Education Recipe For Better Life

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Ulunthan Kanji / Uluntham Kanji / Ulundhu Kanji

For the letter U,under Journey through Tamil cuisine I am sharing a village style kanji/porrige made with urad dhal.
Though there were options like ulunthu bonda,ukkarai,urulaikilangu paal kari for U,I decided to make this kanji as it is a forgotten recipe.

This is a mildly sweetened kanji/porridge and made especially in the winter and served warm.In villages this kanji is often served in the evenings instead of tea/coffee.Another salty version is also made along with rice and skinned whole urad.The salty version is served along with coconut thogayal and pickle for a comforting breakfast.Once in awhile this used to be our Sunday breakfast back in my parents place.

Coming to the recipe its an easy to make porridge and can be sweetened with jaggery or palm sugar.The addition of grated coconut and the cardamom powder is added flavor to the porridge.Also this kanji is given to girls especially at the time of puberty to strengthen the spinal cord and back bones.

In our house hold this porridge is made often and while grinding the idly batter my mom used to take a handful of urad batter and make.A handful of batter serves a family of 4 generously and the urad dhal after cooking becomes more fluffy.Lets move on to the recipe............

Ulunthan Kanji/Ulutham Kanji

Basic Information

Preparation time 10 minutes

Soaking time 2-3 hours

Cooking time 20-25 minutes

Serves 4(generously)

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Urad dhal/ulutham paruppu	1/4 cup
Raw rice/pacharisi	1 tsp
Jaggery/vellam	1/2 cup
Salt	3/4 tsp
Coconut(grated)	3 tbs
Cardamom powder/ellakai podi	a pinch
Milk (boiled)	1 cup(optional)

Method

Rinse the dhal and rice couple of times in water and soak it together for 2-3 hours minimum.After the soaking time drain the water completely and grind it to a fine paste in a blender along with salt.Add water and grind it.Transfer the batter to a bowl and to this add around 2 cups of water and mix it well.It should be like buttermilk consistency.Melt the jaggery with 1/4 cup of water and pass it through a strainer,keep it aside.

Heat a pan with one cup of water and let it boil,once the water gets boiled add the ground batter mixed with water.Stir it continuously,otherwise lumps may form.Let it cook with continuous stirring for 3-4 minutes.Once the urad dhal cooked it looks shiny and smooth.

Now to this add the melted jaggery and mix it well.Let it cook for another 3-4 minutes in a medium flame with occasional stirring .Add in the grated coconut and cardamom powder to it.

Mix it well and let it cook for a minute.

Serve it warm.

The kanji will become thick after cooling,so adjust the consistency while cooking.If you feel its too thick after adding melted jaggery add hot water and adjust the consistency.
Grated coconut and the amount of jaggery can be adjusted according to personal preference.
After adding the urad dhal batter to the boiling water mix it continuously .

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

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

An InLinkz Link-up

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Thavala Adai - Tanjore /Thanjavur Special

For letter T,there were various options such a thavala vadai,thenga mangai pannai sundal,thakkali rasam and many more.But I chose Thavala adai,a famous evening snack popular in Tanjore/Thanjavur Brahmin house holds.
Its a kind of pan fried patties/pancake made with ground rice and dhal.This thavala adai can be made in number of ways,in some house holds its made like a thick pancake in a shallow bottom pan.Here I shared the pan fried version and this is quite addictive when it is served hot along with coconut chutney.Off to the recipe................

Thavala Adai

Basic Information

Preparation time 10 minutes

Soaking time 2-3 hours

Cooking time 25 minutes

Makes 6-7

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Raw rice/pacharisi	1/2 cup
Toor dhal/thuvaram paruppu	1.5 tbs
Channa dhal/kadala paruppu	1 tbs
Salt	3/4 tsp
Cumin seeds/jeergam	1/2 tsp
Black pepper/milagu	3/4 tsp
Coconut(grated)	4 tbs
Mustard seeds/kadugu	3/4 tsp
Urad dhal/uluthamparuppu	1 tsp
Asafoetida/perungayam	a pinch
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Oil	3-4 tbs

Method

Rinse the rice and couple of times in water and soak it for 2-3 hours minimum.After the soaking time drain the water completely and grind it coarsely in a blender along with salt,cumin and pepper.Add water if its needed.Heat a pan with 2 tsp of oil and do the tempering with mustard seeds and urad dhal.Toast the curry leaves and add the asafoetida powder.

Add in the grated coconut and fry it for a minute.Add around 11/2 cups of water,let it boil.To this add the ground rice and dhal paste.Mix it well.

Let it cook till all the water gets absorbed.Put off the flame and let it sit for 2-3 minutes.When the batter is warm enough take a lemon size ball on a greased sheet or banana leaf.Grease the palms with water and gently press the ball and flatten it.Make a hole on the center of the flattened disc.Make 2-3 disc and keep it aside.

Heat a dosa griddle add a tsp of oil and transfer the flattened disc to the griddle.Drizzle a tsp of oil and cook it in a medium flame for couple of minutes.Then flip gently it to the other side and drizzle a tsp of oil.Cook it till both the sides gets nice and golden.Remove it from the pan.Continue for the rest of the dough.

Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

While cooking the ground batter do not cook it till it becomes dry,otherwise its difficult to flat and make the disc.
When the flatten discs are cooking do not flip it often,otherwise it may break and get cracked.
Grind the rice and dhal to a bit coarser consistency.
Cook it with a generous amount of oil to get the adai crispy.

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

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

An InLinkz Link-up

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Surul Appam

Today is the letter S in A-Z series in journey through Tamil cuisines in mega marathon edition.For the letter S,I am sharing surul appam,a popular dish in Tanjore and Trichy districts.This is a kind of of appam variety where it is rolled and served,thats why the name surul appam.Surul means roll in Tamil.The coconut and sugar is sprinkled on the lacy crepe made with ground rice then rolled and served.

Making this surul appam is so easy and it doesn't need fermentation.This appam cooks very fast as the batter used is in thin consistency.Like other dosa and appam varieties this dish also needs to serve it straight from the pan to relish the taste.Also this appam has to be prepared in a flat dosa griddle and needs to spread like rava dosai.As there were no helping hands when I was making this I couldn't take all the step wise pictures.

In our house hold surul appam is served along with breakfast for post wedding feast in brides place for the groom.

Surul Appam

Basic Information

Preparation time 10 minutes

Soaking time 2-3 hours

Cooking time 20 minutes

Makes 10 - 12

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Boiled rice/idly rice	1 cup
Grated coconut/thuriviya thengai	1-1.5 cups
Sugar(white or brown)	1/2-3/4 cup
Salt	3/4 tsp
Cooking soda	a generous pinch
Oil	1-2 tsp(to wipe the pan)

Method

Rinse the rice couple of times in water and soak it for 2-3 hours minimum.After the soaking time drain the water completely and grind it in a blender along with salt.Add water if its need.Transfer the ground batter to a bowl.

Now add some water and adjust the consistency of the batter.The consistency of the batter should be like rava dosa batter.To this add the cooking soda and mix it well.Heat a griddle on a stove and add few drops of oil and wipe it with a clean towel or paper.Now pour a ladle full of batter in a circular motion (from outside to inside).

Let it cook for a minute,once its cooked remove it from the pan and transfer it to a plate.Sprinkle a tbs of grated coconut and 2 tsp of sugar.

Roll it from one side as shown.

Serve it immediately

While pouring the batter the griddle should be hot and needs to cook in a medium flame.
Do the trial with the first appam accordingly adjust the consistency of the water.If the batter is too thin or thick the appam won't comes out nice.
For this appam usually white sugar is only used but as I don't have white sugar used the brown sugar.
Wipe the pan with oil every time before pouring the batter.
I trimmed the edges of appam to fit into the plate.

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

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

An InLinkz Link-up

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Rava Kozhukattai/Rava Pidi kozhukattai

For the alphabet R,I decided to make something with rava aka semolina.But I have blogged most of the rava recipes in Tamil cuisine.
When I was going through the cook books and hand written recipes,rava kozhukattai caught my attention.
The method of making this kozhukattai is same as upma kozhukattai,whereas rava/semolina is used instead of rice.Both sweet and savory versions can be made with semolina.As we had lot of sweet dishes in the previous week I made the savory version.Soon share the sweet version.This is a great option for evening snack and I served with coconut chutney.Lets move on to the recipe............

Rava Kozhukattai/Rava Pidi Kozhukattai

Basic Information

Preparation time 10 minutes

Soaking time 10 minutes

Cooking time 20 minutes

Makes 15-17

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Semolina/rava/white semolina	3/4 cup
Moong dhal/paasiparuppu	2-3 tbs
Coconut (finely chopped)	3 tbs
Mustard seeds/kadugu	1 tsp
Urad dhal/uluthamparuppu	1.5 tsp
Asafoetida	generous pinch
Green chilly/pachamilagai	2(finely chopped)
Salt	1 tsp
Hot water	2 cups
Coriander leaves(finely chopped)	1 tbs
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Oil	2 tsp

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds,add the urad dhal,let it fry.Add in green chillies,curry leaves and the asafoetida.Now add the semolina and fry it for couple of minutes in a medium flame.Add the soaked moong dhal.

Mix it well and to this add the hot water, give it a mix,add the salt.

Let it cook for 2-3 minutes or till the water gets absorbed.Add the finely chopped coconut and coriander leaves to it and put off the flame.Mix it well and let it cool down for 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile grease the idly plate with few drops of oil and keep it asideNow take a big gooseberry size of prepared dough in the hand and close it with fingers and make a fist.

Arrange the prepared kozhukattai on the idly plate.Also keep the idly pot on the stove with water and let the water boils for 2-3 minutes.Once the water gets boiled,keep the plate inside.Cook it for 3-4 minutes or till it gets cooked completely,put off the flame.Take out the plate and let it rest for a minute.Remove the cooked kozhukattai from the plate.

Serve it warm with coconut chutney

Instead of making fist(pidi) shape,it can be rolled into balls.
Grated coconut can be used instead of pieces.
The amount of water depends on the quality of the rava,if the rava is on the coarser side then need little more water to cook.
Do not cook the kozhukattai for long time,also while steaming the kozhukattai the water in the steamer/idly pot should be boiling.

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

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

An InLinkz Link-up

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Quinoa Payasam

Q is one such difficult letter to find out a Tamil recipe so decided to use a clause quick.But somehow I was not comfortable to use the clause.Finally made up my mind to use Quinoa and make payasam.
Since quinoa is not an Indian/Tamil ingredient,I added some moong dhal along with it.Also the addition of moong dhal makes the payasam more rich and tasty.
Couple of months back I made payasam only with quinoa and regular milk with sugar.My son who loves sweet gave me a weird reaction after eating the sweet..But after making it along with moong dhal,everybody liked it.I made this payasam for the Tamil New Year,last week.Off to the recipe........

Quinoa Payasam

Basic Information

Preparation time 20 minutes

Cooking time 25 minutes

Serves 3

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Quinoa	3 tbs
Moong dhal/paasiparuppu	2 tbs
Jaggery/vellam	1/2 cup
Thick coconut milk	1/2 cup
Cashews/mundiri	2 tbs(broken)
Coconut (finely chopped)	1 tbs
Cardamom powder/ellakai podi	1/8 tsp
Salt	a pinch
Ghee/nei	2 tsp

Method

Dry roast both the quinoa and moong dhal separately till golden or a nice aroma comes out.Pressure cook together with enough water for 3-4 whistles in a medium flame .Meanwhile melt the jaggery with water and pass it through a strainer and keep it aside.

After the pressure subsides take the cooked quinoa and moong dhal in a pan and keep it on a flame.To this add the melted jaggery and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.Now add in the thick coconut milk.

Let it cook for one boil.Now in a separate pan fry the cashwes and coconut bits in a ghee till golden.Add the cardamom powder and fried cashews to the payasam.Mix it well and put off the flame.