Chettinad Urulai Roast

Chettinad is a small region in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is very famous for its spicy and aromatic cuisine, palatial homes, and beautiful local arts and crafts. Naatukotai Chettiars is a popular community in this region. Chettiars are known for their trading skills. This community is generally known for their wealth and you can see it at their weddings.

I remember a small incident which my husband often tells me. This was during one of his friend’s wedding, he and some others had gone to attend the wedding and since they were the boy’s close friends, they received a royal welcome. And after a while, an aachi from the girl’s side came up to them, took them to this magnificent house filled with things for the bride to be. She even asked them to make a checklist and to let her know even they had missed out any item.( During a daughter’s marriage, she is gifted everything that would be needed to start a family from a box of mustard seeds to vessels, clothes, footwear, almirahs, cots, mattresses, jewelry and the list just continues. You name it and it should be there.) The couple moved to Singapore immediately after marriage and all their belongings remain in their ancestral house till date.
The Chettinad cuisine is one of the spiciest cuisines. It is famous for its variety of non vegetarian treats. The vegetarians need not despair as they have a mouthwatering array of vegetarian dishes as well. The use of various spices like Marathi Moggu, Annasipoo , fennel seeds, and other spices like bay leaves, peppercorn etc are very common.

That was a very brief introduction on the Chettinad region and cuisine. Now coming to our recipe, I learnt this recipe from a chettiar friend of mine. She taught me a few other recipes too. But this recipe was a great hit at home and we’ve stuck to this recipe for long now. So it’s a really tried, tested and tasted dish. The recipe has been slightly modified to satisfy our taste buds.

Ingredients

1. Baby Potatoes – 250 gms

Dry Roast and Powder

1. Split Urad Dal – 1 to 2 tsps
2. Dried Red Chillies – 2 – 3
3. Whole Black Peppercorns – 5 – 6
4. Salt to taste

For Seasoning

1. Oil – 2 – 3 tsps
2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
3. Hing – 1 pinch
4. Turmeric Powder – 1 Pinch
5. Curry Leaves a few

Method

1. Boil and peel the baby potatoes.
2. Heat a Kadai, dry roast the split Urad dal. Once it starts changing color add the peppercorns and red chillies. Roast until Dal turn nice and brown. Cool, grind and keep aside.
3. In the same Kadai, add oil. Once oil is heated, add the mustard seeds and hing. Next add the turmeric powder and the curry leaves.
4. Next add the boiled and peeled potates. Give it a good stir. Add salt to taste and sauté for a about 5 mins.
5. Finally add the spice powder and mix well.

Spicy Chettinad Urulai Roast is ready to be had with a combination of steaming hot rice and Sambar or with just a simple Rasam. Tastes out of the world!

Note:

1. If baby potatoes are not available, use big ones. Boil and cut them into medium sized chunks.
2. Adjust spice according to your taste.
3. You could also add sliced onions and garlic to this. Saute these before adding the potatoes.

Sending this to Radhika's event CBB Series #2 ~ Chettinad Special

Carrot Tomato Cooler

The mercury is rising here in Hyderabad. The weather is so dry that it is scary to go out in the day time. I just feel like finishing the day’s cooking before 10 am and be out of the kitchen. Alas! That’s not really very possible when you have 2 little girlies with their unending demands to keep munching or drinking something.
Here is a recipe of a perfect summer cooler, which I saw in television about 3 weeks back. When I whipped up this refreshing drink, it was an instant hit with my daughters. Both of them really loved it.

Ingredients Makes: 2 Glasses

1. Carrots – 3
2. Tomatoes – 5
3. Ginger – 1 small piece
4. Pepper Powder – ¼ tsp
5. Honey – 1 tblsp (or to taste)
6. Juice of Half a Lemon
7. Mint leaves for garnishing

Method

Blend carrots, tomatoes and ginger in a juicer or Mixer. Strain the juice. Then add pepper powder, honey and lemon juice. Give it a nice mix. Pour it into glasses. Garnish with mint leaves. You can add ice cubes or refrigerate and serve chilled.

Sending this refreshing summer cooler to Priya and Aipi’s
bookmarked recipes.

Subz Hara Masala ~ Mixed Vegetables in Green Gravy

We make rotis almost every day at home and having them with the same old red gravy becomes boring sometimes. I wanted to try something different. When I checked my refrigerator for the veggies, I had a few of this and a few of those; Luckily for me there was a bunch of fresh coriander leaves which my MIL had just bought from our regular bhajiwala. So I decided to make this particular gravy which I had noted down in my dairy. It turned out very well and everybody at home liked it very much. So here’s what I did:

Ingredients (Serves 4)

1. Mixed vegetables – 2 cups
2. Onion – 1 big
3. Tomatoes – 2 medium
4. Oil – 2 - 3 tsps
5. Jeera - ½ tsp
6. Saunf – ½ tsp
7. Salt to taste

To be ground into a paste

1. Fresh Coriander Leaves – 1 big bunch
2. Mint Leaves – 4 to 5 leaves
3. Green Chillies – 2 – 3
4. Garlic Cloves – 2
5. Ginger – 1 inch piece
6. Fresh Grated Coconut – 1 tblsp

Method

For the veggies I used carrots, potatoes, French beans, Cauliflower florets, frozen green peas. Cut the carrots, and potatoes into small cubes. String French beans and cut into 1 inch size pieces. Separate cauliflower into medium sized florets. Pressure cook carrots, potatoes and French beans. In a separate vessel, boil cauliflower and frozen peas. Keep these cooked veggies aside.

Grind all the items mention under to be ground to a paste in a mixie adding little water. Keep aside.

Heat a Kadai with oil, add the jeera and saunf. Next add the finely chopped onions and sauté till onions turn golden brown. Then add chopped tomatoes and fry till tomatoes turn soft. Now add the green paste and sauté for about 2 to 3 mins or till the raw smell of garlic and ginger no longer remains. Next add the boiled veggies, salt and about 1 t o1 ½ cups of water. Cover and let it simmer for 5 mins. Adjust water according to gravy consistency. Garnish with some fresh cream. (That is completely optional)
Yummy Subz Hara Masala is ready to had with garam garam rotis..

Sending this to Herbs and Flowers in my Platter hosted by Krithi originally started by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds.

Also to C for Colorful Curries.

Awards Time!!!

I am happy to have received these awards from my blogger friend Jay of Tasty Appetite. An award means appreciation and who does not like to be appreciated. This award has boosted my spirits to keep blogging. Thanks a lot Jay to have considered my blog. I would like to share these awards with my fellow blogger friends. The rule says that I can share it only with 15 though I have many many more in my mind. I dedicate this award to all my blogger friends who regularly visit my blog and leave their precious feedback. Many of you might have received these awards but still I would like to mention it here:

1. Sravsculinaryconcepts
2. Reshmi Mahesh
3. Sweetindianhome
4. Divya
5. Valar Siva
6. Kurinji
7. Aruna Manikandan
8. Dr. Shameena
9. Reshmi
10. Vidya Kannan
11. Priya
12. Raji
13. Rajani
14. Kalpana Sareesh
15. Jayashree Sathish

Barley Gramflour Parathas

When I saw that Priya has selected Barley as the seed of this month, I was sure I wanted to send an entry to this event. But what was the big question, as I had never used barley in my kitchen before. My MIL watches a program on ayurveda everyday morning. One day, I heard the doctor talk about the goodness of Barley. According to him, powdered Barley mixed with milk and Kalkand is the best health drink for children. At the end of the program he showed how to make these wonderful barley parathas. I immediately tried it making a few changes to his recipe and everybody liked them very much. So here is what I did:

Ingredients

1. Barley flour – 1/2 cup
2. Gram flour – 1/2 cup
3. Wheat flour – 1 cup
4. Ajwain /omam – ½ tsp
5. Jeera – ½ tsp
6. Pepper Powder – ½ tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Water as required
9. Oil as required

Method

Dry roast the gramflour till a nice aroma comes. Let it cool. Now, in a mixing bowl, add the all the three flours and mix well. Then add all the spices and salt. Mix well. Now slowly add water and knead into smooth Chapathi dough. Keep covered for 20 mins. Divide the dough rounds. Dust the work surface with wheat flour and roll out discs out of the rounds.
Heat a tava, and lay the paratha on it. After a few seconds, flip it over. Apply a tsp of oil after a min or so, flip it again and apply oil on the other side. Cook the parathas till brown spots appear on both sides. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.
Hot and tasty parathas are ready to serve. You can have with a simple tomato curry or just ketchup.

Sending these tasty parathas to Wholesome Wholegrain cooking event by Sanjeetha Guest hosted by Priya

Note:

If you do not get barley flour in the market, dry roast the barley for a about a minute or till the barley get hot and then powder it in the mixie.
While cooking the parathas, do not keep on tava for a long time in low flame, try to keep the flame medium else the parathas may turn hard.