Cooking is a form of 'tapasya' to me. I chant mantra while cooking. To many a new bride, managing the kitchen may be a stressful experience. I would like to make their task easier by sharing the experience I gained over the years.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Lauki (bottle gourd) kheer
Lauki
or dudhi is 90% water and is easy to digest. It has a calming and cooling
effect. Lauki juice reduces blood pressure and keeps the heart healthy.
According to Ayurveda, it reduces liver inflammation.
Ingredients:
Lauki - 500 gms
Sugar - ½ cup
Milk - 1 liter
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
Nutmeg powder - ¼ tsp
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Method:
Heat the milk with some
malai and let it simmer and thicken. Peel and grate the lauki. Heat a pan, add
1 tablespoon ghee and toss in the grated lauki. Reduce the flame and stir the
lauki. Cover and let it cook.
By the time the lauki is
cooked, the milk will be thickened. Take it off the flame and mix in the lauki.
Keep on low flame and add the sugar, raisins, cardamom and nutmeg powder.
Simmer for another five minutes and add cashew nuts fried in a little ghee. It
is a delicious, low calorie sweet dish
Monday, February 24, 2014
Mung dal (green gram dal) halwa
Ingredients;
Mung dal - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups
Cardamom powder - ½ tsp
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts -1 tbsp
Ghee - ¾ cup
Method;
Powder the mung dal in
mixer.
Heat ghee in a pan, add the powdered mung dal and reduce the flame.
Keep
stirring till the color changes to light brown.
Add sugar, stir for a while and
add the water and raisins.
Cover and let it cook on low flame, occasionally
stirring it. When it is quite thick, add cardamom powder, stir well and remove
from fire. The cashew nuts can be fried in a little ghee and mixed in.
Jowar dosa
Jowar is the Indian name for
sorghum (white millet), a cereal grain native to Africa .
It has a higher content of calcium when
compared to rice and wheat, .Jowar is a gluten-free, high-protein,
cholesterol-free source of a variety of essential nutrients, including dietary
fiber, iron, phosphorus and thiamine. It is considered a weight loss food item.
Ingredients;
Jowar - 1 cup
Udad dal - ¼ cup
Rice rava -3/4 cup
Salt to taste
Water
Method:
Soak jowar and udad dal for
12 hours and grind. Just before grinding, soak rice rava in water.
After grinding the jowar and
udad dal, add salt and the drained rice rava into the mixer. Run the mixer just
to blend the rice rava well into the jowar dal mix. Don’t do it for long time.
Leave overnight for fermentation.
Mix well, add water if necessary to make into a thick batter. Make dosas and
serve with coconut chutney.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Puttu
Puttu is a very popular breakfast in Kerala. It takes very
little time and attention to prepare. My mother was a working woman, so
throughout our childhood, we had puttu for breakfast on working days. Week ends
were for dosa or appam. In spite of eating it on every single working day for
many years, it is still a favorite dish of mine, so much so that my husband
calls me fondly ‘Puttu swami.’
This is a very versatile dish too; you can make puttu with
rice flour, wheat flour, semolina, ragi flour, and maize flour. Each has its
own distinct flavor! You can have puttu with ghee, sugar & plantains, or green
gram boiled and seasoned (add papadams too), or black chana (kadala)curry.
Ingredients:
Rice flour - 11/2 cup
Freshly scraped coconut - ½ cup (you may substitute it with desiccated coconut
filings)
Salt -
to taste
Hot water -
roughly 1/4 cup
Method:
Mix the rice flour well with salt and ¼ cup coconut
scrapings. Add water little by little, keep on mixing this into the flour with
finger tips till you get a crumbly texture. The flour should get moistened
uniformly, but should not get sticky. To check the consistency, take a pinch of
the flour between your thumb and fore finger and press it. It should hold a
flattened shape, but again crumble down when you roll it between the thumb and
forefinger.
You should have a puttu steamer to cook.
Put the pot and steamer on fire and when the water boils and steam starts coming out, reduce the flame, take out the steamer, sprinkle coconut scrapings inside to form the bottom layer. Add ladlefuls of the prepared flour halfway through. Now add another layer of coconut scrapings, again flour. Finally, add another layer of coconut. Put the lid on and replace the steamer over the pot and increase the flame. When the steam starts coming out through the top of the steamer, reduce the flame and let it cook for ten minutes.
Put the pot and steamer on fire and when the water boils and steam starts coming out, reduce the flame, take out the steamer, sprinkle coconut scrapings inside to form the bottom layer. Add ladlefuls of the prepared flour halfway through. Now add another layer of coconut scrapings, again flour. Finally, add another layer of coconut. Put the lid on and replace the steamer over the pot and increase the flame. When the steam starts coming out through the top of the steamer, reduce the flame and let it cook for ten minutes.
Unmould puttu by pressing through the mould gently using the stem of a
spatula.
Maize puttu with green gram:
10 April 2020
There was American corn at home today. Grated this and added to the maize flour while making puttu. It blended beautifully and imparted a nice aroma to the puttu.
There was American corn at home today. Grated this and added to the maize flour while making puttu. It blended beautifully and imparted a nice aroma to the puttu.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)