How to grow fennel seeds - Sompu - in containers | how to grow and care fennel steps for growing fennel

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

Growing fennel seeds in containers at home is quite easy and useful. It is both fun and a healthy habit to grow and eat your own fennel seeds.
The health benefits of fennel are many. They are considered very useful in relieving various ailments like stomach gas, stomach ache, pre menstrual ache etc. They are also highly nutritious and powerful anti oxidants.

But have you ever tried eating the raw fennel leaves and fennel seeds directly from the plants? They taste amazing.

Just imagine walking through your plants post your lunch and plucking fresh fennels from the plants and eating them. There will be absolutely no problem of indigestion or stomach ache.



They are also most amazing and healthy mouth fresheners. Whenever I walk through the terrace garden with my friends and my guests, I generally offer them the leaves, flowers and green seeds. Though hesitant at first, once they take a bite, they just love it and there is always a demand for more.

So how do we grow fennel seeds in containers?

You may also read our other interesting and useful gardening tips.......

1. Organic gardening method - How to grow veggies in a very very small place

2. Organic gardening medium - How to grow easily without soil and with less water

3. Organic gardening plants - What all the vegetables we can grow in 10x10 area 

4. Organic Manure composting - How to use your kitchen waste directly in your pots to compost and prepare organic manure

5. How to grow and harvest cabbages in containers 

6. How to grow Sweet Corn at home in containers - Organic gardening tips - Chapter 6

We need deep containers to grow fennel seeds as the roots need plenty of depth. And if we want to grow fennel bulbs in containers, we need to leave sufficient space between the soil and the rim of the container for the bulb to grow. And also as and when the bulbs get bigger, we need to pile more soil on the bulb to protect it from the sun.


I generally sow the fennel seeds in a 25 liter paint box filled with organic manure. Yes, you read it right. I don't use soil or mud to grow my plants. I use only organic manure, filling only half of the pot with it.

Then at regular intervals, I move aside the top portion of the mixture and fill the pot with kitchen waste like peels of the vegetables and fruits, tea and coffee decoction powder and the egg shells. Then I move back the organic mixture to cover the kitchen waste. This helps the plants to have extraordinarily healthy growth and give maximum yield. In fact now the plants in my terrace garden have grown so tall that I am not able to reach them to pluck the flowers!

So I sow the seeds in the containers and cover them with 1/2 inch soil. To get better germination, sometimes people use the method of soaking and pre-sprouting the seeds for several days. But I have always grown the fennel seeds by directly sowing the dry seeds in the organic manure.

The container in which we grow fennel has to be kept moist at all times without it getting waterlogged, with well-draining soil and we should water it regularly.

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

The seeds take about 8 to 10 days to sprout and about a month or so to grow tall and start flowering. At this point, as we are not growing them for commercial purpose, I cut and eat the aromatic green leaves and tender seeds.



And after another month or so, the flowers start to dry and turn brown. Once they are brown, they are ready to be harvested. As they are dry and very loose, we need to harvest them by keeping a bowl below them and cutting the dry stems and collect the seeds in the bowl.

We can then allow the seeds to dry completely and can store them in an air tight container and they can be used upto six months.

Provided you don't finish them off sooner!!!

Muddipalya recipe | Muddi Palya Recipe | Palak Spinach Menthe soppu Muddi Palya | Mudpalya recipe

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

Muddi Palya...

You just utter this word in the presence of anyone from North Karnataka and watch the reaction. Our face will glow with happiness and we have to have this in our very next meal. It is irresistible. For us it is not just a dish, it is a ritual, a journey, a celebration!

What is so special about this muddi palya? With due apologies to people of every other region, it is not soppina palya, nor soppina tovve. And no, sorry what you guys do at your home is not muddi palya. A muddi palya is a muddi palya is a muddi palya. Period.

We people from North Karnataka can have muddi palya everyday, with every meal of the day, on every occasion and every function and even weddings.

And incidentally I should mention here that it is a great combination with jolada rotti. In fact if you have a debate as to what is the best combination with jolada rotti -  whether ennegai palya or muddi palya, then I am sure the result would be vertically split with everyone voting for both!

And when the ignorants who don't really appreciate the beauty of a North Karnataka meals ask me how can we eat a jolada rotti, it's so bland, I pity them. Because as the people from North Karnataka know how to add spice to life, similarly they also know how to eat jolada rotti! In a North Karnataka home, the rotti is never eaten with a single side dish. It has to be combined with palya, chatni, chatnipudi, uppinakai, benne, mosaru and then a few slices of onion and cucumber. Now tell me how can you call it bland!

When we were young, amma would frequently make muddi palya. It had to be eaten with jolada rotti, then with tuppa anna - with piping hot rice and ghee, and then with saranna - with bassaru made from the same combination of lentils and greens, and finally with curd rice - mosaranna. And by any chance if there is any leftover muddi palya, it has to be equally divided among all the children in the night. No cheating there. It is like dividing the property!!!

But unfortunately it is missing from the scene on a wedding day even in North Karnataka. A few years ago I went to my relative's wedding to Raichur. The only attraction of going to a North Karnataka wedding was to eat a proper wedding meals - maduve oota with muddi palya, made from the famous Bellary cooks.

After the dhare when I heard that it's a buffet lunch and not the baale ele oota - not a meals on plantain leaves, alarm bells started ringing in my mind. In fact I started to panic, what with the very purpose of travelling 500 kilometers being defeated. Alas! My worst fears came true when I saw poori saagu, vegetable pulav on the table. I was almost in tears. Since then I have stopped travelling to the weddings!

So what, you may ask, get it cooked in the functions in your home. Oh please! Do you think I didn't try? That's another long story.
I started it with my son's choula ceremony, some 28 years ago. Being a naive youngster that I was, I told them " please do muddi palya ".
For a moment they stared blankly at me and when I said " bele and menthe soppu" they cut me short and said " ok madam, we know. We know. We will do. "
When after all the guests left, I sat expectantly for lunch, I was horrified to see dry "soppina palya" - in typical Bangalore style. It was similar to what we call hindi palya in North Karnataka.

And then in my gruha pravesha, again I told the cooks that I want muddi palya. I explained to them in detail what a muddi palya is. But then men are men. While I was explaining, it was clearly visible from the look on their face that they being professional cooks were not liking being told what to cook and how to cook.
I kept my fingers crossed and sat for lunch expectantly. There was no trace of lentils, bele, in my muddi palya. I glared at the cook who had come to serve it. My husband, knowing my fetishes about the dish and my disappointment, put his hand on my hands, trying to console me. Who knows, he may have been worried that either I would throw my plantain leaf at the cook or may be I myself would run away without eating.

Then finally during my daughter's wedding last year, I decided to give a final try of having it on Devara Samaradhane day.
I had planned it meticulously this time, pre wedding, when the cook arrived home for discussion. I had prepared the muddi palya at home and held it before him. I was like the never say die trivikrama.
The cook looked irritated and said of course he knows the soppina tovve. Grrrrrrr...

On the Devara Samaradhane day, I sat for lunch along with my family and the guests. After rice and ghee, the cooks served - what's that????
It looked like sambar but had no vegetables, and tasted like tovve with very little soppu...
The relatives from Bangalore side were eating it with a dismayed look on their face. Of course it tasted good but they could not actually place it's name. And the family from North Karnataka looked at each other, not knowing whether you laugh or to cry.

So now I have made it a point here, through this write up and this recipe, to popularise THE AUTHENTIC NORTH KARNATAKA STYLE MUDDI PALYA among one and all.
Who knows, may be one day I would be pleasantly surprised in a function when I am served with THE MUDDI PALYA.

Frankly, there is a method of not just cooking but eating muddi palya. You don't pour it on rice like sambar. It has its own place in the plantain leaf. On the left side. Right after chatni and Kosambari. You put piping hot rice in the middle. Then put the ghee. From that you take a little portion, put some muddi palya on it,  mix it and savour it!

After all this preamble, I was forced to write down the recipe here. No. There is absolutely no idea of me having the cooks try this in any of my future functions. Another reason why I am writing this recipe is because my daughter's friend Shravya studying in US wanted to try this. So not just in India, I am trying to export and selling my idea abroad.

So please understand this. This is the recipe of muddi palya. Not soppina palya nor soppina thovve. Remember. Yeh nahi khaya to kuch nahi khaya....

And the most important thing. Muddi Palya can be prepared from a variety of soppu or greens. Each soppu will have a distinct unique awesome taste. But my personal preference, in the order of priority, is methi or menthe soppu, palak soppu or spinach, dill leaves or sabbasige soppu and then Red spinach - dantina soppu. Menthe soppu or methi leaves undoubtedly tastes heavenly.

So here goes the recipe...

You may also try our following North and South Indian Subzi recipes :

Fried Baby corns and capsicum mixed veg curry

Bitter gourd fry

Mixed Vegetable Curry

VEGETABLE MAKHANWALA

ALU MATAR

NAVRATAN KORMA

Preparation Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time       45 minutes

Ingredients :

(Another anecdote here : The ratio of tur dal and methi leaves again is debatable. My father always demanded more greens and less daal while mother preferred both in equal quantity. Me? Here I was always with my mom!
As for as your cooking is concerned, you start with the given measurements and then choose your own ratio from the next time )

• Tur dal -  togari bele                      2 cups
• Finely chopped methi leaves          1 bowl
• Finely chopped coriander leaves    1 tablespoon
• Curry leaves                                   15
• Finely chopped green chillies        1 tablespoon - depends on your taste
• Thick tamarind juice                      1 tablespoon
• 
  
• Groundnut oil                                1 tablespoon
• Mustard seeds                               1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida                                     1/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder                          1 teaspoon
• Salt to taste

Procedure :

• Wash the greens thoroughly.
• Put the tur dal and finely chopped methi leaves in a vessel, add enough water just to cover them and pressure cook for 4  whistles.
• Let it cool.
• In a thick bottomed kadai, heat the groundnut oil. Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add asafoetida, turmeric powder and lower the heat and then add finely chopped chillies.
• Now add the thick tamarind juice. Then add the stock from the cooked dal and methi. If there is no stock, you can add normal water also.
• When it starts boiling, add the curry and the coriander leaves and let it boil over low heat for 2-3 minutes.

A POINT TO REMEMBER HERE.
WHENEVER WE DO RASAM, SAMBAR OR MUDDI PALYA, BEFORE ADDING ANY OTHER MASALA, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BOIL THE TAMARIND JUICE WITH CORIANDER AND CURRY LEAVES TOGETHER. IT GIVES A GREAT FLAVOUR.

• Meanwhile mash the cooked tur dal and methi with a ladle.
• Add this to the kadai and mix well.
• Add salt.
• Lower the heat and cover it partially with a plate.
• Let it simmer for about 5 to 8 minutes over low heat till all the aromas of all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
• Keep mixing in between.
• Then again mix well and put off the gas.
• Serve with rotis, chapatis, phulka and rice.
• If you are eating it hot, eat with a spoon of desi ghee.
• If you are eating it cold, add a spoon of groundnut oil. It tastes just amazing.

I know now everyone reading this is heading to buy soppu!

Don't forget to share this recipe with your friends and family and also give me the feedback.

Happy cooking!

Nellikai thokku recipe | how to make amla thokku | gooseberry thokku | nellikayi chatni recipe

chitrannaa.blogspot.com

I know just looking at the heading, reading the word thokku is making you to salivate. Of course, who would not like to have thokku, that too with some tadka along with piping hot rice and ghee or with yummy curd rice!

We all are too familiar with hunasekai thokku, but today I am sharing with you the recipe for Nellikai thokku.

Since Amla is a fibrous fruit, generally we don't get the consistency of Hunasekai thokku while making thokku from Nellikai or Amla. However with some trial and error experiments, I have been able to reach a consistency which is very much like Hunasekai thokku. Nice, smooth and sticky!
How? Here you go!!!



Preparation Time      30 minutes
Grinding time             10 minutes

Ingredients :

• Nellikai or Amla.         20
• Green chillies.             100 grams depending upon your liking.
• Methi seeds.               1 tablespoon
• Lemon juice                1 tablespoon
• Asafoetida.                  1 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder        1 tablespoon
• Salt to taste

For tadka

• Groundnut oil.             1 tablespoon
• Mustard seeds            1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida                   1 teaspoon
• Curry leaves                 10-15

Procedure :

• Dry roast and powder the methi seeds.
• Grate the amlas. Here I would like to tell you that sometimes we are under the impression that grating the amlas can be very time consuming. On the contrary, since amlas are light and fibrous, it's very easy to grate them.
• Then, in a mixie jar, grind the amlas, chillies, methi powder, hing, turmeric powder and salt to a fine paste.
• Now add the lemon juice in the mixie jar and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• Again grind to a fine paste.
• Because of the resting and then adding the lemon juice, the thokku will turn into nice sticky paste.
• Store the thokku in an air tight container.
• You can add the tadka only to a small portion as and when you are using the thokku so that it always tastes fresh and yummy.

ನಾವು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಮಂದಿ...

ನಾವು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರವ್ರು ರೀ, ಉತ್ತರ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಮಂದಿ ಅಲ್ಲ.....
ಬಿಸಲಾಗ ಕೂಡುದಂದ್ರ ನಮ್ ಕಡಿಂದಾಗಂಗಿಲ್ಲ ನೋಡ್ರೆಪಾ.....