Sambar Powder - Aromatically Mesmerising Spice Mix

சாம்பார் போடி  - Sambar Powder - Authentic, Aromatic and Awesome

For the last two generations in our family, sambar powder means, dry red chilli powder and coriander powder in equal ratio by weight.

Perungayam or Asafoetida or Hing - In My Kitchen

Asafoetida

Katti perungayam or the compound (hard) type asafoetida is the resin of a plant  Ferula assafoetida. This compound form is more flavourful than

Avakkai - Use the Season - Awesome Mango Pickle

Avakkai - Easy yet Awesome Mango Pickle

Again, I am going to my college days when I think about this avakkai pickle. Until then I was not a big fan of pickles and used to wonder how in the world people ever ate pickles. My mother used to drool at pickles. My father was happy to, infact preferred to eat previous night's rice in water and pickle for break fast. Many of my friends were happy to eat curd rice and pickle everyday and survive! I was always detached from all these peoples' love for pickle and was looking at them like a bottled specimen in the zoology lab.

All Natural Hair Wash / Shikakai Powder

Natural Hair Wash Powder

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. - Frank Lloyd Wright.

We all have come very far from nature. Let's stop, turn back and see what we all we have missed. Thank God we have not lost everything.

Bath Powder - Natural, Healthy and Simple

Bath Powder - Natural, Healthy and Simple

If you are a person who is concerned about reducing the amount of chemicals your body is exposed to, then you should know about an ordinary/extra ordinary bath soaps which most of us use.

Filter Coffee - Love for "Filter Kaapi"..

Filter coffee - "Filter Kaapi"

Filter coffee -  I feel so freshened up as I say those two words. Any coffee fans will accept with me. When I make the filter coffee decoction as the first thing in the morning, the aroma of the coffee decoction is so tempting, that it becomes so hard for me to wait for another 15 minutes to make the coffee. I won't be able to wait till all the decoction drains. 

Is it not a blissful moment when you experience the aroma of fresh filter coffee decoction? I can say that forgetting yourself in the aroma of the fresh filter coffee can be added as the 113th Tantric Technique for enlightenment. Totally selfless moment!

Rice Flour - Basics

Rice Flour - Basics

Rice flour - is a versatile ingredient in South Indian pantries. Most of the traditional recipes calls for the rice flour. Sweets such as.. adirasam or kozhukattais, or snacks such as murukkus or thattai, or breakfast such as iddiyappam or puttu.. rice flour.. rules!

Home made Rice Flour

When I talk about how to prepare rice flour for cooking, I do not forget the traditional practice of using unprocessed rice flours to put kolam in South Indian houses. This practice has almost disappeared. But I still see some people (including me) sticking with putting the maa kolam during festivals. 

Bisi Bele Bhath Spice Powder

Bisi Bele Bhath Spice Powder - Harmonious Combination of Spices

The bisi bela bhath spice powder - just like how a good orchestra feasts your ears. This recipe has some of the fine spices brought together in an unique combination to play with our taste buds. 

I wonder how the person who created the recipe for this spice powder would have thought about this combination of these many spices... Is that all or are there any more!? 

Rasam Powder / Rasam Podi - Basics

Rasam Powder / Rasam Podi

Hello everyone.. I am here with the recipe for rasam powder or rasam podi. There are many recipes for this rasam podi. I tried many recipes and finally settled with this recipe for rasam podi. But, I never failed to try new recipes for rasam with different rasam powders recipes.

For rasam recipe click - Rasam - Completes the Meal

The addition or deletion of a single spice in rasam podi, makes a big difference. Few people make a batch of rasam podi and store it. Some grind it freshly every time they make rasam. Some don't grind at all, they just use mortar-pestle to pound the spices.

Rasam Podi / Rasam Powder

For the sourness there is again a wide choice for ingredients like tamarind, lemon, tomato etc.  People make rasam with or without garlic, with or without dhal water, some make different tempering, some boil the rasam and some don't. The variations are countless...!!

Karuppatti Paagu / Palm Jaggery Syrup - Basics

Karuppatti Paagu / Palm Jaggery Syrup - Basics

Karuppatti or panai vellam is known as palm jaggery in English. Panai vellam is the better choice for sweetening agent than white sugar or saccharine or any other artificial sweeteners. It is widely used in Tamil Nadu. Our ancestors had been using karuppatti widely for its medicinal properties. But these days youngsters have heard about this "karuppatti" only in Tamil movie songs..

Karuppatti/Panai Vellam/Palm Jaggery

Kozhukattai (Mel) Maavu / Kozhukattai Outer Covering Dough

Kozhukattai (Mel) Maavu / Kozhukattai Outer Covering Dough

Kozhukattai mel maavu has a simple recipe with very few ingredients but not most of us will succeed in getting it soft.

I feel that the right texture of the outer covering rice flour dough, is that, when we bite the kozhukattai, it should be soft, yet firm, and the teeth should sink smoothly and pass to the poornam without knowing that we have already reached the poornam. 

The rice flour used for making dough can also be prepared at home. Definitely the rice dough prepared from the home made rice flour has a very fresh feel on kozhkattai. 

We can also use store bought rice flour. We have to make sure that the rice flour from store is fresh batch. Old rice flours might smell stale and rancid which will spoil the whole dish. 

I tried different recipes from word of mouth to get the right texture of kozhukattai. But this recipe will definitely be very clear, that even a beginner could get it right the first time. 

Let me share you the recipe which I follow to make the mel maavu.

Idli Batter - Basics

Idli Batter/Idli maavu

Idli...... when I sit to down type about idli.. my memories fly back to the days when I was 8 years old. During holidays, we used go to our amma-amma's (maternal grandma) house.