Morkali - Rice flour cooked in Buttermilk - A Tambram recipe

Tambrams or Tamil Brahmin community from different parts of the state have different speciality dishes. Being brought up in Kolkata, I wasn't too much into the tambram food beyond those made by my mother (My mom is a Tambram brought up in Kerala, so her  cooking is influenced a lot by that cuisine). After getting married to Swami, I got introduced to the cooking style of tambrams from Tanjore. 'Morkali' is a very popular item with folks from this part of the country and the first time I ate this dish, I was totally floored by the yumm quotient of this very simple dish.

It so happens that both my FIL and hubby love eating this, so I learnt the art of making this from my hubby's maternal granny, who is an expert in making this.

So here is my granny's recipe, may bliss be all yours while cooking and eating this.

Ingredients:

• 250 gms Rice Flour
• Buttermilk( a little sour is good) 4 tumblers(glasses)
• salt - as per taste
• Green Chilli - 1, finely chopped
• Mor Molagai - 3 (Small), finely chopped
• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Urad Dal - 2 tsp
• Channa Dal - 1 tsp
• Hing (Asafetida) - 1 tsp
• Ghee - 1tbsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - 10-15 leaves

Preparation time - 15 mins; Cooking time 20 Mins

Serves - 4

Method - The most tedious part of the dish is to mix the rice flour in the butter milk without any lumps. This would easily take 10-12 mins. Once the mix is ready, add the salt to this mix and keep it aside.

In a Big Kadai, add the Ghee and Oil and once its hot add the Urad dal and Channa dal. Once this starts to turn brown, add the hing and mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the curry leaves, Green Chilli and Mor Mulagai. Wait till the mor mulagai is fried and then add the rice flour - butter milk mix to this by slowly stirring it in the kadai. Once u have add the whole mix, u have to keep stirring the mix till the rice flour is cooked well and all the dish become like Upma.

Serve hot with Curd or Pickle, although I like it without any sides.

The 15 Mins Carrot Payasam

It happens to be my FIL's bday today and b'day Lunches are incomplete without the payasam, espcially when it happens to be the bday of a sweet lover. So Me decided to make my special 'Carrot Payasam' the quick easy way, in just 15mins :)

Ingredients:

• Delhi Carrot (The red long carrot) -1 big, grated
• 1/2 litre Milk
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 6 tbsp
• Cashewnuts - 6 pcs
• Kismis - 6 pcs
• Ghee - 2 tbsp
• Love - unlimited

Preparation time: 10 mins

Serves: 4 ppl

Method:

     In a pan or kadai, add the Ghee. Once the ghee is warm, add the carrot and cashewnuts and fry them for couple of minutes. Now add the Kismis and once it starts to swell, add the milk. Once the milk starts to boil, reduce the flame of the gas. Now add Sugar and cardamom powder and allow it to cook well. When the quantity of the milk becomes 3/4th of the original quantity, the carrot would have cooked too and ur Payasam is ready to be consumed/served.

Serve it either hot or cold (place it in the freezer if u like it like ice-cream).

Paneer Mattar Poha

Kandha(Onion) Poha and Aloo (Potato) Poha are very famous and nutritious breakfast items, originally from Maharashtra. My love for Paneer made me try this varient one day and it instantly became a hit at home. It is now a regular breakfast item at home. Here is the recipe... Enjoy....



Paneer Mattar Poha to be relished with a dash of Lemon

Ingredients:

 

Poha (Rice Flakes) - 200gms, washed and set aside

Peanuts - 2 tbsp

Peas/Mattar - 1/2 bowl

Onion - 1 big, finely chopped

Paneer - 100 gms, shredded

Coriander Leaves - finely chopped, 1/4 bowl

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Turmeric pow - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli pow - 1/2 tsp

Coriander pow - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala (optional) - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Lemon - to taste

Salt - to taste



 

Serves 3-4, Ready in 20 mins

Ingredients and steps to make

Method:

 

In a wok/kadai heat the oil and add the cumin seeds, followed by the peanuts. Once the peanuts start to turn golden, add the chopped onion and fry till it starts becoming golden. Now add the mattar/peas and saute for a minute before adding the Paneer. saute for couple of minutes and add chilli pow, turmeric powder, coriander powder and garam masala. mix well and then add the Poha. Mix the ingredients well and now add the salt and  stir/mix the Poha well so that the salt can evenly spread. after two minutes turn off the gas and add the chopped coriander leaves for garnishing and serve the Poha hot with a dash of Lemon :)

I had a hearty Poha breaky wid Alphonso Mango n Fig milkshake and my daily dose of Yakult

 

Oats Idly Upma with Sprouts and Spring Onions

This afternoon I was in no mood to make normal lunch and neither wanted to order food from outside. While raiding my food shelf, I spotted the MTR Oats Idly mix I had brought some days back, hence decided that this would be my lunch. 3 idlies were leftover...

 

Around 5:00 p.m. I had this severe hunger pang and I remembered that 3 idlies were there from the lunchtime. Deciding to make something exciting with them, I thought of making Idly upma by adding more than the usual dose of veggies (Usually the only veggie added is Onion).

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Idly: 3 pcs, broken finely

Sprouts: handful

Capsicum: 2 inches long, cut into thin slices

Onion: 1 medium, cut into thin slices

Curry Leaves: 10 leaves

Spring Onions: Chopped, handful

Mustard: 1/2 tsp

Hing: 1/2 tsp

Dosai Mulagaipodi: 1/2 tbsp

Coriander leaves: little for garnishing, finely chopped.

Oil: Sesame or Olive 1/2 tbsp

Salt: to taste, I didn't add any salt as the idly and Mulagaipodi already had the required salt.

 

Preparation time 10 minutes, Cooking time - 8 minutes.

 

 

 

Method:

 

In a wok/kadai, add the oil. Once heated, add the mustard and hing. When the mustard starts to splutter, add the onions and saute for 2 mins. Ensure that the onions are crispy. Now add the Capsicum and Sprouts and saute for another couple of minutes. Now add the curry leaves and spring onions and saute for another minute. Its time now to add the Idly and Dosai Mulagaipodi and mix well. Leave it on the gas for another minute. Garnish with coriander leaves and the Healthy snack is ready to be eaten.

 

Note:

 

This dish doesn't usually require a chutney to go with, but you can choose to serve this with any Chutney or Tomato sauce.