Some Odiya Roasted Dishes - Brinjal and Tomato Poda

Hi there! I am back from my blogging break. It's been a while with lot of exciting things that I would like to share with everyone. Will do so in my next post. Till then, enjoy these healthy recipes from my kitchen to yours. Look forward to hear from everyone around and catch up.

In Oriya household, lunch is heavy while dinner is light. Lunch includes rice, dal with or without a non-veg item and two to three accompaniment dishes. One of the accompaniment dish can be xyz poda (aka roasted xyz) where xyz can be brinjal or tomato, for example. I did not quite cherish them earlier but I am craving for them now. Considering our effort to eat healthy and have more variety, this is a good option to try out. Maa should be proud of me now, I hope! :)

My food habits have changed so much in the last 4-5 years, almost akin to the out-of-body experience. You get the picture, right? ;) Maa and Baba were shocked on their recent visit. Maa kept on saying "Now you eat it :D You have wasted so much of this in your childhood..hmmp", "Where did you learn this?", "How can you eat this?" :) I took some of my childhood-forceful-eating revenge on Maa as well by making her eat asparagaus and she just refused to take another bite..you should have seen the joy on my niece's face on finding someone else sharing her dislike for asparagaus. Food constitutes about 75% of all my memories, I guess! :))

Before I divert too much, let's get to the recipe for Baigana Poda (aka Roasted eggplant) and Tomato Poda (aka Roasted Tomato). Sorry, no pictures available right now. However, when I make them next time, I will sure to click a pic and include it here.

Baigana Poda (aka Roasted eggplant)

Ingredients  
Makes 4servings

Eggplant - 1 large
Garlic - 2-3 cloves (FYI - Garlic pod is the grouping of the garlic gloves)
Mustard oil - few drops
Chopped Onion - 1/2 small or 1/4 medium
Grated ginger - 1 tsp
Heavy cream - 2 to 3 tbsp, as per taste
Chopped Green chilli - 2-3
Salt, as per taste

Method

• Do not make this with cold eggplant. Make sure it has reached room temperature before trying out the rest of the steps. Else it will not roast well.
• Using a fork, poke holes in the eggplant. If possible, make thin slots and place cloves of garlic in the slot
• Brush the eggplant very lightly with few drops of mustard oil.
• Roast on high heat on the stove till the peel burns. Continue to roast on low heat for the eggplant and the garlic to cook.
• Alternatively, broil in oven for 20 mins, turning side after 10 mins. Or, cook at 400 degrees F for 20-30 mins.
• Keep it aside for 5-10 mins for it to cool down a little. Wrap it in aluminium foil - I have found that makes it easier to peel the skin. Though, remove the garlic and keep it aside.
• Remove the burnt peel and mash the remaining portion of the eggplant.
• Add salt, chopped onion, grated ginger, roasted garlic, heavy cream and chopped green chilli. Mix it well.
• You can add a few drops of mustard oil for added flavor. You can also add aloo bharta (Heat oil. Add cumin seed, chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste and mashed potato. Cook till it stops sticking to the side of the utensil.) and mix it well.

Update on 05/04/2012 - Adding the pic - long overdue. :)

Cuttack-ia Dahi Bara Aloo Dum with CLICK post and a Me-Me

Dahi Bara (aka Dahi Vada) with Aloo Dum is a favourite street-food of the city of Cuttack in Orissa. Dara Bara is urad dal fritters in spicy yogurt gravy. You can't escape from the aroma of the same from the street vendors. Very enticing, I should say!

Cuttack is a very vibrant city in Orissa. It is more than thousand years old and was the capital of Orissa before Bhubaneswar. I have plenty of memories of the fun-filled summer vacations at my granny's place. My cousin would plan all the outings - movies, eating out and visiting other relatives. Time would just fly by. This is also the city where I was born. :) Check out more about Cuttack in wikipedia here.

When my mom was here with me last year, she laid out this fan-fare for us one evening. Amazing! Sending this to the event Curry Mela being organized by Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons. The due date for this event is August 20, 2008.



Dahi Bara recipe Makes about 20-25

Urad dal - 1 cup
Rice flour - few tbsps, about 2 tbsps
Salt - as per taste
Ajwain seeds - 1/2 tsp
Canola oil - for deep frying

Yogurt gravy

Canola oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chillies - 2-3
Curry leaves - about 6-10
Grated ginger - 1 tbsp
Salt - as per taste

Ground and roasted cumin-red chilli powder - as per taste

• Soak urad dal overnight.
• Blend it in food processor next morning and let it sit at room temperature for the urad dal to ferment. On summer days, usually by evening, it is adequately fermented.
• If the mixture is too free-flowing, add a few tbsps of rice flour to thicken it. It should be thick enough such that you can just hold the mixture with your hand and fry it. It should not be too thick or too thin.
• Add salt and ajwain seed. Mix well.
• Deep fry in hot canola oil. Put your hand in the water before taking the mixture in your hand. The prevents the mixture from sticking to your hand.
• Keep stirring the bara in the oil so that it is uniformly cooked.
• Once removed from the oil, drop it into a bowl of water. It will remove the excess oil and make the bara soft and easy to soak the yogurt mixture.
• How to prepare the yogurt mixture? Heat a tbsp of canola oil. Add mustard seeds. Once it crackles, add dry red chillies, curry leaves and grated ginger. Beat the yogurt with some water to thin the yogurt. Add the oil mixture to the yogurt with salt and ground roasted cumin-red chilli powder.
• How to prepare the ground and roasted cumin-red chilli powder? Dry roast 1 cup cumin seeds in a hot pan. When the cumin is half-done, add 1 cup whole red chilli (no need to pack it in the cup). Continue roasting till the flavors are easily detectable. Note of warning - It is pungent. So keep your exhaust fan on and if possible, a window or door open.

Aloo Dum

Potatoe - 5 large
Onion-Ginger-Garlic-Tomato paste - 10 tbsps (Blend 2 onion, 6 garlic clove, 1 inch ginger, 2 tomato)
Dum Masala - 1-2 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 2
Dry bay leaf - 2-3
Salt - as per taste
Coriander leaves - few tbsps

• Heat canola oil. Add dry red chilli and dry bay leaf.
• When the chilli and bay leaf is roasted, add the onion-ginger-garlic-tomato paste. Stir and let it cook on High heat. The paste will tend to splutter initially. So take care in this stage. You can half-cover it with a cover, if that helps.
• Add the dum masala, salt and garam masala and continue cooking.
• When the raw smell is gone, add the boiled potatoes. Continue stirring and cooking. You can reduce the heat to Medium during this stage. Takes about 10-15 minutes.
• Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Note - You can have this Aloo Dum as-is with Roti, Paratha or Puri\Luchi.

How to assemble the Dahi Bara-Aloo Dum?
Take two pieces of Dahi Bara in a container. Add a spoon or two of the Aloo Dum. Top it with Bhujia, chopped onions, chopped chilli and coriander leaves. You can add a sprinkle of rock-salt (optional).

Click, Click and click! Love photography even though have always had a problem with the lighting of the pictures. I am working consciously on that aspect of my photography these days. The following is one of the pics that I feel I have done justice in terms of the lighting. The first photo below is my entry to Click: Citrus event due August 30th, 2008.

Enjoy some of the other pics taken by yours truly of the radiantly beaming and shiny fresh oranges, my favourite fruit and flavour lately!

Book MeMe

When Sra tagged me for this MeMe, I was pleasantly surprised and excited. Really appreciate the gesture and for thinking of me, dear Sra! :)

Being the single child and pretty shy one (have surely come a long way since then!), books were my best friends. To date, they are. Give me a good book, I am out of your way for days. When I get gifts for kids, I am perpetually tempted to buy books. However, books are no longer the same craze with kids these days..shocking that even some parents don't appreciate books as gifts!

Coming back to me, I really don't get that much time to read novels these days..thanks to work, school, household work and entertaining friends/families. Not that I mind any of the mentioned items, but I do wish I could make more time and revive my reading passion! And of course, complete the numerous half-read books lying around the house crying to be read and conquered!! :) The one I am using for the MeMe is one of those crying bleeding books...

The rules of the MeMe are the following:

• Pick up the nearest book
• Open to page 123
• Find the 5th sentence
• Post the next three sentences
• Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

The book I am picking is Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. After reading The Da-Vinci code, I bought all his past novels. However, have not been able to read them till date. I picked this one up during our Dominican Republican trip. I still need to finish it..sigh!

Mortati knew that all the exits to Vatican City were guarded, and the missing cardinals could not have gone far, but still with less than an hour before opening prayer, he was feeling disconcerted. After all, the four missing men were no ordinary cardinals. They were the cardinals.

Hope this intrigues you to read this book! So surprising that one of the main plots of this book was in the above lines :)

I would like to tag the following dear blogger friends for this MeMe:

• Shreya of Mom's Cooking
• TBC of The Budding Cook
• Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen
• Easy Craft of 100% Microwave Cooking
• Sunita of Sunita's World...life and food

Thanks, everyone, for reading through this long post! Look forward to hear from you. Have a great week ahead and enjoy the Summer Olympics! :)

Summer afternoon in a Oriya household with Pakhala...(Precautionary warning - Long post :))

As a kid, summer meant early closing of school, lassi in the evening and lots and lots of festivals (some specifically directed for particular section of people such as unmarried girls, married women). And the most important change in food, you can have lots of mangoes "amba" to eat and the soothing "Pakhala" for lunch. Read on if you would like to get a glimpse at some of my most coveted close-to-heart memories of summer in India and my attempt at trying to keep some of that going on in this far-far-away land of America!

Summer meant half-day school..which kid would not love that ;) Schools start early so that they can close early and everyone can get home early and avoid the heat. Not sure how much the "avoid the heat" objective of this idea worked...coz this meant for me and my friends more play-time in the evening, starting a little early in the afternoon :) This was in addition to a long summer vacation which usually commenced late April and ended late June. Note though that my teachers would load us with more homework than one can handle (ofcourse!). Actually, this year, the heat was so much that schools were closed early for summer vacation. Do you know that in the past few years, Orissa has recorded some of the highest temperatures in India? Sad!

Of course, how can I forget to add the hours of power outage that provided plenty of opportunity for family time ..talk about finding the silver lining in the cloud :) Early on, these outages were random and strewn throughout the day. This became a lot more organized where the electricity board would make postings in the daily newspaper (and eventually announcements on local TV channels) about the time in various areas where power outage "load-shedding" would occur!! Being in the capital of Orissa provided us some relief at times. Should check with Maa-Baba if the situation is still the same! >:(

One best thing about Bhubaneswar is that you get plenty of cool breeze in the evening, such a pleasant respite from the humid heat. In the summer breeze, sitting with family and friends and enjoying a cool glass of mango lassi is heavenly. With some spicy accompaniments such as Aloo chop, samosa (called "singada" in Orissa) for company, the world is so right! Miss those evenings :(

Now the heat does not deter the festivities from engulfing everyone. There are two special festivals during this time - Savitri Amabasya for married women to pray for their husbands (quite similar to the Karva Chauth of North India with different rituals based on the Savitri-Satyaban mythology) and a 3-day Rojo/Rajah for young girls to celebrate and enjoy the swings (actually this festival falls quite close to the onset of monsoon). During Savitri Amabasya, ladies fast for their husband's long life. They can eat any fruit though on that day, no rice nor any cooked foods.

Talking of fruits, mango is aplenty in this season and there are a number of varieties of the same in the market. Raw mangoes are pickled into a sweet pickle (yes, it is sweet which used to be a major surprise for my non-Oriya friends who were only used to the hot mango pickle!). We used to have mangoes after lunch cut into slices. Just could not wait to finish up lunch..

Coming to lunch, Pakhala is the one we would have most often during summer. I believe this is one of the most authentic Odiya food. If I am not mistaken, the rest of the eastern part of India also have some variant of this. Pakhala is rice soaked in water which is served with various other accompaniments. The rice can be tempered with different types of tempering based on taste.

In my in-laws place, they even have this for breakfast followed by a late lunch. Last time when I was in India, R's aunt had made some real delicacies - Ladyfinger in Mustard sauce and green beans in onion gravy. Though I tried to watch and learn, I just cannot mimic it here. Next time I am in India, I am going to make sure to learn it first! I crave for them every time we have Pakhala here!


The above pic shows pakhala with ladiesfinger fry ("bhendi bhaja"), mashed shrimp ("chingudi checha"), crushed badi ("badi chura") and mashed potato ("aloo chakata"). You could possibly have it with it with any curry, as long as it is not gravy-based.


Pakhala - serves 4

Raw rice - 1.5 cup
Yogurt - as per taste

Canola oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 6-10
Crushed garlic - 1 tsp

Soak the cooked rice with water for a few hours. The longer you soak the rice, the ore it ferments and the more lethargic you will feel after eating it :) I usually for an hour or two. Some like it soaked overnight!

Before serving, garnish the soaked rice with some sour yogurt.

Additionally, you can "chaunk" it. Heat canola oil. Add mustard seed. Once it crackles, add 6-10 curry leaves and crushed garlic.


Ladiesfinger fry / "Bhendi bhaja" - serves 4

Ladyfinger - 20-30
Canola oil - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp or as per taste
Chilli powder - as per taste

Clean the ladyfinger with water. Soak it dry with a paper towel and cut it into 1 inch pieces. You definitely don't want to cut and clean them - they end up very gooey and messy!



Heat canola oil. Add the cut ladyfinger. Stir in high heat till it stops sizzling and all the gooey stuff has vanished. Add turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Note - You can add a tbsp of onion-ginger-garlic paste after the ladyfinger is half-cooked, for additional taste. Cook in Medium heat for some time to complete the cooking.


Mashed shrimp / "Chingudi Checha" - serves 4

Small or medium-sized shrimp with head - 30-40 small or 15-25 medium
Green Chilli - 2
Garlic - 2-3 large cloves (Pod is the grouping of Cloves)
Red onion - 1/2 thinly chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp, as per taste
Salt - as per taste
Chilli powder - as per taste

Marinade the shrimp (after de-veining it, I leave the shell on for the extra crunch) with salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder for 15-20 mins.
Heat some canola oil and fry the marinated shrimp till well-cooked.
Using the food processor, lightly crush (not finely grind) the shrimp with garlic and green chilli.
Mix the above mixture with chopped onion and you are good to go! Yummy!


Crushed Badi / "Badi Chura" - serves 4

Badi - 20
Onion - 1/2 thinly chopped
Garlic - 1-2 pods
Green Chilli - 1

Lightly roast the badi with a little canola oil till it slightly browns.
Crush the badi either using a food processor or using a crusher with hand.
Add crushed garlic, thinly chopped green chilli and chopped onion.
You can add a few drops of mustard oil for added flavour.


Mashed Potato / "Aloo Chakata" - serves 4

Potato - 3-4 large
Onion - 1/2 large, thinly chopped
Ginger - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - Chilli Powder - 1 tsp (add more for added heat)
Salt - as per taste
Mustard oil - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 1-2

Boil potatoes to cook them. You can also use the pressure cooker to boil the potatoes. Mash the potatoes after peeling them with the rest of the ingredients.

Machha Chencheda \ Maccha Ghanta

My mom is here with me now. So I am learning a lot of our Oriya authentic dishes which are healthy as well as tasty for the appetite. Things which used to be made almost every other day in our house and I used to avoid eating them. But now when I am getting to eat the same thing after 2 years, it tastes heavenly. My mom tells me that the below combination of veggies is preferred, but you can mix and match - a ideal way to clear up your fridge ;) Different places in Orissa call this by different name - two of them being Chencheda and Ghanta. Maccha means fish.

Ingredients (makes 5 servings)

Rohi Fish Head - 1
Potato - 1 big, chopped and cubed
Brinjal - 1 big, chopped and cubed
Pumpkin (Calabaza) - 1/4 of a medium sized one, chopped and cubed
Tomato - 1 chopped
Onion - 1 medium, ground to paste and 1 medium chopped and cubed
Garlic - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp (1 tsp to marinade the fish and 1 tsp for the curry)
Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste
Curry powder - 1 tsp
Fish Masala - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Dry Bay leaf - 2
Cumin seed - 1/4 tsp
Canola oil - 1 tbsp

Step 1

Marinade the fish head with salt and turmeric powder for 30 minutes. Fry with canola oil till the fish is cooked and crispy. Keep it aside. Note - If you don't have fish head, you can use 2-3 pieces of meaty fish pieces. Alternatively, you can use tiny shrimps as well with their shells on and this dish becomes "Chingudi Ghanta or Chingudi Chencheda". :)

Step 2

Heat oil. Add dry bay leaf, dry red chili and cumin seed and let it crackle. Add the chopped onion and cook till it is golden brown. Add ground masala, chopped tomato, turmeric powder and curry masala. Fry till the oil separates. Add chopped potato, chopped brinjal and chopped pumpkin. You can add Poi leaf as well. Add salt. Saute on High for 5 mins. Next keep it covered on Medium heat till the veggies are half cooked. Add the fried fish head and cover the fish with the veggies. Cover the dish and let it continue cooking. Once the veggies are cooked, remove the cover and add a pinch of sugar, fish masala and garam masala. Saute till the curry is dry or slightly wet, as you prefer it.



Serve hot with roti or rice-dal.

Sandesh Mitha

Was looking for some new sweet dish recipes when I came across the "Sandesh" recipe posted by Sharmi of Neivedyam. In almost all the sweet-shops of Bhubaneswar, you will definitely find this sweet. It used to be such a regular sweet in our place that I stopped eating it. Another item that you disliked when mom served it to you as a kid, but now you crave for it! :)

Ingredients (makes 20 pieces)

Ricotta cheese - 2 cups
Condensed milk - 3 tbsp
Milk powder - 1tbsp
All purpose flour - ½ tsp
White sugar - 4 tbsp
Raisins/Cashewnuts to garnish - same as the number of Sandesh pieces

• Mix all the ingredients together.
• Using a thick-bottomed pan, cook this mixture in Medium-Low heat till the mixture thickens and leaves the side of the vessel. Keep stirring continuously, approx every 5-10 mins, so that it does not stick to the sides and burn. I had to cook for approximately 1 hour.
• When the mixture is cooled down, make small balls and garnish it with dry fruits. I used raisin tossed and lightly roasted in very little butter.
  
  
  

Pohi Leaves / Poi leaves

I had seen certain posts in Asha's Foodie's Hope and Indira's Mahanandi about Pohi Leaves (called Poi in Oriya). Thought of sharing this pic for everyone. It is available in H-Mart Korean store and Subzi Mandi (New Jersey).



My MIL introduced this green to me. I had never tasted it before. Since this tastes similar to fresh pumkin flower fry, I immediately loved it and have continued preparing it. Poi leaf is supposedly used in Oriya cuisine for other recipes such as "Ghanta" aka wet veggie curry.

Sidenote - Fresh pumkin flower fried stuffed with potato filling dipped in rice flour batter is one of my favourite veggie dish. If I ever manage to get fresh pumpkin flowers, I will post about it. Have heard that New Jersey local farmers have these flowers available for sale during their season.

Coming to Poi leaves I love the Poi leaves shallow-fried with gram flour (besan), rice flour, fresh ginger paste, red chilli powder and salt. For example, 1 cup gram flour, 1 tbsp rice flour, 1 tbsp ginger paste, 1 tsp red chilli powder and 1.5 tsp salt or as per taste for about 10 Pohi Leaves. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics to share for this.

Noodles with Spicy Chicken Pakoda

Spicy Chicken Pakoda is one of the most popular street-food item of Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Other mouth-watering delicious street-foods include:

• gup-chup (alias gol-gappa, hot pani-puri),
• chicken egg rolls (hot and spicy chicken in a wrap),
• kachodi chat,
• dahi wada-aloo dum,
• hot guguni (yellow peas curry)

School lunch-time or end of the school day - The parents can be late to pick up the kids, but the street vendors promptly position themselves near the school entrance. No matter how much you try, you can never avoid the enticing smell of the goodies. You will succumb to it irrespective of how hygenic or unhygenic it is. Irrespective of how often how your dad has tried to explain and convince you to avoid eating it. Your's truly used to do so. Even in spite of the fact that her mom is a wonderful cook and can recreate the exact same taste at home! :)

Fast forward to the present day - These items are in the first list of items to eat on India trip. Some things never change!

Noodles (Makes 3 servings)

Ingredients

Oriental style noodle (I used Tomoshiraga Somen) - handful
Canola oil - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 3
Large onion - 1 cut into thin slices
Green Beans - 12 pieces cut at an angle into small pieces
Carrot - 1 cut into long pieces (optional)
Ajinomoto - 1/4 tsp
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Worchestire sauce - 1 tsp
Green chilli sauce (I used Chings brand) - 1 tsp

Step 1

Boil water. Add an handful of the vermicelli. Let it cook al dente. When cooked, put it in a strainer and wash it with cold water. Keep it aside so that all the water is drained from the vermicelli.

Step 2

Heat canola oil. Cook onion till it is just cooked. Don't let it turn golden brown. Keep it aside.

Chop green beans at an angle. Cook it while keeping it crunchy. Keep it aside. You can keep it in the same container as the onion since you will mix them all together.

You can also add carrot cut into long thin slices. Cook it while keeping it crunchy (similar to the green beans above). Keep it aside. I did not use it.

Heat a few drops of oil. Break the eggs into the pan and stir it so that the 3 eggs are mixed up. Stir it occasionally and finally break them into small chunks. Keep it aside.

Step 3

In the hot pan, add the boiled vermicelli. Add the cooked onion, cooked beans and scrambled eggs and mix. Add ajinomoto along with soya sauce and worchestire sauce. Add green chilli sauce (I used Chings brand). Use more if you like it more hot. Mix well. Caution - Do it slowly so that you don't mash up the noodles.

Spicy Chicken Pakoda (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 lb, cut into small pieces
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Flour - 4 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Sweet Paprika - 1/2 tsp (I used McCormick's brand)
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Fresh ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Shan Tandoori Chicken BBQ Mix - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp or as per taste

Step 1

Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside for 30 mins.

Step 2

Deep-fry the chicken pieces. Drop the chicken pieces one at a time into the oil.



To serve as a snack, garnish it with fresh onions and a pinch of rock salt (optional). Or combine it with fried rice or noodle and savour as a meal.

Luchi-Aloo Bhaja-Simei

Luchi goes great with any potato curry. Following is one such combination. Aloo Bhaja is stir-fried potato. Simei is vermicelli. It can be prepared as a sweet dish to serve as a good partner in taste to the spicy potato fry.

Aloo Bhaja aka Potato fry (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Mustard oil - 1 tbsp
Canola oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 4 whole
Dry bay leaf - 2
Medium onion - 1/2, chopped into thin slices
Medium potato - 4, chopped into long thin slices
Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Coriander (Dhaniya) powder - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - a pinch
Salt - as per taste

Heat oil. You can prepare this fully with mustard oil. In order to dilute the mustard oil taste, I mix canola oil as well.

Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red chilli and dry bay leaf. After the mustard seed crackles, add a pinch of sugar and the copped onions.

When the onion appears cooked, add the chopped potatoes with turmeric powder and salt.

First cook on High till the sizzling sound almost stops. Add garam masala and coriander powder. Next cook covered on Medium-Low heat for approximately 15 mins. Keep checking frequently to prevent the potatoes from burning. When you can break a potato slice comfortably using the spatula, it is cooked. After that, if you want the potatoe fry to be crisp, cook on high heat for about 2-3 mins. Serve hot.

Simei (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

Canola oil - 1\2 tsp
Simei\Vermicelli - 1 cup
Cashewnuts - a handful dry-roasted
Fat-free milk - 3 cups
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Salt - a pinch

Step 1

Heat canola oil. Roast the vermicelli in the oil till it is translucent and slightly brown. Keep it aside

Step 2

In the same container, add milk and sugar. Bring it to a boil. Add the cardamom powder followed by the roasted vermicelli and the roasted cashewnuts.

Chennapoda - Odiya Cheese Cake

It is customary to take sweets as a token of love when visiting friends/relatives back home. Chennapoda is one such common item. It is very popular back home. One of the most authentic Odiya milk-based sweet-dish.

Anytime we travelled between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on National Highway 5, we used to stop by Pahala village. On the side of the freeway is a set of eating places where they serve fresh rasagolla and chennapoda. A nice detailed article on Pahala sweets is available here. This place has not changed a bit in past years, irrespective of their popularity and demand.

Miss the earthen pots in which they serve the sweets :( In the present age of recycling, aren't these earthen pots real cool? And they add such a nice grandeur and ethnic feeling to the food.

This is a modern version of the age-old recipe adapted to the NRI-Odiya's kitchen. :) I learnt this recipe from my SIL first. After a series of mishaps and experimentation failures, I finally found the correct proportion of the various ingredients. A sweet-dish that you can easily prepare irrespective of the number of people. Just mix everything and let it bake! Here you go...

Ingredients (makes 2 cakes, about 25-30 pieces)

Ricotta cheese - 3 lb
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14 oz
Light brown sugar - 15 tbsp
Butter - 4 oz (1 stick)
Semolina\Rava - 10 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 1\2 cup or as per your taste
Raisins - 1\2 cup or as per your taste

Melt the butter.

Mix all the above together by spatula. Keep moving the spatula in either clockwise only or anti-clockwise direction only.

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line the baking tray with butter paper or spray on lightly with canola oil before pouring the mixture. Fill the baking tray to 3/4th of its height with the mixture to let it rise. Bake for 1hrs. (2/8/08 -- Better texture if cooked for 1 hr instead of the earlier post requiring 1.5 hrs)

Let the trays remain in the oven for another 10 mins so that the outer crust gets time to burn lightly and become dark-brown in color while the inner stuff remains white.

Poke a knife or pointed edge into the cake. If the knife comes out clean, the cake is ready. Else let it bake for a few more minutes.



Note - Once cold, store in the refrigerator. Before eating, if you want it warm, microwave the piece for a few seconds.

Melodious Odiya music

I don't listen often to Oriya music. However, there are certain songs that I used to listen as a kid. My dad and grandpa used to own numerous records - remember those black round discs! :). Today when I hear them, get very nostalgic. This is one of them. This song was very popular and is one of the all-time hits. This is from the 70's when some of the best Oriya songs were composed. Warning - The video is not all that impressive.


Oriyas/Odiyas revere Lord Jaganath. Trivia - The word "juggernaut" has its root in Lord Jaganath. Ask any Odiya staying outside of Orissa and they will tell you that a trip back home without a visit to Puri Jaganath Dham is incomplete. While generally browsing around YouTube, came across these two devotional songs.



One new song that touched my heart is linked below. It echoes the sentiment of any mother whose kids stay far away from them. This is dedicated to my Maa and my MIL.

Breakfast Ideas!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Though we often feel inclined to skip it in our hurry to get a head-start to the day ahead, don't we? Well, the following breakfast items are not for those days. We usually have them on weekend when it is a lot more relaxed.

Maida Chakuli (makes 5)

Maida Chakuli used to be my favourite breakfast item as a child. You can have it all by itself or with Spicy Aloo Bhaji (Potato fry) or with some hot mango pickle. My mouth just waters writing about it ;) Not sure if this is a common item in Oriya household or if it is one of my Mom's many delicious cooking inventions! Here is the recipe. Pic below is shown with Potato Curry.



Ingredients
Maida / Refined flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Water - 1.5 cup
Salt - a pinch

Mix all the above ingredients. Stir till you see some bubbles. Keep stirring only clockwise or only anti-clockwise for faster result.



Put a flat griddle (tava) on medium heat. Non-stick preferred so that less oil is required for cooking. Add a few drops of canola oil. Take one ladle full of batter and drop on the tava. Let it spread by itself. You will find bubbles on the top as it cooks.



As the lower surface of the maida chakuli cooks and takes on a brown colour, turn it upside down and let the other side cook. Take care that it does not burn while trying to get the brown colour :)



Upma (makes 4 servings)


Ingredients

Rava - 1.5 cup
Water - 3 cup (Rava:Water::1:2)
Frozen Peas and Carrot - 1 cup
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 2 OR Green Chilli - 2 (optional)
Onion - 1 small
Ginger - 1 inch minced
Cashewnuts - 10 pieces
Hing - a pinch
Sugar - a pinch

Heat canola oil. Add sugar, mustard, jeera, chilli and cashewnuts. Once the mustard crackles and the cashewnut is golden-brown, add onion. When the onion is golden brown, add ginger and let it cook. As soon as the ginger is cooked, add the defrosted peas-carrot mixture and let it cook. Add hing and salt. Next add water and let it boil.



As soon as the water boils, stir in rava slowly. NOTE - Keep stirring continuously as you are adding the rava. Serve with tomato sauce or garlic pickle. Optional - Add a tsp of ghee on top while serving.

Goat Curry with Raita

I am submitting this for the "Regional Cusines of India (RCI) event: Oriya Cuisine from the state of Orissa in India". It is being hosted by Swapna of "Swad of India" blog. The announcement for this event is here. RCI was originally started by LakshmiK of "Veggie Cuisine" blog and other foodie bloggers take turns hosting this event.

Update on 09/08/2007 - Round-up link is here.

Goat Curry aka Mangso Tarkari (Makes 10 servings)

Ingredients

Baby Goat Meat - 2 lbs
Large tomatoes - 3
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 2 stick
Dry red chillies - 4
Dry Bay leaf aka Tej Pata - 2
Cloves - 4
Cardamom - 4
Large Onion - 1
Ginger - 3 inches
Garlic - 1 pod
Lemon juice - 4-5 drops
Shaan Meat Masala powder - 2 tbsp
Minced coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt as per taste

Marinade ingredients

Salt 3tbsp
Paprika 2 tbsp
Shaan Meat Masala 3 tbsp
Yogurt 2 tbsp
Garam Masala 1 tbsp
Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - 2 tbsp

Step 1

Marinade the meat with the marinade ingredients for an hour. Before cooking, make sure the meat has reached room temperature.

Step 2

Boil 3 large tomatoes in plain water. Once the water boils, cook covered in Medium heat for 15 minutes. After this, place the boiled tomatoes in cold water. This not only reduces the temperature, but also makes it easy to peel the skin off the tomatoes.



Step 3

Heat 1 tsp canola oil. Season the oil with 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp jeera, 2 stick cinnamon, 4 dry red chillies, 2 Bay leaf aka Tej Pata, 4 cloves, 4 cardamom for a minute. Next, add sliced onion and fry till it is golden brown on High heat. Add minced ginger and garlic and cook on High heat for about 5 minutes.

Once done, add the boiled tomatoes. The tomatoes will melt in the mixture. Add 4-5 drops of lemon juice to retain the bright red colour of the curry. Add 2 tbsp Shaan Meat Masala powder and salt as per taste.



Add the marinated mutton and cook on High heat for about an hour. Till the masala is uniformly coated and the oil separates on the almost cooked meat. (In Oriya, this state of the meat is called "Kasa Mangso". Since this recipe takes so long, family members will have their first serving of this curry in this state and comment on how delicious it tastes! Yes, it is ALWAYS delicious :) )



Pressure cook for 1 whistle on Medium heat. Wait for 10 minutes and then open the pressure cooker. Garnish with 3 tbsp minced coriander leaves and 1 tsp garam masala.

Note of caution - The whole process takes approximately 2 hours!



The above pic includes Basmati Rice and Raita.

Raita (makes 4 servings)

Onion - 1 small sliced
Tomato - 1 large sliced
Cucumber - 2 small or 1 large sliced
Green chilli - 4 sliced OR red chilli powder - 1 tsp(optional)
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Mix all the above ingredients. Don't mix till you are ready to eat. Else cucumber will release water-content and make the salad watery.

Sunday in a Oriya house - This curry is a regular item for Sunday lunch in most Oriya houses. Dad will head out after breakfast to get fresh-cut mutton. Meanwhile, ladies of the house will make the required preparation for the curry. As well as any other side dish such as brinjal fry or cauliflower fry or raita or badi-chura or so on. Atleast two sides has to be there. Everyone will have a heavy lunch and retire for an afternoon seista. Don't worry, by 4PM, everyone is back in full swing for evening snacks! :)

A marriage reception is considered incomplete if the host did not serve mutton in the menu. Even if it was a ten-course meal! In Mayurbhanj district of Orissa, one meal before the marriage ceremony has to be mudi (Puffed Rice aka Bhel) and mutton curry. Try it! It just tastes awesome.

Update on 04/12/2008 - Another recipe for Goat Curry from Maa

Make a paste of 2 big onions, 6 garlic pieces, 1 inch of ginger and 1 tomato. Keep aside.

Marinade 20 pieces of mutton with 1 tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric pd and 1/2 tsp chilli pd..

Heat 3 tbsp canola oil on high heat. Add 2 dry red chilli, 3 dry bay leaves. Add 10 tbsp of the ground paste of onion-ginger-garlic-tomato, 1 tsp of turmeric pd. and 1 tsp of meat masala. Keep stirring on high heat for about 5 mins or till the oil separates. Add the marinated mutton and cook till the mutton is cooked. Add 1/2 tsp of paprika powder for bright red color. Add 3 small or medium-sized potato cut into half a few minutes before the lid is put on the pressure cooker. Pressure cook on high heat for 1 whistle and 5 minutes in Medium heat. After opening the lid, add 1 tsp of garam masala. Maa advises NOT to put coriander leaves as it tends to take over the taste of mutton.

Luchi And Potato Curry

Luchi with Aloo Curry has been mine and R's favourite breakfast item right from our childhood days. These days, we have it for Sunday brunch after R gets back from his cricket games.

My luchi's are a combination of puri and luchi actually. Puri is made with wheat flour, also known as atta. Luchi's are made with refined flour aka maida. My luchi are made with 1:1 atta and maida. Since I and R cannot avoid unhealthy and oily food, I try to come up with compromises like this :)

Posted this also for Anita's A Mad Tea Party "It's Party Time!". Lots and lots and lots of Puri - Aloo Bhaji recipes in there!

Update on 09/08/2007 - Round-up link is here.

Luchi (Makes about 20)

Ingredients

Refined Flour (Maida) 1.5 cup
Wheat flour (Atta) 1.5 cup
Salt 1.5 tsp (as per taste)
Canola Oil 3 tbsp (or Ghee) + additional oil for deep frying

Mix maida, atta, salt and canola oil. Add water 2 tbsp at a time to knead and get the desired consistency. Keep aside covered for about an hour. Knead again.

Make small balls of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the balls into circles. If you get approximately circle shapes, that also works :)

Heat oil. Check if the oil is ready by dropping a tiny pinch of the dough into the oil. If the dropped pinch of dough bounces up to the surface immediately, the oil is ready for frying luchi.

Tip from Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals - Another method to check if the oil is ready is by putting the handle of a wooden spatula into the oil. If bubbles appear, then the oil is ready for frying.



Drop the rolled out luchi slowly into the oil. Keep pressing the luchi softly in the oil so that the luchi can puff up. Take the luchi out of oil using a slotted spatula. Place the luchi on a tissue paper to absorb away the excess oil.



Best eaten hot with potato curry or potato fry or meat curry (Oriya "Mangso Tarkari").

Potato Curry (Makes 6 servings)

About a month back, I tried the potato curry recipe as per Latha's Masala Magic's Potato curry. Don't think I will ever go back to my old recipe for potato curry. This turns out real yummy and makes the house smell so good also. The smell of chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and mild hing when used as tempering is heavenly! Following is the same recipe with minor changes, as it suits our taste.

Ingredients

Potato - 5 Large
Onion - 1 Large
Green chilli - 3-4
Curry leaves - 10-12
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning - 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp mustard, 2 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp urad dal, pinch Asafoetida or hing

Step 1

Cut potato into halves. Boil with water and some salt. After the water boils, reduce the heat to Medium and cook covered for another 15 mins.



Step 2

Heat oil. Add sugar and mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard crackles, add chana dal, urad dal and Asafoetida. As soon as the chana dal-ural dal is roasted, add the chopped green chillies, curry leaves, chopped onions and minced ginger. As soon as the onion turns golden-brown, add turmeric pd. and mashed potato. Add salt to taste. Add 1/2 cup water so that the spices mix well with the potato. Cook for 10 mins on Medium heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and 5-6 drops of lemon juice (optional if you don't like it sour).



Serve with roti or phulka or puri or luchi. Also goes well with Chakuli pitha (an Oriya bread item similar to the South Indian Dosa).

Alternative method:

Heat oil. Season with a pinch of sugar, mustard seeds, chana dal and urad dal. Add sliced onion, green chillies, minced ginger, curry leaves. Once cooked, add mashed potato, pinch of turmeric and water to mix everything well. Add salt. Garnish with coriander leaves.