Rasavaangi (with pumpkin)

My sister loves this dish! I got the authentic recipe from my darling chitti...

Ingredients
White pumpkin(ash gourd) cubed 1 cup
Tur dal 1 cup
Asafoetida a pinch
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Mustard seeds, Urad dal, curry leaves, Slit green chillies, oil for seasoning.

For the masala
Red chillies 2-3
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Chana dal 1/2 tsp
Coconut 3 tsp

Method

1. Cook the pumpkin in salt and water till soft.
2. Cook the tur dal with salt, water, turmeric powder and asafoetida.
3. Roast the ingredients for masala and grind to a fine paste adding only enough water.
4. Mix the pumpkin, tur dal, masala and boil. Adjust salt and water.
5. Season with seasonings.
6. Add lemon juice to taste.

Serve hot with rice and poriyal.

Rasam

A Tam-Brahm meal isnt really complete without the comforting rasam. Quick to make if you have the hang of the blend of tastes, its wonderful for kids too. It will take a few trials to get the blend of flavours just right. I could do it, so can anyone!

Ingredients
 Tur dal 1/4 cup washed well
Asafoetida a pinch
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Tamarind extract of a small gooseberry sized piece
Sambar powder 1 tsp
Rasam powder 1 tsp
Tomato 1 big chopped to small pieces
Ghee, mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chillies for seasoning.
Chopped coriander to garnish
Salt to taste.
Jaggery to taste

Method

1. In a pan, mix the tamarind water, sambar powder, rasam powder, tomatoes, salt and boil till tomatoes get cooked.
2. Cook the tur dal with asafoetida and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Mash the dal well.
3. Once the tamarind mix is cooked, add the dal water. Adjust salt and water levels and simmer for few mins till rasam starts frothing. Switch off heat.
4. Add jaggery and chopped cilantro. On top of this season with seasonings. I add roasted-crushed jeera pepper to the seasonings.

Note:

• Add crushed garlic to the seasonings to make garlic-rasam.
• An extra helping of pepper in the seasonings can give it the pepper-rasam twist.

Lemon rasam

My sonny loves lemon rasam and he was kinda disappointed that my blog hasn't yet carried his favourite. So here it is.

Ingredients
Tur dal 1 tbsp washed well.
Tomato 1 big chopped to small pieces
Green chillies 2 slit
Oil 1 tsp
Rasam powder and/or sambar powder 1/2 tsp each.
Lemon juice to taste.
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida a pinch
Chopped coriander leaves
Ghee, mustard seeds, red chilli, curry leaves for seasoning.
Jeera-pepper roasted powder (optional)
Jaggery 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in a small pressure cooker. Add the green chillies, tomatoes, asafoetida, turmeric powder and saute for 2 mins.
2. Add the washed dal, a cup of water, salt, sambar and rasam powder and cook with the lid closed for about 2-3 whistles.
3. Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash the cooked dal well. Add more water and salt if required and simmer for few mins till rasam starts frothing.
4. Add the lemon juice, chopped coriander leaves and jaggery (if you like it).
5. Season with seasonings. I normally add the jeera-pepper powder with the seasonings.

Serve hot with rice. Its very easy to cook and delicious.

Vetta kozhambu

This is a South Indian Brahmin dish. Its actually vattal kozhambu, the vattals being salted and spiced dried brinjal or black night shade(manathakkali in Tamil). The other veggie options are drumstick or pearl onions or yellow pumpkin. This vetta kozhambu has pearl onions and yellow pumpkin.

I have a HUGE crushing weakness for vetta kozhambu. And please note, my mom makes the best vetta kozhambu ever.

Ingredients
Tamarind extract of gooseberry sized ball.
Sambar powder 2 tsp.
Asafoetida a pinch
Salt to taste
Pearl onions peeled 10
Cubed yellow pumpkin 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds
Til oil 1 tsp
Curry leaves a few
Jaggery to taste
Rice powder if needed.

Method

1. Heat oil in kadai. Once hot, burst mustard, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, pearl onions and saute.
2. Once onions are transparent, switch off gas. Add the sambar powder and stir for 2-3 seconds. Take good care that the powder is not burnt.
3. Immediately pour the tamarind extract, salt, pumpkin and switch on gas. Cook covered till pumpkin is cooked. 
4. Adjust, salt, water and sambar powder. If sambar powder is less, fry more separately and add. 
5. Add jaggery, curry leaves and simmer for few minutes. If the kozhambu is too watery, mix some rice powder in a tbsp of the gravy and add along with jaggery.

Serve hot with rice, payatam parupu, cabbage thoran.

Drumstick leaves curry (Murunga ela kootaan)

Simple, nutritious and tasty. Thats drumstick leaves curry for you.

Ingredients
Drumstick leaves 1 cup washed well. The leaves should be off the main stalks.
Tur dal 1 cup
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida a pinch
Coconut 2 tbsp scraped
Jeera 1 tsp
Oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilli broken for seasoning.

Method

1. Wash the dal well. Cook it with turmeric powder, chilli powder and asafoetida. 
2. When it is half cooked, add the drumstick leaves and cook some more. Do not over cook the drumstick leaves.
3. Grind the coconut and jeera to a fine paste. Add it to the dal and mix well. Add salt and simmer for few minutes.
4. Season with the mentioned seasonings.

Serve hot with rice.

Note
If you over cook  the leaves, they tend to turn bitter.

Nellikkai rasam (Gooseberry rasam)

Intriguing?? Me too was intrigued when me came across this rasam at awesomecuisine.com
I went through the ingredients and recipe and finally decided to try it my way. Here is how I did it. And yes, my boys liked it, inspite of it having the very slight caustic bitter of gooseberry.

Ingredients
Tur dal 1 tbsp (washed well)
Green chillies 2 chopped
Tomato 1 big chopped
Oil 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida a pinch
Gooseberry - 2 boiled, deseeded and chopped to small pieces.
Lemon juice 2 tsp (or to taste)
Ginger 1/2 inch chopped fine
Coriander leaves chopped
Roasted cumin-pepper powder, curry leaves, mustard seeds, broken red chilli for seasoning
Ghee for seasoning
Crushed jaggery to taste.
Salt to taste.

Method

1. Heat oil in a small pressure cooker(my favourite tiny hawkins, what would I do without you?).
2. Add the green chillies. Once they turn whitish, add the tomatoes, sambar powder, ginger, gooseberries, turmeric powder, asafoetida and stir for 2-3 mins.
3. Add the tur dal, 1 cup of water and cook well for 15 - 20 mins.
4. Once cooked, mash well with a potato masher or whisk well. Transfer to a handi or kadai, add more water if required, salt to taste. Heat at min. Let it start frothing.
5. When it just starts frothing, add the lemon juice and jaggery. Adjust the lemon juice-jaggery-salt so that the bitter taste of gooseberries is masked, and just its caustic flavour remains.
6. Add chopped coriander leaves. 
7. Heat ghee and add the seasonings. Add on top of the coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice.

Note

• Go easy on the quantity of gooseberry. 
• The above measures serve 2-3 people.
  

Ulli theeyal

I love this close cousin of vetta kozhambu. Its the ulli theeyal of mallu-land. Pearl onions simmered in tamarind based gravy with select spices. I found the recipe on the internet. Unfortunately, I do not remember the website. And I have made a couple of additions to take the dish to another level.

Spicy and heavenly with hot white rice, the perfect accompaniment to it would be a non-sour dish like olan or ishtoo. And today's ishtoo was kappa ishtoo.

Here it goes

Ingredients

Small onions - 20 of them(peeled, washed and sliced)

Dry red chillies - 6 nos

Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp

Coconut - 1/2 of one grated finely

Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Tamarind extract of a gooseberry sized ball

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Dry red chillies - 2 - 3 nos for seasoning

Curry leaves - A few

Jaggery crushed 1-2 tsp

Rice powder as and if needed

Salt - As reqd

Method

 

1. Heat up a pan or a kadai.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and stir for a sec.
3. Add red chillies and coriander seeds and fry for a while, transfer to mixie.
4. Roast the coconut well, till it turns brown. Be careful to not let it burn. Stir constantly. This step may be a little exasperating since you will find bigger bits of the coconut refusing to brown. Its enough if most of the coconut is brown.Transfer to mixie.
5. Allow the above roasted mixture to cool.
6. Grind it in a mixer grinder along with enough water into a smooth paste.
7. Heat oil in a pan or a kadai.
8. Splutter mustard seeds and saute dry red chillies and curry leaves.
9. Add sliced onions and saute, till they turn golden brown in colour.
10. Add turmeric powder and saute again.
11. Add tamarind extract and mix well.
12. Allow it to boil.
13. When the first boil comes up, add the coconut paste and salt.
14. Mix well the whole contents.
15. Simmer it for a while.
16. Add the jaggery.
17. When the required consistency is reached (which is neither too thick nor too thin), remove from the flame.
18. If you find it a little too thin, add half a tsp of rice powder by first mixing it in a tbsp of the curry and then simmering for 10 mins.

  Serve hot with rice and porial and pappad.  Believe me its very tasty!!

Kappa Ishtoo (Tapioca stew)

As I had some tapioca, I wanted to try the tapioca stew, which is similar to the potato stew. Only thing to be careful is about the cooking time of tapioca. It takes much longer to cook than potatoes.
Take a look at the Potato stew recipe, and simply replace potatoes with chunks of tapioca.

Lunch was kappa ishtoo, ulli theeyal and cabbage thoran. All yumm!

Poricha kozhambu

This is another pepper based dish that my boys are fond of. They love it with parupu saadam and nei. :-) Did you get the aroma of simple parupu saadam and nei???

Credit to my chitti for the recipe.

Ingredients

Tur dal 1 cup
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Veggies cubed 1 cup (carrot, pumpkin, beans, drumstick any of these)
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder 1 tsp
Red chilli 1
Urad dal 1 tsp
Peppercorns 3/4 tsp
Coconut scraped 2 tsp
Oil 1/2 tsp
Oil, curry leaves, mustard for seasoning.
Salt to taste

Method

1. Cook tur dal with turmeric and asafoetida in 2 cups of water. Mash well. Keep aside.
2. Cook the veggies with sambar powder and salt in 1 cup of water.
3. Fry the urad dal, peppercorns,red chilli, coconut in oil. Grind to smooth paste.
4. Mix all the above three. Adjust salt and water and bring to boil.
5. Season with the seasonings.

Serve hot with rice and a nice sabji.

Note :
Pepper makes the dish very hot. Go easy on it at first.

Paarkai pitlai (Bitter gourd sambar)

Lets face it, I hate bitter gourd, could never bring myself to eat it, and even now cant have more than a bite, of whatever preparation. However well it is made.
Lets also face it, my boys love it. So today I decided to make paarkai pitlai. Had a few stalks of thandu keerai, thought of throwing in that too to see how it goes.

Here is how I made it. I blindly followed my Amma's recipe (sub-junior chef that I am).

Ingredients
Bitter gourd 1 - skinned, deseeded and sliced to long pieces. Smear with salt and keep aside.
Extract of a lemon sized piece of tamarind
Sambar powder 1 and half tsp
Tur dal half cup
Asafoetida a pinch
Turmeric powder quarter tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Chana dal 1 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Red chillies 2-3
Coconut scraped 2 tsp
Oil for frying and seasoning 2 tsp
Mustard seeds, Curry leaves, Red chillies for seasoning
Salt to taste

Method

1. Boil the tamarind extract with sambar powder. (I cooked the green stalks along with this).
2. Cook tur dal with turmeric powder, asafoetida and water in pressure cooker. Dal should be well cooked.
3. Cook/steam the sliced bitter gourd pieces. Discard any water that is left due to cooking.
4. Fry coriander seeds, chana dal, urad dal, red chillies, coconut in oil. Grind to fine paste.
5. Mix all the above four and bring to a boil. Adjust salt.
6. Season with the seasonings mentioned.

Erissery

Erissery is a tasty Kerala dish of two types, one with plantain or yam and the other with yellow pumpkin and red beans. I like the red beans waala, and tried it out.

Within this itself, I found many variations and many ingredients. Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

Red beans (glossary of bean varieties incase you are wondering what it is) - 1/2 cup
Yellow pumpkin cubed 1 cup
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Grated coconut 2 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves, coconut scrapped for seasoning.
Oil for seasoning

Method

1. Cook the yellow pumpkin with salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder in 1/2 cup water. The pumpkin should be cooked but still firm, not mushy. Keep aside.
2. Cook the red beans with water in a pressure cooker. The red beans should be well cooked.
3. Grind coconut and jeera to a fine paste. Add it to the beans + pumpkin. Simmer for few minutes. Add half spoon sugar if there is no sweet taste at all. The dish should be slightly sweet.
4. Heat coconut oil, add mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and season. Fry coconut separately and season.

Note
I have purposefully omitted the onion and garlic in my preparation, since I do not consider them to be 'sadhya' specific ingredients. Many recipies that I saw called for garlic and few pearl onions to be ground with the coconut.
I omitted green chillies too in my paste since the spice of the red chilli was sufficient.

This is a side dish. Consistency should be that of an avial or kootu.

Potato stew (Ishtoo)

Potatoes cooked in coconut milk, spiced very selectively, it can't get simpler or tastier than this. Have it with idli, dosa, rice, bread or even phulkas.

My boys love it with dosa and onion chutney.


Ingredients

Potatoes 2-3 peeled, cubed to large pieces
Onion 1 big sliced to long pieces
Green chillies 2-3 slit lengthwise
Curry leaves a few
Ginger 1 inch piece
Coconut oil 1 tsp
Coconut milk 1 - 2 cups

Method

1. Mix the potatoes, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger, salt to taste, a cup of water and cook covered. I cook in my favourite tiny hawkins pressure cooker. The potatoes should become mushy.
2. Mix well, mash up a few potato chunks with a spatula.
3. Add the coconut milk and simmer for a few mins. Add a few drops of coconut oil and mix well.

 Swadisht ishtoo tayyaar!!!!

Note

• We do not fry any ingredient in this.
• Do not cook for too long after adding coconut milk.
• Take care with the quantity of water. The dish should have consistency of that of a dal or sambar.

This is the most basic version of ishtoo. I have seen people add cloves, cardamom etc, add in a few more veggies like carrot, peas etc. But I am happy with the simpler, down-to-earth version.

Mint rasam

Rasam with mint!!! I just tried this new rasam, courtesy my sister. I was pretty apprehensive while adding the final ground paste, and worried that the whole dish would have to be discarded. But somewhere I had faith in my sister, and if she says a dish is good, it has to be!!!

This is how I made it.

Ingredients
Tamarind extract - 1 cup
Tomato - 1 large
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp
Rasam powder - 1/2 tsp
Dal water - 1 cup
Mint - 1/3 of a bunch.
Coriander leaves - a closed fistful.
Green chillies 2
Ginger 1/4 inch
Turmeric powder
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt to taste.
Pepper - jeera roasted and crushed
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds
Ghee for tempering

Method

1. Boil the tamarind water, turmeric powder, asafoetida, chopped tomato, sambar and rasam powder with salt till cooked.
2. While it is boiling, grind the mint, coriander, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste.
3. Once the tamarind mix is cooked well, add the ground paste, dal water and simmer till the rasam froths. Adjust salt and water.
4. Heat ghee. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, pepper-jeera powder. Temper onto the rasam.

Note: Since we add green chillies, add a little less of rasam powder and sambar powder than you usually would.

Mor kootu

Pudina thohayal, mor kootu and kovakka kari with white rice. Heaven!!!

Thohayal is a semi solid chutney of many kinds. My son loves Pudina thohayal the best. And with that goes pumpkin-carrots simmered in yogurt based gravy, mor kootu.

Here is how I made it, after asking for last minute instructions from Amma.

Ingredients
Pumpkin cubed - half cup
Carrot cubed - half cup
Slightly sour yogurt beaten well 1 cup
Grated coconut 3 tsp
Green chillies 2-3
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Rice powder 1/2 tsp
Mustard, red chilli, curry leaves for tadka.

Method

1. Cook the pumpkin and carrot in a cup of water with salt and turmeric. I like my mor kootu white, so I dont add turmeric.
2. Grind the coconut, green chillies, jeera, rice powder to a fine paste.
3. Add the paste to the simmering pumpkin-carrot and let it cook well till raw smell goes.
4. Then add the beaten yogurt, adjust salt and water and simmer for 3-4 mins.
5. Heat little oil and add the tadka items. Add this to the dish and its ready to serve. :-)

Note
1. After adding the ground paste, let it cook well.
2.  Ensure to have the yogurt beaten well, else it will curdle once you add it to the hot dish. And once you have added yogurt, do not cook for too long. Just simmer for a few mins.

Milagu kozhambu

My boys are both fond of pepper, and though I don't care much for this spice, I end up incorporating some or the other pepper based dish often in our meals. I must say that I am beginning to develop a taste for this very versatile and powerful spice.

And since I am still learning, I wanted to try this milagu kozhambu which I used to avoid while at home. Took inputs from Amma, my sister(who is younger to me but is a great cook), and my chitti.

And this is how I made it finally.

Ingredients
Spices
Peppercorns 3 tsp
Tur dal 3 tsp
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Red chillies 3-4
Chana dal 1/2 tsp
Urad dal 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves handful, washed,fresh,dark green.

For the gravy
Lemon size tamarind extract
Pinch of asafoetida
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method
1. Fry the spices in a little oil till done.
2. Fry the curry leaves till crisp.
3. Powder these to a soft powder.
4. Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, methi seeds, asafoetida.
5. When mustard is done, add the tamarind extract, salt, turmeric powder, ground powder and bring to boil.
6. It is done when it has thickened a bit.

This is very spicy and has to be had in little quantities. Best served with tur dal and ghee with hot rice.

Do it right and it can stay for a week in the fridge.

And yeah, I kinda liked the combination of parupu saadam with milagu kozhambu. :-)

Do try it!