Semya Payasam - My favourite Dessert

My all time favourite Sweet is Gulab Jamoon...not the one made out of flour, instant mix etc etc...Ammamma makes Gulab Jamoon in a different style..She first makes Pala kova (peda)..it's a very loooooong process...Boiling the milk in a large pot, then adding sugar to that...and then stirring it continously for about 2hrs on medium flame until it thickens...and that's her Kova...which tastes heavenly...and then using this kova she makes the Gulab Jamoon...it totally takes about half a day to prepare Gulab Jamoon from Scratch...So I never even tried to make this by myself...

Next to Gulab Jamoon, I love Kheer...Payasam with Sago seeds, Vermicelli or using both...simply love it...not just becoz of the taste, its so so easy for me to prepare a neivedyam during weekdays for festivals before leaving to work...I've tried Kheer with Jaggery, rice flour, moong dal, Chana dal from various recipe sources..all of them tasted good and loved all the versions...However when it comes to choosing the favourite version of Kheer I opt the basic recipe of Sago/Vermicelli Kheer....So here's my version..

Ingredients:

Vermicelli/Semya - 1 cup (I do not know the exact way to measure this, but when broken and measured in a cup, 1 cup of raw vermicelli would serve 2 people)

Milk - 3 cups

Sugar (powdered) - 3/4th-1 cup (adjust to taste)

Ghee - 1 table spoon

Cardamom powder - 1 generous pinch

Cashews/Almonds/Raisins - 5 each (adjust acc to your preference n availability)

Saffron - one small pinch (optional)

Procedure:

1. Heat the Ghee in a pan and roast the cashews/almonds/raisins for about 2min. Remove and set aside.

2. In the same Ghee add the broken Vermicelli/Semya and roast until they start turning brown. Take care not to burn.

3. In a Milk Pan, heat the milk. When the milk starts to boil add the roasted vermicelli.

4. Cook for 4-5min or until the vermicelli is soft and well cooked. The mixture starts thickening.

5. Add the Cardamom powder and mix well.

6. Turn off the heat and add the powdered sugar. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.

7. Add saffron if you are using.

8. Garnish with roasted nuts and raisins.

Tastes great either hot or chilled...

This's my entry to WYF-Dessert event hosted by dear Hima of SnackORama.

Image courtesy - Google Search

Chowmein - express lunch

S doesn't like noodles how so ever they are cooked...So I never make noodles at home...But today I've been to Tesco and happened to see "Amoy - Noodles Straight into the Wok"...seemed to be interesting, so purchased a pack and returned home...The pack says "These precooked noodles can be directly added to your Stir-Fry vegetables and delicious chow mein would be ready in minutes...S was not there for lunch today, So I thought it's the best time for me to enjoy an express lunch with noodles...recipe is so simple...

Ingredients:

Noodles - 1 cup (pre-cooked according to instructions or store bought cooked noodles)

Grated Carrot - 2 table spoons

Green peas - 1 fistfull (frozen) - Soak in hot water for 3-5min.

Onion - 1/2 thinly sliced

Grated ginger - 1 tsp

Crushed garlic - 1 tsp

Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Soy sauce - 2-3 tsp

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a wok. Add the crushed ginger and garlic. Saute for 1min.

2. Add the onions and saute for 2-3min.

3. Now add the grated carrot and green peas (without the water). Cook for 2-3min until the raw smell disappears.

4. Now add salt and ground black pepper powder, soy sauce and stir well.

5. Finally add the cooked noodles and stir well. Cook for 3-4min and turn off the heat.

6.Serve hot.

I could not do much experimenting with the photographs as I was so tired today...I know this's not a perfect entry for an event based on photgraphy, but still I'ld like to send this as my entry to Bee n Jai's CLICK EVENT, this month's theme being Noodles...

Wholemeal Burfi

It seems like I can blog my recipes only over the weekend....weekdays I am being damn busy...tuesday 30th of Oct was my birthday and I had no time even to pamper myself with my favourite food item atleast..added to this I had to start off to work at 5.30AM that day...I've booked my holidays in December and 'm counting days...huhhh!

Anyways coming to the recipe I was craving for some festive sweets for the past few days....I just made pulihora for Dasara and did no rituals...Even for Diwali I don't think I can perform the pooja bcoz it's on Friday and fridays are the most busiest for me now a days...So I made my Diwali sweet today itself...coconut burfi, besan burfi are the normal versions of Burfi I make..but this time I wanted to try something else...and there were few left over bread slices...recently I've come across the procedure to make bread crumbs on video jug....So I decided to make bread burfi..I just followed the traditional version of besan burfi made by my mom, just replaced besan with finely ground bread crumbs...The taste was delicious especially I loved the color....I used wholemeal bread and hence I've got a dark brown color to the burfi...

So here's my Diwali treat to my blog buddies...

Ingredients:

Bread Slices (white/brown) - 6 - maked about 2 cups of fine crumbs

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 table spoon

Elachi powder (cardamom powder) - 1 large pinch

Almonds - 10

Procedure:

1. Place the bread slices on a baking tray and bake in a oven at 120C for 30min. Do not bake at higher temperatures orelse the bread slices will get burnt. After 30min the breadslices turn very crispy.

2. Break these crispy slices into chunks and grind them to a fine powder. Set this powder aside.

3. In a wide pan heat the Ghee and roast the almonds for a couple of minutes and set aside.

4. In the same ghee add the finely ground bread crumbs and roast for 2-3 minutes. Take this roasted crumbs powder in a bowl.

5. Now in the same pan add one cup of water and bring to boil.

6. When the water starts boiling add the sugar and keep stirring.

7. The sugar syrup starts thickening after a few minutes. At this stage quickly add the bread crumbs flour and keep stirring to avoid forming lumps.

8. Add the milk and elachi powder to this and keep stirring for 3-5min.

9. When the mixture starts thickening remove from heat.

10. Grease a plate with ghee and pour this mixture into the plate. Level the top with a spatula.

11. Let it cool for 2hrs. Cut into desired shapes and garnish with roasted almonds.

Note: If the mixture doesn't get hard enough put it in a freezer for 30min to cut into desired shapes.

This' my entry to (Jihva Special Edition: The Festive Series) JFS:Diwali hosted by dear Vee of Past Present and Me

Cooked veggies in Yogurt - My diet meal

After I made my Peas and Corn Frittata, I had some peas and corn kernels left after breakfast. Since we had a heavy breakfast that morning with bread and Frittata, I decided to have something light for my lunch..Flavoured yogurts were always my favourite quick fix snacks...Now a days I started relishing the taste of yogurt with cooked veggies/beans too...chickpeas, rajma and onions sauted in lil olive oil and then mixed with yogurt n salt/pepper is one of my favourite diet meal...Carbs from yogurt, proteins frm rajma, healthy fat frm olive oil everything in a single bowl...This time I tried with peas and corn and it tasted equally delicious...

Ingredients:

Fat free yogurt - 1 cup

Boiled peas - 1/4th cup

Corn kernels - 1/4th cup

Onion - half (chopped finely)

Green chilli - 1 (chopped finely)

Salt - to taste

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Chopped coriander - 1 large tsp

Olive oil - 2 small tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan. Add the onion and green chilli peices. Saute for 2min.

2. Add the boiled peas and corn. Cook for a couple of min.

3. Add the salt, chopped coriander and mix well. Turn off the heat.

4. Add this cooked mixture to the yogurt and mix well.

5. Serve with lemon juice on top if you like.

This can be served on its own and also goes well with rotis. This's my entry to WYF - What's Your Favourite - Diet Food, an event organised by dear Hima of SnackORama

Microwave Puffed Rice Chat

This is similar to the Puffed Rice Upma (Maramaraalu Upma), just the Maramaraalu in this chat will be crispy where as in Upma they are made soft by soaking in water...I make this very often as an evening snack after I return from work..Can be made in a jiffy...

Ingredients:

Puffed Rice - 3 cups

Onion - 1/2 chopped finely

Green chillie - 1 chopped finely

Chana Dal - 1 tsp

Peanuts - 3 tsps

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Curry leaves - 5

Oil - 2 tsps

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Take a microwave safe bowl. Add the oil and heat for 1 min on high.

2. Now add cumin, mustard seeds, chana dal, peanuts, curry leaves and microwave on MEDIUM for 2-3min.

3. Add the onions and Green chillies, Microwave on high for 2-3min. Onions start turning soft at this stage.

4. Add salt and puffed rice, Mix well and Serve.

You can spray lemon juice on top if you like

Note: Timings in the Microwave vary with its power specs.

This is my entry to Microwave Easy Cooking - Snacks Event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking4allseasons.

Kesari Pulao with Paneer and Peas - Over Garnished

Don't you think this dish is a lil bit over decorated for the event...we both did..whatever I cook, I am thinking of an event and trying to get the best pic of the dish, hence this decorations...I think my decorations over powered the saffron in the dish..:(

Saffron/Kesari - All I knew abt this ingredient was only from movies...whenever a girl (here a Heroine) gets pregnant, her parents send this to her and the hubbie(here the Hero) dear dumps all the box of Kesari into the milk in one single day (that saffron box was supposed to last for more and makes the Heroine drink the milk..end of the story..

So when Sunita announced this month's spice event with saffron, I thought I shld do a lil research on this ingredient (because I did not know that this saffron can be used in so many recipes other than milk and puddings)...More about this ingredient is in Sunita's post...

I was craving for some paneer based dish for the past few days...So I finally decided to make Saffron Pulao with Paneer and Peas (I used peas just to make the dish colorful, not being health-concious :p)...Recipe is here. I replaced coconut with paneer pieces and avoided Sugar...S doesn't like sweet flavour in rice items..So I added some onions, green chillies and ginger garlic paste...to be concise I modified the whole recipe..:D according to our tastes....

Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups (Raw)

Paneer - 100gm (home made or store bought) - Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Peas - 1 table spoon (boiled)

Onion - 1 sliced

Green Chillies - 3 chopped

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Almonds - 6 sliced

Raisins - 10

Salt - 2 tsp

Milk - 1 cup

Saffron - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Wash the rice, add 4 cups of water, salt and a tsp of ghee. Cook till 3/4th done. Remove and set aside.

2. Warm up the milk and soak the saffron strands for about 5min. Mix well.

3. Mix half of this milk with the cooked rice.

4. Heat Ghee in a pan, fry the paneer pieces and remove.

5. Soak these paneer pieces in the remaining saffron milk so that they become soft.

6. In the same pan with the Ghee, roast the almonds and raisins. Remove and keep aside.

7. Again in the same pan add the onions, green chillies and Ginger garlic paste. Saute for about 5min till the onions turn transperent.

8. Add the boiled peas, cooked rice and cover.

9. Cook for 10min on low flame till the rice is completely done.

10. Finally add the paneer pieces with the soaked saffron milk and garnish with almonds and raisins.

So this is my entry to Think Spice-Think Saffron Event of this month, hosted by Sunita.

Revival - Pongal Celebrations - For RCI

When Viji of Vcuisine announced this month's RCI event is related to Tamilnadu Festival Foods, the first thought that came into my mind is Pongal. The reason being, this is my most favourite festival which I celebrate with all my family members.

"May the pot of prosperity boil over

May the Pongal that we cook,

the fragrance of turmeric

the taste of sugarcane, ginger and honey

Bring the joy of Pongal into our homes

May the blessings of the Sun God flood our lives "

Poem source : Malini Bisen

Pongal is a Harvest Festival, mostly celebrated in south India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over." Traditionally celebrated at harvest time, it is a celebration of the prosperity associated with the harvest. Pongal is celebrated by the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as well as Tamils worldwide, including those in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore. The festival has been in practice for some 5,000 years.

While Pongal is predominantly a Tamil festival, it is also celebrated in several other provinces with different names. In Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka, the harvest festival Sankranthi is celebrated. In northern India, Pongal is called Makara Sankranthi. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, it is celebrated on the date of the annual kite flying day, Uttarayan. It also coincides with the bonfire and harvest festival in Punjab and Haryana, known as Lohri. People of all relegion celebrate pongal festival in India.

Source: Wikipedia

You can find a lot of information about this festival here.

But I'ld also like to explain it in my own words too. No matter how busy we are, all my family members (mom's side) meet at our native place in Nellore district in Andhra on 14th of January. And on 15th of January we meet our paternal relatives and family members at our Dad's native place in Kurnool District in Andhra. My mom n dad often argues about where to spend these 4 days. So finally we ended up staying at both the places. The pictures below were taken during our family get togethers on the occasion of Pongal. The old one (you can easily guess where I am, I was the only girl child then) was in 1987 at my mom's native and the recent ones were taken in 2007 January at my parents’ native places. Until I stepped out of India, I did not miss even one year to attend this festival. Both my mom and dad hail from an agriculture based families and hence we all celebrate this festival in the most traditional way.

It's a festival related to Sun God…Celebrated for 4 days…From the 15 th of Dec to the 15th of January we call it as Dhanurmasam and we decorate our entrances with beautiful Rangolis/kolam/Rangavalli….I don't say am an expert in Rangolis, but I can design and I love putting down Rangolis….We also place Gobbemmalu (cow-dung balls with flowers) on the Rangoli and sing various songs. It was fun comparing and competing for the biggest Rangoli in the village during the festive season…My mama and ammamma love me a lot for putting down these Rangolis staying awake till late night or waking up early in the morning to put these.

The first day is known as Bhogi…..At about 5AM-6AM ammamma wakes us up and we all gather infront of our main entrance and put the Bhogi manta ….Fire with dried palm leaves…Today Indra (Bhogan or Bhogi) is worshiped for providing rain for harvest….Payasam/Kheer is offered to God….today we eat non-veg so our staple breakfast for this day would be Dosa with Chicken curry. In the evening if there are kids at home, we do the Bhogi pallu custom….All the elders at home bless the kid by showering a mixture of diced sugarcane, Akshinthalu (holy-rice), regu pallu (a kind of sour/red fruits..look like berries) and money coins……

The second day is the main day of the festival..known as Sankranthi. We worship the Sun God today and strictly stay away from non-veg… Traditional sweet pongal is cooked on stove with stones using wood for fuel in a holy vessel (mud pot decorated with turmeric and saffron) in an open courtyard…This is offered to God …Staple breakfast today would be Gaarelu/Vada with pappu/dal…. Today we remember our ancestors who are expired…In the evening we go to their tombs and offer coconut, pongal, flowers and worship their tombs.

The third day is known as Mattu Pongal or Kanuma…today we worship the cattle, cows for giving milk and oxes for ploughing and tools (plough etc)…We decorate the cattle with bells and flowers and take blessings from them…we thus honour their hardwork. On this day Mutton based curries are cooked…Chariott Rangoli is layed down today…

4th day is known as Mukkanuma and it is dedicated for outdoor celebrations and excursions.

All the first 3 days our family dhobi, hair cutter and other employees who served our ancestors for generations together (their grand children or someone frm their families) come home and we offer them food, money and clothes, thus honouring their services….Haridasu comes to every house in the village and he's also honoured….Budabukkalu saint also comes with this Gangireddu…I am not good at explaining about these concepts…But the pictures below can give you an idea who they are…

Image Source: Hinduimages

And now coming to the food section as the name itself indicates Pongal is the most common food offered to God. Other than this we also prepare arisalu/nippattlu, Murukku, regu vadalu for snacks…I don't have murukku making equipment and we also do not find regupallu here…So I am posting a couple of pongal recipes…. After penning down all these, I am really feeling nostalgic…missing all my family members..:(

Ok coming to the recipes these are easy to prepare.

Recipe for Sakkarai Pongal/Bellappongali/Jaggery rice pudding:

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Milk - 2 cups Jaggery - 1 cup (adjust)

Cardamom - 4 pods (seeds powdered)

Cashews - 10

Raisins - 10

Almonds - 5

Ghee - 1-1.5 tbsp

Method:

1. Dry roast the moong dal in an iron skillet and cool (you can avoid this step)

2. Wash the rice. Take the rice, moong dal, milk in a pressure cooker.

3. Add 1.5 cups of water and cook for 3 whistles. Let it cool until the pressure is released.

4. Take a saucepan, add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of jaggery and bring to boil.

5. Add this jaggery syrup to the rice mixture.

6. Put on medium flame and keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Turn off the flame.

7. Heat the Ghee in small pan and roast the almonds, cashews and raisins until the cashews turn golden brown.

8. Add these roasted nuts along with the ghee to the pongal and mix well.

Recipe for Ven Pongal/Katte Pongal/Pulagam:

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup

Moong Dal - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Black peppercorns - 8

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Curry leaves - 8

Ghee - 1.5 tbsp

Cashews - 10

Method:

1. Wash the rice and moong dal (moong dal can be dry roasted too)

2. In a pressure cooker take the washed rice, moong dal, milk and add 2.5 cups of water.

3. Cook for 3 whistles. Let it cool until the pressure is released.

4. Open the lid, add salt and mix well.

5. In a pan heat the Ghee. Roast the cumin, pepper corns, curry leaves and cashews.

6. Add this mixture to the rice pongal and mix well.

These are my entries to RCI , an event started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine and hosted by Viji of Vcuisine this month with Tamil Festivals as the theme.

Sorry if you guys felt this description more like that of a family event and got bored...:)