Wednesday 27 June 2012

Inippu Kuzhi Paniyaram

Ingredients:
  • Raw rice - 2 cup
  • Parboiled rice - 2 cups
  • Urudh dhal - 1 cup
  • Fenugreek seeds - 2 tsp
  • Karuppatti - 300 gm
  • Coconut - 1/2
  • Cardamom - 4 poda
  • Oil


Method:

Clean, wash and soak bothe the rice together.
Clean, wash and soak urudh dhal along with fenugreek seeds. Soak them for atleast 3 hours.
Grind them seperately and beat them together well. and let it to ferment for 6 to 8 hours.
Grate the coconut. powder the cardamom.
Make a syrup out of karuppatti with very little water.
To the fermented batter, add the karuppatti syrup, grated coconut and cardamom powder. Check for sweet and make Kuzhi paniyarams.

Note: Excess of karuppatti will tend to brown early on the outer layer and uncooked inner layer. Also it may not come out of the vessel. So this is not a dish too sweet. You can also alter it with jaggery.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Vendakkai Mandi

Ingredients:
  • Ladys Finger - 200gm
  • Potato - 1
  • Small onions - 100gm
  • Garlic - 75gm
  • Green chillies - 5 to 8
  • Oil - 3 tbsp
  • Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp
  • Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Salt - to taste
  • Split urudh dhal - 1 tsp
  • Fenugreek - 1 tsp
  • Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
  • Dry red chillies - 3
  • Curry leaves - a string.
  • water drained by cleaning rice - 1 cup

Method:

Cut the ladys finger into 1" long pieces. peal the onion and garlic. Cut them into two. Slit the green chillies.
Wash the rice for the days use and save the water.
Cut the potato into squares to match the onions and ladys finger and half boil it, drain and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai, season with urudh dhal, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves. Add the cut ladys finger and green chillies and saute for two minutes, add the cut onion and garlic and saute again, now add the half cooked potato, turmeric powder and saute until the color changes slightly and ladys finger reduces in size.
Now pour the water that you have saved from washing the rice and let it boil. Once it boils well and the oil starts to come up add the tamarind pulp and salt let it simmer for about 5 minutes. the very thin gravy will turn glassy and saucy.
Turn off the stove and serve with rice.

Note: The water that you get from washing the rice is called "mandi" in tamil. meaning residue. This makes the gravy turn thick saucy and glossy. It also gives the taste. If you had forgotten to take the mandi use normal water but you will not get the complete taste.
This is usually very spicy and served with curd rice.