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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Hot, Cool and Funny: Watermelon Salsa

What’s so funny about Salsa? Seinfeld’s episode about Salsa! That’s what’s funny. Ever since I watched the “The Pitch” episode, the word Salsa (say salsaaaa like Jerry does) is always uttered accompanied by a giggle! Here is the salsa excerpt of the script from that episode (http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/ThePitch.htm):

“GEORGE: Why don’t they have salsa on the table?
JERRY: What do you need salsa for?
GEORGE: Salsa is now the number one condiment in America.
JERRY: You know why? Because people like to say “salsa.” “Excuse me, do you have salsa?” “We need more salsa.” “Where is the salsa? No salsa?”
GEORGE: You know it must be impossible for a Spanish person to order seltzer and not get salsa. (Angry) “I wanted seltzer, not salsa.”
JERRY: “Don’t you know the difference between seltzer and salsa?? You have the seltzer after the salsa!”“

Are you a Seinfeld fan too?

 Now let’s move on to the hot and cool part of it. Honestly, I have never messed around with adding flavors, or mixing and matching watermelon with anything. Never felt the need to. This sweet, juicy pulpy melon is so darn good by itself. But the blogosphere is dressing up watermelon, so I thought I’d jump in and send in my experimental entry to Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi. They are hosting “A Fruit A Month” event this month. This is the first time I am participating in this event; must be the watermelon! 

I still haven’t gotten to the hot and cool part of it. So watermelon salsa it is! There is really no recipe for this. To about a cup or cup and half of cool chopped watermelon, add about ½ cup of diced cucumber, 2-3 chopped hot jalapenos, 2-3 tbsp minced red onion, 1 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro, 2 tbsp lemon juice, salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Toss well and serve immediately with baked pita chips or crackers. Or just eat like chopped salad. Or eat a big wedge of watermelon just by itself J It gives you as much as 9 oz of water! 

I served the salsa on some organic whole wheat crackers, like so:

 

 

Guilt-free Snacking: Poha Murmura Chivda

Most Indian snacks are loaded with calories, what with all the deep frying of bhajis, bondas, pakodas, vadas, etc. Not that I don’t indulge on those addictive delicious delicacies (how is one to resist those!), but in the interest of being and feeling good, I often turn to various kinds of chivdas for beating that snack craving attack. Plus, given that such cravings for munching are everlasting on bad winter days, having a decently healthy option is a must!  

Chivdas are prepared in a bunch of different ways. The store bought ones are often made with deep fried poha and nuts, obviously eliminating that method of preparation in my kitchen. Some fellow bloggers have experimented, with great success, making chivda from breakfast cereals! For more details on this delicious healthy version, head on over to Trupti’s post for cereal chivda here.

Chivdas have nuts making them not so low in fat but nuts are high in good unsaturated fats. That’s reason good enough for me to call this guilt-free! 

Traditionally, chivda is made with just flattened thin beaten rice (poha) but I chose to combine poha with murmura (puffed rice) for that extra puffed crispiness. In addition, I dry roasted the nuts and bits of coconut to avoid using too much oil. The crispiness of poha and murmura, crunchiness from the roasted nuts and that touch of sweetness from the raisins make this a perfectly satisfying snack! Give this version a shot; best enjoyed with a cup of hot ginger-cardamom tea!

You’ll need:

• 2 cups of poha (thin flattened rice)
• 2 cups of murmura (puffed rice)
• ½ cup of raw peanuts
• ¼ cup of chopped raw almonds
• ¼ cup of chopped raw cashew nuts (optional)
• ¼ cup of golden or black raisins
• ¼ cup of coconut flakes
• 4-5 finely chopped green chilies (adjust according to your tolerance for heat)
• 2 stalks of curry leaves
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp of ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp + 1tsp of oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste

Method:

• In a microwave safe dish, nuke poha and murmura separately for about a minute each. Since microwaves vary, go with about 40 seconds first and go in 10 second increments until poha and murmura are crispy. Set aside
• Heat a large skillet/saucepan (that can hold all of the ingredients) on medium and dry roast the peanuts, chopped almonds and cashew nuts (if using). I mixed these nuts together and roasted them in one go until they turned slightly golden. The nuts continue to roast for a while after you take them off the heat; so ensure that you don’t over roast the nuts. You can also mix them together and dry roast them in the oven at 350F until just done. Let it cool
• Next, dry roast the flakes of coconut. This can burn quickly, so be extremely careful with this step. When the coconut starts to change color slightly, remove from heat and let it cool
• Return the skillet to the stove on medium-low, pour oil and add the mustard seeds
• When the seeds splutter, add chopped green chilies and curry leaves. Saute until they are crisp
• Add the raisins and fry until they turn plump. Mix the roasted nuts and toasted coconut. Combine well
• Sprinkle ground turmeric and mix well
• Add the crisp poha and murmura. Sprinkle salt and sugar and mix well until all the ingredients are combined well
• Turn the heat all the way down to low and let the mixture heat through, for about 5 minutes
• Take off heat and let it cool completely before storing in an air tight container.