Rama Navami Neivedhyam - Paanagam, Neer Mor & Vada Paruppu

"श्री राम राम रामेति रमे रामे मनोरमे
सहस्र नाम ततुल्लयं राम नाम वरानने"

During one of our summer trips to India, we happened to be in Bombay (in my head it is still Bombay, not Mumbai!) for Janmashtami. We have a tradition of fasting till evening and offering neivedhyam to baby Krishna after reciting the Vishnu Sahasranamam. That year, my father - in - law explained the meaning of  a few lines from the shloka. Goddess Parvati asked the Lord if there is any easier/shorter way of gaining the benefits of chanting the Sahasranama as it may be difficult to recite the whole thing everyday. To this, the Lord replies with the aforementioned lines. The essence of this shloka is that chanting "Rama" just thrice  is equivalent to reciting the thousand names of Vishnu. Such is the power of Rama.

This has been a week of celebrations and festivities on consecutive days - first was hubby's birthday - so I baked cupcakes, the next day was Tamil New Year followed by Vishu Kani, so pigged out on vadai & paayasam! Yesterday was Rama Navami, but guess what, the neivedhyam for this occassion is pretty tummy friendly!

I made paanagam - which is a cool and refreshing thirst quenching drink - sweet and sour - perfect for the rise in temperature, neer mor - which is seasoned buttermilk, again chilled but a tad spicy and finally vadaparuppu - which I guess can be called a protein rich salad ;)

Usually, neivedhyams are rich in ghee and oil - sweets and fried stuff! This is one of those rare occasions when the neivedhyam has health benefits!

Paanagam is as good as an ORS solution - move over Gatorade and electrolyte, we have our own home made version!! In fact, when consumed along with vada paruppu, it supposedly aids in digestion. For that matter, so does neer moru - it is a South Indian version of the salty lassi and is often prepared on a regular basis and served at the end of dinner. It also helps with acidity. And hey guys - its yogurt (read PROBIOTICS) - need I say more?

So, without further ado, here are the three recipes.

Soaking Time: 30 minutes            Preparation: 15 minutes          Serves:4

Ingredients:

For Paanagam:

Jaggery (Gur/vellam) - 1/4^th cup, grated
Chilled water - 4 cups

Dry Ginger Powder (Saunth/Sukku podi) - 1/4^th teaspoon

Cardamom pods  (Elaichi/Elakai) - 4

Holy Basil Leaves (Thulsi/Tulasi) - 4

Lemon - 1, juiced

For Vada Paruppu:

Moong Dal (Split Green Gram)  - 1 cup

Green Chillie - 1, small, chopped fine

Raw Mango - 2 tablespoons, chopped fine

Cucumber - 2 tablespoons, chopped fine

Ginger - 1/4^thinch, chopped fine

Coconut - 1 tablespoon, grated

Cilantro - for garnish, finely chopped

Lemon - ½, juiced

Asafoetida (Heeng/Perunkayam) - a pinch

Salt - to taste

For Neer Mor:

Yogurt  - 1 cup

Chilled Water - 2 cups

Green Chillies - 1, small

Ginger - 1/4^thinch

Roasted Cumin Powder (Jeera Powder) - ½ teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Cilantro - for garnish, finely chopped

For Tempering:

Oil - ½ teaspoon 

Mustard Seeds - ½ teaspoon

Curry Leaves - a few

Asafoetida (Heeng/Perunkayam) - a pinch

Method:

For Paanagam:

1. Take the jaggery in a bowl and add the chilled water to it. Stir till all the jaggery dissolves and then filter out the impurities from the jaggery.
2. Add in the dry ginger powder, cardamom pods and lemon juice, mix well and refrigerate.

For Vada Paruppu:

1. Rinse and soak the moong dal for about 30 minutes.
2. Add in all the other ingredients (raw mango, cucumber, chillies, ginger, coconut, cilantro, asafoetida, salt and lemon juice) and mix well.

For Neer Mor:

1. Take yogurt, green chillies and ginger in a blender and give it a good swirl till the yogurt is well beaten.The chillies and ginger will also be coarsely ground by then.
2. Add in water, roasted cumin powder, salt and cilantro leaves and give a quick whisk once more.
3. Heat a little oil and add in the mustard seeds.
4. Once the muster seeds crackle, add in the curry leaves and asafoetida and pour this tempering into the yogurt mixture.
5. Mix well and refrigerate.

Offer neivedhyam and enjoy the prasadam...

Tips:

You can add a bit of pachai karpooram to the paanagam if you desire.
For the neer mor, you can just blend in the  yogurt and water with a hand whisk, slit a green chillie and skip the roasted cumin powder if you wish.

Uppu Cheedai

"हाथी घोडा पालकी
जय कन्हैया लाल की "

Today being the auspicious occasion of Janmastami/Gokulashtami, I thought what better day to "get back" to my blog than this :)

My earliest memories of this festival are of my sister and me getting dressed as "gopikas" (much against our wishes I might add) and sitting  at the local park which would be decorated and crowded with the local kiddie gang dressed up in whatever the occasion called for and depicting scenes from Lord Krishna's life! I am sure we must have found it fun the first time or so, but I tell you, it got boring (and embarrassing) real fast! That was when we lived in the northern part of India

Another memory is of amma making the "Krishnar kaal" kolam - rice flour foot prints representing baby Krishna walking in from the entrance right upto the place of worship. This is a tradition I follow. When my little one was still in his baby/toddler days, I would use his feet to make the prints, later I used my hands ofcourse!

 The years spent in Mumbai hold memories of "Dahi handi" - it always amazes me to see the human pyramids formed by all these Govindas while they are splashed by water, not just by the monsoon Gods, but also by the human spectators. It sure is a thrill to see them reach out into the skies, so high, oh so high, to break the matki and collect their prize!

And then there is all the stuff we get to eat! Thats one good thing about us Hindus - I mean we have got tons of festivals to celebrate and each comes with its own set of munchies to be prepared. Our deities sure were foodies. Take Lord Krishna - he loved milk products. His affinity for butter earned him the name of "Maakhan Chor" literally translated to "Butter Thief"!

My mom used to make a lot of yummy goodies for neivedyam. Typically butter, poha, milk, sugar, fruits, appam, uppu and vella cheedai, paayasam, ribbon etc are offered. This year, I skipped the ribbon and paayasam.

So, here I am with the recipe of one of the things made on this festival - atleast by us Tam Brams - Uppu Cheedai. Well, I usually write recipes of sweets associated with a festival, this time, for a change, I thought, why not pick a savory item.

Preparation & Cooking: 20 minutes          Makes: 40-45

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 cup
Urad Dal (Black Gram) Powder - 2 tablespoons
Hing/Asafoetida - ¼ teaspoon
Sesame Seeds (White) - 1 teaspoon
Shredded Coconut - 1 tablespoon
 Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons (melted)
 Water - to make dough
Salt - To taste
Coconut Oil - 1 teaspoon (for kneading)
Oil - For deep frying  


Method:

1. Dry roast the rice flour for a minute or so, don't let it change color.
2. Dry roast the urad dal powder till it turns a reddish tinge.
3. Sieve the flours and knead it into a dough after adding everything except the oil for deep frying.
4. Roll the dough into tiny balls, set them aside for 10 minutes, then fry them to a golden brown.

Drain them out on absorbent paper and eat - no wait, it was for neivedaym right? Offer it to Lord Krishna and then enjoy! Store the cheedais in an air tight container after they have cooled down.

Handy Tip:

Set aside the rolled cheedais for a few minutes before frying. I do this so as to prevent the oil from bursting. Uppu cheedais are notorious for spluttering hot oil everywhere, so I always keep a distance while frying them!

Vegetable Upma

It was one of those days when none of us were in a mood to eat a full fledged meal. All I got when I asked what do you want for dinner was "Make something light".

My standard resort on such occasions is poha or sabudana khichdi or idli/dosa - you get the drif! Along the same lines, this time I made vegetable rava upma - a standard breakfast item at weddings and such along with the usual idli/vada/pongal!

It was only very recently that I came to know that in Tamil Nadu, this dish is actually called "khichdi"! The discovery in  itself was an amusing incident involving two of my friends - one from Madras (I still can't think of it as Chennai!), the other from Orissa and ofcourse me! When the latter fed her kids "khichdi", the former was puzzled that it looked more like dal rice with vegetables and there was no sign of rava in it! After much confusion and some arguing, we realized that while two of us called the rice and lentils cooked with vegetables "khichdi" (I think that's what most of the country calls it!) the other one was looking for vegetable rava upma!

As far as my husband and kid are concerned, when I say upma, it means vegetable rava upma. There is no way they are eating a plain upma! Also, one wants any and every vegetable, while the other is allergic to nuts and can't stand the sight of onions and capsicum in his. So, I end up making "customized" upma!

What I mean is that, I cook my vegetables (I used the frozen mix of peas, carrots, beans and corn and added diced potatoes to it) separately in the microwave but saute the onions and capsicum along with the tempering in another pan! You can prepare the tempering and cook all the vegetables directly in the saucepan that you are using to make the upma. I just find it handy and quick to do all these things separately and since its the dishwasher that cleans the dishes, I don't hesitate to use an additional pot/pan!

So, while the rava is being roasted, I boil water in the kettle, cook the veggies in the microwave and simultaneously prepare the tempering mix! Finally, I just add everything in parts, making sure to separate my son's share before adding the tempering. But by all means prepare the tempering, add in the rest of the vegetables, add water, bring it to a boil and mix in the roasted rava - all in the same vessel.

Whichever way you choose to cook it, whatever you choose to serve it with (I did not go to the trouble of making chutney or sambaar, a Lime Ginger pickle was enough to satisfy us!) - this is a simple, fulfilling yet "light" meal!

Preparation & Cooking: 20 minutes          Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Rava/Sooji/Cream Of Wheat - 1 cup

Green Chillies - 2, chopped fine
Ginger - a small bit, minced
Turmeric/Haldi Powder - ½ teaspoon
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (beans, carrots, peas, corn, potatoes)
Potato - 1 small, diced
Capsicum - 1 small, diced
Onion - 1 small, choped fine
Curry Leaves -  a few
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Water - 3 cups
For Tempering: 
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon 
Urad Dal/Black Gram Dal - 1 teaspoon
Jeera/Cumin Seeds -  ½ teaspoon
Chana Dal/Bengal Gram Dal -  ½ teaspoon
Cashews - 10-12, broken


Method:

1. Microwave the vegetables for 5-7 minutes, till they are cooked.
2. Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil in a kettle or another vessel - this hastens the cooking process as we don't have to wait for the bottle to boil when we add it to the rava.
3. Heat the remaining ghee for tempering, add in mustard, jeera, urad dal and chana dal. When the mustard and cumin seeds splutter and the dals turn a golden brown, add in the curry leaves and cashews. 
4. When the cashews get a reddish tinge, add the onions. When the onions turn transluscent add the green chillies, ginger and capsicum and saute for a couple of minutes, then take off the flame.
5. Roast the rava with 1 tablespoon of ghee till it turns a reddish tinge and gives off a nice aroma.
6. Now, slowly pour in the hot water, stirring constantly so it doesn't form lumps.
7. Continue to stir and cook till the rava reaches a smooth consistent texture and has absorbed most of the water.
8. Now add the turmeric, salt, mixed vegetables and the prepared tempering.
9. Mix everything well and cook for another minute.

Serve hot with chutney/sambaar or plain old pickle - yummy!

Lemon Rasam

How often, when asked about what we cooked for dinner, have we responded with -"Oh nothing, just some rasam"! Just think about it, even a simple dal gets a better mention when compared with this South Indian staple. What do we turn to when we are down with the sniffles, what do we resort to cooking when we are out of time and ideas, what do we make when we are thinking of home - as far as I am concerned, the answer to all these is Rasam.

Today's recipe is the humble Rasam -  Lemon Rasam. For the uninitiated, there are a zillion different varieties of rasam, not the standard one prepared in the restaurants. Ditto for sambaars. But that is for another day and another post. For now, let us stick to the lemon rasam. Infact, I prepare lemon rasam also in two different ways. One is from the recipe book "Dakshin". The other, the one that I am posting today, is the way my mom prepares it.

Rasam is generally associated with a tamarind base, but for lemon rasam, you don't need any tamarind. The lemon provides the required tanginess. I have used homemade rasam powder - will soon be posting the recipe for the same. Feel free to use the store bought one thought. Serve rasam with rice and a curry on the side or drink it up hot and steaming as I do - yummy!

Preparation & Cooking: 15 minutes          Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Toor Dal/Red Gram Dal - ¼ cup
Tomato - 1
Green Chillies - 2
Ginger - a small bit
Turmeric/Haldi Powder - ½ teaspoon
Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
Rasam Powder - 1 teaspoon
Water - 4 cups
Lemon - 1
Curry Leaves -  a few
Salt - to taste
Cilantro Leaves - for garnish
For Tempering: 
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 teaspoons
Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Whole Red Chillies - 2

Method:

1. Cook the dal in a pressure cooker with a pinch of turmeric and salt, till it is soft and mushy.
2. Grind together the tomato, ginger and green chillies into a smooth puree.
3. Combine the prepared puree, 4 cups of water, asafoetida, turmeric powder, rasam powder, curry leaves and salt in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
4. Once the liquid begins to froth over, mash the cooked dal with the back of a ladle and add it to the rasam. Let it cook for another minute.

5. Turn off the flame and add the the juice from one lemon. 
6. Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee and adding the mustard seeds and red chillies to it. When the must seeds splutter, add the tempering to the rasam. Garnish with cilantro leaves

Serve hot with rice and side dish of choice.

Quinoa Puliodarai

I love the luxury of online shopping - my favorite site being Amazon.com! But it has certainly spoilt me to the extent that I find it extremely frustrating when I cannot simply order something with a mouse click! While going to the store, picking, touching, smelling, trying and bargaining has its own charms (come on, you have to agree with me, specially if you are an Indian like me :) ), there are times when all I want to do is log in, browse and buy - specially if there is a fast shipping option!

The reason for my starting off on this point is, recently my friend spoke about her having tried quinoa puliodarai at her aunt's place and that set off a craving for it. But the main problem was, while I had all the necessary ingredients for making a pulikaachal, I did not have any quinoa on hand. Boy did I wish I could just order some online during the day and get it by evening - just on time for dinner! But alas, that was not to be, so I had to drive down to the local grocery store to get some. I know, I know, I could have just gone ahead and made it with rice, which is probably what any sensible person would do. But moi being moi - just had to go and buy the quinoa!

That is what prompted me to make my pulikaachal in a crock-pot instead of going the traditional gas top way. So, while I ran my grocery errand, the pulikaachal was cooking away in the crock-pot and got ready just around the time I finished cooking the quinoa - perfect timing!

Now, I have used quinoa for making "curd rice" with tempering and pulao, even khichdi. But never for puliodarai. I loved it, will definitely be making it again.

The spice level on this was through the roof - well we do have a high tolerance for heat, but if you prefer your food on the milder side, feel free to reduce the amount of red chillies used. The same goes for the tamarind - but this dish is an extremely tangy one.

The pulikaachal prepared can be refrigerated and used whenever required. The ingredients mentioned below make pulikaachal to serve 6-8 people. But I added a few tablespoons of it to 1 cup of cooked quinoa which was sufficient for me and my husband and stored the rest for future use.

Preparation & Cooking: 3 hours         Serves: 6-8

Ingredients: 

Qunioa -  1 cup
Tamarind - big lemon sized
Jaggery - 1 teaspoon, powdered (optional)
Coriander Seeds/Dhania - 2 tablespoons
Fenugreek Seeds/Methi - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
Red Chillies - 20-25
Peanuts - ¼ cup
Turmeric Powder/Haldi - ¼ teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Tempering:
Mustard Seeds - 1 tablespoon
Black Gram/Urad Dal - 4 tablespoons
Bengal Gram/Chana Dal - 2 tablespoons
Fenugreek Seeds/Methi - 1 teaspoon
Curry Leaves - a few
Sesame Oil - ¼ cup

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in hot water for a few minutes. I usually microwave the water and tamarind for a minute then set aside for 5 minutes. Then prepare a thick tamarind pulpy juice by squishing the tamarind. With the said amount of tamarind, you should be able to extract 1½ to 2 cups of thick pulpy juice. Strain this and set aside.
2. Dry roast the coriander seeds, asafoetida and fenugreek seeds and grind it to a smooth powder.
3. Heat the sesame oil and all the ingredients for tempering. When the seeds crackle, add in the peanuts.
4. When the peanuts turn a golden brown, add the red chillies and fry for a couple of minutes.

5. Now, at this stage, if you want to continue cooking on the stove top, add in the remaining ingredients (except the ground powder) and cook, stirring slowly. When it starts boiling, reduce the flame and simmer till the raw tamarind smell disappears and the mixture thickens considerably into a paste like consistency. Finally add in the ground powder. Some people add in the ground powder just when mixing with the rice.
6. But on the other hand, if you are out of patience and kitchen standing time, as I was, then go ahead and take out that additional gadget that's resting somewhere in you kitchen - yes I am talking about the crock-pot!
7. Add all the ingredients (except the ground powder) to the crock - pot, set it at high for cooking, cover it with a lid and go ahead finish of your chores in the next couple of hours!

8. Oh yes, one more thing - cook the quinoa as per the package instructions. I usually rinse it thoroughly and cook it in the microwave for about 6-8 minutes in double the quantity of water, stirring once or twice in between. Then I cover and let it rest for a couple of minutes and finally fluff it up with a fork. Some people say you should soak it, but so far I have not bothered to do that.
9. Finally, mix in the ground powder, add the required quantity of pulikaachal to the quinoa and set aside for a few minutes before serving, that way the quinoa will absorb the flavors better. Usually for the amount of qinoa cooked 3-5 tablespoons should do the trick, depending on your taste buds. Add a little at a time and keep tasting till you get your desired taste.

PS: If you have left overs, don't worry, puliodarai always taste's better the next day!
Sending this across to

as well as

Kozhakattai (Modak)

Ganesh Chaturthi has long gone by. Infact, even Navaratri just passed us by. So, it's high time I posted this recipe! As I mentioned in my last post, I make kozhakattai for neivedyam every year on Ganesh Chaturthi. After all, that's what Bappa loves to eat - right? 

Every year it used to be a hit or miss thing, mainly because the covering would either crack open or be a very thick layer. The reason for this was that I was using ready made rice flour just because I was too lazy to use soaked rice to make it! Finally, this year I decided that a well made kozhakattai is worth a little time and effort! And it worked! This year the kozhakattais were awesome and got consumed pretty fast.

I usually make 3 kinds of kozhakattais - the sweet ones (vella kozhakattai), the savory ones (uppu kozhakattai) and the tiny roasted ones (ammini kozhakattai). I love all three of them and so does my husband.  Its mainly just the former two kozhakattai that are usually made for neivedyam, and the left over dough from the outer covering is used to make ammini kozhakattai, but I love these so much that I make enough dough to ensure  the making of the tiny kozhakattais. These make an excellent snack item.

Making kozhakattais is not too difficult - it is just an elaborate and time consuming process. And the sad part is the rate of consumptions is inversely proportional to the time and effort put in!

Rice Soaking Time: 2-3 hours       Cooking Time: 2 hours           Makes: 12-15 of each kind

Ingredients:

For the Covering:
Rice - 1 cup
Water - to grind rice into a smooth batter
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt - a pinch

For the Sweet Filling (Vella Poornam):

Coconut -½, grated
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom - ½ teaspoon

Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 2 tablespoons

For the Savory Filling:

Urad Dal (Black Gram Dal)- 1 cup
Channa Dal (Bengal Gram Dal) - 2 tablespoons
Green Chillies - 4
Red Chillies -2
Grated Coconut - 2 tablespoons
Cilantro - a few sprigs
Lemon Juice - 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste

Tempering for the Savory Filling:
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida (Hing) - a pinch
Curry Leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tablespoon

For the Ammini Kozhakattai:
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Urad Dal (Black Gram Dal) -  1 teaspoon
Red Chillies - 2

Asafoetida (Hing) - a pinch
Red Chilli Powder - ½ teaspoon
Grated Coconut - 2 tablespoons
Curry Leaves - a few
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

For the Covering:

• Rinse and soak rice in water for 2-3 hours. 
• Grind it into a smooth batter adding sufficient water to make it into a smooth paste a little thicker than idli batter.
• To this batter add a tablespoon of oil and cook over a medium flame, stirring constantly till it thickens up to form a smooth dough. Now take it off the flame and cover it with a damp cloth/kitchen towel till it is ready to be used.

The same dough is used for all three kozhakattais.

 For the Sweet Filling (Vella Poornam):

• Melt the jaggery, don't let it burn.
• When the jaggery melts add in the  grated coconut and cook stirring constantly. 
• Once the mixture thickens enough to form balls, add the ghee and the cardamom powder and remove from the flame.

• After the filling cools enough to handle, make small balls out of it.

• Now, take a little bit of the dough for the covering, knead it well and make a small ball out of it. Using the tips of your fingers shape this ball into a small cup. 
• Place a little amount of the sweet filling into this cup and shape them into modaks by pulling the ends together.

• Steam these kozhakattais in a cooker/idli steamer for about 10 minutes.

• Turn off the gas and wait for a couple of minutes before taking the kozhakattais out - if you try to pull them out immediately, they tend to crumble. Yummy kozhakattais are ready for neivedyam.

 For the Savory Filling:

• Soak the urad dal and chana dal together for about an hour. Drain and grind them to a coarse mixture along with the green chillies, red chillies and salt.
•  Roll these into balls and steam them in a cooker for about 10 minutes.
• Once they cool, crumble them and add the grated coconut, cilantro leaves, lemon juice and the tempering of mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves.

• Now take a small quantity of the covering dough, knead it well and place it inside a ziploc bag or between two plastic sheets. Use a round bowl to press it into a circular shape.

• Place this circular piece of dough in a mold, place some of the savory filling into each and seal the edges by closing the mold. If you don't have a mold, then simple seal the edges with your fingers, to give the kozhakattai a semi-circular shape. You could use the back of a fork to crimp it's edges to make a design. 

• Steam these in cooker/idli maker for about 10 minutes. 

• Turn off the flame and wait a couple of minutes before removing the kozhakattais, otherwise they will crumble. Delicious uppu kozhakattais are ready to be served.

For the Ammini Kozhakattai:

• Roll the outer covering dough into tiny balls and steam them in an idli steamer/cooker.

• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard, urad dal, asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves.
• When the seeds splutter, add in the steamed rice balls, red chilli powder, grated coconut and salt and cook them till they begin to get evenly roasted and crunchy

• Tasty and fun ammini kozhakattais are ready for munching.

Kuzhi Paniyaram

In my house, any day of the week you open the refrigerator, there will always be some idli-dosa batter in there. I just find it convenient to keep some batter handy, be it for packing lunch for my husband or kid, or for making weekend dinners after spending the whole day out.

But sometimes, very little batter is left over and it tends to get sour after a week or so. Then, I use that leftover sour batter to make kuzhi paniyarams (or uppu appams). This is a quick and easy snack that my son loves and so do I!

Sometimes I make it with onions, sometimes I make it just plain. If the batter hasn't soured but I still want to make paniyarams, then I add a tablespoon of sour cream to it and that does the trick as far as getting the sour taste is concerned.

I love making this as an after school snack for my kid, though sometimes I just add some steamed carrots and peas to it as well, just to sneak in some veggies! You could also add freshly chopped cilantro (coriander leaves). I was out of cilantro, so did not add any.

I make these in an appa kaarai which is a special vessel with molds used for frying appams. If you don't have an appa kaarai, simply drop spoonfuls in a vessel with hot oil for deep frying.

Preparation:15 minutes to soak Chana Dal                Cooking: 10 minutes             Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
Left over Idli/Dosa Batter - 1 cup
Rava/Sooji - 2 tablespoons
Chana Dal/Bengal Gram Dal - 2 tablespoons (soaked in water for 15 minutes)
Green Chilli - 2 (ground into a paste)
Ginger - 1 teaspoon, minced fine
Onions - 1 small, chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil - for frying the kuzhi paniyarams

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients mentioned above, except the oil.

• Heat the oil in an appa kaarai and pour tablespoon of batter into each of the molds/holes.

Let it cook till the lower side turns brown, then turn it over.

• Cook this side also until done, then remove them from the oil and drain them out on absorbent paper or paper towels.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Kalan

Another day of the flour-less saga continues. I had to make something rice based as chapathi was out of question. I didn't have any suitable vegetables to make sambar and I did not feel like making rasam. That is when I remembered the bible of Tam Bram cooking (or should I say south Indian cooking?) - "Samaithu Paar" by Meenakshi Ammal! Something thats passed on by Iyer/Iyengar moms to their sons when they "go abroad" for higher studies or work and to their daughters when they get married! I have my copy too, infact one edition given by my m-i-l to DH (he hadn't bothered to open it ever!) .

While browsing through it, I came across a section that said "Keralite Recipes" and this is where I found my recipe for tonight's post. I made Kalan. Traditionally you can make it with yam and or plantains. I did not have any yam, but I did have plantains, so vazhakai kalan it was for dinner tonight!

While grinding coconut and green chillies for the recipe, I accidentally added a teaspoon of cumin seeds as well, which was not mentioned in the book. This happened because most kootu recipes that I make call for a paste of cumin seeds, green chillies and coconut. I could not do anything about it as it was too late to remove the cumin seeds from the paste, but you know what, I loved the taste nevertheless.

Another thing I changed was I added sour cream to the paste along with yogurt. The reason for this was that the recipe called for sour curds, which I did not have. Combining sour cream with yogurt seemed like the best substitute, and that's exactly what I did.

Instead of adding the paste separately then churning the yogurt and adding, I put everything into the blender together and gave it a good spin. Certainly made things easier that way...

Preparation & Cooking: 20 minutes                    Serves: 2-3
Ingredients:

Plantains/Vazhakai - 2 big ones or 4 small ones
Yogurt - 2 cups
Sour Cream - 2 tablespoons
Haldi/Turmeric Powder - ¼ teaspoon
Salt - to taste
To be ground to a paste:
Green chillies - 3-4
Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coconut - 2 heaped tablespoons, grated
For the Tempering:
Coconut Oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek Seeds - ¼ teaspoon
Red Chillies - 2-3
Curry Leaves - a few

Method:

• Peel and cube the plantains.

• In a vessel add the cubed plantains, turmeric powder, salt and some water and bring it to a boil.

• Reduce the flame and let it boil the the plantains turn soft and  are loved thoroughly.

• In the meantime, grind the green chillies, cumin seeds and coconut together.

• Make it into a smooth paste using some of the water from the boiling plantains if necessary.

• Now add in the yogurt and sour cream as well and blend thoroughly.

• Once the plantains are cooked, add this yogurt mixture and mix well.

• Lower the flame and stir constantly, otherwise the yogurt will curdle.

• While it is cooking, heat oil in  a separate vessel and add the tempering ingredients. When the seeds splutter, take them off the heat add add this tempering to the cooked plantains.

Yummy Delicious Kalan is ready! Serve hot with rice and a vegetable side dish.

Vazhakai Podimas

There are some recipes that we love, but somehow don't make very often. I have no idea why that happens.I mean, if it requires some elaborate preparation or some ingredient not easily available, I can understand. But that is not the case here, its just that it doesn't occur to me to make it.

Today's post is one such recipe. My husband asked me, how come you haven't made vazhakai podimas in ages? I buy plantains pretty much every month, make curry, kootu and bhajji with it, but not podimas! So, this time, the plantains got used up to make podimas :)

Traditionally, the plantains are pressure cooked and then the skin is peeled off and the plantains are crumbled  by hand. But my pressure cooker was already being used for something else and I did not want to weight for it to be free. So, I went ahead and microwaved the plantains and then grated it in a food processor instead of crumbling it by hand. If pressure cooking, the later cooking on the flame will need only 5 minutes, but if microwaving first, you'll have to cook it on the flame for 10-12 minutes later. Feel free to make it either way.

Preparation & Cooking: 30 minutes                Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
Plantains - 3
Green chillies - 2, slit lengthwise
Ginger - 1 teaspoon, grated
Turmeric Powder/Haldi - ½ teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Coconut - 2 tablespoons, shredded (for garnish)
Lemon Juice - 2 tablespoons
Oil - 1 tablespoon
For Tempering:
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Black Gram/Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
Bengal Gram/Channa Dal - ½ teaspoon
Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
Curry Leaves - a few

Method:

• Cut the plantains into halves and microwave them in water for 12-15 minutes.

• Peel the skin, then grate the plantains and set them aside.

• Heat the oil and add the ingredients for tempering. 

• When the mustard seeds splutter, add the ginger, grated plantains, curry leaves, turmeric powder and salt and mix well.

• Next add in the slit green chillies and a couple of tablespoons of water and let it cook for about 10-12 minutes. Turn off the flame.

• Garnish with shredded coconut and add the lemon juice and mix well.

Serve as a side dish to rice with sambar or rasam.