Raagi Morkali

I got the idea of making raagi morkali when I saw the recipe in a magazine. I didn't remember the recipe. But I tried making it the same way as I make using rice. I have replaced rice with raagi. Rest of the recipe is same. Refer Rice Morkali for the recipe. This I made on stove top. It is ideal when you want to have a quick,filling and healthy snack to go along with tea. This too can be sliced. I was very hungry that I could not wait to spread and slice. I have started making raagi morkali more often than the rice version. When you make it for kids, you can add some grated carrots or corn to make it more nutritious.


I am re posting the Raagi idiyappam

Both the raagi dishes are my entry to Sangeeth's Eat Healthy-Fight Diabetics Event

Sevai- A South Indian Delicacy

Sevai is a healthy dish made from rice. It is distinctly different from idiyappam/noolputtu. Both sevai and idiyappam fits into the description of rice noodles. And the similarity ends there. As kids we were happy to learn if sevai is made for evening tiffin. Probably the ladies who has to make may not have enjoyed much. The tedious work involved can easily put off the idea of making sevai. In most of the houses, the help from male members is warranted while pressing the steamed dumplings. In olden days it was the wooden/brass type. It calls for great strength to press them. Imagine the work involved when it has to be made for a family of 10 (I had stayed in a joint family then).


Ingredients
Parboiled rice (Puzhingalarissi) - 3 cups

Tempering
Gingely oil - 3 tblspn
mustard seeds - 1 tspn
chana dal - 1 tblspn
red chilly - 1
green chilly - 5 nos
curry leaves

Garnish

Grated coconut - 1 cup (optional). In my home, it is a must.

Method
Wash and soak the rice in water for 4 hours. Grind the soaked rice with salt to a fine paste. The batter consistency should be thicker than idli batter.

I am giving three ways to prepare the steamed dumplings. Every house has their own way of making it

1)Sauteing the rice batter into dough and make dumplings and cook the dumplings in boiled water (My amma follows this method).

2) Sauteing the rice batter into dough and make dumplings and steam cook the dumplings in an idly steamer

3) Spoon the batter into oiled idly moulds and steam cook for 10 minutes ( I follow this which I learnt from my MIL) . This is the easiest of the three,according to me.

Press the dumplings into sevai using a sevai press. As soon as it is pressed, sevai is left to cool on a plate. While it is warm, gently separate them.

Heat oil, Season with mustard. When mustard seeds crackle, add chana dal. When dal turns light brown, add red chilly broken into two, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Add to the pressed sevai. Garnish with coconut. Serve with any chuntey of your choice.

The base sevai can made into Lemon/Coconut/Tamarind sevai. You can convert the base sevai into any exotic dish as you would do with rice. Its all up to your imagination.

Click here to see the Automatic Sevai Cooker.

I am sending this to Srivalli's Rice mela

Beetroot Halwa

My husband's ammamma (Maternal grandma) cooks very interesting recipes. Some of them are real quickies. She had a stock of shortcut recipes of the otherwise time consuming ones. When ever her grand children ask for sweets, she makes sweets in a jiffy. This beetroot
halwa is one among them.

Grated beetroot - 1 cup
Powdered jaggery - 1/2 cup. (You can increase if u like it more sweet)

Chopped nuts for garnish (optional)

Method

MW grated beets with a teaspoon of water for 4 minutes or till soft. Heat a kadai. Add the powdered jaggery. Jaggery will start melting. Stir in the cooked beets. Keep stirring, till the jaggery melts fully. Cook on low flame, till it comes together as a whole mass. Don't cook till the moisture fully dries up, since it will harden on cooling. Garnish with roasted, slivered nuts. A healthy sweet is ready in 10 minutes. A fat free dessert. You can also serve it with a scoop of ice cream. You can use it as a bread spread for kids' sandwiches too. This is my entry to the following events : 1) The Challenge hosted by Veda Murthy (No garnish halwa fits the challenge) 2) Suganya's Vegan Ventures Round 2 3) Sweet Series-Halwa, Kathli, Burfi, Peda by Mythrayee

Tapioca/Kappa cutlet

Tapioca is one of the staple food of Kerala, next to rice. Every part of Kerala refers to Tapioca in a different name. Kappa, Kolli, Poola, Marachini are some of the names to my knowledge. May be there are more which I am not aware of. Last year, during this time, my Dad was here with us for a month. He visited my grandma during his stay and happened eat some fresh Kappa there. On his return, he got the stem of the plant for me, so that we too can enjoy tasty kappa at home. This is the bounty I got from a single plant this year. Thanks Appa. There were five plants. I have kept one for him, who will be reaching here, next week.

As like any Keralite, kappa is a hot favorite at my home too. We enjoy kappa boiled with salt and turmeric. The ideal dip is the classic ulli chammanthi. I can have that for lunch and dinner too. This variety was very fast to cooking. It got cooked in less than 10 minutes on stove top. Usually, I pressure cook. I made some tapioca chips, prepared the usual upperi as side for rice. Made this cutlet to be served with tea on a weekend.

Tapioca chopped into cubes - 2 cup

onion - 1

green chilly - 4 nos

ginger - a small wedge

curry leaves

turmeric

salt

oil for frying

Maida - 2 tblspn

bread crumbs - 1 cup

Cook tapioca with turmeric and salt. The cooked water is usually discarded since some toxic from the root is released on cooking. Heat oil in a kadai. Add the chopped chillies,ginger and curry leaves. Add chopped onion to it and saute till pink. Crumble the cooked tapioca and mix with the seasonings. Check the salt and let it cook for few minutes. Cool and mix together. Take lemon sized mixture and shape into patties.

Take 2 tablespoon of maida and add water to make a thin batter. Add a pinch of salt. Dip the patties in the batter and roll it over the bread crumbs.Heat a tawa. Drizzle few drops of oil. Place the cutlets on tawa and drizzle few drops of oil on the cutlets. When the bottom is browned, carefully flip it and cook the other side. Serve with your favorite chutney or sauce. I was in a hurry, so could not roast them longer for even browning.

Vidhaas has passed me the Perfect friendship and Hard working blogger award. Thank you Vidhaas and I appreciate your thoughfulness.

These cutlets are off to Local Eats Event hosted at Joelen's Culinary Adventures.

Spinach Carrot Pulao & Paneer Fry

One dish meal is always a life saver. Served with a simple raita, can make a very good satisfying meal. This pulao can be made in a jiffy. Not much chopping required. If you have the chopped veggies at hand, this is very simple and no grinding of masalas needed. I wanted to make a tasty one dish meal with minimum work and finally it turned out to be the way I wanted. It was very flavorful with the whole spices and crunchy while biting into the crisp carrots.

Ingredients

Chopped spinach - 2 cups Carrots chopped into small cubes - 1/2 cup Rice - 1 cup Onions sliced - 1 nos Red chilly powder - 1/4 tspn Ghee/oil - 1 tblspn saunf - 1 tspn Cardamom - 2 pods Cloves - 3 nos Cinnamom - 1" Poppy seeds - 1/2 tspn Wash and soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. If you are hard pressed for time, you can avoid soaking. Still it comes out well. Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add all the spices. Roast till fragrant. Add sliced onion and suate till they turn pink. Add chopped carrots and cook till it is tender but crisp. Add chopped spinach and cook till the they wilt. Drain the rice and reserve the soaked water. Tip off the soaked rice. Saute for 5 minutes. Add salt and red chilly powder. Add the reserved water. Cover and cook in the same kadai. Stir the rice in between. Rice will be cooked in 20 minutes. You can either microwave for 25 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles. I have served with MW roasted papad, pan roasted paneer and cucumber raita. Cucumber Raita Grated cucumber, 3 slit green chillies, a teaspoon of jeera/cumin powder and salt is mixed to a cup of whipped curd. Garnish with some chopped coriander. Paneer fry Cubed paneer - 15 nos For marinade Hung curd - 1 tblspn Tomato sauce - 1 1/2 tblspn Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn salt Beat all the ingredients of marinade till smooth. Marinate the paneer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle few drops of oil on a tawa. Place the paneer pieces and cook on low flame. When one side is browned, flip the paneer and cook the other side too. This makes a good starter too. Spinach Carrot Pulao is going to Srivalli's Rice Mela JFI:Carrots hosted by The Cooker Sapadu Ready Event hosted by Aartee of Nalabagham

Adai & Aviyal ~ Kerala Special

Adai, a mixed lentil pancake is very popular in Kerala, especially among Palakkad Iyers. Adai, compared to dosa, doesn't preparation much earlier, since it requires around 3 hours of soaking time only. Doesn't take much time to do the grinding and no wait period for fermentation. Even though the ultimate is paper thin crisp dosa, I love crisp adais very much. This is usually served as after-school tiffin at home. Each home has their own proportion for rice and dal used. For Karthigai Deepam festival, this adai is one of the neivadyams. As is the custom, par boiled rice is not used for neivadyams, its totally avoided when making for Karthigai. Whole pepper and tiny bits of coconut is also added to it. Here is the recipe which I follow on ordinary days.

Raw rice - 1 cup

Parboiled rice - 1/2 cup

Chana dal - 1/2 cup

Urad dhal - 1/2 cup (whole urad/split with skin)

Red chillies - 3 nos

Green chilly - 2 nos

Ginger a small wedge

Curry leaves

Salt

Hing powder - 1/2 tspn

Wash and soak both rice, chana dal and urad dal for 3 hours. Grind the soaked mix along with green chilly, red chilly, ginger, curry leaves and salt to a coarse batter. The batter should not be smooth. Else you will not get crisp adais. It will taste like dosa. Add hing powder and mix well. No fermentation required.

Heat a cast iron griddle. Sprinkle few drops of oil. Take a ladle of batter and spread into thick dosa/pancake. Make a hole in the center. This will enable to get crisp adai. Drizzle oil on the sides and in the hole made in the centre. When one side is cooked, flip and cook the other side. Cook in medium flame, so that its well cooked , since it is made relatively thicker than ordinary dosa. Traditionally it is served with powdered jaggery or butter or pickle.

I am not sure how the combination of adai and avial became popular. May be its the idea of some hotelier to combine two popular dishes of Kerala and serve as Malabar Adai and Avial. However it has become a huge hit. You are sure to find this combo in any Tamilnadu hotels. So here is the recipe for aviyal. I don't prepare aviyal for adai. Sometimes its just co-incidental.

Aviyal gets the unique taste from the assortment of vegetables that go into this dish. Veggies along with ground coconut and coconut oil used for garnish brings out the unique flavor. The vegetable which is used in large proportion for aviyal is ash gourd/poozhanikkai/kumbhalanga. Next comes pumpkin/mathan. I shall list the veggies that can be used for aviyal in the order of the proportion. There is no specific proportion to be followed. Its up to your intuition to add the veggies.

ashgourd/poozhnikkai/kumbhalanga

pumpkin/mathan

Yam/Chenai

Raw banana/vazhakka

Snake gourd/podavalangai

Drumstick/muringakkai

Raw mango one small

Cowpeas/payar
Carrot,beans are the latest additions.

Chopped veggies - 4 cups (Vegetables are cut in 1' inch long strips like for finger chips.)

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Green chilly - 7 nos

Whipped curd - 1/2 cup

Turmeric

Salt

Cook the veggies with turmeric and salt added. Don't over cook the veggies. It should be soft yet firm. Yam can be pressure cooked or cooked separately since it takes longer time to cook.
Grind together coconut and green chillies to a fine paste. Add just enough water to grind.
If you want to serve the aviyal as side, remove the excess water from the cooked veggies. Add the ground paste and stir in the whipped curd. Bring to a boil. Don't let it simmer.
Add a tablespoon of coconut oil and fresh curry leaves.

I am sending Adai to Srivalli's Rice Mela

Award

Shama, Viki and Vidhas has passed the Inspiration Award to me. Thank Shama,Viki and Vidhas for your sweet gesture. It means a lot to me.

Carrot Dates Poli

A variation to the traditional poli. I have eaten store bought dates poli once. I could find some finely chopped nuts along with the dates in the poli. When I tried making it at home, my stock of nuts had dried up and thought of adding some grated carrot along with dates. And it tasted great. The carrot and dates compliments well. These pictures have been in my drafts for a very long time. And thanks to Aparna's Sweet Celebrations , it has made it to the blog. The basic preparation of poli is same except for the filling. For the dough All Purpose flour(Maida) - 2 cups Salt a pinch Turmeric powder a pinch Oil 2 tbspn Water to knead Filling Chopped dates - 1 cup Grated carrot - 1/2 cup Sugar - 3 tbspn Milk - 1 tbspn Add the dough ingredients - maida, salt, turmeric powder and oil in a mixing bowl. Add water to make a soft dough. Finally just apply a teaspoon of oil over the dough and allow it to rest for a minimum of 2 hrs. This helps in making soft poli. Meanwhile, MW grated carrot, finely chopped dates along with milk for 4 minutes or till it turns soft. Add sugar to the cooked carrot-dates mixture and MWfor 3 minutes. It should have come together. You can do this step on stove-top too. Take a lemon sized dough. Roll into poori size. While you roll, keep the centre comparatively thicker than edges. Keep a ball of the stuffing in the center. Bring together the edges and seal well. Roll again carefully into possibly thin poli. Shallow fry on tawa till you see brown specs on the poli. Delicious, healthy poli is ready. I am sending this poli to JFI:Carrots hosted at The Cooker

Set Dosa & Parsi Dhansak

Set Dosa

I got the recipe for set dosa from a tele cookery show. At first, the name did not interest me much. But when I saw the soft fluffy dosa, I wanted to give a try. And since then, it has been a regular for breakfast at my table. As always, there must be umpteen number of so-called authentic recipe for set dosa and this is what I have been following for some years now and haven't bothered to look for a better recipe, since this works out perfect for me.

Parboiled rice - 3 cups

Urad dal - 1 cup ( I use de-skinned whole urad)

Aval/poha - 1 cup

Fenugreek/methi seeds - 1 tblspn

I don't measure with the standard cup, since with that measurement we two will have to eat the same breakfast for more than a week. I measure with a small glass which must be less than the standard half cup.

Wash and soak rice and dal together for 6 hrs. Soak methi seeds separately. Wash and soak poha around 15 minutes before you grind. Grind all the ingredients together with salt till smooth. Batter consistency should be like that of idli batter. Ferment overnight.

Heat and grease the griddle (preferably cast-iron) with little oil. Pour a ladle full of the batter. The thickness of the batter should be such as when poured on the heated griddle it should automatically set itself into a fine thick circle. So you need not spread like for usual dosa. It should be thick like uthappam/pancake. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Flip and again cover to cook the other side. Serve with any chutney or gravy of your choice. I have served with dhansak.

I first read about this dish at Saffron Trail. I followed her recipe to T. We all liked it very much. I make this often as a side to roti/dosas and more often to have with rice. I feel it tastes better with rice.

Tuvar dal,moong dal,masoor dal - 1/3 cup each to make one cup

Cubed pumpkin -1 cup

Onion -2

Tomatoes-2

methi leaves - 1 cup

tamarind extract - 1 tblspn (Optional)

turmeric

salt

For Masala

Red chilly - 5 nos

cumin seeds - 1 tspn

coriander seeds - 1 tblspn

cinnamon - 1" piece

peppercorn - 4 nos
Ginger - a small wedge

garlic - 3 cloves

Roast the masala ingredients in oil till fragrant leaving out ginger and garlic. Grind together with ginger and garlic. Add water while grinding to get a smooth paste

Pressure cook 3 types of dal along with pumpkin. Make sure pumpkin size is big enough that it doesn't disappear in the dal on pressure cooking.

Take a pan and add oil. Saute onions till brown. Add the ground masala. Cook till oil separates. Add chopped methi and tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes turn mushy. I have used spinach/palak instead of methi this time. You can use dried methi also. Methi gives a nice flavor to the dish. Stir in the cooked dal and pumpkin. Add turmeric and salt. Adjust the consistency by adding water. Bring to a boil. Add the tamarind extract. Simmer for few minutes and remove from fire. Adding tamarind is purely optional. Add if you enjoy the slight tangy flavor. As I said before, Dhansak pairs well with dosa/chapathis/rice. Dhansak makes it to AFAM-Pumpkin hosted by Madhuram.

Set dosa goes to Srivalli's Rice Mela

Pazham Pori /Ripe Banana Fritters

Pazham pori/bajji is a vary popular snack of Kerala, especially in railway stations. I think this is one snack which is not confined to any particular region of Kerala. I always look forward to train journey through Kerala, for these Pazham pori's sold in the station. Its very easy to make, provided you have ripe nenthrapazham at hand. The only drawback is, it drinks lot of oil. I prepared using one banana, so that we will not have much to indulge in.

Ripe plantain - 1
Maida - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 tbspn

Rice flour - 1 tspn (For crispness)

salt, baking soda, yellow color - a pinch each
Oil for deep frying

Method
Mix maida, sugar, rice flour, salt, baking soda and yellow colour well. Add water to make a thick batter.

Cut the banana into two. Slice them into medium thick slices.

Heat oil in a kadai. When oil is hot, dip the slice in the batter and slide carefully into the oil. Deep fry in medium heat. when the banana slice floats in the oil, slowly flip it using a slotted spoon. Fry till it turns golden brown and drain on absorbent paper. Serve hot with a cup of tea/coffee.

This is my entry to Sunday Snacks- Fry it event, hosted by Hima

Thengai Sadam/Coconut Rice

In my childhood days, kalandha sadham/ mixed rice preparations was not very common at home. It made occasional appearance when packing food for travel and invariably for Pathinettamperukku(Aadi-18). We used to look forward to the lemon rice, coconut rice, puliyodarai prepared for the same. That used to be the after-school tiffin for us, with generous helping of karuvadam and rice vadams. Later on,things changed. It was prepared when ever we wanted and we needn't wait for Aadi to arrive. And coconut rice tops my list of favorites. This is how I prepare it. Its ideal for lunch box too.

Rice - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1 cup

Coconut oil- 4 tblspn

Mustard seeds -1 tspn

Urad dal - 1 tspn

Red chilly- 2nos

Hing - a pinch

Curry leaves - few

Salt

Pressure cook rice and spread on a plate to cool. Rice should not cook mushy. It should be cooked but the cooked rice grains should be separate.
Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add urad dal, chillies broken into two,hing and curry leaves. Roast till dal turns light brown. Pour the seasoning over the rice. In the same pan, heat 3 tblspn of coconut oil and add the grated coconut. Roast the coconut till light brown. Add the roasted coconut along with salt to the rice. Mix gently. Serve with applams or any other deep fried fritters. For a change, I have served with an easy potato curry.

Pressure cook cubed potatoes, chopped onions, green chilly and ginger with salt and turmeric. Mash lightly with a ladle. Season with mustard and cumin. A tasty side dish is ready.

This is my entry to Rice Mela hosted by Srivalli

Print Recipe

Pazha Pradhaman.

A payasam/kheer is referred as Pradhaman when the main ingredients are jaggery and coconut milk. The basic recipe for any pradhaman except Palad is the same. The key ingredient like pazham/chakka/chana dal/moong dal is cooked in jaggery and coconut milk. Pazha pradhaman is a Kerala speciality where ripe Nenthrapazham is used. Make sure the bananas are very ripe, else you taste the raw flavor in the pradhaman.

Take two very ripe bananas and steam cook till soft. Remove the skin and slit the banana vertically. Remove the inner black portion. Mash the banana to pulp. You can pulse for few seconds in the mixie or use a hand blender.

banana puree - 1 cup

jaggery powdered - 1 1/2 cup

coconut milk extracted from one big coconut

chopped coconut pieces - 2 tblspn

ghee - 2 tablespoon

Extracting coconut milk
Grate the coconuts. Add one cup of water and grind in the mixie. Extract the thick milk using a cheese cloth. Add another 1 1/2 cups of water and repeat the step of grinding and extracting. You get a thinner extract of coconut milk. Once again add 1 1/2 cups of water and extract the last set of very thin milk. I don't use the store bought coconut milk. Its always fresh milk extracted. So if you are using store bought, adjust the consistency of the milk, accordingly.

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan. Add the mashed banana and saute for few minutes.Melt jaggery with 1/2 cup of water. Strain to remove any impurities. Mix in the mashed banana puree to the jaggery syrup and the third coconut milk. Bring to a boil and let it simmer. When it starts to thicken, Stir in the second milk and bring it to boil. Finally add the first thick milk and remove from fire. Stir well to mix the thick milk added. After adding the thick milk, it should not be heated to avoid curdling.

In a pan, roast the coconut pieces in ghee till brown and garnish the pradhaman with the roasted coconut pieces. Usually cardamom is not added, but if you wish, you can add some cardamom powder too.

This goes to Sunshinemom's FIC-Brown.
If ghee replaced with some vegan butter, its a vegan sweet. And it joins the cleberation at Vaishali's vegan kitchen.

Award
Malar and Sowmya has passed on the Butterfly award for the coolest blog. Thanks Malar and Sowmya for thinking of my blog.

Print Recipe

Molagootal & Vazhathandu Pachadi ~ Lunch Series#2

The next in my lunch series is again Molagootal. But this one is different from the Keerai molagootal blogged earlier. When it is said only molagootal, then it refers to the one which I am posting here. If any greens take the place of veggies, then it is specifically referred as keerai molagootal. The basic method is same for both. Veggies/leaf cooked in dal,coconut gravy. The common veggies used are ash gourd(elavan/puzhinikkai),vellarikkai, raw banana, yam, snake gourd,koorka and the like. Ash gourd is a must. Rest of the veggies are just add-ons to increase the taste. Most of the times its elavan/ash gourd only molagootal. Sometimes, depending on the veggies availability and time, I add few pieces of those.

Ingredients
Ash gourd/elavan chopped into small cubes - 2 cups

moong dal - less than 1/2 cup

salt

turmeric - 1/4 tspn

For grinding

grated coconut - 1/2 cup

red chilly - 1 no

cumin seeds/jeera - 1 tspn

Method

Pressure cook chopped veggies, dal and turmeric with enough water. Grind coconut, red chilly and jeera to a smooth paste by adding required water. Take the cooked dal veggie combo . Mix salt and stir in the ground paste. Adjust the thickness of the gravy by adding water. Bring to a boil and simmer for few minutes. Season with mustard seeds and garnish with curry leaves. This is a bland dish. But it makes a wholesome nutritious soup if u make the consistency thinner. While serving molagootal with rice, add a teaspoon of ghee to the hot rice. Its really yummy.

Usually the side preferred to molagootal is spicy/tangy one. Here it is Vazhathandu/banana stem pachadi. It is very fibrous and is known to remove kidney stones. Drinking vazhathandu juice is highly recommended for kidney stone problem. The outer layer of the stem is removed and then chopped into round pieces. While chopping each pieces, remove the fibre by rolling the finger around the thandu. Put the pieces in water mixed with some buttermilk, to retain the color. Take 3/4 round pieces and chop them into tiny cubes and put them back in water. Use a skewer and rotate it in the bowl of chopped banana stem along with water to remove any left out fibre. Cleaning and chopping the stem is time consuming, but its qualities makes the effort worth.

Chopped banana stem - 2 cups

tamarind - gooseberry sized

turmeric

salt
For grinding
grated coconut - 1/2 cup

green chilly - 2

red chilly - 1

mustard seeds - 1/4 tspn

Soak tamarind in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes. Extract juice and add turmeric and salt to it. Bring the tamarind water to boil. Add the chopped banana stem and let it cook till soft. Grind the coconut,green chilly,red chilly and mustard seeds to a smooth paste. Add to the cooked tamarind mixture. Adjust the consistency by adding water to get a medium thick gravy. Bring to a boil and garnish with curry leaves. Season with tablespoon of oil and mustard seeds.

Usually rasam is also prepared whenever molagootal is made. If it is only for two of us, then I omit rasam, since my husband is not very keen on having rasam.