Ennai Katirikkai / Brinjal Tamil Nadu Style

At the very Southern tip of India is Kanya Kumari. I was fortunate to visit this place recently and watch both the sun rise and sun set at the tri-sea sangam. The point where the Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal meet.

We stayed at Sparsa Hotel. The hotel was dated; but the food at the restaurant was so good.

Being typical South Indians, we wanted Curd Rice by the end of the second day. So we ordered rice and curd. The steward suggested we have Ennai Kathirikkai. He asked us to order Lime rice to go with it; but we did not as the total quantity of food ordered would have been too much for us to consume.

Ennai Kathirikkai was amazing. My dad, who hates Brinjal, ate some of the curry!

After coming home, my fridge was nearly barren with no vegetables, except BRINJAL!!
So, I made Lime rice with Ennai kathirikkai. My family loved it.

And here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

This recipe is from Kanyakumari and since this place is almost similar to Kerala, there is coconut added. Maybe usually they don't, but I did.

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 5
Onion - 2 medium, chopped
Shallots / small onion - 5 (optional)
Garlic - 3 pods
Ginger - 2 inch
Tomato - 2 medium
Green chilly - 2
Tamarind - 1 small ball
Curry leaf - 2 sprigs
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Red chilly - 5 or more
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard seed - 1 tsp
Red chilly for spluttering - 2
Methi seeds / uluva - 1 tsp
Oil (preferably til, if not mix of til and vegetable oil) - 8 tbsp

Method:
Heat oil and fry the onions till golden.
Add the ginger and garlic and fry till the garlic turns golden.
Add the tomato and green chilly and fry till the tomato skin peels.
Cool and grind to smooth paste.

Heat a kadai and fry the coriander and red chilly without any oil, till the seeds start popping.
Add this to the fresh coconut and grind to a smooth paste.

In the same kadai, add 4 tbsp oil and add the brinjal to it.

 Fry on a low flame, stirring occasionally till it gets cooked inside and skin changes colour.

Remove from oil and transfer to a plate until later.

Add the rest of the oil to the kadai and splutter the mustard and red chilly.
Then add the methi seeds.
(optional step) Add the Shallots and fry till golden brown.

Add the tomato onion paste, curry leaf and cook covered on a low flame; while stirring occasionally till oil oozes.

Once the oil is seen around the edges, add the tamarind juice, salt and turmeric powder.

Cook covered till the gravy thickens.

Add the fried brinjal and cook covered for 2 minutes. If you think the gravy is too thick, add a splash of water.

Then add the ground coconut.

Ennai Kathirikkai is ready after this boils for 1 minute.
But serve after half an hour so that the curry amalgamates the flavours.

Serve with Lemon rice or plain rice.

Hand rolled home made Pasta

While we think of Pasta, we always think of store bought ones. But making Pasta at home is not that tough and depending on the shape is quite easy.

Gnocchetti is a easy shape to make. And the special machines used are - fork and your thumb!

Ingredients:
All purpose flour / maida - 1 cup
Semolina / rava - 1/3 cup

Salt to taste

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Mix the Flour, Semolina and salt.

Add just enough water to make a stiff dough. 

Add the Olive oil and knead well.

Keep covered for minimum 1 hour.

When you ready to shape the pasta, knead again.

To make Gnocchetti, you need a fork or anything serrated.

When you ready to cook the pasta, boil a lot of water with salt. 
When it comes to a rolling boil, add a handful of the rolled pasta and wait for it to float up. 
Take one and bite, if it feels cooked; strain. Otherwise continue cooking for 2-3 minutes more. Drain and toss in olive oil.
Bring the same water to boil and cook the rest of the pasta the same way.
After 2 batches, discard the water and use fresh water.

Use this pasta to make any dish of your choice.
I used it in a creamy tomato sauce.

Recipe:

Bring the home made pasta tomato sauce to a boil and add chopped Capsicum.

After 2 minutes, add 1 cup milk and boil again. 

Add the cooked hand rolled pasta and cook for one minute.

Serve hot garnished with cheese.

Freezing fresh peas

As the green peas season draws to a close, it is time to freeze some fresh green peas for later use.

I bought a kilo of green peas in the pod and got around 650 gm of green peas.

Before the green peas are frozen, they need to be cooked for 1-2 minutes in hot boiling water and then dunked into ice cold water to stop the cooking process and for maintaining colour. Then they are drained and dried on a cloth before getting transferred to a freezer-safe polythene bag.

While some people add 1 tsp of sugar to the boiling water, I have not done so. But feel free to add this.

Below is the pictorial of the freezing process.

Look how they sink to the bottom of the hot boiling water.

Cook till they float up.

Drain.

Transfer to a ice water.

Drain when cool.

Spread on a cloth to dry out.

Transfer to a food grade freezer safe polythene bag and freeze until required.

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.