orema

CHUTNEY WITHOUT COCONUT

Red jalapenos, I was introduced to this after coming to Singapore. Though i have seen this in the vegetable section i never picked this as i don’t have any idea of what to make with this red jalapeno. One day when my friend told that she told made chutney with red jalapenos and she gave me some to taste also. As the taste and the recipe sounded nice , i made it on the next week and had with Idli.

Red jalapenos can be replaced with a red bell pepper too.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

• In a pan add oil and throw in the urad dal, red chilli, roughly chopped onion and roughly chopped jalapenos. Saute till the dal turns golden brown, saute in a medium  flame.
• Switch off the flame and add tamarind and salt. Allow this to cool .
• When it is completely cool, grind it ina mixer into a smooth paste by adding little water while grinding.

• Transfer it to a bowl and temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

• Serve with hot idlis| dosa.. Even this will taste nice with chapathis too.

NOTE:

• Urad dal can be replaced with channa dal too.
• You can add garlic while sauting to enhance the flavor.
• Curry leaves or coriander leaves can be added while grinding to give more taste.

The word masala milk instantly makes me to remember Hotel  Saravana Bhavan chennai as the masala milk served there will be so awesome and we all are a huge fan of it.  Here in Saravana bhavan they won’t serve masala milk and when i tried in some other restaurant it tasted very bad. Long time i was thinking to make this but few weeks back i had a sudden craving for masala milk i made it at home following our super enthusiastic blogger Priya's recipe. It turned out so well and thank you priya for the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

• Soak the saffron strands in 1 tablespoon of warm milk for 10 minutes.
• Soak the almonds in hot water for 15 minutes and take out the skin.

• Boil the remaining milk by adding cardamom,( i added 2 pinches of cardamom powder) cinnamon and cloves. Keep the flame low.
• grind the almonds with little milk into a smooth paste.

• After 5 minutes , add the ground almond paste to the milk and the soaked saffron.
• Boil in a low flame for 5 minutes.
• Switch off the flame and strain the milk.
• Add sugar and mix well and garnish with pisatchios or cashew nuts or sliced almonds.

• Enjoy hot masala milk.

This version sounded very easy to me and so i tried and posted and this is not the traditional version of masala paal. in restaurants they serve with malai on the top.

Karamani | Black eyed beans is the which we normally use to make sweet sundal along with jaggery. When we were kids , i never tasted this one just for the reason that it has jaggery in that. Even it will very much disappointing for me if somebody gives vella sundal , when we visit their house for Golu.  Now a days everything has changed  and i love this vella sundal and most of the sweets with jaggery also. Making this karamani vella sundal is so simple and i learnt this from my mom.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

• Dry roast the karamani for 3-4 minutes in a pan (this step will ensure easy cooking of the karamani and i got this tip from Shanthi's space.
• Soak it in enough water for 4-5 hours.
• Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles by adding a pinch of salt to this. Do not over cook and mash the peas.

• In a pan add jaggery and add 1-2 tblsp of water.
• When the jaggery melts completely, strain the impurities and boil it again in a low flame for 2-3 minutes.

• Now add in the cooked karamani after draining the excess water. Stir it well and saute till the jaggery mixture gets incorporated well with the sundal and all the moisture evaporates. Even if you find the moisture is there, do not worry after adding coconut it will come to the right consistency. Add cardamom powder in the last and mix well.

• Karamani vella sundal is ready for Neivedhyam.

Note:

1. The same sundal can be done by replacing karamani with green moong dal too.
2. Adjust jaggery according to your taste.
3. I have seen my mami used to temper mustard and a red chilli in 1/2 tsp of oil in the last. If you wish you can do this.

SEPPANKIZHANGU VARUVAL

Seppankizhangu is one of the rare vegetable which i cook in my kitchen. My kids and hubby are not a big fan of seppankizhangu, but since i love this a most i make it a point to cook this seppankizhangu at least once in six months. This time i made this after a very long time and i enjoyed it with Vendakkai Morkuzhambhu. Though my mom makes this in a different style, i tried it in the same way as i made the Pavakkai fry.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

• Par boil the seppankizhagu either in a pan or pressure cook for  1 whistle.
• Cool it down and take out the skin.

• Cut the seppankizhangu into roundels and add the rice flour, pepper powder, salt, sambar powder, asafoetida and turmeric powder.
• Mix well with your hands and refrigerate this for half an hour. I normally do this previous day night and fry this next morning.

• Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying.Fry them in batches till golden brown.
• Drain them in a kitchen towel.

• This seppankizhangu fry will go well with sambar rice, rasam rice and curd rice too.

NOTE:

1. Never over cook the seppankizhanghu , just parboil it .
2. My mom just fry it without any spices and add red chilli powder and salt at the last.
3. Add few drops of coconut oil at the last and mix well , to enhance the flavour.
4. You can roast this in a tawa  too.

Whenever i think of Marina beach , Milagai bajji comes to my mind first and next will be this Thengai Mangai pattani sundal. I don’t need to give explanations for this moreas most of us are a big fan of these beach side junk food. I skipped the addition of onions in this recipe as we are making this for navaratri, butif you making this as a snack for kids feel free to add onions.

In the beach they use the white peas, but you can use green peas or even peanuts too.In the beach they add lots of mangai , onion and carrot and less of sundal but i have added more sundal in my version.

INGREDIENTS:

METHOD:

• Soak the white peas for 7-8 hours ,preferably overnight.
• Pressure cook the peas for 2-3 whistles by adding salt to this.

• Drain the water and remove the skin .
• In a pan, add oil and temper with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves( i didn’t have curry leaves and i didn’t add)
• When it splutters, add the cooked peas.
• Mix well and add the grated raw mango,grated carrots, coconut and coriander leaves.

• Mix everything well. Switch off the flame. I love to add some grated mango and carrots on the top too while serving.

Note:

• If adding onions , just chop them finely add them raw while adding the mangai and carrots.
• You can add chaat masala if you want.