(Amma Cooks) Tuna Poriyal / Tuna Stir fry

I learnt this recipe from my amma when she visited us sometime back. When we went grocery shopping one day she asked me to grab a few cans of tuna. All she said was that grab some and I will teach you how to make a very simple poriyal that will pair perfectly with rasam saadam or paruppu saadam. And just as she said this stir fry comes together in a matter of minutes and is the perfect accompaniment for rasam saadam. Thanks ma for this recipe, I make this atleast once in every two weeks for the huss's lunchbox. Its one of his favorite side dishes these days.

~*What U Need*~ Canned tuna - 3 cans, drained Onion - 1, small Garlic - 3 pods, chopped Green chilli - 1,sliced Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig Oil - 2 tbsp Salt, pepper - to taste How I Made it: Heat oil in a pan, add the curry leaves and saute. Add the garlic and fry till golden brown. Add the green chilli and onion and fry till brown. Add the canned tuna and saute for 4-5 mins. Next add the chilli powder and coriander powder, season with salt, pepper and fry till the mixture is dry and the tuna is fried well.

Serve with rasam saadam!!!

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Ada Pradhaman | Onam Sadhya Recipes | Onam Wishes

Thiruvonam wishes to all who celebrate the day.

I am not a Keralite but I come from a region that is very much influenced by the state, their cuisine and their culture. So we celebrate Onam, atleast we make sambhar, aviyal, carrot thoran and ada pradhaman for the day. A simple sadya menu is what amma makes. This ada pradhaman is a must for us on ONAM and we drink them like there is no tomorrow. We have it hot when it is fresh from the stove and then we put it in the fridge and have it chilled.

Back home, we get the traditional ada which is usually thick and long. And that what makes this payasam the best and special. The silky smooth custard like payasam with that soft, thick, chewy ada and the ghee fried coconut pieces is unbeatable. Oh, my mouth is watering as I type this. Home sweet home... I am missing all those home cooked authentic delicacies. Again this was cooked by amma for Onam and she sent me a picture. So off to the recipe.

~*What U Need*~ Thick Ada - 1/2 cup Jaggery - 1 cup Thick Coconut milk - 1 cup Thin Coconut milk - 1 cup Ghee - 1 tbsp Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp chopped Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp Coconut pieces - 1 tbsp How I made it: Heat ghee, fry the cashews and coconut pieces. Add jaggery and 1/4 cup of water and heat till the jaggery is melted. Strain to remove impurities. Return to a saucepan, add the ada and cook till the jaggery starts thickening. Now add ghee followed by the thin coconut milk. Once the ada has cooked, add the thick coconut milk and cook in low heat for 3-5 mins. By this time it will be thick. Keep in mind that the payasam will thicken as it cools down. So simmer to desired consistency. Add cardamom powder, cashews and coconut pieces, mix and switch off.

Serve warm or chilled!!!

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(Amma Cooks) Sweetened Aval Pori Mix | Easy Festival Recipes

With everyone getting geared up to celebrate Vinayagar Chathurthi (people in the other side of the world would have finished your celebrations but here we have just started with it), we (me and amma) thought that we could share some easy neivedhiyam recipes here. The first one was the kondakadalai sundal which is easy to make, diabetic friendly and a must for Vinayagar Chathurthi neivedhiyam. Next is this, a simple mix of aval, pori, vellam and kadalai just like a trial mix. All you need to do is measure, mix and serve. As simple as that. Its diabetic friendly too as you are not using sugar here and makes a simple tea time snack. I love this a lot and amma makes it a point to make this for every festival, not only for vinayagar chathurthi.

~*What U Need*~ Aval/Poha - 1 cup Roasted Channa dhal - 1/4 cup Pori - 1 cup Grated Jaggery - 1/2 cup Cardamom powder - a pinch How I Made it: Mix everything with a spoon. Flavor with cardamom powder.

Serve as neivedhiyam!!!

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(Amma Cooks) White Channa Sundal | Kondakadalai Sundal | Vinayagar Chathurthi Recipes

When I moved to the U.S. one thing that I missed other than family, relatives and native food, was my amma's food. I miss her biryani, her nei choru, her nilgris chops and everything cooked by her. I miss her a lot. Its not that I don't like this place, I do like it, its neat, its lavish and moreover it completes my dream. But end of the day when you sit back, you don't have anyone around to have some coffee talk. A steaming hot cup of coffee, some murukku, 7.30 serial in Sun TV with your family is what I am talking about. I deeply miss it.

I was so disappointed on thinking that I would have to stop the Amma Cooks series which has been going on for a while in my blog. But thanks to my amma, I asked her to send me the clicks of the dishes that she makes so that I can get them published here and she wholeheartedly obliged. So you are gonna see some easy and yummy recipes from her. There is not gonna be any pictures with greatly styled food(...okay mine are not great too), just a single image that was taken using a P&S, but its "hers"... So lets start off with a simple sundal recipe for Vinayagar Chathurthi...

~*What U Need*~ White Channa/Kondakadalai - 1/2 cup Coconut - 2 tbsp Salt - to taste To temper: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dal - 1/4 tsp Red Chillies - 2 Curry leaves - few How I Made it: Soak channa overnight and pressure cook until soft (4-5 whistles). Heat oil in a pan, and temper with mustard seeds, urad dhal, red chilli and curry leaves. Add a dash of hing powder. Add the cooked channa and mix well. Add coconut, stir well and remove from flame. Serve warm!!!

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(Amma Cooks) Kappa Avichathu / Vevichathu | Seasoned Yucca Root Mash

Kappa and meen kulambu or loved-ly called as "Kappayum meenum" is a Keralite favorite. Its a staple food of the people of Kerala. But anyone who has had a taste of the two combined can never stop from having another mouthful. It is a match made in heaven. I have never been a big fan of fish curry. Ya, sounds bizarre for a person who hails from a land where fish is cooked everyday in every household. Back home, fish was got so cheap and so fresh and so amma used to make something or the other with fish everyday. And so I hated fish, I hated to see them daily in my plate and so I stopped having them. An exception is the fried sardine. I can have them everyday with breads, rolled in chapathis or tossed with rice.

The second exception is "Kappayum meenum", an all-time family favorite. The one that amma makes can never go wrong both in taste and texture. She always uses anchovies to make the curry and then she mixes it with partially mashed kappa. Oh the taste is to die for. I am salivating it even as I write the post. And to all those who are loving the sound of kappayum meenum, I will put up the recipe as soon as amma prepares it. As of now, its verum kappa vevichathu. A simple, healthy and low calorie dish to go with your evening black tea/coffee. I strongly recommend black coffee with ginger as the flavor complements this dish the best.

~*What U Need*~ Kappa / Yucca Root - 250 gm Urad dhal - 1 tsp Pearl onions - 10 Red chilli - 2 Grated coconut - 1/4 cup Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp (optional) Peppercorns - 7-8 (optional) Salt - a pinch Oil - 2 tsp

How I made it:
Clean and cut the yucca root into cubes. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles till soft and cooked but not mushy. Cool and mash. Donot mash too much, there should be some bigger chunks. Add coconut and mix when hot. Heat oil in a kadai, temper with mustard seeds, split red chilli, curry leaves, urad dhal and peppercorns if using. Add the chopped pearl onions and turmeric powder and saute till soft. Add the cooked and mashed kappa and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins and remove from flame.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or meen kulambhu (fish curry).

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(Amma cooks) Urad dhal Laddoos / Ulundhu Karuppatti Urundai

Amma says "Ulundhankazhi is one of the bestest food that every women should eat atleast twice a week." Me says "No no ma, please leave me alone". This is the scene that takes place in our house (before marriage) on every Saturday morning. One thing that I hated about the weekends was having Ulundhankazhi. I don't know why but I hated the bizzare taste that the dish gave to the mouth. Finally she had to resort to alternate ways to feed me Ulundhankazhi and this was what she came up with. She made me these balls and I found them easy to consume and infact I loved munching on them. These days, I make it a point to make these every weekend and store them for the whole week. We have one laddoo each after our morning breakfast. You can read the benefits of having Ulundhankazhi here.

Amma also makes a whole lot of them whenever she comes over from the native. This particular batch was made by her and so I donot have the step by step pics. As I said, you can make these ahead and store them and so now-a-days I find this method easy rather than sweating over the stove to make the traditional Ulundhankazhi.
A storehouse of proteins, these laddoos make a great giveaway gift to people of any age. Add them to your kids snack dabba and you need not fuss over them-not-having healthy snacks.

~*What U Need*~ Ulundhu Podi / Black skinned Urad dhal Powder - 1 cup Karupatti / Palm Sugar Candy - 1/2 cup, packed, grated Water - 2 tbsps Ghee - 2 tbsps or more Cardamom powder - a pinch

How I Made it:
Refer here on how to make the urad dhal powder. Take a sauce pan, add water and the palm sugar and heat till it melts. Strain to remove the impurities. In a mixing bowl, take the ulundhu podi, add the strained palm sugar syrup and mix well. Add the ghee and cardamom powder, mix well and then form balls out of the mixture. Store in air tight containers.

Healthy urundais are ready!!!

** My Notes:
** If your mixture is too dry, then add few tbsps of ghee.
** You can also add a pinch of dried ginger powder.

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(Amma Cooks) Athirasam / Adhirasam - Diwali Sweet Recipes

Adhirasam is another traditional sweet which amma makes at home for every diwali. Its a long process atleast at our home as amma makes the dough way ahead of diwali and allows it to ferment atleast for 3 days, says the more it ferments, the tastier it turns up. When we were kids, appa usually gets this in 100s from a relative of us. I still remember the disastrous adventure that amma had in the kitchen when she attempted this for the first time. She went wrong with the jaggery syrup consistency and so the adhirasams disintegrated as soon as they were dropped into the hot oil and we were left with adhirasam thool. That was her first and last attempt.

My chithi makes perfect adhirasams and she never goes wrong. They come out whole and alive from the oil and they taste out of the world too. It was she who convinced amma to give it a second chance and under her watchful eyes amma tucked up her sleeves to give it a second try... She went good and succeeded atlast to get a batch of whole, crispy, yummy adhirasams and since then she has never turned back. She makes them for every diwali. She usually shapes them like medhuvadas but I have seen many recipes which look like discs too...

We like to munch on them when they are hot out of the oil. Warm, crispy on the out, soft on the inside is how we like it and so the first batch often disappears as soon as they are out of the kadai. They keep god for 7 to 10 days when stored in air tight containers.

~*What U Need*~ Rice flour – 2 cups Jaggery – 1 cup, grated Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp Water – to make a syrup Ghee - 1 tbsp Oil to deep fry

How I she Made it:
Take a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery, few tbsps of water and heat till the jaggery melts. Strain through a sieve to remove the impurities. Pour back into the kadai and boil till you get soft ball consistency (which means if you put little syrup in cold water, it will not dissolve and when you roll it with fingers you should be able to make a ball out of it. Remove from flame and add cardamom powder to it and mix well.

Sprinkle rice flour quickly little by little and stir to make a smooth and soft dough of chapathi dough consistency. Grease another bowl with ghee, transfer the mixture to it and pat the remaining ghee on top of it. Allow the mixture to rest for 1 or 2 days. The more it ferments, the tastier the adhirasam. The mixture keeps good for 1 week at room temperature.
Heat oil in a kadai, take a small lemon sized ball, flatten it on a greased plastic sheet into discs or you can also make them like vadas. Deep fry one by one over low-medium flame until they turn brown in color. Remove and drain the excess oil on kitchen towel. Bring to room temperature and store in air tight containers.

Enjoy these yummy adhirasams!!!

** My Notes:
** When you are ready to fry the adhirasams, check the consistency of the dough. When you make balls and flatten them, it should not break.
** If you think it has become very hard add a couple of tbsp of milk to the mixture and knead to a soft dough.
** We make adhirasams like medhu vadas but you can also make them like discs.

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(Amma Cooks) Munthiri Kothu / Roasted Green gram balls ~ Diwali Sweet Recipes

Munthiri kothu is a festive sweet that finds its roots in the kitchens of Kanyakumari district. Back home, any festival or grand occasion is not complete without this authentic sweet. Why this name, I am not sure. I know that kothu means group and this is made in groups of three but munthiri (which means cashews) I just can't understand why that was put in there. BTW, no cashews are added. Anyone who knows why do tell me.
My association with this sweet is right from my childhood, right from days as old as my memories can take me. Amma makes this sweet for every Diwali and I still remember the Saturdays and Sundays when me and bhaiyya used to roll the green gram balls that makes the stuffing. The soft and sweet stuffing and the contradictory hard shell is a pleasure to much on. Whenever I go to my mom's native my ammamma (grandma) makes it a point that we return back laden with these sweets. Having a bite of this sweet brings back good old memories and is love in every bite for me.
P.S. This sweet even has a wikipedia page on its own. Check what they tell here.

Traditional recipes should never die and we need to keep the ball rolling and so I jot down all the recipes from amma. Some day down the lane, I might try this and my kid might get a chance to taste them. And so here is one...

~*What U Need*~ Green gram - 1 cup Ghee - 1 tsp Jaggery - 1/2 cup Water - 2-3 tbsp Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup Ground ginger - 1/8 tsp Cardamom - 2 Rice flour - 1/4 cup Salt - a pinch Turmeric powder - a pinch Water - 1/4 cup (or to bring to idli batter consistency) Oil

How I Made it:
Wash and dry the whole moong dhal. Heat ghee in a wide pan and roast the dhal till you get a nice aroma and it turns brown in color. Remove and cool. Grind to a coarse powder and set aside. In a sauce pan, heat jaggery with 2 tbsps of water until jaggery melts. Remove from the fire and strain to remove the impurities and set aside. Dry roast the coconut till golden brown. Return the jaggery syrup to the heat and reduce for another 3 mins. Add coconut and powdered green gram and mix well. Remove from heat. When the mixture is cool enough to touch, make lemon-sized balls and set aside. Now place this in a paper with enough space in between the balls, keep under the fan and dry for 1 day. This procedure gives long shelf life. When you are ready to fry them, mix rice flour with salt, turmeric powder, salt and water till you get an idli batter consistency. Heat oil in a deep pan and when hot enough, dip each ball into the batter and fry in the oil. This is usually done in group of threes and hence the name kothu (..means groups). Once evely fried, remove and drain in a tissue paper. Store in air tight containers.

Serve with tea!!!

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(Amma Cooks) Diamond Cuts | Sweet Maida Biscuits ~ Diwali Snacks

Okay, I actually wanted to post a series of authentic recipes every single day till Diwali ~ recipes of dishes that my amma makes every Diwali and so I came to u with the "Amma cooks" series. Needless to say, a series that I will hold close to my heart. But thanks to my lappy, it bunked. After years of hard work, it thought of giving up. We had to give it to service but it needs extensive repair I guess, we are not sure when it will be back. Oh, I feel as if I missed my right hand but on the brighter side, I get to spend time with the kid with no thoughts about blogging and in fact I am loving it. A nap when he sleeps, an evening walk and our play times is all that I think about. Hope I don't give up blogging totally. I am not sure when I will be back fulfledged-ly and so Wishing you all a happy Diwali in advance. The amma cooks series will continue till all the posts are done and you will get to see some authentic snacks. So do wait and keep visiting.
P.S. This post comes to you from my friend's pc. A few minutes hours stolen from her.

Coming back, its diamond cuts today. Diamond cuts have been my favorite snack right from my childhood or I should say right from days which I remember. Amma used to make this often and I found this always in my snack dabba. We loved to munch on this after coming back from school. I still remember how amma used to light the kerosene stove in our backyard, place a big kadai filled with oil and fry them in batches. I was her sous-chef and used to help her in cutting the diamonds. Am becoming nostalgic here!!!
When amma asked me what I wanted for Diwali, it was "Diamond cuts" without a second thought and I got loads.

~*What U Need*~ All purpose flour - 2 cup Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup Ghee/Oil - 1 tsp Oil - to deep fry Salt - 1/2 tsp

How I Made it:
In a mixing bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and ghee. Add water and make into a smooth dough. Consistency should be like chapathi dough. Keep aside for 30 mins. Knead the dough again and divide into equal parts. Roll as thin as possible evenly with generous dusting. With the use of pizza cutter/ knife, cut out thin strips. Cut diagonally to make little diamonds. Gently peel using a spatula and set aside. Heat oil in a kadai and when it is hot, sprinkle the diamonds into the oil. Cook in medium flame turning around to make sure it is evenly cooked. Once done remove from oil and drain in tissure paper. Cool and store in air tight containers.

Serve with hot chaai!!!

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(Amma Cooks) Omapodi / Ompodi / Sev ~ Diwali Snacks

Okay so I think you would have read the blog title and would have an idea on whose recipe this is. Yes, its amma's. I suck at making traditional recipes and hence when amma comes over to visit us she makes loads of snacks like this, murukku, rosette cookies, diamond cuts and many more. When she came over for Diwali, I knew that she would come loaded with snacks as it was the festive season and that is how she turned up. So you are gonna see an authentic "Amma cooks" series for the next week.
Since it was done by amma, I will not be able to put up the step wise pictorial for this series. But if anytime in the future, I pick up the courage to try them on my own, I will surely update these recipes.
So lets move on to the first in the series, Ompodi, a crunchy snack loved by adults and kids equally. I love to have this plain or topped on chaats or dump loads on to hot black tea, allow them to soak for 5 mins and then eat em. I know it sounds bizzare but thats how I we love it.

~*What U Need*~ Besan flour - 1 cup Rice flour - 2 tbsp Ajwain(Omam) - 1 tsp Hot oil - 1 tbsp Salt - to taste Oil - for deep frying

How I Made it:
Dry roast ajwain for 2 mins till a nice aroma comes. Soak this in 2 tbsp warm water for 15 mins. Grind and strain this. Set the water aside. Sieve besan flour and rice flour into a mixing bowl. Add the ajwain water, hot oil and required salt and mix it. Adding water little by little, form a soft sticky dough. Fill the dough in your sev press till 3/4th. Heat oil and press the dough starting from the corners like a murukku finishing in the middle. Once cooked on one side, flip and cook till the bubbles cease. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Drain in tissue paper, cool and store in airtight containers.

Serve with tea or top it on your favorite chaats.

** My Notes:
** Check if the oil is hot by dropping a small piece of dough in the oil. If it immediately comes to the top, then the oil is ready.
** You can use a finer press too.

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Palam Pori / Ripe Banana Fritters | Mom's Recipe

Ripe Banana Fritters / Palam pori as they call it, is a famous tea time snack in Kerala. People familiar with the Keralite cuisine will know how delicious this snack tastes. I am an ardent fan of this and prefer to have it anytime. So whenever we have ripe nendram palams at home mom makes it a point to make me some of these and I just gobble them down in minutes without sharing it with anyone. But this time when she made it, poor me… got only 3 pieces cos there was huss dear sitting nearby who is now a newly-turned fan of this.

~*What U Need*~

All purpose flour / Maida – ½ cup
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Yellow food coloring / Turmeric powder – a pinch
Sugar – 3 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Baking powder – ¼ tsp
Water – as needed
Nendram Palam – 1
Oil – for frying

How I made it
Sieve the maida, rice flour and baking powder together.
To this add turmeric powder/food coloring, sugar and salt and combine well.
Add water and mix well and bring it to a semi-liquid consistency.
Slice the bananas as shown below.

Dip this in the flour mixture.

Fry till golden brown

Pat the excess oil using tissue.
Serve as tea-time snack !!!

I had some excess flour mixture to which I added some sugar and fried. It was equally crispy and tasty.

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