PULI AVAL


I always like this delicious snack. This is an ideal dish for the breakfast and a different one. For this, we have to use hand made rice flakes, not the machine made one. There are so many dishes like aval upma, aval pongal, aval apayasam, aval pulav we can prepare with rice flakes. But I think this is the tastiest of all!

புளி அவல்

Ingredients:

Rice flakes-4 cups
Tamarind- a big lemon size
Gingelly oil- 4 tbsp
Ghee- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Black gram- 1 tsp
Red chillies-6
Bengal gram- 2 tbsp
Groundnuts- 2 tbsp [optional]
Shredded coconut- half cup
Curry leaves- 2 arc
Chopped coriander- 3 tbsp
Fried cashew nuts- 3 tbsp
Asafetida- half sp
Turmeric powder- half sp
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Wash the rice flakes and drain all the water thoroughly.
Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of water for half an hour in warm water and then extract its juice.
Heat a big pan and pour the oil.
Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add the grams, asafetida, curry leaves, ground nuts and red chillies.
Fry them on slow fire until they turns to light golden brown.
Add the curry leaves with the turmeric powder and fry for a minute.
Then add the tamarind juice and allow it to boil.
When the gravy thickens add the salt.
When the gravy thickens almost to a paste and the oil floats on top add the drained rice flakes with enough salt.
Mix well on slow fire for a few minutes until the rice flakes are coated well with the tamarind paste.
Add the ghee and a tsp of gingelly oil and cook for a few seconds.
Lastly add the fried cashew nuts and the coconut.
Mix well for once and now the tasty puli aval is ready!

Chakka Pradhaman- Jackfruit & Jaggery cooked in coconut milk

I wrote in my last post, that I used up the chakka varatti. Yes, I prepared chakka pradhaman as neivedyam for the first friday of Aadi/Karkidakam. I usually make only neipayasam on all fridays. This time I made an exception. If you have chakkavaratti and coconut milk in hand, then making this pradhaman is a breeze. In Kerala, payasam is referred to as pradhaman when coconut milk is used. Now you might think, then how come palada pradhaman where milk is the ingredient. In earlier days, Ada pradhaman was made with jaggery and coconut milk. May be later on, with the availability of milk in abundance, some chef might have come up with this version.

As in all pradhamans, you need 3 sets of coconut milk- thick, medium thick and thin. The first extract from the coconut is the thick milk and subsequent extracts are the medium thick and thin, which are called as first, second and third milk in the order of extract. Coconuts used are not very matured ones. While selecting coconut for milk extraction, look for the coconuts which doesn't have dark brown shell. The ones which has shades of cream are good. Sorry, I forgot to click pics of the coconut. It would give a better idea.

For 1 cup of chakka varatti, you will need about 2 medium sized coconuts. Take the amount of chakka varatti and coconut milk given here as an indication. You go by your instinct and it cannot go wrong. Little less or more of any quantity may not effectthe end result in a big way. So here comes the recipe

 

 

 

You need

•  Chakka varatti - 1 cup, packed
• Three sets of milk extracted from 2 coconuts.
• Chukku podi/Dry ginger powder - 1 tspn

  

Method

 

Grate the coconut. Pulse the grated coconut with very little water. Add water just enough to ease the grinding. Squeeze the milk out with the help of a muslin cloth lined on a strainer. For the successive extract, you can add around half cup of water. Keep each set of milk separately.

  

1) Take a thick bottomed vessel or kadai. Dilute the chakka varatti in a cup of hot/warm water.
 
 

 
2) Then add the third milk. Bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.
 
 

 
 
3) Add the second milk and simmer in medium low heat till it thickens. You can smel the flavor of jackfruit and jaggery as it thickens.
 
 

 
Once you add the first milk, no more cooking is done. So it will dilute the payasam. keep that in mind and let it thicken well. Finally add the first milk and remove from heat. Don't leave it on heat once you add the first milk, since there are chances of curdling. Add a teaspoon of dry ginger powder. Serve hot or cold.
 
 
 

 
You can add cardamom in place of chukku podi. Chukku/dry ginger will aid in digestion and probably thats the reason why it is added.

Monsoon munches - Urulaikizhangu chips with a difference - potato chips

MONSOON MUNCHES

URULAIKIZHANGU CHIPS WITH A DIFFERENCE

Who does not like potato chips that too if it is home made? My maternal grand mother prepared potato chips with a difference. At a glance the fried chips looked like' khara sev' and no one could believe that it was all potatoes chopped so finely by my grand mother's deft hands. She cut the potatoes into thin uniform strips which resembled tooth picks! What ever grand mother prepared she did it with great passion and immense patience, turning out the best of dishes which every one in the family raved after.
After grand mother my sister has mastered the art of preparing the special potato chips. She has found a quick and easy way to prepare 'grand mother's chips' which tastes equally good. Here is her recipe for the ' urulaikizhangu chips with a difference'.

INGREDIENTS

Potatoes - 4
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - for frying

METHOD

1. Wash and peel potatoes.
2. Grate the potatoes using the bigger holes in the grater and immerse the gratings in cold water for fifteen minutes. 3. Mix salt and turmeric powder in 1/4 cup of water and keep it aside.
4. Drain the potato gratings and spread the gratings on a towel to remove excess water. 5. Heat oil in a kadai and drop a handful of potato gratings into the hot oil.
6. Add 1/4 tsp of salt and turmeric powder solution while the potatoes are still hissing and bubbling.
7. Stir frequently and fry the chips evenly till the colour starts changing into a deep yellow .
8. Decrease flame immediately and remove the crispy chips using a perforated ladle and drain on a paper towel.
9. Increase flame and fry the next batch. Enjoy the yummy and addictive ' urulaikizhangu chips with a difference'.