Cooking a Spicy Tale

Vegetable Korma

2006-09-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I am returning after a long break. I have tons of recipes to post and this is the first of the lot. This is a very quick recipe and it tastes extremely yummy.

Potatoes, cubed - 2
Tomatoes, chopped - 2
Onion, chopped - 1
Corn/peas - 1/4 cup
Beans & carrot, chooped - 1/2 cup
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower - 1/4 cup
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Jeera - 1/4 tsp

For paste:
Green chillies - 3
Kasakasa - 1/4 tsp

Half boil potatoes and keep aside.
Grind kasakasa and greenchillies with 1/4 tsp jeera into a 'granular' paste. (Well, i couldn't grind that darn kasakasa any finer :p)
Heat oil in a pan and fry jeera. Once the jeera is fried, add the onions and sautee till they are soft. Add the ground paste and fry some more.
Add the garam masala, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and fry till the lovely aroma of fried masala fills the room and The Mr coughs from the living room (maybe 2 mins).
Add all the vegetables and sautee for 2 mins.
Add the tomatoes, and sautee till the tomatoes become soft. At this point you can add more chilli powder if you want. I made it enough spicy to make The Mr cry for more :D
Pour in the coconut milk(let it not be too thick. Add 1/4 cup water), reduce heat and let it simmer for 5-10 mins until all the vegetables are cooked. If you find the korma lacking in salt, don't add salt when the coconut milk is boiling. You can add it after you take it off the stove and before serving.

This dish tastes awesome both with rice and rotis. A little heavy coz of the coconut milk but you can substitute it by grinding the paste with 1/2 tbsp(or less) of shredded coconut and using 1/2 cup of water to boil the vegetables in.

Source: My Precious :)

Exotic Dinner

2006-06-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

Though 'technically' we are vegetarians, The Mr and I eat most non-veg food except beef and pork. Our favorite is ofcourse, seafood and when our local grocery store had a lobster sale yday, we HAD to buy it and come home :D

Now I have never eaten lobster, much less cook it. And the fact that it is alive till you drop it in the pan added no sense of comfort. After putting the lobster in the freezer for 30 mins to make it sleep(most humane way of cooking it), we searched the web and found a simple recipe.

The corn was very sweet and kind of complemented the salty taste of lobster meat.

Well, to tell you the truth, I still can't fathom why the crowd here goes ballistic when it is a lobster dinner. Yeah, it was good but I wouldn't call it great. It's too much work for too little, if you ask me. Anyway, the fun was in the experiment plus, that's one item off the "Should try once" list :p

Move me to tears

2006-06-18T22:24:00.000-04:00

Spicy Egg Korma

The first time I made this after our marriage, The Mr shed many a tears due to its spicy nature. The measurements I give here are my standards. If you are like The Mr, please to use discretion before following recipe to the final dot :p And this is a gravy dish.

Eggs, 4
Grated coconut, 1/4 cup *
Pepper, 1/2 tsp *
Red chillies, 8 *
Jeera, 1/2 tsp *
Onion, big, chopped, 1 (else 2)
Tomatoes, chopped, 2
Tamarind , size of smallest lemon
Salt

Dry sautee the STARS till the aroma makes you cough :p Grind them to a fine powder/paste.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. When hot, season with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.
Sautee the onions till they are golden brown and soft. (Use Gif's tip and sprinkle some salt on them while sauteeing)
Add the ground masala and sautee till it is fried. Add the tomatoes.
Sautee for a few more minutes, till the tomatoes are soft and cooked and the oil separates.
Pour in the tamarind water. Add salt and bring to a boil. And if you feel the gravy is too watery, use the old trick of adding corn starch.
Once the gravy starts to boil, break open the 4 eggs directly onto the gravy. Reduce heat, cover the dish and simmer till the egg is cooked. Don't stir the gravy as it might break the eggs.
When the eggs are cooked(Err, am bad at this. Guess it should be done in 10 mins or so?), remove from stove and serve with either rotis or rice.
Btw, make sure you make some raita too to tide over the heat :)

Source: Soma akka, the first grand-daughter of the clan.

Poricha Kuzhambu

2006-06-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

This is another famous recipe from Tirunelveli, produced here for Shankari. The delay is coz I had to cook it and check if the recipe I took down over the phone was correct :) This is an extremely tasty and easy kuzhmabu made with NO Tamarind.

Moong dal (cooked), 1/4 cup
Drumstick Leaves , 1 bunch (optional)
Drumsticks, 2
Garlic cloves, 2
Turmeric powder
Salt

First Mix :
Pepper, 3 (the idea is to use it sparingly so the kuzhambu doesn't have a pepper flavour :p)
Jeera , 1/4 tsp
Red chillies, 4
Coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp

Second Mix:
Coconut grated, 2 tbsp
Jeera, 1/2 tsp

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a kadai and fry all the ingredients of the first mix. Grind it into a fine paste along with the garlic cloves.
Grind the coconut and jeera together and keep aside.
Half boil the drumstick and drumstick leaves (Chances of finding drumstick leaves in USA is nil, so you can add either peas or brinjal. Or stick to just drumsticks).
Mix the first paste with 2 cups(tumblers) of water. Add salt and turmeric to it.
Heat 1 tsp of oil in the kadai, add the mustard seeds,urad dal & curry leaves for seasoning. Once they sputter add the water(paste mixed) and boil with the vegetables.
When the first bubbles appear, add the coconut-jeera paste and simmer it for few minutes.
Once the raw smell disappears add the cooked moong dal, simmer for 2 more minutes and take off stove.

I love this kuzhambu and it's special flavour comes mainly from the drumsticks/leaves, so don't miss them!

Source: Amma

Quirky Sambhar

2006-06-13T21:19:00.000-04:00

The following recipe must be part of every household but I am writing them here coz this is my version (which could be the same as yours) plus I am a narcissist :p There, I have said it! The Mr peeped in and said that i should credit this recipe to him. So there :)

Broccoli Sambhar

Broccoli Florets - 10
Toor dal - 1/3 cup(hehehe I always eyeball and never measure)
Tamarind, size of small lemon
Sambhar powder
Turmeric powder
Asafoetida
Methi seeds
Urad dal & mustard seeds, for seasoning
Vadagam, optional but tastes great if you use it :)
Salt

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a kadai and when hot add the methi seeds.
Drop the broccoli florets into the kadai, sautee for 1 min, add a little water and let the broccoli cook. Maybe 2 mins.
The following steps are what you do for normal sambhar.
Add the tamarind extract, sambhar powder, turmeric powder, salt and simmer it.
When the sambhar is boiling add the cooked toor dal and asafoetida.
Fry your seasoning in a small pan and add to the sambhar. I luuuurve the sizzzzzzling sound it makes :) Take off stove and serve hot.

Of course if you have someone like The Mr who gets into the kitchen on weekends to cook you a meal, be prepared for your toor dal to exchange places with channa dal. Well, I wasn't and I ended up making the above sambhar with 'kadalai paruppu'. It still tastes awesome :D

The Mr, as always, wasted no time in making fun of this slight slip on The Chief Chef's part and decided to make dinner just to prove a point. He made a scrumptious spicy egg korma which had just one ingredient misplaced. More proof, God is woman *wink*

"Honey, why does my korma taste sweet?"

"Did you use salt or sugar?"

"Aaaaaargh! Why do you have them both adjacent to each other in similar jars?"

"Coz I am The Chief Chef and I know which one has the magic ingredient. Muhahahaha!"

UlluthamParuppu Sadham

2006-06-12T22:09:00.000-04:00

As requested by Shankari, our new visitor and a fellow Nellaiite, here is another one of my favourite recipe.

For the rice:

Black Urad dal -- 1/2 cup (Urad dal with its skin still on)
Rice -- 1/2 cup
Garlic cloves -- 6/8
Grated Coconut-- 1/4 cup
Salt

For the chutney:

Black sesame seeds --1/4 cup
Red chillies -- 4*(use accord to your limit)
Coconut pieces -- 5
Salt

Wash rice and dal together, add the garlic cloves and salt and cook it in your pressure cooker.
Once the rice is done, add the grated coconut, mis well and set aside.
In a hot kadai, dry sautee the chillies, sesame seeds and coconut till the aroma fills your entire kitchen. Take care not to burn them.
Grind them all together with salt. Chutney ready!

Now for the first round, take the rice in your plate, drizzle 1 tsp of gingelly oil(Idhayam Nallennai :p), add the chutney, mix it well and eat with whatever side dish you cooked that day and some koozh vathal/appalam.

Normally we don't cook plain rice along with this. One just adds curd to the ullutham paruppu sadham and eats :) And yeah without the garlic, it doesn't really taste that good.

Source: The Pillai household :p

Lazy Cook's Lunch

2006-05-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

As much as I love cooking, I hate doing just that. It's too boring to have just sambhar/rasam with some subzi and too strenuous to cook Shrimp Jambalaya and the likes. Plus The Mr dons the apron only on weekends. So to keep the kitchen fires burning on such zero-creativity days, I resort to masquearing our staple diet - Rice

Onion Rice
This is the simplest of the set and adds spice to an otherwise uninteresting meal.

Onions, sliced - 2
Urad Dal, Mustard seeds
Red Chillies - 3
Turmeric powder
Boiled Rice

Heat oil in a kadai and add urad dal & mustard seeds.
Once the sputter, add the red chillies, turmeric powder and onions
Sautee onions well until they are soft. Add salt and take off the stove.
Now mix this with the boiled rice and serve with your choice of subzi/raita

******

Tomato Rice

Known to all households I bet but I am sure there would be slight variation. This is how we make it at home and this differs even among us cousins.

Tomatoes, chopped 3
Onions, sliced 2
Garlic cloves 6-8
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Green chillies 2
Mustard seeds, Urad dal
Coriander leaves for garnish
Rice( basmati or whichever kind you like)

Heat oil in a kadai and add urad dal and mustard seeds.
Once they sputter, add the green chillies and garlic and sautee for awhile.
Then add the onions and sautee until they are golden brown(Actually I just added that to make it sound like a Tv show. Mine never turned any darn golden colour. If i tried to hard, i had black onions!)
Now add the tomatoes, chilli powder(less since you've lready added chillies) and turmeric powder, salt. Cook until soft.
Once you are sure the raw smell is gone, add the cleaned rice, add water and cook the rice on medium heat.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with, well whatever else you had the mind to cook :D

********

Mushroom Rice

My favourite. From today atleast coz I created this recipe for lunch this afternoon :D

Mushroom, sliced - 1/2 cup
Peas - 1/4 cup
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Bay leaf, cinnamon, elaichi or Shahi Biryani powder, straight off the shelf :p
Basmati rice

Heat ghee in a large pan and fry the ginger-garlic paste for sometime.
Next sautee the mushroom for a few minutes and then add the peas.
Add the basmati rice, coconut milk and enough water for the rice to cook.
Add 1tsp of biryani powder and salt, close the lid and cook the rice on medium heat.
Remove from stove and serve with a spicy chicken curry(my next recipe) or some other vegetarian subzi :)

My Mr liked it a lot. But then again, he came home half-famished :D

A Hobbitland Delicacy

2006-04-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

Ever since I discovered mushrooms, i've been besotted. Amma makes an excellent mushroom kurma which is a huge favourite among my friends. Infact, whenever I call ~D home, she makes sure the kurma is part of the menu, irrespective of the time of the day. Now that she is ready to leave for Australia as a new bride, the first point in her 'To-Do' list is to get the recipe from Amma. Hmm...even I didn't do that when I left home :)

Anyways, this recipe is not Amma's. This is what I found in The Mr's cook book. Tried it and it tastes yummy. Plus ~H has been on my back for days, for this recipe and I better do now, before she kicks me :p

Mushroom Kuzhambu

Ingredients
Mushroom,sliced - 250 gm
Onion, chopped - 100 gm
Green chillies, sliced - 3
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Kari Patha, Cilantro for garnish
Turmeric powder, salt

To grind into a paste:
Red Chillies - 5
Jeera - 1 Tbsp
Dhania - 1 Tbsp
Shredded coconut - 1/2 Tbsp

Dry roast the masala ingredients and grind them all to a fine paste.
Add oil in kadai, sautee onions, chillies, kari patha and jeera.
Once the onions turn a golden brown, add the paste and fry till the raw smell disappears.
Then add the mushrooms and sautee for 2 mins.
Add water(remember mushroom also gives water), turmeric powder, salt and let it cook in medium heat.
Once the aroma fills the entire kitchen(or when u realise the mushrooms are cooked), take it off, add the cilantro and serve with hot steaming rice.

Credits: Tuticorin Women's Club cook book

Vendhaya Kuzhambu *

2006-03-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

* 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

Chop the onions and tomatoes and set aside.
Once the oil in the pan is hot, splutter the mustard seeds/urad dal.
Fry the dal for sometime. Don't let the dal darken.
Add the methi. Fry.
Add the onions n tomatoes and sautee for 2 mins.
Now pour in your tamarid extract, add turmeric powder, sambhar powder and salt.
Reduce heat and let it simmer for atleast 15 mins. It tastes better the longer it simmers.

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 :)

Helping Hands

2006-03-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

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

Family Heirloom

2006-03-21T10:45:00.000-05:00

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.

Kalyana Saapadu Podava?

2006-03-09T22:08:00.000-05:00

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

Broccoli Brigade

2006-02-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

I know there are many of you who hate this vegetable. In fact, I did too. But then being married to a broccoli lover made me give this a shot and now I like it too.

Broccoli florets
Garlic
Red chilli flakes
Salt, Oil

Boil water in a pan. When it is extremely hot, drop the florets into it. Remove it within a minute. Squeeze out the water if any. This keeps the florets a li'l crunchy and in a lovely hue of green :)
Heat oil and add a whole mashed garlic clove. Once it has browned, you can remove it. The taste should've seeped into the oil. Else, mince the garlic extremely fine and add it to the oil.
After sauteeing the garlic, add the chilli flakes. Fry it. Add the broccoli florets.
Add salt and fry for a minute or two. Remove from fire and eat it with rasam & rice :)

P.S: If you still dislike it, then no problem :) And yeah, that's not a picture of what i cooked :D

Finger Chips

2006-02-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

Now this was a dish we made in our final year cook out in a restaurant in C'not we rented for the afternoon :) Learnt it from Princess Dee's mom while I was in bangalore.

Lady's Fingers (Okra)
Besan flour
Salt
Asafoetida
Chilli powder
Chat Masala
Oil

Wipe Okra clean with a wet tissue paper( I hate washing it as it makes them soggy) Then cut them into thin strips, lengthwise. Remove the seeds.
Mix besan flour, salt, asafoetida and chilli powder and make a thin batter. Not as thick as you require to make bajji.
Heat oil (enough for shallow fry), dip the strips in the batter and fry them. Make sure the batter forms just a thin film on the okra strips and doesn't cover it completely.
Sprinkle chat masala over it and voila! Your snacks are ready!

Credits: Aunty ~S

Eggdelicious

2006-02-24T12:13:00.000-05:00

For Shub :)
I need more time for the egg korma recipe. This is a much zimpler one. Hope you like it.

Boiled eggs - 6
Dry Red chillies - 6 **
Jeera - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Onion, sliced - 1 if medium-sized
Turmeric Powder - As reqd
Salt - To taste

Fry the chillies, jeera, dal and curry leaves in a hot kadai. (No oil) Grind them into a fine powder, mix salt & turmeric and keep aside.
Make around 5 incisions in the eggs. Don't slice them completely. PLace the powder into those cuts. Cram in as much as you can :)
Add gingelly oil to the kadai and sautee onion.
Once onion is well cauteed, add the eggs and sautee for 2 minutes. Just to coat the eggs with oil and for the powder to escape the confines of teh egg and meet the onion.
Remove from stove and serve with either rice or biryani.

** You can increase or reduce as you see fit.

Credits: Women's Club of Tuticorin

The Fine Print

2006-02-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

Most of them are standard, run-of-the-mill, but others I shall make up on the way. Just like in CalvinBall :D

Don't bother organising your kitchen. As long as you know where your salt is, you are a good cook.
Beginner's luck is the reason your dish tastes yummy the first time. How it fares the second times is proof of your great cooking flair :D
If you are the kind who needs exact measurements, then this space is not for you. I rarely follow instructions. All the more reason why you should ignore these rules :)
There is nothing wrong in dipping your finger into kadai to check if the dish tastes right.(make sure you don't burn your finger) Even if Emeril doesn't agree to such acts.
Never let husbands cook in your kitchen. It takes weeks to correct the mess they leave. I mean, who said sugar jar shouldn't contain chillies?
If you are not in love with spicy food, never and i mean NEVER include the same number of chillies as I have indicated. My Mr usually gulps down such dishes with a jug of water :p
And finally, never cook skimpily dressed, even if it is a spicy dinner. You just increase risk of skin burns , normally unheard of ;)