Sumy's Adukazha

Keerai/Palak chappathi

2010-02-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

This is one variation of chappathi (thin wheat bread).

Ingredients:

Green leafy vegetable
1-2 green chillies
salt to taste
Wheat flour

Method of preparation:

cook the green leaf with a pinch of salt, turmeric powder and green chilli.. Grind it to a paste. Mix this with the wheat dough which is used to prepare the normal chappathi.

Take small balls of the above dough and press down to a thin sheet. Place it over a pre-heated tawa and toss and turn it over till both the sides are done. You may apply oil/ghee on the surface.

Enjoy it with curd and pickle...

I do cook...okay

2010-02-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

I apologize that i've not been posting any new receipes which i had tried / been trying at home...

I had saved many pictures in my album. Hence will release one by one.

Here we go with a cup cake receipe:

1 cup of maida
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup of powdered sugar (lessened or increased according to one's wish)
1 tbsp of vanilla essence
1 tbsp of baking powder
2 egg
food color - yellow (optional)

Mix the butter and sugar thoroughly till the sugar has dissolved. To this add the eggs and beat it well. Add the maida little by little to the above and mix it well so that no lumps are formed. Add baking soda and vanilla essence and milk to this and stir it in the same direction for sometime. Add some more maida/all purpose flour to get it in the required consistency.

Pour the dough in microwave safe small cups. I used the idly making trays. Cook this for 4-5 mintues in microwave mode.

Merry Christmas and happy new year 2010

2009-12-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

Thank you for a year of blessing, of new friends made, hearts reaching out across continents, and time to come visit me. I have loved every minute!

In the coming new year we continue to grow in our friendship, and meet often in front of these screens with more exciting receipies and more yum dishes to share and enjoy.

Wish you all a happy merry christmas
and
happy and fabulous and prosperous new year 2010.

Happy cooking and take care,
Sumy Sunil

Payaru dosa…

2009-12-05T05:03:00.000-08:00

I’ve tried this receipe for the first time in my life and I’m happy that it came out very well and my DH liked it very well.

I found the payaru koottan still not finished by my family. I don’t wanna to throw it away either. If I reheat it and serve it the next day, I know for sure my kids don’t touch it or my DH will return a frown look.

So to relish my creative juice, I grinded the payaru koottan and mixed it with plain rice dough.

I poured this payaru rice dough in a nonstick pan as a dosa. Pour little oil on top of the dosa to get nice and crispy.

Enjoy this with coconut chutney/tomato chutney.

Payaru koottaan/gravy

2009-12-05T04:58:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
• Payaru – 2 cup
• Onions – 1
• Tomato - 2
• 1 tbsp – mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp- cooking oil
• green chilly/ dry red chilli – 1-2 slitted
• 1 pinch of turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp of malli powder
• ½ tbsp of chilli powder
• Coconut – ½ portion
• 1 tbsp jeerakham seeds
• Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Soak the Payaru seeds in water overnight ( 8 hours). Wash it thoroughly with fresh water the next day and pressure cooker it with a pinch of salt.

Grind the grated coconut with jeerakham and 1 green chilli.

In a kadai, pour some cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, kadala paruppu, jeerakham, urud dhal seeds. When it becomes golden brown, add chopped onions, slitted green chillies and lotsa of curry leaves and stir fry it till it becomes light brown. To this, add a pinch of turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, malli powder and sauté it till the raw smell is gone. To this add the cooked kondakaddalla and coconut paste. Add some water to make it in a gravy form and allow it to boil. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy the curry with plain rice/Ari puttu/Ragi Puttu.

Idili uppuma

2009-12-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

What do you do with the leftover idili that you would have prepared for breakfast/dinner? Don’t throw it off. Refrigerate it and it can be used to prepare yummy uppuma.

Here we go with the ingredients

1. Idillies
2. Onions – 1
3. 1 tbsp – mustard seeds
4. 1 tbsp- cooking oil
5. green chilly/ dry red chilli – 1-2 slitted
6. 1 pinch of turmeric powder
7. 1 tbsp jeerakham seeds
8. 2 tbsp idili podi/paruppu podi
9. Salt to taste
10. groundnuts

Method of preparation:

Powder the idillies with the hand. Make sure no lumps are formed.

In a kadai, pour some cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, kadala paruppu, jeerakham, urud dhal seeds and groundnuts. When it becomes golden brown, add chopped onions, broken dry red chillies and lotsa of curry leaves and stir fry it till it becomes light brown. To this, add a pinch of turmeric powder, idili podi and salt to taste. To this add the powdered idilli and mix it well and allow it to warm.

You may also add chopped beans and carrot to this.

Kondakadala kuttan/curry

2009-12-05T03:06:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:
• Kondakadalla – 2 cup
• Onions – 1
• Tomato - 2
• 1 tbsp – mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp- cooking oil
• green chilly/ dry red chilli – 1-2 slitted
• 1 pinch of turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp of malli powder
• ½ tbsp of chilli powder
• Coconut – ½ portion
• 1 tbsp jeerakham seeds
• Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Soak the kondakaddalla seeds in water overnight ( 8 hours). Wash it thoroughly with fresh water the next day and pressure cooker it with a pinch of salt.

Grind the grated coconut with jeerakham and 1 green chilli.

In a kadai, pour some cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, kadala paruppu, jeerakham, urud dhal seeds. When it becomes golden brown, add chopped onions, slitted green chillies and lotsa of curry leaves and stir fry it till it becomes light brown. To this, add a pinch of turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, malli powder and sauté it till the raw smell is gone. To this add the cooked kondakaddalla and coconut paste. Add some water to make it in a gravy form and allow it to boil. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy the curry with plain rice/Ari Puttu/Ragi Puttu.

Beetroot thoran/poriyal

2009-12-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

A nice dry sidedish to go with plain rice...

Ingredients:
• chopped pieces of beetroot
• Onions – 1
• 1 tbsp – mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp- cooking oil
. dry peanut - 10-15 pieces
• green chilly/ dry red chilli – 1-2 slitted
• 1 pinch of turmeric powder
• ½ tbsp of chilli powder
• Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

In a kadai, pour some cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, kadala paruppu, jeerakham, urud dhal seeds. When it becomes golden brown, add chopped onions, slitted green chillies, peanuts and lotsa of curry leaves and stir fry it till it becomes light brown. To this, add chopped pieces of beetroot and a pinch of turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder and mix it thoroughly and allow it to cook. Sprinkle little water if you feel it is dry and requires some more cooking.

Egg Curry/Motta kuttan

2009-12-05T02:33:00.000-08:00

Easy and requires less time for preparation....

Ingredients:
1. Boiled eggs – 4 (depending on the requirement)
2. Onions – 2
3. Tomato – 2
4. 1 tbsp – mustard seeds
5. 1 tbsp- cooking oil
6. green chilly – 1-2 slitted
7. 1 pinch of turmeric powder
8. ½ tbsp of garam masala powder
9. ginger garlic paste

Method of preparation:

Boil eggs separately.

In a kadai, pour some cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, kadala paruppu, jeerakham, urud dhal seeds. When it becomes golden brown, add ginger garlic paste and sauté it till its raw smell is gone. Add chopped onions, slitted green chillies and stir fry it till it becomes light brown. To this, add the finely chopped tomatoes and cook it till it becomes soggy. Add turmeric powder, salt, garam masala and pour little water if you want it in gravy form. Allow it to cook till it boils. To this add the boiled egg cut into halves. Pour the gravy on top of the eggs.

(Sorry for the poor picture, actually the gravy was red in color..it looks dull in here..there was no proper lighting i believe ..)

Enjoy this yummy sidedish with chappathi/plain

Masala peanuts…on a rainy day!!!!

2009-12-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

First of all, sorry guys…had been off from the blogland for quiet sometime because of my tight schedule in my project…second…there is restrictions in accessing net from work as I’m fortunately/unfortunately in a project which has strict policy from accessing net…so you guys may not get a menu from me on a daily basis..i will try to post atleast on weekends….I do cook you know and take pictures of those….so…there will be some interesting posts infrequently from my end…so watchout…

And offlate, It has been raining in Chennai for past few days....as part of “karthika deepam” …...and I thought of enjoying my hot tea with something spicy….....so…here I go with a spicy and crispy masala peanut…

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw groundnut
2 tbsp of kadala maavu(gram flour)
½ tbsp of pepper powder
½ tbsp of chilli powder
A pinch of Asafoetida powder
Salt to taste
1 pinch of food color (optional…I’ve not added as it was not available at home..it gives a nice and red color coating)

Method of preparation:

1. Wash the raw groundnut with water and keep it aside
2. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients mentioned above and to it add the washed groundnut. Mix them well so that a uniform coat is formed on the wet peanuts
3. Microwave the above for 3-4 minutes. Stir it once after 2 mintues..

Enjoy with your evening tea…

Besibellabath/Sambhar rice

2009-11-11T01:17:00.000-08:00

This mixed rice is something I dread when I was a little child. It was really spicy then.

Now I love to have a big serving of it in one sitting..such a yummy fab delicious dish…with lotsa of veggies in it…nice and glossy…

Ingredients:

1. Vegetables – Drumstick, brinjal, carrot, cauliflower, potato, long beans, green peas (1 of each)
2. finely chopped onions - 2
3. finely chopped tomatoes – 2
4. Soaked rice – 2 cup
5. Sambhar paruppu – 1 cup
6. Asafodiea powder – ½ tbsp
7. malli (coriander ) seeds – 1 tbsp
8. jeerakham seeds – 1 tbsp
9. dry red chilli – 1-2
10. turmeric powder – a pinch
11. salt to taste
12. 1 handful of grated coconut/coppara

Method of preparation:

1. Soak the rice and sambhar paruppu (already washed) in 7 cup of water for 10-15 mintues
2. in a kadai, fry deeply the grated coconut/coppara, coriander seeds,red dry chilli, jeerakham seeds, Asafodiea powder, 1-2 pearl onions, 1 strand of curry leaves with little oil.
3. Grind the above mix and keep it aside
4. in a deep bottom kadai, pour some oil and fry the chopped vegetables mentioned above with little salt and pinch of turmeric powder.
5. Add the ground paste to the above fried vegetables and just cook for 5 minutes
6. Now in a pressure cooker, mix the soaked rice and sambhar paruppu with the water to the above mix and cook it till 3 whistles.

It should come out like a nice, over cooked rice….something like sticky sticky consistency.

Mix the whole stuff well and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Adjust the salt after tasting it.

Enjoy with pappadam/pappad, mixture, potato chips.....

Ven (No..Yellow) Pongal

2009-11-11T01:05:00.000-08:00

Ven pongal is something special dish in Tamil nadu. One get this dish as a prasadam in many temple after the drashan. It tastes like ambrosia.

In my home, I prepare this for the breakfast mostly once in a week.

So let us go first with the ingredients:

1. Rice – 1 cup
2. Pongal paruppu/Seruparuppu/deskinned pasiparruppu – ¾ to 1 cup
3. salt to taste
4. ghee for seasoning
5. pepper seeds – 1 tbsp
6. jeerakam seeds – 1 tbsp
7. green chilli – 1-2 slitted
8. curry leaves

Method of preparation:

1. Mix the washed rice and pongal paruppu and add salt to taste and 1 pinch of turmeric powder (optional) to give a nice yellow colour and add 3 and ½ cup of water to it. Pressure cook it till 3 whistles.

For seasoning:
• In a pan, heat little ghee and splutter the pepper seeds, jeerakham seeds, dry broken red chilli/green chilli and curry leaves.

Pour out the seasoning to the cooked rice/pongal and mix it well.

Enjoy this with cocunut chutney and sambhar.

Kariveppalla/Curry leaf chutney

2009-11-11T00:32:00.000-08:00

First to talk about the importance of curry leaves…it is rich in calcium…good for health…for hair growth etc etc….

My front yard has a big curry plant/tree…and once it is blooms, the whole front yard gets a spread of this plant…

Ingredients:

• 1 /2 tbsp of mustard seeds
• cooking oil – 1 tbsp
• 1 tbsp – uzhundhu dhal seeds
• 1 tbsp – kadala paruppu
• salt to taste
• 1 small piece of tamarind
• Handful of curry leaves
• 1 – finely chopped onion
• 1- finely chopped tomatoes
• 1-2 green chillies slited
• 1-2 dry red chilli

Method of preparation:

• In a heavy bottom pan, pour out some cooking oil and throw all the above ingredients and fry it till it becomes dry.
• Grind it very well with little water.

For seasoning:
• In a pan, heat little cooking oil and splutter the mustard seeds and dry broken red chilli

Pour out the seasoning to the above ground curry leaf paste and mix it well.

Enjoy this with hot hot idli, dosa...

If you mix it with plain rice, it becomes the kariveppalla rice..(another mixed rice)...

Egg burji/Egg podimas

2009-11-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

Any recipe which can be prepared in a minute or two is one and only egg burji.

Mix 2-3 egg, finely chopped onions, salt to taste, curry leaves, 2 pinch of turmeric powder (optional), 1-2 chopped green chilli and 1 tbsp pepper powder in a big bowl very well.

In a heated tawa, pour the above mix and stir it with a spatula continuously till the egg is done.

Avarakkaya (Flattened beans) poriyal/thoran

2009-11-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

Here is another vegetable side dish to be prepared for lunch/dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
• cooking oil – 1 tbsp
• 1 tbsp – uzhundhu dhal seeds
• 1 tbsp – kadala paruppu
• chopped Avarakkaya (Flattened beans)
• salt to taste
• 2 pinch of turmeric powder
• curry leaves
• 1 – finely chopped onion
• 1- finely chopped tomatoes
• 1-2 green chillies slited
• 1-2 dry red chilli

Method of preparation:

• Mix well all the chopped Avarakkaya, finely chopped onions and tomatoes, green chilli, turmeric powder, salt, to taste, curry leaves in a big bowl.
• In a heavy bottom pan, pour out some cooking oil and throw the above mixed stuff.
• Sprinkle some water over the veggies and close it with a lid and allow it to cook. Frequently, give it a stir.
For seasoning:
• In another pan, heat little cooking oil and splutter the mustard seeds, urud dhal seeds, kadala paruppu, dry broken red chilli, curry leaves and fry it till it changes to light brown color.
• Pour out the seasoning to the cooked veggies and mix it well.

Kovakkaya poriyal/thoran

2009-11-11T00:19:00.000-08:00

To talk about this kovakkaya (I don't know what this is called in English), I've never seen this one till I came to Chennai 9 (at the age of 23 or so)!!! It was initially hard for me to digest the fact that people cook whatever they say it is a vegetable...

Some say that this veggie is good for people suffering from hypertension..Not sure about this..

so lets get rocking here once again...with the ingredients.....

Ingredients:

1. 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
2. cooking oil – 1 tbsp
3. 1 tbsp – uzhundhu dhal seeds
4. 1 tbsp – kadala paruppu
5. chopped kovakkaya
6. salt to taste
7. 2 pinch of turmeric powder
8. curry leaves
9. 1 – finely chopped onion
10. 1- finely chopped tomatoes
11. 1-2 green chillies slited
12. 1-2 dry red chilli

Method of preparation:

1. In a heavy bottom pan, heat the cooking oil and splutter the mustard seeds, urud dhal seeds, kadala paruppu, dry broken red chilli and fry it till it changes to light brown color.
2. To this add the finely chopped onions and tomatoes and mix and continue to fry it till it becomes nice and glossy and soggy.
3. To this, add green chilli, turmeric powder, salt to taste and later the chopped kovakkaya and mix it well.
4. Sprinkle some water over the veggies and close it with a lid and allow it to cook. Frequently, give it a stir.

The veg now become glossy, soggy and yum to taste.

Red capsicum thoran/poriyal

2009-11-05T01:05:00.000-08:00

I got a pack of green capsicum from market. I forgot about it. It was hiding itself from me..LOL...and after a week or so, i was wondering why my DH has got red capsicum from the market....I was scratching my head when i get to realise what is the reality..My green capsicum has ripened!!!..Before it changes to some other color, i thought i do something about it and ended up doing a side dish with it...ROFL...

The result was more picturesque..with red, rose and green.....

Ingredients:

1. Chopped Red capsicum - a pack (3-4)
2. Chopped onions - 1
3. Chopped tomatoes - 1
4. slit green chillies - 1/2
5. Curry leaves
6. Mustard seeds, jeeram seeds, urudhu dal seeds, kadala paruppu for seasoning

Method of preparation:

1. In a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp uzhudu dhal seed, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu.

2. Add chopped onions , chopped tomatoes, slitted green chilies and fry it until they are done/ soggy.

3. Add curry leaves and stir fry, a pinch of turmeric powder, 1/2 tbsp of chilli powder and mix it well.

4. Add the chopped capsicum to it and saute it too. Sprinkle some water and close the lid and allow it to cook for some time. Occasionally, give a stir.

5. When it is done 3/4th, add 1/2 tbsp of garam masala and mix it well and allow it to cook.

You can enjoy this side dish with chappathi, plain hot rice.

Dosa with cocunut chutney/lady's finger sambhar - Vendakhaiya sambar - Another couple

2009-11-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

Any part of South Indian if you visit, the typical breakfast that one get in any house, restuarant or road side shop...(thattu kada...)...is the one and only plain dosa/dosa roast/ ghee roast/ triangle dosa ...it is comes in all variety and flavour (Dosa kept in the form of Pyramid ..it is folded into a cone shape ...my son loves the presentation)..........

Which reminds me of an instance which happened long way back...(Flash back)

We were in pondicherry to attend a friend's marriage and we reached pondicherry early evening after a long car travel from chennai and we were all exhausted and were waiting to grab something in the restuarant...as usual my DH ordered plain dosa for my DChildren. The server brought the dosa and placed it in front of my son. He studied the plate. And "Enda acchey, sambhar dosadey mozhil uzhalladu?...njaan plain dosa elley choichadu...sambhar venda acchey"...(Why daddy,why Sambhar is on the top of the dosa? I asked only for "PLAIN" dosa, i don't want sambhar)...The manager was observing this conversation....He called the server and questioned him "Avunga "PLAIN" dosa thaney kettangha...ne en sambhar pottu konduvanthey..poyi "PLAIN" dosa konduva "...(He asked only for plain dosa...why did you pour sambhar on top of it...go bring another plain dosa)..The server brought another plate of just "PLAIN" dosa......HAHAHA... We had a hearty laugh and he became the whole attraction in the restuarant....all the Servers stood around our table to have a peek at my son..What a brainy chap!!!!

So back to our ingredients section:

You can see the ingredients of cocunut chutney here

You can see how a podi dosa is made here. A plain dosa is one minus the podi (the powder that i had spread on top of the dosa).

For Lady's finger (Vendakhaiya) sambhar, you may follow the same procedure given here Only difference is replace mango slices and drumstick with lady's finger. If you still need the method, i'll try and post it seperately.

Chappathi and Dhal curry - A fabulous couple

2009-11-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

Most of the time, our family dinner comprises of Chappathi and a gravy to go with it and of course, some other dry vegetarian side dish.

But chappathi always goes yum with Dhal...If you go to any parts of North India, you get this combo in any restuarant, home, dhabba....

My husband loves it..He is happy when this couple is prepared for any time of the day/ any course for that matter..So easy to make and simply uncomplicated.."why complicate life?"...that is my motto....

OK !! Enough of rattling and back to business...

Ingredients:

1. 2 cup of dhal (Sambhar paruppu)
2. 1-2 slit green chilli
3. mustard seeds, jeeram seeds for seasoning
4. salt to taste
5. 1/2 tbsp of turmeric powder
6. lots of curry leaves
7. corainder leaves for seasoning
8. Ghee
9. 1- chopped tomato
10. onions - 1 cup

Method of preparation of dhal gravy:

1. Cook the dhal in the pressure cooker till 2-3 whistles.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, add chopped onions and tomatoes, slit 2 green chilies and fry it until they are done.
3. Add curry leaves and stir fry.
4. Add turmeric powder to this and throw in the cooked dhal and add salt to our requirement.
5. Mix well and when it gets boiled, add 1/2 tbsp of ghee (optional)
6. Remove from the stove and garnish with coriander leaves

Emh!!! the aroma fills the stomach too.....

Chappathi:

1. To one cup of wheat flour, add little by little water (add 1 tbsp of milk too and a pinch of salt - though optional) and knead to a not-so-tough consistency. It should not be sticky nor watery.
2. Take a small ball out of the dough.
3. Sprinkle some dry wheat flour on the slab, press down this small ball and flatten it using a chappathi roller to a thin sheet.
4. In a preheated tawa, greese some oil/ghee (optional). Slip this thin sheet on to the top and allow it to cook for 1/2 minute. Then turn over and cook the other side for another 1/2 minute. Toss around and press at various places so that it bulges out.

Nice and hot chappathi is ready..

So C'mon lets grab the chappathi and enjoy with dhal.

Mixed vegetable fried rice - A fusion

2009-11-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

It's a fusion between mixed vegetable rice and fried rice..It is my own receipe so beware...LOL..I think it is a confusion, rather...throwed in all the items that i got in my hand and there we go once again...

Ingredients:
1. 1 chopped carrot
2. 2 chopped onions
3. few beans
4. ginger and garlic - small pieces
5. somphu, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, badam – few of each
6. turmeric powder – ½ tbsp
7. chilli powder – ½ tbsp
8. garam masala powder – 1 tbsp
9. cooking oil - 1 tbsp
10. soaked 1 cup of rice for ½ hour

Method of preparation:

In a heavy bottom kadai, heat 1-2 tbsp of cooking oil and splutter some somphu seeds. After that add cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, badam and fry it till fragrant.
Add chopped ginger pieces and garlic pieces/ ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell leaves.
Add all the chopped onions and fry it till it becomes brown color.
Add all the chopped veggies to it and sauté it.
Add chilli powder/gram masala powder and lotsa of curry leaves and turmeric powder and salt to taste and mix it well and allow it to cook for sometime.
Now add the soaked rice with 2 glass of water and mix the whole contents well and pressure cook it till 3 whistles.

Garnish it with coriander leaves (if available)…

It came out very well. It looked colorful and tasted yum...

Uzhundu vadai

2009-11-03T03:13:00.000-08:00

Here is another one snack to be prepared on a rainy day and enjoy with a hot simmering cuppa of Tea..Emh..The uzhundu vada...

How to make this yum vada..here is the method of preparation:

soak 1 cup of uzhundu dhal (black gram) for minimum of 1 hour. Grind it with no water/little water.

To this dough, add chopped onion, green chilli, pepper seeds, salt to taste, curry leaves, a small piece of ginger chopped into fine granules. Also one can add little rava to get that crispiness.

Apply water on your palm and take a small amount of the above mix and press it and put a hole in the center and throw it gently into a kadai with simmering hot.

Allow it to fry deeply and gently turn it over to the other side. Once it has become golden brown and crispy, remove it from the kadai...and

there you go...the hot and crispy uzhundu vada..

One can enjoy with cocunut chutney.

Cocunut chutney

2009-11-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

Ingredients :

1. 1/2 cup grated cocunut
2. 2-3 green chilli
3. onion -1
4. salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients mentioned above in a mixie with required water.

In a kadai, after the oil gets hot, splutter some mustard seeds, jeeram seeds, curry leaves, 2-3 broken dry red chilly. When done, pour it over the cocunut grind.

Voila, chutney ready.

Enjoy it with Idli, Dosa, Bajji, Uzhundu vada...

Molagha (Green pepper) bajji

2009-11-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

During rainy season/ for that matter whenever there is a downpour, I would love to have a hot cuppa of Tea with Bajji/vada....and enjoy the rain with it...What an awesome idea !!!

So these few days Chennai has been experiencing some showers...and i prepared this for the family..Emh..they loved it and it disappeared the moment i filled the plates...

So ingredients:

1. Gram powder
2. chilli powder
3. food color (optional)
4. Salt to taste
5. aseofodia - a pinch
6. turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp

Mix all the ingredients and add little water to bring it into a thick consistency

Slice open the green pepper into two halves.

Smear or dip the sliced green pepper into the dough and put it in a kadai filled with hot oil. Allow it to deep fry and turn over to cook the other side.

Nice crispy and crunchy molagha bajji..Enjoy with cocunut chutney...

Butter biscuit - Microwave cooking

2009-11-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

This is the first biscuit i have tried in my life..and of course, with my new microwave oven.

Ingredients:

1 cup of maida
1 tbsp of ragi powder
1/2 cup of butter
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla essence
Curshed cashewnut/walnut/badam (optional)

(before baking)
Method of preparation:

Melt the butter in microwave mode for 1 minute.

Mix maida with melted butter and mix it well. Then add powdered sugar and mix it well with hand. Add the vanilla essence (or any essence you have at home). I felt that my butter addition was little bit more so i added 1 tbsp of ragi powder (optional). mix it well for sometime and keep it in refrigerator for 1/2 hour.

(Yummy cashewnut biscuit)
After taking from refrigerator, mix it well for somemore time and make it into small balls and press it down.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180DC. Keep these biscuits into the oven after you hear the beep. Increase the timing to 20 mintues.

Voila..yommy crunchy crispy biscuits.

I just embedded couple of cashewnuts and badam on top of the plain dough for decoration.

My children loved it. This was a surprise for my children....they were very hungry when they came back from school..and they finished off the plate after 2-3 grabs...

Raddish paratta/ Parantha

2009-11-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

I tried this for my DH who avoids potato and other sweet items for known reasons ;-)

When the whole family enjoys aloo paratta, i tried a different stuffing for my DH...
It came out ok...

Let's go for the ingredients:

1. finely chopped Raddish - 1
2. Salt to taste
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Onion - 1 chopped
5. turmeric powder - 1 pinch
6. Chilli powder
7. Green chillies chopped
8. curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing.
9. Ginger and garlic - chopped

Method of preparation:

1. Boil the finely chopped raddish with a pinch of salt and mash it using the matthu/spatula. (I could have used my mixie)
2. In a heavy bottom kadai, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil and when hot, splutter some mustard seeds, urudhu daal seeds, kadalai paruppu seeds till it turns slight brown.
3. Add the chopped onions, chopped ginger pieces and garlic pieces, curry leaves and turmeric powder and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
4. Add chilli powder/green chillies at this stage and let it also get deep fried.
5. Add the mashed raddish to this and mix well

To make paratta:

Mix 2 cup of wheat flour with required water to make it as a dough for making chapathi's.

Take a big ball of wheat dough and first flatten it into a small circle. Then take a small ball of the stuffing and keep it in the center of the flattened wheat dough and cover this stuffing by making a small pouch of the wheat dough. Then once again press it down and flatten it into a chappathi size circle

In a preheated tawa, pour some ghee and then place the flattened paratta and allow it to cook for some time. Then toss it over.

Enjoy this yum preparation with curd and pickle..

Plain Muringhakkayi (Drumstick) Sambhar

2009-11-02T23:09:00.000-08:00

Sambhar is prepared atleast 2-3 times a week in my kitchen..for idli, dosa....
Easy to make and goes with every course of the day...LOL...

Gravy preparation:

Cook the sambhar paruppu (say 1 cup) in a pressure cooker with required water.
Cut drumstick into pieces of ½ inch length. To the cooked sambhar paruppu add the chopped drumstick, chopped onions, 2 ripe tomatoes chopped , 2 green chilies slitted, and some curry leaves. Allow the vegetables to be cooked. Add the tamarind ( a small lemon size) soaked water. (depends on how much tanginess one wants). Let it to boil. After sometime, add 1 tbsp of Kashmir chilly powder, 2 tbsp of malli (Coriander seed) powder, 1 tbsp of ready-made Sāmbhar powder, salt to taste, 1 pinch of turmeric powder and mix it thoroughly and let it boil. Before you take out from the stove, sprinkle some asafetida powder and coriander leaves. Close with a lid so that the aroma does not leave.

(photo taken before seasoning and granishing)

For seasoning
In the kadai, pour some oil and when it gets hot, splutter some mustard seeds, some jeerakam seeds, 1-2 dry broken red chilly. Also add some more curry leaves.

Add the seasoning to the above gravy

One can enjoy aromatic sambhar with Chappathi, Plain white rice, Idli, Hot Dosa…

Thaliccha idli

2009-11-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

I grind for idli every weekend and it covers the breakfast and dinner for atleast 3 days. First day, it would be idli. Next day also idli..and the next few days the rest of the dough will be used for dosa...My son would say .."Enda ma, daily idli"...and DH would give me a sidelook with a sarcastic smile...So i thought let me try something different ..both in the looks and taste..and here we go with the ingredients:

1. Nicely chopped onions - 1
2. finely sieved carrot - 1
3. curry leaves
4. Dry chilli - 1-2
5. Idli dough

Method of preparation:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp uzhudu dhal seed, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu and few groundnuts and few pottu (chutney) kadalai (optional..but it taste well and children would like the bite of groundnut here and there). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred.

Add chopped onions, 1-2 broken red chilly and fry it until they are done. Add curry leaves and stir fry.

Add the above mix into the Idli dough and mix it well.

Pour the above dough in the idli maker and steam it till it is done.

The idli will not only tastes divine but also gives a picturesque look.

So how is the new look????? LOL

Enjoy with some spicy tomato chutney/cocunut chutney...

Murunghiya Cheera Thoran/ Drumstick leaf poriyal

2009-11-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

Cleaning and picking murunghiya cheera requires lots of time and patience. My whole family helps me out in picking these leaves from its stick, though the whole place gets messed up with its sticks and some leaves being spread the whole place. But the end of it, it is teamwork and lotsa of fun and of course, talking of its nutrition value, it is good and increases the heamoglobin content...

So lets plunge into the ingredients right away

1. cleaned murunghiya cheera
2. grated coconut (optional)
3. pearl onions - 1 cup
4. salt to taste
5. turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
6. green chillies 1-2 slited into half
7. red dry chilli - 1-2

Method of preparation:

1. In a kadai, pour 1 tbsp oil and splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp uzhudu dhal seed, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu and few coursely grounded groundnuts (optional). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred.

2.Add chopped pearl onions, slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 red chilly and saute it till the onions gets that beautiful golden color. Add curry leaves and stir fry.

3. Add the murunghiya leaves to it. Sprinkle salt to taste and turmeric powder and mix it well and close it with a lid. Frequently, using spatula, just mix it so that the bottom portion of the pan comes to the top.

4. When it becomes dark green color, taste a piece of the leaf and check whether it is cooked fully.

5. Sprinke some grated cocunut on the top and mix it well and close the lid and cook for 1-2 mintues more.

Pasiparuppu payasam

2009-11-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

If you plan to prepare a dessert, here is the receipe which you can prepare with whatever available at home..so simple and uncomplicated ...u know

Ingredients:

Pasiparuppu - 2 handful (one uses it for making pongal)
Ghee - 1 tbsp
water to cook
Milk - 2 glass
Sugar - 1-2 cup
2-3 cloves - fried and slit opened
Cashewnut and raisins - 1 handful

Method of preparation:

1. In a heavy bottom pan, heat some ghee and throw the chopped cashewnuts and let it get fried till slight brown. Remove from the pan and throw the raisins and let it fry and remove it when it bulges.

2. Then put the pasiparuppu in the pan and fry it with the ghee. when it is done, then the required water to cook the fried pasiparuppu. Also add the sugar. Close it with a lid and allow it to cook.

3. When it is done, allow it to cool and pour the boiled milk to it slowly and stir it as and when the milk is added.

4. Then throw the fried cloves, cashewnuts and raisins.

Emh!!! feel the aroma and enjoy the taste of payasam.......

Tandoori Chicken - Microwave cooking

2009-11-02T03:52:00.000-08:00

I was lamenting about the microwave that we got very recently. yep..I went for couple of microwave cooking class and the trainer showed me this dish.

I tried as soon as i got back home. It came out well.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1/2 kg
1 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp curd
1 tbsp pepper
Little soyasauce
Food color (optional)
Maida for binding
1 tbsp salt

Method of preparation:

Mix all the ingredients mentioned above and marinate for 1-2 hours.

Smear some oil on top of the pieces and in convention mode, preheat the oven to 180 degree C for 20 mintues and then when the beep sound comes, load the oven with chicken and cook for another 20 mintues. After 10 mintues, turn over the chicken piece.

It came out nice and crispy…I garnished with capsicum.

My daughter said that it will tastes better if you have squeezed some lemon juice on top of it..yeah..i forgot...She is a definitely a critic...i have to watchout.

Soya chunk Masala curry

2009-11-02T03:41:00.000-08:00

How to make soya chunk Masala curry:

Ingredients:

Soya chunk - 200 grams
4-5 ripe tomatoes chopped
1-2 onions
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
few cloves, cinnamon, somphu
1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
coriander leaves
curry leaves

Method of preparation:
Soak soya chunks in boiling water for 20- 30 mintues. Then drain the water and wash it with cold water. Then squeeze out the water from the chunks thoroughly and keep it aside.

In a kadai, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, add cloves, cinnamon, and sauté it till fragrant. Add the ginger garlic paste to this and sauté it till the raw smell leaves. Add chopped onions, curry leaves and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
Add chopped tomatoes to this and let it cook till it becomes soggy and fragrant. Add 1 tbsp of chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and mix it well. To this add the soaked soya chunks and mix it well and cook till it is done.
Garnish it with corriander leaves.

Tomato rice

2009-11-02T02:42:00.000-08:00

How to make tomato rice:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
few urud dhal seeds
few kadala paruppu seeds
1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
4-5 ripe tomatoes chopped
1-2 onions
coriander leaves
curry leaves
jeeram seeds

soaked rice - 2 cups (1/2 hour)

Method of preparation:

In a kadai, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil and splutter some mustard seeds, add cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and sauté it till fragrant. Add the ginger garlic paste to this and sauté it till the raw smell leaves. Add chopped onions, curry leaves and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
Add chopped tomatoes to this and let it cook till it becomes soggy and fragrant. Add 1 tbsp of chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and mix it well.
Garnish it with corriander leaves. Then add the 2 cup of soaked rice to this and 4 cup of water and mix it well and pressure cook it till 3 whistles.

Kappa story continues...Kappa dosa

2009-10-29T05:15:00.001-07:00

HAHAHA...

Even if the kappa (tapioca) thoran/poriyal is still left out, here is one more chance of finishing it up.

The kappa dosa:

Pour rice dough and make a perfect dosa...

then apply the kappa thoran on top of the dosa and smear some ghee or cooking oil.

Allow it to cook for sometime. Then close the dosa into half so that it comes as a semi circle shapped one.

Smear ghee/cooking oil and cook for some more time...

Lotsa of kappa dosa....enjoy

The Kappa (Tapioca) story continues..Thoran/poriyal from Kappa

2009-10-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

How to make Kappa thoran:

1. The plain boiled kappa is mashed.
2. In a kadai, pour 1 tbsp of cooking oil. when it gets heated, splutter some mustard seeds, urudhu daal seeds, kadalai paruppu seeds till it turns slight brown.
3. Add the chopped onions, chopped ginger pieces and garlic pieces, curry leaves and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
4. Add chilli powder/green chillies at this stage and let it also get deep fried.
5. After this, add the smashed kappa to this and mix it throughly. Garnish it with corriander leaves.

Kappa puzhunghiyathu/ boiled tapioca

2009-10-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Simple and easy to make.

Chop off the skin of tapioca. Wash it thoroughly with water. Cut it into small pieces and boil it with little salt.

You may have it plain

Cheera thoran/ keerai poriyal

2009-10-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

How to make cheera thoran/keerai poriyal:

Chop/cut the cheera/keerai/leafy green plant into small piece. Wash well with water before chopping. If possible, after chopping too. Cook it by sprinkling water when water gets dried. Add salt to taste and pinch of turmeric powder. Stir it often till it is done.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, add 1 tbsp mustard seed, few uzhudu dhal seed, few kadala paruppu. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2-3 red chilly or green chilly, 2 onions chopped and fry it until they are slightly golden. Add curry leaves and stir fry. Add this seasoning to the above cooked cheera/keerai/leafy green plant.

Enjoy it with curd rice...

Podi dosai

2009-10-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing great about it..

Just pour rice dough on the tawa like the typical dosa you prepare and sprinkle some idli podi that you get from the market and pour some ghee/cooking oil on top of it. Turn over and cook for 1 minute.

Voila..podi dosai...enjoy with cocunut chutney, tomato chutney..or apadiye sapadalam..;-)

Aloo Parantha/Aloo paratta

2009-10-29T04:17:00.001-07:00

I learned this from my cook. I tried it on Deepavali for morning breakfast. Something special from my side to the family.

For stuffing:
Ingredients:

1. Potato - 1 to 2 chopped
2. Salt to taste
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Onion - 1 to 2 chopped
5. turmeric powder - 1 pinch
6. Chilli powder (optional)..I have not put as children will reject it saying "Spicy"
7. Green chillies chopped ..(optional ...same reason as above)
8. curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing.
9. Ginger and garlic - chopped

Method of preparation:

1. Boil the potatoes with a pinch of salt
2. In a heavy bottom kadai, pour 1 tbsp of cooking oil and heat it. Splutter some mustard seeds, urudhu daal seeds, kadalai paruppu seeds till it turns slight brown.
3. Add the chopped onions, chopped ginger pieces and garlic pieces, curry leaves and turmeric powder and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
4. Add chilli powder/green chillies at this stage and let it also get deep fried.

5. After this, add the smashed boiled potatoes to this and mix it throughly. Garnish it with corriander leaves.

To make paratta:

Mix 2 cup of wheat flour with required water to make it as a dough for making chapathi's.

Take a big ball of wheat dough and first flatten it into a small circle. Then take a small ball of the stuffing and keep it in the center of the flattened wheat dough and cover this stuffing by making a small pouch of the wheat dough. Then once again press it down and flatten it into a chappathi size circle.

In a preheated tawa, pour some ghee and then place the flattened paratta and allow it to cook for some time. Then turn over

and smear some more ghee on its surface and allow it to cook. If you see it will come out nice and glossy...

and ofcourse, the smell haunts the whole kitchen..

Varey waah!!! khiya masa khai

You can enjoy with curd and pickle.

Mixed vegetable rice

2009-10-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

When i came back from office, i found that the rice which had been cooked for lunch remained untouched. I decided to make a quick vegetable rice. This is one way by which i can forcefully make my children eat all the veggie's...

I used microwave for this.

Here is how i made:

Ingredients
1. 2 chopped carrot
2. 2 chopped onions
3. few beans
4. 1 chopped potatoes
5. 1 chopped capisicum
6. ginger and garlic - small pieces
7. somphu, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves - little
8. cooking oil - 1 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Steam the already cooked rice with a pressure cooker/ outside to make it hot.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, pour some oil and put the onions, somphu, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and cook it for 2 - 3 minutes. stir the contents in between.

3. Added the chopped vegetables, salt to taste, 1/2 tbsp of gram masala powder. Mix it well and cook for 6-7 minutes.

4. I transferred the whole content to a mudpot and also added the already warmed rice to it and mix the whole content and cook for another 5-6 minutes.

It came out very well. It looked colorful and tasted yum...

My daughter tasted and said "Emh...Delicious"..and my children finished the whole plate...Not bad....

Tomato Rasam

2009-10-29T02:39:00.001-07:00

Remember i was telling that one of my DH's classmate visited us and I prepared katti sambhar, Tomato rasam and wheat seva payasam.

Here is how i prepared tomato rasam:

Ingredients:

1. Jeerakam seeds - 1 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
3. curry leaves for seasoning, coriander leaves for garnishing
4. Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
5. turmeric powder - little
6. tamarind - little
7. 2 chopped tomatoes
8. Resam powder - 1 tbsp
9. Asefodia - little
10. fenugreek - little
11. Chilli powder/pepper powder - 1/2 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Take 2 cup of plain water. In that squeeze the tomatoes with hand. Add turmeric powder, salt to taste, the soaked tamarind water/1 tbsp of ready made tamarind puree, chili powder/pepper powder.

2. In a heavy bottom kadai, pour some cooking oil and when it is heated, splutter some mustard seeds, jeerakam seeds, few fenugreek seeds, asefodia (small piece), 2-3dry chilli. Add lotsa of curry leaves too. Then add the water liquid mentioned above to this.

3. Allow it to boil. Add 1 tbsp of Readymade resam powder, some coriander leaves and mix it well. simmer for 1 minute. Then throw some asefodia powder in it and close it with a lid so that the aroma does not escape.

Emh!!! Resam is in the air...

Enjoy with plain white rice and pappad and pickle...

My blog displayed in foodie blogroll site!!!!

2009-10-29T02:28:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

My food blog (http://sumysadukazha.blogspot.com) is listed in Foodie blogroll under most recent 5 blogs...

So dear lovely visitors, please enjoy the various dishes and pass on your valuable comments. I would be really happy if you try some of my recipes. Please do let me know your outcome.

Thanks,
Happy cooking :-)
Sumy Sunil

Katti Sambhar

2009-10-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

How to make Katti Sambhar:

Cook Sāmbhar paruppu (say 1 ½ cup) in a pressure cooker with required water.
Cut drumstick into pieces of 1 ½ inch length. Cook drumstick in sufficient water separately with a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.
Chop 2 onions, 2 ripe tomatoes and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken red chilly. Some curry leaves and few coriander leaves to give the aroma for seasoning..
In the kadai, pour some oil and when it gets hot, splutter some mustard seeds, some jeerakam seeds. When it is done, Add chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilly, some curry leaves to the above mix. When it has become soggy, add 1 tbsp of Kashmir chilly powder, 2 tbsp of malli (Coriander seed) powder, 1 tbsp of ready-made Sāmbhar powder, salt to taste, 1 pinch of turmeric powder if one want more yellow color. Mix it thoroughly. When the raw smell of the powder is gone, add the cooked Sāmbhar paruppu and the cooked drumstick and mix it well. Add the tamarind ( a small lemon size) soaked water. (depends on how much tanginess one wants). Let it to boil. Sprinkle some salt to taste.

Before you take out from the stove, sprinkle some asafetida powder and coriander leaves. Close with a lid so that the aroma does not leave.

By katti , I mean the gray should come out with thick consistency. Not the usual watery sambhar…

One can enjoy this katti sambhar with Chappathi, Plain white rice, Idli, Hot Dosa

Masala dosa

2009-10-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is an item which is easy to make and my children loves to have.

How to make Masala dosa:

Ingredients for making the masala:

1. Potato - 3 to 4 chopped
2. Salt to taste
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Onion - 1 to 2 chopped
5. turmeric powder - 1 pinch
6. Chilli powder (optional)..I have not put as children will reject it saying "Spicy"
7. Green chillies chopped ..(optional ...same reason as above)
8. curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing.
9. Ginger and garlic - chopped

Method of preparation:

1. Boil the potatoes with a pinch of salt
2. In a heavy bottom kadai, pour 1 tbsp of cooking oil and heat it. Splutter some mustard seeds, urudhu daal seeds, kadalai paruppu seeds till it turns slight brown.
3. Add the chopped onions, chopped ginger pieces and garlic pieces, curry leaves and turmeric powder and salt to taste and let it get fried till light golden brown.
4. Add chilli powder/green chillies at this stage and let it also get deep fried.
5. After this, add the smashed boiled potatoes to this and mix it throughly. Garnish it with corriander leaves.

Pour the rice dough
on the tawa and make it to spread in a circle shape. This is called Dosa.

Apply the masala on top of this Dosa. I pour some oil/ghee on top of it. Then fold it into half to give a semi circle shape.

Emh...delicious masala dosa....

Meen Kuttan/Fish curry

2009-10-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

How to make fish curry:

Ingredients:

1. Cleaned fish pieces
2. Tumeric powder - 1 tbsp
3. Chilly powder - 2 tbsp
4. Coriander powder - 3 tbsp
5. Koda puli - 3-4 pieces nicely soaked in water for 10- 15 minutes /Tamarind - 1/2 lemon sized
6. curry leaves
7. chopped ginger pieces, chopped onions
8. Tomatoes - 1 (optional)
9. Cocunut milk - 1 cup (keep seperately the first milk, the second milk)
10. Finely chopped small onions ( 1 handful)

Method of preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients mentioned above except the finely chopped small onions in a heavy bottom kadai/mudpot with required water and also the second milk so that the fish remains inside the gravy. Fish curry tastes authentic when cooked in mudpot..and tastes divine after 1 day...

2. Bring the whole content to boil. Reduce the burner and cook for another 5-7 mintues. Ensure that the fish is cooked. Check can be done by removing a part of the fish and tasting it...By the time, the fish is done, pls don't exhaust the fish pieces in the pretext of testing..LOL..When it is almost done, add the first cocunut milk and simmer it for a minute or two.

3. In another small kadai, throw some oil and add the chopped small onions and deep fry it till it becomes dark brown. I also add curry leaves here.

4. Then just pour out the fried onions on top of the meen curry..Emh!!!!!!

You can relish it with hot plain rice

Meen varuthadu thakkali chutneyill/ Fish fry bathed in Tomato chutney!!!

2009-10-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

Don't get intimidated by the title...LOL...

I usually apply the regular powders on the fry piece and just end up doing a vanilla fish fry ...My family got fed up with the same taste and same aroma..Hence i thought i will try something different this time with a touch of tomato chutney...Thought let me give it a shot...it came out well too..

Ingredients:
1. Tomato chutney
2. Cleaned Fish pieces
3. chilly powder
4. Salt
5. Corainder powder

Method of preparation:

1. Apply all the ingredients to the cleaned fish pieces and marinate for say 1/2 hour to 1 hour.
2. In a heavy bottom kadai, pour cooking oil and allow it to heat.
3. When it becomes hot, throw the marinated fish pieces. Turn it around after the bottom is done so that it is cooked all over.

Emh!!! My son comes running to the kitchen the moment the smell haunts the whole house..."Amma, give me chicken, chicken,...ummh!!! "..I go "It is not chicken, it is fish"...He comes back.."give me chicken, chicken".."Aiyo, fish"..."Ammey, give me chicken, AMMEY"...Me : "OK, your chicken"...he hardly knows the difference between chicken and fish..anything non-vegetarian is chicken for him..LOL

Wheat seva payasam

2009-10-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

We invited one of my DH's schoolmate for lunch and I prepared a quick payasam with the available stuffs at home...Let us start with the ingredients first:

Ingredients:
1. Wheat seva - 1/2 packet
2. 1/2 litre of boiled milk
3. Cashewnuts, raisins - 1 handful
4. Ghee - 1 tbsp
5. Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup

Method of preparation:

1. Pour ghee in a heavy bottomed kadai and heat it. Throw the chopped cashenuts, raisins and let it fry till it becomes light golden color. Make sure it is not burned or charred. Remove it from the kadai and keep it aside.
2. In the same kadai with the leftover ghee, fry the wheat seva. Pour in some more ghee if required.
3. Then add little water to the fried wheat seva and allow it to cook. Add the whole sugar to this.
4. Once it is almost 3/4th cooked, pour in little milk and allow it to cook fully. Add the remaining milk incremently. Stir it often.
5. Last but not the least, add the fried cashewnuts and raisin.

Emh!!! Enjoy the aroma and the payasam.....Emh!!!

One can refrigerate it and have it cold..it sweets yum!!!

Vegetable biriyani - (using Microwave oven)

2009-10-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

Remember I've been nattering about my new purchase for Deepavalli this year..The Microwave oven..I attended a session on Microwave cooking ..The first dish they showed is Vegetable biriyani...Here goes the ingredients and method of preparation:

Ingredients:

1. 1 chopped onion
2. Cooking oil
3. Cloves/cinnamon/Somphu/Bay leaves/Kasakasa seeds
4. Basmathi rice - 1 cup (soak it in water for 20 mintues). I used boiled rice instead.
5. Ginger garlic paste/chopped and crushed ones
6. 2 chopped carrot
7. 1 chopped potatoes
8. few green peas
9. few chopped beans
10. chilli powder - 1 tbsp
11. Salt - 1/2 tbsp
12. gram masala powder - 1 tbsp
13. turmeric powder - 2 pinch
14. 1 chopped tomatoes
15. curry leaves

Method of preparation:

1. In a microoven safe big bowl, add chopped onion and all Cloves/cinnamon/Somphu/Bay leaves/Kasakasa seeds and 2-3 tbsp of cooking oil and mix it well. Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes. In between, mix the contents. The onions will become golden brown in color.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes or till the raw smells of ginger and garlic is gone
3. add the chopped carrot,potato, green peas and chopped beans to the above. Mix it well and cook for 6 mintues
4. Then add chilli powder, salt to taste, gram masala and tumeric powder and cook for 2 more mintues
5. To this add tomato and curry leaves and cook for 2 more minutes
6. To this add the soaked rice and add 2 cup of water and cook it for 20 - 25 mintues. Add salt if required.

I used very little oil ..just 1 tbsp...and used boiled rice instead of basmati rice..So as the picture speaks for itself, it does not have much oil as one can see in the usual biriyani...Nevertheless, it was tasting delicious and the whole family loved it. My DH gave 90/100...Not bad ..My daughter and son loved it too...They cleaned their plate!!! Good feedback, is it not? ;-)

Emmh...yummy vegetable biriyani is ready!!!!

Brown Aval uppuma

2009-10-27T04:33:00.000-07:00

Here is another receipe for breakfast....made out of unpolished Aval...good for health...

To make Brown aval uppuma:

Soak the brown aval in water for 2-3 minutes. Add salt to this water while soaking. Sieve it so that water drains off completely. Make sure the brown aval should not become more soggy. Keep it aside.

In the mean time, chop 2 onions and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 red chilly. Can also add some groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai. Some curry leaves for seasoning.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, add 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp uzhudu dhal seed, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu and few groundnuts and few pottu (chutney) kadalai. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped, slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 red chilly and fry it until they are done. Add curry leaves and stir fry.

Then add the soaked brown aval to the above mix, and mix it well thoroughly (sim the burner)……..

Voila, brown aval uppuma!!!!! Enjoy with coconut chutney.

Who says I don't want food?

2009-10-27T00:18:00.001-07:00

(Courtesy : Ma friends album)

My children...Whenever i asks "Shall we have some food?.."..my daughter rushes with her answer "I'm not hungry. I don't want food..."..She comes into the kitchen and enquires "What is for dinner?.."...BIG madam....I would say "...Chapathi ...some rice, sambhar.."...She goes with a sarcastic face.."This one...I don't want"..and goes ahead with her menu .."I want noodles..and potato fry.."...I've to give her some reason to pacify her.."that the noodles packet is not available..We will have it tommorrow.."..She comes back .."Promise, God promise"..Oh, yeah...promise!!!

My Son, on the other hand, does not respond to anything..He gives a deep look into what is there in the plate?..and goes.."Acche (Daddy), what is this?..."..My DH explains the whole menu...He gives a glum look.."Aiyo, this one. who will eat this?..."..hahaha....

Vegetable ball Manchurian

2009-10-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

My DH got a readymade pack recipe mix of Chinese Manchurian. I've not tried it at home. Anyways with the ingredients available at home, i gave it a shot and it really tasted yummy. My DH approved the composition as "A1"...Happy!!! . My daughter gave a good feedback..stuffing her mouth with the veg balls and said "emmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhh" with a protruding eyes...double happy!!!
My son, to the contrary, did not like it. Sad!!!

Here is the method i followed: (I didn't followed the receipe mentioned on the packet)

Ingredients:
1. 2 tomatoes - chopped into very small pieces
2. 2 onion - chopped
3. 2 capsicums - chopped
4. Some grated cheese
5. Maida powder
Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. Chopped tomatoes, onion, capsicum are cooked in a microwave oven for 10 minutes on high. (Leave some portion of the chopped tomatoes, onions and capsicum to be used later..)
2. Mix the above with grated cheese and cook for some more 3-4 mintues
3. Also add salt to taste.
4. Allow it to cool down
5. Mix maida powder and little water (sprinkle) and mix it thoroghly so that one would be able to make solid balls.

Pour some vegetable oil into a heavy bottom kadai and allow it to heat. Then throw some vegetable balls into the oil and let it get brownish color outside. Turn the balls upside down so that it gets fried equally on all sides.

Fry the remaining chopped vegetables for 1 mintue.

Added 3 cups of water to the entire content of the recipe mix and stir and bring it to boil. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Added the fried manchurian balls and cook further for 1 mintue or till the sauce is thick. Garnish with coriander leaves (If you have ;-)..I didn't garnish as i didn't have in my refrigerator.

Emmmhhhh...You can relish this tasty sidedish with chappathi/fried rice.

Idli with Tomato chutney

2009-10-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

The usual breakfast in any south indian home.....Idli, Sambhar, Cocunut chutney...Emh...Reason being, easy to make, easy to feed the kids...and healthy too.

Tomato chutney
Ingredients:

4-5 ripe tomatoes
2-3 onions
2 green chilli

Method:
Chop all the ingredients above and add a 1 pinch of chilli powder and grind it with little water.
In a kadai, heat some oil and add 1 tbsp of mustard seed and allow it to splutter.
Add 1-2 dry red chilli and lotsa of curry leaves too. The add the above grinded paste to this and let it cook for 5-10 mintues till the raw smell is removed.
Viola the red red tomato chutney is ready.

Enjoy the chutney with Idli/dosa/chappathi...

Corn, Corn and more Corn

2009-10-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

The whole family loves corn in one form or the other..ranging from corn soup, popcorn, or simply the boiled corn...my DH got a heap of fresh corns from the supermarket..and my DS was behind me "Corn tha ammey... tha ammey!!!"...

I just removed the silk (threads around and at the top of the corn) and the husk (greeny leaves surrounding). The kernal is the one which we eat..the shinny yellow ones..I always wonder God's creation. How these yellow corn seeds are arranged...perfect alignment..following a perfect line...as if the seeds are sewed together with a string....

I washed it and throwed it inside my pressure cooker with little water and added salt to taste. Pressure cooked it for 2 whistles...
The kernels looks transparent and glossy and shining.........lovely yellow pearls........

One can relish the boiled corn just like that..or once can apply little butter on its surface...or even more..if one wants to have a kick, enjoy with an application of salt+ chilli powder + lemon juice on top of it..emh...yummy...

Missing me???.......Naah!!!

2009-10-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

I know that I had not posted new recipies here for a very long time..Now that I'm back..will post quite a few "simple and uncomplicated ones"...

The fruit that you are seeing here is called "Kirini pallam" (in language, Tamil)...

I think it is called cantaloupes in English.
I liked its skin..lovely lines on them..each telling a story to each other.like a fly stitch in embroidery..Now you can understand why my DH calls me crazy/out of my mind..I'm more imaginative and each and every thing i've something to associate it with a stitch or art or whatever the heck i think.....Just enjoy the color of the flesh inside...lovely orange...It was not that ripe though..I had to smear the flesh with lotsa of sugar for my kids..They loved it with sugar...

One can also beat small pieces of its inside flesh in a blender with ice and sugar to result in a good healthy, delicious juice...Voila Cantaloupe juice...

Dry Chicken/ Chicken ularthiyathu….

2009-09-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday as usual is a non-vegetarian day. I thought I would do it in a different manner..Not the usual chicken curry which, I believe, my family got fed up with the same color, same taste, same aroma..same same…. This time, I thought i will do chicken minus the gravy.

Here is how I did:

1. Cleaned the chicken with lotsa of water. 2-3 rounds. Then one round with 1tbsp of salt and turmeric powder to kill the germs.
2. Then to the cleaned chicken, add 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of turmeric powder, 1 tbsp of chilli powder, 2 tbsp of coriander seed powder and mix it well and thoroughly and keep it aside.
3. Chop 1-2 onions, 2 ripe tomatoes, ½ inch of ginger piece chopped into small pieces and crushed , 3-5 garlic pieces chopped and crushed. Lotsa of curry leaves.
4. In a Kadai, pour some cooking oil and to it add some sombhu seeds and let it to simmer, then add the crushed garlic and ginger pieces and let it fry till nice aroma covers the whole kitchen, add 1- 2 bay leaves and let it fry too. Add chopped onions and let it fry till light brown, add chopped onions and let it fry too.
5. To the above, add the marinated chicken and stir it well for some time and close with the lid after simming the burner down.
6. Frequently, stir the chicken and just sprinkle some water if it has become dry at the bottom.
7. When it almost done, add 1 tbsp of gram masala/chicken masala powder to it and mix it thoroughly and let it cook for 5 mintues.
8. Garnish with curry leaves/coriander leaves.

One can enjoy this with Chappathi/plain rice/curd rice. Yummy……..

Ona Sadhya...A delightful feast for the family!!!

2009-09-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Onam Sadhya

This year I took off from work as my DH and my children don’t have office and school respectively. What a sad state of affair for me. The whole family is at home while I’ve to go to work. I decided to take off just like that.

I prepared some nice Sambha Godhambhu payasam (Broken wheat) and paruppu vada with drumstick leaves in it. Of course, morukuttan and aviyal for the main course lunch.

Sambha Godhambhu payasam (broken wheat):

1. washed 1 glass of sambha godhambhu in water and pour 2 and ½ glass of water and pressure cooker it till 3 whistles.
2. Prepare jaggery water by boiling jaggery pieces (1/4 kg) in 2 glass of water.
3. Grind grated coconut in a mixer and take out the first milk from the coconut paste and keep it aside.
4. Pour some water and grind the above coconut paste and take out the second milk and keep it aside separately.
5. Pour little more water and grind the above coconut paste to get the 3rd milk (little watery than the 2nd milk).
6. In a kadai, mix the cooked broken wheat with the 3rd milk and cook for some time. To that one can add the jaggery water and mix it well. Bring it to boil. Then mix the 2nd milk to it and stir and bring it to boil. Finally when it is done, mix the 1st milk and sim the burner.

7. Fry some cashew nut, raisins in ghee. Add some roasted, broken, split cloves to it for some aroma. One can also add roasted coconut pieces too. It gives a nice picturesque look too.

Paruppu vada with muringha iylla (Drumstick leaves).

1. Soak kadala paruppu in water for ½ hour.
2. In the mean time, chop some onions, green chillies, a handful of drumstick leaves, some curry leaves, some coriander leaves, 1 tbsp of sombhu.
3. grind the soaked kadala paruppu coarsely. Add salt to taste
4. Mix every ingredients together so that it is uniform
5. In a kadai, pour some oil and when it gets heated , make small balls out of the ground mix and drop it in the oil. Toss it to the other side till all the sides become crispy and done

Elavan morukuttan:

1. Chop the elavan, the white pumpkin into small pieces and cook it with little water and pinch of salt and turmeric powder.
2. Grate some coconut and grind it with 1 tbsp of jeerakham and 1 green chilly.
3. To the cooked elavan, add this coconut paste and bring it to boil.
4. Finally mix the moru/finely beaten curd to the above mix and just warm the mix.
5. Finally season the above by spluttering the mustard seeds, some jeerakham seeds, lotsa of curry leaves.

Aviyal thoran:

1. Chop 1 big raw banana into small pieces, some chenna kezhanghu (elephant foot), 2-3 brinjal, 2-3 drumstick
2. Cook the mixture of vegetables with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder.
3. Grate some coconut and grind it with 1 tbsp of jeerakham and 1 green chilly.
4. to the cooked vegetable, add this paste and mix it thoroughly. Make sure that the pieces does not break. Add salt to taste and throw lots of curry leaves into this.
5. Finally season the above by spluttering the mustard seeds, some jeerakham seeds, lotsa of curry leaves. Season with coconut oil for fresh aroma and nice taste.

Ari (Rice) Puttum Kadala

2009-08-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

How to make the Ari (Rice) Puttu:

Sprinkle little water on the rice flour and mix it well so that it does not forms lumps. One should make sure that the powder gets wet without lumps being formed. Sprinkle some salt to taste and keep it aside.

Grate coconut and keep it aside too.

To the puttu maker, pour some of the flour and in between put some grated coconut and put in some more flour. Steam it till the steam comes out of the top of the puttu kutti (roughly it takes 5-10minutes). With the help of some spatula/long stick, push the puttu from one end of the puttu kutti. The puttu comes out from the other open end.

One can relish it with kadala kuttan.

Kerala’s famous breakfast – Ragi Puttum Kadala

2009-08-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

(Ragi Puttu, kadala, pazham)

How to make the Ragi Puttu:

Sprinkle little water on the Ragi flour and mix it well so that it does not forms lumps. One should make sure that the powder gets wet without lumps being formed. Sprinkle some salt to taste and keep it aside.

Grate coconut and keep it aside too.

To the puttu maker, pour some of the flour and in between put some grated coconut and put in some more flour. Steam it till the steam comes out of the top of the puttu kutti (roughly it takes 5-10minutes). With the help of some spatula/long stick, push the puttu from one end of the puttu kutti. The puttu comes out from the other open end.

One can relish it with kadala kuttan.

Mango rice

2009-08-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

How to make mango rice mix:

The mango story contines….
I grated the mangoes into small pieces and cooked it with little water, with 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of chilly powder and turmeric powder. When it is done, I seasoned it by heating 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, add 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp of urudh seeds, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu, some jeerakham, 1 - 2 red dry chillies, 1-2 green chillies, 1 handful of groundnut, and lots of curry leaves.

Mix the above prepared mix to the rice and serve it with pappad/pickle.

Cucumber pachadi

2009-08-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

How to make cucumber pachadi:

Grate/shred cucumber using a sieve. Mix it with thick yoghurt and add a pinch of salt.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, some jeerakham, 1 - 2 green chillies, and lots of curry leaves. Sprinkle with coriander leaves over it.

Mango sweet pachadi

2009-08-04T02:43:00.001-07:00

The last post I was rattling about the mangoes. There was whole bunch of mangoes left out still. Thought of making something sweet out of mangoes.

I sliced the mangoes into small pieces and cooked it with little water, with 1 tbsp of salt and turmeric powder.

When it is done, I mashed it thoroughly with a nice spatula till it became a uniform paste. Then added 1 tbsp of ghee and sugar to it and mixed it very well under the burner. Then added some cashenuts to it.

Quick mango pickles

2009-08-04T01:55:00.001-07:00

Mango pickle

One of my friend passed on many mangoes when they felled down a whole tree.

I was wondering what should I prepare with so many mangoes.

I sliced the mangoes into small pieces and cooked it with little water, with 1 tbsp of salt and turmeric powder.

When it is done, I seasoned it by heating 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, add 1 tbsp mustard seed, some jeerakham, 1 - 2 green chillies, 1 pinch of chilly powder and lots of curry leaves. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred.

Bitter gourd stir fry/pavakkiya thoran

2009-05-24T03:26:00.000-07:00

Bitter gourd ….This vegetable is one I hate so much …..I, for one, strictly avoid this sidedish when I was very young. Amma used to push me stressing the health value of this gourd…I, sooner or later, gained the guts to finish the side dish by simply swallowing it…Some of my collegues-cum-friends dread eating this and I displayed my piece of knowledge to their amusement..by showing them how I finish off my portion…They acknowledged with their acclaims..”waah, waah”…Hopefully couple of ladies have imbibed my eating skills of bitter gourd…Not only for elder people…a tip for coming generations too…..

How to prepare this bitter sidedish:

Cut the bitter gourd into small piece and mix it with 3 tbsp of curd and a pinch of salt. Keep it aside for sometime. Then wash it off thoroughly. This technique I learnt it from my cook. It takes off most of the bitterness from it.

.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp urudh dhal seed, 1 tsp kadala paruppu (channa dhal seeds). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, throw some 2-3 broken red chilly or slitted green chillies, 2 onions chopped, sprinkle some grated coconut and pinch of turmeric powder and sauté it until they are slightly golden.
Liberally add lots of curry leaves and stir fry.
Add the chopped bitter gourd and mix thoroughly. If required, sprinkle some water when it gets dried. Stir it often till it is done. Add salt to taste.

One can enjoy this poriyal/thoran with plain rice

Good for diabetic people......

Naadan Chicken fry

2009-05-24T03:03:00.000-07:00

Clean ½ kg of chicken thoroughly and keep it aside. Allow the water to drain.

Mix 1 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of turmeric powder, 1tbsp of chilly powder and 2 tbsp of coriander seed powder (malli) and 2 tbsp of chicken masala powder and make it into a uniform mix.

Apply this above mix to the already cleaned chicken pieces and set aside for ½ hour to marinate.

In a heavy bottom kadai, pour oil and allow it to heat. Then put these chicken pieces into the heated oil. Then simply turn the pieces to the other side so that it gets cooked uniformly throughout.

Voila, the crispy and cruncy chicken fry

Meen varuthathu/Plain Fish fry

2009-05-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Clean the fish thoroughly with lotsa of water. Then clean with 1 tbsp of salt and 1 tbsp of turmeric powder. Keep it aside for 5 mintues and once again wash the fish thoroughly with water. I use gallons and gallons of water to clean fish till the last dirt is removed.

Fish fry masala:

Mix 1 tbsp of turmeric powder, 2 tbsp of chilly powder, 3 tbsp of coriander seed powder (malli powder) and 1 ½ tbsp of salt. Mix these powder’s well.

How to prepare fish fry:

Apply this powder onto the cleaned fish all over. Keep aside for sometime to marinate.

In a frying pan, pour enough quantity of oil. Put these masala applied fish onto the hot oil. Simmer the burner otherwise the skin get charred and hard. Then after sometime, turn the fish to the other side. Remove once it is done.

It tastes yum with curd rice, plain rice. Enjoy…Meen varuthathu….

I just can't stop clicking these lovely, picturesque fish fries...yummy and delicious

Aloo Bread Sandwitch

2009-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Kids would love to have a grab….Try it….

To make stuffing for Aloo Bread Sandwitch:

Boil couple of big potatoes in a pressure cooker. Once done, peal off the skin and chop it into small pieces or one can mash it with hands and add little salt to taste. Keep it aside.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp of urudh dhal seed and 1 tsp of kadala paruppu (channa dhal seeds). Sim the burner so that these dhal seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped and 2 chopped tomatoes, 2 slitted green chilly, lotsa of curry leaves and saute it till it becomes soft. Sprinke some salt to taste.

To the above seasoning, add chopped or mashed potatoes and mix thoroughly.

To make Aloo Bread Sandwitch:

Place the stuffing in between two bread slices. It could be plain sandwitch bread. I used atta bread.

Keep it inside the bread toaster.

And remove once it’s surface becomes slight brown.

Lemon Rice - A Yellow Rice

2009-05-10T22:49:00.002-07:00

Here is how I prepare Lemon Rice…..My son’s favorite , the yellow rice……

To make Lemon Rice :

Take 2 cup of already cooked rice. To it , add salt to taste and lemon juice of 2 lemon. Mix it thoroughly and keep it aside.

Chop 2 onions and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken dry red chillies, some curry leaves for seasoning. Can also add some groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tbsp of urudh seed, 1 tbsp of kadala paruppu (Channa Dhal seeds). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped and saute it until they are slightly golden and soft. Add lots of curry leaves. Then add groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai and saute it till it is fried to golden brown.

Then add the rice to the above mix, and mix it well thoroughly (sim the burner).

Lemon Rice is ready!!!!!

Ragi Sevai Uppuma

2009-05-10T22:42:00.001-07:00

A quick and easy one…..

To make Ragi Sevai uppuma:

Soak the Ragi Sevai in water for 2-3 minutes. Add salt to this water while soaking. Sieve it so that water drains off completely. Make sure the Ragi Sevai should not become more soggy. Keep it aside. After say 5 minutes, pressure cooker it for 5 minutes.

Chop 2 onions and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 red chilly. Can also add some groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai. Some curry leaves for seasoning.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, add 1 tbsp mustard seed, few uzhudu dhal seed, few kadala paruppu and groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped, slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 red chilly and fry it until they are done. Add curry leaves and stir fry.

Then add the cooked Ragi Sevai to the above mix, and mix it well thoroughly using fork(sim the burner)……..

Voila, Ragi Sevai uppuma!!!!!

Sambha Godhambhu Uppuma

2009-05-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

A quick and easy one…..for breakfast or dinner.

To make Sambha Godhambhu (broken wheat) uppuma:

Chop 2 onions and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken red chilly. Chop 1 carrot/ 10-15 beans. Can also add some groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai. Some curry leaves for seasoning.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 1 tsp of urudh dhal seed, 1 tsp of kadala paruppu (channa dhal seeds) and groundnut and pottu (chutney) kadalai. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped, slitted 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken red chilly and saute it until they become soft.

Add chopped vegetables (carrot and beans), curry leaves and stir fry. Then add 2 and ½ glass of water for every glass of Sambha Godhambhu. Allow the water to boil thoroughly.

Then add the sambha Ghodhambu to the above mix slowly. As you pour it in the boiling water, stir it continuously so that no lumps are formed and mix it thoroughly. Close it with a lid and simmer the burner. Let it cook for some 5- 10 mintues. Frequently, indulge by mixing it so that the bottom portion comes at the top and top portion goes at the bottom.

Voila, yummy sambha Ghodhambu uppuma!!!!!

Good for diabetic people…and for health conscious people…:D

Ragi Illa Adda

2009-05-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Let me post the Ragi Illa (banana leaf) Adda…

The stuffing goes into the adda:

To the grated coconut, add 1-2 tsp of sugar (according to your taste). Then add some powdered cloves to it and mix thoroughly. Instead of sugar, one can add grated jaggerry too.

How to prepare Ragi Adda:

Add some salt to water and pour it on the ragi powder and rice powder and mix it thoroughly so that it becomes a dough just like one prepare for chappathi. One can also add some jeeram seeds while doing the dough.

Take a ball of dough(tennis ball), and press it smoothly on a small piece of banana leaf ( 10 * 10 cm) to make it a layer covering the whole of the leaf.

Then spread the stuffing over this ragi + rice dough layer and fold the whole layer by half like a notebook fold.

Keep inside iddili cooker or the normal pressure cooker without whistle.

Allow it to cook for 10-15 mintues.

Godambhu (Wheat) Illa Adda

2009-05-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

Let me post the Godambhu (Wheat) Illa (banana leaf) Adda…

The stuffing goes into the adda:

To the grated coconut, add 1-2 tsp of sugar (according to your taste). Then add some powdered cloves to it and mix thoroughly. Instead of sugar, one can add grated jaggerry too.

How to prepare Godambhu Adda:

Add some salt to water and pour it on the wheat/atta powder and mix it thoroughly so that it becomes a dough just like one prepare for chappathi. One can also add some jeeram seeds while doing the dough.

Take a ball of dough(tennis ball), and press it smoothly on a small piece of banana leaf ( 10 * 10 cm) to make it a layer covering the whole of the leaf.

Then spread the stuffing over this wheat dough layer and fold the whole layer by half like a notebook fold.

Keep inside iddili cooker or the normal pressure cooker without whistle.

Allow it to cook for 10-15 mintues.

Ari Illa Adda

2009-05-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

First let me post the Ari (Rice) Illa (banana leaf) Adda…

First let us see the stuffing that goes into the adda:

To the grated coconut, add 1-2 tsp of sugar (according to your taste). Then add some powdered cloves to it and mix thoroughly. Instead of sugar, one can add grated jaggerry too.

How to prepare Ari Adda:

Boil some water, add some salt and pour it on the rice powder and mix it thoroughly so that it becomes a dough just like one prepare for chappathi. One can also add some jeeram seeds while doing the dough.

Take a ball of dough(tennis ball), and press it smoothly on a small piece of banana leaf ( 10 * 10 cm) to make it a layer covering the whole of the leaf.

Then spread the stuffing over this rice dough layer and fold the whole layer by half like a notebook fold.

Keep inside iddili cooker or the normal pressure cooker without whistle.

Allow it to cook for 10-15 mintues.

As you can see the photos, one can prepare illa Adda with Ragi and Wheat flour..will post those next

Javvarissi uppuma/ Sagoo uppuma/ sabudhana (Maharastrian Dish)

2009-05-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

Here is something special that you can try for a breakfast or as evening tiffin.

Soak 1 cup of fine Javvarissi in water (water level should be ½ inches above the sagoo level overnight. In the morning, the Javvarissi would have become soggy. The javvarissi should be separate and soft.

Fry the ground nut ( required quantity) in a kadai and grind it coarsely in a food processor. To little bit of coarsely grinded ground nut powder, add 2-3 green chilly and grind it sprinkling little water. Mix the ground nut powder and the ground nut powder grinded with green chilies with the soaked sagoo.

Boil 1 potato and mash it with your hands. Mix it with the above mixing.

Pour 1 tsp oil in a kadai and when it becomes hot, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp of jeerakam (fenugreek) seed, 1 tsp of urudh dhal seeds, add 1/2 cup finely chopped onions, some chopped cashnew nuts/ badam, 2-3 green chilly [cut lengthwise]. Sim the burner. Sauté it till light brown. Add lotsa of curry leaves and stir fry.

To the above, add the sagoo mix. Mix it well and cook until the sagoo becomes completely transparent.

Sprinkle some salt to taste and mix well.

Remove from fire, add juice of 1 lemon and mix well. Then add 3tsps grated coconut (optional) and mix well.

Brinjal puli kozhambu

2009-05-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

How to make Brinjal puli kozhambu

Chop 5-7 brinjal’s lengthwise.

Soak tamarind ( a small lemon size) in water (depends on tanginess one wants) and keep it aside. Keep aside curry leaves for seasoning and some coriander leaves to give the aroma.

Grind 1 handful of grated coconut with 1 tsp jeerakam (fenugreek seeds) and 1-2 green chilies separately. (This step you can avoid. This will bring down the tangy taste down.)

Pour 1 tbsp oil in a kadai and when it becomes hot, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 2-3 broken dried red chilly, chopped 2 onions, chopped 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped brinjal pieces and slitted 2-3 green chilies and lots of curry leaves and sauté it until they are done.

Add 1 tsp of Kashmir chilly powder, 2 tsp of malli (Coriander seed) powder, salt to taste, 1 pinch of turmeric powder if one want more yellow color. Sauté it till the raw smell goes off.

To this add the soaked tamarind water. Mix it thoroughly and let it to boil.

Then add grinded coconut mix to this. (mentioned earlier, adding cocunut mix can be avoided if one does not want to add cocunut to the gravy)

Pour some more water to bring it to some watery consistency and cook till the brinjal is cooked.

Sprinkle some salt to taste.

Before you take out from the stove, sprinkle some asafetida powder and coriander leaves. Close with a lid so that the aroma does not leave.

Mango pacchadi

2009-05-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

How to make Mango pacchadi

Take 2-3 handful of jaggery powder to required water and allow it to dissolve and keep it aside. You can sieve it….( stones comes as free with the jaggery…. ;-):-D )

Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp urudh dhal seed, 1 tsp kadala paruppu (channa dhal seeds). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, throw some 2-3 slitted red chilly or 1-2 broken green chilly sauté it until they are slightly golden.

Add some chopped mango pieces to the above and add the jaggery dissolved water to it. Allow it to cook.

Finally add few neem flower and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Bean’s thoran/poriyal

2009-05-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

How to make Bean’s thoran/poriyal:

Chop the beans into small piece and cook it by sprinkling water frequently when water gets dried. Stir it often till it is done. Add salt to taste and pinch of turmeric powder.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp urudh dhal seed, 1 tsp kadala paruppu (channa dhal seeds). Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, throw some 2-3 broken red chilly or slitted green chillies, 2 onions chopped, sprinkle some grated coconut and sauté it until they are slightly golden.

Liberally add lots of curry leaves and stir fry.

Add this seasoning to the above cooked beans.

One can enjoy this poriyal/thoran with plain rice or as dry side dish for Chapathi....Enjoy...

Elavan Morukuttan

2009-05-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

How to make Morukuttan …..with Elavan …

Grind 2 handful of coconut with 1 tsp jeerakam (Fenugreek) separately and 2 green chilly.

Cook Elavan (White pumpkin chopped into small pieces) in sufficient water separately with a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.

In a kadai, mix the grinded coconut paste with the cooked elavan and bring to boil.
Mix the Moru (buttermilk. beaten once in the mixy) to the above and make sure that the Moru doesn’t break. Meaning it should not be boiled. Just slight heating is enough.

Separately heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tbsp mustard seed, 2-3 broken red chilly and saute it until they are done. Add lots of curry leaves and stir fry. Add this seasoning to the above mix.

Urunda Khozhambu

2009-05-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

How to prepare Urunda Khozhambu

Soak 1 cup of kadalla paruppu (Channa Dhal) in water for ½ hour. Then grind the soaked kadalla paruppu with little salt and 1 tsp of somphu. Keep it aside.

In a kadai, pour 1 tsp oil and when it gets heated, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed,1 tsp urud dhal seed, 1 tsp channa dhal seed. Sim the burner so that these seeds do not get charred. When the seeds change the color to light brown, add 2 onions chopped, 2 tomatoes, slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken red chilly and add curry leaves saute it until they are done.

Add the tamarind ( a small lemon size) soaked water to the above mix…depends on the intensity of the tanginess one wants. Allow it to boil.

In the mean time, make small balls out of the grinded kadalla paruppu and put it inside the boiling gravy. Sim the burner and allow it to cook.

When the balls are done, throw liberally some coriander leaves. Close with a lid so that the aroma does not leave.

You could relish this lovely urundai's with plain rice or Chapathi or dosa too..........

I just can't resist stopping to click my lovely urundai's.......and yummy to taste too...........

Sāmbhar….with mango slices and drumstick….

2009-05-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

How to make Sāmbhar….with mango slices and drumstick….

Cook Sāmbhar paruppu (say 3/4th glass) in a pressure cooker with required water.

Cut mango into slices and drumstick into pieces of 1 ½ inch length. Cook drumstick and mango (half way) in sufficient water separately with a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.

Chop 2 onions, 2 ripe tomatoes and slit 2 green chilies, 2-3 broken red chilly. Some curry leaves for seasoning. Some coriander leaves to give the aroma.

Grind 1 handful of grated coconut with 1 tsp fenugreek (jeerakam) separately.
In the kadai, to the cooked Sāmbhar paruppu, add the cooked mango and drumstick, and the grinded mix coconut with jeerakam. Add the tamarind ( a small lemon size) soaked water. (You may not add tamarind when the mango is already have that tangy taste…depends on how much tanginess one wants).

Add 1 tsp of Kashmir chilly powder, 2 tsp of malli (Coriander seed) powder, 1 tsp of ready-made Sāmbhar powder, salt to taste, 1 pinch of turmeric powder if one want more yellow color. Mix it thoroughly and let it to boil. Pour some more water to bring it to some watery consistency.
Add chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilly, some curry leaves to the above mix. Let it to boil.

Sprinkle some salt to taste.

Separately, heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai, splutter 1 tsp mustard seed, 2-3 red chilly, lots of curry leaves . When they are fried, add this seasoning to the above mix.

Before you take out from the stove, sprinkle some asafetida powder and coriander leaves. Close with a lid so that the aroma does not leave.

Welcome to Sumy's adukazha

2009-04-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

(photo courtesy: internet)
Hi all,
I've started blogging few months back..started on with random, musing thoughts....Having got motivated by other food bloggers, decided to put some recipies tried by me...Hence opened a new food blog...."Sumy's Adukazha"....Hope you will like it.....

Enjoy my recipies if you want and have fun.....

Sumy Sunil