Vazhaipoo vadai

Vazhaipoo or the banana flower is a very delicious flower.  Peeling it layer after layer can be bit of  a job but the dish turns out to be mouth watering.  This flower has a unique bitterness to it, so if we can mask it then the kids will like it too.  Though this flower can be used in a couple of recipes, vadai always seems to be a winner.  During my initial days of cooking, cooking masala vadai used to be a big feat.  My innocent hubby used to laud my efforts then.  But slowly he started understanding that it is the easiest and that there are too many version of this basic vadai.  Well I had to graduate to a higher standard every time I cooked vadai.  Then came the experiments with many different vadais.  Mostly all the vadais are almost the same just the ingredients need to be altered accordingly.

The first time I cooked Vazhaipoo vadai, there were black stamens sticking out of the vadai.  That was because I didn't really know how to clean it.  But later I learnt it and it is very simple.  You have to discard the small plastic looking filament at the bottom and the black stamen at the top.  These two are not edible.  Rest just immerse in a thin buttermilk to avoid browning.  At some point the flower will be just the size of the palm.  You can use the flower as a whole now.  Chop it and immerse in buttermilk.

Ingredients

• Bengal Gram - 1 cup
• Banana Flower - 1, cleaned and chopped
• Raw rice - 1 tbsp or Rice flour - 1 tbsp
• Onion - 1, big
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Hing - 1/8th tsp
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Red Chillies - 4
• Salt to Taste
• Oil to fry

Method

Soak the Bengal gram along with the raw rice for about 1.5 hours.  Clean the vazhaipoo (soak in buttermilk till you begin chopping) and roughly chop it.  Add the Vazhaipoo to a cooker and pour 1/2 cup of water.  Pressure cook the cleaned and chopped Vazhaipoo for about 2 whistles.  When the pressure subsides let it cool.  Drain the excess water and squeeze the vazhaipoo.

In a blender add the red chillies, hing, fennel seeds and ginger.  Blend them till they become a coarse paste.  Take care not to add too much water.  Drain the water from the bengal gram and add it to the blender. If you are using rice flour you can add it now and add salt accordingly.  Grind the gram till it is coarsely ground.  Then add the cooked vazhaipoo and pulse grind it for about 2 times.

Transfer the ground mixture to a bowl and add the chopped onion and Curry leaves.  Heat a kadai and add oil.  Take a lemon sized ball and flatten it in your palm.  When the hot is medium hot, slide it in the oil.  This step takes a bit of practice but you will nail it after some 4 vadas.  When they turn golden brown, take the vadas out and drain them on a paper napkin.  Serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

Roll it up Pillowcase

Pillow cases are the easiest beginner level projects among others.  During my initial days of sewing, I couldn't get a simple table napkin right.  I wanted to quit the classes very badly because I had no control over the speed of the machine, I had to constantly follow the presser foot to have the seam allowance correct and also to hold the cloth correctly and take out the pins before the needle would come to that point.  These are just a few of the nightmares.  I still have a long list.  I would constantly be scared that I might sew my finger with the cloth.

But then the patient teacher and her constant encouragement helped me to achieve more than I had hoped for.  Now I am able to understand and sew some advanced tutorials available on the internet.  Last week I had sewn a full salwar kameez and I had a lot of cloth leftover from the kameez.  So I wanted to sew a nice Pillowcase for my pillows.

We use the natural cotton stuffed pillows here in South India.  First it is very skin friendly, absorbs lot of sweat and is actually believed to reduce the body heat in a very hot, humid and tropical temperatures like Chennai.  So we mostly avoid the synthetic stuffed pillows and go for the "Illavam panju".  Though it is costly, it is good stuff.  Since it is custom made, the size also varies largely.  There is no standard size to it.  So measure your pillows before starting with the project.

I followed the tutorial by Crafty Gemini in youtube and got very good results.

Measurements of the pillow:

• Length = 23"
• Width = 16"

Measurements of the cloth:

• Length = 21" + 9" (for the sleeve, blue colour)
• Width = 18"

Approximate finished pillow case size = 16.5" * 24.5"

Here are the pics of the pillow case

This whole project was done using scrap fabric.  I will take the step by step pictures when I sew my next pillowcase.  But the procedure is the same except I had to join pieces of fabrics to make the whole width and length of the pillowcase.

Pulicha keerai masiyal

Pulicha keerai masiyal or Gongura pappu as it is called in Andra, is a very famous and easy delicacy of south.  The Pulicha Keerai that I am referring is actually the Sorrel leaves in English, Gongura in Telugu and Pitwa in Hindi.  Normally it is much preferred and used in many Andra dishes than any other South Indian State.  The reason being its sharp tangy taste.  The recipe has to balance out the tangy taste or the whole dish will be ruined.  A keerai pot called the 'Kal Chatti' in tamil is used to smash the greens and the other ingredients to a fine gravy consistency.  We can add hot water to adjust the consistency of the gravy.  Now a days, we just simply use the Pressure cooker and smash it with the help of the wooden stick with a flat head known as the 'Maththu'.

This much neglected green has got Vitamin A and Calcium among others.  It helps with anemia, and helps improve eyesight.  The tangy taste is due to the Vitamin C, which is also present in other tangy fruits like, Lemon, Orange or Tomato.  Do check the websites to know the abundant health benefits this wonderful green has to offer.

I buy this greens by asking the greens vendor who delivers right at our door steps.  She doesn't sell these usually, but if we order before hand she might bring a couple of bundles.  For our small family, we didn't require more than half the bundle.  So here is how we make it.

Ingredients:

• Pulicha Keerai - 1/2 bundle (around 2 cups. tightly packed)
• Thuvar Dal - 1 cup
• Small onions or Shallots - a handful
• Green chillies - 4 or home made Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Garlic - 5 to 6 cloves
• Water as required

Method:

First pick only the leaves and discard the stems.  The stems, though may appear tender will not cook perfectly and you may end up with fiber when chewing.  Wash the leaves thoroughly and set them aside.  In a pressure cooker add the leaves and the green chillies or the  Chilli powder.  Cook it well for about 4-5 whistles.  If you are using the green chillies, they will cook along with the leaves.  But the Chilli powder may still have some of that raw smell.

Transfer this cooked greens to a Kal chatti if available or just proceed with the pressure cooker itself.  Smash it well with the maththu till all the leaves start to look like one whole mass.

Pressure cook the Dal with the garlic cloves.  Set aside.

Next in a wide pan or a kadai, add some oil.  When the oil heats up, add some mustard seeds.  When they crackle, add the greens with chilli and let it cook for about a minute.  If you had used Chilli powder, allow it to cook till the raw smell of the powder is gone.  Then add the Dal to the greens.  Mix everything together.  Turn off the stove.  Add the salt at last accordingly. 

This Masiyal goes well with most of the side dishes or just plain Appalam.  This will taste good not just with plain rice but also with Chapatti or Paranthas.

Hi all

Hi everyone,

This is my first post in this blog.  Since writing a diary has become too retro these days, I am now blogging about a few interesting chapters of my life.  Over the years I have collected too many recipes from the internet, TV and magazines.  This blog is also a humble attempt to curate those recipes.  Some times I would have tried a recipe and it would have become a huge hit.  But when I have to find the paper again, I really have a hard time.  Blog would be a better way, dont you agree?

As I have said earlier, many of the recipes have been collected over the years.  So sometimes I cannot find the source of the recipe.  I will give due credit every time I try a new recipe, but in case I do not, please understand that I have lost the source.

Also I intent to write some post about travel, decoration, parenting, sewing and everything.  So this blog will be a eclectic mixture of all that happens in life.