Bisi Uppinkai / Instant Pickle

One thing to which most of us would agree is that men do not cook often, but, whenever they do they stun us with their final product and the by product (messy kitchen :P). Don't you think so ladies?. Hold that thought and look at the dish in the above pic, isn't it mouth watering?.

This episode of my blog is special because my husband was brave enough to try making this dish and it was BENKI (kannada slang used to describe something which is fantastically superb) when I tasted it. The very next moment I took my gear off my bag and captured this beauty.

Pickling process to me till I ate this uppinkai was a meticulous thing which needed lot of patience and expertise. I remember, back in India my grannies getting ready to prepare pickles at the onset of mango season. These pickles would be stored in those large ceramic pickle jars in which they would stay fresh close to a year. But, unlike the traditional indian pickles, this bisi uppinkai (bisi means hot, uppu means salt and kai means raw) is instant, easy to prepare and can stay fresh up to a month or more. It altogether has a different charm and goes very well with rice, parathas, upma and other indian dishes.

This is mango version of bisi uppinkai. You can try making it with lemon, carrots, beans and many other fruits and vegetables. I highly recommend this dish. Try making it and do post your reviews on your version of bisi bisi uppinkai.

Soya Chunks Curry

Ingredients: (serves 2)

• 250 grams of Soya Chunks (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes)
• 1 Finely chopped onion
• Tomato puree of about two medium sized tomatoes
• Cashew paste of about 10-15 cashews soaked in water for an hour
• Cilantro / coriander
• Two finely chopped chillies
• 3-4 table spoons of oil
• 1 tea spoon Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tea spoon Mustard seeds
• 1 tea spoon Cumin seeds
• 1 tea spoon Coriander powder
• 1 tea spoon Cumin powder
• 1 tea spoon Garam Masala
• Salt

Preparation Steps:

• Squeeze the water out of the soya chunks and keep them aside
• Heat oil in a vessel
• Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds and allow them to crackle
• Add finely chopped green chillies and onions and saute them
• Add the ginger garlic paste and fry well
• Add the tomato puree and cook until oil separates out of the gravy
• Add the cumin and coriander powder and stir well
• Add the soya chunks and cook them in the gravy for a while
• Add the cashew paste and salt according to the taste
• Allow the contents of the vessel to cook well
• Before you take the vessel off the flame, add the garam masala 
• Pour the contents in a serving bowl and garnish it with finely chopped cilantro leaves.

Serve this dish hot with rice or roti.

Soya Chunks Curry

Soya chunks are soya bean flour product. To keep it simple, they are the protein power house. These irregularly shaped chunks are textured vegetable protein which is widely and variedly used. 

On a funnier note, these are supposed to give vegetarians the privilege of tasting meat without actually tasting the real meat (I'am sure most of the non vegetarian folks must be giggling already). To talk more about this dish I would say, the soya chunks have this excellent capability of soaking the juices or the gravy in which they cook, thus making every bite of this dish a tasty one. 

I found this recipe on youtube and thought of trying it. I must say I wasn't disappointed at all. So guys try this dish and treat your tummy with loads of proteins.

Dill Paratha

Ingredients: (makes 4-5 medium sized parathas)

• dill leaves (around one cup)
• 150-200 grams of wheat flour 
• water to knead the dough 
• finely chopped green chillies
• finely chopped garlic (2-3 bulbs)
• one tea spoon of ghee( clarified butter)
• one tea spoon of carom seeds
• salt to taste
• one tea spoon of turmeric powder

Preparation Steps:

• mix all the ingredients mentioned above and make a soft dough
• divide the dough into 4 to 5 small medium sized balls
• flatten these balls and roast them well on a pan. Roast either sides well on medium high flame.
• serve them hot topped with butter and some pickle

Dill Paratha

Dill is also known as sabasige soppu (south karnataka), sabsi (north karnataka), shepu (maharashtra and parts of Mangalore), savaa (UP and northern states of India), soa-kura (Andhra Pradesh), chathakuppa (Kerala) and various others names in rest of India and other countries. Its a herb basically which has very strong and pungent flavour. 

It is one among my favorite leafy vegetables, and if you guys don't believe me, then ask my mom what was the first thing I told her when she asked me what is special about USA?, I said " Amma we get sabsi pallya(Dill leaves) at the farmer's market". 

All I knew about Dill and its usage is that it makes one of the best curries with toovar daal and moong daal, until one of my friend named Shweta Naik Singh (kuku as we address her), introduced me to these wonderful and flavorful parathe. You can savor it with curds (yogurt) or pickle.

The moment I had them, I instantly fell in love with dill leaves all over again. I strongly recommend you all to try making it and post a challenge to kuku, coz she makes one of the best shepu parathas in the whole world. 

Gulbarga eespecial

Ingredients: ( Serves 2 )

• 100 gram green peas(dried)
• one finely chopped onions
• finely chopped cilantro(coriander)
• two medium sized boiled potatoes
• tamarind date chutney
• one table spoon tamarind paste
• two table spoon coriander mint chutney
• one tea spoon chat masala
• one tea spoon garam masala
• one tea spoon coriander powder
• one tea spoon cumin seeds powder
• salt to taste
• 3-4 cups of water for pani
• fresh puri 

Preparation steps:

Pani:

1. take tamarind paste in a bowl
2. add a pinch of chat masala
3. add two table spoons of corainder and mint chutney
4. add water to the contents in the bowl and mix well
5. now add salt according to the taste.

Peas Masala:

1. take the dried peas (soaked in water for minimum of 7-8 hours) in a pressure cooker
2. add salt according to the taste
3. pressure cook the contents for minimum of five whistles

Ragada:

1. mash the potatoes coarsely.
2. add salt according to the taste.
3. add coriander powder, cumin seed powder and garam masala to it and mix well.
4. add some finely chopped onions to it.
5. spread this mixture into a medium sized pan as shown in the picture.
6. allow this mixture to cook on medium low flame and keep adding water in the center as and when u feel the mixture is sticking to the base of the pan.
7. this may or may not require adding of additional salt as we add water to cook it( this step is optional and completely depends on your taste).

The final step is the assembly. If its regular pani puri that interests you then just the peas masala and some finely chopped onions and cilantro goes into puri which then takes a dive into the pani and then the moment it enters your mouth is what I call magical. If its ragada eespecial then you replace the peas masala with ragada. And if its sweet pani puri one can add tamarind date chutney instead of the masalas and dip it in pani.

Do try and you are free to make your own assembly depending on your taste.