Mahanandi is moving to a new web location, www.themahanandi.org on its fourth anniversary. The website grew in content and visitors and needed a dedicated domain.
New content will be posted on the new site, www.themahanandi.org from now on. The old location, www.nandyala.org/mahanandi will continue to exist at its present location.
Welcome to the new home: www.themahanandi.org . I look forward to seeing you there.
Our apartment has tiny balcony, just enough space for container gardening. I have planted mint, dill and basil for herbs, and also cherry tomato, chilli pepper and small variety brinjal plants. That’s my garden log for summer 08. How about you? What are you planning to plant this season? Any new/exotic plants? Share your garden tips and tools.
Almonds (Badam) – one cup
Water – 5 cups
Maple syrup – Half cup (or sugar to taste)
Soak almonds in water overnight or for at least four hours.
Drain the water. Rinse the almonds and take them in a blender.
Adding water gradually, puree to smooth.
Pour through a muslin cloth into a big pitcher or bowl to extract milk.
Run the pulp through blender one more time, adding water.
Strain through muslin cloth for milk, and save the pulp to add in curries.
To the almond milk, add maple syrup. Mix with a spoon.
Refrigerate for half an hour. Drink or enjoy with cereal, oatmeal or poha.
For Ugadi, I’ve prepared payasam with almond milk. Smooth, creamy with almond-maple flavor, Payasam naivedyam tasted excellent.
Simple, inexpensive and adaptable to many flavors, rice milk is like glacial water. Thick, creamy and sweet. My recipe is loosely based on the Horchata that they serve at mom and pop style Mexican restaurants. Rice and almonds ground together and I flavored the milk with cardamom and jaggery. This is my first try and we both, Vijay and I, liked the result very much. Here is how I prepared it:
Ingredient list:
(Fills 4 small glasses)
3/4 cup – brown basmati rice
1/3 cup – almonds
6 cardamom pods- seeds coarsely crushed
6 cups – water
1/4 cup – jaggery (or sugar)Wet grinder or blender
1: Soak almonds in warm water for about 30 minutes and then peel the skins.
Grind rice to fine, using a blender or spice grinder, until a semolina like texture is achieved.
2: Combine the rice powder, almonds and cardamom. Add about 4 cups of water and mix. Keep the mixture covered overnight.
3: Next morning, place the mixture and jaggery in a stone grinder or blender. Gradually adding two cups of water, blend to smooth. Pour the rice milk through cheesecloth or filter into a bowl. Gently squeezing/stirring, extract the milk. Refrigerate the rice milk for about 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
If you wish, add lemon or orange juice and bananas to the milk and blend to make a great tasting rice milk smoothie.
Kitchen Notes:
The idea here is to use unpolished, unmilled rice. If you think for a minute, it’s easy to see that nutrient-rich brown rice makes a great tasting milk than the one prepared with polished, white rice. And, brown rice goodness and basmati’s sweetness make brown basmati, a perfect choice to prepare rice milk.
Recipe idea for leftover rice-almond sediment: Vennai Puttu (Sweet from Tamilnadu, India)
Recently I have received a cookbook to review. The title of the book is “Cooking at home with Pedatha”.
Atha (or attha) means father’s sister in Telugu. Pedatha means eldest Atha. After grandparents, Pedatha, an authority motherly figure is the most important person and pedatha’s advice and asheerwad (blessings), are always sought in our homes during difficult times and for celebrations. We respect pedatha. After reading and trying a couple of recipes from Pedatha’s cookbook, I felt like I’ve found an emerald gem that would bring good health and good luck to my cooking.
Here in this cookbook, the authors Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain captured their Pedatha’s 85-years kitchen experience and wisdom. A blend of hot, sweet, sour and aromatic flavors, often all in one dish – the genius and simplicity of Andhra cooking, are laid out in endearing detail. Rice preparations, simple stir-fry curries, spicy powders, savory rasams and traditional sweets are all explained in Pedatha’s words. The result is like a marriage of perfect flavorings with natural goodness of fresh ingredients.
What I particularly liked about this cookbook is how it speaks to us, the Indians. It has an authentic voice which is compelling. I am from Nandyala, Andhra Pradesh and almost all of the recipes are just the way my mother would prepare. There are no shortcuts and there is no compromise in authenticity to please the western audience taste. Accompanied by breathtaking images, the recipes are easy to follow and most of them can be cooked in a short 30-minute time.
The only drawback I can think of is, when compared to ‘Hummer’ size cookbooks in vogue now, this book with 61 recipes in 87 pages may look like ‘Toyota Prius’. On the other hand, this may not be a drawback at all. I think even a newbie will easily get an idea and can cook a decent full fledged Andhra feast called “vindu bhojanam”, following the recipes, images and the menu ideas.
If you are like me, uninspired by cookbooks that devoid of originality and authenticity, often poor victims of meddling editing and mega publishers pressuring tactics, and hungry for a true Indian cookbook, then this book is for you. You may be a novice or an experienced cook, “Cooking at home with Pedatha” with its clutterfree instructions and clean, pleasant images will definitely assist and delight you just like Pedatha in our lives. Check it out!
Cookbooks are dime a dozen here in USA, but they are rare in India. There is no cottage cookbook industry and publishing a cookbook particularly one that focuses on regional cooking is still a big deal. Most of the times it’s truly a labor of love.
I wanted to know who inspired and what motivated the authors, and how they survived the brutal publishing phase to bring the book into market. Pratibha and Jigyasa responded immediately to my questions and were kind to this newbie. Thanks Pratibha and Jigyasa!
Here is my interview with the authors.
You have made an excellent book with uncompromising authentic recipes. What motivated you to write and publish this book? Who is your intended audience?
Thank you for the compliments. Frankly, the main motivating factor was pure love. When you meet Pedatha, you will realize how true this answer is. You know Indira, most of the things we have done in life have always been planned. Strangely, this book was never an agenda. Both of us like interacting with elders very much and we just used to visit Pedatha and chat – invariably about food, for such is her passion for cooking. When that personal collection became a book…. it was destiny’s hand and we just went along with the force of it.
Regarding the audience, we thought it was a niche product. Therefore, the only way to appeal to a wider audience was the idea of a coffee table book. Honestly, we never ever expected to go into second print, and so soon.
Our elders, who are greatly experienced in our cooking styles are exceptional assets for us. “Peddatha” is one such great asset. What did she think about publishing her recipes in the form of a book?
She would be very excited about teaching us whenever we visited her. But later, when the idea of a book emerged (initially from Jigyasa’s husband who said this is not a personal collection, this is a book in the making), she was very apologetic and shy. She kept saying it was home food and that there was nothing to it. In fact, she also once said that she feared people would say that she had misled us ‘little girls’ into thinking that her food was exceptional.
We remember one day when she said the same thing again. And we told her, “Pedatha, does a pearl know its worth? Only a jeweler knows that. So you Pedatha, are our precious pearl and we are your jewelers. Oh how she laughed and said – Now I understand. Ok ok.”
After all the fame and interviews, she is still as simple as always. We can’t stop marveling at that. But she thanks us a hundred times and laughs – “Without walking the ramp, you naughty girls have made me a model”. She calls us – The three Musketeers. She calls our laptop a lapdog because she says it has been so faithful to her. She thinks the recipes are just as she cooks them.
The beauty of the book you made truly portrays the essence of the recipes you put in the book. Cooking is intensively skilled process. Recording and reproducing these processes in the form of a book requires another level of skills too. What was your approach and method to create such wonderful design, photographs and narration? Who was your inspiration?
The first step of inspiration was Pedatha’s photographs – we were
stunned when we saw the results of the camera. I guess from there, we just had to make a book that blended with her pictures.
Regarding the layout and graphics, all credits to our team – Prabodh Jain (every adjective mentioned in the thanks note in the book is just apt – creativity and sustained vision) – he nudged us along every step of the way, challenging us not to compromise; Kavitha Shivan, our young layout designer, is a dream to work with (if u put aside her moods:) and spells of inactivity), guess that’s what creativity is about. In fact, Kavitha played a vital role in food presentation. Srivatsa, our photographer, simple, genuine and hard working – ever willing.
Pratibha’s mom once asked her brother Prabodh what made him so passionate about this project. He said, “Mom! These girls will kill themselves for that right word, the right phrase (he had seen our endless editing and the dozens of times we tried each recipe). How can any of us not respond likewise!” This was a compliment indeed.
I can understand that publishing a book is not as simple a process as preparing a dish. You might have gone through a great deal of work to get the book in to the market. How did you survive through tedious process?
Once the book was ready, quite a few friends and relatives came forward to launch the books. You can see that in the calendar page of our site. Pedatha’s son Mr. A.P.Parigi, an encouraging, positive, friendly person, came forward to launch the book in a big way in Mumbai. That evening was a phenomenal success.
Apart from that, Westland immediately agreed to distribute in India. We are still far behind in distribution though. As single book authors, it is not easy to get a shelf place in stores. However, since we are primarily ambitious as writers, it gives us that space within ourselves not to get obsessed with sales and marketing beyond a point.
What do you think about food blogs and would you like to share anything else with the readers of food blogs?
Food blogs are a reaching-out point for most net savvy cooks. It is almost like a huge wave out there. So easy to find recipes now, just a click away. And in blogs, the responses from other readers to the recipes make it interesting, as well as help decision-making. The best thing is the photographs on food blogs – they are honest, the food looks as it cooks. We wish every food blog would have a grandma’s corner – recipes, health tips, and anecdotes. Grandmas and granddads are such an awesome phenomenon.
What a wonderful thing that blogs are free! Anywhere, anyone who has something to say or share has a forum to do so. Thanks to food bloggers, our kitchens are constant discovery zones now.
I have been cooking several recipes from the cookbook for the last few days. Traditional recipes that I totally forgot until now. One such recipe is plantain curry with mustard seeds paste. Known as arati ava pettina kura, this special, seasonal dish of Andhra is often prepared for festivals.
I’ve followed Pedatha’s words and instructions mostly, and added salt and chillies to suit my taste. The result was a spectacular, simple dish, which brought me incredible joy. The kind of joy and happiness one would feel when remembering a cherished memory or taste from the past. Thank you Pedatha!
Recipe:
2 plantains
peeled & cut into cubes – boiled in water just until tender & drained.For Mustard Seed ~ Coconut Paste:
2 teaspoons mustard seeds and 1 tablespoon of raw rice
(soaked in warm water for 10 minutes – to soften, so that they can grind well)
¼ cup of fresh grated coconut
8 green chillies – small, Indian variety
1 inch piece of ginger – peeled and cut to tiny pieces
¼ cup of fresh cilantro leaves and pinch of salt
grind them to smooth paste without adding any water – in a mortar or in a blenderFor popu or tadka:
1 tsp each – urad dal, cumin, mustard seeds
6 each- curry leaves and red chilli pieces
A pinch of asafetida powderSalt and turmeric to taste
In a wide skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil. Add and toast popu or tadka ingredients listed to gold color. Add the grinded paste. Saute until it leaves the raw smell for few minutes on medium heat. Add in boiled plantain cubes, turmeric and salt. Mix thoroughly. Sprinkle two tablespoons of water and cook covered for about 10 minutes stirring in-between.
Serve warm with chapati or rice.
Cooking at home with Pedatha:
Recommend this cookbook to your local libraries
Jigyasa and Pratibha’s Website: www.pritya.com
Cookbook cover and authors photo credit : Jigyasa and Pratibha
How can one convey nostalgia? I am no wordsmith and sometimes words escape me, so I try it with my camera lens.
A nourishing and delightfully scented, not so sweet but fun kind of treat from my childhood days is murmura laddu. Also known as borugula mudda in Telugu and rice crispies in English.
During December and January months (Sankranthi time), when parents are busy with harvesting rice and sugarcane, grand parents prepare these crunchy, homely sweets for children with freshly popped murmura from rice battis and just minted 24 karat quality jaggery. Jaggery syrup is prepared and murmura are added – just these two ingredients and tiny touch of cardamom – that’s it. Magical, irresistible laddus would be ready to keep us children (mouths) busy.
I am happy that I am finally able to recreate this Sankranthi magic on Mahanandi. Though recipe looks simple, I know how difficult it is to prepare these kinds of sweets, so I measured and timed the process to make it fail proof and for decent results. Give it a try.
Recipe:
Murmura (borugulu, puffed rice) – one quart
Jaggery – one cup (powdered)
Water – one cup
Cardamom – 2 (seeds powdered)
To test jaggery syrup readiness – Keep a small plate with cold water ready by stove side.
In a big, sturdy, thick-bottomed vessel, add water and jaggery. Cook on medium-high heat. Jaggery melts and begins to concentrate. When it starts foaming like shown in the photo above, it reached the consistency we want for this recipe. To test, add few drops of jaggery syrup to the cold water. When pushed with fingers, if the syrup can be rolled to a round and keeps share without melting in spite of tilting the plate to different directions, it is done and the syrup is ready. This whole process takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
Constantly stirring, add murmura. Also sprinkle in cardamom powder. Within one or two minutes, murmura starts to soak up the syrup and comes together in to dry mass. Turn off the heat. Remove the pot from the stovetop to countertop.
Wait for about 5 minutes for murmura-jaggery mixture to cool down and then start making laddus. Take a spoonful of mixture into hands and press gently into round shape. Keep a bowl of cold water on the side. Dip your hands in-between laddu making to keep hands unsticky and cool. Or ladle off the whole mixture into a greased pan. Press firmly and evenly. Cut into squares and let it cool. Break along the lines to separate the pieces.
Makes about 12 medium sized laddus or squares.
Kitchen Notes:
1 quart = 2 pints = 4 cups = 32 fluid ounces =.95 liter
Murmura and Jaggery are available at local Indian grocery shops.
Prepare this sweet with fresh, crunchy tasting murmura only, for best results.
One more recipe for murmura laddu – from Cooking Medley
You have friends visiting Hyderabad soon.
They want to bring something for you from Hyderabad.
What would you like to suggest?
Ask them to bring kaju sweet from the famous G.Pulla Reddy Sweets Shop for you.
That’s what we did. Our Maharashtrian friends from Houston made a visit to Hyderabad recently and this is what they brought us. Precious than gold and pure Andhra delight – this is a taste we crave during festival times, particularly during Dasera-Deepavali festival season.
Jumbo cashews gently fried in pure ghee and then cooked and coated with thin lace like golden jaggery syrup. No preservatives, no coloring agents, none of that artificial crap, so prevalent here, is added. Pure ingredients, simple age-old cooking techniques are used. The result is simply heaven like taste and aroma.
Trust me on this people: request, demand, harass or bribe, do whatever you have to do and make your friends bring this kaju sweet from Pulla Reddy Sweet Shop for you during their next Hyderabad visit. Little bit pricey but it is going to be the best sweets purchase you will ever make.
Disclaimer: We do not have any relations with Pulla Reddy Sweet Shop and they didn’t send us any free sweets to write this.:)
I was looking for recipes to prepare soymilk at home for a while now. The reason ofcourse is the recent pricehike of commercial soymilk. In big warehouse shops like Costco, the price for 3 packets of ‘Silk’ brand soymilk was 4 dollars, few years ago. It is now around 8 dollars. Vijay and I, we both like soymilk – for cereal, for cooking and whenever we feel like drinking something refreshing particularly during summer months. Cold soymilk has been our drink of choice. But now with the recent price increases, I’ve been feeling little reluctant to pay that kind of price, it felt like ‘organic’ kind of ripoff.
That’s when I found this clearly described recipe at fellow foodblogger/chef’s blog “Tasty Bytes” for home made soymilk. I had to give it a try. I brought some books from the library and also googled; what I found out was there are mainly two ways to prepare soymilk.
1.Soybeans are soaked, cooked first & then pureed to extract the milk.
2.Soybeans are soaked, pureed first to extract the milk& then the milk is boiled. (This method is traditional Japanese way of preparing soymilk according to this book.)
I was pendulating which method to follow, because this is my first time preparing at home and I wanted it to be a success taste wise. Well, I left it for Vijay and he chose the second method – Puree, extract and then boil. So last weekend, for the first time, we prepared homemade soymilk. I could not believe how easy it was. The whole thing of extracting the milk took about 30 minutes, that’s all.
What about the taste – we added vanilla and honey for flavoring and tasted the chilled soy milk. It has a strong, more robust flavor than the commercial vanilla soymilk. Not off-putting at all, but again we are motivated to like it :). Adding vanilla and honey was a good choice, because we are accustomed to vanilla flavored, mildly sweet commercial (Silk brand) soymilk. For those of you who ask, why soymilk, what’s so special about it? – We prefer it mainly because it’s a guilt free, hormone and cholesterol free choice we have available here. And soymilk is high in protein and rich in iron but low in sodium, fat and calcium. Also we like it for taste… heavy textured but it has a smooth, silky taste.
Recipe:
2 cups of dried soybeans
4 glasses water
2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of honey(or sweetener of your choice)
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla
Big pot and cheesecloth (gangi gudda/cotton cloth)
Preparation is real simple and 3 steps.
(1) Soak and rub (2) Blend and extract (3) Boil and chill.
Soak and Rub:
Soak the beans overnight in lot of water. They expand considerably, so take a big vessel and add at least two to three glasses of water for them to soak. By Morning, they will double in size. Rub soybeans with hands to remove the outer covering. The flimsy outer covering will easily separate from the beans and will float to the top. With hand, scoop them and remove. Repeat like this, two or three times to remove the covering. I was able to remove the outer layer for at least 75 percent of Soya beans.
Blend and Extract:
Pour the beans into a colander to drain the water. Take the beans in a blender and in batches, grind them into smooth puree adding water.
Keep a big pot on the side. Cover it with a cheesecloth or gangi gudda/cotton cloth. Pour the pureed bean mixture into the cloth. Pull the cloth together and twist and allow dripping for few minutes. And then with your hands gently squeeze as much milk as possible. Take care not to squeeze the soya bean pulp.
Do this in batches. I kept the squeezed out soya bean pulp from each batch on a plate. Finally I blended this pulp again two times, adding water, to extract as much soymilk as possible.
Boil and Chill:
Pour the milk through a fine sieve into a big pot. You see white foam (the kind, that forms when you blend urad dal or moong dal) floating on the top of milk. Scoop it with a spoon or with your hand. I did this to clear the surface of milk.
Bring the milk to a boil. Add honey and vanilla. Reduce the heat to medium. Partially covered, simmer it for about 30 minutes, stirring in-between. Just like cows milk, layers of skin (meegada) were forming on top, I removed the skin (meegada) layers to a cup and later added this meegada to the ‘aloo chole’ I was preparing for supper. The meegada skins tasted melting delicious.
Allow the milk to cool to room temperature. Pour into a clean bottle and keep the bottles in the refrigerator to chill. Serve and enjoy.
Caution: Extremely acquired taste.
Recipe Source: Foodblog – Tasty Bytes and Cookbook – “The science and lore of the Kitchen”
Yield: 1 liter (quart) or two bottles like in the photo above.
“Okay, it’s my turn now”, I said.
“What is your turn for?” she said with a curious look on her face.
“I want to make chips with the plantains we bought yesterday. You just relax and wait for a tasty snack I’m going to make for you”. I said to her. But it wasn’t just for her. It was for me too. I like plantain chips very much. But, I don’t get very good quality chips here. So, whenever I could find good quality plantains, I prepare the chips myself.
Making of plantain chips in-house started few years ago, when we were in Houston. We have a good friend, Sunil Sukumaran, who is a Keralite. I knew that plantain chips were popular snack food in Kerala and I always wondered how they were made. I thought that there would be some special process to make them, because they were different, tasted good and had a special flavor. During one of our visits to their house, I asked my friend Sunil.
“Sunil, do you know how these plantain chips are made? I like them a lot, they are really tasty.” I expected a very long answer. I will tell you the truth. I was getting ready to note down the details on a sheet of paper. But his answer surprised me. Just one sentence!
“Pick unripe plantains. Slice them into thin rounds and deep fry them in oil.”
“That’s all?!” I didn’t believe it.
“That’s all there to it, man. What more you want to do? That’s how we make them back home in Kerala. We use coconut oil to fry them, but you can also use peanut oil.”
You don’t know how much relieved I was. Oh, I can make my favorite snack food right in my home. That’s fantastic.
Houston is a very lively city with all kinds of people from all over the world. Also a great place to get all kinds of food and vegetables. Most importantly (for me), I could get four fresh plantains for a dollar! How nice! Bought four of them and brought them home. Washed them thoroughly and scraped the outer skin lightly. I didn’t remove the skin completely. Cut them into circular chips. In the meantime, I had a big cast iron frying pan with peanut oil heating on the stove. When the oil reached proper temperature for frying, I dropped the chips in oil. One after the other, I filled the pan until the whole oil surface was covered by the chips. Reduced the heat to medium-high, and fried them for about three or four minutes. I turned the chips in the pan occasionally to make sure that both sides are properly fried.
I was very happy. Why? I just made the first batch of plantain chips myself. They looked just like the chips I was used to buy in Kerala bakeries. I sprinkled little bit of salt and they were ready to eat. I thanked my friend in my heart for sharing the great secret with me.
Now, coming back to Boardman, Ohio, there I was making the chips again, for Indira (and myself too). A full bowl of chips were ready in just few minutes and they also disappeared in just few minutes. But, I was quick enough to take some pictures to share with you. Here they are, tasty and crunchy, homemade plantain chips.
–Guest post by Vijay Singari
Even after all these years living in US, still I can’t bring myself to buy or use canned stuff in metal containers. Commercial Coconut milk is available here, packed in metal tins only. So, I avoid that stuff and I make fresh coconut milk at home whenever a recipe calls for it. Very easy to do, the only things required are fresh coconut, muslin cloth (cotton cloth), a hammer and a blender. 10 minutes of work- homemade fresh coconut milk, without any additives will be ready to add in cooking.
Method:
Hold the coconut in your hand firmly. Hit coconut hard with hammer. Show off your aggression and hit hard. Depending upon your aggression level:), it will break open in few attempts. Catch and pour the coconut water in a glass/pitcher. Hitting with hammer, break each coconut half into pieces. Do all this, over a clean, empty kitchen sink- very convenient to pick up the falling coconut pieces and also to clean the whole mess.
Using a knife, separate the coconut piece from its shell. Young coconut is easily separable from the shell, but mature ones, some with attachment issues won’t come off that easily. Then try this old time tip – soak the pieces in water for 5 minutes. Water seeps between shell and coconut, creates a thin barrier and makes it easy to separate the coconut from the shell.
Rinse the coconut pieces with water. Slice them into very thin pieces. Place the coconut pieces in a blender, add water and grind smooth. Cover a bowl with muslin cloth (cotton cloth/gangi gudda) and pour the grinded coconut liquid-slush into the cloth. Allow it to drip for few minutes, and then squeeze handfuls of the coconut meat to extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl. Discard the squeezed pulp and use coconut milk in recipes. Stored in a glass jar, coconut milk can stay fresh for 1 or 2 days refrigerated.
Compared to store-bought concentrated stuff, homemade coconut milk tastes completely different. Fresh, tasty and watery. By playing with water quantity added to the blender and by cooking, you can control the consistency and thickness of coconut milk according to your needs.
Hindu Kush mountain range touching the skies.
Preparing jangris is an art, so we hired the “Master”.
“Master” at work (Yes, master is his nickname, really, because of his expertise in making traditional sweets), finishing off preparing the last batch of jangris.
Piping the jangri batter in beautiful flower shape in hot oil.
Deep fried jangris taking a sugary soak in cardamom infused sugar syrup.
Jangri: A traditional sweet, usually made for marraiges, my favourite.
I make yogurt at home regularly. I am not sure if I will be saving any money by making yogurt at home instead of buying in stores. But I like the taste of the homemade better than the store bought.
Perugu (Telugu), Dahi (Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, and Urdu), Doi (Bengali), Dohi (Oriya), Mosaru (Kannada), or Thayir (Tamil) is the yogurt of the India, known for its characteristic sweet-tart taste and semi solid consistency. It’s also commonly called as “Curd”. Perugu or Dahi is part of the everyday meal for us, and also I prepare raita with it.
Perugu is really quite easy to make at home. First, bring the milk to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer it for few minutes till a layer of cream forms on top of the milk. Turn off the heat and let the milk cool down to lukewarm level. Now add one tablespoon of live active culture of yogurt to this milk. Stir it once and cover the vessel with a lid. Keep the container in an oven or in a microwave (they act like incubators) undisturbed for about 8 to 12 hours. After this period, milk in liquid state will become semisolid – like yogurt. This is how you will know that the process of making yogurt is complete.
How much milk you need depends on how much yogurt you want to make. Small or large quantity, all it takes is adding one tablespoon of live active culture of yogurt. It’s that simple.
I read somewhere a list of 100 food related things one must do before they die, I don’t know about skinning and preparing the chicken but how about a taste of real yogurt.
Where can one get active live culture of yogurt in US? This is the question I often get asked. Here is the list of sources that I can think of. Hope this helps.
• Try your Indian neighbors and colleagues. A lot of Indians prepare yogurt at home even in this day and age, particularly first generation Indians like us. But there are always exceptions to the rules so do not assume anything and be polite when you are inquiring.
• Try asking waiters at Indian restaurants. Yogurt is used to prepare raita, chutneys etc. Many Indian restaurants prepare yogurt freshly in their kitchen everyday.
• Try kitchens at Indian temples: Indian temples in US serve prasadam or food daily to the visitors. Yogurt rice is often part of the prasadam.
• Health food stores, Natural health stores etc.
Flavorful and spicy, peanut podi is a neat alternative to chutneys. Sprinkle few teaspoons of podi on breakfast items like upma, pongal, idly and dosa. Or, apply it on warm chapati or mix with rice. With Peanut podi ready on hand, it is easy to have decent meals during time-starved days. I used to live on jars of peanut podi during college days. Whenever busy days are ahead I make it at home too.
2 cups shelled peanuts
12- finger length dried red chilli (from Indian grocery)
1-teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Roast peanuts to pale brown color. Cool. Rub to remove peanut skins.
Dry roast red chilli and cumin to fragrance. Cool.
Take peanuts, red chilli and cumin in a Sumeet style mixer or in a food processor. Add salt. Pulse few times to fine sand like consistency. Store the podi in a clean, dry jar. Stays fresh for about at least a month or two.
Sometimes I also add garlic. Tastes excellent but garlic moisture reduces the shelf life of podi to a week.
From Telugu to English:
Podi = Powder
Hello, dear friends. I know I have gone missing from the blogosphere for the past few months. It’s just that a lot is happening in real life. Things are settling down and I am getting back to a routine. Thanks to friends and readers who have been inquiring about us. I apologize for not responding individually to all the emails that you have been sending me. As always, I thank you for your support.
What passes for normal blogging ought to resume shortly.
Bye bye 2008. Hello 2009. Happy New Year!
Native to India, tamarind is prized for its intense sweet and sour flavor. A pantry staple, tamarind is added to dals, rasams, and sambars. Tamarind based pulusu and rice are lip smackingly good. For chutneys and pacchadis, tamarind is a must. Then there is tamarind-jaggery-cumin candy, a childhood favorite lollipop. I grew up having tamarind in different avatars. I love and prepare all the above tamarind-based preparations regularly at my home.
To celebrate Jihva-Tamarind, I wanted to try something new and unique. Constant thinking about it led to this tamarind flavored popcorn idea. Tamarind, salt, chilli powder, and for sweetness I added dates. Blend the ingredients together and simmer to concentrate the flavor. Coat the corn kernels with thick syrup and then microwave. Pop, pop, pop… Like the Polar skies lit with Aurora Borealis, the Tamarindus Indica seem to ignite a sublimely spectacular ruchi in popcorn. All natural and no nasty additives, and tasty. A date with tamarind popcorn is a must try for flavor-popcorn fans. I totally recommend.
Plain corn kernels suitable for popcorn
Ping-Pong ball sized tamarind pulp, 6 dates, quarter teaspoon each – chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Take them all in a blender. Add about a cup of water. Puree to smooth.
Take the syrup in a thick-bottomed vessel and simmer until the volume reduces to half. This helps to concentrate the flavor. Cool. Lightly coat the corn kernels with syrup. Place them in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with another bowl. Microwave to pop the corn. Have a taste, and if required sprinkle salt and some chilli powder to taste. Toss and enjoy.
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