Tomato, Lettuce and Grapes

I have been away from this blog since a long time, partly because of laziness and partly because of different events in life.

Christmas is fast approaching and it is that time of the year, when we all want to put on our best and do our best. The current financial crisis affecting each one of us in one way or the other, splashing out on entertainment expenditure is a thing which we want to put off. Get the whole family involved in cooking the Christmas dinner, and we can have the best entertainment in our life time. The closeness, each one of us get helping out are those moments we cherish in life.

Today I am starting this section with a simple salad.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 a Iceberg lettuce
2. 2 cubed tomatoes
3. 6 to 7 seedless green grapes
4. 4 tblsp. sprouted mung beans
5. 3 tblsp. balsamic vinegar
6. 1 tsp. black pepper powder
7. Salt as required
8. 2 tblsp. honey

Method:

* Tear the lettuce into pieces and put it in a container. Add water to it and leave it in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.
* Add the ingredients from 5 to 7 to the ingredients from 2 to 4. Toss and mix all these properly.
* Take out the lettuce from the fridge, drain water and then mix it to the above ingredients.
* Spread this out in a dish and sprinkle honey on top.
Source: Vanitha: Dec 15-31, 2007.

Happy Onam

Wishing each one of my blog readers a "Happy Onam 2008".

Lemon Curry

Lemon curry plays a very important role when serving the onam lunch. The lemon used here is vadukkapuli lemon. I do not know the translation of this particular lemon. If it is me, who is cooking I would use any lemon available to me in that particular place.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg lemon
2. lemon sized tamarind
3. 2 tsp. turmeric powder
4. 100 gms chilli powder
5. salt as required
6. mustard
7. curry leaves
8. dried red chillies
9. 2-3 tsp. fried and ground fenugreek seeds (methi/uluva)

Method:

• Cut the lemon into small pieces.
• Take the juice out of the tamarind and put it in a heavy bottomed vessel and cook.
• Add 8 glasses of water.
• Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. When it starts boiling set the flame to low.
• When the water has evaporated to almost 4 glasses and the tamarind and chilli has cooked, add the cut lemon pieces and mix. It should not cook for more than a minute. Take it off the stove.
• Splutter the mustard seeds, dry chillies and curry leaves in a little coconut oil. When it cools down a bit add the powdered fenugreek and mix it with the lemon curry.
• This curry has shelf life of 2 weeks, so can be prepared before onam.

Source: Vanitha magazine, April 1-14, 2006.

Cooker Pal Payasam (Rice Pudding)

Ingredients:

1. 6 cups milk
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup rice

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into the cooker and cook until the cooker gives out one whistle.
• Lower the fire and cook for half an hour more.
• Switch off the stove and leave the payasam in the cooker without opening for another half hour. Serve. You may garnish with fried nuts and grapes.
• Never fill the cooker more than half at any time as this will make it overflow.

Source: Vanitha Magazine 1-14, 2007

Vegetable Mallipirlan

Ingredients:

1. 600 gms boiled vegetables (Carrot, beans, cauliflower etc.)
2. 20 ml. oil
3. 3 green chillies sliced
4. 5 gms garlic sliced
5. 5 gms ginger sliced
6. 100 gms onions sliced thin
7. 2 sprigs curry leaves
8. 15 gms coriander powder
9. 15 gms chilli powder
10. 5 gms turmeric powder
11. salt as required
12. 60 ml. thick coconut milk
13. 10 ml. coconut oil
14. 3 gms mustard
15. 2 dry red chillies
16. 1 sprig curry leaf
17. 5 gms coriander leaf

Method:

• Sauté in hot oil items listed from 3 to 7.
• Add the items listed from 8 to 10 and mix for some time.
• Add the cooked vegetables and sauté for some more time. Add salt and water as per requirement and let it boil.
• Add the coconut milk and when it thicken take it off the heat.
• Splutter mustard seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves in coconut oil and pour it on the curry. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Source: Vanitha Magazine August 15-31, 2007

Malabar kootocurry

Ingredients:-

1. 100 gms chickpeas (Kadala/channa)
2. 300 gms yam (chenna/suran)
3. 300 gms plantains (athaka/kela)
4. 7 green chillies (pacha mulag)
5. 20 gms ginger
6. 2 grated coconuts
7. 20 gms cumin seeds
8. 2 tsp. turmeric powder
9. salt as required
10. 50 ml. coconut oil
11. 10 gms mustard seeds
12. 50 gms coconut sliced
13. 5 dried red chillies
14. 2 sprigs of curry leaves

Method:

• The chickpeas should be soaked overnight and then cooked.
• Peel and cut the plantain and yam into small pieces.
• Slice the ginger and green chillies into small pieces and cook it along with plantains and yam by adding enough water.
• Mix this with the chickpeas.
• Grind coarsely items listed at 6,7 and 8. Mix this with the cooked vegetables and cook a little more and remove from fire.
• Sauté mustard, coconut slices, dry red chillies and curry leaves in hot coconut oil and pour over the cooked curry.
• Serve it with rice.

Source: Vanitha magazine August 15-31, 2007

Puli Inji (Tamarind Ginger curry)

Puli Inji is one of the items served in Onam. The main ingredient in this dish is ginger. Ginger is a medicinal herb and is used in many curries in India. Puli inji has a sweet and sour taste. Here is another translated recipe from vanitha.
Ingredients:-

1. 100 gms ginger
2. 5 green chillies
3. 250 gms tamarind
4. 40 gms chilli powder
5. 10 gms turmeric powder
6. 1 pinch asofoetida (hing/kayam)
7. 1 piece jaggery grated (gud/sharkara) adjust according to the taste required
8. salt as required
9. 10 ml. coconut oil
10. 1 sprig curry leaves
11. 1/4 tsp. fenugreek powder (methi/uluva)

Method:-

• Cut ginger and green chillies into very small pieces. (Please peel the ginger first) and fry this in 5 ml. coconut oil until light red in colour. Use a heavy bottomed vessel or it may get burnt.
• Add one litre water to the tamarind and take out the juice from it. Sieve the juice and add it to the fried ginger and green chillies and boil.
• Add all the items from 4 to 8 above and boil it until the mixture thickens. Remove from the top of the stove.
• Sauté the curry leaves in the rest of the coconut oil and pour over the puli inji curry. Add the asofoetida powder to this, mix and serve it with rice.

Source: Vanitha magazine August 15-31, 2007