Madras Mixture

Mixture is an indispensable part of our Diwali celebrations. I always felt that making mixture was a daunting task. But later on I realized that, making small quantities of all items and mixing together, gives a good quantity of delicious homemade mixture. So instead of making a large quantity of a single item, it makes sense to make small quantities of many items and mix them to make the mixture. 

What you'll need

1. Omapodi - 2 cup
2. Kara Boondi - 2 cup 
3. Rice Flakes/Aval - 1/2 cup
4. Peanuts - 1/2 cup
5. Roasted Gram Dal/Pottukadali - 1/2 cup
6. Curry Leaves - few
7. Salt to taste 
8. Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp 
9. Asafoetida - generous pinch

Method

1. Deep fry the peanuts, roasted chana dal and rice flakes in oil and drain them separately in a tissue paper.
2. Also fry the curry leaves and drain them.
3. Once drained, transfer to a vessel, add salt, chilli powder and asafoetida and toss well. 
4. In a deep wide bowl, add the omapodi, karaboondi and the remaining fried items, rice flakes, roasted channa dal, peanuts and curry leaves and toss everything well. 
5. Cool and store in airtight container.

Note:

You can add fried cashewnuts too.

Kara Boondi - Easy Diwali Recipes

Kara boondhis are small round pearl like fried chickpea flour balls. They are great savory treat and can be had as such or can be added to a variety of things like in Raitas, chaats, on top of rice items like Bisi Bele baath etc. They also form an important part of the South Indian Mixture.

At home, my mother and grandmother, never ventured into making mixture. The usual fare at home would be Ribbon Pokkodam/pakoda, thengual, diamond cuts, muthuswaram etc. So I never got a chance to even see how the boondhis were made before my marriage. But MIL makes mixture every year for Diwali. It is a quintessential in her kitchen. And like I said boondhis form an important part of the mixture. So it was only after marriage that I saw the art of making boondhis. Yes it is an art to get the perfect round boondhis.

A thin  batter of chickpea flour and rice flour with seasonings is poured through a special perforated ladle called Jaarni into hot oil to make these boondhis. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Jaarni, they can be made easily with the regular perforated ladles or Kannappais. But make sure you have two of them, so it’s easy to scoop the boondhis out from the oil.

I have seen my MIL make boondhis countless number of times, but never made them all alone. This is the first time I am making them all alone and I am really happy with the results. Though initially I had a little trouble with the batter, but with all the tips from Mil, I managed to get beautiful boondhis which were perfectly crisp and yummy.

My kids loved them and started munching directly from the box but I had to put a stop to their munching else nothing would have remained for me click. :)

What you'll need

1. Besan/Kadala Maavu – 1 cup
2. Rice Flour – 2 tbsp
3. Chilly Powder – ½ tsp (adjust according to taste)
4. Asafoetida Powder – a generous pinch
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil to deep fry
7. Curry Leaves – few
8. Peanuts – a handful
9. Salt and chilly powder for tossing
10. You need 2 perforated ladles, 1 for pouring the boondis and another for scooping them out from oil

Method

1. Heat a Kadai with oil to deep fry.
2. In the meanwhile, In a wide bowl, add the kadala maavu, rice flour, chilly powder, asafoetida and salt to taste. Mix well.
3. Add water and make the batter, without any lumps, of pouring consistency. The batter should be a little on the runnier side. (See Notes for adjusting the consistency of batter)
4. Once the oil is heated up, drop a few drops of batter into the oil, if the boondhi’s are tailed, then the batter is too thick add little more water and check, if the boondis are flat then the batter is very thin/runny, add a little more kadalamaavu, mix and check.
5. To make the boondhis, place one of the perforated ladles, a little above the hot oil, pour a ladle of batter on the ladle, let the batter drop by itself, this gives perfectly round boondhis.
6. Fry on medium heat, turning them once or twice in between.
7. Once the sizziling and bubbling of oil stops, scoop out the boondhis and drain on tissue paper.
8. Wipe the perforated ladle clean, so as no batter is sticking to it, then repeat the 5 to 7, with the remaining batter.
9. In the same oil, fry the peanuts, scoop them out once they turn red.
10. Turn off fame and then add the curry leaves, Be careful as the oil may splutter on adding the curry leaves.
11. Once the leaves are crisp remove form oil, drain on tissues.
12. Add the drained boondis in a wide bowl, add the fried peanuts and curry leaves.
13. Add little more salt and chilly powder and toss well.

Store in airtight containers.

Notes:

1. If you get tailed boondhis, your batter is very thick, add some water and loosen the batter.
2. If you get flat boondhis, your batter is very thin, add little kadala maavu and mix well.
3. Make sure the oil is hot, this will make sure the boondhis don’t stick to each other.
4. Keep the perforated ladle a little high from the oil, this will give perfect round boondhis, but be careful as the oil may splutter, while the boondhis are falling in the oil.
5. Always wipe the perforated handle clean before pouring the next round of batter.
6. The final seasoning part of adding peanuts and curry leaves is optional, they taste good plain also.

Ribbon Pokkodam/Ribbon Pakoda/Ribbon Murukku

Diwali is round the corner and most households would be busy with preparing the sweets and savouries to celebrate the festival. While drafting this post, I can't stop thinking of my MIL, who makes delicious savories. She is an expert in making Kai Murukku and I am yet to learn the art of making them. She meticulously plans, starting with grinding of the rice flour atleast a week before. I love to help her out with the preparations. She keeps one day for all these fried savories and one day for sweets. So we start off with making the Pokkodams/Pakoda and end the day with a sambadam full of mixture. And all this gets ready in 3 to 4 hours. 

Though I have tried my hand at sweets on a regular basis, but I always keep away from the savories. I help her with the dough, but all the work at the stove is usually done by MIL. But this year, I am alone here and wanted to try my hand at it. I must the result was really good. My kids and husband loved the savouries.

So here comes the first one in the list. Keep watching the space for more recipes.

What you’ll need

1. Rice Flour – 2 cup
2. Kadala Maavu/Besan – 1 cup
3. Butter – 2 tbsp
4. Chilly Powder – ½ tsp
5. Asafoetida Powder – ¼ tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Oil to deep fry

Nazhi/Murukku Press

Method

1. Heat a Kadai with oil to deep fry.
2. In the meanwhile, in a wide bowl, add riceflour, besan, butter, asafoetida, chilli powder and salt.
3. Mix everything well.
4. Now add water little by little and make a smooth dough. The dough should not be too tight or too loose.
5. Place a golf sized ball of the prepared dough in the nazhi/murukku press.
6. Check if oil is ready by dropping a tiny drop of the dough in the oil, if it rises up immediately then the oil is ready.
7. Lower the heat, and squeeze out the dough in a circular motion into the oil from the nazhi.
8. Keep heat in medium and fry by flipping the pakoda once or twice in between.
9. Remove from oil when the bubbles in the have almost subsided.
10. Drain on tissues.
11. Repeat the same with remaining dough.
12. Drain and cool then store in airtight container.

Notes:

1.  Homemade rice flour works best and tastes best, though store bought flour will do too.
2. If making in large quantities, mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl and take small portions and mix water to make dough.
3. If the dough is kept for too long, then the pakodas will become very red on frying.
4. You can add some sesame seeds in the dough.
5. If the dough is too tight, then it will be very difficult to squeeze out pakoda. And if too loose, then the pakodas will get cut while squeezing also, they will drink too much oil.
6. While storing make sure the pakodas are cooled completely before closing them in the airtight containers, else the vapour will condense and the pakodas will lose their crispiness.

Mysore Pak

Mysore pak is a traditional Indian sweet. During marriages or any other function like seemantham (babyshower) etc, we have the tradition of making 5 kootam palaharam, ( 5 kinds of sweets and savouries), and Mysore pak is one among those. Any festivity seems incomplete without this sweet.

Traditionally, the mysore pak is made using 1 measure of gramflour and almost 3 times the amount of ghee. And the texture of the sweet is very porous and light and just crumbles and melts in the mouth. It is very tricky to get the right texture and consistency of the traditional mysore pak. My Grandfather was an expert in making it and each and every time he used to make the perfect mysore paks.

Then there is the ghee laden rather ghee oozing mysore paks, which just don’t do any justice to the traditional ones. They are way to oily and eating just a small piece makes you feel so guilty.

The recipe I am sharing here is not the traditional one, but this one tastes very good too. And it is really easy and quick to make. This is my MIL’s recipe and she makes it every year for Diwali as it gives good number of pieces and is perfect for sharing with friends.

Makes about 16 square pieces

What you’ll need

1. Kadala maavu/Besan – 1 cup
2. Ghee – 1 cup, melted
3. Sugar – 1.5 cup

Method

1. Grease a square baking dish or a plate and keep ready.
2. Heat a Kadai, add the melted ghee and besan/kadala maavu and mix well. Fry it on medium flame, for 5 minutes, so that the raw smell of the kadala maavu disappears.
3. Side by side, heat a heavy bottomed Kadai, with sugar and ½ cup water.
4. Heat on medium flame till one string consistency is reached. To check for consistency, wet your fingers lightly, and take a little bit of syrup in between your index finger and thumb, move the fingers apart slowly, if the syrup form a single thread like then the syrup is ready.
5. Now pour the ghee and besan mixture into the sugar syrup and start stirring on medium flame.
6. Keep stirring. After sometime, the mixture will start leaving the sides and come together like a ball and will be frothing on the sides.
7. Pour immediately on to the greased plate. Smoothen with a greased back of a flat cup.
8. Let it sit for a couple of minutes then mark the lines for the mysore paks when still warm
9. Break into pieces after it has cooled.

Note:

The sugar syrup consistency is very important. If it has not reached the conistency then you will not get burfi texture, and also if it exceeds the consistency, then the mysore pak will crumble and be too hard.

Also the removing stage is important, look for the stage, when the mixture starts leaving sides and becomes like a ball.

Thengai Burfi / Coconut Burfi - Easy Diwali Recipes

Thengai Burfi or coconut burfi is one of the easiest burfis, and the only difficulty is scraping the coconut. The taste of the coconut burfi made from freshly scraped coconut is definitely unbeatable. But if you are at a place where you find it difficult to find coconut or have difficulty in scraping it, you can use the frozen scraped coconut. It works perfectly fine and you get really white burfis. If making with fresh coconut, scrape only the white part of the coconut. 

What you'll need

1. Scraped fresh coconut - 2 cup
2. Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
3. Cardamom - 3 to 4
4. Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Grease a plate/tray with little ghee and keep aside.
2. Grind the coconut with 1/4 cup of water. Just pulse a little, don't make paste.
3. Heat a heavy bottom kadai.
4. Add the scraped coconut and sugar and mix.
5. The sugar will melt and it will be a thick mixture.
6. Keep stirring on medium flame, till the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan and is almost dry.
7. Add the ghee and cardamom powder and mix well.
8. Pour this on the greased tray and flatten with the help of spatula.
9. Let it cool for few minutes. 
10. Mark the squares for the burfi, while slightly warm.
11. Let it cool well before removing from the tray.

Notes:

1. When using fresh coconut, the mixture will become thick and start leaving the sides of the vessel, and also be frothy on the sides. Pour into the greased try at that stage.
2. I have used frozen scraped coconut, if you using frozen coconut, add 1/4 cup of water with the coconut and sugar, as the coconut will be quite dry.
3. Remove the mixture, when it is almost dry, if you cook till it is fully dry then the burfi will be crumbly and you won't be able to cut them.

Kathrikai Karamani Poricha Kuzhambu/Porichozhambu

Poricha Kuzhambu or Porichazhambu as we call it at home, is a very flavorful gravy. It is similar to the sambar, but the spices used are slightly different. The black pepper used in the ground spices, gives a very lovely flavour. My grandmother makes one of the tastiest porichazhambus. She usually makes it with either only Brinjal and Karamani or with mixed vegetables and karamani. Vegetables like, yam, raw banana, carrots, peas, ash gourd etc can be used. My Mother in law makes a version with only yam and Karamani. That tastes good too.
There are few versions of Porichazhambu, one with karamani, another leaving out karamani and using tuar dal instead and another one which does not use coconut. 
Today I am sharing the recipe with karamani/red chori beans. It is usually served with plain rice and Paruppu Thogayal.

What you'll need

1. Brinjal – 2.5 cups Chopped
2. Kramani – 1/3 cup
3. Tamarind – gooseberry sized
4. Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. To roast and grind
7. Asafoetida – one small piece
8. Channa Dal – ½ tbsp
9. Black pepper – ¼ tsp
10. Dried Red Chilly – 1 or 2
11. Scraped Coconut – ¼ cup
12. Curry Leaves few

For tempering

1. Coconut oil - 1 tsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Cook the karamani in pressure cooker with just enough water.
2. Soak the tamarind in one cup of water, squeeze and extract the juice, add another 2 cups of water.
3. Add turmeric powder, salt and the chopped brinjal to the tamarind extract and bring to boil.
4. Let his boil for 7 to 8 minutes on medium flame or till the brinjals are cooked and raw smell of tamarind disappears.
5. In the meanwhile, heat a small frying pan with ½ tsp oil, roast all the ingredients listed under roast and grind.
6. Cool and grind to smooth paste adding little water.
7. Once the brinjal is cooked add the karamani and  jaggery and boil for another 3 to 4 minutes.
8. Next add the ground paste and add another ½ cup of water, adjust seasoning and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.
9. Heat a small frying pan with oil add add mustard seeds. Once it splutters pour it over the kuzhambu

Garnish with curry leaves.

Serve with steamed white rice and paruppu thogayal or any thoran.

Eggless Pumpkin Bread

This month the Baking partners decided on baking using Pumpkins - the fall vegetable. I can see so many different types of them - shape, size and color. I have seen so many recipes and pictures of spiced pumpkin breads and cakes, but never got a chance to bake one. Thanks to the Baking Partners, I finally baked this pumpkin bread. 

This is an eggless recipe which can be easily made vegan by replacing the honey with Maple syrup as the original recipe calls for. The bread turned out to be amazing and I see myself baking them again in future.

What you’ll need

1. All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
2. Whole Wheat Flour – ¾ cup
3. Baking Soda – 1 tsp
4. Baking Powder – ½ tsp
5. Salt – ½ tsp 
6. Cinnamon Powder – ½ tsp
7. Speculaas Spice Powder – ½ tsp
8. Brown Sugar – 1 cup
9. Honey – 3 tbsp
10. Pumpkin Puree – 1 cup
11. Oil – ½ cup
12. Water – 4 tbsp
13. Walnuts – ½ cup, chopped

Method

1. Pre- heat oven to 175 C.
2. Grease and dust a loaf pan.
3. In a wide bowl, add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, spice powders, brown sugar and salt.
4. Mix and keep aside.
5. In another mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, oil, honey and water, mix until well incorporated.
6. Add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients and mix just until well incorporated. Do not over mix. The batter will be really thick. Don’t worry.
7. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
8. Transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan.
9. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Check after 50 mins.
10. Once done, remove from oven, and cool.
11. Slice after it has completely cooled.

Spider Cupcake - Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze

As Halloween’s day falls on the 31^st of October, the Groovy Gourmets decided to make some spooky stuff. While searching the web to make something spooky, I came across these spider cupcakes. I enjoyed making these cupcakes and kids loved the look and taste of them. They are pretty easy to put together.

Adapted from here

Makes 12 cupcakes

What you’ll need

For the eggless chocolate cupcake

1. Maida/All Purpose Flour – 1 ¼ cup
2. Cocoa Powder – ¼ cup
3. Curd – 1 cup, fresh and beaten
4. Oil – ½ cup
5. Sugar – ¾ cup
6. Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
7. Baking Powder – 1 ¼ tsp
8. Baking Soda – ½ tsp

For the Chocolate Glaze

1. Chocolate chips – 3 tbsp
2. Butter – ½ tbsp
3. Milk – 1 tbsp

For assembling the spider

1. Chocolate vermicelli
2. M & M/ Gems
3. Black Licorice Strings/Drop Veters (Dutch name)

Method

To make the cupcakes

1. Pre - heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Line the muffin tray with cupcake liners.
3. Sift the all purpose flour and cocoa powder and set aside.
4. In a bowl, whisk together, curd and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
5. Next add the baking powder and baking soda, mix well. Set aside for 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture will start frothing.
6. Now add the oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
7. Finally add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until everything is well incorporated. Do not mix for a long time.
8. Pour into paper lined muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180 C
9. Check if it’s done by inserting a toothpick. The toothpick should come out clean.
10. Allow to cool completely before applying the glaze.

To make the glaze

1. Take the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave proof glass bowl and heat for 30 seconds, remove mix once and heat for another 30 seconds.
2. Mix well, the butter and chocolate chips would have melted well.
3. Add milk and mix well.
4. Now dip the top portion of each cupcake into the glaze and set aside.

To assemble the spider

1. Sprinkle the chocolate vermicelli on the chocolate glaze, to cover the top of the whole cupcake.
2. Place to red colored gem/M&M for the eyes.
3. Poke small holes carefully, on the sides of the cupcake and place small strings of the licorice for legs.

And there, your spooky spider cupcakes are ready.

Pineapple Kesari

Kesari is my go to sweet when I have unexpected guests. It not only gets done quickly but also tastes delicious. Kesari was one of the first sweets I learnt to make. 

I have been wanting to try this Pineapple Kesari for a while now. It is usually served in marriages,  but the taste of Adyar Ananda Bhawan, Pineapple Kesari is unforgettable. It is just awesome. So ever since I tasted it there, it has been on my to do list.

I have used tinned pineapples in this recipe, but they can be easily replaced with the fresh fruit. Do read the notes at the end if you are using the fresh fruit.

So if you are bored of your regular kesari, try this fruity flavoured kesari for a change. I'm sure you will love it.

Serves 2 to 3

What you'll need

1. Rava/Semolina – ½ cup
2. Sugar – 1 cup
3. Pineapple pieces – ¼ cup, finely chopped (I used tinned pineapples)
4. Ghee/Clarified butter – 3 tbsp
5. Cashewnuts – 5 to 6, broken into small pieces
6. Pineapple Essence – 1 tsp
7. Yellow Food Color – a pinch
8. Water – 1.5 cup

Method

1. Heat a Kadai with a tbsp of ghee. Fry the cashews until light brown.
2. Add the rava and roast for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat, taking care not to burn it.
3. In the meanwhile, heat 1.5 cups of water with the food color and bring to boil.
4. Once rava is roasted, add the boiling water and the chopped pineapple pieces  carefully to it and mix well.
5. Lower heat and cook covered for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and rava is cooked well.
6. Now add the sugar and mix well. The mixture will become runny and you may see small lumps. Don’t worry at all, keep stirring in a while the mixture will thicken and there won’t be any lumps.
7. Add the remaining ghee and mix until the mixture starts leaving the sides.
8. Add the pineapple essence and remove from heat.

Serve warm.

Notes:

1. If using fresh pineapple, finely chop the pineapple add 2 tbsp of sugar and keep aside for atleast 2 hours. This will soften the fruit and also remove some of the tanginess.
2. Add the pineapple pieces after roasting the cashewnuts and fry in the ghee for 3 to 4 minutes before adding rava. Then follow the same procedure as above.
3. Adding the essence enhances the flavor, so don’t skip it.
4. You may avoid adding the food color if you don’t like.

Brown Channa Masala Sundal

Here's what I made for naivedyam today. The spice powder gives a lovely flavor and aroma to the sundal. So if you are bored of your regular coconut green chilly tempering. Try this masala sundal. 

What you'll need

1. Brown Channa – ½ cup
2. Scraped Fresh Coconut – 1 tbsp (optional)
3. Salt to taste

For the masala

1. Channa Dal – 1 tbsp
2. Coriander Seeds/Dhaniya – 1 tbsp
3. Dried Red Chilly – 1 or 2

For tempering

1. Oil – 2 tsp
2. Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
3. Asafoetida – a pinch
4. Curry Leaves - few

Method

1. Soak the channa overnight or for 6 to  8 hours.
2. Discard the water in which the channa is soaked, rinse well add water and pressure cook the channa with required salt for 3 to 4 whistles or until channa is cooked well.
3. Remove from cooker once cooled and strain.
4. To make the spice powder, dry roast, channa dal, coriander seeds and red chilly until the dal changes color.
5. Powder and keep aside.
6. Heat a kadai with oil, temper with mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add asafoetida and curry leaves.
7. Add the cooked channa and sauté for couple of minutes.
8. Next add the spice powder and mix well. Also add the grated coconut if using and mix well.
9. Sauté for a minute and remove from heat.
10. Sundal is ready.

Vella Puttu

Vella Puttu is a popular neivedhyam prepared during Navarathri. Most people try to prepare this atleast once during the nine days of the festival. It is also made at home when the girl child attains puberty.The process of making this is slightly laborious but the end result is very delicious. The main task is roasting the rice flour. Once that is done then, half the work is over.

I don't remember my mother making this, as we never had the tradition of keeping doll/kolu at home, but Mil does. And, she makes this compulsorily on one of  the nine days of Navarathri, usually on a Friday. And that's how I came to know about this traditional recipe, which may be forgotten in many households.

Off to the recipe:

What you’ll need

1. Rice Flour – 1 cup
2. Salt – pinch
3. Turmeric Powder – a pinch
4. Powdered Jaggery – 1 cup
5. Scraped Coconut – 2 tbsp
6. Cardamom – 3 to 4
7. Ghee – 1 tbsp
8. Cashew nuts – few
9. Raisins – few

Method

To make rice flour

1. Wash and soak the raw rice for 1 hour.
2. Drain the water completely and spread it on a cloth. Let this dry on the cloth for about 10 to 15 minutes in shade.
3. Powder in mixie to a fine powder, sieve, powder the residual flour again, sieve and use.

To make Puttu

1. Dry roast the rice flour until the color changes to light brown or a little more. Cool. Sieve and keep ready.
2. Warm some water with salt and turmeric powder.
3. Add it little by little to the roasted rice flour and start rubbing with the fingers to form a crumbly mixture.
4. Add just enough water so that the whole rice flour is moist but still powdery, i.e if you take some flour in your palms and press, it should retain the shape and at the same time should disintegrate when crumbled lightly. I needed about ½ cup of water to reach this stage.
5. Place this mixture in a big handkerchief or white cloth, tie the edges together to form a bundle and steam in the pressure cooker for about 8 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam in a puttu maker, if you have one.
6. Remove from cooker, cool and then pulse this steamed mixture for few seconds so that the mixture is again soft and powdery.
7. Heat a kadai, add the jaggery and ¼ cup of water. Once the jaggery has dissolved completely, strain for any impurities.
8. Wash the kadai and pour the syrup back into it and bring to boil, on medium heat.
9. Also add the scraped coconut.
10. Keep boiling, taking care not to burn the jaggery, until it reaches hard ball stage.
11. To check consistency, take some water in a small bowl, drop a little syrup into the water, then bring that drop together with your fingers, form a ball and just drop it on a steel plate if you hear a sound then your syrup is of the right consistency.
12. Remove from flame and add the steamed rice flour to the jaggery syrup. Mix well.
13. Mix very well with the back of a flat spoon/ladle until the mixture becomes lumpfree and turns almost powdery.
14. Transfer to another vessel.
15. Crush cardamom and add it.
16. Heat a small frying pan with ghee, fry the cashews and raisins and add it. Mix well.
17. Cool and store in airtight container.

Keeps well for almost a week.

Note:

1. You can add small bits of coconut fried in ghee at the end instead of the scraped coconut.
2. Take care to roast the flour really well, it is very important.
3. Add the roasted rice flour only after the jaggery syrup has reached the correct consistency.
4. Transferring the contents to another vessel once mixed properly is also important, else the puttu may become hard.
5. The key to getting soft puttu is in mixing just the right amount of water to the flour. The quantity of water may vary depending upon the quality of rice used.