SIRUKEERAI MOR KOOTU / MOR KOOTU / AMARANTH IN YOGHURT SAUCE

Mor kootu is a healthy, yoghurt based side dish served as an accompaniment in a South Indian thali. 

INGREDIENTS:

Sirukeerai (tropical amaranth) - 1 bunch
Thick curd - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 2 

Green chilly - 1

Soaked raw rice - 1/4 tsp.

Hing - 1/4 tsp.

Grated coconut - 4 tablespoons
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Sugar - a pinch

Salt - to taste

To temper:
Coconut oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.
Curry leaves - a sprig

METHOD:

Whisk thick curd (do not add water), keep aside. Grind red & green chillies, soaked rice, cumin seeds and coconut to a fine paste.

Wash amaranth well, take out the leaves and chop finely. Cook alongwith turmeric, hing, sugar and salt, mash well. Add the ground paste, and allow it to boil until raw smell diffuses. Now add, whisked curd, mix well, cook for half a minute and switch off the stove. Temper with the given ingredients. Flavourful sirukeerai morkoottu is ready. Best with south indian thali. Can also be mixed with rice. Goes well as a side dish for adai, dosai, chappati and poori.

VARIATION: (click here for plantain stem mor koottu). 

NOTE: Any vegetable, spinach varieties can be substituted for sirukeerai. 

FRESH TURMERIC GINGER PICKLE / INSTANT TURMERIC GINGER PICKLE / PASUM MANJAL INJI OORUGAI / KACHCHI HALDI ADRAK KA ACHAR

Raw turmeric is known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits. It is beneficial in preventing cancer.

INGREDIENTS:

Chopped fresh, raw turmeric - 1/2 cup

Chopped ginger - 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp.

Salt - to taste

Gingelly oil - 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp.

Hing - 1/4 tsp

Lemon Juice - 4 tablespoons 

METHOD:

Wash turmeric and ginger well, pat it dry. Peel the skin and chop finely. Transfer it to a bowl, add salt, chilli powder and mix well. Marinate for half an hour. Heat oil, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add hing and turmeric ginger mixture. Saute for a minute. When warm add lemon juice, mix well.  Store in a sterile jar.

KADAI VEGETABLE / MIXED VEGETABLE KADAI CURRY / PUNJABI KADAI VEGETABLE

Kadai Vegetable is a combination mixed vegetables cooked with freshly ground spices which gives a nice aroma to the recipe. This is a perfect side dish for roti, naan and pulao. 

Recently, my sister made this 👆👆(Pic courtesy : My sister) and got appreciations from the family. As I do not eat onions, I just clicked the picture. 

My version of 'Kadai vegetable' 👇👇. Here's the recipe of 'Veg Kadai' sans onion and garlic. No onion no garlic? 😮 So what? Do try it 😊

INGREDIENTS:

Cubed mixed vegetables - 2 cups
(Cauliflower, french beans, carrot, capsicum, fresh green peas)
Paneer (cubed) - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes  - 2

Green chilli - 2 

Ginger - 1" piece

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp.
Punjabi garam masala - 1 tsp.
Crushed kasuri methi - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tablespoons
Butter - 1 tablespoon
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 2 tablespoons

Kadai masala:

Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoon

Dried red chillies - 2
Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 1

METHOD:

Cut capsicum and tomato into cubes, separate cauliflower into florets, cut beans and carrrot to finger long pieces. Cube paneer and immerse in hot water until use.

Dry roast and coarsely powder the items given in 'Kadai masala'. Grind ginger and green chillies coarsely without adding water. 

Heat  a teaspoon of oil in a kadai, sauté capsicum with a pinch of salt in high flame for 2 minutes, remove from pan and keep aside. (If you use onions, you can add 1 sliced onion alongwith capsicum).

Heat butter and oil in the same kadai, and add ginger-green chilli paste, and sauté until raw smell diffuses, add veggies and saute in medium heat. Add salt, turmeric, coriander, cumin and red chilli powder. Cook covered until half done. Sprinkle little water if necessary. Add cubed tomatoes and 'kadai masala', mix well and cook covered until done. Now add already sauteed capsicum, cubed paneer, punjabi garam masala, mix well. Cover the pan and cook for 2 more minutes. Add kasuri methi, chopped coriander leaves, mix and serve hot with any Indian flat bread or pulao. 

NOTE: You can add more of any spices to suit your tastebuds.  

PAZHAM PRADHAMAN / NENDRAM PAZHAM PRADHAMAN / BANANA PAYASAM

Vishu sadya or Onam sadya in Kerala, is incomplete without pradhaman and payasam. This classic pazham pradhaman / kheer is made with ripe bananas,coconut milk and jaggery.

Do read the Konnapoo (which blossoms during Vishu) story here from my devotional blog

Other Kerala special payasams:
Parippu Pradhaman 
Palada pradhaman 
Chakka pradhaman 
Nei payasam
Semiya paal payasam 
Chadachadayam /Sadasadayam
Pal payasam

INGREDIENTS:

Good, ripe nendrampazham (Ethappazham) - 2
Crushed jaggery - 3/4 to 1 cup
Coconut milk thick 1st extract - 1 cup
Coconut milk 2nd extract - 1 and 1/2 cups
Ghee - 4 tablespoons
Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry ginger powder - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Ghee fried coconut bits - 3 tablespoons
Ghee fried cashewnuts - 10

METHOD:

Cut nendrampazham into finger long pieces and steam cook until mushy. When cool, peel the skin, remove the seeds and small veins, and grind in a mixie to a smooth pulp. Do not add water.  

Dissolve jaggery in water, strain for impurities and keep ready.

Heat a spoon of ghee in a uruli or thick bottomed kadai, fry coconut pieces until brown, and cashews until golden brown, drain and keep aside. In the same uruli, melt remaining ghee and add the banana pulp and stir continuously (stir continuously as the bananas will stick to the bottom) for about 3 minutes in medium heat. Now add jaggery syrup little by little, simultaneously stirring well without any lumps. Add dry ginger powder and cook in medium heat until the mixture thickens like a mass.

Now add the 2nd extract coconut milk and cook on medium flame for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Switch off the flame and add thick 1st extract coconut milk. Mix well. Add cardamom powder, ghee fried coconut bits and cashewnuts and mix well.

Pazham pradhaman / Nendrapazham Pradhaman is ready to be served. 

NOTE: Coconut milk extracts can be used more or less to get the desired consistency.

TIRUPATHI VADAI / TIRUMAAL VADAI / KOVIL VADAI / TIRUPATHI VADA / BLACK GRAM VADA

Tirupathi vada and Laddu are world famous and distintly unique in taste. It is called as "Tirumaal Vadai" which is huge in size and distributed as prasadam for "Kalyanotsavam" in Tirumala. 'Tirumaal Vadai' will be flat and little hard, and usually given as prasadam for utsavams only. I have not come across the vadais on the prasadam counters, but have heard that only limited number of vadais are for sale and its difficult to get it. If some friends/relatives do 'Kalyana Utasavam' they give a piece. Though the vadais are hard to bite, one would be tempted to have more bites. That temptation made me to try this 'prasadam' at home. Here is how I made the 'Home-made Tirupathi vadai'.

INGREDIENTS:

Whole black gram  / Whole urad dal with skin - 2 cups
Raw rice - fistful
Chopped ginger - 1 tablespoon
Black pepper - 1 1/2 tablespoons
Cumin seeds - 2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Ghee / Oil - to deep fry

METHOD:

Wash and soak urad dal and rice in water for 1 hour. 

Chop ginger. Pound pepper jeera using a mortar and pestle to a medium coarse powder. 

Drain water completely from the soaked dal and grind it alongwith ginger to a medium coarse paste without adding water. The batter should be thick.  Add pepper jeera powder, salt and mix well. 

Heat required ghee/oil . (In Tirumala / Srirangam temples only ghee is used for deep frying). Wet your palms with water, take out a big ball from the batter and flatten it using your hand in a banana leaf or clean moist cloth to slightly thick, palm sized disk. As the size is bigger than the normal vadas, deep fry one at a time. 

Carefully drop it into the oil, cook on medium heat and turn it on both sides until golden brown and crisp. TIRUMAAL VADAI is ready.

NOTE: 

As the vadas are thick, it will take a long time to become crisp. You can make thinner vadas also.
Wet your hands and banana leaf for each vadai so that the vadai doesn't stick to your hands.

CORN ON THE COB

‘Corn on the cob’ is a healthy evening snack and best snack during summer picnics. Easiest way is to boil the corn, while some people might grill or roast it. I prefer the boiling way, but I have mentioned the grill, roast and microwave methods too. 

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh corn - 2 or 3 ears
Unsalted butter- 2 tablespoons
Salt - to taste
Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
Chilli flakes - 1 tablespoon
Black pepper powder - to taste
Dried / fresh herbs - to taste
Finely chopped cilantro – 2 tablespoons
Water - as required
A large pot

METHOD:

Select fresh corn with bright green husks. The kernels should be tight. Frozen corn can also be used.

NOTE: Boil corns when it is fresh. Keep the corn with its husk until you boil. Husk the corns just before you boil. For best results, cook corn in a large pot of boiling water until it is tender but not mushy. You can also cut the corn and boil. Frozen corn can also be used.

Boiling method:

Fill a wide, large vessel with water. The vessel should be big enough to hold the corn. Cover the vessel and bring the water to a boil. Drop the corns gently in boiling water and cook it covered until the water comes to a rolling boil again. The corns would have turned bright yellow by now. Remove the corns with tongs. Do not let the corn sit in the boiling water for long, as it will be overcooked. Corn on cob is usually tender and crunchy. If you prefer softer kernels and easy to chew corn, cook until soft.

Rub corn with lime and melted butter, sprinkle salt, black pepper powder, chilli flakes and finely chopped cilantro. (You can use any of your favorite spice mixtures , fresh herbs for toppings). Transfer to a serving platter, top with a small cube of butter and serve hot.

Microwave method:

Microwave high with husk for 3 to 4 minutes . Remove the husk and sprinkle with salt and spice mixtures.

Grilling/Roasting:

Roast over a medium-hot grill, turn with a tong on all sides until the outer husks are charred. When cool enough to handle, remove the husk and sprinkle with salt and spice mixtures.

Alternatively, keep the husks intact with the stems. peel the husks backwards, rub oil preferably olive oil, cover back the husks with a string or wrap with an aluminium foil and roast on a grill. When cool enough to handle, remove the husk and sprinkle with salt and spice mixtures.

PANAKAM , NEER MOR, KOSUMARI RECIPES / SRI RAMA NAVAMI RECIPES

Sri Rama Navami is a festival/pandigai celebrating the birth of Lord Rama .

Offerings for Sri Rama Navami is the simplest of all the festivals. They are Panakam, Neer Mor and kosumari.

Rama fulfilled all his duties towards his subjects in Ramarajyam. Even a poor man
will have buttermilk and jaggery in his house and can celebrate Rama Navami. That is the karunyam of Sri Rama. 

In addition to neer mor, panakam, kosumari you can also make Tiruppullani paal payasam which is a special on this day. All these recipes are summer coolers.

Pandigai thaligai :
Sadham(rice), Nei(ghee), paruppu, mor kozhambu or Sambhar, paruppu usili, kari amudhu(poriyal), kootu, thayirpachadi, kosambari, vadaam or appalam, vadai or thayir vadai, sathamudhu(Rasam), Tirukannan amudhu(payasam), thayir (curd),oorugaai(pickle).

NEER MOR

INGREDIENTS:

Buttermilk
Salt
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Hing powder

METHOD:

Whisk thick  curd and dilute it with water. Add salt, curryleaves, coriander leaves and hing to buttermilk. Mix well and offer it to Lord.

PANAGAM 

INGREDIENTS: 

Jaggery
Dried ginger powder
Cardamom powder 
Water

METHOD:

Powder the jaggery. Dissolve it in water. Strain it to remove impurities. Add the given powders, stir well and offer to Lord. 

KOSUMARI

INGREDIENTS:

Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Grated/finely chopped raw mango - 1/2 cup
Salt  as required
Coriander leaves - 2 tsp.
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp.(optional)

To temper(optional):
Oil
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves - 4 or 5

METHOD:

Soak dal for 1 an hour. Drain the water. Add grated/finely chopped mango, salt and lime juice, mix well. Temper with the given ingredients, add finely chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and offer it to Lord.

Updated 👇

Tiruppullani paal payasam

Kosambari

Neer mor

Panakam

Paruppu thengai

Paruppu thengai is a tambrahm traditional conical pair of sweet, made during all auspicious occasions. When done at home, it is made on auspicious days and kept in Perumal sannidhi before taking it to the function. Paruppu thengai symbolizes the mountain of sweetness. The pairs symbolise a male and a female. So they are MADE ONLY IN PAIRS alongwith small chikki balls which symbolizes children. It is mandatory to make these paruppu thengais for almost all functions like, marriages, upanayanam, gruhapravesham, valaikappu, seemantham, ayush homam(1st birthday), sashtiabdhapoorthi(60th birthday), sadhabishekam(80th birthday) etc. Traditional sweets like peanuts, pottukadalai, manoharam, boondhi ladoo are made with jaggery, and filled in a pair of metal cone moulds to get the cone shape. I do not know why the sweet is named 'paruppu thengai'. Do share if you know.The metal cones are called ‘Paruppu thengai koombu’ or ‘Paruppu thengai koodu’ or ‘Seer koodu’. The koodus will be available in stainless steel marts and metal marts. The chikki like sweets are unmoulded from the cones without breaking the shape, and wrapped with decorative gold papers or gift wrappers and flowers on the top. They are placed on the function stage, near the homam, alongwith other ‘seer’ (gift) items. Customarily, this is made by the girl’s family and given as a seer/gift. Some people keep 5 different varieties of paruppu thengais. After the function is over OR on an auspicious day, these are broken and distributed among relatives and friends.  During thirukarthigai festival, small handmade paruppu thengaais are made at home with aval pori, nel pori etc.

Nowadays paruppu thengais are beautifully decorated according to one’s creativity, with mirror work etc. Also, they are filled with varieties of sweets like chocolate burfi, cashews, mysore pak.  

How to make paruppu thengai at home? Making is not tedious, all you need is little patience and metal cones. 

My sister makes perfect and excellent paruppu thengais. Recently, she made this for a function at our home and she sent me the pictures. Thanks for sharing the pictures Radha 😄
  INGREDIENTS:

Peanuts 
Crushed Jaggery 
Cardamom powder 
Ghee - to grease the mould
Paruppu thengai koodu (metal cones)

METHOD:

Making paruppu thengai is like the usual way of making kadalai urundai, pottukadalai urundai or manoharam. The mixture is filled inside the metal cone instead of shaping into balls. The quantity of peanuts vary according to the size of the cones. The paruppu thengais in picture is made with a 9" height cone.

NOTE: Make two batches. First fill one mould and repeat the procedure for the other mould. 

Grease the inside of paruppu thengai koodu with ghee and keep ready.

Roast peanuts and remove the skin. Alternatively you can also buy skinless roasted peanuts and dry roast again it until hot. Take a wide plate and put the roasted peanuts in it.

Crush jaggery and dissolve in water, strain and make a soft ball consistency syrup. Remove quickly and add it to the peanuts. (Tip: Instead of adding the peanuts to the syrup, my grandma and mom always adds syrup over the peanuts and say the jaggery will spread well all over the nuts if doing like this). Mix well until the syrup is coated evenly.

Fill the cones with this mixture little by little simultaneously pressing it firmly with a 'keerai mathu' (wooden masher). After filling, dust your hand with little rice flour and press the bottom firmly and evenly with your hand.

While the mixture is still warm, grease your hand with ghee and shape some urundais (balls) also.

When cool, tap the koodu very gently on all sides and unmould paruppu thengai from the cones without breaking the shape, and wrap with decorative gold papers or gift wrappers with flowers on the top.

Home made paruppu thengai is ready.