Idly Podi

Ingredients:

• Urudh Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Thoor dhal - 1/2 cup
• Red chillies - 1 cup 
• Curry leaves - 10 to 20 strings
• Tamarind - a very small ball 
• Asafoetida - 1 tsp
• Mustard - 2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat little oil in a kadai.

Fry the urudh dhal till golden brown and transfer it to a plate.

Heat little oil again and fry the thoor dhal and add it to the plate.

Heat the left oil add the mustard, asafoetida, tamarind, salt and curry leaves fry them and add to the plate.

Add the red chillies and fry them in the same kadai.

Once all the content is cooled grind them to a powder in a blender. Taste and adjust the salt.

Once cooled store it in an air tight container.

Note: The curry leaves can be avoided if you do not like the flavor or added in excess if you like them.

Some add bengal gram dhal also, in case of add it fry them in the same manner as the other two dhal. Red chillies can be adjusted again to the need. 

Vellaipoondu Oorugai

Ingredients:

• Garlic - 500 gm
• Gingilee Oil -200 ml
• Lemon juice - 400 ml (it might take some 10 to 12 lemons)
• Water - 200 ml
• Jaggery - 3 to 4 tbsp
• Salt - 75 gm
• Mustard - 1 tb sp
• Asafoetida - 2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 400 gm

To Prepare the chilli powder

• Red Chillies - 150 gm
• Coriander seeds - 50 gm
• Jeera - 50 gm
• Fenugreek - 50 gm
• Asafoetida - 2 tsp

Dry roast all the above together and grind the powder. this powder should come for 2 cup (400 gm)

Method:

Dissolve salt in lemon juice and water together.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. add mustard and asafoetida.
When the mustard splutter add the mix of lemon juice, water and salt. then add the ground chilli powder.Let it boil well till the raw smell evaporates.
Add the garlic to it and cook well. Simmer it till the garlic is well cooked and the oil comes out.
If needed add more oil. Taste for salt, spice and lemon's sourness.
Let it cool well and then bottle it.

Note: If the garlic is big in size slit them into two. If the lemon flavour is too strong and sourness is strong add chilli powder. If the ground shilli powder is too fine it will not coat the garlic well, so have it normal and too coarse also. When you squeeze the lemon see to that you dont squeez it too much that the rind is alos squeezed it might tase bitter.

While using the pickle there are chances for a white fungi formation on the pickle, in such cases you can throw the top layer, heat some gingilee oil and add to the pickle. The fungi formation happens only when there is no oil covering the top layer of the pickle.

Crab Masala

Ingredients:

• Crab - 3
• Small onions - 1 cup
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Garlic - 8 to 10 pods
• Ginger - 1"
• Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Fenugreek - 1 tsp
• Split urudh dhal - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 3
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves
• Salt - to taste
• Tamarind solution - 2 tbsp 

To Grind

• Coconut - 1/2 cup
• pepper - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 4 to 6
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Method:

Clean wash the crab with little rock salt.

Peel the small onions and garlic and halve them into two.

Chop the onion and tomato. Cut the ginger into small cubes.

Grind coconut and other ingredients to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a pan add the seasonings (pepper, urudh dhal, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and curry leaves).

Add the small onions, garlic and the chopped onion, ginger and saute well.

Once cooked add the tomatoes and cook well. Add salt and turmeric powder.

Toss in the washed crab. Close the pan and let the crab cook. open and toss the content occasionally.

A nice aroma evaporates announcing the crab is cooked well.

Add the ground paste and the tamarind solution. Let it simmer for few minutes.

Turn off and transfer to a serving bowl when the gravy reaches the needed consistency.

 crab 

Note: Basically crab is rich in calcium, good for young mothers who breast feed. Crab need to be washed well in lot of water as there will be sand in the nook and corner of the shell. Right time to buy crab is when no moon day is nearing as it will be fleshy. We add pepper as it is healthy but be careful while adding pepper as excess will burn the lip. You can also make it only small onions as it will add more taste. Crab for that matter any sea food will get cooked soon so not to worry 10 to 15 minutes is good enough to cook crab. If you need more gravy then ground onion and tomato can be added once after adding the small onions and garlic and cook till the raw smell goes. the ginger helps in digestion. Cut it into cubes so it can be picked out later to avoid chewing them or shred them and add.