This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Once again it is mango season. It is time to include mangoes in almost all the dishes prepared for a full meal. Pickles, curries, salads, dals, sambar, morkuzhambu and chutneys, mango rice, sweets like halwa and payasam prepared out of ripe mangoes - the list of mango based dishes is endless. At least one mango dish a day, is the order of the day, as long as the season lasts!

Here is a recipe for Rasam which is an integral part of a South Indian meal - prepared with raw mango.

INGREDIENTS

Raw mango chopped - 1 cup

Tur dal - 1 cup

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Powdered jaggery - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1 1/2 tsps

INGREDIENTS FOR RASAM POWDER

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp

Red chillies - 5

Black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida - one small piece

Curry leaves - a few

FOR SEASONING

Ghee - 2 tsps

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

FOR GARNISHING

Fresh coriander leaves ( chopped ) - 1 tbsp

METHOD

1. Wash and chop mango with peel and pressure cook with dal and turmeric powder adding 3 cups of water.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Vazhai Poo or banana blossom is harvested from the banana tree, when the flower is distanced 'four fingers' ( abut four inches ) away from the banana bunch.

The efflorescence looks like a huge teardrop shaped bud, with each deep purple bract tightly covering a row of banana blossoms. Removing the bracts and finding the florets is as enjoyable as a treasure hunt. Preparing the florets for cooking is another interesting activity which can be indulged in by all the members of the family on leisurely days.

The Tamil names used to identify the inedible parts of banana blossoms are very amusing. The whole family has an exciting time finding and pulling out the stigma or 'kallan' meaning thief, encased inside each floret! The sepals or 'paavaadai' meaning skirt, covering the florets is also removed with the same gusto!

INGREDIENTS

Chopped banana blossoms - 2 cups

Green gram dal - 1/2 cup ( soak for ten minutes )

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Sesame oil - 2 tsps

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Split black gram dal - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 2 ( broken )

Curry leaves - a few

Fresh coconut gratings - 4 tbsps

TO PREPARE THE VAZHAI POO ( BANANA BLOSSOM ) FOR COOKING

Grease your fingers well before chopping the banana flower to prevent black stains on your hands.

1. Remove the bracts and separate the florets.

2. Work towards the pointed tip of the flower till no more florets can be separated. The resulting yellowish pendant shaped portion is the 'heart' of the banana flower which can be chopped and used for the curry.

3. Open the florets one by one by rubbing the tip gently, using the tips of your forefinger and thumb.

The stigma is seen like a pin or match stick in the centre.The pink plasticky sepal is seen at the bottom on the right hand side corner of the picture.

4. Pull out the hard plasticky stigma from the center of the floret, and also the plasticky sheath like sepals which cover each floret.

5. Chop the florets and immediately immerse in watery butter milk to prevent blackening of the flowers.

TO PREPARE VAZHAI POO CURRY

1. Boil 3 cups of water with turmeric powder and asafoetida.

2. Squeeze out the chopped banana florets from the butter milk and add to the boiling water.

3. Cover and cook on low fire for about ten minutes.

4. Wash and drain the soaked green gram dal and add to the cooking florets.

5. Cook without lid till the lentil is just done and not mushy.

6. Add salt and cook till all the water is evaporated and switch off flame.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Kancheepuram idly is specially prepared as an offering to Lord Varadaraja Perumal at the Kancheepuram temple. The spiced up idly batter is steamed in baskets ( kudalai ), hence it is also known as KUDALAI IDLY.

Steaming the batter in banana leaf cups ( donnai ) adds an extraordinary flavour to Kancheepuram idlies. I requested our family priest to make a couple of dannais during one of his visits and steamed my Kancheepuram idlies in them.

6. Store in a big container with a lid and leave it overnight for fermenting. The batter will rise to twice its volume after fermentation.

TO PREPARE THE KANCHEEPURAM IDLIES

1. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed black pepper and fry till it emanates a pleasant aroma.

2. Next add the cumin seeds.

3. Add bengal gram dal and fry till it is golden in colour.

4. Add chopped green chillies and fresh ginger.

5. Finally add curry leaves and pour the seasoning into the idly batter, and mix well.( cashew nuts or fresh coconut pieces can also be added to the seasoning).

6. Grease the banana leaf cups with ghee and fill the cups with the seasoned batter.

7. Place the batter filled donnais on the idly plates and steam for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker without the weight.

Peel out the Kancheepuram idlies from the donnais and serve them hot with chutney, molaga podi or onion sambar.

These idlies can also be cooked directly on the idly plates, just like the normal idlies. But lining the idly plates with greased banana leaf strips will impart the special aroma to the Kancheepuram idlies.

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Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.