaggery
Tamarind
Oil

Method
--------
Wash and dry the tomatoes so that it is not moist.
Cut the tomatoes (1 tomato into 4 pieces).

On stove, In a pan, take 8-10 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and let is splutter,add turmeric powder, hing (Asphoedia), dry red chillies, curry leaves and add the cut tomatoes and let the tomatoes become soft in low flame.

Add salt, tamarind pieces, jaggery, red chilli powder, masala powder (i.e Fry 1tsp mustard and 1 tsp methi seeds and grind it into a dry powder) to this and let it boil in low  flame till the paste becomes a little thicker in consistency and all ingredients mix well.

Tomato instant pickle is ready and can be served with akki rotti, dosae or with white rice.

Hagalakayi Gojju - Bittergourd gojju

Hagalakayi or bittergourd is good for health especially for kidneys and for diabetes.
But due to its bitter taste many people avoid using it in their cuisine.

But bittergourd can be used to make some tasty recipes as well.

Below is one such you may try..

Ingredients
Hagalayaki/Bittergourd - 2 to 3
Onions
Tamarind pulp
Sambhar powder
Seasonings - mustard, turmeric, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves

For Grinding
Grated coconut - a little
Fried gram - 2 tsp
Fried sesame seeds/white eLLu - 1 tsp
Fried Urad dal - 1 tsp


Method
1) Cut the bittergourd length wise and remove the seeds inside and cut into small pieces.
2) Add turmeric, salt and a little water to bittergourd and pressure cook it for 1 whistle.
3) Once cooled, remove the water - this will help remove the bitterness a little.
4) In a pan, heat oil and add mustard, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves, turmeric and hing.
5) To this add chopped onions and fry.
6) Once onions are fried add the bittergourd pieces to this and fry for a while.
7) Add tamarind pulp, salt, sambhar powder, jaggery and water to this and allow it boil for sometime.
8) Add the ground paste to the boiling mixture and allow it boil for sometime till all ingredients come together.

Hagalakayi Gooju - ready to be eaten with rice and ghee.
Try the tasty and healthy gojju.. and have fun.