Lemon Rasam

Ingredients:
Lemon - 1
water- 4 cups
salt- 1 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida- 1 pinch
Black pepper- 1 tsp
cumin seed- 1 tsp
garlic - 4 pearls
coriander seeds- 1 tsp
oil- 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
methi seeds- 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- 1 brig
cilantro- a handful
red chilli- 2


Method:
First dry roast the pepper,cumin seeds, coriander seeds till we get a nice aroma.
Then grind them with garlic to a coarse mixture.
Extract juice from lemon .Add salt and water and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai.Crackle the mustard seeds and add fenugreek seeds.
Then goes the red chillies and curry leaves.
Immdiately add the pepper garlic mixture and saute a little.
Sprinkle some asafoetida and turmeric powder.
Then add the finely chopped tomatoes and saute them till the tomatoes are half cooked.
Now switch off the stove and add the lemon juice.
Do not heat the rasam after adding lemon juice, because heating gives a bitter taste to rasam.

Picnic Tomato chutney:

To grind:
Tomato - 1 lb
red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
tamarind - 1 small gooseberry size
dry ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
turmeric - 1 pinch
asafoetida - 1 pinch
salt - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tbsp

To Temper:
Garlic - 10 pearls
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch
curry leaves- 2 brigs
Red chilli(small bulky-Andhra chilli)- 3
sesame oil / cooking oil - 3 tbsp

Method:
Grind all the given items and make puree.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
Crackle the mustard , add fenugreek, asafoetida, red chillies.
Then goes the garlic and curry leaves.
After sauting the garlic for a while , carefully add the tomato puree.
Reduce flame after 5 minutes and let the puree becomes a thick gravy in low fire.
Put off flame after oil oozes out of the chutney.
cool it and store in refrigerator for a month.

Serving suggestions:
Great combo for chapathi, dosa, curd rice, dhal rice, Idly, Adai .
It can be made for a picnic lunch pack and lasts for atleast 3 days without cooler.

Horse gram chutney / Kollu thovaiyal

Horse gram is always used in Indian cooking to increase the fibre content in the food.
It is believed that horse gram acts as a vital element in reducing body fat.

cabbage rice with kollu chutney and sweet potato chips  (updated in 2017Aug)

Ingredients:
Horse gram/ Kollu - 1/4 cup
red chillies - 2
shredded coconut- 1 tbsp
tamarind - 1 inch piece
salt - 1/4 tsp (to taste)
curry leaves - 1 sprig
cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
garlic - 1 pearl.

Method:
Spread the kollu in a large plate and carefully look through (sort out) to remove any impurities like stone or husk. (I prefer doing this in free time in day light and will save it in a bottle).
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and fry Kollu (in low heat) to golden brown color. It may pop, so be careful.
Then in the same pan roast the red chillies and coconut separately to almost crispy state.
After they get cool, grind every thing in Indian mixer or any blender without water for 20 seconds.
Then add very little water and grind coarsely to get a thick chutney.

serving suggestions:
Goes fine with Rasam saadham (Rice mixed with Rasam),tamarind rice, lemon rice, urid dhal rice and coconut rice.
Tastes good for 24 hours at room temperature (travel food) without refrigerator.

Maida Burfi

Ingredients:
2 cup maida (all purpose flour)
3 cups sugar
3 tbsp ghee
2 drops of rose essence
5 drops of red food color

Method:
Heat a pan and dry roast maida till it looses all the moisture and smells good.Do not make it brown.
Make a sugar syrup with 1 cup water to one thread consistency.
Put off fire .Add maida, essence, ghee and food color.Heat and stir well continuously till it starts leaving the sides of the vessel.
Transfer to a greased tray and cut into required size.

Serving suggestions:
Can be served as a dessert.
Makes 2 lb burfi .(nearly 40 pieces).

Mothagam / Kolukkatai

This is the sweet prepared specially for vinayagar chathurthi.

Ingredients:
channa dhal- 2 cup
jaggery- 2 cup
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cardamom- 4
raisins- 10
cashews-10
rice flour - 2 cups
Salt - a pinch
ghee/oil- 2 tbsp

Pooranam preparation:
cook the channa dhal (kadalai paruppu) to 3/4 boiled stage.
After letting the dhal cool, mash it in blender/ mixie .
Add 1/4 cup water to the crushed jaggery and heat it, so that the jaggery dissolves completely.
Using a strainer, filter the jaggery solution leaving behind the sediments.
Add the jaggery solution to the crushed dhal and start heating it with frequent stirring.
Now add the shredded coconut and crushed cardamom.
Fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and add it to the mixture.
Stir the sweet mixture till it becomes manageable.
Now make lemon size balls out of it and keep aside.

Mothagam preparation:
Take the rice flour in a pan.
Roast it in a dry pan to loose all the moisture.
Add water,ghee/oil , salt to the flour so that it becomes like a thick dosa batter.
Now heat the mixture in very low flame and stir continuously, till we get a thick transparent rice dough.
Take off heat and let it cool.
Now take a small ball of rice dough, flatten it in your palm.
Put one sweet pooranam ball over the rice disc and start covering it inside the rice dough.
The rice coating should be thin.Make the shape of a coconut with kudumi.
Now arrange the mothagams/ kozhukattai on a idly baking tray and steam it like idly for 10 minutes.

Makes 25 mothagams.

Note:
The softness of the kolukkattai depends on the consistency of the rice flour after cooking it.It should be a bit thicker than urid dhal vadai mavu and looser than chapathi dough.Adjust the water to get the consistency. Afterwards coat a little water on the palm and spread the dough .Then fill it with sweet core.
After steaming the kolukkattai, protect them inside a vessel and cover it tightly with a lid while they are hot.Don't place them outside. I am sure you will get a soft kolukkattai.

* If you can't cook the rice flour in a pan, try microwaving it till the flour turns to a dough.

*always apply little oil on your palm and make the outer rice flour cover for mothagam. Then only the kolukkattai won't get bursts / split after cooking.

Number:
For 11 mothakam, we may need 3/4 cup flour and equal amount of pooranam (1/2 cup kadalai paruppu + little jaggery+ coconut).

Mutton Kulambu

Ingredients:
Goat meat (with bones)- 1 lb
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
water - 2 cups

Masala 1:
ginger- 2 inch
garlic-5 pearls
cloves-4
cardamom- 2
cinnamon- 1 inch
fennel seeds - 1 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
pepper - 1 tsp

Grind ginger,garlic,cinnamon, cloves, cardamom,fennel seeds, cumin seeds and black pepper to a fine paste.

Masala 2:
tomato -2 (100 gms)
shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
cashews - 5
poppy seeds- 1 tbsp
coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

In a pan dry roast poppy seeds ,coriander seeds, cashews and keep aside.
Add 1 tsp oil and fry chopped tomatoes.Then grind poppy seeds, shredded coconut, cashews, tomato to a fine paste

other items:
brinji leaves -2
Red onion- 2
curry leaves- 1 brig
cilantro- 1 handful
mint leaves - 1 handful
cooking oil- 3 tsp
chilli powder - 1 tbsp
green chilli- 3
coconut milk - 1 tbsp
potato - 3 (1/2 lb)

Method:
choose goat meat from breast with ribs to make soupy kulambu.
Wash the meat and cut it in to big pieces.Add water , turmeric, 1 spoon of Masala 1 and 1 chopped onion to the meat.
Pressure cook them for 1 whistle and then reduce the flame to minimum. Let it remain in less flame for 10 minutes.Open the pressure cooker after it becomes cool.
In a kadai , heat 2 tsp cooking oil.Add 1/2 tsp fennel seeds and after it turns red add brinji leaves,curry leaves, chopped onion, green chillies, cilantro and mint leaves one by one .
Add the remaining ginger garlic paste and saute for a while.
Peel and cut the potatoes in to big chunks.Saute the potato , add the Masala 2 and stir it for 5 minutes.
Add chilli powder,turmeric powder and saute again. Add a cup of water.close the lid and cook till the potatoes get soften.
Add the cooked mutton, salt and coconut milk.
Check for salt and take off heat as soon as the curry starts boiling.
Serve hot with rice or Biryani or fried rice or chapathi or any bread.
Chicken 65 and onion raitha can be a best side dish.

Muttai parotta / Kothu parotta

Muttai parotta or kothu barotta is a yummy main course prepared in many road side parotta shops of TamilNadu. Kothu parotta means scramble parotta or kheema parotta.
Some five years back, when we got married we started our life in Nesapakkam in Madras.(I don't call Madras as Chennai.)
Ok, back to the story. Xav used to buy this kothu parotta from a small hotel in Nesapakkam atleast twice a month . I accompany him to that hotel ,just to see how the chef makes the kothu parotta. They use a very big dosa tawa and do the scrambling of parotta with two big spatulas. It gives a funny sound and i admire it very much.
Moreover , they pack the kothu parotta in banana leaf and it imparts a wonderful aroma to the kothu parotta.After coming to USA, whenever we crave for the native tastes , i make this Muttai parotta in my kitchen with frozen parottas or maida chapathis /naan or even left over wheat chapathis. I always save a cup of Mutton chalna/ kuruma to make this muttai parotta. This Kothu parotta holds good for packed lunch too.

Ingredients:
frozen Malaysian parotta- 3
Egg- 3
Kuruma- 1 cup (veg or Non-veg)
Red onion- 1 big
green chillies- 2
Tomato - 2
ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
non veg curry masala powder- 1 tsp
chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
pepper- 1 tsp
curry leaves- 2 brig
cilanro - handful
oil- 2 tbsp
salt - 1 tsp

Method:
First fry the parottas in dosa tawa as per instruction in the packet.
Or, Just make 6 thin chapathis out of maida flour/ all purpose flour/ wheat.
Tear off the parotta/chapathi into very small pieces.
Keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add fennel seeds(Perunjeeragam/sombu).
Add the chopped onions and saute a little.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.
Now add the tomatoes and cook till it becomes soft.
Make some space in pan by moving all the fried items to a side.
Add the eggs, salt, chilli powder and stir it till the eggs get half cooked .
Then mix the egg with the onion and tomato and stir well.
Introduce the scrambled parotta and mix well.
Add curry masala powder, pepper powder, chopped cilantro,curry leaves and the kuruma after the egg gets cooked.
Serve hot with onion raitha.