Raw Onion Chutney

This is one chutney that can be made instantly in a jiffy. Was regularly made by my mom and grand mother in my childhood and college days, whenever we made idlis made at home.

I quickly adapted this after my marriage because of the ease of making it. There is no frying ingredients before or no tempering required after grinding. Its ready in just five minutes. Just peel the onions, chop them, throw in other ingredients that go into it, press the button to grind, and there you go..its ready.

But since its raw onion you get best results if the chutney sits for a while in the fridge, till all the pungent nature of the onion is gone, The cumin, dried red chillies, tamarind and sugar really transform the onion into a flavourful chutney.

Raw onion chutney is the best side dish, for Uthappam, Idlis, Pesarattu. It is a perfect combo with one other Tamil speciality called Adai. A pancake made with the batter of different ground dhals mixed with spices..Hope to blog about it sometime.

For now into the recipe of Raw onion chutney.
Ingredients :
To Grind:
2 Medium sized Onions chopped into pieces
2 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
5-6 red chillies cracked
1 big marble size tamarind ball
1 Tbsp sugar
Salt to taste
Enough water to grind these into a smooth paste

Method:
In a chutney grinder, put all the ingredients in the grinding list and grind them thoroughly to a smooth paste/chutney.
Transfer to a serving bowl

Serve with hot idlis, dosas, Uthappam, Pesarattu, Adai etc..

Idli with Coconut Chutney - A Humble Combo, A bond indeed

The relationship of a south Indian with Idli and coconut chutney so intense that we can write pages about it. This is one break fast that we South Indians grew up on back home.
I call it a humble combo because every household can afford to make it at home or even to take out from the near by breakfast restaurant or get from small street side stalls. I grew up in a joint family along with grand mothers, uncles and aunts. Idli is one easy breezy breakfast to feed large families. At my house back home it was a staple breakfast 2 to 3 times a week. Though I was not so fond of it those days and never use to eat more than 1 or 2, I very much long for Idly and coconut chutney in this part of the world. Obviously we know the value of things when we can't get them so readily. With very few South Indian restaurants in Toronto you got no option then to enjoy home made idlis and chutney. And I do prefer it than store bought..Though the preparation takes a few long steps, and involves using lot of equipments like wet grinder, Idli moulds and pressure cooker, scooper etc..it’s all worth to go through the process and enjoy it at least in the weekend. All the more when the whole family including my 3 year old loves it.

Idli is prepared mainly in two different ways. Though there are many other variations and varieties of Idlies. In Tamil Nadu they use whole rice and Urad dhal(White Lentils with Black husk on them usually called black gram) and in Andhra(at least in my home, I don't know in other parts) we use Rice Rava(Cream of Rice) and Urad dhal and also the proportion of rice or rice rava and urad dhal differs.

For a Tamil Nadu style idly I use 1 cup urad dhal to 3 to 4 cups rice( par boiled or combo of par boiled and raw rice or the Tamil nadu special idly rice), soak them separately and grind them separately. Usually the urad dhal is grinded to very fine batter and the rice is grinded to hold rava constituency, then both are mixed together with salt and allowed to ferment overnight, where by morning the batter almost rises to double or triple, so that you get that soft fluffy idlis.

With Andhra Style, I use 1 cup urad dhal to 2 to 3 cups rice rava(usually call Idli rava), soak them separately and then urad dhal is grinded to very fine batter and the rice rava is squeezed from all water and added to the ground urad dhal then both are mixed together with salt and allowed to ferment overnight. Unlike the batter made with whole ground rice, this one doesn't rice so much , but is good enough to make delicious idlies.. I find this method is easy too..as we need to grind the urad dhal only and add it to the already made rice rava.

Though home made idlis and chutney are tasty and hygenic..I still long for that street side idli and coconut chutney..I still remember those days even in a good restaurant a plate idli use to be only 1 rupee 25 ps with unlimited chutney. Just the smell of this combo was a simple pleasure. Mini idlies soaked in hot sambar topped with ghee is a frequent site for breakfast or lunch in Chennai restaurants.

Now if I don't get to some serious recipe time, I will never go out of my ranting.
For cream of the Rice (Rice rava)Idlis:

Ingredients :
1 cup urad dhal
2 to 3 cups Rice rava(Idli rava),
Salt to taste
Water enough to grind and mix
2 Tbsp Yeast (if desired) I usually don't use

Method:
1.Wash thoroughly and soak urad dhal for althea 3 hours.
2.Simultaneously soak rice rava separately.
3. Wet Grind urad dhal to very smooth batter, keep aside.
4. Now squeeze rice rava from all water with palms and added to the ground urad dhal. 5. Then add salt and enough water and mix thoroughly till all the rice rava and ground urad dhal combine well and mix into each other.
6. Allow this mixture to ferment overnight.
Tips : In cold places fermentation is a challenge. So I usually follow these steps. Always use thick steel vessel to ferment the batter. Heat up the oven for a few seconds, turn off and then place the steel vessel on the oven rac. Let it stay in the oven overnight isolated by the colder temperatures outside. You can repeat that process a few times for better results, if the temperature outside is too cold. Remember to place the steel vessel with batter on a wider plate when placing in the oven..at times the batter ferments and rises so much that it overflows on the oven rac..
7. After the overnight fermentation when the you are ready to make idlis, mix the raised batter, adjust salt if necessary keep aside.
8. Fill 2-3 cups water in the Idli Steamer depending upon the size of the cooker and heat up till the water starts to boil.
9. Meanwhile grease the idli moulds with oil or ghee and add a ladle full of idli batter into each single mould, taking care that the batter does not overflow the mould.
10. Now insert the idli mould plates into the idli steamer and steam on high first and then medium heat, for 15 - 20 minutes depending on the size and the number of idlis.
11. Once the time elapses, check to see if the idlis are done and then remove from heat.
12. Sprinkle cold water on the hot idly mould plates and use a special idly scooping spoon to separate the idlis from each mould.
13. Serve hot and fresh with choice of chutneys, podi/powders or gravies.

Coconut Chutney :

Though Idli can be eaten with various accompaniments like, chutneys, podis, curried gravies like fish, chicken, lamb; one best combo for Idli always rules..that is Idli with Coconut chutney.
Like variations in Idlis making, Coconut chutney is also prepared in a number of varieties..and different combination of ingredients.

1. Coconut with roasted gram with green chillies, yogurt based
2. Just with Plain Coconut
3 Coconut with roasted gram with red chillies
4. Coconut with peanuts & green or red chillies
5. Coconut with Coriander/mint leaves and green chillies

Here let's see the making of first variety mentioned above.
Coconut with roasted gram with green chillies, yogurt based:
Ingredients :

To Grind:1 cup grated fresh/frozen coconut
1 cup roasted gram/vepina chenaga pappu/varutha kadala parippu
1/2 cup sour yogurt
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
4 green chillies (increase or decrease accordingly)
1 marble size tamarind ball
Salt to taste
Enough water to grind these into a smooth paste

For Tempering/Tamlinpu:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dhal
2-3 red chillies cracked
8-10 curry leaves
1 pinch of Asafoetida/Hing/Inguva/Perumgayam

Method:
In a chutney grinder, put all the ingredients in the grinding list and grind them thoroughly to a smooth paste/chutney.
Transfer to a serving container.
Heat up the small tempering vessel add oil, after the oil is hot, allow mustard to splutter and add the rest of ingredients one by one ending with Asafoetida, fry for a few seconds and spread on the prepared chutney.

Serve with hot idlis, dosas etc..

Now that we made both Idli and Coconut chutney lets enjoy this combo.

Chutney with Ridge Gourd Skin/Beerapottu pachadi

As I shared in my last post, ridge gourd is one vegetable which can be used both in and out. A Delicious curry with the body and yet another yummy spicy chutney with the skin.

Growing up this was one of my favourite chutney/pachadi..My granny knew how much i cherished this chutney , so she use to preserve the skin and make the chutney for me..to enjoy it with plain hot rice and ghee/oil and the best accompaniment for this is a piece of raw onion. A first serve of rice will be done in a jiffy..

Ingredients :

Skin of 2 or 3 Ridge gourds /Beerapottu (cut into small pieces)
1 tbsp - oil
1 tbsp - Channa dhal
1 tbsp - Urad dhal
1 tsp - Cumin seeds
1 tsp - Coriander seeds
3-5 - Red chillies
4 -5 Garlic pods
Tamarind - A big marble size soaked in little water to soften.
Salt to taste
Water enough to grind into chutney.

Procedure :
Stir Fry the ridge gourd pieces in oil for 2 - 3 mins and keep aside.
In the same vessel, now fry the all the remaining dry ingredients.
Remove from heat and let cool. Once the fried ingredients are cooled grind them to a coarse powder.
Now add the ridge gourd skin, soaked tamarind, salt and enough water and grind thoroughly till all the ingredients mix well and chutney is almost smooth.
Adjust salt.
Serve with either plain rice or have it as a side for rice with sambar.

Ridge Gourd or Chinese Melon curry

(AKA) Beerakaya Kura(Telugu), Beerkankai Kuttu(Tamil)

Growing up I never liked this vegetable until once I tasted this preparation done by my dear dear aunt(My Father's sis). It was so simple and yet tasted so great with just plain rice. A perfect accompaniment for this rice and vegie is a south Indian pappad.

My mom used to cook this vegie along with fresh or dried prawns too. I still remember my how dearly dad used to enjoy this combo preparation of hers. Being so far from home I often miss the pleasure to cook for my parents especially for my dad. Anyway coming back to one other way of preparing this vegie, is to cook it with mutton also..Again what ever is the preparation or combination this vegie is mostly good with just plain rice itself..

An important feature of this vegetable is that it is a must in all the south Indian households especially in Andhra when they have to prepare a meal for a lady who has just delivered. They believe that including this in the diet of a women who has given birth will help her in nursing of the baby. So all soon to be moms add this into your diet when you give birth to your baby.

Another feature of this vegetable is we don't need too discard its thick coarse skin..The skin can be combined with spices, lentils and made into a spicy tasty chutney, which I will publish in my next post.





As much as it is Indian, I'm happy that even in this part of the world we can easily get them in Indian or Asian stores under name Chinese melon

And here is my simple South Indian preparation of this Chinese melon:
Note : Chinese melon is reduced in its size drastically once cooked, so when u are seasoning it with salt take care not to add lots. Here less is more.

Ingredients:
2 large Ridge Gourd/Chinese melon(Beeakaya) - Skin removed
1 Tbsp oil
5 - 6 Garlic pods
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 Red chillies slit
1 tsp Channa dhal(yellow lentils)
8 - 10 Curry leaves
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
Salt to taste

Directions:
Peel the rough edges of the skin first, discard it and then peel off the skin totally and reserve for later use to make chutney. Now cut the melon into cubes.
In a wok or kaddai, add oil after heated allow mustard to splutter.
Add channa dhal, and fry till color changes slightly.
Add cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves and fry.
Add garlic and fry till nice aroma emits.
Now add the melon cubes and season with little salt and chilly powder.
Mix thoroughly to coat the vegie with the spices and oil.
Cover and cook on medium till the melon emits waters completely. Around 5-7 min.
Remove lid and let the water evaporate as the vegie cooks till done and oil emits.
Once the oil emits remove from heat and serve with plain rice.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

In this increasingly conscious diet world, healthy food choices are a must than ever. We are under constant look out to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, or in good carbs or rich in protein. One such Vegetable which falls into this health group is "sweet potato".

Sweet potato is ranked high in nutrition of all vegetables, for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium.

It has almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!

Among root vegetables, sweet potatoes offer the lowest glycemic index rating. That’s because the sweet potato digests slowly, causing a gradual rise in blood sugar so you feel satisfied longer. Many of the most popular diets these days have this in the "good" carb list.

Growing up I and my brothers used to enjoy a sweet potato each, as an after school evening snack..passionately boiled by my great grandmother. At present I go one step further to bake the semi boiled sweet potatoes, brushed with a little butter and sprinkled with brown sugar to get the best flavour and caramelized effect.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 tbsp Butter/PAM/I can't believe its Butter/Becel Margarine
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper dust as required
Aluminium Foil
1 Baking Tray

Directions:
Semi Boil the sweet potatoes with enough salt, cut into large chucks and discard water
Remove skin and cut into 1 inch semi circle pieces.
Mean while pre-heat the oven to 325F
Spread a foil on the baking tray.
Spray some PAM or any kind of melted butter on the foil and arrange the sweet potato pieces

Pour the remaining butter on the top the pieces to coat them moist
Now sprinkle brown sugar and pepper dust on the pieces and bake them for 20 - 25 mints.
After 12- 15 mins, flip the pieces to the other for even browning on both sides.
Remove from the oven and serve as side dish for any main course.
Mostly good for spicy meat or chickpeas or beans.

Going green w/ Pesarattu and Peanut Coriander Chutney

For some good reasons I was missing in action in food blogging and this post is due from the first week of July, when the Wimbledon finals took place. I composed this post then, but some how couldn't work with the pictures till now. Anyway better late then never.

Wimbledon has a special place in my childhood memory. Back those days I use to watch Steffi Graf win the grand slams, munching summer pineapple slices or enjoying a juicy mango. Ever since my Father introduced me to tennis I have been watching Wimbledon from my school days till college. Though I left it for the past few years, now catching it up with my husband...at least I have to watch the finals, that too when the William sisters were playing.
Thought of making it special for us as it was breakfast time and any special breakfast got to be South Indian, and that day I decide to make Andhra special "Pesarattu".

Pesarattu is Andhra's traditional authentic breakfast dish. It is a thin crape made with green gram lentils batter spread on a greased pan, garnished with finely chopped onions, cumin seeds, chopped ginger and green chillies. A good combo for pesarattu is upma apart from a array of chutneys - peanut, ginger, coconut etc.
This time I wanted to try the peanut coriander chutney which I saw on Sailu's Kitchen blog. Usually whenever I try a new dish its doesn't come out that great, but this time the peanut coriander chutney was a hit.
My husband liked it too. and we all enjoyed the famous pesarattu this this chutney as we cheered the Williams sisters in the final match of Wimbledon 2009.

Pesarattu Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups Dark green whole Gram (Pesara pappu/Paasi Pairru/Moong Dhal)
2 hand fulls of raw rice
2 inch ginger piece finely chopped
5-10 green chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 large onions finely chopped
Salt to taste
Enough oil for frying the Dosas
Directions:
Soak green gram + rice in enough water for at least 3 hours.
Drain the water and grind the dhall along with little ginger, green chilly into a smooth paste, adding enough water. The batter should resemble some what like ithick dosa batter.
Add salt and keep aside for 10 to 30 mins.
Heat a iron tawa or nonstick pan, grease it with oil.
Now add a ladle full of ground green gram batter in the middle of the tawa, and spread it in circular motion away form the centre and towards the edges of the tawa...similar to dosa making. Add a few onions, ginger, green chillies and sprinkle cumin seeds on the top side of the dosa/crape
Pour enough oil on the top and edges of the dosa.
Cover with a deep bottom lid on medium flame for 2-3 minutes or till the bottom of the dosa changes color and becomes crisp.
Flip on to other side and cook for another 2 mins till the dosa and onions are cooked.
Fold and remove from heat.
Repeat the procedure for the rest of the batter.
Serve hot with chutney of choice.
Actually the garnish on the top of the dosa is enough to eat this pesarattu as it is.


Peanut and Coriander Chutney:

One of the simplest chutneys out there...with very few ingredients and less steps, a flavourful chutney is made with ease...usually I'm not so fondly of trying new twists and combo when it comes to cooking..but this chutney didn't disappointment me. Well you can't go wrong with any dish which has coriander in it - India's keeper herb.

Some other time I wish to blog the authentic coriander chutney that my grandmother use to make in my childhood.
Recipe :
Ingredients :
1/2 cup roasted peeled peanuts
1 small bunch coriander leaves,
4-5 green chillies
A big marble size Tamarind ball
Salt to taste
Oil to saute coriander and green chillies.
Directions:
Soak tamarind in just enough water to make it soft for grinding.
Remove the thick edges of coriander stems and wash it thoroughly.
Chop the coriander and keep aside.
Remove stems and slit green chillies into half
Heat a small pot add 1 tsp of oil.
Add the chopped coriander leaves and slit green chillies and saute till nice aroma comes from the roasted leaves.
Remove from heat and pour the soaking tamarind on top of it to bring the heat down quickly.
After this comes to room temperature, combine it with peanuts salt and a enough water and grind into a smooth chutney.
If you want you can add a few cumin seeds while grinding if desired. I skipped it.
Transfer to a serving container to enjoy with dosas, idly, pesarattu, vada etc.
I actually wanted to temper the chutney like how i do for regular peanut or coconut chutney. But it didn't need it..
As it is, it was delicious great tasting, made a good condiment for pesarattu.

Spicy Ham Egg Omelet with Indian fusion

Indian food is all about spice and flavour. Be it vegetarian or non-veg, there's got to be lot of flavour and this omelet is no exception. Cheese and ham omelet is quiet familiar in this part in the western world and a spicy omelet with lots of onions and green chillies is quiet common in South India..So this Spicy Egg Ham Omelet is the fusion of both.

This is so simple to make. Be it for a breakfast/brunch/snack or dinner, for a meaty full feeling you have the ham and for the goodness of veggies, herbs and spice we have the onions, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and the seasoning of salt and ground black pepper.I actually don't like the smoky smell of the ham...so the best way to cover this is to add the flavour from onions, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander..the aroma of the end product is exceptionally good.

Ingredients :
2 Eggs ( 1 whole + 1 white) - U can use 2 whole too. or use Egg substitute
1 Thick slice cut from a Smoked Processed Ham (I usually use black forest seasoned ham..but any variety will do) - either cut into small cubes or thin 1 inch length slices
1/2 inch wide cheddar cheese cut into cubes ( I usually don't use..I prefer mine w/o cheese)
1/2 onion cut breath-wise almost like semi circles
2 - 3 green chillies slit and cut into pieces
6-8 curry leaves
1/ tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp oil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste

Directions:
Beat the eggs till lathery, add the cut ham, onions, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves, salt, pepper and cheese if you are using.
Mix together.
Apply oil or spray on a heated non-stick pan.
Spread the Egg ham mixture evenly on the surface of the pan and cover with a lid.
Cook on medium till one side is slightly brown.
Flip to the other side and cook till the onions are cooked and then remove from heat.
Enjoy it with a piece of whole wheat toast for breakfast or if you are having it for dinner with a cup of tempered chickpeas/kidney beans/white beans for a whole meal.

Usually I don't go near processed foods...but sometimes if I buy Ham on sale this the best way I enjoy it. Another best combo for ham is cranberry sauce...I can never eat ham just like it in a bland way...Little spice & flavour is always good. And my friends out there who eat ham..try out this indianized version of Ham omelet..and trust me,you will not be disappointed.