Kutty idli with Sambar

A big hugs and thank you to all my friends who left condolence messages in the blog and also mailed me separately! I will soon be sending separate mails to each of you, till then please consider this as my personal thanks to each one of you! I think I am slowly pulling myself back to normalcy.

Lakshmi came to Bangalore on an official trip last week and she could just spend a few hours with us. I prepared the kutty idlies and sambar which she loves! We get the kutty idli plates in most shops in Chennai and Bangalore. You can prepare the kutty idlies with the regular Idli batter .

Preparation of sambar

Ingredients

• Toordal - 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Tomato - 1 no
• Bell pepper - 1 no
• Hing - a pinch
• Oil - 1/2 tablespoon
• Tamarind - 3 inches
• Sambar powder - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - to taste.

For Grinding into paste

• Green chillies - 2 nos
• Grated coconut - 2 tablespoons
• Onion - 1 small
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Khus Khus - 1 teaspoon
• Channa dal - 2 teaspoons
• Oil - 2 teaspoon

For seasoning

• Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Redchilli - 1 no
• Curry leaves - 1 twig
• Oil- 1 teaspoon

Method

1. Wash the toordal, add turmeric powder and pressure cook adding enough water. Mash well.
2. Soak the tamrind in warm water and squeeze out the pulp.
3. Cut the bell pepper into 1 inch pieces, add hing and 1 teaspoon oil and MW for 3 minutes or saute on a low flame. Add the sambar powder.
4. In 2 teaspoon oil fry the channa dal till golden, add onions,green chillies and tomato and saute on a low flame till the onions are transparent.
5. Soak Khuskhus in warm water for ten minutes. Add grated coconut, ginger, sauted onion mixture and grind to a fine paste.
6. In a large kadai (use the same kadai used to saute capsicum or take some oil if its a fresh one), mix the toor dal, tamarind pulp, ground paste, bell pepper and salt. Add 1/2 cup water and cook on a medium flame for 3 minutes.
7. If required add some more water. This sambar should be thin so that the idlies will soak well. Add salt. Season with mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
8. Place the hot idlies on a shallow bowl and add the sambar to fill the bowl. Serve with a teaspoon of ghee or til oil.

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Gold Medal for Recipe Marathon

I’m very proud that my daughter Lakshmi has successfully completed the Recipe Marathon organized by Dhivya and Siri by posting continuously for 15 days . Here’s her gold medal for the recipe marathon:

Amma still lives in countless hearts!

Lakshmi has already paid tributes to her Patti! Then why one more post on amma? I have to share my sorrow with my friends! Other than routine cooking I am unable to do anything. I am just thinking of my amma all day long, day and night. I feel this post will help me to unburden my heart and get back to normalcy! Thanks to all my friends who spend their valuable time in reading this post!

My amma was a personification of Patience, Sacrifice and Unconditional love! I learnt much about her life during my teens. When we would sit together to clean rice in late afternoons, she would narrate some of the incidents that happened during her childhood and early married life. These prepared me to face and solve problems in my own life later!

She followed every word in the two kurals ( couplets):-

Inna seitharai ooruthal avar
naana nannayam seithuvidal!

Inniya ulavaga innadu kooral
kaniyerrupa kai kavarthatru!

The first couplet means, “When someone spreads thorns in your path, forgive and do good to them!”

The second one means, “Using harsh words while so many sweet ones are there is like biting a raw fruit while ripe ones are in plenty!”

Amma with me and my children

She became the oldest daughter-in-law of a huge family of sons, daughters and innumerable cousins at a tender age of 16 years. She took the responsibility of the whole family as my patti would be away most of the time helping her sisters and brothers. She kept the doors of her home and heart open to all my appa’s relatives, cousins and friends. She was the universal manni (Sister-in-law) to all his cousins. All of them have spent some time living in our home, some for days, some for months and a few for years. All this she managed while the family income was pittance.

What amazes me most is that she would calmly go about doing her work after being the epicenter of a tornado of abuses inflicted upon her. Even more amazing is the fact that she would do anything to help people who seek her favour unabashedly, after treating her badly! She was a real angel who was above all these petty things!

It is not as if she had only misery in her life. There are a lot of good people among those whom she helped. These people adore her for her fine qualities. I remember our days at Hyderabad where we had a big group of neighbours and friends. Anyone who needs help or advise during pregnancy,delivery or child care, she was always there for them! In fact she would offer help even before being asked and has stayed with many in the hospital during their delivery. She was an expert in infant and child care! As her daughter, I can proudly declare that she never raised her voice while talking to us, leave alone scolding or hitting children! No wonder all the children who were fortunate to be in her care, love and adore her! I think the time she spent caring for children, her own, her nephews and nieces or grandchildren were the most joyous moments in her life. The gleam in her eyes while preparing favourite laddoo or mixture for my son is etched in my memory! When she was around 60 years of age, she fondly knitted a double colour sweater for my son, that too with such poor eye sight!

She never had good eye sight, being blind in one eye and with just a hazy shadowy vision in the other. She had an astonishing ability to perceive and view things inspite of her disability. Most people lose their sense of direction while driving around or deep fry till food browns. My amma has never been directionally challenged on roads and no one can beat her in frying food till its just the right shade of golden and crisp.

I do not claim my mother was flawless. Her biggest flaw was that she thought being bold to protect ones own rights was a sin! She simply allowed people to exploit her! Another draw back was that she bottled up her sorrows, which burst out during the last few months of her life, when the physical pain overpowered her patience! Blessed are those who cared for her during her last days!

At 47 I feel I have neither understood myself or life! Since 27 years, that is after my marriage, I have hardly spent much time with my parents. May be two weeks to one month in a year. The agony I have experienced from last October, worrying about them is unbelievable! I knew amma was suffering and the end was near, but then it is so difficult to come to terms with reality!

Tears roll down my eyes when I think there was no one to help her when she suffered two abortions and two infant deaths during her teens!

Tears roll down my cheeks when I think there was no one to care for her when she worked till the last moment of pregnancy and went to the hospital all alone and waited in the corridor for my grandma before entering the labour room to deliver my eldest brother!

My only solace is that I could spend some time with her in February in the hospital, the only time she was hospitalised for sickness during her lifetime!

My amma used only two cosmetics throughout her life - turmeric pod or powder for the face, and kumkum for her big red pottu which she was very particular about. She wanted to predecease my Appa - she wanted to die as a Sumangali.

Her soul departed on the 10th of May 2008 at 3 pm. On the 11th of May, the skies burst into tears when her body was being taken for cremation. The Delhi summers had not seen the last of rains yet. The skies poured as if to condole the death of a noble soul for 4 days from the 10th day to the 13th day after her death.

When amma was hospitalized in February 2008, she would keep praying to Lord Venkateshwara, “Appane Venkatachalapathy, Yennai Thiruvadi Serthukko” (”O Lord Venkatachalapathy, Give me place at your feet”). On the 11th and 12th day of the ceremony we feed four brahmins. For amma’s 12th day, the purohit was able to find only 3 brahmins to feed. On his routine visit to the Vaikuntanathar temple by chance he came across a brahmin from Tirupati who readily agreed to accept our offerings. It was as if the Lord himself had sent his devotee for my amma’s last rites.

I AM SURE SHE LIVES IN COUNTLESS HEARTS FOR ALL THE GOOD THINGS SHE HAS DONE!!

MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE.

Two Rice Peas Pulav - Recipe Marathon - Day 15

The Tamilians have this set of predictable PJs that they unleash on poor unsuspecting souls at the most unexpected times. One of them is to sarcastically indicate the miraculous nature of an occurrence by pretending like its going to rain. After several hours of looming clouds and threatening winds, it finally rained today evening. Perhaps in cognizance of the miracle of Lakshmi posting a recipe every day for the past 15 days!!! No, I don’t want to pretend I’m funny, but it is a big deal that I actually blogged “RECIPES” daily. Not that there’s any dearth of recipes to share, I cook quite a bit. And yet to cook, take a photo, write about it and post is not cycle that I thought I could get myself to do as a “daily routine”.

And so the Rains in celebration.

It’s the final day of the recipe marathon, and I am concluding this with a simple dish that takes less than 30 minutes to cook up for two people. The “behind the scenes” have been hilarious, chatty and like a massive group hugs. That calls for a separate post unadulterated by recipes. For now the two rice peas pulav.

Ingredients

• Red Rice - 1/2 cup (Rice from Bhutan)
• Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup
• Water - 2 cups
• Green Peas - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 no. (cut into thin slices)
• Cardamom - 1 no.
• Clove - 2 nos.
• Bay leaf - 1 no.
• Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch.
• Red Chilli - 2 nos.
• Coconut - 1/4 cup (grated)
• Garlic - 2 pods (minced)
• Salt to taste
• Ghee/ Oil - 1 tbsp

Method

1. In a pot, heat some ghee/oil, saute the bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Add both rices and fry for a minute till the basmati turns white. Add 2 cups of water and cover and cook until the rice is done. (note: Both these rices have similar quick cooking times and water needs. Please modify method and cook rices separately if you’re substituting)
2. Parboil the green peas in a microwave on high for 4 minutes.
3. While the rice is cooking in a skillet, heat some ghee/oil, add the minced garlic and red chillies broken into bits and cook until garlic starts to turn golden. Saute the Onions. Add parboiled green peas, salt and coconut and saute for a minute.
4. Remove the bay leaf from cooked rice. Mix rice and cooked peas-onions using a flat ladle. Take off flame and transfer to a serving dish.

Serve with a yogurt based gravy or raita.

Other Recipe Marathoners:

• Dhivya -  Sabudana vadas
• Divya Vikram -Mattar paneer
• Swati - Anda Bhurji
• Siri - Meatless Nargisi Kofte
• Bhags - Kandyache Thallipeeth
• Raaga  A to Z of soups
• Ranji - Watermelon juice.
• Srivalli - Ridgegourd peel pachadi
  

Hot Chocolate - Recipe Marathon - Day 14

Chocolate is soul food for me, chocolate is the most delicious thing on earth. There is no equivalent to the experience of placing a perfectly shiny piece of chocolate on your tongue, letting it melt slowly in your mouth till it goes all around and then chewing it when it becomes too irresistible. I love cooking with chocolate mostly because I end up eating a lot of it neat while chopping.

That said I don’t exactly start my day with hot chocolate - its one of those things I make when I am particularly tired mentally. Every bit of making hot chocolate is invigorating - starting with the aroma of chocolate that is beginning to melt to the whisking of chocolate to a smooth shiny consistency. I like my hot chocolate dark and rich with not too much milk or flavourings.

Ingredients (for one serving of hot chocolate)

• Dark chocolate - 2 ounces (I use 2 1/2 ounces for darker hot chocolate)
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Warm Milk - 1/2 cup (adjust as per taste)
• Honey - 1 tsp
• Vanilla extract or flavouring of choice - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Chop chocolate with a serrated knife.
2. Warm water in the microwave for 20 seconds on high. Add chopped chocolate, whisk and microwave on high for 1 minute or so. Stir once in between after the first 30 seconds.
3. Whisk the chocolate well till its smooth and shiny. Add honey and vanilla and mix well.
4. Pour into serving cup. Let it cool to lukewarm.
5. Warm slightly, pour warm milk and serve.

Other Recipe Marathoners:

• Ranji -  Vaighanache Upkari with Thambale Pudi
• Swati - Kheema Masala
• Bhags - Asparagi Riso
• Dhivya - Blueberry Vol-au-vents
• Siri -  Tali Hui Bhindi
• Divya - Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Srivalli - Seru Keerai Paruppu, Beetroot Stir Fry and Curd Rice
• Raaga - Raspberry Raisin Ring
• Arundathi - Mushroom Rolls

Mor Kootu - Recipe Marathon - Day 13

Mor Kootu is a yogurt based gravy that is often used with a few vegetables - cabbage, ash gourd, taro, cucumber and vazha tandu (stem of the plantain). It’s not a raita, its not a Mor Kozhambu, or an avial. It has a distinct taste and personality of its own. Although I am not really aware of its history much, I think this was specially invented by the Maamis to help us cool off on the rather hot summer days that we have to suffer.

Ingredients

• Ash Gourd - 200-250 gms
• Curd - 1 cup (1/2 cup more if you want more gravy)
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Hing - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

For the paste

• Coconut - 1/4 cup cut pieces or scraped
• Cumin - 1 tsp
• Green Chilly - 1 nos

For the tempering

• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaves - 4-5 nos.
• Red Chilly - 1 no.
• Oil - 1 tsp

Method

1. Wash, Peel and cut Ash gourd into cubes. Parboil the ash gourd cubes with turmeric and hing. In a microwave this should take about 4 minutes on high.
2. Grind the ingredients for the paste coarsely with very little water.
3. Add this to the parboiled Ash Gourd pieces and cook for a minute.
4. Beat the curd, add salt and mix well.
5. Reduce the flame to low and add curd. Simmer for a minute - be careful not to over heat, the yogurt should not separate. Take off flame and transfer to serving dish.
6. Heat oil in the tempering ladle or vessel - pop the mustard seeds, add curry leaves and red chilly broken into two and toast. Add this tempering to the Ash gourd kootu.

Notes:

1. Use thick curd that isn’t sour. Although many recipes call for sour curds, IMHO Kootus are not meant to be sour. They are meant to tease your senses with subtle notes of spices and flavourings used.
2. Mor Kootu works as both a gravy to mix with rice and a dish on the side. The quantity of curd added can vary depending on how much gravy you’d like the kootu.
3. The oil that one uses for tempering can be used to enhance the flavour. I used coconut oil which worked very well.
4. It tastes like a piece of heaven when chilled. You’d be able to savour this experience completely only if you live in parts as hot as mine. (I live in Chennai)

Other Recipe Marathoners:

• Ranji - Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Swati - Aloo Parwal Ki Sabzi
• Bhags - Oats Squared
• Dhivya - Brown Rice Patties
• Siri - Mango Art and Cabbage Poriyal
• Divya - Black eyes beans curry
• Srivalli - Chicken Masti
• Raaga - Spaghetti in Bechamel Sauce
• Arundathi - Radish Parathas

Varuthu Araitha Kootu - a basic recipe - Recipe Marathon - Day 12

Vegetables simmered in a midly flavoured gravy which is usually lentil based is perhaps the closest I can get to describing what a Kootu is. Kootus are the goodness of vegetables with the best combination and right proportion of spices that don’t attack your taste buds with the sourness of a sambar. Kootus come in very handy to answer most of these existential questions one needs to answer in the kitchen, like “What do I cook today?” or “Now what does one do with this vegetable that doesn’t even have a name?”. Kootus come in many avatars - there’s Poricha Kootu, Pal Kootu, Mor Kootu, Puli Kootu, Varutha Araitha Kootu, Araitha Vitta Kootu and Thenga Pal Kootu. And then for flavourings one can add or subtract from the basic spices, toast and grind, toast and simmer or soak and grind. The choice of lentils though usually Moong Dal, could also be Toor Dal or Channa Dal or a combination of dals.

Ingredients

• Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
• Vegetable/s - 200-250 gms
• Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
• Hing (asafoetida) - 1/4 tsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Ghee or Oil - 1 tsp

For flavouring, to be toasted and ground

• Urad Dal - 1 tsp
• Channa Dal - 1 tsp
• Coriander Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Black Peppercorns - 1/4 tsp
• Red Chillies - 2 nos.
• Whole Hing (asafoetida) - a small piece
• Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp (rounded)
• Ghee or Oil - 1 tsp

Method

1. Toast all the ingredients for the flavouring paste except coconut in ghee/oil till the dals turn golden. Take off flame and add coconut and keep aside to cool. Blend into a smooth thick paste with a couple of tablespoons of water if required.
2. Pressure Cook the Moong Dal in enough water. Par boil the vegetables with turmeric and hing in a microwave safe container.
3. In a deep vessel, heat oil/ ghee pop the mustard seeds, add the vegetables (parboil at this stage if you’re not using the microwave). Add the moong dal followed by the paste. Mix well and simmer on a low flame till the kootu starts to bubble.
4. Add salt, simmer for an additional minute and take off flame.

Other Recipe Marathoners:

• Ranji - Puttu with Kadala Curry
• Swati - Paneer Jalfrezi
• Bhags - Red Pepper Hummus
• Dhivya - Couscous dunked in vegetables
• Siri - Tindora Dondakaya
• Divya - Tomatillo Salsa
• Srivalli - Raw Mango Sevai
• Raaga - Ridge Gourd thuvayal
• Arundathi - Cook up Rice (National dish of Guyana)