Lauki Kofta

Kofta:
Lauki (Suraikai)-500 gms
Gram flour- 1 cup
Green chillies-3-4
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Peel and grate Lauki. Squeeze out all the water from lauki and reserve the water. Add gram flour, chopped green chillies and salt. Heat oil in a pan and fry the mixture in the shape of small pakoras. Drain and keep.

Tomato Gravy:

Tomato- 5 medium
Onion- 3 medium
Chilli powder- 2 tsp
Dhania powder- 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Oil- 3 tbsp
Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling hot water, remove skin and chop fine. Grate the onion. Heat oil in a pan, add onion and fry till golden, add ginger-garlic paste and fry. Add all the powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato pieces, 1 cup of water and boil for about 10 minutes till the mixture thickens. Arrange the koftas in the serving dish and pour the gravy over the same. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with chapathi, poori or pulao.

Vegetable Spring Roll

Ingredients:

For the wrap:

Maida- 240 ml
Corn Flour-45 ml
Oil- 15 ml
salt to taste
water to mix.

For the filling:

Cabbage shredded thin- 500 ml
Onion- 1 medium sliced thin
Carrot- 1 medium slivered thin
Capsicum- 1 small slivered
Cooked noodles- 60 ml(optional)
Spring onions- 2-3 chopped fine
White pepper powder- 1 tsp
Sugar- 1 pinch
Ajino-moto- 1 pinch
Soy sauce- 1 tsp
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Mix the flours and salt for the wrap, add oil and mix well. Add water little by little and make a smooth dough. Roll into 5″ thin rounds. Heat a tawa and lightly toast the rolled wraps and keep aside.

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and saute the onions for a minute. Add all other vegetables other than spring onion, salt, pepper and saute well. Add sugar, spring onion, ajino moto and soy sauce at the end, saute and cool the mixture.

Mix a tbsp of maida in a little water into a paste and keep aside.

Take a toasted wrap, and place 2-3 tbsp of filling on it. Fold the lower end over the vegetable mix, fold both the sides and roll tight. Using the paste, seal the open ends of the roll and keep aside. Prepare all the rolls as above. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the rolls on medium heat till golden. Drain on tissue and cut in a slant into 1″ pieces and serve with tomato, chilli sauces.

Tukkada

Tukkada (or Diamond Chips)

Ingredients:

Wheat flour- 180 ml
Maida- 60 ml
Ghee or Butter- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Chilli powder- 1 tsp
Water
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix the flours, butter,salt and chilli powder well. Add water little by little and knead into a soft dough. Make small balls and roll into chappathi. Cut the same into diamond shape using a knife or a pizza cutter. Deep fry the diamond cuts till golden. Drain, cool and store in a airtight container. A nice snack with tea, coffee or by itself.

A sweet variety can be made with a modification. Omit the salt and chilli powder and proceed as above. Make a single-string syrup with sugar, dip the diamonds in it, remove and cool.

Dum Aloo

Ingredients:

Potato- 400 gms
Tomato- 200 gms- chop into small pieces
Curd- 150 ml- whisk smooth
Sugar-1 tsp
Oil- To deep fry and cook
Salt to taste

Grind together:
Cinnamon- 2 pieces
Cardamom-2
Cloves-4
Poppy seeds- 1 tbsp
Peppercorn-5
Curry leaves-10
Ani Seed- 1 tsp
Red Chillies-3
Green Chillies-2
Ginger- 1 inch
Coriander leaves- 100 ml
Salt

Method:

Scrub and boil the potatoes with jacket in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Peel,cool and cut into 3/4 inch square pieces. when absolutely cool, deep fry the pieces and keep aside. Take oil in a pan and fry the ground masala for 5 minutes on a medium flame taking care not to burn. Add the tomato pieces,curd and fry well till oil separates. Add sugar, salt and water if needed. When the gravy is thick, add the fried potato pieces and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves. If desired garnish with fried nuts and raisins.

Spicy Colocasia

Ingredients:

Seppankizhangu (Taro root aka colocasia)- 1/2 kilo
Tomato-1 medium-chopped fine
Onion-1 medium- chopped fine
Chilli powder- 1 tsp
Ajwain seeds (omam)-2 tsp
Gram flour- 2 tbsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Coriander leaves for garnish
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the tuber to remove all the mud and boil in the pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles. Cool, peel and cut into 1/2 inch thick round pieces. Coat the cut pieces with Gram Flour and salt. Deep fry and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add crushed ajwain seeds, curry leaves, onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add tomato, chilli powder and salt and continue to saute till onion and tomato cook well and blend. Add the fried pieces and toss. Garnish and serve as a starter or as accompaniment to food.

Visit to Lepakshi

Our journeyA one-day trip to Lepakshi (meaning “rise-o-bird” in Telugu) has always been on our agenda. The trip finally materialized after two failed plans. All of us were excited, did our bit of research on the internet, and set out with lots of food, and fully equipped with our cameras.

Lepakshi is a small village in Anantpur District in Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway (NH 7), is about 140 km from Bangalore, and 15 km east of Hindupur.

It is famous for its Vijayanagar style of architecture, and has a very interesting history. There are three shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, Vishnu and Veerabhadra, the most famous one being the Veerabhadra temple.

We left Bangalore at 8 AM. The weather was not very hot, and was just right to make our journey a pleasant one. We reached Chickballapur at around 9 AM, and starting looking out for Kamat Restaurant. At this point, the road divides into two – one leading to Chickballapur village and the other is the highway. We asked a guy on the road for information on Kamat hotel. He didn’t know, but said that we should take the road on the left, for “nashta” (breakfast).

We took the local’s advice and went inside Chickballapur. We passed a place called Muddenahalli, which is about 7 km from Chickballapur. This is famous for two reasons – Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s school, and the birthplace of Sir M.Visveshwaraiah (one of India’s most accomplished engineers). We went about 10 km from the highway, and then realized that there was no Kamat restaurant, and ultimately joined the highway.

We finally spotted Kamat at a place where there was a board saying ‘Ananthpur: 150 km’. The restaurant is located inside a compound housing a Bharath Petroleum station. Like any other Kamat joint, this one was neat, had tasty food, and is probably the only decent food joint on the way to Lepakshi. Bypassing Chickballapur would have definitely saved our time, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Sai devotee :-).

We continued on the highway and reached Konikonda check post. This is an important landmark where we have to take a left turn to go to Lepakshi, and straight, to go to Puttaparthi. We crossed a statue of a painted stork (good landmark to confirm you are on track), and finally reached Lepakshi after a three hour drive. We were welcomed by a huge Nandi (“Basavanna”) statue. It is made out of a single granite stone, is 15 feet tall, and is the largest in the world. This happens to be the symbol of Andhra Pradesh Tourism.

We went a few kilometers further and took a left turn to reach the main temple. Taking the straight road would lead to Hindupur.

History of Lepakshi

The Veerabhadra temple is known for its beautiful architecture. The story goes that the temple was built around 1500 A.D. by Virupanna Nayak, the chieftain under the Vijayanagar king Achyutharaya. When the king got to know that the treasury funds were used without his knowledge, he ordered that Virupanna should be blinded (this was the customary punishment for theft of the royal treasury). Virupanna being a loyal servant, plucked his eyes himself, and threw them on the walls of the temple. Two dark stains can still be seen on the walls of the temple.

Another interesting reference is the story of Jatayu. It is said that Jatayu, the mythical bird, was injured and was dying at this place while fighting with Ravana, in order to save Sita. Lord Rama came to this spot and called out to the bird “Le-pakshi” meaning “rise O bird”. It is said that Jatayu attained Moksha here (there are other places that also claim to be the location where Jatayu attained Moksha).

The TempleThe main deity is Lord Veerabhadra, the fierce form of Lord Shiva. There are two Sannidhis on either side – one for Lord Shiva and the other for Lord Vishnu. It is said that Sage Agasthya established these sannidhis opposite to each other, to indicate that there is no difference between them. The other sannidhis include Parvathi Devi, Ramalinga, Hanumantheshwara and Durga.

Architectural HighlightsThe exterior part of the temple has several beautiful sculptures of mythical characters from the Puranas, like Ananthasayana, Dattathreya, Chathurmukha Brahma, Tumburu, Narada and Rambha. The paintings on the ceiling have interesting scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Some of the highlights on the exterior part of the temple are:

‘Naga Linga’, a huge 7 headed snake guarding the Lingam. There is a stone carving of the Sapthakanyas beside this.

The story of ‘Kalahasthi’ is carved on one of the rocks – an elephant spraying water on a lingam, Bhaktha Kannappa offering his eyes to Lord Shiva, and a spider weaving a web around the Lingam as a protection.

‘Kalyana Mantapam’ which is supposed to have been the venue for Shiva-Parvathi’s wedding. The pillars around this have interesting carvings of many sages and gods.

One of the rocks has an interesting sculpture of a rounded Lord Ganesha and his vahana.

Two important features which we missed seeing are ‘Sita’s padam’ and ‘palette’.

Back to Bangalore

We left the temple complex at about 2 PM and a short distance down we pulled off the road into a tamarind grove for late lunch. On the way back to Bangalore we took a short detour towards Nandi hills to visit Sultanpet (near Nandi gram). We turned right off the highway towards Nandi hills and then asked locals for directions to Sultanpet. After a short drive off the highway the roads meets a T junction. Nandi hills is towards the left and Sultanpet is towards the right (back towards Chickballapur).

This is a small nondescript village near Nandi hills that is certainly off the beaten path. The road leading to the village is only one car wide and we would have missed the potter’s area if we hadn’t stopped frequently to ask locals.

This was the highlight of the trip for Amma. She had read about the place online and wanted to visit. We watched a demo of how pots are made, bought a few pots, and then made our way back towards Bangalore.

Hariharasuthashtakam a.k.a. Harivarasanam

Harivarasanam is a sloka on Lord Ayyappa composed by K Kulathur Iyer and it is said that it was sung for the first time in Sabarimala temple by Swami Vimochanananda in 1955. This hymn is sung as a lullaby to the Lord when the doors of the Sanctum Sanctorum are closed every night. The chief priest (Melsanthi) and other priests stand on either side of the deity and recite the hymn. While singing the hymn, the priests leave the Sanctum Sanctorum one by one without making noise. The Chief priest starts putting off the lamps one by one when the song is halfway through and when the final line is sung, the last lamp is extinguished and he closes the door, locks it for the night.

Those who have heard the rendition at the Sannidhanam, have poignant memories.

॥हरिहरसुताष्टकम्॥

हरिवरासनं विश्वमोहनं हरिदधीश्वरं आराध्यपाधुकम्। अरिविमर्धनं नित्यनर्तनं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥१

शरणं अय्यप्पा स्वामि शरणं अय्यप्पा शरणं अय्यप्पा स्वामि शरणं अय्यप्पा चरणकीर्तनं भक्तमानसं भरणलोलुपं नर्तनालसम्। अरुणभासुरं भूतनायकं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥२

शरणं प्रणयसत्यकं प्राणनायकं प्रणतकल्पकं सुप्रभाञ्चितम्। प्रणवमन्दिरं कीर्तनप्रियं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥३

शरणं तुरगवाहनं सुन्दराननं वरगधायुधं वेदवर्णितम्। गुरुकृपाकरं कीर्तनप्रियं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥४

शरणं त्रिभुवनार्चितं देवतात्मकं त्रिनयनं प्रभुं दिव्यदेशिकम्। त्रिदशपूजितं चिन्तितप्रदं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥५

शरणं भवभयापहं भावुकावहं भुवनमोहनं भूतिभूषणम् धवलवाहनं दिव्यवारणं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥६

शरणं कलमृदुस्मितं सुन्दराननं कलभकोमलं गात्रमोहनम् कलभकेसरी वाजिवाहनं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥७

शरणं श्रितजनप्रियं चिन्तितप्रदं श्रुतिविभूषणं साधुजीवनम् श्रुतिमनोहरं गीतलालसं हरिहरात्मजं देवमाश्रये॥८ शरणं