Lemon Rasam

Blogging Marathon#66: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes 

Dish: Lemon Rasam from Nalini

We are starting our final week of blogging marathon today and my theme for the week is 'Bookmarked recipes'. For the first day I made this simple yet very tasty Lemon rasam from Nalini's blog.

Nalini made it for the April mega marathon and I bookmarked and made it right away. It took this long to post the recipe here. Rasam in our households is made with tomato and tamarind. Toor dal or any kind of dal is not usually added. Our version is rather watery and is usually eaten along with a thicker dal.

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Manapparrai Murukku for ICC

We are travelling south to Tamil Nadu for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. I am amazed by the variation of snacks we have across the country, with just a few changes in the ingredients and the method of preparation -- we end up with so many different type of snacks.

When I saw that Valli has a murukku recipe for this month, I was a little disappointed that we are going to make just another murukku recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised how just a few changes can make such a big difference. These murukkus are fried twice instead of just once in regular murukkus making them crunchy and very addictive.

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Simple Vegetarian Tamil Nadu Thali

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Tamil Nadu Thali

Today we are starting the final week of blogging marathon# 40. After posting the unused posts from last month's mega marathon, this week's theme is still related to the mega marathon. I'm going to post the bookmarked recipes from my fellow marathoners for the next 3 days.
Mega marathon was sure mega in lots of different ways -- mega research, mega posts, mega yapping on Whatsapp and then mega bookmarked posts after the marathon itself. I had bookmarked a lot of dishes, which I'm sure I will not be able to get to if not for this theme. After seeing so many amazing thalis during the marathon, I'm kind of obsessed with the thali concept. So for the next 3 days, I decided to do 3 thalis with bookmarked recipes.
For the first day, I have a very simple thali from Tamil Nadu. Initially I was planning to make an elaborate thalis like the ones Sandhya & Nalini posted. But one the day I planned to cook, one dish after the other got dropped out of the list and in the end it was an extremely simple thali with everyday dishes. In case you are wondering what I took off the list, I planned to make masala vada/ paruppu vadai, sundal and a lentil based dessert.

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Therakkal -- Chettinad Eggplant Curry

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Unused BM# 39 posts
Dish: Chettinad Eggplant Curry

My theme for the 3rd week of blogging marathon# 40 is 'Unused posts from BM# 39'. I think I speak for the whole group when I say that we were so enthusiastic in trying new dishes from the Indian States that we cooked more than we can post for last month. So Valli gave us a chance to post them this month.
As I was looking for Chettinad recipes to make for Tamil Nadu I found this Chettinad Eggplant Curry from Gayathri's space. As you all know, I see eggplant I make eggplant and that's what I made. I made the curry right away, but I wasn't too happy with the clicks, so I made Chettinad Vegetable Biryani later. These are the original clicks since I didn't get a chance to redo the dish, will definitely try to update the pics some time soon.

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Mango Pachadi (South Indian style Sweet Mango Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango Pachadi

As I was thinking for recipes to make for this weeks theme, I saw this sweet mango pachadi as part of Tamil Nadu thali on both Sandhya's & Jayanthi's blogs. It sounded sweet, tangy and spicy. I had some chopped mangoes in the freezer and I went ahead and made this chutney. It tasted great with white rice, curd rice and even roti.

The jaggery I used was a little dark that made the chutney a little darkish instead of the golden color in Sandhya's and Jayanthis blogs. Taste was however right on point.

Recipe from Sandhya's recipe:

Ingredients:

Mango - 1 large, peeled, deseeded and diced

Jaggery (or brown sugar) - ½cup, grated (adjust as per taste)
Sugar - 2tbsp

Green Chili - 1 small, finely chopped
Mustard seeds - ½tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cook mango pieces with some water until cooked through and tender.
• Add jaggery and sugar, mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 4~5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a small saucepan, add the mustard seeds and green chilies. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the oil to the mango mixture and mix well. Enjoy!!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 40.

Also linking to Fabulous Feast# 14, being hosted this week by Valli & Prachi.

Mashed Potato Poriyal (Urulaikizhangu Podimas/ Mashed Potato Curry)

My husband is a big potato fan and leave it to him, he can eat potatoes in any form for all meals. SO I'm always looking for interesting recipes with potatoes. I'm not sure why it took me this long to make this super simple curry from Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan.

This is basically mashed potato curry not unlike the one I make for dosas, but the addition of grated coconut at the end is new for me. I think this curry tastes good even with rotis.

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Kanchipuram Idli & Kara Chutney (Breakfast Thali from Tamil Nadu)

The month long mega marathon is still lingering in the air and I have quite a few posts in the drafts that I made and could not post. So here we are with a breakfast mini thali from Tamil Nadu that I wanted to post for Tamil Nadu, but changed and did this Chettinad Vegetarian Biryani.

Kanchipuram idli has been on my to-make list for a very very long time. I think I saw the recipe in a Telugu newspaper many many years ago and it stayed in my head, though it wasn't until very recently. I jotted it down for Tamil Nadu, but with the winter lingering around a little too long, I wasn't sure if the batter would rise. I waited till it started to get a little warm again to make the idlis. It took me 48 hours for the batter to ferment and the idlis turned out fluffy and delicious.

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Tamil Nadu -- Chettinad Vegetable Biryani

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 26
State: Tamil Nadu
Dish: Chettinad Vegetable Biryani

We are coming all the way south of India to Tamil Nadu. Capital of Tamil Nadu is Chennai, formerly known as Madras. For most of the North Indians, people from the south are all Madrasis. I have been called that quite a few times in my own life. So the point is, it is the most famous South Indian state. It is most known for its monumental ancient Hindu temples and classical dance form Bharata Natyam.
We visited the famous temples in Tamil Nadu and I've been to Chennai to present a paper during my graduation. Food wise there is hardly anything to go wrong in Tamil Nadu with fluffy idlis, crispy dosas and other delicious South Indian dishes being sold at both 5 star restaurants and at road side stalls.
Tamil Cuisine is rice based and forms the major portion of their diet. Their are regional sub-varieties in Tamil cuisine, like Chettinadu, Kongunadu, Madurai, Tirunalveli and so on.
Specialties: Idli, Dosai, Uthappam, Filter Coffee, Kootu, Sambar etc.,

Today's Dish: Initially I was planning to make 'Kachipuram Idli' today, but then changed my mind and started searching for some Chettinad recipes. The Chettiar community, who is the majority in this region, are a very successful trading community. Chettinad cuisine is one of the spiciest and the most aromatic in India. It is famous for its use of variety of spices used mainly in non-vegetarian food. The dishes are hot and pungent with fresh ground masalas, and topped with a boiled egg that is usually considered essential part of a meal.

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