Tomato Saaru / Devatsana Saaru/ Spicy Tomato Soup

I grew up in the small town of Puttur which was a quite town back then. Most of the socializing was during a temple festival or events/utsav's which is usually followed by a delicious finger licking meal for everyone who visited the festivities. These meals are often called boori samaradhane in Konkani which means meals for everyone. Back then I did not find these meals exciting, simply because there were too many of them and often. Waiting long hours for the meals to be served, on a hungry stomach wasn't very exciting. But when the meals are served on a banana leaves and the aroma of the saaru, dalitoy, gashi, pickles noNche filled the lunch rooms ..ah it was worth the the wait. It is a memory to be cherished.

I was browsing through some old pictures the other day and found some pictures from the temple meal and was suddenly craving for the saaru served in the temples. I went through some recipes I wrote down from my cousin who is a chef back in India. I had this recipe for few years but never tried it. I assumed it was a tough one to be perfected at home. I made this saaru for the first time ever and turned out almost perfect. A yummy finger licking saaru, I could just drink it like a soup.

Ingredients

3 large ripe tomatoes
2 tsp jaggery powder
coriander/cilantro leaves
1 tsp tamarind pulp

Ingredients to roast
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp toor dal
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp jeera
1/2 fenugreek seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp hing powder or pinch of hing solid
5 red chillies
3 sprig curry leaves, optional
1 tbsp shredded coconut fresh or frozen

Ingredients for seasoning
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Method

First we need to peel the tomatoes by boiling them. In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to boil. Put the whole tomatoes in the boiling water and continue cooking for about 5 mins till tomatoes break. Remove from flame and let it cool down. When cooled, removed the tomatoes from water. The skin from the tomatoes will peel off easily. If the skin has lots of pulp, squeeze the skin with some cold water and retain the pulp. Discard the skin.
Mash the tomatoes into a coarse puree. You can either squeeze by hand or in a blender. You could mash it into a smooth puree if like a smooth saaru. I like it with some pieces of tomatoes, so i keep it coarse.
Roast the ingredients listed for roasting in 2 tsp of oil. Let it cool. Grind the roasted spices along with the tamarind pulp into a coarse paste.

In the saucepan mix together the tomato puree and the ground paste and bring it a boil. Add water to bring to the desired consistency. Add the jaggery, coriander leaves and salt. You may add more jaggery as required. Boil the saaru for 5-10 minutes.

For the seasoning, heat 1 tsp oil, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves. Garnish the saaru.
Serve with some hot steamed rice. Enjoy!

Patrode made easy / Sanna Kotto

Happy Gowri Tritiya & Ganesh Chaturti to all my readers.

Here is one humorous version of the story from the Hindu Mythology. Lord Ganesh was returning from a scrumptious dinner on his Birthday riding on his mouse. The mouse saw a snake on its path, frightened, it ran away tripping down Ganeshji. Ganeshji fell and burst open his stomach. The moon saw this disaster and made fun of them. Out of humiliation, Ganeshji wore the snake around his stomach like a belt. He chased the moon and later cursed him that none of the Ganeshji's devotees would look at the moon on Ganesh's Birthday.

Ganesh Chaturti is the festival for the foodies. All the seasonal fruits and veggies are served. The Konkani style celebration lunch includes Patrode, Pattoli, various fried vegetable Podi's, Dalitoy, Gashi, upkari, MaDgaNe and other delicacies.

I have posted the traditional recipe for Patrode in the past. The traditional method is time consuming and is made with taro leaves which is hard to find in some regions. This version of Patrode can also be called as Sanna Kotto, which means Spicy Idli.

Sanna Kotto usually has only the ground paste steamed like idli's. In this version I have added lots of leaves to make it more like a patrode, I like to call it Easy Patrode. You can make this with variety of leaves. I have tried and liked it with Fenugreek/ methi, Kale and Collard leaves. Kale is the best match and I recommend you try with Kale, if available. If you choose to use methi just use half a bunch so that it does not become bitter. This will turn out more like a sanna kotto / spicy idli.

Pick any 1 of the leaves of your choice
1 bunch taro - this is the traditional pick!!
1 bunch of kale - recommended alternative for taro leaves
1/2 bunch of fresh methi or 1/4 package frozen methi leaves, thawed
1 bunch collard


For the paste
1 cup moong /green gram
1 cup white rice
1 cup shredded coconut, fresh or frozen
15-20 red chillies, roasted in little oil
1 inch cube tamarind
1/2 tsp hing powder or 1 chick pea sized hing cake

Wash, rinse and Soak moong and white rice for 5-6 hours. Grind coconut, red chillies, hing and tamarind to a smooth paste. Add drained moong and rice and continue to grind till the rice is reduced to tiny particle like that of soji rava. Take care not to add a lot of water. Keep the paste thicker. Add salt and taste test the paste. It should be little spicy than your norm and have a strong taste of hing. Transfer the paste to a bowl.

Wash and rinse the leaves, chop finely. Drain any water from the leaves. Mix the leaves with the paste. Teh mixture should look more leafy and green. This helps to make the end product very similar to the traditional patrode and not end up with a doughy idli.

Grease the idli molds with little oil. Pour a tablespoon full of the mixture into the idli molds. Steam for 40-50 minutes.

When cooked , allow the molds to cool completely before transferring to a bowl.

Enjoy with a dash of coconut oil on top.

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