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As with every art, cooking also requires passion, interest and time... Irrespective of doing it as a leisure activity or on a regular basis, it involves dedication. The happiness you derive out of cooking by your self and serving is endless... esp someone appreciating your recipe...how nice it feels, is it not???




You may wonder about the title of this blog..Iyer Iyengar Kitchen...I am a Tanjore Iyer married to an Iyengar and picked up cooking by learning the delicacies of both the customs....and that is what I am sharing here... Recipes popular among the Tamil Iyer & Iyengar communities..




I would be really happy if this benefits atleast few of you....if you find this useful, pass this on to your friends..

Saturday 28 January 2012

Lemon Rasam

Ingredients:
1.       Lemon: 1
2.       Toor Dal: 2 tbsp
3.       Salt
4.       Rasam Powder: 1 tbsp
5.       Asafoedita: a pinch
6.       Ghee: 1 tsp
7.       Green Chilly: Vertically slit -1 medium sized
8.       Curry leaves and coriander leaves
9.       Mustard: 1 tsp
10.   A pinch of turmeric powder
Preparation Procedure:
1.       Pressure cook the toor dal with turmeric powder pinch and water as required.
2.       Boil 200 ml water along with Rasam powder and salt and 2 or 3 curry leaves and a pinch of asafoedita and turmeric powder for 15 minutes until the raw smell of the powder vanishes.
3.       Mash the cooked toor dal and make it as a paste and add this to the rasam along with 200 ml more water.
4.       Allow it to boil till yellow layer is fully formed over.
5.       With ghee, season mustard, asafoedita and the vertically slit green chilly and add this to the rasam.
6.       Allow the rasam to cool and become warm for an hour and then add the lemon essence by squeezing the lemon filtering out the seeds. Care should be taken that the lemon should not be squeezed totally till the end , the rasam may taste sour then.
7.       Add little coriander and curry leaves and serve warm.

Chow Chow Thogayal

Ingredients:
1.       Chow Chow: 2
2.       Salt
3.       Asafoedita
4.       Orid dal: 2 tbsp
5.       Dry Red Chilly: 5
6.       Tamarind: size of a small gems / marble
7.       Oil: 2 tsp
8.       Water
Preparation Procedure:
1.       In a kadai, add oil, roast the orid dal, red chilly till orid dal turns light golden yellow colour. Keep this aside
2.       Now, light sauté the chow chow cut pieces with the remaining oil in the kadai separately.
3.       In a mixie, grind the roasted orid dal, red chilly along with tamarind, a pinch of asafoedita and salt.
4.       When the mixer ingredients turn as hoarse powder, add the chowchow pieces also and grind it as a thick mass by adding very little water.
Chow Chow thogayal is ready to serve

Paruppu Thogayal

This is very easy and simple to make. This thogayal goes well excellently with Jeera Milagu Rasam.
Ingredients:
1.       Toor Dal: 1 Cup (200 gms)
2.       Gram dal: 1 tsp
3.       Dry Red Chillies: 3
4.       Pepper: 1 tsp
5.       Salt
6.       Asafoedita
7.       Water
8.       Ghee: 1 tsp
Preparation Procedure:
1.       In a kadai, add a tsp of ghee and roast the toor dal, pepper and red chillies till the toor dal turns golden colour.
2.       Switch off the stove and allow the ingredients to cool for some time.
3.       Add the above ingredients to a mixie jar along with salt, a pinch of asafoedita.
4.       Grind it in the form of a thick mass by adding water very little by little.
Paruppu Thogayal is all ready.. J

Thursday 26 January 2012

Thiruvadhirai Kali

Wishing all the readers and their families a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2012!!
Let me start the New Year 2012 with a sweet dish for Lord Shiva.
Thiruvadhirai Kali is a speciality dish made by the Iyers on the day of Thiruvadhirai (Arudhra Darisanam) as Neivedhyam along with Ezhu curry kootu / Ezhu curry Kuzhambu to Lord Shiva.
Ingredients:
1.       Rice, Moong dal Flour : 1 cup
2.       Jaggery: 3/4th cup to 1 cup depending on the sweetness of jaggery
3.       Grated Coconut: 4 tbsps
4.       Ghee: 3 to 4 tbsps
5.       Cashew nuts: 15
6.       Water: 2 cups
7.       Cardamom Powder: A pinch
Preparation Procedure:
Rice – Moong Dal flour:
1.       The rice moong dal ratio should be 90%:10%.
2.       In a dry heavy bottom kadai, dry roast the rice-moong dal mix in sim to light golden yellow colour and allow it to cool for some time.
3.       Then, grind this mix in a mixie in the form of a rava.
Kali preparation:
1.       In a dry kadai, take 2 cups of water and allow it to boil.
2.       Once the water starts boiling, add the rava like flour to water slowly with one hand while stirring the kadai on the other hand.
3.       Allow this to boil and become like a state of half cooked rice (it may take 10 mins approximately)
4.       Powder the jaggery
5.       In a separate vessel, add little water – say ¼ cup, boil it and add the powdered jaggery and when it dissolves, filter out the dirt from this jaggery paste and add the jaggery paste to the rice flour kadai and keep stirring.
6.       Add a tbsp of ghee in a small kadai and roast the cashews and before switching off the stove, add the grated coconut and fry a little for 1 minute and switch off.
7.       Add the roasted cashews – coconut to the jaggery-rice flour kadai and keep stirring at low flame for few mins and switch off the stove.
8.       Add 3 tbsps of ghee and a pinch of cardamom powder.
Delicious Thiruvathirai Kali is all ready for Neivedhyam