Samai Arisi Upma Kozhukattai | Little Millet Kozhukattai

Millets are becoming very popular now and many are replacing rice with millets. Millets are said to protect your heart health, lower type II diabetes, lowers risk of cancer, boosts respiratory health, improves your immune system etc.

I have been trying out recipes using different millets for sometime now. Millets can easily replace the rice in most of the recipes like pongal, upma, kozhukattai, idly, dosai etc. So here is my first post using millets. Hope to post a few more soon.

For this Kozhukattai, I have followed the same procedure as my upma Kozhukattai. The only thing is it requires a little more water to cook than the rice rava. Also, I find making kozhukattai with millets easier, as they are already very tiny and in the rava form. So no need to make rava.

Makes around 30 medium sized Kozhukattais

What you'll need

1. Samai/Little Millet – 2 cup
2. Scraped Fresh/frozen coconut – 1 cup
3. Salt to taste
4. Green Chillies – 3 to 4
5. Curry Leaves – few sprigs

For tempering

1. Coconut Oil – 1.5 tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
3. Channa Dal/Kadala Paruppu – 1 tbsp
4. Urad dal/Ulutham Paruppu – 2 tsp
5. Asafoetida/Hing – a generous pinch

Method

1. Wash and carefully drain the samai/little millet and set aside.
2. Heat a Kadai with oil, temper with mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the channa dal and urad dal and fry until the dals turn golden.
3. Add the chopped green chillies, curry leaves and hing, mix well.
4. Now add 6 cups of water. Also add the scraped coconut and salt to taste. Bring this to a rolling boil.
5. Now add the little millet and mix well. Cook covered in low heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the mixture resembles upma. Keep stirring once in a while.
6. Transfer to a plate and let it and let it cool down a little.
7. Wet you palms, and form golf ball sized balls or oval shape
8. Place on a steamer or idly plate. Repeat with remaining mixture.
9. Steam cook for 10 minutes.

Serve warm with coconut chutney or Sambar.

Note:

1. The mixture should not become too crumbly, then you will not be able to form balls.
2. Don’t let the mixture cool too much, make the balls when warm.
3. You could dry roast about 1/4 cup of Tuar dal and powder it along with red chillies and add it while the water is boiling along with the coconut. This also gives a good taste.

Paruppu Kanji|Payatham Paruppu Kanji|Fasting Recipes

In our house we observe monthly fasts for Ekadashi. I have been observing the fast for a few years now. This Kanji is usually prepared on fasting days, especially on Shivarathri. My mother and MIL both prepare this kanji for Ekadashis too. This is very much like the paruppu payasam, except that since it is a kanji, we avoid adding cardamom and roasted cashewnuts.

There is another variation to this kanji, which is prepared by adding both Broken wheat or Godhumai Ravai and Pasi Paruppu. That also tastes very good.

Makes 3 to 4 cups

What you’ll need

1. Split Moong Dal/Payatham paruppu/Pasi Paruppu – ¾ cup
2. Powdered Jaggery – ¾ cup
3. Milk – 2.5 to 3 cup

Method

1. Heat a Kadai, and dry roast the dal until it starts changing color and a nice aroma starts coming.
2. Transfer it to a vessel, add just enough water, the water level needs to be just above the dal and pressure cook it for 3 whistles or until the dal is very soft. You could also cook it in a vessel by adding water and boiling.
3. In the meanwhile,  heat a kadai, add the powdered jaggery with ½ cup of water, once the jaggery is dissolved, strain for impurities and pour it back into the kadai.
4. When the jaggery syrup starts boiling, add the cooked and mashed dal and let it boil for another 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and add the milk, mix well.

That’s it, paruppu kanji is ready.

Note:

Usually when made on fasting days, no cardamom or cashewnuts are added, but you can add if you like.

Also, make sure not to add too much water while cooking the dal, else the kanji will become very water.

Don't add the milk and boil in jaggery syrup, it may split.

Fried Modakam

Vinayaka Chaturthi/Ganesh Chaturthi is just around the corner. Ganesha Chaturthi is one of my favourite festivals. Kozhukattais/Modakams are the most important neivdyam or offering prepared on this occasion. My favourite ones being the traditional thengai Poorna Kozhukattai and the Ulundu Kozhukattai.

Usually, my mother prepares only these 2 varieties of kozhukattais but my MIL prepares a variety of offerings like Brown channa Sundal, Chakkara Pongal, Paccha Arisi Idly, Nei Appam, Vadai and the kozhukattais of course.

The fried Modakams are also a very popular offering. These are usually prepared for Ganapati Homam. I had been wanting to try out these for a long time and finally made them a couple of days back. They turned out very nice.

I have also posted few other kozhukattais with different fillings. So this chaturthi, do try out one of these kozhukattais.

What you’ll need

For outer covering

1. All Purpose Flour/Maida – ½ cup
2. Semolina/Rava – ½ tbsp
3. Ghee – 1 tsp
4. Salt – a pinch
5. Water to knead

For the filling

1. Fresh Scraped Coconut – ¾ cup
2. Powdered Jaggery – ¾ cup
3. Cardamom – 4 to 5, powdered
4. Ghee – 1 tsp

Oil to deep fry

Method

1. In a wide bowl, add the maida, rava, pinch of salt, and mix well.
2. Add the ghee and rub well with fingers.
3. Now add water little at a time and knead into a stiff dough. Slightly stiffer than the regular chappati dough.
4. Cover and keep aside for at least 30 mins.

For the filling,

1. Heat a kadai, and add the powdered jaggery with ¼ cup of water.
2. Once the jaggery is dissolved, strain for impurities and pour back the jaggery water into the same kadai.
3. Now let this come to a rolling boil, now add the scraped coconut and keep stirring.
4. Cook until it has thickened well and the mixture starts leaving the sides of the kadai. Wet your hands and take a small portion of the mixture, you should be able to form a ball easily.
5. Add the cardamom powder and ghee and mix well.
6. Remove from heat. Transfer to another plate.
7. Once the mixture is warm, grease your hands lightly and form small marble sized balls and keep aside.

To make the modakams

1. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, into a thin disk, cut out small circles with a sharp lid.
2. Place one of the coconut balls, in the centre of the small cut out circle, gather all the edges and seal tightly.
3. Repeat with others. Make sure to seal the edges tightly else, the filling make come out and spoil the oil.
4. Heat oil for deep frying, let it be hot but now smoking hot.
5. Drop the modakams a few at a time and fry on medium heat until the outer covering turns golden.
6. Drain on to a tissue paper. Delicious modakams are ready.

Note:

1. Make sure to seal the edges very tight, else the modakam might open and the filling will come out and spoil the oil.
2. Also make sure the filling is not very moist or watery, this will also result in leaky modakams.

Muthusaram|Mullu Murukku - Gokulashtami Recipes

Mullu Murukku or Muthusaram as it is called in the Palakkad Iyer community, is a popular savory prepared on festive occassions. It is one of the items in the "Cheeru"/Seeru, in a wedding. It is one of my favorite snack varieties. But somehow, it makes an appearance very rarely in my kitchen. Most of the times, I end up preparing either the thenkuzhal or ribbon pakodam as these are better liked by the family.

This time I wanted to try this and got the recipe from my mother. They turned out very well and were loved by all at home. 

What you’ll need

1. Rice Flour – 3 cups
2. Channa Dal/ Kadala Paruppu – 1/2 cup
3. Moong Dal/ Pasi Paruppu – 1/2 cup

The following measurements are for 1 cup of riceflour + dal flour

1. Butter – 1 tbsp
2. Asafoetida – a generous pinch
3. Salt to taste
4. Oil to deep fry

Method

1. Dry roast the dals separately, until a nice aroma come out. Don’t over fry.
2. Grind the dals into a fine powder. Sieve both the powders to get a fine powder. It is important to sieve the flour. Mix both the flours well and keep aside.
3. For every 3 cups of rice flour use 1 cup of the mixed dal powder.
4. Now take 1 cup at a time of this rice flour and dal flour mixture in a wide bowl.
5. Add the butter, asafoetida and salt to taste. Mix well with hands.
6. Add water little by little and make into soft dough. Don’t make it too loose or too stiff.
7. Heat oil in a Kadai to deep fry.
8. Take the murukku press and place either the single star plate.
9. Place the dough in the murukku press and squeeze into spirals, on a plastic sheet or on the back of a flat ladle
10. Carefully, transfer the murukku from the plastic sheet into your hands and slide into the oil. If squeezed on a ladle, then slowly slide it into the oil.
11. Fry on medium flame, until the bubbles stop.
12. Transfer into a kitchen tissue, cool and store in air tight container.

Note:

1. Don't over fry the dals.
2. If using store bought rice flour then use only 2 cups of rice flour for 1 cup of dal flour.
3. Add the mentioned amount of butter or use hot oil, else, the muthusaram will turn hard. 
4. If you feel muthusaram is hard, add more butter or oil, in the next batch.
5. Knead 1 cup of dough at a time, else the muthusarams will become very red.
6. The quality of rice flour is also important to get crunchy muthusaram. Homemade rice flour is recommended. 

Gokulashtami Recipes | Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

Gokulashtami or Sri Krishna Jayanthi - the birth of Lord Krishna, this year falls on September 5th, 2015. Krishna Jayanthi is celebrated with great fervor across India. A variety of sweets and savories are prepared to celebrate the birth of Krishna.
My MIL says that for Gokulashtami and Diwali, we should keep the "Ennai Chatti" meaning some savory should be fried in the house.
So here is a list of traditional recipes usually made on Gokulashtami.

Uppu Cheedai

Vella Cheedai

Thenkuzhal

Thattai

Rava Laddu

Aval Kesari

Aval Laddu

Nei Appam

Vella Aval