Pulingari - a tangy tamarind based gravy

When I chose the theme Gravies/Rice main course for the February blogging marathon, the first few dishes that I thought of are restaurant favorites - rich gravies and exotic rice dishes. However, what I often make and  what we truly enjoy is our simple, every day home cooking. This pulingari is an authentic Kerala Iyer recipe. Like all recipes from my home state of Kerala, this one too makes abundant use of fresh coconut which is ground along with some roast spices and added to vegetables cooked in tamarind.It is light and easy on the stomach, with no added lentils, and with an appealing tanginess that is balanced by the coconut masala paste. Pulingari literally mean a curry made of tamarind.  This is eaten with rice and a side of vegetables and papadam.

What you need:
Vegetables - 1/2 cup, diced (The commonly used vegetables for pulingari are pumpkin, ash gourd, brinjal, carrots, and colocasia. These vegetables can be used in combination or separately)
Tamarind - a lemon sized ball soaked in 2 cups of hot water
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

To roast:
Oil - 1 tsp
Red chilli - 3
Curry leaves - a sprig
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Raw rice - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a small piece (If you use powdered asafetida, add it after the flame is turned off)

Heat oil in a pan. Add red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and raw rice. Roast over a low flame. Add methi seeds and roast for just a few seconds, taking care to see that the seeds do not burn, as this will make the curry bitter. Once cool, grind this with the grated coconut, adding a little water to make a smooth paste. Set aside.

In the same pan, take the vegetables. Add tamarind extract, turmeric powder and salt. Boil partly covered until the vegetables are three-fourths cooked. Add the ground paste and let it boil again until the vegetables are well cooked. The curry should be of a pourable consistency. So if you feel it is too thick, add some more water and if you feel it is too thin, let it boil till the desired consistency is reached.
In a separate pan, heat a teaspoon of oil (preferably coconut oil). Add 1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds and urad dal. When the seeds pop, pour this over the pulingari. Top with a sprig of fresh curry leaves.
Serve hot with rice and a dollop of ghee.

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

Love letter - my favorite hostel snack

Like all hostels, the one I lived in when I went to college was not known for the food it served. In fact, there were some dishes that were downright unpalatable. However, given the fact that we were young and almost always ready to eat, we polished off pretty much everything that was served in the mess hall, no matter how it tasted. One of the things that I really looked forward to is a snack that the chechis in the mess made in the evening. Popularly known as "love letter", possibly due to the fact that it has something sweet rolled into it, I am not sure if this dish has a different name.

What you need:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Water
Salt - a pinch
Mix the ingredients to a smooth batter of pourable consistency.

For the filling:
Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl.

To make:
Heat a dosa tawa. Pour a ladleful of the batter and spread it into a circle. When you see bubbles beginning to appear, flip over and cook until there are brown spots on both sides. Place some filling inside and roll tightly.
Serve hot.

Do check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 84.

Watermelon rind puli koottu

Bm # 74 Week 1
Theme : Festival recipes
Recipe : Puli vitta koottu (Koottu curry with tamarind)

Koottu curry with tamarind is different from the usual koottu that is made for a Kerala sadya (feast).This, I think, is the Tamil version of koottu and it finds a place in festival menus at the homes of my aunts.  The commonly used vegetables in this type of  koottu are yam (chena), plantain, or ash gourd. My choice of vegetable is slightly unusual in that I have used a part of fruit that is usually discarded. Since the rind of a watermelon has no discernible taste of its own, it lends itself beautifully to this dish, absorbing the flavors and aroma of the tamarind and coconut.

What you need:
Rind of 3/4th of a large watermelon
Chana dal - 1 cup, soaked in water for an hour
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Salt
Tamarind - lemon sized ball, soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes
For tempering/tadka :
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Red chilli - 2, broken
Curry leaves - a few sprigs

Cook the soaked chana dal in a pressure cooker till two whistles. The dal should not turn mushy. It should be cooked through, but still hold its shape.
Extract thick tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind. Keep aside.
Remove the green outer skin of the watermelon from the rind. Only the white part should be used. Chop it into small, bite sized pieces. Wash well, add a little water and cook in the pressure cooker till one whistle.
Add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt to the cooked watermelon rind and let it boil on a medium flame until the raw smell of the tamarind is gone. Take care not to add too much water, as the final koottu should be quite thick. Add the cooked chana dal. Mix well and let it boil  till most of the moisture has evaporated. Dissolve a teaspoon of rice flour in a few spoonfuls of water. Add this to the boiling mixture to help it thicken and let it boil for a few minutes. Switch off the heat.
In a separate pan, heat oil. Add chana dal and urad dal. When the dals start to redden, add the broken chilli, curry leaves and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add grated coconut and stir on a low flame until reddish brown. Pour this tempering on top of the koottu. Mix well and serve hot with rice or chapati.

Coconut laddoo

When Nestle launched Milkmaid in India, they held a contest for school children in which we had to come up with innovative recipes using Milkmaid. What I still remember about the whole thing is how absolutely enticing the coconut laddoos that appeared in the TV commercials for Milkmaid looked. The mom and daughter duo who starred in the commercial made the whole dessert making process look so uncomplicated. I wanted to make these laddoos for the contest, but for some reason, ended up making carrot halwa. Nothing innovative about warm off the stove gajar ka halwa.....so no prizes for guessing how that contest turned out for me. Anyway, years later, I tried out the Milkmaid coconut laddoo and must say that when they said easy, they really did mean easy. Mix, heat, stir, shape - that's all there is to it.

What you need:
Coconut flakes - 5 cups (I used sweetened flakes that I bought off the shelf at Target)
Milkmaid /condensed milk - 1 tin

Set aside about 3/4th of a cup of coconut flakes.
In a large saucepan (preferably nonstick to save you the hassle of cleaning), mix the remaining coconut flakes and the condensed milk. Switch on the heat and stir until it comes together and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Let it cool a bit and then shape into balls with wet or oiled hands. Roll each ball over the coconut flakes that you've set aside so they get a nice coating of the flakes.
And as easy as that, you have an ooh-inducing dessert. Dig in.
This is my first post for Week 1 of Blogging Marathon # 46 under the theme Indian desserts.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 46

Pavakka kichadi - a Kerala sadya staple

Diwali, though mostly associated with savory murukkus and ghee-laden sweets, is also about the feast that is prepared on the day of the festival. In this post and the next, I will be blogging about two simple and easy-to-make dishes that are an essential part of any sadya (feast) in Kerala.
The first dish is an accompaniment called kichadi by many and pachadi by some. Biitergourd, ladies finger/okra, tomato and beetroot are some of the vegetables that can be used to make this dish.
In this version, thinly sliced bittergourd  is fried to a crisp and then stirred into a spiced mixture of coconut, chillies and sour curd.

What you need :
Bittergourd - 2 small , sliced into thin small pieces after removing the pith and seeds
Sour curd - 1 cup
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Green chilli - 2 or 3 (depending on your spice tolerance level)
Oil - 2 tsp
Urad dal  - 1 tsp
Salt

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the urad dal and 1 tsp of mustard seeds along with some curry leaves. When the seeds pop, add the bittergourd, stir well, cover and let it saute until the bittergourd turns crisp and brown. Do not rush this step. Let the gourd cook in a low flame and stir every now and then so that it doesn't burn.
While this is getting done, grind the coconut, chillies and mustard seeds to a smooth paste adding a few spoons of the curd to it. Once the gourd is crisp, brown and cooked, add the ground paste to it along with salt and let it boil for a few minutes. Switch off heat. Beat the remaining curd so that it does not have any lumps and stir it into the pan. If you feel it is too thick, add some more curd.
Enjoy!!!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45