Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Dosa Trial

When I lived in Tamil Nadu, I would visit Auroville often. I became very close with Johnny who was one of the original community members of Auroville. He is a renaissance man who can create just about anything and he has the uncanny ability of bringing community together - both young and old. If you spend time around Johnny you are always in for a hell of an adventure that's for sure.

One thing that I loved about staying in his community (Fertile) was the Sunday dosa party. It was a potluck and you never knew who would show up. Johnny started it because in his family in Australia, his grandmother would always have Sunday family suppers. I think the story goes that one time he tried running away from home but then got so hungry he ended up at the doorstep of his grandmother's home for Sunday supper. When he set up the community in Auroville, this was his way of carrying on his grandmother's tradition. There is always an eclectic mix of music, potluck food and people. Johnny makes everything over the fire. He even grinds the dosa batter with a fire powered grinder. His griddle is a huge cast iron slab seated on top of a barrel that he burns wood in. The morning routine before everyone comes is to make sambar over the fire, grind chutney in the stone grinder and whatever other snacks to add to the table. I loved the vibe of SUndays at Fertile and I hope to recreate the same kind of dosa party potluck gathering wherever I settle down the line.

I always thought it was a complex fermentation process but actually it ended up being very simple. Skyping with my grandmother, I was able to get the right combo of ingredients. I

2 cups 'idli rice' (parboiled rice - kind of brownish color)
3/4 cup urad dal
2 tbsp fenugreek
1/2 cup avil
1 tsp salt

1) wash and soak rice for 5 hours
2) mix urad dal and fenugreek in a bowl and soak for 3 hours
3) soak avil for 3 hours separately
4) combine everything in a super mixie such as vitamix and mixie until smooth without any graininess - add appropriate amount of water to bring about smoothness. BUT DON'T MAKE IT TOO WATERY! IT SHOULD BE THE CONSISTENCY OF PANCAKE BATTER
5) add salt, loosely cover and store in a warm, dry place overnight or for 8 hours (like to oven not while it's on though! In the summer time you can just leave it out on the counter)

The next day, the fermentation process would have made the batter rise slightly. mix it and add more salt if necessary. Sometimes you can't tell until you have made the dosa if it needs more salt. The best pan for making dosa is cast iron but this nonstick pan also has worked really well. Make it thin or thick - whatever you prefer. Use a large ladle and pour one ladle full into the middle of the pan on medium to high heat. Circle the batter outwards making concentric, continuous circles into the batter. Put 1-2 tsp of corn oil or ghee around the circumference of the dosa. Turn once it is golden brown on the underside and cook the other side to the same color. Serve with sambar, chutney, sugar and ghee or whatever your fancy!



Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Finding Your Style

I always had a hard time cooking food that Mom makes because I would be so critical of the end product - of course I'm comparing myself to a woman that has been in the game since she was 9 years old! So maybe that comparison is not valid but still the mind does it because I know what it is 'supposed' to taste like. At the same time, while it is appropriate to use Amma's food as a standard for the basic recipe, I do need to accept that I may have my own style that still can taste good and may be a little different.

Today is the first day I cooked pakka Indian food on my own in a long time. Both my parents are on vacation and I'm on my own at home. I decided to give it a go.  After pestering Mamamma a few times about where to find everything (the fridge, the freezer, the cupboard on top of the stove...it's a goose hunt!) I went to it. I was not sure about it at first but soon, the color started to look like it was supposed to look, and, even better, it started to actually taste like a pretty good sambar! In my mind, I make the process a lot more difficult than it has to be.

So here it is folks! Avarakkai Sambar with kathrikai poriyal, manga urugai and a boat load of thayir :-) In a later post I will learn how to actually make sambar podi but for now here is the recipe for those that have the ingredients handy:

Avarakkai Sambar:

1) 2 cups washed and cut avarakkai (flat beans) into thirds
2) half diced tomato
3) 1 tblsp tamarind
3) 1 tsp turmeric
4) 1 tsp salt
5) 1-2 cups cooked toor dhal
6) 1tbsp sambar powder
7) 1 tsp sugar
8) 1/2 tsp asoefetida (hing or perungaiyum)
9) Seasoning: mustard seeds, fenugreek, curry leaves (you can find these in an indian grocery store or if you live in Florida it grows very easily in many areas)
10) add salt as desired


1) Mix 3c water with turmeric, tamarind and salt. To add tamarind, soak in 1/4c of water and mix in separate cup. Then strain and add the juice from this into the water. Bring the pot to a boil then add the vegetables and continue to boil about 15 minutes or until avarakkai is tender.

2) Once the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, add sambar powder, sugar and hing. Boil for another 15 minutes.

3) Add cooked dhal as desired. I like to make it think so I put about 2 cups. Again bring the whole thing to a boil and add extra salt here.

(side note - dhal is easiest to cook in a pressure cooker. Add water to the basin. Then put one cup of toor dhal in a bowl, wash and drain, and fill with 3-4 cups of water. Place this in the basin, cover and put on the stove on high. Wait for about 8-10 whistles then sim for 5-10 minutes and shut off. Wait until all the steam escapes and be sure to release steam anyway from the top in case there is extra before opening.)

4) Add seasoning: use a small pan and put it on the stove on med-high. Add 1 tbsp veg oil or corn oil. Wait until it heats up and then add 2 tsp of mustard seeds. Wait until this pops vigorously, then add 1 tsp fenugreek seeds. Once the fenugreek starts to change a tannish red color, add chopped curry leaves. VERY IMPORTANT: Do not let the fenugreek burn bc it will ruin the flavor. Add this all to the sambar.

5) Taste and add salt as desired.

KATHRIKAI PORIAYAL

1 chopped eggplant (I used the asian long purple variety but any variety will work)
2 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste (1-2 tsp)
1 tbsp MTR Puliyogare mix (EASY SECRET!!!)

The pan makes all the difference. If you have the wrong pan, the eggplant will just become one big blob rather than dry, individual fried pieces of goodness. My Mamamma recently bought us a wonderful pan for vegetable poriyals from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

1) Add oil and mustard seeds. Once it pops vigorously, add the chopped and washed eggplant pieces and turmeric.

2) Mix everything and let it fry on medium heat for about 15 minutes. You want the eggplant to really dry out and fry till it changes into a brown color - but don't burn it!

3) Sprinkle the MTR mix and salt over the eggplant. This is a packet mix you can find at most any Indian grocery store and it is a very handy and versatile. Let the eggplant continue to cook through on low heat for another 10 minutes. Add more salt if desired!

Thats all she wrote folks :-) There is a side of mango pickle and yogurt but that's for another blog. Enjoy!









Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Jim & Jim: The Business Gurus

And I'm back folks....sorry about the short hiatus. I had to step back and rethink this whole thing.  We want to run this as a business and I needed to figure out what our angle was.  After a long talk with my mom, we made some decisions:

1) We need to run something that involves a low risk investment because I'm going back to school and my mom is still working.  If we need to take a break in between we don't want the loan for a food truck hanging over our heads.

2)  We don't want to do what the other aunties in the community are doing - full catering for south indian weddings.  We want to be more specific and target the Indian community as well as non Indians.

3)  We need to have flexibility in choosing our timings.  IF we ran a restaurant/food truck/push cart we would have to be outside all day long.  It's cool work and maybe in my future someday but now is not the time.

What next?  If you are ever looking at starting a small business, the Small Business Association is a great place to begin.  They offer business counseling for free!  I found them online and scheduled an appointment with them.  This morning I walked into the office and met with Jim&Jim, my pair of business gurus.  I explained our pitch and at first they were asking all these questions that made me think, "man they don't get it!"  But then, one of the Jims suggested an idea that was golden.  Beautiful just beautiful.  He simplified us to just one specialty.  We work with this one specialty and build our business around it.  I would elaborate but seeing as we haven't started yet, I don't want to plaster the idea on the internet.  So with this specialty, we offer subcontracting to other restaurants.  It's a great way to get in the business and to make a name for ourselves with clients. Genius!!!!

To do list:

1) business plan elaborating on what we know about:

-our specialty food and accoutrements
-target clientele
-sell price
-labor/materials costs
-licensing
-necessary equipment and costs

2) Put together a pitch to present to restaurants including marketing literature

3) Connect with local business associations

4) Get a customer

Expected start date: I'm pushing for sometime in Feb.  The Jim's say that might be pushing it, but all I got to say to that is, Watch me!

Lots of love folks!  And remember, Amma Veedu Namma Veedu!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Our First Order! Lemon Rice Comin Up!

So the Indian community here, or let me be more specific, the Tam-Brahm community, have three main Tamil food caterers....our competition you might say.....shhhh don't tell them that though!  But, in all actuality, they are three very kind ladies whom I have known for years and they were very enterprising by just starting up catering on their own and making out pretty well.  I met with one of them earlier this week, and let her in on the AVNV plan.  She was all for it and even gave me my first order!  Bogged down with a wedding, she couldn't take on an order for another event going on at the local Hindu Temple.  Easy Peasy lemon rice to be delivered at 11am.  So our first $20!  Don't worry, I won't use it all in one place ;-)  Good news is....We got our first order!  Not an official business as of yet, but hey, we're on our way!

Late night after dancin with my mom, (yes, my mom - she get down more than me these days) at this wedding reception so I'll have to share the recipe and pics tomorrow folks.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

NO TURKEY AND NO SHOPPING, THANKS

Yes we are vegetarian and no we don't eat turkey for Thanksgiving.  Today, my parents and I visited our old family friends to celebrate Thanksgiving and pretend to care about a football game.  So RICE is what's for lunch.  We had rice with some choices of specialties.  Here's a snap of our table.

 My favorite side has always been the crispies!  Which includes papadam and karudam.  I can stay away from sugar and away from animal products, but I have a severe addiction to salty, crispy things.

If one let's go of the nightmare of history that we are 'celebrating' with obsessions over fat turkeys, football and violent shoppers camping out all night to wait to get things that are probably not even needed in the first place....

It is nice to say thanks.  Everyday...not just today.  Our friends thought of a nice idea to pass around index cards to everyone so that we could write what we were thankful for.  Then we put them in a box and everyone passed it around the table to pick a card and share.  I thought that was a simple and neat way to pass this holiday and remember that we have miracles and wonders all around us all the time even in the midst of all the pain and suffering.

Today and everyday, I am thankful for love.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The World of Vegetable Poriyal (Curry)

Simple, fast and yummy.  Vegetable curry, or poriyal as we call it in Tamil, is a great side dish for rice or chapathi.  Tonight, we had poriyal made with chayote as a side dish for rice and sambar.  We will have to go over sambar another day. 

Ingredients:

2 chayote chopped into 1cm cubes - be sure to cut out the seed and white part surrounding it inside
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon black split gram
1 dried red chilli
1 tablespoon grated coconut (fresh or frozen but NOT dessicated)
Salt to taste

We used chayote.  The vegetable that kind of looks like a bum. 


1) Add one tablespoon of oil (corn or vegetable) into a wok or pan
2) Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds
4) After those seeds start popping, the black split gram aka ullathum parruppu which is actually white in color.  Also add one dried red chilli.
5) Add the chopped chayote and after 5 minutes of cooking, add a tablespoon of grated coconut if you have it.
6) Cover the veg and let it cook.  Chayote is watery so it will cook fast. 
7) Add salt to taste

And there you have it folks!  You can do the same recipe with chopped up beans, finely chopped cabbage and also beet root.  For beet root, don't add the coconut. 

Stay tuned for a thanksgiving spread without the turkey!  And remember...

AMMA VEEDU NAMMA VEEDU!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Dosa Time Baby!!!

Vanakam fellow foodies!  The truth of the matter is, you are not going to find good South Indian cooking- I'm talking dosa, idli, sambar, chutney- in Boston.  Believe me, I've tried it all.  After four years of living in Tamil Nadu in the South of India and being around yummy goodness all the time, I'm back in Boston and my passion for cooking inspired by my mother's magical ways in the kitchen gave me the idea to bring some quality Tamil food in the Boston area.

I've strayed to other cultural foods but I always came back to home cooking to satisfy my soul.  After experimenting with cooking this and that, I decided to really buckle down and learn things the old fashioned way - from my mother.  My mother got her talent and perfection from her mother and that's just the way I would like to learn.  Food is a language of it's own and I want to learn all of the traditional ways around the kitchen.

Oh and did I mention, I recently went vegan.  Instead of going crazy with all that fancy shmancy vegan food, I figured that other than ghee (clarified butter) and curd, South Indian cooking is vegan.  These ingredients are not always needed and if they are used, they can be substituted.  So no need to look for some new special diet when everything is right at home.

We want to take this on the road and bring YOU some good, vegan, Tamil home cookin' !  Join us on our adventure as we figure out how to bring this project to life.  And as for the name, it's Tamil for Mom's House is Our House.

This is us in Hampi.  That's Radha & Shoba.