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Recipe Contest

Monica Bhide

By Monica Bhide
in India: Cooking & Baking

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tryska

tryska

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Posted

So after a weekend of slaving over fresh asparagus and a hot stove I have decided on a winner for our Asparagus contest. This was not jsut judged by my palate, but my Non-Indian roommate's palate as well.

And the Winner is.......

Milagai with the Asparagus and Carrot Paruppu Usilli!!

Congratulations Milagai!

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Monica Bhide

Monica Bhide

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Thank you so much, judges and hosts!

I'm really excited - first time such a thing has

happened with me.

Any comments / feedback (appropriate word) /

tester's notes on ALL recipes welcome.

Milagai

Do send me your address so I can send you your prize!! You can PM or email me your address and congratulations once again!

Monica Bhide

A Life of Spice

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tryska

tryska

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I don't have any pix jackal - there was way too much going on this weekend, on top of the cooking, for me to be able to find a camera that worked. I apologize for that.

In any case - You're risotto ranked quite high up there. I was unable to find korma masala, so i used a sambar masala instead. At first i thought it wasn't such a good idea as I got an overwhelming smell of asofoetida, but that sorted itself out as the rice got creamier and the coconut cream was added.

it was very good and quite subtle.

The pakora recipes were both good and i will gladly use them for other vegetable instead, but i personally found asparagus to be too bitter to make a good pakora.

both of the asparagus and coconut recipes were good too. I really liked the sauce for whippy's recipe - it tasted very fresh. The curry powder I used for Jackal's recipe wound up being too overpowering with the turmeric - but i will blame that on the powder.

Whippy's Coconut asparagus came in second place and Jackal's risotto came in 3rd.

All the recipes were very good, and very easy to follow - however it was much like judging an Iron Chef Asparagus episode.

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whippy

whippy

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congratualations miligai! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: i totally enjoyed cooking your recipe. it was a technique i hadn't used before, so thank you for teaching me something new. the flavor was wonderful.

i have a couple of other paruppu usili recipes in a book i own by viji varadarajan, and your entry has put those recipes on my "hot list" of things to cook.

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Milagai

Milagai

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Thanks Whippy:

what veggies does Viji Varadarajan use in her paruppu usillis?

I also wonder how much her recipe differs from mine (mine

I learnt from my mother, and like any Indian recipe, there

are as many variations as there are mothers in law).

I also use green beans instead of asparagus

red bell pepper strips instead of carrots - mix and match

any / all of the above.

re technique: some people swear by spreading

the dal paste out on a plate and MW-ing till done,

for a fat free version. I haven't tried it ....

Milagai

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whippy

whippy

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miligai, viji's (her book is called samayal--the pleasures of south indian vegetarian cooking) recipes for paruppu usilis call for broad beans/avarai or capsicum. her recipes vary from yours in that she uses only toor dal, only soaks the dal for 15 minutes, then steams the ground dal for 20 minutes in a rice cooker and crumbles the result. haven't done it yet, so i'll have to see which way works better for me. i think i might prefer the way you used mixed dals.

normally i'm a champion of using as much fat in a recipe as possible, but i bet the microwave approach wouldn't actually damage things too much.

i read recipes for several thorens online and from my collection of cookbooks, and used that as the basis for the recipe. i don't own monica's books (yet), but i think she includes a recipe for a green bean thoren in her second book.

whippy

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torakris

torakris

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I really want to try this recipe (the winning one) it sounds incredible, I have a couple questions however;

what is hing powder? Does it have a different name or a substitute?

I have no access to fresh curry leaves, will leaving them out be a bad idea?

I know the fresh grated coconut is optional but could you use dried or rehydrated dried instead?

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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mongo_jones

mongo_jones

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I really want to try this recipe (the winning one) it sounds incredible, I have a couple questions however;

what is hing powder? Does it have a different name or a substitute?

I have no access to fresh curry leaves, will leaving them out be a bad idea?

I know the fresh grated coconut is optional but could you use dried or rehydrated dried instead?

hing: asafoetida. as you will find it doesn't have the word 'foetid' nestled within its english name for nothing.

if you ain't got curry leaves, you ain't got curry leaves, is how i feel. but surely there's coconut available in japan? in my own experience dried or rehydrated coconut is a faint substitute for fresh in most indian recipes that call for them. though if you have no choice i'd suggest soaking the dried coconut in canned coconut milk, or in regular milk.

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tryska

tryska

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that's what i suggest, as well tora. I didn't have fresh coconut, but i've got dried indian coconut and leftover coconut milk that i had opened for the risotto. basically i soaked the drid coconut in canned coconut milk.

also as mongo said - if oyu don't have them you don't have them. I used dry leaves myself, but my mother has a curry leaf bush at her house and always sends me sprigs from it.

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torakris

torakris

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Thanks,

besides curry leaves asafoetida is the one Indian spice I have been looking for for a while. Time to look harder :biggrin:

Unfortunately fresh coconuts are quite hard to come by here, I might run across them twice a year, I will try the coconut in cocnut milk, I looove coconut anything...... :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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