Curry leaves Rice(Karuvepilai Saadham)

I realized that I haven't posted much South Indian recipes. From now on, I will make it a point to post traditional recipes from the South once in a while. My latest post in my health blog is all about curry leaves. They are very good for you. I almost forgot about this rice until I saw it in Sriharivatsan's blog. I tried this last weekend and loved it. I have made some changes to her recipe and here is my version.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
Fresh Curry leaves-1 cup
Oil-1/2 tsp
Urud dal-1 tbsp
Hing-1/4 tsp
Red chillies-4
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Whole pepper-1/2 tsp
Rice-3/4 cup(uncooked)

Method:
Cook rice and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Fry all the above ingredients together till curry leaves turn crisp and urud dal turns golden brown. Cool and grind to a coarse powder. Mix with hot rice and ghee. Serve with pappad.

Note:Rice should be cooked in such a way that the grains are separate and not mushy.

Maida Tattai - Flat Savoury Crispy Snack

MAIDA TATTAI- FLAT CRISPIES MADE OF PLAIN FLOUR

At the age of fourteen, my father lost his mother while she gave birth to her daughter. My grand father was never around to take care of the kids, as his job in the railways often took him out of station or sent him on the ‘line’. My father’s grand mother (my great grand mother) had a tough time bringing up my hyper active father and his new born sister almost single handed. My great grand mother lived up to her 96th year to narrate amusing anecdotes about our father to us.

Father made his reluctant aunt open the ‘ugranam’ (storeroom) where a variety of meticulously prepared savouries like tattais and murukkus were stored. After ransacking the stock meant to last for at least a couple of months with all his friends, he threw a sweet thank you at his bewildered aunt and marched away into the garden with his gang, only to return for refueling after a vigourous out door game!

I have never taken any interest in learning to prepare these savouries as our needs were always taken care of by the elders in the family. Later on professionals were summoned to prepare them during functions at home. Nowadays these and many more savouries and sweets are available in shops which have sprung up every where in plenty.

Here I have tried to prepare maida tattai for this post with the instructions of my enthusiastic mami (maternal uncle’s wife) who has mastered the art of traditional as well as innovative cooking.

INGREDIENTS:
Maida or plain flour – 1 glass (my one glass can hold approximately 250 gms of an ingredient which is equivalent to what we call a ‘pav’ in Kannada.)
Rice flour – 1/3 glass
Roasted and powdered black gram dal (urad dal) – 1 heaped tbsp
Soaked and drained Bengal gram dal (chana dal) – 2 tbsps
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Salt – ¾ tsp
Spice powder (my Sambar powder) – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Ghee or butter – 2 tbsps
Oil for frying

PREPARATION OF MAIDA:
The required amount of maida is bundled up in a clean cloth and placed in a clean dry vessel.This vessel is then placed in the pressure cooker and steamed for 15 minutes without the whistle. After steaming, the maida will look like a hard dry piece of plaster of Paris. Crumble this into a fine powder using your hand.
METHOD:
1. Take a glass of the prepared maida in a wide mouthed vessel.
2. Add rice flour, roasted and powdered black gram dal, salt, asafoetida, ,spice powder, soaked dal and cumin seeds.
3. Add ghee or butter and mix the ingredients well till they look like bread crumbs.
4. Heat 4 tbsps of oil and pour all over the mixture and blend with a spoon.
5. Add water little by little and make a dough, like you would for a chappatis.
6. Make small lime size balls out of the dough.
7. Flatten one by one by pressing the ball between the palm of one hand, and the mount under the thumb of the other hand.
8. Make the tattais as thin as possible and fry them in batches of four or six in hot oil.
9. Drain them on absorbant paper and store in an air tight jar after it cools down.

Some Notes from my trial: Tattais will crumble and break away in the oil, if the oil is not fuming hot. My first few tattais crumbled away into the oil. I then realized it is to do with the oil temperature. You can reduce heat if needed, when the tattais are half done and change colour, lest they may get burnt. Tattais do tend to need lots of oil, so if you are feeling indulgent, this makes an ideal accompaniment with tea or coffee!! Overall, the result was a very delicious and cruncy snack.

Vengaya Pakoda - Onion in Besan Fritters

Vengaya pakoda is a very popular snack in Tamil Nadu. Its hard to find any bakery or tea stall with out selling these. These crispy pakodas is the most sought after accompaniment with a cup of hot tea/coffee. In Kerala, you will find the bajji version more popular. Pakodas are crunchy where as bajjis are crisp and soft. Though both are besan based, the batter consistency makes the difference. At my home, Amma used to make this on most of the Sundays. Post marriage, my husband's family love to have these pakodas/bajji as side for dinner. With the onset of monsoon, these will be made often in my home. This is a favorite with my hubby. There isn't any recipe for this. I usually follow eye ball measurement. without any exact measurement followed, each time it is made, it has a unique taste.

1 medium sized onion, chopped

handful of besan flour - 2 measures

handful of rice flour - 1 measure

salt to taste

a big pinch of chilli powder

few shakes of hing

chopped coriander & curry leaves (optional)

Water to prepare the batter

Oil to deep fry

Method

Mix all the ingredients well. Add water little by little to get a thick batter. The batter should not be very stiff also. Adjust the salt and chilli powder to your taste.

Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, take some batter in your hand, crumble it into small pieces, directly into the oil. Be careful as you do this over the oil. Take care that your fingers do not go near oil. The idea is to get small pieces so that it will fry crisp else it will turn soft. This is a very forgiving recipe. Little more or less of any of the ingredients will not affect the taste but the crunchiness will vary. Too much of water or besan will give soft pakoras.

Drain on absorbent papers and when cool, you can store in airtight containers.

I am sending this to RFRU:Starters hosted by Sunshinemom, an event started by Ramki.