Chana Methi Curry:

Kondaikadalai Vendhaya Keerai Kuzhambu. Garbanzo Fenugreek Greens Curry dish.

Like most of us, I too hated bitter tasting greens in cooking. Few South Indian preparations, like Kuzhambu will make it less bitter after cooking. But I always appreciated North Indian style of greens preparation. Pairing greens with certain beans and pungent, acrid spices infused in them make it more desirable. This is my Delhi mess cook Kamalesh's recipe. He is a good cook, makes everything look splendid, right amount of spices and he works hard to bring everything warm at the same time. Even if he makes 5-7 dishes, everything will be steaming hot! In spite of using all bitter tasting spices like fenugreek & mutards, I don't know, how this gravy tastes good.

Ingredients:

White Chana/garbanzos 1 cup
Fenugreek Green chopped 1 cup
Green chilies 2 slitted
Ginger 2" grated
Garlic 2 cloves minced
Onion 1 large chopped
Tomatoes 2 chopped
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coriander seeds powder 1 spoon
Fenugreek seeds powder 1 spoon
White mustard seeds powder 1 spoon
Garam masla powder 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Soak overnight chana in water. Never on the kitchen counter top. It may lead to fermentation. Better in the fridge.

Pressure cook them along with he same water. Maybe add salt at this stage. 1-2 whistles will do, set aside. Do not throw the water.

In a deep wok, heat oil. Add cumin seeds and wait till it pops. Then add chilies, let them crackle.

Now add ginger and garlic, fry real good, maybe till its raw odour leaves the pan.

Followed by onions, fry till they turn to golden color.

Now add tomatoes and cook them well covered. When tomatoes wilt and loosen up, add salt and all the other powdered spices. Fry till the oil shows up on sides.

Stir-in cooked chana along with its water + copped greens. Cover and cook for few minutes.

Then remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes. Let the gravy thicken and oil show up on top.

Remove from heat and serve to go with your chappathi, roti or plain steamed rice.

Happy ThanksGiving & Rock Cornish Hen Roast

Pan Fried Dressing

Injecting Animal

Flavor injector Food Syringe

Raw Whole Cornish Hen

Stuffed Whole Rock Cornish Hen Roast:(Version 2)

Stuffed & Roasted Cornish Hen. Chicken Roast. Grilled Whole Rock Cornish Hen.

Thanksgiving is just couple of days away...but to me its already in the air! Hope Y'll know what I mean!:) Yeah.....ifood.tv has genuinely removed all my plagiarized food pictures. I am so happy & thankful to Y'll...sure it is a perfect Thanksgiving to me.

Well.....this is one of my oldest recipe, people who were browsing my site for years, would have come across this earlier. Since nothing came to my mind....but just to republish my old post. here it is...

I also chose this recipe...thought it would be appropriate at this moment. As many of us don't have many people around to feast upon. Sometimes....small birds like Rock Cornish Hen could be just perfect for Solo cooking / family of two. Although....one could repeat this recipe with whatever choice you have 'A Huge Whole Turkey' or 'Whole Hen' or 'Whole Duck Roast'. My cookery class guest said...she likes to cook more Cornish hen roast(for all her guests) than one huge turkey. She finds it much more comfortable. Makes sense...

Rock Cornish Hen is always my safest choice...when it comes to roasting, as you know...it just weighs about 400 grams. The skin is so thin and devoid of that heavy fat. The bones are soft than the chicken. Well....the meat is very gamier in taste. Moreover it comes out cooked thoroughly...without any great attention. Well....as usual you could grill this hen and garnish it later like me. Charcoal grilling will give best results...although I did it in conventional oven(you know why - its winter)

Ingredients:

Whole Cornish Hen 1

For Injecting:

Syringe 1
Salt
Turmeric 1 pinch
Chili powder 2 pinch
Lemon juice diluted
Saffron few strands crushed
Sesame oil few spoons

For stuffing & Garnishing:

Baby Potatoes 3 + 3
Hard Boiled eggs 2 + 2
Sesame oil few spoons

For Marination:

Fresh yogurts 1 cup
Lemon Juice
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili power 1 spoon

Wet-Grind these to Thick Paste:(set 1)

Scallion 1
Ginger - 2"
Garlic 6 beads
Ripe Chilies 2
Roma tomato 1

To be Toasted Each Separately & Powdered Together:(set 2)

Peppercorns 1 spoon
Coriander seeds 2 spoon
Fennel seeds 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Poppy seeds 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 3
Cloves 5
Cinnamon sticks 2-3
Cardamom pods 6
Star Anise 3 asters.

For dressing:

Jalapenos 3 finely chopped
Garlic 1 whole hea - 15 cloves finely chopped
Onion 2 large finely chopped
Large Tomatoes 2 finely chopped
Salt little
Turmeric powder 1 pinch
Lime/Lemon juice few spoons
Sesame oil 1/4 cup.

Method:

Wash and clean the chicken. Retain its skin. So you don't have to use more and more butter. Skin gives a crispy crunch to the roast.

Take a teaspoon full of powdered spices + wet ground paste in a narrow cylindrical cup. Further add above said items too. Make up the volume by adding diluted lemon juice + oil. Now fill the syringe with this marination liquid. Inject the animal in the breast portion...deep under the skin. Poke at 2-4 points. Now let this stand for 2-4 hours.

Now prepare a marination juice using half of the powdered spices + wet ground paste(reserve the other half). Add yogurts, salt, turmeric and chili powers too. Mix them into thick batter like consistency. Now let the chicken sit in this marination for 4 -6 hours(if you are in hurry). Or you could leave it in a zip lock bag and marinate over night.

Meanwhile....heat a shallow pan, add oil. When oil is hot enough...add powdered spices(other half) and stir-fry them. Maybe till the raw odour leaves. Then followed by wet-ground paste as well(other half). Continue frying till the oil shows up on top.

Now slice the baby potatoes to thick roundels. Add to the above frying spices. Stir-fry them for few more minutes. Maybe like till they are semi-done here. Set aside.

Now bring the marinated chicken along with the marination liquid in a wide tray. Stuff half of the fried potatoes inside the cavity and 1 or 2 eggs(optional) Toss the remaining potatoes on the top(not eggs at this time). Spray enough oil/ghee.Tie their legs together with cotton thread. Hey do not use any nylon thread....

In a oven safe tray, place a greased aluminium foil. Place the chicken(breast portion above) over this. Cover the chicken with another foil. Bake the chicken for 1and 1/2 hours over 350 degree or till it is done.

[If you're grilling...use charcoal grill for good aroma. Place the chicken breast side up on the rack. Grill them....until they are done.]

Every 10-15 minutes, open the oven and spoon in the liquid that had gathering below and toss it over the chicken.

When the chicken is fully baked. Now if you like burnt taste in your chicken....grill for 2 minutes. Or broil it for 2 minutes on either sides.(well its only optional)

In a separate pan, make a sauce. Heat oil. Add chopped jalapenos, garlic, onion and tomatoes. Cover an cook for 2 minutes. Add salt, pinch of turmeric and lemon juice. Remove from heat.

Now run this sauce over the baked and broiled chicken. Toss the egg slices as well.

Serve steaming hot as a main dish or side entry.

Country Chicken Soup

Country Chicken Soup:

Naatu Kozhi Soup. Naatu Kozhi/ Desi ka Murg Soup.

I could never match the taste of country chicken.....with any kind of chicken I find here. Whether its corn fed or herb fed....nothing beats up the flavour the native chicken gives. Raising country chicken is not uncommon in India....but it seldom hits the market. The availability of broilers, much meatier breeds, affordable prices....has pushed this little ones,so undesirable. But still common in the villages, I suppose.

If you decide to cook country chicken for the first time....I recommend you to go through my article about 'how to procure, clean, marinate and cook country chicken'. Please take a look here.

http://www.kitchentantra.com/2008/07/country-chicken-this-post-is-dedicated.html

I cooked this soup....while I was in India. I could consider soup has wholesome food.I also thought it could be useful to some of us at this time of the season. Its winter here.....even though Oxford is in deep south....outside weather is -7 degree. I could imagine....how North must be! Its common to get affected with 'flu' during winter. Its highly contagious viral infection...that spreads thro' coughing and sneezing.

So lots of garlic in the soup, which is a natural antibiotic can help. Ginger, which promotes good digestion (on less sunshine days) has some powerful effects. The tomatoes and lemon will help to leach away enough calcium from the bones to the broth. (Yeah...please use bone-in chicken or just bones alone too for this recipe) Soup could also be a treat, when we have less appetite, nasal blockage...
Besides soup menu.....I recommend to avoid sugars during 'flu' infected days. As sweets will decrease the activity of WBC(white blood corpuscles - the fighter cells). The sugar molecules will be docking the sites...from where the vitamin C has to gain its entry!

Hope my brother will be happy now....as he was the one who is bugging me for Home Remedies and stuff. Although not an expert...guess it works for some of us.

Ingredients:

Country Chicken 1/2 kilo
Green chilies 2-3 slitted
Curry leaves few
Garlic 1 whole head peeled and semi crushed
Ginger 2" chopped and slightly crushed
Purple onions 1-2 chopped
Country tomatoes 2 chopped roughly
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoons - toasted n hand pounded coarsely
Whole peppercorns - toasted n hand pounded coarsely
Lemon juice 1-2 spoons
Sesame oil few spoons
Cumin & Peppercorns (each 1/4 spoon)
Cilantro leaves few.

Method:

Clean the chicken and wash several times in running water. Add salt and turmeric to it. Make it to sit for a while. Then pressure cook for about 3-6 whistles. Use limited water. Set aside.

Heat oil in a deep wok. Add peppercorns, cumin, curry leaves and chilies. Wait til they splutter.

Then add ginger, garlic and onions....fry real good. Maybe till its raw odour leaves the pan.

Now stir-in tomatoes, cover and cook for 2 minutes. When the tomatoes wilt....add salt and turmeric.

Now stir-in cooked chicken along with its water. Then the powdered spices. Bring them to aromatic stage...see whether chicken is done soft and all the spices infused enough.

Now add lemon juice and cilantro to it.

Serve warm.

Heart Felt Thanks to my Readers & Friends

Thanks A Million Tons:

I am very thankful to all my fellow food blogger and non-blogger friends. During the time like this (when my stuff got plagiarized)we all stood up together. I hope it resolves now smoothly. The admin@ifood.tv has contacted me through email...saying that...they have notified their member! Wish she removes my food pictures at the earliest!

My heart felt Thanks to all my readers, blogger and non-blogger friends.....who gave me moral support and strength during the whole situation. Though it was so painful to see my stuff got stolen and used somewhere else....on the other hand, I was kind of moved and felt very close to my blogger friends. I am happy that I have gained good hearts. All my sweet friends did a great job....leaving comforting comments to me, warning comments to the lady, writing articles about safe blogging, alerting everyone with tips and pointers....popularising and educating all about Plagiarism.

I learned few things through this....thanks to lady, anyway....

1.Safe blogging in future!

2.Never give up!

I know food blogger friends can understand it in a better way....how much effort we put into posting one single recipe! Its passionate task than our time and effort, I guess. Well.....back to blogging, with same energy and zeal. Thanks Y'll once again.

PLAGIARISM

Copycat Srividya

To Fight Plagiarism:

I was browsing for my own recipes in a popular search site...I bumped into this site. Seems like a reputed one! The shocking news is...one of their member has intentionally stole my food photographs and recipe content. I really don't care for stealing my recipes....but I do for my pictures. She has done this without seeking permission from me. Sick!!!

A member of www.ifood.tv

chef srividya76 has stolen some of my food pictures and slightly tweaked even my recipes and contributed to the site.

The following food pictures:

1. Thooduvalai thuvaiyal

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/thoodhuvalai_thuvaiyal

I will never forgive her...for stealing this picture....I publish medicinal uses of certain recipes now and then...thinking that, someone out there may find it useful(I started doing this herbs and greens expalnation, pictures....after my Mommy fell ill with stroke). Now I feel shame to have it published....for someone secretly stealing and publishing! Its really painful!

2. Vazhaithandu Thayir Pachadi

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/vazhaithandu_curd_pacchadi

This is one of my favourite dish...I am angry!

3. Rice Kheer

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/rice_garlic_kheer

She has mentioned almonds as garlic....pathetic!
Sick, she can't even copy properly...she has misinterpreted almonds as garlic! Oh yeah...I remember now...I typed by mistake garlic once, I guess....Cruel!!!

4. Vengayam Thakkali Thokku

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/vengayam_thakkali_thokku


5. Muttai Karakuzhambu

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/muttai_kara_kuzhambu
muttai karakuzhambu. she had mentioned this as chettinad gravy.
I was happy when someone kept visiting only for this recipe often......I really feel very low and depressed now!

6. Thakkali Meen Kuzhambu.

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/fish_cooked_in_tomato_gravy
thakkali meen kuzhambu
This is ultimate....this was one of the stupid photos I clicked back then....I myself republished thakkali meen kuzhambu recently. I still have this picture in the blog...scroll thro' my old recipes...you could see it.

I seek help from my regular readers and friends(both bloggers & non bloggers). Please support me to fight against this plagiarism. Why do we blog. Hard work and passion is shattered into pieces....by mere cut-copy-paste our stuff somewhere. They call it reputed site and make money. Wish they apologise to me and remove my food pictures immediately!

Quail Roast

Close-up!:)

Quail Roast

Quails Pan Roast

Quails Raw Meat

Quails in Wild

Quails Roast:

The Quail is called 'Bater' in Hindi. We call it has 'kaadai' or 'Goudhari' in Tamil. (Ofcource both are entirely different species )Quail is a small type of bird that belongs to the Pheasant family. There are two species of quail in India; the black-breasted quail found in jungle (Coturnix Coromandelica) and the brown-coloured Japanese Quail(Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) which is bred for meat or the one used for commercial Quail production. Until few years ago it was a game bird, hunted for pleasure and meat. Now it has been commercially cultured everywhere. The commercially cultured species are Japanese varieties called Couturnix quails.

Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae, or in the family Odontophoridae. The Old World species (Europe, Africa, Asia) . The New World quails(endemic to America) are not closely related, but are named for their similar appearance and behaviour. Anyways...as far as I get some quails here at Oxford, I am fine with any species!:)

According to gourmets, it is tastier than chicken. The breast and legs are considered delicacies. The meat is more gamier in taste! Besides taste, meat promotes good body and brain development in children. Best balanced food for pregnant and nursing mothers! The skin is so thin and less in fat content (very low calorific value) but more of phospholipds. So no worries of Cholesterol!

When compared to chicken meat(in raw) we get the following results:

When Quails have 73.93% moisture, chicken has 73-87%. Quails have 20.54% of protein compared with 20.66%. Fat 3.85% while for chicken 3.61%. Carbohydrate is so less 0.56% while chicken has 0.78%. Minerals account about 1.12% has chicken has 1.08%. Doesnt this sound amazing! I know some of you are thinking very intelligent now....what is the great difference, right! Hey imagine the size of the quails and chicken, please!

This is the first time I spotted some frozen quails in Walmart. Although not exactly like Indian Peasant bird(kaadai/ kowdhari). It was at least mid-sized bird. I thought of charcoal grilling them after a nice rub with Indian spices. Since it was so cold outside....decided to put them in an oven. So to get away with raw garlicky odour...was pan roasting them for a while...before taking it to the oven. And imagine what...it was half cooked by the time. So concluded as Pan-Roast! Doesn't that sound nice!

Ingredients:

Quails 2
Garlic 1 whole head (peeled and grated)
Dry red chilies 1 fistful (toasted and grated)
Curry laves few (used them dry here...so crumbled)
Country tomatoes 2 finely chopped
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Sesame oil few spoons
Cilantro.

Method:

Heat oil, in a wide pan. Add chili flakes,c Curry leaves and garlic. Fry real good....until the whole house is aromatic with nice garlic odour.

Now stir-in tomatoes...fry till they wilt and oil shows up on sides.

Add salt and turmeric. Now add whole of chopped quails. Fry them over low heat...until they coat oil, spices and getting cooked. Constantly roll them to finish cooking thoroughly all the sides(applies to one uses whole quails). One could possibly take it to oven roast. Must be great that way!

Serve to go with regular rasam rice or dhall rice.

Jamun's Salad

Naawal Pazham - Tempered with Spices:

The Botanical name of this tree is Syzygium jambolanum. Commonly known as 'jambolão' in Brazil. We call this as 'Naval pazham' in Tamil and in English-speaking countries they call it as jambolan, sweet olive or java plum. One of my Kenyan friend called it as wild blue berry!

The leaves and pits are more curative in nature than the berries themselves. As mentioned in my other post...about pits, being used for diabetes treatment. It has a property to maintain/lower blood glucose level.....maybe I'll republish it!:)

Well...leaves have been used for centuries by witch doctors for treating microbial infections! Also proved in laboratory results. Its conclusive!!!

Many species have been used in the folk medicine to treat infectious diseases, and some of their anti-microbial activities have been proved. In fact, the anti-microbial activity has been recognized in different species of vegetal families, and this activity is usually due to the presence of secondary metabolites.
The antimicrobial activity of S. jambolanum has been confirmed in vitro by some researchers using bacteria strains.

Today I used the country fruits...these are very small and round in shape(unlike grafted ones...which are oblong, large and high in pulp). Nothing much to talk about the recipe. Just tempered with spices. Thought using bit of oil...will make the fat soluble vitamins available to the body.

Ingredients:

Country Jamuns/ Naagapazham/ Naawal pazham 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric pinch(but I spilled little extra by mistake)
Chili powder 1 spoon
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
CUmin 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Urad dal 1/4 spoon
Oil few spoons
Curry leaves few.

Method:

Wash and clean berries gently. Set aside in a bowl.

Heat oil and add spices. Let them splutter well. Then run this seasonning over the fruits. Mix well. Chill this for about 2-4 hours...before serving.

Thengai Chutney

Coconut Chutney:

I could not find any decent coconuts here at Oxford. If I tell in advance my farmer's market friend Liz used to bring them rarely. But the flavour and aroma never was so appealing. So when I went to India.....used lavish amount of coconut in my cooking. And believe me this is the first time I am making our regular 'Thengai Chutney' in my whole life...and also idlies! (See my fluffy idly post....updated picture....yeah never had a idly cooker at oxford, guilty - Tamil Nadu born)

Ingredients:

Frsh Coconut 1/2 shell
Green chilies 2
Salt
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Chana+urad dal 1 spoon
Curry leaves few
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Wet-grind coconut with salt and chilies. Set aside in a bowl.

Heat oil in a pan. Temper the spice and run them over the above chutney. Mix and enjoy with idly or dosa.

Makka Cholam Rawa Upma

Corn Meal Upma:

Corn Meal Kitchedi.

Ingredients:

Corn Meal 1 cup
Vegetables 1 cup(carrots, beans, peas, potatoes....)
Salt to taste
Onion 1 large sliced
Garlic 2-3 cloves sliced
Chilies 2-3 sliced
Curry leaves few
Cilantro leaves few
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Oil.

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustards and curry leaves. Wait till they pop up.

Then add garlic, onion and chilies....fry real good for few minutes.

Add salt and veggies. Cover and cook the veggies. Maybe when they are almost done.

Now stir-in cornmeal and 3 cups of water. When all the moisture is absorbed and cornmeal gets well cooked, remove from heat. Add cilantro leaves and few more spoons of oil.

Serve as evening dinner, light and healthy!

Night Shade Greens Stir-Fry

Manathakkali Keerai Poriyal:

The Botanical name of this plant is 'Solanum nigrum'. Its a perennial plant grows in wild all over India. It is said that it originated from west Africa. Manathakkali is called 'Black NightShade'/ 'Night Shade Plant' in English. In Hindi it is called 'Makoy'. In Telugu its called 'Kamanchi Chettu'.

Well...in Tamil colloquial way 'Manithakkali'...which explains that the plant has minute sized berries! It is also known as 'Sun Berry' and 'Wonder Cherry'.

An analysis of 100 grams of manathakkali leaves shows following results:

Moisture 82.1 %
Protein 5.9 %
Fat 1.0 %
Minerals 2.1 %
Carbohydrates 8.9 %

The minerals and vitamins include:

calcium
phosphorus
iron
riboflavin
niacin
vitamin C
Its calorific value is 68.

The plant and the fruit has toxic alkaloid solanine and saponin in them....upon feeding experiments on sheep for toxicity, however, showed negative results! So don't worry about using wild greens in cooking....and also be specific in identifying right specimen!

Healing Power and Curative Properties:

Generally known for mouth and stomach ulcer in folks remedy. But it also dignifies a wide range of curative abilities towards, fever, stomach disorders, improve appetite, digestive disorders...as even laxative...body coolant. It is appreciated as cardiac tonic. It helps to remove catarrhal matter and phlegm from the bronchial tubes in asthma patients. The fruits of the plant can also be used beneficially in treating asthma.

So....I had a small plant back home...collected just fine and slender twigs for this recipe. To bring up the volume...used more grated coconut, after all coconut also alleviates from mouth ulcer!

Ingredients:

Greens of Manathakkali 1 bowl full
Grated coconut 1 cup
Salt
Chana dal 4 spoons
Urad dal 4 spoons
Dry red chilies 3-5
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Wash and clean the greens along with its fine twigs. Chop them coarsely and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard, chana+urad dal, dry red chilies....wait till they pop.

Now add greens and salt. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. When the leaves wilt and reduces...turn them to high heat.

Stir-in grated coconut...fry for couple of minutes and remove from heat!

Enjoy with plain steamed rice.

Its award shower here!!! I am simply speechless! Thank you Priya for considering my name!

There are so many food blogs out there. I hardly have time....to get out and leave my opinion to them! Whatever the recipe is.....sure one of the blogger would have written it with good anecdote. I used to freeze over good photographs. And decorating and garnishing, mind blowing! Almost every blogger have some unique collection...either its ethnic food or fusion cuisine, they sound yummy! I hardly find time to try anything new!!! But if I had had time....I would like to try very few recipes from few of my fellow bloggers! So pardon me from listing few people for this yummy award! I have to say....they inspire me a lot!!!

Purva

Priya

Syeda

Anjum

Anu Divya

Sagari

Sujatha

sailaja

Anthony

Indiandoc

Asha

Joseph Selvaraj

Congrats Y'll...you guys deserve it and much more!!!

I am so happy to tell you'll that Purva has passed this award to me! Thank you so much dear.

I would like to share this with my fellow bloggers:

Viki Xavier

Gita

Purva

Rajeswari

Priya

N33ma

Yasmeen

Syeda

Anjum

Kitchen flavours

Divya

Anu Divya

Ramya

Sagari

Deesha

Saraswathi

Bhawana

Sujatha

Indranee

Cham

Usha

Suma

Aartee

Dibs

Jaishree

I am thrilled to have this splendid award from Neema and Purva.Thank you sweet hearts.

Would like to pass this award to my fellow bloggers....whoever bumps into Kitchen Tantra!!!

So this award goes to all the food bloggers around the globe & also who visit my blog! ha ha ha.

I am overwhelmed to receive buddy award from Yasmeen, N33ma, Gita and Purva. Thank you sweet hearts.

I would like to pass this Great Buddy Award to my blogger buddies:

Viki Xavier

Gita

Purva

Rajeswari

Priya

N33ma

Yasmeen

Syeda

Anjum

Kitchen flavours

Divya

Anu Divya

Ramya

Sagari

Deesha

Saraswathi

Bhawana

Sujatha

Indranee

Cham

Usha

Suma

Aartee

Dibs

Jaishree

Pistha Mittai

Pistachios Candy:

Pistha Halwa. Pista Halwa. Pista Candy.

Ingredients:
Pistachios nuts 1 bowl full
Milk 1 cup
Sugar 1 bowl full
Ghee 1 cup.

Method:


Soak shelled nuts in luke warm water for 20-30 minutes. Then peel their fine skin.

Blend this nuts with milk to a thick puree.

In a non-stick pan add ghee. Try to maintain the whole process on low flame only.

Now add sugar and 1/2 cup of water....bring the syrup to pearl consistency.

To this syrup...add pista paste. Constant stirring with well greased wooden spatula is advised. Better smear the spatula with ghee before hand.

Once the Halwa consistency is achieved transfer it to well greased container. Smear the container preferably with ghee.

The shelf life is more than a month. If refrigerated it stay long till 3-4 months.

One could serve this halwa...well chilled! Or candy them out to your desired shapes. I guess pop-in size is a big here....

Perrandai Thovaiyal

Pirandai with leaves and flowers.



Pirandai in Wild - Vellore Mountain.

Perrandai Thovaiyal


There is new wing of studying ethnic herbs and concoctions (Medico-Ethnobotany/ Ethnobotany / Ethnobiology). The Tribals, Natives, Witch doctors, Shamans, Ayurdeva, Siddha, Unani doctors....have been practising this for centuries.(Medicine is always practising....and never studying.....for eg: the result won't be repeated with everyone....certain group, sex, worknature, geographical location, everthing matters) Anyways.... increasing the supply by breeding certain species, tapping its specific genes.....in order to meet the increasing demand should be duly noted. Besides R&D....government should take measures towards conservation, educating the locals...

Its Botanical name is 'Cissus quandrangularis'. We call this as Pirandai / Perandai in Tamil. Its English common name is 'Edible Stemmed Vine'.

Other names of the Vine:

Sanskrit: asthisonhara; vajravalli Hindi: hadjod; hadjora; harsankari
Bengali: hasjora; harbhanga
Marathi: chaudhari; kandavela
Gujrati: chadhuri; vedhari
Telugu: nalleru
Tamil: pirandai
Canarese: mangaroli

It is mainly used as healer of bone fractures. It is one of the very frequently used herb by traditional bone setters of India. (In Hindi Hadj=bone; Jod=to fix). It is also used for piles, asthma, digestive troubles, cough, and loss of appetite.

Chemical Constituents: Stem isolates include 3- keto steroids, onocer-7-en-3a, 21b-diol (I) and onecer-7-en-3a, 21a-diol (II).

Other Uses:Stems and roots yield strong fiber. Young shoots are used in curries. See my Pirandai Karakuzhambu here:

Pirandai Karakuzhambu

Ingredients:

Pinju Pirandai/young shoots of pirandai-finely chopped 1 cup
Urad dal 1/2 cup
Dry red chilies 5
Garlic 5 cloves
Tamarind paste 1 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Salt
Ghee / Sesame oil 1/4 cup(I used ghee).

Method:

In a wok, heat oil and fry the pirrandai. One have to fry this really well or otherwise.....its kind of hard while swallowing(it is pricky-maybe its rhaphides)Then set it aside.

In the same oil, fry all the other ingredients. Once it turns reddish brown, again add the pirandai to it. Fry them again really well.

Let them cool and then take it to blender and wet grind the same.

Serve this along with steam cooked rice/raagi kali/raagi Sangati. Simply un beatable!

Muyal Kari Kuruma

Rabbit Spicy Qorma:

Rabbit Qorma. Rabbit Curry. Rabbit Kuzhambu. Rabbit Korma. Rabbit Stew.

For Game lovers simple Hare/Rabbit recipe! Rabbit meat infused with rich Indian spices.

There are 2 types of rabbit meat available in the market....wild-hunted and domestic-slaughtered! I prefer bred for meat rabbit! If I ever witness a rabbit being slaughtered.....I would be devasted! Anyways.....many regions breed rabbits for its protein rich meat....its called 'cuniculture'! One of the lady from my neighbourhood(back home) had a farm like that....she is the one who introduced me to....all about eating a bunny!:(

A yough rabbit weighs about 2-3 kilos! The meat is high in protein. Tastes much like chicken. It is leaner meat than beef and pork! It has low percentage of fat. Unsaturated fatty acids is 63% of total fatty acids! Rabbit has about 795 calories per pound....when compared to chicken 810, Turkey 1190, Lamb 1420, Beef 1440 and Pork 2050! Sounds interesting huh!

Rabbit meat could be suitable for special diets, such as those for heart disease patients, diets for the aged, low sodium diets, weight reduction diets, etc.

Ingredients:

Rabbit's Meat 1/2 kilo
Onions 2 grated
Tomato 2 grated
Fresh ginger paste 1 spoon
Fresh garlic paste 1 spoons
Green chilies 3 slitted
Curry leaves 3 twigs
Cloves 3
Cinnamon 3
Cardamom 3 pods
Fennel seeds 1 - 2 spoons
Bay leaves 2
Cas cas milk few spoons(2 spoons of cas cas wet ground...maybe after soaked in warm water)
Fresh coconut 1 (chopped and wet ground to thick milk)
Oil 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 -2 spoons
Pepper powder 1-2 spoons
Oil few spoons
Cilantro leaves few to garnish.

Method:

Pressure cook meat with enough salt and water. Maybe for about 6 whistles. Set aside and retain the water.

In a pan heat oil, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel seeds, bay leaves, curry leaves and green chilies. Fry them for a while.

Now add onions and fry till golden brown.

Then add ginger - garlic paste to it. Fry them till its raw smell leaves.

Later add tomatoes and fry till its water content is lost.

Now add little bit of salt, turmeric, chili powder, pepper and cooked meat along with its water. Cover and cook over medium heat.

When the meat is done...add cas cas milk and thick coconut milk to this. Let this come to boil 3-5 times.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve warm to go with chapathis/dosa/idly/iddiyappam.

Purva

N33ma

has passed this Award to me! Thank you so much for considering me! I am truly honoured!:)

I would like to share this award with Fellow Hard Working Blogger Friends:

Viki Xavier

Dibs

Anjum

Pavani Srikanth

Rajeswari Vijayanand

Kitchen Flavours

Divya Vikram

Kay

Priya

Sukanya Ramkumar

Neha

Jaishree

Congrats Y'll.

Paapad Ka Subzi

Appala Kootu:

Pappad Ka Subzi. Appalam Kootu Curry. Aalu-Pappad ka Subzi.

This is my Brother's favourite dish. Whenever he goes to India...Mommy will try to fix them! So....when last time I went to home, I made them for him! Guess he liked it!:) We made it to go with our Vatha Kuzhambu...nice variation from Sutta Appalam!

Ingredients:

Potatoes 2 large (boiled, peeled & cubed)
Chana dal 1 cup soaked in water
Pappad/Appalam 7-10 (fried in oil/toasted in microwave)
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1/2 spoon
Green chilis 4 chopped
Ginger 2" grated
Garlic 6 beads chopped
Onion 1 large finely chopped
Tomato 1 large chopped
Curry leaves few
Cilantro few
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Cook chana dal in a pan...with little salt. And retain the dal alone. Do not over cook them. Set aside

Mash potatoes gently.....leave them little bit chunky here and there, set aside.

In a wide wok, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves. Wait till they pop up.

Add chilies, ginger, garlic and onions. Fry real good...till the raw odour leave the pan.

Now add tomatoes...wait till they wilt up.

Add salt, turmeric and chili powder. Now stir-in mashed potatos, cooked dal and cracked pappads. Mix well...cover and cook for few minutes.

Remove from heat and add cilantro leaves.

Enjoy as a side dish with Vatha kuzhambu...nice variation for sutta appalam!

Iyengar Vatha Kuzhambu

Vatha Kuzhambu:

Not a big fan, but make it occassionly for guests!

Ingredients:

Dry Manathakkali Vathal - 1 fistful
Tamarind lemon sized ball
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon/(I use 'virali manjal' whole stick, broken into bits)
Chili powder 1 spoon
Jaggery gooseberry size
Rice flour 1-2 spoons(its only optional, I never use)
Sesame oil 1/2 cup.

For Seasoning:

Mustard seeds 3 -5 Spoons
Curry leaves 1 large bowlful
Asafoetida 2 spoons
Chana dal 1 cup
Urad dal 1 cup
Dry red chilies 6 numbers
Peppercorns 4
Fenugreek 1/4 spoon
Sesame oil few spoons.


To Be Fried Each Separately in Little Oil and Wet-Ground Togather to Thick Paste:(Vatha Kuzhambu masala)


Coriander seeds 2 spoons
Chana dal 1 spoon
Curry leaves 1 twig
Fenugreek seeds 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 6
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Sesmae oil few spoons.

Wet Grind to thick batter like consistency and set aside!

Method:

Better....fry the 'vatha kuzhambu masala' (listed above)ingredients first. Each seperately in little oil, till they turn to golden to reddish color. Infact very aromatic! Then wet-grind them togather, using very limited water. Set this masala aside.

In a non-reactive bowl, soak tamarind with 1-2 cups of luke warm water for 1-2 hours. In a blender, run this along with the same soaked water and extract a thick tamarind milk. Set aside.

In a heavy bottomed non-stick pan,add few spoons of oil. Fry the dry vathal(either one 'manathakkali/ sundaikkai). Fry them till they turn to dark brown to black, Set aside.

In a the same pan, heat remaining oil. Now add thick tamarind milk, salt, turmeric powder/ virali manjal' broken into teeny meeny bits, jaggery, rice flour and chili powder. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 12-15 minutes.

When the tamarind's raw odour leaves the pan and it starts to consolidate, better add 'vatha kuzhambu masala' and 'fried vathal'! Bring this to boil. Again switch to medium heat and cook without lid. Maybe till the raw odour of wet-ground paste is gone. The gravy should really thicken now. Wait till oil shows up on sides and top. Then remove from heat.

In a seperate pan, heat oil, add the tempering spices one by one and wait till they pop. Now run this seasoning over the gravy made above. Always season your gravy at last, like a final touch...it makes it really aromatic!!!

Serve warm with plain steamed rice. A spoon full of ghee to go with it, Heaven! Enjoy!

Tomato Coconut Rasam

Thakkali Thengai Rasam:

Arathu Vitta Rasam. Tomato Rasam, Tomato-Coconut Rasam.

Busy, Rainy day menu! Arathu vitta Rasam and Spicy fried food! Nothing much to talk about it....simple entry!

Ingredients:

Country Tomatoes 5
Garlic 1 whole head
Dry chilies 6
Peppercorns 1/2 spoon
Cumin /2 spoon
Curry leaves few
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Coconut grated 6-10 spoons
Mustard 1/4 spoon
Cumin 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Curry leaves few
Cilantro few leaves
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Grind first 6 ingredients together.

In a pan, heat oil. Add these wet-ground puree to it. Add salt and turmeric powders. Fry real good! When the raw smell leaves the pan....add 4 cups of water.

Bring them to boil. Then add grated coconut. Remove from heat.

In a seperate pan, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves....wait till they pop up. Now run this tatka over the rasam prepared!

Enjoy with steam cooked rice!

Ramya Vijaykumar

N33ma

Gita

passed this award to me! Thank you so much guys. And should I be really talking about me???? Don't leave me alone....I insist to post 7 MeMe to all the award winners!!!

7 Things I Say More Often:

Oh Really!

Amazing! I am Wondering....

I don't really care!

Dad, Daddy, Daddy would....

Back home, in India....

Whatever, Anyways....

Love it, Awesome dude....

7 Things I Did Before:

Writing Tamil Poems, esp' Haiku Kavithaigal....tons and tons of them. Got several Inter-college prizes over it! But never cared to publish them or share with anyone....

Was a great Runner in school days. Gave up after UG! But hooked up with gym equipments! Had a gym trimmed body...they used to call me 'Junior Maleshwari' in the Lab! Was capable of lifting heavy weights and stuff!

Walking with dad, talking with Dad, dinning with Dad, riding with Dad, arguing, telling tall stories......discussing real world politics! Miss it greatly!

Experimenting in the kitchen with Mommy and Brother! They were my lab rats actually. Both Mommy and Pari used to help me around, never discouraged! I have spoiled so much of food, back then! My Regrets!

Studied extensively Anthropology (but I am Biotech major). Fell in love with cultural & biological Anthropology.....(and still collecting books). Documented(still doing) my stupid hypothesis....hoping that one day...it will get its recognition!

Worked hard to get through Civil Services! Couldn't succeed in UPSC! Got through Andhra services(but got migrated here)so have to forget about it!

Traveled a lot in India...did research in my favourite field! DNA separation, sequencing, PCR,Cloning.....etc!

7 Things I Do Now:

Solo jog, walk, exercise, cook, clean, lawn sow, mow....shop a lot!

I do cook and that's obvious!

I do blog...don't have to mention it. Browse a lot!

In business, importing, cutting and installing kitchen counter tops(Granite)! Hosting cookery classes, branding my gourmet products....marketing....and boring stuff like that...

Looking out for a change in my Profession! In much more challenging area of my field(Molecular Biology, Biotechnology)

Always worry about Mommy's health and whats happening back home! Call home every single day!

Do chat with Pari daily. Talk and walk with AK.

7 Things I Want to Do:

Go back to India. Settle down close to my parents....

Expand my business.

Wanna publish in journal Nature....at least one article.

Do serious research in exactly my choice of area. Come up with more novel ideas....kind of corelating anthro' concepts and biotech concepts and study the area with wide spectrum(a birds eye view) then arrive at new theory! Do I sound like BULB!

Own a beetle car! And drive it like Daddy in Chennai sandhu pondhu(narrow streets).....

Never wanna switch from teaching or lecturing...whether genetics or culinary....I love it!

Build my dream home at a hill station!

7 Things That Attract me About Opposite Sex:

I get attracted to Movie characters(not even the stars)!! Sounds weird, right! Maybe I am involved in the story! I like the part....that I didn't really got attracted to a real person!

I appreciate honesty.

Trustworthy.

Patient, polite, calm & composed, who talks less and crisp...to the point.

Clever and good sense of humour.

Generosity, help the needy, doing some sort of social work.

Who is humble, down to earth, never boasting.....

7 Favourite Foods:

Meen Kuzhambu - both by Dad and Mom.

Ramzaan Nombu Kanjji - by Yasmin's Mom

Arcot Nawabi Biriyani - by Anjum's Mom

Chicken 65 - street food, bought by Pari, which is previously tasted and tested by him!

Quail Chettinad - by me

Grandma's Birinji Rice with Pudhina Thuvaiyal.

Kothamalli Saadham & Aviyal - by AK.

7 Sweet Fellow Blogger Friends:

Viki Xavier

Divya Vikram

Priya

Suma

Rajeswari Vijayanand

Aartee

Yasmeen

Chicory Leaves Fritters

Kasini Keerai Bonda:

The Botanical name of this greens is Cichorium intybus. Common English name is chicory leaves. Yeah....the roots of it....is powdered and used in coffee(my fav'). We call it Kasini keerai in Tamil.

Some of its Uses:

It balances pitta and kapha. Cures chronic and deep-rooted fevers. Purifies and improves blood circulation. It is specified in the treatment of - Swelling, Liver diseases, Spleen diseases, Heart diseases, Urinary diseases.

Caution:

This greens are not advised to Diabetic patients! Don't know why...check it out with your physician

I get remembered of this famous Doctor Akbar Kausar...who really popularized this greens. (Met him couple of times....when I took my aunt to his hospital.)Of course people were really aware of the goodness of greens! Greens/leaves are the laboratory of plants! The Chlorophyll present in a leaf is what important in taking that sun's energy to next level! Our forefathers were really aware of this! Maybe continous re search of what to eat what not to eat....differentiating poisonous and non-poisonous! The edible, green, non-poisonous leafy vegetable is known as ‘oushadhi’! Every leafy vegetable is an oushadhi. Oushadhi means medicine! Whatever leafy vegetable we get on season/location....make use of it....sure it does have a purpose to be growing only on that season and only on that location!

Ingredients:

Kasini Greens 1 bunch chopped
Gram flour 1 cup
Onions finely chopped 1 small cup
Green chilies 4 finely chopped
Mint few leaves
cilantro few leaves
Ginger 2" grated
Salt
Chili powder 1/4 spoon
Garam masala 1/4 spoon
Baking soda 1 pinch
Egg whites 1
Oil for deep frying.

Method:

Mix all the above in a bowl(except oil). Make a neat dropping consistency batter.

Heat up the oil. Drop them as small bondas in warm oil. Fry till golden color.

Serve as a snack.

Beets n Peanuts Spicy Fry

Beet Root Vepudu:

Beet Root Poriyal. Beet Root Koora.

I am glad to see these wonderful veggies grown my Amish People nearby at my town....there are several Amish settlements at Pontotoc and Panola county. The beets are so fresh from the garden and they charged me only 40 cents a pound!:)

But this was cooked while I was in India....then what did you think of me using generous helpings of curry leaves!

Ingredients:

Beet roots 3-4 peeled and chopped
Garlic 1 whole head crushed along with skin
Peanuts/groundnuts – 1 cup (without shells
Dry red chilies 10-15
Salt
Turmeric powder ¼ spoon
Ground nut oil – 1 cup
Mustard seeds 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Curry leaves crisply fried 1 cup – for decoration.

Method:

Dry toast the peanuts in a heated iron wok. Transfer them to a wide plate. Carefully rub them to remove the fine pink skin.(from the peanuts)

Again dry toast the red chilies in the same wok.

In a blender, add toasted peanuts + chilies and grate it. Set this aside.

Finely chop the roots.

In a wok, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin seeds and garlic to it. Let them pop and splutter well.

Add chopped vegetable now and sauté for few minutes. Further add salt and turmeric powder to this. Cover and cook for few minutes.

When the vegetable is half the way done, add grated peanuts and chilies, stir fry over medium to high heat. Maybe till they are really fried and fragrant.

Transfer them to display vessel and decorate with crisply fried curry leaves.

Serve warm as a side dish for curd rice, sambar rice, rasam rice or even with chappathi.

Semolina - Garlic Upma

Rawa Kitchedi:

Rawa Upma with lots of garlic!

Never really appreciated rawa kitchedi/upma kind of stuff. It was one of the cruel dish they make it at hostel all the time. There were several occasions my mess bill used to be NIL. I never show up to the mess hall at all....managed to eat out, big time!So off lately...whenever I am kind of in a hurry, where nothing comes to mind...I don't think it is so bad to make kitchedi after all. Hmmm....I could infuse lots of spices if I want!! So on one such busy day.....Garlicky Umpa!

Ingredients:

Rawa/semolina/sooji 1 portion(it rises to 3 fold)
Red/green chilies 2 sliced
Onion 1 large coarsely chopped
Garlic 1 whole head peeled
Tomato 1 chopped
Carrots 1-2 chopped
You could use as many as veggies you want!(beans, potato, cauliflower and peas)
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon
Asafoetid 1 pinch
Curry leaves few
Oil few spoons(be generous to avoid stickiness)

Method:

Toast semolina in a heated pan, carefully without burning them...then set aside.

In a deep, wide pan, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida and curry leaves. Wait till they splutter up.

Then add chilies, garlic and onions....fry real good. One could add salt right here...to hasten the procedure(of frying onions).

Then add veggies and tomatoes to it. Cook them well covered for few minutes.

Then add pinch of turmeric and toasted rawa. Add 3 portions of water. Cover and cook over sim heat....until all water is absorbed and kitchedi is kind of throwing up oil on the sides.

Hmmmmm...its ready, transfer the contents and consume immediately....it tastes awful when it left to stand over!

Ice Apple Drink

My way: Nungu Juice.


One could also eat them raw with skin-on, if it is immature and transparant.


Edile Jellies with fine skin-on.


Over-ripe Edible fruit...which could be also grilled.


Unripe fruits...which could possibly bear 2-4 jelly fruits in each one of them.

Nungu with Illaneer:

Borassus flabellifer is the Botanical name of Asian Palm tree/ Palmyra tree. The fruit looks in a jet black color...the hard shell. Although whole fruit is said edible by locals.....but it is greatly appreciated for its inner pulp(actually its endosperm and surrounding jelly )is called 'Nungu' in Tamil. The jelly fruit...is almost transparent to translucent. A fruit bears about 2-4 such jellies in them. If you happen to spot 4 in your fruit......consider yourself lucky! The icy jellies doesn't have seeds like litchi(that's good). It is also filled with nutri' tasty water(endosperm liquid) loaded with minerals like calcium and phosphorous. The fruit is counted has simple man's heaven during summer.....for the parched throat!

It is known as Tal in Bengali, Nungu in Tamil, Thaati Munjalu in Telugu, Munjal in Urdu, Tnaot by the Khmer, Akadiru by the East Timorese, Tao in Divehi, Tadfali or Tad-fali or Taadfali in Gujarati, and sometimes "Ice-apple" by the British. I like Ice-Apple better...it truly deserves that name!

Mommy used to make simple payasam kind of thing for my lazy brother....who can't even peel the fine skin on the nungu! But I insist on consuming them raw.....in its natural form! People say....it has healing property towards, acne, boils and heat rash!

So...just peeled them and filled it with illaneer(tender coconut water).To beat the heat!!!

If you are smart to spot over ripe 'panam pazham' then you could put them on charcoal grill and burn them for few minutes and enjoy the fibrous fruit. I was kind of trekking on the local mountain(Vellore) with my maid cum cook Usha......we happen to spot a old palm tree...lucky we also spotted it had lots of over-ripe fruits! Used local help to fetch just one! Lucky me....that was the first time...I
happen to see this fruit. Looked much like mango color inside.....fibrous and fibrous to the core!

I am glad to receive this splendid 'Inspiration Award' from

Priya

Viki Xavier

Thank you so much sweet hearts.

Jamie started this award and now in her own words:

"This is given to bloggers whose stories and recipes inspire us. Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe.

As recipients of this award, please share with us what inspires you and then pass on the Inspiration Award to 4 other deserving bloggers. Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it. Feel free to post the Inspiration Award Logo on your site for the whole blogsphere to see. (logo photo taken by my inspiring friend and co-author of Dueling Foodies, Beth.)"

The Things that inspire me :

1. My Dad, who is my first inspiration for what I am today! Whatever you do...do with atmost care....hobby or job is the key for everything! Being passionate is like adrenaline to me!

2. My cooking class and my guest(students)inspire me a lot! The interative cooking class at Oxford keeps this blog alive. I love to teach and also being a host.

3. My brother Pari Gandhi is my moral support for this blog and recipes! He is my first critic too!

4. Innovative dishes, creative works, fusion cooking, re discovering old and lost recipes from my fellow bloggers do really have a great impact on me.

I am happy to pass this award to my blogger friends:

Purva Desai

Ramya Vijaykumar

Jaishree

Gita

Congrats Y'll.

Fish in Rich Tomato based Curry

Vanjiram Meen Thakkali Kuzhambu:

King Fish in Rich Tomato based Curry. Nei Meen in Malayalam, Vanjjiram or Vajjiram in Tamil.

It is called 'King Fish' in English or better known as 'Sear' in South India. Its a common King Mackeral, found in Indo-Pacific sea waters. If my memory is not rusty....its zoological name is Scomberomorus cavalla. Identifying correct species name of the fish is a killing job! Believe me....there are 1000s of fish in each Family. To go through the species...one need to take closer look at the scales, fin bone, pin bones and stuff! Definitely....sometimes I feel, its better to taste them and differentiate than going through these troubles! Ha ha.....true, taste is easy to point out the fish!

One good thing about this fish is...it has just a large central bone and very few pin bones....so easy to fillet them. I guess kids could appreciate it.....and so does my brother!

Ingredients:

King Fish fillets 6-8
Garlic 1 whole peeled and grated
Country Tomatoes large - 6 (made into puree/juice)
Dry Red Chilies 10-15 (Roasted and Powdered)
Mustard seeds 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon
Fenugreek seeds 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Thalippu Vadagam 2 spoons
Dry red chilies 3 - crisply fried for decoration
Curry leaves crisply fried for decoration
Sesame oil 1-2 cups.

Method:


In a large non-stick wok, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and thalippu vadagam. Let them pop and splutter well. Set aside to garnish on the gravy.

In a wide wok, add oil....add garlic and fry them till fragrant. Then followed by chili flakes/powder...fry till fragrant.

Now add tomato puree to it. Further add, salt + turmeric powder.

Cover and cook over medium heat. This gravy will splatter around your stove top. So keep it covered.

Once gravy consistency is achieved and oil shows up on top. Add fish fillets....bring this to boil. Maybe after adding fish...leave them over stove for just 2 minutes.

Do not cover with lid after adding fish. Maintain the stove over medium heat. Let the fish be well covered with thick gravy. Allow it to cook, just for 2 minutes. Turn your stove off.

Remove from heat and allow it to stand on counter-top. Do not cover with lid. Covering the curry with lid will lead to over cooking and fillets will be flaking badly...

Serve after 2-3 hours. Let the gravy get well seeped into the fish.

Garnish with crisply fried curry leaves, red chilies and step-2 seasoning.

Its good to have with plain steam cooked rice/ idly or dosa.

Mutton Kuzhambu

Mutton Kuzhambu:

Goat's Meat Spicy Curry. Country style Mutton Curry. Pepper rich Mutton ki Salan.

While I was in India....always made sure that my freezer is filled with meat or fish. And almost bought greens every single during my stay! As I am from this little town.....there is nothing better choice besides frozen chicken and frozen veggies. Rarely I used to spot some Indian or Mexican veggies in the farmers market! It was like as though....I went from a war land and from severe scarcity! Brother was pulling my leg for a big time.....questions like this 'what do you have in Oxford? 'don't you find a butcher shop.....atleast do you guys have theatre????' Oh man!!!

After a hectic day, I made this curry within minutes....didn't use any strong spices, kept is simple! Sometimes simple and hurry burry foods tastes like heaven! Maybe....occupied mind doesn't care for minute details or decoration and stuff!

Ingredients:

Goat's meat/ mutton1/4 kilo(bone-in)
Purple onion 1 small bulb
Garlic 3 beads minced
Ginger 2" minced
Country tomatoes 2 finely chopped
Sea Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coriander powder 1 spoon
Pepper powder 1 spoon
Curry leaves few
Bay leaves 1 crumbled
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Wash and clean meat, add turmeric to it. Let this sit for a while and then wash again in running tap water.

Pressure cook meat, for about 5-6 whistles. Maybe adding salt and turmeric at this point is good too! Add just 1 cup of water while cooking! Retain this water after cooking along with meat and set aside.

In an iron wok, heat oil. Add bay leaves, onion, ginger-garlic and tomatoes. Fry real good.

Let he onions turn golden and tomatoes wilt.

Add salt, turmeric, chili and coriander powder now.(skip salt and turmeric...if you added themt o meat already)

Stir-in cooked meat along with its water, cover and cook over medium for 5-7 minutes.

Let it cook really soft and tender...maybe for 20 minutes.

When gravy thickens and oil shows up on sides, add pepper powder and fried curry leaves to it.

Serve warm to go with your idly, dosa, chappathi or even plain steamed rice!

Vetiver

Vetiver Water:

Vetiver is closely related to other fragrant grasses such as Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratus).

Vetiver has been used throughout history in many different cultures for many different reasons from its healing abilities to ceremonies. Vetiver oil was used to anoint brides to bless them before entering marriage.

In Ayurveda the root and essential oil are used for heatstroke, fevers, and headaches. Russians used vetiver in sachets attached to the lining of their coats to help in retaining warmth. It was used in perfumes with rosewood and lime in the middle ages. It was also grown to prevent soil erosion in India. The grass was also
used to make woven baskets, rugs and parts of the house in Africa.

In today’s aromatherapy vetiver has many uses. It is used for an insect repellant which it is excellent for. Vetiver it used to strengthen the red blood cells and promotes oxygen throughout the body. Vetiver is often used to alleviate the symptoms of rheumatism, arthritis and muscular aches such as muscle pain, sprains, and joint and muscle stiffness. It also aids the reproductive system; it is used to promote fertilization of the female egg. Vetiver oil is also useful for the skin, it can be used to alleviate the inflammation of acne, aids in healing of cuts, it reduces oil in the skin(for oily skin) and anti-aging properties. Vetiver is not toxic and nonirritant it is great for the skin for sensitive and older skin.

Ingredients:

Earthern Pot Water
Vetiver Roots(dried) 1 fistful(chopped
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Nannari seeds 1/4 spoon

Method:

Earthen pot water is used in those days to chill water(when fridge was not affordable). The porosity of the pot....This is because of a physical process known as evaporation. When a liquid changes to a gaseous (or vapour) state without boiling, it is known as evaporation.

A matka is made of mud and has many minute pores (extremely small holes). No matter how tightly you pack the mud, these pores remain. It is through these pores that the water, placed inside the matka, oozes out. Now, to evaporate, the water needs to absorb heat, which will change it to vapour.

The only way the water oozing out of the matka can turn to vapour is by absorbing heat from the liquid within the matka and the matka itself. Due to this process of continuous absorption of heat from the water inside the matka, in a few hours, this water becomes cool.

Well...we use these roots to bring that nice fragrant to the water. Also it is said to have many medicinal properties. Its body coolant!

So during summer....people immerse these roots in the warm / plain water and make this sit for a long time...to infuse that nice fragrance! Its filtered later and served as fragrant water.

Cracked Wheat Pilaf

Gothumai Rawai Veg Pulav:

Cracked Wheat Pilaf.

Cracked Wheat Vegetable Pulav. Samba Rawai vegetable Biriyani. Cream of Wheat n Veggies Pilaf.

When people are in diet...they often ruin it on just 1 plate of biriyani or fried food! That's it....they will give up everything and go on binging....which ever they craved for! I don't understand the point. There is better way to do it! Taste and have fun with your cheesy/fatty/sweety treat. You don't have to be fasting or neither feasting!!!! Just grab a bite....feel content! Anyway.....its not bad to taste different food....one should construct the feeling of content! Taste a different cuisine....if you like it...taste it....do not indulge in over eating. And also....if you do so, don't feel guilty, just come back on your track!

Okay I can't say 'cream of wheat' has no calories at all! And it is also another form of carbohydrate! But....the key of making this pulav is....its better when it comes to filling a hungry tummy. While rice takes lot of time to fill one....by the time, one would have crossed his limit! Wheat gives the satisfaction quickly. So they eat less! (maybe it induces the enzyme called leptin...which gives satiety feeling...research is going on this enzyme...to prepare artificially!Anyway...I feel our will power is more than enzyme after all)

Anyway...while preparing a diet menu, cut your butter/ghee and use safflower oil or something. Use more veggies than usual. Buy unpolished wheat/cream of wheat! Use more herbs...to bring up the flavour!

Ingredients:

Cinnamon sticks 1
Cloves 2
Cardamom pods 3
Bay leaves 1
Biryani flower 1
Marathi mokku 1
Safflower oil 1/4 cup
Green chillies 4 slitted
One large onion finely chopped
2 ripe tomato finely chopped
Mint one cup
Lemon juice 2-4 spoon
Ginger-garlic paste 1-2 spoons
Coriander leaves 4-6 twigs
Curd half cup
Cream of wheat 2 cups
Vegetables - diced 3 cups(carrots, beans, double beans, peas, cauliflower, potato)
Salt to taste
Red chili powder 1-2 spoons(optional)

Method:

1. Add one spoon of ginger-garlic paste with vegetables. Followed by salt +lemon juice + curd and set this aside/in fridge. Maybe for 20 minutes minimum.

2. Pour oil in the pressure cooker and bring it to smoky hot...now add the spices one by one...cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, maratti mokku and birinji flower to it. Let them fry for a while.

3. Add chillies, and wait till it splutters.

4. Followed by onion and remaining ginger-garlic paste. Fry them well till its raw smell leaves.

5. Now add tomatoes, coriander leaves and mint. Fry them until all water content evaporates and oil shows up in the top.

4. Now start adding marinated vegetables to this and toss them well.

5. Add food color(optional), salt and red chili power. Semi cook them without adding any water....until the raw smell of chili powder goes.

6. Now add water 5 cups of water and bring it to boil followed by cracked wheat. Pressure cook them over medium heat till one whistle or two maximum. Never release the pressure before time. Let it be on dum for 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot with onion raita, mint chutney and brinjal serva.

Cauliflower Manchurian

Cauliflower Manchoorian:

I have no clue how the word 'Manchoorian' came to Indianised Chinese food. Yeah...I know there is a place called Manchoorian is in China. But what it has to do with any punjabied version of 'so called chinese food'! The original chinese people do not have anything similar to what they make in India. Anyway.....Indian palate as evolved far the way for spices and chili, can't help it.

So I fixed this recipe on a boring sunday afternoon! Never appreciated cauliflower all my life!Since it turned out well, I am kind of warming up for cauliflower!:)

Ingredients:

Cauliflower 1 small head
Ginger 1" grated
Garlic 2 beads chopped & minced
Shallots 1 finely chopped(optional)
Salt
MSG 1/4 Spoon
Dry red chili flakes 1/4 spoon
Honey 2 spoons
Soy sauce thick 2 spoons
Sesame seeds few
Chinese 5 spice powder 1/4 spoon
Sesame oil few spoons
Green onions chopped 1 cup to garnish.

Method:

Steam cook cauliflower gently for few minutes. Let it be firm yet. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wide wok. Add sesame seeds, chili flakes, garlic and ginger. Bring themt o fragrant state.

Then add sallots and fry till golden brown.

Now stir-in steamed cauliflower. Fry them over high heat. Add salt, MSG, soy sauce, honey and 5 spice powder. Stir-fry till it coats all the spices and oil. And also until it is cooked.

Remove from heat and garnish with green onions.

Enjoy with fried rice or noodles.

Kale n Coconut Stir-fry

Kale Poriyal:

Kale or Borecole is a form of cabbage (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group), green in color, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is considered to be closer to wild cabbage than most domesticated forms. The species Brassica oleracea contains a wide array of vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens, and brussels sprouts. The Cultivar Group Acephala also includes spring greens and collard greens, which are extremely similar genetically.

Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties and is anti-inflammatory.

Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower. This effectively raises the effective dose of the drug.

Kale, as with Broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties, particularly when chopped.

[Source - Wikipedia]

Ingredients:

Kale - shredded 1 bowl
Salt to taste
Green chilies/dry chilied 2
Coconut 1/2 shell
Oil few spoons
Mustard 1/4 spoon.

Method:

Grate coconut and maybe add chilies to it...while grating in a blender.

Heat oil and add mustard...let it pop.

Now stir-in kale and salt them. Cover and cook...till it wilts.

Then add grated coconut-chili mix and stir-fry over high for quick 1 minutes. Remove from heat and serve to go with your plain rice!

Makka Cholam Rawa Kesari

Corn Meal Kesari:

Makki ki Semolina Kesari. Makka Chola Rawai Kesari.

When all the sudden if you have visitors at your tea time....this could be ur handy easy fix choice! One could make it by the time tea is ready! Yeah....indeed I did it!

Ingredients:

Corn meal 1 cup
Sugar ¾ cup
Milk 3-4 cups
Cardamom seeds powder 1 spoon
Orange food color less than ¼ spoon
Cashew nuts 20 - halved
Golden raisins 1 fistful (dry grapes)
Ghee ½ + ½ cup.

Method:

Heat a non-stick skillet. Dry toast ‘corn meal’ for few minutes…..till fragrant. Transfer it to a bowl. Set aside.

In the same skillet, heat ½ cup of ghee. Add cashew nuts and fry them till they turn to golden color. Set aside.

In the same oil, fry raisins till they pop. Set this aside too.

Now add sugar, cardamom seeds and kesar color(optional). Add ½ cup of water and continue to boil

When it comes to boiling point. Add ‘corn meal’ without forming any lumps. Use wooden spatula (greased with oil or ghee).

Further add 3-4 cups of milk + cashew nuts + raisins + ghee. Continue cooking.

When it is done…sucking up all the milk and moisture; oil shows up on side. Remove from the stove and transfer it to display bowl.

Serve warm or cold as a dessert.

Simple and easy to fix dessert.

Fried Plantains

Vazhai Kai Poriyal:

Green Plantain Fry. Kacha Kela ka Subzi.

I happen to taste this Awesome recipe in my Aunty's house(Raadhai, Mylopore). She is a gifted cook! She dedicates lot of her time in cooking and exploring new meanings to old or traditional recipes. All her recipes were fabulous. I enjoyed everybit throught my stay there. She also shared some of her best kept secrets in cooking, gave me hand outs of her recipe collection and what not! She is a good host and likes to feed people!

The good speciality about the recipe is...it is tempered with 'Thallippu Vadagam'! Ah....I wish you could smell it right now! The ginger and vadagam fragrance....fills the whole kichen, and makes it more perfect day!

Ingredients:

Raw plantain 1 large
Onion 1 medium chopped
Ginger 2-3" grated
Garlic 4 beads chopped
Tomato 1 small chopped
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Thallippu vadagam(this is important)
Curry leaves
Sesame oil

Method:

Plantain sliced as the way you want it. Leave them in cold water until cooking(to avoid that discoloration)!

Boil plantain slices for 4-6 minutes and then discard the water.

In an iron wok, heat oil. Add vadagam + curry leaves. Let them pop.

Then add ginger, garlic....fry for about 2 minutes.

Followed by onions and toamtoes. Fry till golden brown.

Now stir-in boiled plantain. Add salt, turmeric and chili powders. Fry over low-medium heat for long time..to turn them crispy. A wide skillet...with neat spreaded slices will make it appropriate.

Ramzaan Pachadi

Thakkali Inippu Pachadi:

Toamto Jam. Kaasi Pachadi.

This is also called 'Kaasi Pachadi'....don't know how it got it! Mommy's friend Mrs. Babulal used to make this as a side dish! She used to slice the toamtoes and simply immerse them in strong sugar syrup! She treats it as dessert sometimes! Anyways....if you preparing huge Dhaawat(Party Dinner)it could help you as an another dish(can be counted as dip, sweet pachadi, dessert??...you name it!)

Ingredients:

Tangy county tomatoes 4-6(or roma toamtoes)
Saffron few strands
Sugar 1/2 cup
Cardamom pods 3 crushed
Cashewnuts few slitted
Ghee few spoons.

Method:

Slice or chop toamtoes and set aside.

Prepare a strong sugar syrup. Add cardamom and saffron to it.

Then add tomatoes and cook for a while and remove from heat.

In a seperate pan, heat ghee, fry cashewnuts and add to the above setup.

Treat as jam, dip, sweet pachadi....

Anasi Pazha Pongal

Pineapple Pongal:

Sweetened Pineapple Rice. Anasi Pazham Pongal

Sweetened Pineapple Rice. Annasi Pazha Pongal.

This is my friend Farah's recipe. She is my next door neighbour back home. She was also teaching in the same school....I used to go to (years back & not to my class tho') When they moved into our neighbourhood....she was kind of excited and eager to see me. I was thrilled as well! So we both met(during my last vacation to India) nearly after 8-9 years! We were catching up old days memories. God...she remembered all my dress and shoe colors too! Amazing! Later I happen to know Farah as turned out to be a great cook(Entrepreneur, Recruiter, Guest Lecturing...what not)! When she prepared this 'Pineapple Pongal' for the Dhaawat, it was super hit that day! I felt like trying that recipe since then....so here it is!

I know what is going on in your mind right now...I didnt have much time....to transfer the contents to display vessel and do that special clicks for y'll. Had.....important engagements that day...so soon after cooking....I was rushing off!

Ingredients:

Raw rice rawa 1 cup
Milk 4 cup
Milk Powder 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup
Pineapple finely chopped 1 cup
Pineapple essence 1-2 spoons
Saffron few strands
Cashew nuts 10 slitted
Golden Raisins 10
Dark Raisins 10
Cardamom pods 3 crushed
Ghee 1-2 cup.

Method:

Wash rice in running water several times.....or until water runs clear. Keep it aside.

Mix pineapple and sugar in a bowl and set aside.

In a cooker.....add milk and 2 cups of water. Let it boil. Then add rice to this. Cook this over medium heat....until rice comes to pongal consistency.

Now heat ghee in a wide non-stick pan. Fry cashews and followed by raisins. To the same oil add saffron and cardamom too.

Add sugar + 1 cup of water....bring this to syrup consistency. Now stir-in cooked rice and continue cooking over low-medium heat. Maybe until..rice is all soft and incorporates sweetness in it.

Remove this from heat. Now add pineapple chunks and + milk powder, pineapple essence and ghee to this.

Serve either chilled, hot or at room temeperature.

I am certainly thrilled when Jaishree passed this Chocoholic Award to me!!! Congrats on your Award, dear! Thanks for thinking of my name! Do I really qualify to be a chocoholic!!! Meet Jaishree here

Meet

Jaishree

The rules of the award are:

Put the logo on your blog. Add a link to the person who awarded you. Nominate 5 other blogs(yeah just 5...depressing). Add links to those blogs on yours, and leave a message for your nominees on their blogs. I am happy to pass on this award to my fellow blogger friends.

Vidya Joshi

Padma

Ramya

Divya Vikram

Ashwini

Congrats Y'll !!!

All you have to do is:

Just right click and save the Chocoholic award image in my blog to your desktop.If you are in blogspot, just add a side tab in the right side of template and upload the image. Otherwise you open the original template you are using and upload this photo to it.

Sukku kuzhambu

Sukku Kuzhambu:

Sukku Kuzhambu. Sukku Kara Kuzhambu. Sukku Puli Kuzhambu. Sukku Theeyal. Sukku Pulusu. Dry Ginger Curry. Dry Ginger in rich Tamarind based Curry. Dry Ginger in Spicy Curry.

Often ginger is mistaken for root but it is modified stem! The rhizome (underground stem) is used both as a spice and as a herbal medicine.

Active constituents:
The dried rhizome of ginger contains approximately 1–4% volatile oils. These are the medically active constituents of ginger and are also responsible for ginger’s characteristic odour and taste. The aromatic constituents include zingiberene and bisabolene, while the pungent constituents are known as gingerols and shogaols. The pungent constituents are credited with the anti-nausea and anti-vomiting effects of ginger!

In humans, ginger is thought to act directly on the gastrointestinal system to reduce nausea.Ginger has been shown to reduce the symptoms of motion sickness associated with travel by boat and, to a lesser extent, car! Two double-blind clinical trials have found that ginger may reduce nausea due to anesthesia following surgery....although one trial did not confirm this benefit(under lab study yet).A preliminary trial has suggested ginger may be helpful for preventing chemotherapy - induced nausea!

While ginger is a popular remedy for nausea of pregnancy, it has only been clinically studied for very severe nausea and vomiting known as hyperemesis gravidarum. This condition is life threatening and should only be treated by a qualified healthcare professional. Because ginger contains some compounds that cause chromosomal mutation in the test tube, some doctors are concerned about the safety of using ginger during pregnancy. However, the available clinical research, combined with the fact that ginger is widely used in the diet of certain cultures, suggests that prudent use of ginger for morning sickness is safe in amounts up to 1 gram per day.

Ginger is considered a tonic for the digestive tract, stimulating digestion and toning the intestinal muscles. This action eases the transport of substances through the digestive tract, lessening irritation to the intestinal walls. Ginger may protect the stomach from the damaging effect of alcohol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen) and may help prevent ulcers.
Ginger also supports cardiovascular health. Ginger may make blood platelets less sticky and less likely to aggregate(under study for thrombosis, thrombophilia....).

Ingredients:

Ginger dried 100-150 grams - broken 7 crushed
Cricket ball size tamarind or 1 spoon of thick tamarind paste
Red onion 1 large finely chopped
Garlic 1 large peeled and semi crushed
Tomato 1 large chopped
Jaggery or brown sugar 1 spoon
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Rice powder 1 spoon
Sesame oil 1 cup
Mustard seeds 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 spoon
Chana dal 1/2 spoon
Urad dal 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Dry red chilies 3-5
Curry leaves

Method:

1. Heat few spoons of oil. Add crushed dry ginger to it. Let it get fried till golden color. Set aside.

2. In a deep pan, heat few spoons of oil. Add garlic, fry till its raw smell goes off. Further add onions, fry till they turn to golden brown color. Now add tomatoes, fry them till they loose their water content.

3. Add salt, turmeric, chili powder, jaggery and rice powder. Let it blend together.

4. Later add tamarind paste and 2 cups of water. Cover and cook over medium flame.

5. Once the gravy consolidates...add fried ginger to it. Allow it to boil and become really fragrant.

6. In a separate pan, heat oil. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida, fenugreek, chana dal, urad dal, dry red chilies and curry leaves. Let them pop and splutter well. Run this seasoning over the gravy.

Serve this with plain steamed rice. Run a spoon full of ghee over it.....just before serving.

Thalcha: Veggies n Mutton Korma

Mutton Veggies Korma:

Mutton Urulaikizhangu Pacha Mochai Kai Combo Korma.

This is my friend Sasi's Mother's recipe. She had an unique way of combining certain veggies with Mutton. Although Potatoes are common...she uses 'Pachai Mochaikai' (green, fresh lima beans/ Indian Broad beans)! The taste of the korma was simply unbeatable. She actually peeled these fresh broad beans pods and washed these beans(seeds) using warm water and then....peeled even the fine translucent outer skin of the beans! Meticulous job! Though I liked the idea....I didn't want to go through such a trouble of peeling even the fine outer skin of the beans. Skin itself is a natural barrier against nutrients loss! So why peel it! Anyways.....its upto you to peel or not to peel the fine skin!

Ingredients: Ingredients:

Goat's Meat 1/2 kilo
Potatoes 2 large peeled & cubed
Indian Broad beans mature 1/2 kilo(if peeled will yield 1/4 kilo)
Onions 2 finely chopped
Tomato 2 finely chopped
Fresh ginger paste 2 spoons
Fresh garlic paste 2 spoons
Green chilies 3 slitted
Curry leaves 3 twigs
Cloves 3
Cinnamon 3
Cardamom 3 pods
Fennel seeds 1 - 2 spoons
Bay leaves 2
Cas cas milk few spoons(2 spoons of cas cas wet ground...maybe after soaked in warm water)
Fresh coconut 1 (chopped and wet ground to thick milk)
Oil 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 -2 spoons
Oil few spoons
Cilantro leaves few to garnish.

Method:

Pressure cook meat with enough salt and water. Maybe for about 6 whistles. Set aside and retain the water.

In a pan heat oil, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel seeds, bay leaves, curry leaves and green chilies. Fry them for a while.

Now add onions and fry till golden brown.

Then add ginger - garlic paste to it. Fry them till its raw smell leaves.

Later add tomatoes and fry till its water content is lost.

Now add little bit of salt, turmeric, chili powder. Saute for few minutes.

Further add potatoes and beans. Saute till oil and masala coats to all the side.

Now add cooked meat along with its water. Cover and cook over medium heat.

When the meat and veggies are done....add cas cas milk and thick coconut milk to this. Let this come to boil 3-5 times.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve warm to go with chapathis/dosa/idly/iddiyappam. Serves best with plain steamed rice!

Aloe Vera Juice

Alloe Vera Juice:

The botanical name of this plant is Aloe barbadenensis. The Aloe vera is one of the oldest known therapatic herb and is reowned world wide as a healing plant. It is first mentioned in Egyptian scripst 'Papyrus Ebers' in 1550. They used it for embalming. Aloe vera is supposedly used to embalm the body of christ! Greek Historian Diocorides and Roman Naturalist Pliny has recommended Aloe vera about 2000 yeras ago.....for skin irritations, kidney problms, burns,constipation, war wounds and bruises.....and much more! The Hindus call it as 'Silent Healer' and Chinese say 'Harmony Remedy'.

The Aloe leaves have this bitter tasting yellow latex right under their outer skin. This latex contains an anthroquinone barbaloin, which is activated by the intestinal flora and acts as an laxative. The aloe juice is administered for severe constipation. It should not be consumed regularly....as it depletes elctrolytes from the body and can cuse muscle weakness(it can make uncontrollable bowel spasms).

Aloe Medical Value:

A polysaccharide in it called 'g;ucomannan....works as an anti-inflammatory! Aloctin A has immune system stimulating & anti-tumor properties. Other parts shows some anti-viral properties. The salicylic acid (found in asprin) and magnesium thought to work
together as an analgesic effect on burns. It not only reduces pain, promotes cell regeneration and reduses scar significantly. Since it has the ability to balance pH....it increases digestin and effective absorption. And therefore improves immune system. It can be treated for liver stregthening!

Latest study report says....ot appears that acemannon neutralizes the (AIDS)virus by transforming its protein envelop, thus preventing it from attaching itself to the T4 cells.The other study shows(only tested on Animals right now)....it can prevent and even arret arthritis and improve wound healing. It inhibits pain, block inflammation and restore bone growth(Amazing).

To Grow this Plant: Grow outside in your gardent han indoors(I have seen people having it indoors). Outdoor plants said to have more nutrients than indoors. More the sunlight more the nutri power!

Ingredients:

Aloe Vera juice 1 cup
Lemon juice 1 cup
Cold sparkling water 4 cups
Sugar to taste

Method:

Mix all the above together in a jar. Chill and serve as breakfast drink.

It is not suggested immediately after heavy meals.

Taking in empty stomach can create mild irritation to the inner wall!

Chicken Fenugreek Greens Pilaf

Chicken Methi Pulav:

Chicken with Fenugreek Greens Pulav. Kozhi Vendhaya Keerai Saadham. Murg-Methi ka Pulav. Kodi Menthilu Annam.

Fenugreek greens are known as Methika in Sanskrit and Methi patha in Hindi. The Botanical name of this greens are Trigonella foenum. The English common name is Fenugreek leaves. We call this Vendhaya keerai in Tamil. In Telugu they are calling it as Menthilu.

Fenugreek leaves are body coolants. It is a laxative and diuretic. It tones the tissues of the body. It has astringent properties that causes contraction and relieves flatulence.

Naturopathy: It is used in treatment of Fever, Pulmonary disorders, Cough, Manda Agni –poor digestion, Dysentery, Diarrhea, Nervous weakness, Premature loss of hair, Grey hair, Dandruff, Maintaining blood glucose level (Diabetes), Flatulence & Anorexia.

Chicken is considered as heat...during severe summer. But often people couldn't resist its taste. So generally to avoid that heat...they beat it with Fenugreek greens. As most of us are already familiar with Methi-Chicken curry or Methi-Chicken fry.....here its a variation recipe!

Ingredients:

For Marination:

Chicken 1/2 kilo
Green chili 1
Onion 1 small bulb
Ginger 1"
Garlic 2 bead
Lemon juice from 1 fruit
Yogurts 1 cup
Salt as per taste
Tomato 1 small
Cilantro leaves few.

For Pulav:

Methi green (washed, cleaned about 1 whole bowl)
Short grain rice 1/2 kilo
Green chilies 6 sliced
Onion 1 sliced
Ginger-garlic paste 1 spoon
Tomato 1 small optional
Mint leaves 10 chopped
Cinnamon 1 stick
Cloves 3
Cardamom 3 crushed
Bay leaves 1 crumbled
Ghee 1 cup.

Method:

Wet-grind all the mariantion items, except chicken. Then add that to chicken and marinate overnight or at least 2-4 hours.

In a wide wok, heat ghee. Add dry spices and wait till they splutter up.

Add chilies, onion and ginger-garlic paste. Fry real good...till they become golden brown.

Now add salt and marinated chicken to this. Fry till chicken turns opaque. Maybe continue frying...till oil shows up on top.

Now add mint and fenugreek greens to it. Wait till they wilt.

Add rice to it...salt, and just enough water. Cover and cook...till they are done.

Serve as main dish along with onion or cucumber raitha.

Mooligai Masiyal

Mukkarattai Keerai Masiyal:

This is also called as Punarnava in Sanskrit. The Botanical name is Boerhaavia diffusa. The English name common name is Boerhaavia. In Tamil we call this Mukkarattai keerai. It has small pink flowers! Its kind of wild creeper...grows near wet paddy fields. In colloquial Tamil....they were calling it mukkaruthan keerai'. But it is Mukkarattai Keerai. So help yourself to spot them!

These greens are not found in any commercial market! One need to be an expert in picking the right greens from the neighbouring paddy fields or so. So my cook Usha Nandhini(25 year old smart girl, back home) is an expert in greens, herbs and stuff. She searched for these greens all over the neighbourhood and found somewhere. She had hard time explaining about this greens to the landlords....that's an entirely different story! She was so particular about showing me different greens that we could make use of cooking! She personally listed them and hand picked them for me. As she gave me directions....I prepared it. Actually not much variation from what we usually make....but these kind of rare greens should be done with its own nativity....so went by her rules. She was particular about using only dry red chilies(Gundu kaindha milagai)...don't know the significance....but did the same. And I was also alerted...that these leaves have some kind of enzymes that will give us slight irritation even after cooking thoroughly. Yeah...it did irritate me....my lips had that itchy feeling! Anyways.....it is also loaded with goodness, I have listed it below.

One of the best diuretic. It is also a laxative, Expectorant – It helps to eject phlegm. Refrigerant – It is body coolant. Anthelmintic –Destroys worms! Febrifuge – Mitigates fever. Stomachic – Strengthens the stomach. Diaphoretic – it promotes perspiration. It induces vomiting in large doses!

Used in treatment of - Swelling, Skin diseases, Nervous weakness, Habitual constipation, Ascites, Paralysis, Blood pressure, Hepatic disorders, Bronchial problems, Scrofula, Dropsy, Anemia, Heart diseases, Kidney problems, Gonorrhea, Internal colic....etc.

Ingredients:

Mukkarattai Keerai 1 bunch
Onion 1 small roughly chopped
Garlic 5 beads
Tomato 1 small chopped
Dry red chilies 5 chopped
Tamarind 1 lemon size (soaked in water and pureed)
Cooked thoor dal 1 cup(optional)
Salt
Sesame oil few spoons.

For Sesonning:

Thalippu Vadagam 1 spoon
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seds 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Chana dal 1/2 spoon
Urad dal 1/2 spoon
Dry red chilies 3 - splitted
Curry leaves few
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Wash and clean the greens. Cut away the thick stem, retain the soft stems and leaves alone.

In a wok, heat few spoons of oil. Add chilies, garlic, onion and toamto and saute for few minutes.

Then add greens, salt and tamarind water to it. Cover and cook....till they wilt.

Now grind them coarsely using mann-chatti/kal-chatti.

In a seperate pan, heat oil. Add the sesonning items one by one, wait till they pop and splutter. Now run this sesonning over the masiyal made above.

Serve warm to go with palin rice. Adding steamed rice to the mann-chatti and make a earthern pot meal - tastes better this way too!

Egg Puffs

Egg Puffs:

Muttai Puffs.

When I was in College+University.....this was my favorite snack! Myself and my friend Shridevi used to go to bakery in the evenning, get egg/chicken puffs and eat them during tea time! Awesome......gossips, puffs, tea.....whatelse can make a perfect day. Hostel life was full of fun! There were very few good bakeries in the city, where they use good quality butter and puffs used to be crispy. Neverthless....stuffings should be whole some too! Shri used to fight with me...if she happens to get the crooked eggs in her puff! Boy that was some time.

Now after experimenting...nearly everyday, in my kitchen. All the sudden I thought...why can't I have my fav' snack! So I penned it in my shopping list to get some puff pastry sheets, this weakend! Again....I felt like...why can't I fix my own puff sheet, afterall. Although I mastered the art of making homemade Barottas...but never ever attempted to make my own pastry sheets till today. So....now since there are no such bakery(with Indian touch). I thought of making this puff at home, all by myself!

When it comes to making puff, one could buy ready made puff sheets in the stores! Or try making your own, its no big a deal. Help yourself with the recipe!

I know what is going on in your mind! Why all the puffs looks so dissimilar to each other! Well....we made this during one of those my cooking classes...so each one ended up with different shapes...ha ha! All my guest students were experimenting their own!

Ingredients:

For Puff Pastry Sheets:

All purpose flour 1 cup
All purpose flour for dusting 1 cup
Egg whites from 1 egg (for egg wash)
Butter 1 whole stick
Salt as per taste
Baking soda 1/4 spoon
Warm water

For Egg Masala:

Eggs 2 boiled and peeled
Onion 1 large finely chopped
Garlic 2 bead minced
Ginger 1" grated
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coriander seeds powder 1 spoon
Cumin seeds powder 1 spoon
Garam masala powder 1/4 spoon
Cilantro leaves few
Mint leaves few chopped
Oil few spoons.

Method:

In a wok, heat oil. Add ginger-garlic and onions...fry them real good, till golden color.

Add all the powdered spices and bring them to masala consistency. Add whole boiled eggs and make this sit for a while. Garnish with cilantro and mint leaves. Set aide to cool down to room temperature.

Make a smooth fissure less dough using just warm water + salt and soda.

Make qual parts out of them. Knead them to paper thin.....bast with clarified butter and dust them with flour. Now fold them as shown in the picture. Repeat the same procedure over and over for atleast 4-6 times. So you will end up having neat thick square sheet.

Repeat the smae for all the remaining equal parts of the doungh.

The more you knead over and over....the more the layers. The more you bast with butter...the more the crispyness.

Well...now to the each of the sheet....coat them with egg white(egg wash). Then placea spoon full of masala and half sliced egg. Cover thema nd seal teh edges. Repeat the same for as many as puffs you want!

Once again bast the outer sides of the puff with butter. Place them over butter papers, in an oven safe container. (Note: Aluminium foil could actually burn the puffs to char before it is done thouroughly) Bake them over 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Often bast them in between with butter.

Enjoy with ketchup as an evenning snack.

Rasam Idly

Rasam Idly:

This is my friend Balaji's favourite dish. When we were studying in Hyderabad. Soon after the class....myself and Balaji used to have brunch at this small cafeteria. Our usuals would be pessarattu, vadai and irania chai. So....we never bothered to try anything new. One fine day.....we happen to stop at this place at a very unusual time, late in the evenning! Maybe they did it on purpose/simply threw all the left overs into this dish....god only knows! But Balaji started liking it. If I remember it correct...the guy had kind of cold that day...and was happy to see pepper rich rasam and his comforting food idly. This later became...kind of addiction to that dork and started to visit that place in the evennings as well! Strange!!!

Though its not my cup of tea....I guess....some people may find it interesting! To keep it interesting....prepare a fresh batch of Tangy rasama nd fresh idlies!!!

Ingredients:

Tamarind Rasam(freshly prepared, a pot full)
Warm, soft Idlies(6-8)
Cilantro leaves.

Method:

So nothing much to talk about this recipe. Make a crock pot full of pepper-cumin rich Tamarind based rasam and sink in 4-6 warm idlis in it. Let that really sit for a while before serving. Microwave just before serving and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Vanjiram Chettinad Fry

Vanjiram Chettinad Varuval:

Spicy King Fish Fry. Fried Spicy King Fish. Deep Fried King Fish. Hot n SPicey Fried Fish.

This is shallow fried spicy king fish. One of the amazing fish for frying. It just has one central bone and few pinbones thats it! Even an amertuer cook can fix this dish easily! One good speciality abou tthis fish is...one can slice it has thin as he want. We call that 'Blade cut fish' back there!!!

Ingredients:

King fish fillets 4-6
Fennel seeds 1 spoon
Cloves 2
Cinnamon 1
Coriander seeds 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 3
Peppercorns 1 spoon
Garlic 2 beads minced
Ginger 1" grated
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1/4 spoon
Lemon juice 2 spoons
Tamarind paste 1 spoon
Egg whites from 1 egg
Oil for shallow frying
Curry leaves to garnish.

Method:

Make a smooth marinatation with allt he above said ingredients(expect fish, oil & Curry leaves).

Now bast this masala over the fillets. Allow this set-up to sit for at least 2 whole hours.

Shallow fry them in warm oil till dark brown and crisp.

Garnish with fried curry leaves too!

Serve to go with your South Indian Meals.

Thin Omlette

Thin Omlette:

Large & Thin Omlette.

I could never forget this incidence....when talking about 'Omlette'. While I was at Hyderabad.....Selva my friend...was doing his M.V.Sc(back then). His project was all about Emu chick and stuff. One fine day....he came to visit me. He was so happy that all his practicals were super dooper hit that weak and he was kind of enthu' filled. So.....he went on explaining all about his practicals! Since....he hatched these emu eggs in his lab....all those lil chicks used to follow him....as he walked with pride in the lab. He was so happy for that. I never seen an Emu chick before(at that time). I just had only theoretical knowledge. So I was with multiple questions. When he said...the eggs of an Emu are green, they weigh about a pound or so.....it was like wow! As he said...the yolk could be as big as this plate of your's Malar(I had about15'centi radius plate, I guess)! Something.....made me to ask this question, then(which I still regret).....'So....tell me Selva Sir......how does the Omelette taste like?" Ahhh.....I killed the man in one question. I broke his heart! He almost shattered into pieces. He gave me that stunning look and was speechless for a moment! 'Oh Malar...how could you, how could you, how could you ever think like that.....they are like my babies.....my whole research is with them....never thought...of making an omeltte with them......balah blah blah'

Whenever I make an extra big omelette....I think of Emu Eggs and Selva Sir! Gosh...I miss those people and that fun time together!

Ingredients:

What else....Eggs!
Cheese(I didnt use any....going on diet, after vacation)
Chilies1 - deseed & slice
Onion sliced
Cilantro leaves few
Salt
Milk 1 cup
Pepper(optional)
Olive oil.

Method:

Mix all the above together except oil. Make a thin crepe over an hot griddle(which was previously smeared with oil).

Garnish with cheese once again! Serve to go with your breakfast!