Uzhundha vadai / medhu vadai / mina pappu garelu / urid dhal fritters

 

A very healthy and tasty snack,  especially for children. I love the smell, outer crispiness and inner softness of this vadai. Quick and easy to prepare and it makes a wholesome snack too. Any tamilian will go ga-ga for this vada preparation :). Usually this vada is served along with venpongal or idly in hotels and it goes very well with sambhar and coconut chutney. In south India it is a must during festival feasts.

 

 

Ingredients:

Urid dhal - 1 1/2 cup

Onion- 1 no

Green chillies- 4 nos

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece

Curry leaves- some 10 leaflets, minced finely

Jeera- 1/2 tspn

Pepper corns- 10 nos (coarsely grounded)

Oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

Method : 

Soak urid dhal in water for 40 minutes. Cut onions, green chillies and ginger into small pieces. Mince curry leaves and coarsely ground pepper corns. Grind the soaked urid dhal in a food processor to a smooth paste. Add enough salt when grinding. The batter should be thick and not watery. Now mix onions, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, jeera and pepper to the ground batter. Mix well. Take a small lime-sized ball of batter and make it flat. Make a hole in the center of the flattened batter with your finger. Now drop it in hot oil. Fry all the batter in the same way. Crispy, soft medhu vada or uzhundha vada is ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : You can add two teaspoon of tuvar dhal when soaking the uri ddhal and grind together. I read in a magazine that it increases the crispiness of vada. You can grind the batter coarsely too. That gives a different, more crispy taste. Do not soak the dhal for more than one hour. Do not make the batter watery. The batter should be thick enough so that the vada imbibes less oil.  But when the batter is too thick the vada becomes hard and rubbery. So find a balance in the consistency of the batter. You can shape the vada with your hand. But before doing this dip your hand in water so that the batter doesn't stick to your hand. Otherwise you can use polythene sheets which are coated with oil for shaping the vadas. You can add carrot scrapping, coconut pieces, any minced healthy greens to the batter for that extra touch. Serve with coconut chutney. Happy cooking !!!

Kollu rasam / Horse gram rasam / Ulava chaaru

  

Kollu in Tamil, ulavalu in Telugu, kulith in Marathi and horsegam in english, these lovely little beans  look very beautiful. My mom never used this lentil in cooking. I am introduced to this lentil by one of my friend named Singaravelan. He used to bring this rasam. He prepares it himself. Sometimes he even has beetroot in his rasam preparation :). Few times I got a chance to taste his kollu rasam. It tasted very good. He used to say that kollu has many medicinal properties. 

The scientific name of horsegram is Macrotyloma uniflorum. It is generally used as a horse feed. It is very rich in iron and molybdenum. They are also high in polyphenol content. They have high amonut trypsin inhibitor. So it is always better to soak them or roast them well before cooking, otherwise the trypsin inhibitors  willl interfere with protein digestion. 

Kollu or horse gram  is appreciated for its medicinal properties. In tamilnadu villages people prepare it when somebody in home is suffering from fever. It is also thought to help with water retention. People with kidney stones are encouraged to include it more often in their diet. Kollu is also claimed to be good for losing weight. Whetever might be,  the rasam prepared with kollu tastes wonderful with a mild nutty flavour. I love it. Hope you will  like it too.

 

Ingredients :

Kollu or horsegram - three handfuls

Tomato- 1 no

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Green chillies- 3 nos

Red chillies- 4 nos

Jeera seeds- 1 heaped tspn

Pepper corns- 1 tspn

Fnugreek, mustard and jeera seeds- 1/2 tspn each for tempering

Turmeric powder- 1 /2 tspn

Asafoetida powder- 1/4 tspn

Garlic- 6 pods

Coriander leaves- a handful

Curry leaves- 20 leaflets

Oil- 3 tbspns

Salt to taste

Method :

First roast the kollu in a hot pan until they acquire a darker colour and emit a nice aroma. Then pressure cook it until they are cooked. The water in which the horsegram is cooked acquires a dark brown colour. This water should be used for making rasam. I guess this water is rich in polyphenols and iron. Seperate the cooked kollu from the remaining water. Grind the cooked kollu in a food processor to a paste. Soak tamarind and extract its juice. Now add tomato, coriander leves, curry leaves and kollu paste ( how much to add depends on you. If you need a thick rasam add more kollu paste) to the diluted tamarind water. With your hand mash the tomatoes and all other ingredients well. Now take red chillies, green chillies, garlic, jeera and pepper corns in a food processor. Just give a pulse spin to grind them coarsely. Tansfer these ground itmes into the tamarind water mixed with other ingredients. Mix everything well with your hand. Add turmeric and asafoetida powder to this mixture. Now heat a pan with oil. When the oil gets hot enough add fenugreek seeds. When they become brown and emit a nice aroma add mustard and jeera seeds. When they splutter add the entire tamarind water mixture to the pan. When the top of the mixture foaths remove from fire and add enough salt to taste. A very tasty, healthy, aromatic kollu rasam will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Kollu contains small stones hidden between them. Make sure to clean the kollu before you use. Either soak or roast kollu well before cooking. Never allow the rasam to boil. When it froaths on the top (as shown in last picture of the collage) you should remove from fire. Add salt only at the end of rasam preparation. Kollu gets charred easily. So when roasting stir them frequently: Happy cooking !!!

Mupparuppu vadai/ Fritters made with three different dhals

 

My mom taught me how to make this vadai. This is a variation of the usual vadai recipe.  We normally make vadai either with channa dhal or urid dhal. But in this recipe channa dhal, urid dhal and moong dhal are added in a ratio of 1:1:1 to make crispy vadais. You can also use these vadais to make urundai kuzhambu, which is a mouth-watering delicacy. As I have already mentioned if you use different variety of pulses in your cooking you will get all the necessary amino acids and in this way vegetarians can meet their protein requirements. I was not sure how these vadais will turn out since I was making them for the first time. But they turned out to be extremely tasty, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Do try it as it makes a tasty and healthy snack.

Ingredients :

Channa dhal ( kadalai paruppu)- 1 cup

Moong dhal ( pasiparuppu)-  1 cup

Urid dhal (uzhundham paruppu)- 1 cup

Onion- 1 no (red onions are better)

Spring onions (optional)- I had some at home so I minced them and added to the batter, you can also use spinach

Green chillies- 4 nos

Curry leaves- 10 leaflets (minced fine)

Ginger- ½ inch piece minced finely

Cumin seeds- 1 tspn

Chilli powder- 1 ½ tspn (adjust according to your taste)

Asafoetida- few pinches

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method :

Soak all three dhals together in water for one hour. Then grind them together with enough salt and asafoetida powder into a coarse batter. Cut onion and green chillies into small pieces. Mince ginger and curry leaves. Now add everything to the ground batter and mix well by adding chilli powder. Taste the batter and adjust salt once again. Now the vada batter is ready. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Take small lime sized batter and drop them in oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. Take them out when the vadas become golden brown in colour. Fry all the batter in batches. Crispy vadas are ready to be relished.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Grind the batter into a coarse paste. Take care that the vada batter is thick and not watery. When grinding add water in very small amount and only when it is absolutely necessary. Do not make large vadas. Then the inside of the vadas remains uncooked. Happy cooking !!!

Paalakura pappu/spinach dhal/paalakeerai paruppu

 

In my home my mom makes just plain paruppu and rasam. I never knew that we can make so many different varietes of pappu until I started having andhraite friends. Yesterday when I made this dhal we just loved it. I just made a small change to the actual recipe and that made a lot of difference.  I bought a bunch of spinach form local farmer's market. They were very fresh and beautiful,  I  just can't resist picking them up. The recipe is very simple, flavourful and full of goodnes. I am planning to include lots of spinach dhal throughout the spring season and become strong like popoye :). I forgot to mention one more thing 'I HATE FROZEN SPINACH'. Might be the nutrition is preserved in frozen spinach but not its wonderful flavour. 

Ingredients :

Toor dhal (split pigeon pea)- 1 cup

Spinach- a big bunch (fresh ones please !!!)

Onions-1 

Garlic- 5 pods (make thin slices)

Green chilli- 3 nos

Dried red chili- 4 nos

Red chilli powder- 1 1/2 tspn (adjust according to your taste)

Turmeric- a pinch

Asafoetida- a pinch

Mustard, jeera seeds, urid dhal- 1tspn (for tempering)

Oil- 4 tbspns

Salt to taste

Method :

Wash and chop spinach leaves. Cut onions, green chillies and slice garlic into thin pieces. Cook toor dhal with a pinch of turmeric, asafoetida and few drops of oil in a pressure cooker. Take care not to overcook the dhal. It should be cooked but should retain its shape. Now heat oil in a pan. When the oil gets heated add the mustard and jeera seeds. When they splutter add the garlic slices and dried red chillies. Saute until the garlic slices acquire a golden brwon colour. After that add  onions, green chillies and enough salt. Saute until the onions turn translucent. Now add the chilli powder and saute for a few seconds. Add the cooked dhal ato the pan and add enough water. The dhal should not be watery or too thick. Allow the mixture to boil. and then switch off the stove. Now to the piping hot dhal add the chopped spinach leaves and mix well. The heat of the dhal is enough to melt the spinach. Adding spinach at the end really makes a lot of difference. It helps in retaining the real flavours of spincah and seals in the nutrients. 

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Add spinach to the dhal only after you have removed it from fire. This really helps to seal the flavour and the nutrients present in spinach. Use only fresh spinach  leaves and not the frozen ones. This is a very tasty and healthy dish. Hope you will enjoy it too. Happy cooking !!!

Khichdi

 

For me, this dish carries with it many nice memories.  Before marriage, Rajender used to cook this one-pot meal very often. A very quick one to make and very satisfying too after a day of stessful work. Rajender used to have this with raw carrots and his mom's mango pickle as a side-dish. I too got used to it and whenever I make this khichdi, carrot+mango pickle will be our side-dish .  He uses toor dhal (thuvaram paruppu) for this khichdi while the norm is moong dhal (pasi paruppu) or bengal gram dhal (kadalai paruppu). But whatever it is, kichdi smells and tastes very good.

Ingredients :

Rice - 2 1/2 cups

Toor dhal- 1/2 cup

Onion- 1 (big variety)

Potato- 1 big

Green chillies- 5 nos

Curry leaves- some 15 leaflets

Jeera- 1 tspn

Turmeric- 1/4 tspn

Oil- 3 tbspns

Salt to taste

Method :

Cut onions, green chillies and cube the potatoes into big pieces. Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot enough add the jeera seeds. When it splutters add minced onions, green chillies, curry leaves , cubed potato pieces and turmeric powder. Saute for few minutes until onions turn translucent. Now add water depending on how much the rice you use demands. I use 5 cups of water for 3 cups of rice+lentil. mixture Let the water boil. Now add enough salt and water+lentil mixture into it. Tranfer everything into a rice cooker. When done serve with any side-dish you would like. But mango pickle and carrot tastes awesome with it !!!

Taste enhancing tips : Just follow the recipe. Make it as simple as possible without the addition of any other items. This lentil, rice medley has a very nice aroma and you will love it. Happy cooking !!!

Maamidikaya pappu/ raw-mango dhal/maanga(i) paruppu

This is a dish which I knew only after my marriage. But the first time I tasted it I fell in love with it. Now it is mango season and in Srilankan stores they had some fresh, raw mangoes. I picked up a few to make this pappu. My mom-in-law make this dhal as a side-dish for pooris...hmm heavenly combination. It tastes the best with pooris rather than with hot rice. I just followed my mom-in-laws protocol for this dish and the preparation is as follows :

Ingredients :

Raw mango (sour variety)- deskinned and cut into small pieces- 1 cup

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Dried red chilies- 5 nos (adjust according to your taste)

Red chilly powder- 1 tspn

Garlic- 5 pods (crushed or cut into thin slices)

Jeera and mustard seeds- 1 tspn

Oil- 3 tbspn

Salt to taste

Method :

Cook toor dhal and mango pieces in a pressure cooker with enough water. The dhal should not turn into  paste. It should retain its shape and at the same time it should be soft enough (see the picture). Add enough water to the dhal mixture and adjust it according to your desired consistency. It should not be too thin or too thick. Now heat oil in a pan. Do the tempering using jeera and mustard seeds. Add these seeds only when the oil is hot enough. When they splutter add garlic pieces and fry for a minute. Then add the red chillies. Fry for a few seconds, when they emit a nice aroma transfer the cooked dhal, mango mixture to the pan. Add salt to taste and remove from fire. You can add red chilli powder when you cook the dhal and mango pieces or you can add it when doing the tempering. I add the chilli powder directly to the hot oil. But be very careful when doing so. It can get burned very easily. Simmer the stove before adding the chilli powder to the hot oil. This step should be imediately followed by the addition of mango, dhal mixture.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : The raw mango should be very sour. More sour the mango is, the tastier will be this dish. Add enough salt and chilli powder to balance the sourness of the mango dhal. Tempering brings out the real taste of this recipe. Take care that the oil is hot enough before you add the tempering ingredients. Frying the garlic in oil to golden brwon colour imparts a nice aroma and taste to the dish. Whole red chillies added to this dsih has a wonderful taste. I just love it. Use peanut oil if possible. Avoid gingelly oil in this preparation. Happy cooking!!!

Manga(i) sambhar/ maamidikaya sambhar/sambhar with raw mango

The most flavourful sambhar you can prepare is this. During mango season every home in my native village will have raw mangoes in their sambhar. I know it is a famous dish in Madurai, not sure about other places. My dad loved it. If you haven't tried sambhar with raw mango, this is the time to try it. The mango need not have to be too sour. Select mango with a very slight sweet tinge, but not very sweet. The most wonderful thing about this dish is the flavour that the raw mango imparts to this dish and the taste of the mango pieces in sambhar...simply yummilicious!!!

Ingredients :

Toor dhal- 1 cup
Raw mango- 1 no (big)
Drumstick- 2 nos (optional)
Onion- 1 no
Small tomato- 1 no
Green chillies- 3 nos
Garlic- 1 pod (crushed)
Curry leaves- few leaflets
Coriander powder-  2 tbson
Chilli powder- 2 tspn
OR instead of the above coriander and chilli powder add 2 tbspn of MTR sambhar powder (no other brand please)
Coconut scrappins- 2 tbspns (dried coconut scrapping is also fine, but not coconut powder)
Fenugreek, mustard and jeera seeds- 1 tspn each
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Asafoetida- a pinch
Tamarind-  a small piece (adjust according to the sourness of raw mango)
Oil- 2 tbspns
Salt to taste

Method :

Cook dhal with enough water in a pressure cooker. Do not overcook the dhal and end up with a dhal paste. It spoils the taste of sambhar. Dhal should retain its shape but should be cooked and soft enough. Cut onion, tomato, drumstick and raw mango. Onions and tomato should be cut into bite sized pieces. Drumstick into an inch piece and cut raw mango into big pieces. Do not throw away the mango seed. Just retain some flesh on the seed and add this to sambhar too. Extract juice from the soaked tamarind. Now add oil in a pan. When it gets heated add fenugreek seeds. When they turn brown enough and emit a nice aroma, add mustard and jeera seeds. After they splutter add the cut onions , curry leaves, crushed garlic, green chllies and a pinch of turmeric powder. Saute well for a few seconds. Then add the cut tomatoes. Saute well until the tomato becomes soft. Now add drumstick, coriander and chilli powder or MTR sambhar powder. Saute for a minute and  add tamarind juice and enough water. Now let the drumstick cook in this mixture. Once the drumstick becomes soft add the raw mango pieces. Continue cooking until they become soft. Now add a pinch of asafoetida and the cooked toor dhal. Add water and adjust the sambhar consistency to your desired level. Sambhar should be little on the watery side. Allow the mixture to boil. Add salt to taste. Simmer for 3 more minutes. Before removing from fire add coconut scrapings. Tasty and most flavourful sambhar will be ready to be served.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : The main point to note is the sourness. Since your are adding sour mango in the dish, take care to adjust the sourness from tamarind. If the mango is very sour decrease the amount of tamarind used. As I mentioned already, selecting  mango with a sweet tinge is preferable. Refer this link for tips to make a perfect sambhar. Happy cooking !!!

This recipe goes to Suma's 'Delicios Dals' From India  event.

Idly podi

I love idly with sambhar, idly with chutney, idly with sambhar and chutney, idly with mango pickle, idli with plain gingelly oil  and idly with this podi and gingelly oil. In short I love idly and I can gulp down a few with any side-dish. But idly, podi and gingelly oil combination is very special. Many a time my lunch box contained idly and podi. My mom would mix this idly podi with gingelly oil and apply on the the idlies. Until afternoon the idly imbibes the flavour of the podi and OMG!!! I miss it. I definitely miss it. This type of idly podi preparation is my mom's speciality. Urid dhal is the main ingredient. Fried urid dhal smells awesome and imagine it being mixed with the flavours of curry leaves and fresh pepper corns.......Excellent is the word to describe the combination and this idly podi. I have seen many people asking my mom for this recipe. Hope you will like it too.

Ingredients :

Urid dhal- 1 cup

Channa dhal- a handful

Rice- 1 tspn

Black pepper corns- 50 nos

Curry leaves- some 40 leaflets

Garlic- 5 pods ( mince into small pieces)

Dried red chillies- 15 nos (adjust according to your taste, I love it hot and when you mix this podi with oil the hotness get reduced a lot)

Asafoetida- few pinches

Salt to taste

Method :

Very simple. Fry all the ingredients together, including the garlic pieces. Remove from fire when the urid dhal acquires a golden brown colour. Then dry grind the ingredients into a coarse powder with enough salt and few pinches of asafoetida. Idly podi will be ready to be served. Serve with gingelly oil.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Take care not to burn any ingredient when frying. Fry on low heat. Never miss black pepper and curry leaves when preparing this idly podi. Happy cooking!!!

Adai

Adai is one of my favourite breakfast item. It is a traditional, tamilian recipe. My mom used to make it once in a while, especially  when we were bored of the routine breakfast. It is made with a mixture of pulses and rice. Pulses are high in fiber, low in fat, contains high quality proteins and high in nutrients. Studies encourage us to include  a variety of pulses in our diet rather than using a single type of pulse more often. Each pulse has its unique combination of amino acids and if you eat a combination of pulses you will get all the essential amino acids. This is  especially true for vegans since they depend manily on pulses to satisfy their protein requirements.

"Eat breakfast like a king"- sorry friends I have to disagree with this. The above statement held true when our ancestors did lots of manual labour. Most of them worked on agricultural fields. They needed a high calorie breakfast beacuse their work demanded lots of energy expenditure and hence all the calories were utilized efficiently. But now, we are mostly couch potatoes. In such a situation we should never aim to eat like a king at any time of the day. We must eat wisely with calorie consciousness, inorder to escape obesity and it's related disorders. We should always have in mind that diabetic diet is not only good for diabetics but for everyone of us too. I would love to write a seperate topic on this because if I start writing everything here, this topic will never end. But in short you must have a breakfast which contains carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats in a perfect balance. This will prevent rapid insulin spikes and promotes satiety.

So coming back to adai, it is one of the healthiest breakfast available. With its right combination of carbohydrates and high quality proteins it gives a perfect start for the day. Look at the mixture of pulses which I used for making this adai, colourful isn't it?. We need more colours in our diet. We must include different coloured foods, especially the deep, dark ones. More colourful your diet is, more anti-oxidants you obatin. Anti-oxidants are proven to prevent many age related disorders. Now comes the adai recipe :

Ingredients :

Parboiled rice- 11/2 cups

Toor dhal

Channa dhal

Urid dhal

Masoor dhal

Moong dhal

Whole moong dhal

I usually take equal amount of dhal mixture and rice. I take handfuls of all the dhals and mix together. Then take 11/2 cups dhal mixture for 11/2 cups rice. If you like the taste of a particular dhal you can add more of it and decrease the others. But it is healthier to include equal amount of all the dhals.

Dried red chillies- 10 nos

Garlic- 3 pods

Ginger- an inch piece

Onions- 1 nos

Coconut- 1 big piece of its meat

Oil (preferably gingelly oil)

Method :

Soak rice and pulses in water overnight (approx.8 hours). (Why should we soak pulses ?) Then grind them into a smooth batter along with dried red chillies, ginger and garlic. Add enough salt when grinding. Cut onions, curry leaves and coconut into bite sized pieces and mix it with the batter. The batter should be thicker than the dosa batter. You can make adai immediately with this batter or wait for 4 hours before making adai. I would prefer this 4 hours ferementation step because it helps in the digestion process. You can use any oil for frying adai but gingelly oil is preferable. You can use ghee for children. Serve it with a chutney of your choice. I prefer eating adai with coconut chutney.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Try to make the adai healthier by adding a variety of pulses. You can also add vegetables like carrots, cabbage, etc., to the adai batter. Cut vegetables into small pieces and mix it with the batter. Adai should always be on the thicker side. Do not dilute the batter with water and attempt to make a thin pancake. It compromises the native taste greatly. Do not allow it to ferment for more that 4 hours. It gains a sour taste when fermented too long. Sour tasting adais are not so appetizing. Yesterday when my husband complained that it is thick I said to him 'adai should not be like regular dosa'. You should also remember it.  You can serve adai with freshly made butter and palm sugar (vellam or bellam). Children will love it. Adai is a fulfilling breakfast. Yesterday when I had an adai for the breakfast, I didn't feel hungry for the next 5 hours. But that shows how slowly it is digested which is very good from the health point of view. Adai is very good for diabetics and for everyone of us too. Happy cooking friends!!!

I would love to submit this for jihva event hosted by Suma of Veggie platter.

Boli / Obattu / Bobbatlu

OMG!!! after a long research in internet I am still not sure how to call this dish . But one thing is for sure, this dish tasted and tastes really awesome . We tamilians mostly call it as boli. If poli is the right word for it I could understand why we do not want to call this dish with that name. In tamizh poli means imitation and why to call such a nice dish with such a defamatory word . Whatever it is I will address the dish as boli as of now. If somebody could give me the correct name I will definitely correct myself. But afterall whats in a name?, when it comes to dishes only taste matters . Yesterday was Ugadi and when I went home at six in the evening I am almost tired. But I really wanted to make and eat something sweet. Few days back my friend blogged a boli recipe made of sweet potato. I started to drool on seeing boli after a long time. So I decided to make it. I had maida, palm sugar (jaggery) and moong dhal. I started the boli making process. I should tell you that the sweet turned out to be very, very soft and very tasty. Rajender simply loved it and I am satisfied .

Ingredients:

Maida- 2 cups

A pinch of salt and few pinches of turmeric

Boiling water for making dough out of maida

Moong dhal / channa dhal- 1 cup

Palm sugar (jaggery)- 1/2 cup to 1 cup (if you need it sweeter use more jaggery)

Rice flour- 2 handfulls

Cardamom- 5 nos (crushed)

Method:

First add a pinch of salt and few pinches of turmeric to the maida and mix well. Now boil water. Add the piping hot water slowly to the maida and mix it using a spatula. Be very careful. Do not use your hand for mixing the flour. When the flour starts to glue together,  make dough out of the flour by using your hand. Make sure you can tolerate the heat before doing so. If you need more water you can use room temperature water now. The dough should have a consistency of paratha dough. Knead the dough well with your hands and keep it aside. Now for the filling boil the dhal. When the dhal is soft enough strain the dhal to remove excess water ( I used this water for making dough). Then cool down the dhal and grind it to a smooth paste. In a heavy bottomed vessel add 1/2 a cup of water and then add the jaggery. When the jaggery melts (if you think there are impurities like small sand particles in the jaggery then filter it and proceed) add the ground dhal paste and crushed cardamoms. Stir it continuosly so that it forms a thick paste. Take it out when the dhal has absorbed all the water and mixed well with jaggery syrup. The consistency of the dhal mixture is very important. When the dhal, jaggery mixture cools down you should be able to form a well-formed ball out of it. Now everything is ready to make boli. Take maida dough and spread it using a roller pin . Then take a lime sized ball of dhal filling and keep it on the spread dough and close the dough from all sides. Now flatten a little with your hand. Apply rice flour on both sides and spread it well using the roller pin. Try to spread as thin as you can. If you are good in paratha making (stuffed parathas) then it will not be a problem in making good bolis. When this process is finished fry them in a non-stick pan by applying ghee on both sides. Awesome boli will be ready to eat .

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe: First important thing is, if you need soft bolis, use boiling water to mix the flour. Adding boiling water makes the dough a bit pre-cooked and soft. Atleast for me it worked very well. Read carefully, I just said a few pinches of turmeric. Never add more than that ( a tspn or so). You will end-up with bolis smelling strongly of turmeric. The next point is the dhal-jaggery mixture. Do not panic if it has become watery. Add rice flour little by little to the dhal-jaggery mixture until you get the desired consistency. This also will enhance the taste. Apply rice flour on both sides when spreading the dhal filled dough ball. Somehow this made the spreading process really easy. Use ghee for frying. Do try it and Happy cooking!!!

Paruppu vadai

This week end some of my friends came. So I wanted to prepare something very traditional other than the usual sambhar, rasam, chicken stuff. So I made puliyotharai, curd rice, paruppu vadai, payasam, appalam and mor milagai. Everyone enjoyed the food and I am very happy . Paruppu vadai is my dad's favourite. It is also called as aama(i) (tortoise) vadai because of it's shape and masala vadai because of the addition of  masala items to it. When I was working in MKU we use to go for tea break to a nearby small tea shop. A cup of tea and this vadai is a wonderful treat amidst those working times and those are also the time for hot, hot gossips . I thoroughly enjoyed those times. When we travelled to USA my periyamma prepared these vadai. Hers are one of the best I have ever tasted. The vadai I made yesterday turned out to be a very tasty, golden, crispy treat.

Ingredients

Channa dhal- 1 cup

Moong dhal- 2 handfulls

Onions- 2 nos

Garlic- 4 pods

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece

Coriander leaves

Green chilli- 5 nos

Saunf- 2 tspns

Coriander powder and chilli powder- 1 tspn

Asafoetida a pinch

Oil and salt

Method

Soak channa dhal and moong dhal for 40 minutes. Make sure you soak them only for short duration. Never soak them more than an hour. Soaking them longer makes the vadais imbibe more oil. So the final product turns out to be very soft and oily. Grind the soaked dhal into a coarse paste with enough salt and a pinch of asafoetida. Try not to add water when grinding. But if you need water add very little. The batter should be thick and you should be able to make aamai shape out of it.  Before grinding take a handful of dhal and keep aside. Now cut the onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger and coriander leaves into tiny pieces. Then mix these cut items with the coarsely ground batter along with soaked, unground dhals, 2 tspns of saunf (fennel seeds), coriander powder and chilli powder. When you cut and mix the masala items with batter the entire place starts to smell of fresh masala. Then take small amount of ground batter in your hand and mould them into the shape as shown in the picture. Heat oil in a kadai and when it is hot enough drop the shaped vada batter in it. Remove them from oil when they turn golden in colour. Fry the remaining batter in batches. Tasty, crispy vadai will be ready to serve.

Taste enhancing tips: Do not soak the dhal for more than an hour. Use moong dhal for grinding as well as for adding to the ground batter. This makes the vadai more crispier. All the above mentioned masala items (ginger, garlic, saunf)  makes the vadai very falavourful so do not miss them. Try to make small vadais so that you can be sure that the inner portion is also cooked well when the vadais turn golden in colour. Happy cooking!!! and enjoy your week end .

Peerkangai sambhar/ Beerakaya sambhar (Ridge gourd sambhar)

Peerkangai  is one of my favourite vegetable but only when the skin is removed (not scraped out!!! note the difference) totally. In my home my mom used to remove the skin completely before making dishes out of it's smooth flesh. I know very well that cooking this vegetable with skin intact satisfies part of your daily fibre requirements.  But sometimes you love the taste you grew up with . This vegetable too has a mild sweet tinge to it. One important thing about this vegetable is, please taste it before using it for cooking. Some peerkangai has a bitter taste to it. You can't use it for cooking. My mom used to say that, snake has crawled over the peerkangai, that is why it has a bitter taste to it . So coming back to the point,  I have seen people using it for making poriyal, kootu and chutney but using this vegetable for making sambhar is not that usual, atleast in our household. When I ate peerkangai sambhar for the first time I immediately liked it. Here goes the recipe for it :

Ingredients

Peerkangai- 2 nos

Toor dhal- 1 cup

Onion- 1 no

Garlic- 2 cloves (crushed)

Green chillies- 3 nos

Curry leaves

Coconut scrappins- 2 tbspns

Coriander powder- 2 tbspns

Chilli powder- 2 tspns

Tamarind size of a very small lemon ( soak it and extract juice from it)

Mustard, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds for tempering

A pinch of asafoetida

Salt and oil

Method

Cook toor dhal and keep it aside. For sambhar the dhal should not be cooked into a paste. In madurai they used to say 'paruppu malarthiruchanu paru', it means check whether the dhal has bloomed (very beautiful word ofcourse!!!). The dhal should be cooked but should not be made into a paste. Now remove the skin of peerkangai completely. Then cut them into bit-sized pieces. Keep aside. Cut onions and green chillies. Crush the garlic cloves. Heat oil in a kadai. When it gets heated add the fenugreek. When it is brown add mustard and cumin seeds. Let them splutter.  Then add onions, curry leaves, crushed garlic and a pinch of turmeric powder. Saute them till the onions become translucent. Then add the ridge gourd pieces and saute for a minute. Now add coriander powder, chilli powder and a pinch of asafoetida (perungayam). Saute for few seconds (take care not to burn them). After that add the tamarind juice and enough water. Bring the mixture to boil. Once peerkangai is cooked add salt to the mixture. Now add the cooked toor dhal to it. Boil for a few minutes and simmer it for 5 more minutes. Before simmering you can add coconut scrappings.  Tasty, tasty sambhar is ready to serve.

Taste enhancing tips for this recipe :

Making sambhar is itself  an art. I will say what you should not do inorder to get a good sambhar .

1) Please do not cook the dhal and vegetables together in a cooker (might be you can save time but not your sambhar ). The vegetables should always be cooked in tamarind water. If you mix everything and make it into a paste, then it can no more be called as a sambhar.

 

2) For a good sambhar tempering is very important. I have seen people who cannot wait till the oil gets heated. They just throw in the mustard and other tempering ingredients before the oil gets heated. Never do it. First add fenugreek seeds in well-heated oil. When the seeds turn brown and emit nice aroma add the mustard and jeera seeds. Wait till the mustard splutters before you add onions. This kind of tempering brings out the real aroma of sambhar.

3) Never use a store bought sambhar powder. In my experience MTR is OK and the other sambhar powders are no good. Instead of sambhar powder use coriander powder and chilli powder seperately.  

4) Never add too much of tamarind or too little of tamarind. If you add too much of tamarind it becomes a pulikuzhambu and too little of tamarind makes it taste not so good. So be careful when adding tamarind juice. Add little by little and adjust according to the taste.

5) As I have already said do not make dhal into a paste. The dhal must be cooked and the individual lentils should be visible clearly.

6) If you get shallots (small onions) always use it instead of the big ones.

If you follow this I am sure your sambhar will taste good .

Happy cooking!!!

Urundai Kuzhambu (Lentil balls in tamarind gravy)

Urundai kuzhambu is one of my favourite. My mom used to make it once in a while. I tried this after a long, long time. Made some changes to the usual method. It came out very well. So here comes the recipe:

Ingredients

Bengal gram dhal- 1 cup

Toor dhal- 1 handful

Moong dhal- 1 handful

Onions- 2 nos

Tomato-1 no

Fennel seeds- 2 tspn

Fenugreek seeds (methi)- 1 tspn

Mustard seeds- 1 tspn

Green chillies- according to your taste

Red chilli powder- 2 tspn

Coriander powder- 1 tbspn

Curry leaves

Dry coconut scrappings- 1 tbspn (If you have fresh coconut grind to paste two big pieces)

Tamarind- size of a small lemon

Oil

Method

First soak all the dhals (lentils) together in water for one hour. Then grind them in a mixer grinder (I have grounded the batter to a smooth consistency). Then cut one onion and 4 green chillies into small pieces. Cut curry leaves too into small pieces. Then mix the onion, green chillies, curryleaves and 1 tspn of fennel seeds to the batter. Add 1 tspn of chilli powder and salt to taste to the ground batter. Mix well. Heat oil in a wok (take enough to fry the lentil dumblings). When the oil is hot enough take small lemon sized batter and drop in oil. Fry till they turn golden brown. In batches fry the remaining batter in oil and keep aside. Now heat oil in a pan ( ~2 tbspn) , when the oil gets heated add 1 tspn of fenugreek seeds and 1 tspn of mustard seeds. When it splutters add the diced onion pieces, tomato pieces and curry leaves. Saute for a few minutes. Add salt according to your taste. Then when the tomato pieces are cooked good enough add 1 tbspn full of coriander powder and 1 tspn of hot chilli powder. Saute for few seconds (take care not to burn). Then add the tamarind extract (extracted from alredy soaked tamarind). Let it boil for 5 min on high flame. Then taste the tamarind garvy and adjust salt and chilli powder according to your taste. If you have ground coconut paste add it at this stage. ( Let the mixture boil for 3 more minutes before you add fried lentil dumblings) If you have dry coconut scrapping add it at the last stage after adding the lentil dumblings. Now add the fried lentil dumblings. Boil it for further 5 minutes and then simmer it until the oil seperates out. Tasty, tasty urundai kuzhambu is ready. Goes very well with rice and chappathi. Tastes good with idly too.

Many people will not fry the lentil balls. They grind the lentils without much water. They do not also grind the batter to a smooth consistency. They make balls out of the batter, keep them on idly stand and steam cook the dumblings. Ofcourse it’s a healthy version without much oil. But when done like that it takes atleast a day for the dumblings to soak fully in tamaring gravy. If you grind the batter smooth with little bit more water and fry them before adding to the tamarind gravy, you will have the advantage of the dumblings getting soaked immediately in the gravy and acquiring a very good tatste. If you steam the lentil dumblings, I personally feel that they still retain the raw smell. But its upto you to decide which method to follow.

Some taste enhancing tips for this recipe is : add lots of curry leaves both in the lentil batter and during tadka, If possible use gingelly oil (nallennai) when making tadka. Never forget to add fennel seeds (saunf) in the batter. Addition of fennel seeds imparts a nice flavour.

Happy cooking!!!