Mutton curry / Attukkari kuzhambu / Attu kulambu (Pudukkottai special)

Ingredients:

• Mutton (small pieces with bone) -500 gm
• Onion (finely chopped) - 1
• Tomato (chopped) -1
• Ginger garlic paste -2 tbsp
• Cardamom -2
• Cinnamon- a small piece
• Cloves -4
• Bay leaves -2
• Turmeric powder -1 tsp
• Coriander powder -2 tbsp
• Chili powder -1 tbsp
• Oil for frying
• Coconut paste - 1 tsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tsp
• Coriander leaves for garnishing
• Salt to taste
  
  

Method of preparation:

• Fry all spices in oil in a pressure cooker.
• Under low flame, add onion and stir.
• Add ginger garlic paste and sauté.
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder and salt.
• Fry further thoroughly.
• Add washed mutton pieces and stir.
• Add tomatoes and sauté for some time.
• Add coconut paste and pour a cup of water.
• Pressure cook for about 8 whistles.
• Add lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Tastes best with biriyani, rice, idli, dosai, paratha, or chapathi.

Chicken Kuzhambu / Chicken curry (Madurai, Trichy and Ponnamaravathi Special)

• Marinate 500 gm of small pieces of chicken with bone with a little salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, chicken masala and lemon juice.
• Roast ½ tsp each of poppy seeds (kasa kasa), black pepper, fennel and qty four red chili.
• Grind to powder in a mixer-grinder.
• Fry a chopped onion, a chopped tomato, three green chili and four cloves of garlic and a small piece of ginger in a tbsp of oil.
• Add this with the powder in mixer-grinder and grind well.
• Add 3 tbsp of grated coconut and grind further.
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a cooker. Add a cinnamon stick and 3 cardamoms for seasoning.
• Add the grinded mixture and fry for about 5 minutes with occasional stirring.
• Add the marinated chicken, required salt and stir.
• Add water as required.
• Pressure cook for about 4 or 5 whistles.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with rice, biriyani, idly, dosa or paratha.

Medu Vadai (Ulundha Vadai / Urad dal Vada)

A good appetizer cum soft, healthy, energetic, cheap, easy to prepare and tasty snack.

Ingredients:

• Black gram (Uluttham paruppu / Urad dal) - 2 cups
• Onion - 1
• Green chilies - 3 or 4
• Black pepper - 1 tsp
• Cumin seed - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – a few
• Coriander leaves – a few
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method of preparation:

• Wash and soak Black gram for about 1 hour.
• Finely chop the onion and green chilies.
• Grind all smooth without adding water.
• Roughly chop the curry leaves and coriander leaves and mix with the batter.
• Add broken black pepper, Cumin seed and salt and mix thoroughly.
• Heat oil in a deep pan.
• Make your hands wet.
• Take a lemon size of batter.
• Flatten with your palms and make a hole in the middle.
• Deep fry at a time about six, until golden brown color, uniformly both the sides.
• Drain excess oil and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar.

Athirasam / adhirasam: a sweet dish as a dessert or snack

A suitable sweet to enjoy eating especially during festivals like Deepavali.


Ingredients

• Raw Rice (colam rice) - ½ kg
• Jaggery - 1/4 kg
• Edible oil for deep frying – As required
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
  
  

Method of preparation

• Soak rice in water for about 3 hours.
• Decant the water and partially dry the rice.
• Grind into powder using mixer-grinder, sieve and get fine powder.
• Prepare syrup (pagu) by boiling jaggery with required water.
• Filter the syrup and continue boiling and stirring to wire like consistency (kambi padham).
• Mix cardamom powder and dry ginger powder with the jaggery syrup.
• Let it cool very well and thoroughly mix it with the powdered rice so as to make dough. The dough will become thicker on further cooling preferably over night.
• Pat the dough into discs and deep fry in oil till brown.
• Serve hot or cold.

Kara chevu (Kara sev, a diwali / deepavali snack)

Ingredients

• Bengal gram flour (Kadalai maavu, Channa dal flour) - 2 cups
• Rice flour - 2tbsp
• Red chili powder – 1 tsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Black pepper - 1tbsp
• Cumin seed (Jeera- Jeeragam) – 1 tsp
• Ajowan (Carom, Bishop’s Weed, Ajwan, Omam) – 1 tsp
• Asafetida (Perungayam, Hing) - as required
• Edible oil for deep frying - as required
• Salt- as required
  

Method of preparation

• Grind garlic, black pepper, cumin seed, ajowan and asafetida into a coarse paste.
• Mix Bengal gram flour, rice flour, red chili powder, salt and the ground paste.
• Make a thick dough using water.
• Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
• Fill the dough in a murukku press.
• Press to slide the dough into the hot oil.
• Take out when become golden brown and drain the oil.
• Break into pieces of desired length.
  
  

A tasty, crispy, special snack especially prepared home during festivals like Deepavali.

Lemon rice (Elumichai sadam / Elumicham saadam)

• Cook1 cup of raw rice (colam rice), spread evenly and sprinkle ½ tsp of turmeric powder.
• Fry the seasonings consist of ½ tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp of black gram, 1 tsp of Bengal gram, 2 tsp of ground nut (peanut), Qty 2 red chilies (broken into pieces), one by one.
• Add with rice.
• Add required salt, lemon juice squeezed from 2 lemons, 1 tsp finely chopped ginger and 1 tsp asafetida and mix well.
• Garnish with curry leaves.
• Serve cold.
• Suitable to carry packed and have it while traveling, packed lunch, etc.
  
  Glossary
  
  English ----- Tamil --------- Hindi
  
  Raw rice -----Pacharisi -------------Kachcha chawal
  Turmeric ---- Manjal ------------------- Haldi
  Mustard ----- kadugu -------------------- Rai / Sarson
  Black gram -- Uluttham paruppu -------Urad dal
  Bengal gram -- Kadalai paruppu ---------- Channa dal
  Ground nut -- Nilakkadalai / Ver kadalai -- Moong phali
  Red chili -- Vara milakai / milakai vatral ---- Lal mirchi
  Lemon / Lime-- elumicham pazham --- Nimbu
  Ginger ------- Inji / Injiver -------------- Adharak
  Asafetida / -- Perungayam ----- Hing
  Curry leaves - Kary veppilai --------- Kary patha

Simple Pepper Rasam with pleasant aroma

• Take 3 cups of tamarind extract (prepared out of a lemon sized ball of tamarind and water) in a vessel.
• Add 2 tsp of pepper powder, 2 tsp of cumin seed powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 4 cloves of smashed garlic and salt to it.
• Squeeze a tomato and mix with the liquid.
• Add a cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves and keep aside.
• Keep a sauce pot on the stove and add 2 tsp of oil.
• Heat it under medium flame.
• Add 1 tsp of mustard, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1 red chilly, a pinch of asafetida, and a few curry leaves one by one.
• When the mustard starts popping, add the tamarind extract mixture.
• Reduce the flame to low.
• At the initial stage of boiling, and appearance of foam, switch off the stove and cover the sause pot using a lid.
• Serve hot this tasty rasam having great aroma with cooked rice.
  
  Glossary
  Tamarind - Imli / Imly / Puli
  Pepper – Kali mirch / Milagu
  Cumin seed - Jeera / Jeeragam
  Turmeric – Haldi / Manjal
  Garlic – Lasoon / Poondu
  Coriander leaves – Dhania pattha / Kotthu malli thazhai
  Mustard – Rai / Kadugu
  Asafetida – hing / PerungayamCurry leaves – Kary patha / Kariveppilai
  Sauce pot - kadhai / Iruppuchchatti