Paruppu payasam

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Pongal / Sankaranthi festival!

I am eager to post something sweet for this sweet Pongal and here comes my paruppu payasam for you all.

I make many kinds of payasams (kheer) and I am sure most of my readers may very well know about my sweet-tooth:) . On top of the list this simple paruppu payaasam always holds a great place in my festive lunch because of my hubby. I too love this very much because of its simple ingredients.



Ingredients:
Green gram dhal (paasi paruppu) - 3/4 cup
jaggery - 1.5 cup (crushed)
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
(mildly tender coconut will taste great in this payasam)
cardamom - 3
ghee - 1 tbsp
raisin - 5
cashew nut - 10

Directions:
Wash and clean the dhal. Pressure cook the green gram dhal with 2 cups of water for 2 whistles and mash it coarsely using the back of a spatula.

Heat another pan with 2 cups of water and add jaggery.
After the jaggery gets dissolved, distill the clear jaggery solution and discard the sediments.

Add the jaggery solution to the mashed dhal along with shredded coconut and let it come to a boil.

Crush the cardamom and add the seeds to the kheer.

Heat a frying pan with 1 tbsp ghee.
Roast the cashews to golden brown and raisins till they puff. Pour it into the kheer.
Switch off the stove.

Paruppu payasam is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve hot or cold as dessert.

Event:
My friend Shama of Easy2cook recipes is hosting a pretty event called Christmas Party-09 event and I am sending my Christmas cum New year dishes to hers.

Here is our simple New year lunch, which I am sending for Shama's. The New Year came on a Friday this year and we had a vegetarian south Indian meal for the lunch.
The menu was plain rice, ketti paruppu (dhal), Arachi vitta sambar, Aviyal, Ennai kathirikkai (stuffed brinjal), pickle, pappad, curd and paruppu payasam.



My another entry is the Christmas fruit cake.


Hope it suits the event. Happy hosting dear!


Award:

My friend , Faiza Ali of Faiza Ali's Kitchen has presented me this lovely award. She is a very innovative person and I admire her skills on appreciating International food. Especially I like her perfect Black forest cake and the delicious Bakhlava very much. Every woman loves this word beautiful and I feel so honored to get this 'Beautiful blogger' award from her. Thanks Faiza. This means a lot to me and you have inspired me much by this.



I could not pick a few from you , as all of you are awesome and unique in a special way. Anyways I have to share them with a few and so I am passing it to the following friends.

Sarah of Vazhayila.
Sanghi of Sanghi's Food delights.
Aysha of Life Today.
Vrinda of Sankeerthanam.
Padma of Padma's recipes.
Rina of Rina's recipes.
And to all of my blogger friends who leave a comment here:)

Happy Pongal my friends and Enjoy blogging!

You may also like my:
Pongal aviyal
Sarkarai Pongal
Venn Pongal

Chicken sukka varuval and our Christmas cake

Before going to today's post, I would like to share the Christmas cake I prepared for Baby Jesus. I made a fruit cake and frosted it with butter cream icing.


'Happy Birthday Baby Jesus' A Birthday cake for Jesus.

Next comes our Chicken sukka.

Chukka / sukka means a dry curry in a gorgeous dark brown color.Chukka gets its color during the stir fry process. Unlike many other chicken recipes, sukka will not have any mint leaf or cilantro . But the main flavor comes from sesame oil, shallot onion , lots of chilly powder and curry leaf.

This is a fiery HOT curry and one should have the heart of steel to try this . If you are not used to the South Indian spicy food , then reduce the quantity of spices given below as per taste. But the real taste lies in the dominating red chilly-pepper combo.

It is more popular in Chettinad restaurants, a Tamil cuisine known for its spicy and delicious food.

It is always my dad's choice in the Aachi's restaurant in my hometown and hubby's favorite too:)

Here is the famous chukka varuval for you all.



Marination:
Chicken (boneless) - 1 lb (1/2 kg)
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp.
(ginger - 2 inch, garlic - 5 cloves)
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste (1 tsp)
Vinegar / lime juice - 2 tbsp
oil - To deep fry (200 ml)

Select red meat (boneless thigh portion) from chicken , as it will give a juicy texture whereas breast / white meat will yield a hard finish.

Wash and clean the chicken in running water. Cut the chicken into medium size cubes (approximately 2 cm).
Finally rub 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and keep aside.

Grind the ginger, garlic to a fine paste.
Marinate the chicken with all items given above (except the oil) for 2 hrs.

Heat the oil in a wok and deep fry the marinated chicken pieces till it is completely cooked. keep aside.

To Temper (finishing touch):
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
fennel seeds - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 3 inch
Shallot or red onion - 200 gms
(I have used red onion here)
Salt - to taste (1 tsp)
Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tsp
garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Lemon - 1/2
Finely chopped ginger - 2 tbsp
curry leaf - 2 sprig
Green chilly - 2 (finely chopped)

Chop the onion into thin long pieces.
Heat oil in a wok. Add fennel seeds and cinnamon stick.
Let the fennel seeds become red. Put 1 sprig curry leaves and wait til they get crispy.

Slide in the onion and fry till it gets half cooked.
Add the fried chicken pieces along with salt and all the above said powders.

(Some people add 1/2 cup shredded coconut blended with 1/4 tsp cumin at this stage).

Sprinkle 1/2 cup water and cook covered for 5 minutes till all the masala powders gets blended to give a nice flavor.
Now add chopped fresh curry leaves (1 sprig), green chilly, ginger and mix well.
Stir for a minute and put off stove.

Squeeze lime juice and mix well with the sukka.

Chicken sukka is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Goes well with chapathi, roti and rice.
Perfectly pairs with curd rice also.
Serves 4 people.

Murukku

Murukku is an Indian snack served along with coffee or tea. It is generally prepared with rice flour and a gram flour.

Xav loves murukku with coffee like anything. So, I specially made it for him.
Here is the murukku I prepared for hubby as my Christmas gift.

I know, making murukku is not a big deal for anyone who loves to cook. But I have not ventured myself in this art for quite a long time because of my fear on hot oil:( There are so many ways to make murukku, but I planned to follow my mother's recipe , which has never disappointed me at any point of time :)

I started by 10.30 Am and completed successfully by 12 noon. So it took just 1.30 hours totally and voila my secret gift for Xav got ready 2 days before Christmas. But I could not be so hard-hearted to hide it from him till the Eve:)

Roasted Urid dhal:



Kneaded murukku dough:



Murukku before frying:



(At this stage the murukku should not have much cracks. If so add some more water and knead the dough again to check for the uninterrupted flow. This will yield smooth and crispy murukku).


Fried murukku:



Ingredients:
Rice flour - 4 cups
(If you have a flour mill in your vicinty (just like Indian flour mills), then soak 4 cups of unboiled rice (pacharisi) for 2 hours, drain the rice and prepare flour. Otherwise we can use store bought flour also. But the ratio should be always 4 : 1)
Urid dhal (Black gram) - 1 cup (without skin)
Butter - 5 tbsp (1 tbsp / rice + dhal mix)
Cumin - 1 tbsp
sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
Hing (Asafoetida) - 1/8 tsp
Salt per taste
coconut milk - 1/2 cup (optional)
Water for mixing - (nearly 3 cups of water)
Oil - to deep fry (500 ml)

Method:
Heat a wok and dry roast the urid dhal till it we get a nice flavor and starts to turn golden (not red). Keep aside and let it cool. Then dry grind it to a fine powder using an Indian mixer.

In the same wok , dry roast the rice flour for about 10 minutes . When we touch it , we should feel it like river sand. Then let it cool.

Put both the flours in a large mixing bowl . Add cumin, sesame, asafoetida and butter. Mix well.

Take 2 cups of water and add 3/4 tsp salt for every cup of flour. Mix this salt water along with coconut milk with the flour and knead to a soft chapathi dough consistency.

Now check salt and add more mixing with water,if necessary.

Fit a 3 hole plate in the murukku mold and fill it with dough.

In the mean time heat the oil in a wide pan till smoking point. Then reduce flame and press the murukku in circular shape into the hot oil.
Flip once after one side is done.

After the hissing sound and bubbles subdue, drain and remove the murukku. Place them on paper towel and store them in air tight containers after they get cool.


Murukku is ready!

Note:
Makes 15 big size murukku or 30 murukku of our palm diameter.

Creamy pasta.

This pasta dish is a favorite one in our house. With very few steps and lesser time we can get a delicious meal. Hope you all like it.
Just for my reference , I have written the brands I used, hope it will be interesting to look back:).



Cooking the pasta:
Rotini Pasta (or)any big size pasta - 1.5 cups (uncooked)
(I used whole wheat rotini pasta , ShopRite store brand)
Water - 5 cups
First bring the water to boil and add the pasta and cook al dente. (Al dente means cooked completely but firm)
Drain water and run it under cold water.

Preparing the vegetables:
Ranch dressing - 6 tbsp
(I used less calorie fit active brand)
Shredded mozzarella cheese - 1/4 cup
Broccoli / spinach - 1 cup
Red onion - 1/4 cup (chopped)
Green beans, fresh peas, carrot, olives - 1 cup (together)
garlic - 2 cloves
olive oil - 1 tbsp
Italian seasoning - 1 tsp

Chop the vegetables into big pieces.
Heat oil in a wok. Add the crushed garlic followed by the onion and chopped vegetables.
Add salt to taste. Sprinkle some water and cook covered till they turn tender crisp.
Switch off flame .

Method:
Mix the sauteed vegetables with cooked pasta and olives. Stir well.
Add shredded cheese while the pasta is hot.
Mix the ranch dressing before serving.

Serving suggestions:
Serves two.
Garnish with a few drops of tomato sauce.
Some protein rich sides like boiled eggs or baked chicken can make this meal a wholesome one.

You may also like:
1.Have a glance at how my friend Gita prepared the chicken fry in oven.
2.My chicken kickers.

Gulab Jamun.

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New year my friends!

After a short vacation , I am very glad to present a well known Indian dessert , the Gulab Jamun.

Gulab means Rose flower and Jamun means a dark colored fruit called Naval pazham (Tamil). Mostly they soak the fried khoya dough balls in oil and soak them in rose scented sugar surup or honey or cardamom + saffron mixed sugar syrup.

The traditional method is to prepare / buy sugarless paal kova (khoya in Hindi / extremely condensed milk in form of creamy white semi solid) and mix it with maida flour to make jamuns.

It is my mother's technique to make gova at home by evaporating milk with lot of stirring, then add a tsp of rice flour + sugar to get the finishing touch. (For making GulabJamun we need not add sugar in ghova.) Then she would knead the gova (if we leave them behind ..hi hi) with careful addition of All purpose flour, baking soda ....mix them to get the small balls..fry them in ghee ..soak in sugar syrup....OMG! a lot of work ..huh!

But for me the easiest way is to buy a readymade Jamun mix. Anyways it still needs some technique to get a flawless one and I am giving out my procedure.



Ingredients:
Gulab jamun mix - 1 1/4 cup (250 ml)
(I used Gits brand)
water - 1/4 cup (Check instructions in your package carefully)

ghee / oil for deep frying - 100 ml

Sugar - 2 cups (400 gms)
water - 2 cups (equal measures of sugar)
Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
saffron - few strands.

Method:
Pour the mix from sachet in to a mixing bowl.

Using your hand gently break down all the lumps.

Immediately add all the water given in the instruction (adding little by little will create lumps and we may need more time to straighten it).
Mix well. At this stage the dough may seem a little sticky.
Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Now the dough will become hard like chapathi dough.
Divide it into 20 equal parts and make smooth balls of 1 inch diameter with your hand.
Apply ghee / oil to make crack-less balls.
(If our dough is perfect ,we won't need oil to make it smooth).

Prepare sugar syrup in a wide vessel. Boil it for 10 minutes to get a single thread consistency.
(Single thread - If we pour the syrup by using a spatula , the last drop should fall as a single drop/ thread)
Add cardamom and saffron to it. Keep it in low heat.

Heat oil in a wok. Reduce flame to minimum and slowly fry the balls to a reddish brown color.
Drain oil and put it in hot syrup.

Take off the heat for sugar syrup now.

Likewise continue for all the jamuns and add them to the syrup.

Now leave it open till the gulabjamun gets cooled. Let them soak overnight or atleast 5 hours.

GulabJamun is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve it in small bowls with a generous helping of sugar syrup.
Decorate it with slivered almonds , pistachio (if desired).
Serve chilled as dessert after a grand dinner.

Tips:
The secret to get flawless gulabjamun lies in the dough and ball preparation. If we see any crack in the ball before frying, then redo it with very little ghee.
The diameter of the ball before frying should be 1 - 1.5 inches.

Important points:
One of the biggest challenges we face is to get a correct water + flour mixture.
So fry one ball, immerse in sugar solution and wait for 10 minutes to see if we get the correct taste. It is a must , if we make large batches.
If the jamun seems not cooked at center, then reduce the flame. Because high flame leaves the center raw.
If the jamun has more water content, ADD milk powder. NEVER add maida or any flour to suck the extra water added. It is very important hint in getting successful gulabjamuns. So keep some milk powder handy (Milk powders never go waste...hi..hi).
If the jeera is not absorbed properly, then increase the thickness of syrup by adding more sugar and heat to get a thicker sugar syrup.

Carrot Halwa

Halwa means a fudge like sweet / dessert. Indians make a wide variety of halwa using flours, nuts, fruits, vegetables and the halwa gets the name of the main ingredient. Among them all, the carrot halwa is very popular worldwide. It is served as dessert during Indian weddings, festivals like Diwali , Christmas, Eid and in restaurants.
Halwa or halva came to India through the traders from Middle East during the Mughal period in India.
Other popular halwas are :
Flour based - sooji ka halva (rava kesari),  wheat halwa, coconut oil muscat halwa, besan halwa
fruits halwa - banana halwa, pine apple kesari halwa
vegetable halwa - pumpkin halwa, carrot halwa, white pumpkin kaasi halwa, beetroot halwa
milk and nut halwa - milk halwa (pal kova), badam almond halwa, pistachio halwa

Here is a well known simple but delicious Indian dessert. There are so many ways to prepare carrot halwa. My recipe includes a milk based carrot halwa, but we can make it with lesser milk too. I am sure you all will love this recipe. Try this and let me know.

Ingredients:
carrot (shredded) - 4 cups
whole milk - 3 cups
condensed milk - 6 tbsp (or) make paneer from 2 cups of milk.
(Click to see my paneer preparation)
sugar - 1 cup
cardamom - 1/2 tsp
saffron - a few strands
ghee - 2 tbsp
almond - 10
cashew - 10
raisin - 10

Method:

Shredding:

Wash and scrape the skin of carrot.Discard the ends. Grate it in bigger teeth of the grater. I don't prefer vegetable chopper for this, as we won't get the restaurant touch by using it.
(Anyways the halwa is going to increase my calorie intake and no harm in giving some exercise by manual shredding..he..he..)



Halwa:
We may need a non stick vessel or a heavy bottom wok.

Fry the nuts and raisins in 2 tbsp ghee. Keep aside.
In the same pan add the shredded carrots and fry till raw smell vanishes.
Now add milk to it.
Wait till the milk is absorbed. Add the saffron now.

After that add sugar and let all the water in carrot gets evaporated.

Add condensed milk / paneer and mix well.
Stir continuously in medium heat till the carrot halwa starts leaving the sides.

Now add the fried nuts, raisins and put off fire. Mix the cardamom powder.

Carrot Halwa is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot or cold as dessert.
It would be an excellent choice for a tea party along with vadai, masala chai and this halwa:)
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry Christmas !








Wish you all a Merry Christmas
as well as
beautiful, Prosperous and Blessed
Happy New Year!


Love,
Viki.


------------------------------

Update:

 April 25, 2012 (Wednesday) Carrot halwa I made for International food festival in hubby's office  

This time I improvised my earlier recipe and got it more delicious.

Ingredients:

Carrot - 2 kg
condensed milk - 1 1/2 tin
whole milk - 3/4 liter
whole milk - 1 cup
ghee - 1/2 cup
sugar - 2 cup
cardamom - 1 tsp
bay leaf - 2
cloves - 4
cashew, pistachio, almond, raisin - 2 tbsp each
home made fondant flowers - to decorate

Method: 

Shred the carrot in bigger side of mandolin. Fry them 1/4 cup ghee with bay leaf.
Add 1 cup whole milk and cook well. after it is cooked (10 minutes), add sugar, condensed milk.
 Let all moisture evaporate (1 hour) in low heat and constant stirring.

Boil the milk and add juice from 1/2 lemon and boil for a minute. Strain and get the cheese (cheena). (Reserve the whey water for cooking rice or face wash).

 Remove all liquid from chenna and add to the carrot halwa. Mix well. Fry the raisins and nuts in 1/4 cup ghee and add to the halwa. Heat till the carrot halwa leaves the edges. Add cardamom powder. Keep in serving tray. Garnish with shredded almond. Decorate as per need.

 Takes almost 2 hours.
Makes more than 30 - 35 generous serving.

Sweet note:
Thanks to hubby dear, I made it easy, as he shredded the carrots for me:)

Muttai kuzhambu (poached)

Muttai kulambu is again a simple curry prepared in Indian households.
(Muttai means Egg and Kuzhambu or kulambu means gravy).

A touching novel (I can't remember the title) explains like this while describing a lower middle class Indian family...In India Sundays are the family days and we can smell great flavors in air through almost all the chimneys in the street. A poor mother in that novel tries to make something special for their Sunday lunch and finally fixed a tasty meal within their budget. She tells like this....'Dry fish curry can be equated to the real fish curry and muttai kuzhambu for chicken curry' what a lovely thought ..right! Happiness is purely a choice and we get what we choose !!!! Some stories like this leave a permanent mark in our hearts .....

Muttai kuzhambu is always my first choice whenever I run out of ideas or time or chicken:)

Egg curry can be prepared in numerous ways. I know many who prefer hard boiled egg curry along with biryani. That would be very attractive and easy to serve as well. I will post mine soon.

But here is another method called the Poached egg curry or 'udachi oothina muttai kulambu' (Tamil).The raw eggs are simply poured into the boiling curry and cooked in that flavorful masala . This will arouse more flavor because of the great combination of egg and masala.

This is my mom's favorite version.



Ingredients:
Egg - 3
Onion - 1
tomato - 2
oil - 2 tbsp
fennel (sombu) - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
Turmeric - a pinch

To fry and grind:
channa dhal - 1 tbsp
coriander seed - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
cashews - 5 (optional)
dry red chilly - 6
black pepper - 10 numbers
cinnamon - 1 inch
cloves (kirambu) - 4
cardamom - 2
fennel seed (sombu) - 1 tsp
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup

To grind:
cilantro - 3 stems
mint leaf - a handful
ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 3 pearls


Method:
Slice the onion into small pieces. Chop the tomato finely keep aside.

Grind the ginger, garlic , cilantro and mint together.

Heat a tsp oil in a wok and fry all the items given above except coconut.
Grind them to a fine paste.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok and add the fennel seed.
Now goes the chopped onion. Fry till it becomes tender.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell vanishes.
Then add the chopped tomato and fry till oil oozes out.

Grind the items given and add it to the fried items in wok.
Add salt and let it boil for five minutes.

Then reduce flame. Carefully break and pour the eggs one by one without overlapping one another into the hot curry.
The eggs should not touch one another. Do not stir after this stage , till eggs are cooked.

Now close the vessel and reduce flame to minimum.

Let it remain there for 10 minutes. Switch off after the egg gets completely cooked.

Muttai kuzhambu is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve with rice / roti.
Today I prepared cabbage peas poriyal as side dish along with hot rice to go with this spicy egg curry.

Note:
we can add hard boiled eggs or omelet also instead of poaching.