Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
10 Major Gujarathi Dhokla/ Handvo families
For each dhokla family, look up the model recipes below for detailed instructions and pictures.
2. Cereal(s) grits + lentil flour Dhokla
3. Lentil(s) flour : E.g. Besan Dhokla , Mung dal Dhokla
4. Cereal(s) flour + lentil(s) flour Dhokla :
5. Soaked and ground cereal(s) + lentil batter Dhokla : E.g Rice + Urad dal + Chana dal Dhokla, Rice + Chana dal Dhokla
6. Soaked & ground Lentil(s) batter : E.g Chana dal Dhokla Or Chana Dal + Green peas Dhokla
7. Fresh / boiled / sprouted lentil(s) batter: E.g Green peas Dhokla
8. Soaked, dried and ground cereal(s) + lentil(s) flour : E.g Rice + Urad dal Dhokla
9. Roast and ground cereal(s) + lentil(s) E.g Rice + Urad dal Dhokla ( See Dhokla #2)
10. Processed cereals. E.g Rice flakes Dhokla, Rolled oats Dhokla
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Friday, October 01, 2010
10 Tanjore Curries
Due to Tanjore becoming the heartland of Tamil Brahmins, almost all its famous recipes are Brahmin recipes, with an almost total absence of Non vegetarian recipes.
Deep fried & spiced tuvar dal / chana dal paste becomes Vada. Steamed and crumbled, it becomes the Usili. In fact you can use leftover / store bought masal vadas, in this recipe in place of the steamed lentil paste and not many would spot the difference !
While researching for this book, I was engrossed in the bloody Muslim occupation of Madurai and Tanjore. Tamilnadu had been fortunate in escaping the massacares, temple razings and looting which plagued North India between 1000 and 1200 AD. Its luck ran out in 1311 when it experienced the brief but brutal Sultan occupation. . One of the sultans, Ghiyas-ud-Din Muhammad Damghani seems to have been especially brutal.
Ibn Batuta, the great Islamic traveller records: “…the Hindu prisoners were divided into four sections and taken to each of the four gates. There, on the stakes they had carried, the prisoners were impaled. Afterwards their wives were killed and tied by their hair to these poles. Children were massacred on the bosoms of their mothers. Then, the camp was raised, and they started cutting down the trees of another forest (for more impaling stakes). This is shameful conduct such as I have not known any other sovereign guilty of. It is for this that God hastened the death of Ghiyath-eddin”.
And “I was another time with the Sultan when a Hindu was brought into his presence. I rose hurriedly (to leave). He understood my reason, smiled, and ordered the hands and feet of the idolater to be cut off. On my return I found the unfortunate swimming in his blood”.