Lemon Sevai (Lemon Rice Noodles)

Ingredients:

1.5 cup instant rice sevai (can be bought at local Indian store-a brand like 777) 

1 big lemon

1 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp cashew nuts

1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urid dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

1 pinch asafoetida

2-3 curry leaves, chopped

2 green chillies, chopped

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

Boiling water

Method: 

Heat oil in a saucepan and fry mustard seeds, urid dhal, channa dhal, green chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida till the mustard sputters and the dhals brown. Set aside.

Juice the lemon and turmeric to the lemon juice. Set aside. 

Roast the cashew nuts in ghee till golden brown. Set aside.

Place instant rice sevai in a bowl. Pour boiling water over it till all the sevai is immersed. Cover for 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to a dry serving bowl. Add in the tempering, lemon juice with turmeric, salt and roasted cashew nuts, and mix well with the rice sevai. Adjust lemon juice and salt to taste. 

Serve with capsicum sambar or thogayal. 

Variations:

Can use roasted fresh coconut in place of lemon and turmeric to make coconut sevai. 

Nombu adai

Ingredients:

1 handful black eyed beans, soaked in water for 5-6 hours and drained

1 cup rice flour

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urid dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

1/4 tsp crushed ginger 

1 pinch asafoetida

2-3 curry leaves

2/3 tsp salt

1 cup boiling water

1 bowl cold water

Method: 

Boil the black-eyed beans in salted water till they are cooked but not mushy. Drain and set aside. 

Heat oil in a saucepan and fry mustard seeds, urid dhal, channa dhal, crushed ginger and asafoetida till the mustard sputters and the dhals brown. Set aside.

Roast the rice flour in another saucepan on low heat for 5-10 minutes without oil. The flour should not brown. Once roasted, remove from heat and add the cooked beans, tempering, salt and 1 cup boiling water. Mix the ingredients till the dough crumbles. Allow to cool to room temperature. 

Lightly grease idli plates with oil. Dip hands in cold water, and roll out small balls of dough. Flatten the dough between your palms into discs (not too thin) and make an indentation in the center (not as far as a proper hole). Place discs in the idli plates. Steam for 15 minutes on high heat. 

Serve nombu adai with unsalted butter (venai) or chilly powder or thogayal. Makes 16. 

Zucchini thogayal

Ingredients:

2 zucchini, coarse cut

1/2 large onion, coarse cut

1/2 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urid dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

2 dry red chillies

1 pinch asafoetida

1/4 cup water

Salt to taste

Method: 

Heat oil in a saucepan and add mustard seeds, urid dhal, channa dhal, dry red chillies. Once the mustard sputters and the dhal browns, add in the onion and fry for 2 minutes till it is translucent. Add the pinch of asafoetida. Then add the zucchini and continue frying till the vegetables are nicely browned around the edges. Allow mixture to cool.  Transfer mixture to a blender, add the tamarind and water, and blend to a smooth paste. Season with salt. Thogayals are multi-purpose and can be served with dosas, rotis, on toast, or with cooked rice. 

Variations:

There are countless variations, and it is just a matter of experimenting and seeing which vegetables blend well with the other. Some options are to (i) add more onion and leave the zucchini out for onion thogayal, (ii) add cabbage in place of onion and zucchini for cabbage thogayal, (iii) add 1/2 bunch mint and 1 bunch coriander in place of onion and zucchini for coriander thogayal. You can also add coconut or curry leaves to any of the thogayals for slightly different flavours. 

Tamarind rice

Ingredients:

1 handful black channa (chickpeas), soaked in water overnight and drained

2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed in 1/2 cup water

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urid dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 pinch asafoetida

1 tsp turmeric

7 dry red chillies

3 tbsp roasted peanuts

Water

Salt to taste

Method: 

Heat oil in a saucepan and add mustard seeds, urid dhal, channa dhal, dry red chillies, and fenugreek seeds. Once the mustard sputters and the dhal browns, add in the tamarind liquid and drained black channa. Mix in the asafoetida and turmeric, and salt as desired. Bring to boil. Turn down the heat once it boils, and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes. The mixture will thicken and the oil will start floating towards the end of the cooking. Turn off the heat, and mix in peanuts and cooked rice. Serve warm. 

Capsicum sambar and Rice

Ingredients for sambar:

1/2 cup toor dhal (can be bought at local Indian store)

2 tbsp sambar powder (can be bought at local Indian store - a brand like MTR is pretty good)

1.5 tbsp tamarind paste (can be bought at local Indian store)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp mustard seed

1/2 tsp fenugreek seed

1 capsicum, de-seeded and cut into chunky squares

1 pinch asafoetida powder
2 tsp oil

Water

Salt to taste

Ingredients for rice:

1 cup Indian rice (like sona masuri or ponni)

3 cups water

Method: 

Rinse rice in water a few times. Pressure cook rice with water, or alternatively in a microwave container with lid for 18 minutes at high heat (rice:water ratio as given above).


Rinse toor dhal in water a few times in another container. Pressure cook toor dhal with water (water has to just cover the toor dhal) or alternatively in a container with lid on the stove (should take approximately 25 minutes). Roughly mash cooked dhal once cool. Set aside. 

Keep a steel or aluminium container on high heat. Heat the mustard seeds in oil and cover with a lid till they sputter. Remove lid, add fenugreek seeds and lightly roast them with the mustard. Toss in the capsicum pieces. Mix in the sambar powder, turmeric and asafoetida. Add water to about 1/3 of the container, and mix in the tamarind paste. 


Bring the mixture to boil, and keep boiling till the capsicum is more or less cooked. Add in the cooked dhal, turn down heat to medium and add salt to taste. You may also want to add more water if the consistency is too thick. Let the mixture continue to bubble for another 10-15 minutes. Serve warm with cooked rice. 


Variations:
In place of capsicum, try other vegetables like potatoes or drumsticks.

Simple South Indian

Have had to divert from my "Flavours of" theme yet again, despite recently procuring a fascinating book on Caribbean food (which would have neatly followed Flavours of Arabia - January blog, and Flavours of Britain - February blog), because I haven't been able to test out the recipes as yet. However, I have been making a lot more South Indian Tamil food than usual, so thought I would share 5 relatively-easy recipes (South Indian food, as you may know, can be pretty complex and take considerable effort to prepare properly).....keep me posted on your progress.....