All about the rice!

My weekend cooking is usually based on special requests made by N, or something I am craving for (no pun intended) or simply something I decide flipping the cook books and cook it up! Almost every weekend, I get request for pongal sambhar and chutney. As much as I love the combo, I have to sometimes veto it, due to the effort! For today’s spread, N had put in a request beginning of the week itself – what he terms ‘katti-soru’, simply translated to types of rice.

I didn’t go overboard with the rice types, just stuck to basic ones, brewed up a jackfruit seed theeyal for the side and finished it off with of course curd-rice. I was surprised I hardly took an hour to finish it all up, kitchen cleaning included and was done way before lunch time. So we ended up having it hot for a early brunch. Leaving you all with a few clicks of the

raw mango rice, coconut rice and curd rice

. And the recipe of jackfruit seed theeyal.

Theeyal

Theeyal is primarily made in Kerala cuisine. Its popular combination is with the small red onions, called the ulli-theeyal. I made the theeyal today with jackfruit seeds for pieces in the gravy and this is how it came undone.

Ingredients

• small red onion (shallots) – 4 to 5. ( If you don’t have it, 1medium size onion finely chopped should do. If using only onion for the pieces, then have atleast 8 to 10 of the small ones. )
• Jackfruit seeds/chinese potato(koorka)/yam/small whole potatoes – half a cup ( any of these or a combination works ) You can also use bitter gourd, but that alters the taste a bit.
• Tamarind  – lemon sized ball, soaked

For the gravy

• Half a cup of grated coconut
• Chilly powder – 1 to 2 Tsp
• Coriander powder – 1 Tsp
• Garlic cloves – 2

Procedure

• Start by tossing the garlic cloves in a dribble of oil.
• As it starts to brown, add the coconut and let it fry on a low flame, tossing it gently until it attains a light brown color.
• Now add the chilly powder and Coriander powder and let i fry along with the golden brown coconut for about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Grind this mixture into a smooth paste without any water. Keep aside
• In a heavy bottom skillet, start with tempering in a tsp of oil. you may  add mustard seeds, curry leaves and a pinch of asfoetida.
• Fry the onions followed by the jackfruit seeds until they brown well. (Jack fruit seeds can be bought frozen in the Indian stores. They have a nutty flavor and are absolutely crunchy and roast-worthy )
• Now add the tamarind paste and sufficient water. Bring to a boil.
• Now plop the coconut-chilly powder paste to the gravy and let simmer. Add water as needed if the gravy is too thick.
• Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Tada done!

Well of course, no finish is like curd rice and N’s special request today was to make it creamy like kovil ones. It i very difficult to get the kovil taste, especially I recall the one from naganallur in chennai. But by far this thair-sadam turned out way better than I expected! The mango rice is a kanadiga recipe borrowed from a friend. And to the coconut rice I lavished some coconut milk as well (it is he weekend after all)! Both turned out swell.

The only minus point today was the amount of tadka/tempering i had to do for all the dishes, I was a coughing riot after the thair-sadam was done. Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday! Until next time with more kitchen stories!