Milagu kuzhambu

Ingredients:
Tamarind , one big  gooseberry size.
Salt 1 tsp

To roast and grind to paste:
2 tsp urad dal
1.5 tsp pepper corns.

To garnish
1Tbsp Gingelly oil
1/2 tsp mustard
A pinch of hing/Asafoetida.
1 sprig curry leaves or karuveppilai.

Clean and soak the tamarind for 1/2 an hour. Extract the juice and keep aside.

Roast the urad dal and pepper corn in a pan and let it cool

Grind them  to a smooth paste.

Mix into  the tamarind juice without any lumps.

Add half a pinch of raw hing/asafoetida and let it boil till the raw smell goes.

In a heated pan add gingelly oil and as soon as the oil is hot add mustard seeds, half a pinch of hing and curry leaves and pour it on the milagu kuzhambu.

Mix with hot steamed rice with gingelly oil .Tastes yummy with paruppu thuvayal and sutta urad dal appalam.

Paruppu Thuvayal:

This is a very tasty and simple thuvayal and goes best with Milagu kuzhambu.


Ingredients:

3 tablespoons Toor dal
2tsp Pepper corns
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste


Roast the toor dal and peppercorns in a drop of oil in low flame till the dal turns golden brown.
Let it cool.

Grind with a pinch of hing/asafoetida and salt  adding water little by little.

Serve with hot steamed rice, a dollop of  milagu kuzhambu ,1 tsp gingelly oil and sutta appalam.

Tastes really yum.

Lemon rasam

Lemon rasam:-

This is again a very huge favorite in our house.
It is a compulsory dish in each Iyengar's house on Dwadasi.

Ingredients:
 1/2 cup Toor dal
 Juice from 1/2 a lemon.
 1 tsp Rasam powder.( see my earlier blog)
1/2 inch ginger.
1 green chilli
1 medium sized tomato
a sprinkle of hing powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

To garnish
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp mustard
1 sprig curry leaves
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
a pinch of Hing powder.

Wash the dal and add  the turmeric and water .
Place in pressure cooker  and let it cook for 4,5 whistles so that the dal is well cooked.
 Once cool, take it out and mash the dal nicely .
Slit the green chilli. Dice the tomato. skin and scrape the ginger.
In a vessel, add the mashed dal, chilli, tomato, ginger and Rasam powder, 4,5 curry leaves and a sprinkle of hing powder along with salt.
Let it simmer till the tomato pieces become soft.
Take it off the fire and  let it cool a little.
 Meanwhile heat a pan, add ghee and add the mustard seeds. once the splutter, switch off and add hing and curry leaves and pour it on the rasam.

Add the lemon juice, mix well and  sprinkle coriander leaves and serve  with hot steamed rice and ghee.
Note: This Rasam should not reheated as the lemon juice  will turn bitter.

This Rasam  Rice tastes great with Pudalangai kootu and roasted appalam.

Daal for Lemon Rasam on the boil

Lemon rasam

Pudalangai poricha kootu

Pudalangai Poricha kootu:-

Ingredients:

1 medium sized snake gourd, washed and cut into pieces
1/2 cup yellow moong dal
1 tbsn scraped coconut
1/2 tspn pepper corns
1/2 tspn jeera
salt to taste

to garnish:
1 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp channa dal
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
1 sprig curry leaves(karuveppilai)

Wash the dal and snake gourd, add a 1/4 tsp turmaeric powder and keep in the cooker with  water just enough to  cover the dal and  vegetable.
Switch off after two whistles.

Grind the coconut, peppercorns and jeera to a smooth paste.

 Open the cooker and take out the veg and dal.

Add the coconut paste, salt and  let it simmer  for 5 minutes.
Heat the ghee in a pan and  fry the channa dal and urad dal one by one.
Switch off and add the jeera and  curry leaves.
Add it to the kootu and switch off and serve hot
This makes a great side dish with rasam and steamed rice and ghee.
I love to eat this with hot rice and ghee  with avakkai or lemon pickle  and appalam.

Pudalangai poricha kootu

Mango Bhaji

Manga Bhaji (mango morkozhambu)
This is a  typical Iyengar dish and seriously, it is an acquired taste.


What goes in:
1 Raw Mango, cut into pieces.

Raw mango

2cups curd, whisked nicely.
2 green chillies, slit
2 Mor Milaga ( Green chillies soaked in salted buttermilk and sundried)
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 Fenugreek seeds
A pinch of Hing(Asafoetida)
Salt to taste.

Wash and cut the Mango into big pieces.
Pressure cook with very little water and let it cool.
 Whisk the curds in a vessel and add salt.
 Heat a pan and add a little oil and add the mustard seeds and Fenugreek seeds. As soon as they splutter, add green chillies and Asafoetida and switch off.
Fry the mor milagas  in a little oil and add it to the pan.
Add the curd to the mixture.
 Once the Mango is cold, add it to the curd. Check and adjust for salt.
This dish can be  had with hot steamed rice and ghee, and is great as a side dish for Dosa, Poori, etc.  and tastes like  Khadi.

Steamed mango

Mango bhaji

Rasam powder

The secret behind a delicious rasam is a good home made rasam powder.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Dhaniya
1/4 cup Toor dal
1Tbsp channa dal
25 grams black pepper
25 grams jeera
1  dry haldi(virali manjal)
1/2 cup Red chillies
A handful of curry leaves(kadi patha).

Dry these in the sun for a two days.
Or else dry roast each ingredient separately till you get a  nice fried  aroma .
Kadi patha should crumble when touched.
Cool and grind  coarsely in mixie.
Store in an air tight bottle.

PS:  I have given these measures for 15 days use so that the powder remains fresh.

Tomato and paruppu rasam

Rasam is an integral  part of  the south Indian cuisine. No lunch is complete without the flavorful rasam. There are various types of rasam, and each has a unique flavor and taste of it's own.

I give below the recipe for a typical Tam Brahm Rasam. We Iyengars call it Sattamudhu.

Ingredients:
1 cup of tamarind water squeezed out of a marble sized ball.
1 tsp rock salt.
(I steep  the tamarind and salt  in water and microwave it  for 2 minutes so that  I get the full extract. The salt also helps.)
1/2 cup Toor dal, cooked and mashed nicely.
1 medium sized tomato, washed and diced to small pieces
3 tsps of Rasam powder.
1/2 inch ginger, skin scraped and grated.
1 pinch hing
A handful of fresh kadi patha (kauveppilai)

For Garnishing
 2 tsp ghee
1/2tsp mustard seeds(kadugu)
A sprinkle of hing powder.
A sprig of kadi patha
A handful of fresh coriander leaves, cut into small pieces.


1) In a vessel add the tamarind extract, tomato pieces (keep aside 1/4th of the pieces),ginger,  hing, rasam powder and kadi patha and let it boil till the tomatoes are soft and can be mashed.
2) Once the raw smell of the tamarind goes, add the mashed toor dal, and the balance tomato pieces.
3) At this stage, the Rasam should not boil too much. Swith off as soon as it starts to foam.
4) Heat the ghee, add the mustard, as soon as it starts spluttering , switch off, add the hing powder and kadi patha.
5) Add this to the rasam. Garnish with the fresh coriander and serve with hot rice and ghee.