Jackfruit seed(palakottai) Stir Fry

Now that summer is almost upon us, all summer fruits are beginning to show their faces. Watermelon, nongu (palmyra fruit), jackfruit ... Yumm! I am loving it!

The other day the husband bought ripe jackfruit pieces. They were yummy. We downed several and thus had quite a significant pile of jackfruit seeds leftover. I have eaten jackfruit seeds in my childhood - typically, they go into sambhar or kuzhambu. Though I would eat them (jackfruit seeds are very nutritious), I wasn't particularly fond of them and thus wanted to try a new recipe this time.

Tada! Jackfruit seed stir fry! The following recipe is adapted from here The first time I made it as is Now, after two more attempts, I have found the following recipe is the easiest way to make the stir fry without compromising on taste.

Palakottai (Jackfruit seed) Stir Fry

Palakottai fry

Ingredients (enough for two):
30 or so jackfruit seeds (the silky outer cover should be removed and the seeds washed)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1.5 tsp sambhar powder
Salt to taste
Water

For seasoning:
1.5 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
A pinch of asafoetida

Method:
1. Chop each of the jackfruit seeds into two. This is kinda hard when the seeds are dry. However, you can soak the whole seeds+ for about 30 minutes before chopping. This softens the seeds a little. If any of the white covers come off during chopping, great, discard them. Else, don't worry, we will deal with them soon.
2. In a pan, thrown in the chopped seeds, the turmeric powder, chilli powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Add water to cover.
3. Bring the water to a boil, cover pan with a lid and cook on medium till the seeds are done (about 15-20 minutes). They should be soft but not mushy and still should have a crunch left in them.
4. Discard all the white covers which may have separated from the seeds. Then comes the tedious part: for all the seed-halves that still have the white cover on them, peel the white cover and discard. It does not matter if the brown cover is still on the seeds.
5. In a frying pan, add in the oil. Toss in urad-dal and when it changes color slightly, add in the mustard seeds. As soon as it pops, add in the hing and curry leaves.
6. Toss in the jackfruit-seed halves.
7. Sprinkle sambhar powder.
8. Add salt to taste (remember you already used some while cooking the seeds).
9. Toss till all the seeds are coated with sambhar powder and the raw smell of sambhar powder is gone.

Serve hot with rice, sambhar and/or rasam.

Chicken liver pepper fry

My husband is a liver-lover. I don't care much for it though.I had to be forced to eat it during childhood - liver was considered to be very nutritious and thus was one of the foods I had to eat compulsorily.

This recipe from Solai's kitchen made such delicious liver fry that I voluntarily ate a few spoonfuls. My husband polished off the entire dish. Try it out!

Chicken liver pepper fry

 I made the dish with chicken liver and halved the ingredients as eye-balling told me that I probably had closer to 100g of liver rather than 200g.

Potato Masala

Puri-masala is a very popular breakfast item in Tamilnadu. This dish usually makes an appearance when special guests come home or when the family wants a "treat".

I though, have always been at a loss when figuring out why this dish is so special. I mean, puri is bland, masala is bland - why would that make a good combination?

But, strike out the puri and instead add in dosa and coconut chutney. Then, we are so back in business! Masala dosa and coconut chutney is one of those made-for-each-other, to-die-for combos. It is possible to eat quite a lot of dosas with masala and coconut chutney in attendance.

Potato Masala

Potato masala is a very easy dish to make. It probably takes only about 20-25 minutes from start to finish, prep-work and cooking time included. Make sure you set the potatoes to boil before your start prepping the rest of the ingredients. This recipe is from Mom's blog and is very easy to follow and make.

Wheat (Godumai) Dosai

I love all things wheat. Wheat dosai is the latest in the long list of wheat-based dishes that I like. My husband absolutely detests wheat dosai - but hey, I am the cook :-P!

The following recipe is mostly from here with minor variations:

Godumai Dosai

Godumai dosai cooking on the tawa

Ingredients (makes 3 dosais)
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Green chilli - 1, chopped
Onion - 1, chopped (optional)
Curry leaves - 5, torn into small pieces
Jeera - 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup (adjust per requirement)
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
1. Fry the jeera, chillis, curry leaves and onion together in a little oil till the onion turns golden. Cool the mixture completely.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the wheat flour, rice flour and salt.
3. Add water little by little to the wheat flour mixture while stirring so that no lumps are formed. The consistency should be slightly thinner than dosa batter.
4. Add in the cooled mixture from step 1 to the batter.
5. Let the batter rest for 15-30 minutes.
6. Heat a cast-iron griddle on medium and wipe the surface with a cloth dipped in oil.
7. Make the wheat dosai the same way that you would make rava dosa or adai (i.e. pour the batter from outside to inside in concentric circles and fill in the gaps).
8. Serve hot with sambhar or chutney or podi or all three!

Notes
1. You can add the ingredients in step 1 without frying too.
2. Wheat dosai takes longer to cook than regular dosai. Also, it tastes better when the dosai is browned a little rather when it is "just done".

Kovakkai (Tindora) Fry

I was never a kovakkai fan. In fact that was one of the vegetables on my "I will be excused from eating this vegetable" list (the other was pavakkai or bitter gourd. I was not allowed to have more than two veggies on that list).

To my surprise I started eating this vegetable in the US and in fact, even started liking it. It's true, your taste buds evolve as you grow. And oh, I have now taken pavakkai off my will not eat list too!

I tried this kovakkai fry recipe from Solai's kitchen and am happy to report that the end result is yummy, just like all the comments on that blog said it would be.

Kovakkai Poriyal

 I did not make any changes to the recipe. I made 1/2 kg of kovakkai though and hence doubled everything other than the water used to cook the kovakkai.

Tomato Salad

Tomatoes were on sale at the local grocery store and I wound up with quite a lot of them. The next step was to make a colorful tomato salad.

Tomato Salad

Ingredients (makes enough for 2-3):
Tomatoes - 4 large
Green capsicum - 1
Onion - 1 medium
Sea salt to taste

Dressing:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 3 cloves, grated
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp, freshly ground
Fresh lemon juice - 1 tsp

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and keep aside.

Method:
1. De-seed the tomatoes and chop into fairly big pieces. Place the cut pieces on a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Keep aside for 15 minutes and discard any drained juice.
2. Chop the capsicum into medium-small pieces. Chop the onions into medium-small pieces as well and make sure the onion layers are separate.
3. Toss the chopped veggies together.
4. Add the dressing and toss again. Adjust salt and pepper as per taste.
5. Serve after letting the salad rest for at least 15 minutes.

Notes
1. You could refrigerate the salad before serving.
2. You could add a peeled and chopped cucumber to the salad as a variation.

Basic bhindi (okra/vendakkai/ladies finger) fry

Ladies finger is my most favorite vegetable. It is probably the only vegetable I can eat no matter how well or how badly it is cooked (I hate it when it is drenched in oil. When that happens, I grumble, squeeze out the oil and still eat it). I think ladies finger tastes best when it is tender and is cooked with minimal oil and mild spices just till the raw smell disappears.

Here is a basic ladies finger recipe which tastes good even when the ladies fingers aren't all that tender. It makes a great combo with rasam-rice though it tastes good with rotis and dal too.

Ladies finger fry

Ingredients (makes enough for 2-3):
Ladies finger (okra) - 1/2 kg (washed, dried and sliced into 1/8" thick rounds)
Onion - 1 big, finely chopped
Tomato - 1 big, finely chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Dhania powder - 2 heaped tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste


To Season:
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Red chillis - 2, broken
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaves - a sprig
Oil

Method:
1. Coat the bottom of a wide, non-stick pan with about 1 tsp oil and place on medium heat.
2. Add the seasoning items: mustard seeds, urad dal and red chillis. When mustard begins to splutter, add asafoetida and curry leaves in quick succession.
3. Add onions and salt and fry till golden.
4. Add tomatoes and fry till it is more or less mashed.
5. Add the chilli, coriander and turmeric powders and fry for 30 seconds.
6. Add the okra a little at a time, stirring carefully after each addition so that the okra is mixed well with the onion-tomato mixture (use a light hand or you will mash the okra).
7. Spread okra over the bottom of the pan, lower the heat, cover with a lid and let cook for 6-8 minutes without disturbing
8. Uncover, stir okra, cover again and cook for 4-5 minutes.
9. Uncover, check for done-ness. If done, cook without the lid for 2-3 minutes. Else re-cover and cook in 2 minute additions
10. Check for salt and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Koottu Rasam

I am a big rasam lover. Rasam is the first "dish" I learnt to make. Which isn't a very big feat considering how easy rasam is to make usually. Nevermind that I only learnt later that it is possible to screw up making rasam too (some people really can't cook - such is life).

Anyhoo, the most time consuming part of making rasam is boiling the tur dal to put in it. It is only a small quantity of dal which goes into rasam but still I feel that it is a must for the rasam-y taste I like.

Thus, I was thrilled when I came upon this rasam recipe on my cousin's blog which included tur dal but did not require separate boiling of the same.

Brief digression (and plug) - that blog has authentic recipes from the Kumbakonam area of Tamilnadu. My cousin's mom is a great cook and my lucky cousin has inherited those genes. Furthermore, he has been patiently and painstakingly putting down the recipes (from paper and through the telephone) onto a blog. Check those out!

I made some minor changes to the original koottu rasam recipe. Here is my version.

Koottu Rasam

Steaming koottu rasam

Ingredients (enough rasam for 4-5):


To roast and grind:
Tur Dal, 2 tsp
Red chilies, 2
Whole black pepper, 1 tsp
Cumin, 1 tsp
Garlic, 2 cloves, peeled

Roast all of the above without oil and grind into a coarse powder.

Base:
Water, 4 cups
Tamarind, gooseberry sized ball
Turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp
Tomato, 1 medium, crushed into a pulp using hands
Salt to taste

Extract the tamarind and then mix with the rest of the base ingredients

To season
Mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp
Urad dal, 1/2 tsp
Green chilli, 1 small, split vertically
A pinch of asafoetida
Curry leaves, 1 sprig
Oil, 1 tsp
Fresh coriander leaves, 1 tbsp, chopped

Method:
1. Add the coarsely ground powder to the base and mix well.
2. Heat a sauce-pan on medium, add the mixture from step 1 and bring to a boil.
3. In a separate seasoning pan, add oil, urad dal, green chilli and mustard seeds. When mustard seeds begin to crackle, add asafoetida and curry leaves in quick succession and add the entire contents of the seasoning pan to the boiling mixture from step 2.
4. Turn off heat, check for salt, garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice.

Notes
1. Coriander leaves give a lovely aroma to rasam. Try not to skip them unless you have to!

Spicy Masala Shrimp (prawns)

We went to the fish-stall yesterday and bought shrimp as they looked quite fresh in their shells. The store-keeper was very helpful and offered to de-shell as well as de-vein the prawns. How nice! Obviously, we took up on the offer and brought home about a 1/4 kg of cleaned prawns.

Prawns sauteed in butter and seasoned with freshly ground pepper and salt tastes divine. However, it is not so healthy. But then, prawns being what they are, they taste quite divine when cooked with desi spices too.

Spicy Masala Prawns

Ingredients (makes enough for 2-3):
[Don't be daunted by the long list. The recipe is quite easy to make.]

Marinate:
1/4 kg cleaned prawns
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chili powder
3 tsp garlic powder (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together and leave in fridge overnight or outside for a couple of hours.

To Season:
Oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 broken red chillis
1/8 tsp asafoetida (hing)
7-8 torn curry leaves

To cook:
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 long green chilli, chopped fine
25 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dhania powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder (optional)
1/2 tsp fennel powder
Oil
Salt

Method:

[Remember to bring prawns to room temperature before starting to cook.]
1. Put a wide non-stick pan on a stove on medium heat and add oil enough to coat base of the pan.
2. Add the seasoning ingredients in the following order: mustard seeds and red chilis. When mustard begins to crackle, add hing followed by curry leaves.
3. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilis. Stir all the while to make sure nothing burns.
4. When the above mixture begins to turn color, add chopped coriander leaves and stir for a couple of seconds.
5. Toss in the onions and sufficient salt (remember, you have already added some salt to the prawns).
6. Stir fry the onions till they turn golden-brown and then add in the masala powders other than fennel powder (chili, dhania, turmeric, pepper, garam masala, kashmiri chili).
7. Stir fry for a few seconds and then add in chopped tomatoes and mix in well.
8. Add about 2-3 tbsp of water, cover the pan, lower the heat and allow it to cook till the tomatoes turn mushy (about 2-3 minutes).
9. Increase the heat, uncover the pan and continue stir frying till all the water has almost evaporated
10. Toss in the prawns and spread them so each prawn has contact with base of the pan.
11. Once the prawns have changed color, flip them and cook the other side.
12. Prawns cook really fast - so steps 10 and 11 should be done in under 3 minutes. Do not overcook prawns or they will become rubbery.
13. Adjust salt as necessary. Sprinkle fennel powder and mix it in to spread it evenly.
14. Switch off heat and serve after 10 minutes or so. If you plan to serve later, when you reheat, try to do it on the stove and  reheat only till the prawns masala heats through (about 1-2 minutes).

Goes very well with hot, steamed rice or if you are feeding tongues of steel, as an appetizer by itself!

Poha (aval upma)

Long before the very-similar-to-make Sabudana kichdi joined the list of quick-meals, poha was already a permanent member. I had never heard of poha till I went to grad school where a whole bunch of Maharashtrian friends swore by it. Seeing how easy it was to make and how satisfying the end result was, I was hooked. Poha has got me through many days of "I don't want to spend much time cooking but I want to eat a nice, hot meal".

A spoonful of poha

Ingredients (enough for two):
Poha (aval) - 1 cup
Onion - 1, medium-sized, chopped
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Red chilis - 3, broken
Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup, de-skinned and broken into halves
Jeera - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp (or to taste)
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped
Oil - 1.5 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Soak the poha by placing poha in a dish and pouring enough water to cover. Poha absorbs water pretty well and pretty fast so you will probably need a little more water beyond just covering the poha.
2. Place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add the red chillies and the jeera.
3. When jeera begins to crackle, add the onions and stir fry till the onions turn lightly golden.
4. Add the turmeric, salt and peanuts and continue stirring till the raw smell of turmeric disappears. Onions should only be lightly cooked, not roasted to a brown color.
5. Add the soaked poha (it should be soft but there should not be excess water) and gently stir till it is well mixed with the onion-peanut mixture.
6. Continue cooking on medium heat till the poha is heated through (about 4-5 minutes).
7. Turn off heat and add lime juice. Stir/toss, so that the juice spreads evenly.
8. Top with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Sabudana Kichdi

Every time I get busy at work, cooking immediately takes a backseat. Don't even ask about blogging.

Sabudana kichdi is a tasty dish if you like the spongy, chewy texture of sabudana (variously called as sago or tapioca pearls or javvarisi). It requires a little bit of planning since you need to soak the sabudana beforehand but the actual making process is quite simple and quick - making it an ideal recipe for not-enough-time-to-cook times.

Sabudana Kichdi

Ingredients (makes enough for 2):
Sabudana - 1 cup
Potato - 1 medium-sized, chopped into small pieces
Green chillis - 2, split vertically
Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup, de-skinned and lightly crushed
Jeera - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Lemon Juice - 2 tsp or per taste
Corriander leaves - 1 handful, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:
1. Soak the sabudana in water for 8 hours or overnight. The way I measure the amount of water needed is: Place the sabudana in a bowl, pour enough water to just cover. Then pour some more water so that the level of water is up to the first line-marking (from top) on the inside your index finger when it is placed on the top layer of sabudana. A friend taught me this and this method ensures that you do not use too much or too little water.
2. In case there is any water remaining with the soaked sabudana the next day, drain it and spread the sabudana on a plate to lightly dry. Too much water will result in a soggy mess.
3. Heat enough oil to coat in a non-stick pan on medium heat. Non stick is important if you want to avoid using copious quantities of oil and prevent sticking to the pan.
4. Toss in the jeera and the green chillis and lightly stir till the jeera crackles.
5. Add the chopped potato pieces and stir till they are evenly coated with oil/jeera.
6. Add the turmeric, stir again, then lower the heat and cover the pan.
7. When potatoes are almost done (about 4-5 minutes), add in the sabudana. Stir continuously with a light hand as you add the sabudana to prevent sticking.
8. From this point, DO NOT cover the pan at any time.
9. Add the crushed peanut pieces and salt. Continue stirring lightly from time to time.
10. When the sabudana pearls turn translucent (about 5-7 minutes), the kichdi is done.
11. Turn off heat, add the lemon juice and stir/toss the kichdi so the juice spreads evenly.
12. Top with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Notes:
1. The most important thing to get right for this recipe is the sabudana. They should be soaked but not soggy when you add them.
2. If your sabudana kichdi turns out to be a big sticky ball when it is done, check the following:
a) are you using a non-stick pan or sufficient oil in case of a regular pan? With a regular pan, you would easily be looking at 2-3 tbsp of oil to avoid stickiness.
b) are you cooking on too high heat? The kichdi should be cooked on medium-low to medium heat.
c) Are you stirring with a heavy hand? Stir lightly because you are only trying to make sure that the sabudana gets coated with mild spices, not because you are trying to dissolve it into a gruel.
d) As mentioned before, DO NOT cover the pan once you have added sabudana - a covered pan is the best way to ensure a sticky ball.
e) At no time should you be adding any water. If the kichdi seems to be sticking to the bottom of the pan, lower heat and drizzle some more oil into it.

Once you get the sabudana right, the recipe is a breeze to make. I know because I did make a couple of sticky balls before I started getting it consistently right. The effort was not wasted - now I have one more tasty dish on my quick-meal options!