Udupi Style Kayi Sasive Chitranna | ಉಡುಪಿ ಶೈಲಿಯ ಕಾಯಿ ಸಾಸಿವೆ ಚಿತ್ರಾನ್ನ | No Onion, no Garlic Dish

Traditional Udupi Cuisine was set up formally a few centuries ago by the pontiffs like Madhwacharya etc who set some basic rules about cooking. It is said that Udupi Cuisine is a Temple Food Cuisine, which means that onions, garlic, Aubergines (and a few other vegetables including Tomato ) are abhorred in the cuisine. Coconut is used predominantly as its abundantly available owing to its proximity to the Western Coastline of India. 

The Temple town of Udupi is famous for the Krishna Temple where devotes partake of a simple but ultra delicious lunch served as Prashad (or offering to the Lord). 

Served on Banana leaves, this is a lunch that devotees don't miss out while visiting the temple. It is often believed that as the food is made for the LORD, even simple dishes like Rasam , Tambli or Pineapple Gojju etc taste ultra delicious. 

Think Udupi Cuisine, Think Masala Dosa, Urad Dal Vada (a.k.a Uddina Vade in local parlance ) or the humble Idli. It is said that the several Udupi eateries around the country took influence from the teachings of the saints, and till recently, followed them in their restaurant menus. 

Today, me and Seema - my paired blogger for this theme (suggested by Jayashree) for Cooking Secret Challenge - cooked with the same set of ingredients - Tamarind and Mustard seeds as the secret ingredients. Head over to her blog and see what she has cooked - a delicious Kumbalakayi huli 

Today’s dish is Kayi Sasive Chitranna - a delicious No Onion, No garlic dish that’s prepared mostly on festivals and social occasions and is considered a delicacy in Karnataka Cuisine.  Kayi - means coconut and Sasive means Mustard.

Both Red and green chillies are accepted as part of the spice paste. but I used Red Chillies (incl the Kashmiri variety for that bright colour) as that’s the way I remember having eaten (nay, wolfed) this growing up in Bangalore. 

This keeps upto 3 days under refrigeration. Let’s get to the recipe now. The method is shown in the YOUTUBE Video embedded herewith. I do hope you would leave your comments on the blog link here as well as the youtube channel.  

PIN FOR LATER

Prep time - 15 mins | Cook time - 20 mins | Serves - 4

Ingredients:

Raw rice (Sona masoori / any short grained rice - Basmati may not work here) - 200 ml

Oil - 3 TBSP (split use)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida / hing - 1/4 tsp (skip for GF)

Masala paste:

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Tamarind - one medium lemon sized

Red chillies -4 

Fresh / frozen coconut - 1/2 cup

Byadgi OR kashmiri chillies - 5 nos.

Cumin seeds / jeera - 1/2 tsp

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Tempering:
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 2 TBSP
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

For the detailed method on how to make this click on the following Youtube Link. 

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Sugarfree Lemon Iced Tea | How to make Lemon Iced Tea | Summer Coolers

Come Summer, and we hanker for Sugarfree Coolers / Mocktails / Smoothies for a mid-morning snack or at breakfast time. This year, thanks to the lockdown, we have all members of the family working / studying / playing at home 24x 7, so naturally the demand for these simple homemade coolers are increasing.

We are not fans of milkshakes (milk / ice cream with fruits) but rather prefer the naturally ripened fruits as a whole. Lemons are a cool favourite during the summers like this Lemon Fresca and my elder one is a fan of Iced Tea like this Orange Iced Tea or the Pistachio Rose Iced Tea . So, rather than use store bought (and calorie / sugar laden pre mix), we made the Iced Tea at home. 

This is naturally sweetened with honey and tasted delicious (I am not a tea drinker,so didn’t have it). You could sub the honey with maple syrup to make this completely vegan too.

The husband and the elder one enjoyed this in the place of their afternoon masala Chai ritual. Tea drinking as a ritual and lemon added to it made for a welcome change. If life hands you lemons make Waagmi's Eggless Lemon Cake who shared a theme with Lemons. this week for FMBH #248LemonLove. Or make a lemonade . Or if you still love your tea, make this Sugar Free Lemon Iced Tea. 

Other Sugar Free beverages / Smoothies that might interest you this summer :)

Sugar free Java Plum Chia Seed Smoothie

Sugarf ree Papaya Apple Ginger Smoothie

Sugar free Cucumber and Muskmelon Cooler

Sugar free Gajar Adrak smoothie

Dry Fruit Ginger Lassi

Kiwi Basil Smoothie

Sugar free Peach and Cucumber Smoothie

Takes under 10 mins to make. Do let me know how you liked it.

PIN FOR LATER

Prep time - 5 mins, Cook time - zero. Serves - 2

What you need:

Water - 200 ml

Assam Black Tea (used to make Masala Chai) - 2 tsp (OR use 2 tea bags)

Honey - to taste

Lemon juice - 1 TBSP

How to:

Bring the water to rolling boil. Add the tea leaves and let the leaves steep for a good 5 mins. Switch off flame. After 5 mins, strain out the tea liquid. 

If using sugar, you can also add at this stage, and refrigerate this for further use (if not making tea immediately) 

In chilled glasses, add 1 tsp of honey to the bottom layer. Mix well. 

Add few cubes of ice, top up with the tea decoction, add lemon juice and stir well. 

Top with more crushed ice, a sprig of mint and enjoy immediately. 

  

Video Recipe - Wholewheat Baked Papdi for Chat | How to make Baked Wholewheat Papdi for Chaat

It's absolutely true when they say necessity is the mother of invention. Being Chaat lovers at home, we frequently indulge in quick, healthy, sumptuous chaats as snacks and sometimes as dinner too (Think Ragda Patties / Chole Patties etc). Keeping the chutneys - Red chilli garlic paste, Green chilli Chutney and Dates - tamarind chutney  (a.k.a Teekha - Meetha Chutneys) becomes very handy to make quick chaats

Check out more than 25+ chaat varieties on this blog - from Mumbaiyya Bhel Puri

 to Taco Bhel to Kutchi Dabeli to Dahi Moong Chaat (GF) , Chaat is something the kids and elders love at home . 

Need more Chaat recipes ? Check these out while we make today's dish...

• Dahi Ragda Chaat
• Mini Katori Chaat
• Sev Puri
• Corn Chaat
• Bhel Puri
• Ragda Patties
• Tomato slice Chaat
• Spicy Corn Chaat
• Sprouts Dahi Batata Puri
• Tikki Chole Chaat
• Sev Batata Puri
• Dry Tikki Chaat

I had made Sev Puri several times (even with the deep fried Papdis) made at home. But with this lockdown, I had to make the Baked Papdis - something on my bucket list for a while. 

Adapted from Swati’s recipe (who incidentally also suggested the theme for this week’s FMBH “Chaat Time”), this was a breeze. Thanks much Swaty for this wonderful, homely way to bake the papdis for the chaats

Not just for Sev Puri or Sev Batata Puri, this became a great go-to snack for those 4 pm hunger pangs, and I see this becoming a healthy base snack like canapés. The husband added some boiled potato and moong sprouts and some schezwan sauce to make his own fusion sev puri last week. 

 I made a second batch while shooting the video, and full credit to my little one who helped me with the over head shoots (while balancing on her tiny wooden stool next to me).    

I have made few minor changes from Swati’s recipe. Do watch my video below, subscribe to the channel and leave your comments on this blog as well as the video.

Over to the recipe. 

Wholewheat Baked Papdi ~ No Deep fry 

Prep time - 20 mins + rest time of 30 mins | Bake time - 12 to 15 mins per batch. 

Makes ~  50 pieces (medium sized)

Spice level - Medium ; cuisine / Course - Indian Snack

PIN FOR LATER

You would need:

Wholewheat flour - 1.5 cups 

Roasted Semolina - 2 heaped TBSP

Ghee / clarified butter - 4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Ajwain / carrom seeds - 1/4 tsp

Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek leaves) crushed - 1 tsp

Red chilli pwdr / paprika - 1/2 tsp

Sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp

Ice Cold water - for binding - I used about 4 TBSP + 1 tsp  

How to:

Refer the following youtube link for directions, and do leave your comments on what other video recipes you would like to see on the blog / youtube channel.

2-min Coffee Cocoa Mug Cake - Eggless too ! | Easy Cake Recipes for #Lockdown

Serious Baristas would agree that "Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." Well,I don't drink either coffee or tea (except an occasional green/herbal tea). My coffee-loving family tells me often that I am missing out a lot without either of the beverages, but I don't miss either of them, having not drunk both since childhood.

Ahem! If you are done rolling your eyes,I make it up with baking / cooking with Coffee for small, impromptu celebrations at home. And for the record, I make excellent South Indian Filter Coffee for others at home without which no self-respecting TamBrahm would start their day :)      

So, today's dessert came rather as a welcome surprise for my family who were served this coffee-rich dessert within minutes of wrapping lunch. My little one was the most excited and my coffee-loving (critic of a) husband declared it a roaring success. Mind you, he takes his Affogato, Mochiatto and Espresso as seriously as South Indian Filter Coffee. The elder girl had made a Dalgona Coffee Cake with Choco chips recently - a recipes which I intend to share soon !  

Well, if you have 5 mins of prep time and 2 mins to watch over, you can beat all the midnight sugar cravings post dinner or even make a quick treat during this #lockdown. I have used Instant Coffee powder here, but you can use any variant you have. You may also serve it with Vanilla Ice Cream or topped with Rich Chocolate sauce 

The best part of this recipe is you can exercise portion control (the most difficult part of any dessert) and make it in a jiffy whenever those choco-coffee cravings kick in !  In fact, it took me more time to write/edit this post than it took to me bake it:)

Sasmita gave #LoveforCoffee theme for #FMBH. She has an amazing eye for capturing beverages, and her food styling is something worth emulating.  

Pin for later

Prep time - 5 mins | Bake time - 2 mins | Serves - 1

For each serving, add a mix of the following. Just repeat the steps and quantities for X number of servings

What you require and how to make:

Sift 2 TBSP all purpose flour, 1 TBSP Cocoa pwdr, 1.5 TBSP powdered Sugar, 1 tsp Instant Coffee granules, 1/8 tsp baking powder. To this dry mixture, add 2 TBSP milk, 1 TBSP oil and a few drops of vanilla essence. Mix well.
Pour into ramekins / microwaveable coffee mugs. Sprinkle choco chips on top if desired.
Microwave for 1 min. Let it stand for 10 seconds. 
Microwave for 30 secs more. Check with toothpick, if it comes out clean, let it stand for 10 more seconds in the microwave . serve immdly after that.
If it doesnt (owing to quanities made or quality of cocoa / milk etc), microwave for 20-30 seconds more.
It should be done in max 2 mins, give or take a few seconds
Serve in the same ramekins or topped with ice cream / chocolate sauce.
I served it wit drizzled confectioner's sugar.