Sweet Appam for Karthigai Deepam

I love sweet appams any time of the day. So this year, I made these lovely delights and my 'Appams' turned out to be crispy and crunchy, just the way I like them. This recipe is from my Thathi. For those who prefer to eat soft 'appams', adding mashed ripe banana to the batter yields softer appams. My MIL likes to make the batter and leave it covered overnight preferably in refrigerator  so that the flavours infuse well. This results in nice soft and spongy 'appams'.

For the recipe you need:

Raw rice (pachha arisi) : 1 cup
Jaggery  pwd         :  3/4 cup
1 banana (ripe) : optional
Cardamom pwd : 1tsp
Coconut bits : 2 tbsp (slightly fried in ghee)
Ghee  : 2 tbsp
Oil to deep fry

Method:

Soak rice for 4- 5 hrs. Grind the rice along with jaggery into a smooth paste. Make sure to use absolulely clean jaggery. If you are not sure, dissolve the jaggery in some water, strain the jaggery through a muslin cloth and then use this liquid to grind the rice with. Add cardamom pwd, mashed banana, ghee and coconut.
Now the batter is ready. I prefer to make 'appams' immediately. So heat the 'appam kuzhi' pan or 'kuzhi panniyaram pan' to medium heat. Pour some oil into the 'kuzhis' and carefully spoon the batter into the individual moulds when the oil is hot enough. Be extremely careful as there are chances that the oil can splater. Allow it to cook for some time, and then flip it over to cook on the other side using the 'appam skewer'. The 'appam skewer' is readily available in Indian stores. Keep the flame uniform through the entire cooking process so that the 'appams' get cooked from the inside. Once done, remove from flame.

Savoury Semolina muffins

Well, here I faced a small problem in the 'naming- ceremony' of this recipe. Should I call them 'muffins' or simply 'muffin- shaped upma like cakes'? Yeah...these are cute little 'upma- like' muffins - perfect for tea- time. It hardly took me 5 minutes to mix the batter, (it takes about 20minutes to cook though). So for the recipe will need:

Rava (Semolina) :  1 cup
Curd (Yogurt)   :   5-6 tbsp
Mixed frozen vegetables  :   1/2 cup
Ginger- Garlic paste  :   1/4 tsp
Green chillies paste   :   1/2 tsp
Salt             :   to taste
Red chilly pwd     :  to taste (optional)
Coriander leaves :  Finely chopped (2 tbsp)
Turmeric pwd     :   1/2 tsp
Water     : 1/2 cup (or as required)
Baking soda  :  1/2 tsp     

For Tempering:

Olive oil           :   2 tsp
Mustard seeds :   1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds    :    1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds  :     1/2 tsp (optional)
Asafoetida      :     1 pinch (1/8 tsp)

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 F for 10 minutes. Grease the muffin moulds and set aside.
Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida and Cumin seeds. When the seeds crackle, pour in the semolina and stir for a few minutes and remove from heat. Allow the semolina to cool for a couple of minutes and then add frozen veggies, green chillies, ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli pwd, turmeric pwd, coriander leaves, Bakind soda, water and yogurt. Mix well. Add water carefully, we do not want too much water in the batter. The batter should resemble that of a cake batter. Pour the batter into the muffin moulds. Try not  to fill each mould to the rim, give some space for the muffins to rise. Bake till done.

We have successfuly given our 'Upma' a stunning makeover!!

Bisi bele bath..

This recipe from my MIL, is a extremely fragrant rice and dal based dish. Its a one pot meal, very satisfying and can be had with almost anything like chips or raitha or even some curds.


Serves 2-3 people

Rice ( sona masoori or Basmati rice) :   1 cup
Tuvar dal : 1/2 cup
Small onions : 1/2 cup
Frozen mixed vegetables : 1/2 cup
Coconut (freshly grated) : 1/4 cup
Tamarind paste   (mix with a 1/2 cup water) : 1 tsp
Salt : to taste
Jaggery powder : 2 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp

For masala paste:

Tuvar dal : 1 tsp
Urad dal : 1 tsp
Chana dal : 1 tsp
Red chillies (dry) : 2- 3 (to taste)
Asafoetida pwd :1/8 tsp
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds :1/4 tsp
Cardamom pods : 1
Bay leaf  :  1/2 leaf
Black pepper corns : 4 nos
Cinnamon stick: a small piece


For dry powder:

Dry coriander seeds : 1.5 tbsp
Red chillies : 1

For tempering:

Oil (coconut oil) : 1.5 tsp
mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp
Almonds or Cashew nuts : 6- 7 nos

Method:

Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned for 'masala paste' for a couple of minutes and grind it with the freshly grated coconut into a paste (add water if needed). Now dry roast and powder coriander seeds and the red chilli and set aside. Pressure cook rice along with the tuvar dal until done. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the seeds crackle, add Small onions and fry them for a couple of minutes. when the onions become slighly golden in colour, pour tamarind water and add turmeric pwd, jaggery and Salt to taste. Add the frozen vegetables and mix. Cook for a couple of minutes. The tamarind water should be boiling. At this moment add the 'masala paste' followed by Rice Dal mixture and dry masala powder. Mix well and simmer covered for a couple of minutes more. In case your Bisi bele Bath becomes thick, all you have to do is to sprinkle some water. I like it when it has a 'pongal' like consistency. Enjoy eating this lovely dish with some potato chips or 'raita'.

Happy Diwali...!! Kaju katli

This year , I made Kaju Katli and Rava ladoo for Diwali. For Kaju Katli, I adapted the recipe from saffronhut.blogspot.com, slightly reducing the quantity of sugar used. I have not used the 'warq' or silver foil which is normally used for decoration, coz I didn't have any!

Anyway, Now this Kaju katli reminds me of a beautiful incident that happened long long ago- say way back when my brother was a toddler. I still remember one of the Rakhi Days when he was hardly 5 and I tied a rakhi on his wrist and told him that he was supposed to "gift" me something. I still remember the plump little wide eyed darling of Amma and Appa asking me whether I liked "thakatai".meaning banana in the 'Baby's Dictionary'!!...I haughtily said no and just forgot about the ceremony in minutes. But brother of mine wearing a tiny "veshti" (moms think veshti is auspicious all the time) wrapped tightly around his round waist, fumbled and searched all his treasure ( a.k.a toys) and was thinking of the best toy to "present" me with.
At the end of the day my Chujju (that was his 'baby' name) came to me, trying to hide something at the back of his hands(though it was clearly visible), smiling constantly, showing his baby teeth triumphantly as if I never had baby teeth before!! His face and "veshti" was decorated with crayon and sketch pen marks. Seeing him drove Amma crazy and she was..." Ungalthe yaar antha colouryem sketch penneyum Kuzhandete kodukka sonna??".....Dad was blinking.... I didn't care much about the "coloured veshti" anyway and was more interested in the thing in his hands. The baby had a piece of paper with random drawings on one side like geometric shapes (this proves he was good in school) one plant like thing and a  living thing, probably an animal. And to our pleasant surprise, on the other side of the paper what I saw made me feel so happy and sad all together. Sad because I made our precious baby,who hardly understands the meaning of Rakhi, to get me a gift.

G-I-F-T

four clumsy letters on the paper, with a few corrections ofcourse!!

I must say you were very much creative to choose different colours for different letters. "This is the gift", he said.

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies for Halloween

 

 

Oats are a good source of soluble fibre and many nutrients and thereby I try to include Oats in our daily meals. Store bought Oatmeal cookies are way too sweet for me, so I thought of making some Home- made cookies for the Holiday season. I threw a hand ful of dried cranberries which were long forgotten in my pantry.

 

 Alright, now for the recipe you will need.

 

Regular Rolled Oats (coarsely ground) : 1.5 cups

All purpose flour :  0.5 cup

Dried Cranberries  :  0.5 cup

Flax seed meal : 2 tbsp

Butter (in room temperature) : 1/4 cup

Sugar :  1/2 cup or less(I used 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp)

Salt : 1 pinch

Baking powder : 1/4 tsp

Baking soda : 1/2 tsp

Orange juice : 2 tbsp

Vanilla extract : 1/4 tsp

Egg White : 1 egg white

Milk : a few tsps

 

 

Method:

 

 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Cream together the Butter and sugar until well incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, orange juice, milk, egg white. Add flour, flax seed meal, oats, Cranberries, Baking pwd, baking soda, salt and mix well. Spoon tablespoons of cookie dough on greased cookie sheets and flatten it with fingers. Keep 1 -2 inch gap between each cookie. Bake for 20-25 minutes or untill done. Keep a eye on the oven while baking.The house smells so delicious that I felt I was inside a giant Cookie!

 

Verdict:
Crispy on the outside, soft 'n' chewy on the inside. And the best part is when you start eating, you can't really stop. You want more n more of it and thats one good reason for never being able to stop how much you eat!!

 

Cookie fanatic!!