Melogra

Melogra: A special curry made using avarebele (the dal that you get after removing the outer seed coat of avarekai)  

Ingredients

Avarebele - About 500 gms. To get this, after removing the outer coat, soak avarekai (Flat bean or field bean) in water overnight. In the morning, soak this in hot water for some time and remove the outer seed coat by squeezing it between your fingers. You can also buy this directly from the market.
Tur dal - 1 tbspn

Pressure cook the tur dal and avarebele in a cooker along with a pinch of turmeric, Keep it aside.

For the masala paste
Red chillies - 10
Jeera - 1 tspn
Coriander seeds - 1 tbspn
Urad dal - 1 tbspn
Bengal gram dal - 1 tbspn
Rice grains - 1 tbspn
Pepper - about 4
Kopra- 1 cup grated
Coconut grated - 1 cup
Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Except coconut and kopra, fry all the other ingredients separately  and one after another in a little bit of ghee. Make a fine paste of all this plus the grated coconut and kopra and keep it aside.

Add this paste to some tamarind juice extract, salt and jaggery and keep stirring. When you feel it's cooked and nicely mixed up, add the tur dal and avarebele that's been previously cooked. Stir it nicely. You may add some rasam powder if you feel the red chillies are not hot enough. You can also taste a spoonful and make up for salt and tanginess.

Seasoning
Heat a table spoon of oil or ghee in a pan. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, groundnuts, small pieces of kopra and fry them. Now add this seasoning to the curry.

Serve hot with hot rice and ghee!

Huliavalakki or Gojjavalakki

Ingredients

Avalakki/poha: 2 cups
Jaggery - about 1/2 cup
Tamarind juice extract - 1/2 cup
Rasam powder or menasina pudi - 1 tbspn
Sesame seeds/ellu - 1 tbspn
Turmeric powder- 1 tspn
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Salt to taste 
For the seasoning
Ground nut- 1 tbspn
bengal gram dal- 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Curry leaves- few
Oil - 1 tbspn

Mix avalakki, turmeric powder and ellu into a mixie jar and grind it into coarse powder. Ensure that you take it off after just one round because you should avoid getting a fine powder. In a separate vessel, add the tamarind juice extract, jaggery, salt and rasam powder and mix it up nicely (not on the stove though). Now add the coarse powder into this. The liquid into which you add the coarse powder should be just enough to cover it and not more than that.(you may adjust that with some water) Leave this aside for about ten minutes. In a pan, heat some oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, groundnut, bengal gram dal and urad dal - once they turn golden brown add the avalakki that has been soaked, into the pan and heat it up a bit as you stir it around. Serve hot. This also goes well with curd.

Gasgase payasa (Khus khus seeds payasa)

Ingredients

Gasgase (khus khus seeds) - 1 table spoon
Rice grains - 1 tspn
Cardamom - 4 pieces
Grated fresh coconut - 1 cup      
Dessicated coconut or kobri - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Milk- 1 cup

Except jaggery and milk, soak all the other ingredients in very little water for half an hour. Grind this mixture to a fine paste. Keep this aside. Now pour the jaggery into two cups of water and boil it. Then add the paste to this and keep stirring for a while. Just after you remove it from the stove, add milk and serve hot or chilled. Ambode dipped in hot gasgase payasa is to die for!
 

Onion Chatni

Ingredients

Onion - 1
Red chillies - 4
Coconut grated - 1 cup
Bengal gram da l-1 tspn
Curry leaves - few
Fry all these lightly. Add salt. tamarind (a small piece), Jaggery ( a small piece) and grind to a paste. Serve with akki rotti!  

Akki Rotti

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Maida - 1 tspn
Onion - 2
Green chillies - 8
Coriander leaves - 1 sprig, finely chopped
Jeera - 1 tspn
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Sprinkle water over this mixture and mix it till you get a mixture that can be flattened into a round shape on a tawa. Place the tawa on the stove, sprinkle some oil around it and cook till it turns crisp.
Serve with mango chutney, coconut chutney, onion chutney or even pickle. Kids find the combination of ghee and sugar with akki rotti very yummy.

You can also add other green leafy vegetables like palak, methi and sabsige soppu (dill leaves). You could aslo add a little bit of mint leaves for a minty flavour!

Note: Everytime you pat the next rotti onto the tawa, make sure the tawa is washed in running water before you pat the next one. Otherwise, the dough will stick to teh tawa if it's hot. If you don't want to spoil your tawa, you can pat these rottis onto any other surface like you do for obattus and transfer it gently onto the tawa. It needs some practice though.

Ambode

Ingredients

Bengal gram dal - 1cup
Coriander leaves -1 sprig
Onion -2
Coconut scraped- 1/2 cup
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Oil to deep fry


Method: Soak bengal gram dal in water for an hour. Drain off all the water. Add green chillies, asafoetida. salt and grind it in a mixie-don't make the paste too fine. Let there be small bits of dal in it. Now to this mix, add grated coconut, salt to taste and coriander leaves. Shape this mix into small, round, flat pieces on the palm of your hand and deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot.

Haalbai: A traditional sweet that’s soft and melts in your mouth!

Ingredients

Grated coconut- 1 cup

Rice- 1 cup

3 or 4 cardamoms

Soak the above ingredients in very little water overnight or for at least three hours. Grind these together. Filter it using a tea filter. Keep this on a stove. Add 1 cup jaggery and keep stirring till the whole thing becomes thick and starts separating from the vessel. Add a spoonful of ghee in the end and pour it on a buttered plate. Make diamond shapes and serve hot or even cold!

Traditional Gojjina Kosambari

Traditional Gojjina Kosambari

Ingredients:

Green gram dal -1 cup

Bengal gram dal-1 cup

Soak both these dals for 5 hrs or overnight

To make Gojju

Ingredients:

Jaggery – Lemon size

Tamarind –Lemon size

Red chillies- 6 to 8

Mustard seeds- Half a teaspoon

Asafoetida- a pinch

Cucumber- 1 cup (finely chopped)

Coconut grated- 1 cup

In a thick bottomed pan, heat two teaspoons of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splatters add red chillies, tamarind water, salt to taste, jaggery and keep stirring till it thickens to the consistency of sauce.

Mix this sauce with the soaked dals, add freshly grated coconut and mix it up just before you serve it –the taste is sweet and tangy! Remember that if it’s mixed with sauce long before it’s served, it gets watery. So always store the sauce separately.