Tri Color Veggies

Serves two.

This is a side dish that goes well with rasam & rice, and even dal and roti. It's easy and quick to make and makes boring vegetables (re: carrot, beans) interesting!

You need -

1 cup of chopped up beans, carrot and potato, each

1 tsp cooking oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

Salt, pepper, garam masala to taste

Coriander to garnish

What you need to do -

- In a cooker, steam the veggies for ten minutes - it's easier to cook this way and takes up less oil

- Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds until they're adequately brown

- Put in the steamed vegetables and add salt, pepper and garam masala to taste

- Cook for another 5-10 minutes depending on how crisp you want it, and then garnish with freshly chopped coriander

Idly Upma

My maternal grandmother used to make this for me when I was younger and I loved it! Usually, she'd make this for lunch or dinner, and would make it with leftover idlies from the morning. I think it makes a great snack and goes very well with South-Indian filter coffee!

You need -

3 left over idlies

3 tsp idly powder/mollagapodi (recommend MTR if you don't have the homemade variety)

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp mustard seeds for seasoning

What you need to do -

- Powder the idly with your hands until it gets a rough consistency like rava upma

- In a pan, heat the oil and burst the mustard seeds

- Add the powdered idly and sautee until the oil spreads evenly

- Add the mollagapodi and sautee for another 2-3 minutes

Serve hot with coconut chutney!

*Apologies for the poor picture quality. My camera's out of order and I am using my phone to take pictures.

Arbi / Chepankazhangu (Colocasia) Fry

You need -

A bowl full of Colocasia / Arbi/ Chepankazhangu

Some chilli masala, garam masala, rasam powder, turmeric and salt

5-6 spoons of oil

What you have to do -

- Steam the unpeeled arbi in a pressure cooker until the whistle goes off 4 times

- Take it out after the cooker cools and and peel the arbi

- Chop it up into similar sized pieces and add the masala powders

- Shallow fry the arbi in a pan until it turns dark-brown and crisp

Serve with rasam, rice and papad!

Neer More (Butter Milk)

Serves two.

Easy-to-make, quick drink, to beat the heat.

You need -

2 small cups curd

1.5 glasses water

Salt to taste

Mustard

Chopped coriander

Asafoetida

1 tsp oil/ghee

What you have to do -

- Put the curd, water and salt in a bowl and churn with a hand blender or a fork for 2-3 minutes until you get an even consistency

- Garnish with burst mustard and asafoetida in oil/ghee, and with chopped coriander

Serve chilled on a hot afternoon!

Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 2

Today I put together the two mixes and made the final sweet.

After bringing both mixes to room temperature, here's what I did:

- Apply a little coconut oil on your hands, and make little balls out of the rice mix (meil mau) using your palm

- Using your fingers, spread it out into thin flat cakes of 2" diameter - making it thinner towards the edges

- Put 1 tsp of the filling (poornam) in the center and then shut the filling with the edges - much like you'd do while making aloo paratha

- Pinch off the thick top part to give it an even outer coating

- Steam for 15 minutes by placing in a perforated plate over hot water, or by placing in an idly plate in a pressure cooker

Best when served hot!

Kozhakattai (sweet coconut dumplings) Part 1

Every year, my grandma would make the most delicious Kozhakattais on Ganesh Chaturthi day. This year, I'm in Hyderabad, and so I decided to try making them myself. This is a delicate dish and takes time, so I'm making it over two days.

Today, I made the two batters (meil mau & poornam), and tomorrow I'm going to make the actual kozhakattais. Here's what I did today:

For the outer shell (meil mau)

You need -

1 cup rice

4 spoons of coconut oil

A pinch of salt

What you have to do -

- Soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 2 hours

- Strain the water (but save for later use) and put the rice in a blender

- Blend until you get the pasty consistency of a very thick soup

- On a very low flame, put the rice paste, the coconut oil and the pinch of salt in a kadai

- Stir continuously until it gets hard but not too dry - it should have the same consistency as the batter you'd make for rotis

- Put away in a box in the fridge

For the inner filling (poornam)

You need -

1 coconut

Some jaggery

Some ground cardamom

What you have to do:

- Grate the coconut or put it in a blender for a few minutes

- Heat a kadai on a low flame and melt a small cup of jaggery

- Once it starts to turn into liquid, add the coconut and cardamom

- Continue to stir the mix on the low flame until it gets crunchy and the liquid is no longer separate from the coconut

- Put in a bowl and put away in the fridge

For part 2, visit this post.

Basundhi

Serves four.

I had a few friends coming over for lunch and card games one Saturday, and I decided to try my hand at Basundhi. It took time - but was actually quite easy to put together.

You need -

1l milk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cardamom (powdered)

6 crushed almonds

3 strands of saffron

What you have to do -

- Boil the milk in a kadai until it reduces to half its quantity - you'll start seeing layers in the milk

- Add the sugar and mix until it dissolves

- Once it comes down to 1/4th it's quantity, add the cardamom and saffron

- When the mix is layered and coarse, take it off the flame and garnish with almonds

- Serve hot or cold!

Note: This is a very heavy dessert.

Rawa Dosa

I love Rawa Dosa, but the closest I've come to making it at home is to use MTR's Instant Rawa Dosa Mix. Credits for this recipe also go to Deepsy's mum.

Made by Deepsy's mum, held by Deepsy, and eaten by yours truly!

You need -

1 portion maida (flour) or wheat

2 portions rice powder (arsi powder)

3 portions rava

Some coriander

Some jeera/cumin seeds

Some curry leaves

2 chillies

Chopped Onions (optional)

What you have to do -

- Mix all the above ingredients with water to get a loose consistency

- Set aside for 5 minutes

- Heat the pan with a little oil, and pour the batter out (the batter shouldn't be spread in sweeping circular motions like a regular dosa - it should be poured out in a circle while maintaining minimal thickness)

- Sprinkle some oil all over and around the corners - the dosa will come out with a lot of little holes (it's very natural)

- Serve with curd/chutney/sambar

A variation -

Instead of mixing the batter in water, mix with would sour butter milk. This gives it a completely different taste. Once you mix the batter, leave it aside for about 30 minutes before cooking.

Serve with -

- Tomato or coconut chutney

- Pickle

- Curd

- And a cup of strong hot coffee!

Kannadiga Rasam (Deepsy's mum's recipe)

I've spent most of my school days in Deepika's house. Deepsy's mum makes a really different kind of rasam and I could never quite figure out what was so unique about the taste. As you know, I spent the last weekend at her place, and this time, I watched her in action. Here's what the final product looked like:

I took this picture in a hurry, so it's not very good - but it's a start.

You need -

2 cups boiled dal/lentil

Rasam powder

Jaggery

2 tomatoes

Tamarind

1 piece of green chilli

Jeera/cumin seeds

Mustard

Coriander

Curry Leaves

Asafoetida

What you have to do -

- Put the tamarind in hot water and boil

- Add chopped tomatoes and continue to boil

- Add the rasam powder, the single chilli, a pinch of salt, a small piece of jaggery and continue to boil until fully cooked

- Add the two cups of boiled dal

- Boil it together for 5 minutes and take it off the flame

- Burst mustard, jeera, curry leaves and asafoetida in hot oil and garnish rasam

- Finely chop coriander and sprinkle on the rasam

Rasam (molaga tanni)

Credit for this recipe goes to my grandma.

You need -

A cup of boiled dal/lentil

2 tomatoes

Some coriander and curry leaves

Rasam Powder (if your grandma doesn't make it for you, you can buy MTR)

What you have to do -

- Boil 5 cups of water

- Chop up tomatoes lengthwise and allow it to boil with the water

- Add the cup of dal/lentil and allow to boil for another few minutes

- Add salt to taste, and two spoons of rasam powder and boil for another 10 minutes

- Take off the stove and add chopped coriander

- Heat a spoon of oil, add mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves and add to rasam

Serve with hot rice, any dry curry and roasted papad - and you have your quintessential Tamil meal!