Murungaikai Curry

Re-posting recipe: This is my grandmother’s recipe, as remembered and replicated by my mother. For my mother’s recipe, check out this post.

Drumstick curry

Cooking time – 25 minutes

Serves 3

Ingredients:

Drumstick/ Murungai – 1
Potato – 1 large
Onion – ½ medium sized
¼ fresh Coconut ~ ½ cup of scraped fresh coconut
Curry powder – 1 tbsp, can add another 1/2 tbsp for more spiciness
Salt to taste

Method:

Cut the drumstick into 2’’ pieces and chop up the potato and onion.
To the scraped fresh coconut, add some water and squeeze out the first coconut milk and keep aside. Reuse the coconut flakes and squeeze out the second milk by adding some water. If you don’t like to squeeze out the coconut milk by hand, simply use a blender and strain out the first and second milk. An alternative is to use ready-made coconut milk but the different consistencies expected in this dish will not be there. The first milk is richer in consistency and fats while the second milk is thinner in consistency.
In a sauce pan, add four cups of water to coconut milk obtained the second time – the second coconut milk.
Add the cut vegetables (drumstick, potato and onion) to the pan as well as the chilli powder and cook the vegetables.
Once the potato and drumstick pieces are cooked, add the reserved first coconut milk and salt and let it simmer for five minutes before taking off the heat.
Serve hot with rice or pittu or stringhoppers.

A slight variation in my great grandmother’s drumstick curry recipe is that she did not add potatoes to the drumsticks. Just before taking the curry off the heat, she lightly fried some chopped onion, dried red chillies and fennel seeds in a separate pan and added the tempered seasonings to the curry. This gives a nice aroma and flavour to the dish.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Odiyal Kool

Decided to take a break this week and re-post a few recipes from the initial days of this blog.

This is a traditional recipe from the North of Sri Lanka made from a palmyrah product. My mother tells me her grandmother used to make this for them on special occasions. While this is typically a spicy sea-food dish, it can be a vegan dish if one omits the seafood.

So, I am sharing my great-grandmother’s odiyal kool recipe, as remembered by my mother.

The base for this kool is ‘Odiyal’, a healthy and nutritious root that is dried before making into a flour. One can purchase the ‘odiyal flour’ from Katpaham marketing outlets around Sri Lanka, run by the Palmyrah Development Board, and might be found at Sri Lankan stores outside of Sri Lanka. However, if ‘odiyal flour’ cannot be obtained, corn flour can be tried out as a substitute.

Odiyal Kool

Cooking time – 45 minutes

Serves: 8 – 10

Ingredients

Odiyal or Odiyal Flour – 1 cup
Chopped mixed vegetables (brinjal/ katharikkai, jackfruit seeds/ palakottai, yardlong beans/ paithangai, small green leaves/ pasali keerai or murungai ilai, manioc, ash plantain) – 100g each
Chopped mixed seafood (prawns, crab meat, squids etc.) – 100g each, omit if vegetarian
Boiled rice – ½ cup
Dried red chillies – 5- 10, depending on your desired level of hot spicy
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp, can add another tablespoon if you like it really spicy
Pepper powder – 1tbsp, can add another tablespoon if you like it really spicy
Tamarind extract – ½ cup
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Water – 2 litres

Method:

Grind the odiyal into flour or use the ready-made odiyal flour.
Dry grind the cumin seeds, red chillies and pepper and keep aside.
Boil the vegetables in a pot with half litre water.
Boil the seafood in a separate pot with half litre water.
Then, mix the boiled vegetables and seafood and add another litre of water, along with the tamarind extract.
As the water comes to a boil, slowly stir in the odiyal flour, avoiding lumps.
Add the boiled rice to the pot.
Add the ground spice mixture and the turmeric powder to the pot and salt to taste. Let it come to a boil.
You can add a little water to adjust the consistency to your liking, e.g. if the water has dried up or you prefer a watery Kool.
Serve hot in medium-sized bowls.

Recipe Source: Raji Thillainathan.

Ash plantain peel salad

Re-posting this salad recipe today. It is a recipe of my great-grandmother, as remembered and quite often replicated by my mother at home.

Ash plantain peel salad

Preparation time: 10 mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Skin of ash plantains – 2, boiled
Grated coconut – 1 tbsp
Onion – 1, small and chopped
Chilli or red capsicum -1, chopped
Pepper and Salt, to taste
Lime juice – 1 tbsp

Method:

Finely chop the boiled ash plantain skin. Mix with salt.
Add the grated coconut, chopped onion and chilli to the ash plantain skin and mix well.
Season with pepper and lime juice and salt, to taste.
Serve with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Pear Banana Citrus Cake

Last week, I had been planning to bake Poppy‘s delicious chai pear cake a second time but didn’t get around to it. Finally, my mother rescued the pears and went ahead and baked me her lovely version of a pear citrus cake. So, today’s recipe is part of the fruit cake series.

Pear Banana Citrus Cake

Time taken: 1 ½ hours

Serves 5

Ingredients:

Pear – 1
Banana – 1
Orange – 1
Lime – 1 + 1 tsp (for icing)
Sugar – ¼ cup
Oats – ¼ cup
All-purpose flour – 1 cup
Margarine – ¼ cup + ½ tbsp (for icing)
Cloves – 2-3
Banana essence – few drops
Vanilla essence – few drops
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – ½ tsp
Icing sugar – 2 or 3 tbsp (for icing)

Method:

Chop up the pear and banana. Blend the pear and banana together with the cloves.
Cream the sugar and margarine in a bowl. Whisk in the vanilla essence, banana essence, juice of one orange and lime and the blended pear and banana. Mix well.
Add ¼ cup of water to the bowl and stir.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
Alternatively add the oats and flour mix to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing it well so that there are no lumps.
Transfer the cake batter to the baking tray and bake at 170⁰C/ 338⁰F the cake for about 45 mins to 1 hour.
While the cake cools, make a simple icing by beating together ½ tbsp margarine with 2-3 tbsp icing sugar and 1 tsp lime juice. Spread the lime icing evenly over the cake.
Slice and serve the pear banana citrus cake with a cup of coffee after a meal.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Mango Pudding

When you have some ripe mangoes at hand and you don’t feel like eating them just sliced as you usually do, then you could try out this quick to make, dessert for one.

Willard Mangoes

Mango pudding

Time taken: 10 mins

Serves 1

Ingredients:

Mango – ½ cup, ground
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Vanilla essence – ¼ tsp
Orange juice – 1 tbsp (optional)
Yellow colour – drop or two
Corn flour – 3 tbsp
Raisins – ½ tsp
Cashewnuts – ½ tsp, crushed
Vegetable oil margarine – 1 tsp

Method

Blend the mango without water.
In a saucepan, heat the ground mango with 2 tbsp sugar, ¼ tsp vanilla essence and 1 tbsp of water, stirring continuously for a minute or two. If you like a little citrus flavour to your pudding, add a tbsp of orange juice.
Add the corn flour, stirring in a tbsp at a time. Continue stirring for 3-4 mins. If making for more than one person, consider using corn starch dissolved in water instead of corn flour.
Add the raisins and crushed cashewnuts and stir for a min.
Add the margarine and mix well. Remove the saucepan from stove and transfer the pudding to a mold.
Serve plain or with some ice-cream on the side.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Beetroot Roti

Roti with sambal has always been one of my comfort foods. Today’s recipe is one of my mother’s new versions of vegetable roti – this time, with beetroot.

Beetroot Roti

Time taken: 40 mins

Makes 4

Ingredients:

Beetroot – ½ cup, grated
All-purpose flour -1 cup
Onion – ½ , chopped
Green chillies – 1 or 2, chopped
Coconut – 1 tbsp, scraped
Salt – as required
Low fat oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat the grated beetroot with ¼ cup of water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Cook the beetroot till the water dries up.
After the cooked beetroot has cooled, add the flour, chopped onion, chillies, scraped coconut, salt and oil to the grated beetroot.
Mix well and stir in water to make the roti dough. Divide the roti dough into 4 balls.
Let the balls of dough rest for about 15 mins before rolling out the dough balls to make a flattened roti disk.
Cook each of the roti on a griddle, with 3-4 mins on each side.
Serve the beetroot roti with red chilli sambal.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Mango Kesari

Today’s lovely recipe is my mother’s recipe for mango kesari/ halwa. Great with a cup of tea or coffee.

Mango Kesari

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Mango – ½ cup, chopped
Orange juice – 1 tbsp
Mint – 2 or 3 leaves
Sugar – 1 tsp (for juice) + 1 tbsp
Salt – a little
Semolina – ¼ cup
Vegetable oil margarine – 1 tsp
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Yellow food colouring – ½ tsp (optional)
Nuts (your choice) – optional

Method:

Make 1 cup of mango juice by blending the chopped mango, orange juice, mint leaves, 1 tsp of sugar and pinch of salt with water.
Heat the juice in a saucepan with a tbsp of sugar for about 2 mins. Add the vanilla and semolina. Continue stirring until it thickens.
Add 1 tsp of margarine and the optional yellow food colour and nuts. Mix well before transferring to a tray or mold so that it can set.
Serve warm with tea or after a meal.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Beans with Carrot Sauce

Today’s recipe is one of my mother’s sauce recipes. For another of my mother’s similarly interesting sauce recipes, check out ash plantain and carrot with beetroot sauce.

Beans with Carrot Sauce

Time taken: 30 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Beans – 1 cup, chopped
Carrot – 1
Onion – ½
Ginger – 1 tsp, finely chopped
Garlic – 1 tsp, finely chopped
Green chilli – 1
Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

Clean and chop the beans and carrots. Boil the beans and carrots in water, adding a little salt, for about 10 mins.
Separate the cooked carrots from the beans. Drain the beans, keeping the water aside for re-use. Transfer the cooked beans to the serving dish.
Heat a tbsp oil in a pan and fry the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and chilli for a couple of mins before adding the cooked carrots and continuing to stir-fry for an extra minute or two.
After cooling slightly, blend the carrot mixture from the pan.
In a sauce pan, heat the previously cooked water, together with the ground carrot mixture, that was kept aside. Adjust salt, as per taste.
Pour the carrot sauce over the beans and serve warm.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Beetroot Varai

Today’s recipe is that of a quick to prepare and delicious beetroot dish.

Beetroot Varai

Time taken: 15 mins

Serves 3

Ingredients:

Beetroot – 1 cup, grated
Onion – 1
Green chillies – 2
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coconut – 1 tbsp, freshly scraped
Pepper – ½ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Sesame/ Gingelly oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

Mix ½ tsp salt with 1 cup of grated beetroot and keep aside.
Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a pan and fry the fennel seeds, chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves for a minute.
Add the grated beetroot to the pan and stir-fry for 5 – 10 mins over low heat.
Add 1 tbsp coconut and ½ tsp pepper to the beetroot mix and cook for another 2 mins.
Serve the beetroot varai with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Triple layer veggie and fruit cake

Today, I will share one of my mother’s latest cake experiments. She got very much caught in her fruit cake series that she wanted to bake this triple layer cake. I call it the cake extravaganza and it very much reminded me of Tian-Tian’s birthday cake with the many ingredients put into it and the time taken. It did taste good, though personally I would have preferred each of the three layers as a separate cake.

Triple layer veggie and fruit cake

Time taken: 1 ¾ hours

Serves 15 to 20

Ingredients:

Layer 1 (bottom layer): Beetroot – ½ cup, steamed
Layer 2 (middle layer): Apple – ½ and Guava – ½ , Mint leaves – 3 or 4
Layer 3 (top layer): Carrot – 1 large, steamed
All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cups ( ½ cup for each of the layers)
Sugar – ¾ cup ( ¼ cup for each of the layers)
Oats – ¾ cup ( ¼ cup for each of the layers)
Vegetable oil margarine – ¾ cup ( ¼ cup for each of the layers) + 1 tbsp (for icing)
Banana – 3 tbsp, mashed (1 tbsp for each of the layers)
Water – ¾ cup ( ¼ cup for each of the layers)
Baking soda – ¾ tsp ( ¼ tsp for each of the layers)
Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp ( ½ tsp for each of the layers)
Vanilla essence – 3 tsp (1 tsp for each of the layers)
Lime juice – 5 tbsp + 1 tsp (for icing)
Green food colour – 1 tsp (for second layer)
Orange food colour – 1 tsp (for third layer)
Icing sugar – 4 tbsp (for icing)

Method:

Steam the beetroot and carrot for about 10 mins.
Separately blend the steamed beetroot and carrot in a processor.
Next, finely chop up the apple and guava. Grind a few mint leaves.
Cream ¼ cup margarine and ¼ cup sugar each in three mixing bowls.
To the first bowl, add the pureed beetroot to the mix and to the third bowl, add the pureed carrot to the mix. To the second bowl, add the finely chopped apple and guava together with the ground mint leaves.
Add ¼ cup of oats and 1 tbsp of mashed banana to each of the three bowls and mix well.
Stir in the lime juice (2 tbsp each for the first and third bowl and 1 tbsp for the second bowl) and 1 tsp vanilla essence each, together with ¼ cup of water, to each of the three bowls and beat the respective mixture well.
Add a tsp of green food colour to the second bowl (apple and guava mix) and a tsp of orange food colour to the third bowl (carrot mix)
Divide the flour into three ½ cup flour piles. Sift each with ¼ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp baking powder. Add a sifted ½ cup flour mix to the mixture in each of the three bowls.
Whisk the cake batter until smooth.
Transfer the beetroot cake batter to the baking tray and spread the batter evenly.
Then, transfer the apple, guava and mint cake batter to the baking tray and spread the batter evenly over the beetroot mix to form the middle layer.
Transfer the carrot cake batter on top of the apple batter and spread it evenly.
Bake the cake at 170⁰C/ 338⁰F and bake for 45 mins – 1 hour.
Whisk together 4 tbsp icing sugar, 1 tbsp vegetable margarine and 1 tsp lime to make a light icing and spread it thinly over the cake, after it has cooled.
Slice the cake into 15 or 20 pieces and serve with a cup of plain or fruit tea.