Today being the 1st Friday of Adi masam, I thought of preparing something different for Neiveydhyam. I tried out this halwa. The empty vessel at end of the lunch stands testimony to the taste.

Adi masam is a Tamil month which usually falls between mid July to mid August. This month is considered to be extremely auspicious for performing religious activities and worshipping the divine, especially the goddesses. .

In malayalam this period is called the Karkadam masam or the Ramayan month. There is a practice of reading Ramayan during this month.

Ingredients

Goduma rava  — 1 cup
Jaggery —  1 1/2 cup
Ghee — 5 tablespoons
Cardamom powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Cashews & Raisins — few
Water — 2 1/2 cup.

Keerai Molagootal is our most favorite kootan at home. My sister-in-law, Radhika, is the one who used to prepare Mor Keerai regularly. So here’s my try on Mor keerai. I have used spinach. This dish could be prepared with any other type of keerai also.

Ingredients

Spinach — 1 Bunch

Coconut. — 1/2 Cup

Green chili — 2

Sour curd —- 1 Cup

Turmeric powder — 1/2 Teaspoon

Rice flour — 1 Tablespoon

Mustard Seeds — 1 Teaspoon

Fenugreek — 1/2 Teaspoon

Salt — 1 Teaspoon

Oil — 1 Teaspoon.

METHOD

Wash the spinach well and chop them. Place the spinach in a vessel ,add turmeric powder and salt ,cover and cook. Cool the spinach and grind it into a paste, transfer back the paste into the vessel . Beat the curd and keep aside.Now grind together coconut ,green chili and rice flour adding water. Add the grounded coconut paste to the spinach paste,mix well and boil for 2 minutes . Now pour in the curd,mix well and simmer till the kootan starts frothing. put of the heat.(add extra water to adjust the consistency) Heat oil in a pan,add mustard seeds when they crackle add the fenugreek ,when the fenugreek changes color put of the heat. Add this tempering to moru keerai. Enjoy moru keerai with hot rice and either raw banana fry or seppankizhangu fry.

Dal Makhani is usually a dish we order when we go to a restaurant and order for nan or chapatti. I always thought it was too difficult to prepare and to get the right consistency. But when I saw a video of my favorite chef Sanjeev Kapoor, I found it very simple. So here’s my preparation. Enjoy Dal Makhani with poories or chapatti.

dPw

Ingredients

Whole black urad dal — 2 cups

Rajma — 1/2 cup

Onion — 1 big

Tomatoes — 2 medium

Garlic — 2 teaspoons

Ginger — 2 teaspoons

Cumin seeds — 2 teaspoons

Red chili powder — 1 teaspoon

Garam masala — 1 1/2 teaspoons

Butter — 2 tablespoons

Fresh cream — 1 cup

Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoons.

A simple and easy dish, Shak Bhaaji is a Gujarati staple. As a child, Saturday’s dinner would be hot poories and shak bhaaji. I absolutely love this bhaaji for the taste and when your grandma makes and serves it with all the love, the taste is even more great.

Ingredients

Potato — 3 big

Tomato — 2

Onoin — 2

Green peas — 1 cup

Green chili — 3

Ginger — 1 inch

Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon

Channa dal — 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon

Asafotida — 1/4 teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoon

Oil — 2 tablespoons

Few curry leaves .

Method

Cut all the vegetables, green chili and ginger into small pieces. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, when the crackle add the channa dal. Onces the channa dal changes color ,add the green chili, ginger and curry leaves and sauté . Add the chopped onion and saute till they turn pink in color, add the tomatoes and saute. Now add the potatoes and green peas, asafoetida, turmeric powder and salt. Give a stir, add water, lower the heat, cover and cook till the vegetables are done. (I like the potatoes mushy, so I used a masher.) Your Shak bhaaji is ready. Have it with hot poories.

Continue reading “Shak Bhaji” →

When someone at home says, I think I am getting a cold or my throat is hurting, on that day Milagu rasam will be prepared. It’s one of the best homemade remedy for a cold or sore throat. You have rasam rice or just drink a cup of rasam, it would definitely give you immense relief.

Ingredients

Tamarind — lemon size ball

Turmeric powder — 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 teaspoon

Jaggery — 1 teaspoon

Asafotida — 1/4 teaspoon

Mustard seeds– 1/2 teaspoon

Ghee — 1 teaspoon

Whole pepper — 2 tablespoon

Cumin seeds — 2 tablespoon

Dry red chili — 3

A bunch of curry leaves

Panikoorka /Karpooravalli /Patta Ajavayin — 3 , optional

Method

Dry roast pepper, cumin and red chili till you get a nice aroma. Add the curry leaves and pankoorka saute and put off the heat. Cool and powder it. ( this can be stored in a jar for further use.)

Soak tamarind in 2 glasses of water and remove tamrind pulp. Heat ghee in a sauce-pan, add the mustard seeds, when they crackle, add the asafoetida and pour in the tamrind pulp. Add turmeric powder, salt, jaggery and 2 teaspoon of powdered masala. Lower the heat and allow it to boil for about 3-4 minutes. After 3-4 minutes add a glass of water and bring it to boil. When you see froth forming, put off the heat. Enjoy a cup of hot Milagu rasam.

One more authentic palakkad dish. It can be prepared in two ways. Either as side dish or a kootan.The use of karamani gives this dish a unique taste. Enjoy with rice and some pickle or thogayal.

Ingredients

Mathan/ Yellow pumpkin — 2 Cups

Karamani — 1/2 Cup

Coconut — 3/4 Cup

Dry Red Chili — 2

Cumin seeds — 1 Teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1 Teaspoon

Urad dal — 1 Teaspoon

Turmeric powder — 1/2 Teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/2 Teaspoon

Coconut oil — 2 Tablespoons

Curry leaves.

Method

Soak karamani for half an hour and pressure cook it. Cut the mathan into cubes. ( if the skin is tender you can cut the mathan along with the skin.)Add turmeric powder, salt, a glass of water and cook the mathan. Meanwhile grind half cup of coconut, cumin seeds and red chili together. Once the mathan is cooked, add the cooked karamani and give a stir. Now add the grounded coconut paste, add extra water to get a proper consistency. Boil everything together for about 2-3 minutes. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, when the mustard crackles, add urad dal and fry. When the dal changes color, add the curry leaves and remaining coconut and fry till the coconut turns red. Add this to the gravy. Mathan erissery as a kootan is ready.

To have it as a side dish, don’t add extra water after adding the grounded coconut paste. Rest of procedure are the same.

It must have been over a month since my chippa (that’s how I address my chithappa) had asked me how to prepare a kozhukattai where chakkkavaratti is used. I had no clue of it so I asked my mother about it, who recalled her early years of marriage it was a preparation of those early years. After stories galore and a trip down memory lane, she simply asks me to add chakkavaratti(jackfruit jam) to ammini kozhukattai!

Ingredients

Chakkavaratti — 3/4 cup

Jaggery. — 1/2 cup

Rice flour — 1 1/2 cup

Ghee — 1 tablespoon

Cardamom powder — 1/4 teaspoon .

Method

Add one cup of warm water to the chakkavaratti and mix well. Heat a pan, add two cups of water and jaggery. When the jaggery gets dissolved ,add the chakkavartti (that has been mixed with water). Add the ghee and cardamom powder. When the water starts to boil, lower the heat and add the rice flour, stirring it simultaneously till everything comes together and a thick dough is formed. Cover it and allow to rest for 10 minutes . After it cools down, apply little ghee on your palms and make balls in the size of a marble. Grease a steamer or an idli plate with ghee and place all the balls in it and steam it for 10-12 minutes. Remove, allow the kozhukattai to cool and enjoy chakkavaratti pidi kozhukattai.

This is a typical Palakkad dish. Upperi is a side dish like thoran or poduthuval . Pulikuthi upperi simply means an upperi prepared with puli / tamarind . Pulikuthi upperi goes well with rasam. At home right from my grandmother, everyone would add sesame oil to hot rice mix it with pulikuthi upperi and have it.

Ingredients

Red pumpkin —- 3/4 cup

Raw banana — 1 big

Ladies finger — 8-10

Brijal — 1-2

Tamarind — small lemon size

Raw rice —- 2 tablespoons

Fenugreek seeds —- 1/4 teaspoon

Dry red chili —- 2

Mustard seeds —- 1 taspoon

Urad dal —- 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder —- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoon

Coconut oil —- 1 tablespoon

Curry leaves.

Method

Soak tamarind in a glass of water and remove the juice. Cut all vegetables into small cubes / pieces . Cook pumpkin and raw banana in tamarind juice ,adding 1 teaspoon of salt and turmeric. When the vegetables are half cooked, add the ladies finger and brinjal . Add the remaining salt and cook all the vegetables . Dry roast raw rice, fenugreek seed, red chili and powder them coarsely . Once the vegetables are cooked, add the powder, give it a stir and further cook for 2 minutes and put of the heat. Heat oil in a small pan, add the mustard seeds,when they crackle,add the urad dal. When the dal changes color, put off the heat. Add the curry leaves, add this to the upperi. Pulikthi upperi is ready.

The most favorite sweet in most of our homes. I don’t think anyone can make Mysore pak like the one made by my grandma. Her Mysore pak used to be soo silky and smooth that it would just melt and just slip through your throat. Here’s my rendition of Mysore pak!

Ingredients
Kadalai mavu/ besan  -1 cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Ghee – 2 1/2 cups
Sunflower oil — 1/2 cup.
A tray greased with ghee

Continue reading “Mysore pak” →

Kuzhi paniyaram is a snack everyone loves. Most of the time it’s made with idli batter. So when I was left with little pasi paruppu idli batter , I added some ingredients and made this masala kuzhi paniyaram. Enjoy paniyaram with a cup of steaming tea or coffee .

Ingredients

Pasi paruppu idli mav — 2 cups ( https://sujatasrecipes.blog/2020/06/24/pasi-paruppu-idli/)

Rice flour — 1/2 cup

Onoin — 2

Green chili — 2

Ginger — 1/2 inch

Sauf — 1 teaspoon

Salt — 1/2 teaspoon

Fresh curry leaves.

Method

Coarsely grind together green chili ,ginger ,sauf and curry leaves. Chop the onions . Now add the rice flour, chopped onions ,grounded ingredients and salt to the pasi paruppu idli mav. Add enough water and mix well to get a semi- thick batter. Heat the kuzhi paniyaram pan with little oil in each mold. When the oil is hot pour in the batter in each would. They will puff,wait for 2 minutes ,use a chop stick turn it ,lower the flame and cook it till done. Remove and enjoy paniyaram.