Puli sevai / puli aval / puli rice / tamarind flavoured preparations

While the recipe for Puliyogarai or the traditional tamarind rice is a laborious time consuming process, this is a quick easy way of enjoying tamarind rice, sevai and poha / aval. The paste for the Puliyogarai can be made and kept in advance, but this is instantaneous. If you have Sambar powder with you, the cooking is done in a jiffy.

Ingredients:
Sevai / cooked white rice / Wet poha - 1 1/2 cup
Tamarind - lemon sized ball
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tbsp heaped
Jaggery - 1 tbsp

For spluttering:
Til oil / Nallennai / sesame oil** - 2 tbsp
** while sesame oil is preferred, you can use vegetable oil also
Mustard - 1 tsp
Red chilly - 1 broken
Curry leaf - 1 sprig
Ground nuts - 2 tbsp (optional)
Til seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
Urad dal - 1 tsp (optional)
Channa Dal - 1 tsp (optional)
Cashewnuts - 3 numbers, broken (optional)

Method:
Immerse the Tamarind in 4 tbsp water and extract a thick pulp.
Into this add the sambar powder, jaggery, salt and Turmeric powder.
The Jaggery must get completely dissolved in the puli.

Add the rice / sevai / poha to this and mix well.

Heat the oil in a kadai and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the dals (if using) and broken red chilly. Then add the ground nuts. Once they start popping, add the cashewnuts. Once they turn golden, add the curry leaf.

Add the tamarind mixed rice/ poha or sevai to this and mix well.
Cook for 3-4 minutes.

 Your tamarind flavored rice / seva / poha is ready.

Bharwaan bhindi / Indian style Stuffed Okra

When I used to study in Chennai, erstwhile Madras at St.John's School, Mandaveli, I had a classmate, Renuka. Her family used to own the famous Bombay Sweet House in Luz. She used to bring Chappathy to school everyday and her accompaniment were usually a single vegetable dry dish. If it was Lady's Finger, I used to eat so much of her lunch that she would hardly have anything left. It is a sweet memory, but a sad one as I have not been able to recreate that dish even after 30 + years.

Today, i stumbled upon Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe of Bharwan bhindi and when I tried the same at home, the taste took me back several decades. Ofcourse, Renuka was Jain and there used to be no Onion in her tiffin-box; but I followed Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe.

Ingredients:
Lady's finger - 250 gms
Onion - 1 large
Green chilly - 1
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Chilly powder - 2 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Aamchoor powder / Dry mango powder - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash and dry the lady's finger.
Cut into 2 inch pieces.
Mix all the powders together.
Slit (not split) the Lady's finger and place some of the mixed powder inside it.

Cut the onion length wise and slit the green chilly.

Heat the oil in a thick bottomed vessel.
Add the onion and green chilly. Fry until they turn transparent.

Add the stuffed lady's finger and give a stir. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes.

Open lid and continue frying till the onion browns and lady's finger gets nearly crispy.

Serve hot with chappathy.

Javvarisi Vadam / Sabudana Pappad

Making your own Pappadom is a very fulfilling art. While Sabudana / Javvarisi is used to make upuma/khichdi, Vada and Payasam; it can be made into yummy snack to be had with tea/coffee or as an accompaniment for your meals.

Please make the batter when you are confident of ample sunlight for 3 consecutive days.

Yield: 40 pieces

Ingredients:
Sabudana / Javvarisi - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Green chilly - 1
Asafoetida powder / kayam / hing - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp

Optional:
Additional ingredients can be added like red chilli powder, Pepper, chopped onions, ground tomato.
Some people add lemon juice to the batter after it has been pressure cooked.
If you wish to add the ground tomato - measure and add to the cooker and reduce water accordingly.

Method:
Wash and soak the sabudana in 2 cups of water overnight.
Next morning, transfer the puffed Sabudana with all the water it was soaking in overnight + 1/2 cup more into the cooker. (Water to Sabudana ratio is 5:1)
Add salt (very less) and let the cooker give out 3 whistles. Reduce and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off flame.
When the pressure releases and it is still warm, grind either the whole lot or 3/4th of the pearls.
(I have ground all the javvarisi)
If the mixture cools down too much before you grind it, use warm water only to grind; never cold/tap water.
Add the green chilli either ground or pounded, the asafoetida powder and oil. Mix well.
When the batter cools, it will thicken.
Take a clean white cotton cloth and place tablespoon full of batter on the sheets and allow to dry for 2-3 days.

After drying in the sun, it will be quite hard to remove from the cloth.
Wet the underside of the cloth with some water and peel off the poppadom.
Dry the underside to remove all traces of water the next day.
Store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.
Deep fry required amounts and enjoy your pappadom with tea/ coffee or rice.

Tapioca dosa

Tapioca / Kappa / Cassava is a very important source of carbohydrate in Kerala. And the most famous dish of Kappa is the steamed version served with a fiercely spicy curry usually made with fish.

Today we will make a dosa with tapioca. Dosa is usually made with rice and Urad dal, soaked in water and ground to a fine paste, fermented and then spread on a hot flat iron pan.

Tapioca dosa has rice, tapioca and coconut ground together and can be made immediately. no fermentation required. And it tastes very good without any accompaniments. I seved with Mango chutney, but that is not required.

Ingredients:

Rice - 3/4 cup soaked in water for 2 hours
Measure this quantity of soaked rice and take the same amount of raw Tapioca.
Coconut - 1/2 measures of the soaked rice quantity

Method:
Grind the rice into a fine paste and add the coconut and raw tapioca. Grind well.
Transfer to a vessel and add salt to taste.
Make dosa on a hot iron tava and use gingelly oil for cooking.
Serve HOT

Do not serve cold as it does not taste as good.

Chocolate Truffles

Last night 2017 ended and 2018 started. New Promises, New Resolutions and New Ideas.
We celebrated this new year's entry at midnight with a tasty midnight treat.
How can you go wrong with Chocolate?

Recipe Source : Jamie Oliver

The recipe is very easy and you just need to use the BEST ingredients to make it.

Ingredients:
Cooking Chocolate (70%) - 250 gms
Cream - 125 gms
Butter - 25 gms
Roasted and powdered nut (I used Almonds)* - 50 gms

Method:
Grate the chocolate (FINELY) and place in a glass bowl.
Heat the cream to boiling point and add in the butter. Let the butter melt.
Pour this over the chocolate and mix well.
The chocolate will melt.

Mix again after 2 - 3 minutes to be sure that all the pieces have melted.
Put this mixture is the fridge for 2 hours to set it.
After 2 hours, scoop out a small ball, roll it in your hands and coat with the nut powder.
Truffles are ready!!
* Place the nuts in a single layer in an oven proof vessel and bake at 190 for 6-10 minutes. Cool and powder.

Instant Jalebi

My Jalebi

Store bought jalebi

Ok, My jalebi does not look as perfect and beautiful as the ones from the store....But in my favor, these 'Halwai' have years of experience. Come on, it was my first try. And they tasted excellent.

It is very easy to make and recipe is straight forward.

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Food colour - 1 pinch

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Lemon juice to taste

Oil / ghee for deep frying.

Method:
Heat the sugar with 1 cup water.

Make a sugar syrup which is quite thick (nearly 1 string). 

And add lemon juice to add flavor and zing.

You can some colour to this too.

Mix the maida, rice flour, baking powder and food colour.

Add the curd and make a batter.

Add water if necessary.

The batter should be of drop consistency and have no lumps.

Heat the oil in a flat pan , 1 inch thick.

Fill the Batter into a squeezy bottle with a slightly thicker spout.

Now is the part where you try to make swirls in the oil...

Fry both sides and soak in the sugar syrup for 30 seconds.

And it is ready!!

Taste the first batch and if the sour is not enough add more lemon juice to the sugar syrup.

I will post some better pictures when I have mastered the art of Jalebi making. Till then You too try out this recipe and send me some of your pictures.

Natural Shampoo

Kerala women are known for their long hair. We use coconut oil boiled and cooled with various natural ingredients like pepper, curry leaf, tulasi, dried gooseberry, rice and some even add shallots.

But once you do your Champi with this oil, do you still use chemicals to wash it off?

My grandmother was known for her long hair. Before she shifted back to India after Partition, she was known as the 'gol gol baal wali ladki' in Karachi. Her hair used to be so long that she had to pin her plaits with her saree pallu while serving food!

I present to you all her shampoo recipe - a natural shampoo made with Shikkakai, methi seeds and Hibiscus leaves.

I do not know how many of you can make this shampoo given that these ingredients are very local. But I still share it here for those who can.

For 1 person with shoulder length hair.

Soak 6 pods of shikkakkai (Acacia concinna) with 1 tsp methi seeds in water overnight.
In the morning, collect about 10 to 15 hibiscus leaves and maybe a flower or two (preferably from the indigenous red colour chembaruthy plant).
Grind the shikkakkai + methi first.
Then add the leaves and flower and grind well.
Resulting mixture will be gooey and it froths well.

Things to remember:
1. This 'shampoo'  needs loads of water to wash off the leaves from hair.
Remember that these ladies of yore took bath in ponds / rivers. It was easy for them to wash it off. You can always shake it out of your hair, once your hair dries.

2. If you wish you can add Besan / kadala maav 2-3 tsp to the gooey paste, but this will make your hair very dry.

3. Use this 'shampoo' minimum 2 times on your hair during the bath and froth well to remove all the oil. Your triceps / biceps will have a thorough workout for sure, but it is worth the effort.

4. Close your eyes tightly, as shikkakkai stings the eye.