Ragi Ammini Kozhukattai

At times I become a health freak like roasting cauliflower in the oven for tea time or baking sweet potato fries for that hunger pangs or steaming some dumplings for snack. Ragi is not my favorite cereal but I know that its healthy and I need to include it in my diet atleast once a week. And I do that consciously. Mostly in the form of ragi puttu or ragi malt but at times I like to experiment like adding a cup of ragi flour when making chapathis or adai and sometimes something that is totally different like this. These are healthy, tastes yum and kids will totally love popping 'em into their mouth.

~*What U Need*~ For Dough (makes 20-22 small balls): Sprouted ragi flour - 3/4 cup Water - to knead Salt - to taste Gingely oil - 1 tsp For Tempering: Urad dhal - 1 tbsp Channa dal - 1 tbsp Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Red chilli - 1 Asofoetida - a pinch Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig How I Made it: Take ragi flour in a wide bowl. Boil water, salt and oil in a pan, start with 1/4 cup. Add it to ragi flour and mix with the help of a wooden spoon. Make sure there are no lumps. Close and set aside for 5 mins. Grease your hands with oil and make small balls. Steam cook for 10 mins on medium flame. Remove and set aside. Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai and temper mustard seeds. Add urad dal, channa dal, broken red chilies and curry leaves. Saute for 2 mins, add grated coconut. Add asofoetida, cooked kozhukattai and salt to taste.

Serve hot.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Vendakkai Kaarakuzhambu

I am not a pro when it comes to authentic south Indian gravies like vathakuzhambu, kaarakuzhambu and many others. I can never get the consistency right and it never tastes good. I would rate it average and so I never attempt the same. The reason why I dont get these curries right is that I never add the said amount of oil. If a recipe calls for 4 tbsp oil, I always stick to 1 tbsp. Well, the rest is history. Last week I had this sudden urge to try kaarakuzhambu and I tipped in the oil closing my eyes. The result was this tangy and yummy dish. Now I know why oil goes a long way in making these authentic dishes.

~*What U Need*~ Lady fingers - 10-12 Tamarind - marble sized ball Small onions - 6-8 Tomato - 1 Garlic - 10 cloves Sambar powder - 1/2 tbsp Garlic 8-10 flakes Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Jaggery/brown sugar - 1/4 tsp Salt - to taste To temper: Gingely oil - 3 tbsp Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp Toor dhal - 1 tsp Jeera - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig To grind Coconut grated - 1/4 cup Onion - 4-6 How I Made it: Grind the coconut and onion to a smooth paste. Extract the tamarind juice. Slice the garlic. Clean the ladys finger and cut into finger sized pieces. Saute with very little oil till toasted on every sides. Heat kadai with oil and temper with the ingrediends given under ‘to temper’. Add garlic and chopped onion and fry till borwn. Add tomatoes and fry till soft. Add the tamarind extract and enough water,salt, turmeric, and sambar powder. Let it boil for 4 minutes. Then add lady fingers and bring to boil. Add the ground paste to the kuzhambu. Let it boil until the lady finger gets cooked and the kuzhambu comes to the desired consistency. Add jaggery and remove from flame.

Serve with rice!!!

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Thengai Paal Meen Kuzhambhu / Fish Curry with Coconut milk

I have never been a big fan of seafood, except for crab. Thats the main reason that you don't see that much seafood related dishes in the blog. However I have started cooking fish these days for the sake of pappu. Amma generally makes fish curry with coconut and thats how I know fish. But my MIL makes a version wherein she never uses coconut. Its just lots of tamarind and loads of pearl onions. I took a liking to that curry right from day one and I make it occasionally at home.

This is a hybrid version of my MILs fish curry. I had some coconut milk on hand which I added in the end, allowed the curry to come to a boil and viola I got a tasty curry with a very mild flavor of coconut. The coconut masks the overpowering taste of the tamarind and gives a not-too-much creaminess and sweetness to the curry. On the whole it sure is a winner to me.

~*What U Need*~ Fish - 250 gms Shallots/Pearl onions - 12 Tomato - 1 medium Garlic pods - 4 Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Red Chilli powder - 1.5 tsp Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp Fish curry powder/sambar powder - 1 tsp(optional) Thick Coconut milk - 1/2 cup Salt - as required Gingelly Oil - 3 tbsp Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball soaked in 1/4 cup water Salt - to season To grind to a fine paste: Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp Shallots - 5 Garlic - 3 To season: Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds+Urud Dal - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig How I Made it: Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric powder for 30 mins. In a kadai, add oil and when hot add the 'To Season' ingredients and fry well. Add chopped garlic pods and saute them for a minute. Add the chopped shallots and fry till golden brown. Add the spice powders and fry for 5 mins. Add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell goes off. Then add tomato and saute till the oil oozes out. Now pour the tamarind extract and bring to a boil. In low flame keep boiling till the oil separates and the curry reaches the desired consistency. Add a sprig of curry leaves and the fish pieces. Cook for few mins and then add the thick coconut milk. Cook for 1-2 mins and remove from flame.

Serve hot with white rice!!!

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Uradh dhal / Ulundhu podi & Ulundhu Kali

Ulundhu kali or ulunthangali is a traditional sweet of Tamil Nadu made out of Jaggery, Gingely Oil and Black Gram. In most of the Tamil households this sweet is a must for young girls who have matured mainly because of its medicinal values, the most important being it strengthens the pelvic bones and uterus of young girls. That doesn't mean that adults shouldn't take this. It is highly recommended to women, men and children of all ages.
Have a look at the ingredients, urad dal which is rich in proteins, jaggery rich in iron and gingely oil rich in Vitamin E, what more protein-packed food do you need. My mom made it a point that I have this once every week and now I make it a point that we have this on every Saturdays.

Ulundhu podi
~*What U Need*~
Black skinned whole / split Urad dhal - 250 gms
Cardamom - 5 - 6
Chukku / dried ginger - 1/2 inch piece

How I Made it:
Dry roast the urad dhal till crunchy along with caradamom and chukku. Blend till you get a fine powder. You can give this in the mills or do it at home which takes some extra time. I usually do it at home.
Store this in air-tight containers upto 3-4 weeks.

Ulundhangkazhi
~*What U Need*~
Urad dhal powder - 1 cup
Thick Palm sugar / karupatti syrup - 3/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Gingely oil - 4 - 5 tbsps
Ghee - 1 tbsp

How I made it:
In a wide pan, add urad dhal powder and water and mix without any lumps. Heat this mixture in low flame along with gingely oil. After some time, you will see the mixture leaving the side of the pans. Now add the palm sugar syrup and mix well till no lumps are formed. Keep stirring and again it will start leaving the sides of the pan and the mixture will start to boil. Off the flame, add the ghee, mix well.

Serve warm. We prefer having it a bit semi-runny, but if you want you can heat it for some more time till the moisture leaves and after it cools down, form balls and serve. The kids will prefer to have these.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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