Idiappam / Sandhakai / Nool Puttu

As I had mentioned earlier, we are still finding hard to allot time for blogging. To make matters even worse is our forthcoming trip to India. Yes, we have planned a vacation to India in July. Though it is saddening that we have to wait for a few more weeks to post more frequently, we are excited about the vacation and have a busy shopping scheduled.

Meanwhile here is one ready made food recipe which we tried last week.

Idiyappam/Sandhakai/Noolputtu - rice noodles from south india.



The instructions were very simple and straight forward.

Boil water in a vessel. The amount of water should be just enough to immerse the entire packet content in it.

Switch off the stove. Unpack the idiappam packet and pour the contents into the water and make sure it is fully immersed.

Wait for 1 full minute and then drain the water.







Idiappam is ready. You can have it with coconut chutney or any other side dish of your choice.

I was not sure how it would turn out until we tried. It came out pretty good. I was really surprised to see that the taste was just close to the way idiyappam prepared in the traditional way.

Idli powder or Idly podi

It has been quite few weeks that we have posted more frequently in this blog. Infrequent posts are not good for a blog's health. While we have to wait for a few more days, to make more posts and that too on a constant rate, we dont want the readers to disappointed. Here is a video demonstrating to make idli powder.

South Indian house holds will defintely have this idli powder in their racks as it is the default substitute for chutney's while having dosa or idli.

Though the presentation is made in a mix of tamil and english, it should be easily understandable for anyone fond of cooking.

Potato Capsicum Curry / Kurma / Korma

I made potato capsicum kurma / curry to go along with the jeera rice on Saturday. My friend like it so much she had packed enough for the next day.

It really went well with jeera rice and chappathi’s made that day. I did not add any chilli powder, so I did not get the bright red color that I usually get for most of my recipes.

Vegetables:
Capsicum – 2
Medium sized Potato – 3
Onion – 1
Tomato’s – 2
Any other vegetables of your choice can also be added.

Spices:
Cloves –
Cinnamon – 2
Cardamom or elaichi – 2
Chilli powder
Salt
Corriander Powder
Turmeric
Garam masala ( optional)
Ginger Garlic paste



To Grind :

Grated coconut – 2 or 3 tbsp
Cashews – any amount of your choice(I added a fist full of them since I wanted the curry not to be spicy).

1. In a wide bottomed pan drizzle it with oil for the tadka and add cloves, cinnamon and elaichi.
2. Then add the diced onions and fry till it is transculent. After that add the ginger garlic paste and tomatoes. Saute it till the oil separates from the onion tomato mixture.
3. Now add the coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt.
4. Add the diced potatoes and cook till it is half done.
5. After the potatoes are almost done, add the capsicums. Stir it well and immediately add the coconut, cashews ground paste.
6. Bring the gravy to boil, once the raw smell of coconut is gone and vegetables are cooked garnish the curry with coriander leaves.




Serve potato capsicum curry with roti, pulao or jeera rice.