Sunday, July 25, 2010

Chakka Varatti ~ Jackfruit Jam

Last few posts have been more of jack fruit and mango. I have some more posts lined up on jack fruit. During my childhood days, I have spent most of my summer vacation at my maternal home. Then, only my grand parents were there. Two months of vacation was full of fun. We spent the whole day playing in the back yard with children from the neighborhood. We were never bored. Those days, mangoes and jack fruit ruled the day.. in both raw and ripe forms. My grandma used to prepare chakka varatti from a minimum of 3 jack fruits in one go. Me and my sister used to help is separating the jack fruit bulbs. In the process, we would eat few also. Coming to the present, i have at most prepared chakka varatty from one jack fruit. Though the recipe is simple, the process is very laborious, it call for great shoulder strength for continuous stirring for a long time. Most of the times, I end making chakka poornam, which is used as filling for ela adai , since it calls for less work. When making the chakkavaratti with few jack fruit bulbs doesn't take much time. I'm sure my grandma  could never imagine making in such small quantity.  Here is how I make it




  
You need
  •  Jack fruit segments - 20 nos

  • Jaggery - 1 cup heaped

  • Ghee - a tablespoon
  


Method

  
Chop the jack fruit into bite sized pieces. Cook in microwave or stop top till it changes it color. If cooking on stove top, sprinkle some water so that it doesn't stick to the pan.

Cool and puree the cooked fruit.

Take a thick bottomed kadai or pan. Mix the pureed fruit and jaggery. Cook till it is flaky like jam. Finally add a tablespoon of ghee. It will stay good for a year with out any refrigeration. The shelf life increases according to the consistency of the chakkavaratty. I haven't gone to that extent since I knew I would use it in a week.






Saturday, July 24, 2010

TOMATO BRIYANI

It will be very tasty if we make this briyani with ripe red tomatoes. Everybody has a different method to make this briyani. But I add a little lime juice in the process to enhance its taste.


தக்காளி பிரியாணி

Ingredients:

Tomatoes [medium size]-4
Basmati rice- 2 1/2 cups
Onion-2
Slit green chillies-6
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
Mint leaves- a handful
Chopped coriander- half cup
Lime juice- 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil-4 tbsp
Ghee-3 tbsp
Turmeric powder- half sp

Powder the following coarsely:

Fennel seeds- half sp, cardamom-3, cinnamon-1 inch piece, cloves-2

Procedure:

Wash and soak the rice in enough water.
Heat a vessel and pour the oil and a tbsp of ghee.
Slice the onions thinly and add them to the oil and fry to golden brown.
Then add the ginger garlic paste and fry them for a few minutes on slow fire.
Then add the chopped tomato with the greens and fry them until the tomatoes are mashed and the oil floats on top.
Lastly add the powder and fry for a few seconds.
Pour 5 cups of water and add the rice.
When the rice is half cooked, add the lime juice and salt.
When the water is evaporated and the rice is cooked to 3/4th, cover it with a lid and keep it in ‘ dhum ’ in the gas oven to 160 degree C for 20 minutes.
Mix once in interval and pour the remaining ghee around the corners.
The delicious tomato briyani is ready now!

Paal Paayasam/Milk Kheer/Milk Pudding and a Celebration





Hooray!!!!! It is my 100th Post!!!! :) So Happy to Celebrate this.  What started as a Simple Time-pass, has grown into a Passion.Thanks a Ton to all my Blogger Friends/Readers for taking their time out, reading my post and  giving  those lovely, encouraging comments. It is these Wonderful Words that feed my Passion!!!
I m Celebrating My First Mile-Stone with this Paal Paayasam/Milk Kheer. 


Ingredients
2 Litres Milk
1 can Condensed Milk (i used Milkmaid) + 2 tbsp Sugar 
1 fist Raw Rice 
2 tbsp Badam
2 tbsp Cashew
1 tbsp Raisins
4 pods of Cardamom
Method
Boil Milk in a heavy bottomed Pan. Keep the Flame very low. Soak the rice in a bowl of water for 20 minutes, then drain the excess water and keep the rice ready. Once the Milk Starts boiling, Add the Rice, Keep Stirring and keep the flame low to avoid burning.
Grind Badam, Cashew, Raisins and Cardamom to a Coarse Powder. Once the Rice is cooked, Add Condensed Milk, sugar and Mix well. Keep Stirring. 
After 10 Minutes, Add the Nuts Powder, Stir Well, Let it sit for 10 More minutes in a low Flame. Take it off the flame. Enjoy it Hot, Hot or Chill it for a Cool Cool Kheer!!!!

Sending this Kheer to Iftar Moments Event @ Taste of Pearl City by Umm Mymoonah
And Also to Festive Food - Rakhi 2010 @ Indian Khana by Priti