Hot and spicy Shrimps Thokku

It has been long since I made Non veg dishes here. As I've recovered from my recent surgery just a few months before, none could force me too.  I hesitate to prepare non veg recipes as I've to prepare veg recipes exclusively for me and that needs lots of work and time. But with shrimps, things become easy and I can prepare them with different twists and with less time and energy, of course I mean cleaned and frozen shrimps.  

Last dinner, I prepared this hot and spicy shrimps thokku as accompaniment to Dosa though I prepared coconut chutney for me. Thokku refers to semi-dry curry, that is, prepared without adding water. This goes well with rice and also with Idli/Dosa.

Ingredients:

Shrimps 400g
Onions - Medium sized - 2
Tomato - Big - 1
Finely chopped Ginger and Garlic 1 tsp each
Cloves 2
Fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon a small stick
Curry leaves few
Oil
Salt

Masala

Dried Red Chillies 2 (I use very hot chillies.)
Peppercorns 3/4 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

Chop Onions and Tomatoes.

Method:

In a pan, fry all the ingredients under Masala individually and keep it in a mixer jar.

In the same pan, heat little oil and add chopped ginger, garlic, onions(1). When they turn translucent, add the chopped tomatoes and salt. Fry until the skin of the tomatoes slightly peels off and the oil separates. Add this to the mixer and  grind it together.

In the same pan, add little more oil and add cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds. When they turn slightly brown, add the chopped onions (1). When they turn translucent, add the ground mixture. Fry till the raw smell completely goes off. Now add the shrimps and fry for few seconds.

Sprinkle little water and add salt. Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes. Heat a drop of oil in tadka pan, add curry leaves. When they start sizzling, pour them into the thokku. This gives a nice aroma to thokku.

Serves: 1-2
Serve with steamed rice or Idli/Dosa.

Linking this to Hearty and Healthy event of My Culinary Trial Room.

Onion Pakoda

It is one of the street foods that can be had alone or as a accompaniment to rice. I find some of the famous South Indian restaurants in chennai do prepare pakodas but those made in streets is unmatched both in flavor and taste. 

My Mom used to prepare this very fast using Bajji Mix/Powder whenever she runs out of vegetables to prepare as side dish. Here I do not get that powder and started experimenting with different ratios of Besan and Rice flour; finally settled down with this. Now I am very confident that I can make this recipes within minutes and without Bajji mix. It is a easy recipe with few ingredients but tastes very amazing and can be had anytime.

Ingredients:

Onions 3
Besan flour (kadalai maavu) 1/2 cup
Rice flour 2 tbsp
Fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
Salt
Water and Oil

Preparation:

Chop Onions into thin lengthwise strips.

Method:

Combine chopped Onions, Besan and Rice flour, fennel seeds and salt.

Mix well..  Now heat oil in a pan for deep frying. When it is warm, take a table spoon of that oil and sprinkle on the mixture. Mix well and now sprinkle little water to the mixture. If you are able to hold a small part of the mixture and it doesn't fall down, you have added enough water, else sprinkle some more.

Now take small parts of the mixture and hold it in desired shapes and then allow deep frying. Fry till they are brown and cooked.

Serve as a snack or with steamed rice and rasam/curd.

Linking this recipe to Favorite Dhaba food/ street food event of Annarasa: Essence of food.

Kara Kuzhambu

I never knew that there is a curry called kara kuzhambu until we came to chennai. My native is Madurai. I find there are few differences between this one and our own traditional puli kuzhambu though both are tamarind based gravies.

I do not add tomatoes or coconut in Puli kuzhambu. It is traditionally made only with pearl onions, tamarind, garlic, fenugreek & mustard seeds, vegetables and spice/sambar powder in Gingelly oil. But I find tomatoes and coconut are added in kara kuzhambu. Most of the kara kuzhambu recipes I have come across contains tomatoes but only few of them has coconut and/or fenugreek seeds as ingredients.

There is a bit of difference in method too.. I extract tamarind juice with 3-4 cups of water and do not add just plain water. But I find my neighbors preparing kara kuzhambu with tamarind extract using only one cup of water and add 2-3 cups of water to the curry. This way, I find kara kuzhambu is less tangier than the Puli kuzhambu. But I've come across people prepare with the exact ingredients of a puli kuzhambu but they still call it as kara kuzhambu. 

I am not confusing you any more. Finally, I would say Puli Kuzhambu is an authentic recipe and Kara Kuzhambu is a fusion because of addition of tomatoes and other variations. Tomato is not used in ancient India. It is a recent addition to our Indian cuisine. Hope everyone knows this.. But some prepare the curry in an authentic way, like Puli Kuzhambu but still call it as Kara Kuzhambu.

I think I will stop differentiating and go into this recipe. I may differ from many of you regarding these two curries and its preparation. But it is my inference. Please feel free to comment so that everyone can understand better. 

Check out my Puli Kuzhambu recipe here.

Ingredients:

Vegetables / Elephant foot yam  

Tomato 1

Tamarind - small lemon sized 

Dry Red Chillies 3-4 (depends upon the hotness of chillies and one's taste; i've used very hot chillies)

Coriander Seeds 2 tbsp (levelled)

Grated Coconut 3-4 tsp

Pearl Onions (few) / Red Onion -1
Mustard seeds
Salt
Water

Gingelly Oil or any Cooking Oil

Preparation:

Soak Tamarind in a cup of water. Chop Pearl Onions and Tomatoes. Grate Coconut. Chop tomato into small cubes.

Method:

Dry roast coriander seeds and red chillies. Let it cool and then powder the mixture.

In a pan, add mustard seeds, when they start popping up, add the curry leaves and onions. When they turn slightly brown, add the chopped tomato. When it is cooked well and oil separates, add chopped vegetables. Here I've used Chenai Kizhangu (Elephant Foot Yam). Fry for a while. Now add tamarind juice extracted using one cup of water.

Add the ground powder masala, water and salt. Allow boiling. When it is almost done, add the grated coconut.

Serves:2-3
Serve with steamed rice.

Notes: Instead of coriander seeds and red chillies, sambar powder can also be added. Vegetables such as Drumstick and Brinjal can be used in this curry both together or as alone. Okra can also be used but this doesn't combine well with other vegetables. Elephant foot yam can also be used like this recipe.

Potato Sag

Who on earth doesn't like potatoes?!! Recently my friend, Vimitha has written about her love towards potato. I can even prepare recipes daily with potatoes as there are humpty number of recipes around with potatoes. But I make it a habit to prepare potatoes when all other fresh vegetables go out of stock as it stays fresh for a longer time.

This recipe is quite different to us. South Indians (mostly tamilians) usually avoid dry curries but prefer gravies to eat with Roti or Poori. So do I. When I came across this recipe in Mallika Badrinath's recipe book, I thought why not give a try. Once I made this as side dish for Poori, the combo was excellent.  Then I gained confidence to make this with chapati. We liked it surprisingly. This dry curry is an exception that we like it with chapati and we don't prefer other dry curries. I like to have this with rice too.  But I've absolutely no idea why has she named this recipe as Potato sag. If you know the reason, please do update in comments. This is very similar to usual potato stir fry but except for the addition of yoghurt and tamarind pulp.

Ingredients:

Potatoes 3
Sambar Powder 1 tbsp leveled
Green Chillies 1-2
Yoghurt 2-3 tsp
Coriander Leaves few
Cumin Seeds 1/4 tsp
Oil and Salt

Preparation:

Pressure cook Potatoes. Mash one Potato and dice the other potatoes. Slit chillies.

Method:

In a Pan, heat oil. Add Cumin seeds. When they start crackling, add chillies, mashed and diced potatoes. Fry it for few seconds on a low flame.

Now sprinkle Sambar Powder and Salt. Fry until the potatoes get a slightly roasted coating.

Now add yoghurt and fry for some more time till the yoghurt combines well with the potatoes.

Garnish with Coriander Leaves.

Serves: 2
Serve with Chapati or Poori. I once served this Tomato Rice , the combo was excellent.

Notes:

The original recipe uses 1/2 kg of Potatoes, two are mashed and others are diced. Tamarind pulp is also added at the end.

Sambar Powder can be replaced with the combination of Chilly Powder, Coriander Powder and Cumin Powder.