Pottukadalai Murukku

    Pottukadalai Murukkus...…. very yummy....crispy.. With so many years of experience in cooking and having tried some recipes with Idiappam Flour, it is still a big surprise to me that the Idiappam Flour can make the Murukkus so crispy and white in color without adding butter or ghee. Ghee or butter can be used for enhanced taste. 

Ingredients:

Idiappam Flour   2 cups

Pottukadali    1/2  cup

Cummin / Zeeragam   2 tsp.

Oil, Salt, Hing

Method:

Powder the Pottukadalai . Sieve the flours and mix all the ingredients except oil, well. Boil 3 cups of water. After the water starts boiling, add slowly to the the flour and make a dough, not rigid nor very loose. This may roughly require 3 cups of boiling water. It may vary according to the texture of the rice flour. Add 2 tbsp. of hot oil. Mix well.

Using the Murukku mould with the 3 or 5 holed disc, press into the hot oil, 3 to 5 Murukkus, depending on the size of the Kadai. When half cooked, flip to the other side. Remove from the oil once the bubbles disappear .Repeat till the dough gets over. 

Very important that only Idiappam Flour and boiling water should be used for crispy, tasty and white Murukkus. If only ordinary flour is at home, it can be dry roasted and used.

Repreparation Time: 10 minutes 

Preparation    40 minutes

Finished product   500 grams

Milagu / Pepper Kara Sevu

         Often Kara Sevu with Garlic and Zeeragam is only prepared by me. Now, Milagu Sevu is also prepared by me. It is very easy to make but the taste is very good.

                                                              Milagu Kara Sevu



Ingredients :

Besan Flour / Kadalai Mavu     2 cups
Rice Flour   1/2  cup
Pepper powder  1 tbsp
Salt. Hing, Oil


Method:

Seive the flours and make a dough with all the ingredients except oil. Add water slowly and make a dough, neither rigid nor loose.


Heat the oil, add a tablesoon of hot oil to the dough and mix well. 

Using the Murukku mould, press the dough into the oil,in a circular form, using the disc with 3 holes. Flip to the other side, break into small pieces, using the laddle. Once the bubbles disappear, remove from the oil. The whole dough can be pressed in 6 to 7 batches in less than 30 minutes, using a medium Kadai and 2 cups of oil.

Crunchy Kara Sevu is ready in 30 minutes. For soft Sevu, 1 tbsp. of butter or Ghee can be added instead of hot oil.

Easy Dosai Batter

                      Some 3 decades back, before buying the wet grinder, Idli and Dosai batter were occasionally made in the mixer, soaking  Urad Dhal and Rice in in the ratio of 1; 3. They have to be ground separately and mixed, little bit time consuming and tedious. The Dosais were not bad and the Idlis were not soft. With the advent of the wet grinders, this method went into a state of oblivion.


                   Now the members of the family getting reduced to just three with the children getting married and moving away, our intake is also comparatively getting less with age. So the mixer jar has become very handy and easy. Both Urad Dhal and the Rice are soaked together with a bit of Fenugreek and Toor Dhal. The batter is perfect. Yummy are the Dosais and Idlis are not bad.

                   
                   The batter also gets fermented in 6 to 7 hours. As the salt is not mixed initially and mixed only at the time of making the Dosais or Idlis, the batter never becomes frothy but gets fermented; may be because of the Toor Dhal. Only soaking is a matter of concern. For small families and for kids, this is easier than getting the batter across the counter. Even 2 cups of Rice together with the required Urad Dhal and Toor Dhal can be soaked and ground in two batches. Yummy golden brown Dosais can be prepared after fermentation.

Ingredients :

Idli Rice     3/ 4 cup.
Raw Rice   1/4 cup.
Urad Dhal  1/ 5 cup.
Toor Dhal    1 tbsp.
Fenugreek   1 tsp.


Method :

Wash and soak all the ingredients together for 4 hours.

Grind to a fine paste in the large mixer jar, adding water, just to the level of the ingredients,added  in the jar. Even little more water can be added. The grinding takes less than 4 minutes, that can be done for 2 plus 2 minutes with a pause for a minute. Make to a fine paste and transfer to a container and the let the batter be loose. Add salt at the time of preparing the Dosais after six hours. In winter, fermentation takes more time.

8 medium sized yummy Dosais can be prepared after 5 to 6 hours in Summer and 6 to 7 hours in winter,

Thattai

             Thattai is a very common evening snack item. No idea as to why this recipe has not been by posted me. Well and good that, now there is an easy version, which is also very tasty and crispy.

Thattai

Ingredients:

Idiappam Rice flour 1 cup.
Pottukadalai Flour 1 tbsp.
Urad  Dhal Flour   1tbsp.
Channa Dhal 2 tbsp.
Zeeragam / Black or White Sesame  1 tsp.
Garlic   10 pods
Chilly Powder 0.5 tsp.
Hing,  Salt, Curry Leaves, Oil to fry.


Method:



Soak the Channa Dhal for an hour. 

If Idiappam flour is not available at home, slightly dry roast the ordinary home made or store bought rice flour. Similarly if Urad Dhal flour or Pottukadalai Flour is out of stock, slightly dry roast the Urad Dhal. Powder the Urad Dhal and the Pottukadalai separately in a small mixer jar. Sieve all the three flours and mix well with the salt.

Drain the water from the soaked Channa Dhal and using the whipper button, break them a little in the small mixer jar. Add with the flours. Grind the Garlic pods in the same jar and add.

Add the Curry Leaves, Hing, Chilly Powder and 1 tbsp. of hot oil. Mix well. Add water and knead into a dough, not very hard and not very loose. Make into small balls.

Take 2 plastic sheets of 12 x 10 inches. Smear with oil. Place 6 or 7 balls with space for expanding, when pressed. Cover with another oil smeared sheet. Press using a flat bottomed bowl, preferably, a coffee dhabara. 

Heat oil moderately, remove the Thattais gently from the sheet and drop in the oil. Flip to the other side. Remove from the oil once the bubbles disappear. The frying will be over in 4 or 5 batches. Now the very crispy Thattais are ready.

Preparation Time 10 minutes.
Frying Time   25 Minutes.
Finished Product   25 Thattais

Oats Dosai Mix

          This Oats Dosai has been common, nearly for the last one decade but not in our menu for some reasons.  Now various combinations were tried by me for past 6 months and found one easy and good recipe. The taste is very good and Oats is recommended very much,especially as a low carb food item.

  If the mix is prepared, it comes very handy for immediate use.

                                                                  Oats Dosai

Ingredients :

Rolled Oats :   2 cups
Rice Flour 1 cup
Sooji/ Rava   0.5 cup
Pepper   2 tsp.
cummin / Zeeragam  2 tsp.
Hing , Salt

Method :

 Dry roast the Oats in a Kadai for 2 to 3 minutes with the Pepper, Zeera and Hing.Cool.

 Powder the Oats in a big mixer jar. Add the Rice Flour and the Rava/ sooji( not 
 necessary to roast, if only roasted is available at home, it is okay) and Salt to taste.
 Blend well and we get a very good aroma of ground Pepper, Cummin and Hing.
 Store in an airtight container and use, when needed.

 For making the Dosai, mix 1 cup of the mix with water into a Dosa batter consistency 
 and set aside for 20 minutes.Add finely chopped Onion, Curry Leaves,
 Coriander Leaves and Ginger. Mix well and add water and make a watery batter as 
 for Rava Dosai. Heat the dosai Tawa, pour the batter and pour as done for the Rava 
 Dosai without touching the Tava. Pour oil as per taste, flip to the other side and remove
 when get roasted, The very tasty Oats Roast Dosai is ready. About 5 Dosais can be
 prepared from 1 cup of Mix.

Pachaipayaru Kuzhambu

              This gravy was learnt from one of my collegues.  This is very popular in Coimbatore and is known that Pachaipayaru is also very good for health. Most of the people dry roast  the Payaru and pressure cook. My preference is to soak the Payaru for 4 to 5 hours and then cook for 2 or 3 whistles. That seems soft and tasty for me. Nowadays, once in a week, the grain is soaked and sprourted by me. That is used for salads, sundal and gravy. This Kuzhambu tastes very well, mixed with hot rice, ghee and a little bit spicy Poriyal as a side dish or with Vathal or vadagam.

Pachaipayaru  Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Pachaipayaru   0.5 cup
Small onions   15
Garlic  8 pods.
Coriander seeds, Zeeragam  1 tsp each
Coconut Oil 2 tbsp
Green chillies 4
Tomatoes  3
Salt, Curry Leaves,  Coriander seeds, Turmeric powder

Method :

Dry roast the Payaru and pressure cook by adding 2 cups of water,Turmeric Powder, Garlic, Green chillies and Tomatoes for 6 to 8 whisles,

Heat the oil in a Kadai, add the Mustard and the Coriander seeds. Then add the Curry Leaves and the small onions. If the small onions are big, can be sliced. Saute on medium flame till it becomes golden brown.

Open the cooker, once the steam subsides. Add the onion and salt. Mash with a wooden laddle or an electric blender for a few seconds.The tasty and healthy Pachapayaru Kuzhambu is ready,

Kadalai Mavu Murukku

          This is again a very easy version of Murukku. Two varieties of Murukku, I uesd to prepare. First one using, dried rice flour and Urad Dhal flour. The Urad Dhal Murukku has a unique flavour and this is very much relished by some of my friends, hailing from our hometown, Tirunelveli, may be termed even as biased. The other variety was known to me after we started living in Coimbatore. Here the people make Murukkus by grinding the Idli Rice in a wet grinder and mixing it with pottukadali powder. This has a very good taste where as the Urad Dhal Murukku has an aroma. Anyway, both come handy for me.

      This Kadalai Mavu Murukku was tried by me some four months back; the Murukkus were very crispy and tasty. Just by taking 2 cups of rice flour and 1 cup of Beasn Flour, the work gets over in 30 minutes, No grinding, no powdering. Both flours are available across the counter, right from small shops.

                                                 Kadalai Mavu Murukku

Ingredients :

Rice Flour    2 cups
Besan Flour/ Kadalai Mavu  1 cup
Salt  1 tsp.
Hing, Cummin, Oil


Method :

1. Seive both the flours. Mix well. Add salt to taste, Hing and 1 tsp of Cummin and 2 tsp.    of hot oil. Mix well. Add water little by little and make a dough, neither very hard nor   loose.

2. Press the dough into the hot oil using a Murukku mould in round shapes in batches of      four of five depending upon the size of the Kadai. Flip to the other and remove from oil, once the bubbles disappear.

Wheat Flour Dessert

               This is a very easy to prepare dessert in a short time with the common ingredients in the kitchen. Yet the taste is rich.

Ingredients :

Wheat Flour      1/2 cup
Milk                  1 cup
Sugar               3/4  cup.
Milk Powder       2 tsp.
Sooji                 2 tsp.
Cardamom Powder, Oil.


Method :

1. Mix the wheat flour, milk, milk powder, Sooji and a pinch of Cardamom powder with a whisker to a fine batter like Idli batter.

2. Mix the sugar with 3/4 cup of water and let it boil for 2 minutes.Add a pinch  
    of Cardamom Powder.

3. Heat oil in a kadai.Pour the batter with the laddle in round shapes in batches  of four of five. Flip to the other side in a low flame. Once the bubbles dissappear, remove from the oil and squeeze the oil by pressing in between   two perforated laddles.
    
4, Soak in the sugar syrup for 20 minutes, remove and arrange in a tray.
   Garnish with finely chopped, dry nuts. A tasty and rich dessert is ready.