PIDI ULARTHIYATHU

Watching a cookery show is one of my most favourite things to do,when I am doing something that does't require my full concentration.Maybe,I should rephrase it. Listening to cookery show is one of my most favourite thing to do, when I am cooking.It's usually for the background noise and at times, when my favourite show is on,I pay attention to see if it's a repeat show. If it is a repeat, then I just continue with my work . Otherwise, I stop everything that I've been doing and make sure that I soak up all the stuff they are demonstrating. Some of them stay on my mind,while most of it evaporate.

The other day, while I was browsing for some videos for Ian, I chanced upon a cookery show hosted by Mrs. Lakshmi Nair. She was one of the judges when I participated and reached the finals of Vanitha Pachakarani, back in September 2008,even before my food blog was born!I was just 22 then... very soon I'll be hitting a big number! Don't guess it, I'll tell you about it when the time comes ;-)That's when I made Mini Cheese Pasta Rolls,the only entry that I've shared on my blog.

Remember the Lamington Towers that I made for Jobin's birthday, long back? It was her recipe. It's one of the most popular recipes on my blog. It is one of my personal favourite too!

So, in that video she was showing a twist on our usual Pidi. She called it Kozhukkatta though. One thing that caught my attention was the ratio of rice flour to water that she used. She used 2:1 ratio for rice flour to water but I think it was a genuine mistake even though she mentioned it twice, because it would be mushy and almost soupy.

When I decided to give that recipe a try, I went ahead with the 1:1 ratio that we generally use for Kozhukkatta. Everything worked fine and the dish turned out very well. As such, I am a sucker for Mezhukkupuratti's,so this recipe is going to be one of my favourites! The aroma and flavour of this dish is,well,nothing short of amazing!Just like how she mentiones in her video, this would pair well with a Kattan Kaapi / Chaya on a rainy day.

PIDI ULARTHIYATHU
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
1 cup fine rice flour / Idiappam - Pathiri podi
1 1/4 cup water
Salt to taste

4 -5 pearl onions /1 small red onion
3-4 cloves garlic
10-12 dried red chilies
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 cup coconut oil

Method: In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil along with salt. Add the rice flour and stir well it form into a dough. Turn off the heat and keep the saucepan aside. After 5 minutes or when it is touchable,knead the warm dough for 10-15 times or until it's smooth. Form them into 30 tiny dough balls and steam on medium high heat for 10 minutes.
In the meantime,crush together pearl onions,garlic and dried red chilies. In a saute pan,heat the oil and once hot, add the mustard seeds and let it pop. Add the curry leaves and let it sizzle for 10 seconds. Then,add the crushed paste and saute for a minute or two,till the raw smells goes off.Check for salt. Add the steamed Pidi's  to it and saute well, till the Pidi's are well coated with the crushed masala. Turn off the heat,cover it with a lid and let sit for a while for the Pidi's to absorb the flavours. Serve warm.

I served it for dinner last night and we enjoyed it. When I tasted them as soon as I turned the heat off, I felt there was something missing. No, it wasn't the salt.The Pidi's didn't absorb the flavour of the crushed masala. So I let it do it's own thing for a while. When I went back to it after half an hour,precisely after taking photographs for my blog, it tasted very different and so good!That's why I've mentioned in the recipe to let it sit for a while before eating it. Do give it a try when you are in a mood for a change. This is a classic dish with a twist!