Puliyodharai | Tamarind Rice | Puli Kaichal for Puli Sadam

Puliyodharai | Tamarind Rice | Puli Kaichal for Puli Sadam, the name itself makes everyone drool over. I rarely find people hate this tangy, tasty rice. Puliyodharai is a traditional rice dish prepared on some special occasions like Aadi 18| Pathinettam Perukku, Kaanum Pongal, Valai Kaappu|Seemandham and as Prasad| Prasadham for Poojas. Whatever we get from temples as Prasad taste divine but nothing can match with the “Temple Puliyotharai|Kovil Puliyodharai given in Perumal temples.  There are many recipes for preparing puliyodharai but Iyengar Puliyotharai recipe is the best one. This is also ideal for lunch box & travel. 

I prepare this pulikaichal when we get bored of our plain rice with some kuzhambu variety.  The recipe for puli kaichal I’ve given here, will stay good in the fridge for about a month. If you are the one who finds no time to cook in the morning, keeping this pulikaichal in stock will help you make a variety rice in a jiffy. You can pair this rice with some chips or vadams. You can also use leftover rice for making puliyodharai. Here I’ve given the recipe for making pulikaichal as well as for preparing puliyodharai with this pulikaichal...

Recipe for Puliyodharai | Tamarind Rice | Puli Kaichal for Puli Sadam:

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian | Iyengar

Preparation Time: 30 Minutes

Cooking time : 15 Minutes

Serves – 6 

Ingredients:

• Tamarind – a big lemon size
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Dry Roast & Grind:

• Fenugreek seeds| vendhayam – 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds| Malli vidhai – 1 tsp
• Sesame seeds| Ellu -1 tsp

Roast & Grind:

• Gingelly oil |Nallennei – 1 tsp
• Asafoetida | Perungayam – 1 tsp or a tiny pebble size
• Red chillies | kaaintha milakaai – 5
• Pepper corns | Milaku – 1 tsp

For seasoning:

• Gingelly oil |Nallennei – 5 tbsp
• Mustard – 1 tbsp
• Channa dhal – 2 tbsp
• Grount nuts – as required
• Red chillies – 5
• Curry leaves - few

Method:

How to prepare Pulikaichal for Puliyodharai?

1. Soak tamarind in a cup of water for ½ an hour, extract thick tamarind juice & keep aside.
2. In the mean time, dry roast fenugreek seeds in simmer till you get nice aroma and transfer to a plate.
3. In the same kadai, add coriander seeds| dhaniya, dry roast and transfer to the same plate.
4. Crackle sesame seeds in the same kadai and transfer these seeds to the plate.
5. In the same kadai, add oil & Asafoetida | Perungayam (if using Katti perungayam), and fry for a minute. To this add, pepper, sauté for a while, then add red chillies & asafoetida (if using hing powder)  and fry till chillies become crisp. Transfer these to the same plate and allow the contents to cool.
6. Grind it in a mixer and make a dry powder. Keep aside.
7. In the same kadai, add oil , when hot add mustard. Once they splutter, add channa dhal and sauté till they become golden brown in colour.
8. Add ground nuts, broken red chillies and curry leaves, one by one. When curry leaves get fried, add tamarind juice, turmeric powder and required salt. Mix well.
9. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes.
10. When the raw smell of the tamarind goes, add the prepared puli kaichal powder and allow to boil for 5 minutes.
11. By this time, tamarind paste will become a thick paste and oil will ooze out form the gravy.
12. Switch off & allow to cool.

Transfer the pulikaichal into a clean, dry container, refrigerate  and use whenever you want.

Recipe for preparing puliyodharai:

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – 2 cups

Pulikaichal – 3 tbsp

Gingelly oil – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Cook rice until soft but not mushy. Transfer the cooked rice to a broad plate, add gingelly oil, fluff with rice gently & allow to cool.
2. When completely cooled, add the required puli kaichal and mix without breaking the rice.

Yummy, tasty Puli sadham is ready  to be relished with any fry, vadam or chips.

Note:

• This recipe strictly needs gingelly oil as it will impart an unique flavour & taste to the rice.
• While mixing rice add enough  pulikaichal so that the rice looks drenched in the gravy. After some time, rice will absorb the paste and the taste will get balanced.
• While mixing rice, check for salt & add if necessary.
• Eat rice after an hour of mixing the rice with pulikaichal.
• Use ponni raw rice for preparing tamarind rice. You can also use any good quality boiled rice.

Tags: Puliyotharai recipe, How to prepare pulikaichal for preparing puliyodharai?, Pulikaichal recipe,  tamarind rice, Puli sadam recipe, Lunch box recipes, Travel Recipes, How to mix puliyotharai?, Tips for preparing tasty puliyotharai at home, Kovil puliyotharai recipe, Koil puliyodharai recipe, Temple Puliyotharai recipe, Iyengar style puliyotharai recipe

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How to prepare Sarkarai Pongal in a traditional open pot ...| Sakkarai Pongal Recipe | Sweet Pongal Recipe

Thai Pongal otherwise known as Tamizhar Thirunaal in Tamilnadu is celebrated in Mid-January. The festival spans four days starting from  the last day of Markazhi and first three days of Thai. Basically this festival is celebrated as a mark of showing our gratitude to “Nature”.  The celebration starts with Bhogi or Mahar Sankranthi , on this day everyone prepares their house for celebrating Pongal by discarding the old, unused items from their house. The next day is Pongal.  On this day, Pongal is made out of the harvested rice. This Pongal along with farm fresh vegetables ,  sugarcane, etc are offered to the Sun God. The next day is Mattu Pongal, celebrated  for the bullocks which help in all agriculture activities. The fourth day is observed as Kaanum Pongal and everyone visits their relatives’ houses to get the blessings of the elders.

In the olden days, many people used to get a new mud pot for making Pongal on the day of Thai Pongal. As the new mud pot  cannot be used straight away  for cooking, it needs to be processed for cooking . So, the preparation for Pongal festival starts a few days ahead.  Some families traditionally follow the way of making pongal in a brass vessel called Vengala Paanai (Brass Pot) and the paanai will be handed over to the next generations. Whatever the pot they use, it needs to be decorated with colourful drawings and  some special flowers,  manjal kizhangu is to be tied around the neck of the pot. The stove will be kept in the open yard and Pongal will be prepared in the special vessel and after preparation it will be offered to Sun-god Surya.

Now, in the apartment culture, it is not at all possible to prepare Pongal in the open yard, but we can make Pongal in Paanai |Pot using our regular stove top. While preparing Pongal, it is customary to let it spill out from  the pot. The symbolism behind the spilling of Pongal is that peace, prosperity and joy must spill over from the pot of life throughout the year.So it is always good to prepare Pongal in open vessel atleast on this day of Pongal instead of using pressure cookers.

Today, I am going to tell you the procedure for making Sakkarai Pongal in Pongal Paanai! The traditional open pot method of preparing Sarkarai Pongal follows few steps and it will get cooked in half-an-hour's time since we are using raw rice.

Ingredients:

• Ponni raw rice – 1 cup
• Green moong dhal – ½ cup
• Water – 5 cups
• Milk – 1  cup
• Crushed jaggery – 1 cup (heap measure)
• Coconut gratings – ½ cup
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 2 tbsp
• Cashew nuts – a handful
• Raisins – a handful

Method:

1. Wash raw rice and moong dhal  in water together  twice. Then add 5 cups of water to this, drain the water alone into the pot in which we are going to prepare Pongal.
2. Place the pot over the stove top, add ¼ cup of milk and bring it to boil. Allow the water to boil till it gets spilled over from the pot. Now is the time for “Pongalo Pongal!!” from you and the rest of your family JJJ
3. Reduce the fire immediately and take out   ½  cup of water from the pot and keep it separately. Add the rice, dhal and stir well and cook in simmer stirring now and then.
4. In the mean time, fry cashew nuts and raisins in a tsp of ghee and keep aside.
5. Melt jaggery in ½ cup of water and strain the impurities.
6. When the rice-dhal is done, add the remaining milk and stir well by mashing the rice gently. When the rice absorbs the added milk, add the strained jaggery syrup and mix well. After some time, pongal reaches thick pouring consistency, add cardamom powder, coconut gratings, fried cashew nuts and raisins and stir well Then add the balance ghee and switch off.

Your Sarkarai Pongal | Sakkarai Pongal prepared in a traditional way,  is ready for Pooja!

Note:

• The pot you have chosen for making pongal should be of correct size i.e if you are going to prepare pongal  with 200g rice, it is enough if you choose the pot size of around 2 litres size!
• I have used only one cup of jaggery but you can raise the quantity to 1 ½ cups and better to use Paagu vellam to get brownish colour.

Have a Happy & Prosperous Pongal! Pongalo Pongal!!!

Tags: Sarkarai pongal recipe, Thai Pongal recipe, Festival recipes, Traditional method of making Pongal in a pot, how to prepare pongal in open vessel?, sweetened rice recipe, Sweet pongal recipe with jaggaery, Sweet pongal recipe with Paagu vellam.

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Vegetable Stock ...How to prepare Vegetable Stock at home?

Vegetable stock or Vegetable broth is the extract taken from the vegetables and used mainly for making vegetable soup, stew, etc. Traditionally it is prepared using all leftovers i.e scraps of the vegetables like skin and peels of carrots, potatoes, tips and tails of beans, stems of cauliflower, cabbage  and even the outer peels from onion & garlic. This is done to extract the minerals, nutrients and flavours of the left over veggies, which  are  found in abundance underneath the skin of the vegetables. Now a days, it is not at all advisable to use the outer skin of the vegetables unless we get them organic. So while preparing the stock, use the vegetables after thoroughly washing and peeling the vegetables.

The vegetable soup made with vegetable stock/broth tastes great when compared to the recipes going straight away for soup preparation.  The recipe which I follow for preparing vegetable stock is  very simple but  will take minimum 45 minutes. If you don’t have enough time, you can buy the vegetable stock available in some of the departmental stores. I think, the leading  brands “Knorr”, “Maggi”, etc have vegetable stock cubes. But as  often  I say, home made broth will surely taste better than the store bought ones and it can be prepared in advance!

Ingredients:

• Carrot, cabbage, beans, capsicum (finely chopped) – 1cup
• Garlic(finely chopped) – 3 pods
• Ginger(finely chopped) – ½ “ piece
• Onion(finely chopped) – 1 No.
• Coriander/Celery/Spring onion – a handful
• Bay leaf – 2 Nos.
• Pepper(crushed) - 1 tsp
• Salt

Method:

1. In a sauce pan, add  all the above ingredients with little salt and 3 cups of water.
2. Close the lid and cook in simmer for about 30-45  minutes.
3. Open the lid, take out the bay leaves.
4. Mash the vegetables with a ladle and strain the stock with a metal strainer. Try to squeeze out the maximum pulp from the veggies.

Your vegetable stock/ vegetable broth is ready!

Note:

• You can prepare this stock prior to 2 days of making vegetable soup and store the broth in the refrigerator.
• You can even freeze this stock in ice trays and store these stock cubes for future use.
• There is no hard and fast rule for selection of veggies. You can use anything available at home.
• I didn’t add masala bag since I felt that ginger, garlic flavor is enough as I am going to use this stock  fresh for preparing veg soup today itself. If you like the flavor, you can add as per your choice.

Tags: Vegetable stock recipe, How to make vegetable stock at home, simple vegetable stock recipe, vegetable broth. Vegetable stock recipe for making vegetable soup, veg stock recipe, veg broth recipe, simple vegetable broth recipe, Indian vegetable stock recipe, vegetable extract

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Home Made Idli Podi/ Idli Milagai Podi/Idli Dosa podi (இட்லி மிளகாய்ப் பொடி)

Our South Indian Idli podi has many names like  Idli Milagai podi, Idli Dosa podi, Chutney powder or  Gunpowder.  This podi when combined  with gingelly oil is one of the best accompaniments for hot, steaming idlies. Though it can be taken with all South Indian breakfast recipes like  dosa, oothappam, rava dosa  or chapati, it is best-suited with hot  idlies and thus, gets the name “Idli Podi”.  This is a mixture of fried dhals with red chillies and is basically a spiced dhal/ lentil powder. Many famous Masala Brands have their idli podi available in the stores but home made idli podi is always better since we can adjust spice level and taste as per our family’s choice.

I am always grateful to this podi because it comes in handy, many times, when I run short of time. Moreover, it is my family's favourite   and my hub and son like to have it along with chutney & sambar for idlies like it is served at restaurants. This podi tastes really great the very first day when it is made. So, I used to prepare this in small batches which last for a week so that the freshness of the podi can be retained. Whenever, I have no stock of this podi, immediately I refill my idli podi container during the weekends. I feel that there is nothing harm in spending time preparing this podi  since it helps to meet out emergencies.

This idli podi can be prepared tastefully by taking care while frying the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Urad dhal – ½  cup
• Channa dhal – ¼ cup
• Red chillies – 15 Nos.
• Til seeds/ Sesame seeds (optional) – 2 tbsp
• Asafoetida – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – 5 sprigs
• Garlic – 2 pods
• Gingelly oil – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste.

Method:

1. Take a heavy bottomed pan, dry fry urad dhal in simmer till it reaches golden brown colour  and transfer this to a dry plate.
2. Similarly, do for channa dhal and take out along with the urad dhal.
3. Dry fry til/sesame seeds till all seeds splutter and transfer to the same plate.
4. Now, in the same kadai, add gingelly  oil, add red chillies and fry until the chillies become crispy and take it out.
5. In the same oil, add garlic and asafoetida, sauté for a while and take it out.
6. Finally add curry leaves and fry till it becomes crispy.
7. Allow the fried ingredients to cool.
8. Transfer all the above fried ingredients to a mixie jar, add required salt and grind it to a coarse powder.
9. Store it in an air tight container.

Your spicy, aromatic idli podi is ready to be served with hot steaming idlies! When this idli podi, combined with gingelly oil, makes a heavenly side dish for idlies.

Note:

• Care should be taken while frying the ingredients. Dhals  & chillies should be fired in simmer.
• I used white til seeds and hence the colour does not change too much. You can also use black til seeds and the colour of the podi will be in dark brown colour. 

Tags: Idli podi for idlies, idli podi recipe, Idli milagai podi, Home made idli podi recipe, How to make home made idli milagai podi, How to make idli podi, spiced lentil powder recipe, home made chutney powder, South Indian gunpowder recipe, Idli/Dosa podi, Idli Dosa Molagai podi, South Indian Gunpowder chutney recipe, இட்லி மிளகாய்ப் பொடி

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Chapati...How to make soft chapatis

Chapati or Chappati or Chappathi is a common Indian flat bread and  is a regular staple dish in North India and Pakistan. There are many forms of chapatti with slight variations, namely Roti, Paratha/Parantha, etc. I am basically a rice person and   love to eat idlies and dosas. But my son likes everything other than idli and dosa.  As mothers,  we  strive  to  give our children the best. So I tried a lot to make soft chapattis as my son likes them.  Always I wonder on seeing North Indian ladies making soft chapatis with no effort. I asked whoever I met with for the tips to make soft chapatis. Based on their advice, I followed many gimmicks,  adding hot milk, banana, curd, hot water, etc, etc … but everything resulted in big “zero”. Finally I got the secret from one of my aunts and  I  succeeded.  It’s not such a mind blowing secret …. What I missed out is only kneading!?  I mean, we need to knead the dough atleast  for about 5 minutes.

Making soft chapattis follows simple steps but making perfectly  round and  soft chapattis is not an easy job for beginners. As they say practice makes  perfect! 

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
• Water and salt as needed
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Maida/ All purpose flour– 3 tbsp for dusting.

Method:

1. Take wheat flour in a large bowl, add salt and mix well with the flour.
2. Add water little by little, mixing the flour with water. Make a soft dough. Knead  well the dough for 5 minutes adding oil in between.
3. Keep it covered and let it stand for ½ an hour.
4. After ½ an hour, make small balls out of the dough.
5. Roll the dough into thin, round discs using roller pin, dusting the ball with maida/ all purpose flour.
6. Place the tawa/skillet on a stove. Let it get heated.
7. Place the rolled chapati on the heated tawa, wait for bubbles to come on the surface. Flip the chapati immediately and leave it for a minute.
8. Cook on both sides on high flame, flipping it now and then, till brown spots appear and chapati gets cooked completely.

Your soo..fft chapati/roti is ready to eat!

Note:

• The amount  of  water added should be enough to make a soft dough so that if we insert our finger, our finger should pass through without any effort. This is the main factor deciding the softness of your chapatti.
• For kids, you can apply some butter/ghee on  the top of the cooked chapatti. For elders, we can use gingelly oil and those on diet can avoid this step.

Tags: How to make soft Chapatis, How to make rotis, chappathi recipe, chapathi recipe, Flat Indian Bread recipe, Indian unleavened flatbread recipe, Indian flat bread recipe, soft rotis, soft chapathi recipe, North Indian recipe

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How to prepare kozhukattai flour?

Vinayaka Chathurthi is fast approaching and all of you will scratch your heads to make different kolukattais to offer to "Modhaga Priyan"  Ganesha. Any kolukattai needs a basic thing i.e. kozhukattai flour.  I hope this post will be useful to get ready for making kozhukattai on 9^th Sep, 2013, Right?

How to prepare rice flour for kolukattai? I know , you will be asking , who has time to do all these things? But it purely depends on our mindset. If you start doing it, get comfortable with the process, you won’t go for store bought items. Ok? Let us go for the method.

There are many methods of preparing kolukattai flour, I’ll list all of them. You may choose the method which suits you the best.

Method 1:

Wash and soak the rice in  water  for about 30-45 mins. Drain the water completely and dry it by spreading on white cloth under fan for an hour. Grind the rice in flour mill, again dry it completely under the fan, sieve it  and store it. This flour you can prepare in advance.

Method 2:

Clean the rice and wipe it with a clean towel.  Grind it in the flour mill or mixie . sieve it well. In a thick bottomed kadai, dry fry the flour till it gets heated. Cool it and store it. This also can be made in advance.

Method 3:

Wash and soak the rice in water for about an hour. Grind it in a mixie/grinder, depending on the quantity, by adding enough water and required salt. Take a thick bottomed kadai, pour 2 tbsp of gingelly oil, pour the rice batter (it should be watery) and stir quickly to avoid lump formation. Sauté until the moisture from the batter dries out thereby forming a ball like mass. Switch off, cool and knead the batter well, keep it covered  in wet cloth for 10 minutes. Then use it for making kozhukattai.

Method 4:

Go to the Departmental store, choose and buy Kozhukattai/idiyappam flour from any brand of your choice!!!

I am guessing that most of you would go for the 4^th method… Am I right?

Note:

Raw rice has to be used for making Kolukattai flour.

Of all the above methods, the first & third method will give you soft Kolukattais! 

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