Pal Poli to celebrate 8 years

8 years ago, today, I sat at the computer and toyed with the idea of starting another blog. I loved cooking and I enjoyed writing. I wasn't quite sure of my reasons. But I was addicted to reading food blogs at the time. And I felt that, given how varied my cooking was, and how much friends enjoyed my food, people would enjoy the blog too. And they did. 

Over the years, I've gotten busier with other things. And this blog, like the other, got neglected. I've been cooking a lot. And I've been cooking newer things too. And most of the time I do remember to take pictures. But I find that it is the sitting myself down in front of a computer and typing out these stories that I am unable to do.

Can I find a list of excuses? My laptop conked out. The computer is in my son's room and I can't go in there when I'm done for the day because he's sleeping there. My photographs aren't good enough. And I can find many more such. But I suppose where there's a will, there should be a way. Just that in my case, there seems to be a won't. This blog has seen fewer posts in the last two years than it did on that one day in July 2007. How is that for statistics?

In the last one year, I've cooked and baked with my son, who seems to enjoy cooking more than eating. I wanted to see if there was truth in the fact that when children help make something, they are more eager to try it. I think there is some truth to this. But the day I decide that it should probably work is most likely the day that it doesn't. 

However, in all this time that I haven't blogged, I have actually used this blog for its original intended purpose: my personal recipe book. I've gone back countless number of times to check if I have the ingredients right, if I'm missing a step. And often, reading the recipes and the stories behind them makes me nostalgic. I was feeling especially nostalgic one day and thought about the Pal Poli that Amma used to make. For a week, I made it in my head, over and over. It was so simple. And I could almost taste it. Finally, about 3 weeks after I'd made it 12 times a day in my head and I was just dying to taste it, I actually made it.

For the Poli:

1 cup Maida

2 tbsp Semolina

1 tsp Ghee

A pinch of Salt

Oil for frying

Mix the ingredients except the oil into a hard dough using as little water as necessary. Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Roll them out using a little bit of oil into 4-6 inch discs. Keep these covered with a cloth until all the pieces have been rolled out.

Heat the oil and drop the rolled out polis into the oil. Deep fry them like pooris.

For the Masala Milk:

1 Litre (4 cups) Milk

1 400g tin Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used Milkmaid)

A pinch Saffron

1/4 tsp Cardamom, powdered

1 tbsp Milk Masala Powder (I used Everest)

Bring the milk to a slow boil and add the condensed milk, stirring all the while to make sure the condensed milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel. Add the saffron, cardamom and the Milk Masala powder.

Arrange the polis in a dish and pour the masala milk over them. Let the polis soak in the milk.

Enjoy this dish warm or chilled. I was surprised at how easy this dish actually was and it got me thinking about the mental fatigue I seem to associate with so many of my childhood favourites.

I make no promises of what the 9th year holds for The Singing Chef. I shall endeavour to come here as often as I can and blog as much as I can. But for the time being, to those of you who have always been there for me, I want to share a little piece of sweetness, a little piece of my childhood, and say thank you for helping The Singing Chef become what it has. Thank you for being an integral part of my life. 

7 cups to Heaven - 7-cup Barfi for Janmashtami

For the longest time, I stayed away from even attempting to make Indian sweets. I even stayed away from thinking about making them. When it came to celebrating festivals, I always made my own rules. Why might Krishna only want uppu seedai and vella seedai for Janmashtami. Why not chocolate cookies? Or buns? Why make Indian sweets and savouries for Deepavali. Why not cookies and cakes again? You get the drift, don't you? I simply didn't want to move out of my comfort zone. So, I found every excuse not to.

A few years ago, I was a visiting with a friend and she had made a snack with beaten rice and a sweet. I asked her if she'd brought the sweet from India or if one of her family members had visited. She told me that she'd made it herself. I immediately asked her for the recipe and made it soon after. Three years later, it remains the only Indian elbow greasy sweet I can make confidently. 

1 cup Ghee
1 cup Besan
1 cup Milk
1 cup Almond Meal/ Dessicated Coconut (or a combination of the two)
3 cups Sugar
Cardamom and Saffron to taste
1 tbsp Ghee for greasing the plate/cake tin

Grease a large thali or plate and keep aside. (I've even used cake tins when I didn't own a thali.)

Heat 1/2 cup ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the besan and fry it until the raw smell of besan goes and you are left with the wonderful aroma. To this, add the milk carefully. Add all the other ingredients, including the remaining 1/2 cup ghee. Keep stirring until the mixture comes together and begins to leave the sides of the pan.

Transfer to the greased thali/plate and smooth the mixture down carefully. Cool it a little. Cut it into diamond shapes with a sharp knife or a pizza cutter. When fully cool, store the pieces in an air tight container.

Be sure to share this with your friends and family. You may want to hand out recipe cards with this as people are bound to ask you for the recipe. Especially if you're like me and no one associates any traditional sweets with you, they're probably thinking - if she can make it, why not I?

On that happy note, let me sign off while wishing all of you a Happy Janmashtami.

Check out some other not so traditional Janmashtami recipes on the blog here.

Kaju Barfi

Indian sweets is one area I have steered clear of. You could easily blame it on two things. One is the hard work involved and the other is definitely a scar from the olden days. I remember trying to make one sweet which just didn't set. I added sugar, more sugar and then some. At the end of the experiment, all one could taste was sugar and it still had to be eaten using a spoon. My mother was very encouraging and very forgiving. Far more forgiving than I have ever been on myself.

Last year, at Deepavali, I made my version of the 7-cup cake. The recipe will come up soon. It took me another 9 months to try my next Indian sweet. I usually don't stock the amount of sugar and ghee that go into Indian sweets. After years of making cookies and sweet buns for Janmashtami, this year I decided I must introduce little A to mithai as well. I found this recipe in the Milkmaid Gold Collection and modified it a little.

1 1/4 cups Cashews, powdered

150g Khoa, grated

1/2 cup Milk

1/4 cup Flour

1/2 tin Milkmaid

1 tbsp Ghee

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

a few Saffron strands

Grind all the ingredients except the cardamom and saffron to a fine paste. Grease a heavy bottomed pan with 3/4 tbsp ghee and add the paste. Add the cardamom and the saffron. Heat the mixture over an even medium flame until the mixture comes together as a ball.

Grease a plate with sides (I used two 8" cake tins as I don't have thalis in my house). Transfer the mixture and spread evenly. Cut into diamond shapes and store in an airtight container.

Since this was my very first attempt, I didn't add any ghee to my pan at the start, which explains the little burnt bits. The original recipe didn't ask for any extra ghee. My barfis needed some extra love.

Happy Janmashtami all of you!

Baked Somashe

Festivals are always about food, aren't they? When I know a certain festival is coming up, I plan what I'm going to make. This year, Gowri Tritiya and Ganesh Chaturthi came on the same day. (I doubt I will ever understand the Indian calendar system!) So, while we performed both the pujas in the morning, I decided to make Tritiya food for lunch and Chaturthi food for dinner. (Including dali saar and Patrodo.)

I decided to take it easy and brought the chaklis from a store. I then decided to take it even easier and use readymade wonton wrappers for the somashe. And given how sultry it was, I chose to bake them. They taste almost nothing like the hand rolled, deep fried versions. In fact, these are more like cookies with their caramelized sugary flavour and that crunch. I would definitely make these again.

20-22 Wonton wrappers

For the filling:

1 1/8 cup Sugar

1 cup Water

3/4 cup Coconut, scraped

1/2 cup Cream of Wheat (Rava/Sooji)

1/4 cup Cashews

1 tsp Cardamom powder

2 tbsp Sesame Seeds

Roast the coconut, cream of wheat and sesame seeds individually and keep aside.

Make a sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency with the sugar and water. Add the coconut, sesame and cream of wheat along with the cashews and cardamom powder. Mix well and allow to cool.

Place a wonton wrapper inside a somashi press. Place some filling on one half and dab a little water along the edges. Cover with the other half and close the press and hold it down. Remove the somashi from the press, remove the excess wrapper and seal the edges again with your fingers (just to be doubly sure!). Place on a damp towel and cover. Repeat with the other wrappers.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Place these on a greased baking tray and bake for 7 minutes. Turn each somashi over and bake for another 7 minutes. Your almost "no-sweat" somashe are ready! This post is late for Ganesh Chaturthi, but by the time you get to read this, I would be attending the Visarjan puja at my uncle's place in Matunga. I hope you all had a good Teyi/Chavati.

Rava Payasam

I'm not the biggest payasam fan to walk the face of the earth. I like some varieties, I avoid the rest like the plague. Well almost. I guess after two years of telling all of you what a good child I've always been, it is difficult to make you believe that I can avoid any kind of food.

After semia payasam and badam kheer, this is my favourite milk payasam. I do like a few of the coconut milk varieties.

1/4 cup Cream of Wheat (Rava/Sooji/Semolina)

1/2 can (200g) Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milkmaid/Mithai Mate)

1/2 litre Milk

½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)

½ tsp Cardamom Powder

a pinch Saffron, dissolved in some milk

For the garnish

1 tbsp Ghee

2 tsp Raisins

2 tsp Cashews

Heat the ghee in a vessel and roast the semolina for 4-5 minutes. Add enough water to cover the semolina and cover the vessel. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the milk and the condensed milk to this. Keep stirring until the mixture is even (else you'll have burnt condensed milk) and bring to a boil. Add the cardamom powder and saffron mixture. Simmer the mixture for about 10-15 minutes.

For the garnish, heat the ghee in a frying ladle. Add the cashews. When the cashews turn golden, add the raisins. When the raisins become plump, pour the contents of the ladle into the simmering mixture.

This can be had hot or cold. When kept in the fridge, this payasam takes on a creamy, pudding like texture. This is really like best had when cold. If you're fond of puddings, that is.

Moong Kosumbari (Yugadi /Rama Navami Pachadi)

This is a very simple dish that is made on Yugadi as well as Rama Navami. It has a nice tang from green mangoes which is probably the reason I enjoy this the most. (Please note that this is not the Ugadi Pachadi that is made in Andhra Pradesh.)

I made this in bulk last week to take to a slightly belated Yugadi celebration at the New Delhi Konkani Sabha on Sunday. I made this for 70 people. I expected to bring back a lot of it. I even joked to S that we could take a box each to work the next day. As it turned out, we did have lots left when people began leaving. Just when I started to close my boxes, a lady walked up to me and said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to take some of this home." I was thrilled. I emptied all the contents of one box into her container. She eyed the next box. I quickly emptied that as well. She said, "I came back quickly because I definitely wasn't going back without the pachadi." I said, "Thanks, I'm honoured." She looked at me and her expression was one of complete surprise. I probably didn't look like one of those people who could (and would) have anything to do cooking. But hey, I was thrilled.

Such encounters always take me back to this topic. But it could just be me. People who know me also know how lazy I can be. Considering I commute from Gurgaon to NOIDA and back everyday, they probably expect that I would not lift a finger. In a way, I'd like for people to think that of me. (The lower the expectations, the happier they'll be with anything I do.)

Coming to my "nearly award winning" recipe:

2-3 tbsp Cucumber, grated or finely chopped

1/2 cup Moong Dal, washed and soaked for an hour
2 tbsp scraped Coconut
1 tsp Green Chilli-Ginger paste

1 small Raw Mango, grated (or juice of 1 Lime)
Salt to Taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves

Grind the coconut along with the chilli-ginger paste and make a rough chutney like paste.

Place the soaked moong dal in a large bowl. Add the ground paste, cucumber, raw mango, salt and mix well. In a small kadhai or frying ladle, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the cucumber mixture.

Your pachadi is ready. Go ahead and make this on Rama Navami and get ready to get appreciation by the truck load. This is the last of the three part series on Rama Navami. I think I have finally gotten around to at least cooking and posting about things festive.

Panakam

As a continuation to yesterday's post, I present another drink that is traditionally made on Rama Navami at my place. Panakam. During all my growing up years, I must say I preferred this drink over Neer Mor. Today, I think I've moved from sweet to savoury. I wonder if it is me or my waistline.

1/4 cup Jaggery

2 cups Water

1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder

1 tsp Dry Ginger Powder

Dissolve the jaggery in a little water. Strain this mixture. Add the remaining water, ginger powder and cardamom powder. Serve chilled.

As a variation, you could add the freshly squeezed juice from 1 lime. A friend of mine brought me some panakam around 4-5 years ago. That was when I was introduced to the "lime juice in panakam" concept. Last year, I made two batches of panakam, one with lime juice and one without. I loved both.

Neer Mor

As you must have noticed, I am not the best when it comes to celebrating festivals or cooking festival related food. I shared with all of you my first Gowri-Ganesha celebration. And since then, I have tried to do what Amma did during festivals. I worry that my "celebrations" will soon be limited to cooking alone. Some part of me tells me that there's nothing wrong with that.

Last year, I was alone during Rama Navami. I didn't want to cook a feast for one person. I made two drinks that Amma makes every year on Rama Navami. This year, I hope to make those two along with some of the other things that are traditionally made.

Sitting in my drafts for a year now, I bring to you this simple recipe. Customary on Sri Rama Navami but welcome at any time during the long summer months is this spiced buttermilk: Neer Mor.

1 cup Curd

4 cups Water

2-3 Green Chillies, chopped finely

1 tsp Ginger Paste

3-4 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped finely

Salt to taste

Beat the curd until smooth. Blend with the water. Add the salt, coriander leaves, ginger paste and green chillies. Mix well. Serve cold.

I don't wait for this festival to make this drink, but it seemed apt to share this with all of you when the festival is just round the corner.

Mugga Dali Kheeri for Yugadi

Most of my posts are on auto publish these days. The posts were written over many weekends when I had little else to do. While I tend to post every alternate day (so that I won't suddenly find that my pipeline has gone dry), just for today, I decided to play around with the schedule. I usually do that when there's something special I want to talk about. A birthday or a festival usually makes it to the list.

This blog hasn't seen too many "festival" specials. There are many reasons for that. The biggest reason is probably the time lag between the making and the posting. And honestly, I don't even "make" that much. Is it a sign of the times, is it a sign of my laziness, is it just me asking the question why? Each time, I'd probably pick "lazy". Then again, I have a job that keeps me at work for more than 9 hours a day and the commute usually takes up another 4. So, if I even manage to "make" anything festival related on the actual date of the festival, I would be too tired to talk about it here. After a few days or weeks, it seems so out of place. Maybe I should talk about them the following year. Like I remember taking pictures of our Pongal feast last year. I managed to sneak one of those pictures into this year's post.

While I am not in favour of celebrating every festival around the weekend closest to it (I mean, what is the point?), I have to resort to doing just that, at times. Often, I make one dish that is part of the meal for that festival and leave it at that. Something is better than nothing, right? As this new year begins, I am caught between the past, the present and the future. Will the traditions of my family carry on? Growing up, I had to contend with Konkani festivals and Tamil festivals. Now I have added a third dimension, Telugu festivals. I'm glad that many of them coincide. It is the new year for us (on my mother's side of the family) as well as for S' side of the family. (And for all of you out there who call this the Telugu New Year, please, please, I beg you to stop doing that. It is the New Year for anyone who follows the lunar calendar in India.)

My MIL said that the sweet dish that they make for today is Bobatlu (Punpolo in Konkani, Poli in Tamil, Puranpoli in Marathi). Among other things, Saraswats make this kheer with green gram dal. It is anyone's guess which I'd pick to make today. Much as I'd love to eat the Bobatlu, I'm not even going to think about making it on my own today. (I have made it a couple of times in the past. Feels like a different life though!) Today it has to be Mugga (Moong) Dali (Dal) Kheeri (Kheer). We also make panak (I shall blog about it later as we make it for a different festival too - same as the Tamil Panakam) and usli.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal)

1/2 cup Coconut Milk

2 tsp Ghee

3/4 cup Jaggery

1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder

Heat the ghee in a pressure pan. Add the green gram dal and fry for a few minutes. Add about 3 cups of water and and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Add the jaggery and cook for 5-7 minutes. Blend in the coconut milk and the cardamom powder.

There you go. There couldn't have been a simpler way to make kheer. And there isn't a sweeter way to usher in the New Year. I don't have access to Neem leaves and flowers and as a result, I am not making the Telugu Ugadi Pachadi or the Konkani equivalent (which is very similar to this and has raw mango as well) . For today, I will just have to make do with this bowl of kheer. May you and yours enjoy a lovely year.

Karnakizhangu Mashiyal (and some plagiarism)

Just as I can handle copious amounts of coconut, I love sour food. I have a problem with acidity and so I don't indulge in sour, hot or spicy food too often. But on Pongal, one of the dishes we make is Lemon Rice. I love eating it with another citrus flavoured dish, the karnakizhangu mashiyal.

Karnakizhangu is a vegetable very similar to Yam. Think of a sweet potato shaped vegetable with the taste and texture of yam and you'll have pictured the karnakizhangu. This is truly a "once a year" vegetable. At least at home. I doubt I've even seen this vegetable in the shops at other times.

2 Karnakizhangu, peeled and diced

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

2 Red Chillies

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry leaves

Juice of 1-2 Limes

Salt to taste

Pressure cook the vegetable with the tamarind paste and red chillies. Grind to a paste.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add the paste along with the salt and cook for a few minutes. Add the lime juice.

Serve hot with rice. Or, if you're like me, enjoy a double dose of lime and have it with Lemon Rice. I'm sending this to SunshineMom for this month's edition of FIC-Yellow.

I was at Divya's blog and I noticed that she had a recipe for breadfruit fritters. I googled to get my own recipe so that I could share that link with her. The google search for Divkadgye Phodiyo actually revealed this link as the the top most link:

http://food.sulekha.com/cuisine/karnataka/divkadgye-phodiyo/recipes/divkadgye-phodiyo/20774.htm.

I was curious to see what that recipe looked like and I found my picture sitting right on top. I also noticed that the recipe was copied from my blog word for word. Someone called AndhraMirchi blogged about this dish on September 16, 2008, whereas the original post on my blog was posted on September 13, 2007:

http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2007/09/divkadgye-phodiyo-breadfruit-fritters.html

I have left a comment asking her to remove the post. I have written to Sulekha.com outlining my problem. I do hope something will come of this.

Sakkara Pongal

The harvest festival, Pongal, is here. And I took the day off and cooked. I would normally put such stuff beyond me, but S had the day off. I requested the day off and since it was granted, I decided to make the most of it. Deepavali is my favourite festival, but Amma tells me that Pongal/Sankranti was really the most important festival. Considering we've been in the city for about 4-5 generations, I probably haven't made that all important connection with my agrarian ancestors. So, as with many other festivals, for me, this one, too, is about food.

A meal on Bhogi is the typical "pandigai saapadu". On Pongal day, Amma says the grinder is to be given some rest. So, our meal is mainly pongal. In different avatars of course. The basic rice and moong dal combination is used to prepare Coconut Rice, Lemon Rice, Curd Rice and Sakkara Pongal. And since it is the harvest festival, we have a sambar made with just about every vegetable. On Kaanum Pongal, the day after Pongal, we usually have Coconut Rice, Tamarind Rice and Avial.

Sakkara Pongal is the highlight of the Pongal lunch. I almost stopped eating Sakkara Pongal years ago when the mothers of two friends (both Palghat Iyers) gave me Sakkara Pongal with chopped jackfruit in it. This happened on two consecutive days. That killed both flavours at once for me. I have not been able to eat jackfruit since. Sakkara Pongal I have managed to start eating (once a year). Very soon I might get around to liking it again.

1/4 cup Rice

2 tbsp Moong Dal

1/4 cup Jaggery

1/4 tsp Cardamom Powder

1/4 cup Milk

a few strands Saffron

1 tsp Coconut, scraped

1 tbsp Ghee

2 tsp Cashews

2 tsp Raisins

Pressure cook the rice and the moong dal with 1 cup of water. Mash well. Dissolve the saffron in the milk and add this to the rice. Mix well.

Dissolve the jaggery in a little water and heat it until the jaggery dissolves completely. Strain this and bring the mixture to a boil. (It should come close to a one thread consistency.) Add the cardamom powder and the coconut. Stir in the rice-dal mixture.

In a frying ladle, heat the ghee. Add the cashews and the raisins. When the cashews turn golden, add the contents of the ladle to the pongal. Cook for a couple of minutes. The sakkara pongal is ready.

This was what our Pongal lunch looked like last year. Nothing really changed except the dining table itself. For two years in a row, I have managed to cook up the exact same meal that I ate year afyer year. (The only dish that I didn't make was Karnakizhangu Mashiyal. And that was only because I couldn't find the vegetable. I will post that soon. It is languishing in my drafts.) I must say I am proud of myself. The picture of this table full of food tells me that I did complete justice to my day off.

Happy Pongal/Sankranti to all of you. May you harvest every happiness this year.

Pongal

During all those growing up years, I sneered at this dish. I developed a taste and even started loving its Gujarati cousin, khichdi. But Pongal was not something I liked. I could tolerate it with copious amounts of green coconut chutney. Wait, there was this one dish with which I think I may have even bordered on the “looking forward to this breakfast number”. Katrikkai Gojju (Gotsu) with chana dal. I somehow don’t make pongal that much and thanks to my logic of pairing stuff, I haven’t made the gojju either. Soon, soon.


It is that time of the year. The trio of festivals, Bhogi, Pongal and Kaanum Pongal, is here. Today is Bhogi. Had I been at home, I’d have eaten a typical “pandigai saapadu”. Mor kuzhambu, yelai paruppu, rasam, vadai and payasam. I ate a pasta salad for lunch today and maybe I’ll make up for it at dinner time.


Pongal or Venn Pongal (Venn = White) is a very popular breakfast dish across Tamilnadu. I am certain that you get this dish in Karnataka and AP as well, but considering how enthused I could ever be about eating Pongal for breakfast at a restaurant (where there are nicer things like dosas), I just probably haven’t noticed this. And as always, there are ways and ways of making this dish. This is the way I make it simply because this is the way I’ve always seen it made.


1 cup Rice
1/3 cup Moong Dal
1 tsp Peppercorns
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tbsp Ghee
2 tsp Cashews
Salt to taste


Pressure cook the rice, moong dal, peppercorns and cumin seeds together with 4-5 cups of water, until the rice is soft and mushy. When done, mash well with a spoon and add the salt, asafoetida and half the ghee. In a frying ladle, heat the remaining ghee and fry the cashews until they turn light brown. Add this to the rice mixture. Serve hot with some sambar, chutney or katrikkai gojju.


This dish also forms the base for the entire Pongal lunch. Do come back tomorrow to see the traditional Pongal lunch we had each year while I was growing up. Happy Bhogi!

P.S. The round up of the Think Spice Think Carom will be up on the blog very soon. Sorry for the delay.

Beans Paruppu Usli

Beans Paruppu Usli. Standard festival fare. I haven't yet attended a single TamBram wedding where this delicacy isn't served. If I remember right, this dish definitely featured on the lunch menu at our wedding. I used to tell Amma that we should have Vazhaippoo Paruppu Usli at the wedding and she laughed. I somehow thought paruppu usli was a very labour intensive dish. (Memories of Amma grinding the soaked dal in the ammi may have caused me to think thus.) It looks like the vazhaippoo version is tedious, the others seem really easy. While many people I have met tell me that parupu usli is traditionally served with mor kuzhambu, at our place it is always served with menthi kuzhambu. If you ask me, forget the mor, the menthi or the kuzhambu, eat the paruppu usli from a bowl, all by itself.

1/2 cup Toor Dal, soaked for 2 hours

1/2 cup French Beans, chopped and steamed

1-2 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

7-8 Curry Leaves

2 tsp Oil

Grind the soaked dal to a coarse paste and mix it with the turmeric powder, chilli powder, asafoetida and salt.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the ground dal mixture. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes over a low flame. Add the cooked beans and cook for a couple of minutes more. The dal mixture shouldn't be a lump anymore, but should look more like huge breadcrumbs.

This month of November sees me running the traditional way more than any other. Let's see in which direction my friends are moving. Check out Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.

Instant Guilt Free Tayir Vadai

I've mentioned in several posts that a festival meal at my place was incomplete without the "vadai payasam" routine. Since I got married, plenty of festivals came and went. For the first two years, I hardly made any "festival food" for any festival. I did cook traditional meals for my first Gowri Tritiya and Ganesh Chaturthi, including my favourite Madgane. But that sort of summed it up. Vijayadashami this year marked the third year of festivals for us. I decided to make a very traditional meal as we had some guests for lunch. I made puliyodarai, avial, rice, paruppu usli, sundal and semia payasam. I also decided to make some tayir vadai.

I'd read enough and more about making vadais in the appey kayli. I had also seen a recipe for vadais made with urad flour. While I didn't follow the recipe entirely, I did like the idea very much. The "accident" that I talked about in an earlier post happened when I was trying to deep fry these. So, I resorted to making these instant vadais in the appey kayli. I'll admit they didn't come close to Amma's melt in your mouth tayir vadais, but in a pinch, they'll more than just do.

For the Vadais:

1 1/3 cup Urad Dal Powder

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Ginger Paste

1 1/4 cups Water

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

For the Curd Mixture:

2 cups Curd, beaten

1 tsp Chilli Paste

1/2 tsp Ginger Paste

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil

7-8 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Mix the ingredients for the vadais. Add a little oil in each of the appey kayli moulds and heat the pan.


In a separate vessel, mix all the ingredients for the curd mixture. In a frying ladle, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, and when they splutter, add the asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this to the curd mixture.

Pour spoonfuls of the vadai batter into each appey mould and fry on both sides for a couple of minutes each. Add these vadais to the curd mixture. Garnish with a little Kashmiri Chilli Powder if you like.

Tasty, healthy and ready in just a jiffy. Miracles do happen. On streets other than just the 34th. And what better way to start running a marathon than with some healthy food? I'm happy to be a part of the Recipe Marathon #2. My fellow runners are:

1) DK

2) Siri

3) Srivalli

4) Ranji

5)PJ

6)Curry Leaf

7)Medha

8)Priya

9)Bhawna

10)Raaji

11)Ruchii

12)Anu

13)Kamala

14)Roopa

15)Divya Kudua

16)Rekha

17)Divya M

18)Lakshmi

Semia Payasam

Festivals are always about food. I have always maintained that the only way I can explain the significance of any festival is through the food that is served on that day. I had heard this term, "Vadai Payasathoda saapaadu" which means a meal which includes vadai and payasam (kheer). In our family, this was sort of sacrosanct. While we didn't follow any "kitchen religion", Amma would always make vadai and payasam for any festival. And well, no one complained.

I talked earlier about why Deepavali is so special to me. Somehow, I never gave the religious significance of this festival even a thought earlier. It was about the "mangalsnan" and the goodies. I was never into firecrackers, but new clothes I looked forward to. Even if it meant that I got a pavadai chokka/ davani while my classmates got salwar kameezes. There was never a puja per se at our place for Deepavali. Also, there was no lighting of lamps all over the house on Deepavali. That ritual was saved for Karthikai Deepam. This year, we spent our first Deepavali after marriage in Gurgaon. It was just the two of us. So, we celebrated a very Tamil Naraka Chaturdashi on Monday, complete with the mor kuzhambu meal.

Lit oil lamps and placed them all over the house as is done in Konkani and Telugu homes.

And combining local traditions with what is done back home, we made gift hampers with the goodies made at home and went visiting friends and relatives.

The only thing that we hadn't thought of was doing all this with an unwell me. Winter is just around the corner and I just know it because I am down with a terrible cold and fever.

But sure as I am that night turns to day, I know that, this, too, shall pass. And I bring you a much loved payasam that is dear to me at any festival.

1/4 cup Roasted Vermicelli
1/2 can (200g) Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milkmaid/Mithai Mate)
1/2 litre Milk
½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)
½ tsp Cardamom Powder

a pinch Saffron, dissolved in some milk

For the garnish

1 tbsp Ghee

2 tsp Raisins

2 tsp Cashews

Heat the ghee in a vessel and roast the vermicelli for a couple of minutes. Add enough water to cover the vermicelli and cover the vessel. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the milk and the condensed milk to this. Keep stirring until the mixture is even (else you'll have burnt condensed milk) and bring to a boil. Add the cardamom powder and saffron mixture. Simmer the mixture for about 10-15 minutes.

For the garnish, heat the ghee in a frying ladle. Add the cashews. When the cashews turn golden, add the raisins. When the raisins become plump, pour the contents of the ladle into the simmering mixture.

This can be had hot orcold. When kept in the fridge, this payasam takes on a creamy, pudding like texture. No festival meal is really complete till you have savoured a helping of this divine stuff.

Happy Deepavali everyone!

Instant Karamani Sundal

Navaratri and Sundal are sort of synonymous. For me at least. One of my colleagues, D, loves sundal of any kind as she says it reminds her of her childhood in neighbouring Faridabad where a Tamilian neighbour invited her over every year for Golu. What are the chances that a very Punjabi young lady from Faridabad has memories of a dish that is so very Tamilian? It is something that I took for granted all my life. But when I see folks around me and think back about my childhood, I know that what I had was special. I can't believe that at one point, I thought everybody had parents who spoke different languages and that a different language is spoken in each house.


I come from a multicultural family. My extended family has representatives from almost all over India and some parts of the world as well. I understand many traditions. I may not know why someone follows a particular tradition, but I am aware that they do. For years, the grandmother of a Punjabi friend invited me during the Navaratri Ashtami for the Kanchak Pooja. I loved the poori-halwa-chana I got, not to mention the thrill of getting a red chunni and some money. Year after year, we got sandesh from our Bengali neighbours around Durga Pooja. And at Ganesh Chaturthi, our Kashmiri neighbours would send us Roth and some walnuts soaked in water. And I remember decorating Easter eggs with a German neighbour. One street with 18 houses had people from different states (not to forget some foreigners) and our entire campus must have had every state represented. Yet, people tell me I grew up in narrow minded, conservative, orthodox Madras.


Most people I meet these days grow up in what I would consider uni-cultural environments. And I find I have limited tolerance for people who know absolutely nothing about other cultures and talk like experts. How would you deal with this situation?


M: What did you eat for breakfast?
Raaga: I had Dosas.
M: For breakfast??? Come on yaar, dosa is a dinner item.


I told her that it was quite the same way that Aloo Parathas are eaten for breakfast in her house. Coming back to Navaratri and sundal, the only reason I can think of to postpone making sundal would be that one does not have presoaked beans. Black eyed beans, a.k.a. karamani/chawli/lobia, helps you work around this reason as well. As I discovered last year, these beans need no soaking. I pressure cook them directly and that gives them just the right amount of softness. I woke up on the first day of Navaratri this year and wanted to make sundal. I had not soaked any beans the previous night. I had some soaked and cooked legumes in the freezer. I didn’t feel like using them as I feared they had become too mushy for sundal. So I decided to make it with Karamani. On the first day of Navaratri, I made this and we ate it in the car on the way to a college for campus recruitment.

1/2 cup Black Eyed Beans
1 tsp Oil7-8 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Ginger Paste
½ tsp Chilli Paste
1 Red Chilli
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tbsp Coconut, scraped
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the beans with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done. In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked beans, and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.

I hope all of you had a nice Navaratri. Wishing everyone here a very Happy Vijayadashami.

Rangoon Mochai Sundal

The festival season is on us now and I am trying to make sundal almost everyday. Not that I am particularly religious (in fact I am quite the opposite), but eating sundal during Navaratri is one more of those feelings of absolute “comfort”. The “all must be well with the world” feeling that I so seem to need these days. I don’t dress up and go visiting people. Not that anyone has invited me to their house. Of the few people we do know in and around Delhi, almost no one is TamBram. And I think we do many things when there are children in the house. Ive noticed that Diwali is a lot quieter in households where the children are all grown up. I think Golu is usually set up in homes where children are enthusiastic about the entire 9-day festival. And then you have people like me. When someone asks me the significance of a certain festival, I start reeling off the names of the different dishes that are made. I am a foodie afterall I suppose. And with this post, which I will send to Valli for her JFI, I hope to resume food blogging in full swing.


Rangoon Mochai has to be my favourite bean. Considering my love for Avrya Bendi, it is but natural. I love the melt-in-the-mouth texture that these hyacinth beans get as soon as they are cooked. I don’t get these beans here and so I tend to use them very sparingly.



1/2 cup Hyacinth Beans, soaked overnight

1 tsp Oil
7-8 Curry Leaves

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Chana Dal

¼ tsp Amchur (Dry Mango Powder)

1 Red Chilli

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked beans with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done.

In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked beans, amchur and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.


If you like, you can also invite some friends over; put all your dolls on display, serve them some sundal. Then find the most naïve of them and say, “Oru Paattu Paadu Ma” (Please sing a song!).

Black Chickpeas Sundal

I am trying to include more beans and lentils in our diet in an attempt to eat healthy. I’d always left sundal for the festivals, but have recently started making it for breakfast or lunch. I also figured it made a great pre-gym snack in the evening. I soak these the previous night and cook them in the morning. When we get home in the evening, all I have to do is make the sundal.


1 cup Black Chick Peas, soaked overnight
1 tsp Oil7-8 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Green Chilli Paste
1/4 tsp Ginger Paste
1 Red Chilli
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tbsp Coconut, scraped
Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done.

In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked chickpeas, and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.

A bowl of this about half an hour before hitting the gym is a great answer to post office hunger pangs and keeps me from feeling "low" during a workout.

Puli Saadam (Tiger Rice)

Hostel. The word usually opens the floodgates. Memories come rushing in. Before I know it I’m transported to a time when the day of the week determined what we’d see on our plate. I remember our arguments at the dinner table. Initially on a Wednesday night, we’d instinctively know it was Fried Rice. At a later stage, even though the food was on our plate, we would look at it and say, “Today is Thursday, so this has to be Tiger Rice ya!” On the whole, I don’t know why I cribbed so much. The food was never great, but it was always decent. Except the idlis. Someday I will blog about the different types of idlis that my hostel mess dished out. Every Tuesday morning.

Today’s post is dedicated to the Tiger Rice of Kaveri Hostel. The dish has the colours of a tiger and puli = tamarind, but puli also = tiger. I don’t call it Puliyodarai. To me, Puliyodarai is a very different genus and species. This will always be my Puli Saadam. No puli kaachal or instant mixes, just a dish as simple as lemon rice… well almost. Puliyodarai that Amma or Paati make will have a separate dedicated post some day.

1 cup Rice, measured raw and then cooked
1 tbsp Gingelly (Til/Sesame) Oil
¼ tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
½ tsp Urad Dal
½ tsp Chana Dal
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ cup Peanuts
2 tbsp Tamarind Paste
3-4 Red Chillies
Salt to taste


Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds and asafetida. When the mustard splutters, add the red chillies, curry leaves and peanuts. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add the turmeric powder and the tamarind paste. Add about ½ a cup of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Add salt and when the mixture thickens to about half the original volume, stir in the rice and take off the flame immediately. Serve with some appalams or crisps. My favourite way to eat this is with some avial on the side. This recipe is good for two people as a main course or for four to six people if there are other dishes on the menu.

I was in a very playful mood the day I made this. I microwaved some javvarisi vadaam (sago crisps) and then scooped up some rice in each. I still like to find ways to make food interesting enough to eat and despite my age, I tend to play with my food a lot.


Also known as Pulihora, this is festival food in Andhra Pradesh and I’m sending this off to Vani at Batasari for the RCI: Andhra Festival Foods event.

Chickpeas Sundal

Memories of sundal usually involve Navaratri or the beach. Earlier I never made festival food at any time outside of that festival, but now I make it whenever I wish. With a little planning, this requires almost no effort and is a great dish to make when you’re rushed. Makes for a great breakfast or lunch by itself, though it can also be served as a side dish.


1 cup Chick Peas, soaked overnight

1 tsp Oil
7-8 Curry Leaves

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Chana Dal

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1/4 tsp Ginger Paste

1 Red Chilli

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur) or 2 tbsp Chopped Raw Mango

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done.

In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked chickpeas, dry mango powder or raw mango bits, and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.


Arundati of Escapades, is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 22, the theme of which is Mango Madness. WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail and since I make sundal for breakfast, this is off to Arundati this month.

My friends in the recipe marathon have posted for Day 2:

Lakshmi: Coconut Dosa

Srivalli: Sambhar Powder

Dhivya: Peas Pulao

Swati:Bread Upma

Bhags: Coffee Cake

Arundathi: Pierogies

Divya Vikram: Vegetable Puffs

Siri: Kosambari