Never been a big fan of curd rice, but need that as part of menu for picnics or huge gatherings. Many times it gets assigned to me without my knowledge. My curd rice is always such a flop. What is there to it, just curd and rice? No, even that got to taste ’could I have another serving please’. Finally, got the hang of it after numerous attempts. The batch I made last evening tasted perfect at last! Here it is for my next time.
5 cups raw white rice (long grain preferred)
5 thai chillies
2″ piece ginger
Half+ gallon milk
1/4th bunch of cilantro leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste, I added about 3 leveled tsps
Oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves for seasoning
Yields about one full half tray + another half of a half tray. Enough to serve 40 people.
Boil 1/3rd gallon milk and make curd out of it the previous night. Cook rice on the softer side. I would say, add water enough to cook 7 cups of raw rice. Spread it out in a big open dish, mash slightly and let it cool. Add a full cup of water and salt to the rice followed by all that curd. Use the hand blender to coarsely grind ginger and chillies. Heat about 3 tbsps of oil and season it with mustard seeds. As soon as they start popping, add the ginger+chilli paste. Saute for a few seconds. Remember not to add the raw paste to rice. Sauteing does two things here – removes that raw taste and even more important, gets that ginger flavor and that chillies’ bang in to the seasoning oil which then spreads evenly into the whole rice. Add this and cilantro to the curd rice and mix thoroughly. At this point you might need that extra milk you set aside. It has to be in a loose dropping consistancy. The rice absorbs most of it and in a few hours it gets to that right smooth creamy texture.
My mother-in-law makes the best andhra spice powders. Karivepaaku kaaram, kobbari kaaram, senaga pappu kaaram, nalla kaaram and the list goes on. I had made some futile attempts in the past to get nalla kaaram like hers but could never get close. Yes, even with the recipe. A few days ago, DH’s Indian <Gujarati> colleague was expecting his first child and had invited us for his wife’s baby shower. His parents were visiting and during my conversation with them, his father expressed his immense liking for these andhra kaarappodis. Next day, I sent about 10gms of Nalla kaaram (one I got in 2003, from India – sorry, that was all I could spare!) with DH to this elderly man. The next day, DH came home asking me what I had asked him to pass on, who made it, how much else we have left and if we could spare some more, where else we could buy the same exact one etc., etc., My answers were a series of ‘no’s. No other powder comes close to the one that my mother-in-law makes. For this elderly man’s sake I decided to try one last time. Determined to break down the formula, I took a little of this nalla kaaram in the center of my palm and examined each and every grain of it, tasting one by one. I kind of got the ingredients; now the ratios with trial and error. By the end of next hour, I felt that mine was pretty close to the original one. I am jotting it down here so that I will never loose it. Here it is -
2 big fists Coriander seeds
1 big fist whole dry red chillies, unbroken
1 big fist washed and dried curry leaves
3 heaped tablespoons urad dal
Key lime sized tamarind ball
one big fist garlic cloves
2 tsps cumin seeds
1/2 cup oil
salt to taste (may be like 1/2 cup)
Mind you, my cup measures here are rice cooker cups and not 8oz measuring cup.
Roast coriander seeds, red chillies, urad dal and curry leaves separately, in very little oil over low-medium flame. Seeds have to turn slightly brown. Keep stirring every few seconds not to burn any of these. Curry leaves have to be crispy dry. Using the dry grind jar of your blender, grind the roasted items to a coarse powder. Add tamarind and pulse till it is torn into tiny pieces. Add garlic, cumin and salt. Pulse till garlic seemed to have coarsely crushed. Now take all of it into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the oil and adjust salt if needed. It might seem a little wet on the first day, but by the next day, it dries out considerably.
Tastes best in steaming hot rice with a blob of ghee.
These are notes for me so that I will never, never loose this wonderful recipe. I ran into this “UBC cake” which stands for Ultimate Banana & Chocolate cake. I tried this last month in my tin pans, in my toaster oven. They came out unbelievably good! That was the best banana bread I ever had. DS and DD absolutely loved them. This week, when I was at Macy’s, I saw Martha Stewart’s brand new bundt pan and I could not resist buying it. I wanted a bundt pan for years now but never bought it – simply did not want to accumulate things which lead to clutter later, because I don’t use them very often. This banana bread made me buy this bundt pan. I am making some adjustments to the original recipe to suit our taste so that I will never make the same mistakes I made this evening baking the bundt.
3 really ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
3/4 c sugar (can even try 1/2 c) 1 cup sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1 T cinnamon
1 c chocolate chips
1. Mix bananas with eggs and stir well. Add flour, sugar, soda, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well. It should be easy dropping (almost flowing) consistency.
2. Add chocolate chips into the batter.
3. Pour batter into bundt or tube pan.
4. For tin square pan, bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. But, if using nonstick, bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
Tastes best when frozen.
