Idiyappam and Tomato Kurma

 Idiyappam - steamed rice string hoppers..., these idiyappams alias sevai have their origins prior to the sangam literary period (300 BC - 300 AD). Traditionally, they were and still are served with sweetened coconut milk spiked with cardamom or with a stew.

 Idiyappam is a common breakfast and dinner item traditionally steam cooked and looks a lot like Rice Noodles.

 Over the years the method of preparing has slightly changed. But the basic ingredient remained the same i.e the Rice. Finely milled rice flour is used for preparing Idiyappams these days instead of grinding the soaked rice. Preparing Idiyappams with ready-made Rice Flour is considered to be easier than the conventional method of soaking, grinding, cooking, etc., Some versions prepared using Wheat Flour, Ragi Flour, etc., can also be found.

 This comfort food has taken an important place in Indian Cuisine. Considered healthy, light, and easy in terms of cooking, eating and even it is easily digestible. Serve it with your choice of Curries, or simply serve it up with Coconut Chutney. If you enjoy eating sweets, Idiyappams tastes great with sweetened Coconut Milk flavored with Cardamoms. Or simply serve it up with freshly grated Coconuts and Sugar, Palm Sugar or Jaggery.

For a North Indian like me, Idiyappam was quite new. This is not among those popular dishes of South India which every Indian knows. Even had not seen or heard about this in the circle of my South Indian friends.

I saw it in a you tube channel cooking show and instantly loved it and wanted to prepare it, but somehow, the plan got postponed so far. Today, I decided to give it a try and prepared everything which was shown there. Will be sharing the link so that it would be easy for you guys to make this, do I have to say that this was awesome in taste

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour-1.5 cup
2. Boiling water- about one cup  
3. Ghee - tsp.
4. Salt  tsp.

Procedure:

• In a thick bottomed pan, roast rice flour on slow flame for about 3 minutes.
• Knead a tight dough with hot water and finish with applying ghee and salt.
• Let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Prepare Idli moulds by greasing them and also sevai machine.
• In cooker or pan, put 1 cup water to boil, when boiling, put Idli stand and cover and cook for about 8 minutes.
• Serve with kurma and chutney.

 

Tomato Kurma tastes good with Idiyappam.

 

How the Subcontinent learned to stop fearing new produce and learned to love the tomato

Food historians give chile peppers the most credit for spicing up India’s Post-Colombian cooking. But tomatoes, which probably arrived from the New World with Portuguese spice traders in the 16th century, were also a game-changer for Indian cuisine. While capsicums added their exhilarating rush of tingly heat, cooks would soon discover that the glossy red globes gave a sweet-tart-tangy dimension to sauces, soups, dals, and chutneys. That revelation would forever transform Indian dishes.

In time, tomatoes would invade almost every kitchen on the subcontinent and would emerge as “one of India’s most important vegetable crops.”

 Most new arrivals to the colony were men. And as Colligham points out, they married local women, spurring cultural crossovers in cooking and ingredients. Along the way, tomatoes began to show up in everyday South Indian dishes such as Kerala tomato fry, tomato kurma, and the South’s most commonly eaten soup: rasam.

 North Indians also came to appreciate tomatoes and put them into butter chicken, eggplant bharta, and other dishes that have an altogether distinct sensibility from southern ones. Tourists to South India will find the food lighter, spicier, and laced with coconut, tamarind, cloves, and with plenty of fresh fish caught along the tropical palm-fringed coasts. They’ll often find hotel breakfast buffets filled with tomato-y offerings including tomato chutney, tomato rice, and the ever-present rasam to accompany their breakfast idli (steamed rice cakes).

Tomato kurma which I prepared today was not known to me, a totally tamatari dish with some hint of Fennel seeds and raw coconut tastes good with Idiyappam.

 Ingredients:

1. Tomatoes-2 (Cut lengthwise)
2. Onion - 1  thinly sliced
3. Garlic-5-6 (Cut lengthwise)
4. Ginger-1/2" piece
5. Frozen or raw coconut-1/2 cup 
6. Curry leaves-8-9
7. Fennel seeds-1+ 1/2 tsp. divided
8. Green chillies-4-5 roughly chopped
9. Salt
10. Red chilli powder-2 tsp.
11. Turmeric powder-/2 tsp.
12. Coriander powder-1/2 tsp.
13. Oil-2 tsp.

Procedures:

1. Blend coconut,1/2 fennel seeds and green chillies with help of water. 
2. Heat oil in a pan and sprinkle fennel seeds.
3. Now add garlic and saute till they are fragrant, add ginger and sliced onion.
4. Saute till onions are tender, add tomatos.
5. Also add salt and dry spices, cook for about 5 minutes.
6. Add about  cup of water and cover and boil.
7. Lower the heat and add blended coconut, stir and cook on medium low heat for approx. 5 minutes.
8. Serve with Idiyappam. 

The link from where I learnt this to make...

Idiyappam + Tomato Kurma