Vattayappam For ICC

This is the first month I am participating in SriValli's ICC. This month's recipe was Vattayappam from Shn's Blog.  The moment I saw this recipe, I was thinking if I would be able to succeed. But as and when I started the process, it was actually simple. Let me directly take you to the recipe without making you wait any further. 

Ingredients:

Raw Rice - 1 cup soaked overnight. 

Ground rice paste - 2 tbsp

Water - 1/3 cup

Coconut - 3/4 cup grated

Cooked rice - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup and 2 tsp for proofing yeast

Cardomom powder- 1/2 tsp ( I crushed it coarsely)

Raisens and cashews roasted in ghee  - 1 tbsp ( I just had cashews. But you can add raisins too)

Active dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp

Process:

First grind the soaked rice into a coarse paste with minimum water just sufficient to grind it to a paste. Do not add lot of water as there will be more to add at later stages. So just little to enable it to grind it to a coarse paste. Take 2 tbsp of this paste and set aside to make the thari kurukku / porridge. 

Now add coconut and grind it. Also, in the meantime proof yeast in 1/3 cup of warm water or even less water just enough to proof yeast and 2 tsp sugar ( My batter was in dosa consistency at the end but it should be like that of idly batter consistency).So make sure you add   water only when it is necessary. Let it aside for 15 mins. 

Now in a pan heat about 1/3 cup of water and add this 2 tbsp coarse paste and bring it to a boil stirring continuously until it turns out into a porridge. Let it cool. 

When the thari kurrku comes to room temparature, add it to the ground mixture and grind it again to a smooth batter. Finally add yeast and pulse once or twice for it to blend well. 

Pour the batter in a steel vessel which is big enough to hold double the quantity of the batter after it ferments. Let it ferment for about 4-6 hrs. If its warm place 4-6 hrs is more than sufficient. If you live in a cold climate,pre heat oven and when it starts to heat up and reaches 101 degree Fahrenheit, turn off and place this batter inside and leave it with just the light on for about 6 hrs.( This is what i did) 

When it ferments, you will clearly get the sharp fermented smell. Now add 1/2 cup sugar, mix well and let it ferment for another 1/12 to 2 hours. Mix the roasted nuts and raisins in the batter and it is ready to be steamed.

I steamed the batter using  a round steel vessel greased with ghee in my pressure cooker. I filled the pressure cooker with 1- 2 inches water and placed this vessel filled with batter inside the pressure cooker. I let it cook for about 10 mins till it is cooked well. 

Place a tooth pick inside the cake to see if it is cooked well. 

Serve warm !!! 

Phirni

I happened to read about this recipe from Girliechef. She had posted a recipe about phirni which instigated me to try it. The original recipe is here. I took the base from the recipe and tweaked it little to bring my version of the recipe. This week being Navarathiri, I had few friends who came home on thursday. I dint know what sweet to make that day and I thought about this Phirni that i saw in her blog. Thought why not make it. It came out very well. Thanks to Girliechef for her Phirni recipe..

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1/4 cup
Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardomom - 6-8 powdered
Roasted nuts and raisins - 1 tbsp
Saffron Strand - 1/2 pinch

Preparation:

Cook basmati rice and mash it. Keep it aside.

Boil milk in a pan and when the milk starts to become thick, add this cooked and mashed rice to it. Mix well until the rice blends in milk. No lumps should be found. Let it boil for about 5 mins

Mix sugar, cardamom powder, saffron strands.

Bring it to boil for about 5 mins stirring in between so that milk doesn't get burnt.

Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins. You can transfer it in serving bowls and refrigerate for about an hour and then serve.

You can always dilute if you like thin consistency.

Sending this to Umm Mymoonah's Celebrate Sweets - Kheer started by Nivedita and to Khaugiri's Only Festive Food  started by Pari

Carrot Halwa

I had invited my friend home for dinner on Friday. She is lactose intolerant. Initially when I called her and her husband home couple of years back for dinner, I made carrot halwa not knowing about her intolerance to milk in it. That day she told me she loved carrot halwa but most of the time wouldn't be able to eat it as most of the times it is cooked with milk. I felt bad the other day and never used to make any dish with milk products. Though we invited them lots of times I never made carrot halwa after that first time. This Friday I wanted to make it for her. So I tired this carrot halwa which dint have any kind of milk product

Ingredients:

Carrot - 5 grated
Cardamom - 6 powdered
Sugar - 1 cup
Saffron strands - 1/2 pinch
Roasted Nuts - 1 tbsps

Makes Halwa for 2 people

Preparation :

In a pan add 1 tbps water and add the carrots and close it with a lid. Let it cook in the steam under medium low heat. Occasionally give a stir to see if the carrots are tender. If desired you can add ghee and cook the carrots.

Once the carrots get cooked well, add sugar, cardamom powder, saffron and mix well till sugar dissolves completely and caramelizes.

Remove from heat once it becomes thick.

Roast nuts in a microwaveable bowl for about 1 min. Check in between to see if it is roasted.

Garnish with roasted nuts and serve warm.

Tastes great with a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream.

Trust me with the smell of saffron strands and cardamom, it tasted great and my friend really loved it.

Sending this to Food Platte Series hosted by Akheela from Torview and to Preethi from Khaugiri's Only - Festive Food event started by Pari and also to Akhilas' DNSW - C

Happy Navarathiri With Semiya Payasam!

Wishing you all a very Happy Golu!! My golu started today with Semiya Payasam. My mom beleives in inviting our neighbors, friends and relatives especially women or small girls to come home. She tells me that on Fridays it is good to invite a lady known or unknown and feed them, give them thaamboolam ( some gifts with beetle leaves, nuts, turmeric and gulal). It is equivalent to offering it to Goddess Lakshmi. So I practice the same thing as much as possible. Today being Friday and starting of golu, I am taking this opportunity to invite all my blog friends to accept my semiya payasam as my personal and friendly treat.  This one is for you all!!!! :-) Hope you all like my semiya payasam.

Ingredients:

Vermicelli - 1 cup
Sugar - 12-15 tbps tbps
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cup
Cardomom - 4 powdered
Cashews - 4 broken
Raisins - 6 -10
Ghee - 2 tbsps
Saffron strands - a pinch
Kesari powder / orange color - a pinch

Preparation:

In a pan, heat 1 tbps ghee and fry vermicelli until it turns golden brown. Keep it aside.

In the same pan, heat another spoon of ghee and roast the nuts and raisins. Keep it aside.

Again heat the same pan and let 1 cup water to boil. When the water boils, add vermicelli and keep stirring till it is cooked well.

When the vermicelli is cooked, add sugar, kesari powder and stir well until is dissolves. Now add cardamom powder, milk, saffron strands and remove from heat.

Garnish it with the roasted nuts and serve hot or cold.

Sending this to Ummm Mymoonah 's Anyone can Cook event, To Preethi from Khaugiri's Only - Festive Food event started by Pari

Enjoy your Golu!!!!

Pal Payasam - Kheer

I was reading through Akeela's Festive Rice Event and found that desserts have not yet come in the list of 32 recipes. Thought why not post one sweet dish for this festive event. So this kheer is for her festive rice event.  Actually I miss most of the events. The reason being my lethargy to check out on events and not making proper note of the events. This way I just realized I missed a lot of really interesting ones. Anyways I shall try to keep up with the updated events and post more for the future ones.  This kheer reminds me of my childhood. In various varieties of kheer, I love this one the best. My mom always made it whenever there is a festival. My sister was not fussy about any dish. But to me this is the only variety I really relish. But after wedding I never got a chance to make this. I always ended up making semiya payasam which is very simple. ;-) But today I wanted to treat myself with this kheer and also wanted to send it to Akheela's event . Thought this will be a great chance to pamper myself.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Milk- 10 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardomom powder - 1/2 tsps
Safforn strands - a pinch
Dry Nuts - 2 tbsps
Raisins - 1 tbsps

Preparation:

Soak saffron strands in 5 tbsps warm milk.

Boil milk in a large pan until the milk raises. Now add rice to the milk and let rice cook for about 20 mins in medium low heat untill the kheer thickens.

When the rice becomes tender and you know that the milk is condensed, add sugar little by little and mix till it dissolves completely. You could mash some rice so that you get that mushy texture to the kheer.

Mix well and remove from heat. Add cardomom powder, saffron to the kheer.

Fry nuts in 2 tbsps ghee along with raisins.

Now garnish the kheer and serve hot or cold.

Sending this to Akheela's Festive Rice Event.

Vella Appam - Sweet Appam

Festival Season has started. Now its gonna be sweets everywhere . More new recipes, more treats and lots of fun. The reason I tried this appam on a normal day is to celebrate the restoration of our gas connection. We were without gas supply for about a week as there was a leak in our pipe line. It was tough to manage without hot water and gas for cooking. Cold baths, restaurant food, drilling noise my God! This week has been really busy and boring . And today we got back our connection and I couldn wait to cook and eat home made food. Just as a sign of our joy, I made murukku and appam. We got our connection post lunch time and so I thought I will make them for our evening snack!

Ingredients:

Maida flour( All purpose flour) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsps
Cardamom - 1 tsps (powdered)
Jaggery - 1/2 cup ( grated)
Oil - 1/4 cup

Makes - 16 Appam

Preparation:

Mix jaggery in 4 tbsps water and leave it aside for about 10 mins.

When jaggery softens, mix well with water and filter it with a clean cloth or a filter to remove impurities from jaggery.

Add maida, rice flour, cardomom powder and mix well.

Take the appam pan and heat a tbsp oil in each appam space . When the oil is hot scoop this batter into the pan and leave it in medium low heat untill they get cooked well.

If you do not have appam pan, you could just heat oil in a deep pan and scoop the appam one at a time and fry it. The major use of appam pan is that it will give a good round shape and will consume less oil.

Let it cook for about 5 mins and then turn the appam with a spoon or knife. Let it cook on the other side for about 5 mins in medium low heat.

Prick the appam with a tooth pick  to see if it is cooked well inside. The toothpick will come out without sticking.

Appam is ready to be served.

Variation:

You can use wheat flour insteasd of maida. It tastes good and at the same time wheat flour is any day better than maida.

You can actually mash a banana and mix it with the batter. Tastes very good.

Microwave Caramelized Carrot Kheer

I was talking to my mother in law today and she told me that she made carrot kheer one day and it came out very well. I took my mother in law's hint and made this carrot kheer.  It came out really good. To me carrot is a boring vegetable . Unless it is mixed in some curry I am not a great fan of carrot. But this kheer is something different. I relished it. Microwaves and thier heat differs. So we must take care to make sure that the food doesnt get burnt. 

This time let me take you through the pics as I am explaining the process. 

Ingredients:

Carrot - 1 cup grated

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Fresh cream - 1/4 cup

Milk - 2 cups

Ghee - 2 tbsps

Fried Cashews and other nuts - 1 tbsps

Preparation:

First, microwave carrot and 1/4 milk in a microwave safe bowl for 3 mins. Check and stir in between to avoid burning.

Add sugar stir well and microwave high for 3 mins. Keep checking once in a while.

Now add fresh cream and microwave it for just about 2 mins. Keep checking in between as it can easily get burnt.

The carrots will separate. It will caramelize and will become sticky. If the heat is too high, it will just become crystals. But its ok. Now add milk, ghee and let it boil for about 2 mins. Give 2 mins standing time 

Meanwhile roast the nuts in a separate bowl in a tbsps of ghee. This will be ready in seconds. So keep it for about a minute and keep checking. Obviously we don't want the nuts to get burnt. 

Garnish the nuts to the kheer and its ready to be served for the party. Yummy mouthwatering kheer in just 10 mins. 

Sending this to Ummm Mymoonah's : Celebrate Sweets -Kheer originally hosted by Nivedita

Also to Preethi - Khaugiri 's Only Festive Food event orinigally started by Pari

Microwave Caramelized Carrot Kheer

Blackberry / Mure Cobbler

Its Summer!!!! Lots of summer fruits to try and taste. But some of us have this inhibition to try new receipes. I wanted to break this and try this cobbler. It turned out really good. The story of this cobbler starts like this. When its grocery time its usually me that likes to pick more fruits. This time, i picked lots of summer fruits. 

 Along with many others i picked this Mure ( French name of Blackberry also called as the black rasberry). To my suprise this time, they tasted absolutely plain. I myself could'nt eat it then think about my husband. No way he is gonna touch it. Dint know what to do with it . Dint feel like throwing it into trash. So i was browsing the net and found this easy receipe for blackberries. It was really delicious and above all its very very easy to make.  My husband loved it. Its the great way to make our sweetheart eat the fruit. It actually looks like lot of work but its not. ( Dont tell such secrets to your husbands). Anyways let me give you the process.

Things you will need:

Blackberry - 1 cup (Chopped in halves or even smaller chunks as you like)

All purpose flour - 2/3rd cup

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 2/3 cup

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Melted Butter - 1/4 cup

Milk - 2/3 cup

Preparation time: 20 mins

Baking time: 45 - 50 mins

Mix the blackberries with sugar and set aside for about 15 mins so that the mixture blends well. Now in a bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and milk. Blend the mixture well and add the melted butter to the mixture and give a stir untill all the ingredients are mixed well. Grease the baking pan ( 8*8 inch) and pour the mixture in the pan evenly. Now take the blackberry mixture and pour it on top of the base. Pre heat oven 375 degrees and then place this baking pan. Let it cook for about 45 mins. You can always check in the middle to see if its cooked to avoid burning as ovens vary. You can add some whipped creme on top of it once cooked to add more taste and for a rich look. Thats it!!!! Mure cobbler is ready to be attacked!!

Ice cream is the best combination and serve the cobbler warm. You can substitute any fruit instead of blackberry like, strawberry, rasberry, blueberry, or even apple and peach (cut them into smaller chunks). Its a great dessert in no time!! Cya soon with more!!!