Arisi Kozhaikotai

I know you could probably get it from a Meenakshi ammal type of cookbook, but this one is my amma's version and saving it for posterity! Had her make it and give me the recipe when my parents came to visit me August last year for my birthday. At the time I didn't quite realise this would be the last time appa would be coming to my home....my appa used to love food....perhaps that's my legacy from him....the highest compliment one could get from him was if he said a dish was nearly as good as if amma had made it herself!!

* 2 and a half cups idli rice
* pinch hing/asefoetida
* 1 cup grated coconut or half a grated coconut
* 1 tablespoon ginglee oil
* 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
* 4 dry red chilly
* 1 tablespoon kadala parupu
* 1 tablespoon ultham parupu
* cluthc curry leaves
* fresh coriander

1. Soak Rice with hing and salt for at least 3 or more hours
2. Grind with coconut - it should be watery/pouring consistency
3. In a kadai (vandli) roast the remaining ingredients except the coriander
4. Add the rice and coconut mixture to the kadai and cook (keep stirring) till it thickens to a dough like consistency and all the liquid evaporates
5. Add coriander and make into little oval kozhaikotai
6. Steam in an idli patharam

Arjun makes a mean coriander chutney that would go well with this....that's a broad hint to you dear chap to send it to me or add it to the post!!

Food Fetish

I love food... live for food...dream about food...talk about food...obsess about food....get my drift? I would be lost without my sense of taste. Cooking for people ....friends/family sometimes perfect strangers is a sensual experience...instant gratification...I first learnt to cook when I was 8....taught by my peripa who felt it was a life saving skill that everyone should know...barely able to reach the cooking range he propped me on a manai so I could stir the pots....from my mother I learnt to use my sense of smell to know if I had forgotten to add salt....I can't remember a time when anyone was turned down a meal at my amma's house no matter what time you arrived...she is a natural cook....I know everybody thinks their mother is the best cook in the world....in my case all who know her think she is a wonderful cook and makes sublime food....I used to hide the fact I love to cook from friends as a teenager for fear of being taken less seriously...as a nascent feminist at the time cooking seemed to be the ultimate capitulation to patriarchy...and then living abroad new vistas opened up...food was a wonderful connect with most people...I used to go to supermarkets simply to watch what people put in their shopping cart...you can tell a lot from that...if they are single or a family with kids...health conscious yuppies....if they have pets...over the years people have asked me for recipes and I figured this would be a more efficient way of putting it out there... so let the festivities begin!

Mirentxu's Salad Dressing - Mirentxu and I went to University together ....she lives in Beuno Aires and if you ever stop at her table ask her to fix you a salad....I still remember it after all these years...its simple and easy but sublime....

Ingredients:
* 1/4 spoon rock salt/maldon salt
* one or two cloves garlic peeled
* 1 generous tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
* a sprig of parsley stalks removed
* 1/2 lemon

Steps:
1. In a mortar and pestle pound garlic and salt to a paste
2. Add the parsley and pound a little to release the flavors
3. Add olive oil and lemon and mix the dressing
4. Grind fresh pepper and adjust seasoning

This dressing works well for most anything. Its light and summery and sometimes I replace the lemon with a splash of balsamic vinegar. Also a caveat the measures are approximation so you may want to play around with it till you find the balance that suits your taste buds:)