Wild Apple / Crab Apple Pickle/ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಸೇಬು ಉಪ್ಪಿನಕಾಯಿ

As we all love to try different pickles, including our 7 year old, I keep making Lemon pickles with different spices though I bring lots of tender mango pickle from India. This is one of the out comes of my interest in making pickles. A must try recipe if you get wild Apples.

When we were out for camping last year (end of August), we happened to see a wild apple tree with tons of mini apples on a hiking trail. We tasted them and they were little sour and tart.  We picked some thinking we can try something out of it. I made kadigaayi(something which is cut into pieces) pickle and instant pickle out of them. Both tasted amazing though I had to use lemon juice for the sourness as apples were little ripe. It was so exiting that I made about 2 kgs of pickle again and took it to India as a surprise for those who love pickle. They just liked it.

We managed to find whole lot of wild apples last weekend. Last week of July is the best time pick them for pickling. They are very sour, crunchy and perfect for pickling.  I made instant, kadigaayi pickle and thokku. It is very easy to make but little time consuming. I swear you don't regret it. If you are living in North America you can definitely find them. If not, try with granny smith (green)apples. Here I am sharing Karnataka style, especially Malenaadu/Havika style of making kadigaayi recipe. 
OK, now lets see what are the requirements and how to make cut apple pickle. These are the measurements I used to make a lot of pickle. You can reduce the quantity of spices as per the quantity of apple you are using. Do not change the ratio.

Important
All utensils, blender jars, cutting board, knifes  should be completely dried. If there is any water remaining on utensils and storage bottles, pickle will spoil in a week or two.  I washed and completely dried apples prior to the preparation.

Preparation time 1.5 hrs
Serving : approximately 3kg

Cups size: 250 ml water holding capacity

Ingredients:

• Large Bowl
• 12 cups chopped wild apple
• 3 cups salt(1cup+2 cups)
• 1 cup oil(divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup Mustard seeds
• 1/2 cup cumin/Jeera
• 1 tbsp Fenugreek seed/ Methi
• 1 tbsp Pepper corns
• 3 cups red Chilli powder ( I used 2 cups kashmiri chili powder and 1 cup extra hot)

For tempering

• 1/2 cup Mustard seed
• 3/4 cup Oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 3/4 tbsp hing/ Asafoeitida
• 1/2 tsp whole Fenugreek seed/ Methi

Method:

• Heat a kadai/ pan, dry roast Mustard seeds until you hear spluttering. Keep aside.
• Dry roast Cumin seeds until its light brown or nice aroma.
• Dry roast Methi and Pepper corn togather untill light brown. 
• Allow them to completely cool.
• Once the ingredients are cool, put them in a blender togther and make fine powder.
• In the mean while, chop apples. When you are chopping keep a large bowl beside you with 1 cup of salt and 1/4 cup oil mixed togather. As you chop put the chopping in the bowl and mix. It helps in avoiding blackening of the apple.
•  When you are done with the chopping, add two cups of remaining salt, chilli powder and spice powder. Put salt as needed. I have mentioned minimum required salt. 
• Mix everything well. Everything has to come together nicely. It looks dry, but dont worry, it will ooze out water from the apple. 
• Lastly, important put the tempering.  Heat 3/4 cup oil in a pan, Add mustard, once splutter add fenugreek seeds and hing. Let fenugreek seed turn light brown. Pour on to the pickle. mix well. Store in a dry, airtight container. 
• Let it sit for 4 to 5 days. Keep tilting the jar for proper mixing every day for 4 to 5 days. Its ready. 

Jackfruit Paayasa(kheer)/ಹಲಸಿನ ಹಣ್ಣಿನ ಪಾಯಸ

This is one of the most famous and common dish during the Jackfruit season at almost every havyaka house hold. Eating uddina dose (blackgram dal crepe) with Jack fruit paayasa is heaven. We managed to get atleast one whole jackfruit during the season. Some times the count goes up to 5 depending on the availability of the fruit. Eating Jackfruit is like a feast for us. We never missed it here in Toronto. Only thing I miss a lot is raw/tender Jackfruit. We can make several dishes from the Jackfruit .
Well, as you already know, I used fresh Jackfruit here. You can use tin Jack fruit if you do not get fresh ones.   It is very easy to make. Give it a try.

Preparation time: 20 min
Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients 

• 4 cups chopped Jackfruit flesh/ Sole/Thole
• 1 1/2 cups Jaggery/brown suger
• 4 cups grated coconut or 4 cups of coconut milk ( i used fresh grates of 1 big coconut)
• 7 to 8 Cardamom/Elachi
• 2 tbsp soaked rice/ rice flour/ or Suji/Rava
• Pinch of salt. 
• Water as required

Method:

• Cook the Jackfruit with Jaggery in 2 cups of water until it becomes soft.
• In the mean while grind the Coconut with Cardamom and soaked rice/ rice flour/ or Suji/Rava   in 2 cups of water. Grind into smooth fine paste.
• Strain the ground mixture in a strainer or muslin cloth. 
• Grind again with 2 cups of water, strain again. Squeeze out all the milk.
• Now pour the Coconut milk into cooked mixture. Boil for 5 to 6 min  until it becomes thick and cooked well with occasional stirring. 
• Serve hot with Dosa or you can have it as a dessert. 

Turmeric Root Gojju/ ಅರಿಶಿನ ಗೊಜ್ಜು/Sweet and Sour Turmeric Root and Coconut sauce

Turmeric Root gojju / ಅರಿಶಿನ ಗೊಜ್ಜು is one of the famous havyaka delicacies. This delicacy is usually made during the winter and rainy season.Whenever we are bored of eating same sambar, rasam etc we can make gojju and enjoy. It is very easy to make and healthy. It can be stored for a week without any refrigerator provided we boil it twice/thrice a day.  Good when you have cold. Give it a try.

Preparation Time: 30 min
Servings 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp Cooking oil
• 3 inches Fresh Turmeric root chopped
• 2 tbsp Coriander seeds
• 1 tsp Jeera/Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Methi/Menthe/Fenugreek
• 1/4 tsp Hing/Asofoetida
• 8-10 Red chillies (to taste)
• 1 small lemon size Tamarind
• 2 cups grated Coconut
• 2 tbsp Jaggery (to taste, I personally like little sweet) 
• 1 medium Onion sliced (optional)
• few curry leaves
• Salt to taste 

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, Add sliced Turmeric root, Coriander seeds, Jeera, Methi, Hing and Red chillies for 1 min.

• Grind the roasted ingredients with grated Coconut, Tamarind and little water into fine paste. 
• Add 2 cups of water ( not too thin or thick). Add salt to taste, Jaggery, Curry leaves and Onion. 
• Boil in low to medium flame for 20 min.
• Serve hot with hot Rice.Enjoy

Super Soft Idlies

This is one of the most popular, old,  breakfast dishes of South India. It is a very healthy, super tasty and protein rich dish,  and the number  of calories are relatively low as it is steamed, there is no oil,  butter or any other fat added. Good for weight loss if you eat right quantity.
It is always hard to make soft and spongy Idlies. I learn it after few years of trial and error. Even though we know the ratio of dal and rice, we fail as we do not pay attention on amount of water we use. Just use what is required for grinding. add little by little water. After few trials you will know how much water we can add. Give it a try. Let me know how it went through.  Enjoy.

 

Cooking time:15 min 
Servings: approximately 70 medium size Idlies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Urad Dall (blanched black gram lentil)
• 4 cup Idli Rava (coarsely cracked Idli rice)
• 1/2cup Poha (flattened rice)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for greasing

Method:

• Soak the Urad dal for 3 to 4 hours. Soak Poha for 10 min.
• Grind the Urad dal and Poha into fine paste. Do not add lots of water, add minimum required water for grinding.(Grinding in wet grinder gives the best of best results. I used mixer grinder)
• Wash the Idli rava and drain off the water. Make sure there is no access water to avoid thin batter.

• Now mix the Urad dal paste and Idli Rava well
  
  
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• Keep the batter in a warm place. Allow it to ferment for 8 to 10 hours. (I usually keep it in the oven with the lights on as I live in cold place).
• Add salt and mix well.
• Grease the Idli mould with oil. Pour the required amount of batter and steam for 15 mins. allow it to cook.
• Take Idlies off the mould with a spoon and serve hot with Chutney and Sambar.