Saturday, February 9, 2013

Unda Kozhambu/ Spciy Dal Ball Curry

Tur Dal - 1 1/2 cups
Red Chilli - 8 or 10
Asafoetida/ Hing - generous pinch
Salt - as per taste
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Thick extract of a lemon-sized ball of tamarind

Garnishing
---------------
Mustard - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 1
Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp

Soak tur dal and red chillies for 1/2 an hour. Wash and drain the tur dal and grind it with red chillies, hing, salt and curry leaves (do not add water) In a kadai, add 2 tbsp of oil and saute the ground mixture to a consistency that you can knead balls out of it. Roll into balls.

Boil tamarind pulp with salt as required (the dal balls already have salt). Add 1 tbsp of sambar powder to it.When it boils, add the dal balls and boil till the mixture becomes thick. The gravy gets thicker when it cools. (so you might  need to add just a little water and boil before serving)

Garnish with spluttered mustard, red chilli and fenugreek.

Pulisseri/ Mor Kuzhambu/ Spicy Yoghurt Curry

Coconut - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Green Chilli - 4 or 5
Paccharisi/ Sona Masoori Rice - 1 tbsp (soak in water for 10 mins)
Curd/ Plain Yoghurt - 2 cups
Salt - as per taste

Garnishing
--------------
Mustard - 1 tsp
Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli - 1
Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Grind coconut, turmeric powder, green chillies and rice into a smooth paste. Beat curd into a thin consistency. Add ground paste, salt and mix well. In a kadai, splutter mustard, curry leaves, fenugreek and red chilli. To this, add the yoghurt mix and boil for a minute. Note: Do not over-boil, it should be removed from flame as soon as bubbles start to appear.

Splutter mustard, fenugreek, red chilli and curry leaves and garnish.

Variant
----------
1) Add red chillies instead of green chillies and omit adding turmeric powder to the ground paste
2) You could add vegetables boiled with necessary salt to the gravy.
(Choice of vegetables: Arum/ Chembu/ Cheppan kizhangu or Green Mango or Cucumber)
 

Thengai Araccha Kuzhambu/ Ground coconut curry

Red Chilli - 5
Fenugreek - 1 tbsp
Urd dal - 2 tbsp
Paccharisi/ Sona Masoori Rice - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coconut - 1 cup
Cucumber - 1 cup
Pumpkin - 1 cup
Extract of a lemon-sized ball of tamarind
Salt - as per taste

Garnishing
---------------
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Fry red chillies, fenugreek, urd dal, rice and curry leaves in oil. When done, switch off the flame. Add the coconut and saute in the heat of the kadai. When cool, grind into a smooth paste. Boil the veggies with salt, tamarind pulp and very little water. Add ground paste when boiled. Garnish with spluttered mustard and curry leaves. 

Sambar/ Kathamba Koottu

Capsicum - 1 (chopped into 6 pieces)
Radish - 1 cup cut into thin circles
Potato - 1 (chopped into 6 pieces)
Carrot - 2 chopped into 1 1/2" sticks
(You can add ladies finger, brinjal, tomato as per your choice)
or
Small onions peeled - 15

Tur Dal - 3 handfuls
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Extract of a lemon-sized ball of tamarind

Garnishing
---------------
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urd dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

In a pressure cooker, add all the ingredients with some water (depending on how much tamarind pulp you have added) and cook till you get 3 whistles. When cool, add more water if necessary depending on the consistency or boil for some more time if it is watery. Splutter mustard, curry leaves and fenugreek in 1 tsp oil and garnish along with some coriander leaves.

When we add lot of vegetables, it is also called Kathamba Koottu and is made during Pongal as offering.
 

Varuttharaccha Koottu/ Veggies in coconut gravy

Red Chillies - 5
Urd Dal - 2 tbsp
Hing/ Asafoetida - 1 "
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Lemon-sized ball of tamarind
Cucumber - 1 cup chopped
Vazhakkai/ Raw banana - 1 cup chopped
Brinjal - 1 cup chopped
Salt - as per taste
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Garnishing
--------------
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Urd dal - 1 tbsp
Red chilli - 1
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a kadai and fry red chillies, urd dal and hing. Switch off the flame and add grated coconut and saute in the heat of the kadai. When cooled, grind into a smooth paste along with the tamarind. Boil the vegetables in little water with salt. When boiled, (drain excess water if required)add turmeric powder and ground paste to it. Splutter mustard, urd dal, red chilli and curry leaves in 1 tsp of oil and granish the curry.
 

Dosai Mavu/ Dosa Batter

Paccharisi/ Sona Masoori Rice - 1 cup
Doppi Arisi/ Idli Rice - 3 cups
Full Urd Dal - 1 1/4 cups or Broken Urd Dal - 1 1/2 cups
Salt - 3 1/2 tbsp

Soak rice and urd dal in water overnight. Wash and drain. Grind urd dal into a smooth paste in the grinder. When done, move to a container. Now, grind rice. When done, add salt and grind for 1 min. Add the ground urd dal to the grinder and grind for 2 mins so that rice and dal mix properly. Remove to a container. Ensure it is only 2/3 full so that when it ferments the batter does not overflow. Let the batter stand for 3 hours and then store in the fridge.

To make dosas, make sure that the consistency of the batter is appropriate. Take required amount of batter separately in a bowl and add water if necessary. Mix well. The batter should not be too thick or too thin. Heat a tawa. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread uniformly into a circle. Add 1 tsp of oil to it. Flip over and cook on both sides. Dosa is ready. Can be served with chutney, sambar or dosa podi (milagai podi)