Black eyed peas/Lobia/karamani sundal

Lobia sundal is prepared as an offering to God during festivals. Today I have made lobia by soaking it for about 4 hours and then pressure cooked it for 3 whistles.

Ingredients

Lobia 1 cup, soaked and cooked.
Coconut 2 tbsp
Green chilli 1
Non spicy bajji chilli pieces a few
Curry leaves a few
Coriander leaves chopped a little
Salt as required

For tempering

Coconut oil 2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Broken urad dal  1 tsp

Method of preparation 

In a heated pan pour oil, add mustard let it splutter add urad dal, roast for a minute, add cooked lobia, non spicy bajji chilli, salt and give a toss.
Grind coconut and green chilli, add to the lobia, mix well, add curry, coriander leaves, quickly give a toss and off stove. Serve.

Rice dumplings (poorana kozhukattai)

Poorana kozhukattai is a sweet dessert made during Vinayaka Chathurthi as an offering to Ganesha. Here is the recipe for making this delicious kozhukattai.

For making kozhukattai dough

Ingredients

Rice flour – 2 cups
Salt as required
Gingly Oil – 1 tbsp

For stuffing (pooranam)

Freshly Grated Coconut – 2 Cups
Grated Jaggery – 2 Cups
Cardamom/elachi – 4 crushed

Process

In a heated pan  add 1 tbsp gingly oil and 2 cups of water to boil. Once do e add rice flour,salt,stir well, let it become dough. Off stove, close it with a lid, after 5 minutes open and use hands to roll it into a smooth soft dough.  Keep aside.

For filling (pooranam)

In a heated pan add 1/2 cup of water and add grated jaggery. The jaggery will completely get dissolved in water, bubbling all the way, use a strainer, strain the jaggery juice. Pour it back into the pan, let it thicken add grated coconut, ghee, cardamom powder, mix well, it will form into a ball leaving ghee on sides, off stove. Divide it into 25 portions. Roll into small balls, keep aside.

Similarly you can make soft rice balls using rice dough, now take a small rice dough ball, flatten it to a small disc using your fingers, place poornam in it and carefully close the sides. Make a small pinch to make kozhukattai shape. Finish making rest of the kozhukattai. 25 in number approximately.

In pressure cooker place steamer, pour water and steam kozhukattai for about 10 minutes.  Serve as a dessert or snack.

Gooseberry pickle

After all the festive cooking and feeding family, I finally picked a few gooseberry or amla. One of the most delicious berries in our traditional food. They were really big, probably you can make muraba out of such large variety.

I've grated all of them and tried to make a quick and easy pickle with few ingredients.

Gooseberry - 10
Gingly oil 3 tbsp
Red chilli powder 3 tsp
Salt as required
Hing 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp for tempering

Process

Wash clean and grate gooseberries. Heat oil in kadai, add mustard seeds let it splutter. Now add turmeric powder, grated gooseberryies and mix well. Let it cook for about 6 minutes. Add salt, hing, red chilli powder and toss. Adjust salt. Let it cook for another 5 more  minutes.  Off stove, let it cool down. If you love to eat it with rice, go ahead and enjoy. I love its sour and sweet taste. Store in air tight containers. Self life in not more than 3 to 4 days. So make less, eat fresh.

Happy cooking!

Rice dumpling (uppu kozhukattai)

I enjoy working with different ingredients especially when it comes to traditional food. Today I thought of making uppu kozhukattai (rice dumpling) I first soaked 1/4 cup of urad dal for about an hour.

In the meantime made kozhukattai dough with a cup of rice flour and 2 cups of warm water. By adding little gingly oil. The trick is to knead the dough so well there should be absolutely no lumps. The dough should be extremely soft and easy to pull and with hand we will make outer covering for kozhukattai.

Well, we start  the process.

Ingredients for filling

Urad dal 1/4 cup(soaked and excess water removed)
Green chilli 2
Dhaniya a few
Coconut grated 2 tbsp
Salt as required

For tempering

Gingly oil 1tsp
Mustard seeds 1/4tsp

In a mixer add urad dal, chillies, dhaniya, grated coconut and salt. Make a coarse paste in pulse mode. Keep a pan in stove, heat it add gingly oil add mustard seeds, once they splutter add urad dal paste. Its bit greenish in colour due to coriander leaves. Cook for a while till water if any is absored and you get a soft filling.

Take a small lemon ball sized dough using hands make a small disc, fill in little quantity of urad dal filling. Press sides and close the dumpling. Keep making as much as you can from rice dough and filling. I made a few this way. Steam it for about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Then tried making few ammini kozhukattai or pidi kozhukattai. I have mixed in both the filling and left over soft dough and rolled out small baby kozhukattai. Its cute, fun activity even your kids will join you. Steamed it and served as a snack. With of course my favourite masala chai!!

Roasted potatoes with sesame seeds

Potatoes subzi with sesame seeds

Ingredients

Potatoes 4 large
Jeera powder 1tsp
Dhaniya powder 1tsp
Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Hing a pinch
Til(sesame seeds) 1 tsp
Curry leaves a few

Method of preparation

Wash peel and cut potatoes into medium sized cubes. In a kadai pour oil and deep fry cubed potatoes till golden brown. Remove from kadai to kitchen napkin. Let it absorb excess oil.

In another pan put all the potatoes, add turmeric, jeera, dhaniya, hing, red chilli powder, salt and mix in. Keep in low fire, let potatoes get roasted further in dry masalas., Add sesame seeds, curry leaves and gently toss. Serve with rice, phulkas or enjoy as it is. It tastes delicious!

Fritters

I grow greens, herbs and vegetables in my garden. The simple pleasure of harvesting fresh greens and making them into lip smacking fritters. Freshly brewed masala tea to add more zing!!

Ingredients for fritters

Besan 1 cup
Freshly chopped red amaranth, malabar spinach, karpuravalli 2 cups
Grated ginger 1 tsp
Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Chat masala 1/2 tsp
Salt as required 

Oil for frying

Method

Mix in besan, greens, ginger, red chilli, chat masala and salt with very less water. Heat enough oil in medium heat, deep fry till golden brown. Serve with freshly brewed masala tea. Blissful!!

Rice with vathalkuzhambu and long bean thoran

Vathalkuzhambu is a delicacy in iyer homes. We use dried turkey berries or manathakali (a small black berry dried) sometimes I add vegetables to this gravy. Today I have added fresh avarakkai (field beans) and its seeds. Here is the recipe. 

Turkey berry,avarakkai, manathakkali vathalkuzhambu.

Ingredients

Avarakkai seeds 1 cup
Fresh avarakkai a few
Manathakkali 3 tbsp(roasted in ghee)
Turkey Berries a few
Tamarind extract 3 tbso
Turmeric powder a little
Red chilli powder a little
Sambhar powder 2 tsp
Hing a pinch

Salt as required

Method of Preparation

Fry manathakkali in little ghee.
Cook avarakkai seeds, turkey berries slit into halves  chopped avarakkai in a stoneware(kalchatti) till soft by adding water and little turmeric.  Add tamarind extract, 2 cups of water, sambhar powder, red chilli powder, hing, turmeric and allow it to boil. Add fried manathakkali. Adjust salt. Let the vathalkozhambu boil in slow fire for about 10 minutes till done. In a small pan add sesame oil add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Let it splutter, pour it on top of vathalkuzhambu. Serve hot with rice.

Payar(long bean) thoran

I have washed and chopped long beans and did a quick tadka of mustard and red chillies. Added chopped long beans, a little salt and turmeric. Cook it till soft.