Paal poli[Easy sweets recipe]

Paal Poli I could attribute this only with Avani avittam as my mom diligently makes it during this day…This time I had a fluctuation whether I can make pooran poli or paali poli finally confusion ended as my MIL preferred paali poli…This time avani avittam was on a weekday and so I made the pooris the before day all I did during avani avittam was dip the pooris in flavoured milk and eat it and relish the taste..This requires simple ingredients but taste is always yummy :)




Ingredients:

 

Maida	1 cup+1 tsp for dusting
salt	1/2 tsp
oil	1 cup(you can added if needed)
Milk(full cream or partial cream)	1/2 litre
Sugar	1tbsp(you can add more if needed)
Cardamom powder	1/2 tsp
water	as needed

 

Method:

1.Ina  bowl add maida and salt..mix well…add water and form a dough similar to chapathi dought…If you feel the dough is dry then you can add a tsp of oil…Let the dough rest for 10 minutes..

2.After 10 minutes pinch a small ball from the dough…dust it in maida and using the rolling pin roll it to thin circle…Let the circle be medium   in size…Holding one side of the circle close it so that one side touches the other…Seal the ends well with your hand so that the ends does not open when you put it in oil…

3.Heat oil in a wok and when it is hot simmer the stove and drop the folded pooris…Wait it till turns golden brown color…Drain it from oil and put it in a vessel…Repeat the process for the rest of the dough.

4.Now add milk in a vessel and allow it to boil..,.When it reaches to the brim…Switch off the stove…add sugar and cardamom powder to it and mix well.,..

5.When it is still hot,using a tong dip the pooris in the flavoured milk for half a minute and take it out…Ensure both the sides of the pooris are dipped in milk…Repeat the process and arrange it in a plate…Pour the floured milk on top of the pooris if you want the soggy version…Enjoy the softy softy paal poli.

Notes:

1.My mi have a habit of dipping the pooris first in hot water and then in the flavoured milk..This way the pooris get soggy texture even during the first dip in the flavoured milk :)

Masala Tea[Easy tea recipe]

Saturday and Sunday are meant to try new dishes at home.Weekdays my MIL takes care of the cooking activities  and I help her in cleaning activities…sometimes even during weekdays if I  come to home from office early before  by 08.00pm I make dinner…So weekends I take the charge and try something or the other..My FIL makes the morning decoction and I have the habit of wrapping our tea time at 03.00pm…Some days we   run out of coffee decoction and we don’t like to have instant coffees…In such cases tea comes as respite…Normal tea is sometimes boring so I try either ginger tea,cardamom tea or masala tea…I will post the other tea recipes sometime soon…Masala tea is just flavorful with the blend of all the spices…Sipping a hot cup of masala tea on a raining day is what I like the most :)Now off to the recipe…

 

Ingredients:

tea powder/tea leaves	3tsp
sugar	as per the need
cardamom powder	1 tsp
bay leaves	a small leaf
cloves	5
cinnamon	2 small sticks
ginger(peel the skin and smash it well using a pestle and mortar)	1 small piece smashed
water	1 cup
boiled milk	1 cup

 

Method:

1.Boil milk and keep it ready.

2.In a wok add water,tea powder,cardamom powder,cinnamon sticks,bay leaves,cloves and smashed ginger and allow it to boil…

3.When the mixture boils well and comes to brim…simmer the stove and allow it to boil well…This helps to get a thick and flavorful essence…Let it boil for 5 minutes…

4.After 5 minutes switch off the stove and filter the contents to get only the essence.

5.Take a tumbler add sugar.Add the prepared essence to 1/4th of the tumbler and pour milk…Mix well and enjoy the masala tea.Use more essence if you need dark tea.

 

Notes:

1.You can use tea leaves in place of tea powder.Here I do not get good tea leaves and so I use tea powder.

2.Instead of preparing the essence first you can directly add all the spices in the milk and allow it boil well and then you can strain and serve it hot :)

Akkaravadisal[Festival sweet recipe]

Adi (tamil month) is always special…We get up early, offer pooja and prepare neivedhya…Of course it would be a week day but then I do pooja  and rush to office…Thankfully today is holiday and I could prepare my neivedhyam leisurely.

I hardly remember  the taste of akkaravadisal…My mom or MIL have never prepared it till date or rather I never had an opportunity to taste this…After several searches I decided to follow my own recipe…I have heard people making chakkarapongal without milk but I have the habit of making it only with milk and sans moongdal so for me the akkaravadisal would be ditto my chakkarapongal recipe but the extra ingredient would be moong gal…

My boy loved this…It is rich in iron because of jaggery…The milk in it has calcium…What else you need?A power packed sweet must try dish…

Akkaravadisal@moicuisinecorner

Ingredients:

Rice-3/4 cup

Moong dal:1/4 cup

Milk(not boiled)-3 cups

Milk(boiled)-1.5 cups

Ghee-2 tsp

Cashews and raisins-few

Cardamom powder-1/2tsp

Method:

1)Add moong dal and rice together.Wash it for 3 times…Drain water and add it in pressure cooker.

2)Add 3 cups of milk(unboiled milk) and mix it well…Let it cook for 5 whistle.After that simmer the stove for 5 minutes and switch off. Allow it cool.

3)Once it gets cooled,open the lid and smash the contents with a laddle…Ensure you smash it so well…This helps to have a creamy texture…

4)Again place it in stove and add 1.5 cups of milk(boiled) and mix the contents well…simmer the stove and let it cook till it becomes semi solid..Add the roughly powdered  jaggery and cardamom powder and stir well…Simmer the stove and wait till the jaggery melts…Once it melts make the flame to high and stir for few minutes till it reaches to a thick semi solid consistency…Switch it off…once it cools the mixture would turn solid…In a separate wok add 2tsp of ghee and roast the raisins and cashews. Add this to the akkaravadisal and mix well J And then it gets ready for serving…You can add a tsp of ghee over the  top of akkaravadisal and serve 

Notes:

1)Instead of jaggery you can use sugar as well.

2)You can even dry roast moong dal and rice and then proceed as above…Being lazy I skip this step…

3)You can even add the saffron soaked in milk into the mixture…I did not have it so skipped J

Pidi Kozhakattai aka Upma kozhakattai,rice dumplings[Breakfast/dinner recipes]

I always love m mom’s arisi upma…she serves it with kathrika gotsu…oh I remember having plates and plates of arisi upma topped with ghee and accompanied by kathrika gotsu…I never knew pidi kozhakattai is a variation of arisi upma…My mom never prepares this and after marriage I have seen my MIL make this dish often…At first I was not a big fan of this but gradually I started to like this dish…My mom and MIL follow the same recipe…I tried it today and it came out well..I made coconut chutney and gonkura as a side dish :)

Ingredients:

 

raw rice/pacha arisi	1 cup
channa dal(kadala paruppu)	1 tsp
salt	as required
mustard seeds	1/2 tsp
curry leaves	a sprig
green chilly/dried red chilly	1 medium sized
asafetida	a pinch
oil	2 tsp
water	2.5 cups
grated coconut	1/4 cup

Method:

1.Take raw rice and give it in a rice mil or using your food processor grind it…It should resemble  like sooji/rava.

2.In a heavy bottomed vessel or pressure cooker  add oil and once it is hot add mustard seeds…Let it splutter…

3.Add a pinch of asafetida,chilies chopped curry leaves,channa dal and wait till channa dal turns golden brown..

4.Add water,grated coocnut and salt and wait till the water starts to boil…

5.Once the water starts to boil add the raw rice powder(which resembles sooji) and stir well…If using pressure cooker put the lid and whistle…Switch off the flame after 2 whistle…

6.Once the pressure releases take the mixture from the cooker and spread it in plate…Let it cool completely.

7.Grease your idli plate with oil and also grease your hands…

8.Take some mixture in your hand and form a round or cylinder shape out of it…Put it in idli steamer and steam it for 15 minutes.

9.Serve it with any chutney…

 

Notes:

Instead of pressure cooker you can cook in any heavy bottomed vessel…You can simmer and cook the mixture in vessel itself.

You can add veggies too the choice is yours…

How to make Cauliflower fries/bajjis[Easy snack recipe]

 

I do not know how,when or where I got so addicted to cauliflower bajjis…My mom usually makes sepankizhangu toast and she told me to follow the same recipe for this which turned super yummy…Also this is one dish that you can make with the readily available ingredient in  the pantry…Whenever  I visit Marina beach I get a plate of cauliflower bajji and I love to munch it with the spicy green yummy there serve it with this!yay!my bajji pretty much tasted like the one that I get it in beach…Please do try it out and let me know how it turned…

 

Ingredients:

Besan flour/kadala maavu	1 cup
rice flour/pacharisi maavu	1tbsp s
salt	as required
red chili powder	1 tsp or as per your need
asafetida	1 tsp
cauliflower	1 medium sized
turmeric powder	a pinch

Method:

 

How to clean the cauliflower?

Take the cauliflower and roughly wash it in running water…roughly shred it into pieces…remove the long stems…Heat water in a vessel…add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt and allow it to boil…when it is boiling well switch off the stove and add the cauliflower florets to it and close the vessel with a plate…After 10 minutes drain the water and check for any worms…if it is clean and clear use it for the cooking.


How to make the bajji:

1.In a wide vessel add besan flour,rice flour,salt,red chili powder and asafetida…Mix it well

2.Add the cauliflower florets and mix it well…The water in the cauliflower itself will be enough to mix…In case you feel it is too dry add water and mix it well…Ensure that the cauliflower is coated well with the flour mixture.

3.Heat oil in high flame and when it is hot simmer it to low flame and drop the flour coated cauliflower and fry it till it is golden brown color.

4.Take it out from the oil and serve it tomato ketchup or green chutney.

 

Notes:

1.Instead of besan and rice flour combo you can use maida and corn starch…For 1 cup of maida add 1tbsp of corn starch.

2.You can add ginger garlic paste,garam masala or any other spicy powder to the four.The choice is yours :)

Vegetable raita[Easy side side recipe]

MY MIL makes vegetable raita and I totally became hooked with this recipe…She blends it well with curd and this is used as a side dish whenever we make rotis…This is one healthy recipe as we do not cook the veggies but blend it raw…I became so addicted to this so instead of onion raita I make this one…For someone who loves curd then this recipe would steal the show…Here you go :)

 

 

Ingredients:

tomato	1
carrot(finely chopped)	1
green chilies	1(roughly chopped)
coriander leaves	1 tsp
salt	as per your need
curds	1 cup+1tsp

Method:

 

1.In a blender put the finely chopped carrots,tomato,chilies and coriander leaves and blend it to smooth paste…Then add 1tsp of curd and salt and then blend it again for a minute…

2.Take the blended mixture in a cup and teh remaining curd..mix well and serve with any rotis.

Notes:

1.You can add grated coconut too.

2.Also you can add any vegetable of yours choice…Instead of grinding finely you can also coarsely grind to feel the texture :)

How to make nannari sharbath[Easy juice recipes)

Nannari concentrate is always kept in my mom’s home during summer…Amma makes the juice in jiffy and serves us during  noon when the entire house would feel the scorching heat..The last time I visited home my dad got me 2 big bottles full of goodness…I packed it safe and even I brought the bag safe till in front of my home…When I got out the auto I was in a hurry to take out my baggage and I took the nannari bag and hastily placed it in the floor but with more force…Then what?one of the bottles broke into pieces and I even started to cry such is my love for nannari…Mom says it is very good for health…I wish I get this concentrate all through the year.




Ingredients:

Nannari concentrate	1 tsp
lime juice	1tsp
sugar	2 tsp
Chilled water	3/4 glass
ice cubes	3 to 4

 

Method:

 

1)In a vessel add nannari essence,sugar,lime juice and chilled water…

2)Mix everything well and serve it with ice cubes topped.



Notes:

Adjust the sugar and lime juice quantity as per your taste.