Pumpkin Poriyal

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Yellow pumpkin is always a challenge in Indian cooking. Many a times we use it in sambar for that sweetness but making poriyal is something odd for many. But this pumpkin poriyal is a regular one in our house. Mom used to make it quite often. The addition of fennel in the poriyal makes it more flavorful.



Ingredients:
Ripe pumpkin - 1/2 kg
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
channa dhal - 2 tbsp
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
green chilly - 3
Shallot / red onion - 1 cup (chopped)
curry leaf - 1 sprig
cumin - 1/4 tsp
oil - 1 tbsp
sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:
Cook channa dhal and keep aside.

Wash and remove the skin of pumpkin.
Chop it into small cubes.

Heat oil in a wok. Add fennel seeds and let it get red.
Then add the chopped onion, green chilliew, curry leaf and stir for a while.
After the onion turns soft, add the chopped pumpkin, stir for a minute.

Add 1/2 cup water and cook covered.
After the pumpkin gets cooked add the cooked channa dhal, salt, cumin and shredded coconut.
Stir till all the moisture is gone. Take off the heat.

If the pumpkin is not sweet, add 1/2 tsp sugar at the end.

Pumpkin poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish for vatral kulambu / karakulambu over rice.

Song of the day:
I have planned to share some of my favorite songs along with my posts. If you wish click and enjoy. 'Eagle's wings' is one of the famous songs they sing in our church. This You tube album has the lyrics too. Enjoy!

Chettinad Chicken Biryani

Chetttinad is a region in Sivagangai district of TamilNadu, India. It is well known for its Chettinad cuisine, bungalows and Temples. The capital of the district is Karaikudi . Click to see some beautiful houses of Chettinad.

There are many variations in biryani preparation. Of which the Chettinad version is a more Indianised one. The masala in the biryani with pepper and corinader seeds makes a difference.

Can there be words to describe the flavor and taste of the authentic chettinad chicken biryani available in those Karaikudi / chettinad restaurants? Hubby and myself are glued to the chettinad cuisine and always look for opportunities to visit their restaurants. There is one near our house and they serve the best chicken biryani I have ever tasted. I tried many combination to arrive at their taste and thus got the below recipe for the famous spicy hot chettinad chicken biryani.

Dedicating this Chettinadu chicken biryani to my friend Sheeba Neal.


(Chettinad chicken biryani served with era(Shrimp) thokku and lemon wedges).

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 3 cups (600 gms)
Chicken (with bones and skin) - 1.5 lbs (almost equal to rice in weight)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red onion - 2 (200 gms)
Tomato - 3 (1/4 kg)
curd -1 cup
Ghee - 5 tbsp
cooking oil - 2 tbsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig (optional)
green chillies (uncut)- 3
Lemon (squeezed) - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste.
bay leaves - 2
star aniseed - 1
cinnamom stick - 3 inch

Masala 1:

Ginger - 3 inch
Garlic - 6 pearls
cumin - 1/2 tsp
Fennel - 1 tsp
black pepper (whole) - 1 tbsp
Dry red chillies - 5
corinader seeds - 2 tbsp
cardamom - 4
cloves - 6

Masala 2:

cilantro- 1 handful.
mint leaf -1 handful.
green chilly - 5

Method:

Wash the rice. Pour enough water to fully cover the rice along with 1 tsp salt , little turmeric powder, lemon juice and cook in boiling water for 2 minutes or till 25% cooked. Drain water completely and keep the rice aside.

For masala 1, dry roast the coriander, cumin, fennel,black pepper, dry red chillies, cardamom, cloves and grind along with other items given.

For masala 2, grind together the items given to a fine paste.Keep aside.

Wash and clean the chicken pieces.(Don't remove the skin unless otherwise you need to, as it will give a nice flavor to the biryani).
Cut it in to big pieces. Apply 1/4 tsp turmeric over it.
Marinate the chicken with 2 tsp salt and 1 cup curd,

Heat 3 tbsp ghee + 2 tbsp cooking oil in a broad bottom vessel.
Add star aniseed , cinnamon stick, bay leaf. (Don't let them char).
Then goes the chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaf.
Add masala 1 and stir well till the raw smell goes (don't fry for long time as it will release pungent smell and it will make us sneeze).
Now add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil oozes out of it.
Also put the masala 2 and cook again till raw smell vanishes.

Now add the marinated chicken pieces and cook till oil starts oozing. (The real taste lies in that frying process).Check and add salt if needed.(We can't add salt hereafter). Chicken should be almost completely cooked now.

Add the rice (25% cooked) and stir well. Add water just enough to cover the rice. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp ghee and Cover tightly with a lid.

Dum process:

Heat a thick iron tawa and place the biryani vessel over it.
Reduce the flame to the minimum and leave for 1 hour to get it completely cooked.

Chettinad chicken biryani is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve chicken biryani hot with onion raitha and egg curry or any gravy.
Serves 4 adults.
As it is a spicy-hot biryani version, they generally pair it up with curd rice and kheer.
Click to see my shrimp thokku recipe .

'Veggie delight' Sandwich.

I tried to make a version of the famous Subway sandwich. The taste was much closer to the original version and we enjoyed it very much. Anyway I should admit nothing can beat the original Subway sandwich:)



Ingredient:
Fresh French bread - 2
Onion (chopped) - 1 (medium)
black olives (sliced) - 5
Ripe tomato (chopped) - 1
pickled jalapeno - 8 slices
Sweet relish - 2 tbsp
(Sweet relish is a kind of sweet pickle)
lettuce (shredded) - 1 cup
shredded cheese - 4 tbsp
Sweet onion sauce - 4 tsp
(Instead I used : ranch dressing - 6 tbsp)
tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
butter - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Slit the bread and open carefully without separating completely.

Divide the above vegetables into two and fill the bread.
Drizzle the tomato sauce (1 tbsp),sweet relish - (1 tbsp), shredded cheese (2 tbsp), ranch dressing (3 tbsp) and close the bread gently.

Coat the top of bread with butter.

Line the baking tray with aluminum foil.
Place the breads inside the oven.
Bake for 3 minutes. Broil for 1 minute.

Take out and serve hot.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as lunch or dinner with a drink and some baked sides or fries.

Fish fry (Tirunelveli style)

Fish market is one of the center of attraction for me always. While hubby gets satisfied with some chicken or the much hyped King fish (rarely), I fill my shopping bag with fresh and different fishes. Analyzing those heaps of fish and choosing gives me a kind of satisfaction. The strange thing is hubby gives priority to the beauty of the fish than anything else. So he loves just the dinner plate size slices of king fish or the cute Red snapper (sankara / romeo), butter fish (karapudi), silver pomfret (vaaval)etc. I just blindly allow him to choose 'cos I know that is the only way to make someone eat fish:)
This is the story behind my pomfret fish recipes and no wonder they taste amazing always.

Even though we all fry the fish in a more similar way, the masala added here makes a difference. While talking with my friend Gita , I found that she also follows the same recipe , which she got from her grandma who lived there years ago and that made us realize that this masal belongs to Tirunelveli. See how the simple masal makes us analyze the generations.I too wanted to post my home town version and so here is it for you to enjoy.



You are seeing the pomfret fish fry served with lemon wedges along with fish kulambu and crab masala, in out of focus:)

Ingredients:
Pomfret fish - 6 slices (1 lb)
salt - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
tumeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp

lemon - 1

To grind:
Shallot onion (sambar vengayam)- 4
Shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
cumin - 1/2 tsp

Oil (to deep fry) - 200 ml (1 cup)
(I used corn oil here).

Method:
Wash the fish and remove all the fins and scales by a knife.
Then slice it into thin slices (as shown in photo).

Apply little turmeric powder over the fish and keep aside.

Grind the onion, coconut and cumin to a fine paste.

Mix the ground masala with the powders and salt given above.
Squeeze 1/4 lemon to the masala if you need a crispier fish fry.
Otherwise don't add lemon juice now.Lemon makes the fish stiff , removes bad odor and discourages breaking of fish while frying.

Gently rub the masala over the fish slices(dab some masala inside the fish too)and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a broad based wok .Put the pieces one or two at a time and fry both sides crispy.

Fish fry is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with any rice. The suitable combinations are sambar rice , rasam rice or meen kulambu rice.

Vada curry

Vada curry is a very simple side dish available in the street side shops of TamilNadu , served along with 'set dosa' or any breakfast item.Mostly the day after diwali, we can see people preparing this vada curry with the left over paruppu vadai and vegetable kuruma. It is my younger brother's favorite too. Oh, yeah! if I didn't mention him here, I will get enough from him:) After having it in his teacher's house he started pestering us for this curry and we too tried our best after festive days without wasting the vadais:)

But Vada curry entered my life in full swing after marriage only. Hope some of my friends know our adventures while dating :) We treasure those memories a lot. After marriage Xav took me to all the restaurants and places he enjoyed during his bachelor days. I simply love the way he describe his entertainments like the frequent movies, late night dinners,the way he waited for my phone call or letter, funny stuff with friends etc. Slowly it became the habit for us to enjoy his favorite road-side food shops. Most of the Sundays we used to buy the breakfast (carry home pack) from a nearby shop (KK Nagar) along with his favorite News papers , magazines etc after attending the 7 Am mass. Nowadays I started making my own vada-curry, from scratch.

Enjoy with your loved ones:)



The short cut is to make use of the left over vadais and kuruma. But we can prepare it from scratch too. Click the links to get the complete method.

Ingredients:
Masal vadai - 6 (big size)
Vegetable kuruma (with lesser vegetables) - 2.5 cup
Fennel - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
cilantro - a handful
mint leaf - a handful
curry leaf - 1 sprig
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Take the vadais and crush gently with hand to get small pieces.
Heat oil in a wok and add fennel, cinnamon , curry leaf.
Then add the crushed vadai pieces and fry a little.
Now add the kuruma and bring it to a boil.
Switch off and garnish with mint , cilantro etc.

Vada curry is ready!

Variations:
We can make the vada or dumplings by steaming also. Some time I do them over dosa tawa and its also worth the try. If you make the vada curry from scratch, then make small pakodas (fritters) instead of vada.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with sponge dosa, poori or chapati.

Vaaval meen kulambu

Meen kuzhambu - fish curry

Buying fish from market can be a very pleasant experience, if you seriously love seafood. In my hometown we prepare the fish kuzhambu in earthenware, which yields a native flavor. Nothing can beat a meen kulambu prepared in clay vessel. Love to remember the way hubby and myself searched for this earthenware vessel to make the fish curry in Madras:)

Before marriage I used to go with my Anna (elder brother) to buy fish. Even though anna is a physician, he loves to do grocery shopping (see, its in the genetics...hi..hi). So he would enjoy chatting with the vendor , but never bargains (I am good at bargaining though). He is crazy for crab and shrimp along with all the sea food. That's what makes me love him more. He likes my cuisines very much and always say lovely words about it to all he know....I am not sure , if I cook that good , but his encouragement makes me to do better:) There were days , when he would come home to taste my fish kulambu even at odd hours and drive back home. Even that slightest thought makes me feel home sick.....so, lets go to vaawal meen kulambu now:)

I prepared this curry using pomfret fish. We can use any fish for this recipe.

English names: silver pomfret fish / pompano fish
Tamil names: vaaval meen, vowval meen, vellai vawal meen.
others: Maanji in Tulu and Avoli in Malayalam.
Click to know about this fish.


Tips to buy good fish:
Always buy fish that looks and smells fresh.
It should be firm to touch.
The gills should be red and never pale.

Fresh pomfret fish washed and cleaned:



Fish kulambu:



Items required:
Fish - 1 lb
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
mustard seeds- 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - 1 small keylime size
Red chilly powder -1.5 tsp
coriander powder- 3 tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
tomato - 2
green chillies - 2
curry leaves- 2 sprigs.

To grind:
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
shallot - 8
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 little 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.Keep aside.

Heat the sesame oil in vessel. (Fish curry prepared in earthen vessel tastes good).Add mustard and fenugreek seeds. After the mustard seeds crackle add the curry leaves .

Then add chopped tomato and saute till oil separates.
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.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with rice , chapathi or Idly or dosai .
Deep fried fish, omelet ,ripe mango are good side dishes along with meen kuzhambu and rice.44

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

Sweet bajji

Bajji is a deep fried Indian snack. It is generally prepared by dipping a slice of vegetable in besan / All purpose flour and deep fried in a wok. Mostly they are savory snacks except for a few.

Almost a month ago I prepared this sweet bajji for an evening snack. I used plantain fruit (Etham pazham / Nenthram palam in Tamil) , a wild variety of banana. I have tasted this kind of bajji in Trivandrum, but in a long shape (Pazham pori). But I didn't want to use a lot of oil. So I sliced the fruit horizontally and dipped in AP flour , then deep fried it in enough oil.But if we want a bajji like that of the Kerala one, then slice the plantain longitudinally into 1/4 inch pieces.

Got this recipe from Malabar spices. Thanks to the author, the result was exactly like what I used to get from Kerala.

Today I got a much useful thought from Katherine about time and good friends. Thanks dear. Just wanted to share this and hope you all like it.



Ingredients:
Ripe plantain (Nenthram pazham)- 1
All purpose flour / Maida - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1 tsp (optional)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Water - 3 tbsp (just enough to make a thick batter)
oil to deep fry - 200 ml (1 cup)

Method :
Peel and slice the banana into long slices / round slices of 1/4 inch thickness.

Mix all other items except oil to make a batter like thick idly batter.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Reduce to medium flame, so that there is no smoke.

Dip the banana slices one by one and carefully fry both sides till we get a beautiful golden brown color.

Don't overload the oil . fry 4 to 5 round bajjis in a course.

Gently strain the fried bajjis using a slotted spatula and remove excess oil by placing them on paper towels.

Vazhai pazha bajji is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as snack along with tea.