Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

Payaru Kanji Receipe

October 18th, 2014 Kavithaa Mohan

payaru kanji

Ingredients

Boiled rice – 1/2 cup
Whole moong – 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Garlic pods – 1
Shredded coconut – 1/2 cup
Chopped Small Onions – 4
Salt – as needed
Water – 3 cup
Oil – 1 tsp

Method

Wash and soak rice and moong dhal together for an hour.
Take a deep pan, add the oil to it and fry the fenugreek seeds.
Next add the chopped garlic clove and  onions and fry for another 30 seconds.
Add  water and bring it to a boil. The fenugreek flavour is infused in the water.
When the water boils add the rice and green gram.cook it for 3 whistle.
If you feel you need more water, you can add some hot water to bring to the desired consistency.
Finally add the required salt and grated coconut. Serve as a simple breakfast with thogayal.

Thogayal:
Ingredients
Red chillies – 4
shredded coconut -1/2 cup
tamarind paste – 1tsp
few curry leaves
salt as needed

Method
Heat a pan, fry red chillies without oil.cood and grind red chillies with remaining ingredients to paste.add salt to taste.

Posted in Cooking, Health Tags: , No Comments »

Sweet Pongal/Sakkarai Pongal Receipe

October 17th, 2014 Kavithaa Mohan

sweet pongal

Ingredients
Raw Rice – 1 cup
Moong Dal – 1/2 cup
Jaggery (crushed) – 1.5 cups
Ghee – 1/4 cup
Water – 4 cups or ( 2cups water + 2 cups coconut milk/milk)
Water – 1 cup (to melt the jaggery)
Cardamon Powder – 1/2 tsp
Cashews, Almonds, Raisins or Coconut Pieces – about 1/4 cup

Method

Heat a pan and add 1/2 teaspoon of ghee and roast the moong dal till they turn golden brown

In pressure cooker add the rice,moong dal,4 cups of water (with milk if adding) and 1 tsp ghee.Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles till the rice and dal is cooked soft.After the rice is cooked, remove from cooker and mash it Partially and keep it aside.

In the meantime, heat 1 tblsp of ghee and fry the nuts and raisins. Keep this aside.

Next, melt the crushed jaggery with 1 cup of water in a heavy bottomed pot/pan.Once the jaggery has melted, you can strain it to remove any dirt.Return the strained jaggery back to the pot. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add jaggery syrup, the remaining ghee, cardamon powder and the roasted nuts with cooked rice-dal mixture . Mix together and let it simmer for few minutes till everything comes together into a gooey pongal consistency.

Switch off the stove. The pongal continues to thicken as it cools. Serve as a dessert or a meal.

Posted in Cooking, Health Tags: , No Comments »

Sundakai kozhambu

October 11th, 2014 stayhealthy

sundakai-kuzhambu

Ingredients
Sundakai – 1 cup
Big Onion – 2
Tomato – 2
Moong dhal – 2 tbsp
Sambar Podi – 3 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Coconut – 3tbsp
Tamarind juice – 1 lemon sized pulp

To Tamper
Oil
Curry leaves
Mustard
Urad dhal
Fenugreek – 1tsp

Procedure
Wash sundakai and cut into half. Fry them in a pressure pan with 1 tsp of oil for 3 minutes. Add moong dhal and 2 cups of water. Pressure cook for 4 whistels and keep aside.

In another pan, with little oil, add the items to tamper. Grind onions and tomatoes together and fry until raw smell goes. Add tamarind juice , sambar podi, turmeric powder, water and let it boil for 7 minutes.
Add the boiled sundakai with moong dhal and let it boil for 5 minutes. Finally add coconut paste and stir for 2 minutes.
The kozhambu is ready to serve.

Posted in Cooking, Food, Health 1 Comment »

Pal khova/Milk khova

October 11th, 2014 Kavithaa Mohan

pal khova

Ingredients
Milk – 4 cups(Fat Milk is preferable)
Sugar – 1/2 cup (or as needed)
Cardomon Powder – 1/4 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp

Method

Take the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and heat it over medium flame.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce the flame to medium low and let it continue boiling for the next 2 hours until it reduces to 1 cup.

At this stage add the sugar and cardomon powder and mix everything together until you get a thick and gooey mass.Finally add 1 tsp of ghee and mix well.

Serve this pal khova as a dessert as such. Alternatively, you can pour the mixture onto a plate and let it cool. Once it is cool enough, cut it into cubes and serve.

Delicious Pal kova is ready.

Notes:I used whole milk, full fat milk is preferable as it will take less time to condense.
Do not forget to stir the milk every 10 minutes, otherwise milk will get burnt and it will spoil the taste.
You can increase or decrease sugar as per your taste. I used 1/2 cup sugar that was more than enough for me.
Do not worry about the consistency because it will get thick when it cools down.
You need more patience to make is yummy sweet

Posted in Cooking Tags: 1 Comment »

Apple Halwa

October 10th, 2014 Kavithaa Mohan

apple

Ingredients
Grated apple – 1 cup
Milk – 1 cup
Milk powder – 2 tsp
Sugar – 1/2  cup
Pure ghee – 1 tsp
Saffron – few strands
Cardamom powder
Food colour as per your choice
Dry fruits for garnishing
Method
Wash and grate the apple, transfer the same immediately in the milk to avoid discolouration of the apple.
In a kadai add the ghee, milk and apple, food colour, saffron and boil.
The milk will start curdling due to the sourness of the apple. continue stirring.
When the mix becomes dry, add the sugar, stir continously.
When the halwa starts leaving the sides of the kadai, add milk powder, cardomom powder and stir.
When it is done, remove from the kadai and transfer in a bowl. Garnish with dry fruits.

Diet halwa:  Instead of using sugar, add  2 tsp sugar free when the mixer starts leaving the kadai. Do not use milk powder in this case.

Posted in Cooking Tags: No Comments »

Carrot Halwa/Gajar Halwa receipe

October 9th, 2014 Kavithaa Mohan

halwa

Ingredients
Carrots – 4
Milk – 2 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 2 tblsp
Almonds,Cashews & Raisins – 1/4 cup
Cardamon – 2

Method

Wash and peel the carrots and grate them or grind them.Grating leaves some texture to the carrot at the end but grinding is equally good too.

Heat the ghee in a small pan and fry the nuts and raisins in it.

Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and add the carrot to it.

Cover and cook it on medium flame, stirring occassionally to avoid sticking to the bottom.

After about 15-20 minutes, when all the milk is absorbed by the carrot, add sugar and stir continuously.

After about 8 minutes the oil starts getting separated from the halwa. At this stage add cardomom powder, fried nuts and raisins and 1 tblsp of ghee.

Mix for another minute and switch off. Allow it to cool and serve.

Tips
– To make cardomon powder, grind it with little sugar to get a fine powder.

Posted in Cooking, Health Tags: No Comments »
« Older Entries