Kongu Nadu is the most industrialised and prosperous region in Tamil Nadu. The Kongu region comprises of places right from Ooty to Dharapuram which includes Coimbatore, Salem and its a big list. I worked in Kongu engineering college, Perundurai before my marriage. I have tasted some of their foods during my stay in Perundurai, Erode.
As I have an interest to try other area foods, Kongu recipes were in my try list for a long time. I have bookmarked some recipes from different blogs and I gave a try. Kongu foods has more of coconut and pulses in many dishes and most of the recipes were made using freshly ground spices.. So it has a nice aroma and taste. The best thing is they use very less oil in their recipes.
For non-veg lovers, there are a lot more recipes to try. As a vegetarian, I found these recipes are simple to try and makes a perfect meal. The most popular recipe among these is arisi paruppu sadam. I saw different versions in many blogs and long back I tried it with just sambar powder but somehow we dint like that taste. May be their sambar powder is different from mine and I missed the aroma. So this time I tried it from
valarmathi’s blog in which she suggested to use freshly ground spices. It was very nice and had a nice flavour.
Also I tried poondu kuzhambu from her blog which is very easy to prepare. We loved its taste. In addition to this, I tried potato fry from
ramya’s blog and paruppu keerai from
plantain leaf. To complete the meal, I made
ilaneer payasam. This time I dint add condensed milk. Still there is a big list of recipes like kollu masiyal, kootu etc to try. I’ll make one by one and post here.
ARISI PARUPPU SADAM
My mom makes Tirunelveli special thuvaram paruppu sadam. The taste of arisi paruppu sadam reminded my mom’s recipe..We enjoyed this rice with vadagam/vathal & potato fry..
INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 200ml
- Rice – 1/2 cup ( steamed rice/ boiled rice / puzhungal arisi)
- Water – 1.5 cups ( add as per your rice) ( I used 1:3 ratio, please use the ratio you follow in your daily cooking )
- Toor Dhal - 1/8 cup i.e. 2 tbsp
- Onion – 1 no (medium , slice cut)
- Tomato – 1/2 no (finely chopped)
- Coriander leaves – few ( to garnish)
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
- Cashew nuts - few (optional)
To temper:
- Oil –1 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
To grind
- Garlic - 3 cloves
- Dry Red Chilli – 2-3 nos
- Curry leaves – few
- Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Black Pepper Corns - 1/4 tsp
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METHOD
- Grind the ingredients said above to a coarse paste adding water and keep aside.
- Wash Rice and dal. Soak for 15 mins.
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker & add mustard seeds to it and allow it to splutter.
- Then add the onions and fry until golden brown.
- Now add chopped tomatoes to it and fry till the tomatoes are mushy.Then add the ground paste to it and fry till the raw smell goes. Now add rice and dal to it and add water.
- Now add turmeric powder, coriander leaves and salt.
- Pressure cook for 2 or 3 whistles. Fry the cashew nuts in ghee and add to the rice and serve.
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As valarmathi suggested, I enjoyed this rice with vathal/appalam and potato fry.. This rice tastes good with potato chips too..
POONDU KUZHAMBU/ GARLIC GRAVY
Its very easy to prepare and a simple recipe.!! Thank you so much valar.
INGREDIENTS
- Garlic cloves – 1/4 cup
- Big or small Onion, chopped – few pieces
- Tomato – 1 no ( small, chopped )
- Tamarind – Big gooseberry sized
- Red Chillies – 2 nos
- Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
- Coriander powder – 1.5 tsp
- Chilly Powder - 3/4 tsp
- Coriander leaves – few ( optional)
- Jaggery –a pinch (optional)
- Oil – 2 tsp
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Salt & water – as needed
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METHOD
- Soak tamarind in water and extract a cup of tamarind juice from it and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds to it, after it splutters add pinched red chillies to it.
- Add the chopped onions and garlic fry till they are golden brown.
Then add tomatoes and fry till they become soft.
- Now add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder to it and mix well. Then add tamarind juice, water and salt to it.
Add jaggery if you use. Cook the gravy till it becomes thick and garlic are soft.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve !!
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PARUPPU KEERAI
It tasted more like dal palak. It was a nice combo for poondu kuzhambu..
INGREDIENTS
- Greens / Spinach – 1 cup chopped ( I used arai keerai)
- Toor dal – 1/3 cup (you can use split pigeon peas or yellow lentils)
- Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
- Oil – a drop
- Onion – 1 no (medium chopped)
- Garlic --- 6 cloves ( chopped)
- Green chillies – 2 nos (slit)
- Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
- Salt to taste
For seasoning
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Cumin seeds – 1/4 tsp
- Asafetida – 1/8 tsp
- Curry leaves – few
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METHOD
- Pressure cook dal adding turmeric powder & oil. Mash the dal and set aside.
- In a kadai, temper all the ingredients and add the chopped onion, garlic cloves. green chillies and saute well.
- Now add the washed & chopped green and saute for sometime. Add water and cover cook till the greens are cooked well. Then add pepper powder, cooked dal and required water, salt.
- Allow it to boil for few seconds, remove & serve hot !
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POTATO BRINJAL FRY
For this recipe, Ramya used brinjal & potato. As my hubby doesn't like brinjal , I used potatoes alone. I din't use much oil , first I roasted potatoes in little oil and I added little water to cook them.. It was not much oily and was tasty too..
INGREDIENTS
- Potato – 3 nos (medium sized , cut into pieces)
- Brinjal - 1 (chop into small cubes)
- Big onion – 1 no, chopped ( original recipe used small onions )
- Sambar powder – 1-2 tsp
- Grated coconut / dry coconut – 2 tsp
- Salt – as per taste
To temper
- Oil – 2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Channa dhal – 1 tsp
- Green chilli - 1 no( finely chopped.)
coriander leaves for garnishing. |
METHOD
- Heat oil in a pan and once its hot, add the mustard seeds.
- When it splutters, add the chana dal. Saute until it turns light brown in color and then add onions. Fry till transparent.
- Add the chilli, curry leaves and turmeric powder and saute well.
- Now add the potato pieces and sambar powder /red chilli powder and the salt needed and cook it covered until the potatoes are cooked by sprinkling little water ( If you don’t want to add water, add more oil and allow it to roast and cook in oil itself)
- Just before turning off the flame, add the grated coconut and gently stir. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it hot.
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. As i had less onions in my pantry , i used more tomatoes & less onion. The actual recipe suggested to use equal number of onions & tomatoes.Try any based on ur liking. 
. Have you ever tried a masala chai adding jaggery instead of sugar ? This is the first time i am trying this way. I got this recipe from a cookbook. I simply loved its taste & aroma with all the spices in it. If you want , you can always replace the jaggery with sugar or honey as per your choice. Some people prefer less milk in tea. Some may like with half & half milk and water. I used more water & less milk. Adjust the quantity of milk & water as per your liking.Do try this tea , you’ll love it for sure.Lets see Indian style masala chai with jaggery with step by step pictures.
