TIRUNELVELI RECIPES

Tirunelveli also called Nellai is a big city in the South of Tamil nadu. It is situated on the banks of the famous river Tamirabarani. It is also known as Halwa city after the sweetmeat it is famous for.

A popular recipe of Tirunelveli is Sodhi which is usually given as a treat for the newly-weds. The cuisine of Tirunelvei is a mixture of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. It has its influence from the Kerala cuisine as well. Instead of sugar people use much of palm-sugar.

AKKARA ADISAL RECIPE

Ingredients Rice 1/2 cup Milk 6 cups Sugar 1 3/4 cups Ghee 4 tbsp Cashews Badam   Raisins Elaichi powder
Method Cook rice in the cooker directly, with 1 cup water and 2 cups milk. Once the cooker can be opened, add more milk and keep cooking, till it becomes creamy and thick. Add sugar and cook for a few more minutes. Finally add the fried cashews, raisins and badam and all the ghee and sprinkle elaichi.

ADHAI RECIPE

Ingredients Rice 1 1/2 cup Urad dal Toor Dal Channa Dal Whole green moong Red chillies   Green chillies Hing Salt
Method Take ½ cup each of the dal and soak for a few hours. Grind coarsely with the chillies, add salt and chopped curry leaves. Add hing finally and mix well. Finally, spread on tawa like dosa and serve with chutney or yoghurt.

VAZHAKKAI KOOTU RECIPE

Ingredients Raw Bananas 3-4 Coconut 1/4 lid Channa Dal 1 tbsp Tamarind small ball Sambhar Powder 2 spoons Curry leaves
Method Cook the dal in a bit of water and when half-done, add chopped raw-bananas. Add hing, turmeric powder, sambhar powder and the tamarind paste. Fry the coconuts in a little oil and when the bananas are cooked add the coconut to it. Finally temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves. This makes a nice side dish for more-kuzhambu, especially if the more kuzhambu is made with ripe mangoes.

TIRUNELVELI SAMBHAR RECIPE

Ingredients Lentils 1 cup Onion 1 big Tomato 1 small Tamarind small ball Asafoetida 1 pinch Green chillies 2 Sambhar Powder 2 tbsp Turmeric Powder little Salt to taste Sliced Radish 1/2 cup For Seasoning Vegetable oil 3 tbsp Mustard seeds 1/4 tbsp Urad dal 1/4 tbsp Fenu Greek 6-7 seeds Curry leaves little To Grind Grated Coconuts 6 tbsp Cumin Seeds 1/2 tbsp

Method Pressure cook the Thuvar dhal with Radish until it becomes mashed. Keep it aside. (3 whistles will be enough). Cut the onion, tomato, & green chillies. Extract the juice from the tamarind. In a pan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, fenu greek seeds, urad dhal. Let them to crackle. Add curry leaves. Now add the onion, tomato, & green chillies. Fry them until it becomes little soft. Add the tamarind extract, turmeric powder,asafoetida & sambhar powder. Add the salt to taste. Let it to boil for 3 minutes. Add mashed thuvar dhal, & radish. Mix it well. Then add the ground paste. Boil it for 5 - 10 minutes. Sambhar Ready! Garnish with some corriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice (or) Idli (or) Dosa (or) Vada.

TIRUNELVELI HALWA RECIPE

Ingredients Whole wheat 250 gms Sugar 1 kg Ghee 350 gms Boiling Water 8 cups Cashew 1/2 cups Cardamom powder 1 tbsp Saffron Powder a pinch

Method Wash & soak whole wheat or rawa in plenty of water for 5-6 hrs. Drain & grind with 1 cup of water in a mixi. Squeeze to get the milk. Repeat this procedure 3-4 times more with a fresh cup of water every time & squeeze the milk thoroughly. Allow the liquid to settle, undisturbed for 6-8 hrs. Then pour out the clear liquid as far as possible, retaining only the thick milk. Make a syrup of the sugar with 2 cups of water. Add 2 tbsp milk, boil . When one-string syrup is reached, add the thick milk, stirring well. Add saffron colour mixed in 1 tsp of water to get the required shade of colour. Keep stirring the mixture on a low fire. Keep water boilng ready . When the mixture starts thickening, add 1 cup of boiling water & cook. Add 2 tbsp of ghee. The mixture will again start thickening .Repeat the above procedure in the same order till you have used up all the 6 cups of boiling water. The halwa gets thoroughly cooked to a very soft texture. Now it will become a mass . Add cardamom powder & cashewnuts. Stir continuously so that ghee starts gradually oozing out. Now empty on a greased plate. Serve hot or cool & cut into pieces.

SODHI RECIPE

Ingredients Coconut milk 1.5 Ginger grated 2 tbsp Moong Dhal boiled with one pod of garlic 1/2 cup Lime/Lemon juice 1 tbsp Carrots 1 Drum stick 1 Potato 1 Onion 1 Cabbage 1/4 medium size Ground Mixture Grated coconut 1 tbsp Cumin seeds 1/4 tbsp Green chillies 2-3

Method Take the 1/2 can of coconut milk and dilute it in water to make one can and let the vegetables cook in the diluted coconut milk. In the meanwhile take the juice of the grated ginger and set it aside. Grind the ingredients of the ground mixture. When the vegetables are tender add the ground mixture and 1/2 can of coconut milk and let it cook for some time. (remember to cook all this in medium to medium low flame). Now add the cooked dhal ( mash the dhal and garlic well) and the remaining 1/2 can of coconut milk. Just before you switch off the stove add the ginger juice and cook for a minute and take it off the stove When Sodhi cools down add salt and lemon juice and temper with mustard and urad dhal Note: Try not to heat the sodhi and have it with piping hot rice. Sodhi is normally made for lunch as it is a very heavy dish, but it taste awesome the night it is cooked and goes well with plain idiyappam.

GINGER RELISH RECIPE

Ingredients Ginger cut int tiny pieces A handful Tamarind size of lemon Corainder leaves 1/4 tbsp Red Chilly 4 Grated coconut 4 tbsp

Method In oil saute the ginger till it turns brown Fry the red chilly, Coriander seeds and coconut gratings separately Grind the ginger along with the items that were fried separately. Add the thick tamarind extract and salt and let it blend for a second. In a pan with 2 tbsps oil, temper mustard seeds, Uradh dhal and add the mixture and let it boil for a atleast an hour in medium low. Just before you take it off the stove, add a tbsp of jaggery. This relish is definitely made with Sodhi not only coz they pair up well, but because ginger is good for digestion.