Ani’s Kids Recipe,South Indian samayal & Tips!

Just to share with you….

I have seen prawn /shrimp for the first time in chennai. After my marriage we were in chennai for 6-7 months. Once day I saw my house owner aunty cleaning prawns outside. That is the first time I saw prawn in my like. That time I don’t like it since it was like a ugly insect.

After that we were shifted to Bangalore. My Mathi brother was staying close by . He likes non-veg a lot. They used to cook many sea foods. From them we just started to learn cooking and eating the shrimp. I remember it is aslo called as “SEMMEEN” because he used to say as semmeen sometimes.

We can make many recipes out of shrimp such as shrimp thokku (prawn thokku), Shrimp pulav, shrimp birayani, shrimp bajji,era/ shrimp kolambu etc. Here we are going to learn about thick shrimp /prawn curry. You can say shrimp kulambu also.

Just to share with you……..

Mutton / Atukari Salna

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dal – 1/4 cup
2. Mutton bones – 1/4 kg
3. Onion(medium size) – 1
4. Tomato(medium size) -1
5. Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
6. Coriander powder – 2 tsps
7. Chilli powder – 1 tsp
8. Ginger-garlic Paste – 1 tsp
9. Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
10. Cloves,Cinnamon,Bay leaves – 2 each
11. Coriander leaves for garnishing
12. Salt for taste
13. salt,water and oil as needed

Preparation

1. Take toor dal & the mutton bone pieces in a pressure cooker & cook untill 3 to 4 whistles.

2. Now,heat the oil in the kadai splutter Cloves,bay leaves & cinnamon.

3. Then,add the chopped onion & when the onion is half done add the ginger-garlic paste & fry for 2-3mts.

4. Now,add the chopped tomato,salt,turmeric powder & curry leaves & fry till oil seperates from the gravy.

5. Add the chill powder & coriander powder & fry for another 4-5mts or untill oil seperates from the oil.

6. Now,add the boiled mutton bone pieces & toor dal in Kadai .

7. Put the lid on the kadai & cook until done.

Tips

Salna or chalna is ready serve with Paratha,roti,puri ,Biryani , idli, idiyappam,dosai & also with plain white rice

 Just to share with you …

This is simple and mouth watering Fish /Meen kolumbu . The Same method can be followed for any type of fish. Meen Kolumbu is very famous dish.  We have lots of tamil songs which depicts the taste of meen kolumbu (say nathu vachha meen kolumbu yenna illukkuthu etc). Yep always the old meen kolumbu tastes more since the fish pieces are soaked in puli . Usually my grandma will make in huge quanties and keep the kolumbu for 2 to 3 days.  The flavor of the meen kolumbu will remail in whole samayal arai which tell others that u made meen kolumbu which is its speciality.

Meen Kolumbu

Ingredients

1. Fish – 1 kg
2. Onion – 1/2 chopped
3. Green chillies -2 slitted
4. Curry and coriander leaves
5. Sesame Oil (is best if you don’t have u can use any ) as need for saurting
6. Tamarind – small ball size
7. Red chilli powder -2 tsp
8. coriander powder – 5 tsp
9. Little turmeric powder
For Tampering

little fenugreek seeds, whole pepper corns and sombu

For grinding

1. Onion -1 (if you have small onions/red shallots/chinna venkayam then take that equivalent to big onion/periya venkayam/ballari venkayam)
2. Corriander seeds -3 tsp
3. Jeera – 1/2 tsp
4. Red chillies -2 and green chilli -1
5. Tomato small size -1
6. Grated coconut -2 tsp
7. Sombu- 1/4 tsp
8. Garlic cloves -8-10
8. Whole pepper corns – ½ tsp
9. Oil as needed for frying above ingredients

Preparation

1. Fry well all the ingredients For Grinding and grind that well.
2. Pour oil in Kadai. Add the items under tempering and then add curry leaves.
3. Add chopped onions , green chillies (optional) .
4. Then add the grinded masala and let it fry for some time.
5. In the mean time soak the tamarind in water and get the thick extract. Add Red chilli powder, coriander powder ,turmeric powder and salt. This itself will look like kolumbu.
6. Now pour this in kadai. Cover it with lid and let it be in fire for minimum of half an hour in medium fire. Then open the lid and check the color and consistency and also the oil should float on the top. If not then keep it for some more time.
7. Finally add fish pieces and let it bil for 5 mins and switch off. Fish kolumbu is ready.

TIP

After putting the fish pieces don’t keep in stove for more mins .If so the pieces will get mashed and you won’t be able to take out pieces from gravy

Prepare Kolumbu a day ahead to feel the real taste.

Heads and tails you can use for kolumbu and the remaining pieces for frying.

Just to share with you …

This is simple and mouth watering chicken/Koli kolumbu recipe of TamilNadu (especially coimbatore district).

Ingredients

1. Chicken – 1 pound or ½ kg

2. Onion - 1/2 chopped

3. Green chillies -2 slitted

4. Curry and coriander leaves

5. Oil as need for saurting

6. Ginger –garlic paste – 2 tsp

For grinding

1. Onion -1 (if you have small onions/red shallots/chinna venkayam then take that equalent to big onion/periya venkayam/ballari venkayam)

2. Corriander seeds -3 tsp

3. Jeera – 1/2 tsp

4. Red chillies -4 to 5

5. Tomato small size -1

6. Grated coconut -2 tsp

7. Pattai/Cinamon sticks- 2

8. Cloves/Kirambu-2

9. Sombu- 1/4 tsp

10. Little turmeric powder

11. Whole pepper corns – ½ tsp

12. Oil as needed for frying above ingredients

Preparation

1. Fry well all the ingredients For Grinding and grind that well.

2. Pour oil in Kadai. Add cutted onions , green chillies (optional) and curry leaves when the oil is hot.

3. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry well until raw smell goes away.

4. Add chicken and fry well.

5. Then add the grinded masala , water and salt as needed and cook until chicken is done and oil separates on top.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves.

TIPS

Before putting chicken if you fry (not deep fry) in little oil. The chicken pieces will roll into round shapes which gives beautiful look for your gravy .

Just to share with you…..

Aviyal is a traditional Kerala dish. It has lot of vegetables in it. Aviyal again is a dish prepared with as many vegetables as one can get. There is a legend about this dish. The maharaja of Travencore used to perform Murajapam everyyear, a vedic seminar, in which a large number of vedic scholars participated. One year it so happened that there was no vegetables left on the last day of the Murajapam.. Only few pieces of various vegetables left over from the previous days were available. The cook cut all the left overs into long thin pieces and prepared “Aviyal.” The king liked the dish so much and presented him with a gold bracelet so much and ordered that this dish be served every year since then. All vegetables go in it, except perhaps, some mushy vegetables, like, tomato, brinjal, ladies fingers, cabbage, cauliflower, beetroot (it stains the dish), radish, turnip, onion, sweet potato, etc..

NOTE: All vegeatables are not must . If you have atleast 4 or 5 you can make this Aviyal.

Ingredients

1. Raw banana or plaintain ( Valakkai) – 1
2. Elephant yam(Chenakilangu) – 1 cu Carrots(big) – 1
3. Drumstick(Muringakka) – 1
4. Potato (peeled but not cooked) – 1/2 cup
5. Beans – 5
6. Green chillies – 4 or as reqd
7. Raw mango – 1 slice(optional)
8. Turmeric powder – 2 tsp
9. Yellow Pumpkin -1/2 cup
10. Avarakkai – ½ cup
11. Seppankilangu -1/2 cup
12. Coconut Oil – 2 tsp
13. Salt – As reqd
    

For grinding:-

1. Grated coconut – 2 cups
2. Cumin seeds(Jeerakam) – 1/2 tsp
3. Curry leaves – 1 sprig
4. Small onions(Kunjulli) – 8 nos

5. Curd – 1/4 cup
   
   PREPARATION

1. Cut all the vegetables lengthwise of 1/2 inch thickness.
2. Cook vegetables with water, salt and turmeric powder.
   Add turmeric powder only when the water with vegetables starts boiling.
3. Grind together the coconut, cumin seeds, curry leaves, small onions and a little curd(as mango can be sour enough).
4. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste.
   Cook, till the raw coconut is cooked.
5. Do not over cook, as the whole mix will dry up. Once cooked, add oil and mix well.

TIPS

You can add tamarind instead of curd.