Happy Pongal ,

Wishing all a very happy and prosperous Pongal,

How to make coconut milk ?

Making our own fresh coconut milk at home gives much satisfaction than any other version. It creates a good nostalgia for anyone like me who has enjoyed watching their mothers extracting this flavorful milk on a Sunday morning , while cooking the appam on a pan. But somehow I was always for readymade coconut milks.  For many years I have been using a can of coconut milk or coconut milk powder, until I brought my super extractor mixie jar from India. Without knowing the importance of a juicer, some years ago, I had brought only the other jars while we came to USA for the first time and this juicer jar was in our house for  a long time :). Though  I agree that I love the convenience of  readymade milks, I made 2 cups of fresh coconut milk last weekend to serve along with Kerala appam. Hubby dear appreciated this fresh coconut milk with every piece of the appam I made. I was running from kitchen to dining table to meet his appam requirements :) and now I am very sure we will be having fresh coconut milk and appam most of our weekends:).
I am sure most of my blog friends are experts in preparing everything from scratch, but I am just sharing my joy about my coconut milk :) Hope you all like it !

Homemade coconut milk

extracting coconut milk using Super extractor jar.

Coconut milk served with aappam

Ingredients:
Sliced coconut - 1 1/2 cup
(or) shredded coconut - 1 cup
warm water - 2 cups

Common mixie method :
Grind the sliced coconut in a mixer. Add 1/2 cup warm water and squeeze out the milk. Filter it using a fresh cloth. This is the thick milk , which is used in many gravies.
After that grind again and extract milk just like the above three time. Combine all the milks together or keep the thick and thin milks separate as per need.

Using a Super extractor / juicer mixie:
If using a  juicer / super extractor jar from Preethi Mixie, there will not be any need of strainer.
Fix the juicing blade, Fit the filter mesh to the juicer jar.
Put the sliced or shredded coconut directly inside the jar  touching the blade(not in the space outside the filter).
Add 1/2 cup water.
Put the safety lid and close the lid.
Run the mixie in full speed for 30 seconds. The coconut milk will collect in the space between filter and outer jar compartment.
We can pour out the coconut milk straightly out of the jar. This is the thick milk.
After that we can repeat two or three more times to extract all the milk using 1/2 cup water each time.
(I used sliced frozen coconut, which I bought from Indian grocery shop, but fresh coconuts would be excellent).

coconut milk using bare hands:
Add 1/2 cup warm water to the shredded coconut and squeeze the first thick milk using our hands and filter. Then in the same way extract milk thrice.

Uses of coconut milk:
The extracted milk can stay good for at least 3 days in fridge.
Coconut milk can be served with appam, idiyappam.
To thicken curries and gravies in Indian cuisine.
To make biriyani, pulav, coconut milk rice and various rice varieties.
Used in making some kind of kheer like paal kozhukattai.

Brown rice spinach pongal

Making a pongal with spinach and brown rice is one of my favorites. I have coined this recipe for our own taste and I am sure it will be liked by you all too.

Keerai pongal with eggplant curry, pappad

Ingredients:
brown rice - 3/4 cup
green gram dal (moong dal) - 1/2 cup
water - 4 cups
spinach - 2 cups (chopped)
salt - to taste
turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
hing - a pinch
ghee - 1 tbsp (while serving)
Tempering:
ghee - 1 tbsp
cumin - 1 tsp
black pepper - 1 tsp
green chilly - 2
curry leaves - few

Method:
Rinse the brown rice , dhal and soak for 30 minutes - 1 hour.  This helps in easy cooking. Pressure cook the rice and dal together with water, salt and turmeric powder.
In another cooking vessel, temper the items mentioned. Heat 1 tbsp ghee. Add cumin, black pepper , chopped green chillies, curry leaves and saute a little. Add the cooked rice+dal.
Chop the spinach finely. Put the chopped spinach and add some more water to cook.
Switch off , as soon as the spinach gets cooked. Add 1 tbsp ghee and mash gently with a  spatula and serve hot.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as lunch.
Good side dishes are coconut chutney, baingan ka parta, sambar, pappad.
serves 2.

Winter recipes

Here in the part of globe where we live, the winters are long and cold. Having a hot cup of chocolate milk before bed is our favorite during this season. Weekends need a hot masala chaai at flask and some spicy fried Indian snacks or homemade cookies to munch on. Any food needs a little more spice level :) Also cooking during winter is a joy for me, as it is the best indoor entertainment :) Keeping a balance between cooking good foods as well as little calorie conscience will work for any season, but winter needs something extra. So I plan on making some foods that suits this weather.

Have a look at my suggestions and enjoy the virtual winter treat !

Chicken tomato soup (chennai recipe)

Crab kulambu (Tuticorin recipe)

Perfect kuzhambu for winter

Goat leg soup (clear):


Idiyappam with paya:

Add caption

Tandoori chicken:



Milagu kuzhambu:

Sukku Kuzhambu:

Scrambled egg chapati:

Add caption

Masala tea:

Bhel poori (snack):

Kara sev (fries):

Baked masala peanut:

Enjoy !

Mutton varuval (in pressure cooker)

Here is our family recipe for mutton curry or varuval. It is easier than my version of preparing this curry in a thick wok (kadai).
I call this my family recipe (or Tirunelveli version), as my amma and mother inlaw both do the same way.  My MIL's mutton gravy is one of the best. We will definitely need a pressure cooker to prepare this gravy.
After buying my small pressure cooker, I too started following this method.
Here is a very easy way to make a delicious mutton varuval using pressure cooker.

Try and enjoy this Tirunelveli mutton curry  

Ingredients:
Goat meat (with bone)- 1 lb
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 1 whole
curry masala powder - 2 tsp
red chilly powder - 2 tsp
coriander powder - 6 tsp
tomato -2
brinji leaves -2
Red onion- 2
curry leaves- 1 sprig
cilantro - 1 handful
mint leaves - 1 handful
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
fennel - 1 tsp
salt - to taste

Method:
Rinse the meat and cut it into small pieces.
Pressure cook it with turmeric and handful of water. Cook for 8 whistles in medium heat (after 1 whistle reduce to medium).
Open the pressure cooker after it becomes cool. It should be cooked perfectly by now.
In a kadai , heat 2 tbsp sesame oil. Add 1 tsp fennel seeds and after it turns red add brinji leaves,curry leaves, chopped onion. Let the onion get cooked and becomes mild pink.
Then put cilantro and mint leaves one by one .
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a while.
Then add finely chopped tomato and saute till it gets cooked.
Add chilli powder,coriander powder, garam masala powder and saute again.
Add this to the cooked mutton in pressure cooker.
Put enough salt and pressure cook till 1 whistle. Reduce to low heat and cook for 5 minutes.
Open the cooker. If there is some excess water, then cook it without lid in open fire and take out the mutton gravy. It should be a thick curry.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Mutton varuval is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with plain rice , coconut milk rice, ghee rice.
Tastes very good with idli, dosai or parotta.

Mixed vegetable poriyal

A colorful bowl of side dish is always attractive. We can see 'mixed vegetable stir fries' in any cuisine in the world. In USA, any grocery store will have these chopped frozen vegetables that are easy to cook. Those packets makes the cooking very easy. But in India , our mothers had followed a different way to get those colorful vegetables. I follow the olden method and I reserve a small piece of many vegetables I use everyday to make a poriyal or aviyal that weekend. Instead we can make this poriyal with a store-bought pack or fresh too. Anyways try this and enjoy a Tamilnadu poriyal and let me know how you like it !

Ingredients:
Cabbage - 1 cup (shredded)
carrot - 1 (diced)
fresh green peas - 1/2 cup
cooked channa dal - 1/2 cup
green beans -10
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
green chillies - 2
curry leaf - 1 sprig
onion (chopped) - 2 tbsp (optional)
ginger (finely chopped) - 1 tsp
oil - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
mustard - 1/2 tsp
cumin - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Shred the cabbage into fine pieces. Chop the carrot into small cubes and green beans to small pieces. Peel and wash the green peas (pachai pattani).

Heat oil in a wok. Let the mustard seeds pop. Then slide in the onion, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and saute for 10 seconds. Don't let it get red.

Then add the finely chopped veggies along with green pea and stir fry for a minute.
Immediately sprinkle a handful of water. Add salt and cook covered till the vegetables are done. Tender crispy cooking making the poriyal more tasty. So don't over cook them. Then add the cooked channa dal.

Now sprinkle the shredded coconut and cumin seeds. Mix well and switch off.

Mixed vegetable poriyal is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with sambar rice or any rice.
Serves 4.

Happy New year,

Wishing all a
beautiful, Prosperous , peaceful and Blessed
Happy New year,
May God protect us all and
Bless us with a happy life,
Happy New Year
Love,
Viki.