Vadai thatti potta Mor Kuzhambu / Vada in South Indian Kadhi / Channa Dhal fritters in Buttermilk curry # SNC Challenge

As part of the South vs North challenge, this month Laxmi Priya of Samayal Diary challenged the members of the northern team to cook Vadai thatti potta Mor Kuzhambu aka Vada in South Indian Kadhi. Now I have cooked a Mor Kuzhmbhu, that is a buttermilk curry before (remember Venthayakeerai Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu !) and was pretty confident about doing it right. But in reality it took me three trials to cook the curry without curdling the curd. I just wasn't paying enough attention to the nuances of the recipe...

Mangalorean Goli Bajje # South vs North Nov' Challenge

This month Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes challenged the Northern Group of SNC team to make Goli Bajje.

These deep-fried snacks are a specialty of Mangalore in Southern Karnataka. Unlike most other deep-fried snacks from South India, these are not made out of urad dhal. So no soaking or grinding is required for them. Traditionally these bajjes are prepared from an overnight-fermented-batter. However I did not plan them well in advance so ended up making them with a batter that had rested only for an hour. Though we enjoyed them as they were, I am pretty sure that overnight fermentation would have accentuated the flavors of these Bajjes.

Typically Mangaloreans enjoy Goli Bajjes with tea. We however  had some of it as a side for lunch with Gujrati Kadhi and Aloo-methi and thought they complimented the meal very well.

Paasi Paruppu Payasam # South Vs North Annivesary Celebration

This October,  SNC completed a year in this blogging world and as a celebration we were challenged to cook any one recipe among the 12 challenges that had been posed in the past 12 months. While I have cooked my way through all the challenges since March, I hadn't written about Paasi Paruppu Payasam. 

 

Back in August Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook had challenged the Northern Team of South Vs North Challenge to cook Paasi Paruppu Payasam. I had prepared it for Janmasthami and had planned to take the photographs the next day... which did not happen.... and then..... we rolled into September and the photographs and the post was forgotten till I received Divya's mail at the beginning of the month...

In the North Indian lingo, Paasi Paruppu Payasam would be called Moong Dal Payash or Moong dal Kheer. In the west, a dessert such as  Payash or Kheer will probably be labeled as a sweetened porridge. Though North Indians use lentils in sweets such as a moong dal halwa, preparing kheer with lentils is relatively uncommon. They typically prepare their Payash or Kheer by boiling rice or suji (semolina) with milk and gur(a form of jaggery) or sugar and flavor it with cardamom, raisins, saffron and cashews. So for us, this kheer with lentils was quite a departure from the usual. We however enjoyed it thoroughly and I certainly look forward to making it again during festivals and special occasions.

Paasi Paruppu Payasam Recipe Source: You Too Can Cook
Preparation Time: 15 minutes    Cooking Time: 20 minutes      Serves: 6-8
Ingredients    1/2 cup Yellow Moong Dal 1/4 cup Raw rice (optional) 1 cup milk 5 pieces Jaggery 1/4 tsp Cardamom powder 3 tbsps Grated coconut Cashew nuts - 10 to 15  Ghee - 1 tablespoon (i used browned butter)  -   Instructions Wash the dal and rice and keep it aside. Mix the grated coconut and cardamom powder and keep it aside.  Put the blocks of jaggery into a paper bag.  Crush it into smaller pieces using a meat tenderizer, hammer or wooden rolling pin. Then using the blender, grind the jaggery pieces into a fine powder. Next add the moong dal and rice in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 2- or 3 whistles until the dal is properly cooked. Switching off the heat, wait till the lid of the cooker drops. Then mash the dal-rice mixture and stir in the milk. Now switch on the heat once again and cook the contents over low flame. With the added milk the consistency of the dal should be fine, but if you find it too thick add some water to the mixture at this point. Once the mixture begins to simmer, stir in the jaggery and coconut mixture. Check the sweetness and add more jaggery if the payasam is not sweet enough for you. Stirring frequently continue to simmer the mixture for another 4-5 minutes. Meanwhile in a separate pan, melt 1 tablespoon of ghee and add the cashews in it. Once the cashews turn brown, add them to the payasam. Switch off the heat. Your Paasi Paruppu Payasam is now ready to serve !  With time, the payasam tends to become more thick. If it thickens too much, add some milk or water and heat it slightly before serving.

Congratulations Divya for successfully running the South Vs North Challenge for the past one year and happy 1st anniversary to all the members of SNC !! Its been wonderful cooking and learning with all of you .  Hope we continue to learn and cook many more wonderful south dishes in the years to come and celebrate many such anniversaries together !

Sharing this with 

• Swathi's event Favorite Recipes Event: Kheer/ Payasam hosted by The Big Sweet Tooth, 
• My Legume Affair Event, an event started by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook, presently managed by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen and hosted this month at  Spicy Foood.

I shall also be sharing this at the following weekly parties...
Monday Food: Made with Love Mondays, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations, Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food: What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2
Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes 

Sesame Seed Modak for Ganesh Chaturthi # SNC September Challenge

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all ! May  the Lord be by your side and avert all obstacles that come your way. May he protect you from the evil and help you achieve the fruits of your hard work. 

Courtesy the SNC challenge, this year I managed to make the traditional Indian sweet namely Modak, that is associated with the celebration of  this festival. Thanks to +Vijaylakshmi of Viruthudhu unna vaanga for the recipe and clear pictorial instructions. With all that in hand the process of making Modak at home felt like a breeze. 

All that said I must confess that while my Modaks turned out o.k... they weren't perfect.... I have never tasted a Modak earlier so I can't judge them from experience... but as opposed to the soft outer shell that Viji described, my outer shell was a little hard. maybe i over-steamed the Modak or used too much oil in the dough or may be my homemade rice flour was not fine enough.. there could be other reasons too that i cannot think of right now.. however i intend to make these sweets few more times while the Indian festival season is on.. and if i do crack the secret behind on how an amateur can steam out Modaks like a pro... i share it with you then... ;-)  

for now here is what i did...
Step 1. Make the Rice Flour (you can use store bought rice flour too.. but in case you don't have the time to make a trip to the store just for rice flour this recipe will help. The recipe is from Sharmis Passions.)

Homemade Rice Flour Recipe Source : Sharmis Passions

ingredients  1 cup raw rice ............................................................................................................................................................................................   the method rinse the rice and soak it in water for an hour. then draining off the water spread the raw rice on a soft towel and leave it there for 45-60 minutes.  now using the mixer, grind the raw rice to a fine powder. sieve it and grind the bigger grains once more until the ground flour attains the texture of fine semolina. finally dry roast the sieved flour until you see steam coming out of it, cool it by spreading over a sheet of paper and store it in a air tight container.

Step 2: Once the rice flour was made i proceeded to make the Modaks following Viji's recipe.... before i go on to the recipe, i wanted to mention here a few nutritional facts about two of the star ingredients namely, jaggery and sesame seeds that i learnt from Viji's post.

while most of you must be aware that Jaggery is a iron rich natural sweetener, it might be helpful to know that this sweetener also cleanses the respiratory tracts, lungs, pipe, stomach and intestines. It pulls out unwanted particles from the body and gives relief from constipation. It also activates the digestive enzymes and itself changes to acetic acid in the stomach, thereby speeding up digestion.probably that is the reason why in many regions of India, people have a small chunk of jaggery and roti as a dessert at the end of their meal. 

About sesame seeds... studies say that they are rich in copper and magnesium contents and also have a good amount of calcium and zinc. they have a number of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant enzymes and are apparently they are good for rheumatoid arthritis. they also support vascular and respiratory health and help lower cholesterol and high blood pressure. being a sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis from the early age of 17, i found the above information very useful. i usually do not use a lot of sesame seeds in cooking... but i think i'll try and do that more often from now on....

now the recipe for Sesame Seed Modak.... 

Ellu Kozhukattai  (Sesame Seed Modak) (makes 5) Recipe Source: Viruthudhu unna vaanga

ingredients for the sesame filling 1/8 cup sesame seeds (1 used white sesame seeds)* a little less than 1/4 cup jaggery 1/8 cup grated coconut (1 used frozen) 1/8 tsp cardamom powder  for the outer shell 1/2 cup rice flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp oil 1 cup water  * in the original recipe black sesame seeds are used but it is mentioned that you can use either. -   the method for the sesame filling dry roast the sesame seeds until fragrant. once it cools completely, using the mixer grind it to a coarse powder and keep aside. powder the jaggery in the mixer in case it is hard or crumble it with your fingers (i did the later since the jaggery at hand was soft enough.) and put it in a pan. add  2 tsps of water to it and holding the pan over low heat melt the jaggery. once it melts completely, switch off the heat and using a tea strainer sieve off the solution into another pan. immediately add ground coconut to the syrup. holding the pan over low flame and stirring continuously bring the mixture to a boil and once it turns frothy add the ground sesame seed and cardamom to the mixture, mix all the ingredients well and when mixture begins to come together switch off the heat and keep it aside.  the filling is now ready and while it cools, make the dough for the outer shell. the outer shell add the salt and oil to the water and bring it to a boil. switching off the heat add the boiled water to the rice flour one tbsp at a time. i needed to add 5 tbsps of water until the dough came together. amount of water required depends on the variety of rice flour that you are using. you might need some less or some more water before your dough comes together.  then covering the dough with a damp cloth and leave it aside for 5 minutes. by then you'll have nice warm dough to work with.  knead it with well greased hands and pinch out 5 lemon sized balls of the dough. now using well greased hands press the dough ball in the center and shape it out into a circle about 2-1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. place a tablespoon of the sesame seed filling in the center of the circle and fold the sides to meet in the center in a way forming a cone on top. you can also shape it like a crescent. but since Modaks are usually shaped like cones i did it that way. once they have all been assembled, steam them for 7-10 minutes, (ideally) until the outer shell looks transparent. (as i mentioned above i steamed for 10 minutes without checking on the Modaks in between and that might have made my sweets a little hard in texture.) now the Modaks are ready. offer to Lord Ganesha and afterwards enjoy the prasadam.

Many thanks to Sharmis for the rice flour recipe, Viji for the challenge and a big thanks to Divya for starting the South Vs North Challenge. 

Linking this to Viruthudhu unna vaanga  & Divya's space...

Hope you enjoyed this. Now that the Indian festival season is on expect more Indian sweets in the few weeks.

Venthayakeerai Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu # South Vs North July Challenge

This month Sowmya of Nivedhanam challenged the Northern Group of SNC to cook Venthayakeerai Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu(VPUMZ). Since I do not know Tamil, before plunging into the recipe, I googled to find out what VPUMZ meant. And this is what i gathered. Venthayakeerai translates to fenugreek leaves, Paruppu to lentil or dal,  Urundai to balls, Mor to  buttermilk and Kuzhambu to curry, in English. So the dish we were challenged to make was in fact Fenugreek leaf-lentil balls in Buttermilk Curry.

It was a fairly simple dish to cook. in spirit, it felt like a south Indian version of Palak Kofta Kadhi. while besan is used to add flavors and thicken the gravy in Kadhi, a coconut-lentil paste is used to thicken the gravy in Mor Kuzhambu. the other point where VPUMK differed from Palak Kofta Kadhi was that unlike the Palak koftas which are deep-fried,  the Venthaya keerai Paruppu Urandai's are steam cooked thereby making them a healthier and easier-to-cook alternative.  

so over all, i have only praises to sing for this south Indian version of Kadhi and i thank Sowmya immensely for having introduced it to me.

now the recipe....

Venthaya keerai Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu (Serves 4)    Recipe Source : Nivedhanam

ingredients             for Mor Kuzhambu 2 tbsp toor dal 2 tbsp chana dal 4 green chillies 1/2 cup grated coconut 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 2 cups curd, well beaten 1 tsp salt for Venthaya keerai Paruppu Urandai 1/2 cup toor dal  5 red chillies 1 tbsp semolina* 1/4 cup fenugreek leaves 1/4 tsp asafetida 1/4 turmeric 1/2 salt 1 tbsp oil  for tempering 1 tsp oil 1/4 tsp asafetida 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 2 red chillies 6 curry leaves   what i did for Mor Kuzhambu i soaked the toor dal and chana dal in warm water for 1 hour.  then along with the green chillies, grated coconut and cumin seeds i ground the dals to smooth paste and added the paste to the beaten curd, seasoned it with salt and kept it aside. for Venthaya keerai Paruppu Urandai       i soaked the toor dal in warm water for 1 hour. then along with the red chillies i ground the dal without adding any water.  the idea was to make a coarse paste. however since the ground paste did not look coarse enough i added some semolina to the paste*; then added the fenugreek leaves, asafetida, turmeric and salt to the paste and made 1 inch diameter-ed balls out of the paste. with the quantity of paste I had, i ended up making 15 small balls.  next i glazed the balls with some oil and then steamed them for 5-6 minutes. (I used a Stainless Steel Vegetable Steamer to steam cook the Paruppu Urandai and therefore glazed the balls prior to cooking and cooked them in batches of 5. In case you have a idli plate, you can grease it and then steam cook the fenugreek-lentil balls in it.) once done, i removed the balls from the steamer and kept them aside. after the Mor Kuzhambu had rested for about 15 minutes, i heated it and brought it to a simmer.  i then added the fenugreek-lentil balls or Urandai to the Kuzhambu, added some water to the saucepan and cooked the balls in the kuzhambu until the balls floated up on top. finally i heated the oil for tempering, added asafetida and mustard seeds to it. once the mustard seeds started spluttering, i added the red chillies and curry leaves to it and soon after added the tempered oil to the Paruppu Urandai Mor Kuzhambu.     and thats it. the curry was ready !    * this was not part of the original recipe. skip the semolina if you can make a coarse dal paste.

We had it with rice and zucchini-posto for dinner tonight and we enjoyed the combination a lot.
Thanks to Sowmya for the challenge and a big thanks to Divya for starting the South Vs North Challenge. 

Linking this to Nivedhanam & Divya's space...

and a few other food events on the web...

Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu # South Vs North June Challenge

As part of Divya's South Vs North Challenge, this month Priya (akka) from Priya's Versatile Recipes challenged us to cook Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu.  It was the first time i heard the name. but once i cooked it, i realized i had eaten it several times in our Chennai mess. they used to cook it really well and  i always ended up over-eating whenever it was served. I however didn't know the curry by this name. we used to call it the south Indian pakoda curry which (i learnt from wiki) is what Pakoda Kuzhambu translates to in English. 

While it is a fairly straight-forward recipe to cook through, it took me two long kitchen sessions to get this curry right. while the gravy tasted wonderful, i wasn't very happy with the way the pakodas had turned out when i cooked it the the first time. they were dense and hard. so i asked Priya akka if she had any tips to share. almost instantly she asked me if i had fried it too long.. yes i had. well, while frying vadas/pakodas(which i almost never do)  i always have this phobia that the interiors will remain uncooked and so i tend to over-fry them (as a consequence make them rock-hard)... anyway the second time i was more careful with the pakodas and they worked out fine.. weren't perfectly porous... atleast not the slightly bigger ones but so hard either. the smaller ones were better in every way and i think the  Pakoda Kuzhambu would have been perfect had i stuck to the smaller pakoda size and not rushed through the recipe by dropping larger chunks of the lentil mixture  in the oil. anyway those are just notes for me for next time... 

now the recipe....

Chettinad Pakoda Kuzhambu Recipe Source : Priya's Versatile Recipes

ingredients for the pakodas 1/2 cup Chanadal (split gram dal) 3 dry red chillies salt oil for frying 1 tsp fennel seeds for the gravy  oil spices for seasoning 1 inch cinnamon stick 2 cloves (the spice) 2 green cardamoms 2 bay leaves 1 tsp fennel seeds* few curry leaves 2 medium sized onions, finely chopped 2 small tomatoes, finely chopped 4 garlic pods, grated 2 green chilles, split lengthwise 1 tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp red chilly powder 1/2 tsp turmeric powder to be ground together  1 tsp poppy seeds 4 tbsp grated coconut ( I used coconut powder) 6 cashew nuts (second time I used almonds) 1 tbsp roasted channa dal 1-2 tsp tamarind paste salt  for garnish finely chopped coriander leaves   * i did not add this.  what i did for the pakodas i soaked the channa dal overnight (it is however enough to soak it for 2 hours). next day, i ground the soaked channa dal along with the dry red chillies, fennel seeds, salt and very little water. the ground mixture was slightly coarse in texture. i believe, keeping it that way is important for the porosity of the fried pakodas. i then heated the oil for frying. once the oil was hot enough i dropped golf sized balls of the ground mixture in the oil. on take two i was careful enough to follow the instructions and pinch the mixture balls so that they form shapeless pakodas. once the pakodas looked golden brown, i removed them from the oil and drained off the excess oil with a paper towel. i then kept the pakodas aside and went ahead to prepare the gravy. for the gravy,  i first dry ground the the poppy seeds along with the coconut powder, almonds and roasted channa dal in the coffee grinder and then adding enough water to the mixture to form a fine paste, i kept it aside. next heating enough oil in a medium sized saucepan, i added the spices for seasoning and fried them till they browned.  i then added the onions, tomatoes, garlic and chillies and cooked them until the onions and tomatoes were well done. once a lovely fragrance came across, i added the ground paste to the veggies and simmered for a couple of minutes.  i then added 3 cups of water, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt to the saucepan, gave it a good stir then covered the saucepan and cooked over medium heat for about 5 minutes. at this point i tasted the gravy, adjusted the salt and to suit to our taste, added 1/2 cup water and the tamarind paste and cooked the gravy for a few more minutes. once the oil started separating from the gravy, i added the pakodas to the gravy and over medium-low heat brought the to a boil. then switching off the heat i transferred to a serving bowl and garnished the curry with the chopped coriander.

We enjoyed the Pakoda Kuzhambu that night with rice, yogurt and papad.  It was such a treat !!
Many thanks to Priya (akka) for the challenge and the tips and a big thanks to Divya for starting the South Vs North Challenge. 

Linking this to Priya's Versatile Recipe & Divya's space...

and a few other food events on the web...

Qubani ka Mitha(Stewed Apricot Dessert) : South Vs North May Challenge

This month Roha from Hydrabadi Cuisine challenged the North Team to make Qubani ka Meetha. Till then I had never heard of this dessert. so out of curiosity i went to the the local grocery store the very next day to got the required ingredients. though i did not get the exact form of dried apricot , i found a close cousin, Dried Turkish Apricots  and decided to make the dessert with it. following Roha's recipe I soaked the dried apricots overnight and prepared the dessert the very next day. we were so delighted by how the dessert looked and tasted that without waiting to take the photographs in daylight we licked it off our plates that very night.  and then i had to prepare a second batch to feed the blog...  

In the recipe Roha had mentioned that the stewed apricots can be topped with malai,  whipped cream or custard. just to keep things fruity I decided to make a apricot mousse instead and we loved the combination of the two.

Jaggery Appam : South vs North April Challenge

This month I joined yet another cooking event. Divya Pramil's  South Vs North Challenge. I had been following some of its members for a while and this month i decided to join in. to say the truth this cooking  group had been luring me for quite sometime. because. well. i am from Bengal and my husband though originally from Orissa, grew up in Pondicherry and therefore loves everything south has to offer. if he would have his way, we would probably be having idlis for breakfast, adai's for lunch and dosas for dinner. but that is not the case since my dosas are far from respectable. and idlis. oh...h don't even get me started on them. after trying several combinations of rice and dal for the batter i have finally come to the conclusion that instant idlis mixes yield the softest ones. however they are not as soft as the ones that our Tamil friends serve.  so to say the least, ever since we go married, cooking south indian food has been a real adventure for me. but since i am sworn not to give up, i joined the challenge hoping to learn a little about the culinary secrets of the South Indians and hopefully surprise my husband with a perfect homemade south Indian meal someday...

Sorry i digressed....  so i joined the Northern group... and as this month's challenge we had to tackle Karupatti Appam...

With very clear step-by-step instruction, Shama from Easy 2 Cook Recipes challenged the northern team to make these Appams. though i have tasted the salted appams before, Jaggery Appam was new to me. so I am not sure if i got them right. but what i managed to roll off my kadai was nice and crispy. we enjoyed it for breakfast with honey. even my little one liked his bit and asked for some more. 

now a shot of my appams and the recipe...

Recipe adapted from Easy2Cook Recipes

ingredients

1/2 cup raw rice

1/2 cup parboiled rice

1 1/2 tablespoon urad dal

125 gms south indian jaggery (this is what i got at the local indian store)

what i did

i made a thick jaggery syrup, strained off the impurities and kept it aside.

next i soaked the rice and the dals for 2 hours, then ground it to a smooth batter.

i mixed the jaggery syrup to the rice batter, taking care that no lumps were there. 

the first day i had no success with the appams. 

next day, i tried them again. now that the batter had thickened, i added some water until the batter consistency was slightly thinner than pancake batter and then tried making the appam. to do so, i heated the kadai, poured a ladle of the batter in it. then holding the handles i tilted the kadai around and spread the batter in it. 

i then put a spoon of oil on the  spread batter, covered the kadai with its lid and cooked the appam over medium low heat for 8 minutes, until it got done.

next i rolled it off the kadai and served with honey.

Thanks Shama for the recipe and the challenge and thanks to Divya for starting such an interesting event. 

Hoping to get your tips and feedback on my Appams.

Linking this to SHAMA'S EASY2COOK RECIPES & Divya's Space.

p.s : the Black and White photograph was meant for Black and White Wednesday # 80, a Culinary Photography Event started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar. I however mismanaged my time terribly so could send my entry this week. however hop over to Anusha's space Tomato Blues to check out the other nice entries.

and here are few things that you might find useful if you want to try your hands at South Indian cooking...