Vendakai Sambhar

Last Friday was Vishu, one of my favorite Indian festivals. As a kid, it meant getting a lot of money from elders. It also meant yummy mom-made food - payasam, aviyal, jackfruit jam (chakka varati) and such.

This year, I decided to cook my own sadhya. The menu included Sambhar, Rasam, Aviyal, Kathrikai (egg plant) fry, mango pickle, thaamarai varuval (lotus stem fry), and paalada pradhaman (a sweet dish made from flattened rice). Oh! What a meal it was. It took me about 4 hours to make the whole spread since I was the only one washing, cleaning, skinning, cutting, marinating and cooking and there was just a single burner stove at disposal. But, it was totally worth all that effort.

Here's the recipe for the vendakai sambhar.

You will need:
5 vendakais (ladies finger) - washed and cut into long pieces. (About half your finger size)
A little more than half a cup of thoor dal.
A small lump of tamarind - soaked in 1 cup of water.
8 red chillies - broken in half
1/2 tsp - Fenugreek seeds
Salt
1/2 tsp - Mustard Seeds
3 tsps - Gingelly oil
2 Green chillies - Slit
1 pinch of hing
Fresh curry and coriander leaves - Washed
1 pinch of turmeric powder

Soak the tamarind in a cup of water and keep aside. Cook the dal in about 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker with a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Once done, remove the excess dal water (can be used to make rasam), mash the dal and keep aside.

Heat the vessel, pour in a few drops of oil and saute the lady's finger slightly. This will ensure that it doesn't get sticky in the sambhar. It also enhances the flavor. Keep it aside. Pour in about 3 tsps of gingelly oil in the emptied vessel. Wait till the oil is hot enough. Throw in the halved red chillies, mustard, fenugreek seeds, hing and saute till the chillies turn a dark brown (don't wait till it turns black). Throw in the green chillies.
Add few curry leaves and saute.
Add the sauteed vendakaai.
After about 30 seconds, add the tamarind water and extract one more cup of tamarind water and add that as well. Add a pinch of salt.
Take the dal, mash it really well and add to the above mixture. Leave it on for about 5 minutes, allowing it to boil or till it is thick enough for your taste. You can add a pinch of rice flour to thicken it further, but this is optional.
Add salt according to your taste and stir well.
Remove from fire, and garnish with fresh curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Tastes best with fresh cooked rice. Can also be had with fresh dosas and idlis.

Enjoy!

Aviyal

One of the first things I cooked after moving out of my house 4 years back. My mom would make awesome avial at least once a week. My chitti makes a slightly modified version of my mom's aviyal but I love that version too. Anything with all those veggies, ground coconut and green chillies will be licked off my plate.

Avial is one of the easiest things to make. I'm guessing that years back when the housewife had but few random veggies - not enough for their own unique dish but enough when mixed together, decided to chop them all together, throw in some coconut and green chillies and created magic.

I was pleasantly surprised at how there was little difference between my mom's recipe and Meenakshi Ammal's

To make Aviyal, you will need:

Half a big coconut - grated
5 green chillies
1/2 tsp Jeera
5 spoons of sour curd
One green mango - skinned and sliced into long pieces
Assorted vegetables cut into long pieces (You can use carrots, white pumpkin, yam, potatoes, drumsticks - pretty much everything except ladies finger)
1 cup of coconut oil

Begin by boiling the potatoes, the yam, the drumsticks and the carrots. Once they get tender, throw in the white pumpkin. Add some salt and cook for about 3-5 minutes.
Finely grind the grated coconut, jeera and the green chillies with a sprinkle of water and curd.
Add this mixture to the cooking veggies (after removing excess water from the veggies).
Remove after 5 minutes. Add the cut raw mangoes
Add curry leaves
Add the raw coconut oil and give it a little stir.

Didn't I tell you it was simple? :)

Kothamali Thogayal

Fresh Coriander chutney. Not the runny kind. The dry thick spicy kind that is AWESOME with rasam rice.

Here's what you will need:
A fresh bunch of coriander leaves - Pull out just the leaves and keep away the stem.
2 tbsps of black gram. You can use either channa dal or urud dal as a replacement (kadalai paruppu or ulutham paruppu)
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Gingelly Oil - 4 tsps
Red Chillies - 7 or 8
Small lump of tamarind
Asafoetida

Method:

Wash the coriander leaves and leave aside to drain. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, red chillies, asafoetida and dal.
Grind the tamarind along with a pinch of salt and the fried tadka. Add the fresh leaves bit by bit and grind into a paste without adding any extra water. Add a spoonful of sugar (not from the book) and grind some more
You should ideally get a nice thick paste that beautifully balances spice, sweet and tanginess and the freshness of the leaves.

This is great with fresh rice and a spoon of gingelly oil. Can also be used as a replacement to the more popular pickles. It's fresh. It's healthy. And it delights the taste buds.

Tomato Rasam (Thakaali Rasam)

My love for rasam an be entirely attributed to my love for my mom and paatee's thakaali rasam (tomato rasam). To create this delicious brew, you will need:

3 big ripe tomatoes
2 cups of dal water (boil dal in a cooker with excess water, mash the dal and use just the water)
Salt to taste
Peppercorns - 6 or 9
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coarsely powder the pepper and jeera in a mortal-pestle 
Mustard seeds - for the tadka
Curry leaves - for the tadka
Ghee - for the tadka
Fresh finely chopped coriander leaves - For garnishing

Boil the tomatoes and peel of the skin. Mash them till you get a nice rich pulp. In a round neck vessel, heat the pulp with a cup of water, salt and powdered pepper+jeera.

Bring it to boil and leave it on for another 2 minutes before adding the dal water. Reduce heat and wait till it starts to either froth or starts to steam. Remove from heat.
Heat ghee. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves and a pinch of pepper powder (optional) and add it to the rasam.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

Drool.

Vathal Kuzhambu

You will need:

One big lemon sized ball of tamarind
1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp thoor dal
5 dried red chillies (halved)
A sprinkle of Asafoetida
Fresh curry leaves - 10 leaves
Manathangaalikaai/Sundakai/Avarakaai/Kathirkai/Kothavarkai/Paavakai vathal
4 -5 tsps of gingelly oil

Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Temper mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, dried red chillies, raw thoor dal, asafoetida.
Add curry leaves and the vathal. Saute.

Add 2 1/2 cups of tamarind water and a pinch of salt. I cheated and added some jaggery at this stage. I love the subtle sweetness that compliments the tamarind.
Keep it on heat till it reduces to about 2 cups.
Add 1 tsp of rice flour. (This helps to thicken the whole thing) I didn't have rice flour, so I add a spoon of maida and a sprinkle of corn flour.
Bring to boil and remove from heat. (I left it on for a while longer. I like my vathal kuzhambu to be really thick, so I let it sit for ten more minutes)

Serving Suggestions:
Serve hot with fresh hot rice and fried appalams. To enhance the taste of the kuzhambu and to bring in a unique flavor, you can add some fried appalams to the kuzhambu and let it soak for about 15-20 minutes before serving the kuzhambu.

Enjoy!

Pulli Saadham

Pulli Saadham (Tamarind Rice)

One of my all time favorite pesanja saapadu (mixed rice). The tangy tamarind, the spices, the gingelly oil and the hot rice - What a combination it is.

You will need:

Wood apple sized ball of tamarind (Pulli)
1 1/2 tablespoon of salt (Uppu)
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (Vendhayam)
10 - 12 dried red chillies (mulagai vatthal)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (manjal podi)
1 pinch asafoetida (peringaayam)
2 tsps mustard seeds (kadugu)
1 ladle (karandi) gingelly oil (nalla yennai)
1/4 cup channa dal (kadalai paruppu) or peanuts (verkadalai)
5 - 6 fresh green curry leaves.

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water. Keep aside the clean tamarind water (remove the seeds/husk and other impurities). Soak the dal/peanuts in warm water. Powder the fenugreek seeds. Keep aside.

Take some oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add the mustard seeds, the broken in half red chillies and the the soaked-drained dal/peanuts. Saute till the ingredients are dry.
Add the tamarind water, turmeric powder, salt and the powdered fenugreek seeds. Saute some more.
Add the fresh curry leaves and saute some more.
Bring the mixture to boil. Reduce the flame and continue to boil it, stirring occasionally. The tamarind water should reduce to almost half its original quantity or till the oil gets separated from the mixture and forms a layer - the mixture will be almost paste like at this stage.

Remove from heat and set aside. This mixture can be stored in a clean, dry container for a week.

Serving suggestions:

Add 3 tbsps of gingely oil to the rice while cooking it. This ensures that the rice doesn't get sticky and you get individual grains of cooked rice. Add a spoon of gingelly oil to the cooked rice, add the tamarind paste made above (quantity to suit your taste buds) and mix well, preferably in a warm vessel. Serve hot with papadams/chips/fryums/vadaams. 

Pardon me

So yes, this was supposed to be updated everyday. I haven't since the first recipe. Apologies. But, this translation business is really difficult. I blame all the fictional characters on television for not teaching me the Tamil Script.

Anyways, I spent this last weekend with Mom and paatee in Trivandrum and got them to translate a few basic recipes from the book. Including, Araithuvita Sambhar, Thaalitha Sambhar, Vathal Kuzhambu, Pulli Saadham, Ven Pongal.

Phew! That about covers this week. I'll be starting with the Pulli Saadham today, so watch out for an update. Oh! Thanks for being patient whoever you are. :)