Sunday, November 27, 2011

Mini Flavoured Bun

Ingredients

All purpose flour/maida - 2 1/2 cup
Yeast - 1 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tbl spn
Basil -1/2 tsp
Garlic - 3 pods(crushed)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Butter - just to brush the dough & bun
Water - enough to make dough


Procedure

Mix the yeast,salt & sugar in lukewarm water and leave it aside for 5 minutes or until it become frothy

Now mix the flour with oil,garlic,basil and make the dough by mixing the flour with yeast mixture and keep it aside for 2 hours.

After 2 hours,dough double in its size.Punch the dough to escape the air.

Then make small balls from dough and arrange it in baking tray.Now brush butter on the top of the dough and keep it aside for 30 mins(while arranging in tray, leave some space btw dough,since it slightly becomes bigger after 30 mins).

Preheated the oven at 425 F and bake it for 15-20 mins or until the top turns golden brown . Then take it out and brush with butter.

Allow it to cool for 30 mins before serve.Its hard when you take out from oven,after cooling you will get very soft & spongy bun.

Its a great snack for tea time.Serve with hot tea/coffee.



Continue Reading »

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Simple Vegetable Biryani | Pressure cooker Biryani | One pot meal

Pressure cooker Biryani is an ideal one pot meal when you are lazy to cook anything elaborately and yet want something delicious to eat.To be honest, i'm not big fan of vegetable biryani, to me, biryani means it should be made with mutton.By saying like this doesn't mean it's not a tasty one,just not my favorite. But once in a while, i make this  to finish up the leftover vegetables in my refrigerator.Simple raita and some store brought chips is enough to accompaniment this Biryani.


Vegetable Biryani in Pressure Cooker

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 25 minsServes : 2 or 3
Recipe Category: Rice | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients

Basumathi Rice - 1 cup
Mixed vegetable(Carrot,Potato,Peas,Beans,cauliflower,Beetroot) - 2 cup
Onion(small) - 1
Tomato - 1/2 of one medium sized tomato
Ginger garlic paste  - 1 tbsp
Lemon - juice from 1/2 of lemon
Mint & Coriander leaves - handful
Turmeric powder - pinch
Red chili powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2 nos
Cinnamon - small piece
Cardamom - 1 no
Bay leaf -1 
Cashew - 1 tsp(broken)
Ghee  - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Water - 11/2 cup
Curd - 3 tbsp
Salt- to taste

Procedure

Soak the rice for 30 mins. In the mean time, cut the vegetables(carrot, beetroot ,potato & tomato) into cubes,slice the onions into thin slices & remove the stem from cauliflower florets. Keep all the other ingredients ready. Heat the cooker with oil and 1tbsp of ghee , add cloves,cinnamon ,cardamom ,bay leaf & cashew and  saute for 30 sec.Then add onions, once the onions become translucent, add all the other veggies & ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell ginger garlic paste goes off.Add the chopped mint & coriander leaves , give a good stir, then tomatoes & curd.Add the spices(red chili powder,turmeric) & salt. Cover cook the vegetables for 3 mins.Once the water from curd almost evaporated,add the water and bring into vigorous boil.Drain the rice from water and add it in boiling water.Squeeze the lemon juice and finally add the garam masala powder.Mix well, cover the cooker with lid and put on weight.Cook for 3 whistle and switch off the flame.Once the pressure automatically released from cooker, open it and add the remaining ghee, pluff it up with fork gently and serve.Now Vegetable Biryani is ready.Serve Vegetable Briyani with your favorite raitha and chips.
Notes:
  • As i'm using lemon & curd, so reduced the amount of tomato. If you are not using lemon, add more tomatoes.
  • I'm not using beans this time.
  • For extra spice, add 1 or 2 slit green chilies.
  • You can make  this biryani with jeeraga samba rice too in the same way.



Continue Reading »

Monday, November 21, 2011

Parotta | Tirunelveli Parotta | Flat Layered bread

Parotta, a south indian flat bread prepared with flour. All purpose flour is the only main ingredient needed for this parotta, but the making of this parotta requires lot of time and work. Definitely, this is gonna be a good workout for your arms!!! In my home town(Tirunelveli), atleast there are 2 parotta stalls in every street. Most of the stalls are opened in the evening around 6 PM and they sell only parottas, by now you might guessed how popular this dish could be in the South Tamilnadu.

Though this parotta is very popular and we used to have it at least  once in a week, we never attempted to try at home, since there are so many parotta stalls around our home, each one have their unique taste, seriously making parotta at home never even crossed our minds at that time when you can have so many options. But after moved from Tirunelveli, though i had tasted parotta from different restaurant, nothing comes near the taste & texture of parotta that we used to get it in my home town(Those who have tasted parotta in & around Tiruneveli area would definitely agree on this),that's when i started to make parotta at home. After few attempts, now i say confidently that i can make soft and fluffy parottas.    

Parotta

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 minsMakes : 8 to 10 
Recipe Category: Parotta | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
All purpose flour/Maida - 2 cup
Water - as needed
Oil - 1 tbsp for kneading the dough
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp for rolling the dough & drizzling while cooking

Procedure

Knead maida,salt,water & oil (1 tbsp) to make the soft dough and keep it aside for 1 hr.Then make equal sized balls from the dough.Apply oil on the surface where you are going to roll the balls and then roll the ball in to thin layer by using rolling pin.Now apply oil on the rolled dough and then roll the dough like sari pleats from one end to other endHold the dough at both ends and lift it up . Then tap it on the surface gently until it get elongated.After that roll it from one end to another end and keep it aside from 30 mins.Similarly do it for all rolls.
After 30 mins, press the rolled dough in to thicker circles by using palm or rolling pins. Press or roll it gently,otherwise the layers get merged.

Now put it on hot tawa and drizzle some oil.Flip it on both sides and cook it until get golden brown.
Then stack two or three parottas together and beat them well with your hands on both sides so that it makes parottas fluffy and also the layers get separated.
Serve Parottas with Salna and egg omelette.
Notes:
  • Let the dough rest for atleast 1 hr, it helps to relax the gluten in the flour and it stretch so beautifully.
  • Beat the parottas with hands helps to get the layers separated.


Continue Reading »

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Rava Kichadi

Ingredients

Rava/Semolina - 1 cup
Carrot - 1
Frozen Peas - handful
Onion(chopped) - 1/4 cup
Tomato(chopped) - 1/4 cup
Ginger (chopped) - 1 tsp
Garlic(chopped) - 1/2 tsp
Green chili - 2 (depends on your taste)
Curry leaves - 1 strand
Coriander leaves - little
Turmeric powder - pinch
Cloves - 2 nos
Cinnamon - small piece
Cardamom - 1 no
Ghee  - 3 tbsp
Water - 21/2 cup
Cashews - 7 nos
Salt


Procedure

First roast the rava in 1 tbsp of ghee and keep it aside.

Then roast the cashews in remaining ghee and keep it aside.In the same pan add cloves,cinnamon& cardamom,fry it for 30 sec.

Now add onion,ginger,garlic & chili one by one.Cook till onion become translucent, then add tomatoes,carrot & peas,saute it for 3 mins

After that add turmeric powder, water,salt and cover the pan.Once the water comes to boil,add the roasted rava and stir continuously to avoid lumps.

Once all the water is absorbed by rava add curry leaves & coriander leaves.Finally garnish with roasted cashews.

Serve Rava kichadi with coconut chutney.

Continue Reading »

Friday, November 18, 2011

Paal Kozhukattai with Jaggery and Dairy Milk

Paal Kozhukattai is a traditional sweet recipe made from Tamilnadu. Paal Kozhukattai is also known as Koozh Kozhukattai. 

Koozh means thin slurry in Tamil which can be both sweet and salt, in this recipe, sweet koozh is made with thin rice flour slurry, jaggery and milk. Kozhukattai means rice flour dumpling in Tamil. Both are cooked together and make a delicious sweet dessert. 

The recipe that I'm sharing today is the simple version of paal kozhukattai which Amma used to make as an evening snack on our school days. Paal kozhukattai is one of my all time favorites and make them often in the evenings instead of chai. 

In our home, for paal kozhukattai, we used to make the tiny kozhukattai in log shapes. Amma used to say those tiny log shaped kozhukattai blends well with koozh( sweet slurry) and tastes delicious. Even i started to realize that when i started making the paal kozhukattai in both round and log shapes. 

But it is really up to you to make the shape you like. Whatever the shape,make sure to make them in tiny shapes so that it blends well with the sweet slurry. If the kozhukattai is too big, then it tastes bland. 

Rice Flour
For kozhukattai, use the fine variety of rice flour or idiyappam flour.Usually i used to get mine from the Indian Grocery store for kozhukattai. In Canada here, even Walmart carries the rice flour in the Indian section, but it's not very smooth and doesn't work for kozhukattai.
The rice flour should be super fine. Adding hot water into the flour itself should make it almost cooked. That's essential to make a smooth shape. 

Jaggery 
The color of the paal kozhukattai depends on the color of the jaggery used in the recipe. Use dark color jaggery for bright paal kozhukattai. I have used light colored jaggery so it looks pale in color.

Milk
As i have mentioned earlier, we like to make this often and don't wait for any festive season to make this, we stick to the dairy milk for paal kozhukattai for easy making. But i have seen many use coconut milk for paal kozhukattai. If you prefer that, feel free to use that. But i never had paal kozhukattai with coconut milk.

Also, you can make this without any milk too, then you can't name it as " Paal Kozhukattai" ! In our hometown(Tirunelveli), this koozh kozhuttai(without milk) is made as prasadam along with sakkarai pongal during kovil kodai(a yearly festival ) in Amman Temple


Few tips for beginners
  1. Adding the rice flour slurry into the paal kozhukattai helps to make it homogeneous. Otherwise the kozhukattai and sweet liquid are not bind together. Based on your taste or how thick you want, you can add more or less of the rice flour slurry
  2. When i was kid, i preferred to have  more koozh (sweet liquid) in my paal kozhukattai than the kozhukattai. So Amma used to make paal kozhukattai with less amount of kozhukattai. So depending on your preference, you can make more kozhukkatai or koozh in your Paal kozhukattai.
  3. As i said before, if you like to have more koozh(sweet liquid) then make sure to add more water and jaggery.   
  4. It thickens with time, so i would recommend adding the hot milk into the paal kozhukattai just before serving. 

Paal Kozhukattai

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Paal Kozhukattai,Milk Kozhukattai Paal Kozhukattai is a traditional sweet recipe made from Tamilnadu. Paal Kozhukattai is also known as Koozh Kozhukattai.
Ingredients
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Boiling water - a little less of 1/2 cup
Jaggery -  1/3 to 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1/2 to 1 cup

Procedure
First measure the rice flour and add into a large bowl, next add a pinch of salt and sesame oil.

Mix it all well together with your fingers. Then bring the water into rolling boil and add it into the rice flour.
Mix it with a back of the wooden ladle. Rest it for 2 to 3 mins. Then mix it with your hands and make a soft dough. 
Take a small pinch of dough, roll to a ball first and then roll into small log shaped kozhukattai. 
Do the same for the almost all of the dough and keep aside a small ball of dough(around 2 tbsp which we use later.) Heat 2 cups of water in a sauce.
When the water is boiling, ddd the rolled kozhukattai into it and keep it undisturbed for a few mins. Once the kozhukattai is cooked, it floats on top and also it became shiny.
Grate the jaggery and add it into the kozhukattai and let it melts completely. 
Now take that small ball of dough which we kept aside, add a couple of tbsp of water and make it as thin slurry. 
That that dough slurry into the kozhukattai and mix it well. The consistency of the paal kozhukattai will be thick in a few mins. 
Now switch off the flame and add the boiled & cooled milk along with cardamom powder.  Give a good mix. 
Tasty and creamy Paal Kozhukattai is ready ! 
Notes:
  • Depends on the liquid part in the paal kozhukattai add more or less of the jaggery.
  • Switch off the flame and then add the milk because there is a mild chance of curdling by the little amount of  salt in the jaggery and kozhukattai. 
The below pic was taken in yellow light around the year 2011. Don't want to remove this while updating the post, so here it is :-)
Continue Reading »