Spices for Black and White Wednesday

"Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go".

Erma Bombeck

So would I, and these jars will have to go along.....Take a look at my jars.....




Susan's Black and White Wednesday -a culinary photo event runs the 21st week today and my spice jars are being sent to her.

Karuveppilai kuzhambu ready mix powder

I usually make a few 'almost ready to eat' type of dishes for my husband whenever I travel. He finds it hard to eat out every meal. Earlier he may not have wanted to cook for himself, but lately he is happy to have rice with a simple rasam or upma and such. My refrigerator door will be filled with 'post it strips- instructions' for him. I partly cook some dishes and freeze in individual packs like stuffed parathas, roast the vermicelli, onions and microwave the vegetables and so on.

Likewise my mother and one of my aunts have lot more 'pack and carry to wherever you live' ideas for us. For instance, I find it hard to buy fresh curry leaves off the grocer sometimes. My mother's garden has an abundant supply that people in our street just walk in and take bunches for their needs.

Amma would pluck them, clean and dry in shade for me to pack with my other groceries. I store that in bottles and use them. Though this might not match the taste of fresh leaves' they are good enough. The Egyptians will store mint in a similar fashion. Hence my pantry stocks up such leaves too, and my deep freezer will always have a supply of few cut and boiled vegetables for emergencies.

When my daughter started her own cooking in the university, along with rasam powder, paruppu podi etc., my sister's mother-in-law prepared this kuzhambu podi also. It is so easy to make karuveppilai kuzhambu with this powder; just mix in warm water and bring to a boil with some oil added in the start of the process and the kuzhambu is ready to eat.

That recipe is what I am sharing here. The regular recipe for making karuveppilai kuzhambu with fresh curry leaves and spices can be read in an earlier post.

This makes about 200 ml powder which might last a while for you only need two teaspoons for one cup (200ml) of water which will boil and reduce to about 170ml kuzhambu.

Ingredients:
2 cups Fresh curry leaves
100 -120 grams Urad dhal
50 grams Thoor dhal
15 Dry red chillis
1 tablespoon Black pepper corns
2 teaspoons Cumin seeds
1 big lemon size ball of Tamarind
3 teaspoons Sea salt (if using table salt, adjust accordingly)
1 teaspoon Asafoetida powder
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 tablespoon powdered Jaggery
2 teaspoons Oil

Method:
Dry roast separately the two dhals until golden in colour and an aroma wafts from the roasting.
In the hot pan add the salt and roast it until very warm. Tear the tamarind in small bits and toss it n the same pan with the salt for about 5-7 minutes.
Heat the oil and roast the red chillis, pepper and cumin.
Remove these and add to the roasted dhals and the other roasted ingredients.
On a low flame, toss the curry leaves until they wilt and become brittle.
Allow all the roasted ingredients to cool.
Transfer the ingredients, saving the curry leaves and the jaggery to the bowl of the spice grinder and pulse until they are coarsely powdered.
Add the curry leaves and grind further until a fine powder is achieved.
Finally mix the jaggery in this.
Cool well and store in clean glass jars.





To prepare kuzhambu:
In one cup of very warm water dissolve two teaspoons of the powder and mix well without lumps.
Heat 2 tablespoons of gingely oil in a pan. Add some mustard seeds and allow to crackle.



Pour the above mix and cook until the mixture boils and simmer for a further few minutes.
Serve with hot steamed rice, dosais or arisi upma kohukkattai and paruppu adai.

I made this now because I am on a longer holiday with my daughter and my husband gets back to work in order to accommodate his colleagues who are heading home for Christmas.

Little everyday rituals that live on - Black and White Wednesdays

It is a fast changing world and rural India is no exception. My small town decades ago, is today a big city sporting tall buildings, colleges, departmental stores and shopping arcades. What used to be a vegetable market has now given way to the expanded bus station and has been shifted to a proper roofed market place to name a few.

But some small and nice things live on.....we still witness loads of everyday activities that happen. I get to see all my neighbours clean up their front yards and draw beautiful kolams; vegetable vendors and the bakery boy on his bicycle visit the neighbourhood religiously, and the paper boy on his cycle deftly tosses the dailies into the compound and so on.....




One more such scene is, in this age of HTST processed packet milk and UHT processed longlife carton milk, the milkman bringing fresh milk in his large cans. The only change in his case is that he has a motorcycle in the place of the bicycle.



See the women folk have a small gossip session just then :-)



This man has been supplying milk for many years in our locality and we can be assured that he will have some extra milk in those cans to supply you if there is an unexpected guest around tea time!


I love being there...more than just to be in the comfort of my parents' care...to be reminded of these fond memories!

Pleased to share these pictures in Susan's Black and White Wednesdays - culinary photo event.

Stuffed potato floats

To say the least, this culinary experience of cooking and sharing recipes as made me more experimental and daring. Many times I fail to impress myself with an attempt and do not feel good about sharing, yet many other times, I feel it is all worth the experiment.
Isn't it true that if encouraged, one tries to do ordinary things extraordinarily? However limited my husband's choices were with vegetables, and I enjoyed most others too, he would add them to the shopping and will partake a miniscule spoonful of the end product. But I always combined such with his choicest potatoes and tomatoes that he was left with no option but to consume.
Then there was a phase that I cooked for friends who always had nice compliments that thrilled me and thus made me look for interesting things. Sharing recipes in my blog has taken it to newer dimensions. One such experiment is the recipe in this post.

I had tried making koftas with mashed potatoes and filling the core with different stuff, baked them and then stuffed the centres and some such dishes. Recently, I had some handsome looking potatoes that I scooped the centres out and filled with other stuff and floated them in a gravy. It was one dish that my guests were going for more helpings.

Ingredients: (serves for four people)
For floats:
6 medium to large, firm potatoes cut in halves

For the filling:
2 tablespoons almond meal
2 tablespoons raisins
2 green chillis chopped
1 large tomato chopped
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons oil
Salt to taste

For the gravy:
1/3 cup moong dhal
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons sambhar powder or rasam powder
2 medium tomatoes
1 large red onion
5 cloves garlic
3 dry red chillis
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon oil
Salt to taste

Other ingredients:
cooking oil required to saute' the potatoes

Method:
Preparing the potato floats:
Wash the potatoes and scrub them very clean. You may peel the jackets prior to scooping or choose to steam them with the skin on and then peel.
Cut the potatoes in half in the middle.
Using a sharp knife, scoop out carefully a sizable chunk of potato from the centre of each half, leaving a slightly thick wall on the sides.
Slice a small portion of the bottom for stability.
Keep the scooped centres aside and steam the cup like potatoes until just about tender and the peel comes off. Steam separately the scoops and mash them well.
Keep these aside until required.

Preparing the filling:
Heat the oil in a pan, add all the ingredients for the filling and toss them for a while.
Add the mashed potato and blend the filling well.



Fill the dents in the potato floats with the prepared filling. Heat oil in the kuzhi paniyaaram pan/ Aebleskiver pan. Place gently the filled potatoes with the filling showing upwards and shallow fry them until they are roasted.
Since the filling has already been cooked well, there is no need to turn them over and roast.
Once the potatoes are roasted remove from the pan and place them on absorbent tissues.

For the gravy:
Roast the moong dhal a bit until aromatic. Pressure cook the moong dhal with turmeric powder until very soft and mash the same. I run it in the blender and made it to a soup-like consistency.
Chop the onion, tomatoes and the garlic.
Heat oil and add the dry red chillis, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions first and few minutes later the garlic. Cook them well.
Allow to cool and blend well in a mixer adding the sambhar powder, garam masala powder. Blend the chopped tomatoes separately.


Add this to the mashed dhal and salt and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and allow to simmer and thicken to desired consistency.
Few minutes before removing from the stove, place the potatoes gently. Allow them to simmer in the gravy and absorb the flavours.
Switch the heat off and transfer the gravy to the serving dish. Add fresh coriander leaves for garnish. I had some grated carrots and fresh red chillis that I used also.


Serve hot with chappathis, naan , phulkas or rotis.

This dhal based curry is being sent to Priya's Cooking with seeds event currently running in her own blog with Moong beans.

Lachcha Parathas

Chappathis and parathas, paired with some nice curry make a winning combination for dinner time.
Most regularly, I might make the normal phulkas or rotis and a simple dhal tadka, vegetable kurma or if craving for something rich malai kofta or such gravy dishes.
Naan and few other parathas are not regularly enjoyed but when I am in the mood for something out of the ordinary, I tend to cook any of those.
Lachcha parathas fall under one such list. For the reason that it needs a bit more patience than my usual, I try them rarely. Moreover, they can be very filling and mostly during night we tend to eat light. But if you really want to have a hearty meal you could try them. There is a fair amount of cooking process, but the result will surely please you.
I have adapted methods from two cookbooks, one of Tarla Dalal and the other from S.Meenakshi Ammal and combined the processes to make my recipe.

Ingredients: (makes 10 to 13 parathas)
2 cups (500ml) whole wheat flour
Salt to taste
Few spoons cooking oil

For spreading between the layers:
2 tablespoons clarified butter
3 tablespoons -1/4 cup very fine rice flour (pounded rice flour sieved through a muslin cloth)

Other ingredients:
Flour for dusting
Few spoons of cooking oil

Method:
Combine flour, salt and the cooking oil well. Add enough water and mix in a soft dough. Knead repeatedly to form a very pliable and elastic dough.
Smear few drops of oil on the surface and cover with a damp cloth.
Take the ghee in a fairly large plate. Rub the same with the inner palm providing heat through the process. The ghee will become creamy. Add the very fine rice flour, little at a time and bring them together in a very light cream-like paste.
Pinch out medium size balls off the dough.
Roll one of those balls as thin and as large as possible, dusting with flour very lightly.
Cut thus rolled dough in strips of an inch and a half in width.
On the surface generously spread the prepared ghee rice flour paste.
Arrange the strips one on top of the other with the paste spread face facing top.


Finally roll this in a tight ball. Keep aside.
Repeat this procedure with the rest of the dough.
Once the entire dough has been rolled, Take each at a time and keeping the layers at a slight angle, roll the ball in a medium circular disc, not pressing on the dough heavily.
Place the pan on the stove and when the optimum heat has been reached, transfer the rolled paratha on to the pan.
Cook this well smearing oil until well cooked on both sides.




Repeat the same for all the rolled balls.
Serve hot with any gravy of your choice.

Rolling stones of the wet grinder - Black and White Wednesday

We are a household that does not eat light breakfast. My husband does not feel satisfied with a bowl of cereals or flakes. The lightest I might cook would be upma on many days. However, having a prepared batter to steam some idlis or spread nice crisp dosais is such a comfort, especially in my home.
For until my late teens, my mother did not insist on a wet grinder - a heavy duty appliance for tough grinding! She had a domestic help who did the grinding on the traditional mortor, we call attukkal or kallural. We were asked to lend a hand sometimes too. In fact, during holidays in our grand parents home, these were considered fun activities for girls and boys alike!
I too made do with my mixer grinder for many years. Finally when I had to entertain guests, grinding with the mixie was a task, that I decided to purchase a wet grinder and am happy that I did.
I put this to use quite often for all types of batter grinding and on one such day, I took some pictures of the process.....and sharing them through this post.
The pictures below show the soaked rice being processed to a batter for the sevai / shavige or string hoppers that was the picture of last week.


The picture below is a view from the top....the drum revolves in a clockwise motion, the stones each rotate on an axis and the ingredient that has been dropped in is crushed and ground to a batter. The hand on the side regulates the flow of the ingredients being ground.



Capturing motion was fun!

Half way through the process, some grains have been stuck to the face of the roller stone.


I had not expected to see grains of rice when the batter is almost ready.

Near end....a thick batter which will eventually be diluted with the water that will be used to clean the drum and the stones.

Small portions of batter flying off the roller stones and casting shadows in the batter and reflections on the inner walls of the drum go unnoticed unless you are taking pictures.

Sending these to Susan's Black and White Wednesdays - A weekly Culinary Photo Event.

Roasted tomato and bell peppers soup

Once in a while, when I find that my mind is blank on dinner ideas and am exhausted dishing out some upma or another, I decide to make soup and have. Between me and my husband, I can live on soups and salads while he isn't a fan of either. Yet he has a few exceptions, though he may not admit that he quite likes them.
Few days ago, I craved for the comfort of a warm bowl of soup. I had earlier baked the potato bread and so I paired it with this soup, which I hoped was detox after all the deepavali bakshanam consumed.
The recipe was printed and handed to me by the chefs in The Gateway Hotel, sometime in July earlier this year. I had perfect large and firm yet ripe tomatoes and red bell peppers which are main ingredients in this recipe. However, as I proceeded with the soup, I strayed far beyond the printed leaflet on hand.
Recipe for russian potato bread is an earlier post in this site. Spread some garlic butter to the bread and enjoyed with the soup.



Ingredients:
1 large red bell peppers
1 large tomato
1/2 of one small size red onion chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 small sprig thyme (or use dry thyme about 1/2 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon butter
Water as required
Fresh cream just to finish

Method:
Wash the pepper and tomato. Pat them dry.
Carefully, roast the pepper on medium flame directly, turning on all sides until they are charred at the surface. Immediately, wrap this in a cling film. Allow to cool.
Similarly, using a mesh over the stove, place the tomato and roast the same lightly, just until warm. Or for better roasting, grill the same in an oven until short of getting charred. Just as with the pepper, cover the tomato also and leave it to cool.
Once both have cooled to room temperature, rub the cling film so that the charred outer skin of the vegetables fall off. Chop them both coarsely. Keep aside.
Melt butter in a heavy pan. Add the chopped onions and roast them well. Add the garlic and the thyme. Saute' and then add the chopped tomato and peppers.
Add enough water and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame and simmer for about five minutes.
Allow to cool and then puree in a blender.
Pass this though a sieve. Top this with cream to finish.
Serve hot with a basket of warm bread.

Badam Kheer - a vegan version

Time and again, I set myself the task of reading the Sundara Kandam from the Valmiki Ramayana . There are a few set reading rituals as ordained by our elders viz. read all 68 chapters in one day, split them over two/three/five or nine days and so on. Recently, I did the reading and on the concluding day I desired to make some sweet and some urad dhal vadais for offering.
It so coincided that on that Saturday, I wanted to also try my hand on the 'one day vegan challenge' set by Harini.
Pondering upon the sweet dish that I might make without the use of any dairy and coconut (as I had already done an overdose of coconut usage for one day), I remembered the kadalai paruppu payasam in S. Meenakshi Ammal's Samaiththu paar volume two. That recipe uses milk and I was sure I can skip the milk and use almonds to compensate the lack of the same.
During the initial days of my working, the staff of our office preferred to party at a particular restaurant that was just a stone's throw from the office building. Mostly it was a Saturday lunch and invariably the featured sweet dish was a poor attempt at Badam Kheer, which we always detested having it there. We used to jokingly discuss the ingredients and preparation. On one such occasion one of the senior staff recognised that it had the flavour of gram flour. Then on we would joke that it was water added gramflour to which few drops of essence and food colour was added.
However, during the later years, I discovered that indeed you could make a faux badam kheer with grinding bengal gram and milk, add few drops of essence and it works!
Now I had the task of not using cow's milk on that day and I took a look at the recipe in the book.
The author had suggested that if you add a few almonds and grind it along with the channa dhal, it would taste as nearly as badam kheer which has a thin consistency, yet delicious in taste.
I set out to try the recipe substituting the cow's milk with almonds that were ground to a fine milk texture. The result was quite an amazingly rich kheer that had the real flavour of the almonds and the roasted gram. The consistency was that of a drinkable kheer, thicker than badam milk, but not quite thick as regular payasam/ kheer.
For the garnish, I dry roasted on a very low flame the chopped cashews and pistachios.



Ingredients:
1/2 cup split Bengal gram / channa dhal
1/4 cup (loosely packed) whole almonds
1/2 cup sugar (adjustable according to taste)

For garnish:
2 tablespoons chopped cashews and pistachios
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
few strands of saffron

Cooking Procedure:
Soak the almonds in very hot water for a few minutes. When the water has come to room temperature, skin the almonds and discard the water and skin.
Soak them again in one cup of very warm water.
Meanwhile, heat a pan and add the channa dhal to it. On a moderate heat, toss the dhal until it roasts to a golden brown and gives away a strong aroma.
Soak the channa dhal in another bowl in one cup of water.
When both the almonds and the dhal have cooled, grind them separately adding the same water that you soaked them in. the pastes should be very smooth and of fine texture.
Take the ground channa dhal in a bowl. Mix some water to make a very thin liquid and place this on the stove.
Also in another bowl take the ground almond milk and bring that to a boil.
Stir both the liquids frequently to avoid them getting burnt. Simmer both until the raw taste is lost.
Then mix both the liquids in one of the bowls, stir in the sugar and cook until the sugar dissolves.
Then add the cardamom powder and the saffron strands. Allow the mixture to thicken a bit.
Without any fat, dry roast the chopped nuts until they are golden.
Cool the kheer well and serve with a garnish of the nuts.
This kheer tastes best served chilled.
You may opt to cook both the liquids together, or to grind both the soaked dhal and almonds together and proceed, if making a small quantity. That saves fuel and time.

If desired, you may also add few drops of almond essence that will enhance the flavour, though it is not necessary. The roasting of the dhal and the addition of cardamom are sufficient to make this kheer delicious.
For those who would cook with milk, reduce the quantity of water that you add to either paste; but you will have to cook them well until the raw taste is lost. Add boiled milk to the cooked mix and bring to a boil with the sugar.
You may also roast the garnish with ghee or any form of fat.
My earlier post on the regular Badam Kheer can be read in this page.

No 'moar'-kuzhambu and eating vegan through a day

'What is there to change in a South Indian diet when most of it is nearly vegan' is what my husband commented as I discussed the idea of staying vegan through a day. I had to convince him to join in, you see. I listed out the dairy that we use on a regular basis and I could see that I might be losing his support.
Eventually, we agreed upon a menu, I suggested then that I will serve him black tea (for green tea would have put a full stop to the plans then and there). He chuckled thinking of the teas he might have at work, and agreed. To coax him enough, I made puri and kizhangu for breakfast and neer dosa for dinner! Having set that, I worked though the lunch where I had my trump card for him!
The one thing I had forgotten was the morning tea! Which household in our regions does not wake up to a steaming hot filter kapi or a blissful cup of chai? However, he was a good sport and had the black tea without fuss.
Thus a Saturday of cooking and eating vegan was otherwise novel. I had not thought it would be easy to forgo 'nei' and thick home set yoghurt even for a day!
I had earlier made the vegan cashew yoghurt from Harini's post and used in the Badami mixed vegetables recipe. The yoghurt had set so well and tasted very good that I used other ingredients to set yoghurt - peanuts once and coconut milk a few times.
The method I used was always the same; warm the coconut milk until moderately warm and drop about 15 chilli crowns in it and allow that to work. Initially, I had, without knowledge, used the second extract and found that the yoghurt was not as thick as I would like it to be.
With a few trials, I learnt that while the chilli crowns are indeed a good option, setting this with a bit of other vegan set yoghurt, for instance the cashew yoghurt, expedites the process. This yoghurt set in about five hours on warm days. I had planned to use this yoghurt and try the regular moarkuzhambu that uses a fair amount of churned yoghurt as key ingredient.
Having made up my mind on that, the lunch menu was also set : Vendaikkai vathakkal kari, vegan moarkuzhambhu, steamed rice and a kootu which uses a base of legumes (a recipe, I thought will help just in case my husband is not inspired to eat a vegan moarkuzhambu).



I have not posted the poori-kiazhangu until now; (I am making a mental note of that). Neither have I discussed vendaikkai vathakkal kari, other than from Aparna's recipe for a days' lunch. All of these will be posted in the near future.
However, today's star recipe is the 'Vegan moarkuzhambu'.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup/125ml preset coconut-milk yoghurt (recipe discussed below)
Salt to taste
1/4th teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4th teaspoon asafoetida powder
Suitable vegetable cuts of your choice (I used brinjals)

Grind the following to a paste:
1 teaspoon split bengal gram / channa dhal
1/2 teaspoon thuvar dhal
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon raw rice kernels
3 large green chillis
Soak these in a small amount of water for a few minutes and grind to a smooth paste.
I skipped the usual addition of fresh grated coconut as the yoghurt already has a fair portion of the same.

For garnish:
2 teaspoons coconut oil (or any cooking oil)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4th teaspoon cumin seeds
Few sprigs curry leaves
Chopped coriander leaves (if available)

Method:
Setting coconut milk yoghurt:
Take one cup of first extract coconut milk in a bowl. Warm this on a moderate flame until the milk is warm. Do not boil the milk.
Remove from the stove and drop about 15 numbers fresh chilli crowns in the same.
Set this in a warm place and leave undisturbed for about six to eight hours.
The coconut yoghurt will set. Remove the chilli crowns and discard.
You might notice that the thicker yoghurt like substance is floating over some watery mass below. But do not worry. Stir the same and you have your yoghurt ready.
You may use, if you have on hand, some vegan yoghurt to set this and not use chilli crowns.
However, expect that this yoghurt does not set as thick as dairy yoghurt; nor it has the rich creamy flavour of the cashew/ almond yoghurt. You might sense a slight tinge of coconut oil also, if your coconut has been very mature. But this blends well while cooking and adds to the flavours. You will be surprised that this has a nice slightly sweet taste while it also has enough tang that makes it suitable to use in such dishes.
I have used it in aviyal the following day and carried for a potluck. My guests did not find it different, until being told that it was vegan.



Use 1/2 cup of this yoghurt for the moarkuzhambu.

Method for the moarkuzhambu:
Cut the vegetables that you are using in the kuzhambu.
Take the vegetable and turmeric powder in a pan with water and cook the same.
Meanwhile prepare the paste as listed in the grinding.
Add about 100 ml water, asafoetida powder and salt to the paste.
When the vegetable has become tender, add the above and cook on a medium flame until the mixture thickens. Stir off and on to avoid forming lumps.


When the mixture has cooked well with all the raw tastes subsiding, add the coconut yoghurt.
Reduce the flame a bit and allow this to come to a boil. Reduce the heat to the lowest, simmer just for a few seconds and switch the stove off. Over heating will curdle the coconut milk.
Heat the oil for tempering in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once they crackle, toss the curry leaves in the same and add this to the kuzhambu.
If you have fresh coriander leaves, wash them and add chopped leaves to the above.



We did not detect that it was a non-dairy kuzhambu at all. It was just as good as the usual yoghurt based recipe. In fact I had an unexpected guest who found it hard to believe. That success gave me confidence to prepare aviayal with the coconut yoghurt for about a dozen others. Needless to say that was largely welcome too!

Added to the vegan cooking, that day as I had completed one reading of the Sundara Kandam, I prepared a no milk badam kheer (recipe is my next post) and urad dhal vadas for the evening.
A night's dinner with neer dosa and thakkali-vengayam chutney made a whole day of keeping off non-vegan products.

Harini is hosting a giveaway through the 12th of November. She had set this challenge and I wanted to join in. Thus this post came by and a thoroughly intriguing day long vegan meal. There is an interesting guest post by Preethi and Srinivas of Krya -creating vegan awareness in Tongue Tickers. Please have a look and I am sure you will also want to try the challenge, like I did.

String Hoppers for Black and White Wednesdays

We had an extended weekend with the Eid festival being celebrated on Monday. Our friends decided to have the deepavali parties during this period; thus our lunch and dinner menus and timings took their own pattern. This afternoon's lunch was string hoppers at home. String hoppers are sevai in tamilian homes or shavige as it is known in South Canara.

My husband willingly opted to press the prepared dough while I took pictures.
I am sharing one such picture here; can you see the steam rising from the just steamed and pressed rice balls as they fall in neat strings through the pores?



This picture goes to Susan's Black and White Wednesdays.

Black and white Wednesday - worked overtime

Deepavali has just been celebrated; these were the over worked kitchen gadgets during the week before the festival.



Recipes made using the murukku press can be read in earlier posts.
Ribbon pakodas, Nylon ribbon, Jantikalu and Muththusarai are a few that have been made using this gadget.

This picture is for Susan's Black and White Wednesdays.