Arisi Vadam (Koozh Vathal)

My husband reminded me of this vadam (fryums) when we were discussing about the life in India.Vadam is always prepared only during summers. I was in India last year during the summer and helped my mom in making this. Now being in US we can never think about that unless somebody gets you this vadam from India. I was lucky this time, because the weather in Phoenix where I live now is almost similar to India(Infact summer in India is far better compared to the very hot summer in Phoenix) and I could easily let them dry as these have to be dried in Sun. So I thought to try these vadams and called my Mom and got the recipe.One big difficulty in making this is if the water level increases slightly your effort in making this will end in vain. So we need to be very very careful about the water measurement. This is the first time I have tried making it and I'm so happy that I could make it perfectly.

Ingredients:
3 Cups of Rice
12 cups water(1:4 ratio)
10 -15 small onions
6 Green chilles
A pinch of Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Wash and soak Rice (Sona masoori) in water overnight.
2. Grind the soaked rice into fine paste by adding water (Water used to grind also counts in the total measurement).
3. Finely chop the onions and keep aside (do not add more onions as the vadam will turn brown when you fry them).
4. Boil the remaining water in a big vessel with heavy bottom preferrably pressure cooker. Meanwhile grind green chilles with salt and asafoetida.
5. When the water starts to boil nicely, add the rice batter and the chilli paste. Make sure to mix thoroughly without forming lumps.
6. Reduce the flame to medium and cook the rice batter until it is cooked well and becomes semisolid.

Cooked rice batter

7. Spread a plastic sheet in the balcony where you get nice sunlight and make vadam in the shape you desire.

Vadam kept for Sun drying

8. Allow it to dry completely (takes 2-3 days). Remove it from the sheet and store in air tight container. (When it dries it shrinks and puffs up when fried in oil).

Dried Vadam

9. Fry it in oil and enjoy it.

Red Capsicum Chutney

I had never thought of making chutneys with capsicum. This wonderful recipe was shared by my friend Shyams,when we had a talk over the phone sometime back. Initially I had a hesitation to try this as I thought that the taste might not sound so great, but I was wrong. This chutney has got a very tangy taste which goes well with idlies and dosas. I even liked it with chapathi.

Ingredients:

1 Red Capsicum/Bell Pepper washed and sliced
2 Medium size Onions sliced
3 cloves of Garlic
2-3 Tomatoes sliced
5 Red chillies
1/4 tsp Hing
A pinch of tamarind
Salt to taste
Oil as reqd

For Seasoning:
Curry leaves and Mustard seeds


Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the capsicums separately till they turn soft. Keep them separate.
2. In the same pan add some more oil and fry red chillies and garlic, saute for 2 minutes or so.Then add the onions and fry till it turns translucent.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes,salt and hing. Fry it till the tomaotes are cooked well and turns soft. Allow them to cool.
4. In a Blender or Mixie grind together all the ingredients including capsicum with tamarind and transfer it to a bowl.
Season it with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Delicious Red capsicum chutney is ready!!!!!

Stuffed Mushroom

I thought of trying something different with Mushroom like appetizer. I got this idea of stuffed mushroom when I was going through the weekly ad from a local store,they had made some stuffing in mushroom with bacon and cheese which gave me a good idea. Being a Vegetarian, I thought of substituting the filling with our own PANEER.I just tried it with few mushrooms as I wasn't sure about the taste.But how would it go wrong with paneer as stuffing? It turned out to be a perfect appetizer. It tastes too good except for one reason, its more caloric.

Ingredients:

10 Mushrooms
1 Cup grated paneer
1 Medium size Onion finely chopped
3 Green chillies
1/4 Cup finely chopped Cilantro
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Chat Masala
1 tsp Amchur/ Dry Mango powder
Salt as required
Oil for frying


Method:

1. Wash the mushrooms and peel off the outer layer. Remove the stalk from the mushroom and clean the inner portion(It should look like a bowl).
2. In a plate or bowl add the grated paneer,onions,green chillies,cilantro,garam masala,chat masala,amchur powder and salt. Give them a gentle mix. Try not to give more pressure when you mix as the paneer will loose its texture.

3. Meanwhile heat oil in a pan, try to maintain the heat in medium till you fry the mushrooms completely.
4. Take a spoon of the paneer mixture and stuff them into the mushroom.Try to fill the stuffing as much as possible. Do this for all the mushrooms.

5. Place the stuffed mushroom gently in oil so as to avoid the stuffing from spilling into the oil.

6. Fry them till the mushroom turns crispy or golden brown color.
7. Drain the excess oil in a paper towel and enjoy your stuffed mushroom with sauce.

Tomato Kurma

Today I thought of making poori and checked in the fridge to see the vegetables available to make curry. But there was absolutely no vegetables I could make curry with, except tomatoes. So I thought of making tomato Kurma which I had never tried making as side dish for Poori. It tasted so good with poori. So even if you don't have any vegetables, no worries just try doing this Kurma and it goes well with almost all dishes including rice. Especially curd rice.
Now coming back to the recipe, add the things given under "to grind" into a fine paste with little water.

Ingredients:

2 Onions chopped
5 Small Tomatoes finely chopped
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 Bay leaf
1 Clove
A Pinch of Hing
Oil as reqd
Salt as reqd
1/2 tsp Sugar
Coriander leaves to garnish

To Grind into fine paste:
1/2 Cup grated Coconut
10-15 Almonds and Cashews(can use cashews alone)
2 tbsp Khas Khas (Poppy seeds)
2 Green chillies
4 Red chillies
1 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, once it is hot add mustard seeds and allow it to crackle. Now add the fennel seeds, bay leaves and cloves. Fry them till you get a nice aroma.
2. Once it is done, add the Onions and fry till it turns golden color.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes,hing and cook them until the tomaotes turn soft.
4. Finally add the ground masala. Add required amount of water,sugar,salt and boil it in low flame for 10 min.
5. Garnish with Coriander leaves.
Ready to go....