Thattu Vadagam/Elai Vadagam
This is a very tasty vadagam, but the procedure takes more time. The specialty of this vadagam is that this is stemed on banana leaves before driying, which gives it a unique flavour. Some people also call it elai vadagam.
Thattu Vadagam
Ingredients:
1 cup boiled rice
1 tsp raw rice
salt as required
1 tsp black sesame seeds
few banana leaves
Method:
- Soak the rice for 30 -45 minutes.
- Grind into a smooth and watery batter along with required salt.
- On the banana leaf pour a small ladle full of batter and spread it thinly into a round shape. On half a banana leaf you can pour and spread 4 such vadagams.
- Steam them in a idly steamer for 5 -7 minutes.
- After steaming these vadagams can be peeled from the banana leaf.
- They are then dried in the sun. They are so thin that dry in a single day.
- Store in a clean airtight container.
- When fried these vadagam enlarge to double their size. They are so melt in the mouth that they can be given even to 1 year babies and toothless elders. They taste just as good after steaming and can be eaten as such or with idli milagai podi or milagai-poondu chutney.
Ulundhu Vadagam
When you miss vathal/vadagam making in summer season, sun god gives you a second chance during the tamil month of Purattasi (sep-oct). We decided to make hay sorry! make vadagam while the sun shines during this season…
This ulundhu vadagam is a very simple recipe and does not take much preparation time . I learnt this from my MIL and this is again a specialty of chetti households. This is kind of a sun dried version of urad dhal vada.
Ulundhu Vadagam
Ingredients:
1 cup urad dhal
1 tsp jeera
5-6 flakes of garlic
Salt to taste
Method:
- Soak the urad dhal for 20-30 minutes.
- Grind into a smooth batter with jeera, garlic and salt. (consistency similar to vada batter)
- On a clean white cloth spread on a plate, drop the batter with your hand into small vadagams.
- Dry well in the sun. 3-4 days is sufficient.
- Store in a clean airtight container and use when required.
- This is deep fried and added in kuzhambu like puli illa kuzhambu and uppu saaru at our home. When added to the kuzhambu it absorbs water and tastes more or less similar to urad dhal vada.
Keerai Saaru/Uppu Saaru
This dish belongs to the pathiya kuzhambu category. It is very light on your tummy.It is a watery kuzhambu made with sambar onions, vegetables like ladies finger, brinjal, ridge gourd etc and any type of greens/keerai. When it is made with vegetables only it is called uppu saaru. If keerai is the main ingredient then it is called keerai saaru. We don’t make any vegetable poriyal for this kuzhambu. Serve it hot with white rice and ghee, accompanied by paruppu thuvaiyal ( porikadalai thuvaiyal ) and papad.
Keerai Saaru/Uppu Saaru
- Peel the onions and chop the vegetables. Clean and chop the keerai.
- Extract 2-3 cups of juice from tamarind and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and fenugreek, followed by mustard and cumin seeds. After you get the aroma of spices, add green and red chillies and sauté. Now add sambar onions and vegetables and sauté for few minutes.
- Then add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder and salt. Allow to boil. Now add the chopped keerai. Close the pan and allow to boil till the raw smell disappears and the vegetables are cooked. Add jaggery and allow to simmer for some time. The final consistency is a bit watery ( but thicker than rasam )and not thick as other kuzhambu.
Puli Illa Kuzhambu – Poruthanni
Chetti households make a lot of ‘pathiya samaiyal’.There are varieties of curries made without tamarind or dhal, which are ideal for convalescing people.When you are just out of some illness your appetite is lost and you donot have the urge to eat well. This type of ‘pathiya samaiyal’ rejuvenates your taste buds and brings back the appetite.Poruthanni is a type of ‘puli illa kuzhambu’ which does not have tamarind and contains lot of jeera,pepper and garlic.It is supposed to be very good for women after their delivery time.You can use drumstick,broadbeans and any other fresh beans in this kuzhambu.We donot make any poriyal/vegetable sidedish when we make this kuzhambu.Since the kuzhambu lacks tamarind the ideal sidedish is some thuvaiyal with tamarind such as varuthu araitha thengai thuvaiyal, pachai kothumalli thuvaiyal, inji thuvaiyal etc.
Reposting this recipe for ‘Herbs and flowers – garlic’ event started by PJ of Seduce your taste buds and hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.
Puli Illa Kuzhambu – Poruthanni
Ingredients:
1 cup cut broadbeans
1 drumstick cut into pieces
1 cup mochai payiru/broken beans
20-25 garlic flakes
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt as required
To grind:
5-6 red chillies (dry roasted)
3-4 sprigs curry leaves
2 tsp jeera
10-12 black peppercorns
2 tsp mustard
10-12 garlic flakes
2 tsp oil
For tempering:
2 tsp oil
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard
Method:
- Boil broad beans, drumstick and broken beans in water with salt.
- Grind all the ingredients for grinding into a smooth paste.(Only the redchilies should be dryroasted.Other ingredients should be used raw only.)
- Mix the ground paste in 2 cups of water.Add the boiled vegetables.Add turmeric powder and salt as required.
- Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan.Saute the garlic flakes well and add to the kuzhambu.
- Allow the kuzhambu to boil till the raw smell disappears.Allow to simmer for 5 more minutes.
- Do the tempering with jeera and mustard.Serve hot with white rice and thuvaiyal.
Mixed Vegetable Pirattal
This is a chetti veetu recipe I learnt from my MIL.She says that it is usually made on weekends, when you have small quantities of many vegetables remaining (kind of similar to aviyal).You can say that it is a spicy version of aviyal.This goes very well with rasam.You can also serve it as curry along with white rice,idly or dosa.
I am sending this recipe as an entry to ‘Show me your curry‘ event hosted by Divya of divya-dilse.blogspot.com
Mixed Vegetable Pirattal:
Ingredients:
3-4 cups mixed vegetables cut into cubes
(carrot,beans,pumpkin,beans,plantain,potato,cluster beans,brinjal,drumstick)
1 cup fresh butter beans ( you can use other type of beans also)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A small lemon sized ball tamarind
For powder:
1 tbsp urad dhal
For grinding:
3-4 red chillies
1+1 tsp mustard
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp pepper
For tempering:
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 sprigs curry leaves
1 tsp oil
Method:
- Boil the chopped vegetables with turmeric and required salt. Do not overcook.The vegetables must be firm.Alternatively you can pressure cook them for 2 whistles.Incase you are using ladies finger in the recipe, sauté it in oil and keep aside.
- Extract 1 cup of juice from the tamarind.
- Dry roast the urad dhal and grind it into powder.
- Dry roast fenugreek,cumin,1 tsp mustard together.Next roast the red chillies with little bit of oil. Grind the redchillies,roasted spices along with 1 tsp mustard and 1/2 tsp pepper to a smooth paste.
- In a pan add all the boiled vegetables,sauteed ladies finger ,tamarind extract and the ground paste. Add 1/2 a cup of water and required salt and allow it to boil.Reduce the flame and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Finally add the urad dhal powder and mix well.The consistency should be like that of a thick gravy.
- Do the tempering with mustard,urad dhal and curry leaves.
- Serve hot with white rice and rasam.
Mudakkathaan Dosai/Pachai Dosai
I learnt this recipe from my MIL. She says that it is a ’chetti veetu recipe’(planning to post some more recipes in this category later).
Mudakkathaan keerai has medicinal value in siddha treatment. The word mudakkathaan is a slang version of the name ‘mudakkaruthaan’ = mudakku ( stiffness/paralysis ) + aruthaan ( remover/ cure), which means it helps to remove the stiffness from the joins and makes them more flexible. This is a boon for elderly people who suffer from arthritic conditions.After tasting it once, I have become a fan of this pachai dosai. My MIL makes a special ‘milagai-poondu chutney’ for this dosa.
Reposting this recipe for ‘show me your dosa’ event hosted by Divya of Dilse.
Mudakkathaan Dosai/Pachai Dosai
Ingredients:
1 bunch of mudakkathaan keerai
3 cups of boiled rice ( idly rice )
salt as required
Method:
Batter preparation:
- Clean the mudakkathaan keerai. We want only the leaves and not the stalk. Wash the leaves and keep them aside.
- Soak the rice for 2-3 hours ( as you will do for regular dosa ).
- Grind the mudakkathaan leaves in the mixie into a smooth paste.
- Grind the rice in a grinder. After the rice is half ground add the ground keerai paste and grind the batter to a smooth consistency.Mix required salt to the batter and allow it to ferment overnight.
Dosa preparation:
The dosa batter looks a beautiful green colour.
Heat the dosa griddle ( iron griddle works better than the nonstick tawa for this dosa ).Pour into thin dosa. Pour a little oil and flip dosa after it becomes crisp. Serve hot with ‘milagai-poondu chutney’ or idly milagai podi.
