Chole Masala

I have already posted a recipe for chole a.k.a channa masala here, a quicker & easier version. 

Yesterday, it was time for channa masala again! Yesterday 's version was too good that the intensely spiced bright red chole reminded me of what is being served in the restaurants. Incidentally, the day before VJ had chole at one of the North Indian restaurants for lunch and it turned out to be a total failure! So, when I told him that I will be posting this version as "Chole - Restaurant Style", he told me, "Why restaurant style? This tastes a lot better!". Now, that's what I call as a compliment!!!

The dry spice powder mix is the secret for perfect color, taste & texture! Paprika & turmeric gives it an appetizing orangish-red color, while coriander, cumin, red chilli, channa masala powder gives it a hot & spicy flavor base. Amchoor & lime juice adds a wonderful sour note at the end! 

Basic Info
Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 8-10 hrs (includes soaking time)
Cook time - 30 mins
Serves - 3

Ingredients
Cooked chickpeas - 3 cups
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Bay leaf - 1 no
Onion - 2 nos (medium sized, minced)
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)
Ginger - 1 inch (grated)
Green chilly - 1 no (minced)
Tomatoes - 4 nos (big sized, ripe)
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin powder - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder - 1 tsp
Paprika - 2 tsp
Channa masala (MTR brand) - 2 tsp (replace it with garam masala)
Water - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Lime juice - from 1/2 lime
Cilantro - handful (finely chopped)

Method

Soak chickpeas overnight and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil (large enough to cover 4 tomatoes with water), and carefully drop the tomatoes into boiling water. In a couple of mins, you should see the skin of the tomatoes coming off. At this point, remove the tomatoes from hot water and wash them under cold tap water. Peel off & discard the skin, crush the tomatoes and keep them ready.

Heat oil in a large skillet. When hot, saute bay leaf for a second and splutter cumin seeds.

Add onion, garlic, ginger, chillies and saute over medium heat until browned for about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add all of the dry masala powder - coriander, cumin, turmeric, red chilli, amchoor, paprika & channa masala. Cook it for a minute or two, and then, add the crushed tomatoes. Add water, salt and chickpeas and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with roti/poori/rice.

Note:
- Slightly over-cooking chickpeas is the trick to get tastier channa masala.
- Add more or less water depending on how thick you want the gravy to be.

Aviyal

Aviyal in literal sense means "mixture of vegetables", simmered in a spicy coconut based gravy. Aviyal is considered to be rich & festive and hence, no south Indian festival/marriage is considered complete without aviyal in the menu. Aviyal is very near & dear to me and I always look forward to this dish, be it a big wedding or a small function. I must say that the mixed vegetables gives aviyal a unique flavor and with every mouthful, as you get to bite into different taste & texture of different vegetables .. mmmmm .. yum is the word!!

History of aviyal seemed quite interesting (Thanks to wikipedia!), as it dates back to the times of Mahabaratha, when Bheema (one of the five Pandavas) wore his cooking hat (which he is supposedly not very good at!) in the kitchens of King Virata, during exile. Not knowing the basics of cooking, he simply chopped up different vegetables, cooked and garnished them with grated coconut, that later became popular as Aviyal.

This renowned dish takes different forms, uses different ingredients in different household. Some add turmeric powder for that yellowish tinge, but I grew up with my mom's white aviyal (though I like both the versions). Some use tamarind water for sourness, whereas my mom uses sour curd/yogurt instead. Some use cumin seeds to add to the flavor, but my mom says adding cumin seeds to aviyal will make it taste more like 'mor kuzhambu' than aviyal!

As for the vegetables, you could use any vegetable that doesn't lose its shape and mush up when cooked. Carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, broad beans (avarakkai), raw bananas, snake gourd, drumstick - an equal mixture of atleast 4-5 vegetables from the list would be just perfect for aviyal!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium

Prep time - 30 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 3-4

Ingredients

Vegetables - 3 cups (I used 1 raw banana, 1 potato, 10-15 beans, 2 carrots & 1/2 cup peas)

Water - 1/2 cup

Raw rice - 1 tbsp (Sona masoori works best)

Green chillies - 3 nos

Coconut - 1/2 cup (packed, freshly grated coconut is highly recommended)

Sour curd - 1/4 cup (I used greek yogurt which was souring in my fridge)

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Curry leaves - 2-3 sprigs

Salt - to taste

Method

Soak raw rice in water for atleast 20 mins.

In a deep saucepan, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Add vegetables & salt. Cover and cook on medium flame until 3/4 th done. Over-cooking will mash up the vegetables.

In the meanwhile, grind coconut, chillies, soaked/drained raw rice into a thick & coarse paste.

Add this paste to the vegetables along with 1/3 cup of water and let it simmer on low flame for 3-5 mins.  Garnish with coconut oil, curry leaves and remove from heat. 

Add beaten yogurt (without any lumps) to the aviyal and mix well. Aviyal is ready to be served!

Mysore Rasam

According to me (and most of others who have tasted this rasam), mysore rasam is rich, exotic & aromatic. You taste it once, and get hooked on to this for the rest of your life!

Back at home, I am a big foodie of all. If at all there is someone to demand my mom of her recipes, that would be me! I am addicted to this rasam so much so that I have asked my mom to make it for me time & time again!

Basic Info
Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 25 mins
Cook time - 15 mins
Serves - 3-4

Ingredients
Tamarind - size of a large gooseberry
Tomatoes - 3 nos (medium sized, ripe)
Cooked & mashed Toor dal - 2-3 tbsp
Black Peppercorns - 3/4 tsp
Red chillies - 1 no
Coconut pieces - 12 small pieces (approx less than 1/4 cup of grated coconut)
Hing - 1 small piece
Oil - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1-2 sprigs
Rasam powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method

Soak tamarind in hot water and extract about 2 cups of tamarind water. Keep it aside.

Add 1 cup of water to mashed toor dal, mix well and set aside.

Heat a tsp of oil, and fry hing, red chillies & black peppercorns until crisp & aromatic. Let it cool and grind along with coconut into a thick & smooth paste. Add as little water as required.

Boil tamarind water & chopped tomatoes along with salt & rasam powder for about 7-8 mins until the raw smell of tamarind goes off. To this, add the ground paste and let it come to a boil. Finally, add toor dal water and let it froth.

Remove from heat. Heat a tsp of oil, splutter mustard seeds and add it to the rasam. Garnish with curry leaves and hot & tasty rasam is ready to be served.

Paruppu podi

Toor dal / Tuvar dal (split pigeon peas) is one of the most popular pulses in southern part of India. Toor dal being an important source of protein (usually 25% of protein by weight) in a vegetarian diet, is used in most of the south-Indian recipes, like sambar, rasam, kootu etc. Paruppu thogayal is a wet mixture of toor dal & spices used as a rice mix with milagu kuzhambu on the side.

Paruppu podi is the recipe where toor dal is dry roasted with other spices and ground into fine dry powder (slightly towards the coarser side). Then, this powder/podi is mixed with rice with a dab of ghee / gingelly oil and consumed with sutta (fire-roasted) appalam on the side. As simple as it sounds, this is also very tasty & nutritious. Healthy alternate to break your usual sambar-rasam routine.

My mom always keeps a bottle of paruppu podi in stock, that comes really handy while she 's not around to cook for us. Me & my brother are suckers for our mom 's simplest, down-to-earth form of this recipe, and I especially love it with poricha kuzhambu / plain yogurt on the side!

Basic Info
Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 30 mins (includes cooling time)
Cook time - 5 mins
Serves - approx. 1 cup

Ingredients
Toor dal - 1 cup
Black peppercorns - 1 tsp
Dry red chilli - 1 no
Salt to taste

Method

Dry roast toor dal, black peppercorns, dry red chilli until toor dal is golden brown. Let it cool to room temperature and grind into a fine powder.

If you store paruppu podi in a dry air-tight container, and use only dry spoons, it can stay good for months together.

Variations

- Dry roast 2-3 sprigs of curry leaves along with the dal and grind.

- Cumin seeds (~2 tsp) also makes a flavorful addition.

- Mix 2 big pinches of hing to the podi to aid in better digestion.

- Dry roast 6-8 cloves of garlic until crisp and grind it along with toor dal for the famous "Andhra Pappu".

- However you mix & match the above ingredients, you will always end up with a flavorsome, protein-packed paruppu podi.

Home-made Tortillas

Tortillas, being the staple food of Mexicans, is the first thing that you need to work with Mexican recipes like tacos, burritos, chalupas, enchiladas etc. Soft/Medium, Small/Large, Flour/Corn/Wheat/Multi-grain -  yeah, there are lot of commercial tortillas available in the market. But, why buy them, when you can reproduce the same authentic taste at home, that too for less! 

Home made tortillas are way too thin, soft, chewy & simple!

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple

Prep time - 20 mins

Cook time - 30 mins

Serves - 8 tortillas

Ingredients
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 3/4 cup
Olive oil - 3 tbsp

Method

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. Knead for about 10-12 mins until smooth on a floured surface (add little flour or water if needed). Let it rest for 10 mins. 

Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into 7-inch discs. 

Heat a skillet, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Keep them warm covered in aluminium foil / tortilla warmer.

Tips to get thin/soft tortillas

- Use a circular rolling board & rolling pin.

- Flour the surface before starting to roll-out.

- Initially, flatten the ball of dough and roll it into 3-4 inch thickness.

- After this, do not pick up the tortilla by hand. Due to its elastic nature, tortilla tends to spring back to its original size.

- For thinner tortillas, roll it outward from the center, rotating the rolling board occasionally to form an even circle.
- Roll it out as thin as possible.

- Cook tortillas on medium heat. High heat tends to cook tortillas faster.