Onion Chutney

Onion Chutney

Ingredients

1. Onions – 2
2. Channa dhal or fried gram dhal(Hurgadle or putani in Kannada) – 1 handful
3. Green Chilies - 2
4. Red Chilies – 2
5. Coconut (Optional) – 5-6 Tbsp
6. Oil – 2 Tbsp
7. Tamarind paste – Half tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Water as required

10. A ping of hing

For seasoning

10. Mustard - 1 tsp
11. Urad dhal – 1 tsp
12. Karipatta or Curry leaves – 4 or 5

Method

1. Put 1 tsp oil in a pan.
2. Add Onion and fry for 5-6 minutes until the raw onion smell is gone. Does not have to turn golden brown
3. Take the fried onion out.
4. In the same pan fry the green chilies, red chilies, channa dhal and coconut for 3-4 minutes. Make sure the dhal and coconut do not get burnt.
5. Let the fired onions and other fried ingredients from Step 4 cool down
6. Grind all the fried ingredient with water, tamarind and salt in mixer/blender to the desired consistency
7. Then take 1 tsp oil in the pan and put the mustard and allow it to sputter.
8. Then add the rued dhal and roast until light brown
9. Turn off the heat, Add hang and Curry leaves.
10. Add the seasoning to the chutney.

Tip : This chutney goes very well with Rava idlys.

My cooking journey - A twist in time

My name is Anitha a software architect by profession and married to a wonderful, caring and loving husband with two adorable kids. I am a sports buff and love to play ping pong, Tennis actually any sport for that matter. I also love reading books which I don't get to do as much as I would have liked to juggling between a busy career and home. Cooking is something I really enjoy although I can admit that there are some days when I wish food was ready at the table or order some” to go " khan. In my growing up years, I never cared about cooking. I never helped my mom with cooking. My younger sister was the enthusiastic cook of the house always trying out new recipes and helping my mom. I was more of an outgoing person and dreaded the kitchen. As a matter of fact I had never prepared or cooked any kind of meals until my marriage. The only food I remember cooking was making Magii 2 minute noodles and coffee occasionally. My encounter with cooking was limited watching my mom or sister cook. So when my wedding was fixed (It is an arranged marriage), ironically the every first thing on my “to do” checklist was to get the recipes from my mom and sisters. So my journey with cooking started with writing down the recipes in an old diary. This diary today is one of my most prized possessions and to this day the cooking bible for me.

I come from a South Indian Telugu Brahmin family. My parents were born and brought up in Tamilnadu and migrated to Bangalore after they tied the knot. So the cuisine in our house was varied containing variety of dishes prepared in all styles of South Indian cooking - the Madras Iyer style, Iyengar ,Palghat Iyer style, Andhra style or Karnataka style. My beloved dad who is no more on this earth was a connoisseur and stickler for food. I always felt that my mom spent most of her hey days cooking in the kitchen dishing out breakfast/Tiffin, lunch, evening snack and dinner. These days cooking one meal is a such a difficult task and nobody eats so many meals a day !. The food had to be cooked to perfection for my dad and everyday a different variety. There had to be a Chutney or oorpundi, a vegetable/Curry, some kind of Sambar /pulsu, pickle (sometimes freshly made like carrots, ginger mango) and papad. Rasam/Chaaru was a must everyday no matter what. Anyway the point that I wanted to bring across was my mom like all other moms out there is the best cook in the world for me. She is the goddess of cooking. Even a simple Rasam amde by her tastes out of this world and while she is cooking, the aroma that flows out and fills the air is so intoxicating and makes you feel so hungry for food. The secret she tells me in cooking any food is – first and foremost You have to cook whole heartedly (Pour your heart ad feelings into it !) , then the time taken to cook or simmer the food at the right temperature is very critical and the order of adding the ingredients at the right stage of cooking. Believe me! This indeed makes a big difference. I will try to highlight these in my recipes.

I am married to a Sankethi Brahmin and again their style of cooking is completely different and incorporates a blend of tastes from Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Their signature dishes are Chomai (Steamed Rice vermicelli or Idiyappam) made from scratch and Kolakattais (Steamed rice dumplings) and needless to say they are so heavenly in taste that you can eat it all day as a three course meal.

So after marriage when I lived with my in-laws, luckily I was not asked to cook as my lovely MIL took care of it. I would help with the side chores of cutting vegetables, grating coconut etc... When I came to live with my husband in the U.S, for the first one month I never cooked. My husband and his friend who lived with us at that time cooked for all of us but after that I slowly started experimenting with my recipes one by one and my poor husband was the guinea pig. Actually the food I churned out did turn out to be pretty good. I guess I had inherited the sense and art of cooking from my mom naturally. Today after 15 years of marriage, I can confidently say that I have attained the ranks of 5 star cook and my husband and friends can vouch for it. My mom stayed with us in the U.S for sometime and she was amazed and astonished with my culinary talent. She went back home to India and spread the word and sang the praises of my cooking in my family - about how a tom-boyish kinda girl with no desire of cooking let alone stepping into the kitchen has transformed into a lady who loves to spend time in the kitchen, wielding the ladle, playing with the different spices and ingredients and fix some mouth-watering, delicious food for her kith and kin, friends, realtives ....

As a wife and mother cooking is something that I have learned over a period of time and I truly enjoy doing. I strongly feel that there is an aspect of cook hidden in every woman and does blooms out naturally when there is a time and need to cook especially when you are trying to please a man with cooking some delicious food.

Now I am a frequent visitor to the several food blog sites sprawling the World Wide Web and an avid fan of all cooking shows on the T.V. I have always wanted to start my own culinary blog to share some the recipes which I have tried , added my own twist and have turned out into some really delicious platters.
So friends and people – I hope you try out the recipes from my blog and enjoy the gastronomical experience!

Idly exotica - Rava Shavige idly

Ingredients:

1. Rava or Semolina - 2 cups
2. Vermicelli/Shavige )MTR brand or Bambino) - 3 cups
3. Yogurt – 1.5 cups
4. Buttermilk – 1cup
5. Water – 1 cup
6. Oil - 2 large aldle
7. Ghee or melted butter – 5-6 tbsp
8. Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
9. Channa dhal – 2tsp
10. Cilantro – 15-20 sprigs chopped finely
11. Karipatta or curry leaves – 1 sprig chopped finely
12. Green chilles – 4 05 5 chopped finely (Optional)
13. Roasted cashews – 3-4 tbsp
14. A pinch of bacling soda 9optional)

Method

• Heat 2 tbsp in a pan and roast the Vermicelli. Make sure that it does not turn brown

• Put the vermicelli aside

• Dry roast the rava/semolina and keep it aside

• In the same pan heat the oil and add mustard sees first and let them sputter. Turn off the heat

• Then add the channa dhal, cashews, cilantro and karipatta leaves.
• Add the roasted Rava and Vermicelli and mix well

• Transfer this mixture into a mixing bowl. Let is cool down.
• First add the ghee/butter and mix it with a spatula or hand
• Then add the yogurt, buttermilk and water little by little and mix well.
• The batter should not be too thick or watery. You should be able to scoop it out with a ladle or in your hand
• Pour the batter into the idli plates and steam for 15-20 minutes.

Tips : For the calorie conscious the amount of oil, ghee and butter can be reduced by half. To make it healthy you can grate carrots or boil some peas and add it to the batter.