Black Rice Truffles with Coconut Custard ( The Vegan Attakali )

IMP - This is an original recipe created by the blogger and has been published for the first time on Oriyarasoi. 


At times, when I look at food, my thoughts begin to wander far and wide. How would a dish look like if it were to be prepared in a different realm or even in a different era ? That inspires me to take a very mundane everyday dish and give it a makeover. For me a makeover is all about preserving the very soul of a recipe while mutating it into something very different. And that is exactly what I have done with the 'attakali', a traditional Odia dessert. Of course, this recipe is a late Teacher's day tribute to Masterchef Vikas Khanna for it is his show 'Twist of Taste' that really inspires me to take on such mammoth challenges.

For the uninitiated, 'attakali' consists of rice balls immersed in a rice custard (more like a phirni). It is quite low in calories as compared to other desserts and is usually prepared on certain festive days. In my recipe, I have used two varieties of rice. The black or purple rice from Manipur is used to create the rice balls and the sweet smelling Gobindo bhog from Bengal is cooked in coconut milk to create a vegan custard. The nuttiness of the black rice complements the sweetness of the Gobindo bhog to build a unique flavor. This is a vegan version of the 'attakali'.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 40 mins

Ingredients -

For the rice balls -

• 1/2 cup Black (Manipur) rice 
• 3-4 tsp jaggery
• 2 tsp almond paste (optional)
• a pinch of cardamom
• toasted sesame seeds for garnishing

For the coconut custard

• 3 tsp Gobindo bhog rice ( one can use Jeera rice instead ) 
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 2-3 tsp sugar 
• 2 pinch white pepper powder
• toasted charoli seeds

Preparation - Wash and soak the two rice varieties separately . 

Grind the purple rice into a fine paste without using too much water. Add the jaggery and grind it again. Keep aside

Grind the Gobindo bhog rice separately.

Cooking - 

For making the rice balls -

Boil about 1/4 cup water in a wok. 

Add the purple rice and jaggery paste. Cook on low to medium flame as it thickens. 

Once it starts to solidify, add the almond paste and the cardamom powder. Remove from the flame and keep aside it is bearable to touch the dough.

Rub a few drops of oil on the fingers and knead it again. Divide the dough into small portions and shape into balls by rolling between the palms. 

Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on a plate. Roll these balls gently on the seeds.

For the coconut custard -

Bring the coconut milk and sugar to a gentle boil. Add the Gobindo bhog rice paste and keep stirring it till it thickens to a thin custard like consistency. 

Add the powdered white pepper and toasted charoli at this stage. Mix it in. Remove from the flame. Let it cool down before popping it into the fridge for 15 mins.

Serve the rice balls (at room temperature) with a dollop of the chilled coconut-rice custard. 

Note - Want to look up the original 'Attakali' recipe ? Check out HERE.

The Dalma-niac Soup !! ( Traditional Dalma gets a mad makeover )

There are certain days when the 'makeover' madness takes hold of me and just refuses to let go. I try giving a makeover to everything, either living or non-living, that comes within a few feet radius of me. Not everything that is affected by my Midas touch turns out to be gold and I often end up deleting/discarding/reverting my genius stroke. And in the unfortunate event of there being a certain kind of permanency to my spur-of-the-moment actions, I learn to live with the taunts that come my ways for a not so inconsiderable period.

However, this is one of my more successful experiments which helped me banish ( or to be more honest, just reduce ) rice from my diet to a certain extent. For the uninitiated, Dalma is lentils cooked with a medley of veggies, and tempered with red chilis, ghee, cumin and coconut. I have turned this into a full bodied soup that is guaranteed to banish all hunger pangs.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup split yellow moong dal
• 1 tsp arwa/jeera/gobindoghog/basmati rice
• 2 cups mixed veggies ( raw papaya, pumpkin, potato, carrot, tomato/green mango )
• 1/2 tsp roasted cumin-chili powder
• 2-3 tsp coconut milk / freshly grated coconut for the garnish
• 1/2 tsp ghee
• salt to taste
• 1/5 tsp turmeric
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 inch cinnamon
• 2 dry red chili

Preparation - Dry roast lentil and rice till they turn fragrant.

Cooking - Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the broken red chili and spices.

Wash the rice and lentils . Transfer to the same pressure cooker with 2 1/2 cup water. Add the washed veggies, salt and turmeric. Close lid and cook for 2-3 whistles.

Keep aside till steam escapes. Open lid and puree the contents with the help of a hand blender.

Put it back on the flame and add the coconut milk. Let it simmer for 3 mins.

Remove from flame and pour into soup bowls. Garnish with the roasted cumin-chili  powder.

Serve immediately.

Note - Dalma, ghee and arwa chawal is like one sacrosanct trinity and hence I have included all the there elements in the soup. However the other two, i.e., the coconut (sweetness) and cumin-chili powder (pungency) can be omitted (though not recommended) or adjusted as per one's preference.

Fruity Khira ( Ricotta Cheese Pudding with assorted fruits )

Easter is around the corner and a lot of folks would be meticulously working on a mouth watering spread for that special lunch /dinner with friends and family. While there are a lot of traditional favorites for the occasion, an unusual dish is always a welcome addition to the menu. Leave aside the usual puddings and cakes for something wonderfully delightful. A pudding made with ricotta cheese and served with assorted seasonal fruits can add zing to even the most boring conversations that sometime follow a lunch or dinner!!

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time -

Ingredients -

• 1.5 litres whole milk ( or 1 liter milk and 2/3 cup Ricotta cheese )
• 1/2 cup condensed milk
• 7-8 cashews
• 2 tbsp pistachio flakes
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1-2 tbsp sugar
• a pinch of saffron 
• 1/2 tsp ghee/clarified butter
• 2 cups assorted fruits ( Fig, Kiwi, Apple, Pineapple, Watermelon, Grapes )

Preparation - Dilute the vinegar with 2 tbsp water.

Cooking - Boil 1/2 litre of milk in a pan. When it comes to full boil, add the diluted vinegar. Boil for another 4-5 minutes so that the chenna/ricotta cheese ( solid portion of the milk) clearly separates from the remaining liquid. Drain the liquid. Wash the chenna/ricotta cheese under running water to remove traces of vinegar. Squeeze out the remaining liquid from the chenna/ricotta cheese. Allow it to cool down.

Heat a little ghee on a pan. Fry the cashews to a golden shade. Remove from pan and keep aside.
Add the pistachio flakes to the same pan and lightly fry for 30 seconds. Remove from pan.

Cooking: Heat a thick bottomed wok. Add the remaining milk and bring to a boil. Allow it to reduce to half the original volume.

Then add condensed milk, saffron strands, sugar and fried cashews. Let it simmer for 10 mins before you add the chenna/ricotta cheese.

Keep stirring at regular intervals till the mixture becomes thick ( 'rabdi' like consistency ), Add the pistachio flakes, remove from the flame and keep aside.

Allow it to chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before serving.

Take the chopped fruits in a bowl and drizzle the khira/ricotta cheese pudding generously all over it. Dig in !!!

Note - Khira is traditionally prepared as a offering in the Puri Jaganaath Temple of Odisha. 

Eggplant Yogurt Salad ( Dahi Baigana in a new avatar )

As part of the food makeover series, I have picked up the mundane 'Dahi baigana', a delicious raita made with deep fried aubergines/eggplant . For this particular recipe, I had a twin agenda in mind. The first requirement was to reduce the number of calories. So instead of deep frying, I chose to bake the eggplant. But with an unscheduled power-cut throwing my plans out of gear, I decided to roast them on the non-stick tawa/frying pan instead. Used an oil-spray instead of using regular oil.

To give it a pretty look, I replaced the curd with thick yogurt and made it into a salad. Along with a few pomegranate seeds thrown in for the garnish (they do add a nice sweetness when you bite in), one can use some fresh herbs to add that extra zing to this dish. I used cilantro but it tastes equally good with basil/mint/parsley.

Preparation Time - 15 mins

Ingredients - 7-8 thin slices of eggplant, 3/4 cup thick yogurt, salt to taste, oil spray/1 tsp olive oil.

For tempering - 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 sprig curry leaves, 1 dry red chilli, a pinch of asafoetida, 1 1/2 tsp oil ( i used rice bran oil ).

For garnish - handful of pomegranate seeds, 1 tsp chopped cilantro, 1/3 tsp roasted cumin-chilli (jeera-lanka) gunda.


Preparation - Rub a little salt over the eggplant slices and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a tempering pan. Add the seeds along with broken chilli. Just as they start popping, add curry leaves and asafoetida. Switch off flame immediately and cover the pan with a lid.

Take the yogurt in a bowl. Add the salt and whisk gently. Strain the contents of the tempering pan when cool and add to the mixing bowl ( we will just be using the oil which has absorbed all the flavors of the tempering and leave out those offending bits ). Mix well.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.

Dry the eggplant slices with a paper towel and brush a little oil on them. Place a foil on the baking tray and place eggplant slices on it. Cook at 200 degrees Centigrade for 2-3  minutes on each side. ( Else spray on some non-stick oil on a pan and roast the slices for 2 minutes on each side. )

Arrange the roasted slices on a platter. Pour the tempered yogurt over it. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds and chopped cilantro. Finally add the roasted cumin-chilli powder.

Serve as a salad.

Note - I quite liked this makeover as it actually captures the essence of the original recipe (like the use of tempering, addition of the jeera lanka gunda and the use of pomegranate seeds instead of sugar for adding sweetness). Let me know what you think about it.