Pongal

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4











Ingredients:

1 cup raw rice
3/4 th cup Moong Dal
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste

To Season:

1 teaspoon mustard
2 green chillies chopped
1 teaspoon ginger minced
curry leaves
1 tablespoon ghee

Method:

Add rice,moong dal, turmeric, cumin,pepper, salt, water and pressure cook for 3 - 4 whistles. Pongal should be little over cooked. For the above proportion, I have added 6 cups of water. I also pressure cook it for longer time.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add all items under to season. Add it to the cooked pongal and mix it well.

IDLI SAMBHAR

My first few months in US were mixer/grinder less days. Being a south indian and a big fan of "I hate Chappathi" club, I used to crave for hot idlis and dosas. Atlast after a big hunt I bought a blender. After all the phone calls to my mom about the proportion and consistency, the attempt to make idli was such a disaster. It then took me several tries to come somewhere close to the kind of idlis my Mom makes at home.


Preparation Time: 1 day
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Ingredients:

Section 1:
For Idli:
4 cups idli rice
1 cup urad dal
1 teaspoon fenugreek
Salt to taste

Method

Soak rice, urad dal and fenugreek along with salt for 6 - 7 hours.
Grind it to a smooth paste.
Keep the batter overnight to ferment.
Pour this batter using a laddle to the idli plates and steam it for 7-8 mins.

Section 2:
For Sambhar:

1/2 cup toor dal
1/4 cup moon dal
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 small potato, chopped
1 brinjal, chopped
2 green chillies, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chilly powder
3/4 corriander powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Curry leaves
Cilantro, chopped
Mustard
2 red chillies
Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry the moon dal until the it turns golden. It should not turn brown.
To this add toor dal, vegetables, salt and pressure cook it.
Add chilly powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder to the cooked vegetables and let it boil for sometime.
Heat oil in a tava. Add mustard and let it splutter. To it add red chillies, curry leaves and cilantro. Pour Sambhar into this and switch off the stove.

APPAM MUTTA CURRY

Preparation Time: 1 day
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Ingredients:

Section 1:
For Appam:
5 cups raw rice
1/2 coconut
1/4 tea spoon cooking soda
salt to taste

Method:
Soak the rice for 5-6 hrs.
Grind the rice and coconut to a smooth paste.
Add salt and cooking soda.

Take two table spoons of batter and mix it in two cups of water. Cook it stirring continuously over low heat. Take it off the heat when it gets to a semi solid consistency and let it cool. Add this to the batter and keep it over night to ferment.

Heat a kadai and pour one laddle of the batter and spread it on the tava. The sides should be thin and the center part should be thick. Cook it with covered lid.

Ingredients:

Section 2:
For Mutta Curry
4 Eggs
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 medium potato, chopped
4 green chillies
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon chilly powder
Salt to taste

To Grind:
1/2 cup coconut. grated
1 pod garlic
1/2 inch cinnamon
2 cardamom
4 cloves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds

To Garnish:
2 teaspoon oil
1/4 spoon mustard
2 dried red chilly
1 sprig curry leaves
coriander leaves

Method:

Hard boil the eggs.

Pressure cook chopped onions, tomatoes, potatoes and green chillies along with turmeric powder, chilly powder and salt.

Grind all the ingredients under the "To Grind" section.

Add the grind mixture to the cooked vegetables and bring it to a boil. Add the eggs and let it boil for some more time.

Heat oil in a tava and add all the items under "To Garnish" section except coriander leaves. Pour it into the curry and add coriander leaves to it.