Puli Sadam

I Personally feel ....Puli sadam is easier to make compared to puliodarai. Pulisadam is made by the people of Tamil nadu and Puliodarai by Andra People. The preparations are less in Pulisadam and so is very easy to make.... tasty too.....

 Ingredients :

Cooked Rice - 4 cups , we can use ponni rice, Basmathi or Raw rice.
Gingelly Oil (Nallena) - 4 tbsp
Channa Dal / kadala paruppu- 3 tbsp
Urad dal / uzhunnum paruppu - 2 tbsp
Dry Red Chillies - 4 nos
Fenugreek (Venthyam, uluva)  Powder- 1 tsp
Jeera Powder - 1tspPeanuts - 1/2 glass
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Full dry red chilly - 3 nos
Garlic Pods - 4 nos
Powdered jaggery - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Hing (Perungayam) - 1 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 glass ( Taken from 2 lemon size balls , soaked and strained from 1 glass water )
Salt - to taste

Method:
Cook rice in such a way that the grains are separate. For Ponni rice use can use 2 - 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice.  Leave it to cool.

Heat gingelly oil in a kadai  and splutter mustard seeds,  Dry red chilly, crushed Garlic pods, and curry leaves. Once done also roast channa dal, urad dal, peanuts in the same kadai, until slightly browned. 

Add the tamarind extract and allow it to boil. While boiling add turmeric powder, salt , red chilly powder, jaggery, asofoetida Powder, powdered Jeera and Fenugreek. Check and add salt , if needed.  Boil the tamarind till it thickens (saucy consistency). Remove from flame. This tamarind paste or pulikachal can be stored in a bottle and refrigerated for a week. Mix it with rice when needed. Do not reduce oil if you are planning to store.

Take the cooked rice  and mix well with this tamarind paste without mushing up the rice. Add salt if required.

Serve with Coconut chutney and any papad / Vada.  It tastes great after 2-3 hours of preparation......


Recipie Coutesy: Ramathai

Puliyodharai

Ingredients :

Cooked Rice - 4 cups , we can use ponni rice, Basmathi or Raw rice.
Sesame seeds ( black til, Ellu) - 4 tbsp
Gingelly Oil (Nallena) - 4 tbsp
Channa Dal / kadala paruppu- 3 tbsp
Urad dal / uzhunnum paruppu - 2 tbsp
Dry Red Chillies - 4 nos
Fenugreek Seeds(Venthyam, uluva) - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1/2 glass
Cashew nuts - 1 tsp
Raisins - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Full dry red chilly - 3 nos
Garlic Pods - 4 nos
Powdered jaggery - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Hing (Perungayam) - 1 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 glass ( Taken from 2 lemon size balls , soaked and strained from 1 glass water )
Salt - to taste

Method:

Cook rice in such a way that the grains are separate. For Ponni rice use can use 2 cups water for 1 cup of rice. Leave it to cool.

Dry roast black sesame seeds and coasely gring in a mixer and keep aside.

Add 1/2 cup water to tamarind, let it soak for 15mins. Now squeeze out thick tamarind pulp and keep aside.

Heat gingelly oil in a kadai on medium low heat and add the peanuts. Roast until slightly browned. Remove them to a plate and again roast channa dal, urad dal, cashew nut and raisins. Toast until they are browned evenly. Keep them aside in a plate.

In the same kadai, Add some more gingelly oil and splutter Mustard seeds, Fenugreek seeds, Dry Red chilly, crushed Garlic pods and curry leaves. Add the tamarind extract and allow it to boil for 10 - 15 mins. While boiling add turmeric powder, salt and red chilly powder. Check and add salt. 

Add jaggery  and asofoetida Powder and mix well. Boil the tamarind till it thickens (saucy consistency).Remove from flame. This tamarind paste or pulikachal can be stored in a bottle and refrigerated for a week. Mix it with rice when needed. Do not reduce oil if you are planning to store.

Take the cooked rice  and mix well with this tamarind paste without mushing up the rice. Add salt if required. Also add the roasted peanuts, channa dal, urad dal, nuts and raisins also. keep a portion of this roasted dals and nuts for garnishing.

 Now add the roasted and ground black sesame seeds / ellu / til powder and give a quick stir. Keep covered and allow it to rest atleast for 30mins before you serve. Garnish with the roasted cashew, raisins and nuts.

 Serve with Coconut chutney and any papad.  It tastes great after 2-3 hours of preparation......
 
Recipe Courtesy: Kavitha's Cheriamma

Fish Biriyani

Ingredients:

For fish masala:
Fish pieces - King Fish/ Ayakoora / Pomfret  or any other firm fish - 6 nos
Ginger, Garlic, Green chilly paste - 3 tbsp
Big Onions - 3
Small onions - 15 nos
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1⁄2 tsp
Tomato - 3
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Poppy seeds -1⁄2 tsp
Fennel seeds- 2 tbsp
Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
oil- as required
Salt -as required

For biriyani rice:
Basmati rice/Kaima rice - 2 cups
Onion sliced - 2
Cardamom - 1⁄2 tsp
Cloves-1⁄4 tsp
Cinnamon sticks- 3
Boiled water - 4 cups
Refined Oil - 2 tbsps
Ghee - 2 tsps
Salt as required

For Garnishing and layering:

Onion sliced- 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts- 1 tbsp
Raisins- 1 tbsp
Garam masala- as required
Mint leaves chopped -  1 tbsp
Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder - 1⁄2 tsp
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in cold water for 25 – 30 minutes.  Drain and keep aside.

Add 2 tbsp of ghee to a large vessel. Fry the cashews, raisins and one finely chopped onion in oil until its golden brown in colour, one after the other. Keep them aside for garnishing and layering. Add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom and fry for a minute. Add sliced onions and saute again till they are soft.  Add the drained rice and fry for 5 - 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, keep the water on another stove and let it boil. Add the boiling water, 1/2 tsp turmeric Powder and salt to the fried rice. Cook the rice with the vessel closed with a tight lid. Also gently stir in between to make sure that the rice does not stick on the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is done keep it aside.

Wash and clean the slices of fish pieces and marinate with Chilly Powder, Turmeric Powder, Ginger-garlic Paste,Pepper powder and Salt. Keep it aside for half an hour. 

Take a pan and pour oil. Heat the oil and fry the marinated fish pieces until golden brown. Keep this aside.

Grind green chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste. Keep them aside.Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Saute the sliced onions and crushed small onions in oil until they become translucent. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilly paste. Add coriander Powder,turmeric powder, Red chilly Powder and garam masala and fry for 5 minutes. 

Grind coconut and poppy seeds to fine paste and add to the masala and cook well. Add chopped tomatoes and let it cook until mashed to this and 1/2 cup water and boil. Add the fried fish once the gravy starts boiling. Let it boil for few minutes. Gravy should be thick and not watery. Be very careful not to break the fish while stirring.

Now we need to start layering for that, divide the cooked rice into three Portions. Chop coriander leaves and mint leaves. keep lime juice and garam masala ready. 

In a big wide open vessel start layering by spreading the first layer with rice. Sprinkle one pinch of garam masala, few tsp of chopped coriander and mint leaves on each layer of rice. Sprinkle 1 tsp of lemon juice also . On top of this spread fish masala. only two slices of fish need to be kept in each layer. cover this layer with cooked rice. 

Again repeat the same layers. finally end with a rice layer. 

After layering we can either bake this in a preheated oven for 180 degree Celsius for 15- 20 minutes or keep in dum on a stove top method by heating a thava/dosa kallu, when it is really hot, place the biriyani vessel on top of that. Reduce the heat to the lowest flame & cook for 10-15 mins. Keep the heat at the lowest flame throughout, otherwise it might get burnt. Also place a pan of boiling water on top of the biriyani vessel at the same time. When its time to serve remove the lid and carefully keep the fish pieces separately and mix the rice well with the masala. 

To serve, on the plate keep the fish piece and cover with the rice. Garnish with fried cashew nuts, raisins and onion. Fish biriyani Ready...:) Enjoy with salad, Pickle,  Pappad and Coconut Chutney.

Recipe Courtesy:Mrs Prassana Sugathan

Ven pongal / Karapongal

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Moong dal / pasi paruppu / Cherupayaruparuppu - 1/4 cup
Water - 4 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Salt - as needed
Ginger, chopped - 1 tblsp
Ghee - 2 tblsp
Pepper corns- 2 tsp
Jeera/ cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Asafoetida - 2 pinches
Cashews -  5-6

Method:

Wash rice and dal together. In a cooker add 4 cups of water, milk and washed rice, dal, salt and pressure cook for 4 whistles in medium flame.(You can cook rice directly in the cooker also or as I have done) Wait until pressure gets released by itself, open & mash. If the pongal is watery when you open, then you can try keeping it again in stove and mix well until water evaporates. If it is too dry/thick then add some milk to bring it to desired consistency. The rice should have got cooked properly. Pongal should be of soggy consistency so mash well.

In a separate pan  add ghee and fry cashews till it starts golden and keep separately. In the same ghee add pepper, jeera and asafoetida and curry leaves, mix in the heat well and then add it to pongal and mix well. 

yummy pongal is ready....we can mold it using a small bowl. press pongal in a bowl and turn upside down. garnish with nuts.........Usually pongal should hv lots of ghee. But we can change according to our taste, consistency also varies a bit...This pongal can be enjoyed with sambar and coconut chutney.. Happy Pongal:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs. Uma Mohan.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:

Raw Rice / Par boiled Ponni Rice - 1 cup
Water-2 cups
lemon - 1

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp
Dried red chillies - 2

Bengal gram - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - Few

Sesame oil - 2-3 tsp
salt - to taste

Method:

Soak rice in water for 15 minutes and pressure cook in water giving one whistle on high flame and one on low flame. When pressure releases open and  keep it aside. It should be cooked in such a way that the grains are separate.If you have any left over rice,you can use it also.

 Heat sesame oil in a kadai and temper it with dried red chillies, mustard seed, Urad dal, , Bengal gram and curry leaves.Once the mustard seeds splutter.Switch off the stove and squeeze the lemon in the kadai. Add salt and turmeric powder, Asafoeitida and mix well.

 

Add the cooked rice and mix well.If you want more sour taste you can add more lemon juice now.

 
Lemon Rice ready......:) Enjoy with pickle.....:)

Curd Rice

Ingredients:

Raw rice/Par boiled Ponni Rice - 1 cup
Water- 3 cups

Curd/ plain yogurt 1/2 cup 

Milk - 1/2 cup 

Butter (optional) - 1 tsp 

Shredded Pomogranate -1/4 cup
Grapes - 1/4 cup

Coriander leaves, Finely chopped- 1 tblsp 

Curry leaves - few 
Big Onion - Finely chopped 1

Green chillies, Finely chopped 1 

Ginger, chopped very finely - 1 tsp 

Salt as needed 
Sugar - 1/2 tsp.

Asafoetida - a pinch 
Mustard - 1 tsp
Full Red chilly - 1 (broken)
Manga inji (Mango Ginger) - 1/2 inch Piece (optional)
Grated carrot - 1/2 cup.

Method:

Soak rice in water for 15 minutes and pressure cook in water giving one whistle on high flame and two on low flame. When pressure releases open and  keep it aside. When done mash the rice nicely with the back of the spoon.

 

Heat a pan, add oil and splutter the mustard seeds and add the broken red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida . Add finely chopped onions , ginger and green chillies to this. once they get sauted switch off the flame and add rice and mix well. 

When it is slightly warm add milk to this. Mash it nicely and mix it up nicely with the rice. When it is completely cool add the yogurt/curd to this and mix it up smoothly without any lumps. Add salt and sugar to this. Add chopped coriander leaves, grapes and pomegranate to this.  Ensure that the coriander leaves are chopped finely. Adding manga inji gives a special taste to curd rice.

 

Garnish with grated carrots and serve. Curd rice or thayir sadam Ready....:)

Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

Par Boiled Ponni rice/Raw rice / Basmati rice -1 cup
Water - 2 cups

Grated coconut –3/4 cup

Mustard seeds –1 tsp

Channa dal/Bengal Gram/ kadalai paruppu – 1 tbsp

Urad dal – 2 tsp

Red chillies – 2

Curry leaves – few

Oil /coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Asafoetida/Hing – a pinch

Cashew nuts/groundnut -8-10 (Optional)

Method:

Soak rice in water for 15 minutes and pressure cook in water giving one whistle on high flame and one on low flame. When pressure releases open and  keep it aside. It should be cooked in such a way that the grains are separate.

 

Heat oil in a kadai/ pan, add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add channa dal/ Kadalai paruppu, urad dal, cashew nuts and roast till it becomes slightly brown. (add channa dal / kadalai paruppu  first as it will take time to get roasted, then add urad dal and cashew nuts)Add red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves and saute for a few more seconds. Add grated coconut and saute for a few minutes till it becomes slightly brown. Add salt needed.Switch off the flame.

 

Add cooked rice and mix it well. Serve with papads or chips or any gravy of your choice.

 
Coconut rice or thenga sadam ready....:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Latha , Coimbatore.

Mushroom Biriyani ( Using Rice cooker )

Ingredients:

Cloves -2

Cardamom -2

Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece

Onion - 3 big chopped 

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 10 pods

Green Chillies - 4

Tomato - 2

Coriander leaves - 3/4 cup

Mint leaves - 1/2 cup

Curry masala Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Basmati Rice - 3 cups

Button mushrooms - 500 gms

Oil - 3 tsp

Ghee - 1/2 tbsp

Water - 4 1/2 cups

Salt - to taste

Lemon  - 1/2 piece

Pepper-1 tsp

Method:

Heat oil and ghee in a kadai (or pressure cooker in case if you want to pressure cook) and add  cinnamon, cloves, slit cardamom and fry them for a minute. Add chopped onions and fry well. You can add a pinch of  salt to let onions become soft  faster. Grind ginger,garlic and green chillies and add to onions and saute well.

Then grind tomatoes and saute till raw smell leaves, Add Curry masala powder  or biriyani masala powder and saute till raw smell leaves. Once they turn slight brown in color add ground coriander and mint leaves and fry well until the masala does not stick to the Pan.

Clean and chop mushrooms into 4 pieces. Add mushrooms to the masala and saute for 2 mins until water leaves and it starts softening. 

In the rice cooker add water and switch on the rice cooker. when the water starts boiling add cleaned basmati rice and the mushroom masala and give a stirr. Add garam masala powder, salt and pepper powder. Give a stir and close the lid.

 (If you are using a cooker you can saute all the masalas in the cooker itself and add rice and water and  pressure cook for 1 whistle in high flame and one in low flame. Once pressure releases, fluff the rice with a fork carefully without breaking the rice.)

Do not  open the lid immediately after it is done. Leave it for 10 mins,this helps the rice to absorb all the flavors and stay fluffy. Squeeze lemon and gently mix the mushroom biriyani. If wanted add some ghee also.

Yummy Mushroom biriyani is ready to serve with raitha...:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Latha, Coimbatore.