Pidi kozhukattai - Best South Indian tiffin ever!

I have a special love for steamed foods, especially the kozhukattai kinds. I was craving to eat some and made this quick pidi kozhukattai as it doesn't require any special ingredients. 

This was our dinner tonight. It took me 20 minutes end-to-end to prepare this. Awesome, isn't it? 

Pidi kozhukattai with Onion thokku and Sambar

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup

Tempering :

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard -1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Green chillies-  3 , finely chopped
Red chilly -1
Asafoetida - 2 dashes
Salt - to taste (~1 tsp)

Method:

Wash and rinse rice as usual. Then take a pan, fry the rice as such (dry).  Stop when it starts becoming slightly reddish. Let cool and grind coarsely to a powder. This is typically called "rice rava".

Take a kadai, heat oil and do the tempering as given above.
Then add water and let boil. Rice rava to water ratio is 1:2.5
Add salt and coconut to the water.
After a minute or two, slowly add the rice rava and keep mixing. Ensure there are no lumps. Keep stirring.  In 2-3 minutes, all the water would have been absorbed. Test if the rice is cooked, if not, do add another 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water and let it cook well.

Now transfer to a plate and allow it to cool , so you can handle it with your palms to make kozhukattai.

Steam in an idly cooker and switch off flame in 10 minutes exactly. Kozhukkattais are done :-)

Pidi Kozhukattai - South Indian tiffin

Enjoy with Onion Chutney and Sambar :- )

Badam Pak / Badam Mysore Pak / Almond Fudge - Easy Diwali Sweet

My husband loves Mysore pak and we always get a kilo from Krishna Sweets during our trip to Chennai. However, I always keep thinking that there's nothing healthy in it but just loads of ghee and sugar and Besan (kadala maavu/ gram flour) which doesn't help much. Last week, when talking to my mami about Diwali preparations, she mentioned that ammamma used to make badam pak often and that everyone loves it. Immediately, I asked her if she has learnt the recipe and jotted it down and planned to try it this Diwali.

Badam Pak / Almond fudge

The ratio is the same as the traditional mysore pak, just that we omit besan (gram flour) completely and use badam (almonds) instead. 

What You Need - 

1 cup badam (almonds)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
3 cups ghee

Method -

=> I used 1/2 cup badam, 1 cup sugar and 1.5 cups ghee and got around 15 pieces, as you see in the picture.  For your reference, the standard is 1 cup = 240 ml.

•  Powder almonds (badam) in your mixie. You might have to do it in batches as we need them to be finely powdered. There's no need to soak badam or peel the skin.
• Prepare a greased tray and keep it ready. I used my oven's tray and placed a baking sheet on it. 
• Mix all the ingredients in a wide pan and make sure there are no lumps. I used a whisk to do the job. 
• Put the pan on the gas stove (medium flame) and keep stirring in one direction. This is the painful part as you need to keep stirring continuously for about 12-15 minutes. 
• After about 8 minutes, you would realize that the mixture is getting thickened. Continue stirring.

• Around 13th minute, ghee would start leaving the sides of the pan and the mixture would have thickened even further.
• Now, you can pour the mixture on the tray. Don't level the surface, the best (ideal) result would be porous badam pak. If you had poured it on the plate earlier (before it's done) then the badam pak would be flat (not porous) yet soft.

• Wait for another 15 minutes for it to cool down and then cut into squares. 

• Store in an airtight container. This stays good at room temperature for 7-10 days. 
• Enjoy the rich badam sweet!! 

Badam Mysore Pak

Notes: 

• There was a lot of ghee  (about 8-10 spoons) that separated and I managed to collect them in a bottle, one spoon at a time, from the tray. The rest of the ghee that was on the tray, was used to roll out doodh pedas that I had made. 

• Also, I used the kitchen tissues (paper) to wipe/drain excess ghee from the pieces.

•  Timings would vary if you double or triple the quantities I used. You would have to wait and watch for the signs like, mixture thickening up and ghee separating. 

Aval Kesari / Poha Halwa

Hello friends! I've been away from blogging after little K arrived and life has been really busy yet sweet :-) Nevertheless, with a little help around, I hope I can manage to keep my passion for cooking alive and continue to dish out new stuff that everyone enjoys!

Yesterday, I made a really quick Kesari with Aval (Rice flakes) and it turned out awesome!! Rawa Kesari aka Sooji Halwa is quite a popular sweet and this variation uses Aval in place of Rawa/ Sooji and reduces the cooking time drastically as well as makes the sweet practically foolproof. With the traditional Kesari, one has to take care to ensure there are no lumps while the rawa gets cooked and once there ARE lumps(which is usually the case), it's a tiring job to mash them and create a uniform texture.

Aval Kesari / Poha Halwa

Yield - 2 to 3 persons

Time - 15 minutes end-to-end

Ingredient List -

Aval / Poha/ Rice flakes- 1 and 1/4 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Boiling Water - Start with 1/2 cup and add as you go
Ghee - 3 to 4 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 10 nos.
Food color (orange) - a pinch or two
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Recipe -

• Roast the cashewnuts with a tbsp of hot ghee on a pan. Set the roasted nuts aside but let the remaining ghee stay on the pan.
• Transfer the measured Aval into the pan with ghee (add some ghee if there's nil left after roasting cashews) and fry them for a short while.
• When all the aval flakes are covered with ghee (and not dry), pour boiling water (just microwave water for a minute) into the pan.
• The Rice flakes/ Aval starts cooking. When all the water is absorbed and the aval doesn't seem fully cooked yet, add some more water (boiling). Reduce flame to low.
• When its 3/4th done, add the measured sugar. As the sugar melts, there is more liquid in the pan. Add a pinch of food color and cardamom powder. 
• Let the Kesari get cooked well and come together. You may add the remaining ghee at this stage if the sweet starts sticking to the bottom of the pan. I used a non-stick pan and I didn't have to add anymore ghee.
• Finally, mix in the ghee-roasted cashewnuts! 

Enjoy :-) If you're a fan of Aval, do check out Aval Payasam / Kheer made with Poha(Rice flakes).

Semiya Payasam - Vermicelli Kheer - Festive Recipes

Semiya Payasam is super-quick to make and hence, this post will be a short one as well :-) My sis loves Semiya Payasam always and I totally licked the cup clean this time when amma made it during Navartri. She never adds Condensed milk to any Kheer she makes, as it's high in calories and definitely unhealthy. Yet her payasam was yum-yum-yummy and I asked her if she did the Pressure-cooker method that she taught me to get the perfect Pal Payasam easily everytime.  No, no pressure-cooker needed for Semiya Payasam, all you need is a pot to boil milk and water. Here's how :-

Semiya Payasam / Vermicelli Kheer

What Amma Uses -

• Semiya / Vermicelli - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Water - 2 and 1/2 cups
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
• Nutmeg powder (jadikkai) - 1/4 tsp
• Sugar - 2/3 cup (Use 1/2 cup if you prefer slightly lesser sweetness)
• About 12-15 Raisins roasted in 1/2 tsp Ghee

How She Makes the Yummy Kheer -

1. Boil water in a pot and when ready, add the semiya/vermicelli to the boiling hot water and let cook. There will still be water remaining after vermicelli has cooked well. Don't fret.
2. Boil about 2 cups of milk in a pot or milk cooker (follow your usual method;  in Singapore, I would just microwave milk for 3-4 minutes, thats it) and keep aside.
3. Add sugar and cardamom + nutmeg powder to the cooked semiya/vermicelli. Stir gently to uniformly mix. Keep on sim/low flame for 5-7 minutes.
4. Take cooked vermicelli off the stove and pour 1 cup milk first.  Add the roasted raisins. Voila! :-) Tasty Semiya Payasam is ready for neivedhyam! :-) Add another 1/2 cup milk later, just before serving.

Notes :

• Never ever boil milk and sugar together, it would get spoilt easily.
• This payasam tastes awesome both warm and cold. 
• Ratio of vermicelli to water is 1: 2.5 and you can start with equal quantity of milk (as that of vermicelli) to begin with and then add some more milk as required.
• Add some more milk (boiled and cooled) if all the milk gets absorbed over time.

Semiya Payasam/ Vermicelli Kheer

Here are other yummy Kheer / Payasam Recipes for Navaratri and other festivals -

Click on the pictures to read the entire recipe.

Palada/ Rice Ada Payasam - Famous in Kerala 

Palada Payasam / Rice Ada Kheer

Aval Payasam - Kheer with Poha/ Flattened Rice 

Aval Payasam / Kheer with Poha/ Flattened Rice

Carrot Kheer - Yummy Dessert drink full of goodness of carrots!

Carrot Kheer/ Payasam

Bring on the festive spirit! :-)

(Red) Banana Halwa - Chev vazhai pazha Halwa

Step out of Palakkad (Palghat) station and all you can see is shop after shop, tempting you with different varieties of Halwas (or Haluwa! as they call it) and Chips. Vibrant colors and the rich aroma of ghee - ummm :-)  They make a good combination too - halwa for sweet and chips for something savory.  We always bring back freshly-made Halwa and Chips (especially love the sweet banana chips ;-)) whenever we visit Palakkad.

Bananas and Halwa go hand-in-hand  - both are gooey substances and since bananas are so sweet themselves, we can cut down on the added sugar and still have a great-tasting sweet! In addition, this doesn't take more than 25 minutes (end-to-end) on stove-top and it just tasted awesome even with the minimum amount of ghee I used :-)  I'm very happy with the results and so were my guests!

I didn't plan to use Chev vazhais (Chivappu means Red in Tamil, Chev is derived from it) specifically but I was ecstatic when I spotted them in Bukit Gombak market one day! You can use any bananas to make this Halwa!

Ingredients -

Ripe bananas - 5
Sugar - 80 ml
Ghee - 3 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Cashews - about 12

Method -

• Peel and mash bananas with a potato masher.

• In a kadai, heat 1 tsp of ghee and roast cashewnuts. Keep aside. 

• Add another tsp of ghee and add the banana puree.

• Stir well for about 12-15 minutes. Take care to ensure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of your kadai/pan.
• Add 1 tsp of ghee and add all the sugar and mix well with the banana mixture in the kadai.
• Wait until the banana puree changes to a brown color (பழுப்பு நிறம்). By this time, the whole mixture comes together so well into a mass (see pic below). The glossy effect is due to the caramelization of sugar (we haven't added much ghee, remember?)

• Reduce the flame and sprinkle cardamom powder.
• Add ghee-roasted cashewnuts and mix for a minute.
• Spread on a greased plate and make squares on cooling. 

Yield - I got about six, rather big 2 inch-by-2 inch halwa pieces.

Onion Sambar - Madras Style - with ghee-fried mini-onions ground with coconut

Onion Sambar and Potato Curry is the classic combination that any South-Indian (vegetarian) would love to eat on any given day! This is a very traditional recipe and I've tried my best to preserve its authenticity. Both my mom as well as mom-in-law make this wonderfully super-delicious! (Pardon my excessive use of adjectives, but I really wanted to emphasize that). Do try it once and you're sure to make it again and again! 

Vengaya Sambar - Onion Sambar

Yield - for 4 people (or 2 people * 2 meals)

Time - 45 minutes to an hour

Ingredients :

Toor dal - 2 handfuls (about 3/4 th of a cup)

Red Onion - 1 big (or 2 medium)

Mini onions/ Sambar onions - about 25

Set A - 

Bengal gram dal/Channa dal (கடலை பருப்பு ) - 1 1/2 tbsp

Dhania / Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tbsp

Dry Red Chillies - 4 (remove stalks and break into 2)

Mini onions - about 6-8 ~ preferred (or) Half of a big onion

Grated Coconut (Fresh or frozen) - 1 handful 

Asafoetida / Hing (பெரும்காயம்) - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Set B -

Tamarind - about the size of a lemon

Ghee / Clarified butter - 1 tsp

Black Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp (Use the solid block for better taste, as shown here)

Turmeric / हल्दी/ மஞ்சள் பொடி - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 3 tsp (Any brand will do, as long as you like it. I use Ambika's )

Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - to garnish
Jaggery - 1 tsp (optional)

Procedure :

Preparatory steps - 

1. Pressure-cook toor dal (துவரம் பருப்பு) with 3 times water, for 3 to 4 whistles.
2. Peel the big onion as well as the minions. 

            Tip ~ Soak the small onions in water for about 15 minutes and then start peeling them. They would  soften a bit and would yield easily.

You could do these the previous night, if you want to save time in the morning rush hour :) Please remember to refrigerate the cooked dal and the peeled onions. 

Making of the Sambar -

 

• Soak tamarind in 200 ml of warm water (to save time) for about 10 minutes and extract tamarind juice. Discard the seeds and strands. 

• In the mean time, take a tsp of oil in a kadai, keep it on medium-high heat and roast Set A ingredients. Once they turn slightly reddish, switch off the flame, transfer to a heat-tolerant bowl and allow to cool. Grind into a fine paste after about 20 minutes.

Paste for onion-sambar, roasted in a little oil

Paste after grinding

• Take the same kadai, melt ghee (Clarified butter) and fry the mini onions as well as the medium-sized ones (cubed). You may sprinkle a little salt now. Enjoy the awesome aroma  :)

Onions fried in ghee

• Take your sambar vessel (usually flat bottomed and made of stainless-steel), pour the tamarind juice and add the fried onions.

• Add turmeric, asafoetida, salt and sambar powder. Let cook until the smell of tamarind disappears slowly. That's about 5-7 minutes.

• Now, add the ground paste from Set A ingredients. Let boil for 5 minutes.

• Add the water from the cooked toor dal first. Then, mash the dal and add to the sambar vessel. Mix well and allow it to boil for about 7-10 minutes.

• Check for salt. At this stage, I would like to add a little jaggery. That really enhances the taste of the sambar.

• Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves. You could actually start with mustard and curry leaves in ghee before frying the onions :)

Onion Sambar -Madras Style

• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Enjoy Sambar rice with Potato Curry or Chepankizhangu roast This is indeed, a combo made in heaven

Reposting this for "Only South Indian" event at Foodelicious