Chettinadu style Poondu - chinna vengaya kara kozhambhu (Garlic and Shallots in a tangy gravy)

Ingredients

Set -1

Chillis - 2 nos.
Black pepper - 1 spoon
Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Channa dhal - 1 spoon
Corriander seeds - 1 spoon
2-3 pods of garlic

Set - 2

Coconut - 2 tablespoons
Tomato - 1 medium sized

Set - 3

Garlic - 10-15 pods ( depending on the pungency)
Shallots - 10-15
Tamarind - lemon sized
Sambhar powder - 2 tea spoons
Turmeric powder - 1 tea spoon
Mustard Seeds
Channa dhal
Curry leaves
Asafoetida
Gingely oil
Handful of groundnuts (optional)
Jaggery - a small spoon
Salt to taste

Method

Gently fry the ingredients in set 1 . Add a little water grind them into a paste. Grind the ingredients in set - 2 without frying into a paste and keep both these aside. Soak the tamarind in water and make a thick extract out of it.

In a pan add some oil and crackle the mustard seeds . Add cury leaves, Channa dhal and the groundnuts and fry them for a bit. Add the garlic , small onions and fry them for a bit. Add some water for the garlic to get cooked. Once the garlic is cooked, add the tamarind water, sambhar powder, turmeric powder, salt,asafoetida and cook till the raw smell of tamarind goes. Now add both the pastes , required salt and let it cook together till the raw smell of the tomato, coconut and the paste goes. If the consistency is too thin, mix a tablespoon of rice floor in a couple of spoons of water and add to the gravy. This thickens it a bit. Bring everything to a boil and this is ready to be served with hot rice or dhosas!

Rasavaangi

Rasavangi

This is a nice and simple variation of the normal tamarind based gravy that finds its way in a everyday South Indian cooking. It goes well with rice . And tastes the best with fresh hot dosas.

Ingredients

Chickpeas - Channa - 1 cup. Soaked overnight and pressure cooked.

Brinjal - 2 chopped into medium sized cubes.

Asafoetida

Mustard seeds

Curry leaves

Tamarind.

Gingely oil

Salt to taste.

Shallots (small onions) - Optional

To grind

Channa dhal

Corriander seeds

Red chillies

Coconut ( optional )

Method

In a pan, with a little oil fry the corriander seeds, chillies and channa dhal till they turn brown .Make sure you keep stirring them continuosly lest they get burnt. Cool it , Grind and keep aside.

Add some oil in the pan, crack the mustard seeds, and add the curry leaves, asafetedia. Add the onions at this stage if you are adding them and fry till they are golden brown. Add the brinjal and fry them till they are cooked i.e the color of the skin changes. Add the tamarind water and bring it to a boil till the kacha smell of tamarind goes off. Now add the ground mixture and bring it to a boil. In the end add the boiled chickpeas and bring the whole thing to a boil. Garnish with corriander leaves and it is ready to be served.

P.S -

• You can add freshly grated coconut to it if you like the taste. This method is healthier than using coconut as a ground paste.
• It is a fairly thick dish and be careful with the water. You can mix a spoon of any flour ( corn or rice) in water and mix with the gravy. This thickens it.
• The brinjal can be replaced with any other vegetable like bitter guard.

Bon Appetit !

Receipe 23: Murukku / Mullu Murukku / Magizhamboo

Thanks to my chitti for passing on this receipe.. I am planning to try it this weekend!

What you need?

Kadalai paruppu - 1 cup
Payaththam paruppu - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 cups (store-bought will do)

Salt

Chilli powder
Asafoetida
Butter about 60 grams, or, if you buy quarter-kg packet, take one-fourth of it.
Oil to fry
Seeragam seeds - a couple of tsps (optional)

Frying pan
Murukku kozhal with star-shaped hole(s).

Le Method:

Roast the kadalai paruppu and payaththam paruppu separately till light brown.
Kadalai paruppu takes longer to roast and that is why it needs to be roasted separately.

Grind them into fine powder. Can be ground separately or together.

Mix 2 cups of rice flour with 1 cup of this paruppu flour.

Add butter to this mix. Don't melt the butter, the heat from our hands is enough to soften it and to get it to mix with the flour.

Add seeragam seeds if you like the taste and flavour of fried seeragam. It is also good for digestion.

Dissolve salt, chilli powder and asafoetida in about half a cup of water.

Heat oil in the frying pan.

As the oil is getting heated, add the spiced-up water to the flour and make it into dough. More fresh water can be added as needed to make the dough.

If you are making in large quantity, dough should be made in instalments so that the flour doesn't sit soaked in water for a long time. Murukku will come out darker in colour if the dough is let sitting for a long time.

Everything is ready to start the frying. Put the dough into the murukku press and press it into the hot oil, deep fry it and enjoy!

NOTE:

There are many variantions that can be attempted depending on individual preferences.

1. Instead of frying and grinding the paruppus, kadalai maavu (store-bought) can be used. This will come in handy if time is a constraint. Fresh-ground paruppu flour always tastes better.

2. Kadalai paruppu can be completely eliminated and replaced with payaththam paruppu.

3. Instead of using equal quantities of the 2 paruppus, you can reduce or increase one of them and adjust the other.

4. If butter is not readily available, ghee can be used, but, butter provides the softness to murukku especially for aging teeth. Ghee doesn't do this.
5. Adding more or less of butter determines how soft the murukku will be. Too much butter will make the dough to dissolve in oil and murukku will loose it's crispiness.

Paruppu Usili

Paruppu usili is one of the dishes that ensured that the TamBrahms got their share of proteins in their regular meals. It is a combination of lentils and vegetables cooked to perfection and served as an accompaniment to hot rice and some kozhambhu.

Ingredients

1. Channa dhal ( kadala paruppu) 1/2 cup
2. Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
3. Red Chillis - 6-8
4. Choice of vegetable - Any vegetable of your choice. The traditional ones are beans, split beans ( kothavaranga) , banana flower ( vazhapoo) .
   
5. Mustard seeds
6. Curry leaves
7. Asataefodia - a pinch
8. Turmeric powder
9. Salt to taste

Procedure

Soak the dhals in about 2 cups of water ( double the quantity of the dhals) along with the chillies and a pich of asafoetida for about an hour. Do not soak it too much as it will become a gooey mass and will not give a coarse texture ground. Try breaking the dhal with your hand and if it breaks then it is soaked enough. Remove the excess water from the dhals and grind it into a coarse paste in the mixture. Add a little salt to this mixture, make small balls out of it and steam them for about ten minutes in the Idly cooker. Cool it after it is cooked and scramble them into small pieces with the hand . You can even put it back in the mixture to break them.

Heat some oil in a kadai. Add mustard, curry leaves, asafoetida and let it crackle. Add the vegetable and cook it till the vegetable is done. Add the dhal mixture to it and mix it throoughly. Check for chilli and salt and add plain chilli powder if required. Cook everything for about 5 -7 minutes and the paruppu usili is ready to serve

It is generally served with a kozhambhu that does not have dhal in it lest one gets gastric problems. It goes well with Mor Kozhambhu, Vatha kozhambhu and rasam. But the simplest and the best way to eat it is with steaming hot rice and a dollop of ghee added to it

Variations

• One can experiment with the vegetables that go with the usili. Capcicum, cabbage, brocolli, carrot and the list is endless. Even a mixture of these vegetables would be good.
• Before adding the vegetables, you can also add some ginger, garlic, onions and tomato. Dhal with this will make an interesting side dish for rotis, phulkas , dhosas etc. You can even add a bring a thick paste of tamarind to boil, if you do not like it very dry.
• Can retain some of the dhal after it is ground and before steamed. Add a finely chopped onion , green chilies, curry leaves, some saunf (optional) , ginger and garlic (optional) , corn flour / rice flour if the mixture is too watery. Fry them into small masala vadas.
• The dhal be refrigerated and can make usili in a jiffy on a later date. When making upma with vermicelli, rava, puffed rice (aval) or if there is left over rice, you can add the to it and let it cook along with the main ingredient. Tastes different and would make a whole meal in itself.

Receipe 22: Vathakozhambu

I tried this almost 3 months back.. it came out pretty well except it turned out to be a bit too sweet. I tried it with sweet potatoes.. and when i added sugar..it turned out to be more sweet! sigh. I would not say it is very simple to make this. It requires some patience and calm mind :P and soon you will be conjurin' up delicious vathakozhambu..!

What you need?

Vegetables (Choose one from the list)

Sweet potatoes
Lady's Finger
Onion
Drum Stick
Red Pumpkin
Brinjal

If you go for either lady's finger or brinjal, you need to fry them before adding it to the vathakozhambu. For the rest of the vegetables, boil them and keep aside.

You also need-

Channa dal - 1/2 spoon
Urud dal - 1/2 spoon
Toor dal - 1/2 spoon
Tamarind - Lemon size
Mustard
Salt
Asofetida
Curry Leaves
Jaggery/Sugar
Corn flour/Rice flour
Red chillies - 3 or 4
Gingelly oil
Turmeric powder
Sambar powder

Le Method:

Don't forget to first cook the vegetable and have it ready. Next soak the tamarind in nice hot water for a few minutes. Since tamarind water is the main source for vathakozhambu, soak it in about 2 tumblers of water. Filter and keep the tamarind water aside.

Heat 4 or 5 teaspoons of oil in a kadai and add mustard, red chillies, asofetida and all the 3 dal's and fry them slightly till pale golden brown. It is safe to fry them in low flame. We don't want to crack burnt black dals in our mouth! Add the cooked vegetables to this mixture and start stirring.

Pour the tamarind water to the kadai. (Pour it in low flame, else you will land up choking and gasping for fresh air!).

Next, add some turmeric powder and one spoon of sambar powder to it. Also add curry leaves and salt taste and bring it to boil.

Note: If you feel that it is very 'liquidy', add some corn flour/rice flour to it. It will make it nice and thick.

As a last step, add a little jaggery/sugar. Do not add loads of it.. else you will land up with a sweet kozhambu.

Phew! We have made it!

Receipe 21: Avial

I had meant to blog this receipe for a looong time! So finally learnt to make it. I go every monday to mallu mess near my office for lunch just for the great avial they conjure. Pongal also has adai avial sometimes.. I like their avial but the adai sucks there. I will soon blog the receipe for adai. It is damn simple to make. So lets get on with the making of avial.

What you need?

Vegetables ( get whatever is available from this list)

Taro Root (Chepankizhangu)
potatoes
yam
sweet potaotoes
vazhakai (plantain/ raw banana)
white pumpkin
drum stick
carrot
beans
green peas

Cook the vegetables well and have them ready.

Coconut- 1
Jeera - 2 spoons
Green chillies - 2
Red chilli - 1
Salt
Slightly sour curd - 2 tumblers (Make sure its thick)

Le Method:

Grate the coconut and grind it along with jeera and chillies in a mixie. Add this grounded mixture to the curd. Add the boiled vegetables to this. ( Do not add the vegetables along with the water you had used to cook it. Drain them.). Add some curry leaves and heat it in low flame.
Do not boil it. Add some salt to taste. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Finally add 2 or 3 teaspoons of coconut oil to the avial. Thats it. As simple as that!

Potatoes buying strategy

Always pick the potatoes where you can see the potato skin layers rolled up/kind of peeled. They basically have couple of layers of outer skin. Most of the times they will look muddy. They are the fresh potatoes.