Chettinad Tomato Kuzhambu

Ingredients

• Tomatoes - 5(Blanched and pureed)
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Tamarind paste - to your taste
• For Grinding
• Coriander seeds - 1 tspn
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspn
• cumin seeds - 1/4 tspn
• Black pepper - 1/4 tspn
• Cashews - 5 or Poppy seeds - 1 tspn
• onion -1
• Garlic - 5 pods
• Coconut - 2 pieces
• For Seasoning
• Kalpasi(Black stone flower) - 1
• Cinnamon - 1/2 inch
• Curry leaves
• Oil - 4 tbspn

health tip

Tomatoes are a treasure of riches when it comes to their antioxidant benefits. In terms of conventional antioxidants, tomatoes provide an excellent amount of vitamin C and beta-carotene; a very good amount of the mineral manganese; and a good amount of vitamin E.

method

1. Roast the spices given under grinding till they give out nice aroma and add the coconut, onion and garlic. When the onion and garlic turns translucent turn off the stove and let it cool.
2. If you don't have pureed tomato follow the instructions in this linklink. If you already have frozen tomato puree feel free to use it.
3. When the spices are cooled, grind it all together into a fine paste.
4. Heat some oil in a deep vessel and season it with kalpasi(Black stone flower), cinnamon and curry leaves. Add the ground spice paste along with turmeric powder and chilli powder to the seasoned oil. saute it till the oil oozes out.
5. Add the tomato puree and salt. If needed water can be added. Let it boil till the gravy condenses to a thick consistency and oil separates from the liquid. To achieve this more oil can be added at this point. Add tamarind paste to your taste and turn off the heat.
6. This gravy goes well with rice, roti and parotta.
   Kalpasi(Black stone flower in English) gives the distinct flavor to this gravy. If you can't find it, just use cinnamon.

Curry Leaf Kuzhambu

Ingredients

• Onion - 2 Medium size
• Garlic - 8 pods
• Tomato - 2
• Fresh Curry leaves - 4 cups
• Almond or cashews - 6
• Coconut - 4 pieces
• Poppy Seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Black Pepper - 1 tspn
• Chilli Powder - 1 tspn
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Tamarind - 3 pods or 1/2 tspn paste

health tip

Curry leaves improve functioning of the stomach and small intestine and promote their action. They improve the quality of digestive juices secreted during digestion. Certain ayurvedic research says that curry leaves have some role in controlling non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.

Curry Leaf Kuzhambu

method

1. Chop the onion, tomato and garlic.
2. Grind Curry leaves, Almond or cashews,Coconut, Poppy Seeds, Black Pepper, Chilli Powder, Cumin Seeds and tamarind pods(if using tamarind paste, no need to add it at this stage) into a fine paste.
3. Heat some oil in a pot & season it with mustard & urad dhal. Saute the onion, garlic & tomato till tomato gets mushy.
4. Add the ground paste, half a cup of water & salt to taste.
   Using sesame oil for seasoning gives a nice flavor.
   
5. Cover the pot with lid and let it cook till the oil separates. Stir it from time to time since the gravy settles down and sticks to the pot if unattended.
6. If using tamarind paste, mix in the paste and let it boil for one more minute. Consistency of this kuzhambu is little thinner than chutney.
   This Kuzhambu can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. It goes well with rice, Idli & Dosa.
   

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

Ingredients

• Chicken or Mutton - 1 pound (1/2 Kg)
• Chopped  large onion - 1
• Chopped garlic - 5
• Chopped tomato - 1
• Red chillies - 3
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Coconut milk - 3 tbspn tinned or milk from a cup of coconut
• Curry leaves, Fennel seeds, Cinnamon for seasoning.

health tip

Chicken and mutton are both high in protein. Mutton unlike chicken is red meat with more fat. However, mutton is a good source of Iron. It is recommended to go with chicken especially if you are watching your cholesterol.

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

method

Uppu Kari is a Chettinad delicacy usually made with mutton(goat meat). You can use Chicken as an alternative if you are unable to find good goat meat. Where I live, goat meat is hard to find, hence the reason for Chicken in this recipe. Uppu kari is a dry curry cooked in coconut milk spiced with dried red chillies. Majority of the heat in the curry comes from dried red chillies than from chilli powder. Dried red chillies are fried in oil & cooked in coconut milk to make them little bit sweeter. Taste would be even better if you use goat meat or chicken with bone in.

1. Extract milk from coconut & set aside.
2. Wash & cut the meat into small pieces. Break the chillies into half. Dice the onion, garlic & tomato.
3. Heat some oil in a kadai or pressure pan. Since the cooking time varies, kadai may work for chicken but for mutton it is best to use pressure cooker.
4. Add the seasonings to the hot oil. Fry the broken red chillies. Saute the chopped onion, garlic & tomato one after another along with salt, turmeric powder & chilli powder till tomato gets mushy.
5. Add the meat pieces & saute them till raw meat smell goes off. Add the coconut milk & cook the meat with lid closed. When the meat is cooked, open the lid & cook it till the liquid condenses or evaporates. If the meat looks over cooked, separate the meat from the liquid & leave it in a bowl till the liquid reduces to 1/4th of its quantity. Finally, add the meat & let it dry out.

Eggplant Avial

Ingredients

• Indian eggplant - 4-5 or 3 cups diced(if using other varieties)
• Medium Potato - 1 or 1 1/2 cups diced
• Medium onion - 1
• Medium tomato - 1
• Coconut - 3/4 cup
• Sombu(fennel seeds)- 1/2 tspn
• Cumin seeds -1/2 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Poppy seeds(optional) - 1 tspn
• Garlic paste - 1/2 tspn
• Roasted split gram dal(Pottukadalai) - 2 tspn

health tip

Eggplant is an excellent source of dietary fiber, vitamins B1, B6 and potassium. It is also a good source of copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, niacin and folic acid. The skin is rich in antioxidant called Nasunin which helps nourish the brain cells. Potatoes are rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, copper, potassium, manganese, and dietary fiber. They are very high in carbohydrate.

Eggplant Avial

method

1. Dry roast the coconut, fennel, cumin, roasted split gram dal, poppy seeds & grind them with chilli powder into a fine paste.
2. Dice the eggplant, potato, onion & tomatoes.
3. Heat some oil in a pan & season it with 1/2 inch cinnamon stick, some fennel seeds & curry leaves.
4. Add the garlic paste & saute the diced onion & tomato. Add some turmeric powder & salt. When the tomato gets mushy, add the diced eggplant & potatoes. Saute them for 2 more minutes & mix in the ground paste. Dilute it with water to make a gravy &. Add chilli powder & salt if needed. Cover it & cook till the veggies are soft.

   You may accelerate the whole cooking process by pressure cooking for 1 whistle

5. Garnish it with coriander leaves & serve it with Idli or Dosai.
6. This recipe serves 4 people

Eggplant Kuzhambu (Ennai Kathirikkai Kuzhambu)

This Kuzhambu is a variation of regular puzhi kuzhambu. The gravy is thicker than regular kuzhambu. No other type of eggplant other than Indian one will go well with this. The eggplants are slit from bottom, halfway towards top letting them hold the pieces together. Choose the smallest eggplant you can get. This is a chettinad specialty. Back in India, whenever we attend a function like marriage or 60th birthday they will either serve this kuzhambu or Pakoda kuzhambu for lunch. I love both of them so I would skip other dishes & wait for this kuzhumbu to be served. Now I guess I wouldn't wait like that. I found the recipe almost closer to original one. Here goes the recipe.......

Ingredients

Small Brinjals (Eggplant) – 6-7

Tamarind paste– 1/2 tspn

Coriander leaves
Garlic - 4

onion - 1/2 medium

Tomato - 1

Mustard,Urad dhal, Cumin seeds, asafoteida(hing), Curry leaves for seasoning

Salt – To taste

Oil

To Grind:

Dry chilli – 3-4 count

Whole pepper – 1/2 tspn

Fenugeek seeds – 1/4 tspn

Cumins seeds – 1/2 tspn

Dhania(Coriander seeds) – 1 spoon

Kasa kasa(Poppy seeds) - 1 tspn

Coconut – 3 piece

Chopped onions – 1/2 medium

Method

Roast all the ingredients given under grinding with little oil. Blend them into a fine paste when it gets cooled. Chop the onion,garlic & tomato & slit the eggplants according to instruction given in introduction. Heat 1-2 tbspn of oil preferably sesame oil in a pan & add the seasonings. Saute the onion,garlic & tomato along with some salt till tomato gets mushy. Add turmeric powder & the ground paste & keep it stirring till the oil separates. Now add the eggplants, saute it  till the eggplant turns colour a little bit. Finally add tamarind paste & some jaggery  along with some water. Let it boil till eggplants are cooked & the gravy thickens. It tastes better when the oil floats on the top. If not, add a tspn of oil at the end. Serve it with rice & poriyal.

Chettinad Fish Curry

Its been a long time since I made Fish Kuzhambu. I am not a big fan of fish kuzhambu. I could eat chicken gravy but not the fish(y) one. My hubby was browsing the net to find a good  recipe & finally found it. We made chicken salna & chettinad fish. Out of which Chettinad fish turned out really well. I got to try some other recipe for Salna.  He got this Fish recipe from Samai.in. Thanks to Komala at Samai.in.

Ingredients

• Cat fish - 1 pound (Cut into big pieces)
• Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
  
• Onion - 1 (small size) or 1/2 of a medium size onion
• Green Chili - 1
  
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tspn
  
• Tomato - 1
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Tamarind - small gooseberry size
• Sugar - less than 1/4 tspn 
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - as required (Sesame oil is preferred)

To make Paste

• Coriander seeds - 1 ½ tspn
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Fennel seeds - 1/4 tspn
• Peppercorn - 1/4 tspn
• Toor dal - 1/4 tspn
• Fenugreek seeds (Methi) - a pinch
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Coconut - 1 tspn
• Dry red chillies - 2- 3 nos

Method

1. Roast all the ingredients given for paste in a teaspoon of oil till golden brown.Turn off the heat and let it cool. When completely cooled grind it into a very fine paste by adding little water.
2. Chop the onions, Tomatoes & green chillies. Wash & cut the fish to desired size.
3. Heat some oil in a pan & season it  with mustard & urad dhal. Add curry leaves, ginger garlic paste, onion, tomato & green chillies. Add some salt & saute till tomatoes get mushy.
4. Add turmeric powder & ground masala. Mix in a cup of water along with tamarind extract. Add sugar & let it boil for some time till the gravy thickens.
5. Finally add the fish & let it cook for another 10 minutes in medium heat.  

Kuzhi Paniyaram

 I am posting this recipe for APS Rice event hosted by Anitha. This is a Chettinad dish which is made in a special pan called Kuzhi paniyara chatti (pancake puff pan in U.S). It can either be made salt or sweet. It  goes through a process of fermentation, which gives the paniyaram it's spongy texture. This can be had as a breakfast or as a snack. The recipe I am going to post is salt paniyaram with a side dish of hot & tangy tomato chutney.

Ingredients for batter
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
Raw rice - 1 cup
Urad dhal - 1/4 cup
Aval(Poha) - 1 cup
Methi seeds - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 1/2- 2 tspn

Method
Soak the ingredients together for 3-4 hours. Grind them together into a fine batter by adding water from time to time. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick or too thin but should resemble that of pancake batter.Transfer the batter to a container & add salt. Mix them together with hand. Close the container with a lid and leave it in a warm place for fermentation. During cold weather its hard to ferment the batter. The batter needs 70-80 degrees to initiate the fermentation. Heat the oven to 100 degrees for 4 minutes & then turn it off. Wrap the container with a throw & keep the container in the oven. Leave it overnight.

Making the seasonings
Chopped small or medium onion - 1/4 cup
Finely chopped green chillies - 2
Mustard, urad dhal & curry leaves for seasoning.

Method

Heat some oil in a pan & season it with mustard, urad & curry leaves. Add the green chillies & onions along with little salt. Saute till the onions turns transluscent. Mix the sauteed things to the batter. Now the batter is all set to make paniyarams.

Making paniyaram 

Heat the pancake puff pan & add very little oil in each cups. When the oil in the cups get heated pour the seasoned batter into each cups.

Cover it with a lid. Check it from time to time to see if the top of the paniyaram is cooked. When the top is cooked, flip the paniyarms upside down to let it brown. Since its a non stick pan try to flip it using wooden skewer.

Serve this paniyaram with hot and tangy tomato chutney. This dish can be enjoyed as a finger food.

Vendakkai(Okra) Mandi

Mandi is a tangy and spicy stew of vegetables. Traditionally, Mandis are made using water used for washing rice. This water is called arisi (rice) mandi (remnants) and is not normally discarded. Husk of the rice contains an essential  vitamin called Thiamine (Vitamin b1). Washing the rice with water will wash out this vitamin. Hence, it is common practice to not discard the water but reuse it for making Mandis. However, not many reuse washed rice water because nobody knows what chemicals were used to treat that rice. Therefore, the Mandi recipe that I am going to share with you will use a teaspoon of rice flour instead of the washed rice water to get that same authentic Mandi taste. This dish can be kept for more than a day since it uses lots of tamarind. This dish goes very well with yogurt rice.

Ingredients
Okra(Vendakkai) - 1 pound or 1/2 kg
Medium Potato - 1
Motchai (Val lilva beans)  - 1 handful(optional)
Small  onion(preferable) - 7 or medium sized onion - 1
Garlic - 7 pod
Green chillies - 6
Tamarind paste - 1/2 - 3/4 tspn
Rice flour - 1 tspn
Mustard & urad dhal for seasoning

Method
Soak the motchai overnight & cook it  with a teaspoon of salt. Cut the okra & potatoes into cubes. Remove the skin from onion & garlic & cut it into small cubes. Slit the green chillies lengthwise. Heat some oil in a pan & season it with mustard and urad dhal. Saute the onions, garlic & green chillies. Drain them and keep it aside. In the same oil add the okra & saute it till the sticky substance goes off. In the meantime microwave or boil the potatoes till tender. When the okra turns dry ( not mushy anymore) add the sauteed onion mix, potatoes, cooked motchai along with tamarind paste & rice flour mixed with some water. Let it boil till the veggies takes up the flavor & taste. Taste the mandi & adjust the salt & spice. If you want it little more hotter, fry some red chillies & add it to the mandi. This dish is usually in tangy side. So adjust the tamarind as per taste.

Variation:
There is no set rule to make the mandi with just okra. Any veggies can be added. Some of the most commonly used veggies are plantain, mango, eggplant, drumstick & beans like black eyed bean& chick peas.

Chettinad Eggplant Masala

Ingredients
1. Eggplant - 2 pounds
2. Onion - 1 nos
3. Tomato - 1 nos
4. Coconut - 4.tspn
5. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspn
6. Red chillies - 4 nos
7. Garlic - 2 nos
8. Roasted split gram dhal - 1 tspn
9. Black pepper - 1/4 tspn

Method
Grind the ingredients from number 4 to number 9 above into a fine paste and set aside. Dice the eggplant, onion & tomato into cubes. Heat some oil in a pan & season it with 1/2 inch cinnamon stick & some curry leaves. Add the onions & tomatoes & saute it till the tomatoes get mushy.You can add some salt to fasten the process. Add the eggplants & saute it for 5 more minutes. Mix in the ground paste along with some turmeric powder.

Cover the pan with a lid & cook till the eggplants are 3/4th cooked. Open the lid & let all the water in the masala dry out. Remaining one fourth cooking will be done in this process. Turn off the stove & garnish it with coriander leaves.

Variation
          You can add diced potatoes along with eggplant. Since the vegetables cook time varies add the potatoes first & let it cook for some time, then goes the eggplant & the ground paste. This dish goes well with any type of rice.

Chettinad Chicken

Ingredients
For paste
1 tspn each of coriander seeds, cumin & fennel seeds
3 no. red chillies
1" piece of cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
2 tspn poppy seeds
4 tspn coconut
3 garlic
1" ginger
4 small onion or 1/4 chopped big onion

For Sauteeing
Curry leaves
Star Anise - 1
Kalpaasi
Onion - 1 large
Tomato - 2
Chilli powder - to adjust your taste
Turmuric powder
Chicken - 2 pounds or 1 kg



Method
Dry roast all the ingredients given above for paste until it gives out a nice aroma. Grind into paste when cool.
In a pressure cooker season the curry leaves; star anise & kalpaasi. Saute the onions &  tomatoes. Add the cleaned chicken pieces & saute them with some salt till raw smell from the chicken goes off. Now add the ground paste, turmeric powder, chilli powder & saute them for 2 more minutes. Add water according to the consistency of the gravy you desire. This dish normally has a semi gravy(not too runny) consistency.  A teaspoon or two of yogurt can also be added at this stage to soften the chicken. Pressure cook in medium for 1 whistle. Open the cooker when pressure goes off and add some lemon juice & garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy the chicken with rice or roti. It goes well with almost anything.