Aval vellam

Aval vellam is a special offering prepared during Saraswathi pooja and Krishna Jeyanthi. Because of its simplicity , we can prepare this sweet in just 10 minutes.
I am sending this sweet dish to Shanthi's State special event on behalf of TamilNadu and Purva's Festive food event for krishna Jeyanthi.



Ingredients:
Poha / beaten rice / aval (thicker variety)- 1 1/4 cup
vellam / jaggery / brown sugar - 3/4 cup
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cashew - 10
cardamom - 3
Raisin - 10
almond slices - 10

Method:
Wash and clean the poha. Soak it for 3 minutes and drain the water completely.
Take 1/2 cup of water in a wok and heat it along with the jaggery.
As the jaggery dissolves, filter and remove the impurities.
Again heat it to achieve a thicker solution called one string consistency.
(One string consistency means, if you take the stirring spoon out of the jaggery solution and if you can get a thing string dripping as the last drop , it is called so).
Mix the poha, cashews, shredded coconut, powdered cardamom, raisin , almond and stir well.
Immediately switch off the flame.
Aval vellam is ready!

Note:
We can roast the nuts and raisins in ghee before adding. But I stick to the more simpler old version.

Serving suggestions:
In my home town, this sweet is served as a starter snack during festive occasions as soon as the guest arrives.
Serves 4 people.

Murungakkai masala poriyal

Drumstick is a very common vegetable in India. That too in the southern India, we cannot see a home garden without the drumstick tree. All the parts of the tree are of medicinal value. More over who can deny the taste of the sambar and curry made out of those freshly plucked drumsticks. So it is the favorite tree for many Indian housewives.Here I should mention, if we go on plucking the leaves of the tree it will not yield much drumsticks during the season. So it is a good idea to grow another tree also for our 'keerai' (greens) purpose.

Back home, my mom grew a big drumstick tree for our vegetable need and one small tree to reap the greens:) .
Even now the trees are serving the neighborhood along with some tales on mom's gardening and cooking skills.
Yeah, that is the gift we get by planting trees.....

During my 8 th standard summer vacation, Mom taught me to prepare this murungakkai masala koottu as my first dish....though I cannot tell u about my improper shaped hard dosas:) .Slowly I learned more dishes during that vacation .
I remember me announcing occasional kitchen holidays for mom from bed coffee to night dinner without allowing her to enter the kitchen, though everyone other than mom described those food as harassment:)

Shama's 'First cooked food' inspired me to cook this murungakkai masala and I am sending this to her event. Moreover this is my favorite side dish too.

Drumstick masala fry / murungakkai curry masala koottu



Ingredients:
Drumstick - 3 (choose green, flexible and succulent ones)
salt - to taste (1/4 tsp)
curry leaf - 1 sprig
fennel - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
coriander powder - 3 tsp
Red chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
oil - 1 tsp
To grind:
Onion - 1/2
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Cut the drumstick into 3 inch long pieces and slightly slit in one end.
Grind the items given to a coarse paste.
Heat oil in a wok.
Add fennel seed and let it get red. Now put the curry leaf.
Then add the drumstick pieces along with all the powders and masala paste.
Add salt , 1 cup water and cook covered till it becomes tender .
The curry should be like a very thick / dry gravy.
Drumstick masala is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with sambar / rasam / curd rice .

How to eat drumstick ?
Gently scoop out the fleshy part with small spoon / fork and eat.
If in home feel free to scoop with hand and chew them gently without swallowing the outer skin. That is the real way to enjoy murungakkai:)
It is a very common dish in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin of TN , India.