Almond Halwa/Badham Halwa

Ingredients:

Almonds - 1 cup
sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 1 Stick.
water - 9 table spoon.
saffron - 1 pinch ( optional )

Method:

Melt the butter to get the clarified ghee and keep it ready (we would need 6 tsp + 12 tsp altogether)

Soak almonds in a bowl of water. Microwave for 5 minutes, drain the water, skin comes off easily.Remove all the skin.

In a blender add almonds and add water little by little to make a fine paste ( if you add more water, it will take long time to cook. I used 9 table spoon of water to grind the almonds to a fine paste.If you think you need some more water, add 1 or 2 table spoon to grind).

Heat a wide pan(this helps cooking the almods evenly), add the almond paste and sugar

.Keep strring in low flame.Sugar would tend to leave some water.

keep stirring, at one stage it would start to thicken up, add 3 tsp of ghee.keep stirring.Again add 3 tsp of ghee. At this stage if you want you can add saffron.( Crush the saffron in the pestel with 1/4 tsp sugar and add it)

when you push the almond/sugar paste from the edge to the centre of the pan with the spatula, it will not come back to the edge of the pan immediately and it will take some time to come back( it will not be very watery).At this stage turn off the flame. Yes you read it right 'TURN OFF'. now keep adding 2 tsp of ghee in intervals and keep stirring( i added 2 tsp of ghee for every 2 minutes, totally i added 12 tsp ).After 10 to 12 minutes you would see the halwa would have tightened up really well though you have turned off the flame 10 minutes back.

Thats the key thing, turn off the flame when they are 3/4th cooked, after 10 to 15 it will tighten up very well.I learnt this trick from my friend's cousin Suji.

You can leave it as it is and use a spoon to serve.If you want them to be pieces .Line a plate/tray with the parchment paper/wax paper .Grease the parchement papaer with few drops of ghee.Spread the almond halwa and smooth the top surface.Make desired shape with your kinfe.Store it in a airtight box and relish your Almond Halwa!

Urid dhal Vada / Ulundhu Vadai

Ingredients:
Urid dhal - 1 cup ( I used the cup that came with rice cooker, instead of Measuring cup. 1 rice cooker
                               cup = 3/4 cup in measuring cup)
Toor dhal - 1 tsp
Raw rice - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
water - 1/2 cup to grind ( In rice cooker cup)

optioal items:
Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
cilantro - little finely chopped
curry leaves - little finely chopped
ginger - little finely chopped

Method:
Soak the urid dhal, raw rice and thoor dhal in water for not more than 2 hours.
Drain the water completely.
I ground them finely using the grinder for about 13 to 15 minutes, add water little by little to make it a thick paste. If you add more water it will absorb lot of oil when you fry the vadai.
Approximately i used 1/2 cup of water to make the vada batter.
Before switching off the grinder add the needed salt.
I made few vadai before adding onion and other ingredients for the sake of my lil one.

Add onion, cilantro,curry leaves and ginger to the batter just before frying, else the onion would leave water and make the batter watery. Mix well.
I used ziploc bags to make the vadai. Before making each vadai, wet the hand and  wipe the ziplock cover with the water. Take a small ball of the batter, flatten it and make a hole in the middle
Heat oil in a pan for deep frying, when it is hot drop them gently, fry well on both sides and then remove from oil.

Serve with chutney.


Tip: To check the consistency of the vadai, drop a ball of batter in a cup of water. The batter should float in the water. If it sinks or dissolves means the batter is too watery.

Coconut chutney - Version 4

Asusual running out of time and wanted to do something simple. At the same time wanted to explore different varieties of chutney. This is one of the kind which my mom does.
Ingredients:
  Grated Coconut - 1 cup
  Dhaliya/pottukadalai/Fried Gram dal - 2 Table spoon
  Dry red chillies - 5 ( Mine are not hot )
  Ginger - 1/2 inch 
  Tamrind - 2 blueberry size.
  Salt - to taste

To Temper :
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urid dhal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring 


Method :

 Grind all the ingredients together with the needed water to a fine paste . 

 Heat oil in a pan, when the oil is hot, add the Mustard seeds, once they splutter add the urid dhal & curry  leaves.  Turn off the heat. Pour them on top of the ground chutney and give a mix.

Serve with hot Idly, dosa or pongal.

Tomato chutney version1

I wanted to make a quick side dish for dosa this morning. All that came into my mind was this spicy red chutney. They go good with Idli/dosa/vellai paniyaram/appam/kuzhi paniyaram.
Ingredients:
Chopped Tomatoes - 1 and 1/2 cup
Chopped red onion - 1/3 cup
Grated fresh coconut 1/4 cup
Red chilly - 9 ( mine are small and not that spicy )
Salt - As needed
Oil - 3 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp


Method:

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, once hot add the onions and chilly, sauté for few minutes.
Add the tomatoes and cook until they turn mushy.
Turn off the gas and add the grated coconut. Give a stir and let it cool.

Grind them in the mixer with the needed salt and I used little more than 1/4 cup of water while grinding.

Heat 1 tsp of oil and when it's hot add the mustard seeds, let it splutter. Pour them on top of the chutney. Give a good mix before serving.

Note: adjust the chilly according to your spice level.

Black eyed peas Vadai

 I have never tried any recipe with Black eyed peas. I recently had this at my friends place and really liked it. Got the recipe from her and tried it today for lunch. But you can either make for lunch or serve as appitizer too. Simple recipe but it needs some planning as you have to soak the peas for atleast 8 hours.
Ingredients:
Black eyed Peas/ Kaaramani - 1/2 cup
chopped onion - 1/4 cup
finely chopped ginger - 1 tsp
green chilly - 2
fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jeera - 1/4 tsp
finely chopped curry leaves - 1 spring
finely chopped Cilantro - 1 fist.
salt - to taste
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

soak the Black eyed peas ( over night or at least 8 hours ). Wash and drain the water  completely.

In a mixier add the drained Black eyed peas, green chilly , fennel seeds and Jeera, Make a paste with out adding any water. Water from the peas is good enough to make the paste. Paste should not be too fine nor too coarse.
Add salt, chopped onion , ginger, curry leaves, cilantro to the ground paste.Mix well.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
Drop a a pinch of the mixture in the oil and check if the oil is hot enough.

Make small balls out of this mixutre and flatten it between the palm and gently drop them in the oil.Fry both sides well until then become golden brown on all sides in medium flame.

Serve them when they are hot! Once it cools down, it tends to become little hard.

Kavuni arisi Payaasam

In the recent days i hear a lot about this Payaasam. Kavuni arisi(black rice) is so popular in chettinad cuisine. This was in my list for a long time and finally got a chance to try it out for a get together. It was a big hit and thought of sharing it with you all. Hardly 4 ingredients and it makes the magic. Here comes the recipe.

Ingredients:
Kavuni arisi /Black rice - 1/2 cup ( soak for at least 4 hours )
sugar - 1 cup
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup ( I used canned coconut milk )
Milk - 4 cups
Water - 3 cups

Procedure:
Soak 1/2 cup of Kavuni arisi in water for at least 4 hours .

 Drain the  water and make them a coarse paste in the Mixier. Don't grind it too fine. Soak the coarsely ground paste in 1 cup of water. Keep it aside while we boil the milk.

Dilute the canned coconut milk. Mix 1/2 of coconut milk with 1/2 cup of water and keep it ready.
In a heavy bottom pot, add 4 cups of milk ( I used 2% Milk ) and 1.5 cups of water. Bring them to boil, make to stir in between to avoid burning at the bottom.

Once the milk comes to boil, add 1 cup of sugar and the ground paste with the water. Boil for another 15 minutes. Stir frequently , else the ground paste would become a thick mass here and there and it would change the consistency of the payaasam.

After 15 minutes add the diluted coconut milk and let it boil for another 5 minutes and then turn off the gas.
You can either serve once they cool down or refrigerate for couple of hours and serve cold.

Corriander Mint rice

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice - 1 and 1/4 cup
Ghee
Oil

For the paste:
Corriander - 1/2 cup
Mint          - 1 cup
garlic        - 3 cloves ( big )
ginger       -equivalent to that of garlic
shallots     - 7
Cinammon/pattai       - 2 pieces
cloves/krambu   - 2 pieces
Cardamom/elachi     - 2 pieces
Grated coconut   - 1/4 cup



Method:

Cook the rice in the rice cooker or pressure cooker. The grains should be separate and rice should not be mushy.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in   a pan. When the oil is hot , add the items under 'For the Paste' and saute them for few minutes. Let it cool and make a fine thick paste with just enough water to grind.

Heat 1 table spoon of oil and 1 table spoon of ghee. Add the ground paste and saute for few minutes. Turn off the gas, Add the cooked rice and gently mix them well. Make sure not to break the rice. Once rice and the paste is mixed well, close with the lid and turn on the gas again and cook in low flame for 10 to 15 minutes.

If you remove the lid and mix immediately after turning off the flame, rice would be sticking to the bottom of the pan. so let it sit covered for few minutes after turning off the gas. Serve hot with Raitha!

Almond chutney

Ingredients :

Almonds - 1/4 cup

Grated coconut - 1/3 cup

Tamarind - 1 blueberry size

Green chilly -  4 ( big )

Salt - as per your taste 

Method :

Microwave almonds with water for 3 minutes , let it cool for few minutes, peel the skin.

Add all the ingredients and grind in the mixer with water .

The consistency is not to thick nor too thin.

It tasted great with hot idlies and dosa.

I did not temper, but if you want you can add tempering.