Paruppu rasam

Paruppu rasam is one more post that has been in my draft for  a very long time. This is my family's favorite meal along with dal and a spicy fry like fish or potato fry. In my hometown it is a habit to serve piping hot rice with rasam along with fried fish for dinner and they would call it as 'simple'... ha ha... but that sounds like feast to me :) 

Enjoy !

Paruppu rasam, rice and fish fry ...one of my most favorites :)

Paruppu rasam

Ingredients:
Thuvaram paruppu (Toor dal) - 1/2 cup (cooked)
tomatoes - 2
Tamarind extract - 2 teaspoon. (from a gooseberry size ball of tamarind)
Red chillies - 2
black pepper - 1 teaspoon
cumin seed- 1/2 tsp
garlic - 3 pearls.
turmeric- a pinch
hing (asafoetida) - a pinch.
Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) - 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig
chopped coriander leaves - few
water - 2 cups
jaggery - very small piece (1 tsp, if crushed)
salt - 1 tsp
oil (ghee)- 1 tbsp.

Method: 
I usually reserve some cooked toor dal, while making sambar to prepare this rasam.
Otherwise cook 2 tbsp toor dal in a pressure cooker to 3 whistles. Mash and keep it aside along with the cooked water.

Add hot water to the tamarind and extract the juice. Keep it aside.

Chop the tomatoes finely.

Coarsely grind the pepper, garlic and cumin seeds. Mix turmeric and asafoetida with it and keep aside.

In a pan add little oil/ ghee and put mustard seeds , methi seeds. After hearing the crackling sound of mustard seeds, add red chillies and curry leaves. Immediately add the ground mixture to the pan and fry for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and stir it till the tomato gets cooked completely.
 Add the tamarind extract and the jaggery. Add 2 cups of water , bring to a boil.
Then add the cooked, mashed dal + dal water.
Let it boil vigorously for 2 minutes.
After switching off the flame , add salt and chopped coriander leaves. Always keep the lid closed after adding salt to retain the flavor of rasam.
Paruppu rasam is ready!

Serving suggestions: 
My usual combo is preparing this paruppu rasam along with ketti paruppu (dal tadka), some spicy fry as side dish along with rice.
Or simply serve as dinner with hot rice and paruppu thogayal.

Broccoli egg stirfry

Adding egg to any stir fry (poriyal) like beans, okra is common among Chennai people. I make such kind of egg stirfries for lunch pack. But I had never tried adding egg to broccoli until a friend suggested me. So if you are looking for innovative ways to cook broccoli, then here is one from my kitchen !

Ingredients:
Broccoli - 2 cups (coarsely chopped)
egg - 2
salt - to taste.
To Temper: 
onion - 1/2 cup (chopped)
green chilli - 3
curry leaf - few
mustard - 1/2 tsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
urid dal - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil / olive oil - 2 tsp

Method: 
Chop the broccoli into small florets.
Cut the onion, green chilli finely.
Heat oil in a wok.
Add mustard, urid dal , cumin and let the mustard crack.
Then add the chopped onion, curry leaf and saute till it gets tender.
Then add the chopped chillies, broccoli. Saute well.
Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered.
Then add required salt.
It will get cooked in almost 6-8 minutes in medium heat.
Now move the stir fry to one side of the wok.
Break open two eggs and stir gradually with the broccoli pieces.
As soon as egg coats the hot stir fry, it would get cooked.
Switch off.
Broccoli egg stir fry is ready!

Serving suggestion: 
Serve as side dish with rice or chapati.
Can also be served as breakfast instead of regular scrambled egg.
Instead of whole egg, we can use egg whites too.

Cabbage Koottu

Many a times I feel blessed to have some vegetables that lasts longer in our fridge ♥   Those veggies are the saving stocks when we need something quick. I am sure you all would have your own experiences on how a cabbage in fridge saved you  ☺

Cabbage is a staple vegetable in USA, and it would be on a  lesser price range always (less than 39 cents - 79 cents / lb). On a lucky day, we can get a whole big cabbage for a dollar . So it would be the first to climb a shopping cart and the last to get cooked ☺ . While many say otherwise, I like cabbage also very much. For Indian foods , I choose the cabbage that is sold in Indian grocery stores only (tastes same as Indian cabbage), as there are a lot of varieties here and some taste like lettuce and won't go with Indian cuisine. 

Stir fry is the common recipe for cabbage in Tamilnadu. Have you ever considered preparing something delicious using cabbage other than the regular poriyal (stir fry). Cabbage always needs a good cook, who would give it a face lift ☺
I learned this recipe from one of my best friends Parvathi. This koottu recipe belongs to her mother inlaw . So I guess its origin as Tanjore cuisine.
I like this recipe very much and we believe that it goes yummy as side dish with sambar rice or puli kulambu and rice.

Ingredients:
cabbage - 200 gm (small piece)
onion - 1/2 cup (chopped)
tomato - 1 (optional)
oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1 tsp
urid dal - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
curry leaf - few

To grind:
coconut - 2 tbsp (shredded)
fennel (sombu) - 1 tsp
green chilly - 3
puffed channa dal (pottu kadalai) - 2 tbsp

Method:
Shred / chop the cabbage into small pieces and keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok.
Let the mustard starts to crackle and add urid dal.
Add onion as soon as urid dal starts turning mild red.
Saute onion with some curry leaf.
Then add chopped tomato and cook well (no need for tomato if using as side dish with tamarind based curries over rice. But adding tomato tastes good when served with chapati).
As the onion turns soft, add the cabbage and saute for a minute.
Add 1 cup water and cook till it turns tender.
Put enough salt.
Grind the items mentioned to a coarse paste.
Add this to the koottu and bring to a boil.
Let it cook covered for a minute and turn off.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Cabbage koottu is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with sambar or puli kulambu rice or with chapathi.

Happy Deepavali

Image courtesy : 123greetings.com

Wishing all a joyful Deepavali.
Click to view my facebook album on Deepavali Sweets
May all the days ahead are filled with happiness in all of our homes,


Love,
Viki Xavier

Happy VijayaDasami !

Wishing all a very happy Dassara (VijayaDasami , Navaratri Poojai)

image courtesy : Thanks to this free images link !

Baked asparagus and mushroom

This is not a long recipe. I think anyone can make it without a recipe too. But I am posting it as it is one of my favorite . All vegetables are delicious. That too asparagus and mushroom are special. I think it is in everyone's favorite list and hence it stays in a top value always (almost $ 4 / lb ).  Try this and enjoy  :)

Baked Asparagus and mushroom

before baking

Ingredients:
Asparagus - 15 numbers
mushroom - 10
salt - a pinch
Extra virgin olive oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
lemon juice - few drops (optional)

Preparation:
Rinse the mushroom and wipe the moisture using a clean kitchen towel.
There is an unique way to clean the asparagus. (food network TV taught me :) ).
Take an asparagus. Bend it gently until it breaks at one point.
The top portion is edible and the thicker stem can be discarded (instead of discarding the thicker part, we can extract the stock and add it in soups too).
Rinse , pat dry and keep aside.

Method:
Coat a baking tray with 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Heat the oven to 350 def C.
Put the mushroom and asparagus in a large mixing bowl.
Mix 1 tsp olive oil with salt, lemon  juice and mix well.
Place the vegetables on the baking tray in a single layer.
Bake for 10 minutes . Then take it out. Toss well. Spread in a single layer and bake again for 5 minutes.
Take out and serve hot.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with sandwich , soups , pizza, pasta etc.
If chopped smaller this baked dish can be added to salads too.

Simple beans carrot poriyal

Simple stirfries (AKA Poriyal in Tamil) , is  a handy recipe for any Tamil family. Poriyals are made with a simple tadka (tempering) and suits the spicy South Indian curries with rice (whereas the North Indian stir fries would be better with some masalas, as they are used as dippings for roti. Yes, that is one basic difference IMO :).
Mostly I suggest using extra virgin coconut oil in my blog, as per my family's taste. But any cooking oil would do good.
Here is one more interesting way to include beans and carrots in our dish, 'the carrot beans poriyal'.

Carrot beans stir fry

Ingredients:
Carrot - 2 (small)
green beans - 20 (numbers)
shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste.
To Temper:
onion - 1/2 cup (chopped)
green chilli - 2
mustard - 1/2 tsp
urid dal - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil / olive oil - 2 tsp

Method:
Chop the carrots into small cubes. Cut the beans into small pieces.
Slit the green chilli into two (or) chop finely.
Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard, urid dal and let the mustard crack.
Then add the chopped onion and saute till it gets tender.
Then add the chopped chillies, beans, carrots. Saute well.
Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered.
Then add required salt.
It will get cooked in almost 10 minutes in medium heat.
Then add the shredded coconut, cumin and stir well for a  minute.
Switch off.
Carrot beans poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with rice and any curry like sambar, puli kuzhambu.