Jeera Aloo / Potatoes flavoured with Cumin

Jeera aloo reminds me of my initial days after wedding , I used to make this dish quite often as it was a very easy simple dish and one of S favorite. Jeera aloo, some variety rice and dal, this was one combination that used to appear on almost every weekend , a couple of years back. Some of my relatives also found out how that was my standard menu when guests visited us too. So if you are new to cooking, and want to impress somebody, this one's for you. ;)

Jeera Aloo

Ingredients

 Serves - 4
 Spice Level - Moderately Spicy

Potato - 5 Large, chopped into medium sized pieces.
Onions - 1 Large , finely chopped
Mustard - 1 Tspn
Jeera - 3 Tbspn
Green chilli - 4 , chopped well
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tspn
Garam Masala - 1 Tspn
Coriander leaves - a handful, chopped
Oil - 2 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste [ 1 Tbspn or so]


Method

Add the potato pieces in a cooker and 1 cup water.Pressure cook the potato pieces for 5 minutes. Keep the flame on high , after one whistle [ will take 3 minutes for first whistle], move the flame to low and switch off after 2 more minutes. The potatoes need to cooked such that it doesn't get mushy when you make the jeera aloo. Open the lid once the cooker is cooled, drain the remaining water left in the vessel and keep the potatoes aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the mustard, let it splutter, add jeera, and let it roast. Add onions, green chilli and saute till onions are translucent.Add the turmeric powder and garam masala, little salt and cook till the raw smell of masala vanish. Now lower the flame, add in the cooked potato pieces, remaining salt and mix well with the onion-masala mix well. Stir the potatoes well so that they are wrapped well with the masala. Saute the potatoes in kadai for 2-3 more minutes. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Switch off flame.

This goes very well with pulkas/rotis or as a side dish for rice and dal


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Easy Chettinadu No-curry powder Sambar

You can prepare sambar for idli/dosai/idiyappams in 15 minutes . Really :). This is usually my comfort food - Idli +Chettinadu sambar. When I have been deprived of Indian food for long during vacations , and get back home, this is first thing I make. This sambar is extremely simple and soothing. A week without this combination is enough for me and S to start longing for it.Now on to the recipe.


Easy Chettinadu No-curry powder Sambar

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Quite Spicy

1.  Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
2.  Tomatoes - 2 Large - chopped into medium sized pieces
3.  Potatoes - 2 Medium - chopped into medium sized pieces
4.  Brinjal -  1 Large - Chopped into 5 pieces6
5.  Green chilli - 6 slit lengthwise, chopped in half
6.  Onion - 1 Large - chopped well
7.  Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
8.  Jeera - 1 Tspn
9.  Turmeric - 1/4 Tspn
10.  Water 2 cups

Salt - to taste
Thin Tamrind extract - 2Tbspn [optional]

To temper

Oil - 2 Tbspn
Mustard - 1 Tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig


Method

Take a pressure cooker and toss in all ingredients from 1-10. The water level must be around 1 inch above the vegetables/dal.Mix well. Pressure cook for 15-20 minutes, moving the flame from high to sim after the first whistle.Let the cooker cool off. Open the lid ,heat the cooker containing sambar ,add salt and tamarind extract [if using] and stir well with a ladle.Let the sambar boil.Add more water if needed and adjust consistency according to your needs.Some people like the sambar to be more loose. Also the dal will be mostly mashed well after 20 minutes of pressure cooking.

Meanwhile heat 2 Tbspn oil in a small pan. Add mustard , once it splutters add urad dal. Once the urad dal browns, add curry leaves and switch off flame. Add this tempering to the sambar and boil for 2 more minutes.Switch off flame and transfer to serving bowl.

This is the sambar we make for idli/dosai/pongal/idyappams/vadai.

Note

1. Tamarind extract is optional. Since i have added two large tomatoes, I haven't used tamarind extract. If you would like it to be more tangy, you may use it.



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Medhu vadai / Lentil Fritters

Wishing you all a very happy belated Tamil New year. So on to some festival food. :)
Medhu vadai or Ulundu vadai is a standard item in all South Indian breakfast specials. It is the absolute favorite of most Indians I have come across. I hardly know people who don't like vadai. If I am having breakfast in any restaurant in south India, this is sure to be one of my orders. In my household, this is sure to make an appearance in almost all special occasions . I made this a couple of days back for Tamil New year. :)

This is one of the special items that took me some time to get the hang of it. I still cannot say I have mastered it. :) . It needs practice to get the round shape with the hole , you should also know what consistency the batter has to be and a few other pain points.

Medhu Vadai

Ingredients

Makes roughly around 20 vadais

Urad dal - 1 cup
Raw Rice - 2 Tbspn
Toor Dal - 1 tbspn
Salt - as per taste

Onion - 1 Large finely chopped
Green chilli - 5 finely chopped
Curry leaves - 2 Sprigs , crushed well
Coriander leaves - 2 Tbspn , chopped well.

Oil - for deep frying - 2 cups

Method

Soak the urad dal, raw rice, toor dal in water for 45 minutes, water level must be well above the dal in the container. Drain excess water and grind it in your mixer with as little water as possible. This step is very important, add as much water as needed for your mixer blade to rotate well  without getting jammed. if you are able to grind without any water - great!. Max you can add maybe 2 -3 Tbspn of water.Grind till you get a smooth fluffy texture of the dal.

Transfer to a container. Add salt, and the chopped onions,green chilli,curry leaves and coriander leaves to it. Mix well.Now the dough is ready for the vadais.

Heat oil in the kadai to fry the vadais.Now take a polythene sheet and wipe it with water. Have a bowl of water by your side - jus to dip you hands to get rid of the dough in between frying and making the vadai shape.

Pinch a medium sized ball of the dough, and place it on the polythene sheet. With you index finger , make a hole in the center of the dough and get the shape as in the picture above.Once done transfer the dough from the polythene sheet [must retain the shape you have made and must not collapse] to your right hand and drop in hot oil.The oil must be moderately hot. Let the vadais fry for a couple of minutes in medium heat, then turn it over to get the other side done. Drain on absorbent paper.

Serve hot with chutney/sambar. Idly sambar and vadai is the perfect Tamil breakfast. Nothing can beat this classic trio. :)

Notes

1. If you are not able to shape the dough as said , and it collapses, you might have used excess water while grinding. The dough needs to be tight for vadais to hold the shape.If you run into this, dont worry, just drop them like bondas, it will still taste good. :). The first time I attempted vadais, thats what I did. ;). As a remedy, you can try freezing the batter for a couple of hours and then try to shape it [This works, i have tried this]. Another fix might be to powder 2 tbspn of aval [poha/flattened rice] and mix it along with the dough, freeze it for 2 hours and try again. [My Paati's suggestion]

2. If your vadais are absorbing too much oil, again the reason is , you may have used excess water while grinding. Adding a couple of tbspn of rice flour might help in this case. I have already added raw rice to the ingredient list due to this.

3. So the key point is to make sure to use as little water as possible while grinding.

 
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