Samai & Kambu Idly / Millet Recipes

The healthy way to start a day is by having a healthy breakfast with a fresh juice or fruit. Idly is a perfect breakfast to start a day and also it has been proven that, it is a very healthy food because of fermentation and steaming process. Here, I have replaced rice with millets to make it more healthy. This goes perfect with Sambhar, chutneys or Idly milagai podi. The same batter can be used for dosa and kuzhipaniyaram.

Samai - Little Millet / Kutki / Sama / Chama
Kambu - Pearl Millet / Bajra / Gantilu / Sajje

Ingredients :

1 Cup Samai / Little Millet
1 Cup Kambu / Pearl Millet
1/2 Cup Urad dal
1 Tsp Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam / Methi
Salt to taste

Method :

Wash Samai and Kambu together and keep aside.

Wash Urad dal and methi seeds together and keep aside.

Soak both millets and urad dal separate by adding water for 3-4 hours.

First, grind the soaked urad dal using ice water till it turns fluffy, remove and keep aside.

Now, grind the soaked millets till it turns smooth batter.

Add millets batter to urad dal batter and mix well by adding salt.

Keep aside and let it ferment overnight.

Once it gets fermented , mix well and prepare idlis in Idli mould.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with Sambhar, chutney or Idly milagai podi.

Crab Pepper Fry

Being and having couple of seafood lovers at home is a challenging thing to control the urge of buying crab during our market visit on Sundays. Crab also reminds me of my mom, as it is her most favorite one and always I make sure to prepare some recipe with crab whenever she comes down to see us. I am also happy and proud to say that this is my mom's recipe... Simple and easy to prepare yet flavorful and delicious fry. Instead of pepper powder, freshly dry roasted and ground pepper can also be used which enhances the flavor. This goes perfect with rasam rice and personally, I love to have this masala with plain rice.

Ingredients :

1/2 Kg Crab, cleaned and washed
1 Cup Onions, finely chopped
1/2 Cup Tomatoes, finely chopped
1 Tsp Chilli powder
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
2 Tsp Coriander powder
1/2 - 1 Cup of  Water
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp Pepper powder
1 Tbsp Oil
Handful of Curry leaves

Method :

Heat oil in a kadai / pan and add onions followed by tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt.

Mix well and add the washed crabs.

Add water, close the lid and cook it till the color of crab turns pink.

Now add pepper powder and mix well.

Cook for more 5 mins or till the gravy turns little dry.

Garnish with curry leaves and switch off the flame.

Serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve with hot rice.

Betel Leaves Kuzhambu / Vetrilai Kuzhambu

Betel leaves / Vetrilai Kuzhambu is a tangy kuzhambu in which betel leaves are used to make it more healthy. Apart from these leaves, I have added pepper and Jeera powder too, which is good for digestion. When fresh pepper corns and jeera are used, just dry roast and grind it along with the onions. This is an excellent home remedy kuzhambu for cold and digestion. This is also an easy way to include betel in our kids meal to get rid of cold. This kuzhambu goes perfect with hot rice and stove roasted papad ( sutta appalam ) and parupu thogayal.

Ingredients :

8 - 10 Betel leaves, chopped into small strips 
2 Onions, medium sized, chopped
10 Garlic pods, peeled 
1 Tsp Chilli powder
1 Tsp Pepper powder
1 Tsp Coriander powder 
1 Tsp Jeera powder 
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder 
Salt to taste
Lemon sized Tamarind ( soak for 10 mints and extract juice from it )
2 Tbsp Gingelly oil ( 1 Tbsp for frying and 1 Tbsp for kuzhambu )
1 Tbsp Vadagam 
2 Springs of curry leaves

Method :

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and add chopped onions followed by garlic pods.

Fry it for a minute and remove from the flame.

Now add chilli powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, pepper powder and turmeric powder to the fried onions and garlic.

Grind into fine paste by adding little water and keep aside.

Now heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and add vadagam followed by curry leaves.

Add the ground paste and saute it for couple of minutes or till the oil separates from the masala.

Now add tamarind extract, required amount of water and salt.

Mix well and let it boil for 10 minutes in a medium flame.

Add vetrilai /  betel leaves strips and cook it for 5 mints.

Remove from the flame and serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve with hot rice.

Notes :

Vadagam is nothing but Indian seasoning which contains onion, mustard, jeera, urad dal etc, so this can substituted with Mustard seeds, methi seeds and Jeera seeds.

Vengayam Rasam / Onion Rasam

Vengayam Rasam is a South Indian soup which is prepared using shallots. Though this recipe sounds simple, it is very special for me as it's my granny's recipe. Normal onions can also be used in this recipe but adding shallots enhances the flavor of rasam. No grinding and spice powders required for this rasam. Easy to prepare yet flavorful and this goes well with hot rice along with kootu,poriyal and spicy curries.

Ingredients :

1 Tbsp Oil
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
1/4 Tsp Methi seeds / Vendhayam
1 Tbsp Chana dal / Kadalai parupu
A pinch of Hing / Perungayam
4 Dry red chillies, cut into half
1/4 Tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 Cup Small onions, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Lemon sized Tamarind, soak in water
Handful of Curry leaves
Handful of Coriander leaves

Method :

Extract juice from the soaked tamarind and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds followed by methi seeds, chana dal, hing and dry red chillies.

Fry and add finely chopped onions and Turmeric powder.

Saute well and add curry leaves followed by coriander leaves and tamarind extract.

Add 1/2 cup water, salt and let it boil.

Switch off the flame immediately after the first boil. ( Do not boil it for long time)

Remove and serve hot.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with rice along with kootu, poriyal/ stir fries and spicy curries like potato fry, vazhakai fry etc..