Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Garlic Gravy / Poondu Kulambu













INGREDIENTS

Garlic - 10 to 12 cloves (Big one)
Onion - 1/2
Tomato - 1
Tamarind - Big gooseberry size
Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Oil - 2 to 3 tspn
Salt - to taste

Rost and make a paste of :

Red chilies - 3 to 4
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tspn
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
Peppercorns - 1/4 tspn
Fennel seeds(perunjeeragam) - 1/4 tspn
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Garlic - 4 to 5

METHOD

Finely chop Onion and Tomato.
Soak Tamarind in water for 15 minutes.
Extract about a cup tamarind juice from it and keep aside.
Heat a tspn of Oil in a pan.
Add Red chilies, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Peppercorns, Fennel seeds, Curry leaves and roast till they are light brown, then remove from pan.
Roast 4 to 5 Garlic cloves till they are golden brown. Then make a very fine paste of these roasted items.
Heat little Oil in a pan, add Mustard seeds and Urad dal.
Once the seeds starts spluttering add Curry leaves and Garlic, fry till they are light brown.
Add Onion and fry till they are golden brown. Then add Tomatoes and fry till they become soft.
Add Turmeric powder, ground masala paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add Tamarind juice, 1 or 2 cups of water and Salt to it. Keep the stove in high heat and bring the curry to boil completely, then reduce the heat to medium.
Cook till the curry becomes thick and Garlic are soft.
Serve hot with rice.

Potato bonda / Urulaikizhangu Bonda













INGREDIENTS

For batter:

Bengal-gram dal flour – 3 cupfuls
Rice flour – ½ cup
Red chilly powder – ½ teaspoon
Salt – ¾ teaspoon

For filling:

Potatoes – ½ kg, boiled till soft
Turmeric powder – ¾ teaspoon
Red chilly powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder – ½ teaspoon
Cummin powder – ¼ teaspoon
Fenugreek powder – ¼ teaspoon
Salt – ¾ teaspoon
Coriander leaves – handful
Oil – 2 teaspoons + oil for deep frying
Mustard seeds – ½ teaspoon
Black-gram dal – ½ teaspoon
Onions – 2, medium size, finely chopped
Green chillies – 3, small, medium hot, finely chopped
Lime juice – 1 tablespoon, fresh













METHOD

Mix,bengal-gram dal flour, rice flour, chilly powder and salt by adding enough water to make it a thick batter.
Peel off the skins of boiled potatoes and mash it to a lumpy dough.
Mix in the spice powders, salt, and coriander leaves to the potato dough.
Make 2 teaspoons of oil very hot.
add the mustard seeds to splutter, black-gram dal to brown lightly, then chopped onions and green chillies.
When the onions turn limp, add the mashed potatoes.
Fry, turning over repeatedly, till there is a nice smell.
Remove from the heat, and when cool add the lime juice.
Make the potato dough into small firm balls.
Keep the batter handy next to them.

Heat a deep fry pan over high steady heat with oil.
When the oil becomes smoking hot, dip a potato ball into the batter & drop gently into the hot oil.
Turn over the balls constantly while frying.
Fry it till it turns golden brown.
Serve hot with any of your favorite chutneys.

Muttai Poriyal / Egg Fry













INGREDIENTS

Egg – 2
Onion – 1 chopped
Green chilly -1
Ginger – 1/4 inch chopped
Red chilly powder – 1/4 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 2 tsp
Cilantro a handful













METHOD

Heat two tsps of oil in a pan
Fry mustard seeds, urad dal and chopped onion until it is done.
Add the chopped green chilly, ginger and cook for few more minutes.
Now add the red chilly powder , turmeric and fry for a minute and add the beaten egg. Mix everything together and cook until the egg is done.
Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Paruppu payasam / Moong dal














INGREDIENTS

Green gram dal (Moongh Dal) - 3/4 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cups
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamoms - 7
A few cashewnuts broken into pieces
Milk - 1 1/2 cups (OPTIONAL)
A few raisins
Small piece coconut, cut into tiny pieces - 1
Ghee - 1 tbsp













METHOD

Pressure cook the dal and mash thoroughly.
Add jaggery and continue to cook till jaggery has dissolved.
Add milk (optional), boil further for 2-3 minutes, remove from fire.
heat ghee, fry cashew nut pieces and raisons, each separately.
Now add cardamom powder and mix well.
Add coconut and serve hot or cool.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sarkarai Pongal / SouthIndian Special













INGREDIENTS

1 cup Raw rice
1/4 cup Split Moongdal
Few Saffron Strands
1/4 cup Jaggery powder
1 tbsp Cardamom powder
1 tbsp Ghee
Few Cashew nuts

METHOD

Wash thoroughly both raw rice n split moongdal together, pour four cups of water , jaggery, saffron strands n pressure cook them upto 3 hisses...keep aside n let them steam release..meanwhile fry the cashew nuts in hot ghee n keep aside, add the cardamom powder , fried cashew nuts and hot ghee to the cooked pongal and mix them well.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Pumpkin Mash / Arasanikaai Poriyal













INGREDIENTS

Pumpkin - 2 cups, cut into bite sized cubes
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Oil
red chillies - 2
green chillies - 2
curry leaves - 1 sprig
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp













METHOD

Heat oil in pan. When hot, add red chillies, green chillies and curry leaves.

Once they start to change color, add the rest of the seasoning ingredients , allow it to turn turned golden brown . Now add the cut pumpkin and add, turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.

Cover the pan and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, until done.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Morkuzhambu













INGREDIENTS

• 2 medium size Snake Guards (Pudalangai), chopped into small pieces (Or any veggi of your choice)
• 2 Cups butter milk / Curd
• 1 tsp Oil
• 3 tbsp Toovar dal
• 3 tbsp Chana dal
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 2 Small red chilies
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2-3 Stalks of coriander leaves (for garnishing)

For Grinding :

• 2 tsp Coconut, shredded
• 6 curry leaves
• 3 tsp ginger Chopped
• 4 garlic pods
• 2 green chilies
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds













METHOD

Heat oil and saute mustard seeds,red chilly, toovar dal, chana dal ,chopped vegetables, turmeric powder, chilli powder with little salt and water, allow it to boil.
Once it is cooked , remove it from the stove and
allow it to cool.
Grind coconut, Ginger, Garlic, Corriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Green chillies and curry leaves in to a fine paste.
Add this mixture to the vegetables.
Add buttermilk/ Curd to it.
Garnish with curry leaves .













It tastes heavenly with white rice .