Chinna Vengayam Pulikaichchal

Few days ago I picked up a big bunch of shallots, yes you heard it right, bunch - because the vendors gather them with lot of their dried stem roots still attached to the bulb and make a bunch. That is how they are sold in the local markets here. The shallots made a very colourful subject to photograph. I had just then got a wood carving man to make me a small container of sorts with a piece of broken tree branch. They both made a vibrant combination in the picture.

I shared the same on my Instagram feed and many suggestions were there to use them in delicious dishes. I cooked them in a few and was left with a rather large batch that I cannot finish before leaving for my holiday. I ended up making this pulikaichchal that is more preserve like and would stay fresh for days if refrigerated. It was reminded of this by my sister, who does not like and will not have onions and garlic; she would smell it however much we mask the taste.
My father's clients would bring produce from their farms and crops like groundnuts, tapioca and shallots used to be brought soon as they have been harvested. They will still be wet and soil soaked and fresh. My mother would then simply spread them on a newspaper in the corner of a room and use them in batches. She cleaned them as and when she was cooking them. She would often make this dish because it works well as a side for dosais, idlies, pongal and also rice. Painful as it may seem to peel and cut those fresh pungent shallots, the taste of the dish makes it all worth the effort.
When we did not have a refrigerator also, this dish used to keep good for days together, provided we are not careless in the use of utensils and serving spoons. Cooking it in some stoneware utensil will add to the flavour and one might simply store in the same too. I have, with me here, a very heavy bottomed stainless steel pan that is ideal to cook on even heat and slow cooking happens easily.




Chinna Vengayam Pulikaichchal 
 

Ingredients:
Makes 300 ml of pulikaichchal
200 grams of shallots/ Madras onions/chinna vengayam
2&1/2 tablespoons tightly packed tamarind bits
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder (or a 1/2 centimeter square of asafoetida dissolved in little water)
1 heaped tablespoon coarse crystal salt (I use pink Himalayan salt) (adjust to taste)

1/4 cup gingelly oil (divided - to saute the onions and for cooking)

For the spice powder:
7-8 dry red chillis (adjusting to the level of heat tolerance and the heat of chillis)
(+3 Kashmiri chillis for the colour, because my red chillis are very brown)
3 &1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon channa dhal
2 teaspoons sesame seeds (white or black, cleaned)

For the tempering: 
1 teaspoon gingelly oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon channa dhal
1 teaspoon urad dhal
2 dry red chillis broken in small bits
15 curry leaves washed clean

Method:
Soak the tamarind in water for about 20 minutes and extract the pulp. I repeat the process to extract all the pulp and the last batch of water does not even get the colour.
Dry roast the ingredients given for the spice powder, each separately and on low heat so they are evenly done. Cool them and make a coarse powder. Keep aside.
Peel the shallots and cut them in small pieces.
Heat a few spoons of the gingelly oil and add the onions. Saute them until they are translucent, not very brown.
Add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt. Top up the water just a little more and cook on low heat, to remove the raw taste of tamarind.

When this is simmering, heat the oil for tempering in another pan and add the ingredients listed under there. Once the mustard seeds have crackled and the dhals are golden, transfer this to the simmering mix.
Add the rest of the oil and the spice powder.
Cook for some more minutes blending them well.
Allow it to simmer and the oil will separate forming a layer over the pulikaichchal.
Remove from the stove and let it cool.

Transfer to clean glass bottles or bowls with lids for storing.
Serve as a side dish with dosais, idlis, pidi kozukkattais and arisi upma. You can mix with steamed hot rice and eat as a dish by itself too.

Pachchai Milagai Elumichchai Chutney

When we intended to have a garden in our home in Coimbatore, we arranged with a landscape outfit to help us. Once we had put some plants and a small vegetable patch, we were enjoying some home grown beans, greens and few other vegetables. Soon we moved to a project in Qatar and hence hired a gardener to take care of the garden. Just before leaving home, while emptying stuff I dropped some chilli seeds from the pack of dry red chillis I had, in a small patch. Those have grown and were yielding when I visited last month. I plucked out about half of a kilo of green chillis.

After sharing some, I wanted to bring them and use here.
I shared some pictures on Instagram and took suggestions from friends on many ways to use them. Pickles seem to be a favourite. I made the milagai gojju and some pachchai milagai chutney.
While I spoke to my mother, she gave me this simple recipe for a chutney that did not need a curing period more than a couple of days. She suggested that if I had some limes in brine, they can be used for immediate use. Otherwise, it takes about three days when the lime pieces absorb the flavours and the chutney can be used.
This is a very simple recipe that can be combined in few minutes.

Pachchai Milagai Elumichchai Chutney
Makes about 150 ml

Ingredients:
30-35 fresh green chillis
6 small size limes
1/3 tablespoon salt (to be adjusted according to heat of the chillis)
1 teaspoon sugar

Method:
Wash the chillis and dry them on a towel. Remove their stalks.
Cut the limes and partly squeeze their juice into a bowl. Add the sugar and keep aside.
Cut the limes in small bits and mix the salt.
Blend the chillis in a blender to a smooth paste using the lime juice.
Transfer to the bowl and add the lime pieces to this.
Mix well and store in a clean glass or ceramic jar.
Keep the chutney at room temperature for a few days, giving it a stir twice or thrice a day.
In a couple of days, the lime bits will soften and lose any bitter taste.
The chutney is ready to serve.

This stays well at room temperature for about a week, in refrigeration for a month.
This can be served as pickle with rice or as chutneys with idli, dosai and such.

Notes:
If you have available some lime/lemon that has been cured in salt, you may substitute them for the lime bits. Thus, the chutney can be enjoyed immediately.
The heat and humidity in my country is high this summer that the chutney was fermenting by the fourth day even as the limes were still crunchy. I had to refrigerate the chutney then.

Not quite the same, Sepen - Tibetan Hot Sauce

In one of the food discussions, in a group, on facebook, someone suggested the Sepen, a very hot Tibetan sauce. It is interesting to know that while Tibetan cuisine is mild in spices and it is very common that the Tibetans partake many of their dishes with a generous dollop of hot sauces. The sauce counters the otherwise nearly bland taste. In the comments thread under the same discussion, someone also shared two links to recipes. They got me hooked to try the sauce.
Both of the recipes were similar because one was adapted from the same author as the other. One used just chillis and Sichuan / Szechuan Peppercorn while the other had tomatoes and celery added. Now I was in a fix as neither did I find the right peppercorn nor the celery. I decided it was to try my own take on the recipe with tomatoes, chillis and the mighty black pepper. Thus the emerging dish was not authenic sepen, just quite near imitation of the original. However, the taste of the sauce and colour were really good. That is reason enough to share a recipe, isn't it?

Tibetan Hot Sauce -Sepen

(Adapted from NYTimes 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dining/sepen-or-tibetan-hot-sauce-recipe.html?_r=2 
and,
Experience the joys of Tibet culture
http://www.yowangdu.com/tibetan-food/tibetan-hot-sauce-tomato-based.html

Ingredients:
Makes 250 millilitres medium thick textured sauce
8 medium size tomatoes
3-4 dry red chillis
5 fresh green chillis
1/2 tablespoon black pepper corn crushed coarsely
7 pods of garlic crushed
1" piece ginger chopped very fine
2 table spoons oil
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons fresh coriander chopped (optional)/ few leaves for garnish

Method:
Wash the tomatoes clean and drop them in very hot water for a minute.
Remove the peel, cool and puree in a blender.
Grind both the chillis together to a coarse paste. Let the seeds of the chillis remain whole. Add to this, the crushed garlic, peppercorns and the ginger.
Heat oil in a heavy pan. Add the combined paste and saute'  for a few minutes on low heat to remove the raw taste.
Add the pureed tomatoes adjusting the water and the salt. Bring to one boil and simmer for 30 minutes, very slowly so the flavours come out strong.
Continue to simmer to achieve desired thickness of sauce.
Just before removing from the heat, add chopped coriander.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool and transfer to storing jar.
This sauce can stay outside of refrigeration up to three days and in the fridge for about ten days if stored well.

As is evident from the above picture, my sauce was not very thick while it was neither of runny texture. I cooked it to this level of thickness as I was cooking noodles with the sauce later.
Serve small portions of the very hot sauce with milder dish like momos and noodles and to dunk other stuffed breads in.
We relished this with steamed rice noodles.