Kobri Mithai

As a 9 year old when mum and dad first brought my brother and me to Mysore city, I remember both mum and bro were going through what I now understand as a 'culture shock'. Bombay, or Mumbai as its name has reverted to now, a metro, a big city held the greatest charm and attachment, yes attachment for them. They definitely did not like the quiet, sleepy, lazy Mysore. I think I was born only to come to Mysore and get rooted ultimately. Well the whole family was rooted physically, but I guess my soul had found its place. I loved the quiet, the weather, the fruits, the open fields and gardens, the people, the language, the food & sweets and oh! most of all the jasmine flowers... mmm... the ones we know in Inda as mogra (Hindi) or mysooru mallige (kannada)!

As a young school goer my daily allowance was 25 paise (quarter of a rupee). I cannot tell you how many nice things I'd buy from the petty shop and the cartman on the roadside by the school. My favourites were chur-muri, batani, raw mangoes, goose berries, chikkis, tiny tangerines, kobri mithai and much more! mmmmm... just loved those days of fun and eating stuff on the roadside with girlie friends. I assure you though, roadside food never made us sick then.

Though we try at home even now to make the chur-muri, chikkis and kobri mithai, they never taste as they were made then. It was either the age, or then, these goodies were really made well those days. I learned to make kobri mithai from a sweet and loving lady Mutthu Aunty who lived across from our house in Gokulam and always gave me little treats whenever I dropped in on her. Here goes Mutthu Aunty's kobri mithai recipe.

Ingredients

Freshly grated coconut 2 cups

White granulated sugar 2 cups

Cardamom powdered 1/5 tsp

Raisins 2 Tbs

Cashew nuts a handful

Ghee 1 Tbs

Method

Fry the raisins and cashew nuts in ghee until golden. Remove from ghee and keep aside.

Use the leftover ghee to grease a steel plate. Keep aside.

In a thick bottom pan or wok mix the coconut and sugar and cook on medium flame, stirring all the time. As the sugar melts, the mixture will be more manageable. Keep stirring, taking care not to allow the mixture to burn or become brown (control the heat). After around 12 to 15 minutes of stirring and once you notice the sugar drying up or turning powdery white, get the

mix off the stove, mix in cardamom powder, cashew nuts and raisins (keep a few cashews and raisins aside for decorating) and mix thoroughly. Transfer the mix on to the greased plate and spread it out to half an inch thickness, patting it flat or running a greased rolling pin over the surface to make it even. Decorate it with more cashew and raisins. Run a greased knife to mark the pieces in squares or diamond shapes. Allow to cool to room temperature. Gobble gobble!!

As sweet as pumpkin!

Sweet Pumpkin Delight

Until Anu’s Bamboo Hut came into being, I had neither cooked nor had a clue about how to cook sweet pumpkin! As an experiment, my kitchen help Shashikala and I took on the humungous vegetable. Although hard, the pumpkin flesh also contains a lot of water and is fibrous. All we knew was that pumpkin was cooked with its skin and not with its seeds. We decided to dice the vegetable and just cook it in simple seasoning without water, until it was done, and then garnish it with lots of grated coconut and coriander leaves. The dish turned out to be a great hit the first time we served it. The garnish gave the vegetable a little more personality while still retaining its original sweet flavor and texture. Even the skin was agreeable to my guinea pigs!

In India, sweet pumpkin is found in various shapes, sizes, and colors. There are the huge peach or pale orange ones and the flattened or oblong ones with a hard skin and that can be stored for a month or more. Some are small, round, flattened and dark orange. Others are huge, with green skins and dark orange flesh inside. The green ones are my favorite, as they are tender and the skin is softer and rich in minerals like Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc. The pumpkin is also rich in vitamins like vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C and E, besides containing a high level of β carotene. You can use any type of pumpkin available to you. Try eating a piece of it raw—it tastes like a sweet, hard fruit!

Sweet pumpkin seeds are quite popular. They are separated from the flesh, washed, salted, and dried in the sun until they lose all of their moisture. The dried seeds are then gently roasted until they turn crisp. Crack them with your front teeth to open them and then eat the inner tasty seed. These are good for people with constant cravings, as getting through a handful of seeds takes a long time! Pumpkin seeds are rich in the abovementioned minerals, especially zinc, which promotes prostrate health in men. The seeds have anti-inflammatory benefits in arthritis and are good for strong bones.

Ingredients

Serves [4 - 6].

Sweet pumpkin, diced with skin (no seeds)	1 kg or about 2 pounds
Oil	2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Curry leaves	2 sprigs
Chana daal	1 Tbsp
Urad daal	1 Tbsp
Dry chillies	4 to 5
Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Sesame seeds	2 Tbsp
Asafoetida	pinch or two
Ginger grated	1 one-inch piece
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Salt	to taste
Coconut, freshly grated	½ cup
Coriander leaves, chopped roughly	½ cup

Method

Add oil to a heated, thick-bottomed pan. Add the mustard seeds and heat until they pop or sputter. Add the curry leaves, chana daal, urad daal, dry chillies, and cumin seeds, and fry for half a minute. Add the sesame seeds and stir-fry until the daals begin to turn slightly golden. Add the asafoetida and stir-fry for 5 seconds. Add the turmeric powder into the seasoning and stir for a just few seconds. Add the diced pumpkin and mix well to spread the seasoning evenly. Add the shredded ginger and mix. Cover and cook on a low-medium flame, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin is almost done. Add the salt and cook on a low flame for a few more minutes until the pumpkin is cooked. Garnish with freshly grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Note

Substitute sweet pumpkin with peeled and diced sweet potatoes. Add a quarter cup of water after adding the diced sweet potato to reduce the cooking time.

Enjoy this dish and do let me know how it turned out if you tried!

CHOW-CHOW BHATH

It is quite customary for people in the southern part of India to start their meal with a sweet dish. The first bit served on a banana leaf that is eaten first, is the payasam. A breakfast sweet Kesari Bhath with its counterpart Khara Bhath are popularly known as 'chow-chow bhath' in Mysore.

Chow-chow is the term that means a mixture (of sweet and savoury in this case). Chow-chow bhath is Upma or Khara Bhath (the savoury) and Kesari Bhath (the sweet) served together. The texture of the dishes that are made with semolina would depend primarily on the quantity of ghee or oil you use - meaning, more ghee/oil = more tastier (as we would say at home). Here's an extract from my unpublished book (don't ask me when it will be published pleeeeez).

Kesari Bhath

Kesari bhath is a semolina-based sweet dish, also known as sheera in the north. This sweet dish is normally served with its savory version, called khara bhath or upma. When served together on one plate, the dish is known as chow-chow bhath (chow-chow = mixture). In the north, sheera is served with hot poories.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Semolina (fine or medium sized)	2 cups
Ghee	1½ cups
Sugar	1½ cups
Cloves	5
Cardamom powder	¾ tsp
Water	4 cups
Cashews, split	handful
Almonds, split	handful
Ripe banana OR	½ OR
Pineapple, diced	½ cup
Saffron	pinch

Method

Soak the saffron in ¼ cup of warm water for at least 20 minutes and set aside.

Add sugar to the water and bring to a boil. Simmer while you fry the following ingredients.

Heat a thick-bottomed pot and add ghee until it melts. Fry raisins, cashews, and almonds on a low to medium flame until the raisins become round and the cashews and almonds turn golden. Remove the fried nuts and raisins from the ghee and set aside.

Add the semolina to the same ghee and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on a high flame, stirring constantly. Add the cardamom and fry until the aroma begins to rise. (Add more ghee for better results.) Add the smashed banana or the finely diced pineapple and stir for about a minute. Reduce the flame and gently pour the hot sugar water into the fried semolina and mix thoroughly to ensure there are no lumps. Add soaked saffron and mix. Cover and cook on low flame for 3 minutes. Mix in half the quantity of raisins, cashews, and almonds and decorate the top with the other half. Serve hot or warm.

Note: Use yellow, spotted ripe bananas in kesari bhath.

Upma or Khara Bhath

Ingredients

Serves 4

Semolina (medium or large size)	2 cups
Oil	¼ cup
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Chillies, fresh green or dry	2
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Cumin seeds	1 tsp
Urad daal	1 tsp
Chana daal	1 tsp
Asafoetida (if garlic is not used)	pinch
Onion, finely chopped	2 medium
Diced carrot, potato, green peppers, peas	1 cup
Ginger, shredded or ground	½ to 1 tsp
Tomatoes, diced OR Lemon juice	1 cup OR 2 Tbsp
Water	4 cups
Ghee	2 Tbsp
Grated coconut	½ cup
Coriander, freshly chopped	1 Tbsp
Salt	to taste

Method

Lightly dry roast the semolina in a pan or pot, constantly stirring on a medium to high flame for 3 to 4 minutes to remove all of the moisture (adding a tbs of ghee while roasting semolina give the upma a great texture). Set aside.

Heat the oil in a pot and add the following ingredients in this order: mustard seeds until they pop or sputter, curry leaves, cumin seeds, chillies, chana and urad daals. Fry until daals are golden brown. Add asafoetida and stir for a few more seconds. Add onions and fry until translucent (garlic may be added along with onions if asafoetida is not used). Mix in the diced vegetables and cook with the lid on for about 7 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables are almost done. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes soften. Add water, ginger, and salt to this mixture and bring to a boil. Pour the semolina slowly into the boiling mixture while stirring well. The mixture will begin to thicken. If using lemon juice instead of tomatoes, add it now. Cover with lid and cook on a low flame for 5 more minutes. Garnish with ghee, coriander, and grated coconut and serve hot.

EAT MORE CHAPATIS!

We started Anu's Bamboo Hut in November 2004. At that time, we served only a buffet dinner at 5 pm every day of the week. By January-February 2005, most yogis got to know about us (we had also started Anu's Internet Cafe on 18 February, 2005) and we were almost being run over! It was more than we had ever expected to receive. Daal was being cooked in at least three lots as bowl after bowl would get wiped clean within no time!

One day, Nick and Eva, my dear friends, suggested that we serve lunch as well. Lunch would have to be served at 1 pm and I was not sure we could work faster than the speed at which we were working, but we decided to give it a shot. It was a resounding success and there were a few records set in the ensuing months and years. There was a time when we have served 250 chapatis in one day! God bless my dear dear sister-in-law, Diana, who single handed, made all those chapatis for us every day for 3 years! I dedicate this blog to Diana for her love and support.



For those of you who love chapatis, here goes!

Indian dry bread made from flours of whole wheat, refined wheat, jowar, rice, corn and other cereals are generally referred to as rotis. Phulkas and chapattis are made from whole wheat flour. Phulkas are small, dry rotis. When rolled out bigger in size, and roasted with or without oil, they are referred to as chapattis. Sukha rotis means dry rotis.

Ingredients

Makes around 10 rotis.

Whole wheat flour	2 cups
Salt	1/4 tsp
Water for mixing	almost 1 cup
Oil	2 tsp

Method

You will require a flat cast iron skillet or slightly curved heavy pan, a rolling pin and rolling board or a clean and dry kitchen tabletop, a flat ladle to flip the rotis or chapattis with, and a clean thick cotton cloth folded tightly to press the rotis and encourage them to puff up. Rotis are best cooked over a gas flame, as it is necessary to control the heat from time to time.

Put the whole wheat flour in a wide pot, bowl, or thaliª and add salt. Mix slowly with water and knead into a soft dough. Add oil and knead well for a couple of minutes until the dough becomes soft and homogenous. Cover with a muslin cloth or a lid and let stand for about 20 minutes. Knead again, then make smooth, round, medium-sized balls. Use dry flour while handling if the dough gets sticky.

Roll out circular rotis with a rolling pin. Use flour if the dough sticks to the rolling pin or board. Take care to ensure that the rotis are evenly rolled out to around 5 inches in diameter.

Heat the roti pan and put rolled-out roti dough on it. Spin the roti gently on the pan after 10 seconds, preferably with the cloth pad, to allow it to cook uniformly. Once blisters appear, flip the roti and cook it on the other side for half a minute or until it develops golden brown spots (lift it to check). Flip once again and gently press with the flat ladle to encourage the bubbles to puff. Once the roti has fully puffed, remove it from the pan.

The total time it takes to dry roast one roti is between a minute to 90 seconds. If you leave the roti on the pan for longer than that, it will become tough in texture.

Rotis may be cooked partly on a pan and partly over the flame. Cook the roti on one side on the pan and flip it over once blisters appear. Spin and gently press the edges for 5 seconds. Lift with a ladle and put the same side directly onto a gas flame until the roti puffs up. This is a skill that is refined with practice.

When you become efficient at making rotis, you can serve them hot from the pan. Otherwise, store the rotis in a container lined with a clean cotton cloth or kitchen tissues. Dry rotis may be stored for up to 2-3 days at room temperature. A dollop of pure ghee or butter over a hot roti tastes divine!

Note

If your roti does not puff up, do not keep it on the fire for long, as it will simply burn. Just take it off the fire after 15 to 20 seconds. Rotis will not puff up if they are not evenly rolled out.

"Practice and all is coming" and "Eat more chapatis" - Thank you Guruji, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.