Cucumber Kadubu/ Mullusouthe Kottige

This is a traditional Dakshina Kannada breakfast during the cucumber season. The kottige or kadubu can be made with cucumber, bottle gourd, ash gourd, pumpkin, sambar cucumber etc. Usually this will be prepared in the afternoon and served next morning. There are two versions of it, sweet or unsweetened. Here is a recipe without sweet/ jaggery. This will taste heavenly with the aroma of the vegetable (cucumber here) and mild aroma of wilted banana leaf. Try and enjoy this healthy breakfast.

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 40 mins

Serves: 15 medium kadubu

Ingredients:

Dosa Rice – 3 cups

Cucumber chopped (Yellow or green) – 4-5 cups

Salt – to taste

Banana leaves - 15-20

Method:

Wash and soak dosa rice for 4-6 hours. Before grinding rice, get the banana leaves ready. To do so, collect banana leaves; wilt them by keeping over the flame. Wash and clean the wilted leaves. Wipe once with a dry cotton cloth. If you have no banana leaves you can prepare it as idli. Click here for the recipe.

If you are using yellow or ripe cucumber, peel off the skin and core out the seeds. No need of peeling if it is a tender, green cucumber. Just core out the seeds and keep them separate. Chop the cucumbers. Mix a teaspoon of salt to cucumber pieces and keep aside for 5 minutes. Collect its juice by squeezing. Now wash the soaked rice, drain water completely and grind to smooth batter adding required salt and collected cucumber juice and core of cucumber (if using tender cucumber). Mix the chopped cucumber to this batter. Make sure that batter is not runny in order to avoid batter from running out of the leaf. If that happens, add little rice flour to the batter and mix well. Keep water to boil in the traditional steamer (or cooker). 
Process of folding: Now spread each cleaned banana leaf on plain surface. Pour 1- 1½ ladle (depending on the size of the leaf) of batter on centre of each leaf. Spread the batter a bit with the ladle. Fold the banana leaf as shown in the image below.

Place folded kadubus upside down in the steamer leaving small place in the centre for the steam to move around. Steam cook for 30-40 minutes. Do not use weight (Whistle) if using cooker. Once done, allow little cooling. Serve warm with coconut chutney and/or jaggery syrup.