Sowbaghya Wet Grinders

June 4, 2008

Economy

Filed under: India, Indian, Uncategorized, Wet grinders — content @ 8:00 am

Wet grinders, considered to be India’s only product and engineering invention, has been manufactured which later spun-off into several variants. LMW and Pricol would commence operations later growing into a multi crore group. Some wealthy industrialists (notable example S.Karivardhan) with a penchant for tinkering machines and cars plunged into motor racing later making it the country’s capital.

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June 3, 2008

The Grinding Stone

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders — content @ 8:00 am

The Grinding Stone - is an acrylic on canvas painting of size- 24″x30″.

This is a grinding stone traditionally used in India to wet grind while cooking. With the invention of electric wet grinders, this stone is used less and less nowadays. But I can assure you, that ‘chutneys’ made by grinding with this stone tastes way better than if -ground in an electric grinder. I guess this is because, the food is press ground in this, unlike being cut by blades in an electric grinder.

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June 2, 2008

Exponential growth in Coimbatore

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders — content @ 8:00 am

What is not made in Coimbatore?” asked N.S. Kumar, chairman, Yenyeskey Machine Tools, Coimbatore, who is striving to make the exhibition a success. “The people of Coimbatore themselves do not know the range of products made here. Wet grinders were first made here. Different types of textile machinery have their origins in Coimbatore.” If there was hype about Coimbatore being the second information technology hub in Tamil Nadu after Chennai, it is becoming a reality. After a delay of about 15 months, the first steps have been taken for the construction of TIDEL Park, Coimbatore (TPCL). It is a joint venture of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), the TIDEL Park and the Software Technology Park of India (STPI). The success of the TIDEL Park in Chennai has encouraged its promoters to build a second TIDEL Park, in Coimbatore, which will be a massive plug-and-pay building complex for IT companies. It will have three basements, ground floor and four upper floors, a total built-up area of 1,61,500 sq m. Bids have been invited for building this sophisticated complex with civil and allied works at an estimated cost of Rs.140 crore. The complex will come up at ELCOT’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for IT at Vilankurichi.

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June 1, 2008

Elgi Ultra Grind

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders, dosa, idli — content @ 8:00 am

Wet Grinders are an indispensable part of south Indian kitchens. To make delicious “dosas”, or steaming hot “idlies”, the primary requirement is the batter. Wet Grinders are labelled so as they grind water, dal and rice and produce the batter used for preparing south Indian delicacies.

Few decades ago, electric grinders were still unheard of. People used stone grinders where manual work was involved to prepare the batter. A sample pic is shown below. Click on the image to enlarge.

stone_grinder

Image Courtesy: songbirdgardens.co.nz

But times have now changed. People realized that simple mixer grinders were not powerful enough to handle rice, dal combination. Companies saw an opportunity here and the modern wet grinder was born. Every year new innovations and patents are happening in this field. The product that is being reviewed here is “Ultra Grinder” from ELGI industries. The picture is shown below. Please click on it to enlarge.

Ultra

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May 31, 2008

The Daily Grind

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders — Tags: , — content @ 8:00 am

One of my biggest challenges to cooking Indian food, surprisingly enough, has been to do with grinding spices. Wet or dry grinding is a staple with Indian spieces. This may not sound like much of a challenge but it’s huge.  To start with, the quantity problem; most appliances (such as coffee grinders) are suited for larger quantities (such as handful of coffee beans). That’s enough ground spice to run a restaurant. You can’t simply grind a large quantity and store it for later use - many spices will rapidly deteriorate into sawdust (and the ones that don’t - duh - you can buy those pre-ground). The other problem is the blending of those strong spice smells; Coffee grinders are meant to grind the same thing over and over again, while an average Indian meal may require you to grind some ten different spices in one meal, and they should not all end up smelling of each other. To top it all off, coffee grinders cannot be washed. The best you can do is wipe them with a wet cloth, a feeble gesture that makes only a small dent in the wondorous odors of some of the stronger condiments. Individual spice mills are easily available options, but can quickly become very expensive. They can’t accommodate more than one spice, so you’re going to need a lot of them if that’s your only option. I use them for really frequently ground spices, such as cardamom or roast cumin (they dont grind cinammon sticks very well). A much better option is decidedly low-tech - the humble but very versatile mortar and pestle. These things are easy to wash between grinds, and are outrageously good for small quantities. A good one should have bulk and be sufficiently rough inside for fine grinding.  Not to forget entirely about the coffee grinder alternative, though. Many spices - cumin, poppyseed or mustard, for example - are tough to grind in a mortar but do wonderfully well in a coffee grinder. What to look for are blades that are really close to the bottom, so that there isn’t much space below the blade for these small seeds to hide. Some of them have as much as 1/2 inch of space below the blade, and that’s a lot for a spice. The one I’ve had the most success with is Krup’s small, inexpensive model whose are blades nearly flush with the bottom.  Wet grinding is a far bigger challenge. India sells that wondorous device called a wet grinder, but I never did find one in the United States. Coffee grinders will short out (dont try it). Blenders, unfortunately, won’t do in many situations. They work well only if the contents are fluid enough to keep sliding to the bottom - like coconuts or onions. For spice pastes, however, that’s far too much liquid. Just as troublesome are bigger wet things like mint leaves or green chillies, where no water should be added at all - I want a thick smooth paste, not a milkshake. Also, blend blenders with small quantities and all you get is a nice splatter pattern along the sides.

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May 30, 2008

Idli - Steamed Rice Cakes

Filed under: Fenugreek, India, Indian, Wet grinders, idli — content @ 8:00 am

Ingredients:

  1. Rice - 4 cups
  2. Urad Dhal - 1 cup
  3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
  4. Salt to taste
  5. Water to grind the batter

Preparation:

  • Soak the Rice covering fully with water for 4 hours.
  • Soak the Urad dhal with fenugreek seeds and leave in the refrigerator for about 4 hours.
  • Grind the Urad dhal first in the Blender /Mixie or an Indian wet grinder until fluffy, then remove it into a bowl.
  • Grind the Rice and add enough salt.
  • Now mix both the batter together in a big bowl using spatula.
  • Let it ferment overnight which makes the batter to get double up its quantity.
  • Grease the Idli plates with little oil.
  • Pour one laddle of batter into the Idli plates or any flat bottom stainless steel bowl.
  • Place the Idli plates into a Idli cooker or a Sauce pan with little water in the bottom and cover with the lid.
  • Steam it for about 15 min.
  • Your Idlies are ready now.

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May 29, 2008

Paneer Tikka Recipe

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders — Tags: , , — content @ 8:00 am

Ingredients:
50 grams paneer (cut into 1-inch cubes)
Ginger paste 1 teaspoon
green chilli paste from 2 green chilies
1 tsp cumin pwowder (jeera)
Garlic paste 1/2 teaspoon
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1 capsicum, cut into fine rings
Few drops of orange Food color
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Take a mixing bowl.
2. Add the Garlic and Ginger paste ,Jeera powder, cut Green Chillies, chilli powder, lime juice.
3. Put it in the wet grinder and make a fine paste.
4. Add the salt to taste.
5. Add some drops of the orange colour ( this is optional).
6. Take the Paneer pieces and smear this paste on all sides.
7. Leave this paneer for about an hour so that the mixture can dry up a bit.
8. Put this paneer in a greased dish and grill for about 10 minutes till it is dry and crisp.
9. Now take a fry pan and heat 2 tablespoons of oil in it.
10. Put some onion and capsicum pieces and fry them.
11. Put some paste you prepared in step 3 in this mixture of onions and capsicum.
12. take a plate and put all the cooked paneer pieces and add the cooked capsicum and onions on top.
13. Sprinkle some chat masala and lime juice on top.

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May 28, 2008

Soft Idlis

Filed under: Fenugreek, India, Indian, Wet grinders — content @ 8:00 am

1-Cup Urud Dal
A little note: Before buying Urud Dal, ensure the Packet has some whitish powder all around the inner walls of the Packet and the Urud Dal is Whitish in color, Urud Dal can be either whole or split. I use Split. (I use Pooja Brand)

1 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
3 Cups Food World White Idli Rice
1 Cup Sona Masoori Rice (I use Ravi Brand)
3 teaspoons White flaked rice (Poha)
Salt
Method:
For the Batter:
In the morning, wash the urud dal, add fenugreek seeds and soak in water.  Mix the idli rice and masoori rice. Wash and soak in water. Wash the poha several times and add it to the soaked rice.  After 3 hours, using the same water, grind the Urud Dal in a Wet Grinder. You can add water while its grinding, see to it that it doesn’t get too watery. Grind until you see some small bubbles. The tip is, when you think its done, grind for 10 more minutes. Take the ground urud Dal and transfer it to a large bowl.  Grind the rice using less water. Let it grind until it is well ground and you don’t feel any coarse rice when you touch the Batter. The tip is, when you think its done, grind for 5 more minutes. (The ground batter should not be too loose or too thick)  Now, pour the Rice Batter on Urud Batter. Add required amount of Salt and Mix well using your hands. Mix really well until everything blends well. Pour it in large containers. I use three boxes. Fill only half the containers. Keep it partially closed in the Oven (Please Do not Switch ON the Oven). Keep it in the oven overnight for fermentation. The next morning the batter is ready for making SOFT IDLIs. To Store, Refrigerate the Batter. Each time you open a box, you can make soft iddlis.

To Make Idlis:

Grease the idli plates with ghee. fill the idli plates with batter and steam cook covered for few Minutes. I use non-stick idli plates. When the Idlis are done, Take the Plates out and keep it aside for sometime. Let all the steam go away. Then scoop the Idlis. To make the idlis look more interesting, put a spoon full of grated carrots in the plate before pouring the batter.


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May 27, 2008

Idly (Idli, Iddenlu)

Filed under: India, Indian, Wet grinders, flatbreads, idli — content @ 8:00 am

Our love for idlis, the soft, fluffy white, round discs made of rice and lentil batter, began when we were children. Two, three year old babies with tiny idlis in their hand, playing around mom, is a common scene you see in many Indian households. As we grow up, the role of idlis also changes - first as toddlers’ teething food, to childhoods play, fun kind of food. Then in teenage years, the kind of breakfast we really enjoy eating without complaining much. Later In twenties and thirties - we try, struggle and wonder how folks back home make those fluffy cloud like visions of idlis so effortlessly. Try as we may, we can’t recreate those beauties here, because the weather, the grain and even the water is different here . Method of making idlis is very simple yet little bit time consuming, only in the sense that you have to plan ahead. Whether idlies turn out like cotton soft or solid, white round bricks - it all depends on fermentation (that means where you live and how you grind the batter etc.,). Most of the times, the recipe I follow gives good, decent idlis, considering I live in a very cold climate area. See, if my recipe works for you.

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May 26, 2008

Colorful Idly with Carrots & Chana Dal

Filed under: Curry, Dhal, Wet grinders, dosa, flatbreads, idli — Tags: , — content @ 8:00 am

Back home, a breakfast is still a breakfast. It is not brunch, lunch or supper. Breakfast items are few, and everyday one of them is prepared and eaten by 9 AM. My mother never uttered the words - “I’m not feeling well today and not making any breakfast for you”. As a grown up, living in a silent world with plenty of time to reflect back, now I realise, my mother like me, must had several reasons to slack off, if she wanted to. But she never did. I am sure many of you can relate to what I am talking about. That kind of devotion was given to us when we were children. This is the reason why I often mention ‘amma (mother)’ as recipe source. If I have the courtesy to write a cookbook author’s name as recipe source for a blogged recipe, why shouldn�t I return the same courtesy to amma, from whom I learned most of my cooking from.

Colorful idly with carrots and chana dal aka masala idly is one of her recipes. Finely grated carrots and chana dal along with green chillies and cumin etc. are added to the leftover idly batter for a next day morning breakfast. Imagine the taste of upma, and these idlies almost taste like that. Steam cooked in round shape, they are a pleasure when served hot with chutney and sambar. Though they are a breakfast item back home, here I often make them on a weekend for brunch, lunch or for supper.

Idly plates filled with idly batter - ready for steamingRecipe:
This is same as idly preparation except that we add bunch of other ingredients and change the lilly white, cloud like plain idlies into colorful, somewhat dense masala idlies.

(for 16 idlies)
3 cups of Idly batter
(urad dal and rice ravva(cream of rice) in 1:2 ratio, soaked, grind into smooth batter and kept overnight for fermentation)
Ingredients to add to idly batter
1 cup of grated carrot (1 big carrot)
¼ cup of chana dal (soaked in water for atleast an hour)
¼ cup of coarsely crushed, roasted peanuts or cashews
¼ cup of finely chopped cilantro
2 to 4 finely chopped or minced green chillies
1 teaspoon of cumin and few curry leaves
¼ teaspoon of salt or to taste

Mix the ingredients with idly batter thoroughly. Fill the round impressions of idly plates with this batter. Place the idly stand in an idly cooker and steam cook them for about 20 minutes or until the batter sets completely. Remove the idly stand from the cooker, run a spoon under each impression and separate the cooked idlies from the impressions. Serve them hot with peanut or coconut chutney and sambhar.

Idlies with veggies, served with peanut chutney, and shallot sambhar

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May 25, 2008

Idli Dosa Love

Filed under: Dhal, India, Indian, Wet grinders, dosa, flatbreads, idli — Tags: , , , — content @ 8:00 am

Idli Dosa Love

I am big on breakfasts, and strongly believe in equal opportunity for breakfast foods- so you will often catch me serving them for lunch, tea and dinner as well. This month (or what’s left of it), I decided to give some thought to including more whole grains into breakfast. I do love my so-not-whole-grain poha, sabudana, rava dosa and baguettes, but let me add some whole grains to my repertoire too.

Today’s whole-grain tweak: Brown rice in idlis and dosas. The idli-dosa family of breakfast foods has got to be one of the most strongest contenders in the “nutritious meets delicious” department. There is something about the whole ritual of soaking rice and lentils, grinding them, fermenting the batter and churning out fluffy idlis and crispy dosas that is just very fulfilling. Makes me feel like a real proper cook :D

Until a month or two ago, the biggest challenge for me was the grinding of the batter; I had to manage with my KitchenAid food processor. Just for the record, the food processor was able to gring soaked rice and urad dal (separately) quite well, but was an utter failure when it came to grinding soaked parboiled rice. I would bite my lip nervously every time I made batter wondering if today was the day when my delicate machine would decide that it was not built for such arduous tasks and die on me. The best way to grind these batters at home is to buy one of those heavy-duty wet grinders (developed and manufactured in India) that are uniquely designed for this purpose. But you know what- they are quite expensive and I was quite sure that one was never going to fit into my budget at this time. Then I got one of these wet grinders as a gift! V’s cousin bought a newer, smaller version and generously let me have her wet grinder. This is one impressive machine. A huge metal drum with a stone floor holds two huge grinding stones (scroll down in that link to take a look at them). Start the heavy-duty motor, and even the most unyielding dal and rice is churned into a buttery paste.

One of the first recipes I tried in the wet grinder was Jugalbandi’s Whole-Grain Idlis. Yes, I finally have some gorgeous rosematta rice in my pantry.

2008_33
Some time ago, I whined in a post about not being able to find rosematta rice around here. Two kind souls responded: my friend Madhu came over with rosematta rice for me to try and the one and only Linda mailed me a beautiful glass jar of rosematta from far, far away! Now this is when you soberly realize what a lucky girl you are- when even your petulant whining leads kind friends to help you.

I followed Bee and Jai’s recipe except that I skipped the 2 T of cooked rice/poha/soaked bread. I like this recipe because (a) it combines brown rice and parboiled rice (the latter, although not technically a whole grain, does retain a great many of its nutrients, if I understand correctly), (b) makes a small batch of 12-15 idlis which is nice because most idli recipes are designed to make enough idlis to feed a small village, (c) includes a tip for soaking the rice and lentils in filtered water and not chlorinated tap water (I never thought of that!).

The batter fermented beautifully without the need for any interventions such as the surreptitious addition of fruit salt :D. I am lucky in that respect; fermentation has never been a problem in my present kitchen. Still, whenever I ferment something overnight, I do tend to worry about it and obsess over it. The first thought as I cross the hazy land of half-sleep is, did the batter ferment? It is enough to jerk me wide awake and get me to stumble in the darkness to the kitchen and check on the bowl of batter. A whiff of the sweet-sour aroma of fermented batter and a look at the bubbling mass in the half-light, and I am able to heave a sigh of relief.

Here are the idlis, served with huli (now updated with a link to Latha’s secret family recipe for vibrant huli powder). See all those holes that the yeasty beasties so obligingly made?

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And if steamed whole-grain idlis feel a little too healthy, you can always find creative ways to convert them into a guilty pleasure. Exhibit A: fried idli. Idlis cut into 4-5 slices, then fried in a T or so of oil until crispy.

2008_48

Now that I have the wet grinder, I am like a kid with her new toy- can’t stop playing with it. Here’s another recipe I tried: Ashwini’s Mushti Polo. Her engaging write-up tells us the origin of the name of this dosa. Adding poha (flattened rice flakes) to dosa is something new to me. I did follow the recipe exactly, except to use 1 C brown rice and 1 C white rice in place of 2 C white rice. I figured, with the white poha being refined, I would add some brown rice and split the difference in terms of whole grains. It has worked beautifully for me every time I sub brown rice for white rice in a dosa recipe. Next time, I will try all brown rice in this recipe.

The poha really helps the fermentation along, and this was the laciest and airiest dosa I have ever made in my life. It was great in the lunch-box too! I served this with pearl-onion sambar and parsley chutney (the normal coconut-cilantro-green chillies chutney but using parsley instead of cilantro because it was what I had on hand).

2008_45

Poha dosas are very popular in the food blog world:
Sharmi’s Atukula Attlu looks incredibly spongy and uses sour yogurt or buttermilk to help the fermentation along.
Shilpa prefers to call her poha dosa Masti Dosa- that’s how much fun it is to make and eat!
Namratha’s Set Dosa comes with a great story of how that name came about.

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May 24, 2008

Kerala or South Indian Dishes?

Filed under: Indian, Wet grinders, dosa, flatbreads, idli — Tags: , — content @ 8:00 am

I’m an all-american white girl born and raised in California and I am married an Indian from the state of Kerala. I am not very good at making Indian food, and that may be an understatement. Unfortunately my husband isn’t on good terms with my in-laws so that leaves me to turn to you all for much need help! Anyone have any delicious south Indian recipes? He particularly misses Dosa…which doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to make but I have NO CLUE icon_eek.gif icon_question.gif what to make with them. He also reminicises about fish fry….apparently some fish without scales and it gets all black on the outside. Anyways like I said I don’t know much about the cuisine. I have eaten a great deal of Indian food via restraunts in Cali the past 3-4 years of our courtship and marriage….but eating it and making it are totally different things! Every time I try to make something it just never turns out right icon_redface.gif . But I am getting better. If anyone has any tips, recipes, etc, etc I would be SO HAPPY To have them!

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May 23, 2008

Diwali treats Part II

Filed under: Attukkallu, India, Indian, Wet grinders, dosa, idli — Tags: , , , , — content @ 8:00 am

1. Oomapodi
besan 1 cup
salt to taste
oomam (ajwain) - 1 1/2 tsp
turmeric - 1 pinch
oil for frying
Mix all the ingredients to make a soft dough. Transfer it to the achchhu and fry in batches

2. Boondi:
Besan - 1 cup
salt to taste
chilli pwd - 2 tsp
turmeric - a pinch
hing - a pinch
Soda-bi-carb - a pinch
Make a batter using water with the above ingredients. You can use a boondi karandi (a big flat ladel with holes) or a plate/colander if you dont have one. th eholes should be about 2-3 mm in diameter. Hold it over the hot oil and pour a spoonful of batter on it. Now spread the batter on the karandi as if making a dosa and the drops that fall down should fry up into nice round boondis. For checking the consistancy, test fry with little batter first. If the boondis turn out pear shaped, then more water needs to be added and if they are too big and stuck together, you may need to add more besan. Trial and error is the way to go

3. Maida biscuit:
I am not sure if it has any other name, but that’s what we call this at our place. This is the best part of mixture in my opinion
Maida - 1 cup
rice pwd - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste
Oil for frying
Make a soft dough with the roti dough consistency and roll it out to the thickness of a thin roti. You do not have to be precise about the shape here. Use a knife or a pizza cutter and cut out diamond shapes. Deep fry the biscuits and make sure they are crisp before removing them from the oil
Deep fry (4) 2 cups of Poha, (5)1/2 cup of curry leaves and (6) 1 cup peanuts. Crumble the oomapodi and add together items 1 through 6. Heat up 1 tbsp oil. Mix salt, chilli pwd and hing on a plate and pour the hot oil over it. Now, add this to the mixture and season it uniformly.
Thattai: I was not around whan MIL made these, but got the recipe from her.

Rice pwd – 1 cup
Udad pwd – 1 tbsp
Chilli pwd – 2 tsp
Til – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter – ¼ cup
Mix the Rice and Udad pwd. Add softened butter and mix it well with you hands till you get a crumbly mix. Add the chilli pwd, til and salt and make a soft dough with water. Heat up the oil for frying and make small flat discs with the dough. The best way to do it is to use a thick plastic sheet or cloth. Deep fry in batches of 5-6 and store in an airtight container.

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May 22, 2008

Kitchen Gadgets

Filed under: Curry, Dhal, India, Indian, Wet grinders, flatbreads — content @ 8:00 am

Sam of Beck & Posh came up with “Utensibility” meme, a chance to talk about our kitchen gadgets. Who can resist this meme, certainly not me. It’s a chance to show off my precious few, ‘I could live without them but I don’t want to’ type of kitchen gadgets.

My most expensive purchase is a Wet Grinder for about $100 from a friend. The actual price is about $250. She gave this item to me just before she moved back to India. I wanted a wet grinder for so long and when she offered, I couldn’t resist (Thanks Jyothi).

My Wet Grinder

I regularly prepare dosa, idly, vada and also different kinds of chutneys using this wet grinder. It has two parts - a steel drum and two roller stones connected with each other through a plastic rod in-between. Not only perfect in shape and size but also using and cleaning is hassle free.

Inside Wet Grinder Wet Grinder PartsAdvantage of this wet grinder over regular mixie/blender is that stone grinding do not generate heat/overheat the contents like the mixie/blender blade does, and so in a way this preserves the micronutrients of the contents. This is really true, you can taste the difference and the stone grind batter and chutneys are always taste so much better. My mother’s generation prepared different types of batters and chutneys using a big mortar and pestle and their hands. My generation, with this kind of appliances can get the same taste but without the hard work.

Cheap but most valuable one is the mortar and pestle I purchased at Ikea 3 years ago for about 3 dollars, I think. I can flavor my tea with cardamom or prepare fresh ginger-garlic paste in a jiff and also it’s so pretty to look at too.

My favorite bargain basement item is a Sawa 2000 cookie gun/press, I purchased in Houston at a garage sale for one dollar. It’s a brand new item and has all discs, tips etc., and inside the box, the owners even kept the original receipt from William-Sonoma for 19 dollars. Perhaps a wedding gift, I don’t know but I too keep the receipt inside the box and whenever I use this item I always look at the receipt and feel very happy about how good a deal I got.

I never used cookie gun for its intended purpose but I use it to prepare murukulu or chakri, my favorite snack food, same kind of operation only the dough I use is not cookie dough but different. Various discs and tips that came along with cookie gun are very useful to make murukulu in shapes. I didn’t bring muruku maker from India with me, so I decided to use cookie gun for muruku making and it worked.

Mortar and Pestle My Murukulu MakerThat’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorites.

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May 21, 2008

Jangiri

Filed under: Dhal, India, Indian, Wet grinders, dosa — Tags: , , , — content @ 8:00 am

Jangiri is a traditional Indian sweet made with Urad dal and maida.
Jangri is deep fried in oil/ghee and soaked in sugar syrup.
Jangiri has a flavour of Saffron and Rose.

Ingredients Needed:
1. Urad dal 1 cup
2. Raw Rice 1 table spoons
3. Maida flour 2 tablespoons.
4. Food colour (Orange ) 3 pinch
5. Sugar 1-1/2 cups
6. Water 1/2 cup
7. Saffron 4 to 5 strings
8. Oil or Ghee for deep frying
9. Jangiri Rit (Thick, Square cloth with small hole in Center)
10. Rose essence or Rose Water little.

Jangiri Frying

Method:
1. Wash and soak Rice and Urad dal for 20 minutes.
2. Grind it, in Wet grinder without adding water. (Just sprinkle water).Minimum for 30 mins.
3. Lastly add food colour and maida.
4. Take a bowl of water and put this mixture in water. (It will float.)
5. Heat Oil/Ghee in a flat pan in moderate heat.
6. Make sugar syrup, 1/2 string consistency, add food colour, Saffron and Rose essence and keep it aside.
7. Take Jangiri rit, put some grinded batter and make one big circle and in that circle make small continuous rings.
8. Deep fry in oil, without changing its colour and tansfer this jangiri to sugar syrup.
9. Make another Jangiri and when putting this batch in the sugar syrup, take out the earlier batch of Jangiri and keep aside.
10. Serve Hot or Cold.

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May 20, 2008

Idli and Dosa…

Filed under: Dhal, India, Indian, Wet grinders, dosa, flatbreads, idli — Tags: , , — content @ 8:00 am

Idli and Dosa…
I haven’t written much about the food here, and it’s probably high time that I did. A month of vegetarian cuisine, punctuated by an occasional meal with fish, is about to come to an end as the Carnivore (otherwise known as Marty) returns to Madras tomorrow morning from a month in the States. He made one last run to Costco to stock up on packaged corned beef, but alas–they were out. The two staples of South Indian cuisine are dosa–rice and lentil (dal) pancakes– and idli, which are made from similar mix but are thicker dumplings or cakes. South Indians eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but I confess I haven’t progressed to eating anything other than fruit and yogurt for breakfast. Leela (who’s back —I’ll write about that in a separate post) makes both of these often. Above, you can see what a dosa looks like. Idli are steamed in a special pot with little depressions that you put the idli mix in. They’re a bit more healthy than dosa, which are lightly fried. Dosa are eaten with the hands—you tear off a bit of the pancake, and roll it or dip in the sauces and vegetables that accompany it. The sauces and vegetables (and yes, you can get meat as well) for both dosa and idli come in myriad varieties. Sambar is a spicy lentil sauce (it’s the orange stuff in the yellow bowl above) , and dosa can also be served with various fillings such as mashed potatoes. In restaurants, dosa may be brought to you in a huge roll– the ones served at the Madras Club (for 55 rupees, which is on the high side) are a good one and half feet long. To make dosa and idli from scratch, it’s best to have something called a wet grinder, which pulverizes the rice and lentil mixture that you’ve soaked. But many cooks, including Leela, buy a ready made mix that’s available in any grocery store. There are also mixes for the sambar and other sauces, but Leela makes these herself using various spices, vegetables and lentils. As lentils are the main protein for vegetarians here, they’re used in a variety of cuisine and come in many colors and shapes. Personally, I prefer dosa to idli, though I like both of them. Usually, you’ll see idli listed first (idli-dosa not dosa-idli). I’m not sure why that is, but it clearly isn’t alphabetical! If you’re interested in trying your hand at either of these, see the link below for some recipes. Of course you can also just “Google” idli dosa recipes and it will bring up a number of other recipes as well.

LINK

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