Nellikkai saadham/ Amla rice

Amla Rice is a very heart-warming, easy to do, delicious, nutritionally loaded rice that can be had as a meal with something as humble as a papad or raitha to a poricha kootu.

Ingredients:

Amla ( big ones)                                           7 nos
Brown Rice  or white rice                              2 cups (cooked)
Lemon / Lemon juice                                    1 nos / 2 tsp
Salt                                                              As needed


To temper

Oil                                                              1 tblspn
Mustard seeds                                              1/2 tsp
Curry leaves                                                 1 sprig
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                           1 tsp
Green chillies                                                3 nos split into 2 pieces each


Method

1.) Grate amlas and discard the seeds. If using frozen amlas thaw it overnight in the refrigerator or keeping it at room temperature for a night.
2.) Take a large stir fry pan and heat. Add oil and mustard seeds to splutter.
3.) Add kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal and fry until golden borwn. Add green chillies and fry till change in colour. Add curry leaves to splutter.
4.) Add the amla gratings to fry it for a little longer than a minute. Add salt to it.
5.) Remove it from the stove and add juice from one full lemon or add a tsp of lemon juice.
6.) Add cooked rice and mix well. Leave it for 5 minutes for the flavours to infuse,

Nellikkai saadham/ Amla rice is ready. It is a quick to make and a tangy-yummy rice that can be had with just appalam, vadaam/vathal, or it makes an awesome combo with avarakkai poricha  kootu.

My special tip would be to request you to use brown sona masoori rice for this recipe, as the taste of this amla rice is great with brown rice and the white one.

For more information:

My experiments with brown rice Part 1

My experiments with brown rice - Part 2

My experiments with brown rice - Epilogue

My mom's special tomato chutney

This is the chutney that my mom used to make for our tiffen boxes when she is left with very little time in the morning rush-hour. We call it 'avasara chutney' - meaning  "Hurry-burry chutney" and tastes awesome! It has very few ingredients and has no prep-time at all!

Ingredients

Tomato                                5 nos
Red chillies                          5 nos
Salt                                      As needed

To temper

Oil                                     2 tblspns
Mustard seeds                     1/2 tsp
Asafoetida                           1 pinch


Method:

1. Grind tomatoes, red chillies and salt together with little water to a runny paste.
2. In a hot stir fry pan, add oil, mustard seeds to splutter and asafoetida. 
3. Add this runny paste, mix well and bring it to a boil. 
4. Let it simmer for 10-15 mins. Mix it well every few minutes to ensure even cooking and no burning.
5. Between the 10 and  15 minute mark, the oil begins to separate, the mixture will be thickened and the raw smell of tomatoes will be gone. That is when the chutney is ready.

This quick and easy chutney can be had with idlies, dosas, pongal, vadas and chappathis. 

Vazhaithandu thayir pachadi/ Banana stem raitha

This recipe of vazhaithandu thayir pachadi is from my mother in law. I have had both kari/poriyal and morkootu of vazhaithandu but never a thayir pachadi. It tasted as awesome as the other two. All of us know how amazing banana stem/vazhaithandu is, with regards to both taste (juicy and fibrous at the same time) and health. It is an arduous process to cut and clean it, but the procedure after it gets done under 5 minutes. So, let us indulge in one more recipe of this wonder stem.

Ingredients:

Vazhaithandu/Banana stem                                  1 nos
Plain natural Yogurt/Curd                                    1 cup
Salt                                                                    As needed

To temper

Oil                                                                    1 tsp
Mustard seeds                                                    1/2 tsp


Method

1. Clean, peel and cut banana stem/vazhaithandu. Cut it as shown in the video link, as small as you can. ( Ppl who do not speak or understand tamil, pls bear with me as I thought the video without audio is self-explanatory. If I find another material in english, I will provide the link here too).
2. Drain water in which we had cut vazhaithandu/banana stem. Add yogurt/curd and salt to it and mix well.
3. Heat iluppakarandi/small stir fry pan. Add oil and mustard seeds to splutter. Add this on top of raitha/thayir pachadi.

Vazhaithandu thayir pachadi is ready to be had with rasam and  sambhar rice.

Vathal kozhambhu/ Vethakozhambhu

Any tambram cooking blog is not complete without its vethakozhambhu/vathal kozhambhu recipe. I am combining three recipes to a single post as they are mild variations to the same basic recipe. The recipes that I am sharing here are Vethakozhambhu/ Vathal kozhambhu, Vendhaya kozhambhu and Pachai milagai ennai kozhambu. 

Vathal kozhambhu / Vetha kozhambu:

Ingredients:

Nallennai (Idhayam or til ka thel)                                                    - 2 tsps 

Mustard seeds                                                                               - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida Powder                                                                         - 1 pinch

Vathal (either vendaikkai or pagarkkai or sundaikkai or manathakkali) - 1.5 tsps

Tamarind                                                                                       - Big lemon sized ball

Sambar powder                                                                              - 1.5 tsps

Salt                                                                                               - as needed

Procedure:

1.) Soak tamarind pulp and make medium consistency syrup and keep it aside

2.) heat oil in a saucepan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter

3.) Add asafoestida powder and vathal immediately next to each other. Let vathal get fried.

4.) Add tamarind syrup to this and sambhar powder. Mix well

5.) Reduce the heat to medium and let the mixture boil for 5 minutes. 

6.) Add salt and allow it to boil until the raw smell of tamarind syrup and sambhar powder goes off. It takes between 10-15 mins. Remove from heat and have it with rice.

Vendhaya kozhambhu or more colloquially mendhiya kozhambu:

It is only a slight variation from vathal kozhambu...

While tempering add half a teaspoon of vendhayam (methi seeds) and fry until golden brown. 

Instead of vathal add veggies . Veggies that are used here are vendaikkai, brinjal/eggplant, kothavarangai(guvar)/cluster beans, pagarkkai (karela)/ bitter gourd, onion (cut very fine), drumstick, parangikkai (red pumpkin). One can use only one veggie for a making. It makes vendakkai vendhaya kozhambu... like that. Let the veggie vadhangify/cook a  a little before you add tamarind syrup. Rest of the steps are the same.

Pacha milagai/ Green chili ennai kozhambhu:

Again this is a slight variation.

During tempering after adding vendhayam/methi seeds and making it brown, Add 5 to 6 green chillies broken/slit into 2.

Instead of adding 1.5 tsps of sambar powder add only 1 tsp as pachai milagai/ green chili already is hot.

This kozhambhu doesnt have any veggies. The flavor and kaaram (heat - not the temperature heat ... it is the taste that I refer to here.) of green chillies rule :) Rest of the steps are the same.

DO NOT TRY EATING THE CHILLIES. :) After mixing with rice, discard them

Beans paruppu usili

Sunday and paruppu usili just go with each other so well, as to ice-cream and indulgence. Any south indian vegetarian would devour paruppu usili which is a side dish preparation usually had with vethakozhambhu rice or morkozhambhu rice. This side-dish is not light on the tummy, so  we do not make any other side-dish along with it . We either deep fry appalams or vadaams/vathals to be had as luxury meals :) . In my husband's side of the family or my side of the family for that matter, we begin our meal by directly mixing this paruppu usili with rice/saadham and ghee (called paruppu usili saadham) and we will have vetha kozhambhu/morkozhambhu and appalam/vadaam/vathal as side dish for that. Then we proceed on to have vethakozhambhu rice/ morkozhambhu rice making this as the side dish.

Paruppu usili

Ingredients

Beans                                    250 gms
Toor dhal                               1 and 1/4 cup
Red chillies                            5 - 6 nos as per spice level
Salt                                        As needed
Asafoetida                              2-3  pinches
Curry leaves                           2 sprigs
Oil                                         3 - 4 tblspns
Mustard seeds                         1/2 tsp

Method

1. Soak toor dhal for 20 mins in water
2. Grind it along with red chillies, salt, asafoetida ( 1 pinch), curry leaves and a portioon of salt for paruppu usili to a coarse paste by adding  very little water.
3. Divide it into portions and fill it in idli plates.
4. Pressure cook it when you pressure cook rice and other stuff for that day's samayal.
5. Simultaneously wash and cut french beans as small as possible.
6. Take a stir fry pan, add 1.5 cups of water and add beans. Let it boil and cook for 10-15 mins until beans is cooked and soft. Add a portion of salt for beans.
7. Let it cook for 3-4 mins further and drain excess water.
8. Take the paruppu usili adais out of the idli plates and let it cool by cutting it to pieces. After it is cooled, semi-powder either in a mixie or by mashing it between your fingers.
9. Heat a stir fry pan, add 2 tblspns of oil, add mustard seeds to splutter. Bring heat to low. Add remaining asafoetida and the semi-powdered paruppu usili. Mix well uniformly. Bring the heat to medium. Leave it for 2 mins.
10. Mix well again and leave it for 2 mins. Add the cooked drained beans and mix well. At this point add another tblspn of oil and mix well and leave it on the stove for 5 mins, mixing well every minute.
11. Add another tblspn of oil ( only if necessary), mix well and let it cook for 5 more minutes, mixing well in-between.
12. Switch off the stove and beans paruppu usili is ready to  be served with vethakozhambhu rice or morkozhambu rice.

Ponnankanni keerai puli kuthi kootu

This puli kuthi kootu is my maternal grand-mom's special. She used to say this while making this kootu  "Ponnanganni la puli vitta pona kannum thirumbhi varum" meaning ... If ponnanganni keerai is cooked with tamarind and had, even blind can start seeing. It is such a powerful keerai. This preparation is so so yummy too.

Ponnanganni keerai photo courtesy indiamart

Ingredients:

Ponnanganni keerai             - 250 gms
Tamarind                           - 1 lemon sized ball
Toor dhal                           - 1/4 cup
Sambhar powder                - 1.5 tsps
Asafoetida                          - 1 pinch
Salt                                     - As needed
Turmeric powder               - 1/4 tsp
Ground nuts                      - A handful
Karuvadaam                        - 5 - 7 pieces ( optional) *

Masala Powder - to grind

Toor dhal                             - 1 tsp
Red chilli                             - 1 nos
Coriander seeds                   - 1 tsp
Coconut shredded /
Dessicated coconut powder - 1 tsp

To temper

Canola oil                            - 1 tsp + 1.5 tblspns for frying karuvadaam( if using) *
Mustard seeds                      - 1 tsp
Methi seeds/ Vendhayam    - 1 tsp
Asafoetida                           - 1 pinch



Method:

1.) Pressure cook toor dhal with turmeric powder and enough water.
2.) Soak a handful of groundnuts in warm water just enough to immerse it, for 15 mins.
3.) Soak tamarind in lukewarm water and extract syrup as done while making sambhar
4.) Separate ponnanganni keerai from its stem and cut it as small as you can.
5.) Heat a saucepan in low- medium heat and add a tsp of oil.
6.) Add mustard seeds to splutter, add vendhayam/ methi seeds and fry till golden brown.
7.) Add asafoetida and then add cut ponnanganni keerai.
7.) Mix well and let it cook for 5 minutes in low heat mixing well every minute and then add soaked groundnuts along with its water.
8.) Add tamarind syrup, sambhar powder, asafoetida and stir well to mix everything.
9.) Let it come to a boil and allow it to simmer for 10- 15 mins until ponnanganni keerai is cooked, within which the raw flavour of sambhar powder and tamarind syrup would have been replaced by a wonderful cooked aroma.
10.) Add the desired amount of salt and let it simmer for 3 more minutes
11.) Add pressure cooked toor dhal and stir well. If there is not enough water, add very little to bring it to the consistency of a stew and let it boil for 5 minutes.
12.) In a small flat pan dry roast toor dhal, red chilli, coriander seeds until toor dhal turns glden brown. Bring the heat to low and add shredded coconut/ dessicated coconut powder. Fry till it turns golden brown. Grind this to a powder.
13.) Add this powder to the preparation and mix thoroughly. Let it come to a boil in low to medium heat,
14.) Add 1.5 tblspns of oil to a hot iluppa karandi or a  hot small stir fry pan. Heat oil. Add karuvadaams and fry till golden brown. Take the karuvadaams out of the oil. Drain excess oil and quickly add to  ponnanganni keerai puli kuthi kootu. Mix well. *

 Ponnanganni keerai puli kuthi kootu is ready.


It can be had with hot rice and potato/arbi (seppankizhangu)/ raw plantain (vazhakkai) fry.

Note

* Karuvadaam belongs to vadaam ( vathal) family and is made with just urad dhal (ulundhu) and  sun-dried. They are about a cm in diameter and add unique texture and flavour when fried and added to all puli kuthi kootu preparations. For me these puli kuthi kootu preparations are never complete without karuvadaams although it is completely optional and the kootu tastes out of the world without them too.

For curious readers and cooking enthusiasts, if you are interested in the making, I am planning to share the recipe of it in one of the future posts. I will link this recipe to that post too when I do it.

Nellikkai thogayal/ Amla coarse chutney

Nellikkai thogayal is a tangy thogayal that is very refreshing in its taste. One can't reiterate the nutritonal bonus that comes with nellikkai/Amla. It is very easy to make this thogayal.

Nellaikai thogayal

Ingredients:

Amla /Nellikkai                                  200 gms (big ones)

Red chillies                                        5-6 nos depending on the spice level

Thuvaram paruppu/Toor dhal               2 tblspns

Ulutham paruppu/ Urad dhal                3 tblspns

Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                 3 tblspns

Asafoetida                                          1 pinch

Salt                                                    As needed

Oil                                                     3 tsps

Method

1. Cut nellikkai/amla to small pieces and discard the seeds. If using frozen amla, place it in the fridge from freezer for a night to thaw and then it can be used . I have used frozen amla here.

Cut nellikkai/ Amla

2.  Take a stir fry pan , add oil in it, add all the dhals/paruppus and red chillies and asafoetida powder  and heat in medium flame .

Paruppus and milagai for thogayal

3.) Add cut nellikkai and mix well and let it cook until the dhals turn golden brown and nellikkai/amla is cooked soft ( but not too soft)

Everything together

4.  Grind everything together with salt to a coarse paste adding very little water as soon below. Nellikkai thogayal is ready.

Nellikkai thogayal

It can be had with hot rice mixing it with nallennai/sesame seed oil. It tastes great with any poricha kootu and appalam. 

Peerkangai puli masiyal / Mashed Ridge gourd and tamarind gravy

My mom used to make this awesome puli masiyal/ mashed gravy of ridge-gourd and I used to devour it. I thought she was the one who came up with this recipe. It was only in my early adulthood, I learnt that my paati (grand-mom) used to make it and she learnt it from her. This is one more dish that I am adding to the peerkangai/ridge-gourd recipes that is tantalizingly tasty.

Peerkangai/Ridgegourd

Ingredients

Ridgegourd                                                250 gms

Tamarind                                                   1 big lemon sized ball

Groundnuts                                                 handful

Sambhar powder                                          1 and 1/4 tsp

Salt                                                            As needed

To temper

Indian Sesame oil/ Til ka thel                       1 tblspn

Mustard seeds                                             1/2 tsp

Green chillies                                              2 nos slit

Vendhayam/Methi seeds                               1/2 tsp

Asafoetida                                                   1 pinch

Method

1. Soak groundnuts in  warm water (very little, just to immerse it) for 15 mins.
2. Simultaneously, peel peerkangai/ridge-gourd completely( none of the green peel should be left. We can save the peels for peerkangai thol thogayal/ Ridge-gourd peel chutney)and cut to tiny square pieces as we cut them for kootu.
3.  Soak tamarind in warm water and extract tamarind syrup.
4. Heat a saucepan in low to medium heat and add sesame oil. Add mustard seeds to splutter
5. Add methi seeds and fry till golden brown. Add slit green chillies and fry till it changes color.
6. Add asafoetida and let the powder fry. Add cut peerkangai/ridge-gourd and bring the heat to low. Mix thoroughly until all the tempered ingredients and peerkangai mixes well. Then bring the heat to medium-low. Ridge-gourd/peerkangai waters itself a little and cooks . Let it cook for 3-4 mins. Keep mixing occasionally and mash it a little. It should not become completely mushy. It should retain its shape a little and should be mashed a little. 
7. After half-cooking peerkangai/ridge-gourd, add soaked groundnuts along with its water and mix well. Leave it for a minute.
8. Now add the extracted tamarind syrup and  sambhar powder and mix well and let it come to a boil. Let the mixture boil thoroughly for 10- 15 more mins until the raw smell of sambhar powder changes to a nice aroma. 
9. Add salt, stir well and let it boil for 5 mins and switch off the stove.

Peerkangai puli masiyal / Mashed Ridge-gourd and tamarind gravy is ready to be had with hot rice and any vegetable side dish.  It goes very well with curd rice and dosas too as a side dish.

Kambu adai / Pearl millet adai / Bajra adai

Kambu/ Pearl millet/ Bajra is very rich in calcium and has a lot of protein too. My father always and always recommends me to use kambu in my kitchen often.  It helps in intestinal transit, it is rich in phosphorus and B vitamins , has a wider nutrient spectrum, obviously. I have always loved kambu/bajra a lot because of its unique taste and flavor. My grand-mom left many recipes of kambu to posterity. This is one among them.

Recipe 1 using wholegrain

Ingredients:

Kambu/ Pearl millet (wholegrain)                                 - 1 cup
Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                         - 1 and 1/4 cup
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup
Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup
Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup
Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece
Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level
Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp
Salt                                                                               - As needed
Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak kambu/pearl millet, thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs
2. Grind the soaked dhals and pearl millet along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
3. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp spoon of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Recipe 2 to make with kambu flour/ pearl millet flour

Ingredients:

Kambu/ Pearl millet (flour)                                            - 1 cup

Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                         - 1 and 1/4 cup
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup
Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup
Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup
Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece
Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level
Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp
Salt                                                                               - As needed
Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak  thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs.
2. Mix 1 cup kambu maavu/flour/ pearl millet flour with water to make it to a thick batter. Let it rest like that for 2 -3 hrs.
3. Grind the soaked dhals along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
4. Mix the kambu/pearl millet batter with the ground mixture and let it rest for 30 mins. Mix well. 
5. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp spoon of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Very tasty kambu adai is ready to be had with ghee/butter/plain natural yogurt/vethakozhambhu/aviyal /morkozhambhu/anything you would want to have adai with.

For a variation , dice onions as small as you can and add it to the adai batter and make adais for the mouth watering kambu vengaya adai/ Pearl millet onion adai. Pearl millet goes very well with onions. 

Ragi mini pooris/ Finger millet mini pooris

This is the snack that I concocted along the way as a super last minute way to manage sudden unannounced arrival (Haha...) of hunger and craving for a salt snack. I had some Ragi flour at home and it was the pre-evening (as Jim Parsons, enacting the character of Sheldon Cooper famously says in TBBT.) coffee time. My hubby and myself were planning for a quiet coffee during a weekend when this started. Not having anything to munch-on, I decided to make something. Finding Ragi flour in the pantry, I suddenly got an idea for this and made it. It takes less than 5 minutes to prepare and equally less time to deep fry.

Makes 10 mini-pooris for the quantity below.

Ingredients

Ragi flour/ Finger millet flour         1/2 cup
Salt                                                   As needed
Red chilli powder                            1 tsp
Asafoetida                                       A pinch
Oil                                                   To deep fry

Method

1. In a stir fry pan, take oil to deep fry and heat oil in medium heat.
2. Simultaneously, mix all the dry ingredients together, add a little water and make it to a tough dough like thattai maavu / poori dough.
3. Divide the dough to small balls (1 inch diameter) similar to the size that we make while making thattai. 
4. Grease the hand with little oil and grease a plastic sheet/ziploc. Flatten the balls on a greased ziploc to the size of a thattai (Hehe... now you got me... what I started to make and what I ended up with.... I forgot to make tiny holes on it for the first batch and everything just puffed-up gloriously to mini-pooris.)
5. Test if the oil is hot enough and drop them. They will puff up to pooris 

Have them as hot mini pooris. If, deciding to make some small holes with a toothpick and make it as thattai, please do not fry for long as it tastes a bit bitter. It tastes great as mini-pooris and thattais too. Ragi is rich in calcium. Enjoy this delicious evening snack! It just needs a coffee with it.