Idli Podi - Kerala Style

Idli podi or gun-powder as it is popularly called is a fiery, dry chutney powder that is served with idlis. The bland taste of idli is fantastically complemented with this hot, spicy chutney which is a blend of dal, rice, red chillies and spices. Idli podi is usually made in large quantities and bottled to retain the flavours. It stores well at room temperature for months, though the fieriness may go down a bit on prolonged storage. This idli podi can be served with idlis, dosas, uttappams etc. The recipe given below is my grandmother's which we quite love and is different from other idli podi recipes where rice and curry leaves are not used. This podi is served by mixing coconut oil into it to highlight the flavours whereas other recipes use sesame/gingelly oil or ghee. This powder will turn brown when roasted while the other podi are usually red in colour.

You need:

1/2 glass rice (both raw rice and boiled rice work well)
1/4 glass urad dal
1/4 glass channa dal
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
a large pinch of hing
6 or more red chillies (the hot variety)
10-12 peppercorns
1 tsp til/sesame seeds
a handful of curry leaves

Roast the peppercorns, red chillies and curry leaves in 2 spoons of oil till they change colour. Add the remaining ingredients and fry till they turn golden brown. Cool thoroughly and powder finely. Store in dry, airtight bottles.

While serving, mix a few spoons of chutney with coconut oil to enjoy the true flavour of Kerala.

Mango Pickle

Summer arrives in India in early March and the first of the raw mangoes appear in the marketplaces. The women in the neighbourhood eagerly await the mango-seller walking through the streets with a huge basketful of baby mangoes on his head. As always they hail him, pick through the best of the raw mangoes, weigh their bulk purchase and haggle over the prices. They then go through the process of wiping the mangoes dry, rubbing in measured portions of salt and leaving the huge bucket of mangoes to bask in the sun for a few days. The mangoes are then brought indoors and spiced with red chilli powder and mustard powder, bottled in sterilised bottles and left outdoors again to cook in the warmth of the sun. Everyday the bottles are shaken to allow the spices and salt to mingle evenly with the mangoes. As the days go by, the mangoes absorb the spices to turn into a lip-smacking 'kanni-manga' pickle, finally distributed among relatives.

While the entire process of pickling is a fantastic journey, the wait till one can actually taste the pickle is killing. And on days when the craving for a pickle is just too much to resist, an easy and quick mango pickle can be made. There are no particular measurements used for this pickle since the pickle does not keep well. It is best consumed within two or three days. To make the pickle, chop a regular raw mango into tiny pieces. Mix salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and mustard(rye) powder and toss well. Store in a dry container or sterilised bottle. The flavours should mingle well in 4-5 hours. Teams well with rice.

Balle, balle....it's Dahi Bhalle with Date-Tamarind Chutney

Dahi bhalle or dahi wadas are always the best item on any menu. Soft lentil dumplings covered with creamy yoghurt and sprinkled with spices, these beauties are served with lunch or dinner or even for brunch! The wadas freeze well, so one can make large batches and freeze them in airtight containers or ziploc bags. They also form a good base for chaats like Delhi chaat or Jaipuri chaat.

You'll need:

1 cup urad dal
1/2 inch piece ginger
2 green chillies
Oil for frying
Salt/sugar to taste
Whipped yoghurt

Jeera powder
Red chilli powder
Coriander leaves for garnish

Soak the urad dal for 2-3 hours in plenty of water. Drain and grind with ginger and chillies to a fine batter using very little water. Add salt and whip with hands till fluffy. Heat oil in a pan and drop small lemon sized balls of the batter. Fry on medium flame till golden brown. Remove on to paper towels and cool. Freeze till needed.

Variation: you can add 1/4 cup channa dal to the soaked urad dal for softer wadas.

Before serving, soak the wadas in hot water for 10 minutes to make them soft and moist. This also removes the excess oil from the wadas. Squeeze the wadas slightly (you may flatten them if you like) and place them on the serving bowl. Beat the yoghurt with salt/sugar and pour over the wadas. Sprinkle red chilli powder, jeera powder and coriander leaves over it. Chill the wadas for 10-15 minutes. Just before serving, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and date-tamarind chutney.

For date-tamarind chutney:

250 gms dates

250gms jaggery
100gms tamarind
2 tbsp jeera powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
a pinch of garam masala powder
1 heaped tsp black salt
salt to taste

Pressure cook the tamarind, dates and jaggery for 2 whistles. Cool, grind and seive the mixture. Add the seasonings, adjust consistency and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes stirring continuously. Cool completely and refridgerate in sterilized glass jars.

This recipe makes chutney on a large scale - the chutney keep well refridgerated. You can cut down the measurements to make a small quantity.

Dahi-bhalle with date-tamarind chutney is my entry to Siri's Frozen Yoghurt event and Sig's JFI-Tamarind - just made it!!

Cucumber Tomato Sandwich

At every nook and corner of Mumbai you will encounter intense aromas of street food and discover new fusions of flavour and spice at the ever-popular and densely crowded "khau-gullies". It is hard to say which street food is the most popular for there are takers for every kind of food and drink available on the streets. A sandwich stall is probably the most visible street food and the speed at which the sandwich-wallahs dole them to customers is amazing! So sandwich it is with the green chutney, cucumber and tomato for the Street Food edition of Monthly Blog Patrol, hosted by Sia at Monsoon Spice from Nupur's One Hot Stove. Makes a good breakfast too!

For the green chutney:
2 cups coriander leaves
1 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup roughly chopped onion
2 green chillies or more to suit your taste
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
1 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend with a little water to get a thick chutney.

For the sandwich:
Softened butter
Green chutney
Sliced cucumber
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced onions (optional)
Boiled and sliced Potato
Boiled and sliced Beetroot(optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese slices (optional)

Spread softened butter and then green chutney on two slices of bread. Then place some sliced cucumber, tomato, potato, beetroot, onion (use the veggies as per your preference), cheese and top with the other slice of bread. Serve. You may grill it - ofcourse you must! Press lightly and cut into squares and add a drop of tomato ketchup on each square. Mmmm!

Also goes to Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted event - the blog in the spotlight being One hot stove!

Aamras

Every summer, we visit a small, family-run Gujarati restaurant in Dubai, to tuck into their weekend thali. The menu is the same every week - puris, undhiyo, chhole, potato curry, gujarati kadhi, dhoklas and aamras. While we don't care too much for most of the items in the thali, the undhiyo and aamras are outstanding. Everytime we scoop off a few spoons of aamras, the cup is promptly refilled. After downing atleast five cups of aamras, and the food, the staff will still insist on "some more aamras". Any refusal on our part, and the old cook appears at the table, lovingly serving the aamras himself and gently coaxing us into relenting - "the mango season is so short, have all you can now". Now we can't refuse, can we?

I tried making aamras at home without any extra flavouring and loved it. Then I saw a recipe which mentioned adding elaichi/cardamom to it and tried that. We hated it. Elaichi takes away the true mango flavour - it is a distraction in the the taste!! Going back to the original way, this is how I made it.

You'll need:

2 ripe mangoes - I used the Alphonso variety

a tbsp milk

a little water

sugar, if needed

Soak the mangoes in water for 2 hours - this takes the heat out of the mangoes. Then peel the mangoes and chop of the pulp. Reserve the seeds in the water - this is said to retain the flavour. Blend the pulp with milk till smooth. Check for sweetness and add sugar if needed. Add a little water (in which the seeds were retained) to make it a little thin and blend again. Serve chilled with puris or palak puris.

The original way of making aamras is by squishing the soaked mango with fingers and extracting the pulp. Blending it does not make a difference to the taste and is less time consuming.

Aamras goes to Arundhati at Escapades who is hosting WBB#22 - May Mango Madness.

Maria Bonita’s Taco Shop

If you are looking for authentic Mexican cuisine, Maria Bonita’s Taco shop is the place to go. Located at Um Al Sheif Street, Near Spinneys, Umm Suqeim, Dubai, the bright yellow display sign of Maria Bonita’s Taco Shop is easy to find. A far cry from the otherwise chic restaurants one expects to find in the upscale Jumeirah, this place has a clean and homely feel to it. With little tables arranged outside and inside (which is quite spacious) and a couple of sleeping green parrots in a cage near the door, it did seem like a popular place since some of the tables were occupied even though we reached there for a really late lunch at 3 pm. The décor and ambience did give a feel of being in a laid back Mexican eatery, far from the glitz and glamour of Dubai. As soon as we were seated, the menu cards were brought to us along with some crisp tortilla chips with a mild tomato salsa and a smoked, fiery salsa. We placed our orders for the drinks – a horchatta and Jamaican hibiscus drink. Horchatta tasted like a thin, watery “phirni” was a sweet rice milk while the Jamaican hibiscus drink was lemony and refreshing. The “guacamole on the spot” was prepared at the table and spiced to our liking was the best I’ve had with the perfect blend of avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, red chillies, salt and pepper, crushed in a mortar and pestle. For the mains, we had an enchilada combo which had three soft tortillas wrapped with shredded chicken with spring onions, sour cream, refried beans and rice and three different salsas. The first tortilla had a salsa verde which was a green sauce made of green tomatillos, cilantro, jalapenos, white onion and lime, the second a salsa rojas which was a red sauce made of tomatoes and red chillies and the third had a chocolate mole salsa. The portions were sufficient for two of us and quite filling. On the whole, the place was not expensive and the food was really good. Yes, we’d certainly go there again to try out more from the menu.

Guacamole on the spot

Onion Chutney

The prayers for rains have been answered. The last ten days have been overcast, the sun hasn't peeked out and yes, it rained! After the typical winter delicacies like carrot halva and pinnies, the rains called for piping hot, spicy pakodas, vada-pavs and ginger tea or simple, comfort foods with a spicy chutney or dip on the side. One such chutney is ulli chutney or onion chutney, simple and spicy and goes with idlies, dosas, adais, vadas etc.

You'll need:

1 large onion

4 red chillies (more if you want it spicier)

1 small cup grated coconut

a sprig of curry leaves

salt to taste

Slice the onions and grind it along with the rest of the ingredients with a little water. Adjust to the consistency you prefer. Add a tsp of coconut oil on top. That's it, a simple, spicy chutney is ready!

You can make variations by adding tamarind to it for a bit of sourness or roasting the onions and chillies before grinding them.

This is my entry to RCI – Cuisine of Kerala, event conceived by LakshmiK of Veggie Cuisine as well as JFI-Onions, hosted at Radhi's Kitchen, event created by Indira of Mahanandi.

Coriander Chutney

The state of Karnataka in South India has a rich cultural heritage dating to thousands of years, from temples and palaces to elaborate cities, now lying in ruins. In 2005, the Indian Pavilion at the Dubai Shopping Festival brought alive many of the wonders of this amazing state. The Indian Pavillion being the largest, prettiest and grandest attracts the most number of visitors each year. Around 300 stalls were accommodated within the 1,30,000 sq.ft pavilion. The theme that year showcased Karnataka, with the Mysore Palace replicated, complete with the extravaganza that is a part of the Dussera celebrations. The centre of attraction was the ruins of Hampi. Needless to say India bagged the award for the Best Pavilion.

My only exposure to Karnataka cuisine was the Udipi hotels in Mumbai frequented by one and all to have "idli-dosa". Little did I know that some of the dishes my mother prepared like lime rice, mysore rasam, masala dosa etc actually belonged to Karnataka cuisine! So here are some recipes that were tried, tested and devoured.

Set Dosa
The only way to describe them is soft, spongy, melt-in-the-mouth. For the recipe, head over to Seema's Recipe Junction. Thanks Seema, we absolutely enjoyed them! Serve the yummy dosas with a spicy gravy or coriander chutney.

Coriander Chutney

You need:
¾ cup coconut grated

3 green chillies

1 bunch coriander leaves

a marble sized tamarind

3 cloves garlic

salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to smooth paste using water.

Lime Rice/Chitranna

My entry to RCI- Karnataka hosted by Asha, event initiated by Lakshmi.

Schezwan sauce

For the first time in my life I celebrated Valentine's Day!!! In all the years I've known V and the two years we've been married, I don't remember celebrating this day. V'days usually passed by like any other regular day. Contrary to my previous post, I'm a big cynic when it comes to Valentine's Day! Too commercial, and well, any day can be special, isn't it? But what if something can be done to bring a change into our otherwise drab lives……? Ah, now that thought clicked! And all you blog buddies inspired me to churn out a nice warm dinner for V day! After mulling over various ideas, I finalized the menu.

What was on the menu on Valentine's Day? Indianised Chinese !!! So for all those Indo-Chinese cuisine lovers, here's what I cooked ….. Hot and sour soup, Spring rolls with Schezwan sauce, Shrimp Schezwan Rice, Chilli Chicken gravy and for dessert there was Honey noodles with vanilla icecream and Chocolate-strawberry cakes with Strawberry icecream. And guess what, both of us being complete foodies, enjoyed every bit of the dinner!!!

Will keep posting all these recipes one by one. I have not used ajinomoto or colour in my recipes. Here's the first for schezwan sauce :

Finely chop 2 tbsp each of ginger, garlic, onions and celery stalk. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions for a minute. Then add ginger, garlic, celery stalk and 2-3 tbsp red chilli paste and stir fry for another minute. Add salt, pepper, ajinomoto(optional), 1 ½ cups of tomato ketchup and colour(optional) and cook for 2 minutes.