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.

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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 mins | Serves : 2 
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.

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

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 :-)

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Carrot poriyal

Ingredients
Carrot(grated) - 2 cup
Onion(chopped) - 1/2 cup
Green chili - 2 nos
Coconut(grated) - 2-3 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Procedure 
Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard & urad dal.Once mustard cracks,add curry leaves,onion & chili.
Cook it till onion become translucent and then add carrot & salt.
Keep it in medium flame and cover the pan. Cook it until raw smell goes off.
Finally add the grated coconut & switch off the flame.

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Channa masala(Chickpeas curry)

Ingredients
Chickpeas - 1 cup
Onion(chopped) - 1 
Tomatoes(chopped) - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2nos
Cinnamon - small piece
Cardamom - 2 nos
Curd - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves
Salt
Oil

Procedure
Soak the chickpeas overnight and cook it for 3 whistle in cooker or until it done.

Heat the oil in a pan, add cloves,cardamom & cinnamon fry it for 1 min and then add onion.

Cook it till onion become translucent and then add ginger garlic paste and tomatoes.

Now cover the pan and cook the tomatoes until it become mushy.

After that add chickpeas,red chili,coriander,cumin powder,salt & enough water.Cook it until everything get together.

Then add garam masala and coriander leaves & switch off the flame.

Finally add the curd and mix it well .

Channa masala is ready to serve.

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Ellu podi, a delicious spice mix made with dal, chili and sesame seeds.It tastes great with both idli and dosai varieties.  It's one of our family favourites and i have a stock of this podi in my pantry always. It's so easy to make and having them in your pantry comes handy when needed.

As this podi has sesame seeds, it doesn't need more oil while serving this podi alongside idli and/or dosai. Even without any oil also, you can have this as it is ! 

Dal 

For this podi, Amma always use skinned and split urad dal for great flavor. So mostly i use the skinned and split urad dal. But i had tried this podi with unskinned whole urad dal also. It tastes equally good however the color of the podi in a lighter shade.

Sesame Seeds

For the given recipe, you can use upto 1/3 cup of sesame seeds. Depends on your liking you can add more sesame seeds. Adding more sesame seeds gives great flavor and slight stickiness to the podi.

Ellu Idli podi | Dosai podi | Sesame seed podi

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 2/3 cup 
Recipe Category: Powder/Condiment | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ellu Podi, idli podi, dosai podi, ellu idli podi, sesame seed podi Ellu podi, a delicious spice mix made with dal, chili and sesame seeds.It tastes great with both idli and dosai varieties.

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

Ingredients

Red Chili - 25 

Skinned Spilt Urad Dal/Whole urad dal - 1/2 cup

Black sesame seed - 1/4 cup

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Garlic pods - 5 to 7

Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Procedure

Measure and keep everything ready. Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan,add urad dal, roast it till the wonderful aroma comes from the dal,at the time, the dal slightly changes its color, transfer the dal to another plate to cool.keep it aside.

In the same pan, next roast the red chili dal till it's become crispy and mildly changes its color.

Remove the chilies on the same plate.Then roast the garlic & curry leaves till the curry leaves turns crispy & set aside.

Finally add the sesame seed in the hot pan & close it with lid/plate immediately.It starts to pop,swirl in between to avoid burning at the bottom.Once the pop sound reduces, remove the plate(be careful) & let it cool.

Once all the ingredients are cooled,put all the ingredients in the mixie jar except sesame seed along with asafoedita & grind into semi coarse powder.

Now add sesame seed & salt and grind once again to fine powder.

That's it. Flavorful Ellu milagai podi is ready.Put it in air tight container. It will remain fresh even for months.

Related : How to make Kollu Podi / Horsegram podi

Notes

• After grinding the sesame seed with other ingredients,the podi will stick to the bottom of jar, scrap the bottom of jar and give a pulse if needed.
• The color of the podi depends on amount of sesame seed you're using.
• You can use equal proportion of dal & sesame seed.it will give slightly sticky podi.
• Curry leaves is optional but i highly recommend to add for great flavor.
• Skinned urad dal gives great taste & flavor, highly recommend to use that.
• Depends on the size, increase or decrease the garlic pods.

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Veg Pizza(with homemade crust & sauce )

Ingredients
For crust
All purpose flour/maida - 1 cup
Yeast - 3/4 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tbl spn
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Water
For pizza sauce
Tomatoes - 2
Olive oil - 2 tbl spn
Oregano & Basil - 1/2 tsp each
Garlic - 3 flakes
Sugar - pinch
Pepper,Salt - to taste 
For Topping
Chopped Capsicum - 1/2
Chopped Tomato - 1
Chopped Onion - 1
Mozzarella cheese - 1 cup(adjusted to taste )

Procedure
Crust
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 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.

Now roll the dough with rolling pin as much thickness as you want.

Preheat the oven at 425 F and bake this dough for 5-8 min.Now pizza crust is ready

Pizza sauce
Put the tomatoes in hot water and remove the skin.

Cut the tomatoes and garlic into small pieces.

Heat the oil in pan and add garlic and tomatoes. Cook it in medium flame till tomatoes become mushy

Finally add the oregano,basil,sugar,salt & pepper and switch off the flame.Now Pizza sauce is ready

Topping
Apply the pizza sauce on the crust evenly

After that arrange the capsicum,tomato & onion evenly and then put enough cheese on it.

Finally sprinkle few drops of olive oil and bake it at 425 F for 15 -20 mins.

Now Veg Pizza is ready to serve.

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Egg masala (muttai thokku)

Ingredients

Boiled Egg - 2 nos
Onion -1 (medium)
Red chili powder - 1 tspn
Coriander powder - 2 tspn
Fennel seed - 1/2 tspn
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tbl spn
Oil - 3 tbl spn
Salt

Procedure

Cut the onions and grind it along with fennel seed.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion paste, ginger garlic paste ,red chili ,coriander powder & salt

Keep it in medium flame for 15 mins till the raw smell goes off completely.At that time, the color of onion also changed into light brown.

Cut the eggs into small pieces and add to the masala.Stir it till the masala coats with egg well.

Now egg masala is ready.Its a great side dish for rasam ,sambhar and even chapathi.

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Tomato Rice

Ingredients
Basumathi Rice - 1 cup
Tomatoes - 2 (large)
Onion - 1 (medium)
Cinnamon - small piece
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbl spn
Green Chili - 2
Red chili powder - 1 tspn
Turmeric powder - pinch
Garam masala - 1 tspn
Coriander & mint leaves - handful
Ghee - 2 tbl spn
Water - 11/2 cup
Salt

Procedure

Soak the rice for 15 mins. Cut the onions lengthwise and tomatoes into small pieces.

In a cooker , heat the ghee and add cloves,cinnamon ,cardamom & saute for 30 sec

Then add onions & green chili,once onion become translucent add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 min.

After that add the tomatoes and saute for 3 mins. Now add the red chili,turmeric powder & salt.

Then drain the rice and add it and saute for 2 mins.After that add water ,coriander and mint leaves.

Finally add the garam masala powder and cover the cooker with lid.

Cook it for 3 whistle and switch off the flame.

Now Tomato Rice is ready..Tomato Rice tastes great with onion raitha and chips.

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Mixed Vegetable Poriyal | Marriage Cabbage Poriyal | Cabbage Poriyal

Mixed Vegetable Poriyal, a delicious accompaniment for rice prepared made cabbage, carrot,beans & peas, flavored with indian spices and coconut. It's one of the signature dish from the marriage feast in south tamilnadu. 

It's really hard to see any marriage feast without this poriyal in my hometown(Tirunelveli). This poriyal is known by various name like "Kalayan veetu Poriyal","Mixture poriyal","Cabbage carrot beans poriyal" and in recent times people also mentioned it as "Tri color Poriyal". 

In our home, amma makes this poriyal often as accompaniment for our lunch, especially when she makes sambar on Fridays. This poriyal goes well with cooked rice and sambar. And also we used to make this poriyal for guests visiting our home or any small function at our home. 

Since we are using more than one vegetable in this poriyal, it yields large quantity and make it perfect for crowd. Next to aviyal, this poriyal is also the must for small family function at our home. 

For this poriyal, Amma always add couple of tsp of  soaked(around 30 mins) moong dal along with other veggies to cook. In today's recipe, i haven't added the moong dal since i forgot to soak the dal. 

Without dal also it tastes awesome, but for variations you can add the moong dal also. Now let's check out on how to make this kalyana veetu cabbage poriyal.

Mixed Vegetable Poriyal | Marriage Cabbage Poriyal

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Cabbage Poriyal,Mixed Vegetable Poriyal,Mixture poriyal, Marriage Poriyal,Marriage Cabbage Poriyal,Kalyana Veetu Poriyal,Mix veg Poriyal,Cabbage poriyal with coconut Mixed Vegetable Poriyal, a delicious side dish prepared made cabbage, carrot,beans & peas, flavored with indian spices and coconut.

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

Ingredients

Cabbage(small) - 1/2

Carrot -1 

Beans - 10

Peas - 1/3 cup(cooked)

Salt - to taste

Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp

To temper

Coconut oil - 1 tsp

Mustard & urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Pearl onion - 2(finely chopped) 

To grind

Green chillies - 2 

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 1 clove

Pearl onion - 3

Procedure

First cut cabbage into thin slices, beans & carrot into small  pieces.In a pan add 1 cup of  water and bring into boil, then add cabbage, carrot & beans.

Give a good mix, cover the pan with lid and let the veggies cook.

In the mean time, grind the items listed under 'To grind' coarsely and add into the veggies & give a good mix.

Once the veggies are completely cooked add salt , cooked peas & grated coconut. 

In another pan, temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into veggies, mix it all good mix. 

Delicious marriage style cabbage poriyal is ready to serve.

Related: How to make Tirunelveli Sothi

Notes:

• Make sure that there is no water left from cooking the veggies, if there is no water left after the veggies are cooked either strain it or keep the flame in high let it evaporate.
• The given chili quantity is for mild spice, add more or less as per your liking.
• Here i have used dried peas, so soaked and pressure cook them before adding them into poriyal.
• If you're using frozen peas, you can add them directly into the poriyal.
• Coconut oil add great flavor to the poriyal, so highly recommend to add it.
  

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