Paruppu poli, a delicious and soft flatbread stuffed with sweet filling made from chana dal, jaggery and flavored with cardamom powder. Though poli has many varieties, this paruppu poli is the traditional one that has been made for many festive occasions all over the India. 

I love this paruppu poli more than any other varieties. And whenever i make paruppu pooranam for kozhukattai or susiyam, i reserve some to make this delicious poli on the next day ! 

Outer layer for the poli

In this recipe, i have used equal amount of maida and wheat flour for the outer dough. It gives soft yet not chewable poli. If maida is only used for the outer dough, it needs a lot of oil for soft texture instead of chewable texture.

So in order to reduce the oil and still achieve the softer texture, i have used the both flours. But it's really up to you and make it with whatever the flour you prefer. 

Cooking the poli

To cook the poli, i highly recommend to use ghee. It gives such a aromatic flavor to the poli. This is one of the recipes that taste is directly proportional to the amount of the ghee used ! More  ghee, more delicious! So be generous in drizzling the ghee :-)

Storing the poli.

Once the poli is completely cooled, you can store this in air tight container and it stays well for a 2 days at room temperature! For longer storage, put it in refrigerator. While serving, gently warm it in the hot tava ! It's as good as freshly made. 

How to make Paruppu Poli | Poli Recipe

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 8 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Paruppu Poli,Poli recipe,Homemade Paruppu Poli Paruppu poli, a delicious and soft flatbread stuffed with sweet filling made from chana dal, jaggery and flavored with cardamom powder.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Madia - 1/4 cup

Wheat flour/Aata - 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Water - as needed

Chana dal pooranam - 1/2 cup

Procedure

First let's prepare the dough, take the all purpose flour/ madia and wheat flour / aata in a bowl along with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder. Mix it all well together.

Next add the oil and mix it with the flour well, so that it's well incorporated into the flour. Then add the water little by little and make a soft pilable dough.

Apply some oil on the top and rest for two hours. In the mean time, prepare the stuffing/chana dal pooranam and keep it ready. 

After 2 hours, divide the dough into small pieces(a little small size as of the inner stuffing). Roll them into small balls. Take a dough and flatten it with hand as small circle.

Place a stuffing on it and gather the dough from the sides and cover the stuffing as shown below. Keep the sealed side down and flatten the dough with your fingers. 

Next you can use your hand to stretch the dough or like me you can use the rolling pin and roll into small circle.

Heat the tava/pan , apply a little bit of ghee and add the rolled poli and drizzle some more ghee on the sides and top of the poli & cook until it has brown spots on both sides.

That's it. Tasty and soft paruppu poli is ready.

Related : How to make Sweet Boondi

Notes:

• Adding turmeric powder gives that authentic yellow color to the poli.
• You can store this in refrigerator for upto 5 days.

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Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam, a delicious stuffing made from the chana dal, jaggery,coconut and flavored with cardamom which is used for many Indian Sweets like sushiyam, kozhukattai and poli.

I love this stuffing for kozhukattai and poli more than any other fillings. It tastes so awesome with exotic flavor and taste.  

For this recipe, i have used an equal amount of chana dal and jaggery which is sweet enough for our family. But if you really want more sweetness in your pooranam, then you can add more jaggery as per your liking.

Also, the color of the pooranam depends on the color of the jaggery. Use dark colored jaggery for bright looking stuffing. You may notice the color difference in the final pictures and the step by step pictures of pooranam in this post that's because i have taken the photos on different days and also the jaggery that i used are also different. 

I know this is the odd time of the year to post this recipe but I have had this post on my drafts for a while, finally today I got some time to edit the post so i'm sharing this today :-)

Now let's check out on how to make kadalai paruppu pooranam.

Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam | Chana Dal Poornam

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam, Chana Dal Poornam, Kozhukattai Pooranam,Poli Pooranam,Susiyam pooranam Kadalai Paruppu Pooranam, a delicious stuffing made from the chana dal, jaggery,coconut and flavored with cardamom which is used for many Indian Sweets like sushiyam, kozhukattai and poli.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Channa Dal - 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 2 nos

Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp

Procedure

Soak the channa dal for 1/2 hr. 

In a sauce pan, bring 3 cup of water to boil, add the channa dal and allow to cook.

The channa dal should not be mushy, if you press the channa dal in between your fingers, it should be pressed.That's correct stage, switch off the flame, drain the dal and dry it on neat kitchen cloth until the extra water is absorbed.

Put the chann dal in the blender and pulse it for few seconds, it will become powdered easily and keep it aside.

Heat the  wide pan, add the jaggery with litltle water & crushed cardamom, allow the jaggery to melt and bring it to boil.

Add the powdered chann dal, mix it well, then add coconut and stir it well.

Once the dal leaves the side , remove it from flame & allow to cool. Then make equal size balls from the stuffing and keep aside.

That's it, Chana Dal Pooranam is ready.

Related : How to make Munthiri Kothu 

Notes:

• The color of the pooranam varies depends on the color of the jaggery.
• I have used freshly grated coconut but frozen also works fine.
• You can make this stuffing a day before itself and store it in refrigerator.

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Maa Vilakku | Edible Rice Flour Lamp | Festive food

Maa Vilakku, an edible flour lamp made from raw rice flour and jaggery. Maa vilakku is mainly offered as prasadam in Amman Kovil(temple) throughout tamilnadu. I have fond memories associated with maa vilakku. 

During our childhood days, we went to sankaran kovil( a small town in south tamilnadu and also it's my mom's native place ) for Aadi thabasu(ஆடித்தபசு) festival in Gomathi amman temple there. Mostly all my cousins and their family would be there at my aachi's(grandma's) house and it was kind of a get-together at that time. 

One of my periamma( Mom's sister) makes maavilakku every year(and still she's doing it ) for the aadi thabasu festival without fail. Not one or two, at least 21 maavilakku she would have made in those days single handedly, later we all went to the temple, lit the maa vilakku in front of the Gomathi amman sannathi and did the pooja. Once we reached the home we had our share of maa vilakku, it was so tasty and I still have the lingering memories of that taste. 

Also i have the memory of Amma making them whenever we visit irukkankudi mariamman temple. Last year itself i asked Amma on how to make this maa vilakku and tried, but i was not fully satisfied with the outcome. 

This year before coming to Canada, my MIL told me that she had the long pending wish for making maa vilakku at a nearby Amman temple and would like to do that before my travel. Since i was traveling in the next few days, my mom and dad were also there with me,so Amma & MIL together made the maa vilakku and i had the chance to observe the details for making the perfect maa vilakku.

Later on one Aadi Velli,i tried my hands on it & it turned out super good in terms of both taste & texture. To me, Maa vilakku should be firm when broken into small pieces. Neither sticky nor crumbly. Glad that i learned to make perfect Maa Vilakku. Ok, thanks for reading my story, now let's check out on how to make them. It can also be offered as prasadam on auspicious days like  "Puratasi Sani", "Aadi Valli", "Karthigai Deepam" , "Thai month" and so on.

Maa Vilakku | Edible Rice Flour Lamp

Preparation Time : 3 hrs | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Makes : 1 
Recipe Category: Sweet | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Maa Vilakku, Edible flour lamp, Puratasi Sani, Aadi Velli,Karthigai Deepam,Sweet Maa Vilakku, a edible flour lamp made from raw rice flour and jaggery. Maa vilakku is mainly offered as prasadam in Amman Kovil(temple) throughout tamilnadu.It can also be offered as prasadam in auspicious days like  "Puratasi Sani", "Aadi Velli", "Karthigai Deepam" , "Thai month" and so on.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1/4 + 2 tbsp
Cardamon - 2
Ghee - 1 tsp + extra for lighting.

Procedure

First take the rice in a bowl, wash it thrice or until the water runs clear. 

Then add enough water to cover the rice and soak it for 2 hours. After 2 hours drain the water and spread it on thick paper / kitchen towel to absorb the excess moisture for 30-40 mins.

The rice shouldn't be soaking wet but at the same time you can feel the moisture when you hold it in your hand, that's the correct stage for making the flour. Put the rice in the mixie jar and grind into smooth powder. If needed sieve it once for fine texture. 

Add the jaggery into it and pulse it couple for times to get it together. Transfer to the plate.

Powder the cardamon seed and add it. Next add the ghee and mix it all together.

Gather the flour and make it as round. Place it on the plate that you're gonna to lit the maavilakku. Using your thumb to make the impression in the center to pour the oil/ghee.

Place kumkum on the maa vilakku, then place thread in the center and pour the ghee/oil.

Now your maa vilakku is ready to lit. 

Related: How to make Vilakku Kozhukattai  

Notes:

• Crush the jaggery roughly into coarse powder with hand motor and pestle before put it in the mixie for easy and even mixing with the flour.
• Make sure that the  rice is neither too dry not too wet before making the rice flour.
• If your maa vilakku ends up too loose and doesn't hold shape, you can add couple of spoon of regular rice flour. That will affect the taste slightly but saves the maa vilakku.
• If the flour is too dry to hold the shape, add more ghee to form the shape.
• Don't use the water to shape the maa vilakku, the shelf life would be reduced.
• In this method, you can make the maa vilakku previous night itself and keep it in room temperature for next day pooja.
• Excess consumption of maa vilakku aids to upset stomach or pain since everything is raw in this recipe
  

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Panakaram | Panakam | Traditional Drink | Summer Drink

Panakaram /Panakam, a delicious cooling drink prepared from lemon. For many temple festival in south tamilnadu, this panakaram(that's how we mention  "Panakam" in south tamilnadu) and neer moor are the most distributed drink to the people. 

In my school days, i had fond memories of having them druing ther thiruvizha(temple car festival) in my home town, Tirunelveli. During that time, people used to make panthal(small temporary store) on the road side and bring the panakaram and neer moor(Both are real thirst quencher and keep you cool in hot sun) in a large vessel to give to all the people who pay visit to the car festival. 

Amma says that in those days, the panakaram was mainly made with tamarind, instead of lemon. For tamarind panakaram, soak the tamarind in water, extract the pulp and add water as needed and add the remaining ingredients as such in the ingredients list. 

Even now, in certain temples, they do the same. When talking to Amma over phone last week, she mentioned that she prepared this panakam for around 100 people to distribute to the nearby Amman temple on Aadi Velli(Friday of Aadi(Tamil) month), since then i was craving for this delicious drink and made this few days back 😊 .

 Now let's check out how i have prepared this delicious panakaram with lemon.

Panakaram | Panakam | Traditional Drink

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Panakam, Traditional Summer Drink, Panakaram Panakaram /Panakam, a delicious & traditional South Indian drink prepared from lemon.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Lemon - 1/2
Jaggery - 3 tbsp
Water - 1 & 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

First measure and take the jaggery in a bowl, add water, let it sit for couple of mins or until the jaggery dissolves completely.

Strain the jaggery water to remove the impurities, then add the lemon juice squeezed from the 1/2 of the lemon.

Next add the salt and cardamon powder. Mix it all well together and the panakaram is ready.

Delicious Panakaram is ready to serve.

Related:How to make Neer Moor

Notes:

• Ground the jaggery into fine powder using hand motor and pestle or mixie to dissolve it easily.
• Salt really enhance the taste, so highly recommend to add.
• You can use ice water for chilled drink.
• In addition to cardamom, you can add pinch of dry ginger/sukku powder too.
• If you have tulsi, add few leaves. I can't source it here, so skipped it.
  

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Mullangi Sambar with Coconut | Radish Sambar | Sambar recipe

Mullangi Sambar, a delicious south indian lentil stew made with radish as main ingredient. Mullangi sambar has unique flavor and taste because of the radish added into them and it's one of the favorite sambar in our home. 

Appa likes this sambar a lot compared to other sambar, so Amma makes this often for our lunch, but i didn't like this sambar when i was young because of its strong flavor. I had developed the taste for radish in recent times only, since lately, there is no turning back and i have often prepare this sambar on my own. 

Recipe for this mullagai sambar is more or less similar to the mix veg sambar recipe that i had shared here with very little tweak here and there. In our home, we usually add coconut masala into the sambar, but if you don't have that habit, skip the coconut masala and add more sambar powder as per your liking.  Now let's check out the recipe.

Mullangi Sambar with Coconut | Radish Sambar

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 to 3 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Toor Dal- 1/4 cup

Mullangi/Radish -1/2 cup (sliced)
Drumstick - 5 (2 inch piece)

Pearl onion - 3 nos

Tomato -1(small)

Tamarind - small gooseberry size

Mustard - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal- 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Coriander leaves- few

Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste(about 1 1/2 tsp)

Red chili powder -1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 1 tsp(optional)

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Water - to need.

Oil - 1 tsp

To grind

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Peal onion - 3 nos

Garlic pods-2(small)

Cumin seed- 1/2 tsp

Procedure

First cook the toor dal in pressure cooker along with asadoetida powder and keep it ready. Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup of water for 20 mins. Cut the radish into thin slices and tomato into cubes.

Heat the kadai with oil, add mustard and urad dal, let it splutter, then add the curry leaves. Next add the pearl onion, saute it for 1 mins, then add the radish & drumstick and saute for 2 mins.

Next add the tomatoes and tamarind juice extract from the soaked tamarind. Let it comes to boil.

Add all the spices(turmeric, chili & sambar powder) & salt. Let the veggies cook, in the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into smooth paste.

Once the veggies are well cooked, add the cooked toor dal and the coconut paste. Let it boil till the raw smell goes off. Finally add the coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Tasty Mullangi Sambar is ready.

Related : How to make Nellai Idi Sambar

Notes:

• Add more or less water as per your preferred consistency of sambar.
• You can skip the sambar powder too and make this sambar. 
• For extra flavor, add a tsp of ghee in the end .
• We like drumstick in our sambar, so i have added few, but you can skip that.
  
  

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