Poondu Kuzhambu

This is one of my favorites from my MIL's kitchen. Its absolutely dilicious and sure a treat with papad. It comes handy especially when I forget to refill my grocery during the weekend and left only with the basic ingredients which is all this dish requires!
Its very easy to prepare and tastes better when its a days' old :-)  

Ingredients :
Vadaiyam - for seasoning
Curry leaves
Garlic pods - 10-15, crushed finely
Onion - 1, chopped finely
Tomato - 1, chopped
Chili  powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder
Salt
Gingely oil  - 2 tsp
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Preparation method :

1. Add gingely oil in a kadai and when its hot add the above ingredients in the same order till tomato and fry them well.
2. Lower the flame and add turmeic powder, chili powder and salt.
3. Keep frying till th oil sepertes from the rest.
4. Now add little water and let it simmer on low flame for 10 min.
5. When it gets thick, add the coconut milk, simmer for 2 min and turn off the flame.

Vellai poori and Paal Kozhukattai

This is a yummy Vellai Poori/panaiyaram that our Usha aunty prepared last week.
It was absolutely delicious with coconut chutney. Its very simple to prepare and is an instant snack which is also healthy because of the protein from the dals. 

She also prepared this Paal Kozhukattai for us which was just HEAVENLY!
We couldn't resist with just few spoons so had it for our dinner too :-)
Thanks to aunty for such yummy food/recipes/tips!

I will come up with the recipes of both these delicacies soon after re-checking my knowledge of the same with aunty.

Chicken Keema Vada

Ingredients :

Chicken  - minced
Veg oil - for frying

Onions - 3 nos
Cabbage(shredded) - 1 cup
Celery leaves(chopped) - 1 cup
Ginger - 2 tsp, grated
Garlic- 1/2 tsp, grated
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - A few
All purpose flour - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnishing

 
Preparation method

1. Pressure cook te minced meat with salt and turmeric.
2. Chop the onions fine and add it to the cabbage, celery leaves, grated ginger, garlic and a few green chillies.
   
3. Add this mixture to the cooked meat and also add the all purpose flour.
4. Mix this well and make small balls.
5. Once the oil is hot, drop the meat balls and deep fry.

Award - Thanks to Lakshmi and Vidya !

Gracias Lakshmi and Vidya  for the award and reognition !

I would like to pass on this award to Sudha, Jeyshree, Priya, Vrinda ,Sangeetha  , Arusuvai and Sarah

Rules of the award:


* You must thank the person who has given you the award.
* Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
* Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
* Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
* Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
* Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
* Leave a comment in the nominated blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

7 things about me:


1. Love cooking for kids.
2. Love playing in snow  .
3. A big fan of my MIL's non-veg cooking (though my amma's cooking is always the BEST, which is natural)

4. Hate Pessimists.

5. Pineapple is my fav pizza topping with loads of EXTRA cheese .

6. Really want to increase my weight.

7. Love surprises!

Diwali and Food !

Oh ! we had a wonderful Diwali celebration at home. It was all of food, food and ONLY food.
Last week was very hectic for me as I had to prepare a lot of stuffs. This place where we stay is just wonderful with a pleasant ambience and lot of good friends. I was happy to share diwali food with them all.
Of course, I had this wonderful opportunity of tasting their snacks and sweets too. We had a get together on the Diwali day and we lit up/burst some crackers too..It was too much fun.

I am posting the pics of  Diwali sweets/snacks that I prepared and the recipes of these will be coming soon.

Gulab Jamun

Dry Jamun

Basundi

Khara bhath

                                                                      Paal (milk) Kesari

 Uddin vada

Murukku, Nippattu/Thattai, Somas and Coconut burfi

Chicken Biryani (for Lunch)

                                                                             Breakfast!

Happy Diwali!

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali !!

Awards AGAIN :)

I thank Sangeetha for sending these awards to me.
Really appreciate this Sangeetha, they are very encouraging.

I would like to pass these awards to Sudha , Asha Vrinda and Priya

Happy Blogging all !! :-)

Somas

Ingredients :

For filling :
Rava or cream of wheat- 1 cup.
Shredded coconut - ½ cup.
Sugar-1 cup,powdered
Cashews - a handful, broken
Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon.
Unsalted butter -1 tablespoon.
Fried chana dal - 1 cup

For the somas :

All purpose flour/maida - 2cup.
Water - ½ cup.
Oil for frying
Salt -1 pinch
Melted butter - 2 tablespoons.

Preparation Method :

1. Mix the all purpose flour with a pinch of salt and using the water knead it into a soft dough just like the ones made for puris.
2. Cover the dough with melted butter and leave it aside for an hour.
3. Fry the rava in ghee till a nice aroma is felt and transfer into a plate.
4. Fry the coconut powder in the same pan till it turns light brown.
5. Now add the coconut powder, rava and fried chana dal in a mixer and blend them till the fried chana dal breaks into halves.
6. Now add the cashew pieces to it along with the powdered sugar. Mix well , filling is ready
7. Take a small ball of the dough and knead it into the size of a puri.
8. Place a spoon full of the filling in the middle and fold it into a desired shape (fold tight so it doesnt open when fried)
9. Deep fry in oil till it turns golden brown .
10. Somas is ready and this could be preserved in a air tight container/ziploc for 1-2 months!

Wheat Bread Upma

Ingredients :

Wheat bread - 7-8 slices (toasted moderately)
Oil for frying
Mustard seeds
Fried chana dal - 1tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 4-5,chopped
Curry leaves
Onion - 1,chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Salt
Turmeric powder
Coriander leaves/Cilantro

Preparation method :

1. Cut the toasted bread into small pieces.
2. Add oil in a frying pan and add all the ingredients above mentioned till onion.
3. Fry the onions till they r golden brown and then add the tomoato.
4. Once the tomato is soft and gels with the rest of the masala add turmeric powder and salt followed by bread pieces.
5. Mix well and turn off the heat.
6. Garnish with Cilantro/coriander leaves. 

Masala Pori/ puffed rice

Ingredients :

1. Pori / puffed rice
2. Peanut - a handful
3. Chana dal  - 2 tsp
4. Urad dal - 2 tsp
5. turmeric powder
6. salt - to taste
7. Red chillies - 4-5 (broken into pieces)

 Preparation method :

1. In a pan, add 2 tsp of oil and add the peanuts.
2. Fry till the peanuts turn golden brown and then add the chana dal and urad dal.
3. Fry till the urad dal turns brown and now add the red chillies and turmeric powder.
4. Add the salt now followed by the pori/puffed rice. Lower the flame.
5. Keep mixing till the pori/puffed rice is just warm.

Note : It goes well with tea. This can be stored in an air tight container/ziplock upto 2-3 months!!

Vegetable/Egg Kothu Parota

Ingredients :

1. Frozen poratta - 2
2. Onion - 2 ,chopped
3. Green chillies - 4 ,chopped
4. Garam masala powder -1tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Oil
7. For vegetable kothu paratta - Mixed vegetables - 1 cup  OR
8. For egg kothu paratta - 2 eggs,well beaten with little turmeric powder in a  bowl.

 

Preparation method :

1. Heat up the parattas on a tava till they raise well and get their typical brown spots.
2. tear these parattas into small pieces.
3. In a pan, add oil and then add the green chillies and onions.
4. Fry the onions till they turn golden brown and then add garam masala powder and salt to taste.
5. Now add the paratta pieces and mix well.
6. For Vegetable kothu paratta, add the mixed vegetables or For egg kothu paratta, add the beaten egg and fry well.
7. Once the parattas blend well with the vegetable/egg mixture, turn off the heat.
8. Serve hot.

My First award!!

Thanks Vidya and Lakshmi for the AWARD !
This being first of its kind in my blog,I am very excited and its totally inspring.

I would like to pass on this award to

Sudha

Asha

Khara bun

The recipe for Khara bun is here.

Thanks to Lakshmi Navaneeth of  "The Tastes of South India" for this wonderful recipe.
This has become one of the hot favourites of our weekend party.

Banana Halwa

One of the nicest recipes from Vidya's blog - Banana Halwa.

More than anybody, my daughter enjoyed this and ate this for her dinner the day I prepared.

The recipe is here.

Naan

Ingredients :

All purpose flour(Maida) - 2 cups
Butter - 4 tsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Water - 2/3rd cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 tbsp for dusting and helping in rolling the naans

Preparation Method :

1)Mix 1/2 tsp of yeast, sugar in 2 tsp of warm water and close the lid of the bowl and leave it undisturbed for 5 mins and allow the yeast to raise.
2)In another bowl, mix salt and all purpose flour.
3)Add the yeast mixture, 2 tsp of butter, 2 tbsp of curd and 1/2 cup water.
4)Knead it well.
5)Leave the dough covered for about 1 - 2 hrs in a warm place so that yeast in the dough raises the dough.
6)Knead the dough again for 5 mins until soft with the help of your knuckles.
7)Divide the dough into small balls and roll them with the help of dry flour and rolling pin/hand.
8)Top the nans with sesame seeds and press with your hands gently.
9)Heat an iron griddle on the stove and transfer the naan onto the griddle,wait until it starts to bubble and bit, then turn it to other side and add butter.
10)Once it is done on both the sides, just apply butter and transfer it to another container and place the lid.

Nippattu / Thattai

Ingredients :

Raw rice - 4 cups

Black gram - ½ cup
Asafoetida powder - 2 tbsp
Roasted and broken groundnut - 1 cup
Chilly powder - 1½ tbsp
Gram - 2 tbsp
Salt - As reqd
Butter - 100 gm
Oil for frying

Preparation method :

1)Wash and clean the rice well. Leave it to dry.

2)Once it has dried completely, powder it nicely.
3)Fry the black gram till they become orange and powder it. Keep it aside.
4)Allow the gram soak in water for one hour.
5)Mix together the rice flour, black gram flour, soaked gram, groundnut, chilly powder, asafoetida powder, salt and butter.
6)Heat oil in a kadai or a pan.
7)Take a small sized ball of the dough, flatten it and make it into a circular shape.
8)Drop it gently into the hot oil and fry till golden brown.
9)Keep flipping the sides till the thattai is done.

Murukku

Ingredients :

Rice flour - 3 cups
Black gram - 1 cup
Yellow corn flour - 1 tbsp
Gram flour - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 small cube
(1" thick and long)
Sesame seeds - A few

Asafoetida - A pinch

Salt - As reqd

Chilly powder - 1 tsp (optional)

Oil for deep frying

Preparation method :

1)Roast the rice powder, till the roasted smell comes. Keep it aside.

2)Powder the black gram in a mixer, till fine.
3)Fry this powder along with the Bengal gram flour and the corn flour.
:- The corn flour adds to the crispiness.
4)Add sesame seeds, salt, butter cube, asafoetida and chilly powder.
6)Add water and knead the above into a soft dough.
7)Heat oil in a wide mouthed kadai or a pan.
8)Grease the murukku mould and put required amount of dough into the mould and squeeze it to round or any other shape into the hot oil directly.
9)When slightly brown, reverse it to cook the other side.
10)Drain off the excess oil and allow it to cool.

Dry Fruits Halwa

Ingredients :

Cashew
Raisins
Pistachio
Badam
Milk
Sugar
Ghee
Saffron colour

Preparation Method :

1. Soak all the 4 nuts in milk for 2 hours.
2. Grind them to a paste adding the same milk.
3. Add ghee in a kadai and add the ground paste and also add a little saffron color.
   
4. Keep mixing till it becomes thick and leaves the sides of the vessel.
5. Garnish with broken/powdered dry fruits.

Crispy Prawn

Ingredients :

Prawn
egg - 2
Maida
turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Salt
Bread crumbs

Preparation Method :

1. Pressure cook prawn for 2-3 min
2. In a mixing bowl, add chili powder, turmeric powder,salt and Maida with little water so as
3. to make a consistency as for Bajji.
4. Dip the prawn in this maida mixture followed by egg and Bread crumbs at the end.
5. Drop these bread crumbs coated prawns in hot oil and deep fry.
6. Crispy prawn fry is ready!

Varamahalkakshmi Festival

This was my spread for Varamahalakshmi Festival.

I made sweet pongal, avalakki uppittu, avalakki sweet,moong dal payasam and masala vada.

We also offered some fruits and flowers with the thamboolam to Devi.

My husband and daughter loved the food and my daughter couldnt wait to taste them!

We have Janmashtami in the coming week now and I am all set to cook AGAIN!!

Egg Kurma

Ingredients :

Part I:

• Eggs - 3
• Green chillies - 3
• Onion,minced - 1
• turmeric powder

Part II:

• Onion,minced - 1
• Garlic - 6 pods
• ginger - 2 inch size
• green chillies - 5-6
• Aniseed - 1 tsp
• Tomato 1/2

Part III :

• Cinnamon
• Cloves - 3
• Bay leaf
• Cardamom -3
• Onion, minced - 1

Preparation method :

• Add all the ingredients in Part I along with the beaten egg , blend well and micrawave for about 3-4 minutes.


• The egg rises and gets to a fluffy consistency. Let it cool.


• Once its cool, cut the egg into pieces of 1 inch size and keep aside.


• Add the ingredients in Part II in a kadai with little oil and fry well.


• Grind this fried masala with little water and keep aside.


• Now add the ingredients in Part III in a kadai with oil and fry well, Add the ground masala (from part II).


• Once the masala turns to a light yellow colour, add the cut egg pieces into it .


• Fry well and now add water and let it cok for sometime.


• Once the required consistency of kurma is attained (for roti and dosa, you can make it thick and for rice it will be better if its a little watery) turn of the stove and garnish with coriander leaves.

Note : If you prefer a thicker kurma, then you can add 15ml of coconut milk along with water.

Prawn Biryani

Ingredients :

1. Patta, elakki,lavangam and curry leaves - few
2. ginger garlic paste - 3 Tsp
3. Green chillies - 12
4. Onions (Big)- 2, finely chopped
5. Turmeric powder
6. Salt - to taste
7. Prawn - tail less and cleaned
8. Pudhina/Mint - a handful
9. Basmati rice - 3 cups

Preparation method :

1. Add 1 cup of water and pressure cook the prawn for 5 min.


2. Add 4.5 cups of water to the washed rice and let it cook in an electrical cooker.


3. Add oil to the pan and add the ingredients above in the same order.


4. After adding the prawn, reduce the flame and simmer for 15 min till the masala gets to gravy consistency.


5. Now add the cooked rice onto a aluminium tray and spread well.


6. Add the prawn gravy over it and DO NOT mix.


7. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and let it cook in a conventional oven at 325 Degree F for 30 min.


8. Yummy prawn biryani is ready!

Kuzhi Paniyaram

Ingredients :

Dosa batter - 2 - 3 cups(prepared by grinding 4 cups of idly rice with 1 cup of Urad dhal)

For seasoning:-

• Curry leaves(chopped finely)
• Bengal gram - 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
• Black gram - 2 tsp
• Asafoetida- 1/2 tsp
• Salt - As reqd
• Green chillies(finely chopped) - As reqd
• Ginger - 1/2" piece(chopped finely)
• Oil - 4 tbsp

Preparation Method :

1)Heat oil in a pan.

2)Splutter mustard, black gram and Bengal gram.

3)Once they turn light brown, add the asafoetida, curry leaves, chillies and ginger and salt and saute for 2 mins.

4)Add this to the dosa batter and mix well. ( If the batter is little thick, add 1/2 cup of water and then add the above mix.)

5)Heat a paniyaram vessel with a little oil in each of the opening.

6)Add the batter 3/4 the holder and let it cook for 2 - 3 mins per side

7) Serve hot it with chutney.

Set Dosa

Ingredients :

Rice - 2 1/2 cups
Black gram - 1 cup
Rice flakes(Aval/Poha) - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds- 2 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp

Preparation Method:

1)Soak rice, black gram and poha separately for 4-5 hours.
2)Soak cumin seeds and poha for 45 minutes.
3)Grind all ingredients and make a fine batter.
4)Keep the batter overnight.
5)Add salt.
5)Make set dosas by adding one spoon full of batter in the middle of the pan but not spreading as in ordinary dosas.

PS: This set dosa tastes good with veg kurma and coconut chutney.

Appam with coconut milk

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 4 cups
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Coconut - 1 no
Coconut water - 1/2 cup
Salt– As reqd


Preparation Method:


1)Soak the rice for 4-5 hrs.

2)Grind together raw rice, cooked rice, coconut water & grated coconut to a smooth batter of dosa consistency.

3)Add salt to the batter and mix well.

4)Keep the batter to rise for about 5-6 hours.

5)Before making appams, stir well.

6)Heat a non-stick appam chatti.

7)Pour one big spoon of the batter, rotate the pan and close with lid.

8)When the steam starts coming out, open the lid and take out the appam.

9)Serve hot with coconut milk. (Add sugar to the warm coconut milk before serving).