Nartham-pazham Rasam / Lemon Rasam

Amidst my crazy work schedule, I should say I am managing pretty well! Have been taking a lot of weekend breaks to nearby cities from Chennai and managing to get the much needed unwinding time:-) Ofcourse that keeps me off my blog though. Have been waiting to upload some recipes for quite sometime but for want of time they had been left to hybernate. I am beginning to write this recipe in the hope of publishing one this week. Have chosen a simple yet very tasty rasam (South Indian soup) which can be eaten with rice or taken as a soup too...choice is yours.....

Rasam has a special place in most South Indian cuisines and makes for the lightest part of any meal. Among Tambrahms (Tamil Brahmins) there is a practice of making rasam in "eeya chombu" a vessel made of Tin and its alloys. The rasam made in this vessel has a different taste to the one made in an ordinary steel vessel. For more information about this vessel and its composition read the article(link) published in The Hindu recently http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3001718.ece

Though, one needs to bear in mind a few things before setting out to use this vessel. This has a melting point of 200 deg C. So, for some reason if you plan to be away from the kitchen while letting your rasam come to a boil, be sure there is enough liquid in the vessel and the flame is on low. Otherwise, you have a very strong chance of melting the vessel down:-) I can say this because I learnt to use this vessel the melting way....lol! But if you still manage to melt the vessel...don't worry...collect the melted and remaining portion of the vessel and go to your nearby Bazaar. Any vessel merchant would gladly buy the melted vessel and be willing to give you a new one in exchange! Its an expensive metal and fetches value any which way:-)

OK, now off to the recipe....

Ingredients:

- 1 jaathi naartham-pazham(used in this recipe) or 1 lemon
- 1 tsp whole black pepper
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp sambhar powder(optional)
- 1/8 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 green chilly
- 1 small tomato
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 cup boiled toor dhal
- Salt to taste

Temper and Garnish:

- 1 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- few curry leaves
- freshly chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Prep time: 5 mins                       Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- In the "eeya chombu", add 2 cups water, slit green chilly, sambhar powder, salt, turmeric, cut tomato and boil all on low flame for 7 to 10 minutes until the tomatoes cook and you loose the raw smell of the sambhar powder .

- Now, mash the boiled dhal with 1 cup of water and add it to the boiling solution on the stove top. To this add the powdered cumin seeds and black pepper.

- Now bring this whole solution to a boil until you see the corners frothing. After adding the dhal, the rasam should not boil too much. It should be switched off the moment it comes together frothing from the corners.

- After switching off the heat, add the nartham pazham juice or lemon juice. If you add while on heat, the rasam will turn bitter. So, add only after removing from heat.

- Heat ghee and temper the mustard seeds and curry leaves until they splutter and add on top of the rasam. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

- Tasty and fresh rasam is ready to be served with rice or taken as a hot soup!

Foot note:

- If you are not using sambhar powder, you could add more pepper or one more green chilly for extra spice.

Ulli Theeyal - Kerala Style Vetha Kuzhambu!

I had been to Nala's appa kadai last year with a few colleagues for a friday afternoon lunch. One of my friend is a mallu and she was soooo thrilled to order this Ulli Theeyal to go along with the appam and some rice. I had no idea then of what it really meant and thought it was some kind of a non-vegetarian dish;-)! Then, after it arrived I discovered it was made purely of small onions in a spicy gravy....oooooohhhh such a mouth watering taste it had.

On eating it I felt a slight connect of it to our very own vetha kuzhambu. Sometimes, when we go on a huge family outing and pack lunch, we do the vetha kuzhambu with some ground spices and it tastes close to this dish. Ever since I tasted it in that restaurant I have been wanting to make it myself and I finally did it:-) So, here goes the recipe altered a bit to suite our taste buds:-)

Ingredients:

- 15 to 20 small onions or pearl onions
- 1 medium tomato (optional)
- 7 or 8 red chillies, divided
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 1/2 cup or 1/4 cup tamarind puree
-1/4 tsp methi seeds (fenugreek)
- a pinch of jaggery (optional)
- mustard seeds and curry leaves for tempering
- Salt to taste

Prep time: 30 mins                      Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- Peel the onions and chop them into thin slices. This takes the maximum time.
- Chop the tomatoes and set aside.

- In a pan, add 1 tsp oil and roast the coriander seeds, 4 red chillies, methi seeds and the coconut. This is the important step. You need to roast the coconuts till such time they turn reddish brown! This roasted coconut gives the taste to the dish as well as the name! Theeyal in Malayalam as in Tamil means something that has been burnt.

- Set the roasted spices aside for them to cool and grind them with little water on cooling.

- In the meantime, heat the remaining oil in a deep pan and add the mustard seeds, remaining 3 or 4 red chillies and curry leaves and let them splutter. Now add the onions and fry them till they turn golden.

- Add the tomatoes and fry them until they get soft. To this add the tamarind puree and bring it to a boil before adding the ground spices.

- Now add the ground coconut paste and a pinch of jaggery and simmer the entire mix for 4 or 5 mins on medium and your Ulli Theeyal is ready!

- This goes very well with rice, dosa, idli and ofcourse appam:-)

Foot note:

- Add tamarind puree as per your liking for sourness
- Addition of tomato is optional. I prefer to use less tamarind, so added tomato as a substitute.

Sambhar - The Iyer Style!

Sambhar is a very popular delicacy in South India. Almost like a staple food. A meal would be incomplete without the Sambhar being in the main course! Many of my friends from the North always are in awe of the Sambhar they get in the south especially in Chennai, TN:-)!!!

There are various variations to this recipe depending on which State of South India you get to taste it and which part of every individual State the sambhar is made. But by and large the main ingredients are tamarind puree, sambhar powder, boiled toor dhal and any veggie of your choice!

Below is the style in which Tamil Iyers make it! This is otherwise called Arachu- Karacha Sambhar (அரச்சு கரைச்ச) 

Ingredients:

- veggies of your choice ( i used onions & drumsticks)
- Tamarind puree 2 cups
- 1 or1-1/4 tbsp sambhar powder
- 1/2 cup toor dhal
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp sesame oil or ghee for seasoning
- freshly chopped coriander

For Masala paste:

- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp channa dhal
- 1 green chilly
- 2 red chilly
- 1/2 cup coconut
- 1 small tomato
- 1/2 tsp methi (fenugreek seeds)
- 1/2 tsp hing (asafoetida)
- 1/2 tsp oil

Prep time: 15 mins                  Cook time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Add turmeric powder and pressure cook the toor dhal.
- While the dhal is cooking, cut the veggies and prepare the masala for grinding.

For grinding:

- In a pan heat 1/2 tsp oil and add the channa dhal. Fry for a minute on medium, then add the coriander seeds, methi seeds and chillies and fry for a minute more.
- Later add the coconut, tomatoes and hing and fry for a minute before setting it aside to cool.

- On cooling, grind into a fine paste adding little water.

Preparing sambhar:

- In a deep pan, add the veggies, the tamarind puree, salt and the sambhar powder. Bring this to a boil until the veggies boil and the raw smell of the sambhar powder goes off. This might take about 10 mins.
- You will notice that i did not fry the onions. The aroma of fresh onions boiling is unbeatable. Frying takes away that flavour from them!

- At this point you can taste the sambhar for sourness. You can dilute with 1/2 cup water to reduce the sourness if need be.
- Now add the masala paste prepared above and the boiled toor dhal and stir well.

Boiled dhal and ground masala

- Bring the whole mixture to a boil on medium for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.
- Season in a tsp of sesame oil, some mustard and curry leaves.Add freshly chopped coriander to enhance the flavour.

- Tasty Arachu-Karacha sambhar is ready to serve!

Foot note:

- Traditionally the masala paste has only coriander seeds, channa dhal, hing, red chillies and coconut. The addition of tomatoes and green chilly was tipped on to me by one of my cousin!
- The proportion of coriander to channa dhal is usually 2:1
- The quantity of tamarind puree is purely your choice. You can add little extra or less depending on how sour you need the sambhar.
- Instead of grinding the methi seeds with the masala, you can directly add them while boiling the veggies too!


This recipe is participating in :

Sambhar for dosa/idli...hotel style

This is a very light version sambhar that i make with left over dhal! It goes very well with dosa or idli and is more like the thin sambhar you get in hotels. You could make this and soak the mini idlis to make delicious "sambhar idli"! This requires very little dhal and no tamarind at all

Ingredients:

- 1 onion sliced across
- 2 tomato sliced across
- 2 tsp sambhar powder
- 1 tbsp boiled toor dhal
- 1 green chilly slit
- 1 tsp rice flour ( thickening agent)
- curry leaves and coriander for garnish
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp methi seeds
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- Salt to taste
- Adding 1 or 2 cloves garlic is optional

Prep time: 5 mins                  Cook time: 20 mins

Preparation:

- Cut the onions and tomatoes and keep the ingredients ready

- In a deep pan, heat oil, add  the mustard, methi seeds, green chilly and curry leaves.

- Once the mustard crackles, add the onions and tomatoes and fry a couple of minutes.

- To this add the sambhar powder, salt and 2 1/2 cups of water.
- Boil on medium for 10 mins or you will get the raw smell of the sambhar powder.
- Now add the toor dhal and bring to a boil.

- If you find the sambhar is too thin, you could mix 1 tsp rice flour to very little water and add to the boiling sambhar. This will thicken the sambhar slightly.
- Use this sambhar as a side for dosa, idly or pongal as per your choice!

Mor Kuzhambu / Majige Huli / Majiga Pulisu / Mor Kootaan

This recipe is popular in all the 4 south Indian states and goes by different names and varies slightly in preparation. I have given below the way we make it in Tamilnadu and i guess it is close to how the Keralites make it too...! However, the Andhra and Karnataka versions could be different. The recipe below is the original மோர் குழம்பு (Mor Kuzhambu) version, however, I do know 2 variations to this which I will add as and when I make them :-)

Ingredients:

- 2 cups thick curd

- 2 tbsp coconut

- 4 to 5 green chilli (vary by spice requirement)

- 1 tsp Channa Dhal

- 1 tsp Toor dhal

- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)

- 1/8th tsp turmeric powder

- 1 tsp rice flour

- 1 tsp coconut oil

- 1/4 tsp mustard

- Curry leaves

- Salt to taste

Prep time: 15 mins                  Cook time: 5 mins

Preparation:

- Soak the Channa dhal and Toor dhal in warm water for 10 mins. If you do not have rice flour add 1tsp rice to the dhals and soak.

- Take the 2 cups curd in a deep pan, add salt, curry leaves and turmeric and mix it well. If you have rice flour  add it and stir well.

- Once the dhals are soft, grind with little water, the coconut, green chilli and cumin seeds and add the ground paste to the curd mix in the pan.

Ingredients

- After this, place the pan on medium heat and stir once when you see the mix foaming by the sides. When the mix foams around for the second time stir again and switch off the heat. 

- Over boiling the curd will break it, so take care not to over boil.

- Let the mustard crackle in the coconut oil and add to the kuzhambu. Or temper the mustard in cooking oil and add the coconut oil fresh.
- Relish with hot rice and dhal....

Adding Vegetables:

- You can add vegetables like white pumpkin, yam or ladies finger to the gravy.

- If you add pumpkin, boil separately and squeeze lightly before adding to the gravy. If not, it will make the kuzhambu very thin.

- Yam can be boiled and added once the kuzhambu is done.

- Ladies finger or Okra should be cut into small pieces and shallow fried in little oil and can be added in the end. This gives a very nice flavour.

For Paste ( 2nd type)

- If you like the flavour of coriander seeds in the kuzhambu you could adapt this variation while grinding the paste.

- In little oil fry 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp urad dhal, 1/4 tsp fenugreek(methi/vendhayam) seeds, 2 red chillies and little hing(asafoetida). Grind this with coconut, green chilly(3 nos), cumin seeds and the soaked dhals. 

- This can be mixed to the curd and brought to a boil. This will have a different taste!

Paarkai ( Bitter Gourd) Pitley

This is a very popular recipe in the Tamil Brahmin households. More of a cousin of Sambhar.....tastes good when made with brinjal or bitter gourd. There could be variations to this but after a lot of tests and tries, I have finally arrived at the perfect recipe for Pitley...Hope you all enjoy making it too...

Ingredients:

1 medium bitter gourd cut into round pieces with seeds removed.

1/4 cup toor dhal

1/4 cup channa dhal

2 cups pureed tamarind ( keep it to ur taste)

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

Curry leaves and mustard seeds for seasoning

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

For grinding

1 tsp channa dhal

2 tsp coriander seeds

4 dry red chillies

1- 1/2 tsp coconut

1/8 tsp hing

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins

For grinding

- In a kadai, heat 1/4 tsp oil and roast the coriander seeds, channa dhal and red chillies (given above under "for grinding")

- In the end add the coconut and hing, mix a few seconds and remove it on a plate and set aside.

- Grind with little water on cooling.

For the Pitley

- Pressure cook the toor dhal and channa dhal together.

- In the kadai, heat the remaining oil and temper the mustard and curry leaves.

- To this, add the tamarind puree, bitter gourd, salt and turmeric powder and let them boil on medium heat.

- Once the bitter gourd is cooked, add the ground paste to the kadai and let it boil for a minute.

- Meanwhile, if you are able to open the cooker, add the cooked dhal to the above and boil for another 1 or 2 mins until everything comes together to a boil.

- The consistency of this dish should be thicker than sambhar.

- Your Pitley is ready to be eaten with hot rice and ghee or sesame oil...

Foot note:

- Mash the dhal a little once you take it out of the cooker.

- If after adding the ground paste, you are not able to remove the dhal from the cooker, switch off the heat. Do not keep heating the pitley after adding the paste as it has coconut.

- Once you add the dhal, heat the mixture again for a min or 2.

- Instead of bitter gourd you could use big cubes of brinjal too.

- Instead of adding boiled channa dhal you can substitute with some boiled chick peas too. This is a variation.

Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambu - Brinjal Vetha Kuzhambu - Vankaya Pulusu

A quick and easy recipe that is so mouth watering and makes in less than 30 mins. This goes well with steaming hot rice and ghee/sesame oil(nal-ennai). Refrigerate the excess...it tastes so much more better the next day and can be used as a side for dosa/idli too..There is a slight variation to this recipe and is popularly known as "Ennai Kathrikai Kuzhambu". However, I have tried a lighter version of it sans the masala powder and lesser oil:-)

Preparation time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

4-5 small brinjals

6-7 cloves garlic

1 medium sized onion

1 small tomato

1 green chilli

1 red dry chilli

1/4 tsp Methi seeds

a sprig of curry leaf

3 tbsp Sesame (gingely) oil

1 -1/2 tbsp sambar powder

1tsp salt

1tsp jaggery

Tamarind paste or pureed tamarind

Preparation

- Soak the tamarind in warm water and puree 2 cups of the same. You could use tamarind paste as well. Use both as per your choice of taste.

- In a pan heat 2 tbsp of sesame oil on medium flame. Slit the brinjals with its stem intact, smear the inside of the brinjals with some sambar powder and salt for added flavour. Arrange them in the pan. Turn the brinjal over and cook them in the oil from all sides. Strain them on to a plate while they are half cooked

- While the brinjals are cooking, you could slit the onions, tomatoes and peel the garlic

and keep them aside

- On removing the brinjals from the pan, add the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the pan. Add some mustard seeds and allow to splatter.

- Now add the curry leaves and chillies and then add the garlic, followed by the onion. Fry them for a minute and then add the tomatoes.

- Over this add the sambar powder and salt and fry them for a minute.

- Add the tamarind puree in the end and allow the mixture to boil until the oil seperates. This would take upto 12-15 mins on medium heat.

- Once the oil separates, add the jaggery and the brinjals to the mixture and let it boil for 5-7 mins until the brinjals are cooked fully.

- Kathrikai vetha kuzhambu is ready to serve!

Foot note: Instead of smearing the inside of brinjals with sambar powder, you could do a quick powder and stuff that too. I have used it and you can spot it around the brinjals in the pan.

In 1/2 tsp of oil roast 2 tsp coriander seeds, 1tsp channa dhal, 2 red chillies, a dash of hing and 2 tsp of coconut. Cool it and grind coarsely with salt to taste. You can make a little extra of this powder and refrigerate. Comes in handy anytime!