Omelette and Omelette Curry

This omelette and omelette curry are recipes of my grandmother’s, as remembered by my mother.

(a) Omelette

Time taken: 6 – 7 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Eggs – 2
Onion – ¼
Green chilli – 1
Salt and pepper, to taste
Sesame oil (gingelly oil) – 1 tbsp

Method:

Finely chop the onion and chillies.
Whisk the two eggs. Add the salt and pepper and the chopped onion and chillies and whisk them together.
Heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a pan on low heat. Pour the egg mix in the pan and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Flip to the other side and cook for another 2 -3 minutes so that both sides are well-cooked and browned.
Remove from heat and serve as is or use in omelette curry.

(b) Omelette curry

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Omelette
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Onion – ½ , chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Tamarind extract – ¼ cup
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Curry powder – 2 tsp
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Cut the omelette into pieces and keep aside.
Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and sauté the fenugreek seeds, chopped onion and curry leaves.
Add the tamarind juice and cook for a few mins.
Then add the coconut milk and curry powder and salt, to taste.
Cook for about 6- 7 minutes till the curry comes together and gravy thickens and then add the omelette pieces. Cook for a minute or two before removing from heat.
Serve with rice or pittu.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Thosai with Sambhar

Today’s recipe is a meal that my mother often makes at home for dinner – Thosai with sambhar and sambal. This is a meal that can also be eaten at breakfast or lunch.

(a) Thosai

Cooking time: 30 mins + soaking and fermenting time: 12 hours

Makes 20

Ingredients:

Raw rice – 1 cup
Ulunthu/ urad dal – 1 cup
Fenugreek – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onion – small piece, chopped
Cumin – 1 tsp
Pepper – 1 tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp

Method:

Soak the rice, dal and fenugreek for 6 hours.
Drain the soaked mixture and wash it lightly.
Put the mix in the blender together with the curry leaves, chopped onion and cumin, pepper and turmeric. Blend until the thosai batter has a consistency similar to that of pancake batter consistency.
Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover and let it ferment for another 6 hours.
Add salt and mix before heating up the thosai pan or flat pan.
Pour a large spoonful of batter and spread it out. Flip to the other side after a minute or two so that both sides are cooked well and have brownish tinges.
Serve the thosai hot with sambhar and dried red chilli sambal.

(b) Sambhar

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 5 or 6

Ingredients:

Mysore dal – ½ cup
Brinjal – ½ cup, chopped
Beans – ½ cup, chopped
Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
Potato – 1 medium-sized, chopped
Pumpkin – ½ cup, chopped
Murungai Kai – ½ cup, chopped (optional)
Onion – ½, chopped
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Tamarind extract – ¼ cup
Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Garlic cloves – 2 or 3, crushed
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Coconut milk – ¼ cup
Salt, to taste

Method:

Cook the vegetables, in a pan with 3 cups of water, for about 15 – 20 minutes on medium heat.
Reduce heat and if water had dried up, add another ½ cup water. Add the tamarind juice, mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the crushed chillies, cumin, coriander and pepper powder, crushed garlic and turmeric powder to the pan. Mix well and cook for a few more minutes.
Towards the end, add ¼ cup coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes before removing from heat.
Serve sambhar with thosai or idli.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Murungai Ilai Kanji

Update (04/07/4014): I wanted to also share a kanji (soup/porridge) recipe that is popular in Jaffna at the Soups with SS event hosted by Sonal and Shruti.

This morning, I will share my mother’s recipe for murungai ilai kanji. My mother makes different types of kanji occasionally for breakfast but I like this one the best.

Murungai Ilai Kanji

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 1 or 2

Ingredients:

Red raw rice – 3 tbsp
Murungai ilai/ Moringa leaves – 3 tbsp, chopped or ground
Carrot – ¼, chopped
Onion –1 tsp, chopped
Bean – 1, chopped
Pepper – ¼ tsp
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste

Method:

Cook the rice in a pan with 1 cup of water for about 5 mins.
Add all the chopped vegetables and cook for another 10 – 15 mins.
Add the salt and pepper, to taste. Mix and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from the heat.
Squeeze some lime juice before serving hot.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Veggie roti

Roti has always been a favourite of mine. What is even better is that it is amongst the few food that seems to have been and continue to be comfort food across different generations in my family.

Today, I will share the recipe for my mother’s veggie roti.

Veggie roti

Time taken: 35 mins

Makes 4

Ingredients

Wheat flour – 1 cup
Scraped coconut – ¼ cup
Chillies – 2
Onion – ½
Beans – 4
Carrot – ½
Water, as required
Low fat oil (sunflower or canola), as required

Method:

Finely chop the carrot, beans, onion and chillies.
In a bowl, add the wheat flour, freshly scraped coconut and mix in the finely chopped vegetables.
Add some salt, to taste.
Stir in some water slowly and make the mixture into a ball of dough that should not stick to your fingers.
Pour in a little oil and divide the dough into 4 balls and keep aside for 10 – 15 mins.
Roll out each of the four balls and cook them on a flat pan or griddle on low heat. Flip the roti to the other side after a few minutes so that both sides are cooked and slightly browned.
Serve with soyameat curry or sambal.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Idiyappam with Sodhi

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers with Kilanghu sodhi/ Ala hodhi is a food that is part of all the different cuisines of Sri Lanka. Everyone around the country either regularly or occasionally makes or buys stringhoppers. It is generally consumed for dinner or breakfast. While my mother has reduced making it as it is easier to buy them, she occasionally makes it when anyone at home is sick. It is considered lighter on the stomach and easily digestible.

Idiyappam/ Idiyappa/ Stringhoppers

Cooking time: 20 mins

Makes 10 – 12 stringhoppers

Ingredients:

Roasted rice flour – ½ cup
Steamed wheat flour – ½ cup
Salt, to taste
Water, as required

Method:

Boil around 1½ cups of water and then cool it slightly for a couple of minutes so that it is still hot but not boiling hot.
Mix the roasted rice flour, steamed wheat flour and some salt and add the hot water slowly, continuing to stir. The water needs to be carefully added so that there is not too much or too little but just enough to make it all come together as a dough and not stick to fingers when tested.
Fill the stringhopper mould/ ural with some of the dough mix and squeeze out the string hoppers onto the stringhopper trays. There are stringhopper machines now that simplify this process.
Place 5 or 6 trays, at a time, in the steamer and cook the stringhoppers for 5 mins.
Serve stringhoppers with sodhi and any other curry.

Kilanghu Sodhi/ Ala Hodhi

Cooking time: 15 mins

Serves 3

Ingredients:

Potato – 1
Chilli – 1
Onion – ¼
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut milk – 1 cup
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Salt, to taste

Method:

Chop up the potato, chilli, onion and curry leaves and cook them in a pan with some water.
Once the potato is cooked, add the coconut milk, turmeric, pepper and some salt, to taste.
Bring the ‘sodhi’ to boil two or three times before removing from heat.
Serve with the stringhoppers.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Pongal

My mother often recounts a story from her childhood years, particularly ones that include her grandmother. One story she is fond of narrating is about how her grandmother used to undertake her own farming and not use machines or chemicals. My great-grandmother, who was the last farmer in our family lost her husband at a young age and raised her three children on her own. She had some paddy land and a small vegetable farm, which she managed to buy with her own earning. While she did hire farm labourers when needed, she did a lot of work on her field herself. Also, she raised cows and goats and undertook organic farming. Compost was made on her farm and used in her field. She had her land ploughed with a hand-plough and planted the paddy seeds. When the seeds started growing, just like any other small time farmer, she undertook the weeding together with the help of some hired hands.

The harvesting season was a special process and the cut grain stalks would be loaded onto bullock carts and brought home for the grains to be separated from the husks. By the time they were brought home, it would be night. As there was no electricity in their home at that time, three or four petromax lamps were lighted. My mother remembers that she was very much excited during those days and didn’t want to go to sleep but stay up and watch. It seemed like a carnival at her grandmother’s home, with the place lighted up and movement of people throughout the night.

A pole was planted in the middle of the yard and large woven mats placed around the pole. The cut stalks were spread on the mat. The buffaloes were tied to the pole and two or three hired help would walk the buffaloes around the pole. This was the old process to separate the grains from the husks. My mother remembers watching the men walk the buffaloes calling out, “poli.” The stalks were then picked up and thrashed onto the mat and the grains would separate out and fall. These were then packed up in sacks.

The first handfuls of grain were beaten in a stone or wood “ural” to separate the raw rice from the grain. This was made into the first pongal of the harvest. Everyone who helped would be invited for a meal and given bags of grains.

Family members who had died were also remembered on that day and a large variety of food was made. My mother mentions that a special offering was made that day, as part of the remembrance ritual, called the “puthir.” Her grandmother used to take some of the pongal made from the first rice from the harvest and spread it out on a large tray. Then, all types of available fruits were cut up and layered on top of the pongal. Honey was poured over the fruits. A sampling of all the vegetable curries that were made were also layered on top of the pongal-fruit-honey mix. Finally, ghee was poured over the tray of food and everything was mixed together. After the prayers were made, a little “puthir” was handed as “prasadham” (blessed offering) to everyone present.

Today, I will share the recipe of pongal that is made with the first harvest of the season by farmers and by non-farmers on festival days such as the Pongal festival in January, New Year in April and other celebrations.

Pongal

Cooking time: 30 to 40 mins

Serves 4 or 5

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup
Roasted split gram (without skin) – ¼ cup
Jaggery – 1 cup (grated)
Coconut – ½
Cardamom – 4 or 5, crushed
Cashew nuts – few, chopped
Raisins – 1 tbsp
Water

Method:

Wash the rice and gram and cook them in a pot with 2 ½ cups of water. Cook for around 15 to 20 mins, till the water dries up.
Grind and extract coconut milk by blending the freshly scraped half of a coconut with 1 cup of water.
Once the rice and gram is cooked, add the grated jaggery and mix.
Then, add the coconut milk and crushed cardamoms. Bring to a boil on high heat and cook for a few more minutes before reducing the heat.
Add the chopped cashew nuts. Cook until the pongal mixture starts coming together and starts to thicken.
Just before removing from heat, add the raisins and mix.
Remove from heat and cover.
Serve pongal with bananas.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vadai and Pachai Sambal

Black gram, or urad dhal, plays an important role in the cuisine of the north. It is one of the gram varieties cultivated in the seasons in between paddy cultivation and is a major source of nutrition.

Today, I will share my mother’s recipe for her famous vadais as well as a green gram snack in my next post. Vadai can be breakfast food or a tea-time snack or can be served with lunch or dinner. It is the most common snack under the Tamil cuisine of the country and is quite popular around the country.

(a) Vadai

Cooking time: 20 – 30 mins + 4 hrs (fermenting time)

Makes 10 vadai

Ingredients

Urad dal/ black gram – 1 cup, skin removed
Green chillies – 2, chopped
Onion – 1, medium sized and chopped
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
Baking powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Low fat oil (sunflower or canola) – ½ litre (for deep frying) + 1 tsp (for sauté)
Salt, to taste

Method:

Soak the black gram, without the skin, for 3 – 4 hours.
Grind with a little water to thick batter.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and lightly sauté the chopped onion, chillies and curry leaves.
Transfer the contents of the pan and the coriander leaves to the batter mix and add salt to taste. If you prefer, you can also add 1 tsp baking powder.
Mix well and keep aside for 5 mins.
Heat ½ l oil in the pan.
Take a piece of banana leaf or something equivalent, dab some water on the surface and put a spoonful of batter onto the leaf. Shape it into a round or elliptical shape with a hole in the middle, like a mini doughnut.
Transfer to the oil pan, 3 to 4 at a time, and fry until golden brown on both sides.
Serve with pachai sambal.

(b) Pachai sambal

Preparation time: 5 – 10 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Freshly scraped coconut – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2, chopped
Onion – ¼, chopped
Ginger – ½ “ (optional)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig, chopped
Salt, to taste

Method:

Mix and grind all ingredients and add salt, to taste.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Kiribath with Lunu Miris

In lieu of a basic intro, I will quote a line from Indika’s email:

“you don’t eat kiribath with pol sambol it should be lunu miris.”

So, Indika’s second recipe for the day is the traditional combination of kiribath with lunu miris.

(a) Kiribath

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
Coconut milk
pinch of salt

Method:

Soak 1 cup rice in water for few minutes.
Boil the rice with coconut milk till rice is very soft (When adding coconut milk mix pinch of salt to the coconut milk and add it to the rice).
When the rice is boiling mix with a wooden spoon.

(b) Lunu miris

Ingredients:

10 small onions cut into pieces
02 tablespoons crushed red chillies
Pinch of table salt
Few drops lemon juice

Method:

Add first three ingredients together and mix it in a grinder for 01 minute.
Take the mixture out and add the lemon juice.
Serve with Kiribath.

Recipe Source: Indika K.

Mixed Veggie Idli with Sambal

My mother’s idlis and vadais are famous amongst family and friends. So, the two are regularly made at home. Unfortunately, I have never been fond of either and used to often eat instant noodles whenever they were being made at home. On the rare occasions that I did eat them, it had to be only that made by my mother. However, I became a fan the first time I tasted my mother’s experimental mixed veggie idli with sambal. I still don’t eat idlis or vadais outside of my home but I am no longer fussy when idli is on the dinner menu at home.

So, today, I am sharing my mother’s recipe for the mixed veggie idli and sambal.

Mixed Veggie Idli

Cooking time: 10 – 15 mins + Soaking and fermenting time: around 12 – 24 hours

Makes 16 idlis

Ingredients:

Urad dal (Black gram) – ½ cup
Basmathi or samba rice – ½ cup
White raw rice – ¼ cup
Carrot – ¼ cup, grated
Leeks – ¼ cup, grated
Onion – ¼ cup, grated
Green chillies – 2, finely chopped
Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves, finely chopped
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Baking powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Salt, to taste
Oil

Method:

Soak the urad dal, samba or basmathi and white raw rice separately for a minimum of 6 hours. Overnight soaking is better.
Grind the dal and rice together with a little water to a thick batter consistency, much thicker than pancake batter.
Cover and keep for 6 hours.
After six hours, heat a little oil in a pan and lightly sauté the fennel seeds, chopped onions, curry leaves for a few seconds before adding the carrots, leeks and chillies and fry lightly. Remove from heat and cool.
Stir in the sautéed vegetable mixture and the chopped coriander leaves into the batter mix. Add salt, to taste, baking powder (optional) and a little water so that the batter is easy to pick with a scooping spoon.
Pour the batter onto the idli molds on an idli steamer and steam for about 10 mins.
This batter mix makes 16 idlis.
Serve hot with sambal.

Note: For those who do not have an idli steamer and wish to simply try out this recipe once, the alternative would be to pour the batter into a small bowl placed in a larger bowl with water and steamed, similar to a steamed pudding. The steamed idli can then be overturned onto a plate or tray and then cut into pieces. This would mean though that you would not get the standard or usual shape of idlis and would need to repeat the process a couple of times till the batter mix runs out. Then again, if you do end up liking what you eat, you would probably want to invest in a regular idli cooker with a four or five tiered idli stand for the next time around.

Sambal

Preparation time: 5 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Scraped fresh coconut – 1 cup
Dried red chillies – 5, chopped
Onion – 1, medium sized, chopped
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Oil

Method:

Heat a little oil in a pan and roast separately the chopped red chillies, then the curry leaves, chopped onion and finally the scraped coconut and remove from heat.
Mix all and dry grind them to make the sambal.
Serve with the mixed veggie idli.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Kiribath with pol sambol and seeni sambol

This is my mother’s version of the traditional South Sri Lankan breakfast. It is very much part of the Sinhalese cuisine and a must during New Year celebrations and birthday breakfasts. I like kiribath, more so than the milk rice equivalent in Tamil cuisine called pongal. Therefore, my mother makes kiribath occasionally at home for breakfast. While I will be posting other kiribath recipes when sent in by friends, I am posting today my mother’s recipe for this coconut milk rice dish and accompaniments.

The recipes below serve 3 – 4 persons.

(a) Kiribath

Cooking time: 20 to 25 mins

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup
Coconut powder – 3 tbsp
Salt, 1 tsp or to taste
Water

Method:

Place the rice in a rice cooker and add water to about 2 inches above the surface of the rice. Add the coconut powder and mix. For those who prefer using fresh coconut milk, they can add the coconut milk of medium consistency instead of adding water and coconut powder.
Add salt to the rice and milk mixture and boil the rice.
Once the coconut milk rice has been cooked, it can be put in bowls. Before serving, upturn the molded rice onto a plate or tray.
Serve with pol sambol, seeni sambol and bananas.

(b) Seeni Sambol

Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1 onion, large
Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Cinnamon – 1” stick
Tamarind extract – ½ cup extracted from 1 small ball of tamarind
Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 tsp
Low fat oil (canola or sunflower) – 1 tbsp

Method:

Chop up the onion in thin, long slices.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and sauté the fennel seeds, curry leaves and pieces of the cinnamon stick. Add the onions and sauté on low heat, for about 5 – 7 mins, till the onions lightly brown.
Add the tamarind extract of medium consistency and crushed chillies to the pan and cook till the onion sauce thickens.
Add 1 tsp of sugar, mix well and cook for about 2 mins more before removing from heat.
Serve with kiribath.

(c) Pol Sambol

Cooking time: 5 to 10 mins

Ingredients:

Scraped coconut – ½ cup
Dried red chillies – 3
Onion – 1 small
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Low fat oil (canola or sunflower) – 1 tsp

Method:

Chop up the chillies, onion and curry leaves and lightly sauté in a little oil.
Remove the chillies, onion and curry leaves from the oil and mix with the scraped coconut.
Add salt to taste and grind the mixture to a sambol texture.
Serve with kiribath.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.