Iru puli Kuzhambu

This is an old  dish , a  forgotten dish , a tasty one, my mom used to prepare this .
Today I prepared  this irupuli kuzhambu  with  tomato koottu , a super combination .
Ingredients:
 Any  country vegetables- I used  brinjal,  chow chow, white pumpkin, carrot, beans,  avaraikai,
 - total  3 cups , chopped little bigger  chunks
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
 Tamarind-  1 gooseberry size
For  roastingand grainding :
 Red chillies- 3
 Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
 Thur dal -  3 tsp( I used  2 tsp of urad dal also  - for flavour )
 Coconut grated - 1/2  coconut  ( 4 to 5 tsp)
 salt - to taste
 Curd - 3 tsp
 Coconut oil - for roasting,  tadka
For tadka:
 Curry leaves -   10 leaves
 Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp for tadka
Mustard - 1 tsp.
Coconut  grated - 2 tsp (  to golden colour)

 Method:
          Chop the vegetables in  big chunks and cook  with turmeric  powder  and salt .In the meanwhile  roast  the given ingredients in coconut oil (Red chillies, fenu greek,  Thur dal, urad dal ,)and  grind with  tamarind  and  grated coconut  5 tsp a thick paste .  Add  this paste  in the cooked vegetables , boil for  5 minutes  and mix well.Then add the curd ( make it as  thick  buttermilk - adjust the required consistancy ) and  boil  2 minutes , dont  boil  more time after adding the buttermilk.  Make  tadka in coconut  oil -  mustard , fenugreek, curry leaves , and   roast the cococnut till golden colour .Add the tadka .A tasty irupuli kuzhambu ready  .The name irupuli  is for  2 sour ingredients - curd and tamarind. 

Thribagam -Thirunelveli special sweet.

Every year I try a sweet for Diwali I actually want to try my hand  long back  when I came across googling. Now nobody in my house are eating sweets, so for distribution I tried my hand during Diwali , it became a hit.
Ingredients:
Besan  flour - 1 cup
Boiled  cooled Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Badam - 1 cup
Cashewnuts - 1/4 cup
Edible camphor( pacha karpooram) - a small pinch
Ghee - 1 cup

Method:
Sieve the besan without any lumps .Soak the Badam for atleast  4 hours, remove the skin  and dry the Badam completely .Or  we can microwave and  make it complete dry.
Then add the dried Badam and cashew in mixie jar  and   powder them coarsely.Run the mixie for 1 second at a time ( dont run the mixie continuously , it will become a paste since badam and cashewnut  release oil)Combine  sugar and milk in a kadai and stir continuously till it reaches one string consistancy ( approxiametely it will take 6 to 7 mins only)
Then add the sieved Besan slowly and stir continuously prevent  to form lumps.
Add 3/4 of ghee  in between and stir, at one stage the colour changes , add the   remaining 1/4 ghee and powdered  badam and cashew  stir well and off the fire ,The batter looks like dosa batter and  allow  to be in kadai for 10 mins, it will get thickened and will looklike badam halwa. We can wrap in butter paper or  pour in a greased  plate and  make small pieces.Yummy  delocious soft thribagam is ready, The taste will be similar to mysorepa/ kaju katli/ badam halwa- so the name Thribagam.

Rava Kesari with Jaggery

Usually we prepare Rava Kesari with Sugar.Actually I planned to prepare payasam  with Rava   with Jaggery as sweetner. Then  the plan changed and  when I added Jaggery it came out well  as thickened like Kesari , did nt add the  milk  with it  to dilute as Kheer /Payasam.
Ingredients :
Rava - 1 cup ( doubt roasted )
Jaggery -    1 1/4 to  1  1/2  cups.(powdered )
Cardamom - 1 tsp ( powdered)
 Cashewnut - 5 (ghee roasted)
Ghee-  4 tsp (clarified butter)
Kismis  - 2 tsp (optional)
Water - 21/2   cups

 Method:
              In a kadai  add Water  , allow to boil then add   double roasted rava , cook till  it absorb the water and cook well, then add the jaggery powder  , it becomes watery  and cook  completely  adding ghee in between while cooking .It becomes thick and  kesari  is ready with  right consistancy , add the cardamom powder and ghee roasted  cashewnuts, Now healthy delocious Rava Kesari ready to serve . I dont  add the  food colours to the kesari, because of  jaggery it gets  excellent colour.

       

Ivy gourd rasavangi

Usually I prepare rasavangi using brinjal or poosanikai ( ash gourd) , today I used ivy gourd ( kovakkai) and prepared rasavangi , it is excellent in taste ...

I used #OPOS ( one pot one shot ) method to prepare easily.
In a PC, added 2 cups of kovakkai ( sliced length wise) , added chana dal - 1 tsp, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder , salt -( as per taste - ) 1/2 tsp, cooked tur dal - 1/2 cup ( with out mashing,) rasavangi paste - 1 tbsp ( roasted chana dal , dania , red chillies , coconut gratings and made paste ) , added 1/2 cup tamarid juice( a gooseberry size tamarind soaked and extracted the water ) side ways , cook for 2 whstles , allow the steam to settle , then open the cooker , add the tadka- kadugu, urad dal , curry leaves . yummy kovakkai rasavangi is ready

#OPOS Peanut, Friedgram laddoo

Whenever we  crave  for sweet , immediately without  difficulty  we want to prepare  some sweet , 

I took some peanuts, friedgram  , jaggery ( all  ready available  ingredients in day to day cookings  ), and immediately  did  this laddo.

Ingredients :

Fried  peanuts - 1 cup

Fried gram ( pottukadalai) - 1 cup

Jaggery powder - 2 cups

Ghee  - 5 tsp

Cardamom powder - 2 tsp 

 Method :

          Add all  the ingredients in a mixie and  powder it  finely , make it as  urundais( rounds) . No need to make  the ghee warm.Preparing  in OPOS  is breeze .

Pudina thokku -- #OPOS

I prepare  usually  by open pot method  , this time  I prepared  in #OPOS method , which breeze  to   do.

 Ingredients:

 Fresh pudina  leaves -  2 cups( fully pressed   in cups measurement)

Redchillies -  5/ 6 ( if you want more spicy  you can increase the number - i used  long   size  chillies)

Tamarind paste  - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Hing - 1tsp

Jaggery - option ( 1 tsp)

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

 water - 3 tsp

oil - 1/4 cup( gingelly oil is preferrable)

 Method  --  

  In a  2L  cooker ( magic pot ) add  oil , then water  , then  add  pudina leaves  by pressing, add redchillies,  turmeric powder ,  hing, salt , jaggery  and  cover the cooker with lid and cook for   2 whistles/ 4 :30 minutes ,  then open the cooker  and blend / grind in mixie  it to   paste .

In open pot  add oil   then redchillies, then add pudina  and fry till the  aroma comes , add hind  and grind with tamarind , salt , turmeric  and jaggery , remove from mixie  and fry  till the moisture  vanishes . we cam store in fridge  for  10   days  easily , in open  for a week  with full aroma .Tasty thokku ready  to use as side dish for  dosa, idly , mix rice . 

Oma kuzhambu

This  recipe  I  got from my  Sambandhi mami , Usually she   tells  me  I prepared Oma kuzhambu , I am not used  to that , she gave the recipe, then my MIL wants to taste  that , So I prepared , a  easy one  with a  slight   twist only.
Ingredients:
 Tamarind juice -  Extract from 1 goose berry  size tamarind
 Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
 Tempering 
 Gingelley oil -  5 tsp
Kadugu - 1/2 tsp
Thur dal - 1 tsp
Methi - 1/2 tsp
 Omam ( ajwain) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - 1 small piece

 Method:
              In  a  kadai   add  gingelly oil  and  do tempering  by adding the ingredients one by one , then add  the  tamarind juice , sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder  and allow to boil  to the required consistancy.Oma kuzhambu is ready  to serve . Which is tasty, healthy , flavourful .