Having given the recipe for Sarkkarai Pongal, I thought it would be fitting if I gave the recipe for Venpongal also. Aama vadai and Obattu recipes later.
Ingredients:
Raw Rice: 1 cup
Roasted Green Gram dal: ½ cup
Ghee: 2 tbsp.
Ginger: 1" piece
Pepper corns : about 10 nos.
Jeera: 1 tsp.
Asafoetida: size of a pea
Salt to taste
Curry leaves: one sprig
Cashew nuts: 5 or 6
Raisins : 1 tbsp.
(The last two are optional)
Method
As I said in Sarkkarai pongal, use only south Indian cooking rice. Wash the rice and dal and cook in 4 cups of water with asafoetida. The rice and dal should be cooked real soft . Mash the cooked rice and dal with a spatula adding enough salt.
Slice the ginger into small pieces. Break the cashew nuts into small pieces.
Heat 1 tbsp. of ghee in a pan, add the pepper corns. When the pepper corns get fried and start floating on the surface, add jeera and sliced ginger and curry leaves and pour into the cooked venpongal. Heat the remaining ghee, add the raisins and cashew nut pieces. When they turn golden brown add to the venpongal (The tempering could be done in one step, if you are experienced enough not to burn any of the ingredients).
Enjoy the Pongal with coconut chutney or Kothsu.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Pongal
Pongal, or Sankranthi as it is known in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, is a very important festival in the Hindu calendar. It is a harvest festival in most parts of India. (In Kerala of course, Onam is the harvest festival).
This is the day that the Sun God starts His journey towards the north and hence it is the first day of Uttarayana which extends upto about 15th of July. Uttarayana is considered to be the most holiest half of the year. In Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says, "I am Uttarayana among the ayanas."
It is known as Makara Sanakranthi in Kerala and is celebrated by all. One who does not observe Makara Sankranthi is comapred to a wild fowl. There is a saying, “Kattukozhikkendu Makara Sankranthi?” meaning "what does a wild fowl know about Makara Sankranthi?"
In Kerala, in the olden days (I really don’t know what they do now), the houses were cleaned thoroughly and white washed before Sankranthi. Even in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, there is a thorough cleaning of the houses. In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, all old things are thrown out and a big bonfire is made on the day before Pongal, which is called Bhogi fire. The day before Pongal is celebrated as Bhogi. In Andhra Pradesh, Makara Sankranthi is known as Pedda Panduga or "The Big Festival” and is celebrated in a grand manner, similar to Onam in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu Pongal is celebrated in a big way.
Bhogi is also celebrated in a big way in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In Kerala it is the Sankranthi day that is the big day. This day has become more significant in Kerala, especially in the recent times, because of the Makara Jyothi day of Sabarimala (On Sankranthi day, a light mysteriously appears in the distance near Sabarimala, it is taken to be a sign from the Lord Ayyappa to His devotees). Awareness about the Jyothi is growing thanks to the direct telecast of the appearance of the “Jyothi” and the accompanied special poojas at Sabarimala.
All festivals in India have their own special food. For Bhogi in Tamil Nadu, the special dishes prepared are Poli or Boli (Obattu in Kannada) and Aama vadai (Ambode in Kannada, Parippu vada in Malayalam).
Poli is similar to stuffed Parathas, except that the covering dough is made of Maida. The stuffing is made of either Bengal gram dal and jaggery or Bengal gram dal, coconut and jaggery.
Aama vadai or Ambode is prepared with bengal gram dal, toor dal and urad dal.
Recipe: Sarkkarai Pongal
Pongal is already here. Though many varieties of Pongal are made these days, Sarkkarai Pongal (sweet) and Venpongal (savoury) are the top hits. Since many visitors to my blog informed me that they were trying out the recipes I publish, I thought I will give the recipe for Sarkkarai Pongal before Pongal, so that my friends out there can prepare the pongal and enjoy.
Though Sarkkarai pongal had not made inroads into rural Kerala when I was growing up, I learnt long ago about the genuine article, true vaishnavite Sarkkarai pongal, from an authentic source: Komala mami. Thank you, Komala Mami.
In the olden days, (may be even these days in some households) Pongal was made in a vengalapanai, which is made of bronze and is a very thick deep vessel with a slightly narrower neck (top). It was customary to gift a few vengalapanais to the daughter at the time of her marriage. The Iyer households used these vesels for regular cooking of rice, boiling milk and preparation of curds before the advent of cooking gas and presuure cookers in rural areas of Kerala. The main source of heat those days used to be firewood.
On Pongal day, raw turmeric roots and green mango leaves and flowers were strung in a thread and tied around the vengalapanai and milk was boiled in it. It was customary to greet each other with “Pal Pongitha” (have you boiled the milk). To the boiling milk was added the fried green gram dal and rice and pongal was made. The Pongal prepared in the vengalapanai tasted delicious. It was a tedious process though. One had to keep stirring it constantly so that it would not get burnt nor would it boil over.
Here then, is the easiest and quickest way of preparing Sarkkarai Pongal in a pressure cooker. It will taste as delicious and sweet. (My husband says, these days, nobody remembers the taste of Sarkkarai Pongal cooked in a vengalapanai, so it doesn’t make any difference).
Ingredients:
Rice : 1 cup
Roasted green gram dal: ½ cup
Jaggery: 2 cups
Milk: 1 cup
Ghee : 4 tbsp or more
Cashew nuts : a few
Raisins: a few
Saffron : 2 or 3 strands
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Cloves : 2 nos.
Jaiphal or Jathikkai or nutmeg :1 no.
Pachakarpooram or edible camphor (cinnamonum camphora) : a pinch
Method:
Boil the milk with 3 cups of water in a pressue cooker. (For sarkkarai Pongal always use the regualr south Indian cooking raw rice like Ponni or Sona Masoori or Nellore, don’t use Basmati). When the milk and water boils, reduce heat and add the washed rice and green gram dal into it. Close with the lid. When steam starts escaping through the vent place the weight valve and cook on low heat for 15 – 20 minutes (This is for people using gas stoves and where the heat can be brought to absolute minimum. Those using electric stove, be careful to switch off after one whistle and allow the pressure cooker to remain on the same stove for another 15 – 20 minutes). Open the cooker only after ½ hr.
In the meantime, melt the jaggery in 1 cup of water and strain to remove any impurities (In the olden days, jaggery was crushed and added to the cooking rice and dal mixture, I would always recommend to melt and strain the jaggery as it will always have some fine sand particles).
Dissolve the saffron strands in a tbsp. of boiled milk and keep aside.
Lightly roast the cloves. Powder it with 1/8 of the nutmeg.
Open the pressure cooker and mash the contents well with a metallic spatula. Pour the strained jaggery syrup into the cooked rice and dal mixture and heat ,stirring continuously, until the mixture becomes homogenous and is of a dropping consistency. (Care should be taken to see that all the moisture doesn’t evaporate and the pongal becomes dry). It should be in a loose but not running consistency. Add 2 tbsp, or more ghee and mix well. Add the saffron mixture. Remove from fire.
Heat the remaining ghee and add the raisins and broken cashews. When they turn golden brown pour into the Pongal. Add the pachakarpooram and cardomom powder and cloves and nutmeg powder. Pour one more tbsp of ghee.
Offer the Neivedyam to Sun God and enjoy with family and friends.
The Vaishnavites pour one more spoon of ghee in the palm of the guest after serving Sarkkarai pongal.
Don’t be stingy with the ghee or whatever reason. Sarkkarai pongal’s taste lies in its richness. It is said that ghee should not be measured but poured into the Pongal with closed eyes (Kannai moodindu ney vidanum).
The pachakarppooram has a strong flavour, so use it only if you like it. All other ingredients, like cloves, nutmeg, saffron are also optional. So If you don’t have one of these, don’t panic. You will still get a tasty pongal. These ingredients only add to the flavour of the Pongal.
P.S. Many people complain that their Pongal turn out very dry and hard. The secret is in switching off the flame when there is still some moisture in the pongal.
Pongalo-Pongal
Though Sarkkarai pongal had not made inroads into rural Kerala when I was growing up, I learnt long ago about the genuine article, true vaishnavite Sarkkarai pongal, from an authentic source: Komala mami. Thank you, Komala Mami.
In the olden days, (may be even these days in some households) Pongal was made in a vengalapanai, which is made of bronze and is a very thick deep vessel with a slightly narrower neck (top). It was customary to gift a few vengalapanais to the daughter at the time of her marriage. The Iyer households used these vesels for regular cooking of rice, boiling milk and preparation of curds before the advent of cooking gas and presuure cookers in rural areas of Kerala. The main source of heat those days used to be firewood.
On Pongal day, raw turmeric roots and green mango leaves and flowers were strung in a thread and tied around the vengalapanai and milk was boiled in it. It was customary to greet each other with “Pal Pongitha” (have you boiled the milk). To the boiling milk was added the fried green gram dal and rice and pongal was made. The Pongal prepared in the vengalapanai tasted delicious. It was a tedious process though. One had to keep stirring it constantly so that it would not get burnt nor would it boil over.
Here then, is the easiest and quickest way of preparing Sarkkarai Pongal in a pressure cooker. It will taste as delicious and sweet. (My husband says, these days, nobody remembers the taste of Sarkkarai Pongal cooked in a vengalapanai, so it doesn’t make any difference).
Ingredients:
Rice : 1 cup
Roasted green gram dal: ½ cup
Jaggery: 2 cups
Milk: 1 cup
Ghee : 4 tbsp or more
Cashew nuts : a few
Raisins: a few
Saffron : 2 or 3 strands
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Cloves : 2 nos.
Jaiphal or Jathikkai or nutmeg :1 no.
Pachakarpooram or edible camphor (cinnamonum camphora) : a pinch
Method:
Boil the milk with 3 cups of water in a pressue cooker. (For sarkkarai Pongal always use the regualr south Indian cooking raw rice like Ponni or Sona Masoori or Nellore, don’t use Basmati). When the milk and water boils, reduce heat and add the washed rice and green gram dal into it. Close with the lid. When steam starts escaping through the vent place the weight valve and cook on low heat for 15 – 20 minutes (This is for people using gas stoves and where the heat can be brought to absolute minimum. Those using electric stove, be careful to switch off after one whistle and allow the pressure cooker to remain on the same stove for another 15 – 20 minutes). Open the cooker only after ½ hr.
In the meantime, melt the jaggery in 1 cup of water and strain to remove any impurities (In the olden days, jaggery was crushed and added to the cooking rice and dal mixture, I would always recommend to melt and strain the jaggery as it will always have some fine sand particles).
Dissolve the saffron strands in a tbsp. of boiled milk and keep aside.
Lightly roast the cloves. Powder it with 1/8 of the nutmeg.
Open the pressure cooker and mash the contents well with a metallic spatula. Pour the strained jaggery syrup into the cooked rice and dal mixture and heat ,stirring continuously, until the mixture becomes homogenous and is of a dropping consistency. (Care should be taken to see that all the moisture doesn’t evaporate and the pongal becomes dry). It should be in a loose but not running consistency. Add 2 tbsp, or more ghee and mix well. Add the saffron mixture. Remove from fire.
Heat the remaining ghee and add the raisins and broken cashews. When they turn golden brown pour into the Pongal. Add the pachakarpooram and cardomom powder and cloves and nutmeg powder. Pour one more tbsp of ghee.
Offer the Neivedyam to Sun God and enjoy with family and friends.
The Vaishnavites pour one more spoon of ghee in the palm of the guest after serving Sarkkarai pongal.
Don’t be stingy with the ghee or whatever reason. Sarkkarai pongal’s taste lies in its richness. It is said that ghee should not be measured but poured into the Pongal with closed eyes (Kannai moodindu ney vidanum).
The pachakarppooram has a strong flavour, so use it only if you like it. All other ingredients, like cloves, nutmeg, saffron are also optional. So If you don’t have one of these, don’t panic. You will still get a tasty pongal. These ingredients only add to the flavour of the Pongal.
P.S. Many people complain that their Pongal turn out very dry and hard. The secret is in switching off the flame when there is still some moisture in the pongal.
Pongalo-Pongal
Recipe: Date and Walnut cake (eggless)
I have been planning to make an eggless cake for quite sometime now but kept postponing it. Finally when I located some milkpowder in the fridge, I thought, “let me make eggless cake using the milkpowder”. Except, of course, I had no idea how to incorporate milk powder in a cake recipe. Neither the Internet nor my handy book was any help. But now that I'd decided to bake a cake, I decided to go ahead and do that anyway, except instead of using the milkpowder, I stayed traditional. (If anybody knows how to use milkpowder in a baking recipe, I'd like to know). Instead of eggs, I decided to use curds (yoghurt)
As always, I was going to make use of the things I already had at home. I had just one cup of flour. So that would be the quantity of flour I would use. Accordingly, I sliced and cut the dates and walnuts (2 tbsps. each). I had only ½ cup of powdered sugar. The baking guide, to which I have been returning recently, says, “castor sugar helps to trap the air better than powdered sugar," so I decided to use castor sugar to fill the cup. I always have homemade butter in the fridge , so that was no problem. Even after slicing the fruits and nuts, I did not find the time to bake the cake for two days. So the next day, in between my cooking I started the cake also. The preparation and baking took exactly one hour (slicing the fruits not included).
Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:
Flour: 1cup
Butter : 1 cup
Powdered sugar : ½ cup
Castor sugar : ½ cup
Cocoa powder: 1 tbsp.
Walnuts(sliced into tiny bits): 1 tbsp.
Dates(sliced into tiny bits): 1 tbsp.
Thick curds: 1cup
Baking powder: ½ tsp.
Baking soda: ½ tsp.
Rind of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
Milk to get the required consistency
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 deg. centigrade (390 F).
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the curds and cream some more. It may curdle a little, don’t worry. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda twice. Mix the fruits in a tbsp. of sifted flour and keep aside. Gradually fold in the sifted flour into the creamed mixture alternating with the fruits mixture. When all the flour has been added, mix in the lemon rind and lemon juice. The dough should be of dropping consistency. If not, add little tepid milk (not very warm) to get the right consistency.
Pour into a 9" dia baking dish (well greased and dusted) and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes clean.
My cake came out just right. Fluffy and soft and melting in the mouth.
HAPPY BAKING.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
2007
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day has come and gone. Many people called to wish us on new year day and we reciprocated. So far so good. They all continued with ”what did you do for New year eve and New Year day?” Now this has always been a very difficult question to answer: difficult because we have never done anything special on New Year eve and New Year day. While my children lived at home, I used to make a sweet on 1st January.
In India, we have differrent New Year day for each part of the country. Where as the Malayalam New Year starts in the month of Chingam (August-September), the Tamil New Year starts in Chithirai (April-May ). Kannada and Teleugu New Year starts on Ugadi (March-April), and if I am not mistaken Maratha New Year starts on the same day and they call it Gudi Padva. Similary there is a Parsi New Year day and other parts of India also have a New Year day of their own.
Even the fianancial New Year starts on a day different from January 1.
How many times do we celebrate New Year day? So what do most people do on New Year eve? Many of them sit in front of their idiot boxes either with their family or with a group of families and munch and drink watching the various tragically comic programs dished out in the exact same way Year after Year. Year after year, every silly TV channel invites you to spend the New Year with them. Few people get together in clubs and again eat and drink. The so called elite get together in the star hotes or star club houses or resorts and eat and drink. The younger generation go out to the busiest streets in the city and visit all the pubs and get drunk and become unruly and atleast some of them get involved in accidents ( sometimes fatal) driving back in a drunken state. And a major percentage of people like us consider it as just another day and get on with our routine. Many offices work on the New Year day, anyway.
Traditionally, all Indian New Year days are celebrated with extreme austerity and solemnity. No non-veg and no alcohol. It has a sort of religious importance and in most of the regions on the New Year day, the almanac for the Year is read and remedial measures if any, due to adverse planetary positions, are laid down. The eclipses and the important festival days of the Year are read out. Special poojas are performed and the blessings of the elders are sought. There are special services in the churches.
Most offices in the Western countries are closed on the New Year day just as the scools and offfices in different states in India are closed on the New Year day of that state. The Jan 1st as new Year has originated in India only after the British came to India, but perhaps does not appear to have been accepted by all religions and therefore has stayed as just a celebrations by a few in clubs, resorts and streets, followed by a few drunken brawls, accidents due to drunken driving, molestations etc. I have not heard of any New Year day being celebrated with so many ugly scenes anywhere in the world. No New year day desrves to be celebrated in a way which makes people knit their eyebrows as many do on the following day when they read reports on the New Year eve incidents in the news papers.
In India, we have differrent New Year day for each part of the country. Where as the Malayalam New Year starts in the month of Chingam (August-September), the Tamil New Year starts in Chithirai (April-May ). Kannada and Teleugu New Year starts on Ugadi (March-April), and if I am not mistaken Maratha New Year starts on the same day and they call it Gudi Padva. Similary there is a Parsi New Year day and other parts of India also have a New Year day of their own.
Even the fianancial New Year starts on a day different from January 1.
How many times do we celebrate New Year day? So what do most people do on New Year eve? Many of them sit in front of their idiot boxes either with their family or with a group of families and munch and drink watching the various tragically comic programs dished out in the exact same way Year after Year. Year after year, every silly TV channel invites you to spend the New Year with them. Few people get together in clubs and again eat and drink. The so called elite get together in the star hotes or star club houses or resorts and eat and drink. The younger generation go out to the busiest streets in the city and visit all the pubs and get drunk and become unruly and atleast some of them get involved in accidents ( sometimes fatal) driving back in a drunken state. And a major percentage of people like us consider it as just another day and get on with our routine. Many offices work on the New Year day, anyway.
Traditionally, all Indian New Year days are celebrated with extreme austerity and solemnity. No non-veg and no alcohol. It has a sort of religious importance and in most of the regions on the New Year day, the almanac for the Year is read and remedial measures if any, due to adverse planetary positions, are laid down. The eclipses and the important festival days of the Year are read out. Special poojas are performed and the blessings of the elders are sought. There are special services in the churches.
Most offices in the Western countries are closed on the New Year day just as the scools and offfices in different states in India are closed on the New Year day of that state. The Jan 1st as new Year has originated in India only after the British came to India, but perhaps does not appear to have been accepted by all religions and therefore has stayed as just a celebrations by a few in clubs, resorts and streets, followed by a few drunken brawls, accidents due to drunken driving, molestations etc. I have not heard of any New Year day being celebrated with so many ugly scenes anywhere in the world. No New year day desrves to be celebrated in a way which makes people knit their eyebrows as many do on the following day when they read reports on the New Year eve incidents in the news papers.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Thiruvathira 2007
Another Thiruvathira. As has now become a practice, I get ready for Thiruvathira festival the previous evening: the vegetables are bought, rice roasted and powdered, dal roasted, jaggery measured, pressure cookers kept ready. After I have roasted the rice and dal (I do it in my oven, for uniform roasting and also to save myself of the pain in my arm from constant stirring), I put some peanuts for roasting. I just could not resist shoving in handfuls of peanuts into my mouth, whenever I saw them. Perhaps this, caused a very bad sorethroat by evening and I started getting spells of dry cough and my throat became very hoarse. I knew if I did not take a medication for this, I may perhaps wake up with an upper respiratory tract infection, which I am very susceptible to and then if I took an antihistamine, this may make me drowsy and I may oversleep and my Thiruvathira plans would get upset. I decided I did not want to get an URTI and took an antihistamine and went to sleep. Thankfully, I could wake up at 4.45am(!).
After the usual oil bath and works, I started preparing Kali and Kari. Hubby dear had cut the vegetables by then. I put the vegetables in one pressure cooker and cooked the dal in the other. This time around, I used Kavathu, Red pumpkin, sweet potatoes, Avarakkai and Toovar pods. I just cooked the vegetables for one whistle. The dal was also cooked for one whistle. Meanwhile I melted the jaggery in 4 cups of water (I used 1½ cups of rice flour this time) and poured the melted jaggery into the cooked dal and when it started boiling added the rice flour and closed the cooker. I put the weight on the cooker and reduced the heat and switched off the stove after 10 minutes. After 20 minutes when I opened the kali was perfectly done.
Though the Kerala Iyers make the Thiruvathira Kari with kavathu, red pumpkin and avarakkai (traditionally), the Tamil Iyers make a different type of Kari, almost like sambar. They make what they call as 5 curry or 9 curry or 11 curry or 13 curry depending on the number of different vegetables used (5 curry will have 5 different types of vegetables, 9 curry 9 types of vegetables and so on..)
Kalyani mami told me today that she made 13 curry, using carrot, beans, cluster beans, avarakkai, mochakottai, peas, white pumpkin, red pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, chenai, chembu, capsicum and chow chow. They use tamarind and dal and made a sambar masala with coconut, dhania, bengal gram dal and red chillies. She has not heard of kavathu she said. We still use only the traditional vegetables and do not use the so called English vegetables (carrot, beans, peas, etc. are generally referred to as English vegetables) for preparing the Thiruvathira kari or for that matter during Sradhams etc.
Vaikunta Ekadasi
Yesterday was Vaikunta Ekadasi. Vaikunta Ekadasi is the 11th day in the lunar calendar after the New moon in Dhanurmasa (December 15 – January 15). It is considered to be the day on which the doors of Vaikunta (heaven) will be kept open for all the saintly souls. Special poojas are performed in all Vishnu and Krishna temples in the south. It is a very important day in the Vaishnavite calendar. The doors in the Srirangam temple in Trichy are open early morning and a special darshan of Lord Ranganatha is offered to the devotees with special poojas and alankaras. Doorsarshan arranges special direct telecast of puja and other celebrations on the vaikunta ekadasi day.
The day is observed as a very sacred day by all the Vishnu bhaktas and many people fast on that day. It is believed that by observing a fast on that day and spending the day in poojas and prayers to Lord Vishnu, one will be absoved of all sins and will attain Moksha and the doors of Vaikunta will be kept open for the soul after it leaves this physical body. The soul does not have a rebirth anymore and attains the feet of the Supreme Lord.
There are different types of fasts observed by different people. Some people fast the whole day without consuming even water and just sip tulasi theertham in the evening after offering pooja to Lord Vishnu. They then have a supper of fruits and milk.
There are others who would drink milk and eat fruits once or twice a day and nothing else.
Some others will avoid consuming rice based foods and will have only wheat preparations like chappathis or porridge with some vegetables only once a day and milk and fruits for dinner (Interestingly, I had once talked to a lady from North India who was observing fast during Vasanth Navarathri. She mentioned that they eat only rice preparations in the night on the fast day).
As children we used to join the elders in this "fasting" when we could eat special food like, chappathis, vella dosais with ghee and honey and parippukanji, and being the season, boiled sweet potatoes.
We had a Chellappa uncle who used to make elaborate preparations for the Ekadasi fasting. He would tell our Kalathappa (our granddad):
"Krishna! Today is Ekadasi. I am fasting. I don’t plan to have anything, even water (jalapanam vendam). Around 6 am, I had a glass of milk and 4 bananas. At 10 am I will have a dozen vella doasas (sweet dosas made with jaggery and wheat flour) and 2 or 3 glasses of wheat germ kanji. Around 3 pm, I will have a glass of coffee and a few boiled sweet potatoes and a couple of bananas. And in the night I will just have some vella dosas and bananas and few glasses of Parippu kanji. Apart from these I wont have jalapanam (a drink of water) today. If we cannot fast even on Vaikunta Ekadasi, what is the use of this life?”
Reports say many people including ministers, politicians, big business magnates, throng the important temples like Tirupati Balaji, Guruvayoor, Srirangam on Vaikunta Ekadasi Day and stand in queues for hours together to have darshan of the Lord on this very sacred day. I was just wondering, if the Lord appears in front of any one of them and says, "Bhakta, I am pleased with your devotion. Today the doors of Vaikunta are open. I have come to take you with me to Vaikunta," what would be the reaction of the Bhakta?
The day is observed as a very sacred day by all the Vishnu bhaktas and many people fast on that day. It is believed that by observing a fast on that day and spending the day in poojas and prayers to Lord Vishnu, one will be absoved of all sins and will attain Moksha and the doors of Vaikunta will be kept open for the soul after it leaves this physical body. The soul does not have a rebirth anymore and attains the feet of the Supreme Lord.
There are different types of fasts observed by different people. Some people fast the whole day without consuming even water and just sip tulasi theertham in the evening after offering pooja to Lord Vishnu. They then have a supper of fruits and milk.
There are others who would drink milk and eat fruits once or twice a day and nothing else.
Some others will avoid consuming rice based foods and will have only wheat preparations like chappathis or porridge with some vegetables only once a day and milk and fruits for dinner (Interestingly, I had once talked to a lady from North India who was observing fast during Vasanth Navarathri. She mentioned that they eat only rice preparations in the night on the fast day).
As children we used to join the elders in this "fasting" when we could eat special food like, chappathis, vella dosais with ghee and honey and parippukanji, and being the season, boiled sweet potatoes.
We had a Chellappa uncle who used to make elaborate preparations for the Ekadasi fasting. He would tell our Kalathappa (our granddad):
"Krishna! Today is Ekadasi. I am fasting. I don’t plan to have anything, even water (jalapanam vendam). Around 6 am, I had a glass of milk and 4 bananas. At 10 am I will have a dozen vella doasas (sweet dosas made with jaggery and wheat flour) and 2 or 3 glasses of wheat germ kanji. Around 3 pm, I will have a glass of coffee and a few boiled sweet potatoes and a couple of bananas. And in the night I will just have some vella dosas and bananas and few glasses of Parippu kanji. Apart from these I wont have jalapanam (a drink of water) today. If we cannot fast even on Vaikunta Ekadasi, what is the use of this life?”
Reports say many people including ministers, politicians, big business magnates, throng the important temples like Tirupati Balaji, Guruvayoor, Srirangam on Vaikunta Ekadasi Day and stand in queues for hours together to have darshan of the Lord on this very sacred day. I was just wondering, if the Lord appears in front of any one of them and says, "Bhakta, I am pleased with your devotion. Today the doors of Vaikunta are open. I have come to take you with me to Vaikunta," what would be the reaction of the Bhakta?
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Recipe: Poduthuval
How poduthuval got its name, I don’t know. Perhaps it was called "Podithooval," which literally meant sprinkling of powder. In this dish, traditionally no coconut was used and the curry was thickened with a powder made of roasted rice and red chillies. Now a days, of course, since coconuts are plenty, as usual with any kerala iyer recipe, a dash of coconut with green chillies is used to flavour this dish.
Poduthuval does not have a dal in it and no spice except coconut and green chillies.
Many people refer to different dishes as poduthuval these days, for want of a right name.
During the olden days, in the monsoon months of Kerala, when coconuts and vegetables were scarce due to the incessant rains, the only vegetables available were the summer gourds that had been preserved by hanging from the ceilings (cucumbers, white and red pumpkins) and the shoots of colacasia from the backyard, which would sprout in the rains. So the menu more often than not consisted of a poduthuval made from one of the above. Even there, the chembuthandu (colacasia shoots) poduthuval and pulinkari took prominent place. It tasted delicious. Some of them were dangerously itchy though.
I must admit, as children we never liked the chembuthandu poduthuval as it did not have the rich coconut flavour in it.
During the off monsoon seasons poduthuvals were always enriched with coconut. Some of the most common poduthuvals are mathan (red pumpkin) and chakkaravalli kizhangu (sweet potatoes – my dad’s favourite) idichakka (tender jackfruit), elavan and chakkakottai (white pumpkin or winter melon and jackfruit seeds), etc.
For long, I had not made this poduthuval and actually had forgotten about this dish. Ten years ago, when I visited my athai (paternal aunt) my athan(athai's son) told me, "Amma has made a special dish for you, mathan and chakkaravalli kizhangu poduthuval." I enjoyed the poduthuval made by my athai and on my return made the same poduthuval during my dad’s visit. He loved it, and said, "besh, besh!"
I visited my athai last week after 10 years. Though she is in no condition to do any housework now, I remembered my last visit and her poduthuval. On my return I prepared the dish remembering my athai.
Now for the recipe:
Red Pumpkin : 250gms
Sweet potatoes: 250 gms.
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Coconut: 2 tbsp.
Green chillies 2nos.
Jaggery 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
For garnish:
Coconut oil 2 tsp.
(any cooking oil may be used)
mustard seeds : 1 tsp.
split urad dal: 1 tsp.
curry leaves : a few
Preparation:
Cut the vegetables into 2" cubes. Cook with turmeric powder and salt and jaggery (this may be done in a pressure cooker). Though both pumpkin and sweet potatoes are sweet, a little bit of jaggery enhances the taste.
Grind the coconut and green chillies, coarsely, without adding water.
Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the urad dal. When the dal starts turning to a pink color, add the curry leaves and add the boiled vegetables. Boil for 5 minutes stirring well. Add the ground coconut mixtrure and boil for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat.
ENJOY with rice or rotis.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Merry Christmas
Once again a long break in my blogging, brought about by so many foreseen and unforeseen circumstances. In the first place, whenever our children visit us I get so busy in the kitchen cooking up various things, which we feel they enjoy (Both of them tell us not to bother so much about their meals and just cook some simple things). I went out of town to visit my elderly relatives, a trip that I had been postponing (for a variety of reasons) for more than a year now. My computer was not operational as the UPS had died. After my return, the UPS had not come back and I became busy putting the house back in order.
Yes, The Christmas Cake I had baked well in advance for Christmas came out just right. It was well risen, soft, spongy and melted in the mouth. I will follow this recipe always hereafter. For the quantities mentioned, I filled a 9" dia. round pan and two 2½" x 6" loaf pans. One loaf of cake went to our neighbour Veena and the round cake travelled with our elder son and we enjoyed the remaining one loaf. I have already soaked more fruits for another cake, may be during New Year.
Many people, including my mother, asked me what I did for Xmas. The best thing worth mentioning was meeting Mrs. Thomas, she lives across from our home all alone in a huge house. She is unable to move out of her house because of a knee injury she suffered last year. She was so happy with my visit and spent a long time talking to me about various things (I allowed her to do all the talking, as she doesn’t get much opportunity to talk otherwise). My handsome and charming son said, “that was the best thing you did ma, spreading happiness to a lonely soul”. My Xmas was made.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Yes, The Christmas Cake I had baked well in advance for Christmas came out just right. It was well risen, soft, spongy and melted in the mouth. I will follow this recipe always hereafter. For the quantities mentioned, I filled a 9" dia. round pan and two 2½" x 6" loaf pans. One loaf of cake went to our neighbour Veena and the round cake travelled with our elder son and we enjoyed the remaining one loaf. I have already soaked more fruits for another cake, may be during New Year.
Many people, including my mother, asked me what I did for Xmas. The best thing worth mentioning was meeting Mrs. Thomas, she lives across from our home all alone in a huge house. She is unable to move out of her house because of a knee injury she suffered last year. She was so happy with my visit and spent a long time talking to me about various things (I allowed her to do all the talking, as she doesn’t get much opportunity to talk otherwise). My handsome and charming son said, “that was the best thing you did ma, spreading happiness to a lonely soul”. My Xmas was made.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Recipe: Christmas cake
I have baked my Christmas cake well in advance this year. At first I thought I would follow the same recipe as I did last year for Anand’s birthday cake. I looked into the recipe and to my shock I realised that I had not included flour in the recipe. Uh Oh. I have since corrected it.
Since I did not have all the ingredients I had listed in last year’s recipe and did not feel like rushing to the store, I modified the recipe to include available ingredients. Hubby dear had cut the dry fruits (cashew, almonds, pistachios, dry pineapple, dry ginger, dates, raisins, walnuts, pecans, plums and prunes) and soaked them in plenty of brandy a month ago. Usually I would add cherries,which I did not have this time. I remembered how I enjoyed my trips to Whole Foods where I could pick up all dry fruits at one counter.
I had been using margarine or hydrogenated vegetable oil or butter according to availability at home. Since my (handsome and charming, natch) son recently prohibited me from using hydrogenated oil (contains transfat, he says) I used home made butter.
As I did not have brown sugar this time, I used 1 tbsp. of caramelised sugar to get the color. To caramelise sugar, heat 1 tbsp sugar in a heavy bottomed pan, stirring continuously. When it starts melting, reduce heat until the color changes to dark brown. Remove from heat and extract the caramel with 1 tbsp of water or milk.
The following is the list of ingredients.
Mixed dry fruits marinated in brandy :400 gms
Eggs: 3
Butter: 150 gms
Flour: 125 gms
Sugar: 150gms
Grated chocolate: 1tbsp
Caramalised sugar: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon powder: 1tsp
Mixed spices: 1tsp
Sodium-bi-carbonate: 1/2 tsp
Milk: 1tbsp
Method:
Pre heat oven to 180 deg C (350 deg. F)
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one to the creamed mixture and continue creaming till the mixture is light. Add the caramelised sugar and melted chocolate. Cream some more.
Sift the flour twice with cinnamon powder, powdered spices and sodium-bi-carbonate. Transfer the marinated fruits to a bowl and mix with 2 tbsp of sifted flour (this will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake).
Fold the sifted flour into the creamed mixture gently, alternating with the fruits mixture. Pour into a well greased and dusted baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hr. Reduce the temp. to 150 deg C (300 deg F) and bake for another 15 min. Test with a skewer.
Remove from the oven. Rest for 10mins. Invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
ENJOY
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sweet ghee memories
Most of the recipes in my blog have been inspired by my culinary enthusiast (not to mention, handsome and charming) son. Ever since he left home and started living on his own, I could expect a call from him any time of the day or night, trans-atlantic or trans-pacific, asking for directions to prepare a certain dish. He would have bought the ingredients and would be wondering how to start or at times he would have started the process and wouldn’t know how to go on.
The other day he called me and asked me how to melt butter to get ghee. As he would never eat ghee or butter along with his rice or rotis or bread since his childhood, I couldn’t hide my surprise until he told me that he wanted to prepare Rava kesari for the Thanksgiving lunch they were planning at work.
Having grown up in a family where we had cows and buffaloes and hence lots of milk and butter, I had never imagined anyone would need a lesson on making ghee from butter until I moved outside our village. In our house we had big vengalapanais in which a huge quantity of milk was boiled and set to form curd. We had separate vengalapanais for cows’ and buffaloes’ milk. We took turns in churning the curds early in the mornings and were rewarded by a big dollop of warm and fresh butter at the end of the chore. Nobody needed any cardio exercises on a treadmill. There was a big pole fixed on the corner of the kitchen to which two metallic chains with rings were attached. The vengalapanai containing the curds was placed on a coaster(kalavadai) made of coir. The mathu(churning wheel)was placed inside the curds and the metallic rings were slipped on to the mathu. There was another cord made of cotton thread which was wound around the mathu, between the rings, with long ends trailing at both ends, which was pulled from both ends. This is the best cardio exercise one could get. You do this for 5 minutes, presto, your warm fresh butter floats on top of the fresh butter milk. The cows milk butter was creamy yellow and the buffalo butter was white.
This butter was made into ghee every other day as there were no refrigerators to keep the butter fresh. The butter was washed in plenty of water to remove all the butter milk and put in a big kadai and heated, stirring constantly, until you got a fragrant golden yellow liquid ghee. The ghee was strained and stored in clay jars to retain its freshness. It set to a sand like texture. The residue of ghee is very tasty and we children vied with each other to get our idlis or rice tossed in the fresh ghee residue.
The trick of keeping the ghee fragrant and fresh for long time is in heating the butter to the right "doneness." As the butter is being melted, the water content in the butter evaporates making a hissing noise. Once the water content is fully evaporated, the liquid turns to a golden color with a good aroma. This is the right time to switch off the stove. If one is using a thick pan to melt the butter, it is better to pour the ghee into another container immediately, as the ghee may turn blacker because of the heat retained by the pan.
There is an interesting story told about the readiness of ghee. A new daughter in-law was asked by her mother-in-law to prepare ghee. The daughter-in-law did not know how to melt butter and she asked her neighbour how to test the readiness of the ghee. The neighbour told her, "Orosai adangina vanaliye erakku" (Remove the pan from the stove when the noise stops). The daughter in-law took it as Oorosai (the noise in the street) and kept the pan on the stove and sat the front door of the house, waiting for the noise on the street to subside. The rest of the story can only be well imagined. This was the story told to young girls to be careful when preparing ghee. Delay a minute and the ghee will lose its color and aroma and grainy texture.
Many theories are propounded by the new age culinary gurus to retain the freshness of the ghee. Some people say, add a pinch of turmeric powder, some say add a few curry leaves, yet others say add a few thulasi leaves. I would say, heat the ghee to the right doneness and store. It will remain fresh for ever.
If the ghee is not heated to the right doneness, it goes stale very fast and gives a very bad odour. When we were children, there were always some impromptu lunch sponsored by neighbours on occasions like a child's birthday or a "kappu ceremony" or a "thottil ceremony." It was a practice to serve ghee after rice was served and I was often surprised that the ghee smelt rotten. I used to come home and tell my Echiyamma about it and she would say, they have not heated the butter properly. "But they bought the ghee from our house this morning," I would say. What was the mystery of the fragrant ghee turning to a foul smelling ghee by the time they served, I never understood.
The other day he called me and asked me how to melt butter to get ghee. As he would never eat ghee or butter along with his rice or rotis or bread since his childhood, I couldn’t hide my surprise until he told me that he wanted to prepare Rava kesari for the Thanksgiving lunch they were planning at work.
Having grown up in a family where we had cows and buffaloes and hence lots of milk and butter, I had never imagined anyone would need a lesson on making ghee from butter until I moved outside our village. In our house we had big vengalapanais in which a huge quantity of milk was boiled and set to form curd. We had separate vengalapanais for cows’ and buffaloes’ milk. We took turns in churning the curds early in the mornings and were rewarded by a big dollop of warm and fresh butter at the end of the chore. Nobody needed any cardio exercises on a treadmill. There was a big pole fixed on the corner of the kitchen to which two metallic chains with rings were attached. The vengalapanai containing the curds was placed on a coaster(kalavadai) made of coir. The mathu(churning wheel)was placed inside the curds and the metallic rings were slipped on to the mathu. There was another cord made of cotton thread which was wound around the mathu, between the rings, with long ends trailing at both ends, which was pulled from both ends. This is the best cardio exercise one could get. You do this for 5 minutes, presto, your warm fresh butter floats on top of the fresh butter milk. The cows milk butter was creamy yellow and the buffalo butter was white.
This butter was made into ghee every other day as there were no refrigerators to keep the butter fresh. The butter was washed in plenty of water to remove all the butter milk and put in a big kadai and heated, stirring constantly, until you got a fragrant golden yellow liquid ghee. The ghee was strained and stored in clay jars to retain its freshness. It set to a sand like texture. The residue of ghee is very tasty and we children vied with each other to get our idlis or rice tossed in the fresh ghee residue.
The trick of keeping the ghee fragrant and fresh for long time is in heating the butter to the right "doneness." As the butter is being melted, the water content in the butter evaporates making a hissing noise. Once the water content is fully evaporated, the liquid turns to a golden color with a good aroma. This is the right time to switch off the stove. If one is using a thick pan to melt the butter, it is better to pour the ghee into another container immediately, as the ghee may turn blacker because of the heat retained by the pan.
There is an interesting story told about the readiness of ghee. A new daughter in-law was asked by her mother-in-law to prepare ghee. The daughter-in-law did not know how to melt butter and she asked her neighbour how to test the readiness of the ghee. The neighbour told her, "Orosai adangina vanaliye erakku" (Remove the pan from the stove when the noise stops). The daughter in-law took it as Oorosai (the noise in the street) and kept the pan on the stove and sat the front door of the house, waiting for the noise on the street to subside. The rest of the story can only be well imagined. This was the story told to young girls to be careful when preparing ghee. Delay a minute and the ghee will lose its color and aroma and grainy texture.
Many theories are propounded by the new age culinary gurus to retain the freshness of the ghee. Some people say, add a pinch of turmeric powder, some say add a few curry leaves, yet others say add a few thulasi leaves. I would say, heat the ghee to the right doneness and store. It will remain fresh for ever.
If the ghee is not heated to the right doneness, it goes stale very fast and gives a very bad odour. When we were children, there were always some impromptu lunch sponsored by neighbours on occasions like a child's birthday or a "kappu ceremony" or a "thottil ceremony." It was a practice to serve ghee after rice was served and I was often surprised that the ghee smelt rotten. I used to come home and tell my Echiyamma about it and she would say, they have not heated the butter properly. "But they bought the ghee from our house this morning," I would say. What was the mystery of the fragrant ghee turning to a foul smelling ghee by the time they served, I never understood.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Recipe: Olan
Olan is the simplest and a unique dish of Kerala with no spice at all in it(except green chillies, which is optional) flavoured with coconut milk and coconut oil and fresh curry leaves. Yet, when made with the right ingredients in the right proportion, it tastes heavenly. It is made with simple gourds and cowpeas which makes it a very healthy diet even for invalids. No big feast is complete without olan on the menu.
The vegetables used have high medicinal value and are easily digestible and low in calories. Ash gourd, for example is rich in calcium and vit. B and C and fibre. It is also a diuretic and its juice is particularly good for diabetics and the obese . Sweet red pumpkin is rich in Vitamins A and B, protein and calcium and is a low calorie vegetable. Cow peas though a high calorie food is rich in protein, calcium and vitamins A and B.
Ingredients:
Red Pumpkin(ripe with a hard outer shell) :250 gms
Ash gourd(winter melon) :250 gms
Cowpeas : 2 tbsps. Or more according to taste
( tenderfresh green pods of the peas(lobia) are also used in preparation of Olan)
in case fresh lobia are used,
lobia :50 gms.
Coconut oil : 2 tsps.
Curry leaves: few
Jaggery : a small piece
Green chillies: 1 or 2
Salt to taste.
Preparation:
Soak the cow peas (if using dry peas) for 4 – 5 hrs or overnight.
Remove the skin and slice the gourds into 1½" to 2" thin squares. If using fresh lobia, cut them into 2" pieces. Slit the green chillies. Pressure cook the peas and vegetables and chillies until peas are soft. Add salt and jaggery and boil until the curry is thick (gourds will release their water content when cooked). Remove from heat, add curry leaves and coconut oil. Olan is ready to serve.
Olan can be prepared using only ash gourd and cow peas. Follow the same method as above, just before removing from the stove add a table spoon of thick coconut milk.
There is another variety of olan, called "Thondolan" prepared using raw bananas and lobia.
Ingredients:
Raw banana :1
Cow peas :1 tbsp.
Jaggery : a small piece
Salt to taste
Coconut oil : 2 tsps.
Preparation:
Slice raw banana vertically once and then into 2mm slices. Cook along with pre-soaked cow peas and add salt and jaggery and flavour with coconut oil and curry leaves.
ENJOY!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Bangalore - From an Air conditioned city to a city with air conditioners
We are almost into December and are still using the fans throughout the day and night and are sweating. When people away from home ask us how the weather is, they expect us to say, it is cold, or atleast, it is pleasant. We can only say it is hot. Is this the same city which was once known as airconditioned city?
Time was (this is only as recent as the early 70s when we moved to this wonderful city, the natives of Bangalore will have even more shivering tales to recount) when Bangalore had a salubrious climate. It was a pensioners’ paradise. It was a city which went to bed early and woke up quite late, because of the chill.. Unlike many other cities of India, no milkman rang the doorbell at 5.30am here. He would come only at 7.30am. People with little kids who need to be given milk early morning did not have to fret about not having a refrigerator. The whole house was like a refrigerator. No food went bad here. The vegetables remained fresh in room temperature. Not many people had a fridge. Fridge was more of a status symbol.
There were no fans fitted either. When we came from Delhi on transfer to Bangalore, our fan boxes remained unopened for years together, as we did not feel the need for a fan. If the Chennai residents say, Chennai has only three seasons, hot, hotter and hottest, we Bangaloreans were proud to say, we also have only three seasons, cold, colder and coldest. We did not have summers. Ours was a summer resort. If we had to make "vattal, vadam or karuvadam" we could not afford to be complacent. We had just 2 to 3 weeks from Sivarathri to make these things, between our winter and monsoons, which started by the end of March. Our monsoon would start with some pre-monsoon showers before Ugadi and go on till December.
Bangaloreans sported a monkey cap all through the year. They also a wore a woolen vest throughout the year. It was treat to watch the elderly Bangaloreans (the proper Bangaloreans who owned most of the agricultural lands/residential properties here) moving around on a rickety bicycle wearing a black coat and a turban. People went to vegetable shopping with a coat on. Early mornings were very chill. Bangalore women made the rangolis in their front yards in the evenings as mornings would be quite foggy and chill. We had green covers wherever we went. Ulsoor was the city limits during those days. No city map showed any place beyond Ulsoor, except a winding road from Trinity church towards airport called airport road, which was almost always deserted. You take a turn towards the airport road, the temperature dipped further as the roads were lined with trees and casurina forests.
During late 70s when we were allotted a residential plot along the airport road, we came to visit the place and were unable to find our way to the proposed site as the area around it was marshy and wooded.
Knitting enthusiasts like me could knit all year around. It was a pleasure to get out the house on weekends with kids to go to Lalbagh or Cubbon Park and enjoy the warmth of the sun. If Chennai had a cyclone, Bangalore just had downpours. The only industrialisation Bangalore had was some Public Sector undertakings with their own transport system to carry their employees. These were the only buses which crowded the roads during their shift changes. Otherwise public transport was very sparse. Bangaloreans were happy cycling around. People belonging to slightly elite class used scooters/motor cycles/mopeds. It was quite safe to travel by two wheelers, even for ladies.
With the 1980s came the boom of small scale industries in around Bangalore and there were more mopeds on the roads. City started expanding beyond Ulsoor towards the airport and all around. We still had winters which were quite cold.
With the software boom Bangalore exploded with people, private entreprenuers, multi-storied buildings and cars. The single and two storied skyline gave way to huge apartment complexes, mostly built on converted agricultural lands. They mostly depended on deep bore-wells to quench the thirst of their residents. The green covers started depleting, the ground water level went down further, lakes started drying up and in the new century, Bangalore started becoming warmer and warmer with very hot summers and next to nil winters. The whole city is dusty and polluted with motor exhausts and the city these days does not sleep. The once sleepy airport road is always congested with traffic and one cannot cross the road any time of the day.There are multi-storied building lining the airport road representing almost all software companies from all around the globe. The air conditioning business is thriving.
Time was (this is only as recent as the early 70s when we moved to this wonderful city, the natives of Bangalore will have even more shivering tales to recount) when Bangalore had a salubrious climate. It was a pensioners’ paradise. It was a city which went to bed early and woke up quite late, because of the chill.. Unlike many other cities of India, no milkman rang the doorbell at 5.30am here. He would come only at 7.30am. People with little kids who need to be given milk early morning did not have to fret about not having a refrigerator. The whole house was like a refrigerator. No food went bad here. The vegetables remained fresh in room temperature. Not many people had a fridge. Fridge was more of a status symbol.
There were no fans fitted either. When we came from Delhi on transfer to Bangalore, our fan boxes remained unopened for years together, as we did not feel the need for a fan. If the Chennai residents say, Chennai has only three seasons, hot, hotter and hottest, we Bangaloreans were proud to say, we also have only three seasons, cold, colder and coldest. We did not have summers. Ours was a summer resort. If we had to make "vattal, vadam or karuvadam" we could not afford to be complacent. We had just 2 to 3 weeks from Sivarathri to make these things, between our winter and monsoons, which started by the end of March. Our monsoon would start with some pre-monsoon showers before Ugadi and go on till December.
Bangaloreans sported a monkey cap all through the year. They also a wore a woolen vest throughout the year. It was treat to watch the elderly Bangaloreans (the proper Bangaloreans who owned most of the agricultural lands/residential properties here) moving around on a rickety bicycle wearing a black coat and a turban. People went to vegetable shopping with a coat on. Early mornings were very chill. Bangalore women made the rangolis in their front yards in the evenings as mornings would be quite foggy and chill. We had green covers wherever we went. Ulsoor was the city limits during those days. No city map showed any place beyond Ulsoor, except a winding road from Trinity church towards airport called airport road, which was almost always deserted. You take a turn towards the airport road, the temperature dipped further as the roads were lined with trees and casurina forests.
During late 70s when we were allotted a residential plot along the airport road, we came to visit the place and were unable to find our way to the proposed site as the area around it was marshy and wooded.
Knitting enthusiasts like me could knit all year around. It was a pleasure to get out the house on weekends with kids to go to Lalbagh or Cubbon Park and enjoy the warmth of the sun. If Chennai had a cyclone, Bangalore just had downpours. The only industrialisation Bangalore had was some Public Sector undertakings with their own transport system to carry their employees. These were the only buses which crowded the roads during their shift changes. Otherwise public transport was very sparse. Bangaloreans were happy cycling around. People belonging to slightly elite class used scooters/motor cycles/mopeds. It was quite safe to travel by two wheelers, even for ladies.
With the 1980s came the boom of small scale industries in around Bangalore and there were more mopeds on the roads. City started expanding beyond Ulsoor towards the airport and all around. We still had winters which were quite cold.
With the software boom Bangalore exploded with people, private entreprenuers, multi-storied buildings and cars. The single and two storied skyline gave way to huge apartment complexes, mostly built on converted agricultural lands. They mostly depended on deep bore-wells to quench the thirst of their residents. The green covers started depleting, the ground water level went down further, lakes started drying up and in the new century, Bangalore started becoming warmer and warmer with very hot summers and next to nil winters. The whole city is dusty and polluted with motor exhausts and the city these days does not sleep. The once sleepy airport road is always congested with traffic and one cannot cross the road any time of the day.There are multi-storied building lining the airport road representing almost all software companies from all around the globe. The air conditioning business is thriving.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Recipe: Kozhukattai
Kozhukkattais are steamed rice balls with sweet coconut stuffing. No South Indian needs introduction to kozhukkattai or an translation for it. The translation is for the unfortunate ones who have not tasted this yummy, delicious and melt in the mouth delicacy, one with very little oil in it to boot.
Kozhukkattai is a most favoured sweet in our family, my late astute and blessed mother in-law simply loved it. Though usually it is prepared only during Ganesh Chaturthi or as naivedyam for performing Ganapathi Homam, she would invent some excuse to make me prepare this as often as possible. When the children were in college, she got a good excuse to prepare kozhukkattai every time they visited home. She would say "children were not here during Ganesh Chaturthi, so when are you going to prepare kozhukkattai for them?" Or she would say, there are so many black ants around, when are you going to offer kozhukkattais for Ganapathi? (there is a belief that black ants will disappear if one appeased Lord Ganesha). Our younger (handsome and charming) son’s sweet tooth was also a blessing for her.
Having said so much about sweet kozhukkattai, I would not be doing justice to other equally yummy savory kozhukkattais, of which there are many varieties, if I did not mention them. Ulundu kozhukkattai (made of refined black gram and coconut filling), vegetable kozhukkattai (my invention), ammini kozhukkattai (both sweet and savory), Uppuma kozhukkattai, are some of the more popular ones.
Now for our King of Kozhukkattais:
Ingredients (yields 20 – 25 kozhukkattais)
For the stuffing:
fresh grated coconut: 1 cup
grated jaggery: ¾ cup
cardamom powder: a pinch
For the outer shell:
Rice flour: 1½ cups
Coconut oil or any other cooking oil: 2tsp.
Salt: a pinch
Preparation:
The stuffing:
Melt the jaggery and strain to remove any impurities. Reheat and make a slightly thick syrup. To test, just remove the spoon with a little syrup from the boiling syrup and drop into a cup of cold water. If the syrup forms a smooth ball, soft to touch, it is ready. Add the coconut gratings to the molten jaggery. Keep stirring until all the water is absorbed and the contents leave the side of the pan. Remove from fire and add cardamom powder.
This stuffing can be prepared in advance and refrigerated up to 1 month. This keeps good in room temperature for up to 1 week.
The rice flour coating:
Heat a pan and add 2 tsp of oil. Add 1½ cups of water and pinch of salt and boil. Meanwhile mix the rice flour in1½cups of water into a smooth batter without lumps. When the water starts boiling add this batter and keep stirring until the rice flour becomes a smooth shiny ball. Remove from fire and cool.
To prepare kozhukkattais:
Knead the rice flour dough well. Take a lime sized portion and form into a cup. Smear little oil on your finger tips to make it easier to handle the dough. Put a smaller size ball of the coconut stuffing inside and close from all sides and pinch the ends together. Repeat till all the dough and stuffing is used up. Steam the kozhukkattais in a steamer or a idli steamer for 15 minutes.
ENJOY!
Tips: If banana leaves are available place the kozhukkattais on the banana leaf and steam.The kozhukkattais will not stick to the plate.
If any of the rice dough is left over, make marble sized balls of the dough and steam. Heat a tsp. of oil, add 1 tsp of mustard and 1 tsp of urad dal, bits of red chilli, add the steamed rice balls. This in itself will make a nice snack.
If the stuffing is left over, enjoy it as thengai thirattu pal.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Raman kutty mash
There is an advertisement that they keep showing on TV. The principal of a school retires from service and the boys are bidding him good-bye. There is this boy standing with tears running down his cheeks and a placard in his hands which says, “Please don’t go away”. This takes me back to the day our own Raman kutty master was leaving our village post retirement. My younger brother, only 8 or 9 years of age then, who was studying in 4th standard (if I remember correctly) came back sobbing from school. I took him in my arms and asked him, “what happened?” Ramankutty mash (that’s how we addressed him) virinju (he did not know to say, “pirinju” in Malayalam, which means retired) he said still sobbing inconsolably. We some how managed to console him. Later in the evening, our Ramankutty mash came home to take leave of all the family members, before he went away to his native village for good. He was so close to our family. He was like one in the family.
Our grandfather, after retiring from serving a British Engineer, who was the chief engineer during the construction of the Pamban bridge, came to his native village and took up agriculture. His formal education was limited to learning to read and write Malayalam and Tamil. His older sons also did not attend college, though his two youngers sons went to college and studied up to the masters level in their selected fields. So our grandfather, whom we fondly called, “Kalathappa” (kalam means farmhouse in Malayalam, since he went to our farmhouse everyday to attend to our fields we called him “kalathappa”) decided to give good education to all his grandchildren. Luckily for him, by the time his grandchildren arrived our village had a primary as well as high school, within 5 minutes walk from our home. Since all his sons lived in different towns earning their livelihood leaving their families back home under his care, he decided to appoint a teacher who would supervise the studies of his grandchildren outside school hours. That’s how he appointed Ramankutty mash as our “Kulaguru”. When any of his grandchildren attained the age of around 4, our Kalathappa would tell mash “Mashe! Our Venu (or Meenu or Chinu as the case may be) has to be admitted in school”. Mash would most reverently say “yes” and would come the next day to take the little one to school. He would then pick an appropriate date as the birthdate of the child, to ensure that the child was officially old enough to go to school. (That’s how until we were of marriageable age and our horoscopes were brought out we did not know our actual date of birth. Birthdays were always celebrated according to the star.) Mash was the one who taught us starting with our ABC’s for all the children in our family from my oldest cousin, who is 10 is years older than me to my youngest brother who is 17 years younger than me over a span of 24 years. In all these 24 years not a single day went by without Ramankutty mash visiting our house.
He would teach the children in our family until they reached 6th standard, sort of teaching the basics and allow us to learn on our own when we reached the age of about 10. One by one, there would always be 3 or 4 children to be taught. When I was growing up we were three cousins of the same age attending the same class and one or two neighbourhood children. He would come at 6.30 in the morning so that we all would be fresh and receptive. All he did was to make us read our lessons and do the simple arithmetic problems. He would make us recite the multiplication tables every day. We would be promptly woken up at 5.45 in the morning so that we would be ready with our books by the time Ramankutty mash came.
Ramankutty mash belonged to a village some 30 kms away from our own and during those days when public transport was not as good as today he stayed in a lodge in our village having taken up a teacher’s position in the primary school. He would go home to his family only once or twice a month during the weekends. So for all practical purposes our village was his village. Apart from our family, he was the “kulaguru”for one or two more families and in the evenings he used to teach children in his room, after school hours. There were other neighbourhood children who would come to our house to learn from him. He was treated most reverently by all in the family and he was also very respectful towards the whole family. In those very orthodox days, Ramankutty mash was the only non-brahmin who was invited to lunch for all functions in our family. He would be given a special seat and served by the family members. He had come to attend my marriage as well as at the time when my first child was born. It was then that he retired from his services.
Our grandfather, after retiring from serving a British Engineer, who was the chief engineer during the construction of the Pamban bridge, came to his native village and took up agriculture. His formal education was limited to learning to read and write Malayalam and Tamil. His older sons also did not attend college, though his two youngers sons went to college and studied up to the masters level in their selected fields. So our grandfather, whom we fondly called, “Kalathappa” (kalam means farmhouse in Malayalam, since he went to our farmhouse everyday to attend to our fields we called him “kalathappa”) decided to give good education to all his grandchildren. Luckily for him, by the time his grandchildren arrived our village had a primary as well as high school, within 5 minutes walk from our home. Since all his sons lived in different towns earning their livelihood leaving their families back home under his care, he decided to appoint a teacher who would supervise the studies of his grandchildren outside school hours. That’s how he appointed Ramankutty mash as our “Kulaguru”. When any of his grandchildren attained the age of around 4, our Kalathappa would tell mash “Mashe! Our Venu (or Meenu or Chinu as the case may be) has to be admitted in school”. Mash would most reverently say “yes” and would come the next day to take the little one to school. He would then pick an appropriate date as the birthdate of the child, to ensure that the child was officially old enough to go to school. (That’s how until we were of marriageable age and our horoscopes were brought out we did not know our actual date of birth. Birthdays were always celebrated according to the star.) Mash was the one who taught us starting with our ABC’s for all the children in our family from my oldest cousin, who is 10 is years older than me to my youngest brother who is 17 years younger than me over a span of 24 years. In all these 24 years not a single day went by without Ramankutty mash visiting our house.
He would teach the children in our family until they reached 6th standard, sort of teaching the basics and allow us to learn on our own when we reached the age of about 10. One by one, there would always be 3 or 4 children to be taught. When I was growing up we were three cousins of the same age attending the same class and one or two neighbourhood children. He would come at 6.30 in the morning so that we all would be fresh and receptive. All he did was to make us read our lessons and do the simple arithmetic problems. He would make us recite the multiplication tables every day. We would be promptly woken up at 5.45 in the morning so that we would be ready with our books by the time Ramankutty mash came.
Ramankutty mash belonged to a village some 30 kms away from our own and during those days when public transport was not as good as today he stayed in a lodge in our village having taken up a teacher’s position in the primary school. He would go home to his family only once or twice a month during the weekends. So for all practical purposes our village was his village. Apart from our family, he was the “kulaguru”for one or two more families and in the evenings he used to teach children in his room, after school hours. There were other neighbourhood children who would come to our house to learn from him. He was treated most reverently by all in the family and he was also very respectful towards the whole family. In those very orthodox days, Ramankutty mash was the only non-brahmin who was invited to lunch for all functions in our family. He would be given a special seat and served by the family members. He had come to attend my marriage as well as at the time when my first child was born. It was then that he retired from his services.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Recipe: Elai Adai
Elai Adai (sweet parcels) is the most delicious dessert exclusive to Kerala. It is made out of jaggery, jackfruit and coconut (what dish out of Kerala doesn't have coconut in it? My handsome and charming son often says: Any recipe you have, adding coconut to it can only make it better). Another delicious treat made of the same ingredients is chaka pradhaman (more about this later). The elai adai can be prepared during the jackfruit season as well as off season and in remote places away from Kerala. The NRK's prepare elai adai by preserving the jackfruits as jam which in itself is quite the delicacy (side dish for adai for instance). As a child, jackfruit jam was the only jam available to us (none of your strawberry-raspberry mixes for us). The taste of elai adai is augmented by the delicious flavour of the plaintain leaf in which it is wrapped and steamed. My h. and c. son reminded me that this resembles the tamales available in Mexican restaurants. Similarly the Saraswat brahmins of Udipi and Mangalore make kadubu which is cooked by wrapping in turmeric leaf. Banana leaves are available in Indian stores, and frozen leaves are available in Chinese stores. The last time I visited the U.S. one of my nieces asked me if I could prepare elai adai for her. I told her that if she could arrange for the banana leaves, I could make them for her and she promptly got the frozen ones from the Chinese store, they were just what the doctor ordered for this purpose. Since my h. & c. son is not so industrious, we made it at his place by borrowing banana leaves from one of his neighbours. Thanks anonymous neighbours! Just goes to show that even in America, you just have to ask and you will receive.
A quick note on the jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia). This fruit is particular to India, especially Kerala. It is a huge egg-shaped fruit with a hard and prickly outer green shell, and it weighs some 10-20kgs. The sweet aroma of a ripe jackfruit can be smelt as far away as 50-100 feet (and 1 kilometer in the case of my astute and blessed mother in law). Cutting a jackfruit open is quite the process. You have to keep cutting it into halves to get it to a manageable size. First oil your hands and the heavy duty knife that you intend using. Without the oil, your hands and knife will get all sticky because as you cut it, the fruit secretes a white sticky resin. This resin has to cleaned off the fruit with a rolled up piece of paper of cloth. Because the resin hardens easily, it was used as a sealing agent to fix broken pots, buckets etc. There is a thick white stalk that runs along the center of the fruit. The edible part of the fruit comprises many yellow (yellow when ripe, white when raw) fruitlets that are firmly attached to this stalk. Each of these fruitlets in turn is "protected" by little white sepals. These sepals also have to be carefully peeled off the fruitlet. Ultimately you get a yellow fruitlet that encloses within itself a hard egg-shaped seed. The fruitlet is the most delicious fruit that you'll ever have the fortune of eating. It is full of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. This fiber is of course a double edged sword. Eat too much jackfruit at one sitting, and you'll pay the price the next day. Now don't throw away the seeds: like many other things we've figured out many tasty dishes that can be cooked with the seeds. But more of that later.
When I was growing up in Kerala, during the summers we used to get huge jackfruits from our family farm or backyard. Each of them used to weigh some 15-20 kilos. We all used to sit in our concreted backyard in a big circle (during summer, our house was full of visiting cousins and uncles, on any day there would be about 50 people at home). At 9 in the morning when the maid had finished her cleaning and dish washing, our Echiyamma (my grandmother) would order the maid to bring the jackfruit and call all the children to come and remove the ripe fruitlets from the fruit. We would all sit in a big circle, the maid would bring a jackfruit and an axe. She would then cut the jackfruit into bits and remove the stem. We children would sit and remove all the fruitlets and de-seed them. While we did that, we would pop a few into our mouths. Echiyamma and my periappa would cut them into small bits to be made into jackfruit jam or adai or some kootan. during the summers many kilos of jackfruit jam used to be made in our house, for immediate use and to be sent home with all our visitors.
The day on which elai adai was to be made, again my echiyamma used to summon all kids for the preparation. A minimum of 100-150 had to be made so that everybody would be fed, as well as plenty left over for sharing with the neighbours.
Finally, now onto the actual preparation of the elai adai. We'll assume the existence of the jackfruit jam. At a later date, I'll post how this jam is to be prepared.
Ingredients:
Jackfruit jam: 250g
Jaggery: ¾ cup
grated fresh coconut: 2 cups
raw rice: ¾ cup
boiled rice: ¾ cup
gingelly oil: 1 tbsp
banana leaves: 1 per elai adai, size of 8"x8"
salt: a pinch
Procedure:
Soak the rice for 5 hours and grind to a thick smooth paste. Add the salt while grinding. It should be of spreading consistency. Add the gingelly oil to this paste and mix well.
To make the filling, melt the jaggery with 1 cup of water, strain to remove dirt and other impurities, boil it, add the jackfruit jam and loosen it. When the jackfruit jam is loose and of spreading consistency, add the grated coconut, mix well and remove from the stove. This should now be of a jam like consistency. This filling can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.
The banana leaves need to be mildly seasoned by steaming for a few seconds or (very) briefly held over a low flame. The point of this is to make the leaf pliable, otherwise the leaf tears when you fold it. Otherwise, just sun the leaf for 10-30 minutes (but watch it carefully, too long and the leaves will wither away). I've never tried microwaving the leaves, maybe that will work also.
Now take each leaf, spread a ladle full of rice flour as a thin layer. Now, spread 2 tbsp of prepared filling on top of this layer, but covering only about ¾
Enjoy the elai adai.
Recipe: Keera Molagootal
Molagootal is a unique dish of Kerala Iyers. Everybody likes it including non-Iyers who try it. I've found that every non-Iyer who joins our family (by way of marriage) takes an instant liking to it. It is the most satvik food and at the same time delicious also. The taste is a blend of all the vegetables, and lentils, and fresh coconut. It is not very spicy nor oily, which makes it suitable food for young, old, and the invalid. Molagootal can be made with mixed vegetables (raw banana, pumpkin, winter melon, chena, koorka, payar), spinach (keerai), banana stem, cabbage. One of my videshi bahus swore by broccoli molagootal.
Keerai (spinach) is rich in iron, vitamin A, B, and C is a very wholesome vegetable.
It can be made with Are keerai (amaranthis), dhondu keerai, molai keerai (found mostly in TN), parippu keerai (available in Karnataka), spinach keerai (palak), shiru keerai (good diuretic). Of these traditionally we used Are keerai in Kerala, it used to be grown in our backyard.
Keerai (spinach/greens/palak): 300g
Toor dal: ¾ cup
grated coconut: ½ cup
mustard: 1 tsp
urad dal: 2 tsp
red chilli: 1
jeera: ½ tsp
turmeric powder: 1tsp
salt: to taste
Oil: 1tbsp
Wash and drain the greens, and cook. Cool. And grind to a paste. Pressure cook the toor dal with turmeric powder. Heat 1 tsp of the oil, add 1 tsp urad dal and 1 red chilli broken into bits, fry till the dal is pink in color. Remove. Grind coconut with fried dal and chilli and the jeera to a smooth paste. Boil the spinach puree with salt. Add the cooked toor dal and boil for 5 minutes. Add the ground coconut paste and add enough water to get pouring consistency. Boil. Remove from the stove. Heat the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds when they splutter, add the remaining urad dal, when the dal turns pink, pour into the keerai molagootal.
Can be eaten with rice, chapatti, dosa, pooris etc.
Accompaniments: Thogayal, Thair pachadi, Pachadi, Pulikachal.
Recipe: Rava Kesari
Also known as sojji in Tamilnadu, ksheera in marathi and kesari bath in Karnataka and sooji ka halva in UP. Sojji and bajji used to be the main snacks served during the girl seeing ceremony in Tamilnadu.
Rava (semolina): 1 cup
sugar: 1.5-2 cups
cashewnuts: 10-12
raisins: 15-20
ghee: 4 tbsp or more
orange food color (kesari): a pinch
saffron: a pinch (optional)
cloves: 3-4 (optional)
Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan, fry the broken cashews and raisins (and optional cloves) and keep aside. Add another tbsp of ghee and fry the rava to a light pink color and keep aside. Heat 3 cups of water in the same pan, add the coloring and the saffron when it comes to a boil. Add the rava slowly, constantly stirring, and mix well. Allow the rava to be cooked at medium heat. The rava has to cook well. When it is fully cooked, add the sugar and stir well. When the sugar is fully dissolved, add the remaining ghee. Keep stirring until the rava starts leaving the sides of the pan. Garnish with the fried cashews and raisins and cardamom powder.
In Karnataka, while the water is boiling they add ½ cup of finely cut pineapple pieces and cook the semolina and pineapple together and then proceed as above. In Maharashtra, they don't add the food color but they cook the rava in milk. Kannadigas love khara bath and kesari bath for breakfast.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Recipe: Pradhaman
Well, we have been looking at recipes of side dishes of Onam. Let us take a detour now and see how we can prepare the dessert items. For Onam, the desserts prepared are different types of Payasams and Pradhamans. Pradhamans are prepared using coconut milk and jaggery (except in Palada Pradhaman) where as payasams are prepared using milk and sugar . There are some exceptions though.
There are different types of Pradhamans unique to Kerala. Some of the very famous ones being adapradhaman, chakkapradhaman, parippu pradhaman, idichu pizhinja payasam, aval pradhaman, wheat Pradhaman, etc.
Parippu Pradhamans are of different types. Pradhamans using only parippu(dal) or a combination of parippu and rice. Both Bengal gram dal and moong dal are used in preparing pradhaman.
Let us see how moong dal and rice pradhaman is prepared.
Parippu Pradhaman:
Ingredients
Moong dal : ¼ cup
Raw rice : ¼ cup
Jaggery 1 ½ cups
Coconut milk from 1 coconut
Or
Readymade coconut milk 1 tin
Ghee 2 tsp.
Preparation:
Grate the coconut and extract the milk thus:
1. Add 2 tbsp. of warm water and blend in the blender. Remove. Squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 1st milk aside.
2. Put the coconut residue back into the blender add ½ cups of tepid water and blend in the blender. Remove. Squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 2nd milk aside.
3. Put the residue back into the blender add 2 cups of tepid water and blend in the blender. Remove squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 3rd milk aside.
When using readymade coconut milk, you are saved of this tedious procedure. Any day, fresh coconut milk squeezed tastes much better than canned coconut milk.
Dry roast the moong dal to light pink colour. Wash the rice and moong dal and cook in a pressure cooker in the 3rd milk, for three whistles. If using tinned coconut milk, cook with 2 tbsp. of coconut milk and 2 cups of water.
Melt the jaggery with a little water and strain to remove any impurities. Boil the jaggery syrup in a wide bottomed non-stick pan and add the cooked rice and dal. Boil until the mixture is thick. Add the 2nd coconut milk and boil again to reduce the water content (if using tinned milk add 1 cup of water and the ghee and boil once and add the remaining coconut milk. Remove from heat immediately). When the pradhaman starts thickening add 2 tsp. of ghee and boil for another 5 mitutes, stirring well, until well blended. Remove from heat. Add the first milk and stir constantly for 5 minutes, to blend in the first milk. After adding the first milk, the pradhaman should not be boiled.
Delicious Parippu Pradhaman is ready.
Recipe: Aviyal
Aviyal again is a dish prepared with as many vegetables as one can get. There is a legend about this dish. The maharaja of Travencore used to perform Murajapam everyyear, a vedic seminar, in which a large number of vedic scholars participated. One year it so happened that there was no vegetables left on the last day of the Murajapam.. Only few pieces of various vegetables left over from the previous days were available. The cook cut all the left overs into long thin pieces and prepared "Aviyal." The king liked the dish so much and presented him with a gold bracelet so much and ordered that this dish be served every year since then. All vegetables go in it, except perhaps, some mushy vegetables, like, tomato, brinjal, ladies fingers, cabbage, cauliflower, beetroot (it stains the dish), radish, turnip, onion, sweet potato, etc. Otherwise, all the following vegetables can be used, depending on the availability.
Raw Green plantain
Elephant yam (amorphopallus is the botanical name, Chena in Malayalam, chenai kizhangu in Tamil, Suvarna
gadde in Kannada, Jameenkhand in Hindi),
Chembu (colocasia, cheppam kizhangu in Tamil, arvi in
Hindi)
Snake gourd (Trichosanthes Anguina)
Pumpkin
Ash gourd
Carrot
Beans
Avarakkai (Saem in Hindi))
Chow Chow (Sechium edule, Bangalore Kathrikkai in
Malayalam and Tamil, Seeme badanakkaye in Kannada)
Thondekkai ( kova kkai in Tamil)
Lobia (payar in Malayalam, Karamani in Tamil, Halasinde in Kannada)
Green mango (raw)
Drumsticks
Raw jackfruit
A small quantity of bitter gourd can be used to give a tinge of bitterness
Since a variety of vegetables are used, we will need only very small quantity of each of them and also it is very difficult to prepare 2 servings or 4 servings. However, even if the prepared quantity is more than can be consumed, it keeps well for a couple of days under refrigeration. This can be frozen also.
Now for the recipe:
The preparation of aviyal is very simple.
Ingredients:
Vegetables: 250 gms of mixed vegetables.
Turmeric powder: 1tsp.
Grated fresh coconut :1½ cups
Green chillies: 5 to 8 nos. according to taste
Curds 3-4 tbsp lightly sour (if using raw mango, do not use curds)
Salt to taste
Curry leaves : a few
Coconut oil 2 tbsp. (it is the coconut oil which gives aviyal the aroma and taste, hence do not substitute)
Wash and cut all the vegetables lengthwise into 2" pieces(stick shape). Boil the vegetables until just done, with turmeric powder and salt. One should be careful not to overcook the vegetables: they should remain crisp.(There are some vegetables which cook very fast and some which take a long time. Keep adding the vegetables to the boiling water according to the cooking time, the longer cooking vegetables first and the quicker ones last) Grind the coconut with green chillies, without using water. Drain the vegetables. Put them in a wide mouthed large pan in mild heat, add the coconut mixture, beaten curds, curry leaves and coconut oil and gently toss for few minutes, until all the vegetables are coated with coconut and coconut oil. If using a spoon, be careful not to mash the vegetables. Remove from heat add fresh curry leaves.
ENJOY.
This aviyal can be used as a side dish for sambar rice or any other rice. If this has to be used as a main dish for rice, make the aviyal with a little more of beaten curds to get a gravy. One can use the water used for cooking the vegetable to make the gravy, if short of curds. Aviyal can be eaten with rice, dosa, chappathi or Poori. Our son relishes pooris with refrigerated aviyal.
Suggested accompaniments: Pappad
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