Dusted,Cleaned and Alive !!!
Lakshmi

Hi Friends,
I know my blog is trying to replicate a haunted house for the past 2 years. Well things got complicated a little bit like getting married and had to work for a cruise ship as a photographer. But my love and quest for food had just gotten more magnum than before. For new people, I guess that is gonna be everybody let me re-telecast the whole episode of my blog. I am Priya and am writing this blog under my mom’s name Ponnuthai Ramakrishanan aka Lakshmi. The profile picture you see in the blog is of course my sweet mom and the whole stuff I write here is full and full dedicated to my mom. The blog like all the regular food blogs will have the good food I had eaten from star restaurants to the street food and definitely my mother’s recipes from A to Z and itsy bitsy recipes that I had tried and worked out and good enough to eat and walk alive. My final Conclusion is that MY BLOG IS ALIVE !!!
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Marvelous Potatoes....
Lakshmi

The Celebrity vegetable all over the world goes to the highness “ POTATO”. This one veggie can make any individual think of more than 5 recipes within a sec. Let me think all recipes that strike within this one sec….hmmm…yes…obviously the Master piece the French fries, Potato Wedges, Aloo (Potato) Fry, Aloo Chat, Bombay Sandwich, Cutlet, Samosa, … Wow for a sec this list definitely goes on. This starchy veg is rich in Potassium of course the Carbs and the skin is rich in Vitamin C. Potato skin roast yummyyyy….
Potatoes in Indian version style make any dish to be gorged in. I am going to write about my Mom’s version (of course) and little bit of my own version with a twist. My Mom’s version is of typical South Indian style and mine is of total confusion version. If u guys want to try my version please taste it and let me know in which category it falls ;)
Potato Fry:
This one is a very regular Indian recipe that you can always Google up.
Cut the potatoes into small cubes fry them in oil in little oil, add some chilli powder, little asafoetida and salt to taste. This one goes really good with Flat breads and Curd rice. Now this recipe with a twist, add a little of chat masala & mix it up well. Slice the onions in juvenile, chop up some green chillies. Take a roti/chapatti, spread some butter generously layer the onions then the potato fry sprinkle little chilli and chat masala. Roll it up and cut it diagonally. You have a Desi wrap, if you feel the heat of the spices or chilli is high layer the wrap with a dollop of hung curd/yoghurt. Serve the wrap with cucumber, carrot and cabbage salad mixed with lemon juice. DIVINE…..
MOM’S Version of Potato fry:
Ingredients:
3 boiled potatoes,
10 chopped small onions
1 teaspoon of Chilli powder
1 teaspoon of Fenugreek Powder (roasted & grinded)
1 teaspoon of Tamarind water
¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds
Oil & Salt
Method:
Dice the boiled potatoes.
Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle up.
Add fenugreek and asafoetida. Fry till the aroma hits the whole kitchen but don’t let it turn dark. Stir it for about 1 min.
Add the chopped onions; fry them till they are transparent.
Add the chilli powder and stir them, after 2min add the tamarind water.
Add the chopped potatoes and mix them. Mix the potatoes and make sure that all the cubes of the potatoes soak up the sauce.
Add salt to taste.
Turn off the heat and mix in some curry leaves and serve.
This is my mom’s version and no way I am going to change that. Call me sentimental likewise I care because that’s all this blog is about ;)

Potato Cheese balls:
1 cup of Mashed potatoes
½ cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (Britannia’s has amazing explosion of flavour)
Green Chilli (Optional)
Oil & Salt

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and roll them into small balls.
Fry them in oil till they turn to golden brown. Serve ;)

Potato Skin:
Scoop up the inside of the potatoes. Use the skin part and brush in some oil and toast them in the oven for about 5 to 10 min depending on how crispier you want.
Take it out from the oven and fill it with salsa (Onion, tomato, coriander and lemon juice mix).
Seriously, this dish makes you feel totally jealous and I MEAN JEALOUS because you will never ever share it anyone. It is a great starter for home alone dinner.

Potato Burger/Potger for one person (My version):
This one is for people who are long lost related to DIET & NUTRITION.
Ingredient:
1 cup mashed potatoes
¼ cup Butter
Salt and pepper
Onion rings
Cucumber
Mint chutney
Tomato Chilli sauce
Cheese
Chat powder

Method:
Mix the mashed potato, salt, pepper and butter. Make them into small patties.
In a pan heat some butter and fry each side till they are in golden Color.
Take a fried patty spread one with mint chutney and the other with tomato chilli sauce.
Layer onion rings & Cucumber in the mint chutney spread patty. Sprinkle little chat powder.
A layer of cheese (optional).
Close it with the tomato chilli sauce layered patty.
Serve it hot.

Every bite is an explosion of flavours and best for tea time snack. A bite of potger and sip of chai. A pleasurable sin.
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Soft Idli's,mild Chutney and spicy Sambar...
Lakshmi
Being a perfectly qualified lazy bone...7 o'clock is really an early start of the day. But I never ever set my alarm for 7 a.m., so the cause for my senses to get alarmed definitely has to be food =). Since the food alarm started ringing, there is no choice other than diving into the gorgeous food.

Kick start the day with a cup of Coffee is BIG “NO” from my mom. According to my mom never have a cup of coffee in an empty stomach as it can lead to quite a lot of health problems. Hence the breakfast arrives =D
I would definitely like to praise my Dad for keeping the dining hall very near to the kitchen…the aroma of the food kindles the hunger from nowhere.

An aroma of steamed idlis along with the crackling sound of mustard seeds followed. What a mesmerisation before gorging in!!!  My sweet mom served me with 3 idlis with coconut chutney and a small bowl of Sambar. For a regular person it is just a normal breakfast but for a huge foodie like me even an Onion is the best thing to eat. So definitely, the idly and sambar is an absolute great food for the beginning of the day.

The concept of eating idly,chutney and sambar is not practised perfectly these days. I remember once on a holiday we dined in a 3 Star Hotel for Breakfast and they served us idlys and dosas with fork and spoon.I guessed immediately why the hotel lacked the other 2 stars. For idlis the fork or spoon was fine and good but for a crispy dosa a fork and knife!!! But sticking on to my father’s strict table manners I still managed to eat the idly in a typical way like an artist managed his painting.

I cut the idlies into bite size pieces with the fork and pierced the fork in the soft idly. The idly was touched with the mild coconut chutney and drowned with sambar. Despite the glare from my dad,I slided the idly along the colors of chutney and sambar. WOW!!!  But still it missed something…

Getting back to my mom’s delicious platter of idly, chutney and sambar the magic is always present. Luckily I ate to my idly without a fork and table manners. I took a piece of idly and swirled it in the chutney and made my idly swim in the sambar. After popping idly into my mouth the MAGIC begins!!!

The blast of flavours I was speaking that lagged in the hotels. A mild sweet and salt taste of the idly was beautifully blended with coconut chutney with an hint of garlic and an small spice traced along  with the sambar.The magic is of course my mom’s LOVE when she gave me.

Making an idly is never a difficult task but the batter has to be perfect to make a soft and fluffy idly. Idly batter proportion if not made correctly then the idlies can turn into a flat or hard idly. Not only the batter proportions but it has to be steamed correctly too. If anything is missed then idly is surely to be in a position to be sold as a paste or as a rock that can be surely thrown at someone who complaints about your idly.

IDLY BATTER PROPORTION:
4 cups Pulungal Arisi or Idly rice
1 cup Ulatham parrupu or Urad Dal
Combine and soak them overnight. Grind them. Keep the batter out for 4 hours for fermenting and then store them in fridge.


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Madras Filter Coffee
Lakshmi

Sunday...a day to laze around the maximum. But I need my strong degree or filter coffee to move my day. Moving slowly to the kitchen and the hand simply wavering around cupboard not knowing where the coffee container is kept. My eyes open with a jolt after successfully finding the coffee container in the blind hunt.

The smell of coffee hits your brain so fast that it makes so impatience to have the cuppa the next minute. But a filter coffee needs to be made with quite some patience. So to test my patience I just take a tumbler, go to the next door mami’s house and ask her for a good wonderful cup of agmark Iyer house Coffee. Thanks to mami that I had a delicious dark strong coffee with a rich aroma spreading around the whole house like a room spray.

My mom and myself being a coffeeholics it’s a great challenge and insult for not making a perfect Filter Coffee. But Next door Mami happens to be just a pro in it and of course very sweet for providing me free coffee’s whenever I ask her.

Not many people knew that grinding the coffee ingredients is been kept as a major secret that is been transferred for generations. Sounds silly eh…but that’s the fact.

I have begged and pleaded mami to give the correct proportion for the coffee ingredients. But she just neglected, so after taking an final decision I made her my version of filter coffee…behold I got Mami’s correct proportion for perfect Degree coffee(She barely had a sip of my filter coffee. I should have done this a lot earlier).

To make a perfect the coffee powder the ration of coffee and chicory has to be correct. According to mami she mixes them up in 60:40 of grade A dark coffee bean and chicory then grinds them up.







Madras Filter Coffee: (For one person)
2 Cups of grinded coffee powder
1 Cup of Milk
2 teaspoons sugar
Procedure:
Using the percolator/filter put 2 heaps of coffee powder into it and pour boiling to the brim and close. After the decoction is ready add in the milk and sugar. Mix them well until they are frothy and pour them in the traditional tumbler – davara or else it’s like missing the essential part of having a filter coffee.


To make the perfect filter coffee, the coffee powder has to be in perfect ration of coffee berries and chicory.Roasted Coffee Pea-berry provides such an rich aroma and gives an total satisfaction in each and every sip.


After too many trails of my version of filter coffee to mami she finally ended up giving the preparation of coffee powder she uses for her filter coffee.The way she said the making of the coffee powder made me to dance in trance as if the coffee was playing its tunes. Pea-berry and Plantation A happens to be the main ingredients. 
Pea-berry is for the wonderful rich aroma of the Coffee.
Plantation A is for the thickness of the decoction. (It is advised to have a little proportion of this in coffee powder cause it has the ability to create headaches to few)


Coffee Powder Preparation:


For 1Kg:
600 gm of Pea-berry
400 gm of Plantation A
Mix them.Coffee powder ready.
You can give the measurement in any coffee grinding shops.


For 1/4kg:

300 gm of Pea-berry
200 gm of Plantation A
Mix them.For 1/4 kg the proportions can be equal too.

I know this is an huge post...but to taste the perfections some long history's have to read ;)
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