Poondu Kuzhambhu/Garlic Gravy

Being a south Indian, Rice is a must at least once in a day in our house. However, The Gravy options I usually make is either Dal or Sambhar. Alok is not a huge favorite fan of Rasam with Rice, he enjoys having it like a Soup. So Karakuzhambhu in some form sneaks into my kitchen at least once in a week.

This Karakumzhambhu is made with Garlic and so is a good break from Dal. This is Tangy and is fabtastic with Cabbage Poriyal or Kootu.

Ingredients
Garlic - 12-15 Pods
Onion - 1 (Medium, chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Meidum, chopped)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 Teaspoon
Jaggery - 1/4 Teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder - 1.5 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1/2 Tablespoon
Pepper Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Tamarind Juice - Extracted from a Gooseberry Sized Soaked in 2 Cups of water
Salt - As per taste
Gingelly Oil - 2 Tablespoon
Curry Leaves - Few

Method

In a pan, add Gingelly oil and once the oil is hot, splutter Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds and Fenugreek seeds and then add the Onion, Garlic and Curry leaves. Saute them till the onion is cooked.

Then add the Tomato and cook till the tomato is cooked. Then add the red chilly powder, coriander powder, Turmeric powder and salt and Saute.

After 2 minutes, add the Tamarind water and cook it till the Raw flavour of Masala and Tamarind is gone. This may take anywhere between 6-8 minutes.

Before switching off the flame, add the black pepper powder and Jaggery.

Margazhi Puja

Chennai is my favorite place on the Earth. It becomes more favourite during December - January. The Weather becomes so pleasant and it brings in so much calmness in you when you wake up at 0500 and look out.

Margazhi is also famous for Bhajans and Vennpongal. Every Margazhi in our house, we do poojas and Bhajans. We recite Thirupavai and Thiruvampavai on that.

 The month of Dhanur Maasa or name Margazhi (Dec 14th to Jan 14th), derives from the star Mrigashirsha and is considered very auspicious month for religious services. During this month the sun transits through Sagittarius sign, the house of Jupiter and ends with the Makara Sankranti.

One-and-half hours before sunrise is called Brahma Muhurta, an auspicious time best suited for worshipping Lord Vishnu as it would yield good results. Even the celestials do not fail to perform special prayers to Vishnu. This time starts with Mrigashirsha Shukla Ekadasi and ends at Dakshinaayana.

The birth of the great Margazhi month is the time when the holy star Mrigashirsha combines with Poornima thithi. It is sacred from all aspects and renders in attaining prosperity and blessings to the god himself.

The Neivedhyam for this year's Margazhi Pooja:

Venn Pongal

Medu Vada

Eggplant Kotsu

Kesari

Sundal

Seedai (I made this specially for Lord Krishna)

Fruit Cake

It is Christmas time and time for the yummilicious Fruit Cake. They are so many recipes available on this online: With Rum, Non Alcohol, With Caramel Sauce, with Brown Sugar etc.

This recipe I am sharing is easy and pretty simple. We need equal amount of Butter,sugar,Maida and Egg to whip this cake.

This cake will be fluffy inside and crispy outside.

Ingredients

Maida /AFP - 1 Cup
Butter - 1 Cup (AT room temperature)
Egg - 1 Cup
Sugar - 1 Cup
Baking powder - 1 Teaspoon
Vanilla Essence - Few Drops
Mixed Fruits and Nuts - 1 Cup (See notes below)

Method

Pre Heat the Oven at 180C. Take a Baking pan and grease it with butter and dust it with Maida.

Sieve the Maida and Baking Powder together. Sieving them together will ensure that they mixed well together uniformly. If you are a beginner you can sieve it may be 2-3 times.

Take the fruit and Nuts you want and add a tablespoon of Maida to it and mix it. The mixing of Mida will ensure that the Fruit and Nuts don't sink and is spread all over the cake.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. To this add the Vanilla essence and eggs and mix well.

Now add the sieved Maida + Baking powder to the Butter-Sugar-egg mixture and fold it.

Dont beat the batter as it will make the cake so hard. So gently fold the Maida in the wet ingredients. Folding is done to ensure that they is aeration which will make the cake fluffy inside and Crispy outside.

To this add the prepared Fruits and Nuts and gently mix this.

Now pour this prepared Batter into the prepared Baking tin and Bake it for 20-25 Minutes at 180C.

Once it is done, cool it completely and slice them and Serve.

Merry Christmas. 

Note:

The choice of Fruits and Nuts is completely up to you. I have used Cashews,Cranberris,Tutti Frutti,Badam,Walnuts,Fig,Dates,Candied Orange peel, Cake Seeds and Pista.

You can add whatever you want and how much ever you want.

Melting Moments Cookies

I love cookies. It is been quite some time I made cookies. If my memory is right the last time I made cookies was the Scottish Cookies. So I decided to bake some Cookies for this weekend.

So picked this recipe from my most Favorite website of VahChef. This website is my Go To website for all recipes. This is the website where I search for any of my recipes and the recipes given by Vahchef is 100% fool Proof. You can Half the recipe if you want. This recipe gave me about 2 Dozens of cookies.

Ingredients

Maida/AFP - 200 Grams
Butter - 100 Grams (At room Temperature)
Sugar - 120 Grams
Vanilla Essence - Few Drops
Egg - 1

Milk - 2 Tablespoon  2 Tablespoon
CornFlakes - 3-4 Tablespoons

Method

In a Mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. To this add egg and milk and mix it well.

To this add the maida and mix. Don't knead too much. This mixture will be little sticky and that's how we want this mixture to be.

Crush the cornflakes using your fingertips and keep it aside. In another small bowl keep 2 tablespoon of milk.

Now dust you hands with maida and take a marble size ball of the mixture and dip it in the milk and then roll it in crushed cornflakes.

Arrange this in the Baking tray lined with aluminium Foil.

Bake the cookies at 180C for 20-25 minutes. (Each oven is different so keep a close eye after 15 minutes).

The Cornflakes helps in retaining the shape of the cookies and also makes the cookies super crunchy.

Sunday Brunch - Jeera Pulao, Dal Tadka and Vegetable Cutlet

I have been missing the blogging pace for quite some time as work and preparations for Holidays was keeping me busy.

As a come back recipe I thought I will give a Brunch menu.

This week, I am making a Jeera Pulav, Dal Tadka and Vegetable Cutlet.

Click here for the Recipes:

Dal Tadka   

Jeera Pulav

 Vegetable Cutlet