Kara Paniyaram

Kara paniyaram - Spicy puff pancake.

This is a popular tiffin / snack / breakfast in chettinadu region of Tamilnadu. The batter is similar to idly batter with slight variation in proportion. The urad dhal should be much lesser for the paniyaram, so that the paniyaram comes off the hole easily.

Ingredients:

Idly rice (parboiled rice / puzhungal arisi) - 1 cup
black gram lentil (ulunthu paruppu) - 2 tbsp
channa dhal (kadala paruppu) - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste ( 1tsp)
baking soda - 1/8 tsp
ghee /butter/  sesame oil - as per need

To temper:

mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dhal - 1 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tsp
onion - 1/4 (small)
green chilly - 2
cilantro - few leaves.
asafoetida (hing) - a pinch

Method:

Rinse and soak the rice, urad dhal and channa dhal together for 6 hours.
Grind it to a fine to medium coarse batter with very little water.
The batter should be thick like a pancake batter / idly batter.
Mix salt and keep it to ferment overnight (cold weather) or 6 hours (in hotter weather).
The batter will ferment well only if the room temperature is above 85 deg F. Otherwise maintain the temperature using an oven.

10 minutes before starting to prepare the paniyaram, add the baking soda and mix well.
In the mean time prepare the tempering.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a small wok and add mustard seeds. Once they start splutter, add the urad dhal, asafoetida and finely chopped onion, cilantro, curry leaf, chilly and let it get slightly tender. Add it to the batter and mix well.

Now heat a paniyaram pan and brush some oil in all the holes. Then add 1 tsp sesame oil / butter in each hole. Reduce the flame to minimum and pour the batter to halfway in each hole. Click to see the picture. Cook covered or in open. (I prefer putting a lid to ensure uniform cooking). We can see the paniyaram getting cooked. Flip using a skewer or fork. Take out once done.

Serving suggestion:
Makes almost 21 paniyaram .
Serve with coconut chutney.

Note:

Do everything in low heat. It may take a little while but that is the only way to get whole fluffy paniyaram.
Non stick pans work the best. But I have used a pan similar to traditional thick paniyaram pan.
For the first round it may require more oil to fry, but it will take very lesser in the following.

16 bean soup

Preparing soup is a tradition associated with lent days. This multi bean soup is packed with loads of protein and will be very filling too. I found this pack in a local chain of grocery stores where they keep the dry nuts, rice etc. This soup recipe is inspired by  Yasmeen's sixteen bean soup recipe and did some slight variations for my taste. Thank you Yasmeen, I learned a very healthy recipe from you.

The Lent days are observed from Ash Wednesday (for this year, Feb 22) to Easter (April 8, 2012). During this time Christians try to reduce their preference for luxurious foods. The aim of simple meals during this season is to keep off from any expensive foods so that we can learn to share food or save that money and donate it for the needy. Also we participate in the stations of the cross prayer and mass on Lenten Fridays. All Fridays throughout the year are meatless days in some families like us, while many stay vegetarian for the whole fasting. The traditions are many but the focus is not just on fasting but mainly emphasized on compassion, understanding, sharing, charity, virtues and purity of heart.

Name of beans in a sixteen bean soup mix:

Pinto beans,  red cow peas, small white beans, great northern beans, large lima beans, baby lima beans, yellow split peas, green split peas, lentils, large kidney beans, small kidney beans, black eye cow peas, black turtle beans, garbanzo beans, pearl barley, whole green peas, and pink beans. To read more...click.

Dried beans before soaking. I used Jack rabbit brand without the flavoring sachet.

Preparing the beans:

Wash the dried beans and soak in water for 10 hours or overnight.
I use a pressure cooker. The soaked beans are kept in a pressure cooker with water to cover the beans and little standing above.
Wait to see the steam and put the pressure valve. After it whistles once, reduce the heat and cook it for 18 minutes. Switch off and open after the pressure reduces.
Otherwise we can cook it in slow cooker / stove top for 4-6 hours in low heat.

Ingredients:

16 grain lentil (dry) - 1 cup
Butter - 1 tbsp
turmeric - 1/2 tsp
onion - 1
bay leaf - 2
cloves - 3
cinnamon - 1 inch
cardamom - 3
green chilly - 3
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
hot sauce (or red chilly powder)- as per need.
tomato puree - 1/2 cup
salt - to taste
garlic - 6 cloves
black pepper - to taste

Method:

Saute the finely chopped onion, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom in butter for a minute and add the finely chopped garlic, green chilly. Fry for 30 seconds.
Add tomato puree and cook for a minute.
Add the turmeric powder, cumin powder , pepper powder and simmer with 1 cup of water.
Pour the cooked lentil and bring to a boil. If required add more water.
The soup should be thick. Then put salt and hot sauce to taste.
Let it cook in low heat for 10 minutes.
Garnish with fresh cilantro or mint leaves.
Switch off.

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as a whole meal with rolls or bread.
Serve as starter.

Note:

Reduce the green chilly and hot sauce for lesser spicy version.
Little lime juice can be squeezed at the end to get more flavor.
Some people add some shredded cheese as topping.
One cup of this mixed beans can make 6 small bowls of thick soup.
The 16 bean soup pack can be substituted with any lentils like, nava dhanyam (9 grain), red gram, toor dhal, bengal gram, channa, green gram , black gram, rice etc. The options are endless. Just a teaspoon of each kind will do the same job:)

Event entries and re-posts.

Event 1:

I am sending the following recipes for Teenz' Yummy delights' Valentine's day event.
Happy hosting dear!
1. Mango ice cream.

2. Badusha

3. Pistachio Kulfi Ice cream.

Event 2:

The following recipes goes to Sobha Shyam's Just4fun event.
The main rule is that there should a maximum of 4 ingredients. Here are my entries.

1. Parotta

2. Idiyappam.

Happy hosting dear!

Event 3:

The below entries goes to Srav's 'Dish for loved ones' event.
1. Boondhi

2.Aloo Channa chaat.

Happy hosting dear!

Boondhi

Boondhi - very tiny drops of besan flour, fried and soaked in sugar syrup.

Last week I saw hubby buying some gifts for me for the Valentine's day. I peeked into that bag after he started for office and there were very cute hair clips with glittering stones. They are the ones I used to give a glance in a nearby Indian grocery store and pass on without buying, just like a typical housewife:) I think he could have seen me watching them and adoring them:) Isn't it so sweet to get what we long for? I too wanted to make something special for him. Then I bought 2 beautiful Valentine's day themed tins from dollar stores and filled them with his favorite sweets like boondhi and badusha along with  almond kulfi ice cream. 

Here is the recipe for boondhi.

My simple gift to hubby:)

I have given the measures to make one cereal bowl full of boondhi. Increase the measures by seeing my laddo recipe:

Ingredients:

Besan flour(bengal gram flour / kadalai mavu)- 3/4 cup
(water for boondhi- almost half the flour)
sugar - 3/4 cup (if needed increase few more tsp)
water for syrup - 1/2 cup
baking soda - a pinch
turmeric powder / yellow food color - a pinch
oil - to deep fry

To garnish:

ghee - 1 tbsp
cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
pachai karpuram (edible camphor) - a pinch
cashew - few
raisin - few

Special equipment needed:

A perforated vessel to make boondhis.
(If we are doing for a small batch, say 1 cup flour, then make holes on a disposable plate using a skewer. I have done this disposable home made boondhi making plate , before buying a traditional boondhi maker and it was very successful too.).

Sugar syrup:

Make a sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency. (Heat the sugar and water together till it starts boiling. After few seconds it will be sticky to touch). Switch off.

Preparing Boondhi:

Mix the baking soda, turmeric / food color with water and pour it into the four. Add water little by little, till it reaches a thick dosa batter consistency. The consistency should be so thick that, if we place a scoop of batter on the perforated plate, it should not run down easily (we have to press the drops in the oil).

Now add the oil/ ghee in a broad wok and start heating slowly, without reaching the fuming point. Keep in medium heat. Gently pour a ladle of batter over the boondhi making perforated bowl and press it to the hot oil. Don't crowd the oil. Fry for a few seconds only. The final product should be crispy.(My version calls for crispy boondhis. But if you want, you can make soft boondhis too). Immediately transfer them to the sugar syrup. Repeat and collect all the boondi in the syrup. Mix well.

Fry the cashew and raisins in ghee and add it to boondhi along with cardamom powder, edible camphor. If there is some excess syrup, gently heat the syrup so that the boondhi absorbs it and each droplet should stay separate. It should not crystallize.

Serving suggestions:

Makes a big bowl of boondhi.
Serve as snack or dessert in normal temperature.
Time taken - 20 minutes.

Badusha

Happy Valentine's day to all my readers, friends and family!

Here is a sweet to celebrate the Valentine's day. I made it for my hubby as a home made gift, as it is one of his most favorite sweets. It came out very well just like the store bought. 

Recipe Source - An article called 'Kalyana Virundhu 64' by Mr.Subham Ganesan in Mangayar malar magazine, Feb 2012 edition.

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour - 2 cup
curd - 1/4 cup 
butter - 100 gm (1/2 cup)
cardamom powder - 1 tsp
baking soda, baking powder - 1/2 tsp each.
sugar - 2 cup
water - 1 1/2 cup
oil - 250 ml (to deep fry)
rose essence - 2 drops

To garnish:

coconut flakes or almond or saffron.
lime - 1/8 of a fruit

Method:

Whisk the butter or dalda with baking soda and baking powder , curd till it blends well and slightly frothy.
(Don't use more baking soda / powder).
Sprinkle the maida  little by little and mix well. The maida will look like crumbs now.
(I add 2 drops of rose essence in the dough or sugar syrup to get more flavor).
Add cool water (few tbsp ) little by little to get a loose chapathi dough.
Knead it like a kiddish crumbs dough. It should not be like firm chapati dough. Let it rest for 20 mins.

Divide it into 18 small balls. Flatten it to a 1/4 inch thick, 3 inch diameter discs. Make a slight indent with the thumb.   This is the shape of badusha. Make all of them and keep aside.

Heat the oil and test fry one disc. Keep the heat in low and fry it till all the bubbles stop. It may take nearly 5 minutes. take it out and check if it is almost cooked till the center. If broken, it should look flaky. It may be very slightly soft in the center, but it will taste fine after soaking in syrup. This is the perfectly fried badusha.

Just like that prepare 5 badushas at a time and fry them as told.

In the same time prepare the sugar syrup. Heat the water and sugar together to get a one thread syrup. It should be sticky to touch and should not crystallize. Squeeze the lime over it to prevent crystallization. Switch off!

Put the fried hot badhusha in to the sugar syrup and let it soak for 10 minutes. Take out and place in a tray. After soaking and arranging all the badushas, pour the excess sugar syrup over it (optional).
Decorate with colored coconut flakes or almond slivers.

Badusha is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Makes nearly 750 gms of badusha (18 - 20 small pieces).
Serve as snack / dessert.
Great for home made gifts.

St.Valentine's day:
In USA, the St.Valentine's day is celebrated to express the love and affection towards our family, friends, pets, society and especially for the our spouse or sweet heart. Click to read more. St.Valentine was a Christian saint who was said to have helped the lovers getting married.Red color dress was the code word for those wishing to get married and St.Valentine took great steps to unite those lovers in holy matrimony. Red rose and red colored objects are popular during this season. The second Sunday of February is celebrated as World Marriage day in Churches. Celebrating the sacrament of marriage, importance of love, understanding between couples are emphasized by the church on these days.

I made this boonthi for hubby...homemade Valentines day gift. Chocolates from him:)

Hairclips and scented candles from hubby dear.

Gifts from Xav. Happy Valentines day always!

Brinjal poriyal

Last summer I bought these cute brinjals from a local farmer's market .Brinjal / aubergine/ eggplant comes in different shapes and colors. The health benefits are many.
Here is a simple poriyal (stirfry) recipe with eggplant.

Summer 2011: Beautiful multicolor eggplants I got from a farmer's market.

Easy stir fry.

Ingredients:

Brinjal / eggplant - 2
oil - 1tbsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
salt - to taste
mustard - 1/2 tsp
black gram lentil (urad dhal) - 1 tsp
dry red chilly - 2
onion (chopped) - 2 tbsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a wok and put mustard, urad dhal.
Let the mustard start splutter.
Immediately add finely chopped onion, dry red chilly and curry leaf.
By the same time start finely chopping the brinjal and turmeric powder.
Stir well and wait till the onion gets soft.
Then put the chopped brinjal and sprinkle a handful of water.
Cook covered in medium heat till soft (5 minutes).
Then add the required salt, coconut and cumin.
Switch off.
Brinjal poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Makes enough for 2 people.
Serve as side dish with any rice or chapati.

Note:

If making this poriyal for more number of people, then cook the chopped brinjal with very little water, salt separately. Then do the above tempering.
Chopped brinjal should be cooked immediately to avoid oxidation (darkening) .
Oxidation can be delayed by immersing them in salt water.
Total time taken : 15 minutes.

Red capsicum chicken

In my native place capsicum (bell pepper / kudai milagai) wouldn't be on the top of a 'to buy' list and they would ask the pressing vendor 'What can we do with these other than deep frying like molagai bajji'? That scene may come to my mind whenever I see these beautiful peppers.  But if it is in an abnormally lesser price during rainy season, then everyone would try to make the famous bajjis at home. Those were the days when no one had access to internet or a recipe book other than the one handed down in generations.
Nowadays the very sight of these beautiful red bell peppers would make me grab a few. I love the red ones more than the green or yellow or orange bell peppers, but I like them all:) Then after billing them I would wonder just like my folks, if I could do anything other than my usual bajji:) Blending the bellpeppers in my regular cooking is not that easy for me. So I tried this on my own with some grilled chicken tandoori leftovers and named it as 'red pepper chicken'. Believe me, this is a flavorful chicken curry with a sweetish finish. Now the recipe became my favorite:)

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs - 4 (1/2 kg)
red bellpepper (red capsicum) - 2
onion - 1 (big)
fennel - 1 tbsp
lemon - 1 (small)
oil - 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
red chilly powder - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
(crush together 1 inch ginger and 5 garlic cloves)

Method:

Trim the skin, fat and discard. Wash the chicken and pat dry. Cut it into bite size pieces. Mix the juice from 1/2 lemon, 2 tbsp oil, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, salt and marinate the chicken for 4 hours - overnight inside refrigerator. Adding 2 tbsp of vinegar to marination will make it more tasty.

Now heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok. Saute the onion till it becomes soft. Now put the ginger garlic paste and stir for few seconds. Chop the red capsicum and add 1/2 of it to the wok along with chicken pieces, required salt, garam masala, pepper, cumin powder and cook covered in low heat till it gets a nice flavor. No need to add water, but stir every 5 ninutes. Before switching off add the remaining capsicum and cook covered for 5 more minutes.

Switch off and sprinkle juice from 1/2 lemon.

Red capsicum chicken is ready!

Serving suggestion:

Serve with chapati or roti or rice n rasam.

Note:

Grilled tandoori chicken leftovers can be made in to this capsicum chicken easily.
Red meat (chicken) tastes better for this kind of Indian recipes.