Puliyodarai (Tamarind Rice) - I

So, after many months of salivating looking at all the different puliyodarai recipes/photos I have come across, I decided its time to turn the page... make some puliyodarai paste from scratch. Though many of them swear by MTR's puliyodarai powder I am not one of their greatest fans. Well, the reason for this is my friend V's mom, rather her awesome puliyodarai powder. She used to send us loads of this powder all the way from Mumbai and every time we had a pot luck our go to dish was puliyodarai made with this powder. It was such an easy dish to make and also an easy item to carry coz unlike the usual puliyodarai paste which oozes with oil, this was a powder which lasted the 10,000 mile trip and the green channel with no problems at all. Another major advantage was its long shelf life, it lasted in our freezer for almost an year or even longer. Needless to say this dish turned out to be the star of the show every time we made it. I keep telling V that her mom should patent this recipe, start a small scale business and I am sure it will turn out to be a super hit :-) I will probably be the first one to stock up on it !!!
Anyway, getting back to the present, I decided to take the conventional path and make the traditional puliyodarai paste. My recipe here is based on ideas I drew from two of my most trusted sources: My mom and Google. I improvised my mom's recipe added a few ingredients of my own (such as sugar) to make one that I think turned out to be a keeper. So here is my take on the traditional puliyodarai recipe. Depending on your taste and heat level you prefer, adjust the amount of tamarind concentrate and red chillies.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
2 tbsp dhaniya
1/2 tbsp seasme seeds
1 tbsp jeera
1/2 tbsp fenugreek
10-12 red chillies
11/2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
Tempering:
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
2 tbsp peanuts
4-5 curry leaves
2 red chillies
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp hing
1 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Roast all the ingredients starting from chana dal to red chillies, individually and powder it together.
2. Dissolve the tamarind concentrate in water.
3. Heat oil in a large pan, add chana dal, urad dal, peanuts and when it is starting to brown add jeera, mustard, curry leaves, red chillies and hing.
4. Now add tamarind, salt, sugar, turmeric and allow this to boil well.
5. When the raw smell of tamarind disappears, add the prepared powder.
6. Let this cook until the mixture thickens.
7. Let cool and store it in a air-tight container.

Preparing the rice:

1. Cook 2 cups of rice and spread it in a large bowl.
2. Mix in 1-2 tsp oil, then add 2 tbsp of the prepared mixture.
3. Adjust the amount of the mixture according to taste.
4. Serve with vadaam/chips or just plain yogurt.

To store:

• Store in a dry air-tight container.
• This paste can be stored in the refrigerator for almost 2-3 weeks.
• If the paste dries out add a couple of tsp of oil to the mixture.

This is my entry to "Long live the shelf" event hosted by Roma.

Help Needed: Srivalli of "Cooking 4 All Seasons" blog is doing a great job of raising funds for a noble cause. Please visit her site and help her help a person in need.

Cooking in a Jiffy - Green Beans Koottu

With cooking time reduced to an hour or less, I have started looking for innovative ways to cut down the cooking time. A friend of ours from Ames was visiting us and we had a mini get together talking about good old grad school days. As usual the talk veered towards cooking and we were reminiscing those simpler grad school days, living with room mates, taking turns to cook where one ended up cooking for just once or twice a week. Now that we have all moved on to the next phase in life, living with significant others or living all alone, working 8-10 hours a day, cooking on an everyday basis is getting harder. But I guess each one of us has tried out different things and have finally managed to devise our own ways to tackle this day-to-day problem.
Eating out is a very simple alternative but may not be good for health or for the wallet. Cooking 4 different dishes or so on Sundays, as one of my friends does eliminates the need to cook over most part of the week. Yet another way to minimize cooking time is to partially cook and freeze the dish for use over the week. And this is my way of saving cooking time on weekdays. In fact I try to make substantial amounts of masala for different dishes, portion control it and store in the freezer. This way, a major part of my cooking is taken care of and it hardly takes 15-20 to mix the masala with veggies or lentils to make an entire dish.

Heads up: Time saving tips

• Grind coconut, jeera, peppercorn and green chillies ahead of time and pop the ground mixture in the freezer. This stays good for 2-3 weeks. Increase the amount of ingredients to four fold (or as per your need), grind it all at once, portion it into 4 different containers and use it on 4 different days.
• Beans is just one of the veggies that I had on hand. Feel free to substitute it with cabbage, greens, carrot & peas or just about any vegetable.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped green beans (1/2" long pieces)
1 cup moong dal
1/4 cup toor dal
One large pinch of turmeric.

To grind: (This part can be done ahead of time and the masala stays good in the freezer for 3-4 weeks)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tsp jeera
2 green chillies
5-7 peppercorns

For tadka:
2 tsp oil
1 tsp channa dal
2 tsp split urad dal
2 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard
A few pinch hing
Few curry leaves
cilantro for garnish.

Method:

1. Boil green beans and dal until well cooked, about 20 min.
2. Soak all the ingredients listed under 'to grind" for 15 min and then grind well to a smooth paste.
3. Add the ground mixture to boiled dal and beans.
4. Let this mixture boil for 15 min.
5. In a small kadai heat 3 tsp oil, add all the ingredients for tadka.
6. Add the tadka to the boiling mixture and let it boil for 2 more min.
7. Garnish with cilantro (optional).
8. Goes well with rice or roti.

Isn't that simple....

And this is my entry to "WYF: Colour in Food" event hosted by Simple Indian Food blog.

A Middle Eastern Dinner

Lemony Couscous with Eggplant Salad

It was a Tuesday evening and the mid-week syndrome was just setting in. All I was looking for was a simple meal that I can have on the dinner table in half hour or so. I could have looked up on the Internet to see if Rachel Ray had any vegetarian dish to get me through the evening in under 30 min but I wasn't in the mood to browse for 30 min trying to get some ideas to make a 30 min meal :-) I opened the fridge and the same old veggies stared at me: eggplants, beans, bell peppers. Now that we have been regulars at our neighborhood farmers market, we do not have the luxury of choosing between 30 different varieties of veggies ( Pardon me, am going crazy with the 30's but some of you out there might understand :-)). We have to buy whatever is in season and now is the season for eggplants, beans, bell peppers and of course, summer squash. The produce tastes so good that I am for once not complaining about having to cook with just these few veggies for 3 straight weeks now. Anyhow, I decided to make a simple eggplant salad with no fuss, dress it simply and let the flavor of the veggie speak for itself.

Indian cooking uses a lot of eggplants and so do middle eastern and Mediterranean cooking. In my recipe here I have used a very typical middle eastern flavor, Tahini for the salad dressing. Also, I had some left over falafel in the freezer which I used to make the salad more filling. Addition of falafel is completely optional. The salad is quite substantial even in the absence of falafel. And for the carb part of this dinner, I made couscous with a tangy lemony flavor. It sure turned out to be a flavorful and delicious meal just enough to beat the mid-week syndrome at least temporarily!

A few things to note: drain and dry the eggplant really well so the salad doesn't get soggy. If you think the eggplants are soggy, sprinkle some all purpose flour along with the dry seasoning, this will help absorb the excess moisture. Also the amount of tahini can be adjusted according to your taste.

Ingredients
For Couscous:
11/2 instant couscous
3 cups water or vegetable broth
1 handful raisins
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or more if reqiured)
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
For salad:
4 medium sized eggplant
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp tahini paste
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar or honey
Salt to taste
Falafel (optional)

Method
Couscous:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan, add fennel, cumin, raisins, garlic and onion.
2. Saute till onions get soft and translucent.
3. Add peas, lemon zest, thyme, salt and 3 cups of water/broth. Let it come to a boil.
4. Now add the couscous, turn off the heat and close the pan with a lid.
5. Let it rest for 5 min or until all the water is absorbed.
6. Fluff the couscous with a fork, add lemon juice, pepper and stir well.

Salad:

1. Dice eggplant into 1/2" cubes, soak it in salted cold water for 15 min.
2. Drain the water and dry it well.
3. Mix cayenne powder, cumin powder and oil. Coat the eggplant evenly with this mixture and spread it out on a sheet pan.
4. Bake it in a 425F pre-heated oven for 15-20 or until crisp (take care not to burn it).
5. In a large bowl, mix rest of the ingredients, except tomatoes to form a vinaigrette.
6. Toss in the tomatoes and the crispy eggplant with the vinaigrette. Falafel can be added at this point if you are using it.
   
7. Serve this on a bed of lemony couscous.

This is my entry for AFAM event for Aug '08: Lemon, hosted by Simple Indian Food blog.

Enjoy !!!