Nucchinunde with Coconut Chutney

I am pitiful at authentic South Indian cuisine. I can make an excellent tove or saaru and whip up nearly good tamblis, rava idlis, dosas and few chutneys with ease. Then there are a few exceptions with our own Hulis, sasive, gojjus in which I fair just about okay, but I hardly dare to make anything 'South Indian' beyond that. We grew up eating traditional meals that included ,wide variety of huli, palya, sasime, gojjus, etc in our daily course. Bisi bele baath, Chitranna, Kadabu, Holige were meant for occasions. But then that's not where our cuisine is limited to. Karnataka cuisine is very diverse and if I had to gauge myself then I would feel terribly guilty where I stand.

In all honesty I would never dare to compete with the one who cooks South Indian food on a daily basis. Our cuisine uses very little oil and the fat mostly comes from the use of coconut. Even in recipes where coconut is not used, it is a blend of freshly ground spices used with a delicate balance that brings out the best from the dishes. To balance the spices, tang and sweet itself is a challenging act. To say, mastering them to bring out authentic flavors will take years. It's a fear that I would go through one of those catastrophic moments if I tried them in my own kitchen.

There are a few recipes that are confined to regions alone. A few recipes rarely make to hotels and restaurants. I have never understood why people blame that we've restricted to Idli Sambhar, Dosa Chutney or Bisi Bele Bath, that's just not true. Really, Nucchinunde is one such breakfast dish I had not heard or eaten anywhere before. It was never made at my mom's place, so I don't know exactly what it tastes like. But on a quick google search for some traditional Karnataka recipes, I came across couple of sites citing Nucchinunde as one of the traditional recipes seen in Karnataka households.

I've tried the recipe from various sites, but the use of tuvar dal alone gives out a strong dal flavor which is not my favorites. So I tweaked the recipe a little by addition of rice flour to suit us. This is loved by all at home and is now this is a regular menu at my place.

Nucchinunde

INGREDIENTS

1 cup tuvar dal
2 tbsp rice flour
1 inch ginger chopped
1/4th cup fresh grated coconut
2-3 green chillies
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Soak tuvar dal in water for an hour. Drain out the water completely and grind coarsely without adding water. Add green chillies, finely chopped ginger, fresh grated coconut, salt to taste, hing along with 2 tablespoons of rice flour while grinding.

Pinch balls from the dough and press them between the fingers and palms of your hands such that finger impressions are retained on the dough. Place them in a steamer/rice cooker and steam them for 10-15 mins. Serve hot with coconut chutney and laden with ghee.

Coconut Chutney

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup grated coconut
2 green chillies
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sour yogurt

For Tempering:

1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad dal

Grind the grated coconut with green chillies and salt to taste along with a tbsp of sour yogurt till smooth paste. Transfer this to a serving dish. To temper it, heat some oil, add in mustard and urad dal and let them splutter. Add this to prepared chutney.

The recipe may not be authentic, but is surely traditional. I tweaked the recipe to suit our palate, but you can omit the rice flour and use only tuvar dal if you want to keep it authentic. That way the Nucchinunde will be soft and perfect. Increase in rice flour beyond 2 tablespoons will make the resulting Nucchinunde stiff. Again, there is no hard and fast rule with spices too. It's one of those traditional recipes I make during our festivals and we have come to relish this with either simple coconut chutney, sambhar or vegetable kurma.

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Comfort Sunday Lunch: Jeera Chawal with Moong ki Dal and Grilled Pudina Paneer

Late part of the year is when I love the most with the seasons changing pleasantly. Mornings get colder than it has been since through the year and it feels comforting to snuggle underneath the blanket a little longer to catch up a few extra mins of sleep. Thanks to the Eastern winds, the showers we had in the past couple of weeks from the Bay of Bengal have given a warm welcome to misty mornings and cold nights.

Winters are here and I get a feel of Decembers' already. And unintentionally though, I have stayed away from baking from past couple of weeks, my reservations have been to make full use of my oven for Christmas and I definitely intend to post a few baked goodies for the year end celebrations. At the moment my kitchen has been busy churning out simple hot meals, mostly to satisfy our cravings for comfort home food.

I love my Sundays, don't we all do? Being home with family and enjoying a humble home cooked meal with them is the best way I love to spend my day off. While hectic week at work goes at a slow pace, my weekends seem to breeze through like a blink of an eye. Before I realize the weekend is over, Monday is already in... and I hate being hit by Monday Blues... Don't mistake me, I love my work, my job is great and my company treats me well, no complaints at all. What I dislike are those tiny tit-bit tasks at home I need to rush at and complete ahead of time... boil milk, pack lunch, clean up the kitchen, dress up my baby, see her off, they sound simple as if they don't buy any time, but indeed they do and fairly lot.

And that's probably the reason why I have learnt to value my weekends lot more. Late breakfast and lunch on weekends are a usual trend these days. I do my best to feel relaxed and thoroughly enjoy my Sundays by soaking up some sun, a morning chai, a brisk walk that leaves me fresh with some quality time for myself. Lunch has becomes a simple affair ever since my baby started off with her solids, solely because our focus right now is her growth. She demands an unswerving attention and it gets tough on our nerves to multitask constantly. By all means, I still try to make a simple meal sound exotic, like infusing the aromatic Jeera Samba rice with lightly ghee roasted cumins to transform it to flavorsome Jeera Chawal. I paired this with the healthy Moong ki Dal and Grilled Paneer (Cottage Cheese) which is mildly spiced and flavored with hints of mint, after all weekends ought to be different than usual.

Jeera Chawal with Moong ki Dal and Grilled Pudina Paneer

Jeera Chawal

1 cup Jeera Sambha rice / Basmati rice
2 cups water
1 tbsp fresh clarified butter (ghee)
1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
Salt to taste

Wash and clean the rice in flowing water and soak it in water for 15-30 mins. In a thick bottom pan, fry cumin seeds in a tablespoonful of ghee. Drain the water and add in soaked rice to this and fry lightly for about 3-4 minutes. Add in 2 portions liquid to every portion of rice. Add salt to taste. I use a rice cooker to cook my rice and in 20 minutes, the rice is perfectly done. Alternatively, you could use a heavy steel utensil and let the rice simmer for 20 minutes covered without disturbing it. Turn off the flame, keep it covered for sometime and use a fork to gently swirl the rice. Handle the rice gently, garnish with chopped coriander if required and serve hot.

Moong ki Dal

1 cup Moong dal
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

For tempering

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 tsp hing
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder
1 tsp coriander / dhania powder
1 tsp fenugreek / methi powder
1 tsp chilli powder

Cook one cup moong dal in three cups of water till mushy. Add turmeric to this for faster cooking. Once the dal is cooked well, add in salt to taste.

Prepare the tempering for the dal. Heat some ghee in a wok/pan and add in the dry masalas mentioned above. Fry for a quick 30 seconds till the spices turn aromatic. Do not let them burn. Add this to the prepared dal and garnish with coriander leaves and lime if preferred. Serve hot with rice.

Grilled Pudina Paneer

200 gm Paneer (Cottage cheese)
1 tbsp Tomato chilli sauce
Handful of fresh mint leaves
1 tsp cornflour

In a wide bowl, crush handful of fresh mint leaves in tomato chilli sauce along with a teaspoon on cornflour. Add cubes of diced paneer to the prepared sauce and allow it marinate for a few minutes. Drizzle a little oil over the marinated cubes and grill it for 10-12 minutes or till they brown. Flip the cubes and grill the side to golden brown. If you don't have a grill pan/oven, you may use the regular tava to do this. Serve hot with Jeera Chawal and Moong ki Dal.

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Eggless Chocolate Chip Muffins

Today, the November 14th is celebrated as Children's Day throughout India and I extend my hearty wishes to all the children a Happy Children's Day. May your childhood be filled with loads of fun, thrill and happiness and may you sail a smooth journey to a better bright future. After all childhood is all about innocence and playfulness, it's about joy and freedom to enjoy and have fun.

Coming to think of my childhood, I have had good share of fun in my childhood days. Thanks to my dad's job, we moved places and changed many schools. New place, new school, new friends, new uniforms, new teachers were common to us and we were quite open about accepting this change. In fact, in a way we were accustomed to this as our parents had tuned us to accept the fact that we would be loyal to a particular school only for sometime :) It was not until I reached my ninth grade that we decided to settle down and not change schools anymore as that would hamper our studies.

Like every other kid, I too have fond memories of my school. Infact there are so many that it would be hard to jot them all here. Children's day was always kind to us. The day meant no uniforms, no books, only loads of fun filled entertainment and games, all to compensate for the stress from competition we had taken from teachers, parents and society to prove ourselves better! Probably one of those days when going to school meant no burden to us. Our school would organize fun activities with teachers taking part actively to hold cultural performances followed by games, prizes and sweets that would make us kids a day to enjoy and remember. While through the year long we kids would carry bags that could easily be weighed in a couple of kilos, on Children's Day we were allowed to come hands free to have loads of fun. After all that celebration I probably looked forward to sweet distribution as my personal favorite part of the day. You'll know I was a foodie even as a kid :)

Nonetheless, how can an occasion be celebrated without any scrumptious food? Since it is a day for the kids, I made these easy and delicious muffins on this Children's Day to treat the kids. The recipe is egg-free and yet another adaptation from Nita Mehta's cookbook. Enjoy a scrumptious Children’s Day!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1 cup Thick Curd/Yogurt
1 cup Sugar minus 1 tbsp
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup Butter
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
A fist full of Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 mins. Layer the muffin tin with muffin liners.

Sieve all purpose flour twice and keep aside. Cream the sugar and curd until sugar completely dissolves. Add baking powder, baking soda to the creamed mixture and mix well. Leave aside for 5 mins and till bubbles appear on the mixture. Now add in vanilla essence and softened butter and beat well. Next slowly add all purpose flour in portions at a time and blend with wet ingredients. Beat well with a till creamy and thick. Finally fold in the chocolate chips gently. Pour the batter to the prepared muffin liners and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 mins (time depends on the oven you use). The top should be golden brown in color and centres cooked.

I used cooking dark chocolate chips in my cake batter which gave us gooey chocolate patches as we bite into the cake. You may also use chocolate chunks for the same effect. If you want firm chocolate bites, use regular chocolate chips (the ones we get in Nilgiris outlet, Bangalore) that don't melt easily. With addition of chocolate chips/chunks, this makes great tea-time goodies for the little ones. Every kid would love to sink his teeth into one and grab his second and third.

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Pizza Margherita with Thin crust Millet flour pizza base

Festivities in the last week continued at my work place too and the ones who offered to work on these holidays were treated with food as a part of celebrations. To put it this way, I have been eating enough of store bought pizzas at my work place off late. The kind of pizzas offered aren't my best pick. Thick crusts of bread are not so fresh and all it feels is like biting into thick bread base with skeletal toppings. Eating pizzas and pastas at pizzerias with family and friends have diminished than ever before, more evidently since I have been making the base at home, albeit attempting their healthier counterparts. Seconding the reason that I have taken to liking thin crust pizzas than the deep pan ones.

If you've been through my previous posts on pizzas, you well know how much I love my pizzas loaded with toppings. Ironically, much against my liking, a vital element of a good pizza is not overloading the pie with toppings. Less is definitely more on pizza. And with thin, crisp crusts like this one, I can well assure that. :)

Pizza Margherita has been catching quite an attention from long. Every time I look up the pamphlet to place an order, Margherita calls out to me. But then, only tomato, basil loaded stuff doesn't appeal either, right? Is it just the name? I am not sure. I push the thoughts for a next time and go ahead for fancier toppings.

Something impelled me to make this classic pizza at home. First the recipe from the cookbook 'Vegetarian cookbook' said making this was a breeze and then Soma's blog compelled me further. I got down to making one of those classic recipes that's meant to stay the way it is. Did you know how Margherita Pizza got it's name? It is said that the Neapolitan chef, Raffaele Esposito created the Pizza Margherita, a pizza garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, in honor of the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. It was created to represent the colors of the Italian flag. Now isn't that pretty interesting how a simple pizza, laden with tomatoes and cheese alone can get an exotic name?

Pizza Margherita with Thin crust Millet flour pizza base

INGREDIENTS:

Homemade Pizza dough

1 tsp dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
A teaspoon of sugar
Salt to taste
1 cup flour mixture (Wheat Flour + Millet Flour in ratio of 3:1)
1 tsp Olive oil

Sauce/Toppings:

1 cup tomato puree
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp oregano flakes
1 tbsp fresh/dry basil leaves
1-2 tomatoes, chopped in rings (optional)
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Prepare Thin crust Millet flour pizza base:

In a mixing bowl, blend yeast in lukewarm water along with a teaspoon of sugar. Allow this to rest for 10 mins. This should be frothy by now.

Heap the flour mixture into a large bowl and make a pit in the center. Pour the yeast mixture, salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Knead gently to form a smooth, soft, slightly sticky dough. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for an hour like an oven until almost double in size. About 20 minutes before baking, punch down, knead a minute or two and then form into a ball. Roll out thin crust pizza base.

Prepare the Sauce:

To prepare the sauce, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Sauté garlic and oregano for a few seconds. Do not let the garlic brown, they should only sweat. Add pureed tomatoes. Boil till the sauce is fairly thick. Adjust salt to taste.

Assemble the Pizza:

Spread sauce over thinly rolled out pizza crust, layer tomato rings (optional), sprinkle basil, good helpings of mozzarella cheese and finally a dash of olive oil. Finish with generous black pepper and a little salt. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 220 deg C for about 20-30 mins. Cut into wedges and serve hot.

The base follows a standard recipe with a substitution of millet flour instead of all purpose flour, making it a much healthier version. Count a few perks of home baking :) Millet flour is gluten-free, hence the dough would have less elasticity; don't expect it to behave the way all purpose flour would. I used a mix of whole wheat flour and millet flour in 3:1 ratio.

You can leave out the tomato rings, instead use roughly chopped tomatoes in the sauce. used dry basil leaves, however I suggest you use fresh basil if available. Basil and tomatoes marry well with each other and they are a combination made in heaven, making this pizza simple, yet bursting with fresh flavors.

What sounds like a tedious amount of work isn't actually any. It's wonderfully aromatic when you have the otherwise awful smelling yeast sitting in the oven converting a yeasty dough to a freshly baked crusty base topped with tangy cheesy tomato sauce and the entire house envelops with the charming smell of freshly baked rustic pizza. What an end to a Sunday evening!!!

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