Seppang Kizhangu Fry

Ingredients:

• Seppang Kihangu (Colocasia) - 1/2 kg
• Chilli powder - 3 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 2 tsp
• Corn flour - 1 tbsp
• Curd - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil few spoons to fry.

Method

Pressure cook the Colocasia. (do not over cook).
Peel and cut them into round pieces.
Take the cut pieces in a plate, sprinkle chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, corn flour and salt over it. Also spread the curd and mix well. Let it soak in the marination for about an hour.
In a pan or a dosa thava heat two spoons of oil and place these marinated colocasia pieces.
Turn them over and cook and repeat till they are roasted.
Goes well with curd rice.

Note: Even if you cook with salt, it will not be imparted into it. So pressure cook without salt. Mommy's.... if you are travelling out of station do the marination and store it in the firdge so that the kids or your man can just roast them in the thava.

Masala Cheeyam

This is a typical Chettinad Dish often done to serve along with Breakfast at households as snacks.

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Urudh Dhal - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 2
• Sago - 3 tbsp
• Small onion - 1 cup
• Curry leaves - 5 string
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
• Coconut - 1 cup
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste 
• Oil to fry

Method:

Pick, wash and soak the rice and dhal together for about an hour.
Soak the sago separately
In a grinder grind the batter little water than we do for Vadai. While grinding add the green chillies also.
When the batter gets smooth add salt and let it run for a couple of minutes.
Slice the onions finely, grate the coconut, chop the curry leaves.
In a kadai heat a spoon of oil, season with mustard add the sliced onions and chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. Sauté for a couple of minutes. Turn off the stove and then add the grated coconut. Mix well. Add this to the batter.
Drain the soaked sago and mix it with the batter.
Heat oil in a kadai as for vadai. Take a hand full of batter and drop dumplings of batter into the hot oil.

Tastes good with Thengai chutney or Vengaya Kosu.

Note: This dish should be very soft when you see the inner part it should have pores and should not be hard and stuffy with solid batter inside. If it is add it means you have not added enough water. So sprinkle water to a portion of the batter and try. When it turns out good do the same for in portions. If the batter is too watery the cheeyams will starts drinking the oil from the kadai, in such cases add a hand full of rice flour mix well and do.

Rava Kichidi

Rava Kichidi (with lots of vegetables of all kind) or Rava upma (with just seasonings and onion) is a favorite dish at my home, often made for dinner or some times for breakfast. People also call it as Rava Pongal however that is not my favorite call as according to me pongal is something made with rice/dhal.

Ingredients:

• Rava - 2 cup
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Beans - 1/4 cup
• Carrot - 1/4 cup
• Cabbage - 1/4 cup
• Peas - hand full
• Cauliflower - hand full
• Green chillies - 2
• Curry leaves
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Split urudh dhal - 1 tsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 2
• Bengal gram dhal (Kadala paruppu) - 2 tsp (optional)
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp (optional)
• Oil - 4 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Water - 3 cups

Method:

Cut onions into thin slices, Chop tomatoes, Chop all the vegetables, slit green chillies.
Cut the cauliflower into small florets boil with salt, drain and keep aside.
Dry roast the rava and keep aside in a plate.
Heat oil in a kadai, season with mustard, urudh dhal, bengal gram dhal, jeera, red chilli, curry leaves.
Add onions and sauté well.
Mean while heat three cups of water.
Add all the vegetables, peas, cauliflower and tomato. Sauté well.
Add salt and turmeric powder. Add the roasted rava.
Sauté for a minute or two.
When the water just starts to boil pour it into the kadai.
When you are about to pour the hot water simmer the stove as it may spill out.
Close the lid.
Serve it with Coconut chutney or Sambar (Refer Sambar for Breakfast) or Summa Kulambu.

Note: for emergency Rava Upma you can avoid all the vegetables part and just have onion and green chillies. also tomato if you like. Adding a tea spoon of chopped ginger will increase the flavor and is also good for health. However few may not like to bite the ginger but like its flavor, for such people they can have a whole chunk of ginger crushed and pick it out when once the upma is done.
Upma will even taste good with just the seasonings.

Chilli Chicken

Ingredient 

List 1

• Chicken - 1/2 kg
• Corn flour - 4 tbsp
• Pepper - 2 tsp
• Egg white - 1
• lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
• soy sauce - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Ingredient

 List 2

• Onion - 1 chopped
• Garlic 2 pod chopped
• Capsicum - cut into squares
• Green chillies - 5 to 7 sliced
• Spring Onion - 1 bunch Chopped
• Soy sauce - 1 tsp
• Aginomotto - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli sauce - 2 tbsp
• Food Color - red 1 pinch optional
• Corn flour - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Butter 1 tbsp

Method

Clean the chicken and marinate in the first list of ingredients and let it stay for 15 minutes. and fry the pieces in oil. keep it aside.

Melt butter, Sauté garlic, followed by green chillies, onion and capsicum. Add all the sauces and salt. pour a glass of water. Make a paste of cornflour in water and add to it. Check for salt and spice as the gravy thickens add the fried chicken pieces and the spring onions.
                                     

                                        
Goes well with fried rice, Idiyappam.

Tomato Rice

Ingredients

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Tomato - 5
• Onion - 1
• Green Chilli - 2
• Garlic - 2 pods
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Coriander leaves - 1 sp
• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method

Clean and soak the rice for 5 to 10 min.
In a pressure cooker heat the oil, fry the cinnamon stick and chopped garlic.
Add the sliced onions and slit chillies and sauté well.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook well till the whole contents become paste like.
Add the coriander leaves, chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Drain the rice. In a kadai melt the ghee and fry the rice.
Add this fried rice to the tomato in the pressure cooker.
Pour 3 cups of water and close the pressure cooker.
Simmer the stove for 15 minutes without the cooker weight.
Turn off the stove and place the weight.
Open after 15 minutes.
Serve it with onion or cucumber raitha or pappad.

Note: Some people may not like the feel of the tomato skin while eating. So they can blend the tomato and add it as puree. Another variation to improve the taste is instead of 3 cups of water you can add 1 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1 1/2 cup water, in which case you may have to give a generous tip on the chilli powder as coconut milk tend to blind the spiciness.

kadala Masalai

Ingredients:

• Chick pea (Cooked)  - 1 cup
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Garlic - 2 pods
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Coconut milk - 1/4 cup (2 to 3 tb sp)
• Oil 
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves

Method

Take one cup of cooked channa. (Soak and pressure cook with salt).

Slice the onion and tomato. Crush the garlic.

In a kadai heat oil season with curry leaves and crushed garlic. Add the sliced onion and sauté well. when color changes add the tomato and sauté till it is cooked well. Add Chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Add the cooked channa and toss it well.

Add a little water and cook till it is dry and mixes well. now add the coconut milk. (This of course is optional).

Sprinkle the garam masala powder toss once or twice and turn off the stove.

Its a good combination for curd rice or chapathi.

Note: Kids will like this much as a side dish for curd rice instead of vegetables daily. So once in a while you can fill the lunch box with this. Chick pea is a source of Zinc, Folate and Protein also rich in Dietary Fibers. 

Puttu

Ingredients:

To make the flour

• Raw rice - 1 kg

Method Soak the Raw Rice in water for 1/2 to 1 hour. Drain and leave it for 1/2 an hour. When the water has completely drained and slightly dry blend it to a coarse powder in a mixe. and sieve it.
When done. Heat a kadai and dry roast this flour.
When you get the smell of the flour and when the flour coats the ladle that is the time to remove it from fire. Spread it in a paper and let it cool. Sieve the flour and spread it in paper for a day. Then store it in an air tight container.

To make Puttu

Ingredients

• Puttu flour or raw rice flour - 2 cups
• salt - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Coconut - 1/2

Method

                                     
Mix the flour, salt and sugar. sprinkle water and moisten the flour well by mixing it. the quantity of water for 2 cups of flour can be roughly 1/4 to 1/2 cup. when you hold a hand full of flour it should form a lump and should be able to break the lump again to crumbles.

Sieve this so that when you make puttu it do not form lump.
Layer the puttu maker with coconut on the base flour and coconut. see to that the base and top has shredded coconut.
When steam comes out of the cap it means the puttu is done. You will also get good smell of the raw rice and coconut steaming inside.

Serve this with banana, sugar and ghee. You can also add pappadam or appalam, if you like the flavor of that.
                                  

You can also serve it with Kadala curry or Payaru.

Chicken Masala

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1/2 kg
Onion - 2
Tomato - 1
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coconut oil - 3 tbsp

Method:

Wash and clean the chicken.
Slice the onion and tomato thin and long.
Heat the coconut oil in a kadai. fry 3/4th of the onion. when the color changes add the tomato and sauté well until it is cooked completely.
Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. sauté well. Add the chicken and 1/4 cup of water. Close and cook well stirring occasionally.
Simmer it until the chicken is cooked and the water is dried.

Note: You can adjust the consistency of the gravy as per your need. Making it slightly dry will go well with Rice or Pulao, or Chapathi. 

Meen Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

• Fish - 1/2 kg
• Small onions - 1/4 cup
• Garlic - 6 to 8 pod
• Tomato - 1
• Chilli powder - 4 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
• Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized
• Rock salt - 1 to 2 tsp
• Oil - 4 tb sp
• Ginglee oil - 2 tbsp

For Seasoning

• Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Split urudh dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli - 3
• Asafoetida - 2 pinch
• Curry leaves 2 string

Method:

Clean the fish. Peal the onion and garlic. Soak the tamarind and salt in 1 cup water.
Heat oil in a kadai. season it with the ingredients given under for seasoning. add the onions and garlic sauté well initially in high flame and then simmer the flame. make solution of the tamarind squeeze and take the tamarind out. mash a tomato in the tamarind juice.
Pour this content into the kadai. Add more water. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and let it boil. check for salt and spices.
Now add the fish pieces into this gravy and let it boil. add the ginglee oil also and simmer it. let it boil till the oil comes out.
serve with Rice and appalam.

Note: you can also add thing slices of coconut just before adding the fish. the coconut soaked in this kuzhambu will be of a different taste. Give a nice tip for the chilli powder as the kozhambu will taste good only when it is a bit spicy. Also this is a good combination for Hot Idly or Dosa. Usually Meen Kuzhambu tastes like heaven the next day.