Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Some dishes transport you back to your childhood. One such dish is pruppu urundai kuzhambu. Mom used to make it on week ends for lunch. It is basically lentil balls cooked in tamarind sauce (sambhar without dal). My mom used to steam the lentil balls and add them to the kuzhambu. I found that the balls cooked this was becomes hard. I let the lentil balls cook in the stew. There are two variations of this dish. One is Tam bhram style with no onion and garlic. The other one is Chettinadu style with onion, garlic and fennel seeds. My mom prefers the former variations, so I had to make it that way.

Ingredients:
For lentil balls:
3/4 Cup channa dal
1/4 Cup toor dal
1 red chili
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves
For Kuzhambu:
Lemon size tamarind soaked in 2 cups water and pulp extracted
2 Tablespoons sesame oil or any other
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon channa dal
1/4 teaspoon toor dal
1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 dried red chili
3-4 curry leaves
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
salt to taste
2 teaspoons sambhar powder

Method:
1. Soak lentils (dal) and chili in water for 30 minutes or until soft.

2. Drain the water from dal. Grind along with the remaining ingredients under lentil balls, except curry leaves to a coarse mixture. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add chopped curry leaves and mix.

3. Make small balls of the ground lentil mixture. Dust balls with rice flour by rolling them on it. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in  a 3 quart saucepan. Add mustard, channa, toor dal, fenugreek to oil. When mustard seeds pop and dal turn golden brown, add red chili, asafoetida. Add sambhar powder and roast for a minute.

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5. Dilute tamarind pulp with another cup of water. Gently pour into saucepan, stirring constantly. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Kuzhambu for this recipe should be thin in consistency, as it would thicken later when lentil balls are cooked.

6. Cook for a few minutes until the tamarind and sambhar powder smell dissipates. Add curry leaves.

7. Gently drop lentil balls one by one, without crowding the saucepan. The balls would go down to the pan. Do not worry, they will float back up when cooked.

8. Leave the balls untouched for a few minutes, so they would not break. Some of them might disintegrate to the kuzhambu, that is alright.

9. After a few minutes, gently turn the lentil balls over. Cook for few more minutes. You can check if the balls are cooked. Just take one in a ladle, break open. You can see if the insides are cooked, the color would have changed.

10. Once the balls are cooked, they would float to the top. Add more water if the sauce is too thick or too sour. Check for salt and add if required. Cook for a few more minutes.

11. Remove from stove. Serve hot with rice and ghee.

Gottu Rasam

My father- in- law worked for Tamil Nadu government super market. He was transferred to different places through out the state. The whole family moved with him where ever he went. I have heard from my husband that his mom would start cooking as soon as they moved to a new house..no take outs. She would make this delicious rasam in a jiffy. When I asked my father-in-law for her recipe this morning, he called it killi thalicha rasam. Basically, this gottu rasam is made when there is no tomatoes or toor dal in the house, just cooked tamarind water with tempered spices. I have no memory of my mom making this growing up, though she says otherwise. I was not a fan of this when I was introduced to it at my in-laws' after marriage.  My mom wanted me to make this today. Boy! I fell in love with it. 

Ingredients:

Gooseberry size tamarind, soaked in 1/2 cup water 

1 tablespoon ghee

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 1/2 teaspoon toor dal

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorn

1/4 spoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds

3 dried red chili, broken in half

3-4 curry leaves

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon jaggery

Method:

1. Extract tamarind water from soaked pulp. Discard tamarind. Add 1 1/2 cups of water.

2. Heat ghee in a 2 quart saucepan. Add dried spices to the pan. Add curry leaves when spices pop in ghee.

3. Pour tamarind water to the saucepan. Add salt, and asafoetida. Let it simmer till the tangy smell of tamarind leaves. Taste for salt. Add jaggery or brown sugar.

4. Remove from stove. Serve as soup or with rice.

Vegetable Bajji (Tempura)

Anything fried tastes really good! In Indian cuisine, batter used for dipping vegetables or meat is usually a combination of  chickpea flour and rice flour,  not all purpose flour, and egg is generally not used. Bajji, as it is called in Tamil Nadu is vegetables dipped in batter and deep fried. In North India bajji is called pakora. It is a very popular snack all over India.

Ingredients:

1 potato, sliced

2 Indian purple eggplant or 1/4 Italian eggplant, sliced

1 onion, sliced

3 cups chickpea flour

1 1/2 cups rice flour

salt to taste

2 teaspoons paprika powder/red chili powder (adjust to taste)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon asafoetida

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

water to make batter

oil for deep frying

Method:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add enough water and mix to make a thick batter.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Dip vegetables, one at a time, using tongs, and carefully drop into hot oil. Cook on both sides to a golden brown color. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.

3. Repeat process with remaining vegetables. Serve warm with green chutney, sweet chutney or ketchup.

Note:
The ratio of chickpea flour and rice flour is 2:1
Any vegetable can be used to make bajji.
Boiled egg can be dipped in batter and fried to make egg bajji
Paneer can also be to make bajji.

Bagels

I am very picky when it comes to bagels. I do not like many store bought ones. Prefer the ones from local bagel bistros. Couple days ago my neighbor told me that she made bagels, and I was surprised. I  always thought it was not easy to make bagels. If my neighbor can make it so can I. I adapted the recipe from sallysbakingaddiction.com. The bagels turned out to be really awesome.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 3/4 teaspoons instant or dry yeast

4 cups bread flour/ all purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1 Tablespoon packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water (egg wash)

2 Quarts water

1/4 cup honey

Method:

1. Whisk together warm water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook until frothy.You can use a hand blender to whisk in a large bowl, if you do not have a stand mixer.

2. Add the flour, brown sugar and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough will be stiff and look slightly dry. Save the bowl.

3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes.

4. Lightly grease the large bowl you saved with oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size. You can use the instant pot to rise the dough. Grease the IP insert pot, place the dough in it. Cover the pot with a glass lid. Press yogurt setting on less for 1 hr 30 minutes.

5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape each piece into a ball. Press you index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. Loosely cover the shaped balls with a clean kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 425 deg. F

8. While the shaped balls are under the towel, fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to medium high. Drop the bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure there is enough room for them to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side before removing from water.

9. Brush the top and sides of each bagel with egg wash. Place 4 bagels on each lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with seasoning of your choice.

10. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The bagels should be dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. Enjoy your bagel toasted and topped with butter or cream cheese.

Note: I doubled the dough in instant pot. I also used egg substitute for egg wash.