This is one of the delicious and hot side dish that can accompany any rice item. In this summer, it would be perfect to have curd rice with mor milagai. Here I am going to explain the procedure for preparing it. 

Ingredients:

Green Chillies - 1 kg

Thick Curd - 1 1/2 litres

Fenugreek seeds - 50 gms

Salt - adjustable

Method:

Get the chillies and wash it properly. Slightly cut in the middle and not fully. This will let the chillies absorb the curd. 

Add salt to this chillies and keep it aside for the whole day. 

For this mor milagai preparation, my mom used prepare the curd at home and wont use the store bought one. Because she will get the thick curd with much cream/butter in it, which will reduce the heat of the chillies. 

Whip the curd and get a thick buttermilk (along with the butter).

The same day night add the curd to the chillies mixed with salt.

Close the vessel with a lid for three days by mixing it inbetween at regular intervals like 6 hrs. 

After that sun dry it during the day time on a plastic sheet. And in the night time put it in the same vessel having the buttermilk. This time the chillies will absorb more buttermilk. 

This has to be done until the chillies absorb the entire buttermilk. Then for a week we have to sun dry it. It again depends on the temparature level of your city. 

Store in a container for an year. 

How to consume it?

In a kadai add 2 tbsp of oil and fry this mor milagai. Serve it with sambar/curd rice. 

My grandma still used to fry this with castor oil, inorder to reduce the heat of the chilleis we consume. 

I am republishing it for the Festive Food: Summer Treat event counducted by Priti

I believe everyone will be aware of the medicinal value of this Bitter guard. We do prepare fryums out of this. This will take a week to complete the process. I am giving the exact proportions which I used this time.

Ingredients:
Bitter Guard - 2 kgs
Curd - 2 litres
Green Chilies - 100 gms
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
Salt - As per taste (it should be slightly high as it has to be stored for months)

Method:

Firstly cut the bitter guard in round shape. Don't slice it so thin. While drying it will shrink, so slice it accordingly.

Add the salt and keep it closed for 12 hrs. Next day add the curd to it and mix well. Again marinate it for about 1 day. 

Grind together the chillies and cumin seeds to a smooth paste. Add it to the marinated bitter gourd.

Sun dry it in a plastic sheet for about a 4-5 days, depending on how fast it gets dried up. Store it in a air tight container. 

In a kadai, add oil for frying (amount required for roasting pappad). When the oil gets heated up, add these dried bitter guard and roast it till it becomes crispier. Don't roast too much as it will leave a bitter taste. 

Tip:

Don't use too much of oil for frying this, as the oil also will get the bitter taste after frying. Its better to fry once in a week or once in four days and store in a container, so that there is no need to waste oil. This again depends how much you love this fryum and how frequent you take it. 

This will serve as a good side dish for sambar rice and curd rice. 

I am republishing it for the Festive Food: Summer Treat event  hosted by Priti

As soon the winter goes off, women in rural Tamilnadu will have two major tasks to start. One is buying groceries like all the dhal, spices, Red chillies and tamaraind, for the whole year, process it and store it in big containers. Why they do is like, when you buy it in this season you will get them at cheaper rates as they order it every year from the direct vendors. The prices of the same commodities will go high in the upcoming days. Women in metros wont even be knowing it, either they will buy it every month or they will have somebody in rural to do it. 

Ok the next task is the preparation of Rice Fryums (Arisi Vathal), Veg Fryums(Pavakkai, Kovakkai vathal)  and More Milagai. They prepare it at home and store it for the entire year. Every summer I used to goto my granny's place and there she is used to prepare all these. 

As the winter has gone, me and mom decided to do some fryums at home. I have given the name as Homemade Fryums Series as I am going to post all the vathal's one by one as we prepare. Hope you all will enjoy this series. 

This is the recipe for Rice Fryums. 

Ingredients:

Par Boiled Rice - 4 cups

Green Chillies - 10

Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak the rice in water for four hours and grind it to a smooth paste. This has to be done the previous  day night. This is done for fermentation. 

The next day, take a big bowl and boil some water in it. Grind the green chillies in a mixer to a smooth paste. 

Once the water starts boiling, add this chilly paste and salt. Slowly pour the rice batter into it, with constant stirring. You should be stirring it continuously as it may stick to the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is cooked, add the cumin seeds and stir well. 

Switch off the stove and allow it to cool. When it gets cooled the porridge will become thick enough. The batter should not be too thick like we prepare for murukku but also not so watery. 

Take a big towel, usually a dhoti or a white saree. Wash it and keep it wet. Spread it in on the floor. Take a portion of the batter, put it in a murukku press and press it with your desired shapes over the saree. 

This should be dried up in hot sun for about 2 days. After each day, fold the saree in the night and keep it inside. The next day you again dry it. After the second day of drying, sprinkle some water over the saree which you have folded. Once the water is absorbed, peel out each vathal from the saree. 

From the next day onwards, you can dry it in a paper or a plate. This drying has to happen for 2 more days at least. Moreover it depends on the temperature in your place. Once it is dried up fully, store it in a air tight container. 

I couldn't manage to get the pictures of the entire process. Will do it for the next vathal, which I will post shortly. 

After frying this can be served as a very good side dish for sambar rice and rasam. 

I am republishing it for the Festive Food: Summer Treat event hosted by Priti