Subbus Kitchen

The vadai that we get in Anjeneyar temple as prasadham has an unique taste. The blend of crispness and the spice from pepper are devine. Many times I thought of preparing milagu vadai but today is the day when I finally achieved it. I made milagu vadai as an offering to Lord Anjeneya on this auspicious month of Margazhi. I nearly got the same taste and crisp of milagu vadai as given in the temple but still it would say that vadai prepared for neivedhyam are more tastier as we are offering to Lord and he is blessing us :-). So, why not prepare our own milagu vadai (Pepper Vada) and offer the God rather than just paying some amount to buy readymade vadas? OK, lets go to our preparation.

Milagu Vadai(Anjaneyar Vadai)

Numbers	12
Preparation Time	30 mins
Cooking Time	45 mins

Milagu Vadai(Anjaneyar Vadai)

Ingredients:

Urid dal	1 Cup
Rice flour	1 teaspoon
Pepper corns	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	To taste (I have used 1 teaspoon)
Oil	For Frying

Milagu Vadai(Anjaneyar Vadai)

Method:

Clean the Urid dal and soak it for 30 minutes

After 30 minutes, drain the water from urid dal using a strainer and keep it in the strainer till the water is drained completely

Add the drained urid dal to the mixer

Without adding water, grind the urid dal in the mixer to a coarse paste. If our mixer is not grinding it without water, just sprinkle a little water in regular intervals and grind urid dal to a coarse paste. Please make sure that you don't grind it into a very fine paste. It should be coarse.

To the coarse paste in the mixer, add the pepper corns and salt

Just give a pulse or two to break the pepper corns and take the coarse paste in a bowl.

To this urid dal paste, add rice flour and 1 teaspoon of hot oil and mix well

Take a plastic paper and grease it with oil. Take 1 lemon size ball of the urid dal batter and place it on top of the plastic paper

Cover the plastic paper with another greased plastic paper

Place a flat bowl(Dabara) on top of the cover and press the bowl(Dabara) gently to make a flat round vada patti as thin as possible. Apply the pressure evenly. The patti should be very thin to get a crispy vada.

Gently remove the top cover and keep the patti ready for frying. Make 3-4 patties as per the above said procedure

Wet your index finger with water and make a hole in the middle.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Check the oil hotness by dropping a small pinch of urid dal batter. If the batter raises immediately, the oil is ready for frying. Gently remove the plastic cover from the vadai patti and drop it in oil. Drop 3-4 vada patties depending on the quantity of our oil. Deep fry the milagu vadai on one side in a medium flame. Gently turn the vadai and fry it on other side till both the sides are fried crisply and they turn golden brown color. Remove the crispy vadai from oil and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil

The crispy and scrumptious milagu vadai is ready now for Neivedhyam.

Tips:

Soak the urdal atleast for 30 minutes so that we can grind it to a coarse paste without adding water.
Drain the water from urdal completely before grinding
The ground urdal batter should be coarse and not smooth
The reason we add hot oil to the batter is that the vadas will be crisper if we add hot oil
We can even take 2 teaspoon of split urid dal and mix it with urid dal batter to get crispy vada instead of rice flour
We should stand near the stove and keep the flame medium and fry the milagu vada so that it is not burnt
Deep fry to make the vadas crisper
Store it in air-tight container and we can keep it for many days

Milagu Vadai(Anjaneyar Vadai)

Brinjal Podi curry (Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry) is one of my all time favourite poriyal variety. The curry powder which we prepare for Sundal is actually very good for many poriyal varieties. The curry powder is very handy and it enriches the taste of the poriyal. Many of us have the habit of making this curry powder in large quantities and use it for many different poriyal varieties. Brinjal poriyal, instead of adding usual red chilli powder or sambar powder, if you add the curry powder this poriyal will taste very very good. We can serve this podi pota brinjal curry with any SouthIndian Main Course or we can also mix that curry with rice along with a spoon of ghee and enjoy the taste!

Brinjal Podi Curry Recipe | Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	4
Recipe Category	Poriyal
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Brinjal Podi Curry Recipe | Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry

Ingredients:

Brinjal	1/2 Kg
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teapsoon
Salt	To taste

For Grinding:

Channa Dal	1 tablespoon
Coriander Seeds	1 tablespoon
Red Chilli	2

For Seasoning:

Oil	1/2 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teapsoon
Split Urid Dal	1 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	few

Brinjal Podi Curry Recipe | Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry

Method:

Wash and Chop the brinjals and soak it water for de-colourisation.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the grinding ingredients and roast them till the dal turns golden brown color

Keep the pan in flame again. Add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, allow it to sputter. Add split urid dal and fry till the dal turns golden brown color. Then add the curry leaves and saute for few seconds

Then add the chopped brinjals to the pan and mix well. Add turmeric powder and salt and stir-fry in high flame for 2 minutes. Then sprinkle water to cook the brinjals.

While the brinjals are getting cooked, take the roasted ingredients to the mixer jar and grind it to a powder

When the brinjal is cooked completely, add the ground spice powder and mix well. Keep the poriyal in flame for 5 minutes in low flame and then switch off the flame.

Serve this Brinjal Podi curry with any SouthIndian main course or mix with rice along with little ghee and enjoy the dish!

Brinjal Podi Curry Recipe | Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry

MedhuVadai ( Ulundhu vadai) is a great and tasty appetaizer. Also, we make this vadai for most of the festivals for neyvedhyam. Medhuvadai with idli, pongal, sambar & Chutney is a famous breakfast combo in Southern Part of India. Almost all restaurants serve this vada for breakfast and also during evening snacks time. Making a perfect batter is the secret of this recipe. The batter should be thick and also fluffy then only the vadas will be crispier outside and soft inside. For normal snacks, we can also add chopped onions that will enhance the taste. But for Neivedhyam we dont add onions.

Preparation Time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	15

Medhu Vadai | Ulundhu Vadai

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	3 hours
Cooking Time	30 mins
Yield	12-15 Vada
Recipe Category	Snacks
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Ingredients:

Urad Dal	1 Cup*
Raw Rice	2 teapsoon
Salt	To taste
Green Chilli	2
Chopped Ginger	1 teapsoon
Curry Leaves	few
Oil	for deep frying

* 1 Cup = 250ml

Medhu Vadai | Ulundhu Vadai

Method:

Soak the Ulundhu(Urdhal) and rice in water for 45 mins. For softer vadai, we can soak it for 2-3 hours

Strain it and grind it along with green chilli and salt in a grinder by adding 1 handfull of water. Grind it till the urdhal is smooth without any bumps

Sprinkle water only if necessary.

Take it from grinder after the urdhal is ground properly. If you take the flour in your wet hands, it should roll like a ball. If we drop a pinch of dough in water, it should float it in water. If the dough gets sinked, then we need to grind it more. This is the right stage to remove from the grinder.

Add the finely chopped ginger,curry leaves and mix well

Now Heat the oil in pan and once the oil is hot, add a little amount of flour to check for the readiness of oil. If the flour comes up right way, then the oil is ready

In a banana leaf or small plastic cover, add little amount of urdhal flour and make small hole in the middle and spread the flour and then take it from leaf using water and add it to the pan. I normally wet my palm and add small ball of dough, pat it and make a small hole in center and drop it in oil.

Add 4-5 urdhal flour and add it to oil. Slowly change the vadai to other side to cook properly in both sides

Once the vadai becomes golden brown color, remove from flame

The yummy Urdhal vadai(Medhuvadai) is ready to serve / ready for neyvedhyam. For neyvedhyam we dont add onion.

Medhu Vadai | Ulundhu Vadai

Note:

For making this vadai on a normal day, we can add finely chopped onions with the dough and make scrumptious vadas.

Tips from BaluSreevidyaNZ - subbu's kitchen fan
About the crispiness of Medhu Vadai, I make them very crispy by soaking them longer, and frying them on low fire/less power on induction cooker. I will have the oil boiling and then will bring it to low to medium before dropping the vadai batter into it. Fry it longer in low temp, the vadais will remain crispy and fresh for longer time. Also, less oily as well. I don't make much of fuss about the whole in the middle, and instead make shallow scoops on spoon and make flatter vadais for even cooking. This will allow my batter more softer with water, hence softer crispier and melting fried vadais in the end.

Medhu Vadai | Ulundhu Vadai

Pongal festival is a harvest festival celebrated by the people of TamilNadu at the end of harvest season. It coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India as the winter harvest. The word pongal itself refers to the "boiling over" of milk and rice during the month of Thai. Farmers work for the whole year harvesting the paddy crops and using the freshly produced rice, farmers will prepare pongal on this auspicious day and show their gratitude to Lord Surya. On this festival day, the sun god(Suriyan) will turn from southern direction to northern direction. It is a tradition for tamilians to decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves and embellish the floor with decorative patterns drawn using rice flour.

Pongal Festival is a 3 day festival which starts from the last day of the tamil calender month Margazhi and proceed till the second day of the Tamil Calender month Thai. The first day of the festival is called Bogi followed by Thai Pongal and ends with Kanu Pongal.


Bhogi	Thai Pongal	Kanu Pongal

In earlier days Thai Pongal is prepared in a hand made pot which is decorated fully with turmeric, kumkum and sunnaambu. we need to tie turmeric plant with leaves and turmeric around the pot. Nowadays we are preparing pongal in cooker and hence we need to decorate the pressure cooker accordingly. While we get the whistles, we need to tell "PongaloPongal" and pray to god.

We need to prepare the sakkaraipongal, vadai, plain rice for neivedhyam and we need to do the neivedhyam only at the time when "Thai" months begins.

We have use flat beans, pumpkin, sakaraivellikizhangu, senaikizhangu, raw banana vegetables on this occasion.

In a open place, where we get good sun rays, we need to clean the place and put kolam and inside the kolam we need to draw sun and moon symbols and we need to performpoojas for vinayakar and suriyan and we need to keep sugarcane, sakaraipongal, beetle leaves with seeds, banana and other dishes for neivedhyam and we need to pray to god for good prosperty in life.

Wish you a very happy Pongal.!

Pongal Special Recipes:


Sarkarai Pongal(Sweet Pongal)	Akkaravadisal


Venn Pongal	Rawa Pongal


Medhu Vadai	Pongal Kootu

Pongal Varieties:

Also please check the Pongal special Lunch menu

Image courtesy - southindianfoods.in

Tilgul is a colourful sesame candy coated with sesame seeds; in Maharashtra people exchange tilgul on Sankranti, a Hindu festival celebrated on 14 January. The sweet is a mixture of seasame seed and jaggery and hence the name. Tilgul Poli is a sweet roti made with sesameseeds and jaggery filling and wheat flour outercover. One of my friend is a Beautician and also she is a Maharashtrian. When I met her couple of days back, I was discussing with her regarding Sanakaranti and the tradition followed in Maharashtra. In the middle of the discussion, she explained to me about this delectable sweet dish Tilgul Poli which is a sweet roti made of wheat flour, jaggery, peanuts, besan and sesameseeds. It sounds similar to our traditional Puran Poli made of channa dal. I eagerly learnt the procedure from her and made this delicious dish today. It turned out awesome. My kids loved the taste of this poli. Out sweet tooth will tell the delight of biting this crispy and warm Tilgul Poli!

Tilgul Poli Recipe | Sesame seeds and peanut Purana Poli Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	30 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Yield	10-11 4" Poli
Recipe Category	Sweet
Recipe Cuisine	North Indian

Tilgul Poli Recipe | Sesame seeds and peanut Purana Poli Recipe

Ingredients for dough:

Wheat Flour	1 1/4 Cups*
Salt	1/4 teaspoon
Ghee / Oil	2 tablespoon

* 1 Cup = 250ml

Ingredients For Filling:

Sesame Seeds	1/4 Cup
Roasted Peanuts	1/4 Cup
Besan / Gram Flour	1/4 Cup
Grated Jaggery	3/4 Cup
Cardamom	4
Nutmeg Powder	a Pinch
Ghee	2 tablespoon

Other Ingredients:

Wheat Flour	for dusting
Ghee / Oil	For cooking poli

Tilgul Poli Recipe | Sesame seeds and peanut Purana Poli Recipe

Method:

Take a mixing bowl, add wheat flour and salt and mix well. Make a hole in the middle and add hot ghee or oil and using a spoon, mix everything well. The flour will become like a crumbled mixture.

To this, now add, water little by little and knead it to a tough and smooth dough like we make dough for poori. Cover and set this aside for 30 minutes

Lets prepare the filling now. Heat a pan and add sesame seeds and dry roast the sesameseeds till it becomes light brown color. Take it out and allow it to cool. Then add 2 tablespoon of ghee and add besan and roast the besan in ghee till you get a nice aroma and the raw smell of the besan goes off. Switch off the flame

In a mixer jar, take roasted peanuts along with cardamom and grind it to a nice powder. Then add roasted and cooled sesame seeds along with roasted besan. Add the nutmeg powder and again grind everything to a smooth powder.

Finally add grated jaggery and give a pulse or two for the jaggery to mix with the ground powder.Make equal sized balls out of this filling and set this aside

Take the dough after 30 minutes and then make 11 equal sized balls out of it. Take a dough ball, dust with wheat flour and knead it to 2" roti.

Place a filling ball in the center of the rolled roti and then bring all the edges together and seal the filling. Again dust with flour and knead gently to 4" roti. Repeat the same for rest of the dough ball and filling.

Heat a tawa and place a rolled sweet roti. Add a teaspoon of ghee around the roti and cook on both the sides. Apply ghee and take the cooked roti out in a plate. Repeat the same and cook the rest of the poli

The delicious Tilgul is now ready to serve!. Serve the warm Tilgul with ghee as topping and enjoy the dish!

Tilgul Poli Recipe | Sesame seeds and peanut Purana Poli Recipe

Mysore Rasam is traditional Rasam made using coconut and freshly ground rasam powder. There is another method of making mysore rasam without adding coconut also. You can find the other method here.

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	25 mins
Servings	4

Mysore Rasam

Ingredients:

Tamarind	1 small lemon size
Thur dal	1 tablespoon
Hing	1/4 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste
Chopped Coriander Leaves	1 tablespoon

For Grinding:

Ghee	1 teaspoon
Red Chilli	2
Grated Coconut	1 tablespoon
Channa Dal	1 teaspoon
Coriander Seeds	1 teaspoon
Peppercorns	1 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Ghee	1/2 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	Few

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract juice. Pressure cook the thurdal and mash it nicely and keep it aside

Heat a pan with ghee and add the red chillies, pepper, coriander seeds and fry till the dals turns golden brown color. Take the fried ingredients to the mixer and add grated coconut

Grind all the ingredients to a fine paste. Meanwhile, add the tamarind extract in a vessel along with hing and salt and boil the tamarind juice

When the raw smell of tamarind goes off, add the mashed dal and mix well. Add the ground rasam masala and give a good stir and keep the flame low until the froth starts to form the top layer of the rasam and then remove the rasam from flame

Heat another pan with ghee and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add cumin seeds and saute for 10 seconds. Finally add curry leave and fry for a second and then add it to the rasam. Garnish the rasam with chopped coriander leaves

Serve the yummy rasam with hot steaming rice and as spoon of ghee

Mysore Rasam

Podi Varieties or ready mixes are always handy, especially when we feel very low or lazy for cooking. Just a spoon of ready mix or podi variety along with hot steaming rice would make our day so easy! Like Paruppu podi, Peanut Garlic Podi is a spicy podi variety with a rich flavour of peanuts and garlic. The coarse texture of the peanuts enhances the overall taste of this dish! We can also serve this peanut garlic podi as an accompaniment for any Indian Breakfast like Idli, dosa.

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	150 mins
Yield	250gms
Recipe Category	Podi Varieties
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Peanut Garlic Podi Recipe | Spicy Peanut with Garlic Powder

Ingredients:

Roasted Peanuts	1 Cup*
Coriander Seeds	1 tablespoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Sesame seeds	1tablespoon
Red Chilli	2
Peppercorns	1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind	small gooseberry size
Garlic	3
Salt	To taste

* 1 Cup = 250ml

Peanut Garlic Podi Recipe | Spicy Peanut with Garlic Powder

Method:

Heat a pan and dry roast the coriander seeds till they are light brown and take it out to a plate. Again add cumin seeds to the pan and dry roast till they starts to sputter and then take it to a plate

In the same pan, add sesame seeds and dry roast the sesame seeds till it sputter. Take this aside. In the pan, add 1/4 th teaspoon of oil and roast the red chillies, peppercorns and saute it for few seconds.

Switch off the flame and add garlic cloves and tamarind and saute them in the heat of the pan. Cool all the ingredients. Take the roasted ingredients except garlic and peppercorns to the mixer jar

Grind it to a coarse powder. Then add roasted peanuts along with salt, garlic and peppercorns and give a pulse of two.

We need coarsely ground peanut powder with bits and pieces of peanuts that will enrich the taste. Store it in an airtight container for longer shelf life

Serve the spicy and tasty Peanut Garlic podi with rice and slurp!!!

Peanut Garlic Podi Recipe | Spicy Peanut with Garlic Powder

Elaneer payasam (Tender Coconut Payasam), a very simple and quick to make kheer variety. a popular dessert in Kerala and many southern place of tamilnadu. A very unique dessert for any parties! The bits of the tender coconut pieces along with the blend of evaporated milk and coconut milk makes this dish really delicious. I heard of this dish but never got a chance to taste. This is my method of making this payasam and it turned out awesome. I shared with my friends and they loved this kheer so much.

Elaneer Payasam Recipe | Tender Coconut Payasam Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	6
Recipe Category	Dessert
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Elaneer Payasam Recipe | Tender Coconut Payasam Recipe

Ingredients:

Whole Fat Milk	4 Cups* or 1 litre
Coconut Milk	1 Cup
Tender Coconut Pulp	1 Cup
Tender Coconut Pieces	1/4 Cup
Sugar	1 Cup
Cardamom Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Nutmeg Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Ghee	1 teaspoon
Cashews	10

* 1 cup = 250ml

Elaneer Payasam Recipe | Tender Coconut Payasam Recipe

Method:

First break the tender coconut and scrape the tender portion of the coconut. Reserve 1/4th cup of the tender coconut (we call vazhukkai in tamil). Take the rest of the tender coconut in a mixer and add tender coconut water and grind it to a coarse paste. Keep these aside

Heat a pan, add a litre of milk. Whole fat milk gives a really thickness to the payasam. Bring the milk to boil.

Allow the milk to evaporate 1/4th of its quantity. Stir occasionally to avoid milk sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then add suagar. cardamom powder and nutmeg powder and stir well.

Allow the milk to boil in medium flame for another 5 minutes till the sugar gets dissolved completely and incorporated well with the milk. Switch off the flame and allow the milk to cool down. When the milk is at room temperature, add coconut milk and stir well.

Add tender coconut pulp and also the chopped tender coconut pieces and give a good stir

In a separate pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast the cashews and add the roasted cashews to the payasam and stir well

Elaneer Payasam is all ready! Refrigerate and serve chill!

Elaneer Payasam Recipe | Tender Coconut Payasam Recipe

I came across the name of this dish first time when a fan of subbuskitchen requested the recipe of this. I have never tasted this before. Then I found out this is a famous dish in Andhra Cuisine and approached my friend who is from Hyderabad and she checked with her MIL and shared this recipe with me. Like Idly Podi, this Nalla Kara Podi can be served with hot steaming rice or we can serve with idlis and dosas.

Nalla Kara Podi

Preparation time	-
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	250gms

Ingredients:

Curryleaves	1 Cup*
Coriander Seeds	1/2 Cup
Black Urid dal	3 tablespoon
Channadal	1.5 tablespoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Dry red chillies	5
Garlic Pods	5
Tamarind	1 small lemon size
Salt	To Taste
Oil	1/4 Cup
Ghee	1 teaspoon

*1 cup = 250 ml

Nalla Kara Podi

Method:

Take all required ingredients and keep it ready for frying. Curry leaves, I have dried in the sun and have it ready. If you are in abroad, then you can dry fry the curry leaves in a pan or microwave plate for a minute so that the fresh leaves loses its moisture

Now we are going to fry each ingredients separately one after the other. First, I have added 1/4 teaspoon of oil and roast the cumin seeds and take this to the mixer. Next, add 1/4 teaspoon of oil and the red chillies and fry for a minute in low flame and add that to the plate for cooling

This is followed by black urid dal along with 1/4 teaspoon of oil. I have used black urid dal as this is traditionally used, but you can also use normal white urid dal also. Roast the urid dal till it turns slightly brown color. Take the roasted urid dal to the plate for cooling. Then add 1/4 teaspoon of oil and add channa dal and fry till the dal turns golden color.

Then fry the coriander seeds in the oil for couple of minutes and cool it. Next fry the tamarind in oil for a minute and add it to the plate for cooling.

Finally add 1/4 teaspoon of oil again and add curry leaves and fry them for a minute and take it in a separate plate. Add the dals, coriander seeds, red chillies, cumin seeds and tamarind to the mixer.

Grind the added ingredients in the mixer to a coarse powder. To that, add fried curry leaves and give a pulse

Finally add salt, raw garlic pod and give couple of pulse and remove the nalla kara podi from the mixer. Heat a pan with ghee and add the nalla kara podi and roast it in ghee for 2 minutes.

Nalla Kara Podi is now ready to serve with hot steaming rice or with Idlis

Nalla Kara Podi

Gotsu a traditional and delicious side dish for venn pongal. Pongal with gotsu is one of the popular SouthIndian Breakfast. We can make gotsu with mixed vegetables. But Brinjal gotsu (Kathirikkai Gotsu / Venn Pongal Gotsu) is the traditional gotsu variety. This is the recipe which I learnt from my Grandmother. Venn Pongal with Brinjal Gotsu is one of her signature dish. Most of the weekend, especially Sunday, this is my morning breakfast. A perfect accompaniment for Pongal, Idli, dosa and even for upma.

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	40 mins
Servings	4
Recipe Category	Main
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Brinjal Gotsu Recipe | Kathirikkai Gotsu Recipe | Venn Pongal Gotsu Recipe

Ingredients:

Brinjal	3
Moong Dal	1/4 Cup
Shallots / Baby Onions	12-15
Tomato	1
Green Chillies	2
Tamarind extract	1/2 Cup
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Salt	To taste
Coriander Leaves	1 tablespoon

For Grinding:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Channa Dal	1 tablespoon
Coriander Seeds	1 tablespoon
Red Chilli	1
Peppercorns	1/4 teapsoon

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	Few

Brinjal Gotsu Recipe | Kathirikkai Gotsu Recipe | Venn Pongal Gotsu Recipe

Method:

Wash and chop the brinjals and soak it in water to prevent de-colourisation. Peel the shallots and chop tomatoes and keep it aside. Slit the green chillies.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan, add grinding ingredients and fry them till they turn golden brown color.

Cool it off and take it to a mixer jar. Grind it to a nice powder and set it aside

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Add cumin seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add few curry leaves and saute for few seconds

Then add the peeled shallots and saute in oil for couple of minutes. Then add the chopped tomatoes and saute along with shallots

Then add chopped brinjals. Add little water and turmeric powder and mix everything well. Add tamarind extract along with salt and mix well.

Add the spice powder and give a good mix. Heat a cooker. Add moong dal and turmeric powder

Add the brinjal mixture to the cooker and mix everything well. Close the cooker and allow it for 3-4 whistles. When the pressure is fully released, remove the lid, stir well. Finally garish with coriander leaves

Serve the delectable Brinjal Gotsu (Kathirikkai Gotsu) with pongal, Idli or Dosa and enjoy the Gotsu!

Brinjal Gotsu Recipe | Kathirikkai Gotsu Recipe | Venn Pongal Gotsu Recipe

I heard about Kovakkai thugayal recipe from one of my relative and immediately decided to prepare this yummy dish. The taste of this thugayal is wonderful and we can mix this with rice and little ghee and serve hot with appalam. Lets see the method involved to prepare this mouth-watering dish...

The mix of Kovakkai and other masala ingredients .The taste of this thugayal is wonderful and we can mix this with rice and little ghee and serve hot with appalam

Kovakkai Thugayal

Preparation Time	10 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	3-4

Ingredients:

Kovakkai	1/2 Kg
Turmeric	a Pinch
Onion	1
Green Chillies	3
Grated Coconut	2 tablespoon
Salt	To Taste
Oil	1 teaspoon

Ingredients For Grinding:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Red chillies	1
Channa Dal	2 teaspoon
Urid dal	2 teaspoon
Garlic Cloves	3
Tamarind	1 small gooseberry size

Kovakkai Thogayal

Method:

Wash and dry the kovakkai and chop it to circles. Heat a teaspoon of oil and add the chopped kovakkai and a pinch of turmeric and mix well and keep in medium flame for about 10-15 minutes till the kovakkai is slightly fried and cooked and remove from flame and keep it aside

Again add 1 teaspoon of oil and add the grinding ingredients and saute them till the dals turn golden brown color. Take this fried ingredients to the mixer

Add oil and add onion and green chillies and fry the oinons. Add a pinch of salt to fry the onions evenly and quicky

Grind the fried dals, red chilli, tamarind and garlic to a coarse powder.

Add fried kovakkai and grated coconut and grind to a coarse paste

Finally add sauted onions and green chillies to the mixer and give another pulse in the mixer and the thugayal should be coarse

The yummy mouth-watering Kovakkai thugayal is ready to serve with cooked hot rice along with a teaspoon of ghee and serve with fried vegetable or kootu or simple appalam
Kovakkai Thogayal

Venn Pongal is a traditional SouthIndian breakfast dish. I love to do VenPongal as it is very easy and quick. We should be generous in using ghee for Pongal. The flavour of ghee with pepper is the unique taste of pongal. It is the traditional neivedhyam in any temple. The shine and smell of ghee in pongal will tempt everyone to have more. Brijal Gotsu is a perfect side dish for the pongal. Please click here for the recipe of Brinjal Gotsu

Pongal is a south indian special breakfast dish. The flavour of ghee with pepper is the unique taste of the pongal

Ven Pongal

Preparation Time	10 mins
Cooking Time (Cumin Seeds)	20 mins
Servings	4

Ingredients:

Raw Rice	3/4 Cup
Jeera (Cumin Seeds)	1 teaspoon
Moong dal	1/4 cup
Salt	To taste
Cashew Nuts	10
Ghee/Oil	3 tablespoon
Whole black pepper	1 teaspoon
Pepper Powder	1 teaspoon

Venn Pongal

Method:

Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add moong dal

Roast the moongdhal in the dry pan till it turns golden brown color

Add the fried moongdal with the raw rice for rinsing.

Cook the raw rice along with the moongdhal and salt in the pressure cooker by adding 1/2 up extra water than normal rice cooking and for 2 extra wistles in the cooker than normal. This will make the rice smashed.

Heat the pan, add 1 teaspoon on ghee and add the broken cashews and fry till they turn golden brown color. Take this out and keep it aside in a plate.

In the pan, pour the remaining ghee and add the cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds begins to sputter add the whole black pepper and pepper powder. Fry for some seconds.

Add the smashed cooked rice with dhal and add the fried cashews. Stir the rice evenly to spread the pepper and salt and swtich off the flame.

Now the Venn pongal is ready to serve hot. You can serve this with coconut chutney/sambar

Venn Pongal

Potato Roast is an all time favourite dish for many of us. Its a perfect accompaniment for many Indian Main Courses. Baby Potato Masala roast is a very scrumptious dry curry. No other accompaniment will ever beat the taste of these baby potato roast. For any rice varieties and also for any Indian Bread this is the best side dish. We can make a plain roast or we can make using onion, ginger-garlic along with masala. I prefer the second version which is more scrumptious than the plain roast with red chilli powder. Lets get started right away!

Baby Potato Masala Roast Recipe| Chinna Urulai Masala Varuval Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4
Recipe Category	Poriyal
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Baby Potato Masala Roast Recipe| Chinna Urulai Masala Varuval Recipe

Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes	1/2 Kg
Onion	1 small size
Tomato	1
Green Chilli	2
Ginger-Garlic Paste	1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder	1 teaspoon
Coriander Powder	1 teaspoon
Salt	To taste
Roasted Gram Flour (Pottukadalai Mavu)	1 tablespoon
Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves	1 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Oil	3 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon

Baby Potato Masala Roast Recipe| Chinna Urulai Masala Varuval Recipe

Method:

Finely chop the onions, tomatoes and set it aside. Also chop the green chillies

Wash and Pressure cook the baby potatoes allowing for 2-3 whistles. Once cooked, allow it to cool and peel the skin and keep it aside

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add chopped green chilli and chopped onion and saute the onions till they turn translucent

Then add ginger-garlic paste and saute for few seconds along with onions. Then add chopped tomatoes to the pan

Now, add turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder and saute well. Then add the cooked and peeled potatoes

Toss the potatoes well along with salt so that they are coated well with the onion-tomato masala. Keep the flame in medium low and allow the potato to cook with the masala for 15 minutes.

Once the masala and the potatoes are incorporated well, add roasted gram flour (Pottukadalai podi) and toss well. Finally add finely chopped coriander leaves and gently mix well

The delicious and crispy Baby Potato Masala Roast is all ready! Serve with any Indian Main course and slurp!

Baby Potato Masala Roast Recipe| Chinna Urulai Masala Varuval Recipe

Brinji Rice, an aroma rich with healthy veggies. The flavour of bayleaf along with other masala ingredients gives this rice a rich flavour. A perfect dish for parties. This is one of the common dish in any Marriage Buffets. Generally served with Raitha or Vegetable Kurma. Rice is flavoured with bay leaf, coconut milk and other mild masala ingredients. No hassle in making this simple and delectable dish. Try this Brinji Rice for any Parties at home and delight your guests!

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	30 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4
Recipe Category	Main
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Brinji Rice Recipe | Vegetable Brinji Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice	1 Cup*
Onion	1 thinly sliced
Mixed Chopped Vegetables (Carrot, Beans, Potato & Peas)	1 Cup
Salt	To taste
Coconut Milk	3/4 Cup
Water	3/4 cup
Mint Leaves (Optional)	7-8
Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves	For Garnishing

* 1 Cup = 250ml

For Grinding:

Fennel seeds	1 teaspoon
Garlic Cloves	4
Green Chilli	2
Chopped Ginger	1 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Butter / Oil	3 tablespoon
Cinnamon	1 inch stick
Cloves	4
Cardamom	2
Bay Leaf	4

Brinji Rice Recipe | Vegetable Brinji Rice Recipe

Method:

Wash and soak the Basmati Rice in water and set it aside for 15 mins

Take the grinding ingredients to the mixer jar and grind it to a paste and set it aside

Heat butter or oil in pan. Butter gives a nice flavour. If you are calorie specific, you can use cooking oil or olive oil. Add cinnanon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf and saute for a minute. Then add sliced onions and saute it well

To the pan, add ground spice paste and saute along with onions till the onions turn translucent. Then, add chopped veggies and stir-fry for a minute.

After 15 mins, drain water from rice and add it to the pan and saute it for few seconds. Add coconut milk and water and stir well. Add salt and mix well. Mint leaves are optional. I have not used it as mint leaves smell will dominate my other masala. If you prefer, you wash the mint leaves and add it in this stage

Take it to pressure cooker or rice cooker. I used rice cooker which is very safe for not making the rice mushy. You can also use normal pressure cooker and allow for 2 whistles. Or you could just cover the pan with a lid and cook till the rice is soft. When the rice fluffy, mix gently once and garnish with coriander leaves

Serve the aroma rich Brinji Rice with your favourite Raitha and enjoy the dish!

Brinji Rice Recipe | Vegetable Brinji Rice Recipe

Baingan Bharta, a delicious roasted aubergine sabzi cooked in onion tomato gravy with aromatic Indian spices.The smoke of the roasted aubergine gives a nice flavour to the dish. Traditionally, we need to roast the brinjals in open flame. But since, I have electric stove, I roasted them in Oven instead. This is really a scrumptious dish that will stir our taste buds. This Baingan Bharta should be little spicy than our usual gravies because the mushy aubergine will suppress the spice from the underlying oniom-tomato gravy. So try to add more spice to have a nice and delicious Baingan Bartha. Serve with any Indian Flat Bread and ejoy the dish!

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	1 Hour
Servings	5
Recipe Category	Veg Gravy
Recipe Cuisine	North Indian

Baingan Bharta Recipe

Ingredients:

Aubergine (Big Eggplant)	2
Onion	1 finely Chopped
Tomato	2 Chopped
Red chilli Powder	1 teaspoon
Coriander Powder	1 teaspoon
Garam Masala	1/2 teaspoon
Finely chopped coriander Leaves	For Garnishing

For Grinding:

Ginger	1 inch piece
Green Chilli	1 Chopped
Garlic cloves	3

For Seasoning:

Oil	2 tablespoon
Butter	2 tablespoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon

Baingan Bharta Recipe

Method:

First lets cook the Aubergine. Wash and dry the Aubergine. Coat it with oil on all the sides. Cook the Aubergine directly in low flame carefully turning the sides to make sure it is cooked well on the all the sides. The smoke of the roasted Aubergine is the success of this dish. I have only electric stove, so I roasted the Aubergine in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 45 minutes, turning them every 15 minutes.

While the Aubergine is getting cooked, lets prepare our gravy. Take the grinding ingredients to the mixer jar and grind it to a paste

Heat a pan and add oil and butter. Add cumin seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add chopped onions and saute them for 2 minutes

Then add ground paste and saute along with the onions till the onions turn translucent. Then add chopped tomatoes

To the tomatoes, add red chilli powder, coriander powder and cook the tomatoes till they turn mushy. Add necessary salt and give a good mix. Allow the tomato to cook in medium flame

Check the Aubergine, if it is cooked completely, cool off and peel the skin and mash it nicely with back of a fork or a potato masher.

Add the mashed Aubergine to the cooked onion-tomato gravy, and mix well. Keep the flame low and allow the aubergine to cook and incorporate the masalas for about 15 mintues. Add garam masala and water if you feel the gravy is very thick. Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Add garam masala and water if you feel the gravy is very thick. Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Serve the delicious Baingan Bharta with any Indian Flat bread like Roti, Paratha and enjoy your dish!

Baingan Bharta Recipe

Whenever there is a tomato season when tomatoes are available in abundant and cheap in the market, the first thing which comes to my mind is to make a Tomato Thokku. It is so easy to make and can be used as a spread, as a side dish and as a pickle. I love this with curd rice (moor sadham). It also goes very well with Idly/Dosa as a chutney. If cooked properly then we can use it for atleast 10 days.

This is a travel friendly dish too. Whenever I go for travel I make chapati and tomato thokku and I feel at home with homemade tomato thokku. Tomato Thokku goes well with Dosa, Chapati, Curd Rice and also with just simple plain rice. We can store this tomato thokku in an air-tight container and refrigerate it and also whenever we plan to do tomato rice, we just season and saute the onions and then add this yummy tomato thokku and prepare instant tomato rice.

Tomato Thokku (Thakkali Thokku)

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	45 mins
Yield	500 gms

Tomato Thokku (Thakkali Thokku)

Ingredients:

Tomatoes	1 Kg
Tamarind *	1 gooseberry size
Red Chilli Powder**	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder	1 teaspoon
Grated Jaggery	1 tablespoon
Fenugreek Powder***	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste

*If the tomatoes are ripe and tangy, we can ignore tamarind. On the other hand if the tomatoes are not tangy, adjust the tamarind to get the tangy taste

** Sambar Powder will also give a nice flavour. We can reduce red chilli powder and add sambar powder also

*** If you don't have a Fenugreek Powder readily available, then you can dry fry a tablespoon of Fenugreek and powder them using the Mixer.

For Seasoning:

Gingelly Oil	1 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1 tablespoon
Curry Leaves	few

Tomato Thokku (Thakkali Thokku)

Method:

Wash and pat dry the tomatoes and chop it to roughly small pieces. I used to make tomato thokku with the skin. When cooked the tomato skins will be visible. If you prefer to have a very nice paste of tomato thokku, then we should remove the tomato skin. To remove the tomato skin, add tomatoes to boiling water and cover it with a lid and then after 5 minutes, take out the tomatoes and peel the skin. In this recipe below, i cooked the tomato with skin.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When the mustards seeds starts to sputter, add curry leaves and saute it in low flame for half a minute.

Add chopped tomatoes to the pan along with turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder and keep in medium flame to cook the tomatoes.

While the tomatoes start to cook, we get lots of juice from tomatoes and we need to keep the flame in medium and allow the full juice to get evaporated and the tomatoes to be cooked completely and becomes mushy like thokku. Add thick extract of tamarind and stir the mixture occasionally so that the thokku doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the pan and also to make sure it is not burnt. Cook the thokku till the oil starts oozing out from the mixture and there is absolutely no juice. Usually it takes about 30 minutes for the complete tomato water to evaporate.

Finally add grated jaggery and fenugreek powder(Dry roast the fenugreek seeds and grind it to a nice powder in a mixer) and let the thokku cook for another couple of more minutes and remove from flame.

Cool the thokku and add it to the air-tight container and store it in refrigerator and enjoy the thokku. Tomato Thokku goes well with Dosa, Chapati, Curd Rice and also even with hot steaming rice.

Tomato Thokku (Thakkali Thokku)

Milagai (Chilli) Bajji is a famous snack in road side shops in chennai. I always love to have milagai bajji when we have rainy weather. We can make bajji with many different vegetables like potato, raw banana and even with carrot. Capsicum is one of my favourite veggie especially in making bajji. Capsicum bajji are so yummy and crispy. The mild spice of the capsicum gives a very good taste to the dish.

Serve this yummy capsicum bajji with a cup of hot tea / coffee and enjoy the taste of hot and spice. Capsicum Bajji / Kuda Milagai Bajji is a wonderful tea time snack for a perfect evening!

Capsicum Bajji Recipe / Kuda Milagai Bajji Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	3

Capsicum Bajji Recipe / Kuda Milagai Bajji Recipe

Ingredients:

Capsicum	2
Besan / Gram Flour	1 Cup
Rice Flour	1/2 Cup
Salt	To taste
Red Chilli Powder	1 tablespoon
Hing	1/4 teaspoon

Capsicum Bajji Recipe / Kuda Milagai Bajji Recipe

Method:

Wash the capsicum and de-seed and then slice it vertically. We can also chop it horizontally like a flower. Mostly vertical slices are easy to fry and turns out more crispier than the horizontal flowers and the horizontal pieces takes a bit time more than the vertical fingers. Its up to us to decide the shape of the bajji

Take the besan and rice flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt, hing and red chilli powder and mix well. Now add water little by little and make it like a batter. Make the batter like dosa batter. The batter should be neither thick nor too thin.

Heat oil in pan. When the oil is hot, dip each piece of the capsicum in the bajji batter and gently drop it in oil. Add 4-5 vertical slices or 2-3 horizontal slices in the oil in one batch. Fry the bajji in the oil till they turn golden brown colour and becomes crispy. Remove the fried bajji from oil and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil.

The crispy, crunchy and delicious Capsicum Bajji is now ready to serve!

Capsicum Bajji Recipe / Kuda Milagai Bajji Recipe

Like Sambar Powder and Rasam Powder, Puli Kuzhambu powder is also another handy ingredient in our kitchen. We can easily make instant kuzhambu using this Puli Kuzhambu (Powder) Podi . Instead of adding coriander powder and red chilli powder for the puli kuzhambu, this Puli kuzhambu podi has a great flavour because of the combination of the given ingredients. We can easily increase the ratio of each ingredient and make large quantity and it has a long shelf life. We can even keep it for 6 months to an year by carefully handling the podi with the use of air-tight container and also using dry spoon. Try this easy and handy Puli Kuzhambu Podi and share your comments & suggestions!

Puli Kuzhambu Podi Recipe | Kuzhambu Spice Powder Recipe

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	200gms
Recipe Category	Podi Varieties
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Puli Kuzhambu Podi Recipe | Kuzhambu Spice Powder Recipe

Ingredients:

Red chilli	60gms
Coriander Seeds	3/4 Cup*
Channa Dal	1 tablespoon
Thoor Dal	1 tablespoon
Peppercorns	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Fenugreek Seeds	1 teaspoon
Rice	1.5 tablespoon
Curry Leaves	few

* 1 Cup = 250ml

Puli Kuzhambu Podi Recipe | Kuzhambu Spice Powder Recipe

Method:

Dry Roast each ingredient separately one by one till each ingredient becomes warm.

Take all the roasted ingredients in a plate and cool it completely. Take it in a mixer and grind it to a smooth powder

Store it in an air-tight container, Add a tablespoon of this delicious Puli Kuzhambu Podi and make instant kuzhambu!

Puli Kuzhambu Podi Recipe | Kuzhambu Spice Powder Recipe

PuliKuzhambu is one of the Instant kuzhambu variety. Easy, Quick & yummy kuzhambu that you can make in 10-15 mins without any hassle. All we need to have is Puli Kuzhambu Powder which is a handy ingredient that makes the dish instant and quick to make. Onion always gives a wonderful flavour to Puli kuzhambu or Kara kuzhambu. Adding ladysfinger along with onion gives an additional flavour. Serve this tasty Onion Puli Kuzhambu with hot steaming rice and enjoy the dish!

Preparation and Yield:

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Servings	4
Recipe Category	Main
Recipe Cuisine	South Indian

Onion Puli Kuzhambu Recipe

Ingredients:

Tamarind	1 lemon size
Onion	1 finely chopped
Ladysfinger	6-7 chopped into big pieces
Salt	To taste
Puli Kuzhambu Powder	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

Gingelly Oil	3 tablespoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	Few

Onion Puli Kuzhambu Recipe

Method:

Heat gingelly oil in a sauce pan. Add mustard seeds and allow to sputter. Add few curry leaves and saute for couple of seconds. Then add chopped onions and saute the onions

When the onions turn transparent, add chopped ladysfinger and saute in high flame for couple of minutes. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and mix well.

Then add 1/2 cup water and allow the ladysfinger to cook. When the ladysfinger is half cooked, add tamarind extract

Add salt, puli kuzhambu powder and stir well. Allow the tamarind juice to boil with the spices for 10 minutes and then switch off the flame.

Take the delicious Onion Puli Kuzhambu in a serving bowl and serve with hot steaming rice and enjoy the dish

Onion Puli Kuzhambu Recipe

Raw banana(Vazhaikai) is a common vegetable in south india. We cook different recipes using vazhaikai. For Podimas, we grate the vazhaikai and when you fry and cook the grated vazhaikai it adds a lot of taste to the poriyal.

Vazhaikai Podimas(Raw Banana Podimas) / Vazhakai poriyal

Preparation Time	-
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	3-4 persons

Ingredients:

Raw Banana	3
Green Chilli	2
Grated Coconut	2 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste

For Seasoning:

Oil	2 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Urdhal	1 teaspoon
Chopped Ginger	1 teaspoon

Method:

Add the raw banana into a pan, immerse it in water and cover the pan. Cut it into half if the banana is big. Start heating the pan. The water will start boiling. Keep the flame in medium. Check the raw banana every 2-3 minutes. When one side of raw banana(Vazhaikaai) turns black color, turn it to other side. Once the color of the whole banana is black, wet your hands and try to peel the skin. When the skin is peeled, then this is the correct stage to remove the raw banana(Vazhaikaai) from flame

Remove the raw banana(Vazhaikaai) from flame and allow it to cool

Peel the skin of the cooked raw banana(Vazhaikaai).

Grate the cooked banana and add the salt and grated coconut and mix it well without smashing it

Heat the oil in the pan, add mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds begins to sputter add urdhal, chopped ginger, chopped green chilli, curry leaves and fry till the dhal becomes golden brown color

Add the grated raw banana(Vazhaikaai) and mix it well and keep it in flame for 2-3 mins in a medium flame.

Remove from flame and take it in a bowl. The delicious raw banana Podimas/ Vazhakai Podimas is ready to serve

Vazhaikai Podimas(Raw Banana Podimas) / Vazhakai poriyal

Posted bySubbalakshmi Renganathan

Milagu Vadai(Anjaneyar Vadai)

Brinjal Podi Curry Recipe | Kathirikkai Podi Pota Curry

Ulundhu(Urdhal) vadai/Medhu vadai

Pongal Festival and Recipes

Tilgul Poli Recipe | Sesame seeds and peanut Purana Poli Recipe

Mysore Rasam Method 2

Peanut Garlic Podi Recipe | Spicy Peanut with Garlic Powder

Elaneer Payasam Recipe | Tender Coconut Payasam Recipe

Nalla Kara Podi

Brinjal Gotsu Recipe | Kathirikkai Gotsu Recipe | Venn Pongal Gotsu Recipe

Kovakkai Thugayal / Ivy gourd Thugayal

Venn Pongal

Baby Potato Masala Roast Recipe| Chinna Urulai Masala Varuval Recipe

Brinji Rice Recipe | Vegetable Brinji Rice Recipe

Baingan Bharta Recipe

Tomato Thokku (Thakkali Thokku)

Capsicum Bajji Recipe / Kuda Milagai Bajji Recipe / Bell Pepper Bajji Recipe

Puli Kuzhambu Podi Recipe | Kuzhambu Spice Powder Recipe

Onion Puli Kuzhambu Recipe

Vazhaikai Podimas(Raw Banana Podimas) / Vazhakai poriyal