Tengai Obbuttu/Kayee Obbattu for Tamil New Year's Day - Flatbread With Sweet Coconut Filling

TENGAI OBBUTTU / KAYEE OBBATTU

Obbuttu / Obbattu is a delicacy prepared on all happy and auspicious occassions. A Ugadi feast or a Chittirai Pirappu (Tamil new year's day ) feast is never complete without the delicious obbuttu / obbattu. It can be relished as it is or with warm milk. Savouring it with payasam /payasa might be a overkill but it is heaven for people with hopeless sweet tooth!

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING

Coconut gratings - 1 cup
Powdered jaggery - 1 cup
Semolina - 2 tbsps
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch

METHOD

1. Dissolve jaggery in half cup of warm water and strain.
2. Dry roast semolina and keep aside.
3. Grind coconut smoothly sprinkling little water.
4. Cook jaggery water and coconut paste till it becomes thick.
5. Switch off flame and mix in roasted semolina and cardamom powder.
6. Let the poornam / hoorana cool down.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

Maida /Plain flour - 1 cup
Chiroti rave ( very fine semolina ) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1 pinch
Salt - 1 pinch
Cooking oil - 2 tbsps

METHOD

1. Mix maida, chiroti rave, turmeric powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Knead into a soft dough adding water little by little.
3. Add oil and knead again .
4. Cover with a lid and allow it to stand for about 2 hours.

TO MAKE THE OBBUTTU /OBBATTU

1. Take a lemon size ball of dough and flatten it.
2. Take a portion of the filling, make a ball and place it on the flattened dough ball.

                                    

3. Pull the edges to seal the filling inside the dough ball.
4.Grease a plastic sheet and place the dough ball with filling on it with its sealed surface down.
5. Cover it with another greased plastic sheet.
7. Roll the dough ball with filling using a rolling pin, into a thin chapati ( flatbread).

                                    

8. Heat a greased tava on low fire.
9.Peel the rolled chapati carefully and place it on the tava.
10. Cook the obbuttu/obbattu on both sides ( with or without ghee ) till reddish brown patches appear on the surfaces.


                                      

                                       


Relish the warm crisp obbuttus/obbattus with payasam/payasa !

Crawl Space Encapsulations in South Carolina Using Spray Foam Insulation

Crawl Space Encapsulations With Spray Foam Insulation
(How Encapsulating Your Crawlspace can Save on Energy Bills)

What is done to my Crawl Space in South Carolina, when Encapsulated with 3 mil plastic and a Spray Foam Insulation Band?

1. Your crawl space will first be cleaned and removed of all old insulation, debris, and examined for moisture problems, mold, etc.  A good insulation contractor will make sure to check the home or mold, water moisture, or water moisture damage before installing a crawl space encapsulation system using 3 mil Poly and a spray foam insulation band.

2.  Your crawl space will then be prepped and fitted with a 3 mil poly layer, sealing your home and crawlspace from the probably wet and dirty crawlspace floor.  The installers will then run the 3 mil plastic up the walls of your crawl space and tack the plastic in place, so that the next step where the spray foam insulation will go on evenly.

3.  The 3 mil plastic will then be sealed off around the band of the flooring system, creating a new building envelope for your home, thus resulting in more energy efficiency in your home. 

This is a very simple process and is also a lot more cost effective then doing spray foam insulation on the underneath side of the floor.  Crawl Space Encapsulations in Myrtle Beach, SC offer many benefits, and one is that of crawl space pest control.  However, when chooosing a insulation contractor, you need to make sure that the contractor you choose knows the local building codes for termite treatments on the band board.  There is only a couple of inches of play when installing the 3 mil plastic, and it must be below the termite treatment line.  This is a common mishap for some insulation contractors, but a good insulation contractor will know this.  This leads me into my next topic of discussion for this blog post which is what are some of the Advantages of Crawl Space Encapsulations with Spray Foam Insulation in South Carolina.

Advantages of Crawl Space Encapsulations

• Energy Efficiency - by encapsulating your crawl space in Horry County SC, or any other warm climate, you improve the overall efficiency of your HVAC system
• Get Rid of Damp and Musty Smell - by encapsulating your crawlspace, you will have a much more dryer and cleaner smelling crawl space.
• Humidity and Moisture Control - Crawl Space Encapsulation in South Carolina can decrease humidity and moisture in your crawl space.
• Crawl Space Pest Control - because most insects and other pest that attack your home thrive in wet, moist enviorments, having a clean, dry crawl space will control the amount of pest your see.

The crawl space of most residents homes in South Carolina and North Carolina are usually a neglegted area when it comes to maintenence and energy efficiency.  I hope that this blog post will inform whomever may read it the advantages of encapsulating there crawl space, and the energy savings that it can bring.

Spinach Pulav

We all know spinach is very good for health and it has lot of water content, more than watermelon. I always try to include spinach into the recipes whenever possible, because leafy greens are always good and full of nutrition values.

Whenever I make this spinach dal or any curry out of it, my husband and my son always get bored to eat the same for their second meal. So I came up with this idea, so that I can use the full bag of spinach and finish it up in a single meal and not get bored. This is turned out to be an interesting recipe and tasty. It can be eaten as a complete meal or can be served with yogurt raita.

Ingredients:

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1 big bag Baby Spinach washed and chopped

1 green Chili

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (I chose frozen vegetables with beans, carrot, peas, carrots and corn)

1 Onion chopped

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Ghee

2 cups of uncooked Basmati Rice

Salt to taste

Method:

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1. Wash and drain the rice and keep aside for about 20 mins.

2. In the mean time, In a heavy bottom pan, on the flame in medium high and add the spinach and press it little and stir just until it wilts down. Off the flame and bring it to room temperature.

3. In a pan add oil and ghee and when it's hot add cumin seeds and when they turn slight brown add onions and saute it until it turns golden brown, now add the vegetables and saute it for about 5 mins.

4. Now in a mixer add the spinach and green chili and puree it.

5. In the pan with onions add the rice, and fry it for about 5 mins, so that it's nicely toasted, make sure that the rice does not break or it should not turn brown.

6. Now add the rice and the spinach mixture in a rice cooker with 1 1/2 cups of water and salt, stir it well and cook it for about 20-30 mins or until the rice is done and it's nice and fluffy.

7. Now gently fluff up the rice with a fork so that all the spinach puree is mixed well.

8. Serve this yummy rice with yogurt raita. 

Sending this to Reva of "Kaarasaaram"  - Event: "Royal Feast Biriyani"