Karakkuzhambu -The Chettinad way.

Who can say a ‘no’ to this spicy, tangy Chettinad Kara Kuzhambu or Vathal Kuzhambu?
With the medley of garlic, onions, vatral, the aromatic Kuzhambu proves to be a feast by itself and is also known as Poondu Vengaya Kuzhambu.The yummy gravy goes well with steamed rice, dosa, idly or with any main food.

This is for Sig, who hosts JFI-Tamarind for the month :).

Ingredients:
Gingelly seed Oil-A tbsp
Garlic- peeled- ½ cup(slice length wise into halves if the pods are large)
Shallots/small onions-sliced into halves1/2 cup
Dhania powder/malli thool-1 tbsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Kuzhambu milagai thool-I use Aachi brand to get that distinct Chettinad flavour- 1 tbsp
Tamarind- a small lime sized ball
Salt-to taste

To Season:
Gingelly seed Oil-1 tbsp
Mustard seeds
Urad dal or Bengal gram dal-a tsp
Methi seeds-1/2 tsp
Dried Sundakkai or Manathakkali Vatral(optional)- A tbsp
Curry leaves-a sprig

Method:
1. Soak tamarind in half a cup of warm water and extract juice as thick as possible.Keep aside.Generally I use a little aged tamarind, blackish brown in colour.This enhances the taste of any Kuzhambu and gives that blackish brown colour too.

2. Heat oil in a thick bottomed deep vessel. Sauté garlic and onions till they turn golden brown, say for abt half a minute. Add tamarind extract followed by the 3 powders.(you can also use sambhar powder or just chilly powder instead of Kuzhambu milagai thool.)Mix well to avoid any lumps. Add salt. Bring this to a boil and reduce flame to simmer till it reduces to a semi-thick paste.Refer picture for consistency.If you prefer a little watery, take off from fire a little earlier, accordingly.

3. In a separate kadai, heat oil, season with mustard seeds, urad or bengal gram dal & Methi seeds. Sauté Vatral of your choice for 3-5 seconds and throw in curry leaves. Pour over to the Kuzhambu, bring to another boil, mix well and remove from fire.

Note- Keep the pan open till it cools down.(If the pan is closed the kuzhambu turns more watery by the evaporated water dripping in from the inside of the lid).This has a good shelf life and stays well for even a month if refrigerated. Dilute with warm water to make instant kuzhambu or mix with hot rice to make the Kuzhambu sadam, a yummy and simple pack away lunch.If you need to place this as a preserve, definitely add liberal amounts of oil while seasoning, as seen in the picture.

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Back, after the Summer Break!..

After being almost out of blogging for about 3 months, it required much effort, to shake away the so called 'laziness' and pull myself back in :)....I know I'd not been doing justice with my posts, but for sure had been doing my best, responding to each and every comment dropped any where here and to those ‘concerned’ mails I’d been receiving from my lovely friends..each of them making me feel proud and special; the way one would feel, when you induce someone with that feeling, that you're ‘missed’!!.. Thanks a ton, friends…

After the round up of Arusuvai, in the month of April, I'd been away to my native, for my sister’s wedding. Should admit the fact, that I enjoyed each and every moment, taking up the responsibilities, even though turning green every now and then when 'the bride at home' was found busy shooting around dishes and blogging in a cool and easy way..;)..but believe me, she proved to be smarter by treating the family, by cooking up all those wonderful dishes from the blogs which I had book marked and would have never tried otherwise!!!...:)

Month of May proved to be pretty eventful as we had the great “Chennai Bloggers Meet” on the very first day. Since I was the last one to turn up for the meet, I'm the last one spared to mention about it too ;)…I have an excuse for that too coz I was away holidaying with my family to Scotland till the month end..

June?..well, children back to school, weddings, lots of travelling, had been keeping me occupied….
Did all the above explain my reasons for not blogging so far, ?? :D..

I'm grateful to my wonderful pals for having considered me, even during my 'hibernation period', to gift me with these cute awards..



From the talented, smart n efficient blogger, Srivalli..

From the cute, loving n affectionate blogger, Nanditha..

From the sweet, affectionate n caring, Suma..

Hugs to you, girls!! :)..

So, where’s the recipe now???
Err.. hmm…may I postpone it to my next post, pls???
.. coz I’m still not away from a few important commitments that might slow down blogging for a while, again..

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The Birth of Arusuvai - an inside story and the participants in India!...

Arusuvai, the friendship chain is known to most of us by now, spreading its wings reaching each and every eagerly waiting blogger with pleasant surprises and budding new friendships.

I would like to share a few facts about Arusuvai.

The Birth of the Chain

The Amish friendship chain started by Mandira of Ahaar was in its peak in the US in mid 2007.Unfortunately the bloggers residing outside the country could not be a part of this great chain.This made us think, why not we start a chain like this in India as well??..

The idea sparked in the month of Oct when Bhags sent a packet of yeast to Nags quite casually as a mark of friendship, where I noted Lakshmi’s comment mentioning her need to start a friendship chain.The very next moment I found out the mom n daughter’s profound interest to put a start of the same, in India. Mails sped to and fro. Lakshmi was up with the logo and Lathamma,who beautifully named the chain 'arusuvai', was all set to send her surprise packets to Renuka and me!. Soon the first packages were on its way in the very first week of Nov’07!..which reached us on the Diwali eve…

As anyone would have easily noticed, most of the active Indian food bloggers reside outside India.We hoped this chain would bring out the bloggers in India to identify one another and develop a network of friendship and fun.For this reason the chain was restricted to the mother land, initially.
To our surprise we met with many interested bloggers from different parts of India, eager to join with amazing co-operation!..

Co-ordination of Arusuvai

This had been the most important, difficult, time consuming yet interesting part of the whole episode.
Lakshmi and Lathamma were on a break. However, initially the chain went well with the predominant bloggers who knew one another. One more month to go and there was scarcity of recipients as many of the bloggers confronted with the same problem- who to send next??..

Srivalli, held out both her arms now and needless to mention, she did an amazing job of searching and fishing out interested bloggers, co-ordinating the donors on one side and the recipients on the other.This was indeed the most hectic job which both of us did willingly and sincerely to our extend.We merged perfectly, every where!.

Five months have passed since the start and Srivalli and myself have exchanged at least 500 mails pertaining Arusuvai co-ordination!!(no exaggeration here:))

We feel proud to have identified about 50 food bloggers residing in different parts of Hindustan and successfully bringing them together with the help of Arusuvai.

The Arusuvai Participants in India

By stating so I really do not mean to segregate the bloggers residing in India and abroad.The truth is that I was unable to keep a track of the donors and the recipients in the US, as you girls proved to be ‘ultra fast’ and ‘extra smart’ :D.

The Arusuvai Team is grateful to all the participants contributing their parts, supporting the chain in India and abroad.Your deep interest and gorgeous support are undoubtedly the simple reasons of this great success..making each link of the chain, strong and rigid!!

Below is the list of participants in India..


Lathamma- Renuka & Bharathy

Renuka - Srivalli & Arundati Rao

Bharathy - Lissie & Lakshmi

Srivalli - Anita & Kamini

Lissie- Rachel & Lathamma(back)

Lakshmi - Raaga & Nags

Nags - Bhags

Raaga - Nanditha Iyer

Rachel- Shella

Bhags - Kajal & Sukanya

Anita- Reeta & Deepshika

Shella- Priyadarshini & Aparna

Kamini- Nirmala & Perspective

Kajal- Priya Mahesh

Nirmala - Jayashree M

Arundati Rao - Deeba & Gaurav

Deeba - Miri

Aparna-Bindiya Singh

Deepshika-Gayathri H & Nanditha

Sukanya -SMN

SMN - Manidipa

Gaurav - Jayasree

Jayashree - Kamalika

Jayasree- Sunshinemom

Miri - Ramki (transit)

Perspective- Simran(transit)

Kamalika - DG(transit)

Priya Mahesh-Archana(transit)

Archana- Swati(plan)

Ramki- Divya(plan)

Sunshinemom - Arundathi (plan)

While all of the 'women' came out with one great post each, this wonderful ‘Man’ rocked with three!!!

Click here, here and here for his 3 different creations with the same ingredient.

Three cheers to you Gaurav!..:)

And now, pls check here for Srivalli's version of round up! :)..

No words to thank Latha of Masala Magic for having initiated arusuvai in US…we are again much amazed to see how fast it keeps spreading there!!..

* A few bloggers are yet to come up with their arusuvai posts. I have linked their corresponding blogs instead.

A Year of Blogging and a Summer Break

By the way, it has been a year since I started blogging, today marking the first birthday.
Have not hosted any event so far.Not a hit of lakh , not even 100 posts!..
…Still I feel extremely happy, contended and proud to be in the team, initiating and co-ordinating Arusuvai!!..

Let me extend my very sincere gratitude to each n every visitor in this place and also to my dear readers dropping by with so much of encouraging words filling the comment boxes, backing me throughout, without which my days would never be complete...

Thank you ALL :)

And to quote last,

I will be on a summer break for a couple of months.
Miss you all !!

Happy Blogging!!

Love,
Bharathy :)

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Mango Yogurt Smoothie

We did have unexpected 'summer showers', quite comforting past week but the sun is back with all its vigour from today..

The Cocktail Lady hosting the 'Mixed Drinks' theme for MBP wants to blog the same, adapted from a fellow bloggers recipe:).....Sig, by hosting this particular event, you played wise here with lazy bugs like me who would preferably dig out something from the drafts to contribute to any event ;)..
I am extremely happy that I could step in the last moment since you’d liberally extended the deadline..:)

Well, I did have Ashaji’s Masala Chai on my mind for quite some time and discussed this with my sis and alas!.. she sent me pics mentioning she was all set to blog the same Chai as her second entry!..Now, all I was left with, were a few over-ripe mangoes in my fridge which made her point out a wonderful link the very next moment….

Thus, this Smoothie is adapted from Sailu’s recipe-Aam ki Lassi.

Surprisingly the mangoes with me seemed to be the same ‘Suvarnarekha’ variety she’d used for hers!..

Again, her combination of the drink proved to be just perfect and I followed blindly that yielded a soothing creamy drink for my children, esp for my daughter who helped me with the topmost picture here, and myself soon after the photography sessions :).

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Karikku Dosa/ Tender-Coconut Pan cakes.

Summer is just round the corner for us, residing in India.
The season of hot n fiery Sun…the season for holidays…the season for jack fruits, mangoes, water melons ...the season for chilled drinks…

The street vendor with his heap of tender coconuts, busy chopping the head off the fresh green coconut, a dent on top with a straw inserted and the thirsty pedestrian enjoying nature’s very own drink with that natural fizz, is a common sight, so enjoyable, here.Generally the vendor scoopes out the tender coconut with much expertise using that natural spoon; the earlier chopped green piece from the coconut, passes over to be eaten as a post-drink option :)...

At the comfort of the home, the soothing 'tender coconut water' gets consumed leaving behind the tender white flesh unconsumed. I mostly use them up for making these light and healthy Karikku Dosas for breakfast which take up comparatively amount of oil while cooking.

Srivalli, this is specially posted for your Dosa Mela :) .Hearty Congrats on your 1 Lakh mark!!.

Mansi - so sweet of you to approve this for WBB - Balanced Breakfast, you are hosting for the month..Thank you :)

Ingredients:

Raw rice- 3 cups
The white tender part, scraped out- from 4-5 tender coconuts ( transparent meat is the best. It should fill at least 2.5 cups for the above measurement of rice)
Tender coconut water - 1cup +/-
Cooking Soda- 1tsp
Sugar-2 tsps
Salt-to taste

Method:

Wash and soak raw rice for a couple of hours.Drain and grind the rice in a mixie along with the tender coconut meat which you scraped and with required amount of tender coconut water to a batter (just as you prepare regular Dosa/Idly batter).

The next day morning add cooking soda, sugar and salt to the fermented batter. Add more water if necessary so as to make Dosas.Keep aside for 2 hours.


Heat griddle, grease all over and pour round the batter on it, not too thin. Close it with a lid.Let the flame be steady and medium.
Wait for a few seconds.Open the lid and ensure the top is cooked and soft.Do not turn over.Remove the dosa from the griddle.Repeat the steps for the following dosas. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.


Note: The process of fermentation works perfect with Indian climatic conditions ( just as for the batters of regular Idly/ Dosa) which require natural fermentation.Please proceed the same way to ferment the batter for Karikku Dosas as well, if you reside outside India, provided the temp conditions are different from that of India.

Recipe Courtesy-Mrs Beena Kannan, MD, Seematti Textiles, one of my relatives :).



Coconut-Red Chilly Chutney
You need:
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Tamarind paste- ½ tsp (or a one inch piece of fresh tamarind)
Dried Red chillies-4-5
Shallots-2
Ginger-half inch piece
Salt-to taste
To season
Oil-a tsp
Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
Shallots-chopped very fine-a tsp
Hing-a fat pinch
Curry leaves-a few
Method:
Grind the Coconut, red chillies, shallots, ginger and tamarind together with enough water to make the chutney.
To season, heat oil in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry till brown the shallot bits, add the hing and throw in the curry leaves.Pour this over the ground chutney and combine.Check salt and bring the the desired consistency by adding water if needed.Serve this with any Dosa or Idly.
Note:
While this dosa itself contains 'coconut' as one of its main ingredients, mostly a dip or a chutney that accompanies should be devoid of the same coconut. Anyway for a lady grown up in a land of coconut trees it's hard to resist coconuts here in the dip as well.This is a basic recipe of chammanthi in Kerala Cuisine.
But I would strongly suggest you to carry on with a dip of your choice.


This Fiery-red 'chilly-tomato-garlic' dip went very well with the Karikku Dosa.
As you see, this was shot in a careless way, casually while trying the irresistible combo and pls accept my apologies for not typing down the recipe, in this post ;) ..

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