Memories and Tamarind Rice

Yesterday for some reason, I was feeling really home sick and nostalgic. I was thinking about school days, movies we watched and most importantly the food.
When I was in elementary and middle school, our school used to take us out on a picnic every year. (We joke about my sisters picnics even now be'cos they went to "Hyderbad Zoo" continuously from LKG to 5th-6th classes.. I think the whole class remembers each and every animal and where each cage is located..)
I still remember discussing and planning with friends for hours about what food and activity (frisby or a board game) we were going to bring for the picnic. We would then go back home and tell our moms to cook our menus. I would for the most part take something made with rice cos I was picky eating with fingers (my sister on the other hand always insisted on some kind of Indian bread like chapathis or puris with a curry). My mom used to make a variety of rice items like lemon rice, tamarind rice, vegetable rice, yogurt rice for picnics.
My favorite among all these is tamarind rice. Tamarind rice is just yummy and it tastes even better the next day.
Tamarind rice is also a must in our house for all the festivals.

Here is my mom’s recipe for Tamarind rice:


Ingredients:
Cooked Rice - 2 cups
Tamarind paste- 4tbsp
Peanuts - ¼ cup
Chana dal (split bengal gram)- 1tbsp
Urad dal - 1tbsp
Red chilies - 4
Green chilies - 4
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 8
Turmeric - pinch
Asafetida - pinch
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds, peanuts, chana dal and urad dal, red chilies and fry till the dals turn pale brown.
• Add green chilies, curry leaves, asafetida and turmeric. Fry for another minute.
• Now add the tamarind paste and ¼ cup water.
• Let the mixture simmer on low flame for about 12-15minutes till the mixture thickens.
• Cool rice completely. Add 1tsp oil and a pinch of turmeric.
• Add the tamarind mixture, salt and mix well. Make sure not to mush rice.

I like my tamarind rice with a dollop of yogurt. Yummy…..

Mango Custard

This is an idea my mom gave me, when I told her that I have 2 yogurt containers full of mango puree. It takes about 2 minutes to get all the ingredients together and about 15-20 minutes to cook. Very simple... very delicious

Ingredients:
Mango puree - 1 cup (2 ripe magoes, peeled, diced and pureed)
Sugar - 1/4 cup (or according to taste)
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Custard powder - 4 tbsp (I used Brown and Polson custard powder)
Milk - 1/4cup
Cashews and raisins (fried in 1tbsp ghee) - optional

Method:

• Mix custard powder with milk and stir well to make sure that there are no lumps.
• Add mago puree, custard-milk mixture, sugar in a pan and on medium-low flame cook for about 10-15 minutes.
• Mixture will come together into a pudding consistency. Add cardamom powder before removing from heat.
• Add the fried cashews and raisins (if using). You can serve this warm or chilled.

Pudina Chutney

Ingredients:
Pudina - 1 bunch cleaned
Red chilies - 4-5
Chanadal - 1tbsp
Urad dal - 1tbsp
Jeera - 1tbsp
Tamarind paste - 1tbsp
Grated cocconut - 2tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a kadai. Add chana and urad dals, red chilies and jeera. Fry till the dals turn golden brown. Remove and cool.
• In the same kadai, add 1tsp oil and add the cleaned pudina. Fry till the leaves completely wilt down, takes about 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Grind the fried dals and pudina with tamarind paste, salt, grated coconut and little water to get to the desired consistency.
• Pudina chutney goes well with rice & ghee and idlis and dosas too.

Sunday Meals

This sunday, we decided to do nothing but cook, eat and rest. No laundry... No shopping.. everything will have to wait until next weekend (I don't want to think about all that now...) This is our sunday meals menu..

Lunch:
Bachali kura pappu
Chamadumpala pulusu (Arvi pulusu)
Pudina pachadi (Mint chutney)


Afternoon Snacks:
Boiled peanuts (fresh peanuts in shells boiled with salt)
Mango Custard

Dinner:
Kadai Paneer (Recipe from Indira's Mahanandi - Only change I made is use green, red and yellow peppers and add Patak's Hot & Spicy curry paste)
Chapathi
Chamadumpala pulusu:

Ingredients:
Chamadumpalu (arvi) - 8 medium size
Red onion - 1 medium
Green chilies - 3-4
Tamarind paste - 2tbsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Methi powder - little
Dhania powder - 1/2tsp
Jeera powder - 1/2tsp
Jaggery - 1tsp
Turmeric - 1/2tsp
Salt - to taste

For tempering:
Menthulu (fenugrek seeds) - 4-5 seeds
Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

• Boil chamadumpalu, after they become soft, remove the skin and chop into medium size chunks.
• Heat 1tsp oil in a pan, add half the hopped onion and green chilies and fry till the onions turn transparent. Remove and grind into a smooth paste when cool.
• Heat 1tbsp oil in the same pan, when hot add menthulu and jeera and fry for a minute.
• Add the remaining onion and fry till golden brown.
• Add the onion-chili paste and fry for another 2-3minutes.
• Add the boiled dumpalu, turmeric, tamarind paste, all the powders and water to bring to desired consistency.
• Simmer the mixture on slow flame for 10-15 minutes.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.