Showing posts with label Festive menu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festive menu. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Manga Pachadi

1 Raw Mango,Pealed
2 dry Red Chillies
1/3 cup Jaggery, crushed
1/2 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/3 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup Water



Method:
Mango Pachadi Recipe
  • Peal the skin and just cut the mangoes ,don’t worry about the uneven size.Add it into the cooker.Add in water and turmeric powder and simply pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles.
Mango Pachadi Recipe
  • Once done, add in the sugar or jaggery and mix well.Let it cook for a while or till it become thick. Once done temper it separately and mix it with the Mango Pachadi,switch off the stove.
Cooking Tips:
  • If making this for “Tamil New Year” day, then temper the neem flowers in ghee  until golden brown and add it to the pachadi.

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Rava Nipattu (Sooji Nipattu)

Are you surprised to read the name of this post?? yep i prepared these nipattus yesterday evening with rava/sooji ..T. Since its my first trial,i prepared a small batch of nipattu to check whether they turn crispy or not, for my surprise they turned out excellent. Immediately i prepared my second batch dough for making more nipattu I am soo excited to share one of my new culinary invention, these crispy rava nipattu to you all.


2cups Rice flour
2cups Rava/Sooji
2tsp Butter
1/2tsp Asafoetida powder
2nos Dry red chillies
4no Garlic cloves
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp  Fennel seeds
1tsp Peppercorns
Few curry leaves
1/4cup Channadal
Salt
Oil

Soak the channadal, in hot water for half an hour.

Grind the dry red chillies, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, peppercorns, garlic cloves,curry leaves as bit coarse powder.

Take this grounded powder along with rice flour,rava flour(dry roast the rava and put it in a blender and make it finer to some extent so that you should be able to make a dough ) , butter,asafoetida powder,salt, soaked channadal in a large vessel and knead a soft dough with enough water..

Heat oil for deepfrying, make golf ball sized balls from the dough.

Line two greased baking sheet or zip lock bags in a poori press.

Place the dough ball in the middle of the baking sheet and give a gently press to flatten the dough.

Drop this flattened nipattu to the oil, fry until the both sides turns golden brown.

Drain the excess of oil with paper towel.

Repeat the same process until the dough get finished.
Conserve these nipattu in an air tightened box and enjoy!

Thursday, 5 June 2014

Pineapple Kesari

Pineapple Kesari
Pineapple Kesari


I realized that I hadn’t posted any sweet/dessert for days on my blog, and I was making something special for amavasaya. I looked in my fridge and I had a lot of fruits in there. :)  So, I decided to make a fruit based sweet. Somehow, Indian desserts are more milk based than fruit based. Other cultures go-to desserts seem to be fruit based, like pies and cobblers. I wonder why..The only fruit based dessert that I could think of, with what I had on hand was Pineapple Kesari.
The word ‘Kesari’ is not a tamil word. Surprised?? (So, was I :)) It is a Sanskrit word that means ‘saffron flower’. I assume the tamil word is derived from the usage of the saffron strands in the preparation of the sweet ‘kesari’, that imparts the saffrony color to the sweet. So much so that, we refer to the food color as ‘kesari color’. I almost feel guilty writing this recipe, coss I didn’t use any saffron in my preparation of kesari. The next time I make this sweet, it will stay true to its namesake. Thats a promise.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chopped pineapple
1 1/2 cups of roasted white sooji(rava)
3 cups sugar
4 1/2 cups water
3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 tbsp chopped cashews
1 tbsp raisins
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
yellow food color – 4 drops
Method:
Add the chopped pineapple to a blender, and pulse so that you have a slightly grainy pulp. Remove. Measure 4 1/2 cups of water and use it to rinse the blender, making sure you get every bit of pineapply flavor out of it.
In a nonstick pan, over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp ghee, add the cashews and fry until golden brown. Add the raisins and fry until they plump up. In the same pan, add the rava, and fry till golden brown and a nice aroma hits you, remove and cool. I had double roasted rava on hand, and so I skipped this step. Add the water, to the same pan and bring to a boil. Add the pinch of salt to the water. When the water boils, remove the pan from the heat and add the rava. Switch to a whisk now, if you have one and slowly incorporate the rava into the water. It is not traditional to remove the pan from the heat, but I find that if you leave it on, there is a lot of spluttering, and nobody wants to make something sweet while crying from pain. :)
Keep whisking, off the heat, until the rava absorbs a little bit of water and is becoming this homogenous mass. Make sure there are no lumps. Now return the pan to the stovetop, still whisking. This is not a dish, where you can leave it on the stove and walk away, it needs a lot of babying, just to make sure there are no lumps. When the rava is completely cooked, add the sugar, and mix well. The sugar will make the mixture liquidy, don’t be alarmed. Let it cook and incorporate into the rava. As it thickens, add the pinapple pulp to the kesari. Add the cardamom powder, the fried cashews and raisins and the yellow food color. After mixing in all the ingredients, slowly add the 2 tbsp ghee, and mix until the kesari forms together and starts leaving the sides of the pan. Switch off stove, enjoy!
This recipe uses way less ghee than it is supposed to. Naturally, it won’t taste as rich as the fall of the spoon, kovil prasadham types. Feel free to add more sugar/ghee to add richness.


Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Panakam,Neer Moor(Spiced Buttermilk) and VadaPappu --> Sri Rama Navami


Panakam,Neer Moor(Spiced Buttermilk) and VadaPappu


Ram Navami (Rama Navami) will be celebrated by Hindu devotees worldwide on Tuesday (8 April).

The Hindu festival commemorates the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya of Ayodhya.

Lord Vishnu incarnated himself in the form of Lord Rama to destroy Ravana, according to Hindu mythology.

The auspicious occasion will be celebrated on the ninth day of Chaitra month (March-April) in the Hindu lunar calendar. Besides celebrating the birth of Lord Rama, the day is also observed as the marriage day of Rama and Sita.

Significance of Ram Nava

Lord Rama was the embodiment of truth and morality. He was a righteous king, an ideal son, an ideal husband and a loving brother. He is considered as an eternal symbol of human ideals.

Ram Navami celebrations begin on Gudi Padwa, which falls on the first day of the Chaitra month, and ends on the ninth day.

This year's Ram Navami falls on 8 April. Hindu devotees across the country will be celebrating Ram Navami by offering prayers to the Lord.

Several devotees would visit sacred places like Ayodhya, the birthplace of Rama and Rameshwaram among others to seek blessings from the Lord. They will make repeated chants of the holy name of Rama, which is known as the "Taraka Mantra."

It is said that by uttering Lord Rama's name, one can get rid of their sins and attain salvation. There is a belief that repeated chants of his name help one to attain purity, peace, joy and prosperity.

The Lord himself had said, "Repetition of My name once is equal to the repetition of one thousand names of God or to the repetition of a Mantra one thousand times," according to "hindupedia."

How Ram Navami is Celebrated?

Many devotees celebrate the festival by observing fast on the auspicious occasion. Lord Rama figurines will be richly adorned and special prayers will be offered to the Lord. "Ramayana," the Hindu epic which involves the life of Lord Rama is read in temples.

Bhajans, songs and dances are performed on this day. People wear new clothes and prepare special dishes.

In south India, since the auspicious day is also considered as the marriage day of Rama and Sita, temple priests perform a wedding ceremony called "Kalyanotsavam."

On this day, devotees clean their house and decorate it with colours. They also adorn the entrance doors with mango leaves, which signify prosperity.

Devotees perform special prayers to the Lord and make dishes like Panakam (Jaggery mixed with water) and Kosambri (soaked lentles).

Sunday, 6 April 2014

Pongal Special->Ven Pongal,Sweet Pongal,Kalavai sambar(Mixed Vegetable Sambar),Chutney,Urid dal Vada


Ven Pongal,Sweet Pongal,Kalavai sambar,Chutney,Urid dal Vada

Ven pongal is a very traditional south Indian food. No restaurant menu card in Tamil Nadu is complete without pongal. Each restaurant have their own way of preparation, the recipe below is the way most of the families in Tamil Nadu make pongal at home.

Ven pongal is not only famous in restaurants, but it is very popular in many temples in south India. This pongal is offered to god as a Neivedhyam / prasadam. Love the ven pongal given at Tirupathi temple at Andhra. Mom makes it for Krishna Jayanthi / Krishnaastami also.

Vinayak Chathurthi Special. .This time its with SESAME. . Black Chickpeas Sundal,Sesame Modhak,Sesame Ladoo,Urid Dal Vadai

Black Chickpeas Sundal,Sesame Modhak,Sesame Ladoo,Urid Dal Vadai


Hand made Vinayak Ji

Ellu Kozhukattai (Sweet Dumplings with Sesame)

Ellu Kozhukattai has sweet stuffing prepared with sesame, peanut and jaggery. Sesame, peanuts are roasted, then powdered and mixed with jaggery to give a nice flavor and taste.
Sesame is known as Ellu in Tamil and as Til in Hindi. Peanuts (or groundnuts) are known as Nilakadalai or Verkadalai in Tamil and as Moongphali/Mungfali/Singdhana in Hindi.

Saturday, 5 April 2014

Simple Andhra Pulihora sugessted by Sri Durga Golla and Spinach Masala Vada (Puratasi Perumal Padayal)

Puratasi masam Perumal padayal
Thalu is a offering/padayal for Lord Venkateshwara. The Purattasi month starts last week and it is a famous month for Lord Venkatesh and especially the Saturdays. So last Saturday, the first Saturday of the month of purattasi, we did pooja and in that Thalu is a Special one. Its lika a cocktail – a mixture of all fruits and rice variety…. It tastes heavenly and I simply love it from my childhood days. I havr already posted how to make all other varieties. . But in this post,am gonna let you know Pulihora as suggested by +Sridurga G and Spinach masala vada. .

Thursday, 27 March 2014

DrumStick arachivita Sambar,Masala Vadai,Kathrika Poriyal,White Chickpeas Sundal

White Rice,DrumStick arachivita Sambar,Masala Vadai,Kathrika Poriyal,White Chickpeas Sundal and Applam. .

 “Arachu Vitta”  means grinding the roasted spices to masala pwd. The speciality of this recipe , is the addition of  freshly ground masala to the sambar, instead of using the regular sambar pwd. 


This recipe  tastes unique & more delicious than the normal sambar . We can use any preferred vegetables like carrot, raddish, drumstick, okra,  etc.. !

At our home, when we’re bored of making sambar with instant sambar pwd, we simply love this way of making tangy tonguetickling sambar, &  it makes an excellent combo with  idly,  dosa,  pongal,  vada  etc.   We can have more idlies or rice with this flavorful samba

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Pongal - Thai Thirunal

Pongal is a harvest festival - the Tamil equivalent of Thanksgiving. In an agriculture based civilization the harvest plays an important part. The farmer cultivating his land depends on cattle, timely rain and the Sun. Once a year, he expresses his gratitude to these during the harvest festival. With the end of the wet month of Margazhi (mid December to mid January) the new Tamil month ofThai heralds a series of festivals. The first day of this month is a festival day known as "Pongal Day". Pongal means the "boiling over" of milk and rice during the month of Thai.
Pongal - Thai Thirunal


Monday, 24 March 2014

Baby Shower Menu

Indian Baby Shower Menu
This was my Baby Shower Menu. I celebrated in Düsseldorf,Germany with couple of my indian friends. It was really cool. May be it looks like many,but believe it or not it took just 1 hour for me to make all these. I cooked 4 kilos of SONA MASOORI rice. Then I divided it into 5 groups.
From left its  COCONUT RICE, LEMON RICE, ANDHRA PULIHORA, PUDHINA RICE,CURD RICE,VERMICELLI KESARI. Now you will let know how I made all these,all alone :).