Tirunelveli Halwa - Diwali Sweet for Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday

 

Some of you know that we group of friends started an event named Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday and showcasing the popular recipes in Tamilnadu on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays.
As Diwali is around the corner I wanted to share a sweet recipe,Tirunelveli Halwa which is popular in Tirunelveli.

Usually I make this halwa with all purpose flour but the original recipe is with the wheat.The wheat berries are soaked in water over night and grind.Here I couldn't get the wheat berries in Indian store this time I used the broken wheat(daliya).Originally the extracted wheat is left for fermentation over night or 8 hrs but I didn't do it.
As there was no helping hand,stepwise pictures are not very clear and couldn't take each and every stage.Here goes the recipe.............................................

Basic Information

Soaking Time 4-6 hrs
Preparation Time 30 minutes
Cooking Time 50 minutes
Makes 21/4 cups

 Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
broken Wheat/Gothumai Rava	1cup
Sugar	21/3cups
Ghee/nei	11/4cup
Cashews/mundiri paruppu	2-3tbs(broken)
Cardamom powder/ellaki podi	1/4tsp
Water	11/2cups

Method

Soak the broken wheat in water for 6 hours or over night.Grind it in a blender with enough water to a fine paste to extract the wheat milk.Strain it on strainer.Grind the leftover one with water for one more time and strain it.Discard the scum.

Leave the wheat milk on the counter top without disturbing for an hour.Discard the clear liquid carefully.Add 11/2 cups of water to the thick wheat milk and mix it well.Take 21/4 cups of sugar in a heavy bottom or non stick pan with 1/2 cup of water and allow it to boil it reaches single string consistency.

When the sugar is boiling meanwhile add the remaining sugar in a separate pan with 2tbs of ghee and heat it.Stir it and cramelize the sugar and keep it aside.Now add the wheat milk to the sugar syrup and mix it well.

Once the added milk becomes slightly thick and transparent, add the caramelized sugar to the mixture.Start adding the ghee slowly and stir it continuously.Continue adding the ghee slowly in regular intervals till it reaches the consistency ot till it leaves the sides of the pan.Put off the fire.

Now fry the cashews in a tsp of ghee.Add the fried cashews and cardamom powder the halwa and mix it well.

Serve it warm.

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

• When the halwa is reaching to the final stage stirring is little difficult but stir it continuously.
• Here I didn't use any artificial color,it got the color from the caramelized sugar.
• After extracting the milk two times discard the scum.
• Approximately I got 3 cups of thick milk after discarding the clear liquid.
• I clicked some of the pictures next day and some as soon as I finished.

Linking to Diwali Bash 2013 event happenings at Cooks Joy and Diwali Delicacies Event at Spicy Treats  and Priya's Versatile Recipes.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Sago Murukku/Javvarisi Murukku Easy Diwali Snack

Today's recipe is a slightly sour and crunchy murukku with the sago/javvarisi.This recipe I learnt from one of our family friend and she is an expert in making this murukku.
This is a simple and easy to make murukku but the sago needs to be soaked for 2-3 hours atleast.Once the sago is soaked then making the murukku is very easy.Originally the soaked sago is mashed and added but some of the sago are hard even after soaking.So I grind it in a blender to bit coarse paste and use.Try this crispy,mouth melting for Diwali and enjoy,now off to the recipe................

Basic Information

Soaking time      3-4 hrs
Preparation Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time      20 minutes
Yields 3 cups(approximately)

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Sago/Javvarisi	1/3cup
Rice Flour/arisi maavu	1 cup
Roasted Gram dhal/pottukadalai	1/4cup
Gram flour/kadala maavu	1tbs
Sour Curd/Thayir	1/2cup
Red Chilly Powder/milagai podi	1tsp
Sesame seeds/yellu	1tsp
Salt	1tsp
Hot oil(to add to the flour)	11/2tbs
Oil	for deep frying

Method

Soak the sago with the yogurt and 1/2 cup of water for 3-4 hrs or overnight.Powder the roasted gram dhal and set it aside.Grind the sago to a coarse paste in a blender.

In a wide bowl add the powdered gram dhal,ground sago,rice flour,gram flour,red chilly powder,sesame seeds,salt.To this add the hot oil and mix it well.Now it looks crumbly.Use very little water and knead it to a soft dough.

Fill the murukku press with the dough with the 3-5 holed blade.Heat the oil in a pan a medium flame,once the oil becomes hot squeeze directly into the oil in a circular motion.
When it is half cooked using the ladle,break the murukku into pieces.Cook it till the sizzling sound ceases.Drain it on a paper.Continue it for the rest of the dough.

Store it in an air tight container after cooling.

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

• Instead of red chilly powder,green chilly can be grind along with the sago,the color of the murukku will be pale in color.
• Sesame seeds can be replaced with cumin seeds.
• Here I use the round eyed blade,you can use the star shaped blade also.

Linking to Diwali Bash 2013 event happenings at Cooks Joy and Diwali Delicacies Event at Spicy Treats  and Priya's Versatile Recipes.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Sepankilangu Fry/Taro root Fry/Sembu Varuval

Fried vegetables along with sambhar,rasam and rice is a favorite lunch for both me and my Hubby.But I rarely make deep fried veggie fries either with cauliflower,okra or taro(arbi) for lunch.
Sepankilangu aka arbi is one such vegetable perfect for fry which can be deep fried or shallow fried.
Today instead of deep fry I shallow fried and it tastes delicious,now off to the recipe...........................

Basic Information

Preparation Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time      15 minutes
Serves                  3(generously)

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Taro/Sepankilangu/Arbi	6-7(medium size)
Red chilly powder/milagai podi	2tsp
Gram Flour/kadalai maavu	1tbs
Rice flour/arisi maavu	1tbs
Corn flour	1tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4tsp
Salt	1tsp
Oil	2-3tbs

  

Method 

Pressure cook the taro for a whistle with enough water and peel the skin.Slice it roundels or length wise according to the size of the veggie.

In a mixing bowl or plate take the sliced veggie and add all the ingredients with a tsp of oil.Mix it well till everything blends well.If needed sprinkle a tsp of water.

Heat a shallow pan with oil and arrange 7-8 pieces and cook it in a medium flame.Once it turns golden flip it to the other side and cook it till crispy.Remove it and drain it on a paper towel.Continue it for the rest of the pieces.

Serve it hot with rice and sambar or as a snack.

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

• The taro should not be cooked mushy otherwise the slicing is difficult if it is over cooked then keep in the freezer for 10 minutes and slice it.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Thattai/Crispy Rice flour Snack

Thattai is mostly made for Diwali and Gokulashmati in most of the households.My mom makes two versions of thattai one with the store bought rice flour and the other with the finely ground soaked idly rice.Today's version is the instant version with the store bought rice flour,will share the later one soon.Now off to the recipe......................

Basic Information

Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking Time      30 minutes
Makes                   15

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Rice flour	1 cup
Uradflour/ulunthu maavu	1tbs
Roasted gram dhal(pottukadalai)	2tbs
Channa dhal/kadalaparuppu	1tbs
Butter	2tbs
Red chilly powder/milagai podi	11/2tsp
Asafoetida	1/4tsp
Curry leaves(finely chopped)	1 sprig
Salt	1tsp
Oil	for frying

Method

Powder the roasted gram dhal to a fine powder and soak the channa dhal in water for 15-20 minutes.Drain the water and set it aside.
Roast the urad dhal to a golden color and powder it if you are using the urad dhal (I used urad powder).Melt the butter and  set it aside.

In a mixing bowl put rice flour,roasted gram dhal powder,urad dhal powder,chilly powder,salt,asafoetida,curry leaves and butter.Mix it well,now slowly add water and make a soft dough.Now divide the dough into a big gooseberry size balls and cover it with a plate.

Take ziplock cover and grease it with oil or spray.Flatten the ball with the fingers as thin as possible.Prick it with a fork to prevent puffing.Carefully remove it from the cover,drop it in the oil.

Cook it till the thattai becomes golden and crisp.Remove it from the drain it on a paper towel.

After cooling store it in an air tight container.

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

• Flatten the ball as thin as possible,you can use a flat bottom bowl to flat the thattais.
• Apply oil on the ziplock  cover everytime to avoid sticking.
• A tsp sesame seeds or cumin seeds an also be added for extra flavor.
• Coarsely ground roasted peanuts can be used.

Linking to Diwali Bash 2013 event happenings at Cooks Joy and Diwali Delicacies Event at Spicy Treats  and Priya's Versatile Recipes.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

BCAM - BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH FUND RAISING EVENT

Hello Friends,We are feeling proud to announce this useful fund raising event to bring awareness among many people and also to help people who are already diagnosed and need help with regards to the cost of the treatment.

Here, we bloggers joined together to spread this awareness lot faster and in a wider range in the network world.We would like to sincerely thank each of our blogger friends to put this forward and
as well as help with regards to the donation as well.Here is list of all my blogger friends who are contributing their time and space for this event.

NOTE: Anyone who is interested in posting this event on their website/blog, please feel free to contact Anu at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com


Anu Shoj of Anu's Healthy Kitchen

Vardhini of Cooks Joy

Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes

Manjula of Desi Fiesta

Sangee of Spicy Treats

Nalini of Nalini's Kitchen (me)

Tanusree of Ma Niche

Priya Ranjit of Cook Like Priya

Viji of Virunthu Unna Vaanga

We decided to donate to Susan.G.Komen (http://ww5.komen.org/), which was created by Nancy G. Brinker in 1982 who is Susan G. Komen's sister. She is "Fulfilling the Promise" which she gave her sister when she was dying. That promise became Susan G. Komen for the cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. To know more about Susan G. Komen and the organization please visit the above link mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.
We welcome all my friends to spend few moments here and if you feel its worth donating you can do so.

Here are the details as to how to donate:

 * You can either directly go to their website ( http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html )and donate in any method that which you are comfortable
* Or you can email Anu at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com, and she will reply to your email and take it from there.
* Event Date Oct 1th - Nov 15th
* Please email me / leave a comment here, before/after you do the donation with the following details

- Your Name

- Your Email ID

- Your Blog/Website URL

- Amount You Wish/Did Donate (This is just to calculate how much we have collected at the end of this event, We are not concerned as to how much you would like to donate)

Note: If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a comment here at the end of this post

On the go, Anu at Anu's Healthy Kitchen will keep updating the list of persons who donate and at the end of the event we will also mention the amount we collected in total.

I am so happy share this post and be a part of this fund raising event.Thank you Anu Shoj for this opportunity.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Tawa Paneer Masala

As my son loves to eat paneer curries with roti or naan,these days paneer appears in my kitchen more frequently.
Last week I tried this panner tawa masala recipe and it came out very delicious and paired up with naan.
The recipe I adapted from Taraladalal and slightly tweaked to the ingredients available in my pantry.Now off to the recipe....................

Basic Information

Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking Time     30 minutes
Serves                  3

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Paneer(cubed)	200gms
Onion(finely chopped)	1(medium size)
Tomato(pureed)	2(medium size)
Green chilly/pachamilgai	2(finely chopped)
Ginger&garlic paste	2tsp
Red chilly powder	3/4tsp
Coriander powder	11/4tsp
Garam masala powder	1/4tsp
Turmeric powder	1/8tsp
Cumin seeds/jeeragam	1/2tsp
Coriander leaves(chopped)	as needed
Kasoori methi leaves	1/4tsp(optional)
Fresh cream(optional)	2tbs
Salt	to taste
Oil	3tbs

For Marination

Ingredient	Quantity
Thick curd/thayir	3tbs
Red chilly powder/milgaipodi	1/4tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4tsp
Kassori methi	1/2tsp

Method

Mix the ingredients given for marinate in a bowl,add the paneer cubes to it and mix it well.Make sure each cube is coated with the marinade.Keep it in a refrigerator 30 minutes.
Heat a pan with 2tsp of oil and shallow fry the marinated paneer cubes till it gets golden and set it aside.Now heat the remaining oil in a pan and saute the onion,green chillies with a pinch of salt till translucent.

Add the ginger&garlic paste an fry it till the raw smell goes off.Once the ginger &garlic paste cooked well add in the chilly and coriander powder,give it a mix.Add in the tomato puree and cook it till the oil separates.

Now add the fried paneer cubes and give it a mix,add 1/2 cup of water to it.Sprinkle the garam masla powder and cook it a medium flame for 3-4 minutes.

At this stage the fresh cream and stir it well,cook for a minute and remove from heat.Garnish it with some chopped coriander leaves.

Paneer Tawa Masala is ready.

Serve it with naan or roti.

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

• Here I chopped the onion very finely if you want you can coarsely grind in the blender.
• Instead of cream 3 tbs of milk can be used but adding cream gives rich taste.
• Use thick curd for the marination.

Linking to Lets Brunch on Sundays event started by Veena and Priya.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com

Kalkandu Pongal

 As Today is Puratassi last Saturday I made this kalkandu(sugar candy) pongal for Neivedhyam.We make either sakkara pongal or this one for puratassi Saturdays.
This recipe is i more or less like the sakkara pongal in preparation and doesn't need much of ghee.As I was in a hurry I couldn't take nice picture.Will update it soon,here is the recipe...........................

Basic Information

Preparation Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time      20 minutes
Serves                   2

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
Raw rice/pacharisi	1/2cup
Moong dhal/pasiparppu	1tbs
Sugar candy/kalkandu	1/2cup+1tbs
Ghee/nei	3tbs
Cashews/mundiri(broken)	1tbs
Cardamom powder/ellakai	1/4tsp
Milk	3/4cup
Moong dhal/pasiparppu	1tbs

Method 

Dry roast the moong dhal in a medium flame till it becomes golden.Powder the sugar candy in a blender to a fine powder.Fry the cashews in 1/2tsp of ghee and keep it aside.

Rinse the rice couple of times and add both the rice and dhal in a pressure cooker.Add 1/2 cup of milk and 11/2-13/4 cups of water.Cook it in a medium flame for 3-4 whistles.After the pressure subsides add the powdered sugar candy to it along with the remaining milk.

After the pressure subsides add the powdered sugar candy to it along with the remaining milk.Add the ghee and cook it for 3-4 minutes.Finally add the fried cashews and cardamom powder,mix it well.Put off the fire.

Serve it warm.

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

• The amount of candy sugar I added was just enough,for more sweet you can increase upto 3/4 cup.
• Saffron can also be added for extra flavor and taste.
  
• The rice and dhal can be cooked in open pot instead of pressure cooker,use 2 cups of water for it.
  

Check out my fellow bloggers participating in Blogging Marathon #33.

Sumber http://www.naliniscooking.com