Chettinad Recipes

Ingredients

Red chilly – 15
Fish – 1/2 Kilo
Dhaniya – 1 Tablespoon
Somph – 2 Teaspoon
Khus Khus – 2 Teaspoon
Small onion – 200 Grams
Garlic – 2 Full pods
Tomato – 2 Cut into pieces
Tamarind – 1 Small lemon size
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
Curry leaves – A few
Salt – To taste
Oil – 3 Table Spoon
Karri vadagam – 1/4 of a small ball of vadagam made into small pieces
Oil – 100 ml

Method

Clean the fish well and cut them to 1/4 inch thick slices.
Grind red chillies, dhania, somph and khus khus into a fine paste.
Peel small onions and cut into half.
Peel garlic and cut into half.
Heat a vessel with oil, when hot, put curry leaves and the kari vadagam pieces, fry well, then add cut onions and garlic, once cooked, add the ground masala, when the masala is cooked well till the oil comes up, add cut tomatoes, when cooked add tamarind soaked in 11/2 glass water, add 1/2 spoon turmeric powder and let it boil well. When the curry boils, gravy must be thick, add fish slices, when it boils fish will get cooked. When the fish is cooked remove from the fire. Add cut coriander leaves.

Instead of kari vadagam, you can also use:
… 1/2 tsp mustard
… 1/2 tsp black gram dhal
… 1/2 tsp fenugreek
… 1/2 tsp somph

Ingredients:-
Small onions – 3 kgs.
Garlic – 1-2 kilo
Cumin seeds – 200 gms
Jheera – 200 gms
Somph – 150 gms
Fenugreek – 100 gms
Black gram dhal – 400 gms
Salt – 100 gms
Turmeric powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
Caster oil – 200 gms
Curry leaves – 1 Handful (cut very fine)

Method:-
Cut garlic and small onions into small pieces.
Grind garlic in the grinder to a fine paste. Cut onions and grind, mix well with the garlic and grind coarsely.
In an enamel or earthernware vessel mix the garlic and onion mixture with cummin seed, jeera, somph and fenugreek and salt and keep covered overnight.
Next day, grind the black gram dhal coarsely, sprinkle water and soak the dhal for 1 hour.
Mix the dhal, garlic – onion mixture, add curry leaves and turmeric powder, mix well.
Make big balls of the mixture and dry in the sun for a couple of days till quarter dry.
Then break the balls, mix 50 gms of castor oil and keep overnight.
Next day make small balls roll tight and keep in the sun.
After 2 days, take the remaining castor oil in your palms and roll each ball tight and dry them.
Keep doing this for a few days till all the castor oil is absorbed.
Dry well in the sun and store in jars.

Ingredients
Meat – 1/2 Kilo
Red Chilli Powder – 2 Tablespoon
Dhaniya Powder – 3 Tablespoon
Somph – 2 Tablespoon
Jheera – 2 Tablespoon
Khus Khus – 1 Tablespoon
Grated Coconut – 5 Tablespoon
Cashewnuts – 8
Cinnamon – 1 Inch Piece
Cloves – 3
Garlic – 1 Full pod peeled
Onions – 2 Cut into bits
Tomatoes – 2 Chopped
Salt – To taste

Method
Grind or mix chilly powder and dhania powder together with a little water.
Grind somph, jheera, khus khus and ginger together.
Grind coconut and cashewnuts together.
Heat oil in a vessel, fry cinnamon, curry leaves, cloves, cut garlic and cut onions, fry well.
Then add dhania and chilly masala, then samph, jheera masala fry well.
Add the cleaned meat pieces and fry for 15 to 20 minutes
Then add the coconut mixture and the cut tomatoes.
Pour adequate amount of water.
Add salt to taste and pressure cook.
When meat is well cooked remove and serve, garnish with chopped coriander leaves.