Recipe: Cabbage Thoran

Thoran comprises stir fried vegetables garnished with coconut and green chillies. They are very easy and simple to prepare and delicious. Thorans are served as side dishes. Thorans can be prepared with a single vegetable like cabbage, carrot, beet root, beans, etc. or as a combination of 2 or 3 vegetables. Sometimes boiled toor dal is added to the thoran, which gives it added flavour.

Ingredients:

Cabbage chopped very fine: 2 cups
oil : 1 tbsp.
mustard : 1 tsp.
urad dal : 1 tsp.
Red chillies :1 no.
Curry leaves : few
Grated coconut : 2 tbsp.
Green chillies : 1 no.
Ginger : 1 small piece
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Salt : to taste
Hing powder : a pinch

Method


Wash the chopped cabbage. Heat oil in a wide pan. When oil is hot, add the hing powder and mustard. When the mustard stops spluttering, add the urad dal and red chillies broken into small pieces. When the urad dal turns light pink in color add the curry leaves. Add the cabbage, mustard powder and salt. Stir well and cook closed, at low heat. Stir in between.

Grind the grated coconut, green chillies and ginger coarsely.

When the vegetable is cooked, add the ground coconut. Stir well and remove from stove.

Cabbage thoran is ready!

Cabbage thoran is good side dish for rice and sambar, rotis, chappathis, dosa, etc.

Recipe: Vendakkai Pachadi (lady's fingers (okra) in tamarind gravy)

Pachadi means different things in different south indian languages. In Telugu Pachadi refers to all pickles. In Tamil, pachadi means fresh grated/cut or stir fried vegetables in curds seasoned with salt and the spices(the name for the same dish in Kerala is thayir pachadi or kichadi and in Karnataka it is known as Masuru Bajji).The Kerala Pachadi is vegetables in tamarind gravy, except in the case of Manga pachadi, where tamarind is not used. This dish is unique to Kerala.

Pachadis are prepared with lady's fingers, kanivellarikka, red pumpkin, brinjal, mango(raw and ripe,) ripe jackfruits, etc. The vegetables are cooked in tamarind syrup and a ground mixture of coconut, green chillies and mustard is added to it. The ground mustard seeds give a special flavour to the dish. This dish is a requirement in all the feasts. The feast menus (Sadhya vattam) usually start with, pachadi, kichadi, kari,....

Pachadis are usually served as a side dish. At home, pachadi is served as a main dish with a stir fried vegetable (mezhukkuvaratti) as a side dish. Pachadi prepared with kanivellarikka is very popular with hubby dear.

On to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Ladys fingers(okra): 250 gms
grated coconut: 1 cup
green chillies: 3 or 4
mustard: 1 tsp.
tamarind: size of a small lemon
turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
jaggery: 1 tbsp.(according to taste)
salt: according to taste

for tempering:
oil: 2tsp.
mustard : 1 tsp
red chillies: 1 or 2
curry leaves: 1 sprig

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of warm water.Wash and cut the lady's fingers into 1"
long pieces. Squeeze the tamarind and strain the pulp. Boil the tamarind pulp with 2 cups of water.When the tamarind syrup starts boiling, add the cut vegetables. Add turmeric powder and salt, allow the vegetable to cook.

Grind the coconut,green chillies and mustard to a fine paste.

When the vegetables are cooked, add the jaggery and ground paste. Allow to boil. Switch off the stove.

Heat the oil in a pan. When the oil starts smoking, add the mustard and red chillies broken to small pieces. When the mustard stops spluttering, remove from heat, add curry leaves and pour over the pachadi.

If pachadi is used as side dish, the consistency should be thick (dropping consistency). If it is used as the main dish(for mixing with rice) then it should be of pouring consistency.

Pachadi is an excellent side dish for all types of molakoottals.

njoy!

Recipe: Pacha Kadugumanga

Pacha Kadugumanga is also a unique dish of Kerala and goes well with rice, idli, dosa, kozhukkattai or chapathi. This is a good combination to go with any type of molakoottal. As the name suggests, this dish is made with pachamanga (raw mango). Mixed with cool curds and seasoned with green chillies and mustard, this dish tastes simply superb on hot summer days. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Raw mango (big) : 1
Grated Coconut: 1 cup
Green chillies : 3 or 4
Mustard : 2 tsp.

Fresh beaten curds: 1 cup
Oil: 2 tsp.
Urad dal: 1 tsp.
Curry leaves: few
Salt to taste
Sugar : 1tsp (Optional)

Method:
Wash and cut the mango into small pieces as in manga curry. Grind the grated coconut with the green chillies and 1 tsp mustard and salt to a smooth paste. Instead of water, add a little beaten curds for easy grinding. Mix the mango pieces and ground coconut paste and sugar to the curds and mix well.

Heat the oil. Add the remaining mustard. When the mustard splutters add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns pinkish, add the curry leaves and pour the tempering to the prepared dish.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Manga Curry

This is a pickle which is made in small quantities more often during the mango season as this pickle does not keep well for long. Whenever a fresh lot of mangoes is brought home, one bottle of manga curry is made which will soon disappear.

Ingredients:
Big raw mango cut into tiny pieces: 5 measures
Salt powder: 1 measure
Chilli powder: 1 measure
Hing: a small piece
Methi seeds: 1 tsp.
Gingelly oil: 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.

Method:
Heat ½ tsp of oil and fry the hing and methi seeds. Cool and powder.
Wash and dry the mangoes and cut into small pieces. Add the salt, chilli powder, and the methi and hing powder. Mix well. Heat the remaining oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add to the pickle. This will be ready to use in 2 hours. This pickle will keep fresh longer under refrigeration.

Recipe: Kadugumanga, Kannimanga

I hope to give all the recipes of the mango preparations listed in my previous post. We shall start with Kadugumanga and Kannimanga. Kadugumanga is the favorite pickle of all Keralites. It is also healthy as it is an oil free pickle which keeps well for up to 2 years.

While we were strolling inside the colony where we live, I noticed that the mango tree in the next compound had lots of small mangoes. Now this house had been lying vacant for more than a year and nobody ever goes near this house. That is when I remembered the mangoes my son’s assistant had brought for Aavakkaya last year. I called him and asked him to get me some small mangoes from the same tree. He came back and said, “mummyji, they are too tiny.” I asked him to bring them all the same. He just could not understand what I would do with such tiny mangoes. He brought a handful of small mangoes and said apologetically, “they are too small, mummyji.” I jumped at the correct size of mangoes for kadugumanga, which I have not prepared for quite sometime now and asked him to bring more. The next day he brought more of them and I got into kadugumanga preparation. Though it is a strenuous job, years of watching my mother and grandma preparing kadugumanga at home in huge quantities helped. When the mango season arrived there was a festival atmosphere at home, especially for children. Since these would be the season’s earliest mangoes, we would go on eating although they were very acidic and our teeth would become so sensitive we were unable to eat anything else for a few days afterwards. These fresh mangoes also secrete a resin where it is attached to the stalk and this burns the corners of the mouth if the mangoes are not washed properly before eating and many children would sport this scar at the corners of their mouth. Since there was no powdered salt available those days, salt for the pickle was prepared by boiling crystallized salt in large quantities of water and straining the solution to remove the impurities and then evaporating the solution to get salt grains. Chilli powder was prepared at home. The maid pounded them in the stone mortar in a separate building in our yard called Rendankattu or second part of the house which was a little away from the main house and also housed the cattle. We children were not allowed to go there when chilli was pounded as the pungent chilli dust would burn the skin. Still we managed to peep in to see the blood red chilli powder. “Get away children,” the maid would shout at us. The maid would get one cup full of gingelly oil for an oil bath after this task to remove the effects of all the chilli dust she had to suffer.

Kadugumanga and Kannimanga are the earliest preparations one can make at the start of the season. The mangoes should have just come out of the blossoms and started taking shape. They could be as tiny as one can possibly get. Kadugumanga and Kannimanga are listed together because the initial process for both preparations is done together. To make it easy, I am giving below the measurements by volume. Once the ingredients are assembled the process itself is very easy. At home kadugumanga was prepared in large porcelain jars as the quantity of kadugumanaga prepared was some 20kgs or more. While preparing smaller quantities any glass jar would do.

Ingredients:

Tiny mangoes: 6 measures
Salt: One measure
Good quality chilli powder: 1 measure
Mustard powder: 1/8 measure

Wash the mangoes thoroughly and spread on a clean cloth to remove all the moisture. Put the mangoes and salt in layers in a jar and keep aside. Keep stirring the mangoes every day. By the second day, water would have started oozing out of the mangoes. Keep stirring daily until the water level reaches above the mangoes. Take this water and mix in the chilli powder and mustard powder in clean bowl and add to the salted mangoes. Keep the jar covered air tight and keep in a cool dark place. Keep stirring every day for another week. The pickle will be ready to use in a week.

Kannimanga Or Uppumanga


As the name suggests this are just tiny mangoes in brine solution without chilli powder or any other spices. The brined mangoes are used to make chutney called arachukalakki and are also used as a side dish for curds rice during the lean months of monsoon. The brined mangoes are especially good for the intestine and believed to heal ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract.

The process for preparing Kannimanga is similar to Kadugumanga and you stop at the stage of adding salt to the mangoes. The mangoes will remain in the salty water.

Recipe: Javvarisi Karuvadam

Traditionally, we never made javvarisi karuvadams at home because good quality javvarisi (Sago) was not available those days in our village and javvarisi if at all was used only as an antidote for diarrhoea. Another reason, as my echiyamma was fond of saying, was “when we have so much rice at home, why make javvarisi?”

When I started vadam making on my own after we moved to Bangalore, I started using javvarisi in my karuvadams. Earlier I would just mix a handful of javvarisi in my rice karuvadam but now I make exclusive javvarisi karuvadams. Last year I also added some chopped onions in the dough and it came out quite yummy.

Ingredients:
Javvarisi – 2 cups.
Green chillies : 5-6
Hing: marble sized ball
Salt to taste
Onions: 250 gms (optional)

Method:
Soak the javvarisi along with the hing in 4 cups of water overnight. The next morning grind the green chillies and chop the onions (if using) into thin long pieces. Boil 6 cups of water and add salt, ground green chillies and onions to the boiling water. Add the soaked javvarisi and keep stirring until the javvarisi turns transparent and shiny. The dough should be of pouring consistency. Add water accordingly and boil some more. At the time of removing from the stove the dough should be of a little running consistency; it will thicken as it cools down.
When it is cool, spread a cloth or plastic sheet in the sun, spoon out the prepared dough in the sheet and allow to dry.

At the end of the day remove the cloth from the sun and sprinkle little water on the reverse of the cloth. Allow to soak for 10 minutes. Peel off the vadams from the cloth. Dry them again in hot sun for 2 or 3 days. They are ready to use. Njoy!

Recipe: Keera Masiyal

As promised, I am starting my Kanu spread with the recipe for Keerai Masiyal. Sometime back, Jennifer had asked what the difference was between Keerai molakoottal and Keerai Masiyal. Basically, Keerai molakoottal and Keerai Masiyal both are prepared with pureed Spinach or Amaranth. Whereas Keerai molakoottal is a richer curry with dal and coconut in it, Keerai masiyal is just pureed spinach with minimum spices and garnishing. Also Keerai molakoottal is used as a gravy curry to mix with rice with a side dish like Pachadi or thogayal. Keerai Masiyal is used as a side dish for sambar or morukoottan etc.

At home, we are especially partial to greens and would like to have a green in our menu as often as can be managed. The flip side is the time taken to clean and wash the greens. Now that I have a small patch of kitchen garden in Hyderabad, I manage to have greens more often.

Sometime back we had an arrangement with a hawker to supply one type of greens daily at our doorsteps. It so happened that my beloved parents spent couple of weeks with us at that time and my father enjoyed the daily greens. So when he was leaving, he told my husband,"my special thanks for the daily keerai". The next time my parents were expected, my husband said, "so, I will stop the greens from tomorrow". I asked, "but why?". He said, "your father apparently did not like the daily keerai, that's why he made a dig at me jokingly." I blurted out laughing and said, "Actually he loves Keerai and as it is difficult to get keerai everyday at home in Kerala, he really enjoyed the keerai and he was complimenting you!"

Now for the recipe.

I like to use either amaranth or spinach for keerai masiyal. Thandu keerai is for poriyal only. I like to use coconut oil for garnish as it imparts a special flavour.

Ingredients:

Spinach: 1 bunch
turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Salt to taste.

For garnish

Coconut oil: 2 tsp.
mustard: 1tsp
urad dal: 1 tsp.
Rice: 1 tsp. (uncooked)
Red chillies: 2 nos.
Curry leaves: few

Method:

Clean and wash the spinach to remove all the dirt and soil. Boil in minimum water with salt and turmeric powder for 5-10 mnts. Cool and blend in a blender.

Heat a pan and add the coconut oil. When the oil is hot add, the mustard, urad dal, rice, broken red chillies and curry leaves, in that order. When the urad dal and rice turn pinkish red in color add the blended spinach and saute for 5 mnts. Your tasty keerai masiyal is ready. Quite quick, isn't it?

Recipe: Upma Kozhukkattai

When I wrote the recipe for sweet kozhukkattais, I had promised that the recipe for other kozhukkattais would follow and somehow I have not been able to post all of them yet, though I did post ammini kozhukkattai sometime back. Among the varieties of kozhukkattias, Upma kozhukkattais are the ones made quite frequently as a breakfast item or an evening snack or as a substitute for dinner on the days when rice was not eaten. The snack gets its name Upma kozhukkattai as the kozhukkattais are made from an upma made of rice rava.
When we were children, there was no concept of a breakfast in many Iyer households, instead there was a brunch, followed by a tiffin in the afternoon. The midday, around 2.30 – 3.00pm, was the busiest time of the day, when the afternoon tiffin had to be prepared, followed by night dinner, children came back from school and the cows returned home. There are many stories describing the busy scene of this time. There are also many stories with Kozhukkattais as the theme. I have also written a story which depicts both the busy evening and the kozhukkattias.

During those days, Kozhukkattai was not a regular tiffin item at our house. We usually had idli, dosa or adai. My chithappa (paternal uncle) used to refer to kozhukkattai as Emden (M10) referring to the bomb used in the World War I.
My mother used to say that once when kozhukkattai was made, it turned out very hard and hence my chithappa named it as Emden. Those days, kozhukkattais were prepared by using ground boiled rice, which were very sticky and turned hard if it was not cooked in right quantity of water. These days, we use rava made of raw rice or the commercially available idli rava.

However, kozhukkattai was a favoured tiffin item in my husband’s house. My astute and blessed mother-in-law used to make the softest kozhukkattai and I have learnt the art from her. However I restrict myself in the quantity of tempering oil used. The secret of petal soft kozhukkattais lies in the quantity of oil and coconut used, my mother-in-law used to say. Her kozhukkattais and upma were very famous among my side of the family even. "Patti makes the best Upma," my brother used to say, referring to my mom-in-law.

The rava required for the recipe can be prepared at home or one can use the idli rava available commercially. To prepare the rava at home: Wash and drain raw rice and dry it by spreading on a clean cloth. Dry grind the rice coarsely in a mixer, to rava (sooji, semolina consistency). If one spoon of toor dal is added to every cup of raw rice while grinding, it adds to the taste. If you are making the kozhukkattai immediately, the rice need be spread on a towel only until the rice is just dry. However, if you plan to store the rava, dry it in sun, until the rice completely dry and crisp.


Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Rice rava: 1 cup
Water: 2½ cups
Grated coconut: 2 tbsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Oil:1 tbsp.
Mustard:2 tsp
Urad dal: 2 tsp.
Chana dal: 2 tsp.
Red chillies: 2.
Hing powder: ½ tsp.
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp (finely cut)
Salt to taste

The above are the usual ingredients for Upma kozhukkattai. For variety I always add either grated carrot or finely cut spinach while preparing the upma.

Method:

Use a thick bottomed pan. Heat the oil in the pan. When the oil is hot, add the hing powder, mustard, urad dal and chana dal. When the dals turn pink in color, add the broken red chillies and curry leaves and add the water and salt. When the water starts boiling add the grated coconut and finely cut coriander leaves (If you are using carrot or spinach, add these now). Add the rice rava and cook until all the water is absorbed. Remove from stove and keep closed for 10 minutes.

When the Upma is cool, mix it well and make small oblong kozhukkattais and steam them for 15-20 minutes. Absolutely delicious kozhukkattais are ready. Enjoy!

Kozhukkattais can be served with sambar, chutney or Podi. My favourite though, is kozhukkattai with rasam. My friend Lalitha says, kozhukkattais taste wonderful with Vattalkozhambu. Pick your choice and Enjoy.

Recipe: Shahi Mysorepak

I was in Bangalore for Diwali. We have not been celebrating Diwali in a big way since my father-in-law’s passing away on Diwali day 20 years ago. Instead we observe his Shradham on that day.
My brothers and their families come visiting with all the goodies towards evening and my mother-in-law used to say, “Appa passed away after a full and happy life in the midst of his family after celebrating Diwali, so we should bring in Diwali after the shradham.” With the kids moving away for studies and later on work, I never used to prepare many goodies. This time around, both our children were with us and with my brothers and their families, we had a nice time.
My creative and multi-faceted niece who is in her early teens had prepared a melt-in-the-mouth delicacy, which she had named Shahi Mysorepak. I want to share the recipe with my readers. Here is her recipe. She herself has posted it on her Facebook page.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mixed dry fruit powder
1/3 cup milk powder
1/3 cup Besan
1 ½ cups of Sugar
2 cups ghee
1 cup water

Method:
1. Mix the sugar and water and put on boil while stirring continuosly.
2. In a bowl mix the dry powders.
3. Take 1/3 cup ghee, melt it, and add it and mix so that no lumps are formed
4. Allow the sugar to melt so that when you take a drop of it between your two fingers it sticks in two strings
5. Add the mixture in at this stage and stir while adding so that no lumps are formed
6. While on boil, add the rest of the ghee, after melting, little by little and boil while continuosly stirring.
7. Continue to boil until it starts leaving the sides of the bowl. Take off the flame and cool in a large sided plate.
8. While it is cooling, cut it into squares and continue cooling. Can be had after 5-10 mins of cooling.

Makes around 60 pieces

Recipe: Balushahi

That was a long time off. Getting back to blogging after so long is like getting back to school or work after a long vacation. The mood just doesn’t set in. Many things happened during this period, mainly I was shuttling back and forth between Bangalore and Hyderabad.

For Diwali, I made Balushahi, the recipe for which I had blogged a long time ago when I was new to this. I had not published the pictures then. This time around, I managed some pictures, holding the camera with the right hand and managing the balushahi with my left.

Last time around, I had given the measurements in cups. For those who would be more comfortable with weights, I have the measurements in weights now. Here we go.
Ingredients:
Maida : 500gms
Margarine or Vanaspati : 250 gms
Sugar : 500 gms
Thick curds: 2 tbsp.
Soda bi carbonate: a pinch
Rose essence : few drops(optional)
Oil for frying
Method is here.

ENJOY

Recipe: Ammini Kozhukkattai

Ammini Kozhukkattai means small kozhukkattais. We make both sweet and salty ammini kozhukkattais. The salty ones are also known as Porichukottina Kozhukkattai as they are stir fried in hot oil tempered with mustard and other seasonings, a process known known as Porichukottal in Kerala Tamil and Porithukottal or Thalithu kottal in Pure Tamil. They are very tasty and are good for breakfast or evening snack. I had been wanting to make ammini kozhukkattai for a long time, but as usual it kept getting postponed. So when I was making the rice dough for sweet kozhukkattai for Ganesh Chaturthi, I made a little extra dough, so I could schedule amminis for the evening. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rice flour : 1 cup
Water : 2 cups
Salt to taste
Coconut oil : 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Mustard : 1 tsp
Split urad dal : 1tsp
Chana dal : 1tsp
Red chillies: 1or 2
Curry leaves : few
Hing : ¼ tsp
Coconut gratings: 1 tbsp.(optional)
Turmeric powder : 1tsp(optional)

Method:

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add 1 tsp of coconut oil to it. Add one cup of water and salt and allow to boil. Mix the rice flour with 1 cup of water and add to the boiling water and stir continuously. When the dough leaves the sides of the pan in a ball, remove from the stove. Keep covered for 10 minutes. When cool, smear a little oil in your palms and knead the dough well . Make small marble sized balls out of the dough and steam in a steamer or idli cooker for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan and when the oil starts smoking, add the hing, mustard, urad dal, chana dal and broken red chillies. When the dals starts turning pink add the curry leaves and turmeric powder. Add the steamed kozhukkattais and grated coconut and stir fry for 5 minutes. If the kozhukkattais are steamed properly, they will not break while stir frying. Remove from stove and enjoy yummy ammini kozhukkattais!

I had not been using turmeric powder, all these days while making ammini kozhukkattais. This time, however, hubby dear asked me add turmeric powder, as he had seen someone using turmeric powder for ammini kozhukkattai on one of the cookery shows on the TV. Hence the addition of turmeric powder (optional).

Recipe: Aavakkaya

Aavakkaya is the pickle synonymous with Andhra Pradesh. The utterance of the word “Aavakkai” tickles the taste buds. And when you make it, you cannot but help your mouth watering. The aroma of the newly made pickle is so intoxicating. Aavakkaya literally means pickled with mustard powder (aavalu in Telugu means mustard) and rightly so, mustard powder is the main preservative here along with gingelly oil.

When one of my son’s assistants brought home a basket full of mangoes, I was at a loss not knowing what to do with so many raw mangoes. I asked him why he brought so many mangoes when I would have been happy with 2 or 3. “Pickle them, Mummyji,” he said. That’s when I thought of making Aavakkaya. As I had not made this pickle in recent times, I called my friend Sujatha, to ask for the method. She promptly said, “I will come tomorrow and help you. Keep chilli powder, salt, mustard powder and oil and other things ready.” I was only too happy to get the things ready, as I did not have to worry about the final product. I have been getting to taste Sujatha’s mother’s Aavakkaya every year. And they are superb.

She specifically told me not to buy the mustard powder, but to buy mustard, sun dry and grind them fresh. "Or else," she said, "the pickle will taste bitter." So I went and bought all the ingredients and sun dried them . I also washed all the mangoes thoroughly and dried them in shade, by spreading them in a clean towel, to remove all moisture.

Sujatha came promptly at 11 am next morning and we started the preparation.We cut the mangoes into large pieces and measured them. Accordingly we measured the other ingredients. Here is the ratio:

Ingredients:

Raw mango pieces: 5 measures ( approximately 3.5 Kg)

Red chilli powder : 1measure (I used 300gms. One may add upto 500gms., depending on individual preference)
Freshly ground mustard powder: 1 measure ( here again those who like the taste of mustard oil can use upto 500 gms )
Salt: 1 ¼ measure(8oogms)

Whole fenugreek seeds: 50 gms

Turmeric powder: 2 tbsp.

Good quality gingelly oil: 1 ltr



Method:

The mangoes should have firm stone inside.(the stone should be attached to the flesh of the mango and when cut through, the stone should still be attached to the mango pieces.) Wash and dry the mangoes in a clean towel in shade. Cut them into large pieces.Discard the soft seed portion .
Keep the other ingredients ready(in the proportion given above).

Keep a large glass jar or earthenware jar washed and sun-dried, ready. (As I was in Hyderabad, where I function with minimum kitchen gadgets, I did not have a glass jar or earthenware jar. Hence I used a large pet jar).

Now comes the most difficult part. Mixing the ingredients. Sujatha insisted on mixing them with hands. I would have preferred mixing them with a large spatula, as my skin is very sensitive to chilli powder.

Mix all the dry ingredients(chilli powder, mustard powder, salt,turmeric powder and fenugreek seeds) thoroughly. Take another large shallow pan for the final mixing. Into this pan, transfer a portion of the cut mango pieces. Add a portion of the pickle masala to the mangoes. Pour 1 or 2 spoonfuls of gingelly oil and mix the contents thoroughly with hand or a spatula. Transfer them to the jar. Repeat this process, until all the mango pieces and pickle masala are used up. Top the jar with the remaining oil and pickle masala, if any. Keep the jar in a cool dry place. Within an hour, you can see the gravy oozing out of the mango pieces and within 2 to 3 hours, there would be a 1”top layer of oil and gravy above the mango pieces(called “Oota” in telugu). This is the sign of right quantity of ingredients, said, Sujatha’s mother, when I called her to report the event. Stir it thoroughly with a dry spoon every day for 5 days, she said. I followed her instructions and the results were just superb.

Recipe: Ambode

Immediately after the obattu post, I was ready with this post for Ambode, another Ugadi speciality. What with the burning hot summer and a tooth problem that required a root canal treatment, I just got too busy. The truth is I try to keep myself busy to the brim always. Be it summer, winter or rains. It’s good, say my friends. It’s bad, feel I. Anyway, the fact is I am busy.
How does one keep oneself busy during summer? I for one, start making all sorts of sun-dried wafers (vadams, karuvadams and vattals) to keep for the whole year. And then comes pickling. Summer is the season we get plenty of mangoes and is the right season for mango pickles. This year I made “Aavakkai” after a long interval. The aavakkai that I made this year is so special because, I made them with Andhra mangoes and under the guidance of a true Andhra friend and it turned out just yummy and truly fiery. More about vadams and aavakkai later (immediately, I promise), we will go on with Ambode.
Ambode (Kannada) or Aamavadai (Tamil)or Parippuvada (Malayalam) are all very close siblings, with as much difference as one can notice among siblings. Ambode takes the prize, I should say. I have learnt the secret of crispy, mouth watering ambode from Mrs.Shakunthala, whose ambodes are a treat any day. She is the official ambode maker, whenever our “Soundrya Lahiri” teacher arranges a Pooja and each time the ambodes turn out just as yummy. Let us get on with the recipe, without much ado.


Ingredients:
Chana dal: 2cups.
Green chillies: 3or 4 according to taste
Dry red chillies: 1 or 2
Pepper corns: 1 tsp.
Jeera: 1tsp
Hing: 2 tsp or size of a pea
Curry leaves: few
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp.
Grated fresh coconut: 2 tbsp.
Cinnamon: 1/2 “ piece
Cloves: 4 nos.
Ginger: 2” piece
Salt to taste
Ghee: 1 tbsp.
Raw rice flour: 1 tbsp.

Oil for frying

Optional
Finely cut onions: 2 tbsp
Crushed garlic: 1 tsp
(When making ambode for offering as Neyvedyam, I usually do not add onions and garlic, however they definitely add to the taste, no doubt)

Method:

Wash and soak the chanadal with hing, peppercorns, jeera, green chilies and red chilies for 1 hr. Crush the cinnamon and cloves separately (this will not get crushed with the other ingredients, if ground together in the mixer). Drain the soaked chanadal with other ingredients to remove all water and grind coarsely with curry leaves ,giner,crushed cinnamon and cloves and salt. Transfer to a bowl and mix the grated coconut, rice flour, finely cut coriander leaves and ghee. If using onion and garlic, add the finely cut onions and crushed garlic also. Mix well.
Make small balls of the ground mixture. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat, but retain the temperature of the oil. Take the prepared balls in your palm and pat lightly with the fingers and slide into the hot oil, one by one. Turn the ambodes once inside the oil, so that both sides get cooked evenly. Remove from oil, when both sides are cooked, drain and serve the crispy ambodes with pudina chutney or tomato sauce.
The less experienced can pat the ambodes on a plastic sheet and gently slide them into oils, taking care not to splash the oil.

NJOY!

Recipe: Carrot halwa

It has been our practice for long to prepare carrot halwa, especially during the winter as we get the red variety of carrot (which is known as delhi carrot in Bangalore) then. Otherwise, what we get is the orange variety. So during my Bangalore visit, we bought the red carrot and prepared the halwa. The most difficult part of carrot halwa is grating the carrot, which our handsome and charming younger son happily did. I started part of the preparation immediately (read at 10 pm) and completed the process early next morning, so that when my good friend Veena came to say “hello” to me at 7 am the carrot halwa was ready and she was surprised that I had finished the preparation so early in the morning, whereas she had just woken up and come to wish me.

I used full cream milk and the halwa turned out creamy and rich and of course, yummy. Here is the recipe then.

Ingredients:

Grated carrot: 4 cups
Full cream milk: 3 cup
Sugar: 2 cups
Ghee 4 tbsp.
Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp.
Kismiss(raisins): 1 tbsp.
Slivered almonds : 1 tbsp.
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp.
Saffron : few strands

Method:

Boil the milk in the pressure cooker and add the grated carrots. Close the pressure cooker and reduce the heat to the minimum . When there is a steady stream of steam through the weight valve, place the weight and cook for one whistle or 15 mnts in reduced heat. Turn off the heat. (This is the first stage of preparation ). Open the cooker after ½ hour. Meanwhile, soak the saffron strands in 2 tbsp. of milk. Add the saffron to the cooked carrot. Boil the carrot once again on full heat. Add the sugar and stir constantly until all the milk evaporates. Add spoonsful of ghee in between whenever the halwa starts sticking to the vessel. When all the ghee (Reserve 1 tbsp of ghee for frying the dry fruits) has been added and all the moisture evaporated, the halwa should leave the sides of the vessel. Turn off heat. Add cardamom powder. Heat the reserved ghee in a small kadai, add the cashew nuts and kismiss. When the cashew nuts turn pink in color and kismiss swells add to the halwa as garnish. Decorate with slivered almonds.
The full cream milk gives that extra richness and taste to the halwa (you get the twin taste of halwa and thirattupal).

NJOY!

Recipe: Muthucharam

Isn’t it a beautiful word? Muthucharam in tamil means string of pearls. Why this name was given to this crispy savory I cannot understand, as it definitely doesn’t resemble a string of pearls. Actually it is not called Muthucharam but called Muthuswaram which again doesn’t make any sense, so I thought Muthucharam atleast makes sense. Its common name, Mullumurukku is the apt word to describe this crispy as it has an exterior resembling thorns(Mullu). As I always say, a rose by any other name ……. And yet when we start analyzing the meaning of some of the words in common use, we start doing research.

The recipe here is very simple.
Ingredients:

Raw rice: 3 cups
Chana dal: 2/3 cup
Whole moong : 1/3 cup
Urad dal: 1 tbsp.
Gingelly seeds: 1 tsp.
Butter: 50 gms.
Hing: slightly larger than a pea
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:

Wash and dry the rice. Dry roast the chana, moong and urad dal until nice fragrance emanates (the dals turn a light pink in color). Grind them all together to a fine powder. Grind the rice also to a very fine powder. I still have the privilege of getting it powdered in a flour mill. In many places I am told that flour mills have become a thing of past. Sieve the powders with a fine mesh to remove any coarse particles. Mix both powders thoroughly.

Soak the hing in little warm water atleast 1 hr before the actual preparation. Beat the butter and salt vigorously in a large kadai or thali. Dissolve the hing thoroughly in water. Add the prepared powder to the butter mixture and add the hing solution and make a soft and smooth dough by adding more water if necessary. This takes some effort. Usually I get it done by hubby dear who is only too willing to oblige. He likes to be part of everything that happens at home. If I make murukkus, he will knead the dough for me. If I make halwa he will stir the mixture for me. Anyway, today I am in Hyderabad and he is in Bangalore and my shoulder muscles get sore if I put a little strain on them like kneading murukku mavu or stirring the halwa. That’s when I remembered about the atta kneader attachment that comes with the table top wet grinder. If it can knead atta, why not murukku mavu, I thought. I gave it a try and was rewarded with a smooth and soft dough without any pain.

When the dough is done, heat oil in a kadai. When the oil comes to smoking point, press the dough through using the star shaped plate. Fry on both sides until done. Remove from oil and allow to drain, spread on a paper towel to remove all the extra oil.


NJOY your mullu murukku.

Recipe: Wheat halwa

When I posted the recipe for Kashi Halwa one of the readers had asked for the recipe for Wheat Halwa and I had promised to post it when I got a chance. Unfortunately, it took me longer than I expected! Wheat Halwa is prepared using a special type of long bodied wheat called Chamba wheat in Tamil. It is not available in all shops. I checked many shops in Hyderabad and was not successful. Though hubby dear located a shop in Bangalore and brought the wheat for me, it took me another 3 months to actually prepare the halwa. I finally used the excuse of my handsome and charming son’s visit to Hyderabad to make some wheat halwa for him. Therefore, recipe time!

Preparation of wheat halwa is a laborious and time consuming process, but the final result is worth the effort. You also need an additional pair of strong hands to stir the halwa non-stop, so don’t start preparing the halwa all alone.

Ingredients:
Chamba wheat : 1 cup
Sugar : 3 cups
Ghee: 2 cups
Cashew nuts : 1 tbsp.
Raisins : 1 tbsp.
Cardomom powder : 1 tsp.
Red food color : a pinch
Saffron: few strands
Boiling water: 4 cups (keep this boiling hot in a stove near by)

Method:
Wash and soak the wheat for 4 hours. Grind the soaked wheat with just enough water initially and when the wheat is well ground, add more water and grind to a smooth batter. Strain the batter through a muslin cloth or a fine strainer to another container. When all the milk is drained, grind the residue with some more water to extract any left over milk from the wheat. Strain again. Allow the wheat milk to stand for 2 hours and decant the water on the top. The wheat milk will have settled down at the bottom. This is the base for wheat halwa.

Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in ghee to a golden brown and keep aside.

Boil the sugar with 2 cups of water in a thick bottomed kadai (a non-stick would be the best choice). When the sugar dissolves and starts to boil, add a tbsp. of milk or lemon juice to remove the impurities of the sugar, which will float as scum. Boil the sugar syrup to one string consistency and add the wheat milk and keep stirring (non-stop).

Dissolve the saffron and food color in a little milk and add to the boiling halwa. When the contents start leaving the sides of the kadai add 1 cup of boiling water, stirring all the while. As and when this water gets absorbed add one ladle full of ghee and stir some more. Add 1 more cup of boiling water and ghee and repeat this process until all the water has been added and absorbed. Add the remaining ghee and keep stirring until the halwa leaves the sides of the kadai. Add cardomom powder ,stir and pour onto a greased tray. Allow to cool for some time. Cut into desired shape.


Enjoy!

Recipe: Stuffed Capsicum

Stuffed capsicums can be prepared in a variety of methods. You can steam, grill or bake them. This time I have steamed them as I am now preparing some bland diets for my son who is recovering from gastritis.

Ingredients:

Capsicums: 4 Nos.
Potatoes: 200gms
Green chilies: 2.
Grated ginger: 1 tsp.
Onion: 1 no.
Garam masala: ½ tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1tsp.
Lemon juice: 1tsp.
Salt to taste:
Oil: 1 tbsp or more (depending on the method)
Mustard: 1 tsp.
Jeera: 1 tsp.
Finely cut coriander leaves: 1 tbsp.
Maida: 1 tbsp.

Method:

Wash the capsicum and remove the stalk portion, forming a lid. Remove the seeds. Apply salt to the inside and outside of the capsicums and keep them inverted.

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Chop the onions and green chillies finely. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a thick bottomed pan and add the mustard and jeera. When they splutter, add the finely cut onion, green chillies and grated ginger. Saute until the onions are transparent. Add the mashed potatoes, turmeric powder, garam masala, and salt. Saute until all the ingredients are well mixed and dry. Remove from heat; add the lemon juice and half of the coriander leaves. Mix well and cool.

Stuff this mixture into the capsicums.

Make a thick paste of maida and water. Apply to the tops of the cut capsicums and close with the stalk portions. This will prevent the stuffing from coming out.

Now, steam them for 10- 15 mnts or apply a thin coat of oil on the stuffed capsicums and either grill them or bake them until done.

Remove, cut into halves or quarters, garnish with the remaining coriander leaves and serve!



Along with my Thayir Molagai post, this is my entry for JFI August

Recipe: Thayir Molagai

There are many kinds of peppers. In India though, only black pepper is known as pepper and all others are known as chillies and bell peppers as capsicum.

Green chillies are widely used in everyday cooking and also pickling. I wish I could get photographs of all the different green chilies available. We have gundu molagais (the big ones), the byadagi (the long and less pungent ones), the Bhavnagar variety (so non-pungent you need to add some chilly powder to it) and the famous oosimolagai (the thin and short variety, which is the most pungent. So much so, some people were even called “oosimolagai” for their pungent words).

I shall give the recipe of Thayir Molagai, green chilies marinated in curds and dried, which is an all time favorite. Curds Rice garnished with fried thayir molagai tastes heavenly. Thayir molagai can also be used to garnish other rice preparations like lemon rice, coconut rice, etc. This adds a special taste to the rice.

Though dried thayir molagais are available in the shops these days, they are not marinated in curds for long enough and lack the original taste, I am told. I always prepare my thayir molagais during the summer. It is a messy, tedious and time consuming process though the end result is worth the trouble.

For thayir molagais, the less pungent variety of gundu molagai or big green chilies is used. Before buying the green chilies one should make sure to have thick sour curds to marinate the chilies.

Ingredients:

Green Chillies: 1 kg.
Thick sour curds: 1 to 11/2 lts.
Salt: 200gms.

Method:

Wash and dry the green chillies. Make a slit up to halfway from the tip (keep the stalks intact), or pierce a hole in the centre of the chilies with a skewer. Dry in the sun for a day. Meanwhile, beat the curds to a smooth consistency and add the salt. Marinate the sun dried chilies in this curd. The chillies should be completely immersed in the curds. If not, pour some more. Allow the chillies to marinate for one full day. After that, drain the chillies from the curds and sun dry them. Put the dried chillies back into the left over curds in the evening. Repeat the process until all the curds has been absorbed. Dry the chillies for few more days in the sun, until they become crisp.

These sun dried chillies can be stored in air tight containers for up to 2 years.

Heat oil to smoking point, reduce heat and fry the chillies well to a nice black color.

ENJOY with your curd rice.

Tip: When the chilies are dry, the absorbed curds will flake off as a white powder residue. Use this curds residue as chilly flavour while preparing dals. It gives a delicious taste.

Along with my recipe for Stuffed Capsicum this is my entry for JFI August.

Recipe: Pudina Chutney

It has been very long since I last posted on my blog. As I said earlier, I was too busy with doing up the new flat, arranging for the grihapravesham, packing to move to the new place and also visiting Kerala to attend my nephew’s upanayanam. There are so many things to write about, it boggles my mind. I don’t know where to start.

We also had to suffer an unbearable summer. Kerala was worse with higher humidity. By the time I was back, I had prickly heat all over the body. Luckily for us, we have started getting rains for the past one week and the temperature has come down. I hope the rains continue.

Before I go into the details of grihapravesham and Kerala trip, let me give the recipe for Pudina Chutney, which our younger son has been asking for sometime now. Though I gave him the recipe over phone, he said, it tasted more like “chilli chutney” when he made it.

Pudina (mint) has excellent medicinal properties. It relieves indigestion, biliousness, flatulence, iron deficiency anaemia and hence including pudina chutney in everyday meal is very good for health. Tea prepared with pudina leaves to which a tsp. each of lime juice and honey are added is an excellent cure for common cold, sore throat and that bloated sensation in the stomach after a heavy meal.

A face pack of fresh pudina leaves cures pimples and blackheads and is a very good moisturizer.

So here is the genuine recipe for the chutney.


Ingredients:

Pudina leaves(mint leaves) : 2 cups
Coriander leaves : 2 cups
Green chillies : 3 or 4 nos.(according to taste)
Tamarind or : size of a marble
Tamarind paste : 1 tsp.
Jaggery : 1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Curry leaves and ginger: optional



Method:

Wash the pudina leaves and coriander leaves and green chillies in running water and wipe with clean towel to remove all the moisture.

If using tamarind, soak in 2 tbsp. of hot water. Grind all the ingredients together. Your tasty pudina chutney is ready. ENJOY!



It may look like a lot of quantity of leaves to start with and so don’t grind in a very big jar of the blender. Add little quantity at a time and with each grinding the leaves will settle down when crushed and the whole lot of leaves will go in a smaller jar, which will be more convenient to grind. In a bigger jar, once all the leaves settle down the grinding won’t be proper as the quantity will be very little.

This chutney goes well with chapatis, puris, dosa, idli and rice. This can also be used as a sandwich filling.

Pudina chutney can also be used as a side dish for Molkoottal.

Karadayan Nonbu

I just cannot believe that it is already one year since I wrote about Karadayan Nonbu. It cetainly doesn’t feel like that long. Time really flies. The usual question people ask us when we meet is, “ How do you spend your time”. I can only ask them in reply, “what time?” I can actually hear my sons saying, ”you will never get time.” It is true, I somehow manage to fill my time to the brim with the result that my only complaint always is that I don’t have enough time.

We are back to the malayalam month of Meena or Panguni in Tamil. As usual we observed Karadayan nonbu on the 1^st of Meena. This year, the sankrama was at 2.30am on the 15^th and hence the priest conveniently announced that 6.30-7.30pm on the 14^th would be the auspicious time to do the pooja. When I asked him why he advanced the time, he said, “Madam, nobody will get up at that hour and observe the puja. 6.30-7.30pm on the 14^th is auspicious for conducting any puja as per the Panchanga." The priests have to be very diplomatic these days. I can remember times when we would keep awake till 11.30pm to do the puja or would wake up at 1.00am and get ready to do the puja. I must admit, however, that I also did the puja at about 7.30pm on the 14^th this year. Our family priest has many fine qualities, but when it comes to mixing the practical with the spiritual, he excels himself.

An interesting point about this puja is that in our village (I don’t know about other places) and also in my husband’s village, jasmine or other types of flowers are not offered during this puja. The flowers offered are what are known as Arali in Malayalam which has a sweet frangrance. As in the past years we managed to get the flowers from a nearby garden this year also.


As usual, I prepared both vella adai and kara adai as per my tried and tested recipe. Some of my friends say, they use karamani or chickpeas in place of green gram dal. I feel green gram dal gives body to the adai and also makes it very soft.


Although, I had blogged about the recipe last year, I didn’t have the pictures for it then. Each of these pictures follows the various steps in making the adais: making the balls out of the dough, flattening them, placing them on the steamer and then finally the steamed adais.




After preparing the adais, I got ready for the puja. There is one place for each female member of the family, however small the girl is. Even if there is only one female member, usually we never have one neyvedyam kolam (rangoli). It is usually two. I offer the neyvedyam and charadu for the Tulsi plant.

After the kolam is made, the puja offering is prepared thus: A banana leaf is put on each kolam. One sweet adai, one kozhukkattai and butter, two bananas, betel leaves and nuts, two pieces of turmeric, arali flowers and the all important Nonbu Charadu.



After doing the puja, the charadu is tied around the neck and the neyvedyam is partaken by the offerers. (This is one of the few occasions that ladies get to eat before men). Though you can have any number of adais, it is only one adai and one kozhukkattai kept during the puja, The verses for the puja are

Urukkatha vennayum Oradayum notren
Orukalum en kanavan piriyathirukkanam

which can be translated as “I offer butter and one adai, let me and my husband be together always."

The Uppadai or the savoury adai is also not offered as neyvedyam. It is only to have as a savoury item after the sweet adais.