Garam Masala Powder

I usually use the store bought garam masala powder and except the garam masala powder I make most of the powders at home.Nothing beats the taste and flavor of home made powders.As mom is here she made her version of garam masala powder and it is very flavorful,like to share the recipe.Here is the recipe......

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Cloves/lavangam	11/2tsp
Cinnamon/Pattai	3 nos.of 1 inch piece
Anise star	1no.
Green Cardamom/ellakai	3-4nos.
Fennel seeds	2tbs
Poppy seeds	1tbs
Coriander seeds	3tbs
Red chilly	3-4nos.
Black cardamom	1no.(optional)

Method 

               Keep a pan on the stove top with medium flame and dry roast all the ingredients till the nice aroma comes out.Let it cool down completely.

After cooling powder it in a coffee grinder or blender to a fine powder.

Store it in an air tight container.

• Adding the black cardamom is purely optional,instead nutmeg can also be added.
• I powdered it to a fine powder,it can be ground bit grainy also.
• For the above mentioned quantity I got 1/2 cup of powder.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Chicken Pulao

Friends hope you all had a good week end,September is my first blog anniversary and like to thank you all for your support and valuable comments.So today I am sharing a special recipe to celebrate the occasion.
As my kiddo and hubby dear both likes non-veg most of our Sunday lunch would be either chicken or egg.My son prefers chicken 65 and some mild pulaos rather than biriyani and curry so I make either chicken pulao or veggie pulao.
This chicken pulao is a milder version and the spice level can be adjusted according to the preference.Last Sunday I made this pulao and paired up with chicken 65,chicken kulambhu.
As I was in a hurry on that day I couldn't take nice pictures,will update the picture soon.Now off  to the recipe ........................

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Chicken(with bones)	1lb
Basmathi rice	11/2cup
Onion(thinly sliced)	3nos.(medium size)
Green chilly	5nos.
Ginger&garlic paste	2tsp
Mint leaves	15-20nos.
Coriander leaves	as needed
Salt	as needed
Oil	3tbs
Ghee	1tbs
Lemon juice	2tsp

For the Seasoning 

Ingredient	Quantity
Cloves/lavangam	4nos.
Cinnamon	2inch piece
Anise star	1no.
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2tsp
Black pepper/milagu	1/4tsp
Bay leaf	1no.
Cardamom/ellakai	2nos.
Cashews/mundidri paruppu	1tbs

For the chicken marination 

Ingredient	Quantity
Yogurt/thayir	5tbs
Ginger&garlic paste	2tsp
Chilly powder/milagai podi	1tsp
Coriander powder/dhania podi	1/2tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4tsp
Salt	1/2tsp

Method 

• Clean and cut the chicken,marinate the chicken with the given ingredients for atleast 30-45 minutes and soak the rice in water and keep aside.
• Heat a pressure pan or cooker with oil+ghee and add the ingredients given for seasoning,saute the onion and green chillies till transparent.
• Now add the mint,coriander leaves followed by ginger &garlic paste and fry it till the raw smell goes off.
• Once the ginger&garlic paste is cooked add the marinated chicken and saute it,add 1/2cup of water and salt,cook the chicken gets half cooked.
• Add the rice and mix it in the chicken mixture for a while or till everything gets blend well.Now add 21/2 cups of hot water and let it boil.
• Close the lid and pressure cook it for one whistle in a medium flame and keep it in a low flame for 5 minutes.
• Open the lid once the pressure subsides and finally add the lemon juice,fluff it with a fork gently without breaking the rice grains.
• Serve it with raitha  or chicken curry.

Enjoy................................................

• For extra flavor 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk and the chicken need s to be marinated for atleast 30 minutes to get a juicy chicken.
• Soaking the rice in water is also very important to get a perfectly cooked rice grain.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Badam Kheer/Badam Milk/Almond Kheer

Badam kheer or badam milk is one of my family's favorite and these days I am making it often as we all are craving to drink or eat something cold due to high temperature here.This badam milk can be served chilled or hot but we always prefer to drink chilled and used the 2% milk.The use of whole milk gives a rich and creamy taste to the kheer.Now to the recipe..........

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Almonds/badam	1/2cup
Cashews/mundiri paruppu	2tbs
Sugar	1/2cup
Milk	41/2cups
Cardamom powder/ellakai podi	1/2tsp
Saffron	6-7 strands
Yellow food color(optional)	a pinch

Method 

                       Soak the almonds and cashews in water separately for 2-3 hours.Peel the skin of the almonds and grind both almonds and cashews to a paste with 1/2cup of milk.Soak the saffron in a tbs of warm milk and keep aside.
In a sauce pan boil the milk in a medium flame till it becomes thick,now add the sugar and and bring it to a boil.

Add the ground paste and cook it till everything gets blend well with continuous stirring to prevent burning.

Finally add the saffron and cardamom powder and put off the stove.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours once it becomes cool down.
Chilled Badam Kheer is ready to serve.Garnish it with finely chopped pistachios.

Enjoy........................................

• The color gets deeper on cooling as the saffron gets soaked in the milk and I didn't use any food color. 
• Grind the almonds and cashews to a bit coarse consistency.
• To get a rich and creamy consistency 2-3tbls of condensed milk can be added. 

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Paavakkai Puli Curry/Bitter gourd in tamarind sauce

Puli curry or puli kottu is a traditional South Indian delicacy which is served as an accompaniment or can be mixed with white rice.Vegetables such as okra,bitter gourd,brinjal and yellow pumkin are used to make the puli curry.
It can be made with freshly ground masala or sambhar powder and today I made this one with sambhar powder,bitter gourd and black chick peas.Now to the recipe..............

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Bittergourd/pakarkkai	2nos.(long variety)
Sambhar powder	2tsp
Shallots/chinna vengayam	10nos.
Tomato	1no.(medium size)
Tamarind	gooseberry size
Coconut(grated)	2tbs
Black chick peas/karuppu kondai kadalai	3/4cup(cooked)
Salt	to taste
Oil	1tbs
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1tsp
Curry leaves/karivepillai	1sprig

Method

              Slice the bitter gourd and shallots thinly,chop the tomato and soak the tamarind in a cup of water.Grind the coconut and sambhar powder to a fine paste,set it aside
Heat a pan with oil,throw in the mustard seeds and curry leaves,saute the shallots to transparent with a pinch of salt.Now add in the sliced bitter gourd and fry it till it changes the color,add the tomato and cook it.

At this stage add the ground paste,tamarind water,salt and cook it in a medium flame till the raw smell goes off.

Finally add the cooked chickpeas and allow o boil it for a minute.Garnish it with coriander leaves.

 Serve it with steamed rice with a dash of ghee.

Enjoy.......................

• Instead of cooked chick peas,peanuts can also be used.
• The consistency can be adjusted according to personal preference and becomes thick on cooling.
• For the fresh spice powder,dry roast 1tbs of coriander seeds,3 red chillies,2tsp of channa dhal and grind it with grated coconut. 
• Sliced garlic can also be used along with shallots.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Ulunthan Kali/Urad dhal Halwa -Indian Cooking Challenge July 2012

For this month of Indian Cooking Challenge(ICC) Valli has chosen ulunthan kali which is a traditional sweet of Tamilnadu.
This sweet is prepared and given to girls especially at the time of puberty to strengthen the spinal cord and back bones.I grew up eating this sweet and my mom and aunt make it with the whole skinned urad dhal and sesame oil,I never made this sweet on my own.
As my mom is here she helped me to make the sweet and it came out very delicious and my kiddo liked it a lot.
Original recipe calls for 1 cup of urad dhal and 1/2cup of rice but mom used both in the same quantity and used palm sugar as sweetner.Here is the recipe........

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Urad dhal/uluutham paruppu	1/2cup
Raw rice/paccharisi	1/2cup
Palm sugar or jaggery/vellam	1/2cup
Sesame oil(optional)	1tbs
Ghee/nei	2tbs
Cardamom powder/ellakai podi	1/4tsp
Water	2cups
Cashews(optional)	2tbs
Salt	a pinch

Method

                              Dry roast the rice and urad dhal separately in a pan to pink color in a medium flame and powder it to a bit coarse consistency,keep aside.

Heat a pan with palm sugar with  little water and dissolve it,strain it through a filter and set it aside.
Now heat 2 cups of water in a pan,add the sugar syrup and bring it to a boil,once the water is boiling add the rice and dhal powder to it.

Stir it well and cook it till it reaches halwa like consistency.Add the ghee and oil, mix it well,cook it for a minute.

Finally add the cardamom powder and ghee fried cashews,mix it well.

Ulunthan Kali is ready.

Enjoy........................

• Mom suggested adding a tbs of grated coconut also enhances the flavor and taste of the kali.
• Using the sesame oil is purely optional which can be substituted with ghee.
• Both palm sugar and jagerry can be used if you  don't like the taste of palm sugar.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Mutton Fry/Mutton Sukka Varuval

Its been a while since I posted a non-veg recipe and DH likes mutton sukka but I cook it rarely due to health conscious.Last week we got mutton from halal shop and made the mutton fry.This is a dry version which goes very well with rasam rice and curd rice or biriyani.As my parents are here for a visit I am enjoying my mom's cooking and she made this fry for us.Since there was no charge in the camera,when she was making I couldn't take the stepwise pictures,will update it soon.Here is the recipe.....

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Mutton(boneless)	250gms
Onion(finely chopped)	1no.
Shallots/chinnavengayam (chopped)	4-5nos.
Tomato(finely chopped)	1no.
Garlic/poondu(finely chopped)	3 pods
Cashews	1tbs(optional)
Ginger&garlic paste	2tsp
Black pepper/milagu	1tsp(coarsely ground)
Chilly powder/milagai podi	11/2tsp
Coriander powder/dhania podi	2tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	a pinch
Coconut paste	2tbs
Curry leaves	1sprig
Coriander leaves(finely chopped)	2tsp
Oil	2tbs
Salt	a pinch

For the Seasoning

Ingredient	Quantity
Cloves/lavangam	2-3nos.
Cinnamon/pattai	1 inch piece
Fennel seeds/sombhu	1/4tsp

Method

• Add the mutton with ginger&garlic paste,a pinch of chilly powder,turmeric powder,finely chopped shallots and little salt along with enough water in a pressure cooker.Cook it in a medium flame for 5-6 whistles or till the mutton becomes tender and keep aside.
• Heat a pan with oil and do the seasoning with the ingredients and fry the cashews.Saute the onion and garlic,then add a tsp of ginger &garlic paste.Now add in the tomato and cook it till mushy.
• Once the tomato is cooked add in the chilly powder and coriander powder,turmeric powder,add the mutton stock and cook it till it becomes thick.
• At this stage add the coconut paste,salt and cook it for 2-3 minutes.Add the cooked mutton pieces to it and mix it well.
• Cook it in a medium flame till it gets dried.Finally add the ground pepper,coriander leaves and give it a mix.

Mutton sukka is ready.

Enjoy...........................................

• Instead of onion,shallots can be used which gives a very nice taste and flavor to the fry.
• After adding the ground pepper do not cook it for a long time.
• Adding the cashew is optional but gives a richness to the fry.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Peanut Rice

Today is another session of blog hop Wednesday of Tickling Palates of Radhika and this month I am paired up with Nirmala of Nirmala's Kitchen.
Her blog has a collection of South Indian recipes and innovative snacks,I chose Peanut rice from blog which is a healthy and quicker version.As I always prefer to cook and eat one pot meal or variety rice rather than sambhar,rasam or kulambhu,tried this one.
It is a easy to make delicious variety rice which is a good option for lunch box too.Now on to the recipe.....

 Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Cooked rice	11/2cup
Peanut/Verkaladalai	1/4cup
Dessicated coconut	2tbs
Red chilly/varamilagai	3nos.
Urad dhal/uluutham paruppu	2tsp
Oil	3tsp
Salt	a pinch

For the tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1/2tsp
Urad dhal/uluutham paruppu	1tsp
Channa dhal/kadalai paruppu	1tsp
Cashews/mundiri(chopped)	2tsp(optional)
Curry leaves	1sprig
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch

Method 

• Dry roast the peanuts separately in a pan and keep aside.In the same pan add 1/2tsp of oil and roast the red chilly,urad dhal and the coconut,fry it to a golden color.Once it becomes cool down grind it to a coarse powder.
• Heat a pan with remaining oil and do the tempering with the given ingredients.Add the ground powder to it and put of the stove.Now add the cooked rice and salt to it and mix it well.
• Simple and easy to make peanut rice is ready.
• Serve it with chips or pappad or some fries.

Enjoy................................

• While grinding first powder the urad dhal,coconut powder and red chilly then add the peanuts and pulse it.Do not grind the peanuts for a long time it should be coarse.
• The crunchiness of the peanuts gives a nice taste to the rice.
• The powder can be adjusted according to the preference.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com