Vishu Kanji

Vishu Kanji is a special traditional recipe that is prepared on the day of Vishu. Vishu represents the passing of sun from Taurus to Aries. It is believed to be the ideal time to start cultivation. In olden days, kanji was the preferred breakfast in most farming families. May be , the kanji is also made special to fit the occasion of Vishu.

We don't follow the tradition of making this kanji on Vishu day. But I get to taste that on Vishu day, thanks to my kind neighbors , both before and after marriage. When my BIL and family came down for vacation after Vishu, I decided to make this for them. They all enjoyed the kanji very much. Even those who doesn't have a liking for the regular kanji, will love this. Since then the photos were waiting to be posted in my drafts folder.

Parboiled rice preferable rose matta - 1 cup

raw rice/long grain rice - 1/2 cup

moong dal - 1/2 cup

mochapayaru/mochakottai - 1/2 cup

fresh grated coconut - 1 cup

salt to taste

I don't know the English name for mochha. With googling I found, lima beans is a close substitute for this.

Mix salt with grated coconut and keep it aside.

Dry roast moong dal and mochapayaru separately till you can smell the aroma. Lightly crush the mocha using the mixer grinder, so that the skin comes out. It should not be powdered. I use the traditional grinding stone ie. Ammikal.

Wash both the rice and add moong dal,mocha payaru cook with 6 cups of water in a pressure cooker. Since rosematta takes much time to cook, I cook it separately and mix everything later. If you are cooking on stove top, Start with rosematta, when it is half boiled, add the raw rice and grams. The rice and grams should not turn mushy. Once cooked, you can adjust the consistency by adding more hot water.

Add the coconut to the kanji and serve hot or cold. It taste good both ways. Avial pairs very well with this kanji.

Let me also join Sangeeth in her attempt to Eat Healthy-Fibre Rich.

Chawal ka Parantha

For the last few days, daily, atleast one post in TOI is on roti with varied stuffings and ingredients, thanks to Srivally and her Roti Mela. I had planned to try some new varieties as part of the on going Roti Mela. Ever since she announced the mela, I was too busy that routine cooking itself was too tedious. Now, things are falling back to routine.

This recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's Dal-Roti cook book. An easy one to make and can make good use of the left over rice too. Here is the recipe.



Cooked rice - 1 cup

wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups

salt - 1 tspn


curds/yogurt - 1/4 cup


ghee - 2 tblspn


red chilli powder - 1/2 tspn


cumin powder - 1/2 tspn


green chillies - 2 nos, chopped


medium sized onion - 1, chopped


oil for frying

Sift wheat flour and one teaspoon of salt. Add yogurt, 2 tablespoons of ghee and half cup of water. Mix together to form a soft dough.Cover with a damp cloth for half an hour.

Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. You can make use of left over cooked rice for this paranthas. Mix cooked rice, red chilli powder, cumin powder, chopped green chillies , chopped onion and salt to taste.

Knead the dough and divide into equal sized balls. Roll out each ball to a three-inch round. Keep a portion of the rice mixture in the centre and gather the edges together and shape into a thick round pedha. Roll out into a 7 inch circle.

Heat a tawa. Place a parantha on it. Turn over once and sprinkle some oil on it. Flip and spread some oil on the other side. Cook till both sides are well.

Paranthas were very soft and spicy too. Since these paranthas remain soft for a longer time, it is suitable for lunchbox too. Serve with some plain curds and pickle or any side of your choice.

This is my entry to Vally's Roti Mela.

Closed - An Unsettling Settlement

We finally did it.

I find the "Buying and Selling" post comical at this point. Did I actually think there were going to be no more surprises? Because the first few steps went so well, I was delusional I suppose.

Just about every thing that could go wrong, did. While the end result turned out to be better than we had ever imagined, getting there was stressful and terrible. We had a mortgage broker completely flake out on us (think two separate week long periods where there would be no contact whatsoever). We lost the opportunity to get into a needed program for the mortgage. Then - when everything seemed to be falling into place with a new, better mortgage co. - we had appraisal issues (too low) in combination with a stubborn seller. We actually were forced to go look at other houses less than two weeks before we were scheduled to settle. Apparently this showed the seller we weren't messing around and he lowered the sale price to the appraisal amount (by $20,000, mind you).

Settlement ended up going mostly smooth and we found out that the house is much older than we thought - the first recorded sale of the property was 1809! We'll have a bicentennial party next year.

So now that we're moved in - and sort of unpacked - we're eager to get working. We're starting a few small projects. Unfortunately, the first major step is removing some load-bearing walls and that is something that we don't consider DIY. Contractor's will be coming by to give some quotes and I'll have some pictures and updates as work progresses.