Zucchini Kara Kozhambu

Zucchini is a vegetable that is widely available here and so I always look out for dishes which can be adapted to include the vegetable. My little loves Zucchini. It is no wonder I make it so often. It makes a great substitute for most Indian watery vegetables.

Milagu Kozhambu - Pepper Kozhambu - Spicy Black Pepper Sauce for Rice

I have been trying to make a proper South Indian (read tamil) lunch on Sundays lately. Given a choice my husband would request for Sambar with Potato fry every week. And my son would want Rasam with Vendakka Fry. After going thru weeks of doing this, I decided it is time to change. Now I have convinced them that I will try something else for a change. I run it by them a few days before so that I can buy the ingredients.

Pasi Paruppu Paniyaram - Moong Dal Paniyaram

Paniyarams are just awesome breakfast items. Super healthy, Super Tasty, Kid Friendly -What more can you ask for. This Paniyaram is just perfect cause it is mainly Moong dal based. No rice, just a little poha. If you love Paniyarams, bet you will love this as well.

Recipe from Sangeetha's blog.

Ingredients

Yellow Split Moong dal 2 cups
Poha/Aval 1 cup

Onion 1 finely chopped
Green chilli or red chilli 1-2 finely chopped
Curry leaf few finely chopped
Ginger 1 inch finely chopped

Salt and oil (if using)



Method of Preparation

1. Soak Moong dal overnight (or atleast a couple of hours).

2. Wash the Aval/Poha under a tap in a sieve till it is soaked well. If your poha needs more soaking time, soak that as well.

3. Grind drained moong dal, poha, green chilli or red chilli, curry leaf and ginger into a paste. Add very little water and make a very thick dough (like adai maavu, thicker than idli maavu). You can add more after the dough is prepared as well.

4. Mix finely chopped onions and salt to the batter.

5, Heat a paniyaram pan. Pour batter into the holes. Cook on one side. Turn and cook on the other side. Repeat for the rest of the dough. You can add a little oil to the holes if you want. I made some   batches with oil and some without. I think it tasted almost the same.

Serve with some chutney of your choice. A few chutneys that we love with paniyarams are below.

Tomato Chutney
Red Chilli Chutney
Naga Tomato Chutney (No oil)

Also check out the other variations of Paniyarams in my blog.

Authentic Paniyaram - not idli batter
Vegetable Paniyaram
Adai Paniyaram



This one is part of Palooza in a Pan. This month we are cooking with Legumes. Other recipes cooked so far this month

Mathanga Erissery - with Van Payar (Tatta payar, Red Chori, Cow Peas)
Mediterranean Vegan Sandwich

Chettinad Kalyana Vatta Kozhambu

Chettinad Kalyana Vatta Kozhambu - the name itself sounds Royal doesn't it? My friend Radhika has an amazing collection of recipes. I always make it a point to try her recipes. This week for AGC I had to post from Radhika's blog. I looked around to find a recipe that I had not made before. This one looked very inviting. We all loved it a lot!! Finger licking goodness. Thank you Radhika for this amazing recipe

The recipe called for Sundakka. I did not have any. So used Karuvadam. Am sure Sundakka would render an awesome taste. You can skip that as well, if you do not have it..



Ingredients

Sundakka Vattal 2-3 tbsp
Tamarind 1 tbsp
Onion 1
Tomato 2
Hing 1/4 tsp
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
Channa dal 1 tsp
Red Chilli 2
Kashmiri Chilli powder 2 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaf few
Gingelly oil
Salt to taste

To grind

Onion 1
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Dry Red Chilli 2
Coconut 1/4 cup
Poppy seeds 2 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Heat  a little oil in a pan. Add onions and saute. When they turn translucent, add coriander seeds, urad dal, red chilli, coconut and poppy seeds. Saute for a few minutes till they change colour. Grind into a smooth paste adding a little water.

2. Heat some more oil in the pan. Add mustard. When it sputters, add vadam. Fry till it browns a little.

3. Then add fenugreek seeds, red chilli and channa dal.

4. Then add sliced onions and curry leaves. Saute till it starts to brown.

5. Add chopped tomatoes and saute for a couple of minutes.

6. Add the coconut paste and saute till tomatoes are partly cooked.

7. Add chilli powder, turmeric, salt and tamarind paste. Mix. Add 2-3 cups of water as required. 

8. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Serve with rice and some poriyal.

Vegetable Paniyaram

Paniyaram is a traditional Chettinad recipe. It is soooo tasty, no wonder it is so popular. I got an authentic recipe some time ago from a friend's mom and have made it many times. The ratio of dal and rice in that is not the same as Idli Batter. I have posted that recipe here.

But you do not have to wait for making that batter to enjoy a good Paniyaram. You can always make it with Idli batter. But let me tell you, you must try this ratio as well. It does taste better.



So what is special about today's recipe? As moms we are always trying to feed healthy food to our little ones (and not so little ones). This recipe is a solution to all your problems. It is loaded with veggies. And the kids won't suspect it as it is well masked. It looks like a deep fried snack, another Brownie point with you kid. But interestingly, it is oil free. Make sure you own a non stick Paniyaram Pan. I have used a little oil to saute the onions. You can skip that if you want to keep it oil free.

Ingredients

Idli Maavu/Batter (made with 1.5 cups of rice, 1/2 cup of urad, 1/2 tsp of methi seeds)
Onions 1 finely chopped
Zucchini 1 grated
Carrots 2 grated
Green chillies (optional) 2
Curry leaves few
Mustard 1 tsp
Jeera 2 tsp

Oil and salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add mustard. When it sputters, add the jeera, curry leaves and green chilli.

2. When it sizzles, add the finely chopped onions. Saute till it starts to brown a little.

3. Cool that a little and add to the idli/paniyaram maavu. Add grated carrots and grated zucchini to the maavu/batter. If you are looking for recipe for Maavu/Batter do check here

4. Heat Paniyaram pan. Pour a little batter to the holes. Cook on one side, turn and cook on the other side.

You can optionally add a few drops of oil to the holes to get a crispy paniyaram.

Serve with some spicy chutney. Watch out this space tomorrow for the Chutney recipe.. Nope, it is not your regular tomato chutney

Saiva Meen Kozhambu (Vegetarian Fish Gravy)

This is a typical chettinad dish and found it in an authentic site. There are some changes I made to it as I could not get the leaf that she used (nor any banana leaf). Otherwise I have tried to make it as she did. Do refer to her site for the original recipe.

I think all of us in the family (including our son) agree this is one of the best dishes we have eaten.



Ingredients for Veggie fish

Cow Peas 1 cup
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Garlic 5 pods
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the cow peas (i did overnight). Drain the water.

2. Pulse the garlic, chilli powder, fennel seeds and salt in a mixie. Add the cow peas as well and pulse. Make a paste.

3. At this stage you are supposed to use the leaf. Changed to suit my situation. I made rectangular patties and steamed in idli plates for about 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients for making gravy

Garlic 20 pods
Small Onions 20
Tomato 1
Curry leaves few
Green Chilli 3
Coriander powder 2 tsp
Sambar powder 2 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Tamarind paste 1 tsp
Gingilly oil 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

For seasoning

Mustard 1 tsp
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves few

Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard. When it sputters, add the fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.

2. When it sizzles, add the sliced onions, garlic and green chillies. Saute till it starts to brown.

3. Add the chopped tomato and saute till it all comes together.

4. In a vessel, add tamarind paste and 3 cups of water. Add coriander powder, sambar poweder and turmeric to this. Mix well.

5. Add this mix to the onion mix. Bring to a boil. Simmer till it thickens. I added a little rice flour at this stage to thicken it.

6. Just before it is ready, add the veggie fish. Simmer for a few more minutes and switch off.

Serve it with some rice.

Pepper Vegetables - Chettinad Sytle

I am a crazy fan of Chettinad recipes. Tried to make a few at home. But nothing matches the taste of homemade authentic ones. Have had the fortune of eating some awesome dishes when a friend's mom cooked for us when we were in US.

This is a spin off from the chettinad pepper chicken. I used the recipe from Vah re Vah. I really love Sanjay Thumma. His enthusiasm is super infectious.

I cannot say enough to recommend this dish. We were all going ga ga over it.



Ingredients

Cauliflower 1 (I had a very small one)
Potato 2
Peas 1/2 cup
Onion 1 big finely chopped
Tomato 2 finely chopped
Ginger 1 inch piece
Garlic 4 pods
Jeera 1 tsp
Saunf 1 tsp
Bay Leaf 2
Clove 2
Cardamom 2
Cinnamon 1 inch piece
Pepper 1.5 tsp crushed
Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Pluck the cauliflower into small florets. Steam in microwave for a few minutes till it is cooked, but holds shape

2. Cook the potatoes as well. Either boil or use microwave. it cooks in 4 minutes in a microwave. Just turn once in between.

3. Steam the peas in the microwave for a few minutes

4. Heat oil in a pan. Add jeera, saunf, bay leaf, clove, cardamom and cinnamon.

5. When it sizzles, add onions and saute till it is golden brown.

6. Add turmeric and ginger garlic paste and saute for a couple of minutes.

7. Add tomatoes and cook well till it well done and oil starts to ooze. Leave for a couple more minutes.

8. Add salt and the cooked potatoes, cauliflower and peas. Also add the freshly crushed pepper. Mix everything together and cook for a couple more minutes

Serve with roti or appam


Linking this to South Indian Cooking - Event by Anu, Hosted by Sangee

Chettinad Vazhakka Curry

I was looking for a way of making a side dish for Roti with Vazhakka. I wanted to do something different from what I usually make with Vazhakka (Plantain). A quick search on my blogging friends' site brought me to this recipe in Radhika's site. Thank you Radhika for the recipe. We all loved it. I have not made many changes to the recipe

Now off to the recipe



Ingredients

Vazhakka (Plantain) 4
Onion 2
Tomato 2
Ginger 1 inch piece finely chopped
Garlic 2 pods finely chopped
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder 2 tsp
Cumin Powder 1 tsp
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Urad dal 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 3 sprigs

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation


1. Cut the vazhakka into cubes and wash properly. You can keep it soaked in water with a little yogurt to remove the stain (kara)

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard. When it sputters, add the urad dal, curry leaves.

3. Add the onions, ginger and  garlic and saute well.

4. When it starts to brown, add the chopped tomato and cook till it is done.

5. Add the Chilli Powder, Turmeric powder, Coriander Powder and Cumin Powder. Cook for a minute.

6. Add the vazhakka and sprinkle a little water if needed. Add salt and stir well.

7. Cook till the vazhakka is cooked. Make sure you do not over cook.

Serve with roti or rice.



Linking this to Vegetarian Side Dishes Priya's event hosted by Vardhini

Kuzhi Paniyaram

I enjoyed Paniyaram for the first time at a friends place. They are from a chettinad village near karaikudi. It was so good. No words can describe paniyarams - crispy on the outside and spongy on the inside. As I have already mentioned, I am not a big fan of Idli (yes yes I know, I am not allowed to say that out loud). But Paniyarams are one of my favourites.



When I googled for recipe, most websites/blogs mentioned about using idli batter. I decided to double check with my friend. She asked her mom and she gave me a slightly different combination. So I decided to go with their recipe as it is their traditional tiffin. Thanks Nachal and Muruga.




For Preparing the batter

Ingredients

Boiled Rice/Idli Rice 2 cups
Raw Rice 2 cups
Urad dal 3/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the rice and dal along with methi seeds in a vessel for 5-6 hours.

2. Grind them together into a fine paste. I feel that grinding in a Grinder makes idli, dosa, appam, paniyaram etc taste better. It comes softer that way.

3. Do not add a lot of water. Just add enough to keep the grinder going. Grind till it is smooth. It took me about 30 minutes in my grinder.

4. Pour into a big vessel, mix salt. There is another theory that mixing with hand is better for fermentation. Not sure how far this is true. But I always follow it.

5. Keep it for 12 -24 hours till it ferments and rises. It takes longer here the temperature in now around 5 C. The batter is ready for tempering.




For Tempering

Ingredients

Onion 1 very finely chopped
Green chillies
Curry Leaves

Mustard 1 tsp
Jeera 2 tsp

Method of preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard.

2. When it sputters, add the jeera, curry leaves and green chillies.

3. When it sizzles, add the onions and saute till it starts to brown.

4. Mix with the batter.

Method of Preparing Paniyaram

1. Heat the paniyaram pan.



2. Optionally add a little oil to each hole. The one I used was non stick. So I made some batches with a little oil and some with out.

3. When the pan and oil heats, add the batter into each hole. Fill a little over 3/4 the hole. It will be easier to turn that way.

4. Cook till one side is browned. Turn and cook the other side.

5. Repeat for the rest of the batter. Enjoy with Chutney of your choice. Tastes great with Tomato Chutney.





Linking this to Lets Cook - Rice event hosted by Radhika
Linking this to Walk thru Memory Lane hosted by Gayathri

Linking this to New Year New Dish by Nupur
Linking this to Cooking Challenge - flavours of Tamil Nadu by Vidya