Nellikkai Thokku was tried by me for the first time only today as my sister in law gave me some fresh Nellikkais, passed on to her by one of her friends. She also casually told me that, this time she tried Nellikkai Thokku.Usually we make only Nellikkai Pickle by cutting them into pieces.So my thanks to her for her reference.She had sliced the Nellikkais into small pieces and ground them into a coarse paste. But I grated them as they were big enough to be held in the hand and grated.
Nellikkai Thokku
Ingredients : Medium Size Nellikkai 8 to 10 Oil 4 tbsp. Chilly Powder 2 to 3 tsp. Jaggery Powder 2 tsp. Roasted and powdered Fenugreek / Fenugreek Powder 1/2 tsp. Salt, Mustard, Hing, Turmeric Powder Method : 1. Grate the Nellikkai or grind them in a mixer after slicing.Do not discard the seeds. Pour 1/2 cup of water,take the dicoction after 1 hour. Drink it as it is very good for health. Two or three dicoctions can be taken. 2. Heat the oil in a Kadai, add Mustard, Hing and later the Nellikkai paste. 3. Saute on a medium flame with constant stirring.Add Turmeric Powder. 4. After 5 mins. add salt, the Chilly and Fenugreek Powder.Mix well. 5. After 5 mins. add the Jaggery Powder and stir for 2 mins.Switch off.The nutritious home made Thokku is ready.
Roasted Rice Flour is very handy for preparing Puttu, Idiappam, Kozhukattai etc.I always have atleast 4 cups of roasted rice flour at home. This roasted rice flour is now available at all stores. For people who have time and above that who can manage to shell out time and those are little economical, this flour can be prepared at home easliy.
By soaking 5 cups( 1 Kg. ) of rice, drying and grinding the semi dried rice in the grinding mill, we can get 10 cups of wet flour.The wet flour should be roasted immediately within an hour after bringing from the mill.
Roasted Rice Flour
Ingredients :
Wet Rice Flour 10 cups. ( Refer to my post Home Made Rice Flour )
Method :
1. Heat a thick bottomed Kadai and dry roast 3 or 4 cups. of flour at a time depending on the size of your Kadai.I use a heavy Aluminium Kadai called Calcutta Chatti.Though it is called by the name Calcutta, it is available even in small towns and small shops that sell stainless steel and Aluminium utensils.
2. Keep on stirring continuously till the soft texture of the flour becomes little coarse like fine sand or Kola Mavu.It takes nearly 5 mins. and we can easily identify that coarse texture. Tranfer to a big tray or paper. Repeat again with the wet flour.10 cups of rice flour can be roasted in 3 or 4 times.Small lumps may be there. Do not worry.
3. The roasted flour must be sieved using a fine seiving plate.This sieving can be done leisurely after roasting.Powder the residue lumps in a mixer using the big jar. Sieve again. Only a little residue may be left.That can be mixed with Kola Mavu, Adai Mavu, Rice Uppuma Mavu etc. according to your mind set.
4.By roasting 10 cups of flour, we can get 5 cups of roasted flour.The simple calculation is by soaking 5 cups of rice, we can get 5 cups of dried or roasted flour.
Note :
I always soak 10 cups ( 2 Kgs. ) of rice, dry and get the semi dried rice finely powdered in the machine.We can get 20 cups of wet flour from the mill.
One half of the flour ( 10 cups ), I dry on a big tray or newspaper inside the room for 4 or 5 days.Then I sieve it.I can get 5 cups of dried rice flour after 4 or 5 days.This I call Home Made Rice Flour. This can be stored for 3-4 months.
The other half ( 10 cups ), I roast as soon as possible after bringing from the machine.We can get 5 cups of roasted rice flour.
This Moong Dhal Halwa is similar to the Popular Gujarati sweet called Moong Dal Sheera, can be said to be a simplified version.It is also tasty,can be prepared with a prior notice of 2 hrs.as soaking time is required. This sweet gives a change from the Rawa Kesari. But Raw Kesari is the King of all sweets to be prepared just in 30 mins.to serve 4 without prior intimation.
Moong Dhal Halwa
Ingredients :
Moong Dhal / Pasiparuppu 1/2 cup Sugar 3/4 cup Ghee 1/4 cup Saffron, Cardamom Powder, Nuts
Method :
1. Soak Moong Dhal for 1 hour and grind coarsely in a mixer with minimum water.
2.Soak the Saffron in 1 tbsp. of warm milk and set aside for 1 hour.Half cup of milk can be added for this sweet.If milk is added, more cooking time is necessary but the taste is rich.With no stock of Saffron, a pinch of permitted yellow food colour can be used.
3. Heat 2 tsp. of ghee, fry the Cashew, Badam, Pista etc. and set aside.
4. Heat the remaining Ghee in the same Kadai, add the Moong Dhal paste and keep on stirring in a medium flame.As it sticks to the sidess, use only a thick bottomed Kadai or a non stick Kadai.
5. Keep on stirring and be careful to avoid the paste from sticking to the sides.
6. Within 5 to 8 mins.the paste gets cooked as the quantity is less.
7. Add the sugar and Saffrron. Cook on a low flame for 5 mins. and switch off.Decorate with the fried nuts. A tasty and rich dessert is ready.
Rice Flour is an indispensable ingredient for almost all the snacks.Even for some snacks, made of Besan Flour, we add Rice Flour for crispness. It is also added for making Bajji, Bonda batter.This is the main ingredient for Susium.
This flour can be made easily at home, provided there is a Grinding Mill, nearby, with a Grinding Machine exclusively for grinding wet rice.
We need not go in for costly raw rice that we use for cooking.It is good to go for Mavu Pacharisi as the cost is less and the quantity of flour would be more.Even the rice supplied through PDS is good for making flour.
Many people have a stigma, attached with the PDS rice, lookig down on it, calling it " Ration Rice " as it is given free. Even, our long time maid at our home town, who is very astute otherwise, used to scorn this. May be it is false pride or something psychological.
Actually is is not free to be picked from somewhere. The Government is paying subsidy and supplying it to the people, free of cost with the intention of helping the needy.
Home Made Rice Flour
Ingredients :
Raw rice / Mavu Pacharisi 1 Kg. ( 5 cups) / 2 Kg.( 10 cups )
Method :
1. Wash and soak the rice for 2 hrs.
2. Drain the water completely and dry by spreading loose on a piece of cloth in shade, that is inside the room on a floor.If it is dried near the doorway or windows, the rice dries fast.
3. After 45 - 60 mins. if you hold the rice in the palms, it should neither be wet nor dry.
4. Take it to the machine and grind it fine in the machine for grinding wet rice.
5. Back home, spread on a newspaper for 3 to 4 days.
6. Seive the flour using a fine seive. Store in a container. This can be used for 3 to 4 months.
Note :
The difficult part is space to dry the flour for 3 to 4 days in small apartments. The fan also cannot be used in that room as the flour may get scattered. I always soak 2 Kg. as we can save the labour.
Chilly Ginger Thokku is easy and fast to prepare.As I have said in almost all the posts on Pickles, home made pickles are free from preservatives and hence harmless.
Ginger also is very good for digestion.The ingredients are very common in our kitchen.
Ginger Chilli Thokku
Ingredients :
Green Chillies 10 Ginger 50 grams. Tamarind 1 medium Lemon size Roasted and powdered Fenugreek 1/2 tsp. Powdered Jaggery 1 tbsp. Oil 4 tbsp. Mustard, Hing, Turmeric Powder Method :
1. Peel the Ginger.Slice the Ginger and Chillies. Soak Tamarind in warm water
2. Saute the sliced Chillies and Ginger in 1 tsp. of oil till the Ginger turns brown. Let them cool.
3. Grind the Chillies, Ginger,Salt, Turmeric Powder, Fenugreek, Jaggery and Tamarind to a fine paste with minimum water in a mixer.
4. Heat the remaining oil, add the Mustard, Hing and then the ground paste. Keep on stirring on a medium flame for 5 to 8 mins. till the oil separates. A digestion inducing home made pickle is ready.The quantity of ingredients can be altered to one's taste.
Puli means Tamarind.Thanni means water. So Puli Thanni means Tamarind Water, suggesting that it is Tamarind Kuzhambu.This is a Kuzhambu, which is easy and fast to prepare when the vegetables are out of stock or returning home after a break.This Kuzhambu is characteristic only of the Tirunelveli region and of the Saiva Pillai Community.This Puli Thanni must have been been discovered by the people in those days when restaurants and getting food from outside were not common.
Puli Thanni is prepared with the common ingredients but the taste is wonderful.This can be stored even outside the fridge for 2 or 3 days.
This Puli Thanni is to be mixed with plain rice, Gingelly Oil and Paruppu Thuvaial or Thengai Thuvaial.Chutta Appalam is the best side dish.
This is also prepared in the evening on the days of fasting.
Puli Thanni
To serve two : Ingredients :
Tamarind 1 Big Lemon size Small Onions 12 / 1 Big Onion Red chillies 8 Oil 2 tbsp. Salt, Turmeric Powder
1. Soak the Tamarind in warm water and take 2 cups of extract.
2. Heat the oil and add the ingredients for tempering and broken red chillies.
3. When the Mustard splutters and Channa Dhal turns slightly brown, add the sliced oinion. Saute till they turn brown.
4. Add the Tamarind extract,salt and Turmeric Powder.Mix well.Let it simmer on medium flame till it is reduced to 1 cup.The Tirunelveli spl.Puli Thanni is ready.
Note :
Nowadays, we reduce the Tamarind and add a Tomato, finely sliced.
Two green chillies can be added and the red chillies can be reduced.
1. Heat 2 tsp. of Ghee in a thick bottomed Kadai,add the Cashew and then the Wheat Flour and the Jaggery.
2. Stir constantly for 2 mins. till the flour and the jaggery blend togther.Add the Cardamom and Chukku Powders.Mix well by adding the remaining Ghee. The tasty, simple and fast to be made, offering to the Swamy is ready.
This Pasiparuppu Thuvaial is a perfect side dish to be taken with Rasam Rice,Sambar Rice or plain rice and Ghee.
During the days of fasting,in those days, people did not take anything cooked in the afternoon.They used to prepare everything fresh like Raw rice, Paruppu, Rasam etc.To make it simple and fast, they make rice,some Thuavail and Appalam.They mix plain rice, Ghee and the Thuavail.This rice taken with Appalam is said to be tastier than Amirtham, the Divine Food.
Pasiparuppu Thuvaial
To serve 2 Ingredients :
Pasiparuppu 1/2 cup Red chillies 2 Tamarind 1 small piece. Grated coconut 1 tbsp. Garlic ( optional ) 2 pods Salt, Hing
Method :
1. Heat a Tawa and dry roast the red chillies, Hing and Pasiparuppu till it starts turning brown giving out an aroma.Add the coconut in the end. Give a quick stir and switch off.Let them cool. Soak the tamarind in warm water.
2. Grind all the ingredients with salt in a mixer. Use only minimum water. The Thuvaial must be thick and not loose.The tasty Thivaial is ready.
Taste Maker powder is a name founded by me as this homemade powder enhances the taste of many Rice Varieties, Sambar, Pitlais etc.
The method of preparing this powder is a great contribution to me from my mother in law.She used to add this powder to Puliodharai in the end.In those days chillies were ground daily in the Ammi for Sambar and Kuzhambus.No Sambar Powder was sold in the shops.Not even plain Chilly powder.Everything has to be prepared at home. My mother prepared a somewhat similar powder by roasting the ingredients and powdering them in the Ural.She added it to Sambar in the end.
The present generation cannot imagine even a petty shop without the Masala Powders.After a few decades, Ammi, Attukal, Ural and Thiruvai can be found only in small regional museums like the one in Waynad.
This powder gives a very good taste when added finally to Puliodharai, Cabbage Rice, Mangai Sadham, Thengai Sadham etc.
This powder enriches the taste of Sambar very much.A very rich Bisbela can be cooked within 30 mins. with this powder.Pitlais can be made fast with this powder.
Fenugreek/ Vendhayam has numerous medicinal properties.That is why it is an indispensable ingredient in many of our recipes
Fenugreek is full of fibres. It is said to reduce Blood sugar and Cholesterol.Taking 1 tsp. of Fenugreek Powder early in the morning in an empty stomach is sure to work miracles.
Fenugreek Powder is added to all the Pickles.As powdering it immediately in small quantities for pickles is time consuming, I always roast 1/2 to 1 cup of Fenugreek,powder and store it. It is very handy as I always make Pickles at home out of different vegetables, depending on the availability and season.
Ingredients :
Vendhayam / Fenugreek 1/2 to 1 cup Hing 1 tsp.
Method :
Heat a Tawa,roast the Fenugreek till they start turning red giving out an aroma.Add the Hing Powder in the end.If the Vendhayam is allowed to cool in the same Tawa,even after switching off the stove, stir a few times at intervals.
Powder finely in the mixer and store in an airtight container.
One of the main cooking ingredients of cooking and a Natural cure for many ailments is ready.
Radish Poriyal is a different way of using it, other than the Sambar.One more way using Radish is Radish Vadai.Radish has a lot of medicinal values, especially a natural cure for shedding extra weight.
This Poriyal is a good dish for Sambar and Rasam rice.
1. Pressure cook the sliced Radish for 2 whistles with little water and salt in a small cooker.
2. Heat oil in a Kadai, add Mustard, Urad Dhal, Hing and Curry leaves.
3. Once the Mustards crack, add the sliced onions and saute till they turn brown.
4.Then add the sliced tomatoes and turmeric powder.Saute till the tomatoes shrink.
5. Add the cooked Radish, discarding the water if the water is more.That water can be drunk with Pepper powder or mixed with Rasam, Soup or Sambar. If the water is less, add with the radish.Add chilly powder and saute on a low flame for 5 mins. till the water is absorbed.The healthy and tasty Mullangi Fry is ready.
This is the Laddu version of Aval, almost same as Aval Puttu.This sweet is in Laddu form whereas Aval Puttu is in the loose, powder form.This Aval Laddu is very easy to make but tasty.
The Mini Idlies are the best option for the regular idlies.It goes well in the mini buffet hosted at home.This is well received by the children as they take it easily in a bowl.What we need is only a Mini Idli plate. There are two types. One is 4 plates X 4 mini Idlies = 16 Idlies. The other is 6 plates X 4 Idlies = 24 Idlies.
Mini idlies with Sambar
Ingredients :
Idli Batter ( refer to my post Idli, the King of Tiffin Items ) Idli Sambar Onions, Ghee Coriander leaves.
Method :
1. Cook the small Idlies.
2. Arrange 4 or 5 Idlies is bowl.
3. Pour Sambar over the Idlies.
4. Sprinkle finely sliced onion and Coriander leaves over the Idlies.The yummy Mini Idlies with Sambar is ready.Ghee can be added for extra taste and for children.
This Masala Ribbon Pakoda has a different and wonderful taste from the routine Ribbon Pakodas as Mint, Coriander leaves, Green Chillies and Ginger are used. Making it for the first time, I never anticipated the taste to be so perfect.
Masala Ribbon Pakoda
Ingredients :
Besan Flour / Kadalai Mavu 1 cup Rice Flour 1/3 cup Butter 1 tbsp. Oil, Salt, Hing
1. Finely grind the given ingredients in the mixer by adding 1/4 cup of water and stain it.
2. Mix the Besan Flour, Rice Flour, Hing and salt well.Add the stained Masala water and butter. If necessary, add more water and make a dough like the Murukku dough.Hot oil can also be added instead of butter.But only Butter gives the real taste.
3. Using the mould and the disc meant for Ribbon Pakoda, press the dough in the hot oil, flip to the other side.When the bubbles disappear, remove from oil.Repeat till the dough is over.The tasty Masala Ribbon Pakoda is ready.
