Pineapple rasam

   With few pineapple slices, left over, I settled at this recipe , found at Chef Damodharan's cookbook.  The recipe was very simple, though I twisted the rasam masala with few curry leaves and green chillies addition.  The result was delicate, sweet and sour peppery rasam.  Kids would love it because of an different, 'sweet' quotient into them.  And, elders would welcome an new change.

So, do try and let us know.  Moving on to the recipe.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients required

For the rasam masala

• 21/2 tsp whole cumin seeds/ jeera
• 1 tsp whole peppercorn
• 6-8 tiny garlic pods
• 3/4 tsp finely chopped green chillies
• 8-10 whole curry leaves

Others

• 1 tbspn of oil
• 3/4 tsp of mustard seeds
• Pinch of hing/asafoetida
• Pinch of haldi/turmeric powder
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped pineapple 
• 1/4 cup of finley chopped tomatos
•  1/4 cup of tuvar dal
• Salt, to taste

Method

Coarsely grind all, under rasam masala, without adding water, keep aside.  Soak tuvar dal for atleast twenty minutes and pressure cook them for two whistles with half cup of water.  Blend them , and keep aside.   

Heat oil.  Add mustard seeds and wait till they splutter.

Now, add in hing and turmeric.  Finally add corase paste of rasam masala.  Saute them for an minute.  

Add in pineapple and tomato pieces.  Saute for five to ten minutes, till they turn soft.  

Finally add in mashed tuvar dal, and add salt to taste.  

Let the rasam froth towards the edges.  Switch off the flame and serve hot.  

Enjoy with hot rice  :)

Happy cooking :)

Linking this to Srivalli's CCC Challenge

Chow chow and mutton curry

   I had just left the market with an pack of chow chow.  This green vegetable, resembled potato like in texture.  I wanted to try it differently other than usual poriyal or kootu, which is why I called my aunt.  She told me that chow chow, radhish, carrot and potato are few vegetables that can pair excellently with mutton curry.  Even those who don't like veggies and prefer mutton alone, will find this curry delecious since the chow chow absorbs the flavour of mutton and portrays as same.  You can add green chillies to the masala paste instead of chilly powder, but, since we had an toddler, I sticked with latter option.

Yes, and I made the curry along with mutton and its liver.  Mutton liver or thilli is an excellant source of iron, and moreover they dominated the entire flavour and we all nourished the same.  This curry goes great with rice/idly or dosa.  I hope you try the same and let us know.  

Kundapura kozhi chaaru

    This morning, I was going through my recipe diary.  Initially, when I started to cook, I had this habit of writing down all interesting recipes from TV program.  As week-end special, we always have chicken- so when particular page read, ' Kundapur kozhi chaaru' I got very excited!  All ingredients mentioned was handy at home, so tried these for this week's CCC Challenge.

Kundapura kozhi chaaru is an regional speciality from Karnataka, in a place called, 'Kondapur'.  This curry is more like an soup.  Yes, chaaru is an equivalent term for, 'rasam' in tamil.  This soupy broth is best when served with rice.  This recipe also, involves in an special masala, that imparts an fresh taste to this curry.  To, top this coconut oil and curry leaves added an mystique flavour that circulated the entire home.  Do try this and let us know :)

Gongura mamsam

   There always used to be five to six types of spinach around my place, though I always end up buying palak, methi.  I, got intrigued with puntikura, after an taste of gongura chutney at my mother's place.  So, when I asked an fellow lady, who, I chanced upon picking these, she told me that they used to add in gosht prepartions.

So, I happily picked these and left home.  With my 'The Essential Andhra Cookbook' handy, I zeroed over an recipe called Chigoor ka salan.  Though these were made of tamarind leaves, this recipe also suggested any addition of spinach.  So, I nailed it replacing tamarind with gongura.  This curry had an high sour quotient along with balanced spice and salt.   This was completely unique,  and we did enjoy this as an family.   Do try and let us know.  

Gutti Wonkai - Andhra styled Stuffed brinjal in a tangy sauce

     Brinjal is not so pampered member of our kitchen.  They are utmost relished as spicy biriyani rice or as an curry.  They were in need of an desparate lift and this is why I bumped into one of my precious collections, 'The Essential Andhra Cookbook' by Bilkees I. Latif.  This book has various dishes as Hyderabadi and Telangana specialities.

So browsing under the vegetarian section, I got this Gutti Wonkai.  The ingredients were as simple, as to find in any South Indian Kitchen.  With sambhar and rice made, I moved on to make these.  Green chilly and coriander imparted an nice flavour to the brinjals.  And they tasted great with rice, though recipe suggested with roti.  After an good review from my mate, this is going to be an regular menu at our kitchen. Let's move on to the recipe.

Tawa tossed aubergine with ketjap manis dressing

 This week, for cookbook challenge,  I choosed my dish from this month's Good Food magazine.  Grilled aubergine, tossed with ketjab manis dressing, has an perfect match with dal rice or rice with curry.  The ketjab manis dressing is sweet saucy yet tangy in taste.  The major part is soya sauce with an slight garlic and chilly twist.  

Together with ketjab manis, my pan tossed aubergines went well and that had an blast of flavours with dal rice.  Kindly try this one and let us know.

Chettinadu chicken gravy

Chettinadu gravy is known for its flavourful and aromatic spices, in addition to their tantalizing taste. Here, I have made chettinadu masala, from scratch and this is followed by the gravy.  You can also make the masala in huge batch and store them for later

They were absolutely fabulous and would go divine with dosa/rice/idiyappam.  I am planning to make them furthur...

Araichu vitta sambhar

Running out of sambhar powder?  Or often wondering the secret-ingredient for restaurant-styled thick sambhar??   Don't worry.... this, araichu vitta sambhar comes to your rescue :D  'Araichu vitta' in tamil means freshly grounded, accordingly this sambhar utlizes an medley of spices from your kitchen, that are freshly dry-roasted and powdered.  This powder, not only comes in handy when your sambhar powder goes out of stock, but also acts as an, 'thickening agent', thus making the latter more fragrant, more tasty and restaurant-styled.

And, one other difference from sambhar is that, in araichu vitta sambhar, tempering is done by the end.  Since, we add no spices other than dry-roasted ones, we may not be sure about the spice- content of sambhar.  Hence, tempering accordingly with number of red chillies might yield you an perfect, balanced output.  This is really, an blessing in disguise, isn't it? 

Sambhar

    Hi all.... back from my short vacation.  And since my daughter leaves to her summer camp, my routine life is almost back... Filling up my refrigerator with freshly brought veggies and fruits, cleaning up my partially-messed home, ... list goes on.  Going on vacation sounds much easier, but when it comes to post-vacation work, I always save an huge 'sigh' :/   Yesterday, day went quite interesting watching over election results.  Victory was predicted, as usual, but winning by 1:6 ratio (Congress: BJP) was quite an 'whooping result'.  Similarly goes with Tamilnadu where ADMK gained 37 out of 39 available seats.  Fabulous, isn't it?  Let us see if this decision solves our stagnating economy and deals with the price rise as well....

   Yes and coming back to our post, born and brought up at Chennai, I could'nt miss this special SAMBHAR prepared by my mom.  Infact, this is my favourite and same with my husband too.  Sambhar is south-indian dal preparation, mostly tuvar dal (yellow pigeon peas), with sambhar powder (an aromatic powder made out of chana dal, dried red chillies, curry leaves, whole cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida, few peppercorn etc), tamarind, assorted set of vegetables (like brinjal, drumstick, snakegourd, pumpkin etc), finished with an sweet touch of jaggery.

The trick in preparing an perfect sambhar lies in perfect balance of spice-sour and an sweet taste.  As an first-try, I have messed up by adding more sourness (more amount of imly/tamarind) into my sambhar.  So, I strongly recommend you to add only half of prescribed tamarind during cooking, other half you can wait till you complete the cooking, check the sambhar and add accordingly.  Also, kindly note that this 'sour' factor depends on tomatos you are adding.  Since, I have added hybrid tomatos, I have included tamarind.  In case, I am going with country tomatos ,(which has an higher sour content) I would prefer not to add tamarind as the former itself gives out required 'sour' effect.

LUNCH

MAIN COURSE - RICE

•  Tomato baath
•  Bisibela baath
•  Schezwan fried rice
•  Kovaikkai podi saadham
•  Lemon rice
•  Khichdi
•  Puliogare rice
•  Pudhina saadham
•  Tomato rice
•  Egg pulao
  
  
  

·          

SIDE-DISH – DRY

•  Carrot poriyal
•  Kovaikkai fry
•  Mooli patta ki dal
•  Kandhe ki tarkari
•  Milagu cauliflower fry
•  Tawa cooked potato roast
•  Tawa arbi masala
•  Mutton sukka
•  Beans usili
•  Sura puttu
•  Apollo fish fry
•  Masala omlette
•  Mutton chops fry

SIDE DISH – CURRY/ GRAVY

•   Avial
•   Milagu karakulambu
•   Mirchi ka salan
•   Bharwan bainghan
•   Kathirikkai karakulambu
•   Vathakulambu
•   Nethili meen kozhambu
•   Nethili poondu kolambu
•   Kekadacha masala
•   Kozhi kolambu
•   Malvani fish curry
•   Chettinadu chicken curry
•   Saalna omlette
•   Muttai curry
•   Nattukodi pulusu

ACHAAR/PICKLE

•    Punjabi-styled vegetable pickle

Egg pulao

    Not long before, we visited 'Royalseema ruchulu' restaurant at Hyderabad, I must admit that 'Nattukodi pulao' was an real FAB.  We continued to order pulao twice, thrice.... :)  After relishing their hot, fiery pulao, blogger part of mine desired to make an 'silent try' :)   As thought, I continued making the pulao with hard-boiled eggs, pulao was fantastic.  Here, I also share one useful trick for cooking the rice with correct texture. Also try to cook basmati rice in an wide-mouthed vessel, so that they dont become mushy and stay like separate grains.

Egg pulao can also be an 'hit' in your family.  Try them ideally on an week-day lunch once before an exotic week-end lunch :D  I garnished this egg pulao with mint leaves, one slice/wedge of egg along with deep fried onions.  I had them, as such.  Every bite was flavourful and tempting.  My daughter, Varsha who doesn't eat spicy food also carved an special interest to this pulao.  This is an easy and tempting alternative to our usual home-made  biriyani.  Do try them :D

Kathrikkai kara kuzhambu

   If anybody asks me what cuisine/which country's food you love, my only answer is Indian food, especially south-Indian food.  A one shot of  hot kara kulambu with appalam would drool my tongue and I can firmly say that it won't be equal to McD's Burgers or KFC chicken. :P  :P

 

When I came across karakulambu from Swathi Iyer's blog, I could hardly resist than giving this godly curry, an try.  You can view her post here.  She has prepared an mixed vegetable curry, since I am an brinjal-freak I prepared kulambu with brinjals.  I must say that I fell in love with them.  Thanks to Swathi Iyer, for introducing this godly curry to me :) 

Mysore rasam

    At first, I would thank you guys for linking delicious recipes to my giveaway.  Planning to announce winners next week-end.  Secondly, I just bumped into CCC in Srivalli's blog.  Cooking from cookbook challenge was soo interesting for me to approach.  Thanks to Srivalli for adding me here.  The first post I am going to make is Mysore rasam, from Nita Mehta's 'Quick & Easy Pressure cooking'

 

Rasam is an soupy, watery dish, usually had at the end of South-Indian meal.  Rasam also aids in digestion.  What differs mysore rasam from normal ones, is the delicate balance of sweet-tangy-spice notes.  The unique addition of jaggery teams up with divine aroma of the ghee, isn't it great??  Let us view the recipe

Beans usili

Paruppu usili is an common side-dish had with rice & curry in South-Indian cuisine.

 

'Usili' means disaggregated pieces, here dal/lentils are blend, formed as large dumplings, steamed and finally disaggregated, hence the name.  Beans usili is the most common type, they are had with kolambu saadham ie curry rice. 

Kothukkari kuruma/minced meat kuruma

   Minced meat/kothukkari curry goes great with idiyappam/dosa/rice.  Here I have added precooked minced meat along with masala, this is an tempting dish for NV-lovers.

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients required:

To temper

•  1 tbspn of oil
• 1 Bayleaf, crushed
• 1 star anise
• 1-inch cinnamon piece
• 1 Black cardamom
• 1 clove
• 1 Marathi mogga
• 1 tsp sombu/fennel seeds

Spaghetti with meat sauce

  Spaghetti is thin, long pasta from Italy.  Here, I used dried form of spaghetti packet, made of wheat durum semolina.  Spaghetti is topped usually with tomato sauce, with herbs like basil and oregano.  Here, I used meat sauce and the result was awesome.  The basic sauce, I used was Maggi's instant pasta sauce.  If you want an home-made one, click here

 

Since, this was my first Italian association, I followed each steps carefully.  These spaghetti were a bit denser than our instant noodles.  I cooked them till they were completely done and it went good with sauce.  They were heavy on stomach. One bite topped with sauce was completely heavenly.  I added both meat and vegetables here, vegetarians can replace the same amount of meat with additional mushrooms.

 

Mutton sukka

 

Sukka is a dry, very lightly sauced, preparation of South-Indian cuisine, that goes well with chicken, mutton.  They are served with hot rice and dal/rasam.  Traditionally, they require creamy masala paste, of khuskhus, cashewseeds, and coconut, and are loaded with oil.  Here, I made this sukka with simplest ingredients available on any South-Indian kitchen. Not only, is this simpler, but maintains lesser oil with an best drooling consumption.:D  :D 

 

 

 

I, usually cook two different dishes at week-ends.  One, mild soup for Varsha and secondly spicy curry for Shama.  What surprised us, was Varsha asked an taste of this sukka.  After one bite, she seemed to love it and asked for more and more !!!!!  And by the end she finished having sukka all by herself, Shama had mild soup :D  :D   I didn't know Varsha would like them as such.  Therefore, I can term this sukka as 'kid pleaser' too :)  :) 

Kalaan rasam - Mushrooms curried in south-Indian rasam style

There are rarely a very few vegetables that become central to all  food.  On this very few, Mushroom tops all.  Be it an pizza topping, fried rice or our style gravy, this divine fruiting body (of an fungus) dominates all!  So, why not go an bit innovative and try on rasam style.  Rasam is an south-Indian soup, usually eaten at the end of lunch.  With an hybrid combo of tomato-tamarind this rasam is believed to aid in digestion.

 

My husband, who is an mushroom-aholic guy totally loved it :)  I have also mentioned below how to serve them on an three-meal course below.  Kindly leave an feedback about how you feel, and do try when had an chance.

 

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves : 2  

 

Ingredients required

For temper

• 1 tsp rai/mustard seeds
• 2-3 broken red chilly
• Pinch of hing/asafetida

 

Bisibela baath

   Bisibela baath, a two-word recitation and that dates back to my school days where my mother used to prepare on every saturdays.  Served hot with ghee, these would literally melt in my mouth. This meal, as such is heavy on ur stomach and will mesmerize your mind wanting for more!!!!!!!   Back at home, found best time to prepare, that is on sunday when my hubby (who always requested to make some) was there to support   :P  :P

     Bisibela baath, orginating from Karnataka cuisine lets out meaning like "Hot Lentil Rice" .  Here,  an array of vegetables (Brinjal, snakegourd, pumpkin, carrot, beans, drumstick etc) are cooked in dal tempered like sambhar style.  Cooked rice is mashed, added to the dal and masala comes at the end.  The much interesting part of cooking bisibela baath is its spice mix.  Since I luved my mom's, called her and got her ratios.  Tweaking a bit, I proceeded and yes !!!!!  Bisibela baath was very awesome, it got over by end of the meal!!  :)  

Mutton chops fry

    Chops are referred to as perpendicular cut region from lamb/pork and contain a portion of rib and spine.  This would look like an triangular piece of meat supported by bones from two sides.  Mutton chops have increasingly found as an great option, replacing regular mutton masala.  Here I have used an set of home-pound masalas and made gravy.

Ingredients required

To dry roast and made into  masala

• 3-4 whole dry red chilly
• 1 tbspn whole dhanya
• 1-2 bayleaf
• 1/2 tsp mace
• 1 Marathi moggu
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 2-3 clove
• 1 Black cardamon
• 2-3 green cardamon
• 1 tsp kalpasi/dagad phool
• 1/2 tsp whole peppercorn
• 1 tsp whole Jeera/cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
• 4-5 garlic pods
• 1-inch ginger piece