Month: March 2022

Ginger Yoghurt Raita or Mor Pajji From Kodagu

There’s something special about a mother’s recipes. However hard you may try, you cannot seem to recreate the same flavors. But sometimes you succeed and that gives you so much joy! The special ingredient of love that goes into every dish makes it delicious!

In this post, I am sharing another of my mother’s recipes.

In Kodagu or Coorg, where I come from, Kadambuttus (I have shared the recipe in an earlier post.) are a hot favorite at any time of the day. Kadambuttus are steamed rice balls which are usually served with Pandi Curry or Pork curry in Kodagu. For the vegetarians, we usually make a vegetable curry to go with Kadambuttus.

Whenever we would have Kadambuttus for breakfast, my mother would prefer to make a nice chutney or raita with ginger, coconut scrapings and yoghurt for the children. This is a great combination with rice balls. It is cooling and when mixed with the Kadambuttus, it is very tasty to eat and the children and we grownups love it.

Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients

1 cup thick curd

1/2” Ginger

½ cup grated coconut

1 medium sized Onion chopped fine

10-12 Curry leaves, chopped fine

2 Red chilies, broken into 4

Salt to taste

Method

  1. Whisk the curd till it is smooth and set it aside.
  2. Grind the coconut and ginger to a fine paste. Add to the curd along with salt and mix well.
  3. In a pan, heat oil. When hot add the mustard seeds and let it sputter. Add the red chilies and the curry leaves. After a few seconds, add the chopped onion and fry till it turns transparent. Add this to the curd mixture and stir well.

The ginger yoghurt raita is ready to savour with Kadambuttus. Break the Kadambuttus and mix well with the raita and eat to your heart’s content!

This raita is a good accompaniment for rice and Upma too.

Ginger Yoghurt Raita

Paputtu From Kodagu (Steamed Rice Cake)

Paputtu, a steamed rice cake, is a puttu from Kodagu. The combination of broken rice, grated coconut, cardamom seeds, salt and sugar when cooked with milk and water, yields a delicious rice cake which is very healthy. This can be savored with a chicken or mutton curry or even a vegetable curry. It is equally delicious with a drizzle of honey and a generous dollop of butter or clarified butter for breakfast! Yum! It is also served with a mixture of almonds, coconut and jaggery.

Paputtu from Kodagu

Here is what you’ll need to make Paputtu.

Ingredients

1 cup of Rice rava (Rice thari)

1 ½ cups Water

½ cup Milk

¼ cup finely grated coconut

2 Cardamoms, seeds to be crushed

¼ tsp. Sugar

A pinch of salt

A little oil or ghee to grease the plate

Implements Needed

Plate with raised rim as shown in the picture

Pressure cooker or Steamer

Raised Plate with Paputtu mixture ready for steaming

Method

  1. Wash the rice rava at least twice. Drain out the water.
  2. Mix the water, milk, crushed cardamom, salt and sugar. Soak the rice rava in this mixture for 5 minutes.
  3. Grease a raised plate with oil or ghee.
  4. Pour the rice mixture into the greased plate. Spread the grated coconut on top to evenly cover the plate.
  5. Place the plate in a steamer or pressure cooker. If you are using a steamer, steam for 15 minutes. Should you be using a pressure cooker, it would need three whistles.
  6. Allow to cool and cut into wedges and serve.

Paputtus are best relished with chicken curry or mutton curry. For the vegetarians, you could try the Potato Curry, Black Chickpeas Curry or Peas Curry. As described earlier, one could enjoy the Paputtu with honey and a generous helping of ghee (clarified butter) too!

Note:

For a sweeter version, you can add 1 tbsp sugar to the water and follow the rest of the recipe as given above. This is called Modra Paputtu i.e. Sweet Paputtu.