Tatte idli

ತಟ್ಟೆ ಇಡ್ಲಿ  This time when i visited my foster mom for Ganesh Chaturthi she made amazing Tatte idlies.

Tatte idlis are very popular in Karnataka, those of you who have traveled on the Bangalore -Mysore highway would have surely come across a number of Tatte idli stall in Bidadi... Bidadi tatte idlis are a must have for every traveller ....Tatte means 'plate' in kannada and these idlis get this name from the fact the batter is poured in small plates and steamed. You can pour the batter in glasses and call them 'lotte' idlis... well i do that at times ;)

Ingredients :

•  Split black gram ( urad dal) : 1 cup
•  Rice semolina (sooji ) : 2 cups
•  Salt as per taste
• clarified butter (ghee) or oil : 2 tbsp 

Method :

1. Soak the gram in water for 4 hours
2. Grind it into a smooth paste : ( add very little water, don't make it watery )
3. Soak the rice semolina for 30 mins in water 
4. Drain the water and add it to the black gram paste 
5. Mix well, add salt and keep it aside for 8 hours to ferment 
6. Grease the plates with clarified butter/oil  and put the fermented batter and stack the plates in stand
7. Steam for 15 mins
   
   
   
   
8. Serve with coconut chutney and dollop of clarified butter ( ghee)

Rava Idli : Soft and flavored semolina cakes

I always thought making rava idlis was really tough, I use to always use MTR ready made mix, when i would read ingredients on the pack and thought the ingredients are simple , but never tried making the idlies all by myself. I have this habit of chatting up with cooks at darshini and on one such chats a cook at a darshini explained the recipe to and I tried the recipe at same day and the idlies turned out really soft and yummy and since then I have continued making the rava idlis. These idlis are easier to make the plain rice idlis. There no waiting time involved for the batter to ferment.
 I have tried various varieties of rava idlis be it carrot rava idlis, palak rava idlies,  mixed veg rava idlis and many more. Here you go with recipe for plain rava idlis.

Ingredients for  Batter

• 1 cup semolina
• 3/4 cup curds
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp fruit salt/ Eno
• 1 tbsp grated coconut 
• oil for greasing
• salt to taste

Ingredients for Tempering

• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 green chillies , finely  chopped
• 1 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
• 1 tsp chana dal (chick pea)
• 1 tbsp half broken cashewnuts
• 4 to 6 curry leaves
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp ghee

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a wok and roast semolina and let it cool
   
2. Roast cashewnuts and keep aside
   
3. Heat oil and add mustard seeds and let them crackle, chana dal, urad dal and fry till golden brown
4. Add curry leaves, green chilies and  sauté for 1 min, finally add coriander leave mix and remove from flame and keep aside to cool. 
5. Mix  curd, water, roasted semolina,grated  coconut and salt.
   
6. Add tempering and fruit salt and mix well
   
7. Leave it aside for 10 mins
8. In meanwhile grease the idli plates
9. Place  roasted cashewnut on each of the greased idli plates and pour the rava batter over the cashewnut.

1. Steam idlis in a steamer on medium flame for around 15 minutes
2. Serve hot with coconut or peanut chutney

Gujarati Methi Thepla : Indian flat bread seasoned with spice and fenugreek leaves

Gujarati Theplas are just not had as enjoyable breakfast item, but are also famous picnic snacks, as they don't spoil soon. These really easy to make and store. Any time I feel lazy to make curry for parathas, I quickly make these spicy theplas and i'm sorted . 

Ingredients 

• 1½ cups whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup methi (fenugreek) leaves was and chopped ( you can substitute this with any vegetable gratings like radish , carrot or cauliflower. Even plain thepla are very tasty)
• 1tsp. Red chili powder
• 1 ½ Coriander powder
• 1 tsp. Cumin powder
• ¼ Turmeric powder
• ½ tsp Carom seeds (Ajwain)
• 2 Green chilies, chopped finely
• Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
• Oil - 3 tablespoons
• ½ Warm water
• Salt as per taste
• 3 tbsp. curds
• Some flour for dusting  

Method : 

1. Take flour in a blow with spices (red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, carom seeds) and salt in a bowl.
2. Add green chilies, ginger paste, methi leaves, curds and oil.
   
   
3. Mix it with your fingertips and it will have crumbly looking texture.
4. Now add little water a time and knead into semi soft dough. Take care that the dough is not too hard or too soft.
5. Cover it and keep it aside for only 15 minutes.
6. Knead the dough once again. Divide it into equal smooth balls.
7. Take a dough ball and flatten it a bit and roll the thepla like you roll chapattis or parathas, using rolling board and rolling pin, use the dry flour to dust the thepla so that it doesn't stick to the board. ( repeat this process for all the dough balls, roll them thin not tick like parathas) 
8. Now heat the tawa or skillet on medium heat to roast theplas.                               
9. Place rolled thepla on hot tawa. Let it cook for 30-40 seconds. Then it turn upside down with help of spatula. Drizzle some oil and spread it evenly on it.
10. Again flip the thepla and press it lightly with spatula and cook till it down side is cooked.
11. Also apply some more oil on upside and flip and cook again with pressing. ( I prefer less oil so I hardly use oil)
12. Once cooked on both sides remove it to the insulated container.
13. Repeat the same process for rest theplas and serve them hot with raita.

Bharwa Karela : Stuffed bitter-gourd

I use to hate ‘karela’ /bitter gourd untill one day i had bharwa karela made by a colleague . I started troubling her for the recipe and she was sweet enough to share it with me. I tried the recipe out and the dish turned out to be tasty but  something was missing, i went back to her and she said what i had missed out, I tried it again the same evening and  it turned out good, so here i share this with you all..i have slightly modified the recipe.

Ingredients :

• bitter gourd (small, i used big once, hence cut them into pieces) 400 gms
• onion – 1 finely chopped
• oil —4 tbsp
• asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
• cumin powder— 1/2 tsp
• turmeric powder— 1/2 tsp
• coriander powder — 2 tsp
• fennel powder— 2 tsp
• amchur powder )— 1 tsp(you can add a lemon juice if you don’t have amchur)
• Chilli powder — 1/2  tsp ( i like it more spicy so i added 1 tsp)
• salt — 1 tsp (as per taste)

Method:

Pre-preparation :

• Wash the bittergourds well and scrape the exterior with knife, add 1/2 tsp salt to the scrapings and leave it for fifteen minutes, wash them well with water 2-3 times and keep aside to be used in the filling.
• Slit the bittergourd on one side, such they open up, scoop the inner contents ( the seeds and flesh/pulp) and keep aside to be used in the filling…( i slit them open completely and then tied the corresponding halves later)
• Apply 1 tsp salt to the bittergourds a little turmeric to the slit gourds both in inside and outside and leave them aside for 1/2 an hour
  

  
  

  Bittergourds slit and marinated in salt and turmeric

Filling :

• Heat 1tbsp oil in pan (kadai)
• Add asafoetida, finely chopped onions and fry till translucent and then add all dry ingredients and stir with a laddle 2-3times well and fry

  

• Add the well washed bittergourd outer scrapings and the inner pulp, stir and fry for 6-7
   mins, till the masala is done
• Wash the bittergourds well and pat dry and stuff them with the filling equally and tie them up with thread so that the filling doesn’t spill out.
   
  

  

  Stuffed and tied up gourds

Frying:

• In a pan heat 3 tbsp oil and arrange the bharwa karele ( stuffed bittergourds) in pan and shallow fry and close the lid over them.
• After 5 times when one side is done turn them to with help of a tong so that the undone side goes down and cover the lid again and allow to cook for 6-7 mins
• Once the bittergourds turn brown and done …you can serve them with roti .

Tips:

• You can also half boil the bittergourds in 250 gms of curds so that they cook faster.
• if you want little sweet taste you can add 2 tsp of jaggery to the filling when its cooking.

KHASH-KHASH-E-BAHAR : poppy seed fritters also called Posto Boro

This is a new recipe i tried out, which my Bengali friend told me on way back from office. This is a Bengali dish and you will love it. Here you go with ...Khash-Khash-e-bahar... or the famous Posto Boro 

Ingredients :

• poppy seeds 50 gms
• 6-7 green chilles finely chopped
• salt as per tates
• 2 medium onions finely chopped.
• 1 tsp maida
• oil to fry

Preparation:

1. Soak poppy seeds in water for 3-4 hours, drain the water and grind the poppy seeds into a fine paste.
2. Add the finely choped onices, green chilles, maida and salt to the poppy paste and mix well. Make small balls of the mixture and pat them into small patties. 
3. Heat a heavy bottom tawa and fry the patties with little oil. remove once done...serve hot with tomato sauce or tamrind chuntney..,

Are you feeling a little tipsy ?

HELLO WORLD! WELCOME TO EPICUREAN DELIGHT AT CHILLICHATKA.

I have been thinking to blog about my kitchen experiments for long, but as usual i’m either lazy or busy :). Finally i made up my mind and started the search for names for my blog, i thought of various names right from very the predictable ‘recipe zone’, desi ‘pet pooja’ to something as boring as ‘cabbage & cauliflower’, something as direct as red chillies so on.. Then just this morning my brother made some home made pastas and they were so sipcy that i told him “how much of chillies have you put. the pastas are so chatakdar. Vola!!! i got the name for my blog. I love chillies as they add spice to food and make it chatakdar and chillies since my favourite among all the spices ‘chilli’ had to be there in name at any cost and i found it. Here at chillichatka you will get to read about some really spicy as well as tasty; veg and non-veg recipes and how to make them. For those who are non-spicy food lovers you will find recipes to suit you palette too.

Here I shall share only dishes that I have tried and tested.  You will also find me blogging a lot of dhankkani dishes and some of them are made only in Bangalore Muslim households.

P.S This blog was started in 2010 in wordpress and im replicating it in blogspot now, as i find the platform more easy. 
Photo credit : Nikhilesh murthy  http://nikhileshmurthy.blogspot.in/