Pudhina Chutney (South Indian Style)

Clean and remove the stems from 1/2 bunch of pudhina (mint) and wash the leaves thoroughly, at least three times till all dirt washes off. Drain and keep aside to dry on a paper towel.

Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil. Put in 2 tsp of urad dal. When it is golden brown, add 1 whole red chilli (more chillis if you like the chutney hotter) and 2 pinches of hing and stir once quickly. Put in the drained pudhina leaves and saute for a few minutes. Add a marble sized ball of tamarind (and 1 tbsp grated coocnut , if available) and stir once. Take it off the heat and cool it.

Grind it in the mixie to a fine paste with salt to taste and 1/4 cup of water. (Above picture)

This is the basic recipe for most of the vegetable chutneys and thugaiyals. Substitute coriander leaves or curry leaves for 'kothamalli chutney' and 'karuveppilai chutney'. If it is ground to a thick paste, it is called 'thugaiyal' or 'thuvaiyal'. Thuvaiyal is served as side dish for varitey rice and curd rice and can be prepared in a few minutes.

You make it into a chutney by adding water to make it into a thick pouring consistency. You can serve chutneys as a side dish for dosais, idlis, vadai and even rotis. Optionally, you can season chutneys, before serving, with 1/2 tsp of mustard, 1/2 tsp of urad dal and a few curry leaves spluttered in a tsp of hot oil.

Poondu Kuzhambu

Prepare the ingredients:

Peel a pod of garlic. Keep the cloves whole.

Peel a handful of sambar onions. Cut them into two halves breadthwise.

Cut a big tomato into very small pieces.

Squeeze out juice from a half-lemon sized tamarind ball. Add half tsp of turmeric powder to it.

Method:

Heat a tbsp of sesame oil.

Put in half tsp of fenugreek (vendhyam) seeds and hald tsp of mustard seeds.

When they splutter, put in a few curry leaves. Then add the peeled garlic and sambar onions.

Fry them till the onions turn transparent. Now add 1 tsp of chilli powder (you can add 1 tsp of AAchi kuzhambu masala instead. It tastes very good!), 2 tsp coriander powder and stir well. Add the tomato pieces and 2 tsp of salt. Saute well till the tomato pieces are mashed. Oil will separate now. Add the tamarind water and bring it to boil. You can add a few vegetables or vathals at this stage. (If you add vathals, it becomes vathal kuzhambu. Fry manathakkali vathal when you fry curry leaves and proceed with the recipe as above.)

Drumstick and brinjal smell good. You can add raw banana pieces too. If you add ladies finger pieces, saute them in oil separately beforehand (to remove the stickiness) and add at this stage.

When the vegetable is cooked, the raw smell of tamarind would be gone too. Now add a tsp of pepper powder and simmer for a few minutes. You can add a quarter cup of coconut milk with the pepper powder, for a richer taste.

Ragi Dosai

You can use idli batter for making some more dishes out of it.

For Ragi dosai, take 1 cup of ragi flour and 2 tbsp of idli batter. Mix well. Add 1 tsp of jeera, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp each of chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves and salt to taste. Add enough water to make a pouring consistency.

(If you don't have idli batter, substitute 1/2 cup of rice flour, 1 tbsp of maida and 1 tbsp of sour curds.)

Make dosas using the method followed for adai.

Idli

If you are grinding in a wet grinder this is the proportion:

Parboiled idli rice: 4 cups and  meals rice 1 cup (soaked for 3 hours separately after washing the rice 2 times)

Urad Dal : 1 cup (Take the dal 2 hours after soaking the rice and methi seeds. Wash 3 times and soak just for 1 hour in 3 cups of water. Don't wash again. Use this water for grinding)

Vendhayam (Methi) seeds (optional): 1 tsp. (soaked for 3 hours in a bowl separately, after washing thrice)

Method:

Drain the urad dal and vendhayam. Save the water for use while grinding. Put in the dal and vendhayam together and start the grinding process. Add the water now and then and grind till it is light fluffy. It should take about 20  minutes to incorporate enough air for soft idlis.

Rest the grinder for 15 minutes. Wash rice thoroughly again. Grind it in the machine adding water and mixing with spatula from the top now and then, till it is of a smooth but slightly grainy consistency. You can add half cup cooked rice or half cup washed aval with the riceat first for softer idlis.

Mix the two pastes together with 1 tablespoons of salt. Wash the grinder with 1 cup of water and add this too. The batter should be of easily pouring consistency slightly thinner than cake batter.

Leave it to ferment which should take 5-7 hours in a warm climate. Keep it in the fridge after it had risen. Stir well before use. Make idlis using the idli moulds and steam for 7-10 minutes.

If you are using a mixer:

For 3 cups of parboiled rice, use 1 cup of urad dal.

Venn Pongal

Take 3/4 cup raw rice and 1/4 cup of split greengram (payathamparuppu). Wash it well. Add 3 cups of water and a tsp of salt (or to taste). Pressurecook it for 10 minutes.



Let it cool. Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai. Put in 1 tsp of crushed pepper and 1 tsp jeera. When it splutters add 1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped into pieces, a few curry leaves and 1 inch piece of coconut chopped into very small pieces (coconut optional). Pour it into the cooked rice and mix well.



Serve hot. Pongal is usually accompanied by medhu vadai , sambar and coconut chutney.

Onion curd raitha

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 cup thick fresh curd or plain yogurt

1 tsp salt

1 green chilli

1 tsp chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method:

Cut one onion into thin slices. Slit a green chilli lengthwise. Mix these with a tsp of salt and keep covered till serving.

Just before serving, drain the excess water from the onion. Add a cup of thick fresh curd (or plain yogurt) and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional).

Time management in cooking an elaborate Indian Non-veg Dinner/Lunch

• Our menu is:
  Mutton Biryani
  Mutton Kozhambu
  Chicken Fry
  Curd Rice
  Onion Curd Pachadi
• Potato Chips (You can buy the readymade chips)

Method:

• Wash and marinate the chicken for chicken fry.
  
• Set the cooker with mutton as per the recipe for mutton kozhambu in the bottom vessel, mutton for biryani in the middle vessel and rice for curd rice in the top vessel. Pressure cook for 20 minutes as per mutton kozhambu recipe.
• This time is used for preparing the other items on the menu.
  Prepare the seasoning for curd rice and pour it in a vessel, to be used for curd rice as per recipe.
  
• When mutton is cooked and steam is let off, mash the rice for curd rice. Keep aside and when it is cooler, add the seasoning and mash some more without lumps. Mix the fresh and thick curd when it is cool.
• Start cooking the chicken in the pressure cooker as per chicken fry recipe. Use the back burner for this.

Now, to use the front burners:

• Start cooking the biryani on one front stove, using the top stock of the mutton for the biryani.
  
  
• The mutton and some stock would be left in the vessel. Use this for mutton kozhambu using the other front stove for this.
  
  
• When these two items are cooking and left to simmer, put them on the back burner. Now use the time for finishing curd rice preparation.
• Chicken would be ready by now and you can start the finishing process in the meantime on the front burner. The mutton for biryani can be cooked on the other front burner.
  

If you cook this way, you can finish cooking all the items managing time optimally. It needs a juggling act but with practice you would get used to planning and preparing everything in the right sequence.

You can serve bread or chappathi, as the first course, if you want to impress your guests with one more item in the menu. Biryani and curd rice are served after this first course. Chicken fry, mutton kozhambu, onion raitha and potato chips are the side dishes.

Masal Vadai

Masal Vadai:

Channa Dal 1 cup (soaked for one hour and washed)

garlics 2 cloves

ginger 1/2 inch piece

soaked red chillies 2 (or more if you like it hotter) or 1 tsp of red chilli powder

Sombu (aniseeds) 1tsp

salt to taste

Grind the above in a mixie using the whipper button. It takes just a minute to grind it coarsely.
Now mix the following ingredients:

chopped Curry leaves 1tsp
chopped green chilli 1 (optional)
chopped coriander leaves
1 chopped onion

Mix well. Make small balls and keep on a plate

Heat oil for deep frying. When it is hot, lower the heat.

Press the balls of dough loosely into vada shape and slide into the oil.

Add as many vadas as could be fried in the given amount of oil.

Increase the heat and fry on medium heat till they are cooked on one side.

Turn them over and cook on the other side till they are golden brown.

Take them out with the holed ladle and drain the oil.

Serve hot.

You can use a handful each of channa dal, moong dal and tur dal in the above recipe and name it 'paruppu vadai.' You can substitute heeng (asofoetida) for sombu to make it differently flavoured.

Medhu Vadai

Soak 1 cup of urad dal in water,( after washing it thoroughly) till soft (about 1-2 hours). Wash in water 3 times. Drain and grind the dal in a mixie, adding a few drops of water now and then to make into a fine paste. Put in a pinch of asofoetida and 1 tsp of salt and mix well. Finely chop 1 green chilli and 1 inch piece of peeled ginger (or grind in a mixie). Chop 1 tbsp of coriander leaves and a few curry leaves. Mix all with the dough. You can add finely chopped onion too, if you like the taste.

Heat vegetable oil in a thick bottomed kadai(wok), enough to deep fry.

Wet your hands. (This helps the dough not to stick onto your hand). Take a lemon sized portion of the dough and flatten it on one palm. Make a hole in the centre. Slide this vadai into the hot oil gently. (Take care not to splash the hot oil by dropping the dough from a height! Your hand should go as near the pan as possible without toughing the hot pan or oil). Make 2 or more vadais like this (as much as the oil holds) and fry them on medium heat. Turn them gently with a holed ladle and continue frying. Let them cook for a few more minutes till the vadais are golden and crisp. Drain the oil using the holed ladle and place them on a paper towel.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Vegetable cutlet

2 large potatoes cooked, peeled and mashed

1 tbsp of boiled green peas

1 tbsp of grated carrot

2 green chilli (or 1 tsp chilli powder)and 1/2 inch piece of ginger, chopped finely

1 tbsp of coriander leaves, chopped finely.

2 tsp of salt (or to taste)

Mix all the above ingredients together, make into lemon sized balls, flatten them and keep ready.

For coating:

Mix 2 tbsp of cornflour, 1 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp salt. Make a thin batter with 2 tbsp of water

(Alternate batter is to mix 1 beaten egg instead of cornflour-it tastes yummier!)

Dip the balls of cutlets in this batter, coating them all around.

Keep ready a plateful of breadcrumbs (or powdered corn flakes, if you want less oily cutlets).

Roll the batter-coated cutlet pieces in the crumbs gently and deep-fry the cutlets in vegetable oil on medium heat till golden in colour (about 2-3 minutes).

Serve hot with tomato sauce and a few pieces of onions, carrot, tomato and cucumber on the side.