Shira

Shira

ಶಿರಾ 

This is a traditional sweet, common to many communities. Havyakas have slightly variant version of the recipe. Shira can be prepared in minutes, if all the ingredients are available.

Traditionally Ghee is used. However unsalted butter works equally well and it is handy too. 

Prep time:              5 min

Cook Time:          15 minutes

Servings:                6 (size: ½ cup, 100 grams)

Nutrition info:      400 calories per serving (140 unsaturated fat calories!).  Smaller portion is better.

Ingredients

Ingredients

         Cream of  wheat (Sooji-coarse)                      3/4 cup

·         Butter (1/2 cup, unsalted) or Ghee              3/4 cup

·         Milk                                                                     3/4 cup

·         Sugar                                                                   3/4 cup

·         Banana (mashed)                                             1/2 cup (optional)

·         Salt                                                                      pinch

·         Saffron                                                               1/8 tsp

·         Cardamom powder                                          1/2 tsp

·         Cashews and/or raisins:                                  1 tbs (optional)

Method:

1.  Melt the butter/ghee in a medium size  vessel.
2. Add the cream of wheat, stir and roast for about 3 to 5 minutes on medium heat.
3. In a separate pot, add saffron to milk and simmer it.
4. Add the hot saffron-milk to the roasted sooji, mix well and cover. Let it cook for 4 minutes on  low heat.
5. Add sugar, mashed banana, pinch of salt and cashews.  Stir to mix.
6. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Now mix the cardamom powder, mix and remove the vessel from the stove.

Shira is ready to serve. Since Shira is rich in saturated fat, smaller portion may be better.

Step5

Step2

Step6

Variations

Pineapple Shira:  Crushed pineapple (1/2 cup) is used instead of mashed banana.

Mango Shira :  Mango pulp (1/2 cup) is used in place of Banana.

Satyanarayana Puja Prasad:  Use Ghee. Don’t use cashews, cardamom and saffron.

Cranberry Uppinakai (Pickle)

Cranberry Pickle (Uppinakai)

 Havyakas who grew up tasting appemidi uppinakai, with a unique pickle masala, will never compromise with any other pickles. Here in US, one may not get the appemidi, but can make something similar. Pickle masala is made the same way and is common to all pickles. One can add the appemidi from  ‘MTR’S’ pickle (cut them into small pieces) to get close to our traditional pickle. Another way is to substitute marinated unripe plums or cranberries to the pickle masala.

 Cranberry is available in the month of November and December. Unripe cranberries are slightly sour and blends well for the Indian style pickle. Byadagi red chili is recommended, but here instead, available red chili powder is used.

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 40 minutes

Cut and salted

Ingredients:

Cranberries (Unripe)           400 g. (5 cups) cut into halves and pieces.

Salt                                          40 g. to marinate cranberries

Salt                                          1 cup (260 g) to make salt water saturated.

Mustard                                  ½ Cup (80 g)

Red Chili Powder                  50 g.

Cumins                                   1/8  cup (20 g)

Pepper-(Kalumenasu)-        ½ tsp (4 g).

Ingu (Asafoedida)                 ¼ tsp (1 g)                              

Cloves (lavanga)                    ¼ tsp (1 g)

Menthe (fenelseeds)             ¼ tsp (1 g)

Olive Oil                                  75 mL

Coconut oil                             2 tsp

PREPARATIONS:

Note: Maintain dry conditions, use dry spoons etc.

Cranberries: Chop the Cranberries into halves, lightly using the food processor. Pour into a glass bowl and then sprinkle 10 grams of salt, mix well and cover it.  Repeat this for every 12 hours to add a total of 40 grams of salt in about 48 hours. This will marinate the cranberries.  Unlike mangoes or plum, this won’t shed much water.

Salt water:  Simmer  1 cup salt in 3 cups of water;  keep it aside to cool for few hours and then decant it. (mainly you are preparing a saturated salt water).

Method: 

1. In a large pan, place little coconut oil (1 tbsp), and add,  cumins, white or black pepper, Menthe, Cloves, and ingu. Lightly roast them.  Later add Mustard and stir it warm. Don’t  roast the mustard. Puree them using portion of salt water. To get a thick smooth paste.
2. Separately, lightly warm the chilli powder while stirring. (Ventilated place).
3. Use the salt water and blend the chilli powder.
4. Later mix all of them to make a paste. Pickle masala is ready.
5. Seasoning: Season the pickle masala , with mustard and hing frying in coconut oil.
6. Add the marinated cranberries to the pickle masala and mix. Add the olive oil to thin it out. (Don’t use coconut oil, it solidifies in cold weather).

Mixed. step 6

 
 Transfer the pickle into dry glass jars with airtight lids. Uppinakai can be preserved for months in the refrigerator.

 Plum pickle: One can add marinated unripe plums (in summer) to make plum pickle (step #6)

Appemidi pickle: MTR or Bedekar’s appemidi pickle has somewhat good appemidi dipped in watery salt water masala. One can take out these midi, dry them, cut them to small pieces and mix with above pickle masala (step #6) to make appemidi pickle.

Yelegurige Kudi Tambali

Yelegurige Kudi Tambali

Tambali is one of the traditional dishes of Havyakas. Tambali is served with white rice at the end of the meal. This simple but versatile dish is very delicious especially on a hot day. You can serve this as a drink also.

In essence, tambali is a seasoned mixture of ground coconut and buttermilk. Different flavored thumblis are made by blending different ingredients individually,  like ginger,  garlic,  cilantro (coriander leaves), raw mango, cumin seeds or fenugreek etc. Red chillis, mustard seeds and asafoetida(optional) are used for seasoning. 

Yelegyurige plant is very easy to grow, even in California. Tolerates moderate winter.

Cook time: 15 min
Nutrition Info: Low fat, low carb, Protein (moderate)

Ingredients

• Yelegurige Kudi-                          8 stems leaves
• Fresh grated Coconut -              1/2 cup
• Cumin Seeds -                               1 tsp
• White Peppercorns -                  1/4 tsp
• Red Chilli -                                     1
• Water -                                             1/2 cup + 1/2 cup
• Oil -                                                   1 and 1/2 tsp                              
• Buttermilk (Low fat)                  2 cups
• Salt -                                                  1 tsp

Method:

1.  Wash the leaves and pat them dry.

2.  In a small pan, add place oil, cumin seeds, peppercorns, red chilli, and the yelegurige leaves. Roast them on medium low heat while continuously stirring the ingredients until the leaves wilt and the other ingredients turn slightly brown.

3.  Blend the roasted ingredients along with grated coconut, and 1/2 cup of water to make smooth paste.

4. Pour the blended mixture into a medium sized pot. Use rest of the 1/2 cup water to transfer the paste out of the blender. Add the buttermilk and salt and mix well. 

 Yelegurige Kudi thumbli is ready to be served with plain rice. 

This also makes a fine drink in the summer time.

Sorekai Payasa aka Bottle gourd Payasa or Opo Payasa

Sorekai Payasa aka  Opo Payasa

Sorekai, available during summer time comes handy to make payasa. It is quick to make, low in calories and makes an elegant desert.

Cook time: 20 minutes.

Nutrition: 1 Cup serving  =  160 calories (low in fat).

Ingredients:       (  1 cup x 10 servings )
 
Peeled and chopped Sorekai –     4 cups (400 g)
Long grain rice -                          1/2 cup (100 g)
Grated coconut-                           1 cup
Milk -                                           1cup
Sugar –                                         1 ¼ cup
Cardamom powered                     ½ ts
Vanilla essence                             1 ts

Ghee (clarified butter)-                2 ts.

Method: 

1.  Soak ½ cup rice for about 4 hours and drain the water. 

2.  Blend the rice with coconut, in water (1/2 cup) to make a smooth paste. 

 3. Peel the sorekai, remove the seeds, cut into small pieces and cook in 4 cups of water until done.        (10 minutes approximately)

 4. Add the coconut-rice mixture to the hot sorekai pot with stirring. Use additional ½ cup water to         transfer the coconut-rice blend

5.  Continue cooking for 5 minutes to thicken the gravy 

6.  Add one and a quarter cup of sugar, one cup of milk and continue cooking couple of more minutes.

  

7.  Add cardamom, Ghee and vanilla essence and stir.

8.  Turn off the heating, cover the lid, and serve still hot.

 Note:  One can add, Cashew, raisin, sliced almonds and also saffron while cooking.