Cauliflower Tawa Fry - South Canara Style

Ingredients:  

• 2 cup - Cauliflower florets [I used half of a medium sized cauliflower]
• ½ cup - Cooking oil for frying
• ½ cup - Suji rava | semolina

• 2 tsp - Rasam powder
• 1 tsp - Red chilli powder (from byadagi red chilli)
• 1 tsp - Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp - Cumin powder
• 2 tsp - Coriander powder
• 1 tsp - Tamarind paste
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut the cauliflower florets into slices. Basically cut lengthwise in the middle, about a centimeter thick.

2. Take a bowl of warm water or tap water, mix some salt. Put the slices in the water till ready to use. Soaking in water helps in removing chemicals like pesticides and salt helps kill any bugs if present as well. 

3. To prepare the masala, take all the masala ingredients listed in a mixing bowl, add little water and mix it to form thick paste.  
4. Drain the sliced cauliflower from water put it into the mixing bowl with masala. Keep it aside and marinate for about 15 mins.

5. After 15 minutes, sprinkle the suji rava over the mixture, mix it to lightly coat the cauliflower slices. 
6. Place a flat fry pan on stove, switch it on to medium flame. Lightly spread oil over the pan. 
7. Once the pan is hot, transfer the marinated cauliflower slices on the pan, spread and arrange them evenly. 
8. Reduce the flame to medium-low, drizzle 1 tsp of oil over the  cauliflower slices, cover the pan and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the underside of the slices are crispy.

9. Remove the cover, flip each slice, on a low flame, let the other side get crispy as well. No need to cover the pan this time. Will take about 5 to 7 minutes.
10. Serve hot along with rice. 

Labels: Fritters, Kundapura, Side-Dish, South-Indian Dish, Tawa Fry, Vegetarian

~ Cauliflower Tawa Fry - South Canara Style ~
Posted by Swetha @ 7/14/2024 08:18:00 PM :: 0 comments

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Cabbage Tawa Pakoda/Pakora | Cabbage Spicy Cutlet

Labels: Appetizers, Fritters, Side-Dish, Tawa Fry

~ Cabbage Tawa Pakoda/Pakora | Cabbage Spicy Cutlet ~
Posted by Swetha @ 10/10/2020 06:30:00 PM :: 0 comments

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Malabar Spinach Grilled Fritters | Basale Soppina Tawa Pakora/Pakoda

Who does not like fried dish. I very much do love all the things tasty. But than comes the part after eating. I need not have to go in detail about and give you a guilty ride. Here is a Pakora recipe which is not deep fried but equally tastes very yummy. It is also called Kara-roti means spicy roti, not to be eaten as a bread but as a side dish with rice or even as a appetizer.

Here is another recipe you may be interested - Malabar Spinach Curry or Cabbage Tawa Pakoras

Ingredients:

• 2 cup - Malabar Spinach leaves (chopped) 
• ½ cup - onion finely chopped
• ¼ cup - fresh cut coriander/cilantro leaves 
• 1 tsp - turmeric pdr
• 1 tsp - red chili pdr
• 1 tsp - rasam pdr (any brand)
• ½ tsp - coriander pdr
• ½ tsp - cumin pdr
• 1 tsp - tamarind paste or lime juice
• 2 tbsp - besan flour | chickpeas flour
• 1 tbsp -  rice flour
• 1 tbsp - rawa | suji | semolina
• Salt - as per taste.
• Oil - for frying. 

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, add chopped Malabar Spinach, coriander/cilantro leaves, onion, turmeric pdr, chili pdr, rasam pdr, coriander pdr, cumin pdr, tamarind paste and salt. 
2. Sprinkle 2 tsp of water and mix it all together.
3. Now add semolina, rice and chickpeas flour to the mixture and give a good mix. May add little more water if needed, but not too much.
4. Cover the mixture and keep aside for about half-hour for flavor to blend well.



5. After half-hour you will notice that the greens and onions has soften and the mixture looks more moist. If it is too watery, add bit of both the flour and semolina. If the mixture is too dry, sprinkle some more water and mix. Good time to check if salt is sufficient.



6. Put a flat fry pan / tawa on high flame. When it is hot spread bit of oil.
7. You need to work quickly now. Take about 2 tbsp of the mixture, place it on the tawa. Using your fingers or back of the spoon, spread the mixture to about 2 to 3 inch diameter circles flat pakoras (like pan-cakes or mini rotis). About half cm think. Repeat the step to spread more of pakoras on the tawa.
8. Sprinkle drops of oil over the pakoras, cover the tawa, reduces the flame to medium and cook for about 3 - 4  minutes (or until under-side is cooked).



9. After about 3 - 4 minutes, turn-over each of the pakoras with help of a flat spatula. 
10. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes. Then remove the lid and increase the flame to high and roast the pakoras for a minutes. 




11. Remove the pakoras from tawa to a serving tray. 
12. Repeat step 7 through 11 with rest of the remaining mixture (if any left).
13. Serve pakoras hot with rice and curry.
14. Enjoy yummy & healthy pakoras with your family without guilt. 

Labels: Appetizers, Fritters, Side-Dish, Tawa Fry, Vegetarian

~ Malabar Spinach Grilled Fritters | Basale Soppina Tawa Pakora/Pakoda ~
Posted by Swetha @ 10/10/2020 02:30:00 PM :: 0 comments

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Palak Pathrode | Spinach Patra

This is a slight twist for the classic Pathrode recipe. Do love Pathrode made out of Colocasia leaves, but since Colocasia leaves are not available here, it is not going to stop me from enjoying Pathrode. This version is made with fresh palak/spinach leaves, besides it is slightly easier to make, ...and don't have to deal with Colocasia leave's irritating itchiness. Taste is almost the same. Hope you will enjoy this version of Pathrode Recipe with your friends and family.

Hint: Save some of the Pathrode Masala for making ridge gourd bajji/pakoda

Ingredients:

• 4 cups - Spinach leaves
• 1 cup - Rice 
• 2 tbsp - Dhania | Coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp - Jeera | Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp - Methi | Fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp - Mustard seeds
• 2 tsp - Urad dal | Black gram
• 2 tsp - Channa dal | Split chickpeas
• ½ cup - fresh grated coconut. (optional)
• 10 - Red chilies or depending on how spicy you want use the amount chillies . I use Byadgi red chili which is on the milder side. May choose to combine Kashmiri and Byadgi chili to achieve desired spice.
• 1 tbsp - Tamarind paste
• 1 tsp - Jaggery 
• 1 tsp - turmeric pdr
• Salt - as per taste.
• ½ cup  - Oil for shallow frying. I use coconut oil, which gives authentic flavor.

Preparing the Masala:

1. Soak rice overnight or for at least three hours.
2. In a pan, dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds. urad dal, channa dal and red chilies. Transfer it to a blender/food processes



3. Optional step: In the same pan, dry roast grated coconut. Add it to the blender along with other roasted ingredients.
4. To the blender, add tamarind paste, jaggery, turmeric pdr and salt. Add 2 tbsp of water and grind. If needed, add more water. Grind it into a smooth paste.



5. Drain soaked rice,  Add it to the blender and grind it into slightly course paste. 
6. Keep the ground paste aside. 

Preparing the Leaves:

1. Wash spinach leaves. Cut thick stems. 
2. Put the leaves in a colander or spread them on a kitchen towel to remove the water. Keep aside

Prepping and cooking the Pathrode:

1. Take 1/4 portion or more of the masala and keep aside
2. Pour rest of the masala into a large mixing bowl. 
3. Check for consistence of the masala, if it is too thick add some water. If it is watery add some rice flour.



4. Roughly chop the spinach leaves and add the leaves to the masala. 



5. Mix all together. Cover and keep aside for about 10 minutes.



6. Meanwhile add water to bottom of the steam-cooker/idli-cooker/pressure-cooker and put it on stove on medium flame. Bring the water to boil
7. Apply oil to the bottom of a metal-pan or cooker-pan. keep aside 
8. After 10 minutes, you will notice that the spinach has settled well with the masala. If needed, mix-in some more masala which was kept aside. 
9. Now pour the spinach-masala mixture to the prepared cooker-pan. Thickness should be about 1 to 1½ inches. If needed separate the mixture into two pans.
10. Spread and press the mixture evenly.



11. Place the pan in the cooker (by now the water should have come to a boil)



12. Cover and steam cook on medium flame for about 25 to 30 minutes until done
13. If using pressure cooker, don't place the weight (just like cooking idli)
14. Once cooked and flame is turned off, let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes.
15. Loosen the Pathrode from the pan using a knife or flat spatula. Transfer the cooked Pathrode onto a plate or a cutting board.



16. Cut Pathrode into desired shape (square, rectangle or triangle)



17. On a flat tawa, shallow roast on both sides applying little coconut oil. This step is optional but it gives that extra bit of crunchiness on the outer layer. 



18. Serve hot as a snack or as a side dish. 

Enjoy one of the unique and exotic vegetarian dish from South Canara region of India.

Labels: Appetizers, Fritters, Kundapura, Mangalore dish, Side-Dish, South-Indian Dish, Tawa Fry, Vegetarian

~ Palak Pathrode | Spinach Patra ~
Posted by Swetha @ 7/12/2020 02:09:00 PM :: 0 comments

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Pathrode | Pathravade | Patra | Colocasia Leaves Rolled Fritters

Pathrode or Pathravade or Patra  is vegetarian dish from India. It is made from Colocasia leaves (chevu in Tulu, taro, kesuve or kachu or arbi) stuffed with rice flour and flavorings such as spices, tamarind, and jaggery(Wikipedia). Patram in Sanskrit and Patha in Hindi means leaf, Vade means fritters. Both combined makes the word Pathrode or Pathravade.

Patrode is my father's one of the favorite dish. So naturally, he makes sure we had good supply of Colocasia leaves in our terrace garden. He has 'Green thumb' and grows them in pots (picture below). The plant gives a nice green tropical touch to garden too. In fact, it is  everyone's favorite snack in our house. We all pitch-in to help prepare this dish and eat as well ;)  I should say, it does get messy during preparation, but  who cares, it is so delicious and has an unique taste, once you taste it you would want more. Usually made in the afternoon to have it for evening snack and side-dish for dinner. Here I am sharing my mother's Pathrode recipe.

 WARNING: The Colocasia plant contains an irritant which causes intense discomfort to the lips, mouth and throat. This acridity is caused in part by microscopic needle-like raphides of calcium oxalate monohydrate. It must be processed by cooking, soaking or fermenting – sometimes along with an acid like lime or tamarind before being eaten. (Wikipedia). Hence it is better to harvest tender leaves. My father knows when exactly to harvest the leaves. If left them for long the itchy irritant gets worse. Note: it is important to use ample tamarind in the recipe and also apply (coconut) oil on hands while handling the raw leaves. 

Also check out my version of  Palak/Spinach Pathrode recipe

Ingredients:

• 20 - Colocasia leaves
• 1 cup - Rice 
• 1 cup - Whole Moong | Mung Beans | Hesaru Kaalu
• 1 tbsp - Toor dal | Pigeon-peas
• 2 tbsp - Dhania | Coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp - Jeera | Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp - Methi | Fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp - Mustard seeds
• 2 tsp - Urad dal | Black gram
• 2 tsp - Channa dal | Split chickpeas
• ½ cup - fresh grated coconut.
• 20 - Red chillies or depending on how spicy you want use the amount chillies . I use Byadgi red chilli which is on the milder side. May choose to combine Kashmiri and Byadgi chilli to achieve desired spice.
• 3 tbsp - Tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp - Jaggery 
• 1 tsp - turmeric pdr
• Salt - as per taste.
• ½ cup  - Oil for shallow frying. I use coconut oil, which gives authentic flavor.

Preparing the Leaves:

1. Cut off the stem. To trim off the thick veins off the Colocasia leaves, put the leaves on its back on a flat surface, use a knife in an angle and slide it to remove the thick veins. The thick veins has more irritants and will give more itchiness, besides it will be easy to fold with the hard veins gone.
2. Soak the Colocasia leaves in water (with handful of salt) for about 10 to 15 minutes. 
3. Remove the leaves from water. With a kitchen towel, dab and wipe the leaves dry.

Preparing the Masala:

• Soak rice, whole mung beans and Toor dal overnight or for at least three hours.
• In a pan, dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds. Transfer it to a blender.
• In the same pan, now dry roast, urad dal, channa dal and red chillies. Add it to the blender.
• In the same pan, dry roast grated coconut. Add it to the blender along with other roasted ingredients.
• To the blender, add tamarind paste, jaggery, turmeric pdr and salt. Add 2 tbsp of water and grind. If needed, add more water. Grind it into a smooth paste.
• Drain soaked rice, beans and dal. Add it to the blender and grind it into slightly course paste. 
• Keep the ground paste aside. 

Prepping and cooking the Pathrode:

- This part gets messy, spread a clean newspaper or a big plastic sheet.

- Place one big leaf face-down on the sheet.

- Evenly apply the ground masala on the leaf.

 - Now place another leaf (face-down) over the first one and apply the masala. 

- Due to the masala on the first leaf, the next leaf will stick to it and stay put.

- Repeat the steps with couple of more leaves.

- Now folder over the two sides to give an even edge. 

-Apply masala over the folded area. 

- Now fold-in bottom 1/4 section and apply masala

- Do the same with the top 1/4 section.

- Now fold-over the half to form a nice evenly shaped rectangle.
- Note: you may want to shape your Pathrode so it fits in your steam-cooker.  If you have a small cooker use less leaves to form small bundled shape. It just needs lot of layers to give that flaky texture. 

Tie it with a (thick) cotton yarn/thread to help hold the shape.

- Repeat the steps with rest of the leaves to make more bundles.

- Now Pathrode is ready to be cooked.

-On a steam cooker stand or idli stand place the bundled Pathrode as shown in the picture

-Add water to the bottom section of the steam cooker (or pressure cooker)

- Bring the water to boil

- Place the stand and rest of the Pathrode bundles.

- Cover and steam cook on medium flame for about 25 to 30 minutes until done

- If using pressure cooker, don't place the weight (just like cooking idli)

- Once cooked and flame is turned off, let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes.

- Cut off the thread and cut the Pathrode into 2 cms roles.

- On a flat tawa, shallow roast on both sides applying coconut oil. This step is optional but it gives that extra bit of crunchiness on the outer layer. 

Serve hot as a snack or as a side dish. 

Enjoy one of the unique and exotic vegetarian dish from Coastal South India.

Labels: Appetizers, Fritters, Kundapura, Mangalore dish, Side-Dish, Snack, Tawa Fry, Vegetarian

~ Pathrode | Pathravade | Patra | Colocasia Leaves Rolled Fritters ~
Posted by Swetha @ 6/25/2020 11:40:00 AM :: 0 comments

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Balekhai (Plantain) Fry & Fish Fry

Plantain(Balekhai) is a cousin of the banana. You can cook plantain just like potatoes.. bake, boil, fry.. it just always tastes yummy! Balekhai fry is one of my all time favorite. I especially like it with Tomato Sar.

There are two ways to prepare the masala for this, one is amma's Kundapur style masala and the other - my shortcut way ;)

This masala can be used for other vegetable fry like.. Potato Fry, Cauliflower fry and Fish fry.


Amma's Kundapur Style Masala:
Red chilies - 3 cups.
Cumin (Geera) - 1 Tblsp.
Coriander seeds - 2 Tblsp.
Tamarind Paste - 1 Tblsp.
Turmeric Powder = 1 Tsp.
Salt to Taste
Method: Dry Roast Red Chilies, Cumin and Coriander seeds separately. Grind all the ingredients to a fine paste with water. Store the paste in a jar and refrigerate for future use.


My Shortcut/Quick Masala:
MTR Rasam powder - Tblsp
Cumin Powder - 1/2 Tsp.
Coriander Powder - 1 Tsp.
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 Tsp.
Lemon Juice/Tamarind paste - to Taste.
Salt to Taste
Method: In a bowl add all the ingredients with water to from a paste.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Balekhai Fry: Wash and peel the skin of the Plantain. ( apply oil to your hands and on a knife to help in washing plantain stains) Cut plantains into 5mm thin slices. Add fry masala and let it marinate for 5 minutes.






Put a flat griddle/tawa on low fire. Apply oil to the tawa. In a plate take Sujji Rawa for dipping. Take a piece of marinated plantain, make sure all the sides are covered with masala, after dipping the plantain pieces in Sujji rawa, place it on the tawa. Repeat the same with rest of plantain peices and arrange them side by side on the tawa. Turn the burner to medium.
Cover the tawa and cook for 8 minutes. Then apply little oil and flip the plantain pieces over to cook the other side. Cook for 5 more minutes or until done.

Serve as appetizer or side dish along with hot rice and rasam.

Variations: Instead of plantain, use Potato slices or Cauliflower. For Cauliflower, after mixing the flowerets with masala, add Sujji rawa and mix and spread on tawa for cooking.

Even fish can be fried in the same way. Here in the picture I prepared Salmon. Since slices are bit thick the burner should be set to medium low. For fish, Ghee can be used instead of oil for better taste and reducing fish smell.

Labels: Appetizers, Banana, Fish, Kundapura, Plantain, Side-Dish, South-Indian Dish, Tawa Fry, Vegetarian

~ Balekhai (Plantain) Fry & Fish Fry ~
Posted by Swetha @ 7/18/2006 04:52:00 PM :: 1 comments

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