Mahanandi

For this week Indian Kitchen , my project of creating online Indian glossary in images:

Bronze murukulu maker from India and Sawa 2000 Cookie press from Sweden – I use both to make murukulu(murukku) in different patterns and shapes.

Bronze muruku maker is available in Indian appliance shops here in US. Sawa cookie press, try Ebay or one of those kitchen gadget selling shops.

Our small town is making television debut on ABC channel, today. Do you remember my post about ABC’s Extreme Makeover- Home Edition. Today at 8/7 central time, they are going to show the episode filmed in our town, featuring Novak family.

What is this food item? Guessing game, now with prizes for correct guessers – all courtesy of Lulu of Lulu Loves Manhattan.
Go visit and have fun.
Photo from Lulu Loves Manhattan

Swarna from Chennai, sent me via email, these two beautiful images of her kitchen gadgets for my Indian Kitchen series.

She wrote to me…
“Both of these given to me by my mother from Madras. The first one is a hand held coconut grater or scraper would be more apt and the second one is what we call “kuzhi paniyaram” vessel. Kuzhi means hole (literally) in tamil and paniyaram I suppose is the name of the dish. It can be made sweet or savoury. mostly we do the left over idli/dosa batter, chop a few onions, green chillies do the tadka and pour the batter into these moulds. The types of batter we can do is endless really, rava(sooji) combination, maida/jaggery/mashed banana- for a sweet paniyaram.”

Hand held coconut scraper/grater and Kuzhi Paniyaram (Ponganaala Pennam)

Thanks Swarna!

Kittaya

Checkout Kiri and all cute kitties of food blogging world at Clare’s blog.

This onion chutney is very popular in North Karnataka and also in our Raayala Seema region. Rural in origin and a favorite of hard working people and farmers, this chunky, saucy, sort-of-sweet, sort-of-spicy chutney tastes terrific with rotis, both wheat and jowar and also with rice.

Recipe:
(for two, for one serving)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 big red onion – cut to big chunks
5 dried red chillies
1 tablespoon grated coconut (fresh or dried)
Small piece of jaggery – powdered (sugar won’t work in this recipe)
Cherry tomato sized tamarind – Presoaked in very little water (one tablespoon is plenty) for about 15 minutes, so that it can grind well.
Salt to taste

Onion is the main ingredient in this chutney; so don’t skimp on the onion. If you have small onions, use two or three, and red onions or shallots are the best for this recipe. At Nandyala, we make it with erra gaddalu (shallots here).

Place an iron skillet on stove-top. Add oil, swirl to coat the pan. When the oil reaches smoking point, add chunks of onion. Saute them to soft brown on high heat stirring frequently. Remove them to a plate, then add the dried red chillies. Saute them to brown. Remove to a plate. Allow them to cool to room temperature. Texturewise and tastewise, this is important. Go, sit down and wait.

When they are cool enough to touch, take the red chillies, coconut, jaggery, tamarind and salt in a mortar or in a food processor. Pound or blenduntil the red chillies are smooth. Then add the onion pieces. Pulse few times to coarse consistency. Do not puree the onions, we do not want that. They should be coarsely crushed like shown in the image below. Stone mortar really comes to a great use for this kind of recipe and I made this chutney in a stone mortar for todays meal.

Remove to a cup and serve with rice or chapati and dal.

Red Onion Chutney and Sona Masuri Rice mixed with Chutney ~ Meal Today

Like bitter gourd curry and chappidi pappu, this moong dal rasam is again one of the recipes, only my mom prepares and very special to me. When I am out of ideas/vegetables or tired of too much food, I make this rasam. A small bowl of rasam with little bit of hot rice and ghee, on the side, a small piece of juicy lime pickle… just enough!

Recipe:

1 cup yellow moong dal (pesara bedalu)
Onion, one – cut into chunks
½ tsp each- red chilli powder and turmeric
Small marble size tamarind pieces
Salt to taste

Preparation of Moong dal rasam(soup) is very simple. Roast moong dal lightly in an iron skillet to light brown color first. Let cool. Take the roasted dal in a pressure cooker, wash and then add onion, red chilli powder, turmeric, tamarind along with about a glass of water. Pressure cook to three whistles and turn off the heat. Once all the valve pressure is released, remove the lid. Add salt and mash the dal to smooth consistency.

In a seperate vessel, do the popu or tadka (toasting the mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves etc, in one teaspoon of oil/ghee). Add the smoothly mashed dal and two glasses of water. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning (salt, chilli and tamarind) to your liking. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat, strring in-between. My mothers comforting rasam will be ready.

Moong dal rasam, ghee and rice ~ Giving a break to stomachs ~ Our simple Sunday meal.

Recipe Source: Amma

For this week Indian kitchen:

It is a stainless steel coffee filter for South Indian style, freshly brewed, chicory coffee

Chanit of My Mom’s Recipes and More left a comment on my blog last month. To return the compliments I visited her blog, and what I found was a very detailed recipe for mamoul (dates filled cookies) with photos. I knew I had to try it. What attracted me to this recipe more than anything is the use of semolina for dough. I did some googling on these famous Middle Eastern cookies to know more about them and how they are made. Next, I went and bought the ingredients: fine Tunisian pitted dates, pistachios and wooden ma’amoul mold from the only ethnic grocery store in our small town, Ghossians Mid East Bakery.

I did experiment with the recipe. First, I used ghee instead of butter because ghee is not only more flavorful and unlike butter has no unnecessary baggage. I reduced the ratio of all-purpose flour to semolina. I also complimented the dates filling by adding pistachios. Finally I skipped the eggs. One more thing is I prepped the mamoul mold with ghee so that when cookie dough pressed into the mold and reversed, it can come out easily without sticking to the mold.

The final result of my experimentation was exquisite, one of a kind sweet cookies, the one I am going to make many more times from now on. A delicious paradox, they have a mildly sweet, crisp and grainy outside because of semolina and insides are moistly sweet and tender. Thanks Chanit! It is little bit of time consuming to make these using the ma’amoul mold but I had time and so happy with the beautiful outcome.

Recipe:

Dough:
2 cups – semolina
½ cup – all purpose flour (maida)
½ cup – melted ghee
½ cup – powdered sugar ( or more if you like sweet cookie covering)
1 tablespoon – rose water
1 teaspoon – active dried yeast melted in 1 tablespoon of luke warm water
Pinch of salt

Melt the ghee and cool it to room temperature. Sift the all purpose flour(maida) and mix it with semolina and ghee. Add the yeast water, rose water, powdered sugar and salt. Mix and make a dough by adding little bit of water. Set aside for about 3 hours, covered, to rest.

Dates- Pistachios Filling:
2 cups – fresh soft-pitted dates
½ cup shelled pistachios
¼ cup – powdered cane sugar
1 teaspoon – rose water
and Ma’amoul mould to press and shape the cookies

In a food processor, take pistachios and powder to fine. Then add the dates, sugar and rose water. Blend them together into fine paste. Remove to a cup.

Preparation:

After 3 hours of rest, knead and divide the dough into lime sized balls. Flatten each ball using your hand and lift the sides up to form a hollow. It is now ready for the filling. Place one tablespoon of dates-pistachios filling into the hollowed dough. Close the dough over the dates mixture. Press the edges to seal well. Press it into the ma’amoul mold to give it a decorated appearance. Reverse the mold; gently shake to loosen it from the mold. Prepare each one in this way and place them neatly in rows, on a greased/parchment paper lined baking tray.

Place the tray in a preheated oven at 350° F and bake for about 20 minutes. I reversed the cookies to the opposite side after 10 minutes in the oven for even baking. After 20 minutes or when they turn lightly golden, remove them from the oven and let them cool.

Ma’amoul (Dates-Pistachios Filled Cookies) ~ Delicate, rose flavored and naturally sweet. Our Thanksgiving treat and contribution to this month’s SHF-IMBB Cookie-Swap event.

There are not that many exciting deals on this Friday, for after Thanksgiving Sale. None was very exciting to go and wait in the lines before the shops were opened. So, we went for shopping around 9 O’ clock. We finished our shopping by 10.30. These are the items we purchased on this Black Friday:

House across the street on this snowy Thanksgiving day:

The only ethnic grocery in our small town is a Middle Eastern shop called Ghossains Mid East Bakery. We buy dates and couscous, occasionally goat cheese, pita bread and baklava and other Middle Eastern sweets like mamoul from that shop.

I love the shape, texture and taste of tiny round couscous. Even though the authentic way to make couscous (according to middle easterners) is using a coucousiere (double boiler with a perforated top to hold the couscous), I make it just like bulgar/suji/semolina upma and with lots of vegetables for a light meal.

Recipe:

2 cups couscous
Vegetables: onion, green chillies, tomato, bell pepper, potato, carrot, ginger, garlic – all finely chopped – how much, your choice.
One fistful of fresh peas and golden raisins
1 tablespoon of ghee
1 teaspoon of cumin and mustard seeds
Limejuice to taste and fresh cilantro for garnish

Melt ghee in a big pan. Toast cumin, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add and sauté the finely chopped vegetables (onions, tomato, green chilli, bell pepper, potato, carrot, ginger, garlic, peas and raisins) until they turn light brown. Add three cups of water and stir in half teaspoon of salt. Cover, increase the heat and bring that water to rolling boil.

Stir in couscous. It won’t form lumps unlike suji/semolina. Very forgiving, you don’ even have to stir, just pour all of couscous into hot water without any worries of lump formation. Cook covered over low medium heat for 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and cook until fluffy. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro. For zing, drizzle some lime juice and serve hot.

Couscous Upma ~ a light meal today

Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries is doing a project on food magazines of the US and the world. She is asking for opinions, like which food magazines you subscribe, why and which ones you hate etc., She is also interested to know about Indian food magazines. That got me curious about our food magazines.

The only ones that I am aware of are Upper Crust and Tarladalal. There is not one food magazine in Telugu, that I know for sure. Do you know any other Indian food magazines in English or in your language? I would really appreciate your input in this matter. Thanks

For more discussion about food magazines, visit Barbara’s food blog.

I think in availability, price, food value, versatility and taste, chickpeas are without any match. There is no better way to prove this to the uninitiated than by sampling a few dishes that make use of this tasty and nourishing legume.

For people who are always searching for a new dish to add variety to their meals, one day, they will discover the hearty Punjabi fare, chana masala or this aloo chole; and when they do, I am sure they’ll turn into ‘Choleacs‘ like us. We Love Chole!

Recipe:

3 cups of dried chickpeas
(soaked in water beforehand then pressure cooked to tender)
A fistful of cooked chickpeas made into smooth paste

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 large onion and 4 ripe tomatoes finely chopped
1 tablespoon – readymade chana masala powder(any brand will do)
1 teaspoon – garlic-ginger-cilantro paste
½ teaspoon each – red chilli powder, salt and turmeric
For garnish – finely chopped cilantro and lime wedges

Ingredients for Aloo Chole

Heat one teaspoon of ghee or peanut oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add and toast quarter teaspoon each – mustard seeds and cumin, wait till they start to dance; then add ginger-garlic-cilantro paste and onions, saute for few minutes until onions soften.

Add the ingredients – potatoes, tomatoes, chickpea paste, chana masala powder, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric, along with 2 to 3 cups of water. Cook them covered for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are slightly tender.

At this stage, stir in chickpeas. Turn the heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the curry thickens. (When curry served on a plate, it shouldn’t spread like flodding river.) Garnish with finely chopped fresh cilantro and serve.

My favorite way to have this curry is with limejuice squeezed and few finely chopped onions (washed beforehand in water) on the side with parathas.

Aloo Chole with Parathas – Creating Indian restaurant kind of meal at our home ~ Our weekend brunch.

This week in Indian kitchen images ~ It’s Mandoline, Coconut Scraper, Idly stand, Tongs(Idukki, Pattakara), Idiyappam wood mold, Spice box and stainless steel Ghee holder.

From Nupur of One Hot Stove kitchen, comes this beautiful image of Mandoline or vegetable slicer. Low in price but a very handy tool in kitchen to cut, slice and to shred vegetables. Allure of home made potato chips is what made this tool, a must have thing in all our kitchens, I think.

Lera of Myriad Tastes sent me these two beautiful images via email. Coconut scraper to shred coconut from fresh coconut and idly stand to make idlis.

Shammi of Food In The Main showed us in beautiful images, how she makes idlies using the idly mould.

Mika from The Green Jackfruit sent this beautiful image of ‘Tongs(Idukki or Pattakara), a must have thing in an Indian kitchen to hold different kinds of hot vessels and also to prevent burnt hands. Very useful indeed.

Priya from Arkansas sent me via email, these beautiful images of Idiyappam wood mold and idiyappam batter(white dough), Spice box with a glass lid for holding various spices in one neat container and a traditional Indian stainless steel ghee holder.

Thank you Nupur, Lera, Shammi, Mika and Priya for sending these gorgeous images for “Indian Kitchen“.

I want to do this but with the current settings and features I have on my web site, it’s not going to work as I thought of doing. So I would keep the idea of creating an online ‘Indian glossary in images’ on hold, for a while. Currently I am working to make a detailed categories and subcategories in a new section on this website. When I complete my work on this, I will start asking for your help and participation again for ‘Indian Kitchen’.

You all have shown lot of enthusiasm in this project, I really appreciate your time and input. Thank you!

Saffron (Kumkuma Puvvu):

India, Kashmir, hard work, awe and reverence.. these are things that come to my mind, whenever I use saffron in my cooking. It is produced in Kashmir, India. Harvesting is slow hard work which needs delicate touch. Awe and reverence… because I use it only in personally important and spiritually special occasions. Bold in color, subtle in flavor, precious saffron brings an ethereal touch.

In traditional sweets like laddu and payasam (Kheer) is where I add saffron to my cooking. Example is ‘saffron infused sabudana payasam’ that I prepared, celebrating my own space on the Net, the onset of My blog, ‘Mahanandi’.

Part of my Indian Kitchen, more about Saffron ~ here and here.