Parippu Vada

As you may know, Parippu vada is a well known teatime snack with a hot cuppa chaya in Kerala!

The crispy outsides and the chewy insides bitten into, wandering across your palate ultimately melting in your mouth alternated with the hot sip of chaya is irresistible not only to a Keralite but to anyone!

So, to make this simple and tasty snack,

You need:

Yellow split peas dal (pattani/peas parippu) - 1 cup

Shallots- 5-6 chopped

Ginger, minced- a tsp

Green chillies- 2

Curry leaves- a few

Asafoetida/kayapodi- 2 fat pinches

Oil- 1 cup, more or less; to deep fry

Method:

Wash and soak the dal for4 hours. Drain and pulse to a coarse paste in your mixie/blender along with the chillies ( instead of pulsing along you may even mince them and add it as such when you mix in ginger bits, onions curry leaves etc, if you like biting into the chilly bits ) and salt without or using minimum water. You can reserve 2 tsps of soaked dal and mix it along to the mixture after pulsing. Mix in minced ginger along with finely cut onions and chopped curry leaves, asafoetida and shape into round patties on your left palm with your right hand fingers.

Heat oil in a kadai and drop 3 patties one by one at a time, carefully.(Do not over crowd them as you may find it difficult to get them out in perfect shape and texture).

Flip them over after a few seconds, once they acquire a light golden brown hue and cook the other side.

Turn over again until they are cooked and attain a deeper golden yellow/brown colour.

Place them on a plate lined with a paper napkin to drain off excess oil.

Serve hot vadas with piping hot Chaya on a rainy evening :)

Note- I substituted 1/2 big onion, sliced, for shallots since I love the flavour of deeply fried thin n long onion strips embedded over the crispy vadas. Yet, small onions are suggested! :)

Paruppu vadai is a delicacy snack in Tamil Nadu as well, but calls for kadalai paruppu(bengal gram dal) or thuaram paruppu (thuar dal) or even both, rathen than the pattani paruppu here! Will post the recipe some time later :)

This recipe is submitted to Kerala Kitchen.

Read More »

Tweet

Fresh Thuar in Pods and a few more...

How do you exactly feel when your offspring outsmarts you?

Well, for me the feelings were somewhat mixed; 99% proud and a percent of disappointment!..(after all he or she is your child whom you had always looked upon as an ignorant or an innocent so far!..)

Very recently,V brought home some fresh Thuvar/pigeon peas down from the fertile valley fields of Cumbum located down the eastern stretches of the Western Ghats. He was happy to have bought 3 kgs in all, in 3 large bags from the farmer and paid just Rs 30 !!(if it would have been me, the farmer would have had a tougher time and would have given off the same bags in half the price) :)

Since at present, I am a little down with UTI and in antibiotics at least for a month and a half, caring the health has taken a front seat with blogging and blog hopping, much behind.The side effects of Nitroflurantoins being worse than the symptoms of the disease.

Linda was done with her fabulous round ups I and II for JFI-Thoor Dal for the month.Still she was glad to receive the pictures of Fresh Thuar in Pods for her reference page.

The D-day doomed upon one fine day last week, with the above three scenes in the background. My 14 year daughter, who had been a silent spectator to my food photography till date, took the initiative in shooting the pictures.I let her proceed instantly considering my illness and she came back to me within a few minutes with 4 pictures in all(unlike her mother who clicks at least a dozen and uploads one or two in the end).To my surprise all the 4 were amazing!!


She wanted to capture the natural beauty of the pods and pointed them in 'Macro' mode .



Now she wanted to concentrate on the "Fresh Thuar beads " and pointed them.


I just cropped the picture to bring out the beauty of the lentils.The pictures required no further editing!!! To my astonishment, the back ground was blurred beautifully by itself, and was definitely a no non-sense shot!.

Well, now her mother got ready and shot a few.Below is one of hers :)


As the skills were proven by now, she wanted her turn again…she didn’t include the chillies and the curry leaves in the picture below; as her mom always prefers; reporting those might spoil the beauty of the lentils!!!....(really??!!) ...


Boiled and Tempered whole, fresh Thuar..

Peeling them raw and green had been a tougher job.
The whole pods(for about ½ kg) were salted and pressure cooked until a few whistles to ensure that the thuar was cooked enough..Discarded excess water.Cooled and peeled out the cooked lentils.
Heated a tbsp of oil in a kadai.Spluttered some mustard seeds and browned some urad dal.Added a pinch of hing, ½ tsp grated ginger and threw in a couple of green and red chillies cut and broken into 3-4 pieces each.A sprig of curry leaves went in next, followed by the lentils.
Sautéd for a minute checking salt and served warm.This was soothing for my bitter tongue with an evening cup of hot tea.

It was still drizzling, outside...

Read More »

Tweet

Nadan Parippu Curry / Cooked Dal with Coconut and Spices

It has always been much contrasting to me, when my mom scribbles down not more than half a kg of thuar dal in her monthly shopping list in Kerala when in Tamil Nadu, my ma in law gets a heavy sack of it from the local whole-salers which gets exhausted within half a dozen months!!.
I have heard Keralites talking about Ariyum Thengayum(Rice and Coconut) rather than the Tamilians who opt Arisi Paruppu(Rice and Thuar dal),which in turn proves the important ingredient of their varied kitchens..Of course, this protein rich pulse is a ‘must’ in my store with which I come out with the variety of dishes at least thrice a week!..

Parippu Curry is a delicacy of Kerala, as you all know. Like most of the curries of the state, this one too demands a blend of coconut along with a touch of milder spices tempered all with that mystic flavour of coconut oil.My mom makes this curry along with rasam which is projected as, “a comfort weekend combo”, but we, her children still make a fuss to compromise this for her great Sunday lunches, otherwise!..



So, this recipe is for the lovers of Dals, legumes and pulses.. and of course for dear Linda who hosts JFI-Thoor Dal for the month :).

You Need:

Thuar Dal/Thomara Parippu-1 cup
Green Chillies-5-6 nos-Slit the tips up till 3/4th taking care not to separate them.

Grind to a smooth paste,

Red Chilly Seeds-1/4 tsp
Garlic-2 cloves
Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp
Shallots-2 nos
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Grated coconut- ¾ cup

To Temper,

Coconut Oil-1 tbsp
Ghee-1 tbsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Shallots-minced-2 tsps
Red Chillies-2-broken into 4 pieces
Curry leaves-a sprig

Method:

Pressure cook dal till 3/4th done according to your pressure cooker methods.Mix in the slit green chillies and boil.Add the ground ingredients next and bring again to a boil to get rid of all the raw smell.The curry should be of a semi thick, pouring consistency by now.Switch off the stove.
Heat coconut oil and ghee together; splutter mustard seeds and fry minced shallots till dark brown.Throw in the curry leaves and the red chillies.Pour this tadka over the dal curry.
Serve hot with Rice, Chapathis or Phulkas

Note-Dry fried Moong dal/varutha cherupayar parippu can also be used instead of thuar dal.Substitiute Coconut oil and ghee with the oil of your choice if you are a calorie counter.

Recipe Courtesy –Nadan Pachakarama by Mrs KM. Mathew.

Read More »

Tweet

Suhiyan

Another year of celebrations, happiness and good will, sharing them with sweets, crackers and lighter moments with near and dear ones ..

Wishing You all a very Happy Diwali..

For this special occasion, I am here with Suhiyan, a very traditional delicacy of Tamil Nadu which falls under the appetizer or the ‘sweet’ category. Also known as Suliyam or Suzhiyan, each home has its own version of it!..

And here's mine which goes to Vee of Past Present and Me, who hosts JFS-Diwali ; Special Edition of JFI.

Yields-20

Ingredients,
For the outer cover:

Parboiled Rice:urad dal)-4 : ¾ parts
For the above filling I needed 2 cups rice and ¼ cup ball variety urad dal
Salt-1/4 tsp or to ‘just’ taste

Soak Rice and dal together to 3-4 hours and grind to a smooth batter which is slightly thicker than the regular idly batter, adding salt.Keep aside.

Ingredients,
For the filling:

Bengalgram dal/Kadalai paruppu-1 ½ cups
Jaggery/Vellam-3/4th of a medium sized ball or 1 cup grated, loosely packed
Grated coconut-3/4 cup
Cardamom powder/yelappodi-to flavour
Salt-a pinch

Method:

Wash and cook the bengal gram dal in liberal amounts of water(3 ½-4cups) till done.Avoid pressure cooking the dal as it would turn overcooked and mashy.Press the dal flat with your finger tips to check and see whether cooked soft.Transfer this to a bowl and mix the other ingredients to it, when cool.Pulse in a mixie adding no or minimal amounts water(justsprinkle if necessary).Let the filling be just mashed and not too much.A taste test can be done to check the sweetness and add jaggery or coconut a little more, if you prefer more sweet or coconutty.Shape them into small lime sized balls

To prepare the Suhiyans,
Finally you need:

Refined oil-to deep fry

Method:

Heat oil in a kadai.Dip the balls one by one into this batter and deep fry as batches of 3-5 numbers, in oil.Remove the Suhiyans when golden brown and crispy.

Note:

• I used 'IR-20 puzhungal arisi : muzhu uzhutham paruppu' for the rice and urad dal combo, which gave good results.
• For normal iddly/dosa batter we use 4:1(Rice: dal combo).You can substitute this batter too, but has the risk of the Suhiyan absorbing too much of oil.
• Maida batter can also be used as the outer cover as in the Suliyam here or Suzhiyan here.
• The filling should be firm but soft and let it not be loose.
• During the course of frying, the batter droplets released might turn to small black powdery bits that get dispersed in oil.You would just have to sieve and remove them in between to avoid them sticking to the Suhiyan. Observe the pictures carefully and you can spot them out in mine too :).

Read More »

Tweet

Kozhukkattai and Paruppu payasam for Vinayaka Chathurthi.

Ganesha is the first to be worshipped, whenever we start anything hoping to go well.He in turn relieves us from the difficulties and solves our problems.

Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated in the month of Avani on chaturthi (4th) day which comes after the new moon.

As always, I headed to the kadai veedhi, the previous evening to get the Mun Pillayar/Clay Ganesha, yerukkampoo malai , arukam pullu, vilampazham, and the other fruits, the decorations like thennanthoranam, vazhaikkannu, chandanam and kumkumam.Then with the last minute shopping of vellam, yelakkai and the milk packs. The Mavilai thoranam was put up from leaves of the front yard mango tree and the pooja room was made the previous evening.

On the day of Vinayaka Chathurthi I prepared Kozhukkattais/Modakams and Pasipparuppu/Moong dal payasam as neivedyam.

Ing for the outer cover of the kozhukkattai :

(Yields 45-50 nos).

Raw rice powder is specially prepared for neivedyam a day ahead.Soak one kg ponni raw rice for half an hour in water.Drain and dry grind.

Rice powder prepared by the above method-2 cups
Water-2 ½ times of rice powder
Ghee-a tbsp
A fat pinch of salt

Ing for the Filling/Pooranam:

Freshly grated shavings from a medium sized coconut
Crushed jaggery-half the quantity of the grated coconut,loosely packed in a measuring cup.
Cardamom powder-to flavour
Fresh ghee-Atbsp(Reserve half of this to grease fingers and palms while making kozhukkattais) .

To prepare the Filling/Pooranam:

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. Keep this aside.

To prepare the rice dough, the outer covering:

For the safer side, to avoid lumps, I suggest the less exp cooks like me to mix the rice powder with 2 ½ parts of water directly, in a round thick bottomed vessel.Add oil and transfer the vessel to the stove top in medium heat, bringing to to a boil stirring all the time.The dough soon thickens to form a soft ball.Close the vessel with its lid to enhance the final cooking for a few more minutes keeping the flame to minimum.Transfer the dough to an appropriate casserole.The warmer the dough, the easier to proceed.

To prepare the crescend shaped kozhukkattais:

I prefer making them with the “poori dough presser” as it has proved handy and easier for anyone who has to proceed single handed.

I line the presser up and down with two square pieces of polythene sheets, sticking up and down again with drops of ghee and grease the sheets on the outer side as well.

Now, smear a few drops of ghee to your palms and finger tips. Take out a handful of warm rice dough from the casserole and roll them evenly into small lime sized smooth balls.

Keep one ball in the centre and press lightly to form a poori sized shape.Place the filling on the lower half, in a linear way.

Fold carefully and press the edges lightly.Let your fingers be always greased with ghee so as to avoid any sticking of dough to the finger tips.

Arrange them, steam cook for 10 minutes and you are done!.

Pasipparuppu / Moong dal payasam.

(Yields 4-5 glasses)

Ingredients:

Lightly dry roasted split moong dal-1/2 cup
Jaggery ball-1 medium-Crush to smaller lumps
Milk(boiled cow’s milk or fresh coconut milk)-a large cup
Raw rice-a tbsp
Coconut gratings-1/4 cup
Salt-a fat pinch
Cardamom powder- to flavour
A few cashews roasted in a tbsp of ghee-to garnish

Method:

1. Wash and soak raw rice in cold water for ½ an hour.Drain and grind well with coconut in a mixie, to a smooth paste, adding water.Keep aside.

2. In a pan, boil the jaggery lumps with ¼ cup of water.Melt down the lumps.Boil for a few more minutes to attain honey consistency.Cool and filter impurities.Keep aside.

3. Boil 2 large cups of water in a heavy bottomed broad vessel.Add roasted moong dal. Keep the flame medium to avoid boiling over, stirring in between.

4. When 3/4th cooked, stir in the jaggery syrup.Let it boil well and after a few minutes stir in the rice and coconut paste.Stir continuously in medium flame to avoid lumps and bring to a boil.

5. The payasam might have got thicker by now.Add salt.

6. Add milk to attain the right consistency and boil again stirring all the time.Add cardamom powder and remove from fire.If you add coconut milk, add in the final stage and let not the payasam boil too much.

7. Add even more milk if you like the diluted version as the payasam tends to get even thicker once it cools down.

8. Garnish with roasted cashews along with its ghee.

This is specially posted for dear "Lathamma" of Yum Blog for her Festival Cooking Series.

Also my submission to RCI-Tamil festivals hosted by Viji of vcuisine.

My daughter gave me a helping hand in decorating Ganesha and rolling out the rice balls, of course in between her to and fro runs to the T.V front, not wanting to miss the spl programmes aired on the day...:D

Read More »

Tweet

Murungaikkai / Drumsticks Sambhar

I am happy to note that many of the bloggers vote for the homemade powders than the store bought ones.To prepare them at home is ofcourse an extra task for most of you but definitely hygienic,more aromatic,un adulterated and has a longer shelf life. Did anyone say,"oof not that recipe again..that's something we whip up quite often..naah!."

Read More »

Tweet