Karingali Vellam/ChukkuVellam/Dahashamani/Herbal Water.

In Kerala, people like to drink water boiled with spices such as cumin, coriander or some herbs. We call this water Jeeraka vellam (if cumin seeds added) ,Malli vellam( if coriander seeds added) or Dahashamani/Karingali vellam when ayurvedic herbs are added. We some time call it Chukku Vellam (meaning Dry ginger water) even though dry ginger content is very low in the Dahashamni.

In our home amma used to make a big pot full of karingali vellam in the morning. Usually one pot would last us the whole day. You can drink it slightly warm or cold. Dahashamani water is also served in restaurants throughout Kerala. First time visitors to Kerala usually mistake this water for an alcoholic drink only to be told by the waiter that it is a water with medicinal herbs. You can read more over here and here..

Dahashamani/Karingali vellam is a ayurvedic tea or brew is made by adding a small amount of the herbs in boiling water. Dahashamani usually comes as coarse pieces of herbs. I grind them to fine powder in my coffee grinder (my coffee grinder has a red color, but not a problem for me). I add 1/ 8 of tsp of the powdered herbs to make 1 gallon of Dahashamani water. If you add more, the water becomes darker in color with a strong taste.

Dahashamani unfortunately is not available in US, and the only way to get it during a visit to India. I have also asked my friends who were visiting Kerala to get it from there.

Common ingredient in Dahashamani, is karingali , however other ingredients will vary depending upon the manufacturer. Anyway I will give below the ingredients of Amrithu, where as the product – Karingali powder one doesn’t give any details.

Dry Ginger

Chukku (Malayalam Name)

Zingiber officinale (Botanical Name) 

Helps relieve indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramping.

To treat nausea related to both motion sickness

Managing circulatory disorders.

Because of its cineole content, it helps to enhance mood and relieve stress.

Act as Mouth freshener.

Lowers cholesterol.

Help break fevers by warming the body and increasing perspiration.

You can read more from here and here.

Caradamom 

Elakayai (Malayalam Name)

Elettaria cardamomum (Botanical Name)

Used for flavoring and helps in digestion 

Cloves

Grambu (Malayalam Name)

Eugenia caryophyllus (Botanical Name)

It is used to treat respiratory and digestive ailments.

Treat Bad breath and tooth decay.

read more from here and here.

Coriander seeds

Malli (Malayalam Name)

Coriandrum sativum (Botanical Name)

Helps to control blood sugar levels, bad cholesterol, aids in digestion and helps regulate the digestive organs, and may help prevent allergies as well as cancer.

Helps to improve tummy troubles of all kinds from indigestion to flatulence to diarrhea.

read more from here and here.

Mimosa catechu 

Karingali (Malayalam Name)

Acacia catechu (Botanical Name)

Used to treat sore throat, Diarrhea.

Sapanwood 

Pathimukam (Malayalam Name)

Caesalpinia sapans (Botanical Name) 

Diuretic, anti-oxidative, thirst quenching, anti-bacterial and tonic properties.

It is also blood purifying and is a good drink for persons with diabetes.

It cures jaundice, cough, respiratory problems, etc.

It also produces a valued type of reddish dye called brazilin, used for dyeing fabric as well as making red paints and inks

Vetiver

Ramacham (Malayalam Name)

Vetiveria zizanioides (Botanical Name)

Used to keep drinking water fresh and cold.

Supposed to have many properties like action against cancer cell growth, anxiety, stress, heart problems, thyroid problems etc.

Puncture vine 

Njerinji (Malayalam Name)

Tribulus terrestris (Botanical Name) 

It is used as an aphrodisiac, diuretic and nervine in Ayurveda.

Sandal wood 

Mysore chandanaam (Malayalam Name)

Santalum album (Botanical Name) 

Used as an urogenital (internal) and skin (external) antiseptic.

What you need

Powdered Dahashamani : Heaped 1/8 teaspoon

Water: 1 Gallon

How I made

Boil water in the pot and add the dahashamani powder, and boil.

Drink warm or cold  as required .

Notes:

This article is for general information only; please not take it as medical advice.

Swathi

Mango flavored Nanaimo Bar: Daring Baker Challenge January 2010

 

This month Daring baker’s challenge was to make Nanaimo bar. It is a three layer Canadian dessert with lots of sugar and chocolate, but relatively simple to make. I read that it is a recipe won by a house wife for a competition and named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Lauren of Celiac Teen had suggested this recipe as part of the celebration for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. If you are a calorie conscious person, this dessert is not good for you, because it is dangerously loaded with sugar.

Lauren suggested using homemade gluten free graham crackers. I was not able to find the gluten free flours suggested by her to make the homemade graham cracker. I used whole wheat flour for my graham crackers. I was a bit upset about as I baked the crackers a couple of minutes longer than what would have ideal, so my cracker’s got slightly burned, but they still tasted good. So I used Nabisco graham cracker along with my homemade ones.

It was really easy to assemble the Nanaimo bar. I halved the recipe as sugar is deadly thing in our home, and I used less sugar than suggested in the recipe (½ cup sugar for the middle layer). The Nanaimo bar came out really good. I gave it to my friend as my hubby (who is diabetic) is scared of sugar. I followed this  and this  recipe for graham cracker and added a little more spice. Made Mango flavored Nanaimo bar like this.

What you need

For Graham Cracker
Whole Wheat flour: 1 cup
All purpose flour: ¼ cup
Brown sugar: ½ cup
Baking soda: ½ teaspoon
Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
Butter: 3.5 tablespoon
Honey: half of 1/3 cup
Whole milk: 2.5 tablespoon
Ground Cinnamon: 1 tablespoon
Vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

How I made

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix to incorporate all the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine the forementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inches thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. I cut it 2 by 2 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1/2 cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large zip loc bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

For Nanaimo Bars


For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer

Unsalted Butter: 1/4 cup
Granulated Sugar: 1/8cup
Unsweetened Cocoa: 2.5 tablespoon
Flax seed meal: 1 tablespoon
Water: 3 tablespoon
Graham Wafer Crumbs: 1/2 cup
Blanched toasted Almonds (Finely chopped): 1/4cup
Coconut (Shredded, unsweetened):1/2cup


For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer

Unsalted Butter: 1/4 cup
Milk: ¼ cup
Mango Custard Powder: 11/2 tablespoon
Cornstarch: 2 tablespoon
Icing Sugar: ½ cup
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
Semi-sweet chocolate: 2 ounce
Unsalted Butter: 1 tablespoon

For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, custard powder, and icing sugar together well and keep aside. Boil the milk and add custard powder-butter and icing sugar mixture and stir until everything get thickened. Switch off the flame and once it cooled, spread over the bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Preparation time:
Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes
Yield: Graham Crackers: 25
Nanaimo Bars: 8 pieces
Verdict: Really good
Will you make it again: I don’t know afraid of sugar content

Swathi

Banana Butter Milk Pancake

Pancakes are America’s favorite breakfast, different from our dosa. Till now I haven’t tasted any pancake. My hubby say pancakes from IHOP are very sweet, so he is not fan of them, and I have never been there. Why did I think of pancakes all of a sudden? Well because of the same old problem of spotty bananas. I am tired of making banana bread for saving two bananas. Even my little one who is ardent fan of all kinds of banana are started to hate spotty bananas. When I give her, she make all kind of facial expression like her dad, and even threaten to vomit. As I had of no other choice I started searching for recipe other  than muffins and banana bread. Finally I came across this recipe . I changed it a little bit.

I made my first banana pancake and it become instant hit. Now I have a way to use my spotty bananas. I also tried making them with whole wheat flour instead of the All purpose flour, and it also came good.

What you need

All purpose flour: ¾ cup
Whole wheat flour: 1/4 cup
Ripe bananas: 2(one mashed thoroughly, where other is cut into thin slices of 1/4 inch thickness)
Baking Powder: ¾ teaspoon
Baking soda: ½ teaspoon
Salt: 1/8teaspoon
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Egg: 1 no
Buttermilk: 1 cup (½ cup of thick homemade yogurt+ ½ cup water)
Vanilla extract: ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter: 1 teaspoon
Oil: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Preheat oven to 200F.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together until well combined.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar.

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and stir with a spoon to get rid of the lumps. Fold in the mashed banana, melted butter and whisk until batter is smooth. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium low heat and swirl around a one teaspoon of oil to keep the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle pour the batter into the pan,

Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they are set and then lightly press the bananas into the batter. When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer pancakes to a warming plate in the oven while you make the rest.

Enjoy with or without maple syrup.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 pan cakes
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes

I am sending this delicious banana butter milk pancake toThink spice-vanilla  event hosted by Nidhi  originally started by Sunita and  FF7SL event :- Healthy fast food  hosted by Radhika.


Swathi

Spinach Sesame Seed Stir Fry

Mom used to say that I would not eat anything other than spinach rice when I was young. I love them very much. At that time I didn’t know that Spinach is rich in 9 vitamins such as C, A, K, E, B1, B2, B6, folic acid and even vitamin PP (new name for Niacin). Spinach is rich in potassium, magnesium and beta carotene. Potassium helps in building muscles and beta carotene helps in eye sight. Because of high magnesium content, Spinach helps to prevent diabetes and if you have diabetes in your family it might help you to prevent diabetes (genetic based) as an older adult. It is good as body cleanser too and you can read more from here. This may be reason Popeye (cartoon character) recommended that spinach is good for you.

In the US, it is difficult to find the variety I used to be familiar with, but over a period of time I have fallen in love with the one available. I wanted to make Japanese style spinach with toasted sesame seed. Yesterday while talking with my father over the phone, he suggested giving some spinach to my little one. I did not want to give her any soy sauce, so I changed my mind and made an Indian version of spinach sesame seed stir fry. I followed my mother’s recipe with the only change being the toasted sesame seed.

What you need

Spinach: 1 bunch (Washed and chopped)
White hulled sesame seed: ½ teaspoon (Lightly toasted)
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: 1/8 teaspoon
Cumin powder: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Garlic: 2 clove (Chopped)
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Onion: ¼ of Big Onion
Olive oil: 1 teaspoon

How I made

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds, and as it starts crackling add onions and fry them for 6 minutes on a medium flame.

Add chopped garlic to onion and fry for another 3 minutes. Then add salt, turmeric, cumin and chili powder and fry them for another 3 minutes. To this add chopped spinach and cook them for another 4 minutes or until they are completely cooked.

Adjust the spice and salt.

In another pan lightly toast the sesame seed and keep aside.

Add toasted sesame seeds to cooked spinach mixture.

Enjoy with rice and curry, or use as a layer between two toasted bread as sandwich.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serving: 2 if conservative 3
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this spinach sesame seed sir fry to
Cooking with seed : Sesame Seed event hosted by Priya.

Green Gourmet event hosted by Preeti of Write food.

Cooking with seeds: cumin seeds hosted by Saraswathy of Sara's Corner originally started by Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes. 

Also to Celebrating mom event hosted by shabitha   of  My home kitchen.

 Swathi

Rajasthani Bhindi /Rajasthani Okra Fry

I love Okra in any form, and usually I make thoran or mezhukupuratti with them. I can eat them 7 days a week. My hubby will buy them if he sees them in the market. Yesterday when he went shopping at the Indian store, he also brought a copy of the Indian newspaper along with the other groceries. I usually go over the newspaper in a few minutes looking at the pictures and the ads while he would read a lot of articles. Yesterday he saw a recipe for Rajasthani bhindi in the paper and asked me if I can make it. After a quick glance at the recipe I realized it was a good recipe, and also consulted with my Google friend too. Later after studying the recipe from the newspaper again, I realized the masala were in higher amounts to our taste, so I reduced the spices in half. I made my bhindi as given below. This is going to be in our kitchen more often, and yes it is tasty. I was amazed by the combination of besan and its spice in this recipe. Indian cuisine is as diverse as its languages and terrains.

What you need

Okra/Bhindi: 250 gm
Besan: 2 tablespoon
Red chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon
Coriander powder: ½ teaspoon
Gram masala: ½ teaspoon
Armchur powder/Dry mango powder: ¾ teaspoon
Turmeric Powder: ¼ teaspoon
Green chillies : 2 ( I didn’t used)
Olive oil: ¼ cup
Cumin seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Fennel seeds: 1 teaspoon
Kalonji/ Nigella sativa: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste

How I made

Wash and pat dry the okra using a kitchen towel. Snip off the head and tail and make a long slit on one side. Do not make slit from one end to other end. In order to keep the okra intact silt should be made up to 85% of it.

In a bowl mix besan, salt, gram masala, coriander, cumin, chili, turmeric powder and ¾ teaspoon of fennel seeds and combine everything. To this mixture add one tablespoon of oil and combine everything.
Stuff the mixed masala into okra .Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Heat rest of oil in a pan and add rest of fennel seeds, cumin seeds , kalonji and green chilies( if using) fry for a minute. To this add okra and stir fry for 5 minutes, cover and cook for another 4 minutes.

Uncover and fry them for another3 minutes or until they become crisp.

Serve warm

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 3 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Sure I will


Swathi

P.S. with love and Malai Kofta with Paneer

Malai kofta is rich creamy curry usually enjoyed with nan or chapathi . It is a delicious Mughlai dish, which pose a real challenge to my cooking skills. It is also one of the essential in the Indian restaurant menu outside the Indian subcontinent. My hubby loves most of the north Indian dishe and he can live with chapthi three times a day. While growing up I haven’t tasted any north Indian dishes as a pucca south Indian. Rasam and sambar were my staple diet along with rice. After leaving the India, I started tasting north Indian dishes as all the restaurant outside india caters a mix of pubjabi and mughal dishes than the dishes from south.

In modern day India, Mughal influence in cooking is strongly felt in New Delhi and Lucknow in North and in Hyderabad in South. Cuisine of Delhi and Lucknow remain slightly closer to the Persian counterparts with the addition of cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and ground chilies typical of the North. Where as in Hyderabad mustard seeds, curry leaves, hot chilies, tamarind and coconut milk infuse the dishes.

Malai kofta is usually made with minced meat such as lamb; while the vegetarian version usually includes potato, paneer and other vegetables. I had some paneer left after making matter paneer, so I decide to use it to make to Paneer -malai kofta curry. After consulting with my Google friend I came up with this recipe.

For Kofta

Grated Paneer: 2 cup
Grated Carrot: 1no
Potato: 1 no (Boiled and cooked)
Gram masala: 1 teaspoon
Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Cashew: 10 no
Raisin: 25 no
Whole wheat flour: 3 tablespoon
Salt: 1/4 teaspoon or to taste
Oil for frying

For Malai

Red Onion: 1 no
Tomato: 4 nos
Ginger: 1 inch
Garlic cloves: 3no
Cashews: 11 no
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Gram masala powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Olive oil: 3 teaspoon
Coconut milk/ Low fat milk/cream: ¼ cup
Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon (Chopped,) for garnish.

How I made

Kofta

Keep aside 2 tablespoon of grated paneer for garnish. In a food processor, or blender pulse or blend rest of grated paneer, carrots, cooked potato along with turmeric powder, salt, chili powder, cashews and raisins until everything combined well and forms a dough. Knead this dough along with whole wheat flour for 2 minutes to form soft dough. Pinched out small proportions dough and shape them into small golf sized balls and keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, when it is smoking hot, put the kofta ball 3-4 at times and fries them in medium flame until they are golden brown. Drain fried kofta in a paper towel to remove extra oil and keep aside.

Malai /sauce

Heat 2 teaspoon of oil in a sauce pan, add cumin and fennel seeds when it starts splutters add onions, ginger, garlic fry them till onions become translucent or change color and add chopped tomatoes to this mixture and cook till they become tender and soft. Switch off the flame and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Grind the onion-tomato-ginger garlic mixture along with cashews to thick paste adding less amount of water.

Heat the rest of oil in a pan and add the ground paste of onion-tomato-cashew –ginger-garlic. Cook the gravy with turmeric, garam masala, chili, coriander powder and salt for 5 minutes. Now add coconut milk/milk/cream and simmer for another 3 minutes or until it reaches desired consistency. Switch of the flame.

When you are ready to serve add kofta in sauce and garnish with chopped coriander and grated paneer.

Enjoy

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Yield: 25 Kofta

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will

Notes: Make sure oil is really hot while putting the kofta for frying. Reduce the flame cook it medium flame until they are golden color

If kofta tend to break in the oil add little bit flour and mix and knead again to form the ball.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

I love soups in any form, and usually make soups such as corn soup and beet root soup. I had seen recipes of mushroom soup on the internet, but had never tried to make one for no apparent reason. With the mushrooms I always make a stir fry. Suddenly one day hubby asked shall we can make cream of mushroom. I said “why not? I will look for recipe in the web”. Going through lots of recipe for the soup in net, I settled with this one. I changed little bit.

Recipe calls for roasted mushroom, since I was not using huge amount mushrooms; I tried roasting in skillet with butter. I used dried sage and thyme, as I was out of fresh ones. Here come soup recipe.

What you need.

Fresh Sliced white button mushroom: 8 oz
Red onion : half
Butter : 1 teaspoon
Olive oil: 1/2 tablespoon
Thyme: ¼ teaspoon
Sage: ¼ teaspoon
Ginger: ½ inch (optional)
Garlic: 1 clove
Water/vegetable broth: 2 cups
Salt: to taste
Pepper: ½ tablespoon
Fat free half and half/ Heavy cream: ½ cup
Coriander leaves: chopped a few


How I made 

Heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pot and add mushroom, thyme and salt and fry until they become slightly brown color. It takes about 8 minutes in a medium flame.

Drain fried mushroom from pot and keep aside. In the remaining oil (minus mushroom) add onion and fry until they become translucent or change color. It takes about 5 minutes.

Add ginger, sage and garlic clove and fry them for another 2 minutes.

Then add roasted mushroom and water let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and puree with a blender.

Bring to it hot again and mix with half and half/ heavy cream.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Enjoy warm.

Preparation time: 28 minutes

Yield: 3 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Sure I will

Swathi

Disaster’s No 1 and 2

When I saw kitchen mishap event, I thought oh my god I have only a few events to send, like burnt ghee, while making some homemade ghee, or burnt cracker’s, making some graham cracker at home. Then come two good episode of disaster while baking in my kitchen stories.

Episode One: Egg less cornmeal banana cake.

I was planning and intended to make a cornmeal cake similar to Brazilian cornmeal cake with coconut milk, cornmeal and all purpose flour. I wanted to make it eggless at the same time along with the use the spotty banana from my kitchen counter. My hubby says I will get over enthusiastic about something especially baking something new. I started as usual measuring everything, mixing and preheating the oven.

It didn’t rise even after 45 minutes of baking, so the chef in me thought that it is okay, since I didn’t add egg, so it won’t puff up a lot. Then comes the taste test, it tasted somewhat under cooked. I was literally crying over my banana, coconut milk and walnuts I have wasted.. After my taste tester (dear hubby) agreed with my finding, entire thing found a nice place in my garbage bin.

What you need

All purpose flour: 1 1/4 cup

Yellow corn meal: ½ cup

Banana puree: 1 ½ cup (about 3 medium banana)

Sugar: ¾ cup

Coconut milk: ¾ cup

Baking powder: 11/2 teaspoon

Salt: ¼ teaspoon

Ground cinnamon: ½ teaspoon

Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon

Butter: 1/3 cup

Walnut: 1/3 cup (toasted and chopped)

How I made

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Butter the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan.

In a large bowl, sift all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and keep aside.

In another bowl cream butter and sugar well and then add coconut milk, vanilla extract.

Mix wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine until everything gets incorporated. To this mixture add banana puree and gently mix everything with a spatula.

Pour the batter in prepared 9 inch cake pan and toss the toasted chopped walnut. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool the cake in pan for 15 minutes and later invert them and cool completely before serving.

Enjoy

Preparation time: 1 hour

Yield: 10 serving

Verdict; tasteless

Will you make it again: May be after improving the recipe . Not sure yet

Episode no.2 Cornmeal Bread (Egg less and Sugarless)

We have a proverb in our home town. Choodu vellathil veena poocha ,pacha vellam kandalum pedikum. (A cat that fell in  hot water, will even be  afraid of cold water). I was like that and I was more cautious during my attempt to make another cornmeal recipe. I spent a lot of time reading various recipes in the web and saw this recipe. Earlier I had tried a version, of cornmeal bread, where in egg and sugar is used, it turned out fine, but was not the best. I made my cornmeal bread like this. This attempt to make an eggless version of cornmeal bread also turned out to be a disaster.

What you need

All purpose flour: ¾ cup

Yellow corn meal: 3/4cup

Yogurt: 3/4 cup

Baking powder: 3/4 teaspoon

Baking soda: ½ teaspoon

Salt: ¼ teaspoon

Oil: ¼ cup

Onion: 1 finely chopped

Serrano peper: 1 no

How I made

In a pan heat 1 tablespoon oil and add chopped onion and fry until it change color or become translucent. Keep aside

Preheat oven to 425F

In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients and combine well.

In another bowl mix all wet ingredients and pour it into dry ingredients and mix everything until incorporated well. Fold in fried onion and chopped Serrano pepper.

Pour the batter into lightly greased baking dish, bake for about 30 minutes, or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Verdict: no taste

Will you make it again: No way

I was worried of throwing into a garbage can immediately, so I cut it into pieces and tried to save it one more time by shallow frying them in a skillet. It was okay not great.

After this 2 episode, just like Jay Leno, I have to give up my egg less attempts of cornmeal bread and cake making.

I am sending these two episode to Kitchen Mishaps event hosted by Malar

Moong Dal Halwa For ICC

Moong Dal Halwa is one of famous Rajasthan desserts. It is a winter special and this halwa is known to keep the body warm during the winter months. It is also one of the sweet dishes accompanied in the wedding feasts also. It is a simple dish made with Split moong dal, sugar, ghee and milk. I read that peoples of Rajasthan love to eat sweet before, along with and after dinner and lunch.

I had not heard anything about moong dal halwa until Srivalli announced it for this month ICC. It never occurred to me spilt moong dal is also used to make halwa, other than its use in curries as well as for making payasam and sarakarai pongal. Srivalli has given two recipes for making moong dal halwa, and I selected second one for making my halwa. I roasted the moong dal as suggested by Lathaji. I made only half of the recipe, as sweets take long time to finish in my house. This is a delicious healthy (if you use less sugar and ghee) and protein rich sweet ready to warm you up on a cold winter day.

What you need

Spilt Moong dal/ Split Husked Mung Bean: 1/2 cup
Ghee/clarified butter: 1/4 cup (I mixed half of ghee with half of canola oil)
Sugar: 1/3 cup
Milk: 1/4 cup
Water: ¼ cup
Saffron: 6 threads
Cashews: 9 no
Raisins: 13 no

How I made:

In a thick bottomed pan roast ½ cup moong dal until they become golden color and gives out nice aroma. It took about 7 minutes in medium flame. Then soak this roasted moong dal for overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.

In a thick bottomed pan, heat 1/8cup of ghee and add ground dal paste and stir continuously, so that no lumps will form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.

Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.

Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.

Soak saffron in 2 tablespoon of warm milk and keep aside

In another pan mix the sugar with milk and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dal.

Keep the fire low at all times and breaks lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.

Cook until the ghee surfaces.

Heat a tablespoon of Ghee in a small pan and fry cashew and raisins until cashew become golden brown and raisin puffed up. Pour this into prepared moong dal halwa.

Notes:

• Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan

• Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burn in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.

• You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.

• Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.

• Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.

• In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture

Roasting time: 7 minutes

Soaking Time: Overnight

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Sakkarai pongal – Sweet Rice Pongal

Pongal is one of the major harvest festivals celebrated in Tamil Nadu. In other parts of India, celebrated as Makara sankaranthi ,Lohri, Maghi etc. Houses are cleaned and rangoli or kolam are neatly drawn in front of house and in a new clay pot, rice is cooked and offered to God for Pongal. Mom used makes sarkarai pongal and ven pongal for pongal while I was growing up. I like sarkarai pongal very much and hence decided to make this dish today (Pongal day). It is also my baby’s first pongal too.

I made Sarkarai pongal as given below.


What you need

Raw rice: ½ cup
Spilt moong dal: 4 tablespoon
Jaggery: ½ cup
Milk: 1 cup
Water: 1/2 cup+ 2 tablespoon
Cashew: 2 tablespoon
Raisins: 2 tablespoon
Ghee: 2 tablespoon
Nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon
Cardamom: ½ teaspoon

How I made

In a small skillet roast 4 tablespoon of spilt moong dal until they are golden brown in color and gives off a nice aroma in about 7 minutes.

Wash rice thoroughly and keep aside.

In a saucepot, boil milk and water. As milk starts boiling, add rice and dal and cook until the rice is cooked. If using pressure cooker cook until you get 4 whistles.

In small pot melt jaggery with 2 tablespoon of water and using a strainer, remove the impurities if any present. Add filtered jaggery to cooked rice-dal mixture and cook until everything combined.

Add cardamom and nutmeg powder to the rice-dal-jaggery mixture and mix well. Switch off the flame.

In another pan heat ghee and roast cashew, and raisin until cashew gets browned and raisins puffed up.

Add this to the rice-dal-jaggery mixture and combine well.

Enjoy warm,

Preparation time:30 minutes

Serving: 6 serving

Verdict: Yummy,

Will you make it again: Traditional dish, yes I will make during festivals.

Swathi

HAPPY PONGAL /MAKARA SANKARNTHI

                                            Image courtesy: Internet

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY PONGAL AND MAKARA SANKARANTHI

SWATHI

Mysore Rasam

Rasam is a wonderful soup that you can’t say no to. I like all kinds of rasam, before marriage I was literally living on rasam meaning it was the only one dish I used to make often. Rasam is a must for every feast and one without rasam is unthinkable. During rainy days as well as on a snowy day, rasam makes lunch or dinner superb.

Mom used to makes different kinds of rasam with or without toor-dal, especially tomato rasam, and pepper rasam for cold and cough days. Yesterday while grazing on You-tube I came across a video, where our Indian Rachel ray goes to various places exploring the specialty food available there. In this particular video she was talking about Mysore rasam. I have had it only once when my brother-in-law’s mom cooked for us. I was in a mood to exploring the authentic Mysore rasam yesterday, and after reading a lot about Mysore rasam, I came up with this one. It is an easy recipe, and does come out tasty and yummy. Sure this one going to be our menu more often.

What you need

For spice powder

Red chilies: 3 no

Whole black pepper corn: 7 no

Cumin seeds: ¼ tablespoon

Urad dal/spilt black gram: ¼ tablespoon

Coriander seeds: ¾ tablespoon

Fenugreek seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Grated coconut: ½ tablespoon

Curry leaves: 1 sprig( I didn’t used)

For Rasam

Toor dal: ¼ cup

Green chilies: ½ of one Serrano pepper

Tamariand: small golf size ball soaked in 2 cup warm water

Water: 3.5 cup

Tomato: 1 chopped

Salt: ½ teaspoon

Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon

Jaggery : 1 teaspoon

Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon

Ginger: ½ teaspoon

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Rasa powder: 2 1/2 tablespoon

For seasoning

Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Cumin seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Red chilli: 2 halved

Olive Oil: 1 teaspoon

For garnishing

Coriander leaves: 1 tablespoon chopped

How I made

Dry roast the spices one by one and roast grated coconut along with curry leaves if using, let cool for 5 minutes. Grind cooled species including coconut into a very fine powder and keep aside.

Pressure cook toor dal with 1/8 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1.5 cup water until you get 2 whistles. Using the back of ladle or hand blender, mash the cooked toor dal to a coarse paste.

Heat a heavy bottom sauce pot and add mashed toor dal, split green chilies, curry leaves rest of turmeric powder, chopped tomato, , asafetodia, salt , along with 2 cups of tamarind water. When it starts boiling add jaggery and chopped ginger. Again boil for another 2 minutes and add rasam powder. Check salt and spices and adjust if needed. Boil for another 3 minutes. Switch off the flame.

Heat oil in a small pan add mustard , cumin seeds, halved red chilies and once mustard starts spluttering switch of the flame and add it to cooked rasam and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Preparation time: 30 minutes (includes 20 minutes cooking dal)

Yield: 4 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: yes more often

Eggless- Almond Cornmeal Apricot Cookies

Can I make an eggless cookie? I was wondering about that till yesterday. Yes I can, I did it. I had tried eggless versions of cornmeal banana cake and cornmeal bread both of which were utter failure. The enthusiastic cook in me pulling me forward but mind was pulling me backwards, and finally the cook in me won and decided to make cookie. There are lots of recipes on the web using flaxseeds and egg replacer as substituted for egg, and I had used flax seed meal previously in my disaster attempt. Hence I did not want to use flax seeds as an egg replacement.

This cookie is modified version of Amigdalota (Greek Almond Macaroons), which contain egg whites, bread crumbs and lemon juice. The modified version uses cornmeal, yogurt and whole wheat flour. Almonds are rich in Vitamin E and mono saturated fat and responsible for lowering the bad cholesterol or LDL, you can read more about almond from here. Milled products or corn such as cornmeal are rich in antioxidants, especially carotenoids, such as lutein etc.  Apricots are considered to be very nutritious fruit, which are an excellent source of vitamin B, beta carotene, fiber, iron and vitamin C. It is found that drying apricots only concentrate these vitamins, and they make wholesome, healthy snacks.

I have adapted Sunita’s recipe but made my own changes. It is easy breezy recipe. This cookie is crunchy from cornmeal with surprise sweetness from apricot and aroma from orange zest. I made it this way.

What you need

Almond meal/ground almond: 1/3 cup

Coarse ground yellow corn meal: 1/3 cup

Sugar: 1/3 cup

Salt: 1/8 teaspoon

Baking soda: 1/2 teaspoon

Whole Wheat flour: 7 tablespoon

Yogurt: ½ cup (Try to remove maximum water by straining, I used whole fat yogurt)

Apricot: ¼ cup (Chopped finely)

Canola oil: 3 tablespoon

Orange Zest: 1 tablespoon

Silvered almond: 24 no

How I made

In a bowl, combine whole wheat flour, corn meal, almond meal, salt, sugar, orange zest and baking soda using a rubber spatula. To this add oil and mix everything until combined.

Make a well in the middle of flour mixture and add yogurt and fold in until everything combined well.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours. (In order to speed up the time I put first 30 minutes in the freezer and rest in refrigerator).

Preheat oven to 340 degree F. Line the baking sheet with a parchment paper and Drop a scoop full of the cookie dough leave 2 inch apart. Arrange couple of slivered almonds on top.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden. Cool it in cookie sheet for 1 minute and transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Store it in an airtight container.

Preparation time: 45 minutes + 2 hours for chilling

Yield: 12 medium size cookies

Verdict: Crunchy Yummy cookie

Will you make it again: Yes

I am sending this crunchy yummy cookie to
 12 days of Bloggie-mas; On fifth day hosted by a moderate life

Swathi