Karuveppilai Podi / Curry Leaves Powder

The only way I can have curry leaves is this curry leaves powder. I've rarely seen people eating curry leaves as such when used in gravies/poriyals and am one of the kind. I know its always been cornered....But knowing the goodness of it, I wanted to make this podi so that we can have it as a accompaniment for rice or even idlis and dosas.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Curry leaves - 3cups
• Urud dal - 1/4 cup
• Channa dal - 1/4 cup
• Hing/Perungayam -1/4 tsp
• Red chillies- 3
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1tbsp
• Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Wash the curry leaves and allow them to dry in shade.Dry them until there is no moisture.



2. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add curry leaves and fry them on medium heat. Keep tossing them around taking care not to burn them. The curry leaves should turn crispy.At this stage transfer to a seperate bowl and keep aside.



3. Now heat the remaining oil, add channa dhal and urad dhal, fry them on medium heat till they are browned. Remove from pan and keep aside.



4. In the same pan add red chillies and fry for 2mins, add cumin seeds and saute for few mins.



5. Switch off and allow them to cool.When all the ingredients are cooled completely, grind it to a coarse powder. Mix in salt, hing and store in airtight container.

Uses of Curry leaves are recognised in all kinds of medical treatments and cooking methods as well. Here are only a few listed down: [Source : Google]

• A liberal consumption of curry leaves is believed to be beneficial in nourishing the roots of the hair thus preventing further hair loss. It is believed that by doing so, premature graying of hair can be stopped.



• The fresh juice of curry leaves are also used as an eye treatment for certain eye disorders, especially in arresting the development of cataract.



• Diabetes due to heredity factors can be cured by eating ten fresh fully grown Curry leaves every morning for three months. It also helps in curing Diabetes due to Obesity due to the weight reducing properties of the leaves.



• When Curry leaves are boiled in coconut oil till they are reduced to a blackened residue, the oil forms an excellent hair tonic to enhance hair growth and helps in retaining the natural pigmentation.



• The curry leaves finds its applications in various fields and areas of diverse effects. The aromatic use for culinary purposes to medical needs and for simple solution of day to day health problems, it caters to a wide area.

I luv it with rice and oil. Occassionally I have it with idlies too :) Try this aromatic and flavourful curry leaves powder.

Coconut Burfi / Thengai Burfi - A Quick Diwali Sweet !!

Coconut Burfi is my hubbys fav and my MIL is an expert in making this, To me she makes the best burfis - perfect in texture and shape too. As diwali is nearing, I wanted to try this simple and tasty sweet with easy to get ingredients too. This is my first try, And I was warned by my mother many times when I tried to click the consistencies that If I miss the consistency the burfi would either be hard as brick or like halwa....but thank god I got it right :)

Ingredients:

• Coconut - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Cashews broken - 1 tbsp
• Ghee - 2 tsp
• Cardomom powder - 1/2 tsp [optional]

Method:

1. First take wide bottomed pan(non-stick is preffered), add coconut and dry roast it till the moisture leaves and its dry enough, it takes just 3-4 mins taking care not to change the color of the coconut. Keep aside.



2. Now add lil ghee, roast the broken cashews and keep aside.Now in the same pan, add sugar and water mix well till sugar dissolves completely.



3. Keep stiring continuosly, cook till a single thick string consistency : If you take a drop between your thumb and index finger you can see a single string forming - thats the right consistency.



4. Add roasted coconut and remaining ghee at this stage and mix well. Simmer the stove and cook till bubbles ooze out as shown in the pic below: Sorry for the poor lighting, it was a night shot.
5. At this stage add cardomom powder, roasted cashews and mix well till it combines well. After 5-8mins after the bubbles ooze out, the mixture would be thick enough and comes off easily from the sides of the pan - Now its right time to turn off.



6. Immediately transfer to a ghee greased plate and flatten them using a spoon to make the top even. Allow it to cool for 30mins, then mark pieces and store in an airtight container.

My Notes :

• While scrapping the coconut take care not to scrap till the brown sides.If you like ur burfi to be very fine then grind the coconut once in mixie, but I prefer the orginal coarse texture so didnt do it. If you want your burfi to be pure snowy white, then roast the coconut just for few mins before the color changes.



• Testing the sugar syrup is not that difficult, First the sugar syrup becomes very sticky only then single string consistency is reached. If you are a first timer like me check it every now and then till the desired consistency is reached.



• After the roasted coconut is added and the desired stage is reached act very fast and transfer to the greased plate, else the burfis would become hard.



• Make sure you cool them completely, before marking pieces else its hard to get perfect squares.

Crispy Masala Vada / Paruppu Vadai - Step by Step Recipe

Masala Vada or Parrupu vadai is my fav so wanted to give a try at home. As I've been used to the shop bought ones, was very skeptical whether I wud succeed in my try. But the recipe proved me wrong, it came out super crispy outside and crunchy inside...making it perfect. Ammas fav too so another reason to give a try :)

Ingredients:

• Channa Dal - 1 cup
• Rice flour or Rava - 1 tbsp
• Cinnamon - a half inch stick [optional]
• Cloves - 2 [optional]
• Fennel Seeds(Sombu) - 2 tsp
• Red Chillies - 3
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Ginger - a half inch piece
• Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp finely chopped
• Curry leaves - 1 tsp
• Small Onion - 8 very finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Method: [Updated with stepwise]

Wash and soak channa dal for 2 to 3 hrs. Then drain the water completely and keep aside. Grind together cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, garlic, ginger and red chillies with channa dal. Make sure you grind them coarsely and not to a fine paste. The batter should be very thick.

Then transfer the batter to a bowl. Add onions, mix well then add rice flour, coriander, curry leaves, salt and mix well.

3. The mixed batter is ready. Make equal sized small balls out of the mixture, and pat them on your palm to form a circle to 1/4 inch thickness, and arrange them in a plate ready to deep fry.

Heat oil in a kadai and deep fry them till golden brown, turning over both sides. Drain it on a tissue paper. Serve hot with any chutney of ur choice.

My Notes :

• The method is very easy, the only thing to note down is the consistency and texture of the batter. It should very thick and in coarse form.Sprinkle little water while grinding ONLY if its too dry.



• I usually add small onions as it gives nice taste to the vadas, You can alternatively use big onions too.If you like garlic in your vadai then you need not grind them, just chop them finely and add it with onions to the batter.



• Rice flour is added to give nice crispness to the vadas. If your batter becomes runny also, this rice flour comes to our rescue, so add in more than the above mentioned quantity incase your batter is very runny. Rava/Sooji also gives a good amount of crispiness so use either rice flour or rava.



• This is deep frying so we can make it occassionally may be for festive seasons . Enjoy the crispy masala vadas.

Crispy Masala Vadas ready to be served!

Hope you are all set for the festive mood. I am all set to prepare/try new sweets this time. So stay tuned to check the festive specials for this diwali.

Channa Masala / Chole Masala (without coconut version)

Nothing can beat the combo of channa/chole masala with rotis. I luv it with pooris too :) I have already jotted down black channa gravy with coconut so here is my no coconut version which we make with white channa and its our family favourite too.

Channa Masala Recipe:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• White Chick peas /Channa - 1 cup
• Onion - 1/2 small chopped finely
• Tomato - 1/2 small chopped finely
• Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
• Red chilli powder 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder / Channa Masala powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
• Salt - as required
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
• Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp

To saute and grind:

• Tomato - 2 big sized
• Onion - 1 big sized
• Cloves - 1/4 inch piece
• Cinnamom - 1
• Fennel(Sombu) - 1 tsp
• Boiled channa - 2 tbsp [No need to saute]

Method:

1. Soak channa overnight and pressure cook until soft,with enough water just allowing channa to immerse. Drain water, transfer to a bowl and keep aside.



2. Heat a wide bottomed pan with 1/2 tsp of oil, Add the ingredients under 'to grind' except boiled channa and saute until tomatoes are slighty mushy. Then grind it to a thick paste with boiled and keep aside.



3. Now in the same kadai add remaining oil, add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell leaves. Now add the onion and fry till transparent.



4. Add the chopped tomatoes,onion and salt. Add red chilli, turmeric and garam masala/channa masala powders, mix well. Saute and mix well till the masala powders are nicely coated with tomato and onion.



5. Add the grinded tomato onion paste to the cooking gravy and fry in low flame for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and cooked channa to the gravy. Simmer and allow it to cook for 5-10 mins.



6. Keep stirring, when the gravy is thick enough or to ur desired consistency, switch off. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves, raw onion and lemon juice. Enjoy it with hot rotis or bhaturas!

You can pair with bread , add raw onions, garnish with coriander leaves and have your bread channa in chat style.

My Notes:

• While grinding onions and tomatoes we can even grind it raw but sauting and grinding it to a paste enhances the flavour.



• Garnish with finely chopped raw onions only while serving to retain the crunchiness.



• Adjust water according to the thickness of the gravy. As channa is also added while grinding the gravy will be creamy and thick.

Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter

The first time I tasted peanut butter was at my friends place and I totally disliked the taste. Then once during one chat session with my cousin sis, she mentioned about the taste and health benefits of peanut butter, so thought I should give a try once again and bought a small pack of peanut butter. It comes in 2 varieties crunchy(bits of peanuts here and there) and creamy(no bits very creamy). To my surprise my lil one luved it, whenever she sees the container even after it got finished she would identify and ask for it. So this urged me to try peanut butter at home. This can be done in a jiffy if roasted peanuts are ready. It was so creamy and tasty sure better than the store bought ones as it was minus added preservatives and loaded flavors.

The texture totally depends on your taste, as I made this specifically for my lil one I made it as a creamy version. The crunchy version tastes too gud too.So no more store bought peanut butter :)

Ingredients:

• Peanuts(unsalted) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Honey - 2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt - a pinch

Method:

1. Dry roast the peanuts in a tawa till the skin tends to be crispy and nice aroma comes.



2. Cool it and then peel of the skin. I usually take a handful of peanuts, rub it with both the hands and blow off the skin...repeat the process for the 1 cup, this way its easy to peel off the skin.



3. Now add the peanuts, honey, sugar, salt and oil in a mixie/food processor and grind them for few minutes till they turn into a paste like consistency.



4. Transfer to a clean container, use clean spoon everytime. Enjoy as a spread for bread or eat it as such :)

Facts and health benefits about Peanut Butter: [Source : Google]

• One of the health benefits of peanut butter is the amount of fiber found in each serving.



• In addition to being every kid's (and many grownup kid's) favorite sandwich filling, peanuts pack a serious nutritional punch and offer a variety of health benefits.



• Peanut butter contains fairly high quantities of dietary fiber, amounting to about 8%, which again helps in regulating both blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.



• While the nutritional content of various brands will differ slightly, the bottom line is that there are a number of benefits of peanut butter. In order to get the most benefit, you may want to consider making your own peanut butter at home. This will provide a boost in the nutritional value you derive from the product.



• Many reasons some avoid peanut butter is due to it being high in calories with a fat content of many calories and several grams of fat per two tablespoon serving. You will be happy to know that the majority of the fat in peanut butter is monounsaturated a type of fat that lowers the risk of heart disease.



• One of the benefits of peanut butter that many people are unaware of is the presence of resveratrol; this agent has anti-microbial properties that help the body to effectively deal with bacteria and various types of fungi.

My Notes :

• The consistency and texture totally depends on our taste. You can make it even more thick by reducing oil to 1/2 tbsp.



• Once it is grinded to a paste just use the whip option if u are using mixie and whip it 2-3 times to bring everything together easily.



• Dont add more oil, once u start grinding the peanuts will leave oil too.



• For the crunchy version just grind it such that its a paste with bits of peanuts, ie in a coarse form.

Isnt it easy?! Even ur lil ones will be happy to help u in making this.....It is indeed a childs play so give them a chance!

Puliyogare / Tamarind Rice with Pulikaichal Recipe

I was searching for a traditional puliyogare recipe and I found this one from Raks kitchen while browsing through her site. I should say this is a keeper recipe, I have made pulikachal many times following this recipe and have got tasty puliyogares.

I know Raks kitchen doesnt need any introduction at all....Her stepwise always are a plus which helps to get an idea by seeing the pics at one glance. These days whenever I'm bored I go through her site and I can say I have almost visited all the recipes after 2009 more than twice :) You can also have a look at my kovil puliyodharai recipe.

Apart from a fellow food blogger Raji is one of my close friends this blogging world introduced to me. I dont know how exactly it all started apart from exchanging comments it extended to chatting.We have shared many things right from the daily menu to the next post in blogging.I should say she is the only person who has patiently heard about all my DSLR lectures/doubts. I know what irritates her the most but still dont stop doing it ;) I have always admired her quick cooking, she would just say I m on the way to the kitchen, within few hrs the post will be done and with no doubt an amazing food photographer. She carries herself best with all those difficult festive sweets and snacks. I wish I learn atleast some from her.

Now on to the recipe with my few adjustments : I tell u, the procedure seems to be a bit lengthy but worth every bit of it :)

Ingredients for Pulikachal:

• Tamarind - 1 big lemon sized
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Hing (Perungayam) - a pinch
• Jaggery/sugar - 2 tsp [Adjust it according to ur preference of sweet taste]
• Salt - to taste
• Peanuts - a fist full

To temper:

• Mustard - 1 tbsp
• Red chillies - 1
• Urad dal - 1.5 tbsp
• Channa dal - 2 tbsp
• Curry leaves - 8 to 10 leaves
• Cooking oil - 2 tbsp

To Roast and Grind:

• Channa dal - 3 tbsp
• Red chillies - 1
• Fenugreek seeds - 3/4 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Peanuts - 1 tbsp

Method for Pulikachal:

1. Soak tamarind in warm water for 30mins, then extract tamarind pulp/juice from it. Mash it well with ur hands to extract the juice completely.



2. Dry roast peanuts till nice aroma comes, remove the skin after it cools down and keep aside.



3. Now in a kadai add a tsp of oil and roast all the ingredients under 'To roast and grind' (in the same order one by one) to golden brown and powder it. Peel of the skin of peanuts before grinding it.



4. Heat a wide bottomed kadai with oil and add the ingredients under 'to temper' in the same order.Finally add peanuts and roast until lightly browned.Then add the tamarind juice, turmeric, salt and hing.



5. Add enough water may be 1 and 1/4 cups(it should be very runny like rasam consistency at this stage) and allow it to boil for 15mins or till the volume gets reduced by half. At this stage add jaggery and 'roast & ground' powder little by little stirring continuously. After the powder is added the mixture starts thickening quickly. Stir continuosuly and allow it to boil for 2-3 mins.



6. Stir well and when it becomes a thick paste like in the below pic, switch off. Lastly after removing from fire, add the roasted peanuts and mix well. Cool down and store in a clean container.The shelf period of this pulikachal is 15-20 days when refrigerated.

See to it that the consistency should only be semi thick as it gets thickened more after switching off. Add a tsp of oil if needed while mixing it with rice.

To make puliyogare:

1. Cook rice(basmati or normal rice)with 1:2 ratio(rice:water) - I used normal rice only.



2. Allow the rice to cool down completely, then add the pulikachal (the quantity depends on your taste - I usually use 2-3 tbsp for 1 cup of rice). Mix well and enjoy ur puliyogare. Add salt only if required.

Eggless Choco Chips Yogurt Cookies

Cookies are always very special to me, as my first baking experience started with them. Since the day I bought choco chips, I wanted to try a eggless cookie version with it and finally these cookies caught my eyes from Sunitas site. I've always admired her low fat yet delicious looking baking goodies. I didnt make any modifications just very small adjustments and they turned out good.

Ingredients:

• Oats - 1/4 cup
• Wheat flour (Chapathi flour) - 3/4 cup [You can substitute it with APF/Maida too]
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Coconut - 4 tsp
• Chocolate chips - 3 tbsp
• Yogurt(Thick Curd) - 3 tblsp
• Honey - 4 tblsp
• Cooking oil- 3 tblsp
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a wide bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, coconut and chocolate chips. In another bowl, mix yogurt, oil, honey and vanilla essence.



2. Now make a well in the centre of the oats flour mixture and add in the yogurt mixture. Just fold in no need to knead or overmix it.



3. Line a baking tray with silver foil. Now pre-heat the oven at 170 deg C. Make equal sized balls of the mixture and place them in rows, slightly apart from each other.Flatten the balls with the back of a fork which will give the lines for the cookies.



4. Place the tray in the centre of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 15- 20 mins or till the tops are very slightly brown.



5. Remove from the oven and Let them cool on the tray for a minute and then transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing in air tight containers.

Note : I am sure this would taste great when made with APF(maida) also though I havent tried them myself.