Kitchen and Home Making

Homemade sambar powder always have a nice aroma and fresh flavor infused in it, when compared to store bought ones. I never use store bought sambhar powder for preparing sambar in my home, since am not compromised with the taste. I always and always love homemade ones. The ingredients included in sambar powder may vary from home to home and everyone of them has  different taste. My mom use to make sambar powder in her own way and we all love the Sambhar made out of it. Am also following the same recipe of my mom and always prepare in large quantity and store it in air tight containers. This sambhar powder, if prepared and stored as mentioned here, shelf life will be about 6 months with its fresh aroma.

Curd Rice, can be done fatafat and a good lunch box recipe for upcoming summer. Curd rice and simply mango pickle sounds yummy and mouthwatering combo whenever we see it. Yet summer has not started but scorching heat outside the home here in Chennai is threatening us now itself. Curd, buttermilk and fruits like watermelon is must to take to prevent us from this heat. My lovely kiddo Amii loves this curd rice, especially the seasoned curd rice. Since curd rice will be cooked until it is mushy, kids love and prefer it to take for their lunch box, so that they can finish it off soon .  It digests easily too. Seasoning ingredients for this curd rice recipe varies from home to home and restaurant to restaurants.

Lemon rice is my family’s all time favorite recipe. Whenever I ask my son Amii, what variety rice you need for your lunch, he without any hesitation says, “Lemon Rice”. Even for breakfast too, he eat the same and ask for some more too . Lemon rice with sambhar is such a nice combination, as am concerned and will be a perfect lunch combo. Lemon rice stays good for a whole day too and so people prefer it take for their one day travel.  It is prepared during festivals as Neivdhyams for God. Usually, during pongal time, I use to prepare Sakkarai pongal (Jaggery Rice), Jeera Rice, Lemon Rice and Curd Rice.  Lemon Rice recipe is here and Sambhar Recipe is UPCOMING SOON!

Poondu Kuzhambu, I use to prepare, is different from other kulambus / gravies. It is little thick in consistency, with the oil floating on top and with added tanginess and really it tastes yummy . Garlic has lot of medicinal properties and so adding it in our daily food is good for our health. Ingredients: Garlic Pods one handful Kuzhambu Podi 6 tsp Tamarind one big marble size / one small lemon size Salt to taste Cooking Oil 1/4 cup

Tomato rice is one of my favorite variety rice recipes. I use to prepare it in different ways sometimes as an one pot meal in pressure cooker , when am in hurry and sometimes, I  cook rice and masala separately and mix them both as we usually do for other types of variety rice (which I have mentioned here in this recipe). But the pressure cooker method is the one I love most. My kiddo Amii loves tomato rice more and even has named it as “ Tomato Biryani”, because of the flavor of spices infused in it.

Cauliflower kuzhambu is really a very good combination with rice and chapathi and it tastes heavenly. Whenever, I buy cauliflower, I reserve half of the cauliflower to prepare  Kuzhambu . Cauliflower florets soaked in this kulambu gravy will be tangy and very tasty. I finish most of the florets in the gravy . Tastes simply superb and the fact is, it is a super easy recipe!  Rice, Cauliflower kuzhambu and simply a papad will make a good lunch combo.

Kuzhambu Podi is a ready mix powder use to prepare all types of kulambu varieties / South Indian gravies and we can prepare even North Indian gravies too with this powder since it has all basic ingredients like coriander, red chilly, urad dhal, and fenugreek.  Kulambu podi is prepared in different methods but we (sourashtra people) use to prepare this in such a way to suit our taste and needs. We use to  prepare it in large quantity and store for more than 6 months or a year. It stays good for a long time since we fry all the ingredients and dry it in sunshade well, which increases the life shelf of the powder. The aroma of the powder stays good when it is stored in an air tight container.

Everyone loves all kind of legumes and particularly when it comes in the form of  sundal varieties ! They are rich in protein and fiber and so good for our health too. It can prepared for evening time snacks and can be packed for children’s snacks box also, instead of giving them usual biscuits and chips. Sundal is very easy to prepare and we usually cook it for Nivedhanams i.e., to provide for God.

Puliyodharai, alias Ambat Bhath , how we call it in my mother tongue, is my favorite rice . My SH, though, he likes it, he takes only a lil amount, since the recipe has more salt in it. My son is similar to me and he is an ardent fan of “Imali Bhuva”, how he call it. Preparing the tamarind paste (pulikaychal) for this recipe is little tricky and somewhat a time consuming process for me. I learnt the recipe from my mom and the measurement she uses for it will be exact and turns out too good in taste. Though I haven’t reached her height, am trying to do it.