Red Rice Sweet Puttu

Ingredients:

Red rice puttu mix - 1/2 cup
Scraped coconut - 4 teaspoon
Ghee - 4 teaspoon
Sugar - 6 teaspoon
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Take the puttu mix in a vessel; sprinkle salt mixed water and blend well so that no small balls are formed.

• Take the puttu vessel; fill it alternately with coconut and puttu mix.

 

• Cover the vessel after filling with ingredients; place the vessel over the cooker (where normally you place the weight) and allow it to cook it full steam for almost 5 minutes.
• Then shift the puttu to a vessel, add ghee and sugar and mix well.

• Again shift the puttu to the puttu vessel; press well and place it over a plate.

Note:

• Same procedure of cooking for white puttu.
• Elaichi powder and cashewnuts can be added, as per need.
• This procedure is the same as kuzhaiputtu..in Kerala they use oconut shells for making puttu..this vessel is used and it is in the shape of coconut shell.
• When eaten with banana, the taste gets enriched.
• Instead of ghee, gingely oil / sesame oil can be added, as it is cure for menstrual pains and good for the girls at the time of attaining puberty.

Venpongal

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 1/2 cup
Moong dal yellow - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 4 teaspoon
Cumin - 2 teaspoon
Scraped ginger - 3 teaspoon
ghee - 1/2 cup
Asafoetida powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cashew nuts - as needed
Curry leaves - as needed
Salt - as needeed

Procedure:

• Add 6 cups of water to the rice and place it on the stove.
• Roast the moong dal, add asafoetida and boil it for almost 10 minutes.
• When the rice takes the shape of saadham, add moongdal, salt and stir well.
• Add 1 spoon of scraped ginger.
• Simmer the flame, close the vessel; keep stirring now and then.
• When the water quantity gets reduced and when pongal is in 3/4th process of cooking, place a pan on the stove..add 3 teaspoons of ghee..when it gets heated season with crushed pepper, cumin, curry leaves, remaining ginger...add this to the pongal and stir well.
• When pongal gets cooked very softly and gets sticky...add the remaining ghee, stir well.
• Garnish with ghee roasted cashewnuts.

Note:

• While using cooker, all the ingredients can be added at the same time..excluding seasoning items ..
• This method is tastier compared to the cooker method; moreover, the quantity of pongal is more.
• Green chili can be added while rice gets cooked, if preferred.
• To get real good taste, this much ghee is needed; but from health point of view, it is good to reduce the quantity of ghee.

Moong Dal / Paasiparuppu Sambar (For Idli)

Ingredients:

Moong dal / Paasiparuppu - 1 cup
Small onions - 8
Tomato -2
Green chili - 2
Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon
Oil, Salt - as needed

To be powdered:

Red chili - 3
Corriander seeds - 3 tablespoon
Fenugreek - 1/4 teaspoon

For seasoning:

Oil, Mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin, red chili - 1, asafoetida, curry leaves

Procedure:

• Add turmeric powder to moongdal; pressure cook.
• Dry roast all the things to be powdered, and make a powder.
• Season the items mentioned, add long sliced onions, green chilli, finely chopped tomato and saute well.
• Add moong dal, powdered items and allow it to boil.
• When it boils well, switch off the stove.

 Note:

Can be taken with rice; but for idli it is a very exclusive combination.

Leant from: Mrs. Padma, my mother

Spicy Oily Broad Beans Poriyal

One of the special dishes for vegetarians..

While making this poriyal I was wondering ..Can broad beans be cooked this much spicy?!

Ingredients:

Broad Beans (Avaraikkaai) - 200 gms
Small onion - around 15
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 2 cloves
Corriander powder - 2 tablespoon
Red chili powder - 3 teaspoon
Oil - 1/4 cup
Seasoning - Mustard seeds, Urad dal, cumin, curry leaves
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Add oil for seasoning to a frying pan; season with mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and curry leaves.
• Add finely chopped onions and saute well till they get golden brown.
• Add finely chopped tomato and saute well.
• Add the remaining oil to the pan and let it get heated for a while.
• Add finely chopped broad beans and saute well till the raw smell goes off.
• Add red chili powder, corriander powder, salt and saute well.
• Add little water and cover the pan; keep sauting in between.
• When the broad beans get cooked well, add crushed garlic and saute well.

Learnt from: Mrs.Manickavalli Alagappan, friend

Coconut Thuvaiyal

Ingredients:

Scraped coconut - 3/4 cup
Black Urad dal - 4 tablespoon
Tamarind - 3/4 of a small lemon size
Red chili - 10
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Roast urad dal till it gets brown and set aside.
• Add red chili and roast for a while and set aside.
• Add coconut and roast till it gets light brown.
• Take all these items in a mixer jar; add salt and soaked tamarind and grind to a coarse paste adding little water.

Note:

• If you need it little dry, do not add water.
• To enrich the taste, add onion vadagam that is used for seasoning towards the end of the grinding process.
• If ammi is used for grinding, the thuvaiyal tastes very good.

Mutton Biriyani - Aluminium Foil Dhum

Ingredents:

Mutton - 300 gms
Biriyani rice / Basmathi rice / Seeraka samba raice - 1 1/2 cup
Big onion - 2
Small onion - 4
Green chili - 4
Tomato - 2
Ginger garlic paste - 4 teaspoon
Finely chopped pudina - 3 handful
Finely chopped corriander - 2 handful

Red chili powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Corriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Curd - 1 teaspoon / Lemon juice - 1/2 teaspoon

Butter - 3/4 teasoom
Oil - 4 to 5 tablespoon
Salt - as needed

Seasoning:

Cinnamon - 4 pieces
Cloves - 4
Biriyani leaves - 3
Annaasi bud - 1

How to remove fat layers from mutton?

In India we get fatless tender mutton, but not so easy in Riyadh. If you want to remove the existing fat in mutton, follow these steps. However, if you prefer it with fat, just wash the mutton and use.

• Cut the mutton to medium size pieces.
• Add 2 teaspons wheat flour, 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon oil - blend well and set aside for half an hour.
• After 30 minutes, if you wash the pieces, you will see the fat content slipping off

 (If you give wheat flour and turmeric powder bath to chicken, it too will lose its fat and raw smell.) 

Seasoning and Sauting:

• Add butter to the pan and when it starts melting, add oil.
• Season the mentioned ingredients.
• Add long sliced onions and salt; saute well.
• When the oil gets separated, add ginger garlic paste and saute till the oil gets separated.
• Add long sliced green chili, small pieces of tomato and saute; if the pan is covered for a while tomatoes get softly cooked.
• Add red chili powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder - saute well.
• When the oil gets separated, add pudina and corriander leaves - saute well.
• Add crushed small onions - saute well.

After adding each ingredient, saute well till the oil gets separated - this is the important step for biriyani's special taste.

How to cook the mutton using pressure cooker?

• Divide the sauted masla to two parts.
• Set aside one part; add the second part to the water squeezed  mutton pieces, add needed salt, add fresh water; pressure cook till the mutton gets 3/4th cooked.
• (Do not add biriyani leaves to the cooker; set them aside with the other half of the masala.)
• After the steam calms down, remove the mutton pieces separately.
• Measure the remaining water.

How to get the rice ready?

• Clean the rice and then drain the water and set aside for 5 minutes.

How to set the Dhum?

• Take a heavy-bottomed vessel; (Non -stick vessel is equally good) add 1/2 teaspoon oil and roast the rice for a minute and set it aside.
• Along with the water taken from the cooker measure 3 cups of water and add to the vessel.
• When it boils well, add rice, mutton and remaining masala and stir well.
• Add salt as needed.
• Add curd or lemon juice.
• When the water gets reduced to half its level, spread aluminium foil over the vessel and cover it.  

• If needed, remove the aluminium fol in between and saute well and again cover.
• Biriyani will be ready within 7 - 10 minutes.

Note:

• If  elaichi  is preferred, it can be added while seasoning.
• Ingredients giving medium spicy taste are mentioned here; if it is preferred hot and spicy, more green chilis and red chili powder can be added.

Learnt from: Took hints from so many people, tried most of them and followed a mushakkal style

Oil Brinjal gravy / Enney katharikkaay kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 8
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 4 cloves
Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon
Thick tamarind pulp - 1/2 cup
Red chili powder - 2 teaspoon
Corriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Scraped coconut - 3/4 cup
For seasoning: Mustard seed, Urad dal, Fenugreek, Cumin, Curryleaves
Oil - 1/4 cup
Salt - as needed

Procedure:

• Slit the brinjals at he tip.
• Add 1 teaspoon oil to the pan and season mstard seeds, urad dal, fenugreek, cumin and curry leaves.
• Add long sliced onions and garlic; saute well.
• Cut tomato into small pieces, add to the pan and saute well.
• Add the remaining oil to the pan; add brinjals and saute well till they get brown colour.
• Add little water to the tamarind pulp ; add red chili powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder and salt and pour this mixto the pan and cover it.
• Grind coconut and cummin to a nice paste.
• After the brinjals get cooked well, add coconut cumin paste and switch off the stove when it comes to a boil.

. Learnt from: Mrs. Padma, my mother