Fish curry

Fish curry or fish kulambu or Meen kulambu in Tamil is a yummy dish . This is my mom's version of fish curry. 

 I prepare it like a thick gravy. But the original version is a more liquidized one just like this recipe.

.Depending upon your taste you can add water to the tamarind paste before making curry.Today i tried the original version with king fish and you can see the picture too.

Items required:
Fish - 1 lb 
(choose any fish like Butter fish ,king fish,anchovy,salmon,catfish etc.Dont choose shell fishes for this preparation.)
thick bottom shallow vessel with a lid - 1
broad spoon -1
sesame oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - 1 gooseberry size
chilli powder -1 tbsp
coriander powder-2 tbsp
turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
tomato - 1
green chillies -2
curry leaves- 2 brigs.
To grind:
shredded coconut -2 tbsp
red onion(chopped)-1 cup
cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Method:
wash the fish and remove all the fins and scales by a knife.
Then slice it into big chunks.
Apply turmeric powder over the fish and keep aside.
Extract juice from tamarind and add chilli powder, coriander powder, pinch of turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
Heat the sesame oil in vessel .Add mustard and fenugreek seeds. After the nustard seeds crackle add the curry leaves .
Then add chopped tomato and saute it for 1 minute.
Add tamarind juice mixture and let it boil for 5 minutes.
Then add the finely ground coconut-onion paste.
Immediately after this starts boiling add the fish pieces.
cover the vessel and simmer the heat.
Keep the curry gets cooked in simmer heat for 15 minutes.
DO NOT stir the curry after adding the fish, otherwise you may end up with broken pieces.
Then put off fire.Garnish with chopped green chillies and curry leaves and serve hot with rice or chapathi or Idly or dosai .

Serving suggestions:
Serves 5 people.
Serve fried fish and ripe mango as side dish.
If there are only 2 people, just 1 lb of fish is enough.1/2 lb fish can be fried and the other half can be mada as curry.

Tamil meaning for fishes:
shark -pillai sura.
sardine - chalai.
anchovy-nethili
Butter fish- kuthippu,
king fish- seela / vanjiram

(Add a tsp of jaggery / brown sugar before switching off, for  a more subtle taste)

Jack fruit kheer

Jack fruit kheer is also called Jack fruit payasam or pala pazha payasam .It is one of the "must to be served" desserts in a keralite wedding.In USA we cannot get fresh jack fruit, so instead i have used a can of jack fruit. I discard the preservative liquid.

Ingredients:
Jack fruit - 10 pieces (1 can)
green gram - 1 cup
jaggery (crushed)- 1 cup
cardamom - 3
ghee - 1 tbsp
raisin - 10
cashew nut - 10

Directions:
Make puree out of 6 pieces of jack fruit.
Chop the other 4 pieces and keep aside.
Pressure cook the green gram for 3 whistles and mash it.
Heat a vessel with 2 cups of water and add jaggery.
After the jaggery gets dissolved, distill the clear jaggery solution and discard the sandy left over .
Add the chopped jack fruit pieces to the jaggery solution and cook it , till it becomes soft.
Now add the jack fruit puree and the mashed green gram.
Let it boil for 3 minutes.
Crush the cardamom and add it to the kheer.
Heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp ghee.
Roast the cashews,raisins to golden brown and pour it into the kheer.
Heat for 2 minutes and switch off the stove.

Serving suggestion:
Serve hot or cold as dessert.

Cilantro chutney

To grind:

• cilantro / coriander leaves - 1 bunch
• green chillies- 3
• tamarind - 1 inch length
• salt- 1/2 tsp
• cumin seeds- 1/4 tsp
• garlic - 1 pearl

for tempering:

• sesame oil - 2 tbsp
• mustard - 1/2 tsp
• split black gram- 1/2 tsp

Method:
Heat a frying pan . Fry the cleaned , washed cilantro in 1 tbsp oil for 2 minutes.
Add all the items given to grind and stir for a minute.
Put off fire and let it cool.
In a mixer or blender add those fried items.
Grind them into a fine paste.
Add 1 tbsp of oil in the frying pan and put mustard seeds, urid dhal.
After the mustard crackles, add the cilantro paste and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Serving suggestions:
Serve with curd rice , chapathi, Idly, dosa or even as a sandwich layer.

Thattampayaru Kara Kulambu

Small red beans (karamani / thatta payir / thattai payaru / thattam payiru in Tamil), is known as the world's best source of antioxidant. (reference: click to see)


Ingredients:
Red Cow peas (Thattam payaru/chowri)- 1 cup.
(You can substitute black eyed cow peas too.)
Tamarind- 1 gooseberry size
drumstick (vegetable)- 1.
tomato - 1
onion (chopped)- 1 cup
chilli powder - 1tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
feugreek (methi seed)-1 tsp
mustard seeds- 1tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig
sesame oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Step 1:
Soak the cow peas for an hour and pressure cook it till it gets soft.
After the whistle , simmer the stove and switch off the stove after 5 minutes.

Step 2:
Extract the juice from tamarind. Keep it in a bowl.
Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder to the tamarind extract.

Step 3:
In a pan add the oil then put mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds.
After the mustard gets cracked add curry leaves and chopped tomatoes.
Then add the tamarind extract mixture.
Cut the drumstick into 2 inch length pieces and put it in the mixture.
Let it boil for 10 minutes.
Now add the cooked beans along with the remaining water , if any.

Step4:
Grind the coconut , cumin seeds and onion into a fine paste.
Put this paste into the boiling tamarind extract.
Check for salt and put off fire immediately after the curry starts boiling.

Serving suggestions:
Serves for 4 to 5 people.
Serve hot with rice after dhal rice and before Rasam rice.
Plantain flower Paruppu usili stands a good combo with thattam payaru curry.

Masal Vadai

Masal vadai is an evening snack in south India especially Tamilnadu.
When we were in Chennai, I always admire a masal vadai sold in a particular shop in chennai.The shop is a one man show .One day I asked him his secret in his crispy masal vadai. He told me the following recipe and it is a fool proof recipe.
His recipe differs from the normal home made masal vadai by adding yellow peas dhal along with channa dhal and by adding a handful of unground dhal. (I added green split peas).
No wonder that the man maintains a huge customer group and he managed to sell his vadai , paniyaram , bajji for only one Rupee per piece(in year 2006).For your information he maintained strict hygiene also, I mean you can see him making those snacks even from outside.

A plate of masal vadai with coconut chutney.

Ingredients:
yellow/green split peas(pattani paruppu in tamil)-1 cup
Channa dhal/ Bengal gram lentil - 1 cup
salt - 1 tsp
green chilies - 3 (chopped)
fresh ginger(finely chopped) - 1 inch
onion (chopped) - 1/2 cup
curry leaves- 1 sprig
coriander leaves (chopped)- 2 tbsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
fennel seeds (peruncheeragam/ sombu)- 1/2 tbsp
dry red chillies - 3
garam masal powder - 1 tsp
cooking oil-250 ml. for frying


Preparation:
Soak both the dhal for 1 hour in water.
Take out a handful of soaked dhal and keep aside.(This gives a wonderful crispy texture to the vadai.)
Grind coarse mixture with red chillies, salt, garam masal powder,cinnamon,fennel seeds and almost no water.
Add the left over dhal,coarse dhal mixture,chopped onions,chopped ginger,chopped cilantro, and curry leaves.
Mix well .
Take a small ball of the mixture (in the size of a lemon), slightly flatten in the palm of your hand then place in the hot oil .
Deep fry on both sides to a golden brown color to mild red color.
Remove the masal vadai , drain oil by placing over a tissue paper .


Serving suggestions:
Makes 15 big size masal vadai.
Serve hot with Coconut chutney


Note:
You can make the mixture and keep the entire preparation inside the refrigerator for 3 days and use whenever needed.

Mango kheer.

Mango kheer or Mango payasam is an excellent dessert prepared during summer.

Ingredients

Milk - 1/2 litre
Sago - two tablespoon (Javvarisi in Tamil)
Cashwenuts - 10 pieces
Cardamoms - 3
Fine Mango Puree (from 1 ripe mango) - 1 cup
Ripe mango - 1 chopped.
Ghee - 2 tablespoons
raisins - 10 .
Sugar - 1/2 cup taste

Method:
Soak the sago in water for 10 minutes and cook it completely till it becomes transparent.
Add milk and boil the sago.
Add sugar and powdered cardamom.
Simmer the stove till milk thickens.
Add the chopped mango pieces.
Heat Ghee and fry the cashewnuts ,raisins in it.
Add the fried cashews and raisins to the kheer.
Add the mango pulp and remove from fire.

Serving suggestions:
Makes 5 cups of Mango payasam.
Serve chill or hot.

Snake Gourd -Lentil curry. (Pudalangai koottu)

Ingredients:
Snake gourd- 1 lb
onion - 1
green chilli-2
muctard - 1/2tsp
oil- 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
green gram dhal - 2 tbsp
water - 2 cups
salt - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 1 brig
cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp.

Method:
Wash and soak the green gram dhal in water for 1/2 an hour.
Chop the onions.
Scrub the snake-gourd to remove skin and cut it in to small pieces.
Add water to a lidded pan and put soaked dhal, snake-gourd and onions.
Cook them closed, till the lentils are completely cooked.
Add salt.
Grind the coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds into a fine paste.
Add the mixture to the boiled vegetables. and mix well.
Heat a frying pan with 1 tsp oil.
Add mustard seeds and after hearing the popping sound put curry leaves .
Mix this to the boiled vegetables and mix well in medium heat for 2 minutes.

Serving suggestions:
Serves 4 people.
Can be served as side dish for Tamarind Kara kulambu or sambar.