Praline

Praline for me was an accidental discovery. I was trying to prepare taagar/ bura for urad ladoos but I had mistakenly added less water than required; hence turned darker. I can pat my back for the presence of mind to add some butter and melon seeds to transform my blunder into a sweet outcome.

Serves:  NA

Preparation Time:  NA

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Sugar – 1 cup

2.    Water – ¼ cup

3.    Melon seeds – 2 tbsp (can be substituted by almonds or peanuts or so )

4.    Butter – 1 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Mix sugar and water and heat it by constantly stirring it.

Step 2: The sugar dissolves, then thickens and then turns into honey colour.

Step 3: At this stage, butter and melon seeds to it and turn off heat.

Step 4: Stir well and pour immediately into a butter greased plate or tray to about 1/8^th on an inch’s thickness. Slightly thicker is ok, just that it takes more time to solidify.

Step 5: Once it comes to room temperature, remove the praline using a knife tip or back of the spoon or fork.

Step 6: Store it in an airtight container until use, preferably use it within a week.

Step 7: This can be relished just as we do candies or can be crushed and dressed on ice-creams or milkshakes or garnished on desserts.

Creamy Tomato Macroni

This is another delectable macaroni dish that I had tried during my early kitchen days and repeated recently. It is really simple to make and better be eaten within a couple of hours otherwise the tomato might react with milk and cream and get curdled.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Macaroni – 2 cups

2.    Tomato – 2

3.    Onion - 1

4.    Cream – ½ cup

5.     Milk – if required

6.    Salt to taste

7.     White pepper crushed – ½ tsp

8.    Butter – 1 tbsp

9.    Oil – 1 tsp

10.   Italian seasoning – 1 tsp (optional)

11.   Cheese grated – as per liking

Method:

Step 1: Slice the onion and tomatoes and sauté them in butter until soft.

Step 2: Cool it to room temperature and grind it into smooth paste.

Step 3: In parallel cook the macaroni with salt, drain the water and toss with a few drops of oil.

Step 4: Now bring the ground paste to boil and add salt, pepper, cream and the Italian seasoning.

Step 5: Add in the cooked macaroni and add some milk just to adjust the consistency.

Step 6: Serve hot garnished with grated cheese if you like.

Milagai Pachchadi

At our home this is one of the regular side dishes that accompany the pongal which is prepared on the day of Pongal festival. We just love it so much for this stimulates our taste buds by rendering a mixture of tastes; sweet, heat, salt and sourness. It is not frequented at home as it is pretty much concentrated and so we indulge as and when prepared. Apart from pongal it goes well with curd rice.

Yields:  1 cup

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Green chilies – 5-10 (depending on the heat of chilies)

2.    Tamarind extract – ½ cup

3.    Jaggery – half a lemon size

4.    Salt to taste

5.     Gingelly oil – 1 tbsp

6.    Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

7.     Curry leaves – 1 sprig

8.    Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds in it, add curry leaves, asafoetida and green chilies to it. Sauté until green chilies let out a nice aroma and turn whitish.

Step 2: Dissolve jaggery in ½ cup of water, filter and add it to the pan.

Step 3: Add the tamarind extract, salt and boil in simmered heat until becomes thick. Adjust salt, sour and sweet if required at this stage.

Step 4: Serve with steamed rice or curd rice. This can be stored for few days.