Green Moong Bonda

This was an off the cuff recipe I tried after salivating over several Mysore Bonda recipes - It was that time of afternoon when the tiffin pangs struck hard and I said, hmmm, how about I make something delicious like that - then I open my pantry and the first thing that I saw was my pachai pasi or green moong split - I had just made a dal out of it which I have yet to blog and I says, why not give this a shot and see how it turns out and the verdict was totally worth it :) So do try this different Bonda recipe and see if you like it.

Here is the recipe
1 cup  Green moong split
1/2 cup urad dal
1/2 cup grated coconut
Desired amount of ginger (see in picture if you are not certain)
1 tbsp black pepper
1/4 tsp asafetida
2 fresh green chilies
4-5 dry red chilies
curry leaves - optional - I added them after I took the pictures :(

method
Soak in about 2 cups of water for 2 hours
Drain all the water out and grind small amounts into a fine paste till the entire lot i done
Add salt

Ready your frying pan with oil
Drop small balls into the heated oil and fry to a fine brown crisp

Enjoy with Cucumber Sesame Chutney - recipe to follow next :) Enjoy this lovely tea time or any time indulgence with your families

Paruppurundai Vetha Kozhambu - Lentil Dumplings in spicy gravy

Ok ... So this is  very traditional, very South Indian dish, that I would compare to the North Indian Kofta perhaps -  I have found that koftas can be made in a variety of different ways, whereas, as the name suggests the balls or dumplings in the southern counterpart is made up of lentils - I guess we can change up the lentils we use or change the name of the dish :) There are various gravies one can use for this recipe, I decided to go with another traditional one Vetha Kozhambu. Please note in the vetha Kozhambu recipe, normally tamarind paste is used in place of kokum and this is how I made the preparation below - all else remains the same in the recipe.

Here are the ingredients for the dumplings
1 cup toor dal/ thoram paruppu
3-5 ref chillies
1tbsp moong dal
1/4 tsp asafetida
1/2 cup grated coconuts
1 stem of curry leaves
1tbsp of sesame oil + 2 tsp
1/3 cup water +

Method
Heat the oil in a pan and add all the ingredients and roast until the lentils and coconut are golden brown. Cool it down and dry grind into a coarse powder.
Then in a pan, add the 2 tsp of oil and splutter some mustard seeds. Add the powder and turn once. Now add 1/3 cup of water and mix ingredients well until it gets to a dumpling-able stage - Be cautious in adding more water - if you need to.

Once this is somewhat cool, make balls out of them and keep. Get your steamer out, spray them with non-stick oil.
Arrange the balls spaced apart and steam for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, make your vetha kozhambu -
Once the balls are cooked, allow them to cool while you are still boiling the kozhambu.  Once fully cooked, transfer the kozhambu into the serving dish -
Gently add the dumplings into the gravy when it is still hot.
Allow it to soak in nicely before serving

NOTE: If the gravy cools down - no sweat - make sure the rice you serve it with is piping hot :)
Or the chappatis!

Enjoy this healthy and utterly delicious dish to your heart's content!

Colorful Multi-Pepper Pulao

This is my entry for the previous Blog Hop Wednesday, a wonderful interactive event started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. I was in a house full of "colds and coughs" and there was not much time to browse my partner's blog and cook - Last week I was paired with Rudra of Mom's Corner and sifting through her recipes to find one to blog, I decided upon this rice. I liked the idea but decided to make it with my own recipe and variations therein.

So here we go
Ingredients
1/2 each of Red, Yellow, Orange & Green bell peppers
1/2 medium sized Red/ purple Onion
3-4 green chilies sliced thin and long
1 tsp Urad Dal
1tbsp curryma powder (if you are using store bought curry-powder, would not recommend more than 1/2 tsp)
1.5 cups of basmati rice
2-3 tsp of oil

Preparation
Dice into little cubes all the veggies
Heat a frying pan with the oil and saute the veggies with the salt, curry powder urad dal and chilies
Add the raw rice to the mix (wash and dab dry before you do this)
Stir in and roast for a minute or 2
The rice is fully seasoned at this point.

Either in a pressure cooker or in a rice cooker,  steam/pressure cook them using appropriate amounts of water - for a rice cooker 1/5 cups of rice will require 3 cups of water
Serve warm with a cilantro garnish

Enjoy this simple yet completely healthy and wholesome one pot meal anytime!

Adais - Lentil Crepes

This is a very popular south Indian tiffin item or an evening "palagaram" dish which substitutes a rice dinner. Palagaram as generally termed in Tamil parlance is in fact Phala-Agaram (which means a meal of fruits) as opposed to what we have understood in Tamil as "pala-agaram or many kinds of foods) - My cousin was kind enough to educate me on this and I thank him for it :)  I for one will say that Adai is a rather heavy dish considering it is made up of a medley of lentils - rich in protein and carbs, this dish is rather versatile and can be made in a number of different ways - The big thing is the inclusion of onions.

Clearly, in my home when we were growing up, there were two distinct preferences and I recall being a non-onion person - I cannot for the life of my fathom why based on how much i love that darned thing now. But there were the plain ones and the ones with caramelized onions. I did not make it for a long time since I was under the impression my kids when they were younger did not much care for it. And kids rule, as you well know. Now that they are older, I thought I'd give it another shot. Although I made 3 different variations with coconut, grated carrots and good old onions, I have a few more I wish to try out and blog about in the near future. but for now here is my recipe. These can be made as large and as crisp as you desire - But note that the moment you start adding veggies, the adai tends to get softer, esp caramelized onions - Those who prefer raw onions can go for that, but I have never been able to appreciate raw onions in any of these kind of dishes.

The other important thing to remember about these are, since this is protein heavy, sometimes digestion can be a pain (literally) hence adding veggies to it softens up the effect and actually eases

I cannot talk about this dish without talking about my brother and sister-in-law - they had their Saturday ritual of adai and avial - a most common combo with adai and I have enjoyed them plentifully at their home -

Here is proportions that work for me

Ingredients
1 cup channa dal
1/2 cup each of
Rice
Urad Dal
Thoor Dal
2 cups of warm water to soak

Spicing
4-6 green chilies
2-3 red chilies
1/4 inch piece of ginger
1 stem of curry leaves
2 tbsp of finely shopped cilantro (optional)
A pinch of asafetida

Add-ons
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup sauteed onions
1/2 cup grated carrots

Wash and soak the lentils for 2-4 hours
Soak also the spices that have been mentioned above
Grind into a course paste adding required amount of salt

Now divi up the batter and add your add-ons. Mix well, check for salt and start making. If size matters make smaller ones and have at least 1 of each kind.
Enjoy my friends - If you want to try this with avial, click here for the recipe :)

Much love and adios amigas and enjoy the pictorial :)

Two things My MOM served these with are 1) Jaggery and 2) Freshly churned butter (what we eat as sour cream) It tasted divine and also my mom insisted that the cream and sugar helped the stomach better  digest the lentils - so the possibilities are endless :))

There is also the mung dal or Pasiparuppu version of this called Pesarattu - check it out here 

Lacha Parathas or South Indian Parottas

So… in my last recipe of kuruma, I mentioned parottas (parathas) that I had at Kanchi hotel, some of the best I recall. My hugely popular blogging buddy Jay of Tasty Appetite had blogged these incredible looking parottas (south Indian style) and I was craving them the moment I saw them. Kuruma leftovers today – the kids have the day off from school, which is good, because we have all been down with some viral infection with stomachs hurting, throats that were sore, headaches and general fatigue – as I was saying leftover kuruma warranted some nice parottas and that’s what I made – it turned out well even if I did not use as much oil as the recipe suggested, but otherwise I stuck to Jay’s recipe fully.

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

3tbsp oil

1sp of sugar

1 pinch of salt

1pinch of baking soda

1cup of warm water and some as “kneaded” ;)

Preparation

Add all the ingredients in a mixer and let it mix in a gentle pace at first and when all the dough has come together increase the mixer speed to medium and let it knead for about 5- 10 minutes, stopping every now and then for a spoon of water here and there if you need to bind all the flour.  At about 8 minutes, I took the speed to max and had the ball of dough going nuts :)

Remove from mixer, make a tight ball, put in a vessel and keep closed for about 30 minutes to an hour

When time is up, put back in the mixer and knead for another 3 minutes. Remove and make lemon-sized balls – I got about 11 of those evenly distributed.

Now take a plate and add 1 -2 tsp of oil and roll these balls in the oil and set aside

Once they are all greased roll them the size of a chappati, peel off the surface and make folds with them much like a sari as Jay suggests. Once pleated, hold the ends to stretch them out to the max, because they have a tendency to shrink back. Keeping the length, place one end at the center and roll the dough around to make a pinwheel.  Once they are all done we start to roll them out again.

Here is a trick

To keep the circles and layers intact, oil the bottoms of the pinwheels to give it some elasticity as you roll while dusting the top with dry flour to allow you to keep the stretch going. Again, once they are the size of a chappati, put them on a pan/tawa, basting them with a lightest brush of oil. Let both sides brown before you remove from the pan and place them in your serving platter.

Serve with spicy kuruma or side dish of your choice – Thanks Jay!

This is off to Sweet Karam Kapi's Flavors of Tamilnadu Event

Vegetable Kuruma (Korma)

Kormas or Kurumas as they are pronounced in the South is a curry that is popular in south Asia is said to have Mughlai roots. The method of preparation varies considerably from place to place and even among the same people – It often is yogurt or cream based and can be veg or non-veg and a side dish with Parathas Pooris or rice. For as long as I lived in my parents home, I have NEVER had this dish because my amma never prepared it and for some reason the use of garlic, onions and too many rich spices was never a big thing. But I grew up and started working and in DHL where I interned for a while, I recall that if we worked Sundays, the company ordered rice parathas and kuruma from Hotel Kanchi and would serve all its employees – I recall turning my nose up at it and the unfamiliar smells when I first saw it – but with some coaxing from my colleagues, I tried and it lo and behold, LOVED it! I remember going home feeling unclean, like I had done something wrong and in violation of my parents. A few more Sundays and I thought nothing of it.

Kanchi hotel, btw made the best kuruma the taste of which still tickles my tongue.

I have tried to recreate that Kuruma for my family using non-starchy, healthy veggies creaming it up with a few cashews. This was accompanied by pooris

It was enjoyed well and made for a perfect Sunday back home lunch.

Do enjoy this simple yet delicious dish with your families. You can always avoid the garlic and the onions, but they do give the kuruma the flavors I always associated with it.

Here is the recipe:

Non-starchy veggies of your choice – I used beets, (which gave it a rich red color), carrots, cauliflower, fennel, & zucchini

For the puree, I used a can of diced tomatoes (equals to roughly 4-5 juicy Roma tomatoes or tomatoes on the vine)

1 medium sized red-purple onion

3 green chilies

4 red cry chilies (please observe the spice plate for the exact numbers)

For the spices – again please see the plate of spices I have posted for quantities

I used garlic, chilies red and green, ginger, black peppers, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, 3 black seeds of cardamom, turmeric and 2 tbsp of dried coconut powder (fresh coconuts are fine or even better)

5-6 whole raw cashews

The entire preparation took 2 tbsp of oil – I used olive.

Preparation

First roast the ingredients in a tsp of oil and roast until brown – I also roast the coconuts at this same time.

Heat two separate pans, cook the onions in oil in one and the tomatoes in the other.
Add to the spice mix in to the blender along with the cooked tomatoes and tenderized onions to make the gravy.

Cook the veggies in a wide mouthed pan until they were tender. Then add the gravy to the veggies and salt, allowing it to simmer in the gravy for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot pooris J Bon appetite!

Sending this off to Sweet Karam Kapi's Flavor's of Tamilnadu event

Fondue with Steamed Veggies

I am back after a month long vacation in India and a week of absolute inertia - a combination of jet lag and complete exhaustion from travel, unpacking, washing, putting away stuff - you know how it goes and contrived though it is, I would love a no strings attached vacation right now - in an beautiful island - in a tranquil and exquisitely decorated suite overlooking aquamarine waters - where i sleep as I wish, have massages aplenty and lots and lots of wonderfully nourishing vegetarian food brought to me for the asking or on a pre-planned schedule - a yoga and dance workout when I feel like it or I may most likely prefer a dip in that azure water - Someone to towel my hair dry and paint my nails as I read some books I've been meaning to for a long time... sigh - see - the holiday stupor has not left me one bit!  And this is a very concerted effort to get back to my blog in the hope that I will feel motivated with your comments - so PLEASE leave your comments for me and get me back to reality! Hugs in advance :)

Fondue with Steamed Veggie Platter

Fondue is a very high fat meal. Under normal circumstances makes me cringe at the number of fat calories we consume while eating this highly delicious, yet horrifically caloric meal. Hmm, what to do? How can I have my Fondue and eat it too?

This is when I start becoming an inventor – well I don’t dare claim that this has not been done before. Hardly that! But I think smart ideas cannot be copyrighted, censored or censured since many people have them at different times and when it comes to the gastric pleasures, people do experiment a lot. A typical fondue preparation required Gruyere or Emmentaler cheese (a couple fine Swiss cheese) white wine for the dip.  What we can do is find things to dip in the fondue that are low calories, and help offset the fat of the cheese like, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, peppers, green, red, yellow and orange and avoid meats, bread and other heavy stuff that compound the calorie intake.

If you are craving a chocolate fondue, try a semi sweet, dark chocolate melted with a little sherry or port wine or liqueur like Kahlua. But rather than dip pound cakes, rice crispy treats, or Blondies, restrict yourself to the pleasure of dipping strawberries, crisp apples or pears, nuts like walnuts or almonds.

The moral being, there are certain foods that are meant to be fatty or sugary. While we cannot put up much resistance to them, unless we decide to go vegan and use potato starch to make a stringy dip, the best we can do is control what we dip in these and make it a less guilt-ridden dish.

We love fondues and have always used lightly steamed veggies to dip, but bread has been a part of it which I now wish to avoid.  I have bought the awesomest steamer from India which I used for the veggies. turned out perfect!  

For the Fondue Preparation

1) 1 cup each (or more) of grated Gruyere & Emmentaler cheeses. I did not get Emmentaler yesterday but substituted with Fontina - basically you need cheese that will melt smoothly and easily so I am sure there are other choices.

2) 3 cloves of garlic

3) 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

4) 1/4 cup of white wine  (I used a moscato -sweet wine which tasted brilliant in this since it was far too sweet to drink) Again many other kinds of wines will suit - google mama will only be too happy to help ya with your selection :) (this again is optional and can be substituted with 1/4 cup of milk, just to get the melting process started.

5) A pinch of nutmeg

Preparation

On low heat, start the melting process on a regular stove.

If you have a fondue pot, then transfer this into it and have a candle flame underneath to keep the cheeses from thickening - If this happens keep the pot on the stove ready and re melt. 

Go with non-startchy veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms etc... Attack with gusto - it makes for a fun meal when some of us ate standing to get a better swipe of the cheese. The fun also lies in losing your veggies in the cheese. Enjoy and I hope to be back with more.

Happy New Year all and May all your dreams and wishes come true and may you have good health and good food always :)