Tag Archives: South Indian Cuisine/Tamilnadu Traditions/ The Tamils

Kaattuyaanam Arisi Dosai/Pancakes – Dosai with Native/Traditional Rice Varieties of Tamilnadu – 3

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The next in the traditional/native rice varieties on our list is Kaattuyaanam Arisi. This is a red rice variety.

The name of the rice has an interesting connotation. The name has two parts –

Kaattu is a derivation of KAADU which means forest
Yaanam is a derivation of YAANAI which means elephant

In Tamil Language.

The rice grows quite fast, tall up to 7 to 8 feet that even if a forest elephant enters the rice field, it would be hidden in the tall grass and be unnoticed. Hence, the name denoting both forest and elephant remained with the variety. Additionally, due to the ability of this rice to boost immunity, thereby providing an elephant’s strength to the body, the name has stood for centuries.
  

Health Benefits of Kaatuyaanam Arisi

This rice is blackish red in colour –

  1. provides relief of knee ailments
  2. tackles diabetes
  3. reduces risk of cancer
  4. strengthens heart

  
Now, let’s move on with the making of Dosai/Pancake out of this native rice that makes the body strong and disease free.
  

Kaattuyaanam Arisi Dosai/Pancakes

  


  

Ingredients (makes approximately 12-15 dosais)

• Kaattuyaanam Arisi/rice – 1 ½ cups
• Karuppu ulundhu/black gram – ½ cup
• Vendhayam/fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
• Kal Uppu/rock salt – ½ tsp

  

Method of Preparation
  

Making batter-

1. Wash well Kaattuyaanam Arisi and black gram.
2. Add fenugreek seeds and soak overnight or minimum 6 hours in water
3. Grind well in a grinder or any blender
4. Once ground into a fine batter add rock salt and mix well or grind the rock salt in the end.
5. Leave the batter overnight or until fermented well.
6. Dosai batter is ready for use.
  

Making Dosai-

1. Heat dosaikal or the pancake pan on stove
2. Pour a ladle of batter and spread into perfect round pancakes – preferably thin
3. Pour droplets of gingelly oil on the sides of the Dosai for easy lift of pancake


  

4. Turn the Dosai to the other side and let it cook
5. Take out once done- remember it would take just about 30-50 seconds to cook one side of thin Dosai. If one keeps it longer, the texture of pancake would be lost.


  

6. Make Kaattuyaanam Arisi Dosai crisp or soft as preferred. The Dosai also comes out beautifully crisp that you can shape it yourself.
7. A dollop of new/clarified butter is an extravagant addition to the beautiful Dosai.

8. Enjoy with any kind of thuvayal or chutney. We had with these three-


Peerkangai thuvayal – ridge guard chutney
Thakkali thokku – tomato thokku (fine paste)
Pooti Aachi Vengaya Thuvayal – Great grandmother’s onion chutney
9. Chutney recipes to follow.

Dosaikal after six years …

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After almost six years of blogging, this is my first layout makeover for dosaikal.com. Hope this new makeover that I’ve tried to give Dosaikal enthuses you all as much as me. This is an attempt to make this blog more colorful and show facets of growing better. Whether I’ve been successful in the latter…. I leave the decision to my readers.

Good practice or bad, I’ve always been in search of logical reasons in whatever I do or whatever happens to me. So, how did I let the ‘Change Bug’ enter my courtyard??

That needs a brief flash back…..

This is how I introduced myself to the wide world of readers when Dosaikal started.

 

 

“A simple person who believes strong roots and values build up stronger generations; and good food and good food habits are one of the best gifts that one can give to their off springs.”

 

 
Now, I look at my daughter. Those delicate hands that helped me mix eggs, then tried to bake the basic cakes – has started making ably stuffed whole wheat pies, healthy vegetable omelettes, chocolate coated popcorns, and also chopping vegetables and fruits with great accuracy and more. This I think has been the most prominent of all signs of positive growth that has happened through Dosaikal and to Dosaikal, the blog. And not to miss – the additional signs of me growing physically older I suppose. Fact is Fact, accepted.

I am partly happy to have introduced her to the wonderful world of good food and good food habits.
 

 

“To Provide is in the nature of the Soil and to Absorb and Bear Fruit is in the Nature of the Seed; I leave it to the child to hold responsible for her understanding of Good Food, from what has been provided through me.”

 

 
Thank you very much for having traveled with me in my pursuit towards providing good values through good food, and thereby strong roots to the generations to come.

Let’s continue our journey together…

 

Thirukkaarthigai and Pori Urundai/Festival of Lights and Puffed Rice Sweet Balls

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Thirukkarthigai was celebrated yesterday – 25.11.15. This is one of the ancient festivals of Tamilnadu and originally the Festival of Lights. It calls for decorating the house with lamps. A detail post on thirukkarthigai was written in 2011. Refer – dosaikal.com/thirukkaarthigai
There are various sweets prepared for different festive occasions- it can be a mix and match affair as far as the sweets are concerned. But there are certain specific delicacies for specific festivals. ‘Pori’ or Puffed Rice forms a basic part of Thirukkaarthigai. It takes the name of the festival and is called ‘Kaarthigai Pori’.

 

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In the previous post on Thirukkaaarthigai or Kaarthigai Deepam, I had tried Pori Urundai or Puffed Rice Jaggery Balls but had not been successful. Hence, it was converted into uthiri pori or sweetened puffed rice.

This time I was successful and could make Pori Urundais because of the right consistency of jaggery syrup.Graduating from a learner to a better learner, this time ‘Maavilakku’ or the lamp made with rice flour also came out better shaped, certified ‘good’ by my daughter. What else one needs as good marks from your child!

To the recipe-

Pori Urundai

 

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Ingredients (makes approximately 30 balls)

  • pori/puffed rice – 5 cups
  • vellam/jaggery – 1 cup
  • thanneer/water – 1/2 cup
  • elakkai podi/cardamom powder – 1 tsp
  • chukku podi/dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
  • nei/ghee – to grease hands

 

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Method of Preparation

  1. Keep puffed rice in a wide bottomed bowl, enough to mix jaggery syrup
  2. Take Jaggery in a pan with water and heat till jaggery dissolves
  3. Strain jaggery to remove mud which is generally present
  4. Keep the strained jaggery water on stove and add cardamom powder and dry ginger powder
  5. Boil till it becomes a thick syrup and reaches a consistency where it forms a ball when dropped in water – this is called uruttu padham in tamil

 

6. When the syrup reaches proper consistency, pour into puffed rice bowl and mix well with a ladle

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7. Adjust the quantity of puffed rice according to the syrup

8. Grease both hands with little clarified butter/ghee and make medium sized balls

9. Pori Urundai is ready.

Note:

  1. The puffed rice can be moulded into balls only if the consistency of jaggery syrup is right.
  2. If the rice mixture turns hard after a while, keep on stove and reheat till it melts a bit and continue making again.
  3. If the pori has become crispy with syrup and is unable to be moulded, the syrup has crossed the required consistency. In such case, enjoy uthiri pori or fried sweet puffed rice.
  4. Adjust the quantity of pori as per need while mixing the syrup. I needed to mix at least 1/2 cup more to bring it to right ratio.
  5. Pori Urundai cannot be made with sugar; Jaggery is the only sweetener. Or one can try palm sugar.
  6. Dry ginger powder aids in easy digestion and helps especially in case of over-eating.
  7. If the puffed rice is not crispy and is a bit soft, dry roast before making urundais/sweet balls.

 

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Ulundhu Vadai – The Outstanding Snack For All Occasions

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A great topic of research

Vadai is a deep fried snack, generally made with soaked and blended lentil. The most common of the Vadai Varieties are –

1. Ulundhu Vadai or Ulundha Vadai made with dehusked black gram and

2. Aamai Vadai or Paruppu Vadai made with bengal gram.

These two in themselves have different names. Ulundhu Vadai is also called ‘Medhu Vadai’ meaning Soft Vadai; Aamai Vadai is also referred to as Masala Vadai  and they also possess many more names. Quite interesting though – that’s why the topic ‘Vadai’ can be a great research title!

One can also hear different versions of the same name – Vadai, Vada, Vade, Bada and I think in Punjab it is called Bhalla as in Dahi Bhalla, Thayir Vadai (Vadai soaked in curd) in Tamil.

 

Different Kinds of Vadai

 

ulundhu vadai – dehusked black gram vadai

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That is not all! While we make Ulundhu Vadai with dehusked black gram and Aamai Vadai with bengal gram, there can be various kinds of Vadais made with different combinations to these two core ingredients.

  • Vazhaipoo Vadai – with Banana Flower
  • Keerai Vadai – with Spinach
  • Milagu Vadai – with Black Pepper
  • Thavalai Vadai – with combination of lentils

and many more innovative crisps by chefs at home. Vadai is served with chutney and/or sambar.

 

 vaazhaipoo vadai – banana flower vadai

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Apart from combining ingredients, there can also be other impressive ways of serving Ulundhu Vadais – the softer among the two.

  • Sambar Vadai – vadai soaked in Sambar – the lentil curry
  • Rasa  Vadai – vadai soaked in Rasam – the digestive soup (for easy comprehension)
  • Thayir Vadai – vadai soaked in yoghurt with mild spices

Aamai Vadai/Paruppu Vadai made with bengal gram is crispier and enjoys special place in a few curries like-

  • More kuzhambu –  yoghurt curry that has paruppu vadai in place of veggie
  • Vadai Curry – an exotic spicy curry with ground spices, wherein the gravy is thickened by soaking the deep fried vadais. The taste of the spicy curry mixed with the flavour of fried vadais is a great hit with Idli and Dosai.

 

The Versatile Vadai

 

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Vadai can fit in all places and occasions.

Any traditional festival, celebration or happy occasion would be half done without these for sure.
Breakfast  – with Idli, Dosai or Pongal, Vadai makes the breakfast a complete ‘Platter’

Lunch – served with the three course Vaazhai Ilai Sappadu (traditional meal served on banana leaf) -the phrase actually is – ‘Vadai-Payasam’ – vadai and payasam/pudding to make the traditional meal a respectful finish

Dinner – who would say no to Vadai soaked in the lunch sambar or rasam, which is now a converted sambar vadai or rasa vadai for dinner..

Evening Snack – any guests for coffee/tea? – this snack can be simple and exotic, traditional and trendy – served with coconut chutney or any other chutney

Starter/Finger food – a grand dinner party – made smaller in bite size shapes, vadai can be an ideal starter or finger food

Street Food – it can be a sort after street food at any tea joint, or in bus or train stations

Live Kitchen – it could also be an eye-catchy as well as an appealing live display snack in Restaurants
The Balancing Factor
In addition to these impressive qualities, I find the essence of Vadai might be a culinary balance in festive occasions. For any festival, event or celebration, the quintessential flavor is sweet. Different kinds of or atleast one sweet dish is prepared for any special occasion. When enjoying food forms part and parcel of the day to day activities of an Indian household, the place of food in festivals is ultimate. The concept of making an occasion happy by distribution and consumption of sweets can sometimes be a painful practice for the self proclaimed ‘sweet toothers by birth’ too.

Here is where the role of Vadai stands appealing. When there is heavy downpour of sweets that smoothly glides into one’s tummy, there is always the quite bland and crispy/semi crispy salted vadai which is served with spicy chutney to give relief from the overdose of sweets. It certianly does great justice in soothing one’s palate during those essential times.

Hence, Vadai always forms part of festive food, to ensure a Balance might be.
Vadai-like ‘Akara’ in Nigerian Cuisine

While reading the recent article posted by dear fried Oz of ‘kitchen butterfly’, she had mentioned she tasted Vadai in Dubai and it tasted like ‘Akara’. I was anxious to know about akara.

Akara is a deep fried Nigerian Snack and breakfast meal made with ground de-hulled(peeled) brown or black-eyed beans and spices.
It is a very popular snack that can be eaten anytime of the day. Although Akara is popular as a breakfast meal, it can also be eaten as a snack or taken with Pap(ogi), custard or Agidi(eko) as a light dinner
Akara is also known as Acarajé, Fried Bean Cakes, Koose or Fried Bean Balls.

http://www.nigerianfoodtv.com/2013/02/how-to-make-nigerian-akara.html

 

Almost the same, with the different lentil. Black Eyed Pea is called Karamani in Tamil. I also found ‘Karamani Vadai’ recipe posted by fellow south indian bloggers. Learnt many things here. Akara and Karamani sound similar too!

Thanks Oz for aiding me know about akara and nigerian cuisine through that comparison.
Ulundhu Vadai

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Ulundhu Vadai is made with dehusked black gram. The lentil is soaked and blended to a thick foamy consistency. For binding, rice flour is added while mixing with salt and other ingredients like onions, green chillies, black pepper and curry leaves. I prefer to soak little rice with black gram and blend together. This I feel gives a better texture to the batter.

The speciality of this type of Vadai also lies in its shape. This is a doughnut shaped snack. Hence, little extra effort is needed in bringing in the exclusive shape.

One can also make basic vadai with three ingredients – lentil, rice or rice flour and salt blended with water and deep fried. Adding onions, chillies and curry leaves enhances the flavor of this snack.
Ingredients (makes appr. 15-20 vadais)

 

dehusked black gram

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batter with chopped ingredients

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  • ulundham paruppu/dehusked black gram – 1 cup
  • arisi/rice (any non-sticky variety) -2 tsp
  • uppu/salt – as needed
  • vengayam/onions – 1 medium chopped or 4-5 shallots chopped
  • pachai milagai/green chilli – 2 no.s coarsely cut
  • kariveppilai/curry leaves – 7-8 leaves randomly split
  • inji/ginger – chopped or grated – small piece
  • perungayam/asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
  • yennai/oil – for deep frying

 

place batter on wet palm or banana leaf

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make a hole in middle

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Method of Preparation

  1. Wash and soak black gram and rice for a minimum of 2 hours
  2. Remove water and grind into a thick yet foamy batter by sprinkling very little water
  3. Add salt and all other chopped ingredients and mix well
  4. Place hard bottomed pan on stove and heat oil for deep frying
  5. For the doughnut shape of the vadai –  keep water in a small bowl
  6. Wipe palm of your hand or banana leaf with little water, take little batter, place on palm and make small hole in middle
  7. Gently slide the vadai in oil and fry till golden brown
  8. Take out and place the vadais on kitchen tissue to absorb excess oil
  9. Serve hot with spicy chutney

 

fry in hot oil

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A beginning

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Vanakkam!

After a long long wait and research, I have started writing my blog. Before I start..

Thankyou so much Oz, for all the help. With kids and family, work and your blog,  preparing to shift to your own country and more, you have been guiding and pouring in suggestions, helping in the step by step process to start this blog, with the same gentleness and warmth always.

Thankyou Ganu and Meera, for all the thought provoking advices in detail.

Now.. About what I would like to share in ‘Dosaikal’… Is this a food blog with recipes and cooking ideas? Yes, food has always been one of my passions, even from those days when I didn’t know the differences in lentils! 

‘Dosaikal’ – when translated is  ‘The Pancake Pan’. Dosa is the  pancake and kal is the pan or tawa on which dosas are made. For me, it symbolises south indian cuisine..   The newest of the non-stick cookware can make better dosas or south indian pancakes – made of rice and dehusked blackgram batter. But, the best ones are made from the traditional cast iron tawas.  More so because, thick and fluffy grandma’s dosas, crispy crunchy amma’s dosas  or the ghee dosas my daughter demands – dosas make me travel on a different time machine, to my younger days of granny’s traditional recipes and life style.

Those are the moments I still cherish, the pleasant greeneries of down south districts of Tamilnadu, that sweet dialect of my mother tongue Tamil that makes me turn around immediately even today, the way we jump, run, dance, chat, fight, cry, giggle and laugh amidst cousins, aunts, uncles and above all grandma and grandpa – we call them aachi and thatha.

Somehow between the joys of togetherness, I can still smell the fragrances and flavours of mouth watering good food.. traditional tirunelveli and thoothukudi style. Thanks to amma and appa who gave me the strong base to absorb these fragrances and flavours of one’s own soil. So, why not add the flavours of traditional life style to modern day cooking!

 Now… Dosaikal is not about dosas alone.  The rich cultural heritage of the tamils goes hand in hand with the varieties of dishes cooked in households with the supervision of grandmother’s even today.. I would like to relive the past with those simple and exotic recipes. And nothing is best than sharing it with friends!

I can’t wait to get started!!