Kolukattai

Ingredients:
Rice flour 1 cup
l Water 1 1/4 cup

For the coconut filling:
l Freshly grated coconut 1cup
l Grated white jaggery 1cup
l Cardamom powder a little
l Roasted Gram Powder 1tablespoon


How to make / Method
Preparing the coconut filling / Puranam:
1. Grate white portion of fresh coconut.
2. Put the grated coconut in a mixer and run it with a dry grinding blade for fine & even
grinding.
3. Mix grated jaggery to this and heat it in a pan, stirring regularly till the jaggery melts
completely.
4. When the mixture becomes thick, add roasted Dhal Powder and cardamom powder.
5. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool before using it in the Kozhukattai.
Preparing rice covering:
1. Heat water in a heavy Kadai with salt and oil
2. When it starts to boil, reduce the flame and pour the rice flour in the center in a heap.
3. Insert a ladle (spoon) and close the Kadai with a lid leaving a little gap where you
have placed the ladle.
4. Cook in reduced flame for about 10 minutes
5. Switch off the stove and then quickly stir the dough taking care to avoid forming
lumps.
6. Allow the dough the become lukewarm.
7. Knead the dough well using a little water for help (Sprinkle on the dough if necessary)
8. Apply oil to your hands and take out a small amount of dough in your hands (amount
just less than that of Pooris)
9. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
10. Using your thumb and forefingers, flatten the edges first and gradually shape it like a cup while carefully turning and pressing with equal pressure on all sides.
11. Keep a little coconut filling inside and fold it to seal well, pressing down to form a plait like design.
12. Arrange a few of these on a greased Idli plate and steam them in a pressure cooker or Idli vessel for 7 to 10 minutes.

Groundnut Chikki

this is a very nice simple yummy recipe to make which can be made quite easily. the groundnuts used should be roasted and crshed(or run in mixie for 2 sec).following the measurements for the ingredients would give the best yummy cikki.

Ingredients:
Groundnuts - 1 cup (roasted & crushed)
sugar - 2 cups
ghee - 1 tablespoon
soda - 1 pinch (added for crispiness)

Method:
for this preparation a heavy bottom vessel would be the best
1.add 2 tablespoons of ghee & 2 cups of sugar. do not stir and let the sugar caramelize. as it caramelizes at the bottom stir it slightly & let it completely caramelize.
2.stir it well.
3.switch off the stove & immediately add the crushed groundnuts and a pinch of soda.
4.mix the mixture well and immediately transfer it to a greased tray and cut the pieces, as this would harden very soon.

Homemade Mango Jam (Aam ka murraba)

I always wanted to try out a raw mango dish that my mom often does, a very yummy one which is sweet & hot(will publish it sometime). For a change I planned to try this one which I found in subhada's kitchen. This one is simple & can be stored for a long time. can be prepared in microwave also. the microwave version in – blog &needs absolutely no water, this further increases the shelf life.
the recipe follows:

 Ingredients:
Raw mango - 1 (skin peeled & grated)
jaggery - 1 - 1 1/2 cup ( as per your taste)
cardamom - 2
water

more jaggery can be added if the mango is very sour. another way to reduce the sourness is to boil the grated mango for a few minutes.

Method:
1.boil the jaggery along with some water till it thins up.
2.add cardamom to it.
3.add the grated. pre-boiled mango to the mixture & stir up well.
4.keep stirring the mixture now & then, till it thickens, when satisfied with the consistency switch off the stove.thicker the consistency the longer the shelf life.
goes on well with chapattis & bread.

Akarai Adisal

this is a recipe which i saw in a cookery show and wanted to try it out definitely. as i am always fond of payasam's & dessert varieties, this one attracted me a lot. akarai adisal is very easy to prepare & tasted really delicious. the recipe follows:

Publish Post

Ingredients:
raw rice - 2 tbl spoons
moond dhal - 1/2 cup
milk - 1 1/2 cup

cashewnuts - 5-6 chopped & fried in ghee
raisins - 9-10 fried in ghee
jaggery - 1cup
cardamom -2

Method:
1.take one n half cup milk along with one cup of moong dhal, 2 tbl spn. of raw rice n pressure cook for about 4 to 5 whistles.
(in the actual recipe the dhal mixture is boiled in milk, but sice since milk overflows its a beeter way to boil the dhal in water and then follow the next step below)
2.take the well cooked mixture in a vessel and bring it to boil(extra milk can b added) add then jaggery and let it boil.
3.fry the cashew-nuts, raisins in ghee and fry them till lite brown.
4.add cardamom, fried cashewnuts and raisins to the sweet mixture.
5.serve hot

my mom felt that i could have added grated coconut to it, which would enhance its taste. even without coconut it tasted great.

Mysore pak

Ingredients:
2 cups Gram Flour (Besan flour)
1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar
1 cup ghee ( increase if desired)
To garnish:
2 spoons chopped cashew pieces fried in ghee.

Method:
Boil sugar with a little water to make the sugar syrup with the string like consistency.
Add the Channa dhal flour(Bengal Gram flour) little by little to this syrup continually mixing without allowing any lumps to be formed.
Once all the flour is added, add the ghee slowly in small amounts and continue mixing thoroughly till all the ghee is added gets into every molecule of the this channa flour mixed in sugar syrup.
Once the mixture leaves the container, and big holes appear on the surface of this sweet mixture & it comes together without sticking to the vessel when you can see this it is done. remove from heat.
Now pour this mixture into a greased tray and flatten it evenly.
Sprinkle some crushed cashew pieces if desired.
Let the mixture set for a few minutes and cut into desired shapes and arrange for serving.