Kollu Chutney and Kollu Kulambu!

I used to love those 'Love is....' comic strips in the morning newspaper. Still do. I wish I could get my daily dose of those comic strips now in email. Anybody know of a source? Anyway, here's my attempt at a 'Love is....'

Love is being served with a plateful of kollu chutney, kollu kulambu, rasam and rice when you have a bad cold and can't think straight and when everything else tastes like mud. :)

If you are from Kongu region or have friends from that region [Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Tirupur and nearby areas] , you must have eaten or at least heard of Kollu Chutney. Though it is called a chutney, it is more like a Thuvaiyal - very thick and is mixed with rice and a dollop of ghee and eaten piping hot. It is almost always made as a first course followed by kollu rasam as the next course. Very hot and spicy - kollu rasam is a great cure for colds and coughs. Kollu also known as Horsegram/Ulavallu/ Kulti / Kulith / Muthira Hurulikalu etc is a very nutritious legume.

I was looking at IndoSunGod's kollu chutney and it brought back memories from home and I set out to make it the way Amma makes. The ingredients are the same as Indo's, except for the addition of curry leaves and my mom's recipe mentions not to roast the onions, garlic, spices etc and grind them raw for a more intense flavor.

Kollu Chutney
Kollu - pressure cooked with 3 garlic pods - 1 cup
Red Onion - 1/2, chopped
Fresh curry leaves - 10-12 [or frozen like this]
Black Pepper - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Tamarind - 1/2 inch piece
Red chillies - 1 [optional. I usually omit this one]

Strain the water from the pressure cooked kollu and use it to make kollu rasam. Grind everything together coarsely. If you need water, add some of the water kept aside for kollu rasam. Do not add too much water. It should have the consistency like the picture above.

Serve with hot rice and a dollop of ghee. And of course, thank me!

Kollu Kulambu

After XII std, when we were preparing for our engineering entrance exams, a friend Suba and me used to have lunch at Suba's grandparent's place everyday, after the classes were over. Her grandma is an amazing cook and was so full of love. She'd stand next to us and serve one thing after the other, till we were too full to move. You couldn't refuse that kind of love. And the food! It was the best I ever had! One day, she had made kollu chutney and a kollu kulambu. I was used to the kollu chutney at home, but the kulambu was totally something! Tangy, thick, and finger licking good and with LOTS of onions giving a slight hint of sweetness! After having this at her place, I couldn't take my mind off that kulambu and tried recreating this, the same weekend. My mom was darn impressed too! It turned out pretty good, but just short of her 50 yrs of cooking experience. ;) Ah, well, I'll get there some day!

Kollu Kulambu
Kollu - pressure cooked with 3 garlic pods - 1 cup
Garlic pods - 4, chopped
Onion - 2, finely chopped
Curry leaves - 5
Asafoetida - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - lemon size, soak in hot water and extract pulp
Red chilli powder -1/2 tsp
Jaggery/sugar - 1/2 tsp, not more
Salt - to taste

Put the boiled kollu in the blender and just pulse a minute or two, so the beans break down a bit, but not mushy. It should not become a paste, the beans should like they are broken into halves. Keep this aside.

Heat oil in a sauce pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Add the onions, garlic and curry leaves and saute for a few mins. Add the tamarind pulp and let it boil for 10 mins. Add the kollu mixture, red chilli powder, salt to this tangy sauce. Add water if necessary. Let it cook together for 5-10 mins. Add the jaggery and stir well. Remove from flame and serve with hot steamed rice and a dollop of ghee.

Sending it to the My Legume Love Affair-Fourth Helping hosted by Sra. You can checkout the whole lineup for the Legume Love Affair here at Susan's blog.

Vendaikai Pulikulambu - Okra in Tangy sauce

Vendaikai Pulikulambu is very common in Kongu cuisine. Could be because of the fact that, those days, most of the people in Kongu region had their own farms and they had fresh vegetables (like okra/ lady's finger, silk squash, snake gourd, pumpkin, drumsticks, brinjals, raw plantain, tomatoes, etc, etc) coming out of their farms. The usual combination for Vendaikai Pulikulambu went like this - Rice, Vendaikai pulikulambu, Peerkangai poriyal (Silk squash on the side), rasam and curd. Where was the protein? Would the curd (yogurt) satisfy the requirement for protein? Considering the amount of curd used, well, I'd say, yes! These days, I think, addition of a boiled egg or roasted fish makes the above meal more balanced. I prefer the roasted fish over the egg though. (Indosungod, a wonderful blogger who is a thoroughbred Kongu girl and grew up surrounded by Kongu cuisine, tells me that 'Uppu Paruppu' (soft tur dal with salt/varan) is a very good combo for this pulikulambu. I guess, THAT is the protein in the meal. Thanks Indo!)

Okra - 1 lb, chopped in small rounds (I used a packed of Shana Bhindi, frozen, sliced)
Tamarind - a lemon size
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Red chillies - 2 (if it's the hot variety, 3 if you have milder red chillies)
Garlic - 4-5 pods (sliced, if big)
Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cummin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp or lesser, say a pinch
Curry leaves - a sprig, chopped
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt, to taste

Soak the tamarind in hot water. I put the tamarind in a microwave safe bowl and add some water to cover that and microwave for 2 mins. I let it cool and slightly mash it with my hands and extract pulp from the tamarind. A strainer can be used to filter too.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When it sputters, add cummin and methi seeds and asafoetida. When they become golden (not brown), add the red chillies, onions, garlic and curry leaves and saute well. When the onions are done, add the tamarind pulp and stir once. Add the turmeric powder and salt and let it boil. After 15-20 mins, when the tamarind sauce has thickened and there's no more raw smell of the tamarind, you can add the chopped okra slices in the curry now. Stir once and let it cook. Here's a tip from my mom. If you want to retain the green color of the okra, let this cook without covering the pan with a lid. If you aren't concerned about the color, go ahead and cover it with a lid. From this time, it should take about 5-10 mins for the okra to cook. When done, Serve hot with rice and don't forget to include yogurt as the last course. Tastes great as a side, with curd rice.

Edited to add: If it's fresh okra, I saute the slices after onion, so that the okra doesn't get very sticky. Since the above used are frozen ones, it is added at the last few minutes; else it gets overcooked.

Thanks Satish for pointing out the missing red chillies.

Sandavai / Idiyappam with Tomato Kurma

Ooooh! Sandavai! I remember the fresh 'Eat-me-right-now' smell that comes when my mother steams the Idlis for making this kind of Idiyappam. I have no clue why, we, people from Kongu Naadu area of Tamilnadu, call it Sandavai, instead of the well known name, Idiyappam. This is not an everyday dish - It takes some time to prepare it and so it is usually a delicacy or a special-occasion dish. Many people make Idiyappams using different recipes, but you goto a house in Kongunaadu for Idiyappam, you'll know, the smell is totally different, because of the coconut and cardamom used while grinding the batter and while steaming it. Remember the 'Eat-me-right-now' smell?

In our community, this is one dish, which HAS TO BE SERVED as the first meal, to the new bridegroom ('maapillai' in Tamil), when he goes to visit his in-laws, for the first time, after the wedding. It usually is a pain (you'll know why, soon) to make this special dish for a lot of people, but since it's just the two of us and since we both, are crazy Sandavai fans, we make it often. These days, I've been posting some 'Kongu cuisine' recipes, because I've been missing home crazily. Now, I guess, I'll just make this into a series of Kongu cuisine. I'm giving the recipe for 2. This recipe doubles, triples very well. :)

Parboiled Rice - 2 cups (I use Parboiled Ponni rice)
Freshly grated Coconut - 1/2 to 1 cup (dried/dessicated just won't do! Sorry!)
Cardamom pods - 5 (just the seeds, not the skin)
Salt - 1/2 tbsp

Wash and soak the rice for 3-4 hrs. While grating coconut, be careful not to use the red colored skin near the shell. This will change the color of the Idiyappam. (See mine! The color has changed, I forgot to scrape of the red colored skin!). Grind coconut and cardamom seeds in a blender/mixie to a fine paste. (This is important, a modern Idli grinder like Ultra/Sowbhagya will not grind cardamom seeds and coconut fine enough to pass through tiny holes of the Sandavai press). Add the coconut paste to the rice and grind them together in a Idli grinder (Look at Indira's Idli Grinder) to a thick batter. The consistency should be thicker than Idli batter. It tastes GREAT if the Sandavai is made right away, as soon as the batter is prepared, but for time saving purpose, I prepare the batter the previous night and put it right away in the refrigerator before it has the slightest chance to ferment.

Grease the idli plates or line with a wet cloth, and pour batter on the idli plates. If the batter is thin like Idli batter, it will overflow. So, remember! Thick batter it should be. Steam the idlis for about 9-10 mins (I always use a timer). Grease the inner sides of the Idiyappam press / Sandavai nazhi (Look at Shammi's Sandavai nazhi and her sevai) and put 2-3 idlis in it. Keep cold water in a bowl, nearby, to dip your hands into, often. The idlis will be very hot and it has to be pressed hot. If it cools down, it is really hard to press the Sandavai. When you press, you'll see yummy strings of rice noodles coming from the bottom of the press.

This is traditionally eaten with coconut milk or sugar+ghee+banana (I hate this! but, most of my relatives go crazy for this combo). In the above picture, I served it with Tomato Kurma. But, the best combo for this type of Sandavai/Idiyappam is Potato Kurma or Chicken Curry or Prawns curry. The Potato Kurma is made exactly like the Tomato Kurma, substituting tomatoes for boiled and slightly-mashed-into-small-pieces of potatoes. It goes wonderful with this Idiyappam or dosas.

Remember? I said, it's painful to make this for a lot of people - That's people, it's so yummy that people just can't stop eating. And it's very labor intensive because you have to manually press the Idiyappam for all those people. But well, the taste compensates for everything! :)

Kongunaatu Kozhi Rasam and Kari varuval (Chicken soup and Spicy Chicken fry)

I've seen this Rasam made in almost all the families from Kongunaadu. The people from Kongunaadu were mainly landlords and farmers (in Coimbatore, Salem, Erode and around areas). These days, like any other community, they have branched into other occupations and businesses as well. Since these people have a strong rural connection, many of their recipes are like a typical rural cuisine - the importance is given for health and taste. Some of the typical Kongunaatu recipes are 'Kozhi rasam and Varuval', a dessert called 'Vazhai', 'Kadaa Paniayaram' (a sweet dish that looks like adirasam with a hole, but is prepared in a different way), etc... The above are the only ones I know remember now, I've to ask Mom for more typical KonguNaatu recipes. I'm sure there are more.

Here's one recipe that I've grown up, with. Anytime somebody catches a cold in the house, my mother makes this Kozhi Rasam. It's very spicy and hot and most often, the cold says 'Bye-bye' the very next day. Me and my sister used to make a big fuss about eating this spicy dish, when we were kids. But over the time, we've grown to LOVE it. Every time we miss mom and home, we make one of her special dishes and when we have it, we always feel 'at-home', if you know what I mean. I know, a few other cuisines from Tamilnadu, also make Chicken rasam and varuval, but the flavors are different from this one. I wanted to write about this when Indira asked me to blog about Cold-Remedies. I didn't have much time to prepare this dish, at that time. So, here's it is now, when I'm craving for mom's food.

Kongunaatu Kozhi Rasam

Kari varuval

Ingredients
Cinnamon - 2
Cloves - 2
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Saunf / Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Cummin seeds - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1/2 to 3/4 cup (Yep!) or 3-4 tbsp Coriander powder
Dry red chillies - 2
Curry leaves - 2-3 sprigs, just the leaves
Small pearl onions - 8-10
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp (I forego olive oil, for sesame oil, for authentic dishes that need typical flavors) + 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Chicken - 2 pounds (We used organic chicken. Use a small chicken with bones. Boneless stuff wouldn't give the rasam, it's taste or flavor or the medicinal property needed to fight cold)

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a cast iron pan and and roast Cinnamon, Cloves, Fennel seeds, cummin seeds, Peppercorns, dry coriander seeds and Red chillies with the Curry leaves. Add the poppy seeds and roast for 2 more mins. If you are adding coriander powder instead of the seeds, now is the time to add that. Transfer this to the mixie/blender (Don't grind yet, let it cool down). In the same pan, wipe it with a paper towel and add one more tbsp oil and saute the pearl onions. Let it cool down and add to the mixie. Grind all these to a fine paste. Add water when necessary to make the paste, fine.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil and saute chicken for 10 mins till it the raw-smell leaves. Add the ground paste and five cups of water. Pressure cook upto two whistles. Use a soup strainer to filter the rasam and chicken and keep aside.

For the Rasam, add salt to the drained rasam/soup and keep it covered with a lid. You can call this a Kongu naatu chicken soup.

Varuval: Saute the chicken pieces in 1 tbsp oil, after saute'ing curry leaves, ginger garlic paste (2 tbsp), onions (1, finely chopped), little salt, freshly ground black pepper (1 tbsp), turmeric powder (1/4 tsp). Taste and add salt accordingly. Add 2 ladles full of rasam and let it get absorbed in the chicken while saute-ing. Adding the rasam, helps in blending the flavors of the spices with the chicken pieces and bring it all together. Unlike other chicken-frys, this one is very soft and goes very well with the above rasam. Alternatively, You can use green chillies or red chillies or ground black pepper or a combo of these to spice it up. Feel free to explore.

Serve these piping hot, with steamed rice. Yep, pour the rasam over hot, hot rice and enjoy it with the varuval. No fun eating it cold. Everything has to be piping hot! You'll work out a sweat!

My entry for this weekend's Tony's Currymela.