Dec 25, 2008

Poricha Kozhambu - Thanjavur Style

This is how my MIL make poricha kozhambu in our house. The main ingredients are as follows.

Ingredients:-
  1. Toor Dal - 3/4 cup
  2. Channa dal - 3 tbsp
  3. Brinjal - 4 or 5 (cut it in an inch shape)
  4. Tamarind - one small lemon sized
  5. Coriander seeds - 3/4 tbsp
  6. Fresh coconut - 1 tbsp
  7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  8. Red chillies - 2 (or according to taste)
  9. Chana dal - 1 tsp
  10. Asafoetida - a pinch
  11. Salt to taste
  12. Sambar powder - 3/4 tsp
  13. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  14. Ground nuts (peanuts) - 2 tbsp
For Seasoning:-
  1. Oil - 2 tsp
  2. Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
  3. Curry leaves
  4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch

Take a small pan, add a drop of oil and fry coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, coconut and 1 tsp channa dal with a pinch of asafoetida powder, to golden brown. Grind it and make it into a paste. Cook both Toor dal and 3 tbsp channa dal in a pressure cooker. Do not overcook the channa dal(its better to cook toor dal and channa dal one by one). Keep it aside.

In a wide pan, put the brinjal pieces, add tamarind water, sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder and peanuts. Let it boil for 10 to 12 mts. Now add the Coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 3 mts. Now add the cooked Toor dal and Channa dal to it and let it cook for another 5 mts. Take a small pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds. when it splutters, add asafoetida powder and curry leaves to it. Pour the oil into the poricha kozhambu. Now the poricha kozhambu is ready to serve. This can be a very good side dish for Dosai. My MIL usually make Thogayal with this poricha kozhambu. We use this kozhambu as side dish for Thogayal Saadam. Try this and lemme know your comments.

!! Merry Christmas !!

Dec 24, 2008

Cauliflower Curry

Cauliflower is rich in Folate, Vitamin C and Dietary Fibre. The main ingredients for this curry are as follow..
Ingredients
  1. Cauliflower - 1
  2. Tomato -1
  3. Onion - 1/2
  4. Oil - 1 tbsp
  5. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
  6. Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
  7. Red chillies -1
  8. Urid dhal - 1/2 tsp
  9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  10. Salt to taste
  11. Curry Powder - 3/4 tsp (or acc to taste) ***
  12. Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp
  13. Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
First, remove the florets from the cauliflower and put it in hot water for 2 mts. It will clean up the florets. In the mean time, chop the tomato and onion and keep it aside. Now take a microwave safe vessel, put the cauliflower in it, add 1/2 cup of water, also add salt and keep it in the microwave for 5 to 7 mts. Cauliflower is cooked now.

Now take a pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urAd dhal, cumin seeds, red chillies and asafoetida powder to it and fry it for a minute. Now add onion and tomato one by one and saute for a minute. Now add the turmeric powder and curry powder to it and stir it for another 2 mts. Now add the cooked cauliflower to it and mix everything thoroughly. Close the pan for 2 mts and let everything cook. Now turn off the stove and garnish it with the coriander leaves.

*** - I usually make curry powder and use it for making side dishes like this. Instead we can always replace curry powder with coriander powder + Red chillies powder

Dec 20, 2008

Nenthrangai Sambar

When I first heard about this sambar, I was really surprised that I didn't know people make sambar with nenthrangai (plantain). Since I am from Kerala, I have tasted nenthrangai chips which my patti used to make with coconut oil. I have tasted home made chips and also store bought chips. But sambar is something I have not tasted or tried before. We had a small vacation in Atlanta, two week back. We went to my cousin's place and his wife told me about this sambar which her mother-in-law(my mom's cousin) used to make. I wanted to try this sambar immediately after coming back to Calif. Since I was sick all these days, I couldn't make it. Today I tried. Frankly speaking my husband was not sure about the taste and was scared to taste. But atlast he tried and said it came out really well(Thank god!) Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Plantain (nenthrangai) - 1
  2. Toor dhall - 1/2 cup
  3. Tamarind - a small lemon sized
  4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  5. Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tsp
  6. Salt to taste
For Grinding:-
  1. Coconut *** - 2 1/2 tbsp
  2. Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
  3. Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
  4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  5. Red chillies - 1(acc to taste)
  6. Urad dhall - 1/4 tsp
For Seasoning:-
  1. Oil - 1 tsp
  2. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
  3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4tsp
  4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  5. Curry leaves - few
Cook toor dhall with a pinch of turmeric powder and keep it aside. Soak tamarind in two cups of water and take out the juice and keep it aside. In the mean time, fry the ingredients given for grinding, into golden brown and grind it into a fine paste. Remove the skin from plantain and cut it into medium sized cubes. Now take a pan, put the plantain pieces, add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt and let it cook for 10 mts. It may take 7 to 10 mts to cook the plantain. Stir the ingredients ocassionally. When the plantain is 3/4th done, add the grounded paste and add water accordingly to let the mixture boil for another 3 mts. Now add the cooked toor dhall to it and mix everything well. Take a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida powder, to golden brown and pour it on top of sambar. Now sambar is ready to serve.

*** - I have started replacing coconut with almonds. In this recipe we can use 4 or 5 whole almonds in the place of coconut.

Dec 18, 2008

Paavakkavathal vatha kozhambu

I started writing this recipe last week. Because of my sickness, I couldn't finish this one last week. Even now I feel like sleeping all the time and computer monitor light irritates my eyes. I don't know whats going on.. But I just wanted to finish this recipe first. Paavakka (bittergourd) is my favorite vegetable and I make something or the other with this veggie very often. This vathal I got it from a Indian grocery store and wanted to try vathakozhambu with this one. so here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:-
  1. Paavakka Vathal - 10 (depending upon the quantity of kozhambu)
  2. Tamarind - a small lemon sized
  3. Sesame Oil - 5 tbsp
  4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  5. Sambar Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
  6. Salt to taste
  7. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
For seasoning:-
  1. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  2. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
  3. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  4. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  5. Curry leaves - few
Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of water and get the thick juice out of it and keep it aside. In a pan, pre heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry the paavakka vathal to golden brown and keep it aside. Now take a wide bottomed pan, pre heat remaining oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida powder to golden brown, pour the tamarind juice, add turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt and let it boil for 7 to 10 mts so that the raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder goes away. Now add the fried vathal, jaggery to it and let it cook together for another 5 mts. A nice aroma comes out when everything is done. By adding the vathal last, the crispyness will be there. Try this

Dec 11, 2008

Zuchini Curry

This is something I learned from one of my friend here in Sacramento. She actually called this pachadi, but I would like to call this curry. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:-
  1. Zuchini - 2
  2. Onion - 1
  3. Tomato - 1
  4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  5. Curry Powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
  6. Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp
  7. Salt to taste
  8. Oil - 1 tsp
  9. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  10. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
  11. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Cut zuchini into small cubes, onion and tomato in to small pieces. Take a wide pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard and cumin seeds, add the onion to it and saute' for a minute. Now add the chopped tomato and mix it with onion and stir it for another minute. Now add the zuchini pieces, add turmeric powder, curry powder and salt and also add required amount of water to let the veggies cook. When the zuchini is 3/4th done, add the garam masala powder and stir it for another 3 mts. Zuchini takes less time to cook. Garnish it with coriander leaves. This tastes really good as a side dish with sambar rice or with chapathi.

Nov 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is a wonderful festival here in US. We don't celebrate thanksgiving in India. Of course, we have pongal, the harvest festival. But we all love the long weekend breaks and the sale in various shops, shopping, etc,. In my girls' school, they had a thanksgiving feast on monday. Every year, they used to have this feast for parents and usually the school buy half of the food and the other half, parents bring it. They can make on their own or they can buy from shops and bring it. Its their choice. This year it was pretty different and really encouraging for the parents who like to use their artistic ideas.



They have 4 class rooms in their school. This is 3 year old school opened by an Indian lady. This year, the name of the feast was "All Around the World". Each class room was assigned a country and we have to make dishes from that country and we have to arrange the table so that it goes along with the country's tradition and culture. Winning classroom will be awarded. Italy - this was my girls' classroom theme and they have 8 kids in their classroom and out of which 2 of them were from Italy (grand parents from Italy). I had never made any Italian recipes before and I did not want to mess up the competition. So I told all my other (parent) friends that I will buy Pizza.



Since we are all recovering from the cold, cough and flu, I didn't want to strain myself cooking some new dish for 20 people. One of the kid's grandmother was here and she made all the traditional Italian recipes like Pesto, Walnut-Dates cookies, Almond cookies, and one more chocolate cookie (which I forgot the name) and everything were really yummy. Other parent brought appetizer, me - pizza, other parent got Sphagetti with meatballs. One of the parent wanted to make the Gondola for the table. She really worked hard to make it. she got help from her husband making the side part of the boat, which she attached to the regular table and me and her mom helped her to cover the table with black table cloth, and used the newspapers as water and we covered it with blue table cloth and made it as a boat floating in water.


We used the plain red, white and green table cloth (from dollar shop) for the Italian flag which we hang behind the table, and we asked our kids' class teacher to take print outs of famous cities in Italy, famous personaities from Italy and we pasted it in the flag. Also, we made a small table for the stuff for which the origin is from Italy, like grapes, Zuchini, salami, spaghetti, pasta, ricotta cheese etc., which inspired the judges too. Finally, we won the first prize.

Because of the traditional recipes from Italy and the wonderful Gondola tablescape, we won this All around the world Contest. This was really encouraging and an opportunity for the parents to get to know each other and work as a group. Frankly speaking, I have never met few parents before. But this gave me an opportunity to meet them all and talk to them. Most of all my hubby dear came to the contest and he had taken a day off on monday, because it happened to be our 6th Wedding Anniversary!

Nov 25, 2008

Award

Linq.in has awarded me "Best Recipes Blog of all Time" This is really encouraging. Thanks Alpesh.

Zucchini Kootu

Now a days I have started cooking without using coconut. This is the result of what I tried with zuchini. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients:-
  1. Zuchini - 1 (chop it into small cubes)
  2. Moong dhall - 1/2 cup
  3. Toor dhall - 1/4 cup
  4. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  5. Salt to taste
  6. Channa Dhall - 1 tbsp
  7. Urad dhall - 2 tsp
  8. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
  9. Red chillies - 2
  10. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  11. Oil - 1 tsp
  12. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  13. Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp (for garnishing)
  14. Curry leaves - few
First, cook both the dhall with a pinch of turmeric powder and keep it aside. In the mean time, fry channa dhall, urad dhall, cumin seeds, red chillies and Asafoetida powder to golden brown and keep it aside. Grind it into a fine paste. Also in a wide pan, put the zuchini pieces, add salt and turmeric powder and let it cook. When it is half cooked, add the grounded paste and add water to adjust the consistency. Let it mix for another 3 mts. Now add the cooked dhall and mix it well. Pre heat the oil in a small pan, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dhall and curry leaves and fry it till golden brown and pour it on top of the kootu. This kootu goes really well with rice and chapathi.

Nov 20, 2008

Tomato Eriseri

This is a recipe I learned from one of my friend's mom here. I like it very much. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Green tomato - 2 cup (chop it into small cubes)
  2. Toor dhall - 1/2 cup
  3. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  4. Salt to taste
  5. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
  6. channa dhall - 1 tsp
  7. Urad dhall - 2 tsp
  8. Red chillies - 2

First cook the toor dhall adding a pinch of turmeric powder and keep it aside. In the mean time, fry, coriander seeds, channa dhall, urad dhall and red chillies to golden brown and let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. In the mean time, cook the green tomatoes to 3/4th, in a wide pan, adding salt and turmeric powder. When it is 3/4th done, add the grounded paste and cooked toor dhall and mix it well and let it cook for another 5 mts. Add water to adjust the consistency. Recipe may sound similar to Sambar. But here we are not using tamarind. If we want we can also add coconut while grinding the paste. In that case, reduce the amount of urad dhall accordingly.

Nov 17, 2008

Shower of Awards

Again a separate post only for awards :).

Jaishree has passed me a whole lot of awards this time. Butterfly Award, Kreative Blogger, Hard Working blogger, cup of friendship, Good job, Inspiration Award. Thats a whole lot Jaishree. Thanks for passing these awards.


Again Jaishree, Gita, Deesha, Vidhas and Pavani has passed me this wonderful Kreative Award
Vidhas, Kitchen Flavours, Pavani has passed me this wonderful360* foodie award.
Gita, Kitchen flavours, Pavani, Jaishree has passed me this Great Buddy Award. Thanks guys. This means a lot to me.
Jaishree has also tagged me. Will post the tag soon Jaishree. Thanks.

I would like to pass this award to all the visitors in my blog.:-)

Nov 14, 2008

Ginger Pulikachal

This receipe comes under hot-hotter-hottest side of cooking. Spicy lovers love to use this pulikachal. This is basically a side dish which can be used with Molagootal or any kind of kootu, curd rice, for dosai... The main ingredients are as follows:-
Ingredients:
  1. Ginger - one small cup or 4 table spoon (finely chopped)
  2. Green chillies - 3
  3. Jaggery - 3 table spoon
  4. Tamarind paste - 3 table spoon
  5. Salt to taste
  6. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  7. Sesame Oil - 3 tbsp
  8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  9. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
First take 3 table spoon ginger out of 4 table spoons and green chillies and grind it into a fine paste. Now take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, when it splutters add urid dal, add the remaining 1 tbsp ginger, fry it for a minute. Now add the ginger+chillies paste. Add one or 1 1/2 cups of water. Add turmeric powder salt and tamarind paste to it and let it cook for 10 mts under medium heat. Add jaggery to it after 10 mts and mix every thing well and again let it boil for another 10 mts. When sesame oil comes out of the paste, its time to turn off the stove.

It will be really really hot. If we want we can reduce the number of green chillies. Ginger is good for digestion. Its better to consume a little. We can keep this pulikachal for 10 days under refrigeration.

Nov 11, 2008

Grilled Sandwich with Veggies

First of all thank to all my buddy bloggers who visited my site during my absense. First my husband was sick with flu then I got sore throat and now one of my twin is sick. Couldn't concentrate on my blog for the past one week. One my twin hates to eat veggies. But she likes this grilled cheese sandwich. So I wanted to try adding veggies in it and grill it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Bread slices - 2
  2. cheese singles - 1 (or 2 according to your taste)
  3. Green peas - 1 tsp
  4. Shredded carrot - 1 tsp
  5. Shredded bell pepper - 1 tsp
  6. Spinach - 1 tsp
  7. Black Olives - 4 (chop it finely)

I first toast the bread lightly and add the cheese and on top of cheese just arrange the vegetables and olives. If you are using 2 slices of cheese, then cover the veggies with the second piece now and put the second piece bread slice on top of the veggies (or cheese). Just heat the dosa pan, put toast this sandwich till it becomes golden brown on both sides, keeping a slighly heavy vessel on top of it. I usually use coffee mug to place it on top of the bread slices. Cut it into half and serve it hot with tomato sauce. My little one liked this very much and she started eating veggies now a days. I don't know how long this is gonna help me. I have to think something new before she gets bored with this one (!)

Nov 10, 2008

Brinjal Poricha Kozhambu - Kerala Style

This poricha kozhambu is also a Kerala style kozhambu. In this kozhambu we use Azuki Bean (Black Kaaramani) instead of Toor dal. The main ingredients are as follow..

Ingredients:-
  1. Black Kaaramani - 3/4 cup (soak it in water for atleast 8 hours)
  2. Tamarind - one small lemon sized
  3. Eggplant/Brinjal - 4 (cut it in an inch size)
  4. Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
  5. Chana dal - 1 tsp
  6. Fresh coconut - 1 tbstp
  7. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  8. Red Chillies - 2 (or according to taste)
  9. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  10. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
  11. Sambar Powder - 1/2 tsp
  12. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  13. Salt to taste.
For Seasoning:
  1. Oil - 2 tsp
  2. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  3. fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  4. Asafoetida - 1 pinch
  5. Curry Leaves - 10 leaves
At first, take a small pan pour a drop of oil and fry Coriander seeds, Channa dal, Red chillies, Fresh coconut and Fenugreek seeds with a pinch of asafoetida powder, to golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Cook the Kaaramani in a pressure pan upto 6 whistles. Keep it aside. Now take a wide pan, cut the brinjal, mix the tamarind paste, turmeric powder, sambar powder salt and let it boil(cook) for 10 mts. Now add the coconut paste to it and let it boil for another 5 mts. Now add the cooked Kaaramani and jaggery to it and let it cook for another 7 mts. Turn off the stove now. Take a seasoning pan, pre heat the oil add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida and curryleaves and let it fry till golden brown. Now pour it in the poricha Kozhambu. Now poricha kozhambu is ready to serve.

Nov 6, 2008

vatha kozhambu

Another spicy recipe. I always love to eat vatha kozhambu. But now a days because of heart burn, I reduced eating spicy stuff. But this pumpkin vatha kozhambu is my all time favorite. The main ingredients are as follow...
Ingredients:-
  1. Tamarind - one small lemon sized or 2 tbsp paste
  2. Pumpkin or pearl onion - one small cup (may 10 small cubes)
  3. Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp
  4. Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
  5. salt to taste
  6. Sesame oil - 4 tbsp (may need more)
  7. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
  8. mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
  9. urid dal - 1/2 tsp
  10. channa dal - 1/2 tsp
  11. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  12. Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc. to taste)
  13. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  14. Rice flour - 1 1/2 tsp
Take a wide pan, pre heat 3 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urid dal, channa dal, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and asafoetida powder and fry these ingredient in low flame, to golden brown. Now add the vegetable to it and saute for a minute. Now put the tamarind paste(if you are using tamarind, squeeze out the juice from it and pour it) and add 1 1/2 cup of water to the paste. Add turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt and let it cook for 10 mts. in medium flame. Now add the jaggery to it and again add 1/2 cup of water and let it boil for another 5 to 7 mts. In order to make the consistency thick, now mix the rice flour with a tbsp of water and pour it on top of the kozhambu and also pour the remaining oil. Let it boil for another 3 mts. Now Vatha kozhambu is ready to serve. Serve it hot with rice. Potato curry will be a good side dish for this rice.

Nov 3, 2008

Kids Friendly Chapathi 2

I got a wonderful response for the first kids friendly chapathi I made, from my girls and of course from my buddy bloggers. This is a little more addition to the previous one cos my patti wanted me to give paruppu saadam to my girls without fail and they hate to eat it now a days. Here is the recipe I tried yesterday and my kids love it.

Ingredients:-
  1. Ingredients:-
  2. Wheat flour - 1 small cup
  3. Salt - a pinch
  4. Sesame oil - 1 tsp
  5. Potato - 1 (if it is small or 1/2 if it is big)
  6. Carrot - 2 ( I used baby carrots)
  7. Raddish - a small piece
  8. Green peas - 2 tbsp
  9. Toor dhall - 2 tbsp (cooked)
Cook all the vegetable and cook the toor dhall separately. Let it cool for sometime. Now mash everything nicely ( I mashed it in my mixie). Now add it to the wheat flour, add salt and make a dough out of it. You may not need water to make it a soft dought. If needed, just sprinkle a little bit of water. Make small balls out of the dough and make small chapathis. Cook it till its soft. Serve it hot adding a teaspoon of ghee on both sides, with tomato sauce. My kids love it and most of all they are consuming vegetables, dhall at one time.

Shower of Awards

Pavani Ramya and Jaishree has passed me this yummiest chocoholic award. Even though I am not a chocoholic, I am really honored to receive this award from you guys. Thanks a ton guys for passing this award.
Sukanya has passed me this wonderful Butterfly award. Thanks Sukanya.



Ramya has also passed me this Hard working food blogger award. Thanks a ton Ramya. I feel really honored to received this award from you.

This is really wonderful to receive a handful of awards from my buddy bloggers. Now I would like to pass this awards to all my fellow bloggers to spend their valuable time in reading my blah blah, everyday. Thanks guys.

Oct 29, 2008

Dates - Walnut Rolls

This is something I tried after reading the recipe from a magazine. The final result was really good and really new taste and most of all my girls like it :). Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Dates - 1 cup (remove the seeds)
  2. Milk - 1/2 cup
  3. Walnuts - 1/4 cup (chop it nicely)
  4. Ghee - 1 tbsp
  5. Sugar - 1 tbsp
  6. Shredded Coconut - 2 tbsp

Soak the dates in milk for half an hour. Grind it (with milk) coarsely and keep it aside. Now take a pan, put sugar and grounded dates and mix both well. It will become a thick paste (like Chakka Varatti) Remove it from the stove, add the chopped walnuts, ghee and mix it well. Let it cool. Make small balls (in cylindrical shape) out of it, sprinkle the coconut on top of it (or we can even roll it the shredded coconuts) and keep it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to let it set. After 4 hours, take it out and cut it into small pieces and enjoy. This is really a kids friendly snack. Try it.

Oct 28, 2008

Salad

This is a recipe I learned from one of my aunt who lives in LA. It is very healthy and it reduces the intake of more carbohydrates. Just check out.

Ingredients:-
  1. Lettuce - 1 cup (chopped)
  2. Carrot - 1 (shredded)
  3. Beetroot - 1/2 (shredded)
  4. Onion - 1/2 (chopped)
  5. Green onion - 1 bunch
  6. Bell pepper - 2 tbsp
  7. Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
  8. Moong sprout - 3 tbsp
  9. Tomato - 1 (chopped)
  10. English Cucumber - 3 tbsp (chopped)
  11. Green chillies -1 (optional)
  12. Lemon Juice - 2 tsp
  13. Olive OIl - 1 tsp
  14. Salt to taste

Just mix everything adding a lemon juice, oil oil and salt and keep it aside for an hour. Enjoy with rice. This can be eaten as a side dish also. I make this salad everyday. We can also avoid putting beetroot

Oct 27, 2008

Badusha - Sweet

This is my favorite sweet. My MIL used to make it very often and she is very good at it. This time, I learned the recipe from her. Even though it was not professional like hers, it came out very well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Maida flour - 1 1/2 cup
  2. Unsalted butter - 3 tbsp
  3. Baking soda - pinch
  4. Oil to deep fry
  5. Sugar - 1 cup (acc to taste)
  6. Pachakarpooram - a pinch
  7. Coconut-1 tbsp

First add baking soda to the butter and whisk it for few mts. You will see bubbles forming. Now add the flour to it and make it a soft dough adding required amount of water. Keep it aside for few mts. In the mean time, put the sugar in a heavy bottomed skillet, add a cup of water and make it a semi-thick syrup***. Add pacha karpooram to the sugar syrup and mix it well. In the mean time, pre heat oil and make small patties out the dough and deep fry it till it becomes golden brown keeping the heat in medium flame. Put the patties in the sugar syrup and soak it well. Remove it from the syrup and put it in a vessel. Now pour the remaining syrup on top of each badusha and garnish it with coconut.

*** - Keep a cup of water near you. Pour a drop of sugar syrup in it. If it dissolves, then the surup is not ready. If it doesn't dissolve and forms a small soft ball, it means the syrup is ready

Oct 22, 2008

Break

I am taking a break again guys. Because of my poor wireless connections, I couldn't do anything. I am writing comments from my local library internet cafe. will be back with more diwali treats soon. Thanks for visiting

Oct 21, 2008

Omapodi

This is my all time favorite savory and my mom used to make it very often because, omam is good for digestion. I usually buy this stuff from Indian grocery. This time I wanted to try making this so I asked the recipe from my patti and it came out really well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-
  1. Rice flour - 2 cups
  2. Besan flour - 1 1/4 cup
  3. Omam (Ajwain) - 1 tsp
  4. Salt to taste
  5. Butter - 2 tbsp
  6. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  7. Oil - to fry

Mix all the ingredients and knead it into a soft dough adding little by little water. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. When the oil is ready, make small balls out of the dough and pass it to the oil through Omapodi naazhi. Fry it till golden brown. Remove extra oil in a paper towel and enjoy!! This can be stored in an airtight container for more than 10 days.

Oct 19, 2008

Ribbon Pakoda

This is another savory treat I make very often. Even though many of us know the recipe, this is my version.

Ingredients:-
  1. Rice Flour - 4 cups
  2. Besan Flour - 1 cup
  3. Unsalted Butter - 2 tsp
  4. Red chillies powder - 1 1/2 tsp (according to taste)
  5. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
  6. salt to taste
  7. Oil - to fry

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. In the mean time, mix all the above said ingredients, sprinkle water accordingly and make a smooth dough. Once the oil is ready to fry, make small balls out of the dough and pass it in the oil through pakoda naazhi. Fry it till becomes golden brown, strain the excess oil in a paper towel, let it cool and store it in a air tight container.

This post goes to Priti's Diwali Celebrations.

Oct 18, 2008

7 Cups Cake

Lets Start the diwali postswith a sweet. The name of the sweet is 7 cups cake. The necessary ingredients are as follows.
Ingredients:
  1. Besan Flour - 1 cup
  2. Sugar - 3 cups
  3. Fresh coconut - 1 cup
  4. Ghee ( or melted unsalted butter) - 1cup
  5. Milk - 1 cup.

Pre-heat a wide pan for a minute, add all the above said ingredients and stir it thoroughly in a steady steam. Continuously and thoroughly stirring, cook until the ghee starts to leave the sides of the pan and the mixture starts to thicken and turns to kind of semi-solid and light gold in color. Immediately pour it in a big greasy tray or plate and cut it into squares or diamonds whichever shape you want.

When it is still hot, we can decorate each diamond or square with a cashew or almond. It will taste more like mysore pak. But the main difference is, we are adding coconut and milk in this receipe. It will take 20 minutes to finish this receipe and the kids will definitely love this.

I usually don't decorate. If you wish to do it, you can do it.

This post goes to Priti's Diwali Celebrations