Carrot Halwa

I don't think there is anyone of us who is not fond of this delicious dessert. There are several versions of carrot halwas like low calorie ones, with milk or without milk, micro-oven or stove cooked, steamed carrots or boiled carrots... how ever they make it, I will just delve into it. Hot carrot halwa and plain vanilla ice-cream are both a sweet married couple; having them together executes a wonderful explosion inside the mouth.

Ingredients:

1.       Carrot grated – 2 cups

2.       Milk – 1 cup

3.       Sugar – ½ cup

4.       Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

5.       Cashew nut – 2 tbsp

6.       Ghee – 5 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: In a non-stick pan roast the cashew nuts in ghee; pour and keep it aside

Step 2: In the same pan place the grated carrot & milk and let it cook for 10 -15 minutes covered and in low flame; stir occasionally.

Step 3: Once the carrot is cooked and milk absorbed, add sugar and cardamom powder and stir well for 2 minutes.

Step 4: Once the moisture in the halwa is gone, spoon the ghee and stir in cashews. Serve hot.

Neer Kachhayam

Neer kachayam is yet another dish that I learnt from my mother in law which can be snack or tiffin. This in a way resembles the ammini kozhukattai except that the rice flour is different. However, rolling those small marble sized kachayams is the tedious thing to do in this recipe. Like pasta, these kachayams can be seasoned in different flavors as per our taste and creativity; I've shared my mother-in-law's basic version here.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.       Idly rice – 2 cups

2.       Salt as per taste

3.       Oil – 3 tbsp

4.       Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

5.       Asafoetida – 2 pinches

6.       Urad dal – 1 tbsp

7.       Bengal gram – 1 tbsp

8.       Dry chilies – 3

9.       Curry leaves – 1 sprig

10.   Onion – 1 finely chopped

11.   Garlic cloves peeled – 15

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours. Grind the rice finely with some water.

Step 2: Heat a heavy bottomed pan, pour the batter, add 1 tbsp of oil, add necessary salt and stir until it becomes thick. Turn off the stove.

Step 3: Take small portions of marble size and roll them smoothly until the entire dough is over. Do it when it is hot, else the dough will become brittle.

Step 4: Steam these small kachayams for 5-10 minutes.

Step 5: In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil, splutter mustard seeds, sprinkle asafoetida, add urad and channa dals, broken chilies, curry leaves and sauté onion and garlic in that until golden brown. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over this.

Step 6: Now add the neer kachayams into this and mix well.

 Step 7: Serve it hot, it does not need any side dish.

TIPS:

* You can season steamed neer kachayams with different dressing of your choice and creativity; I'll share my mom's dressing in another post.

* Even the shaping, you can try shapes like pastas to add more glamour and attract kids.

Morkali

One of the big frames of my childhood memories is morkali; those tangy, white, ginger flavored, salty, gooey cubes we love to eat for the early dinners. This is another country dish of tamil nadu. Back then when I was in my native village, dinner is served latest by 7pm before the sun goes to bed. Morkali is quite a filling tiffin and easily digestible. Some people like to have it as soft gooey mass while some have it cut into cubes.

Ingredients:

1.       Idly rice – 2 cups (You can also use rice flour)

2.       Sour butter milk – 1 cups

3.       Salt as per taste

4.       Oil – 3 tbsp

5.       Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

6.       Urad dal – 1 tbsp

7.       Channa dal – 1 tbsp

8.       Curry leaves – 1 sprig

9.       Ginger – 1 tsbp grated

10.     Mormilagai – 5 (if not available use 3 dry chilies)

11.     Asafoetida – 2 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak rice for 2-4 hours and grind finely using 2cups water. Alternately you can sieve and mix it in 2 cups of water.

Step 2: Add salt, 1 tbsp oil and butter milk to the rice batter and stir well and leave aside

Step 3: In a tadka pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil, splutter mustard, sprinkle asafoetida, add urad & channa dal, throw in curry leaves, ginger and broken chilies. Turn off when the dals are golden brown.

Step 4: Grease a tray or plate with thick boundary with some oil and keep aside

Step 5: Now boil 1 cup water in a non-stick pan and slowly stir in the batter. Keep stirring continuously to avoid lumps

Step 6: Once it becomes as a single lump, add a few drops of oil and now it would start leaving the sides. Turn off the heat.

Step 7: Spread the gooey mass on the tray and let it cool down.

Step 8: Cut them into squares or diamonds and serve plain or with idly podi.

TIPS:

·         The kali is done if you chew a bit of it and that doesn’t stick to your teeth; you can turn off the stove at this point.

·         Rice requires double the water to cook; measure water accordingly in use from that measure water in every process in between. Excess water would spoil the consistency.

·         Sometimes dry flour requires more water to cook; in such case you can try adding ¼ to ½ portions more than given.