Kathirikkai Rasavangi / Brinjal Rasavangi

Rasavangi is typical lentil based,Tamil Brahmin dish made with brinjal(kathirikkai) and White pumpkin(poosanikai).

Rasavangi is a cousin of arachivitta sambhar with freshly ground spices and the consistency is on the thicker side.This is a no onion-garlic dish and its very simple and easy to make authentic dish.

For the letter K,I chose to make Karadaiyan nombu adai/kozukattaai or kalan(mushroom) masala,a popular road side food of Coimbiatore. But after seeing some tender eggplants/brinjal changed my mind to make something out of it.

As brinjal is one of my favorite veggie,I posted most of the South Indian recipes.When I was thinking of something with brinjal this dish came to my mind.But I had a doubt whether its a Tamilnadu dish.My blogger buddy Priya Srinivasan confirmed its an authentic Tamilnadu dish and shared her hand written family recipe of this dish.Thank you so much Priya.

We had this one for our lunch along with some cabbage poriyal and pappad.It was a comforting meal,try this simple rasavangi and enjoy..

                                                                      

                                                            

                                                                Kathirikkai Rasavangi

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time 15 minutes
   Cooking time 25-30 minutes

   Serves 3

   

  Ingredients

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Brinjal/eggplant/kathirikkai	5-6(cut it lenghty or cubed)
Toor dhla/thuvaram paruppu	1/4 cup
Tamarind/puli	a big gooseberry size
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Salt	3/4 -1 tsp
Oil	1 tbs
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves

   To roast and grind

Ingredient	Quantity
Dried red chilly/varmilagai	3-4
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	1 tbs
Coconut(grated)	3 tbs
Chann dhal/kadala paruppu	2 tsp

   For the tempering

  

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2 tsp
Urad dhal/uluthamparuppu	1 tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Dried red chilly/varamilagai	1(broken)

  Method

• Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup of water.Pressure cook the dhal with enough water for 4-5 whistles or till it gets mushy.
• Dry roast the given ingredients except coconut in a pan to a golden color.After the spices turned golden add in the grated coconut and fry it.

• After cooling,coarsely powder it in a blender and set it aside.Heat a tsp of oil in add the chopped or sliced eggplant and turmeric powder.

• Fry it for a minute.Add the tamarind water and let it cook in a medium flame for 4-5 minutes or till it is 3/4th done.

• Now to this add the salt,mashed dhal and adjust the consistency with water and let it boil for 3-4 minutes or till the raw smell disappears.

• Now sprinkle the ground spice powder and let it simmer for another 3-4 minutes.Meanwhile do the tempering with the given ingredients and add it to the mixture.Finally add the curry leaves and put off the flame.

• Serve it with white rice and some veggie poriyal along with pappad.

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

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Jigarthanda/Jil Jil Jigarthanda - Madurai Special

Coming to the alphabet J for Journey through the cuisines,I fixed with Jigarthanda and no second thought for the other recipe.Since everybody loves this drink in my family I wanted to try.During my last India trip got the nannari root,almond gum(badam pisin) to try.As nannari syrup and almond gum are the key to make this yummy drink.
Jigar means heart and Thanda means cool,as it cools and soothes the heart it's named as Jigarthanda.
Jigarthanda is popular in Madurai and some of the areas in Trichy in summer.But nowadays it's available in all over Tamilnadu with so many variations.
I have tasted this drink in so many places but nothing tastes like the one we have in Madurai during our trip to the Meenakshi Temple every India visit.
I referred recipe from Chitra's blog and Gayathri's blog.I slightly tweaked  the recipe to my convenience also to reduce the cooking time I used some sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Made the ice cream for this drink with the store bought unsweetened khoya. Off to the recipe........

                                                                      

                                                            

                                                                   Jigarthanda/Jil Jil Jigarthanda

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time 1 day

   Cooking time 20 -25 minutes

   Makes 3-4 (depending on the size of the glass)

   

  Ingredients

 To make the Jigarthanda ice cream

    

Ingredient	Quantity
Milk/paal	3 cups
Sweetned Condensed milk	1/2  cup
Evaporated milk	1 cup
Unsweetened khoya	3/4 cup
Sugar/sakkarai	1/4 cup
Fresh cream	1 cup
Vanilla(optional)	1 tsp
Milk/paal	1/4 cup

 To make the Jigarthanda 

    

Ingredient	Quantity
Milk/paal	1-1.5 cups
Reduced and sweetenedmilk	1 cup
Nannari syrup	4-5 tbs
Almond gum/badam pisin	1.5 tbs

  Method 

• Soak the almond gum in water for 7-8 hours or overnight.it absorbs all the water and expand in size, after soaking.Keep it in the refrigerator until its used.
• Take the 3 cups of milk in a heavy bottom pan and boil it for 15 minutes,scrape the sides.

• Now to this add the condensed milk and let it boil for 5 minutes then goes in the evaporated milk.Let it simmer for 10 minutes and now the mixture will thick and slight brown in color.Take a cup of the reduced milk and keep it aside, and after cooling store in the refrigerator.Grate the khoya and keep it in a bowl.

• Now mix the khoya with 1/4 cup of milk and sugar.Add this mixture to the rest of the reduced milk.Let it cool down.To this add the fresh cream and using a hand blender blend it well.Transfer it to a container and store it in the freezer for 2 hours.

• Remove it from the freezer and mix it well with a fork or spoon and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hours.Now remove it from the freezer and blend it in a blender for a minute and transfer to the box and freeze it for 8-9 hours or overnight.Now the ice cream is ready.

• Take a tall glass and add 2 tbs of almond gum and a tbs nannari syrup,1/4 cup of milk and and 1/4 cup of reduced milk.Top it with a big scoop of ice cream.

• Serve it immediately.

         

                                                                                                  

        

• Since I used the unsweetned khoya I added sugar,if sweetned khoya is used then no need.
• If you don't want to use jigarthanda ice cream,use plain vanilla ice cream.
• I used the brown sugar to get a nice color
• The color of the jigarthanda available in shops will be in a light orange color.If you want to achieve that color then add a pinch of food color to the ice cream and the reduced milk.
• The amount of almond gum used can be increased according to personal preference.
• Add around 2 cups of water for a tbs of almond gum,it need lot of water to get soaked completely.

        

       

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

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Idiyappam/String Hoppers

Idiyappam or string hoppers is a rice flour based dish popular both in Tamilnadu and Kerala. The difference is,in Tamilnadu it's served with sweetened coconut milk whereas in Kerala a spicy egg or chicken curry is accompanied.
Idiyappam needs the processed rice flour and is made in large quantities in most of the households.I usually get my Idiyappam flour from India and use it.Once in a while I make it on my own here if I needed.
Back in India in my house large quantity of rice is soaked for an hour or two then drained and dried in a shade for 30-40 minutes.The damp rice is powdered in a commercial mill.Then the rice flour is either dry roasted or steamed,after that the flour is dried in the sunlight for 2-3 days.Then its stored in an airtight container for future use.Though the process of making rice flour is time consuming,the output of idiyappam is very soft and tasty.
Coming to the pictures,it was a real hard time for me to click and clicking a white dish is bit difficult.Also I don't have any dark colored plate,the white colored dish was not appealing with the plate I used.Will update the pictures soon with some dark props.

                                                                      

                                                            

                                                                    Idiyappam/String Hoppers

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time 2-3 hours

   Cooking time 10-12 minutes

   Makes around 2 cups of flour

   

  Ingredients

  To make the processed rice flour

    

Ingredient	Quantity
Raw rice/pacharisi	2 cups

  Method 

• Rinse the rice for 3-4 times in water and soak with adequate water for 2-3 hours.After that drain the water completely and spread it on a towel,dry it under the shade for 30-45 minutes.The dampness should be in the rice.Now take small quantity of rice in a mixie jar and grind it to a fine powder.

• Continue for the rest of the rice and now heat a heavy bottom pan in a stove.Take half of the flour and dry roast till a fine line can be drawn with the roasted flour.With the wet flour the line breaks.

• Now take the roasted flour in a fine meshed sifter,sieve it.The lumps and coarser grain will be left on the sifter.Powder it once again and sift it. Leave the sifted flour on the counter for a day or two to get dried completely if you are going to keep it for longer time.

• Store it in an airtight container.

  To make Idiyappam

  

 Basic Information

   Preparation time 10 minutes

   Cooking time 10-12 minutes

   Serves 2

  Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Idiyappam flour	1 cup
Oil	1 tsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Boiling water	to knead the flour

  Method

• Now take the flour,salt and oil in a bowl.Add the rolling boil water to the flour and knead it well with a spatula.Cover the dough with a plate to avoid drying.Now take the murukku press with the fine sev/idiyappam blade.Fill the prepared dough in the murukku maker.

• Grease the idly plate with few drops of oil and squeeze the dough on the plate.Meanwhile keep the idly pot with water to get hot.Once the water becomes hot keep the plate inside and steam for 3-4 minutes or till its cooked completely.

• Serve it warm with coconut milk

                                                                                                                                   

• While roasting the flour,keep the flame in a medium and stir it continuously to avoid burning and color change.
• If you are making the flour in large quantity,powder the rice and roast the flour in batches.
• After the dough is made cover the dough with a plate or damp cloth to prevent drying..
• While squeezing the idiyappam on the idly plate, do not layer it so much.
• Do not cook the idiyappam for too long time,it cooks very fast.

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

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Homemade Nannari Syrup/How to make Homemade Nannari Syrup

Again H is one such difficult alphabet to choose a Tamil recipe, so used a clause and sharing a simple post.
Nannari aka India Sarasaparilla is a natural body coolant.The roots of the Sarasaparilla are often used to make the syrup and it has lot of medicinal values,used in Ayurvedic medicine.

Nannari sarbath is a popular drink in most of the road side shops especially in summer.Nannari sarbath is a natural thirst quencher made using nannari syrup and lemon juice along with crushed ice.
Will share the recipe of nannari sarbhat with the syrup soon.

As we don't get the nannari syrup here I missed this sarbhat a lot.After seeing so many homemade nannari syrup in the blogosphere I tried to make it at home.So during my last India trip I got a packet of nannari root from the Ayurvedic shop.

I made this syrup in a small quantity for my first trial and came out so good and flavorful.These days enjoying the nannari sarbhat a lot on sunny days.Since there is no preservatives used it can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-1.5 months.Lets move on to the recipe......................

                                                                      

                                                            

                                                                    Homemade Nannari Syrup

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   Basic Information

   Preparation time 7 -8 hours

   Cooking time 20 -25 minutes

   Makes around 1 cup of syrup

   

  Ingredients

    

Ingredient	Quantity
Nannari root/Nannari ver	25 gms
Sugar	3/4 cup
Water	2 cups
Lemon juice	2 tsp

  Method 

• Wipe the nannari root with a clean cloth to remove any debris.Now using a motar and pestle crush the root couple of times.Now the black portion come out from the white woody portion.Keep the black portion separately which is used to make the syrup.Discard the white woody portion.Take the black portion in a blender jar.

• Pulse it in a blender for couple of times to get it powdered.Boil the water to a rolling boil.

• Now add the pulsed nannari root to it and put off the flame.Cover it with a plate and let it stand undisturbed for 6-7 hours or overnight.Now strain it in a doubled folded cloth and collect the water in a bowl and discard the residue.

• Now to the collected liquid add the sugar and mix it well.Now in a thick bottom sauce pan boil the liquid till it reaches a thick consistency,like honey.Put off the flame.

• Let it come to the room temperature,now add in the lemon juice and mix it well.Transfer it to a glass bottle.

• Store it in the refrigerator.

                                                                                                                

                             

• The amount of sugar given was just perfect,I added some sugar while making the sarbhat.
• The syrup needs to be like honey consistency,addition lemon prevents crystallization.
• If you want the syrup to be colorful add a pinch of orange food color.

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

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