Creamy Vegetable soup

With few left over veggies I ended up making this soup.....came out well so thought I would share it with all of you.

Ingredients:
cabbage, onion, green peas and corn - 1 cup
fresh cream - 1/2 cup
butter - 1 tbsp
salt to taste
white pepper

Method:
Add butter in a pan. Saute the chopped onion followed by rest of the veggies. Add water to this and boil the veggies. Once they are half cooked remove from flame and drain the stock. Keep the stock aside and blend the cooked veggies. Mix in the stock along with the cream to the blended veggies. Add salt and white pepper and cook in low flame. Serve hot with some bread sticks.

Eggless Chocolate Souffle

It was our 6th wedding Anniversary and I wanted to make some desert for A. Got this wonderful and easy recipe from a friend and tried it out. Came out real good!!!

Ingredients:
Milkmaid - 1tin
Cocoa powder - 3- 4 tbsp
Chocolate - 50 gms
Walnuts - 50 gms chopped (optional)
Gelatine - 21/2 tbsp
Milk - 2 cups
Cream - 1 1/3 cup

Method:

1. Whisk the cream in a bowl over a bowl of ice. Whisk it till it becomes stiff. Keep 2 tsps aside for decoration if you need and the rest also aside.
2. Heat water in a pot and when the water com, simmer it. Dissolve gelatine in 1/2 cup water and double boil it over this pot. Keep stirring till the gelatine is completely dissolved. Keep aside.
3. Add cocoa powder to 1 cup milk and double boil this too till it forms a smooth paste.
4. let this cool down and then add to it - gelatine, 1 cup milk, walnuts, chocolate pieces and milkmaid.
5. Add the whisked cream and mix well.
6. Pour it into glass bowls / souffle dish and freeze them in the fridge.
7. Wait for 2 hours to set. While serving garnish with fresh cream that was kept aside and some chocolate shavings.

Iyengar Puliyodharai / Iyengar style Tamarind Rice

After getting married to an Iyengar.........................most of my relatives keep asking me the recipe for the lip smacking iyengar puliyodharai! To tell you the truth.......I had never prepared one in the last 6 yrs, Until I met a friend who gave me the secret recipe.....which is not a secret anymore. Hope you guys enjoy preparing it and having it too!!!

Recipe for Pulikachal:-

Ingredients
Tamarind – 200 gms
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tps
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp (increase or decrease the quantity according to taste)

For Seasoning
Mustard seeds – 2 tblsp
Red Chillies – 25-30 Nos , broken into pieces (If you don’t want the pulikaichal to be very then break the chillies into 2 pieces and remove the seeds)
Channa Dhal – 1 Tblsp
Urud Dhal – 1 Tblsp
Curry leaves – Fresh and dried (20 to 30 Nos)
Gingly oil - 250 ml

If you are going to store for a longer period then it better to add less quantity of dhal at the time of preparation . Fry and add the required quantity of dhal at the time of mixing pliyodarai.

For Powdering

Methi seeds – heap of 1 tsp
Hing ( Asafoetida or perungayam) – 1 small piece or 1/2 tsp

Dry fry the methi seeds till they are deep brown. Add one teaspoon of gingly oil and fry the hing. It is better to use the solid hing for this preparation because this is the main flavouring agent. Allow it to cool and make it into a fine powder.

Note:- Some of them add 1tsp of dhaniya and 1/2 tsp of black pepper along with methi seeds and hing and powder it. These additions are optional.

Method

-Strain the tamarind into a thick pulp mix it with turmeric powder and salt and set aside.
- Take a thick bottom pan and add the gingly oil. Keep it on medium flame. Once the oil starts fuming add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter completely. Only when the mustard seeds splutters completely the shelf life of pulikaichal will last long.
- Then add the red chillies and the dhal and fry till the dhal is golden brown. Add the curry leaves and allow them get fried completely i.e, till all the water content in the curry leaf evaporates.
-Pour 1/2 a cup tamarind mix and when it starts to boil add the rest. Add a small piece of jaggery for added taste.
-When the pulp gets thick, oil will come up on the sides & the gravy will get deposited at the bottom. This indicates that pulikaichal is done. Switch off the stove and add the prepared methi-hing powder, mix it well and transfer it to another vessel to avoid further thickening.

Preparation of Puliyodarai

1.Just pressure cook 1 cup of raw rice.
2.Take a vessel. Add 1 Tbl spoon of gingely oil and put the cooked rice over the oil.
3.If you are preparing the puliyodharai on the day when you make pulikaichal no additions are required. Approximately for 1 cup of rice (i.e,200 gms of rice) we need 3 tbl spoon full of pulikaichal.
4.Mix it with the rice using a flat laddle so that the rice will not get smashed.

If you are going to refrigerate and prepare puliyodharai once in a while then , in just 1 tsp of gingly oil fry, 2 broken green chillies, fresh curry leaves, 1pinch of trumeirc powder and 1/4 hing and add to the rice. Add pulikaichal according to the quantity of rice.

If you like your puliyodharai to be crunchy, you can add fried peanuts and cashew nuts.

Note :- For the puliyodarai to taste good preferably use gingly oil. Usually we fry cashews in ghee. But for this preparation it is better to use gingly oil.

Refrigerate it in an air tight container.

Ganesh Chathurthi - Purnam Kozhakattai and Uppu Kozhakattai

I am a great Ganesha lover like many others and for me celebrations at home pre marriage used to be a different scene....now I still try to follow my traditions and make kozhakattais for Ganesh chathurti!

Sweet/Purnam Kozhakattai:

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:
fresh grated coconut: 1 cup
grated jaggery: ¾ cup
cardamom powder: a pinch

For the outer shell:
Rice flour: 1½ cups
Coconut oil or any other cooking oil: 2tsp
Salt: a pinch

Method:

The stuffing:
Melt the jaggery and strain to remove any impurities. Reheat and make a slightly thick syrup. To test, just remove the spoon with a little syrup from the boiling syrup and drop into a cup of cold water. If the syrup forms a smooth ball, soft to touch, it is ready. Add the coconut gratings to the molten jaggery. Keep stirring until all the water is absorbed and the contents leave the side of the pan. Remove from fire and add cardamom powder.

The rice flour coating:

Heat a pan and add 2 tsp of oil. Add 1½ cups of water and pinch of salt and boil. Meanwhile mix the rice flour in1½cups of water into a smooth batter without lumps. When the water starts boiling add this batter and keep stirring until the rice flour becomes a smooth shiny ball. Remove from fire and cool.

To prepare kozhukkattais:

Knead the rice flour dough well. Take a lime sized portion and form into a cup. Smear little oil on your finger tips to make it easier to handle the dough. Put a smaller size ball of the coconut stuffing inside and close from all sides and pinch the ends together. Repeat till all the dough and stuffing is used up. Steam the kozhukkattais in a steamer or a idli steamer for 15 minutes.


Uppu Kozhakattai:

Ingredients:

For stuffing:
Whole Urad Dal: 1 cup
green chillies: 2
dry red chillies : 2-4
Aesofotida
salt
curry leaves (chopped)
corriander leaves(chopped)
tempered mustard seeds

For the outer Shell:
Same as above used for Sweet Kozhakattai

Method:

Soak the Urad dal for 45 min to 1 hour. Drain the water and grind it along with salt, green and red chillies. Grind it coarsely and add aesofotida. Steam them in idly plates. Let it cool and then with your hand crush them. Add curry leaves, corriander leaves and mustard seeds. Make the outer shell with the rice flour you have prepared already. Fill it with this stuffing and steam them for 15 minutes.

Hope you guys have a wonderful Ganesh Chathurthi with these yummy kozhakattais!!!!

Sabudana Khichdi

The Sabudana Khichdi is typically a konkani dish. I somehow love this dish and make it often for breakfast or evevning tiffin.

Ingredients:

2 cups sabudana or sago soaked for at least 6-7 hours (soak till the water just touches the top of the sabudana)
Two small potatoes boiled and cut into small pieces
½ cup roasted and coarsely pounded peanuts
For tempering:Jeera, hing, green chilies, curry leaves
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp lemon juice
Finely chopped coriander for garnishing
Grated coconut for garnishing.

Method:

Take oil in a pan , when hot you can put jeera,hing , green chillies and curryleaves. Put the soaked sabudana in this mix and stir for sometime. The sabudana will turn from opaque to transparent. Then you can add the remaining things like boiled potato, chopped coriander. Put sugar, salt and lemon juice. You can garnish this ready khichdi with freshly grated coconut.

Nimki, Manopu and Thattai

I know I should have posted these last week itself but somehow got delayed. I made Nimki, Manopu and Thattai for Krishnajayanthi. Hope these recipes are useful at some point of time. Apart from preparing for festivals like this, you can also make them for tea time snacks :)

THATTAI:

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice Flour
2 tbsp Urad Dal flour
2 tbsp Bengal gram/Channa Dal
1/2 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 tbsp Ghee
salt to taste
1/4 tsp asafoetida

Method:
Soak the Bengal gram in some water for an hour until soft. Then add all the ingredients together Slowly add water, tablespoon by tablespoon to form it into a dough. Dont add too much water. You should get a tight dough. Take a plastic sheet. Grease it with little oil/ghee. Form a small ball from the dough and place it on the sheet. Grease your fingers and press the ball with your fingers to flatten it. Press it thin. Slowly turn it over your palm. The greased plastic will enable it to slip on your hands easily. Drop it gently in hot oil. Once they are golden brown in colour, drain the oil and place in a paper towel. You can store them in an air tight container.

MANOPU:

Ingredients:

Rice - 3 cups

Moong Dal - 1 cup
white sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp

butter - 2 tablespoons

Aesofotida - 1/4 tsp

salt

oil for frying

Method:

I usually get the rice and Moong dal powdered in the shop. This makes my job easier as i dont have to seive it. Now mix all the above mentioned ingredients and make it into a soft dough. It should not be as the roti dough...but even lighter. We need to use the acchu/ instrumnent to make the manopu. To make this you need the plates which have the star shapes on it. Divide the dough into equal portions and place one in the instrument and press into the hot oil. When they become golden brown remove and drain the excess oil on a paper towel.

NIMKI:

Ingredients:
Maida - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Rava - 1/2 cup
kalaonji/ kala jeera - 1/2 tsp
red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp or acc to taste
pepper powder - 1/4 tsp or acc to taste
salt
butter - 2 tbsp
oil for frying

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and make like a roti dough. Then divide it into equal portions. Roll each portion out and then cut them with a knife or shaped cutters readily avaiable in the market. Separate the pieces and fry them in oil.

Marie Biscuit Chocolate Balls

Every Krishnajayanthi apart from the usual sweets I try to make something new............and while browsing through few blogs I came across Sailu's Kitchen. She had the Marie Biscuit Chocolate Balls which was eye catching and easy to make. I made them and it came out very well.....you can try and see it for yourself!!!

Link: http://www.sailusfood.com/2010/07/06/marie-biscuit-chocolate-balls/