Archives March 2023

Payasam/ Kheer for Ugadi.

Ugadi or Yugadi, also known as Samvatsarādi (lit. ’Beginning of the Year’), is New Year’s Day according to the Hindu calendar and is celebrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa in India. It is festively observed in these regions on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra.

The most important festive dish during Ugadi is the pachadi, a chutney that combines various ingredients to give all six primary flavours of food — sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and astringent.While tamarind lends sourness, the neem flowers impart bitterness, bella or jaggery imbues sweetness, uppu or salt adds saltiness and the spiciness comes from green chillies with raw mango contributing the astringent component.The mix of all flavours is also a reminder that one must expect all kinds of experiences in the coming New Year and take it in one’s stride.Another widely consumed item during Ugadi across the southern states is a sweet flatbread with a chana dal (Bengal gram) jaggery filling, known as holige or obattu in Karnataka, bobbatlu (Bhakshalu/polelu/oligale) in Andhra and puran poli in Maharashtra.The season’s fresh raw mangoes are made into pickles, mavinkayi chitranna (mango rice) or mango pachadi, besides puliogare (pulihora in Andhra) which is sour tamarind rice. People also make sweet pongal, kothmir vada and hesaru bele payasa (green gram kheer).

The typical dishes that are served on the Banana leaf are the Pickle, Dal Vada, Kosambari, Palya (poriyal), Obbattu (Puran Poli), Obbattu Saaru, Mavinakayi Chitranna (Raw Mango Rice), Semiya Payasam (Semiya Kheer), Steamed Rice, Udupi Rasam and Tempered Curd.

May this year bring you lots of joy and happiness in your life.
Happy Ugadi to everyone!

Shakshouka.

Shakshouka is a Maghrebi dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. According to Joan Nathan, shakshouka originated in Ottoman North Africa in the mid-16th century after tomatoes were introduced to the region by Hernán Cortés as part of the Columbian exchange. Shakshouka is a Tunisian and Israeli dish very famous in the middle east, consisting of poached eggs in spicy tomato sauce with onions, peppers and spices. Its very similar to the Latin American breakfast dish ‘Huevos Rancheros’ As the recipe consists of eggs it’s meant to be a breakfast food, but it’s popular even as a dinner dish. I think it can be eaten anytime because it’s just so good, and it’s easy to make.

This dish is served with a side of bread so as to soak the sauce. You can even have it with roti, chapati or pita bread.

Chicken Sukka/ Kori Rotti

Mangalorean Chicken Sukka or Kori Sukka/Kori Ajadina is an Indian chicken dish native to Mangalore and Udupi region. The word “Sukka” comes from Hindi “Sukha” which means “Dry”, sometimes also called as “Kori Ajadina”. However, it can be prepared in two variations: dry and semi gravy.
Chicken sukka is an intensely flavorful dish, made with host of spices, freshly grated coconut and just two tablespoons of oil. A quintessential chicken sukka calls for a special masala called kundapur masala powder. However, there are different variations of this recipe that can avoid the usage of this powder.
Although this dish has a major influence of South Indian and coastal cuisine, chicken sukka has a charm of its own. It is said that traditionally this dish is cooked with ‘desi murgh’ (free-range chicken) and served during special occasions like weddings.
This dish can be served with Parotta or Neer Dosa.

Chaaai!

Every afternoon, at most Indian homes, the family gets together to enjoy a cup of piping hot chai (tea), sometimes accompanied by a biscuit or two. Wondering how Chai was Originated?

According to ‘The Story of Tea’, tea drinking likely began in Yunnan province during the Shang Dynasty (1500 BC–1046 BC), as a medicinal drink. In one popular Chinese legend, Emperor Shennong was drinking a bowl of just boiled water because of a decree that his subjects must boil water before drinking it.[13] Sometime around 2737 BC, a few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water, changing the color and taste. The emperor took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and restorative properties. A variant of the legend tells that the emperor tested the medical properties of various herbs on himself, some of them poisonous, and found tea to work as an antidote. A similar Chinese legend states that Shennong would chew the leaves, stems, and roots of various plants to discover medicinal herbs. If he consumed a poisonous plant, he would chew tea leaves to counteract the poison.
Tea was introduced to India by the British in the nineteenth century, to overcome the monopoly of Chinese production. The first area to be planted was the mountain region surrounding the city of Darjeeling, perched on the Himalayan foothills, in the 1850s.

Today, India is second largest tea producers in the world, although over 70 per cent of its tea is consumed within India itself. A number of renowned teas, such as Assam and Darjeeling, also grow exclusively in India.
A Cup of tea is a cup of peace. Numerous studies have found that Tea helps in weight loss, boosting immunity and mental alertness, preventing heart diseases and arthritis, managing diabetes and delaying the aging process.