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Friday, July 31, 2009

SARKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL)

Sakkarai Pongal is an important offering to God and also a prasadam given in all temples. It is a rice based sweet made during festivals. Adding pachai karpooram, saffron and crushed cardamom enhances its taste.


INGREDIENTS:

  • Raw rice - 1 cup
  • Moong dhal - 2 tablespoons
  • Water - 3 cups
  • Crushed jaggery - 2 cups
  • Cashews - 1 spoon
  • Raisins - 1 spoon
  • Ghee - 1 ladle
  • Pachai karpooram, cardamom and saffron - optional

METHOD:


Wash rice and dhal together and pressure cook for 4 whistles.

Crush and powder jaggery. In half a cup of water, dissolve jaggery and strain it without any mud. Boil it till the raw smell diffuses. Take out the rice, mash well and add it to the jaggery. Mix well and stir in a low flame till thick.

In a pan, heat a spoon of ghee and fry the cashews till golden brown and also the raisins. Pour it over the rice. Add the remaining ghee, saffron, pachaikarpooram and powdered cardamom, mix well and serve hot.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

KREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD

I thank prasu , Anu and Preethi for the kreative blogger award to me and I am really happy about it.



The rules for this award are :
1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

7 things about me:

1. I am enthusiastic to learn things.
2. I do not like publicity.
3. I keep myself busy always and I don't sit idle.
4. I am spiritual.
5. I do my chores with sincerity and dedication.
6. I love cooking and enjoy my cooking. I enjoy eating even if it is a rasam saadam.
7. Outspoken and transparent.

I pass on this award to 7 persons.
Ann the delighted foodie
Dolon das of doloncookbook
Shama of easy2 cook recipes
Faiza of Faiza ali's kitchen
Pavani from cook's hideout
Ivy from Kopiaste to greek hospitality
Jyothi of panchpakwan

GROUNDNUT SUNDAL




INGREDIENTS:

Raw peanuts - 1/4 kg
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
Split white urad dhal - 1 tsp.
Hing - a pinch
Curry leaves - few
Dry red chillies - 2
Scraped coconut - 1/4 cup
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tsp.

METHOD:

Wash the peanuts well and soak it in water for 2 hrs.

Pressure cook peanuts alongwith soaked water and salt for 3 whistles or until soft. (Generally, for 1 tumbler of fresh peanut, 3/4 tsp. of salt will be OK).After the pressure is released, take it out, and strain it completely without any water and keep it aside.

In a kadai, heat oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhal, chillies, and hing and saute till golden brown. Now add curry leaves , saute for a second and add the peanuts and scraped coconut. Mix well and serve hot. Healthy and ideal snack in the evening and a favourite of children and will be everyone's favourite too.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

SEVAI

Sevai is a very famous dish in SouthIndia, particularly TamilNadu. It is easily digestible because it is steamed. This is different from Idiappam.



INGREDIENTS:

Par boiled rice: 2 cups
Salt- as per taste
Hing
Oil - 2 tsp.
Sevai press (sevai nazhi)

METHOD:

Soak the rice in water for 3 hours. Grind it is a grinder to a smooth thick batter. The batter consistency should be like idli batter. When the batter is ready, add salt and oil to it and grind again for 2 minutes and this enables the salt to mix evenly.

METHOD 1:

Grease idli plates, pour the batter and steam in a pressure cooker for 8-10 minutes, as you would do for idlis. (Do not use the weight)

Simmer the stove, take out one plate and close the cooker. The balls should be hot till we press in the sevai nazhi. If it is hot, it helps us in easy pressing. Once it is cold, it will be very difficult to press it. Now, add the "idlis" or "balls" to the sevai maker, place a plate under the press and press it. Now, we get strings of rice or rice noodles , which we call as sevai.

Use the remaining idlis or balls in the same manner. Transfer it to a big plate. Allow it to cool. Loosen it with your hands very gently or with the help of a fork.

This the basic sevai.

METHOD-2:

Heat oil in a kadai and transfer the batter and cook on medium flame till all the water is absorbed and it becomes like a dough. Take out the dough, shape it to balls, place them in idli plates and steam for 8-10 minutes. Again, the same procedure as mentioned in METHOD-1.

This is the basic sevai.

We can make lemon sevai, coconut sevai, tamarind sevai, etc.

COCONUT SEVAI:




INGREDIENTS:


Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp.
Split urad dhal - 1 tsp.
Chenna dhal - 1/2 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 1 or 2
Green chilly - 1
Curry leaves - few
Hing - a pinch
Scraped coconut - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 tsp.
Basic sevai - 3 cups

METHOD:

In a kadai, heat oil, add all the ingredients except coconut and saute till golden brown. Now add the scraped coconut and stir for some time till it changes its colour and be careful, it should not become brown. Now add the basic sevai and mix gently. Your coconut sevai is ready.


LEMON SEVAI:



INGREDIENTS:

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp.
Split urad dhal - 1 tsp.
Chenna dhal - 1/2 tsp.
Dry red chillies - 1 or 2
Green chilly - 1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp.
Curry leaves - few
Hing - a pinch
Lime - 1
Oil - 1 tsp.
Basic sevai - 3 cups


In a kadai, heat oil, add all the ingredients and saute till golden brown. Now add the basic sevai and mix gently. When warm, switch off the stove and squeeze a lime and again mix gently. Your lemon sevai is ready.

TAMARIND SEVAI:

Mix the basic sevai with pulikkachal. See the link for pulikkachal and instead of mixing it with rice, mix a spoon of pulikkachal to basic sevai.


Sevai tastes good when served warm. You can have it with coconut chutney, kothamalli chutney or kurma or Mor kozhambu.

DRY CURRY



INGREDIENTS:

Cauliflower - 1/2 kg
Beans - 50 gms
Potato - 1
Shelled peas - 1/2 cup
Jeera - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambhar powder - 1/2 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Jeera powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tablespoon

METHOD:

Clean the cauliflower well and cut into flowerettes.

Chop potato and beans to fine pieces.

In a kadai, heat oil, and temper with jeera and turmeric powder. Add all the vegetables and salt, mix well, sprinkle some water cover it with a lid and cook till it is 3/4th done. Be careful to stir it often without charring it. Now add all the powders, mix well and cook till done.

This is an excellent side dish for poori and chappatis. Can also have it with rice.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: STATE SPECIALS



I started this blog for my son, who asks lots of doubts while cooking on his own. Now, this has become my full time job and also my timepass with a difference. Thank you friends, for your support and passion in cooking.

This is my 3rd event announcement. Though all of us are creative in cooking, the traditional recipes should not be forgotten by the youngsters in future. The entries to the event should be traditional state recipes (not the city). It can be a Gujarati Dhokla, Kashmiri pulao, Ooragaya of Andhra, Deepavali marundhu of Tamil Nadu, Chakka Pradhaman of Kerala and so on. It can be a sweet or savoury or snack or a typical meal recipe (lunch or dinner) served on banana leaf.

THE RECIPE SHOULD BE TRADITIONAL IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM. No twists.

Please pass on the event to your friends of different states, so that all of us can explore the AUTHENTIC/TRADITIONAL RECIPES of that state.

Keep rocking towards "TASTY IN DIVERSITY"

As usual, only vegetarian recipes and no eggs please.

Any bloggers and non-bloggers can participate.

No restrictions in number of entries.
(As some of our friends have mailed me they have lot of entries, I have relaxed the no:of entries. You can send in any number of entries.)


Please repost your earlier posts and link it with this announcement and logo.

Mail me the following details:
Subject: State specials
Your name:
State(of the cuisine) name:(It is the state from where the recipe originated OR the state in which the recipe is famous.
For ex: Goan cuisine, Bengali cuisine etc. Many people have misunderstood it for the state to which they belong. )
Country name: (Again, to which country the state belongs)
Recipe name:
Link to your recipe(with photo), to setlur.shanu@gmail.com

Last date for the event is 31st August 2009.

Round up will be on the first week of September 2009.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

ROUND-UP OF EVENT "LOVELY WINTER RECIPES"

I wanted to post the round up of event "Lovely winter recipes" during the rainy season itself. Enjoy the dishes. Thank you for the participation in the event and making it a grand success.

Simple Veg.Sandwich by me


Kunukku by me


Mixed Vegetable soup by me


Chilli Mirchi Pakoda by Priti S


Paapad Samosas by Nivedita


Chilli pakora by Shaishta


Momos by Shruthi Dinesh


Halu menasina saaru by Shruthi Dinesh


Dhanya Jeera saru by Shruthi Dinesh


Onion cheese parathas by EC


Stuffed bread pakora by Deepti Srivastava


Vegetable pakoda by Deepti Srivastava


Palak pakoda by Deepti Srivastava


Gobi Manchurian by Faiza ali


Cheese toast by Faiza ali


Khasta kachori by Rupali Jain


Cheese Cutlet by Arti


Batata Vada by Jyothi


Palak spinach soup by Sia


1001 pakoras by Ramki


Oats cheela by Bindiya singh


Baby corn tikka by Nithya


Carrot soup by Nithya


Wheat pancakes by Kalva


Oats Bonda by Sailaja


Raw banana snack by Prasu


Marmara pakodi by Prasu


Aloo Bonda by Prasu


Hot and Sour soup by Lata Raja


Vegetable soup by Pinky


Bajji by Preethi


Molaguthanni soup by Meena


Onions bajjis/fritters by Sarita


Shama is little bit late. Now only I got the recipes. After all, we are friends. So I took the discretion to publish hers also. She has sent lots of recipes. But the entry is restricted to 3 in the event.
masal vadai by Shama


Veggie Bonda by Shama


vazhaipoo vadai by Shama

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

SIMPLE VEG. SANDWICH



INGREDIENTS:

Sandwich bread - 12 slices
Cabbage - 1/4 kg.
Potato - 1
Onion - 1
Coriander leaves - a handful
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp.
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp.
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp.
Salt
Ghee - 4 tablespoons
Oil - 2 tsp.

METHOD:

Cut the edges of the bread.

Spread ghee only on one side of the slice.

Shred cabbages. Grate potatoes. Chop onions into lengthy strips.


In a kadai, heat oil, add onions and saute till transparent. Now add the cabbage and potatoes alongwith chilli powder and salt. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add garam masala. Switch off the stove. Add pepper powder and finely chopped coriander leaves, and mix well. This is the filling.



Take a slice of bread, spread the filling on the side without ghee and cover it with another slice. The ghee-spread side should be on the outer side. Toast these slices in a bread toaster and serve hot with tomato ketchup or tomato sauce.

Note: As the vegetables are shredded and grated, it is enough to saute it for 2-3 minutes. It will be cooked while toasting. The filling will be half-cooked.




MIXED VEGETABLE SOUP



INGREDIENTS:

Beans, carrot, cabbage - 1 cup
Onion - 1/2

Corn flour - 2 tsp.

Butter - 2 tablespoons

Light soya sauce - 1 tsp.

Green chilli sauce - 1 tsp.
Salt - as per taste

Water - 2 cups
Milk - 2 cups

White pepper powder - 1 to 2 tsp.


METHOD:

Fine shred cabbages.

Chop onions, beans and carrot to very fine pieces.


Take a teaspoon of finely chopped cabbage, and carrot and keep aside.( To add it finally)


In a pressure pan, heat butter. When it melts, add onions and saute till transparent. Now add the vegetables and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Put in the corn flour and saute for 2 more minutes. Add a dash of soya sauce and chilli sauce and saute for a minute. Add enough salt, water, and pressure cook for a whistle.

When cool, blend it in a mixie.


Transfer it to a vessel, put in the pepper powder, vegetables,
add milk and bring it to a boil. Serve hot with a starter.