Chitranna

Chitranna is a very famous South Indian rice dish from Banglore.. We had a South Indian friend in college who used to bring this rich rice dish in her tiffin.. We used to love it and she used to just hand over her tiffin to us(which was twice a week) when it was Chitranna.. She said it was a very common item at her home and she had been eating it since childhood and so was bored to eat the same thing again and again :D We shameless people didnt even care to ask her the recipe, and would just ask to bring it more often..

And now time comes that you have to cook things yourself, I have learnt to cook some dishes from other regions as well.. And since my husband encourages me by eating everything without complaining (does he have any other option?? ;) ), I keep trying things.. When it comes to inviting friends for dinner, one rice dish is a must.. And when the same friends are invited more often, the menu should not be repeated. (Both of us agree on this rule!) That is how I learnt to make Chitranna, the flavourful lemon rice from the Karnataka Cuisine! The crispy dals, the munchy nuts and the zest of lemon have made this dish one of our favourite rice dish. Chitranna goes over to Sharmi for "JFI-Rice" and Asha for "RCI-Karnataka Cuisine"

Chitranna

reparation Time:

30 mins

Serves:

3-4

What you need:

2 cups Basmati Rice
5-6 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Chana Dal
1 tbsp Urad Dal
1 tbsp Moong Dal
2 Onions, sliced
4 Green Chillies, chopped
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tbsp Roasted Peanuts
5-6 Cashews
Juice of 1 Lemon
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil

How to proceed:

1) Cook Basmati rice in water until just done and then drain excess water..
2) Spread in a wide pan to cool
3) Heat oil, fry peanuts and cashews and keep aside
4) To remaining oil, add curry leaves, mustard seeds and cumin seeds
5) When they start spluttering, add all 3 dals and fry until they turn golden
6) Add chilies and sliced onions and cook for a min
7) Add turmeric, salt, nuts and cashews
8) Now add rice and mix well
9) Squeeze juice of lemon over rice,mix well and turn off gas!

Serve hot wit tomato rasam or raitas..

Murukku

Murukku is to the Tamil Cuisine as Chakli is to Maharashtrians.. Well, same item but different names.. Also the procedure being a bit different.. I have to agree that chakli needs lots efforts and murukku is the easier version.. Last Diwali I was able to make all Maharashtrian snacks, except chakli and shev.. The only reason being that I didnt have the chakli press.. Mom finally sent it to me last month and from then my husband is pestering me to make chaklis, his favourite snack! But soon I realised that I cannot prepare Bhajani, the flour used for chakli here as there as no flour mills :D So I had to settle down with murukkus.. These taste equally great and I am satisfied to find an easier option to chaklis.. Now chaklis will only be prepared if I get readymade bhajani flour from India :)

Since Rice flour is the main ingredient in Murukkus, they will go to Sharmi for JFI-Rice. Now that it comes to RICE, before going for the recipe, someone please help me solve my query.. Is it healthy to eat rice regularly?? I have always heard that eating rice makes you fat.. Rice being the staple diet of South Indians, I always wonder how they tend to be so slim when they eat rice twice a day.. Also I read somewhere that eating rice during lunch (before 3 pm) is absolutely fine but should be avoided for dinner.. That ultimately means that rice can be eaten only on weekends since we have shortcut lunches and lavish dinners at my place.. Experts and dieticiens, please educate me :)

Murukku

Preparation time:

40-45 mins

Makes:

12-15 Murukkus

What you need:

2 cups Rice Flour
1/4 cup Besan
1/4 cup Urad Dal Flour
2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Ajwain Seeds
1-2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of Asafoetida
1/8 tsp Sodium Bicarb
2 tbsp Hot Oil
Oil to Fry
*Chakli Press

How to proceed:

1) Sieve and mix all the flours
2) Add all the remaining ingredients except oil
3) Pour the hot oil over this and mix well with a spoon
4) Now add water and knead to a stiff dough
5) Place oil to heat for frying chaklis
6) According to quantity allowed by the chakli press, divide the dough into parts
7) Roll each part in a cylindrical shape and put it inside the chakli press
8) Squeeze spiral murukkus in a plate or a plastic sheet
9) Slide 2-3 murukkus in hot oil and fry them on medium heat till they turn golden brown.
10) Drain on kitchen towels and cool before you pop them into your mouth :)
11) Can be stored for 15-20 days in an air tight container.. Serves as a great snack wit hot tea!

* Take care not to hastily fry on high heat.. The murukkus will not get cooked from inside and will not be crispy

* I didnt have Urad dal flour.. So I just soaked Urad dal fro 2 hours and then prepared a paste in the mixer and added this to the other flours while making the dough!

Ulli Garelu

Another recipe from Andhra which everyone adores! Wondering whats “Ulli Garelu”?? Even I would have surely not ordered this dish from the menu card in a Udupi restaurant. But if I knew what it is, there surely would have been no second thoughts! Its our own “Medu Wada” straight from Andhra and hence my entry for RCI Andhra!

Ulli Garelu aka Medu Wada is a festive food from Andhra, prepared from Black gram dal (urad dal) spiced with onion and ginger. Ulli means “Onion” and Garelu means “Wada”. These garelus are typically served with sambar and coconut chutney. But lazy Arts loves to enjoy its true flavour!! ;)

Ulli Garelu/Medu Wada

What you need:

1 cup Urad Dal (black gram dal)
1 big Onion finely chopped
2 tsp Cumin seeds
3-4 Green Chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped Ginger
A pinch of Baking Soda
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

How to proceed:

1) Wash and soak Urad dal for 5-6 hrs
2) Remove all the excess water and convert the ural dal into a smooth thick paste using a grinder [if the batter is not thick, the wadas do not get a perfect shape]
3) Add cumin seeds, chopped onion, chillies, ginger and salt
4) Heat oil in a deep vessel.
5) Wet hands, take a spoonful of batter on the palm, form a circular shape and flatten the wada. Make a hole at the center of the wada using index finger. [This will ensure that the wada is fried evenly]
6) Slowly drop wadas in hot oil, deep fry on both sides till golden brown.
7) Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney and enjoy! Rocks wit hot tea as well!!

Pesarattu

Thanks to RCI, I try my hand at something different than regular cooking. This month's state is my Andhra Pradesh hosted by Latha. My entry for RCI Andhra is Pesarattu.

Bloggers from Andhra, a genuine request!! Please don’t curse me for the way my Pesarattu’s turned out. I can never(seriously!!!) make a thin dosa. I tried to make it as thin as possible. This was the best I could do. I know I am supposed to make it look like a dosa, but this has turned out to be somewhere between a dosa and an uttapam. But 1 thing I am sure of is that the taste of the pesarattus is simply mind-blowing! And I'll surely keep trying and hope to improve my dosa skills!! Well, I am sure it wont take more time to improve since we just loved this dish and I'll have to prepare it more often now! :)

Pesarattus are breads prepared from whole Moong(green gram) and are normally served with Upma. While making Pesarattus(and obviously enjoying its taste simultaneously :D) they seemed so yummy and tempting that I was sure they wouldn’t remain in the plate until I prepared upma. Hence I served it with takku (raw mango chutney) and nimbu ka aachar (hot lemon pickle).

Pesarattu

What you need:

1 cup Whole Moong (Green Gram)
2-3 tsp Rice flour
4-5 Green Chillies finely chopped
2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
Salt to taste
Oil

How to proceed:

1) Wash and soak the moong overnight
2) Drain the water and grind the moong, add water to form a paste of medium consistency
3) Add rice flour, chillies, ginger garlic paste, rice flour and salt to taste
4) Keep the mixture aside for 5-10 mins
5) On a hot girdle, put some oil and add a spoonful of batter. Spread the batter in a circular motion to form thin dosas/uttapas
6) When the pesarattu seems to be cooked on one side, add some oil on the corners to make the corners crisp.
7) Turn and shallow fry on the other side as well
8) Serve hot with chatnis or pickles.

Elumichampazha Sadam

Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine has come up with a great idea of featuring regional cuisine. Thanks to Lakshmi, this is my first try at South Indian cuisine. According to Wikipedia, "Rice is an important constituent of Tamil cuisine, there are a variety of rice preparations, and food items of rice are available for all the meals of the day. Lentils, too, are consumed extensively, either accompanying rice preparations, or in the form of independent food preparations of lentils." Hence I decided to try a rice dish combined with lentils.

Elumichampazha Sadam, my entry for RCI-Tamil Cuisine Event, is rice (called "Sadam" in Tamil) cooked with Urad Dal, Chana Dal and Peanuts. Elumichampazha (Tamil word for "Lemon") is another important ingredient for this recipe and hence this dish is also known as Lemon Rice.

Elumichampazha Sadam (Lemon Rice)



What you need:

1 cup Basmati Rice

4-5 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
2 tbsp Chana Dal
2 tbsp Urad Dal
3 Green chillies, chopped
½ inch Ginger, chopped
3-4 tbsp Peanuts, roasted and de-skinned
1 tsp Turmeric powder

Oil
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 big Lemon
Few coriander leaves, chopped

How to proceed:

1) Wash and soak the rice for 10 mins.
2) Boil the rice in 3-4 cups of water and set aside. In order to obtain separate grains, do not overcook the rice and drain off excess water and leave aside.
3) Wash chana dal and urad dal and set aside
4) Heat the oil in a cooking pan, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, asafoetida and cumin seeds.
5) When mustard seeds splutter, add urad dal, chana dal, chopped green chillies, ginger and peanuts.
6) Fry till peanuts change color and add turmeric.
7) Add the rice, mix well and add salt.
8) Remove from gas, add the lemon juice and garnish with coriander.
9) Serve hot with yogurt (optional).