Seeppu Seedai - A Chettinad snack. Raw rice - 4 cups Urad dhal flour - 1 ½ cups ( udad dhal lightly dry roasted, powdered fine & sieved ) Coconut - 1 cup Ghee - 4 tsp Wash rice, soak for 1 hr, drain & spread on a cloth to dry in the shade. Powder in the mixie till fine. Dry roast it in a low fire till it becomes like “sand” ! – you should be able to draw line with it. Mix rice flour, urad dhal flour, & ghee. Take milk from coconut by adding warm water to the same. Take about 2 ½ cups of milk, if it is not sufficient, you can add some boiling water. Boil this milk with salt, add to flour mixture & knead well . Press in the seepu seedai achu into a long strip, cut into pieces of even length & fry 10 – 15 in hot oil at a time till well done. Remove to kitchen tissue, cool & store. My Chettiar friend helped me do this & the photo is posted below.
Rasa Vadai - Try it for Deepavali Lunch ! Channa dhal - 1 cup Moong dhal - 1/2 cup Udad dhal - 1/3 cup Red chillies - 4 Green chillies - 4 ( More is optional ) Oil - to deep fry Salt ,Hing , Chopped curry leaves. Coriander leaves to decorate Wash well & soak all dhals with chillies for about an hour. Strain well and grind with salt & hing to a very coarse consistency adding very little water. Add chopped curry leaves and make vadais slightly flat and deep fry the usual way we fry vadais. Remove when 3/4 done and soak in water in a basin. This removes the excess oil & helps to make it soft. Now soak the vadais in hot rasam and garnish with coriander leaves. You can also serve each vadai in a cup of rasam and decorate with coriander leaves and top it with a fried karuvadam (available in departmental stores ). Alternate toppings are fried & crushed papads or thin potato chips.
Vegetable Cutlet _ my version is slightly different ! Grate fine or mince: Beetroots - 2 medium size Carrots - 2 medium size Cauliflower - ½ medium size Fresh peas - ½ cup Boil, peel & grate; Potatoes - 3 big or 4-5 medium Grind to paste without adding water: Onions - 3 big or 4 medium Garlic - 7,8 Ginger - 2” Green chillies - to taste Cashewnuts chopped - ¼ cup Coriander leaves - ½ cup, chopped Other ingredients: Fried gram ( pottukadalai) powdered - up to 1 cup Salt, garam masala Besan - 1 tbsp Bread crumbs - 1 cup Cook the vegetables with not more than 1 tbsp water on a low fire in a closed vessel or better still microwave on Hi power, closed, for 10 mts. Boil 4 or 5 med or big potatoes, peel &grate. Mix all these & mash for homogeneous texture. Preferably micowave the ground paste , mixing little oil for 8mts hi & 8mts med (this timing varies for every microwave) Or fry on a low fire till dry. Mix this with the vegetables. Now we usually add bread crumbs or bread slices for thickening the mixture -instead of that add powdered fried gram (pottukkadalai) . Add as much powder as is necessary to get the correct consistency of shaping culets.This gives a very good taste. Add a little garam masala, salt, mix well &make cutlets. Make a thin paste of besan (¬ maida) for dipping before rolling in breadcrumbs. Shallow or deep fry, as usual. You will be surprised, how much the addition of cashewnuts, fried gram & besan paste for dipping, changes the taste of the cutlet.
Adai is coming - are you ready with avial ? 3 Different Varieties: Each family has a different recipe for adai, which is a favourite dish in many houses.It is not easy to label one particular recipe as traditional. By trying out many combinations, I have evolved my own (unconventional ?) proportion, which is certified very tasty by my friends. First recipe: Raw rice - 1 cup Boiled rice - 1 cup Gram dhal - 1 cup Tur dhal - slightly more than ½ cup Udad dhal - slightly less than ½ cup ( these two together should make 1 cup) Red chillies - 8-10 Green chillies - 4,5 Hing powder - 1 tsp Curry leaves - few (chop fine) Salt Wash & soak rice & dhals with red chillies (this imparts a nice colour to the adai) for3-4 hrs. Drain, grind, adding green chillies, hing powder & salt, to a coarse pate. Add chopped curry leaves & make adais, as usual. Finely chopped onions can be added to the dough. The photo is posted below. Muzhu Ulundu Adai (Palghat Speciality) Boied rice - 1 cup Black whole urad dhal - ½ cup (, in this, you can include 2 tsp tur dhal, not more – but , both together should be only ½ cup) Red chilli - 1 Pepper - 1 tsp Jeera - 1 tsp Hing powder - 1 tsp Curry leaves - few (chopped) salt Wash & soak rice & dhal(s) with red chilli for 2 hrs (can be less, not more). Grind coarse with salt, hing powder, adding pepper, jeera at the end, so that they are fairly coarse. Add curry leaves & make adais as usual. The photo is posted in the thread " Tips, tips, tips". It is customary to add drumstick leaves to this adai & it is called murunga ilai adai. Traditionally, it is patted with hand on a hot tawa, slightly thick, 2-3 holes made into which oil is poured & roated crisp on low fire for a long time ! Verum Arisi Adai; In this, flavour of rice stands out. Boiled rice (best is flavourful red variety, if available) - 1 cup Coconut - 2 tbsp (optional) Salt Wash & soak rice for 2 hrs. Grind coarse with salt, adding coconut, towards the end. Make adais as usual. The photo is posted in th " Tips, tips, tips" thread. It tastes very good, if drumstick leaves are added – plain is also good.
Mysore Masal Dosai - from an expert in Bangalore ! As with many other recipes, this is one of the versions of the famous Mysore Masal Dosai. Raw rice - 4 cups Urad dhal - 1 cup Gram dhal (or tur dhal) - ¼ cup. Soak for 3-4 hrs. Grind smooth & ferment for 12 hrs. Red chutney to spread: Dry red chillies – bedagi or Kashmiri chillies - 10 ( this gives the red colour . If you can’t get either, use ordinary chillies) Onion - 1 big Garlic - 3,4 (optional) Fry these lightly & make a paste with salt & water. Masala (palya): Potatoes - 250 gms – boil, peel & crumble Onions - 250 gms - cut into thin long pieces. Green chillies - 3,4 (slit) Ginger - 1 tsp, finely chopped Curry leaves - few, chopped Coriander leaves - few, chopped To temper in 2 tsp oil: Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp In a kadai, heat oil, add the tempering ingredients, ginger, green chillies & onion. Fry till onion becomes transparent. Add potatoes, salt., both leaves & mix well. Some like to add little sugar. Assembling: These dosas are made using a mixture of ghee & oil. Heat a flat tava. Smear with oil & water on the tava & spread a thin dosa. Pour the oil-ghee mixture around it. When the bottom starts turning golden, in just half of it, smear the red chutney lightly. Wait for a minute for chutney to cook. Then on the same half, keep 2 tbsp of potato masala. Fold the other half over this & serve with chutney. This dosa is not turned over. Chutney: Coconut - 1 cup Fried gram (pottukadalai) - ¼ cup Onion - 1, chopped Green chillies - 3,4 Salt To temper: Oil - 1 tsp Hing - ½ tsp Curry leaves - few In a kadai, in 1 tsp oil, fry in order, onion, green chillies, then lightly fry pottukadalai also. Switch off the stove & add coconut to get lightly heated. Grind with salt & temper.
Aama Vadai & masal Vadai - we say "yes" to dieting, but "yes" to vadai also ! For SBS photos, please go to Ama Vadai & Masal Vasai – Using FP (1) Ama Vadai & Masal Vasai – Using FP (2) Aama vadai This is also called paruppu vadai. There are many versions, as usual & this is one of them. Gram dhal - ½ cup (can be 2/3 cup) Tur dhal - ½ cup (1/3 cup) Udad dhal - 2 tsp Red chillies - 3,4 Green chillies - 3,4 Hing - 1 tsp Salt Curry leaves - few, finely chopped Oil - to deep fry Soah dhals & red chillies together for 2 hrs. Then drain them for 1 hr - I personally feel this is one point in favour of crisp vadais. Grind all ingredients (except curry leaves) without adding water, for short spells at a time,checking that it does not get more ground, than coarse. Mix it thoroughly while needing so that consistency is uniform. If at all, add 1 or 2 tsp water, not more. It should reach the consistency that you can hold in hand & pat – not more. Pat into small FLAT discs on a plastic sheet & deep fry. When it is half done, simmer the flame & fry so that it becomes crisp. Variations: 2 tsp of soaked gram dhal can be reserved to add whole, without ginding. I once saw a cook adding little hot oil to the batter, just before frying to get that extra crispness ! Masal Vadai: This is done like aama vadai but completely with gram dhal only. Onions should be minced or chopped fine & definitely not ground with dhal – the batter will be losened a bit. Finely chopped mint leaves, crushed saunf (very little) can be added for additional flavour Note: Now pattani paruppu (known as vadai paruppu) is available in Tamil Nadu & this is excellent for vadai. It gives a taste & crispness which even gram dhal does not give..
Rava Dosai - Two Different Recipes. Recipe 1; Bombay rava - ½ kg Rice - ½ kg If there is flour mill facility where you live, send this mixture to th flour mill to grind fine . This can be preserved for 2 months. If not, Bombay rava - ½ cup Rice flour - ½ cup Grind both together in the mixi & proceed. Recipe 2: Chiroti rava - 1 cup Rice flour - ¼ cup Maida - 1 tbsp Besan - 1 tbsp All these can be mixed & used. Remember, the amount becomes 1 ½ cups & water has to be added at the rate of 2 ½ cups per cup of flour. Very finely minced carrots & green chillies can be added in this recipe to give a very nice colour. Proceed in the same method given in tips.
Vendaikai Pakoras - from the frying pan to the dining table Ladies’ finger - ½ kg Oil - to deep fry Mix together: Besan - 2 tbsp Rice flour - 1 ½ tbsp Cornflour - 1 tbsp Red chilli powder & salt to taste Wasy, wipe & cut the vegetable to not less than 2” length. Slit into 4, keeping one end intact. Sprinkle 1 tbsp water on the vegetable & smear (coat) the mixture on it. Heat oil in a kadai. Take a handful of the coated vegetable & drop in hot oil, like pakoras. Turn over once halfway through, when cooking. When crisp, remove to a tissue paper & serve hot.
Crisp Samosas - Make & Freeze them to use any time. For SBS photos, please go to Crisp Samosas(1) Crisp Samosas(2) Crisp Samosas(3) Crisp Samosa(4) Crisp Samosas(5) Crisp Samosas(6) Maida 1 ½ cups Ghee or oil 2 tsp Salt 1 tsp For layering 2 – 3 tbsp oil Water to mix Maida for dusting Any dry filling – potatoes, peas etc Mix flour, salt & oil with enough water to knead to a smooth dough. This can be done in a Food processor also. Sprinkle a little water , cover with a damp cloth & keep for ½ hr or so. Knead again & make 3 small balls of uniform size & roll out 3 discs of about the same size. Apply a little oil uniformly on one side of a disc , sprinkling a little dry flour & place a second disc over it. Follow the same procedure again. Roll lightly into a big chappathi 8” – 9” in diamater as thin as possible, taking care not to have a crease or a fold. Toast on a dry tava on both sides. Separate the 3 chappathis immediately (you can easily peel them off)& cover with a damp cloth. When pliable , cut each chappathi into 3 strips of equal width – about 2” wide. Trim very thick edges. Fold each strip into a cone (or if it is long ½ a strip is enough for a small cone ) Stick together with maida paste. Stuff cone with 2 tsp of dry filling. Stick down flap with paste , making the samosa a neat triangle. Fry in hot oil till uniformly golden & drain in a kitchen tissue. These samosas are light & remain crisp for a long time. The unfried samosas can be made at leisure & put in ziplock covers & frozen. When you need them, take out an hour before – thaw & deepfry. These can be fried normally & it is not necessary to fry them for a long time on a low fire. Plain chopped spring or plain onions, lightly fried with spices of your choice also makes a good filling. These are also called cocktail samosas.
Semia Upma - Ideal for Breakfast. Semia - 1 cup (semia is also known as vermicelli) Water - 1 cup Mixed vegetables like carrot, peas & cauliflower finely chopped - ½ cup Onion - 1, finely chopped Salt Oil - 1 tbsp To temper: Oil (& ghee) – 1 tbsp Red chillies - 2 Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Gram dhal - 1 tsp Curry leaves - few Hing - ½ tsp Break semia into 2 cm pieces. Smear 1 tbsp oil completely on the semia & roast lightly till the colour changes, on a medium flame & keep. Lightly steam all vegetables. If you are using only carrot, capsicum & cauliflower, you can directly add without steaming. Keep water boiling & ready in the next stove. Heat a kadai, temper as given. Add onion. When onion turns transparent, add semia, fry till it becomes hot, simmer flame & add boiling water. Add salt & simmer closed, for the semia to absorb the water completely. Switch off the flame after all the water is absorbed. Rest for a few mts & serve. Normally semia takes only equal volume of water – if need be, add little more boiling water & simmer for complete cooking. Variation: Instead of onion, grated coconut (2 tbsp) can be added – add this after cooking is complete. Adding vegetables is optional. Roasting semia with oil is important.