Kambhu - Amma's secret healthy receipe...ssshhhh
Bajra is very popular in Rajasthan and is the most widely grown millet. It is high in protein and contains all essential amino acids. It is rich in calcium, iron and other minerals. It also has vitamin E and B-complex. You can make a variety of dishes as your wish just play with kambhu in your kitchen. 


Ingredients
Method
  1. Wash and soak urad dal and fenugreek for 2 hours. Grind it to a smooth batter. If grind mixer (mixie) add a little more than 1/2 cup of urad dal.
  2. Mix bajra flour with needed water and salt making sure that there are no lumps. 
  3. Add the grinded urad dal and mix it well. Add water if needed to get a dosa batter consistency.Check for salt.
  4. Prepare just like you prepare regular dosa.
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Chettinad Cuisine
Mouth watering taste for Indians. I love my nativity cooking and I got this recipe from my periamma who instructed me correctly to grind the ingredients which turns chicken masala taste great.





Ingredients

  • Chicken - 500 grams
  • Ginger Garlic paste - 3 tbsp
  • Cinnamon stick – 2 inch size
  • Cloves - 4
  • Star anize - 1
  • Bay leaf - 2
  • Cardamom - 1
  • Black stone flower - 4
  • Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil - 3 tbsp
  • Curry leaves - 2
  • Chettinad masala paste – Refer prepare chettinad masala paste
  • Onion tomato paste – Refer prepare Onion tomato paste




Prepare Chettinad chicken masala - To Roast and grind
  • Coriander seeds -1 tbsp
  • Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
  • coconut - 1/4 cup
  • Poppy seeds - 1/4 tsp
  • Cinnamon Stick - 1 inch size
  • Cloves - 3
  • Red chilli - 2
  • Curry leaf - 2 sprigs

 Onion Tomato Paste - To Roast and grind
  • Onion - 2 cut into cubes
  • Tomato - 2 cut into cubes
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil - 1 tbsp

 Method
  1. Wash chicken with hot water and salt and marinate with turmeric. Keep aside.
  2. Dry roast all ingredients under prepare chettinad masala in very low flame till raw flavor goes away. Allow it to cool down and grind to nice paste.
  3. Place pan over your stove, add 1 tbsp oil and fry onion and tomatoes by adding salt to taste and cook till they are soft by covering with lid for 10 minutes. Allow it to cool down, grind it to smooth paste.
  4. In a frying pan, add 3 tbsp oil, once it is hot add cinnamon stick, cloves, star maze, bay leaves and cardamom. Once you got nice aroma, reduce flame to low, add fennel seeds and black stone flower. Allow it to splutter. Do not burn any ingredients, if burnt, then u get only bitter taste.
  5. Add ginger garlic paste. Fry till raw flavor goes away.
  6. Add chicken and mix all ingredients finely and cover it with lid, cook for 2 minutes till the chicken oozes out water. Add chettinad masala paste along with salt .
  7. Mix it well and cook with lid for another 5 minutes so that the flavour of all spices will mix thoroughly and gives nice aroma with chicken.
  8. After 5 minutes, add onion and tomato paste along with water (as your wish, I added 1 glass of water) and mix and cook it till the chicken is completely cooked. For me it takes 20 mins.
  9. Reduce the flame to very low and allow it to cook for 10 more minutes. Slow cooking makes your curry even more tasty.

Finally garnish it with coriander leaves , curry leaves and serve with rice or roti, chapati, naan, parata . It taste great with dosa / Idli.

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Ingredients

Bhindi/Okra/Ladies Finger(Vendakkai) - 15 to 20
Onion - 1  finely chopped
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chilli powder -  1/2 tablespoon
Corriander powder – 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste

Seasoning

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad Dal - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Green Chillies -1 
Sesame Oil - 2 tsp


Method

1.Wash the okras, dry them well using tissue paper. Then chop them into thin circles.
2.Heat oil, add the items under Seasoning then add onion and fry till slightly browned. Then add okras and saute till it shrinks in volume.
3.When it starts shrinking in volume and the stickiness is reduced, sprinkle little water and cook covered for 3mins until it turns soft. Then give a quick stir, add required salt and turmeric powder. Keep stirring.
4.Once the stickiness is fully gone and it turns dry and slightly browned add the chilli powder and coriander powder.

5. Stir and leave it for 2 mins.
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Its really very easy and tasteful recipe. It goes well with Paruppu rice, Curd rice, Rasam rice.


Ingredients 


  •    Arbi/ Colocasia/seppankizhangu - 500 grams
  •    Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
  •    Chilli powder -1 tsp
  •    Coriander powder -2 tsp
  •    Cumin/jeera powder -1 tsp
  •    Oil - 6 tbsp
  •    Salt to taste

Method


  1. Cook seppankizhangu till soft. It should be cooked in such a way that it should be soft but not mushy (I pressure cooked for 1 whistle).
  2. Peel the skin, cut it into halves, sprinkle salt, chilli powder and mix well. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
  3. Now heat the oil in a pan, once heated, add the marinated kizhangu and roast on low flames.
  4. Cover it with a lid and roast evenly on all sides. Stir it in between to prevent it from getting burnt.
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Kovakkai Fry is very delicious with rice and roti. It is slightly crunchy and that is the highlight of this fry. I used sesame seed oil for this fry as it is good for health. 



Ingredients
  • Kovakkai (tindora) - 1/2 kg
  • Chopped onions - 2 nos.
  • Chilli powder - 1 tsp
  • Rice flour - 2 tsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Coriander leaves - 2 sprigs
  • Salt - as your taste
  • Oil - as required


Method
  1. In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter, add chopped onions. Fry till onions turn light brown.
  2. Add chopped round kovakkai pieces and salt. Fry for three to four minutes.
  3. Add chilli powder and fry for two more minutes. 
  4. Do not add water as it will make the fry mushy. At one stage, kovakkai will become crispy. Close the pan and cook for two more minutes. It should be little crunchy. Finally, add coriander leaves.
Note: If you 1/2 tsp rice flour, fry become more crispy. Do not overcook kovakkai.
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Do give a try and am sure you will not go in for store bought ones after trying the homemade paneer.

  1. Heat the milk and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally so that the skin does not form on the surface.
  2. Once the milk rises, add the lemon juice / vinegar / curd. Usually i prefer lemon juice to curdle.
  3. Milk starts to curdle. If the milk has not yet begun to curdle than add somw more lemon juice. Milk should completely curdle.
  4. Stir the milk when its curdling so that the curdled milk does not stick to the base of the pan.
  5. Immediately in a cheesecloth / cotton kitchen napkin / white cloth drain the curdled milk.
  6. Keep a pan beneath the cheese cloth.
  7. Put some weight above this so that the liquid entirely drained off.
  8. Leave it for 3-6 hrs. Open the cheesecloth, you will see a beautiful block of cheese all set.
  9. Cut paneer into any shapes or sizes as your wish.


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Paneer - Favorite item for Kids now-a-days.





Ingredients
  • Paneer- 250 gms (Home made paneer)
  • Tomato- 2
  • Green Chilli- 3
  • Ginger- 1 inch in length
  • Curd- 2 tsp
  • Ghee - 2 tsp
  • Asafetida - 1 pinch
  • Cumin seed- 1/2 small tsp
  • Turmeric powder - 1/4 small tsp
  • Coriander Powder- 1 small tsp
  • Red chilli powder- 1/2 small tsp
  • Garam masala- 1/2 small tsp
  • Salt-  as required
  • Green coriander- 1tsp


 Method

  1. Cut the paneer into 1.5 inch in width and 1.5 inch in length. Make paste of tomato, green chilli and ginger in a grinder. Pour the curd in this paste and churn it. Paste of curd and tomato is ready now.
  2. Heat the ghee in pan. Add asafetida and cumin seeds. After the cumin seed is properly fried, put coriander powder, red chilli powder into the pan and continue stirring.
  3. Add the paste of curd and tomato into the masala and fry it till the masala is released from oil.
  4. Pour 2 to 3 tablespoon of water into the masala, then add the paneer and garam masala in it.
  5. Continue stirring. Masala Paneer Recipe is ready to serve.
  6. We can prefer this recipe with bread, naan, chapatti and rice.
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 “Oh, God above, if heaven has a taste it must be an egg with butter and salt, and after the egg is there anything in the world lovelier than fresh warm bread and a mug of sweet golden tea?”  - Frank McCourt, 'Angela's Ashes’ (1996)


Ingredients
  • Eggs - 3
  • Onion - 1 medium sized
  • Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
  • Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder - a pinch
  • Salt - to taste
  • Seasoning:
  • Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Curry leaves - few
Egg Masala - To grind
  • Tomato - 1 big
  • Dry Red Chillies - 2 to 3
  • Small Onion - 10
  • Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
  • Cinammon - 1/4 inch piece
  • Green cardamom - 1/2
  • Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspp
  • Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp 
  • Oil - as required
 Method
  1. Boil eggs for 10 mins in medium flame. After boiled, remove the shell carefully. Cut the eggs into 2 pieces with a knife. Set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a pan - add the ingredients under "To grind" saute till onions turn golden brown and tomatoes turn mushy and raw smell leaves.
  3. Cool down and grind to a semi fine paste.set aside. Heat oil in pan - add mustard seeds and curry leaves let the mustard seeds crackle.Add ginger garlic paste , onion fry till golden brown.
  4. Add the masala paste and fry for 2 mins.Then sprinkle little water, add required salt and allow it to boil until it forms a gravy.
  5. To this add the eggs and mix well so that curry gets coated on the eggs.
  6. Cover and cook for 5 minutes and then uncover it to let any excess water dry up.
  7. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve it.  
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Briyani never completes without Dalcha.
Ingredients
  • Mutton - Only Bone pieces 4-5
  • Toor Dal - 1/4 cup heaped
  • Chana Dal - 4 tbsp
  • Big Onion - 1 chopped finely
  • Ginger Garlic Paste - 1.5 tsp
  • Brinjals - 5 (each cut into four)
  • Raw Mango - 1 small
  • Tomato - 1 chopped roughly
  • Red Chilli powder- 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder - 2 tsp
  • Tamarind paste - 1 tbsp
  • Coriander leaves - just to garnish
  • Salt - taste
  • Oil - 2 to 3 tsp
Seasoning
  • Oil - 2 tsp
  • Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
  • Curry leaves -1 sprig
  • Green Chillies - 1 slitted
  • Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
  • Cloves - 2
  • Bayleaf - 1/2
  
Method 
  1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker - add the items under Seasoning then add onion, ginger garlic paste saute till slightly browned.Then add chopped tomato saute till mushy and raw smell leaves.Then add red chilli,coriander powders, required salt and mix well.
  2. Add the dals, give a quick stir add about 1 cup of water and pressure cook 4-5 whistles.The dals should be mushy.Keep aside.
  3. In a pan heat oil, saute the brinjals and mutton bone until golden brown and is halfcooked., set aside. Transfer the dal mixture to a pan and heat it up. Add water if the mixture is too thick...Once it starts boiling add the brinjals.
  4. Cook covered until both turns soft. Once cooked add tamarind water and let it for one boil then garnish with coriander leaves and switch off.
  5. Dalcha ready to serve for your Hot Briyani.  
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 Ingrediants
  • To grind (If you want fresh masala)
  • Coriander seeds-2 table spoons
  • Red chillies-8
  • Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
  • Cumin seed-1 teaspoon
  • Cinnamon-1 small piece
  • Cardamom-2
  • Clove-2
  • Dry roast all these items and dry grind them

Coconut paste 
  • Grind the coconut,Kas kas and fennel seed 1 teaspoon to a smooth paste

 Seasoning
  • Cinamon-1/2 inch piece-2
  • Cardamom-2
  • Clove-2
  • Bay leaf-a small piece
  • Maruthani mokku-a small piece
  • curry leaf-little
  • Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon

 Method
  1. Wash and cut the mutton into small pieces.
  2. Cut the onion, garlic and tomatoes also into small pieces.
  3. Keep the cooker in the stove. Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add the items given in ‘To season’.
  4. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well. Now add the chopped onion, garlic and tomatoes one by one and sauté nicely.
  5. Add the mutton pieces along with turmeric powder now and sauté for 5 minutes. 
  6. Add the kuzhambu milagai Thool and coriander powder. Mix that also well.
  7. Add 3 cups of water and the salt needed. Mix well and close the cooker. Once the steam starts coming, Put the weight . Keep the flame in medium.
  8. After the first whistle comes, reduce the flame and cook for 12 minutes. Wait for the pressure to release. Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and add the grinded coconut paste. Check for the consistency and taste.
  9. Cook for another 5 minutes without closing the cooker.
  10. Add the lemon juice as final touch. The gravy can be garnished with coriander leaves.
  11. Mutton Kuzhambhu ready to serve.

 Note: If Gravy becomes watery, add coconut paste.

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A very famous and delicious chettinad recipe. The tough and time consuming task in this recipe is cleaning the plantain flower. All the effort we put in, will yield a good, tasty , crispy vada and will be loved by everyone.
Plantain flower is very good for ladies for uterus related problems. Children will not eat this if we make poriyal, thuvattal, kootu, etc., due to its sour (thuvarpu in Tamil) taste but it will be irresitible when it is tranformed into vada.




Ingredients
  •   Plantain flower (small) -1 no
  •   KadalaiParuppu – 200 gm
  •   Red chillies – 6 nos
  •   Fennel seeds – 1 Tbsp
  •  Garlic – 2 to 3 pods
  • Green chillies (finely chopped) – 2 nos
  • Asafetida  -  1 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Shallots – 8 to 10 nos or big onion – 1 no.
  • Rice flour – 2 Tbsp
  • Coriander and curry leaves ( finely chopped)- 3 Tbsp
  • Salt as required
  • Oil as required.
Method
  1. Soak the kadalaiparuppu and red chillies for minimum one hour. 
  2. Add the soaked dhal along with red chillies and garlic and grind it coarsely without adding water as we do  for “Aamavadai” . Then,  clean the plantain flower ( I’ll blog the step by step procedure for cleaning the plantain flower) , thoroughly  wash the florets in water and chop it finely and put in the water diluted with curd (add 2 to 3 Tbsps of curd in a cup of water) so that the plantain flower will not turn into black color.
  3. Squeeze out the water from the chopped florets and add this to the ground dhal. With this, add fennel seeds, finely chopped green chillies, onion, coriander& curry leaves, asafetida, turmeric powder, rice flour and salt and thoroughly mix everything ( don’t add water , the moisture in the onion and plantain florets will be enough to mix).
  4. In the mean time, heat oil in  a flat bottomed kadai. Make small balls out of the vada mixture. Flatten these balls , thinner than “AamaiVadai”and fry in slow fire, flip the vadai on both sides till vadais turn into golden brown colour.
  5. Mouth watering VazhaippooVadai is ready to eat.
Note
  1. The colour and crispiness of the vadai will be decided by the oil temperature. So we need to fry these  vadais in medium flame.
  2. Care should be taken while grinding kadalai paruppu, it should be coarsely ground without adding water.
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I found the Seppankizhangu roast in most of the wedding receptions as this is being attracted by numerous food lovers.  This is one of the easy dish and turn out to be amazing, but you should take care of few things carefully to get it perfect.

 Ingredients:
  • Seppankizhangu  - 15 Nos.
  • Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Curry leaves few
  • Crushed garlic – 2 pods
  • Oil for deep frying
  • Salt to taste

Method:
  1. Cook seppankizhangu along with a tablespoon of salt and  turmeric powder with enough water until it gets cooked completely.
  2. Cool it and peel off the skin. Cut this into small, thin round discs.
  3. Pour oil in a deep bottomed kadai and fry seppankizhangu in batches in medium flame till it becomes golden brown in  colour and crispy enough.
  4. Remove the excess oil from the same kadai, keeping a table spoon of it , add curry leaves and crushed garlic. Then add required salt, chilli powder, fry for just few seconds so that the raw smell of chilli powder goes off. Now add  fried seppankizhangu. Sauté well in simmer till everything gets mixed well, just for 2 minutes.
  5. Yummy seppankizhangu roast is ready to be served.
Note: Seppankizhangu should not be over cooked since it will become mushy and your roast will not be crispy.
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The Dindigul biryani originated from the Muslim populations, but the recipe was later modified by the Telugu speaking populations who started serving them in small restaurants nearby. Dindigul is a major commodity market for agricultural produce and a confluence of farmers from neighbouring districts to sell their produce to wholesale mandi’s. In recent years few Dindigul Biriyani chains have established their chains in most towns in Tamil Nadu as well as other major cities in India. 

Remaining biryani varities
Hyderabadi Biryani
Thalassery biryani
Middle East
Lucknowi (Awadhi) Biryani
Sindhi Biryani
Bombay Biryani
Calcutta Biryani
Vaniyambadi Biriyani
Bhatkali Biryani
Memoni biryani
Beary biryani
Bengalooru Biriyani
Karachi Beef biryani
Kalyani biryani

Ingredients
  • Mutton pieces with bone- 1/2 kg ( 500 gms )
  • Jeera Samba Rice- 1/2 kg ( 3 cups)
  • Small onions / shallots- 300 gms
  • Tomatoes medium- 3 nos
  • Green chillies- 4 nos
  • Ginger and Garlic paste- 4 tbsp
  • Red chilli powder- 2 to 3 tsp
  • Coriander powder- 1 tsp
  • Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
  • Purina leaves- 1 bunch
  • Coriander leaves- 1/4 bunch
  • Salt to taste
  • Ghee- 4 tbsp( optional )
  • Water- 4 and 1/2 cups
Masala Preparation
  • Bay leaves- 2 nos
  • Cinnamon stick 1" piece- 2 nos
  • Cardamom- 4 nos
  • Cloves- 6 nos
  • Marati moggu- 1 
  • Annachi poo- 1
  • Star Anise- 1 
  • Oil- as required

Method
  1. Peel and chop the shallots. Chop the tomatoes.
  2. Clean and chop both pudina and coriander leaves. 
  3. Break the green chillies into half. Wash the rice and soak in 4 cups of water for 30 mins. 
  4. Clean and wash mutton pieces. 
  5. Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the whole spices tempering to the hot oil and saute for 1 minute. 
  6. Add onions and green chillies to the pan, saute until onion turns pale. 
  7. Add the ginger and garlic paste and saute until raw smell of ginger and garlic leaves. 
  8. Add chopped pudina and coriander leaves( reserve some to garnish) to the pan and saute for 1 minute. 
  9. Add the mutton pieces and fry for few minutes until mutton turns pale and slightly dries. Add chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder to the mutton and mix well until tomatoes are tender. 
  10. Add a 1/2 cup water to the pan, cover with lid and pressure cook mutton pieces until tender for 10 mins or for 3 whistles. 
  11. Once pan pressure is released, add soaked rice along with water and required salt to the mutton and bring to boil. 
  12. Stir well until 1/2 of the water is absorbed by the rice, reduce heat, cover pan with lid and cook for about 15 mins until rice is tender( do not pressure cook rice). 
  13. Once rice is cooked and tender, add ghee, remaining pudina coriander leaves and mix well. Serve hot biryani with dalcha and onion raita.
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