Welcome aboard!

Indian cuisine is a riot of colours, flavours, and spices. Every state has its own unique culture- ingrained taste bud. And, to many of us staying within familiar tastes is a sacrosanct act. Of course an occasional trip to a speciality restaurant that serves another fare is ok. But, as a matter of routine ...at home...NO!

One of the benefits of being born to parents who dared an interstate marriage (am talking about India of the 70's) was being able to widen a regional taste bud to accept, experiment and, relish eclectic cuisines :-)

I love food! Be it traditional or fusion, cooking is all about turning out fare that is tasty and healthy.I welcome all lovers of good food to come on aboard and share your kitchen adventures.

If you like what you see, do leave a comment. If you don't, please leave a suggestion to help me make this better.

You can also request for any recipe you want. Just leave a note in a comment box.

Happy cooking!

Dershana

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Chembu asthram


Chembu (seppam kizangu/aravi/colocasia) - 250 gms
Grated coconut - 2 cups
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 teaspoon
Small onions (shallots) - 4-5 nos
Green chillies - 4-5 nos
Red chilli powder (hot cayenne pepper) - 1 teaspoon (5 gms)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic - 2 cloves
Salt to taste
Curds (yoghurt) - 2 cups

For seasoning
Dry red chillies - 4
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 5-6 sprigs
Coconut oil - 2 teaspoons (10gms)

Peel and chop the colocasia into medium sized pieces. In a thick bottomed vessel pour in about hal a litre of water and let boil. Place the colocasia in it and cook with lid covered for about 10 minutes. Remove lid and add some salt and 1/2 teaspoon of chillie powder. Cook till the colocasia is really soft.
In a mixer grind together the coconut ,Jeera , small onions (shallots), Green chillies , red chilli powder (hot cayenne pepper),Turmeric powder and Garlic. Pour the mixture into the colocasia and continue simmering for a few more minutes till the masala emits a fragrance. Take off flame.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the red chillies, crackle the mustard seeds and then add the curry leaves. Take off flame and pour into the colocasia. Keep covered till the mixture cools down a bit and then add 2 cups of curds (yoghurt) and mix well. Ready to eat with pickle.

3 comments:

Prarthna said...

hey ,

this one sure sounds yummy :-) , will try it out ...!

BTW, i found your blog via orkut and i think your recipes are very interesting, continue the good stuff .. :-)

Ashok Radhakrishnan - (ashrk at yahoo dot com) said...

I never ever expected to find the ashtram recipe on the Internet

Valare adhikam nandi!!!

was looking for what my grandma used to cook for me

Anonymous said...

thanks for posting asthram recipe...

 
Blog Blog