Showing posts with label South Indian Specialities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Indian Specialities. Show all posts

Friday, August 30

Oats Pongal

There is a big fan club out in Tamil Nadu for this incomparably scrumptious dish, venpongal. Some people reluctantly avoid it only for its high calories; the oats twist makes this dish inviting. Oats pongal is gooier than the regular pongal which makes it even more striking. It is very pertinent baby food by picking out the pepper corns.


Serves:  2

Preparation Time: NA

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Oats – 1 cup
2.    Split green gram – ½ cup
3.    Ghee – 2 tbsp
4.    Salt to taste
5.     Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
6.    Pepper corns – 1 tsp
7.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Wash the dal and cook it until soft and mushy.

Step 2:  In another vessel cook oats in salted water just as we make porridge until done but not too mushy. Add the cooked dal to this and adjust salt.

Step 3: Heat ghee in a tadka ladle, splutter cumin seeds & pepper corns and pour over the hot pongal.

Step 4: Yes it’s that simple. But for adults the seasoning can be made more elaborate by adding cashew nuts, grated ginger and curry leaves.

Step 5: Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Thursday, August 29

Lentil Pancakes or Manjal Dosai or Paruppu Dosai

Few days back I had just reinvented this traditional recipe usually use only tur dal and rice but I have given it some twist. The dish might be humble in its looks, don’t under estimate its flavour, taste or nutrition. There are two kinds of lovers of dosa; one the crisp dosa likers and other the soft dosa likers, former being the majority. This lentil dosa can cater to both the types of people by adjusting the proportion of rice-dal used, to get the texture you prefer.


Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  5 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Idly rice – 1 cup
2.    Tur dal – ¾ cup
3.    Bengal gram – ½ cup
4.    Urad dal – ½ cup
5.     Moong dal – ½ cup
6.    Dry red chilies – 2
7.     Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp
8.    Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
9.    Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
10.            Pepper corns – 10
11.   Salt to taste
12. Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
13. Coriander chopped – a fistful
14. Oil as required

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak all the lentils and the rice together for a couple of hours.


Step 2: Then drain the soaked mixture (saving the water for later use) and grind it in a mixer jar along with other dry spices.

Step 3: Add the soaked water to coarse grind into a thick batter.

Step 4: Transfer to another vessel, add turmeric powder, salt and chopped coriander and mix well adjusting water to get a dosa batter consistency. Preferably set this aside for 15 minutes before using.



Step 5: Heat the dosa tawa, grease it with oil and while hot enough pour a ladle of batter and spread it into a nice circle using the back of the ladle. Drizzle few drops of oil after a minute and cover with a high lid.


Step 6: After about 2-3 minutes or when the bottom side is browned enough, remove lid and flip the dosa.



Step 7: Lentil pancake is ready to be served with chutney of your choice.

Tuesday, August 27

Milagai Pachchadi

At our home this is one of the regular side dishes that accompany the pongal which is prepared on the day of Pongal festival. We just love it so much for this stimulates our taste buds by rendering a mixture of tastes; sweet, heat, salt and sourness. It is not frequented at home as it is pretty much concentrated and so we indulge as and when prepared. Apart from pongal it goes well with curd rice.


Yields:  1 cup

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Green chilies – 5-10 (depending on the heat of chilies)
2.    Tamarind extract – ½ cup
3.    Jaggery – half a lemon size
4.    Salt to taste
5.     Gingelly oil – 1 tbsp
6.    Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
7.     Curry leaves – 1 sprig
8.    Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds in it, add curry leaves, asafoetida and green chilies to it. Sauté until green chilies let out a nice aroma and turn whitish.

Step 2: Dissolve jaggery in ½ cup of water, filter and add it to the pan.

Step 3: Add the tamarind extract, salt and boil in simmered heat until becomes thick. Adjust salt, sour and sweet if required at this stage.

Step 4: Serve with steamed rice or curd rice. This can be stored for few days.

Thursday, June 27

Neer Mor Saadam

Coming from a village in Tamil Nadu, I am very much acquainted with pazhayathu or pazhanjaadam or neer  mor saadam. Though it is not a regular summer practice at our home, we did relish it often during the scorching summer while on vacation to our native. But now, knowing its benefits I have made this as our summer breakfast at least thrice a week. It cools the body, acts as a wonderful probiotic, very light and yet nutritious, completely medicinal yet tastes heavenly (of course, you need to have a taste for it.)


Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 2 minutes

Cooking Time: NA

Ingredients:
1.      Steamed rice – 2 cups (Should not be hot or warm)
2.    Water – 1 lt
3. Salt – 1 tbsp (Body requires more salt and water to fight summer)
4.    Butter milk – ½ cup
Ø Preferably a mud pot to soak in.
Ø To accompany peeled raw shallots (madras vengayam or sambar vengayam) are the best, though green chilies or yoghurt chilies or the like would go well.



Method:
Step 1: Take the clean mud pot and put the steamed rice into it. The rice should not be hot.


Step 2: Add a litre of water, butter milk and enough salt.
Step 3: Mix well and leave it closed overnight.


Step 4: In the morning, stir well and serve with onion or chilies.



TIPS:

*My mom adds citrus leaves and curry leaves to give it an awesome flavour. Sometimes I fancy it with lemon rinds.

*My mom’s aunt makes tempering to it with mustard, asafoetida, yoghurt chilies, and crushed garlic with peel.


*Some people add chopped onion and chilies to it so that they don’t have to take them separately; I prefer them freshly bitten (oru kadi, oru kudi ;) that’s the classic way to have the dish)

Kezhvaragu Koozh/ Ragi Porridge

This is a humble peasant’s food in Tamilnadu. My dad is very fond of it and so it is usual for our lunch during summer vacations. This preparation is very nutritious and cooling for summers. Actually, the process of fermenting the ragi flour makes it cooling otherwise it is considered heat and also is complex for digestion. There is a belief that regular intake of kezhvaragu koozh makes one put on weight; however, my mom believes if taken in moderation it doesn’t attribute to weight gain and in fact helps in muscle tightening.


Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:
1.     Ragi flour – 2 cups
2.     Broken maize – ½ cup (Generally broken rice is used)
3.     Buttermilk – 2 cups
4.     Salt to taste
5.     Shallots & green chilies for accompaniment

Method:
Step 1: The ragi flour is to be mixed with water until it is thin or say mix 2 cups flour mixed in 4 cups water or so. Leave it to ferment overnight or until you see small air bubbles on the surface. In summer it takes less time to ferment.
Step 2: In a mud pot preferably, boil 2 cups of water and add broken maize into it with some salt.


Step 3: Once the maize is soft and cooked, pour the ragi batter into it, rinse the vessel with water and pour it into it until nice and dilute. Add salt and cook in simmer by stirring frequently else it tends to burn at the bottom.


Step 4: It takes little longer to cook, so be patient; uncooked ragi causes indigestion and stomach upset. The smell of cooked porridge is quite perceptible with some experience and observation.


Step 5: Once done, let it cool down. Generally mom makes it in the morning and lets it cool until lunch.
Step 6: Now in a mixing bowl, scoop necessary porridge/ koozh and add buttermilk, more salt if required and some water to adjust consistency. You can stir it up well with ladle or whip up in a sophisticated way, but the country style is to dirty hands and introduce some secret ingredient called ‘kai manam’.


Step 7: Pretty much like ‘neer mor saadam’, this is also served with madras onions and green chilies.



TIPS:

*My dad prefers green chili in a special way for this; mom  makes a small slit into the chili, smears the chili with oil and chars it slightly on the stove. This scents the whole house.

*Generally broken rice is used that we call ‘arisi noii’ locally, but any broken cereal can be used as far as I know. It is for texture and filling.

Friday, June 14

Jowar Roti

I made rotis from the jowar puttu flour that I had bought ready from store; puttu flour renders extra soft rotis compared to usual jowar flour. In north Karnataka, jowar roti is prepared like the phulkas and are considered as one of their staples. However, I had made ‘adai’ like rotis patted by hands that are thicker and slightly chewy. It is a quick rainy season dinner and Kundan liked it well with butter and jaggery.



Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1.     Jowar flour – 3 cups
2.     Salt to taste
3.     Oil – 1 tbsp + for greasing
4.     Coriander chopped – One fistful
5.     Green chilies – 2
6.     Onion – 1
7.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Take jowar flour in a mixing bowl; add a spoon of oil, salt, asafoetida, chopped onion and coriander and knead well with luke warm water.



Step 2: Rest the dough for 15 minutes.
Step 3: Divide the dough into medium sized portions and roll them into balls.
Step 4: Grease a plastic sheet and grease fingers also with some oil and pat the dough ball over the surface with fingers to get 5mm thickness circle.



Step 5: Heat the tawa, grease with some oil or butter and roast the jowar roti on both the sides until well cooked.




Step 6: Serve with a dollop of butter and jaggery. Any thokku goes well with this roti.

Bread Upma

I used the frozen left over bread to make bread upma. As I usually buy brown breads, the derived bread upma is healthy too. Some people make chunks of bread to make upma, I had pulsed them in mixer jar to get soft bread crumbs before using them in the recipe. It is good for a fast breakfast. Honestly, I am not a big fan this though Kundan likes it.



Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1.     Bread crumbs – 2 cups
2.     Onion – 1
3.     Green chilies – 2
4.     Green peas – ¼ cup
5.     Oil – ½ tbsp
6.     Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
7.     Urad dal – ½ tbsp
8.     Bengal gram – ½ tbsp
9.     Asafoetida – 1 pinch
10. Coriander chopped – 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds, sprinkle asafoetida, fry urad dal & Bengal gram and add chopped coriander and green chilies to it.
Step 2: Sauté chopped onion in it until translucent and add green peas to it and cook further.
Step 3: Season with necessary salt and add bread crumbs to it; mix thoroughly and turn off heat after a couple of minutes.

Step 4: Serve hot for breakfast. It actually is good without any accompaniment however ketchup can be served if required.


Tuesday, June 11

Maize Upma

There was this broken maize that I procured from the local grocer which I used for this conventional south Indian recipe, Upma. Both of us are fond of upma, like the dialogue in ‘Pokiri’ movie, we also belong to upma-family. Maize upma tastes more like broken rice upma except for it is a tad bit sticky. Makki ka roti is famous in north India, corn breads or tacos and the like are well known maize recipes in continental cuisines; but in south India usage of maize is not much prevalent. Hence, this recipe would offer good cereal diversity to south Indian cuisine.



Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.     Broken Maize – 1 ½ cups
2.     Onion – 1
3.     Green peas – ¼ cup
4.     Carrot – 1
5.     Beans – 6
6.     Green chilies – 2
7.     Curry leaves – 1 sprig
8.     Oil – 2 tbsp
9.     Mustard – ½ tsp
10.            Bengal gram – 1tbsp
11.            Urad dal – 1 tbsp
12.            Asafoetida – 1 pinch
13.            Salt to taste
14.            Water – 3 ½ cups

Method:

Step 1: Wash and chop the vegetables into small dices.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, roast Bengal gram & urad dal in it, sprinkle asafoetida, add curry leaves, green chilies and sauté onion in it till translucent.
Step 3: Heat water on the other stove with enough salt in parallel.
Step 4: Sauté carrot, bush beans and finally the green peas along with the onion.
Step 5: Add the broken maize into the kadai and let the grains get roasted.


Step 6: Now carefully add the boiling water to the kadai and close immediately. Be very careful as the hot water may splash while pouring into the kadai.


Step 7: Close the lid and cook in simmer for 5 minutes. Then open the lid, stir and cook again for 5 minutes.
Step 8: Fill a bowl, place it upside down on the serving plate and take off the bowl to get nice moulded serving.



Step 9: Serve along with coconut chutney or plain curds.