Cooking a Spicy Tale
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Vendhaya Kuzhambu *

* vendhayam --> Methi/Fenugreek

This is a nice recipe coz I had much fun making it and The Mr had his while rubbing his ever-growing tummy in satisfaction. It reminded me of that old lesson in my Class 4(Or was it later?) English textbook - The Stone Soup.

Methi - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds /Urad dal for seasoning
Split chana dal - 2tsp
Toor dal - 2tsp
Onion small - 2
Tomatoes - 2
Tamarind - size of lemon
Sambhar Powder
Turmeric Powder

Now for my improvisations, if I may call so :p

The huge mistake I did was in the amount of chana/toor dal and methi. Being the over-zealous person that I am, I added almost 1/4 cup of dal and 1 huge spoon of methi. This methi ain't that great to bite into, so if youwant a really awesome 'kuzhambu'just for 'sasthram sake' add 6(My lucky number. You can use any under 10!) exact methi seeds into the pan. Technically, it is 'methi kuzhambu' but then it needn't really have any :D The modern day "stone soup".

And after I added sambhar powder, it didn't really taste that great. So I chipped in a 1/4 tsp each of Puli Kuzhambu powder and Rasam powder :)


Posted by The Cookie :: 6:47 PM :: 6 comments

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Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Helping Hands

These are recipes left behind as comments by Ratna & Bala.

This is Bala's tried, tested and tasting great Karela/Pavakkai recipe:
  • Slice into thin pieces first.
  • Smear it with salt and chilly powder and keep aside for 15 mins.
  • The pavakkai will become a bit watery. Squeeze all the water out so that the slices are dry.
  • Mix the slices with dry besan and chilly powder.
  • Fry in oil until brown (if it is too light of a shade of brown, it wont be crunchy...)
And this is Ratna's easy Broccoli recipe:
  • Take the flowerets in a bowl and add pepper jack cheese, some Ajwain seeds, some pickeled jalapenos and microwave for one minute. Awesome smell and taste.

Thank you :D


Posted by The Cookie :: 11:16 AM :: 2 comments

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Family Heirloom

You can't be a Tirunelveli gal, if you can't cook Kootanchoru, a recipe as famous as the Halwa. The quintessential dish to make every trip memorable. It was sometime in the mid-80s, Aachi cutting vegetables in the rendankattu(1), athai handling the kerosene stove on the ground and the kids running around doing small errands, getting ready for the trip to Tiruchendur. In our family, no vacation is complete unless one has visited atleast 3 temples. So the huge 'thooku-chattis'(2) were cleaned and stuffed with Kootanchoru and Curd rice, dabbas filled with koozhvathal, papads and chillies, and N million bottles of water of which one was already empty and Thatha was screaming at Thalavai not to drink all the water before we started our trip.

Not many city-bred friends of mine liked it so much. Except maybe for Archu for whom I always carried an extra box :) So without further delay, here's the recipe.

100g each of : carrots, brinjal, beans, potatoes
Drumstick - 2
Plantain(vazhakkai) - 1(if big, else 2)
Raw mango - 1
Toor dal - 1/4 cup(U can inc. a little if u like)
Rice - 1 cup
Sambhar powder
Turmeric powder
Tamarind - size of small lemon
Drumstick leaves/Araikeerai - 1 bunch (if available)
Salt

  • Cut all vegetables lengthwise. Wash the rice & dal and add all of it into the cooker. No need to use any vessel, just drop it all into the cooker. Add the vegetables.
  • Soak tamarind in water and extract its juice.
  • Add 2 Tbs of Sambhar powder, turmeric powder, salt, asafoetida. taste n see if it is okay :p
  • Add this to the cooker. Add water for cooking. Normally if you use 3 cups of water for 1 cup rice, use atleast 2 more cups this time coz of the vegetables. Plus kootanchoru is to be extremely soft and you should barely be able to make out the shape of rice :)
  • Clean the greens, chop them and add them.
  • Fry vadagams, if you have any, and add them too. They give an excellent flavour.
  • If the water doesn't taste spicy enough, add a tsp of chilli powder.
  • Close the cooker and wait for it to get done. (I don't know how many whistles your cooker takes, mine needs 4)
  • Make sure you 'thalichu-kottify' before serving. (Fry liberal amounts of urad dal, mustard seeds, kari patha and vadagam)

Serve hot with papads and koozh vathal. We normally don't make plain rice when we cook this. We just add curd to kootanchoru and finish the meal off. It tastes yummy. But then, that's us :)
And yeah, drumstick, mango & plaintain are essential without which this recipe won't taste as good.

Credits: Family

1 : The room following the living room and leading to the kitchen, in those ancient elongated houses of yesteryears.

2: The huge 'bucket-shaped' vessels with lids, that usually accompany every bride to her new home. Also can be bought from the hawker in exchange for grandma's old (silk) sarees.


Posted by The Cookie :: 10:45 AM :: 12 comments

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Thursday, March 09, 2006 Kalyana Saapadu Podava?

Sodhi is the standard stew of every Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai wedding. Our weddings span over two days. On the second day, the lunch is organised by the Groom's family. Though the cook has been arranged already from the Bride's side, on the morning of the second day, right after breakfast, The Bride(since she is now part of The Other Family) & The Groom and The Groom's family, invite every single person of the Bride's family for "Their lunch"(they normally pay the Bride's father an amount for the lunch as is custom). And the menu hasn't changed in years. Not since I sat at my aunt's wedding as a 7 year old to my very own last year :)

Drumsticks - 2
Potatoes - 1/4kg
Carrots - 200 g
Beans - 200 g
Moong Dal, fried - 1/4 cup
Small onions - 6 or more if u wish
Garlic cloves - 10
Coconut - 1 ( grate it and extract 1 cup thick milk, 2 cups thin milk)
Lemon - 1
Ginger - 2"
Green chillies - 5 **
Turmeric powder
Salt


  • Boil the moong dal , green chillies, garlic cloves & small onions till they are soft enough to be squashed.
  • Half boil the vegetables earlier and add them to the dal/garlic mixture.
  • Once all the vegetables are cooked, add the 2 cups of thin coconut milk. Now this is called so as this milk is extracted the second n third time with the grated coconut using water. (Che! tough translating 'rendam paal, moonam paal' in Englipees ba)
  • Add salt and a pinch of turmeric powder
  • When the stew begins to boil, extract ginger juice and add it (Most often the juice hardly comes out, so just grate it finely and pop it all inside :p)
  • Keep stirring it so that it doesn't "adi-pidichify" [Translation is too much effort. Adjust maadi]
  • Once the stew has boiled for 2 mins, add the thick coconut milk. keep on stove for a minute and remove.
  • Squeeze the lemon over it. Make sure the stew is off teh stove and it has slightly cooled otherwise the coconut milk will go bad.

This is normally eaten with rice. Side dishes include a spicy Ginger chutney and Potato curry. It is the yummiest dish and anytime i visit my relatives they make this for me. Plus i get an extra glass of Sodhi to drink :) Yes, i am weird but then you haven't tasted Sodhi yet :D

Credits: The women of Nambia Pillai family :D


Posted by The Cookie :: 10:08 PM :: 16 comments

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