Free Imagine Things

hai,
Here I come with a Rice variety. This vegetable is called Tondekaayi/Kovakkai/Dondekaayi/Tindora, This vegetable looks more like a midget cucumber nice to taste, some people eat them raw when they are very tender, It is called Coccinia Grandis and belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae, It has a good source of several micronutrients including Vitamin A & C (information: wikipedia)


















Select nice tender ones wash & cut them into 1/2'' pieces
Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg Tondekaayi/Tindora
• 2 tbsp of thick Tamarind Extract
• 5-6 tbsp oil
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• Tamarind - size of gooseberry or lime
• 1/2 copra or dry coconut or kobbari
• cashewnuts (optional)
• salt to taste

• 2 tbsp chana dhal
• 2 tbsp urad dhal
• 3 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 pinch of hing/asafoetida
• 5-5 red chillies (guntur-badgi)
• 1'' cinnamon sticks
• 1 marati moggu
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 2 to 3 cloves

• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 1tbsp chana dhal
• 1tbsp urad dhal

METHOD:

1. Roast the above ingredients with a tsp of oil, you can roast them saperately for much better taste or fry them together and when cool, dry them into a coarse powder. In the last round when grinding add the gratings of copra and grind again.
2. Take a kadai/wok/pan, add oil, put the seasonings, pinch of turmeric, then add the cut vegetables and curry leaves mix them up and allow them to cook until soft by adding little water now and then. (I do not use too much oil when I make my dishes even though i know they will taste their best, so i always cook dry curries like this with adding water now & then cook them until soft and nice),
3. Tondekaayi is really difficult to cook till soft, you can cook them in pressure cooker with less water and add them to the kadai then drain out the water and add them to the seasonings and continue as given below.
4. If you are cooking directly, you have to keep note that their should no water left in the kadai once they are all cooked then add salt to taste & then tamarind extract and allow it for 5 more minutes and then the ground powder, mix well and leave it for few more minutes. and now it is ready to mix it with rice and serve it as a Tondekaayi bath or a side dish with rice & rasam.
5. You can use lemon juice in place of tamarind but add them in the end of the dish.

hi,

My hubby is at home, i just thought i will make what he loves the most, even my children love this combination of food, they have their heart's content when eating these dishes.well, everybody loves potatoes who doesn't ?, I too love them potatoes are really very tasty and nice to eat and i think if u come to foreign countries you would know that these people here potatoes in all forms, sizes and shapes and you can also find a variety of potatoes, I was wondering why they have potatoes in all their food combinations.

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  Here the vegetable I have used to make More Kolumbu is Broccoli, Using this vegetable for making More Kolumbu was suggested by my cousin Dwarki, who lives in US, he asked me to try making it out of broccoli and told me it really tastes very well, That's how i started making more kolumbu with broccoli. Oh! that's our favourite vegetable discovered after coming to UK, I Love Broccoli and Cauliflower cheese, that's absolutely Gorgeous to eat. My Children and Hubby love it. Let's get back to the recipe.
  Ingredients:
• 500gms Broccoli
• 500gms slightly soured curds/yogurt
• fistful of Channa dal/kadale bele
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 to 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 5 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 1'' ginger
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 4-5 green chillies
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 3tbsp of fresh coconut gratings
• 1 - 1/2 tbsp salt (salt as per taste)
• 1tsp oil
• A pinch of hing/Asafoetida

Seasoning: 1tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds & curry leaves

Method:

1. First of all soak Channa Dal for at least 2hrs
2. Cut broccoli into pieces with stalk as shown in the photo and cook them Separately with minimum quantity of water just that broccoli gets immersed or 2 glasses of water is enough,using too much water spoils the thickness of the kolumbu.
3. Do not cook them too much as them become too soft and get completely mashed so, cook them carefully & drain out the water, keep the vegetable aside, put the drained water back into the vessel.
4. Take a Kadai or wok fry Fenugreek and coriander seeds without oil, once the methi seeds start turning to reddish to black in colour and coriander seeds are also fried well take them out, and add 1tsp of cumin seeds (do not fry them), add turmeric powder, and coconut gratings all into the mixie jar.
5. In the same wok again drain out all the water from the soaked Dal and roast them with coriander leaves, ginger and chillies (use chillies according to your taste & their spiciness) when a nice aroma comes out and the Dal looks dry put them all into the mixie jar, when it cools down grind them all into a coarse or fine paste as you like it.
6. Mix them to the water in the vessel & cook stirring continuously so that they don't stick to the bottom of the vessel for about 10 t0 15 minutes or until the raw smell or nice aroma comes out of it.
7. Now add cooked broccoli and mix them carefully not smashing them into pieces as they are very tender.
8. In a low flame, add 500 gms of slightly soured curds and leave it on the stove for a minute or once u start seeing the little bubbles appearing in the edges , turn of immediately and take it away from the stove and keep aside, otherwise the heat of the stove might curdle the dish where in the curds & water get separated, and will taste differently.
9. In the end give them tempering using the seasonings as mentioned above and serve them hot with rice.

In marriages and lot of other south Indian functions More kolumbu is an accompanist of paruppu or tovve as they call in Kannada, it is a simple dish where Tuvar Dal is cooked with a pinch of turmeric & smashed a little and is seasoned with mustard seeds, green chillies, coriander and curry leaves with a pinch of hing and is the first course of the main meal, served with hot rice with a tsp of Ghee and more kolumbu. They get along well together !!!
Hints: when using okra & Brinjal fry them with little oil, keep aside when cooked and use the same method as above and add them as mentioned in the above recipe. If you are using Snake Gourd cut them into little thicker pieces and a tsp of salt and leave it for a while, after an hour or so you can see water in them drain out the water, my mom says the bitterness in it goes away and you need to throw the water and then use the vegetable for cooking. With other vegetables after they get cooked no need to drain the water from them but you can add the ground masala and cook together and continue with the same procedure.
METHOD II
Ingredients: Channa Dal 3 tbsp and 1tbsp Tuvar Dal soaked, 1tsp cumin seeds, 1/2tsp turmeric, 1'' ginger, 4-5 green chillies, 4-5 sprigs of coriander leaves, 3-4tbsp of coconut gratings, a pinch of hing, 1tsp mustard seeds, 1 sprig curry leaves, 1tsp oil.
It is same as the above method but here nothing is fried, they are just ground into a paste and added to the vegetables and everything follows as it is. Then add the tempering.
METHOD III
This is called Didir Majjige huli, this is very easy, you just have to grind 3-4 tbsp of coconut, 1tsp jeera/cumin seeds, corinder leaves(4-5 sprigs), green chillies(4-5), turmeric a pinch, hing a pinch, and a fistful of Roasted gram/pottu kadalai/Hurigadale, 1'' ginger, curry leaves.
Then the method is same as Method I. Then add the tempering.

This is sis-i-law Padma's one of the ways of her cooking Majjige Huli, she is fantastic cook, just like my periamma Radhamani, she is no more & padma is her daughter-in-law, My periamma was a great cook, she was my inspiration to me getting interested in cooking. She always in her old age too tried different type of cooking & always used to ask me how it tasted. She used to make Kollu Appalam & that was the best i could think of.....,well, let me stop here or else i might never stop & can keep writing of all her cooking.

Chakkotane soppu I do not know the Tamil/english/hindi or in any other langauge what they call, When i was studying in college i tried this:)), and made in such a big vessel, i had to ask my friends to take it home, but , the feed back was really great.....one of my friends came back to ask for more because she said it went well with her Raagi mudde (raagi mudde). If you are in Bangalore you may try this More kolumbu as i really miss it, it was one of keerai's i just loved to cook as it gives a fantastic flavour.
Hope you also might enjoy the way i make Majjige Huli or More kolumbu :))