If you are a blogger, you probably know the Arusuvai friendship chain started by Latha and Lakshmi of The Yum blog . It is basically an event where you send a “secret ingredient” to some of your friends. They cook something delicious with the ingredient and blog about it. This chain which was very popular among the bloggers in India, was started in US by Latha of Masala magic .
I have been reading about this for sometime now, but didn’t exactly know all the details. One fine day, I got a mail from Bee of Jugalbandi asking if I would like to get a surprise package from her. Well, who says no to such a delicious offer? I was eagerly waiting for the package and on a Tuesday received a lovely package in the mail. It had a very fragrant kootu podi , Bee’s favorite California chocolate, a beautiful purse from India and peanut chikki :). Wow!!! I can’t thank you guys enough. It reached me at a time when I was so upset about whole blogging and was thinking to do some drastic changes on this blog. It definitely made me feel very good. Thanks Bee and Jai.
I would also thank Maya for offering me a secret ingredient. I was not sure if it was the same ingredient which is circulated or different one. Now that I know what it is, I feel bad that I let down one more great offer.
Continuing the chain, I am passing a secret ingredient to Shn of Mishmash , Manjula of Dalitoy , Manasi of A cook at heart .
According to Wiki ,
Kootu is a Tamil dish, common in both Tamil Nadu and South India . Kootus are essentially vegetable and lentil dishes which are semi-solid, i.e., less aqueous than sambhar , but more so than dry curries. Rice and kootu is a common and simple Tamil meal. In Tamil cuisine kootus are considered substitutes for both curries and sambhar.
I have heard of kootu before and also prepared few different types. But frankly speaking, I never tried to understand what a kootu is. My experiments were mainly the Kannada version of kootus with very different spices. After reading the above definition from wiki, I thought of making something like a sambar with it. It came out to be very delicious, not as hot as sambar , but very fragrant and tasty.
Some more kootu recipes can be found at Jugalbandi , Sailu’s food , Mane adige , Masala magic , Vindu .
Ingredients: 1/2 cup toor dal 1 tea spn kootu podi 2 tbl spns frsh/frozen coconut 1 cup vegetables – green beans, carrot, cauliflower, onion, potato, eggplant(brinjal), tomato etc 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 5-6 curry leaves A pinch asafoetida A pinch turmeric 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract(optional) Oil Salt
Method: Cook dal with turmeric till it is mushy. Cook vegetables (If using cooker vessels, keep dal in bottom most pan and vegetables in topmost). Grind coconut, tamarind with kootu podi . Add the ground paste to dal and vegetables. Cook for about 7-8mins. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, asafoetida. Pour this over kootu . Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 25mins
Mango Rice
I am in constant search of simple recipes to cook for lunch boxes. Usually, I cook some simple lunch to take to office. It all changed in last few months when due to extreme weather conditions, I just feel like getting up late in the morning. So my lunch boxes were getting affected. I started cooking rice in the morning but pack the previous day’s gravy with it. But then, I have always felt it is not a good idea to pack gravies in lunch boxes as it is difficult to eat them in office. It is not an issue for me as my office is very near to home and I come home for lunch, but I feel bad for V. So from last one week, I am trying my best to get back to my old routine of packing either such quick fix rice items or chapathis for lunch.
I tried this recipe a couple of days ago. It is inspired by a recipe from the book “Pleasure of rice cooking” by Sneha R Vij. I had picked up this book in Bangalore before coming here but have hardly used it. This particular recipe caught my attention because we both are big fans of mangoes.
I did a minor change to the recipe – I added few finely chopped mangoes along with a mango paste. It gave a very nice bite to the dish. The aroma that comes out of the dish while frying, is very very intoxicating. Ever since I tried this,we have become huge fans of this mango rice. It is making a regular appearance in my boxes these days.
Ingredients: 1 cup rice 1/4 cup raw mangoes roughly chopped and 1/4 cup very finely chopped 1/2 tea spn chana dal 1 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn urad dal 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut 3-4 green chilies 4-5 curry leaves A pinch asafoetida A pinch turmeric Oil Salt
Method: Cook rice – make sure each grain is separate, It becomes mushy if the rice is soft. Grind coconut with turmeric, 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped mangoes, to a very coarse paste without adding any water. Heat oil and add chana dal . When it is turning brownish, add mustard seeds and urad dal . Add curry leaves, green chilies and asafoetida. Fry for a min. Now add the finely chopped mangoes and fry for few minutes till they become soft. Add the ground paste and fry till a nice aroma comes out. Add salt and rice. Mix well. Serve hot.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 25mins
PS: Increase or decrease the quantities of mangoes depending on sourness. For better texture and taste, do not include the skin (mangoes available in US have a very thick skin which do not taste well). Even the left over rice from previous day can be used for this.
Mango rice
