Nei Appam Version 3

Nei Appam, made with rice and jaggery. This is the third version of appam recipes from my blog – the first two versions of Nei Appam used banana, this version only uses rice and jaggery, a treasured recipe shared by my Mother in law

There are two ways to prepare this recipe – one the traditional way from scratch where you soak raw rice overnight and make it. The second quick way is making it using rice flour. Both recipe version are given here

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raw rice or 1 cup rice flour
• 1 cup jaggery powder
• 1/4 cup whole urad dal
• Cardamom powder – a pinch
• Ghee for frying the appam and for mixing too
• Water as required to mix the batter

Method

• If not using rice flour, then follow this method for rice powder preparation
• Rice powder preparation
  • Take 1/2 cup of raw rice. Soak it in water for 1/2 an hour. Take out the rice and dry it out in a towel for 10 to 15 minutes till the wetness in the rice is dried out. Then powder the rice in a mixie  to maximum fineness. Sieve  it with the smallest level sieve available. Rice powder is ready now.
• Jaggery syrup preparation:-
  • Take 1 cup of jaggery. Dissolve it in water. Keep it on a stove and heat it. Keep stirring. It has to reach a bubbling consistency. That means lot of bubbles  will come out in the syrup. If you pour a little syrup in cold water you will be able to make a small ball like round out of it which is soft and firm. Switch off the  stove immediately
• Urad flour preparation
  • Adding urad flour gives a softness to the batter. Soak urad dal overnight or for at least 3-4 hours and grind to a fine paste using as little water as possible
• Mixing
  • Now pour the syrup little by little into the rice powder and mix it well. If correct quantity of rice and syrup is taken the rice powder will consume all the syrup and will be like prepared chappathi dough. Mix in the urad paste with this mixgture as well. The above operations should be done in the evening and the mix must be kept overnight for getting conditioned. ( not in the fridge)
• Final operation
  • Next day take out the dough and add sufficient water and mix so that chappathi batter condition becomes  like dosa batter.  The batter should be able to flow out like dosa batter. Add a teaspoon of ghee in the batter and cardamom powder to improve the taste. Now it is ready for frying
• Frying
  • Keep the paniyaram pan on the stove add ghee or oil . When the ghee or oil is sufficiently hot start making the appams
  • Add a tablespoon of batter into each slot. Cover it and cook for a minute till it is golden and crisp
  • Carefully using a spoon or a appam stick, flip the appams. I use a stick and a spoon to turn the appam. Fry the other side till it turns golden in colour as well and crisp
  • Coat the appam in sugar when it is still hot. This simply enhances the taste

Enjoy your appams and share your feedback

Chocolate Nut Burfi

Happy Diwali to everyone ! For this Diwali try this yummy dry fruit burfi with a chocolaty twist !

Ingredients

• Dry fruits – cashew, almond, pistachio or walnuts – any combination – 400 g
• Sugar – 400 g
• Ghee – 150 g, plus additional to grease the plate
• Cardamom – 1/2 tsp
• Hot chocolate ready mix – 120 g
• Water, just enough to immerse the sugar ( a little more than 1/2 cup approximately )

Method

• Powder all the nuts with some cardamom to a fine powder
• First make the sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water on a low to medium flame until the syrup thickens and the froth reduces
• Once the sugar syrup is thick keep adding the nuts powder and keep stirring until no lumps form. Add some ghee and mix well
• Keep adding the ghee a little by little, at regular intervals
• Keep stirring it until the entire mixture leaves the sides of the pan and comes together like a mass just like halwa
• Finally add the 120 g hot chocolate mix and switch off the flame. Stir in the hot chocolate mix until it mixes very well and blends in. Just switch on the flame for few seconds and give a stir
• Immediately transfer to a plate greased with ghee and spread it well
• After 2-3 hours it will be ready to cut into pieces or moulded into shapes using a cookie cutter

Enjoy 😊

Kerala Boli

Happy Onam everyone ! For this Onam I would like to share a special recipe for Kerala Boli. It is an authentic foolproof recipe for Boli, shared by my aunt Aparna. The end result of the effort is delicious Boli on your Onam Sadya plate or banana leaf !

Ingredients

• Chana dal – 2 cups
• Sugar – 2 cups
• Gingelly oil – 1 cup
• Maida – 4 cups
• Water as required
• Nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp
• Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Ghee – 1/4 cup
• Rice flour for making the bolis

Method

• Cook the chana dal with plenty of water in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle
• Strain the water and add some cold water – just enough to immerse all of the dal and boil it again
• Add the sugar and 3 tsps of ghee and cook on a medium flame. Stir continuously till it becomes semi-solid. It should reach the consistency of a halwa
• Stir in the cardamom and nutmeg and grind to a fine paste. The paste should be dry enough to shape into a round ball for the filling. If you find that the paste is watery, microwave on high power for 3-4 minutes until you get a dry mixture. This is very important otherwise when you roll into a Boli with the filling, it will ooze out !
• Mix the flour and turmeric and add enough water to make a soft dough. Pour the oil over it and knead well till the dough becomes supersoft. Keep aside for at least 2-3 hours. If you make the Boli immediately, it will not have a soft texture. Hence keeping aside is an important step here !
• Divide the dal mixture and the flour mixture equally and roll into bolis using the rice flour to ensure that it does not stick to the board or pin.Flatten each ball of dough in your palm, and stuff with one portion of the filling. Cover and sea the edges and roll into a Boli, like a round roti using the rice flour to prevent it from sticking to the board.
• Heat on a tava and cook on a gentle flame on both sides. Smear ghee and keep the bolis separately till cool to prevent them sticking together

Enjoy 😊

Nombu Adai

Nombu Adai is a special neivediyam or offering to God prepared on the ocassion of Karadayan Nombu. This year the festival is celebrated today, 14 March between 10 and 10.30 am IST. This delicious sweet dish is a favorite in my household and is served with butter. Sometimes the timing for this festival was midnight or early hours of the morning, but I did not mind getting up as I knew my Mom would have prepared the delicious adais, which I will get to eat.

Now coming to the festival, this is a special ocassion celebrated in Tamil Nadu where married women pray for the longevity of their husband and young girls also observe this to get blessings of God. You could say it’s similar to Karvachuath. On this ocassion too, women get all decked up and also share half of the neivediyam with their better half.

This is my Mom’s recipe for Nombu Adai.

Ingredients

• 1 cup chemba idiyappa flour or rice flour
• 1 cup crushed jaggery,
• 1/8 cup green gram (moong),
• 1/8 tsp cardamom powder,
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup grated coconut,
• a few bay leaves,
• 2.5 cups water,
• 1 tbsp ghee

Method

• Roast the idiyappam flour or rice flour  until it emits a nice aroma
• 
• Roast the moong dal until it emits an aroma and turns a little reddish. Powder it and keep it aside
• 
• Powder the flour and moong dal together, adding some cardamom and sugar and keep aside
• Heat 1/8 cup water and add the jaggery. Let it dissolve completely. Strain if needed to remove sediments and pour it back into the pan, reserving 2 spoonfuls to use at the time of shaping the Adai.  Mix in the coconut and just cook for a minute or so until they blend well
• 
• In the meantime heat 2.5 cups water and bring it to a boil. Add the idiyappam flour and moong powder and stir well ensuring that there are no lumps
• 
• The process should be continued until the mixture thickens, having the consistency of a halwa. Towards the end add some ghee, and the strained jaggery and mix well on slow flame
• 
• Remove, cool and flatten into small circles with a tiny hole in the middle
• If plantain leaf is available, make circles on small individual leaf cuttings, smear the jaggery syrup kept aside on  top of every adai (this will give a shine to the adai. I did not get plaintain leaves, so directly placed it on the idly steamer plates
• Steam just as idlis. Put a few bay leaves in the water at the bottom while steaming. This will give a pleasant flavour to the adais

Enjoy the Adai and wishing you all a Happy Karadayan Nombu !

Plum Cake

I always look forward to baking during Christmas time. The aroma of the cookies, fruit cake fills the entire home with a scent of celebration. I had a lot of fun baking a plum cake for this Christmas. This is a treasured recipe passed on to me by my Mom. Typically for a plum cake , the dry fruits and fruits are soaked in rum or brandy, but myself and my Mom have been baking a version where we soak the fruits in coconut water. The cake turns out rich, yummy and flavorful

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year 2016 !

Ingredients

• 250 gms butter
• 250 gms castor sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250 gms flour
• For the candied peel
  • Mixed candied peel from one orange and lemon – (Instructions for making the candied peel follow below)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
• For the caramalized sugar
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
• 150 gms raisins ( I used black California raisins )
• 200 gms finely chopped black grapes
• 100 gms fresh chopped dates
• 40 g dried craisins ( dried cranberry raisins )
• 40 g finely chopped figs
• 40 g finely chopped apricot
• 30 g dried berry mix (currants , blueberry )
• 100 gms golden raisins
• 50 gms finely chopped cherries
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp coconut water
•  1/2 cup of nuts to powder ( walnuts or cashewnuts )
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

• How to make candied peel
  • Peel one orange and one lemon with a peeler so that the white part is not included. Cut it into long slices
  • Heat 1 cup water and add ½ a cup of sugar. Heat it for 5 minutes, till the sugar dissolves
  • Add the peel and keep it on low flame till the quantity is reduced to a quarter (Takes around 45 minutes to an hour). Keep an eye on the candied peel and keep stirring it in between to prevent burning
  • 

 

• How to caramalize sugar
  • Take 3 tbsp sugar, heat it till it becomes brown.
  • 
  • When it becomes brown and liquidy, add half a cup water immediately. Sugar will become rock solid if you add water before it is brown and watery after it becomes very dark. Keep a watch on the sugar and add water accordingly to get the best result
  • 
  • This is how the final caramalized sugar looks like ( You should see a light brown color syrup )
  • 

• Beating Eggs
• Separate the egg into egg whites and egg yellow
• First beat the egg whites well adding 1 tbsp sugar until it is nice and frothy
• Now, add the egg yellow and beat it lightly until the mixture is nice and frothy
• Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes and then beat it again. This step will give a creamy mixture and also enhance the texture of the final cake. This is my Mom’s tip and has also worked wonders in all cakes
• Keep the eggs aside 
• Clean, de-seed and de-stalk fruit. Chop up finely. Sprinkle one tablespoon cococonut water and mix well. Place the fruit mixture at room temperature for 4-5 hours and refrigerate for at least days ( or more until you are ready to make the cake )
• 
• Make the candied peel just before you are ready to bake, as it will harden when cooled. You can discard the remaining water in the candied peel mixture and just add the peel
• Beat butter and castor sugar till amalgamated and light
• Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition
• Add the caramelized sugar to the egg, sugar mixture when cool and beat it
• Roll fruit  and candied peel in powdered walnuts
• Halve the flour and fold in one half into the batter
• Fold the fruits into the mixture
• Fold in the remaining flour
• Add 1 tbsp of coconut water and a teaspoon of essence
• Line a 9 inch diameter cake tin with double greased paper. Also grease the tin with both flour and butter or oil
• 
• Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes
•  Bake in the oven for about two hours or until a skewer comes out clean
• 

Enjoy and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year once again !

Diwali Special: Crunchy Thattai

Thattai is a yummy South Indian delight made with rice, urad and chana dal. It’s crunchy, tasty and rocks 😊

This treasured recipe comes from my grandmother Vijayam Thathi and I can assure you that it is a 100% fool proof recipe.

When my grandmother and mom prepared this for me last year, I thought it was really easy to make as they did this with so much ease and perfection. When my husband and I began making this we realized Thattai making is a big project. It requires lots of patience and is certainly fun to make this as well. The project was successful with lots of help from my husband and lil one who loves to see me experiment in the kitchen. Of course, I made to sure to keep him away while frying the Thattai. Since this recipe involves frying, please be cautious while trying this out and do not fry with your lil ones around.

Ok, now we get to the recipe finally 😊

Ingredients

• Idly rice: 5 1/4 cups (or 3 1/2 rice nazhi, nazhi is a big cup used for measuring rice in most house holds)
• Urad flour – 1 cup
• Chana dal – 1/4 cup
• Salt, to taste
• Asafetida – a pinch
• Red chilly powder – 1 heaped tsp
• 1 tbsp butter
• Curry leaves – a sprig
• Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Soak the idly rice overnight. Soak the chana dal for 3-4 hours
• Drain all the water from the rice and grind to a smooth paste adding water when needed. Try to be as conservative as possible with water

• Dry roast the urad flour until it emits a nice aroma
• Drain water from the chana dal and keep aside
• Mix the idly rice paste, Urad flour, chana dal, salt, red chilly powder, butter, curry leaves and asafetida well

• Keep covered with a wet cloth
• Make equal sized balls from the dough and keep aside
• Take a plastic sheet and smear it with oil. Place a ball of dough on the plastic sheet and shape the dough into a thin flat disc using your oiled fingers

• Use a fork to prick holes throughout the disc. This step is required as the Thattai needs to cook evenly without puffing up

• Heat oil on medium flame and wait until it’s hot. Test the oil temperature by dropping a small piece of dough into the oil. If it rises to the surface within 10 seconds, the oil is ready
• Initially start with one Thattai for frying and slowly increase the number.
• After you drop Thattai in oil, you will see a lot of air bubbles and hear a buzzing sound. You need to wait until the air bubbles reduce significantly (2-3) and the buzzing sound stops. In this process, also keep inverting the Thattai so that both sides cook well. The final Thattai must be golden brown in color.
• Drain the oil in the Thattai and keep aside for cooling. Store in an air tight container

Enjoy the crispy, crunchy yummy Thattai 😊

Navratri Special: Chana Dal Sundal

Vijayadashami is the 10th and last day of Navratri. It’s also an auspicious day to start formal education. Lord Hayagriva, God of Knowledge is also worshipped on this day. Chana dal sundal is made as an offering on this auspicious day.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Chana dal – 1 cup
• Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
• Ginger – 1 cm piece
• Green chillies, 2
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves , a few
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Asafetida- a pinch
• Salt, to taste
• Oil for tempering

Method

• Wash the chana well and soak for a couple of hours
• Drain the water, wash well and cook the Chana dal in a pressure cooker adding just enough water to submerge the Chana dal (approx 1 cup water). Cook for just one whistle as we do not want to overcook the Dal
• Chop the green chillies and ginger into fine pieces
• Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the Urad dal, curry leaves and sauté for few minutes. Add the asafetida, ginger and green chillies and sauté for few more minutes
• Add the tempering, turmeric, and salt to the cooked chana dal and sauté on slow flame for few minutes. Add the grated coconut and remove from fire

Enjoy the delicious sundal 😊

Navratri Special: Black Chana Sundal

The next Sundal is Black Chana Sundal for Ashtami/Navami. I love to eat this sundal with Poori and halwa.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Black Chana – 1 cup
• Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
• Ginger – 1 cm piece
• Green chillies, 2
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves , a few
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Asafetida- a pinch
• Salt, to taste
• Oil for tempering

Method

• Wash the chana well and soak it overnight in plenty of water
• Drain the water, wash well and cook the Chana in a pressure cooker adding enough water to submerge the Chana (approx 1 cup water). Cook for 3-4 whistles until the Chana is well cooked. Keep aside.
• Chop the green chillies and ginger into fine pieces
• Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the Urad dal, curry leaves and sauté for few minutes. Add the asafetida, ginger and green chillies and sauté for few more minutes
• Add the tempering, turmeric, and salt to the cooked chana and sauté on slow flame for few minutes. Add the grated coconut and remove from fire

Enjoy the delicious sundal 😊

Navratri Special: Peanut Sundal

The next sundal variety for Navratri is Peanut Sundal. This is my mom’s recipe and it came out really tasty. My mom’s suggestion of adding red chilly, coriander powder, coconut masala powder, really made a difference to the sundal and enhanced the taste

Ingredients

• Peanuts, with the skin – 1 cup
• Red chilly – 1 whole
• Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
• Coconut – 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves, a few
• Lemon juice – 1-2 tsp
• Asafetida – a pinch
• Salt, to taste
• Tumeric powder – a pinch
• Sugar – 1/4 tsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

• Wash and soak the peanuts overnight
• Next morning, drain the water and cook the peanuts in a pressure cooker for 1-2 whistles, adding turmeric powder and water just enough to submerge the peanuts
• Dry roast the red chilly, coriander seeds, and coconut and dry grind to a fine powder. Keep aside
• Heat oil, add the mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the urad dal, asafetida and curry leaves. Add the cooked peanuts, the ground masala powder and sauté well for 3-4 minutes
• Add lemon juice and sugar, mix well and remove from flame

Serve hot and enjoy 🙂

Navratri Special: Horse Gram (Kollu) Sundal

Horse gram is a very healthy legume that is rich in iron. Known as Kollu in Tamilnadu, it’s used to make a variety of dishes like Kollu Rasam, Kollu poriyal, Kollu chutney. It is also used as an offering to Lord Ketu during Navratri. I made horse gram sundal on day 5 (Monday) of Navrathri.

Ingredients

• Horse gram (Kollu) – 1 cup
• Spinach – 1/4 cup
• Grated coconut – 1/4 cup
• Ginger-green chillies paste – 2 tbsp
• Garam Masala – 1 tsp
• Jaggery powder – 2 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• For tempering
  • Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
  • Asafetida – a pinch
  • Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
  • Urad dal – 1 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves, a few for garnishing

Method

• Clean and soak the horse gram overnight
• Next morning, wash it well and cook it in a pressure cooker, adding just enough water for 3-4 whistles or until well cooked
• Cook the spinach, grind it and keep aside
• In a pan, add coconut oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, asafetida. When the mustard splutters, add the spinach, ginger-green chilly paste and saute for some time
• Add the cooked horse gram, garam masala powder, grated coconut, salt and jaggery powder. Stir well and cook for 5-10 minutes, covered with a lid
• Remove from fire and garnish with coriander leaves

Enjoy the sundal 🙂