Salem Thattuvadai Set

 

There are so many triggers for nostalgia and to me food definitely comes up in the top few. There was this street snack I used to enjoy as a high school kid usually after a tuition class or a weekend trip to the "shopping complex".  The Salem famous Thattuvadai Set. This such a simple yet tasty and healthy thattai sandwich. A thattuvadai or thattai is a thin crispy  deep fried snack made with rice flour and urad flour. This is also known as nippattu or chekkalu in neighbouring states. This healthy sandwich involves 2 chutneys (red and green) and a some crispy vegetables. I was never a big fan of beetroot and that too raw....no way. However just in this one instance even raw beetroot tastes great. This was one snack which I haven't tried (does 30 years count as long?) a long time. Fast forward to last week I found these yummy crispy thattais made by one of my friends here. So without further ado here comes the recipe.

Ingredients

Red Chutney

1. Dried Kashmiri chillies - 3 to 4 (for the colour)
2. Dried red chillies - 2 to 3 (for the heat)
3. Sliced Red onions - 1
4. Garlic cloves - 4 to 5
5. Tamarind (softened) - 1 teaspoon
6. Tomato - 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Vegetable oil

Green Chutney

1. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
2. Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
3. Green chillies - 8-10
4. Grated coconut - 2 table spoons
5. Salt to taste
6. Ginger - 1 inch

Salad

1. Carrot
2. Beetroot
3. Onion
4. Green Apple (this was my twist - raw mango is used typically)
5. Lemon
6. Chopped Coriander leaves 

And of course a lot of thattais. Preferably the bite sized mini ones.

Method

Red Chutney

1. Blend all the ingredients of the red chutney together to a smooth paste.
2. In a wide sauce pan heat 2 to 3 table spoons of vegetable oil and saute the paste for a few minutes until oil separates.

Green Chutney

1. Blend all the ingredients of the green chutney. (Yup nothing more just blend).

Salad

1. Slice the onion into thin slices.
2. Slice the remaining vegetables in equal amounts.
3. Mix them up in a bowl.

The Set

1. Take a thattai and smear it with the green chutney. Repeat as many as needed.
2. Place the salad on the thattais and sprinkle lemon juice over along with chopped coriander leaves.
3. Take thattais and smear it with the red chutney and place on top of the salad.

Best served on a piece of newspaper to get the authentic feel and consumed as quickly as possible.

Enjoy!!

C

Paneer Do Pyaza

Paneer do pyaza yet another dish that I picked up in Bangalore. Really dont remember how I landed up with this dish. Must have been bored with the typical paneer butter masala or paneer mutter masala in the restaurants and picked this weird Italian sounding dish. If you knew me well in those days I didn't understand what "pyaaz" meant. So here it is from our Persian cousins where Do Pyaza literally mean a curry with 2 types of onions. It's one of those versatile curry bases that you can prepare a multitude of do pyazas - chicken, okra (bhindi)... pretty much with any chunky piece of food. 

Ingredients

1. Paneer - 250 - 300 gms
2. Red Onions - 3 large ones
3. Green chillies - 4-5
4. Tomatoes - 2-3
5. Ginger garlic paste - 2 table spoons
6. Lemon juice - 1 table spoon
7. Cumin seeds - 2 table spoons
8. Green cardamom - 4-5
9. Cinnamon sticks - 3-4 small ones
10. Cloves - 5-6
11. Bay leaves - 2
12. Cumin powder - 1 tablespoon
13. Coriander powder - 1 table spoon
14. Garam masala - 1 table spoon
15. Kasoori Methi - 1 table spoon (crushed)
16. Turmeric powder - Half teaspoon
17. Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 table spoon
18. Vegetable oil - 4-5 table spoons
19. Ghee - 2 table spoons
20. Salt to taste
21. Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

1. Chop 2 onions into fine mince and 1 onion in cubes and set aside in different containers.
2. Heat a large kadai and pour 1 tablespoon of ghee and 2 table spoons of vegetable oil.
3. Sautee the cumin seeds (1 table spoon), green cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves and bay leaves until the fragrance comes out.
4. Add the finely minced onions and saute with a pinch of salt until they turn brownish.
5. While the onions are sauteed finely dice the tomatoes and set aside.
6. When the onions are brown add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 2-3 minutes until the raw paste smell clears off.
7. Add the diced tomatoes and saute for about 10 to 15 minutes along with turmeric powder, cumin powder, garam masala, kasoori methi and the kashmiri chilli powder. 
8. While the masala gets sauteed dice up the paneer into bite sized cubes - but not too thin or small.
9. Add about half a cup of water and simmer the masala adding salt to taste. By now it should result in a mushy masala gravy.
10. Once the masala has reduced to your preferred consistency remove the cinnamon sticks, cloves and bay leaves and transfer the content to another bowl.
11. In the same kadai pour the remaining ghee and vegetable oil and wait until it heats up.
12. Once the oil is hot add the green chillies, 1 table spoon of cumin seeds and the diced onions and sautee for about a minute or so.
13. Add the diced paneer and sautee for about 2 minutes until the ingredients mix well with the paneer.
14. Pour the masala (done in step #10) over the paneer and sautee for a minute or so with but more water as per the consistency preferred.
15. Switch off the heat and add the 2 table spoons of lemon juice and stir well. Be careful not to stir it too much else the paneer will break.
16. Garnish with chopped coriander and voila restaurant style Paneer Dopyaza is done. Serve with warm roti/chappati.

Enjoy!!

C

Prik Gaeng Ped - Thai Red Curry Paste

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Prik Gaeng Ped aka Thai Red Curry paste is a great condiment to have at home to make yummy Thai curries. A word of caution - once you have tasted home made curry paste you may not quite like the curry from your favourite Thai restaurant. There's not many ingredients involved but you will need to have a bit of patience if you want to do it the right way. But hey if you are after tasty food...who's looking at the clock. :)

Ingredients

1. Red Chillies (Dried or Birds eye) - about 20 chillies 
2. Lemon Grass - just the bottom white section finely chopped - 4-5 stalks
3. Coriander stems - 15-20 stems finely diced
4. Kaffir Lime leaves - 1/2 cup - ensure the middle stalk is removed
5. Galanga - 200 gms - remove the skin and dice it up
6. Garlic - 1 bulb
7. Coriander seeds - 1 table spoon
8. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
9. Black Pepper seeds - 1 table spoon

The Method

1. Soak the dry red chillies in hot water for about 30 minutes. Once soaked  remove the seeds and stalks from the chillies. Make sure you wear gloves for this step.
2. Now comes the best part - just pound all of the ingredients in a mortar. This might take a good 30-40 minutes. You absolutely need this since the galanga and kaffir leaves need a good pounding before it gets to the next step.
3. Once you have made a coarse paste blend it to a smooth paste in a blender with water used sparingly. 
4. Once blended heat a wide sauce pan and pour about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and sautee the blended paste for about 20-30 minutes with a teaspoon of salt until the paste is cooked and oil separates.
5. You can refrigerate / freeze this paste once it has cooled down to room temperature. The last time I made it this lasted for a few months.

Enjoy!!

C

Vaangi Bath which can also be called as Brinjal (Egg Plant) Pulao was first introduced to me by a good old friend Aravind Swami (no not the actor) during my initial stint at the Portland short term boys "hostel". Brinjal was not necessarily my favourite vegetable to consume then, but with Vaangi Bath it turned around in my taste buds. This is one of the top contributions from the Kannadiga food specialities. Am sure there are plenty of ready made store mixes for the masala (MTR being my favourite), it definitely adds flavour when made fresh at home. So here it comes ladies and gentlemen.... 

Ingredients

Masala

1. Kashmiri red chilli - 3 or 4
2. Urad dal - 2 teaspoons
3. Chana dal - 2 teaspoons
4. Methi / Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
5. Coriander seeds - 2 tablespoons
6. Poppy seeds / khas khas - 1 teaspoon
7. Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
8. Green Cardamom / Elaichi - 3 or 4
9. Cloves - 4 or 5
10. Desicated coconut - 2 table spoons
11. Roasted peanuts - 2 table spoons

Vangi Bath

1. Steamed (pressure cooked) rice - Basmati / Sona masoori - 2 cups (before steaming)
2. Brinjal / Egg plant - 500 gms (diced in 1 inch cubes)
3. Onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
4. Red chillies - 3 or 4
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
6. Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
7. Vangi bath Masala - 2 - 3 tablespoons
8. Tamarind water - 1/4  to 1/2 cup
9. Curry leaves - 1 or 2 twigs
10. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
11. Vegetable based oil - 4-5 table spoons 
12. Ghee - 1 table spoon

Method

1. Dry roast the ingredients of the masala - preferably one at a time. If you are running out of patience feel free to do all of them but keep the poppy seeds, peanuts  and coconut to the end.
2. Let it cool down to room temperature and grind it to a smooth powder.
3. Heat a large kadai add some generous (4-5 table spoons) of any vegetable oil.
4. When hot temper it with mustard seeds until they crackle.
5. Add the red chillies with curry leaves and saute for a few seconds.
6. Add the sliced onions and saute until translucent.
7. Add the tamarind water and bring the mixture to a boil.
8. Add the diced egg plant along with turmeric and salt to taste and saute until the egg plants have become soft.
9. Add the powdered Vangi bath masala. Exercise caution if you are not a big fan of spicy food.
10. Mix well until oil separates. 
11. Taste the mixture for spicyness and salt. It should be just be just a saltier than what your taste buds would like.
12. Mix the steam rice well so that the mixture is blended evenly.
13. Finally add the ghee and mix it well.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!!

C

Shahi Bhindi Masala

Shahi Bhindi Masala - a slight variation from my usual bhindi masala to make it a bit rich, creamy and restauranty.  I remember how much I hated eating bhindi as a kid - but now with this recipe - I can have them over and over. While many spices go into the mix there's something about cashews and cardamoms that add to the texture and flavour to a curry. During these days of lock down when you can't go out and enjoy a meal from a good restaurant- why not bring the restaurant taste to your kitchen (didn't mean the take away) 😏. 

Ingredients

1. Bhindi/Okra - 1 kg
2. Red Onions - 2
3. Tomatoes - 2
4. Tomato paste - 1 table spoon
5. Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon
6. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
7. Kashmiri Chilli - 1 table spoon (or less as per your level of spiciness)
8. Green Cardamom - 6-7 pods
9. Kasoori methi - 1 table spoon
10. Cashews - 7-8
11. Bay leave - 1 or 2
12. Cinnamon sticks - 2-3
13. Garam masala - 2 table spoons
14. Heavy Cream - 2 table spoons
15. Milk - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Slit the bhindi along the slides and cut the head off. 
2. Heat a large sauce pan / kadai with vegetable oil and sautee the cumin seeds for a few seconds.
3. Saute the onions until they become translucent. You can add a pinch of salt to quicken the process.
4. Add the diced up tomatoes and saute until they go soft and mushy.
5. Add cashews and cardamom and saute for a minute and set aside to cool down.
6. In the same pan heat about half a cup of oil and shallow fry the okra for about 10 minutes until they brown up on the sides, filter the oil and set aside.
7. Blend the tomato and onion mixture into a smooth paste.
8. In the same pan (remove a bit of excess oil) and saute the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks for about 30 seconds until the oil gets fragrant. 
9. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks.
10. Add ginger garlic paste and tomato paste and saute for a few minutes.
11. Add the blended onion-tomato paste and saute for about 5 minutes.
12. Add the garam masala and crushed kasoori methi and mix it well.
13. Add the cream, milk and bit of water to required consistency and bring it to a boil.
14. Add salt to taste.
15. Add the shallow fried bhindi and mix it well for about a few minutes.

Enjoy!!

C

Schezwan Chilli Baby Corn

Schezwan sauce is such a versatile sauce that can be used to make a variety of dishes.  You can find the recipe for the sauce here. The 1st in those series in Schezwan baby corn. This works very well as a starter / appetiser/ entree / side dish - whatever you like to call. :) You can of course adapt this to make many dishes to replace the baby corn with any bite sized chunky food item - such as paneer, mushrooms, cauliflower (for the veggies) or chicken, prawn or fish. You can also prepare noodles and fried rice - which will be coming up shortly. This is definitely not for those who can't consume spicy food.

Ingredients

1. Baby corn - 400 gms
2. Schezwan sauce - 3-4 table spoons
3. Maida (All purpose flour) - 4 table spoons
4. Corn flour - 2 table spoons 
5. Eggs - 2 (for pure vegetarians you can exclude the eggs)
6. Soya sauce - 3-4 table spoons
7. Tomato ketchup - 2 table spoons
8. Sugar - 1 tea spoon
9. Vinegar - 2-3 table spoons
10. Minced garlic - 1 bulb
11. Dice onions - 2-3 table spoons
12. Kashmiri dried red chillies - 8-10 (you can use normal dried red chillies too)

Method

1. Depending on the size of your baby corns, you may cut them up into 2 or 3 pieces.
2. In a wide bowl mix 1 table spoon of the sauce with a pinch of salt and marinade them for about 30 minutes.
3. Prepare a slightly thick batter with the all purpose flour, corn flour, eggs, 1/2 tea spoon of salt, 1 table spoon of soya sauce and water. Make sure you add water slowly to make sure you don't have a watery batter.
4. Add the marinated baby corn into the batter and mix well.
5. In a large wok heat up enough oil (any oil will do) and deep fry the baby corn coated in batter few at a time until it turn slightly brown.
6. Once done transfer the excess oil to another bowl leaving about 3-4 table spoons of oil in the wok.
7. In high heat let the wok smoke a bit.
8. Add the garlic and onions and saute them quickly for about 30 seconds. Make sure you don't burn the garlic.
9. Add the red chillies, sugar and vinegar and give it a good mix.
10. Add the deep fried baby corn pieces add tomato sauce and soya sauce. You may add a bit of salt to taste.

Enjoy!!

C

Indo Chinese - Schezwan Chilli Sauce

Every Asian cuisine has an individual flavour of chilli sauce. First of my posts in the sauce series is one such variety - the Indo Chinese version of Schezwan Chilli sauce. As the name denotes this sauce takes inspiration from the Schezwan (also known as Sichuan) province in China where it is known for it spicy cuisine. As in any other Indo Chinese recipe this too has been adapted to Indian taste buds. This is such a versatile sauce that goes as a condiment with other finger food (such as Chicken Lollipop) or as a base sauce to prepare Schezwan noodles or fried rice. Am sure this can be used to make other stir fried dishes as well. So without much further ado...

Ingredients

1. Kashmiri Chillies - 1 cup
2. Minced Garlic - 1/2 cup
3. Minced Ginger - 3 table spoons
4. Minced celery sticks - 2 table spoons
5. White vinegar - 2-3 table spoons
6. Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
7. Tomato sauce - 2 table spoons
8. Sugar - 1 tea spoon
9. Salt - 1 tea spoon

Method

1. Soak the chillies in hot water for about 30 minutes.
2. Chop up the garlic, ginger and celery into tiny mince.
3. Once soaked blend the chillies into a smooth paste (with the stalks out but the seeds still intact). If you would like your sauce to be less spicy take away some seeds before you blend them.
4. Heat a wide sauce pan pour the oil and saute the garlic until it slightly turns colour.
5. Add the ginger and celery and saute for a few minutes until the oil separates.
6. Add the blended chilli paste and saute in medium to low heat for about 5-10 minutes until water evapourates. Keep stirring while this happens to ensure the sauce doesn't burn.
7. Close the sauce pan with a lid and let it simmer for another 15 minutes while stirring occasionally.
8. Remove the lid, add the vinegar, tomato sauce, sugar and salt and simmer it for another 5 minutes. Feel free to play around with these ingredients until you get your preferred taste - something spicy, tangy and just a hint of sweetness.
9. By now the sauce should be well cooked with oil separating out.
10. Let it cool to room temperature and store it in an air tight glass bottle. 

This can be refrigerated for at least 2 months or frozen (in a ziploc bag) for many more months.

Enjoy!!

C

Bhindi Masala

Bhindi also known as Bendakkai, Vendakkai, Okra or even Ladies Finger to a few was the least preferred vegetable when I grew up. I detested it even more when I was forced to eat it as being good for your brain and for your mathematical skills!! However all that changed when I had Bhindi masala in Bangalore. If you have been following my posts I can't thank Bangalore enough for opening up my taste buds especially for North Indian food. So here is my re-creation of Bhindi Masala - hope you like it and try it.

Ingredients

1. Bhindi/Okra - 1 kg
2. Red Onions - 2
3. Tomatoes - 2
4. Tomato paste - 1 table spoon
5. Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon
6. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
7. Kashmiri Chilli - 1 table spoon (or less as per your level of spiciness)
8. Cardamom / Elaichi - 1 table spoon
9. Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
10. Kasoori methi - 1 table spoon
11. Cashews - 7-8
12. Garam masala - 2 table spoons
13. Milk - 1/2 cup
14. Salt - to taste
15. Coriander / Cilantro (chopped) - for garnishing
16. Any form of vegetable oil

Method

1. Slit the bhindi along the slides and cut the head off. 
2. Heat a large sauce pan / kadai with vegetable oil and sautee the cumin seeds for a few seconds.
3. Add onions and garlic and sautee until they become soft and mushy. You can add a pinch of salt to quicken the process.
4. Add cashews and cardamom and sautee for a minute and set aside to cool down.
5. In the same pan heat about half a cup of oil and shallow fry the okra for about 10 minutes until they brown up on the sides, filter the oil and set aside.
6. Blend the tomato and onion mixture into a smooth paste and filter the contents into a bowl.
7. In the same pan (remove a bit of excess oil) and saute the filtered onion tomato paste along with ginger garlic paste, tomato paste and turmeric powder.
8. As the oil separates add the garam masala and crushed kasoori methi and mix it well.
9. Add the milk and bit of water to required consistency (should not be too watery) and bring it to a boil.
10. Add the shallow fried bhindi and mix it well for about a minute.
11. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with roti / rice.

Enjoy Cooking!!

C

Sutta Kathirikaai Kootu aka Smoked Eggplant Stew

Sutta Kathirikaai Kootu which can also be called as Smoked Eggplant Stew (translating verbatim) was inspired by Chef Vijayan's Kaatu Kootu - roughly translated to rustic stew. This is apparently meant to be a minimalistic stew cooked by people working in forests. This can also be called a very close cousin to Baingan Bartha except for a few ingredients used and a slight twist to the taste compared to a traditional bartha. While it was not a huge hit with the kids (which kids like egg plants) my home minister did appreciate it. This goes well with either rice or chappati. Here it comes...

What goes in...

1. Eggplant / Brinjal the big ones - 2
2. Tomatoes - 2
3. Red onions (diced) - 1
4. Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
5. Red chillies - 4 or 5
6. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
7. Khus Khus (Poppy seeds) - 1 tea spoon
8. Curry leaves - 2 sticks
9. Mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon
10. Jaggery  (powdered) - 1 tablespoon
11. Vegetable oil

The way it's made..

1. Dry roast the dry ingredients (#5 - 7) and set it aside to cool.
2. Soak the tamarind in warm water.
3. Dab the egg plants with vegetable oil and pierce them around with a knife.
4. Smoke the egg plants one by one until the skin burns and shrinks and the flesh becomes squishy. It takes about 10 minutes for each egg plant.
5. Smoke the tomatoes until the skin burns.
6. Set aside the egg plant and tomatoes to cool for a few minutes.
7. Peel the skins of the egg plant and tomatoes and chop them up roughly.
8. Grind the dry roasted ingredients to a rough powder.
9. Take a large kadai and heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.
10. Temper the oil with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
11. Add the diced onions and saute until they turn translucent.
12. Add the chopped up eggplants and tomato.
13. Add the dry masala with salt to taste. (Watch out for the masala since it could turn out very spicy).
14. Saute the mixture for a few minutes and add the tamarind water from the soaked tamarind.
15. Add the jaggery powder and stir well.
16. Bring the mixture to a boil with a bit of water added to desired consistency.
17. Let this stew boil for about 5 - 10 minutes and Kootu is ready.

Serve hot with steamed rice or chappati.

Enjoy Cooking !!

C

Paneer Makhani aka Paneer Butter Masala

Paneer Makhani or Paneer Butter Masala is one of those dishes that would feature in every Indian restaurant that serves North Indian food. A paneer masala that could usually be used to trial an Indian restaurant's food quality. It is again one of those dishes that got twisted quite drastically to suit local palates. I must warn you - this version of the recipe is definitely not the westernized version. While researching for a recipe I found so many different variations each one trying to create a subtle difference to establish their style. Here is my version which is a blend of a few of them but a simpler version to prepare.

Ingredients

Wet Masala

1. Red onions - 2 
2. Tomatoes - 2 
3. Ginger - 2 inch
4. Garlic - 6 cloves
5. Raw Cashews - 6-8
6. Green chilies - 3

Dry Masala

1. Bay leaf - 1
2. Black pepper corn - 1 tablespoon
3. Kashmiri red chillies - 5-6
4. Kalonji seeds - 1 teaspoon
5. Kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tablespoon
6. Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
7. Cloves - 1 teaspoon
8. Cinnamon sticks - 2-3
9. Khus khus (poppy seeds) - 2 teaspoons

Other Ingredients

1. Paneer - 250 gms
2. Butter - 150 gms
3. Vegetable oil - 3-4 table spoons
4. Whole milk - half a cup
5. Honey - 2 table spoons
6. Amchur powder (dried mango powder) - 1 tea spoon
7. Cream - 2-3 table spoons (optional - I did not use it actually)

Method

1. Melt about 50 gms of butter in a wok and saute the wet masala ingredients until the onions and tomatoes become soft. Add the cashews towards the end - just about a minute or so before the tomatoes turn mushy. Set this aside and let it cool down to room temperature.
2. Dry roast all the ingredients under the dry masala (except the kasuri methi). Set it aside to cool down to room temperature.
3. Blend the ingredients of the wet masala with a few tablespoons of water to a smooth paste. 
4. Filter this paste using a metal sieve to remove any chunky pieces.
5. Blend the ingredients of the dry masala along with the kasuri methi leaves.
6. Cut the paneer into small pieces (about 1 inch cubes). This time I tried a triangular shape - thanks to Sanjeev Kapoor's idea.
7. In a large kadai (wok) heat the vegetable oil and 75 gms of butter.
8. Saute the wet masala for about 10 minutes until the oil separates.
9. Mix about 2-3 table spoons of the dry masala along with amchur powder for about 5 minutes until the masala is blended well.
10. Add salt to taste.
11. Add the milk and bring it to a boil.
12. Add about half a cup of water to this mixture and bring it to a boil.
13. Add the honey and mix it well.
14. Add the paneer pieces and cook it for about 5 minutes. (Add more water if needed if the curry is too thick).
15. Garnish with a dollop of the remaining butter and coriander leaves.
16. Serve hot with your preferred choice of bread - roti/naan/chapati.

Enjoy Cooking!!
C

Ellu Urundai a.k.a. Sesame Laddu

I am sure we all grew up with a variety of sweets and desserts from wherever we came from. Usually that brings joyful memories since sweets are usually made or bought on special occasions. Salem has a variety of such delicacies of which one is being presented here - Ellu Urundai meaning Sesame Ball. Ellu Urundai is usually made or consumed around the festival of Saraswathi Puja or Ayudha Puja. I tried making it a few times and it was a hit with the kids. However I couldn't get the exact colour, taste and consistency, which I managed to get this time. Sweets as in baking are quite finicky that you have to watch out very carefully during the cooking process. A few seconds here and there can change the outcome totally.  So here it comes...

Ingredients

1. Sesame seeds (white) - 1 cup
2. Jaggery - 1 cup (Jaggery and Sesame seeds should be in 1:1 ratio)
3. Cardamom seeds - 1 teaspoon
4. Ghee - 3 tablespoons

Method

1. Dry roast the sesame seeds in a large wok until they start to splatter or some of them start turning brown.
2. Set it to cool in a large mixing bowl.
3. Smash the jaggery if in the hard form and mix it with about 1/4th cup of water along with the cardamom seeds.
4. Boil the jaggery water for a few minutes and drain the content to remove any impurities.
5. Continue to boil the drained jaggery water until you get to the required consistency. This is THE most important step in the entire process. As soon as you feel the syrup thickening try to add a drop of the syrup in a small cup of water. If the syrup dissolves you need to continue boiling. If the syrup coagulates and if you are able to make a small ball, that is when you need to stop boiling the syrup.
6. Pour the syrup over the seasame seeds, add the ghee and mix it well.
7. Give it a minute or so to cool down - but not more than that.
8. Quickly start making balls greasing your palm with ghee. This is the next most important step to take care because if you delay this process the mixture hardens up really quick and goes beyond redemption.

Happy Cooking!!

C

Mundiri Cake a.k.a. Cashew Cake / Slice

Hope you all had a great Deepavali / Diwali!! Mundiri (Cashew) cake is one of my favourite childhood desserts that I have relished from don't know when. Later on over the years I got introduced to the North Indian version of it known as Kaju (Cashew) Katli (Slice). This is one dish that could be called in many names Cake / Slice / Katli / Barfi - what not. As they say rose is a rose is a rose - and so is Mundiri Cake. While it has many names, forms and recipes, here's my own -  mixing a bit of my mom's recipe with some found on the internet. It's a fairly simple but a long process. Hope you could try it out for your next event. Wait - you don't really need an event for this one. Just do it. :)

Ingredients:

1. Cashews - 2 cups
2. Sugar (I used raw sugar) - 3.5 cups
3. Milk - 2 cups
4. Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 1/2 cup
5. Nutmeg powder - 1-2 teaspoons

Note: You can add more or less cashews but make sure the ratios are kept intact.

The Method:

1. Grind the cashews in a food processor - preferably using the pulse option. (I saw somewhere that a normal blend turns it into a paste.) Make sure not all of it is smoothly ground and leave a bit of chunkiness for the texture.
2. In a large (thick) sauce pan mix the ground cashews, sugar, milk and nutmeg until all blended well.
3. Boil the mix under low flame until the milk evapourates while stirring the mix with a spoon (preferably wooden) constantly. This is to ensure that there are no lumps formed none of the mixture gets burnt. This is the most time consuming step of this recipe and could take a good 20 - 30 minutes depending on the quantity.
4. Stop the process when the mix is still in flowing consistency but separates easily from the vessel. Almost like an oats porridge consistency if that could be a reference.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and mix the ghee into it until it gets mixed evenly. You might see some ghee oozing out - which means its excessive and you can carefully drain it out.
   
6. Grease a deep tray with ghee - preferably rectangle or square in shape and pour the mix into the tray.
7. Leave it to cool for a minute or 2 and draw lines diagonally to make diamond shaped slices.
8. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes and slice it up using a sharp knife. Do not leave it for too long else the slices will get brittle (as in the pic below).
9. Soft and chunky Mundiri cake ready to be served. It can be boxed and stored for up to 10 days. I prefer not to refrigerate desserts since it would require reheating and it may not have the same taste.

Enjoy!!

C

Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu - Fried Brinjal Curry

Kathirikaai or Eggplant or Brinjal as it is called in various parts of the world is one of those vegetables that renders itself to many different dishes. I still remember during my younger days avoiding this vegetable (technically a fruit) as much as I can. It has a very distinct taste - which I believe to be an acquired one. I don't remember eating Ennai Kathirikaai as a main dish ever. It usually comes in as part of a "south indian"" thaali meal.  As the name suggests there's going to be a lot of oil involved - beware. There were quite a few variations in the way this was prepared as described in the various Youtube videos and blogs. So here is mine a mix of a few versions. Hopefully you would like this one.

Ingredients

Main

1. Eggplant - preferably the small ones. In case you don't have the small one, you can dice it up in large pieces. (6-8 pieces)
2. Shallots - leave it whole if they are the small varieties. If they are the big ones as we get in regular grocery stores you can either quarter / halve it depending on the size. (5-6)
3. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
4. Curry leaves - approximately 15-20 leaves
5. Dried Red Chillies - 4-5
6. Tamarind water - 1/2 cup
7. Jaggery  (can be substituted with brown sugar or just plain sugar) - 2 tablespoons

Marinade

1. Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
2. Chilli powder - 2-3 teaspoons
3. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons 
4. Salt - 1 teaspoons
5. Tamarind water - 2-3 tablespoons

Wet Masala

1. Onions - 2 large red onions
2. Tomatoes - 2
3. Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoons
4. Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
5. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tablespoons
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
8. Fennel seeds - 1 tablespoon

The Method

1. Wash and remove the stems of the brinjals leaving the crown intact. Take caution with the stems as it could be a bit spiky.
2. Create a fairly paste with the ingredients of the marinade (turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, tamarind water and bit of more water.
3. Slit the brinjals on the smooth side as a cross to open them up a bit.
4. Apply the marinade into the slits and also cover the skin and let it rest for about 10 minutes (or until you complete the next few steps - until #10).
5. In a large kadai / sauce pan heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.
6. Saute the onions until they are translucent.
7. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes.
8. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and saute until the spices mix well.
9. Add the tomatoes and saute until the tomato becomes soft and mushy.
10. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds mix it well and take it off the stove.
11. Let this cool down to room temperature.
12. In the same pan add about half a cup of oil - enough to shallow fry all the brinjals.
13. Once the oil has heated up shallow fry the brinjals until the skin turns brownish c
    
    olour. Take caution to do this under medium to low heat to avoid the brinjals getting burnt.
14. Blend the ingredients of the sauteed wet masala into a smooth paste.
15. In the same sauce pan add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
16. Add the curry leaves, dried red chillies and and shallots and saute for a few minutes.
17. Add the blended wet masala paste and saute until oil separates - which is usually about 10 minutes.
18. Add salt to taste.
19. Add a few table spoons of the tamarind water and about a tablespoon of Jaggery and bring it to boil. Ensure the jaggery is dissolved and mixed well.
20. Add the shallow fried brinjals and mix it well.
21. Add enough water to the level of preferred consistency and curry required.
22. Bring it to a boil and stop once the oil separates.
23. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Happy Cooking!!

Enjoy!!

C

Palak Panneer - Cottage Cheese in Spinach Sauce

I have not been a big fan of spinach (or any green for that matter) for a long time until I got introduced to Palak Panneer. Every restaurant does this in different way - I like it nice and silky. It does take a few steps and a few ingredients  to make it this way. Every minute is worth the effort though. :) Of course there are various versions of the recipe across the web. I did a mix of ideas from a few and the outcome was quite good. 

Ingredients

1. Palak (Spinach) - preferably not the frozen ones - 500 gms
2. Panneer - I used about 500 gms chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
3. Onions - 2
4. Tomatoes - 1
5. Ginger Garlic paste - 2 table spoons
6. Ginger juliennes - a few for garnishing
7. Garam masala - 2-3 tablespoons
8. Green chillies - 2-3
9. Cloves - 3-4
10. Cashews - 3-4
11. Black cardamom - 1-2
12. Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
13. Cream - 1 tablespoon
14. Butter - 2 tablespoons
15. Kasoori Methi - 1 tablespoon
16. Amchur powder - 1 teaspoon

The Method

1. Heat a kadai with any vegetable oil of your choice and saute Cashews, Cardamom, Cumin, Chillies, Onions, Tomatoes and Ginger Garlic paste. Saute until the onions and tomatoes turn slightly mushy.
2. Keep this mixture aside from the stove and let it cool down.
3. Blanch the spinach in boiling water until the leaves wilt a little. Be careful not to overcook the spinach.
4. Drain the spinach (save the water) and transfer the spinach into an ice bath (a bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes). This apparently stops further cooking of the spinach and maintains its colour.
5. Blend the Onion tomato mixture into a smooth paste.
6. Drain this paste using a metal sieve or filter to get only the smooth paste to filter out the chunky bits.
7. Filter the spinach from the ice bath and blend the spinach into a smooth paste and filter the contents as above.
8. In the same kadai heat used in step 1 melt the butter and add the blended onion tomato paste.
9. Add the garam masala, kasuri methi (crushed up), salt and amchur powder and saute until oil separates.
10. Add the spinach / palak paste and saute for a few minutes until both pastes blend well and it comes to a boil. 
11. Add the spinach water (from step 4) as much as needed for the amount of sauce / gravy needed. Do not add to much to make it too watery. This is meant to be a slightly thick sauce.
12. Add the diced up panneer and leave it to cook for a about 5 minutes.
13. Add a dollop of cream and ginger juliennes as garnish and serve hot with rotis.

Enjoy Palak Panneer!!

C

Carrot Rice

Happy New Year folks!!  Hope you all had a good start to 2017. Mine surely did with a few tasty experiments at home. The first post for this year is a childhood favourite of mine - Carrot Rice. This is my mom's recipe with a bit of twist here and there. This is one of those rice dishes that doesn't taste too bad when gone cold - having packed it many times for lunch at school. This is a fairly simple and easy to cook as well. Hope you will try this. Do let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients

1. Grated Carrots - 2 cups
   
2. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon 
3. Onions - 2
4. Green chillies - 4/5
5. Ginger Garlic paste - 1 table spoon
6. Cashews - 1/2 cup
7. Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 2 table spoons
8. Garam masala - 1 tea spoon
9. Butter - 150 gms
10. Basmati rice - 2 cups
11. Bay leaves - 3 or 4
12. Turmeric

Method

1. Pressure cook the basmati rice (1:2 water and 1 whistle) and let it cool.
2. Heat a wok / kadai and melt the ghee and butter until they liquefy.
3. Shallow fry the bay leaves, and cashews for a few minutes until the cashews turn golden 
4. Add the green chillies, cumin, onions, turmeric, garam masala and ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes until the onions turn translucent.
5. Add salt to taste. 
6. Add the grated carrots and quickly toss it around for about a minute.
7. Add the basmati rice and mix it thoroughly making sure the rice is all separated and not lumpy.

Carrot Rice Ready!!

Happy Cooking!!

C

p.s.: Please remember to share the post if you like it.

Masala Stuffed Mushrooms

Thanks Giving weekend always reminds me of all the yummy food and the potluck events in the US of A. One of my favourites from America is the stuffed mushroom. Can’t recollect a specific restaurant where I picked my fancy for this amazing appetizer – maybe Red Lobster? I have enjoyed this in many places but totally missed it after relocating to down under. Yesterday I got reminded of these through a video from Tasty on Facebook. Couldn’t wait to recreate it with of course a bit of my own twist – Masala Stuffed Mushrooms.

Ingredients:

1)      Mushrooms – preferably the wide ones that you can stuff after removing the stem

2)      Garlic – minced

3)      Onions – finely chopped

4)      Cream Cheese

5)      Parmesan Cheese – grated

6)      Butter

7)      Parsley – finely chopped

8)      Bread crumbs

9)      Garam masala

10)   Turmeric powder

11)   Black Pepper powder

The Method

1)      Remove the stem of the mushrooms and chop them finely. This is of course going to be the core of your stuffing.

2)      Heat a sauce pan and melt a few tablespoons of butter.

3)      Saute the onions, garlic and mushroom stems for a few minutes with garam masala, turmeric powder, black pepper powder and salt to taste.

4)      Keep the mixture aside and bring it close to room temperature.

5)      Using a fork, mix the cream cheese, bread crumbs, parmesan.

6)      Add the cooled down masala mushroom mix into the cream cheese well enough for the masala to be mixed evenly.

7)      Use a teaspoon of this mixture and stuff the de-stemmed mushroom cups.

8)      Garnish the stuffed mushrooms with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

9)      Place the mushrooms on a baking tray lined with aluminium paper.

10)   Bake the mushrooms in an oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 5 minutes – just until the parmesan starts turning golden (or you start smelling a burnt smell – whichever comes earlier).

11)   Allow the mushrooms to cool for a few minutes before serving.

12)   Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Hope you had a good Thanks Giving Weekend!!

Enjoy Cooking!!

Chilli Cheese Corn Toast

Chilli Cheese Corn Toast - my little variation on Chilli Cheese Toast. Can't put my finger on when and where I had this for the first time. Must've been during one of my trips to Gurgaon probably. One can call it a very simple version of Indianized pizza. Saw a few recipe options around the web and created a combination with some slight twists here and there. A very quick and easy snack for a weekend evening.

Ingredients:
1) Bread slices (I used wholemeal bread - any kind would do).
2) Green Chillies - finely chopped
3) Capsicum (Bell Pepper for Americans) - Green (and Red if you like more colour) - diced.
4) Sweet Corn kernels
5) Grated Cheese - preferably mozzarella for the ooey gooey effect. (I used a 3 cheese mix - mozzarella, parmesan and tasty cheese).
6) Onions - finely diced
7) Vegetable spread (or butter if you don't mind)
8) Chat masala
9) Salt
10) Kashmiri Chilli powder


Method

1) Pre-heat oven to 150 deg C.
2) Mix all the ingredients (#2 - #10) in a bowl.
3) Apply the vegetable spread on both sides of the bread slices.
4) Place the bread slices on a tray covered with aluminium foil.
5) Spread the mixed ingredients evenly on the bread slices.
6) Pop the tray in oven for about 5-10 minutes until the cheese turns brown.
7) Cut the slices in triangles and serve hot with some tomato ketchup.

Note: If you have young kids at home you might want to pick the green chillies out of toast.

Panneer Lababdar - Panneer (Cottage Cheese) Indulgence

Here's Panneer Lababdar - a Mughal influenced Panneer curry. Google states Lababdar is some sort of strong desire or indulgence and I roughly translated this dish's name to Panneer Indulgence.I could agree with this adjective purely because of the ingredients that go in. While some recipes on the web claim to have a fat free, cholesterol free version - guess what don't bother. If you have to be diet conscious well...you might want to wait until later. ;-) My first introduction to Lababdar was actually Chicken Lababdar at Hilton Garden Inn, Gurgaon. However in the interest of my veggie friends - here's a Panneer version. If you ever wonder how to make a gravy / curry with restaurant style consistency - it's all in the paste. Of course a slight variation in ingredients can turn it into something completely different.

Ingredients:

1. Unsalted Butter - yes it all starts here :)
2. Panneer cubes
3. Cashews
4. Red onions
5. Tomatoes
6. Cardamom seeds (not the entire pod)
7. Cream 
8. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
9. Garam Masala
10. Kasuri methi leaves (Dried Fenugreek leaves)

Method

1. Heat a pan in medium fire and melt the butter without burning it.
2. Saute the Cashews, Onions, Tomatoes and the Cardamom seeds until the onions and tomatoes get a bit mushy.
3. Let the mixture to cool for a few minutes and blend it into a smooth paste. 
4. Re-heat the same pan with a few table spoons of vegetable oil and saute the blended paste until oil separates.
5. Add Salt, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Garam Masala and Kasuri Methi leaves while the paste sautes.
6. Once the oil separates add the Panneer cubes and mix it up carefully without breaking the cubes.
7. Add a dash of cream (not too much that it doesn't turn into a pale curry) and about a tablespoon of butter (yes again) and let it simmer for a few minutes.
8. You may add some water to get your choice of consistency (and quantity).
9. Garnish with grated Panneer, another dash of cream  and Coriander leaves.
10. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Enjoy!!

Happy Cooking 

C

Roti (Bread) Roast - A Salem Delicacy

Roti (Bread) Roast - dish made out of typical sandwich bread (white / wholemeal) was a dinner tiffin item I grew up with. It was a delicacy / specialty whenever we had guests at home so it had it's own special value. In the last 2.5 months my mom stayed with us I had the privilege of re-living some of my childhood favourites. This would be the first of those series of my Mom's recipes. Apparently this recipe is known / available in very few restaurants in Salem when they were not supposed to eat non-vegetarian food for religious reasons. Hence a good substitute when you have a craving for meat but can't. Here it comes....

Ingredients:

1. Bread - cut into 1 inch thick cubes
2. Diced Onions
3. Diced Tomatoes
4. Ingredients for Masala

• Grated Coconut
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Poppy seeds
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cardamom
• Cloves
• Fennel seeds
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Black Pepper
• Dried Red Chillies

5.  Mustard seeds
6.  Channa dal
7.  Urad Dal

8.  Cashews
9.  Curry leaves

The Method:

1. Roast the bread with oil in a large pan / wok and keep aside.
2. Blend the ingredients for Masala into a coarse paste with minimal water.
3. In a large wok temper the mustard seeds, channa dal, urad dal and curry leaves with oil.
4. Saute onions until golden brown
5. Saute tomatoes for a few minutes until it becomes a bit mushy
6. Add the masala paste and saute until oil separates
7. Add a bit of salt to taste.
8. Add the roasted bread and saute until masala is mixed well. Make sure the bread doesn't get too mushy
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Enjoy!!

C

Masala Pori - Spicy Puffed Rice

Masala Pori - one of those snacks from Tamil Nadu one couldn't have avoided growing up with. Be it the home made variety with all the nuts and spices or the one you would get in a school canteen (or the Marina beach) with just the masala. I still remember buying packs of maybe 10-20 grams each for 25p ($0.005). Haven't had many opportunities to relish this snack once I left Salem (or maybe since middle school?). About 2 years ago Uma got to learn this recipe from her mom when she was in Sydney. As expected this is a huge hit with the kids - young and old. Since then we have been enjoying this every once in a while. It's school holiday time in Sydney and am sure very soon in some parts in India as well. This could turn out to be a simple, quick and handy snack to have at home for the holiday season.

Ingredients

1. Pori (Puffed Rice)
2. Mustard seeds
3. Garlic
4. Dried Red Chillies
5. Curry Leaves
6. Roasted Channa Dal (whole/split)
7. Peanuts (Raw or Roasted)
8. Sambar powder
9. Turmeric
10. Red Chilli powder
11. Salt
12. Vegetable Oil

Method

1. Heat a few table spoons of vegetable oil in a large kadai / wok.
2. Saute the mustard seeds until they splatter.
3. Saute garlic, chillies and curry leaves for a few minutes until the garlic gets fried.
4. Add the roasted channa and peanuts and saute for a few minutes
5. Add the spices - salt, chilli powder, sambar powder and mix it up.
6. Add the puffed rice and mix it thoroughly under heat for a few minutes.

Voila - Masala Pori Ready!!

Happy Cooking

C