Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Recap of Mega BM 87 - Explore the flavors

It's been a while since i had joined the Mega BM , so when i saw the announcement of this April BM by Valli on first week of Jan, without a second thought, i signed up and by that time, i thought that it would be solid three months to prepare everything and feel relaxed. But by the end of jan, ST told me that there might be chance of moving to new place in the April because of his work. More than moving to new place, i was worried about how to make everything ready for Mega BM before mid of March. I knew after that i would be totally caught up with all the packing and moving stuff. So immediately i had prepared the list and started cooking and had successfully finished my cooking, drafting the recipes in Mid March. As expected, April month was crazy with all the packing and moving stuff and really find hard to spare an hour for final editing and posting.But the good thing is whenever i need break from the packing & cleaning the stuff, i sat on before the laptop and started to read the other post and commenting, honestly that was the only time i felt so relaxed in this entire month. Glad i had joined this marathon, otherwise i would post none in the month April in the name of moving :-). Easy to find reason for not doing right? Anyhow it was a great mega marathon and have learnt so much from my fellow bloggers !!! Now, let 's check out the roundup in case you missed any before.

First Week

For the first week, i have chosen the theme "International Breakfast" and here are the international breakfast that i have prepared and we enjoyed each one thoroughly.

Mysore Masala Dosai	Mani Pittu	Mofo Gasy

Veg Baozi	French Crepes	Donuts

Second Week

For the second week, i have chosen the theme "Whole grains" and in the whole grains, i have picked the millet, though i have been cooking millets regularly, somehow i missed sharing them here, so have taken this theme as an opportunity and shared the recipe that i have cooked regularly in my kitchen and here they are !!!

Kambu Koozh	Samai Puliyodharai	Kuthiraivali Upma

Samai Paal Kanji	Ragi Mudde	Millet Biryani

Third Week

In the third week, i have chosen the theme "No garlic and No onion" recipe. In our home, we have no restrictions of using onions & garlic even on festival and vrat days, so i haven't cook much without garlic and onions or i can say mainly onions. So again i have chosen this theme as an opportunity to explore the recipes without onions & garlic and here are my favorite recipe without onions & garlic.

Mathanga Pulissery	Kuthiraivali Pongal	Dal Tadka

Paruppu Podi	Mysore Rasam	Dum Aloo

Fourth Week

And for the final week, i have chosen the theme "Street foods" . Out of all the theme, this one is my favorite, street food is something we go out and explore right?? While making that dishes at home, it brings back all the memories of when/where/with whom, i had this street food and also I love the idea of making street food at home. Here are some classic street food from India that i have relished to the core, so tried out in my kitchen

Dahi Papdi Chaat	Bhel Puri	Jalebi

Nannari Paal Sarbath	Spinach Masala Dosai	Paneer Soda

Bread Cheese Omelette	Muttaikose

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Samai Puliyodharai | Millet Puliyodharai | Millet Recipe

Samai Puliyodharai, a spicy and tangy puliyodharai made from the little millet. Some millets(like little, kodo & barnyard millets) are used in the place of rice and taste very similar or even better than rice sometimes.

Making puliyodharai with millets is another successful experiment of mine. As expected, it turned out so delicious and tastes as good as rice puliyodharai. Since the millet grains are so little, the flavors blend so well and taste wonderful!!!

So far, i have tried this puliyodharai with the little & barnyard millet and both taste equally good.For this recipe, the millet should be cooked well and in the same time, it should be separate, even the slightest mushy millet would result in not so good puliyodharai(personal experience :-( .

So make sure that the millet shouldn't be mushy. Without further delay, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared yesterday under Whole Grains, here it is
Day 1 - Kambu Koozh

Samai Puliyodharai

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Millet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Cooked Millet - 2 to 2&1/2 cup
Tamarind - a small gooseberry size
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp each
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 3 to 4
Curry leaves - few
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Adafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery - a small piece
Salt - to taste
To roast & grind
Red chili - 4
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Soak the tamarind for 1/2 hr. Heat the pan and add all the ingredients listed under "To roast & grind" and roast till nice aroma comes and also the dals became golden brown

Remove from the heat and let it cool a bit. Then put it in a mixie/blender jar and grind into coarse powder.

Heat the pan with sesame oil, add the mustard & urad dal, let the mustard crackle, then add the channa dal & cashews and roast till it the dal & nut becomes golden brown. If you're using raw peanuts,add this stage and roast along with other ingredients, since i have used roasted peanuts and i added it later.

Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and add into the pan. Add turmeric and asafoetida powder also.

Add salt and the grounded powder , mix it all well together and let it boil for around 10 -15 min in the medium flame.

Finally add the jaggery, roasted peanuts and curry leaves and let it sim for another 2 mins and switch off the flame.

Keep the cooked millet ready(Check here on how to cook millets in open pot). Add the millets into the tamarind paste and mix it well together gently.

Tasty Samai Puliyodharai is ready. Serve it with your favorite curry. We had it with crispy arbi fry and coriander thogayal.

Related: How to make millet paal kanji

Notes:

For the given amount of chili, the spice level is moderate. Add more or less as per your liking.
Sesame oil gives great taste to puliyodharai,so highly recommend to use it.
You can drizzle some sesame oil on top while serving just to enhance the flavor.