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.

Lemon buying strategy

Got this tip from from my grandmother...

Sometimes we realize that the lemons we get are very sour. So how do you avoid gettin' the sour lemons!?

Make sure the lemons are nice and round. There must not be any tiny bulb like projections in the lemon. They are the ones that tastes sour!

Receipe 20: Coconut Rice (Thenga Saadam)

Like mango rice, this is also very simple to make and one of the yummy tasting mixed rice varieties. If you have ever been to Adyar grand sweets in Besant nagar, they give this in the "olai bowl" in the afternoon with crushed appalam. (Its free ofcourse). I have actually been there many times just to get this. Used to get 2 or 3 bowls to take home and eat.. !! Miss that a lot!

What you need?

Coconut
Channa Dal - 1 spoon
Urud Dal - 1 spoon
red chillies
curry leaves
green chillies
cashews
mustard
gingelly oil
Asofetida

Le Method:

Grate the coconut and fry till pale golden brown with one or 2 spoons of oil. Take 2 spoons of gingelly oil and heat it. Add the mustard, channa and urud dal, asofetida, chillies, curry leaves. Add this to the fried coconut. Fry some cashews in ghee (optional but recommended :D).

Finally add this mixture to the hot boiled rice. Add some salt to taste. Garnish it with coriander leaves (finely cut).
Tastes yummiest with appalam.

Receipe 19: Raw Mango rice

Its a seasonal receipe.. but when in season, a must try!

What you need?

Raw Mango
Salt
Turmeric Powder
Asofetida Powder
Mustard
Urud Dal - 1 spoon
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
chillies -1
Cashews (Optional)

Le Method:

Grate the mangoes and keep it aside. Heat some oil in the pan and add the mustard, urud dal, asofetida and turmeric powder. Add some green chillies and curry leaves.
Add this to the grated mango. Mix it.

Finally add this to hot boiled rice. Add some salt to taste and chilli powder if you want. Mix it well and garnish it with coriander leaves.

Measurements for Sakkarai Pongal

I have already blogged the receipe for sakkarai pongal. But it was not complete and i had not mentioned the proper measures.

Raw rice - 1 tumbler
Moong dal - Quarter tumbler
Channa Dal - 2 spoons

So when you combine the measure of all this (1 + 1/4 + 2 spoons = approx 1&1/2 tumbler)
you get one and half tumbler of dals and rice. You need to take the same amount of jaggery (one and half tumbler)

Also make sure that the rice and dal is cooked well before you add it into jaggery. This is because nothing will get cooked (boiled) in jaggery.

When you boil the rice and dal with water..instead of boiling them in water, you can cook them in half water - half milk.

You can also add grated coconut for enriching the taste.

Receipe 18: Curry Leaves Thokku (Karuvepalai Thokku)

This dish makes an awesome side dish for curd rice. You can use it with dosas and idlis also mix it with hot rice and ghee with appalam. :)

What you need?

Curry leaves
Tamarind - in a size of lemon..
Gingelly oil
Mustard
Turmeric Powder
Fenugreek powder (Vendiyam)
Asofetida powder
Salt

Le Method:

Wash the curry leaves and let it dry nicely. Soak the tamarind in hot water for sometime. Squeeze it to get the tamarind water. Add the curry leaves to this tamarind water and grind it nicely in a mixie.
Heat about 2 teaspoons of gingelly oil (not sunflower oil) and add the mustard, fenugreek, asofetida, turmeric powder. Add the grounded curry leaves mixture to this and start mixing it slowly. Keep the flame in sim. Make sure you don't burn it. Add the chilli powder (depends on how spicy you want) and salt to taste.. Mix it well and turn off the gas.

Viola!

Note: You can follow the same procedure for making onion/capsicum/tomato thokku.

Receipe 17: Mor Kozhambu

This receipe is what i got from my paati and probably the tamilnadu style. I did get to know how the mallus make it. I am particularly a big fan of mor Kozhambu that my ex-roommate Devika used to get from palakkad. It used to be amazingly yum and refreshing.. The mallu way of making is the same except that they don't use the dal that i have mentioned in this receipe and add ulli (small onions).

What you need?

Coconut - half
Ginger (a small piece)
Green Chilly - 1
Red chilli - 1
Kadalai Paruppu (Channa Dal) - 1 Spoon
Toor Dal - 1 Spoon
Jeera - 1 Spoon
Mustard
Curry Leaves
Coconut Oil - 1 or 2 spoons
Turmeric powder
Sour Curd - 2 tumblers
Coriander
Salt to taste
Asofetida

and...

one of the following vegetables

Ladies Finger ( I love this combination)

Cut the ladies finger and fry it in a pan with 2 teaspoon of oil with a little salt.

Drum Stick
Brinjal (the green ones)
Carrot
White Pumpkin

For all these vegetables, you need to cut and boil it.

Le Method:

Grate the coconut and keep it aside. Soak ginger, green chillie,red chillie, jeera, mustard in some water for an hour. Then grind this soaked mixture and grated coconut in mixie. Add this to the sour curd. Add turmeric powder, finely cut coriander leaves, curry leaves and sprinkle asofetida.

Next heat the stove and slowly start mixing. Add the vegetable to this. When you see bubbles are starting to erupt, switch off. Make sure you keep the flame always in SIM mode when making this receipe.

Note: Never, ever, ever boil mor Kozhambu..

Finally after half an hour or so..add 2 teaspoons of coconut oil. It tastes awesome when you pour coconut oil wen its cold..so avoid pouring it as soon as you take it out from the stove. Don't forget to season it with mustards!

Back ! ...

I know there has been a long hiatus. I wouldn't say i had been busy with work or violin or anything. Its cuz i was lazy. Really lazy!
Infact i did no cooking last 2 weeks or so and had comfortably shifted back to McD, pizza hut and Pongal..! But finally I am at Coimbatore..with paati..so got inspiration back.. lets see if it lasts longer this time..

2 weeks back, made an attempt to make cake with Sherin..it was a disaster. cough. Nevertless, we still relished it. There is no hard and fast rule cake should be in a circular shape..Ours was in a scrambled style..so we could have called it "Scrambled Cake".

Ah..!Let me stop digressing and get on with the target. I have Shwetha to help me reach the target as co-author! So that boosts my inspiration meter. so lets fetch the apron and start again.