Aval / Poha / Flattened Rice Payasam

A very simple and tasty dish. Aval Payasam is ready in minutes. Aval Payasam is generally prepared during festivals and is served as neivedhiyam. Its also a very yummy desert and can be served warm or cold.

Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Aval / Poha / Flattened rice - ½ cup
• Milk - 2 cup
• Sugar - 10 tbsp
• Cardamom - 1 piece
• Ghee - 1 tsp
• Cashew nuts - 10 pieces
• Almonds - 5 pieces
• Dry grapes - 5 pieces

Procedure:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast aval until it starts turning brown and transfer it to bowl or directly to mixie.                                                                       
2. In the same pan dry roast few cashew nuts (rest of the cashew nuts is used for final garnishing) till it starts turning brown.                                    
3. Grind aval and cashew nuts in mixie for few sec. It should be in rava consistency.
4. Heat a pan with milk and bring it to boil. Then add sugar and mixie mixture. Keep in low flame for 3min.                                                         
5. Roast cashew nuts, almonds and dry grapes in ghee and add to aval payasam.

Aval Payasam tastes great when its warm or cold.

Wish You all a very happy navratri...!!! :-)

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Pacha Payaru / Paasi Payaru Sundal

A healthy and festival special dish. Paasi payaru sundal is served as neivedhiyam for Varalakshmi vratham, Navarathri, Vinayagar chathurthi and many other occasions.

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 15 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1. Pacha payaru - ½ cup
2. Oil - 1 tbsp
3. Mustard - 1 tsp
4. Urad dhal - 1 tsp
5. Jeera - 1 tsp
6. Curry leaf - 1 sprig
7. Hing - a pinch
8. Red chili - 2
9. Coconut flakes - 3 tbsp
10. Salt - to taste

Preparation:

-   Soak pacha payaru for atleast 5 hrs .

Procedure:

1.  Pressure cook pacha payaru for 2 whistles with little salt. Filter excess water and set aside.

2.  Heat a medium sized pan with oil, then add mustard, urad dhal, jeera and allow it to sputter, Followed by curry leaf, hing, red chili.

3.  To this add cooked pacha payaru, coconut flakes and give a good stir. Adjust salt and serve hot.

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Kondakadalai Sundal

Black channa or kala channa or black chickpea or karuppu kondakadalai.....!! in whichever way we call this... is always a favorite prasadham to all. Loved by kids too. This black channa sundal is prepared during festivals like navarathri, ganesh chathurthi and is also given as prasadham in many temples during the month of margali. Definitely a healthy snack too...!! :-)

Preparation Time: 5 min

Soaking time: 8 hrs or overnight

Serves: 2

Ingredients: 

1. Black channa / கருப்புகொண்டகடலை - ½ cup
2. Coriander powder - 2 tsp

To temper:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard - 1 pinch
3. Urad dhal - 1 pinch
4. Jeera - 1 pinch
5. Curry leaf - 1 sprig
6. Hing - 1 pinch
7. Red chili - 2 piece

Preparation:

 -   Soak kondakadalai for 8 hrs or overnight

Procedure: 
1.   Pressure cook soaked kondakadalai for 3 whistles. After one whistle reduce flame and cook for next 2 whistles or 2 min. It should be soft but not mushy. Remove excess water and set aside.

2.   Heat a medium sized pan with oil. Add all the ingredients “to temper” and roast for 1 min. To this add cooked kondakadalai.

3.   Add  coriander powder and give a good stir. Adding coriander powder is optional. It gives a masala flavor to sundal. Finally add coconut flakes and adjust salt.

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Murukku

Murukku - Post by Gayathri

Ingredients:

•    Rice flour - 3 cups (standard rice      cup)
•    Roasted gram flour - 1 cup(pottukadalai mavu)
•    Chilli powder - 1 to 2 tsp
•    Butter - 1 tbsp
•    Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
•    Salt - As required
•    Water -As required
•    Hing - a pinch
•    Oil - as required

---

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients together except water.
2. Add water little by little until the consistency is like idiyappam dough.
3. Heat the oil.
4. Dip your hand in water and add a small ball of dough in the Muruku press.
5. Drop a small amount of dough in the oil and see  if it raises immediately then the oil is hot enough.
6. Drop the dough from the press directly in to the oil.
7. When it turns golden brown take it out.when it cools down store it in a Container.
8. Enjoy it with Tea.

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Aloo Paratha

Aloo paratha is an Indian recipe. It is a famous breakfast and dinner dish all over India. This stuffed paratha tastes so good. It can be served with any type of vegetarian or non-vegetarian gravy and raita.

Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves: 7 paratha

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour - 1 ½ cup
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as required
• Oil - as required

Stuffing:

• Potato - 2 medium sized
• Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
• Chili powder - 1 pinch
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander - finely chopped
• Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Take wheat flour in a large mixing bowl, add salt and mix well. Add water little by little and make it into a soft dough. Take few drops of oil and apply to the surface of dough. Allow it to rest for 15-20 min.
2. In meanwhile prepare stuffing for paratha. Pressure cook potato for 2 whistle or until it is completely cooked. Allow it to cool naturally. Peel the skin of potato and mash them.
3. Take all the spices and add to the mashed potato. Mix them thoroughly and make it to a dough like form. Make small balls from it equal to the number of wheat dough balls made.
4. Roll one wheat ball into a small round. Place potato stuffing on the center of paratha. Join the edges and make it into a ball again.
5. Then roll it again slowly so that stuffing does not ooze out. Sprinkle wheat flour if gets sticky and in places where stuffing slightly oozes out.
6. Heat chappathi tawa. When it’s hot, place the paratha on the tawa. When one side is cooked, flip to the other side. grease paratha with little oil on both sides and cook for a min on both sides. This makes it crispy.

Tasty and delicious paratha is ready...!!

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Chilli Parotta

A very simple recipe and chilli parotta is loved by all. Parotta has always been a favorite dish for many people and this variation of parotta with the mixed spices add extra taste to the parotta. Restaurant style taste can be got in home. Once my mom started preparing chilli parotta in home, i always eat this home-made chilli parotta.

 Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Multilayered parotta - 6
• Onion - 1 cup finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 cup finely chopped
• Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
• Chili powder - 1 tsp
• Vegetable or plain salna - 1/3 cup (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Cinnamon , cardamom, cloves powder - 1 pinch
• or
• Cinnamon stick - ¼ inch piece
• Cardamom  - 1 piece
• Cloves - 2 or 3

Procedure:

1.   Cut the multilayered parotta into small pieces.
2.   Heat oil in a medium sized pan, add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom powder. When nice aroma comes out, add onion and saute until it becomes soft Then add ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 min or until it raw smell leaves

3.  To this add turmeric powder, chili powder,  salt and mix well. Now add the tomatoes and saute until it turns mushy. Keep in low flame and add cut parottas and mix them well. Add Salna if it looks too dry. Garnish with cilantro. 

Wow..! Chilli parotta looks so great..!! It can be served with raita.

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Chicken Balls / Chicken Kola Urundai

Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 25 min
Serves: 2.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 250gm
2. Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
3. Salt to taste
4. Potato - 1 medium sized
5. Cashew nuts - 10 pieces
6. Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
7. Chili powder - 1 tsp
8. Garam masala - 1 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Procedure:

 

1.   Clean the chicken pieces and pressure cook for one whistle along with turmeric powder and salt. Chicken will be almost cooked.

2.   Mince the cooked chicken using hands. Easy way is to grind them for 3 sec. Do not grind them for more than 5 sec. Do not add water. It should be in form of shredded coconut.

3.   Cut a medium sized potato into two halves. Pressure cook it for 2 whistles or until it is completely cooked. Allow it to cool naturally and peel the skin of potato. Mash the potatoes into smooth paste.

4.   Take few cashew nuts in the blender and make into a paste by adding water. Added turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder, cashew nut paste and salt

5.   Add the mashed potato to the chicken mixture and make it into a dough like form

6.   Take a spoon of corn flour and all purpose flour mixture and add water. This batter should be very thin. Coat chicken balls with very little of this batter. Coating chicken balls with batter helps to bind them. Potato itself will help in binding. So coating balls with batter is optional.

7.   Heat oil in a kadai. Fry chicken balls and serve.

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Keerai vadai / Spinach vadai

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Onion- 1 medium sized - finely chopped
• Keerai/spinach- 100 gm
• Ajwin- 1 pinch
• Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

To grind:

• Channa dhal- 1 cup
• Hing/asafetida- 1 pinch
• Red chili- 2
• Garlic- 2-3 pieces

Preparation: 

• Soak channa dhal for 2 hrs

 

Procedure:

1. Grind soaked channa dhal with red chili, hing and garlic to make a coarse mixture. Few channa dhal should be whole. Donot grind them to smooth paste. To this add onion and spinach. Any variety of keerai can be added. I used baby spinach available here. You can chop them finely or grind keerai for few sec to get chopped form.                                                             
2. Add fennel seeds, ajwin, salt and mix them well. You should be able to make small balls and it should not break. If it breaks, take a portion of the mix in a blender and grind for few sec and mix it again.                                                                                        
3. Take a small ball and place it in the palm and tap gently to make it flat into vadai shape. It should not break.                                                   
4. Heat kadai with oil to fry. When oil is hot, put vadai one by one slowly into the oil. When one side is fried, turn to other side. Fry both the sides until it starts turning golden brown. Do not fry for longer time as vadai will lose its taste.                                                     
5. Strain the oil and place it on the paper towel or tissue to remove excess oil. Serve hot. A tasty evening snack is ready to serve.                                   

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Poorna Kolukattai

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Channa Dhal- 1/2 cup
• Jaggery- 1/2 cup
• Rice flour- 1 cup

Procedure:

1.  Pressure cook channa dhal for 3 whistles. Allow pressure to release. Dhal should be cooked well. Break jaggery into small pieces and add jaggery to the cooked channa dhal. Put it in a blender and grind it into paste. Do not add water as the jaggery once mixed will itself give out some water with the warmth of channa dhal.

2.   Heat a pan, add channa jaggery paste to it. Saute for few minutes in low flame. Keep stirring slowly until it reaches a firm consistency. It should neither be too hard nor too soft or watery. This is used as poornam or stuffing for making kolukattai.

3.   In a bowl, add rice flour and make it into a soft dough by adding hot water. Small flat circles are made from the dough.

4.  Place a spoon of poornam in the middle of rice flour circle and close the edges to make the desired shape.

5.  Repeat this to make all kolukaatai and cook in idly pan. Tasty poorna kolkattai is ready to serve.

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Mushroom Masala

Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

·         Mushroom- 150 gm

·         Onion - 1 medium sized- finely chopped

·         Tomato - 2 medium sized - finely chopped

·         Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

·         Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

·         Chili powder - 1 tsp

·         Coriander powder - ½ tbsp

·         Salt to taste

·         Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1.   Clean the mushroom in running water and wipe using paper towels or soft cloth. Do not put mushroom in water as it absorbs more water. Cut them into quarters.

2.   Heat a medium sized pan with oil, add onion and sauté until it becomes soft. To this add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a min or till its raw smell leaves.

3.   Now add tomatoes and sauté until it becomes mushy.  Then add turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt.

4.   Add the cut mushrooms and mix well. Allow it to cook for 5 min or till the mushroom becomes soft.

5.   Garnish with cilantros and serve hot with chappathi, phulka, naan.

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