Reposts for events

I am re-posting the following fried snacks for Radhika's Deep fried snacks event.

1.Thengai paal murukku.

2.Masaal vadai.


3.Vazhai kaai bajji.

Who won't love a plate of deep fried snacks in this cold weather? Hope she gets a lot of entries. Happy hosting dear!

Thavil vadai

Thavil vadai is an unique kind of vadai in Tamilnadu.  Some people call it as thaval vadai or thavala vadai ,aiming to describe the shape of that vadai (thavil - a musical instrument). This is how we explain in our house, if any one know the proper meaning of the title please let me know:) Moreover this vadai should be made with many lentils and rice, which makes the recipe more interesting.

Recipe source: amma.
Also inspired by :  Subbu's kitchen and Kitchen queen. Thank you friends!

Ingredients:

Channa dhal (Bengal gram)- 1/2 cup
black gram (ulunthu / urid dhal) - 1/2 cup
Red gram / thuvaram paruppu / thoor dhal - 1/4 cup
Rice - 1/4 cup
dry red chillies - 3
ginger - 1 inch
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
asafoetida / hing - a pinch
salt - to taste
oil - to deep fry

tempering / tadka:

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
cilantro - a handful

Method:

wash and clean the dhal and rice, Soak the urad dhal separately and others together for 2 hours or till soft.
Grind the urad dhal to fluffy stage, without  water.If needed add a tbsp of water. Then take  it out. Grind the other dhals and rice without water to a thick and coarse batter along with other ingredients except oil and coconut. Mix with urad dhal batter.
Heat a tsp of oil in a wok and add mustard seeds. As they crackle add the chopped cilantro, curry leaves and pour over the batter. Add the shredded coconut .
Take a lemon size ball of the batter and flatten it slightly. Deep fry it in oil by flipping both sides in medium heat. Don't  fry it in high heat. Give ample time to let it cook completely. As soon as the vadai turns mild red , drain oil and take out.

Thavil vadai is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot with coconut or cilantro(malli) chutney.

Amla Jamun

Amla - Indian gooseberry - Periya nellikkai (Tamil).
Here is a quick and  healthy dessert  using the Indian gooseberry.  This is my mom's recipe and she used to prepare some jam varieties also using amla. I used frozen amla, which we get in Indian grocery stores. Keep them handy to satisfy that sugar cravings:)

Ingredients:

Amla - 15
crushed jaggery - 1 cup
water - 1cup
honey - few tbsp

Method:

Bring one cup water to boil. Add the amla and cook well.
In the same time bring 1/4 cup water to boil in a separate vessel and dissolve the jaggery. Filter and remove the impurities.
Add the jaggery solution to the cooked amla and start heating till it becomes very thick syrup. Put off fire and let it cool.
Then add a few tbsp of honey and preserve in a clean dry container.
This can be kept for 6 months if refrigerated.

Serving:

Amla jamun makes a healthy dessert.
This sweet tastes great the next day only, as it may take a few hours for the bitterness to change.

Tips:

*There is another variety of gooseberry also, which will be smaller in size and tastes very sour. My mom used to make a jam out of it. For that jam, Mom would add sugar instead of jaggery and that 'nellikkai jam' would taste incredibly great.
*We can totally avoid the jaggery and add honey to the cooked amla to get a healthy amla jamun. But I have not tried it yet.

Mushroom biriyani

I have an endless love with biryanis and this is a vegetarian version, which I tried recently.  I prepared this one day for hubby's lunch when I wanted to pack something nice for him. Hope you all like this mushroom biryani.

Vegetables:

Mushroom - 10 numbers
(Use button mushrooms only)
fresh green peas - 1/2 cup .

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 1/2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red onion - 1 (chopped 1/2 cup)
Lemon - 1
red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Biryani masala powder - 1 tsp
(I used sakthi biryani masala)
ghee - 1 tbsp (to add at the end)

To temper:

Bay leaves - 1
cinnamom stick - 1 inch
cardamom (crushed) - 2
cloves - 2
Any cooking oil - 3 tbsp
cashew nuts -5
raisins- 10.
salt - to taste

Masala 1:

Tomato puree - from 1 tomato

Masala 2:

cilantro- 10 stems
mint leaf -1 handful.

Masala 3:

Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 2 cloves

Preparation:

Wash and clean the mushrooms. Cut each mushroom into thin oval slices.
Wash the green peas / sweet peas and keep aside.
(Defreeze the green peas by putting it in water, if frozen).

Wash the rice. Add more water than required and bring it to boil. Reduce flame, add salt and cook it to stiff grainy consistency. Then drain all the water using a colander. Keep the rice aside.

Grind all the pastes separately.

Chop onion and keep aside.

Method:

Heat oil in a flat bottom vessel.
Add cinnamon stick,cardamom ,cloves, bay leaf , cashew, raisin.

Then goes the chopped onion .

Fry it till golden brown and add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell goes.

Now add the tomato paste and cook till the oil oozes out of it. Add all the powders given.

Then add the cilantro , mint paste, red chilly powder,biryani masala powder, salt and cook till the oil start oozing out. Now put the vegetables and cook till the mushrooms are done.This will take 5 minutes only.

Now add the cooked rice and squeeze some lime juice over.

Sprinkle the ghee and close the vessel.
Heat the vessel in very mild flame for 10 minutes. Switch off!

Mix well now and serve.

Mushroom biryani is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Garnish with chopped cilantro , mint leaves.
Serve mushroom peas biryani hot with onion raitha .

Note:

We can make this biryani without green peas also.
I used canned mushroom here. But the fresh one tastes great.
cooking time : 30 minutes.

Home made Popcorn

Popcorn, coke and an English movie are a must for most of us to start a nice weekend. In US, we can see a long queue standing near that 'red-box'es lending dvds. We are no exception to that golden rule and winters add more charm to the above combo:) We would bring home a pack of microwave popcorn also and I have never tried preparing the popcorn at home, as it is much easier to get it done in a microwave. But I really missed that turmeric flavored popcorns we get in Madras. So recently I started to make it at home to control the butter and taste according to our wish.It is a very old method only. My mom used to make this popcorn in an old unusable pressure cooker. But I have used a normal vessel with a glass-lid we generally use in cooking.

Ingredients:

corn - 1/4 cup
butter or oil - 2 tbsp (or) lesser
salt - 1 tsp (according to need)
(control the salt if using salted butter)
Turmeric - 1 tsp (optional)
A heavy bottom vessel with a tight lid.
A mitten to hold.

Method:

Melt the butter in the vessel. Mix turmeric, salt and corn with the butter.
Place the lid and start heating. Wait till we hear A SINGLE popping sound.
Immediately switch off and let it rest for a minute.
Again start heating (with lid closed). Hold the pot and start shaking as it starts popping. Do this in medium heat and shaking gently till the sound stops.

Homemade Popcorn is ready!

Tips:

*Adding some sugar (2 tbsp) instead of turmeric will yield a kettle corn taste.
*I have not tried with red chilly pepper powder, but have heard it also tastes great. But beware of the hot fumes, while using peppers.
*Always use an unwanted vessel, as it may be hard to clean, if got burned.
* We can make it with very less butter also.
*Don't open the vessel while popping.

Enjoy this homemade popcorn with your loved ones. 

Pongal greetings and reposts

Hope all are getting ready to celebrate Pongal. Pongal is called as Sankaranthi festival too. Pongal is a well known festival in India, where most of the families have some agricultural roots. In Tamilnadu, people from various religions invariably celebrate it without any hesitation. Every house will get a fresh coat of paint and cows are treated with dignity. Sugarcane, Turmeric and mango leaves decorate every door and people prepare the following recipes.

I am reposting my Sarkarai pongal recipe, aviyal and ven pongal recipes for Kurinji's Pongal event. Happy hosting dear!

1.Sarkarai Pongal

2.Venn Pongal

3.Pongal Aviyal:





World4art.com - Orkut Scraps, Graphics, & Comments

May this Pongal festival brings peace, good health, cheer, prosperity and every thing you wish for.
Happy Pongal!

Thengai paal murukku

 Thengai paal - coconut milk; murukku- an Indian snack.

This is a very common snack in my home town. Unlike the regular murukku, the thengai paal murukku requires very less butter. The flavor comes from freshly squeezed coconut milk. They shape it essentially like this. Whole green gram flour or urad dhal flour or puffed channa dhal flour are used along with rice flour.  I made this for Christmas. Actually getting this shape is a time taking process, so I prepared a few using this star murukku pattern and the rest in tri holed thenkulal pattern.

Thengai paal murukku

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 4 cups
(If you have a flour mill in your vicinity (just like Indian flour mills), then wash 4 cups of unboiled rice (pacharisi), drain the water, let the rice dry for a while and prepare flour. Otherwise we can use store bought flour also. But the ratio should be 4 : 1)
split urid dhal (Black gram) - 1 cup
coconut milk - from 1 coconut
coconut oil (or) butter - 2 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tbsp
sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
Hing (Asafoetida) - 1/8 tsp
Salt per taste
Water for mixing - (nearly 3 cups of water)
Oil - to deep fry (500 ml)

Coconut milk
1.Scrap the coconut and grind well. Add 1/2 cup luke warm water and extract the milk by filtering. Again add 1/2 cup warm water and extract milk. Do another time also. Use this milk to make murukku dough.
2. If using a coconut milk powder (I used Palmer brand), the prepare 1 cup thick milk and 1 cup thin milk.
3. If using canned coconut milk, go by the directions to get 1 cup thick milk and 1 cup thin milk.

Method:

Heat a wok and dry roast the urid dhal till it we get a nice flavor and starts to smell nice (do not make it turn red). (Always use split and white dhal. Roast the black gram dhal in small portions only).  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.

Dissolve the salt in some water. Mix this salt water along with coconut milk powder (or) just use fresh coconut milk + salt and add to the flour.Knead it to a soft chapathi dough consistency.

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

Fit a star pattern murukku mold and fill it with dough.

In the mean time heat the oil in a wide pan till smoking point. Then reduce flame.

Grease a few flat plates with oil and squeeze murukku in the above shape. Carefully slide them one by one into the hot oil. Do not crowd the 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.

Coconut milk Murukku is ready!

Note:
Makes 15 big size murukku or 30 murukku of our palm diameter.
Can be served with tea or as a snack.
Adding some oil,/ butter will result in lesser oil absorption of murukku.
Pack the murukku in zip lock or plastic covers to prevent it getting less crispy (in humid areas).
If we are preparing more murukku, it is common to divide the flour into few parts and knead the dough just before squeezing.
Never allow the dough to sit in counter for a long time, as it will yield dark colored murukku.The dough can't be refrigerated too. So keep yourself free before starting to prepare murukku and don't stop the process in between.