Poondu Mandi Kuzhambu - Spicy Garlic Gravy

On our recent visit to our daughter, we chanced to have lunch in an Indian restaurant that listed many Chettinad type of dishes in their menu. While we all ordered, the staff who served tried to detail to us about their dishes. I had then wanted to try their Poondu Kuzhambu that he suggested to have with steamed rice. That tasted very good and they willingly adjusted the spice level to our liking. Their serving portion was quite large and we packed the same with us.
This was a unique preparation that uses charred tomatoes as base and the water we usually discard after rinsing rice, the 'mandi' or 'kazhuneer' (as in rinsed starchy residue from cleaning rice) to tcook the gravy.
We liked it so much that we wanted to try making the same at home. I checked with a few friends who are from Chettinad, for the recipe. One of them guided me to a blog that had authentic Chettinad style poondu kuzhambu, but it was not the same. I found a video of the preparation, which was nearly the same; it had shallots in the recipe, which was not in the dish we had tasted. I then formulated my own recipe for the kuzhambu and tried to replicate the dish that we had tasted in the restaurant. I share that here today. This may not be an authentic recipe from the region, but a delicious dish, nonetheless.

Mandi is the residual water while rinsing and cleaning rice. Give one brisk rinse in the first round, not removing much starch away. Wash your second and third rinses thoroughly getting as much starch residue as possible. You need to collect this rinse in a bowl. The residue of rice starch will settle on the bottom of the bowl. You may not need all of the water. Carefully, strain some liquid without pouring away the 'mandi’. I will refer to this liquid (kazhuneer) as mandi in the recipe.

Poondu Mandi Kuzhambu

Ingredients:
(makes 400 ml medium thick kuzhambu/ served us 4 good servings)
15 cloves of garlic
3  medium tomatoes
(if possible, char the tomatoes over a low flame and remove the charred skin. Not compulsory, but the taste is enhanced. I used the roti jali as mine had small perforations) (otherwise sauté the tomatoes in a pan to a coarse pulp)
1 medium red onion sliced finely
1 &1/2 cup +1/4 cup mandi (divided)*
2 tablespoons gingelley oil / nallennai
1/2 tablespoon coriander powder
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons raw peanuts (optional and you may replace by cooked chick peas)
Salt to taste

Grinding spices:
Soak in the *1/4 cup mandi the following for 10 minutes and then grind to a paste using the mandi (you may use some more from the 1&1/2 cups, if needed)
4 cloves garlic
4-5 dry red chillis (depending on heat of the chillis) (the kuzhambu is a slightly spicy dish)
1 small gooseberry size tamarind ( if the tomatoes are too sweet, up this a little)

While grinding, half way through, add the coriander powder and the tomatoes. Grind them to a smooth, thick liquid pulp. Keep aside.

Tempering:
 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and curry leaves ; no mustard seeds are added
(since the cumin seeds are added in the beginning, it does not require extra oil)
Method:
Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the cumin seeds. Toss a bit and add the cloves of garlic and sliced red onion. Sauté until onions are  transparent.
Add the peanuts (or chick peas)
Stir the mandi to mix the sedimented rice starch to a uniform liquid.
Add salt , turmeric powder and 1 cup of the mandi, cover and cook until the garlic are soft.
Add the ground pulpy mixture, adjust the liquid by adding some more mandi.
Simmer the kuzhambu for about 15 minutes so the raw taste of garlic, tamarind and red chillis in the liquid subside. 
Add the rest of the mandi and cook further  until the kuzhambu has thickened.

Add the curry leaves and chopped fresh coriander leaves to garnish.
Serve with hot steamed rice or as a side dish for Dosais and Idlis. This kuzhambu can be kept over and had for another day also. If refrigerated it can be kept for up to three days. To reheat, you may add some more of the rice rinsed water or plain water which will thin the consistency a bit.

Vegetable Shikampuri Kebabs

Few days ago, Aparna had shared in her Instagram feed a picture of few of her cookbooks. She had mentioned that Sheetal bhatt at Route to roots blog had initiated the idea of a virtual food enthusiasts group to cook dishes from our respective collection of cookbooks and share the pictures/ recipes where desired. 

Most of us like to buy cookbooks, but hardly use them regularly. We might cook a few recipes every once in a while and then slowly put the book away and let it gather dust. 

This virtual group will now bring those out and cook dishes twice a month, based on given themes. we would share the picture of the dish in our Instagram feeds with a hash tag 'thecookbookcollective'. We may share them across other social network media also. We might share some of those recipes in our blog also.
The theme for the first dish was 'Regional'. I chose to make Shikampuri Kebabs that are famous in Hyderabad Mughal cuisine. These are rich and delicious with a filling of tender meat or equivalent vegetarian mix. The name literally means 'filled in the middle' as in 'tummy full'.
During one of my stay at The Gateway Hotel, Bengaluru, I found the book titled 'Vegetarian Fare at the Taj' that has so many vegetarian dishes that are cooked in the kitchens of the Taj group hotels across India. The management were generous to let me have that book. 

I had this recipe from that book; this was shared by the executive chef of Taj Krishna, Hyderabad.

The same book has another recipe from the Taj  Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad that replaces potatoes with Elephant Yam and lentils.
I gave this recipe to my daughter as she had mostly all the ingredients with her. She decided to add lot of young beetroots and made a very pleasantly pink kebabs. 

 

I am giving approximate measures for the outer cover vegetables. I used potatoes, beans and carrots. Because ultimately all vegetables are going to get mashed, you can add any more different vegetables that will not taste off.

I used two large potatoes, boiled until soft and grated. The yield of potatoes was 2 loosely packed cups.

 

Vegetable Shikampuri Kebabs 

 

Ingredients: 

Makes 8 kebabs

For the outer cover:

2 cups boiled and grated potatoes

1 cup boiled carrots (cut in very tiny bits and heaped cupful of raw carrots)

1 cup boiled beans (same as carrots)

Just about enough bread crumbs to bind the vegetables in a dough like texture.

1&1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 blade of mace

3 green cardamoms

2 teaspoons caraway seeds/ ajwain

1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying/ deep frying. (The book has a deep fried version, I used the airfryer by basting a little ghee all around each kebab before placing in the fryer.) (My daughter shallow fried the kebabs and said they tasted good)

 

For the filling

1/3 cup khoya (I boiled 500 millilitres of milk down to get this quantity)

1/2 cup crumbled paneer

1 &1/2 teaspoon oil

1 medium red onion sliced very finely

1 green chilli finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder

1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves

1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method:

 

Prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a pan.

Add the onions and green chillis. Saute until the onions are transparent.

Add the paneer and khoys and cook until they are soft and pink.

Add salt, sugar and white pepper powder. Toss to mix and turn the heat off.

Drop the chopped fresh leaves and mix.

Allow to cool and divide in 8 small portions rolled in balls.

If the quantity of the filling might feel more for 8 kebabs. You may store them and use in other dishes.

Prepare the vegetable kebabs:

Crush the mace, cardamom and caraway seeds to a fine powder. This is a very aromatic spice powder mix

Mash the carrots and beans ( other boiled vegetables if you are using ) to a pulp with only few bits left to show.

Add the grated potatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and prepared spice powder of cardamom, mace and caraway seeds.

Knead them together to a dough like mass. Add the bread crumbs and knead to a smooth dough. 

Take a small portion and roll and pat to a disc to test if the dough is not cracking. Add little more bread crumbs if needed.

Divide into 8 portions, roll them in smooth balls.

Use little oil or ghee to grease your palms and pat one dough ball in a discs, place one portion of filling, gather the ends and cover the filling with the vegetable dough.

Flatten it slightly to a round disc, like kebabs of uniform thickness of about 1 cm.

 

Repeat with the rest of vegetable dough and filling.

Heat oil in a pan and when hot place the kebabs as many will hold in the pan, not too close to each other.

Cook the kebabs well until crisp and golden all over. Remove from the pan. Transfer to a serving dish.

Repeat with all the kebabs.
While the book has a directions to deep fry the kebabs, I chose to do them in my airfryer and my daughter opted to shallow fry in a pan. Both turned out excellent. So how you want to have them cooked has these options.

 

For my airfryer version, I used a few drops of ghee over each kebab brushing it all over. I cooked them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C and for a further 2 minutes after flipping them over.

Serve them hot with salad and green chutney or tomato sauce.
If you are planning to do them in more numbers, you may make ahead the kebabs, refrigerate them and fry them at your convenience. My daughter had made the quantity for 8 kebabs, but used only four on the first try. She refrigerated the uncooked kebabs and used them the next day.

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.

Ready To Make - Moar Kuzhambu - Powdered Mix

Sometimes when I travel and my husband has to manage his meals, I try to make it easier for him to fix something, lest he skips his meal. I had tried part cooking and freezing foods which seemed quite handy. Then he found that if I post instructions, that might help him cook a few dishes. Thus, my counter top and refrigerator door would be filled with notes. He had managed very well that he would even grind his batter, make dhal and sambhar.
While I wrote some recipes for my daughter, she still had to juggle time with the demanding coursework and assignments; it was getting harder to cook something elaborate. Soon both of my nephews were also going away from home and were left to manage cooking for themselves.
It was then, my mother tried to coax us to make some ready to cook meals ideas. We had found that making the packaged dosa, upma mixes were easy to make at home. It took us some trials and misses to make them have longer shelf life. Thus, our puliogere ready mix and adai mix took shape. Little more experimenting lead to moar kuzhambu mix and  an 'all - in - one - sambhar mix'. This moar kuzhambu mix is a very quick dish that you cook the vegetable and mix this powder to the whisked curd. Give it a boil and add some tempering. So easy!

Update: (Updated on 7th May 2018)
This powder stays fresh over a year even at room temperature. We had made this batch last year in May and I had carried with me a portion. i just finished my last tablespoon full ready mix powder today.

Ready To Make - Moar Kuzhambu - Powdered Mix

Ingredients:
Makes 5 standard cups of powder
200 ml / heaped 3/4 cup+1 tablespoon fresh grated coconut
125 ml / heaped 1/2 cup raw rice
250 ml / heaped 1 cup / 250grams pack channa dhal / Bengal gram / split chickpeas
250 ml / heaped 1 cup / 250 grams pack thuvar dhal / split pigeon peas
70 ml / heaped 1/4 cup cumin seeds
30 ml/ 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
16 -20 dried green chillis* (1&1/2 inches long and slightly high on heat)
60 ml / level measured 1/4 cup salt
5 ml / 1 teaspoon asafoetida
About 1/3 cup dried curry leaves**

Method:
*To get dry green chillis, wash them, remove the stem and pat them dry. Spread them on a very flat dish / paper / cloth and leave them to dry for a few days. Once they are dry, they become brittle, but the green colour is just about faded. They stay well for over a month and will retain the spice level.

** The curry leaves can be dried after separating them, washed and spread between layers of cloth in the sun. Or you may choose to oven roast dry leaves until they are brittle.

To make the powder, dry roast over a low the coconut until the moisture is gone and the coconut is dry. Do not roast it to turn shade over the white. transfer to a dish and allow to cool.
Then dry roast separately over low - medium heat  the dhals, rice, coriander seeds and cumin seeds until they are just about hot. Take care that they do not over roast. (When grinding for moar kuzhambu normally the ingredients are soaked and ground raw, so we do not over do the roasting here).
Transfer them to another dish.
Finally roast the sea salt until it turns pink and transfer to this dish.
Allow them all to cool.
Pulse all the said ingredients leaving out the coconut until they are a coarse powder, add the coconut and grind further to a powder that is not very fine.

Cool this and store in airtight containers. You may refrigerate this powder if the quantity is more. Usually, the mix stays well for two moths outside of refrigeration.

To make Moar Kuzhambu:
2 tablespoons of above powder
3 - 4 tablespoons thick, slightly sour curd
Vegetable of choice
2 teaspoons ghee /coconut oil for tempering
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
Few fresh curry leaves and fresh coriander leaves

Cook the vegetable and keep ready.
Mix the powder to the curd and whisk to blend them. Add another 1/3 cup of water.
Add the cooked vegetable and bring the moar kuzhambu to a boil.
Remove from the stove.

Heat the ghee / coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. Allow them to crackle and add the tempering to the moar kuzhambu.

Let the kuzhambu cool down a bit before adding the curry leaves and the coriander leaves.
Enjoy the kuzhambu with steamed white rice or as a side dish for ven pongal.


 

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.

Sundaikkai Gothsu - Turkey Berries and Onions Stew

It had been many years ago that I may have last tasted some of the vegetables that we had often been given in our childhood and until little older too. Most times greens, spinach and few other vegetables were grown in the home garden. Some yielded abundantly and my grandmother would share with the neighbours. They encouraged us to help around; we have helped making trellis for the beans and spinach, water the plants and such.The home patch yielded few varieties of vegetables that were locally easy to grow and many flowers. It now seems like ages ago and I had lost touch with such pleasures. Once we had a huge turkey berry plant and I remember that my mother cooked the berries in a stir fry kind of dish with lot of coconut and condiments.
When we set our house in Coimbatore, we laboured a bit and have a garden to show. The area has fertile soil and hence the garden thrives. few of the neighbours have fruit trees and flowering plants all in their glory. One of them has the turkey berry planted nearer to their front wall and thus as we pass by we get to see bunches of them in the plant. They have generously shared those with any of us who would cook them.
During the few months, I slowly settled in, the neighbours have pampered me to the point of being spoilt. Sometimes, most unexpectedly, someone would send me piping hot food just so I can cook only rice and such. That was when one of them sent me this tangy and spicy stew. It was lip smacking, finger licking delicious.
You might well imagine my delight when the other evening I spotted in the shop assistant's trolley these small packs of these berries labelled green eggplant. I read up later that these are the same family.

I picked up one pack and soon as I reached home, I shot a message to the lady to share her recipe. She promptly messaged the next morning and I waited for today to cook them.
I was chatting with my mother and gave her the small details in the recipe. she then informed me that her grandmother would cook the berries in similar dish adding her touch. That has to be another day and post to share that.

Sunadaikkai Gothsu
Recipe: Mrs. Padma Balu, my neighbour 

Ingredients:
Serves 4

1 cup / 250 ml Turkey berries/ Sundaikkai
1 cup finely chopped onions
6 tablespoons thick tamarind extract
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
6-8 dry red chillis
4 tablespoons fresh coconut scrapes
1&1/2 teaspoon powdered jaggery
1&1/2 teaspoon white sesame seeds
3 tablespoons gingelley oil or any cooking oil (divided)
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
Few fresh curry leaves
Coriander leaves ( I did not have any, so had not added)

Method:
Wash the turkey berries, place them in a plastic bag and give a few vigorous taps with a rolling pin. Alternately, place them in a stone mortar and crush the berries. they will break open and few seeds will be strewn. transfer the berries to a colander and clean wash the seeds away under running water.
In a heavy pan, dry roast the sesame seeds until golden brown and they start to pop. Cool and make a fine powder. Keep aside.
In the same pan dry roast the red chillis, cumin and coriander seeds until well roasted.
Add this to the coconut and grind to a slightly coarse paste. Keep aside.

Keep reserve about 2 teaspoons of the oil for the tempering. Add the rest of the oil to the cooking pan and heat. When the oil is hot, add the sliced onions and the berries. Cook them until the onions are transparent and the berries change to a pale green colour. Add the salt and turmeric powder and cook a bit longer.

Add the tamarind extract and cook on low flame until the raw taste of the tamarind subsides.
Add the jaggery and let it cook fora further 3 minutes.
Dilute the ground paste with some water and add to the stew.
Mix well, adjust the water and cook until a thick gravy is obtained.
Transfer to a serving dish.
To temper heat the reserved 2 teaspoons oil, add the mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Toss the curry leaves and add the tempering to the gothsu.

 
Sprinkle the roasted sesame powder on top. This enhances the flavour.
Garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves if you have  them.
serve the hot gothsu with steamed rice. It makes a good side for adai and venpongal also.

Pudina podi

My parents and grandparents were not in the habit of having breakfast in the true sense. A second dose of filter coffee around 8 A.M. would help them go until their 10 o'clock lunch time. It was not a practice to make breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. This was a practice for adults and the children were fed rice before school, pack a tiffin box with rice for the noon and ate rice in the night too.
Mostly all the cooking was done in the morning in quantities to suffice for the dinner too, but rice. Rice would be cooked just before dinner for the night, but the sambhar, rasam and other accompaniments would have to make do. Most times there is a shortfall of these and the stock of various podis come handy. It is very likely that there will be a good sized jar with paruppu podi is available in the pantry. Thengai podi does not store for long so it shall be consumed quickly. When in season, mint and coriander are available in abundance, we make thokku, thogaiyal and podis.

Mint is one of those herbs that has high antioxidant properties and has health benefits ranging from oral health, skin care, digestion to prevention of cancer. It is widely used in many cuisines. Mint is used in ice creams, chocolates and in beverages. It is common to find chutney with pudina in many households in India. Typically, we make thogaiyal, chutney and pudina podi with lentils in my home.
This podi stays fresh and flavourful for weeks together at room temperature and since it is dry does not require refrigeration. Give it a try with hot steamed rice and a generous spoon of gingelly oil or ghee.

Pudina Podi
Makes 200 ml in volume

Ingredients:
3 cups packed mint leaves (stalks removed)
1/4 cup urad dhal
1 tablespoon channa dhal
8-10 dry red chillis (adjusted according to heat an d taste)
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (optional)
2 teaspoons oil to roast the ingredients
Salt as required (I use crystal sea salt and measured 1 &1/4 tablespoons)

Method:
Wash the mint well and pat them dry before separating the leaves from the stalks.
Dry the leaves between two layers of cloth until moisture has dried. Measure the leaves. From a very large bunch of mint, I got 3 cups of leaves.
Heat the oil in a heavy and large pan.
Add the chillis and roast for a couple of minutes.
Add to this the channa dhal and continue to roast.
When the chillis are slightly brittle, add the urad dhal, salt and asafoetida. Roast until both the dhals are golden brown and crunchy.
Put the mint leaves in and keep tossing them around until the leaves are wilted with the heat and turning just about dry.
Cool the mix. transfer to the jar of a dry grinder and grind to a coarse powder.

Transfer the podi to a dish and allow to cool.
Store in clean, tight lid jars to use when required.
Serve with hot rice and oil to mix.
The same can be ground with enough water and be made as thogaiyal.

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.

Punjabi Kadhi - Indian Cooking challenge

I have been undergoing a 'blogger-idle syndrome', lately. With the impending move and related overload of work, I have not tried reading any blogs; neither have I tried posting in mine. However, the Indian Cooking Challenge is something I thought I should mark my attendance to.

This time it was chosen to try a regular, but authentic recipe. It is very simple to cook up, yet doing it just as the people do traditionally held a charm.

Srivalli took the opportunity to challenge us with Punjabi Kadhi, a recipe shared by Simran who blogs @ Bombay foodie. In Simran's words, it is a recipe that her mother makes often and you can keep leftovers to go with rotis and such after having this with hot steamed rice for your lunch. I did just the same.

As I said earlier, I am running short of time. Hence have copied the recipe Srivalli posted to us, just editing at places....now that might make it nearly in my words, would it not?

I have enjoyed the recipe and relished the flavours. I recommend you do so too.

Ingredients:
For Pakoras:
Gram flour - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Salt to taste
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Water
Oil for Deep frying

For Kadhi :

Yoghurt - 1 cup
Gram flour/ chickpea flour - 1/3 cup ( I reduced this to 1/4 cup)
Water - 3 to 4 cups
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Ajwain/ Carom Seeds/ Omam- 1 tsp
Methi seeds/ Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Onion -1 large
Turmeric powder just a bit
Salt to taste
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Amchur/ Dried Mango powder - 1 tsp

Method:
For the Pakoras :
Chop the onion in big pieces. Keep reserve.

Take flour, salt and red chili powder in a bowl.

Add water and make a batter that is slightly thick.
Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil.

Deep fry until the pakoras are done evenly crisp.
Remove from oil and drain on absorbent paper.
Keep aside for futher use.

For the kadhi:
Slice the onion in long strips.

Mix yoghurt and gram flour to a smooth lump free paste initially, then add water to achieve a very thin batter.
Heat one tablespoon of oil. Add a teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi. Allow a few seconds for them to crackle.
Add onion slices, fry till they turn light brown.
Pour in the ready mixed batter, and add to this turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour.
Keep stirring occasionally.
When it thickens fairly enough, add the reserved pakoras.

Again bring the mixture to a boil.

Add garam masala and amchur powder to the gravy just before removing from stove.
I reserved some Kashmiri chilli powder just to garnish.

The kadhi has to be fairly thick. The thin, watery kadhi is the Gujarati version. For a hearty Punjabi one,make it thick.

Serve the Kadhi with hot steamed rice or with rotis and chappathis. I loved it when the Kadhi had cooled down a bit and the flavours soaked withtin and the pakoras absorbing some of the liquid and puffing up.

Khandvi

I had wanted to learn making khandvis for a long time. Though I have recipe in cookbooks and have known how they look from a favourite eatery's menu, I was apprehensive trying them on my own. I discussed this with a friend here. She has lived in Mumbai a long time and has friends from various states of India, having worked in a bank until few years ago. She suggested we meet for lunch one day and she will demonstrate the making of Khandvi. So last Thursday was convenient for both of us and we fixed a day out for ourselves.

I was amazed at the ease with which she cooked it, giving me tips along side. The best part of it was we did not have many dishes to clean up after the cooking. A bowl in which she mixed the batter, the pan in which she cooked and two plates on which she spread the cooked batter and a ladle!!! That was interesting for me.

She told me that she had learnt it from a friend, whose mother would make paper-thin layers. The lady would add lot of water and cook for long stirring constantly. The end result will be very desirable. However, her friend had told her that even with lesser water added to the batter and cooking on a low flame is good enough; not to waste time and fuel, a small compromise wouldn't matter. Yet I did not find the sheets thick, rolled well and looked appealing as delicious as they tasted.

Here is the recipe she used to make about 18 pieces. Her tips, I have added as while preparing.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup (heaped) gram flour

1/3 cup slightly sour curd (some recipes suggest more, but my friend used only equal quantity to the gram flour) (beaten)

1 cup water

Salt as per taste

1teaspoon sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons ginger - green chilli paste

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

3 tablespoons cooking oil

For tempering and garnishing:

2 teaspoons cooking oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons grated coconut

2 tablespoons chopped fresh corriander leaves

Method:

Mix the gramflour, salt, ginger-chilli paste, beaten curds and water. Obtain a smooth thin batter which is free of lumps. Add the sugar, asafoetida and turmeric powders also.

Heat oil in the pan and add the prepared batter.

Stirring continuosly, cook the batter until well cooked. The indication is that the batter will obtain a light brown tinge, glaze from the oil and will not stick to the walls of the pan.

The batter should still be in a semi liquid state, tipping more towards solid state. Over cooking it will result in a mass that will not spread.

Keep a big flat dish over-turned ready, having generously greased the surface.

Transfer the cooked batter quickly on this surface and with the ladle spread it in a thin sheet over the surface. This has to be done very fast as the batter will thicken as it cools and become difficult to spread. also you will find that it coagulates in tiny masses.

Allow this to cool just about manageably warm. Too much cooling will thicken the mass and render it become unable to roll.

Using a knife make strips of this sheet. Roll each strip into spirals. Place them in a separate dish.

If the batter has been cooked evenly and correctly, the strips will easily roll and not crack in the middle.
Put the pan on the stove and heat the oil for tempering. Add the mustard and sesame seeds. When they crackle spread them over the rolled khandvis. Garnish with a generous sprinkling of fresh, grated coconut and chopped corriander leaves.

Serve them as starters or snacks. Avoid handling them too much prior to serving. They have to be handled delicately while serving, but devouring on them is altogether a different issue!

I would love to try on my own soon. She has warned me that it is not easy tp perfect this dish within one or two trials. There is also a recipe making it in the microwave in one cookbook I have.
I shall update my trial experiment at some future date, hopefully. I am determined to try because both my husband and I liked them very much.

Khaman Dhokla -Version 2

When we lived in Bahrain in the early 90s, there were not many Indian stores as now. Neither were there many restaurants as there are today, though there was a sizable Indian population then. We were only three Indian families in my apartment block and naturally the womenfolk were sharing food and recipes. One of them was from Gujarat and generously gave us recipes for dhoklas.

Having attempted the Dhokla recipe for the Indian Cooking Challenge, I made improvements to my neighbours recipe. Later when I picked up a cookery book that came along with the instruction manual from TTK for a skillet (that my mother-in-law has owned for over 35 years), I found yet another recipe for the same.

Hence this recipe is my version combing all of the above. Since it is made by soaking and grinding the channa dhal, I opted to grind whole channa, soya beans and channa dhal. (Inspired by Tarla Dalal's green peas dhokla)

I would love to send these dhoklas to Susan, the wellseasoned cook, who initiated the MLLA and is hosting the MLLA 23rd edition this May.

Ingredients:

1 cup channa dhal

3 teaspoons whole soya

1/2 cup whole channa

1/3 cup yoghurt beaten

1/4th teaspoon sodium bi carbonate

3 green chillis (grind to a paste)

Juice from 1 medium lemon

1/4th teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4th teaspoon citric acid (optional)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon ENO Fruit salt

For topping on the dhoklas:

1 teaspoon oil mixed with 2 teaspoons water

For tempering:

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 green chilli finely chopped

For garnish:

Freshly grated coconut

Finely chopped coriander leaves

Chopped curry leaves

Serving suggestion:

Serve with coriander -coconut chutney.

Chutney:

Grind together 2 tablespoons fresh coconut, 1 green chilli, few mint leaves and salt.

When partly done, add to the above a fistful of coriander leaves and grind further until smooth.

Remove from the grinding jar and mix a teaspoon of lime juice.

Preparation of dhokla:

Soak the whole channa and soya beans overnight.

Wash and saok the channa dhal for two hours.

Wash again all the soaked legumes. Grind to a coarse batter adding the beaten yoghurt for grinding.

Add the juice of lime, salt and turmeric powder and leave aside for a few hours.

Keep the steamer with water on stove and allow the water to come to a boil. Let the water be boiling while you prepare the plate for steaming

Just before steaming, add to the batter soda-bi-carb, citric acid, sugar and the chilli paste.

Whisk thoroughly and mix them well.

Dust the plate in which you desire to pour the batter with some of the ENO fruit salt.

Add the rest of the fruit salt to the prepared batter. Whisk quickly and as the effervescence rises, pour the batter in the plate and place it in the steamer.

Cover and steam for 5 -7 minutes, reducing the heat to medium soon after a steady steam flows.

You may open and check if the dhokla has cooked by inserting a toothpick. You may steam for a further minute or two if necessary.

Switch the fire off and keep covered, on the stove for 5 minutes.

Open the lid, take the plate off the steamer and add the oil-water mixture over the steamed dhokla.

Allow to cool. Cut pieces and transfer to the serving plate.

Heat some oil and add the tempering. Add this to the cut dhoklas. Garnish with the coconut, coriander and curryleaves.

Serve with green chutney.

Moong dhal Halwa for Indian Cooking Challenge

The best thing about blogging food, for me, is the fact that I am learning to prepare dishes I have been overlooking many years on. When someone presents a recipe and a tempting picture to go with, I end up writing the recipe down and trying that soon. Though I have not given it a thought to take pictures, I have tried to mail the person to thank for the recipe, most times.
That way, enrolling myself as a member of Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge has opened newer avenues. The sole purpose of this is to try traditional Indian recipes as handed down by our elders, without giving in to shortcuts.
This month, we were challenged with the task of making Moong dhal halwa. While searching for ideas during the festival season, I came across this very popular Indian sweet dish. The recipe seemed very simple, but I was warned that the stirring part should be consistent and also the cooking takes long while the fat content high.

But Srivalli detailed two recipes given lovingly by fellow blogger Simran's mother, which worked out very well as you may see in the pictures. Of course you had to cook quite long and the cooking dhal needed to be attended to with care. But the end product would fill your kitchens with such an aroma that you would swell with pride!
Now I give below both the recipes. The picture that has a darker tinge is with that of Khova and the other is plain. The recipe can be made to suit vegans with ghee substitue too.
Recipe 1 (with khova):

Soaking time: long enough for dhal to be soft to grind
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes to an hour.
Ingredients:
Split moong dhal 1 cup
Sugar 3/4 th of a cup to 1 cup if preferred sweet
Ghee 1/2 cup
Khova 1/2 a cup
Garnish with powdered cardamom and roasted cashew nuts
Method:
Soak moong dhal after washing. Drain the water and grind as finely as possible adding water sparingly.
Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel, preferably a thick kadai or a non-stick pan.
Add the dhal paste and on low heat keep stirring until the dhal cooks to a brown mass expelling the ghee and flavoursome. This is the longest process during the cooking of this dish.
Add the khova and sugar to this mass. Cook until the sugar melts and all the ingredients blend in a shining mass.
This part will comeby fairly quickly since the dhal has been cooked well.
Remove from fire and transfer to a clean bowl. Garnish with the prepared cashews.
I roasted the dhal slightly prior to soaking to overcome the raw flavour that existed when I tried the first time.
You may try the recipe in any quantity keeping the proportion of ingredients the same as given above.
Verdict:
I tried making the sweet dish for the first time and dared to serve it to my dinner guests. They were all praise for it. That made the workload worth taking. Thank you Srivalli for thinking of this unusual dish and Thank you Simran for giving us the recipe from your mother.
Recipe 2:

Soaking, preparation and cooking times: same as above.
Ingredients:
Split Moong Dhal 1 cup
Sugar 3/4ths of a cup to 1 cup as preferred
Ghee 1/2 cup
Water 1/2 cup ( optionally water can be replaced by same volume of milk. This gave the dish an extra richness, like that of adding khova)
For Garnish:
Cashew nuts and raisins fried in a bit of fat.
Method:
Wash and soak the moong dhal few hours to overnight as might be convenient.
Drain the water and grind to a fine paste with very little added water.
Reserve some ghee and heat the rest of the ghee until hot. Add the dhal paste and stirring continuosly cook on very low heat. The dhal will cook giving away aromatic flavour. Try to break lumps if formed. Keep cooking even after the added ghee starts surfacing. Add more ghee intermittently to the cooking mass.
Meanwhile add the water (or milk if used) to the sugar and bring to a boil. Dissolve sugar well. Remove from fire and add to the cooking dhal gradually, breaking the lumps that might form during the process.
Blend them well and cook until ghee surfaces and halwa does not stick to the pan's sides.
Even at this stage the halwa is bound to be semi-solid to a rarer consistency. Switch off the fire.
As the mass cools it might get the correct texture. Garnish with the prepared nuts and raisins mixture.
Serve hot.
This halwa can be prepared in larger quantities and refridgerated. While serving add some milk and microwave to the correct consistency and serve.
While trying this dish out, I referred to all possible recipe sites that shot up with this dish. I quote Tarla Dalal here,

"A classic recipe relished throughout Rajastan. This calorie laden halwa is often prepared during the winter months as it is supposed to keep the body warm and protect it from bitter winter cold. It is considered auspicious to prepare this for Holi and Diwali and even features on wedding menus.

It takes a long time and lot of patience to saute' the dhal and prepare this halwa and it will require a little more of ghee too. You can make a larger quantity of this and store it refridgerated for several weeks. Just add a little milk to the halwa before reheating."

I totally agree to the above! But you will certainly come out flying colours after this endurance test. So go ahead and try this halwa.

Lonavala Chikki

I had first tasted the Lonavala chikki on Dadar Express to Bombay. We were spending part of our summer vacation with two of our uncles who were living in Bombay. That was when we were introduced to Mumbai's magical street food like the pani puri, pav bhaji, vada pav etc.

On our return journey we purchased these chikkis and enjoyed them.

I have Mallika Badrinath's recipe for various chikkis. Browsing the internet I found some recipes too.

This is my next entry to EC's WYF Speciality Food event.

Chikkis are prepared with any type of nuts, sesame seeds and a mix of different nuts.There are more options too. On a recent trip to Shirdi, I tasted coconut chikkis and sago chikkis too from a highway motel's shop.

I have combined cashew nuts and almonds in this recipe. Have used yellow sugar which is not as refined as white sugar to bring out the brown colour. I found this pack of Hulett's yellow sugar - tartarazine free. Since it is not refined the essence and flavours of the cane are retained bringing out richer colour in baking. I simply tried using it here and the colour was browner than usual with an extra shine!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups mixed nuts, broken coarsely

1 cup yellow sugar (refined sugar is usually used)

1 pinch of bi carbonate of soda

2 table spoons ghee

Method:

Smear a heavy, shallow bottomed pan with some ghee and sprinkle the sugar over it. This makes the caramalising even.

Before putting this on fire, prepare the wooden board and the rolling pin. Grease them generously with ghee.

Place the pan on fire on a medium flame allow the sugar to melt and caramelise. When the sugar melts add the bicarbonate of soda.

Take care not to over burn the sugar. This may make the sugar bitter.

As the sugar reaches a golden brown colour switch the fire off. Drop the nuts and quickly give a brisk stir.

Immediately transfer the contents on to the greased board and press down with the rolling pin.

Allow to cool a bit and cut shape while still warm.

Once cooled fully, break the cut chikkis and store them.

Tirunelveli Halwa

The wheat halwa is my most favoured sweet. As I mentioned once earlier, I learnt this from my grandmother, my dad's mother. She was very good at making mouth-watering sweets. Her mysurpak, halwa and polis used to be delicious. My mother's mom used to make different sweets mostly jaggery based or something like chirotti, manoharam and such. So whenever amma made sweets for occasions, we had many varieties to enjoy.

The halwa making used to be an elaborate affair with hand grinding soaked wheat and extracting the milk thrice, allowing it to stand a few hours and then getting to cook it. Amma would want patti to be around to supervise and patti always wanted someone to assist to constantly stir the halwa while cooking. That is when I would enlist my services!

Every bhogi festival was with halwa as it was my choice sweet. I enjoyed doing it and in the process, have gained a photo memory to making halwa. I have done it many times over the years. It has become my daughter's favourite sweet too. This year around deepavali I had requested the grocer to bring whole wheat for making Halwa. As with delays in shipment and Customs, the man could procure it a bit later only. Nonetheless, I went ahead and stocked my pantry, hoping to make it for Niki when she comes home in December.

When EC of Simple Indian Food announced this month's WYF Speciality Food, this is all I thought of first. Then I recalled my first oppurtunity to taste the famous Iruttukadai halwa years ago. Later, two years ago, I went to Tirunelveli and walked all the way to the shop as the road was one-way to motorised traffic to buy 1/2 kilogram of this. Again last December, we took Niki to enjoy the architectural beauty of the temple standing tall on 14 acres of land and ended up buying more halwa making a huge tick mark against the to-dos.

I googled in to find this blogpost about Tirunelveli and the famous Iruttukkadai. The blogpost says it all!! This post has been put up from the rediff travel post.@ http://www.rediff.com/travel/1998/oct/24tirun.htm

I am not able to credit the original author as the rediff post does not mention one; hence I have mentioned both of where you might get a good read!

You may also please visit Sowmya's post @ Creative saga, step by step presentation of her grandmother's cooking the halwa. Our recipes vary in the sugar quantity only. So go ahead and try which ever suits your tastes!

With the Iruttukkadai recipe on hand along with my very own grandma's, Mallika Badrinath's and my S.Meenakshi ammal book I set out to make halwa!

This recipe is mostly my grandma's which almost matched iruttukadai's in ingredients. But tips on the cooking part were from all of the above four sources. I have managed to click pictures of most of the cooking stages, some with my left hand while the right was vigorously working otherwise :)

I shall give the measurements as per iruttukadai in metric and against that my cups' measurement equivalent to the weights.

I have made with 100 grams of whole wheat. The yield was an astounding 1 kilogram and 150 grams. I can very well relate to the volume of turnover mentioned in the travel post!

Ingredients:

100 grams whole wheat (one level measure of 150 ml cup)

450 grams sugar (three heaped measures cup of the above)

225 grams ghee ( a cup and a quarter of the above cup) (I needed few spoonsful more ghee than this quantity)

The following are as desired: ( I always use all of these)

blanched almonds

broken cashews roasted in ghee

cardamom powder

saffron strands immersed in milk

Method:

Soak the whole wheat after washing thoroughly overnight. By morning it will look very clumsy with some elastic thread like formation over the wheat.

Grind adding water in a blender. Strain the milk. Return the husk to the blender and grind again with water. Strain and repeat the process.

Having done thrice the husk will be dry and lost all the glutonous feel. Discard that and immediately wash off the strainer and soak the blades and jar of your blender in order to ease the cleaning process. The wheat particles would dry forming a hard crust making it hard to clean later.

Let this milk-like liquid stand for few hours. A thick precipitate will deposit on the lower part and the scum will float over the excess water that was added to aid grinding.

After about five hours, carefully scoop the scum out, filter the excess water and retain the thick milk alone.

To the thick milk add three cups of water and mix. This will be clean and white as milk, but thicker in consistency.

Keep the nuts, cardamom and saffron ready and handy.

Place sugar with some water in a heavy bottomed pan on fire. Boil this down to a thick syrup that forms a very strong thread while pressed and pulled apart between the thumb and forefinger.

Add the blanched almonds and the wheat milk. Stir constantly. The wheat will cook to a very transparent mass, blending with the sugar.

When the mass is thick and you feel pressure while stirring add the saffron, cardamom powder and cashews. Add the ghee in small quantities. The ghee will initially float and then mix well with the cooking mass.

All of these will get thicker and the stirring will get harder. The mass will resemble a sheet of glass falling in a neat ribbon if dropped from a small height. The gloss will be distinct. Add the rest of the ghee and give one last, firm and thorough mixing. Switch the fire off. Leave the utensil on the stove for sometime. The heat of the stove and the thickness of the utensil aid further thickening of the halwa.

Transfer to a bowl when cool and enjoy.

Note:

Contrary to popular notion that the Tirunelveli halwa is a thick wheat cake, the iruttukadai halwa is of scoop and eat texture only. While cold it is thick but not cake like. You may re-heat in microwave and have it warm.

The halwa has to be well cooked. The spoon you use will only be coated of ghee and not slightest film of halwa. If it does so, it is underdone and will stick to your palette too. The halwa has to slide down which is why notoriously in Tamil we refer to some act of cheating as 'giving halwa' to someone.

My sister partly does on stove top and transfers to the microwave rice cooker and completes the whole process without much strain to her arms and shoulders. I will check with her the recipe and update at some later date.

The cooking might take around an hour to an hour and a quarter while the preparation of milk is another long drawn process. I use my Indian Philips brand mixer to grind. However, you may grind in the grinder which is used for grinding idli/dosa batter.

There are specially made strainers available in Indian markets. I have used a big size fruit juice strainer.

In general the ratio of the wheat: sugar : ghee can be measured in any cup as 1(level):3 (heaped): 1& 1/4 and cooked to get halwa.

This is my entry to EC's WYF Speciality Food event hosted at Simple Indian Food thro' November

and to

Sanghi's FIL Ghee event which has been extended to the 10th of November @ Sanghi's Food Delights.

My dedication is to Niki, my daughter who loves this and to Raja, my husband who is the one eating all the health food as well as the junk food I cook and blog:)