'Gudbud'!                             
Gudbud is the most popular ice-cream in Mangalore city. You can ask anybody about this!

Mangalore’s most popular ice-cream is a mix-and-match flavour called Gadbad. In a tall glass, one layer of kesar ice-cream, a thin layer of jelly, some dry-fruits, then strawberry ice-cream, fresh fruits and vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy this splendid fusion only at Ideal Cream Parlour,Hampankatta and Pubbas, Lalbagh.

Forget Idli-Sambar, Have Moode and  Padange!

Forget Idli-sambar at least when you are in Mangalore city. Idli-Sambar, Masala Dosai, Wada, these can be had in Udipi restaurants all over the country and even at small stalls on railway stations run by smiling Mangaloreans. When you are in Mangalore, you have Moode and Padange for breakfast. It is the done thing.

Moode is the Idli batter of rice and urad dal that is steamed in conically-shaped banana leaves and served with red tomato and chilli chutneys, white coconut as well as green mint chutneys. You may also dip the moode in sambar and have, as you would an Idli. The Moode is cooked in a tray-like apparatus. But a pressure cooker works just as well. And Padange is a sprouted green gram dish cooked like a gassi with thick coconut milk.  

The Idli batter is naturally fermented by grinding rice and urad dal and keeping it overnight. No yeast is added. When this batter is fermented with fresh toddy, the Idli comes out lighter and more fluffy when steamed. Plus, they have a slightly sour taste of toddy. These are called Sannas by Mangaloreans.

 The same Idli batter when steamed in jackfruit leaves is called Kottige. The Kottige flavour is stronger than that of the Moode, and it is a popular dish on Mangalorean breakfasts. Breakfast is complete with Aapams or Semige. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Semige is known as Idiappam. Or string hoppers. It is, again, made of rice. Rice is the staple diet of the people of the South. Aapams and Semige are had with vegetable gassi or with coconut milk and sugar.  

And finish the breakfast with coffee, filter, naturally served in steel tumbler (Lota)

There is an old Mangalorean saying: you cannot come to this city and go away without eating and taking along a kilo each of Halwa from Taj Mahal or Komals. This is true even today.

The halwas (of wheat, Guava, Banana) are made in pure ghee.

Fish, of course, is the staple diet of Mangalore especially Kane (lady fish) to really appreciate this delicacy when it is cooked as a gassi or fried with rawa and masala and served before you.

Palm jaggery is like sugarcane jaggery, only it is healthier, and the chosen one in Mangalore.
Palm jaggery is darker and richer in colour, it is somewhat salty in content, and it is certainly the healthier food. It is an extract of the palm tree, a juice, just as toddy is the palm tree’s sap.

 It is the first extract of the palm juice. The juice is boiled, a little salt is added to it to act as a preservative, and so that the jaggery does not taste too sweet. And then it is cooled and poured into a long cone made of palm leaves.

 The cone is then wrapped in rice straws and preserved. At the time of use, the cone is finely sliced, so that the jaggery is cut into a disc with a palm ribbon around the edge. Some families dry the palm juice on mats. Others on lime floors called kobas. The drying process over, the jaggery is stored in an air-tight container which preserves it easily for up to a year.  

Trade mark of Bunt community. The kori rotti is papad like, crackling dry bread made from rice flakes. One dips the uneven bits of this rotti into the curry whereupon the bread goes limp. The fun is to tuck in while some of the crispness can be still felt in your mouth.

How to make?