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Monday, January 7, 2008
Monday, September 3, 2007
Gokushtami & Seedais
When I got married, and moved to the US as a new bride, my mom insisted that no matter where I am, there a few pandikai (festivals in tamil) that I should never miss. She staunchly believed that by celebrating these festivals, we carry forward our tradition and culture. Living in a faraway land, I guess that is the best way to preserve your identity and also teach / pass it on to the next generation. Even though, I don't go the whole nine yards, I try to stick to the tradition as much as possible. To think that a few years ago, if someone said that I would be following all these traditions, I would have scoffed at them. But now, I never fail to celebrate Pongal, Karadaiyar Nombu, Gokulastami, Vinayagar Chathurthi etc. I guess age & experience can really change one :)
Every year, I never fail to make Uppu seedai and Vella seedai on Krishna Jayanthi. The seedais along with the fresh butter make the neivedyam for Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna, as we all know, was born in the night and so the pooja is usually performed in the evenings. I remember as kids, we (my brother & I) used to assist my mom in making the uppu (salty) seedai balls. She also used to make kai murukku, thattai, vella (jaggery) seedai among other things. My mom would fast the whole day, make all the goodies for neivedyam. Also she would decorate the house with beautiful kolams based on rice flour batter. It is believed that Lord Krishna comes to everyone's house that day and so little feet of the Lord were drawn to, using the fist. I will post a picture / video blog of this some day, was a pretty interesting site to watch as a kid. My dad would perform the elaborate pooja in the evening, and we would just wait for the pooja to complete so that we can feast on the goodies.
Now, I realize how difficult it is to make all these on a single day, even it is not a working day, as it was today :) As usual, I just confined myself to making the 2 varieties of seedai. This is my entry for the SriJayanthi Event hosted by Latha Aunty. For both these varieties, you need rice flour and urad dhal flour and the ratio of the flours is 2:1/4. I first dry roast both flours and spread them on a newspaper or tray to cool them down.
Salty Seedai
Make the dough using 2 cups of roasted rice flour, 1/4 cup of roasted urad dhal flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sesame seeds, a handful of pre-soaked channa dhal (red gram), 1 tbsp butter, about a tsp of cumin & black pepper powder and a pinch of asafoetida. The dough consistency should be similar to chappathi dough. Make really small balls (1/4" radius) and deep-fry in oil, till they turn golden brown.
Sweet Seedai
Mix 2 cups of jaggery in 2 cups of water and cook it till soft-ball consistency. To determine soft-ball consistency, add a drop of the jaggery syrup in a cup of water - it should form a soft ball and disintegrate when you touch it. At this stage, turn the gas off and add 2 cups of roasted rice flour, 1/4 cup of roasted urad dhal flour, cardamom powder, 1 tsp sesame seeds. Mix this into a nice dough and let it cool. Then, make about 1/2" radius seedai balls using this dough and deep-fry in oil, till they look crispy and brown. Extra care and patience is needed when the dough is prepared for vella seedai as otherwise the seedai will disintegrate in the oil.
Happy Gokulastami and may Lord Krishna shower his blessings on all of us!
Labor day weekend: Sojji & Bajji
As much as I love eating junkies like the bondas & bajjis, I hate deep-frying. The stench of burnt oil in the house, the oily slick that forms on the cooking range (and on the microwave that sits right on top of the range) - cleaning is a nightmare after a deep-frying session. Well, this labor day weekend, my husband and I made lofty plans of visiting the Lassen Volcanic National Park, then Napa Valley, then Mendocino - but everything fell through and we ended up doing nothing. On Saturday when we got totally bored lazing around in the house, we decided to bring out our camp stove, set it up in the backyard and make bajji & toast corn on the cob. This way, there is no oil stench and clean up is also not very difficult. Once we had a plan in place, we set about executing it to perfection. To make it a little more interesting, I threw in Semiya Kesari (Kesari is also known as Sojji).
Kesari
As most of you know by now, I try to avoid using sugar as much as possible. We normally drink milk in any avatars (coffee, tea, viva etc) sans sugar and of late, I am even trying to replace the sugar in sweets with honey. This was the first time, I tried that in Kesari and I couldn't tell the difference at all. To make Kesari,
for a cup of semiya (or rava), you will need about 1/2 cup of ghee and 3/4 cup of honey (if you are using sugar, you will need 2 1/2 cups).
First, roast semiya (or rava) in 1/4 cup ghee till it gets a red tinge - also notice the nice aroma that emanates from the roasting. That is the cue. While the semiya is being roasted, bring 3 1/2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add the water to the roasted mixture and let it cook. Once the semiya (or rava) is half-cooked, add honey or sugar, whichever you are using, to the mixture and also the red food coloring. Continue cooking the mixture till it is well done and garnish it with cardamom powder and ghee-roasted cashews & raisins. You can add a few strands of saffron and nutmeg powder, optionally.
Bajji
Bajji (or Pakoras, as known in North India) is possibly the best evening snack one can ever have. Hot bajjis with chai is the perfect snack on a rainy day. But you don't have to wait for the rains to make this lip-smacking dish, it is good on any day, as long as you have a good appetite. Heck, I don't think you even need one - just the sight of the gorgeous bajjis, can make you hungry any time of the day! Mirchi Bajji is of course most famous, but you can also make bajjis using any veggies like Potatoes, Onions, Chayote squash, Brinjal, Raw Banana and the list goes on. You can get absolutely creative with this. The base batter can be prepared by mixing 1 cup of besan (red gram flour) with 2 tbsps of rice flour. Add a pinch of asafoetida, 1 tbsp of salt, 2 tbsps of red chilli powder. Add water and make it into a consistency that is close to dosa batter. When you dip the thinly-sliced veggies into the batter, it should coat well on them and not be very runny. Make it a little thicker to begin with, and as you start dipping the veggies in the batter, you will get a feel for the consistency. Learning by experience is the way to go to make a good bajji batter. Once you have the batter, the rest of it very simple. Just dip the veggies in the batter and deep-fry them.
Finally, we also had the corn (on the cob, of course) - roasted, liberally brushed with freshly-squeezed lemon juice and red chilli powder - salt mixture. Delicious!
Kesari
As most of you know by now, I try to avoid using sugar as much as possible. We normally drink milk in any avatars (coffee, tea, viva etc) sans sugar and of late, I am even trying to replace the sugar in sweets with honey. This was the first time, I tried that in Kesari and I couldn't tell the difference at all. To make Kesari,
for a cup of semiya (or rava), you will need about 1/2 cup of ghee and 3/4 cup of honey (if you are using sugar, you will need 2 1/2 cups).
First, roast semiya (or rava) in 1/4 cup ghee till it gets a red tinge - also notice the nice aroma that emanates from the roasting. That is the cue. While the semiya is being roasted, bring 3 1/2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add the water to the roasted mixture and let it cook. Once the semiya (or rava) is half-cooked, add honey or sugar, whichever you are using, to the mixture and also the red food coloring. Continue cooking the mixture till it is well done and garnish it with cardamom powder and ghee-roasted cashews & raisins. You can add a few strands of saffron and nutmeg powder, optionally.
Bajji
Bajji (or Pakoras, as known in North India) is possibly the best evening snack one can ever have. Hot bajjis with chai is the perfect snack on a rainy day. But you don't have to wait for the rains to make this lip-smacking dish, it is good on any day, as long as you have a good appetite. Heck, I don't think you even need one - just the sight of the gorgeous bajjis, can make you hungry any time of the day! Mirchi Bajji is of course most famous, but you can also make bajjis using any veggies like Potatoes, Onions, Chayote squash, Brinjal, Raw Banana and the list goes on. You can get absolutely creative with this. The base batter can be prepared by mixing 1 cup of besan (red gram flour) with 2 tbsps of rice flour. Add a pinch of asafoetida, 1 tbsp of salt, 2 tbsps of red chilli powder. Add water and make it into a consistency that is close to dosa batter. When you dip the thinly-sliced veggies into the batter, it should coat well on them and not be very runny. Make it a little thicker to begin with, and as you start dipping the veggies in the batter, you will get a feel for the consistency. Learning by experience is the way to go to make a good bajji batter. Once you have the batter, the rest of it very simple. Just dip the veggies in the batter and deep-fry them.
Finally, we also had the corn (on the cob, of course) - roasted, liberally brushed with freshly-squeezed lemon juice and red chilli powder - salt mixture. Delicious!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Weekend & Kulfi
Weekends are usually time to relax, chill and do nothing. No surprises in my weekend routine - I get up late, have brunch and laze around. I look forward to weekends just for this; doing nothing and unwinding after the busy weekdays. I had more reason to await this weekend, as my brother & family were visiting. And to add to this, it was our 5th wedding anniversary and we had planned a family lunch; it really is wonderful to spend the momentous day with the near and dear ones.
S, my brother's wife is an awesome cook. She always has recipes that are easy to prepare and extremely tasty, and better yet, it can be easily scaled up to feed a crowd. We made
S, my brother's wife is an awesome cook. She always has recipes that are easy to prepare and extremely tasty, and better yet, it can be easily scaled up to feed a crowd. We made
- Tomato Rice
- Curd Rice
- Vendaikkai thayir pachadi (Okra raitha)
- Aloo fry
- Kulfi
- 8 oz cool whip
- 1 can Condensed milk (you can buy the fat-free or low-fat variety)
- 2 cans Evaporated milk (again go for the fat-free or low-fat ones)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Sugar and spice make for something nice
Chikki has been giving me endless reminders about how I have not really contributed to our blog yet. So here goes. Today is Varalakshmi pujai and yes I refuse to say puja instead of pujai.
Festivals always remind me of associated edible goodies. Varalakshmi Vratham to me brings an image of my mom in her 'madisaar' standing over a frying pan making vadais while shooing me away so I would not touch her.
Coming back to the pujai itself, apart from decking the goddess in colorful finery and jewels, the array of dishes prepared as offering are vibrant as well. There are the pacharisi idlis - idlies made of raw rice instead of the usual parboiled rice, kozhkattais - rice dumplings stuffed with coconut and jaggery concoction, vadai - savory doughnut made of lentil batter, payasam - sweet pudding made of lentils and jaggery garnished with cashews and cardomom powder and maha neiveidhyam - plain rice and paruppu.
I did not go the whole nine yards though, restricted myself to making payasam and wearing a regular pattu podavai.
Festivals always remind me of associated edible goodies. Varalakshmi Vratham to me brings an image of my mom in her 'madisaar' standing over a frying pan making vadais while shooing me away so I would not touch her.
Coming back to the pujai itself, apart from decking the goddess in colorful finery and jewels, the array of dishes prepared as offering are vibrant as well. There are the pacharisi idlis - idlies made of raw rice instead of the usual parboiled rice, kozhkattais - rice dumplings stuffed with coconut and jaggery concoction, vadai - savory doughnut made of lentil batter, payasam - sweet pudding made of lentils and jaggery garnished with cashews and cardomom powder and maha neiveidhyam - plain rice and paruppu.
I did not go the whole nine yards though, restricted myself to making payasam and wearing a regular pattu podavai.
2 handfuls moong dhal
1 handful channa dhal
1 handful rice (broken in a mixer)
1 cup jaggery
1 cup milk
8-10 cardomom peeled, powdered
15 - 20 cashews, split and roasted in ghee
1 tsp ghee
Roast dhals and broken rice with ghee. Pour water enough to cover once roasted and let cook till dhals cook well. To this add jaggery and let cook on medium heat till well integrated. Turn off gas, add 1 cup boiling milk and stir in. Add powdered cardomom and garnish with roasted cashews. If end product looks too thick, dilute with warm milk.
Serve warm or chilled.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Summer Salad
There are days when you eat a feast for dinner and days when you just want to have a light supper like soup and bread or salad. I think that there is a lot of truth in the adage "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper". Most nutritionists and diet planners agree that we should eat a heavy breakfast, light lunch and lighter dinner for a healthy life-style. As much as I believe in this, I do not follow this everyday - we all have our temptations and shortcomings :)
Today was different and I wanted to have a light supper. I had a juicy cranshaw melon, strawberries and mixed salad greens sitting in my refrigerator. I think I had already mentioned I go to the farmer's market every week. One of the advantages of living in California (and SF bay area in particular) is the year round farmer's market. It is refreshing to go to the market every Sunday, look at the fresh produce, talk to the farmers, try some new fruits / vegetables in the bargain. Last week, I saw a new melon stall, where they had an assortment of melons. Cranshaw melons caught my fancy, I have not seen this before and wanted to try it immediately. Loved the sample and came home with one - the look on my husband's face when I came home with it was priceless :) Fortunately for him, I was going to share the melon with my neighbors, don't think the two of us would have been able to finish the melon on our own. The taste is very close to Kirni Pazham or Musk Melon, and immediately reminded me of Madras. We used to cut this into Wedges, sprinkle sugar on them, shove it in the freezer, forget about it for a day or two. It is simply divine on a hot summer afternoon.
Coming back to the dish at
hand, this is very easy to whip up - with most of the ingredients coming from your pantry/refrigerator. In a salad bowl, add some greens, a few strawberries (quartered), melons cut into 1" cubes, a handful of boiled peanuts & black-eyed peas. For the dressing, I made a modified lemon vinaigrette - mix a teaspoon of lemon juice, add a little lemon zest, 2 tsp of balsmaic vinegar, 2-3 tbsps of olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour this over the salad and toss it to evenly coat the dressing. The whole process should not take more than 10 minutes. Invest another 10 mins for some tasty bruschetta. You need your carbs too :) Our dinner tonight and my humble entry to the Summer Express Cooking event. Better late than never!
If you don't have boiled peanuts, don't fret - take a handful of peanuts, add some water and toss it in the microwave for about 4 minutes. You can add any kind of melons that you have in hand, honeydews or cantaloupes work just as well - I kind of like the way the colors of strawberry and cantaloupe or cranshaw melons marry against a green backdrop :), you can also add oranges or tangerines too. Add shredded cabbage or carrot, if you have it handy. You can just about add anything :-P well, you get the picture, just get creative with it. If the colors are pleasing and mix well, chances are it will taste good :)
Today was different and I wanted to have a light supper. I had a juicy cranshaw melon, strawberries and mixed salad greens sitting in my refrigerator. I think I had already mentioned I go to the farmer's market every week. One of the advantages of living in California (and SF bay area in particular) is the year round farmer's market. It is refreshing to go to the market every Sunday, look at the fresh produce, talk to the farmers, try some new fruits / vegetables in the bargain. Last week, I saw a new melon stall, where they had an assortment of melons. Cranshaw melons caught my fancy, I have not seen this before and wanted to try it immediately. Loved the sample and came home with one - the look on my husband's face when I came home with it was priceless :) Fortunately for him, I was going to share the melon with my neighbors, don't think the two of us would have been able to finish the melon on our own. The taste is very close to Kirni Pazham or Musk Melon, and immediately reminded me of Madras. We used to cut this into Wedges, sprinkle sugar on them, shove it in the freezer, forget about it for a day or two. It is simply divine on a hot summer afternoon.
Coming back to the dish at
hand, this is very easy to whip up - with most of the ingredients coming from your pantry/refrigerator. In a salad bowl, add some greens, a few strawberries (quartered), melons cut into 1" cubes, a handful of boiled peanuts & black-eyed peas. For the dressing, I made a modified lemon vinaigrette - mix a teaspoon of lemon juice, add a little lemon zest, 2 tsp of balsmaic vinegar, 2-3 tbsps of olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour this over the salad and toss it to evenly coat the dressing. The whole process should not take more than 10 minutes. Invest another 10 mins for some tasty bruschetta. You need your carbs too :) Our dinner tonight and my humble entry to the Summer Express Cooking event. Better late than never!If you don't have boiled peanuts, don't fret - take a handful of peanuts, add some water and toss it in the microwave for about 4 minutes. You can add any kind of melons that you have in hand, honeydews or cantaloupes work just as well - I kind of like the way the colors of strawberry and cantaloupe or cranshaw melons marry against a green backdrop :), you can also add oranges or tangerines too. Add shredded cabbage or carrot, if you have it handy. You can just about add anything :-P well, you get the picture, just get creative with it. If the colors are pleasing and mix well, chances are it will taste good :)
Carrot Cabbage Paratha
My in-laws are leaving for India tomorrow and last time when they had come to the US, I bought for them some awesome home-made chappathis to take on their flight journey. They were made by a Punjabi lady - perks of living in the Bay Area I guess :) They really cherished it, as my MIL did not have to cook right after she landed in India. She could get by a day or two with these chappathis. Fast forward 2 years. My MIL wanted me to buy her some chappathis to eat during travel and afterwards. GOK (for the uninitiated, God Only Knows), where the chappathi-lady is now. How can you say no to a request from your MIL? :-P Thus started my hunt for finding someone who can make good chappathis.
The quest reached my neighbors' ears and I must add here that I have the best neighbors one can possibly imagine. That can be a post in itself and let me not digress! To cut a long story short, my neighbor "K" (a seasoned cook) offered to help me and got me all excited about making our own parathas (better to eat during travel as per her and I ain't questioning). We roped in another neighbor "M" in this ordeal and thus began our odyssey. We had a cook-together session and made about a truck load of parathas :) It was so much fun and all of us enjoyed this thoroughly and have made a pact to carry this tradition forward. Thanks M & K!
K likes and cooks a lot of Tarla Dalal's recipes and the paratha of the day was from Tarla Dalal's Achaar Aur Parathe. We, of course modified it slightly to suit our palate and pantry stock :)
3/4 cup of atta (wheat flour)
1/4 cup of besan (red gram flour)
1/2 cup carrot grated
1/2 cup cabbage grated
3 green chillies minced
1/4" ginger piece minced (alternatively make a fine ground paste of ginger & green chillies)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp amchur powder (or 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1/4 cup yoghurt
Mix all the ingredients together and knead well to make a soft dough. Sprinkle water, if need be, to make the dough more pliable. Make small balls of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin. Roast the parathas on a hot griddle (or tava). Cook well on both sides till they are golden brown. Add a drop of oil (you can omit this step, if you are eating it fresh) and cook for about 20 secs on both sides.
Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make chappathi here.
The quest reached my neighbors' ears and I must add here that I have the best neighbors one can possibly imagine. That can be a post in itself and let me not digress! To cut a long story short, my neighbor "K" (a seasoned cook) offered to help me and got me all excited about making our own parathas (better to eat during travel as per her and I ain't questioning). We roped in another neighbor "M" in this ordeal and thus began our odyssey. We had a cook-together session and made about a truck load of parathas :) It was so much fun and all of us enjoyed this thoroughly and have made a pact to carry this tradition forward. Thanks M & K!K likes and cooks a lot of Tarla Dalal's recipes and the paratha of the day was from Tarla Dalal's Achaar Aur Parathe. We, of course modified it slightly to suit our palate and pantry stock :)
3/4 cup of atta (wheat flour)
1/4 cup of besan (red gram flour)
1/2 cup carrot grated
1/2 cup cabbage grated
3 green chillies minced
1/4" ginger piece minced (alternatively make a fine ground paste of ginger & green chillies)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp amchur powder (or 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1/4 cup yoghurt
Mix all the ingredients together and knead well to make a soft dough. Sprinkle water, if need be, to make the dough more pliable. Make small balls of the dough and roll out with a rolling pin. Roast the parathas on a hot griddle (or tava). Cook well on both sides till they are golden brown. Add a drop of oil (you can omit this step, if you are eating it fresh) and cook for about 20 secs on both sides.
Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make chappathi here.
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