Verumarisi adai

I'm not sure if it was something about the simplicity of adai made with just rice or the aroma of rice and coconut on the grill but when we were little Sundaram our cook used to try enticing us to eat tiffin by making this. We never cared much for tiffins like iddlies or uppuma but whenever Verum arisi adai was on, we were sure not to miss it. Though a well-know Pallakad speciality which is ususally only made at homes, everyone has their own variations, here's mine that closely resembles Sundaram's creation though his was slow roasted on a cast iron grill over a woodburning stove!

Ingredients:

Parboiled (Iddily) rice - 2 cups

Grated fresh coconut 1 tblsp

Salt - per taste

Water - as required

Sesame or canola oil for making adai
Chopped methi leaves 1/4 tsp or kasoori methi (optional, I use this inplace of murangai keerai)

Method:

1. Soak rice for 5 hours and grind into a rough batter. Sometimes this is made into a thick dough that people roll into balls and pat into adai directly on the dosaikal, but I make mine into a dosai batter consistency because it requires less oil when making the adai.
2. Add salt.
3. Can be made right away but fermenting the batter overnight at room temperature gives it a slightly sour flavor.
4. Before making the adai, blend in the coconut and keep some of the batter aside to add the chopped methi leaves so that you can have some plain ones and some with methi. 
5. Heat the dosaikal (griddle) and pour a ladle full of the batter and flatten it. (Sometimes the batter is made very thick and flattened by hand. This gives you a very thick adai but you'll need to use more oil to cook it this way.)
6. Unless you are making it on a non-stick griddle, drizzle some oil along the edges and make a hole in the center of the adai and add some oil to it. Flip and let the other side cook.

Though you don't need any accompaniments to this, I love it with the kadugu mangai oorugai gravey or with rasam or sambar to dip. If you have left over batter, it keeps well in the refridgerator for about a week as long as you haven't added the coconut or meti to it.

-நீங்களும்  சிக்கிரம் பண்ணி பாருங்கள்!

The perfect day for steaming hot puzhukku

Just one look out the window at the snow covered roads made me want to rush back indoors to the warmth of the kitchen and make a batch of mudhirai puzhukku loosely translated as lentil stew since it an easy comfort food.

 

Undoubtedly no one in our neighborhood seems to have stirred- the snow was so fresh- made me want to make a snowman but mama agreed that the warm puzhukku would be a better idea- not sure why especially since it is not one of his favorites!

Puzhukku comes in may flavors and the Kolli (Tapioca) one is the most common type in Kerala since many eat it with a fish dish. However, the way it was made at eng veedu (our home) was with lentils.
Ingredients 

1 cup lentils (you can get this from regular grocery stores in the U.S.)

1/4/ cup shredded fresh coconut ( I've scaled it down and you can bump this up to 1/2 cup for better taste.)
1/4 cup chopped green plantains (Nentharankai) or Yam (Chenai) optional

2 dried chilies
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4-5 curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method

1. Dry roast the lentils until you get a nice roasted aroma.
2. Place the roasted lentils in a pot or pressure cooker.
3. Add any veggies to the pot with about 4 cups water and salt.
4. Cook until lentils are soft.
5. Corsely grind the coconut and red chilies without water or just a bit.
6. Add the ground coconut to the lentils, mix well and let it simmer.
7. Add the oil and the curry leaves, stir well.
8. You can add water to change the consistency.

Engathilay (at our home), puzhukku was usually served with steaming hot pungal (parboiled) rice and fried pappadams during the cold evenings and it keeps well for several days in the fridge.- நீங்களும் ஷீகரம் பண்ணி பாருங்கள். அப்பரம் பாக்கலாம்! (Hope you try making it soon. See you later.)- kavu mami

We have the good fortune to have as our friends one creative shamayal couple Ramya and Ramachandran (aka RC) and when they have us over, like they did recently, there is usually something new on the table- take a look at this one!

Thai pineapple coconut rice

I'll be delighted to share the recipe as soon as Ramya shares it with me- maybe she'll post it herself! Anyway, it tasted as delicious as it looks.

Kai murruku panalama?

Posting a link to the kaimurruku video since a few of you had asked me how make it. It requires some  practice to get the twists and turns to look consistent but don't get disheartened if it doesn't look consistent at first.

Kai murruku

Iddily Uppuma from mama

Today being kanu, I was rather busy with keeping the kaka kanu which got delayed as I paused to watch the first snowfall of this year. The crows, unlike me, ignored the snowflakes forming a carpet on the deck and went about enjoying the offerings- strange as usually they are rather cautious about the food. While I was engrossed in the happenings, I noticed a delicious aroma from the kitchen and mama announced that breakfast was served! Here's what he had whipped up from the iddlies I had made yesterday.



I'm sure that most of you have a version of iddly uppuma which is a great use of  left over iddlies. Left over iddlies are essential for this since they are a bit drier.

1. Add some sesame oil to the cheenchatti (wok),
2. Add 2-3 thairmilagais (dried curd chilli preserve) according to your spice tolerance as well as the number of iddlies you'll be using.
3. When the chilies turn dark brown, add mustard seeds and some iddli mulagai poodi (chutney powder), curry leaves and aseofotida powder.
4. Crumble up the idilies and add it to the seasonings.
5. Add salt to taste, remember that the thair milagai is  already salted, and mix well.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature. Hope you'll try this out and let me know how it turned out.