PUDALANGAI KOOTU RECIPE

        I had this kootu in my friend ‘B’ s place,she made this with her yummy tangy,spicy kaara kuzhambu so this one made an awesome combo with its mild and flavorful taste!

INGREDIENTS:

Snake gourd/pudalangaai	2 nos.
Split chick peas/Kadalai paruppu/channa dal	1/4 cup
Split green gram/paasi paruppu/mung dal	2 tblsp
Turmeric	2 pinches
Salt	As needed

To grind:

Coconut	1/4 cup
Rice flour	1/4 tsp
Green chilli	2-3 nos
Cumin seeds	3/4 tsp
Small onion/shallots	2 nos.

To temper:

Oil(I used coconut oil)	1 tsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Black gram/Ulutham paruppu	1 tsp
Curry leaves	A sprig

Method:

1. Clean and cut the snake gourd to ur desired size cubes.I chopped little fine.
2. Take both the dhals in a small pressure cooker and just add enough water to immerse the dal.Add turmeric and stir well. Add the chopped veggie over it (don’t stir)
3. Pressure cook till 2-3 whistles in medium flame.(I kept in one of my  pressure cooker container,along with rice..not directly.You can follow stove top method as well!)
4. Grind the coconut,rice flour and green chillies first ,with little water and then add the cumin seeds and shallot lastly and grind coarsely.
5. Open the pressure cooker after the pressure gets released by itself.Add the ground paste  and salt and mix in well and bring to boil.
6. After it boils,switch off the heat and temper it with the items given under the To temper table.

Serve as accompaniment with vatral kuzhambu or kaara kuzhambu… I tasted with roti,tasted good too :)

 

                 One sad news I dropped my camera down and my lens which I use for taking step wise picture is stuck…I have to take it to Nikon service centre and get it done,which will not happen in recent days. May take more than 2 weeks. Still I have another lens,so hope fully I will post some recipes but not sure about stepwise pictures!  Even this was lying in my drafts as this is a simple and boooooring recipe

            And since most of you all are going on break and holidays,I am wishing you all bloggers and my readers A HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Wishing each and every one a Prosperous New year!!

Catch you all after New year!

                    I mean two of my kitchen treasures,to display for the event "Kitchen Treasure Hunt". I know I am sending it in the last moment,still happy to send my contribution...to Dibs of Chitramma's Kitchen.

                   By now,many of our friends have posted their treasures,in which mine also were there mostly...so I have displayed only two of mine....

spice box:

                  Almost every south Indian,will have this one in their  kitchen...So I too have and its bought by my mom and very close to my heart!

                  This one in Tamil we call it as " Aindhu Arai Petti"  means box with five rooms,though mine have seven and almost now a days,there are  7 rooms box only....May be long time back when they named it might have  had originally only 5.

              This authentic box is made of stainless steel,with individually engraved spice canisters...Each canister has its own small spoon too!

             With this box,every women(Ok,men cook too) can organize her/his own favorite spices,they use in their day to day cooking! So seven of your favorite spice can be easily accessed whenever you need them...cool right?

               Mine,being a south Indian(Tamizhachi), I will always have Mustard,Urad dal,channa dal,thuvar dal,turmeric,jeera and fenugreek seeds(vendhayam) in my boxes... Heres the display snap for you all!

 

Bear with my bad focusing

idly steaming pot:

            Mine is a bit smaller one my mother in law gifted me,is made of aluminium,and cloth has to be used in the plates to steam cook idlies... It gets cooked so quickly,as its small and made of aluminium and we enjoy soft idlies...thanks to my Mother in law.

See you all soon with recipes!

    All the  following awards + good job,chocohalic and butterly awards have been passed to me by two of our dear bloggers - LG of Taste of Mysore and Dibs from Chithramma's Kitchen....Other than them I have mentioned the other awards and who awarded me!

Vijaya of Dailymeals have also passed me the good job Award!

By- Malar

By-Malar ,  Anusriram,  Andhra flavours

By - Anu sriram From Chandrabahga

By-Jaishree from Ruchi

Hope I did mentioned everybody and everything correct!

                           Thankyou  so much to each and everyone who remembered me when passing the awards,I dont

know even I deserve these awards,but I am happy that I have got somany friends around here,who keep me in their mind!!

I am not passing this in particular to anybody as all of you would have already got these awards... But I am dedicating these to all of my blogger friends!

And here's a snap of the   Spicy baby potatoes  I tried from Here...(?)or may be Here(?) Thank you both for this wonderful recipe,Nags and Bharathy!

Catch you all after Diwali!

Dear Friends,

Meet you all after Deepavali!

 

 

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND READERS!

Hi all!!! Hope you all are doing great...I have to spend my time with my kid who is going to a new school! I am missing all of you very much and could not spend a qualitative time in blogging...If I resume blogging I should do it as before..i dont want to miss any of you...so I need some days to find a good time slot in my daily life...I thought i should post this before itself...sorry gals!!!
A big Thankyou for those who bothered about me!!!! So kind of you!! I will resume blogging ASAP with your permissions!!!

 

HOW TO GET SOFTEST RAVA IDLY

            Sorry for disappearing just like that for some days from blogging!!I was out for a holiday trip with friends From now I think I would be able to be regular like before!

              After I started cooking, I have tried making rava idli two or three times,but I was not much impressed with the results...Then one day,my friend S,asked me to try MTR instant mix for rava idli,which I liked so much!They say,that MTR only invented rava illi!! Then some period I was a big fan of that and even I have served my guests,and they also liked it so much...

           Another day,I was feeling like eating rava idlies for dinner and I was not having any of this MTR instant mix,then since I have tasted bite by bite MTR rava idlies,I thought why not I try my own...(after so many years ;D).And I tried with one important ingredient,that I have never used before...That secret ingredient is "ENO FRUIT SALT" !!!! And since it was for dinner and I was all alone at my home,I was too lazy to browse for recipe too...So I made my own approximate recipe:)

            The same day only I bought a bottle of ENO FRUIT SALT,for trying dhoklas....(okay,I had rava idlies also in my back of my mind...I agree).

           And I made the mixture ready and was steaming and desperately waiting for the results...And when I sat down and took one piece in my hand,it was too soft and moist,and it just melted in my mouth!!!

           I know you all would have got exhausted ...why this creature is telling like a thriller story?!!Come on....! I like rava idlies and this was the first time I got a perfect recipe:) Thats y!!! A rava idly lover can understand me...;D

So here's the recipe for you all who love to enjoy the spongy,moist,soft...... rava idlies!

Ingredients:(for making 10 - 12 Idlies)

Rava/Sooji/semolina	1 cup
Curd(sour or not sour depending upon ur taste)	1/2 cup
Eno fruit salt(plain or lemon flavor)	1 tsp
Lemon juice	1/2 tsp
Ginger(chopped very fine or paste)	1 tsp
green chillies(chopped very fine or paste)	4 nos
curry and coriander leaves	1 tblsp (chopped very fine)
Water	1/2 cup(adjust to reach consistency)
Salt	As needed

 

To temper:

Mustard	1 tsp
Urad dal(Ullutham paruppu)	1 tsp
Channa dal(Kadala paruppu)	1 tsp
Cashews	1 tblsp (broken into small pieces)
Oil and ghee	1 tblsp

To decorate (optional)

Carrot gratings	1 tblsp
coconut gratings	1 tblsp

Method:

1. Heat a kadai and add ghee and oil,splutter mustard and add the rest under To temper table.Then add the finely chopped ginger and chillies.( you can grind ginger and green chillies and use the paste too).
2. Then add the sooji with curry leaves and coriander leaves to it and fry in a low flame taking care to not to change the colour of rava.
3. After two min,transfer to a bowl,cool down and add the curd,enough water,lemon juice,salt mix well.(the consistency should be like our idly batter consistency,light and loose not too thick)
4. Heat the idly cooker with water and let it be just ready for steaming and grease the idly plates with ghee/oil.
5. At this time add the ENO salt to the batter and mix well( the eno salt should be active enough,so that when you add and mix the batter,small bubbles will be coming,which makes the batter frothy)
6. Immediately,pour into the idly moulds and steam for 5-7 minutes.(to check if its done,insert a knife or spoon back and it should come clean)
7. Your spongy,moist,soft rava idlies are ready now! Garnish if desired and Serve with coconut chutney or your choice of chutney!!!

To get the perfect idlies:

If you want to decorate the rawa idlies,you can first add little,little carrot,coconut gratings (You can keep a fried cashew nut also) in the mould and pour the batter over it. Eno salt is very very important ingredient,so make sure you dont omit it,and should be a active one i.e; if you add it to the battter,you should be getting bubbles. Add water and curd in equal proportion and consistency of the batter should be loose,not too thick.(or else the idlies will come out dry)

These Idlies stay soft till you eat...i.e; for long time,so you can make it for your guests and keep,no worries...it will be soft as when you take out from the idly mould!!

Any doubts,feel free to ask me,I am here to help you out to get a perfect idly!! I assure you :)

 

And now coming to the exciting moments to share with you all...!

1. My blog has been featured in Times Of India(New Delhi edition),Friday supplementary What's Hot,Blog-e-binge, section on February last week Friday edition!! Hurray!! Here's a screen shot!!

 

 2. After I came back from a short trip,I opened my mail box,I had a surprise mail from Nags of Edible garden,saying that my entry Suzhiyan Recipe had won the "The Super Chef" title for the Recipe Diary contest and she have asked me to choose a cook book as a prize from her list!!!

I am so grateful to her and her mom,who acknowledged my recipe!!