Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu, a special and popular accompaniment for Idli / Dosa / Ven Pongal. Chidambaram is a famous town in Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu. Of the numerous temples the Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram is one of the most significant ones. In terms of its antiquity, richness, in terms of worship & festival traditions, in architectural & sculptural splendour, in its association with music & dance, Chidambaram is a center second to none in representing the rich cultural heritage of India (About Chidambaram – referred from wikipedia).

Offering to the God

This Brinjal gosthu with Jeeraga samba Sadham is prepared at Chidambaram Temple as an offering to Lord Nataraja. Authentically it is prepared by directly cooking the brinjal over the flame. Once the brinjal is cooked, the skin will be removed and mashed it thoroughly. Finally they add the freshly ground spices to make this delicious and rich. In the temple, for the neivedhyam (offering for God), onion will not be added in gothsu.

Perfect accompaniment to Pongal and Idli !

For our breakfast accompaniment, we can very well enrich the Brinjal Gothsu (Kathirikai Gotsu) with shallots (baby onions). Although, conventionally, its made from smoked brinjals, but nowadays many of us especially living in abroad has sometimes no choice of Gas stoves instead we have coil or induction based stove. So it will be very tough to directly cook the brinjals over the flame. So we can either pressure cook or Saute the onions and brinjals and then grind or mash them to a coarse paste. We don’t need perfectly smooth brinjal paste. The chunks of the cooked brinjal add a nice texture to the dish.

Fresh Masala Powder

The key ingredient to Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu (Kathirikai Gotsu) is the the freshly made masasla powder. We are going to roast and grind spices freshly that enhances the flavor. Instead of just adding broken red chili / green chili or sambar powder, the freshly ground spices increases the taste of the gothsu.

Other Accompaniments

Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu (Kathirikai Gotsu) is a perfect side dish for idli / Dosa and also for Ven Pongal. But you can also make Brinjal Gothsu with dal or plain Onion Gotsu. Also we can make Sambar with moong dal which is the traditional Tiffin sambar that will also be wonderful for Idli / Dosa and Ven Pongal. Also check the collection of popular and tasty side dish for breakfast food.

Video Version of Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu | Kathirikkai Kothsu

How to make Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu?

(for the detailed step by step recipe instruction along with pictures, please scroll down further to Steps section below.)

• Soak the Tamarind in the warm water and extract the Tamarind Juice
• Heat oil in a pan. Add the grinding ingredients and fry them in oil till the dal is golden brown color. Grind all the ingredients to the coarse powder
• Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan. To the pan, add shallots (baby onions) and saute till translucent. Then toss the brinjal cubes and saute till soft
• Take the sauteed Onions and brinjal in a mixer jar and grind it to coarse paste.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Add Split urad dal and bengal gram dal and fry till dal turns golden brown. Also add curry leaves
• To the pan, add tamarind juice along with salt, asafoetida and turmeric powder. Once the mixture started boiling add the onion-brinjal coarse paste and mix well
• Add the freshly ground spice powder and mix well. Keep cooking the gothsu for 5 mins in low flame.
• Finally add sesame oil and mix well. Garnish with Coriander Leaves

Notes:

• If you have a gas stove, you can try roasting brinjal directly on top of flame. Grease the brinjal with oil and then using a tong hold the stem of brinjal and show it directly on the flame. Flip all the sides while cooking so that the brinjal is evenly cooked
• You can add a teaspoon of jaggery powder at the boiling stage of Chidambar Gothsu which enhances the taste of Gothsu.

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Rava Idli | Instant Rava Idli Recipe is an easy breakfast recipe made using Rava (Sooji) which can be made instantly. It is very easier than the conventional Idli which requires soaking, grinding and fermenting. It is the instant breakfast variety we can do and get more appreciations from our family. We will be using the Rava (Sooji) and Yogurt as the main ingredient to make this recipe. We also need to add Baking Soda or Eno Salt to get the softer Idli. The conventional Idli batter will be fermented overnight and so they will be soft by themselves. On the other hand, this Rava Idli is instant so just adding 1/4 teaspoon of soda salt (or) 1 teaspoon of Eno salt will give fluffiness to the Idli

Serve the hot Instant Rava Idli  with Sambar, Chutney Powder and any Chutneys

Video for Rava Idli (Rawa Idly)| Instant Rava Idli Recipe

Click on the video link below for the quick and easy Rava Idli | Instant Rava Idli Recipe

How to make quick and instant Sooji (Rava) Idli ?

1. Heat the tawa/pan and add a table spoon of ghee. Add mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add channa dal and fry till it turns golden brown color. Then add chopped green chilies, curry leaves and fry for 10 seconds.
2. Add the rava and fry it till the raw smell goes off and the color of the rava turns out to be light brown.
3. In a separate vessel, beat the thick curd nicely and add grated carrot, green peas, salt and fresh coriander leaves and mix well. To this add the friend rava and keep it for 15 minutes
4. After 15 mins, take the batter, if it is very thick, add buttermilk  little by little to get like a idli batter consistency. Add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda or 1 teaspoon of Eno salt and mix well.  Grease the idli plates with oil. Keep a roasted cashew in each of the idli plate and pour the rava idli batter in each plate.
5. Steam cook in pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Remove from flame and keep it aside for 5 minutes and then using a wet spoon gently peel the idli’s and place it in a plate

Notes

1. Coarse rawa is recommended for  for making this Idli.
2. It’s recommended to use either baking soda or Eno Salt.  Without this  we won’t get softer idli’s.

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Biryani – Maharajah(King) of dishes !

Vegetable Biryani, is a layered dish combining a rich and tender spices along with vegetables, sweet caramelized onions and saffron-scented rice. It is a treat for vegetarian masala lovers. This is an exotic way to include all the veggies in our diet. Generally Biryani is cooked in layers of rice and vegetable along with masalas in  low flame so that the layers gets cooked nicely and all the flavors gets nicely absorbed. But layered Biryani takes more time and also needs some expertise.  I have already shared the recipe of conventional Layered Vegetable Biryani. Cooking Biryani takes more time, effort and expertise. But its worth for its efforts.

How to simplify the cooking of Biryani ?

Biryani is very much suited to sharing at home with family and friends, and although there may seem a lot to do, we can simplify the cooking of Biryani using pressure cooker . Pro Biryani fans may argue that it’s not conventional and authentic way to cook Biryani,  but no matter what, Pressure cooker biryani simplify the effort, time and still gives a good quality, flavorful and tasty Biryani in 30 minutes.

In this method, there are no grinding process or multi-step process involved in cooking. We are just going to toss all the spices along with onions, tomatoes, mixed vegetables,  basmati rice and cook everything in a pressure cooker.  The spices which we use for this quick method is the ready to use coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala. The whole masalas’ like bayleaf, cinnamon, cloves will be tossed as tempering along with ginger-garlic paste.

This method of making Vegetable Biryani is so quick. After sauteing the veggies and tossing the spices and rice, the Biryani will be ready in 15 mins. Some of my friends use store-bought frozen vegetables to make this pressure cooker biryani even more quicker, but I always prefer fresh veggies even though slicing and chopping of vegetables take about 10 mins of preparation time. If we are bored of the conventional Biryani, we can also try Semiya Biryani. Vegetable Biriyani with Onion Raitha makes a perfect lunch. I would love to make on Sundays’ where the whole family gets to eat together for lunch.

Video Version of making Pressure Cooker Vegetable Biriyani

Method to make Vegetable Biriyani in Pressure Cooker

(For the detailed step by step instructions along with pictures and more details, please scroll down further to Steps section below)

1. Wash the rice and soak it in water for about 30 minutes
2. Heat Ghee in a pressure cooker then add  whole garam masalas (Bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves) and saute them in a ghee. Mix the cumin seeds and allow it to sputter
3. Add Onion and fry them in the ghee. Also add ginger garlic paste and green chilli.
4. When the onions turns golden brown, toss the tomatoes and mix well.  Next add turmeric powder, salt, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder and garam masalas and cook them for about 1-2 minutes
5. Add all the vegetables.  Also add curd.
6. Drain water from soaked rice and add the rice to the cooker. Squeeze 1/2 lemon. Add 2 cups of water (1:2 ratio). Mix gently. Add coriander leaves and mint leaves
7. Close the Pressure cooker and cook it in high flame for upto first whistle. Then keep the flame to low and cooke for about 10-12 minutes.
8. After 10-12 minutes the biriyani is ready to serve.

Notes:

1. Instead of adding individual spices like coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder and garam masala, we can add 2-3 tablespoon of store-bought Biryani Powder.
2. Vegans can use Coconut oil in place of ghee and coconut milk in place of yogurt
3. We can also add Paneer cubes along with veggies
4. Whether veg or non-veg, a biryani is first and foremost a rice dish that stands or falls on the fluffiness of its rice: every grain should be separate and perfectly cooked. So make sure you don’t overcook. Each pressure cooker is unique, likewise the brand of rice. Sometimes instead of 1 whistle and 10 mins of slow cooking, its enough to slow cook for 10 mins for overall
5. Cooking in Rice cooker is an alternative to pressure cooker. We can also do all the initial procedure in a pan and transfer it to a Rice cooker instead of pressure cooker. Rice cooker rice will always be fluffy and so we don’t need to fear about the fluffiness of rice.
6. If you plan well and cut the vegetable in advance, then the biryani can be made in just 20 minutes.

The post Vegetable Biryani | Easy Pressure Cooker Biryani appeared first on Subbus Kitchen.

Ven Pongal, a comfort food !

Ven Pongal (also called as Khara Pongal) is a traditional South Indian breakfast dish.  Rice and Dals are cooked together and further seasoned by ghee, pepper, cumin and curry leaves.  I love to do Ven Pongal as it is very easy and quick.  The flavour of ghee with pepper is the unique taste of Pongal. The shine and smell of ghee in pongal will tempt everyone to have more. It’s a comfort food and goes very well with Coconut chutney / Chidambaram Brinjal Gothsu / Sambar.  In the restaurants, the hot ghee pongal, medhu vada combo is very popular

Ven Pongal is an offering to God in many temples

It is the traditional neivedhyam (offering to God) in most of the temple in Tamil Nadu.  Usually Rice (annam) is used to make prasadams. In Ven Pongal, both Rice and Dal are the key ingredients hence Pongal has been considered as a common neivedhayam in most of the temple. The pongal served in temple have unique taste. I have published a recipe for the temple style pongal here.

Video Recipe for Ven Pongal / Khara Pongal

How to cook Ven Pongal / Khara Pongal ?

(For the detailed step by step instructions along with pictures and more details, please scroll down further to Steps section below)

1. First of all heat a heavy bottomed pan, add moong dal and roast the moong dal in the dry pan till it turns golden brown color
2. Add the fried moong dal with the raw rice for rinsing
3. 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 mushy.
4. 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.
5. In the pan, pour the remaining ghee and add the cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds begins to sputter add the whole black pepper, slit green chilli, asafoetida, curry leaves and pepper powder. Fry for few seconds.
6. Add the tempering to the cooked rice and dal and add the fried cashews. Add the grated ginger. Mix the rice evenly to spread the pepper and salt and switch off the flame.
7. Now the Ven pongal is ready to serve hot

 Notes :

1. Serve Pongal hot
2. Before serving, you may want to add little boiling water in the pongal and mix it well. Then add little ghe on top of it and serve hot.  This will give a freshness to pongal and flavor of ghee.
3. You can also add the ginger while cooking the pongal. But adding the grated ginger in the last step (in the cooked pongal) will give fresh flavor of ginger.

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Karachi Bakery is a bakery in Hyderabad, in the Indian state of Telangana. It is one of the popular bakeries in Hyderabad. The bakery is popular for its fruit biscuits, dil kush and plum cake. We can find these popular Karachi Biscuits (Tutti Frutti Biscuits) in any Indian Grocery shops. These Fruit Biscuits are so attractive mainly because of the bright color of the tutti frutti. They are delicious, crumble in mouth and melt in mouth, they release exotic flavors of butter and added fruits within, as you relish them! We can make these Tutti Frutti Biscuits pretty simple at home. There are many variations we can bring in but I have used the simple plain version.

Tutti Frutti, are papaya cubed and candied into various colors like green, red and yellow. They are widely used in sweets, cookies, cakes, and ice cream. It gives a nice sweet and slightly crunchy taste to the dishes. This version of Tutti Frutti Biscuits is pretty straight forward. Generally we add custard powder and enrich with cashew or almond nuts along with tutti fruti, but here I have given a plain version of just using tutti frutti without custard powder and nuts. Also I made these cookies in Pressure Cooker without using conventional oven.

Pressure Cooker Method:

Baking recipes can be made using pressure cooker itself. First, we have to add fine sand or salt on bottom of the pressure cooker and heat the cooker in medium flame for 10 mins. We should not put the whistle or gasket on the lid. Also we need to keep a perforated plate or a flat bowl upside down. The main reason for keeping this is that the baking tray or vessel in which we place the cookies should not touch the sand/salt directly. So I have kept a flat bowl upside down and placed the baking tray. Place the cookies in a vessel lined with baking sheet and place it inside the cooker, and close the cooker with lid and cook in medium-low flame for 15 mins. Keep checking the cookies in regular intervals to make sure the cookies are not burnt.

I have published Eggless Mawa Cake, Eggless Pistachio cake and Ragi Banana Cake for you to try and enjoy Pressure cooker baking.

Video Version of making Tutti Frutti Cookies

How to cook easy Tutti Frutti Biscuits using Pressure cooker ?

(For the detailed step by step instructions along with pictures and more details, please scroll down further to Steps section below)

1. In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar and beat it with a electric hand mixer or a whisk till the mixture is fluffy.
2. Mix Vanilla essence, cardamom powder and tutti frutti and fold together.
3. Then add maida 1/2 cup at a time, and gently fold everything together. Mix everything together so that i can form a dough.
4. Take the cookie dough and make it in the shape of a cylinder like a log. Wrap the cookie dough with a cling wrap and place it in refrigerator for an hour.
5. After 1 hour, Keep a Pressure cooker on medium flame. Add 2 cups of salt or fine sand. Also we need to keep a perforated plate or a flat bowl upside down. The main reason for keeping this is that the baking tray or vessel in which we place the cookies should not touch the sand/salt directly. So I have kept a flat bowl upside down. Now Close the pressure cooker with the lid. We should not put the whistle or gasket on the lid. Let the cooker gets heated in medium flame for 10 mins
6. While the pressure cooker is getting pre-heated, take out the refrigerated cookie dough and using a sharp knife cut into 1/2″ pieces. Place the cookie pieces in a baking sheet lined tray or a steel or aluminium vessel.
7. Keep the flame medium-low and place the baking tray on top of the perforated plate or upside down bowl. Close the cooker with the lid. Again we should not put gasket and whistle. Let the cookies get baked inside the pressure cooker for atleast 12-15 mins.
8. Once the cookies are light brown and crispy, Take out the vessel from the cooke and let it cool down for couple of minutes. Then gently take out the cookies and place it on the cooling rack.

How to cook Tutti Frutti Biscuits using Oven?

1. Pre-Heat the oven at 350 Deg F or 170 Deg C
2. Bake the Biscuits for 10 minutes

Notes:

1. While baking the biscuit will expand. Hence please spread the biscuits in the pressure by giving the space between the  biscuits to expand.
2. We can use whole wheat flour instead of maida to make this more healthier. Also instead of white sugar we can use brown
3. We can also use 1/2 cup of custard powder (vanilla is preferable)
4. Also we can chop cashews / almonds finely and add it to the flour.
5. If we are not able to make a dough, we can sprinkle little milk at a time and make it to a dough.
6. Resting for an hour in refrigerator is mandatory and that will help the cookies not to crumble.
7. We can add rose essence instead of vanilla essence

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Arachuvitta Sambar – A Traditional method to make Sambar

It is a traditional method and an authentic way to make sambar in Tamil Nadu. ‘Arachuvitta‘ in Tamil means ‘Freshly Ground’. Freshly ground sambar masala gives fresh aroma, texture and the sambar tastes very good than the sambar made with readymade sambar powder. When we need to cook sambar in larger quantities we usually prefer making it using Arachuvitta sambar method as it  gives more quantities than the sambar made using readymade Sambar Powder .

Different ways to make Arachuvitta Sambar

Arachuvitta Sambar | Sambar with Fresh Ground Masala can be done in two ways. Both the ways are similar with just one variation of adding coconut. If you are making Sambar as a daily routine, then we don’t need to add coconut every time. Adding coconut definitely make the sambar much more richer, both in terms of taste and calories.  I prefer adding coconut when making sambar using Radish or Vengaya Sambar (Shallots) . I have given the video version of both ways. It’s your choice to make this sambar with /without coconut

Other different ways to make Sambar

Sambar can be made in many different ways. The sambar being made in Karnataka  is different from what we make in Tamil Nadu.  My MIL usually add multiple veggies in the sambar to make it much healthier. Please check out the recipes of different types of sambar

• Ulli Sambar
• Methi Sambar
• Hotel Sambar
• Radish Sambar
• Spring Onion Sambar
• Udipi Sambar
• Kadamba Sambar Sadam

The most easiest and quick ways to make the Sambar is using readymade sambar powder. We can make Sambar Powder at home and store it in airtight container. I always do that regularly.

Video Version of Arachuvitta Sambar | Sambar with Fresh Ground Masala with Coconut

Video Version of Arachivitta Sambar | Sambar with Fresh Ground Masala without Coconut

How to Make Arachuvitta Sambar ?

(For the detailed step by step instructions along with pictures and more details, please scroll down further to Steps section below)

1. Take toor dal in a vessel. Add turmeric powder and water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles or until it is mushy.
2. Soak tamarind in warm water for 10 mins and extract the juice and set it aside
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the grinding ingredients other than coconut and fry them till the dal turns light brown color. Cool the roasted ingredients and take it to mixer jar and add grated coconut and grind them to a fine paste and set it aside
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Then add green chili and curry leaves and saute for few seconds. Finally add shallots and saute in oil till translucent
5. Now add tomato along with other veggies and saute for 2 mins. Add water and cook the veggies till they are half done
6. When the veggies are half-done, add tamarind extract along with salt and asafoetida and allow the tamarind to boil till its raw smell goes off
7. When the raw smell of tamarind goes off, add mashed dal and mix well. Allow the sambar to boil for a minute. Add ground paste and stir well. Add water to adjust the consistency of sambar
8. Boil the sambar in medium flame for 2 mins and garnish with coriander leaves and switch off the flame
9. Serve the delicious Arachuvitta Sambar | Sambar with Fresh Ground Masala with hot steaming rice along with ghee and relish this yummy sambar

Notes

1. You can make this sambar without shallots / onions. For festival we used to make sambar but without onion (no onion – no garlic)
2. You can add the vegetables of your choice in the Sambar. The common vegetables are Brinjal, Lady’s Finger, Drumstick, Potato, Raw Banana, Carrot, Capscium, etc., You can choose the vegetables that you like and use it.
3. Make sure that Drumstick is cooked completely before you add Tamarind. Drumstick won’t cook nicely in Tamarind water.

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