Erisseri (vegetable curry)

Erisseri belongs to Kerala. It is an yummy side dish served during all the feasts in kerala and south Tamil Nadu. The yam I am referring here is the 'Indian Yam' which is a root/ tuber otherwise called Elephant foot yam / suran (Hindi) / senai kilangu (Tamil).
It is not the same yam as we see in USA. Here they are calling a root similar to sweet potato as yam.
Yam is available in all seasons in India. Even a small grocery shop in Chennai will sell it. A matured yam will weigh nearly 4 kgs or more. So in India they cut and sell the yam . This vegetable will not rot for a month or two, if kept uncut.
We should be careful in cleaning a fresh yam , as it may cause itching to the hands. To avoid any itching, apply tamarind juice to your hands after cutting this vegetable.
We can buy frozen yam from the 'Indian stores' in USA . So we need not worry about this cleaning or itching , but surely we miss the fresh flavor.
Here is the recipe for Erisseri. Hope you all like it:)



Ingredients:
Yam - 150 gms
Raw banana - 1
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
salt - to taste
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaf - 1 brig
To grind:
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
whole black pepper - 1 tbsp

Method:
Cut the yam and banana into small cubes.
Cook it with 1 cup of water , turmeric powder and salt.
Grind the items given to a fine paste.
After the vegetables get cooked, slightly mash them with the ladle and add the masala paste.
Saute them in low flame till the curry becomes thicker.
Heat oil in a wok, splutter the mustard seeds .
Add curry leaves and 1 tbsp shredded coconut to the cracked mustard . Saute well till the coconut turns brown .
Mix it with the curry.
(Traditionally they add a tbsp of hot coconut oil after switching off the flame. )
Erissery is ready.

Serving suggestions:
It can be served as side dish with plain steamed rice, chapathi or sambar rice.
Note:
The consistency should be like a semi solid curry. The coconut masala should be more visible than the vegetables. People who do not like coconut can reduce it to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup.

Kale leaf curry

I have been watching this kale leaf bunch in every grocery store in USA for a long time . But my desi brain couldn't even identify it as a keerai (greens). I assumed it as a kind of cabbage:)
Never dared to take it home as hubby hates trying new greens:)
Then heard of its nutritional value from my friend Malar of Kitchen Tantra.
She has a vast knowledge about the rare greens. This leaf has a lot of vitamin K and good for women. Thanks for the info Malar. Then I started cooking it like our very native paruppu keerai (dhal and spinach).. I don't know any recipe for this. It tastes heavenly. Besides we need not depend on our Indian store spinach alone.That's amazing right:)



Ingredients:
Kale leaf - 3/4 lb
Thoor dhal - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1
Dry red chilly - 2
cumin seed - few
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida - a pinch
olive oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash the kale leaf by placing it in a big mixing bowl.
Remove the thicker vains and chop into big pieces. vegetables chopped into tiny pieces may loose their water-soluble vitamins easily.
Pressure cook thoor dhal with 1 cup water, little turmeric powder, asafoetida and mash it .
Heat olive oil in a non stick wok.
Add mustard seeds. Once they get cracked , add the chopped onion, dry red chilli and saute well.
After the onion gets semi cooked add the chopped kale leaves and stir well.
Add a cup of water and close the lid.
Let the greens cook (but not 100%). It will get cooked in 5 minutes.
Open the lid , add salt, cumin seeds and cooked dhal.
Mix well and let it come to boil.
Switch off flame.
Kale leaf curry is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with steamed rice or roti / chapathi.
Makes two cups of curry.
1 cup chopped kale leaf gives 36 calories.(citation: The daily plate )
We can add the calories for the olive oil, lentil and onion to calculate the calorie consumed.

Pesarattu (Green gram dosai)

Pesarattu is a special breakfast cum dinner served in Andhra restaurants.
Being born and brought up in a southern most part of India , I have never heard of Pesarattu till I moved to Madras.
One fine morning I tasted the Pesarattu made by my Sakuntala Athai (Aunt) and became a fan of Pesarattu.
Most of her recipes were new to me .Then only I understood that the Madras families surely will have a touch of the Andhra cuisines and that's really delectable.


Ingredients:
Green gram - 1 1/2 cup
Rice - 1 tbsp
onion - chopped 1 cup
green chilly - 3
ginger - 1 inch
cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
curry leaf - 1 brig
sesame oil - 1 tsp per pesarattu.

Method:
Soak green gram with 1 tbsp rice overnight (or 8 hours).
Grind green chilly, ginger, with the soaked dhal and rice to a paste like dosa batter.
Add salt, chopped onion , curry leaf and cumin seeds .
Heat a dosa girdle . Pour a ladle of batter and flatten it to a thin crepe dosa.
Sprinkle little sesame oil over the pesarattu.
Flip over and let it cook both sides.
Pesarattu is ready.

Serving suggestions:
In some Andhra restaurants , they place a spoon of rava uppuma inside the Pesarattu and fold it like masala dosai.
The suitable side dishes can be red capsicum chutney or green chilly chutney or tomato chutney or vada curry .
Makes 20 Pesarattu.

If minimal oil is used then this is good for a less calorie diet .

Green chilly chutney (less spicy)

When I planned to make the Andhra 's Pesarattu , the side dish sparked in my mind was their special green chilly chutney. Green chilly chutney is loved by the people of North Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. I remember a version of green chilly chutney but it calls for a lot of Indian green chilly without Jaggery.
At the same time while browsing through Jaishree's Ruchi , I got a green chilly pickle recipe.
Then I got an idea to add Jaggery to the chutney. My friend Prathiba from Bangalore told me to substitute Jalapeno peppers for half of the green chilly. I didn't have any Jalapeno pepper so I used a big green bell pepper to reduce the spice of chilly.
The result is the following "Less spicy green chilly chutney". The flavor reminds me of Andhra restaurant chutney , but with less spice.
If you want more spice , then go for 5 Jalapeno peppers instead of a bell pepper. No need to temper the chutney.


Green chilli chutney / Less spicy chilly chutney/ Pachai milagai chutney

Ingredients:
Green Bell pepper - 1
Indian green chilly - 10
sesame seed - 1 tbsp
garlic - 2
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
tamarind - a big strawberry size
crushed Jaggery - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste

Method:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a wok.
Chop the bell pepper. Do not chop the small green chilly.
Fry both with 1 tbsp sesame seeds . Cook them covered till the chilly turns pale brown.
Deseed and soak the tamarind.
Grind fried chilly, sesame seed, cumin seed, tamarind , salt, jaggery and garlic to a fine paste.
No need to garnish.
Green chilly chutney is ready!

Serving suggestions:
The above said quantity will be comfortably enough for 4 people.
Serve hot as side dish with idly, dosa, pesarattu , chapathi etc.

Rava Idly

Rava Idly / Semolina Idly is a kind of Idly served in TamilNadu restaurants. It is much easier to prepare and a delicacy to serve along with sambar or tomato chutney.
I tried making this Rava Idly many times and failed to get that fluffiness. I got something like uppuma:)
Then got the recipe from a old magazine. They insist on grinding urid dhal.Many people do not use urid dhal. But it gives a wonderful texture and it resembles much like original Idly.



Ingredients:
Rava - 2 1/2 cup
urid dhal - 1/2 cup
curd - 1/2 cup
water - 1 cup
To temper:
oil - 2 tbsp
cashew - 10
ginger - 1 inch
green chilli - 2
mustard - 1 tsp
channa dhal - 1 tbsp.
curry leaf - 1 brig
cilantro - a handful
salt - 1 1/2 tsp

Method:
Soak the urid dhal for 1 hour.
Dry roast the rava till you get a nice aroma.
Grind the urid dhal to a fine paste and mix it with the rava along with salt, curd and yeast.
I didn't have a sour curd, so I added a pinch of yeast to the batter for fermentation. There is no need to add yeast during summer. Do not add a lot of water.
The consistency should be like a pan cake mix / urid dhal vadai batter.
Keep it inside oven or any warm place and let it ferment for 8 hours.
Just before making idly, we need to add the tempering.
Chop the green chilli, cilantro, ginger and curry leaves.
Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil .Add the channa dhal and mustard.
Let the mustard crackle.
Then add the cashews , chopped green chilli, cilantro, curry leaves and ginger.
Fry them for a while and mix it with the fermented batter.
Coat the idly vessel with little oil and pour the batter.
Steam cook the idly for 10 minutes (Do not put 'cooker-weight' if you are using a pressure cooker).
Take the idly vessel out , keep it out and scoop the Rava idly after 2 minutes .
Rava Idly is ready.

Serving suggestions:
We can microwave the idly before serving.
Serve Rava idly hot with tomato chutney or sambar.
Makes 14 fluffy Rava idly.

Rava Idly has black gram (Urid dhal) . So it goes to Legume affair hosted by Srivalli and Susan.

Adai Dosai

Adai dosai is a common breakfast / dinner item made in South Indian houses. we make it in many ways using many kind of lentils. The following recipe is an authentic one followed by people of Tirunelveli. My mom used to make it for saturday mornings. (Sundays were devoted to Poori). I don't even know when she would have got up or when she would have soaked them all..(Yes , it is the secret of mothers ). But those memories are really wonderful and the best part is , this was her favorite breakfast cum dinner.
I used to give her some appreciation by making my imperfect adais , after enjoying her crispy ones:) Later on those breakfast menus became dinner specials , paving way to oats and cereals.
Recently I enjoyed adai made by my friend Priya Anand and got inspired a lot again:)
She prepared it like a kerala adai and it was soo.... lovely. Will post that version also soon.
Hope this recipe brings many loving memories to you too guys:)

Adai dosai  served with coconut chutney.

Update (11- 25 - 2013)
Nowadays I make adai using my electric griddle (350 deg F or little lesser). This helps me make more adais in short time...also it will never char these lentil dosais. But we can make it just like dosa in dosa pan too. Both tastes good.

To grind:
Idly rice / any rice - 1cup

Raw rice (Basmati) - 1 cup
Thoor dhal - 1/4 cup
Channa dhal - 1/2 cup

Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
urid dhal  - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 1 inch
Dry red chilli - 5
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Cumin - 1 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp

To temper:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1tsp
urid dhal - 1 tbsp
onion - 2 cup

Green chili - 2
cilantro - a handful
curry leaf - 1 sprig

Method:
Wash and soak the rice , thoor dhal, channa dhal, urid dhal for 6 hours.
I soaked it by 12 Noon and made it for dinner.
(If you plan to make adai for a special breakfast, then soak all the items told and keep it inside fridge overnight.
Otherwise soak the rice overnight and soak the dhals for just 2 hours in the norning.
Because while making adai , the dhals should not ferment. Moreover do not use fermented left over batter, as it is believed to be hazardous)
After 6 hours grind soaked items along with Red chilli, ginger, asafoetida, turmeric, cumin and salt like coarse dosa batter .

Tempering the batter :
Heat a pan with oil and add mustard, as it crackles, add urid dhal.
When urid dal starts to get red in color, then add the chopped onion , cilantro, curry leaves and fry till the onion becomes transparent.
Then add this tempering to adai dosa batter.
Heat a dosa pan and coat it with a little sesame oil.
(Thick traditional dosa tawas make crispy adais than the non stick tawas)
Then pour a ladle of batter and make thick dosas.

Make a hole in the center of the adai and add 1 tsp sesame oil or ghee around the adai and in the center hole.

Flip it. Wait to get adai cooked on both sides (almost 1 - 2 minute each side at medium heat).
Like wise make as many as required.
Adai dosai is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve adai hot with coconut chutney or aviyal or onion chutney.
Do not prepare it in batches before serving. Because cold adai does not taste great.
So start making adai , as soon as anyone sits in front of the dinner plate.

Note:  
The taste will be enhanced if we add a handful of drumstick leaves to the batter before making adai.

Sesame Ladoo

Sesame ladoo / Ell urundai is a kind of primordial Indian sweet . It is believed that , the people who extract oil (nallennai in tamil) from sesame seeds could have invented this amazing sweet. Actually they mix palm jaggery with the left over crushed sesame seeds after getting the oil .
We cannot get palm jaggery easily in USA , so here is a modern recipe for our store bought sesame seeds with ordinary jaggery:)




Ingredients:
Black Sesame seeds - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1/2 cup (grated)
cardamom - 2 pods (optional)

Method:
Sprinkle little water over black sesame seeds and dry roast it.
Sprinkling water avoids jumping of sesame seeds. Let it cool .
Then coarsly grind (just 2 pulse) the sesame seeds and cardamom in a mixer.
Heat the crushed jaggery with a spoon of water and make a thick liquid out of it.
Take care not to char the jaggery.
Then mix the crushed sesame seeds with jaggery and make lemon size balls.
Sesame ladoo is ready.

Good for a healthy dessert for underweight kids!