Pudina Rice

Mint is known for its medicinal benefits. I still remember those days at school, when I was really young, maybe around 7 or 8, whenever I used to complain of stomach ache at school, I would be given this Pudinhara in syrup form. Don’t know whether the syrup form is still available but Pudinhara capsules are still available. A really good digestive.
Mint leaves are generally used in a variety of dishes like chutneys, curries, refreshing drinks, etc. Though I don’t like the overpowering smell of pudina much, but the Mint rice or Pudina Rice is an exception. This is one of our family favorites, especially for the lunch box. It serves as a good healthy one pot meal. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients Serves 2

1. Pudina or Mint Leaves – 2 small bunches
2. Basmathi Rice – 2 cups
3. Onions – 2 Sliced
4. Green Chillies – 2 to 3
5. Grated Fresh Coconut – 3 Tblsps
6. Jeera – 1 tsp
7. Cashewnuts – a few
8. Oil – 2 tsps
9. Ghee – 2 tsps
10. Salt to Taste

Method

Wash and drain basmathi rice. Keep aside. Wash and clean the mint leaves. Now, grind the mint leaves, grated coconut, and green chillies into a paste without adding any water. Heat a pressure cooker, add the oil and ghee, and then add the jeera and cashews. Once cashews turn golden, add the sliced onions and fry till translucent. Next add the ground pudina paste and sauté for 2 mins. Next add the rice, sauté for another minute. Now add 2 cups water, salt to taste and mix well. Cook till 1 whistle.

Sweet smelling Pudina rice is ready to be served with a raita of your choice.

Note: There are a lot of variations of this particular rice suggesting a few here
1. You could add fresh or frozen green peas and potatoes.
2. Garlic and other Spices like Cinnamon, Cardamom, etc could be added. But I prefer it without any of these since the mint leaves already have a strong flavor.

Sending this to the Herbs and Flowers event going on at Seduce Your Tastebuds.

Palak Paneer

Here is my daughter’s all time favorite. Actually she loves anything that has paneer in it. Whenever I prepare any paneer dish, from the moment I bring the Paneer packet out my daughter will be right beside me, taking a bite of paneer every now and then.
Palak paneer is a popular North Indian gravy. I make it quite often at home to serve with rotis. This is quite a healthy dish. A great way to make your kids have some greens. Here’s the way I make it.

Ingredients Serves 4

1. Spinach or Palak - 2 small bunches
2. Paneer – 200 gms
3. Onions – 2
4. Tomatoes – 3
5. Green chillies – 2 to 3
6. Coriander powder – 1 tsp
7. Garam Masala – ½ tsp
8. Cream – ½ cup
9. Oil – 2 tsp
10. Jeera – 1 tsp
11. Salt to taste



Method

Wash and chop the palak roughly. Cook the palak leaves, cool and grind it into a paste. Chop the onions and tomatoes. Slit the green chillies. Cut paneer into cubes.
Heat a Kadai with oil, add jeera. Once jeera changes color, add the chopped onions, and green chillies. Saute for 2 to 3 mins or till the onions turn translucent. Then add the chopped tomatoes sauté for few more mins or till the tomatoes turn mushy and oil starts leaving the sides. Now add the coriander powder and fry for another min. Then add the palak puree, paneer pieces, salt and about ½ cup of water. Boil for 2 mins. Then add the garam masala powder and the cream. Simmer for 2 mins. Delicious Palak Paneer is ready to be served with hot rotis.
Sending this Yummy Palak Paneer to Srivalli’s Event, Guest Hosted by Champa- Kid’s Delight – Restaurant Recreations.

Karadayan Nombu Adai

There are certain dishes that are invariably made only once a year, on particular days, like Poornam Kuzhakattai for Ganesh Chathurthi, Kali for Thirvadarai, Cheedai for Janmashtami, Pori urundai for Karthigai and this particular adai for Karadayan Nonbu. At least it is like that in my house. Somehow we don’t make these dishes on a day to day basis. I guess that’s what makes them so special.

Savithri Vratham or Karadayan Nonbu is generally observed on the day when the Tamil month Masi ends and Panguni begins. Married women observe a fast on this day for the well being and long life of their husbands. Unmarried girls pray to be blessed with a good husband. There is a particular time, (the time changes every year), at that time, the women tie a yellow charadu or thread around their necks and break their fast by eating these special adais with unsalted butter. Usually while having the adais, the following two lines are repeated:

Urugatha vennaiyum, oru adaiyum nothein
Orukaalum yen kanavan piriyamal irrukaname

Before going to the recipe I would like to share the legend behind Karadayan Nonbu. The story behind observing this Vratham is that, Princess Savithri, daughter of King Ashwapati, married Satyavan a penniless prince. She also knew the fact that Satyavan would live only for a year. Three days before the destined day of Satyavan’s death, Savithri vowed to fast. On the last day, when Yama the God of Death came to take Satyavan’s soul, Savithri prayed to him to either take her with her husband or to leave her husband behind. Impressed by Savithri’s love and devotion, Yama agreed to grant her any boon other than Satyavan’s life. Savithri asked for a son. Yama granted her wish. But how could she have a son without her Satyavan and hence Yama was forced to give back Satyavan’s life. Thus Savithri rescued her husband Satyavan from death. It is said that later she broke the fast by having these adais.

Makes about 12 - 14 adais

What you'll need

1. Rice Flour – 1 cup
2. Grated or powdered Jaggery – 1 cup
3. A handful of cowpeas or Karamani
4. Cardamoms – 3 -4
5. Coconut cut into small pieces – a handful
6. Ghee – 1 tsp
7. Water – 1 1/2 cup

Method

1. Dry roast the rice flour till light brown on medium heat. (You should be able to put lines with the flour like you do with kolam maavu). 
2. Dry roast the Karamani for 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Pressure cook the Karamani, mash them coarsely and keep it aside.
4. In a Kadai, heat the said 1 ½ cups of water with the grated jaggery. 
5. Once the jaggery dissolves completely, remove from heat. Strain impurities and place it on heat again. Let it start boiling. 
6. Once the jaggery water starts boiling add the cooked cowpeas/karamani, coconut pieces and cardamom powder and roasted rice flour. Mix well without forming any lumps. 
7. Add a tsp of ghee and mix well. The whole flour should become a round mass. Remove from heat. Let it cool a little.
8. Grease idly moulds. Knead the dough a little to make it smooth. 
9. Make small balls out of this mixture and flatten them. Make a small hole with your finger in the middle. Place in idly moulds and steam for about 10 mins. Once cooked the Adais will have a shiny appearance.

Karadayan adai is ready. Offer to the Almighty with some homemade butter.

Chembu Pulivitta Curry (Spicy Tangy Colocasia Stir Fry)

Chembu Colocasia or taro root is one of my favorite vegetables. I love anything made out of it like Chembu Sambar, Chembu Moru Kootan, Chembu roast etc. Chembu Pulivitta curry is a perfect combination with Molagootal, molagutiam or curd rice. This is another traditional palakkad recipe.

Ingredients                                                         Serves - 4

1.       Chembu/colocasia/taro root/arvi – ½ kg

2.       Tamarind – gooseberry size

3.       Jaggery a little

4.       Turmeric Powder a pinch

5.       Asfoetida – a pinch

6.       Salt to taste

Dry roast and grind

1.       Channa Dal – 1 tbsp

2.       Dhaniya – 1.5 tbsp

3.       Red Chillies – 2 to 3 adjust according to taste

For seasoning

1.       Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

2.       Curry leaves a few

3.       Oil – 3 tsps

Method

Steam the chembu with the skin. Do not overcook.Cool, remove skin, cut them into 1 inch thick pieces and keep aside.

 Soak tamarind in hot water for 10 mins. Squeeze, take a thick extract and keep it aside.

Dry roast channa dal, coriander seeds and red chillies. Cool and grind to a fine powder.

In a Kadai, heat oil, temper it with mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the curry leaves. Then add the chembu, turmeric, asfoetida and salt to taste. Fry for about 7 to 8 minutes. Then add the tamarind extract and little jaggery. Fry this for a few mins or till the tamarind extract is absorbed completely. Take care while stirring, not to mash the vegetable. 

Now add the spice powder and mix well. Let it fry for another 4 to 5 mins. Chembu Pulivtta curry is ready. Serve it as an accompaniment with steaming hot rice and molagootal.

Arachukalaki

Arachukalaki is a distinctive side dish of Palakkad Iyers. It is a curd based side dish for our mild kootans like Molagootal and Mulagutiam. You could call it maybe a Palakkad Raita. The name arachu kalaki exactly translates to the procedure of how this dish is made: Arachu meaning grind and kalaki meaning mix. This is a really simple dish.

In olden days, seasonal fruits like gooseberries or nellikai in Tamil, mangoes or mangai in Tamil etc would be preserved in brine in large bharanis (big porcelain vessels) for the entire year. Whenever one felt like having a nellikai or mangai – there it was always available. My mother-in-law still follows the tradition. So this winter when the gooseberries were readily available in the market, she bought a Kg of them and preserved it in brine. Today we made arachukalaki out of these preserved gooseberries. So, here’s how arachukalaki is made:

Preserved Nellikai

Ingredients                         (Serves: 3 – 4)

1.       Fresh or Preserved Nellikai/ Gooseberries/Amla – 2 big

2.       Grated Coconut – 2 tblsps

3.       Sour curd – 2 to 3 tblsps

4.       Dried Red Chillies – 3 – 4

5.       Methi seeds – ¼ tsp

6.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp k

7.       Curry Leaves a few

8.       Coconut oil – 1 tsp

9.       Salt to taste

Method

Heat a small pan with ½ tsp of oil, fry the methi seeds and red chillies. Deseed the Nellikai or gooseberries. Grind the nellikai pieces, grated coconut, fried, methi seeds and red chillies into a fine paste. Add little sour curd to get a smooth paste. Add salt to taste. Transfer the ground pastes into a bowl. Now, adjust consistency by adding some more curd. Mix well. Arachukalaki should not be very thick like thogayal, it should be like pachadi or raita. Heat a small frying pan with the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds, when the splutter pour it on top of the arachukalaki. Garnish with a few sprigs of curry leaves.

Nellikai Arachukalaki is ready to be served with rice and molagootal. You can also relish the taste of this arachukalaki with idly or dosai.

Note: Arachukalaki can also be prepared with small raw mangoes (Vadu manga or Kanni mangai as it is called in Palakkad. Procedure is the same. Just replace gooseberries with raw mangoes). 

It can be made with Chenai (yam/Suran) also. Remove skin from chenai, cut into small pieces. Rest of the procedure remains the same except that you need to add a little tamarind while grind since chenai does not have a sour taste.