Women's day is celebrated across the world on March 8th. This year I wanted to actually remember a strong woman by raising a toast to my kitchen guru - my maternal grandmother or Patti as I call her. I think I am very lucky as I got to learn a lot of traditional recipes from her when I started cooking as a new bride. We had just set up home in Bangalore and Patti used to visit us often and teach me the basics of traditional tam-bhram cooking and to make bhakshanams for the various functions. She is quite the perfectionist. The urad dal had to be just browned perfectly for the tadka and a lemon size ball of butter was just so - no more no less.
Some of the favorite dishes that Patti taught me are Mohanthal, Umpa Kozhakattai with Puli-inji. When my mother was growing up in the 50s and 60s, there was not much access to recipes outside magazines, Still Patti used to experiment and had a very open mind to taste new dishes and experiment with new ideas. Did I mention that she spent many years in a small town called Mithapur in Gujarat after her marriage, she not only taught herself to speak Gujarati but also picked up a lot of Gujarati cooking. This place was an industrial township that housed the factories of Tata Chemicals. So the whole place had a nice mix of people from various states and this allowed her to learn about various cooking styles and incorporate it in her daily cooking. She still has a very open mind and is always eager to learn even from people quarter her age and a large heart that praises the young cooks too.
So cutting short my rambling let me get on with Patti's upma kozhakattai. The recipe you will notice is slightly different from others as it contains a paste of dals that is cooked along with the rice. This gives the rice some binding and also lends a nice depth and flavor profile to the dish.
Ingredients
Raw rice - 3 cups
For the paste
2 tsp urad dal
2 tsp toor dal
Curry leaves
2-3 Green chilli (adjust as per your taste)
a small piece of asafetida chunk (powder doesn't smell half as nice as the chunky version)
water
For the tadka
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Chana Dal
2-3 tsp refined oil
2-3 dried red chilies
2 sprigs of Curry leaves
Grated coconut - 1/4-1/2 cup (to taste and as per your preference, coconut absorbs any extra water so there is no need to add loads of it to the rice paste)
Salt to taste
Method
Pre preparation
A. 3 cups of raw rice (I use a variety called Dosa rice that is available easily in Bangalore)
(wash the rice and then leave it on a fine colander to drain. Once water is drained, spread it out on a kitchen towel till all moisture is dried out completely). Coarsely powder this rice in a mixer and using a fine mesh sieve, discard the rice powder from the rice mixture. The texture of the rice is a little coarser than the idly rawa rice. Some folks use idly rawa rice instead, I don't...
Measure the coarsely powdered rice and keep aside.
B. Soak ahead about 2 tsp each of urad and toor dal for 15-30 minutes
Grind the dals to a paste with green chillies, whole hing and about 10-15 curry leaves in a chutney jar.
Actual preparation
1. Take 2.25 cups of water for every one cup of the coarsely powdered rice. So as we have about 3 cups of rice, set aside about 3/4 cup of water from the total quantity of water.
2. Use 3/4 cup water to dilute the dal paste in the mixie
3. Take a large thick bottom kadai and its lid.
4. Pour oil into it and add mustard seeds, Chana dal, red chilli, & curry leaves and wait till it splutters.
5. Pour the measured water into the kadai and wait till it comes to a rolling boil
6. Add the salt required and the powdered rice, mix well.
7. Add the diluted dal paste and cook the mixture till it starts getting solid and leaves the sides of the pan. Add the grated coconut to this mixture. Keep stirring continuously till a homogeneous mass starts forming and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan. The water should have all been absorbed by now - the mixture should not be too sticky nor too dry.
8. Cook for 5 minutes more and switch off the gas
9. Cover with a lid and let it cool down (15-30 minutes)
10. Take a deep pan (such as an idly steamer) and fill it with enough water and place it so that the water is heated. Grease a steamer plate with oil and make elongated balls with the mixture and steam them for about 10-15 minutes till its cooked.
11. Serve it with coconut chutney or Puli- Inji (a spicy concoction made with sliced ginger, green chilies, tamarind water).
Some of the favorite dishes that Patti taught me are Mohanthal, Umpa Kozhakattai with Puli-inji. When my mother was growing up in the 50s and 60s, there was not much access to recipes outside magazines, Still Patti used to experiment and had a very open mind to taste new dishes and experiment with new ideas. Did I mention that she spent many years in a small town called Mithapur in Gujarat after her marriage, she not only taught herself to speak Gujarati but also picked up a lot of Gujarati cooking. This place was an industrial township that housed the factories of Tata Chemicals. So the whole place had a nice mix of people from various states and this allowed her to learn about various cooking styles and incorporate it in her daily cooking. She still has a very open mind and is always eager to learn even from people quarter her age and a large heart that praises the young cooks too.
So cutting short my rambling let me get on with Patti's upma kozhakattai. The recipe you will notice is slightly different from others as it contains a paste of dals that is cooked along with the rice. This gives the rice some binding and also lends a nice depth and flavor profile to the dish.
Ingredients
Raw rice - 3 cups
For the paste
2 tsp urad dal
2 tsp toor dal
Curry leaves
2-3 Green chilli (adjust as per your taste)
a small piece of asafetida chunk (powder doesn't smell half as nice as the chunky version)
water
For the tadka
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Chana Dal
2-3 tsp refined oil
2-3 dried red chilies
2 sprigs of Curry leaves
Grated coconut - 1/4-1/2 cup (to taste and as per your preference, coconut absorbs any extra water so there is no need to add loads of it to the rice paste)
Salt to taste
Method
Pre preparation
A. 3 cups of raw rice (I use a variety called Dosa rice that is available easily in Bangalore)
(wash the rice and then leave it on a fine colander to drain. Once water is drained, spread it out on a kitchen towel till all moisture is dried out completely). Coarsely powder this rice in a mixer and using a fine mesh sieve, discard the rice powder from the rice mixture. The texture of the rice is a little coarser than the idly rawa rice. Some folks use idly rawa rice instead, I don't...
Measure the coarsely powdered rice and keep aside.
B. Soak ahead about 2 tsp each of urad and toor dal for 15-30 minutes
Grind the dals to a paste with green chillies, whole hing and about 10-15 curry leaves in a chutney jar.
Actual preparation
1. Take 2.25 cups of water for every one cup of the coarsely powdered rice. So as we have about 3 cups of rice, set aside about 3/4 cup of water from the total quantity of water.
2. Use 3/4 cup water to dilute the dal paste in the mixie
3. Take a large thick bottom kadai and its lid.
4. Pour oil into it and add mustard seeds, Chana dal, red chilli, & curry leaves and wait till it splutters.
5. Pour the measured water into the kadai and wait till it comes to a rolling boil
6. Add the salt required and the powdered rice, mix well.
7. Add the diluted dal paste and cook the mixture till it starts getting solid and leaves the sides of the pan. Add the grated coconut to this mixture. Keep stirring continuously till a homogeneous mass starts forming and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan. The water should have all been absorbed by now - the mixture should not be too sticky nor too dry.
8. Cook for 5 minutes more and switch off the gas
9. Cover with a lid and let it cool down (15-30 minutes)
10. Take a deep pan (such as an idly steamer) and fill it with enough water and place it so that the water is heated. Grease a steamer plate with oil and make elongated balls with the mixture and steam them for about 10-15 minutes till its cooked.
11. Serve it with coconut chutney or Puli- Inji (a spicy concoction made with sliced ginger, green chilies, tamarind water).
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| Upma Kozhakattai with coconut chutney |
