Kothamalli Thokku / Cilantro Pickle - Grandma's Style

Kothamalli Thokku:(Tamizhar Style)

Cilanthro Pickle. Coriander Pickle. Malli Thokku. Dhaniya Patta - Achaar. Kothamir Pachadi. Kothamalli Oorughai. Kothamir Achar.

Ingredients:

Fresh Coriander bunch (roots removed, washed and chopped along with strong stems)- 250 grams
Thick Tamarind paste 1 teaspoon
Sea Salt/Rock Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoons
Chili powder 1 spoon

To be Dry Roasted and Powdered:

Mustard seeds 2 teaspoons
Fenugreek seeds 2 teaspoons

For Tempering:

Sesame oil
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Cumin 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon

Method:

Discard the roots and wash the coriander. Lay them over kitchen tissues, until moisture is absorbed. And chop them along with its strong stems, maybe 1 inch size.

Shadow dry them over kitchen tissues again.

In a large non-stick wok, heat oil. Add tempering items. Let them pop and splutter well. Add tamarind milk, salt, turmeric and chili powders. Cook without lid over high heat. Once it thickens, add the fenugreek seeds powder plus mustard seeds powder. Followed by cilantro leaves. Cook briefly and remove from heat.

Store them in ceramic or glass jars. Serve a teaspoon full of pickle along with curd rice. Enjoy:)

Stuffed Karela / Stuffed Bitter Gourd

Stuffed Pavakkai:(Re Posting)

Gutti Kaakarkaye. Pavakka Nirachadhu. Masala Pavakkai. Pavakkai Masala.

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd/ Bitter Melon - 4-8
Red onions finely chopped 1 large bowl full
Tomatoes 4 finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste 1 teaspoon
Jaggery/brown sugar 1 gooseberry size
Garam masala powder 1/2 spoon
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coriander powder 1 spoon
Cumin seeds powder 1 spoon
Curry leaves few
Cumin seeds
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

1. Trim the ends of the gourd. Scrap away the serrated ridges. Wash and clean. Now, make an incision at one end vertically. Remove the pith and seeds, using back of a spoon or any instrument of your choice.

2. Now one could steam cook the gourd for 10 minutes. When the vegetable is semi done, set aside. I skipped this step tho'.

3. Heat oil, in a pan...add cumin seeds, allow this to pop and crackle. Then add ginger-garlic paste. Fry them for a while and followed by onions. Fry till they are translucent. Add tomatoes plus jaggery, cover and cook over medium heat.

4. Add salt, turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin and garam masala powders. When the masala turns aromatic enough, turn off the heat.

5. Stuff this masala into bitter gourd. One can stitch the gourd using needle and thread or simply leave it.

6. Heat oil in a pan. Add this stuffed vegetable and remaining masala too. Fry them over high heat, without lid. Let the vegetable turn to golden brown color and slightly crispy.

Garnish with fried curry leaves. Serve this side dish for Pulkah roti or curd rice. Enjoy:)

Pudhina Thuvaiyal / Mint Thuvaiyal - Grandma's Recipe

Pudhina Thuvaiyal:(Tamil Nadu Style)

Ingredients:

Coconut grated 1/4 cup
Mint leaves 1-2 cups
Cilantro 1/2 bunch
Curry leaves from few twigs
Salt
Tamarind 1/4 spoon
Ginger 2" grated
Garlic 4 cloves minced
Urad dal 1 table spoon
Coriander seeds 1 table spoon
Dry red chilies chilies 5
Sesame oil few spoons.

For Tempering:

Sesame oil
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Asafoetida
Chan+urad dal
Dry red chilies
Curry leaves.

Method:
Heat oil, in a wok. Fry coriander seeds and urad dal, once they are well roasted...add the other ingredients to it, continue frying. When they turn aromatic...blend and puree them.

Now, add the remaining oil in an iron wok(but I used the same non-stick, anyway). Add the puree to it...continue cooking over medium heat. Let this reduce and become heavy.

Temper the spices in hot oil and run this seasoning over the thuvaiyal made.

Serve this as a side dish for Birinji Saadham.

Baghara Tamatar - Getting my Creative Tabs Working!

Tamatar Ki Salan:(Hyderabadi Style)
Bagara Tamatar. Bahara Tamatar. Baghara Tomato. Tamatar Ki Salan.

Ingredients:

Green chilies 3
Tomatoes 4-6
Turmeric 1/4teaspoon
Salt to taste
Tamarind paste 1/4 spoon
Bay leaves 2

Roast each separately and powder them together:

Peanuts 1 table spoon
Dry coconut 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon

Fry in little oil and wet grind these to paste:

Onion
Tomato
Garlic grated
Ginger grated

Method:

Slit the tomatoes and chilies, fill in with ground powders. Set aside

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add bay leaves.

Add remaining ground powders, and wet-ground paste. Fry them till oil separates. Add salt, tamarind paste and a cup of water.

Add stuffed chilies, tomatoes and boil till gravy thickens and oil shows up on the top.

Serve hot with parathas or chapattis or Dhum Biriyani.

Stuffed Tinda / Gutti Dondakaya - Andhra Special

Stuffed Kovaikkai:(Andhra Special)

Kovakka Nirachadhu. Gutti Dondakaya. Stuffed Tinda. Stuffed Tindora. Bharwa Tindora.

My Mommy never bought nor prepared Tinda at home. As a child never saw this vegetable. My whole life was from hostel to hostel and mess to mess. I sometimes really missed how the food tastes at home:(

When I was in Tamil Nadu hostel...I used to hate this vegetable, used to be angry at the mess boys saying 'eppavume kovaikkai sambhar thaana:(' (always tinda sambhar' eh).

My attitude completely changed when I moved to Hyderabad. I understood that this is such a delicate vegetable. Its all in the hands of cook, right. Typical Andhra meals are hot and spicy, which indeed turned me a foodie, later. My cooking passion also got shaped slowly. Stuffed Tinda is one of delicacy there, with myriad flavors.

Ingredients:

Kovaikai/tinda/dondakai 1/4 kilo
Ginger-garlic paste
Onion paste
Salt
Turmeric
Chili powder
Sesame oil few spoons.

To be Toasted and Powdered:

Coriander seeds 2 spoons
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Pepper 1/2 spoon
Cloves 2
Cinnamon 1 stick
Poppy seeds 1/2 spoon
Sesame seeds 2 spoons
Dry red chilies 5
Dry coconut 2 spoons.

Method:

Slit the veggie twice and boil them for 10 minutes.

In a wide wok, heat oil and fry ginger-garlic and onion...add the spices to it. Now puree them.

Stuff the above masala in the vegetable.

Once again, heat oil in a wide wok...add these stuffed vegetable and stir-fry over high heat. Once the oil shows up on the sides plus the raw odour of the masalas are gone, its done.

Serve to go with your rotis or plain steamed rice.

Mushroom Pepper Masala

Kalaan Milagu Varuval:

Mushroom Masala. Mushrooms Thokku. Mushrooms & Onions Stir-fry. Fried Mushroom Masala. Hot and Spicy Mushroom Masal. Pepper Mushrooms, Peppery-Mushrooms.

Sometimes, I really go off the key - what to rant about! And its so boring to praise myself in each and every post. Come on, its bit awkward to claim my own creation as the best and great...it should actually come from the person who enjoyed it, right. So, this dish is highly appreciated by Someone (to whom, I painstakingly create every meal). Yeah, yeah its worthy...I get the appreciation, whenever Someone goes for second helpings.:)

Ingredients:

Button Mushrooms 1 cup, thinly sliced
Green chili 1 sliced
Onions 2 large, thinly sliced
Garlic 2 - minced
Ginger 1" grated
Tomato 1 small chopped
Curry leave few
Salt
Turemric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1/4 spoon
Pepper powder - freshly ground 2-4 spoons
Garam masala powder 1/4 spoon
Corinader seeds - 1/2 spoon - toasted & powdered
Cumin seeds - 1/2 spoon - toasted & powdered
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed skillet. Add curry leaves, chilies, ginger, garlic and onions. Stir-fry over high. Add tomatoes, and all the above mentioned powdered spices.

Further add the mushrooms and cook over medium heat. Maybe cover it with a lid.

When it is almost done, remove the lid and cook over high heat, stir-fry for couple of minutes or until oil shows up on the sides.

Serve to go with your rotis or enjoy with steamed rice.

Ande Do Pyaaz

Ande Do Piyaaz:

Onion-Eggs. Muttai Vengaya Thokku. Guddilu-Ulli Kura. Mutta-Ulli Kari.

Sometime quick fix recipes like this, lights up the dinner menu. Nothing fancy...just threw-in few basic spices and centered it with eggs.

Ingredients:

Eggs 2-4
Onions - more sliced
Green chilies few sliced
Coriander seeds toasted 1/2 spoon - powdered
Cumin seeds toasted 1/2 spoon - powdered
Cilantro leaves few
Garam masala - 1 pinch
Oil
Coriander seeds + Cumin seeds for tempering.

Method:

Boil the eggs and slit them at 3-6 points, set aside.

In a wide wok, heat oil and add the tempering spices, followed by chilies, onions and salt. Fry over high heat for a while and add eggs. Stir-fry for couple of more minutes and remove from heat.

Perfect with plain steamed rice or serve as an accompaniment to your main meal.

Layered Vada Korma - Kovai Special

Stuffed Vada Curry:(Coimbatore Special)

Layered Vadai Kuzhambu. Stuffed Vada Kurma.

Ingredients:

For Vadai:

Thoor dal 1/2 cup
Chana dal 1/2 cup
Salt
Fennel seeds 1 spoon
Ginger 1"
Garlic 1 clove
Dry red chilies 5
No Oil - I steamed them, if you prefer frying...I have no objection:)

For Stuffing:

Finely chopped onions
Cilantro leaves chopped
Grated fresh coconut

For Curry:

Cloves 3
Cinnamon 1 stick
Bay leaves 2
Onion 2 grated
Tomatoes 3 crushed
Ginger=garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coconut paste 1/2 cup
Cilantro leaves to garnish
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Wet-grind vada ingredients altogether and prepare vadas, stuff them with the ingredients mentioned above. Steam cook for roughly 10-15 minutes or deep fry them, set aside.

In a wide wok, heat oil. Throw in the spices followed by onion, ginger and garlic paste...fry real good till the raw odour leaves the pan.

Add salt, turmeric, chili powder and tomatoes. Cover and cook for few minutes...until the gravy thinckens. Add stuffed vadas and cook briefly. Garnish with cilantro leaves and remvoe from heat.

Serve to go with your rotis or rice.

Madras Masala Paal - Spiced Milk

Saravana Bhavan Style Masala Paal:

Towards Madras, many highway restaurants have this special beverage on their menu 'Spiced Milk'. The milk is reduced into half of its original content by constant boiling over low heat. The addition of almond puree, piyal seeds, saffron and cardamom makes it highly flavorful. They smartly place their huge vessels filled with 'Masala Paal' outside their restaurants...definitely there will be a person sitting next to it, stirring it constantly. Its a way to tempt the passengers to indulge in their place. And who could possibly resist this aroma, right.

Ingredients:

Farm fresh whole milk 1 litre
Almond puree cup
Saffron 1/4 spoon - powdered
Cardamom 6 crushed and powdered
Sugar to taste
Piyal seeds (sarai parupu)4 teaspoons
Nutmeg 1 small crushed
Cinnamon 1 stick
Cloves 3.

Method:

In a wide vessel, heat milk with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. Boil milk over low heat for more time. Once the milk is reduced to half of its originally content, filter the same..throw away the spices.

Now tot his reduced milk, add saffron, sugar, almond puree and piyal seeds. Boil briefly.

Serve warm as a bed time beverage, dose off:)

Yennai Kathirikai - The Unconventional Way

Yennai Kathirikai Masala:

Ennai Kathirikkai Masala. Brinjal Masala.

My whole blog's only goal is to achieve the authentic preparation of my regional recipes. And the word authentic' makes no sense sometimes...as most of the spices(integral part of Indian cuisine)are brought to India through early rulers and travelers. Imagine the food without chili powder! It must have been once authentic!! It is so hard to believe that, people managed with only native vegetables(that doesn't include potatoes cauliflower, beans, peas, cabbage, turnips, carrots, radish, snow peas, chow chow, beets, etc). What Rama would have eaten? How vegetarians were once content with just turkey berries and wild greens!!! Its really mind blowing.

Anyhow, coming back to the point, even though at each and every post I claim 'Authentic Preparation' I really feel awkward using such phrase. All I could say is, I just try to retain some level of perfection, what my Mom and Grandma cooked. That is why I keep asking country dwellers and old people...how they temper their food, whats the method of making perfect curry and so on.

Well, Yennai Kathirikai/ Spicy Eggplant Masala is a specialty dish in my area. We make it entirely different. Take a look here, please. When AK cooked his family adopted version, I was all skeptical to take a bite. I couldn't agree that this is also called 'Yennai Kathirikkai'(with zero tamarind and lots of poppy seeds and no tempering at all)!!! As I told you before' I like the food, cooked other than myself' very much (yes, sometimes it happens). Now, started appreciating all the (so called)unconventional recipes(??) as well.:) This tasted great:)

Ingredients:

Small Violet eggplants 6-8
Green chilies 3 slitted
Curry leaves
Garlic 6 cloves
Puprple onions 6 small- sliced
Tomatoes 6 small - chopped
Poppy seeds 2 spoons
Cashew nuts 5
Grated coconut 1/2 shell
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Salt
Turemric 1/2 spoon
CHili powder 1-2 spoons
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Blend 2 onion, 2 tomatoes along with salt, turmeric and chili powder. Set aside - step 1.

Wet-grind poppy seeds, coconut, 1 green chili, cumin seeds and cashew nuts. Set aside step-2.

In a wide wok, heat oil. Add wet ground paste number 1. Saute till the raw odour leaves the pan.

Followed by remaining chilies, onion, garlic...fry real good. Add tomatoes and continue frying.

Now, add sliced egg plants. Cover and cook. Once the egg-plants are half the way done, add the wet-ground paste 2. Remove the lid and cook for a brief period, once the oil shows up on the sides, its done.

Serve to go with chappathis and rotis.