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.

Fish cutlets

Today’s guest blogger is Krishanti Weerakoon, a staff of UN and wife of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada.

FISH CUTLETS

This is a fool-proof Sri Lankan recipe and on all of our postings overseas, this was an absolute favourite. A versatile and excellent snack for coffee mornings, afternoon teas, lunches , cocktail parties,with pre dinner drinks or even with dinner!! Make sure you have enough to go around as these small morsels have an explosion on your taste buds with the spices and aromatics and they are very popular. Reduce the intensity of the chillies depending on your guests’ tolerance for spice!!

Ingredients:
1 tin tuna ( 450 gram)
2 small green chillies cut finely
1 small onion diced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chillie powder

I large potato peeled and boiled and mashed
I clove garlic crushed
1 tsp chopped ginger
I tsp each ground coriander and cummin

I tsp lime juice
I lb bread crumbs ( 450 gms)
2 eggs

3 tbsp flour
salt

1 pint oil for deep frying.

Method:
Mix all the ingredients except one egg and flour , breadcrumbs and oil in a bowl. Make small balls about the size of a walnut.

Break the other egg into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Then put the flour and breadcrumbs into two seperate bowls. Follow this order; first roll the cutlet in flour, then egg and lastly breadcrumbs. Treat it like an assembly line!! Use up all the fish mixture this way!

Heat oil to smoking point in a wok or fryer. Fry the cutlets until golden brown . Do not add too many at a time as it will lower the temperature of the oil and will not fry evenly. Ensure that oil stays hot when frying to ensure crispy cutlets. Serve with a nice dip either sweet chilli sauce or tomato/barbecue sauce.

Recipe source: Krishanti Weerakoon.

Wattalapam Jelly Pudding

As part of the Eid special series,

(e) Wattalapam jelly pudding

Originally from the Sri Lankan Malay cuisine, wattalapam has become a dessert that is made by all communities in Sri Lanka. This recipe of my mother is an adaptation of the traditional wattalapam into a jelly pudding.

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup (this can be obtained by blending ¼ cup freshly scraped coconut with 1 cup of water)
Egg – 1 (can use 2 tbsp corn flour as a substitute)
Jaggery – ½ to 1 cup, depending on taste
Cardamom – 3 or 4, crushed
Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
Agar agar – 2 tbsp
Hot water – 6 tbsp

Method:

Mix the coconut milk and jaggery.
Lightly whisk the egg before adding the jaggery-milk mixture. Blend the mixture well.
Add the crushed cardamom and vanilla extract to the mixture.
Cook the pudding mixture on low heat, stirring continuously, for about 10 mins.
Remove the thickened mixture from the heat and keep aside to cool.
Take 2 tsp agar agar powder and mix with 6 tbsp hot water.
Beat the agar agar mix into the slightly cooled pudding mixture.
Cool and refrigerate.

Recipe Source: Raji Thillainathan.

Salad

As part of the Eid Special series,

(d) Salad

Preparation time: 5 – 10mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Orange – ½, peel removed
Apple – ½
Tomato -1 small
Onion – 1 small
Chillies – 2 or capsicum – 1
Salad leaves – 1
Salt and pepper, to taste
Sugar – 1 tsp, can be adjusted to taste
Lime juice – 1tbsp (Optional: can use yoghurt instead of lime juice)

Method:

Chop up the vegetables and fruits.
Make the salad dressing by mixing salt, pepper, sugar and lime juice.
Toss the salad with the dressing.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Potato curry

(c) Potato curry

Cooking time – 20 mins

Serves 4 – 5 persons

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 2 large
Onion -1 medium sized
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Rampe leaf/ pandan
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Water – 2 cups
Non-fat milk – ½ cup + ¼ cup (optional) – Can substitute with coconut milk, if vegan
Curry powder – 2 tsp
Salt, to taste
Low fat oil (Canola or sunflower) – 1 tbsp

Method:

Cut the potatoes into small chunks.
Heat a little oil in a pan. Saute the fenugreek, onion, rampe and curry leaves for a few seconds.
Add the potatoes to the pan, mix well and fry for about two minutes till there is a nice aroma of fried potatoes.
Add 2 cup of water and ½ cup of milk. Add the curry powder and salt to taste.
Cook the curry for around 10 to 15 mins. When the liquid dries up, it can be removed from heat.
If you like the curry in gravy, add the optional ¼ cup milk and cook a few minutes more before removing from heat.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Stuffed Chilli Fry

As part of the Eid Special series,

(b) Stuffed chilli fry

Cooking time:

Serves 4

Ingredients

Capsicum/ Kari Milagai/ Malu Miris – 4
Ash plantains – 2
Chillies – 1 or 2
Onion – ¼
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Salt and pepper, to taste
For batter:
Wheat flour – ¾ cup
Salt – ¼ tsp
Water – 1 cup
Bread crumbs – 100g or 1 cup
Low fat oil (canola or sunflower) – deep fry + 1 tbsp (for sauté)

Method:

Steam the capsicums.
Make a small hole at the top of each capsicum and remove the insides of the capsicum, which you can discard. Keep the hollow capsicum.
Boil the ash plantains. Remove skin and keep the skin aside for a peel salad.
Chop up or mash the boiled ash plantain (sans skin) and mix with the chopped onion and chillies and fennel seeds. Lightly sauté the ash plantain mixture, adding salt and pepper to taste.
Fill the insides of the capsicum with the lightly sautéed ash plantain mix and keep aside.
Make a batter by mixing the wheat flour, salt and water. The consistency of the batter should be similar to that of a pancake batter.
Dip the stuffed capsicum in the batter and roll it in bread crumbs.
Repeat the dipping in the batter and rolling in the bread crumbs for a double coating of the stuffed capsicum.
Deep fry the stuffed capsicum.
For those who prefer non-veg, substitute ash plantains with tinned fish (pilchard or salmon).

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Fried rice

To celebrate Eid al-Fitr, my mother prepared a special lunch today: fried rice with potato curry, stuffed chilli fry, salad and wattalapam jelly pudding. So today, I will share my mother’s recipes for all five dishes, which comes under experimental and fusion cooking, in a series of posts.

(a) Fried rice

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice – 2 cups
Carrot – ¼ cup, chopped
Green peas – ¼ cup
Leeks – ¼ cup, chopped
Onion – ¼ cup, chopped
Mixed 3C spice powder – Clove, cinnamon, cardamom powder – 2 tsp
Kesari powder – ½ tsp (Can use biryani powder or saffron or turmeric powder)
Low fat margarine – 50g or 3 tbsp
Cinnamon – 1 ~ 2’’ stick
Rampe leaf/ pandan
Salt, to taste

Method:

Put the rice in a rice cooker and add water to about an inch above the rice surface. Add a cinnamon stick, rampe leaf and a little salt and cook the rice.
Sprinkle a little salt on the chopped veggies and keep aside.
Heat the margarine in a pan on low heat.
Add the mixed 3C spice powder and sauté for 2 seconds before adding the chopped vegetables.
When the veggies become tender, add the kesari powder.
Add the cooked rice and mix well.
Serve hot.

Recipe Source: Raji Thillainathan.

Spicy bean curd curry

My mother is quite fond of tofu ever since she first came across it while living in Jakarta in the 80s. A regular dish at our home for many years, my mother enjoys cooking it in different styles. This bean curd curry is my mother’s creation and what I call fusion cooking.

Cooking time: 20 – 25 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Bean curd – 150g, cut into 1 inch pieces
Tomatoes – 2, chopped
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Cinnamon, cardamom, clove powder mix – ½ tsp
Onion, chopped
Curry leaves – 2 sprig
Rampe leaf/ pandan
Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
Salt, to taste
Oil – 1 tbsp + deep fry
Water – 1 ½ cups

Method:

Deep fry the bean curd pieces.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add the fenugreek and fennel seeds and fry for a few seconds. Add the spice powder mix (cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, clove).
Then, add the chopped onion, curry leaves and rampe leaf and fry lightly.
Add the chopped tomato pieces, crushed chillies and salt and mix well.
Adding 1 ½ cups of water to the pan, cook the curry for around 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the bean curd pieces and simmer for another 5 minutes, before removing from heat.
Garnish with fresh curry leaves and serve hot with rice.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Drumstick curry

This is my mother’s recipe and this is the way she makes drumstick curry often at home. It is delicious.

Cooking time: 25 – 30 mins

Serves 4 – 5 persons

Ingredients

Drumsticks – 2
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbsp
Onion – ½
Curry leaves – 2 sprig
Curry powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Tamarind extract – ½ cup
Non-fat milk or coconut milk (for vegans) – 1 cup
Water – ½ cup

Method

Cut the drumsticks into 2 inch pieces and clean by scraping lightly the skin.
Deep fry drumstick pieces, till they are lightly browned.
In a pan, heat a little oil and sauté the fenugreek seeds, onions and curry leaves.
Add the fried drumstick pieces and mix well.
Add the tamarind extract, non-fat milk or coconut milk and water, along with the curry powder and salt, to the pan.
Cover and cook on medium heat for around 15 mins.
Taste for salt and then increase heat and cook further for about 5 mins.
Remove from heat and serve with hot rice or stringhoppers.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.