Friday, August 26, 2005
Blended fruit pulp - "Chaaramridam"!
This combo I tried almost tastes like "Panchamridham"...
Ripe mango pulp, Blue berries, Blackberries and grapes all put in a blender (try different ratios to come up with more sweet or sour taste to your preference) and blend to right consistency...chill and serve
no need to add sugar.
...may be with banana also added it will taste more like 'panchamridham'...ideal to have before going for brisk walk and return home hungry with enough vitamins already added to the system!
Ripe mango pulp, Blue berries, Blackberries and grapes all put in a blender (try different ratios to come up with more sweet or sour taste to your preference) and blend to right consistency...chill and serve
no need to add sugar.
...may be with banana also added it will taste more like 'panchamridham'...ideal to have before going for brisk walk and return home hungry with enough vitamins already added to the system!
# posted by SwamiNathan @ 9:43 AM 
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Vegetable curry cooking - made easy and fresh
Cooking different varieties of Indian curries on daily basis can be time consuming. To make them in bulk, store the leftover in the refrigerataor and reheating as needed is one option which married career couples follow but there are two problems with this approach:
1. Best flavor of freshly cooked vegetables are lost and even to some degree made worse by refrigerating and reheating
2. Some of the vitamins which get partly destroyed in the original heating get even more lost in the storing and reheating process.
Two ways to avoid this and have frehly cooked in small quantities and served hot vegetable dishes are:
1. Use ready made and sold mixes such as "MTR instant sambar mix" etc. (problem : some of them may contain unhealthy levels of partially hydrogenated oils and other preservatives)
2. Prepare partially cooked leftovers in the frig and cook small quantities of different vegetable mixes daily just before meal time and add part of the precooked curry mix.
For example,
"Sambar premix" - Boil tamarind water salt and sambar powder and after the smell of tamarind and sambar powder evaporates , add cooked Toor dhall. Keep lleftover of this sambar premix in the frig. (You can also make poricha koottu mix this way but it is better to add shredded cocunuts to the vegetables when cooked and served hot on daily basis for better flavor (the 'North arcot' style)
On daily basis, start (not more than half hour before meal time) with the 'thalichu kottal' process (fry some kadugu with pinch of perungayam, Vendayam, red chillies and karuveppilai as needed...spices which give the cooked food good flavor when cooked fresh) and add water with vegetables. Since the veggies are in small quatities, you can stay near the stove and make sure that they are not overcooked (and this lose flavor and crunchiness) and add the sambar premix stored in the frig.
If the rice is hot there is no need to reheat the fresh cooked sambar and with some experience you can avoid having leftovers of this cooked vegetables mixed sambar or 'koottu'
...Enjoy your meal!
1. Best flavor of freshly cooked vegetables are lost and even to some degree made worse by refrigerating and reheating
2. Some of the vitamins which get partly destroyed in the original heating get even more lost in the storing and reheating process.
Two ways to avoid this and have frehly cooked in small quantities and served hot vegetable dishes are:
1. Use ready made and sold mixes such as "MTR instant sambar mix" etc. (problem : some of them may contain unhealthy levels of partially hydrogenated oils and other preservatives)
2. Prepare partially cooked leftovers in the frig and cook small quantities of different vegetable mixes daily just before meal time and add part of the precooked curry mix.
For example,
"Sambar premix" - Boil tamarind water salt and sambar powder and after the smell of tamarind and sambar powder evaporates , add cooked Toor dhall. Keep lleftover of this sambar premix in the frig. (You can also make poricha koottu mix this way but it is better to add shredded cocunuts to the vegetables when cooked and served hot on daily basis for better flavor (the 'North arcot' style)
On daily basis, start (not more than half hour before meal time) with the 'thalichu kottal' process (fry some kadugu with pinch of perungayam, Vendayam, red chillies and karuveppilai as needed...spices which give the cooked food good flavor when cooked fresh) and add water with vegetables. Since the veggies are in small quatities, you can stay near the stove and make sure that they are not overcooked (and this lose flavor and crunchiness) and add the sambar premix stored in the frig.
If the rice is hot there is no need to reheat the fresh cooked sambar and with some experience you can avoid having leftovers of this cooked vegetables mixed sambar or 'koottu'
...Enjoy your meal!
# posted by SwamiNathan @ 6:58 AM
