Healthy living

Lassi is a traditional North-Indian thirst-quencher and energy booster. It is basically yogurt/buttermilk that has been churned and sweetened with sugar. Sometimes it is flavored with cardamom. It is an age old drink made in all homes to beat the heat. Everything is natural with this drink: it is freshly made and there are only 2-4 ingredients: yogurt/buttermilk, sugar, water and may be cardamom.  You will find this in most Indian restaurants. One popular version of Lassi is mango lassi when it is whipped with fresh mango pulp. I love this version more than the plain. During mango season, I love to make this and relish it instead of the store-bought ones. If the mango is sweet and the yogurt is not sour, you don't need to add any sugar. If you wish you can add a dash of honey. I like to use yogurt and mango pulp in the ratio of 1:1 . You can vary it based on your individual preference. You can substitute other fruits instead of mango.  There you have the recipe! It is that sim...

We Mangalorean Konkanis swear by our temple rasam or Devasthana Saaru as we call it. "Devasthan" means "temple" in English and "Saaru" is the Konkani word for rasam. What is rasam?? Rasam is a spicy, tangy soup that is made with tomatoes and spices. It is usually served as an accompaniment to rice the same way dal is served with rice. People love to drink it too. It is also purported to be the perfect remedy for cough and cold. It not only clears your sinuses but also rekindles your appetite.  So why is Devasthana Saaru so special?? It is because it is almost impossible to recreate the taste of it at home. This rasam is usually served with food at events in the temple. Why is food served at the temple? Well, like anywhere else in the world, food is the greatest motivator. Therefore during big religious events/activities in the temple, lunch/dinner is served afterwards. It also feeds many hungry people. Coming back to the rasam, this particular rasam is alw...

We Mangaloreans love our fish! May be because we live in a coastal region. 😊 I am specially partial to fried fish. We fry our fish several different ways. We fry it plain with just the spicy marination, or coat it with a spicy masala and dip it in rice flour and fry it. We also dip the marinated fish in rava or cream of wheat and fry it when it is called Rawa fry!! I love the texture that you get with rawa fry. If you are gluten free, you can use corn meal instead of rawa. You get the same result. The rawa fry can be a tawa fry ( pan fried), can be deep fried or shallow fried! I like to tawa fry it or shallow fry it for 2 reasons: a) it is healthier than deep-fried. b) the rawa does not drop off into the oil and get burnt. Either ways, it is very easy to make. You can do this with any kind of fish. I have used tilapia. It works great with King fish, mackerel, porgy, pretty much any fish! You can use fillets it steaks. It makes a great combination with rice and Dali thoy ( dal) or rasa...