Arachuvitta Sambar for Idlis

Idli being a staple breakfast and dinner at home we never get tired of it (do I kid myself? every other day I complain) but not really on the idlis but on the side dish we make. The usual ones are the coconut chutney, tomato chutney, onion chutney or the humble idli milagai podi. Some time this very simple podi too can spike the more so plain idlis.

Occassionally atleast once in a week or two I make this arachuvita sambar to make idlis a celebration. I have not done justice regarding the photos as posting the sambar without idlis are totally bad. But will promise that I will update once I make it again. But the mini idlis or pieces of idli floating in a bowl full of this sambar and a drizzle of ghee is a definite treat that too for a Sunday morning.

After bathing and feeding the two kids and my late morning bath on a Sunday I would settle with this bowl full in the balcony with my favorite Tamil weekly. And that calls for a perfect weekend

The primary ingredient of this is the sambar onions or shallots and hence if that is not available please please do not substitute with the large onions. Wait till you get the little ones and make this. I can never give my word for the taste front if there is a substitution !

Ingredients :

Toor dal cooked – 1 Cup (If you have the water cooked along with it reserve it)

Tamarind – 1 small lime sized (soak it in 1 Cup of water)

Sambar onions/ shallots – 20 nos (peeled and washed)

Sambar powder – 1.5 teaspoon

Tomato chopped – 3/4 cup

Peanut oil – 3 T spoon

Coriander leaves for garnishing – 1 handful

For the paste :

Coriander seeds – 1 teaspoon

Coconut – Freshly grated 1/4 cup

Red chilly – 3 nos

How to make it ?

In a thick bottomed wide skillet heat 1.5 T spoon of peanut oil. Once it is smoking lower the flame to medium and add the shallots (don’t chop them unless they were more than of 1 inch size). Fry till the outer layer starts wilting and about to peel off. Now add the chopped toamtoes and saute till they become soft. Add the Sambar powder, cooked toor dal and enough water to make it to a desired consistency. It should be like a thick soup. Add salt to taste and cover and let it boil for 7-10 minutes. In the mean time squeeze the tamarind with the water and extract the pulp. Filter it using a colander and reserve the extract. When the dal mix was boiled for the said time add this extract and let it boil for another 5 minutes. In the mean time in a separate thick bottomed vessel heat the remaining peanut oil and when hot add the coriander seeds and fry till you get a nice aroma. Add the chilies and fry till they turn crisp. Add the coconut and fry till the coconut starts browning. Switch off the stove and let this cool. Take it in a stone grinder or a mixie and grind it to a coarse paste with very little water. Add spoon by spoon by listening to our mixie’s sounds.

When the sambar is boiled after adding the tamarind extract for 5 mins. add this round paste and mix well. Let this boil for 2-3 mins and add a handful of chopped coriander leaves and switch off the stove. Cover vessel immediately.

Laddle the sambar in a large soup bowl. Float mini idlis or pieces of idlis. Drizzle a spoon of melted ghee and enjoy with a spoon ! Slurp
This amount serves 3 very hungry people but at home where people drink a bowl full of sambar for just two idlis it would be enough for 2 persons having 4 idlis each

Murungai Poo Kootu – Drumstick blossom dal

Ah, should I really need to translate? I don’t have any non-indian readers. Very rarely one or two. But for unwritten blogging rules I shall stick to the translation
Cooking with blossoms is not a regular fair at home except for plantain flower. You can add this to make a list. Usually during the drumstick season when there is abundance of the blossoms in the tree the owners of the tree were very particular about preserving them for the vegetable. So we cannot simply shake the branches and collected the sheded flowers. But occasionally if there is a wind or a quick shower you can find lot of these flowers on the ground. Living in the city has stolen several luxuries from us and these drumstick blossoms were one among them.
Last week when my Sis visited a nearby temple found a drumstick tree (it’s really odd) near the pathway. As we had slight showers the night before she could find lots of the flowers on the ground. Since it’s within the temple premises the ground was clean and she quickly collected as much fresh blossoms as she could. As its said to be an aphrodisiac we are still hooked to it’s mildly sweet taste.
Amma makes a fantastic kootu and its years since we relished it. Mixing with hot steamed rice and dollop of ghee this is a filling meal.

Murungai Poo / Drumstick blossoms – resembles jasmine flower

Murungai Poo Kootu / Drumstick blossom kootu
Ingredients :
Drumstick flowers packed – 1 cup
Chana dal – 1/2 cup
Onion chopped – 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds + Urad dal for seasoning
Peanut oil – 1 teaspoon
Grated fresh coconut – 2-3 T spoon
Red chilli broken into pieces – 2
Salt to taste
Hing – 1 pinch

How to make it ?

Pressure cook chanadal with 3/4 cup of water in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle or you can boil it in stove top with more water until soft. Don’ make it mushy. In a thick bottomed pan tip the chanadal along with the remaining water inwhich it is cooked and add the onions and boil for 5-7 minutes. You will get a nice aroma of onions cooked. Wash several times with running water and drain the drumstick flowers in a colander. Add this to the boiling chanadal and onion mix. Let it cook for 4-5 mins. Add salt to taste. Add the grated coconut and boil for another minute and switch off the stove. Now in a separate vessel heat the peanut oil and when hot add the mustard seeds and urad dal. When the mustard seeds splutter add a pinch of hing and the broken red chillies and when you get a nice aroma (just count 10-15) tip it in the kootu. Garnish with curry leaves and serve warm with a dollop of ghee with steamed rice.

Moong sprouts kichidi

On a recent visit to the vegetable shop I picked up a pack of moong sprouts. After reading so many posts on sprouting legumes at home the lazy me bought this as I wanted to ty something immediately and do not want to wait till the moong dal sprout on its own in my kitchen.

Saying this I had some broken wheat at home lying around unused and I was afraid it might get insects. It did not since 4 months but just thought I can make a combo as I love broken wheat. None of them in the family likes broken wheat but I never fail stuffing them with upma or kichidi whenever I have a craving for the same. But this combo worked and people ate without complaints. Especially my brother loved it.

Moong sprouts kichidi
Ingredients :
Broken wheat (not the wheat rava) – 1 cup
Moong sprouts – 1 cup
Green chillies – 3 (stem and slit them vertically halfway through)
Clove – 1 (remove the head)
Cinnamon – 1/2 inch
Bay leaf – 1 (slightly crush with your fingers)
Peanut oil – 3 T
Onion thinly sliced – 1/2 cup
Turmeric – 1 pinch
Salt to taste
Water – 4 cups

How to make it ?
In the thick bottomed vessel heat the oil. When hot add the clove, cinnamon, bay leaf and when they start sizzling add the onions. Saute them till they turn soft. Add the green chillies and saute for a half a minute. Add the moong sprouts. Saute in high flame till the raw smell reduces around 2-3 mins. Now add the broken wheat and saute for another minute. Add the water, turmeric and salt. Check and adjust salt to your taste. Let the water come to a boil. No transfer this to a vessel and pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles. Let the cooker cool down and serve the hot kichidi with some yogurt and pickle. a hearty simple weeknight meal

I missed to update about the kind awards given by Lavi! Thanks dear! You are a sweetie!

Murukku for ICC September

Indian Cooking Challenge became a dear-to-the-heart event atleast for my family. Though I make all experiments with baking their interests are on indian snacks and desserts and my sister would always insist on me to try out all the goodies that my Grandma would make. Even though Amma knows quiet a bit of them I would say she’s not that much an expert on these snacks when compared to Grandma.

I remember when staying in hostel during college days my Grandma would make big bags full of murukku, athirasam, milagu vadai and rava laddoos. You won’t believe that I literally lived on these snacks when I am not ready to eat the food served in the hostel. Every moth this is a regular affair and as soon as the bag is done I will look forward for my next trip to home. This saga ended when lost my dearest Grandma at the end of my first year in college. Then as the need of the hour I got used to eat the hostel food ;(

Murukku hence is my all time favorite. My Grandfather had lost all his teeth at the age of 60 but had not lost the love of murukku. So when I was a kid I used to grind the murukku made at home in the “Ammi kallu”.

And one day he made a great innovation. Sorry if somebody felt this combo gross but I love it to the core. Yes he immersed a pieces of murukku in hot filter coffee and used to have the semi crisp murukku half soaked in the aromatic coffee. I am the only partner of crime for all his experiments and we both would enjoy murukku with coffee. I am still enjoying it with sweet memories of my dearest Thaatha.

So when Valli announced this month’s ICC is murukku no wonder that I am overwhelmed.

I made it (except I usd store bought rice flour as I made it only today i.e., the last day) and wow it had the exact taste of what my Grandma had made years ago. I have reserved a whole bunch to enjoy those melt in the mouth crisps with a hot cuppa Thanks a lot Valli !

Here is the recipe :
Jantikalu or Murukulu

Preparation Time : 20 – 30 mins
Cooking Time : 20 – 30 mins
Makes : app 250 kg of Muruku
Cuisine: Andhra & Tamil Nadu

Utensils needed:
Muruku /Chakli Press.
Kadai

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice – 4 cups
Urad Dal – 1 cup
Water – app 1/2 cup or more

For Seasoning

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter – 75 gms

Method to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.
If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.

Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles.

Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.

Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

Give a try soaking this up in a cup of filter coffee

CLICK – HEIRLOOM

When I was in my 7th grade my amma underwent a surgery. I was not too matured to take care of my younger sister and brother and my amma needed my grandma’s assistance a lot as she was hospitalised then for 3 whole days. My Appa not so used to taking care of household work and kids left us in his friend’s house.

We used to visit my Amma in the hospital every day after school and come back to that Uncle’s house. Uncle S and Aunty were really nice people. But their eating habits are only not suiting us. Amma never fed us with yesterday’s food but here thats a regular affair. We three felt like fish out of water and the most affected was my little brother and he literally lived on biscuits and Boost for all three days. None of our tricks made him eat that food. On the fourth day amma was feeling better and my dearest Grandma took some time off and ran home to make a simple meal. She made a drumstick kuzhambu, fried some kanji vadagam and made rice and packed all and came back to the hospital. That day she made us come to the hospital during lunch time.

In the small hospital room she spread three little plates and served us this food. I literally cried when I ate the first morsel and that day I realized what food is to me in life. It appeared to be my “life” at that moment. I can never forget that meal and my Grandma’s love as after 3 sleepless nights she never bothered to take rest but just cook us this humble meal and serve it with love. We had never complained about anything on those three days but she had read our faces and made this. Every mother or grandmother shower their love by these deeds whose memories are etched to our minds until we die.

I tried to make this post for the Monthly Mingle but I missed. This click is my entry for this month’s <a href=”http://jugalbandi.info/2009/08/monthly-mingle-and-click-september-2009-heirloom/”> CLICK-HIERLOOM </a>.

I never thought Jai and Bee or such sentimental people but by choosing this theme they have kindled lovely memories. Thanks dears!

Truffle Truffle in a bowl

Truffles are my all time favorites but I get to eat them whenever my friends come back from USA. This is an old story now as Chennai has super markets who could sell all international brands. But how much ever I eat I never get enough of it. Now there is competition at home (my two kids) I thought its high time I try some at home so that everybody can eat to our heart’s fill.

I got some good quality dark chocolate in one of the super markets here and spared a large bar for this trial. I am first time tempering chocolate and all and I am so very fascinated to see the glossy, shiny and silky melted chocolate in my double-boiler set up. I used Amul fresh cream and all in all the truffles turned to be good. They were silky, stubborn enough to hold its shape when refrigerated and melt in your mouth when you bite. I made a puristic version and did not add even a nut. Everybody especially my kids loved it that way. I followed instructions from several blogs on tempering the chocolate but followed my own measurements. The original recipe from which I adapted is here.
Here is my recipe :

Chocolate Truffles :

Ingredients :
1/3 cup cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter, very soft

How to make it ?

Combine the cream and invert sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat on the stove. Remove from heat and let it cool for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, place the chocolate in a bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the surface of the water. Melt the chocolate for 5 – 7 mins. The chocolate will most likely not be fully melted yet and you will have to stir it – watch carefully or your chocolate will overheat and you will have to wait for it to cool down!

Touch and check if both the cream and chocolate were in same temperature. If you have a candy thermometer it should read 115 degrees. Strain if there appear to be lumps and you can’t break them up.

Pour the cream and chocolate into a tall, clear container. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until the ganache thickens and becomes pudding like. Add the butter and combine with the immersion blender. Alternatively, you can do all this in a food processor.

Pour the ganache into a container that will allow it to spread out to a thickness of about an inch (not a very large container). This will make it easier to scoop truffles.

Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight.

When you are ready to make truffles, use a small cookie dough scoop to scoop balls from the ganache (I use a measuring tablespoon). Place them on a tray so you can pop it in the refrigerator to chill if necessary.

Roll the truffles in dark cocoa powder and wrap them in foil.

Store the truffles in the refrigerator until serving time.

Modak and Sesame ladoos for ICC August

This time I made it for the ICC Yay! As it concided with Ganesh Chathurthi it was lot more easier. But the the modak and sesame laddoos tasted very different due to wonderful recipes from ICC

I made a little change to the Modak recipe from Mints! . For the water used for making the outer dough I added little jaggery (mind my sweet tooth ) as I have always felt the outer dough is not enough sweet to go with the poornam!
Sorry Valli as I am not supposed to make any changes to the recipes! Forgive me this time alone! Both turned to be great hit at home and everyone loved both the dishes. Lord Ganesha too would have loved it I suppose!

Here are ther recipes:
Modak from Mints

Ingredients Needed

For the Stuffing -
2 cups freshly grated coconut (she says you can use frozen unsweetened coconut)
1 cup jaggery (grated)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp cardamom powder
one pinch nutmeg (optional)
2 tbsp water

For the outer layer or Cover -
1 cup rice flour
1.25 cup water
3 T grated jaggery
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil

Method for preparing the Stuffing

Roast the poppy seeds in a small skillet and let it cool down. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside. If you have roasted poppy seeds, its fantastic no hassles!

In a heavy bottom kadai, take the grated jaggary, add 2 tbsp of water and melt to liquid. Sieve to remove impurities if any.

Then add the liquid back to the kadai and add the grated coconut. Keep stirring so that it does get burnt in the bottom.

In about 5 -7 mins you will see the mixture getting solid, at this stage add the cardamom and nutmug powder if you are using it.

When you see the mixture turning yellowish, more like golden and sticking to the sides, you can turn off the flame add the poppy seeds powder, mix well and set it aside to cool down.

Method for preparing the outer cover

Take a thick bottomed vessel with a lid. Start boiling water in that vessel, add salt and oil along with grated jaggery. Once the jaggery is dissolved take the vessel off the stove and filter the solution. Now wash the vessel and take the filteres solution on stove top and again get it to a rolling boil.

When water starts boiling, lower the heat and slowly add rice flour. Please do not dump all the flour at once.

As you add, start mixing vigorously with a ladle. Once all the flour is done, keep mixing well till you see a smooth well mixed mixture.

Now close the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the covered pot cool down for 15 minutes or so. Then using a ladle, mix the dough properly. If you want to mix with your hands, you can dip your hands in water and quickly mix the dough. But ensure you don’t use too much water.

Mints suggests 1-2 tbsp of All purpose flour to be added to get the dough a bit more sticky. But I just went ahead with just rice flour.

Making the Modak

For making the Modak divide the dough into 20 balls and the stuffing into equal size of 20 balls. You can use those Garlic shaped mould or else in your palm you can press them and gather them together as a tear shaped.

I used the modak moulds you get, grease the molds with oil. Then close the mold, stuff one ball into it and press it against the shape evenly making a hold in middle. Then take the suffing, press it into the hold in the middle, close the opening with extra dough and press tightly to ensure its all sealed well. Continue with the rest until you are done with all.

Even in this you may have extra dough in the tip, which after steaming can get hard. So you can remove the excess before steaming. Retain just enough to form the shape.

If you don’t have the molds, you can make these easily in your palms. Take one outer ball, gently press in the middle getting it in shape of bowl, with the sides being thinner than the center, fill with stuffing, gather the sides towards the center, seal well and continue making till you are done.

I used my idly steamer to steam the Modak. Grease the plates with oil and place the Modak over it. Just as you do the regular Idli steaming, fill the bottom with water and put it on the stove.

This takes about 15 – 20 mins to get cooked. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing Modak from steamer

Sesame Laddoos:
Black sesame seeds – 1/2 cup
Jaggery grated – 2-3 T

Dry roast the Sesame seeds in a tawa until fragrant and allow them to cool. Once the Sesame seeds are cooled, take it along with grated or powdered jaggery and run in a mixie. The amount of jaggery normally depends on the formation of laddoo. When you make a laddoo, it should stay in shape. Then you know the amount is enough. Also it depends on the fineness of the sesame powder. When you run in mixie, it becomes little oily which will help in holding the laddoo shape.

Thanks Valli for the wonderful recipes!

Onion Pickle – CLICK Alium

Alium – The title is quite good as I am a lover of the entire family. I made a quick onion pickle from Tarladalal but instead of chilli powder I used this for stuffing and it’s a pickle made of two components from the Alium family.

The pickle turned to be delicious with the creamy curd rice. This is my entry for this month’s CLICK event.

Chocolate Cappuccino tartletes

Regular readers would have remembered about by shortest trip to Colorado. My purchases included some coffee for my Father who is an ardent lover of Coffee. I bought some French roasted coffee powder along with a box of Cappuccino from Hills Bros.

Soon after my arrival Appa and myself opened the pack and prepared a mug for each of us. The instructions asks us to mix with boiling water which we felt diluted. I tried mixing another spoonful but it became very sweet. Hence we both gave up and since then the box is lying around untouched.

Being an ardent fan of Helen I was longing to make tartletes for some time. A new idea sparkled and I took one of her tartlete recipe for the shells. Then I filled them with a simple chocolate ganache. I whipped some fresh cream (my nearby supermarket supplies some fresh cream) and mixed in some sugar and the cappuccino powder. Voila, the cream turned out wonderful and I could get the feel of cappuccino right away. Then I piped them on the shells filled with ganache and yeah they turned to be to too cute (oh..its my baby )

This is the first time I am trying some sweet tartlets (the last time I made these) and I am so happy that its a breeze and opens up endless possibilities. I need to bake thinner shells (needs some practice) but this one is a real hit! Atlast I am putting the cappuccino into good use

Chocolate Cappuccino tartletes:

Shells made from this recipe.
I am writing them for your reference.

Makes 6, 4-inch tartelettes.

For the tart shells:
1 1/2 cups (185 -190g) flour
1/2 cup (65g) powdered sugar
1 stick (113-115g) butter, cut in small pieces
1 egg yolk

Combine the flour and sugar and whisk well. Add the butter and pinch it in the flour until it resembles wet sand. Add the egg yolk and mix to incorporate until the dough barely comes together. Dump it into a lightly floured work surface and knead until it just comes together. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. Roll between sheets of plastic wrap and cut out circles larger than your tart shells, fit the dough into the molds and cut out the excess. Set them on a sheet pan, line them with parchment paper rounds and fill them with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 350F for about 10-15 minutes. Let cool before adding the filling.

Chocolate Ganache :
Grated semi sweet chocolate – 1 Cup
Fresh cream – 1/3 cup

Warm the cream in a double boiler (keep a bowl of barely simmering water on the stove and place the bowl upon it. Water should not touch the bowl’s bottom). When it just starts to simmer dump the grated chocolate and mix well until its smooth and shiny. Keep aside.

Cappuccino cream:
Fresh cream – 1 Cup (cold)
Powdered Sugar – 3 Table spoon (if your cappuccino mix has sugar ignore this or add as per your taste)
Hills Bros Cappuccino instant mix – 3 Tablespoon (Use and instant mix available)

Dump everything in a cold bowl and whisk until the cream holds soft peaks.

To assemble:
Ensure the tart shell is cool. Fill it with a tablespoon of ganache. Using a piping bag (I filled the cappuccino cream in a plastic bag and cut out a start-like hole in the tip) pipe as you like on this. Refregirate until you serve.

Tastes best the day its made. But in room temperature the cream starts to loose its shape. But every bite is pure bliss

Simple and quick – Stuffed veggie paratha

Adapted from Tarladalal’s recipe this one is simple and quick and really delicious. My kids loved it and I am happy to stuff some veggies into their stomachs The soy sauce gave a hint of “Chinese” feel but it did not overplay. Any combination of veggies can be used but only constraint is they should be crunchy. And yeah the folding and rolling is not there which made my job no-mess!

Stuffed veggie paratha

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

Green Capsicum chopped to 1/2 inch cubes – 1/2 cup

Cabbage thinly slivered – 1/2 cup

onion sliced – 1/4 cup

ginger slivers – 1/2 tea spoon

Sambar powder or chilli powder – 1/2 tea spoon

soy sauce – 1/2 tea spoon

Salt as per taste

Peanut oil – 1 tea spoon

For the roti :

Make regular rotis. If not knead 1 cup  of whole wheat flour with little salt and 4 T spoon of water. Add water Tablespoon at a time until you get a firm pliable dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Add a teaspoon of ghee/melted butter in the last 3 minutes of kneading to get a silky texture. Divide into 6 equal balls.

How to make ?
For the stuffing:

Heat the oil in a thick bottomed pan and add onions and ginger and saute on high flame till the onions wilt. Now add the veggies, sambar powder/chilli powder and salt and sprinkle 2 T spoon of water and stir on high flame for 2 minutes. Once the capsicum just starts to wilt add the soy sauce and stir for half a minute. Switch off the stove and let it cool.

Now roll a ball of the roti dough into a thin circle. Dust with enough flour while rolling.

The size of the roti should be 7-8 inch in diameter. Place a tablespoon of the stuffing in the center and bring all the four ends (as shown in the picture) and press slightly to stick them together.

Heat a tawa or griddle and cook the paratha on both sides till golden brown. Add a drop or two of oil while cooking the parathas.

Serve hot. No need for any side dish!