More Kuzhambu, Vengaya Paruppu Usili, Jeeraga rasam

It's the famous Paruppu Usili/ More Kozhambu Combination!!

Vengaya Paruppu Usili

Ingredients
Red Onion (Vengayam)- 3/4 cup Chopped finely
Toor Dhall (Thuvaram paruppu) - 1.25 cup for making usili and paruppu urundai for "more kuzhambu"
Red Chili (kaintha cheppu milagai)- 7-8
Mustard seeds (kadugu)- 1 teaspoon
Split Urad Dhall (udacha ulutham paruppu)- 1 teaspoon
Salt (Uppu)- 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder (manjal podi)- 1/4 teaspoon
Vegetable/Canola Oil (Ennai)- 2 tbsp
Curry Leaves (Karuveppillai)- 3-4 leaves
Asoefoetida powder (perungaya podi) - 1/4 teaspoon
Vegetable/Canola Oil - 1 teaspoon

I took 1.25 cups of Toor dhall so that I can use it for making "Paruppu Usili" and the "Paruppu Urundais" (Toor dhall balls) for More Kuzhambu. If you plan to make only Usili , take about a cup of Toor dhall and lesser amount of Red Chilli.

Soak Toor Dhall and Red Chilies in water (fully submerged) for about 1-2 hours. Drain any water remaining. Now grind this coarsely in a mixie/blender. Add little water if necessary while grinding. The ground mixture should be kind of dry (not watery or paste like). To this, Sprinkle little turmeric powder and add little water (very lightly submerge the dhall) and pressure cook. Let this cool down a bit once it's cooked. Note: The cooked dhall should not be watery/paste like) . Take the dhall out and break out any clumps with your hands and generally move your hands through the cooked dhall and separate it out into small particles. From the cooked dhall, keep aside some quantity enough to make 5- 6 balls (Urundais) to be used for making More Kuzhambu.

Heat Oil in a pan, add Asofoetida, mustard seeds, urad dhall and let the mustard pop. Add the curry leaves, onion and little turmeric and saute the onion till it turns golden brown. Add the cooked dhall to the onions, and add salt and mix it in with the onions and let it cook for about 10 minutes.

"Paruppu usili" is now ready. I have also tried to do the same dish without cooking in the pressure cooker, it has the same taste but the texture is little harder( not as soft when you pressure cook it). You can also replace onions with other pre-cooked vegetables like beans, cluster beans (Kothavarangai), cabbage.

This goes well with Rice especially with More Kuzhambu.
Serving size: 2

Paruppu Urundai More Kuzhambu

Ingredients
Yogurt (thayir)- 3-4 cups
Buttermilk (mooru)- 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds (Jeeragam)- 2 teaspoons
Green Chili (Pachai Milagai)- 2-3
Red Chili (kaintha chaeppu milagai)- 2-3
Fresh Shredded Coconut (thengai thuruval) - 1/2 cup
Curry Leaves (Karuveppillai)- 5-6
Mustard seeds (kadugu)- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Toor Dhall - 1/2 cup
Channa Dhall - 3-4 teaspoons
Fenugreek seeds (Venthayam)- 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander seeds (dhaniya) - 1/2 teaspoon
Asoefoetida powder (Perungaya podi) - 1/4 teaspoon
Vegetable/Canola Oil - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder (Manjal podi) - 1/4 teaspoon
Cilantro (kothamalli) - 10 leaves

Soak Channa Dhall, green chilli lightly in water for about 20 minutes.
Grind the above soaked ingredients along with coconut, curry leaves, Fenugreek seeds,coriander seeds,5 leaves of cilantro, Cumin seeds with 1/2 cup of yogurt. This should form a medium thick paste. You can completely avoid coconuts, and it turns out to have the same taste.

Use 1/2 cup Toor Dhall/ 2-3 Red Chillis to prepare the "Paruppu Urundai" Mixture. Please refer to the section marked in green above on how to prepare the mixture.

Using the cooked dhall, make them into small sized ball (about 5-6) and press them tightly so that they don't come out. Mom's tip: It is important that you really press it hard, so that they don't split when they are added to the gravy(kozhambu). Heat oil in a vessel, add Asofoetida, add some mustard and let it pop, add some curry leaves, little turmeric powder,2-3 red chillis and place the Dhall rounds in the pan, add little salt and fry them. Once the "Paruppu Urundais" have turned medium brown on the outside, remove them and keep aside on a plate. Leave the mustard/red chillis, oil in the vessel.

If you get store bought yogurt, you could mix a little quantity of store bought buttermilk, to give it the slight sour taste and to get the right consistency. Pour the yogurt and buttermilk into the sauce pan, Add turmeric, and add the ground paste, stir it and let it boil in low heat. NOTE: Do not overheat, as it will curdle the yogurt. When little bubbles start to show up, slowly add the "Paruppu Urundais" and let it boil for few more minutes.

Garnish with the remaining Cilantro leaves and serve.

You can substitute the "paruppu urundais" with other vegetables like: Fried Okra, boiled white pumpkin (poosanikkai), cooked carrots, chayote squash (chow chow).

Serving size: 4

Jeeraga Rasam

Ingredients

Tamarind (Puli) - 2-3 50 cent (paise) size pieces
Sambhar Powder - 1.5 teaspoons
Turmeric powder (manjal podi) - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry Leaves (karuveppillai) - 5-6 big leaves
Toor Dhall (Thuvaram paruppu)- 2-3 teaspoons
Cumin Seeds (Jeeragam)- 2 teaspoons
Red Chillis (kaintha chaeppu milagai) - 3-4
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (add to taste)
Tomato (thakkali)- 1 cut into medium size pieces
Butter/Ghee (nei)- 2 teaspoon melted butter
Cilantro (Kothamalli) - 10 fresh leaves

Boil Tamarind in two cups of water in a saucepan. Let it cool down and squeeze the tamarind to get all the juices. Remove the remains of the tamarind.

Soak Toor Dhall and Red chillis lightly in water for 20-30 minutes.
Grind the above with curry leaves, Cumin seeds to form a medium think paste.

Heat the saucepan with the tamarind juice, this time add Sambhar powder, turmeric, cut tomato, salt, 1 more cup of water and let it boil till the raw smell of Sambhar powder is gone. When it starts boiling, add the ground paste and turn down heat to medium low/medium. Keep on the stove for 5-7 minutes. Jeeraga Rasam is now ready for garnishing.

In a small pan, heat Butter/Ghee, add Asofoetida, mustard seeds and let the mustard pop. Add this to the Rasam and garnish with fresh Cilantro.

There are so many different varieties of Rasam that can be made with different combination of ingredients like Pepper, Cumin, Toor Dhall, Coriander Seeds, Coconut, Lime etc, with the base being the tamarind juice in most cases. My Favourites are Paruppu Rasam , Jeeraga Rasam and Mysore Rasam.

Rasam goes well with Rice and vegetables, or vadams/ appalams/pappads (like chips) .

Serving Size: 4

Enjoy the meal!