Jamun Burfi

This recipe is my mother's. 'Jamun' burfi gets its name from the ready made Gulab Jamun mix powder, which is being used along with other ingredients to make this awesome sweet dish. Just when, I've been having a bunch people hopping into our home to keep our spirits high, this winter, I asked Amma, what sweet may be prepared. Thats when she sprung up with recipe which calls for jamun mix...I had half a packet left in the fridge, which I had left untouched for few days now. Thought that this was the best way to surprise everybody instead of the same good old jamun!

Ingredients:
Instant Jamun Mix- 1 cup (I'm using MTR)
Milk- 1 cup
Ghee- 1 cup
Sugar- 2 cups
Cashew nuts and Almonds- Few
Cardamom powder- A pinch

Method:

In a heavy bottomed vessel, add half the quantity of ghee, milk, sugar and the jamun mix. Mix all the ingredients well so that there are no lumps at all. Now, on medium heat, bring this mixture to a boil and continue stirring it till it attains a thick consistency. The color of the mixture will turn roasted brown. Add the remaining half of the Ghee and mix well. Add thin slices of cashew nuts and almonds to it. Add the cardamom powder too. The mixture will leave the sides of the vessel. Transfer it onto a greased plate. You may run the knife on it when it has cooled for about 10 minutes. Absolutely delicious burfi is ready to be served!

Preparation Time: 45 Minutes
Quantity yield: 15

Sabsige Soppu (Dill leaves) Chutney

This one comes from my MIL's kitchen. Its another, one of those typical South Canara dishes. I love it for another fact that Dill leaves help relieve my kiddo's occasional Colic pain. It helps pass the accumulated gas in his tiny tummy which is the actual cause for Colic. It soothes his delicate stomach walls and helps increase his digestive power too. Its an easy to do dish and good to taste!

Ingredients:

Grated Coconut- 2 tbsp
Sabsige soppu- Few leaves (only)
Tamarind- 1 inch peice
Hing/Asafoetida- A pinch
Dry roasted Channa dal/Chickpeas lentil- 1 tsp
Red Chilly-1
Salt to taste
Oil- 1 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 Tsp
Curry leaves- Few

Method:

Grind Coconut, Dill leaves, Tamarind, Hing, Dal and Red chilly to a fine paste. Add salt to taste. In a pan, heat the oil. Add Urad dal and Mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the Curry leaves. Season the Chutney with this tempering. Enjoy with Rice, Idly or Dosa!

Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Serves: 2 people

Kai Murukku

Kai murukku evokes memories of wedding. This is one of the important 'Cheeru Bakshanam' (Snacks given to the grooms side during wedding). This is a hand made snack and hence require a lot of patience. Amma prepares one of the best murukku. I admire the way she makes them so evenly. I have tried them and somehow never mastered this art ...

Here is her recipe.

Ingredients:
Rice - 6 cups
Urad dal (fried and powdered) - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds (crushed a little) - 3-4 tsp
Butter - 3 tbsp
salt
Oil - for deep frying

Method:
Soak rice for 10 mins. Then drain water thoroughly by keeping it in a colander for 10 mins. Then powder it in a mixer-grinder till it becomes a fine powder. Sieve this further. Sieving is really important to get a fine texture and also to remove any impurities.
Mix the rice flour, urad dal powder, salt, cumin seeds and butter. Add enough water to make a soft batter.


Take a small lemon size dough and use your index and thumb fingers and sprial in circular motion either on news paper or paper towel.


Heat oil in a frying pan.
When it is very hot, carefully slide the murukku and fry on both the sides till they are golden brown.
Drain and remove to a tissue lined container.
Enjoy the fruit of your hard work :)

Preparation time: 40 min
Yield: 30

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

This is an interesting curry made in most of the tamil Iyers and Iyengars. 'Paruppu Urundai' is nothing but koftas made with toor dal. These koftas are used as a substitute for vegetables. This is a wholesome and healthy curry.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients for Paruppu Urundai:
Toor Dal - 3/4 cup
Red Chilli - 2
Salt
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Chopped Onion (optional) - 1/4 cup
Grated coconut (optional) - 1/4 cup
Chopped green chillies - 2
Rice flour - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Method for Paruppu Urundai:
Clean and soak the dal for 2 hours.
Drain and grind the dal along with red chilli, salt and asafoetida into a coarse firm paste.
Heat a little oil in a pan and allow mustard to splutter. Add green chilli and onions and fry till the onion turns golden brown.
Add the ground dal paste. Stir till it changes color.
It might stick to the pan, but still keep stirring till the raw smell of dal goes.
When done, remove from fire and add grated coconut and rice flour. Mix well and prepare small balls.


Ingredients for Kuzhambu:
Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized
Red chilli - 1
Toor dal - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5 strands
Sambar powder - 2 tbsp
Gingely oil - 2-3 tbsp

Method for Kuzhambu:
Heat oil in a pan, season with mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add red chilli, fenugreek seeds and the dals. Add sambar powder and fry for 5 sec. Immediately add tamarind extract and salt. Allow to boil for 15-20 min. Then slowly drop 2 balls at a time into the boiling gravy. When the balls are cooked, they will float to the top. Boil together for few more min.

Preparation time: 45-50 mins
Serves: 4 people

Roasted Brinjal Mosaru Bajji

This recipe has been passed on to me by my sister...who has learnt it from her MIL. It is indeed one of the tastiest 'avtar' of Brinjal! It doesnt require any cooking, except for roasting the Brinjal. Traditionally, this was done in the 'Chulha' where, they would just leave the Brinjals on the red hot coal. They would have, for example, cooked rice and put the fire off. Yet the heat present in the Chulha is sufficient enough to roast Brinjal! Well, in our gadget-savvy kitchen..we have the oven! We have to basically bake it for about an hour at 180 deg centigrade. Of course, in case you have a gas stove, you could just expose the Brinjal to the open flame and it would just take few minutes.

Ingredients:
Big Purple Brinjal- 1
Yogurt/curd- 1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Green chillies- 2 chopped
Coriander leaves- Few
Oil- 2 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp
Red Chilly- 1 (Broken into pieces)
Curry leaves- few

Method:
Apply oil around the Brinjal and place in a tray covered with Aluminum foil. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Once, the desired temperature is attained, place the tray inside the oven and leave it for about an hour.


After an hour, take the tray out and let the Brinjal cool for few minutes. You can easily peel off the skin and keep the pulp aside. To this add Yogurt, Salt, Green chillies and mix well. In a pan, heat oil. Add Urad dal, Mustard seeds and Red Chilly pieces. Once the mustard starts to splutter, add the Curry leaves and pour this seasoning to the Brinjal-Yogurt mixture. Mix well and garnish with Coriander leaves. Enjoy with Rice!

Preparation Time: 1h:15Minutes
Serves: 2 people

Lemon Rasam

One of the much sought after Rasam in our home is Lemon Rasam. This rasam may be relished with hot Rice and roasted papad or each sip may be enjoyed like a soup! With winter very much in, this rasam is always relished with a bright smile to lighten up the dark days!

Ingredients:

Cooked Toor dal- 2 cups

Chopped Green chillies- 2

Chopped Ginger- 1 inch peice

Curry leaves - Few

Coriander leaves- Few sprigs

Turmeric powder- A pinch

Salt to taste

Ghee- 2 tsp

Urad dal- 1 tsp

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Red chilly- 1 (Broken into pieces)

Jeera/Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida- A pinch

Lemon- 1

Method:

Take the cooked dal in a vessel and add Green chillies, Ginger, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves, Turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and bring it to a nice boil. In a small pan, heat ghee. Add Urad dal, Mustard seeds, Red chilly pieces and Jeera. Once the mustard has stopped spluttering, add Hing and pour this tempering to the Rasam. Finally, Before, serving, squeeze a lemon and enjoy!

Note- You may crush some garlic and add to the tempering. Thats a differet experience altogether!

Preparation Time: 30 Minutes

Serves: 4 people

Avarekaalu Akki Rotti

Its Avarekaalu season here in India and its wonderful to be here during this time :). I can try many of my favorite dishes with this tasty beans. Avarekaalu or Hyacinth beans is a favorite of any kannadiga. During the season, you can see in every house people buy these in loads and they all sit together to remove the beans from their pods ... A variety of dishes are prepared using these beans like sambar, usli, uppittu (upma), nippattu (snack), rotti...the list goes on.

Akki Rotti is perhaps a unique dish of Karnataka. Though it might sound similar to Thali peet of Maharashtra, this dish is prepared only with rice flour as a main ingredient. This is one of my favorite breakfast items. Generally it is prepared with only using onions and other spices but during Avarekaalu season you cant miss using them.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 3 cups
Chopped onions - 1 cup
Freshly grated coconut - 1 cup
Avarekaalu (cooked) - 1 cup
Chopped coriander leaves - 5-6 tbsp
Chopped green chillies - 2
Minced ginger - 3 tsp
Cumin seeds - 3 tsp
Salt


Method:
Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and then add water slowly to make a thick dough as in the picture.
Since the rice flour does not have the elastic nature of wheat flour, it cannot be rolled out. Instead you have to use your bare hands to flatten them either directly into a pan, or use a moist cloth or plantain leaf. Here I am using plantain leaf.
Apply oil over the plantain leaf and your hands as well. Take a handful (large lemon sized) of dough and flatten it using hands over the leaf.


Heat a tava. Transfer the flatten rotti onto the tava and after 2-3 sec remove the leaf. Pour a tsp of oil and let it cook for 1-2 minutes and then turn the other side and pour a tsp oil and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Serve hot with chutney or brinjal ennegai (Recipe coming soon ...).

Preparation time: About 4-5 minutes for each rotti.
Serves: 5 people

Uppu puli dose

This is a variety of dosa prepared in South Canara district of Karnataka. It has an assortment of spices which is ground with Coconut and added to the Rice batter. This imparts all the flavors and the aroma to the dosa. The speciality of this dosa is that we do not use Urad dal. Instead, a tablespoon or two of coconut gives the softness to the dosa.

Ingredients to grind for the Dosa batter of 3 cups of ONLY Rice:


Grated Coconut- 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds- 1 1/2 tbsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds- 2 tsp
Red chillies- 4-5 [If they are not of the hot variety, you may add more chillies which gives dosa the unique color; unfortunately, the chillies, I'm using are real hot...hence, added only few :( ]
Tamarind pulp- Extracted from a Lemon sized ball of Tamaind
Jaggery- 1 tbsp (Optional)

Method:
Grind the above mentioned ingredients to a fine paste and add it to the Dosa batter which has only Rice. Keep for fermentation for about 6-8 hours. Check for salt and pour a ladle full of batter on the hot tava. Cove and cook the dosa on one side. You may relish this with a dollop of butter or jaggery!

Preparation Time: 5 Minutes for the dosa
Serves: 4 people.

Green fritters

I have been thinking of posting this since a very long time. I love experimenting in the kitchen and this is one of the results of my experiments :). I have made a few changes (or added my own ingredients) to the usual bajji recipe and this is a hit with my family.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Thinly sliced onion - 1 big
Besan - 6 tbsp
Corn flour - 5 tbsp
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Salt
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1/2 tsp
Oil - For deep frying

To grind:
Curry leaves - 5-6
Coriander leaves - A small bunch
Green chilli - 1
Tamarind - a small piece
Ginger - a small piece
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp


Method:
Grind the masala ingredients adding very little water to a fine paste.
Take the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix the ground paste and make a thick batter (bajji consistency) adding little water.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Dip the thinly sliced onions in the batter so that it is thinly coated in batter, and put it in the hot oil. Fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with sauce or chutney.

Preparation Time: 25 mins
Serves: 2 people

Easy Mixed Vegetable Curry

This one is a true life-saver, when we have few unexpected guests :P It is totally my Amma's recipe and I'm just reproducing it the way it is. Its easy to make, achievable in a limited time and is great accompaniment for the Rotis and Poori too. The list of ingredients may be huge but, the method is simple. Do try it, for a change!

Ingredients:
Cooked vegetables- 1 1/2 cup (Carrots, Beans, Green peas, Cauliflower, Potato etc..)Oil- 2 tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Hing/Asafoetida- A pinch
Onion- 1 small chopped (Optional)
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Jeera powder/Cumin seed powder- 1/2 tsp
Dhania powder/Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves- For garnish

To grind:


Grated coconut- 1 tbsp
Green chillies- 2-3
Garlic- 2 pods
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Onion- 1 small
Tomato- 1
Poppy seeds- 1 tsp
Cashew nuts- Few
Dates- 4-5
Cardamom- 1
Pepper Corns- Few
Saunf/Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
Bay leaf- 1/2 a leaf
Cinnamon- 1 inch piece
Clove- 1

Method:
Cook and keep aside vegetables of your choice. Grind the above mentioned ingredients to a fine paste and keep aside. In a vessel, heat oil. Add Jeera. When it starts to emit its aroma, add the paste and let it boil well and cook it for about 10 minutes on low heat. Now, add the Turmeric powder, Jeera powder, Dhania powder and Salt to taste. You may add water to adjust the consistency of the gravy as per your choice. Let it boil well and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables and mix well. Garnish with Coriander leaves. You may add a dash of cream too! Serve with hot Rotis/Pooris!

Preparation Time: 30 Minutes
Serves: 4 people

Birthday Bash of Aditya

Last Sunday, we celebrated our little ones second birthday. It was long pending since 7th; which is his birth date. My bundle of joy was waiting for his cake with the knife :P ...I mean to cut it! We had a good gathering and shared some good moments. It was my first venture into arranging for a birthday party and I enjoyed it thoroughly...I had many helping hands...my husband, Lakshmi and her husband (awesome twosome!!) and the birthday boy himself :P

We baked the cake and I have to thank Tina of Kaipunyam, a million times for her deadly delicious Chocolate cake recipe. We prepared two layered cake; plain vanilla flavored and chocolate flavored. If it was not for Lakshmi, the cake never would have taken a beautiful look. All thanks to her for beautifying it with chocolate icing and cream decor! I have to learn it...never tried my hands on it.

The menu contained:
1. Chappathi
2. Mattar Paneer
3. Aloo fry
4. Vegetable Pulav
5. Tomato Raitha
6. Curd/Yogurt Rice
7. Gulab Jamun

The recipes for the above mentioned will be coming soon. We had fun cooking, baking and finally eating :) I have definitely learnt a lot of lessons from this experience. Hoping to have more such get-togethers and parties;each time making it better than the former!

Awards- More encouragement!

We are having another blast of awards followed by Diwali dhamaka! Its surely a tremendous amount of encouragement and is also an indicator that we shall aspire to get better each post after post! We have to extend our gratitude to all those lovely bloggers out there who have insipred us to get creative, imaginative and tune our minds to pull out newer ideas. All those inspiring words and the ever lasting support helps us to move ahead to share and learn unique ventures and experiments performed in our dens! Its an amazing world of blogs out there and a big bunch of really talented bloggers ! We feel humbled to be recognised and awarded!!
Thank you so much!!!

Our dear friends Sanghi and Sanjana have passed on this award.... Thank you once again!

Rules of the award:

* You must thank the person who has given you the award.
* Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
* Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
* Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
* Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
* Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
* Leave a comment in the nominated blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

7 things about me:

1. Admirer of art and music.
2. Very patriotic.
3. Hard-core family person.
4. Trying to be optimistic in life.
5. Cannot withstand hypocrisy.
6. Many friends, few soul-friends.
7. Hmmmmm...love Ice-creams!

We request the following blogger friends to kindly pick this award: JeyashriSuresh, Viji, Rhandi, Gethan, Saju, Nostalgia, from my motorhome to yours.

The following awards have been showered by Sreelekha Sumesh. Thank you Sree for so much of an encouragement!!!

Thank you Sandhya Hariharan for this BIG BUNCH of awards! We are so thrilled!!!

We would like to share all the 6 awards with Rohini, Kitchen Queen, Nithya, Sangeetha Subhash, Tina, Sushma Mallya, Prathibha, Sanghi and Gulmohar.

Happy Blogging to all!!!

Parikkai Pitla/ Pavakkai Pitla

Parikkai/pavakkai (Bitter gourd) pitla is one of my favourite dishes.Some people might not like this due to the bitterness of parikkai. But bitter gourd is very good for health. The bitterness comes from a compund called momordicin which supposedly tones the stomach, improving its function and increasing appetite. Parikkai pitla is a wholesome, nutritious curry ... it has the bitterness of parikkai, tanginess of tamarind, sweetness of coconut and spiciness of red chilli.

Here is the recipe ...

Ingredients:
Bitter gourd (sliced into small pieces) - 1 medium sized
Tamarind - lemon sized ball soaked in hot water for 15 minutes
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Oil (preferably coconut oil) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5


To Grind:
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Red chilli - 2
Black pepper corns - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tbsp

For seasoning:
Ghee - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5

Method:
Pressure cook toor dal. Mash well and set aside.
Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Fry urad dal, pepper and red chillies in this. Add a pinch of asafoetida and remove the pan from heat.
Once this cools, grind it to a smooth paste along with grated coconut.
Extract the juice from tamarind.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the bitter gourd slices till you get a nice aroma from them.

Then add tamarind water, curry leaves and salt and cook till they become tender.

Now, add the mashed toor dal and boil 4-5 minutes.
Then add the ground mixture and let it boil for another 4-5 mins. You can add more water if the curry is too thick.
Heat the ghee in a seasoning wok. Add mustard seeds and when they splutter add the curry leaves. Pour this over the pitla.
Serve hot with rice, dosa or idli.

Preparation Time: 40 mins
Serves: 2 people

Diwali- Festival of lights! and 'Saat'

Diwali/Deepavali (row of lamps) is truly a colourful festival which we all eagerly wait for! This was the day when Lord Rama after killing Ravana, came back home in Ayodhya. To celebrate this homecoming, people lit lamps all around. As children, we would be excited to receive new dresses to wear and of course, the crackers! As we grew older, the fun was lighting the lamps decorating our home with flowers. Amma would get busy in the kitchen making a variety of sweets and savory to be distributed to our near and dear ones! The entire air is full of joy! India is the place to be during Diwali!!!

Since, many of us are geographically distant from our native land, nonetheless, we do our bit to make this a happier occasion with our dearest around. Early morning, clean up the house, wash and clean God's lamps, light diya (lamps) of Ghee. This day, we have a special bath with Coconut oil and Haldi (Turmeic powder). Wear new clothes, which have been placed near the God's mantap and devour the delicacies prepared. Evening we perform Lakshmi pooja to please the Godess and light Candles!!!

One more sweet...!!
'Saat' is a typical South Canara dish prepared from Maida (All purpose flour). The dough is first prepared which is fried in Ghee and then dipped in sugar syrup. Its a very simple sweet to prepare and just melts in your mouth.

Ingredients:
(For the dough)
Maida(All purpose flour)- 1 cup
Melted Unsalted butter- 1/4 cup
Milk cream- 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder- a pinch
Sugar- 4 tsp (Optional)

(For the sugar syrup)
Sugar- 1 cup
Water- 1/2 cup

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the dough and mix well. Knead well. Sprinkle few drops of water, only if required.
Divide this dough into small balls and give it a gentle press in the center. In a frying pan, heat Ghee and deep fry in low heat. Allow them to cool. In a vessel, add water to sugar and bring to a boil. Contuinue boiling till you get 1 string consistency. Remove from heat. Place all the fried 'Saats' in the sugar syrup for just 2 minutes. Let the sugar syrup form a coat. Delicious Saat ready to be all eaten up!

Preparation Time: 4o Minutes
Quantity yield: 10

Boondi Laddoo

Happy Diwali to all my dear blogger friends and family.

With just 1 day left for Diwali ... I am sure all of you wonderful bloggers are busy preparing your choice of sweets and savories. For Diwali, we are always in India with our families. No worries of preparing the sweets :) ... but this time we are celebrating it here. So trying out various sweets.

Yesterday my experiment was boondi laddoo. Though this is one of the time consuming sweets (at least I felt like that) the end result is really yummy :). My mom told me that it is really simple and gave me the recipe. I was thinking that surely I will mess this up ... but fortunately it came out well.

The main tool for this laddoo is the typical boondi maker laddle ... this is a flat laddle with several small holes and a long handle. But since I did not have this tool, I used a collander which was good though not the best.
Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Besan flour - 1 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Oil - for frying



Sugar syrup:
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup (or little less)

Garnish:
Cashew (broken into pieces) - 1 tbsp
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Cloves - 4-5
Pachcha Karooram (Borneo Camphor) - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 4 tbsp

Method:
Sift the besan flour and mix it with water to form a thick batter (little thicker than dosa consistency).



Before making the boondi, make the sugar syrup by adding 1/2 cup water to 3/4 cup sugar and heating. The syrup should boil till you get 1 string consistency.
Add cloves (crush a little but do not powder) , pachcha karpooram and cardamom powder to this.
Add 1/2 tsp lemon juice to avoid the sugar from forming crystals.
Now fry the raisins and cashew in ghee and keep this aside.
Now for the boondi ...
In a deep bottomed pan, heat oil. When the oil is very hot, hold the laddle/collander above the oil and pour small amount of batter.
Drops of batter fall into the oil. These should not stick to one another and they should bubble up, if not using another laddle ( used for frying) seperate them. Once the oils stops the bubbling noise, the boondis can be removed. The boondis should not be too crisp for laddoo.
Immediately put them to the sugar syrup.
Fry the boondis in batches and put them into the sugar syrup.
Mix the fried cashew and raisins.
Pour ghee into this and mix well.
Let the boondis completely absorb the syrup.
Now take a small quantity of this mixture in your palm and using your hands make firm laddoo.
Yummy laddoos are ready to be devoured :)



These if stored in airtight container will lasts for a week.

Tips: If your boondis turn a very crispy and hard, sprinkle 1-2 tbsp water evenly and mix well and leave it for 2-3 mins to soak in. This will make the boondis softer. Do not add more water as this will make the boondis soggy.

Yields: 25 Laddoos

Awards Time :)

Well this is a very special moment for our blog because we have not 1 but many awards :).

Firstly our entry 'Tomato Rasam' had made it to the top 10 at "Garnish the Dish" event and after nearly 1 week of voting has been chosen as "Runner - People's Choice". We are extremely happy and would like to thank the hosts Nithya and Pavithra for conducting such a fantastic event. It was really fun participating in this event as it gave me an opportunity to know my creative side.

I would like to thank my team mate Vidya Rao. Without her support this would not have been possible.


I thank all those who supported me in this ... my friends, family members and all the blogger friends. Lastly I would like to congratulate the winners Rohini, Geethan and Kamala and also all the participants who were chosen in the top 10. All the 10 entries were such a treat to the eyes.

Now for the second set of awrads ...Sangeetha has shared these awards. Thank you so much Sangeetha for thinking of us and passing these awards to us. We are really happy to receive this.



It is really encouraging to receive these awards.




We would like to share these awards with Nostalgia, Kitchen Queen, Sanjana and Jeyashri Suresh.

Akki Halbai/ Rice Halwa

Its Deepavali/Diwali around and ....'Our dil goes Hmmmm....' when it comes to Akki Halbai. 'Akki' means Rice in Kannada and Halbai means halwa. It is one of the specialities of Dakshina Karnataka (South Canara) and is a true delicacy. Hence, it also implies that it involves little hard work....not much that you are speculative about trying :P Trust me, the result is as sweet as sweet can be!

The list of ingredients is very simple ..here it is....

Ingredients:
Raw Rice- 1/2 cup
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Jaggery- 1 cup
Cardamom powder- A pinch
Ghee- 1/2 cup

Method:

Soak the Rice in water, for about an hour. Grind it to a fine paste with adequate amount of water. In a vessel, pour about 1/2 cup water and melt the Jaggery. Strain this melted Jaggery into the Rice batter. Add Coconut milk and mix well. The overall consistency of this mixture may be watery. In a thick-bottomed pan, add a tbsp of ghee and pour the mixture and keep stirring it on medium heat. Continue stirring as the mixture starts to solidify. It will aggregate into one mass. At this point, add the Cardamom powder. Continue to mix for atleast another 20-25 minutes. [You need not do your arm exercises for the day :D ] Add the remaining ghee little by little, and continue to mix well. The end point of this process is when the halbai has left the sides of the pan totally and the ghee has oozed out of it and is separate. Allow it to cool on a greased plate and you may cut it into desired shape. Enjoy each bite of the Akki Halbai!

HAPPY DIWALI !

Preparation Time: 45 Minutes
Quantity yeild: 15 peices

Spiced Neer Dose

The base for this dish is Neer Dosa which is a special kind of dosa from Dakshina Kannada, prepared from rice and coconut. Neer in Kannada means ‘Water’. Traditionally, neer dosa is prepared by grinding soaked rice into a thin watery batter along with coconut and then made into thin pancakes. To add an extra taste to the traditional dosa, my MIL grinds the rice and coconut along with cumin seeds and curry leaves (added liberally) which tastes really good!!! There is no advanced preparation required to make this dosa. The best part is this dosa does not require any fermentation.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Raw rice (Sona Masoori) - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 small bunch (this gives a unique taste)
Salt to taste
Water (to grind)
Oil to make dosa

Method:
Wash rice and soak it in water for around 3-4 hours, I usually soak it overnight.
Grind soaked rice to a fine paste along with coconut. Now to the fine paste add cumin seeds, curry leaves and salt and grind this once. Add enough water to bring the batter to a thin consistency.



Heat a dosa griddle and pour 1 ladle full of mixture in center. Tilt griddle in all directions to allow batter to spread thinly. Alternately you can splash the batter on the griddle. Pour a tsp oil and close the griddle with a lid. After a minute or 2 lift the lid. If you see that the dosa has come up at the edges, then the dosa is ready. This dosa is roasted only on one side.

Serve hot with any chutney.

Godi Unde/ Wheat Flour Laddu

I had thought of preparing this Godi unde/Wheatflour Laddu for our Krishna's Happy birthday (Krishna Janmashtami)...due to lack of time, it had not materialised. Nevertheless, I prepared it today...hope He accepts my offering! While I was preparing, my 2 year old son was just hovering around me asking a million questions about what I was doing! This wonder age is so full of energy. This sweet dish which I have prepared is just right for him as a snack after a hour's play in the park! Its Wheat, easily digestible and sugar which is a high energy yielding fuel for those tiny arms and legs to jump around.

Sending this post to Srivalli's Kid's Delight.

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 1/4 cup (To be powdered)
Ghee- 3/4 cup
Cashew nuts and Raisins- Few (You may add any other dry fruit of your choice)

Method:
In a mixie/blender, give a quick grind to the sugar to powder it. Keep it aside. In a pan, heat Ghee. When it is hot, add the flour and keep mixing it continuously on medium heat. Continue heating this mixture, till you get the aroma of roasted Wheat flour. The consistency of this mixture will be little thinner than the Dosa batter. Add the nuts and Raisins to the mixture. They will get roasted in the heat present in the mixture. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes. Then add the powdered sugar and mix well. Make Unde (Balls) and serve....watch your loved ones pouncing on them over and over again!

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Yield: 10

Ribbon Murukku/ Pokkodam

Pokkodam is savory made from rice flour and chickpea flour. It is often made during Diwali and also a best tea time snack. It does not involve any preparation ahead. This is one of my favorite savory.

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 3 cups
Besan flour/ Chickpea flour - 1 cup
Red chilli powder - 2-3 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp
Oil for deep frying



Method:
Sift the flours through a fine sieve.
To this add chilli powder, butter, asafoetida and salt and mix well.
Now add water slowly and mix to make a dough. The dough should be of thick consistency (like that of bread or chappathi).
Heat oil on a medium flame.
Stuff the dough into the murukku press (as in the below snap) and squeeze it directly into the hot oil.



Fry on both side by flipping, till they turn brown.
Drain them on a paper towel and store in a air tight container.

Preparation time: About 30 mins.