Madam Krishnan’s South Indian Recipes: Heritage Cookbook, #4

By Ambrose Krishnan and Padma Krishnan

"Never cook when you are angry or grudging because the dishes will be bitter". This was what Madam Ambrose Krishnan used to preach to her children. She was a gregarious person, and always more than willing to share her food, recipes and knowledge to anyone who had an interest. To her, the most important ingredient in cooking is the love that one puts into the dish.Madam Krishnan's family hailed from Pondicherry, a French colony in South India, which was why most of her dishes had some French influence. Her husband's family was from Kerala, South India and she had to learn Keralite cooking to please her in-law's palate. Since young, Padma and her siblings had the privilege of enjoying choice cuisines from both Kerala and Pondicherry.

The recipes in this book are mainly from Madam Krishnan's repertoire of recipes, and Padma also shares some recipes that are exclusive to their family. Also included in the book are some recipes that Padma has modified and improved to give the traditional recipes a new twist and also to suit the tastes of the younger generation.

This book of South Indian recipes is compiled by Madam Krishnan's daughter, Padma. In publishing her mum's recipes, she hopes to preserve the South Indian heritage, so that the future generation can enjoy traditional, authentic South Indian dishes.

Madam Krishnan's South Indian Recipes is part of Epigram Books' award-winning Heritage Cookbook series, which showcases the best of Singapore's major cuisines through authentic family recipes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Epigram Books
• Release date: Dec 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9789810762520

Book preview

COCONUT CHUTNEY

Tempering in an Indian recipe means heating 1 tablespoon of oil in a small fry pan and adding ingredients for tempering like mustard seeds and curry leaves, then adding it to the main dish after it is cooked. This is an ancient method to seal the flavours of the dish and is currently used in all Indian cooking as specified.

Grind the coconut, green chilli, shallots, ginger and salt in an electric blender. Add in the tamarind water and continue to blend to a coarse consistency. When done, transfer it to a serving dish.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the tempering ingredients. When mustard seeds splutter, add to the chutney and mix well.

Tip

Serve with thosai (p153) or idly (p154).

GINGER CHUTNEY

Heat the gingelly oil in a frying pan. Add the red chillies, urad dhal, split gram dhal and ginger. Fry for 1 minute or till ginger is lightly browned.

Place the fried ingredients in a blender. Add the tamarind water, coconut, palm sugar and salt. Blend to a coarse consistency. Remove from blender and keep in a serving dish.

Heat the gingelly oil in a pan. Fry the mustard seeds. When it splutters, add it to the chutney and serve.

Tip

Serve with thosai (p153) or idly (p154).

CHUTNEY POWDER

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry the coconut till golden. Add the rest of the ingredients (A). Fry till golden and set aside.

Heat up a frying pan. Dry-roast ingredients (B) for 2 minutes.

Remove (B) from pan and pound coarsely. Add in ingredients (A) and pound together till oil oozes out from coconut. Add tamarind water and mix well.

When chutney is cooled, store in a clean glass jar.

Tip

Serve with thosai (p153) or idly (p154).

TOMATO CHUTNEY

Heat the oil in a pan. Fry the cinnamon, cloves, star anise and cardamons for 1 minute before adding the cashew nuts. When the cashew nuts turn golden, add in the raisins. Fry for another minute or till the raisins plump up.

Add the onion and fry till golden, then add tomatoes, rock sugar and some salt. Allow it to simmer in its own juices for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve.

PARUPPU THOVIAL

SPICY LENTIL DIP

Thovials are served with gruel or rice porridge as a condiment to increase appetite when one is ill.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the tour dhal and chickpea dhals, and fry for 1 minute.

Add in the garlic, peppercorns, dried chillies and curry leaves. Fry for another minute.

Transfer all the ingredients to a blender and add the coconut, some salt and water. Blend into a smooth paste.

Remove from blender and serve with rice.

ONION THOVIAL

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the shallots and fry till lightly brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and fry for 1 minute.

Transfer ingredients to a blender and add water. Blend into a smooth paste.

Remove from blender and serve with rice.

Tip

Serve with thosai (p153) or idly (p154).

COCONUT SAMBAL WITH DRIED ANCHOVIES

This dish from Kerala was one of my dad’s favourite dishes and he would insist that Mum use the grinding stone to prepare it.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the anchovies till crispy and golden. Set aside.

Using a pestle and mortar (or coffee grinder), pound the red chillies till fine, add curry leaves and shallots and continue to pound coarsely. Add the grated coconut and pound to mix the ingredients.

Add the fried anchovies and break it up slightly with the pestle. Add in the lime juice and some salt to taste. Mix well before serving.

Tip

This dish goes well with sambar (p116) and egg omelette (p80).

SAMBAL IKAN BILIS

DRIED ANCHOVIES SAMBAL

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the dried anchovies for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add the sliced onions and fry till soft. Add the pandan leaf and shallots and fry till they turn golden. Add the ground ingredients and fry till fragrant.

Add the sugar, salt and tamarind water. Then let it simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the fried anchovies and stir-fry till ingredients are well combined and oil oozes.

Remove from heat and serve.

Tip

Serve with prata, yellow coconut rice (p17) or thosai (p153).

EGGPLANT MOJU

EGGPLANT RELISH

Mix (A) and (B) together and blend with the vinegar to form a fine paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a deep wok. Fry the eggplant and capsicums separately till brown and set aside. Fry the ginger slices followed by the garlic, then add the fish. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes and set aside. Mix the ground paste with all the fried ingredients and set