MOR KUZHAMBU

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My son just loves this kuzhambu. He can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.I used to make this whenever I work from home. I usually work from home when he has early dismissal from school. This can be made almost instantly so it comes handy when I am tied up with work and at the same time can serve fresh lunch when he is back home in the afternoon. He calls this as 'Early dismissal Kuzhambu'.

This can be made either with Ash gourd(White pumpkin) or Ladies finger.Best when served with Cheppangizhangu roast

Ingredients:

Ladies finger/Ash gourd (White pumpkin) chopped	1 cup
Butter milk	2 cups
Turmeric powder	1/4 tsp
Salt	3/4 tsp
To soak and grind:
Toor dhal	1 tsp
Coriander seeds	1 tsp
Channa dhal	1 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera)	1/2 tsp
Ginger (Finely chopped)	2 tsp
Green chilli	1
Red chilli	1
Raw rice	1 tsp
Grated coconut	1 tablespoon
For tempering:
Oil	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	1/2 tsp
Red chilli	1
Curry leaves	a sprig

Procedure:

1.Soak all the ingredients listed under 'To soak and grind' except coconut for 30 minutes

2.Grind it to a coarse paste along with coconut

3.Beat the butter milk, add turmeric powder and salt 

                                      

5.Add the ground paste to the buttermilk and mix well.Keep this aside

    

6.Ladies Finger:

If using ladies finger cut the vegetable into 1 inch piece.

Add 1 tsp of oil in a pan and fry the ladies finger until it changes the color and well fried.

White pumpkin (Ash gourd)

Cut the vegetable into 1 inch cubes and cook in little water.

7.Now add the butter milk in a pan and bring to a boil. When it starts boiling immediately remove it from the flame

8.Now add the fried ladies finger or boiled ash gourd

9.Temper the butter milk with 1 tsp oil, mustard seeds,Red chilli  and curry leaves

Notes:

• Adding coconut is completely optional
• Mor Kuzhambu can also be prepared without adding any vegetable
• Immediately switch off the flame once the butter milk comes to a boil. Otherwise it will curdle easily
• The butter milk should not be thin.I used to prepare this with old curd without adding water. Just beat it well.

ASHOKA HALWA

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Ashoka halwa is a very popular halwa from Tanjore/ Thiruvayaru districts in Tamil Nadu.
It is best when served hot with dripping ghee.It tastes heavenly and also partially guilt free packed with the goodness of moong dhal and wheat.

Ingredients

Yellow split moong dal	1/2 cup
Wheat flour/Atta	1/2 cup
Sugar	1 cup
Ghee	1/2 cup
Cardomom	5 or 6 pods
Cashew nuts	1 tablespoon
Kesar color	a pinch
Saffron	a pinch
Milk	1 tablespoon

Procedure:
1. Dry roast the moong dhal until a nice aroma comes out
2. Add 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook for 3 whistles

3. Allow to cool and mash the dhal well

4. Soak the saffron in 1 tablespoon of warm milk.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the cashews

6. Keep this aside and in the same pan add 2 more tablespoons of ghee and fry the wheat flour  until it becomes light brown
7. Take 1/4 of water and add the sugar. Bring it to a boil

8. Boil the sugar syrup until 1 string consistency is reached

9. Add the wheat flour and the mashed dhal and mix well without lumps
10. Stir the mixture continously until it thickens

11. Add the saffron and milk and also kesar color and stir well
12. Once the halwa becomes a mass and does not stick to the sides, add the cardomom powder and swtich off the flame

13. Garnish with fried cashews
14 Serve hot

How to grind Idli batter in Mixie/Blender | Beginner Recipes

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Being a typical South Indian, most of my mornings starts with the aroma of steaming idlies. I dont know why but I never bothered to know how my mom makes these idlies or atleast what goes into the idli batter.I have collected a zillion recipes from my mom from my childhood but not the idli recipe. May be I was so bored with the daily menu containing idlies.

When my mom starts grinding the batter (She had the big grinder which she bought in late 80s!),I used to run away from that place. I had such an aversion for the grinding process.Also since my mom spends a lot of time cleaning it, I thought owning a grinder is really an overwork which is not really worth it just to get the regular idlies.

Even after marriage I never bothered much about the idlies (Ok. who wants to worry when hot plate of idli is served everyday and both myself and my husband used to ignore it as usual).

So far so good. The problem started when we moved from Chennai to US two years back.After couple of days of jetlag my kids started asking 'Idli engamma? (Where is the idli?).I tried feeding them pongal, Adai, pancakes. But nothing worked out.They adapted very well to the harsh winter here but not to the breakfast menu.

So the necessity arrived and I started grinding idli batter with my Preethi mixer. The rice to dal ratios whatever worked prefectly for my MIL and mom did not work me. The batter refused to ferment irrespective of applying all the tips that I gathered from internet

After couple of months of trial and error I started making decent idlies though they were not soft and spongy.Then my friend came to the rescue and she suggested adding raw rice as well while grinding in mixie and also to reduce the soaking time for urad dal. That really helped. 

The main challenge in grinding the batter in the mixie is the motor gets heated up very quickly which is not very good.I use ice cold water for grinding. Also I used to grind in 3 batches (1 for urad dhal and 2 for rice) with atleast 15 minutes of interval between each.