Rice with Mung Beans

July 1, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked rice (basmati)
  • ½ cup dried mung beans
  • ½ cup string beans chopped
  • ½ cup carrots chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon canola oil
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 4 – 5 cloves
  • About 10 whole black pepper
  • Strand of curry leaves
  • Pinch of asafetida (hing)
  • 2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
  • 1 tablespoon cashew nuts broken into small pieces (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Cook rice and set aside
  • Soak mung beans in water for about 4 hours
  • Add enough water and cook mung beans until mushy
  • Steam carrots and string beans until done
  • In a covered sauce pan add oil and add mustard seeds
  • Once the mustard seeds start splattering add black pepper and cloves and fry for a minute or two
  • Add curry leaves and fry for a minute
  • Add carrots, string beans, mung beans, hing and rice to the saucepan and mix well and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes.  If needed add a 1 tablespoon of water at a time to prevent burning
  • Add salt, cashew nuts and ghee and mix well
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Main Courses, Rice & Pulav dishes. Leave a Comment »

Tofu & Vegetable Pulav

June 23, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • ½ cup chopped green beans
  • 1 medium carrot (yields about ½ cup chopped carrot)
  • 1 cup cauliflower florets
  • 8 oz extra firm tofu
  • 1 tomato (would yield 1 cup puree)
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped into fine pieces
  • ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 strand curry leaves
  • 2 tablespoons bisibella bath paste (You can buy them from any Indian store)
  • 1 cup uncooked rice
  • 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Cook rice and set aside
  • Chop green beans into ¼ inch pieces
  • Snip off top and bottom end of carrot.  Brush off the dirt from the carrot and quarter it length wise.  Chop them into ¼ inch pieces
  • Break the cauliflower into very small florets
  • Steam the above vegetables until tender
  • Chop tomatoes roughly and puree it a food processor
  • Add oil to a skillet and add chopped garlic
  • When it turns lightly golden, add curry leaves and fennel seeds and fry for about a minute
  • Crumble the tofu and add to skillet and fry until all the water is absorbed and tofu turns light golden
  • Add tomato puree, bisibella bath paste, steamed vegetables, salt and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes
  • Add cooked rice and 1 tablespoons ghee and mix well and leave on low flame for about a minute or so.
  • Serve warm with mango pickle or any other pickle

Yields: 2 – 3 servings as main dish

Posted in Lunch, Rice & Pulav dishes. Leave a Comment »

Purple Yam Sweet Dish

June 18, 2010 — Chelvi S

Purple yam is called “Rasavalli kilangu” in Tamil and “Ratalu” in Hindi.  This yam is also called “water yam” or “winged yam”.  In Sri Lanka it’s available in the months of January.  This dish can be consumed for breakfast as a warm dish or it can be served as a sweet.  Sometimes I add a little bit of broken cashew nuts and add cooked yam to a flat dish and cool/refrigerate and then cut into pieces and serve as a sweet.

If you are using fresh yams, you have to add more water to cook thoroughly.  For richer taste add more coconut milk and reduce the water.

Ingredients

  • 12 oz pack frozen purple yam
  • 1 ½ cups water
  • ¼ cup coconut milk
  • ¼ cup castor sugar
  • Pinch of salt

Method

  • Thaw yam and discard any pieces that have black spots or pieces which are dark brown
  • In a covered saucepan add yam, water, coconut milk and salt and cover and cook for about 6 – 7 minutes
  • Mash the yam a little bit with the back of the spoon
  • Add sugar and cook uncovered until it becomes thick – to a porridge consistency

Yields: 2 servings

Posted in Break-fast, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine, Sweets. 2 Comments »

Mung Bean Stuffed Crepes

June 16, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

Mung bean filling:

  • ½ cup split mung bean lentil (husk removed)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder

Crepes:

  • ½ cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons cooking oil
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup 2% milk
  • Pinch of salt
  • Butter for skillet

Method

Make the Filling:

  • Soak lentils for about one hour
  • Add enough water and a pinch of salt and cook until all the water is completely absorbed and lentils are cooked enough, but not too mushy
  • Slightly cool.  Add sugar, coconut and cardamom and mix well

Make the crepes:

  • Add flour to the bowl and add salt, oil, milk and water and mix well
  • The batter should be quite thin.  If it’s too thick, add 1 tablespoon water at a time
  • Add a bit of butter to a 6 inch skillet and heat until sizzling
  • Add a spoonful of batter to the skillet, tilting the pan back and forth to completely cover the base thinly
  • Cook on both side until lightly browned
  • Transfer to a plate and add a spoonful of mung bean mix in the middle and roll it out

Yields: 8 (6 inch) crepes

Posted in Break-fast, Pancakes & French Toasts. Leave a Comment »

Pittu Pulav (with mixed fried vegetables)

June 13, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • 1 large Japanese/purple eggplant (about 6 oz)
  • 1 large potato (about 8 oz)
  • 1 medium red onion (about 6 oz)
  • About ¼ cup sesame seed oil
  • ¾ teaspoon Sri Lankan chili powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 3 – 4 dried red chili broken into 3 pieces
  • 1 pittu recipe (for 2 people)

Method

  • Peel potatoes and quarter them lengthwise.  Then thinly slice them
  • After cutting potatoes, wash them thoroughly.  This removes the starch from the potatoes.  Otherwise when frying, the potatoes will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn
  • Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix thoroughly
  • Heat a kadai/deep frying pan and add sesame seed oil.  When the oil is hot add potatoes and fry until golden brown
  • While potatoes are frying, wash eggplant and split lengthwise.  Then thinly slice them
  • Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix well
  • Once the potatoes are done remove them from frying pan and drain. 
  • Add sliced eggplants to the same frying pan in the remaining oil and fry until crisp and lightly browned
  • Meanwhile peel and chop onion into small pieces
  • Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix well
  • Once the eggplants are done, drain them. At this point if there is not enough oil, add a little bit – about 1 tablespoon and let it heat a bit
  • Add chopped onion to the frying pan and fry until golden brown
  • Once the onion is done, drain them.
  • At this point if there is too much oil in the frying pan, remove everything except 1 teaspoon
  • Add broken red chilies and fry for about 30 seconds
  • Now add all the fried vegetables, pittu and mix well

Yields: 2 – 3 servings

Posted in Dinner. Leave a Comment »

Soy Chunks Pulav

June 8, 2010 — Chelvi S

Soy chunks is called “soya meat” in Sri Lanka due to its texture and probably taste.  Soya meat is normally used to make curries, cutlets etc.  Since I am a vegetarian, I thought to make a pulav out of soya meat which is quite high in protein.  To make a non veg pulav, you can replace soya meat with meat like chicken or goat.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried soy chunks
  • Hot water to soak soy chunks
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1 medium carrot scraped
  • ½ cup green beans chopped into ½ inch pieces
  • 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 strand curry leaves
  • 4 – 5 cloves
  • 2, ½ inch cinnamon pieces
  • 2 – 3 whole cardamom
  • About 10 – 12 cashews chopped
  • 2 tablespoons raisins
  • 1 tablespoon ghee/clarified butter
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable pulav mix (I used the powdered one)
  • 1 cup rice (uncooked)

Method

  • Cook rice either in a rice cooker or stove top or pressure cooker and set aside
  • Soak soy chunks in hot water for about 10 minutes
  • Squeeze water.
  • Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to skillet and fry soy chunks until they are crispy.  Set aside
  • To the same skillet add ½ tablespoon canola oil and add green beans and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
  • Add cabbage and fry for another 5 minutes
  • Add carrots, pulav mix and fry for another 3 – 4 minutes and set aside
  • To the same skillet add ghee and add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods, cashew, raisins, curry leaves and fry for about 2 – 3 minutes
  • Add cooked vegetables, cooked rice and mix well on very low flame
  • Add salt to taste
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Rice & Pulav dishes. 1 Comment »

Upma (Uppuma)

May 9, 2010 — Chelvi S

Ingredients

  • 1 cup semolina (rava/sooji)
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 small leek
  • ½ inch piece ginger
  • 3 – 4 dried red chilies
  • 1 strand curry leaves
  • Few cashew nuts broken into small pieces (optional)
  • 2 tablespoon sesame seed oil
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 cup boiling water

Method

  • Roast semolina in a kadai for about 10 minutes in a very low flame (stir continuously to make sure semolina does not get burned or become golden)
  • After roasting, leave the semolina on a tray to cool
  • Slit the carrot lengthwise and then chop them into thin slices.  Chop onion into very small pieces.  Also slice the leek into very thin pieces
  • In the same vessel, add oil and add mustard seeds
  • When the mustard seed start splattering add onion and carrots and fry until the onion start turning light brown on the edges
  • Add leek, cashew nuts and fry for another 3 – 4 minutes
  • Add ginger, dried red chilies, curry leaves and fry for another two minutes
  • Add roasted semolina, salt and fry for about 3 – 4 minutes
  • Add boiling water little at a time and stir the semolina mixture continuously with a wooden spoon
  • Close the vessel with a lid and leave it on a very low flame for about one or two minutes and then stir well
  • Serve with any pickle, coconut sambol or any gray (tomato gravy goes best with this)

Note: To make the Upma spicier, you can add a little bit chili powder just before adding the semolina to the vegetable mix.

Yields: 2 – 3 servings as main dish

Posted in Break-fast, Dinner, Main Courses, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine. Leave a Comment »

Kulal Pittu

April 8, 2010 — Chelvi S

kulal pittu

Kulal pittu is a pittu and the recipe is exactly as pittu. Pittu kulal is used to make Kulal pittu. But when making kulal pittu, add a little bit shredded coconut to the pittu mix.  Then add this mix into the pittu kulal then add a small layer of shredded coconut.  Alternate like this and steam for about 10 minutes.

Posted in Break-fast, Dinner. Leave a Comment »

Pittu

March 28, 2010 — Chelvi S

Pittu is one of the most important food consumed for break-fast and dinner.  Traditionally pittu is made with an equipment called “Neethu Peddi” which is made of Palmyrah leaves.  But now it’s made of either aluminum or stainless steel which is called “Pittu Kulal”.  In the picture below, I made the pittu using the traditional equipment — “Neethu Peddi”.  In Jaffna (Sri Lanka) pittu is made from red rice flour mixed with all-purpose flour which gives the pittu a brownish-red color.

pittu

 

Here is another view I took. 

pittu

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup roasted all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup roasted red rice flour
  • ¾ cup hot water
  • salt to taste
  • 1 – 2 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut

Method

  • mix the flours and salt
  • add boiling water little at a time and mix well and leave it to cool a little bit
  • mix the dough with hand to make a dough
  • break this dough into small pieces and with a cookie cutter or pastry cutter cut into very fine pieces

Pittu Mix

  • add shredded coconut and mix well
  • steam the pittu in a steamer (you can use a normal steamer)

Alternately, instead of using hand and cookie cutter to make the pittu mix, you can simply put the flour mix into a food processor and while the motor is running add hot water until the mix becomes like small beads.  Steam in a steamer

Yields 2 servings

Posted in Break-fast, Dinner. 5 Comments »

Idiyappam

March 23, 2010 — Chelvi S

idiyappam

Idiyappam is normally consumed for break-fast and dinner.  In Jaffna (Sri Lanka) idiyappam is made from combining red rice flour and wheat flour which gives the pinkish-brown color to the idiyappam. I use white rice flour instead of wheat flour.  Wheat flour tend to stick to the idiyappam making mould and makes it difficult to squeeze the idiyappam.   Traditionally idiyappam is served with sothi, coconut sambal, curries, or gravy.

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups steamed/roasted white rice flour
  • ½ cup roasted red rice flour
  • 2½ cups boiling water
  • salt to taste
  • little bit of oil

Method

Roasting the rice flour gives the idiyappam a nice roasted smell.

  • Mix the red rice flour white rice flour and salt together
  • Add boiling water little by little stirring constantly until the dough becomes soft
  • Take a little bit of oil and spread over the idiyappam making trays (this will prevent idiyappams sticking to the trays)
  • take a spoonful of this dough and place it in the “idiyappa ural” and squeeze on the idiyappam making trays
  • Put these trays on a steamer and steam for about 10 minutes.

Yields about 16 medium to large idiyappams

Posted in Break-fast, Dinner, Main Courses, Sri Lankan Tamil Cuisine. 3 Comments »
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