Green Peas Sundal

Sundal is an offering made to god during Navarathri (Dasara) time, though it is made and consumed at other times as well. It can be salt or sweet variety. It is primarily made with a legume. Some legumes can be made into salt sundal and some sweet and some both. The basic recipe for all salt sundal remains the same. I made it with Green Peas today.

Ingredients

Dried Green Peas 1 cup

mustard 1 tsp

Urad dal 1 tsp

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

hing

Oil and Salt to taste

For Grinding to a dry paste

Coconut 1/2 cup

Green Chillies 2-3

jeera 1 tsp

Curry leaves few

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the dried green peas overnight and cook till done. Mine becomes mushy if I pressure cook with whislte on. So I just cook in pressure cooker without whistle for about 20 minutes. Check in between to make sure it is not becoming mushy. You can also add some salt to the water.

2. Grind all the ingredients under 'to dry paste'. Do not add any water. Do not make it too fine. Just coarse grind.

3. In a pan, add some oil and the mustard seeds to it. When it sputters, add the urad dal. When it starts to brown, add the turmeric and hing.

4. After a few seconds, add the cooked green peas and the ground paste and required salt.

5. Stir and cook for a 5 minutes. Delicious sundal is ready to be served. It can be eaten as a snack or used as a side for rice or roti.

Bitter Gourd and Potatoes with a Twist

Bitter Gourd (Pavakka) is my favourite vegetable. Simple pavakka mizhukkuvaratti (Bitter Gourd stir fry) is heavenly. I also like making Pitla with it. (Will post recipe for Pitla some other time). My husband also shares my love for Pavakka (thank god for that).

When making Pavakka these days, I am always reminded of an incident that happened a couple of years ago. My now 2.5 year old son was around 8 months at that time. He had started eating solid food - vegetables and fruits in puree form. He used to crawl to us when we were eating food and ask for what we were eating. We used to let him get a lick of the Indian cooked dinner. We were a little scared of giving him all that spicy food at that age. One day the dinner was pavakka and when my husband gave him some mushed pavakka, we were sure he is going to spit it out. But my DS loved it. He kept smacking his lips and asking for more. :-)

I was looking for some different recipe for making Bitter Gourd in other blogs and came across a Bitter Gourd Masala recipe in Priya's website. I made some changes to the recipe and created my version below. Check out the original recipe in her website.

Ingredients

Bitter Gourd 3 finely chopped

Potato 1 big pealed and cut into small cubes

Onion 1 big finely chopped

Ginger, garlic, green chillies all finely chopped

Mustard 1 tsp

Turmeric 1 tsp

Hing

Oil and Salt to taste

For Grinding to a powder

Poppy seeds 1 tsp

Quinoa 1 tsp

Channa dal 1 tbsp

Whole pealed urad dal 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds 1 tsp

Cumin 1 tsp

Red chillies 3

Method of Preparation

1. Dry roast the poppy seeds and quinoa and keep aside.

2. Add a little oil and roast the channa dal and urad dal. When it starts to brown, add the coriander seeds, cumin and red chillies and roast for a minute.

3. Grind all the above into a fine powder.

4. In a pan, add some oil and add the mustard to it.

5. When it sputters, add the turmeric, hing, onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic and sauté till onion is browned.

6. Add the bitter gourd and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Then add the potatoes and cook till it is almost done.

8. Add the ground powder and salt and cook till the vegetables are cooked well.

9. Serve with roti or rice. we enjoyed this with roti.

Kariveppilai (curry leaf) Podi/Rice

I really love Kariveppilai (Curry Leaf) podi. We usually don't get good Curry Leaf where we live. Last weekend we were in Hounslow (in UK) and found curry leaf and coriander leaf fresh and cheap. So bought a couple of bunches of both.

Today I made the curry leaf powder. Hopefully I will get to making something with the coriander leaves as well before it goes bad. Look out for a recipe.

This recipe is very basic. Once made, it can be mixed with rice making it an instant powder. It stores well for a few weeks.

Ingredients

Curry leaf 3 cups

Urad dal 1/4 cup

Pepper 1 tsp

Red Chillies 10 (depending on the spiciness of the chilli. Mine was not very spicy)

Salt 1/2 tsp (to taste)

Oil a little

Method of Preparation

1. Separate the curry leaf from the stem and wash well. Dry the leaves.

2. Dry roast the leaves. Roast till it becomes dry, making sure not to burn it. Keep aside.

3. Heat oil in a Pan and add urad dal and roast till it is slightly browned.

4. Add the pepper and chillies to it and roast for another minute. Let it cool.

5. Powder all the above with salt into a fine powder. Kariveppilai Podi is ready.

6. You can mix with rice when you are ready to eat. You can also use this as a side for idli and dosa

Tomato Kurma

My Mother-in-law makes Thakkali Kurma (Tomato Kurma) as a Kozhambu variety to mix with rice and eat. I like eating this with rice. But my husband and I love it as a side dish for Idli and Dosa. Try it in both ways and decide what you prefer :-) It is a very easy dish to make. Takes very little time.

Ingredients

Onion 1 Big, cut into slightly long slices

Tomoto 3, cut small pieces

To be ground to a paste

Coconut 4tbsp

Green chillies 2

Pottu Kadalai (fried gram dal) 4 tbsp

Ginger small piece

Garlic 4 cloves

Saunf 1/2 tsp

Poppy seeds 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon 1 inch piece

Clove 2

Cardamon 2

Star Anise 2

Bay leaf 1

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Make a paste of all the ingredients under the 'to be ground' with enough water

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the onion and saute

3. When the onion becomes slightly brown, add the tomatoes

4. Sauté till the tomato cooks

5. Add the ground paste, salt and required water and bring it to boil. Simmer till the masala is cooked through.

Beans Paruppusli

I ended up making Beans Paruppusli last weekend by accident. I was making Paruppurunda Kozhambu and had 3 pulse balls that I did not add to the Kozhambu. Since paruppusli follows the exact same steps as that of Kozhambu, I made it in a jiffy.

Some people grind the dal and then sauté it directly till it gets cooked and in the crumbled consistency. There are 2 issues with that. First is it takes a long long time for the dal to get cooked and it sticks to the bottom of the pan. And second issue is you need a lot of oil for that. This is a healthier version.

From the kozhambu recipe I am posting the below. You will need about 5 balls to make for 2-3 ppl.

Ingredients

Beans - finely chopped

Oil and salt to taste

For the pulse ball

Toor Dal 1 cup (will make around 10 small balls)

Red Chillies 2

Mustard 1/2 tsp

Salt

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the toor dal for a couple of hours.

2. Grind into a coarse paste with chillies and salt adding little water.

3. Heat oil in a small pan and add a mustard for tempering.

4. Add the ground paste and stir in low flame till it hardens a little and the wateryness is gone.

5. Roll into small balls. 1 cup will make around 10 balls.

6. Steam the balls in an idli plate for 6 minutes.

7. Crumble the pulse balls and keep aside.

8. Heat oil in a pan and add the beans. Cook till it is well done.

9. Add the crumbled pulse balls and salt and cook for a few more minutes. Paruppusali is ready to serve.

The same recipe can be used to prepare using kothavaranga(cheeni avarakka, cluster beans) or capsicum as well.

Idli Upma

Idli Upma is a good way to use up some left over idli. It also helps to get some vegetables into the food.

OK now comes the confession. I do not like the simple plain idli. Ok I know. Most of you are thinking - what is wrong with her. But its the truth. One form I like eating it is when it is smeared with Molaga podi, packed for a picnic. After marriage, I have learned to tolerate it :-)

So for me, Idli upma is not an idea to make something with leftover idli. I made some idli the previous night and kept so that I can make this upma in the morning. You cannot make this with fresh soft idlis and you will not be able to crumble them.

Ingredients

Idli 10 numbers

Onion 1 big finely chopped

Mixed vegetables 3 cups. I heat my frozen vegetables in the microwave for 15 min.

Idli Molaga podi 3 tbsp

Coriander leaves for Garnish

Oil

Salt

For Tempering

Mustard 1tsp

Jeera 1 tsp

Turmeric 1 tsp

Hing - little

finely chopped green chillies, ginger and curry leaves

cashews 10

channa dal 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Pan and add the mustard. When it sputters, add channa dal and cashews.

2. When it is slightly browned, add the Jeera, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, Turmeric Powder and Hing.

3. Saute for a few seconds and add the onions.

4. Once the onions are slightly browned, add the mixed vegetables, Idli Molaga podi, and salt and cook for a few minutes.

5. Crumble the idlis and add to the pan. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Spiced Nutella Hot Chocolate

I love Chocolates and my favourite is Ferrero Rocher. When I discovered Nutella a few years back, I knew this love story will last for ever. If I could afford to indulge (read - if I were thinner), I would have had Nutella and Rocher with every meal.

When I saw this recipe for Hot Chocolate in aipi's blog last week, I knew I had to try it this weekend.

This recipe is posted for all the lovers of Nutella, especially my brother. Do try and let me know how you enjoy it.

Ingredients

Milk 2 cups

Nutella 3-4 tbsp

Cinnamon 1 inch

Chilli powder 1/2 tsp (The original recipe uses red chillies. Mine are not that spicy and did not render much spice to the hot chocolate).

Coffee powder 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. In a small pot, mix the milk, nutella, cinnamon and coffee powder.

2. Whisk till the nutella is mixed well.

3. Bring the milk to a boil and stir in the chilli powder.

4. Sinfully delicious hot chocolate is ready to be served.

I enjoyed mine with my husband yesterday night!!!

Please check out the original recipe and some amazing clicks in aipi's blog.

Paruppurunda Kozhambu

Seeing the popularity of Vatha Kozhambu in my blog, I decided to try making Paruppurunda Kozhambu today. Paruppurunda means pulse ball. The basic recipe is the same as making Vatha Kozhambu. The additional step is to make the pulse balls and add it to the kozhambu. I will add the recipe including the kozhambu here for easy reference. I have increased the quantity a little to be able to accommodate the pulse balls

Ingredients

For the pulse ball

Toor Dal 1 cup (will make around 10 small balls)

Red Chillies 2

Mustard 1/2 tsp

Salt

For the kozhambu

Mustard 1tsp

Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp

Toor dal 3 tsp

Red chillies 3

Curry leaves few

Sambar powder 4 tsp

Rice flour 2 tsp

Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp (use depending on your paste. Mine is very tangy)

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation for pulse ball

1. Soak the toor dal for a couple of hours.

2. Grind into a coarse paste with chillies and salt adding little water.

3. Heat oil in a small pan and add a mustard for tempering.

4. Add the ground paste and stir in low flame till it hardens a little and the wateryness is gone.

5.Roll into small balls. 1 cup will make around 10 balls. Standard recipe says add these balls to the Kozhambu prepared below. I have found that if I do that, it dissolves into the Kozhambu and there is usually not much pulse ball left :-)

6. So I follow an additional step. Steam the balls in an idli plate for 6 minutes. This will prevent the balls from dissolving when added to the Kozhambu

Method of Preparation for Kozhambu

1. Heat oil in a Pan and add the mustard. When it sputters, add fenugreek seeds, toor dal and Red Chillies.

2. When it slightly browns, add the curry leaves and pour 5 cups of water

3. Add the sambar powder and the tamarind paste and salt

5. When it starts to boil, add the rice flour and mix well. The rice flour helps in the thickening of the kozhambu.

6. Boil till the kozhambu is reduced to approximately 4 cups.

7. Add the pulse balls prepared in first step to the Kozhambu.

Mullu Thenkozhal

An easy to make snack with just a few ingredients. I made a slight twist to it by adding some masala items to it.

Ingredients

Besan (chickpea flour) 2 cups

Rice Flour 1/2 cup

Ajwain (Omam) 1 tsp

Cinnamon 1 inch

Star Anise 2

Clove 2

Cardamom 1

Chilli powder 2 tsp (depending on how spicy you want it. I used just 1 tsp so that my son can enjoy it better)

Salt 1 tsp

Hing a little

Butter 3 Tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Powder Ajwain (Omam), Cinnamon, Star Anise, Clove, Cardamom into a fine powder.

2. Take all the ingredients in a bowl

3. Mix by adding water little at a time to make dough like chappati

4. Make a small ball with it and put it in the Nazhi (the equipment) with the correct chip.

5. Heat oil in a Kadai and press down the dough into the oil.

6. Gently break down the thenkozhal and cook till it is slightly browned. You will get deeper colour if you are using a lot of chilli powder.

7. Yummy Mullu Thenkozhal is ready to serve.

Adai

Adai is a very easy to make dosa variety. I like making Adai for a few reasons.

1. All you need to do is soak the rice and dal for a few hours and grind.

2. There is no need to ferment. Make batter and adai can be prepared immediately.

3. There is no way to mess up the adai. It always tastes good.

4. It is the most forgiving of the dosa batters :-). You can change the combination a little (I did not have channa dal at home. so i skipped it. But it still came out tasty). Different families use different ratio of the dals and rice

5. And most important, your husband and son think you have made something very special. My son kept saying "special dosa, thank you amma" through out dinner :-)

There are a lot of interesting combinations for Adai. The famous one is to eat it with Avial. Don't ask me why. But it does taste very good together. Another curious option (which my dad loves as well) is to use jaggery as side. Ofcourse you can eat it with any chutney, sambar or molaga podi.

Ingredients

Boiled Rice (Boiled Rice used for making Idli/Dosa) 1/2 cup

Raw Rice 1/2 cup

Whole peeled Urad dal 1/2 cup

Toor dal 1/2 cup

Channa dal 1/4 cup

Coconut 1/2 cup

onion 1 small cut into small pieces

Red chillies 6

Green chillies 2

curry leaves few

coriander leaves a small bunch (optional)

hing

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the rice and the dals together for about 3 hours.

2. Drain and Grind into a course paste along with green chillies, red chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves adding enough water.

3. Mix with coconut, onion, hing and salt. The batter should be fairly thicker than usual dosa batter. But loose enough to spread. Adjust water as needed.

4. Heat a tawa and spread the batter. Make a small hole in the centre. Pour some oil on the dosa and in the hole

5. When one side is cooked well and the adai starts to brown, turn and cook on the other side

6. Serve with a side of your choice. Do try it with Avial even if you do not like the idea :-)

If you like this recipe, also try the Ada Kozhakkatai in my blog

Masala Raita

I made this raita for the first time a couple of weeks back. That was a bad day for my blogging. I made some paratas and raita, took pics. I was downloading some other photos and deleted the whole lot. I felt so sad after that. My husband was trying to be supportive - you can make paratas again next week. But I really had some good photos that day. :-(

So I made the raita again yesterday to go with my Peas Pulao. Parata is still in waiting list.

Unlike the usual raita, this one uses cooked onion and tomato.

I read this in some blog a long time ago. Cannot remember where I read it :-(

Ingredients

Onion 1 small, cut into small pieces

Tomoto 2, , cut into small pieces

Yogurt (curd) 1.5 cup

chilli powder 1tsp

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the add the onion and sauté till it is slightly browned.

2. Add the tomatoes, chilli powder and salt.

4. Cook till the tomato is well done.

5. Cool and add the yogurt. Mix and serve.

Peas Pulao

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Thanksgiving brings back wonderful memories. Though for most part, we did not celebrate Thanksgiving the American way we used to have a lot of fun. It was the beginning of the festival season.

And I miss the black friday sales as well. Until the last couple of years in US, I have never been to a black friday sale. For the uninitiated, it is the biggest sale event in America. Limited quantities of stuff get sold at even 30% of the original price. People go at all weird times to pick up Flat screen TVs, laptops etc. I used to pick up a lot of clothes, jackets, toys etc.

On a personal note, the best Thanksgiving was the one in 2008. Just a week or so before we had found out that we were expecting our little one. After a wonderful thanksgiving dinner at our friends place, we told our group of friends the news during a round of Poker. :-) The next best of course was when our best friends shared their news with us the next year.

Earlier this month, I was thinking I will cook my first Thanksgiving dinner today. I then totally forgot about it, only to remember it yesterday night. So all we had for our dinner was Peas Pulao.

This recipe is a variation of what my Mother in law makes

Ingredients

Basmati Rice uncooked 3 cups

Green Peas 3 cups (I used the frozen one, you can use the dried one as well)

Onion 1 big finely chopped

jeera 1 tsp

mustard 1 tsp

hing

Butter 1 tbsp

Oil and Salt to taste

For Grinding to a paste

Fried Gram dal (Pottu Kadalai) 1/4 cup - this is not a standard ingredient. I like it and hence use.

Coconut 1/2 cup

Green Chillies 2-3

Ginger small piece

Garlic 4 pods

Star Anise 2

Clove 2

Cinnamon small piece

Coriander leaves, mint leaves (either one or a combination) - small bunch

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the butter in a pan and add the uncooked rice. Sauté till it is slightly pink. I do this for pulao, biriyani etc to avoid the rice from sticking. Another easier way is to just add some butter and salt along with water when cooking in a pressure cooker.

2. Cook the rice along with 6 cups of water till done. (Water depends on the rice used). Transfer to a bowl and let it cool a little before stirring to avoid sticking.

3. Grind all the ingredients under 'To grind' and keep aside.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard. When it sputters, add the jeera and hing.

5. After a few seconds, add the onion and sauté till it is slightly browned.

6. Add the cooked green peas, salt and the ground paste and cook till the raw smell of masala is gone.

7. Mix with cooked rice and serve with raita of choice.

My son is surprised as to why Amma has to take photo before we can eat. He had no patience today.

Chammandi Podi

Chammandi Podi is basically spiced roasted and powdered coconut. It can be mixed with rice and eaten. That is my favourite way of eating it. I guess it can be eaten as a side for idli and dosa. When your husband and/or kid make you to cook less spicy food, this comes as a lifesaver!

It brings back memories of my mom's cooking. I really missed it and am still not sure why I have never made it till now. I decided to give it a try today. It was fairly easy to make, just a little time consuming.

I have deviated a little bit from the traditional recipe. I used Urad dal which is not part of the original one. Also, usually people roast everything together. But I have done separately as adding chillies and roasting for long time makes house smoky. Also, highly recommend using a non stick pan as the coconut takes a long time to roast and tends to stick to the bottom of pans.

Ingredients

Coconut 4 cups

Urad dal 1 cup

Corriander seeds 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds 1 tbsp

Pepper 1 tsp

Red Chillies 15 (depending on the spiciness of the chilli. Mine was not very spicy, so 15 was less)

Ginger small piece

Curry leaf few

Salt 2 tsp

Oil a little

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Pan and add urad dal and roast till it is slightly browned. Keep aside.

2. Next roast the corriander and cumin seeds, red chillies, peppers, curry leaf, ginger one at a time and keep aside

3. Next roast the coconut in a medium low flame. This takes a long time depending on the quantity of coconut. Once browned, keep it separate.

4. Coarsely powder all the items other than coconut and add to a bowl

5. Powder the coconut and mix into that bowl

6. Add 2 tsp salt to it and mix well.

7. If you feel spice level is less, you can add some chilli powder (I had to do that as my chillies were not good this time).

Carrot Idli

This is the first time I am trying stuffing in my idli. I had prepared some batter and used it for making dosa. So I did not have enough batter left for making idli for the 3 of us.

I have seen many recipes for vegetable idli. I decided to try it with just carrots. This way, I will need a little less batter. And also, my vegetable loving husband and son will not crib that there is no vegetable in the meal.

Ingredients

Idli maavu (batter) 16 laddles

Onion 1 small cut into small pieces

Carrots 3 small grated

Mustard 1tsp

Jeera 1 tsp

Channa dal 1 tsp

Curry leaves few

Dosa/Idli Podi 3tbsp (you can use a tsp of chilli powder or pepper powder instead)

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Pan and add the mustard. When it sputters, add Channa dal.

2. When it starts to brown, add the jeera and curry leaf. sauté for a few seconds.

3. Add onions and saute till it is slightly browned

4. Add the grated carrots and saute for a couple of minutes.

5. Add dosa podi and salt. The stuffing is ready!

6. Grease the idli plate and add some of the stuffing to the plate. (I tried by adding batter first, then stuffing and the fill with batter. But that was 3 steps and it was difficult to limit batter to 2 steps).

7. Then I filled with batter. This way it was a 2 step process :-)

8. Steam for 10 min and serve

Vatha Kozhambu

Vatha Kozhambu is a liquid that is mixed with rice and eaten, something like sambar :-) Could not explain it better, sorry guys.

It is a typical tamil dish. The trick is to make it nice and thick. It is pretty tangy and spicy. It goes well with dry oil roasted vegetables - potato, okra etc.

It in itself can have a number of dried items added to it. Typical one is called chundakka which is a bitter fruit - dried and fried to be used in this kozhambu. I have used something called Karuvadam. See photo below. My mother in law made these at home :-). You can also sauté brinjal (aubergine, eggplant) and use.

I borrowed the recipe from the book 'Cook and See' (Samaithupar) by Meenakshi Ammal.

Ingredients

Karuvadam 3 tbsp

Mustard 1tsp

Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp

Toor dal 2 tsp

Red chillies 2

Curry leaves few

Sambar powder 3 tsp

Rice flour 1 tsp

Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp (use depending on your paste. Mine is very tangy)

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Pan and add the mustard. When it sputters, add fenugreek seeds, toor dal and Red Chillies.

2. When it slightly browns, add the curry leaves and the karuvadam (or whatever you are using)

3. Once that is browned, add the sambar powder. Fry for a few seconds.

4. Add 3 cups of water and the tamarind paste and salt

5. When it starts to boil, add the rice flour and mix well. The rice flour helps in the thickening of the kozhambu.

6. Boil till the kozhambu is reduced to approximately 2 cups.

If you like this, do check the recipe of Paruppurunda Kozhambu in my blog