Recipe : Ribbon Pakoda

Ribbon Pakoda has been an all time favorite and a must for Diwali in most Tamil households for a long time.  It is called ribbon Pakoda as the snack looks like a ribbon.

There are different recipes for this and they all come out equally tasty. My dear sister has this mouth watering combination of ingredients:

Raw rice  : 5 cups
Fried dal  : 1 cup

Wash and dry the rice. Dry roast the dal until a nice aroma arises. Get the rice and dal milled together. This is the basic flour.

The other combinations are:

1)  Besan        : 2 cups
     Rice flour  : 2 cups

2)  Besan        : 1 cup
      Rice flour : 2 cups

3)  Besan              : 1.5 cups
     Fried dal flour : 0.5 cup
     Rice flour        : 2 cups

I have tried all the above combinations with good results.

On to the recipe:

Flour as per any one of the combinations above
Red chilli powder    : 1 or 2 tsp as per taste
Hing                         : 1 tsp
Salt                           :  to taste
Butter                       : 2 tbsp
Black sesame seeds  : 2 tsp
Oil                            : for frying

Method:

Beat the butter and salt together until fluffy. Soak the hing powder in a little water. Mix the flour and red chilli powder in a wide mouthed pan or plate. Add the butter-salt mixture, soaked hing, and sesame seeds. Add water as required and knead to a soft and stiff dough.

Heat the oil. When the oil starts smoking, press the dough into it using the 2 slits plate. Remove from oil when done.
 
Enjoy!        

Recipe: Boondi Laddu

Happy Diwali to all!

I am writing a full post after a very long time; I just couldn't keep away from publishing a new post during Diwali season. Though I am still not able to prepare any fancy sweets this Diwali, I am posting the recipes of the goodies I prepared in the previous years and have not posted.

Boondi Laddu is a melt-in-the-mouth delicacy, prepared all over India in different ways (Unity in Diversity), the main difference being the size of the boondi or globules. The very first time I sent these laddus to my younger son in the US, he said it was a big hit with his American colleagues. They came again and again for these "sugary globules pressed into a ball" and went ga ga over it.

 In the northern part of the country it is popularly known as motichoor laddu as the boondis they prepare are the size of small pearls, hence the name motichoor, moti meaning pearl in hindi.

In the South the boondis are slightly bigger. Laddus are a must in South Indian weddings and all other major functions like Upanayanam, Choulam, and the first birthday of the baby.

Laddus would not be prepared at home until a few years back; we had them only during marriages or upanayanams when we had cooks to come and prepare them. I started preparing them only when we were on our own and did not get the homemade laddus. I remember the first time we prepared these at home was in 1977. My brother was visiting us and I wanted to surprise my parents by sending homemade laddus to them. I do not know their reaction as we did not have instant communication those days like we have today.

Preparing the boondis is the most difficult part of making laddus. Once this has been mastered, the rest is not very difficult. I wish I could post a video of boondi making, later perhaps. One has to use a special ladle, a boondi jarni (a flat spoon with holes), which has an upturned rim so that the batter will not spill from the outer rim.

To the recipe now,

Ingredients:

Bengal gram flour       : 1 cup
(Besan/Kadalamavu/
Kadalehittu)
Sugar                           : 3 cups
Oil                               : for deep frying
Food color (orange)     : a few drops

To garnish

Ghee                            : 4 tbsp
Cloves                          : a few
Pachakarpooram         : one pinch
Saffron (optional)         : a few strands
Cardamom  powder     : 2 tsps
Raisins                          : 2 tbsp
Cashew nuts (broken)  : 2tbsp
Nutmeg powder           : 1/2 tsp
Diamond shaped sugar candy: 2 tbsp
(kalkandu)


Method:

Boil the sugar with 2 cups of water. Remove the impurities by adding a little milk. Make a one string consistency sugar syrup and remove from stove. Add the saffron soaked in a little milk and a few drops of orange food color. Add the cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, pachakarpooram, kalkandu and crushed cloves.

Make a batter of pouring consistency by adding water to the besan.Whisk well so that there are no lumps. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan (Some people use ghee to fry the boondis, but I prefer oil as the ghee solidifies to a sticky texture when it cools). When the oil is heated, hold the ladle (jarni) above the heated oil and pour one big spoonful of batter into the ladle. The batter will drop into the oil as little globules. Fry till they are cooked. They should not become crisp or they will not absorb the sugar. Remove and put in the sugar syrup. Repeat till all the batter is used up.

Heat the ghee in a small pan and fry the raisins and broken cashew nuts to a golden color. Pour over the boondis soaking in sugar syrup. Mix well. Make into balls of desired size.

Enjoy your Diwali with laddus!

Navarathri Neyvedyam / Recipe:- Puttu

Puttu is the favoured neyvedyam on a Navarathri friday. I had been making "Aval Puttu" for Navarathri all these past years. Sometime back, one of the readers had asked me the recipe for Therandukuli  puttu. Thats when I decided to prepare rice puttu. On an experimental basis I prepared this puttu earlier with fantastic results.

This puttu prepared using roasted rice flour, jaggery, cardomom and coconut was traditionally made when girls attained puberty. There used to be celebrations on a grand scale and puttu  was prepared using large quantities of rice. Rice flour was roasted in big urulis. During the days when girls were married before attaining puberty, tradition demanded that huge quantities of puttu be sent to the in-laws house.

Since I have very little time , I shall stop my story telling and proceed with the recipe.


Ingredients:

Raw Rice: 1 cup
Jaggery: 3/4 cup
Grated Coconut: 2 tbsps.
Cardomom powder: 1tsp.
Ghee: 1 tbsp.
Cashew nuts: 1 tbsp.
raisins: 1 tbsp.
Salt a pinch
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp.
Warm water : 1/2 cup

Method:
Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours. Drain and grind to make a fine powder. Roast the rice flour to a light pink color. Allow to cool a little. Add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder to the rice flour. Mix well. Sprinkle warm water little by little to the rice flour mixture and mix gently, until it attains a bread crumbs consistency. Try to make a ball using the rice flour, with the fist. It should form a ball in the fist and crumble when the fist is open. That is the right consistency. Do not add more water. Transfer the rice flour to a clean, cloth and make a bundle.

Keep the cloth bundle on a steamer and steam for 20 minutes. Remove and spread on a clean plate. There should not be any lumps after steaming. If there are any lumps, run the rice flour in the mixer for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, prepare a hard syrup with jaggery(kallu pakam). Add the grated coconut and cardomom powder . Remove from heat and add the steamed rice flour little by little,stirring constantly. Add 1/2 tbsp. ghee and stir again. Stir until all the rice flour gets coated with jaggery and the puttu turns out like sand grains. It should not turn to a sticky mass(this means the syrup is not the right consistency).

Heat the remaining ghee and fry the raisins and cashew nuts to a golden brown color and pour over the puttu.

Offer to Devi and distribute to all guests. You will win accolades.

Happy Navarathri!

Uthrada Sadhya / Recipe: Erissery(Nendrankaya and Elephant Yam)

Hope everyone had as lip smacking a Uthrada Sadhya today as we did.

We had Rasakalan, Erissery (plantain and elephant yam), Olan, Naranga Puliinji (a new recipe), Semiya Payasam, Pappadam and Upperi. My brother and nephew joined us for lunch.

I had given the recipe for Mathan Erissery some time back. The erissery with Nendrankaya and Chena (yam) is the one which is prepared for traditional sadhyas (feasts), especially for Onam. The recipe is a little different from Mathan Erissery.

Ingredients:

Nendrankaya (raw Nendran banana): 1 no
Elephant yam (Chena): 250gms
Turmeric powder: 1tsp
Pepper powder: 2 tsp
Jaggery: 2 tsp
Grated coconut: 3/4 cup
Jeera:1tsp

Coconut oil: 1tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1tsp
Urad dal: 1tsp
Curry leaves: 2 sprigs
Salt to taste

Method:

Cut the banana vertically (do not peel) and then chop into 1/2" thick slices. Chop the yam into similar sized pieces.

Pressure cook the vegetables, adding turmeric powder and pepper powder.

Grind half the quantity of the coconut and 1tsp of jeera to a smooth paste.

Transfer the cooked vegetables into a thick bottomed pan and boil. Add salt and jaggery. Allow to cook for 5 mnts. Add the ground coconut paste and boil again. Remove from heat. Add few curry leaves.

Heat oil in a wide pan. When the oil starts smoking, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start crackling, add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns pink in color, add a few curry leaves and the remaining grated coconut. Fry on a moderate heat until the coconut turns brown in color. Pour on to the prepared curry.

njoy Erissery.

Happy Onam to all.

P.S. Nendrankaya can be substitued with other varieties of raw banana also. The taste would differ accordingly.

Carrot Kozhukkattais

Once the month of Avani starts, there is an unending series of festivals. Close to Avani Avittam, we celebrated Gokulashtami and before we know it, Ganesh Chaturthi will arrive, to be followed immediately by Onam. Not too far away is Navarathri.

Though Ganesh Chaturthi was  a week away, I prepared sweet and savoury kozhukkattais last week, as our elder son was with us  and was going back to his work place before Ganesh Chaturthi. 

This time, for savoury kozhukkattais, I prepared carrot kozhukkattais. They came out very well and every one appreciated the new taste.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients for the outer shell of the kozhukkattais are given here.

Ingredients for the stuffing:

Grated carrot: 1 cup
Moong dal without husk: 1/2 cup
Grated coconut: 1/2 cup
Green chillies : 2 nos

Salt to taste

For the garnish:
Mustard: 1tsp.
Split urad dal: 1tsp
Hing: 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves: a few

Oil: 2 tsps

Method:

Dry roast the moong dal to a light pink color. Cook with little water so that they are done but not over cooked. It should be soft to touch but the grains should remain separate.

Grind the coconut with green chillies without adding water.

Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan. Add the hing and mustard. When the mustard starts crackling, add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns pink in color, add the curry leaves, followed by grated carrots.Saute` for 5 minutes, add the cooked moong dal and saute` again for 2 minutes. Add the coconut mixture. Mix well and remove from heat.

Prepare the rice flour dough for the outer covering as per this recipe.

Make small cups of the dough and stuff 2 tsps. of the stuffing into it. Steam for 15-20 minutes.

Yummy carrot kozhukkattais are ready!

So, this time,for Ganesh Chaturthi, go the vegetable way!

Happy Gowri Ganesha to all. May the Elephant faced God remove all obstacles and give a Happy and Prosperous life to all of us.

Vella Cheedai (Sweet Cheedai)

Sweet cheedais are a little bigger than the savoury cheedais. They are sweet crunchies, with a nice flavour of sesame seeds and cardamom powder. They are similar to savoury cheedais except that jaggery is added to the flour to make the cheedais sweet.

Ingredients:

Rice flour : 1 cup
Grated jaggery : 3/4 cup
Sesame seeds : 1 tsp
Roasted urad dal powder: 1 tsp
Butter: 2 tsp
Coconut cut into small pieces: 1 tsp
Cardamom powder : 1/4 tsp

Method:

Seive the rice flour twice to remove any grains and dry roast it to a light pink color. Cool.

Prepare the urad dal powder as described in the earlier post of cheedai.

Melt the jaggery in half a cup of water. Strain to remove impurities. Cool. Mix the rice flour and urad dal powder. Add the cardamom powder and sesame seeds. Mix well. Rub in the butter. Add the coconut pieces. Mix well.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the jaggery syrup. Knead well to make a soft dough.

Roll into slightly bigger balls than for the savoury cheedais.

Heat the oil. When the oil starts smoking, add the cheedais, a handful at a time and fry to a reddish brown color. Repeat till all cheedais are fried.

Crunchy, sweet cheedais are ready.

njoy!

A word of caution:- Be careful about the quantity of jaggery. It could be a little less than the prescribed measure, never more, which will cause the cheedais to disintegrate when put in oil.

Cheedai

Cheedais are unique to Tamil Nadu and Kerala and are synonymous with Gokulashtami (Ashtami Rohini/ Sree Krishna Jayanthi). These crunchy, yummy marble sized balls are liked by young and old and are very easy to prepare. Having said that, I must caution that things could go wrong even for an experienced cheedai maker. Instead of the crunchy crispies, one might end up with soft, chewy cheedais. Another thing that could go wrong in cheedai making is that the cheedais might explode when dropped into hot oil which can be quite hazardous. First time cheedai makers should make sure that little children are out of range and preferably, there is another adult present at home.

I have had a very bad experience while making cheedais. The very first time I made cheedais on my own was when both our children were under 3 years of age. Hubby dear was out of town on work and on Gokulashtami day, I decided to make cheedais  for our unnikrishnans (little krishnans - our babies). Those were not the days of internet - no google search for cheedai recipes. We did not even have a telephone to call home and ask for recipes, like our younger son does these days. But we had very friendly neighbours who were ever ready to lend a helping hand. Since I was the youngest occupant in the building, Komala mami and Lakshmi mami were always giving me tips on running the household. So, memorizing the recipe given by them, I ventured to make cheedais on my own. Our elder son, all of 2-1/2 years of age, was ever ready to help me. Our younger son was tied to his post, or else he too would crawl and come to help me. So, whenever I had  some work I did not want the baby to crawl into, I would tie a long string to his aranjan (this is a black cord tied to the waist of the babies on the 28th day) and tie the other end to the window grill, so that he would be free to move around the room, but not crawl into the kitchen or bathroom. His anna (elder brother) would keep him company.

Cheedais were made and were ready to be deep fried. Having warned our elder son not to come into the kitchen to help me, I started putting the cheedais into the hot oil. Within seconds they started exploding spraying hot oil all around. Our elder son, the all time joker those days, came running to see crackers bursting in the kitchen and also called out to his brother saying, "Nandu, come and see, amma is bursting crackers inside the kitchen". I had the presence of mind to switch off the stove and to send our son with an SOS to call Komala mami and Lakshmi mami. He wouldn't budge as the crackers were still bursting. I said, "Go tell mamis that mummy has crackers inside the kitchen". He immediately ran upstairs and brought the mamis, who said not to worry and to abort the cheedai making. "Make dosas with the dough", they said.

I have been making cheedais every year since then and they have never exploded. I was surprised when my sister-in-law said her cheedais exploded this year, as she is an expert in making these deep fried goodies. This was one of the reasons I did not post cheedai recipe earlier, because I did not want our over enthusiastic younger son to try making cheedais with a little baby around.

There are 2 types of cheedais, savoury and sweet. We will have the recipe for savoury cheedais first.

Over to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rice flour  : 1 cup
Urad dal powder : 2 tsp
Grated coconut: 2 tbsp
Butter: 2 tsp
Hing powder: 1/4 tsp
Jeera: 1/2 tsp
Black pepper: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: a few
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method:

Most of the crunchy snacks in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have Urad dal powder as the main ingredient, which gives the dish the crunchiness, if used in the right proportion.

Dry roast 1 cup of urad dal to a light pink color at which time a nice aroma will arise out of it. Cool and powder it in an absolutely dry grinder. Seive this powder twice to make sure that the powder is absolutely fine without any grains (Presence of grains in the powder is one of the causes of exploding cheedais). This powder can be stored in an air tight container for up to a year and used when ever necessary.

Seive the rice flour twice again to make sure there are no grains in the flour. Dry roast the rice flour in low heat for 5 minutes.

Dry grind the coconut, jeera, pepper, curry leaves, hing and salt to a coarse consistency. Mix the rice flour and urad dal powder well. Rub in the butter. Add the ground coconut mixture and knead to a soft dough adding water if necessary. The ground coconut mixture will add some greasiness to the dough, so add water very carefully. Make marble sized balls of the dough.

Once all the dough is shaped into balls, heat oil in a wide kadai. When the oil starts smoking, reduce the heat and put a handful of the balls into the hot oil. Keep away from the stove and watch for any explosion. Increase the heat after 2 minutes and when the balls turn light brown in color, remove from oil. Repeat until all the balls are fried.

To test the cheedais, press one cheedai in your palm. If the cheedai breaks softly and the inside is fried, it is done. It will turn crunchy when cold. Store in air tight tins.

Have a safe cheedai making session!

Mambazha Pulisserry ( Sweet and Sour Mango Gravy)

This sweet and sour and mildly spicy curd based ripe mango gravy enriched with coconut paste is a unique Kerala dish, which is an all time favourite of all Keralites. Especially so in our family, where during the months of April, May and June this dish is prepared so very often and yet we never get tired of eating this mouth watering delicacy. In our family, we add a pinch of jaggery to almost all dishes. Thus a sweet dish is always savoured with great enthusiasm. (Our family is known as a Pulacode family, though we hail from Puthucode. Our grandfather's parents migrated to Puthucode from a village by name Pulacode, along with some cousins and hence the name. All Pulacodians like their everyday curries sweetened with little jaggery). Sometime ago our younger son visited a cousin of ours whose family had stayed back in Pulacode during the above said migration. When our son came back, my astute and blessed m-i-l, as was her practice, asked her grandson, "So what did Ammini Athai serve you for lunch?"

"Mambazha Pulissery", he answered and corrected, "no no, Mambazha Payasam"

Then the two had a hearty laugh.

Such is the affinity of Pulacodians towards sweet.

Not only Keralites, but everyone who has tasted my mambazha pulissery has admired the dish. Recently a young Kannadiga girl who tasted the dish said, "this is an all in one dish, it has all the flavours".

Coming to the recipe, this Pulisserry can be prepared with any type of mango, but the small sized mango, which is known as "Adakka manga"(Areca nut mangoes, so called because of their small size) is the right choice for this. During wedding feasts, hundreds of these ripe mangoes are boiled in huge urulis the previous night itself so that they would cool down by morning to be peeled and squeezed. I also pressure cook the mangoes the previous night last thing before going to bed, so that they would be easier to peel in the morning. Finishing part of the cooking the previous night is a system we adopted when I was working and we had to have the lunch and breakfast ready by 8 am in the morning. There were no breakfast cereals back then. Even today, I cook a full fledged breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Back to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Ripe mangoes(big): 4
or
Small mangoes : 10
Grated coconut : 1½ cups
Green chillies : 4 or 5
Mildly sour thick curds : 2 cups
Jaggery(optional) : 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder : 1tsp.
Salt :to taste
Curry leaves : 1 sprig
Oil : 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 2tsp.
Fenugreek seeds : 1/tsp
Red chillies : 2 nos.


Method:

Wash and cut the stem off the mangoes. Make a slit on either side of the mangoes, if you are using big mangoes. Pressure cook the mangoes in 2 cups of water. You can also microwave high for 7 minutes. Allow to cool. Peel the skin off. Squeeze the flesh off the mangoes. Keep the seeds. Use the water in which the mangoes were boiled to squeeze any flesh off the skin of the mangoes. Mix the mango pulp with a spoon to make a homogeneous mixture. Add the seeds to the mixture.

Beat the curds to a uniform consistency.

Grind the coconut with green chillies using a spoon of beaten curds to a thick consistency; not very smooth.

Boil the mango pulp for 5 minutes, stirring well. Add turmeric powder, salt and jaggery. Mix the ground coconut with the remaining beaten curds and add to the boiling mango pulp. Allow to boil once and remove from the stove. Garnish with curry leaves.

Heat the oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the fenugreek seeds, broken red chillies and curry leaves.
When the red chillies start changing color, remove from the stove and pour over the prepared pulissery.

njoy!

Mambazha pulissery tastes great with rice, dosa, idli, kozhukkattai or chapati.

Recipe: Cabbage Thoran

Thoran comprises stir fried vegetables garnished with coconut and green chillies. They are very easy and simple to prepare and delicious. Thorans are served as side dishes. Thorans can be prepared with a single vegetable like cabbage, carrot, beet root, beans, etc. or as a combination of 2 or 3 vegetables. Sometimes boiled toor dal is added to the thoran, which gives it added flavour.

Ingredients:

Cabbage chopped very fine: 2 cups
oil : 1 tbsp.
mustard : 1 tsp.
urad dal : 1 tsp.
Red chillies :1 no.
Curry leaves : few
Grated coconut : 2 tbsp.
Green chillies : 1 no.
Ginger : 1 small piece
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Salt : to taste
Hing powder : a pinch

Method


Wash the chopped cabbage. Heat oil in a wide pan. When oil is hot, add the hing powder and mustard. When the mustard stops spluttering, add the urad dal and red chillies broken into small pieces. When the urad dal turns light pink in color add the curry leaves. Add the cabbage, mustard powder and salt. Stir well and cook closed, at low heat. Stir in between.

Grind the grated coconut, green chillies and ginger coarsely.

When the vegetable is cooked, add the ground coconut. Stir well and remove from stove.

Cabbage thoran is ready!

Cabbage thoran is good side dish for rice and sambar, rotis, chappathis, dosa, etc.

Recipe: Chakka varatti (Jackfruit Jam)

I made elai adai today.

Having given the recipe for making elai adai long ago and having been requested by many friends to post the recipe for chakka varatti (jackfruit jam), the main ingredient in elai adai, I thought of writing it now, years after posting the elai adai recipe.

Preparing jackfruit jam is a laborious process. However, I prefer to prepare it at home as the store-bought jackfruit jam does not taste as good and also does not keep for long. When we were children many many tins of jackfruit jam were prepared at home and stored for the whole year and also for distributing to the extended family members who were living in far off places. We had jack fruit trees in our farm and huge jackfruits, some weighing up to 20kgs would get unloaded every day during the season. That was also the time when all the family members would get together for the summer vacations. It used to be great fun. With the jack fruit cut open and made into small pieces, all the children would sit around and remove the fruit-lets from the thick skin. The jam used to be prepared in huge urulis and the process took 2 or 3 days. It would get cooked on fire wood stoves and after it was boiled for 1 or 2 hours and the fire wood burnt out, it would be allowed to simmer in the heat of the stove.

These days I prepare in smaller quantities in 2 or 3 installments as stirring the thickening jam needs great arm strength.

While getting the jack fruit ready, one needs to oil one's palms before cutting the jack fruit otherwise the sticky resin in the fruit gets stuck in the palm. The fuit lets have to be removed and the white thick bracts on them also need to be removed and so also the seeds. The seeds can be used in many delicious curries.

On to the preparation:

We will go in 2 steps. First step is making jack fruit pulp.

Ingredients:

Jackfruit:  1

Clean the jack fruit as said above. Cut the fruit lets into small pieces. Pressure cook the jack fruit pieces with enough water to submerge the cut fruit.

Drain the water, cool and run the cooked fruit in the mixie or food processor to get a smooth pulp. Reserve the water for making jaggery syrup.The jaggery for the jam is measured in proportion to the pulp obtained.

On to the 2nd step:-

Fruit pulp as per method above : 1 measure
Jaggery: 1 measure
Ghee : 3 - 4 tbsp.for about three cups.

Method:

Melt the jaggery in the water reserved as in the step 1. Strain and heat in a heavy bottomed pan. Use a thick spatula to mix the jam.Add the fruit pulp and keep stirring until the whole mass thickens. This would take about 3-4 hours. This can be done in various stages also. Once the jaggery and the fuit pulp starts thickening, the preparation can be stopped and continued next day. The end point is when the jam leaves the sides of the pan rolls around the spatula. Add 3 tbsp. ghee and mix well. Allow to cool. Store in a clean,air tight plastic/stainless steel container and pour 1 tbsp of ghee on top.It can also be stored in zip lock bags. It keeps good in room temperature if prepared strictly according to procedure. It can safely be refrigerated for  up to 2 years.

Enjoy preparing Elai Adai, Chakka Pradhman, Elai Kozhukkattai or have with Adai or Dosa.

Karadayan Nonbu

Tomorrow is Karadayan nonbu. This nonbu (vrat) is observed for the long life of the husbands, hence the main ritual for this nonbu is tying of the nonbu charadu (yellow thread, similar to the one the bridegroom ties around the neck of the bride) at the time of the Meena Shankranti. This year the time given for this ritual is between 8.15 and 9.00pm IST.
Many readers have been asking me for the Nonbu adai recipe. I have already given the recipe for sweet as well as savoury adais.
I wish every one a happy nonbu.  Offer Nonbu adais as neivedyam for  Parvathi Devi Sametha Uma Maheshwara and pray for a long and happy married life with good health and cheer.

Let there be happiness all around!

Mysorepak

How this ever popular sweet got its name has been a mystery for me always and to this day I have no clue about the origins of the name. Mysorepak has been a very popular sweet for the Kalyana cheeru (sweets given during marriage) for more than 6 or 7 decades among Kerala Iyers. When my chithappas were married, each mysorepak that came with cheeru was almost  4"x2"x2"  in size. So huge; of course the laddus and appams were also the size of coconuts then. Appam dough was not poured into the mould using a ladle but using big glasses.

The original mysorepaks have this brownish color in the centre and a cream color at either end and they are porous and crisp and melt in the mouth. These days, the soft mysorepaks are more popular. I prefer the crispy, porous ones though.

The trouble with mysorepak, for many, is always that it tends to either become brick-like or just crumble to pieces. Getting the mysorepak just right is not very difficult though.The important ingredient, the bengalgram dal powder (besan) is usually the culprit. The store bought besan is sometimes adulterated and you may not get the best results with it. I usually buy the bengalgram and get it powdered taking care to see that no other powder gets mixed with it. I know it is a tall order in most places now; perhaps you can buy the branded ones from reputed stores. I am trying to give step by step instructions with the help of photographs at various stages of preparation; sorry, no videos this time. Now on with the job.

Ingredients:

Bengal gram flour (besan) : 1 cup
Sugar: 3 cups
Ghee: 3 cups
Lemon juice: 1tsp

Method:

Sieve the besan so that there are no lumps. In a large thick bottomed pan, put the sugar and just enough water to dissolve it. When the sugar dissolves, lower the heat and add the lemon juice. The impurities in the sugar will form a layer on top. Carefully remove this layer. Increase the heat. Meanwhile heat the ghee on another stove. Lower the heat before the ghee reaches smoking point. Keep the ghee  heated; it is this hot ghee poured into the mysore pak at various stages of its preparation that gives it the brown colour in between and the porous texture.

Keep a tray greased.

The sugar syrup should attain one string consistency (remove a little syrup between your fingers and stretch. A fine thread will form between the fingers).

Now add the besan to the sugar syrup a little by little while stirring constantly.

First timers could have some one else do this for them, when they are doing the stirring part. When all the besan has been added, add a ladle of hot ghee and continue to stir. The whole mass should be boiling with some white bubbles at the sides.

Keep adding the hot ghee ladle by ladle, with constant stirring, until all the ghee has been used. Continue to stir, until the whole mass starts frothing from all sides and leaves the sides of the pan while stirring.

Immediately remove from the stove and pour into the greased tray. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar on top. Allow to cool and cut into desired size after half an hour.

Tasty, porous, mysore pak is ready.

Njoy!

Having some one add the besan reminds me of the distress overseas phone call my handsome and charming younger son made years ago, while, then a novice in cooking, he was trying to prepare Upma. He asked me how one was to add the rava to the boiling water while stirring. I asked him how he did it in India, while learning how to make upma. "Then", he replied, "as I was stirring, patti (ammupatti) would add the rava, or if I added the rava, patti would stir. How can I do both together?" Now that he is a very good cook, things are very different altogether.

Happy Diwali.

Navarathri at Jalandhar

Hope everyone had a nice Navarathri. We had a nice Navarathri, this time at Jalandhar. While leaving for Jalandhar last month, my sis-in-law asked me,”What would you do for Navarathri in Jalandhar, you won’t be able to have your kolu and inviting people for thamboolam”. I said, “I will peacefully do all my puja and recitation of Lalitha Sahasranamam and Soudrya Lahiri and other stotras”. I did exactly that and I also made different neivedyams every day. On Vijayadasami day, we had Neyyappam, Vada, Dhokla, Semiya Payasam, tomato bhath, lemon rice and curds rice. We also invited two couples for lunch. I had the satisfaction of celebrating Navarathri at a faraway place.


The attraction in North India is of course, the Ramlila when, on Vijayadashami day, the effigies of Raavan, Kumbhkaran and Meghdhoot are burnt with bursting of a lot of crackers and merriment. My maid was asking me, if we had similar burning of effigies in our place, to which I said, no. She asked me,”Aap to Raavan ka pooja karte honge, na”( perhaps,you would be doing puja to Ravana), “I have heard there are people down south who worship Ravana”. I said, though we do not worship Ravana, we dont burn any effigies either. However, we decided to go and watch the fun in the evening. We barely managed to see the last effigy, of Ravana, being burnt. We did wander through the very crowded mela though. Maybe the next year we will be able to see the whole event.

Vella Payar (Sweet Cowpeas)

No Navarathri is complete for Puthucodians without this sweetened cowpeas neivedyam. Most of the houses will have this offering on the first day itself as a sweet beginning.This is also distributed as Prasadam in the temple during Navarathri. I invariably  make this neivedyam on the first day as well as on Saraswati puja day. 

This dish is also prepared when the new born baby is put in the cradle for the first time. Yes, we have a function for putting the baby in the cradle. Usually it is done on the 28th day after the baby is born in the maternal grandparents’ home as is the custom. When the baby is taken to the paternal grandparents’ home, there again is a cradle function. But I digress; Vellapayar brought back memories.

Let us get on with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Cowpeas: 1 cup (it is also known as black eyed peas)

Jaggery : 3/4 cup

Cardamom powder: 1tsp.

Freshly grated coconut: 2 tbsp.

Method:

Wash and soak the peas in enough water (the water level should be above the peas) overnight. Pressure cook the peas in the same water. The peas should be cooked very soft. Otherwise they will harden when put in the jaggery syrup.

Melt the jaggery in one cup of water. Strain to remove all the impurities, sand particles etc. Pour the strained syrup in a wide, thick bottomed pan and heat to make a soft syrup. Add the coconut gratings and cooked peas. Mix well. Keep stirring until all the moisture is absorbed. Remove from heat, add cardamom powder and offer as neivedyam.

Enjoy!

Happy Navarathri!

Navarathri Neivedyams

Having said that Navarathri is the celebration of the power of the Divine Mother, Shakthi, and hence the celebratrion of womanhood, it also has to be admitted that it is the busiest season for women. Any festival is a lot of activity in the Indian families and a festival spreading over 9 nights and 10 days keeps the women all the more busy.

The preparations for Navarathri has to start a couple of weeks in advance, like preparing the “kolupadi”(steps for arranging the dolls), taking the dolls out from their safes, cleaning the dolls, decorating the kolu mantap, planning the kolu neivedyams and invitee lists, planning the give away gifts,planning the pujas, the list is endless.Though there always was a lot of activity prior to Navarathri in the olden days, it has become much more hectic in the present day situation for the working women.

For the Puthucodians though, Navarathri is even more hectic as there is the 10 day temple festival in the Bhagavathi temple. Navarathri is the annual festival in the Annapoorneswari temple and has always been a big celebration. The celebrations are getting grander by the year with Her children, who are spread all over the world, becoming more and more prosperous. This annual festival is also the time for a grand reunion for all the Puthucodians.

When we were children,we had wooden collapsible steps for the arranging of the dolls, which would be put together by the carpenter at the beginning of Navarathri and dismantled after Navarathri every year. From the time the carpenter arrived for putting up the Mandapa padi (the steps), we children would get ready for the bigger events to follow. We had to run a lot of errands to get things ready. The great event was making a adhesive paste with maida. There were no quick fix or instant adhesives then. The local decorator was Mr.Swamy, who would get called to all the households to cut and paste flowers, animals and festoons out of crepe paper. With the help of the children (children from all families helped Mr.Swamy in this in all the houses), Mr.Swamy would finish the job in time for the women to arrange the dolls on the first day of Navarathri. Then we had to take out the dolls from the wooden boxes and almirahs, clean them and do minor repairs if needed. We had to dress up some of the dolls. With scraps of material collected from the tailor, we would dress up the dolls and make necklaces with beads for decorating them.

After installing Devi at the Kolu mantap, puja and neivedyams were offered three times a day and special pujas were offered on the last three days. Some households observed a special Navarathri puja on all the 9 days which was more elaborate. Our echiyamma and Kalathappa (my paternal grandparents)observed the special Navarathri puja whenever they were in Puthucode during Navarathri. Sometimes the harvesting season, when they would be at our farmhouse, coincided with Navarathri. Our Kalathappa believed in the dictum, “Work is Worship” and stayed put in the farm house. Only our echiyamma would make a lightning trip home on the important days of Navarathri. In those years, we had special puja only on the last three days. However, we children participated in the daily special Navarathri puja at our Amman’s (our echiyamma’s beloved brother) house.

There would be a payasam for the Navarathri puja every day in the morning. It could be palpayasam, maasi pournami payasam, kovil payasam or neypayasam. When one had enough of payasams, there would be what in our house is knowns as Shashti payasam. This is an interesting payasam. Some rice would be cooked in milk and water and 2 pieces of jaggery would be kept on top and offered for puja. We children would fight for the piece of jaggery.

The practice those days was to invite everyone on all days and distribute prasadams and thamboolam to all. We children would visit all houses on a regular basis and by the time we returned our hands would be full of little packets filled with all sorts of goodies given as prasadams from all houses. That would suffice for our dinner.

In Puthucode (that is the only place I have been to for Navarathri other than Bangalore), a variety of neivedyams were offered. We had sweets as well as savouries for Neivedyams and each day there was a new one. The common neivedyams offered were Sweet Payar (this was a must),Chundal (we knew about only one type of Chundal, that is the Kondai kadalai chundal), Neyyappam, Morappam, Bajji, Bonda, Pakoda, Sweet Aval, Okkarai, Kozhukkattais (Sweet, Ulundu, Ammini, Sweet Ammini), Puttu, Vada, Pori urundai etc. In Bangalore, where I have seen only Tamilians having the Bommaikolu, the neivedyams are almost always a chundal, either chana or chana dal or moong or rajma, etc.

With people getting busier and having to visit many houses and also entertain guests in their houses, these days it is very difficult to determine the number of guests you would have on a particular day. The new trend is to fix one or two days and invite people on those days only so that one can have an idea about the expected guests. And yet, somebody would always drop in on some other day. So these days, I make a  sweet and savoury like rava ladoo, ribbon pakoda, thenkuzhal, manoharam or muthucharam at the beginning of Navarathri which would keep until the end of Navarathri. This could be offered to guests visiting anytime. Additionally, I would prepare limited quantities of  fresh neivedyams every day for distribution. I plan it in such a way that I would have couple of people visiting everyday for thamboolam.

Puthucode Navarathri itself is material for series of blog posts, which I dare not attempt now.

Happy Navarathri!

Ulundu kozhukkattai

Hope everyone celebrated Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi in a grand way. I was travelling on both occasions and hence could not celebrate the functions as usual at home. But my recently married son and daughter-in-love who are now in living US celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi by making kozhukkattais and they turned out very well, they said! I was so very happy hearing this (My mother was a bit unhappy that I could not celebrate either festival).

We were on a pilgrimage to Rameswaram on Janmashtami and we were travelling to Jalandhar on Ganesh Chaturthi. We are now in Jalandhar, where our elder son is currently posted. Jalandhar Cantt. is a beautiful place with long stretches of roads without much traffic or pollution and greenery all around. The weather is still warm though. It took me almost a week to unpack and get the kitchen in full swing. Each time I visit our son at his new place of posting, I feel, I may not after all get through this unpacking and get the kitchen going and each time my husband assures me that you will come around in a few days time. I am through this time also.

I have been wanting to post the recipe for savoury kozhukkattai for a long time now and since I could not post it during Ganesh Chaturthi, I am posting the recipe now. I have been making varieties of savoury kozhukkattais. Here I am sharing with you the traditional savoury kozhukkattai, also known as Ulundu kozhukkattai or Urad dal kozhukkattai.

Ingredients:

For the outer covering:
Rice flour: 1½ cups
Coconut oil or any other cooking oil: 2tsp.
Salt: a pinch
Water 3 cups

For the stuffing;

Urad dal : 1/4 cup
Grated coconut : 2 tbsp.
Green chillies: 1 or 2
Salt to taste
Oil: 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 1tsp.
Urad dal: 1tsp.
Hing: 1tsp
Curry leaves : a few

Soak the urad dal for 1/2 hr. Drain the water completely and grind with green chilles, coconut and salt coarsely. Spread the mixture on a clean cloth and steam for 10mnts. Cool and crumble with hands. Heat oil in a pan. Add hing and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns pink in color, add the curry leaves and crumbled urad dal and coconut mixture. Shallow fry for five minutes. The stuffing is ready.

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 in 1½cups 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 lemon 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 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.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Erissery

Atham was last week. Thiruonam is round the corner. It is not Ponnin Chingam yet. All the same, Onam festivities begin with Atham. How soon time flies. I cannot believe one year has passed since we last celebrated Onam. Happy Onam to all my readers.

As usual, I started my Pookkalam on Atham day. I was pleasantly surprised to see a nicely done Pookkalam in front of a house during my walk this morning. I regretted not taking my camera along. I did the next best thing I could at that moment, I went upto the door and rang the bell and congratulated the lady of the house for the beautiful Pookkalam.

As I have said in my earlier Onam blogs, Onam means good food, happiness and well-being. I would like to give few of the Onam special recipes during this Onam season.

I will start with Erissery. Erisserry is an exclusive Kerala dish. Erisserry can be prepared using Yam and Banana, Red Pumpkin, Jackfruit, etc. Though the Onam special is erisserry made of Yam and banana, today I am giving the recipe of Mathan Erisserry (pumpkin erisserry) which is a favourite of all at home. During our younger son’s early days in America, he used to say he was not able to get red pumpkin (though when I visited US I found that varieties of squash and pumpkins were available). I used to tell him to go to the pumpkin carving during Halloween and collect all the pieces the carver would cut as waste.:) Let us get moving with erisserry.

Ingredients

cow peas : 2 tbsp.
Red Pumpkin: ½ kg
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Jaggery: 1 tsp.
Grated coconut: 4 tbsp.
Jeera: ½ tsp.
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp.
Mustard: 1tsp.
Urad dal: 1 tsp.
Curry leaves: 2 sprigs.

Method:

Soak the cowpeas in water for 3-4 hours and pressure cook.

Grind 2 tbsp grated coconut and jeera to a fine paste.

Cut the pumpkin into 2” pieces. Cook the cut vegetables with turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt, adding 1 cup of water. Add cooked cowpeas.Add jaggery (this is optional. If the pumpkin is naturally sweet, you may omit the jaggery). Add the ground coconut paste and boil. Remove from the stove and add one sprig of curry leaves.

Heat the coconut oil in a wide fry pan, add mustard, urad dal and curry leaves. When the urad dal turns to light pink, add the remaining grated coconut and fry till the coconut turns red in color. Pour the seasoning on top of Erisserry.

This erisserry can be served with rice, chappathis, dosa, etc.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Pacha Kadugumanga

Pacha Kadugumanga is also a unique dish of Kerala and goes well with rice, idli, dosa, kozhukkattai or chapathi. This is a good combination to go with any type of molakoottal. As the name suggests, this dish is made with pachamanga (raw mango). Mixed with cool curds and seasoned with green chillies and mustard, this dish tastes simply superb on hot summer days. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Raw mango (big) : 1
Grated Coconut: 1 cup
Green chillies : 3 or 4
Mustard : 2 tsp.

Fresh beaten curds: 1 cup
Oil: 2 tsp.
Urad dal: 1 tsp.
Curry leaves: few
Salt to taste
Sugar : 1tsp (Optional)

Method:
Wash and cut the mango into small pieces as in manga curry. Grind the grated coconut with the green chillies and 1 tsp mustard and salt to a smooth paste. Instead of water, add a little beaten curds for easy grinding. Mix the mango pieces and ground coconut paste and sugar to the curds and mix well.

Heat the oil. Add the remaining mustard. When the mustard splutters add the urad dal. When the urad dal turns pinkish, add the curry leaves and pour the tempering to the prepared dish.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Manga Curry

This is a pickle which is made in small quantities more often during the mango season as this pickle does not keep well for long. Whenever a fresh lot of mangoes is brought home, one bottle of manga curry is made which will soon disappear.

Ingredients:
Big raw mango cut into tiny pieces: 5 measures
Salt powder: 1 measure
Chilli powder: 1 measure
Hing: a small piece
Methi seeds: 1 tsp.
Gingelly oil: 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.

Method:
Heat ½ tsp of oil and fry the hing and methi seeds. Cool and powder.
Wash and dry the mangoes and cut into small pieces. Add the salt, chilli powder, and the methi and hing powder. Mix well. Heat the remaining oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add to the pickle. This will be ready to use in 2 hours. This pickle will keep fresh longer under refrigeration.

Recipe: Manga Chammandi/Mango Chutney

Chammandi is Malayalam for chutney. Once the mango season arrives, every other day we have manga chammandi. As I mentioned earlier it was either mango koottan or chakka kari or chakka molakoottal and manga chammandi. This is a delicious chutney and goes well with plain rice, idli, dosa, or chapatti. It is the best side dish for any type of molakoottal.

Ingredients:

Raw mango: 1 no.
Grated Coconut: 1 cup
Urad dal: 1 tsp.
Red chillies: 2 or 3 nos.
Hing powder: ¼ tsp.
Jaggery: a small piece
Salt to taste.
Curry leaves: few
Coconut oil for seasoning.

Preparation:
Cut the mangoes into small pieces. Heat ½ tsp of oil in a pan and add the hing and urad dal and red chillies and fry till the urad dal turns pink in color. Cool. Grind the mangoes, coconut, fried spices, curry leaves, salt and jaggery to chutney consistency. The moisture for grinding will come from the raw mangoes. This is thick chutney and hence, add only very little water during grinding if required. Serve seasoned with 1 tsp of coconut oil.