Idiyappam (String Hoppers)

Soft Fluffy Idiyappam

When we were in Trivandrum, our house was a main stopping point for all the relatives going to and fro to the gulf states. We heard of many wacky stories about gulf returnees and how they were treated on their arrival by their relatives and how they fare when they depart from India. One famous narration goes this way: One fellow comes from gulf on leave. A passerby asks a person from the recieving  group : Dosaiyaano, aapamaano, idiyappamaano? (Is he a Dosai or an Aappam or an Idiyaappam), the man naturally asks what do you mean? The reply comes pat: Well Dosai means to get cooked two ways so he has come with a return ticket, Aappam is cooked only on one side, so he has come witha one way ticket and returning may be delayed, idiyappam making involves a long and complicated process so his visa has complications and his job is in trouble. So whats his case?

Hmm. Trust malayalees to see the humour in any situation. Well, you must be thinking why I told this anectode. The fact is in my opinion, Idiyappam was an easy to prepare dish, so how come it is considered to be a lengthy process? Then only I came to know that there were two methods of making idiyappam. With roasted rice flour and other with rice batter.

The method most followed in my family is with roasted rice flour. We used to prepare the flour regularly at home in thiruvananthapuram, infact there is a huge iron kadai and a big wooden spatula just for that purpose, but now it is in storage as no one uses it anymore.

In UAE, we had enough relatives coming and going to bring us a supply of homemade idiayappam maavu, prepared by my Maami (MIL). Here we have to rely on store bought flour, they are quite good, but I somehow felt that my maami made better idiyappam flour, I guess thats a psychological thing.

For three persons, you need:

2 cups Idiyappam flour
Boiling water a required
salt to taste
little oil

Put the roasted rice flour in a wide bottommed vessel with a stable bottom. Stir in the salt well. POur in the boiling water little by little stirring with the back of a ladle till the dough comes together. The correct consistency (padham) is that the dough should not stick when you press with a wet finger. Oil the idiyappam press and plates. Press through the mould onto the plates and steam in a steamer. I use the standard idli plate and steamer for this. Steam for a maximum of eight to ten mins. Keep in a warm covered vessel or an insulated caserole. Serve with any stew, Mutton Curry, Chicken curry, Maasi Kuzhambu , coconut chutney, vegetable curries or for sweet lovers with fresh coconut milk flavoured with caromoms and sweetened with sugar. or with sugar coconut & banana.
It can also be made into lemon idiyappam, Tamarind idiyappam etc.. like the different varieties of mixed rice. I will post the recipes for those as time permits.

Idiyappam is an easily digested food and as you can see very versatile. You can have idiyappam daily for weeks with different flavours on each day. Also since the flour can be kept in stock, it is a tiffin which can be made for unexpected guests.

Repost : Corriander Carrot Whole Wheat Dosai

I am reposting this recipe for the event Know Your Flours - Whole Wheat Flours by Jagruti. I am sending Corriander Carrot Whole Wheat Dosai.

http://simplewomansimplelife.blogspot.com/2011/06/corriander-carrot-whole-wheat-dosai.html

Whole Wheat Dosai With Carrot & Corriander

Maasi Kuzhambu (Maldives Dry Fish Curry)

This is one curry that transports me to my childhood vacations in my mooma's (maternal Grandmother) house. It was to my eyes at that time of life at the end of the world. We had to walk around two km from the bus stop to reach the bungalow. But those times were some of the happiest times of my life.

Maasi Kuzhambu with Idiyappam..mmm delicious.

Maasi is preserved Tuna fish. It is mainly produced in Maldives. The red meat tuna is boiled whole in fish stock, then the flesh is taken apart in large chunks and smoke dried. This results in a horn shaped piece looking like half burnt piece of log.So the whole piece is called kombu (meaning horn in tamil). Good quality Maasi costs around 700 to 900 rs per Kg, so dont be temped by a cheap deal, because that may be a duplicate made from white meat fish. You will know the difference only when you grind it for use.

When split into flakes, the inside is red in colour and there is no strong smell. I usually bring powdered maasi from India. In Middle East, you can find it in stores selling Srilankan speciality foods.

Some people toast maasi before using it thinking it is like kariwaadu (salted dried fish). But that is not necessary as it is already cooked. Anyway, coming to the recipe:

Ingredients:
Maasi Powder - 3 tbsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Pepper jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Cocnut milk powder - 4 tbsp heaped.
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Sombu (sonf) - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomatoes - 2 nos finely chopped.
Oil - 2 tbsp

Heat oil in a kadai or pan, add sombu & jeera, then add curry leaves. Add finely chopped onion and fry till golden. Add salt and maasi powder. stir a little and then add chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, pepper jeera powder and turmeric powder. Add water and let it boil a while. Dissolve coconut milk powder in warm water and add to the boiling curry. let it boil a few more mins and the curry is ready.

This is served mainly with idiyappam. It also goes well with aappam and my husband even likes it with plain rice and pappadom.

Maasi is an unusual item not known by many fish eating people even. Even in TVM, many of our friends did not know what it was. It is a great alternative to karuwaadu as it is not as smelly. It dosen't contain excessive salt like karuwaadu.

In my moomas place maasi kuzhambu and idiyappam was the standard menu for unexpected guests, with maybe eggs on the side from the hens roaming around the Coconut grove.

I am sending this to Learning to Cook : Dish Name Starts with M and Spotlight - Curries/Gravies guest hosted by Chandrani for Indrani's Event

The Saga of the Pavakkai Poriyal (Bitter Gourd Stir fry)

Pavakkai Poriyal - glistening with green goodness.

There is a long story behind my relationship with this vegetable, for those who don't want to read the story please scroll down for the recipe.

Pavakkai or Bitter Gourd is one veggie which I hate. When I was in school, my mother used to make it at home because it was good for health espescially diabetic patients (my grand parents were diabetic). she used to try to make me eat it saying it good for diabetes. My standard reply was if and when I get diabetes I will suffer at that time, no need for me to suffer in the expectation of suffering. Well cheeky me.
Then I got married to a man who loves bitter gourd. Hmm.. He is MSc chemistry. I should have suspected something when he chose chemistry as his major. Well opposites attract and all that stuff. When I was newly married and so in thrall with his charm, I tried to cook bitter gourd for him. phew! I felt the whole house smelled of bitterness. I put my foot down. Choose either me or pavakkai. Of course since my hubby also likes sweets he chose me. OK OK I made that up. He grumbled once in a while about how good pavakkai is for health and how a "proper" cook will know how to cook it properly.
I took it in this ear and out through the other ear and consoled him with my Biriyanis etc..
After my daughter started school, I joined a job. There was this lady who inspired awe in me. Her name was Madam Mercy. Till date I dont know her last name though I have met her Husband and two children more times than I can count. She is a malayalee. She was super efficient and we could set the clock in our office based on her punctuality. Her house was neatly maintained. She had prayer meetings in her home where she prepared food herself for the attendees. Well you get the idea. If there is a super mom contest, my vote would have been for her. And her lunch box! Always freshly made food with a variety of dishes. Mine was normally thayir sadam and a side dish. She used to share her box generously also. If she knew that I liked some thing, next time, she bought extra for me.
Once I told her that my DH likes bitter gourd and I was a dismal failure at cooking it. She gave me her recipe for pavakkai stir fry and gave me some tips also. She also bought 1/2 kg of pavakkai poriyal on the day we had half day. I took that box home, kept it on the dining table telling my Husband that this pavakkai poriyal by Mercy madam is for you. I went to wash up and when I came back my Husband had polished it off. It must have been atleast two cups. I was stunned!
He only looked at me and told " You told it is for me only no?"
Well If you readers think that finally I started cooking pavakkai for my Hubby, you are wrong. I didn't. Atleast not for another five years atleast.
Now my Hubby's tune changed to " You remember Mercy madam's pavakkai poriyal, why don't you make it like that for me?" Heartless me. Again I consoled him with other dishes and told myself I dont have mercy madams magic with pavakkai.
From the above story you can seee how patient my Hubby is with me.
After coming to Saudi, around four months back, he had gone to the vegetable market. he came back and kept (rather Plonked) the veggies on the counter and said " I have bought pavakkai. Cook it for me. I don't care how, but I want it for tommorrow's Lunch." (Don't you just love macho men) I stared at the green ridges looking like a miniature crocodile on the counter. The pair stared back at me ( I felt like that).
Luckily I have an aptitude for remembering things for a long time and Mercy madams instructions were clear in my head. I thought what the hell. after all two pavakkais. what can they do to me. I followed her instructions as far as feasible. Wonder of wonders. No bitter smell. I even had a few spoonfulls mixed with my sambhar rice. Even I could eat it and my husband gave his stamp of approval whole heartedly.
It took me nearly fifteen years of married life to cook pavakkai to the satisifaction of my DH.

Readers, the moral of the story is try out something atleast once before you decide you are not good at it.

Recipe for Pavakkai Poriyal.
Ingredients:
Pavakkai - 2 nos around 20 cm length and 7 cm diameter
Big Onion - 1 nos,
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
Dessicated coconut - 2 - 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
udad dal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tst
Oil - 3 tbsp.

Procedure:

Note: Please follow the processing steps just as I have noted here. Mercy madams instructions were to slice the bitter gourds at the last min possible and immediately cook them.

Chop onions finely. Wash bitter gourd, slit into two, remove the seeds with a spoon and wash again and keep aside.Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard, udad dal, asafoetida two shakes or a pinch, curry leaves and chopped onions and salt in that order. Lower the flame and while the onions turn translucent, quickly slice the cleaned bitter gourd. It will take hardly two mins. Dump the cut pavakkai in the kadai, add turmeric powder and turn the heat to medium high. stir for around five mins. Add chilli powder and stir for around two mins, then check the pavakkai for done ness. It should be cooked by now, dosent take long. Stir a little longer if necessary. Add the dessicated coconut and stir till you get a nice aroma of toasted coconut.  Check for salt. Serve hot as an accompaniment with rice.

Yes Simple and easy actually. And very tasty according to my husband. When my father and mother come to help for my second delivery, I have to try it out on my Father.

As per Mercy madams instructions, I was supposed to add coconut pieces cut into chip size like corn kernels to the oil before adding onions and fry till golden. This imparts a lovely flavour to the dish but I dont buy whole coconut here. I buy either dessicated or frozen grated coconut. The dessicated coconut flakes added a nice toasted coconut aroma to the dish.

Baby & Toddler Foods

This is for the event Healthy Morsels - Baby & Toddler Foods.

I would like to share my experience with my Daughter now 12 yrs old. They are fresh in my mind as I have gone through them over and over as I cherished the memories in my mind and when asked for advice by other new mothers. There are some basic rules for feeding babies and toddlers for which advice I am grateful to the experienced ladies who adviced me. They saved me a lot of headache when coping with a energetic toddler alone without any relatives or neighbours nearby.

Rule No. 1 : Dont forcefeed your child. If she has stopped eating what you painstakingly prepared, dont take it personally and get frustrated and stuff your baby's mouth. It will only be sprayed back all over and you will have to clean everything. She will also get the idea that eating is something which causes mommy to be angry with her. Even just born babies can sense tension and stress in their mothers.

Rule No.2 : Get your child in the habit of eating from a specific place in the house. No roaming around with a bowl and spoon and making the whole house dirty. This rule has caused me a lot of head ache when I visited India on holidays as I was expected to feed my daughter by carrying my daughter around cooing and cuddling to "show " my love and care for her.Sorry. Not my cup of tea. Got a lot of flak from my mother and other female relatives but I persevered. My daughter started eating by herself without any fuss by the age of two or so. Keep your baby's food habits and sleeping patterns seperate from cuddling.

If you neglect this rule, as I said, the child will take it for granted that the whole house can by spattered with food, you will be forever wiping food from the sofas, steps, well you get the idea. And if you are not careful, you will be running behind your child even after she starts going to school.

Rule 3: Just because the adverts show a plump little child slurping from a baby food container it dosent mean that your child will like it. After about four or five varieties of cereal boxes, baby formula tins, I conceded to my baby's demand for home made food. She was never plump like Amul baby. I gave away all the store bought items and stuck to home made. I breast fed my daughter till 2 yrs old, started on solids at sound five months of age. The bottle was sparingly used for fresh juices and smoothies type of food.

Some recipes:

When cooking normal south Indian lunch, we have rice, dal & veggies. reserve  a little seperate from the rest before adding any spices to it. Scald the small jar and lid of the mixie with boiling water from the electric kettle. grind everything to a fine paste for younger babies and progressively coarser pastes for older babies. Take out in a container, Check for taste. If you dont find it tasty dont expect your baby to think any differently. It should be mild enough for your baby, but you should be able to eat atleast three teaspoons without gagging. That was my test for baby food.

Take a little seperately in a small bowl, feed the baby with an almost flat and small spoon. When starting for the first time and infact everytime make sure the baby is hungry but not so hungry as to be cranky and irritable. Keep food ready before she starts crying for it. Keep mealtimes as regular as possible so that the babies digestive system gets used to a timetable.

Another fav for my daughter was mashed boiled potatoes. I used to mix a little full fat milk powder for protien and a pinch of asafoetida and roasted jeera powder also to aid in digestion. She espescially like the potatoes cooked in non- veg gravy. I used to rinse away the masala with boiling water before mashing, but there was a light hint of the curry in the end product.

Third ofcourse is what every south indian knows - mashed idlies. Even as a baby, my daughter disliked sweet food, so instead of sugar and milk, I used dal water or milk with a little strained sambhar to make it the right consistency.

Fourth is Curd rice smashed to a coarse paste in the mixie. Add a little milk if the curd is too sour.

One more important item which I gave my daughter regularly , prepared every night by her daddy was egg milk mixture. This was after one year. Beat one or two eggs lightly , add boiling milk beating vigorously. the eggs will be cooked in the boiling milk to a custard like consistency. Strain through seive. Cool to warm enough or room temperature. Feed with a bottle with large hole
I dont remember adding sugar to this. In fact its preferable not to add sugar.

Some people have the habit espescially for toddlers to sleep with the bottles in the mouth. If she finishes feeding and is falling asleep, try and wake her up to sip from a bottle atleast a sip of water to cleanse the mouth, or else you may get fungal infection in the mouth, and cavities also. There is also the danger of the milk going to the nasal passages and suffocation. Or it may go to the ear canal and get ear infection.

Then there is mashed banana plain or mixed with cooked egg yolk.

Everybody knows about sprouted, dried, roasted and powdered ragi made into a gruel or pudding.

Ofcourse apples either cooked or scraped directly from the whole fruit.

In kerala, nenthrangai (semi ripe plantains) are steam cooked, grated, dried and powdered and made into a gruel or pudding for baby food. It is supposedly delicious, but I knew of it only when my dd was around 4 yrs old.

Then what else?

In bringing up babies as with everything else, Prevention is better than cure.

Be scruplously clean. You may think you are alone in a foriegn country with nobody to help you and you don't have the time, but it is all the more important for women like us to be more careful. believe me its easier to use boiling water from a kettle to sterilise everything baby uses than to clean up after a sleepless night with a feverish baby with diarrhea or vomiting. Wipe floors with disinfectant. Use dettol in the washing machine while washing clothes. If possible dry clothes in hot sun. Periodically sun the pillows etc used by your baby in the sun. I used polyester pillows so I washed in the washing machine regularly (monthly I think). I even washed the soft toys and rubber toys in the washing machine and dried them in the hot sun. use a washable mattress pad on the mattresses without fail.

Dont associate sleeping with rocking a baby to sleep or singing her to sleep or feeding her to sleep. When the baby is tired, you will know. Put her on the bed in a darkened and quiet room. and expect her to sleep. If she wakes up in between and fusses and you are sure shes not hungry or wet, dont lift her, it's very very tempting because babies look like angels when sleeping, control yourself and pat her or murmur her back to sleep. Lifting her up will disturb whatever sleep she has.

For gods sake please please dont keep any container like bucket or basin with water in the house. Babies have drowned by falling face first in five inches of water. Switch off the phone while bathing baby so you will not be tempted to leave the baby for a few mins while you answer the call. it can be deadly. Even the bathroom buckets should be emptied. If you are facing water problem, keep your stored water where the baby cannot crawl into or pull a chair up and climb to peep into it.

Seal all plug points at lower levels so the tiny fingers cannot poke into it. No plastic covers or pieces of string or ropes or cords lying around. No small items for the curious baby to swallow. Dont underestimate your baby.  My daughter actually stuffed her nose with a date seed in front of my eyes, it all happened within seconds and I was freaked out. My hubby was not to be reached, there was no mobile in those days, Luckily instead of breathing it she swallowed it. She was around two and a half.
I spent aroud half an hour terrified that my daughter with choke to death in my arms and I was going to kill myself. When we went to emergency room for an x ray the stupid seed was in her stomach. Whew!

I hope I have not bored anybody with my advice, maybe I sound bossy, but it is because I am the eldest of three sisters. (Smile)

Babies are wonderful. Love them as much as possible in all their stages of life. Whenever you hit a difficult patch remember this will pass. All that will be left will be sweet memories and the love you showed her. They grow up so fast. Sigh!

My first badge

This is for participating in Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event a blog hop at Taste of Pearl City, Schmetterling Words and Lecker & Yummy Recipes. Its my first badge. I must say this badge makes me very happy. I want to add it on my side bar or some where but I dont know how. No energy nowadays for anything. I just want to sleep & sleep.

I like the design of the logo also. Do check out the round up for some wonderful recipes and hints on managing pregnancy.

Happy News, Nalla Vishesham

For those readers, who are visting my blog regularly, and maybe wondering why there are no new posts for a while, I have a very good reason. I am not able to enter the kitchen without feeling nauseous. I dont actually bring anything out, but the feeliing is there and also dizziness. Yes I know in the films they show the newly married heroine feeling dizzy and rushing off to the bathroom or wherever and then the doctor comes, holds her wrists and says, congratulations, you  are going to become a mother.
Yes. I am expecting a new addition to our family some seven months or so. To say I am stunned is understating the matter. My DD is 12 for the past ten years, we have tried for another child, and around two years back, I gave up and left taking any medicine or even thinking about it. after all I had crossed 35 by then. On my first Umrah, I had made supplication for another child, but did not go to the gyneac.

The Almighty moves in mysterious ways. I am a little anxious about my age, mostly deliriously thankful to God, sometimes worried how difficult it is to bring up children with proper moral values in these deteriorating times. Well He has taken care of our little family till now, He will take care in future also. I leave everything to my Rabb.

Right now I cant stand the smell of rice cooking or oil heating. Sigh! Hopefully this stage will be over soon, and I will start cooking properly and posting again.

By the by those who are wondering whether the tips I had given for combating morning sickness in my previous post really work. They do. I am trying them all over again. For that constant bitter feeling in my mouth, I have taken the habit of chewing sounf seeds to freshen my mouth. it works for some time.  For the rest of the time, I just think that in another one or two months I will be feeling hungry again and eating well and be patient till then. The more stressed out you make yourself thinking of morning sickness the more it will attack you. Chill out and you will feel better.