Sol kadhi (kokam drink)

Sol kadhi is a popular healthy drink made out of aamsul/kokam, found on the western ghats of India.
Apart from its heavenly taste, it is also recommended as an antacid!
This is a very simple and quick recipe

Preparation:
Soak one cup of aamsul/kokam in 2 cups of water for 20-30 min. Squeeze the aamsul and discard. Keep aside the aamsul water.

Ingredients:
2 cups of aamsul/kokam water (see preparation)
200 ml of coconut milk. It is readily available in the Asian aisles in the grocery stores

1 green chili
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp of ginger paste
1/2 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Method:
1. Crush or grind garlic and chili into a fine paste
2. Add this paste to a mixing bowl along with aamsul water, coconut milk, ginger and 6 cups of cold water
3. Aamsul is usually sold with lots of salt covering, so add salt if only necessary
4. Whisk all the above ingredients into a nice runny juice. You may some more water is it turns out to be too thick
5. Garnish with cilantro and serve chilled or as it is

Hard boiled eggs

When I crave for proteins and don't have enough time to make a full meal, hard boiled egg is my best option.
I love them with a topping of chopped onion, salt, pepper and red chili powder!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
Water
Method:
1. Place the eggs in a pot and add water just enough to cover them

2. Cook on high flame for 8 min, or until the water starts boiling thoroughly
3. Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for 5 min
4. Drain the boiled water and keep aside the eggs for cooling or you may add cold water in order to fasten the cooling
5. Now gently tap the egg with a spoon in order to crack the shell

6. Peel off and discard the hard shell
Cut the egg into halves and serve with a topping of finely chopped onion, red chili powder, salt and a dash of pepper. Or just eat it as it is!

Uppitu (upma)

Uppitu is one of the common breakfast items in some parts of India. It is packed with fibers and keeps you full.

Preparation:
Roast coarse rava with little oil on a griddle until it turns golden brown

Ingredients:
1 cup of roasted rava
1 and half cup of water
1 small onion, finely chopped
3-4 green chili, finely chopped
3-4 curry leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp urad dal
5-6 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 cup of green peas
Salt to taste
2 tsp of ghee
Finley chopped cilantro for garnishing

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan
2. Splutter mustard seeds
3. Add cumin seeds and fry for few seconds until they turn light brown
4. Add curry leaves, onion, chili and cook for 2 min
5. Add urad dal and cook until they turn light brown
6. Mix turmeric powder, salt, peas and water. Let it come to a boil

7. Slowly add rava with one hand while stirring with the other, in order to avoid lumps
8. Cover and cook on low flame until rava is tender and loses its raw taste. Stir occasionally as it tends to stick to the bottom of the pan
9. Release ghee from the sides of the pan and mix
10. Garnish with cilantro and serve with pickles and yogurt

Jolada rotti (bhakri)

Jolada rotti as we call it in Kannada, is a staple menu item in North Karnataka and few parts of Maharashtra. It is known as jawarichi bhakri in Marathi.

Having grown up eating this rotti, I bring kilos of jowar flour with me from India. The flour that we get here in the USA is not sticky enough to make good rottis.

I love to eat these rottis especially with sabasgi pallya (dill curry), tumb badanikayi (stuffed brinjals), menthya pallya (fenugreek) shengad hindi (peanut chutney), agasi hindi (flax seeds chutney) more than anything.

In North Karnataka, they make very thin rottis and dry them on the kitchen countertops to get a crispier version that can be saved for days together. They are called khati rotti!

Soft or crispy, rotti is my favorite bread!

Ingredients:

1 cup jowar flour and some for dusting

Hot water

Some cold water in a shallow bowl

Paper towel or small clean cotton cloth

Method:

1. Boil some water to 100 degree Celsius. The water should be thoroughly boiling

2. Using boiling water as required, knead the flour firm dough.

3. Preheat a griddle on high flame

4. Make a tennis ball sized (or any size you are comfortable with) ball from the dough and dust it with flour on one side

5. Also dust the rolling platform with flour and place the dough ball with the non-dusted surface facing the sky 

6. Gently pat the dough with your palm into a disc of 4 to 5 inch diameter. Do not flip the sides of the rotti while patting. You may gently dust the rolling surface with some flour occasionally. Also take care that the non-floured surface has very minimum flour on it if at all needed. This helps to keep the rotti from charring while baking.

7. Place the rotti on the griddle with the flour dusted surface facing the sky. Make sure that the stove is on high flame

8. Dip the paper towel or cloth in some cold water and gently wipe out the dry flour from the top surface of the rotti

9. Flip the rotti to the other surface and cook on high flames

Gently press the corners of the rotti with a cloth or flat spoon, this helps it to puff.

10. Keep the rottis wrapped in a cotton cloth in an air tight container

11. Repeat steps 4 to 10 for the rest of the dough

Note: The dough cannot be saved for later use; it has to be used immediately.