Kumbakonam Kadappa - A Flavoursome Vegetable And Lentil Dish

KUMBAKONAM  KADAPPA

The temple towns of Tamil Nadu especially in Tanjore District, are famous for their exotic dishes with their queer names. Kumbakonam Kadappa is one such dish conjured up with vegetables, lentils and super flavoursome spices. As you travel through the busy lanes of the town the aroma from the small and big eating hubs tickles your taste buds and activates the digestive juices. The fire is satiated only when doused with the awesome kadappa served with idlies and dosas !

INGREDIENTS

Green gram dal - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Potato - 1 big
Carrots - 2 ( chopped )
String beans - a handful ( chopped )
Tomato - 1 big ( Chopped )
Onion - 1 ( sliced )
Green chilly - 2 ( Cut into big pieces )
Fresh ginger - 1'' piece ( Finely chopped )
Curry leaves - a few
Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp
Chopped fresh coriander leaves - for garnishing
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 tbsps
salt - 1 1/2 tsps

INGREDIENTS FOR GRINDING

Fresh coconut gratings - 2 tbsps
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp
Cardamoms - 3
Cinnamon - 1'' stick
Cloves - 6
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp ( I use my home made sambar powder )

METHOD

1. Pressure cook green gram dal adding turmeric powder .
2. Pressure cook potato along with the dal in a different separator.
3. Cook chopped carrots and chopped beans separately to avoid them becoming mushy.
4. Grind all the INGREDIENTS FOR GRINDING adding little water into a slightly coarse paste.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
6. Add sliced onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves.
7. Saute till onions become transparent .
8. Stir in the ground paste and cook for 2 minutes.


                                      


9. Add chopped tomatoes and cooked carrots and beans.
10. Add peeled and crumbled potatoes and stir well.


                                      


11. Add the pressure cooked mushy dal and salt.
12 . Simmer for a few more minutes till you get a pleasant aroma.


                                        

13. Garnish with roasted cashewnuts and fresh coriander leaves.


                                       


Enjoy the mouthwatering flavoursome Kumbakonam Kadappa with idlies or dosas. We relished it with pudina paratas. The aroma of the dish filled the entire house though I had omitted garlic and fennel seeds, since my family did not prefer a strong flavour.

Sending this to Breakfast Mela on Srivalli's Blog!

Vattayappam - Steamed Rice Cake from Kerala ~Indian Cooking Challenge

Indian cooking challenge for March was Vattayappam from my home state. The recipe given to us was Shn's. Shn has given a very detailed recipe. On a first glance, the recipe might look elaborate and complicated. But its not that difficult. It involves few steps more than preparing an aapam batter. Finally its steam cooked. I tried making dosa too with the batter. Thanks to Lata akka for the dosa idea. It too came out well. I loved the heady aroma from the combo of cardamom, coconut and sugar. It just filled the whole house. 

You need

To Grind

• Raw rice/Idli rice - 1 cup (I used idli rice)


• Fresh grated coconut - 3/4 cup


• Cooked rice - 2 tblspn


• Water - 1/2 cup

 To Proof yeast

•  Active dry yeast - 1/2 tspn


•  Water - 1/3 cup


•  Sugar - 2 tspn

 To Make Thari Kurukku/Rice porridge/Kuzhu

• Coarse ground paste - 2 tblspn


• Water - 1/2 cup

To sweeten and flavor

•  Sugar - 1/2 cup


•  Ghee - 1 1/2 tblspn


•  Cardamom/elaichi - 10-12 nos, powdered


•  Cashew nuts - 5 nos


•  Raisins - 1/2 tblspn

 Method

Wash and soak the rice for 6 -8 hours. Grind the rice with just enough water to make the grinding possible. When rice reaches the coarse texture, remove 2 tablespoons of the rice to prepare the porridge. Add grated coconut to the ground rice and continue to make a fine batter. When its almost done, add cooked rice and grind again. Don't remove the batter from the wet grinder/mixer jar. Leave it there.

Meanwhile, proof yeast Add sugar and yeast to warm water. Dissolve both the ingredients in this warm water and keep the mixture in a warm place for 10 minutes until it froths.

Mix the coarse ground rice in water. Transfer it to a pan and heat it. Keep mixing while it is getting heated and remove when a paste is formed. Take care not to form lumps. Leave it to cool.

Add the cooled porridge to the ground rice in the grinder and spin it once to blend it thoroughly. Next add the yeast mix and blend again by spinning for 2 minutes. Remove the batter to a steel bowl which can hold twice the batter. Leave it to ferment for 5 hours and the batter will double in that time.

Add sugar and give a gentle stir and ferment it to another 2 hours or so. The batter rises more after the addition of  sugar.  Heat ghee in a small pan and roast cashews and raisins. Add to the batter. Also add crushed cardamom to the batter

For steaming, heat water in a pressure cooker. Grease a cake tin or a similar steel vessel. Fill the batter to half of the tin. When the water starts to steam, place the cooker plate (the one with holes) or any other plate and keep the batter filled tin on top of that. Placing the plate will ensure that the water will not spill into the tin on boiling. Close the cooker with the lid. Do not put the weight/whistle. Let it steam cook for 30 minutes in medium heat. Check doneness by inserting a knife. If the knife doesn't come out clean, steam for another 5-10 minutes.  

Once steamed well, remove the tin from the cooker and leave it to cool. Gently remove the appam from the tin. I just ran a knife around the edge and tapped it at the bottom and inverted it on to a plate

Cut into wedges and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea. I felt it can be served with a spicy kurma too.

Notes:

1. The consistency of the battery is important. The batter should be similar to idli batter. Not too thick and not  runny.


2. The batter should be fermented well to get a spongy texture


3. Sugar can be increased if you have sweet tooth. With the quantity mentioned in the recipe, its mildly sweet.

Mango Pachadi (Chutney)

Happy Tamil New Year!! 
It is customary to make this sweet, sour and spicy mango pachadi on New Year day. This is my mom's recipe. It's my favorite and I love it with curd rice. 


Ingredients:
1 Raw mango
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urud dal
1/4 tsp hing
Few curry leaves
1 Green chilli
2 Red chillies
Salt
1/3 cup Jaggery
1 Cup water
1 tsp rice flour

Method:
Chop mango into big pieces (with skin).

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, urud dal, red chillies, hing, green chilli, curry leaves. 
When mustard seeds crackle, add mango pieces and fry for 10 minutes.

Add 1 cup water, jaggery and salt. Cook until mangoes turn soft. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

Take rice flour, add little water and make a thick paste. Add this to the mango mixture. Cook for a minute. 
Vepamboo (neem flower) is roasted and added in the end. But I didn't have any. 
Serve along with rice, sambar and curry.