Shepu /Sabbassige /Dill leaves -junka

                                                                                                   

                                                                                              Junka is a easy side dish a semi solid curry prepared for Rice Bhakris and Jowar Bhakris. It is a easy every day recipe for breakfast and lunch. Prepared by chikpea flour /besan /gram flour. It is a STAPLE food for Maharashtra region and North Karnataka region. 

           Where ever I see lush green shepu/sabbassige /Dill leaves  l remember my Mother-in-law in spite she was a good hand in cooking shepu/sabbassige  junka was her signature dish.  We also call junka as Alan .  Alan bhakri tops in the breakfast list of my in-laws. We never cook junka without shepu/sabbassike because junka tastes like plane gram flour to us. Our Ancestors were migrated from Maharashtra now living in Karnataka so we are in the advantage of knowing both cuisines.
                 
TIME TAKEN
Preparation                     15 minutes

Cooking                            10 minutes
Total time                         25 minutes

Cuisine                          Maratha
Recipe                          Mother-in-law
Author                         Suma Shekhar

Utensil used                   heavy bottom
                                         Non stick pan. 
                                         Mixer Grinder

Difficulty level                   Moderate


               I will show you cooking junka in two easy stages. I am using chikpeas (putane in marathi hurigadale in kannada ) as base for junka. I am using small quantity of spices because the piquancy and aroma of shepu/sabbassige should not be suppressed.

Mixing Stage :Ingredients 

Chikpeas                1 cup
Water                      3 cups

Ginger                     pea size

Garlic                      3 pods
Cloves                      3
Cinnamon               small piece
Salt                            to taste
Turmeric                  a pinch
Shepu/sabbassige    2 bunches chopped
Onion                       1 big small chopped

                            METHOD             
* Dry grind in mixer jar the chikpeas along with ginger+garlic+clove+cinnamon.

* take a medium size mixing bowl add dry ground  chikpea flour +shepu/sabbassige +onion +salt + turmeric mix water slowly little by little let the chikpea flour absorb water slowly without leaving lumps.

Cooking stage: ingredients 

Onion                   1 finely chopped

Green chillies     5  finely chopped 

Edible oil             2 table spoon

                     

                                                                                                     METHOD

* Take a heavy guaged non stick medium sized pan heat oil saute onions and chillies till onions become translucent 

*Stir in ground chikpeas mixture to the pan keep stirring on low flame when junka consistency thickens, colour and texture changes close the lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
                  Serve hot with ghee preferred with,
                Rice bhakris     ☑️
                Jowar bhakris  ☑️       
                Chapathi            ❎️
                Poori                   ❎️

             

Coated pomfret fry

          As sea foods are my all time favorite's.  Once I visited fish market in my childhood, I was delighted to see pomfret fish which attracted me of its diamond  shape. There  I thought what might be its taste when its appearance is so pleasing. I wished to cook and serve this fish when  I grow up. 

          From my child hood to parent hood many things have changed unlike our mom's and granny's we are exposed to many exotic  food recipes from world over thanks to technologies. 

                   This fine morning I went to fish market saw the fisher woman selling pomfrets which suddenly caught my attention. Asked her to clean and pack two pomfrets for me. 

         

      I followed the same procedure as I use to fry any other kind of fish.

Preparation time -    ⏱️  30minutes
 Cooking time-          🕧  20 minutes

 Total time-                ⏱️ 50 minutes
     Serves-                       4    👩‍👩‍👧‍👦---

  Ingredients  for first marination 

Pomfret                         500 grams

Red chilly powder        2  tea spoon

Table salt                      1  tea spoon

Turmeric                       A  pinch

Fresh hung yogurt       1 cup
                                 

Ingredients for second  marination  

Lemon juice                        2 tea spoon 

Garam masala powder.    half  tea spoon

Ginger garlic paste            2 tea spoon

All purpose flour                2 tea spoon

Cornflour                             2 tea spoon

Rice flour                             1 tea spoon

Curry leaves                        a few

Green chillies                      a few small cuts
 Frying medium
1--2cups coconut oil    

       Marinate about fifteen
 minutes in each stage. All these  ingredients make rich crispy  coating.
                   

                          METHOD
                  Take a medium sized deep frying pan heat any vegetable oil here I am using coconut oil because sea foofs tastes great with coconut oil as it is the staple cooking oil for costal regions, deep fry pomfret pieces one by one it may take about 3-4 minutes for cooking each side depending upon the size of the pomfret pieces. 

                  Important note is pomfret has  delicate lean flesh so spices chilly and salt should be moderate never too heavy,  neither it should be over fried.

     

           
               In the mean time I cooked Rice and  Dal tadka. In my  first attempt   I enjoyed every moment of cooking and serving pomfret it came out crispy outside buttery inside.

Stuffed capsicum with curry

         One among the forgotten concept is eating the food grown in a particular geographical area, routinely and in dominant portions of standard diet called as Staple food has a profound influence on physique, thinking and behaviour of an individual. Good health conditions, longevity and immunity of people in a particular area has been attributed to consuming such habituated food along with healthy lifestyle. 

     The skill of choosing the right food, wins us over the cascade of desease . One of the major component  of this skill set, comprises of knowing realising what kind food is wholesome to our society sharing a common region of residence.

    In India we use coconut generously because, it is not only a rich cooking media but also has great traditional values.
       All our festivals, auspicious occasions and marriages begin with
*kalasa pooja*offering first worship to decorated coconut.
       Coconut as a staple food of many states in India, largely grown and consumed mainly  in South India it may be..
Curry,
Sambhar,
Avial,
Dhahi kadi,
Kurma,
Kolambu,
Thambuli,
Chutney,
Palya,
Salad,
Gojju
              Or countless verities using only one staple food coconut serves as healthy tasty cooking media.
           
 

              Coming to todays  recipe it is gram flour stuffed capsicum curry. It is a two in one recipe, you prepare shallow fried capsicum stuffings, curry with the same stuffed capsicum added to rich curry of coconut grinded with healthy spices a wholesome meal with rice and roties.         
Preparation time- 20 M                         cooking time-       30 M                           Total time-            50 M         
Cuisine                   Maratha
Course                    Lunch Dinner
 Serves                     4
Author                      Suma shekhar

STUFFING INGREDIENTS
capsis small          200 grams
Gram flour             1 bowl
Onion                      2 finely chopped                                               2 lean chopped
Salt                          1 tea spoon
Turmeric       
Powder                    1 pinch
Water                       1 cup
Oil                             2 table spoon

                         METHOD 

1. Slice off the capsicum tops wash and rinse well.
2.Deseeding is mandatory... keep aside the seeds. We will reuse the seeds in preparing curry.
3. Take one median bowl, mix gram flour +finely chopped onion+salt+turmeric powder by adding water little by little, let gram flour absorb water slowly kneed to soft dough. make small balls and stuff into capsicum.
4. Steam cook the stuffed capsicums.
5. Take any vegetable oil in a open pan heat the oil and saute the lean sliced onion till translucent, then slide slowly stuffed-steam  capsicums and saute to light roast.
(You can serve this as side dish too.Kids will be delighted to eat this dry stuffed capsicums )
           
                    CURRY INGREDIENTS
  Grated coconut                1 cup
  Ginger                                1/2 inch
  Garlic cloves                      8
  Cinnamon                          1/4 inch
  Cloves                                 5
  Coriander leaves               1bunch
  Tomato small cubes        1
   Salt to taste

                CURRY METHOD
1. Add all the above  ingredients except tomato to the grated coconut and grind to a smooth paste adding water if necessary
2 Add the grinded paste to the pan full of steamed capsicum bring curry to required consistency.
3.Add salt to taste +tomato+turmeric powder.

4.Bring it to boil, after five minutes curry is ready
5.If you want to increase the piquancy of the curry include the deseeded capsicum seeds while grinding the curry paste.