Tamil New Year Special - Mango Pachadi and Mupparuppu Vadai

Wishing you all A very Happy Tamizh New Year and a Very Happy Vishu. Made some Mango Pachadi and Mupparuppu Vada for Swamy Neivedhiyam. Mango pachadi is a traditional dish made for Tamizh New Year.It will be a mixture of Sweet,Sour,Spice and we even put Neem flower while doing the seasoning. so its a combination of all taste, symbolising that life is a Balanced Mixture of Everything.

Ingredients
2 medium sized Raw Mangoes
Equal amount of jaggery
Salt a pinch

Seasoning

Turmeric a pinch

1 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 tsp oil

2 nos red chilli

2 tsp dried neem flower

Method

Wash and cube the mangoes. In a pan Add water, salt and cook the mangoes until soft, when the mangoes are cooked add Jaggery and cook until the jaggery mixes well and starts thickening.

Take it off the flame. In another wok, add oil, splutter mustard seeds, add turmeric and red chillies and Neem Flower, fry it a bit and add it to the cooked Mango Pachadi. Enjoy

3 Lentils Vada or the Muparuppu Vada

This Vada is made durinng most of the festivities as it is considered Subham (Good Luck).

Ingredients

2 tbsp Gram Dal/Chana Dal

2 tbsp urad Dal
1 tbsp Tuvar Dal
1/2 tsp moong dal
2 tbsp Grated Carrots
2 green chillies
hing a pinch
2 sprigs of curry leaves
salt to taste

Method

Soak the lentils in water for half an hour. Drain the excess water and grind a together to a coarse paste. Transfer it to a bowl and add curry leaves, grated carrots,hing and add salt and mix well.

Heat oil in a pan and make small patties of the mixture and deep fry them in batches, drain on a paper towel and enjoy with some sambar.

Cucumber-Mint Lassi

Summer, Wonderful Summer is wonderful only if Mr. Sun reduces some of his harmful heat rays. Called home yesterday to wish them New Year,Amma was complaining about the scorching heat  in Chennai. Advised them to be careful before venturing out. so, here are some tips, to keep urself a bit cool this summer.

Protect the skin

Sunscreen is essential in the summertime. Buy a good sunscreen that is SPF 15 or higher and put it on your children 30 minutes before they go outside. Reapply sunscreen every two hours and again after your children are in the water and towel dry.A higher SPF number on sunscreen does not mean a longer period of time you’re protected in the sun. The American Cancer Society recommends the Australians’ rule of “Slip, Slop, Slap” – slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat – as the best way to protect your skin from the sun’s damaging rays.

Watch for heat exhaustion
Although children appear to be less affected by weather extremes, they are in fact more susceptible to heat exhaustion or heat stress than adults

Stay hydrated
It is recommended the children and adults alike should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Don’t wait until your child is thirsty to give him water. Dehydration can be happening without notice

The Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that:
•Children need time to become acclimated to a warmer climate by gradually increasing their expose and exercise in the environment.
•Children should drink water and be well hydrated before starting physical activity.
•Children should drink water or sports drinks periodically during physical activity and play, even if they don’t feel thirsty – 5 ounces every 20 minutes for a child weighting 40 pounds; 9 ounces every 20 minutes for an adolescent weighting 132 pounds.
•Clothing should be light-colored, lightweight and limited to one layer of absorbent fabric to allow the skin to sweat. If clothing becomes wet, it should be changed for dry clothing

Here's Another Chilling Recipe for the Scorching Summer.

Ingredients
One small Cucumber
A Tightfist of Fresh Mint Leaves, washed
2 tbsp Low-fat Yoghurt
1/2cup Buttermilk
Salt to taste.

Method
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend smooth. You will definitely feel the chillness when you gulp it down, it jus cools your whole system. Give it a try!!!.

Sending this to Thanda Mela by Srivalli.

Fruits Crumble

I really miss the life in the UK especially my dear friends and the fascinating village. It just simply unforgettable. I remember my first time having an apple crumble in my friend's cottage few years back, that's remarkable one! Dining in a cottage with a hot crumble during the cold weather, such a typical English lifestyle. I fall in love with crumble from that day onwards. It was my first time had a hot dessert go with vanilla ice cream, custard or yogurt. I've not been making it after I moved into Singapore. It's just happened that my crumble's mood came back again last weekend although we're having such a hot and humid weather here but I can't wait to make it for our dinner dessert. This crumble recipe I had with me for many years is the best one for me especially the crumble toppings. Crumbly yet buttery rich flavor that goes so well with the bit of sourly fruits. Further more, the scoop of ice cream that slowly melting on the hot crumble that make me feel like sitting in a the English cottage again....

Preheat the oven to 200C. For the filling, you could use apple, pear, plum, figs, etc with some berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. This time, I use plum and pear. Peel, quarter and core the pear and plum into large chunks. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish. I used a small one for serving two person. Adding one orange zest and juice to the fruits. Mix together with hands. Toss over the blackberries, and scatter over some sugar (I didn't add any sugar on it as I feel the fruits is sweet enough for me). For the crumble topping, place 30g ground almond, 70g flour, 45g polenta, 70g cold butter and 55g raw sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly, it should be quite clumpy. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruits. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you have leftover crumble, store in the freezer or fridge and use it later for your crumble muffins, that's what I like to do. Turn down the heat to 180C and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes until the top is nicely browned and bubbling. If you like the fruits to stay crunchy, adjust the baking time. Otherwise bake longer to have a soft texture of fruits. Serve while it's still hot. The crumble served with my homemade raspberries ripple ice cream. You could serve with custard or yogurt. Enjoy!