Thengai Podi

Thegai podi - dry coconut chutney powder, kopparai thenga podi, instant coconut rice powder.

I prepare this kind of ready to eat podi during festival times, as I will be much occupied with snack making and won't have much time to concentrate on regular cooking. Paruppu podi and thengai podi can make that hot rice heavenly with just a drop of ghee and appalam. Before marriage I packed this podi for hubby dear as a gift(along with paruppu podi and a sweet)and from then on it became his favorite. He saved those 'plastic sunrise coffee bottles' which I used to pack and showed me after marriage and keeps them as a treasure till now:) It may be a small gift from my side, but the way he remembers it makes me enjoy cooking:)

Thengai podi in container.

Ingredients:Shredded coconut - 1 1/2 cup (or) dried coconut / kopparai thengai - 1 (small)
(I used dry unsweetened coconut)
dry red chillies - 10
tamarind - 2 inch
bengal gram (kadalai paruppu / channa dhal) - 2 tbsp
black gram (urad dhal) - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1 tbsp
curry leaf - 2 sprig
salt to taste (1 tbsp)

Method:
Heat a tbsp oil  and fry the dhals, cumin, tamarind, curry leaf separately and keep aside.
With 1 drop of oil fry the red chilles to get a nice red flavor (not black).
In the same pan add  the coconut pieces / shredded coconut and fry to get a mild red color and nice flavor (do it in low heat). If needed add a few drops of oil.
Let them all cool. Then dry grind them to a fine powder.
It can be kept safely for a month without refrigeration.

Serving suggestion:

It can be served over hot rice with little ghee or mixed and served as quick coconut rice.
Its a good side dish for curd rice also.

Tips:

*Coconut chutney podi / thengai podi holds good as a travel food during vacations. Sometimes people require home made foods during long journey or pilgrimage. In that case a rice cooker along with this thengai podi will do the job:)
*This podi can be used as replacement for coconut paste in any dishes.
*Adding little water with a handful of this podi will become a chutney for idly/ dosa / tamarind rice.

Carrot orange juice

Breakfasts are a must for a healthy start. Juices coupled with a protein rich breakfast is a must for athletes or body builders and also for everyone :)  Homemade juices are not only healthy but also they can be altered according to our need. Here is a juice, rich in vitamins and minerals.

carrot orange juice.

Ingredients:

Carrot - 1
orange - 2
ginger - 2 inch
brown sugar - 4 tsp (optional)
cold water - 2 cup

Method:

Peel the carrot and grind it to a paste along with ginger.
Extract the juice using a filter and some water.
Squeeze the juice from orange. Don't filter to remove the fiber, as it is highly beneficial.
Mix the orange juice with the extracted carrot juice and add enough sugar.
Carrot orange juice is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as a healthy drink along with breakfast.

Wheat oats Ladoo

Happy Dussera to my readers and friends!

Here is a semi-healthy snack to munch on:)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
oats - 1 cup
puffed channa dhal (pori kadalai) - 1/2 cup
brown sugar / white sugar - 1 1/2 cup
cardamom powder - 1 tsp
ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
cashew , raisin - 1 for 1 ladoo
milk - 1/2 cup
dry ginger powder (sukku) - 1 tbsp

Method:

Heat a wide frying pan with 1 tbsp ghee.
Fry the cashews , raisins in the ghee.

In the same wok fry the oats till it turns crispy and mild pinkish.
Once it gets cool, grind it to a fine powder. Keep aside.

Now add the remaining ghee and start roasting the wheat flour.
After some time, the flour will turn very loose and flavorful.
Roast it in medium flame till it starts turning mild pink.
Take it off the wok and let cool.

Grind the puffed channa dhal to a fine powder along with cardamom.

Powder the brown sugar / white sugar in a blender.

Mix the 3 flours, sugar, nuts, ginger powder and sprinkle some milk to moisten it.
Let it be just enough to make balls and not sticky as we are not going to knead it as a dough:)

Make lemon size balls. (It should be soft and powdery, but holding the shape).

Wheat oats laddu is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve as snack.
If made with 1/2 cup ghee instead of milk, it stays longer.
If made with milk it can be refrigerated for a week.

Thengai mangai pattani Sundal

Thengai - coconut; managai - unripe mango; pattani - dry green peas ; sundal - stir fry.

Navaratri is a festival celebrated by Indians for 9 days continuously during the month of Purattasi. The festival starts today and  hearty wishes for those who are celebrating that.

Kolu (themed arrangement of dolls and statues to depict the Indian culture) and sundal (lentil stir fry) are inseparable during those days. Those who arrange the kolu has to invite friends and relatives. Different types of sundals are made, offered to God and shared with the guests. The 10 th day is called Vijaya Dasami, meaning the victory of Good.

Here is a different and interesting sundal. A spicy sundal is made using cooked dry peas and some masala. Freshly chopped cilantro, unripe mango, onion, tomato, coconut are added before serving. This is also called 'marina beach sundal'.

Ingredients:

Dried peas (white / green pattani) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
oil - 1 tsp
fennel - 1 tsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
salt - to taste
lemon juice - 1 tbsp

To grind:

dry red chillies - 4
coconut - 2 large pieces
cumin - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tbsp

To Garnish:(finely chopped)

Onion - 1
unripe mango - 1/2
tomato - 1
cucumber - 1/2
coconut - 1 large slice
cilantro - few

Method:

Soak the dried white peas overnight. Drain that water.
Add enough water to immerse the peas and 1 inch to stand above.
Keep it in pressure cooker with turmeric, put pressure valve and let a whistle come.
Reduce the flame and keep it for 5 minutes.
Switch off and open after the pressure releases.

Grind the items given very coarsely.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add the fennel and let it get red. Then add the curry leaves, cooked lentil, salt and let all the water evaporate.
Now add the coarsely ground masala and cook till it becomes grainy.

Sprinkle lemon juice and add all those items given for garnish.

Serving suggestion:

Serve as snack with tea.
Serves 6 people.

Paruppu Podi

A simple serving of paruppu podi over piping hot rice and ghee is my hubby's favorite meal. Paruppu podi or dhal powder is a must for anyone who wants to avoid those weekend's Extra large pizza deals:)

Steaming rice served with paruppu podi, ghee, appalam and vadagam.

Ingredients:

Puffed channa dhal - 3/4 cup
channa dhal - 1/4 cup
Thoor dhal - 1/4 cup
black pepper - 1 tbsp
dry red chillies - 4
salt - to taste
cumin - 1 tbsp

Method:

Dry roast (except salt) everything separately until they loose moisture.
Grind to a fine powder. Let cool and store in air tight container.

Serving suggestion:

Gracefully serve a big spoon of piping hot rice in a serving plate / banana leaf and pour a generous spoon of molten ghee over it. Top it with few tsp of this paruppu podi , mix and enjoy.

Paruppu podi should be served over rice before serving the sambar rice.
Usually a little portion of rice is allocated for this paruppu podi + ghee before serving the sambar.

Pappad and pickles make good combo for the above rice.
This can be kept handy for lazy cooking days.
Paruppu podi is a good backup plan for bachelors and students who stay away from home.
Long distance pilgrimage people can keep it as travel food, if they can make some rice using electric cooker.

Mango pickle

Nowadays many of us are not including pickles in the daily menu. But there were days when we wanted to have some pickle everyday along with that paruppu kulambu and rice:) In such situation homemade pickles are better. My mom used to make these mango pickles during the mango season in smaller batches and it would always vanish in a day or two:) she would keep a small piece of some kind of pickle in our everyday lunch boxes, so that we consume the rice without any hesitation. Those were very little incidents but her care and thoughtfulness always amazes me.

Here is an instant mango pickle for those picky eaters:)

Ingredients:

Unripe mango - 1 (1/2 kg)
red chilly powder - 4 tbsp
mustard seed - 1 tsp
fenugreek seed (methi/venthayam) - 1 tsp
turmeric - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
sesame oil - 1/4 cup
hing / asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Select unripe mango with lesser sour taste (like pacharisi maangai or kilimookku - Tamil).
Finely chop the mango.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add the mustard and fenugreek and wait till mustard finishes popping.
Slide in the chopped mango with enough salt and turmeric.
Add the hing powder too.
Stir continuously and wait till the mango gets cooked.
Then put the red chilly powder and let it cook in low heat till the oil oozes.
Instant mango pickle is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as side dish with curd rice, sambar rice or paratha.

Tips:
To increase the shelf-life add 2 tbsp of vinegar or juice of 1 lemon after the pickle cools and store in a dry jar. If handled with a clean dry spoon and care, this pickle can stay for a week in room temperature.
If refrigerated, this lasts longer even without vinegar or lemon.

Tandoori chicken drumstick

Almost a few Kms away from my dad's house , a couple started a restaurant solely for north Indian non-veg dishes in a place called Ponnakudi. That restaurant grew very fast and became a center of attraction for many tourists and passers by. Till now its unbeatable there, though not famous like a chain of restaurant. My elder brother used to buy this for us and I absolutely love this smoky flavored tandoori chicken which was rare at that time.
One day I expressed my wish to the owner to see that oven. It was a small restaurant at that time and the lady of the house gracefully took me to the kitchen and surprisingly it was extremely clean like our homely kitchen. Marinated chickens were kept in lidded vessels. Kitchen was spotlessly clean and workers were threading the whole chickens into the oven with much care. I was thrilled to see such an enormous oven and it was much interesting to see their clay oven baked naan and whole chickens. As my mom was not that much attracted to restaurant foods we rarely enjoyed that chicken whenever my brother comes home.

Earlier I posted another detailed post on an authentic tandoori chicken and that's how it is meant to be. Click to see that post on a regular tandoori chicken.

Then I customized that original recipe to my needs and started preparing drumstick tandoori or whole chicken tandooris. Hope you all like it.

Tandoori drumstick chicken served with lemon wedges.

Pat dry the chicken after washing it.

Ingredients:

Chicken drumstick - 5

Marination:

vinegar - 1/4 cup (or) lemon - 1
curd - 1/4 cup
olive oil / butter - 1 tsp per piece
salt - as per need (1/4 tsp per piece)
red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
all purpose flour - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1 tsp
Red food color - a pinch (I won't suggest it)

Method:

Wash the chicken drumstick and pat dry using paper towel.
Make 3 to 4 slits per drumstick and keep aside.
Mix everything given for marination in a large mixing bowl.
Put the chicken pieces and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or keep marinated in room temperature for 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Line a cookie sheet or baking tray with aluminum foil.
Apply a tbsp oil over the foil.
Keep the marinated chicken pieces with some spacing.

Turn after 15 minutes.
Let it bake both side for 10 minutes.
Then turn the oven to broil mode and keep for 3 minutes both sides or till we get red color.

Tips:

If needed add some red food color while marination.
BBq will also yield a similar quality tandoori.
If oven is not preferred, then shallow fry the pieces with very little oil and make it red by putting over hot dosa tawa.

Serving suggestion:

Sprinkle some chaat masala before serving.
Wrap a piece of aluminum foil at one end to make it holdable:)
Serve hot as side dish with biriyani, paratha etc.
Lemon wedges, onion slices or raitha are often served along with this tandoori.
It can be reheated by Microwave or using a dosa tawa.
The left over can be made into a gravy.