Vendakka Pachadi (Lady's Finger in Curd)

I hadn't used vendakkai for anything other than sambar. I just never knew how to cook it and make a curry. And all my friends would tell me that it is the easiest to make. I did finally attempt to make it sometime back and have gotten the hang of it. FINALLY!

As a child, I didn't eat lady's finger. I mean, I would eat it, but not EAT it. I didn't enjoy it. Why? Because my brother loved it. How can I relish what he loves? We are Boy and Girl, right? So we can't like the same things. And "Eww... excuse me. How can anything he likes be nice?" But then years later, when I completed class 12, I suddenly found myself spending a lot of time with my kindergarten and elementary school friend, Priya. She LOVED lady's finger. And she told me that she could eat any amount of curry just like that. To rid her of her addiction, her mother decided to give her so much that she'd get sick of it. She made curry with 2 kilos of the vegetable. And Priya ate it all with curd rice. I thought, "Wow... if Priya can eat so much at one go, it must be nice". (Now I understand that 2 kg of this vegetable doesn't yield much anyway, once it is cooked.) And I started relishing the vegetable too.

This dish, however, is not the curry I am talking about. That's a simple bhindi fry. This is a pachadi that I love to eat.

V is for vendakka pachadi and this is one more entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

Ingredients:

1/4 kilo lady's finger, cut into small pieces
1 cup Curd
1/4 cup Coconut, scraped
1-2 Red chillies
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying


For the Tempering:
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
8-10 Curry Leaves


Grind the coconut along with the chillies and salt. Add the curd to this mixture. Heat the oil in a small kadhai. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard begins to splutter, add the curry leaves. Add this to the curd mixture.


Heat the oil in a larger kadhai or pan. Deep fry the lady's finger pieces and drain them on a tissue.


Just before serving, add the lady's finger pieces to the curd mixture. That way, they will remain crunchy throughout the meal. This is a wonderful accompaniment to many rice dishes.


You can try to crisp the lady's finger pieces in an oven to eat this dish with far less guilt. But without guilt trips once in a while, what is life?

Tendlya Talasani

There's a whole variety of vegetables out there that I grew up eating, but since the time I've been cooking on my own, I've rarely ever bought. Cluster beans, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, double beans, turai, karamani (lobia), and a host of other vegetables. I look at them at the store and come back. This is mostly because I never bothered learning how to cook these.

Coccinea-tendli-dondakkai-kovakkai-kundru... this cucurbit is one that I've eaten a lot, but never ever bought. I bought my first batch last Sunday and made this dish on Monday. The picture that I took will be up only later (not that I take great pictures), but I am posting this dish right away. In time for T is for Tendlya Talasani this week at Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.


Here's what Tendli looks like (found the picture on Google images):


Tendli is made in several ways in Amchi cuisine. Tendlya Upkari is made by cooking the vegetable in its own steam. This is usually paired with cashews. Tendlya Butti is a dish that is made with a spicy-sweetish coconut gravy. I love it with rotis. Even the leaves of this plant are used to make what is called Tamli. Talasani is like a Tendli fry. Traditionally made with whole red chillies, I modified this dish to make it convenient for me. The besan touch was added because my colleague, Saumya, told me about this version. And I found that this dish also goes very well with chapatis.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo Tendli, cut lengthwise into quarters
2 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Gram Flour (Besan)
Salt to Taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard, asafoetida and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the cut tendli pieces and fry a little. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Cover and cook for a little while. When the vegetable has cooked, add the besan. This not only absorbs any excessive oil, it also gives the vegetables a coating.

Eat this with hot rotis or as a side dish for dal-rice.

Vangi Bhat (Brinjal Rice)

Some people love it, some people hate it. I have yet to come across someone who is neutral towards this vegetable. Brinjal, aubergine, eggplant, katrikkai, vaingan, vankaya, baingan… call it whatever you please, this vegetable evokes different emotions in different people. All the way from yuck to yum.

I fit beautifully into the “yum” category. Sadly though, I have to restrict my intake of brinjal as I have found it increases my acidity. I love it in any form. The plain brinjal curry, yennai katrikkai (stuffed brinjal), katrikkai sambar, pachadi etc. I don’t particularly care for the bharta type of dishes that call for smoked brinjals. Even the pachadi is made differently at our place.

Yennai katrikkai is an all time favourite and I had it served at my wedding last year too. But the one dish that I absolutely love and can eat as much of is Vangi Bhat. I am not sure of the origin of this dish. Native to Karnataka and Maharashtra, it is made differently in different households.

V is for Vangi Bhat and this is my entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables

Since this dish is also made in Maharashtra as much as it is in Karnataka, I am sending this to Nupur for the RCI: Maharastrian Cuisine event.

Incidentally, this month's JFI by Sangeeta of Ghar ka Khana features Brinjal! So this would be entry to this event too.

Amma prepares Vangi Bhat powder for me so I don’t have to grind the masala in the morning when I’m usually in a hurry. The “real” Vangi Bhat is prepared this way at my place:

Ingredients:
¼ kilo brinjal, chopped into quarters

Rice:
1 cup Basmati Rice
¼ tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Oil
1 tsp Salt

Masala:
2 tbsp Coriander Seeds
¼ cup Coconut, scraped
2-3 Cloves
2-3” stick of Cinnamon
2-3 Red Chillies
2 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Salt to taste
1 tsp Oil

Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
8-10 Curry Leaves
Coriander Leaves for the garnish

Heat the oil and roast the coriander seeds for 2-3 minutes. Add the chillies, cloves, cinnamon and coconut and roast for a little longer. Grind this mixture to a paste adding the tamarind paste and salt.

Add 2 cups of water and cook the rice in a pressure cooker with the oil, turmeric and salt.

In a pressure pan, heat the oil for the tempering, add the mustard seeds and the asafetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and the brinjal pieces. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ground masala and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked rice along with salt and mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes.

Alternatively, you can add raw rice to the brinjal masala mixture and add the water and cook directly in a pressure pan for 2-3 whistles. That's how I made the rice that's in the picture above.

Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it with cucumber raita.

Paneer Butter Masala

At a time when North Indian food wasn’t easily available in Madras, I fell in love with the combination of Naan and Paneer Butter Masala. When I was attending the Canning and Preservation classes conducted by the Ministry and Food, Amma gave me Rs. 20 one day and told me to have lunch outside. I relished the Naan and Paneer Butter Masala combo that I had at Gitanjali restaurant in T. Nagar. I still remember that day!

I have never attempted to make Naans as I am certain that it will be beyond me (even Amma hasn’t been very successful, so as if I stand a chance!) But sometime during my two and a half weeks of unemployment in Gurgaon last year (when I moved here after marriage), I decided to make something special for S. After all, I was sitting at home all day doing nothing but job hunting. A good meal is the least I can prepare. So I decided to make Paneer Butter Masala and Jeera Rice.

When I looked up recipes, I found that despite the name, butter was almost non existent in the dish. That got me even more excited. Less butter = less guilt. This recipe I picked up from Tarla Dalal’s book and modified the proportions. I have even ditched the butter altogether since the first time I made it.

Here’s a recipe for a side dish that is an absolute favourite. Although I am big vegetable and fruit lover, this remains one of those happy foods of mine.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Oil (Or ½ tbsp butter and ½ tbsp Oil)
1 Onion, ground to a fine paste
1 cup Paneer, cubed
¼ cup Tomato Puree
¾ cup Slim Milk
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Kasuri Methi
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

Heat the oil. Add the onion paste and fry for a few minutes. Add the turmeric and chilli powder and fry for another minute. Add the tomato puree and salt. Mix well until the mixture bubbles. Add the milk and bring to a boil while stirring. Add the kasuri methi, sugar and the paneer pieces. Cook for 5 minutes. Garnish this with coriander leaves if you wish and enjoy with rotis or naans.


Thanks to a restaurant Vilas Venue at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad that was very close to where I stayed, I have made variations of this dish: Mushroom Butter Masala and Babycorn Butter Masala. The best part is that this dish is ready within minutes.

Semia Bagala Bhat (Curd and Vermicelli)

All of us know a great deal about tayir saadam or curd rice or rice and yogurt. Call it what you will, this is one dish that is wholesome and cooling and gentle and all things at once. Although this is eaten in several parts of the country, it has got a TamBram stamp on it. (Am yet to figure out why.) And TamBrams are even called "Tayir Saadam" by many. Truly derogatory. But given the benefits, it's really OK if I get ridiculed for eating this.

Despite the fact that I grew up in Madras and spent many a summer in Bombay, my tolerance for heat is limited. And what I can tolerate is the humid heat of a coastal region. What I cannot tolerate is the dry heat of Hyderabad or Delhi. Tayir Saadam to the rescue! At the start of summer, we ate just curd rice everyday for lunch. It's a pleasure to eat cold cold curd rice when it is 45 degrees outside.

Many years ago, a family friend landed in Madras when my parents were away and I took him to Palimar, a restaurant in Madras. We ordered an Executive Thali and this came with, what was then, an unusual dish. Curd Rice in a bowl. What's so special about that? Oh wait. Take a closer look. Is that semia payasam? Hmmm... no. It was curd rice made with semia instead of rice. I loved it.

While I have made it several times, I made this last week while we were entertaining. And it was a great hit.

Ingredients:

1 cup Roasted Vermicelli (Semia)

1 cup Water

1 Green Chilli, finely chopped

1" piece of Ginger, finely chopped

1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, finely chopped

1 cup Curd

1/2 cup Skimmed Milk

Salt to Taste

For the Tempering:

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

8-10 Curry Leaves

Place the roasted vermicelli and water in a microwave safe bowl and cook in the microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. Allow to stand for 2-3 minutes.

In a serving bowl, place the chillies, ginger, and coriander leaves. Add the curd and salt.

Heat the oil in a small kadhai. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard begins to splutter, add the curry leaves. Add this to the curd mixture. Add the cooked vermicilli and the milk and mix well. Prepare this a couple of hours before you plan to eat it and chill it in the refrigerator for that duration. Garnish it with coriander leaves if you wish.

Enjoy this with Avakaya or Mango Thokku or any favourite pickle of yours.

Green Akki Roti

In my earlier post on Rice Rotis, I talked about the Akki Roti of North Karnataka. That is what I set out to make as promised. But I got lazy and the result of my laziness turned out like this.

The original recipe (that I learnt from a friend, Ashwini) calls for onions, chillies, ginger, coriander leaves, coconut, oil and salt. These ingredients are mixed together to form a firm dough that is flattened on the skillet and toasted. Someone told me to substitute spring onions for the onions and use the leaves as well. I had a bunch of spring onions and enough rice flour at home, so I decided to make this for dinner one night. My recipe that night called for:

1 bunch Spring Onions
1 ½ cups Rice Flour
¼ cup Scraped Coconut
2-3 green Chillies
½ cup Coriander leaves, chopped
1” piece of ginger
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil
Oil to shallow fry

But lazy me decided to use the food processor instead of waiting for S to come home and chop the spring onions for me. I fitted the food processor with the chopper blade and placed the spring onions and the leaves, the coriander leaves, chillies, and ran it for a minute or two. Then I changed to a dough blade and added the coconut, oil, rice flour and salt. With the help of a little water, I made the dough. Only, it looked more like batter. And it was all green. The spring onions and the coriander had gotten ground instead of getting chopped.

To make the rotis, I heated a skillet and dropped a blob of the batter on it, spreading it a little bit. I put a few drops of oil around the batter and turned it around after it had browned. After both the sides had cooked, I took it off and gobbled it up.

Traditionally served with a dollop of butter, I ate the Akki Roti by itself. My husband, S, ate it with some Avakaya pickle that we brought back last week from Hyderabad. All experiments are not failures, are they?

Macaroni in Tomato Basil Sauce

This is what I call inspired cooking. My colleagues are HUGE fans of pasta and demand that I bring in an extra lunchbox on days when I make pasta. One of them, Saumya, got tired of eating roti sabzi and decided to order Tomato Basil Pasta one afternoon for lunch. It tasted lovely and I wanted to try it out. Much as I have Tarla Dalal’s book on Italian cooking, I was too lazy to go look it up. I had a lot of veggies in the fridge and decided, as always, to make something as wholesome as I could. And this was the outcome.

Ingredients:

1 Packet (200g) Macaroni (or any pasta)
3 Tomatoes, blanched and peeled
1 large Onion
½ cup Mushrooms, cut in quarters
½ cup Baby Corn, chopped
¼ cup each Green, Yellow and Red Capsicum, chopped
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 slice Low fat Cheese
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Parsley
1 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Red Chilli flakes
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
Salt to taste

Boil the pasta in large vessel with 1 tbsp oil and salt. Drain and keep aside.

Grind the tomatoes and onion in a blender until smooth.

Heat the remaining oil and add the Garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the tomato-onion paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the basil, parsley, red chilli flakes and salt. Add the vegetables and the tomato puree and fry for another 2 minutes. Add a little water and bring this mixture to a boil. Add the cheese slice and stir till it blends in the sauce. This will give the sauce a slight grainy texture. Add the boiled pasta and heat for 1-2 minutes. Serve with garlic bread.