Sunday, October 30, 2011

Wheat Ladoo - Nutriballs

This is a very healthy laddoo that my mom often prepares. She learnt it from one of her friends from north india.
Ingredients
Wheat flour: 1 cup
Grated Jaggery : 1 cup
Poppy seeds: 2 tsp
Ghee: 1/2 cup + 1 tablspon
Cardomom: 2
Cashew nuts broken:  2 tablespoon
Almonds sliced: 1 tablespoon
Walnuts: 2 tablespoon
Raisins: 2 tablespoon


Procedure:


Step1:
Fry the nuts in 1 tablespoon of ghee and keep it aside.


Step2:
Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee and roast the wheat flour and poppy seeds until the raw smell goes off.


Step3:
While it is still hot, add grated jaggery and cardomom powder and mix well.


Step4:
Add hot ghee little by little and mix well


Step5:
Add the fried nuts as well


Step6:
Shape the mixture into laddoos (you may need to hold them tight to get the shape)




Sending this to Dish it out event started by Vardhini


Monday, October 24, 2011

Mysore Pak

There is no Diwali in South India without this delicious sweet. This is quite easy to prepare with just 3 ingredients and at the same time it can be a bit challenging too for the beginners.
Once mastered, this is just a breeze and can be prepared within 30 minutes.


Ingredients
Besan flour : 1 cup
Sugar: 2 cups
Ghee: 2 cups
Water: 1/2 cup


Procedure:
Step1:
Sift the besan.
Also have a greased pan ready


Step2:
Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a wide pan and add sifted besan to it.
Roast it in a medium flame until the raw smell goes off
Keep this aside


Step3:
In a wide pan/sauce pan, mix 1/2 water and 2 cups of sugar.
Heat this mixture to one string consistency
Test for one string
Once the mixture starts boiling have a cup of water by the side. Pour a drop of syrup in the water.If the syrup does not mix with water and forms at the bottom, it is the correct consistency
Alternatively, if the syrup hangs like a single thread in a spatula, it is one string consistency




Step4:
Immediately add the sifted besan to the sugar syrup little by little and mix well.



Step5:
Heat ghee by the side


Step6:



Pour a laddle of hot ghee in the besan mixture.Once the ghee is added, the mixture will froth for a while.(It will be similar to the reaction when  we add vinegar to baking soda).This is quite normal and this is the indication that besan is getting cooked in hot ghee.


Step7:
Once the froth subsides, add another laddle of ghee. Add ghee for every 30 seconds


Step8:
By the time the whole ghee is added, the besan mixture would have cooked.In a couple of minutes, the mixture would form like a ball and will start becoming porous.In Tamil it is called as 'Poothu varuvathu'.



Step9:
Quickly transfer it to a greased pan.
The mysore pak is still getting cooked after pouring into the pan


Step10:
Cut into desired shapes after 10 minutes


Notes:

  • Two important things to be noted in making Mysorepak is the right sugar syrup consistency and correct consistency at which the stove is switched off
  • The sugar syrup consistency will change very quickly and we need to add besan before that.
  • If proper consistency is not attained, then the mysore pak will not set and may resemble halwa
  • If the besan is added at the next stage of one string consistency, then the mysore pak will be little crumbly
  • This sweet should always prepared in low-medium flame
  • This requires constant stirring. No multi tasking
  • A perfectly done mysore pak will typically have three different layers, the middle layer being brown and the sides being yellowish brown

Monday, October 17, 2011

Black Channa Sundal



Ingredients
Black Channa : 1 cup
Grated coconut: 3 tablespoon
Red chilli: 2 to 3
Salt: to taste
Asafoetida: a generous pinch
Curry leaves : a sprig
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Urad dhal: 1 tsp
Oil: 2 tsp
Chopped cilantro: 1 tablespoon


Procedure:
Step 1:
Wash and soak the dhal overnight


Step2:
Pressure cook the dhal with just enough water for 10 minutes


Step3:
In a wide pan heat 2 tsp of oil


Step4:
Add mustard seeds.Once it starts spluttering add urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves and grated coconut.
Fry for 1 or 2 minutes



Step5:
Drain the water from the cooked channa dhal and add it. Add salt and mix well


Step6:
Garnish with chopped cilantro



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Navarathri Puttu

This puttu is prepared for all kinds of functions related with ladies and is more inevitable during Navarathri.It is usually made on Fridays during Navarathri.
Traditionally this puttu is made by washing the raw rice, drying it and then grinding in machine.
I prepared this using store bought rice flour and came out pretty well


Ingredients
Rice flour : 1 cup
Jaggery : 3/4 cup (Add 1 cup if you want it sweeter)
Grated coconut: 1/4 cup
Cardomom: 2
Cashew: 1 tablespoon
Ghee : 2 tablespoon
Salt: a pinch
Turmeric powder: a pinch


Procedure:
Step1:
Dry roast the rice flour in medium flame until a nice aroma comes out.
The flour should be of kolamaavu consistency.(i.e if you draw a kolam, it should come out easily)



Step2:
Boil. 1/2 cup of water with a pinch of turmeric and salt and allow it cool


Step3:
When the water is lukewarm sprinkle this water on the rice flour and mix well.
The consistency to check here is, if you make them as balls, you should be able to do it.If you leave, it should crumble down.Approximately i used 1/4 cup of water for 1 cup of rice flour




Step4:
Steam cook this flour for 5-7 minutes in idli plate. (If you dont have idli plate, tie the flour in a cloth and cook in a steamer)


Step5:
After it cools down, break the lumps with your hands.You can use a sieve as well.


Step6:
Add 1/4 of water to 1 cup of jaggery and boil it. If there are impurities filter it and then boil again


Step7:
Boil the jaggery syrup until it reaches the following consistency
If you drop some syrup in water, you should be able to make some balls out of it


Step8:
Switch off the stove and add grated coconut and cardomom to the jaggery syrup.Add this to the rice flour little by little by constantly stirring


Step9:
You may need to use your hands here. Avoid formation of lumps and mix well until it reaches puttu consistency


Step10:
Fry some cashews in 2 tsp of ghee and add this to the puttu and mix well





Saturday, October 1, 2011

Dish it out - with Wheat and Jaggery

Hi Friends,
I am very glad to announce the first event in my blog. As there are festivals round the corner this month and being my first event I thought of making it sweet but a healthy one.
                                           
I am guest hosting Vardhini's - Dish It Out event with Wheat and Jaggery/Brown Sugar/Cane sugar/Granulated sugar for October 2011.You can use whole wheat/cracked wheat/wheat flour
Friends, please send in your yummy dishes for this event with this combo.


Here are some basic rules
1. Make a dish using the ingredients mentioned (Wheat & Jaggery/Brown Sugar/Cane Sugar). Ingredients not on the list can also be used, but we should be able to taste the mentioned ingredients.
2. Only vegetarian entries. Eggs are allowed in baking.
3. Use of logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.
4. Link to both Vardhini's Dish it Out announcement and this announcement is mandatory.
5. Archived entries are accepted as long as updated with these hyperlinks as above.
6. Non bloggers may also send in their entries.



You may tag all your delicious recipes and mail me :nalakr@gmail.com
Send in your entries by 31-Oct-2011


Thanks to Vardhini for giving me this opportunity