cabbage koottu

Now we are going to see some koottu. Koottu in tamil and may be gravy in english. Raswali sabji in Hindi. For four persons you will need

Ingredients:

Chopped cabbage   4 cups

Moong dhal            two table spoons

coconut shredded   two table spoons

Red chillies             2 Nos.

Rice flour or Pottukadalai/fried chana  2 tea spoons

salt to taste

jeera                     one tea spoon

Turmeric Powder     1/4 tea spoon

For tempering

Oil two teaspoons

mustard seeds,,  one teaspoon

splitted urad dhal  one teaspoon

Red chilly  one number

Curry leaaves, coriander leaves


Grind the coconut with red chillies, rice flour and jeera into a fine paste. Keep it aside.  Now wash the moong dhal and cook it  adding water in a pressure cooker or in a non stick kadai till it becomes soft.  Add the cabbage and add turmeric powder. After the cabbage is half boiled add salt.  When the cabbage is cooked add the grinded paste and let it boil for two minutes.  Remove from the fire and temper with mustard seeds, urad dhal splitted, One Red chilly and Curry leaves.  Garnish with coriander leaves.  You can eat this kootu with rice, vathal kuzambu rice and sambar rice.  There are one or two more types in preparing this koottu.  You can prepare koottu in this method with the following vegetables.

White gourd(pooshani kay white)

Chow chow

beans

carrot

brinjal

Pumpkin

You can also prepare this koottu by using a pressure cooker.  Put all the ingredients, that is, moong dhal, cabbage, turmeric powder in a cooker pan and add water. Pressure cook it for 3 whistles. Open the cooker after the pressure subsides. Put it in fire and add salt and let it boil for 2 minutes.  Now add the grinded paste and boil for another 3 or 4 minutes.  If it is very thick add some water.  And temper it and garnish it as told previously.

Badam and Cashew Nut Kheer!

Kheer from Badam and Cashew.  It is very simple. This is for 4 to 6 people.

Take one small cup badam

cashewnuts 10 to 15 numbers

Raw rice two table spoons

carrot one small size grated

coconut shredded two table spoons

cardamom powder 1/4 teaspoon

Kishmish /Raisins one table spoon

ghee two table spoon

sugar two cups

milk 250 grammes

Soak the rice separately. Wash soak the badam, cashewnuts separately for minimum 3 hours. After 3 hours remove the skin from the badam.  Put the badam, cashewnuts, grated coconut, grated carrot and soaked rice.  Grind it coarsely. The grinded paste will just look like the Chirotti Rava.  Mix one or two cup water. Boil the milk till it will come to 100 millilitres.

Now put a non stic pan in a stove and pour one tablespoon ghee. After the ghee melted pour the batter and stir well   with a ladle/spatula. You can stir the batter for 15 minutes.  Add more water if required. When the batter starts to thicken, add sugar. Stir for some more minutes.  Let it boil for another 20 minutes. When it thickens, add the already boiled milk. The consistency should be thick. Remove from fire and add cardamom powder.  Heat the remaining ghee in a pan, and add the raisins/kishmish. Add them in the kheer. Serve hot or cool.  It will be very tasty.

Come and eat adai! :))))

 Now we are going to learn how to prepare adai.  It is a spicy dosai in a way. But very delicious. There are two or more types in making adai. Will tell you one by one.

First we will prepare with boiled rice. Here the ingredients are given for four persons.

Ingredients:

Boiled Rice 1 1/2 cup

Raw Rice  1 1/2 cup

Thur Dhal  One cup

Bengal gram 1/2 cup

Urad dhal    1/2 cup

Red chillies 6 to 10 numbers according to your taste.  You can increase or decrease the numbers.

Green chillies 2 or 3

Asafoetida (a must)

Salt to taste

curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Oil for roasting

Wash and clean the rice and mix the two rices and soak it in water. Wash the dhals also.  Mix them all and soak them in water.  Thur dhal will give you colour and crispness for adai.  So increase the quantity or decrease according to your taste. After four hours it will be ready to grind.  Put red chillies, green chillies, salt and asafoetida powder and grind them first. You can grind it in a mixie or grinder.  It is your choice. After the chillies powdered add the rice first. Grind it coarsely. Now add the  soaked dhals.  It is convenient to grind in a grinder.  If the grinder is not available then grind it in a bigger mixie jar. After adding the soaked dhals grind it. It should not be a fine paste. It should be grinded coarsely.  Then remove and transfer the batter in to a bowl and add, curry leaves and coriander leaves.  Then you can prepare adai by spreading the batter in a tawa.

Heat the tawa and grease the tawa or non stick tawa. Then pour a ladle full of batter and spread the batter by swirling the tawa.  The consistency should be pouring and thick. After one side is cooked you need to cook the other side also. It can be suitable with Aviyal, Mor kuzambu, Vathal kuzambu and sambar. We will the preaprations of the above in another post.


Next Ekadasi adai:

This is especially for Ekadasi vratam.  Some people won't take boiled rice on ekadasi vratham. So this is for them, and we will also try it for a change.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice 2 cups

Thur dhal one cup

Red chillies, 6 Nos.

green chillies 2 Nos

Salt to taste

Asafoetida

Cooking oil

If you do not take red chillies or green chillies on ekadasi day then

Black Pepper one teaspoon

Jeera or cumin seeds one teaspoon

Ginger one inch

If you are preparing with black pepper and jeera then asafoetida is not necessary.

curry leaves and coriander leaves finely chopped

Wash and clean the rice and dhal and mix them together and soak it in water.  Let it be soaked for 2 or 3 hours. Then grind it coarsely adding Red chillies, green chillies, salt and asafoetida or black pepper, cumin seeds, salt and ginger. The consistency should be thick.  Add curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Heat the tawa and grease it with some oil.  Then dilute the batter by adding some water.  Pour the batter by swirling the tawa. Add the cooking oil. After one side cooked let the other side also cooked. Serve hot with jaggery powder, butter. Because people who is fasting on ekadasi would not take aviyal, vathal kuzambu and sambar.


Next also Raw rice adai.

 But you can add all dhals including moong dhal.

Raw rice 2 cups

Thur dhal 1/2 cup

chana dhal 1/2 cup

urad dhal    1/4 cup

Moong dhal  1/4 cup

Mix the rice and dhal together.  Wash, clean and soak them in water for atleast 4 hours.

Red chillies 6 to 8 according to your taste

Green chillies 2

salt to taste

Asafoetida

Curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing

Shredded coconut powder 1/2 cup

Grind them in a mixie jar or in a grinder.  Add the coconut while grinding.  If you want the coconut powder to be seen in the adai then add the coconut powder after grinding.  Add curry leaves and coriander leaves. You can make adai by adding plantain flower, cabbage, murungkai keerai and all the other leaf vegetables and onion.

Have a nice time with adai.  See you.

Vazhaippoo (Plantain Flower) Paruppu Usili

Now we will see the paruppu usili side dish.  This can be prepared from plantain flower(vaazhaipoo), beans, cluster beans(koththavarai), ridge gourd(pudalai)  cabbage, drumstick leaves and from fenugreek leaves(venthaya keerai).

Now here we are going to see the preparation from plantain flower.  Take a small flower.  Remove the flaps of the flower and take the florets only. Remove the stamen and cut them into smalll pieces and put them in diluted buttermilk. It will be in the buttermilk till you cook, so that the colour of the vegetable should not change to dark.  Or you can cook it by adding 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and the required salt.

Cooked vazhaipoo


For Paruppu Usili

Thur dhal/Arhar  one Cup

Chana dhal?bengal gram 1/2 Cup

Red Chillies 10 Nos.

Salt to taste and Asafoetida

For frying 

Any cooking oil one small cup or 100 grams.

For Tempering 

Mustard seeds, Urad dhal and Curry leaves

Wash the dhals and soak them for 2 hours.  Grind it along with red chillies, salt and hing. Add water if necessary.  Keep it aside.

golden broun coloured paruppu usili


Now heat the oil in a frying pan or thick bottomed Kadai. Add mustard seeds, and Urad dhal.  Add curry leaves. Add the grinded dhal paste and fry for a few minutes.  When it comes to golden brown colour  add the already cooked plantain flower and fry for another 2 minutes. Remove it from the fire and serve hot with rice paired with any kuzambu varieties.  It will be a wonderful side dish.

mixed with vazhaipoo


You can prepare all the paruppu usili in this same method.  For murungai keerai and venthaya keerai paruppu usili, you have to mix the chopped keerai in to the grinded dhal paste and steam it in idli cooker. After steaming only you can fry them in oil. We will see it in the next post. 

Paruppu Urundai Mor kuzambu

Next we are going to see the preparation of Paruppu Urundai Mor kuzambu.

It is very famous in Tamilnadu. Everybody likes it. Here are the ingredients needed.  It is for four persons.

For Paruppu Urundai

Arhar dhal/Thur dhal one cup

Bengal gram/chana dhal 1/4 cup

Red chillies 10 to 12 numbers,

salt to taste, hing/asafoetida,

curry leaves, coriander leaves.


For Mor kuzambu

Thick and sour buttermilk 2 cups

Green chillies 5 numbers

dhania seeds one table spoon

thur dhal two teaspoon

channa dhal  one tea spoon

Black Pepper 1/2 tea spoon

Jeera optional 1/2 tea spoon

coconuted grated 2 tablespoon

salt to taste

turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon

asafoetida,

For tempering

coconut oil one table spoon

Mustard seeds one tea spoon

curry leaves

Preparation for urundai

Wash and soak the dhals for 2 hours.  Then remove the excess water add red chillies, salt and hing and grind it to a fine paste.  Remove it from the jar and add finely chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Make lemon sized balls. Steam it in a idli pan for 5 to 10 minutes.  Remove the balls and keep it aside.

Preparation of Mor kuzambu

Soak the dhania seeds, channa dhal, thur dhal and black pepper in water for 2 hours.  Grind them into a fine paste adding green chillies, coconut powder and jeera(optional). Add turmeric powder and hing in the buttermilk.  Add salt to taste.  Pour it in a pan and put it in a stove.
Add the already steamed paruppu urundai when the morkuzambu mixture starts to boil.  Stir carefully by simmering the morkuzambu in a low fire.

After adding all the urundais remove the morkuzambu and temper it with mustard seeds and curry leaves in coconut oil. Serve hot with rice.

Mor kuzambu recipe 2

Type 2

Curd or sour butter milk 2 cups

green chillies 4 to 5 numbers

coconut powder two tablespoons

raw rice  2 teaspoon, washed and soaked in water

Jeera/cumin seeds(optional)

Turmeric powder 1/4 tea spoon

For Tempering

Mustard Seeds one tea spoon

Curry leaves

Coconut oil or any cooking oil for tempering two teaspoons

You have to prepare some vadas for this type of mor kuzambu. Only this vada is suitable for this type.  To prepare vada.

Ingredients:

Urad dhal 3 tablespoons

Red chillies  5 numbers

salt to taste

Hing/Asafoetida

Curry leaves, coriander leaves

Oil for deep frying

Wash and clean the dhal and soak in the water for half an hour.  Then remove the excess water and put it in a mixie jar.  Add red chillies, salt and hing.  Grind it to a smooth paste. Remove from the jar and add curry leaves .  Make them into gooseberry size balls.  Heat the oil in a kadai and put the balls and deep fry them. When it become golden brown remove from the oil and filter the excess oil. Keep it aside.

Churn the curd. Grind green chillies with the coconut powder, soaked raw rice and jeera.  Grind it to a fine paste.  Add the grinded paste to the curd.  Add salt and turmeric powder. Pour it in a thick bottomed pan and cook it till it become frothy and to the boiling point. Remove from the fire and temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves.  Add the already prepared bondas/vadas while serving. It will suck all the gravy if you add them before serving. 

Mor kuzambu recipe!

Now we will see some other south indian cooking recipes.  First an easy one. Mor kuzambu. You can also call this south indian butter milk curry or gravy.  There are 3 or 4 types of preparing. We will see them all one by one.

Type 1 This is for 4 persons.

Ingredients:

Curd soared or thick soured buttermilk 2 cups.

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon

Hing (optional)

For grinding:

Dhania seeds one table spoon

Bengal gram dhal two teaspoon

Arhar or thur dhal two teaspoon

Raw rice two teaspoon

Black Pepper 1/2 teaspoon..

Cumin seeds or Jeera one teaspoon(optional)

coconut powder two tablespoons

Green chillies 4 to 5 numbers

Clean, wash and soak all the ingredients except green chillies and coconut powder.

Vegetables:  Ash gourd mor kuzambu will be a great one. But if you do not get ash gourd, you can add Okra, colocasia or chembu or dhal pellets. We will see about dhal pellets in the next post. Now take ash gourd or Okra.  If it is ash gourd remove the skin and cut into 2" length pieces. Put it in the boiled water and add salt for it. After it is cooked put it separately.

If it is okra, cut it into small pieces and fry them till it is golden brown by adding salt and turmeric powder. Keep it aside.

For tempering

Coconut oil one table spoon

Mustard, methi(optional)

Red chilly whole (optional)

Curry leaves, Coriander leaves

Churn the curd. Add the required salt and turmeic powder.  Add hing if you like it. Now grind the soaked ingredients given for grinding.  Grind them into a fine paste.  Add the paste to the already churned buttermilk. Add the already cooked vegetable.  Pour it in a thick bottomed pan and put it in a stove , add water if necessary, and cook it until frothy, it should not boil, but should be cooked barely until boiling.  Remove from the fire and temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilly in coconut oil and garnish with coriander leaves.  It will be a super combination with paruppu usili.  We will see the other types of mor kuzambu and after that will see about paruppu usili and dhal pellets mor kuzambu also.