Coriander Dal

A preparation which my son and myself enjoy, specially with a lot of the fried garlic on top.

Coriander Dal topped with a tempering of Fried Garlic. Extremely tasty Dal dish eaten with chapati, bhakri. Very typical to interior Maharashtra. I personally enjoy it with steaming hot plain rice too.

Ingredients
1/2 cup toor dal pressure cooked with a pinch of turmeric powder and asefotida
1 bunch of fresh coriander finely chopped, stocks can be used for extra taste
A coarse paste of 5 garlic cloves and 3 green chillies
Salt to taste
10-12 cloves of garlic chopped the way it is shown in the picture
Juice of half a lime

Method
In a deep bottom pan put oil, add mustard seeds, let them splutter, add asefotida, turmeric powder, add the chopped coriander, sautee well, add salt stir for a while, add the boiled dal, some more salt as required, add the juice of the lime, give it a nice boil.
In a small pan make a tempering of little oil, mustard seeds, a bit of turmeric powder, asefotida, add the chopped garlic pieces fry them to a golden brown. Top the dal with the tempering and serve.

Another delicacy for the people who observe fasts in Shravan. A cool dessert for the midtime hunger attacks. 

Sago Pearl Porridge With Tender Coconut
I have given it a coastal twist

Ingredients
1/2 cup sago pearls
1 tspoon clarified butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
Few pieces of tender coconut ( the very soft malai from the coconut)
Fruits to your taste, I have used brown grapes, orange and apple.

Method
In a deep bottom pan roast the sago pearls in clarified butter till they swell up and look like fried pearls, add milk, few strands of saffron, bring to a boil, keep stirring till the sago peals soften completely, add sugar, by this time the milk thickens and also the pearls with starch will make the porridge into a nice consistency. Add coconut milk once you take it off the gas. Cool it completely, add the pieces of tender coconut and fruits of your choice. Decorate with tender coconut pieces and saffron strands. Savour this on a sunny afternoon.

 A simple yet tasty  vegetable dish which can be made with  ingredients easily available in any normal Indian kitchen.
Potato Brinjal Curry
This is a curry which tastes good with both rice and roti. It is a balance if sweet sour and spicy tastes. 
Ingredients
3 madium sized brinjals chopped into squares 
3 potatoes peeled and chopped into squares 
2 tspoons roasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts, chutney dal, dry grated coconut all ground to a coarse powder
1 tspoon of goda masala
2 tspoons of grated jaggery
2 tspoons of tamarind pulp
1 tspoon of chilli powder
Salt to taste
coriander for garnishing

MethodIn a kadhai take oil, put mustard seeds, asafotida, turmeric powder, add the brinjal and potatoes, sprinkle little water, add salt, cook covered till 3/4 th cooked, then add the dry powder, jaggery, tamarind pulp, c.hilli powder, goda masala, water as per need, cover and cook till done. Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy

                     

Keral Kadal Curry

This is a curry I ate when I stayed with Nalini Muralidharan at Cochin. We enjoyed all the Kerala specalities at her place, was an unforgettable experience. Credit goes to Nalini for my knowledge of this dish :) Thanks dear.

Ingredients

 2 00 gms brown chickpeas soaked overnight and pressure cooked

1) The ingredients below should be sauteed in a little coconut oil and ground into a paste
2 onions chopped into thin strips
1/2 cup dry grated coconut
4 dry red chillies

2) The ingredients below should be dry roasted and powdered
2 cloves
1 small piece of cinammon
Few seeds of green cardomom
1/2 tspoon fennel seeds
1/4 of a mace flower

3) 1 tomato chopped and pureed with a small ladle full of the pressure cooked chick peas

Salt to taste
2 dry red chillies broken into pieces for the tempering

Method
In a kadhai take some coconut oil, pour the first step paste into it saute well, now add the second step powdrered masala, cook well, add the third step puree, cook well, add the pressure cooked chick peas, salt to taste and let it boil well, add water as desired. In a small wok take a little oil, fry the dry red chillies and pour on top of the curry. Serve with dosa, puttu or chapati.

I have used red thai curry for the tempering.

Tambit Ladoo ( Nag Panchami Special)
This is a sweet made as an offering to the Snake God whom we worship in the month of Shravan.
Ingredients
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup fried gram split
!/2 cup grated dry coconut
1/2 cup roasted and peeled peanuts
1 and 1/2 cup grated jaggery (jaggery should be the one which is not used in chikkis or else the ladoos will turn out hard and difficult to bite into)
1 small spoon cardamom powder(optional)
2 tablespoons of clarified butter (ghee)
In a kadhai dry roast the fried gram, sesame seeds, dry coconut and grind it lightly in the mixi, see that it does not become a sticky mix and keep aside.
Now in the same kadhai take the ghee put the once it melts put the jaggery, heat it just to a point where it melts, add the ground mixture, peanut powder, cardamom powder, mix well and add enough mixture to see that it is moist and stop adding if u feel it is drying up. U need to start making the ladoos when the mixture is still quite hot or else it will dry and will become difficult to make ladoos. Shape them as shown in the picture. Enjoy:)
Tip- While making the ladoos if the mix starts drying, just sprinkle very few drops of milk this will make your job easier.

I love Christopher Columbus

This   is taken when I went to Coorg, the place to be in if you are looking for spices and coffee. From all the plants, what caught my attention was this shiny little green beauty with which I did not miss clicking a pic.

These chillies are used regularly in my kitchen.

This plant is in my tiny kitchen balcony, swaying happily. Knowing how passionate I am about chillies, the seeds were brought by my daughter straight from Brazil!!! From the time I have discovered that Brazil is the motherland of the Chilli, whenever I look at the chillies on this plant, I sway and am as happy as a lark as if a daisy has bloomed in my garden:)

This one is not a dish but a spicy article which I felt like writing, dedicating it to the most vibrant  ingredient in my kitchen. The article will slowly open the secret to my title!!

Chillies are a very very essential ingredient of  Indian kitchens, as I started learning more and more about food, I discovered that it also has a place in
Thai, Mexican, Korean and Portugal cuisines.

I love chillies is my tagline you can safely say, I say it as often as I can. Then they may be fresh green chillies, yellow chillies, dry red chillies, Thai chillies, Mexican chillies, bird eye chillies, Guntur chillies, Byadgi chillies, fried chillies, stuffed dry chillies, curries made of chillies, saalan made of chillies, jalapenos, or the simple humble maharashtrian  chutney called thecha which always has a special place in my fridge and my heart. Phew!! I just felt like a waiter in a restaurant rattling off the names of dishes from the menu, hehe...

For people who do think that the chilli originates in India this will be a piece of information that, the green chilli actually travelled via the Spice Route when it swiped places in America with black pepper . Dr. Nandita Iyer says in her article published in Mint, that the birth place of chillies can safely be called South America. The domestication started in  Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico. Farming was done between 5000 BC and 3500 BC. How it travelled in exchange for black pepper from South and Central America to Portugal and Spain via what is called Columbia to India and other South Asian countries, is a fascinating journey. This was the phenomenon of transfer of plants, animals and cultures between American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres in the 15th and the 16th centuries after Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage. From Spain and Portugal, chillies reached India and South Asian countries via the same Spice Route that took black pepper from India to America. I say, let America keep the black pepper, no problem, we have the spicier counterpart! Portuguese brought them during their first trip around Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Columbus thus set sail to find Silk Route and Spice Route from the East and chillies found a permanent home here. So, the title "I love Christopher Columbus!"

Now for some scientific knowledge of the chillies. The chemical compound found in them that causes the heat and the burning sensation is Capsiacin.This finds a place in ointments used for pain relief too. Spiciness is measured in SHU that is Scoville Heat Units. Bell peppers have a 0 level of SHU in them,
hence are not full of heat.

Chillies add a vibrant colour to the dish and taste to otherwise bland vegetables, rice, meat and grain dishes. Most importantly, they give a balance to the
sweet, sour and salty taste of the dishes.

Harissa Sauce from North America, Mexican Adobo Sauce features Chiptole and Ancho chillies, They give a smoky aroma to the dish. Gohujang from Korea, Sriracha from Thailand, Piri Piri from Portugal are all sauces made from chillies.

Closer to home, Maharashtrian Thecha, The Molga Podis from South, Rajasthani stuffed chilli pickle, Stuffed chillies dried and fried, are had too with poha and curd rice, Mirch bhajiyas, Hyderabadi mirch ka saalan, Bharwan mirch are all names of a few dishes savored in India featuring
CHILLI as the hero of the dish.

I would like to thank Dr. Nandita from whose informative article I have stated some of the facts in my write-up.

As festival season approaches and specially the month of Shravan enters a Hindu household, most of the days you find people observing fasts and following rituals. Here is a recipe for people who fast and would like a bite for breakfast or an evening snack on such days.

Patties for fasts

Ingredients

200 gms of crumbled cottage cheese, you can choose low fat

1/2 cup finely chopped red and yellow bell peppers each

Small bunch of finely chopped coriander

1/2 cup boiled and mashed purple yam

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup samo rice flour

1/4 cup sago pearl flour

1/4 cup amaranth flour

Salt to taste

Chilli powder to taste

1 tspoon cumin powder

Mix all ingredients well, do not add extra water as far as possible since the cottage cheese has enough moisture. Now make patties in the desired shape and pan fry, just with a little clarified butter smeared on them. Let them turn into light golden brown on both sides and you can savour these with the chutney or as they are with your tea, coffee or you can join me!