Sweet and sour kathrikkai

Sweet and sour brinjal, photo and recipe courtesy from our cousin, Sheila.

I have always admired my mother in law's elder sister and she was one of the most celebrated grandmother in our household.

I have fond memories of Kamalu Patti as we all called her. Some of her recipes are so unique and she used to take lot of efforts to make a simple dish tastes amazing.

Last week her daughter was with us and I was more than happy to learn more dishes from her.

She was gracious enough to share her recipe and I have shared her recipe on my blog, here is the image of sweet and sour brinjal straight from her kitchen

Sweet & sour kathrikkai(brinjal)

1. Grind in mixie some roasted sesame & groundnuts, sambar powder, garam masala powder, garlic pieces, haldi powder, salt. 

2. Now slit brinjal, stuff this powder and cook brinjal in very heavy duty pan with lid after porichukotting/seasoning (tadka) &  adding water. ( Takes only few minutes if pan is heavy & shallow ).

3. Mix jaggery powder in tamarind water & add this sweet & sour sauce to brinjal, bring to boil & switch off.

( Can add pepper powder & red chilli powder from top. Gives nice flavor).

Garnish with coriander.

Sweet , hot & sour brinjal is ready.

Recipe courtesy : Sheila Shekhar

Photo courtesy :  From Sheila's kitchen

Khotte idly (jackfruit leaves basket)

Soft, spongy Idli

Ingredients

Urad dal - 1 cup

Idli rice (Ponni boiled rice/Doppi rice) - 3 cups.

Aval/Avallakki - a handful

Methi - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 1/4 tsp

Method of Preparation

Soak urad dal, rice,methi and aval in separate vessels for about 4 to 5 hours. (I soaked methi and aval with rice)Grind urad dal first for about 35 minutes in wet grinder by adding just enough water. When the batter is ready to be removed off the grinder and look for bubbles in the urad dal paste. If you see big bubbles coming and bursting  that means your urad dal is ready to be removed. The quantity will be 3 times of urad dal you added. Remove from grinder keep aside. Now add idli rice,methi and aval allow it to grind for about 12 minutes, now add prepared urad dal. Allow both the batter to grind together for about 10 minutes, Add salt. Carefully remove the batter in a large vessel. The batter will be double the quantity you grind when fermented. So make sure your vessel is big enough. We are going to allow the batter to ferment overnight for about 8 hours. 

Prepare Khote kadbu by filling idly batter in jackfruit leaves. You can make the small leaf basket if Jack fruits leaves are available.  I bought it from local market. Allow the iddly to cook for about 12 minutes. Poke a fork and check whether idly is cooked. You can serve the dish in the jackfruit basket itself in the serving plate. Serve hot with freshly prepared sambhar or chutney