Thenkuzhal and Manoharam ~ 2-in-1 Crunchies

Thenkuzhal is a savory crunchy where as Manoharam are sweet crunchies. Both the dishes use the same basic ingredients and are deep fried in oil. Rice flour is the major ingredient. Traditionally, raw rice is soaked in water for half an hour. Its then drained, shadow dried and powdered. Shop bought rice flour can also be used, though you have to compromise a bit on the texture. I usually prepare the rice flour from scratch. But this time I followed a different method, told by my friend,S. She gets the raw rice and roasted urad dal, powdered together at the flour mill. The bonus is that the flour mix will stay good for many days. So with the mix ready at hand, you can enjoy thenkuzhal whenever you want. For the flour mix Raw rice (Pacharisi) - 8 cups Urad dal - 1 cup Clean the rice of any dust. Don't wash with water. Dry roast urad dal till it turns pink. Powder the rice and roasted dal together. To make thenkuzhal Butter Crushed pepper and cumin seeds Salt Hing Water to prepare the dough Oil to fry If you are using the hing bar, take a piece of the bar and soak in warm water for 10 minutes. Use the water to prepare the dough. Instead, hing powder can also be used. Prepare dough in batches instead of mixing the full quantity of the flour. Else it will drink too much of oil when fried. Take 4 cups of the flour. Add 2 tablespoon of butter, salt, 1 tspn of coarsely crushed cumin and pepper, hing water. Make sure the coarse pepper is not big enough to block the openings in the mould. Mix well. Finally add water to make a soft dough. For preparing thenkuzhal, you need the press which has three or more holes in it. Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, take a ball sized dough and press it directly in the oil. Start making the formation from outside to inside. After a minute, slowly turn it over and fry till it is light brown. The size can depend on the size of your kadai. Allow it to cool and store it in airtight containers. Manoharam The initial preparation is similar to thenkuzhal, except that the spices and hing is not added. Salt is also added very minimally. Take the flour mix, add butter and very little salt. Make a soft dough using water. Prepare the thenkuzal out of the dough. Break them into one inch long pieces. These pieces are to be coated in jaggery syrup. For one measure of thenkuzhal pieces, use 1/2 cup of jaggery. If you want to be very sweet, you can use 3/4 cup of jaggery too. For jaggery syrup Jaggery - 1/2 cup Water- 1/4 cup Bite sized coconut pieces (optional) Cardamom powder. Melt jaggery in water. Strain to remove any impurities. Heat the syrup in a wide mouthed kadai. Add coconut pieces. Make a thick syrup. To test, add a drop of syrup in a glass of water. If it can be rolled and is firm, the syrup has reached the consistency. Switch off the stove. Add cardamom powder. Stir in the broken thenkuzhal to the syrup. Mix with a ladle so that all the pieces are well coated with jaggery, taking care not break the pieces further on mixing. At the same time, you need to be quick with the mixing, since jaggery will solidify on cooling. Before that it has to coat all the pieces. If the syrup does not reach the right consistency, thenkuzhal will turn soggy. It should remain crisp even after adding to the syrup. Enjoy the salt and sweet, melt in the mouth, crunchies. I am sending these crunchies to Cooking for Kids:Rice event , guest hosted by Trupti, started by Sharmi.

More News from the Salt Institute by Alix Blair, Guest Blogger

Here is Alix's second dispatch from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. (Her first post can be read here).

We talk about finding and directing the EMOTIONAL CENTER of our story, how is it best if-- instead of in one sentence--you should be able to sum up your story in ONE WORD and most often, that is your emotional center and the direction you should craft your story in.

It looks like one of my two stories for Salt's radio program will take place in Lubec, Maine. It is the eastern most area of the United States and a ten-hour roundtrip drive from Portland! Recently driving the 5 hour return, I had the good fortune to hear Soundprint's Treasure Isle story which I fell in love with.

It's funny & shocking how much finding an audio story is like falling in love. You live it so much in your head before the first meeting. You invent conversations and scenes and expectations. You create the imaginary future and its brilliance. You spend hours fretting over the phone, wondering why they don't call you back. Did you say the wrong thing? Did you scare them away? Finally you meet the real thing.You learn it's not at all what you had in mind, you have to let go of certain preconceived ideas for the story. The story is different than you created. You must be open to all the new things that unfold and yet keep a map of the places you believed in--what brought you originally to the story in the first place.

Flowers in my tiny apartment, only a few blocks to walk to Salt.
They are a healthy reminder that there's life outside of hours and hours of transcription!

Here's some of what we're listening to (a mishmash selection of the past several weeks.) We usually start our Tuesday and Friday radio classes with 2-3 listenings and discussion of radio pieces, most often produced by past students. These are some of my favorites.

"No Praise, No Blame, Just So" Jessica Alpert.
Kitchen Sisters Tupperware Party
"Bringing the work into you" Megan Martin.
"Just another fish story" Molly Menschel--this one we listened to as before-Salt "homework." I love this story so much.
"World's Longest Diary" Dave Isay

We're reading Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writer's Guide compiled by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call. I love this book. I LOVE THIS BOOK! It is so helpful, such a diversity of voices talking about documentary work. I am inspired by it. I re-read it all the time, certain passages that give me guidance. This book is wonderful.

Here are two quotes I collected that inspire me in this world of radio documentary work. Not related at all to Salt, but I have the quotes on scraps of paper pasted into my Salt notebook:

"He had the uneasy manner of a man who is not among his own kind, and who has not seen enough of the world to feel that all people are in some sense his own kind." Willa Cather

"Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross." Michael Ondaatje.

Alix tries to stay warm in the cold Maine air and blend in with the locals!

Stuffed Capsicum, Tomato Rice and Beetroot Pachadi

TAKKALI SADAM STUFFED IN KUDAMILAGAI

Tomato rice stuffed in Capsicum

The Summer Vacation has just begun and my grand children are greatly relieved that they got the much needed break from the boring ‘dabba’ lunch. They pamper themselves by getting up late in the mornings and have a late breakfast. For the first few days they were really grateful for the hot sambar, rasam, rice and curry meal for lunch. I know that they will be bored with the monotony soon. And with friends coming to stay over for lunch, their expectation for a delicious treat is but natural. I always keep my ‘antennas’
up to pick up any new recipe, so that I could cook a new dish to keep the little ones happy. My daughter calls it the height of spoiling, but what are grand mothers for?

TAKKALI SADAM or TOMATO RICE
INGREDIENTS: Rice – 250 gms
Onion (Chopped finely) – ¼ cup
Tomatoes – 4
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Cinnamon – 1 small piece powdered
Sambar powder - 2 tsps (Refer to my recipe as it tastes good in almost all recipes since it has coriander seeds, cumin, fenugreek seeds and pepper in it.)
Salt – 11/2tsps
Sugar – 1 pinch
Cashew nuts – a few
Raisins – a few
Cooking oil – 2 tbsps
Coriander leaves – a few METHOD:
1. Pressure cook rice with with two times the volumes of water, such that it does not become mushy and the grains stand separate. Allow it to cool.
2. Heat oil in a pan and roast cashew nuts and raisins, drain and keep them aside.
3. In the same hot oil add the cumin seeds and the cinnamon powder.
4. When it is fried, add the chopped onion and fry until it turns pink in colour.
5. Add the finely chopped tomatoes, sambar powder, salt and sugar in the same order and stir well.
6. Cover with a lid and cook in slow fire.
7. Keep stirring now and then and cook till all the tomatoes turn into pulp.
8. When the gravy separates from the oil switch off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves and the fried raisins and the cashew nuts.
9. Add the now cooled rice and blend well taking care not to mash the rice.
10 The tomato rice is ready for the stuffing. You can simply serve tomato rice as a dish as well.

INGREDIENTS FOR STUFFED CAPSICUM:
Well shaped capsicums – 4

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
Chopped tomatoes – 2 tbsps
Salt – 1 pinch
METHOD:
1. Wash, dry and cut out a ‘lid’ on the top of each capsicum using a sharp knife.
2. Scoop out the seeds carefully so that the capsicum looks like a perfect box with a lid.
3. Spoon in the prepared Tomato Rice up to the brim and press the ‘lid’ firmly.
4. Heat oil in a shallow pan and add the tomatoes and salt and stir.
5. Arrange the stuffed capsicums in the pan leaving space to turn them occasionally. It is better to cook them in small batches if the pan does not accommodate.
6. Turn each capsicum once, so that it is coated with oil and salt.
7. Cover with lid and let it cook on slow fire.
8. When you hear the sizzling sound turn the vegetable to the other side very gently so that the rice does not come out.
9. When it is done switch off fire and serve the sizzling hot capsicum stuff with beet root thair pachadi which is not only a treat to the palate but also to the eye as well.

BEET ROOT THAIR PACHADI
Beetroot and curd dip
INGREDIENTS:
Beet root – 1
Thick curd – 2 cups (Chilled)
Salt – ¼ tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Coriander leaves – a few
METHOD:
1. Pressure cook the whole beet root along with its peel.
2. Cool it thoroughly or even refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. Peel the beetroot just as you would peel the boiled potato.
4. Grate the beetroot in the using the larger side of the grater.
5. Add the salt to the curd and beat with a spoon.
6. Add the grated beet root and blend lightly to avoid mashing up of the vegetable.
7. Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
8. When it splutters add the cumin seeds.
9. Pour the seasoning on to the pachadi.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves.

The cool and non spicy pachadi is a boon in the hot summer months.

Of late we've been having tough time keeping up with the number of events and dates. The capsicum was made for 'cooking with kids' - and a google search shows a number of events, and perhaps an ingredient for each month! ! Oh well ...

The beetroot thair pachadi in all its pink glory goes off to FIC Pink an event series started by Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers and currently hosted by Priya at Easy N Tasty Recipes!

Updated: Yea! There is always an event every post can go to! The stuffed capsicum goes to Srivalli's Monthly Mingle - Kids Lunches. Monthly Mingle was started by Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey, read more about it here.