A recipe for passion is always simmering !
Pitlai is nothing but arachivitta(ground) sambar, mostly popular among the Brahmin community. This thick lentil gravy is prepared with freshly ground spices and vegetables. Mostly pitlai is made with Bitter gourd, brinjal, yams and squash. Here, I've attempted with Elephant foot yam.
Paneer is the most common form of mild soft Indian cheese. Making your own at home is ridiculously easy and fun. Though, lookwise mine might not be a perfect match to those firm store bought paneer, but tastewise, was far better and fresh. Moreover the satisfaction that you gain after making something from scratch turning pretty good….. Priceless!!! Here's a glimpse of my modest attempt.
Simple home style yam fry. This vegetable is quite hard to find here in US, some Oriental stores have them. Indian stores have these in the frozen aisle. (Karunai Kilangu / Sena Kilangu / Yam fry / Yam Varuval)
Elephant Foot Yam – English
Karunai Kizhangu / Sennai Kizhangu – Tamil
Chenna – Malayalam
Suran – Hindi / Marathi
Karrapendalam – Telugu
Moong sprouts seasoned with spices and cooked to perfection. Great healthy lunch box idea when rolled up in a warm chapatti or tortilla. ( Whole Green Gram – English, Paasi payaru– Tamil, Mudi Pesalu – Telugu, Sabut Moong – Hindi, Idi Hesuru – Kannada, Cherupayar – Malayalam )
Here's an easy recipe to bring home the most hated veggie on earth. Though Italian born, when given life with protein packed Indian lentils, this would no longer be looked down with a frown. Usili, a famous South Indian preparation takes an interesting twist in this recipe when combined with broccoli.
Crunchy rice and lentil based savoury snack from Tamil Nadu.
Thattai – Tamil
Chekkalu – Telugu
Nippattu – Kannada
Soft, chewy and utterly delicious oatmeal cookies, easy to make and quite healthy to eat.
Kuzhi Paniyaram is a popular Chettinad tiffin item, where fermented rice and lentil batter mixed with seasoning and steamed in special pans which comes with little golf ball size holes (kuzhi in Tamil). These paniyarams can be made either sweet or savoury. The savoury dish is called Kaara Kuzhi Paniyaram and here is how you make it. (Ponganalu / Pongadalu / Kuzhi appam )
Most sort white kurma often served as a side for chapatti, iddiappam or appam in chettinad restaurants. This can be either made with meat or mixed vegetables. Here's the mixed vegetable version. (Chettinad White Kurma / Korma)
Famous sweet dish from Karnataka, made with Gram Flour (Chickpea Flour / Kadhalai Maavu / Besan) and sugar, mixed with generous amount of ghee, to make it, the most craved dessert item of South India. Quality ingredients, measures and method are very important to prepare this, every step counts, light change in any of the above might end up turning into a thick stone. Actually there are 2 different versions, the soft way (like the famous Sri Krishna Sweets Mysore Pak) and the crumb-lee version (slightly thick with crumblier texture on the top, like how, street side sweet walas make). Here, I've attempted typical home style soft version, though, not great looking, turned out with a decent taste and texture.
