Posts Tagged ‘Cashews’

RAVA IDLI an ideal morning breakfast, very nutritious but easy  to make.

INGREDIENTS

Rava/ sooji – 1 cup (small once preferred)

Curd / Yogurt – 1 cup (If it is little sour in taste it will enhance the taste of the idli)

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Grated ginger -  1/2 tsp

Finely chopped chillies – 2 or 3 ( to taste )

Chopped coriander – 2 tsp

Curry leaves – 1 strand

Chenna dhal, Urud dhal, Jeera – 1/2 tsp each

finely grated carrot – 1/2  cup

Cashew – 10-15 (optional)

Ghee – 2 tsp

Oil – 2tbl spoon

baking salt – 1/4 tsp (Soda)

Salt – 1 tsp ( to taste)

Water – 1/4 cup

PROCEDURE

- Apply 2 tbl spoon of  oil in a pan . Add the mustard seeds , once it starts popping add Chenna dhal, Urud dhal, Jeera and fry till they are golden brown, then add the finely grated ginger, green chillies, and curry leaves and season them.

-Add the rava and fry it for about 5 minutes, so that the sooji is fried.  Now add fried things to the curd.  Also add  the baking salt,  a pinch of asafoetida, chopped carrot, coriander and mix well. The batter should be of idli consistency.  Set aside for 30 minutes.

-In the mean time add 2 tsp of ghee to the pan and fry the cashews till they are golden brown.  (Make the cashews into half and then fry).

-Greece the idli stand .  Fill the molds with the batter and then place the cashews on the top of the batter so that when idlis are cooked the cashews can be seen on the top. Pressure cook without placing weight, for about 12 to 15 minutes. Switch of the stove and give a standing time for about 2 minutes before removing the idlis form the plate.

Spicy and tasty rava idlis  are ready to be served. Serve it with chutney and sambar.

Apart from adding carrot , you can also add 2 tbl spoons of grated coconut, finely chopped beans , beetroot , fresh green peas, capsicum, cabbage and even cauliflower. If you are going to add many vegetables,  then let the cut vegetable amount to 3/ 4 cup.

I try to add as many vegetables as possible , so that the vegetable idli becomes quite nutritive.

If don’ t prefer to add baking salt,  then increase the oil to 3 tbl spoon while seasoning the sooji  and increase the quantity of curd to 1 1/4 cup.

Mixture is a all time favorite snacks for every one .  As Diwali is fast approaching I am going to tell the preparation of Spicy South Indian mixture.

By its name itself, it is a combination of  boondhi, omapodi, fried- groundnuts, cashewnuts , aval (poha or flattened rice flakes) and curry leaves along with red chilly powder, salt and asafoetida.

Ingrediants

Besan  - 4 cups

Rice flour – 2 cups

Maida – 1 cup

Cashew nuts – 100 gms

Groundnuts – 150 gms

Fried gram – 100 gms (pori or pottu kadalai)

Aval – 100 gms

Butter – 6 tsp

Fresh curry leaves – 1 hand full ( washed and dried)

Chilly powder – 1 Tbl spoon ( to taste)

Salt- 3/4 Tbl spoon ( to taste)

Asafoetida – 1 Tsp

Oil – for deep frying

THUKADA PREPARATION

Ingrediants

Maida – 1 cup

Butter – 1 tsp

Salt – 1 pinch

Sugar 2 tsp (powdered)

Water – to need the dough

Procedure

-Mix  all purpose flour with salt , sugar, butter and water and make it into a dough softer in consistency than roti dough.

-Roll it in to a chapathi ( little thick), cut it into small diamond pieces and deep fry it immediately. If the dough stays for long thukada will become hard. Sweet thukadas are ready. Set aside and allow it to cool.

BOONDHI PREPARATION

Ingredients

Besan ( Gram flour) – 2 cup

Rice flour –  1 cup

Salt – 1/4 tsp

Baking powder – 1 pinch (optional)

Butter – 2 tsp

Procedure

-Mix besan , rice flour,  a pinch of baking powder & and 1/4 tsp  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.

OMAPODI PREPARATION

Ingrediants

Besan – 2 cups

Rice flour – 1 cup

Salt – 1/4  tsp ( to taste)

Butter or ghee – 2 Tsp

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

-Mix besan , rice flour,  salt with  water and make it into a thick paste like  batter but a soft one.

-Heat the oil in the kadai.Test how hot it is by dropping a pinch of dough into it – if it sinks, the oil hasn’t become hot enough. If the dough springs to the top with bubbles all around it, then the oil is just ready.

-In your muruku press place the oma podi plate and load

the dough and press it directly into the hot oil. Fry it untill it is golden yellow and crispy.

Crispy omapodi  is ready.

Now set aside boondhi and omapodi.

- In a dry pan just fry the fried gram for about 5 minutes without applying oil.

-Again deep fry groundnuts, cashew nuts, aval and curry leaves one by one.  Allow the oil to drain well in a kitchen tissue before mixing it along with boondhi and omapodi.

-Now mix the chilly powder along with salt and asafoetida.  For getting a even mixture you can just turn one round in mixie.

-Now in a big pan first put the bondhi,  then crushed omapodi,  the fried nuts and aval- curry leaves fry and on the top put the chilly-salt powder mixture and throughly mix every thing form top to bottom so that the chilly- salt powder spreads evenly.

Spicy south Indian mixture is ready to taste.

Omapodi  is another South Indian snacks, prepared using besan and rice flour.  We add omam or Ajvain to it to get a fine flavour.  Omam is very good  for health.  Try to include it in as many preparations as possible.

Ingrediants

Besan – 2 cups

Rice flour – 1 cup

Omam -15 gms (powdered)

Salt – 1  tsp ( to taste)

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Butter or ghee – 1 tbl spoon

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

-Mix besan , rice flour, omam powder,  asafoetida &  salt with  water and make it into a thick paste like  batter but a soft one.

-Heat the oil in the kadai.Test how hot it is by dropping a pinch of dough into it – if it sinks, the oil hasn’t become hot enough. If the dough springs to the top with bubbles all around it, then the oil is just ready.

-In your muruku press place the oma podi plate and load

the dough and press it directly into the hot oil. Fry it untill it is golden yellow and crispy.

Crispy omapodi  is ready. Allow it to cool and store it in an air tight container.

We can make little variations to make it taste different.

Along with omam powder add 1 tsp of  chilly powder and prepare the batter.

For the omapodi we add for mixture adding omam is optional.  We can add chilly powder alone to do kara omapodi.

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.

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.

Let me tell you how to prepare the pulav within in 1 hour. The method I tell you, requires less oil and it gives very healthy mixed vegetable rice.

Ingredients

Rice – 1 Cup
Mixed vegetables – 1 cup
Garlic Ginger Paste – 1/2 tsp
Cardamom – 2 Nos
Clove – 4 Nos
Tej Patha (bay Leaves – 1 big leaf
Green Chillies – 2 Nos
Big Onion – 2 Nos
Sombu (sonuf) – 1 tsp
Ghee or cooking oil – 2 table spoons
Chili powder – 1/2 tsp

-Wash the rice and soak it for 15 minutes. You should not wash the rice after soaking. The rice will break .

-Drain the water thoroughly.

- In the mean time cut all the desired vegetables into small pieces (carrot, beans , cauliflower, onion, green peas etc)

- Dry fry all the given spices except bay leaves and make it into a coarse powder.

- Apply one table spoon of ghee in a kadai and fry the rice along with the bay leaf and at the end add the powdered masala and pour it into the vessel into which you are going to make the pulav.

- Again in another table spoon of ghee fry fry the ginger garlic paste and all the vegetables and add to the fried rice.

- Add 2 cups of water, 1/2 tsp chilliepowder and the required amount of salt (in general it requires 1 tsp of salt, but the quantity depends upon an individual’s taste).

- Pressure cook this mixture in high fire until 3 whistles come. Let the cooker simmer for about 10 minutes.

- Soon after the cooker gets released take out vessel and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.

-You can garnish pulav with fried golden cashews, finely chopped coriander. Even small pieces of bread can be fried in oil till golden brown and can be used for garnishing.

-Serve with onion raitha as side dish

[Note: Onion raitha is nothing but finely chopped onion , coriander and green chillies added to fresh curd with salt. You can also add grated carrot and pomegranate seeds to make it more colourful.Ordinary rice or Basmathi rice can be used. basmathi rice gives more flavoured pulav.]