Akkaravadisal

I believe this is a Iyengar Recipe. Extremely tasty recipe, it is a slight variation to the Sakkarai Pongal or Sweet Pongal. It is usually made with Rice and Moong Dal, however I do it with Rice alone.

It tastes heavenly and delicious.Believe me if you make it once you will make it very often.

Ingredients

Basmati Rice or Raw Rice - 1/2 Cup
Milk - 4 ups
Ghee - 3 Tablespoon
Sugar - 1 CUp
Nuts - I used Almonds and Cashew

Method

Wash the Rice and keep it aside.

In a Non stick Kadai, add the milk and allow it to boil.

Add the rice to the boiling milk and reduce the flame.

Cook the rice on a low flame stirring it frequently.

Ensure that it does not burn. Scrap the milk on the sides of the kadai throughout.

The cooking of the rice may take 30 minutes.

Once the rice is cooked, add the sugar and Mix and switch off the stove.

In a pan, heat Ghee and sauté the nuts and fr it for 1-2 minutes.

Add the roasted Nuts on the cooked Rice and mix.


Notes

• Add sugar only when you know the rice is completely cooked.
• Switch off when the mixture is little watery as it will thicken as it cools off. 

Masala Stuffed Bun

I am in a baking spree of making breads. Last time, when I made Masala Buns my hubby said that he wants to have Stuffed Bun. So I decided to experiment with Masala Stuffing. Then he said he wants it with Indian Masala stuffing. So I decided to make this Bun and believe me it turned out super delicious.

Ingredients

Maida (All Purpose Flour) - 1.5 Cups
Warm Milk - 1/4 Cup

Water - 1/4 Cup
Salt - 1/2 Teaspoon
Sugar - 1 Tablespoon
Dry Instant Yeast - 3/4 Tablespoon.
Olive Oil - 3 Tablespoon

For stuffing

Vegetables of your choice - 1/2 Cup (Boiled)
Potato - 1 Cup (Boiled and mashed)
Onion - 1 (Small,finely chopped)
Cumin - 1/4 Teaspoon
Chilly powder - 1/4 Tablespoon
Coriander Powder - 1/4 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder - a Pinch
Garam Masala - 1/4 Teaspoon
Oil and Salt

Method

In a vessel, add the lukewarm milk,sugar and salt and then add the Yeast and mix well. Leave it aside for 5 minutes or till it becomes frothy.

Meanwhile in a vessel, take the Maida,add the olive oil,water and yeast mixture and knead it.

Then cover the vessel it a cling film or plate and set it aside for 1 hour or till it doubles in quantity.

Once the dough is doubled, take it on a floured surface and knead it to a soft smooth dough.

Divide the dough into equal portions and make it into smooth balls.

On a floured surface, using a rolling pin roll the balls into small flat roundels.

Then place the stuffing and make it into a ball.

Place a aluminium foil on the baking tray and grease the foil with Olive oil.

Place the stuffed balls in the tray and leave it aside for 15-20 minutes. Cover it with a wet towel during this time.

Place this in a pre heated oven at 220 Celsius for 15 - 20 minutes.


For Stuffing:

In a Kadai, add little oil and add the Jeera (cumin) and allow it to crackle. Then add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the all the dry masala ingredients and sauté till the raw flavour goes.

Then add the mashed potato and vegetable vegetable and sauté for 3-5 minutes.

Allow it to cool down and then make balls with the stuffing.

The stuffing should be half size of the Maida balls.


Inspired by Rakskitchen.

Adi Velli Festival

One of the festival,that my Mom does not ever miss is the Adi festival.
She does Pooja on the Friday of the Adi Month (August) every year. She will invite women home and do Puja and give Thamboolam to them.

I have inherited this from my mom. So this Friday, I did this Puja.

I did not make it too elaborate as I was sick.

The Prasadam I made was:

Venn Pongal
Akkaravadisal
Vada
Gotsu

I will post the recipe soon.

Pal Kozhukattai/Paal Kozhukattai

Usually for any occasion may be it is Vinayaka Chathurthi or Krishna Jayanthi My mom would make all Bakshanam (all sweets and savouries) required for it. However this year I have told my mom that I will make all Bakshanam for all occasion this year.

As I did not want to make anything disastrous on the festive day I have decided to do them,practise them well in advance. So you will get to see more of festive dishes in the blog often now.

One dish that my mom makes for Krishna Jayanthi is Pal Kozhukattai. So I decided to start off with something simple, so it isPal Kozhukattai/Paal Kozhukattai this time.

Ingredients

Processed Rice Flour - 1 Cup (I used Store bought)
Milk - 1/2 Cup
Coconut Milk - 1/2 Cup (thick Milk)+2 cup (Thin Milk)
Water - 1 Cup
Ghee - a Teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2-3/4 Cup (As per your taste)
Cardamom Powder - as required
Salt - a pinch

Method:

In a pan, add the 1/2 cup of milk,1 cup of water and a teaspoon of Ghee and allow it to become warm.Once it is warm add the Processed Rice flour and mix it well.

Cook it till the mixture comes to a dough consistency.

Now remove the mixture from the stove and knead it well. Smear some oil on your hands if required.

Cover with a wet muslin cloth so the dough does not dry up and crack.

Using this dough, make small balls. The smaller the better.

While making these balls, ensure that you take a little quantity at a time and rest of the dough is covered with the wet towel.

In a vessel, add the thin coconut milk and let it to boil in a low flame. Then add the balls to the coconut milk. Cook for about 5 minutes. Stir to ensure that they don't get stuck to the bottom of the vessel.

Add the cardamom powder,sugar and cook for 4-5 minutes.

After switching off the stove,add the Thick Coconut milk and mix well and serve. 

Khaju Korma/Cashew Korma/Cashew in Red Gravy

 When I hubby came back from Goa he got a big bag of Cashews. Usually whenever I have lots of Cashew I usually make Cashew Barfi or Halwa. However, my microwave is not working so I was in no mood to cook Cashew in Stove top.

So I decided to make this recipe. Believe me, I have made this in White Gravy and had,however the cashew in Red Gravy is amazing.

Ingredients

Khaju/Cashew - 1 Big handful

Poppy Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon. 

Onion - 1 Big (Finely Chopped)

Tomato Purée - From 1 Big Tomato

Dry Fenugreek Leaves/Kasoori Methi - 1/2 Teaspoon

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Teaspoon

Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon

Turmeric - 1/2 Teaspoon

Garam Masala - 1/2 Teaspoon

Corinder Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin Powder -1/2 Teaspoon

Oil and Salt - As required

Method

In a kadai, heat a tablespoon of oil and add the onion and fry them till they become transparent.

Add the tomato Purée to the onions in the kadai and sauté well.To this add the ginger Garlic paste and sauté well.

To this add all the dry masala powders (Chilly powder,Corinader powder,turmeric,garam masala,Cumin Powder) and cook them well. 

Now add the Poppy seed-Cashew-onion paste (See Notes) and sauté well till the raw flavour is gone.

Crush the Methi Leaves/Kasoori methi and add it to the mixture.

Then add some water and bring to boil and keep it aside.

Just 5 minutes before serving bring the mixture to boil, add the cashew and cook for a minute or 2 and serve. 

Notes

• For the Cashew Paste:

Remove a tablespoon of fried onion in a mixer. 

Dry roast the Poppy seeds. Be careful while doing this as it may burn quickly.

In a mixer, add the fried onion,roasted poppy seeds and 4-5 cashews and grind into a smooth paste.

• The paste will make the Gravy quite thick, so If you plan to have the gravy little later after cooking, make it slightly watery than you want it to be.
• Grinding the Poppy seeds is tricky. So either Dry roast them or soak them in water for sometime. While grinding first grind them and then add the cashew and then the onion. If you add everything together grinding the Poppy seeds would be impossible. 

Sprouts Salad

 I am not a great fan of salads,however I love this. It is packed with vitamins and lovely flavour of olive oil and walnut.

Ingredients

Green Moong Dhall - 1 Cup
Vegetables of your choice - 1 cup (I have used Carrot,Cucumber)
Walnut - 2 Kernels
Apricot - 1 (Finely Chopped)
Olive oil - 1 Teaspon
Black pepper,Salt and chilli Flakes  - To taste.

Method

In a mixing bowl, add olive oil,black pepper,chilly flakes,salt and mix well. To this add Green Moong dhall,Vegetables,walnut and apricot and toss well.

Healthy,tasty Salad is ready.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I love the upside down cake. I think it is the adrenaline rush that I get when I flip them. I had a Kiwi upside down cake and from then I was wanting to make a upside down cake at home.

In this recipe I have used canned pineapple as I was unable to find fresh Pineapple.They will taste even more divine with fresh Pineapple.

This cake tastes delicious and it cuts like butter. It tastes even better the next day. The brown sugar gives a fantastic taste to this cake.

Ok lets get to the recipe.

 Ingredients

Maida/All purpose flour - 100 Grams
Butter - 100 Grams
Sugar - 100 Grams (Powdered in Mixer)
Brown Sugar - 80 Grams
Pineapple Slices - 7
Pineapple essence - Few drops
Eggs - 3
Baking powder - 1 Teaspoon

 Method

Pre heat the Oven at 180 c and greast the baking pan using some butter.

In a mixing bowl, cream the Butter and sugar well. To this add egg one by one and whisk well. Also add the Pineapple essence.

Meanwhile, sift Maida and baking powder.Add this dry mixture little at a and mix in the butter-sugar-egg mixture.

In the greased baking pan, sprinkle the Brown sugar and then arrange the Pineapple slices and then pour the prepared mixture.

Bake this for 20-30 minutes at 180 C or till it is done.

Once it is done, rest it for 5 minutes and De-mould the cake.

Idly

Being a tamilian, If I don't put the recipe of Idly/Dosa it will be bad on me.It is a very simple and healthy recipe as Idly is steamed. 

Ingredients

Idly Rice - 4 Cups

Urad Dhal - 1 Cup

Fenugreek Seeds - 2 Teaspoon

Salt - as per taste

Method

Wash the Idly rice and soak it for 6 hours. Wash the Urad Dal and soak it separately with Fenugreek seeds for 1-2 hours.

In the Wet Grinder, grin the rice first till it becomes into a smooth,thick batter. add water as necessary. Please ensure that you check the grinder often. If the Grinder gets heated up then it will affect the quality of batter. 

Once the rice is done into a thick batter, remove it into a tall vessel.

Now add the urad dhall into the grinder and grind it well  using as much as water as required. While grinding the Urad dhall we will grind the Fenugreek seeds as well. 

Now add the Urad Dhall batter to the Rice Batter and Mix it well. 

Please ensure that the vessel is tall enough as the batter will ferment and will double in quantity. 

If you dont put the batter in a tall vessel it may spill all over your counter and cleaning the kitchen counter would be a task. 

Cover and keep aside the batter to ferment may be overnight or a minimum for at least 7-8 hours. The time taken to ferment differs from place to place and season to season, so sometimes it may also take 12 Hours in some places. 

Once the Batter is fermented, it is ready to use to make Soft Idly. 

Take the Idly Mould and grease it with very little oil. This will keep the Idly soft and it will be easy for us to de mould the idly. Now pour the batter onto the Greased Idly mould and steam for 15 - 20 minutes. 

You can check whether the Idly by inserting a toothpick. If the Toothpick comes out clean it is done. 

Enjoy with Coconut Chutney/Mint Chutney/Sambhar/Vadacurry. 

Urad Dhall Vada

Who does not like this crispy,crunchy Vada? Thanks to the rain, I felt to eat something crunchy and made it for evening snacks.

Ingredients

Whole Urad Dhal - 1 Cup

Green Chillies - 3-4 (Finely Chopped)

Onion - 1 (Small,Finely Chopped)

Asafoetida - pinch

Salt and Oil - As needed

Curry Leaves - 3

Method

Soak the Dhall for 1 hour. Then drain the water completely and grind it in the Mixer.

Do not add too much of water as I would soak too much of water. Just sprinkle water to grind the Dhall.

To this mixture, add onion,curry leaves,asafoetida,curry leaves and mix well.

To make the vadai, traditionally my mother uses Banana Leaf, however I was unable to find it so I used, Aluminium Foil.

To wet your hand during make the Vada, keep water in a deep vessel. You need to wet your hand before making each Vadai.

Take a medium sized ball sized bater in your hand and place it in the aluminium foil. 

Pat the batter slightly and make a hole in the centre.

Before making the Vada, keep oil in the Kadai and heat it. The oil should be very hot.

Once the oil is hot, place the Vada carefully in the oil and reduce the flame to medium flame.

After 2 minutes flip it and cook it till it is golden brown.

If the oil is too hot then the Vada will be cooked from outside and wont be cooked from inside.

If the oil is not at teh right temperature, then the Vada will drink too much of oil and become soggy. 

Bhindi Masala/Ladies Finger Masala

This dish is my favourite. With Rice and Appalam it tastes fabulous.It goes well in Rotis and rice equally. In this recipe the Ladies finger is slightly tossed it has a crunch to it and it is not so gooey.

Ingredients

Ladies Finger - 300 Grams (washed,wiped and cut into 1 inch pieces)
Onion - 2 (Medium Sliced)
Tomato -1 (Medium Sliced)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Teaspoon
Chilly Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Green Chilly - 1
Cumin Powder/Jeera Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1/2 Teaspoon
Oil and salt - as per taste

Method

In a Mixer add all the ingredients except salt and Ladies finger and grind into a smooth paste. No need to add water as onion and tomato would have enough moisture.

In a pan,, heat 2 tablespoon of oil and toss the Ladies finger for few minutes. Remove them and keep them aside.

In the same oil, add the ground masala and cook till the raw flavour is gone.

You may sprinkle some water if you think you masala is burning.

Once the raw flavour is gone, add the tossed ladies finger in the masala and cook for 5-7 minutes and the delicious Ladies Finger masala is ready to be served.

Oats Biscuits

I love to bake. The beautiful aroma that fills the house while baking is amazing.The moment I found this recipe online I jumped and went to my kitchen to make it. It was so easy and simple. The fabulous thing about this cookies is that it is eggless and melts in your mouth.

 Ingredients

Oats - 1 Cup (I used Quaker Oats)
Butter - 1/4 Cup
Sugar - 1/4 CUp
Maida/All purpose Flour - 3 Tablespoon

Method

In a Mixer, powder the Sugar. Take the powdered sugar in a bowl , add the butter and cream it well.

Take the Oats in a mixer and make it also into a powder.

To the Butter sugar mixture add the powdered oats and mix well, then add the all purpose flour and mix well.

Cover the bowl with a cling Film and let it sit in Refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

After 15 - 30 minutes remove the mixture from the refrigerator and make divide them into equal sized balls.

Slightly flatten the balls and arrange them on a baking tray lined with Aluminium foil.

Bake it the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degree Celsius.





Tips

• The cookies will be extremely soft when it is cooked so allow it to cool down.
• Don't worry if it breaks it is hot, allow it to cool, it will be fine.

Paneer Tikka Masala

I made Paneer Tikka, had some has starter and with rest made the Paneer Tikka Masala and it tasted awesome. Hmmmmm.. It was so delicious.

Ingredients

Paneer Tikka - 6 Pieces
Onion - 1 (Big Finely Chopped)
Tomato Puree - From 1 Tomato
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Teaspoon
Dry Fenugreek Leaves/Kasoori Methi - 1/2 Teaspoon
Cream - 2 Tablespoon
Chilly powder - 1 Tablespoon
Garam masala - 1 Pinch
Turmeric powder - pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil

Method

In a Pan, add a tablespoon of oil. After the oil is heated add the onion and fry them well. Then add the tomato puree and cook them Then add the ginger garlic paste and cook for 3 minutes.

Then add the chilly powder, garam masala,turmeric powder and cook till the raw flavour of the masala is gone. qAdd little water and cook well.

Add the Paneer Tikka Pieces and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the Dry Fenugreek leaves, Cream and Serve hot with Phulka.

Paneer Tikka - Indian Starter

 Paneer is my favourite ingredient to cook with. It is so versatile, easy to cook and tasty. Paneer Tikka has been in my list for a long time and at last I made this at home. The taste was out of world. Once you make it at home and have, believe me you will never eat it outside.

Ingredients

Thick Curd/Yoghurt - 1 Cup
Ginger - 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic - 1/2 teaspoon
Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder  - 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder  - 1/2 Tablespoon

Cumin powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Black Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Dry Mango Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chat Masal - 1/2 teaspoon
Carom Seed Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Capsicum - 1/2 (Diced)
Onion - 1 Diced
Paneer - 200 Gms (Cubed)
salt - To taste

Method

In a bowl add the thick yoghurt. if you dont have thick yoghurt, tie the yoghurt in a muslin cloth and squeeze all the water.

To the thick Curd add all the dry ingredients,ginger,garlic and mix well.

To this prepared marinade add the onion,capsicum and paneer and marinate for an hour minimum.

After 1 hour, arrange the marinated veggies and Paneer in the skewer and cook them in Rotisserie and grill mode in your Oven for 10 minutes.

If you don't have a oven, arrange them in a toothpick or wooden skewer and cook them in a Tawa/pan.

Serve with Mint Chutney.

Ennai Kathirikkai Kuzhambu

This is my Mom's cookbook. She makes this quite often. It is very tasty and creamy and Delicious. The Brinjal is the king of this dish and it tastes delicious. This Kuzhambu and rice and Appalam ... Wow it is Jannat for me...

Ingredients

Brinjal - 1/4 Kg
Onion- 1+1 (medium,finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Medium,finely chopped)
Garlic - 5-6 Pods
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Fenugreek - 1/4 teaspoon
Curry Leaves - 4-5 leaves
Dry Red CHillies - 4
Groundnut - 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric powder - pinch
Chilli powder - 1 Tablespoon
Coconut - 2 Tablespoon
jeera - 1/2 Teaspoon
Tamarind Juice - Extracted from small Lemon
Salt

 Method

Lets prepare the stuffing for the Brinjal. In a  kadai, roast Dry Red chillies,Groundnut and Onion in a teaspoon of oil. Then grind it into a Fine paste and then add salt. Don't add water for grinding this.

Meanwhile, slit the Brinjal into 4 (Do not separate them into pieces). Stuff the masala into the Brinjal.

Now,Heat the kadai with 3 Tablespoons of oil. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Then add Fenugreek seeds,curry leaves,Onion, Garlic and Saute. Then add tomatoes and cook well.Now add the stuffed Brinjal and cook it till the Brinjal is 80% done.

Now add the turmeric and Chilli powder and cook till the raw flavour is gone. Then add the Tamarind juice and cook till the Brinjal is done and raw flavour of Tamarind is gone. To this add the coconut paste and cook for 30 seconds.

Serve it with Rice and Appalam