Podi chammanthi (Coconut chutney to go with appams)

I am a true blue crab sun sign...if I find someone pursuading me too hard (be it for anything) I retreat into my proverbial shell all suspicious :-) what's that to do with cooking? Nothing. Just in a 'verbal diarrhoea' mood coupled with two stray instances of insistent people! I have a bad back thanks to many reasons. Now with Abhi around a bad back is a big hinderance to happy 'mommying'. Hit upon chiropractice as a possible solution albeit a very expensive one. Towards the end of my schedule the therapist started suggesting that my husband who happened to have sprained his back undergo a session and he declined.Then one day I could not go for a prefixed session because abhi (my baby) had to have her vaccination shot. The chiropractor told us that vaccinations were bad and that they affected the nervous system, if we were insistent on giving abhi her shot then we should bring her for a spine adjustment chiro session!! That decided the end of 'my' chiropratic sessions!
Another minor incident is with facebook. I'm newbie at facebook and am fine when people suggest I follow their websites or blogs. I check it out and if I like it I accept. Some are blogs of people who I already follow through a list on my blog, so when they ask me to do the same on FB I am glad to do so. But there was one very persistent person who added me as friend (I'd never before seen that particular site), then suggested I follow the blog. I accepted both suggestions. Then soon after, I was asked to become a 'fan' of the same blog. I declined. Thereafter, I keep getting repeat suggestions that I become a fan of the said blog even after declining it each time! Grrrrrrrrrrrr...

Podi chammanthi is my mom's favourite side dish option with appams (vellayappam) when she is running short of time. It does taste fantabulous with hot appams (I dont like it with idlis and dosas).



Fresh grated coconut - 1 cup
Shallots (small onions) - 2 Nos
Ginger - 1/4" piece
Dry red chillies - 4 Nos (more or less as per your spice tolerance)
Salt to taste

For tempering

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coconut/canola oil - 1 teaspoon

Grind all ingredients together in a mixie/food processor adding just a teaspoon or two of water till coarse. Heat oil in a skilet and crackle mustard and fry curry leaves. Toss in the coarse mixture, saute for a minute or two to take away the raw taste of shallots.There, that was quick, was it not?

Aval dosai (Rice flakes dosa)

When I mentioned that my trip home to India for delivery was due soon, so many of you blogger friends turned up with good wishes. It felt so good to have met and made friends with so many like minded souls through blogging! Thank you all, my dear friends, for all your good wishes. Now to get to today's recipe, Aval dosai, a Tamil Nadu special.

Aval dosai has been one of my favourite tiffin items right from childhood. Growing up at my maternal grandmother's house at Salem, my childhood food preferences were greatly influenced by Tamilian cuisine. Amma, having relocated to dad's place at Kerala, has more or less given up on Tamilian fare except for when I turn up at home and ask her to make me something from grandma's kitchen. Aval dosai is one thing I make perfectly well at my kitchen but still ask amma to make for me whenever I visit her. Love it with pottu kadalai chutney (roasted gram). Here is my paatti (grandma) and amma's recipe for the yummilicious aval dosai...

Raw rice - 2 cups
Aval (Rice flakes/beaten rice/poha)- 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds (uluva/methi/vendayam) - 1 teaspoon
Sour curds (plain yoghurt)- 1 cup
For seasoning
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 Nos
Onion - 1 medium sized
Ginger - 1" piece
For tempering
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Dry red chillies - 2 Nos
Curry leaves - 3-4 sprigs
Bengal gram (Channa dal/ kadala paruppu)- 1 teaspoon

Wash and soak the rice and fenugreek seeds together for about 4 hours. Whisk the yoghurt with a little water to make it a little thin. Add the rice flakes to it and soak for about an hour. Add sufficient water and blend the rice and fenugreek in a mixie/food processor/wet grinder into a smooth batter. Do the same with the soaked rice flakes. Mix the two together and add salt to taste. The consistency should be like that of ordinary dosa batter (see picture). Allow to ferment overnight or for about 8 hours.

Chop the onions, ginger, and green chillies fine. Heat a teaspoon of oil and saute the bengal gram and red chillies. Add the mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Throw in the curry leaves, chopped onions, ginger, green chillies, and coconut. Whisk in to the batter.

Heat an appa chatti (see picture) and pour out a ladleful of the batter. Cover with a lid and simmer cook till done (approx 3 minutes). The bottom should have formed a golden crust and the top should be cooked well. You need not turn this over but if you like both sides golden, you can flip and brown the other side too like I've done.



PS : An appa chatti is a shallow pan traditionally used to cook palappams (vellayappams) in. If you do not have this you can use an ordinary dosa gridle (flat pan) to make aval dosai. For more detailed pictures of the 'appa chatti' check out the Vellayappam recipe link http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/05/vellayappam.html

Sending this over to EC's WYF : Cuisine event. The event is on at http://simpleindianfood.blogspot.com/2009/03/wyfcuisine-event-announcement.html till March 31st.

Chakka kumbilappam

Ripe chakka (Jackfruit) - 2 cups (deseeded and chopped into small chunks)
Rice flour - 2 cups
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Elaichi (Cardamom) - 3-4 nos (pounded well)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Pressure cook the jackfruit bits without water for about 2 whistles. Cool.
Place all the ingredients including the cooked jackfruit in a large bowl and knead into dough(similar to the consistency of chappathi dough).
Cut out square sheets from good quality butter paper and shape them into medium sized cones. Place a fair amount of dough into the cone and seal the ends with a tooth pick. Steam cook for about 10 - 15 minutes. To check if the kumbilappam is ready, open one and prick a tooth pick into it. If the toothpick comes out clean your appam is ready to serve.

PS: Traditionally the kumbils (the cones in which the appam is cooked) is fashioned out of fresh bay leaves. If you have access to fresh bay leaves use them instead of the butter paper for a more delicious flavour.

Vellayappam (appam/palappam)

Appam is a Kerala breakfast favourite. The same is cooked in Tamil Nadu but just pronounced with a lengthening of the 'A' syllable..'aappam'. There are many ways of making the appam batter ferment. My mom generally uses a 'kappi'. Kappi is made by mixing a couple of teaspoons of the ground rice batter in a glass of water and simmer stirring it till it thickens into a gooey paste. this is then cooled and added to the batter. A pinch of baking soda is added teh next morning, before use. A second method uses 'toddy', a kind of arack obtained from the coconut palm. The third and easiest method uses 'yeast'. I use yeast because it saves time and I like the taste. The rest of the process remains the same whichever fermentation method you choose.
Raw rice - 2 cups
Fenugreek seeds (uluva/vendiyam/methi) - 1/2 teaspoon
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup ( the readymade coconut milk powder works fine)
Dry Yeast - 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste.

Soak rice and fenugreek seeds for 2-3 hours. Grind to a smooth batter in a mixer bowl. Take 1/2 cup of water and boil till its lightly warm.

Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the luke warm water. Mix the coconut milk, salt and dissolved yeast into the rice batter. Let ferment overnight.

Appams are made in a special shallow kadai called 'appa chatti' (see the pictures). The non-stick variety is available in most stores. Heat the appa chatti and pour in a ladleful of batter. Slightly rotate the appachatti to make the batter swirl creating a lace like crisp outer ring and a thicker middle portion.

In case you don't find an appachatti. Just warm an ordinary dosa pan and pour out the batter. Close it with a lid and simmer till its nicely done. Do not turn over.
Appams taste great in combination with fish curry, vegetable stew, channa masala, or peas curry.