The simplest but the most tastiest snacks, easy and quick to  make snacks is karaboondhi.

Ingredients

Besan ( Gram flour) – 1 cup

Rice flour –  1 tbl spoon

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Chilly powder – 1 tsp (to taste)

Baking powder – 1 pinch (optional)

Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp

Cashew nuts – 15-20 nos

Fresh curry leaves – a few

Oil – deep frying

Procedure

-In one table spoon of oil fry the curry leaves and set aside.  Again apply 2 tbl spoons of oil and fry the cashew nuts till they are golden in color and set aside.

-Mix besan , rice flour, chilly powder, a pinch of baking powder &  salt in water and make it into a thick but pouring  batter ( of bajji consistency) .

-Pass them into a special boondhi ladle ( shallow rimmed ladle with holes) Rub the batter evenly and quickly through the holes with a spoon.

-It will fall in fine round beads.  Now and then move them gently with a perforated spoon.  Deep fry till it is golden yellow in color.   Remove it form the oil with the help of a perforated spatula.  Allow the excess oil to get drained on a kitchen tissue paper. Repeat the process till all the batter is over.

-Now mix the prepared boondhi along with fried cashews and curry leaves.

Mouth watering kara boondhi is ready.

We can make little variations to make it taste different.

Instead of adding chilly powder we can add pepper powder.  But pepper powder  should be added only at the end of the preparation of the boondhi.

Further variation you can do is not to add chilly powder with the besan-rice flour batter, but instead sprinkle it after preparing the boondhi, before adding curry leaves and cashew nuts.

Kootu by its name says, combine together.  So kootu is a healthy South Indian side dish which is  a combination of vegetables, dhal and spices.

Let me begin with simple milagu or pepper kootu

MILAGU (PEPPER) KOOTU

Ingredients

> To fry and grind

Pepper – 1/2 tsp
Chena Dhal  - 1 tsp
Urud dhal – 1/2 tsp
Dhaniya – 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies – 4 nos (to taste)
Grated Coconut – 2 tbl spoons
Jeera – 1 pinch

> To cook

Preferred vegetable – 2 cups
Mung dhal – 1/2 cup
Salt – 3/4 tsp (to taste)
The vegetables usually used for milagu kootu are Chow Chow, Snake gourd( pudalangai), cabbage, brinjal, cucumber , double beans(Avaraikai), curry beans.

Procedure 


-Pressure cook the desired vegetable along with mung dhal  , salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.
-Add a tsp of oil to the pan and fry the ingredients (except coconut & jeera) given for frying till they are golden brown.
-Grind the fried ingredients along with coconut and jeera into a paste by adding little water.
- Add this paste to the cooked dhal-vegetable mix and allow it to boil for 2minutes.
- Switch off the stove and add a pinch of asafoetida .  Season it with mustard, broken urud dhal and fresh curry leaves.
You can also add fresh finely chopped coriander. This is optional.

Badhusha is a south Indian Sweet made out of all purpose flour(maida) and sugar.  Many feel that it is difficult to make. But it is very easy and infact can be made within 45 minutes.

Ingredients

All purpose flour (Maida) – 2 cups
baking Soda  -1.3 tsp (or 2 pinches)
Ghee – 1/2 cup (Vanaspathi or dalda is optional,  but ghee is prefered and it will stay little long when stored)
Curd – 3/4 cup
Sugar – 3 cups
Water – 1 1/5 cups of water
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
or Rose essence- 5 to 6 drops -for flavur

Procedure


- Mix curd, ghee and a pinch of baking soda and beat it till it froths.
- Sieve maida along with another pinch of baking soda.
-Make dough using curd- ghee mixture, the consistency must be softer  than the chapathi dough.
-Make it into a big chapathi (thickness as that of a chapathi ) , using both the hands make pleats on the rolled dough (just like saree pleats) starting form one end.
-Now you will get a thin strip of folded dough.  Cut this into equal pieces of about 1 1/2 inch and flatten it. We do this to get layers and the badhusha will be crispy. Place this prepared dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes, take it out, leave it covered with a damp muslin cloth for about 10 minutes. Now it is ready for frying.
- In the mean time prepare a 2 string sugar syrup.  For flavor add cardamom or rose essence.
-While the sugar syrup is getting ready preheat the oil. Now fry the pieces of prepared dough till it is golden brown, drain the oil and immediately soak it in the sugar syrup.
-Let it be in the syrup for about 5 minutes. Take it out and place it in a dry plate.  Allow it to cool and store it a dry air tight container.

You can garnish the badhusha with grated & coloured  coconut, or place a roasted pistachio or badam. Roasted cashew doesn’t look that good for garnishing,  because badhusha and cashew colour  are almost the same.


To avoid the crystalisation of sugar syrup while you are frying the badhusah add 2 to 4 drops of lemon juice to the sugar syrup. 


If curd is not available increase baking soda to 1 tsp add to the ghee and make the spongy dough, softer than chapathi dough.

It is the kheer made out of roasted vermicelli or semiya and milk.  The taste is very good and almost liked by all.

Ingredients

Vermicelli (Semiya) – 150 gms (1 cup )
Milk –  4 cups ( appx 1 lit)
Sugar – 20  gms ( to taste)
Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
Ghee – 1 tblsp
Cashew and raisins for garnishing

Procedure

-Apply 1 tblspoon of ghee to a thick bottom pan and fry the vermicelli till it is golden brown.  In the mean time boil 1 cup of water in another vessel.

- Now add this boiling water to the vermicelli and allow it to cook for 2 minutes and add the milk.  The kheer will taste good if the vermicelli gets cooked in milk.

-Let this mixture reduce to 3/4 of the original quantity.  Now add the required sugar and allow it to dissolve.

- Again let it simmer atleast  for 20 minutes. The kheer will reach the consistency , so that it is neither too thick or too thin.  Switch of the stove and add the cardamom powder.

-Garnish it with fried cashews and raisins.  Serve it hot or cold.

BADAM KHEER is one of the easiest and nutritious among the payasam or  kheer varieties.  It serves good for all occassions.

Ingredients


Badam – 1/2 cup
Milk-4 cups (preferably whole milk)
Sugar- 200 gms (to taste)
Cardamon powder – 1/2 tsp
Saffron – 1 pinch (soak in hot milk at least 20 minutes before mixing to the kheer )

Procedure


-Soak badam overnight or in hot water for atleast 2 hours and remove the skin, grind it into a smooth paste.

-Take the whole milk in a non-stick pan or a thick bottom pan.  Bring it to boil and simmer the stove until the milk reduces to 3/4 of its quantity.

-Now add the sugar and allow it to dissolve and let this mixture boil for 5 minutes.

- Again add the smooth ground badam paste and allow it to cook for 5 to 6 minutes (badam gets cooked very fast)

-It should not become thick.  Now add the cardamom powder and the saffron soaked  in the milk.  Garnish it with fried cashews,  pistachio and strands of saffrons.

Serve it hot or  cold. It is always better to garnish the kheer before serving.

The famous Unniappam is a very tasty delicious rice pudding of Kerala. Though it is done on many occasions, it is considered as a favourite dish which Unni kannan likes. So we can call this as a Janmashatami special. It is also done on the occasion of Karthikai , a Tamil Nadu festival which comes during the month of December. It is also called karthikai appam.

Ingredients

It is one of the most delicious milk preparations. I am sure on one will say no to it.

Ingredients

Traditional Iyengar’s feast is always accompanied with puliyodarai. It is not only tasty but very easy to prepare once its basic paste pulikaichal is ready in hand. Pulikaichal is a preserve of spicy tamarind paste, which stays for a few months in the fridge. This when mixed with rice is called Puliyodarai or puliyogare.

Let me first tell you the preparation of pulikaichal.

Ingredients

Tamarind – 200 gms (app x size of a mango)
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tps
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp (increase or decrease the quantity according to taste)

For Seasoning

Mustard seeds – 2 tbl spoon
Red Chillies – 25-30 Nos , broken into pieces (If you don’t want the pulikaichal to be very hot while making the chillies into 2 pieces remove the seeds)
Chenna Dhal – 1 Tbl spoon
Urud Dhal – 1 Tbl Spoon
Curry leaves – Fresh and dried (20 to 30 Nos)
Gingly oil (Nallennai-til oil)- 250 ml

If you are going to store for a longer period then it better to add less quantity of dhal at the time of preparation . Fry and add the required quantity of dhal at the time of mixing pliyodarai.

For Powdering

Methi seeds – heap of 1 tsp
Hing ( Asafoetida or perungayam) – 1 small piece or 1/2 tsp

Dry fry the methi seeds till they are deep brown. Add one teaspoon of gingly oil and fry the hing. It is better to use the solid hing for this preparation because this is the main flavouring agent. Allow it to cool and make it into a fine powder.

Note:- Some of them add 1tsp of dhaniya and 1/2 tsp of black pepper along with methi seeds and hing and powder it. These additions are optional.

Procedure

-Strain the tamarind into a thick pulp mix it with turmeric powder and salt and set aside.

- Take a thick bottom pan and add the gingly oil. Keep it on medium flame. Once the oil starts fuming add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter completely. Only when the mustard seeds splutters completely the shelf life of pulikaichal will last long.

- Then add the red chillies and the dhal and fry till the dhal is golden brown. Add the curry leaves and allow them get fried completely i.e, till all the water content in the curry leaf evaporates.

-Pour 1/2 a cup tamarind mix and when it starts to boil add the rest. Add a small piece of jaggery for added taste.

-When the pulp gets thick, oil will come up on the sides & the gravy will get deposited at the bottom. This indicates that pulikaichal is done. Switch off the stove and add the prepared methi-hing powder, mix it well and transfer it to another vessel to avoid further thickening.

Preparation of Puliyodarai

In general raw rice is used for this preparation.

1.Just pressure cook 1 cup of raw rice.

2.Take a vessel. Add 1 Tbl spoon of gingely oil and put the cooked rice over the oil.

3.If you are preparing the puliyodharai on the day when you make pulikaichal no additions are required.

Approximately for 1 cup of rice (i.e,200 gms of rice) we need 3 tbl spoon full of pulikaichal.

4.Mix it with the rice using a flat laddle so that the rice will not get smashed.

If you are going to refrigerate and prepare puliyodharai once in a while then , in just 1 tsp of gingly oil fry, 2 broken green chillies, fresh curry leaves, 1pinch of trumeirc powder and 1/4 hing and add to the rice. Add pulikaichal according to the quantity of rice.

If you like your puliyodharai to be crunchy, you can add fried peanuts and cashew nuts.

Note :- For the puliyodarai to taste good preferably use gingly oil. Usually we fry cashews in ghee. But for this preparation it is better to use gingly oil.

Refrigerate it in an air tight container.

While mixing puliyodharai try to use a flat laddle ( Here I mean Dosa Thudupu) so that the rice will not be smashed.

I am sure Krishna Jayanthi special is Cheedai. Let me tell you about the preparation of both vella cheedai and uppu cheedai.

UPPU CHEEDAI

Ingredients

Raw rice – 4 cups
Urud dhal – 1/2 cup (i.e. 8:1 ratio)
Grated coconut – 1 cup
Chenna Dhal – 1/4 cup
pepper – 2tsp (optional)
Jeera – 2 tsp
Asafoetida – 1 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp ( add less or more according to your taste)
Edible oil – for cooking
Butter – 35 gms (appx. 2 tsp)

Procedure

- Fry the raw rice till it turns light red ( ilam sivapu) in color and make it into a little bit coarse powder.

-Again fry urud dhal till it is deep red( nalla sivapu) in color. Allow it to cool and make it into a fine powder.

-Grind pepper and jeera coarsely. If you are not going to add pepper then you can add jeera as whole.

-Soak the Chenna Dhal for 1 hour.

- Now mix the rice flour, urud flour, ground jeera-pepper powder, soaked chenna dhal, 1 cup grated coconut, asafoetida and salt and make it into a thick paste by adding water.

- Make it into round balls of marble size and spread it on a dry cloth.

- Preheat the oil. Just drop 1 ball into the oil. If it raises up then the oil is heated. Drop as much balls as possible allowing sufficient space for the rice balls to cook.

-Fry till golden brown. Drain the oil. Allow it to cool and store it in an air tight container.

VELLA CHEEDAI

Ingredients

Raw rice – 2 cups
urud dhal – 1/4 cup
Jaggery – 2 1/2 cup
Coconut – 1/2 cup ( cut it not small thin pieces ie. pallu pallu -a thiruthanam) )
Sesame (ellu) – 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder (elachi) – 1 tsp
Butter – 35 gms

Procedure

-Fry the raw rice till it turns little deep red in color (i.e you have to fry little more than uppu cheedai ). Make it into little coarse powder.

-Again fry urud dhal till it is deep red( nalla sivapu) in color. Allow it to cool and make it into a fine powder.

-Now take 2 1/4 cup of water in a vessel. Heat it and allow the jaggery to dissolve in it. Decant it into another vessel to remove the mud and other impurities in the jaggery.

-Once the jaggery water starts boiling add the coconut pieces and add the rice flour little by little so that there are no lumps and cool it for 5 minutes.

-Switch off the stove, transfer it into another vessel. Mix with urud flour, sesame seeds, cardamom powder. Make it into a thick paste.

- Make it into small balls of marble size and spread it on a plate. (If you spread it on a dry cloth, then all the moisture will be absorbed and the cheedai will become very hard).

- Preheat the oil. Just drop 1 ball into the oil. If it raises up then the oil is heated. Drop as much balls as possible allowing sufficient space for the rice balls to cook.

-Fry till it is deep brown in color.

Sweet and crispy vella cheedai is ready to be served for the kunju krishans at home.