Sprouted Moong Beans for CLICK

"Sprout Swarm" for Click

Clicked some pictures of my sprouted moong beans for this month's "Click - Beans and Lentils" event.I liked couple of those, however Iam sending in the above picture named "Sprout Swarm"

The following picture is the next preferred one named "Sprout couple"

Aval/Poha Uppuma With Shredded Mango.

Well, the name says it all. Just wanted to try something with mango for this months WBB and came up with this quick and simple recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup Aval /poha soaked in 1 cup water.

1 cup shredded raw mango

1 onion , chopped

2 slit green chillies

1tsp mustard

1tsp split urad dhal

1 tsp channadhal

some curry leaves

Method:

Take a tsp of oil in a pan.Add the tempering ingredients(mustard, urad dhal, channa dhal, and curry leaves) when the oil is hot.

When the mustard pops add the onions and green chililes and fry well.
Add a pinch of turmeric , and the shredded mango, fry till its partially cooked(not mushy)

Add the soaked poha and salt, stir well for 2 mins on medium heat.

Garnish with chopped coriander

Serve hot with any sauce or chutney.

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