Kumbakonam Kadapa | Side-dish for Idli/Dosa

Chutneys and Sambar may be the most popular accompaniments for Idlis and Dosa. But there are many other tasty options as well like Chidambaram Kathrikkai Gothsu, Thiruvarur Kathrikkai Gothsu (a milder version ), Tomato Gothsu, Madras Vadai curry, Kumbakonam Kadapa to name a few. In fact, there are various varieties in making Kadapa itself. For example, in Chidambaram the Kadapa is mild and is made without the spices like fennel, cinnamon, cloves and coconut. While the Kumbakonam Kadapa is relatively elaborate in preparation and more flavorful. It is interesting to note how the "same" recipe varies from one locality to the other.

Here is one more interesting information on regional food practice that I am sharing - In and around Salem, they serve the previous night's Naatu Kozhi(Chicken) Kuzhambu as a side for Idli/Dosa breakfast. You may ask what is unique about this Kuzhambu... Before the days of refrigerators, they used to keep the Kozhi Kuzhambu in a mannsatti (earthern ware) and cover it with a cloth and let it rest on the rooftop overnight. The night's chillness protects the food from going bad and also imparts more flavor to the dish. This Kozhi Kuzhmabu is said to suitably compliment the piping hot idlis.

Now to the Kadapa madness :)

Preparation Time: 5-7 Minutes
Cooking Time: 30 mintues
Yield: 3-4 Persons

You will need:
1 cup moong dal (spilt and dehusked green gram)
1 medium sized Potatoes
1 green chillies
1 Onion
1/2 Tomato (Optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Juice of half a lime
Fresh Coriander
Salt to taste

To grind
1/4 Cup grated Coconut
1 tsp poppy seeds 
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 green chillies
1 inch piece of ginger

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 clove
1 small piece of cinnamon
A pinch of Asafetida
few curry leaves

Procedure

Soak the poppy seeds in 2 tbsp of water. Peel and dice the potatoes to small pieces.

Cook the moong dal and potatoes together with 2 cups of water until tender and soft.



Grind the soaked poppy seeds, coconut, green chillies and ginger to a fine paste.

Chop the onions, tomatoes and coriander. Slit the green chillies.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, bay leaf , clove and cinnamon. 

When the spices begin to change color add the asafetida and curry leaves.

Add the onions and slit green chilly and saute for couple of minutes. 



Mix in salt and turmeric powder. Add tomatoes and ground paste cook until the raw smell disappears.



Stir in the boiled moong and potato mixture. Add 1/4 cup of water if its dry.



Bring it to a boil and turn off. Add chopped coriander and lime juice before you serve!



We had a gratifying breakfast of Dosas, Kadapa and Aval nenaichathu (Sweet aval)!

Red Riceflakes(Aval/Poha) Upma

This Tamilnadu style aval upma is a very simple, flavorful and quick to prepare item. In less than ten minutes you can get this on serving table if you have some grated fresh coconut ready.
Moreover, its a wonderful food for those who are health conscious. And the red rice flakes are even better if you are able to grab this from your local store. You will need the thin variety of poha for this recipe.

Preparation time : 5 Minutes

Cooking time : 5 Minutes

Total : 10 Minutes

Serves 2
You will need:
2 Cups of Red rice flakes (Aval/Poha)
1 Red onion ,chopped
1 green chilly, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1/4 cup of grated fresh coconut
2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad dal
A pinch of asafetida/hing
Salt to taste




Heat oil in a pan and put the mustard seeds and hing. Once it begins to splutter add the urad dal and fry it in low heat till it appears to change color.



Now rinse the rice flakes once and drain them in a colander. Do not soak and
Add the green chillies and ginger followed by onion. Fry till the onions appear translucent. Add salt.




Add the rice flakes and give a good stir for a minute until all the flavors marry together.




Turn off the heat and sprinkle the fresh coconut.
I promise. Its a no-fail recipe. Why not serve this for your guests who visit during tea time? Also, its an easy-peasy breakfast idea for busy mornings!

Vathal kuzhambu

Vidhya Kumar- Chirpy, sweet, tamil Iyer and an amazing cook. That is how I should describe Vidhya for this post. I met Vidhya last year when I was studying in America. One of the finest south Indian vegetarian cuisines is from tamil brahmins kitchen. And my friend Vidhya is a master at it. Everytime I tried making at home, I would not get the same taste as how Vidhya makes. So one day she made it for me and it seemed quite simple. The secret lies in the sambhar powder and the amount of water we add.

Vathal kuzhambu-just the utter mention of it should makes one drool.

A spicy, tangy and hot gravy with some sun dried vegetables in it. Vathal (sun dried vegetables) can be of any sort but the most popular ones are manalthakkali (black nightshade in english!) , sundakai (turkey berry) and dried mango. Thanks to Vidhya for making it for me :)

You will need :

1 golf ball sized tamarind pulp

2 cups of water

3 tbsp of Sambar powder ( recipe below)

2-3 dried red chillies

3 tbsp of manalthakkali vathal

A pinch of asafoetedia

1 tsp mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Sambar Powder recipe from Vidhya

Red chilli - 6 cups (can be any cup size..the ratio of other ingredients should be added accordingly)
Dhaniya - 4 cups
Jeera - 1 cup
Black pepper - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1/4 cup
Methi seeds - 1/4 cup

Dry roast and grind them together. 

Tip: This is ammas 'mysore podi' which is all purpose. Try them on rasam, sambhar and veggies as well.

Begin by soaking the tamarind pulp in the water.

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add the mustard seeds.

Break the dried red chillies into smaller pieces and toss them into the oil.

Once it starts to splutter add a pinch of asafoetedia.

Add the manalthakkali vathal, curry leaves and the sambar podi and let it roast for a minute.

Mash the tamarind pulp and extract the tangy tamarind water from the pulp. Discard the pulp. Pour the tamarind water in the spice mixture.

Add salt and let it boil in low heat for 15- 20 mins until the gravy thickens. It should be ready when it is thick and the oil floating over the gravy.

Smear few tbsps of this gravy on piping hot rice and roasted papad to complete a hearty dinner.

It tastes even better the next day. And stays well in the refrigerator for upto a week!

Pineapple Rasam!

Series of incidents kept me away from cooking.Firstly, I was away for a week's trip to Kolkata and Gangtok. And came back with a "BANG"..I fell down and got a bruised hip and was bedridden for the following week. But yesterday,I was talking to one of my good ol' friend Ajay. He was boasting about the pineapple rasam he made for lunch.While he was sharing the recipe with me,I wanted to try it right away. So today,ignoring my lingering pain, I made this rasam. Just the first sip, brought me back into life. This rasam is really a keeper. Pineapple would have never tasted better in anything else.Making rasam is an art,it doesn't always taste the same. A perfect concoction of right amount of tartness with mellowing sweetness and the right blend of spices.Pineapple rasam is just pineapple chunks in generic rasam.That sounds simple,but it tastes exotic!

I would not prefer having it with rice .This rasam has to be enjoyed on its own in sheer tranquility to indulge in a pine-apply experience. I'am not going to endorse further on this rasam and test your patience.So here comes the recipe..

You will need :

1 cup of chopped pineapple pieces

1 tomato

2 green chillies

1/2 cup cooked tuar dal

1 marble-sized tamarind pulp

1 tsp rasam powder(see recipe below)

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dal

A pinch of asfoteadia

1 tsp of oil

1 sprig curry leaves

Salt to taste

For rasam powder:

2 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

10 peppercorns

1 tbsp tuar dal

3 or 4 dry red chillies

Dry roast the above 5 ingredients and powder them.

Recipe for pineapple rasam..

Start off with soaking the tamarind pulp in half liter of water

Heat oil in a kadai, add asafotedia, mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add tuar dal, slit green chillies,green chillies, garlic and fry for couple of mins. Add the quartered tomato and fry for another couple of mins.

Now extract the tamarind juice, add salt, rasam powder and bring to boil. Add the cooked dal, the tadka tomato mixture. slightly crush the pineapple chunks before dropping them into the rasam. Check for salt and simmer for 5 mins.

A warm,aromatic rasam is ready to delight you!

Puli Koozhu & Mor Koozhu/Kali..

Mor Koozhu/Mor Kali

Puli Koozhu /Puli Kali

Puli(Tamarind) koozhu(pronounced 'Koolu') and Mor(Buttermilk) koozhu are also known by various other names like Rice flour upma or Kali or AmruthaPalam.These are often made in the rural side of TamilNadu...Both my grandmas make these often .Don't get decieved by the messy look of the kali..It really tastes divine!The tanginess of the buttermilk/tamarind with the perfect 'tempering' makes this kali/koozhu incredibly yummy..I love the Puli(tamarind) Koozhu better than the butter milk one..My grandma makes this by soaking the par-boiled rice for an hour and then grinding them to smooth paste.But this needs some forethought and some extra effort know?!

I could see that there are people like me who wants to make this kali/koozhu in jiffy.I'm posting the short-cut method too..

Long back ,my college senior and friend,Ajay Kumar shared with me this Quick-Mor Kali recipe.He lives in Singapore with a bunch other guys and doing his Masters in NTU,S'pore.He is the chief cook at their home and I always wonder how he manages to cook without a mixer/grinder..His cooking sans onion& garlic...But these limitations,doesn't prevents him from making the best tasting food..His roomies always show thumbs ups for the food prepared by him..Ajay is not only a good cook but also a great writer..Check him out at Tantalizing Thoughts.

Quick-Mor Kali /Mor Koozhu :

You will need :

1 Cup Rice flour

2 Cups buttermilk

3 red chillies

1 tsp mustard

1/2 tbsp channa dal

1 tsp urad dal

10 curry leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil

A pinch of Hing

In a heavy bottom vessel,mix rice flour,salt and buttermilk to form a homogenous mixture.

Heat oil in a small fry pan, add mustard and hing.Let it splutter.Add red chillies ,channa dal ,urad dal and curry leaves.Fry until the lentils are golden..

Add this tempering along with oil to the rice/buttermilk mixture.

Place the heavy bottom vessel on flame and stir constantly for 10-12 mins.When you dip your fingers in water and touch the kali ,it should not be sticky.This is the right consistency of kali.You can turn off the heat at this point.

To have the authentic 'Grammathu'(Village) feel,serve in a leaf..I used a large teak leaf to serve.Place some fried mor-milagai(Buttermilk chillies,available in large Indian grocery stores) and 'Citron pickle' (Narthangai urugai)..

The whole procedure takes only 15 mins to make this dish..

So this goes to Mahimaa's 15-minutes cooking..

Puli Koozhu or Puli Kali :

You can make this kali by simply substituting buttermilk with tamarind water in the above method..But what I'm going to show now is the elaborate method.

Here we soak the rice and then grind it to make the kali.This yields much more yummy and aromatic kali..I love the kali made in this way better than the quick method!

You will need :

1 cup par-boiled rice

1 1/2 cup water,for soaking rice

1 1/2 cup,for tamarind juice

1 small lemon sized ball of tamarind 

1/2 tbsp channa dal

1 tsp urad dal

3 red chillies

1 tsp mustard

10 curry leaves

1 tbsp oil

A pinch of Hing

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp turmeric powder

few drops of coconut oil

Soak par-boiled rice in 1.5 cups of water for 1 hour .Drain the rice and reserve 1/2 cup of the soaking water.Grind the rice with the 1/2 cup of water to a smooth paste.

Soak tamarind in 1.5 cups of water separately for 10 mins.Extract the tamarind juice from the pulp.Add the tamarind juice to the rice paste.

Add turmeric power,hing,salt.Stir well to form a lump free mixture.

Heat oil and fry mustard,red chillies,urad dal,channa dal and curry leaves.

Throw the tempering to the rice/tamarind mixture.Combine well.

Place this over medium flame and stir constantly for 10-12 mins.When you dip your fingers in water and touch the kali ,it should not be sticky.This is the right consistency of kali.You can turn off the heat at this point.

Though you can serve the kali as it is..my grandma always serve them as squares/diamonds.

Grease a tray/plate.Pour the kali and spread it evenly.

Don't forget to drizzle few drops of coconut oil over the bed of kali.This gives a very nice flavor to the kali.

Let it cool completely..

In our home,its made after dinner and allowed to cool at room temp for the whole night.The next morning,we slice them up into squares/diamonds and have them for our breakfast.

It tastes best with Idli-milagai podi and Garlic podi!

I sliced these kali when they are still hot..So it looks imperfect..

Here you can see the frim and perfectly sliced kali..

This is one dish which is always loved by everyone at our home!

I'm sure you too will love it soo much..So do try and tell me how it came..

Kali/Koozhu is orginated from the rural regions of Southern India..

So I'm sending these to Shama's 'Grammathu Kaimanam'  

I made Lisa's Mango Coconut Pancakes y'day.And it was super soft and spongy..The mango and cardamom flavors blended very well .I think I should have let it brown more..But the taste was great..The whole experience of making this pancake was fun..And eating them with my younger cousins were much more fun..They didn't even allowed me to click the pics..

They were all gone in few secs!

Thanks Lisa for the lovely recipe :)

Check out the recipe at her blog..

It goes to Tried & Tasted event hosted by Aparna which is originally started by Zlamuska.

When I saw Rak's Naan recipe (without yeast) I jumped in joy..I can't wait to try that..So I fixed her Naan recipe for dinner.The Naan turned out perfect..It was fluffy and soft.My sis devoured it ...I made Butter beans korma for the side..I don't have to depend on 'Yeast proofing' for making Naans anymore...Thanks,Raks :)

Have a happy weekend!

Authentic Chidambaram Kathirikai(Brinjal) Gosthu/Gotsu & Samba Sadham

Gosthu with hot idlis..

Kothsu/Gotsu/Gosthu/Gojju...

Every place has its own popular dish..Like how the best 'Halwa' is 'Thriunelveli Halwa'.The best Gosthu is 'Chidambaram Gosthu'. There is a stark difference between the Thiruvarur gotsu and Chidambaram gotsu. Thiruvarur version is milder and will not look like a pickle. Originally,the gosthu was made so famous by the 'Dikshithars' of Chidambaram temple.They make this Brinjal gosthu with Samba Sadham as an offering to Lord Nataraja.It tastes incredibly divine. 

Gothsu is a must-in-the-menu of every marriage that takes place in Chidambaram.

My grandma told me that Gosthu is a very old tamil recipe (may be 2000 years old) and in olden days they roast the brinjals over hot coals to make this gotsu .But nowadays the Dikshithars/Marriage caterers deep fry the whole brinjals in oil for making the Gosthu.And the gotsu looks like pickle with lots of oil on the top .If it is made by the Dikshithars ,the Gosthu sans onion.But in marriages they include pearl onions.So one can go ahead with the recipe according to their preference.

In Nataraja temple, they offer this Pepper-cumin Rice and Gothsu in 'Thonai' (leaf cups)- A very unique and delicious prasadham of Chidambaram temple.

Chidambaram Gosthu :

You will need :

6-7 Brinjals

1 cup of pearl onions  

A pinch of turmeric
1" ball of tamarind pulp

3 sprigs of curry leaves

4-5 tsp Gotsu Podi (see recipe below)

1/4 cup Oil
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tsp of grated jaggery/sugar

Salt

Recipe for Gosthu Podi :

3 tbsp of Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp of Cumin seeds

2 tbsp of Toor dal/ split pigeon peas

1/4 tsp of Fenugreek seeds

A small piece of asafoetedia, fried in a tsp of oil 

4-5 dried red Chillies

Heat a pan/kadai and dry roast them individually and grind them together to make Gothsu Podi.

Preparation of Gothsu:

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water. Peel the skin off the pearl onion. (TIP: Soak the onions in warm water for few minutes, chop off the tail and head for easier peeling)

Cut the brinjals lengthwise into thick wedges. Soak them in water to prevent discoloration.

In a kadai,heat a 1/4 of oil and add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.  Now add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes.

Drain the water and add the cut brinjals along with the curry leaves. Let the brinjals cook in the oil for 4 minutes.

In the meantime, extract the tamarind juice from the soaking pulp. Make sure the extract is concentrated. So not add additional water to it.

Pour half of the tamarind extract and sprinkle 3-4 tsp of gotsu podi. Add salt. 

Use a wooden masher and gently mash the cooked brinjal. 

At this stage, taste and check for spice/tang and salt. Add more of whatever taste is missing.

Add about 1/2 tsp of grated jaggery/sugar and 1/2 cup of water. Let it simmer for  couple of minutes.
Turn off the heat. You will see oil floating on top of the gotsu. 
This keeps well for upto a week. Excellent with idlis,dosas, pongal and especially samba sadam.

Samba Sadham/Milagu Sadham :

You will need :

1 tbsp pepper

1/2 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp ghee

2 cups of boiled rice

10 cashews,broken and fried in ghee(optional)

Salt

Dry roast the pepper and cumin seeds and coarsely powder them.

Add ghee ,salt,pepper/cumin powder and cashews to the rice .Mix well and serve with Gothsu!

Sending this picture to Gayathri's Magnificient Click contest..

Sending this samba sadham to Think Spice ..Think Pepper event ,a brainchild of Sunita which is hosted by Divya of Dilse.

Sriharivatsan of Enthaligai has passed me  'blogging with a purpose award' and 'Circle of friends' award.I'm happy that she thought of me and included me in the circle.As everyone is blogging with a purpose..i would like to pass both the awards to all my fellow blogging friends..plz pick them up :)

Have a nice day!