Back after the break with Chakka Curry - Jackfruit and brown chana cooked in coconut gravy

Finally back after a long break, which was not meant to be this long. A sudden trip to be with my parents and sister's family. I had planned to blog from there. But I couldnot withstand the heat of  North India, though I am used to mercury hitting 40 C in the South. For most of the days I stayed there, I wasn't keeping well . So I was in mood to sit and write for blog. On top of it I had some pending projects to be completed too. In short, I could not do any thing I planned. Except for two days of  outing, I stayed indoors. Our return trip had to be made via Bangalore for want of tickets. That meant few days of staying with my MIL, BIL and family. My nephew and niece had extracted a promise from me that I stay with them during their vacation. And they are happy that I kept my promise.

And after three weeks,we were back home. It feels good to be back home and  to the routine after a break. There are so many pics in my drafts folder to be posted.  Somehome, I was not able to get into the mood to blog after the break. I have been trying to make a post for the past one week with out much success. Hope after this initial reluctance, I will be able to post regularly.

Here is a recipe with the seasonal fruit - Jackfruit. I didnot get to eat much of jackfruit since I was away for almost a month.

You need


Semi ripe jackfruit bulbs- 20 nos

Brown chana - handful
Turmeric  - a pinch

salt to taste

chilli powder - a pinch

To roast and grind

Urad dal - 2 tspn

Red chilli - 2 nos

Cumin/jeera - 1/2 tspn

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup


Seasoning

Coconut oil - 1 tblspn

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Red chilly- 2nos, broken into two

Grated coconut - 1 tblspn


Method


Wash and soak channa for 6 hours or overnight. Pressure cook till it is soft. You can use cow peas also in place of chana. Remove the seeds from the jackfruit bulb and chop into bite sized peices. The fruit should not be ripe and should be firm. At this semi ripe stage, the taste  will be a mix of sour and sweet. This is ideal to make chakka curry.

Cook the chopped fruit with half cup of water. Add turmeric and salt and a pinch of red chilli powder. When its almost cooked, add the cooked chana and let it cook together for 5 minutes.

Roast the urad dal and red chilli in a teaspoon of oil till dal turn light brown. Grind the roasted ingredients along with coconut and cumin to a smooth paste. Add water just enough to grind.
Add the ground coconut paste to the cooked mix and adjust the consistency by adding water if requied. The curry is semisolid. It gets thicker on cooling.  Do the seasoning along with grated coconut and fry till it turns light brown. Garnish with curry leaves. My measurement of coconut is less compared to what my Amma cooks.  If you wish, you can increase the amount of coconut in grinding and garnishing.

Peach Roll

There are so many different type of swiss rolls. Either made with chiffon base, whole egg sponge mix or separation of egg white and yolk mixing. I like the whole egg sponge base as I find it much easier to make and the texture is quite fluffy and soft. This time, I try a new method from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷。She has five different methods of making swiss roll. Here is one that to whisk the egg whites until peak stiff then add in egg yolks. I find it quite interesting and the result was not bad. The texture is a bit different from the three methods that I've mentioned above. Not the fluffy type but soft and smooth. The good things is that the sponge can be easily roll up. 

As this is my first attempt, I hardly catch the right temperature to bake it although the recipe mentioned 190C from the top and 160C from the bottom heat but every oven had different temper. I've slightly over bake the sponge so I find it a bit dry, otherwise it would be perfect. If you dare to try out this recipe, you will know what I mean. Happy Baking!

Recipe for 36cm x 36cm

170g egg whites

110g caster sugar

80g egg yolks

105g plain flour

180g whipping cream

20g caster sugar

2 to 3 pieces can peach

Beat the egg whites until bubbles appear, gradually add in caster sugar and beat at high heat until peak stiff.

Add in all the egg yolks then continue to beat until thick batter.

Gently fold in plain flour until well combine.

Pour into a baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 180C for about 15 minutes. Keep on eye so that it will not over baked.

Place the sponge on a cooling rack together with the baking paper once it come out from the oven. Gently tear out the baking paper.

Whisk the whipping cream with caster sugar then spread evenly on the sponge. Place some sliced peach on the sponge then roll it up. Roll up a layer of cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour before serve. 

GOOSEBERRY PICKLE

நீர் நெல்லிக்காய் ஊறுகாய்:

Pickles are always a temptation during a meal courase. Especially with curd rice, they are delicious to taste. Off all the pickles, this gooseberry pickle stands first due to its nutritious qualities. There are so many types of pickles using this gooseberry. But this type stays as the most favorite one in all the homes of Tamilnadu.


Ingredients:


Big sized gooseberry-20
Red chillies-8
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder- half sp
Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida- a small piece
Gingelly oil- 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp


Procedure:


Wash and boil the gooseberries in water.
The gooseberries should be immersed in enough water.
Add the turmeric powder and salt.
Boil for 10 minutes.
Heat a pan and roast the fenugreek seeds and the red chillies to golden brown.
In a little oil, fry the asafoeida and powder it with the fenugreek seeds and the red chillies finely.
Add this powder to the gooseberries.
Again heat the same pan and pour the gingelly oil.
Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter pour the tempering to the pickle.
Let it soak in the spicy water for a week and then it is ready for use.