Kaththirikkaai (Eggplant) Rasavaangi

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and once again, wish you all a very happy new year! I had a great, relaxing holiday season myself and tried quite a few new recipes from many of your blogs (which will be featured in the upcoming posts :-)). It feels good to get back to the business though, after all the eating that I have done in the past few weeks. I haven't been able to keep up with your blog updates lately, but definitely hope to get there slowly. Let me start the first post for this year with one of my Mom's recipes that tried over the holidays.

Ingredients (3 - 4 servings):

Eggplant - 1 lb cut in to bite sized pieces
Toor dhal (optional, but I add it to make it more nutritional) - 1/4 cup cooked
Tamarind soaked in warm water - 1/2 inch ball
(If using paste, about 1/4 teaspoon of it)
Turmeric powder - a couple of pinches
Curry leaves - a few
Salt to taste

To fry in a drop of oil separately and grind into a coarse paste:

Grated/powdered coconut - 3 to 4 full teaspoons
Coriander seeds - 2 teaspoons
Dried red chillies - 4 to 5
Channa dhal - 3 teaspoons

For seasoning:

Coconut oil (a must) - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches

Procedure:

1. Extract the thick pulp of soaked tamarind and set aside.
2. Fry the ingredients to fry in oil, one after the other, grind them into a coarse paste and set aside.
3. Pressure cook toor dhal with turmeric powder until done and set aside.
4. Boil eggplants in water and turmeric powder until they are mostly cooked but not completely cooked.
5. Add the tamarind paste/pulp to step 4, mix it in and wait until the eggplant gets cooked thoroughly.
6. Add the ground paste, cooked toor dhal and salt to step 5, bring it to a boil and turn off the stove.
7. In a small pan, heat some coconut oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color. Transfer the contents of the pan to step 6.
8. Garnish with curry leaves.

Note:
My Mom says that eggplant does not cook if the tamarind is added at the beginning of step 4.

Enjoy with piping hot steamed rice topped with a teaspoon of ghee or with sambar/rasam.

Happy Holidays!

It has been a great pleasure knowing all of you, interacting with you and enjoying your delicious recipes. I hope to see more and more of your holiday recipes come through this holiday season. Here is wishing you all a merry Christmas and a very happy, prosperous, fun and love-filled New Year!

Thayir (Yogurt) Bread

As soon as I spotted this recipe at Madhuri's blog, my dinner was decided instantly that day. On my way from work, I grabbed a freshly baked loaf of garlic and herbs bread and had a hearty meal. In addition to being very different from the traditional bread combos this was super easy to make. I also realized that this could be a very quick starter recipe when you are in rush to cook for a potluck party or something. I made it the traditional South Indian thayir vadai way without adding any chat seasonings (only because I ran out of them).

Ingredients (3 - 4 servings):

Fresh bread loaf - 1/2 if big or 1 if small (you can use any variety that you prefer)
Plain yogurt - 4 to 5 cups (using a measuring cup) whisked evenly with about a cup (using a measuring cup) of water
Salt to taste

To grind into a paste:

Grated/powdered coconut - about 2 cups (using a measuring cup)
Green chillies - 5 to 6 (vary this to suit your taste)

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches

Procedure:

1. Cut the bread loaf into 1 inch squares (you can trim the edges if you want to, but I didn't) and set aside.
2. Heat some oil in a small pan, pop mustard seeds, add asafoetida and transfer the contents to the whisked yogurt and mix well.
3. Mix the ground paste of coconut and green chillies with the whisked yogurt thoroughly along with some salt.
4. Pour 1/3rd of the yogurt mixture on to a flat and wide container and carefully arrange the cut bread squares from step 1.
5. Pour the remaining yogurt mixture on the bread covering every little exposed surface of the bread and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

Note:
Like Madhuri's says, you can add all the chat seasonings to it and garnish with grated carrots as well and that will be a nice twist from this preparation :-).

I couldn't wait to have it, so I had to eat it the instant I made it ;-), but you can serve it chilled. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it & even made this at a friend's place the week after.

Egg Dosa

I came across egg dosa for the first time in Rohini's blog. Since I'm an ardent egg fan, I tried it the same day and just loved it :-). The dosas came out to be very soft.

Ingredients (makes 3 - 4 dosas):

Eggs - 2
Dosa batter - 2 cups (using a measuring cup)
Oil for making dosas
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Beat the eggs thoroughly in a bowl, mix in the dosa batter and adjust salt.
2. Make dosas the usual way and enjoy!

I had some left over potato masala and treated myself to awesome egg masala dosas :-).

If you are looking for a slight variation in dosas and if you are an egg lover, I strongly recommend this.

Simple Carrot Fry

Carrot fry/curry is of the easiest ways to make something totally yummy out of carrots. Normally, I add carrots to almost all the mixed vegetable dishes I make as they add a little sweetness to the dish, but don't make anything just out of carrots itself. But this curry has a great flavor that it makes me forget that I'm eating carrots :-).

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings):

Fresh carrots - 4 to 5 washed, peeled and chopped
Cooking oil - a couple of teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Dried red chillies - a couple of them broken by hand
Grated/powdered coconut (optional) - about 2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder (optional) - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal, asafoetida and dried red chillies and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. Add the chopped carrots to step 1, mix well, cover and cook on low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the carrots get cooked.
3. Add some red chilli powder and salt to step 2 and fry the carrots on medium heat for another 5 - 7 minutes and turn off the stove. You can add some grated/powdered coconut now, but otherwise the carrot fry is ready to go.

This goes great with rice and sambar or rasam.

A Backlog Of Awards Presented!

I've been intending to post this for a couple of weeks now, but never got to it. Blame it on my job!!! :-(. Even though I'm late, I wish to let all my blogger friends know that I have a whole new family here and I totally cherish this experience. Thank you for your constant encouragement and support :-).

Rohini has been kind enough to pass on these awards:

Babli has shared these awards:

Asha has showered me with these awards:

Sandhya has given me these awards:

The following blogger excellence award has been passed on to me by Aruna.

Thank you ladies for sharing the awards and keeping the spirits high in the blogosphere!

Now, it is my turn to share all of the awards from this post with Lata Raja, Mahimaa, Shanthi, Sanghi, Sangeetha, Pavithra and Parita. Please collect your awards and continue posting your mouthwatering recipes!

Simple Cauliflower Fry

This is one of the easiest dishes to make except for the time to clean and cut cauliflower.

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Cauliflower - 1 big, washed and cut into small florets
Cooking oil - 1.5 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a couple of pinches
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (vary this to suit your taste)
Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a wide pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add the urad dhal and asafoetida and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color.
2. To step 1, add the cut cauliflower florets, mix everything well and fry on medium high heat for about 3 - 4 minutes with constant stirring.
3. Once the cauliflower starts browning, add some red chilli powder and salt and fry until it gets cooked and turns nice and crispy. Turn off the stove.

A good variation would be to add about a handful of chopped onions to step 1 and fry them until golden brown before moving on to step 2. You can also add some chopped potatoes along with the cauliflower florets.

Tip:
I have noticed that separating the florets by hand instead of chopping them using a knife keeps them intact during the cooking process and that way I can cut them to the size I desire.

This goes a side dish with rice and sambar/rasam/plain yogurt. I even have it as a snack sometimes.