Balaskitchen's Blog

idly maavu

balaskitchen — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:31:39 +0000

Ingredients- 1. Idly rice ( white boiled rice ) – 4 cups 2. Whole urid dhal – 1 cup 3. Salt. Method – wash the given quantity of rice and dhal separately, and soak them in water each separately. Let them soak for about 3 hours. Then take the dhal first, and grind it in a grinder, adding water only little by little, make it into a very smooth creamy paste. You can identify it by seeing the colour of the paste, by grinding well the colour of the dhal will gradually change from cream to whitish. Touch and check whether all the dhal has grounded well. Now after this completes, take it out in a large vessel, now add the rice to the grinder little by little,grind it adding water in the same way. Check the grounded rice between your fingers. The texture should be like that of fine rawa. In this stage stop grinding and take the grounded rice in the urid dhal paste vessel. Mix both together well by adding enough salt to it. While mixing both with your hands, you can feel the consistency of the maavu, as it should not be too thick nor too thin. Leave the maavu in the same container for whole night to ferment. You can see this,as the maavu will rise a little the next day. If your country is cold, do this grinding process in the morning, and keep the grounded flour after completion under the sun. After this leave the container with the flour on the kitchen top for the whole night. This will help a little to the flour to ferment. Next day mix again the flour from top to bottom,make idlis as you wish. Idlis goes well with sambar and chutney.

Paavakkai Pittalai (Bitter gourd sambar)

balaskitchen — Sun, 01 May 2011 02:03:57 +0000

Ingredients :

1. paavakkai — 1 medium size

2. toor dhal — 1/2 cup

3. tamarind — a small lemon size for cooking( Soak for half an hour )+ small lemon size for soaking the paavakkai.

4. coconut scrape — 1 full laddle

5. dhania — 1 and a half tsp

6. channa dhal — half tsp

7. vendhayam — 1/4 tsp

8. urid dhal – 1/2 tsp

9. red chillies — 6 to 7 nos.

10. curry leaves — few

11. mustard seeds — 1 tsp

12. oil – to temper ( 5 to 6 tsps )

13. salt — according to taste

14. jaggery — (grated) 2 tsps

Method : Slit the paavakkai lengthwise, and cut this to 1/4 inch thickness, wash it thoroughly after cutting and soak this in tamarind juice for half an hour. Leave it aside.

Now, cook the toor dhal after washing it, in pressure cooker till soft. Keep it aside. Take a pan with 4 tsps of oil, heat it , add the dhania, channa dhal, urid dhal, vendhayam, red chillies, and fry this till golden brown. Transfer this fried items to a bowl and again heat the kadai without oil, add the coconut scrape, fry for a minute and switch off the stove now. After the fried items is cooled, grind everything to a smooth paste with enough water. Keep it aside.

Now take a big vessel, squeeze the tamarind to get one tumbler of juice, and add the juice to the vessel and heat it. Bring this to boil. Now again wash the paavakkai, which you have put in tamarind juice separately, in plain water (Do not use this tamarind juice again ). Then add this to the boiling tamarind juice, cook till the paavakkai is done. Then add the cooked toor dhal, mix well . cook for 2 minutes, then add the grounded paste, mix well , and again cook for 5 minutes, add enough water according to your needed consistency, cook for 5 more minutes, add the salt, jaggery, few curry leaves while cooking and switch off the stove now. Now temper this with only mustard seeds. Paavakkai pittalai is ready to serve.

Kathirikkai Kootu (Eggplant Kootu)

balaskitchen — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:17:15 +0000

Ingredients:

1. kathirikkai (any type) – 1/2 kg

2. coconut scrape — 1 laddle full

3. dhania — 1 and 1/2 tsp

4. urid dhal – 1 tsp

5. jeeragam – 1 tsp

6. red chillies – 6 to 7 nos.

7. jaggery – (grated or crushed) 1 tsp

8. coconut oil – for cooking.

9. toor dhal — 5 tsps

10. moong dhal – 5 tsps.

11. tamarind — a very small size (soak it for 1/2 an hour).

12. salt — to taste.

13. mustard seeds — 1 tsp

Method : Wash the toor dhal and moong dhal together and cook this in the pressure cooker with enough water till soft. Now take a kadai, heat it with 4 tsps of coconut oil, add the dhania, urid dhal, jeeragam, red chillies, and fry till golden brown. Keep it aside. After it gets cooled, grind this fried items along with the coconut to smooth paste and keep it aside.

Now cut the brinjals to big size cubes, wash it. Take a vessel , pour the tamarind juice , bring it to boil, then add the cut brinjals to the tamarind juice, and cook till it is soft (do not over cook, as the brinjals should be firm enough ). Now add the cooked dhal, mix well, then the grounded paste, next add enough salt to taste, and the jaggery. Mix all together well and cook for 10 to 15 minutes in low flame (or the kootu will get burnt), add few curry leaves, and switch off the stove if it is over. Now take a small kadai, heat it with 4 tsps of coconut oil, add mustard seeds to splutter, and 1 tsp of urid dhal to be golden browned and pour this over the kootu, mix well. Your brinjal kootu is now ready.

You can have this kootu with hot plain rice, with appalam, or goes well with tomato rasam, sambar etc.

Rawa Kesari

balaskitchen — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:38:27 +0000

Ingredients:

1. rawa – 1 cup

2. sugar – 1 and 1/4th cup

3. water – 2 and 1/2 cup

4. ghee – 1/4th cup or less

5. cardamom – 3 to 4 pods

6. pachai karpooram – a pinch

7. cashewnut – 2tsps

8. raisins – 2 tsps

Method:

Heat a kadai with 3 tsps of ghee and roast the rawa in it till light golden brown. Do not over roast. Transfer the roasted rawa to a plate and keep it aside. Again pour 2 tsps of ghee into the kadai and roast the cashews and raisins and transfer this to another plate. Now to the kadai, pour the given amount of water and bring this to boiling heat, and now add the sugar to it, let it dissolve(make sure that your flame is in medium now ), then add the ghee, let it melt, now bring the flame to low heat, add the roasted rawa little by little to this, stirring continously , then add the crushed cardamom to it, when the rawa is fully cooked, and when you can see the shine of the kesari switch off the stove now. Add the pachai karpooram to the kesari, and the cashews and raisins and mix all together thoroughly. Your kesari is ready.

Carrot Halwa

balaskitchen — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:49:29 +0000

Ingredients:

1. Grated carrots – 2 cups

2.sugar – 1 cup

3.milk – 1 cup

4. Ghee - 5 to 6 tsps full

5. cardamom - 1 or 2 piece

6. cashewnuts, raisins – each 1 and 1/2 tsps

Method: Pressure cook the grated carrots with the milk for 2 whistle or according to your cooker, till soft.

Take it out, after the pressure subtles, and add the given amount of sugar to it and mix well. Transfer this to a heavy kadai, heat it and stir continously till the water content is absorbed completely (keep the flame in medium ), and now add the ghee ( 4 tsps ) and crushed cardamom to this and stir again for 2 minutes. Switch off the stove now.

Now take a small kadai, heat it with little ghee and add the cashewnuts and raisins and fry in low flame to golden brown and pour this over the halwa. Mix all together thoroughly. Your carrot halwa is ready now.

Mysore Rasam

balaskitchen — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:29:42 +0000

Ingredients:

1. Toor dhal – 1/2 cup

2. Tamarind – small lemon size

3. tomato – 1 medium size

4. jaggery – 1 tsp (crushed)

5. pepper – 1 tsp

6. jeera – 1 and 1/2 tsp

7. dhania – 1 tsp

8.channa dhal (kadalai paruppu ) -1/2 tsp

9. red chillies – 4 to 5 nos.

10. coconut scrape – 5 to 6 tsps full.

11. mustard seeds for tempering

12. ghee – 2 tsps for tempering

13. curry and coriander leaves for garnishing.

14. turmeric powder a little

15.asofetida – 1/2 tsp , 16. salt to taste.

Method: Pressure cook the toor dhal along with the turmeric powder till soft. Keep it aside. Now take a kadai, add 3 tsps of oil and heat it. When it is slightly hot add the given amount of pepper and fry for 1 minute or till one or 2 seeds of pepper splutters, then add the dhania, jeera, channa dhal, red chillies, and fry till all these ingredients turn golden brown, then transfer it to a bowl, now again heat the kadai and fry the coconut scrape to slightly brown and switch off the stove now. After all these fried ingredients get cooled, grind it to smooth paste and keep it aside.

Now take a big vessel for making this rasam. Squeeze the tamarind to get half tumbler (or 3/4th ) of its extract and heat it along with asofetida and little turmeric powder. Add the mashed tomato to it. Let it boil for 5 minutes for the raw smell of tamarind to rid. Now add the cooked toor dhal (churn the dhal to make it smooth ) to the tamarind extact, boil for 2 minutes, then continue with the grounded mixture, boil again for 5 minutes and add salt to your taste,add the jaggery and mix well. Now top up with curry leaves and coriander leaves. Now take a small kadai, add the ghee, heat it and add mustard seeds, let it splutter, and pour this over the rasam. This rasam is so delicious and you can have it with hot rice, beans curry, and appalam, vadam etc. Enjoy.

Rava Kitchidi

balaskitchen — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:58:12 +0000

Ingredients: 1 cup rava, half carrot, 3 nos. of beans, half potato, 2 tsps of fresh peas, 1 tomato, 1 big onion,2 or 3 green chillies, half inch ginger, few curry leaves, 1 inch pattai, 2 nos. of krambu, 1 tsp of saunf (sombu), 1 or 2 cardamaom, 2 full tsps of cahewnuts,half tsp of turmeric, 3 tsps of cooking oil, 2 tsps of ghee. Salt and asofetida.

Method: Heat a kadai, and add the rava. Roast the rava to light golden brown and transfer to a bowl and keep it aside. Switch off the stove now. Wash and cut the vegetables into small cubes and keep it aside. Now cut the onions, and the tomato and the chillies and also the ginger and keep it aside.

Now again heat the kadai adding the oil and ghee together. When it is hot enough add the given spices like the pattai, krambu, cardamom, and saunf for 1 minute, and add the cahewnuts and fry till it is golden brown,then add the onions , along with the chillies and ginger, fry till it gets transparent, and next the tomato, saute it till it gets soft, and then the cut vegetables along with the curry leaves. Saute it for 2 minutes and add 3 cups of water. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes. Add the turmeric powder to the boiling water, simmer the stove now and slowly add the roasted rava to the boiling water, stirring continously. Add the required amount of salt and a very little asofetida and mix all evenly. Let the flame be low, so only it will cook uniformly. After all the water is absorbed switch off the stove. Close the kitchidi for 5 minutes. Have it after 5 minutes, Your kitchidi is ready to enjoy with white or coconut chutney.

small onion vethakuzhambu

balaskitchen — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:31:59 +0000

Ingredients: small onions one cup, tamarind paste 2 tsps (or tamarind one small lemon size ), sambar powder 2 tsps, chilli powder half tsp,turmeric powder half tsp, mustard seeds half tsp, vendhayam seeds half tsp, a few curry leaves, 5 tsps of gingilly oil, salt to taste, half tsp of asofetida.

Method:

Soak tamarind in 2 glasses of water for half an hour. Deskin the small onions and wash them and keep aside. wash the curry leaves and keep aside.

Now squeeze the tamarind juice and filter it. Let the juice be semi thick. (If using tamarind paste, stir the paste in 2 glasses of water and keep it ready). Now heat a kadai with the given amount of oil, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter, add the vendhayam, then turmeric powder, followed by small onions. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes till the onions are half cooked. Now add the curry leaves, sambar powder, chilli powder and stir for 2 more minutes. Now add the tamarind juice, required salt, and the asofetida. Allow it to boil, and now simmer the stove. Let it boil for 10 minutes, or till it reaches the required consistency(check whether the onions are cooked). This kuzhambu should be semi thick. If you are not patient enough, you can mix one tsp of rice flour in 2 tsps of water and mix this with the vethakuzhambu. This helps the kuzhambu to thicken fast. Your vethakuzhambu is ready. Have it with hot rice + ghee. You can refrigerate this kuzhambu for more than one week. Can be taken with uppuma as side dish, curd rice etc.

peerkangai Thogayal

balaskitchen — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:16:45 +0000

Ingredients required: 1 big peerkangai, 1 laddleful whole urid dal, 4 red chillies, marble size tamarind (or 1 tsp of tamarind paste ), half tsp of asofetida, and salt to taste, and a little oil.

Method: First of all wash the peerkangai thoroughly with the skin under running water. Now peel of the skin with the help of a knife. You need not peel deep inside, only the scale of the vegetable is more than enough. Now cut it into small pieces (do not mind about the extra skins ) and have it separately in a bowl. Heat a pan with 4 tsps of oil and add the urid dal, red chillies, tamarind, and asofetida and saute it until it turns golden brown and shift this roasted items in a bowl, and again heat the same pan with little oil and add the cut peerkangais and saute it for 5 to 10 mins and switch off the stove now. While sauting the vegetable the water in the vegetable oozes out and do not throw away the water, just saute with it. After all the ingredients cools down, take your small mixie and grind the dhal items coarsely and separately and transfer it to a bowl. Now grind the peerkangai separately adding enough salt to a smooth consistent. Pour this over the grinded dal, mix well with a spoon (if needed you can again blend this in the mixie for even blending ). Your thogayal is ready. You can have this with hot rice + ghee + appallam + carrot raitha, even with curd rice, and rasam also.

Coconut Mani Kozhukkattai

balaskitchen — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:05:48 +0000

Ingredients :

Raw rice – 2 cups, water – 3 cups, Make dough out of this.

Coconut oil , Coconut scrape – half cup, 2 green chillies, asafetida, curry leaves. mustard seeds, salt to taste.

Prepare the dough as i have mentioned in the spicy mani kozhukkattai. Now take a big plate, have the dough on it, add required salt to the dough according to your taste, and make small balls out of it. If you feel the dough is sticky, apply a little coconut oil to your hand. Now steam the balls for 10 to 15 mins and keep it aside. Let it cool for 10 mins.

Take a kadai, add 4 to 5 tsps of coconut oil and heat it. Add 1 tsp of mustard seeds to the oil and after it splutters, add little cut green chillies, curry leaves, asafetida, and half cup of freshly scrapped coconut, and the kozhukkattai balls.Switch off the stove now. Stir well without breaking the balls. As you have added coconut, do not stir the balls when it is in fire, as the taste of the coconut will reduce. Your Coconut mani kozhukkattai is ready.