Nenthrangai Chips (Plantain chips)

Feb 14th 2011

Disclaimer: Fried foods may not be good for your waistline but so heavenly for your taste buds. Lays' commercial tagline "No one can stop at one" should not be followed here. Consumer discretion is advised.

Hailing from Palakkad is not a prerequisite for you to love these chips. Just trying one is enough :)

The Plantain is a fruit that be used in so many ways. In its raw form it can be used to make chips. When it is ripe, it can be dipped in dough and fried to make bajjis, boiled and eaten as such, or used in curries/soups.

I learnt this recipe from my mother in law and I have to say this produces some of the best chips I have ever tasted. If you are lucky to be in Chennai and you are craving these, here are some places you can buy them at too. I rank Hot Chips #2 as mine would be #1 :D

Difficulty level : Medium - Hard

Time: 45 min - 1 hr

Ingredients:

• Raw plantain (green in color) - 3-4 nos
• Salt
• Water
• Oil to fry

Method de Preparation:

1. Take oil in a frying pan (to deep fry) and turn on heat.
2. Wear gloves, take each plantain and draw vertical lines on it with a knife, meaning slicing through the skin, not into the flesh.
3. Once you chop off the corners, peel the skin using the serrations you have made. Using gloves allows your fingers to not get blackened or itchy.
4. Soak peeled plantain in water, keep immersed.
5. Take 1/3 cup of water and dissolve 2-3 tbsp of salt in it. Keep aside.
6. Once the oil is hot enough, take one banana out, wipe dry using a towel. Take a grater/slicer and slice round pieces directly into the hot oil.
7. Once you have sliced enough, add 2-3 spoons of the water+salt combo into the oil. I promise it will sputter and hiss but that is it, nothing else will happen!
8. When fried well enough (the oil will stop bubbling and become silent - no hissing) immediately take the chips out and if you wait any longer your chips will be burnt!
9. Take the first batch out, taste for salt (that is what the salt/water mix is for). If you need more, add in the next batch and keep repeating.
10. Drain oil in a towel and store in an airtight container. Does not spoil for a month or more but most likely will be consumed within a day or two :)

Tips:

1. Don't add the salt separately in the end, it will not meld with the chips and will taste separate.
2. Keep the heat in the oil constant, sometimes you might need to wait in between batches allowing it to reheat so the temperature is the same throughout.
3. Start with just 1-2 plantains if you want to try it out, but since this is a bit cumbersome I suggest making more and storing next time around.

Beans Koshambari (Bean Lentil Salad)

Feb 7th 2011

Don't you just love love the Wikipedia...where you can get a quick understanding for almost everything? I even used it as a reference in one of my journal publications and that did not go too well with my professor. Well, maybe I went a bit too far. But seriously you just have to google anything and the Wiki has a quick intro which is almost 99% accurate.

Getting to the topic of this post, the Koshambari is a salad from Karnataka that I don't need to give a recipe for because the Wiki has that too, sigh :) 

I like it because it is easy to make, very high in protein and wonderful for kids to munch on too! 

Difficulty level : Easy 

Time:  1 hr (Prep time), 10 min (Making time)

Ingredients

• 2 cups beans (chopped finely) 
• 1 cup moong dal (soaked for 1/2 hr and then drained and kept aside for 1/2 hr)
• salt to taste

To Temper

• 1 tbsp urad dhal
• 1 tbsp coconut (optional)
• 3-4 green chillies
• 1 tbsp mustard

Method de Preparation

1. Chop beans very finely and keep aside.
2. Soak moong dhal for 1/2 hr and then drain the water out. Keep aside for about 1/2 hr till it is soft and can be eaten as is.
3. Take oil in a pan, put the ingredients to temper, add the beans and saute for a couple of min and then mix with the moong dhal.
4. Add salt to taste and it is done done done :)

Options: You can replace beans with carrot, cucumber etc. And u can use red chillies instead of green chillies too, and totally skip the coconut if you like.

7 cup cake with a twist

Jan 27th 2010

Disclaimer: I have never made the 7 cup cake :)

I am really not sure if this 7 cup cake is easy or hard but pretty much every south indian I have talked to seems to make or know about this sweet. And the lore associated with it is that even one who cannot make good sweets can make a good 7 cup cake ?!

When you make any cake like sweet, you need to get the right *padham* or consistency. For example for mysore pakku you need to know exactly when to take the paste out and pour it into the pan so that it will harden into a cake. If you take it too early, it will remain mysore halwa, if you take it too late..it will be like a brick. But if you take it out at the exact time, oh you will have heaven in each bite :D

But when you make a badam cake or in this case a cashew-badam cake, this mixture is a bit more forgiving and you have a little bit leeway in when you can take it out of the pan. Worst comes cashew badam halwa is yum too!

Difficulty level : Easy - Medium

Time: 10 min ( Prep Time),  30 min ( Cooking Time)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ground powder of badam and cashews ( no need to peel almonds(badam))
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 cup besan flour (kadalai maavu)

Method de Preparation:

1. Grind unpeeled almonds and cashews (equal or unequal quantity does not matter). Measure 1 cup and keep aside. Grease slightly hollow pan or baking tray with ghee and keep aside.
2. Roast besan flour in ghee.
3. Dissolve milk and sugar in a pan with heat on.
4. Mix 2 and 3 and with the ground powder without forming lumps.
5. Keep stirring till it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and forms a halwa like consistency. The ideal way to know when it is done is that the liquid will start thickening and you cannot stir that easily, you will need more effort to stir everytime. Additionally you will see the whole sweet come without sticking to the base of the pan and start to bubble slightly. 
6. Take out and pour onto a greased pan. Allow to slightly solidify and cut into cubes or cuboids. If you cut into circles then I want to see that!

Source:  Through Amms from a maami in PHX

Observations: 

1. You get a good # of cakes for the measure you add. For example if you use a rice cup for the 1 cup measurement, you get at least 20-30 such cakes.
2. With the ingredients you put in - cashew/badam, milk,ghee, sugar..this cannot taste bad, period. So start with that confidence.
3. The traditional 7 cup cake has 1 cup coconut which is replaced by this cashew/almond ground paste here.