Making the More for more idli.

- In cooking oil, after heating it, splutter the mustard seeds and add hing to it.

- Fry the red chillies well.

- Switch off the gas and add the methi seeds in the hot oil, since methi gets fried very

fast.

- Add curry leaves.

- Pour these into the butter milk which has been churned well.

- Fry in the remaining oil, the more milagai vatral and keep them separately.

- From the butter milk, pick the fried red chillies in your hand with your fingers add salt to

taste and under the butter milk squeeze the chillies and salt together and mix them well.

- This buttermilk should be kept in a wide shallow bowl.

Idli:

- Make ( preferably the midi sized idlis one set – 25) the idlis and while hot remove them

and slowly drop them in the buttermilk.

- After a few seconds remove the soaked idlis and lay them separately in a wide dish

without piling them up one on the other.

- The remaining buttermilk should be kept separately and poured on to the idli, just before

serving.

- Garnish the idlis with green coriander leaves and crushed more milagai vatral with your

hands.

- More idli is ready for serving.

Idli batter:

-The proportion is 3 parts parboiled rice, 1 glass raw rice soaked together.

- 1 handful of beaten rice (aval) soaked separately after sifting and cleaning.

- 1 part of urud dhal soaked separately.

_ grinding is to be done as usual. Aval should be ground with the rice.

- Either the usual idli batter or

- 2 cups of raw rice broken and 1 cup of urud dhal soaked separately and ground.

- Take care not to add too much water to the broken rice – just enough to soak it.

- First grind the dhal well. To it add the soaked raw rice, after squeezing off the excess

water with your hands.

- Grind together for about 10 minutes until the batter is homogenous. Add required salt

and allow it to rise overnight.

The next day:

In a little ghee, fry golden brown, some cashews and then raisins. Keep aside. Add a little

cooking oil in the kadai and add hing, shut off the gas and add broken black pepper and jeera to

it. Do not fry these – if you do, you will get a medicinal flavor from it.

Add these to the idli batter.

Smear small cylindrical tumblers with oil , pour the mixed batter and stand them in a pressure

cooker. You can easily keep 5 in the cooker, place a plate on it and keep another 5 on it. Pour

only 3⁄4 of each cup. They will puff up above the tumbler otherwise.

It would take at least 15 – 20 minutes to cook.

The test to see if it is ready is to drive through a wet knife inside and see. If it is not cooked,

the uncooked batter will stick to the knife.

Remove the tumblers , allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes.

With a knife slowly drive around the sides and lift the cooked kadubu gently from the bottom.

Upturn the tumbler for the kadubu to fall fully . If it breaks, it means you will have to wait for

some more time.

Serve with sambar, chutney and milagai podi.

Plan for the week

1. Sunday – Vatral kuzhambu

2. Monday – Venthiya kuzhambu

3. Tuesday – Paruppu sambar

4. Wednesday – Iru puli kuzhambu

5. Thursday - Paruppu urundai kuzhambu

Vatral kuzhambu podi

Paruppu thuvial podi

Kootu podi ( roasted) 2

• Venthiya kuzhambu podi

• Paruppu usili powder

• Milakootu podi 1

• Sambar powder

• Curry powder for any vegetable like – potato, green plantain, brinjal, lady’s

finger, paavakkai etc

• Iru puli kuzhambu podi

• Kootu podi (roasted) 2

• Curry powder

• Venthiya kuzhambu powder

• Paruppu urundai powder

• Kootu powder 3

6. Friday – Sambar – Araithu vita sambar

7. Saturday - No kuzhambu

• Sambar powder

• Curry powder

• Kootu powder(roasted) 2

• Milagu rasam

• Paruppu podi

• Kootu podi ( roasted ) – 2

Vendhiya kuzhambu:

Powder: (
1. 1 cup chenna dhal

2. 1 cup urud dhal

3. 1 cup red chillies 

4. 1 tsp methi seeds

5. 1 pinch of hing

6. 1⁄2 tspoon of mustard seeds

- In a teaspoon of oil, 

splutter the mustard seeds, 

with hing and red chllies , 

broken into small pieces. 

Fry these till chillies become 

dark red,.

- Add the rest of the 

ingredients, roast till golden 

brown.

- Powder these into a coarse 

powder like rava.

- Store the powder.

Vendhiya kuzhambu saadam:

To rice, add enough kuzhambu, and mash the rice very well, 

until it becomes like halwa.

Add til oil.

Separately in oil, splutter mustard seeds and hing and curry 

leaves/ one red chilli split and add it to the rice.

Cook on very slow heat for at least 10 minutes. 

Keep stirring all the time.

Finally add good ghee before serving.

Vendhiya kuzhambu:

1. Soak 1 lime sized tamarind in hot water.

2. In a kadai, add a little oil splutter a little 

mustard seeds and hing.

3. Add 1 spoon of regular sambar powder and 

4 spoons of vendhiya kuzhambu powder and 

roast it for a few seconds.

4. Add any cut vegetable to the powder and 

stir it (Bindi, brinjal, pumpkin any vegetable 

will do)

5. Add water to the soaked tamarind – little by 

little squeezing the imli and keep pouring the 

imli water in the kadai. 

6. When the imli has no essence in it – you can 

throw away the imli.

7. You can easily pour 5 cups of water .

8. Add haldi powder and salt to taste.

9. Let the kuzhambu boil till it thickens. 

Remove from fire and season it with curry 

leaves red chilly.

Rasam powder

1. Coriander seeds – 3⁄4 cup

2. Red chillies (long)- 20

3. Toor dhal - 1⁄4 cup

4. Channa dhal - 1⁄4 cup

5. Black pepper - 3 tbspoon

6. Cumin seeds - 3 tbspoon

1

Vattral kuzhambu powder: 

1. 1 cup urud dhal

2. 3⁄4 cup toor dhal

3. 1 cup red chillies

4. 2 table spoons of black 

pepper

5. 1⁄2 tspoon of methi seeds

6. 1⁄2 tspoon of hing powder

Powder these into a fine 

powder.

Adding washed , totally 

dried, roasted curry leaves 

before grinding, would add 

to the fragrance

Vattral kuzhambu:

- Soak 1 lime sized tamarind in hot water.

- In a kadai, add a little oil splutter a 

little mustard seeds and hing.

- Add 1 spoon of regular sambar powder 

and 4 spoons of vattral kuzhambu 

powder and roast it for a few seconds.

- Add just enough tamarind water as 

before and stir well, so that lumps do 

not form.

- Add more tamarind water, little by 

little as before.

- Add haldi powder and salt to taste.

- Let it boil until it thickens.

- Fry chundakkai or any other vatral .

- Add it to the kuzhambu just before 

serving.

Vattral kuzhambu saadam:

To rice, add enough kuzhambu, and mash the rice very well, 

until it becomes like halwa.

Add til oil.

Separately in oil, splutter mustard seeds and hing and curry 

leaves/ one red chilli split and add it to the rice.

Cook on very slow heat for at least 10 minutes. 

Keep stirring all the time.

Finally add good ghee before serving.

2

Curry powder:

1. 2 cups Toor dhal

2. 3⁄4 cup urud dhal

3. 1⁄2 cup chenna dhal

4. 2 cups red chillies

5. 1⁄2 tspoon hing

6. 1⁄2 cup black til

7. 1 cup coriander seeds 

Imp: Til (sesame) should be washed, 

stones, dust removed and dried 

very well.

Idli milagai podi:

- In a kadai, add a little mustard seeds and hing 

until it splutters, add red chillies (broken into 

pieces. The chillies should become dark red in 

colour.

- Add 1,2 and 3 and 7 and roast them golden 

brown.

- Sesame should be roasted separately .

- While grinding, grind the chillies and sesame 

together, so that it is powdered well. The 

others can be added and powdered coarse.

- Sprinkle on the cooked vegetables after 

removing from fire.

1. 1 cup of urud dhal

2. 1 cup of chenna dhal

3. 1 1⁄2 cups of red chillies

4. 1⁄2 t spoon of hing

5. 1 cup of black til (sesame seeds)

Til has to be washed thoroughly for stones, mud etc, and thoroughly 

dried.

Roast (dry)til till it splutters. Remove from fire.

Powder, til and red chillies together till powdered fine. Don’t powder 

for a long time, since the oil in the til will ooze out.

The rest of the ingredients have to be powdered coarse and mixed and 

salt to taste added.

3

Sambar

A recipe for four people

Ingredients:

- Tamarind – 1 big lime sized ball

- 1 cup toor dhal (thuvaram paruppu)

- 1⁄2 teaspoon turmeric powder.(manjal podi)

- Sambar powder 3 tablespoons

- Hing – a pinch (perungayam)

- Salt to taste

- Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon (kadugu)

- Methi seeds – 1⁄2 teaspoon (venthiyam)

- Cooking oil – 1 teaspoon

- Any vegetable suitable for sambar – ladies finger, capsicum, brinjal, radish, drumstick, - totally 

measuring 1 1⁄2 katoris full.

- Green coriander and curry leaves for garnishing

Method:

- Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes.

- In a pressure pan, on a separate stove, cook toor dhal very well with the turmeric powder added to it.– 

the whistle in the pan can blow at least 8 – 10 times.

- In a kadai or frying pan, pour 1⁄2 teaspoon of cooking oil.

- When it heats up, add half of the mustard seeds and hing.

Lower the heat

.

- When the mustard seeds splutter add the methi seeds.

- Quickly add the sambar powder, since methi can get burnt very fast.

- Fry this powder just for 5 – 8 seconds.

- Add the vegetables to the above and stir them for a minute so that they get heated in the kadai.

Put the stove on simmer.

Take care of the heat which may splash the ingredients on to your face.

- Keep squeezing the tamarind in the water and straining the pulp, pour the water in the kadai.

- Add some water and repeat the above process until the tamarind no longer gives out any of its juice.

- Add salt.

- Allow the mixture to keep boiling until the vegetables cook.

- Take out the cooked dhal. 

- Drain the water (if any) from the top portion of the dhal and keep it separately for adding to rasam.

- Mash the dhal with the bottom portion of a ladle.

- Add the mashed dhal to the boiled sambar and allow it to boil for another 5 minutes until it becomes 

homogenous.

- If the sambar is too thick, add the dhal water to it. Else use this water for rasam.

- Season in the remaining oil, the remaining mustard seeds and curry leaves.

- Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves just before serving.

- Optional: - You may add split green chillies (2) to the vegetables, if you want a spicy sambar.

- If you want to make onion sambar, peel and fry the onions before adding it to the sambar.

- You may or may not mix it with other vegetables.

4

Paruppu Urundai kuzhambu

A recipe for four people

Ingredients:

1. Vendhiya kuzhambu:

Prepare the venthiya kuzhambu according to the recipe 

given.

2. 100 gm of paruppu urundai powder.

3. Curry leaves

4. 1 tbspoon of cooking oil

5. 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

6. Hing – 1 pinch

7. 1 teaspoon of urud dhal

- Prepare the venthiya kuzhambu according to the recipe given.

- Soak paruppu urundai powder in just enough water for half an hour.

- When the dhal is soaked and soft, season it in a kadai with mustard seeds, hing and urud dhal in 1⁄2 

tbspoon cooking oil.

- The consistency of the soaked dhal should be of pouring consistency like idli batter – not liquidy

- Keep stirring the mixture on simmer until the dhal becomes thicker and bound enough to make soft balls.

It is important that the balls are soft and not tightly rounded

.

- Steam cook these balls. You should get at least small sized 15 – 18 balls.

- Remove from heat and drop them carefully in the venthiya kuzhambu.

- Let these balls boil and after about 6 – 8 minutes remove these balls and keep them separately, pouring 

some kuzhambu on them.

- Add these boils to the kuzhambu just before serving.

- Garnish with curry leaves.