Kozhukatai (Modhaks)

Make kozhukatais for this Ganesh Chaturthi (Sept 1, 2011)

To make the flour ready

Soak 1 kg Raw Rice for 20 minutes, spread them out in linen for sometime to drain excess water and grind them into fine powder.
Sieve and keep aside.

Take water in 1:1 ratio of flour and boil it in a big vessel.
once it boils, add 2 table spoons gingeli oil and a pinch of salt.
Simmer and mix the flour slowly little by little into the boiling water without forming lumps.
Once the flour mixes well remove from fire and keep it tightly closed.
The flour showld be soft and non-sticky and must be able to mould into any shape.
Keep aside.

For sweet stuffing

1 cup grated coconut
1 cup jaggery
2 cardamoms

Mix the jaggery and coconut together and saute in pan till the jaggery melts and coats the coconut well.
Remove it from stove once it becomes non-sticky.
Add crushed cardamoms.
Keep aside.

For salt stuffing

1 cup black gram dhal (urad dhal)
1 cup bengal gram dha
3 - 4 green chillies
Salt

Soak the dhal for half an hour and grind into coarse poste without adding water. just sprinkle water so that it forms a non-sticky paste. Add salt.
Keep it in idli plates and bake for 10 minutes.
crush it loosely like bread crumbs.
heat oil in pan, splutter mustard and curry leaves.
Add the crushed dhal mixture and saute for few minutes and keep aside.

To make the kozhukatai

Make cups out of the baked flour and stuff the sweet or salted stuffing into it and close it.
To get the cups easily without sticking into hands, keep some gingeli oil beside and keep touching it with the hand.
Make different shapes for salt ans sweet for easy identification later.
Keep in idli plates and bake for 10 minutes.
Tasty kozhukatais are ready.

Kozhukatai upma

The salt kozhukatai can be made into a upma too.
Make small balls size of grapes out of the baked flour and bake in idli plate for ten minutes.
Heat oil in pan, put the salt stuffing into it and fry well.
Add the baked balls mix with the stuffing and saute for few more minutes.
Upma is ready.

Easy Pizza

Before cooking:

After cooking:

Ingredients:

2 Pizza base
1 onion chopped finely
2 tomatoes chopped finely
1 capsicum chopped finely
5 button mushrooms chopped (optional.. add anything else u like too!)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp tomato sauce
butter
grated mozarella cheese as reqd

Method:

1. Put chopped tomatoes, onion, and capsicum (and whatever else you have added) in a bowl,

add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper and microwave with closed lid for 2 - 3 minutes
2. Take pizza base and spread butter on each side and place on the grill stand
3. Spread tomato sauce on top and sprinkle some cheese
4. Spread the microwaved vegetables over it evenly and add more cheese as much as u like
5. put the oven in grill mode and grill for 5 minutes or till cheese melts

A very tasty pizza is ready to eat!!!

Tomato chutney

Ingredients:

1/2 kg tomatoes grind to a paste
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander seed powder (dhania)
6 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt as reqd

For seasoning:
Fry 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp fenugeek seeds in little oil and grind to powder
1 tbsp gingely oil
1 tsp asafoetida

Method:

1. Heat cooking oil in pan and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves
2. Add chilli powder in oil and as soon as it froathes, add the tomato paste
3. Add salt, turmeric powder and coriander seed powder mix well and open cook in medium flame till oil settles in sides
4. Add gingely oil to it in one side and add asafoetida and ground powderin the oil and mix well and stop.

Hot chutney is ready to be served with anything.. even bread!

Chicken Biriyani

Ingredients:

To marinate for 1 hour:
500 g chicken cut into pieces,
2 tbsp thick fresh curd,  1 tbsp ginger garlic paste,
1 tsp red chilli powder,
1 tsp salt
Grind together:
3 cloves,
2 cardamoms,
1 inch cinnamon stick,
2 inch ginger,
10 cloves garlic,
a small bunch of coriander leaves
For seasoning:
1 tsp cumin seeds,
2 cloves,
1 inch cinnamon stick,
1 big bay leaf,
3 green chillies
Others:
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt as reqd
2 big onions thinly chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 1/2 cup rice
1 cup coconut milk
2 cup water
Garnish:
Mint leaves and cashews fried in butter

Cooking Method:
1. Heat oil in pan, and splutter the seasonings.
2. Add the ground paste and saute for 1 min
3. Add chopped onions and tomatoes and fry well
4. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder and saute for 1 min
5. Add marinated chicken and required salt and saute for 5 mins
6. Add coconut milk and bring to boil
7. Transfer the contents to an electric rice cooker and add rice and water and cook till done
(if you use pressure cooker, the ingredients can be fried in that itself and then covered with lid and cook for 3 whistles)
8. Garnish and serve with raita

Sakkarai Pongal

This is a special sweet rice made every year on Thai Pongal Day - The Harvest festival of Tamil Nadu, India. It falls in Mid-January usually on January 14th, when the farmers make their first harvest of the year. This dish is usually done in pots and boiled but since most of us live in cities, it is not possible to make it the traditional way nowadays. The easier procedure follows.
Pongal usually tastes great with raw rice. However in case you don't have raw rice, parboiled rice can also be used, but avoid other varieties of rice.

Ingredients:
Raw rice -  1 cup
Green gram dhal - 1 tbsp
Jaggery (crushed/grated/powdered) - 2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Water - 4 cups
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cashew - 10 (break into small size)
Raisins - 20
Cardamom - 1 (peel the skin and crush the inner part)

Method:
1. Boil rice and dhal together with 4 cups of water in a pressure cooker till it is extra soft. DO NOT ADD ANY SALT
2. Take a big frying pan and boil 1 cup milk in it.
3. Once the milk boils, add the cooked rice to it and mix well. Add 2 cup powdered jaggery to it and mix well. Cook till all jaggery melts and is absorbed by the rice. The mixture must be in a thick porridge consistency. (it will thicken rapidly once it cools down). Remove it from flame.
4. Take 1 table spoon of ghee in a pan ans fry cashews and raisins in it. Add it to the rice mixture. Add crushed cardamom and the remaining ghee and mix well.

Tasty yummy mouth watering sakkarai pogal is ready to eat.

Carrot rice

Ingredients:

1 big carrot grated
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin and mustard seeds
A pinch turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1/3 cup rice (i always use par boiled rice for all my recipes)
1 cup water
1/2 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pessure cooker and splutter mustard and cumin seeds.
2. Add the grated carrots, garam masala, turmeric powder, salt and saute well for few minutes.
3. Add washed rice and water in 1:3 proportion and close the lid and pressure cook till the rice is soft and well cooked.

Mashed drumstick

Kids dont know to eat drum stick. They end up in discarding them half way through. Kids will sure love this easy and lipsmaking drumstick mash and eat it a lot more than what they might eat if served with the peel.

Ingredients:

4 long fleshy drumsticks
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp pepper powder
salt as required
A pinch of asafoetida
Oil for seasoning

Method:

1. Boil the drumstick with salt till it is too soft and breaks on touching.
2. Remove the flesh and seeds and keep them together in a bowl.
3. Heat little oil in a pan and splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Add the cooked flesh and seedsof drumstick and add pepper powder in it and saute for a minute in low flame.
4. Add a pinch of asafoetida, sprinkle water and let it cook til the water gets absorbed.
5. Serve as side dish or mix with rice and serve.