Undrallu with Ginger Chutney

Undrallu is a savoury steamed rice ball, which is offered as a neivedyam during Ganesh Chaturthi. These taste like upma made with rice rawa. Undrallu is an Andhra name for these steamed rice balls. Undrallu goes well with ginger chutney, which taste like the kerala Inji puli. When offering to Lord Ganesha, only Undrallu is offered as neivedyam.

Ingredients for Undrallu

1 cup - Rice ( Basmati , sona masuri or long grain rice )
2 tbsp - Chana dal, washed
1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds / Jeera
2 tbsp - Grated fresh coconut
1/2 tsp - Salt
2 cups - Water

Method

1 ) Wash rice well and drain all the water. Spread on a paper napkin to dry out all the water. Rice grains have to be fully dry. It could take about one hour or so.

2 ) Grind the rice grains in a blender/ grinder to a rawa consistency.

3 ) Place a saucepan on the stove with water, chana dal, cumin and salt. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to a medium heat, pour in the rice rawa slowly into the boiling water and keep stirring. Stir till all the water is absorbed by the rice rawa. Add grated coconut and stir in well. Turn off the stove, cover with a lid.

4 ) After 15 minutes, spread on a lighlty greased plate. With wet hands make small balls. Sprinkle some water if rawa is too hard or breaking.

5 ) Use a idli steaming stand to steam these rice balls. Place rice balls as shown in picture below.

6 ) Place idli stand in a pressure cooker with little water to steam. Cover the pressure cooker and steam for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with ginger chutney

Ginger Chutney

This is a chutney that is a bit sweet with the jaggery, tangy with the tamarind, spicy with the chilies and ginger. A chutney that goes well with dosa, idli, vada or Mysore bonda

Ingredients

3 '' inch piece - Ginger, chopped to small pieces

1 tbsp - Coriander seeds

1 tbsp - Urad dal

1/4 tsp - Methi seeds / Uluva

4 to 6 - Dry red chili

2 tbsp - Jaggery, grated

2 flakes - Garlic, chopped ( optional )

1 lime size - Tamarind, seedless

Salt to taste

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp - Urad dal

1/2 tsp - Chana dal

1/4 tsp - Jeera / Cumin seeds

2 pinch - Hing

1 sprig - Curry leaf

Method

1 ) In a kadai, pour 1 tbsp oil, add urad dal, coriander seeds, methi and fry lightly on low heat. Add chilies and fry lightly. Drain the fried ingredient out of the oil, transfer into a blender. Run the blender and powder the ingredients.

2 ) In the same kadai with oil, add ginger, garlic and fry lightly, till the raw smell goes away. Doesn't have to be crisp. Transfer ginger & garlic into the blender.

3 ) Soak tamarind in little water and make it soft. Add tamarind & jaggery into the blender. Grind all the ingredients together to a smooth paste. Add salt to taste and very little water to just make the blender move.

4 ) To season, on a low heat, heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and let it pop. Then add urad dal, chana dal and fry it lightly. Then add jeera, hing and curry leaves. Now add ground chutney and mix in well.

Serve with Undrallu.

Latha of The 'yum' blog is hosting festival cooking event for Ganesh chaturthi. Sending Undrallu as an entry for this event.

Mangalorian Mutton Curry

Yet another mutton curry, but then this is for RCI: Karnataka, that Asha of " Foodie's Hope " is hosting. This is a mangalorian recipe, but i am not sure how authentic it is. Can you help me out here, Asha ??

Ingredients

1 lb - Mutton ( Goat meat ) wash and drain water
4 - Tomatoes, diced
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/4 cup - extracted tamarind water from little tamarind
1 cup - Water
Salt to taste

To roast and grind

1 - Big onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp - Poppy seeds
1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds
1 tbsp - Coriander powder
4 -5 - Dry red chilies
2 pieces - Cinnamon
4 - Cloves
1/2 cup - Fresh coconut, grated
1/2 inch piece - Ginger, grated
6 flakes - Garlic , crushed

Method

1 ) Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and roast poppy seeds, cumin, coriander, chili, cinnamon, cloves and coconut to a light brown color on low heat. Transfer to a blender and powder. Add ginger, garlic, onion to the pan. Add little more oil and fry to a light brown color. Transfer to the blender. After cooling down, grind all these ingredients to a smooth paste with little water.

2 ) Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add meat and tomato into it. Fry meat till slightly browned. Add masala paste, turmeric, tamarind water and salt to taste. Add one cup or more water to get a thick gravy consistency.

3 ) Pressure cook the meat. After the first whistle, reduce the heat and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Cool and open the lid.


Serve with rice.

Blackberry Jam

While in Seattle i went berry picking from the bushes around and got these beauties. They were growing wild on these thorny bushes near by a lake. When selecting the berries, pick fully ripe ones which is fully black in color, firm and plum. Blackberries are packed with antioxidants and have a lot of health benefits.
This blackberry jam is prepared without using the commercially available pectin. A good friend of mine, found a way to make this jam, making use of the natural pectin found in apple and lemon. And here goes the recipe for that .....

Ingredients

1 cup - Mashed berries

1/2 of an apple, finely grated

1 tbsp - Lemon juice

1/2 to 3/4 cup - Sugar

Method

1 ) To a saucepan add all the ingredients listed. On a medium high heat, stir and cook for 1o minutes. As seen in the picture below, the ingredients will cook up and a foaming layer comes up.

Now lower the heat to medium and continue cooking for 20 minutes.

All the water will start evaporating by 15 -20 minutes of cooking. Cook till thick bubbles start forming. As seen in the second picture. The jam will thicken up and will be semi-liquid. Turn off the stove.

2 ) After the jam cools down a bit and when still warm pour the jam into sterilized glass jars. In the glass jar the jam will settle down and thicken up even more, when it has completely cooled down.

3 ) Store in the refrigerator after completely cooling down.

Spread some on your bread or on your roti and taste this jam.

Note : If you do not like the seeds of the blackberry in the jam, you can strain it using a Foley food mill.

Fruit and Berries is the theme for the event "Heart of the matter" organised by Joanna and Ilva . This is my entry for this event

HotM # 7. Check out Heart of the matter for heart healthy food.

Wheat Payasam with Fried Banana

An yummy wheat payasam sweetened with jaggery and cooked in coconut milk. Sweet and ripe plantain is fried in ghee and is introduced into the cooked payasam. Fried plantains gives a new dimension to the wheat payasam and makes it irresistible to stop having the payasam.

Ingredients

1 cup - Broken wheat
2.5 cup - Water
1 cup - Thick jaggery syrup Or more as per taste
1 - Cardamom, powdered
1/4 tsp - Dry ginger powder

Coconut milk from one coconut

• 1 cup - First extracted coconut milk


• 1.5 cup - Second extracted coconut milk


• 1.5 cup - Third extracted coconut milk

1 - Big ripe plantain, slit in center, cut to 8 big pieces

Garnishing

1/4 cup - Coconut pieces sliced

Ghee

Method

1 ) Cook broken wheat in pressure cooker with water, till very soft. Pressure cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

2 ) Meanwhile, heat a pan with some ghee. On low heat fry plantain on both side till golden brown in color. Drain and keep aside.

3 ) Add jaggery syrup to the cooked wheat, simmer and keep stirring for a minute. Add 3 rd extracted coconut milk, bring to a boil, then simmer and cook till it thickens.

4 ) Add second extracted coconut milk, bring to a boil. Add cardamom powder, dry ginger powder and simmer. Then add the fried plantain and simmer for 2 minutes. Finally add the first extracted coconut milk. Just bring to a boil, take off the stove.

5) In the pan with ghee add sliced coconut and fry lightly. Garnish the payasam with the sliced coconut.

Serve as a dessert and enjoy the delectable taste of this payasam.
Ripe plantain fried in ghee with some sugar sprinkled on top, is in itself a great sweet treat.

Mandira is hosting this month's Jihva for Ingredients, which was started by Indira of Mahanandi. Banana is the chosen ingredient and this payasam goes in as an entry to this event.

Chemmeen Masala

Prawns masala, with less gravy and a nadan touch. I tried the curry with some appam and it went so well with it. It's spiced up with green chilies and other masala powders.

Ingredients

2 lb - Prawns, de-shell & de-vein
2 tbsp - Coriander powder
1 to 2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
2 to 3 pinches - Hing powder
6 to 8 - Green chilies, slit in center
1 inch piece - Ginger, grated
4 big flakes - Garlic, grated
4 big - Shallots, chopped
1/4 cup - Coconut, cut into small bits
2 sprigs - Curry leaves
2 - Kodampuli, clean
1 cup - Thick coconut milk

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a kadai, add curry leaves and coconut bits. Then add green chili, ginger, garlic and shallots. Stir and fry for a minute. Meanwhile in 1/2 cup water, cook kodampuli for a minute in the microwave.

2 ) Now add all the powder one by one. Stir, fry and cook the masala for minute. Then add the cleaned prawns, stir and mix well with the masala. Pour in the kodampuli with water and cook the prawns till half done.

3 ) Pour in the coconut milk and cook the prawns till the gravy thickens up and the prawns is fully cooked.

Serve with rice, chapati or appam.

Tomato Pachadi

This is an easy and simple tomato pachadi to make. Marta of 'An Italian in the US' is hosting an event based on 'Fresh Produce of the Month' . Tomato is the produce of the month. Now let's get to making this pachadi....

Ingredients

2 - Plum & ripe Tomatoes, chopped
2 - Big shallots, diced
1 tsp - Ginger -garlic paste
1/2 cup - Butter milk
1 cup - Thick creamy yogurt
Salt to taste

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1/4 tsp - Cumin seeds
2 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Heat a saucepan with oil, add mustard and let it pop. Then add curry leaves and cumin seeds. Add shallots, stir and fry then add ginger-garlic paste, fry for a minute.

2 ) Add tomatoes stir and fry. Close with a lid and cook on low heat till tomato is well cooked. Add salt to taste. Turn off the stove .

3 ) Meanwhile, mix & blend buttermilk and yogurt well. Add this mixture to the saucepan , stir and mix well.

Serve with rice as a side dish.

Kanji for the Soul

This rice porridge is so nourishing, wholesome, fulfilling and very much a comfort food. Rosematta rice is used to cook this kanji along with green gram dal and chana dal. Ghee and coconut enhances the flavour and make this kanji so very tasty and delicious.

Mallugirl of Malabar spices is hosting a Summer express cooking event. Sending this dish for this event. This kanji is simple to make and can be prepared within 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup - Rosematta rice
1/4 cup- green gram dal
1/4 cup - Chana dal
8 cups - Water
2 tbsp - Ghee
1/2 cup - Freshly Grated coconut
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Add rice, green gram dal and chana dal into a pressure cooker. Add water, close the lid and bring the pressure cooker to a full cooking pressure. After the first whistle, simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Take off the stove and cool.

2 ) Open the pressure cooker,add salt to taste, ghee and coconut. Stir in well and serve. The rice and dals should be well cooked, almost like it is over cooked.



Serve hot with pappad.

Check out Kanji & Payar recipe from kitchenmishmash

Paal Payasam

Celebrating this onam with some paal payasam.This payasam ( Indian rice pudding ) is prepared with rosematta rice also known as Palakkadan matta rice or Kerala red rice, milk and sugar. Then garnished with cashew and raisins. Garnishing is optional, if you want the payasam to be similar to the famous Ambalappuzha Paal Payasam. Below in picture is the rosematta rice.


Want to make some Paal payasam the easy way ?? Then follow me....
Ingredients

1/3 cup - Rosematta rice, wash well
1.5 cup - sugar
8 cups - Milk ( read note below )
2 - Cardamom ( optional ), crush and powder

Garnishing

Few cashew nuts
Few white dry raisins
Ghee

Method

1 ) In a pressure cooker boil the milk. Then add washed rice, sugar and close the pressure cooker with the lid. Bring to a full cooking pressure. After the first whistle, low the heat to very low simmer and cook for 45 minutes.

2 ) Open the pressure cooker after it has cooled down to see a paal payasam with a beautiful dark pink shade. Check the sweetness and add more sugar if necessary. You can serve the payasam without garnish at this point.

3 ) Proceed to garnish and flavour with cardamom. Add cardamom powder and stir. In a pan heat some ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins. Garnish the payasam.


Serve this paal payasam as dessert after the onasadhya.

A dessert entry for the summer express cooking event, hosted by Mallugirl of Malabar Spices.
Also sending in this for Shri Krishna Janmashtami festival food event, that Latha of ' The yum blog ' is organising.

Note : The measuring cup i have used to measure the milk in is with " Anchor Hocking 2-Cup Glass Measuring Cup". Please note this, as i have come to realise that every measuring cup, does not give the same measurement. This can result in the recipe not turning out as expected. So use same measuring cup to measure rice,milk and sugar.

Fish in coconut milk gravy

This is a coconut milk based fish curry with kodampuli and tomato to give it a tangy taste. I have seasoned the curry with sea salt instead of the normal salt and have used cherry tomatoes, which i felt gave a better taste.

Ingredients

1.5 lb - Fish , clean & cut to medium size pieces
1.5 to 2 tsp - Red chili powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1 medium size - tomato Or 5 - cherry tomatoes, chopped
4 - Kodampuli , wash
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Coarsely crush

1 inch piece - ginger
2 to 3 - Green chili
3 flakes - Garlic

3 - Shallots

Coconut milk from half of a coconut.

• 1/2 cup - Thick 1st extracted coconut milk


• 1 cup - Second extracted coconut milk

Sea salt to taste and coconut oil

Method

1 ) Dilute red chili, turmeric and coriander powder in little water. In microwave safe bowl, cook kodampuli in 1/2 a cup of water for one minute.

2 ) In a manchatti (earthen pot used to cook fish curry in kerala ) or in a kadai heat coconut oil, add crushed ingredients, curry leaves, stir and fry for a minute. Add tomatoes, stir and fry well.

3 ) Add diluted powders, stir and fry till oil comes out. Add kodampuli with the water and the fish pieces. Add little more water, if necessary for the fish to cook. Add salt to taste.

4 ) When the fish is half cooked, add the second extracted milk. Cover with a lid and cook on low flame till the fish is fully cooked and the gravy has thickened.

5 ) Finally pour in the thick coconut milk, bring to a boil and take off the stove. Garnish with some fresh curry leaves.

Serve hot with rice and pappad.

I am all smiles to receive the "Rocking girl blogger award" from three fellow blogger friends. Richa of As dear as salt, Viji of Malabar Ruchi and by Kribha of En Samayal Pakkam .

Viji also passed on "The Power of Schmooze Award" to me. I feel humbled and thank you ladies for considering me.

It looks like most of the foodie blogger friends i know, already have received these awards. None the less i am sure it will always be a pleasure to be nominated once, twice or thrice again. Right :D ??
As per the tradition of passing on these awards, I would like to pass on Rockin' Girl Blogger Award to:

Seema of Recipe Junction
Sukanya of Hot N'Sweet Bowl
Rahin of Lazzat
Viji of Vcuisine
Bhags of Crazy Curry
Jyothsna of Currybazaar
Hima of SnackORama

The Power of Schmooze Award is for bloggers who “effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”

The Power of Schmooze Award to :

Asha of Aroma
Shn of Mishmash
Sia of Spice Corner
Sig of Live to eat
Sharmi of Neivedyam

Murukku - Chakli

Murukku / Chakli is a savoury snack, popular in southern part of India. With a cup of tea, i munched on some of the murukku that my friend prepared and got the see how this snack is prepared.

Ingredients

2 cups - Rice flour
1 cup - Besan flour / Gram flour
1 tbsp - Ajwain / Carom seeds
1 tbsp - White sesame seeds
1 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Hing powder / Asafoedita
1/4 cup - Melted butter or Margarine
About 2 cups - Lukewarm water
Salt to taste
Oil to fry ( Peanut oil )

Method

1 ) Sieve rice and besan flour together to a mixing bowl. Add ajwain, sesame seeds, red chili, hing, salt and mix together. Pour the melted butter and mix.

2 )Add water little at a time and make a chapati like dough. Dough should not be too stiff nor too loose.

3 ) Shown in picture below, is the murukku presser. Take little of the dough and fill into the murukku mold.

4 ) With the murukku presser, press and shape the murukku to a plate with paper napkin.

5 ) Make a bunch and keep ready to fry in oil.


6 ) Heat oil in a wok or kadai. Carefully slide shaped murukku dough into the hot oil. Fry both sides on a medium high heat, till crisp and golden.

Take off the oil and drain on a paper towel.

Serve as a evening snack with tea or coffee.

Sending this recipe to the event "Fun in the sun" hosted by Anupama of "Food-n-more" and also to the event "WYF- Snacks" hosted by hima of "SnackORama"

Update

You can also make with this proportion, that is 2 cups of rice flour and 1/2 cup Besan. Since besan fries faster than rice flour, with this proportion you will get even cooking.

Pulihora - Tamarind Rice

An Andhra preparation of the tamarind rice, that my friend prepares so well and she has so graciously shown me, step by step how she prepares this rice.

Ingredients

3 cups - Raw rice ( Use : Sona Masuri, Basmati or Long grain rice )

Seasoning

2 tbsp - Mustard seeds

1/4 cup - Urad dal

1/4 cup - Chana dal

1/4 cup - Peanuts

6 to 8 - Whole dried red chili

1 tsp - Turmeric powder

1 big yellow lemon size - Tamarind

1/4 to 1/2 tsp - Hing

2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

1 cup - Oil

Salt to taste

Method

1 ) In the first step, cook the rice and then spread out in a big plate to cool a bit.

2 ) Second step is to Season. Heat oil in a pan and fry the whole red chillies. Take it off the oil and set aside. Then add chana dal, peanuts, urad dal and fry on medium low heat. Then add mustard and after mustard pops, add curry leaves, hing and take off the stove.

3 ) Thirdly, pour the seasoning onto the cooked rice.
Then to make the tamarind paste, extract thick tamarind paste from the tamarind by adding little by little water and squeezing out a thick tamarind juice. Now cook the extracted juice till it thickens to a semi-thick concentrated paste. Add salt to taste when cooking the tamarind juice.

4 ) Add the cooked tamarind paste to the cooked rice. Now mix the rice well with the seasoning and the tamarind paste. Mix thoroughly and then serve.


Variations to this recipe

1. If you like mustard flavor, you can add a little mustard paste to the rice and mix well. Take 1 tsp mustard seeds and make a paste with little water. Crush with a mortar and a pestle.
   
2. Sesame seeds can be dry roasted and powdered. Add the powder to the rice and mix well.

Now if you want to make this rice with ready made Puliogare powder -

1) Follow the first step to cook the rice.

2 ) Then follow the second step to season. At the end of the seasoning, add 3 to 4 tbsp of ready made puliogare powder into the oil, before taking off the stove.

3 ) Pour the seasoning onto the cooked rice and mix thoroughly. If you need more sour and tangy taste, add 2 to 3 tbsp of lemon juice to the rice and mix.

JFI for the month of Sept, is hosted by the lovely sharmi of Neivedyam, who has a array of mouth water recipes to feast on. Rice is the chosen ingredient and i am sending in Pulihora as my entry for this event.

Chili Chutney

Chili peppers contain antioxidants and a lot of health benefits. There are different varieties of chili peppers available, which have their own unique factors like the taste, shape, color, the level and degree of pungency.

This is a green chili chutney, in which Serrano peppers are used as a main ingredient. Select fully dark green colored peppers for this chutney. Other chili peppers can also be used to make this chutney. Got this chutney recipe and suggestions, from a good friend of mine. Chutney goes very well with dosa, idli, rice, chapati and bread. Even though a lot of serrano peppers are used to make this chutney, it is not very spicy as one might conclude.

Ingredients

10 - Serrano pepper, slit lengthwise and chopped
2 tbsp - White sesame seeds
small key lime size - Tamarind
1/2 tsp - Jeera /Cumin seeds
2 flakes - Garlic
1/4 cup - Water
Salt to taste

Seasoning

1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
1 tsp - Urad dal
1 tsp - Chana dal
1 sprig - Curry leaves
1/4 tsp - Hing
1/4 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 - Whole red chili

Method

1) Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped green chili to it. Fry for a minute and then close with a lid and cook on low heat till the chili is cooked and soft. Add salt to taste when cooking.

2 ) Meanwhile, dry roast the sesame seeds in another pan to a light brown color. Take off heat and cool.

3 ) To soften tamarind - Place tamarind in a microwave safe bowl, add little water and cook for less than a minute.

3 ) To a blender, add cooked chili, sesame seeds, jeera, tamarind, garlic and salt to taste. Grind to a smooth paste. Add water little by little as needed.

4 ) To season, heat oil in a pan and add mustard, urad dal, chana dal,curry leaves, whole red chili, hing & turmeric powder.

5 ) Add this seasoning to the prepared chutney and serve.

Serve as a side dish to go with dosa, idli, rice, chapati or bread.

This is my entry for JFI - Chillies. The ingredient chosen is chillies by Nandita of "Saffron trail " fame, who is hosting JFI for the month of August.

A post that hit a century with a homemade cookie !

It's simply delightful to look back on the recipes i blogged and feel nostalgic. I was awe struck seeing very impressive food blogs before i started on my own. Over this period of eight to nine months, i have been able to make and meet some wonderful friends through the blog world. I appreciate all those who visit my blog, try out my recipes and sometimes give me a feed back that keeps me motivated to continue. I was so thrilled when two of my recipes were tried by Pecos Blue of East of the Pecos River fame and posted a post titled "Simply Spicy." Thank you Pecos Blue.
Now in Seattle, I got together with my good friend Lakshmi, who is by her own rights, a great cook. She told me about this simple homemade biscuits / cookies that is quite popular in her hometown. With minimal ingredients and less baking time, this cookie tastes simply awesome. It's something that you can do in a jiffy. This could be something you could bake with kids.

Ingredients

1 cup - Maida / all purpose flour
1/2 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Melted ghee ( at room temperature)

Method

1 ) Add maida, sugar and melted ghee into a mixing bowl.



2 ) Combine the ingredients to make a dough.

3 ) Take a small amount of the cookie dough, shape it to a small ball and then flatten it. Then shape with a cookie cutter or you can shape the cookie even with a glass as shown in the pictures below.

4 ) Transfer the shaped cookie dough to a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the cookies for 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookies will be lightly golden in colour.

Transfer the cookies from baking tray to a wire rack and cool.

Treat yourself and your kids with this delicious cookie.

Note : Use only melted desi ghee for this recipe. Do not melt butter and use.