Ulunthu vadai in paniyaram pan

Here is a ulunthu vadai I made in paniyaram pan (puff pancake pan). (Click to see my paniyaram pan).  It is not a complete diet vadai, but can be made with lesser oil than deep frying. When comparing the taste, I find this one pretty much similar to the ulunthu vadai.

Ingredients: (For 21 small vadai)
Urid dhal - 1 cup (200 gm)
Oil (corn oil / canola) - 6 tbsp
Shallot / red onion (chopped) - 1/2 cup
green chilly - 2 (finely chopped)
cumin - 1/4 tsp
whole black pepper - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
curry leaf - 1 sprig
Ginger - 1 tsp (finely chopped)

Method:
Wash the urid dhal twice thoroughly. Soak the urid dhal in cold water for 2 hours. Grind it to a fine paste with very little water. The final consistency should be like  softened butter.
Add the required salt + 1 tsp black pepper and grind again for a while.
Pour the batter to a mixing bowl. Taste and adjust the salt now.
Mix the finely chopped onion, green chilly, curry leaf , whole pepper, cumin with the batter.
Heat the paniyaram pan with 1.5 tsp oil in every hole. Wait till it reaches the hottest point. Reduce the flame to lowest. Fill each hole with the vadai batter upto 3/4 th height.
Put a tight lid and wait to hear a dripping sound by steam.
Using a skewer, flip the vadai and cook for few seconds.
Take out, drain the oil in paper towels.
(From the second batch we may need very lesser oil in each hole). 
Ulunthu vadai without frying is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve with coconut chutney along with hot coffee or tea in the evening.
Also makes a good side dish with Idly, Venn pongal, sarkarai pongal etc.

Garlic pickle

Garlic pickle is one of my favorites. I learned this recipe from hubby's friend cum our family friend Mari Anna. He and his mom are experts in preparing commercial pickles, podi and snacks. Every time I prepare this, it comes out just like a store bought pickle (or more tastier than any pickle I make:) ) and we like it very much. Last month when I visited our neighborhood Indian grocery store, I saw this big heap of peeled garlic at a very less price (49 cents / lb). To my surprise they were the naattu poondu (Indian country garlic) , which is a small variety with more flavor and spicy too! As getting peeled garlic at this price is really a big luck for us, I grabbed a big scoop out of that and felt extremely happy, as if I have done something great:) Immediately after dinner I prepared this special poondu pickle and ginger garlic paste. Also I made some poondu kulambu the next day and enjoyed the deal of the week:)

Homemade Garlic pickle

Poondu urugai and ginger garlic paste.

Ingredients:
garlic - 200 gms
oil - 1/4 cup
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
salt - 2 tsp (to taste)
tamarind - lime size
jaggery - 2 tbsp
red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
hing (asafoetida) - 1/8 tsp
lemon - 1
To powder:
fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
mustard seed - 1 tsp


Method:
Choose the small variety of garlic instead of big pearls for this pickle. (naattu poondu / small garlic pearls are more flavorful and tastes good. So it is highly recommended for this pickle, even though peeling them takes more time). Peel the garlic and keep aside.
Grind coarsely half of the garlic.
Add 1/4 cup water to tamarind + jaggery and microwave or bring to a boil. Let cool. Extract juice , discard the residue and keep aside.
In a pan fry the mustard , fenugreek and grind to a fine powder. Keep aside.
Heat corn oil + sesame oil (or completely sesame oil) in the pan and add mustard seeds, channa dal, hing. After the mustard starts crackling, add the peeled garlic, ground garlic and cook in medium heat for 1 minute. Then add the tamarind+jaggery solution, salt, chilly powder, turmeric powder and cook in low heat till garlic is almost tender (5 minutes after boiling) and oil will start showing up. Then add the powdered masala, lemon juice mix well and switch off.
Let cool completely and store in glass bottles.
Garlic pickle is ready!

Note:
Serve as side dish with curd rice, chapati or with any rice.
Helps in digestion.
I sanitize the glass bottles by keeping them in hot water or by washing in dish washer (heated dry-ON setting). Also we can keep the bottles and lids in hot oven (after switching off), or keep in sunlight  to dry them.
Always keep the pickle in refrigerator (even though it stays good in room temperature for 3 months).

Ginger garlic paste:
Ginger - 50 gms
garlic - 100 gms
vinegar - 1 tbsp
oil - 1 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
Peel the ginger, garlic. Rinse every thing. wipe clean and grind everything together. Store in airtight glass bottle in fridge. Handle with dry spoon every time. Use it in Indian curries.
Stays good for a month.

Parupppu urundai kuruma kulambu

Paruppu / dal - lentil ; urundai - ball; kuruma / kulambu - gravy.

If you are looking for a special kulambu in Tamilnadu meals next to sambar, then this is it. Balls of dal simmered and cooked in flavorful kuruma kulambu is one of my favorites. Paruppu urundai kulambu with tamarind base like puLi kuzhambu is my family special. But this paruppu urundai kuruma kulambu is one popular recipe that comes in mind for many. I make it along with ghee rice or pulav on special occasions. I make these balls in many ways. Steaming or deep frying and adding the urundai to kulambu is my mom's method. For this kuruma, I cook the urundai directly in kulambu  and I am describing my method here. Try this and enjoy!

Also click to see my Paruppu urundai puli kulambu, with tamarind masala and vadai more kulambu / paruppu urundai more kulambu with curd / buttermilk.
 

Paruppu urundai before cooking.

Bring the kuruma kulambu to rolling boil before adding the dal balls.

Paruppu urundai added to the kuruma curry.

Paruppu urundai got cooked in kuruma.

Paruppu urundai kulambu.

For urundai / ball: 
Ingredients:
Channa dhal/ Bengal gram lentil (kadalai paruppu)- 1 1/4cup
salt - 1 tsp
green chilies - 2 (finely chopped)
fresh ginger(finely chopped) - 1 inch
onion (finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
curry leaves- 1 sprig
coriander leaves (chopped)- 2 tbsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
fennel seeds (peruncheeragam/ sombu)- 1/2 tbsp
dry red chillies - 2
oil - 1 tbsp
Preparation:
Soak both the dhal for 1 hour in water.
Grind the dhal to a medium-coarse mixture with red chillies, salt, cinnamon, fennel seeds and almost no water.
Saute the chopped onions,green chillies, chopped ginger,chopped cilantro, and curry leaves in oil.  Mix with the dal mixture .
Divide into equal portions (12) and make small balls of lime size. Keep aside.

Kuruma:
Ingredients:
Red onion - 2 (medium size)
tomato - 2
green chillies - 4
coriander leaves - a handful.
mint leaves - few
curry leaves - few
coconut milk - 1/2 cup
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - a pinch
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
ghee / oil - 2 tbsp
cardamom - 2
cloves - 2
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
bay leaf - 1
ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Method:
Grind ginger and garlic together.
Grind shredded coconut ,cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds, green chillies and 1 onion together. keep aside.
Heat ghee in a pan. Add fennel seeds and bay leaf.
Add the finely chopped onion and wait till it turns golden brown. Then add curry leaves, cilantro and mint leaves. The put the ginger garlic paste and saute well.
Add the finely chopped tomato and wait till it cooks well.
Add 2 cups of water, chilli powder,salt, turmeric powder , curry masala powder and stir well.
Add the coconut masala and let it boil it gives a nice flavor.
Close the lid and cook till raw smell goes.
Now add coconut milk mix well.  Any leftover water  we got while preparing paruppu urundai can be added in this stage. Bring it to rolling boil.
Then add the lentil balls (paruppu urundai) and cook in high flame for a minute. Reduce flame and cook covered. Stir after 5 minutes and check if the urundai is cooked. Switch off. Paruppu urundai kulambu is ready!  

Serving suggestions:
serve hot with any rice, parathas or roti or naan .

Easy chocolate cake

Chocolate cake is one of my favorites. Whenever I crave for that, I would buy a ready-made cake mix pack or hubby may buy me a piece of this moist delicious chocolate cake from our nearby bakery. Also, Whenever I have to make a cake he will suddenly say that he WANTS a carrot cake, so I will be making carrot cakes often. On the other day I wanted to make some chocolate cake from scratch to share with our friends. I got the basic idea for my chocolate cake from this recipe. Thanks to the author I could figure out 'how to make a chocolate cake from scratch / without cake mix?' On that day I had Nestle drinking chocolate sachets only, but the recipe says to add cocoa powder. So I used what I had and the finish was excellent.

Very moist delicious chocolate cake

I love the way the cake came out spongy.

Plain vanilla cakes are Xav's favorite and I  made that too.

slight soaking made the chocolate cake incredibly moist and delicious.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
sugar - 2 cup
baking cocoa powder - 3/4 cup
baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
salt - 1 tsp
egg - 2
milk - 1 cup
vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
vanilla extract - 2 tsp
boiling water - 1 cup

(I substituted baking cocoa with 2 sachet Nestle drinking chocolate powder + 1/4 cup chocolate chips + 2 tsp bru instant coffee powder. It tasted absolutely delicious)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Grease and flour 2 pans of 9 inch size.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, (drinking cocoa, bru if any) together. Sift twice to get a fluffy porous cake. Put it in a big mixing bowl.

In a blender or mixie beat the milk, egg, sugar, vanilla, vegetable oil, (chocolate chips if any)  for a minute. Add it to the dry ingredients in the big mixing bowl.  Mix well.
Bring 1 cup water to boil. Pour in to the mixing bowl. Mix well.
Pour in to baking pans and bake for 40 - 45 mins. My cake came out by 42 minutes.
Let cool completely before slicing.
Chocolate cake is ready!


Note:
This recipe will make 2 cakes of 9x9 inch squares or two 9 inch round cakes or one 9 x13 cake.
Before baking, we may notice the cake batter to be very thin and runny. But the cake will come out perfect. Believe me:)

Serving suggestions:
I didn't do icing for this cake. (But any chocolate based icing will be perfect).
Instead I did the soaking. I pierced the top of cake. Then I made a simple sugar syrup with 1/2 cup brown sugar + 1/2 cup water and coated the top of the cake with this syrup. This plain cake tasted amazingly moist and delicious. That is the secret behind most of the moist cakes:)
Some people cover the top with chocolate syrup and it will be more delicious too.
Some pieces can be saved in freezer and used to make trifle.

Carrot cake (Veg)

Happy New year !
Let's start the New year with a sweet recipe, a carrot cake. 

Egg-less carrot cake.

Ingredients:
Carrot - 1 (small)
Apple (small) - 1/2 fruit
All purpose flour - 2/3 cup
plain yogurt - 1/2 cup
vinegar / lime juice - 1 tsp
sugar - 2/3 cup
oil / butter - 1/3 cup + 1 tsp for greasing the pan
shredded coconut (dry) - 2 tsp
vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
orange peel - 1 tsp
cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
baking soda - 2/3 tsp
baking powder - 2/3 tsp
salt - pinch
walnut - 2 tbsp (chopped)
raisin - 15

Method:

Shred the carrot. Core, peel and shred the apple.
Preheat oven to 350 deg (175 deg C) for at least 30 minutes before we start baking.
Grease and flour the cake tin. Keep aside.
Beat the yogurt, vinegar / lime juice using a fork till smooth. Then add vanilla essence, sugar, oil and beat till its smooth.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt TWICE. Sifting makes the baked products perfect.
Put it in a mixing bowl and add the liquids from mixer.
Mix well.
Add the shredded carrot, coconut, orange peel, cinnamon, coarsely chopped walnut and mix slightly.
Now the batter is ready!
Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Eggless carrot cake is ready!

Note:
Apple makes the cake more moist.
Coconut gives the perfect flavor for this cake.
Makes a 6 inch round cake or 12 cup cakes.
Plain yogurt can be substituted by a mix of 1/4 cup milk + 1 tbsp lime juice / vinegar.
After baking the cake, pierce the top with skewer multiple times and soak it with few tsp of sugar syrup, to get a more delicious cake.
For cream cheese frosting and butter cream icing recipes, please click here.

Happy New year,

Let's welcome the New year with joy,
with lots of prayers and well wishes,
May every day be filled
with happiness and peace,
May every face on earth live happily forever,
with all our needs satisfied,
May every life lives peacefully
with all our dreams come true,
May every child gets love and care,along
with all the toys they want:)
May God shower His abundant love on all of us,






Wishing all a
beautiful, Prosperous and Blessed
Happy New Year and Happy blogging!
Love,
Viki.

Mandarin orange Marmalade

Winter is the best season to buy oranges as they grow abundantly here. Recently hubby bought me a crate of Mandarin oranges, as I love them very much. On seeing that I wanted to make some marmalade, as I admire Ina's and Alton Brown's orange marmalade in food TV network shows. My version is a combination of both recipes and learned a few tips through internet. I totally enjoyed the whole process, as the orange smell filled the whole house and gives us a cheerful feeling. I did a small batch only, as I am yet to learn canning process. I used pectin to bring the runny jam to a spreading consistency. The result is very good and we got a big batch of homemade mandarin marmalade. Hubby dear loves this marmalade very much along with bread for breakfast. Nowadays he wants me to make all kinds of jams at home:) Try this and enjoy the sweet orange marmalade.

Mandarin orange marmalade in glass bottles I saved. Happy New year!

Bright and cheerful oranges.

Cooking the orange the previous night is essential.

I used peels from some mandarins only, as I wanted to make a sweeter jam.

Pectin gives a good texture for all preserves. Nowadays I am making homemade pectin too.

Ingredients:
Mandarin oranges - 14
sugar - 4 cup
lemon - 1
water - 2 cup

Method:
Wash the oranges and lemon , wipe clean. Air dry them. Take half the number of mandarins, quarter and slice them very thinly.
Discard any seeds.
Peel the other half of mandarins, discard the peels (I keep the peels for making orange peel powder).
Remove the skin, pith, seeds and take out the juicy orange alone.
In a thick bottom vessel add the chopped mandarin, mandarin flesh,  2 cups water and cook the oranges till the peel turns tender.  Add sugar and bring to a boil.
Switch off and leave them to soak overnight.
The next day start heating the jam and cook till it gets almost thick (spreadable consistency). It will take nearly 1 hour.
If you are going for a long term preserve, then follow the instructions of a canning expert, as I made a 'refrigerator type jam' only.
If the consistency is still runny, add 1/2 a sachet of pectin (1 jar pack) and heat till it is more thick.
Let cool and store in well cleaned glass bottles.
Mandarin orange marmalade is ready!

Tips:

This marmalade made of mandarin orange is sweeter than the British marmalade.
Serve with bread toast or chapati.
We can use the peels of entire batch, but my version is more sweeter.
Homemade marmalade or preserve are  healthy, delicious ,economical and gives the cook a kind of satisfaction:)
Orange Marmalade is good for health when consumed with breakfast.