UPMA KOZHUKATTAI

Dish of the Day:- Upma Kozhukattai
Place- Tamilnadu

Upma Kozhakattai is something we make every Ganesh Chaturthi. This is supposed to be a salted modak, an apparent Ganpati favourite!

There's a really cute story involving kozhukattai. Little Ganesh used to love eating modaks- both sweet and salted. One evening, he came back feeling very hungry and all the way home, he kept imagining his mother, Parvati waiting to welcome him with a plate of modaks.
On reaching, he realised that his mother has made no such thing for him. Dejected, he flops down in one corner with his face in his hands. Evening turned to night and the moon shone brightly in the sky. He looks up and sees the moon, and somehow believes that it was a kozhukattai that his mother had left for him in the sky. Suddenly he gets excited and jumps in the direction of the moon.
A mouse was passing by and it happened to catch the entire incident. It burst out laughing at Ganpati's foolishness. Ganpati was enraged that he had made a fool of himself and that a mere mouse was mocking him. So as a punishment, he made the mouse his servant and vehicle!

And that's why even today when we bring Ganpati into our house, we bring the mouse as well..:)

How to Cook it Up:- (serves 4 people)

Rawa (Raw Rice Semolina)........2 cups
Water............................................4 cups
Grated Coconut...........................3/4 cup
Urad Dal........................................1 tsp
Mustard Seeds............................1 tsp
Chana Dal.......................................1 tsp
Red Chillies....................................4-5
Curry leaves..................................1 tsp
Oil for seasoning
Salt to taste

Directions:-

1) Heat a little oil in a kadhai.
2) Put the urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
3) When the mustard starts spluttering, pour a little water and add the grated coconut.
4) When it boils, slowly fold in the rawa a little by little. Keep mixing it well so that the seasoning gets mixed evenly into the rawa.
5) When the mixture thickens, turn off the gas and keep the mixture aside. It will look like upma. Let it cool for about 10 minutes.
6) The grease your hand a little with water and make small balls out of the mixture. steam these balls in a steamer.
7) After about 15-20 minutes, the kozhukattais will be done. take them out of the steamer and serve hot.

* (You can make do with the apparatus used for steaming idlis)

Kozhukattai and Mulaka pachadi is the ultimate combination. Even thenga thogayal tastes good with it. Kozhukattai as a dish is a little bland and so to balance it, the chutney alongwith it needs to be spicy or tangy..

UZHALAKAZHANGA BONDA

Dish of the Day- Uzhalakazhanga Bonda
Place- Tamilnadu

Bonda is a slightly tweaked South Indian version of something that we all know as Batata Vada. This is the best tea- time snack and the highlight of a Bonda is it's crisp, crunchy outer covering contrasting with the soft, mashed potatoes and pungent chillies filled inside.

Bonda is the name for anything that is fried in such a manner with this particular batter. Uzhalakazhanga is Tamil for potato and the Bonda can have any filling depending on what you want. The name will change accordingly. I personally prefer Bonda as a salty snack but there are other sweet variants as well.

Bonda's signature companion is some spicy kothmir chutney. Even tomato ketchup does a good job of complimenting its flavours.:) Bonda is my comfort food- no wonder then that an entire post has been dedicated to it..;)

This is my maternal grandmother's signature dish. 'No One Can eat Just One' definitely applies to her Bondas. When we go to her place in Thane, my sister and I end up having a 'Who gets more Bondas' competition.

There's a saying that goes something like- 'Eat too many bondas, you'll starting looking like one'. This is uncannily true for this calorie- laden potato snack.

How to Cook it Up:-

Potatoes............................................3
Onion, chopped finely.....................1/2
Cumin seeds......................................1/2 tsp
Green Chillies, finely chopped......2
Curry leaves.....................................2-3
Ginger Paste.....................................1 tsp
Chickpea flour..................................1 cup
Chilli powder.....................................1 tsp
Rice flour...........................................1 tbsp
Asafoetida/Hing..............................1/4 tsp
Water
Oil

Directions:-

1) Boil the potatoes and peel them off. Then mash them before they get cold, but not uniformly.
2) In a pan, add some oil and the curry leaves, ginger paste, green chillies, cumin seeds, onion, and finally the mashed potatoes. Saute them well and then turn off the heat. Keep this mixture aside. This is the filling.
3) Mix the chickpea flour, rice flour, chilli powder and asafoetida to make a thick paste with sufficient amount of water. Add salt to taste.
4) Heat oil in a wok for deep frying the Bondas.
5) Make small balls out of the potato mixture. Dip each ball into the chickpea batter and  cover it completely. Then slowly drop it into the wok and toss it until all sides acquire a lovely golden- brown colour.
6) Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup.

* My grandmother doesn't add onions and that turns out very well too. You could try both and decide which one you like better..:)

THENGA THOGAYAL

Dish of the Day:- Thenga Thogayal
Place:- Tamilnadu

Thenga Thogayal or Coconut Chutney as it's more popularly known, is probably the shortest recipe so far. Whether you eat it with dosa or idli or even just plain hot rice, it has a devastating effect on your taste buds. Generally prepared spicy, this Tamilian pachadi is indispensable in terms of being a part of a South Indian meal.

Different states in South India follow different ways of serving the meal. Telugu people usually serve the vegetable (kora) first while Tamilians believe that rice should be the first thing that a person puts onto their plate. But irrespective of that, coconut chutney is ALWAYS part of the meal on festival days.

In the olden days, chutneys were ground with a mortar and pestle made of stone called ammikkal. They are usually wet with a coarse to fine texture. Chutneys usually contain idiosyncratic but complementary spice and vegetable mix.

How to Cook it Up:- (serves 4 people)

Grated Coconut.........................1/2 cup
Channa Dal..................................4 tsp
Urad Dal.....................................2 tsp
Hing/ Asafoetida.....................1/4 tsp
Tamarind paste........................1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds.........................1/4 tsp
Red Chillies...............................2
Green Chillies...........................2
Salt............................................1/2 tsp
Oil..............................................2 tsp
Curry leaves............................2 stems

Directions:-

1) Heat the oil in a pan.
2) Fry the urad dal, channa dal, hing, green chillies, red chillies, mustard seeds, tamarind paste and curry leaves until it starts spluttering.
3) Add the coconut to this and wet grind the mixture with salt.

* Without the channa dal, the chutney will be white.

VANAKKAM ( Welcome)

Welcome to the land of curries, coconut and coffee! Karnataka (language:Kannada), Kerala (language: Malayalam), Tamilnadu (language: Tamil), and Andhra Pradesh (language: Telugu) are the four states that make up this region.

When people mistake me for a Bengali, I usually correct them saying I’m a South Indian. Promptly, the next question I get is, “Toh matlab Madrasi na?” That’s when I go on to describe how there are four states that exist and  how they’re all very different from each other but have a few common elements with respect to their cuisine, attire and style of living; and that the difference between Tamilnadu and Kerala is as vast as that between West Bengal and Assam.

“Arre lekin Bengal aur Assam mein toh bahut farak hai!”

That’s why I decided to start a blog. A blog that lets me write about my passion and that helps people understand what South Indian cooking is all about. Using the three C’s (coffee, curry, coconut) and four states;  with various permutations and combinations you can stir up a meal peculiar to each one of those states. The dishes are similar yet different, complicated but easy to cook, laden with spices yet not spicy! 

I invite you to try a few. You can taste them, rate them and maybe even whip them up at home! 
Most importantly, don't forget to get your banana leaf!