Milagu Kozhambu

The weather has been so bad for past 3 weeks here in Los Angeles. We r getting this unexpected rains and the temperature is dropping down day by day. As a result of all this me and "R" fell ill with cold, cough and congestion. I hate having cough. I can manage even fever and running nose.... but cough is something I cannot manage.

A sweet friend and Neighbour got me this Milagu kozhambu...(pepper gravy) which helped me to ease out and soothe my throat....and the taste was terrific..:). This was the only thing I had for 3 days in a row until my cough and cold was almost gone..(poor "R"..:P). Black pepper has very good medicinal values and is considered to be the best medicine for cold and flu. I followed the recipe from the Indian Vegetarian Kitchen blog. I just altered the pepper a bit (read increased First batch 2 tsp then second batch 1 1/2 tsp) as I felt like having more pepper. And the result was I literallly cried out all my mucous hehehhe...The second batch was better...:P. But I feel for "normal people" unlike me... the quantity given in the IVK blog is perfect...:).

Anyways here goes the recipe.

a) Ingredients :

Tamarind concentrate /pulp - 2 tsp mixed with 1/2 cup water
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp (rasam powder will also do ;)..)
Asafoetida - a heavy pinch
Riceflour - 1 tsp
Powder jaggery - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - few
Olive Oil - 1 tsp

b) For roasting and grinding :

Urad dhal - 2 tsp
Chana dhal - 2 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp ( I added 1 1/2 as said earlier..)
Curry leaves - few leaves

Method :

1) Dry roast the above ingredients (b), cool and grind with little water to form a paste. Keep aside.
2) In a vessel add the prepared tamarind water along with salt, sambar powder, hing and 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil for 15 mins.
3) Now add the ground masala to this and mix well. Continue to boil for another 10 mins so that kozhambu becomes a bit thick. If not, add rice flour (mixed in 2 tsp water) to the mix to thicken it.
4) Mix in the jaggery and stir well to dissolve it. Let it boil for few more mins.
5) In another small pan add oil. when hot add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds finish crackling add this tempering to the mixture and mix well.

Serve hot with steamed white rice and ghee. Delicious and heavenly when ur having a bad cold..:) Enjoy and take care :D

I am sending this recipe to the Boommarked recipe- Every Tuesday event for Aipi and Priya..:) sorry cudnt add the logo due to blooger glitch...:)

Independence Day Special 2 - Methi Sambar

Independence day Special - 2 and the item name is "Methi Smabar".

This is a simple and tasty sambar that goes in combination with my Tiranga bhaji and steamed rice with crunchy potato chip. This was our lunch for today, Celebrating the occasion of our freedom.

You will need :

Fenugreek leaves ( methi) - 1 bunch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
Chana dhall - 1 tsp

turmeric powder - 1tsp
Red chillies - 2 nos
Asafoetida ( Hing) - ½ tsp
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball

Thuvar dhal - 1 cup
Sambar powder - 1 ½ tsps
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Salt - ½ tbsp
Jaggery - to taste

METHOD:

Cook the thuvar dhal in cooker and keep it to cool.
Soak tamarind in water squeeze and make a paste. Add more water to this and bring to a boil.
Clean & wash the methi leaves after removing the stems & keep
aside. Chop well.

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds, urad dhall,
channa dhall, broken red chillies, turmeric powder, asafoetida, sambar powder & curry leaves &
saute. Add the methi leaves and fry well, till the raw smell goes off from the methi leaves.

Add the tamarind extract, and bring to a boil.
Add salt & jaggery & boil well. Now mix in the cooked thuvar dhal and let the it boil well till thickens.

Serve with steamed rice papad and bhaji.

Vengaya Vetta Kozhambu / Spicy onion gravy

This is an easy to make dish. Full of flavours....spicy, tangy, sweet as well as yummy.......Very very easy to make and normally made of few selected vegetables unlike sambar which normally uses most of the vegetables.....well i will be posting all the different vethal koyumbu iam familiar with one by one. Today iam posting Vengaya Vethal koyumbu. Vethal in tamil means evaporation.... this dish is named so.. coz the tamarind paste is cooked on gas for a long time.. until it reduces to half of its previous quantity. This is normally made with small red onions, but i have tried it with the big onions. When making this recipe with small onions just replace them with the big... no other changes have been made to the traditional recipe. Enjoy!

Okay now the recipe

You need :

Tamarind - a ball of small sized lemon or tamarind concentrate

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Curry Leaves - few

Gingely oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Methi seeds(fenugreek) - 1/4 tsp

Thuvar dhal - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida powder (hing) - a small pinch

Onions - 1 medium - cut lengthwise

Peanuts - roasted and husked.

oil

To roast and powder:

Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp

black pepper seeds - 1/2 tsp

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

channa dhal (kadalai paruppu) - 1 1/2 tsp

6 dry red chillies (or according to taste )

Roast all this with out oil and powder coarsely

Method :

Soak the tamarind in hot water. Squeeze and extract the juice. The juice should be about 400 ml. and should be a bit thick.
Heat some oil in a thick bottomed vessel or in a non stick pan.
Add mustard seeds. Let it flutter and then add methi seeds and thuvar dhal. Add the cut onions and saute for 2 mins in slow fire. When the onions are pinkish in colour add the roasted peanuts and mix well.

Add the ground masala powder and fry for a minute. see that the masala roasts well. Add the tamarind juice, salt and turmeric powder. Also add the asafoetida (hing) and allow to boil.
The kozhambu should nicely thicken - approximately to half of its original amount (around 200 ml) - normally a teaspoon of kozhambu should be enough for a small bowl of rice.
Add curry leaves. This stays for a long time, so can be stored in fridge in an air tight container.

Serve hot with steaming rice and papad. This can also be used as side for dosa and uthapam.

Tomato Garlic Rasam

My favourite "Tomato Garlic Rasam" cannot be made much tastier. This is also my husband Radha's most favourite. Steamed rice topped with ghee and this rasam... is heaven..... So here goes the recipe for my tomato Poondu (garlic) rasam.

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You need :

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2 - 3 Tomatoes (medium)

Garlic - 5-6 pods

Onions 2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 slit lengthwise

Coriander leaves to garnish

Rasam powder - 2 tsp

Cooked toor dhal - 2tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1tsp

Hing (Asafoetida) -1tsp

Crushed Black Pepper

Tamarind Juice - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 5-6

Ghee

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Method :

Firstly blanch the tomatoes in 3 glasses of water untill it becomes very soft. Now allow it to cool. Peel off skin and smash well into the same water. Extract only the tomato juice. Try to squeeze out as much juice as possible, mashing the pulp into a paste. Keep the juice- pulp mixture aside.

Heat 3-4 tsp of ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, crushed pepper, Hing, green chillies, curry leaves, chopped garlic and onions and fry till soft.

Now add the tomato juice, rasam powder, tamarind pulp and salt. Now add water to this if needed. Add the dhal at last and bring it to boil again.

Finally add chopped coriander and remove from flame.

(I have used an "Eeya chombu" - lead vessel to make this rasam. Rasam is normally made in this utensil to get its authentic smell and taste.But yeah this rasam is so tasty...using any kind of vessel will make it taste divine.. to try and let me know...)

Serve with hot rice and Papad.

Vendakai Mor Kozhambu.!........Okra in South indian kadi

Vendakai in tamil means Okra (ladies finger), Mor in means curd or buttermilk..and kozhambu means gravy. This like kadi and is made of sour buttermilk or curd. Very easy to make and can be stored in the fridge for few days.You can as such use any vegetable, i prefer using okra.

So here goes the recipe.

You need :

Okra - half pound

Butter milk or sour curd - 5 cups

Jeera (cumin seeds ) - 2 tsp

Asafoetida (hing) - 1 tsp

Coconut - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 3

Ginger -1/2" (optional)

Tomato - 1

Salt to taste

Turmeric - 1 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

For tadka

Oil - 2tsp

Urad dal - 2 tsp

mustard seed - 1tsp

dry red chillies - 2

methi seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method :

In a blender add coconut, green chillies, ginger, jeera and make into a nice smooth paste.

keep it aside.

In a pan, take some oil. After the oil is a bit heasted, add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, methi seeds, curry leaves, and hing one by one. After it splutters and the turmeric powder and the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes are tender. Now put in the okra and sautee well, till it roasts well.

Now pour in the buttermilk to it... and let it boil a bit......add salt to it.

Then add the ground coconut paste and let the mixture boil well..... let it become a bit thin.

Give the tadka and garnish with fresh curry leaves.

Serve hot with steamed rice and chips. It is also a nice side with dosa.