Pork Bafat

Ingredients:

• 1 kilogram pork cut into cubes
• 5 big onions(cubed)
• 2 inch ginger finely chopped
• 1 pod garlic peeled and halved
• 5-6 green chillies slit
• marble sized tamarind
• 4 cloves and cinnamon sticks each
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp bafat powder( can increase the quantity depending on tolerance to spice)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the pork pieces, drain well and keep aside.
2. Soak tamarind in 3 tbsps water.
3. In a big vessel, mix the pieces of pork with the onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, spices, bafat powder, tamarind water, and salt.
4. Cook on a low flame for an hour, stirring at repeated intervals.
5. When almost done add the vinegar and mix well.
6. Serve hot with sannas, appams or a bowl of hot rice.

Chicken/Kori Ghassi

Source: Konkan Cookbook by Sanjeev Kapoor

Ingredients:

For the marination:

• 1 kilo chicken, cleaned and cut into small pieces
• 1 and a half tbsps lemon juice
• 1 and a half tbsps ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

To grind:

• 1 and a half cups scraped coconut(I used a cup of desiccated coconut)
• 1 and a half tbsps coriander seeds
• 15 peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds(methi)
• 1 and a half tsps cumin seeds
• 10 whole bedgi red chillies deseeded(I do not deseed)
• 3 tbsps oil
• 3 medium sized onions finely chopped(to use half of this for grinding)

To season:

• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves(I didn't have any)
• 8 garlic cloves finely chopped

For the gravy:

• 1 and a half tbsps tamarind pulp
• 3/4 cup coconut milk

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with the marinade ingredients for an hour.
2. Dry roast scraped coconut to a light brown color. Lightly sauté coriander, fenugreek, cumin seeds, peppercorns, and whole red chillies in 2 teaspoons of oil. Grind these along with roasted scraped coconut and half the chopped onions to a fine paste using a little water if required.
3. Heat remaining oil in a vessel. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the seeds begin to crackle, add chopped garlic and onion and sauté for 5 minutes on low heat.
4. Add ground masala and sauté for 5 minutes till a nice aroma is given out.
5. Add marinated chicken. Stir well and add one cup of water. Adjust salt. Cover and cook till chicken is well cooked. 
6. Add tamarind pulp and stir well. Add coconut milk and remove from heat just when it comes to a boil.
7. Serve hot with Mangalore roti or with Deutsch brötchen(bun) as I have done...:)

Spicy Chicken Stew/ Jeeren Meeren

Hi guys!! I hope everybody's Sunday is turning out just as they want it to be. This side, it is lazy and nice..:) We were on our weekend outing yesterday so today was a quiet day at home. 

        Over to what was on our lunch menu this afternoon. Every Sunday it is the hen that is cooked in our home. Occasionally the pig too has an entry to make. Depends on the mood, mine.... not the pig's...:) The spicy chicken stew I made today is one of the family's favorite. It does taste a lot like the jeere meere version of Mangalore, though it's a blend of all the Indian spices without coconut. It is an excellent accompaniment with neer dosa, appam, sanna or pulao.

Ingredients:
To grind:

• 3 medium sized onions quartered.
• 2 inch piece ginger chopped
• 2 big cloves garlic
• 1 tomato chopped
• 3 green chillies
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp pepper corns
• 3 inch cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves
• 4 long red chillies
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• marble sized tamarind

1 kilo chicken cut into small pieces

1 small onion finely sliced.

1 tbsp ghee

1 tsp vinegar(optional)

salt to taste.

Method:

1. Wash chicken and keep aside.
2. In a mixer grind all the ingredients to a fine paste.
3. In a khadai, heat the ghee. Fry sliced onion till golden brown.
4. Add the ground masala and fry well till it gives out an aroma(about 10 minutes). Be careful not to burn.
5. Drop in the chicken pieces and mix well till the masala coats all the pieces. Add salt.
6. Add in a cup of water( you can rinse the masala from the sides of the mixer with a cup of water and add this)
7. Depending on your taste you can add more water if you would like a thinner form of gravy.
8. Cook till the chicken is soft and tender.
9. If you would like an extra tinge of sourness you can add the extra teaspoon of vinegar. 
10. Serve hot with neer dosa, appam, sanna or pulao.

(This gravy does turn out spicy. To suit your palette you can reduce the amount of green chillies and pepper)

Vegetable Bonda with Coriander Chutney

 (I know the picture is not good nor presentable. But with 3 hungry mouths waiting to dig in, it was pretty hard for them to be patient while I kept clicking away...:D)

Summer vacations have finally begun and I had been waiting like crazy for this moment. The German classes were finally getting to me(seriously) and I must admit that my multi tasking skills at home were being put to the test!! Unlike India where there is excitement and frenzy in the air and a certain kind of thrill to schools closing for the summer vacation, over here there is absolute no feel at all. Maybe due to the fact that the kids have no annual examination of any sort(they are assessed the whole year through in the form of surprise tests). The last academic year 2010, I was pretty shocked with the whole concept and in fact missed the drama we parents encounter back home in India. From the morning madness to the revision of chapters on our drive to school, on return going through the question papers back at home and finally the day the report cards would be issued....:D  Sigh, I still miss all this. 

Anyway, just like me, hubby too was waiting for me to be at home and don the role of Hausfrau(house wife) for a month..:D His only wish though was for me to prepare bobo everyday for tea( Can anybody please tell me where on earth did this word originate from??) And by Bobo he definitely meant his typical favorite Mangalorean snacks or savories like vorn, ambade, mani and so on.. I also knew the two blogs I would be referring to the maximum this month...:) Ruchik Randhap and Food, Football and a baby. Both Shireen's and Michelle's blog are the kind which take me through flashbacks and help me reminisce over all my favorite food from our home town Mangalore. There are days when just their pictures of food make me miss my homeland like crazy. 

So over to today's bobo, Vegetable Bondas from Michelle's space. To know more about this savory snack head on over to Michelle's blog. The hot spicy bondas taste best on a cold rainy day, though I didn't wait for any showers as we are already experiencing a very cold summer( or early winter??). I have tweaked the recipe slightly to suit our palette.

Ingredients for the vegetable filling:

2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped

2 carrots peeled and chopped

half a cup of green peas

2 green chillies finely minced(can add more or less depending on your tolerance level to spice)

2 cloves garlic minced

1 inch ginger minced

1 sprig curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp hot chill powder or to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp oil

a few sprigs coriander leaves chopped fine

salt to taste

For the batter:

2 cups chickpea/gram flour

1/2 tsp chilli powder or to taste

1/2 tap garam masala powder

Salt to taste

Enough water to make a thick batter

Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Boil the vegetables with salt until soft. Drain well and mash coarsely.
2. In a small pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves, finely chopped green chillies, ginger, garlic, chill and garam masala powder. Saute for around 20 seconds and then pour this into the mashed vegetable mixture.
3. Stir in the chopped coriander and mix well. Check seasoning and add more salt if you feel the mash needs it.
4. Shape the filling into small balls and place them in the fridge to firm them up a bit.
5. In another bowl, stir together the gram flour, chilli, garam masala powder and salt. Add water little by little, stirring continuously until a thick batter is formed. The batter should be thick. If too runny add a little more flour. When done, keep aside.
6. Heat oil for deep frying. Take out the vegetable balls. Dip them into the batter so they are covered thoroughly with the batter. When the oil is very hot, carefully drop the balls into the hot oil. Fry the bondas till they are a light golden color. Carefully lift out of the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
7. Serve hot with ketchup, mint/coriander or coconut chutney along with a cup of hot Indian chai..:)

Blend together half a bunch of fresh coriander leaves, 1/2 inch piece of ginger, 1 garlic clove, 1 green chilli, 1/2 tsp jeera powder and a little bit of tamarind along with very little water to make a quick coriander chutney!!

Batata Poha

I am married to a mama's boy....:) And mama's boy has a long list of favorite dishes solely prepared by mommy dearest. Batata poha or beaten rice with potatoes is one of them. For the 12 years that we have been married, I never attempted to learn or prepare these select recipes simply for the fact that they should be enjoyed during our visits back home or when mum in law visited us. Well, things have changed now. With us living so far away, trips to and fro have reduced. Plus when you have a husband pining for his favorite food, you have got to give in some time..:D

Batata Poha makes for a very nutritious breakfast. Rich in iron and paired along with potatoes and groundnuts gives you a power packed breakfast to begin your day.

BATATA POHA (serves 4)
Source: Modern Cookery by Thangam E Philip


Ingredients:

• Beaten Rice                 225 gms
• Potatoes                       225 gms
• Onions                         200 gms
• Groundnuts                    50 gms( added by me)
• Cumin                            1 tsp
• Mustard seeds                1 tsp
• Coriander leaves            to garnish
• Turmeric                        1 tsp
• Curry leaves                   2 sprigs
• Oil                                  4 tbsps
• Salt                                 to taste
• A dash of lemon juice.

Method:

1. Peel and dice potatoes. Chop onions and coriander leaves finely.
2. Heat oil. Add mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter drop in the curry leaves. Fry onions till brown.
3. Add potatoes, groundnuts and turmeric powder. Cook on a slow fire till potatoes are cooked. Be careful not to burn them.
4. Put rice in a colander. Hold under a running tap or pour water for about half a minute. Let it drain.
5. Add the rice to the potatoes and salt to taste.. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add a dash of lemon juice to taste. Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.