Shrimps Curry/ Sungata Ghasi

Its a tradition in Mangalore to eat fish on Diwali day and my in-laws follow this religiously. Where as at my mom's place we are strict vegetarians on this auspicious day and we dont even eat onion and garlic. This diwali was first diwali after my marriage, so had to keep up both the tradition. That's when Pr and I came out with this idea. He had sungata ghasi and I ate substituting cooked potatoes ;) instead of shrimps.


Ingredients:
30-40 shrimps
1 cup grated coconut
5-7 red chillies
1/4 tea spoon tamarind extract
1/4 tea spoon asafoetida
1 table spoon coconut oil/any cooking oil
2 cups water
Salt

Method:
Grind coconut along with red chillies and tamarind extract into a smooth paste.
In a pan bring this paste to boil by adding 2 cups of water.
Add shrimps and cook on simmer.
Mix asafoetida with couple of spoons of water and add it to shrimps when they are are par cooked (80% cooked).
Add coconut oil, salt and boil it for 3-4 minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 20 mins

Note: If you do not have coconut oil, add any cooking oil. Instead of shrimps you can also add cooked potatoes.

Steamed Rice Patties with Coconut Stuffing/Ghatti

Ghatti is something very similar to patholi but it is not sweet. I learnt this from my aunt. I have never seen anyone else preparing this and even my hubby was surprised to hear word "ghatti". He said he never had this before. This is usually served with coconut oil on it. But I prepared a very spicy asafoetida chutney.


Ingredients:
4-5 large pieces of banana leaves (for steaming)
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup grated coconut
Salt

Method:
Soak rice in water for 3-4 hours.
Drain the water and grind this with 1/2 cup of grated coconut. This should be a thick paste and not watery like dosa batter. Add salt to taste.
Place the cut banana leaves on a hot stove. This will make the leaves soft and easy to fold.
Spread the batter on banana leaves and place remaining grated coconut in the middle.
Fold this and steam it for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker without whistles.
Serve hot with coconut oil.



Serves: 2
Preparation Time: 25 mins (excludes soaking time)



Note: The main ingredient is banana leaves without which this dish is incomplete. The aroma of banana leaf make this very tasty and special.