White Cowpea Vada (Vellai karamanu vadai)

White Cowpea Vada (Vellai karamanu vadai) - Preparation time 30 to 35 mins Soak the cowpea for 3 hrs to make this vada. Sundal is good for health but occasionally you can make this vada. This will taste like vazhaipoo vadai. You try it out it will be crispy, tasty, different and healthy.

Ingredients:-
White cowpea (vellai karamani) - 1 cup (cleaned and soaked for 3 hrs)
Small onion - 10 (chopped into small squares)
Green/red chili - 2 or red chili powder - 2 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch (chopped)
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves & coriander leaves - chopped finely 2 tsp

Preparation Method:-
Remove the soaked water, wash the karamani and grind to coarse dough along with ginger, chili and salt.
Put the batter in a bowl and add onion, finely chopped leaves and mix well. You can add red chili powder to increase the spice level.

Make small ball from the batter and flatten (you can use plastic sheet or make in hand).
Heat the oil and drop the vada very slowly (if you drop fast the oil will split out so be very careful).

Take care while frying because it will be cooked very soon as the karamani dough will be soft. Cook in slow flame.

After few mins turn the vada repeat this till the vada is golden brown in color.
Remove and place this in tissue to remove excess oil. Tasty vada is ready for you.

Potato chips (Urulai kizhangu varuval)

Potato chips (Urulai kizhangu varuval) - preparation time 30 mins
Mom used to make chips in home for our variety rice. It will be crispy and tasty. I used to make chips for fried rice or variety rices. You can also try this it will be healthy, hygienic and cheap. You have to choose fresh and good potatoes (No green or black color in potato). Potato should be hard.
When you slice the potato it should be white there should not be brown colour one the edges only if the potato is of good quality the chips will be very good.

Ingredients:-
Potato - 2
Oil - to deep fry
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp (grind pepper coarsely in home)
Salt - to taste

Preparation method:-
Wash the potato well so that the dirt in potato skin will be removed.
Using potato chips grater slice the potato to thin slices. Wash in running water so the starch content presnt in potato will removed. For this you have to wash 2 to 3 times.
Remove from water and dry it in a cloth so all the water content will be removed.

Heat oil in a kadai. When hot (if you put a small piece of potato it immediately comes up) keep the flame less than medium.
Add the potato slices (you have to take care the oil should be more when you drop the potato slices so that it will be cooked properly).

When cooked the bubbles won't be present. Transfer to tissue paper to remove excess oil (if present). Add salt and pepper mix with fried potato chips.

When cool put it a air tight container it will be crisp and tasty.

Kothavarankai paruppu usili (Cluster Beans and channa dhal dry curry)

Kothavarankai paruppu usili (Cluster Beans and channa dhal dry curry) - Preparation time 30 minsWe wont take kothavarankai when made as plain curry so mom used to convert this to paruppu usili or make sambar with this vegetable which will also be tasty. This goes well with any rice.

Ingredients:-
Kothavarankai (cluster beans) - 1 cup (chopped to small pieces)
Channa dhal - 1/4 cup (soaked for 2 hrs)
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Red chili powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Water - To boil beans
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 6 (finely chopped)
Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation method:-
Soak the channa dhal for 2 hrs. Drain the water completely and transfer to mixer. Crush the ginger and add to dhal. Grind to coarse paste.
In a vessel add water. Boil the water with salt and turmeric. Add chopped kothavarangai and cook till it is soft.
Heat a heavy bottomed tawa. Add oil, mustard to splutter, urad dhal to golden brown, curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.
To the above pan add the grind channa dhal and fry till the dhal becomes seperate. If you want you can add another 1/2 tbsp of oil.
In goes red chili powder (adjust according to you spice level) and cooked kothavarangai (take care while cooking kothavarangai.
Add only required amount of water to cook the kothavarangai if more water drain it and add to sambar or rasam).
I love to eat this alone. But goes well with more kuzhambhu and rasam rice.

Bitter gourd dry curry (pakkarkai poriyal)

Bitter gourd dry curry (pagarkai poriyal) - Preparation time 15 mins
My dad like sweet bitter gourd curry but i like the pagarkkai curry spicy and bitter it will taste very good when made in small bitter gourd (mithi pagarkkai). I love this curry and will take as a snack.

Ingredients:-
Bitter gourd - chopped 1 cup
Sambhar powder - 1 tsp or 2 tsp (according to your spice level)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water - to cook bitter gourd
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Preparation method:-
In a vessel add water, turmeric, sambhar powder, salt and boil.
Add chopped bitter gourd and cook till the vegetable is tender. (Add only required amount of water).

(Or) you can slice the bitter gourd very thinly and add after garnishing.

In a tawa heat sesame oil, mustard to splutter, urad dhal should be brown.
Now add cooked bitter gourd and fry till the excess water evaporates or add the thinly sliced pagarkkai, turmeric, sambhar powder or red chili powder and salt to taste.

Dry curry will be bitter and spicy with full of taste and bitter gourd flavor. 
Dark green colored bitter gourd will be very bitter.

You have to cover the curry after sprinkling little water. It will absorb all the water and cooked well

If you want you can add 1 tbsp of bengal gram flour  which is optional.

Healthy bitter gourd dry curry is ready.

Note: The teeth over the bitter gourd should not be very close and dark green bitter gourd will be very bitter.

Making of Mullu murukku (dough) mavu & mullu murukku

Making of Mullu murukku (dough) mavu and mullu murukku
One of the tasty snack for which we will wait till deepawali. It will be crisp, slightly sweet and with correct amount of salt. This mullumurukku taste will last for few minutes. My husband used to say that this murukku has some taste which make us to keep on tasting it repeatedly.

Even the process will be bit long when compared to other murukku snack but it is worth for it. You can taste the richness of the coconut milk we add and flavour of freshly roasted and ground pasiparuppu which brings out the uniqueness of this murukku. Mom mostly make this during Diwali only. She used to prepare sweets and snacks for a week. I don't know how she managed to take care of all household work and prepared so many varieties.

Each and every snack and sweet will be that much tasty. Mom you are really great. She used to make in large quantity to share it with friends, relatives and neighbours.



2:1 (rice:pasiparuppu maavu)
Wash and soak the raw rice for 2 hrs and filter the water.
Grind the rice to fine powder. Seive the flour and remove the coarse powder. Grind the coarse powder and seive again.
Slightly roast the grind powder.
Roast the pasiparuppu slightly and grind to very fine powder.
Mix the rice and pasiparuppu flour in 2:1 proportion and use for making mullu murukku.

Ingredients:-
Butter - 1 tbsp
Coconut - 1/2
Salt - as required
Sugar - 1 tsp
Hot oil - 1 tbsp
Water - to grind the coconut
Oil - to deep fry

Preparation method:-
When the flour's are ready seive both the flour together and mix well
Take take half coconut, grate and grind well with little water. Filter and take the coconut milk, it has to be thick(if the coconut is sweet the murukku will be tasty)
In a bowl add flour, butter, hot oil and mix well (it might resemble like bread crums).
To the coconut milk add sugar, salt and slowly add to flour and make the dought to chapathi dough consistency.
Heat the oil and bring to medium or less flame.
Now using the mullu murukku acchu insert the dough to press over the hot oil.
When the murukku is done slight aroma will come. (Take care else the muruku will be burnt it you keep for too long)
Now crispy and tasty mullu murukku is ready.

Making of Thean kuzhal dough (mavu) & Thean kuzhal

Making of Theane kuzhal dough (mavu) and Theane kuzhal
This is a snack which I will make when I have time. I used to keep this flour so that we can make in required quantity when we need. This snack will also be a part of deepawali snack list.

I wonder how our tradition include some healthy spice in almost all the snack and sweet we prepare. See in this theane kuzhal they used to add cumin(jeeragam) which is good for digestion. Even if we deep fry the flavour and taste will exist in the snack.

When mom used to prepare this during deepawali we will ask her to give us some half boiled ( it will be cooked but won't be crispy) it will be soft and tasty while consumed hot. This can be given to aged people when they can't eat crisp murukku.


Proportion of rice and dhal is 5:3/4 (rice:urad dhal)
Wash 5 portion of raw rice and dry in shade.
Slightly roast the 3/4th portion of urad dhal and add to the dried rice.
Give this mixture to flour grinding store and grind to very fine powder.
Seive the flour to ensure that the flour is grind to fine powder.
If you want you can try in less quantity in home. This will be useful for people who wont be able to grind in store.

While preparing the theane kuzhal dough, mix the required amount of salt in 1 tspn of water and dissolve completly before adding to the flour.

Mix the butter along with 1 tbspn of hot oil, cummin seed and salt water well before adding the required amount of water to make the dough for murukku.

When you want to prepare murukku make the water mixed dough in little portion and fry else the murukku might become more red after few minutes.

Always make sure to fry the murukku immediately after mixing the water don't leave for hrs and make. It won't be good.

First heat the oil and bring down the flame. Using the murukku achu start pressing the dough in oil to make murukku. I usually fry only one murukku at a time to get best quality of murukku.