Okra in buttermilk gravy(Vendakkai morkulambu)

I always need onion and tomato to cook..Whenever I start cooking my first step is cutting the onion..If I dont have onion/tomato in pantry/refridgerator I feel like like there is nothing to cook.At those time morkulambu is one of my saviour,it doesnt require onion/tomato.You can add vegetables like white pumkin/arvi to this gravy..Even carrot is good.This gravy is tamilnadu speciality..This goes well with the rice,you dont even need any side dish just a pickle will work good..

You need
Dhania-1/2 tbsp
chana dhal-1 tbsp
toor dhal-1 tbsp
Salt
curd-2 cups
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

To Grind
Green chillies-4(small)
Ginger- a small piece
cumin-1 tsp
Coconut-2 tbsp


For tempering

mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Cumin-1/2 tsp
Dry chillies-2
Curry leaves
oil-2tsp

Method

Soak the Dhal and dhania in water for 30 minutes and grind it along with the ingridient given under the grinding section

Beat the curd well with water and add the grided mixture to it.

In a kadai fry the okra until it slightly turns slightly brown,now add the curd mixture to it and add salt and turmeric powder

Boil the mixture until the bubbles comes out switch off the stove,and tempered it..


Viola your morkulambu is ready...Enjoy it with Hot rice and hot pickle...

Onion and Tomato chutney

This is my throwdown recepie.Actually I got this recepie from my hubby,He made it for my birthday,all of my friends over here started loveing it.All south indians especially tamilians will crave for this chutney with soft idlis.This is very easy to prepare and it will be good for 3-4 days when you store it in a refrigerator.I have used the round(fat) dry chillies,which we used in most of the madurai style cooking.As this chillie is very hot you can add either two/three is enough.Some of my friends tried this recepie,but they said its very hard for them to replicate same color,texture and taste as mine,so thats why I called it as my throwdown recepie.

You need
Onion-2(medium roughly chopped)
Tomato-2(medium roughly chopped)
Dry chillies-3
Garlic-1 cloves
Ginger- same size as garlic
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Urad dhal-1 tsp
Channna dhal-2 tsp
Oil-1 tbsp

Method:

Heat the oil in the kadai add the mustard seeds,urad dhal,channa dhaland dry chillies and fry it until it is sligthly brown(dont turn it into black/dont pass to next step until is golden brown)

Add the onion,garlic,ginger fry it until itis translucent and then add the tomatoes and fry it for few mnts,no need to fry it like paste.

cool little bit and grind it.

Enjoy!!

Hema pass this award to me,thanks a lot Hema.

Tomato rice and my first award

I regret I didnt blogged for the past one week.I miss you all gals..I was little busy by throwing a small barbeque hawaii style party at our backyard this weekend.The party was great, my three year old son Adarsh and all the kids had a great time by enjoying the water sports and eating lots of grilled food..I will post some pictures here for sure..But I couldnt able to take lot of food pictures.Actually I planned but I couldnt make it out..So how you gals spend your long weekend?..
I had this tomato rice recepie in my draft since last week itself.. This tomato rice is very easy to prepare..It requires very less time..Even you can preapare it with some left over rice..It doesnt even require any special side dish...chips goes well with it...

You need
rice-2 cups
onion-1+1/2(medium size finely chopped)
tomato-2(medium finely chopped)
chili powder-1 tsp
garam masala powder-1/4 tsp
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
green chillies-3
ginger and garlic paste-1 tbsp
salt

For Tempering

oil-2 tbsp
cinnamon-1 stick
fennel seeds-1/2 tsp
elachi-2

Method

Cook the rice and keep it aside.

In a Wok/Kadai add some oil add the items for tempering and add onion fry until it is translucent.

Add the ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes off.

Add all the powders and fry for few minutes.

Now add the green chillies and tomato and fry it in a high heat fry it until it turns completely into a paste.

If you feel its little spicy at this stage you can add some lemon juice to it.

Mix it with the rice..If you have time you can put it in a dum for 10 minutes..

Thats it..
Enjoy!!

I got this award from Parita.I am so happy to get this award..Thanks a lot parita..Its encouraging me to do a lot..
Thanks again parita..

Egg curry stuffed crossiant

This is the same concept just like egg puffs..Instead of the puff pastry,I tried it with crossiants...I simply love eggs..Which is one of the very easy way of adding protein to your diet..

you need

Crossiant Dough-1 tin
onion-1(big thinely sliced)
Tomato-1(big finely chopped)
chilli powder-1tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
garammasala powder-1/2 tsp
Aamchur powder-1/2tsp
ginger garlic paste-1 tsp
green chillies-2
Boiled egg-4(cut it into halfs)
oil-1+1/2 tbsp
salt-as per taste


Method

In a wok add oil and add the onion fry it until it is translucent..

Add the ginger garlic paste fry it for fewmnts until the raw smell goes off..

Add all the powders and salt and fry it for few mnts and the add the tomato and green chillies fryit until it turns out into a wonderful masala.

Now add the boiled eggs and switch off the stove.

Place this masala in each crossiants and bake it for 15 mnts in a preheated oven at 375 degree..

Enjoy!!

Tips

Dont add any water the masala needs to be very thick..

Masala Fish fry

I usually get the live tilapia fish from the Asian grocery store.Where we can select which fish we want,then they will cut it and clean it according to our choice.It will be so fresh.After we have moved to different location its very hard for me to find a new Asian/chinese grocery store.I just bought the fish from the frozen section.
I had a wonderful flasback about the fish fry..One of my neighbour in my hometown madurai gave me a fish fry to eat..I took it back to home and while I was eating.. My grandma asked me what you were eating..as she is a pure vegetarian but she knows we are carnivores..So I said I am eating plaintain fry..She asked me can I have one bite..I said ok and gave a small piece..I know its hard for her to recogonize because she had alil bad sight..You know what she replied..Wow Look how she fried like soft flower..Your mom never makes like this..I laughed immidiately and said it is fish..She was shocked and started calling all the gods name and asking sorry..She is not with me anymore..But I love her so much..
Lot of people say that fish is a sea plaintain..

You need

Fish-1 lb
Ginger& garlic paste-2 tsp
Lemon juice-2 tsp
Mint paste-1tsp
Rice flour-2tbsp
Salt
Oil-for Deep frying

To Grind:

Kashmiri chilli powder- 2-3 tbsp
Shallots/small onion- 1-2
Tomato-1/2(finely chopped)

Method

Mix the fish with all the ingridients and the grinded mixture except the oil.

Heat the oil and deep fry it..

Enjoy!!

Urati (rice and dhal dosa)

This one of our family recepie.But I changed the way of preparing it,it needs to prepare it in a very heavy and hot cast iron kadai.... just put handful of the thick batter in all the sides and center of the kadai..Which yields 5 urati at the same time..with very small amount of oil (just a 1tsp is enough)..but the cons is everytime my mom prepares this she will get a burn mark..You need to do it very careful..Even the expert will sometime get burn marks..But my mom makes it ofen..I love you mom..
I dont want to get burn marks.. So I altered the way of preparing it without changing the ingridients..By making it in a regular tava..Its sligtly different in taste..But the good thing is senthil just love this..He never knew about this dish before..He is kind of addictive to this...Mission accomplished!!
By making it in a original method the out side will be very crispy and inside will be so soft..In my method both inside and outside is soft..

you need

Parboiled rice-1 cup
Toor dhal-1/4cup
Coconut-1 cup
Cilantro-1/2 cup
Onion-1(medium finely diced)


For Tempering

Mustard seed-1tsp
Splited urad dhal-1 tsp
Curry leaves
Oil-1tbsp

Method

Soak the water and dhal for 4 hours.Grind it along with coconut and salt into thick batter with less water.

In a small kadai add oil add the items for tempering when it is started splutering add onion and fry it until it is translucent,add this to the batter.

Mix it well along with cilantro.

Heat the tava make it like small dosa..

The original method doesnt need any side dish..In my method you definetly need chutney/spice powder..

Enjoy!!

I am Sending this to JFI-CilantroHosted by Cilantro Originally started by Indira.


Also Sending this to Village special eventHosted by Shama.

Fish kulambu with Raw Mango

Fish and raw mango are inseperable friends in tamilian cooking...I love the fish kulambu to be sour rather than spicy..Everyone knows that a day old fish kulambu taste more than the newly prepared one..So I always prepare more to have it with Idli/Dosa..I just love the combination of fish kulambu with dosa..
Being brought up in Madurai,which is not an seashore area..Fish is rare in my hometown..But I love fish..We will always love the things which is very rare to find ..Correct?..Like here in USA we are access to lot of cuisines..But we all love our hometown specialites like parotta/bhel puri/pav bhaji etc..I know the list will goes on..

You need

1.Tilapia Fish-1 lb
2.Onion-2(medium finely chopped)
3.Tomato-2(medium finely chopped)
4.Kulambu/Sambar powder-1 tbsp
5.Garlic cloves-4
6.oil-2+1/2tbsp
7.Raw Mango-1/2(big chunky pieces)
8.Tamrind-one lemon size(extract the juice from it)
9.Green chillies-2

For wet grinding

1.small/sambar onion-6
2.shredded coconut-3 tbsp

For dry powderfry it in a skillet with no oil and powder it
1.Pepper-1tsp
2.cumin seeds-1/2tsp
3.coriander seeds-1 tsp
4.fennelseeds-1/2 tsp
5.fenu greek seeds-1/2 tsp

For Tempering

1.Mustard-1 tsp
2.cumin-1 tsp
3.red chillies-2(crushed)
4.curry leaves

Method

In a cast iron skillet add oil and add the itmems for tempering.Add the onion and garlic saute it until it turns translucent.

Add tomatoes and green chillies saute it until it turns mushy.Adwet grinding and fry for few mnts..Add some water and boil it for 5 mnts..

Add the raw mango and cook it for 5 mnts.

Add the fish and cook it for 4-5 mnts(depends on the size of the fish,as the fish has an capacity to cook soon).

Enjoy!!