Snow Skin Mooncake

My first attempt on making mooncake. Everyone recommend to me to start with snow skin as it's quite simple to make. So, just give it a try.

I cooked the lotus paste, it's hard work but at the end it's nice to know that all made by myself although it's not as tasty as the one I bought and the appearance could tell it's definately a homemade one.

I like to play with the mould more than eating the mooncake. It's fun wrapping the lotus paste with the snow skin and stuff it into the mold and pushing it out. Playing the mooncake mold is really FUN! It's a good try. I'll not share the recipe here as I feel that this batch of mooncake still not the good one. I'll try again next year or may be I shall try out the bake version next year :)

Masa Corn Tortillas &Tomatillo Salsa aka Mexican Corn Rotti and Chutney!

MASA CORN TORTILLAS & TOMATILLO SALSA

(Mexican Corn Rotti & Spicy Chutney??)

The native Indians followed a unique method to raise their staple food crops. Corn, Fava Beans and Pumpkin which they referred to as “The Three Sisters” were planted and raised together in the fields. The corn plants provided support to the fava bean plants, while they in turn fixed the nitrogen in the soil. The pumpkin crept beneath these plants and kept away the weeds. This method of agriculture is followed by the farmers even to this day.

My son and daughter-in-law are ardent gardeners and the “Three Sisters” have occupied a prominent place in their home garden. The tender and fresh corn cobs, the fava beans with a green oily glaze and the bright yellow blooms of the pumpkin are a feast to the eyes.

The other day my son plucked the tender fresh corn from the garden and he requested me to prepare corn tortillas for dinner. I implicitly followed his directions and ended up with a delicious and sumptuous meal for dinner.

MASA CORN TORTILLAS
INGREDIENTS:

Instant Corn Masa Flour - 2 cups
Salt – ½ tsp
Warm water – as required.
Fresh corn – ½ cup
Frozen corn – 2 tbsps
Minced green chillies – 1 tbsp
METHOD:
1. Mix the corn masa, minced chillies and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the fresh corn and the frozen corn to the flour.
3. Add warm water little by little and knead the flour into a soft dough.
4. Grease a griddle and heat it.
5. Take a ball of dough and pat it into a thin and even tortilla on the griddle.
6. Wet your fingers now and then and evenly spread the dough into a round shape.
7. Dribble oil around and cover and cook tortilla for a few minutes.
8. Remove lid and flip it to the other side and cook for a few more minutes.. A spicy tomatillo salsa prepared by my son was an ideal combination.

TOMATILLO SALSA
Tomatillos are sour fruits which belong to the tomato family. They are green or purple in colour after removing the dry bracts which enclose them. This can be added to the salads but we liked them in the spicy salsa.
INGREDIENTS:
Tomatillos – 6
Onion – 1
Garlic – 4 cloves
Tomato – 1

Green chillies - 2 (optional)
Jalapeno- 3
Salt – 1 tsp

lime juice - 2 tsp

fresh herbs of your choice - (optional) a few

Olive Oil – 1 tbsp

Black pepper powder - to taste
METHOD:
1. Wash and chop all vegetables into big chunks.
2. Heat a griddle and add the vegetables to the hot griddle and stir well.

3. Lower the flame and cook the vegetables covered, removing the lid to stir now and then.
4. The vegetables will release a pleasant aroma when done.
5. Cool the dry roasted vegetables and blend them coarsely with salt, herbs and lime juice.
6. Add olive oil and blend again.
7. You can garnish the salsa with a pinch of pepper powder for flavour.
Enjoy your Tomatillo salsa with any dish of your choice.

Jantikalu or Muruku - ICC - September Challenge

This is the first time i m into Indian Cooking Challenge. This month recipe Muruku is my Kuttu's Favourite.
That's why eventhough i entered late, i jus decided i m doing it.

I normally do murukku using readymade rice flour and Besan flour. This is the first time i m using urad dal, My God! the aroma of muruku filled the whole house.

SriValli rightly said, making rice flour @ home definitely has a kick!!

Ingredients
Raw Rice - 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 - 3/4 cup

For Seasoning
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 3 - 4 tbsp

Method
Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool. Grind rice  and urad dal seperately into a fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and knead into a soft dough

 Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. I tried both. i felt pressing it over the paper, gives it a good shape.

Keep the flame low, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

Sprouted Moong Sundal

Sprouted Moong is nutritious & Rich in protein.It's colorful,Refreshing & Healthy Dish.I will prepare Regularly in my house,because my son loves this.Very quick & easy dish.




Ingredients:

Sprouted moong-1 cup
Jaggery-1/2 cup
shredded coconut-4 tsp
Ghee-2 tsp


Preparation method:
1. Pressure cook sprout's for 4 whistels.
2. Heat the ghee in pan,add sprout's & Jaggery.Saute for 1 or 2 min.
3. Allow the jaggery melts & mix with sprout's.
4. Add shredded coconut.mix well.







I am sending this recipe to Kids delight http://spicingyourlife.blogspot.com/


and

http://www.monsoonspice.com/2009/09/announcing-my-legume-love-affair.html

Susan’s event page

Murukku ~ Indian Cooking Challenge # 3

Srivalli chose murukku for the September Challenge.  For me, murukku means the kai murukku, which needs some expertise to make. My amma is an expert on that. More on that murukku in a later post. I must admit, this month's ICC was a breeze for me. It must have been a real challenge, if she had chosen the kai murukku. Though I make muthusaram, the recipe given by Valli was different from what I make. I found this recipe simpler with few ingredients.

Srivalli had given the ratio of Rice to Urad dal as 4:1. Since I had ground more quanity of rice, I measured 2 cups of rice flour and proceeded with the making. Proportinaly I took urad dal flour too. For those of you who are not starting from scratch, this measurement might be useful. Apart from this, I followed her recipe. When ever I make murukku of this kind, I directly press into the oil. This time I wanted to try making the concentric circles kind and tried my hand at that. It was easy, but time consuming. After making around 10 numbers that way, I felt back to my old ways.

2 cups of rice flour - Soaked, shade dried and powdered

1/3 cup f urad dal flour - Roasted and powdered

1 1/2 tblspn of butter

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn

Sesame seeds - 1/2 tspn

Hing - a small piece soaked in water

Water to make the dough

Take both rice and urad dal flour in a wide vessel.  Add salt, butter, cumin and sesame seeds. Mix well. I used the solid hing. So I soak it in water for half an hour . Add the hing water. Gather everything well to get a crumbly mix. Slowly add water to get a soft dough. If too much water is added, then you will have trouble pressing into oil. The dough will keep breaking while you press.

Heat oil in a kadai and when the oil is hot, press into the oil and cook over medium flame. Gently turn the murkkus with a slotted spoon and cook till it is golden in color. Drain on absorbent paper and when cool, store in airtight container.  If you have both the flours ready, then its really easy to make. The only problem with this murukku is that it gets over in the same speed its made.

Tour of the La Selva Commune

A few months back Vanessa Bertozzi, our colleague and friend who worked with us on The Sonic Memorial Project, wrote us with a "little bit of a crazy proposal." She's now working for Etsy, an online marketplace for things handmade, and wanted to know if we'd take part in a series they're creating for their blog about peoples' homes and collections. So videographer Eric Beug spent the day at La Selva with Kitchen Sister Silva creating this piece for their series "There's No Place Like Here."

About Me

Hey all

I m Priya Srinivasan, i live in Sharjah, UAE.

I m a Teacher/Lecturer by Profession, but at present i stay @home to look after my 3 year old Energy bundle named Narasimhan.

Teaching is my passion. Hope to join work soon after my kid starts his school.

Cooking is another art which i love. I m a Happy Person in the Kitchen.

I Believe there is no hard and fast rules in cooking.

U can add little bit of ur imagination too.

Talking about my Favourites, I love Music, i m a great fan of Ilayaraja. I love to hear others too, any good music, i jus love it.

Before marriage i didnt have any big interest in movies. Jus love watching hindi/english movies with my college friends.

Its my husband who introduced me to good movies. Some of them are Erin Brockovich, America's Sweetheart, Mamma mia, Devil Wears Prada, Notting Hill, Pretty Woman, Monalisa Smile, Roman Holiday, Sound of Music Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mr. & Mrs. Iyer, 15 Park Avenue, Manichitrathazh, Bharatham, Swathi Nakshthram, Mani Rathnam movies, Balachander movies......

Now-a-days i m watching BEE MOVIE thrice a day, oh yeah, my son watches it everyday!!!! now i started remembering all the dialoges, v can jus mute the volume and go dubbing. :)

Sweet Potato Fry

My hubby love all the Kizangu varieties (Tuberous plants). Sweet potatoes, in my home, we normally pressure cook them with little salt. eat them as such (ofcourse we peel the skin). we love it. My chithi(mom's sister), used to make it often for us. After coming to my in-law's place i learned how to make podimass with it.This Sweet Potato fry was tried just like that to see whether it tastes great like the normal potato fry. And know what?  it did, really did. Try it for yourself.

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes - 3 to 4 Medium sized.

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp (u can increase this, if u want it more spicy!!!!!!)

Salt to taste

Old Snap!!!!!

Tempering

Canola oil - 2 tbsp

mustard seeds - 1 tsp

chana dal - 1 1/2 tsp

hing - a pinch

curry leaves

Method

• Cook Sweet potatoes in a pan of water till fork tender. When the water starts boiling, Switch it off and Keep the vessel closed for 10 minutes. This way you will get fork tender Sweet Potatoes.Drain the excess water,
• Heat oil in a Non-stick pan, splutter mustard seeds, add chana dal, hing, turmeric, curry leaves.Saute till chana dal turns brown.
• Add cooked sweet potatoes and saute.

New Click on Tamil New Year's Day!!!!

• Add Red chili powder and Salt and mix well. Cook in slow flame, till potatoes are roasted.
• Do not Mix the potatoes often, this might make them mushy. Instead try giving a stir by tossing the pan.
• Serve Warm  with any Kalandha saadam (Mixed Rice), it tastes great.

Sending this recipe to Lakshmi Venkatesh's Think Spice - Think Red Chillies Event and Sunita's World Think Spice Event and to  Srivalli's Spice your life - Kids Delight Event

Condensed Milk Rava Kesari

It was Moolam Nakshatram yesterday, Saraswathi Aavaganam (Saraswathi pooja starts fm this day). Planned to do Rava Kesari and Muparuppu Vadai. I have always tried rava kesari with sugar, thought of using Condensed milk this time.

The Kesari came out great. My son Naras  who normally doesnt like anything swwweeett actually had a small cup of kesari. I have successfully passed in this  :)  :)

Sending this post to SriValli's Kids Delight

Ingredients

Semolina/Sooji/Rava - 3/4 cup

Condensed milk - 1/2 tin (400gms full tin)

milk - 1/2 cup

water - 1 cup

Ghee - 4-5 tbsp

yellow color - a pinch

Garnishing

Roasted Cashew nuts &; Raisins

Method

Take a deep-pan Roast semolina in ghee till it changes color(turns golden brown, watch and dont turn it black!!!!!!!!!!). Keep the flame low,  Add Milk and water,  add yellow color and rava allow the mixture to boil,and let rava get cooked, add milkmaid. Stir Occassionally, add ghee. When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, take it off the flame.

Garnish with cashew nuts and raisins.

Update

My Son doesnt like anything which taste more Sweet!!! (Opp. to my in-laws, they jus love to have a Sweet dish even every day!!!!) so i have made the Kesari mild in sweet. if you want more sweet, pls increase the amount of condensed milk

.

Navratri

Navratri During this Nine nights and Ten days Nine Forms of Shakti Devi are Worshiped.Near by My House Kanniga parameshwari Temple is there.They Will do 9 Different Alangarams Everyday during Navratri.


Nine forms of Shakti

* Durga, the inaccessible one
* Bhadrakali
* Amba or Jagadamba, Mother of the universe
* Annapurna, The one who bestows grains (an) in plenty (purna)
* Sarvamangala, The one who gives joy (mangal) to all (sarva)
* Bhairavi
* Chandika or Chandi
* Lalita
* Bhavani
* Mookambika

First three days
The goddess is separated as a spiritual force called Durga also known as Kali in order to destroy all our impurities.

Second three days
The Mother is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, Lakshmi, who is considered to have the power of bestowing on her devotees inexhaustible wealth, as she is the goddess of wealth.

Final three days
The final set of three days is spent in worshipping the goddess of wisdom, Saraswathi. In order to have all-round success in life, believers seek the blessings of all three aspects of the divine femininity, hence the nine nights of worship.(From Wikipedia)





















I Prepared Sweet & Kara Sundal for Navratri.



Happy Navratri to All.

Plain White Bread

Quite satisfiy with this shape of square white bread. With 90 minutes proofing sponge dough method of 孟老师的100道面包, I must say "worth it"! The crumb is soft but I've no idea how long it can stay soft as it's finished in two days.

Recipes: (A) 220g bread flour / 3g yeast / 130g water

(B) 60g bread flour / 15g sugar / 1/2 tsp salt / 10g milk /

powder / 40g water

(C) unsalted butter 15g

Method:

1. Knead ingredients (A) together until it's well combine and become a dough ball. Let it sit in a clean bowl cover with cling wrap proof for 90 minutes at room temperature.
2. Mix in the ingredients (B) to (A) and knead until a smooth dough then add butter.
3. Continue to knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. Proof for 60 minutes.
4. Divide the dough in to 3 portions and rest for 10 minutes.
5. Roll out each doughs into a longish shape and roll up like a swiss roll. Place the doughs in a grease bread tin cover with lid and proof for 50 - 60 minutes until the dough fill up 90% of the bread tin.
6. Bake at 200'C for 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the bread tin and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Black Eyed Beans Sundal

he black-eyed pea, also called black-eyed bean or "mulato gelatto" is a subspecies of the cowpea, grown around the world for its medium-sized edible bean. The bean mutates easily, giving rise to a number of varieties. The common commercial one is called the California Blackeye; it is pale-colored with a prominent black spot.

Like most beans, black-eyed beans are rich in the best sort of fiber - soluble fiber - which helps to eliminate cholesterol from the body. They are a good source of folate, potassium, copper, phosphorous and manganese. As a high-potassium, low-sodium food they help reduce blood pressure.

After the usual Chick-peas sundal and Green Gram sprout Sundal the next in line was Black-eye bean sundal.

Though the process is the same, but i made a lil change to ingredients i use here. i tried with dessicated coconut and dhaniya-channal dal dry powder.

Here comes the recipe

Ingredients

Black Eye bean - 1-1/2 cups (soak and cook until soft)

dessicated coconut powder - 2 tbsp
salt to taste

Dry powder

dhaniya - 2 tsp

Channa dal/Kadalai parupu - 3 tsp

red chillies - 3 to 4 (as per ur taste)

Dry roast the ingredients and grind them into a medium-coarse powder.

Seasoning

oil - 1 tbsp

mustard seeds - 2 tsp

urad dal - 2 tsp
curry leaves - 2 tsp

hing a pinch.

Method

Soak the beans for 4-5 hrs and cook them until soft. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, urad dal and hing.

Add the cooked beans, add masala powder mix well. Add dessicated coconut and mix well.

take i off the flame.

Sending this recipe for Think Spice - Think Red Chillies Event and Sunita's World  Think Spice Event

Chow Chow Kootu

Kootu(Semi solid curry made with Lentil and Vegetable) is an important dish in South Indian cooking.It's Simple,Delicious and Healthy part in meal.I am a Big fan of kootu,because it goes well with Sambhar,Rasam,Curd and white rice.It tastes Fantastic With Roti's and White Steamed Rice.Here my recipe



Ingredients:

Chow Chow(Chayote)-1
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Boiled Channa Dal-1/4 cup
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Chilli powder-1 tsp
Salt-To taste

For Seasoning:

Mustard-1/2 tsp
Curry leaves

To Grind:

Grated Coconut-3 tsp
Green chilli-2
Jeera-1/2 tsp

Preparation method:

1. Heat the oil in pan,add Seasoning ingredients,Allow it to pop up.
2. Add chopped onion,saute well.Now add Tomato and saute until it cooks.
3. Now add Turmeric,chilli powder and Salt,Fry until the raw smell goes.
4. Add Chopped Chow chow,saute well.Add 2 cups of water,allow it to cook.
5. Once it cooks well,add boiled Channa Dal,mix well.cook for 2-3 min.
6. Finally add grounded paste,mix well,Allow it to cook for another 2-3 min.
7. Serve hot with Rice or Roti.

Awards

Thank you Sangeetha from kothiyavunu , for Nominating Me for Kreative Award. I am so Happy to receive my second Award.It motivates me to do better.Once again Thank you so much Sangeetha.

Grissini II

I baked a similar bread stick (grissini) nearly a year ago which was topped with sesame seeds that had given a super crunchy texture. This time, I try to use cheddar cheese and it smell very good when it's almost ready from the oven. There are two types of texture for grissini which is a crisp texture outside and a soft crumbs. Another texture is crisp and crunch from the outside to the crumbs. According to the recipe from 孟老师的100道面包, leaving the grissini in the oven for few minutes after the required baking period to make the entire stick much crunchier. If you don't like a crunchy crumbs, remove from it from the oven after bake. It's such a simple yet delicious craving snacks!

Mixture (A)

Bread flour 150g

Plain flour 50g

Sugar 15g

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Water 100g

Instant yeast 1/4 teaspoon (1g)

Parmesan cheese powder 20g

Mixture (B)

Unsalted butter 15g

Egg whites 20g

Shredded cheddar cheese

1. Mix all the mixture (A) in a mixing bowl with a dough hook at low speed then medium speed until everything well combine and become a smooth dough.
2. Add in unsalted butter continue kneading with a low speed until the butter mix with the dough then change to medium speed until it become a very smooth dough.
3. Proof it in a large bowl cover with cling wrap for 50 minutes.
4. Roll the dough out at 0.3 cm thick in rectangular shape. Brush egg whites on the roll out dough and generously sprinkle with cheddar cheese to cover the whole piece of dough. Use the hand to gently press the cheese to stick at the dough.
5. Using a roller cutter to cut longish shape at 1cm thic then twist it with your hand by holding each side of the end of the dough.
6. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes at 150'C until it golden brown color. For crunchier texture, switch off the oven and let the grissini sit in the oven for 15 minutes before transfer to a wire rack to cool down. Otherwise, take it out after 15 or 20 minutes of baking to get a soft crumbs. Enjoy!

Navaratri Day 2 ~ Besan Payasam & Kosumalli

Day 2

Besan Payasam


Besan/gram flour/ kadalamavu is roasted in ghee and cooked in milk and finally sweetend with sugar. Its that simple. It requires very less time to make.  A simple, yet exotic dessert is ready in flat 15 minutes. The ingredients are always available in our pantry. 

Besan/Bengal Gram flour/Kadalamvu - 2 tblspn

Boiled milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 3 tblspn

Ghee - 1 tspn

Heat ghee in a pan and add besan. Roast the flour till nice aroma comes through. Leave it to cool. Add cool milk to the roasted flour and slowly mix to form a paste avoiding lumps. Stir in the paste to the remaining boiled milk. Boil the milk+besan mix and let it simmer for 5 minutes. The milk will start thickening. Stir in sugar. The sugar will melt and dilute the mix. When it boils again, remove from fire. The payasam will have a creamy consistency and will taste like mysurpa. You can adjust the sugar according to your taste. This will taste good when served warm or chill for few hours and serve like pudding.

Optionaly you can add some roasted cashewnuts too for extra richness. This will serve two people sufficiently When you have unexpected guests and don't know what to make for dessert, this will come quite handy. A very forgiving recipe except that you need to take care that besan doesn't turn lumpy when added to milk.

Kosumalli - Kadalapruppu Sundal

Bengal gram - 1 cup

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt to taste

Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Seasoning

Coconut oil - 2 tblspn

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Green chilli - 2 nos

Red chilly - 1 no

Finely chopped ginger - 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves

Pressure cook kadalapruppu with turmeric till it is soft yet firm. Care should be taken while cooking so that it doesn't turn mushy. If it is not cooked well on pressure cooking, you can cook it for some more time on stove top.Then you will know when to stop. Drain the cooked dal and leave it on the colander for few minutes for the water to drain out completely. Also on cooling, it will firm up. So it doesn't turny mushy on the next step of preparation.

Heat oil preferably coconut oil(or vegetable oil ). Add mustard seeds, red chilli-broken into two, chopped green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Add salt and the cooked and drained dal. Gently mix with a flat spatula, taking care not to make it mushy. Cook on low fire for 5 minutes for the dal to absorb the flavors and salt. Finally add fresh grated coconut and remove from fire.