Friday, July 20, 2007

MBP-Preserves

Pickles, chutney podi's.. masalas!!!! Somebody stop me!!!
I swear, I had never taken any interest in anything that required preserving food... oh yes!! I participated WHOLE-HEARTED-LY in eating , but never a help where the process was concerned. My very first attempt at making any preserves was this and then, I made THIS both which proved that I could manage it! And now.. since it is also the theme for MBP.. I jumped to the chance of making.. not one, but 3 different things!
Where as I have provided links for the original recipes, so you can check out the recipes I have tried, and other awesome recipes as well , I am also copy-pasting the recipe for a quick reference
For inspiration .. my first stop was Sailu's for this awesome Podi!!! I was thrilled that it came out so well!! and the best part is, my 'coconut hating Hubby' liked it a LOT!!! Now, that!!, is saying something! we ate this Podi with Idli, then with Appey, and finally with plain rice and surprisingly (because I was not too sure if this can be substituted for a rice-podi mix!) , the podi went very well with rice too! A 100 % hit and a keeper!!!

Endu Kobbari Podi

Ingredients:
1 tsp oil/ghee for roasting the dals and coconut
1/2 cup black gram dal (minappapu)
1/2 cup bengal gram dal (senaga pappu)
8-10 dried red chillies, tear into two and de-seed (adjust to suit your spice level)
Half a coconut, dried, grated or finely sliced
8-10 garlic cloves
Salt to taste

1 Grate the dried coconut or slice it into thin pieces as shown in the picture.
2 Heat a tsp of oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and roast the dals and dry red chillis in a pan on low heat till light brown and the dals release their flavor. Remove and cool.
3 In the same vessel add the grated or sliced coconut pieces and roast on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Dont add any more oil to roast the coconut pieces.
4 Once the dals, red chillis and coconut pieces are cool, place them along with garlic cloves and salt in a blender and grind to make a powder of a crumbly consistency.
5 Store in an air tight container.
6 Serve with South Indian tiffins like dosas and idlis with a generous helping of ghee or oil.

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Hmmm... I was in 2 minds of showcasing this... reason? well, Everyone seems to have made it!!! So no prizes for guessing that this recipe was taken from Manisha's : Indian Food Rocks !!!! Another reason is that it is still not ready. It should have been... especially in the HOT California sunshine...except that M, was worried that the bottle, kept on the ledge (SAFE ledge) might topple off, or worse still, some raven might want to peck at it... and so, he carefully kept the bottle 'safe, inside the apartment'!!!! I will give it another week of sunshine before I can go ahead and devour it.

No Oil Lime Pickle

Wash and dry 6 lemons thoroughly. (12 lemons if you are in India as they are much smaller than the lemons in the US.) There should be no water on the lemons or in your jar. This is very important.

Slice off the stalk. Cut the lemon into quarters and then cut each quarter into a half along the length. Then cut each resulting piece into quarters or thirds.

Fill the glass jar as you go along. Your jar will soon look like it will overflow. Don't worry. Everything will settle down and there will be tons of space in the jar.

Add 1/2 cup salt. Add 1/4 cup chilli powder. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Add 3 tsp of turmeric powder and shake the jar about to help the powders get to as many lemons as possible.

Next you need 1 tsp methi seeds. And 1 tsp black mustard seeds And 1/4 tsp asafoetida or hing powder. Roast these three ingredients on medium flame for about 4-5 minutes till there is a mouth-watering aroma in your kitchen and the methi seeds look a little tanned. They should not look sun-burnt, just nicely tanned.

Grind these in your coffee grinder. What? You think your coffee will smell of methi and hing from here onwards? Tch! Tch! You mean you actually grind coffee beans in your coffee grinder? Never do that. Repeat after me: Coffee grinders are for grinding spices! Well done! Now add this powdered mix to the jar. The lemons should have started oozing juice already.

Add the juice of 1 lemon. If necessary, use a dry palette knife or a dry table knife to stir the contents of the jar. See how the lemons have become limp and there is so much space in the jar?

The jar must be placed in the sun to cook slowly in its warmth.
Give it a good shake as you put it out and bring it in each day. Your pickle should be ready in about 2 months when the peel has softened and is no longer crisp.

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And my final stop was at Indira's , where I got this Sambar Powder Recipe. The reason I made this was ..M... who is a South Indian Food Addict! He can live on Sambar -Rice! And for some reason, we both were getting a bit tired of MTR Sambar Masala. Apart from the fact that I now have a coffee Spice Grinder which I use at every given opportunity!

Sambar Powder

Sambhar powder Preparation: 1 teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, fenugreek seeds, chana dal, urad dal and dry coconut- all roasted and powdered.

Can u believe how simple it is!!!! My variation to this was adding ~4 dry red chillies.

Thank U Coffee ... as usual , wonderful theme!! looking forward to the next one!!!

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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a good collection of preserving items.

Tee said...

Hey,
Good job! I absolutely love home made sambar powder.

Sharmi said...

I have to try the lime pickle. loved it in manisha's blog!! great entries.

Viji said...

Lovely entries Manasi. Viji

Raghu Ram Prasad said...

the lime pickle...wooow mouth watering....really good dishes

Nupur said...

I have tried the first two recipes and loved them. Will definitely try making the sambar powder too!

FH said...

You beat by one more than my entry girl!:))
Great collection.Enjoy.Pickle look yum!

Coffee said...

HUGS to you my dear!!! Great job there.... really awesome! That podi looks amazing.. must give it a try!
Thanks for the lovely entries. :)

Vani said...

Well done! thanks for all these recipes....

SeeC said...

Thanks for Stopping by Manasi.
Great post. I appreciate your interest and a lovely collection. Pickle is one of our favourite.
Thanks for the post.

ServesYouRight said...

Wow!! Total enthu - very nice selection!

Smita

Kajal said...

You know I love the home made masala because its fresh small always catch me. Different entry form pickle and jam.

Sia said...

i just made manisha's lime pickle yest... hope to see some sunshine in this aweful summer we have here. that pickle is surely pricking my eyes manasi:)

Manasi said...

hi Hima, Thanx dear!!

Hi Tee, Thanx, I love making masala powders @ home now!!

Hi Sharmi, I had it on my mind for a while now.. thanx to coffee, I made it!

Hi Viji, Thanx dear!!

Hi RR Prasad, aha! u like pickles too!!

Hi Nupur , Saw it on ur blog, now I'll try the other 2 as well!

Hi Asha, Lady, u r a super woman!

Hi Coffee, it's thanx to u dear, that I made these!!!

Manasi said...

Hi Vani, Thank U!!

Hi Seec, Thank u !!& u hv a gr8 blog too!

Hi Smita, hehehehe! total enthu!!!

Hi Kajal, Thanx dear!! I too love the fresh aroma of masalas!

Hi Supriya, U made Manisha's pickle too!!! hope there is a goodish bit of sunshine.. it s agony having to wait!

Meena Shankar said...

Pudis and pickles always rock!!
It is heavenly to have a simple pudi with hot steaming rice and a dollop of ghee(not bothering about the waistline;))
And lime pickle with curd rice!? mmm...aaahhh!! I can't stop licking my fingers.ssshhhiii!!!! Well!!Thanks for those recipes..I totally enjoyed imagining having them like this..Now got to really make it a reality.

Shah cooks said...

the lime pickle without oil is so welcoming! will try the sambar powder and then i can stop buying it.

sunita said...

Absolutely loved the lime pickle...yummmm

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