Idli Upma

Nothing goes waste if used wisely. Those days there were no refrigerators available, hence our ancestors devised a new dish out of remaining food. The outcome is morkootan / morkozhambu, kaalan, Idli upma, Erichakari, sayalmani in kokum (left over chapathi in a gravy), etc.....

Made some idlies couple yesterday. I purposely made some extra idlies as we all love idli upma. Stored the extra ones in the refrigerator.

Humble idli takes its new form................yes, idli upma using leftover idlies.

Idlies kept in a fridge is perfect for crumbling to make idli upma to give the dish the right texture.

Ingredients :-

1. Idlies - 7 nos. (crumbled)
2. Mustard - 1 tsp
3. Black gram - 1 tsp
4. Sundried pickled chillies (mor milagai) - 6 nos.
5. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
6. Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. water - 1tbsp  
9. Oil - 2 tbsp 

The chilli is not the usual dry red chilli. these chillies are special green chillies that are soaked in sour curd, then sun dried. This chilli can be eaten as it is tasty and has unique flavour.

But you can use normal green chilli or dried red chilli too instead of this. 

Procedure :-

• Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard seeds, Bengal gram. The mustard seeds will splutter and when the bengal gram turns golden brown, add asafoetida powder, curry leaves and then the chillies
• After the chillies are fried well, add the crumbled idlies, salt and sprinkle water, mix well.

• [I used dried pickled chilli which in tamizh is called thayir molagai or mor milagai because it enhance the taste and flavour of the upma.
• As the batter has salt and the chillies are already pickled in salt & curd and then sun dried, add salt accordingly.]

• Keep it covered, switch off the flame and leave it for 3 minutes
• Yummy & simple idli upma is ready!

 

Satin Ribbon Garland

Inspired by the works of Blogpal Sudha Kailas I wanted to do satin ribbon garlands. First time the outcome was not good. I put that aside for 3 years. Finally 7 months back I again tried to do it and it came out well.

This is the youtube video which helped me to understand the satin ribbon garland making. Hope it is useful to you too.

Parakeet - another winged visitor

Parrots visit our area everyday. During the dusk and the dawn they fill our place with their variety of tones... squeak, screech..... etc

I was trying to capture them in my camera for two years and finally succeeded taking a shot last week.

They normally sit on top of the trees or on cables running between tall towers. But this time a couple visited the cable hanging near our building finally I succeeded! ...... hurray!! here it is for your views

Lovely wild parrots isn't it?

Here is a video shot. Hear them squeaking happily :-).......

 

Similarly there is a song bird which is extremely shy to human presence. I can only hear them every morning and in the evening and sometimes during the afternoon if the climate is pleasant. Till now not succeeded to click a photo . Wish me goodluck pals :-)

Koorkankizhangu mezhukku piratti

Koorkai / koorkankizhangu mezhukkupiratti :-

Koorkai / Koorkankizhangu / Siru Kizhangu / Chinese potato / country potato :- is a very tasty seasonal root vegetable which is rich in calcium, iron and other essential vitamins. Palakkad district (kerala) is famous for cultivating this vegetable.

If you have a kerala / Tamil store in your area, you can look for it during inter season i.e. between December and March.

The peeled one will look like this :-

This is used in traditional kootu preparation and in dry dish preparation called mezhukkupiratti / mezhukuvarati / mezhukku puratti (this requires little more oil)

Cleaning this vegetable is a little messy procedure as you have to get your hands dirty. Traditionally at our house it is washed and then rubbed on a rough stone or floor to peel the skin. At home you can also use a peeler. "The amount of labour put in adds to the taste of the dish" is a saying but you need not trouble yourself anymore in cleaing it. Here is an easy tip to peeal this vegeable quickly

Let us get on to the mezhukkupiratti preparation :-

Ingredients :

1. Koorkai Kizhangu - 250 gm
2. Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
3. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
4. Turmeric powder  - 1/4 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure :-

• Wash it thoroughly to get rid of the mud and then rub it on a rough surface or peel using a peeler. Drop them in water after peeling otherwise it may turn dark.
• Dice them into small pieces and immerse in water
• Your hands may get stained like how it leaves a dark patch in your palm but apply oil and rub little salt to get rid of that stain.
• Heat a wok, add oil (traditional dish use coconut oil. You can use olive / sunflower oil too)
• Add mustard seeds. When they splutter add curry leaves. Then add the chopped koorkais
• Add Turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt to taste
• mix well
• Cover and cook while stirring in between till they turn tender and gets roasted nicely.

(I used less oil hence i didn't roast them but just cooked them till tender.)

• Delicious and aromatic koorkai mezhukkupiratti is ready to go with rice dishes. It tastes best with morkootan / morkozhambu and curd rice.