Carrot Kheer

Carrot Kheer

            I was a poor eater once and did hate a lot to eat veggies.My mom tried every possible way to sneak veggies into sumptuous dishes and that made me to eat veggies.Carrot is one such veggie that I did hate a lot despite lot of advices from others.I very well knew that carrot is rich in Vitamin A and a good protector for eye vision.

            I never liked the fresh smell of carrots and every time my mom used to boil carrots to hide the raw and fresh smell.Carrot kheer is one recipe which I started liking and consequently I started to like the veggie.

            I was attending one of my family's get together functions and the refreshing drink served was carrot kheer.I never knew that it was carrot kheer and thought it must be some other drink and when I casually enquired one of my sisters-in-law, she said it was carrot kheer.I asked for the recipe and immediately she told me.From then on I started preparing it and many a times I packed it to office in tupper ware...So by this time you all can understand how much I love this drink.Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Carrot	2
Sugar	According to your sweetness
Ghee	1tsp
Raisins	6
Cashews	4
Boiled Milk	1 cup

Method:

1.Wash carrots and boil it in pressure cooker for 3 to 4 whistle.

2.Allow it to cool and grind the carrots with sugar.

3.In a wok add the boiled milk and add this ground paste.

4.Stir the mixture well till the whole mixture boils and comes to the brim of the vessel.Switch off the stove at this stage.

5.Add cardamom powder

6.In a separate wok add ghee and roast raisins and cashews.Add the roasted cashews to the kheer and enjoy the tasty drink

The Carrot Kheer

 

I am sending this to contest hosted by Raks and started by Nivedita.

Easy Kuzhipaniyaram recipe

            I am a great fan of kuzhipaniyaram recipe ever since I tasted it in my perima's place.I was stunned to see the lovely kuzhipaniyaram vessel and the stick to turn the crispy paniyarams.My love towards paniyarams continued when my neighbour gave us paniyaram every time they prepared it.My mom never made it before but I was pestering her a lot to make the recipe after the visit to my perima's place.But somehow or the other both(mom and me) forgot about the recipe and never had a chance to try it anytime.

            All of a sudden one day my hunger pangs could not wait and was longing for kuzhipaniyaram.I pestered my mom to prepare it but sigh there came a shocker as a reply from my mom that we don't have kuzhipaniyaram vessel at home.Dad keenly watched my disappointment and got the vessel in the next half an hour and surprised me with it :)Then what!I had crispy and  yummy kuzhipaniyaram in another one hour.So here I go with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Idli batter	1 cup
Onion(big)	2 Finely chopped
Curry leaves	A sprig
Green chilies	According to your spiciness
Grated coconut	A hand full

Method:

1.Mix the above said ingredients and form a batter.

2.Place the kuzhipaniyaram vessel on the stove.Wait till it gets heated.

3.Add generous amount of oil inside every hole of the paniyaram vessel.

4.Pour a laddle of the batter in each hole and allow it to cook well.

5.Once you feel that the paniyarams are cooked in one side,use the stick and carefully turn it to the other side and add oil around the paniyarams.

6.Wait till it gets cooked and insert the stick inside the paniyaram.If the paniyarams are  cooked well the stick comes out clean.

7.Carefully remove the paniyarams from the paniyaram pan and serve it with tomato chutney.

yummy kuzhipaniyarams

Note:

1.I did not add coconut to my batter but I am sure it gives an excellent taste and aroma.

2.I did not add tadka to the batter and I added onion,chilli,curry leaves and grated coconut directly to the batter.

Lemon rice

Been a while since I blogged and I am breaking my hibernation now :)Loads and loads of recipes are resting in my stash and I would like to share it on a regular basis.So here I start again with the recipes.

            When I was in school I always wanted curd rice for my lunch.My mom tried every possible way to change curd rice to yummy dishes on my box and gradually I started to have shuffled dishes on my box though I still have loads and loads of  cravings for curd rice.

            Lemon rice is one such recipe which I usually  took to school once in a week and being a person who loves to take tangy food this recipe is no exception for me and I go gaga with  lemon rice.I prepare it often but still feel my version con't even stand with my mom's preparation.Here goes the recipe part which my mom prepares.

Ingredients:

Lemon	3
Salt as required	as required
Turmeric powder	a pinch

For seasoning:

oil	1tbsp
Mustard seeds	1tsp
Urad dal	1tsp
Chenna dal(split)	1tsp
Green chillies	as per your spiciness
Roasted peanuts	1tbsp
Curry leaves	a sprig
Asafetida	a pinch

Preparation:

1.Take the juice out of the lemon and pour it in a wide vessel.Make sure you don't add the seed with the juice because the seed gives bitter taste to your rice so remove it from the juice.

2.Add required salt and turmeric to the lemon juice.

3.Chop the green chillies into fine pieces.

.Take a wok and add oil.Wait till it gets heated.

5.Once it is heated add mustard seeds, urad dal,chenna dal(split),green chillies,curry leaves,asafetida and wait till the dal turns golden color.If you use roasted peanuts add it with dal.I didnot use it.

The seasoning

6.Add this seasoning to the lemon juice mixture and stir well.

7.Add the steamed rice and mix well to make sure that lemon essence and seasoning are incorporated well with the rice.

8.Serve it hot.I usually love to have lemon rice with vadam or potato curry.

Sumptuous lemon rice

Tomato Pickle

    Have enough tomato left and I wanted to use it to the core...I did tomato dosa and chutney the other day...The next recipe that caught ma mind was tomato pickle...Anything based with tomato is ma favourite and when you get tomato for cheap rates all I do is stock it and utilize it to the maximum...And people who love tangy cum caustic recipes would love this pickle a lot.Below is the recipe part.

Ingredients:

Tomato-10 in number(big size)
Mustard seeds-1 tablespoon
Fenugreek powder-1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder-as desired by you
turmeric powder-1 tablespoon
Asafetida- a pinch
Jaggery-a small piece
salt-as required

Method:

1.Chop tomato into very small pieces.
2.In a wok/kadai add oil(generous amount) and wait till it gets heated.
3.Add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters.
4.Now add tumeric and redchilli powder and give it a quick stir.
5.Add the finely chopped tomato followed by salt and wait till tomato cooks well and becomes mushy.Also at a stage oil will start leaving out from the mixture.At this stage add fenugreek powder ,jaggery and asafetida and give it a nice stir for 2 minutes.
6.Switch the stove off and cool it.

You shall store it in an air tight container and serve it as a side dish or enjoy the taste with curd rice :)

Tomato Soup

I always love soup...Tomato and sweet corn soup always tops ma list :)Have tried tomato soup many a times but I felt that something went wrong and was not upto the mark...Yesterday I was surfing the net and Vah chef's tomato recipe caught ma eyes...Had enough tomato at home and wanted to give it a try...I have modified the original recipe because I ran out of some ingredients but the result was a yummy soup this time...If you are a person of ma type who loves tangy tomato soup then definitely this recipe will be your cuppa tea...

Ingredients:

Butter-2 tablespoon(I didnot have butter so substituted with oil).
Tomato-2(a bit big tomato)
Onion-1(small size)
cerely/carrot/any veggies of your choice(I didnot add any vegetable).
pepper powder-1/2 tablespoon
salt- as required
corn starch-1/2 tablespoon.
basil leaves-a few

Method:

1.Add butter(in my case it was oil) in a wok and wait till it gets heated.
2.Add onion,tomato and other veggies and give it a stir and allow it to cook...you can add little water at this stage and allow the veggies to cook.

3.Add salt and pepper powder.
4.When the veggies are cooked add basil leaves and give it a quick stir and switch off the stove.Cool the mixture and blend it well and filter the puree.
5.Take an another wok again and add this puree and simmer it for 5 minutes.
6.Form a paste of corn starch with water and add it to the tomato soup.Corn starch is used as a thickening agent here.Once you feel that the soup has attained the required consistency switch off the stove and serve it hot with deep fried bread piece as a topping.Basil leaves gives a nice aroma to the soup...

Notes:

1.I used oil instead of butter but I am very sure that taste would be yummicious when used butter.
2.I didnot add any veggies.The original recipe had garlic,celery,capsicum.You can use carrot as well.
3.To thicken the soup the original recipe was prepared by adding all purpose four to the butter in a separate wok  and filtered puree was poured slowly (to avoid lumps)once the all purpose flour and butter becomes little brown in color and finally simmered the soup  for 5 minutes to complete the recipe.Corn starch was not used as a thickening agent in the original recipe but I used corn starch.
4.You can add fresh cream/sour cream as a topping to the soup before serving.I did not add cream to ma soup.

Crispy rice flour balls...

 Mom makes dishes mostly with rice flour...I have become addicted to dishes made of rice flour...From kozhakattai to rice flour balls to name a few...The usage of rice flour is minimal to nil in my MIL's home...Whenever I come to my mom's place I ask her to make all the lovely rice flour dishes and enjoy it a lot...One such recipe I enjoy the  most is rice flour balls...To prepare this you need the below ingredients...

Ingredients:

Rice flour-1 cup
Red chilli powder-1 tablespoon
salt-as required
sour curd-as per the requirement to knead
tomato-2
oil-as  required for frying
asafetida-a pinch

Preparation:

1.Puree the tomato.
2.Take a wide vessel...Add rice flour,salt,red chilli powder,asafetida,tomato puree and curd.
3.Make sure that the dough is not watery or too solid...It should be semi solid and you should be able to take the dough in ur hand without spilling...A little beyond chapathi dough consistency...See the below picture for reference.

4.Add oil in a wok and wait till it gets heated.
5.Take the dough in the form of a small ball and drop it in the oil carefully...I am very sure that you will not  get the dough in the shape of a ball...but the shape would be little close to a ball.

6.Wait till it turns golden brown on both sides.Drain excess oil and serve it hot.

Notes:
1.you can also add oinions to the dough.

About Me

I thought the “About me”  page of my blog looks so bland and I was meaning to update it for long but the laziness in me, never allowed to do it… Time and again I sat and pushed myself hard and Voila the result is this page J

Till my college I never gave so much of importance to my food…The regular preferred lunch box menu of mine would be curd rice and pickle…and yay I always preferred varieties in pickle so my mom always was into the laborious process of preparing at least 4 varieties on a regular basis…Many people scared me saying curd rice alone will never take me anywhere but least did I bother…

Then came an important phase in my life…Work J Like many I moved to a different city to earn my bread and butter…New city, away from home made me to long for my mom’s food…That period was an eye opener for me…Only then I started to realize how divine my mom food is! I had no option but to eat out and that it did give a toll on  my health…I searched for all the possible options and finally scored it out to self cooking J Hold on, not much of cooking but cooking that can satisfy my hunger pangs…Mom prepared ready mixes and I got an electric cooker…From there started my cooking journey…Initially I managed to cook rice and satisfied my hunger pangs with curd and pickle but gradually moved to a next level…I started to make pongal,vegetable pulao and variety rice all by using my electric cooker J

Days moved and I did not put any efforts to learn cooking…The Dday arrived and I got married…Now that I have to cook for my new family, I had no clue but to try learning the recipes as much I could…Thanks to the scientific inventions ,I survive with my mobile…Every time I start a  recipe, I call my mom and ask her for portions…Ask her for 100 times, she still explains me so that I manage to master the recipe so well, even any would master it…Being a vegetarian that I am (sans egg) my initial days of learning were totally devoted to sambhar, rasam and kari(vegetables)…Then it was a gradual transition…Whenever we had get together at home,I started to indulge myself and try my hands on Puloa and other rice varieties…The transition continues and I now started to try my hands on desserts which is my mom’s forte…

When you have bro and hubby who are very much like you and love to eat good food,I have no option but to try every possible ways to make my food taste yummy J My mother-in-law is also very much studious in trying recipes so I do get a good company and ideas from her…

Birth of my blog:

                After marriage my love towards food became four much J And when I was in my maternity leave ,I thought to document all the recipes from my mom so that it will be an easy reference for me and from there started the journey.

Recipes of my blog:

I have not tried many cuisines, so my blog would predominately be devoted to vegetarian traditional food for now but I wish I try out different things and will post soon it J

Just a cookery blog?

I don’t just want to post the recipes and stop there but I wish to do “restaurant reviews”, ”product reviews” and share information related to food. Also I would like to make it mélange and lively JWish I put on my thinking cap J

Food Photography:

During initial days of blogging, I never cared about the photos sometimes I did not even post a snap of the recipe but these days I started to be conscious when it comes to food photography…I am very much a learner and my knowledge into photography is zero but still I love to master someday…I was using my mobile camera to take snaps but now I own a digi cam…I mostly use the point and shoot method to click the snaps…Would love to learn and master it someday J

I guess I spoke three much.I welcome you all to my space. Please drop your valuable comments and that would help me to improvise.

Regards,

Annapoorani Sivaramakrishnan

Email: moicuisinecorner@gmail.com

Twitter: @moicuisine