Thengai Payasam/Coconut Kheer

Wishing everyone a year filled with happiness, peace and harmony.

Let’s start this year on a sweet note, with this simple payasam/kheer. This is again a dish which I came to know of and tasted only after marriage. It is one of my MIL’s recipe. This is a really easy payasam and can be made in no time with just a few commonly available ingredients and hence my MIL calls it “thideer payasam”. Even though, the ingredients that go into making this may be very common ones, but the taste is really good. I simply love the combination of coconut and jaggery. So if you are looking for quick and delicious dessert, give this a try.

What you’ll need

1. Raw Rice – 1 tbsp
2. Fresh scraped coconut – ½ cup, tightly packed
3. Powdered Jaggery – 1 cup
4. Boiled, cooled milk – ¾ cup
5. Cardamom – 2 or 3
6. Cashew nuts – 6 to 7, broken
7. Ghee – 1 tsp

Method

1. Wash and soak the rice in water for about an hour.
2. Drain, and grind along with coconut into a fine paste, adding about ¼ cup of water.
3. Dissolve the jaggery, by heating it with ¼ cup of water, strain to remove impurities. Keep aside.
4. Transfer the ground paste, to a heavy bottom vessel. To this add about 2 cups of water and heat on medium flame.
5. Keep stirring else it will form lumps. Keep stirring and cook until the paste is cooked. The paste will turn semi solid like porridge.
6. At this stage add the jaggery mixture and stir well. Boil on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Remove from heat, add the milk and cardamom powder and mix well.
8. In a small frying pan, heat a tsp of ghee and fry the cashew nuts. Add it to the payasam.

Delicious payasam is ready. Serve warm.

Note:

Due to the addition of rice, the payasam tends to thicken, so add little milk and adjust consistency before serving.

Peerkangai Thogayal/Ridge Gourd Chutney

Thogayal is a condiment prepared usually with coconut, lentils and spices. You could also add some vegetables to make it healthier. The common vegetables added to thogayals are carrots, ridge gourd, pumpkin etc. They are similar to the regular chutney but are more thicker and are usually mixed with rice and had. They pair very well with Molagootal, Molagooshyam and also with curd rice. Now off to the recipe

What you’ll need

1. Ridge Gourd/Peerkangai – 1 big (approx. 3 cups when peeled and chopped)
2. Urad Dal – 2 tbsp
3. Dried Red Chillies – 2
4. Asafoetida – a small piece
5. Tamarind – marble sized ball
6. Scraped Coconut – 1/3 cup
7. Fresh Coriander Leaves – 10 Sprigs
8. Oil – 2 tsp

For tempering

1. Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
2. Curry Leaves – few
3. Oil – 1 tsp

Method

1. Peel, wash and chop the ridge gourd roughly.
2. Heat a Kadai with oil add the asafoetida, wait till it puffs up well.
3. Add urad dal and red chillies, fry on medium flame till the dal turns golden.
4. Transfer to a plate.
5. Add the ridge gourd pieces and tamarind sauté till the ridge gourd pieces are cooked.
6. Finally add salt.
7. Allow to cool.
8. Transfer the asafoetida, urad dal, and red chillies to the mixie jar and give a pulse.
9. Then add the coconut, coriander leaves, tamarind and the ridge gourd pieces and grind to a smooth paste, using little water if required.
10. Check for seasoning, add salt if required. Transfer to a bowl.
11. Heat a small frying pan with a tsp of oil, temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
12. Pour this over the thogayal and serve with rice or idly/dosa.

 Note:

Do not add the salt while fry the ridge gourd, add at the end, as the ridge gourd will ooze out lot of water, and reduce.

Atte ka Sheera / Halwa

Hope you all had a great weekend. The weather in Amsterdam is not very conducive for taking pictures. The days are very short, dull and cloudy. So it is becoming very difficult for me to take cook and click in the natural light. Hope to see some sun during this week.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this month the International Food Challenge chose recipes from the Indian cuisine, the Marwari Cuisine to be more specific. Manjula of Desi Fiesta suggested the recipes for this month. From the yummy list of recipes, I chose to make one kachori and one halwa. So here is the Halwa that I made. It was really delicious and was a big hit with the kids. the texture of the halwa was very smooth and silky and the sweetness was just right. The only thing was the amount of ghee. But don't cringe on that as it is one of the main ingredients that makes this halwa so delicious. So make it and have it in very small portions. :)

Serves – 3 to 4

What you'll need

1. Whole Wheat Flour – ½ cup
2. Water – 1 cup
3. Jaggery Powdered – ½ cup
4. Ghee – 1/3 cup
5. Cardamom – 3

Method

1. Heat a Kadai with the ghee, on medium flame, once the ghee has melted, add the flour and roast on low heat until the flour changes its color to brown and a nice aroma starts coming. Take care not to burn the flour.
2. In another vessel, mix in the jaggery and the water and heat until the jaggery dissolves completely. Do not allow it to boil.
3. Once the wheat flour has turned a nice brown pour in the jaggery water into the toasted wheat, carefully avoiding any splatter.
4. Whisk well until the mixture turns smooth and cook for a minute more.
5. Add the cardamom powder, mix well and serve warm or at room temperature.
6. Garnish with almonds or cashewnuts if you desire.

Note:

The sweetness of the halwa was just right. In fact it was slightly on the lower side. If you like your halwas to be sweeter you can add another half cup of jaggery.

Coffe Cappucino Cupcakes - Guest Post by Usha

Hello Everyone
Today's post is a special one. You must have guessed from the title, it is a guest post. It is special because this is the first guest post on this small space of mine. I am very glad to have Usha share her recipe with us here. 

Usha is a wonderful blogger who blogs at Mahas Lovely Home. She has some very interesting recipes. Please do visit her space. She has also started another blog with many blogger friendly tips and tricks. 

Let me not waste more time. Over to Usha




Hi..Every one....Hope you all doing well by the grace of god...It`s friday..So,Guest post day....This time I am sharing recipe in a cool and soft nature person blog..She is KAVERI who writes at PALAKKAD CHAMAYAL...A very silent(I feel) and mother of two cute girls..Few times we chatted in FB and the topics are only about kids mostly..Being a mom I know how difficult to active in blogging, but she balance the time perfectly and managing home at the same time blogging equally I feel.Great dear..She shares healthy foods in her blog and mostly they are traditional and authentic recipes which are very new to me..The most Important Kaveri`s blog is vegetarian world. Her pictures shows the love on cooking and blogging. Also, I like her simple write ups and specially her dessert and sweet recipes. In that fruit salad in mango sauce is my favourite recipe one.When I asked about my guest post party she agreed it happily and after few days again sent message about recipe posting..I was pleased by seeing her affection and interest on a friend. I wish her all the best and also to Palakkad. Chamyal..Keep rocking dear..

CATEGORY-BAKING/CUP CAKES/EGG FREE
PREPARATION TIME- 15 MINUTES
COOKING TIME- 30 MINUTES

WHAT YOU NEED

white flour/maida-1 3/4 cup
brown sugar-3/4 cup
milk - 1 cup
cappuccino  powder- 1 tbsp
coffee powder-2 tsp(or 1 tbsp)
olive oil-1/4 cup
salt-2 pinches
baking powder-2 tsps
baking soda-1/2 tsp

HOW TO COOK

Sift flour,baking powder,soda and salt.
To this add oil,milk,sugar and mix well until combine ever thing.
Now add coffee+cappuccino powders and stir well..Preheat oven at 200 degree C.
Line papers in cup cakes and fill 3/4th.
Bake for 25 minutes or until done and check with knife or tooth pick
Once done, remove and let them cool and serve .

By Usha Rani G.

Thanks a lot Usha for this wonderful guest post. Wishing you many more years of happy and successful blogging.

Onion Kachori/Pyaz ki Kachori

The International Food Challenge chose to cook up some Indian fare for this month. Indian cuisine has a wide variety of regional spread. The recipes are chosen from the Marwad Cuisine and is hosted by Manjula.

We had many recipes to try from. Though I would have loved to try all the recipes, I chose to make one kachori and one halwa. I do plan to try out some other recipe, maybe a little later.

Kachori is one of my favourite snack items and I never miss to have one when we go out to chaat shops. There was this particular shop in Hyderabad, which sold really delicious kachoris. And though the shop was not very near to our house, most weekends, we would go all the way to that shop specifically to have the kachoris. The kachoris were very spicy though and my kids never had them.

So now when I got a chance to try them at home, I did not want to miss it. Also, I made them medium spicy so that my kids also could taste them. So adjust the red chilly powder according to your spice level tolerance. I was pretty happy with my first attempt on Kachoris.

Makes around - 6 t0 8 kachoris

What you'll need

1. All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1.5 cup
2. Salt to taste
3. Oil – 2.5 tbps
4. Water to knead

For the filling

1. Onion – 2 Medium sized, finely chopped
2. Fennel – ½ tsp
3. Coriander Powder – ½ tsp
4. Cumin Powder – ¼ tsp
5. Red Chilly Powder – ½ tsp
6. Coriander Leaves – 2 tbsp, finely chopped
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil – 2 tsp

Oil to Deep fry

Method

To make the dough

1. In a wide bowl, add the flour, salt and oil and rub well with your fingers until everything is well incorporated.
2. Now add water little by little and knead into a semi soft, non sticky dough.
3. Knead for 7 to 8 mins to make the dough smooth and pliable.
4. Cover with a muslin cloth, so that it doesn’t dry up and keep aside.

To make the filling

1. Heat a Kadai with 2 tsp oil.
2. Add fennel seeds, next add the onions and sauté till brown.
3. Next add the spice powders, salt and mix well. Saute for another minute.
4. Remove from heat. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix.
5. Allow to cool completely.

To make the kachori

1. Pinch out a big lemon sized ball of the dough, roll out the dough into a small disc.
2. Place a tbsp of the filling in the centre and gather the edges, to seal the filling and remove any excess dough.
3. Roll out this into a small discs, very gently, taking care that the mixture doesn’t come out.
4. Repeat this with the remaining dough.
5. Heat oil for deep frying, make sure oil is not smoking hot, it should be only medium hot.
6. Deep fry the kachoris in batches of 2 or 3, cook on low flame for about 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Drain and serve with chutneys of your choice or as it is.

Note:

1. Deep frying on low flame for a long time is the key to getting crisp and perfectly cooked kachoris. So don’t hurry and cook on high flame. The kachoris will turn dark from outside and will not be cooked from inside.

Kathrikkai Podi Curry

Here is yet another recipe that serves as a great side dish for Molagootal. From this, my love for Molagootal is so evident.

After coming to Amsterdam, cooking Palakkad food, has been restricted to weekends and Molagootal finds its way on the menu on a one of the days, for sure. Back in India, Molagootal would be on the menu 3 times in a week. I know, now you must be wondering if this is a post on Molagootal, I am coming to that. Since Molagootal is a mild lentil and vegetable based stew, it is usually paired with something spicy and tangy, like Pachadi, Thogayl, etc.

This Kathrikkai podi curry is also one such side, that goes beautifully with Molagootal. And I make is very often as brinjal is my younger one’s favourite vegetable. You can pair this up even with rotis, but make sure you have dal alongside as this is a dry dish.

What you’ll need

1. Small Purple Brinjal – 6 to 7
2. Tamarind – marble sized ball
3. Jaggery – ½ tsp (optional)
4. Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
5. Asafoetida – a generous pinch
6. Salt to taste
7. Curry Leaves – few Sprigs

To Roast and Grind

1. Channa Dal/Kadala Paruppu – 1 tbsp
2. Coriander Seeds – 1 tbsp
3. Dry Red Chilly – 1 or 2 (Adjust according to taste)

To Temper

1. Oil – 1 tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Method

1. Soak the tamarind in very little hot water for 10 mins. Take a thick extract and keep aside.
2. Heat a Kadai, and dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under “To Roast and Grind”. Always, add Channa dal first, when its half done, then add the coriander seeds and red chillies. This will prevent burning of coriander seeds.
3. Cool and grind to a powder.
4. Wash and slice the brinjals lengthwise. The pieces should be medium sized not too thick not too thin.
5. Heat a Kadai with oil and temper with mustard seeds, once it splutters add the asafoetida and curry leaves.
6. Then add the sliced brinjals, turmeric powder, and salt to taste.
7. Stir well, cover and cook on medium flame for 7 to 8 minutes. Stir once in a while for even cooking. Do not add any water while cooking, else brinjals will turn mushy.
8. Once the brinjal is cooked, roast for another 5 minutes in open kadai, so that the brinjal pieces are roasted well. Take care not to burn the pieces.
9. Now add the thick tamarind extract, and jaggery. Mix carefully without mashing the pieces.
10. Cook uncovered for 3 to 4 minutes or until the tamarind extract has become dry.
11. Now add the prepared spice powder and mix carefully.
12. Cook for another minute and remove from flame.

Serve along with rice, Molagootal or with roti and dal.

Note:

1. Do not add water while cooking the brinjals.
2. While stirring the curry, do it carefully so as not to mash the pieces as brinjal pieces will be delicate once cooked.
3. Adding tamarind gives a nice tang, and personally recommend it. But if you want to serve it as a side for Sambar, then you may omit the tamarind.