Nellikai Sadam - Indian Gooseberry rice

There is a story in Tamil Nadu about the Sangam age king Athiyaman and his friend and the great poetess Avvaiyar. Athiyaman gets a fruit with magical powers - power to grant eternal life. The King, a great patron of Tamil that he was, realizes that the life of a poet is more valuable than his own and offers the fruit to Avvaiyar. We, of course, do not know if Avvaiyar infact ate the fruit. If she did and if you happen to chance upon this blog, dear Avvai patti, please leave a comment! But -- our interest is about that magical life enhancing fruit. The special fruit was none other than Amla, Nellikani.

From Google Images

All parts of the Nellikai plant are used in various Ayurvedic and Unani medicine. It is the only fruit contains all tastes like sour, sweet,  bitter, pungent  and astringent except salt. According to Ayurveda there are six tastes. Amla has five tastes out of six. If it would have all the six taste it might be called as amrita (divine fruit) instead of Amla.
Though the size of the nelliaki / amla is small, it is packed with Vitamin C, protein, carbohydrate, fibre and minerals. Nellikai is an antioxidant, helps in regulating blood pressure. Maintains the cholesterol level. Has anti diabetic quality and anti bacterial property, helps in the digestive system and prevents from ulcer. Ladies, mainly used for hair conditioning and prevent premature greying. My mom still puts dried nellikai while grinding shikakai mixture at home. It also helps us to cool our body.

 Normally we make pickles and pachadi out of nellikai. If you are like me, wanted to cook new recipe for the lunch box, then go head and try this. A bowl full of goodness invites you to dig in and gives a full refreshment to your body and mind.

Ingredients : 3 nos -- Nellikai / Amla  medium size 1 cup -- Rice 1 tsp -- Mustard seeds 1 tsp -- Jeera 1 tbsp -- Urad dal 1 tbsp -- Channa dal 1/4 cup -- Peanuts 5-6 nos -- Dry chili 3 - 4 tbsp -- Oil 2 tbsp -- Gingely oil (optional) 1/2 tsp -- Turmeric powder Coriander leaves to garnish. Salt to taste. Method : --- Pressure cook the rice with right amount of water. --- Try not to make the rice mushy. Once the steam is gone, transfer the rice in a big plate and let it cool completely. Drizzle the gingely oil, if using over the rice. Gingely oil gives rich taste to the food. --- While the rice is cooling. Grate the nellikai. --- In a pan, add the oil and heat in the medium heat. When it is hot add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add jeera, channa dal, urad dal, peanuts and the red dry chilies. --- Once the dal color changes to golden colour add the grated nellikai and the turmeric powder and saute it for a minute. --- Turn off the heat and pour the mixture over the cooling rice and add salt according to taste. --- Using a wooden spoon mix the rice thoroughly, avoid the breaking of rice. --- Garnish with cut coriander leaves. *** Note : According to your taste, you can change all the ingredients level.

Enjoy the 5 tastes of nellikai in the rice.

Sources : Wikipedia, Indian food, Dhyanfoundation blog, Krishna, Rajaputan agrico

Its Mango time... Mango rice

March month is marching fast. One side cricket world cup, other side board exams, in between elections. Oh, the days are really running fast. The good thing about this month are the fresh mangoes. The green fresh mangoes are already in the markets.

I like to eat mangoes in all the form, fresh green mango, pulpy fruit mango, dried mango pickles, yummmm. My mother will make different variety recipes using the mangoes. Starting from March till May, almost daily we have mango in our meal. Either it will be in sambar, pickle, pachadi, rice, vatha kuzhambu, thokku, mango paruppu, etc. Living in the US for the past couple of years, I missed mangoes a lot. We do get mangoes all through the year and mangoes imported from India during the summer but it was that very rare bunch that had the taste and flavour.

Mangoes are rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidant.These comforting enzymes act as a digestive aid and can be held partially responsible for that feeling of contentment we experience during and after our daily mango ritual. An average sized mango can contain up to 40% of your daily fiber requirement. (Facts : All about Mangoes)

In this season, I bought a couple of mangoes yesterday and tried one of my favorite recipe Mango rice.

The recipe for making the rice is very simple. It is more like making lemon rice.

Ingredients : 4-5 cup -- Cooked rice 1 no -- Mango** 1 tsp -- turmeric powder 1 tsp -- Mustard seeds 1 tbsp -- Chana dal 1 tbsp -- Urad dal 1 tsp -- Jeera 3 no -- Green chillies Salt -- To taste 2-3 tsp -- Oil Method : --- Wash the mango, peel off the skin and grate it. ** Select the sour mango fot this recipe, you will enjoy it better. --- Keep a pan in the medium heat, add oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seed, once its popped, add jeera, chana dal and urad dal. --- Once the dal color is fried, add the grated mango, turmeric powder and green chillies. --- Saute the mango for 5 minutes. Since we are using grated mango, cooking will be very fast. --- Now mango mixture it is ready to mix. --- Add the mixture to the mixed rice. According to your taste, add salt. You can add salt either in the last stage or while you saute the mango. --- The rice is ready to serve.

A Upma with many names

Morkali upma, khozamaa upma, Arisi upma, Morkuzh upma - one upma with different names. If you call by any other name, please write to me.

This upma is traditional recipe but not a popular one. If you ask your Paati (granny) or Kollu paati, she will tell you about this upma along with a nice old stories. Hearing the old stories, oh man, that's the best moment in your life. Sometime if my mom and her brothers were together, we kids will ask about their childhood. They used to talk about their childhood, school days, nick names, movies, books and the delicious food. Hope I will enjoy the same moment when I meet them all next month. Can't wait to see them all !

Whenever my mom prepare this upma, she always talk about her mom and the kitchen arrangement in the earlier days. No gas, no kerosene stove, my paati used to prepare in the traditional coal stove called 'kumuti adupu'. My mom prepares this upma in the same way except the coal stove.

I never tried this recipe until a month ago. Believe it or not, within this last 20 days I did this upma twice. Its an easy recipe, need no special ingredients or even a side dish. It will be best with a side dish, which I will tell  later.

Ingredients : 1 cup -- Rice flour 2/3 cup -- Yogurt (will be nice if it is little sour) 1 cup -- Water 1/3 cup -- Oil (Trust me, you need it) 1 tsp -- Turmeric powder 2 tbsp -- Urad dal 2 tbsp -- Chana dal 1 tsp -- Mustard seed Dash of  Asafoetida 7-8 nos -- Red dried chillies or Mor millagai Salt to taste Curry leaves (optional) Method: --- In a bowl mix the rice flour, turmeric powder, Asafoetida, salt, yogurt and water. --- Make the batter watery, like below. No harm in adding more water, if you need to get this consistency. --- Take a heavy bottom pan with the oil. Turn the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and once they are cracked add the urad dal, chana dal and dry chillies. If you are using mor millagai, adjust the salt accordingly. --- If using curry leaves, add them also now. --- Fry the mixture until the dal colour is changed to golden brown. Now slowly and carefully pour the rice flour batter to the oil mixture. --- The main important thing, don't use spatula and disturb the mixture. Big surprise is awaiting at the bottom of the pan. --- All the oil will be floating on top of the mixture, don't panic these oil will be absorbed once upma is cooked. --- Close the pan and cook the mixture for 10-12 minutes, once cooked take a wooden spatula and mix the upma without touching the bottom of the pan. Shhhh that's the secret, we talked earlier. --- Now comes the magic. Once the upma is being mixed, the oil which was floating above will get absorbed. This increase the flavour and the taste of the upma. --- Transfer the upma onto a bowl and now you can see a thick layer, called Kaanthal in tamizh, stuck onto the bottom of the pan. --- Let the pan to cool for a while. Using the wooden spatula, take the upma which is struck in the bottom of the pan. This is a little work, but your hard work will be paid at the end. --- You will get a nice crispy, tasty Kaanthal from the bottom. --- This is the best side dish to eat along with this upma. If you don't want to have crispy part, just mix the recipe  in the first stage itself. Then you will not get the fun tasty crispy upma at the bottom of the pan.

Isn't this upma simple and easy. Enjoy the traditional tasty upma with your family and talk the old stories.

Mexican tomatillo rice

Did you know, Tomatillo is a fruit ?
Tomatillos are not the unripe tomatoes, they are totally a different variety but same family.
Tomatillos means little tomato in Spanish, and they are used mostly inMexican cuisine. Mexican rice, salsa cruda, salsa Verde, salads, etc.

I like the green colour and a distinct tangy taste of the tomatillos a lot. Mostly, I cook them with the dal or put them in the salad. A few days ago, I made the tomato rice, when I realized that I should not try the same using the Tomatillos. Today, I gave it a try.

Ingredients : 1 cup --- Rice 1 no --- Onion, medium size finely chopped 4-5 tbsp --- oil 1 tsp --- Jeera 2 clove --- Garlic Few cilantro Salt to taste Pinch of turmeric for color. To puree: 4-5 nos --- Tomatillos, medium size 2 nos --- Jalapeno small size *** 5 nos --- small Indian chili Method: It is a one pot meal, I cooked this in the pressure pan. Easyyyyyy.... --- In the pressure pan, add the oil and turn the heat to medium. Once it is hot add a spoon of jeera to it. Simultaneously add the chopped onion and saute it. --- Meanwhile, wash the rice and drain the water. --- When the onion turns translucent, add the rice, garlic and saute them along with the onion for few minutes, until the rice turns slightly golden brown. --- Add the tomatillo puree, pinch of turmeric and salt to the rice mixture and 2 cups of water for rice to cook. *** Water depends on the rice quality. I used normal ponni rice. --- Close the pan and cook the rice for 2 whistle. --- Once the pressure is released, open the lid and let the rice cool for few minutes. --- Add the cilantro and serve warm with the roasted potatoes.