Sneha's Kitchen

Mooru Kozhambu

2006-04-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

When we are kids mostly mooru kozhambu is not one of our favorites but I guess as we grow older our taste changes. I actually learned to make this from my husband. When he used to live alone he sure has managed to cook some dishes really well. When I make mooru kozhambu now in our house all of us are satisfied even if there are no side dishes, just some appalams are fine. Surprisingly my daughter too loves it and so I don't have to cook separately for her.

The best vegetable for mooru kozhambu is poosinikai, the white pumpkin or yam/sepankizhangu. You also make it with ladies finger or sundakai vathal etc,.

Chopped vegetable
11/2 cups curd or yoghurt blended with a little water
1/2 cup grated coconut
2tsp jeera
4-5 green chillies
turmeric powder
curry leaves, mustard, dry red chillies for saute

Blend the curd with a little water with your hand mixer and bring to thick lassi consistency. Grind coconut with green chillies and jeera well.
Heat oil in a pan and fry mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillies. Add vegetable, turmeric pwd fry for some time. Add the coconut paste and little water and salt to taste. Boil till the vegetables are cooked. Leave it to cool a little, when it is slightly warm keep it on heat and mix the curd. Take it off the heat immediately before the curd separates. The hint is not to boil the curd, the mixture just needs to blend in warm temperature.
Serve with rice and some applams.

South Indian Sambar

2006-04-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

People in south of India love their sambar, there are people who crave for it even if they have had it just a day before. One of such people is my husband, he would have sambar 365 days and not complain about it! My mother-in-law can make sambar in her sleep, it comes to her that naturally. I am not much of a sambar girl myself, likes to have it with idli or dosa than with rice. But now, after so many times of cooking it, I think it is as easy as boiling water.

Like most people I used to think it is a mixture of dal, tamarind and vegetables but apparently it is not. Like every other dish this one needs the right amount of everything, well, that is what sambar lovers say!
1/2 cup toor dal, a handful of moong dal, 1/2 cup tamarind juice from a small lemon sized tamarind or 3/4tsp paste, vegetables like potato, carrot, brinjal, drumstick, cut in cubes, 1 large tomato, turmeric pwd, 4-5 tsp sambar pwd (any store brand you like), coriander leaves, curry leaves, mustard seeds, perungayam and salt.

Pressure cook dals with tomatoes, turmeric pwd, 2tsp sambar pwd, salt.
Boil water add turmeric pwd a little with all the vegetables. When the vegetables are half cooked add tamarind juice and sambar pwd, cook well. Add dal mixture and cook till you get the sambar consistency but don't boil more than needed (maybe 4-8min), it loses its flavor. Season with mustard, perungayam, curry leaves. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

You can make onion sambar with the same process, just saute the small onions with a little oil before adding them to tamarind water.

Dosa

2006-04-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

We South Indians love our crisp dosas. Those thin paper like things are great taste bud ticklers stuffed or served with chutneys and sambars. Here in US we find people from different countries enjoying them. The French crepe is probably another version of dosa.
My mother makes great thin crispy dosas, and they are nice and white too, she says the trick is not to rush.

We get good dosas with the idli batter. A great dosa needs patience and practice. Don't heat the tawa too much, sprinkle water in between dosas so that the tawa does not get too hot. The batter sticks to the tawa and it is difficult to get a good shape and paper like thiness.

The proportions vary a little from idli, 3 cups raw rice or idli rice, 1 cup boiled rice, 2 cups urad dal. Soak rice and dal separately and grind to a smooth consistency. Allow to ferment and prepare crisp dosas. Pour a ladle of batter and slowly make a nice big circle, cook on one side and serve with chutney or sambar.

Idli

2006-03-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Idli is a favorite South Indian breakfast. All ages enjoy this soft, white 'rice cakes' alike. I still remember my 'ammamas'(grandmom) idlis, they were so soft that it would melt in your mouth and she used to grind using the 'attukal'. I am yet to taste something like that or maybe it is just that I cherish those memories!

Even though it is simple to prepare sometimes it simply does not come out well. The trick is right proportion of rice and urad dal plus perfect fermentation. Indian climate is perfect for fermentation but, when you live in places where the weather is cold you need to activate the fermentation process manually. I live in California and sometimes I keep the batter in a warm oven or just in a warm place. Most people bring Indian grinders specially to grind batter for idly. I have been using American blenders and unless you grind too much and transfer the heat of the appliance to the batter you get great idlis. I allow the blender to cool in between and take my time to grind this, after all it is worth the time.

I use one of the two proportions listed below. Sometimes it is perfect and you simply cannot stop eating and yet sometimes it is a mess.

Using a combo fo raw rice and boiled rice:
4 cups idli rice, 1 cup raw rice, 1 1/2 cup urad dal, 1 tsp fenugreek/methi seeds, add a handful poha /aval or cooked rice while grinding rice.
Soak rice and urad separately for 3-5hrs. Add fenugreek and poha to the rice. The white powder like substance in urad dal is actually natural yeast like it is found on apples and other fruits. When you add them to the urad dal you are hindering the process of fermentation by not allowing the yeast to work its magic with air.
Grind rice a little coarsely and dal well.
Pour them out into a big vessel so that it has enough room to ferment. Dont blend them together. Allow it to ferment for the night and in the morning blend them and add salt. Steam them in idli cookers or microwave cookers for 10 min. Enjoy them with coconut chutney or vada curry or sambar or a little ghee and sugar for kids.

Using just the idli rice:
4 cups idli rice, 1 cup urad dal, fenugreek seeds, poha. Follow the same process as before.

Vadai Curry

2006-03-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

Idli with vadai curry is a great way to begin your weekends. Hot steaming soft idlis, the delicious gravy and a great cup of mom's coffee, what more would you ask for? Most of my Sundays began like that before I got married and all the young girls out there enjoy them as long as it lasts. Now, it is my time to play 'mom' and it is indeed a great pleasure to see my husband and my little girl enjoying all the great delicacies I try to imitate and perfect.

Vadai curry used to be made with left over paruppu vadas. But it sure is worth making them just to prepare this curry. People who worry about the deep frying can simply use steamed vadas.

Soak 1/2 cup channa dal/kadalai paruppu with 1tsp of rice for an hour.
Coarse grind them with a few curry leaves, green chillies, cumin, sombu, salt. Use very little water.
Mix with finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.
Use your idli cooker and steam like idlis for 15min.

For the Gravy:

1 Onion finely chopped
1 tomato chopped
2tsp ginger garlic paste
few green chillies finely chopped
curry leaves, cumin and sombu for saute
chilly pwd, sombu pwd, turmeric pwd, salt
2 tbs curd/yoghurt

Heat a tsp of oil. Saute curry leaves, cumin, sombu. Add onions, green chillies and tomatoes. When they amost done add ginger garlic paste. Fry some more. Add all the powders. Now break the steamed vadas into pieces and add them. Fry on medium heat. Add some water and let all of them blend well. When it comes to the consistency you like add curd mix and garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy with hot steaming idlis and dosas too.

You can prepare the vada dough and keep it in the fridge for a week and use it whenever needed.