Chembin Thalu (Taro stem) Thoran

Ingredients:

• Taro stem 2
• Coconut 1 cup
• Mustard seeds
• Turmeric pdr 1/4 Tsp
• Curry leaves
• Chilly 2 to 4
• Shallots 3
• Salt
• Oil

Peel off the skin of the taro stem and chop it well. Mix it with salt and keep it aside for 15 mins. Then squeeze it well. Grind together coconut, green chilly, shallots and turmeric pdr. Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Then add curry leaves and coconut mix into this. Saute it for few mins and put chopped stem into this. Combine it slowly and cook it.

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Shortbread with a Citrus twist

Ingredients:

• Maida 1 1/4 cup
• Cold butter 1/4 cup
• Lemon peel 1 Tbsp
• Sugar 4 Tbsp

Preheat oven to 325 deg F. In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar and the lemon peels. Mix the cold butter with the flour and form a ball and knead until smooth. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls until they are 1/4 inch thick. Bake for 15 to 18 mins or just until bottoms start to become brown and centers are set. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool.

[Recipe courtesy: Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Cookie Book]

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Chettinadu Chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken 8 to 10 piece
• Saunf (fennel seeds) 1 Tsp
• Turmeric pdr
• Shallots 1/4 kg
• Dry chilly 10 to 15
• Coriander leaves
• Curry leaves
• Tomato 2
• Water
• Oil 
• Salt

Marinate chicken with turmeric pdr and salt. Heat oil in a kadai and saute saunf, splitted dry chilly and curry leaves. Then add sliced shallots into this and roast it well. When it turns brown, put chopped tomatoes and cook well. Finally add chicken, salt and little water. Remove it from fire and add chopped coriander.

[Recipe Courtesy: Vanitha]

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Nutmeg Jam

Ingredients:

• Nutmeg (outer fleshy part) 1 kg
• Nutmeg pdr 1/4 Tsp (optional)
• Sugar 3/4 kg

Clean and cut the outer fleshy part of nutmeg into small pieces. Then pressure cook it using little water. After cooling down, grind it well  and transfer it to a thick bottom vessel or non-stick kadai. Cook it in high flame  for few mins and add sugar into it and reduce the flame. Stir it continously without burning it. When it thickens and reaches the consistency of a jam, add the nutmeg pdr and mix well. Allow it to cool completely and refrigerate it.

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Rasam

Ingredients:

• Toor dal 1/4 cup
• Tamarind lemon sized
• Tomato 3
• Chilly pdr 1/4 Tsp
• Pepper pdr 1/2 Tsp
• Hing a pinch
• Cumin pdr a pinch
• Rasam pdr 1/2 Tsp 
• Curry leaves
• Jaggery a pinch
• Turmeric pdr 1/4 Tsp
• Coriander leaves 
• Mustard seeds 
• Curry leaves
• Dry chilly 3
• Water
• Oil

Soak the dal for 1/2 hr and cook it with salt and required amount of water. Add the tamarind extract into this. Then add tomato, chilly pdr, pepper pdr, hing, cumin, rasam pdr, curry leaves, jaggery, and turmeric into the cooked dal and boil it well. Season it with mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry chilly. Finally add chopped coriander leaves.

[Recipe Courtesy: Vanitha]

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Vendakka Kichadi

Ingredients:

• Okra (Vendakka or Ladies Finger) 5
• Shallots 2 to 3
• Curryleaves few
• Mustard seeds
• Yoghurt 1 cup
• Dry chilly 2
• Salt
• Oil

Beat the yoghurt and keep it aside. Cut okra into small pieces and shallow fry it in coconut oil. Then add this fried okra and required amount of salt into the yoghurt and mix well. Season it with mustard seeds, curry leaves, shallots and dry chilly.

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