2009 - A Year of Friends and Food!

All photos used with prior permission by photographers.

Initiating this blog almost two years ago, my intention was to create a space to catalog my recipes, without the intention of creating a community as it has, especially over the past year. This year, after thirty-five posts, including posts on cookbook and website reviews and guests posts, this blog has amassed over 20 subscribers. Thank you to my friends, supporters and participants of interviews and guests posts.

This post is a chronicle of guest posts, interviews and a few of my personal favorite recipes of the last year. If you, too want to start making Indian culinary treats in your kitchen, see this post on creating your Indian-inspired kitchen in America, which is a tutorial on different gadgets that can help you create delectable Desi dishes!


Book Reviews
Both Cookbooks reviewed are written by Viji Varadarajan
Want to see Yogurt from a different perspective?
Review of south Indian vegetarian cookery chronicle: A Healthy Taste of Indian Culture: Cooking with Yoghurt.
Temptations from the Tamil Table: Review of Viji Varadarajan’s Samayal South Indian Cookbook

Guests Posts and Recommended Recipes:
Paneer Makhani - Fried Homemade Cheese Cubes in Flavorful Cream Sauce by Srivalli
Recipe Review November 2009
Featuring culinary recipes and tips from blogs: 4th Sense Samayal, Aayi's Recipes, Hindu Blog, Ruchi, Veggie Platter, Vizmaya.
Recipe Review December 2009
Featuring culinary recipes and tips from blogs: Aayi's Recipes, Edible Garden, Fourth Sense Samayal, The Gori Wife Life, One Hot Stove, Veggie Platter


Inspirations and Recommendations
Aloo Bonda and Bread Pakodas by Oldernwiser0
Video cookery segment showcasing ease of making Indian deep-fried mashed potato balls (aloo-bondas) and deep-fried bread pieces with a flavorful batter covering (bread pakoda).
Indian Cooking Made Easier Series by Oldernwiser0
In this post, I shared one of the videos by Oldernwiser0 on paneer (Indian home-made cheese) making.
Okra Curry- the Martha Stewart Way and the Jennifer Kumar Way
A flavorful side dish made with okra (bindi) and spices.
Sambar Inspired by Viji Varadarajan
In this post, I detail how I create a savory, flavorful vegetarian stew, called Sambar as inspired from Viji Varadarajan's book Samayal: The Pleasures of South Indian Vegetarian Cooking (Winner Gourmand World Cookbook Award)


Interviews:
Recipe Blog Review: Vidhya's Recipes
Home cooked and ethnic dishes, using ingredients such as banana blossoms (right), of the South Indian vegetarian fare, Vidhya has also created quite a nice community of enthusiastic readers and people, like me, who have tried our own hands at some of her recipes in our own kitchens.

Insights and Inspirations by Viji Varadarajan
Combining her family's traditions and wisdom, Viji has written a series of TamBram (Tamil Brahmin) recipes, her Samayal series inspires me to learn more about her inspirations to share this wisdom with the world.

Photography
This year, my husband also inspired by some of my cooking skills, began taking photos of some of the dishes I have made. Click on the photos to see the posts.

Krishna's photography

Keera Molagootal Flavorful Spinach/ Mixed Greens and Lentil Soup

Chenna Masala Chickpeas Curry

Coconut Chutney

Dosa and Idli batter recipe and 'HOW TO MAKE'

My photography

Vatthal Kozhumbu

Cornbread with Cream Corn and Red Bean Curried Gravy

Tomato Chutney inspired by Nithya

Create your Indian Inspired Kitchen in America!

Vatthal Kozhumbu

Vatthal Kozhumbu is a spicy south Indian vegan/vegetarian gravy

This is an updated version of the same recipe posted here.

Photo right: Vatthal Kozhumbu as a side dish with yogurt rice.

Ingredients:
1/5 block Imli (tamarind) soaked in 1 cup water
30-40 sundakkai vathals (or as per your taste)***
Pinch uncooked chenna (or toor) dhal (about 35 pieces)
2 red dried crushed chilies
2 green chilies cut lengthwise
Pinch ING (Asafetida)
10 curry leaves (or more as per your taste)
2 tbspn oil
pinch mustard seeds
Pinch vendhyam (Fenugreek seeds) (about 10 seeds)
2 tsp sambar powder
Pinch turmeric
Salt to taste (I used about ¼ tsp)
2 cups water
1 to 4 tsp rice flour

Method.

1. Take a golf ball size of dried block imli (tamarind) and soak in warm/hot water while doing other steps.
2. Take a saucepan that can fit 3-4 cups water, make sure it is totally dry. Heat on stovetop, put in vatthals and dry fry alone until a nice aroma comes. They may turn brown, but do not blacken. Take out of pan and set aside.
3. While the pan is heating, if able to multi-task, collect ingredients 3,4,5,6,7 in a small bowl.
4. After removing vatthals from dry pan onto a plate, put the pan back on the stove. Add 2 tsp oil. The pan would be very hot, so when putting in the mustard seeds, the probably will immediately pop. Add the ingredients from the bowl and stir immediately.
5. Before adding imli water at this point, make sure the imli has been properly soaked and squeezed so that the juice has come from imli and the water is brown. If not practiced at this, it is necessary to soak imli for 15 minutes or so before starting recipe so this water is available to pour in at this moment. (After doing several times, it is not necessary to use a strainer. It is possible to take the bowl with imli and pour over pot itself leaving the pieces in the bowl.)
6. While the water is boiling, add the sambar power, turmeric and salt. Mix.
7. While it is boiling take the additional two cups water, in this water place two heaping spoons of rice flour. Mix vigorously to remove clumps. The water will be a milky white. Add this water to the pot. (Or, place water and flour in a small blender and blend it into a puree this way. Sometimes I prefer this as it usually removes clumps.)
   
8. Mix and leave to boil. As it boils, keep stirring it. As it heats up the rice flour should thicken the consistency of this soupy mixture into a thicker gravy consistency. This is the tedious part. Boiling it down to a thicker consistency takes time. If you want to speed it up, you can add 1-2 teaspoons more rice flour little by little. The tricky part is to make sure the rice flour doesn’t clump. Usually when put in hot water in teaspoons full, the rice flour tends to clump up. Take a spoon and bring these clumps along side of pan to ‘burst’ them. This should thicken up the gravy.
9. When I was done, I measured the amount, it boiled down to 1 cup. It is not very thick, but it can be used as gravy. If you prefer thicker consistency, add more flour per your requirement.

This can be eaten on top of plain rice or as a side with curd rice.

If eaten as a main dish on rice, you may get 2-3 servings. If as a side dish double this. This will be a spicier fare than sambar because the thicker consistency power-packs the spices, this is why I prefer it with curd rice. If eaten as a main dish, adding chips or ghee to this may tone down the spices a bit.

If you can wait before devouring, the longer you let it set, the thicker it can become. After few hours it can be a thicker gravy, like a pudding consistency! Enjoy!

***If you can not get vatthal seeds, you can make this gravy without the seeds or you can substitute a vegetable of your choice (for instance, 10-15 pearl onions, 3 tomatoes diced into big cubes, eggplant/brinjal cubed, etc) or you can add extra curry leaves or peppercorns to make spicier, peppery gravy.

Here is a mango variety kozhumbu, Vidhya makes Mango Vatha Kozhambu, Pumpkin Vatha Kozhumbu, and drumstick vatha kozhumbu.

Idli Cooking Gadget Photo

Photo by Krishna Kumar.