Pineapple Kesari

Kesari is traditionally one of the quick fix sweets in south Indian kitchen. Whenever there are some unexpected guests in our house we would expect kesari and bajji for our snack at teatime. I remember one time when my mom desperately wanted to make some Kesari for our guests and she ran out of elaichi. She wanted me to go to the store, when I was making huge money in my trade game with my cousins.I was not ready and I asked my mom " why not make it without elakkai" she replied that "Its not kesari if there is no ellaikai its just rava kanji".Even then I didnt go to the store but my cousin did ,so thats another story. So here is another recipe which absorbs the exotic flavour of Cardamom for the "Think Spice Event".Its the good old Kesari made with Rava/sooji/semolina, but this time I added some chopped pineapple to give it a twist.It turned out really fruity.

Ingredients:

1 cup coarse Sooji/Rava/Semolina

1 can chopped Pineapple

1/2 cup Sugar

2 pods Elaichi

a pinch of salt

a pinch of lemon yellow food colour(op)

3 tblsp ghee

1tblsp cahews

Method:

Add 1 tblsp of ghee in a hot pan.Fry the Rava in it till golden.Remove and keep aside.

Add 1 tblsp of ghee in the pan and add the cashews.Fry till golden brown, keep aside.

Add 2 cups of water in the same pan, add the elaichi and the food colour and let it boil.

Reduce the flame ,add the Rava little by little by stirring well so that no lumps are formed.

When it reaches a semi solid consistency add the sugar and chopped pineapple , stir well.

Add the remaining ghee and the cashews and stir well. The amount of ghee is purely up to the individuals taste. Serve warm

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Pal Kozhukattai / Paal Kolukattai

Pal Kozhukattai Payasam

This is one of my favourite childhood dessert.Its made of small rice flour balls cooked in boiling water. I remember this sweet being made in my grandma's place during summer holidays.Since it takes a lot of time and people to make the tiny rice balls my grandmother would give each kid a big rice flour dough ball and large sheet of news paper and ask us to work on it.Its her way of controlling us from playing in the hot summer sun.We will be sitting in a big circle in our 'mutram'(the center of the house with open roof), chatting and telling stories to each other about our places and schools and slowly make tiny balls out of the big rice dough and roll them to the paper.Once we are done, my Grandma would turn it into an amazing desert within matter of minutes.But then comes the waiting around part.The sweet would be so hot, that our mothers would serve the pal kozhukattai into bowls and ask us to wait until its cold, but every time I used to burn my tongue due to my impatience : )..Finally by evening our whole afternoons effort would be rewarded by the taste of this wonderful delicacy.hmm ..anyways this is how the sweet is traditionally made in our native place.But since we dont have the time and patience to sit and make small rice dough balls, I used the murukku press and squeezed the rice flour dough directly into the boiling water, stirring it while filling the press for the next batch.Hope it doesnt sound complicated. This is a great dish to involve your kids, especially during the holidays.....

Here comes the recipe...

Ingredients :
2 cups of rice flour
2 cups of jaggery (mashed)
2 elaichi pods
1 cup milk
8 cups of water
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/4 cup roasted cashews(optional)

Method
Add some salt to 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.
Add the hot water to the rice flour and and mix with a wooden spoon.The consistency should be the same as we do for kozukattai or Idiyappam. mix the flour and make it into a ball.the flour should not stick to your fingers.
Boil the remaining water in a wide thick bottomed vessel, preferably a pressure cooker.
When the water is boiling , add the flour to the murruku press and press directly into the water.When the first set is over, stir the water 2 0r 3 times so that the kozukattai breaks into pieces.Repeat the same until all the flour is done.
At this stage add 1 cup of boiled milk and stir well.(we can also add 1 cup of fresh coconut milk if we are do not watch calories or fat).
Parallely add the jaggery in a vessel add 1/2 cup water and bring it to boil.Once the jaggery is melted and boiling, filter the syrup and add this to the kozukattai kanji.This is to ensure that there is no mud in the jaggery.
Add the elaichi and check for sugar.If needed add more jaggery.Reduce the heat to medium and allow the kanji to boil for atleast 20 mins.Stir every 3 mins to avoid sticking at the bottom.Finally when its thick to a certain extent add the shredded coconut,mix well and switch of the stove.
Allow it to cool before serving.The palkozhukattai will become more thick, when its cooled.

Note: This can be done using Sugar rather than Jaggery.Only difference will be the colour Both ways the taste of sugar soaked rice balls with coconut flakes and elaichi is heavenly.you should definitely try this for dessert.


I had this post published 2 years back, but since its been flooded with spam comments while I was on a break , publishing it again and also thought it would make a nice entry to the

"Think Spice event - Cardomom", held by EC as elaichi brings out the true flavour of this dessert.





Update :  Click here for  Palkozhukattai with sugar 

Spicy Egg Fry

I love eggs in all forms.Its easy to cook at the same time you can make a nice and nutritious side dish in a matter of minutes. Here is one such recipe which takes about 10 0r 15 mins if you have the boiled eggs ready.Especially when you are cooking an elaborate lunch or dinner this recipe comes handy to whip up a decent side dish as it goes well with rice as well as any flat breads(poori, rotis...)

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp pepper powder

curry leaves(optional)

1/4 tsp fennel seeds/powder(optional)

4 tblsp tomato paste.

salt as per taste

Method

Hard boil the eggs, remove the shell, and cut into two equal halves

Heat oil in a pan, add the chopped garlic , Curry leaves, and fennel powder

Then add the chopped onions and fry till translucent.Take care not to burn the garlic.
Now add the chili powder, pepper powder, salt and the tomato paste, mix well.
Add 1/4 cup water and allow it to boil well.The gravy should not be watery but thick.

Add the Eggs yolk side down, reduce the flame and allow it to cook for 5 - 8 mins.When the gravy is absorbed carefully turn the eggs around and mix with the thick masala.

Garnish with chopped coriander.

Goes well with poori's or any pulao

Spring Onion Paratha - For Roti Mela

With my kid taking away all my time, nowadays our weeknight dinner has become endless saga of dosa's. Just put some extra effort on the weekend and you have the week's dinner ready. It seems like ages since I made roti's or chappati's for dinner.

When I came across the Roti Mela, thought why not make something different for this friday night (of course late dinner :) ).

Although Iam a big fan of stuffed paratha's, I rarely make them. Somehow I could not make it right every time I try to make one. So I always choose to mix the stuffing directly to the flour while kneading be it methi, mooli or any other vegetables.This time I decided to use Spring onions.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

3 sprigs of spring onion

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp jeera power

2 tblsp olive oil

salt to taste

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and knead the flour by adding water little by little into a tight dough.

Knead well, cover with a plastic wrap and allow it to rest for an hour.

Roll out into roti's and cook them on a tawa turning both sides till brown spots appear on both sides. Serve it with any curry and a dollop of yogurt.

Eggless Dates Walnut Cake

Came across this Incredible Date cake from Shilpa's Aayi's receipes. It was very simple and since I had the right ingredients tried the recipe the same day.Can you beleive it!!! I was on a baking mood, and morever we had a trip planned that weekend and thought it would be a nice snack for us. I added lots of walnuts and cut the oil to 1/4 cup, the taste turned out excellent.

Ingredients:


2 cups chopped dates
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Method:
Soak the dates in warm milk for couple of hours or until soft. Remove the seeds if it has one.
Chop into pieces and grind to a smooth paste along with sugar. Add in the oil and give a quick pulse to give it good mix.
Sieve the flour and baking soda together. Add the flour little by little to the dates mixture.
Do not over mix the batter.


Butter and flour the 8 inch cake pan.Preheat the oven for 350F
Transfer the batter and bake the cake for 35 - 40 mins or until a tooth pic comes out clean.




Notes: 
You can also add an egg to the recipe and it also turns out great.
The colour of the cake pretty much depends on the colour of the dates