I learned to make Badham Kheer from my mother. Its an easy sweet drink to make that works for many occasions. Life has been so busy lately, my father in law is visiting me and Shankar and Gopi are in the thick of school already. Appa has taken a major demotion from senior executive to taxi driver, ferrying his sons back and forth from school!
I always have the most interesting conversations with my father-in-law, and one of our favorite subjects is that of the arranged marriage. People are always fascinated to know that my father-in-law and my father arranged the marriage between Shankar and myself. Growing up in Canada I expected to meet someone on my own, date them, and get married. The idea of arranged marriage was not nearly as accepted in the mainstream as it is today. It seemed archaic, 0ppressive, and wholly unromantic. My father would tell me that I would one day go from his home to my husband's home, which would frustrate me to no end as an independent career minded young woman. I felt that my opinion, or my expectations of equal partnership, romance, understanding and acceptance would never be fulfilled by the groom chosen by my parents. All of this for the simple reason that I felt my parents did not understand me, a typical thought of a young adult anywhere in the world. Add to this that my upbringing in Toronto was completely different from that of my parents who grew up in Madras. I was growing up in a society that I felt they didn't understand the pressures of. The stereotypical impression of arranged marriages is one where the bride and groom have very little say in the matter, but todays concept of arranged marriages has changed so much in North America it has become nothing more than an arranged 'blind' date by the boy and girls parents.
It is only now after marriage that I can understand every single one of my parents sentiments which infuriated me as I fought the arranged marriage process. I wanted fireworks. I hated being set up with family friends whom I had known since childhood and never felt anything for. Somehow the search for the perfect man was hindered with all the restrictions placed on potential matches; brahmin, iyer, brahacharanam, non-lohitha gothra, masters degree, tamil, etc etc etc. It began to feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Once my parents convinced me to set up my profile on the internet the alliances came flooding in. Amongst all my girlfriends going through the same process the question of the moment became, "How do you know he is the one?.
I see my friends who are still unmarried, and compare them to my friends who are married. I have a feeling in many cases the two groups can be described as those who have accepted that reality is not perfect, and those still searching for the illusion of perfection. Marriage is about accepting each others flaws and appreciating your life partner for who they are. I think it was ironic that while I was in the process, I was seeking perfection yet expecting the men I met to accept my flaws.
At the end of the day I am very happy I ended up choosing family, culture, and lifestyle as important factors to base a marriage on. My father in law appreciated the badham kheer I made for him, the recipe taught to me by my mother. Its a wonderful feeling that I never anticipated to be part of the equation of marriage. I probably knew Shankar was the one even before I met him, the moment of knowledge being when I met his family and felt comfortable amidst them.
I pose the question to you dear readers, how did you all know he was the one?
Badham Kheer - serves 4
1 cup of almonds, 2.5 cups of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, a pinch of saffron
1. Soak the almonds in hot water for 10 minutes. The skins should snap off easily, peel them.
2. Grind the almonds, with the milk.
3. Simmer the almond mixture for about 15 minutes, and then add the sugar mix until the sugar melts.
4. Garnish with a pinch of saffron.
Badham Kheer Recipes
Hare Krishna's
Badham Kheer
Karamani Sundal: Black Eyed Peas Salad
I'm trying to eat healthy these days, which is hard given my favorite food group is potato chip. Maintaining a steady weight has been a lifelong battle for me. Despite all the swimming, skating, and dance lessons, as a child I was always a little chubby. At the age of 14 I became very involved with performing Bharatha Natyam, and in a phase of intense dancing, exercise, and strict eating I reduced to about 100 pounds. Unfortunately as the exercise slowed, and the eating habits returned so did the pounds. Upon entering university the stress of school had me in a downward spiral of bad eating habits. 50 pounds later, I was truly miserable. Graduation brought on the pressure from my parents to get married to a desi, and heading into the superficial world of meeting prospective grooms while being overweight was the worst kind of nightmare. So I got motivated, hit the gym regularly, and went back on the strict diet. The weight came off and I realized I had never felt better in my life. Then it happened, marriage. The comfort of being in a great relationship compounded with the innumerable dinners out, cocktail parties, and weekends entertaining friends have now regressed me back another 15 pounds.
I have many friends who seem to be naturally skinny, those who have always been 'big boned', and those who can't seem to maintain a consistent weight. What makes us all so different? Is the world we live in a factor to our eating habits, or is it all ultimately about self control?
Writing this post just made me realize that every phase of my life has been marked with a drastic change in my weight. Having established that the successful formula is a regime of intense exercise accompanied by a strict diet, it would seem the recurring problem revolves around maintaining the routine and self control. In hopes of conquering this lifelong battle, I am posting a series of Healthy Eating Recipes, and hopefully I will be motivated to prepare delicious food that fits the low calorie requirement on a regular basis. I think I might hold a blogging event on this at some point, what do you guys think?
Karamani Sundal: Black Eyed Peas South Indian Style
serves 2 as a side dish
1 cup of dried black eyed peas soaked overnight, 1/2 cup of diced raw mango, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 dried red chillies, 3 curry leaves, 1/4 tsp asafoetida
*Soak the Karamani Black Eyed Peas overnight covered in water.
1. Boil the peas in salted water, until they are tender but not mushy.
2. Drain the peas.
3. Splutter the mustards seeds in olive oil, add the red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves.
4. Add the peas, mango and mix.
Nutritional Information per serving:
Black eyed peas are low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are low in sodium. They are high in potassium, iron, and fiber.
| per serving | |
| Quantity | 1/2 cup |
| Energy (Calories) | 162 |
| Carbohydrates (grams) | 19.3 |
| Protein (Grams) | 6.5 |
| Cholesterol (Milligrams) | 0 |
| Fat (Grams) | 7.25 |
| Saturated Fat (grams) | 1 |
Milagai Podi (Red Hot Chili & Lentil Powder)
Growing up in a Tamil Brahmin home, eating the likes of idly and dosai's a few times a week was standard operating procedure for us. As children we would have ghee with our idlies, and ghee mixed with sugar, or yogurt mixed with sugar for our dosai. As our palates matured the condiment of choice fast became idly milagai podi, or dosai milagai podi (milagai means chili in Thamizh). This hot dipping 'sauce' is created by roasting and grinding dried red hot chillies with a few lentils, salt, and the ever present asafetida (referred to as devils dung by some). It is then served with gingelly or sesame oil, and then mixed up on your plate right as you begin your meal.
The standard meal "to go" for us is rolled up dosai's or idly's slathered with milagai podi. No matter what is available at home, even if no one has gone to the market, there will invariably be dosai with with milagaipodi 'thottuka', on the side.
Red hot chili powder served with oil, my entry for Nandita's Jihva for Ingredients - Chillies. Nandita hosts a wonderful blog called The Saffron Trail.
Milagai Podi
4 tbsp chana dal, 3 tbsp urad dal, 3 tbsp sesame seeds, 3/4 tsp of asafetida, 10-15 chillies, 1 tsp salt
1. Roast the chana dal, urad dal, chillies, and sesame seeds on medium low heat until they release a little of their oils and leave off a fragrant smell.
2. Grind all the ingredients together along with salt, and the asafetida.
Serve this along with sesame oil. The amount of chillies be adjusted according to ones taste. This is another family recipe, and was taken from my brother-in-law Gopi's website.
Oorukai: Manjal, Manga Injie, Vepilaikatti
Pickles are an important part of the South Indian meal, best eaten as an accompaniment to the last course of yogurt rice. Pickles in India are very different from the European varieties in that they are preserved in oil rather than vinegar. The acidic element of lemon or lime juice that is added prevents the pickle from going bad (bacterial growth), while the oil acts as a preservative. My favorite pickle is Maahaani (Sarsaparilla root) which my husband says he finds has a strong smell as it is pickled in oil, chili powder, and yogurt. The varieties are endless and include fruits like lemons, limes, mangoes, gooseberries, and citron to name a few. The mango variations alone are numerable with the likes of avvakai, vadu maangai, manga thokku, and one simply called manga oorukai.
The best part of having Indian parents and in-laws is all the great food they send us, and my fridge is always stocked with their homemade pickles. My dad is famed for his avvakai and regularily sends me batches of the fiery hot soaked mango pickle. Though my MIL lives in Chennai India, she still finds ways to send us samples of her pickles! Her recent shipment included these three delicious pickles (oorakai, roughly translated as soaked unripe fruit).
1. Manjal & Mangai Ingie - Turmeric & Mango Ginger Root
2. Manjal & Elimichampazham- Turmeric & Lime/Lemon
3. Vepilaikatti - Lime, Citron, and Curry Leaf Balls
All three are homemade, and she sent me the recipes for the first two so that I can share them with you all. I had a little doubt typing this up and reading her recipe, I wasn't sure if Mango Ginger meant mango + ginger, but I knew it didn't taste like that. So I found some great information about this on a similar post at Vaishali's Happy Burp. Mango Ginger (Curcuma Amada) is the name of a root that is from the same family as turmeric.
I can't tell you how good eating these roots make you feel. Here are some of the mango ginger root properties taken from Kissan Kerala.
"An appetizer, antipyretic, aphrodisiac and laxative. It is useful in biliousness, itching, skin diseases, bronchitis, asthma, hiccough and inflammation due to injuries. The rhizomes and roots are carminative and stomachic and in crushed pulp form they are applied over contusions, sprains and bruises for rapid healing."
I love reading about the medicinal characteristics of spices, herbs, and vegetables that are used in South Indian traditional cooking. Learning about them makes me appreciate the breadth of knowledge that our forefathers had and how their lifestyles were so organically healthy.
Turmeric is known for its antiseptic qualities, and women in South Indian rub on their skin (it turns their skin yellow too!). In South Indian Brahmin homes it is traditional to present married women with manjal roots and vermillion. The little goody bag in the picture is from my wedding, and is filled with small boxes of vermillion, saffron, and turmeric roots. My uncle grows fresh turmeric on his farm in Kerala and brought a huge bag of it for my wedding!
Turmeric Root & Mango Ginger Root Pickle
fresh turmeric root and fresh mango ginger root (enough for 1 cup of minced roots), 2 green chillies, 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp mustard seeds
1. Scrape the skin off the roots and mince them.
2. Mix the turmeric/mango ginger root with salt and lemon/lime juice.
3. Splutter the mustard seeds in a tsp of oil, add the green chili and fry.
4. Add this to the mixture and mix together.
My MIL says that if you cannot find both roots, the same recipe can be followed for plain ginger mango root, or plain turmeric root.
Turmeric Root & Lime Pickle
fresh turmeric root, 1 lime, salt,1 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp red chili powder, a pinch of asafetida, 3/4 tsp of salt
1. Scrape the skin off the turmeric roots and cut them in to small pieces.
2. Put it in a ceramic bowl.
3. Cut a lime into small pieces and add to the turmeric roots.
4. Add the salt (really to taste).
5. Heat a few tsp of oil, and splutter the mustard seeds.
6. Lower the heat and add the cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, the asafetida and roast slightly.
7. Add the turmeric root and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Remove from the heat, add the lime pieces and mix well.
The measurements are just a guide, and should be adjusted to taste.
The veppilaikatti is made by grinding up leaves of citron (narthangai), karivepilai (curry leaves), and lime or lemon leaves with red chillies, salt, and asafetida. Some people also add ajwain or omam seeds. This is ground with the juice of lemons or limes, and salt.
Flavored Buttermilk
Shankar got this recipe from one of our aunts, A amma as she is fondly referred to. It is the ultimate refreshing cool drink on a hot summer day. Just make up a batch of it, leave it in the fridge and enjoy. This makes about 4 cups. We use non fat yogurt, or homemade yogurt with fat free milk. You can see a similar recipe for this on Nandita's Saffron Trail.
Flavored Buttermilk
1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 cups of cold water, 1 small green chili, 1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 6-7 curry leaves, 3-4 stalks of cilantro , salt to taste, a pinch of kala namak - black salt (optional), a pinch of ground fenugreek, and 1/2 a tsp of mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp asafetida
1. Grind all the ingredients together in a blender except the last three.
2. Splutter the mustard seeds in a little oil, add the ground fenugreek, asafetida. Add to the buttermilk and mix.
Verdict: We are so addicted to this now.
Bread Uppuma
This is such a great recipe to use up bread at the end of the week, as well as being super fast to prepare. Its also a great idea for Saturday morning breakfasts, when you have the time to make something hot. Shankar threw this together for me as an after work snack. I've seen a few recipes on other blogs, but this method we got from my MIL.
Bread Uppuma
10 slices of bread, 1 tomato diced, 1 small onion minced, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds, a few curry leaves, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 large green chili minced, a few curry leaves, cilantro chopped
1. Cut the bread into 1" cubes. Sprinkle with water and salt.
2. Splutter the mustard seeds in oil, add the cumin seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add the green chili and fry it. Add the turmeric and red chili powder.
4. Add the onions and fry them. Add the tomatoes and fry until the oil separates.
5. Add the bread and mix thoroughly. Add salt.
6. Add chopped cilantro as a garnish.
Venpongal Gotsu
Another classic combination from the realms of Tamil Nadu courtesy of my dear MIL. My own mother used to make venpongal all the time, but I only really got hooked on it when I tasted my MIL's eggplant gotsu. My own mom will attest that the eggplant gotsu is very good as she got the recipe from my MIL even before I did! I digress, lets get back to venpongal. So I have done a post on venpongal earlier for the Pongal Festival, but that day I didn't have any eggplant so I served it up with sambar. The classic combination for venpongal is eggplant gotsu. Yummy eggplant and tomato stewed in a tamarind sauce with only a few lentils and spices to flavor it. I recommend making this gotsu next time you make venpongal, you'll be hooked I promise. This recipe is for four people.
Eggplant Gotsu
1 medium eggplant diced, 1 tomato diced, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp channa daal, 2 dried red chillies, a pinch of asafetida, 1 tbsp minced ginger, 1 medium green chili minced, a few curry leaves, 1 cup of tamarind juice (use a 1" ball of tamarind to extract the juice from), 1/2 tsp turmeric, salt, a little water
1. Splutter the mustard seeds in 2 tbsp of oil. Add the channa daal, asafetida, red chillies, and curry leaves and let the channa daal turn golden.
2. Add the ginger, green chilli, and turmeric.
3. Add the tomato and fry it a little. Add the eggplant.
4. Add the tamarind juice, and barely cover the eggplant with water. Add salt.
5. Let this simmer until it thickens.
Verdict: A repeat dish for sure.
Potato Podimas
This is a classic that my mom prepared for us as children. We loved the podimas in so many different roopams - forms; tucked into toasted sandwiches, sealed in a filo pastry, or just as an accompaniment to thayir sadham - yogurt rice. This recipe is a low fat, yet tasty method of preparing potatoes. I liken this to South Indian Mashed potatoes. Ok alright I admit it, potatoes are my favorite food group! This recipe is sufficient for 2 people with a little left over to make your sandwich switch up the next day.
Potato Podimas
2 large potatoes, 1 large green chili, 1 tbsp minced ginger, a few curry leaves, 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp channa daal, a pinch of asafetida, 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp of red chili powder (optional), chopped cilantro for garnish, 1/2 lime or lemon, salt.
1. Boil the potatoes and cut them into chunks.
2. Splutter the mustard seeds in 2 tbsp oil, add the channa daal, curry leaves, asafetida.
3. Add the green chili and ginger, and fry.
4. Add the turmeric, chili powder (optional), and potatoes. Squeeze the lime/lemon into this.
5. Add salt.
6. Mash roughly with a potato masher. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Verdict: Thumbs up from Shankar, and we did the switchup today for an after work snack.
Pitlai
Another great recipe from the Queen of South Indian cuisine, my MIL. Pitlai. Its kind of a cross between sambar and kootu. So we're talking vegetables stewed in tamarind juice and a freshly ground spice mixture, with a bit of cooked toor dal added at the end. Sounds like sambar right? Pitlai does not have any fenugreek though, and the consistency is thick like kootu. I made it today, and all i can say is it tastes SO good. I am a fan of pitlai now. I'm pretty sure even Bee (who apparently hates sambar) would like this! You can make pitlai with any of the vegetables listed below. I happened to have eggplant, chayote squash, and okra, so that's what went into my pitlai. My MIL says she usually doesn't use okra as it can get mushy (I recommend frying it first), and she won't use vegetables like beans for ex. Also my MIL suggests using 1/2 the amount of tamarind juice for any vegetable other than eggplant.
UPDATE #1:
Shankar just came home now and said the pitlai was good, BUT the classic combination for pitlai is more kuzhambu! Apparently one does not mix with rice and eat as I have described below, but has as a side dish to more kuzhambu with rice. And also, pitlai is supposed to be one vegetable only! I made it with three. But it was still good in my opinion, and Shankar said it tasted very good. The ultimate is supposedly eggplant pitlai with okra more kuzhambu. So, tomorrow I will make okra more kuzhambu and let's see how this combo tastes. Will post more pictures of that! Stay tuned....
Pitlai
2 cups of 3/4" cubed vegetables (green tomato, katharikai- eggplant, paharkai - bittergourd, pushnikai - white chinese melon, chou chou - chayote squash, parangikai - orange pumpkin), 1 tsp turmeric, 1 cup tamarind juice extracted from a 1" ball of tamarind, 1 tsp mustard seeds, a few curry leaves, 1/4 cup of cooked toor daal.
Spice Mixture
1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tbsp channa daal, a pinch of asafetida, 4 dried red chillies, 1 tbsp dry grated coconut.
1. Roast the spice mixture and then grind it into a powder.
2. If you are using okra or bittergourd fry it in some oil on high heat.
3. Reduce the heat, add the other vegetables and barely cover with water. Boil for a few minutes with the turmeric.
4. Add the tamarind juice, and the spice mixture and continue boiling. Then bring to a simmer.
5. Add salt.
6. Add the toor daal and mix.
7. Splutter the mustard seeds in oil and add a few more curry leaves. Add to the mixture.
Serve with rice, appalam, and a tomato pachidi. Classically this is served with more kuzhambu.
Tomato Pachidi
1/2 tomato diced, a few fenugreek seeds, a pinch of asafetida, 1 tsp of mustard seeds, 1/2 small green chili minced, chopped cilantro for garnish, 1 cup yogurt
1. Splutter the mustard seeds, add the green chillies, and then add the fenugreek and asafetida.
3. Add this to the tomato and yogurt with salt and mix.
4. Garnish with cilantro.
Verdict: My husband is coming home from school for an hour break just to eat this!
UPDATE #2:
I made vendakkai - okra more kuzhambu last night, and here is a picture of my lunchbox today. It was so tasty, I can see why it is the classic combination. But to be honest, I still liked the version with rice and thayir pachadi too!
Bisibelabath
I love bisibelabath, or bis-b as it is fondly referred to in our home. I always ate it and thought it must be such a difficult recipe to make. I asked my M-in-law to teach me her bis-b recipe when she came over, and as with all her recipes this one is easy and turns out amazing every time. The vegetables with a sour tamarind taste all cooked in the spice blend flavoured with krambu (cloves), aelaka (cardomom), and lavangam (cinnamon), mixed with rice and daal - definitely a comfort food for me. I usually make an extra quantity of the spice mixture so on lazy days I can utilize that, frozen toor daal, and rice made in the rice cooker to whip up bis-b in a flash. Frozen vegetables work perfectly for this as well.
Bisibelabath
1 cup rice, 1/2 cup toor daal, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 cups of diced vegetables (cauliflower, beans, peas, carrots, lima beans, yams, radish, pearl onions, potato, tomato), juice of 1 golf ball sized ball of tamarind, 1 tsp heaping of mustard seeds, a few curry leaves, 1 tbsp of cashewnuts, 2 tbsp of ghee
Spice Mixture
2 heaping tbsp channa daal, 2 heaping tbsp coriander seeds, 2 cloves, 2 cardomom pods (seeds only), 15 dried red chillies, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp of dry grated coconut OR 1 heaping tsp poppy seeds
1. Cook the rice and toor daal. You can cook them together in a pressure cooker, or separately.
Rice: Water - 1:2, Toor Daal: Water - 1:2. You can add a pinch of turmeric to the daal while it is cooking.
2. In a large pot, heat a little oil and saute the pearl onions until they caramelize slightly.
3. Add the remaining vegetables and salt them. Add the tamarind juice, and cover the vegetables with water and simmer.
4. Toast the spices on medium heat until golden brown and they release their aroma. Grind them in a spice grinder.
5. Add the spice mixture to the pot and continue to simmer until the vegetables are cooked and release a nice aroma.
6. Add the rice and the daal, and mix together. Add salt.
7. Splutter the mustard seeds in ghee, add the curry leaves and roast the cashewnuts in the ghee. Add this to the rice mixture.
8. You can add as much ghee to your taste.
Serve with a yogurt and tomato pachidi on the side.
Verdict: I took this dish to a dinner party the other night, and my friends liked it a lot. They did find it a bit spicy (they were not Indians). So I recommend reducing the chillies for people not used to the spice. My personal taste is HOT!.
Thayir Vadai
A few weekends ago the hubby had gone off to India on a school project, and I decided to make a trip to Toronto. I love going back home, and getting spoiled rotten with delicious food by my mom and dad. This trip my mom decided she hadn't made anything 'good' (meaning deep fried) in a while, so she whipped up her amazing thayir vadai's (fried lentil doughnuts soaked in yogurt topped with coconut chutney). They were one of my childhood favourites. Food is a great way to trigger wonderful memories! Here is her recipe below, it sounds easy but I have yet to attempt it.
Thayir Vadai
1 cup urad daal, 1 tbsp of rice, 6-7 green chillies, 1 tbsp ginger, a pinch of asafetida, a few curry leaves, 1/2 cup of grated coconut, 2 cups of yogurt, cilantro
1. Soak a cup of full dehusked urad daal along with a spoon of rice for an hour. Then wash and drain it well.
2. Grind the green chillies, ginger, salt, asafetida with the curry leaves. You need to add a little water to grind it. Add the soaked urad dal and grind till it becomes fluffy.
Note: Do not add water after you add the daal, as it will become too watery, the dough has to be soft and well ground , but not watery. It will splutter the oil as you try to deep fry them if it is too watery, and you can burn yourself!
3. Heat oil in the heavy bottom wok, test it with a small ball of dough, it should sizzle and rise up immediately.
4. Dip your hands in water , scoop the dough along the sides of the bowl and make a large hole with your thumb. Slide this gently into the oil as close to the sides as you can. The film of water on your fingers will help it slide effortlessly into the oil.
4. To make it into thayir vadai, arrange three or four sets of vadai in a flat bottom dish. Take yogurt (homemade works best) and pour over it when vadai is cooled off but still slightly warm . This will help it absorb all the water in the yogurt and leave a film of creamy yogurt on top. Blend half a cup of yogurt with fresh coconut , and green chillies to taste. Top each vadai with this chutney. Before serving the vadai you can decorate with fresh cilantro, or grated carrot in small amounts on top of each vadai. Some people also garnish with spluttered mustard seeds.
5. If you wish to do it for a party and wish to go fancy, my mom will add just a small handfull of boondi after making the vadai and use it to add crunch and color on top of the thair vadai.
Note: When the warm vadai is left in the yogurt it will soak up in three hours. Some people dip the vadai in hot water too, but that is optional.
My sister and I kept eating the vadai's at all times of the day. For lunch, then with our tea, then after we came home from partying at 3 in the morning. Thayir Vadais are a good thing!
Uppuma
This was one of the first dishes I asked my M-in-law to teach me. Its such a standard South Indian dish, and so easy to put together anytime. I always keep my dad's famous avvakai pickle in the fridge and serve it next to the Uppuma. Rava is a key ingredient in my pantry, and I always keep various frozen vegetables in the freezer. I find that the key is to make sure you don't skimp on the flavoring ingredients, that will affect the taste a lot.
Uppuma
1.5 cups rava, 1.5 cups vegetables (carrot, peas, beans, small cauliflower florets, lima beans, chopped cabbage), 1 tomato diced, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp urad daal, 1 tsp channa daal, 2 dried red chillies, 2 tsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp minced ginger, 1 large green chili, a few curry leaves, a pinch of asafetida
1. Roast the rava in a pan, until it turns a nice golden brown color and gives off a nutty aroma. Be careful, it can burn quickly.
2. Splutter the mustard seeds in oil, add the urad daal, channa daal, dried red chillis, cashew nuts, ginger, green chili, asafetida, curry leaves and fry them.
3. Add the vegetables, tomato, turmeric and salt.
4. Add 3. 75 cups of water, and cook the vegetables.
5. Add the rava and mix through. You may need to add more salt to taste.
My M-in-law's recipe is so easy, and turns out really well. I just keep practicing all these dishes, the more you make them the better you get. Any other ideas out there for Uppuma?
Karadaiyan Nombu
Karadaiyan Nombu is a festival celebrated by South Indian married women in Tamil Nadu. North Indian women have a similar festival called Karva Chauth. The premise is that married women pray to never be separated from their husbands. The story of Savithri's devotion to her husband Sathyavan is remembered that day, you can read about it here. I have a younger sister named Savithri, so we were quite familiar with it growing up, and we loved reading the romantic story in the Amar Chitra Katha comic books.
For Karadaiyan Nombu, I called up my dear M-in-law to find out what exactly I was supposed to do. I took down notes and emailed them to her to double check. I never claimed to be a big Thamizh Pullavar, I can barely speak the language but what ensued had my M-in-law in stitches.
Nombu Notes:
1. Wash your hair, and wear a madisaar (nine yards saree).
2. Do not eat leftovers.
3. Make both sweet and savory Adai/Kozhakattai.
4. Make a kolam in front of swami.
5. Place the manja charadu (yellow string), fruits, and butter in front of swami.
6. Tie the first charadu on Devi, with flowers or fresh manjal.
7. Tie the second one on yourself, and repeat:
"Urukaatha venaiyum, Oradaiyum, naan noothEn, Orukaalum yen kanavan thiriyavendam".
8. Serve the Kozhakattai as neiveythiyam to god.
9. Do a namaskaram for Shankar, and give the neiveythiyam to shankar.
Wednesday evening b/w 7:30 - 9:30.
Well, the joke was in line 7. where the Thamizh saying is supposed to be: "Non-melted butter, an adai, I place in front of you, at anytime my husband should not be parted from me (Piriyavendam)." Instead I have written for the last part: "At anytime, my husband should not be out roaming around! (Thiriyavendam!!)".
Here is a Thamizh version: "உருகாத வெண்ணையும் ஓர் அடையும் வைத்தேன், ஒரு காலும் என் கணவர் என்னைவிட்டு பிரியாமல் இருக்க வேண்டும்". ( O Lord. I pray that my husband leads a long life and stays with me forever.) It is almost the same as what my M-in-law mailed me.
Luckily for me my mother was visiting from Toronto, so the two of us had the laptop open and diligently followed the instructions. Also my organized mother made sure to bring soaked black eyed peas with her, and also manjal. The adai turned out nicely thanks to my mom, and we did our puja together. Luckily for me my hubby is such a sweet fellow, and he made us a delicious lemon rasam for dinner which we served up with beans curry, and a green pepper mushroom curry that my dad made! So the women were praying, and the men did the cooking! A nice modern twist on Karadaiyan Nombu. If one had to compare Shankar and I cooking nice dishes for our respective in-laws I do think my folks got the better end of the deal! Below are the recipes straight from Chennai courtesy of my mamiyar.
Adai/Kozhakattai Sweet Version
1 cup rice flour, 1 cup jaggery, 2tsp black eye beans soaked overnight, 2 tbsp coconut pieces, cardamom powder
1. Dry roast the flour till it is slightly off white in colour (when you try putting kolam with it the flour should be flow easily ....in the sense that the line should continuous!)
2. Boil 2 cups of water with the jaggery, black eyed beans & coconut bits, & cardamom powder. Once the jaggery has melted completely add the flour. Reduce the heat & mix & cook till the water is gone.
3. Let it cool for some time so that you can roll it without getting blisters. Roll them into balls, flatten them and make a hole in the middle.
4. Steam them in an idly steamer for 10 minutes or so.
Adai/Kozhakattai Savory Version
1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 green chili, 1tsp minced ginger, a few curry leaves, 1 tbsp coconut bits, 2 tsp black eyed peas, 1 cup rice flour
1. Splutter mustard seeds, add green chillies & ginger, curry leaves, coconut bits and the black eyed beans.
2. Add 2 cups water, salt.
3. When the water starts boiling add the flour and continue as you would in the previous recipe.
Verdict: I don't think the men were really all that into the Adai's that we made for them but Mom and I certainly enjoyed them! Shankar's rasam was the hit of the night, and his secret ingredient was to add a stalk of lemongrass that was left in our fridge from the Thai cooking.
Idly (Uppuma)
As you all have read last weekend my f-in-law came over from India and I was busy making tiffin dabbas and the likes trying to impress him. Well, any inroads I made with the vatral kuzhambu were completely destroyed with my idlies the next day. Following my Dad's recipe I soaked the rice and urad, unfortunately I did not have parboiled rice. I ground them separately, mixed and let it rise, but I think because the weather wasn't really warm it didn't rise very well. To make a long story short the idlies were hard as BRICKS! I did receive feedback from my dear hubby that they were the worst idlies he had ever eaten. I felt bad, being the daughter of a master idly maker and all! But the sambar was pretty good if I do say so myself, and chutney! Now every person I meet has a new variation to tell me about how to make idlies, the ratio and the rising, and the brand of rice! Well, bring on the advice. Let's hear it. BTW, I did put it in the oven on warm for the whole day and it still only rose like 1cm. I guess I should not have attempted the idlies, but at least I have learned my lesson to always have a back up to them! ha. 
We had some friends staying over with us as well, and luckily our Aunty who was here fixed up my idlies and transformed them into idly uppuma!! She gave me the suggestion to grate the idlies, yes folks they were THAT hard. Then she spluttered mustard seeds with channa daal, curry leaves and asafetida in a good amount of sesame oil. She added chili powder, turmeric and the grated idlies, and then mixed in a good amount of idly-milagaipodi and salt.
It tasted so good. I mean we all ate the left overs for days. You would never have know they had started out as such bricks. Its a good lesson that these Aunty's, Mother's and M-in-law's practice, they never waste any food!
Verdict: My dear f-in-law was so sweet and ate my rock hard idlies. He told me that idlies are hard to make, and so I should keep trying. Also he gave me extra compliments on the vatral kuzhambu to make me feel better! Hubby ended up warming the leftovers in the evening and eating them. My parents came over the next day and my father and mother loved the idly uppuma and we finished it off. Not one idly was wasted!
Appa's Tiffin Dabba
The other night I got a phone call from my in-laws about my F-in-law's trip to the US from Madras this weekend. He planned to stop in Detroit en route to California to drop off some stuff with us. I did get the instructions from my M-in-law to take some food for him as he would be just getting off an 18 hr flight, and having to go on another 5 hr journey, needless to say even if she hadn't said this I would have done it. But the funny part is our dear VKV Mama, who is staying with my in-laws in India requested me to make sure I put whatever I made for Appa on the blog so they could see too. Well, this posed quite a challenge for me, and I hope I have risen up to it!
In making my own version of the classic Indian tiffan dabba I decided to take a queue from Jen's beautiful Vegan Lunchboxes, and try a bento box style. Being Indian, I have a tonne of tupperware lying around so I used a nice flat rectangular box as the base and filled it up with a few smaller boxes, and juice containers. My m-in-law had recommended I make rotis, but I decided that something hot in a thermos might be good after such a long trip. The bento boxes really remind me of how they serve the food to you on the airplanes, so I guess the theme was quite apropos. I wasn't sure what Appa would feel like eating so I decided to make a little bit of a few different items and then he could choose from them.
Appa's Tiffan Dabba
vatral kuzhambu sadham with more keerai, yogurt rice with mango pickle, carrot and pomegranate salad, roti and methi potato curry, orange and cranberry juice
Vatral Kuzhambu Powder
Equal quantities of toor daal, urad daal, channa daal, and a few whole black peppercorns (I recommend 1 tbsp of each for a 1 quart pot)
1. Roast all the ingredients except the last, and then grind them.
Vatral Kuzhambu
1 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp toor daal, 1 tsp urad daal, 1 tsp channa daal, 1 tbsp dried wonderberries (manathakkali), 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds, a pinch of asafetida, a few curry leaves, 1 cup tamarind juice (make using 2"ball of tamarind), 1 cup water (guideline), 2 tbsp of the vatral kuzhambu powder, 2 tsp red chili powder, salt
1. Splutter the mustard seeds in sesame oil, add the toor daal, urad daal, fenugreek seeds, asafetida and curry leaves. Roast till they are golden brown.
2. Add the wonderberries, vatral kuzhambu powder, and red chili powder, and mix.
3. Add the tamarind juice, and water.
4. Boil this until it becomes a nice concentrated liquid, and add salt.
Now, I have been told that the vatral kuzhambu podi should be matched with an equal quantity of red chili powder. That was too hot for me, you can adjust to your taste. I like mine to have quite a bit of the vatral kuzhambu podi taste as well. Taste it, smell it, the more you make it the better you will get. This is really just a guideline. I guess it's supposed to be quite hot as people usually mix the sadham with a lot of ghee, but I'm not a fan of using a lot of ghee.
* As I learned from my culinary training at the Sundaram School of Cooking, the classic combo for vatral kuzhambu is more keerai, which is just your standard keerai recipe (spinach with mustard seeds, channa daal, dried red chillies), with the addition of moremilagai! Chillis that have been soaked in buttermilk and salt and dried in the sun, and then deep fried till they are black. Yum, seriously. The recipes are from my dear M-in-law, and we dried the moremilagai's together when she was visiting me this past summer. A friend of ours had wonderberries growing in their garden so we picked them also and dried them in the sun after soaking them in buttermilk and salt, it was very cool.
Methi Potato Curry
2-3 small potatoes diced and boiled, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 small green chillies chopped, 1-2 tbsp dried methi, 1 handful of frozen or fresh peas
1. Roast the cumin seeds in oil, and add the turmeric, and green chillies.
2. Add the peas and cook for a few min.
3. Add the potatoes, salt, and methi and mix well.
The Verdict: Appa ate the vetral kuzhmabu first. By the time we sat down it wasn't as hot as I had hoped, but he said it was still warm. At first he started out saying he wasn't sure he could eat all of it, and then after eating and saying it was 'so good' he finished all of it. (score!) Appa ate some of the yogurt rice, drank the orange cranberry juice and then he got full. He didn't want roti's because he had already eaten the ones Amma packed for him from India. Shankar then finished the remaining yogurt rice and 2 roti's, and I ate the last roti. The salad came back home.
Classic Combinations
When I visited my husbands place for the first time (before marriage), my in laws treated me with an lunch that was a cornucopia of South Indian traditional dishes. Upon complimenting my M-in-law after the lunch, she casually mentioned to me that not only does she cook mostly traditional South Indian food, but in traditional combinations. I was really impressed and so excited to begin learning all about this from her. Of course, first I had to marry her son but that was soon taken care of.
This is one of my M-in-law's classic combinations, poricha kozhambu (mixed vegetable stew) and puli-itta-keerai (spinach with tamarind). Her signature is to always have a fresh salad with these meals, and I have added one such carrot salad of my own mother's recipe here. The amounts below are suitable for 2 people.
Poricha Kozhambu
1 heaping tbsp toor daal, 1 heaping tbsp urad daal, 5 whole black peppercorns, 1 heaping tsp cumin seeds, 1-2 dried red chili, a few curry leaves, either 1tbsp grated coconut or a dash of asafetida, diced vegetables (any combination of carrots, beans, peas, eggplant, zucchini, lima beans, and snake gourd), 1 tsp mustards seeds, 1 tsp turmeric
1. Boil the diced vegetables, just barely covered in water with the turmeric and a few curry leaves.
2. Roast the toor daal, urad daal, peppercorns, cumin seeds, red chili and grind this up with a few curry leaves.
3. Add the spice mixture to the boiling vegetables, and let it cook nicely, add salt.
4. Splutter the mustard seeds (and asafetida if you are not using coconut) and add to the mixture.
5. You can add the grated coconut at the end for flavor if you are using it.
*I usually don't put coconut to reduce the fat content. As you can see this dish only uses the few drops of oil to splutter the mustard seeds.
Puli-itta Keerai
frozen or fresh spinach (a good BIG handful), 2 small split green chilis, 1/4 cup of tamarind juice, 1 tsp mustard seeds, a pinch of asafetida, 1/2 tsp urad daal, 1/2 tsp of channa daal, 1 dried red chili
1. Cook spinach with the split green chillis in the tamarind juice on medium, add salt.
3. Blend the spinach with a hand blender, being careful not to grind up the chillis unless you want it that hot! Do not grind too much, as you still want a nice texture.
4. Splutter the mustard seeds, add the urad daal, channa daal, asafetida, and red chillis.
* If the spinach is too watery you can add rice flour to thicken it up. Ensure you cook the flour through completely.
Carrot Salad
1/2 large carrot, 1 green chili, lemon, 1 tsp urad daal, a pinch of asafetida, a few mustard seeds, cilantro to garnish
1. Soak the urad daal in water, until they break easily.
2. Grate the carrot, add a squeeze of lemon.
2. Splutter the mustard seeds in oil, and add the dash of asafetida, and fry the chili chopped in two.
3. Mix the grated carrot with mustard seeds, chili, and drained ural daal and a pinch of salt.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
South Indian Style
Not wanting to be outdone by my father, my mother made us an amazing lunch today. We decided to take pictures of it as it would traditionally be served in South India on a banana leaf. Luckily my mother is not only an amazing cook, but she also has a green thumb being a Masters in Botany! So her home is filled with beautiful plants that remind her of her childhood in Madras. It'll be -20C outside here in Toronto, and she'll have jasmine flowers blooming inside next to mini banana trees, tulasi plants, and of course her precious Karivepilai (curry leaf) plant.
Today's lunch was a consequence of our grocery shopping trip to our local China town. The 'GTA' (Greater Toronto Area!) is lucky to have such a large ethnic population that the downtown Chinatown is beginning to be dwarfed by the local variations that are popping up. Lucky for us we have our own just 20 minutes away, and you should see the varieties of vegetables and things they have there. I will do a post on that soon (wish I had taken my camera this time). Anyways we came away with gorgeous podalanga (snake gourd), kothavaranga (french cluster beans), chou chou (chayote squash), sorrakai (bottlegourd), baby bok choy, keerai (spinach), and vazhakai (green banana), and slender mulangi (daikon) all pictured here. On top of that we also bought fresh guava, bananas, grapefruit, and fresh peanuts!
So with that the menu ended up being as follows; podalanga curry, keerai masiyal, chou chou kootu, mulangi sambar accompanied by homemade vadam, lemon pickle, mango pickle, and sweet payasam. Amma also whipped up some of her crunchy vadai's.
Chou Chou Kootu (Chayote Squash Stew)
2 tbsp moong daal, 2 tbsp channa daal, 2 chayote squash peeled and diced, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 tbsp ground coconut, 1 medium green chili, 1 tsp mustard seeds,1 tsp urad daal, a pinch of asafetida, 5-6 curry leaves
1. Soak the daals in a little water for 1 hour.
2. Cook the daals in water (or pressure cook them).
3. Add the chou chou after about 5- 10 minutes of cooking the daal, with salt and a few curry leaves.
3. Add 2 tsp of cumin seeds to this.
4. Grind the coconut and green chili with some water and add this to the boiling mixture.
5. After this has all cooked together splutter the mustard seeds and then add the urad daal seeds, asafetida and curry leaves. Add this to the mixture and serve hot.
Podalanga Curry (Snake gourd curry)
1 snake gourd diced (with the ends cut and the insides scraped out), 1 tsp urad daal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 2 dried red chillis (or 1 tsp chili flakes), a pinch of asafetida, and a few curry leaves
1. Splutter the mustard seeds, add the urad daal with the asafetida and curry leaves.
2. Add the podalanga and 1 tsp water. Steam this with the lid covered.
3. You can add 2 tsp of curry powder, or sambar powder for additional flavour to this.
Keerai Masiyal (Spinach Stew)
1 bunch of spinach, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad daal, a few whole black peppercorns, 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of asafetida, 2 dried red chillis (or 1 tsp of chili flakes), ground coconut
1. Splutter the cumin seeds. Add the urad daal, peppercorns, black pepper, asafetida and the red chillis.
2. Once they have roasted add the chopped spinach. Add a little water and cook this down with salt.
3. Once this has cooked, add the ground coconut.
* You can also add some ground skinned almonds if you would like to reduce the fat of the coconut, and my mother adds interesting things like roasted pumpkins seeds as well.
**Another variation on this would be to do 1/2 broccoli florets and 1/2 spinach.
*** You could also add 1 tsp of yogurt to this at the end for yet another version.
Fluffy snow white......IDLY!!
To counteract the freezing cold fluffy white snow outside my Dad made hot fluffy snow white idlies today! My Dad's idlies are really soft and perfect. We relished them with yennai milagai podi and sambar. There are a few things I really look forward to when visiting my parents in Toronto, and one of them is my Dad's oorakai (hot mango pickle), and another is his idly. Anyways, father and daughter have been having fun together. Yesterday we went to the local Saravana Bhavan and gorged on delicous Onion Rava Masala Dosai with coconut chutney and hot Madras coffee. Today was home cooked yumminess. I've been spoiled with my family competing with each other to feed me all these dishes. I think Savithri will be putting up a post soon with the recipe for her awesome Paneer Achari.
I seem to have problems with yogurt and idly/dosa batters rising in Michigan as my oven doesn't have a light, nor is my toaster oven big enough. But I make them anyways, they rise about a few centimetres and still taste good. In the summer they rise like crazy though! Any uselful tips are welcome!
Idly
1 part par boiled rice (puzhungal arisi), 2 parts urad daal, 6 parts patna rice
1. Soak the combined rices in a bowl. Soak the urad daal separately in water for appoximately 12 -16 hours. Do not strain the water afterwards. Just barely cover the rice and lentils with water at all times. Do not soak for too long or else it will STINK.
2. Very finely grind the urad daal separately into a fine paste.
3. Coarsely grind the rice.
4. Mix the ground rice and urad daal paste together. Add salt, and mix it thoroughly (like 40 times!) to incorporate the ingredients.
5. Place this into the oven with just the light on for 12 hours for the batter to rise.
6. As soon as it rise, remove from the oven, and stir the mixture.
5. Grease the idly molds and fill them with the batter.
6. Steam these in a rice cooker, or in a large pot with a some boiling water for 20-25 minutes.
7. You could also pressure cook them for about 10-12 minutes.
8. Unmold the idlies with a plastic knife and serve immediately.
More Veggies!
I don't think I would eat that much broccoli or okra if I didn't know these South Indian recipes. Incorporating vegetables into a regular meal plan is so much easier with the South Indian Meal formula:
2 vegetable curry (eg. spinach, broccoli, okra, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, vazhakkai, potato)
1 salad (eg. carrot, cucumber, tomato, radish, celery, lettuce, fruit)
1 lentil stew dish (e.g. rasam, sambar, vetral kuzhambu, more kuzhambu, poricha kuzhambu, kootu)
rice
yogurt or buttermilk
hot pickle
Its so easy to prepare meals when you have this formula to go by. I mean what I have written above is for an ideal lunch, but you can reduce it if only 1 or 2 people are eating. We usually have 1 curry, sometimes a salad, a sambar or rasam, rice, and buttermilk. I always keep hot pickles like vadu mangai or avvakai in the fridge.
This morning I decided I wanted to finish yesterday's rasam and so I made 2 curries to go along with it (in accordance with my theory that leftover food tastes better with something fresh). This afternoon's lunch was rasam, broccoli curry, okra curry, and buttermilk, with some sambar on the side and avakkai pickle. It was pretty good.
Broccoli Curry
1 ziploc bag of frozen chopped broccoli florets, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp urad daal, 2 dried red chillis, a pinch of asafetida.
1. Splutter the mustard seeds, and then roast the urad daal, red chillis, and asafetida.
2. Add the broccoli, mix on medium heat, and then cover and steam over a lower heat.
Okra Curry
1 cup frozen okra chopped, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, a pinch of asafetida, turmeric, 1 dried red chili, 1 split green chili, 1 tbsp of yogurt.
1. Splutter the mustard seeds in oil, add the fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, and asafetida.
2. Add the okra and after a few minutes add the yogurt mixed with turmeric.
3. Cook this through.
Verdict: My husband commented that the broccoli could be a better quality, and the vendakkai though gooey still tasted great. Supposedly the yogurt can help the okra from becoming gooey. If anyone has any other suggestions please post them for vendakkai!
Leftover Lunch
Lunch is such a wonderful meal when one is unemployed and staying home. Last night we went to the MBA Happy Hour and had a great time with our friends. Thursday evenings are a highlight in my week. Anyways it was filled with lots of yummy junk food that we ate outside like steak fries (no mom, there is no steak in it, they are just thick cut fries), battered and fried mozzarella sticks, and pizza from NYPD. So this morning for me required a bit of detox, with a laaaate lunch. I volunteered this morning (Working with an Austistic Child in the Son-Rise Program. I will write more on that later in my friends section. Stay tuned). 
Of course I came back around noon and wanted a nice hot meal but didn't want to cook