Karnataka Thali

After the Goan Thali last weekend that had Vikram doing a lot of the cooking, it was my turn to be head chef this weekend. Since the festive days for Dussera have begun and we tend to go vegetarian till Durga Puja, this weekend we decided to cook a vegetarian thali from the state of Karnataka. This state is extra special for us. Mysuru is where Vikram studied Engineering. Benguluru is where I grew up for most of my formative years. It’s also the city where we both started working and where we met each other. Needless to say, there were a lot of walks down memory lane this weekend as well. It’s amazing how food can trigger memories that were dormant in our brains for so long!! While these dishes were definitely not new to us, a big shout out to our friends Soumya and Kalyan who helped plan the menu out with us.

The Karnataka thalis that I remember eating in weddings on a banana leaf, normally included salt, pickle, papad, Kosambari (salad), Palya (dry vegetable side-dish), Gojju (vegetable cooked in tamarind juice), Huli (thick lentils dish), Saaru (a soupy lentils dish), a mixed rice dish (like Chitranna), plain rice, ghee and a sweet dish. We tried to replicate most of the dishes in our thali and even threw in an extra appetizer to the menu because ………. wait for it ………we wanted to and we could!! :-)

Mysore Pak (Link to recipe)

While we have eaten Mysore Pak innumerable times in Karnataka, I associate this dish with my Nannamma (grand-mom). I remember seeing her preparing this dish for us kids in the hot summer afternoons in Machilipatnam and I can still feel the impatience we felt then, waiting for the sweet to set before she would cut the rectangular pieces out for us to eat. It’s up for debate whether the right way to make Mysore Pak is to make it crunchy or soft and that debate happened in our house as well. Happy to report that I won that debate and Vikram did end up making this dish crunchy (albeit inadvertently), just the way Nannamma made it. Thanks Vikram :-)

Set Dosa (Link to recipe)

We used up our creative license card to include this dish into the Thali as an appetizer. While not a usual item you will encounter in a Kannadiga Thali, we just had to try our hand at making this dish. These spongy dosas are normally served as a set of three with Sagu (potato curry). Our first time attempt at making these tasted way better than they look in this picture. But I had to take a quick picture before they disappeared completely into our daughter’s tummy!!

Aloo Sagu (Link to recipe)

The perfect accompaniment to the Set Dosa, this dish is a light gravy dish made with potatoes and besan.

Hesaru bele carrot kosambari (Link to recipe)

This is a light salad made out of grated carrots and lentils (moong dal). The addition of grated coconut, lemon and green chillies greatly enhance the flavors of this dish. Talking about dormant memories, I had forgotten how tasty and healthy this dish is and will need to add it to my list of go-to lunch salads.

Vangi Baath (Link to recipe)

The toughest part of coming up with this weekend’s menu was to decide between Bisi Bele Baath (Lentils Rice), Chitranna (Lemon Rice) and Vaangi Baath (Eggplant Rice). I still have pangs of remorse for not choosing Bisi Bele Baath!! This Vangi Baath dish is a common staple in our home. Quick to make once you have the batch of the spice powder prepared, this spicy rice dish is just perfect. Don’t forget to add in the Papads and yogurt to go with it.

Kesuvina Gadde Palya - (Link to recipe)

We decided to make a palya with Arbi (Taro Root) instead of the more common beans or carrot palya and we were pleasantly surprised. Not sure how authentic this dish was but it was lip-smacking good!!

Sutta Badanekayi Gojju (Link to recipe)

And here it is folks - another variation of the eggplant bharta - this dish included tamarind and jaggery and was very tasty.

Southekayi Hasi Majjige Huli (Link to recipe)

This was a very interesting recipe of a cucumber raita that also included coconut, green chillies, cilantro and fried bengal gram dal. The surprising ingredient was fried fenugreek seeds. This dish is normally eaten as an accompaniment to Nucchina Unde (Steamed Lentil Dumplings) which we didn’t get a chance to make. But we will need to make both these dishes together and try it.

Beans Huli (Link to recipe)

An Udupi style sambhar, this dish is all about the freshly made Sambhar powder, tamarind, coconut and jaggery!! Highly recommend this recipe if you are looking for a different way to cook lentils.

Udupi Saaru (Link to recipe)

This dish differs from the Rasam from Tamil Nadu and the Charu from Andhra Pradesh by the amount of red chillies added to the Saaru Powder that gives it a rich red color, the grated coconut and jaggery added to the dish. A hot bowl of this Saaru can brighten up anyone’s day!!

We had a lot of fun cooking up this Karnataka Thali as part of our weekend thali project. Hopefully we have done justice to all the great food and memories that the state of Karnataka has given us. Can’t believe that with this post we have completed Thalis from 9 states. We plan to celebrate Durga Puja next weekend and our 10th Indian state thali with something special so keep watching this space!!