VIRUNDHOMBAL

Vazhaikkai chips - crispy and easy side dish for lunch. It goes well with lemon rice , tomato rice, coconut rice , sodhi and curd rice too. This vazhaikkai chips is a nice alternative to store bought chips as there is  no artificial flavours or colours. For the plantain chips you will need fresh plantains without, dull skin or black spots. First, you have to peel the skin and slice it thinly using a bajji slicer. Slice them thinly in uniform size so that you can get even crispness in the chips. As you all know the plantain will quickly turn black after cutting so do not slice all the plantains before frying. When you started frying one batch, slice the next set of slices. This will give you a perfect colour to the chips. When deep frying these chips, it is best to cook on low heat and watch them carefully because it will quickly turn brown. For any types of chips do not overcrowd your pan. Finally season the chips with black pepper powder and salt. You can also replace bl...

Garlic Karasev - crispy and spicy snack prepared with besan flour and rice flour.  Sattur Garlic karasev is a favourite snack for my grandpa, husband and also for my son as a side dish for curd rice. Whenever we visit Tirunelveli by driving my husband quickly make a short visit to Sattur to buy Garlic karasev and karupatti mittai from the Shanmuga Nadar sweet shop. The Sattur garlic karasev is prepared with besan flour, rice flour, coarsely powdered red chilly, garlic paste, and a few spices to flavour it. There the karasevs are prepared using the big slotted ladle. The cumin, and garlic add a nice flavour to the karasev. I have tasted so many karasevs but these Sattur karasevs are so tasty. In many of the karasevs they add fried gram flour along with the besan flour which gives you a soft texture but it won't taste good after two days. But this Sattur karasevs have a hard, crisp texture which will be good for a month. I have used the regular murukku press t...

Thinai arisi pongal - easy millet breakfast dish made with foxtail millet, moong dal flavoured with cumin, pepper and ginger in ghee. It's healthy and filling breakfast. It's also a wonderful breakfast for your weekend. While the recipe for making thinai arisi pongal is the basic ven pongal recipe with a few techniques I have found after experimenting with it so many times. Because each millets have a unique texture and taste and we have to cook correctly to get perfect results. If you are new to the millets, then this ven pongal is a good recipe to start. In general, thinai arisi takes more time to cook when compared to other millets. The ideal water ratio for this ven pongal  is 4 cups of water for 1 cup of foxtail millet. If the dals and millets are soaked together for 15 minutes, you can get a creamy soft pongal. The perfectly cooked millets must be easy to fluff. I didn't like cooking the millets in a mushy texture because it won't taste and look good. The ad...

Palak Paneer - delicious gravy made with paneer, palak leaves, onions, tomatoes and fresh cream. This gravy does not take a lot of effort to prepare, it simply requires two steps like sauteing and grinding the greens. During my college days I saw this recipe in a cookbook by Chef. Mallika Badrinath madam, which was so easy to make with simple steps. Usually I follow this method for this gravy. Palak leaves tend to cook easily, so we have to keep an eye on it when sauteing the leaves. For this gravy no need to blanch the leaves  because it takes more time and I also noticed a raw smell of the leaves in the gravy. In this recipe, the leaves are sauted in a drop of oil along with green chillies for 3 minutes. After that grind it along with the sauted onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger. To flavour the gravy I have added garamasala powder in minimal amount, but if you want you can add as you like. In the final stage 1/4 cup of grated panner is added to enhance the taste. Fresh cr...