Blogging Marathon 4, Day 1 ~ Fruity Yogurt Rice

Srivalli's Marathon 4 has started this time with three groups and I am in group 2. The fellow marathoners and their themes this time are as follows:

Diabetes Diet/Management:PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes:Me, Priya Suresh, Divya
Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P 
Seven Days of Indian Bread:Monika
Seven Days of Cakes: Bhagyashri
30 Minutes Meals:Archana  
Seven days of Condiment:Kamalika, Srivalli

As mentioned above, I am going with kid friendly dishes this time. To start with, I am presenting a dish that is colorful, refreshing and lighter on tiny tummies. This can be served as part of a party meal too.
This spring has been really weird in the Midwest. We were in 40's last week and yesterday, it was 83 deg F (28 deg C). It was like a summer day and was quite a pleasant surprise though we slipped into 50s again today. Celebrating the warm weather and mangoes, I had prepared this fruity yogurt rice. Adding fruits to the yummy yogurt rice / daddhojanam is a common thing in South India. Grape - pomegranate combo is the most common one though I have used mango and grapes here. Rather than using the crunchy fruits that stand apart, go with the fruits that blend in well with the yogurt rice for a better feel.



Ingredients: (5 - 6 servings)
1 cup rice (I use extra long rice for yogurt rice since the cooked version would be softer than the sona masuri kind.)
Yogurt as needed (I used home made fat free yogurt)
2 cups finely chopped fruit (I used mango cubes and quartered grapes)
Minced cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste
For tadka: 1 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal, few curry leaves, 2 red chillies broken into bits

Method:
* Cook the rice in a pressure cooker. Let cool and spread on a wide plate.
* Heat oil in a small pan, add the ginger and fry till it starts to turn brown. Then add all the other ingredients and fry them till the dals turn reddish. Cool and add this tadka to the rice.
* Add yogurt & salt as needed to the rice and combine well. Then add the fruits and mix well.
* Garnish with cilantro.

Note:
1. If you are carrying this rice on a picnic or serving later on a hot summer day, add some milk as well to the mixture. The rice remains sweeter at the time of eating. Especially, the yogurt goes sour quickly during Indian summers.
2. Take care that the fruits being used are sweet.
3. When the yogurt is added to the hot rice / tadka, the yogurt may curdle sometimes. It is better to add yogurt to the cold rice / tadka.



This goes to Reva's Healing Foods - Mango, an event originally started by Siri.

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Drakshi Gojju

Indian cuisine is full of surprises to everyone and anyone, including Indians for that matter. This is not in reference to the so-called Indian food sold at the Indian restaurants worldwide but I am talking about the regional cuisine, the everyday food cooked at homes through out that country. The local food can woo and amaze us with a wide variety of flavorful food choices than a typical restaurant menu.
Gojju from Karnataka state happens to fall under the same category and hence do not appear on any restaurant menu. This spicy - tangy - sweet stew happens to be one of the commonly prepared dishes in that state and particularly, the pineapple gojju happens to be one of the celebrated choices during special occasions at Brahmin households.
I wanted to post at least one gojju recipe for my ongoing event Indian side dishes other than subzi / dals and I chose the less familiar one, drakshi gojju - gojju prepared with grapes. The sweet - sour grapes compliment well with the other ingredients of this dish to produce a lip smacking gojju that goes well with rice/ rotis. 

Ingredients needed for about 6 servings:
Approximately about a cup of grapes (washed and halved)
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp jaggery powder
2 -3 Tbsp tamarind juice or as needed (tamarind soaked in water and squeezed)
A pinch of turmeric powder
For tadka: 2 -3 tsp oil, 1 tsp chanadal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, little asafoetida powder, a red chili broken into bits
 For gojju powder:
1/4 cup grated dry coconut (copra)
2 Tbsp chanadal
1 Tbsp uraddal
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp white sesame seeds
A pinch of methi seeds
8 red chilies (I used 4 hot variety and 4 byadagi chilies)



Preparing Gojju Pudi / Powder:
Toast chanadal and uraddal in a sauté pan on low - medium flame. When they start to turn reddish, add coriander seeds, sesame seeds, methi seeds and chilies to the same pan. Keep sautéing on low flame till they turn a few shades darker. Cool the toasted ingredients. Add coconut to them and grind into a fine powder.
Gojju pudi can be prepared in large batches and can be stored in an airtight container and used whenever needed.

Preparing Gojju:
Heat the oil in a kadai or a pan and add chanadal and mustard seeds. When the dal start to turn reddish, add the red chili, asafoetida powder and turmeric powder. Then add the grapes, gojju powder, tamarind, jaggery, salt and water (I added about 2.5 cups) as needed. Check the flavor and adjust the seasonings, if any needed. Cook till the gojju thickens. By the time, the grapes would soak up all the flavors and gojju would turn delectable.



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Happy Shivarathri and Rasayana

Happy Shivaratri to every one.

Rasayana for Mahashivaratri One of the delicious prasadams offered to the devotees at temples in Bangalore region is rasayana. The recipe usually contains banana, jaggery, coconut and cardamom. Sometimes may be just banana and jaggery. Usually when there were varieties of fruits at home, my sister used to prepare rasayana using all of them. Following her, I added other fruits and ingredients to the standard recipe here. As I mentioned, using other fruits is entirely optional. Only bananas can be used and quantities of other ingredients may need to be altered if done so. You would need: One banana, peeled and sliced into circles One cup of other fruits chopped (I have used oranges, grapes, apple) Powdered jaggery - 1/2 cup Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup Cardamom - 1/2 tsp Honey - 2 tbsp Raisins - 1 tbsp

The simple preparation: Add all the ingredients to a serving bowl, mix it well and leave it for at least 30 minutes before serving. By the time, the jaggery would have melted and got incorporated in to the mixture.

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