Mrs.Mano's Tamilnadu Delicacies

Dear Mrs.Mano
Tried ur "cucumber kootu" and it was very yummy.Thanks.

Regards,
Suganthi.

Dear mrs. mano,

I made Idiyappam according to your recipe. I used the store bought rice flour. The noodles were become very hard. Could you kindly give a suggestion how to get soft noodles using the store bought rice flour?

I made Ribbon pakoda according to your recipe ( type II). It came out very well. Since I couldn't handle the murukku press, I turned the rest of the flour into thattai by adding few ingredients. It was awesome. Thanks for your recipe! I cannot handle the usual murukku press. It's very hard. Could you suggest any other easy thing which is available in the market? Since you are running a restaurant, You must be knowing some easy tools, I guess.

Thanks for your time and my belated Diwali wishes to you.

Thanks!

Dear Mrs.Mano
Whenever i make semiya upma i find that it sticks to each other.Is that how it will be or is there a way to get them like noodles?

Thanks,
Suganthi.

Hi Mrs Mano,

i recently bought a bag of Laxmi brand 'Seeraga Samba rice'- very aromatic but when cooked in the microwave with 1:2 - rice- water for 18 mins turns out mushy and sticks together! :( i tried reducing the water but the rice doesn't cook properly!

any suggestions/tips to get fully cooked but not sticky rice?
i want to know for regular plain rice- not for biryani/pulao etc!

Dear Arrecipes!

I felt happy to know that you became successful with the ‘paruppu urundai kuzhambu’. Thanks a lot for the feedback. Here is a recipe for ‘Thattai’.

THATTAI:

Ingredients:

Raw rice- 2 cups
[Small] Garlic flakes- 10
Red chillies-3
Asafotida powder- 1/2 tsp
Butter- 2 tsp
Soaked Bengal gram- a handful
Sesame seeds- 3 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Grind the red chillies, garlic and A.powder to a fine paste. Soak the rice for ½ hour and then drain the water. Then pound the rice to a fine powder and sieve twice. Roast the powder to a very light brown colour. When cooled, add all the above ingredients and the ground paste to the flour and make soft dough adding enough salt. Make small even balls and flatten them thinly. Deep fry them in hot oil.

Dear Noodles!

Here is the recipe for ‘Araiththu vitta sambar’.

ARAITHTHU VITTA SAMBAR:

Ingredients:

Lentils- 1/4 cup
Tamarind- a small lime size
Small onions- a handful
Chopped tomatoes- 1 to 2 cups
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Oil- 4 tbsp
Asafotida powder- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chopped coriander - 3 tbsp
Curry leaves- a handful

Roast the following ingredients in a spoon of oil and then grind them to a paste:

Red chillies-4, Bengal gram- 2 tsp, black gram- 1 tsp, coriander seeds- 3 tsp, fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp, shredded coconut- 3 tbsps

Procedure:

Pressure cook the lentils.
Soak the tamarind in enough water for an hour and then extract its thick juice. Heat a kadai and pour the oil. Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the sambar onions with the A.Powder and fry them well. Add the tomatoes with the turmeric powder and fry them until the oil floats on the surface. Add the tamarind extract and let it boil for a few minutes. Then add the ground paste with enough salt and the cooked lentils and allow the sambar simmer for some minutes. Add the chopped coriander leaves and the curry leaves.

Dear Shoba!

If you haven’t an oven, then you can cook the briyani in the ‘dhum’ method in a gas oven.
Yes. I have forgotten to mention about the soaking of the rice. For all types of briyani, and the preparations of any rice variety, the rice must be soaked for at least half an hour prior to cooking. Frying it in ghee is not a must. Instead of cream, you can add thickened milk. Salt must be added separately when cooking the vegetables as well as the rice.

Hello Minir!

Thanks a lot for the sincere appreciation. I hope you will become an expert in Tamilnadu cookery very soon!
About the baby food-I am not much familiar with it. You can find a few threads on it in this same ‘food’ section. Please go through them.

Dear Suganthi!

Thank you very much for the feedback on ‘cucumber koottu’. I really appreciate yr eagerness in trying every recipe and yr sincerity in posting the feedback continuously.

Hello Di!

Jeeraka samba rice is used only for making briyani or pulao as it is suitable only for that kind of varieties. If you want to try it for regular rice, you can try in the cooker by adding 1 ¼ cup of water to 1 cup of rice. I am not sure about it. Or you can try it through the ‘Dhum’ method by adding 1 ½ cup of water to 1 cup of rice.