ahmi

I love to cook drumstick as often as possible. Wherever i stayed, the home had an drumstick tree. be it my grandparents place or at our village home or at my mom's place or at my boarding hostel and even in the apartment i am in now. It is said that, the drumsticks taste better, when the tree gets good groundwater. unfortunately drumsticks in our apartment do not taste good. we mostly buy out. I like drumstick leaves dal and drumstick sambhar much than this curry! 



                        

serves - 2
Ingredients:

Drumstick - 1
Shallots / small onions - 8 or 12
Garlic - 8 cloves
Sambhar powder - 2 tsp's
Tamarind - a small lemon sized
Jaggery - a very tiny bit (optional)
Salt to taste

For tempering:

Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Small dry red chilly - 2
Tuvar dal - 1/2 tsp
Hing - 1 tsp

Method:

Chop the drumsticks into finger size pieces. cook the drumsticks in a cup of water for about 5-7 minutes. it always takes 10-15 mins to cook drumsticks. you can also microwave on very high for about 10 mins.

While the drumsticks get cooked, peel the shallots and garlic and set aside. Heat 1/4 cup of water in small cup and soak the tamarind in hot water for about 10 mins at least. then squeeze the tamarind out and set the the thick tamarind extract aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan, add sesame oil, add mustard and let it pop, then add fenugreek, tuvar dal, dry red chilly, hing and curry leaves, saute them all for a second.

Now add in the garlic and shallots, fry them all, till they are almost cooked. it may take at least 2-3 minutes. once the shallots are cooked, add in the sambhar powder and roast the powder for at least a minute, till the raw smell goes off. then add the tamarind extract to the pan and stir well. finally add the cooked drumstick along with the water cooked and mix well. add salt to taste. add 1/4 cup of water and mix well. if preferred add a tiny bit of jaggery and mix.

Let the curry boil for about 5 minutes, till it thickens. put the curry in slow flame with the pan open, let the curry boil for another 3- 5 minutes.  remove the curry from flame and transfer to serving bowl.

Serve hot with Rice or Idly or Dosa.


Notes:

The trick in getting the perfect tasty kuzhambu is in roasting the sambhar powder for a minute.
Adding 2 or 3 tsp's of sambhar powder makes the curry spicy and also thick.

and you know what, i finally managed to differentiate between kaara kuzhambu and puli kuzhambu and vatha kuzhambu!!

Hubby liked the masala and curry, as its very spicy and rich. we both are not huge fans of pumpkin. But any ways if you are looking for a spicy pumpkin curry, this should be your choice! or try substituting with potatoes or brinjals which will match with the curry.


This pumpkin curry is known as wattakka kalu pol in sri lanka. its one of the favorite vegetarian curries among the locals. You can refer Master Chef participant Dani's pumpkin curry video here. You need to have the roasted curry powder to prepare this curry, it can just be prepared in 15 mins. and it keeps well for 3 months.

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Yellow Pumpkin - 1 cup / 250 gms (Diced)
Red onion - 1
Green chilly - 2 (finely chopped)
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 2' inch size
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup ( first pressed coconut milk, if using canned coconut milk refer notes)
Roasted curry powder - 2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1 tsp
Coconut oil - 2 tsbp
Bay leaf - 1
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

To roast and grind

Dry coconut - 1 tbsp
Raw rice / Basmati rice - 1 tbsp

Method:

First dice the pumpkin's, wash them and let it boil in a cup of water till they are well cooked.

Roast the dry coconut and raw rice separately till they are well roasted and grind them together. this is used to thicken the curry.

In a thick bottomed pan, add coconut oil, add garlic and ginger fry them well. add curry leaves, bay leaf and finely chopped green chilies  next add the chopped onion and saute till it turns translucent. then add cumin and corriander powder. mix them all with the onions.

Add the cooked pumpkin to the pan and  add the roasted curry powder and chilly powder and salt to taste. Mix it all with the pumpkin. add in the coconut milk and give a stir.

Once the curry starts to boil, reduce the flame to medium and add the roasted and grounded dry coconut + raw rice powder(1 tbsp) to the curry. mix well. when the curry starts thickening, reduce the flame to low. You can remove the curry when the curry attains your required consistency.

Notes:

If you prefer the curry to be very spicy and hot, add a red chilly  and one green chilly. i bet it's super hot!

If using canned coconut milk, dilute 1/4 cup of milk with water and use it.

This curry goes well with hot steamed rice, dosa's and appam.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 2 cup's
Fresh Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Appalam - 4 (already fried / ready to eat)
Sesame oil - 1 tsp

For tempering:

Coconut oil / Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 2 tsp's
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp's
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Green chilli - 2
Dry Red chilli - 1

Method:

Cook the rice, with right amount of water(rice:water should be 1:2) in pressure cooker for about 2 or 3 whistle count. make sure rice do not get mashy, Rice should be grains apart. you may also use basmati rice. Once the rice is cooked, spread the rice in wide bowl or plate, drizzle a tsp of coconut or sesame oil over the rice, mix with a fork and leave the rice to get cool.

Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a pan, add mustard and let it pop, then add chana dal, urad dal, peanuts green & dry red chilli and roast them till they become golden in color. add curry leaves and fry it too. then add the grated coconut's and fry in low flame for about a minute mixing with the other tempering ingredients. Now add salt to taste.

Crush the appalam with your hands and just mix up with the other ingredients in the pan, mix it all up. switch off the flame. Then add rice to the pan, if possible you can toss the pan or slowly mix the rice with the tempering without breaking the rice. Now appala poo sadam is ready to serve. 

Serve with little watery coconut chutney or with potato chips or potato roast. 

 Note:

Only when the rice is served immediately the appalam will remain crisp. if served later, appalam turns soft, but no matter, still you can enjoy its taste.

Add Salt, keeping in mind that of the salt in appalam.

When you mix the khoya and maida together, your gulab jamun mix gets ready! so why not you try next time?

I longed for it for nearly four years, i prayed for it to come to my hands, i was torturing my friends about how i badly wanted it. whenever i am alone at home, i googled and read about it. whenever i saw it on some strangers hand, my eyes looked at it curiously. i hear you saying enough..okay, My Hubby and my dear Son gifted (fulfilled) me the Canon Rebel T3i dslr camera. oh, you still have to wait for me to explore my new love and then we shall bring you the magic here soon. 


Khoya is unsweetened khova / paal khova. it is also known as Mawa. i wanted to prepare gulab jamun from scratch for this diwali, as my son is going crazy over gulab jamun. so today i prepared khoya spending nearly 2 hours in the kitchen. Tomorrow i will post how i made gulab jamun with khoya.

Khoya is just simmering the milk for hours, with stirring occasionally in the start and constant stirring towards end. i guess the recipe for khoya is over in the line before!

Total cooking time: 2 hours
yields 1 cup of khoya(200 gms)

Ingredients:

Full fat milk - 1 and half ltrs.

Method:

In a wide thick bottomed pan, pour the milk and let it boil. then simmer it for about 1 hour so that the milk gets thick and reduced into half. then bring the flame back on high and keep stirring every two minutes, so that the khoya do not stick to the bottom of the pan. even if it sticks, do not scrap hardly as it may ruin the beautiful khoya.



When you see the the khoya (some where looking like thick curdled milk) turn the flame to low and start stirring.  nearly towards the 2nd hour from start, the khoya gets thickening. keep stirring softly, so that it do not stick to the bottom.



Sometimes, the khoya may not thicken up, add 1 or 2 tsp of milk powder, for the khoya to get thick. the khoya should be soft and spongy at the end.


Use a wide and thick bottomed pan, so that the milk do not overflow.

if you want to have sweet khova, add 1/2 cup sugar when the milk had reduced to about half a litre. the other procedures are all same.

Sometimes, the khoya may not thicken up, add 1 or 2 tsp of milk powder, for the khoya to get thick. the khoya should be soft and spongy at the end.