Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Kuthiraivali Thayir satham | Barnyard Curd Rice

Among the various millet , i like Kuthiraivali/Barnyard millet a lot. I tried pongal & curd rice with this millet and like both of them.When i cook this millet in pressure cooker, i found lot of lumps  are formed while mix curd with millet and it's difficult to break the lumps .
So , while making curd rice with millet, i always cook the millet in open pot. Other than that, the recipe is similar to our regular curd rice.

Kuthiraivali Thayir Satham

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Rice | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Kuthiraivali / Barnyard Millet - 1/4 cup
Curd - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - few
Pomegranate seed - 2 tbsp(optional)


To Temper 

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Ginger - 1/2 tsp(grated)
Curry leaves - few
Green chili - 1 finely chopped
Procedure
Bring 1 -1/2 cup of water into boil, wash the rice and add it into the boiling water.Once the rice come to boil , keep the flame in low . Add salt and cook the rice until it mushy.Now temper all the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add it to rice along with curd, coriander leaves and pomegranate seed.Mix it well and serve it with any of your favorite pickle. We had it with tomato thokku.




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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Ulundhu Kali | How to make Kali flour at home | Kali Recipe

Ulundhu Kali, a healthy dish made from urad dal and palm jaggery. It's one of the authentic dishes from South Tamilnadu. 

Urad dal helps to strengthen the pelvic and back bone. So kali is especially prepared and given to the young girls when they enter into adulthood and also during the time of period every month. 

I have seen a lot of recipes online for kali which are made only with urad dal. But in our home, we used to make this kali with raw rice and skinned urad dal. So today I'm sharing how we used to make kali maavu/flour and kali at our home.

Ulundhu Kali

Before check out the recipe, let's see the FAQs about kali. 
What's the proportion of kali flour, water and palm jaggery?
For 1 cup of kali flour, it needs 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup(heaped) of palm jaggery. This proportion works perfectly. You can use whatever measurement cup you have. Make sure to measure everything with the same cup. For mild sweetness, you can use just 1 cup of palm jaggery.

Can I use jaggery instead of palm jaggery?
Yes, you can use it. But the taste and flavor would be very different. Palm Jaggery has a unique flavor and taste, it can be replaced with other varieties of sugar. So I highly recommend using palm jaggery for this recipe. 

Can I use skinless whole urad dal instead of skinned urad dal?
Yes ! You can very well use it. In our home, we have been making this kali with skinned urad dal for decades ! So I'm inclined to use the skinned urad dal for this recipe.

Why can't  I make a smooth ball of kali? 
There are a few things to take care of ! 
  1. Make sure to cook the flour well. Uncooked flour sticks a lot and you can't make a smooth ball.
  2. Let the kali come to room temperature before making balls.
  3. Wet your hands well before making kali 
Why does the kali have a few lumps in it?
If you mix the flour with jaggery syrup before the flour is well cooked, then there is a high chance of forming a lot of lumps in the kali. So make sure to cook the flour well before mixing.

Any substitute for sesame oil?
You can use ghee. But traditionally sesame oil is used for this recipe. 

 Now let's check out on how to make delicious ulundhu kali

Ulundhu Kali






Ulunthu Kali|Kali flour

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Kali/Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
How to make kali flour,Kali maavu,ulunthu kali,ulundhu kali,sweet kali,homemade kali flour Ulundhu Kali, a healthy dish prepared from black urad dal and palm jaggery as main ingredients.



Ingredients

To make Kali flour
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Urad dal(Skinned & Splitted) - 2 tbsp
To make kali
Above ingredients makes one  100 ml cup of kali flour
Water - 150 ml
Palm Jaggery - a little above kali flour (100 ml cup heaped)
Crushed Cardamom - 1 
Sesame oil - 1  tbsp  + more for serving
Ulundhu Kali
Procedure
First grind rice and urad dal in the mixie into fine powder. Sieve it and grind it again if you find any large granules . If you're making in bulk, grind it in mill.The ratio of rice and dal is 2:1Measure the other ingredients and keep it ready.In a sauce pan, add the palm jaggery and water and bring it to boil.
Once the palm jaggery is melted completely, strain it and remove the impurities. Clean the sauce pan to remove any impurities and then pour the jaggery syrup in the sauce pan and bring into boil again. 
Once the syrup comes to boil, keep the flame in lowest possible setting in the stove. Add the cardamom powder and then sprinkle the flour evenly on the syrup
Cover the sauce pan with lid and let it cook  for 10 mins in low flame without disturbing. After 10 mins, switch off the flame & open the lid, add the oil and mix the flour vigorously with the back of the wooden spoon.
Mix it well until there is no dry flour seen. Then again cover the sauce pan with lid and let it comes to room temperature.
 When it's cooled down to touch, open the lid and mix it well once again. Then dip your hand in water and take small portion of kali and make it as round shape. If the flour is cooked well, then it doesnt stick to your hand. Also see nothing sticks to the bottom also!
While serving make a hole in the center and add a tsp of sesame oil. It taste great with sesame oil !
Ulunthu Kali
Notes:  
  • If you want mild sweet, add equal amount of palm jaggery for Kali flour.
  • Use thick bottom sauce pan, otherwise the bottom get burnt easily.
  • Don't disturb the flour after added in syrup, otherwise it form lot of lumps.
  • Eeyam(Tin) vessel is best for making kali. If you have use it .
  • You can store this kali flour for more than one month in room temperature.
               Take small portion from the sides of the ball and dip it in the center oil and have it.
Ulunthu Kali



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Friday, July 24, 2015

Urad Dal Bonda | Bonda with Egg

One day, while talking to my mom over phone , she told me this recipe. She said that adding egg into urad dal yields lot of bondas. Even if we drop small amount of batter into oil, it fluff up and make big bondas.And also she told that only country eggs are used in this recipe. For 1/4 kg of urad dal , one country egg is enough. You can add more or less as per your wish. 
After heard this recipe, i want to try this for long time. Last week, it had been raining for every evening here and sometimes , i couldnt see anything from my window. In one of those days we craved for something crispy for evening tea,so i tried this with very little amount of dal and the result was awesome. 
Though i grind the batter in mixie, the bond was so fluffy and crispy.I'm glad that i tried this recipe.It's so simple and yields large amount and it doesnt have the egg flavor.

Urad dal Bonda

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Whole Urad Dal(without skin) - 1/4 cup
Country Egg - 1/2 of one beaten egg
Onion - 1/2 of medium size one
Crushed Peppers - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves - few
Oil - for frying
Procedure
Soak the urad dal for 1 hr and grind into smooth paste in a mixie(just like vada batter). Dont add too much add, just add enough to make smooth batter.Beat the egg slightly and add it into urad dal , mix well and then add onions, peppers , salt and curry leaves and mix well.Heat the oil for frying . Now take water in a bowl, dip your hand in water and then take small portion of batter in your hand and drop it in oil.Repeat the same with the remaining batter. Dont over crowd the pan. I add 5 bondas at a time,depends of the pan size, you can add more or less.After one or two mins, it will float on the oil, at that time, flip the bonda on other side to cook. Remove from the oil when both sides are turn golden brown and put it on tissue paper.Tasty & crispy bonda is ready. It tastes good as it is, if you wish you can serve it with any of your favorite chutney.
Notes:
  • The batter should be thick, dont add too much water for grinding,otherwise, after adding egg, it will become too runny.
  • Dont use normal egg, country egg is best for this recipe.
Time to dig in





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Ulunthu Kanji | Urad Dal Porridge

For this week blogging marathon, i chose the theme "Lentils in 3 ways". So for next three days, you can see three different dishes with urad dal. My mom prepared this kanji in our schooldays as our evening drink.In those days, we didn't like  this much ,so my mom stopped making this.

Recently, i craved for this Kanji , asked my mom for this recipe and prepared it immediately and i loved it. I think , we like certain taste only when we grow old :-) . As we all know urad dal have lot of health benefits, so i make this atleast twice a month nowadays. 

My mom said, that in her childhood days, they prepared this with paruthi pal extracted  from paruthi kottai using aatu kal and it's great remedy for cold in chest. Ok.now over to the recipe.

Ulunthu/Uzhunthu Kanji

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Drink | Recipe Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

Whole Urad dal(without skin) - 1/4 cup
Garlic cloves - 7 nos
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Palm Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp(Optional)
  
Procedure
First wash the urad dal  well and add it in pressure cooker  along with garlic & 3/4 cup of water and cook it for 5 whistle or until it 's mushy(it takes little longer time than toor dal).

In the mean time, heat the pan with palm jaggery and 1/4 cup of water and make jagery syrup.No need to check any consistency, just to remove the impurities we make the syrup. Once the jaggery melted, filter it and keep it aside.
Once the pressure released from the cooker, open the lid and mashed the dal with laddle.
Again put it on flame  and then add the jaggery syrup & cardamom powder,mix it well and bring it to boil.
In the the mean time ,extract the coconut milk from the coconut and keep it ready. Add the coconut milk at the end and switch off the flame immediately.
Healthy and tasty Ulunthu Kanji is ready.
Mix it well and have it
Notes:
  • Dont mash the dal completely. The whole dal in between kanji gives great texture and taste.
  • If you dont like garlic flavor, you can reduce the amount.
  • Traditional paruthi pal is added into this , so if you have paruthi kottai, extract milk from that and use it here.
  • Even you can add our regular milk too.



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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Vazhaithandu poriyal | Banana stem stir fry

Vazhaithandu Poriyal, a delicious and healthy stir fry made from the banana stem poriyal. It is one of the easiest  and healthy poriyal that goes well with a typical South Indian lunch meal. 

Banana stem is rich in potassium and vitamin B6, which helps the production of insulin(source:wiki) . Hence it's  often recommended by physicians for diabetic patients to keep their sugar level in control.  More than that, it's so delicious and it's become a part of our diet for centuries.

Since the banana stem has a lot of fibers, cutting and removing them takes time compared to other vegetables. Apart from chopping time, the recipe takes only 15 mins to make.

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this delicious banana stem poriyal.

Vazhaithandu Poriyal | Banana Stem Stir fry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Accompaniment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Vazhaithandu Poriyal, Banana Stem Stir Fry Vazhaithandu poriyal, a delicious and healthy stir fry made from banana stem stir fry.
Ingredients
Banana stem / Vazhaithandu - 1 cup (chopped)
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Red chili - 3 
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Butter milk - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 1 & 1/2 to 2 tbsp

Procedure 

First take  the banana stem, remove the outer layers and then cut into thin circles. While cutting , you can see the fiber like thread in between, remove that fiber.
Then cut the circles into small pieces and put it in the butter milk.
Heat the pan with oil, add mustard & urad dal, once mustard splutters, add the red chili, onions and saute well, then add the banana stem along with butter milk. Now add required salt and close the pan and cook it.
Once the banana stem is cooked add the grated coconut and mix well .
Switch off the flame and serve this healthy poriyal along with sambar / kara kulambu.

Related : How to make Vazhaipoo poriyal/Banana flower stir fry


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Monday, July 20, 2015

Banana Bread without egg & butter

Banana bread is one of the bread i bake frequently. As i already have banana bread recipe in my space  with egg and butter. This one is totally free from egg and butter. I saw this recipe in Bharathy space, it looks so inviting and easy to make.so immediately i tried it and the result was awesome.
After that, i bake this bread whenever i have over ripen banana.Here i add badam instead of walnuts, when i first bake banana bread , i didnt have walnuts in hand, so i used badam and we love it so much. so now it's a tradition in my home to add badam instead of walnut in banana bread. Ok. let see the procedure now.

Banana Bread without Egg

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Bread | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Recipe source :SpicyChilly


Ripe bananas - 3 small (or 2 large)
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Maida/All Purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar / Demerara Sugar- 3/4 cup


Milk - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Curd - 2 tbsp
Cooking soda - 3/4 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Badam - 10
Procedure
First Preheat the oven to 180°C.Sieve maida, wheat flour and cooking soda together and keep aside.Take bananas in a bowl along with sugar and vanilla essence  and mashed it with masher well.
Add curd, milk and oil into banana mixture and mix it well.
Finally fold in the sifted flour mixture into banana mixture.Chop the badam roughly and mix them into the batter.Grease the loaf pan and dusted with flour evenly and keep it ready . Transfer the mixture into the pan and bake it in the preheated oven for 35 mins(or until tooth pick inserted inthe center comes out clean) at 180°CRemove from oven and allow the bread to cool on wire rack for a while before cutting out slices.Tasty Banana bread is ready.
Notes:
  • The original recipe , the baking time is mentioned as 35 mins.but mine got done in 25 mins.so keep on eye on oven after 25 mins.
  • Instead of badam , you can use walnut too.
  • I used the elaki varitey of banana.

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