Gulab Jamun - Indian Cooking Challenge

It has been habit for me on taking excuses for my disappearance from the blogosphere for a quiet a long time..This time Son has fractured his middle fingers while playing in the playground.. Nandhu is making fun of her brother as she is seeing her mom feeding , changing the dress and taking care as a baby.. Coming to Jamuns for this month ICC ...Amma used to make Jamuns only with the Kova..But we never made Kova at home..With Kova city ( Srivilliputhur) is so near to my moms place Its so easy to get the fresh and soft Kova. I made Lathamma's version.. I made small changes..I reduced the amount of maida to 1/2 cup. Ingredients * Khova – 11/2 cups/ 1 recipe * Maida – 1 cup * Sugar – 3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup) * Water – 1 cup (increase if you’re increasing sugar) * Cooking Soda – 3 pinches * Cardamom – 4 pods * Saffron leaves – a few * Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying) Method 1. Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire. 2. Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls. 3. Heat oil on a meidum flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke. 4. Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup. Serve the jamuns after half an hour. Tips: * You will achieve correct consistency for jamun syrup when 3 cups of sugar dissolves 1 cup water over low heat. * Only when the syrup is ready, mix the jamun dough. Since the dough has soda, if its kept aside the jamuns will disperse while frying and will not hold well. * Right temperature of oil of utmost importance to get soft jamuns. * Never refridgerate jamuns. Jamuns when refrigerated will shrink and become hard. Jamuns will stay fresh for 4 days when stored in air tight containers. * If you like you can add two drops of rose essence to the syrup to make it Gulab jamun. Check out my other two versions of Jamuns.

Maa Inji ( Mango ginger ) Thokku

Mango ginger is botanically neither related to Mango nor ginger family. but Turmeric.The Rhizomes are pale yellow inside with lighter color outside having the sweet s,ell of unripe mango when crushed. After making pickles I have few of Maa Inji pieces left over. So made a thokku with this flavorful ginger. Ingredients Maa Ingi - 100 gms Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp Chilli powder - 1 tblsp Salt to taste Mustard - 1/2 tsp Gingely oil - 2 tblsp Hing - a pinch Fenugreek powder - 1/2 tsp Method

• Remove the skin of Maa inji and wash thoroughly and allow it to dry.
• Cut into small pieces and grind it to a coarse paste.
• Heat oil in a kadai.Add mustard , hing and grinded ginger.
• Saute it well.
• Add chilli powder , tamarind salt and saute till the oil oozes out.
• In the end add Fenugreek powder.

It tastes great with Thayir sadam and Idlis and Dosas too

Diwali Sweets and Savories - Thattai and Adhirasam

I wish all my friends ,readers a belated diwali. Thought of posting this before Diwali itself. Nandhu was asking for Adhirasam and her favorite Boondi Laddu . So I reserved this for this Diwali. I got this thatti recipe from my neighbour.Her Thattai is so hot of so much of red chiili powder combined with lots of whole pepper.I reduced this for our taste buds. Thattai Ingredients Raw flour - 4 cups Urad dal flour - 1/2 cup Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Hing - 1/2 tsp Crushed pepper - 1/2 tsp Salt - 1 tsp Chopped curry leaves - 2 tblsp Channa dal - 2 tblsp Oil to fry Method

• Soak Channa dal in 1/2 cup of water for 15 min.
• Dry roast urad dal in a medium flame till nice aroma comes out .
• Powder this in a mixie once the dal cools down and sieve it.
• Drain the water from the channa dal.
• Combine rice flour and all the other ingredients and using little water at a time make a soft dough.The dough should not crack.
• Take a white cloth or dhoti . Take a small size of dough and flatten it in a white cloth using middle three fingers to a small discs.if it is sticky apply oil in your hands.
• Heat oil in a kadai . Once it is hot drop the discs one by one.
• Flatten the discs with the back of the slotted spoon to prevent the thattai from puffing up.
• Remove from the fire after the oil sound stops.
• Drain in the paper towel.

Adhirasam Ingredients Raw rice - 1 cup Jaggery - 1 cup poppy seeds - 1 tblsp Oil to fry Method

• Soak the rice with enough water for 1 hr.
• Drain the water and shade dry the rice for 30 min.
• The rice should be still wet when grinding in a mixie.
• In a kadai add jaggery and 1/4 cup of water.
• When the jaggery melts strain the impurities using the white cloth.
• Keep again over the heat and make the syrup.
• Drop the syrup in the small bowl of water to check the consistency.You should make a soft ball of jaggery.
• Remove from fire and add immediately to the wet rice flour. Add poppy seeds. Mix well to get a soft dough.
• You can make this dough ahead and keep in the refrigerator or make adhirasams immediately too.
• Heat oil in a kadai . Take a plastic sheet. Take a 3 " inch ball from the dough and flatten it into small discs . Remove carefully from the sheet and slide in the oil.
• Turn slowly and remove from the fire when both sides become light brown.
• If you want a crispier adhirasams press it in between two plates and remove the excess oil.
• Drain in the paper towel.

Murukku - Indian Cooking challenge

The last month was so busy with kids Term Exams.

Blogging takes a back seat now though I have tried

few new recipes.

Murukku is one of the favorite snack at my home.

Hubby likes the urad dal murrukku more than

Amma's pottukadalai (Dalia Split) Murrukku.

Ingredients Needed: Raw Rice - 4 cups Urad Dal - 1 cup Water - app 1/2 cup or more For Seasoning Cumin seeds - 1 tsp Sesame seeds- 1 tsp Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Butter - 75 gms

Method to prepare: Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool. If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal. First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder. In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well. Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles. Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough. Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame. Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai. Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. Thank you so much Valli for making us to face lot of challenges. I am looking forward for the next month Challenge.

Modaks,Sesame Ladoos-ICC Festive Special

Hello Friends , after a long blog hiatus I am back.It has been really tough to get

the kids adjusted to the hot and humid conditions and more specially the schools.

Though it is almost 4 months Nandhu is still missing her school back there. Life is more hectic as Harish is in the board exam .

I missed out the first two months ICC challenge.I made Modak and sesame ladoos. We use to have sugar and coconut pooran for the modak.So want to try this out. The sesame ladoos I never make at home.Both of them came out delicious. Hubby liked the sesame ladoos.

Modak\ Stuffing - 2 cups freshly grated coconut (can use frozen unsweetened coconut) 1 cup jaggery (grated) 1 tbsp poppy seeds 1 tsp cardamom powder one pinch nutmeg (optional) 2 tbsp water (mom uses milk) Cover - 1 cup rice flour 1.25 cup water pinch of salt 1 tbsp oil Preparation for Stuffing - Roast poppy seeds in a small skillet and let it cool down. Grind it coarsely and keep it aside. In a heavy bottom kadhai mix all the ingredients for stuffing except poppy seed powder and let it sit for 15 min. Now start heating the mixture over medium heat. In about 10-12 minutes, the mixture starts boiling and stuffing will turn yellowish brown and will be sticky. Take the kadhai off the heat, add poppy seeds powder and mix well. Set it aside to cool down. Preparation for cover - Take vessel that has tight fitting cover. Start boiling water in that vessel, add salt and oil. When water starts boiling, lower the heat and slowely add rice flour. Please do now dump everything at once. Start mixing vigourously with a heavy spoon. Now close the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the covered pot cool down for 15 minutes or so. Then with wet hands, mix the dough properly. It will warm so be careful and use cold water to keep your hands from burning but do not use too much water. if you think the dough is little sticky, I will suggest add 1-2 tbsp maida to it and make the dough. Making Modak (Final Product) - Start boiling water in a large vessel that can fit a steamer. I use a stainless steel steamer that fits on a pressure cooker and water doesnt touch the steamer and use stainless steel plate to cover it. Oil the steamer and set it aside.

Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small puri with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the puri gently to make shape like modak. You will have to handle the dough very gently. Follow the step to make remaining modaks. Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let the modaks steam for 20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing moodak from steamer.

Nugul-untallu (Sesame Laddo0)

Dry roast them in a tawa and let them cool. Once they are cool, take about 2 - 3tbsp of grated or powdered jaggary and run in a mixie. The amount of jaggary normally depends on the formation of laddoo. When you make a laddoo, it should stay in shape. Then you know the amount is enough. Also it depends on the fineness of the sesame powder. When you run in mixie, it becomes little oily which will help in holding the laddo shape.

Masala Peanuts , Milagu Rasam and a Long Break

Hello Friends...I am taking a long break after this post as We have planned to move back to India next month.. Life is so busy for the last couple of months and finally we are packing everything..And kids are more excited to see their Grand parents , aunts and cousins after a long time..

I just want to contribute to blogger friends Divya and Priya before the hiatus.. Pepper is a common and everyday spice in the Indian kitchen..I like the combi of Milagu rasam and hot rice..For Milagu rasam I make freshly grounded masala which gives special aroma to the rasam.

Ingredients

Tamarind - 1 tsp Tomato - 1 Whole Pepper - 1 tsp WHole Jeera - 1 tsp Toor Dal - 1 tsp Hing - a pinch Mustard - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - few Coriander leaves - chopped - 1 tbslp Red chillies - 2 Garlic minced - 2 Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp OIl - 1 tsp Salt to taste Method

• Grind whole pepper , jeera and toor dal into a coarse powder.
• Chop the tomatoes into small pieces or give a 1 min run in a mixer.
• In bowl mix tomato , tamarind paste and 2 cups of water. Combine well.
• Take oil in a kadai.Add mustard , methi , crushed red chillies hing and curry leaves.
• When it starts splutter add the powder and the Tomato - Tamarind liquid.
• Add the minced garlic too.When the rasam starts boiling add the coriander leaves and remove from the stove and add salt.
• Serve with hot rice.

And this is off to Divya's Think Spice - Pepper started by Sunita Masala Peanuts

Ingredients

Peanuts - 1 cup

Besan flour - 1/4 cup

Rice flour - 2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Minced Garlic - 1

Hing - a pinch

Salt to taste

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Method

• Mix everything together with a tsp of water.
• Add water just to bind everything together..
• In a MW plate spread the masala peanuts and MW high for 4 min.
• Mix in between.

This is a quick and easy snack for the kids and surprise guests.

I am sending this to Priyas's MEC savoury snacks started by Srivalli.

Wish you all a Happy Ugadi , Tamil Puthandu.See you all with

Amma's yummy recipes..

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary..I published my first post after lot of No's and confusions the same day last year..Since I was a novice in computers I was little bit reluctant to start a blog amidst full of talented and innovative bloggers.. But once I started I slowly get confidence and of course I know its all of you blogger friends continuous support and your valuable comments...I am so happy that I could reach the first year though my baby is facing a lull for a couple of months..This will continue for some more time as I have some personal affairs to do. A special thanks to Harish who helps me technically whenever I need..A big hug to my sweet Nandhu who loves all my food and my first critic too..Not to forget hubby for he has tasted all my experimented food though till now he never knows my URL.. And finally all my blogger friends U all made my day..Thank you so much for your continuous support..Will come up with more recipes next week..Have a grt weekend!!!