Puliyinji/Tamarind-Ginger Hot Sauce

All malayalee bloggers would have thought about this delicacy at least once when they heard that this month's JFI ingredient is ginger. I did, I wanted to cook it, I cooked it, and here I am blogging it, Kerala's own Puliyinji a.k.a Inji Curry.

Ginger is perhaps the best herb that aids digestion and we, Indians, use it in small amounts everywhere possible. I wonder if there is any other cuisine that uses ginger as extensively as we do in ours.

Puliyinji can be served as an accompaniment to any big meal. I think puliyinji recipe varies from kitchen to kitchen. I have seen many variations of this "gingery" dish, but the basic ingredients and preparation method is always the same. This is how it is made in my workshop:

Finely minced fresh ginger - 3/4 cup
Green chillies - 12, sliced into thin rounds
Tamarind - A small ball, a little bigger than the size of a gooseberry
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Salt & Jaggery - to taste
Oil

Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 15 minutes and extract the juice. This should yield about a cup of thick tamarind extract. (Take more or less tamarind than the amount I mentioned depending on the quality of the tamarind you have.) Filter it and keep aside.

Dry roast fenugreek seeds until the color changes. Powder it and keep aside.

Heat up oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and then the curry leaves. Add minced ginger and green chillies and fry it until the ginger is golden brown. Add chilli powder and tamarind extract. Add salt. Bring it to a boil. Simmer it for about 10-15 minutes until the raw smell of tamarind disappears and the sauce is thick. Add jaggery and fenugreek powder. (You may omit jaggery, or add a little bit to your taste. Add more if you prefer a sweeter version of puliyinji.)Bring it to another boil and then turn off the stove. Transfer to a glass or ceramic container. Inji curry gets thicker when it cools down. You may roast a tbsp of rice, powder it, and add it to the curry before you turn off the stove if your curry turns out too watery.

This is served in small amounts. A little goes a long way.

Inji Curry/Puliyinji served with Biriyani

Also see:
Annita's version with coconut
Sarah's version with coriander powder & asfoetida
Shaheen's version with bittergourds

This is my entry for JFI-Ginger. This month's host is Rosie of What's the recipe today Jim. All the best with the round-up, Rosie.

Please note: Rosie has requested that we send in our JFI entries as early as possible since she is expecting some inconvenience at the beginning of February. So, please hurry up friends!

Baked Spaghetti

Eating spaghetti is messy, do you agree? It stains your clothes and you get sauce on your face. Baked spaghetti is one neat way of having it. Well, sort of.... please don't tell me you tried this and still got sauce on your clothes. Borrow your baby's bib! :)

Here, spaghetti is cooked, mixed with sauce and cheese, and baked to perfection. Spaghetti gets softer and absorbs all the sauce during the baking process. At the end of baking, you can literally cut it into squares and serve it, just like lasagna.

To prepare the sauce:

Ground meat(I used beef) - 1 lb
Brown grond meat in a pan with salt & pepper to taste. Drain the fat. Then add the following to the meat and cook again.

Onion - 1 small, chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
Crushed red pepper - 1/2 tsp (optional, for spiciness)
Dried basil - 1/2 tbsp
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp

You can use fresh herbs if it is available. If you use fresh herbs, add it at the end. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes or until the raw smell of onion and garlic disappears. Now add about 2-3 cups of pasta sauce(add more or less depending on how saucy you want it). I used Organic Ragu(Traditional). You may use your favorite home-made or store bought pasta sauce. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Right before you turn off the stove, add 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh parsley. Taste for salt and keep aside.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.

Drain the water and add it to the prepared sauce and mix well.

Add 3/4 cup of mozarella cheese & 1/2 a cup of ricotta cheese. I omitted ricotta since we don't like it very much. Mix well and transfer to a baking dish. You can use a lasagna pan or any baking dish. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of grated mozarella and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese on top.

Cover with a foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degree F.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes. Keep it longer if you prefer to get the top golden brown. But it is not necessary.

Sprinkle more parmesan cheese and more chopped parsley on top. Cut into squares and serve hot.

Spaghetti is a long, thin form of pasta. More here.

Truffles

Truffles are basically a ganache (a mixture of chocolate and cream) covered with tempered chocolate and/or different toppings.

For making basic chocolate truffles, you will need:
Bittersweet Chocolate(good quality) - 8 oz
You can use semisweet chocolate as well. Bittersweet chocolate gives a stronger chocolate flavor.
Heavy Cream - 3/4 cup
Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
Optional flavorings

Heat up heavy cream and butter together and bring it to a boil. Break the chocolate into pieces and keep in a mixing bowl. Add the hot cream-butter mixture to the chocolate. Let it stand for a few minutes until the chocolate melts. Then stir with a whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add flavorings and whisk again until combined. You may use orange, lime, crushed nuts, coconut, ginger, flavored liquor, vanilla etc. to flavor the truffles. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and keep refrigerated overnight.

Next day, prepare the coatings. There are many to choose from:
Crushed nuts, cocoa powder, icing sugar, toasted/plain coconut etc.

Take out the chocolate mixture from the refrigerator. Using a teaspoon, scoop out one tsp of the mixture at a time and roll into balls. Then roll into the coating until it is all covered. You may need to do this quickly as your body temperature would melt the chocolate and make the job messy. Washing hands in cold water helps. You may use powder-free latex gloves if you wish because the chocolate is going to be all over your hands otherwise. Or use a melon baller or a small ice cream scoop as shown in the link provided below. Cover and keep the truffles in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Usually the store-bought truffles are covered with tempered chocolate to get a smoother surface. This is done by dipping the truffles in tempered chocolate before it is rolled in the coatings. This provides a crunchy and beautiful outer covering. This step is a little difficult and kind of tricky so I omitted it.

This makes a great presentation for kids' parties when served in miniature muffin cup liners.

See step by step pictures of making truffles here.

Three Things Meme

Thanks for tagging me Shaheen. Just as you said in your write-up, I am too not a fan of memes. But it is fun so let me try doing it.

Three things that make me laugh:
1. My family
2. Reading good jokes or watching it in TV
3. Some people

Three things that make me cry:
1. Helplessness
2. Sadness
3. Happiness

Three things that scare me:
1. The thought of getting stuck in a small place with no ventilation and having to spend the rest of my life there. I got this scare after the Pennsylvania miner's incident.
2. Snakes or anything that slithers
3. Heights
Let me add a 4th one: Getting tagged with memes! hehe..just kidding.

Three things that I love:
1. My family
2. My friends
3. Good food

Three things I don’t understand:
1. Why people in India don't talk one common language in addition to their local languages
2. Politics
3. Fashion, especially in clothes

Three things on my desk:
1. A file with some documents
2. Camera charging..
3. A wireless PCI adapter

Three favorite foods:
There are lots, but right now I am craving for
1. Shawerma-a Turkish sandwich
2. Soup, something spicy...we have sleet and freezing temperatures right now
3. Very moist chocolate cake

Three beverages I drink regularly:
1. Tea with milk
2. Water
3. Fruit juices

Three TV shows I watched/ books I read as a kid:
1. Giant Robot
2. Amar chitra katha, poompatta, balarama etc.
3. And when I grew up a little more, famous five, secret seven etc.
Oh! the memories..... it made me nostalgic.

Three fellow bloggers I would like to tag:
1. Archana
2. Sumitha
3. Ultimate Foodie
I hope you three would enjoy it just as I did.

Kovakka Fry

Coccinia Grandis is the scientific name; it is also known as Kovakka, Tindora, Ivy Gourd, Indian gherkins etc. Did you know this is also known as gentleman's toes(like lady's fingers for okra)? This cute little vegetable is always available at our local Indian grocery store. Back in India, we had a kovakka vine growing in our backyard with lots of fruits. So it was nothing special at all. But here in the US, it is a special vegetable for us. Here is a simple recipe for kovakka fry.

Wash the vegetables well and let the water drain. Remove the stem and cut into long pieces. Do not use the ripe ones for this recipe.

For about 4 cups of tindora slices:

Heat up 1 tbsp(or more) oil in a frying pan. Add a tsp of mustard seeds. Let it splutter and add the following in order:

Chopped onion - 1/4 cup(Shallots are better)
Crushed Red Pepper - about 1 tsp or more to taste
Curry leaves - a few
Crushed Garlic - 3 cloves(optional)
Thinly sliced coconut pieces - 10-12 pieces(optional, but it does add a crunch and a taste of coconut oil when you bite into it. :))

When the onions are translucent, add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder. Stir. Add kovakka slices. Sprinkle salt. Cook on high heat with continuous stirring until everything heats up well. Then, lower the flame and cook covered until it is done, about 10 minutes. Do not add any water. Before turning off the burner, put it on high again and stir continuously for a couple fo minutes. Serve with rice.

Also check out how some of my blogger friends make it: ashwini, prabha, lakshmiammal, prema, sailu, and shynee. (please let me know if you would like to link yours)

Cooking from the blogs...

Archana's Fruitcake, now a reality!!

Chicken varuthathu, an adaptation of shynee's and shaheen's recipes.

Tomato Rasam, an adaptation of Indira's & VKN's recipes, mostly Indira's recipe with VKN's technique of extracting the tomato pulp.

More Fruitcake!

The fruitcake turned out great even though I made it without rum. I have seen people asking if this can be made without rum. My answer is "yes". I know rum in a fruitcake is unavoidable to many of you and you might not agree with this.

I have a recipe that I have been using for the past several years. This year, I wanted to try Archana's recipe. But when I started making it, I couldn't resist following some procedures of my old recipe though I used the exact measurements as in Archana's recipe.

For those who are interested to know, here are the variations I made to the original recipe:

• I soaked the dry fruits in orange juice(only orange juice while archana adds rum, spice powders, orange zest etc. to this).
• I added the spice powders to the cake flour and sifted together with baking powder.
• I didn't add butter when I made the caramel.
• I didn't use powdered sugar. I used the regular fine sugar and creamed it with butter using an electric hand mixer before I added the eggs.
• Orange zest was added to the final cake batter along with the soaked fruits and nuts.
• Everything else was done exactly as per Archana's instructions.
• The recipe yielded one loaf pan and one 8x6x2 rectangular pan.

DH said "This is the best cake you have ever made.", and DD#1 who used to hate fruitcakes(because it has things in it!!) said "I think I like fruitcake now" and even asked "Can I have a piece of that in my lunchbox?" Now this recipe is a keeper and so are tomato rasam & chicken fry!

Playtime!