Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Sarkarai Pongal

Hi! Posting a recipe after a long break.
Sarkarai Pongal is a high calorific delicacy of Tamilnadu.So those who want to commit  sin(!) of consuming high calorific food  for a change can really try out this. Since I don't mind committing this sin, I love to indulge in such foods quite often ;-). To be on modest side ;-), I would like to declare that my preparation is highly appreciated in our circles as I add all possible high calorific ingredients to make it delicious . Pongal can be prepared in n number of ways.The method I follow is almost similar to the famous "Vaishnavite Akkaaravadisal of Tamilnadu" which is the big brother of Pongal in all aspects.
Pongal

Ingredients

Rice -2 cups
Mung dal(yellow)-  3/4 cup
Jaggery (powdered) - 3 1/2  cup to 4 cups
(depending on the sweetness of jaggery).
Milk - 1 to 1 1/2 ltr
Ghee - 2 cups or more
Coconut -1
Elaichi powder -as required.
Cashew Nuts-  handful or more
Raisins/Dried grapes- handful or more
jadikkai/jaiphal/nutmeg powder- 1 tsp
water- as required.


Method

Dry Roast Mungdal till golden red and wash it along with rice and keep it aside.
Take total eight cups(Water+milk) in a big vessel,(decide the qty of water according to the availability of milk)
And hereafter only milk will be added for further cooking.,add a spoon of ghee  and bring it to  a boil.
After the mixture boils, add washed  rice+mungdal in the vessel, let this mixture cook well.
Take care that the mixture doesn't get burnt at the bottom of the vessel..Add the milk little and little as the mixture thickens.Check the consistency of cooked mung dal  for softness.If rice+dal mixture is cooked nicely,then add powdered jaggery.
If you add the jaggery before,then rice+dal will not be cooked properly.Once jaggery is added ,simmer the flame,continuous stirring is required to prevent overburning.Add 2 big spoons of ghee while adding jaggery.Once jaggery melts,
keep another kadai ,add ghee, and in the molten ghee, roast scrapped or small pieces of coconut and add to the pongal.
Again heat some more ghee to roast cashew nuts,raisins and nutmeg powder one by one and add  to pongal.
Add elaichi powder, pour 2 to 3 big spoons of molten ghee on pongal and switch off the flame.

Sugar can be used instead of Jaggery.But I prefer Jaggery for its iron content.
If Sugar is used, then can add saffron/keshar/kumkumapoo for garnishing, as saffron doesn't go well with jaggery preparations.
What are you waiting for? Serve hot and enjoy this wonderful delicacy.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Ravyache Ladu

Hi! In this post I am publishing a mouth watering recipe of Ravyache ladu or Rava ladu in Maharashtrian style.
Rava ladu prepared in Maharashtra  is different from the ones which are prepared in Tamilnadu . In Tamil nadu it is known as 'Ravai Urundai '. This recipe will help you to prepare  a delicious and yummy ladu. What are you waiting for? Rush for your pen and paper and note down this recipe  and  give yourself a treat of this delicacy , but don't forget to burn the calories.:-))


 
Ingredients


FineWhite Rava/Sooji/Semolina/Baarik Rava 4 cups

Sugar 3 1/2cup

Coconut 1

Ghee 1 1/2 cup

Water 1 1/2 cup

Roasted cashewnuts,Almonds pieces

Raisins/dried grapes

Saffron/keshar/kumkumapoo a little

Elaichi/Cardomom/Elakkai powder a little

Method

For this ladu, Rava should be of very fine quality not the coarse one which we use for Upma. In south ,if you find it difficult to get a finer quality,then may have to dry grind rava for a minute  in a mixer to get the fineness. In maharashtra,it is known as Baarik rava.

Mix Sugar and water in a vessel and stir it well and keep it aside for the sugar to dissolve well.

Roast Rava in Sim flame and after some time add ghee and further roast well till golden. Rava ladu's secret of success lies in roasting. Always keep in mind that while roasting , flame should be minimum,so that heat spreads slowly and evenly.If the flame is high,golden colour appears fast but all the particles would not get the required heat and result is uneven roasting. Actually it is a patience testing procedure while preparing large quantities but can't help it. If at all you lose patience at one fine time and maximise the flame, then remember to continuously stir otherwise you will get burnt rava.:-)

After roasting rava more than halfway,add scrapped coconut and roast it well till the mixture becomes golden. Since coconut is added take additional efforts in roasting it well because unroasted coconut particles will spoil the ladu soon.Once the mixture is roasted well, put off the flame.

Now boil the sugar and water to make the sugar syrup.Consistency of sugar syrup is single string.Check for the single string between thumb and forefinger and once single string is formed switch off the flame.If syrup is boiled for more time then ladu will dry up quicly.Add cardomom powder,saffron,raisins,dry fruits to the sugar syrup and add this syrup to the roasted rava,coconut mixture and mix it thoroughly.
Making  ladus from this mixture is not possible immediately.Have to wait for 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs or till you are able to get the shape of ladus properly.(sometimes more than 5 hours if sugar syrup has not reached its proper consistency ) .But stir the mixture in frequent intervals well. This particular property of Rava ladu  impressed me a lot because I didn't have to struggle with hot mixture and burn my palms:-).Here ladus can be prepared with cold mixture.Go Ahead and treat your folks with this ladu!

Bye!CU with some other interesting recipe!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Milagaai Podi

Hi!After a long time !
Milagaai podi is a typical Tamil nadu dry chutney which when mixed with oil tastes yummy along with idlis,dosas, adais etc...This is a must in every Tamilian's kitchen.This milagaai podi recipe was given to me by my mother. Again there are number of variants in milagaai podi also.Not only milagaai podi,there are lots of other dry chutney powders in Tamil nadu,which i ve collected meticulouly from many sources and am planning to post one by one.

Ingredients

Channa Dal /kadalai paruppu/Bengal gram  1 cup
Udad Dal /uluttham paruppu/ black gram 1 cup
White Til/Ellu/Sesame seeds  1/2 cup
Whole Red chillies  2 Cups
Hing/Asafoetida/Perungayam 2 Tsps
Haldi/Turmeric/Manjal 2 Tsps
Salt to taste
Oil 2 Tsps

Method

1.Dry roast Channa dal,Udad dal separately in a kadhai till golden and wait for the unique flavour of these dals.Can add little oil while roasting halfway.Transfer the contents to a plate.
2.Roast Til/Ellu separately in the kadhai till they splutter and become light golden.Unpolished Til gives a unique flavour while roasting whereas polished Til doesn't.It is always better to use unpolished Til.Add the roasted Til to the roasted Dals.

3.Add little oil in the  kadhai and roast the red chillies lightly. while roasting chillies please take care that children are away otherwise the hot smoke may cause problems like uncomfortable sneezing.Add the roasted chillies to the above mixture.
4. Add Salt, Hing, Haldi to this mixture and make a coarse powder of this mixture in a mixer.
5.Milagaai podi is ready.Add little oil to this podi and a lipsmacking accompaniment to Idlis are ready.
6.My Husband prefers to take milagaai podi with Curd to Oil.So can give it a try.

I would like to give the ingredient list for variants of Milagai podi.

Milagai podi (Variant 2)

Ingredients

Udad dal/ulutham paruppu- 1 cup
Channa dal/kadalai paruppu - 1 cup
Whole dry red chillies - 2 cups
Black Til/sesame seeds/Ellu 1 cup
Hing/asafoetida 2 tsp
Jaggery powder - 2 Tbsp
Tamarind/puli - 1 small lemon size
Scrapped coconut - 1 cup
Mustard/kadugu - 1 tsp
salt to taste

Roast coconut till moisture free separately.Dry roast dals,chillies,sesame seeds separately.Add salt,hing,haldi,jaggery and make a coarse powder in Mixer.

Milagai podi (Variant 3)


Ingredients

Udad dal - 2 cups
Channa dal - 1 1/2 cups
Whole dry Red chillies 1 1/2 cup
Hing - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds/Ellu/Til 2 tsp
Salt
Roast the ingredients properly and make a coarse powder.

Milagai podi (Variant 4)

Ingredients
Udad dal - 2 cups
Channa dal - 1 1/2 cups
Whole dry red chillies - 1 1/2 cups
Hing/Asafoetida/Perungayam 2 tsp
Jiragam/cumin seeds/Jira - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper/Milagu/Miri -1 tsp
Tamarind/Puli/Chinch - small lemon size
Garlic/poondu/Lesoon - 8 to 12 cloves
Curry leaves - Handful
Salt to taste
Jaggery powder - 2 tsp (optional)


In little oil roast garlic separately till golden.
Roast all other ingredients separately,Add salt and make a coarse powder.