LIVE TO COOK

I have been preparing recipes for all the alphabets so far covered by Nupur’s A-Z of vegetables and this time I am able to post them before deadline. What a coincidence! N is for Nupur and so is for Naraththai puri and Nellimulli pachchidi.

Naraththai puri:

Naraththai is a Tamil name for a citrus fruit. As per wikipedia, the word “Orange” comes from Narangi (Sanskrit) or Naraththai (Tamil).

I searched the internet for the correct English term for this fruit, which might be helpful for my friends to find and enjoy. The description for Sour Orange resembles Naraththai more. In Tamil, we also refer to it as “Naarththangai”. In some homes, they grow this tree in their garden. But generally, we buy these. The ones that are sold in market is called “jaadhi naarthangai” and the home grown are called “naattu naarthangai”. Home grown naarththangai are bitter than the market ones. We make pickle, a condiment called “pachchadi”, and if the juice is not bitter we can make mixed rice similar to lemon rice.

We can preserve these fruits by sun drying them after curing with salt and turmeric powder. In my home town, all the houses will have a “Naarththangai jaadi” along with “Puli” (Tamarind) and “uppu” (Salt) jaadi (Clay jar). We use these sun dried naarthangai and pickles with yogurt rice. These are considered as home remedy for indigestion and bringing back the lost appetite. The sour taste of naarthangai helps in controlling nausea.

In US, I have not been able to find this fruit in the super markets. I have the sun dried ones brought from India stored in my freezer which I used to make puri.

Here’s what I did:

Took 8-10 pieces of the sun dried naarthangai and soaked in ¼ Cup of water. When they became soft, Ground them in to a paste (using the soaked water) with ½ teaspoon of salt (note that the sun dried fruits have salt), a handful of fenugreek leaves, 5-6 curry leaves, ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of asafetida and ¼ tea spoon of mustard seeds.

In a medium sized bowl, I added 1¼ cups of whole wheat flour to the paste. Mixed it well and kneaded in to pliable dough. Took a walnut sized ball of dough and rolled into 2 inch disc. Took 2 cups of oil in a frying pan and heated it till a small pinch of dough dropped into the oil returned to the surface immediately. Dropped the rolled discs carefully into the hot oil and fried till puffy. Removed it with a slotted spoon and drained it in a paper towel. This is how it looked…

 

Nellimulli Pachchidi:

Nellimulli is the Tamil term for dried amla (Indian Gooseberry). Nellimulli or Dried Amla has lots of medicinal values. It is considered as a good source of vitamin C.

 

Pachchidi is raita, a condiment made with yogurt base.

This recipe is prepared especially for “dwadashi” feast. Dwadashi is the day we end our fast called “Ekadashi vratha”.

Here’s what I did:

Took 20-25 pieces of dried amla and soaked in ¼ cup of water. When they got soft, Ground them into coarse paste with ¼ cup of fresh grated coconut, 1 green chilli, ¼ teaspoon of cumin seeds, 3 curry leaves and ¼ teaspoon of salt(If you buy salted dry amla, grind without salt).

Took the paste in a bowl and mixed it with 1 cup of home made plain yogurt, added salt to taste. Heated ½ teaspoon of oil in a small pan and put mustard seeds and asafetida in it. When the mustard seeds spluttered, poured it into the amla yogurt mixture and mixed well. This is how it looked…