Mulaikeerai Garlic masiyal – Amaranth-garlic medley

Mulaikeerai or Amaranth is available all through the year in Chennai. When we were living in Cuddalore, there were paddy fields near by. My mom in the morning used to visit one of them and will come back with a bunch of greens. They were fresh, green and its for free !!! Plucking those greens are a favour for the farmers as they grow like weeds but that can make a simple meal for anybody.
This mulaikeerai masiyal with any spicy curry can make a fullfilling meal. Even though its very bland the mild garlic flavor creates a lingering taste in our mouth. I like it to lick it as it is without mixing it with rice

Ingredients:
Fresh Amaranth – 1 bunch
Garlic – 10 pods
Gingelly oil – 4 table spoons

Water – 1/2 cup

Salt – 1/2 spoon (adjust the quantity as per taste)

For thaalipu:
Urad dal – 1/2 spoon

Mustard seeds – 1/4 spoon

Dry red chilly – 2 (split into 2 pieces)

How to make it ?
Pluck the amaranth leaves with the stem (tillthe tender part of the stem) and wash it several times in water until the water is clear.
Pour Giglelly oil in a wide skillet. Once it is hot add the garlic pods and fry till they turn yellow (point is not to brown it). Add the amaranth leaves with the stem and cook it for few seconds turning it whenever needed.

Then simmer the stove and cook for another 7-10 minutes until the leaves wilt. Add 1/2 cup of water and required salt and cook further till oil separates. Turn it often so as not to get it burnt. Once done remove from fire and let it cool.

Blend it in a blender to make a fine paste.
Do the thaalipu with a spoon of gingelly oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. Once they splutetr and split red chillies and urad dal. When the chillies change color pour it over the amaranth paste and now its ready to serve. Mix it with rice and have it with any spicy curry.

Dollar Uthappam

This weekend I got this idea of making mini uthappams. You know how? I suddenly remembered a good old ad played in radios in 1980s. Its about a biscuit called “Dollar Biscuit”. It will play like this.

      The entire ad is in the form of a song. A kid will ask her father when he was about to go out. “Appa appa, kadaiku poreeya?” (Dad, were you going to shopping?)” The father will sing back “aamaam kannu! unaku enna venum sollu” (yes darling. what do you want?). “Dollar biscuit Dollar biscuit Dollar biscuit venum ( I want Dollar biscuits)! I can never forget this song as when I was a kid I love to sing this whenever my father goes out (should be definitely nagging him I think ). These dollar biscuits made me to make these mini uthappams. Yes they can be called as “Dollar Uthappams” instead!!! This recipe is nothing new…the same good old uthappam…the presentation and combinations are bit different thats all!

Ingredients:
Uthappam batter – 1 cup (Is similar to dosa batter)
Rasam – 1 cup (recipe below)
Idli podi – 1 table spoon (recipe to be spoted soon)
Ghee to serve
 

How to make it ?

Quick Pepper Rasam :

Ingredients :
Tamarind – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 2 pods
Dried Red chilly – 2 (according to how hot u want)
Pepper – 1/2 tea spoon
Jeera – 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander  – 1/2  a hand ful
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Tomato – one medium sized

How to make Quick pepper rasam?
Put all the above ingredients (except curry and coriander elaves) and grind it in a belnder. Mix it with 3 cups of water. Add required salt. In a hot kadai add a spoon of oil, 1/4 spoon of mustard seeds and 2-3 pinch of Asafoetida. Once the mustard seeds splutter pour in the mix. Once the mix starts frothing switch off the stove, throw in the curry and coriander leaves and cover it immediately. Wait for 10 minutes before u serve for the spices in the rasam to blend in nicely.

How to make Dollar Uthappam ?
Heat a tawa and drop spoon fulls of the uthappam batter. It will automatically settle down into small circles. For podi Uthappam, sprinkle the Idli podi on the Uthappam: ’s, sprinkle oil on the sides and cook on both sides until crisp.

For the second batch cook uthappams in similar way but without sprinkling podi on it.

How to serve?
Place the podi uthappam in a plate and drizzle some ghee on it. For the rasam soaked ones, in a shallow tray place the ordinary uthappams and add 1/2 cup (per 5 uthappams) rasam to it. Let them soak and now the dollar uthappams are ready for galloping.
Dollar Uthappam – (Podi Uthappam, Dollar Uthappams floating in spicy rasam)
This is my entry to WBB12 – Spice it up hosted by our wonderful Trupti!

Fish fry (simple recipe)

Fries and oily food are always my “not-so-favorites” but this one is an exception. Right from the tawa direct to your plate these small crunchy pieces are a treat to your taste palletes especially during a cold weather. When we were kids by 11 AM (the time these fries are made in the kitchen) will always bearound the stove with plates in our hands. Most of the quantity will be finished off long before lunch time.
Fish fries taste the bext with small fish. Salmon type of fish are not real tasty ones when compared to Red Snappers or Whit fish.
The one shown in the picture is “Vellai Kizhangan meen” – Whit fish.

The usual combi is rice, rasam and fish fry (all piping hot).

Ingredients:
Fish – 6 cleaned
Garlic – 10 pods
Sambar podi – 2 table spoons
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tea spoon
Oil – 4 tea spoons
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow fry

How to make it?
Pound garlic pods to a fine paste. Make a paste out of the garlic, 4 tea spoons of oil, Sambar podi, Turmeric powder and salt. Make small slits on the both sides of the fish and mariante in the paste for half an hour. Shallow fry in a tawa with required oil until crisp.

 Serve it hot with rice and rasam. Also can be a wonderful sidedish for Fish Kuzhambu and rice.

Fish Kuzhambu (Cuddalore style)

Fish is our family’s all time favorite. My mom makes a variety of “kuzhabmu” (gravy) with different type of fish. This kuzhambu is not in the usual gravy consistency rather than bit watery. But it is absolutely delicious and many of our relatives when visit us first ask for this. Even kids do that. Now coming to the recipe here I used a fish called “Sankara meen” but you can use all fish which we used to make gravy type. Pomfret is also ideal. Usually for kuzhambu small fish vareities suit the best.

Ingredients:
Fish – 6 pieces (cleaned and marinated for 15 minutes with turmeric+garlic+salt+1 Tablespoon of oil)
Tamarind – 1 big lemon sized ball
Tomatoes – 2 small ones
Onion 1 big onion / 2 msall ones
Sambar podi – 2 table spoons
Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt as per taste
Coconut – Freshly grated – 1 cup
Oil for deep frying
Vadagam – 1 table spoon
Garlic – 16 pods

To be made into a paste:
Grind the coconut and onion into a fine paste

How to make it?

Extract the pulp out of the tamarind after soaking it in 8 cups of water. Add the required salt in while soaking the tamarind to extract maximum pulp and get more tastier kozhambu.
In a wide pan heat the oil and once hot drop the fish pieces and fry for just 10 seconds and take them out.
In a chatti pour 4 table spoon of oil. Once its hot add the vadagam. Once it is fried add the garlic pods and fry them till they turn brown tinted. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till they turn mushy. Then add the tamrind extract. Add the turmeric, Sambar podi and let the mixture boil till the raw smell of sambar podi disappears. Add the fish pieces and let it cook until done. Finally add the ground coconut-onion paste and boil it till the raw smell of onion disappears or until the oil separates. The aroma of the kozhambu will now fill the whole house. Serve hot with piping hot rice and Fish fry (recipe to come soon).

Note: You can add raw mango pieces before adding the coconut onion paste and wait till it gets cooked and then add the paste. This will increase the sourness of the gravy but its nice My choice is to have this with hot soft idlis.

Milagu Pori (Pepper Murmura)

This is our all time favorite snack. A plate of milagu pori with a mug of hot tea in a rainy day evening is simply divine. The usual add ons for “masala pori” is totally missing here but the pepper and garlic along with the mild scent of coconut oil gives a great taste that you can never stop eating it.

Ingredients:

Pori / Puffed Rice /Murmura Buggani - 5 cups

Pepper – 1 spoon

Jeera – 1 spoon

Coconut oil – 4 table spoon

 Garlic – 8 pods

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Salt to taste

How to make it?

In a mortar and pestle pound the garlic pods slightly. Powder the pepper and jeera coarsely after dry roasting it. In a wide skillet heat the coconut oil and fry the pounded garlic. Once it starts giving the aroma add the pepper and jeera powder along with salt and curry leaves. Switch off the stove. Add the puffed rice and mix it thoroughly till the masala gets evenly coated to the puffed rice. Serve it with  a cup of tea.

How to cook toor dal ?

Isn’t this funny?  For an Indian cook, cooking toor dal is everyday job and what am I going teach about it?

There are few ways to cook the ingredients. Many vegetables and legumes should be pre-treated before added to the dish you prepare. I shall post one at a time which my mother follows.

How to cook Toor dal ? (Pressure cooker method)

For a cup of toor dal add 2 cups of water (depends on how much watery you want your dal but it should be atleast twice the amount so as the toor dal gets cooked properly). Add 2 pinches of turmeric. Add 2 pinch of asafoetida powder. Add 2-3 drops of Gingelly oil. This prevents dal from frothing while it cooks. add 2 pods of garlic. Pressure cook this to 3-4 whistles or until the dal is done.

The add-ons to the toor dal eases the digestion when eaten. There might be several regional methods of cooking different ingredients. I welcome all my fellow bloggers to share it.

A no…no…to reheating food…

 I could hear lots of hustle and bustle when this blog is read that too in a Food Blog community. What will happen suddenly all our micro wave ovens are not used for reheating? What will happen if we do not store cooked food in refrigerators for later use? What makes the difference if we finish the food we cook on the same day?

            I am daring to write this blog after a long time since I entered into the food blogging community. I adore everybody here who have a great passion towards food that too good and healthy food. We all are calorie conscious and keen on cooking and eating healthy food. We all rely upon fresh ingredients. Since I live in India, for cooking Indian food, I have the luxury of getting all the ingredients fresh. But how about my friends live all around the world? Getting fresh ingredients is not possible always. That’s why we go for frozen and canned ingredients. That is unavoidable. But storing food in refrigerators and Reheating? This if thought carefully can be avoided as much as possible.

            There is a quote in Siddha Medicine concept. “Mudhal naal samaitha kari amudheninum unnarka” meaning  the food you cook the day before even is amirtham (a heavenly nectar which once taken can give you deathless long life according to Hindu mythology) do not eat it the next day. Traditionally there is something which we all adore about – the values of the concepts formed by our ancestors. They have done so many experiments and had come out with these kinds of concepts for a healthy long life. 

Why not give a try to not store cooked food for the next day atleast for a week? My friends, I know many of us are working women and we hardly get time to cook everyday. But we all are the key persons for our families’ health if we have the determination we can really do it. Give it a try and in a month’s time you will definitely find the difference. The difference in our health, in our attitude (Yes! Food makes our attitude) and in our life. Me and my mother were practicing this all our life and had never stored cooked food in refrigerator. Cook for the day even it’s a simple meal cook and eat it fresh. I know how difficult it is but once it becomes a habit then its all easy! I welcome your comments and thoughts on this.

Lemony…Rosy…Tender Coconut

I was thinking about posting something cool for Meeta’s Monthly mingle but could not think about any icecreams. Finally remembered a drink which I tasted in “Hotel Annalakshmi” in Coimbatore. Its an authentic hotel which serves innovative vegetarian dishes. I tried my best to “remake” it from my memory (by the taste I guessed the ingredients !!!) and was 95% successful. Here comes the Lemony..Rosy…Tender coconut - A refreshing drink with its unique taste.

Ingredients:

 

Tender coconut water – 1 Glass

Rose water (Called as Panneer in tamil) – 2 Tablespoon

Lemon juice – 1 spoon

Sugar / Honey to taste

How to make it ?

Mix tender coconut water with lemon juice and rose water. If the tender coconut water is not so sweet adjust the taste by adding sugar / honey as per your liking. Serve it chilled.

The subtle smell is rose from the rose water and the mild tanginess by the lemon along with the sweet coconut water is refreshingly cool. This is my entry for Monthly Mingle – Beat the Heat by Meeta. I do not know if she could accept this entry as its not the “IceCream”. But this one can definitely help to “beat the heat”

Era Varuval – (Prawn fry)

My mother is a native of coastal region of Nothern Tamilnadu. Here seafood is the main. She adores sea food like anything and prepares a bunch of dishes with all type of fish, prawn, dry fish etc. I shall be posting a few top hits.

Eral Varuval/ Prawn fry

Ingredients:

Eral / Prawn – 1/4 Kg

Tomato (medium sized) – 1

Onion (medium sized) – 1

Giner garlic paste – 2 tablespoon

Sambar podi – 1 teaspoon

turmeric powder – a pinch

Salt – as per taste

Oil – 4 table spoon

How to make it?

Cut tomatoes into tiny pieces. Chop onions.

Heat oil in a kadai. Once its hot add the ginger garlic paste and fry till golden color. Add the onion and fry till its pinkish. Add the tomatoes and cook till they become mushy. Add the sambar podi, turmeric powder, salt and the prawns and cook in low flame for 7 minutes. Check often if the curry sticks to the bottom of the kadai and gently turn over the mixture using a spatula. Once the oil separates decorate with curry leaves and coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

Health Note:

Prawns are supposed to increase heat in the body. Also it creates gastric problem when eaten more. Hence the ginger garlic added should be more inorder to balance that.

Sambar podi

Dried red chillies (preferably the small round ones) 1/2 kg

Dhania or coriander seeds – 1 kg

Black pepper – 100 gm

Cumin seeds – 100 gm

Toor dal – 4 T spoons

Chana dal – 2 T spoons

Fenugreek seeds – 2 T spoons

Grind them all in a flour mill. Store it after cooling in an air tight container. This should be used within 1 month. So adjust quantities according to your needs.