Friday, December 30, 2011

Christmas fruit cake

Ingredients:




1 tin(400g) condensed milk
100g butter
1/2cup(75g) sugar
1/3 cup(50)ml warm water
2 cups(200g) maida
1 tbsp baking powder
1tbsp soda bicarbonate
1/2tbsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tbsp nutmeg powder
1 1/2 cups, chopped(150g) mixed dry fruits( cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts, cherries, orange peel)
150 ml aerated soda

Step1: Preheat oven to 180 deg c, grease and dust with maida an 8" dia round cake tin. Heat sugar in a pan till it melts and becomes brown, add warm water to make caramel syrup and keep aside. Sift together the maida, baking powder, soda bicarbonate, cinnamon and nutmeg, 2-3 times. Mix 1 tbsp maida into the chopped fruit to coat the fruit.
                                                             Dry fruits dusted in maida



                                                                        caramel syrup

STEP2: soften butter in a pan; mix in condensed milk. Fold in the sifted maida with the milkmaid- butter mixture, alternating with aerated soda and caramel syrup till all are used. Add the chopped dry fruits, fold into the mix carefully.



STEP3: Pour the batter into the greased cake tin and bake for an hour at 180 deg c or till the cake is done. Remove from oven, cool for a while. Loosen sides of cake and turnout onto a plate. Cool Slightly before cutting into pieces


REcipe courtesy: Nestle milkmaid.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Green peas Paratha/kachori

A tasty and nutritious paratha for school tiffin box, packed with goodness of peas and multigrain atta. When rolled to small diameter can be fried in oil to make peas kachori for evening tea time.

Ingredients:

For outer covering:
Multigrain atta(wheat, jowar, chickpeas and ragi) - 3 cups
salt to taste
Knead them to a pliable dough and allow it to rest for some time(min 1/2 hour)

For filling:
Fresh green peas : 2 cups
garlic - 4 nos
ginger paste/powder - 1/2 teaspoon
dhania powder - 2 teaspoon
redchilli powder -- 11/2 teaspoon or finely cut green chilli
amchur powder( 1 teaspoon) or lime juice - 1 table spoon
butter( for parathas) or oil for frying(kachori)


Method:For filling

Boil green peas with garlic.

Puree them in a blender.

To the peas puree, add all the above spice powders and mix them well. If the puree is watery, thicken the puree by sauteeing in a little oil to make it into a solid lump.

To make parathas:

Roll a golf ball sized dough into a roti of small size. Place an appropriate quantity of filling in the middle. Fold it from all sides and remove the excess dough at the top. Now pat them and roll it into the required diameter and roast them on a tawa till it gets cooked. Brush it up with butter on both sides and it is ready to be packed in the tiffin box.


To make Kachoris: For the kachoris, follow the above method, only instead of rolling it into a bigger dia, make it smaller to 2" dia and fry them in oil.


Tastes good without any accompaniment, if you still want an accompaniment, have it with mint chutney or tomato sauce.






Friday, December 23, 2011

Kothamalli thokku

Kothamalli is coriander and thokku is a saucy pickle. It can be mixed with rice or as an accompaniment to idli, dosa, roti etc. It also can be used as a bread spread.




Ingredients:

Kothamalli( coriander) washed under running water,drained and chopped - 3 cups
tamarind juice 2 table spoon or juice of one tangy tomato.
ginger - 1" piece chopped (optional)
red chilli powder - 1 table spoon Or according to the degree of spiciness can be increased or decreased.
asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
salt to taste
Gingelly oil -- 3 table spoon

Method:
Grind coriander, tamarind and ginger in a mixer.

Heat a kadai and add gingelly oil, when it reaches smoking point,Add the ground mixture and saute for a while in the oil.
Now add turmeric, asafoetida and redchilli powder.
When the sauce bubbles add salt and allow it to boil till the sauce leaves the sides and the oil
floats to the top.

Allow the mixture to cool and transfer it to a clean dry container.

Has a shelf life of more than 3 months when cooked in oil properly and stored in an airtight container.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Pidi karanai masiyal

Pidi karanai is a traditional tuber available only in few places. It belongs to the yam family, just the size of your fists(pidi in tamil) and hence called pidi karanai. It gives a itchy feeling in your throat when not cooked properly, hence very important to remove the itchy property by adding tamarind juice or lemon juice.



Ingredients:

Pidikaranai - 10 nos
tamarind pulp - 3 tablespoon
Green chilli - 3 no's chopped
ginger -------- 1" chopped
salt to taste
mustard and urad dal for seasoning.
coconut gratings for garnishing

Method:

Boil and peel the pidi karanais. mash them when cool and keep aside.

In a kadai, add little oil and allow mustard and urad dal to splutter
follow it with sauteing green chilli and ginger.

Now add the tamarind pulp and little water to the kadai and let it simmer till it looses its raw smell.
To this mixture, add the mashed pidi karanai and simmer on for a few seconds till all the ingredients blend together.

Garnish with curryleaf/coriander and grated coconut. Serve with rice as an accompaniment or for chappati. I love having this by itself.

variation: can be alternatively cooked with lemon juice instead of tamarind extract.