Lemon Rice Adventures

Last week I made a delicious version of lemon rice. As usual with most Indian foods there are many variations, mine was pretty lemony since the rice was about 1 cup less than the recipe called for and I am very liberal with my spices.

Lemon Rice

rice - 6 cups cooked
lemon juice - 6 tbsp
green chili - 3 tsp sliced
ginger - 1 1/2 tsp chopped
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
salt - 1 1/2 tsp
vegetable oil - 3 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
chana dal - 3 tbsp
curry leaves - 10
fresh coriander - 3 tbsp chopped

Boil the rice ahead of time and soak the dal overnight.

Mix the lemon juice, salt, and turmeric, then sprinkle over the rice, coating each grain. In oil fry the dal, curry leaves, mustard seed, chilis, and ginger. Once the dal is golden brown remove from heat and incorporate the fry mixture into the rice.
Add the coriander and mix again. Ready to serve and enjoy.

Carrots and Beans

Todays adventure is my second version of a Carrot Poriyal. Basically it is just an arrangement of vegetables chopped into really small pieces and cooked with spices. I had some leftover carrots and beans from my sambar the other day, which ended up being about 3 liters of sambar! We still have leftovers. In my little kitchen where the gas double burner takes up half of the counter space I've been chopping away inspired by the arduous life that most women here lead. Unknown and unappreciated by many, caring for a household of hungry kids, husbands, and relatives is really a lot of work. Granted their experience lasts a lifetime and mine is only temporary, it is useful in having a better understanding of what the heck is really going on here.
Bon Chance! (since we are in Pondicherry after all)

Carrot Poriyal

Carrot - 4 Nos
string beans - 2 handfuls
Onion - 1 No
Green Chillies - 1 or 2 Nos
Coconut gratings - 2 tablespoon (optional)
Curry leaves - 10
Oil - 2 tbsp
black mustard Seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
Jeera - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon

Peel the carrots and cut it into small pieces. Cut the string beans into small pieces. Chop the onion and green chillies. Put the oil in a pot. When it is hot add the black mustard seeds and when it pops up add the urad dhal, rye powder (aka cumin) and fry till urad dhal turns light brown. Add chopped onion, green chillies along with curry leaves. Fry till the onion turns transparant. Add carrot pieces and mix well. Add salt, sprinkle a handful of water and close with lid. Cook in low flame till the carrot is soft. If you want then add coconut gratings and mix again and remove from stove.

Birds Chirping

Madras Rasam

* 200g tomatoes
* tamarind - lemon sized soaked in hot water
* 20g garlic
* 4 glasses of any dal stock
* 4 green chilies
* 1 bunch of cilantro and curry leaves
* 1/4 tsp turmeric
* Salt to taste

For rasam powder:
* 20g coriander seeds
* 10g pepper corns
* 5g cumin seeds
* 2 red chilies


Mix the tamarind water with crushed tomatoes and garlic, dal stock, green chilies, turmeric, salt and mix well. Keep aside. Roast the ingredients of rasam powder without any oil and blend to a fine powder. Add this powder to the above tamarind water and mix well. Also add curry leaves, cilantro leaves and boil on heat until bubbles form in the mixture. Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice.

A musical mix flutters through my kitchen window while I venture into another day of cooking and job searching. My one bedroom apartment is caddy corner to the forest green and white painted mosque. The owner of my apartment Shagul is also Muslim and fortunately, for my sanity, obsessively compulsive about maintaining the apartment and amenities. I am quite privledged to have a refrigerator, gas stove, television, internet connection, running water, a shower and western style toilet. After persistent searching by my significant other, our rent price is a reasonable $180/month. My stairs are not passable by the new average American waist size, but maybe that is a good thing.
Giant black crows overpopulate my neighborhood mimicking the breeding habits of the local population. Their cawing interrupts the Spanish music playing on my itunes. My doorbell chirps ironically copying with near exactitude the caws of the crows. This is the new place I call home.
From my roof I can see the pool of smooth green water and the interior of the mosque. Devotees pat their hands against the water and cover their face exuding a coolness that opposed the intense heat of the hot, dry summer. A tap at the brown door marking my entrance is always leaky and water rushes in the morning as the neighborhood kids connect plastic tubing to help their mothers with the sunrise chores. The alley is always wet as I see the ground first upon opening the door in the morning yearning and almost praying for rain. Supposedly during this time of year if it does rain it is typically hotter than the climate before the rain, which I think is another great local superstition, but the humidity does make things quite sticky.
This afternoon we will test my Madras Rasam experiment out and see if it tantalizes like the local recipies. Last week I made an interesting Vegetable Jalfreze with ketchup instead of tomato sauce and it was so hot, even for South India standards. I am keeping a nice stock of green and dried red chilis which i am not frugal with. New posts of past recipes to follow.