Coriander Rosti - Blog hopping

It was another rainy day and I was looking for something interesting to snack on. I remembered Nupur's "Coriander Rosti" which she had made inspired by Sunitas world. So I started out on it. The only difference is that when I put the patties in the microwave griller the power conked off and I had to cook them on my tava. The taste was fabulous, you can check out the appearance.

Cinnamon Flavored Vegetables

If you are trying to figure out the cuisine, let me help you out - its very much Indian. From the time I started blogging I have been wanting to participate in the "Think Spice" event, but most of the time I really could not figure what to do with the said spices. This time I saw that I could use any spice so I narrowed down on "Cinnamon". Now why "Cinnamon"? The answer is very simple I have a huge quantity of them and do not know in what to add them. I know they are good for the heart so I thought let me make a beginning here.

Let me get back, I wanted to use cinnamon as the only flavoring agent. After a lot of contemplation, I conjured up a dish with lots of vegetables and my husband did the namkaran after enjoying its flavor and taste. This would be my entry for the "Think Spice - Think favorite 1st anniversary" event.

Along with this I had also made some "Tikkar". I have used Maize flour along with the regular whole wheat flour. This is the first time I am trying. I sure was happy with the result. So here they are for you -

Cinnamon Flavored Vegetables

Ingredients

Vegetables of your choice - 1 cup

(I have chopped and added Aubergines, Potatoes, Onions, Carrots and French Beans)

Oil - 2 tblspn

Bay leaf - a small piece

Salt to taste

Cinnamon finely powdered - 1 tblspn

Chilli powder, Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp each

Curd - 1 tblspn

Method

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the bay leaf. Add all the vegetables and the chilli and turmeric powder. Mix well and allow to cook on slow flame. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the curd. Keep on fire till the vegetable is dry, then add salt and mix well again. Finally add the cinnamon powder mix well and switch off the flame. Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Tikkar

Maize Flour & Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup each

Grated onion - 1 medium size

Ginger minced - 1" piece

Green Chillies finely chopped - 2

Coriander finely chopped - 1 tblspn.

Ghee - 1 tblspn

Salt to taste

Method

Sieve both the flours together. Add ghee and mix till the flour becomes like bread crumbs. Then add the rest of ingredients and mix it into a soft dough. Add water as required. Cover and keep the dough for a minium of an hour. After an hour ply the dough again and make 8 balls of it. Roll it round and fry them on a hot girdle. Once it is cooked add ghee on both sides to keep it soft. Serve hot otherwise the tikkar becomes rough.

A complete meal

I was introduced to "Pasta" around 5 years back by my husband. Honestly speaking I hated it at the first go. I had to force myself to finish my portion. I felt it had a rubbery texture and with cheese put in, it definitely did not suit my palate. But over years I slowly grew to like it and now it has become a favorite on our dining table. I usually make it with a sauce but this time I decided I would use only vegetables. I prefer "Penne" to "Farfalle" or "Macroni", but I had to make do with "Bell Tubes". The best thing I liked about this dish was that the veggies had not become very soggy and were still crisp when we bit into it.

Ingredients

Bell Peppers (Green, Yellow & Red) - 1/2 of big size (each cut into thin strips )

Aubergines (Brinjals) - 1 long one (cut into thin round slices)

Tomatoes - 1 (cut into thin strips)

Beans - 5 - 10 (cut into thin strips)

Onions - 1 medium size (cut into thin strips)

Carrots - 1 medium size (cut into thin strips)

Garlic - 5 pods (finely chopped)

Ginger - 1" piece (finely chopped)

Red Chillie - 1 finely choppped

Oregano, Basil and Parsley (dry) - 1 tblspoon (all put together)

Salt to taste

Olive Oil - 2 tblspn

Cheddar Cheese - 2" piece

Bell Tubes - 2 teacups (boiled in the usual fashion)

Method

Add Olive oil in a pan and heat it. When oil is hot add the garlic, ginger and red chilli and flavour the oil. Then add the onions followed by the aubergines saute for 2 minutes then add the rest of the vegetables and mix well. Keep over fire till the vegetables are cooked, since the vegetables have been cut in thin strips and are of the same size, it would be done in 3 - 4 minutes time. Then add the mixed herbs and salt mix well and allow it to stand for another minute. Finally add the pasta toss well, add the grated cheese and switch off the fire. Cover with a lid. The cheese will melt in the heat of the vegetables.

Vathal Kuzhambu

In spite of the varied eating habits across our country one is able to find some similarities in the various cuisines practised. There are a lot of similarities in some of the dishes that are prevalent in the southern states. For instance this dish which i am discussing today "Vathal Kuzhambu" is cooked as "Pulusu" in Andhra and "Puli Pachadi" in Kerala. May be Karnataka also has something similar to this, which I am not aware of. There is usually a slight variation in the ingredients which make them special.

I remember a reason given by my great grandmother for making this dish. She used to prepare this on days immediately after some festivals or after days when some elaborate eating has been done. It was her belief that after eating heavily throughout the week or during the festivals it was time to give the stomach a rest and eat light. So she would always couple this "kuzhambu" with "sutta applam" (applam which have been roasted over fire), "paruppu thogaiyal" or "keerai masial". When i pen this down i still am able to remember the taste of her keerai and vathal kuzhambu - an amazing taste which my mother who is a great cook has also not been able to replicate. So check out

Ingredients

Tamarind - roll it into a small lemon ball and soak it in 2 - 21/2 cups of water

Vathal Kuzhambu podi - 1 tsp (this is readily available however I will get the method to prepare this in another post)

Salt to taste

Oil (Gingelly oil is preferred)

Vegetable - you could use drumsticks, pumkin, ladies finger, small onions, garlic

(However, tradition calls for some sort of vathal to be used)

Method

Soak the tamarind for around half an hour in water and strain it. In a pan heat oil and temper it with mustard and chana dal. Then add the vegetables and saute for a minute.Then add the podi and saute for another minute. Finally add the tamarind water along with salt. Cover with a lid and allow to cook till the mixture gets thick and oil starts to float on top, on a slow flame. Over the years that i have been making this I realized that the slower and the longer this dish cooks the more tasty it is.

Puri Masala

This happens to be one of my favorite breakfast. Thanks to the oil quotient I get to make this once or twice in a month. This time it was an inspiration from Easy Crafts.

I always try to add different things to the puris to make them more interesting. Usually I add peas puree, palak purree or just some masala. This time I decided to make some masala puris. So here it is.

Masala Puri

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Dhania Powder - 1 tsp

Ajwain - 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Milk to mix the dough

Oil to fry

Method

Put all the ingredients except the milk in a mixing bowl and mix well. Then add milk as necessary to make a soft pliable dough. Keep it aside for atleast an hour. Roll out the puris and fry them in hot oil.

Potato Masala

Boiled Potatoes - 5 (mashed)

Onions - 1 medium size finely chopped

Green Chillies - 4 - 5 (as per your taste) finely chopped

Ginger - 1" piece finely chopped

Besan (Chickpea flour) - 1 tblspn mixed in 1/2 cup of water

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tblspn

Method

In a kadhai heat oil and temper with mustard, chana dal and urad dal. Then add the onions, green chillies and ginger. Fry them till the onions turn translucent or brown. Add the mashed potatoes mix well. The mixture would be a thick one so add the besan water, the mixture turns into a gravy but the besan prevents it from being too watery. Keep on fire for 5 - 6 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

18th day of the Aadi month

Adi Pathinettam perukku was celebrated on August 3rd this year. A significant day in the life of the thousands of farmers who wade across muddy slush to sow their new crop. I believe the "River Kaveri" is in full flow on this day, thereby blessing the farmers. Being city bred, this is a piece of news seen in some "Tamil movie". For me this is the day when you get to eat all the "kalantha sadam" i.e., mixed rices. My mother always used to make Lemon Rice, Pulihora, Coconut Rice, Chakkra Pongal, Poli, Vadai, Paruppu Payasam and of course the vadam & vattals. The last 4 years were spent trudging to office and hectic deadlines. This year I decided to recreate my mother's dishes. Well with just 2 people at home it is usual very difficult to make too many dishes so I just shortenend the menu and this is what it was finally - Coconut Rice, Lemon Rice, Pulihora, Curd Rice, Avial, Potato curry and Paruppu payasam. I was making Coconut rice for the first time, it turned out heavenly so did the avial - so check it out. This time I am just sharing the photograph