I am an analyst by day, star gazer by night, food blogger, fitness , travel and saree enthusiast in between. I am a die hard foodie and started documenting my learning based on feedback from friends and family. Hope you enjoy my blog and leave comments and feedback.
Garlic Rasam was not something that we would make at home a lot…In fact Maduraiamma would never ever have garlic. Over the years Amma used to make her version of this Rasam and my sister D would love it. I make two versions of this Rasam – One with Toor Dhal and the other without. Although not even adding Toor Dhal would rob the Rasam essentially of the protien, on those lazy days when you want to finish cooking as soon as possible and curl up to have it watching a nice movie or read an absorbing book….I make the quick version of it!!!
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of Tamarind Water Extract.
1 tomato
5 Garlic Pods
Salt
Turmeric
1 Spoon Rasam Powder.
Seasoning:
Mustard Seeds, Jeera, Hing, Curry Leaves, 3 Red Chillies, and 1 spoon of Ghee.
PREPARATION:
In a mixer jar, add a tomato, 2 pods of garlic and some tamarind water and give it a quick pulse. Pour this in to the vessel with the tamarind water and place on the stove on medium low.
Add salt, turmeric, rasam powder,hing and curry leaves to the tamarind water.
In a small frying pan add a spoon of ghee and when its hot, add jeera, mustard, 3 mashed garlic pods, 3 red chillies, and curry leaves and add this to the tamarind water.
Allow this to boil for 20 minutes or until the raw smell is gone.
Switch off and garnish with chopped corriander and curry leaves.
Enjoy Hot Garlic Rasam with Alu Fry or Carrot Subji.
This weekend was especially rainy and dull. It seemed like a great idea to try out the Easy Garlic Rasam that I do in a flash. Here goes the weekend Menu.
Jackfruit has been a fruit that I have always loved since my childhood. Whenever Amma used to take us shopping in T.Nagar, and I would get the aroma of ripe jackfruits, neatly arranged on plantian leaves, covered with wire mesh, I would beseech her to buy it for me. Amma used to tell me stories of her childhood, when Maduraiamma would get an entire jackfruit for Vishu. It used to be an elaborate procedure to oil your palms and patiently take out the ripe fleshy parts encased so delicately between rows and rows of fibers. But the labor would be well worth the wait just to take a bite of the succulent fruits.
Jackfruit is definitely high in sugar and carbs but eating it once a while is definitely not a problem. It`s said to be rich in potassium and lowering blood pressure levels. It`s also believed to cure ulcers and rich in anti-oxidants. The seeds of the jackfruit is also edible and used in many preparations . I had been craving for this fruit for a long long time and when I saw this fruit stocked in Patel`s in Chicago, I had to have it. I enjoyed its sweetness and aroma everyday over the last week. almost felt I was in Madras !!!!
One of the most misunderstood vegetables over the years has been the Cabbage. It almost sends kids scurrying away from the dinig tables, as many children do not particularly find the smell of cooked cabbage palatable or even bearable.Cabbage is a sturdy, strong and abundant vegetable. Hardy and easy to grow, it is almost universally available in all countries and cultures. Cabbage belongs to the all important family of cruciferous vegetables. The members of this family of vegetables are so named for their cross shaped (crucifer) flower petals. Rich in nutrition and fiber, cabbage is an absolutely phenomenal source of Vitamin C. Even more impressive is that cabbage is famous for a specialized, naturally occurring, nitrogenous compound known as indoles. Current research indicates that indoles can lower the risk of various forms of cancer.
I always cook cabbage in south indian preparations like Cabbage Molagootal, Cabbage Kootu and easy Cabbage poriyal. But employing this in a subzi as a side for rotis was something that Ive always liked. This one is very tasty and delicious and completly negates the unacceptable aroma of cabbage cooking. Try it and your family would be hooked. In fact, they wouldn`t even guess that cabbage is the main ingredient.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 a cabbage sliced long and thin.
1 Potatoe sliced long.
2 carrots sliced long.
1 big tomato chopped in to small pieces.
A handful of peas
1 onion sliced in to thin crescents.
1 – 1 1/2 spoons of Corriander Powder.
Pinch of Garam Masala Powder.
Salt to taste.
Seasoning:
Oil
Jeera
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste (I make this fresh).
PREPARATION:
You can pre-cook the potatoes, carrots and cabbage in the microwave for 3 minutes so it saves time on the stove. Keep aside.
In a kadai, add 2-3 spoons of oil and for seasoning, the jeera, ginger garlic paste and allow a couple of minutes for the seasonings to saute in the oil.
Now add the onions and allow to saute till they are cooked.
Add Potatoes , Peas, carrots and cabbage to the kadai and mix in well.
Sprinkle enough salt, turmeric,garam masala and the corriander powder and incorporate the flavours together.
After 5-6 minutes, make a small hole in the middle of the kadai and add the finely chopped tomato.
I guess this is done as the tomatoes do not make the subzi mushy but use the heat of the vegetables around it to slowly cook and add flavour.
Cover the kadai and cook on a medium low flame until the vegetables are done about 80%.
Cooking the vegetables completely makes the dish mushy but we need them be seperate and a little crunchy.
Garnish with chopped corriander and serve Hot with Parathas or rotis.
The best thing about summers when I was a little girl was the fact that I had unlimited supply of books to read, time to play, helping amma in the kitchen, shopping walks now and then, cutting veggies, and most importantly, mmy favourite cousins would visit us for 2 whole months!!! Reading in my opinion is the best way to spend lazy summer vacation afternoons….Summers also remind me of juicy Banganapalli Mangoes, fragrant in their aroma from miles away and of course the water fruits like watermelons and the tender cucumbers. The footpaths would be lined with mounds of green watermelons stacked one on top of the other. We would buy a big one, get it home, and make little crescents for all of us to eat. At the end of it, we would be so messy with the watermelon juice and seeds, that amma would send us right in to wash up and have a bath!!!
This summer, my daughter S was also excited to see watermelons and honeydew and cantaloupes. She loves to help me in the kitchen so I got this little Melon Scooper from Walmart which is a really creative way of scooping out little rounds of fruit. We both do that and pop them in to a large glass bowl, covered with cling film , ready to be served chilled.
We scoop out entire fruits which are firm like apples and bananas and refrigerate them so you have little cups of mixed fruit ready for your little ones when they come home from school or from a tiring evening at the park.
Kids love the variety of the shape and the infusion of colour which makes this a healthy and interesting snack.
Add a scoop of ice cream for a lovely after dinner dessert!!
Add custard to have a whole new taste. Pop a few in your morning cup of cereal for your fruit serving for the day.
Use as a topping over oats.
Pack a boxfull for an easy travel snack.
The simplicity of the shape renders them easy for kids/toddlers to scoop and eat!!!
Dosa has always been a favourite of mine since I was a child. Dosa is practically a staple preparation for breakfast and dinner and of course an in between snack!!! Its a very versatile preparation and can be relished with so many sides. I remember when I was barely eight we bought the first official “Grinder” which was so huge and heavy and would almost grind enough batter to feed an army. It would be an elaborate event to grind the batter and clean the grinder after it. Then were the days of the tilting wet grinder. Almost immediately there was the lovely chic Ultra Wet Grinder which was a table top version. When we moved to the U.S I missed the easy preparation of Dosa Batter in the grinder with little sweat. Last time I got the 1.25 litre ultra grinder on a 110V version and bought it with me all the way through customs, immigration and a volley of dirty looks by the Customs folks in New York JFK.!!!!
Making Idlis and Dosas in the US is really an art as one would have to find their own way depending on the type of rice, urad dhal, apparatus used for grinding, current weather conditions in where we live etc. We have different methods of fermenting the batter in the winter, summer,and in the in-between sseasons of spring and fall!!!
Last weekend I had called my friend R, who loves any south indian preparation. She was relocating back to India and I thought Masala Dosa would be great as a dinner entree`. This is of course made of two parts….The delicious Masal filling and the Dosa Crepe.
INGREDIENTS:
2 Medium Sized Potatoes.
1 Onion Chopped in to thin long slices.
4 Green chillies sliced in to small pieces.
A handful of green peas.
1 Tbsp grated ginger .
1 spoon of bengal gram.
A pinch of turmeric.
Curry Leaves.
Cilantro to garnish.
Masal Filling.
PREPARATION OF MASAL FILLING:
Keep the Dosa Batter ready. For instructions on the same refer to my post here.
Peel the potatoes and cook them with water and salt in the cooker for just one whistle.
Cool, and mash in to pieces and set aside.
In a kadai, add 2 spoons of oil and when hot add mustard and allow to splutter.
Add bengal gram, curry leaves, green chillies, grated ginger and then the sliced red onions.
Add a pinch of turmeric and now allow to saute for some time.
Now add the mashed potatoes, peas, salt and mix it in well.
After a few minutes, switch off the heat and garnish with chopped cilantro.
PREPARATION OF MASAL DOSA:
Take the Dosa Tava , switch on medium heat and allow it to heat up well. Sprinkle a drop of water and when you hear the sizzle, you know for sure that the tava is heated enough.
Add a few drops of Gingely Oil and spread with a paper or tissue to make sure that the tava is well greased.
Take a ladle full of Dosa Batter and spread it with a Dosa Ladle on the tava. Lace the ends of the dosa with a few drops of oil.
Make sure that the dosa is spread out thin as we would not be turning it over.
Dollop a spoon of the prepared Masal and place it in the centre of the Dosa.
When the Dosa is cooked well close one end of the dosa over the other and serve on a platter withtomato chutney or pudina chutney.
Coconut is an integral part of my cooking but I have particularly brought down the levels of coconut on account of health concerns. My gradmother on the other had is of the opinion that anything had in small quantities can never be too much. Its only when you consume too much of anything, does it become bad for the health. I remember Madurai amma lavishing fresh coconut in Avail and Sevai and Elissery etc. This instant version of Coconut Sevai is a personal favourite on account of its ease of preparation, nevertheless yielding tasty and wholesome results everytime.This version is slightly different as I have also incorporated Thayir Molagaa as a seasoning ingredient….for additional flavour and taste.
Mor Molaga
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 pack of Rice Noodles or Instant Sevai cooked as per instructions and sprinkled with a spoon of Coconut Oil.
1 Tsp Ginger Chopped fine.
Curry Leaves.
3-4 Fried Thayir Molagaa or Mor Molagaa.
Mustard.
3/4 cup of Fresh Coconut.
2 Tsp of Broken Urad Dhal soaked in some water for ten minutes.
3 Green Chillies chopped fine.
Hing.
5-7 cashew halves.
Salt to taste.
PREPARATION:
Prepare the Rice Sevai/Rice Sticks using the instructions provided in the packaging. While allowing it to boil, add 2 drops of coconut oil in the water for added flavour and aroma. Drain in a collander.
In a small cup soak the broken urad dhal in water and set aside for ten minutes., This adds volume and flavour in terms of seasoning to the dish.
Take a non stick kadai and place on the stove. Add 3 spoons of coconut oil (optionally Canola/Refined Oil) and when its beginning to get hot, add the “mormolaga” so it fries in the oil. (This ingredient is completely optional)
Now add chopped ginger, cashews, curry leaves, hing , mustard and when it splutters, add the soaked urad dhal after draining off all the water.
Saute for a couple of seconds and then add the grated coconut to the kadai.
Bring the flame to sim and now saute the coconut along with the spices, for 4-5 minutes.
The white fluffy coconut, after sauteing in the oil for a few minutes turns to a dull brown colour and also emits a wonderful aroma. Be very careful to keep the flame only on low as if the heat is more it would burn the delicate grated coconut .
At this point, add the rice noodles/sevai/rice sticks and mix well adding sufficient salt for the sevai.
This weekend It was time for an elaborate lunch as we were home and enjoying the lovely weekend weather . I also got a lovely catch of fresh raw mangoes so it was mangoes again ….
Corriander has always been my all time favourite garnish. Now there are really two schools of thought on the subject of corriander garnish. My grandmother etc has always been on the opinion that a good dish prepared sumptously with ingredients in the right proportion, with devotion, can stand up for flavour and taste all by itself. It does not need a garnish of chopped corriander. I am of the opinion that even a simple dish can be elevated in taste and flavour by just a dash of a corriander sprig….Well…to each his own. TO think of a dish spiced completely with this aromatic leaf itself seemed to be a very welcoming thought…It was an inspiration from my earlier post Pudina Rice…I simlpy allowed my hands to pick up whatever It felt like and came up with this dish…
Today was a picnic at the Zoo, so it was a really tasty course with a side of Raitha and Chips. Do try it and hope you really like it.
INGREDIENTS:
A big bunch of Corriander Leaves.
5 Green Chillies.
1/3 cup of Dessicated Coconut.
1 inch piece of Ginger.
A handful of Cashew Halves.
2 cups of Basmati Rice cooked in 3 1/2 cups of water.
1/2 cup of Peas.
1/2 cup of chopped potatoes.
1/2 cup of finely chopped carrots.
1 cup of cauliflower floretts.
Salt.
PREPARATION:
Spread out the cooked Basmati Rice so it cools considerably before you mix in the vegetables.
Microwave all the vegetables except Peas, in the micro wave for 4 minutes.
In a mixer jar, place the cashews at the very base and then add chillies, ginger, 1 clove, corrainder and finally the coconut. We do this since corriander cannot stand up to pulsing in the mixer without water, we sandwich it between heavy ingredients.
Pulse without adding water and set aside.
In a wide mouthed kadai add 3 spoons of oil, 2 cloves, jeera, curry leaves and then add the half cooked veggies.
Add turmeric and salt for the veggies and allow to cook for some time.
Now add the ground paste and mix well and give it a couple more minutes to cook and the raw smell of the corriander to evaporate.
When the veggies and the paste have mixed in well add the rice little by little and mix it well taking care not to break the rice.
Add a dollop of ghee and serve HOT with onion and cucumber raitha.
This is a quick side dish for Venn Pongal /Vada/ Chappathi/Dosa /Puris and Idlis. It`s pretty much easy and simple to make but vrey delicious and appetising. I remember one time when my mami made this for Pongal. We simply lapped it up!!! Yeah…its that good!!!
INGREDIENTS:
4 Big Slicing Tomatoes or Tomatoes on the Vine. Double the quantity for Roma.
1 inch Ginger finely grated.
3 Green Chillies vertically slit.
1/2 spoon Red Chilli Powder.
Salt.
Hing.
Mustard.
Turmeric.
PREPARATION:
Puree all the tomatoes in the mixer without adding much water and set aside.
In a kadai, add a spoon of oil and when hot, pop in mustard, broken urad dhal and curry leaves.
When the mustard splutters, add grated ginger, slit green chillies, curry leaves and a pinch of hing.
Allow a couple of seconds to saute and then immediately add the pureed tomato.
If needed, you can add 1/8 cup of water to the mixer and after a quick shake, pour it in to the kadai.
Add turmeric, salt and red chilli powder and stir in well.
Simmer for about ten minutes and switch off heat.
Serve garnished with chopped cilantro.
HINT:
As an option to increase the volume in case a large serving is needed, is to saute the onions after the seasoning and then add the tomato puree. This version is made with tomatoes but it can be made without on a day when no onions need to be consumed.
Anubhavati -Tastes from my kitchen 