Mung Bean Sprouts

Mung bean sprouts are available in the local and chinese supermarkets in USA. The sprouts are usually 2-3 inches. These are industrially grown sprouts. Such long sprouts cannot be achieved at home.

Here are a few konkani recipes I tried with mung bean sprouts. Wash the sprouts thoroughly in water before using.

Potato Onion Upkari(Stir fry) with sprouts
1 onion, chopped lengthwise
1 small potato. chopped into sticks(optional)
2 fist full sprouts broken roughly into same size as onions
3 red chillies , broken
mustard, urad dal, oil for seasoning

Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok, make a seasoning of mustard, urad dal and red chillies. Add onion and fry till light brown. Add potatoes, salt and water, cook till potato is half done. Add the sprouts. Cook for 5mins so that the rawness of sprouts goes off but retain its crunch.

Onion butti with sprouts
1/2 coconut
1 tsp coriander seeds
5 red chillies, roasted
tamarind
1 big onion
1 fistful sprouts

Make a paste of coconut, red chillies and tamarind. Add coriander seeds and grind of a minute more. In a kadai, roast onions till its wilted. Add coconut paste and salt, cook till done. Add sprouts and cook for 5mins so that the rawness of sprouts goes off but retain its crunch.

Ambat with sprouts
1/4 coconut
5 red chillies, roasted
tamarind
1 cup mixed vegetables
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup tor dal
1 fistful sprouts

Make a paste of coconut, red chillies and tamarind. Cook tor dal, add the vegetables and half the onions. Add the cococnut paste and salt, cook till done. Add sprouts and cook for 5 mins. In little oil, fry the rest of onions till golden brown and add to the curry. This curry is called Ambat in Konkani

Chakkuli

2 cups rice flour (slightly coarse for more crispiness)
1 cup urad flour (black gram)
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
1/2 tsp jerra
1/2 stick butter/oil
salt to taste
2 cups ghee for frying
Fry urad flour in a dry pan on the flame until it darkens a few shades. Let it cool down. Mix the rice flour, urad flour, butter, sesame seeds and jeera in a large container. Add sufficient quantity of water and salt to the flour and butter mixture. Mix all the ingredients by hand to make a soft dough and knead well. Using a chakli press, press the dough to make round chaklis on a plastic sheet. Deep fry the chaklis until brown over slow heat.

Chaklis are usually very crisp. You can make urad flour at home by washing the urad dal, drying in the sun, frying slightly and grinding to a fine powder.

Mushroom Kommu Curry

A few years back when I was novice to cooking I did some research on the Internet and made a collection of some recipes that interested me. The first time I tried this recipe was with my Mother-in-law and it came out so good. I have been making this recipe since then. Have shared with a few mushroom lovers and they all of them liked it.

I could not find the original link. So I am posting the recipe here. I tried to make some changes to the process, to make it easier, have tried many shortcuts, but none could beat the original recipe. I have made some changes in the quantity of the ingredients though, since the original had a loads of spices and was very hot.

Ingredients
15-20 White mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced onion
1 sprigs curry leaves
5 green chillies, slit lengthwise
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 coconut grated and ground to a paste
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon
30 g coriander leaves, chopped.

Roast and grind to paste
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
4 flakes garlic
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp peppercorns
4 red chillies

Roast coriander seeds, cumin, garlic, turmeric powder, peppercorns and red chillies in oil. Let it cool, grind to a paste and set aside. Grind coconut separately and set aside
Heat the oil in a pan. Sauté the onion till it turns light brown. Now add the curry leaves and the green chillies and cook for one or two minutes. Add the mushrooms to the onion and stir in the ground masala paste. Cook for five minutes. Mix in the tomatoes and cook for another three to four minutes.
Add the coconut paste, salt to taste and lemon juice. Mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Serve With chapati or jeera rice. This recipe serves 4 people.

Spinach Rice

Ingredients
1 cup Rice
2 tsp Butter
5 cloves
4 cardmom
1" cinnamon
1 medium onion,chopped
4 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tomatoes, chopped.
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
100 gms frozen spinach or fresh spinach
15 cashew, optional
1 small carrot, optional
½ cup peas, optional
2 cups water
salt to taste

Method
1.In a pressure cooker heat butter put in the cloves, cardmom, cinnamon, cashews.
2.Once they start spluttering add onions, chilli and ginger garlic paste.
3.Fry till onion is light brown.
4.Add tomatoes and cook for about 5 min.
5.Add cumin and coriander powder and cook for 2 min
6.Add rice to it and stir well to combine.
7.Then add carrot, peas, spinach, salt and water.
8.Take off the heat after 3 whistles.
Serve hot with Raita or any Gravy curry.