Winter special - Piping Chole

With the cold weather, our mouths crave piping hot food, both heat-wise and spice-wise. So this is what was cooking in J's kitchen today. Chole!

Traditionally, chole is a bit of a dry dish. But today we were pairing it up with jeera rice and so it had to be a bit of a gravy. The colour and texture are richer than the camera afforded at this late hour. And according to me, there is a world of difference between Channa masala and Chole. If you're interested in this chole recipe, read forward.

Ingredients
1. 2-3 pods of garlic, finely minced
2. 4 green chilis, finely chopped
3. 3 medium-sized onions
4. 2 medium-sized tomatoes
5. 1 medium-sized potato, boiled
5. Grape-sized tamarind piece/piece of lemon
6. 2 bay leaves
7. 1 spoon mustard seeds, 1 spoon jeera seeds, asfoetida, 1/2 spoon red chilli powder and 2 spoons of oil for seasoning
8. 1 medium-can of chickpeas
9. Finely chopped onions and coriander leaves for garnishing.
10. Salt to taste

Method
1. Roughly chop 2 onions and 1 tomato and fry them in 1 spoon of oil in a saucepan. Add salt to taste and 2 cups of water and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes till the raw taste of the onion and tomato are gone. Set aside.
2. In another saucepan, heat 1 spoon of oil and allow the mustard seeds and jeera seeds to crackle.
3. Add asfoetida, bay leaves, garlic and green chillis and cook for a minute.
4. Add the last onion and tomato, finely chopped and simmer along with salt for a few minutes.
5. Add the potato and the chick peas, close the pan, turn the gas to medium-low and allow to cook for a while (~6-8 minutes)
6. Meanwhile, grind the onion-tomato mixture that you set aside into a course gravy.
7. Add this to the contents of the present saucepan and mix it up and cook thoroughly with closed lid.
8. Once the chickpeas have softened considerably, mash about half of them using your ladle to encourage them to blend into the gravy. This makes a lot of difference in the taste and texture for some reason and so don't skip the step.
9. Make pulp off the tamarind and add to the mixture or directly squeeze the juice of half a large le,on into your subji. This adds a very important tangy flavour to the chole which makes it taste very good.
10. Garnish with finely chopped onion and fresh coriander.

Serve with chapathis/puri/ or good old steamed rice. Bon appetit!

Iruvili Kozhambu

This has been my all-time favorite kozhambu of my mom's. And I have never yearned to learn the secret recipe... Until I became a wife and had to think up of new exciting dishes to make everyday. In my defense, I love cooking and experimenting too... And I asked my mom for it and she gave me the recipe. But having the recipe is an entirely different thing than having the final dish made to perfection. I gave it a shot... and it was almost as good as mommy dearest's. So I thought I would be magnanimous and share this simple yet delectable recipe with you all to lend some difference to your taste buds. Its yumm... This pic here doesn't do any justice to the taste of the dish.. but I thought I'd post one anyways...



So here's what you need - (This recipe is for 4 people... adjust accordingly)

For the aracha vizhudhu or the grinding -
1. 1 teaspoon of white rice
2. 2 teaspoons of channa dal (kadalai paruppu)
3. 1/4 teaspoon of methi seeds (vendhiyam)
4. 4-6 dry red chillis
5. 1/2 cup of powdered coconut
6. 1 spoon of oil to fry 1-5 and 1 spoon more to fry 10.
7. 1 cup of buttermilk
For the kozhambu
8. 2 bowls of tamarind juice from squeezed from tamarind roughly the size of a lemon
9. 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes/ brinjal/ ladies finger/ use your imagination for the thaan (the veggies that go into it)
For the seasoning
10. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (kadugu)
11. A pinch of turmeric
12. A pinch of asfoetida
13. 4-5 curry leaves (kadi patha)
and salt to taste.

So how do you go about it?

1. Fry 1-5 using oil and allow it to cool before grinding it in a mixer using sufficient quantity of water for the mixing.
2. Mix the ground paste in the cup of buttermilk and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, start boiling the tamarind juice with the thaan in it.
4. Once it starts boiling, add the turmeric and the asfoetida and let it boil another few seconds.
5. Add in the ground mixture while stirring and let it boil for just a minute before turning the gas off. Additional boiling may result in curdling of the buttermilk.
6. Fry the mustard seeds and the curry leaves separately and add to the kozhambu.

And serve with steamed rice and beans curry....... Delicious! Thanks Amma.