Confirmedly Authentic: Nucchinunde

It is amazing how certain foods are so strongly tied to memories; memories that are decades old, braced to childhood, to growing up, to the warmth and comfort of relishing mom’s cooked food and sometimes, also to sorely missing all of those! You get the picture.  This, Nucchinunde (nucch-in-unde), to me falls in that memory-stirring category of foods.

When the queen of blogosphere, dear Asha of Foodies Hope announced RCI for this month as Karnataka, ideas were flying in my head, one dish at a time from that category. When my Mother-In-Law made these heavenly delicious dumplings over the weekend, I really didn’t have to think beyond. This is the kind of food that you are not likely to find at restaurants. Some of these genera of dishes are even lost from one generation to the other. Here is my lowly attempt to get you the true taste of Kannada homes!

Nucchinunde is best enjoyed drizzled with ghee and dipped in “majjige-huli” aka “mor kozhambu”. You could eat these by themselves or as a side dish with a typical South Indian meal. Me? I eat them for breakfast! J

And I hope you enjoy the little Kannada tutorial along with these, authentic bonne bouche from Karnataka!

You’ll need:

• 2 cups Tuvar dal/Yellow Lentils (Thogari Bele)
• ½ cup Fresh/frozen coconut (Thengina Turi)
• ¼ cup chopped Cilantro (Kothamri Soppu)
• 6 -8 Dry Red Chilies (or to taste) (Vana Menasinakai)
• ¼ tsp Asafetida (Hingu)
• 1 inch piece of fresh Ginger (Shunti)
• 1 cup finely chopped Onion (optional) (Eerulli)
• ½ cup fresh/frozen Green Peas (optional) (Hasi Batani)
• Salt to taste (Uppu)
• Steamer (Idly mold + pressure cooker preferable) 

Method:

• Wash tuvar dal in 2 or 3 changes of water and soak for about 4 hours
• Drain the soaked dal and grind about 75% of it to a coarse consistency, without adding water (or use as minimal as possible)
• Grind the remaining 25% dal with coconut, ginger and red chilies
• Transfer to a working bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well to combine
• Make dumplings of this batter by moulding the batter in your fist to shape - as in the picture
• Place the dumplings in the idly mold if using (2 dumplings per slot). If using steamer, place the dumplings in the vessel in a single row
• Steam cook for about 20 minutes until done
• Eat them hot, drizzled with ghee

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Update: My MIL read the post and had a few updates to the recipe. She suggests using a couple of green chilies along with dry red clilies. Secondly, you could use about 1/4 cup of chana dal (split chickpeas) along with tuvar dal. Lastly, she indicated that ginger is opional, so leave it if out if you so wish. For a completely different flavor, you could use fresh fenugreek leaves sautéed in some oil until it is wilted, in place of onions and green peas.

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A gem from Grandma’s treasure: Green Tomato Chutney (Tomatokai Chatni)

The title says it all – this is a gem from grandma’s plethora of recipes; from my husband’s grandma’s magical kitchen, recreated here by my Mom-in-law. In her kitchen, grandma P whips up the tastiest traditional dishes, enthusiastically tries new dishes from her favorite TV cooking shows, imparts culinary wisdom to many and mesmerizes the taste buds of those lucky ones who get to eat what she cooks! Because of her, this great legend, I sure have come to believe that the statement “magical culinary hands” is indisputably true! With great love and wishing her best of health, this post is dedicated to lovely grandma P!  

You’ll need: 

 For the chutney:

• About 6 medium sized Green tomatoes or Tomatillos
• ¼ cup grated Coconut, frozen or fresh
• 1 tbsp of Roasted Gram/Dhalia
• 6 – 8 Green Chilies (adjust according to your taste)
• 2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
• 2 tbsp Grated Jaggery
• Salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

  For Tempering:

• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Hing (Asafetida)
• 1 spring Curry Leaves
• 1 tsp oil

 Method:

• Dry roast the sesame seeds and roasted gram until fragrant. Keep aside
• Dice the tomatillos and green chilies. Heat the oil in a pan and add diced tomatillos and green chilies. Sauté until tender
• Place the cooked tomatillos, green chilies, dry roasted sesame, roasted gram and the rest of the ingredients for chutney, in a blender. Puree until smooth
• Remove to a serving dish
• Make the tempering by adding mustard seeds to the hot oil. Wait until it splutters. Add hing and curry leaves and sauté for a bit
• Add to the chutney
• Enjoy with hot rice (or as an accompaniment)

 

Unbelievable Crunch: Sugar Snap Peas and Baby Corn Stir Fry

As much as I love bulk shopping at stores like Costco, the humongous quantities of a few perishables sometimes wears me out. When I first discovered a large bag of fresh sugar snap peas at this store, I was elated beyond words. I love chomping on them fresh crunchy peas for a healthy snack or devour them in fresh vegetable crudités with a yogurt dip. Like with every repetitive thing I do, I got bored eating the raw stuff. In any event, how many raw snap peas can one eat?! When I was cleaning out my fridge recently, I stumbled upon this half used bag of sugar snap peas from the previous week, which to my surprise was still fresh and crunchy. I flipped the bag over and glanced through the “ways to use” section on the bag and the idea of sir fry caught my attention. I made a very simple, yet very flavorful, spicy and crunchy (okay, that’s the last time I’ll say crunchy J) stir fry with some baby corn I had on hand. There, I found another reason to keep buying this bag of peas!

 

You’ll need:

• 3 cups of sugar snap peas, cleaned and chopped (I sliced them at an angle)
• 1 cup of chopped/sliced baby corn
• 3-4 green chilies, slit lengthwise (adjust according to your tolerance for heat)
• 1 ½ inch piece of fresh ginger, julienned
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1 tbst rice or white vinegar
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat the oil in a wok or a large frying pan on high heat
• Add the slit green chilies, ginger and garlic and stir fry for a minute or less, just until fragrant. Do not brown the garlic!
• Add the chopped baby corn and snap peas and stir for a couple of minutes
• Season with salt, stir to mix well and let it hang out on the high heat for a few more minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning.
• Add the vinegar and stir again. It’s called stir fry for a reason! Do not over cook this; you want to retain the shape and crunch (you get the idea!) of the snap peas and the baby corn
• Eat!

I served this, full desi style with home made rotis and it tasted fabulous! You could, I imagine step up the spiciness and seasoning a little bit and toss it with some cooked hakka noodles to make a very satisfying one pot meal. That’s what will happen to the next bag of these peas!