The proverbial “Curry”

No south Indian meal is complete without a “kootu” or a “Curry”. The “kootu” is mélange of watery vegetables with some dal in coconut gravy and the “Curry” is usually blanched vegetables garnished with some grated coconut or it could also be fried. You do not need to do any elaborate preparations for both these dishes. Just chop the vegetables, blanch and garnish or fry them. However care must be taken while blanching so that the vegetables do not get mushy.
You could make a curry using French beans, broad beans, carrots, cabbage, potatoes or colacassia to name a few. I have used broad beans this time around. I have chopped them and blanched it for 4 - 5 minutes in hot water with some salt. In a kadhai i have heated some oil, spluttered some mustard. Then added some curry leaves and some some ground nuts, chana dal and urad dal with 3 red chillies and one green chilly once the flavours have been released i have added the vegetables and mixed it thoroughly. I have finally added around 1/2 a cup of grated coconut and mixed well. Kept the vegetables on the fire for another 2 minutes before serving it hot. A very simple way for making the vegetables interesting to eat.

Puttu

As I was making this yesterday I smiled to myself that though I am not from Kerala I seemed to have a soft corner for their cuisine. This is another breakfast brunch that we like to indulge on a Sunday morning. A little dry of course if the accompaniment is not a gravy dish. But my early memories of eating this dish is with ghee and sugar I do not remember why but till date I do like to sprinkle some sugar over my puttu. My husband likes it with his “Puli pachadi” or “Vathal Kuzhambu”. My version is absolutely same as Aparna from “My Diverse Kitchen” except that I used the puttu powder readily available in the market.

This would be my third entry to MBP: Easy Breezy Breakfast

Appam

This is another breakfast item from the God’s own country – Kerala. It has been a favorite of mine from my childhood days. I still remember my mother swirling the kadai to spread the batter over in the form of a boat that’s what we used to call it when we were young. A very simple and easy dish which is a little sinful if you add coconut milk to it – but what is an appam without coconut milk in it. So let’s forget the sin and enjoy this steamed delight. To make this dish you need an “Appachetti” however if you are first time user just use the smallest of the small kadai you have with you. In fact you could try using the garnishing spoon too I have tried it once it worked well.
You need the following for the Appam batter
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Boiled Rice – 1 cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Methi – 1 tsp.

Wash well and soak all the above mentioned ingredients for 8 – 10 hours ideally overnight. Grind all of them into a smooth batter. Add salt to taste and allow it to ferment for another 8 – 10 hours. The batter is now ready for use.

Method
Take the required quantity of the batter and add ½ to 1 cup of coconut milk to it along with a pinch of cooking soda. Mix well and check the consistency. Rest the batter for 5 minutes. Heat the appa chatti and add around 2 – 3 big spoonfuls of the batter in the centre. Take the chatti off the fire and swirl it till the batter is spread evenly across all the walls of the chatti. The excess batter would seat itself in the centre of the appam automatically. So this portion would be heavier and spongier than the rest of the appam. This swirling is important since the appam will take the form of the chatti or kadai which you would be using. Cover it with a lid and allow it to cook. It would take roughly 3 – 5 minutes per appam. Open the lid and check if the centre is done. Then the appam is ready to serve. The appam is typically served with stew, payaru curry, kadala curry and of course coconut milk.

Pesarattu : A healthier cousin of the “Dosa"

Living in Secunderabad for the last 5 years this is another breakfast item which we have grown to like over a period of time. A very simple, easy and healthy dish. My version of it is a little different from Aparna’s of “My Diverse Kitchen”. I do not add rice flour and instead of the onion I include ginger and garlic. The rest of the ingredients and the method is the same. However, I always make it a practice to soak the moong dal overnight.

A andhra housewife would typically serve the pesarattu by filling it with finely chopped onions and accompany it with coconut chutney, ginger chutney and sambar.

This would be my next entry to MBP : Easy Breezy Breakfast

Back again

When EC mailed me the details of the “Easy Breezy breakfast” theme for MBP this month, I decided to begin again. I have been experimenting a lot these last three months but somehow never got to take photographs or write about them. Hope this breaks the spell.

Breakfast time has always been a favorite time for us. Apart from fresh fruits and juices a good breakfast preferably South Indian with a good accompaniment is always a must for us. I have made this a practice from the time we moved here. Adai happens to be one of our favorite breakfasts or may I say brunch. At times I use the mini version of it as an appetizer too. “Adai” is a very dry item and goes well with a gravy dish. So for the accompaniment I chose to make an “Avial” a vegetable dish from the God’s own country “Kerala”.

My version of the Adai is the same as EC’s so I am not repeating the ingredients or the method. A small tweaking which I have done is including a ripe tomato to the batter ingredients.

For the Avial
Assorted Vegetables - 2 cups boiled
(Drumstick, Ashgourd, red pumpkin, potato, colocassia, yam, cucumber, carrots, capsicum, brinjals, French beans, flat beans)
Curd – ½ cup
For the gravy
Coconut (medium size) – ½
Green Chillies – 5 or 6
Jeera (Cumin) – 1 tblspn.
Chana dal – 1 tsp
Rice – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Grind all the ingredients with sufficient water to a consistent smooth paste. Take a heavy bottom vessel and add all the boiled vegetables and the gravy and allow it cook on medium flame. When the gravy is cooked remove the kadhai from the fire and the curd to it, mix well, return to the fire and cook for another minute or two. Finally temper the avial with mustard and curry leaves. Use coconut oil preferably.