how to make Cheppankizhangu Fry / Cheppankizhangu Varuval / Chamadhumpa fry / Colocasia Fry / Taro Root Fry / Chamadumpa Fry

Cheppankizhangu Fry / Cheppankizhangu Varuval / Chamadhumpa fry / Colocasia Fry / Taro Root Fry / Chamadumpa Fry

Start with, I am giving my version of Cheppankizhangu Fry ( Taro Root / Colocasia Fry ).  Though I love this fry, somehow I was not a big fan of that sticky kozha kozha Cheppankizhangu Fry. To avoid that stickiness, I tried a different method to make the curry more delicious and presentable. My family loved this version and the appreciations at home made me to present this to you all in my blog confidently. This fry is definitely going to be an excellent side curry during any occasions. Instead of having our regular Potato fry, try to substitute this yummy Cheppankizhangu Fry in your menu and see the difference. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome to improvise this dish and also my blog.

Ingredients

Cheppankizhangu -  15 to 18

Oil - 2 tbsp

Hing - 1 Dash
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu - 2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 Stem
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 3 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1/2 tbsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - As required
Rice Flour - 1/2 tbsp

Method

• Peel the skin of the Cheppankizhangu and cut them into mini rounds or any shapes you desire. Generally the mini rounds would get fried uniformly and are best suited.
• In the frying pan, add the oil and heat it on medium flame. When its heated, add hing, mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves in order and when the tempering process is done, add the mini rounds of Cheppankizhangu into the kadai carefully.
• Add the turmeric powder alone first into the kadai and add little water ( about 1/2 a glass ).
• Allow the cheppankizhangus to cook on low flame for nearly 10 minutes. Stir it in the middle and add little more water if required while cooking. When its cooked three fourth, add required amount of salt into the kadai / pan.
• When the cheppankizhangus are completely cooked to your satisfaction, add the other powders and little more oil into the pan.
• Coat the cheppankizhangu rounds with all these powders on all sides and allow them to get fried uniformly on medium flame. Flip the rounds carefully during this process.
• When they turn golden brown, switch off the flame. Let the curry remain in the pan till you actually serve.

Vendaikkai Thayir Pachidi / Bendakaya Perugu Pachidi / Okra in Yogurt Gravy / Bindi in curd gravy

Vendaikkai Thayir Pachidi / Bendakaya Perugu Pachidi / Okra in Yogurt Gravy / Bindi in curd gravy

Okra / Bindi / Ladies Finger is always liked by all ages. Instead of making the regular Okra fry, I wanted to make this vendakkai Thayir Pachidi as its mostly preferable during summer. It goes well with any spicy, tangy Kuzhambu like Kara Kuzhambu, Vethakuzhambu, spicy tomato rice, or any mixed rice variety..

Decided to make use of my home grown Bindi / Okra, I had been collecting them since a week. Once it came upto a decent count, I finally made my favourite Vendakaya Thayir Pachidi.

Ingredients 

Okra Plant in our Home Garden

For Making Okra Fry 
Fresh Tender Okra - 25 to 30
Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash
Sambar Powder - 3 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - To Taste
Oil - 4 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp
Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu - 2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 Stem
Dry Red Chillies - 2 Medium

For the Curd Gravy
Fresh Curd / Plain Yogurt - 2 Cups
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - To Taste
Hing / Asafoetida - Little
Grounded Paste - Fully ( Make a paste of 1 medium size green chilli, 1 inch of Ginger, 1 tsp of cumin seeds / jeera in a mixer grinder and add it to the fresh curd ).

Method

• Wash the Okra / Ladies finger thoroughly and cut them into small size. In a kadai / frying pan, add the oil first and finish the tempering first by adding mustard seeds, urad dal, dry red chillies, curry leaves. When its done, add the cut Okra into the pan along with all powders and required amount of salt. Mix them well and cover the lid for the Okra to get cooked with the steam inside. No need to add water while making Okra fry.
• During this time, make the curd gravy ready. Add all the required things to the fresh curd and whisk them properly and keep the curd gravy ready. Curd Gravy itself would taste good with a flavour of fresh ginger and jeera.
• When its cooked, open the lid and allow them to get fried on a medium flame slowly. Stir the Okra fry in the middle and let them get fried nicely. I prefer to use Non-Stick pan to fry the Okra with less oil. Its somehow easier for me, as it does not stick to the bottom and also it gets fried nicely with very less oil.
• Just before serving, add the Okra fry into the curd gravy. Garnish with coriander leaves on its top.

Tips / Variations

You can add some thick Buttermilk to dilute the curd gravy if the curd is too thick.

You can add a stem of fresh coriander leaves while grinding the paste for the Yogurt / curd gravy.

Instead of adding the powders to the curd gravy, I prefer to add to the Okra while frying as it gives a nice aroma.

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Vazhaipoo Adai / Banana Flower Lentils Crisp / Vaazhaipoo Adai

Vazhaipoo Adai / Banana Flower Lentils Crisp / Vaazhaipoo Adai

  

Banana Flower which is called as "Vaazhaipoo" in Tamil is a purple flower which blossoms at the edge of the banana bunch in its tree. Its widely used in many regional cuisines of India. Due to its dietary fiber and high protein value, including this healthy vegetable in our regular cooking is wiser. Also, its very good for stomach related problems. My mom often made this vegetable during our thanjavur childhood days, she generally made Vaazhaipoo Curry, Vaazhaipoo Paruppu Usili, Vadai, etc., Also I remember her Vaazhaithandu Mor Kootu which is one of my favourites. Though we dont get the Vaazhai Thandu ( Banana Stem ) here, I am lucky to see some fresh Banana Flowers atleast in a nearby China Market. Though I make many versions of food items using this great flowery vegetable, this time I made a protein rich Adai ( Lentils Dosa ) and its so... yummy and healthy. Try this out during tiffin time with a side of fresh curd and a spicy pickle. A very healthy tiffin item for all ages...

Cleaning the Banana flower seems to be a little time consuming job initially. Once you know the technique of it, its a matter of few minutes.

• Rub your hands with little oil while doing this job as your hands might turn sticky and black during this process.
• Open the purple petals one by one and take out the yellow colour florets carefully.
• Remove the two parts from every floret carefully.
• In the picture I added, I showed the two parts that are to be taken out from each floret. One part looks like a plastic ear phone and the other part is a thick long stem with a thick dot on its top.
• Chop the cleaned florets under each petal and immediately put them in a diluted buttermilk in a vessel. This is mainly to prevent colour changing.
• Follow the same process for all the petals till you notice a small cone shaped yellow tender bud. As this tender yellow cone is also highly nutritious, chop them too finely and add it to the vessel. Keep it ready.

Ingredients

Toor Dal / Thuvaram Paruppu / Kandhi pappu  - 1 Cup

Channa Dal / Kadalai Paruppu / Senaga pappu - 3/4 Cup

Moong Dal / Payatham Paruppu / Pesara Pappu - 1/4 Cup

Rice / Idly Rice / Par Boiled Rice - 1/2 Cup

Dry Red Chillies - 4 or 5

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Salt - As required

Curry Leaves - 1 Stem

Chopped banana flower - 2 to 3 cups.

Oil - For making the Adais / Crisps.

Method

• Soak all the dals and rice in one vessel for nearly 2 hours.
• Grind them coarsely in a mixer grinder along with dry red chillies.
• To the mix, add required amount of salt, hing, curry leaves.
• Drain the chopped banana flower florets from the diluted buttermilk vessel and add them to the Adai batter.
• Just grind it for another few seconds with these additional ingredients. Now the Adai batter is ready to make. Make sure that the batter is neither too thick nor too watery.
• Heat the griddle or frying pan  make the surface smooth and ready for making adais.
• Pour one full ladle of the adai batter and spread them uniformly and make a thin circle. Pour oil along the edges and allow them to cook on both sides.
• Flip to the other side and take out the adai from the tawa after both sides are completely cooked and crispy.
• Serve with a cup of fresh curd and a spicy pickle or chutney.

Amaranth Kootu / Keerai Kootu

Amaranth Kootu / Keerai Kootu

Amaranth leaves, which are called as "Mulai Keerai" in Tamil seem to be rarely available here. I really miss all the green leafy vegetables like Siru Keerai, Manathakkali Keerai, Ponnanganni Keerai, etc., So, whenever I see these nutritious greens in the Indian stores, I grab atleast two bunches. Eating greens at least twice a week keeps us healthy and young and they fight against various diseases. In my childhood, my mom used to make two vegetables in a meal in the middle of her hectic schedule too. Out of that, Mulai Keerai Masiyal or Murungai Keerai curry or any other green varieties would definitely be there. I was fortunate to taste all these healthy greens frequently when  I was young whereas I could not get those right now except few varieties..

Amaranth / Mulai Keerai gives a wonderful flavour while cooking and its highly nutritious. We can do Masiyal, simple dal, curry or any other variety out of these tasty, healthy leaves. This time, I tried Keerai Kootu for a change and i added few cooked dal in my process. You can avoid the cooked dal while making this kootu and its optional. Generally while making this kootu, they don't add cooked dal but i added some to make it more healthy for my kids. Without dal too, it tastes excellent with the grounded paste.

Ingredients

Amaranth Leaves / Mulai Keerai / Thandu Keerai - 1 Big Bunch

Cooked Toor Dal Paste - 2 tbsp

Hing - 1 Dash

Salt - As Required

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 pinch

For the Grounded Paste :

Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1/2 cup

Cumin Seeds / Jeera - 1 tsp

Green chillies - 2 Medium or 1 Big

Ginger - 1 tiny square

For Tempering / Tadka :

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Jeera / Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tsp

Kadalai Paruppu / Channa Dal - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 1 big

Procedure :

• Wash the Amaranth Leaves / Mulai Keerai and chop them. Meantime, grind the ingredients for the grounded paste and keep it ready.
• In a vessel, add all the chopped green leaves, turmeric powder, hing, pinch of sugar and some water and allow them to cook thoroughly on medium heat.
• Cook the toor dal / kandhi pappu / Thuvaram paruppu in a separate cooker and keep it ready too...
• When the amaranth leaves / toor dal is completely cooked, add the toor dal into the Keerai. Add some salt and the grounded paste into the vessel and allow them to cook for another 4-5 minutes/
• Finally add tadka into the keerai kootu and serve this healthy side dish in your thali or meals.

Pavakkai Fry - BitterGourd Fry

Pavakkai Fry - BitterGourd Fry

Bitter Tasting "Pavakai"/ "Bitter Gourd" are not liked by many people due to its bitter taste. But looking at the nutrient side, its highly recommended and good for diabetic people. Bitter Gourd is very low in calories and has twice the amount of Calcium, Potassium,beta-carotene found in Spinach, Banana and Broccoli respectively. I generally include this vegetable in my regular cooking at least once a week. And we could make this in different forms like Pavakai Pitlay, Pavakkai Fry, Stuffed pavakai, Pavakai Sambar,Pavakkai Vethalkuzhambu etc., Of all, I love to make Pavakkai Curry with a little sweet, tangy, bitter and spicy taste. Small round pavakkais are best suited for making this variety. As I don't get that often in my place, I tried to make this curry using a bigger Pavakai. Its a good combo with Mor Kuzhambu.

Ingredients

Fresh Bitter Gourd - 4 or 5 cut into tiny pieces 

Thick Tamarind juice - 2 tbsp

Jaggery grated - 1 to 2 tbsp

Red Chili Powder - 3 to 4 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Salt - To Taste

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Urad Dal/ Minna Pappu/ Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 stem

Method

• Wash the Bitter Gourd and cut them as shown in the picture.
• Microwave the Pavakai along with the tamarind extract and very little water in the Microwave oven.
• In the frying pan, add oil first. When its heated, add the Mustard Seeds, Urad Dal, curry leaves. When they get roasted to golden brown, reduce the flame to complete low and add the cooked Pavakai pieces.
• Add the turmeric powder, jaggery, salt, red chili powder and mix them well.
• Allow them to cook with a lid on for another 2-3 minutes.
• Open the lid and fry them on medium flame till the size of the Pavakai pieces get reduced to some extent.
• Switch off the flame and enjoy this with hot rice.

Andhra Style Pappu Podi / Roasted Putnalu Pappu Powder / Pappula Podi

Andhra Style Pappu Podi / Roasted Putnalu Pappu Powder / Pappula Podi

Spice Powders always give a nice kick during the start of any meal. At home, we generally have four to five spice powders and we never fail to pick one during our weekend special meals. Out of those, pappu podi is always liked by my kids. This version is a typical andhra style one which was introduced by my mother in law. If you really want to relish a spicy Andhra Style podi served in restaurants at home, try this version and store it in your kitchen for special occasions. You will love it with hot white rice and a spoon of ghee, I promise with a side of a papad.

Ingredients

Putnalu Pappu / Pottu Kadalai / Roasted Chickpeas / Dalia - 3 Cups

Dry Red Chillies - 12 to 14

Garlic Pods - 8 to 10 ( Optional )

Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp

Dry Coconut Flakes - 3 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Method

Dry roast all the ingredients in a frying pan and grind them into a powder using a mixer grinder. Consistency of this Pappu Podi should be between coarse and fine. Store it in a dry storage container which will stay for months.

Uses

1. Used as an accompaniment with Idli, Dosas.

2. Can be Mixed with hot white rice and ghee.

3. Used as a curry powder while making some special andhra curries.

4. Used for making instant chutneys.

Mixed Vegetable Fry

Mixed Vegetable Fry

Having few leftover veggies not enough to make a complete curry. No worries. I had 2 brinjals, 2 potatoes, 3 or 4 drumsticks and only one tomato. I decided to make a simple, mixed vegetable fry which played as a good side dish with rasam rice for us.

Ingredients

Brinjals - 2 big size cut into small cubes

Potatoes - 2 Medium Size cut into small cubes

Drumsticks - 3 or 4 cut into small finger size

Onion - 1 medium size

Tomato - 1 medium size

Frozen Peas ( cooked ) - 1 handful

Curry Leaves - 1 stem ( if you have )

coriander leaves - 1 handful

Asafoetida / Hing - 1 pinch

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera  - 1 tsp

Red chilly dry - 1 medium size

Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu / Mina Pappu - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp ( Depends on your taste )

Sambar Powder - 1/2 tbsp

Salt - To taste

Sugar - a small pinch

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

1. Wash the vegetables and cut those into small cubes and keep them aside. Cut the tomatoes and onions too and keep them aside.
2. Add oil first into the kadai on medium flame. When it gets heated, add mustard seeds, jeera, red chilly dry, urad dal, asafoetida, curry leaves for tempering.
3. When its done, then add onions and fry it little bit with a pinch of salt. Add turmeric powder to it now.
4. Then, add cut brinjals, potatoes to the kadai and fry for a minute. Then, cover the kadai with a lid and cook the brinjals, potatoes for 4-5 minutes on medium flame with little water.
5. Separately cook the drumsticks in the microwave for 3-4 minutes and keep it ready.
6. When the brinjals and potatoes get cooked, add the cooked drumsticks, peas into the kadai.
7. Add all the powders as mentioned in 'Ingredients' into it. Also add remaining salt and a pinch of sugar at this stage.
8. Mix everything thoroughly in the kadai and let it cook openly for 3 - 4 minutes. In the middle, stir the mixture.
9. After few minutes, when all the vegetables get cooked and fried to your satisfaction, switch off the heat.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve. An excellent dish with any rice variety.

Avarakai Tomato Fry / Broad Beans Tomato Fry / Chikkudukaya Tomato fry

Avarakai Tomato Fry / Broad Beans Tomato Fry / Chikkudukaya Tomato fry

Avaraikai / Chikkudukaya / Broad beans can be made as Poriyal, Kootu, can be added in aviyal too, made as a simple fry too. This time I just made a simple fry with some tangy tomato flavour in it. Instead of having only the broad beans in the fry, I just added a full ripe tomato to have some tangy flavour in the fry which makes it more tastier. This goes well with hot rasam rice or any dal rice varieties...But it tastes really good only if its made with fresh broad beans. Sometime we forget the freshly bought broad beans from shops and it might be hiding in the fridge somewhere. With those old broad beans, the taste of the fry is somewhat ok....but not as we expect. So, as soon as we bring those fresh ones, try to make this curry to enjoy its freshness..

Ingredients

Broad Beans / Avaraikkai / Chikkudukaya - 2 cups broken into small pieces by hands itself

Big ripe tomato - 1

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

For Tempering

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Urad Dal / Ullutham Paruppu / Mina Pappu - 1 tsp

Channa Dal / kadalai paruppu / Senaga Pappu - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 2 medium ones

Curry Leaves - 5 or 6

Method

1. Wash the Avaraikkai / Broad Beans / Chikkudukaya and break them into finger size using hand only.
2. Cut the tomato into small pieces and keep them ready.
3. On the kadai, add heat and complete the tempering process by adding all the ingredients in order.
4. After tempering is done, add the tomatoes, turmeric powder and fry them for 2 minutes till they become mashy.
5. Add the washed, broken pieces of Broad Beans into the kadai and a pinch of sugar into it. Mix well.
6. Add little water into the vessel, cover it with a lid and allow them to cook inside for 3-4 minutes.
7. After the broad beans are cooked perfectly, open the lid, add required amount of salt,red chilli powder and fry them on medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
8. Switch off the flame after they are nicely cooked and fried. Serve this with hot rasam rice.

Variations

Cooking time of this vegetable depends on the freshness and age of this vegetable. If the Broad Beans are tender and fresh, it cooks very fast and it definitely takes more time for aged broad beans.

Kovakkai Curry / Tindora Fry / Dondakaya Fry

Kovakkai Curry / Tindora Fry / Dondakaya Fry

Kovakkai / Tindora / Donadakaya vegetable has good medicinal values and rich in beta carotene. Its good for diabetic patients as it regulates the blood sugar level. I made tindora fry with Brinjal, drumstick sambar for dinner yesterday. Mostly, this fry would get over fast and wont have any left over. Cutting this tindora would be a debate topic whenever I make this tindora fry. One person would like to see the round shaped fried tindora and the other one would like to have finger shaped fried tindora. Finally the cutting process would be decided by Mommy's mood and time factor. Yesterday, finger shaped fried tindora won the debate, of course.

Ingredients

Fresh Tindora / Kovakkai / Dondakaya -  25-30 pieces

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Sambar Powder - 2 tsp

Salt - Enough to taste

Sugar -- 1 Pinch

For Tempering

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera - 2 tsp

Urad Dal / Ullutham Paruppu / Minna Pappu - 1/2 tbsp

Curry Leaves - 5 or 6 ( if you have )

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4  

Method

1. Wash all the tindora thoroughly and drain the water. Keep the tindora aside for drying.
2. After its dried, cut the tindora into thin slices lengthwise.
3. On a thick bottomed kadai, add oil. When it gets heated, add all ingredients for tempering as mentioned above in order. Make sure that the heat is on medium flame and the items on the kadai don't turn black.
4. After tempering is done, add the cut tindora slices into the kadai. Add a pinch of sugar, turmeric powder into the kadai and little water too. Close the lid and allow the vegetable to cook inside.
5. After 4-5 minutes, check to see if its cooked fully. If cooked, then add the red chilli powder, sambar powder, required amount of salt and mix them well.
6. Let the vegetable gets cooked and fried openly on low flame for another 6-7 minutes.
7. On low flame, the tindora fry would be done automatically after few minutes and you could see the fried thin slices of tindora.
8. Now the tindora fry is ready to be served in a meal.

Tips

Try to make this fry as soon as you get this vegetable from the store. Does not taste good with aged and soggy tindora.

Don't add more water while cooking. Actually very little water is enough for cooking  tindora. If you add more water, the fry would turn into a regular soggy curry!!!

Variations

You can add grounded powders to make this tindora fry spicy, make it richer in a special meal. You can add grounded mix of coriander seeds, dry red chilli powder, little coconut flakes, channa dal ( kadalai paruppu / Senaga Pappu ) into the vegetable and fry them..It tastes so good.

Beans Paruppu Usiliyal

Though I already mentioned the process of making Paruppu Usili with Drumstick leaves earlier, I again make this post for Beans paruppu Usili. The main difference here is that I used very less oil ( about 1 tbsp ) for the entire process and steamed the Dal mixture ( Paruppu mixture ) which makes it more healthy and also fastens the process of making.

Method

1. Steam the fresh cut beans with little salt and a pinch of sugar and keep it aside.
2. Grind the soaked dals ( Toor dal, Channa Dal, Moong Dal ) with a dash of Hing \ Asafoetida and 5-6 dry red chillies with some water.
3. Steam cook the grounded mixture in Idly pans like regular idlies. Then, grind the steamed Dal Idlies in a mixer grinder few rounds to get a coarse Dal mixture ( like a Dal Puttu ).
4. Then, add the ingredients for tempering in a pan followed by the coarse dal mixture, steamed beans and required amount of salt.
5. Mix them well and let the usiliyal cook for about two minutes. Then, switch off the heat.
6. Its ready to be eaten with rice.

Vankaya Ulli Karam / Brinjals in Spicy Onion Gravy / Brinjal Masala

Vankaya Ulli Karam is my mother-in-laws recipe and we all liked the dish very much. So I decided to share her recipe with my blog friends. This brinjal dish is an excellent choice for parties along with a side of Jeera Rice / Pulav. Even with rotis or plain rice, this tastes much better. The major factor which decides the taste of the dish is the age and size of the brinjals and its freshness..If  you have very fresh small brinjals, don't keep them in the fridge and postpone the preparation.Try to make the Vankaya Ulli Karam as fresh as possible.

Ingredients

Fresh small brinjals - 12 to 15.

Onion - 1 Big

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

For Tempering

Oil - 3 tbsp

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Mustard Seeds - 3 tsp

Jeera / Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 2 stems

For the Paste

Dry Red Chillies - 8

Groundnuts - 1 handful

Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp

Urad Dal / Ulutham paruppu / Mina Pappu - 1 tbsp

Channa Dal / Kadalai paruppu / Senaga pappu - 2 tbsp

Methi seeds / Vendhayam / Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Jeera / Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Black pepper - 1 tsp

Dry Coconut Powder - 3/4th of tbsp

White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp

Tamarind - 1 pinch

Onion - 1 Big one shredded

Ingredients for the Gravy

Method

• Wash the Brinjals and make 4 or 6 slits from its bottom without breaking the brinjal in the middle. Let it looks like an umbrella with different slits and a handle at its top.
• Cut the brinjals in a similar way and put them in a bowl of water. Cut the onion into pieces and keep it ready for the gravy.
• Meantime, with few drops of oil, fry all the ingredients required for the gravy except onion pieces till you get a nice aroma. Then, transfer them to a mixer grinder. In the same pan, fry the cut onions and add them to the mixer grinder. Grind everything together to a fine smooth paste with little bit of water. Keep the gravy paste ready.
• Meantime, in the vessel add oil for tempering. Add Hing, mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves first.
• Then, add the cut brinjals into the kadai / vessel. Add 2 tsp of turmeric powder and cook them with little water and salt. Cover the vessel and let the brinjals cook inside.
• When the brinjals get cooked three fourth, add the gravy paste from the mixer grinder into the vessel.
• Wash the mixer grinder with some water and pour all the gravy water into the vessel.
• Add required amount of salt and 1/2 tsp of sugar and mix the brinjals with the Gravy carefully making sure that the brinjals don't get mashed too much. Try to keep the brinjals in full shape inside the gravy.
• Let everything cook completely and the oil would ooze out of the dish slowly which indicates that the vankaya ulli karam is done perfectly.

Tips

Fry the spices till you get a nice aroma before grinding them for the gravy. This makes the gravy tastier.

Avoid making this dish with green brinjals or long fatty big brinjals. Try to make with small violet brinjals only to enjoy the heavenly taste of the masala.

Plain Medhu Vadai / Urad Dal Vadai

Plain Medhu Vadai / Urad Dal Vadai

Medhu Vadai, the soft spongy and crispy rounds are always special and great to enjoy them during tiffin time, great prasadam during festival time and perfect on any occasions. I made this medhu vadai on several occasions but everytime failed to take pictures as they would disappear quickly from the serving plate. That's the main reason for the delay in posting this recipe. There are so many varieties of Vadai we could make using the same batter. I would append those varieties whenever I make in future.. These vadas can be an excellent breakfast treat with a side of cocnut chutney and sambar too....

Ingredients

Urad Dal / Minna Pappu / Ulutham Paruppu - 2 Cups

Rice Flour - 1 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Curry Leaves - 7 or 8 crushed

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Method

Soak the Urad Dal in warm water for 1-2 hours. Grind them in a wet grinder by sprinkling very little water while grinding. Do not pour more water while grinding. Try to get a fluffy batter and keep it aside. If you are using a mixie, then try to use the whipper for grinding which gives a very fluffy batter.(In my experience). To that batter, add all the other ingredients and make a small round shape with a hole in the middle ( like a mini donut ). Drop them carefully into the heated oil in the pan. Fry them on both sides till golden colour and keep doing the same for the rest of the batter. Now the golden crispy vadais are ready for Neivedhyam.