The \'yum\' blog

2012 in review

lathanarasimhan — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:31:14 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 460,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 8 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Urulaikizhangu Podimaas (Potato Podimaas)

lathanarasimhan — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:17:52 +0000

Potato podimas is usually prepared on festival days. It can be prepared quickly with just a teaspoon of oil.

Ingredients

Potatoes – 1/2 kg
Oil – 1 tsp
Coconut – 2 tbs grated
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Coriander leaves – 1 tbs chopped
Green chili – 1no
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Cashew – 4 to 5 chopped ( Optional)
Lemon juice – 1 tbs ( optional)
Salt – to taste

Method

Wash and pressure cook the potatoes. Peel the cooked potatoes and mash well.
Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. When it crackles add urad dal and cashew.
Saute till golden. Add chopped curry leaves and green chili.
Saute for a minute and add the mashed potatoes. Mix well.
Add salt and coconut and mix well.Take off the heat.
Add lemon juice and mix well.( Optional)
Decorate with chopped coriander leaves.

Kothamalli Pachadi(Coriander Raita)

lathanarasimhan — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:14:22 +0000

Amma used to prepare pachadi almost everyday. All raitas or pachadis are very simple and can be prepared quickly. Kothamalli pachadi is simple as well.

Ingredients

Kothamalli(Coriander leaves) – 6 twigs
Coconut grated – 2 tbs
Thick curd – 1 cup
Green chili – 1 no
Salt – to taste

For the seasoning

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp

Method

Wash the coriander leaves and drain.
Grind coconut, coriander,green chili and salt to a fine paste.
Beat the curd well. Mix curd and ground paste well.Transfer to a serving bowl.
Heat oil in a kadai add mustard seeds. When it crackles add urad dal and fry till golden.
Add to the coriander pachadi.
Serve as a side dish.

Kadalai Paruppu Payasam ( Bengal Gram Sweet)

lathanarasimhan — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:00:47 +0000

Jaggery is widely used to make sweets for festivals in Tamizh Nadu. It is considered to be healthier than sugar. No festival menu is complete with out a payasam.Bengal gram payasam can be prepared quickly.

Ingredients

Bengal gram( Kadalai Parupu) – 2 table spoons
Coconut grated – 3 table spoons
Milk – 2 cups
Jaggery – 3 table spoons
Cardamom – 3 nos
Ghee – 2 teaspoons
Cashew nuts – 6 nos

Method

Pressure cook the bengal gram dal with 1 cup water. Dal should be soft.
Grind the coconut along with cardamom to a fine paste.
Mix milk, cooked dal and coconut paste in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to boil.
Add the jaggery and mix well.The payasam is ready now. Transfer the payasam to a serving dish.
Break the cashews into small pieces. Fry in ghee till golden and add to the payasam.
Serve hot or cold.

Tips

Never allow the payasam to boil after adding jaggery.
If you feel the jaggery is impure you can make a syrup by adding little water, strain through a filter and use.

Menu For Aadi Velli Kizhamai ( Venthaya Kuzhambu)

lathanarasimhan — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:37:15 +0000

I prepared a simple lunch for aadivelli this year. Manja pongal recipe is already posted and others will be posted soon.

Manja Pongal
Kadalai Paruppu Payasam
Venthaya Kuzhambu
Urulikizhangu Podimas
Kothamalli thengai pachadi ( Coriander raita)
Pudalangai Poriyal

Venthaya Kuzhambu

Venthaya kuzhambu is a great side dish for Manja Pongal. Vegetables like Okra, yellow pumpkin, brinjal and tomato can be used for the kuzhambu.

Ingredients

Tamarind – Lemon size ball
*Fresh bean seeds – 1/2 cup
Tomato – 4 medium sized
Sambhar powder – 2 teaspoons
Red chili – 2 nos
Curry leaves – a few
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Hing – a small piece
Til Oil – 1 tbs
Rice flour – 2 tsp
Salt – to taste

Method

Soak tamarind in hot water for some time. Extract tamarind pulp adding 2 cups water.
Cut tomato into small pieces. Heat til oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds.
When mustard seeds crackle add hing, fenugreek seeds and red chili and saute till fenugreek is brown.
Add tomato, beans and curry leaves and saute . Cover and cook on a low flame for 3 minutes.
Add sambar powder and mix well. Add the tamarind extract and salt. Allow to boil for 5 minutes.
Mix the rice flour in 1 tbs water and add to the venthaya kuzhambu.Boil for a minute and transfer to a serving bowl.
Serve hot with manja pongal.

*A variety of fresh beans like avarai thuvarai etc are available during this season. I have used fresh kaaramani.

Festival Calendar For the year 2012 – 2013

lathanarasimhan — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:53:13 +0000

Srirama navami – 30th April

Tamizh Varuda Pirappu -14th April

Chithra pournami – 6th May

Aadi Pandigai - 16th July

Aadi Velli Kizhamai – 20th,27th July,3rd and 10th August

Andal Thiruaadipuram- 23rd July

Pathinettam Perukku-2nd August

Avani Avittam/ Upakarma-1st August

Janmashtami/Gokulashtami-9th August

Vinayaka Chaturthi/Ganesh Chaturthi-19th September

Varalakshmi Viratham-27th July

Kovil Kannapiran Srijayanthi-8th September (For Iyengars)

Puratasi Sanikizhamai – 22nd, 29th September and 6th and 13th October

Navarathri Pujai Arambam-16th October

Saraswathi Puja ( Mahanavami)-October 23rd

Vijaya Dasami (Aayuda Puja) -October 24th

Deepavali (Naraka Chaturdasi) -November 13th

Thiru Karthigai-28th November

Boghi Pandigai -13th January 2013

Pongal/Sankaranthi-14th January 2013

Mattu Pongal-15th January 2013

Karadaiyan Nonbu-13th March 2013

Tamizh Puthandu-14th April 2013

Tomato Rasam – Thakkali Saathamudu

lathanarasimhan — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:13:32 +0000

Preparing rasam is simplest for an experienced cook but beginners want to know the secret behind the tasty rasam prepared by their mothers.I have used home grown tomatoes for this rasam. Rasam can be easily prepared by anyone in the microwave.

Ingredients

Tomatoes – 2 medium sized
Toor dal – 1 tbs
Rasam powder – 2 teaspoons
Hing – a small piece
coriander – 3 twigs
Salt – to taste
Water – 3 cups

For the seasoning

Ghee – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Red chili – 1 no

Method

Cut the tomatoes into pieces, place in a MW safe bowl and MW high for 2 minutes.Allow to cool and grind in the mixer to a puree.
Pressure cook the toor dal. Mash the cooked dal and mix with the tomato puree into a MW safe bowl.
Add rasam powder, hing, salt, water and MW high for 4 minutes.
Chop the coriander leaves and add to the rasam.
Heat 1 tsp ghee add the mustard seeds and red chili, when the mustard crackles add to the rasam.

Rasam can be serves with rice, or in a glass. Sambar powder can be used if you don,t have a separate rasam powder.

Raw Tomato Kootu ( Thakkali Kai Koottu)

lathanarasimhan — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 04:22:33 +0000

Harvesting tomatoes that were never sown!

Around five years back, I suddenly planned a face lift for our small garden area. After cleaning up the garden I bought a nice pot to be used as compost pit. We collected the vegetable and fruit waste in this pot and used it as manure. I used to throw the rotten tomatoes as well.

In our new duplex home we made planters on the compound wall and the parapet wall. My hubby mixed soil with the compost we had collected over the years and planted some rose cuttings. After around two weeks the planters were filled with tomato plants. We re potted them and have harvested over 100 tomatoes till now. Another hundred can be plucked in a week:).

Thakkali Koottu (Tomato koottu )

Cooking with home grown vegetables is very satisfying and you know there are no artificial fertilizers or pesticides. The aroma of freshly plucked vegetables is heavenly.

Ingredients

Raw tomatoes – 6 to 8
Moong dal – 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt – to taste

For the paste

Grated coconut – 1 tbs
Coriander seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Channa dal – 1 tsp
Hing – a small piece
Red-chili - 1 no
Oil – 1 tsp

For the seasoning

Ghee – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 5 nos
Red chilli – 1 no

Method

Slice the tomatoes into long pieces.Place in a MW safe bowl and mix with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. MW high for 5 minutes
Pressure cook the moong dal with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.
Roast the ingredients for the paste except coconut in 1 tsp oil, add coconut and grind to a smooth paste.
Add cooked moong dal, ground paste and salt to the tomatoes and mix well.Add a little water to get Koottu consistency.
Mw high for 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
Cut the red chili into small pieces.
Heat 1 tsp ghee and add the mustard seeds and red chili; when the mustard crackles add the curry leaves. Add the seasoning to the koottu.

Serve as a side dish for rotis,phulkas or rice.

Home Sweet Home Series – 1/Badam (almonds)/Cashew Halwa

lathanarasimhan — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:39:25 +0000

After the article in The Hindu hits for the blog has increased considerably . The sad part is that my pictures and recipes are shamelessly copied and used by other websites. Follow this link http://www.chennai.com/more_kuzambu.html I know many other bloggers are upset just like me. But now I will write something that no one can copy, about the homes I have lived till date!

We moved into our new duplex house in February 2012. This is my 25th home.

I was born at no:3 1st street kallukuzhi Trichy. I was born at home before my mother could be hospitalized. Being a girl after three boys, the whole family was elated. I was affectionately called Ponnu (girl).A funny incident happened about which no one was aware for long. At home I was named Latha. My uncle registered my name as Rukmani (my granny’s name). This confusion was solved by naming me as latha rukmani at school! A few months later we left for Calcutta, but we came back to the same house after 4 years.

Badam/Cashew Halwa

Cashew burfi was one of first sweets my amma prepared. My granny used to travel a lot to assist her long list of relatives for one occasion or the other. My amma and aunt would carry on with their experimental cooking, with expert advice from my grandpa . Once as per his recipe they fried cashew in ghee and dropped them into hot, thick sugar syrup! The cashews turned black and could not be separated from the syrup. Only thing they could do was to clean up the kitchen before my granny returned! This was one of first experiments of two great cooks !

Traditionally badam is skinned for halwa. I have retained the skin as per dietitians’ advice.

Ingredients

Badam(almonds) /Cashew – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Cardamom – 4 nos
Nutmeg – a small piece
Saffron leaves – a few
Ghee – 2 tbs

Almond halwa will be cream in colour. Mine is wheatish as I have retained the skin.

Method

Soak the almonds in hot water for one hour.* Peel the skin if you wish.
Grind the almonds with cardamom and nutmeg to a smooth paste, adding a little water.
In a heavy bottomed pan mix the ground paste, sugar and ghee. Cook on a low to medium flame, stirring continuously.
Cook till the halwa leaves the sides and forms into a ball when stirred.
Transfer the halwa to a serving dish and decorate with saffron leaves.

Note:* The skin can be peeled easily after soaking for around 5 minutes.

Paal Kozhukattai & The Yum Blog featured in The Hindu

lathanarasimhan — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:37:53 +0000

A few months back I received a mail from Ms.Pankaja, a journalist from The Hindu. She heard about theyumblog from her colleagues and wanted to write about us and a few other bloggers.

Thank you Pankaja for writing about theyumblog.

Look who’s cooking on the blog

PANKAJA SRINIVASAN

Just how many desperate cooks are out there? Plenty, as Latha, Lakshmi, Srivalli and Ashok tell Pankaja Srinivasan. Their food blogs have saved marriages, pleased the gods, hunted down paatis and appealed to fussy kids

“You truly are a God-send! …I’m just learning to cook…I’m away from India and there’s no one to guide me……Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all your posts! (please put recipes for karthigai urundai also…)”

Breathless messages such as these await Latha Maami daily on ‘The Yum blog’. Grateful cooks have been writing to her since 2007.

Tired of being left out of all the Internet activity around her, Latha Narasimhan decided she also wanted a piece of the action. “I wanted to do something online too. But first, I had to learn how to operate the computer,” she admits wryly. She decided she would put down the plentiful recipes she had noted down while watching her mother cook. Today, Latha’s blog has nearly 25 lakh hits. (She blogs with her daughter Lakshmi). Latha is anxious to preserve traditional recipes.

“Deepavali marundhu, food for the new mom, the pregnant woman… We should not lose those recipes. Putting them on my blog ensures they stay around.” She collects recipes from the older cooks she knows such as her invaluable source, Parameshwari Akka, who lives in Kulithalai.

It is not just frantic ‘how-to-make-puliodharai’ posts that Latha receives. Sometimes it is her opinion on a microwave oven, and once there was an SOS asking help to tie a nine-yard sari! During festivals she has to clear last-minute doubts. “I am usually running from kitchen to computer all day long,” she says. Lakshmi loves the idea of blogging with her mom. She says, “The Internet offers such a wonderful, democratic way to document, preserve and share.”

MARATHON MOM

Thirty-seven-year-old Srivalli has two blogs, one daughter and twin sons. So a lot of what goes into her ‘Spice your life’ blog is kid-tested and approved. “My daughter has always been a fussy eater. So I had to come up with ideas to encourage her to eat. My boys, on the other hand, are fine with whatever I make. But I have noticed that when I say that I have made something especially for them, they eat better,” she says. Her other blog, ‘Cooking 4 all seasons’ features everyday food. Srivalli says her blog is like a journal. “It records my adventures as a cook, mom, and a person passionate about food and writing.” Her chocolates, chicken biryani and sponge cake have won admirers and she is surprised how many people want to know how to make rasam! Grateful newly-weds have told her that her blog has saved their marriages. In Spice… Srivalli holds a blogging marathon in which participants post a recipe on 14 consecutive days on a particular theme. So if the theme is paayasam, bloggers have to post a paayasam recipe every day. They also have to read all the posts and leave comments on them. “Members tell me that the marathon pushes them to be regular bloggers and eggs them on to try new dishes. The marathon is a year old now.”

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/Food/article3436137.ece

Paal Kozhukattai

Paal kozhukattai is a light sweet. It can be prepared using either with milk or coconut milk. It can be served as a evening snack.

Ingredients

Rice flour – 1/2 cup
Water – 3/4
Oil – 1tsp
Milk – 1 cup
Jaggery – 2 tbs
Cardamom – 2 nos (powdered)
A few strands of saffron

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan bring the water to boil.
Add 1 tsp oil and lower the flame.
Add a teaspoon of the flour and stir with the handle of the laddle.
Add all the flour and stir well till the dough thickens. Put off the flame and cover the pan. leave to cool.
Make 1 centimeter balls with the dough and keep it aside.
In another pan boil the milk. Lower the flame and drop the rice flour balls and allow to simmer for three minutes.
Add jaggery , powdered cardamom and saffron and take off the flame.

Note : Donot allow to boil after adding jaggery.