ஆமை வடை / Masal Vadai / Paruppu Vadai / Lentil Fritters

My family's all time favourite snack.Born in Madurai i never ever assumed anybody would even cook vadai at home.Because we get different varities of vadai from so many டீ கடைs (tea shop) all around round the clock....and who would care to put in all the efforts to make one variety of vadai at home ;-),luxury i know!But never realised till i got to live in Bonn , Germany after i got married.

Two dishes i learnt(dint cook but only took notes:)) before i flew to Germany from one of my good friends Vinodh,who is a better cook than i am was Dal and Masal Vadai.Dal being A's favourite and vadai being mine.....made sense to atleast have two recipes handy ;-)!

You should be wondering why this name to Masal Vadai.I assume Aamai vadai was named after the fact that the vadai itself looks like an "Aamai" (translated to 'Tortoise' in English) with hard shells around soft insides.

Whenever i make this vadai,one person i never forget to think of is my dad-in-law.I should say he is an ardent fan of this Vadai,especially when I make it.We interact more like friends than in laws.It is a pleasure to make him this vadai whenever he visits us.
Any usual recipe will use channa dal in a larger proportion.Here i add toor dal more for a healthier version.

Ingredients:

Toor dal / துவரம் பருப்பு  - 1 cup
Channa dal /கடலை பருப்பு  - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Green chillies - 3
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coriander leaves - few chopped
Pudina leaves - one or two chopped
Raw rice - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 2 tsps
Salt as required
Oil to fry

Preparation:

1.Soak Toor dal,Channa dal and Raw rice in ample amount of water for atleast 3 hours.
2.After 3 hours,grind the dal mixture coarsely without any water.(save a small handful of dal before grinding....gives a crunchiness to the vadai when fried).If you think you should add water depending on the mixer you are using...add very little water.
3.Once done,add chopped onions and the rest of the ingredients along with salt and mix well using your hand.

4.Add oil in a kadai while you mix the above.
5.As soon as the oil is hot enough,make small balls of the mixture and pat them little(i like my vadai small)
6.Drop them in oil one by one.You can fry 6-7 vadais in a batch depending on the size of the vadai and the kadai.

7.Turn the vadai around after like 2 minutes.Once the sizzling stops you know your vadai is done.Just see to it the colour of the vadai is brown like in the picture.

Notes:
1.If you are running out of time and dont have 3 hours to soak the dal,add hot water to the dal for an hour and you will get your job done(works most of the times for a lazy-cozy like me:))
2.Add salt to the ground dal just before you intend to fry.Because adding salt and leaving the mixture out for a long time makes the mixture watery.
3.Raw rice is added to make the vadai crispier.Instead my mother adds Split peas / பட்டாணி பருப்பு .This gives a different flavor all together.I would hghly recommend you to try this if you get the split peas at your place.
4.If you think you can handle the after effects of the snacks...go ahead and reverse the ratio of the dals ;-)


Nothing can compare to the taste of crispness of the vadai ,smell of fried dal and the hottness of green chillies now and then in the mouth  along with a sip of hot coffee on a rainy day:-)

Guten Appetit!
Happy Snack-ing!!!

Poondu Milagu Kuzhambu / பூண்டு மிளகு குழம்பு / Garlic in Pepper Gravy

Poondu Milagu Kuzhambu is one dish i wish to have right after a week of heavy meal because of its medicinal values.

Benefits of Garlic:

- help reduce heart disease
- lower blood pressure by dilating or expanding blood vessels
- helps prevent blood clots 
- reduce pain and other symptoms in people with rheumatoid arthritis
- an antibiotic killing a range of microbes, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites

Benefits of Pepper:
- treats constipation, diarrhea, earache, heart disease, hernia, indigestion, insect bites, insomnia, joint pain, lung disease, sunburn and toothaches. 

Garlic and pepper together simmered in tamarind has been found to 

- aid digestion 

- cleanse digestive system

- relieve abdominal bloating, nausea, vomiting, anemia 

- they also help lactating mothers in the production of breast milk.

As kids,I and my elder brother had most similar tastes when it comes to food or may be it was like i got inspired to try by looking at him relishing his food;-).Either ways thanks to him for making this wonder kuzhambu a part of my food palette:-).

Ingredients:

Garlic pods - 10

Curry leaves - 7

Tamarind - lemon sized

Jaggery - a pinch

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp

Gingely oil / Nallennai - 3 tbsp

Salt - as required

To grind into a fine paste:

Garlic pods - 3

Channa dal - 2 tbsp

Urud dal - 2 tbsp

Peppercorns - 2 1/2 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Whole dried red chilly - 2

Raw rice - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1.Pour 1 tbsp oil in a kadai and roast the items below 'to grind' one after another for 2 minutes.

2.Grind the above mix with little water and make it into a fine paste.

3.Soak tamarind in hot water and keep the pulp aside.Let the pulp be thick as it reduces the time while thickening the gravy.

4.In the same kadai,pour 1 tbsp oil and add fenugreek powder.Make sure you don't burn them as it will give a bitter taste to the gravy.

5.Then add curry leaves followed by garlic pods.Let it fry for a minute till the garlic pods turns light golden brown.

6.Add the thick tamarind pulp and turmeric powder.Mix well till the raw smell of tamarind goes off.

7.Now mix in the ground paste.

Here, i like adding freshly coarsely ground pepper,may be 1 tsp,to give the freshness of the pepper to the gravy.

8.Add required salt and let the gravy thicken.

9.Finally add jaggery to counter the hot n sour taste.

9.When you see oil appear on the gravy your kuzhambu is ready to be served.

As this gravy is prepared as pathiya saapaadu(Non fatty diet food to cleanse the digestive organs), i dont prepare any side dishes.Just a microwaved appalam will do best!:)

You can store this gravy in the refrigerator.Stays good up till a week's time.

Healthy Lunching!!! :-)

Roti / Indian Bread

   Roti or Indian Bread is a flat bread made of whole wheat flour.It is a staple food in most of the North Indian States.I wasn't a big Roti lover till i got married.Anand(H) is a big fan of Roti n Dal.I cannot forget the first time i saw him eat Roti with Dal,which tasted so bland to me.Those are moments when you realize people have so different tastes in life yet can live together under the same roof.So i buckled myself up to make Rotis every day for dinner to impress him:-).Except for the strange shapes of different countries, my Rotis were soft and good to eat.I used to take pride when H relishes every bite of it(but should mention,he still relishes anything and everything i cook…..he is sweet that way).Because he thought they were my first attempts.But then he dint know i already have experience in making,not-so-perfect but good Rotis.
   
   When i was in Hyderabad for my Masters Degree’s Project work for a year with my room-mates,we took turns to cook dinner every night.When i had my turn for the first time, i still don't understand why, but i made Rotis with Chole Masala without knowing how to make them.My roomies look at me as someone who excels in almost everything and obviously i dint want to lose that:-).We dint have a recipe book or internet at our place…..so it turned out to be a real life experience which i will never forget.I added a little warm milk and a spoon of ghee thinking it might enhance the taste(which eventually did).I forgot adding salt and did a trick of mixing salt in  a spoon of water later and mixing in with the dough to only find it watery.So i had to pile up more flour to compensate the water.And to my surprise….it turned out to be the best Rotis that we ran out of them.You should had looked at how relieved i was that day.It was like appearing for an important exam and i had score it.So later on, everytime when it was my turn i was asked to make rotis…..hehehe.End of the day,It is all about confidently taking up a challenge and most importantly listening to your instincts:-).





While i was working in Chennai,i learnt to make the perfect round rotis from my friend Jyothi,who is an awesome cook and a wonderful person at heart.We were flatmates and still good friends.She taught me the most simplest and the most effective way using the rim of a tiffin box to cut round rotis from already laid flat dough:-).But Jo,i now make round rotis,if not like you,but atleast something near round by rolling the dough:-).

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 5 cups ( makes around 10 normal sized rotis)

Salt – as required

Water – as required(probably 3/4 of a cup)

Cooking oil – 2 tbsp

Warm milk – 2 tsp(optional…i dint use it now)

Ghee – 1 tsp(optional)

Preparation:

1.Mix flour with salt ,warm milk,ghee and a 1 tbsp of cooking oil

2.Add a handful of water and start kneading the dough.As you finish if you feel the dough needs more water dont hesitate to add more at every stage.The mix might look a little watery at first,but the more you knead it will turn out to be good.

3.Add the remaining 1tbsp of cooking oil when you feel the dough is quiet sticky and knead again.The more you knead,the softer your Rotis will turn out to be.

4.After a while,you will notice no dough sticking to your hand and the sides of the vessel.That is when you are done.I throw the dough into the vessel taking the dough in my hand a few centimetres high from the vessel (just like bouncing a basket ball on the ground :-)).Saves lot of energy while kneading:-).

 

5.The right consistency of dough that yields soft Rotis should be not be too tight when you poke it with your finger.Your finger should easily get through.

6.Take a bit sized dough in your hand and roll it between your palms into a ball.

7.Using your palm press the ball of dough a little flat

8.Dust both sides of the dough using flour just to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the rolling pin while rolling it out and thus gives a smooth roll.

9.Start rolling from the centre and start giving slight pressure towards the outside on the sides.Keep rolling to smooth out the dough and make it flat.The round shape comes in a few trials and practices.Do not give up..some day you will get it:-).

10.On a hot Tawa,place the flattened dough and wait for few air bubbles to appear on the upper surface.Once you notice then,coat a little oil across the Roti and flip the side.

11.Again apply a light coat of oil on this side and you will find the roti puffing up.As soon as you spot few golden brown dots on each side,you can take it out of the pan.

Serve rotis with any side dish.They even go well with some curd,pickle and green salad.

We had them with Keema Mattar :-)

Tips:
#You can cook the rotis without oil and make them into phulkas if u have a gas burner.
Once air bubbles start appearing on one side pick the roti with a tong and place it directly on a gas burner set on low flame,the raw side on top of the burner.Once it puffs,flip.And take it out.They are much fluffier than rotis.(you have to be really quick to not let let the flames burn the phulka)

Happy Roti-ing ;-)!

Guten Appetit!

Meen Varuval / Fish Fry

Meen Varuval or Fish Fry goes well as a wonder side dish for Meen Kuzhambu / Fish Curry with steamed rice.Especially on a Rainy day,i love the aroma of frying fish filling the house.

Amma used to fry fish fresh every wednesday evenings ,while i return from school and i could smell them right at the gate(Thanks to her for making an effort to serve us hot n healthy food,though she was a full time working woman).I come in with a big smile on my face asking her if it is really fish just not to get disappointed if there is none:-).We usually talk every evening sharing about our day at school and college(mom was an English Professor and worked in a college) while she fries the fishes.She then sits down with a plate of meen kuzhambu and meen varuval to feed me(....i just love that:)).Even after getting married,whenever i go back with my little one to visit my parents,mom will have fish kuzhambu n fry cooked at home:-).She is the best in everything she does!

I usually prefer fish to be deep fried in oil.But having turned a little health conscious recently,im getting used to Tawa fry which consumes less oil.Practically,steamed fish is the best if you are very conscious about your health.

Fishes good for fry - Tilapia(Neimeen),Pomfret(vavval),Barracuda(Sheela),Red Snapper(Sankara),King fish(Vanjiram).I used Tilapia coz that was the one left in the market.Fish fry can be prepared in 2 ways.The first one is simple with lesser ingredients.And the other one uses a special Masala Paste.I used the second method.

Method 1:
Fish - 10 to 12 pieces
Red Chili Powder - 5 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Fish Fry Masala(Sakthi/Aachi) - 3 tsp (if you don't have one, use Sambar Powder)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp(for frying)

Method 2:
Masala Paste under 'To Grind' Label - 1.5 tbsp

Fish - 10 to 12 pieces
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Fish Fry Masala(Sakthi/Aachi) - 1 tsp (if you don't have one, use Sambar Powder)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp(for frying)

Preparation:
1.Mix all the ingredients, except for fish and oil ,in the above list with  little water to make it into a smooth paste(there is no need to add water for the mix in Method 2 as the Masala Paste already has water)
2.Coat this paste evenly on each piece.

3.Refrigerate this mixture for atleast 2 hours(otherwise the masala might not stick to the fish while frying them)
4.In a flat bottom pan,pour oil and let it get heated for a while(when you place a piece of fish...you should hear a sizzle)
5.Place 3 pieces on the pan depending on the size of your pan.Let the fish fry for 1 minute.Flip the sides of the fish and pour a drop of oil on the side.let this cook for 2 mins.Again flip the side and pour a drop of oil on the side and let it cook.

6.When the pieces have turned their colors to golden brown,you are done(if you are not sure,cut the fish and if you can easily cut thru then your fish has completely cooked) 

Serve fresh and Hot!!!

Goes well with Tomato Sauce as an appetizer!

Madurai Meen Kuzhambu / Fish Curry

 If someone comes over and (dares enough to:-))asks me what is it that turns me ON,i would straight away without a second thought will say 'Meen Kuzhambu' :-).It has been my 'Taraka Mantra' ever since i was a kid.It has been my all time favourites.I would trade anything in this world for that one...okay not one may be....atleast 20-30 urundais(rice balls mixed with fish curry).

Relishing this elixir was a family event at home.I remember sitting down just outside the kitchen in a big round as a family,right from kids to adults, to get one big mouthful of meen kuzhambu from my grandmother for every round.I had always fought for the seat right next to her so that i would get the first urundai. And I would pray so hard that i should get the largest ones.....selfish huh....oh come'on i was only a kid.Well,i should admit,given a chance now,i will pray for the same ;-)....

Turning back,I remember my brothers and i sitting together for the event, when we were in our teens.Each one of them secretly counted the number of rice balls i ate and bet on me if i would take one more of them after I'm full.I win ....at the cost of a tummy ache:-).Those were wonderful memories sure to be treasured for a lifetime.

I can write about this all day.But to serve the purpose of this post,Let us get to the recipe of this wonder kuzhambu now.While cooking fish,one should be very careful to wash it properly. Atleast wash 2 to 3 times under running water and make sure to take out all the waste which might give a foul smell to the curry.I remember my mother cleaning the fish pieces for quiet some time and then adding a little turmeric powder and rock salt immediately to them to take the smell away.
I used Tilapia(Neyimeen) which i get in US.But there are few many other fishes that can be used for gravy like Red Snapper(Sankara), Butterfish(Viraal), Catfish(Keluthi).Feel free to correct me if im wrong.

Ingredients:
Fish - 250 gms(i use very few pieces for gravy as everybody here loves fry)
Shallots/Small onions - 10 to 15
Tomato - 1 medium
Garlic pods - 5
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1.5 tsp
Fish curry powder - 1 tsp(optional/if u dont have this...just add any sambar powder)
Salt - as required
Oil - 3 tbsp (preferably gingeley oil)

To grind:(Masala Paste)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Pepper(whole) - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp or Red chillies - 2
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp or Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Shallots - 5
Garlic - 3
#Grind the above with a little water to make it into a fine paste

To season:
Fenugreek seeds/powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds+Urud Dal - 1/4 tsp
Thaalippu Vadagam - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1/2 sprig(reserve the other half of the sprig for later)

Marinating Fish:
Cut fish to desired pieces and Add a little Turmeric powder, Chili powder and Salt to the fish pieces and marinate them in the refrigirator for half an hour before cooking

Making Fish Masala Mix:
In one and a half glass of water,add 1 tsp red chili powder,1 tsp of coriander powder, the tamarind extract with a little salt.Taste and check for the balance.

Preparation:
1.In a kadai,add oil.Once it heats up,add the ingredients in 'To Season' one after another making sure not to burn them.
2.Add garlic pods and saute them for a minute
3.Add cut shallots and fry till translucent.Add a little salt to speed up the frying process

4.Add turmeric powder,1 tsp of red chili powder,1/2 tsp of coriander powder and 1 tsp fish curry powder
5.Add the ground paste and fry till the rw smell drifts away.Then add tomato and saute till the oil oozes out at the ends.

6.Now pour the Fish Masala Mix into the kadai and bring it to a boil or to your desired consistency(i neither like it too thick nor too thin.i just wait until oil comes out at the rim)

7.After you are satisfied with the consistency of the fish curry,add the second half of the curry leaves along with the fish pieces to the gravy
8.Fish takes very little time to get cooked.So make sure you dont cook for too long and break them.Finally garnish with some coriander leaves which is optional

Sooper Dooper...yummy tummy meen kuzhambu is ready for the table.Serve it with hot rice,soft idlis or appams.They taste divine with anything u can name:-).My most favourite combination is steamed rice and Meen Varuval / Fish Fry.

Tips
#While grinding,you can roast the ingredients in a little oil.This gives a different flavor all together
#Do not use coconut as the sweetness spoils the tangyness and the heat of the curry(but the kerala fish curry never goes without coconut milk)
#The longer time you allow the mixture to boil till you see traces of oil coming out before dropping the raw pieces of fish,the better would be your gravy
#As a matter of fact,i love my curry with some tender green brinjal in it.I got this from my family and i guess this has to do something with the S'porean style as i heard my mother encountered pieces of ladys finger in fish curry when my brother n family invited her recently.

Happy dining!
Guten Appetit!