Methi leaves brings nostalgic memories of Coorg (Kodagu) otherwise known as the Scotland of India. Having lived in Mercara (Madikeri) for 7 years gave me Coorgi friends and an opportunity to explore their cuisine….which is very versatile. I have been thinking for a while to share some Coorgi dishes, so I thought why not post it under a new label “Coorg”, so that my blogger friends can also get the taste of Coorg. Coorgs has a different and unique style of preparing food be it pork fry (pandi fry), akki roti (rice roti), Kadumpottu, noolputtu, papputtu….and so on. Rice is the staple food. So mornings are always started with Akki roti, which is made of cooked rice and rice powder….Coorgs love pork and their pork curry or fry is very different…the masala for the pork is the main tastemaker followed by the kacham puli (which is the puli they use for their curries)…So I hope to take u all on a tour to Coorg and give you a taste of that beautiful hill station.…..so watch out for my future posts on Coorg.
Raja seat, Madikeri.
A coffee estate, Coorg.
Coorg with its beautiful coffee plantations.... fragrance of coffee blossoms, the beautiful climate, the scenic beauty, and above all Coorgs are wonderful and loving people…..living in Coorg was heaven…compared to the hustle and bustle of city life. Mercara is a small town; headquaters of Coorg disctrict….It is a very small place…..its a place where everybody knows everybody….and I loved to walk around rather than using a vehicle….you get everything in and around Madkeri…there is one Aruna stores where you get almost anything and if you cant get it the owner will make sure that he is able to get it within a day or to….and Coorg Shoe Park was my favorite shop where u get all kinds of shoes, sandals, bags…and that too at a low price compared to Kerala….even the shop owners, small roadside vendors….I mean just about everybody knows everybody in this small place. Fridays are market days when a big market is opened the whole day and planters from in and around will come to Madikeri to stock up their supplies for a week (most of the planters live outside the town limits at their estates).
Now coming to Methi leaves…..a typical Coorg morning was started by the suppu (greens) lady...with a large basket of “suppu” or greens usually grown by her…so fresh…..fresh coriander, mint leaves, methi leaves, keerai, palak leaves, basala suppu (a variety of palak and Coorgs states this is the real spinach that Popye the Sailor has )….After coming to Calicut I missed the greens …missed the walks….missed everything that I used to take it as granted there in Coorg…all the greens which were so abundant there….even some fruits and vegetable are very hard to get here…so when I got some methi leaves after a very looooooong time, I was really happy….methi paratha is not a coorgi cusine….it is a pure North Indian one…but because I learned it in Coorg…I will label it as a Coorgi dish….
Ingredients:
Fresh methi/fenugreek leaves: A small bunch.
Jeera: ½ tsp.
Red chilly powder: ½ tsp.
Salt.
Ghee/vanaspati/oil.
Whole wheat flour: 1 ½ cup.
Method:
1.Wash thoroughly the leaves and let it dry on a strainer, remove the leaves from the stem and chop very finely.
2.Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and put in 1/2 tsp jeera and allow it to splutter. Turn off heat add 1/2 tsp chilly powder (otherwise it will get burnt).
3. Switch on the fire and add the leaves, salt, and fry till all the water is incorporated and let it cool.
4. Put this into the flour and knead with water into a firm but soft dough.
5. Make equal sized balls and roll out each.
6. Fry on tawa and drizzle ghee/vanaspati/oil on them.
7. Serve hot with Raita, or any curry.
