Tag Archives: Recipe

Vegetable coconut curry

Today’s recipe is a curry recipe of my mother that I really like. It is a simple and delicious curry.

Vegetable coconut curry or Vellai curry, as it is known in Tamil

Time taken: 20 – 25 mins

Serves 4

Vegetable curryIngredients:

  • Cauliflower – ½ cup, chopped
  • Potato – ½ cup, chopped
  • Green peas – ¼ cup
  • Carrot – ½ cup, chopped
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Chilli – 1, chopped
  • Coconut milk – ¼ cup
  • Pepper – ½ tsp
  • Lime juice – 1 tsp, or more as per taste

Method:

  1. Heat 1 tsp oil and sauté the chopped onion and chilli for a minute in a pan.
  2. Then, add all the chopped vegetables to the pan along with 1 cup of water and cook the vegetables for 10 mins.
  3. Add the coconut milk to the pan and cook the curry for another 5 mins.
  4. Add the pepper and cook for a couple of minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Squeeze some fresh lime/ lemon juice over the vegetable curry and serve with rice.

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.

Thosai with Sambhar

(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:

  1. Soak the rice, dal and fenugreek for 6 hours.
  2. Drain the soaked mixture and wash it lightly.
  3. 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.
  4. Transfer the batter to a bowl. Cover and let it ferment for another 6 hours.
  5. Add salt and mix before heating up the thosai pan or flat pan.
  6. 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.
  7. 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:

  1. Cook the vegetables, in a pan with 3 cups of water, for about 15 – 20 minutes on medium heat.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Towards the end, add ¼ cup coconut milk. Cook for a few minutes before removing from heat.
  5. Serve sambhar with thosai or idli.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Ambarella chutney

Update (02/07/2014): As I wished to send in a dish to the first virtual vegan linky party initiated by Annie, Poppy and Angela, I decided to send in an old recipe that I had shared on my blog in its early days. So, I am sharing this chutney under the side dish category for the potluck.

The chutney recipe for today is ambarella (spondias dulcis) chutney. Ambarella is said to be good for people with diabetes.

raw ambarella

Ambarella chutney

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 4

Ambarella chutney

Ingredients:

  • Ambarella – 3
  • Cinnamon – 1” piece
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Peel the three ambarellas. Chop up the ambarella into 5 or 6 pieces each and put them in a pan. The middle portion is difficult to remove or chop up so it can be left as it is and included in the pan.
  2. Add 1 cup of water or just enough to cover the ambarella pieces.
  3. Add a piece of cinnamon and some salt, to taste, to the pan. Cover and cook for about 10 mins.
  4. If the water has completely dried up, add ½ cup of water.
  5. Add 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp crushed chillies to the pan.
  6. Increase heat and cook for some minutes till the chutney comes together and it is no longer watery but rather a thick sauce-like consistency.
  7. Remove from heat and transfer to serving bowl.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Mango chutney

Today, I thought of sharing two of my mother’s chutney recipes.

Raw mangoes

Mango chutney

Time taken: 20 mins

Serves 4Mango chutney

Ingredients:

  • Mango – 1, unripe
  • Onion – ¼, chopped
  • Malu miris/ capsicum – 1, chopped
  • Mustard – 1 tsp
  • Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
  • Crushed chillies – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp
  • Vinegar – 1 tsp (optional – best to add, if you want to keep chutney for some days)
  • Turmeric – ½ tsp
  • Salt, to taste
  • Low fat oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

  1. Wash the mango, de-seed and chop up the mango with the skin into 1 inch slices.
  2. Marinate the chopped up mango pieces with salt and turmeric. Keep aside.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the mustard and fennel seeds. As they start to splutter, add the chopped onion and malu miris.
  4. After a few minutes of frying or once the onions become pinkish, add the marinated pieces of mango and mix well.
  5. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 mins.
  6. Remove cover and stir.
  7. Add 1 tsp of crushed chillies to the pan. Mix well and cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
  8. Remove cover again and this time, add 1 tbsp of sugar and the optional 1 tsp vinegar.
  9. Mix well and cover and cook for a few more minutes.
  10. Remove from heat and mix well before transferring to the serving bowl.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Egg-less Date and Raisin Cake

Among the several delicious cakes that my mother bakes, a special treat is her egg-less date and raisin cake that she makes on special occasions.

Date and raisin cake

Date and Raisin Cake

Time taken: 1 ½ hours + 3 hours (for marinating the dried fruits)

Serves 8 – 10

Slice of date cake

Ingredients:

  • Dates – 1½ cup (when chopped) or 300 g (before chopping)
  • Raisins – ½ cup (100 g)
  • Wheat flour – 2 cups
  • Semolina – ½ cup
  • Low fat vegetable oil margarine (e.g. Flora) – 1 ½ cup (250 g)
  • Brown sugar – 1 cup
  • Condensed milk – 1 cup (vegans can use almond cream or cashew nut cream or coconut cream as a substitute)
  • Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
  • Mixed 3C spice powder (Cardamon, Cloves and Cinnamon) – 1 ½ tsp
  • Sri Lankan Tea – 1/3 cup
  • Baking powder – 2 tsp
  • Baking soda – ¼ tsp + pinch (for marinating the dried fruits)

Method:

  1. De-seed the dates and chop them. Place the chopped dates in a bowl, together with the raisins.
  2. Add 1/3 cup of strong black tea, pinch of baking soda and the mixed 3C spice powder to the dates and raisins bowl. Cover and keep aside, for 2 – 3 hours, letting the dried fruits marinate in the tea and spice mix.
  3. Whisk together the margarine and sugar, adding the condensed milk or vegan substitute. If whisking by hand, add the ingredients slowly while continuing to whisk. If using a blender, blend the three together for about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the vanilla essence to the blend and mix.
  5. Sift the flour, semolina together with the baking powder and soda.
  6. Stir in the sifted flour and semolina gradually into the bowl of blended margarine, sugar and milk and mix.
  7. Add the marinated dried fruits to the batter and fold.
  8. Transfer the cake batter into a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 140⁰C/284⁰F for about 1 – 1 ¼ hours.
  9. Remove from oven and let it cool, before slicing and serving with some hot Sri Lankan tea or coffee.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Brinjal salad

One of the brinjal recipes of my mother that I like is the brinjal salad. Her recipe is an adaptation of her grandmother’s recipe.

Brinjal salad

Time taken: 15 – 20 mins

Serves 2

DSC00012

Ingredients:

  • Brinjal – 1
  • Chilli or capsicum – 1, chopped
  • Onion – ¼ , chopped
  • Pepper and salt, to taste
  • Freshly scraped coconut – 2 tbsp (Optional)
  • Lime juice, to taste

Method:

  1. Wash the brinjal and then wrap the whole brinjal, in tin foil.
  2. Boil a half-filled saucepan of water and then drop this tin-foil wrapped brinjal in the pan to cook for 10 minutes.
  3. After the brinjal is cooked, remove from the pan and unwrap the foil. Peel the brinjal immediately as it will otherwise be difficult to remove if cooled.
  4. Mash the cooked brinjal.
  5. Add the chopped onion, chilli, optional scraped coconut and the salt and pepper seasoning. Mix well
  6. Add some lime juice and serve with rice.

Note: My great-grandmother used to roast the brinjal, wrapped in a leaf, inserted among the firewood stove so I can imagine that the salad would have had a nice smoky, roasted flavour. So, translated into today’s world, roasting the brinjal wrapped in tin foil in an oven would be the equivalent.

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

Murungai Ilai Kanji

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:

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

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

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Palakottai curry

This is one of the ways my mother cooks jackfruit seeds.

It is difficult to cut up fresh, ripe jackfruit. When you keep it for 2 to 3 days, it becomes easier to chop and peel the outer layers and remove the fruit. As you pull out each of the sweet and ripe yellow fruit, cut a slit and remove the seed inside and collect in a separate bowl.

Palakkottai curry

Time taken: 20 – 30 mins

Serves 3

Palakkottai curry

Ingredients:

  • Palakkotai (Jackfruit seeds) – 1 cup
  • Coconut milk – 2 ½ cups (thin consistency)
  • Onion – ½ chopped
  • Curry leaves
  • Curry powder – 1 tsp
  • Salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Wash and clean the jackfruit seeds.
  2. Put the cleaned jackfruit seeds in a pan and add 2 ½ cups of thin coconut milk. Also add the chopped onion, curry leaves and the curry powder and salt.
  3. Cook for about 20 minutes until the curry thickens and the seeds are cooked and soft enough.
  4. Serve with rice or pittu.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Vallarai salad and chutney

The first recipe for today is vallarai salad followed by vallarai chutney. Vallarai/ Gotukola (Centella Asiatica) is a herb used in Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese as well as African medicine. It is said to improve memory and some believe youthfulness.

Bunch of Vallarai/ Gotukola

Bunch of Vallarai/ Gotukola

(a) Vallarai salad

Time taken: 10 mins

Serves 3 or 4

Vallarai salad

Ingredients

  • Vallarai bunch – 2 cups, when finely chopped
  • Tomato – 1 medium or grated coconut – 1 tbsp
  • Chilli – 1
  • Onion – ½
  • Pepper and Salt, to taste
  • Lime juice – 1 tbsp, adjust as preferred

Method:

  1. Wash the bunch of vallarai leaves thoroughly and then finely chop them up and put them in a large salad mixing bowl.
  2. Chop up the tomato, chilli and onion and add to the bowl. For those who don’t like tomatoes, substitute with freshly scraped coconut.
  3. Sprinkle some pepper and salt, to taste and add the lime juice.
  4. Toss well and serve immediately.

(b) Vallarai chutney

Time taken: 5 mins

Serves 3

Vallarai chutney

Ingredients:

  • Vallarai – 2 cups, finely chopped
  • Freshly scraped coconut – ½ cup
  • Onion – ½ chopped
  • Green chillies – 2
  • Lime juice, to taste

Method:

  1. Blend the 2 cups of finely chopped vallarai with ½ cup of freshly scraped coconut, ½ onion and 2 chillies.
  2. Squeeze some fresh lime juice over the chutney and mix before serving immediately.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Passion fruit and banana cake

Last week, when my mother bought some passion fruit, I had mentioned that I had seen a delicious looking orange and passion fruit syrup cake recently on Poppy’s Patisserie. The very next day, my mother had baked a tangy, crunchy passion fruit and banana cake. The crunchiness is from the baked passion fruit seeds inside the cake.

I would like to share my mother’s recipe for this delicious dessert cake today.

Passion fruit and banana cake

Passion fruit and banana cake

Time taken: 1 hour

Passion fruit cake

Ingredients:

  • Passion fruit – 4 large or 5 medium fruits + 1 (for topping)
  • Banana – 1 (local varieties: kolikoottu or anamalu)
  • Wheat flour – 1 cup
  • Semolina – ½ cup
  • Oats – 3 tbsp
  • Sugar – ¾ cup + 2 tbsp (for topping)
  • Low fat vegetable margarine – ½ cup
  • Water – ¼ cup
  • Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp
  • Baking soda – ½ tsp
  • Rose essence – a drop

Method:

  1. Sift the wheat flour and semolina together with the baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside the dry mix.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the margarine and sugar by hand, using a large spoon.
  3. Mix the passion fruit pulp, including the seeds, and the oats with the water in another bowl to make a wet mix.
  4. Stir in the wet mix into the bowl containing the whisked margarine and sugar and continue to whisk.
  5. Add in the finely chopped banana and the drop of rose essence into the bowl and mix.
  6. Stir in the dry mix into the large bowl of the wet ingredients gradually.
  7. Pour the cake batter into the baking tray.
  8. Pre-heat the oven and bake at 140⁰C/ 284⁰F for 45 mins.
  9. Beat the pulp of 1 passion fruit together with the 2 tbsp of white sugar and pour over the baked cake, while still hot from the oven.
  10. Serve warm for dessert.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.