Thursday, February 28, 2013

Thengai Pottukadalai Chutney / Roasted gram and Coconut Dip for Idly and Dosa


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There are a few dishes we normally ignore to blog just because we make it almost everyday thinking, "ah! who wants this recipe. I better not bring it to light"

Thengai Chutney is one such recipe, I had never wanted to bring out.

While we adapt stylishly, the westernised fruit shakes, cereals and sandwiches as food for the morning, I feel a South Indian does justice to his genes by opting his simple and favourite comfort breakfast which is none other than a plate of hot and soft idlies or crispy dosas with small katoris of seasoned flavourful coconut chutney and sambhar.
I bet he misses the satisfaction he might get in this simple breakfast, otherwise in his westernised option, wherever he lives!
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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Classic Croissants~ Now you can bake them at home!


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I read this somewhere, "You will never know when you eat a croissant, the hard work to create it, but only when you make your own!"

I admit the fact, "making croissants is not very difficult",  as Aparna had mentioned in her introductory part before opening her recipe choice of #2 We Knead to Bake at the start of the month! As she says, "it takes some time, a lot of attention to detail, tremendous patience, a lot of rolling out dough, ensuring everything is cold...".

Let me add my point here!
Classic Croissants are challenging to work with. Once you tame the creativity part, it's crazily addictive!

I don't really remember where I tasted croissants first, but I fell in love with the delicate flavour and taste whenever my teeth digged into them. My pure-vegetarian-children l.o.v.e and literally survived on croissants during most of our trips abroad as they could be tucked in their back packs comfortably, serving them a light or a heavy meal whenever needed!
I was aware of the fact that they would compare my final product with the best croissants they probably had in Paris, but nothing could stop me from trying them out!


 Well, this exotic bread demands three days to work with. Please do not be apprehensive :) , it is not more than 15 minutes for Day 1, 15 minutes reserved for Day 2 ( the rest of time goes for chilling the dough in between) and shaping and baking on Day 3 which is pure fun that you wont realise the time flying working with it!


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Monday, February 18, 2013

Ullithandu Thoran / Stir-fried Onion Greens



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I love Namakkal, the town I currently live, for many reasons. One of them is the availability of fresh greens. You name it the town has it. In every nook and corner. At the ends of each street!
My nearest vegetable shop is a 3 minute walk away where all kinds of greens are sold throughout the day!


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I found these onion greens and grabbed a bunch with primary thoughts of shooting the pretty flowers along with the long tender stem. They aren't spring onions but greens / stem of regular onions. The stem is fleshy, sturdy, fibrous  and crunchier than the spring onion greens, although they fall in the same family.

So, after shooting the pretty thing, I was naturally curious to know how they would taste, if cooked.

 I had come across Ullithandu or onion greens back in Kottayam, my native town, but amma hasn't tried cooking them. Anyway I was sure that Suma, amma's maid knew how to handle the greens.

I listened to her carefully on phone;

പൂവും തണ്ടിന്‍റെ മറ്റേ അറ്റവും വെട്ടി മാറ്റിയിട്ടു നല്ലോണം കഴുകണം. എന്നിട്ട് ചെറുതായി അരിയണം. ഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ  പച്ചമുളകും വെളുത്തുള്ളിയും കൂട്ടി ചതയ്ക്കണം. ഇതും, ചെറിയ അര മുറി തേങ്ങയുടെ പീര  , പിന്നെ കുറച്ച് മഞ്ഞളുപോടി , ജീരകപ്പൊടി, കറിവേപ്പില, ശകലം ഉപ്പ് എല്ലാംകൂടി അരിഞ്ഞ വെച്ച തണ്ടിന്‍റെ കൂടെ  തിരുമ്മി ചേര്‍ത്ത് വെയ്ക്കണം. ചീനച് ചട്ടി യില് എണ്ണ മൂപ്പിച്ച് കടുകുപോട്ടിചിച്ചിട്ടു ഒന്ന് രണ്ട് മുളകും പൊട്ടിച്ചിട്ട്  തിരുമ്മി വെച്ച ഉള്ളിത്തണ്ട് ചേര്‍ത്ത് വെള്ളം തളിച്ച് തട്ടിപ്പൊത്തി മൂടിവെച്ച് വേവിക്കണം. വേണെങ്കില് അവസാനം ഒരു മൊട്ട പൊട്ടിച്ചിട്ട് തോര്‍ത്തിയെടുക്കാം. 

Perfect!
I thanked her heartily and made a quick mental note of what she said , starting off straightaway..

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Monday, February 11, 2013

Chilly Onion Chutney






I was over excited to receive a few sachets of my much awaited Mauripan yeast from this lovely girl, past week. My son, ( yes, we are staying together until  his annual exams get over next month) had been pulling my leg, seeing my happy feet dance and smiling face. "Amma, I see you smiling wide like never before ever since you received the yeast packets".
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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Thakkali Poondu Rasam / Tomato Garlic Rasam



Those days when I was a newly married girl in my in-laws' house, I had the luxury of in-house boys who mopped and cleaned the house. I had caretakers, in-house maids and cooks. Those were the days when Internet was barely getting popular or many years before blogger was born. I wish to go back to those days, again as a blogger to capture and learn the mesmerising array of varied cuisines the family lavished! Those were the days I lazed out or ignored the kitchen and took care of children mostly or was busy entertaining the unending flow of guests. If not with the above I found myself immersed in hand embroidery or painting.
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Soya Kheema Fritters



Before I go on with the recipe, I have a request to the bloggers, presumably the enthusiastic new bloggers. I try my best to visit you back from the comment section down, but lately I see lot of you linking your Google+ account with your names. I am not sure whether Google had made it default, but I would be grateful to you if you could link your name with your blogger profile page, instead. The name which links to G+ does not show your recipes unless you share there (at least this is what I guess) and I am not able to view your lovely blog posts if not in your circle. So it would be lovely if you would go to the settings and link your name to your profile or web page directly for ease of visit and probably to know you better!

So back to the recipe, I had bookmarked these cute looking crispy fritters from Hamaree Rasoi the minute I saw them in her lovely space. Then I had been in the process of shifting to Namakkal and everything was crazy for a while and  I got reminded of trying them just when I happened to come across the soya chunk packets in the near-by vegetable shop. I grabbed a packet and made the same evening for my son for tea, back from school.



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