Pallipalayam chicken is a kongunandu cuisine and it is specially prepared in Pallipalayam of Erode district, tamilnadu. It is very easy to cook with simple ingredients but tastes extremely good.

INGREDIENTS:

250gms cleaned chicken

1 cup pearl onion peeled (shallots)

7 to 8 garlic cloves

7 to 8 dried red chilly (or acc to your choice)

4 sprigs curry leaves

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon garam masala

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Grind shallots and garlic in a blender to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a pan and add dried chilly, ground paste and saute till the raw smell goes off.

Then add in chicken, turmeric powder, salt, garam masala.

Keep the flame low and cook the chicken for 20 to 30 min. Stir occasionally.

Switch off the flame when the chicken is fully roasted and dry.

Garnish and serve hot.

First time i tried this recipe from my cousin’s cook book. That was actually 3 years before. Now i slightly modified the recipe. This green fish fry is crispy, spicy and delicious. Coriander and mint gives more flavour and it just lifts you..

INGREDIENTS:

2 pomfret

Semolina to sprinkle (slightly roasted)

To Grind:

1 bunch fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)

6 to 7 pudina leaves (mint)

3 to 4 garlic cloves

¼ lemon sized ginger

5 to 6 green chillies

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons grated fresh coconut

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine all the ingredients given in “to grind” in to a processor and blend until smooth. Just sprinkle some water if needed. Don’t add too much water.

Apply this masala well to both the sides of fish. Freeze it for 20 min.

Pre heat the pan and add oil enough to fry.

Sprinkle semolina on one side of the fish and keep this side on the oil. Now sprinkle semolina on the side facing upwards.

Shallow fry from both sides until crisp and golden brown in color.

Garnish and Serve hot.

This is a simple but healthy baby corn pepper fry recipe which goes well with curd rice or any variety rice recipes. Its garlic flavour and spiciness just lifts you and makes this as a complex flavoured dish.

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 baby corn

1 onion

3 garlic flakes

1 teaspoon red chilly powder

1 teaspoon sambar powder

2 teaspoons black pepper powder

1 teaspoon tomato sauce

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Few curry leaves

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Clean and cut the baby corn into thin rounds and steam it for 2 min. Keep it aside.

Pre heat the pan and add 2 tablespoons of oil and add mustard seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves and saute till the seeds splutters.

Now add onion and garlic and saute till onion turns transparent. Then baby corn, tomato sauce, chilli powder, sambar powder, pepper powder goes in.

Mix and stir in medium flame for 3 min.

Switch of the flame and serve hot!!!

Puli kuzhambu is one of the delicious and lip smacking curry recipes made in tamilnadu. The smell of shallots, garlic and masalas just lifts you.. Traditionally brinjal and drumstick are added to this kuzhambu. But you can make with ladies finger or turkey berry or even with bitter gourd too.This kuzhambu tastes heavenly with curd rice.

INGREDIENTS:

2 to 3 brinjal (small)

2 drumsticks (murungaikkai)

4 + 6 pearl onion (shallots)

1 tomato

2 cups tamarind water

3 tablespoons coconut (scrapped)

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoons sambar powder

2 teaspoon red chilly powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tablespoons sesame oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Few curry leaves

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Chop the drumsticks and brinjal into desired sizes. Peel the shallots and finely chop the tomato.

Grind the 4 shallots, coconut, fennel seeds, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and sambar powder into fine paste by adding little water.

In a bowl, take the tamarind extract(taken from 1 medium gooseberry sized tamarind) and add above paste, brinjal, drumstick and salt. Mix well and keep aside.

In a pan add sesame oil. when it is heated, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. When mustard seeds splutters, add peeled shallots and chopped tomato and saute for a min.

Now add the veggie, masala, tamarind water mix to this and keep this pan covered till it comes to boil.

When it starts boiling. take out the lid and let it boil in a medium flame. When the oil oozes out from the edges, the gravy reaches the kuzhambu consistency.

Switch off the flame, garnish and serve !!!

Note:

Make this kuzhambu in morning and have it for lunch wih hot plain rice. It will be more tasty

 Barley is known to reduce blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol and helps in weight reduction. On the other hand, oats are very rich in fiber and helps digestion. Also you know idly is a protein rich south indian breakfast. So mixing all these together is surely a complete nutrition package and a good way to start your day in healthy way..

This idly is perfectly soft, brownish, spongy and bouncy to touch. The surface is smooth without stickiness and they feel light.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup barley

½ cup oats

½ cup idly rice

¾ cup urad dhal

½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Soaking:

Rinse all the ingredients for a couple of times and then soak rice, barley, fenugreek seeds and dhal in water for 3 hrs. Soak the oats just half an hour before grinding.

Serve hot with chutney/ sambar/ idly podi and enjoy !!!

Sweet potatoes stir fry is a simple and delicious way to savor your favorite spud. The most prominent nutrient in sweet potatoes is vitamin C. One medium-sized sweet potato contains 438% of your daily value of vitamin A (a white potato contains 1%), 37% of your vitamin C, and some calcium, potassium, and iron too. All this at just 105 calories! This sweet potato stir fry is a complex flavoured dish as we add more chilly to this sweet flavoured vegetable.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sweet potato ( Steamed & cut into pieces)

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoon urad dhal

1 onion

1 tablespoon crushed garlic

2 slit green chillies

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon red chilly powder.

A pinch of hing.

Few curry leaves

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Peel the sweet potato and cut into small pieces. Steam it for 5 min and keep it aside.

Heat the pan and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dhal, hing and curry leaves. Saute till dhal turns brown.

Add onion, green chilly and garlic saute till onion turns translucent. Now add in sweet potato, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, salt and mix well, close the lid and cook for 3 min.

Switch off the flame.

Garnish and Serve !!!

Red poha is extremely beneficial to diabetic patients, due to the slower release of carbohydrates. Its nutritional value is high compared to white rice flakes. It is an excellent food options loaded with iron, vit B and probiotic bacteria. It is made from brown rice and it is more beneficial as the bran is not removed.

Idly is one of the healthiest protein packed breakfast of south india.They are easily digestible as they are prepared with a fermented batter.  This is what makes idly suitable to all including babies to folks on diet and even to the aged, who generally have poor digestion. Making this super nutritious idly using aval, enriches the nutrition further more. This idly is perfectly soft, brownish, spongy and bouncy to touch. The surface is smooth without stickiness and they feel light.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup sigappu aval ( red poha )

1 cup idly rice

¾ cup urad dhal

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Soaking:

Rinse all the ingredients for a couple of times and then soak rice and dhal in water for 3 hrs. Soak the aval just half an hour before grinding.

Uppu paruppu is a very simple recipe and easy to make and also it is completely vegan. It is a famous kongunadu  recipe. People used this serve this uppu paruppu first with ghee and then sambar, rasam etc. This can be accompanied with plain rice or chappathi. This would taste heavenly with little ghee and rasam.

INGREDIENTS :

To pressure cook:

¼ cup toor dhal

¼ cup moong dhal

1 teaspoon oil

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

5-6 garlic cloves

1 tomato (medium sized)

1½ cups water

To temper:

2 tablespoons oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 dry red chilly

3 to 4 pearl onion (thinly sliced)

Few curry leaves

A pinch of hing

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash the dhal and pressure cook it along with the other ingredients listed under ‘to pressure cook’ for 3 to 4 whistles. Switch off the flame and wait till the pressure releases and mash them well.

Then heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and then dry chilly, onions, curry leaves and hing. Fry for a minute or till the onion turns golden brown.

Add this tempered items to mashed dhal and mix well. Add salt to taste and adjust the consistency by adding water, if needed.

Garnish and serve it with hot rice and rasam.

The quick cooking quality of Aval, makes it an attractive option for breakfast/snack/quick light meal. It is an excellent food options loaded with iron, vitamin B and probiotic bacteria. I think it is one of the world’s first fast food. Adding peanuts makes this even more rich in protein.

I have not added any vegetables to this. You can use some boiled vegetables like potatoes, green peas, carrots and capsicums.

INGREDIENTS :

1 cup Aval (poha)

1 onion sliced

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 dry red chilly

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon red chilly powder

1 tablespoon channa dhal

1 tablespoon urad dhal

1 teaspoon grated ginger

a pinch of hing

Few curry leaves

2 tablespoons roasted peanuts

Salt to taste

½ lemon (juice)

INSTRUCTIONS :

Wash aval in water for 2 -3 times. Keep it in a food strainer for 5 min to drain the excess water.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they begin to sputter, add channa dhal, urad dhal, hing, dry chilly and curry leaves. Saute it until the dhals become light brown.

Add chopped onion, grated ginger. Saute it till the onion becomes translucent. Then add in peanuts, turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt.

Add previously soaked aval and mix it gently. Cook for 2 min.

Transfer it to serving bowl and garnish it with coriander leaves. Add lemon juice and serve.

Serve hot and enjoy!!!

Note:

Adding lemon juice to the preparation helps in better absorption of iron, provided by the germ in the grain.

Here i have used thick poha ( getti aval in tamil ). This kind of poha doesn’t turn soggy or mashy after rinsing or soaking in water. Do not use thin poha ( paper aval ) for this recipe.

Crab is a tastiest sea food which is rich in protein and omega -3 fatty acids. Like any other chettinadu recipes, this crab masala is also a mouth watering, lip-smackingly yummy and complex flavoured dish. This nandu masala goes well with plain rice and rasam. This is one of my absolute favourite dishes and it may become your favourite recipe too.

Note:

Crab caught on no moon day (amavaasai) are said to be more fleshy and excellent in quality.

Crabs should be cooked immediately after cleaning. Since all the essence in the crab will ooze out as time goes by.

INGREDIENTS :

1 kg crab (cleaned)

2 onions (big size)

2 tomatoes

1 tablespoon ginger – garlic paste

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon red chilly powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

¾ tablespoons garam masala.

1 tablespoon black pepper powder

TO GRIND:

3 tablespoons grated coconut

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon whole black pepper

TO SEASON:

2 cinnamon pieces (small)

2 cloves

2 cardamom

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

Curry leaves few

INSTRUCTIONS :

Dry roast the whole black pepper and fennel seeds fro 2 min. Grind this along with coconut and make it to a fine paste. Keep this aside

Pre heat the kadai and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the seasoning items and then the onion paste goes in. Saute it until the onion releases the moisture. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute it till the raw smell goes off.

Then add the tomatoes, curry leaves, red chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder and saute till the raw smell goes off. Add the cleaned crab and mix well. Close the lid and cook it until the crab shells changes into orange colour.

Add the coconut paste and mix well. Close the lid and cook it for another 20 min. Stir occasionally. Add garam masala and black pepper powder , mix well and turn off the heat.

Delicious chettinadu crab masala is ready to be served. Serve hot with plain rice..