Mint Chutney


1 cup cilantro leaves
6 mint leaves
1/4 cup cashew nuts
1 tsp asafoetida
3 green chillies
4 cloves of garlic
salt
12 - 15 curry leaves
1 tsp jeera
juice of 1/2 lemon

Add everything to a mixer except the lemon juice and add sufficient water and grind it all together. Add the lemon juice and mix it.

Tastes great on kebabs, broiled fish or fried paneer.

Urundai Kozhambu (Lentil Balls in Tamil Curry) 

Ingredients

Lentil balls 

1. 1/4 cup thuvaram paruppu soaked in water for 1 hour
2. 1/4 cup kadala paruppu soaked in water for 1 hour
3. 1 tsp sombu 
4. 3 dried red chillies or cayenne 
5. 2 tsp oil 
6. 1 small onions finely chopped
7. a bunch of cilantro 
8. salt 

Grind the first four ingredients in to a rough paste. Add the onions, cilantro,  and salt and make them in to small 2 inch size balls. 

Reserve one of these for the gravy

Steam them in a pressure cooker for 12 minutes in a lightly oiled plate.

Kozhambu

1. 1 tsp mustard seeds 
2. 1 tsp jeera 
3. 1 tsp sombu
4. 5 - 10 small onions finely chopped 
5. 5- 7 garlic pods sliced 
6. 1 tomato
7. 1/2 tsp turmeric
8. 2 tsp coriander powder
9. 2 tsp chilli powder 
10. 1 tomato 
11. 2 tsp tamarind paste
12. coconut cream 1/2 - 1 cup 
13. 20 curry leaves 
14. good pinch asafoetida 
15. 1/2 lemon juice 
16. 3 tbsp oil 

Heat oil in a skillet. Add mustard, cumin and sombu and roast until they crackle. Add curry leaves, asafoetida, garlic and roast for a minute. Add the onions and cook till caramelized for 7 min. Add the spices and roast for 30 seconds. 

Now add the chopped tomato and cook until mushy. Now add the reserved lentil mixture. Add 2 cups water and the tamarind paste and cook for 10 min. Oil should float on the top. Now add the coconut cream and cook for 4 - 5 min. Add the lentil balls and cook for another 4 min. Finish with curry leaves and a good squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve warm with rice and ghee. 

Tomato Pickle (Thakkali Thokku)

Sweet, savory, tangy, sour, chewy: everything comes together in this well balanced thakkali thokku. Every ingredient listed below is very important for the perfect balance of flavors. If you don't want to buy asafoetida or don't have it handy, squeeze half a juice of lemon. The flavor profiles are very different but still tasty.

Ingredients

5 ripe and juicy tomatoes
1 large red onion (using shallots will not caramalize as much as a red onion)
1 tsp fenugreek powder (roast fenugreek and grind it to a fine powder)
1 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp sesame oil
6 tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 turmeric powder
1-2 tsp red chilli powder
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp urad lentils
10 cloves of garlic
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 tsp jaggery (if the tomatoes are not sweet)

Heat the sunflower oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and urad lentils. Wait until they crackle. Add the garlic and stir for 1 min. now add the finely chopped onion and let it cook on medium high for about 6 - 8 min. Allowing it to caramelize will deepen the flavor of the entire pickle. When it looks slightly dehydrated, add the tomatoes and curry leaves. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida and roast for 30 - 45 seconds. Now let it cook down for 20 min. Keep stirring it at medium high throughout. You should see it release a lot of liquid in the beginning, then slowly mashed and blending together and eventually the oil will start floating to the sides. this is an indication that its fully cooked. 2 - 3 min before it is fully done, add the fenugreek powder and stir well. Add salt and remove from heat.

Hold a glass jar until running hot water for 2 min. Shake it dry and keep it ready to store the pickle.
Adjust the pickle for salt and sugar. If it is not sweet enough to balance the spice, add a tsp of jaggery and mix well.

Now pour this in to the jar through a funnel. It will be thick and chunky. Once all of it is in the jar, add 1 - 2 tsp of sesame oil which will not only preserve it but elevate its flavors.

So delicious with dosais. But good with almost anything! Try it with fresh goat cheese.

Fermentation and Dosais

Dosais, paniyarams and everything in between

I enjoy dosais and idlys. The heat and humidity of the tropical belt is great for promoting bacterial growth to ensure the batter is fully fermented. However I cannot rely on it where I live now. But I have a jar of living sourdough that I diligently maintain for my weekly sourdough fix. I mix a little of it with the rice and lentils and I get the same results as I would in Tamil Nadu.

Rice and lentil sourdough batter

3 cups parboiled rice

1 cup whole urad lentils

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

2 tbsp sourdough starter at room temperature

Soak the rice in hot water for 3 hours. Soak urad lentils and fenugreek in hot water for 3 hours. Grind them together until the mixture is velvety smooth and is not grainy. I use Vitamix for 5-7 min on medium to get this consistency. Add 2 tbsp of sourdough starter made with any flour. My sourdough is from all-purpose flour.  Let it ferment in a container that is ajar for 6 - 12 hours. Make sure you leave enough room in the container for new life to form and swell.

Uthappam/Dosai

1 cup dosai batter
2 tsp water
1/2 tsp salt
oil for roasting

Mix salt and water in the batter. The batter should be fermented and feel light for the volume. Using a well seasoned cast iron pan will yield the best roasted dosais. Heat the cast iron pan and add a tsp of sunflower oil. Wait until the pan is very hot and almost smoking. Pour 1/3 of the cup of the batter on to the hot pan. Spread it a little with the laddle to have thin crisp dosais.

If you are making a uthappam, do not spread it much. You want it to be thick and fluffy in the middle like a pancake. Sprinkle chopped onions, cilantro and green chillies on top and close it with a lid for 1 min. Then turn the side and let it crisp on both sides before removing from the pan.

To rose and cardamom

I am happy to be finally doing this. I grew up in south of India in a house full of great cooks. I was inundated with tasting notes, flavor profiles, cooking techniques and lots and lots of good food.

Spices and coconut were always in abundance! The combination of spices for each and every recipe is well established, treasured and is treated as family heirloom. Over the years, I have been recipe testing without the spices and adding them slowly to bring in each of the missing flavors and balance. The king of all spices is cardamom.

Cardamom is the smell of celebration if you are ever in the south. Crushed green cardamom floating in milk & rice pudding, black cardamom pods popping out in very orange kesari, small pods floating in gulab jamun's syrup, or the happy accidental bite of cardamom in a ladoo. It's delicate earthy sweet flavor is intoxicating. But what I have here elevates cardamom even more with its beautiful floral subtleness: rose with cardamom. Easiest way to use this in dishes is to make a syrup.

Rose-cardamom syrup

⅓ cup sugar

⅓ cup water

10 pods cardamom cracked open and crushed (leave the husks out)

10 dried roses

Heat the sugar and water until melted. Add the cardamom pods, rose buds and heat on medium for 2 min. Remove from heat. Place a storage jar until hot running water for 2 min. This is to ensure the jar and the contents are at the same temperature, so it can be preserved for 1-2 months. Pour the hot mixture in to the jar and leave it in room temperature until it cools down completely. Store with an airtight lid. This will last 60 days in the fridge.This syrup opens up so many possibilities. Here are a few delectable ways to enjoy this:

1. Mix 2 tsp to mango milkshake. The combination of mangoes and cardamom is well known in south of India, but the addition of rose makes it blissfully satisfying. I would drink this for every meal if I could. 
2. Pour a tsp on a scoop of strawberry ice cream. Strawberries and rose, another great combination, with the cardamom, even better!
3. Coat a biscuit with the syrup for a tasty treat. 

Rose Mango Milkshake

1 very ripe mango
2 tsp rose-cardamom syrup
4 blanched almonds
1 cup full fat milk

Blend all of this together until velvety smooth. Add more milk if the mango is fibrous.

Coconut Cardamom Panna Cotta

250ml full fat coconut cream
1.5 sheets of platinum leaf gelatin
40g sugar
5 dried rose buds
5 cardamom pods crushed

Soak the gelatin sheets in ice cold water for 10 min until it softens. Heat the coconut cream in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Add the rose buds, cardamom pods and sugar and mix well until the sugar is fully melted. Remove from heat. Mix the gelatin sheets and cover it and keep it aside for 30 min. The rose and cardamom flavors should be fully incorporated. Pass this through a strainer and place it in ramekins coated with coconut oil. Let it set in the refrigerator for 3 - 5 hours. It can stay up to a week.

When removing, place the ramekin in a container with hot water. the coconut oil coating the ramekin will melt and loosen the panna cotta. Use a butter knife to help release it on to a plate. Serve it with coconut flakes.

Enjoy your weekend. I am going to make another batch of this delicate syrup before it runs out.