Toy from a small baby coconut

We used to make this from the small underdeveloped coconut which fell down and from the ribs of the coconut frond. I think the pictures will be sufficient. I wanted to record this somewhere - an example of the simple pleasures which made up my childhood.

From This

To This

If we hold the two sticks woven between the looped stick and the straight sticks and flick our wrist to rotate the baby coconut, it will produce a whirring tic tic sound.

This vacation when I went to TVM, I showed my daughter how to make it, she was enchanted that I used to make my own toys in my childhood. It was more fun or atleast it seemed like that to me.

I remember making whistles from leaves of a tree, I forget its name it had wonderful yellow flower with a deep reddish maroon center.

Anti caking agents

Usually I am ambivalent about chemical additives thinking that if so many people are having them without any side effects, I dont have to break my head about it. Afterall its not everyday that we have chips etc...
Anyways today I was fed up and asked my hubby to buy a big packet of name brand potato chips. I casually going through the list of ingredients Ok no big words only one - anticaking agent E535. Well I went to Google and this was the result:

An anticaking agent is an additive placed in powdered or granulated materials, such as table salt, to prevent the formation of lumps and for easing packaging, transport, and consumption.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_ferrocyanide

I quote
"Sodium ferrocyanide is the sodium salt of the coordination compound of formula [Fe(CN)₆]^4-. It is a yellow crystalline solid that is soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol. Despite the presence of the cyanide ligands, sodium ferrocyanide is not especially toxic (acceptable daily intake 0–0.025 mg/(kg body weight)^[2]) because the cyanides are tightly bound to the metal. However, like all ferrocyanide salt solutions, addition of an acid (a hydrogen donor) can result in the production of cyanide gas (HCN), which is toxic. In its hydrous form, Na₄Fe(CN)₆·10H₂O (sodium ferrocyanide decahydrate), it is sometimes known as yellow prussiate of soda. The yellow color is the color of ferrocyanide anion.

[edit] Uses

Sodium ferrocyanide is a chemical additive known as E 535. It is added to road and food grade salt as an anticaking agent.^[2] When combined with iron, it converts to a deep blue pigment called Prussian blue.^[3] In photography, it is used for bleaching, toning, and fixing. It is used as a stabilizer for the coating on welding rods. In the petroleum industry, it is used for removal of mercaptans.

[edit] Production

Sodium ferrocyanide is produced industrially from hydrogen cyanide, ferrous chloride, and calcium hydroxide, the combination of which affords Ca₂[Fe(CN)₆]^.11H₂O. A solution of this salt is then treated with sodium salts to precipitate the mixed calcium-sodium salt CaNa₂[Fe(CN)₆], which in turn is treated with sodium carbonate to give the tetrasodium salt.^[4]""

End of quote.

The ingredients list told Anticaking agent E535, if it was mentioned anti caking agent sodium ferrocyanate I would have thought twice or maybe even five times before succumbing to dd's pressure and buying it.
Sure it tastes good. Real good. Less oil than if Imade potato chips at home myself.
In my mind cyanide is something used for secret agents and terrorists of the enemy country to commit suicide. Or some filmi villianess using it to kill the hero or related person. It is not a real thing....it happens to others not to me!
Is it some conspiracy? giving chemical additives inocous harmless sounding names and lulling the general public. It is supposed to be harmless in at small doses. But I am still leery. I have to search for more information on the net.

Not only chips, anti caking agents are added to Salt, dry milk powder, Egg mixes, Flours, goodness is there anything left?

It is said accceptable daily intake 0.025mg/kg body weight per day. Now there's no indication of the amount of caking agent in that packet. So my DD is 42 kg so her acceptable daily inkae is 42 x 0.025 = 1.05 mg. I know many kids who can polish off 5 or 6 packets at a time in one go. Thank God My daughter is not interested in packet chips most of the time, we buy only when travelling and at petrol stations.

What action can I take? Well I have written this post for one, second Iwill tell all my friends, third stricly keep consumption to one packet at the most, Fourth read the lable and google the ingredients.

I think instead of chips I will have to depend upon wadawams and pappads.....Hmmm. Some more experimental cooking coming up.

Chicken Cutlet and Womans Day

Today I made Chicken cutlet for the first time in my life..... I know, I know, most of my blogging friends seem to be such versatile cooks, me I am well versed in vegetarian snacks like bajji etc.. but in non veg I have only a few family favorites in my mind.

Blogging has given me the encouragement to try out new recipes by myself instead of inviting myself to friends houses :-) . I must say it came out very well, my DD & my hubby loved it. I thought making cutlet is a very time consuming process and involving a lot of vessels getting dirty... easy to give two dh and eat at the cafeterias. Well my friends you see me eating the Humble pie (or could I say Chicken Cutlet)... Yes there is pile of dishes in my sink but not so much as I thought. Only a pressure cooker for the potatoes, a pan for the chicken, a smaller saucepan for the onions, one plate for the bread crumbs, one bowl for the beaten egg. one plate for the crumbed cutlets, one plate for the fried ones....well you catch the drift. I think I will try out more items if I have somebody to clean the kitchen or atleast wash the vessels for me. Dear Dear India where I can get a housemaid to do such things without the jhanjat of visa etc...Once again I say pesaama Urmila maadhiri irundhirukkalaam...

Note to myself: use disposable dishes for the bread crumbs and beaten egg. OK so who wants to know how I accomplished this? I know my sister will read this and say yes she wants to know. so here goes... next time I will take step by step pictures for my discerning audience and upload it. For now there is only the photo of the end result.

Yummy Crisp on the outside soft on the inside Cutlets.mmm....

Ingredients:

Cubed Boneless Chicken Breast - 1 cup (I had kept aside the breasts of a 1 Kg Chicken aside)
Potatoes - 3 nos Fist sized
Onion - 1 small chopped finely
Green Chillies - 2 Nos Chopped finely
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp or more if you like it
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper Jeera Powder 1/2 tsp
1 tsp salt
Juice of one lemon.
Chopped Corriander Leaves - 2-3 tbsp.
Oil as reqd.
Egg 1 Nos beated lightly.
Large Bread slices 4 nos - process to crumbs.

Procedure:

Cook potatoes till soft. drain well. Mash to paste. Meanwhile cook chicken pieces with turmeric, salt, ginger garlic paste and water to cover. Let the water evaporate. When cool enough to handle, crumble with your fingers. You can use a fork, but I found this easier and more uniform.

Sautee the chopped onions and green chillies in a tsp of oil till onion is soft. Add to chicken. Add all the other spices. Add the mashed potato, corriander leaves and mix till well combined. Check for salt and spice level. Add 1/2 cup of bread crumbs if the mixture seems too wet for you to make into balls.

While it is warm itself, shape into flat circles or ovals as per your wish. Dip in beaten eggs then coat with bread crumbs pressing lightly to cover well with the crumbs.

Heat oil in a kadai. Deep fry two or three at a time to a golden brown color.

I was able to make 15 nos of cutlets around three & four inches round and 3/4 inch thick. I think it is a very good value for money. Two are sufficient for a person. My daughter had four :-) she liked it so much.



The Bread Crumbs were just enough for coating the cutlets. There were about 2 tsps of beaten egg left over. I mixed the bread crumbs which fell away from the cutlets , made into a ball and fried it. My daughter told it was tasty. So no Waste at all. Are'nt I Clever!!!

I have frozen the rest after crumbing them.

As my daughter said, this was a perfect way to commemorate Womans Day.

I am sending this to Any one can cook series 43 by Umm Mymoonah and Let,s part every month - snacks by Surabhi Nayak

I am also sending this to Ramadaan Friendly recipes event

Paruppu Rasam

My rasams excepting the traditional rasam paruppu combo from my native place were dismal. Infact my Dh who almost never complains about my cooking used to grimace when I told that rasam was on the menu. they were like kashayams on the first day and like poison on the next.

But now I got a good rasam recipe from Aval Vikatan. My daughter loved it as it comes close to the rasam from a one and only veggie restaurant in fujairah. It deosen't require store bought rasam powder. A small step to make the rasam powder but worth the taste and flavour.

Fragrant Paruppu Rasam

Ingredients:
1/4 cup - Thuvar Dal (Thuvaram paruppu)
1 Nos - Tomato
1 tsp - Salt
1 small ball (2cm dia) - Tamarind
1/4 tsp - Turmeric Powder
2 - 3 Cloves - Garlic
For Rasam Powder:
1 tsp - Thuvar Dal
3 tsp - Dhania (Corriander seeds)
1 tsp - Whole Black Pepper
1/2 tsp - Whole Jeera
3 nos - Red Chillies
For Tempering (Thalippu)
1/4 tsp - Ghee
1 tsp - Oil
1/2 tsp - mustard seeds
Curry Leaves, Corriander Leaves - Little of each.

Procedure:
Coarsely powder the items required for rasam powder.

Ingredients for rasam powder

Coarsely powdered spices

Cook Thuvar dal with turmeric till soft. Soak and extract 1 1/2 cup tamarind juice. Crush tomato to pulp.

Boil tamarind extract, crushed tomato with salt. add lightly crushed garlic cloves sauteed in a little oil.

After it boils for a few mins add Rasam powder, then add cooked thuvar dal with water as required. Switch off flame when in comes to boil for one more time.

Temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves and corriander leaves in a mixture of ghee and oil. Serve with Rice.

The freshly ground masala takes this rasam to a new level. I loved the fragrance in the kitchen when I made this rasam.  The ultimate test was that this rasam tasted great even reheated the next day.

Anything that tasted good after it acquired the status of a leftover is a keeper for me.

To save time and energy, I normally take out around half a cup of cooked dal when I cook dal for sambhar and keep refrigerated for making rasam a few days later.

I am sending this to Foodelicious Only Event - Only South Indian

 

Ginger Garlic Paste

I was in a dilemma whether I should post this or not. I mean ginger garlic paste is ginger garlic paste. What instructions are needed for that? But then I think of all the doubts I get when I think of some new cuisine ......so maybe somebody or the other will find this post useful.

This is one of the essentials in my fridge. I usually prepare enough to last atleast two weeks. I remember when I was working, I used to recruit my cousins to peel ginger and garlic when they came for a weekend stay in my house and make enough to last three months atleast. I used to keep one batch in the fridger and the rest in the freezer.

There are two types of ginger and garlic that I know of. Both are available in India. One variety , the ginger is stringy and the rhizhomes are small, the thickness rarely more than finger size. The garlic also are small cloves, the other variety which is more readily available in the middle east, both are large. The ginge can be as thick as a small potato, it is more juicy.The garlic has nice big fat cloves, it has been referred to as malai poondu in some tamil TV programme I watched long back. The smaller variety has a more intense garlicky smell. So if you use the smaller variety of garlic, the ratio proportion is Ginger to Garlic 2:1. Since I use both of the larger varieties, I use equal quantities of ginger and garlic by volume, measuring after it has been chopped to small pieces.

Take care to cut the ginger against the grain, it will be easier to grind in the mixie, you will not end up with long fibres winding around the blade centre.

Ginger Garlic Chopped

When grinding use the dry grinder blade the one with the blades almost flat it the base of the blender. There will be no need to add additional water. Be a little patient and scrape the sides with a spoon. The water in the ginger will be sufficient to grind to a fine paste. Store in a airtight bottle in the fridge.

Dont be alarmed if the paste turns a light green in colour. I found that there was nothing wrong with the taste and no after effects as of date in my house. It did not always turn green for me maybe once in ten times. I was puzzled and for the first few times I threw away the paste, a great sacrifice on my part because I was working at a demanding job, my dd was toddler and I had to sacrifice my precious time to peel that damned garlic and ginger. Then I was presented with fait accompli and had to use the green coloured paste. Nothing happened and no percievable taste difference. So after that I stopped throwing it out and used it up. I came to the conclusion that it had something to do with the ginger and nothing to do with my hygenic practices.

Here endeth my discourse on ginger garlic paste.

I cant believe I had so much to say about ginger garlic paste, and I did not even mention anything about the medicinal benefits..... Well that will come another time.

Neeraahaaram

One of the traditional foods is pazhaya choru or saadham. In english it will translate to old rice. It is nothing but rice cooked on the first day afternoon, covered with water and consumed the next day. The rice becomes spongy and a light fermented smell is there. As with most traditional foods, some nutritionist has found that this form of rice is very good for the health. Hmm remember ragi, cholam (millet), they were considered poor peoples food and were looked down upon, even now I hear disdain in my friends voices when i say I made godhumai dosai for dinner, now they are health foods... I think this will also make the list of health foods when some fancy health guru takes up this as a cause till then enjoy this simple cooling drink in the summers.

For neerahaaram you need:

two handfuls of soaked cooked rice
Fresh water 1 - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Buttermilk 1/2 cup
Small onions - 4-5 nos

mash the rice with your hands add fresh water, a quarter cup or so of buttermilk and salt to taste. Chop onion finely and add to this mixture. Serve. It is served at room temperature. I can actually feel my stomach cooling when I drink this.

I am sending this to Beat the  Heat event.

I am sending this to Foodelicious - Only South Indian Event

Vegetable Biriyani

Hmm Such a long time since I posted anything.  Time seems to fly. For pongal I had made vegetable biriyani, and now almost two months and I am getting down to posting this. Well, better late than never I say.

Ingredients:

1/2 a head of medium sized cauliflower
2 medium sized carrots
2 fist sized potatoes. (preferably not the floury type)
10 to 15 snap beans
1 capsicum
One handful fresh peas/ frozen also will do.

Process all the veggies to uniform sized pieces. Keep aside.

For masala:

2 Nos - Onions Finely sliced.
3 tomatoes - Chopped
3 green chillies - slit vertically
2 Tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1 Tbsp - Corriander Powder or malli masala powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp pepper jeera powder
1 inch Cinnamon stick
5 nos cloves
3 cardomom pods
2 bay leaves.
1 tbsp - ghee
2 tbsp - Oil.
1 tbsp - salt or to taste.
1/2 cup Butter milk or yoghurt.
One handful each - Chopped corriander & Chopped mint

Rice:

3 cups Long grain Indian Basmati Rice - wash gently, soak in water for 20 mins to 30 mins.

Procedure:

Heat a mixture of ghee & oil in a vessel large enough to hold the veggies + rice + Water + 2 inches head space. (around 15 cups water in this instance)
Keep heat at medium.
Add whole spices.
When they release their aroma, add chopped onions & green chillies. fry till golden.
Add ginger garlic paster. sautee till raw smell goes.
Add spice powders and salt.
Add tomatoes and stir till cooked to mush.
Add butter milk or curds, stir to combine and add chopped vegetables except Capsicum.
Let veggies cook. It may take 15 mins to 30 mins depending upon the size of the peices.
Add 4 cups boiling water. (the rest 2 cups needed will be from the veggies masala)
Add the capsicum pieces, herbs, Juice of half a lemon if the tomatoes are not sour enough. Check for salt and spice level. The masala with water should taste slightly saltier than your normal salt level.
Add soaked and drained rice. Bring to boil.
Lower heat to a sim. Close vessel with a tight fitting lid. Steam for ten mins. Check Rice for doneness. Cook for a few more mins if necessary.
Fluff rice when serving.



Note : I add capsicum when adding rice because otherwise the capsicum turns to mush. This way you can actually see the capsicum pieces. This will be espescially attractive if you use different coloured capsicums. If you wish to include beet root, cook beetroot seperately in salted water till three fourths done. drain and add only the pieces when adding rice. Otherwise you will get pink or orange coloured biriyani :-)