KEERAI PONGAL

We always cook milaku pongal in our home. For a change, I am posting here the recipe of ‘Keerai pongal’ which is the most favourite dish in our home.  This will be very delicious with just a pickle as the pongal itself has all the nutrients and the vegetables in it. For the keerai, palak, mulaikkeerai, araikeerai and pasalaikeerai are suitable.

கீரைப் பொங்கல்

INGREDIENTS:

Raw rice-1 cup

Tuar dal- half cup

Coarsely ground peppercorn- 1 tsp

Coarsely ground cumin seeds-1 tsp

Asafetida powder- 1 tsp

Cashew nuts-15

Green chillies cut in to small pieces-2

Shredded ginger- half sp

Turmeric powder- half sp

Ghee- ¼ cup

Chopped coriander-3 tbsp

Chopped tomato- 1 cup

Thinly sliced small brinjal- 1[optional]

Finely chopped sambar onions-10

Finely chopped keerai-1 cup

Salt to taste

Procedure:

Pressure cook the rice and the dal with 5 cups of water to 6 whistles.

Heat a pan and pour the ghee.

Add the cumin, asafetida and pepper powder with the cashew nuts.

Fry these for a few seconds on slow fire.

Then add the onion, tomato, ginger, coriander, green chillies and the brinjals with the turmeric powder.

Add a little salt.

Cook them until the tomato is mashed well and the oil floats on the surface.
Then add the finely chopped keerai and cook it for some minutes 

Add the cooked rice and dal with enough salt.

Pour more ghee.

Cook on slow fire mixing frequently for a few minutes.

The delicious keerai pongal is ready now!!

RAW JACKFRUIT VADAI

Raw jackfruits can be cooked in many ways like briyani, kurumaa, masala, vadai, poriyal, varuval etc. This snack, palakkai vadai is very tasty and it is very simple to make. Here is a small tip. When boiling the jackfruit pieces, just boil for a few minutes. It would be immediately cooked. Otherwise it could be cooked in a pressure cooker for one whistle. When grinding it, just run the mixi for a split of second. It will be ground nicely in this way. Do not over-grind it. Then it will be like a paste.

பலாக்காய் வடை

INGREDIENTS:

Small raw jackfruit-1
Tuar dal- half cup
Bengal gram- half cup
Red chilies-10
Fennel seeds- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder- half sp
Chopped onion-1
Chopped coriander- 2 tbsp
Curry leaves- 2 arc

Procedure:

Clean the palakkai, remove the hard outer cover.
Cut it in to big pieces and boil them in clean water until all of them are cooked enough.
Cool them and mash them finely.
Soak the dals in enough water for an hour and then grind them coarsely with the chillies, fennel seeds and salt.
Add the mashed palakkai and the greens.
Mix well the dough and make small balls.
Flatten them in to vadais and fry them in hot oil to golden brown.
Tasty palakkai vadais are ready now!

ONION CHICKEN

This chicken curry is a special dish simply due to its enormous quantity of onions. But the taste will be very delicious once it is cooked.

வெங்காயக்கோழி


INGREDIENTS:

chicken pieces- 1 kilo
Finely chopped sambar onions-1/2 cup
Slit green chillies-5
Salt to taste
Oil- 4 tbsp

Grind the following ingredients finely:

Onions-4
Red chillies-12
Shredded ginger- 1 tbsp
Small garlic flakes-1 tbsp
Chopped coriander- half cup
Turmeric powder- half sp

Powder the following finely:

Fennel seeds- half sp, cinnamon- 1 small piece, cardamom-2, cloves-2

Procedure:

Pressure cook the chicken with the ground paste to 3 whistles.
Do not add water while cooking the chicken.
Take them away and let them cool.
Heat a pan and pour the oil.
Add the sambar onions with the green chillies, coriander and the garam masala powder.
Fry them to golden brown.
Add this tempering to the chicken and cook it again for a few minutes.

THENGAI PAAL SADHAM

This rice resembles a vegetable briyani with all the spices. But it tastes better than the briyani varieties. It resembles Milaku pongal with its texture. This is a full meal. But a side dish as a chicken gravy would be suitable.

தேங்காய்ப்பால் சாதம்

Ingredients:

Jeeraka samba kuruNai- 1 cup
Sliced onion-2
Finely chopped tomato-2
Green gram- a handful
Mint leaves- half cup
Chopped coriander- half cup
Bengal gram- 2 tbsp
Shredded coconut- half cup
Salt to taste
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Oil- 2 tbsp

Grind the following ingredients coarsely:

Green chillies-2, shredded ginger- 1 tsp, small garlic flakes-6

Powder the following ingredients nicely:

Cardamom-1, cinnamon- 1 small piece, clove-1, fennel seeds- half sp

Procedure:

Wash the broken rice and the dals well and then soak them in clean water for half an hour.
Extract 1 cup of thick milk from the coconut.
Heat a vessel and pour the ghee and the oil.
Add the onion and fry them to golden brown.
Add the ground paste as well as the powder.
Fry them for a few seconds.
Add the tomato and the greens.
Fry them until the tomatoes are mashed and the oil floats on surface.
Pour 5 cups of water, the coconut milk and add enough salt.
Add the rice and the dals.
Cook them on medium fire.
When the rice is cooked well and the water in it is almost evaporated, put off the fire.
Pour some ghee on it.
The delicious thengai pal sadham is ready now!
Serve it with any chicken curry!

TAMARIND CHUTNEY

This is Mrs. Geetha Achal’s Puli chutney.
[http://geethaachalrecipe.blogspot.com/2010/07/venkayam-puli-onion-tamrind-chutney.html]
As the recipe has much onion and tamarind, it attracted me very much. Hence I have recently tried this and the outcome was superb and delicious!

புளிச்சட்னி

Ingredients:

Sliced Onion-2
Red chillies-4
Tamarind-a big gooseberry size
Black gram- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil-3 tbsp
Gingelly oil- 1 tbsp

For tempering:

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Asafetida powder- half sp

Procedure:

Heat a pan and pour the oil.
Fry the black gram and the red chillies to golden brown.
Take away them and in the same oil fry the onion to golden brown.
Grind first the black gram, tamarind and the red chillies to a paste.
Then add the onion with enough salt and grind them to a coarse mixture.
Heat a pan and pour the gingelly oil.
Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the asafetida powder with the curry leaves and fry them for a second.
Pour this on the chutney and mix well.
Delicious puli chutney is ready now!
Serve it with hot sponge idlies.

BRINJAL VADHAKKAL:

This is always a favourite dish for me. Though it is very simple to make, it always makes a super side dish for any kitchadi rice variety, sambar sadham and thayir sadham. We must search very tender brinjals for this.

கத்தரிக்காய் வதக்கல்;

Ingredients:

Tender brinjals-8
Ripe tomato-2
Sambar onions- a handful
Chilli powder- 1 tbsp
Tamarind- a small lime size
Salt to taste
Gingelly oil- 3 tbsp
Chopped coriander- 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder- half sp

Procedure:

Grind the tomatoes and the onions coarsely.
Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for half an hour and the extract its thick juice.
Heat a pan and pour the gingelly oil.
Add the ground paste with the turmeric powder and the coriander.
Cook them until the oil floats on top.
Add the sliced brinjals with salt.
Fry them for some minutes.
Then add the tamarind juice with the chilli powder.
Cook well until the gravy is thickened and the vegetable is cooked finely.
Now the delicious brinjal vadhakkal is ready!!

KOOLA MASALA CURRY:

I WISH ALL MY FRIENDS HERE A VERY HAPPY PONGAL!!

Now, about my recipe......

This is a very different curry which I have learnt when I was very young. This one is a favourite dish in our family. The main ingredient is gram flour. [ கடலை மாவு]. Just adding some greens and a little spice, it will yield to a very delicious side dish. This dish is very suitable for pulao varieties as well as sambar sadham.

கூலா மசலா கறி

Ingredients:

For koola:

Gram flour- 1 cup
Small garlic flakes-5
Green chillies-2
Shredded ginger- half sp
Coriander leaves [ chopped]- half cup

For masala:

2 onions,
2 big tomatoes,
Turmeric powder- half sp
Curry leaves,
Chopped coriander- half cup
garam masala powder- half sp
Salt to taste
Enough oil to fry and cook
Turmeric powder- half sp

Procedure:

Sieve the gram flour.
Grind all the ingredients for the koola.
Add this to the gram flour with enough salt.
Knead to a soft dough.
Make oblong sized balls and steam them for 10 minutes.
Cut them in to slices.
Fry them to a slightly golden colour in enough oil.
These should not be fried to crisp.
Heat a broad pan and pour 5 tbsp of oil.
Add the onion and fry it to golden brown.
Then add the chopped tomato with the greens and cook them until they are mashed to a paste and the oil floats on the surface.
Add the fried koolas and cook on slow fire for some minutes until the koolas are combined and soaked well in the tomato mixture.
Sprinkle the garam masala powder and mix well.
Cook for a few more minutes until the koolas are coated well with the masala.
The delicious koola curry ready now!