Athirasam (with store bought rice flour)

Athirasam can be classified as an Indian version of doughnut but made with rice flour and jaggery.

Please see my traditional athirasam recipe too. It will give best results always, if we can make the flour using our mixie.

Tradition:
Athirasam is a common sweet made in TamilNadu. I have seen people frying these doughnuts for all the festivals they celebrate. In India, the traditional marriages are very expensive, that too a lot from the bride's side. It is a custom to give a lot of sweets and snacks like ladoo , athirasam , halwa, mixture, murukku, fruits etc to the bridegroom's house along with the jewels, money and ofcourse the bride too:).The snacks and sweets (that the bride brought) would be distributed by the mother inlaw to her friends and neighbors as 'maruveettu palagaram' that means snacks from bride's side. The sweets are prepared in certain numbers like 100 or 500 or more depending on the inlaws' request. Our athirasams also find a solid place among the gifts. Even now in villages, athirasam is a must to accompany a bride while entering the groom's house as one of the various gifts she bring.
Hope now you understand the importance of this humble sweet:)

My version:
The original athirasam recipe, calls for powdering the soaked rice in a rice-mill.
I can't find a mill here. So I altered the original recipe to suit the availability.
This athirasam recipe is my very own creation and I tried my best to get a typical Indian athirasam.
Actually if you can powder the wet rice or searching for an authentic athirasam then click here to see how Kribha has done it.

Athirasam


Ingredients:
white Rice flour(very fine) (store bought) - 2 cups
Jaggery (crushed) - 2 cups
sugar - 1/4 cup
poppy seed (kasa kasa) - 2 tsp
sesame seed - 1 tbsp
cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
dry ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
milk - as required (say 1/4 cup)

Method:
Measure and put the flour into a wide mixing bowl.
Mix cardamom powder, sesame, poppy seed, dry ginger powder and keep adide.
Now we are going to fake our store bought flour to get that home made wet flour.
So sprinkle very little cold water (1/2 cup exactly) to moisten the flour.
Let it rest for an hour.

The athirasam flour (moistened to get the real texture).


Measure and put the jaggery + sugar on a vessel along with 1/4cup water and heat it in medium flame.
Check the consistency of the syrup to get a one string consistency.
(One string consistency: While stirring the syrup with a spoon, take the spoon above the vessel and let the syrup flow down to the vessel. If it forms one string like flow, then it is called one string consistency and if it forms two distinct strings then it is called two string consistency, which is of course a thick syrup).

Don't go for uruttu patham (update 2014): if it became soft ball or uruttu patham, then add 1/4 cup water and heat and bring back. {Soft ball consistency. (Soft ball consistency - uruttu patham : If we drop 1/2 a tsp of jaggery solution in cold water, it should not dissolve. We should be able to roll that into a soft ball). (or do this step using a candy thermometer - candy stage temp).}


Take care not to burn the syrup. Because making the perfect syrup is the only secret behind good athirasam.
Then pour the hot syrup over the flour and mix well so that the flour gets cooked a bit in that heat.
It should come to a sticky dough.
Add 3 tbsp milk to this and knead again. This gives soft athirasam. (updated 2014)
Now we can place the dough in a cling wrap and protect it airtight for a day  or upto 3 days .
Next day heat 300 ml vegetable oil in a wok.
Make adhirasams like very flat vadais (They will swell while frying) and deep fry in medium heat.
(I pierced a small hole in the center to facilitate the perfect cooking. But some people won't pierce it. Both are correct. In Southern Tamil nadu , we make a hole , whereas in Chennai they won't)
Take out when it becomes deep red in color.
Drain oil in a paper towel and let them cool.
Store them in airtight containers for a week.

Makes 25 - 30 athirasams depending upon the size.
The athirasam will become perfectly soft after 2- 3 hours.

Note :
Original recipe - rice jaggery proportion:
If we take 1 kg rice then use 3/4 kg jaggery + 3 tbsp white sugar.
syrup consistency : 2 string , but if dropped in a cup of water , then we should be able to roll it into soft balls.

Featured in Foodista:

Adhirasam

TamilNadu Muslim's wedding special Biriyani

North Indian biryani and Hyderabadi Biryani are entirely different from the TamilNadu Muslim's version.

In TN , the rice is cooked in the gravy along with meat (known as the Arabian method). While in the other versions, they cook the rice and meat separately and mix afterward in the dhum process (slow cooking).
Click to see my youtube video  on

Chicken Dum biriyani and on 'Tips to make tasty biriyani'

I am sure any one out there who have tasted the biryani in a TN Muslim marriage (or the one prepared by a chef trained to do so) will always seek for that stunning taste. Some years ago , while working in India I met an interesting Accountant, whose hobby is to cook for wedding parties. Beyond the regular office job and despite of his wealthy background he had a crew to join him for this extra job, which he liked very much. One of my colleague told me about this famous chef who happened to sit in the midst of many files.
On my request, without any hesitation he shared me the secrets beyond this famous biryani and some interesting facts too.
From then whenever I prepare a biryani, I remember the way he passionately explained me:)

Noting his version below to appreciate and enjoy.
1.They use only halal meat.The meat should be marinated with curd, salt for few hours to overnight.

Weight of meat should be equal to that of rice.Use red meat only or use a whole chicken along with bones.
2.They pray to God before making biryani, as they consider it as food for the God.
(I always appreciate the dedication and love).
3.They consider inviting all the people they know for the feast.
(oh yeah , how can we feast a tasty food without any social consciousness).
4. They start cooking as early as 2 AM to serve for a feast in the lunch. The secret is the long hours of dham in low heat. (That 10 hrs of cooking makes it yummy!).
5. Don't use chilli powder, coriander powder,  poppy seed, Turmeric powder , garam masal powder. This briyani should not be spicy, but we should get the green chilly flavor only.
6. Use good quality milk, saffron , rose essence , ghee.
7. They serve the food in a very large plate (called thambalam) and the close family members eat together in the same plate, whereas guests are served separately.
(Most of the Muslim marriages serve Mutton biryani, but I have used chicken and simplified the procedure enough to make it in small batches at home. If you are using mutton,then don't cook it in a pressure cooker. Instead cook mutton in direct heat, but add a pinch of meat tenderizer powder or a piece of raw papaya to reduce the cooking time or lamb)

Briyani with carrot raitha

carrot raita and tomato sweet are served with briyani in Muslim festivals in my neighborhood

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice or jeeraga samba or kali jeera rice - 1/2 kg (approximately 3 cups)
Chicken - 1/2 kg
(with bone / leg piece is good. Don't use breast piece / white meat for this recipe)
salt - To taste
Green chilly - 6
Red onion - 100 gms (2)
Tomato - 100 gms (4)
Lemon - 1/4
ghee - 1/2 cup
oil - 1/4 cup
Rose water - 2 tbsp
(or a drop of rose essence)
Milk - 1/4 cup
curd - 1 cup (optional but tastes good)
saffron - a pinch

Paste 1:
cilantro - 10 plants (leaves only)
mint leaf - 10 sticks (leaves only)
green chilly - 4

Paste 2:
Ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 10 pearls

To dry roast and powder:
Fennel seed - 1 tbsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
cardamom - 4
cloves - 6
Black pepper - 1 tbsp

For tempering:
cinnamon - 3 inch , 1 star aniseed, cashews - 10 ,1 tsp Sea weed (kalpaasi), a small chip of Nutmeg (jathikkai), 1/4 of a mace, raisin - 10, bay leaf - 2 , cardamom - 5, cloves - 6.

Preparation:
Clean the chicken and cut it in to big pieces. Wash and Keep aside.
Rub a tsp of salt + juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 cup curd and leave it for an hour.
(overnight marination inside fridge yields very tasty juicy chicken pieces in biryani).

Chop the onion in lengthwise.
Chop Tomato into small cubes.
Keep the green chillies as full, don't cut it.
Dry roast and powder the items given.
Grind ginger and garlic together to a fine paste.
Grind cilantro, mint, green chilli to a very fine paste.

While we start tempering,  rinse and clean the rice. Soak it in water for 10 minutes , drain water and let it remain for 1/2 an hour (while we saute and cook the meat). Don't soak for more time. The rice may break by over-soaking.


Method:
Heat oil + ghee in a  broad bottom vessel meant for biriyani.
Soak the rice in room temp water for only 10  minutes.
Toss in a small bark of cinnamon, 1 star aniseed, cashews , 2 rose bud, 1 tsp Sea weed (kalpaasi), a small chip of jathikkai(nutmeg),  raisin.
Immediately add the chopped onion + little salt and fry till it becomes golden brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell vanishes.
Now add the finely chopped tomato and cilantro paste (paste 1). Saute till the tomato gets mashed and oil starts showing off.  USE GHEE GENEROUSLY.
Now put the chicken pieces along with some more salt, a cup of water , powdered masala and cook it covered.
Cook till all the water gets absorbed by the chicken and the chicken is almost cooked .
Put the soaked rice.. and saute it gently without breaking the rice grains.
Now add water just enough to immerse the rice and meat completely.  Start heating and let the rice gets cooked 50 %. Ensure that some water is standing above the rice. If not add boiling water so that water stands 1/2 inch above that rice.
(No need to measure the water. Literally it is not possible to measure the amount water if biryani is prepared in large quantities. ).

Put some freshly chopped mint, cilantro leaves and uncut green chillies.
As soon as the water starts boiling, we can see some holes start appearing on rice. close the vessel with a tight lid and let the rice absorb all the water. Now the rice will be 70 % cooked. Switch off the flame.

Dhum process:
Actually while cooking for large parties the chef used to cook the biryani in large stoves burning with fire wood. And at this point they put off fire and make the biryani sit over hot charcoal. Moreover they close the edges of the lid with wet chapathi / roti dough to prevent steam to escape and cook the food in low heat.They put lot of hot charcoal also above the lid. After 5 hours they will get a perfect biryani, with that long grain rice becoming soft, firm and some what short:)
I simplified the above process with a home adopted dhum process.

Home adopted dhum process:
Start heating a thick dosa tawa . (Dont't use your regular dosa tawa. Because you may spoil the dosa tawa while doing so. So I use my chapathi tawa)
Place the biryani vessel over the hot tawa.

Now mix the milk , rose water and saffron and sprinkle it all over the rice. (This generates enough steam to slow cook the rice).
Spread the raisins all over the rice.
Sprinkle some more ghee (2 tbsp) over the rice.

Reduce the heat to minimum. Close the vessel tightly using a flat lid / plate.
Using a wet chapathi dough, cover the lid's edge to seal completely.

Before hand bring 2 liters of water to boil in a vessel. close it with lid.
Place it above the biryani vessel and lid.
Reduce flame to minimum.
Let the setup remain for nearly 2 hours. (2 hours is enough for a smaller batch , less than 2 kg rice).

After that we need not stir the biryani.

After 2 hours we can get a good biryani smell filling the house.
Take it out and enjoy.

TamilNadu Muslim style Biryani is ready !

Serving suggestions:
Mostly in TamilNadu Muslim marriages they Serve it hot with Thakkali thithippu (a kind of Tomato jam) , onion - carrot raitha , any spicy non veg curry , of course a semiya javvarisi payasam and a special dish called dhalsa (a thick dhal curry made with some mutton).
The above said quantity would be enough to serve 4 adults.

Note:
Rice calculation - for 1 adult use 3/4 cup of rice.
Jeeraga samba rice (Jeera rice) will give more flavorful Tamilnadu biryani than the basmati.

Hope I tempted you enough by describing a TamilNadu Muslim marriage feast:)
Enjoy!

Including this TamilNadu Muslim's Wedding special Biryani to the event The potluck - chicken ' hosted by me.


For mutton briyani:
Just proceed like the same method, but don't add tomato, salt or lemon without cooking the mutton. It will delay the cooking of mutton. So after the ginger garlic paste (without vinegar), add the mutton and cook in direct heat or pressure cook (medium flame in 10 minutes after 1 whistle). Then add tomato, salt and prepare the briyani just like chicken briyani. If you have lesser time to prepare the goat (mutton) briyani, then just pressure cook the meat (though it is not traditional).

-------------------------------------------------
update: 2014

Onion getting fried in ghee + oil

Marinated chicken. Adding curd is optional , but tastes good.

Onion, ginger garlic paste, tomato, cilanto mint , green chilly masala paste cooked

after adding chicken and oil separates

Cook the chicken masala till it tastes perfect and oil separates.

See  little water standing above semi cooked rice. Briyani is ready for dhum.

Dum in oven . Cover tightly with aluminum foil and heat 350 deg c for 30 minutes and reduce to 250 for 1.30 hours

(OR) Keeping dum in stove. Top vessel has very hot water. Heat every 15 minutes and keep the water above the briyani vessel and stove in minimum heat.

Briyani after dum cooking

Chicken briyani in  SouthTamilnadu Muslim style. It won't be very grainy like North Indian briyani But well cooked and not mushy.

Pachai payaru Sambar

Green gram sambar became my favorite after tasting it in a friend's house . It was yummy to the core with those soft thick dosas and from then I longed to test run it in my kitchen. However did not get a chance to make a sambar with whole green gram and end up with just a chutney. Finally one day I tried this and it came out very well. Actually I made it with venn pongal.
Pardon me for my poor picture:( My camera didn't do any justice.
Hope everyone loves a sambar loaded with tons of fiber!



Ingredients:
Whole green gram (with skin) - 3/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind- an amla size
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
asafoetida - a pinch
salt - to taste
Brinjal - 2
Tomato - 1
curry leaf - 1 brig
oil - 1 tsp
mustard seed - 1 tsp
cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Soak the green gram for whole night or let it germinate.
Pressure cook it along with 2 cups of water , asafoetida , Turmeric powder, chopped onion for 5 whistles or till the green gram becomes tender.
Once the pressure gets released, mash the cooked dhal with cumin seeds gently using a ladle .keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Splutter the mustard seeds.
Add few curry leaves and fry the chopped vegetables for some time.
Then add the tamarind extract, chilli powder, coriander powder and bring it to a boil.Add salt to taste. Let the vegetables get cooked.
Add 2 cups of water.

Then add the mashed green gram and switch off once the sambar comes to a boil.

Green gram sambar is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with Venn pongal , Idly , dosai.

Butter bisuit

I don't know the exact name of this biscuit. But in my home town (Tirunelveli, TN,India) they call it as soosbery biscuit / butter biscuit and in other places as suji biscuit that means a biscuit made of ghee / clarified butter.
In some bakeries they make it with dalda / vanaspathi .
I have been searching for this recipe for a long time, as we cannot get it here. Luckily I came across Subhie Arun's excellent recipe for it.
I am recording the recipe again for my own use. Thanks dear for sharing this rare recipe. only thing I modified is flattened it a bit, just to get my home town biscuit:)
The biscuits came out just exactly like the Tirunelveli bakery's butter biscuit ...just try it and enjoy the weekend.



Ingredients:
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking powder- 1/4 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup
Salt a pinch

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degree C.
1. Mix ghee and sugar in mixing bowl with a fork to get a creamy texture.
2. Mix well the salt,baking powder and flour.
3. Add everything together , knead and make a dough like chapathi dough.
Make a soft dough.The dough should be slightly sticky on your finger.
(adjust flour and sugar to get the dough consistency).
4. Place an aluminium foil on a baking tray. Make small balls , slightly flatten it and place it on the baking tray and bake for just 8 - 10 minutes depending upon your oven.
5.Remove the biscuit once it starts leaving the tray. Don't worry about it being soft now, after cooling it becomes hard.
Let it cool and then store in air tight container.
Butter biscuit is ready!

Note:
Makes 20 biscuits approximately.

Award:
Surprisingly while publishing this "Subhie's version of butter biscuit, I got an award from her. Great coincidence ...right:)

Thank you dear. I feel honored.

Bachelor's chicken thokku

A very easy Indian chicken recipe that could be helpful for a beginner.Thokku means a thick gravy

I crafted this simple chicken thokku recipe for my friends and brothers who longed to have home cooked food. Before blogging, I used to email this recipe to whoever asks me for a simple chicken recipe. All those who used this recipe were almost bachelors at that time, so I christened the recipe as Bachelor's chicken thokku.
Surprisingly one day hubby asked me to take rest and he told me that he wants to cook some chicken for me.
I started freaking out and was terribly upset to hear that, because I have never seen him inside the kitchen and I didn't want to end up hungry on a weekend.
Some how he managed to get my approval and I wrote the procedure on a piece of paper, gave him a brief tour on masalas and went out with a faint heart.
You know what friends? After some time I started sensing his success through my nose and rushed into the kitchen. I could not believe my eyes. While I was just sitting and waiting to find some fault:) the chicken thokku appeared in the wok with great taste and I enjoyed my real holiday devouring the chicken. From the moment I became very confident that anyone can make a decent home cooked chicken curry with this recipe.



I took a snap of what he cooked and publishing it on behalf of hubby for the event ' The potluck - chicken ' hosted by me.

Ingredients:
Chicken - 500 gms
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tsp
cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
(Garam masala powder should have cinnamon, cloves, cardamom as main ingredient)
Salt - to taste
Red onion - 2 (100 gms)
green chilli - 2
Cilantro , mint leaf - a handful (to garnish)
Tomato - 4
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
(grind 2 inch ginger and 3 pearls of garlic together to get the ginger garlic paste)
Oil - 5 tbsp
Fennel seed - 1 tsp
curd (plain yogurt) - 1/2 cup

Preparation:
1.Wash and clean the chicken. Remove skin and fat. Apply some turmeric all over and rinse again .
Cut it into medium size pieces and keep aside.

2.Chop the onion and tomato separately.

3.Grind 2 inch ginger, 3 garlic pods , green chilly , black pepper together to a fine paste.
or simply use the black pepper powder, chopped chilly and store bought ginger garlic paste.

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a wok , add the fennel seeds and let it become red.
Then add the chopped onion and fry till it becomes golden brown.
Now put the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes.
Add the chopped tomato and fry till it becomes mushy.

2.Now add the chicken pieces , curd , all the powders mentioned above, salt, and a cup of water.

3.Cook tightly covered in low heat for an hour. stir it once in every 15 minutes.
Then put off fire after the oil starts showing and the meat is done.

4. Garnish with chopped cilantro and mint leaf.
Bachelor's chicken thokku is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with plain white rice or any Indian bread.

Pachai Puli thanneer Rasam

Here comes another interesting rasam 'Pachai puli thanneer' rasam that means raw tamarind extract rasam . To make this rasam we won't need a stove.
May be this rasam could be a very old cuisine prepared by the travelers in India.
The other name of this rasam is 'vandikkaaran rasam', that means the rasam prepared by the bullock cart drivers:)
In those days , before the invention of motor vehicles, people were traveling in bullock carts from place to place. Some times they may take even a month to reach their destination. So they would take rest once in a week in a nearby city and would stock up some grocery items and food. The restaurants were rare to commons and the annachathiram (free meal place) would be scanty. So, in the mean time they would have prepared Puliyotharai, lemon rice, curd rice etc for the first three days and for the next coming period they need to cook , at least for two days.
The only way to sustain the travel was to cook the rice with the available wood and to fix up some easy side dish like rasam and thovaiyal (hand ground chutney). Thus comes the invention of this raw tamarind rasam.
May be we also find it very easy to fix a delicious simple dinner, if running late. Good for the summer too:)
I remember those days when my elder brother and myself voraciously consuming the rice without any hesitation with our mom's puli thanneer rasam:)



Ingredients:
Tamarind - size of a small key-lime
Shallot onion - 10
(or 1 red onion)
green chilly - 2
cumin seed - 1 tsp
curry leaf - 1 brig
water - 3 cups
salt - to taste

Method:
Extract the juice of tamarind by soaking it in water.
Finely chop the onion, green chilly, curry leaf and mix it with the tamarind water.
Add cumin seeds and salt.
Let them soak for an hour or we can use it immediately also.
Pachai puli rasam is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Pour over piping hot fully cooked rice along with any thogaiyal , vadagam or appalam as sides.

Note:
Prepare more quantity of rice than the usual amount and you will find the reason after tasting this rasam:)

Puthina (Mint leaf) rasam

Puthina / Mint leaf is my favorite herb. I love to add mint in my tea. Mint leaf is believed to do a lot of good to our intestine, memory power , skin, breathing system etc etc. Moreover the plants add a touch of greenery to our house. So I proudly display some plants always in my window garden. Mostly the price of a bunch will be expensive in USA. But surprisingly last week I bought some mint leaf bunches for very less price in the Indian stores.
 I am posting two vegetarian recipes with mint leaf today.




Mint leaf Rasam / Pudina Rasam:
Ingredients:
Cooked Toor dal (Red gram) - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 100 gm
garlic - 3 pearls
Tamarind - a gooseberry size
Black pepper - 1/2 tbsp
coriander seed - 2 tsp
Dry red chilly - 3
cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 3 pearls.
Mint leaf - a small bunch (1 1/2 cup chopped leaves)
oil - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
salt - to taste

Method:
Cook the Toor dhal and mash it .
(I take out the necessary dhal after pressure cooking for sambar).
Extract juice from tamarind.
Dry roast pepper, coriander, cumin, red chili and powder them together with fresh garlic.
Wash and clean the mint leaves. Chop the mint leaves finely.
Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard, cumin , asafoetida. After the mustard crackles , add the chopped tomato and fry till oil oozes out.
Pour the mashed dal, powdered masala, tamarind extract, chopped mint leaf and let it come to a boil.
As soon as the rasam starts to boil, immediately switch off and add salt.
Mint leaf rasam is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve over hot plain rice.
Goes well with a simple thovaiyal (thick chutney) and appalam.

Events:
Mint leaf rasam goes to JFI : Mint event hosted by Ashwini of Spicy cuisine. originally created by Indira of Mahanadi.

Also sending this mint leaf Rasam to the SWC - cooking with greens event hosted by Sowmya of creative saga.

Award:
I am very much excited when two of my friends Ann of Happy and healthy cooking and Ammu of Nature kitchen passed me this beautiful award.

Thank you friends. I feel honored.
I think it is appropriate to pass on this award to all who visit me. Feel free to pick it up buddies.
Enjoy!