chenai setti masiyal recipe

When I was 8 or 9 years old, for summer vacation I visited my grandma's place in Chennai, then called as 'Madras' :) where I first tasted this dish and it was so well prepared, from that time I am extremely fond of this dish. This goes very well with roti, chapatti, pulka and also with  plain hot rice.

CHENAI SATTI MASIYAL (mashed yam stew)

INGREDIENTS

Yam - 200 gram

Toor dal - 25 gram

Lemon - 1 extract juice

Green chili - 2 cut into pieces

Urid dal - ½ tsp

Ginger pieces - ½ tsp

Grated coconut - 3 tsp

Asafoetida, Curry leaves, Oil and Salt

METHOD

1.      Pressure cook Yam and Toor dal separately with a pinch of turmeric powder.

2.      Smash yam and toor dal and keep aside.

3.      Heat thick bottom kadai with 1 tsp oil. (I use coconut oil which gives good aroma).

4.      Crackle mustard seed, urid dal and asafoetida.

5.      Add curry leaves, ginger pieces, green chilly, grated coconut and sauté for a minute.

6.      Add yam, toor dal and salt.

7.      Mix well and cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

8.      Switch off the stove and add lemon juice.

(here is a close up :) )

TIPS

1.      Just the addition of *tamarind juice instead of lemon juice, yam masiyal can get a different taste.

2.      *Extract little tamarind juice and cook until raw smell goes off.

3.      Other preparation are same as mentioned above

HAPPY COOKING!

-Jay

Carrot adai (Rice-Lentil Pancakes)

I would like to share my memories with you of how the idea of making this nourishing and naturally colourful adai struck me. I had been to my mother's place at Shimoga (Karnataka State) for the birth of my first baby. I still remember the  pleasant, cool and mist-loaded day. My brother was grinding the "adai" batter and adding carrots to it. I savored the adai which was not only deliciously colorful but also loaded with all the goodness of the carrots. When my daughters grew up, I wanted to give them this nutritional and tasty adai instead of the regular one. Children always like colorful food on their plates. That's why I am always  concerned about food presentation, both the way it looks while cooking and also during serving. Because individual tastes are different, I included tips for making different varieties of adai according to the  requirement of your dear ones. Also, don't forget to check the other general tips for this recipe ;)

CARROT ADAI

INGREDIENTS:

Rice - 2 ½ glass
Toor dal - ½ glass  
Gram dal - ½ glass  
Moong dal - ¼ glass  
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp       
Broken urid dal - ¼ glass – soak separately
Red chilly - 10 pcs
Carrot - 2, medium size, peel and cut into pcs
Ginger - 3 tps, cut into small pcs 
Spring onion, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves and Asafoetida

PREPARATION and GRINDING:

1. Wash and soak rice, toor dal, gram dal, moong dal and fenugreek seeds for 2 hours.
2. Grind the carrots, red chilly and salt. Add the soaked rice and dal mix and grind coarsely.  
3. Add the broken urid dal and mix with the adai batter along with curry leaves, asafoetida.

METHOD:
1. Apply a drop of oil on the frying pan/"tawa" and allow to heat up.
2. Put 1 ladle of adai batter to the centre of the pan and spread it in a circular manner. Immediately put a small quantity of spring onions, ginger pieces, grated carrots (optional), coriander leaves on top.
3. Make small holes in the centre and four sides of the adai. Put some sesame oil drops in the holes. These will help the adai cook better, since its lentil-loaded. Allow to cook on medium flame.
4. Once the adai is cooked and turns golden brown, flip to the other side. Cook by dousing 1 tsp sesame oil on the sides or top. Flip once or twice. Serve with butter and jaggery.

TIPS:

1. Just adding broken urid dal w/o grinding adds to the taste and look.
2. We can make different varieties of adai by adding onions, fresh mint leaves, drumstick leaves, grated cabbage or very thin pieces of capsicum.
3. Adai batter should be a bit thicker than dosai batter (coming soon).
4. I don't grind the ginger pcs along with the other ingredients because it dominates the entire batter. By adding ginger on the top, we can relish the mild flavor of ginger.
5. Adai batter can be kept for a week in the refrigerator.  The adai tastes wonderful even when the batter ferments

My daughters always like to have adai with butter and milagaipodi (chilli-lentil powder). Also curd/yoghurt goes very well with this.


Dont forget to say how you liked this recipe. Do you make any other variations of adai in your kitchen? Let us know and do come back soon for my wheat adai recipe :)


Lets meet soon with my next post,

happy cooking!

-Jay

         

           

           

           

           

vendayakeerai sambar (METHI/ fenugreek LEAVES lentil gravy)

Vendayakeerai (fenugreek leaves/fenugreek greens) were stacked up neatly in the market. I was very much tempted to make a dish out of the fresh leaves. Today I made 'sambar'. with the greens (recipe Source: my mother-in-law) More recipes with fenugreek leaves are in the pipeline ;).

VENDAYAKEERAI SAMBAR:

          (Tamil to English: Vendayakeerai - fenugreek greens/leaves, Sambar - Lentil gravy)

INGREDIENTS:

Toor Dal – 1 ½ cum (75 gm) Soak in water for 15 mins with a pinch of turmeric powder, cook until mashy*.

Tamarind – ¾ lemon size (15 gm) Soak in water and extract the juice.

Fresh Vendayakeerai/fenugreek leaves/fenugreek greens – 4 small bunches – cleaned, washed and chopped.

Tomato – 2 Medium size cut into pcs.

Red chilly – 8 to 10 nos cut into pcs.

Oil to fry (I always use sesame oil for making sambar varieties. The aroma will be good, and also sesame oil is more healthy and tasty compared to refined oil)
Mustard seed-1tsp, 

Asafoetida - as per taste

Curry leaves and salt.

METHOD:
1. Heat the pan with 4 tsp sesame oil.
2. Add mustard seed, red chillies, vendayakeerai/fenugreek greens, pinch of turmeric powder, asafoetida & sauté for few minutes.
3. Add tomato, salt and sauté until the tomatoes are cooked.
4. Add tamarind juice and cover the pan. Cook until the raw smell goes off.
5. Now add the cooked* and mashed toor dal and cook for few min.
6. Crackle mustard seed, curry leaves and if you like you may add 1/2 red chillies.**
7. Serve with steamed rice mixed with 1 tsp sesame oil.

What other recipes do you make with the fenugreek greens?

Let us know!

happy cooking!

-Jay

*I will soon write up about how to cook different varieties of dal
**Also a post of the crackling/seasoning method of South Indian cooking follows soon :)

recipe tries:

Lata Raja from the cheerful Indian cooking blog "flavors and tastes" told in FB that she tried this recipe and it was a "breeze". In her words, "True to my comment, i have cooked your venthaya keerai sambhar...that was a breeze...yet to have lunch."

Thank you Lata, I hope to try many recipes from your blog too! I am so glad to make friends here through common hobby interest. Happy cooking :)