Book Review - 'Southern Flavours'

My Review of Southern Flavours by Chandra Padmanabhan for BlogAdda.

No matter what they say, I always judge a book by it's cover. The first impression of any book is very important to me specially if it is a cookbook. On first glance Southern Flavours has a warm homely feel to it. It has a classy hard bound cover photograph that combines two aspects of South India - Food and Temple Jewellery. The author of the book, Chandra Padmanabhan, is a renowned author in her own right. She has a three best selling cookbooks to her credit. This is they first of hers that I have read and may be the first South Indian cookbook I have ever gone through so thoroughly. Being a Tamillian myself, I never thought of picking up a South Indian cookbook simply because I come from a family of extraordinary cooks (which South Indian doesn't?!). So the most I would do is pick up the phone and call my mother or my grandmothers or my mother-in-law and ask for help.

So even before I read this one, I passed it off to my mom-in-law so she could do the first round of scrutiny for me. I wanted see this book through two different perspectives - from someone who has cooked lovely South Indian food all her life and from another South Indian who pretends to be one.

Let me start with what the seasoned cook thought about it. From the easy-to-handle, hard bound design to the way the recipes are explained so well, my mom-in-law was impressed. She thought the book is a perfect gift for someone who wants to learn a few South Indian recipes. She also remarked that the book not only covers recipes from Tamil Nadu and Kerala but also from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. She was impressed with the varieties of dosa recipes, the ingredient index and the menu options at the back. She also thought that it was important that the recipe names were given in original languages as they would be called from where they originated. She did mention that she missed a few more pictures, recipes of Neer Dosa, Avial and a few Kerala specialties but said that would be nitpicking.

I couldn't agree more. On first glance the book is a great resource for me since it has important recipes from all four states from what is considered to be the South of India. The book has basic recipes, sambhar and kuzahmbhus, rasams, poriyals, rice recipes, snacks, sweets, accompaniments and buffet spreads. The suggested Menus at the back are great for people planning to make an entire South Indian spread for a meal.

So on a sunday afternoon, I decided to try out two recipes from the book. I made Kothamalli-Pudina Sadam (Pg.93) and Alu Gadde Mosaru Kuzhambu (pg.38). Kothamalli-Pudina Sadam, or Coriander Mint Rice originates from Tamil Nadu according to the book. It involves cooking the rice separately and adding a cooked paste of coriander, mint, onions and green chillies along with vegetables and spices. I used some fragrant Ambhe Mohar rice and made the recipe completely oil free and vegan (it involved some ghee to fry cashew nuts). It had the right amount of spice and the fragrance of coriander and mint coming from warm rice on a cold afternoon was perfect.

Coriander-Mint Rice

The Alu Gadde Mosaru Kuzhambu or Curd Curry with Potatoes is from the Hebbar Iyengar Community of Karnataka. Luckily for me I had a batch of peanut curd at home which I used to substitute the dairy curd. The recipe is simple and is also oil free. It turned out really good and tasted pretty similar to what we Tamillians call Moru Kozhambu.

Vegan Peanut Curd (set using the tops of chillies)

Curd Curry with Potatoes 

I am forced to review this book in seven days (blogadda rules) and I surely won't be doing justice to such a great book. A review of a cookbook is an ongoing process and can take months till I try out every recipe. I will keep posting recipes that I try from the book, veganising them along the way.

A big Thank you to Blogadda!

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South Indian Gun Powder

If you have ever eaten South Indian food, you know what I am talking about. Molagapodi (moh-lah-ha poh-dee) is often served with Dosas and Idlis, but actually it can be eaten with almost anything. It's a reddish-brown scary looking powder, served smothered in sesame oil, often known for being overly spicy. Every Tamillian household makes their own version of it and you will never find the same taste anywhere even if the recipe is the same exact thing because not only does it depend on who is making it, it also relies on the level of spiciness and colour of the red chilli depending on the variety, the amount of time you spend roasting every ingredient and your mood when you are making it!

Moplagapodi literally means 'chilli powder' but I think Gun Powder is a more accurate description. It's actually a very cleverly disguised powder containing lots of protein (lentils) and calcium (sesame). There are numerous versions of this powder but I like to use my grandmother's recipe simply because I really really like her gun powder (and I am not alone).

My granny's Gun Powder with Dosas

Best served with hot Dosas and Idlis, sesame oil is added to it to tone down the spiciness. I prefer it without the oil. Why would you want to tone down anything that is spicy! You can alter the level of spiciness depending on your capacity by adding the chilli little bit at a time.

This is the way my grandmother explained the recipe to me. So I won't change it.

You need:

For 15 dry red chillies use the following measure. (I used organic red chillies that were pretty spicy)

1 small cup (standard 1/2 cup measure is what i used) Split chickpeas without the seedcoat (Chana Dal)

1 small cup white Urad Dal

2 small cups (1 cup measure) White Sesame (you can even use black sesame for a deeper colour and  better flavour)

Oil (Any oil that can be heated)

Asafoetida (hing) 1/4 teaspoon or more

Salt

A powerful dry grinder to make the powder

Wash the sesame and then roast it on a heavy bottom iron wok. The reason you wash it is so that when it starts to puff up while roasting it won't jump out of the wok. Keep stirring it around to make sure it is evenly roasted. Once it starts to make that splitting sound at frequent intervals and if it has become slightly darker in colour, it's done.

In the same wok, roast the Chana Dal and the Urad Dal one after the other till they are a very light brown  colour. Mix it with the roasted sesame.

Add oil to the wok and fry the red chillies. They will start puffing up quickly. Remove the Chillies and drain as much oil as you can while removing them.

Grind everything together. I like it to be a crunchy powder, so some tiny chunks are okay by me. Some people like it as fine as possible. Add in the salt and asafoetida. Mix well and transfer it into a bottle. Let it cool completely before closing the lid. This will stay for months outside.

Some people also fry Curry Leaves and add it while powdering. It adds some colour and lovely flavour to it.

 Clockwise from right: Fried Red Chillies, Roasted Sesame, Roasted Urad Dal and Roasted Chana Dal

It goes very well with south Indian food, but sometimes I like to add it to a vegetable I am cooking. It also goes very well with vegan yogurt so you can even make it into a dip. The possibilities are endless. I, however, catch myself eating this as it is.

My freshly ground Gun Powder

It is said, whoever is cooking adds their own flavours depending on their energies. That is why the same recipe made by two people will almost never taste the same. I still haven't gotten to my grandmother's level, but this batch got her approval!

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Red Rice Dosai (Savoury Pancakes) & Idlis

We are all so used to seeing golden and white dosais (pancakes) in our South Indian breakfast menus, I think it's high time we make the switch to a healthier dosai.

Dosai is a simple rice pancake made in all south Indian homes served generally with a spicy red paste, coconut chutney and sambaar (any one of them or all of them)

White rice is without the husk and without most of the nutrients and fibre. So this recipe uses red rice, keeping all the nutrients intact, instead of white.

At home we use an electric grinder which uses stones (so that the dough doesnt heat up while grinding) to grind the soaked rice and urad dal (urad bean). I have tried this recipe with an electric blender with metal blades as well and it turned out as good.

You need:

2 cups Red Rice

1 cup Urad Dal

1 teaspoon Fenugreek Seeds (Methi Dana)

Salt to taste (I would say not more than two teaspoons)

2 Bowls to soak the rice and dal

A Flat iron pan (tawa)/ non stick pan

A Ladle

A metal spatula/ a turner to flip the dosai (pancake)

Oil (usually sesame/til oil)

Everything except the salt has to be soaked. The rice and dal must be soaked separately. Wash the rice and dal and soak it in water. The Fenugreek seeds (methi dana) can be soaked with the urad dal. Soak it for 4 to 6 hours. You might have to add water after a while since the grains soak up the water.

I would suggest that the grinding should be done at night because this dough will require fermentation and you can leave it out to ferment all night and have it fresh the next morning.

Start by grinding the urad dal and methi seeds. Drain out the excess water and put it in the blender. Keep it on for a while and in intervals, keep cleaning the sides of the blender so it is a uniform paste. You will notice that the urad doubles in quantity. Keep grinding it till it is a fine, fluffy paste.

Usually, the blender is not big enough to accommodate the red rice once the urad dal is done. So scoop out the urad-methi paste into a big enough vessel, we use steel, so preferably an opaque vessel.

Next comes the rice. Blend it little bit at a time if 2 cups seems like a lot and again make sure it's a fine paste. Mix both the pastes and you're ready to let it ferment. Just stir it enough for it to seem equally blended, cover it and keep it out for the night or for about 8 hours. The salt should only be added the next morning after fermentation, since salt inhibits fermentation.

The next morning it should smell different and should seem like it has risen. You can start using it immediately after adding the salt and mixing it a bit, keeping the rest in the refrigerator for future use.

To make the dosai, heat a flat iron pan. To start with, us South Indians usually make a small dosai using about 2 teaspoons of dough, mainly to test the dough, the pan and to heat it uniformly. You can splash some oil around this tiny one.

Once the dosai can be over turned easily means it has cooked on one side and needs to be flipped over so both sides are cooked.

This takes a bit of practise and getting used to, specially if you don't make dosais often or are doing it for the first time.

Once the testing is done, use a big ladle to scoop out some dough and pour it in the center of the

hot pan. With slow, circular motions in a single direction, spread out the dough into a flat dosai, so it looks something like the picture on the right.

Using a teaspoon spread some oil around the edges of the dosai and let it cook for sometime.

Flip it over to the other side when the edges look cooked and crisp. It's important to keep the flame / temperature low and at a constant.

Once it becomes darker and crisp on both sides it is cooked and ready to be served. Usually it is served with a dry red powder called 'molaga pudi' (I call it gun powder) made with a mix of dals, sesame and red chillies dry roasted and ground coarse. The molaga pudi is served mixed with sesame oil to make it into a wet paste. It can also be served with sambaar and a coconut chutney which uses raw mature coconut scraped out of the shell (1 cup) and ground with green or red chillies (1 or 2 depending on your spice tolerance level) and salt, then garnished with some roasted mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. A nice addition to the chutney is some raw mango when it is in season.

It's just as easy to make the red rice dosai and its so much more healthier.

I tried steaming the same batter to make mini idlis (steamed rice cakes) and they turned out awesome.

I was recently told that Namdhari Stores in Bangalore stocks RedRice Dosa and Idli Mix under the brand name Navdarshanam. So all the Bangaloreans who think the grinding process is too much, no more excuses! (Thanks for the tip Veena)

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