Jalapeno Trail

Sunday Samayal, Siesta and Simple Pleasures

2008-04-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

" What is more satisfying than a Sunday brunch followed by a Siesta? " One of those rhetoric questions, that is, as always self explanatory. As my husband echoed the sentiments of my grandfather , I was transported back to the time when Sunday brunches were elaborately prepared and enjoyed with equal fanfare. I resolved to make many more such occasions a family affair. I preached to myself, embrace the small changes and swim with the tide.. you will be successful. Yes , Yes I can be philosophical at times too....

This Sunday had to be day for the honors and I wanted to go all out Tambram way..

"Amma, what's for lunch today? Can we have pasta?" my son had a twinkle in eye with this question.
" Potato kara kari and Murungakkai ( drumstick) sambar and tomato rasam .. Yum ! ... " was my refrain.

My son is sometimes a worldly wise 7 year old.( takes after his dad in gauging his answers :) ) He closed his eyes in absolute pleasure of the simple menu.. "
I love it ! I love it! " he exclaimed in all his innocence and sweetly asked " Can we have Vadam also?" .
I laughed out loud on hearing it....Why, you little sneak, I thought as I said "OK ..Done ! "
If you ever had the pleasure of savoring a typical Tambram sambar, you will know what I am talking about. It 's like what they say in the commercials Mmm.. Mmm.. good................

Simple food on the plate, A dash of heaven on the side....
To all the unsuspecting souls of the world, once you taste this you are going to be reeled in hook..line... sinker.....

Recipes for the Uninitiated:

Sambar:
Drumstick : Fresh is the best , but make do with what you have. 10 -15 cut pieces
Toor dal - 1 small cup dry, that has been pressure cooked - laws of nature has almost quadrupled it in size . Some what like the fairer sex :) .....................
Tamarind extract - cheat with 1 spoon of tam. pulp (commercial )with about 3-4 cups of water or go the honest route....

For the wet ground paste.... Pay attention ! this is what sets this apart from the regular fare...
Chana dal - 2 tbsp
Dhania - 1 tbsp
Methi seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 4-6
Roast all of this 1 spoon oil
Grind this with 1/4 cup fresh grated coconut to form a thick chutney consistency.

The Assembly step :)
1. Boil the vegetables with salt in the tamarind water.
2. Once cooked add the ground paste and boil for 5 min ( this is to let all the good stuff sink in the veggies...)
3. Add the cooked dal ( mashed well )
4. Boil well, add tadka with hing, mustard seeds and curry leaves....

Make a simple Tomato rasam and potato fry and you are ready to taste ambrosia... of course don't forget the vadam....
Heap a plate with steaming cooked rice and a dollop of ghee. Add sambar and ...........taste of heaven at fraction of the cost......

Now about the siesta, I began " You know, I think I enjoyed the food a bit too much." Pat came my hubby's reply. "Maybe we should go out for a walk in the park." I smiled, as we set out on the walk to burn off the vadams.

Transalation :
samayal : cooking
vadam : dried fritter of rice , sago etc. that are deep fried
tambram : my word for typical tamil iyer cooking

Pepper rasam for the body and soul!

2008-04-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Woke up with a headache! What could be the reason? Iraq war, food prices doubling, did I have a fight with darling hubby ? .. Hmm.... Nothing Psychological, just something physiological :) A head cold..Sigh... . As I waited for the natural order of sequence to follow.. Yeah ! It usually is a head cold followed by cough ,fever and body ache... I remembered my dear Amma making a rasam - the all purpose, feel good rasam for everything under the sun.

The recipe for this soul food:

Toor dal - 2 Tbsp

Pepper - 1/2 tbsp

Dhania - 1/2 tbsp

Jeera - 1/4 tbsp

Red chilli - 1

Roast the above ingredients with 1 spoon of Ghee. I prefer ghee as it brings out the natural flavor and what the heck ! I said this is soul food :)

Grind everything in a blender and at this stage I usually add 1 tomato ( roma or regular variety)
Now I have a nice red mix resembling chutney in consistency.

Empty this mix in a saucepan and add tamarind extract ( I just add a spoon of tamarind paste and 2 cups of water.. Ah well, I am a quick fix , gourmet cook :) If you use tamarind, a small key lime sized ball soaked in 2 cups of hot water and extracted, should do the trick.)

Add hing and 1/4 tsp of haldi ( turmeric) powder.

Let it boil well for about 10 min. This will reduce only minimally in volume. If you reduce the mix a lot you will have a very sour soup!

The aroma is enough to waft through the entire house.... and soon enough it is confirmed by my hubby with a " Is it Milgau rasam? It smells so good!"

The last step, the final flourish ...A tadka with Jeera and mustard seed. Add a spoon of ghee and let 1/4 tsp each of mustard seeds and jeera sputter . The zing of this tadka is wonderful...

Add , curry leaves with the tadka and it brings an entirely wonderful aroma.......

Enjoy this with a bowl of steaming rice or just by itself. I swear ! this is like one of the cure it all recipes....

Now as for me, after a bowl of this I can take on the world!

Enjoy...................

Aloo Methi Paranthas

2008-04-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Amma, C'mon I do not want to eat it again. Could I please, please have something else for lunch today? My 7 year old son has definite sense of what he does not want for lunch as he pleads with me. As for what he wants,.. that is another story

Sigh! No sandwiches, no Idlis or plain old paranthas. Well, we need something tasty for lunch, that is fast , healthy does not get soggy and can be eaten even when cold...

Mommy dearest is of course a miracle worker, a wand waving fairy godmother , Hmm.... well I can settle for a wand waving mother and a gourmet cook ! A tall order for ordinary mortals, well I am no ordinary mortal and after 12 hrs of labor one fateful night to yield a lusty wailing baby, I am practically invincible!!

Amma! A cry brought me back to reality.. "Go on ,get on with your morning stuff and I will have lunch ready for you". I have a meeting at 9'o clock and I don't want to be late, I thought to myself as I hurried to get going.

Recipe for sure shot success:

3 medium sized potatoes - boiled and mashed
1/2 onion - grated
handful of cilantro leaves- chopped fine
fresh ground dhania- 1/2 tsp/
salt - to taste
hing - a pinch
ground turmeric - pinch
Methi leaves ( I used fresh) - a handful, washed and chopped fine -

Mix all of this well together and add wheat flour / Atta as you knead into a fine Dough. You only need to add minimal oil and water. This is a variation from the usual stuffed paranthas.

The dough is soft and pliable but not soggy. Cover , leave aside for about 10 min.

Make layered paranthas and floor your kids:)

( I make mine by rolling out a lemon sized dough, and you can make about 8- 10 of them! )

Packed my son's lunch with a couple of paranthas, ketchup, apple slices and juice.

Success!!!!

New Kid on the block!

2008-04-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

April 16 2008. Just another ordinary day of musings. I finally decided to get down to the nitty- gritty.

Wanted to have my own food blog for a long time, after all where else can I blend my flair of creative cooking and introspections and actually have it published :)
Took me a fair amount of time to actually decide to do it and then the dreaded , how to go about it?
It really cannot be that tough , Can it?

Well ! eblogger to the rescue and blame squarely falls on all those wonderful bloggers out there and whose blogs I have been haunting on a regular basis.

Wish me luck and I am sure as i fumble along the way , my kinsmen would not mind lending a helping hand:)

Signing off

Taste Budz !