Soft Idlis and Vada Kari

There are few other pleasures than wolfing down fluffly idlis along with vada kari and a piping hot cup of coffee at 9 in the morning! Ah! The after-taste in the mouth lingers on and on and on.

The meek and docile idli teams up with a number of accompaniments/side dishes to serve up a great tiffin. Though it doesnt have any distinguishing taste by itself, the humble idli lends itself to the great many side dishes of India. One of them is vada kari which is a famous recipe in the Thiruvannamalai and Chennai areas of Tamilnadu, India.


Vada kari

Ingredients:

chana dal 1 cup
coconut milk 1 cup
onions 2
tomatoes 2
chilli powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
oil as required

To grind to a tight paste:
ginger 1 small piece
garlic 8 flakes
saunf 1 tsp
chillies 3
cinnamon and cardamom and cloves : 1 each

Method:
Soak the chana dal for 1 hr and then grind to a coarse paste. Slice the onions and tomatoes. Take one tsp of the ground masala paste and mix with the chana dal paste and add salt.Fry this in oil as a vada shape and keep aside. Next heat some oil and add the rest of the ground masala and once it is well fried add the tomatoes and ground paste and chilli powder and turmeric and coriander and saute well. Add coconut milk along wiht this and bring to a boil once. Now, divide the vada balls into a haphazard manner and add some water and once it boils remove from the fire.

Ambrosia...sweet Ambrosia...

Tender Coconut Water. Ah, who doesnt love it? As pure as Mother's Milk-Mother Nature's Milk. Summer is the time when one sees loads of tender coconuts on the road side in Chennai and thirsty folks mobbing the vendor for a taste of ambrosia!

The water of tender coconut, technically the liquid endosperm, is the most nutritious wholesome beverage that the nature has provided for the people of the tropics to fight the sultry heat. It has caloric value of 17.4 per 100gm.

"It is unctuous, sweet, increasing semen, promoting digestion and clearing the urinary path," says Ayurveda on tender coconut water (TWC).

Numerous medicinal properties of tender coconut water reported are:-

1. Good for feeding infants suffering from intestinal disturbances.
2. Oral rehydration medium
3. Contains organic compounds possessing growth promoting properties
4. Keeps the body cool
5. Application on the body prevents prickly heat and summer boils and subsides the rashes caused by small pox, chicken pox, measles, etc.
6. Kills intestinal worms
7. Presence of saline and albumen makes it a good drink in cholera cases
8. Checks urinary infections.
9. Excellent tonic for the old and sick
10. Cures malnourishment.
11. Diuretic
12. Effective in the treatment of kidney and urethral stones
13. Can be injected intravenously in emergency case.
14. Found as blood plasma substitute because it is sterile, does not produce heat, does not destroy red blood cells and is readily accepted by the body.
15. Aids the quick absorption of the drugs and makes their peak concentration in the blood easier by its electrolytic effect.
16. Urinary antiseptic and eliminates poisons in case of mineral poisoning.

It’s a natural isotonic beverage with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It’s the fluid of life, so to speak.

Source:Coconut Development Board

Kirni Pazham....Rohinton Mistry...

Come summer and the Chennai market is flooded with water melon and musk melon (kirni pazham, molaam pazham). Cantaloupes are a musk type melon with the characteristic netting on the skin. Cantaloupes and melons are fragrant fruits, related to cucumbers and squashes. Fresh Cantaloupe should be well developed with a full slip at the stem end, well delineated netting, light gold to light gray green background color and a bright orange colored flesh. Cantaloupe is eaten in its natural state wither at the beginning of a meal or at the end as a dessert. It is often pureed and served frozen in desserts such as sorbet.

Cantaloupe Smoothie:

Tasty, refreshing, and fat-free! Try this delicious cantaloupe smoothie recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ripe cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Makes about 4 cups.


As you can see in the pic, I am currently reading a book: A fine Balance.

I recently 'discovered' Rohinton Mistry...dunno how, but I did come across his name somewhere and then searched him up on the net....and I cant believe how I could miss out on such a wonderful writer for this long. Well, I bought his book--A Fine Balance--and have started devouring it eagerly. Crystal clear crisp writings that compel the reader to almost visualise the happenings as if it were happening right under their nose. Most reviews say that his works reminds one of Charles Dickens for its compassionate realism and narrative sweep.

A Fine Balance, is set in the turbulent 70's in an unnamed city by the sea and captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism of India. In the story, four strangers come together--a widow, a student and two tailors who have fled the violence in their native village. Hope this book satiates my thirst for reading a 'good novel' by an Indian writer after a long time.

Vegetable Pulao

VEGETABLE PULAO

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tab oil
4 cloves
4 sticks of cinnamon
3 cardamoms
onions 200gm sliced
vegetables cut according your choice- like carrots, potatoes, cauliflower
curd 1 tab
chillies4
ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
rice-basmati or ordinary

Method:
Heat oil and add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and when it is fried add the sliced onions and saute the onions till 3/4th done then add the vegetables and add the GG paste and curd and chillies, all this in low heat. Then add the rice and for every one part rice add two parts water for ordinary and for basmati rice add 1 1/2 parts water. and allow to cook covered (dum) for 10 min covered and on high heat.

Serve with raitha or any side dish you deem fit. I like to have potato chips or chicken along with veg pulao, yummilicious :D

Nethili Fry

Nethili in Tamil and Commersons Anchovy in English, is a great tasting small fish. Who hasnt heard of the legendary 'nethili meen kulambu'? Alternately, you could even fry them for a different kind of tingle on your taste buds

Nethili Fry
Ingredients:
nethili meen-500 gms

mix with a little water and make a paste of:
ginger garlic paste-1tsp
red chilli powder 1tsp
coriander powder-2tsp
turmeric powder-1/4tsp
kala namak-1tsp
red colour powder-optional
pepper powder-1tsp
vinegar or lime juice-a few drops

Mix the nethili and the paste well so that the masala paste coats the fish well. Deep fry in hot oil and garnish with coriander and mint leaves and serve.

Milk Puris

Milk puris for 12

Ingredients:
Maida 3 cups
wheat 3 cups
salt 1 tsp
oil 3 tab
enough milk to mix
cumin seeds 2 tsp

Sieve the maida and wheat flour and rub in the oil into the mixture and add salt and cumin seeds and mix with enough cold milk to make a firm dough. Keep aside covered for 30 mins and then make medium sized balls and roll out in uniform circle and deep fry in hot oil till golden color and serve with side dish. The side dish shown here is a variant of the channa masala.