Posts Tagged ‘Asafoetida’
This is a very tasty and nutritious kuzhambu.
Ingredients
Tamarind – lemon size
Vegetables – 1 cup ( diced)
The vegetables usually used for this kuzhambu are chow-chow, ash gourd (pooshanikai), parangikai or chakarai pooshinikai, or brinhal cut into small pieces.
Soaked Chenna dhal or peanuts – 1 cup
Salt – 1 tsp
Turmeric pdr – 1/4 tsp
To fry and grind
Urud dhal – 1 tsp
Chenna dhal – 1 tsp
Grated coconut – 1 table spoon
Red chillies – 7-8
Black pepper – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida(hing or perungayam) – 1/2 tsp
Fry all the above ingredients except coconut and asafoetida in a pan with 1 tsp of oil, till they are golden brown.
Allow it to cool and make it into a paste ( neither too coarse nor too smooth) and set aside.
Procedure
-Pressure cook the soaked chenna or peanuts by adding salt.
-Strain the tamarind by adding 2 cup of water.
-Now add the diced vegetable, salt and turmeric powder and cook the vegetables untill they are soft.
-Add the cooked chenna or peanuts , the prepared paste and allow it to froth.
-Season it with mustard and fresh curry leaves. Garnish it with coriander leaves.
It can be served with dosa, idili, pongal as well as hot white rice.
Parrupu podi
Ingredients
Channa Dhal – 1 cup
Thoor Dhal – 1 Cup
Red Chilies – 10 nos
Black pepper – 1 TSp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1tsp
Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves
Oil – 1 tsp
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Procedure
-Dry fry Channa Dhal and thoor dhal till they are golden brown.
-Again Dry fry pepper. Once it starts spluttering just put the chilies and fry it for two minutes.
-Now wash the curry leaves and spread it on a dry cloth. Allow it to dry. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the pan and fry it untill it turns dark green in colour.
-Grind the dhal which you have fried along with pepper and asafoetida into a fine powder along with salt.
-Finally add the fried curry leaves.
This podi is very tasty when taken with hot rice with one spoon of ghee. This podi can be stored for at least a period of month, since we don’t add any oil to it , it will remain fresh for a longer period.
GARLIC POWDER
The procedure and ingredients is same as that of paruppu podi. The only addition we make is 10-15 flakes of garlic.
Fry the garlic in 1 tsp of oil in a pan untill it is golden brown and starts giving out aroma.
After making the paruppu podi finally add the garlic flakes and once again powder it.
Mysore Rasam
Ingredients
Tamarind – small lemon size
Tomato – 1 big in size
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Cooked Thoor Dhal – 1 tsp along with water
To fry and grind
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, Thoordhal – 1 tsp, ChennaDhal – 1 tsp, Red Chilies – 4 (or 6, if u need a spicy rasam)Nos, Black pepper – 1/2 tsp, Methi seeds- 1/4 tsp, Asafoetida -1/4 tsp. Roast the above in a spoon of ghee or oil. Add 1/2 tsp of jeera and Coconut – 1 Tbl spoon, grind it to a smoot powder.
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For Seasoning
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves – 10-15 nos
Procedure
-Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cups of water. Instead of putting the tomato as pieces you grind the tomato and add the puree. This will enhance the color of the rasam.
-Add turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil for about 5 to seven minutes till the raw smell of tamarind vanishes. Now add the powder you prepared.
-Smash the cooked thoor dhal and add it along with its water & allow the rasam to boil just for a minute.
-Add coriander leaves, saute mustard seeds in ghee along with fresh curry leaves and add it to rasam.
Lime Mysore Rasam
Instead of adding the tamarind in the beginning add the lime juice at last, as you did for the lime rasam.
Brinjal Mysore Rasam
Slit the small brinjals into four without fully cutting them.
Cook the brinjal in tamarind water and repeat the same procedure.
This is a very simple variety of kootu made out of cucumber and chenna dhal.
INGREDIENTS
Cucumber – 2 cups ( chopped into small pieces in the form of cubes)
Chenna Dhal – 2 tbl spoons
Grated coconut – 2 tbl spoons
Cumin(jeera) seeds – 1 tsp
Red chillies – 2 nos (to taste)
Salt – 1/2 tsp ( to taste)
Raw rice – 1/2 tsp
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PROCEDURE
-Pressure cook the chenna dhal and cucumber by adding 1/2 cup of water, salt and one pinch of turmeric powder. Just allow three whistles and lower the flame for 2 minutes.
-Grind the coconut, jeera , raw rice and red chillies into a fine paste, by adding little water.
- Add this paste to the cooked cucumber and allow it to boil for 2 minutes.
-Season it with 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/4 spoon asafoetida and fresh curry leaves.
This a very tasty kootu. Because of its mild nature kids will like it. It also serves as a side dish to chapathi.
( We all know that cucumber is a watery vegetable. When cooked by adding water it becomes all the more watery. Don’t drain the excess water. Instead use it for grinding the coconut paste. Its nutritious value will be preserved. As far as possible never drain the water used for cooking the vegetables. All the nutrients will be lost)
Tomato is a vegetable which we use in our day to day food. Now let me tell you how to make a pickle out of it. This is also called thakali thokku. It taste very good with plain rice. It can also be used as a side dish for idli, dosa , chapathi etc.
INGREDIENTS
Ripe Tomatoes – 1 kg
Sesame oil – 100 ml (1/2 cup) ( if you don’t prefer seasma oil then any cooking oil can be used)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Chilli Powder – 2 Tbl spoon ( to taste )
Salt – 2 tsp ( to taste)
Methi powder – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
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PROCEDURE
-Wash the tomato and make it into a paste by grinding it in a food processor.
-Take a thick bottom pan and add the sesame oil. Keep it on a medium flame. Once the oil starts fuming add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter completely. Only when the mustard seeds splutters completely the shelf life of thokku will last long.
-Add the tomato paste and bring it to boil. Once it starts boiling, add salt, chilli powder one pinch of turmeric powder and a small piece of jaggery for added taste.
-When the pulp gets thick, oil will come up on the sides & the gravy will get deposited at the bottom. This indicates that thokku is done. Add the prepared methi powder , stir it for 2 minutes, thin the asafoetida (hing powder), mix it well. Cook for another minute and switch off the stove and and transfer it to another clean , sterile c0ntainer to avoid further thickening. Allow it to cool and only then close the container.
This thokku can be stored outside the fridge for 3 to 4 days. If you are going to store it for a longer period then refrigerate it.
While serving any pickle, use dry spoon only.
To prepare methi powder
Dry fry methi in a pan till it is golden brown and make it into a fine powder. In fact this methi powder can be used while preparing sambar instead of using whole methi during seasoning.
If Bangalore tomato is used which is less sour in taste, we can add lime size tamarind (soak it in hot water and strain it into a thick pulp ) along with tomato paste.
Usually desi tomatoes ( nattu thakali) is preferable to make this pickle.
KEERAI KOOTU - Many of us don’t prefer to eat keerai (greens) when done as ordinary masial or keerai sundal.
Here is a very easy way to make even the greens( keerai) more delicious.
Ingredients
Urud dhal – 1 tsp
Chenna dhal – 1 tsp
Red Chillies – 2 nos (to taste)
Coconut – 1 tbl spoon
Jeera – 1/2 tsp
Greens – 2 cups (finely chopped)
Mung dhal – 2 tbl spoon
Mustard – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 1/2 tsp
Oil -1tsp ( for seasoning)
Procedure
-Cook the greens along with mung dhal by adding little amount of salt.
-Apply 1 tsp of oil in kadai and fry urud dhal, chenna dhal, red chillies till golden brown. Allow it to cool and grind it along with fresh grated coconut, jeera and a pinch of asafoetida to make a smooth paste.
-Add the paste to the cooked greens and boil it for 2 minutes. Season it with mustard, broken urud dhal and fresh curry leaves.
Very tasty keerai kootu is ready. This can be served with hot rice. It is a also a perfect side dish for roti.
Preffered greens are arai keerai, mulai keerai, pasalai keerai, palak, thoodhuvalai, murangai keerai, mani thakali keerai, thandu keerai ( both red and green).
Traditional Iyengar’s feast is always accompanied with puliyodarai. It is not only tasty but very easy to prepare once its basic paste pulikaichal is ready in hand. Pulikaichal is a preserve of spicy tamarind paste, which stays for a few months in the fridge. This when mixed with rice is called Puliyodarai or puliyogare.
Let me first tell you the preparation of pulikaichal.
Ingredients
Tamarind – 200 gms (app x size of a mango)
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tps
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp (increase or decrease the quantity according to taste)
For Seasoning
Mustard seeds – 2 tbl spoon
Red Chillies – 25-30 Nos , broken into pieces (If you don’t want the pulikaichal to be very hot while making the chillies into 2 pieces remove the seeds)
Chenna Dhal – 1 Tbl spoon
Urud Dhal – 1 Tbl Spoon
Curry leaves – Fresh and dried (20 to 30 Nos)
Gingly oil (Nallennai-til oil)- 250 ml
If you are going to store for a longer period then it better to add less quantity of dhal at the time of preparation . Fry and add the required quantity of dhal at the time of mixing pliyodarai.
For Powdering
Methi seeds – heap of 1 tsp
Hing ( Asafoetida or perungayam) – 1 small piece or 1/2 tsp
Dry fry the methi seeds till they are deep brown. Add one teaspoon of gingly oil and fry the hing. It is better to use the solid hing for this preparation because this is the main flavouring agent. Allow it to cool and make it into a fine powder.
Note:- Some of them add 1tsp of dhaniya and 1/2 tsp of black pepper along with methi seeds and hing and powder it. These additions are optional.
Procedure
-Strain the tamarind into a thick pulp mix it with turmeric powder and salt and set aside.
- Take a thick bottom pan and add the gingly oil. Keep it on medium flame. Once the oil starts fuming add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter completely. Only when the mustard seeds splutters completely the shelf life of pulikaichal will last long.
- Then add the red chillies and the dhal and fry till the dhal is golden brown. Add the curry leaves and allow them get fried completely i.e, till all the water content in the curry leaf evaporates.
-Pour 1/2 a cup tamarind mix and when it starts to boil add the rest. Add a small piece of jaggery for added taste.
-When the pulp gets thick, oil will come up on the sides & the gravy will get deposited at the bottom. This indicates that pulikaichal is done. Switch off the stove and add the prepared methi-hing powder, mix it well and transfer it to another vessel to avoid further thickening.
Preparation of Puliyodarai
In general raw rice is used for this preparation.
1.Just pressure cook 1 cup of raw rice.
2.Take a vessel. Add 1 Tbl spoon of gingely oil and put the cooked rice over the oil.
3.If you are preparing the puliyodharai on the day when you make pulikaichal no additions are required.
Approximately for 1 cup of rice (i.e,200 gms of rice) we need 3 tbl spoon full of pulikaichal.
4.Mix it with the rice using a flat laddle so that the rice will not get smashed.
If you are going to refrigerate and prepare puliyodharai once in a while then , in just 1 tsp of gingly oil fry, 2 broken green chillies, fresh curry leaves, 1pinch of trumeirc powder and 1/4 hing and add to the rice. Add pulikaichal according to the quantity of rice.
If you like your puliyodharai to be crunchy, you can add fried peanuts and cashew nuts.
Note :- For the puliyodarai to taste good preferably use gingly oil. Usually we fry cashews in ghee. But for this preparation it is better to use gingly oil.
Refrigerate it in an air tight container.
While mixing puliyodharai try to use a flat laddle ( Here I mean Dosa Thudupu) so that the rice will not be smashed.
It is the easiest of all the kuzhambu varieties. There are different varieties of more kuzhambu.
Method I
Ingredients
Thoor dhal or chenna dhal – 1 tsp ( soak it in water for 1/2 an hour)
Jeera – 1 tsp
Dhaniya – 1/2 tsp
Green Chillies – 4 to 5 Nos
Red Chillies – 4 Nos
Methi seeds & split urud dhal -1/4 tsp
Grated coconut – 2 tbl spoon
Fresh butter milk – 2 cups
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Coconut oil – 1tbl spoon
Asafoetida – 1/ 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder -1/4 tsp
Procedure
-Apply 1/2 spoon of coconut oil fry the methi seeds and urad dhal. Once it is golden brown in colour add the red chillies and fry them . Switch of the stove and add the green chillies and just fry it for 30 seconds so that the raw smell vanishes.
-Allow the ingredients to cool and grind it along with the soaked thoor or chenna dhal, jeera, dhaniya, asafoetida and fresh grated coconut into a smooth paste.
-In case you use the vegetables white pumpkin, ladies finger, potato, carrot, green tomato etc will serve well.
- Precook the vegetables with salt. Allow them to cool and then add to the butter milk. Ladies Finger has to be cooked in tamarind water.
-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tbl spoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.
-Finally add the paste and turmeric powder simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.
Method II
Even if the butter milk is little short of quantity we can prepare more kuzhambu using the below mentioned method. This is also called irrupuli kuzhambu.
Ingredients
Chenna Dhal – 1 tsp
Methi Seeds – 1 /2 tsp
Red chillies – 8 to10 nos
Tamarind – size of 1 big goose berry
butter milk – 1 cup
Grated coconut – 2 tbl spoon
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Coconut oil – 1tbl spoon
Asafoetida – 1/ 2 tsp
Procedure
-Apply1/2 tbl spoon of oil in the pan and fry the chenna dhal, methi seeds and red chillies till they are golden brown. Allow the ingredients to cool and grind it along with fresh grated coconut and asafoetida into a smooth paste.
- Strain the tamarind with 1 and 1/2 cup of water .
- Precook the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder in the tamarind water . Allow them to cool and then add to the butter milk.
-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.
-Finally add the paste to the tamarind- butter milk mixture, simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.
Method III
This is an readymade mixture of more kuzhambu and it takes few minutes to prepare the kuzhambu once the mix is ready. Shall we name it as bachelor’s more kuzhambu?
Ingredients for preparign the more kuzhambu powder
Thoor Dhal – 1 cup
Chenna Dahl – 1/4 cup
Red Chillies – 1/2 cup
Dhaniya, Mustard, Methiseeds,Raw rice, Poppy seeds (optional), Jeera(raw)each – 1 tbl spoon
Procedure to make the powder
Fry all spices except jeera till thy turn reddish in color.
Allow it to cool. Add jeera and grind into a smooth powder.
Add 3 tsp salt, 2 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp asafoetida powder and mix well.
Preserve it in an airtight container. It will last for a long time.
Procedure to make kuzhambu
-Add the precooked vegetables , 2 tsp of the above powder, salt to taste to 2 cups of butter milk. Mix it well.
-Season the mustard and fresh curry leaves in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil and add to the butter milk.
-Simmer it on the low flame and when it starts to froth at the sides turn the stove off.
Bajji is one of the celebrity preparations on all occasions both normal and festive. It is adeep fried snacks and very tasty. The preparation is very simple and can be done within half an hour. You can call it a beginner’s delight.
Ingredients
Let me first tell you about the basic ingredients of preparing the bajji batter.
Besan – 1 cup
Rice powder – 1/2 cup
(If you want the bajji to be less oily we can even add 1 : 1 ratio of besan and rice powder)
Chile Powder – 1 tsp
Salt – 3/4 tsp
Baking Soda or baking powder – 1 pinch ( Optional)
Turmeric powder – 1/4 trsp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
The above mentioned are the base for any variety of bajji.
Vegetables of your choice
Cooking oil – for deep frying
Procedure
-Mix all the ingredients together and add the required amount of water and make it into a smooth batter of dosa consistency. Allow it to stay for 5 minutes.
-Usually the vegetables used for bajji are Plantain, Onion, Potato, Brinjal, Bangalore Brinjal (Chow-chow), Bread, Paneer, Chillies, Cauli flower.
-Chop the onions ,bangalore brinjal ,brinjal ,potato into circular slices .
Plantain can be either chopped into circular slices or longitudinally.
Try to get fresh paneer fairly large piece. Bread and Paneer can be cut into triangular shapes.
If you don’t want the chili bajji to be very hot, just slit the chili longitudinally, remove the seeds and apply little salt on the inner part of the chili.
Cut the whole cauliflower into 1-inch-thick slices cauliflower florets.
-Heat oil in a frying pan (kadai).
-Take each vegetable piece and dip each of them one by one in the above prepared batter mixture and drop into the oil pan and deep fry until it turns brown.
Delicious bajjis are ready to taste. Serve it with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup.
Now I am going to tell you how to prepare different varieties of podi .
We can make these podi varieties and have it with rice. This preparation will stay for many days and it is very useful for bachelors.
1 cup = 150 gms
Parrupu podi
Ingredients
Channa Dhal – 1 cup
Thoor Dhal – 1 Cup
Red Chilies – 10 nos
Black pepper – 1 TSp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1tsp
Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves
Oil – 1 tsp
Procedure
-Dry fry Channa Dhal and thoor dhal till they are golden brown.
-Again Dry fry pepper. Once it starts spluttering just put the chilies and fry it for two minutes.
-Now wash the curry leaves and spread it on a dry cloth. Allow it to dry. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the pan and fry it untill it turns dark green in colour.
-Grind the dhal which you have fried along with pepper and asafoetida into a fine powder along with salt.
-Finally add the fried curry leaves.
This podi is very tasty when taken with hot rice with one spoon of ghee. This podi can be stored for at least a period of month, since we don’t add any oil to it , it will remain fresh for a longer period.
GARLIC POWDER
The procedure and ingredients is same as that of paruppu podi. The only addition we make is 10-15 flakes of garlic.
Fry the garlic in 1 tsp of oil in a pan untill it is golden brown and starts giving out aroma.
After making the paruppu podi finally add the garlic flakes and once again powder it.
KOLLU PODI OR HORSE GRAM POWDER
Kollu is an excellent cholesterol reducer. It brings down the LDL level in our blood. But many of us don’t include it in our day to day life. It can be consumed as sundal, rasam and podi. Let me tell you how to prepare kollu powder.
Ingredients
Kollu – 2 cups
Red Chilies – 10 nos – 15 nos
Black pepper – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1tsp
Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves
Oil – 1 tsp
Procedure
-Dry fry Kollu till the fried smell comes.
-Again Dry fry pepper and jeera. Once it starts spluttering just put the chilies and fry it for two minutes.
-Now wash the curry leaves and spread it on a dry cloth. Allow it to dry. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the pan and fry it untill it turns dark green in colour.
-Grind the dhal which you have fried along with pepper and asafoetida into a fine powder along with salt.
-Finally add the fried curry leaves.
COCONUT POWDER OR THENGAI PODI
This is another podi preparation done with coconut.
Ingredients
Grated coconut – 2 cup
Chenna Dhal – 1/2 cup
Urud dhal – 1/2 cup
Red Chilies – 15-20 ( Depending upon how hot you need the powder)
Dhaniya – 2 tsp
Tamarind – size of 1 small lemon
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Salt -1 tsp
Oil – for frying these ingredients
Procedure
-Apply 1 tsp of oil and fry the chilies so that all of them are oil polished evenly. Apply another spoon of oil and fry the tamarind for about 2 minutes.
- First fry dhaniya for about 30 seconds and then add Chenna dhal and Urud dhal to dhaniya and fry it un till they are golden brown. This is done done again with just one tsp of oil.
-Now in the same kadai you can fry the coconut without applying oil till it is golden brown.
- Allow all the ingredients to cool. First grind tamarind along with the chilies along with the salt. Once it is powdered then grind the fried dhal and make it into a little bit coarse powder. Finally add the coconut and grind it in such a consistency, that it is little bit coarse.
If the coconut is not sweet in nature then add a pinch of jaggery. This will enhance the taste of podi.
CURRY LEAF POWDER
Curry leaf powder or karuveppilai podi is a healthy substitute for those who lack iron.
Ingredients
Fresh cleaned dried curry leaves – 2 cups
Chenna Dhal – 1/2 cup
Urud dhal – 1/2 cup
Red Chilies – 10-15 ( Depending upon how hot you need the powder)
Tamarind – size of 1 goose berry
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp
Salt -3/4 tsp
Oil – for frying these ingredients
Procedure
-Apply 1 tsp of oil and fry the chilies so that all of them are oil polished evenly. Apply another spoon of oil and fry the tamarind for about 2 minutes.
- Fry Chenna dhal and Urud dhal untill it is golden brown with just one tsp of oil.
-Now in the same kadai you can fry the dried curry leaves by applying 1 tsp of oil until they are dark green in colour or the nice flavour of curry leaves comes out.
- Allow all the ingredients to cool. First grind tamarind and chilies along with the salt. Once it is powdered then grind the curry leaves along with asafoetida. Once it is powdered add the fried dhal and make it into a powder.
Since this is dry powder if the dhal is little bit coarse it will give a crunchy taste if it is grounded coarse.
Add a pinch of jaggery. This will enhance the taste of the powder.
The same procedure can be repeated for doing PUDHINA PODI.
The ingredients remain the same. Instead of using curry leaves use mint leaves.
I don’t know how many of us have heard about Thoodhuvalai. It is an excellent medicine for cough and cold. When taken for 1 mandalam i.e 48 days it completely cures allergic cough.
This Thoodhuvalai podi can be prepared in the same way as that of curry leaf powder.
