Korada- A side dish for paniyaram or dosa

Hi friends,

Everyone might have got bored with chutney and sambar as side dishes for dosa,idli or paniyaram. Here is one side dish which goes best with paniyaram or uppappam(as we call it) which is very quick to be made.

Ingredients needed:

1 bunch coriander leaves
1 bunch pudina leaves
8 to 9 curry leaves 
3 Green chillies
A small ball of tamarind cherry size
Asafoetida-1 spoon
Salt


Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan.  Fry the green chillies well and switch off the flame.With this heat, add coriander leaves, mint leaves,curry leaves,asafetida , tamarind and salt and fry for some time. Once it cools down, grind it to a chutney like consistency.
Now season the dish in oil with mustard and urad dal. 

Korada is ready to be served.

Manathakkali vathakozhambu/Gravy with "Black NIghtshade"

Vathakozhambu is an authentic dish of Tamilnadu, which when had with rice, is the most delicious dish.This can be made with various kinds of 'vathals' (fryums).Vegetables may also be substituted in this process.

Here is one of the types of vathakozhambu.This is using a berry like fruit called 'manathakkali' in Tamil.After a little googling, I found that it is called Black Nightshade in English.It has a lot of health benefits.Below are the pictures of manathakkali , the first one being the fresh fruits from the plant,green ones are unripe and black-ish ones are ripe.The second pic is a completely dried version of the same.We are gonna use the dried version in our recipe today.

Heat oil(2 or 3 tbspns) in a kadai and add mustard seeds.Once they splutter, add a pinch of hing or asafoetida,1 tspn cumin seeds,1 tspn chana dal,little bit of fenugreek seeds ,one red chilly and curry leaves and fry for a while.Once the ingredients start giving the aroma, add quarter cup of dried manathakkali to this and fry well till the color changes.Now add tamarind extract (2 cups) and add a pinch of turmeric powder,2 and a half tspns sambar powder and salt(as needed).Allow the mixture to boil well. Check for consistency.If it is too watery, add 1 tspn of rice flour or wheat flour to allow it to thicken.

Yummy and healthy manathakkali vathakozhambu is ready to be served with plain rice or even curd rice.

Keerai masiyal/mashed greens

Keerai masiyal/spinach is a rich source of iron.It is good to add spinach in our diet at least 3 times a week.

Here is one of the ways of preparing this healthy dish.


Wash a bunch of spinach leaves and finely chop them.
Add very little water to it (as spinach itself leaves out water while being cooked).
Cook this in a pressure cooker for less than 10 mins without placing the whistle.
Meanwhile cook half a cup of moong dal with a pinch of turmeric  powder till it is soft and mushy.
Mix both dal and spinach and mash them well.
Heat oil in a kadai.Add mustard seeds, 2 or 3 red chillies, a pinch of hing or asafoetida.
Switch off the flame and add this to the prepared spinach.Add salt and the dish is recipe.


Remember that spinach has inbuilt salt, so add little at a time.
The better the greens are mashed the tastier the dish.

Serve this as a side dish with vathakozhambu or you may even mix it with rice.

Guacomole-A vegetarian starter from the Mexican kitchen

Until a few months back, I was not aware of this wonderful dish of Mexican cuisine.I was fortunate enough to be introduced to this dish by some of my American friends in one of the restaurants here.I would like to give you all, too, this wonderful taste of the dish called Guacomole(pronounced as Guacomolee).It is abundant in folic acid and a lot of proteins.

Ingredients:

Avocado-1
Onion-1/4
Tomato-1/4
Garlic-1 or 2 flakes(optional)
Jalapeno-1(or more if you want it more spicy)
Salt

Remove the skin and the seed of the avocado and transfer the contents to a bowl.Add the finely chopped onion,garlic flakes and jalapeno to it and mash the contents to a paste or dip like consistency(like a thick chutney).Add salt and mix well.Add the chopped tomatoes as a topping.The dish is ready to be served.

Use it as a dip with tortilla chips or potato chips.

Vegetable Upma

Vegetable Upma is the simplest breakfast recipe I have ever heard of.There are many people who I know have an aversion to it. But believe me, if you make it with the right consistency and taste, there is no other healthier breakfast dish which you would love, than this.

Ingredients:

1 cup Rava/sooji
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Potato-1
Carrot-1
Green chillies-4
Chana dal-1 tspn
Coriander leaves-For garnishing
Curry leaves
Oil-2 tspns
Mustard
Water
Salt

Procedure:

Cut all the vegetables finely.
Dry roast rava in a kadai for about 4 minutes on medium flame. It should not get burnt. You may take a pinch of rava and check if its hot.That is the time to switch off the flame.
Transfer this roasted rava onto a plate.
Heat oil in the kadai. Add mustard to it.Once it splutters, add chana dal, green chillies(finely chopped) and curry leaves and fry a little.Add onion and fry till its transparent.Now add tomato, potato and carrot and fry for 2 minutes.Now add water.(For 1 cup of rava, add 2 cups of water).Add salt.
Once it starts boiling, turn the flame to low and slowly add the roasted rava/sooji to this water, continuously stirring it.
Keep stirring for a minute or so till the water is absorbed and the upma becomes a single layer without sticking to the sides of the pan.

Now switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot and healthy upma with any chutney or sambar.I bet you, it even tastes good with sugar.

Mullu thenkuzhal/Mullu murukku

Sweets go hand in hand with kaaram....As the famous cliche goes,"Sweet, Kaaram and coffee"

Recipe for mullu thenkuzhal is as follows.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 1 
Moong dal- 1/4 cup
Chana dal- 3 tspns
Ghee-1 tspn
Salt
Asafoetida-2 tspns
Water-
Oil


Dry fry moong dal and chana dal together in a kadai till the aroma spreads out.
Once it cools down, grind them into a fine powder.Mix this powder with rice flour,asafoetida, ghee,salt and water and knead it into a soft dough.

Heat oil in a kadai for frying. Grease the murukku achu with oil and put one small lump of the batter in it.Check if the oil is hot by placing a small piece of dough in it.If it rises up immediately to the top, it is ready to be fried in.

Squeeze the achu over the oil swirling it into circles to get the desired shape of the murukku.

Once the murukku tuens golden brown, you can remove it from the kadai.

Note:The achu generally comes with different plates at the bottom.These can be used for different types of murukku.

7 cups sweet recipe

Diwali is over and the hangover, too...Time to upload the recipes of the sweets and snacks I made this year for the festival of lights.

The recipe below is for a simple sweet, called 7 cups.


Ingredients:

Besan/gramflour/kadala maavu- 1 cup
Milk- 1 cup
Ghee- 1 cup
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Sugar- 3 cups
Almonds,cashewnuts-optional

Take a wide-bottomed vessel. Add all the above ingredients and mix well.Switch on the stove on medium flame and allow it to cook stirring often so that the ingredients do not get burnt.

Once it becomes a little thick, keep the flame on low and keep stirring till the ghee starts oozing out.
Transfer the cooked mixture onto a greased plate and mark using your knife as if you are cutting into pieces.You may now place the almonds and cashewnuts in this mixture as per your wish.

Once it gets cooled,you will be able to remove the sweet pieces.

Karuveppilai podi/Curry leaves powder

Do you have the habit of separating out curry leaves from your plate when any dish is served?Here is one way of consuming curry leaves.Curry leaves have a lot of medicinal benefits.So it is good to have it in some way possible rather than just throw away the cooked whole leaves.Right?Also, do not throw away the dried curry leaves which have become black in color.

Ingredients:

Curry leaves-1 big bunch(maybe 2 cups)
Urad dal-1/2 cup
Chana dal-1/4 cup
Red chillies-4 or 5( as per you need)
Hing-1/4 tspn
Salt

Dry curry leaves completely so that no moisture is present.Fry the curry leaves in a pan for a sometime.This helps remove all the moisture.Once dried, keep it aside in a plate.
Fry urad dal, chana dal, red chillies and hing till the nice aroma comes out.
Allow all the above to cool and then grind them all together into a fine powder adding salt into it.

Serve this powder with plain rice and oil/ghee.

Kadala curry/ black channa with coconut curry

One of my favorite side dishes in the local mess for aapam or puttu, the famous Kerala delicacies.Nothing else than kadala curry.

Ingredients needed

Shallots-5
Coconut-1/2 cup
Red chillies-8 or 9
Coriander seeds-2tsp
Black chana-2 cups
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

1. Soak channa overnight.
2.Take a kadai.Heat oil and fry coconut, red chillies and coriander seeds till they turn a lil brown in color.Allow it to cool.
3.Add 2 shallots to the above and grind it with little water to a thick consistency.
4.Now in a pressure cooker add the soaked chana with the water , some salt and the ground mixture and cook for 5 to 6 whistles.
5.Heat oil in a kadai.Add mustard, jeera and curry leaves.Add the remaining shallots (finely chopped) and fry well.
6. To this, add the cooked mixture from the cooker and allow to boil.you may add water to this now if needed.

Serve hot kadala curry with aapam or puttu.

Coconut barfeee

An easy-to-cook traditional sweet recipe made with coconut....The Coconut barfee...!!!

Ingredients needed:
2 teaspoons ghee
1 cup grated coconut
1cup sugar
1 teaspoon milk
Almonds and pistachios(optional)

Heat a kadai with ghee.Once heated add the grated coconut and fry well keeping on low flqme throughout.Keep stirring continuously to avoid burning.Add sugar and continue stirring.Now add milk and keep stirring till the whole mixture comes out as one lump without sticking to the sides of the pan.
Switch off the flame and transfer the contents to a container and spread it flat.
Grind the almonds and pistachios to a fine powder and sprinkle on top of the sweet.

Allow the mixture to cool for around 20 minutes so that it thickens.Once cooled,cut the sweet into any shape of your choice and serve.

Rava Payasam

Here's an easy and quick recipe of Rava Payasam.

1. Boil 3 cups milk with 1 cup of water.
2. Meanwhile heat 2 tbspn ghee in a pan and roast a few cashewnuts and raisins. Once they are roasted, keep them aside.
3.In the same pan, now add about 7 tbspns rava(sooji) and roast it till nice aroma arises.
4.Once the milk boils completely,add rava in it ,stirring continuously.Keep stirring till the milk thickens and the rava is completely cooked.
5.Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir till it dissolves completely.
6. Switch off the stove and add cardamom powder(1/4 tspn), the roasted cashewnuts and raisins.

Yummy payasam is ready to be served hot.:)

Vengaya sambar/Shallot sambar-Brahmin Style

Vengaya sambar, made of shallots(small onions) are the favorite of many in the South.This is not the conventional method of making sambar. This particular version,known as arachu vitta sambar is commonly found in all the Brahmin families.

In a kadai, heat 1 tspn of oil.Add half tspn coriander seeds,1/4 tspn fenugreek seeds(methi),3 red chillies,1 tspn Bengal gram(chana dal),curry leaves and fry for some time.Now add half a cup of grated coconut and fry till it changes to golden brown color.(You may add 2 shallots(small onions) while frying if needed.Turn off the stove and allow this mixture to be cooled.

Soak tamarind in warm water for a while and extract the tamarind juice out of it.Boil this extract in a vessel.Add a pinch of turmeric,1/4 tspn asafoetida(hing) and salt.Add 1 cup of shallots(small onions with the skin ripped off) to this and allow them to be cooked well.

Boil toor dal(split red gram) in a pressure cooker.Once it is cooked, mash it down really well till the dal is not seen at all.

Grind the fried mixture adding little water so that it gets a thick chutney-kind consistency.

Add the mashed dal as well as the ground mixture to the tamarind extract.Let this boil till a nice aroma spreads out.
Finally in a pan, heat oil .Add mustard .Once it splutters,Add 1 tspn urad dal and some curry leaves.
Add this on top of the sambar prepared above.

Vengaya sambar is ready to be served with rice and ghee. Make potato fry as a side dish for this and wow.......Yummy!!!!!

Paruppu Podi/Pappu Podi(Andhra style)

My husband and I are ardent fans of Andhra mess food. I am sure there are a whole lot of you who love to visit Andhra mess atleast to have multiple rounds of Pappu podi with rice and oil.I even know a couple of friends who finish off the complete bottle of pappu podi in front of them without even tasting the other dishes in the menu. I have tasted and made different types of Paruppu podi, but nothing had matched the Andhra mess taste. But today, thanks to a friend, I got the perfect taste.

No more waiting, here you go!!!

Grind 1 cup of roasted gram(buna channa/pottu kadalai) in a mixer or blender to make a fine powder. Add 1 tspn red chilli powder, salt as needed and grind so that the mixture blends together.Finally add 3 garlic flakes to this and grind again.

Thats it, Andhra mess pappu podi is ready.No frying, no baking only grinding and mixing....:)
Enjoy mixing with rice and oil.

Carrot halwa

Here is an easy-to make sweet recipe. You suddenly feel like having something sweet and dont have the mood to go out to a sweet stall, this one will come in handy.

Grate 3 long carrots. This would yield 2 cups of grated carrot.
Heat 1 tspn of ghee in a pan. Add cashewnuts,almonds, raisins and fry till golden brown.Now add the grated carrot and stir.To this add 2 cups of milk. Stir the mixture and allow it to be cooked on medium flame for about 20 minutes till all the milk evaporates. Dont forget to keep stirring it so that it does not get burnt.

Now add 1/2 cup sugar and mix well.You may add more sugar if you like to have it more sweeter.Mix it well and allow the carrots to cook well.You will see the ghee oozing out after some time.
Now switch off the flame and sprinkle cardamom powder on top of it if you wish to.

Yummy carrot halwa is now ready.

Venn Pongal

Everyone might be knowing of the festival "Pongal" celebrated in Tamil Nadu..It falls on the same day as Makar Sankranti......On this day, two types of Pongal are prepared...Sakkara Pongal(sweet version) and Venn Pongal(salted version)

Here I give you the recipe of Venn Pongal which can be included as your breakfast.

Take raw rice(2 cups) and wash it well to remove excess starch. Take moong dal(paasi paruppu-1cup) and wash this too.
Mix the rice and dal and add more than twice the amount of water, (In this case, 7 cups), add salt and pressure cook it. Allow upto 6 or 7 whistles.

Turn off the stove and allow the pressure to be  released. Now in a pan, heat oil.Add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add 2 tspns of whole pepper and fry with curry leaves. Add this to the cooked rice and dal mixture.

Pongal is now ready to be served.

This part is optional as many people may want to avoid ghee.
Heat a little ghee in a pan and add a few cashewnuts and fry then till golden.

Mix this well with the Pongal prepared.

Serve this hot always with Samabr or chutney or Gotsu.It loses the real taste when it cools down.
My husband and I like Pongal with Gotsu.

For Gotsu recipe, click here

Gotsu(Kumbakonam Gotsu)

I am quite amused about my title for this post rather than the post itself. Haha...Its like saying, Billa...David Billa....

Jokes apart, here is the recipe of a traditional South Indian side dish for Pongal or dosa.

This can be made with any vegetable, but the version with brinjal(egg plant) is the tastiest of all.

Boil 1/2 a cup of moong dal with a pinch of turmeric powder in a pressure cooker.

Take a small ball sized tamarind and soak it in warm water for a while. Then extract the juice out of it and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add 1/2 tspn cummin seeds(jeeragam),1/4 tspn fenugreek seeds(vendhayam,green chillies(3 or 4),1/2 tspn hing(asafoetida), curry leaves and fry.

Now add one onion(finely chopped) and saute till it changes color.Add 2 brinjals(eggplants-finely chopped)(Note: Remember to soak the brinjals in water when you chop them else they turn dark)

Cut one tomato finely and add it to the pan.

Allow the brinjals and tomatoes to be fried for 2 minutes. Then add the tamarind extract.Allow the whole mixture to be cooked well and the raw smell of tamarind disappears. Add salt ,a pinch of turmeric powder,1/2 tspn chilly powder and close the lid of the pan. Once the brinjals are cooked well,you may add the cooked moong dal with this mixture. Mash the whole mixture while stirring and allow it to boil.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Gotsu -Kumbakonam Gotsu is ready to be served . :)

Beetroot tikki

Havent really got the mood to post something everyday so far....Today Im in a mood to share something with you guys. Srini and I recently wanted a healthy yet yummy snack for tea time. I had made a version of beetroot and aloo tikki some time earlier. But this time, I made it without aloo to make it perfect healthy.

Grate 1 beetroot(beet). Add 3 green chillies(finely chopped),asafoetida(1/4 spoon),garam masala(1/2 spoon),chilly powder(1/4 spoon),turmeric powder(a pinch),bread crumbs(2 cups) and salt (as required and oil of course(for frying)


Mix all the above in a container without adding water.Prepare a soft dough out of it.If it is too watery, then add the bread crumbs little by little to thicken the dough.Now take a lemon size ball of the dough. Press it in your palm like patties.

Heat oil in a kadai. When it is hot enough(you ll know this when the drop of dough immediately floats to the top), dip the patties in bread for a coating.

Drop the patties in this hot oil carefully and fry them till the color changes to brown and it becomes crispy.

This goes well with tomato ketchup or tamarind chutney. I served it with chana masala.

Kara kozhambu-Chettinad style

One day, my mother-in-law had cooked this Kara kozhambu which was awesome in taste.
I learnt this recipe from her and I would like to share the same.This is supposed to be famous in Chettinad(somehting u may get in Ponnusamy's or Anjappar's)

Procedure:
In a kadai, heat 4 to 5 tspns of oil. Add mustard.Once it splutters, add some fenugreek seeds(2 tspns) and fry for some time. Now add 1 chopped onion,2 chopped tomatoes, about 8 to 10 garlic flakes,curry leaves and fry well. You may add any vegetable of your choice.You may even add some Black-eyed peas(soaked overnight )to this.If you add some shallots too,if you like them, instead of big onions. I added a few chopped pieces of radish and ladies finger while frying.
Allow it to fry well.

Grind half a cup of grated coconut adding 1 cup of water.Extract the coconut milk by filtering the ground mixture.
Add this coconut milk in the fried mixture , add salt and allow to boil well.Add turmeric powder(a pinch),chilly powder(a pinch),sambar powder(2 tspns) and a pinch of asafoetida. Once it starts to boil, add 2 cups of tamarind extract and continue to boil well.

The dish is ready to be served with rice now. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Paanagam

It was Ram Navami last Friday. How can Ramnavami go without Panagam?Here is the recipe of the drink(non-alcoholic:P) which can be prepared in no less than 5 minutes.

Procedure :

Just mix the following ingredients in water.
1/2 spoon ginger grated.
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tspns powdered jaggery
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp lemon extract

Thats it...Allow these to be dissolved in water. You may filter the contents and drink it or have it without filtering if you like to bite some ginger. You may increase the strength of ginger if you like. This also serves as a good cure for cough and throat infection.

Paal Payasam(Kheer)

Procedure to make Kheer/Paal payasam.

Boil 8 cups of milk in a vessel.
Grease a kadai with ghee and add 5 spoons of raw rice and fry for some time.Then turn off the stove and coarsely powder this fried rice(not too fine).Put it back in the kadai. Add the boiled milk , close the lid and cook on medium flame. Keep stirring often to avoid the contents from getting burnt at the bottom.This may take more than 45 minutes as the whole procedure should be done on medium flame only and the rice has to be cooked well, too.When the quantity shrinks to half, add 1 full cup of sugar and keep stirring.Once it gets thick, check if the rice is boiled well and switch off the flame.Now sprinkle cardamom powder and mix well.

Finally, take a kadai. Heat some ghee and add the nuts(cashews,raisins).Fry them for a while and add this into the payasam.

Yummy fragrant pal payasam is now ready.