Kadambam – My Recipe Book

A collection of Vegetarian recipes

Archive for January, 2007

Thondakkai Fry

Posted by Sneha on January 17, 2007

As though to compensate for the gloomy yesterday, it is such a beautiful, blustery fall day here! I just loved the drive on the way to my daughter’s school. The thick black clouds scattered in the skies, and the bright, beautiful morning sun peeking from inside them, brought about a wonderful transformation to the landscape already lined with colorful fall trees! dsc01182.jpg

 As I was taking in the beauty of the nature, I suddenly realised, its almost weekend!!! And a friend (and family) said they would come stay with us this weekend, aallllll the way from Alaska!!! I am so excited to be able to meet them after a looong time! So, I started searching in my fridge to see what I can make in advance, so I can spend more time with them instead of in the kitchen.

 The first vegetable I saw in the fridge was Thondakkai (in Tamil), Thondekkai in Kannada or Tindora in Hindi. One of my daughters’ favourite “beans”, I would rather relate it to the cucumber family, actually, thats how my mom introduced this vegetable to me. Being a cucumber lover and a kid, I was very happy to eat a mini cucumber!!!!

Anyways, I make the Thondakkai Fry like this:

Ingredients

1 lb Thondakkai

4 green chillies

1/2 tsp chilli powder (reduce if u want less spicy)

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

4-5 Tsps Oil Salt to taste

For seasoning:

1/2 tsp Mustard

1/2 tsp urad dal

Method

1. Cut the Thondakkai in half, lengthwise, and further cut into thin long stripes.

2. Pop it in the microwave for abt 8-10 mins (until it is “almost” cooked). If you dont use a microwave, cook it until its cooked, but, still firm.

3. Heat oil in a shallow pan, add the seasonings.

4. Then add the green chillies, ginger garlic paste (non garlic eaters can use just ginger)and then the Thondakkai.

5. Keep stirring on low heat for approximately 10 mins, or until it begins to turn slightly brown.

6. Add chilli powder, salt, mix well, leave it for a minute and its done!

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Posted in Side Dishes | Leave a Comment »

‘No Grind’ Dosa

Posted by Sneha on January 17, 2007

Amidst all the Halloween Parties and Diwali potlucks, I just forgot its weekend already!!!! It was when I picked up my daughter from school, she said “Mommy, no homework for the weekend, YAY! I can watch TV!” thats when it hit me, that its Friday and I had forgotten to soak the rice and lentils for making Dosa, come Saturday morning!!!

 I have always made Dosa the traditional way, soak and grind method but now, I had to come up with something innovative. A quick look at the pantry, I was relieved to find Urad flour and Rice flour and this is what I did:

Ingredients

2 cups Urad flour
2 cups Rice flour
1 cup fine Rava, also called Chiroti Rava or Panipoori Rava
1 tsp methi powder
Salt to taste

Method
I combined all these toegther with water to make Dosa consistency batter. A hand mixer or blender is a great help here.
The Chiroti Rava helps give a crispy texture to the Dosa.
Then I kept the batter in the oven overnight and by morning, it was beautifully fermented and doubled in volume.

Make Dosas the usual way, comes out a nice golden brown and crisp. Serve with coconut chutney or onion chutney.

Here are some pics…..

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Posted in Breakfast | 2 Comments »

Kathrikkai Podimas/Brinjal Curry

Posted by Sneha on January 17, 2007

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Kathrikkai/Eggplant/Brinjal/Aubergine – As most of my fellow bloggers say, is a very versatile vegetable. When it come to this vegetable, we see people on both ends of the spectrum – some eternal eggplant lovers and some, eternal haters!!! Kathrikkai Podi

I like eggplant when its cooked not mushy, but kind of fry/cooked in oil as in Vangibath, Ennegayi, Podimas, etc. We went grocery shopping y’day and seeing the fresh, tender eggplant, hubby dear said, “I never used to eat this, but, the way you cook it now, I started liking this vegetable!”. Ofcourse, I was glad to hear that, and yes, you guessed it! I made Kathrikkai Podimas today!!
If you have the powder done already, this is one of the fastest dishes you can cook, it hardly takes 15 mis to cut and cook!!!

Here goes the recipe:
For the masala powder:

1 cup urad dal
1 cup channa dal
1 1/2 cups dhania
1 cup red chillies

Dry roast(separately) all these till u get a nice aroma and powder coarsely. This stores well for a couple of months.

And now for the Kathrikaki podimas:

1 lb firm, tender Brinjal, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I prefer either the small round or long purple ones)
1 tsp of masala powder (more if u prefer more spicy)
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp Amchur powder or tamarind powder or paste (for a slight tang)
A pinch of turmeric powder

To Temper:
Mustard seeds
Asafoetida

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Method:

1. Heat oil, temper and add the cubed eggplant.
2. Let cook in medium flame for about 5-8 minutes, stirring occassionally, take care not to make it mushy, the cubes should be cooked but still firm!
3. Add turmeric, salt to taste and the amchur powder, stir.
4. Finally, sprinkle the masala powder, mix well, turn off the heat.
5. Delicious Kathrikkai podi is ready, its that easy and quick!

Posted in Side Dishes, Traditional Iyengar Recipes | 2 Comments »

Rocket Dosa…………zooooooooooooooooooooooom

Posted by Sneha on January 17, 2007

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Weekends being the only time I make elaborate breakfast, today our breakfast was Dosa

Though its an alltime favourite for me and hubby, it takes a lot of effort to make my 6 year old – VERY picky eater, eat not just Dosa but, anything that says FOOD! So, I have to come up with something new and novel everytime to make her eat. I sometimes make “Mini” dosas or “Paisa” Dosa – coined by one of my friends, to make her little one eat! Sometimes, it is “Heart” dosa, with the help of a pancake mold, and today, it was “Rocket Dosa” to get her interested!

The basic recipe I follow for Dosa batter is:

1:3 Urad Dal:Rice

1 cup Poha/Aval/Avalakki

1 tsp methi seeds

Soak the above in enough water for 6-8 hours. While grinding, add a handful of riceflakes/avalakki/poha (adds a nice golden brown color to the dosa) and make into a smooth, fine batter. Add required amount of salt and allow it to ferment for 8-10 hours. I usually keep mine inside the oven.

Make dosas the regular way until the bottom turns golden brown. Dont turn sides. Cut the dosa from the edge to the centre and then start rolling it in the shape of a cone(see picture). Rocket dosa is ready! Serve with any chutney or side dish of choice.

Posted in Breakfast | 6 Comments »

Quick Lunch for a lazy day!!!

Posted by Sneha on January 13, 2007

Quick Lunch for a lazy day!!!

Its such a gloomy day outside today here, the kind that makes you lazy…not wanting to do anything. But, on the other hand, after spending half an hour with my personal trainer, I had worked up a real good appetite!!. Felt like I have to have something warm and quick but something different from the everyday fare. After a lot of IMs exchanged with hubby dear, we finally settled for “Bruschetta”, one of his favorite quickie foods.

I remember reading somewhere “never shop when u r hungry” and thats exactly what I did. Started out shopping for the crusty bread for bruschetta and ended up buying some Angel Hair pasta too!!! All of a sudden, I have this urge to eat pasta with Bruschetta. “Should make a good combo”, I thought to myself and came home excited.

But, it was not until I started to cook the pasta, that I thought about the sauce to go with it! I did a quick search on the web, but, finally ended up concocting my own! This is how I made it:

Ingredients

4 small tomatoes
1/2 big onion
1/2 green bellpepper
4 Green chillies
1/2 carrot
1tbsp of ginger garlic paste
1 12oz. pac of Roasted Garlic Angel Hair pasta
2 tbsp coriander leaves
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

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Method

Cook the pasta as per instructions on the box.
Drain and keep it aside.
Cut all the veggies and saute it in 2 tbsp olive oil.
Puree them in the mixie.
Bring the puree to a boil in a wide mouthed sauce pan along with 2tbsp oil and salt.
Finally toss the pasta, mix well and serve.

For the Bruschetta, we just got the crusty Italian bread, drizzle olive oil and put them in a 350deg oven for abt 8-10 mins or until it et slightly crisp. Take it out, spread the store bought Bruschetta sauce and sprnkle some mozzarella cheese and put it back in the oven for a couple of minute more, until the cheese melts.

Thats it folks! Lunch is served! Enjoy!

Posted in Appetizers/Snacks | 2 Comments »

My Recipe Book

Posted by Sneha on January 10, 2007

 Welcome to my recipe collection!! Some of the recipes that I post here are from my mom but, a vast majority of them are collected from various internet sites, friends,fellow bloggers and some are a result of my own experiments with food!!! I wanted to put them in one place not only for my own reference at a later time, but also, to make sure my little daughter will have them handy if and when she needs them.  All of you interested in cooking and collecting recipes  are very  welcome here too!!!!!

Posted in Welcome | 1 Comment »

 
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