Senai kilangu varuval

Senai Kilangu (Tamil) ,Suran (Hindi), elephant yam  spicy roast / pan fried yam.
This root vegetable is one of the most favorites in many Indian houses. We cherish this as  a quick side dish with sambar rice. Hope you all love this :)

Frozen yam from Indian grocery store.

Ingredients :
Senai kilangu - 1/4 kg
Oil - 2 tbsp
red chilly powder -1 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
salt - 1 tsp (to taste)
pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
fennel (sombu) - 1 tsp
curry leaf - few

Method:
Buy fresh or frozen suran. Chop the suran into small cubes (or put the frozen suran in water for an hour to defrost it). Mix all the powders, salt with suran and keep aside.
Heat oil in a frying wok.
Let the fennel  get red. Put the curry leaf. Then add the suran pieces.
Saute for a minute. Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered in low flame for about 10 minutes.
Stir in between. Check if it is cooked. Then open the lid and stir for a  few more minutes till it gets mildly crispy on outside.
Senai kilangu varuval is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with rice and any curry or simply with curd rice.

Happy Vinayagar Chathurthi !

photo courtesy : http://easyscraps.blogspot.com/2010/09/ganesh-chaturthi-festival-india.html

Wishing all a very happy Vinayagar Chathurthi !

Rice kheer

Arisi payasam / paal payasam / rice kheer / rice pudding

Believe it or not, my mom has never done this and I came to know of this kheer after marriage only ♥
In my house quick payasam (kheer) means semiya payasam only. Mom won't change the family's traditional cooking and that's what made her foods incredibly yummy. But I believe that it is more fun to taste newer recipes (that too , if they are simple and quick).
This rice kheer is very common in almost all the houses nowadays and I appreciate the way we use rice instead of some processed semiya (vermicelli). So I happily embraced this easy kheer. I got this recipe from most of my neighbors (North and South Indians), and found a median version that suits us ♥ I don't insist on adding saffron or pistachio, but doing so will definitely enhance it.
I am sure simple kheers like this are a boon to this modern era women, who wishes to attend potlucks or host parties , but still wishes to look fresh  ♥

Wishing all a happy and prosperous Onam and Varalakshmi Nonbu !

Paal payasam / rice kheer

Ingredients:
Raw rice (basmati or pachcharisi) - 1/4 cup
whole milk  or 2 % milk- 2 cup
sugar - 12 tsp
almond - 2
cashew - 2
raisin - few
cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
saffron - pinch (optional)

Method:
Rinse the rice and cook in stove top. Otherwise we can use 3/4 cup of well cooked rice.
Add 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. Simmer and let it cook till rice gets soft.
Then add the milk and cook till the consistency becomes thick.
In the meantime soak the nuts and raisin separately.
Coarsely grind the soaked nuts and add the raisin and nuts.
Mix well.
Add required sugar and cardamom powder, saffron (soaked in a tbsp of milk).
Bring to a boil and switch off.
Serve hot or cold.

Serving suggestion:
Serve as dessert.
The above said quantity will be enough for 5 small servings (1/4 cup each).

Happy Onam !

Senai Kilangu fry

Deep fried yam / Senai kilangu varuval / suran fry.

Elephant yam is one of the big size yams of India. Though it is completely composed of carbohydrates, it is believed to yield some health. So it is popular than potato in my place.

While in UG, we all girls had a nice ladies hostel. Few times I had the chance to enter their store room to inspect along with our warden (a procedure to record a fair transaction).  At that time I could see our the pantry's upper shelf stacked up with these elephant yams and the chef answered why there were too many yams for us :) ...
"Yams can be bought fresh during few months like January, February there. But they can be stored without refrigeration for many months (3-5 or even more), if they are kept whole and safer. Likewise one could see some whole pumpkins, coconuts too :)  "
....That was surprising to me and the way they maintained very low lunch fees (that's a blessing) had made me realize the responsibility of good house keeping ( buying in bulk and storing during lesser price).

Okay, coming to our Yam fry (looking like fish fry).....My mom used to make this fry occasionally along with paruppu kulambu  (click to see my traditional paruppu kulambu recipe too). This would be the star-dish while it rains.

Getting this fresh yam is not easy here in US. It would be very expensive ($4.99/ lb) and the shops would expect us to take the whole yam (no cuttings) and the yams (you all know)  will always measure more than 3 lb . So I just buy from freezer section and those packets always carry yams cut into tiny cubes. So I waited for an opportunity to try this for my blog, as well as our family.

Last year, I made this for my inlaws and they absolutely loved it. This became my mother inlaw's most favorite and I love the way all liked it. So try this on a cool season for your loving family and enjoy this fry as well as their smile.

Deep fried yam (I couldn't take any 'blog worthy photos', as we all started enjoying them immediately).

Senai kilangu marinated with masalas

Senai kilangu cut into bigger wedges

Ingredients:
Elephant yam - 1 lb (or little more)
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
salt - as per need (1 1/2 tsp)
water - 1 tbsp
Oil - to deep fry

Method:
Remove the skin of the yam using a knife. (Don't rinse in water now).  Cut it into bigger squares or triangles of 3/4 inch thickness. Now rinse in water. 
Mix all the masalas and salt in water.
Marinate the yam slices in this mixture.
Wash your hands in little tamarind water.
Deep fry in oil, flip and fry in medium heat.
Take out and drain oil.
Senai kizhangu fry (veggie fish fry) is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with any rice.

Other dishes with Senai kilangu :
Senai kilangu varuval / roast.
Senai kilangu paruppu koottu 
Senai kilangu erisseri
Pongal avial
Pongal puli curry

Apple milkshake

Having more milk (calcium rich food) during summer has been in practice in most of the colder countries. As I am more into vegetarian foods now, I like milk better. Vitamin D from Sun and Calcium are like buddies. I don't need to say more on this in detail. Direct Sunlight is available only for few months in our place, then it would be always cloudy, rainy or snowy. We can see people consuming milk , just like a cold drink , straight from the gallon container and everyone around here craves for milk and cheese. New Jersey's cows in the farms are a beautiful happy sight to see. Also the locally grown apples in my state fill the markets at a very low price. So that is our main fruit throughout the year (other fruits and veggies are seasonal only).
I tried this on an afternoon, while one of my friends came to our house and we both enjoyed it very much.
Hope you all love this milkshake !

Honey crisp apple (local farm) and red delicious apples along with milk. Organic milk is not regular , but for more taste.

Apple milkshake.

Cute Cows....my love !

Apple tree in an apple farm

Ingredients:
Apple - 1 (big)
milk - 2 cups
cardamom powder - a pinch
brown sugar - 3 tsp

Method:
Core and peel the apple. Puree using a mixie / blender along with cardamom and sugar.
Add some milk and grind to a fine paste.
Now add more cold milk, ice cubes and enjoy!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as drink (like orange juice) along with breakfast or anytime.

Vegetable Puffs

Puffs is a spicy pastry snack of India. The pastry sheets stuffed with various kinds of masala and named after the stuffing.

In my hometown , veg puffs is one of the most popular snack that can be bought only from bakeries. Though vadai, bajji and many other snacks are sold during the evening time by the street vendors, those bakeries would always be crowded with an affluent group of customers, who used to buy the best snacks for their kids (though the simple homemade vada is good for all, who listens...hi hi).  At that time, ovens were not this much prevalent in India. So buying a few puffs in the evening would be more handy and classy, if some guests had arrived. In my childhood, a bakery called 'Queens' in our neighborhood was very popular for their onion puffs, veg puffs, sweet puffs etc.

This is my younger brother's favorite and at one point of time, while returning from my job,  I used to get down one stop ahead in our NGO colony to buy these puffs to see his smile :)

Recently one day,I  bought a pack of these pastry sheets from Indian grocery stores and made these steaming hot along with ginger tea on a weekend. My hubby dear loves this absolutely very much and tells me to repeat every weekend :)

So try this and see a big smile on your love's faces!

Vegetable puffs - after baking !

Preparing the vegetable stuffing.

This is the puff pastry I bought

For calorie facts...Yes !

Thawing instructions.

Pastry sheets with stuffing

Fold the pastry squares into rectangles or triangles ....teach geometry to kids by this fun way too :)

Press the edges using a fork.

Puffs after baking ....

serve the piping hot veg puffs to your loved ones along with tea !

Ingredients:
Pastry sheets - 4
red onion - 1
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
oil - 2 tsp
fennel (sombu) -  1 tsp
tomato - 1
lemon juice - few drops (if needed only)
carrot , beans, peas - handful
salt - to taste
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
green chilly - 1
minced cilantro, mint leaf - 1 tbsp

Preparation:
Thaw the pastry sheets as per direction.
I thawed them by leaving the pack in kitchen counter after lunch and it stayed there for almost 2 1/2 hours (as it was little cool on that day). But other than that follow the directions in the pack.

Filling:
Heat oil in a wok. Add fennel and let it get red. Then add onion and saute till it get red. Then add the ginger garlic paste and saute. Then goes the finely chopped tomato. Let it wilt.
Put all the chopped vegetables, green chilly. Add the masala powders, salt.
Sprinkle a handful of water and cook covered. Then put the chopped mint and cilantro leaves. After it gets cooked, if necessary add lime juice. switch off. The stuffing is ready !

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 deg F (10 mins).
Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and coat it with tsp of oil.
Keep the pastry sheets flat.
Put 2 tbsp filling (not too much) and fold as per taste.
Then using a fork, press the edges so that they close.
Coat the top with little butter or milk.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 400 deg F.
Take out when the upper crust seems mild red.
Vegetable puffs is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as tea time snack.