Melon rind Koottu / Melon rind & Moong dal Curry

Blame the scorching heat, the green large round water melons are still abundant here in TN. Well, it's a fact that a few weeks ago I was so carried away by this creative girl who made this pretty looking cake with the fruit and soon some stuff with its rind, the innovative  melon rind dosa ! Seriously, I couldnt wait even for a moment to try this. Rather for than the sweet red watery flesh enclosed, I was impatiently reaching for the 'glamourless' thick green cover.Undoubtedly the dosa proved to be a huge hit!
The rind tastes almost like ashgourd but bit harder and with a container full of it, I tried Koottu or Parippu curry the following week which was again a hit! The recipe is a bit more inclined towards the Kerala way :)

 Get ready with:

 Moong dal/pasi paruppu/cherupayar parippu, lightly roasted- 1/2 cup
*Melon rind pieces- 1 1/2 cup
 Green chillies slit lengthwise- 4
 Grated coconut- 1/2 cup (1/4 cup if you dont prefer mildly coconutty)
 Small onions-4 nos
 Garlic- 1 large clove
 Turmeric and Jeera Powders- 1/4 tsp each
 Salt - to taste

To Season:

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Small onions- 6 nos, minced fine
Red chilly- 1 broken into 3 pcs
Curry leaves- 1-2 sprigs

A 3ltr pressure cooker- to make the job easier

* Yup, you have to be much patient with this part. Cut the melon into halves and cut across again to make quarters. After you scoop out the red flesh of the fruit, Peel off the thick green outermost skin and you are holding the half inched sturdy chunks of rind.Cut them into pieces of equal size as you see in the pictures.And before you keep them away, hold for a moment and enjoy the pretty looking pieces on your chopping board :)

The remaining part is not that difficult..
Grind coconut, small onions and  garlic to a smooth paste adding enough water.Keep aside
Give a quick rinse to the roasted moong dal and transfer to the pressure cooker. Add 1 1/2 cups, more or less, water, melon rind pieces, slit chillies, both the powders, stirring in the coconut paste. Wait until 2-3 whistles. Put off fire, vent out steam, open, and season.

Seasoning- Heat oil in a small pan / kadai, splutter the mustard seeds and brown the minced onion until the aroma spreads.Put off fire, throw in curry leaves and pour over the curry.

Serve warm with Rice or any Indian bread and enjoy the mild, simple, comforting curry as we did :)

Read More »

Tweet

Caramel Custard (with custard powder)

I wanted to post this before I packed off for the holidays and then I was obsessed exploring the new camera and proceeded posting a recipe with the picture shot from that.
Well, now this one is contributed by my earlier cam and you can clearly see that, I believe ;)

Caramel Custard had probably been my first trials with desserts as a 12 year old. Believe me, I never used to go wrong with this recipe and always came out with the firm golden coloured puddings with the moist deep brown coating, which never went bitter as well.
Amma always used to try the same recipe with a little difference and that was nothing but the addition of custard powder instead of Vanilla.
This always made the pudding firmer and more comforting and never had the 'eggy' flavour like in mine..

And here goes her recipe,

You need,

Milk- 500 ml
Eggs- 3
Custard powder (vanilla flavoured)- a tbsp
Sugar- 2/3 cup, scant


1. Caramel- Melt 3 tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan or a stove top pan (which you can also use as a mould af ter you pour in the custard mixture) until golden brown or a bit darker as you see in mine. Remove from heat and set it aside ( if you use the same utensil for setting the pudding later). Do not panic if the caramel hardens and if you happen to hear mild cracking sounds :). It is natural and after you pour the custard and set the pudding, it melts and coats the bottom in a uniform way.
If you use separate moulds, lightly grease them and  transfer about 1- 1 1/2 tsps of caramel, while it's still hot and swirl around gently so as to coat the bottom. Set aside.

2. Custard- Stir in custard powder in 3/4 cup of milk in room temperature without lumps. Keep aside.
Bring the remaining milk to boil adding the rest of sugar. Simmer for a few seconds (not much as the addition of custard powder, which follows, compensates) Stir in the custard powder milk mixture carefully keeping the fire low taking care not to form any lumps until well blended. Remove from fire. Stir in lightly whisked eggs , gently.

3. Cool the mixture and fill the moulds. Cover each of them with butter paper tied around the mouths. Steam in medium heat for 10-15 minutes. If using oven, place the moulds in a flat tray and then fill the tray with water. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and bake in 140 deg C for 20-25 minutes.

Remove, chill and serve.

With brilliant pictures of perfectly shaped caramel custards carefully 'unmoulded' all over the blogosphere, I know this is an imperfect one, just a casual slice which I could reserve for the day light shot which much effort ;) after the dinner, the previous night.
I poured the custard on the utensil which I used to caramelise sugar being a bit lazy to wash the extra vessels. ;)

Just wanted to share the recipe with you as it is easy to make and tastes really good!

Read More »

Tweet

Our Cooking Station!

Swapna: Bharathy?

Me: ..yes...

Swapna: ..I've been thinking of this for some time..

Me: ..abt what?

Swapna: See..you have a bit of  *nadan recipes ..

Me: yeah..

Swapna: While I specialise on bakes..

Me :true...

Swapna: Why dont we put them together?

Me ..merge our blogs, Swapna?

Swapna: not exactly!

Me:.....then?

Swapna: Put all our recipes together in one place and host them together. A complete list or recipes that would turn some help to a reader..

Me: Great Idea!! :)..gimme some time and I am up!!

*nadan - traditional


Above is a chat section from gtalk, which happened a fortnight ago.

If I hadn't mentioned about my relationship with Swapna, well, here is it.

We hail from the same town and were class mates in College. I used to be so surprised by her presentation skills during our 'practical cooking sessions' and tailoring classes back in those days; her creativity and prefection in everything she did!
I remember rushing to her mostly after a 'disaster' with my cooking and taking notes explained in a patient way from her!
This patience explains her utmost skills in cross stiches and crochets in her lovely world of stitching which you would have surely come across and appreciated!

While I organised the recipe list, Swapna cheerfully worked with the template. As a matter of fact, she worked and still works harder on the same than me.
We enjoyed every moment improving it and are surprised to see the long, complete and varied recipes which gave way to this humble 'Portal' of ours!

Our Cooking Station is born!
Hope our baby cheers you up as it does with us too :)

Cheers,
Bharathy

P.S- I am taking a month's break from blogging. So you may find me inactive with no responses to comments and queries. Hope you would bear with me until I get back :).

Read More »

Tweet

Fried Modakam

Modaks / Modakams, as you know, are the sweet dumplings offered as 'Neivedyam' for Lord Ganesha.(err.. hope I din't sound too formal) *cough *cough..

Well, now I can hear your asking, it's not the time to make it, no Ganesh festivals around the corner and why this recipe here?
The reason is nothing else other than that I wanted badly to click and blog 'a sweet' with my new cam, first, and hide those guilty feelings pinging me for not blogging 'something sweet and nice' for the past week festivals. I simply watched and let go lazily the Telugu, Tamil and the Malayalam New year passing by the consecutive days celebrated with much pomp around my town and the blogosphere :)

I have already posted the step by step recipe for Steamed Modakams prepared for the 'Chathurthi'.
This, as you see is the fried version which has longer shelf life and I feel a bit easier to make than the other one.


Fried Modakam  (yields around 25)

For the dough:
Maida / All purpose flour - 1/4 kg or 2 cups
Soda bicarb. - 2 pinches (optional)
Water- enough to knead into a soft dough
Ghee- 1 tbsp

For the filling:
Freshly grated shavings from a medium sized coconut (measure)
Crushed jaggery - half the quantity of the grated coconut, loosely packed in your measuring cup.
Cardamom powder - to flavour
Ghee - Atbsp


Ghee / Oil - to deep fry


Method:


Dough: 
Knead flour and water with soda bicarb to make a soft dough as for pooris. Addition of soda bicarb is optional. It lightens n crispens the shell with tiny bubbles once fried. You don't have to let the dough standRoll out into small balls and spread into thin (as thin as possible) pooris.Cut them into perfect rounds with the mouth of a katori. Let not the size of the poori overflow once placed on the bed of your palm.....just for an idea :)


Filling:
Heat half the tbsp of ghee in a non stick kadai.Add the grated coconut and the crushed jaggery together.Sauté for a few minutes to melt down the jaggery pieces and steam off the water content. Mix in Cardamom powder. 

Final assembly and deep frying:
Spoon a little of the filling in the centre or the poori and bring the edges on top by gentle gathers. Press and twist the top a little in order to stick the tip / secure the filling while deep frying. The Modakam should not be larger than a big gooseberry :)

Prepare the Modaks and spread a thin white wet cloth to prevent them from drying up. Heat ghee or oil in a kadai and fry few at a time till golden brown.

Read More »

Tweet

Easy Cauliflower Stir-fry without Onions

You are back home after a long day and have some left over rice or chappathis in your kitchen with no side dish, hungry and not so patient for an elaborate cooking, but lucky enough to have a fresh/ not so fresh cauliflower left in your vegetable tray, this would be one of the easiest dry accompaniment you may lay your hands upon. There is no hassle of slicing onions either, yet it tastes great!

Easy Cauliflower Stir-fry

Cauliflower, cut into small florets- 2 cups

To season:

Oil- 2 tbsps
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Chilly Powder- 1/2 tsp (more or less acc to your spice level)
Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Garlic-1 large clove or 3 small, Crushed
Curry leaves / Cilantro
Salt- as needed

                                                   in the kadai with all the water evaporated..


Wash the florets well and keep aside. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, throw in curry leaves, add the florets and sauté for a few seconds. Add the turmeric and chilly powders along with salt and 1/2 cup of water and close with a lid while it simmers. Here in TN, the vegetables cook a bit slow and so I needed 5 minutes to get them half cooked. Adjust the cooking time accordingly in yours. The florets have to get half cooked before you proceed to the next step, and that's it! :)
The water would have used up or even if not, dont worry, add the crushed garlic (close, if there's still some water at the bottom until evaporated) and lastly  the pepper powder and toss well. ( you can also sauté the florets for a longer time with some more oil drizzled. I didn't do it as I was...yup, Impatient! :))

If you don't have curry leaves in stock and hadn't added earlier, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot. You will never regret coming up this one and will end up making it again and again. Kids will enjoy this too!
   

Read More »

Tweet