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.

Cabbage-Peas-Carrot Stir fry & Liebster Award

I like this combo.. It is very difficult to make children eat cabbage. If done this way, they would definitely not say NO. These three vegetables goes well with each other and gives a nice appetizing color to the usual stir fry.

Ingredients:

Shredded Cabbage 1/2 cup
Peas 1/4 cup
Carrot - Medium sized - 1
Pearl Onions Few
Curry Leaves Few
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Urad Dhal 1/8 tsp
Salt
Oil

Preparation:

Grate Cabbage and Carrot. Chop pearl onions.

Method:

In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they start popping up,add urad dhal, curry leaves and pearl onions. fry for a few seconds.

Now add grated cabbage. Sprinkle little water for the cabbage to cook. When it is almost done, add grated carrot, peas and salt. Fry till done.

Serves: 2
Serve with any spicy curry and rice.

Linking this recipe to Healthy Me and Healthy US event by Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes and to hearty and healthy event by vimitha of My Culinary Trial Room.

 

Now coming to the award, Manju of Manju's kitchen has sent me this Liebster award. This award goes in a chain so as to get introduced to new blogs.

Rules to follow:

1. Write 11 facts about your self.
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers who has less than 200 followers and mention them in your post.
4. Create 11 new questions for them.
5. Mention who nominated you in the post.
6. Go to their blog and inform them about this award.

11 facts about myself:

1. I like reading books mostly related to history. I spend more for books and like to read reviews about them.
2. I like to be perfect and I am not. But I always try to be. 
3. I have flair for learning new languages.
4. I do not make friends so easily. But if done, I would love to maintain the relationship as long as possible. 
5. If I make a mistake, I don't hesitate to ask sorry.
6. I was a straight forward person. But with time, it changed. Now I think well before I speak so as to hurt no one. But now everyone is hurting me.. poor me..!!!
7. I would love to explore new dimensions of vegetarian cooking.
8. Love to travel a lot and read books while traveling.
9. I hate people when they say you can't do this.
10. I like to teach my son everything I know. 
11. I am shopaholic.. who is not??!! 



What made you to start blogging?

My interest in cooking and other blogs inspired me.I wanted to maintain an online diary of all my traditional and tried recipes at my kitchen.

Who is your role model in cooking?
My Mom ofcourse.

What you like in my blog?
Like your presentation. There are many unique recipes from your blog that I love to try for ex. oats laddu, quinoa pongal etc..

Name the blog which you admired a lot?
aayisrecipes.com

What are your kids or husband favorite food?
Biryani

Name the restaurant you visit more often?
Saravana Bhavan

Name one ingredient that you use more in your cooking?
Coconut


Who is your favorite chef?
Chef Damu

Do you have any fear if so what?

I fear ill health of children especially when I hear children are attacked by unknown dreadful disease, I am much disheartened.

What will be the menu for your uninvited guests?
Idli, Sambar and Chutney 

Your favorite cookbook?
Tarla Dalal's cookbooks

What is your ambition in blogging?
To try and post the traditional recipes that are mostly forgotten.

I am passing this award to eleven bloggers.

1. Biny's recipes
2. Poorni of Easy and Homely cookbook
3. Malini's Delights
4. Sinu's Menu
5. All about my world
6. Cook with fun
7.Jiya's delicacy
8. Crumpled Chillies
9. Shree of Just Cooking and Baking
10.Sharanya of Blogging
11.Gheza e shriin

My new questions for the above bloggers are:

1. What do I have to improve in my blog?
2. What made you start blogging? 
3. What was your worst recipe or cooking?
4. Which blog you visit often other than yours?
5. What is your signature recipe that your kids and husband love to have it again and again?
6. What is your favorite cuisine?
7. What is your interests other than cooking?
8. What was your first recipe or cooking?
9. What is that you cannot live without?
10. Who is your inspiration in cooking?
11. What have you achieved through blogging?

Hope to see the answers and get to know new blogs..!!