Ragi Kozhakattai(Fingermillet Steamed Balls)

Ragi puttu recipe from Divya's blog seemed very easy. So I tried it today. I didn't make any changes to her recipe except that I dry roasted Rice flour for 2 minutes and added Ragi and roasted for another minute.Then I shaped them into small oval balls. It tasted more like kozhakattai to me. For original recipe, click here.

100g of Ragi has about 7 grams of protein and 3.6 grams of fiber.
I will jot down the recipe here.

Ingredients:
Ragi flour-1 cup
Rice Flour-1/4 cup
Brown Sugar-1/4 cup
Coconut-1/4 cup
Cardamom powder- a pinch

Method:
Dry roast Rice flour for 2 minutes. Then add Ragi flour and roast for another minute. Turn off the heat. Add rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle water(about 1/4 cup) little by little to wet the mixture. It should look crumbly and you should be able to roll into balls. Be very careful when adding water. Steam the balls in idli plate for 8 minutes.

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Sangeeth's Eat healthy-during pregnancy
Ramki's Recipes for the rest of us

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cake is my favorite dessert. It's light and taste very refreshing after storing in the fridge. I've some leftover pumpkin in the fridge and thinking to make this pumpkin chiffon last weekend. For this recipe, the pumpkin suppose to be steamed with its skin which is in green color but I peeled it days ago. So, I replace the green skin with some pumpkin seeds.
Normally I'd bake all my chiffon at 160'C according to my oven thermometer. After reading my friend's blog, she recommended to turn the heat down to 140'C as the fan oven we are using is quite heat. It works! The previous chiffon I baked rise up very quickly and cracked till nobody business whereas this time it rise up slow and steady. Although it's cracked but not so serious.
I like the cotton soft chiffon combine with the sweetness from the steam pumpkin with bits of crunchiness from the pumpkins seeds, yummy!

Recipe for 17cm round chiffon

For the egg whites mixture:
110g egg whites
55g caster sugar
5g corn flour

For the egg yolks mixture:
40g egg yolks
24g milk
36g vegetable oil or olive oil
24g mashed pumpkin
10g sugar
55g plain flour
80g pumpkin cubes

How I made it:

1. For the mashed pumpkin, wash and core the pumpkin. Cut in big chunky portion and steam until tender. Peel some of the steamed pumpkin and mash. Cut others steamed pumpkin about 1cm cubes with skin. Weight the ingredients follow by the recipe above.
2. For the chiffon cake, mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour and pumpkin cubes. When everything well combined then gradually add in sifted flour (I used electric mixer, its came very handy for this process). Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be very thick and and smooth. Gently mix in the pumpkin cubes.
3. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
4. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)
5. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160'C preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. . Keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 4 - 5 days. Best serve in 3 days.

The Kidney Party

Tonight, our friends in Cedar Park, Texas are gathering at the home of Jim and Carole Wallace for the 11th Annual Kidney Party, held every December 8th to celebrate Jim's kidney transplant. Jim sent us an invitation along with a brief history of the party:

"The Kidney Party began on the first anniversary as a gathering and party to thank all of the people that were so considerate and helpful during my transplant and recovery. Carole, of German ancestry, was raised in a small German community in Wisconsin and had grown up eating organ meats which she learned to prepare from her mother and grandmother. When we were married she introduced me to beef tongue, beef heart, steak tartar and souse (meat jelly). So naturally, we thought it was appropriate to serve organ meats at that first celebration. We serve steak and kidney pie and beef tongue. And, because the kidney I receive has two ureters, the connection between the kidney and the bladder, we decided to serve split-pea soup. We also served chili with kidney beans, dirty rice and kidney beans, three-bean salad and marinated vegetables with hearts of palm and artichoke hearts. The Kidney Party has become an annual event where we can gather with friends and give thanks for another year of life. "