Welcoming Raja Festival 2015 !!!

Raja or the advent of monsoon is a big festival in Odisha. This year it is being celebrated from 14th to 16th of June. It is time to don the chef's hat and indulge in making some of Odisha's glorious 'Pithas'. Apart from the regulation Poda pitha, karara and chunchipatra pitha, there are lots of delectable pithas that one can sample from. Check below -

Check out the recipes HERE.

Mango Daliya ( with a wicked hint of Chilis )

Day 4 of the daliya challenge. I am feeling great and the bloating has also reduced after I substituted the cracked wheat dishes for rice and dal. The 30 mins brisk walking/cycling/climbing stairs is also helping me feeling active and energetic.

After the savory dishes I wanted something a bit sweet.  Hence this really simple daliya pudding with mango and just a hint of chili. Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/3 cup daliya
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tsp finely chopped ripe mango
• 3-4 tbsp ripe mango chunks 
• 1/2 of a red chili
• mint for garnishing

Preparation  - Dry roast the daliya or cracked wheat till it gives off a sweet smell.

Slit and deseed the red chili. Chop it up into very fine pieces.

Cooking - Cook the daliya with 1 1/4 cup water in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes.

Pour 1/2 cup milk into the same pressure cooker and put it back on the flame. Let it simmer for 3-4 mins.

Transfer it to a mixing bowl. Add the honey, chopped red chili and the finely chopped mango. Mix.

Pour into the serving dish. Garnish with mango chunks and mint.

Serve immediately or chill for 10 mins before serving.

Daliya Salsa Salad

Day 3 !! Still sticking to the Daliya challenge. So, made this interesting salad for lunch. With boiled daliya and loads of veggies, it becomes a tasty one-pot meal that is easy to prepare and refreshingly light.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup daliya
• 1-2 tomatoes
• 1 small cucumber
• 1/4 cup shredded lettuce
• 1-2 green chilis
• 1 tsp chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp chopped mint 
• 1/2 tsp EVOO
• 2 pinch ground pepper
• salt to taste

Preparation - Dry roast the daliya or cracked wheat till it gives off a sweet smell.

Chop all the vegetables and chilis into small bits.

Cooking - Cook the daliya with 1 1/2 cup water, turmeric and salt in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes.

Transfer it to a mixing bowl. Allow to cool down completely. Throw in the chopped veggies and the rest of the ingredients. Toss well.

Serve immediately.

Pesto Daliya Upma

Yes, I am on a 5 day 'Daliya' challenge this week. And it calls for trying out a new recipe each time that is simple and low on calories. This is a really easy and tasty recipe that I created using some boiled daliya, homemade pesto sauce, lime juice and a bit of tempering.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup daliya
• 2 tsp pesto sauce
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/5 tsp mustard seeds
• a pinch of asafoetida
• 1 dry red chili
• 1/2 tsp oil
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp lime juice

Preparation - Dry roast the daliya or cracked wheat till it gives off a sweet smell.

Cooking - Cook the daliya with 1 cup water and salt in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles. Keep aside till steam escapes. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds followed by the asafoetida, curry leaves and dry red chili.

Pour this tempering over the cooked daliya. Add pesto sauce and lime juice. Mix well.

Serve immediately.

Tomato Daliya

An easy daliya recipe to help one lose weight while eating healthy and starving oneself. Tried substituting cracked wheat for rice in the Andhra Tomato rice recipe. This one can be adapted to suit those kiddie tastebuds by skipping/reducing the quantity of chillis used and adding a tiny bit of sugar.

The proportion of water can be varied to give it a porridge or fluffy consistency. Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup daliya
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/5 tsp mustard seeds
• a pinch of asafoetida
• a pinch of turmeric
• 1-2 green chilis
• 2-3 garlic flakes
• 1/2 tsp oil
• 2 tsp roasted peanuts
• salt to taste

Preparation - Dry roast the daliya or cracked wheat till it gives off a sweet smell.

Cooking - Cook the daliya with 1 1/2 cup water, turmeric and salt in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds folowed by the asafoetida, curry leaves, green chilis and peanuts.
Once the peanuts are done popping, add the garlic and fry to golden .

Add the chopped tomatoes and sprinkle a little salt over them. Cook till mushy.

Add the cooked daliya and mix in. Stir for 2 mins.

Remove from the flame and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Serve hot.

Note - I had some already roasted and crushed peanuts which I added at the end to retain their crunch.

Weekly Snapshot (31/05/2015 - 06/06/2015)

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Top 5 recipes for this week -

• Dahi Bara-Ghuguni - Aludum
• Jaamfal ki subzi
• Mudhi Mansa
• Pasta al Pesto ( Vegan recipe with curry leaves )
• Gupchup (Odisha style Panipuri)

Latest on Oriyarasoi

This has been a pretty relaxed week with nothing much going. Have been in a relaxed mood and spending time with family is a priority. 

Pasta Al Pesto ( Vegan version with Curry leaves )

Pasta laden with humongous amount of cheese may not be the right fit for the sweltering hot Indian summers. Hence I had to come up with a relatively easy cheese free pasta recipe that did not require working in front of the stove for long duration.

I picked up the regular pesto recipe, gave it a very indian twist with curry leaves, roasted red chilis , urad dal, asafoetida and canola oil and ended up with this winner. Yeah, this is a taste recipe with a very tangible South Indian flavour.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients -

• 1 cup pasta ( I used a mix of different shapes )
• handful of curry leaves
• 2 dry red chili ( I used Byadgi variety that has mild heat)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 1 tbsp charoli seeds
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp lime juice
• pinch of asfoetida

Preparation - Boil water in a large saucepan. Once the bubbles start coming, salt it.

Wait for water to come to a rolling boil before you add the paste. This way they wont stick to each other.

While the paste is cooking, heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the red chili, asafoetida and urad dal. Once the dal turns brown, add the charoli nuts and roast for 30 seconds.

Transfer the contents of the skillet into a grinder jar. Add the washed curry leaves, garlic cloves and salt. Buzz into a coarse meal.

Keep checking on your pasta . Once it gets to the al-dente stage, remove from flame and drain off the pasta water while saving about 1/2 cup of it for thinning the sauce.

Take the pasta in a pasta bowl or wide dish, add the pesto, 2-3 tsp of the past water and the lime juice.

Toss everything together.

Serve immediately.

For more such vegan pasta recipes click here, here, here,, here and here.