Showing posts with label south indian. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Ven Pongal | Kara Pongal | Uthiri Pongal

Ven pongal / Kara Pongal / Uthiri Pongal, a delicious South Indian breakfast made from rice, dal and tempered with aromatic Indian Spices. It's usually served with sambar and/or chutneys.

The recipe that i'm sharing today is for soft and fluffy pongal not the mushy one that is usually available in restaurants. Though mushy pongal tastes great when served hot, it doesn't taste the same when it's cold.

So, In South Tamilnadu, when pongal is prepared in large quantities for temple festivals or marriage feast to feed many people, usually it's not mushy because that's when even the last serving has the same taste as the first serving.

For this pongal, raw ponni rice is used generally for its small grain size and the taste. But seeraga samba rice/biryani rice also taste equally good for this pongal with enhanced flavor.

As in this pongal recipe, the rice and dal is cooked along with the tempering, the flavor is intense even without a lot of ghee and makes you want to eat more & more ! That's why it's our family favorite.

Now let's check out on how to make this delicious pongal.

Ven Pongal | Kara Pongal | Uthiri Pongal

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Seeraga Samba rice / Raw Ponni rice - 1/2 cup
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 1 & 1/2 cups
Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Oil - 2 tsp

Ghee - 2 tsp
To Temper
Cumin Seed - 1 tsp
Pepper Corns - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 tbsp(minced)
Curry leaves - few
Cashew - 6 to 8
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

First in a bowl, add the rice and dal, wash it well and then soak it in the water for 30 mins.

Next take all the ingredients for tempering and then heat a pressure cooker with oil and 1 tsp of ghee, add all the tempering ingredients one by one.

Saute till they are aromatic and then add the water.

Next add the turmeric powder and salt. Bring the water into boil.

Drain the water from the soaked rice and dal and add into the pressure cooker. Give a quick stir and then cover the pressure cooker with lid and put a whistle. Cook it for 3 whistles.

Once the pressure is released from the pressure cooker, open it and add the remaining 1 tsp of ghee, give a gentle mix.

Tada, Tasty and fluffy Ven Pongal is ready. Serve it with sambar and/or chutneys.

Related: How to make Crispy Rava Dosai

Notes:

Instead of whole pepper corns, crushed pepper corns can also be used.
Adding good amount of ginger truly elevates the flavor and taste of the pongal.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Palakottai Puttu | Jackfruit Seeds Stir fry | Palakottai Podimas

Palakottai Puttu, a delicious and easy to make dish with jackfruit seeds. Jackfruit seeds are totally edible and have a mild sweet taste.

Jackfruit seeds have two outer skins. The first skin is like thin wax paper and it's non-edible and should be removed before or after cooking. The second skin is brown in colour(just like peanuts) and it's edible so no need to remove the brown skin.

Jackfruit seeds are commonly boiled & seasoned with salt and served as snack.I grew up eating jackfruit seeds a lot and in our family apart from eating jackfruit seeds as a snack, we also include it in many curries and have it as a side dish for our meal.

This Palakottai Puttu is one of my favourite ways of using jackfruit seeds when i have in abundance. When i was in India last time, Amma made this puttu as accompaniment for our meal and I simply loved it. Ever since i've wanted to make this on my own!

Here we rarely buy a small piece of jackfruit and it doesn't have a lot of seeds to try this puttu. But last week, we bought a big piece of jackfruit and left with a lot of jackfruit seeds. So the very next day i made this as sidedish for our meal.

Now let's check out on how to make this palakottai puttu

Palakottai Puttu

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Palakottai/Jackfruit seed - 1/2 cup
Onion(small) - 1
Green chilli - 1
Salt - to taste
Grated Coconut - 2 tsp
To Temper
Coconut Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure

First peel the white skin of the jackfruit seeds. Take a jackfruit seed ,with sharp knife gently make a slit in the outer skin, then with your fingers, you can peel it off.

Similarly do the same for the rest of the jackfruit and keep it ready.

In a pressure cooker, add the jackfruit seed, water(just enough to cover it) and cook it for 3 whistles.

Let the jackfruit seeds cool and put it(i have boiled more than 1/2 cup of jackfruit seeds but using only 1/2 cup for making the puttu) in the blender/mixie jar and pulse it for a couple of times and keep it ready, Next slice the onions thinly and slit the green chilli.

Heat a pan, add the coconut oil and let it melt. Then add the mustard and urad dal. Let the mustard crackle.

Then add the curry leaves followed by onions, green chilli and a pinch of salt. Saute till the onions are soft.

Next add the grounded jackfruit seed, grated coconut and the required salt.

Give a good mix, let it in the flame for 2-3 mins and the switch off the flame. Transfer into a serving bowl and it's ready to eat!

Tasty and flavourful Palakottai Puttu !

Related : How to make Jackfruit payasam

Notes:

Jackfruit seeds need very less salt, so add a little bit of salt and give a taste test. if needed add more !
After added the jackfruit seeds in the pan, don't cook it for longer time. It makes the curry dry.
Coconut oil gives great flavour so i highly recommend to use it.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Vadai Kulambu, a spicy and tasty tamarind based curry from South India. Masala Vadai kulambu is nothing but a puli kulambu/kara kulambu with masala vadai in it. The masala vadai added in the kulambu gives great flavor to the kulambu in addition the soaked vadai also tastes awesome. Both puli kulambu and vadai on its own are great but together it's amazing !

It's one of my go to kulambu recipe when i'm out of vegetables or bored of vegetables. Besides in our family we like to add this kulambu to the rice and keep the vadai as side for our lunch, so no need to make extra poriyal or sides as mandatory :-)

Back in days, in our home town, Tiruneveli, around noon, a grandma used to sell vadai. So people in our area who're looking for a change in their routine cooking would wait for her to buy some vadai to add it in the puli kulambu or mor kulambu. How simple is that, right?

Masala Vadai or Paruppu Vadai

In this kulambu, both masala vadai and paruppu vadai can be added. Masala vadai is usually made from split yellow peas and more spices whereas paruppu vadai is made from chana dal (gram dal)with less spices. Though it has slight variations, in many places, the names are easily interchangeable so it's up to you which vada you prefer in the kulambu

Here in today's recipe, i have used masala vadai which is more crispier than the paruppu vadai and also it's my favorite.

Related: How to make masala vadai/Pattani paruppu vadai

Consistency of the Curry / Kulambu

While making the curry for vadai kulambu, make sure that the curry is little more watery than the preferred consistency of the curry . Because after adding the vadai, it will absorb a bit of curry so it eventually thicken after a while.

Otherwise you end up with kootu like consistency instead of curry. Lesson learnt from personal experience :-)

Related: How to make Pakoda kulambu

Vegetables

Usually while making curry for vadai kulambu, i prefer to avoid any vegetables, only made with some pearl onions and garlic. But if you prefer, you can add drumsticks, it will add more flavor to the curry.

Serving Suggestions

Usually i add only a half of the vadai into the kulambu and serve the rest as it is as sides for more variations.

Though i prefer to make this curry for simple cooking, sometimes adding a poriyal/veggies and dessert would make this simple dish into delicious meal platter !!

Rice with vadai kulambu, rasam, beans poriyal & gulab jamun.

Vadai Kulambu | Masala Vadai Kuzhambu

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Garlic - 4 cloves

Onion - 1/4

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard & urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Masala Vadai - 6

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 2

Garlic pods - 1 cloves

Cumin seed- 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind in a 1/2 cup of water for 20 mins, peel the onion & garlic and chop them roughly into pieces, tomato into small pieces. Heat the oil in a kadai, add fenugreek seed, mustard & urad dal, let the mustard splutter, then add the onion,garlic and curry leaves.Saute the garlic in oil for 2-3 mins.

Add the tomatoes, give a quick mix & keep the flame in low. Then add the spices(turmeric, red chili & coriander powder),saute them in the oil for few mins. Make sure to not get burnt.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into kadai.Put all the ingredients listed under "To grind" and grind into smooth paste by adding couple of tbsp of water.

Add the coconut paste into kadai. Next add the salt and bring into boil.

Let it boil until the raw smell goes off and oil floats on the top. Switch off the flame and add the vadai. Let it soak for few mins before serving

Related: How to make masala vadai

Tasty Vadai Kuzhambu is ready to serve. Serve it with steamed rice.

Related: South Indian Kulambu Varieties

Notes:

The vadai has already salt in it, so be careful while adding salt in the kulambu
Sesame oil gives great flavor to this kulambu, so if you have it in stock, use the sesame oil instead of flavorless oil

Monday, September 30, 2019

Mango Kesari | Mango Sheera | Mambazham Kesari

Mango Kesari, a quick to make sweet from semolina and mango pulp. Kesari is the most favorite sweet in our home, often made for evening tea along with some savory snacks.

To me, Amma makes the best kesari in the world, her kesari literally melts in the mouth like butter. I still clearly remember that in my school days, whenever there was a small function in any one of our close relative's houses, they would ask Amma to make kesari.

Yep, her kesari was/is so famous in our family circle. Seeing her making this often at home makes it easier for me to perfect it very easily.

Ever since I heard about this mango kesari, I would like to give it a try, but when it comes to fresh mango, I hardly have any self control to not eat the mangoes. Many times, I had bought the mangoes for trying out some sweet/dessert, but ended up eating as it is :-)

So this time, I thought of making the mango kesari using mango pulp that's available in the can. To my surprise, the kesari turned out so good and kept on licking the spoon :-) . Moreover, to make this kesari, you no need to wait for mango season, the readymade mango pulp works as good as fresh ones for this kesari.

Related : How to make Mango Kulfi

Mango Kesari | Mango Sheera | Mambazham Kesari

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Rava/Semolina - 1/4 cup
Mango pulp - 1/4 cup*
Water - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cardamom - 1

* Fresh and CAN Mango pulp can be used in this recipe

Procedure

Heat a pan with ghee, add the rava and start roasting in low flame.

In the mean time, heat 1/4 cup of water in a sauce pan and add the mango pulp into it. Let it comes to boil.

Once the rava is aromatic, add the mango pulp + water into the rava and mix it vigorously, with a min, the liquid would be all absorbed and became a thick mass.

Next add the sugar and mix, let the sugar melts completely.

Cook till the mixture become thick.Powder the cardamom seeds and add into the kesari. Mix it well and switch off the flame.

If you like, add some chopped pistachios on the top.

Finger licking kesari is ready to serve.

Related : How to make Mango Kiwi Popsicle

Notes:

You can easily double or triple this recipe.
Rava : liquid ratio is 1:2, you can add more or less of mango pulp as per you liking and adjust the water as required.
If you're using fresh mango, make sure to use the mango variety which is sweet and has less fibre.
Instead of pistachios, you can use the roasted cashews too.
The liquid and the rava both should be hot while mixing together, that way it wont be any lumps.
While adding liquid into the rava, it sizzle and splatter a lot, keep safe distance from the stove and use long spatula to avoid the splattering on hands.
The given quantity make 2 small servings.
If you're using fresh mangoes, depends on the mango sugar, add more or less of sugar.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Drumstick Poriyal | Murungakkai Poriyal | Poriyal Recipe

Murungakkai Poriyal, a delicious and quick to make poriyal with drumsticks. Actually i haven't prepared this poriyal often because whether in US/Canada, the drumsticks are not easily available, only indian stores have them sometimes. So whenever i got them, i prefer to add few pieces in sambar, karakulambu and aviyal such that it will last for 7- 10 days.

Last time, when we went to indian store here, the drumstick was so fresh, so i picked a couple of extra drumsticks than the usual and in the same week, all of sudden we had a travel plan to other city and were out of town for 10 days because of ST's work.

As i didn't want to waste them before traveling, I made this poriyal for our meal along with rice and sambar. It turned out super good, the flavor was subtle and simply love this poriyal. Now let's check out how i have prepared this poriyal.