Capsicum Rice

This is one of my favorite recipe. You can make the same as carrot rice/Egg plant rice instead of capsicum. I have tried my best to give step by step cooking procedure.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice - 1/2 cup
Capsicum- 2 nos(medium size)
Onion - 1/2
Salt-  As required
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

TO GRIND:
Peanuts - 3 tablespoon
Coriander seeds - 2 tea spoon
Bengal gram(Channa daal) - 1 tablespoon
Urad daal - 1 tablespoon
Dry red chilli- 3 or 4
Cumin seeds - 2 tea spoon

METHOD:
Cook rice in a pressure cooker and allow it to cool. In a pan, dry roast peanuts and set aside. In the same pan, add 2 teaspoon oil, then roast coriander seeds,bengal gram, urad daal,cumin and dry red chillis till they turn to golden brown color.

Now powder them finely.

   

In a pan add 3 teaspoon of oil, then add onion and fry for 2 minutes. Then add capsicum, turmeric powder and salt and stir well. If you want more spicy, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder. Please dont add water to cook  capsicum . Water will make the rice to turn lumps. Just sprinkle little water and stir well, until the capsicum get cooked well. stir continuously, and dont let the capsicum to get burnt.

Once, the capsicum cooked well and soft, add the peanut powder, which you have prepared..Now , reduce the flame to very well and mix the powder well with capsicum and switch off the flame.If the flame is high, the powder would get burnt. 

Now add the cooked rice and mix well, using a rice cooker spoon .

COOKING TIP:
1. When you cook rice in pressure cooker, add 3 to 4 drops of oil, so that rice dont get sticked to each other. The rice should not be over cooked and should not be too soft.  I used basmati rice. For 1/2 cup rice  , I added 1 cup of water and few drops of oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt( Remaining salt , you can adjust , when you fry capsicum and onion). Keep flame in high for 1 whistle. Then keep it in full sim for 9 minutes and then switch off the flame. Once cooked, transfer the rice to another vessel and keep it open, so that it gets cools down.

2. The rice will be easier to mix, only when it has cool down.

Maida Biscuits(Spicy)

Another favorite snack , that goes well with tea .. Spicy maida biscuits!

Preparation time : Under 10 minutes
Cooking time - Under 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

All purpose flour/maida - 2 cups ( I used a 240 ml cup)
White sesame seeds - 2 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 3/4 teaspoon
Black pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Butter - 2 tablespoon
Salt- As required (Approx. 1 teaspoon should be fine)
Water - As required
Oil - For deep frying

METHOD:

1. In a vessel, add maida,salt,sesame seeds,cumin seeds,chilli powder,pepper powder, melted butter and knead it in to a smooth dough. 

2. The dough should be at the consistency of a rotti dough. Take a  lemon size ball and make it as a thin rotti. Now use a fork and prickle all over the rotti, so that when you cut and put it in the oil, the biscuits wont bulge and break.

3. Now using a sharp knife, cut the rotti in square shapes.

4.  In a heavy pan, heat sufficient oil for deep frying. Once the oil is hot, add the diamond shapes and fry till they turn to golden brown color. 

5. Maida biscuits are ready !.. Have it with a cup of milk tea !.

7 cup cake

7 cup cake is a simple and delicious sweet made out of besan,coconut,milk and sugar...

INGREDIENTS:
Besan - 2 cups
Sugar - 2.5 cups
Milk - 1 cup
Coconut powder - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3/4th cup

METHOD:

    In a thick pan, add 1 teaspoon ghee and fry the besan flour. Make sure that you don’t burn the
besan and besan color should not turn dark... Just fry for few minutes, until the raw smell goes. You
should keep stirring it continuously. Then transfer the besan to a bowl. In the same pan, now add
coconut powder and fry for few minutes. Don’t let the coconut powder to get burnt. Then transfer it to another bowl.

    Now, in the pan, add milk and sugar . The sugar should be immersed in the milk. Allow it to boil.
Stir it, and allow the sugar gets completely dissolved in the milk. Then add , Besan and coconut powder and keep stirring it continuously. Keep adding the ghee in between. You should leave the mixture without stirring. You need to keep stirring it continuously and keep adding ghee. After a while, in about 15-20 minutes, the mixture gets thicker and will come together without getting sticked to the pan. Also, the ghee will start leaving the sides.

     In a tray, apply ghee and sprinkle some almond flakes. Switch off the gas stove, and immediately
transfer the mixture on to this tray and spread it. Allow it to cool well, for around 3-4 hours. Then using sharp knife, cut that in to desired shape. 7 cup cake is ready !.

Pottu kadalai Murukku/Chakli

For this Diwali, I decided to try my luck in making some easy murukku as this is my first time in making murukku/chakli. When I browsed over internet, I happen to see  pottu kadalai murukku being pick of the lot... easier,tastier !... Please find the recipe below ..Try and see.You would love it!


INGREDIENTS:

Pottu kadalai Flour (Bhuna Chana) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 5 cup
Butter - 4 Tablespoon
Salt - 2 tsp
Jeera - 4 tsp
Hing - pinch

METHOD:

Powder the Pottu kadalai(Bhuna Chana) finely and then seive it . By seiving, you remove if there is any lumps or ungrinded particles, and the powder looks very fine . Then add salt, jeera and Hing to the powder. Heat butter in a pan and once it melts, add it to the powder and mix well by adding water gradually. Do not add too much water. The dough should be in the consistency of chappathi dough . Murukku maavu is ready.

Now , I used a one eyed  mullu murukku plate for making this, as am not expert in murukku making and I decided to make the murukku like sev type and not as a proper round murkku. Fill 3/4 th of the dough in the machine and press it directly in the oil. Please make sure, the oil is hot enough for this. Let the murukku turns golden brown color. Transfer the murukku on a bowl with tissue paper, to drain the excess oil.

Instant Sambar

This is one kind of quick sambar and you don't need to add any kind of cooked daal to this.

INGREDIENTS:

Tomato - 2
Onion -1
Green Chilli-1
Cinnamon - small piece
Cloves - 1 or 2
Fennel seeds(Sombhu)- 1 teaspoon
Sambar powder - 1 teaspoon
Pottu kadalai(Roasted bengal gram / Bhuna Chana) - 2 tablespoon(powder it and add water and make like a paste)
Corriander leaves - As required
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

METHOD:

Add 2 tablespoon oil in tawa, then add Cinnamon,cloves and fennel seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add onion, green chilli, tomato and cook for few minutes. Then add salt ,sambar powder and turmeric powder. Add one cup of water and allow it boil .Let the tomatoes and onion cooked well. After 5  minutes, add the pottu kadalai  paste and allow it boil for 3 more minutes. Then add corriander leaves and some asafoetida powder. Instant sambar is ready !.. It goes well with dosa, idly.

NOTE:

If you cant get pottu kadalai, you can replace it with 2 tablespoon of besan(Kadalai Maavu) flour. 

Masala Nuts

It is always good to have some thing little spicy and crunchy for our evening tea !. Here is the recipe of making masala nuts which is a healthy protein rich evening snack. Instead of deep fry, we can use microwave oven for roasting.

INGREDIENTS:

Pea nuts - 100 gms
Cashews(Broken) - 100 gms
Besan (Kadalai Maavu) - 100 gms
Baking soda- 1 pinch
Ghee-  2 table spoon
Chilli powder, salt - As required.



METHOD :

 In a big microwaveable plate, spread the cashews and peanut  and sprinkle some water over it. Then add besan, baking soda , chilli powder,salt and ghee and mix well with that. Then keep in microwave in high for 3 minutes and take out. Allow it to cool down. Tasty, crunchy masala nuts is ready !

Asoka Halwa

Asoka halwa is a very famous sweet in Thanjavur and quite popular one. Here is the simple recipe of making Asoka Halwa.

INGREDIENTS:

Wheat Flour - 1/4 cup
Moong Daal(Paasi Paruppu) - 1/4 cup
Ghee  - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Cashews,cardamom, Kesari colour  - As required

METHOD:

    Dry roast moong daal in a tawa for few minutes until u see little colour change  and a nice aroma on them. Dont fry it for two long as the moong daal may get burnt . Then pressure cook it nicely so that it becomes like a paste.

    In a tawa, add half of the ghee mentioned in the ingredients section and add wheat flour to that and roast the wheat flour well, till it turns to golden colour. Again, make sure that you dont burn the flour. Then add cashews. Also, add the cooked moong daal to it and mix well and allow them to cook well. Keep stirring the content continuously, and when u see the mixture doesnt stick the sides of the tawa then it is fully cooked. Add the sugar and kesari colour and mix well. Add the remaining ghee, cardamom and some more cashews to that. Asoka sweet is ready !

        

Bisi Bela Bath

Bisi Bela Bath is always one of my favorite recipe .  It is a healthy dish wherein you get carbohydrate from rice, protein from daal and vitamins and minerals from vegetables. All from a single dish !

INGREDIENTS:

                      Rice - 1 Cup
                      Toor Daal - 1/2 Cup (Soak Toor daal for 10-15 minutes)
                      Water - 61/2 Cup
                      Tamarind - Lemon Size
                      Turmeric - 1/2 tea spoon
                      Ghee - 3 Table spoon
                      Small Onions - 5
                       Carrot ,Beans, Green Peas - 1 cup
                       Mustard,curry leaves, Oil- As required for seasoning

FOR GRINDING:

                       Coconut - As required
                      (You can also use coconut powder . 1 or 2 tablespoon should be sufficient.)
                       Coriander seeds -  1 table spoon                  
                       Pepper               - 1/2 teaspoon                  
                       Cinnamon         -  As required
                       Chana Daal (Kadalai paruppu) -   1 table spoon
                       Dry red chilli -4
                       Star Anise - 1

METHOD:

  1. In little oil, fry the items mentioned in the "For Grinding" section and make it into a fine masala powder.

 2.In a pressure cooker, Add  toor daal, water, turmeric powder and some ghee. Allow it to boil. Then add rice, all the vegetables (except onion), Tamarind water , Masala powder, salt and cover the lid of pressure cooker. Keep in High and count 5 whistles and then switch off .

            
 3.For seasoning, Add oil,  mustard , curry leaves and onion and fry it and add to the bisi bela bath. You can also add some ghee in the end for a nice aroma and flavor.

         

Coconut Burfi Tip

If you are making coconut burfi, add equal proportions of sugar and coconut. Also, you should squeeze the grated coconut and take the milk out of it and then you need to roast the grated coconut. This would make the coconut to get roasted quickly. Also would speed up the process of making burfi.

Murukku Tips

If you are making murukku, after u get the murukku flour  from the machine, allow the flour to get cooled for a day or two and then make murukku. If you make murukku immediately, then it will turn out very dark in colour.

For the Thenkuzhal murukku to be white and crunchy, when you roast urad dal dont do it in a high flame. Do it in a medium flame and make sure the urad dal doesnt get roasted too much and burnt out. To check it consistency, Just taste that urad dall. If you feel the crunchiness sound  then you have to turn off the flame . The ratio of rice and urad dal for the Thenkuzhal murukku should be like 4 cups of Rice and 1 cup of Urad dal.

Dry fruit and nut Rava Dosai

INGREDIENTS:

Finely chopped cashews,almonds and Dry Grapes.

Rava/Sooji - 1 cup

Rice Flour - 3 cups

Maida/All purpose flour - 1/4 cup

Salt

Crushed Pepper and Jeera - As required

Curry Leaves  - As required


METHOD:

        In a bowl add Rava, Rice Flour and Maida. Add required salt and add water until it is immersed and allow it to soak for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, mix them well without any lumps. Soaking for 10 minutes would prevent lump formation. Then add pepper , jeera and curry leaves, The batter should not be thick . It should be watery.

      Then heat the Tawa. Sprinkle the nuts and fruit mixture on the Tawa. Then pour the batter starting from outside to inside.

 You can use ghee or oil over the dosa and allow it cook for few minutes. Then turn it over the other side and let it cook for few more minutes. Dry fruit and nut rava dosa is ready. If you dont want fruits and nuts , then you can replace it with onions. This dosa goes well with tomato and coconut chutneys.

Rava Ladoo Tip

   When ever you are making rava or payatha maavu urundai ,  make sure to add more sugar  than the flour. For example, if you are using 1 cup of rava/payatha maavu, you need to add 11/4 cup of sugar. It would help the rava urundai to stay round without breaking. Also, when you add ghee/vanaspathi to make rava/payatha maavu urundai, the ghee should be very hot , so that it would melt the sugar and prevent the balls from breaking .

Sakkarai/Jaggery Paagu Tip

 If you are making Sakkarai paagu (Sugar syrup) or jaggery syrup for any sweets say baadusha ,gulab jamun, ladoo, adhirasam etc, first boil the water well and then add sugar or jaggery. So that, the sugar would get dissolved completely and paagu will come out good. Also in the end, add 1 table spoon of ghee  to the "paagu"  and turn off the flame.It will help to maintain the sakkarai paagu's consistency.

Storing Cardamom

 Whenever sweets are made, we always add cardamom for flavor . So it will be useful  if we make the cardamom powder and store it .

 How to make cardamom powder:  add 5 gms of cardamom seeds with the skin in a tawa and dry roast it for 2 minutes . After it cools down, add 2 table spoon sugar and grind it . This will stay without spoiling for 6 months atleast and can be used in any type of sweets. 

                         

    

Rava Kesari

INGREDIENTS:

Rava(Sooji) -  1 cup

Water - 3 cups

Sugar - 1 cup(If you want more sweetness, you can increase to 1 1/4 cup)

Ghee - 4 tablespoon

Cashewnuts,cardamom - as required.


METHOD:

In a tawa, add 2 table poon  ghee and roast cashew nuts and keep aside. Then, roast the rava until it flavour comes out and keep it aside. Now, boil  3 cups of water in the tawa. Add the roasted rava to the boiled water. Do not add it at a stretch. You have to sprinkle it little by little and keep stirring . When the rava is half cooked, you can add the sugar. Keep stirring it for a while. You can add food colouring if you like. Please make sure  of the consistency . When it starts leaving the sides , add 2 table spoon ghee, roasted cashews and cardamom and then mix well and switch off the flame. Pour it in the desired vessel and it would hardens after it gets cool down.