Posts Tagged ‘Gms’

Navarathri is fast approaching and I am sure every one will will offer different variety of sundal to Goddess Lalithadevi on all 9 days. To start with let me tell you how to make kondaikadalai sundal in different ways.

You can use both variety of Kondai kadalai – both white and black.

- Soak the chenna dhal over night or atleast for 8 hours.

- Pressure cook the soaked CHENNA adding the required amount of salt and water . Let two whistles come and simmer it for 5 minutes.

( Say for 1 cup (200 gms) of dhal , 1/2 heap of salt and the chenna should submerge in water) You can also add 1 pinch of turmeric powder to give an appealing color.

-After the pressure cooker releases, drain the excess water and allow it to cool.

- In a pan add 1 table spoon of oil . Add mustard , let it splutter add 4 split green chillies and a red chilly along with fresh curry leaves, and add 1/4 tsp of hing (perungayam) and then add the cooked chenna.

- Season for 5 minutes till the water in the chenna dries up and add 1 table spoon of freshly grated coconut. Season it for another 2 to 3 minutes.

This is the basic procedure for doing the kondaikadalai sundal.

We can also modify this a little bit. The first three steps remains the same. Those who don’t prefer to use much coconut do it this way.

-After draining water from chenna just add 2 tsp of oil to the pan. Add 2 red chillies, 2 green chillies, one teaspoon of grated ginger & add the chenna and season it for 5 minutes. Then add small pieces of coconut amount to 1 tsp. Season for 2 to 3 minutes. Let it cool down little, then add 1/2 tsp of lime juice and garnish it with coriander.

It is a famous kanidika preparation. I tasted this gojju in one of my friends house Mrs. Swarna who hails from Bangalore , but settled at Delhi. The taste was so good. I got the method of preparation from her which I am going to present it to you now. This brinjal – capsicum gojju.

Ingredients

Required Vegetables

Tender Brinjal – 100 gms

Capsicum -100 gms

Tomato – 100 gms

Chop all the vegetables into small square pieces.

To prepare the Gravy

Tamarind – small lemon size

Chutney Dhal (pottukadalai) – 1 teaspoon

Mustard – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Grated coconut – 1 handful

Red chillies – 2-3 nos ( accoring to taste)

For seasoning

Oil -1 table spoon

Mustard -1 tsp

Methi – 1/2 tsp ( you can season it with whole  methi or if you use methi powder then make it to 1/4 spoon )

Red Chillies – 1 nos

Curry leaves – 10-15 nos

Asafoetida(Hing or perumkayam)  – 1/2 tsp

Procedure

– Strain the tamarind with 1 1/2 cup of water and add the chopped vegetables, one pinch of turmeric powder , salt  and cook them.

-In a dry pan allow the mustard to splutter.  Set asside.  Add one tsp of oil to the pan fry the chutney dhal ,red chillies  and coconut just for 2 minutes.  Allow it to cool and grind it along with mustard and turmeric powder into a fine paste.

- Add this paste to the tamarind – veg gravy and just allow it froth. If you prefer add one small bit  of jagarrey to enhance the taste.

- Season it with mustars , methi, red chillies, curry leaves and hing.

Mouth watering gojju is ready.  It can be served along with raw rice, venpongal, idli , dosa and chapathi.

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.

mixture

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.

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.

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

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.

This is another variety of vada which involves three types of dhal.

Ingredients

Chenna Dhal}

Thoor Daal } together 1 cup

Urud dhal }

Take all the three dhals in equal quantities to make up 1 cup full ( appx 200 gms)

Red Chillies – 4 Nos

Green Chillies – 4 Nos

Salt – 3/4 tsp

Ginger -1/2 inch

Hing 1/2 tsp

The above mentioned ingredients are meant for grinding and preparing the batter.

Onion – 1/2 cup finely chopped

Curry leaves – 15-20

Croiander – 2 tsp finely chopped

Sonuf – 1/4 tsp (just crush it and add to the batter)

Procedure

-Soak the dhal for about 1 hour.

-Grind it into a coarse batter along with salt, chillies and ginger.

- Mix the finely chopped onion, curry leaves, chopped coriander and crushed sonuf and pinch of baking soda with the batter.

-Heat the oil in the kadai. Take a small ball of batter in your hands. Either you can flatten it in your hands or use a plantain leaf or polythene sheet, drop it into oil and fry till it is golden brown. Depending upon the quantity of the frying oio you can make upto 5-6 vada at a time

-Pierce a knife into one vada to see if it is cooked. If the batter sticks then it needs more cooking.

Serve it hot with chutney and sambar. Even the tomato ketchup is a good combination.

Along with finely chopped onion you can also add finely chopped cabbage and grated potato.

Medhu vada is one of the most favorite snacks every one likes. It is whole urud dhal preparation.

Ingredients

Urad Dhal – 1 cup (app 200 gms)
Red chillies – 4 nos
Green Chillies – 4 nos
Ginger – half an inch
Salt – 3/4 tsp
Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp (Hing or perungayam)
Oil- for frying

Procedure

-Soak urad dhal in water for 1 hours.

-Grind the soaked urad dhal along with chillies, ginger and salt into a fine paste i.e. when you take the batter in your fingers you should not feel the grains (Add water to the batter little by little so that the batter doesn’t go watery). The batter should be thick. It should not flow freely from the spoon when you pour it down.

-You can either make plain vada just by adding curry leaves and finely chopped coriander to the batter or you can add the following vegetables.

Finely chopped onion, finely chopped cabbage, grated potato, leafy greens (keerai) such as arai keerai, mulai keerai, murungai keerai etc.

-To make the vada crisp you can add a pinch of baking soda just before making it or just mash a boiled potato to the batter and mix it well. By adding boiled potato the vada will remain crisp and puffy for a long time

-Heat oil in a kadai. Dip your hands in water. Take the batter of the size of a small ball in your palm or plantain leaf or a polythene sheet and pat it to form a circle. Dip your index finger in water and make a hole in the patted batter in the center.

-Fry the patted batter in oil till golden brown on both sides. Soft and puffy Vadas are ready to be served with any chutney. It tastes good with coconut chutney or pudina chutney.

-While taking the batter in hand dip your palm in water so that after patting the batter, you can drop it in the oil. If the batter is watery it will not freely drop into the oil. To check if the Vada is cooked fully wash the tip of a knife and pierce the vada. If no batter sticks on the knife then the vada is fully cooked or else it needs more cooking.

DHAGI VADA

The procedure to prepare the vadai remains the same. The only thing we have to do is soak the vada in the curd after deep frying it.

Instead of soaking the vada in the seasoned plain curd let us make the curd little bit spicy by making the following alterations.

Ingredients to grind and mix with the curd:- Green chillies – 2 Nos, Coconut – 1 tbl spoon, Ginger -1/4 inch, Finely chopped coriander - 2 tsp, Hing – 1/2 tsp, Salt – 1/2 tsp

Grind all the above mentioned ingredients and mix it with the curd. Season it with mustard seeds and fresh curry leaves.

or

Just add little bit of salt to the curd and mix it well. Soak the Vada and Garnish it with grated carrot, finely chopped coriander, finely chopped green chillies , karaboondhi and thin omapodi. If you prefer you can add 1 pinch of chat masala.

But remember one thing . The garnishing should be done only at the time of serving the curd vada. Otherwise the garnish will get soaked in dhagi and it will loose its fresh taste

SAMBAR VADA

The procedure to prepare the vadai remains the same.

Instead of soaking it in dhagi you have soak the vada in hot and spicy sambar. For this the sambar should not be very thick. Soak the vada atleat for half an hour before serving. Only then the sambar will penetrate into the vada and will taste good.

If it is soaked for a very long time there is a chance for the vadai to get dissolved in the sambar. Everthing will become together and will not be good to taste. So even if there is going to be a delay for serving the vada, remove it from the sambar and keep it aside and while serving it add the sambar, garnish it with finely chopped corinader andthen serve.

MYSORE BONDA

Ingredients

Urad Dhal – 1 cup (app 200 gms)

Green Chillies – 4 nos

Ginger – half an inch

Grated coconut – 1 Tbl spoon

Raw rice powder – 1 Tbl spoon

Salt – 3/4 tsp

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp (Hing or perungayam)

Oil- for frying

Procedure

-Soak urad dhal in water for 1 hours.

-Grind the soaked urad dhal into a fine paste along with salt( i.e. when you take the batter in your fingers you should not feel the grains (Add water to the batter little by little so that the batter doesn’t go watery). The batter should be thick. It should not flow freely from the spoon when you pour it down.

-Finely grate the chillies and ginger and add to the batter along with coconut and hing. Season it with 1/2 tsp of mustard.

-You can either make plain bonda just by adding curry leaves and finely chopped coriander to the batter or you can add the following finely chopped onion or carrot. Either you can grate to coconut or make into small pieces and add to the batter.

-Heat oil in a kadai. Dip your hands in water. Unlike vada you need not pat it to form a circle. You can drop it into the oil just in the form of a ball itself.

-Fry the batter in oil till golden brown. Soft and puffy Vadas are ready to be served with any chutney. It tastes good with coconut chutney and sambar.

-While taking the batter in hand dip your palm in water. If the batter is watery it will not freely drop into the oil. To check if the bonda is cooked as you did for vada fully wash the tip of a knife and pierce the vada. If no batter sticks on the knife then the bonda is fully cooked or else it needs more cooking.

Now I am going to tell you how to prepare different varieties of podi .

We can make these podi varieties and have it with rice. This preparation will stay for many days and it is very useful for bachelors.

1 cup = 150 gms

Parrupu podi

Ingredients

Channa Dhal – 1 cup

Thoor Dhal – 1 Cup

Red Chilies – 10 nos

Black pepper – 1 TSp

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1tsp

Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves

Oil – 1 tsp

Procedure

-Dry fry Channa Dhal and thoor dhal till they are golden brown.

-Again Dry fry pepper. Once it starts spluttering just put the chilies and fry it for two minutes.

-Now wash the curry leaves and spread it on a dry cloth. Allow it to dry. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the pan and fry it untill it turns dark green in colour.

-Grind the dhal which you have fried along with pepper and asafoetida into a fine powder along with salt.

-Finally add the fried curry leaves.

This podi is very tasty when taken with hot rice with one spoon of ghee. This podi can be stored for at least a period of month, since we don’t add any oil to it , it will remain fresh for a longer period.

GARLIC POWDER

The procedure and ingredients is same as that of paruppu podi. The only addition we make is 10-15 flakes of garlic.

Fry the garlic in 1 tsp of oil in a pan untill it is golden brown and starts giving out aroma.

After making the paruppu podi finally add the garlic flakes and once again powder it.

KOLLU PODI OR HORSE GRAM POWDER

Kollu is an excellent cholesterol reducer. It brings down the LDL level in our blood. But many of us don’t include it in our day to day life. It can be consumed as sundal, rasam and podi. Let me tell you how to prepare kollu powder.

Ingredients

Kollu – 2 cups

Red Chilies – 10 nos – 15 nos

Black pepper – 1 tsp

Jeera – 1 tsp

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1tsp

Curry leaves – 10-15 leaves

Oil – 1 tsp

Procedure

-Dry fry Kollu till the fried smell comes.

-Again Dry fry pepper and jeera. Once it starts spluttering just put the chilies and fry it for two minutes.

-Now wash the curry leaves and spread it on a dry cloth. Allow it to dry. Apply 1 tsp of oil in the pan and fry it untill it turns dark green in colour.

-Grind the dhal which you have fried along with pepper and asafoetida into a fine powder along with salt.

-Finally add the fried curry leaves.

COCONUT POWDER OR THENGAI PODI

This is another podi preparation done with coconut.

Ingredients

Grated coconut – 2 cup

Chenna Dhal – 1/2 cup

Urud dhal – 1/2 cup

Red Chilies – 15-20 ( Depending upon how hot you need the powder)

Dhaniya – 2 tsp

Tamarind – size of 1 small lemon

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Salt -1 tsp

Oil – for frying these ingredients

Procedure

-Apply 1 tsp of oil and fry the chilies so that all of them are oil polished evenly. Apply another spoon of oil and fry the tamarind for about 2 minutes.

- First fry dhaniya for about 30 seconds and then add Chenna dhal and Urud dhal to dhaniya and fry it un till they are golden brown. This is done done again with just one tsp of oil.

-Now in the same kadai you can fry the coconut without applying oil till it is golden brown.

- Allow all the ingredients to cool. First grind tamarind along with the chilies along with the salt. Once it is powdered then grind the fried dhal and make it into a little bit coarse powder. Finally add the coconut and grind it in such a consistency, that it is little bit coarse.

If the coconut is not sweet in nature then add a pinch of jaggery. This will enhance the taste of podi.

CURRY LEAF POWDER

Curry leaf powder or karuveppilai podi is a healthy substitute for those who lack iron.

Ingredients

Fresh cleaned dried curry leaves – 2 cups

Chenna Dhal – 1/2 cup

Urud dhal – 1/2 cup

Red Chilies – 10-15 ( Depending upon how hot you need the powder)

Tamarind – size of 1 goose berry

Asafoetida – 1/2 tsp

Salt -3/4 tsp

Oil – for frying these ingredients

Procedure

-Apply 1 tsp of oil and fry the chilies so that all of them are oil polished evenly. Apply another spoon of oil and fry the tamarind for about 2 minutes.

- Fry Chenna dhal and Urud dhal untill it is golden brown with just one tsp of oil.

-Now in the same kadai you can fry the dried curry leaves by applying 1 tsp of oil until they are dark green in colour or the nice flavour of curry leaves comes out.

- Allow all the ingredients to cool. First grind tamarind and chilies along with the salt. Once it is powdered then grind the curry leaves along with asafoetida. Once it is powdered add the fried dhal and make it into a powder.

Since this is dry powder if the dhal is little bit coarse it will give a crunchy taste if it is grounded coarse.

Add a pinch of jaggery. This will enhance the taste of the powder.

The same procedure can be repeated for doing PUDHINA PODI.

The ingredients remain the same. Instead of using curry leaves use mint leaves.

I don’t know how many of us have heard about Thoodhuvalai. It is an excellent medicine for cough and cold. When taken for 1 mandalam i.e 48 days it completely cures allergic cough.

This Thoodhuvalai podi can be prepared in the same way as that of curry leaf powder.