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Colorful Cocktail Idlis

Madhuram — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:28:16 +0000

I have had this idea of mixing chutney with the idli batter for long time now, especially when we pack idlis while going on a tour/picnic. I used to think that doing so, it’s easy clean up and no need to carry extra utensils, but never got to do that until recently. When SunshineMom announced that she is hosting this month’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event, I decided to try the idli idea. I also got the idea of trying it with different color chutneys.

The idea behind the event is getting newbies interested in cooking, so no exact measurements, complicated steps or special equipments should be used. What can be more easy than preparing chutney and steaming idlis? To make it even simple one can even buy idli batter from the store, prepare chutney spicier than usual, mix it and prepare the idlis. As simple as it is. Any chutney should be fine. For different colors you could use tomatoes, coriander/mint, beets, carrots etc. The only thing is you have to make it spicier so that when mixed with the batter and steamed the spice is right. Anyways I’m giving the measurements and recipe for preparing idly and chutneys.

Colorful Idlis

Ingredients

Idli batter (homemade or store bought) as needed

Any spicy chutney as needed

Procedure

1 If you are using more than one chutney divide the batter in two or three bowls according to the number of chutneys you are using.

2 Mix each chutney with the batter and combine it well. Taste the batter and check for salt and spice. If it’s not spicy enough add some chilli powder or ground green chilies. I added a spicy paruppu podi (dal powder which is mixed with rice) to increase the spiciness.

3 Grease idli moulds with oil/ghee. I spray it with a non stick spray. You could choose to use either mini idli moulds or the regular ones. If you have only the regular size idli moulds, pour the batter, steam it as usual (for 10-15 minutes). After sometime remove the idlis from the moulds and cut each idli into 4 pieces. Mini idlis can be served as it is.

4 Use a toothpick to skewer idlis, one of each color or arrange it in a platter.

My Notes

1 I had little leftover batter and chutneys the next day. So to the batter I added some rice flour, all purpose flour, semolina and all the chutneys and mixed it with enough water to get a pancake/dosa batter consistency. Then prepared dosas and it tasted so good with all the chutneys and spices together.

Idli Recipe

Ingredients

Idli Rava 2 cups

Urad Daal 1 cup

Salt as needed

Sesame oil 1 tablespoon

Procedure

1 Soak urad daal in water for 3-4 hours. You can either soak the idli rava or not. My grandmother used to soak it in lukewarm water. I have tried both methods and have not found any difference in the idlis. After at least 3 hours drain the urad daal, reserving some of the water.

2 If using a wet grinder, switch it on, add 1/2 cup of the water and let the grinder run. Then slowly add the urad daal. Grind it atleast for 25-30 minutes until it’s nice and fluffy.

3 Add the idli rava to the urad daal batter while it’s still in the grinder and let the grinder run a couple of minutes more so that everything is combined well.

4 Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and the oil and mix it well. Use a big size bowl so that there is enough room for the batter to rise while it ferments. Ferment it for at least 12-15 hours and use it the next day.

My Notes

1If using rice instead of idli rava, the measurement I follow is 2 cups of par boiled rice, 1 cup of raw rice and 3/4th-1 cup of urad daal. Soak the rice together. Soak the urad daal separately. First grind the urad daal as mentioned above and transfer it to the bowl. Then grind the rice to a coarse consistency. It should take only 5-8 minutes if grinding it in a wet grinder. Then mix both the batters, salt and oil and combine it well.

2 I also soak for adai whenever I’m going to grind for idlis. First I grind daal and rice for idlis, transfer the batter and in the same grinder grind for adai. So we have adai for dinner and idli/dosa for the next 2 days. So with extra 10 minutes of work 3-4 days’ dinner/breakfast is taken care off. Also less clean up, because you have to wash the grinder only once as against twice if you soak for adai and idlis on two separate days.

Chutney Recipes

Onion Chutney (for red color)

Onion, big 1

Red chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Tomato (optional, to get the red color) 1

Tamarind paste (if not using tomato) 1/2 teaspoon

Salt as needed

I had a dried red chili at home which is not at all spicy but gives only the color. I used that in addition to the spicy chillies to get the red color. So I did not use tomato. Grind everything together to a smooth paste. Usually I fry this chutney in little oil to get rid of the raw smell from onions. I didn’t do it this time because anyway I was going to steam it with the idlis.

Coriander Chutney (for green color)

Coriander 1 bunch

Green chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Tamarind paste (or lemon juice) 1/4 teaspoon

Salt as needed

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

Coconut Chutney (for yellow color)

Coconut 1/2 cup

Green chillies (add 1 or 2 more than the usual) as needed

Turmeric powder as needed to get the color

Salt as needed

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

These colorful idlis go to:

SunshineMom’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event. The event originally started by Ramki of One Page Cookbooks.

Trupthi’s Cooking for Kids – Rice. The event originally started by Sharmi.

Chana Dal and Bulgur Sundal

Madhuram — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:04:55 +0000

I had some leftover bulgur after preparing this upma. I don’t know how or why I got this idea, but decided to make chana dal (split yellow gram or kadalai paruppu, not garbanzo beans) sundal and mix the bulgur with it. Sundal is a very famous South Indian dish and is especially prepared everyday for 9 days during Navarathiri. Dried legumes or lentils are used to prepare it. I was so excited about this idea and started preparing it. I was pleasantly surprised and (proud, I think it’s ok once in a while. Right?) of my creation, because it was absolutely delicious. Even though the bulgur gave a nice chewy texture, it was not at all apparent. So this is another way of sneaking extra fiber and whole grains to the usual sundal recipe.

Ingredients

Bulgur, cooked 3/4 cup

Channa daal, dry 1/2 cup

Water 1 cup

Ginger, grated 1/2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder a pinch

Oil 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Hing a pinch

Green chillies, split into half as required

Coconut, grated 1/4 cup

Salt as required

Procedure 1 I used leftover bulgur which I had prepared already. If you want to start with dry bulgur, soak bulgur with equal amount of boiling water (1:1) and a pinch of salt. It will take about 30-45 minutes to absorb the water and then it’s ready.

2 Add washed/rinsed chana dal (kadalai paruppu), 1 cup of water, turmeric and little salt in a pressure cooker. Also add the ginger, if using. I always use ginger while cooking lentils and legumes to aid easy digestion. Leave it for only one whistle and remove the cooker from the stove to stop the cooking process. If you cook it for more than 1 whistle the daal will become mushy. After the opening the cooker drain the daal in a colander. No need to reserve the water.

3 Once you have the bulgur and channa daal ready, in a frying pan heat the oil.

4 Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and hing. After it splutters add the green chillies. I used one chili, split in half.

5 Now add the drained channa daal, little salt and fry for a minute. After that also include the prepared bulgur and combine it thoroughly. Leave it in the stove for another minute.

6 Switch off the stove and add the grated coconut and mix it well. Garnish it with chopped coriander.

My Notes 1 If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can cook the chana daal on stove top but it will take more time. Also you may have to increase the quantity of water.

2 I have a very small size pressure cooker, so I cooked the chana dal directly. Instead you can also add the daal and water in a vessel, place it in the cooker and leave it for a whistle.

This also goes to Roma’s JFI-Wheat. JFI originally started by Indira.

Cracked Wheat and Moong Dal Crepes (Dosa without fermentation)

Madhuram — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:09:11 +0000

My grandmother used to prepare this moong dal dosa with raw rice and it was my favorite. I substitute the rice with either cracked wheat or corn grits and it tastes equally good and is healthy too. Technically this is adai I guess because it uses spices, coconut, lentils and not urad daal. Also the batter does not require fermentation. Since the batter has to be in the consistency of dosa batter, very smooth and thin, it qualifies for dosa. You would be surprised that these dosas doesn’t taste anything like wheat. Nobody can guess it’s made of cracked wheat.

Ingredients

Cracked Wheat 1 cup

Yellow Moong Dal 1/2 cup

Masoor Dal (red lentils) 1/4 cup

Green and Red Chilies 2 and 1

Ginger, grated 1 tablespoon

Coconut, grated 1/4 cup

Cilantro 1/4 cup

Tomato puree 2 tablespoons

Salt as per taste

Yield: 12 medium size dosas.

Procedure 1 Soak the cracked wheat in 1 cup water. Soak the daals and chilies together in another bowl with 1 and 1/2 cups water. I used the fine variety of cracked wheat. It had the texture of semolina. If you happen to have only the coarse variety run it in a blender/processor for a couple minutes before soaking. Soak everything for at least 3-4 hours.

2 Drain the dal in a colander and reserve the water. Blend together the daals and chilies with some of the reserved water until smooth.

3 Then add the soaked cracked wheat, coconut, ginger, tomato puree. Add water as needed to get a smooth batter.

4 Tranfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and mix well. The batter is ready to make the dosas. No need to ferment it.

5 Heat a tava. Sprinkle some water to check if the tava is hot enough. Take the batter in a ladle and pour it on the pan and spread it into a thin circle with the back of the ladle.

6 It takes about 2 minutes for the batter to cook. If you want it crisp you can wait for another minute or until you see a reddish thin crust in the middle. You could either use little oil to top the dosa or use a non stick spray like Pam and spray it lightly in a circular motion on top of the dosa. Using the non stick spray effectively requires some practice. You have to press the nozzle with very light pressure, otherwise there’s going to be an “oil rain” on the dosa. Since the batter is thin, unlike the regular adai batter this one cooks well even without oil. Flip it and cook the other side for another minute.

7 Turn it over once again and roll it just like shown in the picture or serve it as it is.

My Notes 1 You could use 3/4 cup of moong dal itself instead of 1/2 cup moong dal and 1/4 cup masoor daal. I usually do it like that but this time changed it a little bit.

2The tomato puree in the batter is optional. I got this idea from another blogger Ashwini. I usually prepare this adai without tomato and that’s good too. But the tomato makes it little tangy and also gives a nice color to the dosa. You could use one small tomato chopped instead of the puree. If adding chopped tomatoes grind it together with the daals itself, otherwise it may not blend properly.

3 This dosa is good either soft or crispy. If you want it soft take it a minute early.

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Brown Rice Bisi Bele Bath

Madhuram — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:29:41 +0000

Last week I tried Pongal with brown rice and it came out very well, which made me think why not bisi bele bath with brown rice? Earlier I was very hesitant about using brown rice, wondering if we would like the taste or not. To my surprise both of us like it very much. I think this is one of the few things we both agree upon! Brown rice when cooked has a rubbery (is it even a word?) texture. Or simply it is not as soft as its white counterpart. You feel very full after eating a cup of rice, as against wanting more after eating white rice. I made zucchini raitha to go with the bisi bele bath. That’s easy to prepare too. You can find other facts about brown rice here.

Bisi Bele Bath

Ingredients for the Masala Powder

Channa Daal 1 tablespoon

Urad Daal 1/2 tablespoon

Coriander seeds (dhaniya) 1 tablespoon

Fenugreek seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Black Peppercorn 1/2 teaspoon

Cloves 2 to 3

Cinnamon stick 1 inch piece

Red Chillies as required (I used 2 small)

Grated coconut 1 tablespoon

Ghee/sesame oil 1 teaspoon

Ingredients for the Rice

Brown Rice 3/4 cup

Toor Daal 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon

Vegetables
(I used carrots, beans, potatoes and green peas, 1 cup each) 3 to 4 cups

Onion, sliced 1 medium (or pearl onions preferably)

Tamarind paste 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Hing a pinch

Salt as required

Sesamme oil 1/2 tablespoon

Ghee 1/2 to 1 tablespoon (optional)

Procedure

1 Wash the brown rice and toor daal and soak it together (also add turmeric powder) in warm water for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). Soaking the brown rice in warm water activates more enzymes, which makes it possible to obtain a more complete amino acid profile. For 1 cup of rice and daal use 2 and 1/2 cups of water, so I used 3 and 1/4 cups of water. I did the soaking straightaway in a pressure cooker. After soaking, leave it for 5 whistles and transfer the cooker from the stove if cooking on an electric range, because the heat from the coil will continue the cooking process and you will end up scraping burnt rice from the bottom of the pressure cooker.

2 Meanwhile prepare the masala powder, while the rice is cooking. In a small frying pan add ghee, once it heats, fry (until golden brown) one by one the ingredients mentioned in the list. Once it cools, powder it in a blender/spice grinder.

3 In a medium size pan add the 1/2 tablespoon of oil, once it heats add the mustard seeds, curry leaves (if using) and hing. Then fry the sliced onions. Add a pinch of salt, so that the onion cooks faster. Then add the vegetables and required amount of salt and let it cook for 5 minutes. Once it is half cooked add the tamarind paste and 1 and 1/2 cups of water and close the pan with the lid. Let it cook until the raw smell of tamarind leaves. Then add the masala powder and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Alternatively you can do the entire step in a pressure cooker easily. That’s how I do it. I have a small pressure cooker. So as usual I do the tempering, fry the onions. Then I simply add the vegetables, salt, tamarind and water and close the cooker’s lid and leave it for only 1 whistle. If you are using an electric range be sure to transfer the cooker from the stove after turning off the stove, because the heat from the coil continues the cooking process and you would end up having mushy vegetables. After opening the lid, add the masala powder and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

4 Then add the cooked rice and daal mixture to the vegetables gravy and mix it well. If you like you can add the 1/2 tablespoon of ghee or sesame oil now. If the rice looks a bit watery, don’t worry, it will thicken up. You can keep it on low heat for sometime and it will thicken up. On the other hand if it’s very thick add some warm water to loosen it. It’s very forgiving, so don’t worry.

Zucchini Thayir Pachadi

Ingredients

Zucchini, small, grated with skin 1

Salt 1 teaspoon

Yogurt 1 to 2 cups

Canola oil 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Green chillies, sliced into half as required (I used 1)

Hing a pinch

Procedure

1 Wash the zucchini and grate it with the skin and place it in a bowl. Add the required amount of salt.

2 In a small frying pan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the sliced green chillies, hing and fry it.

3 Add this to the zucchini and mix it well.

4 Mix the yogurt to the zucchini when ready to serve.

My Notes 1 If you don’t have the time to prepare the bisi bele bath masala powder you can buy it. I’ve tried MTR brand and it’s good too.

2 You could also buy the frozen Avial vegetables available in Indian grocery stores and save time chopping vegetables.

3 I have pressure cookers in all size so I used one for cooking the vegetables and one for cooking rice/daal. You can also cook both in any vessel on stove top, but as far as I’ve read brown rice takes more time to cook like that.

4 We don’t eat spicy food, so I used only 2 red chillies for the masala powder. The heat was very mild. If you prefer it more spicy use about 4-5 chillies.

Golu Photos and Rice Flour Puttu

Madhuram — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:15:31 +0000

It seemed like Navarathri started just now and it’s already the 9th day, Saraswathi Pooja. Happy Pooja holidays everybody. We prepare a lot of sweets and sundals these holidays, but “puttu” is very important and our favorite too.

This puttu is different from what the Keralites prepare. It’s made with rice flour, grated coconut and jaggery. The process is also time consuming but worth every effort. Traditionally it’s prepared by soaking raw rice in water, draining it, spreading it on a cloth and powdering the rice, while the rice is still damp. But to make the process more simple store bought rice flour is used. This is especially prepared on a Friday and is distributed to everybody who visits our home to see the Golu. I’ve prepared it successfully a couple of times 3 years back, but now I have totally forgotten the procedure. Fortunately my mother is here and she prepared it this time. It came out very well and I wanted to record it before I forget it once again.

(Click on the image to see a bigger view)

Ingredients

Rice flour – 3 cups

Water, hot – as required

Salt – a pinch

Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Jaggery, powdered – 2 and 1/4 cups

Coconut, grated, preferably fresh – 1 cup (or even less)

Cardamom powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Pachakarpooram – a pinch

Cashewnuts, broken into small pieces – 1/4 cup

Step-by-Step Procedure 1. Toast the rice flour in a dry skillet until hot.

2. Boil little water (around 1 cup) with salt and turmeric powder.

3. Sprinkle as much water as required in the toasted flour little by little. The correct consistency is, you should be able to form balls, but at the same time you should also be able to crumble it back into powdered form.

4. Steam this flour mixture for 20 minutes. My mother filled little water in a big frying pan, placed a small trivet in the bottom and used the vegetable steamer which came alongwith my electric rice cooker to steam the flour. Wet a cotton cloth and pour the prepared rice powder in it and cover by bringing the ends of the cloth over the flour and place it on the vegetable steamer and close the frying pan with a lid.

5. Once the flour is steamed, transfer this mixture to a big plate and spread it. If it has lumps sift it using a sieve.

6. Meanwhile in another vessel add the jaggery and water just enough to cover the jaggery and melt it.

7. Sieve the jaggery solution to get rid of any impurities.

8. Again pour it back in the vessel, add the coconut, cardamom powder and pachakarpooram and let this mixture boil.

9. When a drop of the jaggery syrup is dropped in cold water, you should be able to form it into a ball. When you reach this consistency switch of the stove and remove the vessel from the stove.

10. Now add this mixture little by little to the steamed flour and simultaneously mix the flour and jaggery syrup with the other hand using a spatula. I have a big wooden fork which is simply perfect for this job. Be careful because the syrup will be very hot and it will scald your skin if it drops.

11. In a dry skillet toast the cashew pieces and add it to the prepared Puttu.

My Notes 1. The above measurement gives a fairly big portion of Puttu. You can try it on a small scale with 1 cup of rice flour, 3/4 cup of powdered jaggery and 1/4 cup of grated coconut.

2. Cashewnuts can be toasted in ghee. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee and fry the cashews in it and add it to the Puttu. This keeps well for a week.

This is my entry for the following events:
1. Vaishali’s Sweet Vegan.
2. Srivalli’s JFI-Festival Treats.

Simple Zucchini Koottu without Daal/Paruppu

Madhuram — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:26:28 +0000

I was on a short break and am back with an easy recipe for zucchini kootu. I learnt it from my mother-in- law. Using rice rinsed water, this simple and tasty side dish can be prepared in no time. I guess this is similar to the Eriseri which is prepared in Kerala, using plain water. Usually when I use an electric rice cooker I wash the rice and soak it for 30 minutes and then cook it, to get a soft texture. So whenever I use my electric rice cooker, I make this kootu with the rice soaked water, because I don’t want to use the regular pressure cooker also just to cook daal for sambar/kootu. My mother-in-law prepares this kootu with cucumber. I had only zucchini that day, so I tried it for the first time and it tasted so good.

IngredientsZucchini, medium, cut into small cubes – 1
Water/Rice soaked water – just enough to cover the zucchini
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt – as per taste

For Grinding:
Coconut, grated – 2 tablespoons
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Red Chillies/green chillies – 1/2 each or as per taste
Milk/water – little

For Tempering:
Oil – 1 tablespoon
Urad Daal – 1 teaspoon
Channa Daal – 1 teaspoon
Hing – a pinch

Procedure1. Wash the rice like you always do, but instead of pouring it down the sink pour it in a sauce pan and add cubed zucchinis, tumeric powder and close the lid. When it is half cooked add the required amount of salt and let it cook for another couple of minutes. It should not become very mushy.

2. Meanwhile grind all the ingredients together mentioned in the list and also do the tempering.

3. Add the ground mixture and tempering to the zucchinis and let it boil for another 5 minutes. Garnish it with cilantro.

A very tasty kootu is ready to be served with steaming hot white rice!

Cornmeal Dumplings/Kozhukattai – Your Recipe Rocks!

Madhuram — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:19:46 +0000

When Jayasree posted Cornmeal Kozhukattais, I had to try it out because I always like the idea of using American ingredients in our Indian cooking. (Example: Zucchini Daal, Grits Pongal, Grits Adai). I had bought cornmeal to prepare bread, but somehow did not even get close to finding an eggless cornmeal bread recipe.

I tried the recipe with 1 cup of yellow cornmeal, which is available in the baking aisle in the US. I got 12 dumplings for this measurement. Next time I’ll be sure to use another cup of cornmeal, because it was so tasty. Thank you very much for the recipe Jayasree, your recipe rocks!

My Notes1. It’s exactly the arisi upma kozhukattai recipe which is very famous in all South Indian households, but we are just substituting cornmeal instead of coarse raw rice and toor daal powder. So you can either follow her method of making these or use any other method which you are already aware of.

For instance, I don’t add whole red chillies and green chillies while seasoning. Instead I grind coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies and red chillies (as per taste) into a coarse powder and add it while the water is boiling. This gives a nice aroma and flavor to the steamed balls. For this kozhukattai you can also omit the toor daal and use cornmeal only.

2. Another point to be noted, cornmeal tends to lump quickly while adding it to the boiling water. So I had to mash it with a potato masher after removing the pan from the stove and then shaped them into oval shaped dumplings to steam it. I think we can avoid this by adding some water to the cornmeal, whisking it and then pouring this mixture in the boiling water (like preparing ragi kanji).

Dear JZ of Tasty Treats had passed me the Friendship Award a couple of days back. Somehow I lost track of it. I’m very sorry JZ. Thank you for passing me the award. I extend my frienship to all my food blogging buddies.

Eggless Coconut Macaroons

Madhuram — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:20:56 +0000

This Saturday I borrowed 2 books from the library on baking cookies. The following macaroons recipe is based on Key Lime Coconut Macaroons, from Jill Snider’s Cookies book. That recipe caught my eye because it was eggless originally, when the macaroon recipes I’ve seen so far used egg whites and I had all the ingredients at home. Since I don’t like lime/lemon flavoring in cookies/cakes, I omitted it. The original recipe called for key lime juice, so I substituted it with milk. Then only I realized that how similar it was to the south indian “thengai-coconut burfi“. So to get that taste I decided to add some cashews and cardamom powder. I also ended up using lesser amount of coconut and all purpose flour, so the final batter was watery. Then I remembered how my grandmother used to add rava (semolina) while making the burfis, so I also added a couple tablespoons of it, to make the dough firm. Inspite of all these changes, the end product tasted very good.

I think the mistake I did was adding milk to replace the lime juice, which resulted in a watery batter or not following the actual measurements. But it was definitely a very nice experience trying out various combinations. So what I would do the next time is, just combine condensed milk and coconut to form a firm dough, drop it on a cookie sheet and bake it. I’m positive that this will also bake perfectly.

Ingredients
Sweetened condensed milk – 1 cup
Milk – 1/4 cup
All purpose flour – 1/4 cup
Sweetened shredded coconut – 2.5 cups

Optional:
Semolina – 3 tablespoons
Cashew nuts, broken into pieces – 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder – 1 teaspoon

Procedure

(Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view)

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. In a large bowl, combine sweetened milk and milk, whisking until blended.

3. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, mixing until thoroughly blended.
4. Stir in coconut, cashews and cardamom powder.
5. After combining all the ingredients, the batter was a little bit watery. So I test baked just 1 tablespoon and the cookie spread so much.

6. So I added 3 tablespoons of semolina (sooji/rava) to the batter and combined it well and now the batter was nice and firm. Again I test baked another tablespoon of the dough and the macaroon came out perfect.

7. Then I went ahead and dropped tablespoonfuls of dough about 1 inch apart and baked it in the oven until it was golden around the edges (which approximately took 15 minutes). I got 24 (plus 2 test bake) macaroons for the above measurement.

8. Cool for 10 minutes on the sheet. This point is very important. Don’t try to remove the macaroons from the sheet once it is out the oven because it will be very flimsy. Again don’t put it back in the oven to harden it. Just leave the macaroons on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes and it will harden by itself.

9. Then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Arusuvai Ingredients & Cooking From Other Blogs!

Madhuram — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:28:37 +0000

Food blogging has given me a lot of new friends. One such very special person is Dee. Sometime (actually very longtime) back she had sent me a BIG package for the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. She had sent her delicious home made granola, koora podi, aam papad and a gorgeous Kitchen Aid Recipe Box.

The granola tasted unbelievably good, I was munching it on throughout the day and did not have anything left to prepare a dish using it. Sorry Dee it was not my fault that the granola was so delicious. The koora podi is also so good, it enhances the flavor of any dish it’s added to. It also tastes good by itself as a side dish for Idli/Dosa. I use it in all my curries. Above is the picture of the Potato Roast and and below is the Coconut Rice that I prepared using the podi.

Recently I also prepared her Broccoli Patoli/Usli. It’s something I have never tried before, so I was really skeptical about the taste. But I tried it anyhow because it’s my husband’s favorite vegetable. We were not at all disappointed, because it tasted very good and I’m going to make this one regularly.

Thank you so much Dee for your recipes, friendship and more!

Uma has given me a Giant Bear Hug. Thank you very much dear, hugs to you too.

Hetal and Ranji have passed me the Friendship Award. Thank you very much girls, I’m so happy that you thought of me.

It’s very difficult to choose only a few people to extend my hugs and friendship. Anyhow I extend it to

Dee
Akay
Roma
Laksh

Recently I also tried 2 other recipes from other blogs and this is going to be a regular in our house.

Kalva’s Gongura Pachadi: It was my first try with gongura leaves and we loved the chutney very much. Thank you Kalva.

Laavanya’s Bhindi Masala: Although I have prepared bhindi masala a lot of times earlier, the tip which Laavanya has given to microwave the okra for 5-7 minutes before sauteeing it is such a wonderful idea. Try it out ladies, the okra does not get slimy at all. Thank you very much Laavanya. Can’t wait to try your oven baked Idli Manchurians.

Hominy Grits And Daal Adai

Madhuram — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:15:37 +0000

Thanks to each and everyone of you for the words of support and wishes. My mom made the journey without any problem. The only negative thing was her flight was delayed by 2 hrs due to bad weather.

We made the mistake of not checking the flight’s status before leaving to the airport. My mother was taking the British Airways flight from Chennai via London and it was supposed to reach here at 7.30pm. We started around 6.15pm, but that day the traffic was unbelievable and we reached the airport only at 8.30 pm. I was worried that my mother would get panicked that we had not come. Only a handful people were there in the arrival hall and my mother was not there. Is this not enough to panick me? Then we saw the message board where they have the list of flights coming into the airport with their arrival time and status. We were so tensed that we could not locate my mom’s flight. Then after a couple of minutes we located it and confirmed that the flight had not yet arrived and was delayed by 2 hours. Then only I was able to breathe. By the time we reached home it was 1.00 am.

My son is already having a blast with her. When she was in India she used to come online daily and we used to have conversation via web camera. So he easily recognised her and yesterday night he slept with her only. It’s like he has totally forgotten me. He wants his grandma to do everything for him, from brushing his teeth, giving him a bath and what not!

I wanted to bake something for my mother, but she has brought us a lot of sweets and snacks from India. I think I’m gonna put on a couple of pounds easily.

For dinner yesterday I made adai using corn grits. I usually prepare adai using Idli rava, instead of rice. So I thought why not try it with grits, which has a similar texture. I used Quaker brand, quick grits, which cooks in five minutes and enriched with hominy.

Ingredients:
Quick Grits – 1 cup
Channa Daal – 1/2 cup
Toor Daal – 1/2 cup
Moong Daal – 1/2 cup
Urad Daal – 1 tablespoon
Green and Red chillies – as per taste
Ginger, grated – 1 tablespoon
Coconut, grated – 1/2 to 3/4 cup (preferably fresh)
Salt – as per taste
Coriander/curry leaves, finely chopped, for garnishing – optional

Procedure:
1. Lightly rinse the grits and soak it with 1.5 to 2 cups of water.
2. In a separate bowl add all the daals, rinse it and soak it in 3-4 cups of water. Also add the red chillies with the daal.
3. After 4 hours either using a blender or wet grinder first grind the daals (adding water little by little) along with the chillies, also add the green chillies, ginger and coconut.
4. Once it is grinded coarsely add the grits also and grind it for another couple of minutes. The batter should not be very smooth and also not very corase.
5. Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and coriander leaves.
6. Now prepare the adais as usual.

I got around 14 medium size adais for the above measurement. It was so delicious, especially with avial.

My Notes:
1. I usually use a combination of red chillies and green chillies in my cooking. The taste is definitely different and very good when compared to using either one.
2. Using fresh coconut and a lot of it really enhances the taste of adais.
3. Check this recipe for preparing adais using sweet corn.

This is my entry for Sangeeth’s Eat Healthy – Protein Rich, event.