Paal Poli

Back again in the New Year!
Starting off this wonderful year with a conventional sweet - Paal Poli
This is yummy and very easy to make; quick too.
Some people also call this Paal Puri

Paal Poli - Milk Pancakes are nothing but maida puris soaked in warm thickened milk, delicately flavored with saffron, stunningly delicious!

Ingredients & Method:

For the milk

• Full cream milk - About 1 litre(Used organic whole milk I didn't measure mine. Just an approximate figure. )

• Sugar - About half a cup (To make the milk sweet enough)

• Condensed milk (optional. If it's sweetened, keep an eye on the sugar, you add)

• Cashew/Almond Paste(Again optional - I used a handful of them; Remove the almond skin before making the paste)

• Saffron - a few strands

Boil the milk till sightly thick. Mix the sugar, condensed milk, almond cashew paste.

Boil for a minute

Soak the saffron in a little warm milk and mix it together.

For the Puri:

• Maida - 1 cup

• Rava - 1/4 cup

• Ghee - 2tsp

• Water - to make a firm dough

• Oil - to fry

Knead the above ingredients (excluding oil of course) and make a firm dough. Let it rest for 15 min giving some time for rawa to become soft.

Make marble sized balls, roll it into fairly thin puris and deep fry.

The oil should be medium hot.

Transfer the puris to a paper towel

Tips:
You can also cut the puris into half before frying or fry and then fold the puris before soaking in milk or leave it as such :)

While rolling out, you can fold the puris once or twice and then again roll it out. This will result in layered puris which on soaking in milk will be spongier. If you are lazy, skip this. No harm.

For serving:

Soak the puris in the prepared milk when it's warm.

Serve after 15 minutes.

The more you soak, better it is.

Serve it warm/chilled

Have a great '11!

Upma Kozhakattai

Back to blogging :) I was away from blogging for a while but definitely not from cooking.

Upma kozhakattai is steamed dumplings of rice upma. You can just make this as arisi upma in a crumbled form or make neat balls. In the former case, I follow a slightly diff list of ingredients/ method and make it more spicy and flavourful. This is a simple and standard dish made at home and fits as anytime meal. I like it a bit spicy with addition of chillies. I specially love to eat the upma that gets into the broken red chillies and comes out red :)
Tomato/cilantro/pudhina thokku or sambar is a classic combination. I will post the recipe for tomato thokku, soon.

Ingredients:
Coarsely Broken rice (Wash the rice, dry in a paper towel and quickly pulse in a blender/mixie) - 1.25 cups
Grated Coconut - 1.5 tablespoon (or even 2 if you want it rich and flavourful)
Finely chopped green chillies - 2 to 3
To Season:
Channa dal, urad dal - a tsp each (optional - The authentic method doesnt need this)
Dry red chillies - 1
Hing/Asafoetida - a pinch
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a handful
Oil - a tsp or 2 (You can also use coconut oil if you like the flavour)
(You can reduce the chillies. The original recipe has the coconut, dominating and less spicy)

Method:
1. Heat the oil, add the dal, hing, red chilli and mustard. When the mustard pops, add curry leaves, green chillies and coconut. Saute for 10 seconds.
2. Add 3.75 cups water( 3 times that of rice). Bring it to a boil and add salt to taste.
3. Slowly mix the rice rava without any lumps. Cover and cook till almost all the water is absorbed and rava gets cooked.(Retain a little moisture to help make the balls)
4. Set this aside for sometime to cool down. However, it should have a little heat left to make the balls. Taste once for the salt content and adjust. Rice rava might require a little more than normal rava.
5. Now make elliptical balls and steam in a pressure cooker at medium heat for 10 to 15 min. Don't use the weight.
Serve hot with pudina/cilantro/tomato chutney or sambar.

Tips:
1. You can make the rice rawa and store it. If you are planning to store the rawa, the rice should be completely dried. Alternatively, you can use the readymade idly rawa. It's good enough.
2. You can add some grated carrot as a variation to make it colorful.

Moong Dhall Halwa ~ ICC Dec 2009

This month's challenge is Moong Dhall Halwa. Though I haven't tasted this, I have heard that, this is a famous dish in North Indian weddings. I felt the taste resembled sakkarai pongal with the presence of moong dhall, ghee and nuts.

Thanks to Simran for the recipe and Lataji for her notes on the recipe. Of course, Srivalli, for all her efforts.

I have pasted below, both the methods for halwa. I also did a little change to the recipe.

My update: Since I didn't have khoa handy, I decided to add some sweetened condensed milk. I also added saffron for the delicate flavour it renders. The sweet turned out lip smacking, more like Badam Halwa.

Moong Dal Halwa

Soaking Time : Overnight

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 - 45 mins

Recipe 1 with khoya

Ingredients Needed:

Split (Yellow) Moong dal - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup - 1 cup (depending on your preference)

Clarified Butter / Ghee - 1/2 cup

Khoya - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts and raisins for garnish

You can make any quantity with this as long as you keep this ratio constant : equal amounts of dal and sugar, half the ghee and khoya.

Method to prepare:

Lightly roast the 1 cup of moong dal, wash, soak overnight and be ground to a fine paste adding very little water.

Take a thick bottom pan, heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry the moong dal paste till it turns brownish and releases the ghee. Add sugar and khoya.

Stir fry until both the sugar and khoya are well absorbed. Turn off the heat, then mix in cashew nuts and raisins.

Recipe 2 with just the dal

Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cups to 1 cup (as per required sweetness)

Milk - 1/2 cup (Notes from Lataji - instead of water for the sugar, this gives the khoya added taste, Simran's recipe asked for water)

Cashews/ raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Method to Prepare:

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.

Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.

Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.

Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.

Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.

Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal.

Keep the fir low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.

Cook until the ghee surfaces.

Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes :

Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan

Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.

You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.

Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.

Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.

In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture

Though original recipe didn't call for roasting the dhal before soaking, Lataji felt roasting it a bit gives more fragrance.

Pongal Wishes!

A very happy pongal to all. Wishing you lot of sunshine and happiness.

I made some Sakkarai Pongal and Ven Pongal, today. Hope you had your share too.

Check the recipe for sweet pongal here. This time I added twice the amount of jaggery to rice and reduced the dal to quarter cup.

My Blog Turns One!

Hurray! Today is my blog's first anniversary. Yes, I posted my first recipe, same day, last year. Time does run fast. Maybe, because when we were in school/college, we would move to the next academic year and there was a demarcation between years. Now that, we don't have any such thing, days seem to move at lightning speed. Is it just me or you also think so?

This post is to revisit, what I did on the blogging front, last year. Well, I know you might not be interested, but I very much wanted to do it for myself. So, here it comes.

Bye Bye to all those who leave the post, here ;)

How did I step into cooking and blogging

When I moved to US after wedding, I had no clue that I had so much passion for cooking. May be my passion for good food and the fact that we don't have fine Indian dining here, got me cooking.

Whatever be the reason, I absolutely love doing it. After about 6 months of cooking, I started my blog, inspired by fellow food bloggers. I thought it is a great idea to record my recipes which I can refer at any time in the future. Every time, I see someone landing on my blog in search of a recipe, it feels even better. Little did I think, I will make so many friends through my blog. Every comment on my blog makes me glad. I started typing names of my blogger friends and later thought it is not a good idea to do so, only due to the fear that I might miss some one in the process. So, thanks to all those who cared to go through my recipes along with my ramblings and also, leave a feedback.

Of late, I have started trying my hand at baking. So, might post some entries on that, too.

My Blogging Goals

When I started this blog, I had no goals in terms of number of recipes, I wanted to post. I didn't want to pressure myself doing that and posted only when I felt like doing it. I just wanted to be regular here and keep it going. I am happy that I was able to do it.

Events & Challenge

I love to participate in the events that are organised by my fellow bloggers. It was so much fun and I am really amazed by the amount of work that gets into organizing them. Hats off to all the hosts.

I am also happy that I am part of the Indian Cooking Challenge initiated by Srivalli. It has made me try few dishes which I would not have done, otherwise. Thanks to her.

You can check the current events and roundups of past events, here.

Lubna of Kitchen Flavours had featured my blog on her Rendezvous series, through which I got introduced to fellow bloggers. Thanks, Lubna.

Awards & Encouragement:(updated)

Passing on cute awards is lot of fun in blogging. It also carries lot of meaning in terms of encouragement and bonding.

Sangi gave the first one, the kreative blogger award. Thereafter I got many cute awards from Shama, Lataji, Sanghi, Brinda, Rohini, Kitchen Queen, Sandhya & Sangi herself.

Thanks for the lovely awards and encouragement. They sure mean a lot to me.

A peek into my recipes

Take a look into my recipes, here. I have not managed to cover all my recipes, but few of them.

You can always check them from the drop-down in the right pane.

Snacks/Chaats
Veg Cutlet, Pani Puri, Kaman Dhokla, Idly Manchurian, Veg Samosas, Paneer Bhurji, Pav Bhaji, Bird's NestGravies/Curries
Aloo 65,Chole Masala,Paneer Butter Masala, Baingan Ka Bartha, Kadai Paneer, Kala Channa Masala, Dum Aloo, Baghare Baingan, Aloo Gobi, Shahi Paneer


Sweets

Paal Payasam, Rasmalai, Sakkarai Pongal, Moong Dhall Burfi, Carrot Halwa, Badam Kheer, Badam Halwa, Ash Guord Halwa, Gulab Jamun

Rice Varieties

Coconut Milk Pulav, Mushroom Pulav, Schezwan Fried Rice, Veg Fried Rice, Veg Biriyani, Peas Pulav,Jeera Pulav

I also started posting some Kwik Fix recipes to try when you do not have the time and energy to cook anything elaborate.

Feels good to see that I could make so many dishes, given the fact that I am a novice cook. All in all, I had a great blogging experience, so far.

Thanks for reading through.

Update: Sorry, I forgot to mention about the cute awards, my blogger friends passed on to me, in my previous post. I was meaning to do that but it some how slipped off. I have updated.

Beetroot Curry

A simple stir fry - nothing more. I have seen a lot of people disliking beetroot. This is my attempt to make it interesting by adding a lot of seasoning, without losing the nutritional value.

I have added some rasam powder for a zing.

I love this stir fry alongside sambar rice.

Ingredients:

Beetroot(I used one small & one medium)

Grated Coconut - a handful or two

Rasam Powder half a tsp (optional I use Sakthi Masala Rasam Powder which is really nice to add zing to any South Indian Prep)

Salt to taste

Seasoning:

Channa Dal - 1 tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves a few

Slit Green Chilli or Red chilli - 1

Oil - 1 tsp( I use coconut oil)

Mustard- 1 tsp

Cumin - 1 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Method:

1. Chop the beetroot roughly and pressure cook till soft. It really needs to be cooked for a long time to make it soft. Chopping beetroot is really tough and takes time. So, one tip I follow is first cook it till half done, peel the skin and chop. If you do not like to cook it with the skin on, you can quickly remove the skin and cook the whole beets. It is better to chop semi cooked beetroot.

2.Heat oil, add the dal,chillies,hing,mustard and cumin in that order. When the mustard pops, add the curry leaves and chopped beetroot. Add the rasam powder,salt. If you think it is cooked, add the coconut. Otherwise sprinkle a little water and cook to perfection. Now, add coconut and fry together for a min or two.

Serve hot.

Chocolate Cake with Butter Cream Icing

Wish you all, a very happy new year. May you all have a healthy, prosperous & peaceful life.

This is my first post for the year and thought let me start it with the yummy choco cake, I baked for Christmas.

I am a novice when it comes to baking and this is the second time, I am baking a cake; first attempt at icing. We had some friends come over on the Christmas day and they liked it. Hope it's not a white lie :)

Come to think of it, I added chocolate syrup,butter,condensed milk and whatnot. So it did taste great and it was a decent attempt. I had never thought I would venture out baking a cake. Leave alone baking, not even in my wildest dreams, I have seen myself getting passionate about cooking & blogging. Life definitely is a magical journey and such unexpected twists & turns make it worthwhile.

This attempt has also enlightened me on the amount of calories that goes into a piece of cake. Now, I will think twice before eating it.

On to the recipe, I have adapted this from Sandhya's Swirly Chocolate Walnut Cake.

I didn't use walnuts in my cake and added choco syrup instead of cocoa powder. Otherwise, it is pretty much the same, except for the swirling effect. I made this as a single cake.

She, in turn had mentioned in her post that she referred to Divya's Zebra Cake. So, thanks to Sandhya & Divya.

I got the icing recipe from net. After doing the icing, I thought why not decorate it with some choco shavings to make it richer. So, did that.

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Hershey's chocolate syrup - 2.5 tablespoon (I used generously for a rich chocolate taste)

Wet Ingredients:

Eggs : 2 (You can use even3)

Sugar : 1.25 cups (I added a little more since the chocolate syrup might make the cake bitter)

Sweet cream butter unsalted - 3/4 th cup + a little to grease the pan

Sweetened Condensed milk - 3/4 cup (Remember it should be sweetened or else you got to add extra sugar)

Milk - 1/2 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Method:

1) Sift together the flour and baking powder.

2) Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Then mix the sugar and beat together till frothy. Use an electric mixer for the best result.

3) Add the condensed milk, vanilla extract and beat well. Add the butter, milk,chocolate syrup and mix well.

4) Add the dry ingredients and beat everything together without any lumps.

The cake batter is ready. It should be of pouring consistency. If you find it thick, you can mix a little milk. Fill it in a square/circular pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325 F for an hour.

Check with a toothpick.

The cake pan should be filled up to half its depth since the cake will rise.

Icing:

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 cup

Confectioner's Sugar - 3 cups

Chocolate Syrup - 1 tablespoon

Mix everything using a whisker. If you find it hard, mix a little milk/cream.

Decoration:

Chocolate shavings (grated some hershey's chocolate) and sprinkles

Setting up the cake:

Wait for the cake to cool down.

Carefully cut across the middle of the cake using a cake knife.

Place the bottom layer in a cake tray/plate. Apply the icing using the cake knife just as you butter a bread. Make it a thick layer. Place the other piece of the cake such that the icing is sandwiched.

Now start applying the icing all over the cake. For an even finish, I dipped the knife in a cup of water, now and then. But not too much water.

Now decorate with the chocolate shaving and sprinkles.

I'm sharing my cake with all of you.

Update:

Sending this to Divya's Show Me Your Cake event.

Also, to Mahimaa's Cakes and Cookies event.

Merry Christmas!

Hi all,

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all of you.

Take a peek at our christmas tree and the cake we baked.

My first attempt at icing a cake.My second attempt at baking a cake. I am pretty satisfied and can have a peaceful sleep, after a long day.

Have a great holiday season!

Jeera Pulav with Rajma

Though I am a South Indian, born and brought up in Chennai and the Northern most part of India I have seen is Mumbai :) , when it comes to comfort food, my mind, rather tongue doesn't just stop with South Indian food. I might say avial, rasam are my comfort foods but that doesn't exclude rotis/pulav. With grey weathers in this part of the world, people tend to crave for comfort food rather than a rich/exotic diet. On one such cold day, I thought how would it feel to have some jeera pulav with rajma. When it comes to food, I have no second thoughts and went ahead soaking some rajma for dinner. Good that I had the craving early in the day giving me sufficient time for soaking the rajma. Talk about planning and foresightedness! That always works well between me and my food.

So, here I present to you, my comfort food that is sure to please your palates as well.

One great thing about this is you can finish both in 30 - 45 minutes time.

This is how I do it!

Soak the rice. Quickly slice the onions. Fry them. While it gets cooled, blanch the tomatoes. Grind and fry the paste. While the paste gets fried, puree the tomatoes. Add everything, close the pressure pan and come back to rice and finish it. By this method, you can finish both quickly.

Jeera Pulav:

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup soaked in 1.5 cups water for 15 to 30 min

Jeera - 1.5 tablespoon ( A little less if you do not like too much jeera and just need some flavour)

Ghee - 3 tsp

oil - 1 tsp

Slit green chillis - 2

Cloves, Cardamom - 2 each

Cinnamon - a small piece (I am not fond of this flavour. May be you can add a little more if you like it)

Salt to taste

Method:

1) Add 2 tsp of butter/ghee/oil (a combination of this or just one), add 3C(clove,cinnamon,cardamom) and fry for 15 sec.

2) Add jeera, green chillies and fry for 10 sec. (You can also add onions, sliced lengthwise)

3) Add the rice and fry for a min. Now pour the water in which you soaked the rice. Cover the pan and cook for 3 min. When the water boils, add salt.

4) Cover again and cook till the water is absorbed and the rice gets cooked. (will not take more than 10 min over medium flame) Switch off the flame.

5) Add a little ghee. Wait for some time and mix well without breaking the rice.

You can garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with rajma or any gravy of your choice. Plain curd will also suffice.

Rajma:

Ingredients:

Rajma 1 cup soaked overnight

Onions 2

Tomatoes - 4 (blanched and pureed)

Garlic 2 pods

Ginger a small piece

Green chillies 4

Cinnamon stick a small piece

Cloves,cardamom 2 each

Cumin - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder, Chilli powder, Dhania powder - 1 to 2 tsp each

Water 3 cups

Ghee/ Oil for frying (a combination would be nice)

Salt to taste

Cilantro to garnish

Method:

1) Add a little oil. Fry cloves, cardamom, cinnamon. Add sliced onions and fry till dark brown.

Grind this with ginger, green chillies and garlic. I am frying the onions to get rid of the bitter taste. If you are confident that your raw onions will not turn bitter on grinding, you can simply grind and skip frying. While grinding make sure that you get a smooth paste. The cardomom and cloves should be ground properly. If you have bits of those while eating, it can be really irritating.

Alternatively, fry the spices separately, make a fine powder and add it to the gravy at the end.

2) Now, heat ghee & oil in a pressure pan, season with jeera and add the ground paste. Fry well. The frying time will vary between raw onion and fried onion paste. Once it turns golden brown, add the tomato puree.

3) Add turmeric, dhania powder and chilli powder. Now add rajma with water and pressure cook for 6 to 8 whistles.

4) Add salt. If you have the spice powder, add it now. You can also add a little garam masala if you like. In case any case, boil for 2 min. You can add more water if you think you need it. In that case boil till everything comes together.

5) Garnish with chopped cilantro and fresh cream.

Serve hot with rotis/ pulav varieties. Tastes heavenly with jeera pulav.

Though the method appears big, this is quite simple to make.

I have a secret to share! I just added a handful of black urad dhal to my rajma. Got inspired from dal makhani.

Sending this to My Legume Affair- Eighteenth Helping @ Srivalli's blog.

This event is initiated by Susan, The well-seasoned cook.

Chegodilu (murukku) ~ ICC Nov 2009

This month's challenge is chegodilu (murukku) which is a famous snack in Andhra.

I have never tasted this and I had no clue how it looks like while going through the recipe.

But the recipe was very clear and hence I could make this yummy yummy snack with ease.

Thanks, Srivalli for letting me know that such a snack exists.

Here is the recipe as given by Srivalli.

Changes I made: I used store bought flour and it required a little more water.

I also added a pinch of hing and 2 tsp margarine while kneading the dough.

Ingredients Needed:

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Split Yellow Moong dal / Pesara pappu / Mung Dal / Pasiparuppu - 1 1/2 - 2 tblsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame Seeds - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Ghee or oil - 1 tblsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:

Making the dough:

Soak moong dal in water for half hour to 1 hour.

In a deep bottom pan, boil water, then add salt, ghee and moong dal. Bring it to boil, simmer and slowly add the rice flour. Using a rolling pin or the ladle, mix the flour with water by stirring it well. When the flour is mixed and done, turn off the heat immediately. Cover with lid and keep aside for 10 to 15 mins.

Once the dough is cool, add chilli powder, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and mix well. Knead till you get a smooth dough. Adjust the salt and spice depending on your preference.

Frying the Chokodi:

Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time, if you conscious of not using too much oil. Simmer once it gets hot. The temperature should not be smoking hot.

Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.

Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.

Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.

When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life.

Notes: Remember to turn the heat to medium to high and high to medium for getting the chakodis to golden colour and also to be cooked evenly. Only this way you get crispy chakodis. These should not be cooked on low flame as they will absorb more oil and can turn soggy also at times.

Variation: Instead of Cumin and Sesame seeds, 1 tsp of Ajwain or Omam can be used along with chili powder.

Rasmalai - 100th post

Rasmalai is a Bengali sweet made of cheese dumplings soaked in thick sweetened milk. Addition of saffron strands adds a delicate flavour and I am a fan of saffron. I particularly like saffron in almond dishes like badam kheer/ badam halwa.

This is a quick version of rasmalai using ready-made paneer. The end result was outstanding and I got perfect rasmalai. You can try this as a quick yet rich dessert. Disclaimer : This is a short- cut method and not the authentic way of doing rasmalai.

This post happens to be a milestone for my blog - yeah this marks the 100th post. The journey has been exciting so far and I have made some great friends, explored yummy food blogs, participated in cookery events/challenges and the best of all - discovered the chef in me.

I had always thought cooking is an ordeal but after I entered the kitchen, I realized it indeed is a joyful experience. The most exciting part of it is, after all the fun, you end-up with some great food to relish. The more you enjoy cooking, tastier is the food. Blogging my recipes has really helped me in terms of perfecting recipes, honing my culinary skills and of course, letting the world know that I can cook! Whenever I see someone hopping into my blog searching for a recipe, it gives a sense of contentment. I take this opportunity to thank every one of you, who cared to take a peek at my page.

Here's a little treat to celebrate the milestone!

Ingredients:
Paneer - 250 g (I used ready-made paneer from Indian stores)

Water - 5 cups
Sugar - 2.5 cups
Milk - 1 litre
Saffron strands a few
yellow color - a pinch (optional)
blanched almond slivers and pistachios to garnish

Method:

1) Mash the paneer and make a dough. My paneer was a little dry and I was not able to get a soft dough. So I quickly whipped it in a blender just for 5 to 10 seconds and voila I got wet/oily paneer.

If your paneer is fresh you can skip this whipping step. Make small balls out of the dough. Gently press in the center and shape it into patties.

2) Boil the water with 1.5 cups sugar. When the water starts boiling, slide in the patties, gently.

Cover the pan partially and cook for 10 to 15 min over medium flame till the size doubles.

3) Meanwhile, boil the milk till a little thick, mix sugar. Add the saffron and color.

4) Gently drop the cooked patties in the prepared milk. Garnish with almond slivers and pistachios.

5) Refrigerate and serve cool.

While I was about to post this entry, I came to know of this event happening @ chef in you.

Without even the slightest idea of the event, I expressed my liking for saffron in my post. Coincidence!

Needless to say, my rasmalai is off to JFI - Saffron.

Potato Podimas

Looks like potatoes featured the maximum number of times in my blog posts. Not surprising though, owing to its versatility. Whenever we are confused as to what to cook; we end up making potato curry or aloo paranthas or sandwich, well most times. Potatoes are sure to lend a helping hand to entertain your surprise guests or make a quick meal.

This potato podimas(mashed potatoes) is a mildly flavored curry to go with hot & spicy sambar rice. This is a twist to the normal potato fry made with chilli powder and lots of oil.

A very simple, easy to make recipe!

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4 medium (boiled, peeled and mashed)

Green chillies - 2 finely chopped

Ginger a small piece finely chopped

Lemon - 1

Curry leaves - a few

Oil,mustard,urad dhall, channa dhall - a tsp or 2 each for seasoning

Turmeric - 1 tsp (optional)

Grated coconut - 2 tsp (optional)

Hing - a pinch

salt to taste

Method:

1) Heat oil, season with the ingredients. When the mustard pops, add hing and turmeric.

2) Reduce the flame, add chillies, curry leaves, ginger, mashed potato and salt.

3) Add the grated coconut if you wish to, fry everything together for a while.

3) Switch off, squeeze the lime juice and serve hot with rice. Tastes great with sambar rice.

Radish Sambar

Hi all! Hope all my blogger friends are doing fine. It has been a real long gap and I thought I should break the silence at least today. Once there is a gap in blogging, it takes lot of effort to come out of the block. Anything in life, for that matter.

I am back with a recipe for sambar. I am a kind of person who really gets bored of cooking the same dishes again & again. I always love to try out new recipes. But being a south Indian, it so happens that I cook sambar & rasam frequently(at least twice per week). That's my comfort food. As I said earlier, I get bored of following the same recipes and would love to experiment.

So, I came up with this recipe for sambar and I should say, the result was outstanding. The addition of spice powder and cumin did the magic and sure to give any hotel, a run for money.

Try out the magical sambar!

Ingredients:

Radish - (sliced into thin rounds) handful or depending on your taste

(Substitute radish with drumsticks/carrots or anything you wish)

Tamarind paste - 1.5 tsp or equivalent pulp extracted

Sambar Powder - 1 tablespoon

Spice powder (check the recipe here) - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Salt to taste

For pressure cooking:

Toor dhall - 1 cup

Onion - 1 chopped thin lengthwise or chopped fine

Tomato - 1 finely chopped

Slit green chillies - 2

Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp

For seasoning:

Mustard - 1.5 tsp

Fenugreek - 1 tsp

Oil - 3 tsp

For garnishing:

Curry leaves, cilantro & a dollop of ghee(optional)

Method:

1. Pressure cook the ingredients listed for pressure cooking with 2.5 cups of water for 4 whistles.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil, season with the seasoning ingredients. Add radish and fry well. Add a little water and boil till the radish gets cooked. Radish takes a bit longer time for getting cooked and make sure that it is cooked to perfection before adding the tamarind paste.

Now add the tamarind paste and a little water. Boil well.

3. Mash the pressure cooked ingredients and add to the boiling sambar. Add sambar powder, spice powder and salt. Bring to a boil.

Garnish with curry leaves (you can also add this with the seasoning. I like it raw), cilantro and a dollop of ghee.

Serve with rice/idli/dosa or vada. Sure to taste heavenly.

Sangi of simple delicious has passed the above award. Thanks Sangi. You have always been generous with me.

Rohini of Curries and spices has passed on this encouraging award.
Thanks, dear.

Passing these awards to Chitra,Sandhya,Priya

My hearty thanks to you guys and all those who checked with me, if everything's fine.

I would also like to thank everyone who visits my blog and take pains to leave comments. You all make my day!

For the folks in US, have a great weekend!

Kadai Paneer

Kadai Paneer is a Punjabi curry with fried paneer & bell peppers simmered in freshly ground masala. Addition of kasoori methi renders a magical flavor & aroma to any punjabi curry specially, the paneer ones. This is a dry curry suitable for rotis. Kadai means wok and the curry is typically served in a kadai. I love the way in which Indian curries are served in a cute copper kadai in restaurants. Getting one such kadai, tops my list of to-buy items during my next visit to India.

I would like to cook up a Punjabi curry, fill-up the kadai and click a nice picture for my blog.

Hope my dream gets realized.

See, what all dreams a foodie can have!

Ingredients:

Bell peppers 2 cut into cubes(Diff colors)
onions 2 finely chopped
tomatoes 3 (blanched, skin peeled and made into a puree)
curd 1 cup
paneer 1 cup or 250 g cut into cubes
butter or oil 1 tbsp
bay leaves 2
chilli powder 2 tsp
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
dhania powder 2 tsp
salt to taste
kasoori methi 1 tsp
prepared kadai paneer masala 2 tsp

Kadai Paneer Masala:

Dhania seeds 1 tbsp
pepper 1/2 tsp
red chillies 6
methi 1/2 tsp
cinnamon 2 tsp
jeera 1/2 tsp

Dry roast in a tawa, powder and keep aside.

Method:

1. Heat oil and butter and fry onions till brown, adding sliced garlic (1/2 tsp) and bay leaves.
2. Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry well.
3. Add the dry powder and fry. Add salt.
4. Add the tomatoes
5. Fry the paneer and capsicum and keep aside
6. Let the tomatoes boil and leave out the oil.
7. Add the curd and boil for sometime.
8. Now add the paneer and capsicum
9. Lastly add the finely chopped coriander and methi(fresh) or kasoori methi

Serve hot with rotis

Aloo 65

Aloo 65 is a spicy curry with the versatile potato. You can deep fry the potatoes to serve as a starter. I chose to shallow fry it to pair up with rice, also saving oil. The curry was perfectly spicy for a cold winter night.

Ingredients:

Baby potatoes - half a kg

Curd - 1 cup

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala - 2 tsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 tsp

Tandoori Color - optional (I didn't use it)

Salt to taste

For Seasoning:

Jeera - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - handful

Cilantro for garnishing

Method:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes. Peel the skin and prick roughly using a fork.

2. Mix the dry powders, ginger garlic paste in the curd. Soak the potatoes in this mixture for 2 hrs.

3. Heat oil, season with mustard and jeera. Add the potatoes along with the mixture. Roast over slow flame till golden. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.

You can follow the same recipe for paneer 65 and Gobi 65. Both will taste good when deep fried.

Before deep frying, coat with corn flour batter.

Check out my other potato delicacies - Dum Aloo fry, Fiery hot potato fry, Dum Aloo Gravy

Rohini of curries & spices has passed on this beautiful award. Thanks Dear.

Idli Milagai Podi

After the sinfully sweet gulab jamuns, here comes an aromatic spice powder - Idli Milagai Podi.

This together with sesame oil makes a tasty and ready made dip for idli, dosa and like.

I don't see the presence of sesame seeds in the shop brought ones. The magic of an aromatic milagai podi lies in the addition of sesame and ellu(sesame) milagai podi is absolutely divine.

Idli(s) coated with milagi podi make a great candidate for travel lunch boxes.

Ingredients:

Channa dal - 4 tablespoon

Urad dal - 3 tablespoon

Red Chillies (long ones) - 10 to 12 (If you are making this for kids, reduce the chillies)

Black sesame seeds - 1 to 1.5 tablespoon(Black sesame seeds give a nice smoky flavour. If you do not like the smoky taste and dark color, go for white sesame seeds. If you are using white, you can go for a little more)

Salt to taste

Asafoetida half a tsp

Method:

1. Dry roast the dal(s) along with red chillies on a low flame. You can add a little salt to avoid the pungent smell of red chillies. When the dal starts changing color, add the sesame seeds. Roast till the sesame seeds start popping. Add the hing.(Take care that the ingredients don't char)

2. Cool and grind into a coarse powder with salt.

Serving tip:

Take 1 tsp of the spice powder in a plate. Make a well in the center. Add sesame oil(highly recommended) and mix well.

Serve with idli/dosa

Idli coated with milagi podi tastes great for travel.

Gulab Jamun ~ ICC October 2009

A warm hello to all my blogger friends & readers. I am posting a blog entry after quite some time. I was a little busy with certain priorities and blogging took a back seat.Hope I will be regular here after.

The recipe for today is sinfully delicious gulab jamuns which is a famous dessert in India. Unlike other sweets, this is popular through out India. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with the sweet, Gulab jamuns are milk dumplings fried in oil and soaked in rose flavoured sugar syrup.

The sweet can be made in a jiffy if you are making it with MTR gulab jamun mix. Trust me, it is so simple and one can make it perfect in the very first attempt.

For october's challenge, it is going to be 'Gulab Jamuns'. Do you wonder what is the challenge?

Here comes the catch. You got to make it from the scratch, meaning no ready made mix. You got to make the khoa, all by yourself which forms the base for the sweet.

This needs lot of patience since the process can take any where between 1.5 to 3 hrs depending on the amount of khoa. It was also a bit tricky since I didn't have a heavy vessel. I was on a look out for a heavy vessel and finally decided to use my pressure cooker's bottom. The cooker is a small one with 3 litres capacity. So I had to do it with all the more patience, by adding milk little by little. I first sterilized my cooker with hot water to avoid my curdling of milk.

What is a challenge, without such testing tasks?

Once you are done with the khoa, it is really easy. I made the khoa with a little less than solid consistency since I intended to make the jamuns, the next day. By the time I got down making it, the khoa was in a perfect shape.

With no further ado, let's get into business. Srivalli had posted 3 different recipes. I have given below whatever I tried.

To make Khoa: (from Indo)

In a wide mouthed heavy bottom pan add the milk and heat it in a medium flame (add a couple of stainless steel spoons into the milk to avoid burning)

Reduce the milk for 3-4 hours till the milk solidifies and becomes thick.

(6 cups of milk (1 & 1/2 litre) might come to 250grams of unsweetened Khova.)

(The following recipe is from Alka)

The recipe is divided in two parts, one is making the Jamuns and frying them. The other is making sugar syrup.

For sugar syrup:

Ingredients:

Sugar - 500 gms (This can be reduced as per taste)

Water - 1 & 1/2 cup (bit more or less)

Cardamom - 2-3

One spoon of milk (optional)

Few threads of saffron (optional)

2-3 drops of rosewater (optional but highly recommended)

Method:

Mix about 500 gms of white sugar in one and half cup water and keep it for boiling.

Add a spoonful of milk to remove the impurities (impurities if any, will form a scum on surface)

Add 2-3 green cardamoms also in syrup for strong flavor, and a tad of saffron strings (optional)

Boil until you get just a tad sticky syrup. Gulab Jamun syrup is not very dense nor too dilute as in Rasgulla

Strain the syrup, add rosewater when syrup is slightly cooled.

Always remember two things while using rose water, do not add it while syrup is bubbling hot or on fire, and be particular about the quantity mentioned in every recipe, since even few drops of excess rosewater could lend a bitter taste to the final product.

For Gulab Jamun:

Ingredients:

Unsweetened Maawa* - 250 gms

All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 - 2 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tsp

Green cardamom - 1-2 crushed

Oil for shallow frying

* (khoya-the condensed milk thickened till it turns into moist dough, preferably made from cow’s milk, also known as Hariyali mawa)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a wide mixing bowl until soft textured dough is obtained (keep mixing until it is really soft)

Make very small sized balls (bit larger than pebbles) as they swell up after frying and soaking in syrup

Make sure that the surface of dough balls is really smooth without any cracks. In case the cracks refuse to go away, slightly wet your palms with water and roll the flour till absolutely smooth.

Now take little oil for frying in preferably flat bottomed pan, and heat the oil. But gulab jamuns are to be fried on LOW FLAME or else the surface will be browned while the core will remain uncooked. Some prefer to place an unsalted pistachio in the center of every gulab jamun while making balls, that way the core of gulab jamun is not left uncooked .

Fry one or 2 gulab jamuns at a time and always remember to STIR THE OIL with slotted spoon AND NOT TO TOUCH GULABJAMUNS, which means keep swirling the oil without tossing or turning gulab jamun.

Fry till light brown in colour, remove on tissue paper and repeat the procedure with rest of dough.

Now soak these in COOL syrup for few hours. They will surely swell up

These can be stored in the same syrup till consumed

If there are cracks in the balls before frying it will burst open while frying, in that case adding a bit of cornflour will surely help

You can enjoy it hot or cold ,either way it is delicious

Verdict: I survived the challenge and the result was sinfully delicious, melt in the mouth jamuns.

Time for me to gobble one more jamun. :)

To my blogger friends: Sorry for not staying in touch. Will hop into your blog, shortly.

Awards from Sanghi

Sanghi of Food Delights has passed on the following awards. Thanks Sanghi for the lovely awards.


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:(I have already done the tag here)

1. I am so much addicted to filter coffee that I open my eyes properly only after a dose of it, every morning.

2. I love the taste of raw onions, tomato and cilantro mixed together which makes masala pappad & masala kadalai (boiled peanuts chaat & not the fried ones) my favourite food. I generally love chaats for the same reason. Gangotri in Chennai & a chaat shop at Spencers are my fav spots.

3. I am a staunch vegetarian and don't eat even eggs. However I eat cakes since I developed a taste for it even before I knew it had eggs. But dislike it in all other forms. I love all vegetables including bitter guord and greens. I can survive on just boiled veggies. But, I do make a proper meal everyday.

4. I love to read books ( a lot of magazines & fiction), listen to good songs particularly maestro Ilayaraja's songs, mind games and solving puzzles. I love to read culinary books & blogs and one good thing is once I read a recipe, I quickly put it into my mind and don't have to see it again.(well, most times).

5. My favourite place is my hometown - Chennai. I love everything about the city and miss it. My favourite road is Sardar Patel road that runs from Raj Bhavan to Adyar. That is where my college is located.

6. Few of my favourite smells -fresh jasmine, freshly brewed filter coffee or ground coffee powder, muddy smell of rains, tempering of upma, cilantro...

7. I love to travel and see a lot of places. My long term goal is to visit as many countries as possible.

Passing these lovely awards to Subha, Jeyashri, Vidhas.