Vadai Morkazhambu (Fried Lentil Crisps in Buttermilk Gravy)

This is one of the tastiest morkuzhambu and is also ready in a jiffy, if you don't have any vegetables and want to make somehting yummy for yourself or your guests.
My Maternal Grandma (Mrs Vimala Ramamurthy) is an expert in making this.
She is the one who taught me how to make the vadais.
I think you can learn to make vadai, by watching a person make it rather than reading a recipe.

This Measure serves 4 adults.

All You need for the Gravy is
1 cup Yogurt - Mix this with 3 glasses of water to make Buttermilk, depending on the consistency of the yogurt. (Even though I make my own yogurt, I dont use that to make any morkuzhambu. I use the store bought yogurt just because it is more thicker and holds it well (without seperating) even after lightly boiling it.
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 Teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 Teaspoon (more or less)
Masala to grind
(Please soak the Urad dal for the vada also, at the same time, look below for that recipe)
To Soak atleast for half an hour in about less than 1/4th cup of water
Cumin- 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon
Green Chilli - 2
Coconut - (Optional) 2 Teaspoons
Rice - 1 Teaspoon
(Note- You may use rice flour instead of rice)

For seasoning
Oil - 1/2 Teaspoon
Mustard Seeds- 1/2 teapsoon
Red Chili - 1
Hing- 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves and Coriander Leaves to garnish.


After you soak the above, grind to a smooth consistency.

In the vessel you are making the Morkuzhambu,
--->Pour your masala and add about 1/2 cup of water, the salt and turmeric powder and let it all come to a smooth boil on a low flame
--->At this point, add your buttermilk, and little more salt, depending on the sourness of you buttermilk, and keep stirring on a low flame.
--->After you add your buttermilk, you have to keep stirring so the yogurt does not separate and this mixure should just get warm, not Boiling Hot.
--->For seasoning, in a seperate vessel, add the oil and once it becomes hot,add the mustard seeds and the red chili and once the mustard seeds sputter pout this on the morkuzhambu)


To make the Vadais
(This measure makes atleast 10 vadais, more if you can make smaller vadais!!)
You need
Urad Dal (Whole) - 1 Cup (you may use broken ones too)
Salt-1 Teaspoon
Black Pepper - 1/4 Teaspoon
Green Chillies - 1 or 2
Curry Leaves - 1 strand
Rice flour- 1 to 2 teaspoons
Method
Soak the Urad Dal atleast for half an hour (you may soak at the same time you soak the masala for the morkuchambu, and after making the morkuzhambu, come to make this!)
You will see that the Urad Dal has bloated, which means it is ready yo grind.
You may use a food processor, but for best results use an indian mixer.
Drain all the water and add the salt, pepper and chili to this.
(Optinal - I always grind everything together since my kids would not eat the pepper etc, but if you wish u can grind just the Urad dal alone and then mix in the pepper and chili)

The trick is to grind the Urad dall with no water or as little water as possible, if it is too runny then your vadais will be a flop. It has to be thick. Add the rice flour if you feel it is thin. Adding too much rice flour will take out the softness of the vadas. Add the curry leaves to the dough.

Making the vadais
--->Heat oil in a kadai
---> Take a thick ziploc bag and and lay it down, and spread little oil on it.
--->Check if the oil is done by just putting very little dough in the oil, it should come up immediately bubbling.
---> Start by taking a spoon of the dough and put flat on the Ziploc and press lightly with your fingers, make a hole and carefully peel it out carefully and again without burning your hands place it in the oil.
--->Let it become golden brown and turn both sides equally and take out and place on a napkin so it drains of the excess oil


Making vadais is an art really, it takes some time to learn, I used to make them by the Ziploc way and now I can make it with just one hand. It is just practice. If you don't want to learn, there is always the shapeless vadais which you make by putting a small teaspoon of dough in the oil.

Everything tastes the same!! Just that the shapeless ones are called "Kunukku" not Vadai :)


Coming back to the recipe, once the vadais are warm, put them in the morkuzhambu and garnish with the coriander and curry leaves.

Serve with hot rice and some Paruppu Usili. or
You can make a Tamilian Vegetarian meal by making the Keerai Kootu (I have made the lazy kootu with just regular spinach) and Vazhaikai Manjal Kari.
You can see I have made 3 Kunukkus, on the side :))

(Raw) Green Banana Skin Curry

As the name suggests, this is a dry curry made from Raw Banana Skin . This recipe actually originates from Palakkad. My husband is 1/2 Palakkad ( an area which is right in between Kerala and Tamilnadu) so he generally loves any recipe made from that region. I also have a freind, Girija who is from Palakkad and she makes lot of recipes from Palakkad. I got this from her.

When ever you make the Banana curry, save the skin and cut in small pieces and soak in water, mixed with a little turmeric powder. You can store this in the fridge up to 4 to 5 days when you are ready to make this curry.

You Need
Skin of 5 Green Bananas- Cut in small pieces
1/2 Onion - Cut in Small Pieces
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Red Chili - 2 (Break in two)
Hing - 1/2 Teaspoon
Salt - About a teaspoon (add more if needed)
Curry leaves and Coriander leaves to garnish
Method
--->Keep the fire on low and Add the oil to the pan and add the Mustard seeds and wait till it sputters.
--->Add the red Chili, Hing, and the Cut Onions
--->Once the Onion starts to get brown, add the drained(if soaked in water)Banana Skin Pieces
--->Keep an eye on pan so as to not borwn the skins too much, keep stirring occasionally until it all comes to gether, on a low to medium stove it takes about 45 minutes
--->Garnish with Curry Leaves and Coriander leaves.

Verdict My husband loved it, me not so much, it was too fibrous. My kids ate a spoon of it and very tactfully avoided the curry!!! so if you want to add a whole lot of fiber to your diet, go ahead and try this one out!
Girija also told me that, after you make the curry, just before you are ready to take it out from the stove, fry some shallots and mash them and mix them in to the curry. I didn't have shallots so didn't do the last part.

Vazhaikai Manjal Kari (Raw Banana Yellow Curry)

This is made in weddings or at home during any ceremony. One of the traditional recipes.

You will need

5 or 6 green bananas

1 tsp of turmeric powder

salt to taste

Dry roast and powder (3 tsp of Dhania, 2 or 3 red chillies and 2 tsp of Channa Dal)

1 tsp Mustard

2 Red Chillies

2 tsp of oil

8 to 10 curry leaves

Method

Please follow the podimaas recipe on directions how to pre cook the bananas.

When the cooked bananas cool, peel them and cut them in square pieces.

Take a kadai, and add some oil,red chillies, turmeric powder, salt and the bananas.

Keep it on a medium high flame and roast the bananas, add a little more oil if desired

Add the roasted powder and mix well.

Garnish with curry leaves and serve.

Vazhaikai (Raw Banana) Podimaas

I made this for Ahaar...... but this is a late entry...... did not realise that I had to post it in september in my blog....




To make this I generally use the green bananas, not the plaintain variety which you would use in India. When my mom used to visit me in the US, she always used this instead of the plaintain. She would say that the the plaintains you get here are very dry. So here goes....









You need, About 6 Raw green Bananas

1 handful of coconut grated
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

a pinch of asafoetida

2 Whole red chillies

3 green chillies chopped
1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped
some curry leaves

some coriander

1 to 2 tsp salt

and oil about 2 to 3 tsps


Take a pan and add water to it. You are going to add all the bananas (cut in half) to this, so make sure it will hold al of them. Let the water boil, then add the bananas, with both top and bottom cut off and cut in half, and let it be in the boiling water for about 10 mins.

You have to make sure the bananas are raw otherwise they may get mushy and don't taste as food.


After this process, drain all water and peel the skin, and grate the bananas


In a pan, add oil, and mustard, and once mustard starts sputtering, add the urad dal, asafoetida, red chillies and green chillies, ginger and saute it, while keeping the fire at a low flame. once the urad dal starts to get red in color, add the cocnut and then the grated bananas and add salt as needed.

and garnish with curry leaves and corainder.



This goes really well with Vatha Kuzhambu or Mor Kuzhambu or even Sambar......


Variations... You may use, boiled and mashed potatoes if you wish and call it Potato Podimass...