Vellayappam

This is my umpteenth attempt on making Vellayappam. I have tried it many times with different proportions, but with unsatisfactory results.

At last i got certain tips from my mom who is an expert in making it. There is not just one way of making this, i will be trying the other varieties later.

Ingredients

Raw rice - 2 cups
Shredded coconut - 2 cups ( approx)
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - As per need

Procedure

1. Soak the rice for  3 to 4  hours. Grind it nicely. Do not add too much of water while grinding.
2. Take one ladle of grinded rice and mix it with one cup water.
3. Heat the pan and add this mixture. Stir this mixture in a low flame until it becomes thick. ( I did not make it a very thick paste). Let it cool.
4. Add this paste to the grinded rice along with coconut and grind it nicely.
5. Add sugar and salt.
6. Keep it overnight so that the batter gets fermented.
7. Before making appam add the cooking soda and mix gently until you can see bubbles coming up.

Making Vellayappam

If the appa chatty is iron, then you have to smear oil before cooking. No need to smear oil in non stick appa chatty. Pour one ladle of batter in appa chatty. Gently swirl it into sides in one direction. Sides should be like lace.
Cover and keep it for 3-4 min in med flame. If you want roasted ones keep it for some seconds on high flame and then take it. Only one side needed to be cooked.

Vellayappam will be good when served with ishtu (stew), peas masala etc.

*Be careful that the mixture should not be runny because after fermentation it will become even watery.

*Vellayappam will be sticky when served too hot. So it is better to be served warm.

I am using a non-stick appa chatty like the one below in Amazon:

Tomato Rice / Pulav - Spicy (My Own Style)

Tomato Rice is one of the special rice varieties in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu. It could prepared in different styles. This is the style which I tried in my kitchen.

Tomato Rice

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 1/2 Cup (Raw rice or Basmati rice)
Ripe Tomato - 4 - 5 (Medium sized)
Onion - 1/2 (Medium sized) (Optional)
Ginger Paste - 1 1/2 tsp
Garlic Paste - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Cloves - 1
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch ( I powdered and used 1/2 tsp)
Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Small Green chilli - 1 (according to the spiciness required)
Coriander Leaves - 3 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - As needed

Oil - 1 tsp (I used Coconut Oil)
Ghee - 1 tsp

Preparation: Step 1

Soak the rice for 15 minutes, then drain and keep it aside.

Step 2:

• Heat oil in a pan. 
• Add Powdered cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. 
• Add green chilli, Ginger paste and Garlic paste and saute them until the raw odour leaves. 
• Add onions (Optional) and saute them for 3 minutes till their colour changes to light pink. 
• Add Tomato slices, required amount of salt and saute them till they become mashed. 
• Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, chilli powder and 1 tsp of coriander leaves and saute them for few seconds.
• Grind them to a fine paste. (You will get approximate 1 3/4 cups of grinded paste)

Step 3:

Heat ghee in a pan and saute the rice. (Colour should not be changed). After 1 minute add the grinded mixture (step 2) & sugar and mix it well.

Step 4: 

• Add 2 1/2 cups of water to it.
• Transfer it to a cooker and cook it in a high flame upto 3 whistles.

Note: While pressure cooking, cooking time and quantity of water changes according to rice and water. I preferred Electric rice cooker for this.

When finished, garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it with a salad, Pickle and pappadams.

Note: You can add vegetables like peas, carrots, beans, cauliflower etc to enhance the taste and make it attractive.

*Number of whistles depends on size and model of the cooker.

Tamarind Rice/Puliyodarai/Puliyogare

Puliyodarai or Tamarind Rice is a specialty food of Tamil Brahmins and whole of south India (Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) except Kerala. It is used to be the carried over in case of a long pilgrimage. It was called "ketti choru".

Let us see how this can be made.

Preparation 1: Boil rice (1 cup) and keep ready.
Gingely Oil (1/2 cup approx.) for roasting etc.


Preparation 2: Ingredients:

1. Bengal Gram / Gram Dal - 1 Tablespoon
2. Corriander Seeds - 2 Tablespoon
3. Pepper - 1/2 Teaspoon

Dry roast the above ingredients, powder it and keep it aside.

Preparation 3: Ingredients:

1. Red Chilies - 5 to 6 (depending upon the spiciness required) [I used only 3]
2. Sesame (Til seeds) - 2 Teaspoon
3. Asafoetida - 1/2 Teaspoon
4. Fenugreek - 1/2 Teaspoon

Roast the above combination in Gingelly oil and keep aside.

Preparation 4: Ingredients:

1. Groundnut  - 1/2 cup (approx.)
2. Curry leaves - As required

Roast the above combination in Gingelly oil and keep aside.

And finally: Ingredients:

1. Black Mustard seeds - 2 Teaspoon
2. Turmeric Power - 1 Teaspoon
3. Tamarind - Size of gooseberry
4. Salt - As required

Roast mustard seeds in Gingely oil. Add Turmeric powder and Asafoetida. Add Tamarind extract (squeezed in water) and required salt to this.

Once boiled add kept aside ingredients from Preparation 2 & 3. Heat till it forms fine paste-like. Now add boiled rice and Preparation 4.

Mix rice well with the paste formed.
Garnish with roasted peanuts and Curry leaves and serve hot with Pappad.