Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu - Home Style (Kongu Special Recipes)

Category:  Kuzhambu Varieties / Lunch

Preparation Time: 10 mins  

Cooking Time: 30 mins 

Servings: 3-4 servings

Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu is my one of my favourite recipe from childhood:) and I love the ones which my grandma and my mom prepares. We love to have with hot rice and it also tastes yummy with curd rice:) and even with dosa. This recipe doesnot involve any spice powders and we just use roasted and powdered Urad dhal with vendhayam for thickening and additional flavour.

As far the Kongu nadu special recipes are considered, Small onions are the important ingredients for the authentic flavour and taste and we wont get the same taste while using shallots / big onions. So for this recipe, Small onions are the must and if we dont want we can skip garlic.

Vendakkai Puli Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

• Lady's finger /Okra - 20-25 nos
• Small Onions - 10-15 nos, peeled and halved
• Garlic- 6-10 nos, peeled and roughly chopped 
• Tamarind - lemon sized
• Sesame Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Channa Dhal - 1 tsp
• Split Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1-2 springs
• Red Chillies - 2-4 nos (adjust as per spice level)
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as required

To Roast and Grind: 

• Urad Dhal (Whole White) - 1 tbsp
• Fenugreek Seeds / Vendhayam - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak Tamarind in warm water and extract juice
2. Heat a pan and dry roast the urad dhal and fenugreek seeds till they turn golden brown and gives out nice aroma. Switch it off and allow to cool and then powder it and keep it ready
3. Wash the Lady's finger / Okra and wipe dry without any moisture
4. Trim off the ends and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5. In a pan (prefereably non-stick  so less oil can be used), heat 1 tsp of oil and add the Okra pieces and saute for 6-8 mins until the stickiness gone and keep aside
   
6. Heat 1 tbsp of Oil in a pan, once it gets heated up add the mustard seeds, followed by Channa dhal, Urad dhal, Curry leaves and red chillies. Fry for a min till the dhals turn golden brown 
   
7. Add the halved onions and then roughly chopped garlic pieces and saute for 2-3 mins til the onions turn transparent
   
8. Add the tamarind extract with enough water (as per required Kuzhambu consistency) along with required salt and turmeric powder, mix well and bring to boil
   
9. Once it started to boil, add the sauted okra pieces and allow to cook covered in low-medium flame for 10 mins
   
10. Check for salt and now add the Urad dhal - fenugreek powder to it and simmer for another 5-6 mins
    
11. Now the kuzhambu gets thickened and reached the desired consistency
    
12. Switch it off and serve hot with rice!
    

Ragi-Wheat Banana Muffins (Eggless)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 17-20 mins
Servings: yields 10 - 12 muffins

Ragi-Wheat Muffins - So Soft!!!

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Ragi Flour - 1/2 cup
• Wheat Flour / Atta - 1/2 cup
• Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 3 nos (long variety)*
• Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Curd / Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Oive Oil - 1/4 cup

Other Ingredients: 

• Toasted Almonds, chopped - 1/2 cup (dusted with 1 tsp of wheat flour)

*Bananas should be ripen very well for the muffins to give the natural sweetness

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the muffin tray or line it with muffin liners and keep it ready
3. Roast the ragi flour in low flame for few mins till we get nice aroma of the roasted flour and allow to cool
   
4. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Roasted Ragi flour, Baking powder, Baking soda, Cardamom powder and salt. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
5. In another bowl, mash the bananas well
   
6. Add the Brown sugar, curd and oil, whisk well to form uniform mixture
   
   
   
   
7. Add the sieved flour into the wet mixture and mix gently till combined
   
8. Add the chopped almonds into the batter and mix gently
   
   
   
9. Spoon the batter into muffin cups; fill only 3/4 th of the cup
   
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method)
11. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins
    
12. Then transfer the muffins from the tray to cooling rack
13. Serve Warm with a glass of milk!
    

Chola Paniyaram - Home Style (Kongu Special Recipes)

Category: Breakfast / Dinner
Soaking Time: 6 Hrs / Overnight  
Fermentation Time: 8-12 Hrs    
Cooking Time: 5 mins /batch

Chola Paniyaram is an authentic Kongu Nadu Special Recipe and this is the one from my Mom's home:) Until I entered college, I never know we can make paniyaram with normal Idly batter, every time when we make paniyaram, it is surely with the Corn. Since Corn is a staple food in Kongu region, in our home after corn harvest, they will clean and broke the dry corn into coarse bits and pieces using "Ural" and will store for months specially for making paniyaram and also "Chola Puttu".

Adding Raw rice and Moong dhal is purely optional, My aunt will be adding these for crispiness and more flavour:) After coming to US, I am using the broken corn / corn rava from Indian store for making this paniyaram. As far the Kongu nadu special recipes are considered, Small onions are the important ingredients for the authentic flavour and taste and we wont get the same taste while using shallots / big onions.

Chola Paniyaram

Ingredients:

• Boiled Rice / Idly Rice - 1 1/2 cups
• Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
• Broken Corn -  2 cups (Here I used Corn Rava)
• Whole Urad Dhal - 1/2 cup
• Yellow Split Moong dhal - 1/4 cup (Optional)
• Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam - 1 tsp
• Small Onions, peeled - 1-2 cups
• Curry leaves - handful
• Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Fresh coconut, chopped into tiny pieces - to taste

*Notes:

• Small Onions are the must for this recipe to get the authentic flavour. Adding big onion / shallots will not give that real flavour
• Adding Raw rice is optional, if we want to skip that, we can increase the quantity of Idly rice to 2 cups
• Moong dhal is also an optional ingredient

Method:

1. Soak Idly rice, broken corn and moong dhal (if using) together for 6-8 hrs / overnight; urad dhal and fenugreek seeds separately for 45 mins-2 hrs
2.  In a wet grinder, first add the fenugreek seeds followed by urad dal, grind till it becomes soft and silky. Once urad dhal is done, remove it in a big container and keep aside. While grinding dhal, make sure you just sprinkle required water at regular intervals rather than pouring it at once. This will make the batter very fluffy and airy
3. Now add the rice and corn to the grinder and grind to a smooth batter similar to Idly batter consistency. Once done, remove it into the container with urad dhal
4. Add required salt and mix well with hands
5. In a mixie / blender add the small onions, curry leaves, cumin seeds and grind it to a coarse paste without adding any water
   
   
   
   
6. Add the ground paste to the batter and mix well
   
7. Allow to ferment for about 8-12hrs and it depends on your room temperature; After fermentation, the volume of the batter would be almost doubled. (Make sure to place the batter in a big bowl to avoid spills after it gets fermented)
   
8. After fermentation, add the tiny pieces of fresh coconut into it and gently give it a mix
   
9. Heat Paniyaram pan, add few drops of oil in each hole
10. Once the pan becomes hot, add a spoon of batter into each hole
    
11. Reduce the flame to medium and cover the pan with lid; allow to cook for 1-2 mins
12. Then flip it over and allow to cook the other side without covering with lid
    
13. Once its done, remove from the pan and repeat the same for the remaining batter
14. Serve hot with Sambar and chutney! Peanut / Coconut Chutney with Paniyaram is always a great combination:)