Onion greens & Strawberries

What do you do when you are very hungry you can eat **anything** and ravage the fridge to find "Absolutely Nothin " [ read Rush Hour style ].

Thats what happend to me last Saturday. Generally when I am hungry I hardly have any patience. I get into the "Grrrrrrrr" mode. Ravi knows that is the time to be as faaaar away as possible from me... I have really worked on this bad habit of mine and now I am more patient when I am hungry. But then I dont have much choice !!!!

So this is what I did -

Washed and added a cup of rice, 3/4th cup of toor dal. Then I added the following
- peeled onion chopped into 4
- halved tomatoes. I had two so used them up
- 3 garlic cloves
- one teaspoon chilli powder
- half teaspoon turmeric.

Pressure cooked with 3 cups of water for three whistles and let it sit for a while. It took about 15 minutes.

I wanted to add some veggie but with absolutely no veggies at home, I was thinking what to do - then I remembered the onion plants I had planted a while ago. Snip snip snip I cut quite a few leaves.

And while the rice was getting cooked, tempered a couple of teaspoons of oil with cumin, mustard and added two handfuls of chopped onion leaves. Sauteed for a minute and added tamarind puree to it. Probably 1/4th cup. Added this mixture to the rice after the pressure had released from the cooker. Added some salt. Voila !!

I really really did not think it will turn out this good. It was a bit of kichidi and bit of sambar rice. I was really pleased with the way it tasted so I thought it was worthy of a post...I loved the end result, I even managed a foto. And then since I used the onion leaves that I grew, it also qualified for GBP -

onion leaves


onion flower- GBP Green Blog Project


Strawberries from farmers' market - Drizzled with honey garnished with home grown mint

Masaala Pal & Happy Fathers' Day !!

This recipe I posted originally for JFI-Milk... This post represents just a sample of what Appa is to us. Thank you Appa for everything you have done to us and for everything you are still doing for us...Happy Fathers' Day !!

Masaala Paal ( Masaala milk) is very famous amongst the road-side vendors specially during the night times. Milk is heated till some of the water content is evaporated then various spices like clove, cardamom are added and the milk is sweetened.

Ok. Back from my side-track about the masala paal. On days that my father has enough patience at home and peace in mind he used to prepare masala paal at home to drink just before sleeping. He would meticulously heat the pasumpaal ( Cow's milk which is bought from our neighbours who have cattle ) until it is thick. Then he will add strands of kashmir saffron, kalkandu ( sugar candy ), powdered cardamom and powdered badaam powder.

He will heat it until the sugar candies have dissolved and then he will cool it down by transferring the milk to and from a bigger vessel ( called aatharadhu in tamil ) and give me, my sister and my amma glassfuls of milk. The taste of the thick, rich, frothy, fragrant and sweet warm milk still lingers at the tip of my tongue.

We would be sooooo full of sleep that we will gulp down the milk with closed eyes. And my father will not stop there. He will get the emptied milk glasses from me (and sometimes from my elder sister) and then give us some water to gargle so that we dont have sweet sticking to our teeth ( lest we have tooth decay )..

No thanks nothing.. My sleep would be by that time further deepened by the milk. This months' JFI by Vineela is a tribute to all the pains taken by my father at the end of his busy day to nourish us with - Masaala Paal, Masala milk.

Yennai Kathirikai Kozhambu & Jasmines

Yennai kathirikai kozhambu - ( Vankaya pulusu ) - Hmm in English if I were to translate it will be Eggplant curry sauce in oil !!

This is the dish I chose for JFI-Brinjal. Anyways there is a lot of misconception I have seen in the blog world about this dish.. This dish is not a stuffed eggplant recipe. Its often often mistaken for Andhra gutti vankaya koora - the famous sesame-peanut-stuffed-eggplant recipe.



Yennai kathirikai kozhambu - Brinjal curry sauce in Oil - JFI - Eggplant

All good things are simple - so is yennai kathirikai kozhambu.. But let me warn you before hand. This recipe calls for a lotttt of oil. The soft whole scored eggplant soaked in the honey-like spicy sauce wakes up the most sober palatte. Here is the recipe without much ado.

From the pantry:
fenugreek
mustard
cumin
tamarind
gingelly oil
onion
sambar powder - if no sambar powder add chilly powder and coriander powder ratio 1:2
turmeric

From the Fridge:
round brinjals ( eggplant )
tomato
curry leaves




1. Soak a big lime sized tamarind ball in water.
2. Chop one indian-medium sized onion
3. Chop one medium sized tomato
4. Remove the stalks of brinjals, and slit them vertically but not till the end leaving the brinjal whole.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a kadai
6. Temper oil with half tsp each of fenugreek, mustard, one tsp of cumin and 7 to 8 curry leaves.
7. Add the chopped onion when the mustard splutters and saute for a minute
8. Add two more tablespoons oil and add the brinjals . I actually added 1/3rd cup :)
9. Saute for another couple of minutes.
10. Add quarter teaspoon turmeric, two teaspoons sambar powder.
11. Close and cook in medium low heat without adding any water. Cook until brinjals are half done. For approximately 15 minutes
12. Add chopped tomato and after a minute of sauteing, add salt and one and half cups water
13. Cook for another 10 minutes until honey like consistency.

Serve hot with idlies, rice. Best next day. !!



Jaadhi Malli - Chinese jasmine( Jaaji malli, Chameli ) Picked up during one of our morning strolls

Sorakaya Appam - From Andhra

Sorakaya appam was one of the first dishes Ravi prepared for me after coming to US. This authentic Andhra tiffin item, is prepared by peeling and grating bottlegourd, mixing it with rice flour to prepare the dough and deep-fried into appams.

This was my original intended dish for RCI-Andhra - for its authenticity. Well suited for a light tiffin to go with tea.

The original recipe calls for deep frying. We did not deep fry it but made into patties and finished them off like chapathis.

From the pantry :
Rice flour
Salt

From the fridge :
Tender bottlegourd
garlic
ginger
green chillies
curry leaves

1. Peel and grate one bottlegourd. Lightly drain the excess water.
2. Crush 3 garlic pods, half an inch of ginger, 5 green chillies, 5 curry leaves in the mortar and add to the bottlegourd
3. Add enof rice flour so as to form a consistency little loose than chappathi.
4. Add teaspoon and half of salt.
5. Oil a plastic sheet. Take a bigg ball of dough and pat into a shape of a big patty.
6. Invert the patty to the pan. Drizzle oil on the sides.
7. Cook on medium -low until golden brown. Flip annd cook on both sides.


Grated bottlegourd


crushed green chillies and curry leaves


rice flour added


form balls



Served with mango pickle

My Blog Revisited

( This post was inteded for Nupur's event - I guess I am late. But nevertheless )

I started the blog for quite a few reasons

1. Very Inspired by Indira of Mahanandi
2. My passion for food
3. To engage myself while Ravi is busy with his MBA.
4. To record some family favourites especially low-cholesterol dishes

I remember the evening when I was searching for some telugu recipe and landed at Mahanandi. Looking at the karela neatly arranged on aluminum foil Ravi exclaimed "Now this is what I call passion, not the blog but the quest for perfection !!"

Then I wondered, can I too do this, after all food is something I love deep down. It was the time when Ravi was deeply engrossed with MBA and I had nothing to do except a full time job where I could work from home. Probably a month later I registered en-ulagam.

I have been blogging a little less than two years now and made a few good friends here. My passion & creativity for food continued to grow with food blog events. I became even more busy than Ravi.

Bloglife 2007 has been very good. Here are the highlights

• I got into the next level of personal association with some blogger friends. I was thrilled to exchange pictures, learn about their families and talk about non-food related subject. I felt like having a pen friend.

• Recorded some family favorites and my favorites. I just cannot shortlist. Every dish I created was with lots of love for what I did.
  

• Inji's loud and clear voice about "Plagiarism". She took my request to announce a Anti-Plagiarism day and we all made a post against yahoo. It was covered by the press.
  

• Anandavikatan responded to my pointing out about a copied image from Saffronhut. They apologized and included acknowledgment to the image in their next print version. I felt very cool.

• Starting Tamilcuisine with Prema was a very good learning experience. It taught me how to and how not to relate to people - I have to thank Shaheen, Prema and Inji. Thanks to Kanchana and Jasmine for pitching in to help.
  

• I achieved 100000 magic number of visitors to my blog
  

• My proud acquiring for my blog my irumbu kadai ( cast iron pan) from my mom.
  

• Last but not the least, I was able to pull away myself from participating in blog events. It took too much of my energy, was becoming kind of addiction and with blog events propping up almost every day, it turned out my menu on the real life table was getting dictated by blog events. I had to stop it somewhere. Thanks to work pressure, upcoming india trip, I was able to achieve this.
  

2008 Bloglife I have a few things to do :

1. Take a back up of my recipes posted.
   
2. Learn food photography tips and tricks
3. Record more of amma's specialities and the other recipes listed below
4. I love to host the site on my own web server, I have the know-how to do it but I dont know whether I will have the time. Lets see.

These are the recipes on my to-blog lists:

Ammas' specialties

• Mutton potato drumstick kuruma

• Keeraithandu mochakottai karakozhambu - Spicy kozhambu made with stem of greens and fieldbeans


• Pacharisi thengai payasam - Coconut-Rice-Kheer


• Paruppu urundai kozhambu - Kozhambu made with lentil dumplings


• Thengai paal sadam - Coconut milk rice


• Mullangi yera kozhambu - Shrimp radish kozhambu


• Nethili kuruma - Sardines kuruma


• Beetroot halwa
  


• Gulab jamun


• Sambar powder recipe


• Rasam powder recipe

For Ravi

• Hyderabadi biriyani
  


• Erra karam dosa - Dosa smeared with red chilli paste and sprinkled with spiced powders
  


• Ravis grandma's Idly karam - I like this one better than my moms' - a spice powder
  


• Mokkajonna kudumulu - I got this recipe already need to post it. Indian cousin of tamale.
  

Healthy stuffies

• Kalyana murungai - I dont know whether I will even get this greens
  


• Keezhanelli urundai - That is what we eat back home when we had jaundice - another greens
  


• Veppa urundai - Neem leaves paste - for de-worming
  


• Seeraga kashayam - To relieve that bloated feeling - made with roasted cumin
  


• Nochi ilai aavi - Steaming to relieve sinus block with this leaves.

See you all in the new year !

Here is to everyone :

Wishing you and your dear ones Good Health, Happiness and success in whatever you do.. Happy New Year !!

Scraping through...RCI Andhra

Life is pretty hectic... So many things are going on and the blog has taken a back seat... Looks like every now and then I need a push to do a post.



This time the push was to take part in RCI-Andhra no matter what ! Andhra cuisine is very very close to me that I am married to an Andhraite. I love to cook but was never able to impress him with my cooking because food as I love it is completely different from what he relishes. Those were the days when I was completely oblivious of the Food Blogosphere and wondering how gongura leaves would be like, Is thota koora a kura ( curry ) or a leaf !!! Bobbatlu, Chakli, Garelu, gutti vankaya were alll frightening nightmares !

Now I am a bit used to his version of Andhra food thanks to my sister in law, his grandmother and ofcourse the food blog world !!!

I originally wanted to post two very authentic dishes for RCI, but I needed Ravi's help to prepare it. So now I am racing the clock for the event, I decided I will post them separately.

The dish I chose is nevertheless one of the most authentic dishes of Andhra. I remember carrying a biggg bunch of Gongura back from Bay area on our way back to Reno where we used to live. With no idea of what do with it, I rang up my sil who knew exactly where I was in Andhra cooking as started with... Keep a pan like kadai on stove, heat two tablespoons oil....With her help I churned out the first batch of Gongura pachadi successfully !!

This time around when I wanted to do it I turned to Mahanandi. I was so mesmerized by the picture for the post I wanted to recreate the whole plate. So I made Gongura pachadi, Kaakarakaya fry, brocholi dal Broccoli dal and rasam.

Here is my contribution to RCI-Andhra Gongura pachadi - Hopefully I still have time to particiate !!



- Separate the leaves from a bunch of Gongura leaves.
- Add a teaspoon of oil to a pan and saute the leaves till the wilt around a minute
- Transfer to a plate
- To the same pan add one clove of garlic, 5 green chillies and one small onion chopped.
- Cool and coarsely grind with salt.

A few more pics


Gongura leaves sauteed ready to grind

Prepared the bittergourd fry according to Kay & Indira's instructions

Cut the bittergourd - marinate in salt, chillipowder, turmeric and 2 tbl oil - Bake in oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees - broil at 420 degrees for 6 minutes. Crisp bittergourd ready

Broccoli dal is simple. Just pressure cooked 10 florets with a cup of toor dal, 3 cloves garlic, turmeric and tempered.

Great food today !! Rasam, Broccoli dal, Gongura pachadi, bittergourd fry with rice