Bread Upma

Bread Upma literally translates to scrambled (sauteed) bread. This is my childhood memory on a plate. A staple in south indian households, often a great after school snack for kids, and a great way to use day old bread.

This demonstrates the simplicity of good food. Served with mint chutney, this is my perfect supper.

Although often made with plain white bread, I used simple wheat to make it more hearty.

10 slices wheat bread (serves 4), crumbs removed and chopped into 2″ pieces
1 tbsp canola oil + 2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp channa dal (bengal gram lentil)
1 tsp urad dal (black gram lentil)
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (popularly available brand is “L.G”)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 chillies, finely chopped (indian, thai or serrano kind
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat oil and butter in a pot, over medium heat. Just when the butter starts melting add mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the butter starts turning golden, add both lentils in. Fry for a minute until the lentils starts turning golden brown.

Now add the finely chopped green chillies and onions. Fry for 5 minutes until the onions soften and are cooked thoroughly. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt, mix well and drop the heat to low while preparing the bread to add in.

Remove the crusts off the bread and chop once vertically across the middle and thrice horizontally to create 6 pieces out of every slice. Prepare all 10 slices similarly. Add the pieces to the onion mixture and mix well. Add the tablespoon of water so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Mix this all together so the spice onion mixture coats all the bread pieces evenly. The volume of the bread will drop but, it will still keep it’s texture.

Leave on low heat for 5 minutes stirring once in  while. This will help the bread soak up all the flavor from the onion spice mixture. Add chopped cilantro and lemon juice, stir and serve hot with mint chutney.

The lentils stay crunchy, the spices with the little butter add a nutty savory flavor with the bread hearty and chewy. It really is a party in your mouth.

Simple Coconut Green Beans

Here is an authentic south-indian style green bean recipe. It’s delectable!

1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed, washed and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces.
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
2 tsp whole black gram dal ( also known as urad lentil it is similar to the commonly available moong lentils)
3-4 dried red chillies, roughly crushed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup freshly grated coconut ( fresh or frozen coconut available in most indian stores. This is not the dry sweetened coconut available in regular grocery stores usually used in desserts)

In a saute pan, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds and as soon as it starts spluttering, add the asafoetida and whole black gram dal. Fry for a minute until the urad turns golden brown. Add the slightly crushed red chillies and fry for 10 seconds and immediately add the chopped beans.

Add salt and cover and cook for 15-20 minutes over medium heat.

Uncover, check if beans are cooked through. If it is not cooked, cover and let cook some more. Once the beans are done, sprinkle the grated coconut and increase the heat to medium-high heat.

Saute for another 10 minutes and serve hot with steamed basmati rice.

Potatoes in Tomato-Fenugreek Gravy

Here is how I used some great south indian ingredients like fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and mustard seeds with potatoes and tomatoes. It makes a comforting and spicy side dish to any bread or steamed rice.

3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp split black gram dal (Urad dal)
1 tsp fenugreek(methi) seeds
10-12 curry leaves, chopped (leaves from 1-2 stems)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp canola oil

To make into a paste :

3 medium tomatoes, halved
1 ” piece ginger, rough chopped
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup grated fresh cocnut

Add the tomatoes, ginger, asafoetida powder, coconut, red chilli powder and salt. Grind together into a smooth paste and set aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds, as soon as it starts popping, add the black gram dal and fry until it starts to turn golden. Add the methi seeds, fry for 10 seconds and add in the chopped onions, half of the curry leaves and saute until the onions turns golden.

Add the pureed tomato-coconut mixture and a tsp of salt  to the onions stir well. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes until the tomato masala cooks through. Mix in the chopped potatoes, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but not mushy.

Sprinkle rest of the curry leaves on top and serve with chapati or with steamed rice.

Simple Pureed Spinach

This authentic Tamilian(Southern Indian) dish is simple yet comforting. The toasted fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds add to the flavor and aroma, the urad dal gives it texture and dried red chillies for spice. It makes a great side dish with rice. Typically served over a hot bed of cooked rice with ghee drizzled on top.

2 large bunches of fresh spinach
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp urad dal
3 dried red chillies, halved

Wash the spinach leaves and roughly chop them. Bring 3-4 tbsps of water to a boil in a pan and add the salt and spinach. Cook over medium heat. Since spinach leaves contain a lot of water, you do not want to add too much water. Cook until the spinach is tender.

Using a hand blender mash the spinach into a smooth puree.

In a dry pan, roast the fenugreek seeds, watch closely to avoid burning. Roast them until golden and powder them using a blender.

In another small pan, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, just when they splutter add the urad dal and crushed red chillies. Remove from heat, stir in the powdered fenugreek seeds and add this to the pureed spinach. Mix well and serve hot.

South Indian Stir Fried Lentils

A common dish from back home, this makes a filling and healthy snack. You could use a a couple of varieties of Indian Lentils or even the regular green lentils or puy lentils for this dish.

2 cups green lentils ( you could also use Split Bengal Gram(channa)  or Split Green Gram (moong) Dals)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp split black gram dal(urad dal)
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
4-5 dried red chillies, crushed
8-10 curry Leaves, finely chopped

Bring salted water to a boil. Add the lentils and cook until soft, around 10 minutes. Drain and let sit for 5 minutes.

In a nonstick pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and as soon as they start popping add asafoetida, salt, dried red chillies and urad dal. Fry until dal starts to turn golden. Add the curry leaves, salt and stir.

Add this mixture to the cooked lentils, toss together and serve warm.

Curry Leaf Chutney

Curry leaf is one of my favorite herbs. It is the soul of Tamilian (Southern Indian) cooking. They add such a complex layer to food with their savory, fresh and slightly lemony taste. It is common misconception that curry powder or any and all curries are made from curry leaves. They have nothing to with curry powder or most northern indian curries.

This chutney was a staple during my childhood. It is versatile and makes a great condiment to most crispy indian snacks like pakoras, bhajjis and samosas. They also pair well with south indian breakfast dishes like idly, dosa and upma.

5-6 stems curry leaves, washed
1 inch piece fresh tamarind (substitute 1/2 tsp tamarind paste)
2 tsp black gram dal
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
4 dried red chillies
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp canola oil

Pluck the leaves from the stem, discard the stems and wash the leaves well and set aside.

Heat a pan with 1 tsp oil over medium heat. Add the tamarind and curry leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes until the curry leaves slightly wilt. Transfer this to a blender.

In the same pan, add another tsp of oil and heat over medium heat. Add the black gram dal and fry till it starts to turn golden. Add the red chillies, asafoetida and fry for 30 seconds. Transfer this to the blender along with the curry leaves

Add salt and blend everything together into a smooth paste. Use a few tablespoons of water or as needed. Serve at room temperature.

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. Here are the rules if you want to participate and  here’s Who’s Hosting Weekend Herb Blogging if you’d like to join the weekly celebration of cooking with fresh herbs.

Urad-Onion-Methi Vadai

Vadai is a common south Indian appetizer/snack dish. You could classify it as a flour-based dumpling or a fritter( sorta!). The main ingredients in this dish are Urad dal and fresh methi leaves.

Urad Dal is also known as black gram dal and available commonly in any Indian store near you. Methi leaves(aka fenugreek leaves) although less common is available in some Indian stores as well. You could also use dried methi as a substitute. Like any other dried herb, the dired version is much more stong in flavor than the fresh leaves. Here is what they both look like :

1 1/2 cups of urad dal, washed and soaked in lukewarm water for an hour

1 large onion, finely chopped
4 indian green chillies, finely chopped ( I always include the seeds, you can remove them

1/2 cup of methi(aka fenugreek leaves), washed and roughly chopped (if you can’t find fresh leaves use 1 tbsp dried methi)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder

1/4 tsp asafoetida powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt

oil for shallow frying

Make sure the urad dal is washed well atleast a couple of times before it is soaked. Add the soaked urad dal to a blender and with as little water as possible grind this into a thick batter. If you add too much water the vadai will be extra oily, or it will be so liquidy that you cannot drop it into oil. You must not be using more than 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. The final batter should look something like this-

Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl.  Add in the onions, chillies, methi leaves, cilantro, salt, baking powder, turmeric, asafoetida and coriander powder to this. Mix well and this is your batter for frying.

In a frying pan, add about an inch thick layer of oil and heat for 5 minutes on medium heat. Use a tablespoon to measure the batter and drop into the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan.

Fry on all sides and drain them on paper towels. Serve hot with mint chutney, tomato chutney or onion chutney.

I am entering this dish into the EFM-Savories event hosted by SrishKitchen.

Pearl Onion Chutney

2 cups or 1 bags pearl onions ( I used frozen, thawed at room temperature )
1 tbsp split black gram dal/urad dal
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
6 dried red chillies
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp or marble sized ball of fresh tamarind (substitute : 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste)
2 tbsp + 2 tsp canola oil

Heat 2 tsp oil over medium-high heat and add the pearl onions. Cook on high heat until the onions soften and start browning. Cook until all the onions evenly brown and caramelize, around 5 minutes stirring every minute. Set aside to cool.

Heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat and add the urad dal and asafoetida. Fry for a few seconds or until the dal starts to turn golden brown. Add the dried red chillies, tamarind and remove from heat.

Add the onions and the fried spices to a blender, add salt and blend until smooth. If it’s so thick that you are unable to blend, loosen it up a bit with 1-2 tbsp water.

This chutney is very versatile best served with south indian breakfast dishes like vadai, upma or pongal. I also love using this as a dip for bagel crisps, pita chips or any crunchy snack.

Rava Upma

Rava is the tamil name for powdered semolina. It is coarser than semolina flour but finer than small pasta. Upma is the tamil name of this dish, which can be made with rava, vermicelli, tapioca or cracked wheat.

Upma is a staple in any south indian home and my comfort food! It is typically eaten as breakfast but could also be eaten as supper.

I grew up eating this dish on most weekends and my mom is “THE” expert of making this. This is my humble attempt at being half as good a cook as her! Making this transports me to my mums kitchen in Chennai, India and makes my kitchen smell amazing!

A great combination is to fill Pesarattu with rava upma inside and eat for breakfast. But either pesarattu or upma on their own makes a meal by itself.

2 cups rava (also known as sooji or suji in indian stores)
1 large onion, diced
2 potatoes, washed and diced
1/2 cup peas (I use frozen peas thawed to room temperature)
You can improvise and add more veggies like carrots, corn, string beans.
5 dried red chillies (You could also use any green chilli you have in hand. You will need 4 serranos or 2 jalapenos, or 5-6 indian green chillies)
3 tbsp butter (you could use canola oil, butter makes it extra delicious)
1 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp urad dal (split black gram dal)
1″ piece ginger, minced
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp salt
4 cups water
3-4 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the rava. We are dry roasting the rava, so no oil. Keep roasting the rava by stirring it continuously to prevent the bottom from burning. Roast for 5 minutes until some of the rava turns opaque/slightly golden. Remove and set aside.

Melt the butter in the saute pan over medium heat until it starts turning slightly golden. Add in the mustard seeds and just when they start to pop, add the urad dal and asafotida. Fry for a couple of seconds until the urad dal start to turn golden brown. Roughly break the red chillies and add them in. Saute for another few seconds and add the onions and ginger. Cook until onions turn slightly brown, around 5 minutes.

Stir in the potatoes and peas, add a tsp of salt, cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Add the roasted rava and remaining salt to this and mix well together. Add in 4 cups water and keep stirring well until the water is well incorporated with the rava mixture. It is important to keep sitrring in this step to avoid any lumps. If you do find the rava clumping, then lower the heat and break all the lumps gently.

Cover and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes. Uncover, stir the mixture gently to check if it’s done. The rava must be soft, creamy, slightly fluffy and importantly must not be sticky. If you think it is still a bit watery or too dense, then drizzle in some canola oil and stir well and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes.

Sprinkle chopped cilantro over the top, add the lemon juice, mix well and serve warm with any chutney you like. I had some Onion chutney to serve with.

I have entered this dish for the Food For Thought event hosted by Erin at The Skinny Gourmet.

South Indian Potato Curry

4 large all purpose potatoes, washed well, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal( split black gram dal)
1 tsp channa dal(split bengal gram dal)
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 ” piece ginger, finely chopped
2 tsp salt
6-8 curry leaves, roughly chopped
5 dried red chillies, roughly chopped
4 tbsp canola oil

Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.  Add the mustard seeds and ginger. As soon as the mustrad seeds start spluttering, add in the asafoetida, urad and channa dal. Fry until the dals turn golden brown. Add in red chilli peppers fry for a few seconds and add the onions and turmeric powder. Sauteé for another 5-7 minutes until the onions start to brown. Add the curry leaves and fry for another minute.

Add the chopped potatoes, salt mix well, drop the heat to medium and cover. Cook covered for 5-7 minutes. Uncover, cook for another 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Serve with rice or Indian bread.

Tomato Chutney

There are many variations to making tomato chutney, this is my south indian version.

3 Ripe Tomatos
2 indian Green chillies
2 Dried Red Chillies
1 tsp black mustard seeds              
1 tsp urad dal (also known as black gram dal)
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 – 1 tsp salt, depending on your taste
1 tsp coriander seeds 
10 curry leaves (1-2 stems)
1 tbsp oil 
1/2″ ginger piece

In a nonstick pan, heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, ginger, coriander seeds asafoetida and both the chillies. Fry for 2 minutes until the urad dal is slightly browned.

Add the tomatoes and salt. Cook for about 7-8 minutes until the spices release their aroma and the tomatoes begin to breakdown and cook. Add the curry leaves and let wilt for a few seconds.

 Remove from heat and let cool completely before transferring to a blender. Grind it to a fine paste and serve with any savory dish. It would also make a great dip, you could serve it with toasted pita wedges or focaccia.

Aaloo Curry (South Indian version)

Here is one of my all time favorite side dishes to serve with Pooris or any Indian bread. This was a standard Sunday feast my mum used to make when I was a kid. It brings back endearing memories and the smell of home whenever I make it.

3 large potatoes ( I use yukon gold)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup curry leaves, finely chopped
1 1/2  inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp channa dal ( Bengal Gram Dal)
1/2 tsp Split Urad Dal ( split Black gram Dal)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
3 tbsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp salt

Fill a large pot of cold water, salt liberally and add in the potatoes. Place over high heat and boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until fork tender. Drain, cool and peel them.

In a nonstick pan, heat the ghee over medium heat and add in the mustard seeds. Just when it beings to splutter, add in the channa dal and Urad dal. Let the dals slightly brown. Now add in the chillies, ginger, turmeric and asafoetida powders. Fry on heat for about a minute and then add in the chopped onions. Fry until the onions are translucent and just begins to brown.

Break all the boiled potatoes with your hands over the onion mixture. You do not want to mash the potatoes, just roughly crush them with your hands so that there are still big chunks of potatoes in the curry. Sprinkle the salt and stir everything well together. Be gentle, over stirring could make the potatoes mushy and break down.

 The mixture will be quite dry now, add in 1/2 cup of water to give it more of a gravy consistency.

Let it boil over mediumlow heat for 5 – 10 minutes just so that all the flavors blend in well together. Finally add in the cilantro and curry leaves, stir one final time and Serve with hot Poori, Chapathi or Naan

Spiced Sesame Powder (Yellu Podi)

Here is my mom’s classic recipe for Sesame powder which is authentic South Indian food. We usually eat it mixed with rice, drizzled with ghee on top. It’s just heavenly!

Sesame seeds are known as Yellu(or Ellu) in Tamil. Podi is the Tamil word for powder.  So this dish is called Yellu (Ellu) Podi.

1 cup black seasame seeds (You could also use the white one. I use black ones because it looks a bit more exotic and it is also more fragrant and more intense tasting than white ones. You could use white sesame seeds for a milder flavor.

1 tbsp gingely oil (aka Sesame oil) Traditional South Indian- Tamilian cooking always uses ginegly oil. Sorry, but no substitute for it, this is a key ingredient.

1/4 cup bengal gram dal ( Kadalai paruppu in tamil or Chana Dal in Hindi)
1/4 cup split black gram dal ( Ulutham paruppu in tamil or Urad Dal in Hindi)
1 tbsp coriander seeds
7 dried whole red chillis ( If you like it really spicy, make it 10)
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
1 tsp salt

Add half of the oil in a pan, add in the Bengal gram, split black gram dal and Asafoetida powder. Fry on medium heat until the dals turn golden brown. Keep tossing them around continuously so they don’t burn. Set aside to cool.

In the same pan add the remaining oil, when it is heated add in the mustard seeds. Just when they begin to splutter add the coriander seeds and toss them on medium heat till they are roasted and smell crazy good ! Set aside to cool.

In the same pan dry roast the red chillis on medium-high heat and toss them for 2 minutes. Set aside.

Now add the sesame seeds in and dry roast them on low heat till they roasted. Be sure to keep tossing, they tend to burn very easily. It’s hard to judge with black sesame seeds when they brown or burn. So be extra careful. Keep the heat low and you can easily judge with the smell. It may take 2-3minutes. Set aside.

Grind the dals in a blender or food processor first. It has to be coarse where you can still see a few broken pieces of dal. Transfer to a bowl. Now grind the coriander & mustard seed mixture with red chillis a bit smoother than what you did with the dals. Add to the same bowl as the ground dals.

Now grind the sesame seeds. Be sure not to grind it more than a few seconds. If ground too much, it will release it’s natural oil and form a paste ( Not appetizing!) You want it to be a coarse powder. Just a one pulse will break it down. Maybe two pulses at most.

Mix it with the earlier ground ingredients in the bowl. Add the salt and mix well. If you are going to store it, then make sure it’s in an airtight container. Try not to store it for more than a couple of weeks. The oil in the sesame might make it smell a bit stale after a few weeks.

Eating it fresh with steaming hot rice drizzled with ghee on top is the absolutely greatest thing in this world ever! It magically transports me home and to my mom’s kitchen every time. Comfort food at it’s best!

Daikon Radish Curry

Daikon Radish is an often used ingredient in Southern Indian (State of Tamilnadu) cuisine. Here is a great side dish using this delicious juicy vegetable. It goes great with rice or just on it’s own as a snack. I love it so much that I eat it even with yogurt, or even just plain toasted bread or pita bread. This literally takes just under 20 minutes to make and it’s a very simple and straightforward recipe which is loaded with great flavor.

5 Daikon Radishes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp Split Black gram dal ( Ulutham paruppu in Tamil and Urad Dal in Hindi)
1 tsp bengal gram dal ( Kadalai paruppu in Tamil and Chana Dal in Hindi)
1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 Indian green chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
5 curry leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp Canola oil

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the mustard seeds. When it just about begins to splutter, quickly add the green chilli, asafoetida powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and both the dals. Fry for about a minute on medium heat until the dals become golden brown in color.

Now add in the radish and add the salt. Sautee for another minute making sure all the radish pieces are coated well with all the masala in the bottom of the pan. Drop the heat down to low and cook covered for about 8-10 minutes, until the radishes are tender. You will find some liquid in the pan given out from the radish.

Now add in the red chilli powder and cook uncovered on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. Once the radish has fully cooked through (fork tender) check for seasonings and add in the chopped curry leaves and cilantro and mix well. After another minute on heat, Remove and Serve.