Gajar Halwa on a Winter Evening

doctorfell — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:59:20 +0000

A mellow golden light hangs over Bangalore in winter, one that makes you want to sit out on balconies and roof-tops with friends and family eating hot gajar halwa and drinking cups of steaming ginger tea.

So I made gajar halwa today for the first time. I cannot claim credit for the recipe which I got from here – I followed it almost to the letter, with exactly half of all the ingredients. But with one notable exception – which gave it that special taste that Mummy always manages to give it making hers the world’s tastiest gajar halwa!

Since the recipe is available to all, I’m only making a note here of the exceptions:

I used the red, juicy, sweetish carrots (I like to think of them as ‘winter’ carrots) instead of the brighter, orange, not-necessarily-sweet carrots you get in summer and most other times.
Instead of cooking the grated carrots and milk together until the milk dries up (as the recipe advises), I cooked the grated carrots alone first until all the water evaporated and they started smelling richly sweet instead of sickly sweet – then added milk and followed the recipe (this tip from my mother gives the halwa a wonderful, roasted feeling that is different from the traditional halwa)
I omitted the use of raisins which I hate and used cashew nuts and almonds
I added some crushed elaichi (cardamom) for extra flavour

Mukkala Pulusu

doctorfell — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:23:58 +0000

Since Deepa is far away in London, and into the second month of her pregnancy and since we can’t all be with her and feed her as we would like to, I’m going to do the next best thing – share a recipe (since her craving at the moment happens to be for south-indian food) and hope that either she or her doting husband will take the time and trouble to cook it.

Mukkala Pulusu translates literally into “Pieces – Stew” and happens to be a stew of a variety of cubed vegetables. I like this definition of a stew which explains exactly what it is, “A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, beans, peppers and tomatoes etc.), meat, poultry, sausages and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, wine, stock, and beer are also common. Seasoning and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (simmered, not boiled), to allow flavors to combine”.

The reason I happened to think of this for Deepa is that I think it is exceptionally suited to her condition – it is hot and tasty, is easy on the stomach because it isn’t heavily spiced and does not include dal, is extremely nutritious because you can add a variety of vegetables to it and mix in tamarind (which supposedly reduces the nausea experienced during pregnancy) and jaggery or gur (rich in iron)!

Here is how you make it:

Ingredients

Mixed, cubed vegetables (2 tomatoes, 1/2 bottle gourd, 1 brinjal, 1 onion or 8-10 shallots, 1 drum-stick, 2-3 ladies-fingers)
About 15 gms of tamarind
35 gms. grated or powdered gur or jaggery
A pinch of turmeric powder and salt and red chilli powder to taste
3 tsp. besan or gram flour

For the tadka or seasoning: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 1 tsp. urad dal, 1 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds, 5-6 methi or fenugreek seeds, a pinch of hing or asafoetida, a few curry leaves and 1-2 whole red chillies

Method

Take the vegetables, turmeric, tamarind and salt in a pressure cooker with just enough water to cover the lot and give it one whistle on a high flame. Switch off and allow the cooker to cool. When all the steam is released, open the cooker and keep aside. In a bowl, take two tbsp. of water and mix in the besan and red chilli powder and add this mixture to the contents of the cooker (if besan is added directly to the vegetables, it tends to get lumpy). Add the gur and let the mixture simmer. After about 10 mins. prepare the seasoning on another burner – heat the oil in a tadka pan and when hot, add all the tadka ingredients starting with the dal and methi seeds. Pour the seasoning into the simmering stew and take the stew off the fire in 2-3 mins. The amount of water used to cook the vegetables in can be adjusted to suit the consistency you prefer – the besan adds a certain thickness to the stew in the absence of dal. Garnishing with fresh sprigs of coriander is optional.

The Puissant Pachadi

doctorfell — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:23:05 +0000

A pachadi or what would more commonly be called a chutney, is the most potent part of a regular Andhra meal. My mother-in-law can make a delicious pachadi out of almost anything, and this normally ends up being the highlight of any meal. Pachadis can be enjoyed with steaming hot rice, mixed in with generous dollops of ghee or with the usual tiffin fare of idlis, dosas, upma and so on. Although small, in terms of serving size, Pachadis have the power to both enliven the most humdrum fare as well as to embellish the more elaborate festive spread. They’re also normally loaded with essential vitamins and minerals and, when served with breakfast, wake one up as little else can!

Here are 2 variants of one of my favourites – the delicious, tangy tomato pachadi! Both versions taste good with rice or tiffin – the first is one that requires a little more time and effort but lasts up to two weeks in an air-tight container while the second, which we call the ‘instant version’ at home, requires less time and effort, lasts up to two days and needs refrigeration.

Longer Lasting Tomato Pachadi

Longer-Lasting Tomato Pachadi

Requires: 8 medium sized fresh country tomatoes roughly chopped, 75 grams tamarind, 1 cup groundnut oil, 3 tsp mustard, 4 whole red chillies, 2 tsp. asafoetida or hing, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup red chilli powder, 1 tbsp roasted methi seed powder (seeds to be roasted to a nice chocolaty colour and ground fine)

Heat oil in a kadhai, add mustard, hing and red chillies; when the seeds start to sputter, add quartered tomatoes; when the tomatoes become watery, add tamarind and cover, cook on a medium flame, when the mixture turns pulpy, add salt and red chilli powder and mix in well, then add roasted methi powder; mix in, simmer for a few minutes and take off flame; Store in air-tight jar on cooling.

Instant Tomato Pachadi

Requires: 4-5 medium sized fresh country tomatoes roughly chopped, Oil for the seasoning (about 3-4 tbsp), 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp mustard, a generous pinch of hing, 7-8 methi seeds, 10 whole red chillies, 1 or 2 fresh green chillies, salt to taste, 30 gms tamarind soaked in water for a couple of hours to soften, some sprigs of fresh coriander)

Instant Tomato Pachadi

Cook tomatoes in a kadhai in a tsp of oil till they are nice and pulpy (juicy but not watery); when done, take off flame and prepare seasoning – in a small popu or tadka pan, heat remaining oil and when hot add urad dal, mustard, hing, methi seeds, red and green chillies (split green chillies before adding to hot oil to prevent them from bursting); blend the seasoning together with salt and tamarind until you have a fine paste; add tomato pulp and coriander and run the mixer again for just a few seconds so you get a pachadi that has a nice chunky texture.

Note: We like to use the Everest Tikhalal (Spicy Red) red chilli powder for taste and colour to our pachadis. If you’d like just colour but less spice, you could try Everest Kashmiri Lal.

Sunnundalu

doctorfell — Thu, 21 May 2009 10:08:57 +0000

As rain beat down heavily outside and Bujji slept longer than usual, making the most of the cozy weather, we suddenly hit upon the idea of making Sunnundalu – delicious laddoos made with just 3 ingredients in under 20 minutes. We started by dry-roasting urad dal in a kadhai on a medium flame until it turned slightly brown. The trick to knowing when to stop is not in the colour but in the aroma of freshly roasted dal, which, mingled with the scent of rain to create a heady mix. Once the dal was done, we added grated jaggery to it and ran the mixture in the blender until it turned into a grainy powder. Warm, melted ghee was then poured into the mixture to make about 12 regular sized, hand-rolled laddoos. After the traditional offering to the Gods which was our way of thanking Him for the belated April-showers, we hurriedly enjoyed this wonderful sweet. The laddoos can also be stored in an air-tight container for upto a week – if one can manage to make them last that long!!

Ingredients

Urad Dal: 1 cup
Grated Jaggery: 100 gms.
Melted Ghee: 1/2 cup

Notes:

urad dal, skinned and split = white lentils = skinned and split black lentils Notes: These are black lentils (or urad dal) that have been split and skinned. They’re much milder than unskinned Substitutes: urad dal, split (These are chewier than the skinned versions.) – Source