Chettinad Crab Masala / செட்டிநாடு நண்டு மசாலா

First time i am posting a seafood. Learnt this recipe from my mom. The way seafoods are being cooked in chettinad are very spicy and different. I would suggest this as a side dish for a bowl full of creamy curd rice.

Ingredients:

Crab - 1/2 kg
Cooking oil - 8 tbs
Mustard seeds + urad dal - 1 tbs
Fennel seeds / Saunf - 1/2 tbs
Curry leaves - few nos
Chopped onion - 3 nos
Chopped tomato - 3 nos
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Chicken masala (or) red chilli powder (or) garam masala - 1/2 tbs (choose the masala powder according to ur taste)
Salt
Chopped cilantro - 1 handful

To grind:

Grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Pepper corns - 4 tbs
Fennel seeds - 1 tbs

Method:

• Clean the crab as u like. Some like to have the whole crab, some people like to broke crab into small portions. Wash well the crab in water 2 - 3 times.
• Grind into fine paste the ingredients mentioned under to grind and keep aside. Grind into fine paste the 3/4th  portion of chopped onion + all the tomato seperately.
• Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal + mustard seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves @ 30 sec interval.
• Add remaining 1/4th portion of chopped onion and saute for a min.
• Add onion-tomato paste and saute till the raw smell goes off. Now add the crab and mix well.
• After 2 mins add pepper-coconut paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt + 3 cups of water.
• Cook in medium flame till u get a tight gravy consistency.
• Sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve hot.

Vendakka pulikari / Okra sour sauce (semi gravy)

This is a karaikudi special recipe. Will be of good combination with paruppu soup.

Ingredients:

Vendakka / Ladies finger - 1/4 kg (chopped into small pieces)

Cooking oil - 3 tbs

Big red onion - 1 (chopped)

Big tomato - 1 (chopped)

Tamarind juice / paste - 3 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbs

Coriander powder - 1 tbs

Red chilli powder - 2 tbs

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro - 4 tbs

For seasoning:

Sesame oil - 3 tbs

Mustard seeds + urad dal - 1 tbs

Vendhayam / Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbs

Curry leaves - 5 nos

Method:

• Heat cooking oil in a pan and stir fry the okra till the sticky liquid goes off. Keep it aside.
• Heat sesame oil in pan and add the ingredients mentioned under for seasoning @ 30 sec interval.
• Add chopped onion & saute till tranparent. Now add chopped tomato and saute till the juices oozes off.
• Add tamarind paste & all powders + salt + 3 cups of water. Bring them to boil and add sauted vendakka/ okra.
• Close the pan with lid and cook in medium flame. Stir consiously at regular intervals.
• Once the veggie is cooked and gravy turns to semi solid, sprinkle chopped cilantro & serve hot. 



Paruppu soup / Chettinad dal soup / Indian lentil stew

Famous soup recipe of karaikudi. Can be eaten as conventional soups by adding salt & pepper. Can be served for hot steamed rice also. In case of serving with rice, any spicy side dish could be the best combination. Healthy recipe and a good appetizer.


Ingredients:

1. Ghee - 1 1/2 tbs
2. Cooking oil - 2 tbs
3. Bay leaves - 1
4. Cinnamon stick - 2 small
5. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 1 tbs
6. Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1/2tbs
7. Curry leaves - 5 nos
8. Turmeric powder - pinch
9. Big brown onion - 1/2 sliced
10. Tomato - 1 sliced
11. Splited green chilies - 3 nos
12. Tuvar daal / red gram - 1 handful
13. Moong daal / splited pigeon peas - 1 handful
14. Cilantro / coriander leaves - 1/2 handful (need not chop)
15. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the daal (lentil) & Soak in water for 20 mins.
2. Heat oil + ghee in a pressure cooker and add the ingredient nos from 3 to 8 together and wait till mustard seeds pops.
3. Add chopped onion + green chilies and cook till onion is trasparent. Now add tomato & saute for a min. The tomato need not get smashed.
4. Strain water completely from daal and add it into the pressure cooker. Saute well the daal in medium flame for 7 - 9 min. Stir consiously for every 2 mins. Now add the cilantro.
5. Add 3 1/2 cups of water + salt. The soup should be very watery before cooking. After the daal gets cooked, the soup will come to a eatable consistency.
6. Close the cooker lid with whistle and cook in medium flame for excatly 10 mins. The cooker need not whistle. Switch off the stove and remove from fire.
7. Open the cooker lid after the pressure goes off and sprinkle some more cilantro leaves and boil in medium flame for 2 mins.
Thats it. Delicious soup ready. Serve hot.

Vellapoondu pulikulambhu (பூண்டு புளி குழம்பு) / Garlic sour gravy

Goes well with hot steamed rice.

Ingredients:

Main ingredient
Garlic pods - 8 to 10 nos

1. Cooking oil - 2 tbs
2. Gingelly oil / Sesame oil - 3 tbs
3. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 2 tbs
4. Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbs
5. Curry leaves - 4 tbs
6. Big brown onion - 1/2 chopped or small onions - 10 nos chopped
7. Tomato - 1 chopped
8. Tamarind juice - 3/4 cup
9. Red chilli powder - 2 tbs
10. Coriander powder - 2 tbs
11. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbs
12. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat sesame and cooking oil in a pan and add mustard seeds + fenugreek seeds. Once mustard pops, add curry leaves.
2. After few sec add chopped onion & garlic pods and cook till onion is transparent.
3. Add tomato and cook till its smashed.
4. Add tamarind juice, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, 2 1/2 cups of water together and mix well.
5. Cook till the gravy gets thicken.
Serve hot with hot steamed rice. Pappad could be the best combination for this.

Tip:- If u dont like sour taste, use 1/2 cup of tamarind juice.
Cooking the dish completely in sesame oil will enhance the taste.

Ribbon pakoda

South indian snack recipe in the shape of ribbon. Crispy and medium spicy. This dish very famous in my hometown karaikudi. Quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Kadalai mavu / Gram flour / Besan flour - 1/2 cup
3. Perungayam / Hing /Asafoetida - 2 pinch
4. Butter - 1/2 tbs
5. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbs (adjust as per ur choice)
6. Salt to taste
7. Cooking oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients together except oil and make a soft dough out of it by sprinkling water.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Take a small ball of dough and sqeeze it using a idiyappam press (use ribbon pakoda mould instead of idiyappam mould) into the oil for deep frying. Flip and cook the pokada for 2 mins on each side (the cooking time is totally 4 mins only). Remove from oil and store on a tissue paper to remove excess oil sticking to it.
3. Complete the remaining dough in the same way in batches.
Serve hot.

Chettinad kaara koli(kozhi) kulambhu / Chettinad spicy chicken gravy

Starting a sunday with a sumptuous breakfast 'Idli - chicken gravy' is delightful. Last sunday for no reason i woke up bit early and surprised my hubby with this breakfast combination. He didnt think of lunch till 2 00 o'clock afternoon ( :P).... In my hometown this chicken gravy is served for idiyappam (rice hoppers) or appam (bowl shapped indian pancake). Spicy recipe, Non veg lovers may like this taste very much.

Ingredients:

To saute

1. Cooking oil - 5 tbs
2. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 1/2 tbs
3. Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1/ tbs
4. Suanf / Sombu - 1/2 tbs
5. Curry leaves - 6 nos
6. Big brown onion - 1 finely chopped
7. Tomato - 1 finely chopped
8. Cilantro - 1/2 handful (finely chopped)
9. Mint - 1/2 handful (finely chopped)
10. Ginger galic paste - 1 1/2 tbs
11. Turmeric powder - pinch
12. Butter (optional) - 1 tbs

To cook

1. Chicken meat - 1/4 kg (cut into cube shapes, wash well and drain the water completely)
2. Any chicken masala powder or sambhar powder - 4 tbs or chili powder + coriander powder + garam masala powder - each 1 1/2 tbs
3. Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker, heat the cooking oil and add one by one the ingredient numbers 2 to 5 mentioned below to saute at 30 sec interval.
2. Add chopped onion and cook till it is transparent. Add the chopped tomatos and cook till its smashed. Add chopped cilantro, mint, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and chicken masala or sambhar powder or masala powder (ingredient no 2 of to cook )together and mix well with tomato gravy. Cook this gravy in medium flame for 5 mins. Now add the chicken pieces and salt, mix well so that tomato gravy coats the chicken. Cook the chicken in medium flame for 7 mins. Add butter and stir consiously.
3. Add 3 cups of water to the chicken, close the pressure cooker lid without cooker whistle. Cook in little higher flame than medium. Once the steam comes out of the vent put the cooker whistle and cook for 4 whistles. Serve hot with Idli / dosa / cooked rice / idiyappam / appam.

Tip:- In step 2, cooking the chicken in medium flame in the tomato gravy will increase the taste of the recipe. Becoz at that stage, chicken oozes out water and tomato gravy penetrates into the chicken.

Paal kolukattai / Traditional steamed rice balls in coconut milk

Kolukattai is a traditional indian recipe and it is believed that lord Ganesha loves this dish. Usually rice balls will be stuffed with jaggery coconut mix, but this variety of kolukattai is more popular in chettinad (south india). Simple to prepare and more apt & healthy dish for kids.

Ingredients:

-for dough

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Salt - a pinch
3. Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
4. Crushed cardamom - 2 nos

- to cook

1. Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
2. Luke warm water - 2 1/2 cups
3. Milk - 1/2 cup
4. Powdered sugar - 3 tbs

Method

1. Mix everything mentioned below for dough with half cup of luke warm water and make a soft dough. Make small balls out of this dough and keep aside.
2. Boil the remaining water in a pan and drop the rice balls. Cook in medium flame. Cook till the outer layer of rice balls are trasparent (1st pic in 2nd row). This takes 4 mins.
3. Mix 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water which is used for steaming rice balls together and bring them to boil. Drop the cooked rice balls from step 2 to this boiled mixture and add sugar immediately. Cook this mixture for 2 mins in medium flame and remove from fire. Serve hot.

Paruppu urundai kulambu / Spicy gravy out of splited chick pea balls / Channa ball spicy gravy

This is a healthy-spicy recipe goes well with hot cooked rice. Chettinad special dish - pappad could be the best combination for this recipe.

Ingredients:

-to saute

1. Cooking oil - 2 tbs
2. Sesame / gingelly oil - 3 tbs
3. Vendhayam /Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbs
4. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 1/2 tbs
5. Curry leaves - 4 nos

- to cook

1. Big brown onion - 1/2 finely chopped
2. Tomato - 1 1/2 finely chopped
3. Tamarind pulp - 1 small lemon size ball (soaked in 1 cup of water for 30 mins, squeeze the juice and discard the husk) or tamarind juice - 6 tbs
4. Red chili powder - 1 1/2 tbs
5. Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
6. Salt to taste

- for chick pea balls

1. Kadalai paruppu / Spilted chick pea / channa daal - 1 cup (soak in water for 45 mins)
2. Big brown onion - 1/2 finely chopped
3. Green chili - 1/2 finely chopped
4. Jeera / cumin seeds / Seeragam - 1 tbs
5. Salt to taste
6. 1/2 handful of cilantro - washed and finely chopped
7. Hing / Asafoetida - pinch


Method:

1. Wash the soaked chick pea and drain the water completely. Add salt & hing to it and grind coursely. Add 1/4 cup of water while grinding !!! do not add more than 1/4 cup water, the batter will be watery and cant make balls !!!
2. Add the remaining ingredients mentioned below for chick pea balls and blend with chick pea batter (pic 2 of row 1). Make them into small balls and steam in a idli cooker or rice cooker (1st n 2nd pic of row 2) for 20 mins. Keep the cooked balls aside.
3. Heat cooking + gingelly oil in a pan and add the ingredients one by one mentioned under to saute in 30 sec interval. Add chopped onion to this and saute till it onion turns transparent. Then add chopped tomato and cook till it gets mashed. Then add tamarind juice, chili powder, coriander powder, salt, 3 cups water. Mix them well and cook in medium flame.
4. Once the above mixture (mentioned in step 3) boils drop the chick pea balls one by one. Cook the chick pea balls in spicy gravy for 20 mins and remove from flame.
Serve hot with cooked rice.

Easy sambhar / Quick indian lentil stew

At times when i do late cooking this recipe immediately flashes in my mind bcoz the cooking + preparation time is 20 mins only.
We call this as Idli sambhar. Quick Moong daal recipe (south indian paasi paruppu sambhar) goes well with Idli / Dosa / Ven Pongal / Cooked rice.

Ingredients:

-to saute

1. Cooking oil - 4 tbs
2. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 1 tbs
3. Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1 tbs
4. Curry leaves - 4 nos
5. Hing / Asafeotida - pinch

- to cook

1. Moong daal / Pasiparuppu - 1/2 cup
2. Toovar daal / Red gram - 1/4 cup
3. Big brown onion - 1/2 finely chopped
4. Tomato - 3/4 finely chopped
5. Cilantro - 1/2 handful (washed and chopped)
6. Turmeric powder - pinch
7. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tbs
8. Green chili - 1/2 (splited)
9. Salt to taste

Method :

1. Wash Moong daal + Toovar daal in a pressure cooker and strain the water. To this add all the ingredients under to cook + pour water till the ingredients gets immersed and mix well.
2. Heat oil in a small pan and add all the ingredients under to saute one by one at 15 sec interval and add the saute to the pressure cooker.
3. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 4 whistles. Open the cooker lid after the gas goes off. Thats it. Serve hot with Idli / Dosa / Rice.

Egg pepper masala

Tasty recipe, goes well with Chappathi, Naan, Curd rice, Biriyani....

Ingredients:

-to cook
1. Egg - 3 nos
2. Small onion (prefered) - 10 nos finely chopped (or) 1/2 big brown onion finely chopped
3. Salt and pepper - as required
4. Cooking oil - 4 tbs
5. Mustard seeds + urad daal (white lentil) - 1 tbs

- to grind
1. Grated coconut - 5 tbs
2. Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1 tbs
3. Saunf / sombhu - 1 tbs
4. Cilantro / Coriander leaves - 1/2 handful finely chopped
5. Garlic pods - 1 no
6. Green chili - 1 no

Method:

1. Boil the eggs seperately and keep it aside.
2. Grind everything under grind and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds + urad daal. Once it splatters add chopped onion and cook till it turns transparent.
4. Add the grinded paste + salt and saute well. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook. Stir consiously. At one stage the paste gets cooked well and oil separates out from it. At this stage add splited egg + pepper powder and stir for a minute. Remove from fire and serve hot.

Ennai kathrikai kulambhu / Sauted egg plant gravy (Karaikudi special)

Ennai kathrikai kulambhu / Sauted egg plant curry - excellent combination for steamed white rice. Most popular dish in Karaikudi (Chettinad).

Ingredients:

-to cook
1. Brinjal / Kathrikai / Egg plant - 300 grams.
2. Tamarind pulp - 1 lemon size ball (soak in one cup water for 30 mins. Squeeze the juice and discard the husk)
3. Red Chili powder - 2 tbs
4. Coriander powder / Malli thool - 2 tbs
5. Salt to taste

-to saute
1. Cooking oil - 2 tbs
2. Gingelly oil - 2 tbs
3. Vendhayam / Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbs
4. Mustard seeds + urad dal (white lentil) - 1 tbs
5. Big brown onion - 1/2 chopped or small onion - 10 nos chopped (small onion will enhance the taste of this recipe)
6. Tomato - 1/2 chopped
7. Salt to taste

Method
1. Cut and remove the brinjal stem. Slit vertically at the centre in all directions (see pic). Put the slited brinjals in water and wash well. Heat a pan and saute the brinjal deeply. The skin color will change as shown below. Keep aside the sauted vegetable.
2. Heat cooking + gingelly oil together in the same pan and add fenugreek seeds first. After 30 sec add mustard seeds and wait till it splatters. Then add onion and saute till its transparent. Next add tomato and cook till its smashed.
3. Add tamarind juice, chili powder, coriander powder, salt and 2 cups of water & mix well. Bring this mixture to boil. Add the sauted brinjal to this and cook till the gravy thickens. Stir consiously after every 5 mins. Remove from fire and serve with hot steamed white rice.