Multigrain waffles

Waffles are my daughter's favorite weekend breakfast. She loves it topped with fresh fruit, whipped cream and honey or maple syrup.  As for me, though I like waffles, I cannot imagine starting my day with something sweet. So, though it might sound sacrilegious to most people,  I usually top my waffles up with something spicy. In the pic, I've spread some karuveppilai thokku (Curry leaves pickle) on my waffle.

What you need:
1 cup multigrain pancake/waffle flour (I used Trader Joe's Organic Waffle mix)
3/4 cup cold milk
2 tbsp. oil

Mix the ingredients to a smooth batter. Brush some oil on your waffle iron. Heat it and pour enough of the batter to cover the lower surface of the waffle iron. Close and cook. Wait for a few minutes before opening to check if the waffles are done.
Serve with toppings of your choice.

This post is the second in a series of posts on Food from the USA for the Blogging Marathon. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#82

Mini meals - A South Indian lunch platter and the recipe for Sambar Rice

BM #74 Week 3 Day 2
Theme : Thali/Platter
Dish : Sambar Sadam/Sambar Rice

Several years back, when I started cooking, one of the things I could never get right is the quantity. For the longest time, I used to cook one dish and then we would eat it for several days. Now, with some experience, I think I am finally getting the hang of it. I still do tend to cook more when I have guest, but most of the time, I manage to cook the right quantity these days. In the initial days of cooking, I never would have imagined cooking a thali meal at home, but today, I've tried recreating the Mini meals served in several popular restaurants in Tamilnadu, India. Small portions of different varities of rice, a flatbread and its side, some fried vadam and pickle are the usual components of a mini meal.

Pictured in the thali above are :
Puri with aloo masala
Thakkali sadam / Tomato rice
Sambar sadam / Sambar rice
Thair sadam / Curd rice
Lime pickle
Vadam

All the recipes except the ones for sambar rice and curd rice have been shared on the blog before and clicking on the names above will take you to the individual recipes.
Today, I will be sharing the recipe for sambar sadam. For this thali, I made sambar sadam by cooking rice and sambar separately and then combining them.

What you need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Cooked dal - 1/2 cup
Mixed chopped vegetables - 3/4 cup (I used carrot, beans, potato, onion and drumstick)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp. (I used sesame oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
Salt

In a large pan, heat oil. Saute chopped onions until translucent. Add in the rest of the chopped vegetables and turmeric powder. Now add tamarind concentrate and a cup of water. Boil on a low flame until the vegetables are cooked. To make it quicker, you can pre-cook the veggies and add them to the tamarind concentrate.  Now add the cooked dal, sambar powder and salt. Stir well and let it boil for  a few minutes. Switch off heat.
Mix the cooked rice to this. The sambar rice should be a little watery as it will thicken on cooling. You can adjust the consistency by adding some hot water if needed.
In a small pan, heat a teaspoon of oil. Add urad dal, chana dal and mustard seeds to it. When the seeds pop, pour this over the sambar rice. Top with some chopped curry leaves and coriander.
Serve hot.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74.

Lime pickle

BM # 74 Week 1
Theme : Festival recipes
Recipe : Lime pickle/Cherunaranga achar/Elumpimichampazha oorga

When we think of festival dishes, we often think of sweets or main courses that are usually made to celebrate any festival. However, a little-mentioned yet very important role is played by the condiments which are usually served as an accompaniment to any meal.
In Kerala, the cherunaranga (lime) pickle holds an important place in any sadya. Vishu/Onam and even weddings see this bitter-sour-spicy pickle make an appearance. The traditional method of making this pickle is time consuming. However, if  you've been following my blog for a while now, you know that quick, easy and no-compromise-on-taste are mantras that I follow. This recipe is one that was shared on a Food Group that I belong to. It is a One Pot One Shot recipe that has been developed by Mr. Ramakrishnan and is being shared here with his permission. The terms OPOS and One Pot One Shot are registered trademarks owned by Mr. Ramakrishnan.

What you need:
Lime - 6, cut into 8 pieces each (approx. 3 cups)
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Pickle masala - 2 tsp (optional - If not using, add another tsp of red chilli powder)
Sesame oil - 5 tsp
Salt - 3 tsp
Asafoetida - a generous sprinkle

Add oil as the bottom layer in a pressure cooker. Spread the limes evenly over this. Add the salt, red chilli powder, asafoetida and pickle masala. Cover and cook for two whistles. Once the pressure settles, open the pan and mix well. The mixture will seem quite watery, but will thicken as it cools.
In a separate pan, heat a tsp of sesame oil. Add a tsp of mustard seeds and some curry leaves. When the seeds pop, pour this over the pickle. When the pickle cools completely, transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate.
This pickle is ready for consumption almost immediately, but the flavor deepens with time. It is initially quite bitter, but after about a week, the bitterness reduces and the flavor is intensified.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74

Kovakka pickle

Pickles, especially of the instant kind, are a must have in my home. Whether to spice up a breakfast or to pair with curd rice while winding down for the day, nothing beats the comfort of a good home made pickle. This kovakka/tendli/ivy gourd pickle is quick and easy to make and scores high on the taste factor too.




















What you need :

Kovakka/tendli/ivy gourd - 25-30 (use firm green ones. Do not use ripe ones)
Juice of half a lemon

Dry masala :
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp, heaped
Pickle masala powder - 1 tsp heaped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

For tempering:
Gingely oil - 5 tbsp.
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Broken red chilli - 1
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida

Wash and dry kovakka using a paper towel. Cut each gourd into half vertically and then cut each half into three thin strips, making six strips out of each gourd.
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a kadai and on a low flame, fry the kovakka for about five minutes until it is just slightly done. Do not cover the kadai while frying, as we don't want the kovakka to be cooked through. It should still retain its crunch. Switch off the flame and let it cool to room temperature.

Mix all the ingredients listed under the dry masala in a separate vessel. Add this to the cooled kovakka and mix well.

Heat oil for tempering. Add mustard seeds, red chilli, and cumin. When the mustard seeds pop, sprinkle some asafoetida in the oil, switch off the heat and add the masala coated kovakka. Mix well. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into this and mix well.
Let it cool completely. Store in an air tight bottle.

This is my second post for Blogging Marathon #64 under the theme Pickles & Preserves. The recipe is from here.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#64

Gooseberries steeped in spiced curd - Mor nellikkai

Indian gooseberries(amla/awla in Hindi, nellikka in Malayalam, nellikkai in Tamil) are power packed with  anti-oxidants and Vitamin C. Believed by many to help in slowing down the aging process, this fruit is used extensively in the Indian sub continent for hair and skin care.
The fruit, aside from its appealingly fresh and soothing green colour, is sharply acidic and slightly bitter to taste. When it is marinated in curd and a select blend of spices, its sourness is toned down by the salt and the chilli powder and it turns into a flavourful treat for the palate. The characteristic aroma of fenugreek and mustard tease the taste buds as soon as you open the jar of this pickle, making you want to dig in.


What you need:
(Recipe source : Chitra amma's kitchen)
Gooseberry - 500 gms (for me, 17 large gooseberries weighed 500 gms)
Thick curd/yoghurt - 3 cups, whipped until smooth (Use fresh curd that is not sour)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a generous sprinkling

Powder together : 2 tbsp of mustard and 2 tbsp of fenugreek seeds (both raw)

Wash and wipe the gooseberries dry. Make incisions on the berries across the segments, without cutting through completely.
Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add asafoetida, immediately followed by the gooseberries and salt. Mix well, cover and cook on low heat, stirring every now and then, until the gooseberries appear to be almost done. Add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder. Heat for a minute or two more until the raw smell of the chilli powder is gone. Leave it in the pan to cool completely.  When cooled, add the whipped curd and the powdered spices. Mix well. At this point, taste for salt and add more if needed. Allow the mixture to marinate for 24 hours. I didn't want the pickle to end up too sour. So I transferred it to a clean, dry jar and let it marinate in the refrigerator for a day. This can be stored, refrigerated, for up to a month(I had eaten my way through mine by then).

This tastes great with some cooked rice and a dollop of ghee/sesame oil, with dosas and idlis and also with rotis.

Maanga inji (Mango ginger) pickle

I recently attended my school reunion. It has been 15 years since I passed out of school and though I am in touch with most of my friends through email,phone or facebook, I have not seen some of them for this entire period of 15 years. It was a lot of fun to see how much people have changed. One thing I noticed is that most of the girls seem to be pretty much the same except for weight gain, but the guys have changed in ways that have made them unrecognizable. Guys who once had a full crop of thick, black hair have now become almost completely bald......super thin guys now have paunches and no necks. Despite the physical changes, I noticed that our basic traits haven't changed much. If anything, people only seem to have become nicer. All in all, it was a fun meet.
I was in my hometown only for two days to attend this meet, but when I came back, my parents made sure I carried back some stuff that my father has been growing in the back yard. Kavathu is one of the vegetables I brought back.(Try as I might, I am not able to find out what it is called in English. If anyone knows, please do leave a comment) and I used it to make poduthuval(in this post) and thalagam (which is going to be my next post).
One of the other things I brought back with me is manga inji (mango ginger). Despite the name, this rhizome is related neither to ginger nor to mango. It belongs to the same family as turmeric. It looks like ginger but when cut, it smells like a raw mango. In a previous post, I have made a pickle using mango ginger, green peppercorns and lemon.
This time round, I wanted to try out a different pickle and this is what I did.

What you need:
Mango ginger - 1 cup, peeled and cut into small pieces
Red chilli powder - 2-3 tsp or to taste
Salt
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Gingely oil - 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Add the red chilli powder, salt and asafoetida to the cut mango ginger. Mix well. Heat oil. Add mustard seeds to it. When the seeds pop, pour this over the mango ginger. Mix well. Store in a clean, dry, airtight container.
This pickle can be used immediately and goes well with rice.
Check out what my fellow marathoners Srivalli, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu,Monika, PJ, Azeema,Ayeesha,Soumya and Reva are cooking.

Avakkai - super spicy mango pickle

Avvaka has always been something that I've thought of as best left to the expert hands of mothers and grandmothers. That is, until I tried making it myself. Armed with my aunt R's fool proof recipe, I discovered just how easy it is to come up with a pickle that tastes better than any that you can buy at a store.
There is a special variety of mango called avakka manga which is used just to make this pickle. However, you can use any sour,firm, fully matured unripe mango. It has to be cut in a special way.....usually the person who sells these mangoes will cut them for you if you ask....they usually cut it in such a way that the shell surrounding the seed is retained.

Here's the recipe:
Cut mango - 5 cups
Red chilli powder - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - a few heaped teaspoonfuls
Salt - 1 cup
Gingely oil - 1 cup
Mustard powder - 1/4 cup (powder mustard in the small jar of your mixie and use it)

What to do:
Spread the cut mango on a clean white towel. Wash the mangoes before you get them cut, not after. Wipe dry. Rub the part around the shell well and remove the thin layer resembling plastic that you'll be able to see. Not all mango pieces will have this, but most of them do, and it is important to remove this.
Mix all the ingredients together. Stir well. Cover properly and set aside. Stir once a day for the next few days until the oil rises to the top. This usually takes about three to four days. Store in a glass container or a bharani (see first pic). If you are using a bharani, set aside a small quantity of the pickle in a bottle for daily use and then tie the mouth of the bharani with a clean white muslin cloth and close it.
Following this recipe exactly will give you a super hot and spicy pickle which is best enjoyed with curd rice. If you cannot tolerate high spice levels, modify the amount of red chilli powder used.This is my entry to Srivalli's Mango Mela.

Thakkali thokku - a spicy 'n tangy tomato pickle

The trimurtis (three presiding deities) of my kitchen are onions, potatoes and tomatoes. Without these three ingredients, I'd be lost.....not knowing what to cook.
Like the original holy trinity of Indian mythology, these ingredients too are involved in Srishti (creation of exciting new dishes), and Sthithi (maintenance of our health). Luckily, there has been no Samharam (casualty/death) so far. Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we???
The price of tomatoes in my part of the world has touched rock bottom at rupees 4. Not a small drop, considering that a few months back it was being sold for close to Rs 30. So, with a price drop like that, I couldn't resist picking up some at the local market.
Tangy, spicy tomato thokku is something that I love. Though making it takes up some time, it is quite a simple process and most of the ingredients are readily available in an Indian kitchen.What you need:

Juicy, ripe red tomatoes - 12, medium sized - pureed
Gingely oil - 9 tsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chilli - 2 or 3, minced fine
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - to taste
Salt - to taste

Heat 7 tsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the minced green chillies, mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, and fenugreek seeds. When the mustard seeds sputter, add the pureed tomatoes. Stir well. Add turmeric powder, red chilli pwder and salt. Let it come to a rolling boil. Now reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and let it simmer stirring occasionally. It will take close to an hour for all the moisture to evaporate. When it is almost done, add the remaining two tsp of oil. Once it loses all moisture, switch off the heat and let it cool completely.
Store in a clean, airtight jar.
This can be refrigerated and will stay good for upto a fortnight.
It can be used as an accompaniment to a variety of foods including, but not limited to, rice, idli, dosa, roti,and bread.

Notes:

• If you'd like, you can blanch the tomatoes in hot water first, remove the skin and then puree it.
• Instead of pureeing you can chop the tomatoes into tiny pieces and then follow the same recipe.
• A little bit of tamarind paste can be added if the tomatoes are not sour.
• You can also add some asafoetida along with the tempering ingredients.

This month, Sanghi who is celebrating her 50th post on her blog has asked us to Fall in Love with Tomatoes.....and that's exactly what I've done. This entry goes to her.

Manga inji (Mango ginger) pickle

We're already more than half way through the first month of a new year. 2009 has so far been a year of change for me. After lots and lots and then some more thought, I am finally back to work. That's what's kept me away from blogging for the last few weeks. So, here's wishing all my blogger buddies a Very belated but Happy New Year.
My first post of this year is something very, very simple to make if you have the ingredients handy and every bite will bring with it a burst of flavours from the ingredients. Two of the ingredients that I've used here - the mango ginger and the peppercorns are from my parents' garden. Manga inji or mango ginger, for those who are not familiar with it is a rhizome that looks like ginger but smells like raw mangoes when you cut it.

What you need:
Mango ginger -1/2 cups,washed, skinned and chopped into small pieces
Green pepper corns - 1 tbsp washed, dried and destalked
Lemon - 1 , cut into small pieces or juice of a lemon
Salt
(The quantities are approximate and can be adjusted according to your taste)
Mix all the ingredients together. See, didn't I say it is easy???

It can be eaten immediately and if refrigerated, stays good for upto 2 weeks.

This pickle is my entry to Andrea's Grow Your Own event.

Summer goodies #2 - Microwave mango thokku

First off, I've got to tell all the Chennaiwasis that there's this new Italian restaurant you absolutely must try.....Osteria is at the Deccan Plaza in Royapettah High Road. Their food, ambience, service....everything is absolutely great.
The Samosa Factory in Anna Nagar is good too.....it's at the beginning of Shanti Colony....and is so small that you're likely to miss it unless you're looking for it.....but it definitely is something you should try out. They have lovely street style cocktail samosas with a crisp, dark brown outer layer.
I gorged on these during the weekend and also watched the new Indy Jones movie. If you are an Indy fan (like me), you will enjoy the movie. Like all the other movies in the series, this too is an edge-of-the-seat entertainer......definitely not the best Indy movie.....but fun all the same.

Okey....dokey......let's now switch on the microwave and make some thokku.....

What you need:

Large unripe mango - 2
Red chilli powder - 2 heaped tsp (adjust to your taste)
Salt
Oil - 8 tsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Jaggery - a small piece (optional)

Peel mangoes and then cut them into thin, uneven slices.
Pour the oil into a microwave safe bowl, add mustard seeds, cover and microwave for 2 minutes or until the seeds pop.
Add all the other ingredients....mix well and microwave on high power for 8 minutes. Do check on the mangoes halfway through and stir so that it gets cooked evenly. Crush lightly with a ladle. I like mine with a few chunks in it.
This stays good in the refrigerator for upto 10 days.

I'd like to thank:
Happy Cook for giving me the Rocking Girl Blogger Award
Jayasree for passing on the You Make My Day Award.

This is my entry to Srivalli's MEC Bottled.
Check out my Summer goodies #1 - Ela vadam