Thavalai adai

A traditional tiffin item with rice and dals, patted like cutlets

Thavalai adai

Ingredients:

Raw rice --- ½ cup

Parboiled rice(puzhangarisi)—1/2cup

Urad dal ----- 2 spoon

Channa dal --- ¼ cup

Tuvar dal ------1/4 cup

Dry red chilli ---- 6 nos

Grated coconut --- 4 spoon

Curry leaf ----- 1 sprig

Mustard ----- 1 tea spoon

Salt ( according to taste)

Method:

Dry grind rice, parboiled rice,dals and red chillli coarsely like rava.

Take a wok. Add a table spoon of gingelly oil and splutter mustard seeds.

To this add curry leaf, asafoetida coconut gratings and fry lightly.

Add 2 cups of water to the above along with salt.

When the water starts boiling, add the coarsely ground rice and dal mixture to make like a upma.

When done cover it with a lid.

After a resting period of 10 minutes.

Take the dough and pat like small patties or shape them like cutlets.

Put them on a pre- heated iron wok/tava( non-stick can also be used) drizzle a tea spoon of oil around the patties and cover the wok/tava with lid and cook on slow fire for 4 minutes till they turn crisp.

Flip them over for another 4 minutes until crisp and they are ready to serve.

Thavalai adai can be eaten plain or to the accompaniment of coconut chutney or any chutney of your choice.

choco-cashew katli ( micro-wave)

choco- cashew fudge for my son's birthday today.

Ingredients:

Cashew nuts ----- 2 cups
sugar ------------ 1 cup
water ------------ 1 cup
chocolate powder -- 2 table spoon

Method:

Grind 2 cups of cashewnuts into powder. (don't add water).
Microwave sugar and water in a bowl for 3 minutes or till the sugar dissolves in water.
Now add cashew powder and choco powder in the bowl and stir in the sugar solution to dissolve the lumps.
Micro wave for 3 minutes or till it bubbles up.
Now pour into a greased plate.
Cut them into fudges when cooled.

Macaroni

Macaroni in red sauce and white sauce

Ingredients:

Macaroni --- 1 packet

Red sauce:

Puree of 2 tomaotes

1 medium sized capsicum

1 medium onion

1 crushed garlic pod

Sugar 1 tea spoon

2 packets of chilli flakes( generally comes with home delivery pizzas,store them for use)

2 packets of oregano

Olive oil/butter

Salt to taste

White sauce

Cheese ---- ¼ cup grated

Milk ---- ½ cup

Maida ---- 1 table spoon

Black Pepper powder --- 1 table spoon

Butter/olive oil

Method:

To make red sauce:

Take a table spoon of olive oil(butter) and when heated sauté finely chopped onion and capsicum.

To this add a crushed garlic and fry lightly.

Add tomato puree and sugar to the above mixture and cook well till all the ingredients bind.

Add chilli flakes,salt and oregano and cook for 2 minutes and your red sauce is done.

To make white sauce:

Melt a table spoon of butter on a low flame.

Add the maida and roast lightly.

Add milk to the maida and stir without forming lumps.

Add cheese to the above mixture till the cheese melts into the mixture. Spice the sauce with pepper

Cook macaroni in boiling water till done. Drain the water and wash them with cool water.

Separate the cooked macaroni into two portions.

Mix one portion with the red sauce and the other portion with white sauce.

Recipe courtesy: My 14 year old daughter

P.S: My daughter is an avid follower of cookery shows. She has tweaked and twisted to suit her taste.

Milagu kuzhambu

This is a spicy and tangy sauce made with pepper and tamarind. This is a comfort food during winters and rainy season and kindles our taste buds post-fever.

Black peppers remove the toxins from our body and is called 'Visha kolli' in tamil meaning killer of toxins.

Ingredients:

Pepper--- 2 Table spoon

Dry red chilli --- 4 nos

Coriander seeds--- 1 tablespoon

Toor dal---- 1 spoon Optional ( this is added to thicken the kuzhambu)

Curry leaf --- 5-6 sprig

Tamarind juice extracted from 2 lemon sized balls

Mustard --- 1 tea spoon

Asafoetida -- ¼ teaspoon or its equivalent piece

Turmeric – a pinch

Gingelly oil --- 1 table spoon

( a piece of ginger and a tea spoon of cumin can be added if you desire. This is generally not added in milagu kuzhambu)

Method:

Roast toor dal, coriander seeds, dry red chilli, curry leaf and pepper in 2 tea spoons of gingelly oil and grind them. Add the ground paste to the tamarind pulp and mix in a pinch of turmeric and asafoetida. Dilute the mixture with a cup of water.

In a wok( preferably iron wok), splutter mustard seeds in 1 table spoon of gingelly oil. After it splutters, add the above tamarind and ground pepper mixture and bring it to a boil . (milagu kuzhambu in kal chatti)

Has a shelf life of two days outside refridgerator.

Mix it with hot rice and ghee/gingelly oil.

Akkara vadisal

Sugar sweetened milk rice usually done on ocassions.

Ingredients:
rice ----1 cup
milk ----2 cups
water--- 1 1/2 cups
sugar ----- 2 cups
saffron strings soaked in a tablespoon of milk or saffron color (optional)--- a pinch
cardomam powder ----- a pinch
cashew nuts and raisins ---- 2-3 spoons
Ghee for roasting nuts and raisins.

Method:

Add a table spoon of ghee and roast the raw rice lightly.

Pressure cook the rice in 2cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of water till soft.

After it is cooked well, mash the rice and make it more pulpy with a cup of milk.

In another vessel, make a sugar syrup with 2cups of sugar and a little water, once the sugar dissolves in the water add this syrup to the mashed rice and mix well with saffron strings and cardomam .

Garnish with raisins and cashews roasted in ghee

Narthelai podi (vepilai katti)

This is a traditional accompaniment known to natives of Thanjavur. Usually accomapanies Curd rice but now I spice up my oats porridge with this aromatic powder. Narthelai in tamil means leaves of citron.

Ingredients:
Narthelai( tender leaves of citron) ---- 1 handful
red chilli ---- 1no. ( just one will do for one handful)
Ajwain seeds ----- 1/4 tsp
salt to taste.

Method:

Pound all the ingredients together in a small pestle or grind it coarsely in a mixer.



This coarse powder is not made in my kitchen but it definitely adorns my kitchen shelf. This is made at Lalgudi ( My MIL"s maternal home) from freshly plucked tender leaves of narthangai (citron) tree grown in the backyard. The lemony aroma of this powder makes you feel fresh at once. I wonder if this is the reason lemon oil is used for medicinal therapy.

Cheedai Kozhakattai

This is a steamed tiffin item made with rice flour.

Mani kozhakattai

Ingredients:

Rice flour ------ 1 cup

Toor dal ------- ¼ cup

Coconut gratings ------- 3 table spoon

Dry red chilli ------------ 4 nos

Asafoetida ------------ ¼ tea spoon

Mustard --------------- 1 spoon

Urad dal ---------------- 2 spoon

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak toor dal in water for 10 minutes. Drain the water and grind toor dal with red chillies.

Take a wok and heat 1 table spoon of oil.

Splutter mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaf.

When the above getst roasted lightly, add 2 cups of water.

Add grated coconut , salt and ground paste of urad dal and chillies to the boiling water.

Follow it with rice flour into the boiling water slowly until it turns into the consistency of pliable dough .

Cover the dough with a lid and allow it to cool.

When slightly cool, roll the dough into small marble sized balls.

Arrange them in a steamer or idli plates and steam for 10 minutes.

It can be eaten plain or to the accompaniment of milaga podi/ chutney.