Cooking Thunders

Green Chilly Preserve for Winter

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:24:00 +0000

This dish is truly adapted from the recipe from Mallu Spice , though I changed a few of the ingredients that constituted to suit my convinience.

All you need:

Green Chillies - 10 - 15 count washed and just slit in the middle
Garlic - 3 cloves slit into fine pieces
2 onions - chopped finely
Curry leaves - handful
fenugreek seeds - 1 spoon
Ginger/garlic paste - 1 spoon
Coriander powder - 5 spoons
Tamarind extract - soak a big lemon size tamarind in water and extract thick juice

Method:
* In a wide skillet, add 2 spoons of oil, add the chillies and fry it in medium to low heat for 7-8 mins and set it aside.

* To the same pan, add 3 spoons of oil, add mustard seeds, jeera, astefotedia, add the finely chopped onions, curry leaves, garlic, and fry till the onions turn brown.

* Add the ginger garlic paste, and coriander powder and fry for 5 mins in simmer flame.

* Add the tamarind juice and salt and add the fried chillies and let it boil for 20 mins until the gravy thickens.

* Once the gravy is thick, garnish it with 2 spoons of sesame oil (nalla ellnai) and switch off the stove.

* Let it cook and transfer to an airtight container, and you have a pickle ready to eat with dosa, idli or rice.

Bottlegourd Red bean curry && Coriander Chutney - Its been quite a while!!

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:03:00 +0000

I have few recipes to share.. Hope you'll are doing well and ready to welcome the winter...

Coriander Chutney

Time to prepare: 20 mins

* Wash 2 handful of coriander leaves with stems, and set aside.
* Add about 5 spoons of broken urad dha, and fry mildy.
* Once the dhal turns golden, add 5 red chillies, 1/2 inch of ginger, and 1/2 cup of shredded coconut, and fry for 1 minute, then add the washed coriander leaves and fry for 3 mins until they shrink in size.
* Let it cool for 10 mins, and add to the mixer, add 1 lemon size of tamarind, salt, about 1/2 cup of water and grind to a smooth paste.

Serve with Dosa, Idli, Upma or Rice.

Bottlegourd Bean Curry

Time to cook: 30 mins

All you need:
1) tamarind lemon size - soaked and juice extracted
2) Medium size bottlegourd - skin peeled and cut into small pieces
3) 4 garlic cloves - sliced
4) red chillies - 4
5) Mustard (vendhayam) seeds - 1/2 spoon
6) Onion -1 sliced
7) Sambhar/ pulikozhambhu powder - 2 spoons
8) Turmeric powder, salt to taste
9) Soak 1-2 cups of dry brown beans and pressure cook it for 3 whistles

Method of Preparation:
* In a pan, add 4 spoons of oil, add mustard and jeera seeds, add the red chillies, onion and garlic and saute for 3 mins, then add the bottlegourd, turmeric, salt and saute them for 4 mins until the bottlegourd cooks halfway.
* Now add the sambhar/ puli kozhambu powder, chilli powder (if you need it spicy), and saute for 30 secs, then add water and keep it closed for the veggies to cook for 10 mins.
* Once the bottlegourd is cooked, then add the pressure cooked beans, and tamarind water and cook until curry thickens for about 10 mins. Serve hot with rice.

Tips:
You can either choose to use red beans or black eyed peas. Any type of bean are good source of calcium, folic acid and Vitamin A.

Wish you a very Happy New Year 2008

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:18:00 +0000

Wishing you all a very Happy New year. Hope this new year brings you all the peace and happiness on the earth that you deserve...

Blogging Break!

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:36:00 +0000

Everything is well and feeling bad not to have updated anything in my blog. I am on a blogging break for now due to other priorities. I hope to resume food blogging again soon. Thanks & Wish you a merry X-mas and a Very Happy New Year to all of you!

Mushroom Memories

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:57:00 +0000

I have always had the confusion whether mushroom is a veggie or non-veg. The vegetarian friends I have been with call mushroom a non-veg and avoid it, but when I talk to my mallu friends I get.. "Whaat..who said mushroom is a non-veg,its a veggie girl, comm'n..".

Mushroom is a absolutely a very new ingredient to the kitchens of our village where I hail from. I donot recall my mom/grandmother in Salem cooking mushrooms anytime. But the city life & ofcourse travelling to new places and acquintance with different foods will give you an opportunity to explore new ingredients, of which I am sure some of them are going to stay long in your menu.

Edible mushrooms are used extensively in cooking. Though commonly thought to contain little nutritional value, many species of mushrooms are high in fiber, and provide vitamins such as thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), biotin (B7), cobalamins (B12) and ascorbic acid (C), as well as minerals, including iron, selenium, potassium and phosphorus.

But the gaint packets of button mushrooms sold in Costco for $4 or so, had always tempted me and I started hunting for mushroom recipes. The first time I tried a recipe something similar to a egg-curry with tomato/onion, it came out horrible and had a strange smell(may be I used large pieces and didnot cook it well I guess). I threw the entire thing away, just had rice with pickle :(

Thanks to my mallu friend, who after arguing with me on several evenings and made me eat her mushroom curry many times,whenever she calls me for dinner. After 2-3 attempts, she was successful.. yeah. now mushroom is my favo...These days, I comfortably settle on her recipe, no trial & errors. I am happy with it :-)

All you need:
1) 1 packet of button mushroom - Soak them in medium warm water for about 3 mins and cut them into small 1"inch pieces. I slit them into 4 and cut in the middle to make atleast 8-10 pieces out of 1 mushroom.
2) 1 large onion finely chopped
3) 4 cloves of garlic chopped
4) 3 green chillies chopped
5) Bunch of curry leaves & seasoning ingredients
6) Black Pepper p/w - 1 tsp or according to spice level, coriander p/w - 1 tsp, salt to taste.

* In a wide pan, add 2 tsp of oil,mustard, jeera, urad-dhal for seasoning, and once mustard starts to sputter, add chillies, onions and garlic and saute for 5 mins.
* Add the mushrooms, turmeric, coriander p/w and salt and keep it closed for 10 mins. The mushroom will leave water by itself, donot add water. Let it cook until water evaporates & the raw smell will go, due to the garlic and curry leaves.
* Add 1 tsp of pepper p/w and some chilli p/w and mix well, add a 1 tsp of oil and some shredded coconut.
* Mix well and cook for just 5 mins and you have a delicious curry before you. I usually make mine spicy, it goes well with just rice and rasam!!!

Brinjal Tamarind Curry

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:29:00 +0000

I was very much aiming at Bonda-Soup for the Karnataka cuisine, but in every restaurant I had the dish, the soup was very different, and I didnot have a perfect recipe for preparing the soup. When I searched over the net, I came across this one, and it was easy for me to prepare. Thanks a lot to Asha, hosting the event, and she was very very kind to allow me to send this entry to the RCI: Karnataka Cuisine, even-though I admitted to her that my recipe might not be same as they prepare this dish in Karnataka.

I took the recipe from here and made some alterations to the recipe.

Prep-work required:
1) Violet Brinjals small size – 1/4 kg (about 5-6 in number)
Wash and make 4 slit the brinjals in the form of a +, keeping the stem part intact.
2) Tamarind – lemon size soaked in water for ½ hour and juice extracted. Try to kept the tamarind juice thick as possible.
3) Curry leaves & salt to taste.

To dry roast and powder:
1) A handful of peanuts (ground nuts)
2) 1 inch Cinnamon stick, and 1 clove
3) Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
4) Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
5) Dry Red Chillies – 6

• Dry roast items 1 – 5 in a medium flame and let it cool for 10 mins. Now powder them coarsely along with 4 tsps of shredded coconut & a dash of turmeric.
• Fill the roasted powder in the slits of the brinjal and set it aside. Fill just enough to stay in the slits, donot over-stuff it, as it might come out and end up roasted very soon by the time the brinjals are roasted.

On the Stove:
• Heat 3 tsps of oil in a wide non stick pan, add mustard, jeera, curry leaves and the stuffed brinjal pieces and roast them midly in the lowest flame, by flipping over the brinjal from side to side, until the skin turns brownish. I covered it with a lid and flipped the brinjal over for every 2 mins to get it evenly cooked on all sides.
• Now add the remaining ground masala and roast just for 10 secs (to get the aroma of the spices) in lowest flame, and add the tamarind juice, 1 tsp of jaggery & salt to taste.
• Mix well gently, you don't want to break the brinjals. If you find the gravy too thick add 1 cup of water, mix well and cook it covered for about 15 – 20 mins, until the gravy becomes thick and oil floats on the top.

Deviations from the original recipe:
• The original recipe calls for adding gram dhal and ural dhal which I substituted with peanuts.
• I added very less amount of jaggery, so did not feel the sweetness in the dish.

An Unpretentious Meal - Fried Rice

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:36:00 +0000

Those are the days when it is cloudy and rainy, and you're tired to go home and cook dal, curry, rasam, rice. The fried rice from the from the fast food restaurants outside my home are life-savers. Each one of them tastes different, some chefs literally tossing the rice in hot wok, some with chilli p/w, some with chilli sauce, hot sauce, even tomato sauce..whatever it may be, the final product never fails to suffice my hunger stomach. Except sometimes, I feel the rice is not fully-cooked though. Its amazing to think about the different variations of cooking fried rice, may it from the Panda Express - Chinese fast food chain, the chinese restaurants in China town, the indo-chinese eat-outs or the fast-food shops that are claiming to sell chinese fast food on the crowded streets in Bangalore/Chennai.. each one of them gives you a different tint that stays in your memory for long, and I surely crave for one of those on a rainy day....

With 1 carrot, handful of beans, few peas and amazingly some left over rice too, what else can I cook other than a hot fried rice to serve on a cold evening...

All you need are:

1) 2 green chillies - chopped finely
2) 1" inch ginger & 2 garlic pods finely chopped
3) 1 onion
4) 1 cup of veggie mix - peas, beans, carrot, corns, capsicum whatever you have in your fridge
5) 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
6) 2 cups of rice grains separate
7) Soy sauce - 1 tsp
8) Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp or to desired spice level

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Method

As I had some left over rice, I microwaved the rice with a tsp of oil to keep the grains separate.
In a wide pan, add 2 tsp of oil, toss in the chillies, onions, ginger, garlic, cabbage & capsicum, veg mixture, and salt and cover and cook for 5-6 mins. Donot add any water, the water from the veggies and cabbage should be sufficient. Once the veggies are half cooked, add the soy sauce, rice, 1/2 tsp of pepper p/w, salt to taste, mix everything thoroughly and cook more for 6-7 mins in lowest flame for the spices to get into the rice.

Serve hot with some chopped coriander leaves and finely chopped scallions.

Yellow Peas Saute

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:46:00 +0000

These yellow peas are soaked in attempt to make a peas kurma, but I didnot have a very good recipe. If anyone can share a simple peas kurma recipe, that would be great... So it was lying there for 10 hours or more and finally ended up as peas saute filling our stomach as evening snack.

If you are having dried yellow peas, soak them for atleast 5 hours and pressure cook them for just 2 whistles with little salt.

In a wide pan with 2 tsp's of oil, add mustard, jeera, urad dhal and saute a chopped green chilli, 1 big onion, few curry leaves for 2 mins. Add the cooked peas, 1/2 tsp of garam masala, a dash of turmeric, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder & salt to taste. Saute everything in medium flame for 5 mins and serve with a cup of hot tea on a Saturday evening...

Hakka Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 06:10:00 +0000

I made these noodles for our dinner Sunday night and it was simply tasty. Though there are lotta eat-outs in the city which serve very good fried noodles, if you can make the same thing at home, you can afford to eat more... I've heard that the taste for fried noodles comes mostly due to the heavy heat due to toasting & frying in a very hot wok. Since I donot have a wok, I managed to create the best with whatever is available.

All you need to serve for 2:
1) A pack of Hakka noodles
2) Olive oil - 2 tbsp
3) 1" ginger - Finely chopped
4) 2 garlic pods - Finely chopped
5) Capsicum - 1 deseeded and chopped to 1" inch pieces
6) Carrot - 1
7) Handful of green beans - chopped finely
8) 1.5 cups of finely chopped Cabbage
9) 1 red onion - cut length wise
10) Green chilli sauce, pepper powder, red chili powder - 1/2 tsp each
11) Soy Sauce
12) Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

Cooking the Noodles:
In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat about 10 cups of water, bring it to a boil until you see bubbles (takes about 7-8 mins). Add a tsp of oil, drop a pack of Hakka Noodles to it, and boil only just for 2 mins. Its okay if the noodles are still aldent (meaning 'chakka'). Drain the noodles to a wide bowl and spread them with 2 forks. You can add a tsp of oil, to avoid the noodles from sticking to each other. Let it cool for 5-10 mins.

Chop all the vegetables, ginger, garlic, and have all the curry powders ready.

In a wide pan, add 2 tsps of oil, add ginger, garlic, onions, all vegetables,one by one, add salt and saute them for 5-7 mins till you see the cabbage shrink. If you think that beans/carrot are still uncooked, sprinkle 1/2 cup of water, and keep it closed for 3-4 mins.

Now, add the pepper powder, chilli powder,saute for 20 secs, add the noodles, green chilli sauce, soy sauce, required salt (remember you have already added salt to the veggies, and the noodles doesnot have much salt, so adjust accordingly). Mix everything together until all the strands have a coat of the spices & sauces. Keep it in the lowest flame for 5 mins, with lid ON to allow the spices to get into the noodles.

If you like to add egg, make a scramble out of 2 eggs, a pinch of salt & pepper in another skillet and add to the noodles. Serve hot with your favorite soup!!!

Green Beans - Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:47:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite curries, learnt the recipe from one of my mallu friend. Thanks to her.

Preparation Time : 25 - 30 mins

All you need:

1) Fresh Green beans - 1 lb (just twist out the head and tail and the side-lining, break the beans into 3 pieces - I just used my hand)

2) 1 onion & 2 chillies - chopped lengthwise

3) 2 medium sized tomatoes - just dice it

4) A Bunch of curry leaves, mustard, jeera, oil, salt for seasoning

5) 3 pods of garlic crushed

In a wide non-stick pan, add 2 tsps of oil, seasoning items, onions, chillies, saute till onion turns golden. Add the beans, a dash of turmeric, salt and thaw in the diced tomatoes and crushed garlic. Add 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp of garam masala, salt, mix everything well and cover it with a lid and simmer the flame. Cook for 10 mins. Donot add any water. Water from the tomatoes should be enough. After 10 mins, you should see all the water coming out from the tomatoes are used up, you might want to sprinkle abt 1/2 cup of water all over and cook for another 5 mins. At this stage you can see the beans starting to shrink in size. Keep it at the lowest flame, and mix well to avoid burning the bottom. Another 5 mins of cooking should be enoough to have everything come together well something like a curry.

PS: From the pic, the dish appears very-oily but I have blame the flash from my camera causing the dish to look oily :)

Serve it with rice or roti. I just love the sour/tangy flavor of the tomato that has gotten into the beans.

Potato Kurma & Microwave Idlis

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:02:00 +0000

Idlis are my all-time favorite, may it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. My favorite side-dish to go with Idli is always 'podi'. But the household is not interested in eating Idli podi, and which is why I had to take an effort to make a chutney or a gravy. The 'kari kozhambu powder' that I was talking about in my earlier post has always been my life-saver in this matter. Our dinner usually consists of some tiffin and some rice which makes a complete meal. I donot want to make 2 curries (one for the Idli/dosa and one for rice), so I go with one of my usual spicy kozhambu's with potato, eggs whichever is available.

For the first time I tried to make a kurma from scratch without using my kozhambu powder. And taste was very good, like the kurmas they serve on the parotta shops. It worked well with Idli and some pulav rice.

Preparation Time: 25 mins
All you need are:

1) Cinnamon - 1" stick, cloves -2, cardamom - 2
2) Ginger - 2" inch, 5 garlic pods medium sized
3) 2 ripen tomatoes, 7-8 shallots of small onions
4) 1 green chilli and a bunch of curry leaves
5) Garam masala p/w - 1 tsp, turmeric p/w a pinch, red chilli p/w - 1/2 tsp
6) Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup

* In a wide mouthed pan, add 1 tsp of oil and roast items 1 to 6 above in medium flame, until you smell the aroma of the spices, cool them & grind to a smooth paste.

* In the same pan, add 1 tsp of oil, mustard, jeera, vegetables of your choice, which can be potato, carrot, beans, saute for a few mins. Add 1 cup of water, salt to taste and cover with lid, allow the veggies to cook for 7 mins.

* Once they are cooked, add the ground paste and 1 cup of water if the curry is too thick.

Bring it to a boil in high flame - this shouldn't take long (3 mins), since we have already roasted the ingredients. Adjust the salt and spicyness according to taste and simmer the flame and allow the curry to thicken for another 5 - 7 mins.

I used an microwaveable egg poacher to cook the Idlis in the microwave for 90 secs. I did a tadka (with mustard, urad dhal, jeera, finely chopped onions, curry leaves) to the Idli batter for a change :)

Payasam for Vinayaka Chadurthi

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:52:00 +0000

I made this as a humble offering to Lord Vinayaka to celebrate his birthday. There recipe is a very common one.

Prepartion time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

1) Roaster Semiya - 1 cup
2) Sugar 1cup - powdered with 2 cardamom cloves
3) 2 tsp of ghee to roast the cashews, raisins and almonds.
4) Milk - 1.5 cups
5) Water - 1 cup
6) Vanilla Custard powder - 1tsp

Method of Preparation:

* Powder 1 cup of sugar and cardamom and keep it aside.

* Take 1 tsp of ghee in a non-stick pan (preferable) and roast the cashews, raisins for 1 min until golden and set aside.

* Now add 1 more tsp of ghee to the same pan and roast the semiya for 5 mins in medium heat until it turns golden. Alternately, if you are using roasted vermicilli, you can reduce the roasting time to 2 mins.

* Once the strands are golden, add about 1 cup of milk with 1 cup measure of water to the mix and allow the vermicilli to cook in medium flame, which takes about 5-7 mins.

* Now take 1 tsp of custard powder (vanilla flavor) and mix in 2 tsps of milk to make it to a liquid paste.

* Add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, and the custard paste to the pan, mixing thoroughly to avoid any lump formation.

* Add the powdered sugar, roaster cashews, raisins, simmer the flame and keep stirring once in a while, until the milk thickens a little - 3-4 mins.

I have made the usual payasam several times before without adding the custard powder. Adding the custard powder, gives the icecreamy flavor to the payasam.

Beet Saute

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:57:00 +0000

Only in my recent days that I started using up the Beetroot as soon as I buy. The usual phenomena for the beetroot is to sit still in my fridge amidst the long power-cuts we have, and keep loosing all its water content, and finally after a week or so, I would notice the dry-beet, and make a poriyal of the same. But after learning this quick recipe, my beetroots are used up in a day or two.

Preparation time : 20 mins

Ingredients Required:
1) 2 medium sized beetroots - skin-peeled & grated (use the bigger hole to grate them)
2) 2-3 medium green chillies split, and 1/2 onion
3) A few curry leaves, oil, mustard, ural dhal for seasoning

Method:
* Heat 1 tsp of oil in a wide pan, and add seasonings followed by green chillies and onions, saute them for a min, and add the grated beets.

* Add required salt and sprinkle abt 1/4 cup of water on them, mix well and keep it closed for 7-10 mins in simmer flame until the beets are cooked and the water is evaporated.

* I like my saute half-cooked to enjoy the crunchiness of it. Serve it with Rice and Dal as a nutritious side-dish.

Bottlegourd (Soraikkai) Dry Curry

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:16:00 +0000

There are many ways of cooking curries with Bottle Gourd (Soraikkai in Tamil) and here I am listing one of my favorite recipe for making Soraikkai Poriyal. I have tried several dishes with bottle gourd like sambar, chutney, kootu, pulikozhambu and finally here is the poriyal (dry version).

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Ingredients required:

1) Soraikkai -1 cut into 1" inch cubes
2) Groundnut powder - 1.5 tsps
3) Oil - 2 tsp
4) Turmeric, Sambar powder - measure according to your level of spiceness
5) Mustard, cumin, curry leaves, Red Chilli (1) - for seasoning.
6) 1 Onion
7) Shredded coconut - 1 tsp (optional)

Method:
* Boil the bottle gourd cubes with adequate water for 7-10 mins in medium flame. You can retain the skin of the gourd if its a tender gourd otherwise, you can scrape off the skin too. Once it is half cooked, filter the vegetable.

* In a wide pan, add 2 tsp of oil, add the seasoning items like mustard, jeera, and curry leaves. Once the mustard starts to pop, add a add red chilli, the cut onions and fry for 2 mins.

* Now add the turmeric, sambar powder (or a combo of red chilli and dhaniya powder) and saute for 20 secs.

* Add the cooked bottle gourd pieces, mix well, add salt, cover it with lid and cook for 5 mins to allow all the masala powders to get into the vegetable.

* Now add the 1.5 tsp of groundnut powder, and any shredded coconut you have and allow it to cook in lowest flame until the groundnut powder combines well with the curry and oil starts to leave the curry. This should take ~ 6-7 mins. (Non-stick pan works just fine for me, as you donot have to add much oil to prevent the curry from sticking to the bottom.)

* Serve hot with plain rice as a main dish or as a side dish. It tastes really great.

Tip: I use groundnut powder with many of my dry curries so I dry-roast, grind them coarsely & store about 1/2 kg of groundnut powder in my freezer in a tight ziploc bag which can even stay upto 3 months.

Simple & Satisfying Meal - Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:19:00 +0000

After a long day at work are you tired to think of anything to cook for dinner, then here's a recipe for cookin a simple and satisfying meal for dinner.

I am a little allergic to Alfredo sauce, as I donot eat curd in any form. Phew! It took me long time to get used to the cheesy, a little sour flavor of Alfredo. But in India, though we do get these sauces imported from other countries, the prices are high. So I was thinking of making my own no-sauce pasta.
There are several types of pasta you can get yourself educated about from here.
My favorites are Bowtie (farfalle),Penne (pen points)and Helix (fusilli).

Preparation Time: 25 mins

Ingredients required:

1) Any kind of pasta - 250 gms
2) Bellpepper - 2 (green,red, orange) - I had only green.
3) Onion - sliced vertically -1
4) Tomatoes - 2
5) Olive Oil - 2 tsp
6) Salt
7) Freshly Milled pepper/chilli flakes - 1tsp
8) Dry herbs - 1/2 tsp
9) Minced Garlic pods - 3

Method:

* Cook the pasta for approximately 7 minutes in boiling water and drain and keep it aside.

* In a wide mouthed pan, add 2 tsp of olive oil, Minced Garlic pods, onion, bell pepper and saute everything for 2 minutes in medium flame.

* Add the chopped tomatoes and salt and fry until the tomatoes become mushy and the juice comes out.

* Add the cooked pasta, milled pepper, chilli flakes, salt to taste simmer the flame and cover it with lid and cook for 5 minutes.

* Finally sprinkle the dry herbs and serve hot!!

Cabbage Spicy Kozhambu – Kongu Style

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:04:00 +0000

Cravings Aah.. Countless evenings goes by with cravings for this and that when I walk back home from work. After a weekend at my mom's the following week always seems clouded with homesickness and cravings of all the dishes I had at home. Besides the tiredness to go home and cook something myself which should suffice my craving is lot more tough and difficult :(. After my recent visit to Coimbatore, I recently had this craving for a spicy quick kozhambu yesterday evening. This kozhambu is made of a special powder called 'kari kozhambhu powder' (not sambar powder). This powder is a spice powder prepared in Erode, Salem, Coimbatore side and mainly used in preparing gravies using mutton or chicken. I usually pack 1/2 kg to 1 kg of it in my freezer to make instant kozhambu using this powder. Sorry, I donot have any idea of how to make this powder. So if you have this 'kari kuzhambu powder' from your mom, then go ahead and give it a try.

I didnot use any non-veg for this kuzhambu, instead I used Cabbage. I have even tried this with Cauliflower and poached ggg and it turned out very tasty. Egg kari kuzhambu is one of my hub's favorite.

Preparation time: 25 mins

Ingredients:
Cabbage coarsly chopped - 1 cup
Onion - 1
Curry leaves - handful
Cumin, mustard, oil for seasoning
Salt to taste
and most of all to make the paste, you need 'kari kuzhambu powder'.

Paste:
In a small mixer, add 3 tsps of the kari kuzhambu powder, 1" inch cinnamon stick, 1 clove, 4 tsp of shredded coconut and make it to a fine paste. If you donot have enough coconut, you can add some fried gram dhal (pottu kadalai).

Method:
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan add the usual seasonings, mustard, cumin, and a bunch of curry leaves. Add the onions and saute for a minute, now add the chopped cabbage, and add 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder mix everything and keep it closed for 4 minutes until the cabbage starts to shrink in size and becomes half cooked. Now add the ground paste, 2 cups of water and required salt and bring everything to a boil in high flame for 3 minutes till the raw smell goes. Reduce the flame to medium and keep it closed for another 10 minutes until the curry thickens and the cabbages are fully cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice, idli or wheat dosa.

Summer Express Cooking Event

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:10:00 +0000

Thanks to MalluGirl for her excellent Roundup of the Summer Express Cooking Event. Here is the link to the Malabar Spices...: Express Cooking Round-Up Part 1. I am sure my menu is ready for another 2 months!!!.

Banana Kesari

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:22:00 +0000

Preparation Time : 25 mins

Ingredients:

1) Mashed Ripen Banana - 1
2) Semolina/ Rava/ Sooji - 1 cup
3) Sugar - 1 cup
4) Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
5) Ghee - 3 tsp
6) Milk & water in 1:2 propotion measured to 2.5 cups
7) Kesar powder - 1 pinch

Method:

Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a non-stick pan and fry 1 cup of semolina for about 7 mins in medium flame until the rava turns golden brown color. Reduce the heat completely, and add the 2.5 cups of water and milk mixture little by little slowly, with constantly stirring the rava to avoid any lumps being formed. You can see the rava being gradually cooked and the water/milk mixture is being used up. If you feel the rava is still not cooked properly, add 1 more cup of rava/milk mixture. I use about 2.5 cups of water/milk mixture for 1 cup of rava to cook properly. Now add the 1 cup of sugar and 1tsp of cardamom powder, a pinch of color powder and mix everything well. As the sugar dissolves, keep stirring the mixture, now add the mashed ripen banana, and 2 tsp of ghee. Keep mixing until the ghee is aborbed by the kesari and you get the aroma of the dish. You can add fried raisins and cashew too.

Channa Masala

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:28:00 +0000

Preparation Time : 30 mins

Ingredients Required:
1) White Channa - 1 cup (Soaked overnight and pressure cooked)
2) Onion - 1 large (1/2 for grinding, and 1/2 for sauting)
3) Tomato - 2
4) Ginger - 1 inch
5) Garlic - 5 pods
6) 1 Cinnamon stick, 2 cloves
7) 1 tsp of coriander(dhaniya) seeds, 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds, 3 pepper corns
8) green chillies - 1
9) MDH or any Channa masala powder - 1.5 tsp
10) Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

To make a paste:
Grind items 2-7 to a fine paste.

Method of Preparation:

Soak the channa overnight, and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles with salt until it is cooked well and not mushy. Take a handful of cooked channa and mash it with hands to make a paste and keep it aside.
Heat the tava with 2 tsp of oil. Add in the slit-green chilli the remaining 1/2 cut onions, curry leaves & saute for few mins. Add the ground paste, saute for 3-4 minutes until oil leaves at the ends and the paste thickens. Add the masala powders saute for a minute, and add the boiled channa, mashed channa, salt to taste and 1.5 cups of water and simmer the flame to medium. Cover it with a lid till the gravy thickens.
Season it with fresh cilantro leaves, and 2 drops of lemon juice and serve it with rice or chappatis. This recipe will work fine with brown channa too which can taste great with rice & a simple papad.

Bittergourd Puli Kozhambu & a Quick Microwave Dessert - Express Meal

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:06:00 +0000

Ingredients Required:

Bitter Gourd Spicy Curry
1) Bitter gourd – 2 medium size
2) Garlic pods – 6
3) Small onions – 6-7
4) Tamarind – lemon size (which makes upto 1 cup of thick tamarind extract)
5) Oil – 3 tsp
6) Mustard & jeera seeds – 1 tsp
7) Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
8) Pulikozhambu powder – 1tsp
9) Red Chilli powder – 1 tsp
10) Coriander powder – 1.5 tsp
11) Curry leaves – a bunch

Microwave Cake
1) 1 cup of all purpose flour of maida mixed with 1 tsp of baking powder
2) ¾ cup of oil
3) 1 cup of milk
4) 1 cup of sugar
5) 1 large egg ( or 2 small eggs)
6) 2 inch cinnamon stick and 2 cardamom pods
7) 1 ripen banana
8) A handful of nuts, raisins, almonds (Note: I did not add these to mine)

For first 10 mins:
1) In a microwaveable coffee cup, heat a cup of water for 1.5 mins, toss-in a lemon-sized tamarind ball in the hot water. – 30 secs
2) Peel a handful of small onions and 6 pods of garlic, wash and chop 2 medium sized bitter gourd with seeds removed, to fine 1 inch pieces. Slit the garlic & small onions into 2. – This activity took about 4 minutes for me.
3) Place the kadai, toss-in 3 tsps of oil, mustard, 10 fenugreek seeds, 1tsp of jeera, 1 red chilli, a handful of curry leaves, once the mustard seeds pop up, add the bitter gourd pieces, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp of salt, and sauté everything well, and keep it closed on medium-high flame. – 2 minutes
4) And the last 3-4 minutes left, break 1 extra-large egg (or 2 small eggs) in a wide bowl, and start beating the egg (3-5 minutes), until the contents of the egg becomes fluffy & the quantity doubles.

10 – 15 mins:
1) Saute the bitter gourd pieces one more time, and reduce the heat. The bitter gourd pieces will leave water and the size of the pieces will reduce. -1 min
2) In a dry-blender, take about 1 cup of sugar, 2-inch of cinnamon, 2 cloves of cardamom and run it for 1 min to make it a fine powder - 2 mins
3) By this time, the tamarind would have soften in the hot water, mash it with your hands and take out about 1 cup of tamarind juice (if it is thick). – 2 min
4) Saute the bitter gourd pieces once more by adding red chilli powder 1tsp, 2 tsp of coriander powder, 1 tsp of pulikozhambu powder, and salt to taste. Toss everything for 30 secs to get away the raw smell from the spicy powders, and add the tamarind extract and 1 cup of water and mix everything well, and keep the heat in medium flame and bring everything to a boil. Bring down the heat to medium and keep it closed. – 40-60 secs

15 – 20 mins:
1) Now add the powdered sugar to the beaten egg mixture, add 3/4 cup of oil and beat the mix for another 1 minute fastly. Add a mashed finely ripen banana to the mix, and add little by little the 1 cup of maida flour(mixed with 1 small tsp of baking powder) to the mix and keep mixing well without any lumps. Add 1 cup of milk in between little by little along with the flour and mix thoroughly. Lastly, add the mixture of walnuts, raisins and almonds and mix it– 5 minutes.
Note: The consistency of this mixture should be a little watery like the rava-dosa batter, NOT very thick as IDLI batter. You should hardly be able to make out the thickness of the all purpose flour you added. If you find it thicker or floury, then add more milk and bring it to the semi-watery consistency. (This is very important because my first cake was a disaster :( because power in our microwave was high and it absorbed all the water from the cake in the first 2 minutes of the cooking process and the cake became extremely dry & hard like a roti towards the last 4-6 minutes of the cooking.
2) Grease a wide-deep microwaveable bowl (I used the plastic Ziploc bowl)

20 – 30 mins:
1) By this time, you can smell the spicy aroma coming from the bitter gourd curry, and stir it well, and add 1 tsp of coconut paste if you have, simmer the heat, and keep it open for the curry to thicken for another 2 minutes and turn off the stove. I did not add coconut for mine.

2) Now pour the cake mixture to the wide microwave bowl, and set the power in your microwave to 5 (medium), and microwave for 6-7 minutes continuously. Donot open the microwave in between to check if it is cooked. After 6 minutes, stop the microwave and let it stand for another 3 minutes and transfer the contents to a plate and let it cool.

Serve the curry with rice or idli/dosa/adai and a get ready to welcome a warm-filling dessert.

This is my entry for the Express Cooking Event hosted by Malluspice. Thank you!

Pasiparuppu payasam (moong dhaal) – A LIGHT dessert

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 08:28:00 +0000

I learnt this recipe from my aunt. I have tasted this payasam in many south-indian weddings but never cared to prepare @home. Atlast the day came,and the outcome was fruitful. Not bad.. not bad at all...The unique thing I like about this dessert is that its quick, easy to cook, and serves as a mild dessert. The first time it came out semi-watery (not very thick like the usual payasam/kheer), but the semi-watery quality infact made it a mild dessert. My hub is quite a health freak (or atleast tries to be one) and seldom agrees to have any sweet in his dinner, but this one, how do I say it, has earned its 'credit' by making its way to his list of favorite-exceptions. And it is worth an entry in my blog because this serves as an excellent and nutritious and belly-filling breakfast drink also. I ensure to prepare about 4-5 big-glass servings of this payasam, that way I can reserve a cup for the next day morning in substitute for my routine load of caffine(coffee) & toast.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Not a Tip: The measure of the ingredients I have specified below is not exact, and it might NOT yield a very tasty payasam for some of the sweet-lovers. I prefer it less sweet and less ghee-y to preserve its unique quality to serve as LIGHT dessert. If you want it to be really sweet and tasty, you can adjust the measurements of jaggery, and ghee accordingly.

Ingredients:

1. Moong Dhaal (yellow pasi pariuppu in Tamil) – 2 cups
2. Jaggery - about 1 cube – sorry I cannot recall the exact measurement, because sometimes I do add white sugar (2 tsps) if the sweet from the jaggery is not enough.
3. Cardamom / Ellakai powder – ¾ tsp
4. Cashews, Raisins & Almonds – 6-8 pieces each
5. Boiled Milk – 250 ml (I prefer 2% low fat)
6. Ghee -1 tsp
7. Kesari powder – a pinch
8. Sugar – 2 tsps (only if required)

Method:

Roast the 2 cups of moong dhal (yellow pasiparuppu) in a kadai on medium heat until you get the aroma of it. It will take approximately about 5-7 mins. Pressure cook the roasted moong dhal with 2 -3 cups of water for 2 whistles in a long bottom vessel.

While the dhal is cooking, do the rest of the prepration as follows:
• Add 1 tsp of ghee and roast the cashews & raisins and set it aside.
• Scrap or shred a cube of jaggery to a vessel and add 1 cup of water, and heat the jaggery till it melts without any lumps (for 5-7 mins in medium heat). Let it cool and filter as the residue might contain mud/stone in some jaggery.
• Crush 5-6 pieces of cardamom and make it to a coarse powder of ¾ tsp.

Once the dhal is cooked, mash it well with a round spoon, filter the jaggery water to it . Toss in the roaster cashews & raisins, almonds, cardamom powder, and a pinch of kesar powder and 250 ml of milk. Mix it well, and bring it to a boil in medium heat for 5-7 mins. Taste it, and add 2-3 tsp of sugar of the sweet it less. If it is too thick, then add ½ cup of water accordingly and warm-it. And here is how it looks.

Bittergourd Fry

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:02:00 +0000

Preparation Time : 25 mins

Ingredients:

1) Finely cut bitter gourd 2 medium sized – 1 inch finger strips
2) Oil – 2 tsp
3) Dhaniya Powder – 1 tsp
4) Red Chilli powder – ½ tsp
5) Salt to taste
6) Curry leaves – a bunch will add good aroma

Method of preparation

* Heat a non-stick pan with in 1.5 tsp of oil, cut bitter gourd pieces, salt -1/2 tsp, curry leaves. Mix it all well, and keep the pan, covered in medium heat and fry the pieces until it is half cooked (10 mins).

* Now add the red chilli powder and dhaniya powder, and reduce the heat, and sauté it till the raw smell of the powder goes, and until the pieces become crispy (5 mins).

Serve it with rice & rasam on a rainy day. Its sure to stir up your hunger.

Lentils Dosai (Adai)

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:29:00 +0000

Soak the below ingredients in water overnight.

a)Par-Boiled/ Idli rice -1.5 cups
b) Toor dal + urad dal + Channa dal = 1 cup
c) Green mung dal – handful

Measure of Ingredients above makes about 8-10 dosas.

Method of Preparation:
Wash and grind everything in a blender to a coarse mixture, with 2 red chillies and a pinch of asteofodia, add required salt to taste.
Take the mixture in a vessel, and draw it into a dosa on the dosa pan. No fermenting required. Just Fresh & Instant.

If you like to add some seasoning to this, add fried onions & greenchilli’s, it tastes grate, and it is pretty self-sufficient. No chutney required.

Green brinjal - Amarnath Leaves Curry

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:52:00 +0000

This is a recipe that I came across from a fellow-blogger's site. I was curious to try this, as I have never mixed any vegetable with any-kind of greens. Here is the link to the recipe.
I think it should turn-out good, with any-kind of greens, like siru-keerai/paruppu keerai also.

Drumstick Pulikozhambu

noreply@blogger.com (ARCG) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:48:00 +0000

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Those were the days when I am really really bored of making always sambar with drumstick. Huh!, what a lengthy process. Why can’t I try a quick kozambu out of it.
I wouldn’t say it was an excellent recipe, but it was absolutely edible :-)

Ingredients:
1) 2- drumsticks – chopped into 3 inch pieces
2) Small onions – 8-10 – slit into four.
3) Tomato – 1 finely chopped
4) Garlic pods – 4-5 cloves
5) Curry leaves – a bunch
6) Coriander powder – 2 tsp
7) Red Chilli powder -1 tsp
8) Tamarind water – 1 cup (semi-thick not very dilute)

Seasoning:
1) Dry Red Chilli -1 (Alternately you can add 1 green chilli also)
2) Vendhayam - ¼ tsp
3) Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
4) Jeera seeds – ½ tsp

Heat the Kadai, add 2-3 spoons of oil, add the vendhayam, mustard & jeera seeds. Once the mustard seeds sputter, add a slit red/green chilli, and a bunch of curry leaves and the small onions & garlic cloves and fry for 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes. Add the masala powders, coriander and chilli poweder, salt and keep it in medium flame for 1 minute. Fry till the oil separates. Add the drumstick pieces.

Add 1 cup of water and required salt to taste. Keep it closed for 8-10 mins and let the drumstick cook. Lastly, add the tamarind water and keep it open for 5 mins in medium flame and let it boil and thicken. This goes well with rice and dosai and idli.