Venn Pongal

Venn Pongal

I can only think of the hot Venn Pongal which I got it on my hand during the Maargazhi Month when we went to sing "tirupaavai/tiruvempaavai" songs in one of our temples in my hometown Thanjavur. It was very hot, tasty even without ghee and cashewnuts. Early in the morning ( before 6 am!!!), we used to go there, sang and got these prasadams. Apart from that,I can only relish and enjoy the pongal which my grandma and mom made for us. My grandma was an expert in this and I remember her making this pongal even at her 86th age.

Ingredients
Rice - 1.5 Cups.
Moong dal / Payatham Paruppu/ Pesara Pappu - 3/4 th of a cup.
Asafoetida - 1 tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp.
Jeera - 3 tbsp.
Black Pepper - 2 tsp.
Black Pepper crushed - 1 tbsp.
Curry Leaves - 4 or 5 ( if you have...)
Salt - 1 tbsp.
Ghee - 2 tbsp.
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp.
Cashew Nuts - 2 tbsp.

Method
1. On a thick bottomed pressure pan, add 1 tbsp of ghee first and heat it on a medium flame.
2. Then, add the washed Moong dal / Paruppu into the ghee and fry it till you get a mild aroma.
3. Immediately add the washed rice, 2 tbsp of jeera seeds, asafoetida little and enough salt to the vessel.
4. For 1.5 cup of rice, 3/4 th of a cup of Moong dal, add 5.5 cups of water to the pressure pan.
5. Mix everything thoroughly and let it cook for 4-5 whistles on medium flame.
6. Swtich it off and let it cools down completely.
7. In the meantime, in a small tadka pan, add the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee now.
8. Add 2 tbsp of oil too and heat it. When its heated add mustard seeds, remaining jeera seeds, black pepper seeds, crushed black pepper, curry leaves, cashew nuts slowly into the oil.
9. Saute everything for 1-2 minutes and after they sputter, switch off the stove.
10. Add the grated ginger into the tadka mix.
11. Open the pressure pan and see if the rice-dal mixture is cooked completely.
12. Add the tadka into the pongal and mix everything thoroughly.
13. Now the pongal is ready for Neivedhyam and also for your tiffin. It can be served with a good sides like tomato chutney, Brinjal Kotsu, coconut chutney, Plain Sambar.

Variations
You can add little more ghee in place of oil if you are making it for kids.
I prefer to add enough water to cook in the beginning itself. In that way, pongal is moist and texture of the pongal is not very hard to swallow. It tastes closer to temple pongal i feel.

Ragi Puttu - Healthy Breakfast Option

Ragi Puttu - Healthy Breakfast Option

On "Thai Poosam" day morning, I wanted to make some good healthy Prasadam and offer to Lord Muruga. ( so that we can also enjoy without guilt!!!) Ragi puttu flashed in my mind and as usual I was trying to get away from that idea due to my fear of ruining the puttu. My mom made a delicious Ragi Puttu last summer when we visited. Having that in mind, I did not even try to attempt before. But on "Thai Poosam", I decided to try my level best. I followed the detailed instructions of my mom and attempted at last and it was indeed a great success for me.!!  The method is not that complicated as I thought. Its a healthy breakfast for all ages and for kids, with few drops of hot melted ghee, its heavenly...My Dear bloggers, try this out and make a new addition in your Breakfast list.

Ingredients

Raagi Flour -  3 cups

Fresh Coconut flakes - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar - 1 cup

Melted Ghee - 2 tbsp

Cardamom Powder - 3 tsp

Cashew Nuts - 1 Handful roasted in ghee

Salt - 2 pinch

Water - Enough to make the Puttu Dough.

Method

Take 3 cups of Raagi Flour in a bowl and add few teaspoons of water gradually and make the Puttu Maavu / Dough. The consistency of the Puttu Maavu should not be too thick or watery. If you make a ball out of the Maavu in your hand, you should be able to do it and if you slightly press the ball, it should break totally. As this is an important step, care should be taken while adding the water. Rest of the process is very simple.

After you make the Maavu satisfactorily, place it on a thin clean cloth and steam cook the Raagi Maavu for nearly 8-10 minutes. Open the steamed Puttu Maavu and spread it on a clean dry bowl. Break down all the lumps and make it powdery.

Let it cools down for 2-3 minutes. Then add elachi/cardamom powder, ghee, powdered sugar, ghee roasted cashew nuts and mix them well. Finally add the fresh coconut flakes after it cools down considerably and mix them well again. Healthy Raagi Puttu is ready with an excellent flavour and delicious taste and ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips / Variations

While making the Puttu Maavu, instead of adding water at one shot, add teaspoons of water slowly and make the Puttu maavu.

Try to add the coconut flakes at the end. Before adding the coconut flakes, check to see whether they are fresh. Otherwise, the entire Puttu would be spoiled.

In addition to roasted cashew nuts, you can even add finely shredded almonds, pistachios in the puttu to make it more richer.

Blueberry Kesari

Blueberry Kesari

In the Krishna Temple, I first tasted this purple colour kesari and got attracted with the colour, flavour and taste of that Kesari. Since then, I have been thinking to make this kesari in my kitchen. Maha Shivarathri was the best choice to try out this Prasadam as I somehow feel some closeness between Lord Shiva and Blueberry, may be due to the colour.!! My version also turned out good with the exact blueberry flavour, taste and colour..So, I have decided to make this Prasadam mainly for Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna for the reason I mentioned.

 

Ingredients

Blueberries - 1/2 cup

Rava / Sooji - 1/2 cup

Sugar - Between 1/4 and 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cardamom Powder / Elachi / Elakkai - 1 tsp

Ghee roasted cashew nuts - 8 or 10 small pieces

Method

• In a cooking pan / frying pan, first roast the Sooji / rava with a drop of ghee till it turns golden brown.
• Then add 2 cups of water and stir them well. When the sooji is cooked well, add sugar and blueberries into the pan. Stir constantly till the blueberries get cooked and mashed thoroughly.
• Slowly the Kesari would be turning into light purple colour when the blueberries are getting mashed.
• Next add the Cardamom powder and ghee and stir them well on a medium flame.
• Switch off the flame when you notice the kesari coming out of its side easily and the ghee oozing out of the Kesari.
• Drop few ghee roasted cashew nuts on its top and offer the prasadam to Lord Shiva.

HOW TO MAKE Sesame Rice \ Ellu Sadham \ Nuvula Annam

This is not a traditional version of the sesame rice which you generally think of. This version is purely made for my convenience with few ingredients I like and I think...!!!! Try this out and you will surely love this spicy  rice on any day. This can be a very good option for lunch box,  a good prasadam on festive days, a different rice for potlucks...I really  wanted to make some spicy rice which should be different from the regular ones and also wanted it to be very tasty, healthy and yummy for my kids too.  This goes very well with a side of vadams \ appalams or with a simple vegetable fry.

Ingredients

Cooked Sona Masoori rice -  1.5 cup

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Jaggery Powdered - 2 tsp

Seasoning Powder for the Rice

White Sesame or roasted brown sesame - 4 tbsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp

Channal Dal \ Bengal gram \ Kadalai Paruppu - 2 tbsp

Red Chillies Dry - 2 Big

Jeera - 1 tsp

Tamarind - 2 pinches of tamarind

Coconut shredded or dry coconut powder - 2 tbsp

Tempering \ Tadka

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 dash

Mustard Seeds - 3 tbsp

Jeera \ Cumin - 1 tsp

Urad Dal \ Ulutham Paruppu \ Minna Pappu - 1 tbsp

Channa Dal \ Bengal Gram \ Kadalai Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4 Medium Size

Curry Leaves \ Karivepillai \ Kadipatha - 1 full stem of leaves

Ground nuts - 4 tbsp

Method

1. Wash and cook the Sona Masoori Rice and spread it on a big bowl with little oil and keep it ready.
2. For the seasoning powder, fry the ingredients as mentioned above with little oil and grind them nicely and keep it ready.
3. On the same kadai, add remaining oil. When oil gets heated , add the ingredients for the tempering ( tadka ). Try to fry the contents to golden brown only and make sure that they don't turn black.
4. After its done, switch off the flame. Add the seasoning powder to the kadai. Mix well and slowly add the rice to the kadai and stir them carefully.
5. Add required amount of salt and jaggery powder to the rice and mix everything thoroughly so that the rice gets mixed with the salt, powder uniformly.
6. Now the sesame rice is get to be packed. This rice tastes very good after few hours of preparation.

Variations

You can customize the seasoning powder according to your taste buds and make the sesame rice in your own way too.

You can add cashew nuts along with groundnuts if this is made for a potluck, temple prasad or any other occasions.

Tips

Don't overcook the rice and make it pasty.  Texture of the rice plays a major role in any mixed rice preparation.

Tamarind Rice Tamil Style \ Pulisadham \ Puliodharai

Tamarind Rice is one of the favourites in our household. I followed my mom's style while making the powder for the tamarind rice this time. She generally makes Pulikachal first and mixes the rice with the spicy, yummy Pulikachal..But I made a simple tamarind paste and made the tamarind rice with the tamarind paste and spicy powder..which is an easier method for me.Some people like to have this tamarind rice just with papads, appalams. In some household, they make Aviyal and tamarind rice as a combo..But the taste is unique in all ways.

Ingredients

Sona Masoori Rice - 2 Cups

Thick Tamarind juice - 4 Cups

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp for tempering.

Gingelly Oil / Nalla Yennai - 3 tbsp

Hing - 1 Big Dash

Salt - To Taste

Urad Dal / Mina Pappu / Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Channa Dal / Kadalai Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Peanuts / Groundnuts / Kadalai - 2 Handful

Powder

Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp

Vendhayam / Methi Seeds / Menthilu - 1 tsp

Black Pepper Seeds - 6 or 7 seeds

Dry Red Chillies - 5 or 6

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Method

• Cook the Sona Masoori Rice either in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles or in an electric cooker. Spread the rice over a big tray or vessel and put some oil into it just to make them separate. Let the rice cool down.
• Mean time, in a kadai, add the extracted tamarind juice of 4 cups, 2 tsp of oil, hing, 1 tsp of jaggery and make a paste like a kuzhambu without raw smell.
• For making the powder, fry the ingredients with little oil in a kadai and grind them into a fine powder. Keep it aside.
• For tempering, add Olive oil in a kadai. Add the ingredients for tempering and roast them in low flame.
• Let the channa dal, urad dal and groundnuts get roasted to golden brown.
• Transfer all the contents from the kadai on top of the rice in the tray or big vessel.
• Add the tamarind juice little by little. Add required amount of salt also and mix the tamarind rice uniformly without mashing the rice.
• Add the grounded spicy powder on the rice and mix them carefully in all directions up and down.
• Add gingelly oil into the tamarind rice too.
• Keep adding more tamarind paste and the spicy powder into the rice while mixing as required.
• After mixing all the contents thoroughly, the spicy and yummy tamarind rice is ready to eat. But its always a good idea to eat the tamarind rice at least an hour after its preparation. This is mainly for the spices, tamarind paste to blend together and settle down with the rice perfectly.
• Even on the next day, the leftover tamarind rice tastes very good. Its not required to store the leftover rice in the fridge.

Broken Wheat Rava Kesari \ Godhuma Rava Kesari

Rava Kesari is the most common sweet as we all know. I just wanted to try out the same with the broken wheat rava. Its almost similar to the Sathyanarayana Swami pooja Prasadam. I followed the same method of preparing Kesari except that I cooked the broken wheat initially before mixing it with the Sugar Syrup. As broken wheat is highly nutritious, this Kesari is definitely a very healthy sweet for everyone. Though it takes little extra time than the normal Kesari, its worth for its benefits.

Ingredients

Broken wheat / Dalia - 1 Cup

Sugar - 1 Cup

Kesari Powder / Food Colour Powder - 1 pinch

Elachi / Cardamom Seeds / Elakai - 4 or 5

Pista Seeds - 5 or 6 crushed.

Dry Grapes / Raisins - 1 tbsp

Cashew Nuts - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Method

• Roast the Broken Wheat Rava with little ghee for couple of minutes and cook it with some water.
• Mean time, in a thick vessel, make a sugar syrup by adding Sugar and little water. Add the Kesar food colour, cardamom powder into the Syrup. Keep it ready.
• When the Broken wheat is fully cooked, then slowly add the Sugar Syrup into the kadai. Keep stirring the Kesari constantly in order to avoid any lumps.
• Add the crushed pista powder and 1 tbsp of ghee into the Kesari. Mix them well.
• Do the cooking on a medium flame. Roast the Cashew nuts and raisins with little bit of ghee and add them into the Kesari.
• Add the remaining ghee into the Kesari and mix it upside down uniformly.
• Now the Kesari is ready for Neivadhyam.

Tips / Variations

You can add more sugar and ghee according to your taste. If its for a party or festival, you can generously add more ghee to the Kesari to make it richer. If you have some saffron at home, you can add 1/2 tsp of Saffron flowers into the Kesari. This would give us a nice aroma and the taste of the Kesari would be unique.

Bajji Platter

Bajjis are the mostly served snacks on Jaanavasam, the day before marriage in South India. On a snowy, wintery day, it will be an ideal choice to have some hot bajjis with a side of hot tea. Though bajjis are fried snacks and made with besan flour and are highly caloric, still they are tasty and mouth watering.....Well, my daughter has been asking me to make her favourite potato bajji since few weeks....and somehow it was not working out...Finally her dream came true..I made her more potato bajjis and few..chilli bajjis for my husband too. Believe me, its really difficult to resist our feelings and we did not care so much about our calorie counts on that day.!!!!

Ingredients

Potato - 3 or 4 Medium

Green Peppers - 3 or 4.

Besan Flour / Kadalai Maavu / Senapindi - 1 cup.

Rice Flour - 3 tbsp.

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Omum Seeds / Ajwain Seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - Enough to fry the Bajjis.

Method

• Wash and peel the skin of potatoes and slice them into thin rounds and put them in a bowl of hot water with some salt.
• Likewise, cut or slice the hot peppers as per your choice and put them into a separate bowl of hot water with little salt. I mainly did these steps to half cook the veggies inside and its easier for the kids to have them.
• In a vessel, add the besan flour, salt, required powders and make a smooth paste enough to coat the veggies with some water. Let the paste be not too watery..
• In a frying kadai, add some oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated up, dip the potato rounds into the bajji batter and drop them carefully into the heated oil one by one. While dropping the bajjis, reduce the flame to a low level and after dropping all the bajjis, increase the flame to a medium.
• When the bajjis turn golden brown on both sides, take them out and drain them on a flat plate with a paper tissue on it to soak the oil coming out of the bajjis...
• Similarly, soak the Hot peppers too into the batter and make Mirchi Bajjis and drain them out on a plate.
• Now the bajji platter is ready to eat with a side of tea.

Tips / Variations

You can make bajjis with any kind of vegetables like Brinjal, Onions, Zucchini, Raw banana, Paneer.

You can increase the quantity of chilli powder as per your spice level.

Godhumai Vazhaipazha Appam / Wheat Banana Appam

Wheat Appams, Godhumai Appams are easier to make during festival days. My mom used to make these Godhumai Appams on Saraswathi Puja day. I added a big ripe banana into the appam batter and made it. Appams tasted almost like a banana walnut muffins..

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1.5 Cups

Rice Flour - 2 tbsp

Jaggery Syrup - 1 Cup

Elachi / Cardamom Powder - 2 tsp

Bananas - 1 big ripe banana mashed

Oil - Enough to fry the Appams

Method

1. Make a Jaggery Sryup with 1 Cup of Jaggery in a separate vessel. The Syrup should be little thick and should drop down but not too watery.
2. Meantime, in a vessel add all the ingredients for making the Appam Batter and keep it ready.
3. After the Jaggery syrup is done and cools down little bit, pour them slowly over the appam batter and mix it thoroughly without any lumps.
4. In the frying pan, add some oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated up, drop small rounds of appam batter into the oil carefully.
5. Flip them on both sides and fry them till they become golden brown in colour. Drain them all in a flat vessel with a paper tissue on it to soak the extra oil from the appams.
6. Likewise, continue the same for the rest of the batter. Mostly these appams wont drink that much oil. Arrange all the appams on a plate after they are drained completely and its ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips

Consistency of the appam batter is very important here. If the batter is little loose and thin, it drinks lot of oil. Try to make the appam batter mostly with the Jaggery Syrup itself. Still if the batter is too thick, you can add some water into it and make the batter like the Idly batter.

Variations

You can add crushed nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, pistas into the batter.

You can add few fresh coconut flakes into the batter too and try them out.

Paruppu Vadai / Ama Vadai / Pappu Vada / Dal Vada

Paruppu Vadais also called as Aama vadais are more commonly made during the festival days and its a South Indian speciality snack. As they are made out of different kinds of Dal / lentil, they are rich in protein. There are different versions of Dal Vadas and every variety depends on the kind of Dals and the proportion they use to make them. I used thuvar Dal ( Thuvaram paruppu / Kandhi pappu ), Channa Dal ( Kadalai Paruppu / Sena pappu ), Urad Dal ( Ulutham paruppu / Mina pappu ) and Moong Dal ( Pesara pappu / Payatham paruppu ) in my preparation.

Ingredients

Thuvar Dal - 1 Cup

Channa Dal - 1/2 Cup

Urad Dal - 1/2 Cup

Moong Dal - 1/4 Cup

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Curry leaves - 1 or 2 stems

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4.

Oil - For Frying

Salt - To Taste

Method

• Soak all the Dals in the water for an hour. Then, grind them coarsely with red chillies, hing and some salt. Add the crushed curry leaves into the vadai batter and mix it.
• Meantime, heat the oil in the frying pan. When the oil gets heated up, take a small ball of the vadai batter and make a small round and drop it slowly into the heated oil. Continue the process for the rest of the batter.
• Fry the vadas till they become golden brown and crispy. Drain all the vadas from the pan carefully and put them on a plate with a paper tissue on its top to soak the excess oil from the vadas.
• Now the parppu / Dal Vadas are ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips / Variations

You can add crushed coriander leaves, onion pieces into the batter too and fry them during non-festival days.

Puran Poli / Bobbatlu / Poli / Bobbattu / Healthy Bobbattu

Puran Poli / Bobbatlu / Poli / Bobbattu / Healthy Bobbattu

Its all always difficult to control the tongue especially during the festival days. But at least, if we try to make it little more healthier with less oil, we can have one without guilt. We try to make the Poornam Poli / Bobbattu with whole wheat flour only in our house. For Ugadi, I made Poornam Bobbatlu using wheat flour and enjoyed.

Ingredients

For the Dough

Whole Wheat Flour - 4 Cups

Maida - 1 Cup ( For easy spreading )

Salt - To Taste

Oil - 1 tbsp ( for making the dough )

Water - As required for making the dough

For the Poornam

Jaggery - 2 cups ( Depending on your taste )

Toor Dal ( Thuvaram Paruppu in Tamil / Kandi Pappu in Telugu) - 2 Cups

Channa Dal ( Kadalai Paruppu / Senaga Pappu) - 1/2 cup

Cardamom Powder - 1 tbsp

Nutmeg Powder - 1/4 tsp ( Jaathikai / Jajikai )

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1 cup

Variations 

1. You can add a pinch of Kesar Yellow food colour if you want your Poli to be colourful but its  optional.
2. You can add mashed sweet potatoes 1 or 2 with the cooked dal to make it more tastier and healthier. 

Method of Preparation

1. Make a dough out of whole wheat flour, little maida , salt and oil like how you make  a dough for a normal chappathi. Keep it aside for sometime.
2. Wash the dals and cook it in a pressure cooker for 4-5 whistles till it becomes soft and mashy.
3. On a thick bottomed vessel, add the cooked dal, fresh coconut flakes, crushed jaggery to make the pooranam. Mix thoroughly and stir for sometime till the jaggery gets melted and form a thick paste.
4. Finally add the cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, ghee to the pooranam.
5. Stir patiently on a medium heat so that it does not stick to the bottom.
6. When it comes to a texture enough to make small balls, turn the heat off and allow it to cool.
7. When you are ready to make the Poli, start making small balls of pooranam and keep it ready.
8. Make a big round chappathi using the dough, keep the pooranam in the centre and cover it fully.
9. Then slowly roll it bigger and bigger by flipping it with that maida flour. Here, the maida really helps to make the Poli in proper shape with all pooranams inside.
10. Then fry the Poli on both sides on a frying pan on medium heat with little oil.
11. This is one of our favourite sweet in our house as it consumes very less oil and good for kids as it has very good protein value too.

Tips

1. While making the Poornam, try not to add water as it might get sticky. This in turn makes it difficult to spread the Poli / Bobbattus.
2. While making the dough, try to make it in right consistency like not too loose and not too tight. Should be medium easier for us to spread the bobbattus.
3. While frying the Polis/Bobbattus in the frying pan, try not to add ghee at that stage. Store all the Polis/Bobbattus in a plate. Just before serving, add some hot ghee and enjoy. I personally feel that adding at the end makes it tastier and better.

Thiruvadhirai Kali

Thiruvadhirai Kali

Thiruvadhirai Kali is a sweet dish which we make on the day of "Arudhra Darshan" and offer to Lord Shiva. This sweet is made with rice rava cooked in Jaggery syrup and flavoured with cardamom and fresh coconut flakes. With few drops of ghee/clarified butter, the taste is divine. You can substitute the raw rice with brown rice and try this out with the same procedure..if you wish to avoid white rice. I made this sweet dish by adopting a simpler method.

Ingredients

White Sona Masoori Rice - 1.5 Cups

Jaggery - 2 Cups

Cardamom Seeds - 5 to 6

Fresh Coconut Flakes - 3/4 cup

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Wash the Sona Masoori Rice and roast them in a frying pan till you get nice aroma and switch off the gas when it turns golden brown. Keep it aside.
2. When it cools down, grind them coarsely like rava and keep it ready.
3. Cook the grounded rice rava in a pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles by adding 3.5 cups of water.
4. Meantime, make the Jaggery syrup in a separate thick bottomed vessel. Switch it off and keep it ready.
5. Crush the cardamom seeds and make a fine powder and keep it ready.
6. After the cooker cools down, transfer the cooked rice rava into the jaggery syrup slowly without making lumps.
7. On a very low flame, add the cardamom seeds, coconut flakes, ghee and stir them thoroughly for 3-4 minutes.
8. Switch off the flame. Now the Thiruvadhirai Kali is ready for Neivedhyam.

Thiruvadhirai Kootu

Thiruvadhirai Kootu

Thiruvadhirai Kootu also called as Ezhukari Kootu or Thalagam is made on the day of  "Arurudhra Darshan" as prasadam and offered to Lord Shiva. This kootu is made out of vegetables, thuvar dal and spiced with a special grounded powder. This tangy, spicy kootu is a good combination with the Thiruvadhirai Kali on the festival day. Its a general tradition to include 7 types of vegetables into this Kootu but you can add as many vegetable variety as you like and make this Kootu more healthier and richer. I added more than seven variety while making this dish and offered to Lord Shiva.

Ingredients

Oil - 1 tbsp

Tamarind - A small Lemon Size

Thuvar Dal / Thuvaram Paruppu / Kandhi Pappu - 3/4 cup

Turmeric Powder - 3 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Curry Leaves - 1 stem

Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

Urad Dal / Minna Pappu / Ulutham Paruppu - 1 tsp

Salt - To taste

Powdered Jaggery - 2 tsp

Coconut Flakes - 1/2 cup

Vegetables

Beans - 12 cut into finger size

White Pumpkin - 12-15 pieces ( Cut into medium square )

Butternut Squash - 10 - 12 pieces ( Cut into medium square)

Brinjal - 3

Potato - 2 Medium ( Cut into Medium Squares )

Carrot - 1 Big ( Cut into finger size)

Raw Plantain - 1 ( Cut into Medium Square )

Mochai / Lilva - 1 Handful

Chow Chow / Chayote - 1 ( Cut into Medium Square )

Sweet Potato - 1 ( Cut into Medium Square )

Green Zucchini - 1 ( Cut into Medium Square )

For the Spice Powder

Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp

Channa Dal / Kadalai Paruppu - 1 tbsp

Fenugreek Seeds / Vendhayam - 1 tsp

Dry Red Chillies - 7 to 8 ( Depends on your taste )

Method

• Soak tamarind in water and extract its juice and keep it ready.
• Cook the thuvar Dal in a pressure cooker to a fine paste and keep it ready.
• Wash all the vegetables and cut them into desired shapes and steam cook them in a big nonstick kadai. (Add very little water and cover the lid of the kadai while steam cooking the vegetables )
• Dry roast the ingredients for making the grounded powder and make a fine powder and keep it ready.
• After the vegetables get steam cooked to a desired level, add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder, jaggery powder, mashed thuvar dal, required amount of salt and mix them well.
• Cook them with the lid open for couple of minutes.
• Finally add the grounded powder and fresh coconut flakes and mix them well. Allow them to cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• In a tempering pan, add oil and finish the tempering process. Pour them over the kadai and switch off the flame.
• Cover the lid and let the kootu settles down for few minutes.
• Now its ready for Neivedhyam.

Madras Mixture with less oil

Mixture is one of the most common snacks made in different regions of India in their own traditional way.  Few varieties are slightly sweeter and most of the varieties are spicy only. Though I love all kinds of mixture I have tasted so far, I often prepare the Madras Mixture which is a common variety made in South India. It might look more complicated and bit oily, but its very easier to make with less oil. Also, it yields more quantity too....And I am happy to share with you all the madras mixture recipe...There's no diwali at home without the mixture. Enjoy making lots of Diwali Sweets and Snacks...and share your experience.

Method of preparation

Groundnuts   -    1 Cup

In a big kadai or big round pan, roast the groundnuts / peanuts patiently on medium heat till they get crispy and fried well. Add very little oil , may be 2 tsp of oil to the groundnuts while frying... Transfer them to a big basin / vessel where you could mix all the contents upside down well.

Cashew Nuts  -   1 Cup

On the same frying pan / kadai, add the Cashew Nuts and roast them in the same manner till they get golden brown and crunchy. Transfer them to the big basin where you transferred the groundnuts before.

Pottukadalai / Dalia - 1 Cup

Roast the Pottukadalai also in the same manner with little bit of oil. After sometime, they get roasted with a nice aroma and get more crispy. Transfer them to the big vessel on top of the Cashew nuts.

Aval / Poha / Avalakki - 1 Cup

Roast the thin Poha variety with little bit of oil on medium heat. While roasting the Aval, add some turmeric powder to them and roast it. After sometime, the aval get fried nicely and if required, add little bit of oil in the middle and fry them. After its done, transfer them to the big vessel on top of the Pottukadalai.

Curry Leaves / Karuvepillai - 1/2 Cup

Roast them in the same heated kadai with a tsp of oil and keep them separately. This needs to be added to the mixture at the end.

Boondhi  -    4 Cups

In a small frying pan / vessel keep oil for making Boondhi and Sev for the mixture and heat it. For preparing Boondhi, first make the Boondhi Maavu / batter with 2 cups of kadalai Maavu / Besan Flour, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, required salt, 1 tsp of red chilli powder, required amount of water. The consistency of the Boondhi batter should be like Dosa Batter. Take a Boondhi making spoon or a regular big karandi  ( spotted big spoon )  with holes in it. Wipe it with a tissue and keep it ready. Put some Boondhi Batter onto the karandi and gently shake the karandi on top of the heated oil. You could see rounds of Boondhi batter falling into the heated oil. Gently shake the Boondi karandi so that you get nice round Boondhis. Likewise, make boondhis with the rest of the Boondhi Batter too. Drain all the Boondhis separately and let them get dried for sometime. After its completely drained and cooled, transfer them to the big vessel on top of the nuts.

Thick Sev - 3 Cups

Make the Sev dough first by mixing 2 cups of Kadalai Maavu / Besan Flour, 1 tbsp of rice flour, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, required salt, 1/2 tsp of omam powder / ajwain powder, 1 tsp of dry red chilli powder and little water. The consistency of the Sev dough should not be very loose , should be thick like a Murukku dough. Then using the Murukku / Sevai maker, make some big thenguzhal in the heated oil. Fry the thenguzhal till they are golden brown. Complete the same procedure and finish the process. Drain all the Thenguzhals separately and break them into Sev. After its cooled and dried, transfer all the Sevs on top of the Boondhis in the big vessel.

Mixing Process

Add little salt , 2 tsp of dry red chilli powder, 1 dash of Hing / Asafoetida to the mixture.  Using a clean dry flat karandi / spoon , mix everything upside down till all of them get mixed uniformly. Finally add the fried curry leaves and mix them one more time carefully. Now the Mixture is ready for Diwali.!!!

Variations

You can increase the spice level by adding more red chilli powder to the mixture.

You can add sweet diamond shaped biscuits made with Maida to the mixture if you like some sweetness in your mixture.

You can add small sweet rice mittais into the mixture if you like.

You can add fried green peas to the mixture if you like.

Also, you can modify the dough / batter while making the Sev / Boondi according to your taste and spice level.

You can add plain Corn flakes instead of Aval.

Note

As we don't fry the Nuts in this version, its somehow made with very less oil. Only the Boondis and Sev are fried in oil. The taste of this mixture with roasted nuts is amazing.

Badam Halwa / Almond Halwa

Badam Halwa / Almond Halwa is a very rich sweet which is generally made in marriages or during special occasions. Halwa in general is made with the nutty paste, ghee and sugar syrup. Taste of any Halwa would be delicious if its slightly warmed before eating. A pinch of saffron strands would definitely enhance the taste of this rich halwa and also its flavour. Though it takes good amount of preparation time, the final output is really worthy for that time. My sister gave me a tip to fasten the process. With her experience, she told me that the almond paste made with water takes lesser time to get cooked and come to the Halwa consistency than the paste made with milk and water. Amount of ghee to this Halwa is not more if its added at the end of the process. So, I can confidently say that the process can never go wrong and also its not eating so much ghee. So happily we can enjoy few spoons of Almond Halwa during this festival time.

Ingredients

Almonds - 2 Cups

Sugar - 1 Cup

Ghee - 3-4 tbsp

Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp

Yellow / Kesar Orange food colour - 1 pinch

Saffron - A pinch in luke warm water.

Method

Blanching Almonds

Soak the Almonds in water overnight and peel the skin off the almonds the next day. This is the regular method which we generally follow for blanching. You can also soak them in warm water or hot water and peel their skin off after few hours. Follow any method whichever is simpler and easier for you.

Making Almond Paste

Grind the blanched almonds using a mixer grinder to a fine, smooth paste by adding little water. I don't add milk while grinding the almonds at all. Keep the almond paste ready.

Making Sugar Syrup

In a thick bottomed vessel, add 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of water and make a thick sugar syrup. Add a pinch of food colour to the sugar syrup.

Making Saffron Syrup

In a small cup, add 2 tsp of hot milk and add a pinch of saffron strands. Leave them for few minutes. Then you would see the saffron strands melted and the colour of the milk would have turned kesar yellow/orange. Keep this syrup ready.

Halwa Preparation

• Transfer the Almond paste into a thick non-stick kadai / round pan. Cook the paste by closing the lid for sometime and stir the paste constantly.
• Add the sugar syrup into the paste and mix them well. Stir the mix continuously so that the almond paste thickens and come to the Halwa consistency. This would take some good amount of time. So, patiently stir the mixture in the kadai. You can fasten the process by closing the lid and cooking them on a low flame. This would thicken the paste to some level and then stir the mix again by opening the lid for sometime.
• Add the powdered Cardamom powder and the saffron syrup into the Halwa Mix.
• Check the consistency of the Almond Halwa now. If its almost closer to the Halwa consistency, add 3 tbsp of ghee into the Halwa. Stir them again for sometime and finally the Almond Halwa would come in shape with good aroma and taste.
• Switch off the flame. Transfer the Halwa into a suitable container and sprinkle some fried cashew nuts if required. Also, you can sprinkle few saffron strands just before serving...

Variations

Instead of cooking and stirring the Halwa mix in the stove, you can microwave the Halwa mix and fasten the process too.