Wednesday, September 23, 2009
"Paal Kozhukattai" is one recipe that's been carried forward from generations in our family. My mom said that she learnt this from her grand mom. I prepared this on the first day of Navrathri. I'm waiting for my daughter to grow up so that I could pass this on to her. Here's the recipe for u.
Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup powdered jaggery.(Add water and filter them if required).
grated coconut - 1/4 cup
water - as required
saffron - 4 or 5 strings
cardamom powder - 4 pinches
Method:
1. Soak the raw rice for 2 hrs.
2. Grind them to a smooth and thick paste.
3. Add 1/2 cup of jaggery and 1 1/2 cups of water to this ground paste and mix them well.
4. Pour this mixture in a broad pan(preferably nonstick) and cook this in medium flame until the mixture becomes thick. (to a consistency wherein u could make balls with the cooked mixture).
5.Allow this mixture to cool.
6. Now make small balls out of this dough mixture(1 cm dia)
7. In the same broad pan pour rest of the jaggery and add 2 1/2 cups of water, boil this in medium flame and allow the jaggery to melt. Filter the solution if need be.
8. Now add the balls that u had prepared in step 6.
9. Let this cook for sometime, till the dough balls becomes twice its original size.
10. Grind the coconut to a smooth paste by adding little water.
11. Pour this paste to the boiling mixture.
12. Let it cook for 5 more min.
13.Add cardamom and saffron.
14. U can serve this either hot or cold.
I'm sending this to the following events
EC’s WYF-Festive treats
Shanthi’s -Sweets for festivals
Sara’a event- Sweet and savories
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Here are some of the health benefits of oats that I've tried to paste from wikipedia.
* Oat bran is the outer casing of the oat. Its consumption is believed to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and possibly to reduce the risk of heart disease.
* Dietary oats can help lower cholesterol
* Oats contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness.
* Oat is the only cereal containing a globulin or legume-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein.
I have just picked some from the site. Having realized the health benefit of oats, we at home started to have oats as the morning breakfast. The other reason was it was also so easy to make. We tried various flavors of oats and at one point I decided to switch to the plain Quaker oats. I cooked oats on stove top and we started to have this in porridge consistency. Like anyone else my husband always needed some change in the menu and he resisted to have oats everyday. So I switched to a flavored cereal. The poor oats bag lay untouched for months together. I never bothered to make this again.
Last Friday, I decided to make pesarattu and soaked green gram. Suddenly a thought clicked me "why not add oats to this batter". That's how "Green Gram and Oats Dosa" was born.
Ingredients:
Whole green gram with skin - 1 cup
onion - 2 medium size
ginger - 1 inch
green chillies - 5
salt - as required
raw rice - 4 tbsp
oats - 4 tbsp
For topping:
cut onions - 1/2 cup
finely cut green chillies - 1 tbsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
oin - 1 tbsp
Method:
1. Soak green gram and rice together in water for at least 10 hrs.
2.Grind with onion, ginger, green chillies and oats to a smooth paste. Add salt at the end of grinding.
3. Heat oil and cumin seeds. Then add onion and green chillies.
4.Heat a heavy dosa pan.
5.Pour batter in the center and spread them to sides in circular motion.
6.Add oil around the dosa.
7. Sprinkle the onion mixture on the top and press it with laddle.
8.Fry it in medium flame till dosa becomes crisp.
9.Fold and serve hot with a chutney of your choice.
I'm sending this to
My legume love affair-15,this edition hosted by Sia of Monsoon spice,an event started by Susan.
Friday, September 18, 2009
I'm proud to Christine 'Scenic Curd Rice Flakes' as the name of this recipe that I prepared y'day. Its quite easy to prepare and I'm sure many would have already tried and posted the recipe in their blog. We most of the time go blank when the question of 'what to prepare for dinner?' arises in our mind. I was in the same state y'day. I didn't know what to prepare and also was so lazy to cook. But I couldn't skip dinner and my poor little things(daughter and her dad) would also starve. So the idea of preparing curd semiya popped up. Searched for them in the cabinet and to my utter disappointment there was very little quantity in the pack. Hmmmmm...oh..not curd rice again....:(. I found the aval pack smiling at me. Grabbed them to prepare thayir aval. I do this decoration for most of the potlucks that we go. So thought I would do the same to make myself energetic.
Here's the recipe
Ingredients:
Rice Flakes (soaked in butter milk or water) - 1 cup
Curd/Yogurt - 2 cups
Salt - as required
For Seasoning/Decorating:
Mustard - 1 tbsp
Channa Dhal - 2 tbsp
Split Urad Dhal - 2 tbsp
Green Chilli - 2 nos
Fried More Milagai
(Fried curd chilli - sorry I don't know the actual name:)) -4 nos(optional)
(Fried curd chilli - sorry I don't know the actual name:)) -4 nos(optional)
Cashews -as required
Curry leaves - as required
Coriander leaves - as required
Pomogranate - as required
Grapes(green or red) - as required
oil/ghee - for frying the above.
Method:
1.Wash the rice flakes really well as its sure to have sand in them. Soak the rice flakes in water or buttermilk(such that the water/buttermilk is right above the rice flakes) for an hr.
2.Add salt,curd to the soaked rice flakes(for 1 cup of soaked rice flakes 2 cups of curd/yogurt).
3.Heat oil/ghee in a pan and fry the cashews, keep this aside.
4.Fry the channa dhal until golden brown and keep this aside.
5.Fry urad dhal in the left over oil till golden brown,drain this.
6.Add mustard in the end and allow it to splutter. Add this mustard to the curd aval and mix well.
7.Pour the curd aval in a rectangular container and decorate it as shown.
8.Leave the mixing to the guests.
Note: U can be creative and pour in your own ideas:)
If u have trouble recognising the decoration the following would help...:)
Ground(basement) - urad dhal
Tree trunk(left side) - channa dhal
Leaves of the tree - curry leaves
Fruits of the tree - grapes, some has fallen on the ground
Plants - coriander leaves
flowers - pomegranate
green chilli - sprouts on the ground
butterfly or a bird - more milagai trunk and cashews are the wings.
This dish is participating in 'Garnish the dish' event organised by Innovative In-Laws
Friday, September 11, 2009
"You are a Mami"
"She is a Mami"
"Vethakozhambhu"
Are you thinking y I'm writing all this. This is how my hubby calls me most of the time. That too mostly after a meal. Nowadays he sometimes says "Your mother is a Mami" to our lil angel too. Its becoz I most of the time like to have something Indian at home and I rarely go to any restaurants. My hubby is just the opposite. So I have to try different recipes at home so that he doesn't complain of not going to restaurants. A yr before I found '16 bean soup mix' in the grocery store and took a pack of them. I thought I would prepare a soup something to the one that we get in a Mexican restaurant. Though I'm not a great fan of soups I wanted to put a full stop to hubby's leg pulling. As we normally do I soaked the beans and went to bed. A sudden thought clicked in my mind. My mother used to say that we could add 'whole chick pea' to the adai to get a different flavor. So I thought why not use the 16 bean to make the adai and 'B-E-A-N-S ADAI' was born the next day. I bet, you would definitely love this adai. And now you will know why I'm a MAMI...:).
Here's the list of beans found in 16 bean soup mix(I took this from the 'CONTAINS' section of the bag)
Large Lima Beans
Small White Beans
Red Kidney Beans
Baby Lima Beans
Great Northern beans
Speckled Lima Beans
Black Beans
Green Baby Lima Beans
Pinto Beans
Cranberry Beans
Pink Beans
Whole Green Beans
Yellow Split Peas
Lentils
Green Split Peas
Small Red Beans
Navy Beans
Blackeye Peas
There are totally 18 kinds. This recipe is full of proteins and I'm sure you will enjoy a good meal too.
Here's the recipe of 'B-E-A-N-S ADAI'
Ingredients:
16 bean - 1 cup
Par Boiled Rice - 1 cup
Red Chillis - 5 nos
Green Chillis - 5 nos
Ginger - 1 inch size
large onion - 1 no(optional)
Curry Leaves - few leaves
Cilantro - 1/4 bunch
Asaefoetida - 4 pinches
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
salt - as required
oil - for frying
Method:
1. Soak the bean for 6 hrs and rice for 2 to 3 hrs
2. Drain the water and mix bean, rice, ginger, red chillies, green chillies, onion,turmeric powder(to get the adai color) and grind them to a coarse rawa consistency.
Caution: Never use a wet grinder. I have tried many times and it totally refused to move and I ended up transferring the mix to a blender and cleaning the wet grinder.
3. Add salt, asaefoetida, curry leaves and cilantro and mix them. Add water if needed and make the better similar to a dosa batter.
4. You can immediately prepare the adai or store the batter in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
5. For preparing the adai, heat the griddle and let it turn hot.
6. Pour a liberal quantity of the batter and spread it in circular motion from the center to the outside.
7. Make few holes on the adai.
6. Pour oil on the outside and also on the holes. Now simmer the flame.
7. Let it stay for sometime. With a flat laddle turn the adai to the other side. Let it stay for some more time.
8. Now remove the adai from the griddle.
9. Serve hot with 'onion sambhar', jaggery.
Sending this dish to Graziana,who is hosting this months edition of -Its a vegan word,an event started by Vyshali
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
'Kuzhi Paniyaram' has been one of the favorite dish in our family. So, out of sentiment I thought I would make this the first recipe in my blog. I always make this as an evening tiffin becoz it is so easy to make and doesn't need any prior plan. Last week Friday, I had been busy in creating the blog. As you know for a first timer like me it was a difficult task. So I spent most of the afternoons in front of the computer. It was already 4 o' clock and my hubby is supposed to be at home at 5.30 PM as their office closed early on account of labor day weekend. Thought I would surprise him with a tiffin at 6 (normally we go straight for the dinner at 8). Ended up with one of our favorite 'Kuzhi Paniyaram'.
Ingredients:
Raw rice - 2 cups
Dehusked black whole gram - 1/2 cup
salt - 2 tsps
milk - 1/4 cup
cooking soda - 2 pinches
onions - 1(optional)
onions - 1(optional)
ginger - 1 inch length(optional)
green chillies - count of 2 (optional)
soaked bengal gram - 1 tbsp(optional)
oil - for frying
Yield:
40 small paniyarams
Method:
1. Soak the dhal and rice together for 3 hrs(other option pour the mixture in boiling water and allow it to boil for 5 min. Close it with a lid. Allow it to cool for 30 min).
2. Grind it to a smooth paste.
3.Add milk, soda, onions, ginger, chillies, soaked bengal gram and salt.
4. Dilute to a dosa consistency by adding enough water.
5. Heat the paniyaram pan in medium flame.
(Note: If you don't have the paniyaram pan you can use a deep curved pan)
6.Fill oil to about 1/4 of the paniyaram pan and allow it to heat.
(Note: I usually add a drop of oil to the paniyaram pan and close the pan with a lid.)
7. Pour the batter using a small laddle(to about a size of a gooseberry).
8. Turn over when it is still light brown in color.
9. Place it in a absorbent paper so that the excess oil is absorbed.
10. Serve hot with coconut chutney or Onion Tomato chutney
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