After a long break,

Sorry and thanks to all those who sent me mails enquiring about my long absence.  Life is full of surpises, some are pleasant and some are not.  I know we should not get startled with either of them but I got. 

Sorry Valli, I could not post any entry for indian cooking challenge for last 2 months though I had prepared them.  Hence here now I am posting the entry for last month Kara Sev.

Kara Sev Recipe 1

Ingredients needed:

2 1/2 cups Gram Flour (Besan)

1 cup Rice flour
1/4 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp Black pepper coarsely powdered
2 1/2 tsp Ghee
A pinch of Baking soda (optional)
Salt to taste.
2 pods Crushed garlic (optional, I didn't use it)
Oil to deep fry.

Method:

Sieve both Gram flour and Rice flour together in a bowl and make a pit.

Add chilli powder, Pepper powder, Salt, Ghee, Cooking soda.  If you are using garlic pods crush them and add at this stage.

Mix thoroughly with hands. It should look like bread crumbs. Divide the dough into 4 portions.

Take One portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, knead like Puri dough.

Heat oil in a kadai, Use a ladle with lot of holes (Kara Sevai ladle) or Sev maker. Put some dough on that and rub directly into oil.

It will be like split string. Deep fry in oil , drain excess oil.

After cooling this off, Store this in an airtight container.

Enjoy with a cup of hot tea.

Sago Murukku

I made these as soon as Valli gave the recipe for this month's ICC.  They were finished immediately on the next day.  They turned really great. 
Today I totally forgot that I have to post the recipe and pictures.  Just now I saw Vallli's post and remembered about it.  Its a very simple recipe Valli has given.

Ingredients:
2 Cups Rice Flour
1/2 cup Besan flour
1/2 cup Fried gram flour
1/2 cup Sago
1/4 cup Curd
50 ml Oil
Salt to taste
Chile powder - 1/2 tsp or as per taste

Method:
Make buttermilk of the curd.  Soak Sago in Butter milk for 3 hrs, please ensure that you soak it enough else you may risk having the sago burst.

Mix all the flour together, heat 50 gms oil, mix to the flour along with salt and chili powder. Then add the buttermilk soaked sago slowly and knead to a chapati dough consistency
Heat oil for deep frying.In the muruku achu, add the dough. When the oil is hot, press down directly as as murukus.
Cook on medium flame to ensure the muruku is cooked well.

Notes:
Ensure sago soaks in buttermilk well and is soft or else it will burst when you press it down in hot oil.
Cook on medium to ensure even cooking.
Fried Gram flour is fried channa dal that is available commercially. It is general sold as the dal, we have to powder it at home. This is also referred as chutney dal as it is used in making coconut chutney.

Khasta Kachori for ICC

The Indian cooking challenge of Srivalli for this month was Moong Daal kachori or Raj Kachori.  It's one of my favorite snack.  Back in India, whenever I am hungry, we will go to the Farsaan Shop on the corner & eat these kachoris.  I never tried to know how to make them.  My job was just to eat.  But when I saw this month's challenge I immediately made them.  It has become a regular evening snack in my home.

I followed the recipe from Medhaa & her Aunt.  Thanks Medhaa and Srivalli.

Ingredients:
For the Dough

2 Cups All purpose flour / Maida
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Water for kneading

For the filling
1/2 cup Moong Dal
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
A pinch of Hing
2 tsp Curry Leaves chopped fine (opt)
1 tsp Green Chilli - Ginger paste
1 tsp Sauf / Fennel seeds powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1 tsp Mango powder / Amchur
1 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
Oil for frying.

Method
Wask and Soak dal in water for atleast 1 hour. You can go upto 4 hours not more.

Mix the flour and salt, Add the oil/ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.

Slowly add water and make a soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.
Cover and keep aside to rest for atleast half hour.

Drain the dal remove maximum possible water.  Grind the dal coarsely like rice rawa.  Heat oil in a  pan.      Add the hing and cumin seeds.  Once the seeds splutter add the curry leaves.  Add the dal.  Lower the heat and keep stirring for 5 minutes till the dal stops sticking to the pan.  Cook for another 10 minutes on low till the dal turns slightly brown.   Add all the masalas.  Cook for few minutes till the flavor of the spices fills your kitchen.  Add Salt.  Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.

Make a small ball from the dough. Roll out into a circle. Or flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.  Place about 1.5 tsp of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.  Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.  Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it.  Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough. 

Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Drop a tiny ball of dough dropped in oil if it rises slowly the temperature of oil is right.  Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them.  After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.  Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the down side gets a golden brown color.  Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.

I served mine like chat.  You can serve with just the tamarind dates chutney.

To serve:
Ingredients:
1 Med sized onion chopped finely
1 small tomato chopped
Tamarind chutney
Green Chutney
Cilantro leaves chopped (Chopped)
Curd/Yogurt
Sev for decoration

Break the kachoris like we do for pani puris.  Stuff the kachoris with onion, tomatoes, green chutney & tamarind dates chutney.  You can add some cilantro leaves also, but I didnot had them.  Top with beaten yogurt/curd & sev.  Seve immediately.  Have fun.

Mung Daal Halwa for ICC

When I saw this month's ICC, I was excited.  Because I have never tasted Mung Daal halwa ever in my life.  But then we went on vacations I totally forgot about it.  Suddenly on the day of Bhogi, a day before Makar sankranti or Pongal, I wanted to prepare something sweet.  I remembered about this month's indian cooking challenge.  Immediately, I decided to prepare this mung daal halwa.  And when we tasted it was my right choice on the cold winter day.  Thanks to Srivalli for starting such an event ICC.

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup Moong dal
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Clarified Butter / Ghee
1/2 cup Khoya
Cashew nuts and raisins for garnish

Method to prepare:
Lightly roast the 1 cup of moong dal, wash, soak overnight and ground to a fine paste adding very little water.
Take a thick bottom pan, heat 1/2 cup ghee and fry the moong dal paste till it turns brownish and releases the ghee. Add sugar and khoya.
Stir fry until both the sugar and khoya are well absorbed. Turn off the heat, then mix in cashew nuts and raisins.  I could not use the raising because I was out of it.

Tip: You can make any quantity with this as long as you keep this ratio constant : equal amounts of dal and sugar, half the ghee and khoya.

Chegodilu/Chekodilu for ICC

I heard and made this crispy crunchy irresistable snack for the first time.  I followed the recipe given by Srivalli for Indian Cooking Challenge.  So go ahead and give a try.  I am sure you will enjoy it.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 3/4 cupAll purpose flour/ Maida - 1/4 cup

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Ajwain - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric really a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil to deep fry

Method:

Boil 1 cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.  When the water starts boiling, remove from stove, add ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.

Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.  Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.

Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.

Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.

When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life. 

Gulab Jamun for October challenge

For several days I was avoiding to make the Gulab Jamun because of all the efforts of making khova and all that.  But when Srivalli put it as Indian Cooking challenge I decided to make it and believe me its worth the efforts.  The gulab jamuns of home made khova are really heavenly and worth the efforts.  Actually, I wanted to take the step-by-step pictures, but my camera decided not to co-operate.

I followed the recipe from The Yum blog.

Ingredients

Milk – 8 cups

Maida – 1 cup

Sugar – 3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup)
Water – 1 cup (increase if you’re increasing sugar)
Bakind Soda – 3 pinches
Cardamom – 4 pods
Saffron leaves – a few
Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying)

Method

Bring the milk to boil in the deep non stick pan. Reduce the flame to between low to medium and continue to heat the milk.  Stir occasionally in regular intervals until the milk completely thickens to form the khova.

8cups milk makes 1 & 1/2 cups of khova.

Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire.

Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls.  Heat oil on a medium flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke.  Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup. 

I make gulab jamun a day before I want to serve.  While serving I just heat them a little in micro for 20-30 seconds.

These Gulab Jamuns are going to the Indian Cooking Challenge of Srivalli.

Jantikalu/Murukku for Indian Cooking Challenge

This is a very simple recipe Srivalli has given. I feel I am very lucky that I got included in this cooking challenge. I came to know about this event after 2 months it was started. Better late than never. Hence I missed the first two challenges but still Srivallt included me in this event from third month. For a budding blogger like me this is the best opportunity.

Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Water - app 1/2 cup or more
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 75 gms


Method to prepare:
Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool. First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a big wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well. Mix hing in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour.
Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead in a soft dough.
Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.
Divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the greased Muruku maker with the dough.
Press over a paper and gently slide the murukku down the hot oil. You can press it directly over the kadai.
Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.



This is my entry to the cooking challenge started by srivalli.

Modak for Ganesh Chaturthi

This is my first entry in Indian Cooking Challange. Modak is most favourite food for Lord Ganesha. My mom is expert in making modak. This is how I made them.

Ingredients:

For Stuffing:

2 Cups scrapped fresh/frozen Coconut

1.5 cup Jaggery

1 Tbsp dry roasted poppy seeds/Khaskhas

A pinch of Cardamom Powder

Few raisins(Optional)

For Covering:

1 Cup Rice flour

1 & 1/4 cup Water

1 tsp Oil

A pinch of Salt

Preparation of Stuffing:

Grate jaggery. Mix the jaggery with coconut gratings & keep aside. Roast the Khaskhas seeds & powder. In a heavy bottomed kadhai, transfer the coconut-jaggery mixture add the khaskhas powder & heat till the mixture is heated through & dries up. Add the cardamom powder & raisins if using. Remove from fire. Let it cool.

Preparation of outer shell:

Meanwhile, in a heavy bottomed pan take the water add the salt & oil. Let the water come to rolling boil. Once the water is boiled slowly add the rice flour stir & close the lid. Let the dough cook for 2-5 mintes. After a big steam, take the pan away from gas. Take out the dough in another bowl/plate. When it is warm enough to handle start kneading the dough. There should be no lumps in the dough. It should be soft & smooth like play dough.

Final stage:

Start boiling water in a large vessel that can fit a steamer. The water should not touch the steamer. Oil the steamer and set it aside. Make about 20 balls of the dough and 20 parts of the stuffing. Start making small bowl with the dough ball with oiled hands & fingers this really needs skill. Once the bowl is ready keep one part of stuffing in the bowl. Now make pleats around the bowl. Then collect all the pleats in the center of the bowl on the top. Alternatively, Start making small puri with the dough ball on a oiled paper/aluminum foil. Keep one part of stuffing in the middle of the puri and gather the puri gently to make shape like modak. You will have to handle the dough very gently. Follow the step to make remaining modaks. Now dip each modak in cold water and put it in the steamer. Put the steamer on boiling water and cover it. Let the modaks steam for 15-20 minutes on medium to high heat. Take the steamer off the vessel and let it sit for 5 minutes before removing modaks from steamer.

Serve the modak hot with ghee/sweetened coconut milk.

I had also prepared the Sesame seeds laadoo on the same day.

I roasted 100 gms of Sesame seeds. After the seeds are cool enough to handle, I added 3.5 - 4 tbsp of Jaggery to the seeds & ran everything in mixie.

Due to the oil in the sesame seeds you can make the laadoo. It also stays in the shape.

It is really simple & tasty recipe for sesame laadoos. It took only 5 minutes for me. Isn't it easy?

I followed Srivalli's recipe to make boorelu. This was first time I made them so I made a small batch. Everybody liked them, now I can make more also.

Ingredients:

For the cover :Black gram dal/ Urad dal - 50 gms

For the Stuffing :

Bengal gram/Channa dal - 1 cup

Grated Jaggery - 1 cup

Fresh/frozen grated Coconut - 1/4 cup (opt)

Cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp

salt to taste

oil for deep frying

Method: Wash and soak Urad dal. Drain water from the Urad dal and grind to fine paste adding very little water. The batter should be like the dosa batter before adding water or like the batter to dip batata wada. Add salt and leave it aside covered.

For the stuffing, pressure cook the channa dal with just enough water to cover it. Cook the jaggary to remove any scum. Then once the dal is well cooked, drain and cook it along with the jaggary. It should become very soft enough for you to mash well. You can either grind it to a smooth paste or mash it to fine consistency with a masher. If you find the puran is very loose, you can cook this in sim to get a thick paste. Add Cardamom powder and grated coconut. You will know its done when the dal starts to leave the sides. Remove and cool. Divide them into equal balls.

Heat a thick bottom kadai for frying. Once the oil is hot, turn to sim. Then dip each ball in the Urad dal batter. Make sure its coated on all sides. Then drop them into the hot oil. Keep turning to cook on all sides. Once couple of batches are done, strain the oil to remove the scum. It takes only 2-3 mins to get cooked. Drain them on to a kitchen towel. Serve hot.