A simple, home cooked south-Indian meal in 60 minutes

This post is a Sunday lunch I cooked almost two months back. So, what is special about this menu?

For one, this menu is simple and was done in sixty minutes. This exact menu used to take me almost three hours a couple of years back.

The second is the enormous time I took to writing this blog J I am not kidding here. My co-blogger and best friend, Aparna, is almost ready to oust me from this blog site for all the delays.

I hope all of you will try this menu in its entirety or some of the items from here. Enjoy the sappadu.

(From L to R - Rasam, Vathal Kzhumabu, Yogurt, Carrot salad, Baby Watermelon curry, Bitter gourd curry, and Potato curry. Rice, dal, ghee, and papad in the middle.)

For the rice and dal

Ingredients

Rice – 2 cups

Water – 5 to 6 cups

Toor dal – 1 ladel

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Method

Wash the rice nicely to remove any impurities. Add 5 to 6 cups  of water to the washed rice. Take about a two glasses of water in the pressure cooker. Place the rice vessel inside the cooker. Cover with a lid. In a small hollow plate take toor dal, add a pinch of turmeric powder and water. Place it inside the cooker and close the lid. Place the cooker weight and cook for three whistles.

For the Vathal Kzhumabu and dal rasam

Ingredients

Vathal Kzhumabu:

Tamarind juice – 2 cups

Drumsticks – 4 to 6 pcs

Sambhar Powder – 2 or 3 tbsp

Fenugreek powder – a pinch

Salt to taste

Gingely oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds  – 1 tsp

Peanuts or channa dal – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 or 3

Method

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the channa dal or peanuts and the curry leaves. Add drumsticks and the sambhar powder, salt, and fenugreek powder. Sauté well. Add the tamarind juice, stir well. Allow it to boil for about twenty minutes or until the gravy thickens. Remove from stove.

Ingredients

Dal rasam:

Tamarind juice – 1 cup

Tomato – 1

Sambhar powder – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Asafetida – a pinch

Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1tsp

Cooked toor dal – ½ ladel

Method

Boil the tamarind juice, diced tomato, sambhar powder, salt, and asafetida. Boil until the tomato and tamarind are well cooked. Mash the cooked toor dal with a spoon or your hands and add 1 cup of water. Add it to the boiling rasam and wait for it to froth, roughly about two minutes. Remove from stove. In a sauce pan, add a teaspoon of oil and add mustard seeds. Allow it to splutter and pour it in the rasam Add coriander leaves.

For the vegetables

Ingredients

Potatoes – 4 medium sized finely cut

Baby watermelon (Kovakkai)  – ½ lb or 2 cups thinly cut

Bitter Gourd – 1 or 2 thinly cut

Carrot – 2 grated

Seasoning

Vegetable oil – 4 to 6 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 2 tsp

Spices

Salt to taste

Asafetida – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – 2 tbsp

Green chilli – 1 or 2 finely cut

Lime juice – 2 tbsp

Equipment

Three sauce pans with lids

Three stove tops

Method

Take a saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the diced potatoes, salt, asafetida and red chilli powder. Cover the saucepan and keep the stove at medium flame. This takes about 8 to 10 minutes to cook.

Take another saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Spoon out half the spluttered mustard into another bowl. To the rest of the mustard seeds, add the cut baby watermelon, salt, asafetida and red chilli powder. Mix well and add ½ of water. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow it to cook on high flame. Add more water if needs be. Remove from stove when fully cooked and the water is absorbed completely. This takes about 15 minutes to cook.

  v  Baby watermelon takes a long time to cook and hence cooking on high flame with a covered lid is faster.

Take a saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add the thinly cut bitter gourd, salt, asafetida and red chilli powder. Cover the saucepan and keep the stove at medium flame. This takes about 8 to 10 minutes to cook.

In the bowl you have spooned out the spluttered mustard, add the grated carrot, green chillies, salt and lime juice. Mix well.

Appalam or pappad

Roast pappads in a microwave for about a minute. Add a cup of yogurt to the meal. This meal was for two adults. I have made the same for 4 to 8 adults by increasing the ingredients accordingly, but it still takes almost the same time.

Enjoy your simple home cooked food hot with your family.

Time calculation: The rice and dal takes 20 minutes, the vathal kzhumabu and rasam another twenty and the vegetables take another twenty. The important thing here is doing things simultaneously. A few years back, when I started cooking, I just could not do things together. I would do each dish individually—essentially I used only one stovetop at a time. Over the years, I have learnt to use all the four stovetops, thus reducing my cooking time considerably.

Kozhukatta/Modak for Ganapathi

Just like last year, this year's kozhukattas were also a last minute affair. What is different, you may ask? Well, this time the outer covering has a new ingredient, 'oats'.

Ingredients (makes 6-7 small ones)

Powdered oats – ¼ cup

Rice flour – ⅛ cup

Melted jaggery – ¼ cup + more to taste

Grated coconut – ¼ cup

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Water – 2 tbsps for the jaggery and more for the dough

Method

Heat a small pan on medium heat and toast the oats for 3-4 minutes (while tossing occasionally). Keep the oats aside, to cool. To the same pan, add the jaggery and 2 tablespoons of water and allow it to come to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the coconut. Add the cardamom powder and keep stirring until all the water has reduced and it forms a sticky mixture. Keep aside.

Powder the oats and remove into a bowl. Add the rice flour and salt and knead into a soft ball of dough by adding little water at a time. The dough should resemble chappathi dough. Make small balls with the dough and roll out into small rounds. Depending on the size of the round, add 1-1½ tablespoons of the filling. Bring the sides together and pinch at the top to seal the kozhukatta. Once all the dumplings are prepared, place them in an idly vessel (or any steamer) and cook for 7-10 minutes or until done. Remove and serve hot. 

Note: The measurements, especially for the jaggery and coconut are approximate.

Onam and an Exciting Start to a Long Weekend

You must be wondering why an Onam post is appearing three days after Onam. Well, Onam was a simple affair this time…we had postponed the festivities for the weekend. A few friends had come for lunch and we had a wonderful time: a traditional Kerala sadhya shared with good friends and a refreshingly good Hindi movie to complete a lovely afternoon.

The excitement continues, as we move onto the second day of the three day weekend…we have more visitors coming over tomorrow…any guesses? It is a much awaited reunion....still no idea? Gomathi and her family are visiting us and we are super excited.  

Coming back to the recipes, I tried two new ones this time around, unni appam (a sweet made with a rice-jaggery-banana batter) and puli inji (thick tamarind sauce flavored with ginger and chilies).

Unni appam

Ingredients

Rice flour – 2 cups

Melted jaggery (honey like consistency) – 1 cup

Mashed bananas – 4 tbsps

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Grated/Chopped coconut – 2 tbsps

Ginger powder (optional for extra flavor) – 1 tsp

Ghee

Water – as required to loosen the batter and melt the jaggery

Method

In a bowl, mix flour, cardamom powder, coconut, ginger powder (if using) and bananas. Melt the jaggery, with  water, to honey-like consistency and pour into the flour mixture. Mix well and add water to make a batter that resembles idly batter.

Heat the appam/Æbleskiver pan, pour oil to fill ¼ of each cavity. When hot, pour about a tablespoon of batter into each cavity and let it cook well (about 2 minutes or until it turn brown). Turn it over and let the other side cook too. The varied coloring seen in the photographs is because of my experiments with different heat levels.

Remove onto a paper towel and let the oil drain. Once it cools down, refrigerate in an air-tight container. 

Note: 

1. The brownness of the appam will vary depending on the color of the jaggery.
2. Warm the appams before serving.

Puli Inji

Ingredients

Tamarind water – 1 ¼ cups

Finely chopped ginger – 4 tbsps

Finely chopped green chilies – 2-3 tbsps

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Chilli powder – ½ tsp (or to taste)

Asafoetida powder – ¼ tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves

Coconut oil – 1 ½ tbsps

Dried red chillies – 2-3

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Jaggery – 2 tsps (optional)

 Method

Soak tamarind in hot water for 15-20 minutes and extract the pulp.

Heat the oil in a thick bottomed vessel. Add the chopped ginger and green chillies and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside. Into the same oil, add the mustard seeds. As they splutter, add the curry leaves and red chillies and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the tamarind water and the remaining ingredients, stir and reduce the heat. Allow the mixture to simmer and reduce until thick. Remove from the heat and refrigerate in an air-tight container.

For more traditional recipes, visit Onam Special. There is no rule that these recipes should be made only for Onam, so please try these out and let us know how you like them :-). Bon Appétit. 

Recipes linked to