Coconut Laddu - Sugary Food heaven

Ingredients:
1. Fresh grated coconut - 150 gms + 2 tbsp
2. Condensed milk - 1 small tin - 200 ml
3. Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cashews - halved - 7 nos / chopped - 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a pan, preferably non-stick, add a tbsp of ghee and roast the cashews until they are golden brown.
2.In the same pan, if you have some left over ghee, just add a little extra and add 2 tbsp of freshly grated coconut

3. On medium flame, by roasting continuously, fry it until it is crisp and golden brown. remove it on to a separate plate and set aside for cooling,

4. To the same pan, without adding any extra ghee, add the remaining coconut and toss gently in medium flame. 

5. After 2-3 mins, add the cardamom powder and toss gently.

6. Keep frying in medium -low flame, for up to 5 mins or until the divine aroma of coconut and cardamom comes up together. 

7. Make sure the coconut does not change color, we just want the moisture from coconut to escape. we do not want to roast the coconut to golden brown. 

8. Once the aroma is released, add the condensed milk. I suggest to take the pan off the flame, pour the entire can of condensed milk, mix well and then place it on the flame again.

9. Keep the flame on medium and stir the mixture continuously. At first the mixture might seem weird, with coconut flakes and the condensed milk not incorporated so well, as in the above picture. Just keep stirring. After three minutes of time, my mixture looked like below.

10. As the mixture started to thicken, add the chopped and fried cashews. Mix well.

11. Keep stirring. After 5-6 mins of time, my mixture started sticking on to my wooden spoon and started leaving the pan. 

This indicates we are so close to the right consistency. Once the mixture stops sticking to the pan, there we are.

12. After a minute or so, the mixture started to form a nice , soft and smooth dough like ball.

(You can see how clean my pan is. :) ) 

  

14. Allow it to cool completely, or just warm enough for you to handle it.

15. Make small balls out of the mixture and place the fried halved cashew at the center.

16. Roll it over the roasted coconut crumbs. 

17. Coconut laddu is ready. 

Chakkarai Pongal - Maarghazhi Special.

Ingredients:
1. Rice - 90 gms
2. Green gram Dhal /Moong Dhal - 60 gms
3. Jaggery - 400-450 gms
4. Dry fruits- chopped
5. Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Ghee - 4-5 tbsp

Method:
1. Mix rice and Dhal in a bowl. Wash the rice and dhal mixture well until the water runs clear.
2. Add 125 gms of milk and 375 gms of water to the washed rice and dhal and pressure cook it in High flame for 7-8 whistles.
Cooked rice and dhal mixture looks like below.

3. While it is still hot, mash it well with a ladle. Make sure there are no lumps. 

4. Take the jaggerey in a bowl and add water until it submerges. Cook on stove top.

5. Allow it to boil until the Jaggery melts completely. This is done to remove the impurities in jaggery if any. 

6. Take a big wok and fry the chopped cashews, Almond and Raisins

7. In the same wok, filter the boiled Jaggery mixture and bring it to a boil.

8. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes , while stirring continuously.

9. Allow it to boil until Jaggery syrup reaches the below consistency. The syrup should be thick enough until it coats the ladle thick,

10. Now add the mashed rice and dhal mixture a little at once , as you keep stirring continuously.

11. Once the rice mixture is added in batches , mix well until the jaggery syrup mixes with rice completely.

12. Allow it to boil. After a couple of minutes, add the cardamom powder.

13. Add three tablespoons of  ghee. 

 14. Mix well until the ghee incorporates well.

15. Add the dry fruits.

 16. Mix well and the rest of the two tablespoons of Ghee.

17. Serve Hot.

Authentic Arachi vitta Sambhar - straight from the tamizh Cuisine.

I made this Arachi vitta Sambhar, for making the sambhar vadai for my family. This Sambhar goes well with Vadai, Idli, Dosa , Pongal and of course Rice too.

Ingredients

1. Small Onion - 100 gms
2. Tamarind - a medium lemon sized ball
3. Toor dhal - 100 gms
4. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
5. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
6. Salt - to taste
7. Coriander leaves - To garnish
8. Oil - 4 tbsp

For grinding
1. Grated coconut - 4- 5 tbsp
2. Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
3. Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp
4. 6-7 Red chillies
5. Raw rice - 1/2 tsp

For tempering
1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
3. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
4. Hing / Asafoetida - A pinch

Method:

1. Cook the dhal in pressure cooker until completely mushy, with two cups of water. Consistency of the dhal is very important for the final consistency of the Sambhar. It should be well cooked and mushy.

2.Soak the tamarind in hot water, allow it to rest for sometime for the tamarind to soften.

3. Add a tbsp of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Allow it to splutter. Keep the flame in low and add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and hing. Allow it to fry for a couple of times.

4. Add the peeled and washed small onion and a pinch of salt for the onions to cook.

5. Saute the onions for 5-6 minutes.Until they soften inside and the skin becomes crispy and golden brown.

6. Once the water in which we had soaked the tamarind is cooled down to handle, squeeze the tamarind. filter the tamarind extract and add it to the fried onion.

7. Allow it to boil for 6-7 minutes . Cover the wok and cook. Add a pich of hing, Turmeric and red chilli powder.

8. Allow it to boil again until the raw smell of the tamarind goes off.

9. In a smaller tadka pan, add some oil and add the ingredients under 'To grind' except the coconut. once the dhal is well roasted and the coriander seeds are fried to golden brown and the red chillies are well roasted. Allow it to cool. Add the coconut and grind it into a smooth paste.

10. Add the ground paste to the tamarind and allow it to boil again. stir at regular intervals to avoid the ground mixture from settling down and getting burnt. 

11. After 3-5 minutes of boiling, Add the cooked dhal.

12. Allow it to boil for 5 more minutes, Add coriander leaves and serve hot. 

Kesari - A supreme treat from the kitchens of India

This is my Mom's recipe, which has a medium sweetness that makes you relish the dish and go for that extra spoon with lesser guilt ;-) 

The below measurement serves 4-5 (this could be served in small portions because it is a very rich dessert)

Ingredients:

1. Ravai - 100 gms

2. Sugar - 200 gms

3. Ghee - 5 tbsp

4. Cardamom powder - A pinch 

5. Saffron color food coloring - A pinch 

6. Pistachio - 1 tbsp (chopped)

7. Almonds - 1 tbsp chopped

8. Cashew - 1 tbsp chopped 

9. Saffron strands - A few

10. Tutty Fruity - 1tsp (Optional)

11. Raisins - 1 tbsp 

I recommend to do the entire process in medium low flame. 

Method:

1. Heat a tablespoon of Ghee in a pan. 

2. Add the dry fruit and nut(except tutty fruity and saffron) one by one and fry until golden brown. Do not add all nuts all at once, because they do not get roasted at the same time. 

Once they are golden brown, set aside.

2. Bring about 200 gms of water to boil.

3. In the same pan,  With the ghee, which was left over after adding the nuts, add the rava and roast it. 

4. The rava need not change color, but make sure you get a nice aroma of the semolina. by this we prevent the rava granules to stick to each other and form a porridge consistency.

5. Once the rava is roasted, add the boiling water. please be careful here as the steam might come up to the face. the water must be absolutely hot.

6. Stir it continuously and add the Food coloring and the saffron stands

7. Give it a good mix and make sure the rava is cooked completely. this might take about 3-5 minutes. take a little in your hand and press in between your fingers (Make sure the rava is cooled a bit to handle, do not hurt your fingers). there should be no coarse rava granules felt between your fingers. the rava must be absolutely soft. this is so important because once we add the sugar, the rava will stop cooking. it is important to make sure that the rava is absolutely cooked before adding sugar

8. Measure the sugar and have it ready. Add it little by little , while you are still stirring. you can leave a gap of 30 seconds in between each batch of sugar. I added 200 gms sugar in almost six intervals. by doing this, we make sure there are no lumps formed. if all of the sugar is added all at once, there are high chances of the rava to form lumps and we will have a difficult time breaking it.

9. Once all of the sugar is added , add a table spoon of ghee and mix well. keep stirring. Add the cardamom powder. 

10. As we add the sugar, we will see the mixture loosening and then as the rava and sugar incorporates well, the mixture starts to thicken. Once the mixture leaves the sides of the pan, as shown below, it is ready for the next steps.

 11. Add the fried nuts and add around 2 table spoon of Ghee.

12. Mix well. Serve hot/cold/warm :-) 

Garnish with some nuts and saffron strands.

Avial - A perfect healthy and tasty combo.

Ingredients:

1. Vegetables - chopped into wedges - 300 gms. 

2. Curd - 1 1/2 cups - Fresh , absolute thick curd. 

3. Coconut - 1 cup

4. Green chillies - 6 nos 

5. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon

6. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

7. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp

8. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

9. Salt to taste

10. Hing - 2 tsp

Method:

1. Chop the vegetables into an inch sized wedges. I have used the following green vegetables and starchy vegetables.

please make sure to wash and peel the root vegetables, so that,  no mud/dirt is retained. Rinse them several times, even after peeling the skin, to make sure the vegetables are clean.

Green vegetables

1. Carrot - 1 small

2. Beans - 5 nos

3. cluster beans - 5 nos

4. Broad beans - 3 nos

5. Snake gourd  - 3 inch long piece

6. Pumpkin - 100 gms

Starchy vegetables:

1. Yam - 50 gms
2. Potato - 50 gms
3. Colocasia - 50 gms
4. Green plaintain / Raw Banana - 4 inch long

There are two ways of cooking the vegetables.

Method 1:
2. Steam the vegetables. you can put it in a cooker and cook for two whistles. this is very important. The vegeyables should be steamed and should not be mushy. Every vegetable should retain its shape , texture.


Method 2:
2. Heat coconut oil in a pan. Coconut oil is a must. once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add the curry leaves and once it is fried, add the veggies. Add the salt and mix well, cover and cook for two minutes, for the veggies to soak in some flavour. From the kadai,  transfer it to a bowl and pressure cook.


The veggies might leave out some moisture. make sure to drain the veg stock. please do not waste the stock. add some salt and pepper and have it as a refreshment. The vegetables must be completely dry. there should not be any residual stock.

If you follow Method 1:
 3. Allow the veggies to cool.
4. Grind the coconut, chillies, cumin seeds into a smooth paste.
5. Once the veggies are cooled completely, add curd, ground paste and mix well. if the vegetables are not cool, the curd will become runny, spoiling the appeal of the entire dish.
6. Heat coconut oil, once hot, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing and add it to the Avial. Mix well and serve it with rice or Adai.


If you follow Method 2:

3. Allow the steamed veggies to cool completely.
4. Grind the coconut, chillies and cumin seeds into a smooth paste.
5. Once the veggies are cooled, add curd and the ground paste and serve with rice or Adai.