Vegetable Kurma

INGREDIENTS:

Carrot - 1
Potato - 3
Green Peas - 4 tbsp
Big Onion - 1 (chopped lengthwise)
Tomato - 2 (finely chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
coriander and Mint leaves - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)

MAKE INTO PASTE:
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Pottukadalai - 2 tbsp
Sombu - 1 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 5

FOR SAUTING:
Cinnamon/Pattai - 1
Kirambu - 2
Bay leaves - 1
Oil - 2tbsp

Salt - reqd


START:

1) Pour oil in a pan.Put Bay leaves,pattai/cinnamon,kirambu.Saute it.
2) Add onion,fry it till brown,add ginger garlic paste,fry for 3mts.
3) Add carrot,potato,peas and fry for 5mts.
4) Add tomato,coriander and mint leaves,fry for 3mts.
5) Add 2 cups of water.when water boils add the grinded mixture.
6) Close the lid and leave for 10mts.
7) Dont forget to add salt!
8) Veg Kurma ready!

NOTE: It goes well with chapati,parotta,poori

Palkova/Milk Sweet

INGREDIENTS:

Milk - 500 ml
Lemon juice– 3 to 4 drops
Sugar – 4 tbsp
Ghee – 2 to 3 tspn

START:

1)Heat Milk in a pan and add Lemon juice into that. Keep it aside.
2)Heat a pan. Add 2 to 3 tspns of Ghee into the pan.
3)Pour the pre-treated Milk in to the pan and then add Sugar.
4)Stir this mixture till the Milk separates into very tiny particles (like beach sand) and becomes thick. Palkova ready!

Note: Serves for 2 people

Ponni raw rice/Ponni Boiled rice/Parboiled rice/Idly rice

PONNI RICE VARIETIES:

1. Raw rice
2. Boiled rice,Parboiled rice

PONNI RAW RICE

Ponni raw rice or Pacharusi(In Tamil) or Sona masoori.This rice is used by South Indians for preparing variety rice like tomato rice,Mint rice,Mushroom rice


PONNI BOILED RICE:

Ponni boiled rice is used by South Indians for everyday cooking as it goes well with curry's.

PONNI PARBOILED RICE/IDLY RICE:

1) Used for making Idly/Dosa batter.
2)Parboiled(simply called Boiled) rice is larger than the raw rice in shape. It’s steamed before it's husked, a process that causes the grains to absorb many of the nutrients from the husk.

Chettinad Fish Curry/Meen Kulambu

INGREDIENTS:

1)Fish - 300 grams (Salmon,pomfret,etc..)
2)Mustard seeds and Urad dal - 1/2 tspn
3)Curry leaves - 1 sprig
4)Onion - 1 (small size) or 1/2 of a medium size onion
5)Green Chili - 1
6)Ginger garlic paste - 1 tspn
7)Tomato - 1
8)Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
9)Tamarind - small gooseberry size
10)Sugar - less than 1/4 tspn or to ur taste
11)Salt - to taste
12)Oil - as required (Sesame oil is preferred)

ROAST AND MAKE PASTE OF:

Dry Red Chilies - 2 to 3
Coriander seeds - 1 ½ tspn
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
Fennel seeds(Perunjeeragam) - 1/4 tspn
Peppercorn - 1/4 tspn
Toor dal (thuvaram paruppu)- 1/4 tspn
Fenugreek seeds (Vendhayam) - a pinch
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coconut - 1 tspn

START:

1)Cut Onion, Green chili, Tomato into small pieces. Soak Tamarind in water for 15 minutes. After that extract a cup of tamarind juice from it. Keep all this aside.
2)Heat 1/2 tspn of Oil in a pan. Add Dry red chili, Coriander seeds, Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds, Pepper corns, Toor dal, Fenugreek seeds, Curry leaves and Coconut then roast them till they are almost brown. Then remove from heat and let it cool on then grind into a very fine paste by adding little water.
3)Heat 2 to 3 tspns Oil in a pan. Add Mustard seeds and Urad dal, once it starts spluttering add Curry leaves, Onion and Green chili, fry till they are golden brown.
4)Add Ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes out. Add Tomato and mash it with the spatula.
5)Then add Turmeric Powder, ground paste (from step 2) and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
6)Add Tamarind juice, 1 cup of water, Salt and Sugar to it. Bring this curry to boil once, then reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. At this stage curry becomes thick.
7)After that add Fish pieces and cook for 5 minutes or till the fish and gravy are cooked.

For Soft Chapati

Every1 wonder why Chapati's in Restaurant are soft.Let me give u a valuable tip!

1) Prepare Dough with HOT/WARM WATER.
2) Add 2tsp oil at the end.

For Soft Idly

Add 1 ladies finger (Vendaikai) while grinding Idly maavu.Your Idly will be very soft and tasty :)

Fish Fry

INGREDIENTS:

Fish (Small pieces)- 4
Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tsp
Small onion- 4
Curry leaves- 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves- 1 or 2 sprigs
Lemon juice- 1 tsp or to taste
Chili powder- 1 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder- 1
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
All purpose flour- 2 tsp
Salt- as required
Oil- for fry

START:
1) Clean Fish and keep aside.
2) Grind Onion, Curry leaves and Coriander leaves.
3) Make a thick masala paste by mixing Ginger garlic paste, Chili powder, Cumin powder, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder, Salt, Lemon juice and ground items.
4)Coat both sides of the fish by masala paste. After that sprinkle All-purpose-flour to make the masala paste stick to the fish.Let the fish marinate in this masala paste for 1/2 an hour.
5)Heat Oil in a pan. Keep the stove in medium flame and fry both sides of the fish till it turns into dark brown in color.