Puttu With Kadalai Curry

Most of us know kozhaputtu with kondakadalai is a super dooper combo from kerala. Puttu is also called Pittu. When we were on a trip to Kerala my sister initiated this puttu venture; not only did we get the cook from the resort we stayed to demonstrate us puttu & kadalai curry preparation but also bought each of us a puttu kuzha to try it out. For some reason, I assumed puttu is a cumbersome dish and when I tried it myself I realized it was pretty simple. I got puttu flour from store; the preparation of the flour itself would be little complicated. You get many varieties of puttu flours; rice is the usual one used but now you can see variants such as red rice, wheat, bajra, corn, ragi and so on. This time I made corn puttu. Healthy, tasty and colorful :)

Kuzha Puttu making requires a special kind of steamer called puttu kuzha which is shown in the picture below. It has a pot below that holds water, above which the cylindrical part that contains puttu flour is fixed so that the steam from the pot flows above to cook the flour to get soft puttu. A small perforated disc shown in the picture forms the base of the cylindrical part; the small lid with black handle is used to close the cylindrical part while the black twig is used for pushing out the puttu cakes once they are done.

Ingredients:

       For Puttu:

      1. Puttu flour - 1 cup

      2. Salt as reuired

      3. Water - 1/4 cup

      4. Scrapped coconut – ½ cup

       For Kadalai Curry:

1.     Chickpeas - 1 cup

2.     Onion - 1

3.     Tomato - 1

4.     Green chilies - 2

5.     Garlic - 4 cloves

6.     Ginger - 2" piece

7.     Scrapped coconut – 2 tbsp

8.     Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

9.     Salt to taste

10. Red chili powder - 1 tsp

11. Coriander powder - 1 tsp

12. Oil - 2 tbsp

13. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp finely chopped

14. Lemon - 1/2

Method:

Puttu:

Step 1: Add salt to the water and heat it until warm.

Step 2: Now start boiling water in the puttu pot and prepare flour in parallel. Drizzle few drops of warm salted water over the flour and rub them between your palms. Keep adding drops of water until you get to a stage in which, when you hold a fistful of puttu powder the shape should hold on after releasing the fingers. At the same time don’t add too much water to the flour and make it lumpy or sticky, it should be just a moist powder.

Step 3: Now take the cylindrical portion of the puttu kuzha, drop the perforated disc inside to cover the base, with a lond spoon drop a spoonful of scrapped coconut to spread evenly, then spoon in few spoons of prepared flour and finally cover it with another spoon of scrapped coconut. You can make two or three layers of puttu by filling flour and coconut alternatively depending on the puttu kuzha’s length and the puttu length you desire.

Step 4: Cove the puttu kuzha with its lid and fix it over the steaming puttu pot. Cook for about 4 -10 minutes. Time depends on the width and height of the puttu kuzha.

Step 5: Let it cool for a minute and then tilt the kuzha and push out the puttu with the twig given. If the puttu is not staying in shape it is either under cooked or there is less moisture than required. If undercooked, the flour tastes and smells raw, in which case you can cook it again. This way we can settle with a time estimate for forthcoming batches of puttu.

Kadalai Curry:

Step 1: Wash, soak the chickpeas overnight and pressure cook them with salt.

Step 2: Grind together the chopped tomato, green chilies, garlic and coconut.

Step 3: Heat oil in a pan, crackle cumin seeds and sauté the finely chopped onion, add to it the tomato paste and sauté until the oil seperates.

Step 4: Add chili powder, coriander powder, salt and mix some water if the gravy is very thick.

Step 5: Stir in the cooked chickpeas, taste and adjust salt/ spices/ consistency and cook in simmer for 2 minutes.

Step 6: Switch off the stove, squeeze juice of half a lemon and mix well.

Step 7: Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with puttu.

TIPS:

* Though the black chickpeasis very commonly used for kadalai curry white chickpeas is also prominent.
* Papadam is usually served with puttu & kadalai curry though I did not make it.

* Another typical tradition of serving puttu is accompanying it with ripe banana and sugar.

*The picture above is the sweet puttu which I got by adding chopped banana, sugar and some ghee to the puttu; my husband said it tasted like prasadam, we loved it.

Broken Samba Wheat Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is an arab salad conventionally made from a wheat kind of cereal called bulgur which is parboiled and dried, process similar to our parboiled rice. This bulgur is high in fiber, protein that is easily digestible and so is the samba broken wheat which I've used for my version. Couscous and quinoa can also be used in the same recipe instead of broken wheat. My addition to the simple traditional tabbouleh is some pomegranate beads and capsicum.

Ingredients:

1. Broken samba wheat - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1
3. Tomato - 1
4. Capsicum -1
5. Pomegranate beads - 3 tbsp
6. Coriander chopped - 3 tbsp
7. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
8. Salt as required
9. Pepper crushed - 1/2 tsp
10. Lemon - 1/2

Method:

Step 1: Boil 2 cups of salted water and cook the cleaned broken wheat in that until done. In case there is excess water, drain it completely.

Step 2: Finely chop the onion, tomato (seeds and inside removed), capsicum, coriander and squeeze half a lemon's juice into the chopped vegetables.

Step 3: Add pomegranate beads, coriander, salt and toss in the veg bowl.

Step 4: Now add the cooked broken wheat, crushed pepper, olive oil and toss well again.

Step 5: Serve immediately. If you prefer it cool, chill the chopped vegetables before mixing with the wheat.

Veg Hakka Noodles

Hakka noodles or chowmein has been one of my favorites ever since I had it for the first time in the premises of Tirupathy during a family trip long time back. Hunger always adds taste to the food and company augments it much more.  However, hakka noodles or chowmein as such is a wholesome dish if we add a lot of vegetables to it.    

Ingredients:

1. Hakka noodles - 1 pack

2. Cabbage - half of a small one

3. Bush beans - 10-12

4. Carrot -2

5. Capsicum - 1

6.Onion - 1 large

7. Garlic - 5 cloves

8. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

9. Vinegar - 1 tbsp

10. Pepper powder - 1 tsp

11. Salt to taste

12. Gingelly oil - 3 tbsp

13. Dried red chili - 2

Method:

Step 1: Boil water and cook the hakka noodles as per the instructions on the pack and drain them. Toss with a few drops of oil so that they don't stick to each other.

Step 2: Clean the vegetables and cut them into long thin pieces like in the picture below. (I know there are 2 portions of bush beans in my pic, because my husband is a hard core fan of it ;)). You can also add some bean sprouts if you've.

Step 3: Heat the oil in a large kadai (If you have a wide wok or a deep skillet pan, that's the best, go for it), add garlic and broken chilies to it.

Step 4: When aroma surrounds saute the onion and then thrown in other vegetables in a minute.Stir fry the vegetables for a couple of minutes with some salt sprinkle over it.

Step 5: Now add the cooked noodles and toss them well.

Step 6: Add the soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and toss them on high heat. Though we can't get the effect of that large wok tossing the noodles almost a feet high, like we see in the street fast food stalls; we still would a decent chowmein on table this way.

Coleslaw

I tried this coleslaw with a purple cabbage without the traditional coleslaw seasoning. It is very simple and refreshing.

Ingredients:

1. Small purple cabbage - 1
2. Onion - 1
3. Salt as required
4. Pepper crushed - 1/2 tsp
5. Vinegar - 1 tsp
6. Gingelly oil - 1 tbsp
7. Roasted sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
8. Coriander leaves

Method:

Step 1: Shred the cabbage, cut the onion into thin long slices and chop the coriander leaves.
Step 2: Now in a bowl toss them all by drizzling vinegar, gingelly oil and sprinkling salt and pepper.
Step 3: Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Turmeric Pickle

In Tamilnadu, we celebrate a harvest festival called Pongal in the mid of January month. During this festival, fresh turmeric is tied to the new mud pot in which pongal is made. This fresh turmeric is the protagonist of our recipe today. We learnt this recipe from my paternal grandma. Turmeric gives us a lot of immunity and is a powerful antibiotic in addition to its various other positives.

Ingredients:

1. Turmeric - 250 gms
2. Gingelly oil - 1/2 cup
3. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
4. Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
5. Chili powder - 3 tbsp
6. Salt - 2 tbsp
7. Fenugreek  powder - 1 tsp
8. Dry ginger powder - 1 tsp
9. Lemon - 2

Method:

Step 1: Wash, pat dry, peel and grate the turmeric in a fine grater. There is catch, it is a little tedious task, your palms remain yellow yellow-dirty fellow for one day, even the grater retains a deep orange color from a gummy substance in turmeric. But it is all worth the taste and goodness of the pickle.

Step 2: Heat the oil in a kadai and splutter the mustard seeds; sprinkle the asafoetida and saute the grated turmeric in it. Cook it covered for about 5-10 minutes by stirring in between.

Step 3: Now open the lid, add salt, chili powder and stir cook for another 5 minuted without covering.

Step 4: Taste and adjust spices and mix the fenugreek powder and dry ginger powder.

Step 5: Switch off the stove and squeeze in the juice of a couple of lemons and stir well.

Step 6: Once it comes to room temperature, store it in a clean and dry bottle.

TIPS:
* Turmeric does not cook once the salt is added. So make sure it is cooked well before adding salt or spices.
* Use the finest grater to ease the cooking process.

Garlic Thovial

As we were brought up by our granny who does not eat garlic, garlic takes place very rarely in our cooking. But knowing of the abundance of goodness that the garlic offers I started bringing it closer in my kitchen. My niece has taken it too very closely I would say, from the time she started eating solid food, garlic has impressed her so much and it continues to be her favorite even now. This dish is a way where we can easily add a couple of fistful of garlic in a breakfast or dinner.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Garlic - 2 pods

2. Coconut grated - 5 tbsp

3. Dry chilies - 3-4

4. Tamarind - 2 marble sized

5. Salt to taste

6. Oil - 1 tbsp

7. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

8. Urad dal - 1/2 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Peel the garlic cloves; roast them in few drops of oil.

Step 2: Roast dry chilies with a drop of oil.

Step 3: Prepare tempering by spluttering mustard seeds in hot oil and frying urad dal in it. Keep aside.

Step 4: In a mixer jar, take grated coconut, roasted chilies & garlic, tamarind, enough salt and grind into a coarse paste with some water.

                     

Step 5: Mix it with the prepared tempering and serve with idli, dosa or even rice.

Plain Banana Ckae

The other day I had baked a banana cake. I bake cakes in a pressure cooker on stove and they come out really well. I used less sugar expecting the bananas to be very sweet but the cake was less sweet; however I have given the corrected measure.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup

2. Sugar - 1 1/2 cups

3. Banana - 5 small or 2 big

4.Butter - 3/4 cup

5. Baking powder - 1 tsp

6. Baking soda - 1 pinch

7. Vanilla essence - 2 drops

Method:

Step 1: Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.

Step 2: Beat softened butter and sugar into a smooth paste and add mashed or pureed banana and vanilla essence to it and mix well.

Step 3: Grease and dust a baking tin and preheat the oven or cooker.

Step 4: Fold the dry ingredients in the wet mixture and mix thoroughly, add few drops of milk if the consistency is too thick.

Step 5: Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 20-30 minutes.

TIPS:
* Coco powder can also be added to banana cake to give added flavor and color.
* Add nuts of your choice or some raisins or tutti fruitti.

Sprouts Pesarattu

I had lots of sprouted moong and wanted to use it in the main course for dinner today and amma gave this idea of pesarattu with sprouts. Because consistency did not work out, I mixed some rava to it and it came out well.

Ingredients:

1. Sprouted green gram - 2 cups
2. Rava/ Sooji - 1 cup
3. Onion - 1
4. Green chilies - 2
5. Ginger - 2" piece
6. Salt to taste
7. Oil as required
8. Coriander chopped - 2 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: In a mixer jar take sprouts, green chilies, onion, ginger and grind well into thin batter.

Step 2: To the batter add rava, salt, chopped coriander and mix well. Leave it for 30 minutes.

Step 3: Heat griddle or a dosa pan and grease it with some oil. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread it with the back of the ladle into a medium sized circle.

Step 4: Drizzle little oil around it and cover it with a lid. Simmer the heat and wait until the bottom side browns.
Step 5: Flip the pesarattu delicately, drizzle oil if required and cook it uncovered for 1 minute.

Step 6: Serve hot with coconut chutney or coriander chutney. Actually it is flavorful and tasty even without any side dish.

Banana Avocado Mousse

This is another avocado mousse I had tried yesterday. This avocado mousse is very tasty and is pretty healthy too. That's the reason I keep repeating it, both of us loved the taste. And you know what, this is damn simple a dessert.

Ingredients:

1. Avocado - 1
2. Small banana - 2
3. Sugar - 1 tbsp
4. Vanilla essence - 2 drops

Method:

Step 1: Peel the riped banana, chop them and mash it in the mixer jar.
Step 2: To the jar, add sugar, vanilla essence, scooped avocado and whip them to a smooth consistency.
Step 3: Chill it until serving.
Step 4: Have it plain as this is flavorsome with vanilla, banana and avocado. If you prefer, garnish with nuts or banana slices.

Bajra Kitchadi

Bajra is good for health and especially for winters it makes good choice for dinners. I made instant bajra kitchadi today with the moong dal sprouts I had.

Ingredients:
1. Bajra - 1 cup
2. Moong sprouts - 2 cups
3. Salt to taste
4. Ghee - 1 tbsp
5. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
6. Asafoetida - 1 pinch
7. Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
8. Chili powder - 1 tsp

Method:

Step 1: Clean and course grind the bajra in mixer jar.
Step 2: Pressure cook the broken bajra, moong sprouts and some salt with 3 cups water for 5-7 whistles.
Step 3: In a non stick handi, heat ghee and crackle the cumin seeds; then sprinkle asafoetida, turmeric, chili powder and pour in the cooked kitchadi.
Step 4: Stir well, adjust salt and consistency by adding water if required and cook for 2 minutes and switch off stove.
Step 5: Serve hot with roasted papad and pickle.

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

I got some avocados from Bangalore when we went to visit my new niece Anishka. I wanted to try recipes apart from milkshake because we've had them earlier and mousse is something I had tried earlier and did not work out very well; but with avocado it should work fine. It did turn out well...

Ingredients:

1. Ripe avocado - 1

2. Dates - 5

3. Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp

4. Hershey's chocolate syrup - 2 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Soak the seedless dates in some warm water for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Scoop the pulp from the butter fruit into a mixer jar.

Step 3: Drain water from the dates and add it into the jar. 

Step 4: Add cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup and whip well until all the ingredients blends smooth. If the sweetness is not enough, add more chocolate syrup or some sugar and blend again.

Step 5: Spoon them into bowl and chill it until serving.

Step 6: Garnish with chocolate syrup or strawberry or nuts of your choice.

Cabbage Chutney

Cabbage chutney is goes well with dosa varieties and we got to know of this recipe from Padma aunty, my sister's mother in law. I have made my version with slight changes to the original recipe.

Original recipe Source: Padma Aunty

Ingredients:

1. Cabbage - 1 cup chopped
2. Onion - 1 sliced
3. Green chilies - 4
4. Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Lemon - 1/2
6. Salt to taste
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Urad dal - 1 tbsp
9. Curry leaves - 1 spring
10. Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan and prepare tempering with asafoetida, mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and pour it in a bowl.
Step 2: In the same pan add some drops of oil and add green chilies to it, then the onion and finally add cabbage into it and saute for 3 minutes. Now turn off heat and let it cool down a bit.
Step 3: In a mixer jar add the vegetables with some salt and juice of half a lemon. Grind it to a slightly grainy consistency with minimum water as the cabbage would leave out some water.
Step 4: Spoon the chutney into tempering and mix well. Serve with hot dosa or idlies.

Radish Green Subji with Bajra Roti

For winters, bajra is good for the body as it produces heat. It is also a very healthy, gluten free diet with very good taste and flavor. Bajra roti with radish green subji is a great combo; we got introduced to it in our childhood by our family friend, Urmila Aunty. Thanks to her, it has been one of our favorites for cool winters.

Original recipe Source: Urmila aunty

Ingredients:

For Roti:
1. Bajra flour - 2 cups
2. Salt as per taste
3. Oil - 1 tbsp
4. Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
5. Butter/ oil/ghee - 2 tbsp

For Subji:
1. Radish greens - 1 bunch
2. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Carom seeds -1/2 tsp
4.Asafoetida - 1 pinch
5. Salt to taste
6. Chili powder - 1 tsp
7. Dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

For Roti:
Step 1: Mix all the given ingredients and then add water little at a time and mix until you get a soft dough. Leave it for 15 minutes.
Step 2: Divide into portions that make 2.5" diameter ball. Pat it into 0.5 cm thick circles using a plastic cover so that it peels of easily.
Step 3: Heat a tawa, grease butter/ oil/ ghee and roast it on both the sides well. Make rotis on medium heat to ensure it is cooked well in the center. Keep pressing with flat ladle on the surface of the roti while cooking to avoid cracking and for uniform cooking.

For Subji:
Step 1: Clean and wash the radish greens and then finely chop them.
Step 2: Heat oil in a pan, crackle cumin seeds and carom seeds, sprinkle asafoetida and then add the chopped radish greens.
Step 3: Saute for a minute and then cover with a lid. Stirring occasionally, cook until the green is soft.
Step 4: Then add salt, chili powder and dry mango powder. Toss for another 2 minutes and switch off.
Step 5: Serve hot with bajra roti.

TIPS:
* I used dry mango powder as I went out of stock of tomatoes; I think that's used in the original recipe.  Using tomatoes gives it a moist texture and more tangy taste.
* Shredded jaggery is another superhit combo with bajra roti.
* Don't mistake the whitish pieces in the subji for onions, they are the baby radishes that came with the bunch of greens :)

Simple fine salad

We had our lunch at Cholaiyil Sanjeevanam yesterday. I would say it was a heaven on plate, ok...plantain leaf; very wholesome it was :)
The Rajakeeyam, royal lunch started with five super shots namely 1. Dates juice 2. Nuts milkshake 3. Salted vegetable stock 4. Minted buttermilk 5. Flavored rice starch followed by several morsels of vegetables; uncooked, semi-cooked and fully cooked that included plantain stem, plantain flower, squash, pumpkin, green leafy vegetables and others. Then both steamed red rice and white rice were served with pureed dal, sambar, morkuzhambu, rasam and buttermilk along with paruppu payasam. The food served is said to be had in the same order of serving for best results ;) After you are done, they pour a spoon of honey into your palm that is said to help digestion and finally will be given a natural beeda along with the nominal bill of Rs.220 per Rajakeeyam lunch. Good lunch :) :) :)

Original recipe Source: Sanjeevanam restaurant

I tried something with this inspiration at home today for lunch but very few items relatively.

1. Beet root soup
2. Simple fine salad
3. Plantain stem raita
4. Steamed cabbage salad
5. Plain rice
6. Capsicum sambar
7. Roasted papad
8. Cumin flavored buttermilk

We both usually have max of 3 items (rice, vegetable, curry) for a meal. But it was so good to have many items in a single meal, its a balanced one, huh :)

In this post I share the simple fine salad that is not the imitation but the inspiration from rajakeeyam salad. I think they had mixed chopped cabbage, beet root, raw mango with some salt. So simple yet tasty. My version below:

Ingredients:

1. Cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped
2. Beetroot - 1/2 cup finely chopped
3. Onion - 1/4 cup finely chopped
4. Lemon - 1/2
5. Salt to taste
6. Pepper powder - 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Mix all the ingredients and serve chilled.

TIPS:
* You can also add vegetables like carrot, capsicum, etc.
* For more spicy salad, add finely chopped green chilies and season with cut coriander leaves.

Mooli Paratha

Mooli paratha is a very good option to use the radishes for people who do not like them in salads or subjis. Some people make stuffed parathas with radish and some saute the radish before adding but I make a simple  and hastle free version of mooli paratha that I've shared here.

Original recipe Source: No specific source

Ingredients:

1. Radish - 3 small

2. Green chilies - 2

3. Salt as required

4. Wheat flour - 2 1/2 cups

5. Carom seeds - 1/4 tsp

6. Oil - 1 tbsp

7. Butter - 3 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Step 1: Wash, peel and grate the radishes; add little salt and keep it covered for 5 minutes. 

Step 2: In a mixing bowl take wheat flour, salt, carom seeds, oil and  chopped green chilies.

Step 3: When you open the grated radish, you'll see the juice of radish has come out. Now, squeeze the juice in a cup tightly with your fist and add the dry grated radish into the mixing bowl. 

Step 4: Mix the dry ingredients well; then add the extracted radish juice to the dough and mix to get a soft dough. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Divide the dough into equal sized portions say 6 -8 in number. Roll them into flat circles with the help of dry flour.

Step 6: Heat the tawa, grease with some butter and roast one side of the paratha, when you see brown spot on it and bubbles on the other side flip to the other side and roast with some more butter. You can dry roast them or use oil or ghee. 

Step 7: Serve hot with pickle and curds.

TIPS:
* For me usually there would not be need for adding more water as the juice would give enough moisture. In case you use less radish relatively or if the radish that you use is dry, add some plain water.
* If the dough becomes too gummy add some more flour.

Besan Ladoo

This recipe is an adaptation from www.nishamadhulika.com. I had tried this recipe a couple of times earlier too but for Diwali I attempted this tried and tested recipe:)

Original recipe Source: Nishamadhulika.com

Ingredients:

1. Gram flour - 500 gm
2. Sugar - 500 gm
3. Ghee - 400 gm
4. Cashew nuts - 50 gm
5. Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Method:

Step 1: The first step is to prepare bura. To prepare this, heat a heavy bottomed pan add sugar and half a cup of water and stir continuously. After about 10-15 minutes you'll feel the sugar solidifying on the outer rim; at this point switch off the heat and let it cool by stirring. On doing this for about 15 minutes you'll get sugary powder. This is just the dissolved and recrystallized sugar in a uniform and finer texture that we call bura.

Step 2: Roast broken cashew nuts with some ghee in  a heavy bottomed pan and keep it aside.
Step 3: In the same pan, melt the rest of the ghee in low heat and add gram flour to it and roast until aroma emanates and turns slightly brownish. Switch off the heat and let it cool a bit.

Step 4: Now in a big mixing tray or bowl, add bura, roasted gram flour cardamom powder, cashew nuts and mix thoroughly. The gram flour should be slightly warm to press ladoos.

Step 5: Take a ladle full of this mixture in your palm and press and roll continuously until you get a nice round ladoo. Repeat until the mixture is done.

Tips:
* If the ladoo is not staying in form, heat some more ghee and add to the mixture.
* You can use almonds instead of cashews.
* You can place whole nuts at the center of the ladoo or even press one at the top of it.

Butter Murukku

Butter murukku was the savoury at home for this Diwali. After some research I found that this is relatively an easy thing to attempt and not that it came out mind blowing. I learnt that sweets and savoury making is not just about the formula and procedure like baking, it is also about experience. What I missed this time was the texture and freshness of the rice flour; depending on their dryness and type of rice used the rice flour gets its traits which result in crispness, colour of the savoury, flavour, oil absorbing nature and stuff like that. I don't think there is any metric to determine these; we just got to use the experience or instincts. Usually what wise people do is try a small batch first and then repeat for the rest, so that there is room for correction if necessary. Oh, too much of gyan just because mine was screwed a bit (It was slightly hard); don’t worry; sometimes you just crack it at the first go. However, I’ve given modified measures here which finally rendered me good results.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 4 cups

2. Roasted-gram flour - 1 cup

3. Urad dal flour - 1/2 cup

4. Butter - 2 tbsp

5. Salt as per taste

6. Carom seeds- 1 tsp

7. Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

8. Oil for deep frying

Method:

Step 1: Sieve and mix all the flours in a mixing bowl, add salt, carom seeds, sesame seeds, softened butter, a tbsp of hot oil and mix well thoroughly. Then add warm water gradually and mix to make a soft dough. Wrap it in a muslin cloth and leave for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Heat oil in a deep pan; and in parallel with the help of murukku mold squeeze circular swirls with the desired size/shape/ number of holes in mold.

Step 3: When the oil in hot, simmer the heat and slide in the swirls very delicately and carefully into it. Once it  browns on one side, flip to the other side. Adjust  heat depending on the color you want and make sure it is cooked well.

TIPS:

* Usual mistakes in murkkus are that they turn out very dark in color or or they are brittle that they don't take the swirl shape or they are soft or they are too hard to bite or sometimes they absorb lot of oil. For each of these experienced people give suggestions and by that I mean I have not much idea :)

Plantain Cutlet

One of our friends had given some plantains which he got from his place. I had plenty of them and so wanted to try something other than the fry. Cutlet was a nice idea... I tried the recipe with a meal maker twist.

Ingredients:
1. Plantain - 2
2. Meal maker - 1 cup (Alternately you can replace boiled & mashed potatoes)
3. Onion - 1 finely chopped
4. Green chilies - 2 finely chopped
5. Corn flour - 2 tbsp
6. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
7. Lemon - 1
7. Salt as per taste
8. Chili powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Oil as required
10. Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup

Method:

Step 1: Steam cook the plantains, peel and mash them.
Step 2: Soak the meal makers in salted boiling water for 5 min, squeeze out water and grind in a mixer.
Step 3: Mix mashed plantains, ground meal makers, chopped onion & chilies, salt, cumin powder, chili powder and squeeze juice of a lemon and mix well.
Step 4: Divide into medium sized portions and pat into desired shapes (I used cookie cutter). Ready all the portions similarly.
Step 5: Heat tawa, grease oil, take a cutlet toss on the both sides to smear bread crumbs and place delicately onto the hot tawa. You can make around 6 in single go.
Step 6: When one side is browned, with a flat spatula, flip cutlets to the other side and drizzle a few drops of oil. Slightly press on the top of each cutlet to make them touch the surface of the tawa in order to brown evenly.
Step 7: When done, draw them to the plate and relish with sauce of your choice and onion salad if preferred.

Sweet Atta Paddu

I really don’t know what to call this. I wanted to do a savory and sweet for aayutha pooja and punjabi puda inspired from dassana was the sweet I tried; but it totally took a different form later during my trial; hence I named it paddu.

Original recipe Source: vegrecipesofindia.com

Ingredients:

1.       Wheat flour -1 cup

2.       Semolina – 2 tbsp

3.       Salt – 1 pinch

4.       Jaggery/ Sugar – ½ cup

5.       Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp

6.       Raisins – 2 tbsp

7.       Ghee – 1 tbsp

8.       Oil to fry

Method:

Step 1: Mix all ingredients from 1-7 in a bowl using water to a pakora batter consistency.

Step 2: Heat oil in the pan and spoon batter into it, few at a time.

Step 3: Alternatively you can prepare them in a kuzhiyappakal shown in the picture if you have one or use tawa to prepare them like pancakes.