Thursday, August 28, 2014

Karupatti Pidi Kozhukattai | Palm Jaggery Sweet Dumpling

Karupatti Pidi Kozhukattai | Palm Jaggery Sweet Dumpling is a steamed dumpling made with rice flour which is sweetened by palm sugar. This palm sugar is otherwise known as  karupatti | Panai Vellam. Palm sugar is supposed to be the most superior sweetener which has lots of essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. On top of it, it is the sweetener with lowest GI, so can be eaten by diabetic people too.

Ganesh Chaturthi is going to be celebrated tomorrow all over the world. This festival will never be complete without  these yummy kolukattais. I have already posted the recipes for Thengai Poorana Kolukattai & Spicy PidiKolukattai. I thought of posting varieties of kolukattais before Vinayaka Chathurthi but due to various reasons, I could not make that happen. Today, I tried to post the easy and healthy kolukattai and here comes the recipe for Inippu Kolukattai | Sweet Pidi Kolukattai using karupatti. 

Check out the link for preparing rice flour "How to prepare Kolukattai Flour"

Ingredients:
  • Rice flour – 1 cup or as needed
  • Palm jaggery (crushed) – ¾ cup
  • Water – ½ cup
  • Coconut gratings – ½ cup
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
  • Ghee – 1 tsp

Method:
  1. Melt palm jaggery in water till it dissolves completely and strain the impurities using metal strainer.
  2. In a heavy bottomed kadai, pour the jaggery syrup and bring it to boil.
  3. To this add coconut gratings, ghee & cardamom powder and stir well.
  4. Slowly add the rice flour, keeping the fire in simmer and stir everything quickly. Stop adding the flour when it becomes like a chappathi dough.
  5. Allow it to cool. Knead once again.
  6. By applying oil | ghee on your hands, make a small ball out of the dough and press it with your fingers. Do the same for rest of the dough.
  7. Arrange the dumplings on a greased idli plate and steam it for 10 to 15 minutes.

Sweet & soft Karuppatti Pidi Kozhukattai is ready for Ganesha!
Note:
  • Rice flour quantity need to be adjusted since we cannot predict the water measurement in advance. It varies from rice to rice.

Tags: Karuppatti Kozhukkattai recipe, Vinayakar Chathurthi recipes, Kozhukkattai recipes, Kolukattai recipes, sweet dumpling recipe, How to prepare kolukattai with palm jaggary?, Ganesh Chathurthi recipes, Inippu Kolukattai recipe, Pidi kolukattai recipe, Sweet pidi kolukattai recipe
Read more ...

Friday, August 15, 2014

Vallarai (Indian Pennywort) Chutney | Vallarai Keerai Thogaiyal

Vallarai Chutney | Vallarai Keerai Thogaiyal | Vallarai Thuvaiyal  is a healthy chutney which can be enjoyed with soft idli or dosa. Vallarai keerai in Tamil is known as Indian Pennywort in English and Brahmi Booti in Hindi. The word ‘Brahmi’ appears in most of the Ayurvedic medicines. It is very popular and widely used in South Asia.
I know everyone knows about vallarai as a herb which will improve memory power. Other than this, vallarai is beneficial in treating diabetes, anaemia, tuberculosis, urinary infection etc. So it is good to include these leaves in our regular diet. The leaves would taste bitter but when it is combined with the right ingredients, we could prepare a tasty chutney | dip.
Here we go for the recipe…

Ingredients:
Vallarai keerai  – 1 cup
Urad dhal – 2 tbsp
Garlic – 2 pods
Shallots – 10 Nos
Red  chillies – 4 Nos
Asafoetida  - ½ tsp
Coconut (grated) – 3 tbsp
Tamarind – 2 pods
Gingelly oil – 2 tsp
Jaggery – a little (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
In a kadai, pour a tsp of gingelly oil, add vallarai leaves and sauté till the raw smell of vallarai leaves out. Transfer the leaves to a plate and allow it to cool.
In the same kadai, fry  urad dhal  till it becomes golden brown in a tsp of oil.
Add garlic & shallots and sauté till you get nice aroma.
Then add red chillies, asafetida, coconut & tamarind. Fry for few minutes and allow to cool.
Grind the ingredients along with salt & jaggery(optional)  by adding little water. Transfer the contents to a serving bowl.
Your healthy Vallarai Chutney is ready to be served with hot steaming idlies or crispy dosas! You can also have this chutney for sambar rice, curd rice, etc.
Note:
  • If you want, you can temper with mustard and curry leaves in a tsp of oil.

Tags: Vallarai chutney, Vallarai Thogaiyal recipe, Mooligai chutney recipe, Herbal Chutney, Brahmi chutney, Thogaiyal with Vallarai Keerai,  How to prepare chutney using vallarai keerai?, greens chutney recipe, How to use vallarai leaves for making chutney?, Side dish for idli/dosa, Chutney recipe for hot idlies, spicy chutney recipe for idli/dosa, Vallarai Keerai Thuvaiyal Recipe, Healthy chutney recipe
Read more ...

Monday, August 11, 2014

Mushroom Masala | Dry Mushroom Curry

Mushroom Masala | Dry Mushroom Curry is a simple yet delicious curry which I made with minimum ingredients.  Mushroom always comes handy to make any meal yummy in no time. Also it has loads of protein and is a wonderful protein supplement for vegetarians. For non vegetarians, it is a good alternative since its taste is very close to non-veg items. So, this is a recipe everyone can enjoy trying at home.

Here we go for the recipe.
Ingredients:
  • Button Mushroom– 100 gms
  • Shallots (finely chopped) – 15 Nos
  • Garlic (finely chopped)  – 2 tbsp
  • Tomatoes (finely chopped) – 1 No
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Pepper- Jeera powder – 1 tsp
  • Salt to taste.

For seasoning:
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
  • Curry leaves - few

Method:
  1. Wash the  mushrooms, cut them into slices and keep aside.
  2. In a non-stick pan, pour oil and season with the items given “For seasoning”.
  3. Add the finely chopped garlic and sauté till it releases nice aroma.
  4. Add shallots and sauté till it becomes brown in colour.
  5. Add tomato and sauté till it becomes mushy.
  6. Then add all the spice powders except pepper-jeera powder and sauté for a while.
  7. Now add the mushroom slices and sauté for a minute.
  8. Add the required salt and cook closed with a lid for 5 minutes.
  9. Open the lid, cook till the water from the mushroom gets shrunk to a thick gravy.
  10. Add pepper-jeera powder and sauté till the water gets dried out completely.

Tasty,  spicy Mushroom Masala is ready to enjoy! We had this yummy masala with rice & spinach dhal and it tasted yum J
Note:
  • No need to add water since the water released from mushroom is enough for cooking the mushrooms.
  • Don’t soak mushrooms in water while washing them

Tags:
Mushroom Masala recipe, Kadai Mushroom recipe, Chettinad style Masala Mushroom, Mushroom Curry recipe, Mushroom Recipes, Dry mushroom curry recipe, Healthy Recipes, Protein Rich Recipes, Healthy Side Dish, Restaurant style mushroom masala recipe.
Read more ...