food pictures

Payasam (பாயசம்) is the tamil word for Kheer and no traditional celebration/festive food is complete without one of the many varieties of Payasam. One of the very popular payasam recipe is Pasi Paruppu payasam. Pasi paruppu is the Tamil word for moong dal. Let’s see visual recipe of this delicious kheer.

Ingredients:

Pasi paruppu / Moong dal (split and without cover) – 200 gm

Jaggerry – 300 gm (as per taste)

Coconut milk – 300 ml

Cashew nut – 25gm

Khishmish – 10gm

Step 1: Keep ready shredded jaggery, coconut milk and golden fried cashew nut and khishmish.

Step 2: Slightly roast moong dal (pasai paruppu) in a pan.

Step 3: Add a half table spoon of oil or ghee and roast it for few minutes. This avoids  sabudana from getting t sticky and get dissolved while cooking.

Step 4: Pressure cook moong dal and sabudana along with 3 cups of water. Wait till one whistle and keep it in low flame for 5-7 minutes.

Step 5: Once cooked it, open the cooker lid.

Step 6: Add jaggery and coconut milk now and stir well.

Step 7:  Cook it in low flame with lid open… Taste it and if needed, you can add little more jaggery. Optionally, you can add few elaichi too.

Delicious traditional pasi paruppy payasam is ready to be served…

Enjoy !

There are very few mushroom recipe that goes well with South Indian main dishes like Idly, Dosa, Idiyappam, Aapam etc. Mushroom in coconut milk gravy is one recipe that makes an wonderful accompaniement to the above mentioned main dishes. And yes, it also goes well with roti,jeera rice,biryani,pulao,ghee rice etc.

Ingredients:

• Button Mushroom – 400 gm
• Onion – 2 (big)
• Coconut milk – 2 cups (depends on its thickness)
• Ginger – garlic paste – 1 table spoon
• Garam masala – 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder
• Red chilly powder (as per taste)
• Green chilly – 2
• Curry leaves – 7-8
• Coriander leaves
• Salt – as per your taste
• Tomatoes (optional) – 2

Step 1:

Cut the mushroom into pieces and keep aside.

Tip: Before using mushroom, sprinkle little turmeric powder, coat them well on mushroom and keep aside for few minutes. If the mushroom turn blue, discard them since they are not fit for eating and might be poisonous.

Step 2:

In a frying pan, add little oil and saute mustard seeds, curry leaves.

Then, add the chopped onions, followed by ginger-garlic paste and green chillies.

Stir fry till the onion turn golden yellow.

Then add  rest of the ingredients except mushroom and coriander leaves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:

Add the stir fried ingredients into a pressure cooker.

Add the chopped mushroom and salt (as per taste, note we have added little salt during frying process also) and mix well.

Add little water.

Switch off the gas when the first whistle comes from the cooker.

Step 4:

Transfer the content back into kadai.

Step 5:

Add the coconut milk into the ingredients.

Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes and switch off the stove.

Step 6:

Mushroom in coconut milk gravy is ready to serve.

The dish goes well with variety of main dishes like Idli, Dosa, Roti, Jeera rice, Ghee rice, Biryani etc. My favourite being with Idli.

Kothu Parotta (minced parotta)  is a popular recipe from Tamil nadu, where one finds many street joints serving piping hot delicacy thronged by people. The original Kothu Parota recipes is non-veg, where we have chicken, mutton, egg variants. Though now we find restaurants serving vegetable kothu parota, it does not come close to the original recipe. Being a vegetarian family, my mom and dad figured out an unique magic recipe  some 15 years back to bring out a veg variant of Kothu parotta that could be a rightful alternative to the original non-veg recipe.

So presenting our family secret recipe for you. No royalties, just enjoy the dish and pamper us with your feedback

Ingredients for Veg Kothu Parotta

1.       Parotta – 5

(south Indian parotta that is made out of maida)

2.       Soya nuggets – ¼ kg

3.       Onion – ½ kg

4.       Tomato – 3 or 4

5.       Ginger  - 1 finger size piece

6.       Green chilly – 3

7.       Garlic – 6 or 7 flakes

8.       Red chilly powder

9.       Salt

10.    Curry leaves

For masala :

10.   Clove (Lavang) – 5

11.  Cinnamon stick (dal cheeni / pattai)– 1 piece

12.   Saunf  (fennel seeds)–  1 tsp

13.   Khas Khas – ¼ tsp

Tip:

• Optionally instead of the above masala ingredient you can simply use Garam masala powder.
• If one does not like the masala flavor , you can do the dish without the masala added.

So now lets see how to make Veg Kothu Parotta

Step 1:

Soak soya nuggets in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze out the water and shred it coarsely in dry mixer grinder.

Step 2:

Break the parota into small pieces and grind it coarsely in dry mixer grinder.

Step 3:

Keep ready chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, the masalas, green chilly and other ingredients.

Step 4:

Add oil in a large fry pan and saute the ginger-garlic paste, green chilly and curry leaves.

Step 5:

Add chopped onions, red chilly powder and salt to the already cooking ingredient.

Step 6:

Stir fry the onion until golden brown and the raw smell disappears.

Step 7:

Add the coarsely made soya nuggets to the cooking ingredients.  And keep frying in between till the raw smell of soya disappears.

Step 8:

To the cooking ingredients, add the coarsely made parotta. Remember during all the process to keep the flame in low.

Step 9:

Mix well the parotta and keep stirring in between.

Step 10:

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook it for sometime.

Step 11:

Your tasty veg Kothu Parotta is ready to eat.

Enjoy the dish!

This recipe for potato poriyal is slightly different from the usual poriyals for that slight different taste. You can serve it hot as a side dish or as a main dish with coriander paratha, small puris or toast bread if you want.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2):

Potatoes (diced)-2

Onion (diced)-1

Chana dal – 2 tbsp

Oil-2 tbsp

Curry leaves-5

Mustard seeds-1 tsp

Cumin seeds-1 tsp

Desiccated coconut-4 tbsp

Green chillies (slit into two)-2

Curd water-1/2 cup

Turmeric-1/2 tsp

Asafoetida-a pinch

Coriander (chopped)-2 tbsp

Kasuri methi-a pinch

Salt to taste

METHOD :

Step 1: Heat the oil in a pan and fry the diced potatoes till almost brown or till they get cooked.

Step 2: In the meantime, boil chana dal.

Step 3: After the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the pan and add mustard seeds in the same pan and wait till they splutter.

Step 4: Once they start spluttering, add cumin seeds and onions and fry them till golden brown

Step 5: Then add green chilles, curry leaves, chana dal and curd water and mix well.

Step 6: Let the water reduce by half and then add turmeric, salt, asafoetida and the fried potatoes and mix.

Step 7: Let the potatoes absorb all the water and then add desiccated coconut and kasuri methi and mix well.

Step 8: Finally, add chopped coriander and mix well.

Step 9: Garnish with desiccated coconut and coriander and serve hot.

TIP: If you don’t have curd water, either use water or add curd (beaten roughly) to the dish and cook. Eventually the curd will curdle and you will be left with the water. Remove the curdled curd with a spoon.

Ingredients:

Gram flour  – one cup

Semolina – one cup

Curd – 4 spoons

Eno (Regular) – one small packet (5gms)

Mustard seeds – two tea spoons

Asafoetida – half a tea spoon

Oil – two tea spoons

Green chilies – 2 to 3

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Water

Salt – according to taste

Procedure:

Mix gram flour, semolina and curd. Add water till you get a smooth runny mixture. Add Eno and salt to this.

Take a pan and grease it with few drops of oil. Pour this mixture in it.

Take a cooker / steamer, add water to it and place the pan in it. Cover with the lid (remember to remove the cooker whistle) cook for 20 mins on a slow flame.

In a small pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and chilies. Add asafetida powder in the end and turn off the flame.

After the khaman dhokla is done (poke it with a knife, if the knife is clean after you pull it out then the batter is cooked well), remove it and add the tadka and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot.

You can eat it with tamarind chutney, green chutney or with curd as well.

This is a quick and easy snack. You can also use it as a starter. I’ve tried some stuffing , you can try and make many many variations with it. So much fun!

Firstly, slice off  very thin slices from the top and bottom of the tomatoes. Then cut the tomato into two pieces. Scoop out the centre carefully. It would look like this:

Now the tomato is ready to be stuffed.

I’ve tried out three themes for it, as I said, you can make many different varieties with this.

Mr. Tomato goes to Italy

Ingredients:

Carrots – chopped into small pieces

Spring onions –  finely chopped

Garlic – 4 cloves, chopped

Milk – 5 spoons

Cheese- one cube

Pepper powder

Oil – one teaspoon

Salt

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan. Add garlic spring onions and carrots to it. After a min, add milk to it. Turn the flame off after a few seconds. Add grated cheese to this, and after it begins to melt, mix well. Add a pinch of salt. Let this mixture cool down.

Stuff this in the tomato and sprinkle some pepper powder over it and serve.

Mr. Tomato goes to China

Ingredients:

Cabbage

Capsicum

Carrot

Garlic – 5 cloves

Soya sauce – One teaspoon

Oil- 1 teaspoon

Pepper powder (as per taste)

Salt (as per taste)

Procedure:

Chop cabbage, carrot and capsicum into thin, long slices.

Heat the oil in a pan and add garlic and the chopped vegetables to this. Mix well and let this cook on a high flame for a couple of  minutes. Then add salt according to taste and pepper powder. Add soya sauce to this and mix well. Let it cook for a minute. Turn off the flame and let this cool down.

Stuff this in the tomato and serve.

Mr. Tomato goes to India

Ingredients:

Boiled potato – cut into small pieces

Amla – cut into very thin slices

Ginger – finely chopped

Tomato sauce – 2 teaspoons

Salt

Coriander for garnishing

Procedure:

Mix together all of these ingredients.

Stuff this in the tomato and garnish with coriander and serve.

Manjal Kozhukattai is a peculiar dish that is not common in many kitchen. It is a traditional dish of a particular one community in the southern part of Tamil nadu. The dish has a very soothing and cooling effect on the body.

Ingredients:

Urad dal (black gram) – 1 measure

Rice – 3 measure

Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds/ venthaiyam) – 2 spoonful

Onions – 4 (big)

Coconut – 1 cup grated

Turmeric powder

Step 1:

Take 1 measure of Urad dal and 3 measures of rice and two spoonful of fenugreek seeds.

Soak Urad dal and fenugreek seeds together and rice separately in water  for 4 hours.

Step 2:

First grind soaked urad dal,  fenugreek and 4 big onions (chopped) together into a fine batter. While grinding add water gradually so that it does not become very watery. Add the soaked rice (without the water) and coconut into the mixture and grind further.

Step 3:

The mixed batter should be in the consistency as shown in the picture below. Transfer it to a vessel from the grinder.

Step 4:

Boil water in a pan. Add turmeric powder.

Step 5:

Make balls out of the mixture and add it to the boiling turmeric water.

Step 6:

The Kozhukattais (dumplings) will start floating once cooked.

And your …

Delicious yellow dumplings Manjal kozhukattai’s are ready to eat. You can eat it simply with chilly-salt powder mixed in oil or you can have it with kurmas, potato stew etc.

See you again with yet another delicious recipe!

Ingredients:

• Kerala Banana (nentran vazha -the variety used to make banana chips)
• Sugar (as per taste)
• Ghee

Step 1: Cut the banana into round pieces. Semi ripe bananas are preferable for this dish.

Step 2: Add the cut pieces into a frying pan.

Step 3: Add desired quantity of sugar and keep the flame in low. (if the banana is semi ripe you can add very little water before adding sugar and cook it for a minute or two to make it tender)

Step 4: Stir fry in low flame. Add ghee as per the banana quantity and your diet control.

Step 5: Stir fry it till it cooks well and thickens. Make sure it does not get burned.

Step 6: Your delicious sweet banana fry is ready.

It is really yummy !!!! Enjoy the dish. Its quick to make delicious dish!

Aval Urundai (அவல் உருண்டை) or Poha laddu is an easy to make sweet dish. Believe me it just takes less than 10 minutes to make! Not just that it also makes a healthy indulgence.

Ingredients:

Poha (flattened rice) – 3 Cups

Grated Coconut – 1 cup

Sugar – Half cup or as per taste (you can use sugar substitute if you are on strict no-sugar diet)

 How to make Aval Urundai:

Step1:

Slightly roast Poha in a tawa. (In the picture, I have used red rice poha, you can use the commonly available white poha instead)

Step 2:

Grind first the roasted Poha and Sugar together finely. When the mixture grinded fairly fine, add the grated coconut and grind all together.

Step 3:

Make the mixture into balls. Delicious Aval urundai or Poha laddoo is ready to eat.

Enjoy the delicious, healthy snacks!

Ada Paniyaram is a traditional sweet delicacy of southern parts of Tamil nadu.

Ingredients:

Raw rice: 1 measure

Parboiled rice: 1 measure

Jaggery: As per taste

Moong dal (broken and skinned)

Coconut (grated)

Step 1:

Preparing the batter : Take raw rice and parboiled rice in the ratio of 1:1 and Jaggery as per taste. Do remember that we add jaggery in the filling also. So accordingly take jaggery for the batter.

Step 2: Grind raw rice, parboiled rice and Jaggery together to make a batter. (similar to the consistency of dosa batter)

 Step 3:

Preparing the filling: Take coconut and moong dal in the ratio of 1:4 ( 4 measure of coconut and one measure of raw moong dal) and shredded jaggery.

Step 4: Mix all the three ingredients together.

 Step 5: Heat the tawa and grease it with oil. Pour a layer of the batter.

Step 6: Spread a portion of the filling on the layer.

Step 7: Pour another layer of the batter over the filling. Apply a dash of oil or ghee.

Step 8: Turn the side and heat it.

Step 9: Delicious Adai Paniyaram is ready to eat!