Vattayappam/Vatteppam - Kerala Special Steamed Rice Cake For ICC March 2011

Indian Cooking Challenge for March rightly matches Vishu - Malayalam New Year.Yes, this month we all enjoyed making this Fluffy, Spongy,Kerala's Queen of Steamed Rice Cakes - Vatteppam/Vattayappam!!!!! Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this really Challenging Recipe.  But its worth all the effort,  When you see the White Fluffy, beauty out on the table, with nuts & raisins popping out!!!! Ooohhlalala!!! you don't mind doing it again!!! :) :)

Recipe Source : Shn's Mishmash
Ingredients
1 Cup Rice (Raw Rice/Idli Rice, Recommended. But i have used Basmati Rice)
3/4 Cup Freshly grated Coconut
2 tbsp Cooked Rice
Enough water to grind this to a thick batter (Less than 1/2 cup)


Yeast Proofing
1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp Sugar
1/3 Cup Water


To Make Porridge/Thari Kurukku
1-1/2 - 2 tbsp of coarse ground paste
Around 1/2 cup of Water


To Flavor
1/2 Cup Sugar
10 Cardamom Pods
1/2 tbsp raisins, cashews each
1 tbsp ghee

Method

Soak rice for 6-8 hours. Drain and Grind it to a Coarse Paste with as little water as possible, that enables the mixer to run. Take 2 tbsp of Coarse paste for making the Porridge/thari kurukku. Add Coconut to the remaining batter and grind it to a smooth paste.Towards the end, add cooked rice and make a smooth batter. Leave the batter in the mixer and let it cool down to room temperature.

Now, comes the next important step of Yeast-Proofing. Warm 1/3 cup of water, add yeast and sugar and leave it undisturbed. More important, that the water should be Warm, Not HOT/Neither COLD!!!!!!!! Let it sit there for 20minutes. By this time, it must have foamed up well.

While the yeast is trying to work out, lets make the thari kurukku/Rice Porridge. Mix the 2 tbsp of Coarse rice Mixture with water,Bring it to a boil, Keep Stirring, until it reaches a thick paste consistency. Take it off the stove and let it cool completely.

Add 4 tbsp of Rice Porridge/Thari Kurruku to the Fine batter Kept in the blender and Blend it one more time.  Add the yeast mixture and pulse 2 or 3 times for the mixture to blend well together.

Transfer the Batter into another Vessel  and let it sit for 6-8 hours/Overnight and Ferment. Take care, as the batter doubles during the ferment process. So, make sure the vessel is large enough to hold the batter, So, you don't have to wake-up to a messy scene of over-flown batter on your Kitchen Table!!!!!! :)

Once the batter doubles-up, add Sugar and Mix gently and let the batter sit for 2 more hours on the table.

Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pan and roast raisins and cashews. Add roasted nuts and crushed cardamom to the batter, just before steaming it.

Grease a cake tin/cooker pan. Fill the pan to half its level with the batter. For steaming process, i used my pressure cooker. Filled 1/4th of it water, when the water starts to boil, Place the slotted disc, that comes along with your cooker and then place your cake tin/Cooker pan into it. Close the Cooker Lid, dont put the whistle. Let it steam cook for 15-20 minutes. I just left it to Cook in medium flame for 30minutes.

Once done, Take it out, let it cool. Run a knife around the edges of pan and carefully transfer the cake onto a plate. Cut them into wedges and Serve it along with your Tea/Coffee!!!!

Notes: As per the Original Recipe, the batter doubles during the fermentation process. But in my case, i left it to ferment overnight. The batter doubled after i added sugar, the next day morning. But still got a fluffy cake. The Smell of yeast was a bit dominating in the steamed cake, may be the next time, i would like to reduce the yeast and check!!!!!

Coffee Ice Cream ~ Summer Special

Its going to be three weeks since I posted a recipe here. The break was not intentional. Two back to back trips and some deadlines to be met at work, I did not get the time or the inclination to blog. And I could not visit any of the blogs too.  After a break, I have the starting trouble to get it started.  For the last two days, I have been trying to post a recipe and finally I am at it. I decided to post an ice cream which is apt for the summer. I referred the recipe at Tarla Dalal's.  I followed ingredients mentioned in the recipe  but went with my intuition regarding the quantity. You don't need an ice cream maker for this and yet get a soft, creamy ice cream.

You need

• Milk - 1 cup
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup (I used Amul)
• Cornflour - 1/2 tblspn
• Sugar - 1 tblspn
• Instant coffee granules - 2 tspn
• Hot water - 1 tblspn

Method

Take milk in a bowl. Stir in the corn flour and mix so that no lumps are found. Heat the mix and bring it to a boil. Add sugar. Keep stirring so that no lumps are formed and it doesn't stick to the bottom. When the milk turns slightly thick, remove from fire and leave it to cool. 

Add fresh cream, coffee solution and vanilla essence to the milk mix. Whisk to blend. Freeze in a shallow steel container. After two hours, when it is almost set, whisk to break the crystals. Use a wire whisk or a hand blender. Freeze again and repeat the whisking once more when it is set. Then freeze it for 4 hours to set it completely.

Remember to increase the cooling temp of your fridge. Also chill the container before adding the ice cream mix for faster freezing. Adding chilled cream also helps.

Scoop and enjoy the ice cream. The quantity was enough to serve 3. The coffee flavor was very strong. Adjust the amount of coffee granules according to your taste. When my cousin tasted the ice cream, he was surprised to taste coffee flavor and asked me which brand sells this flavor. Should I say anything more about the taste and texture of the  ice cream.

Vegan Oats stuffed Peppers

Today I decided to try stuffed peppers with a vegetarian filling. I usually stuff the peppers with any minced meat and mayonnaise, but today is our vegetarian day and wanted to skip eating salad, but still wanted to keep it healthy. So I choose oats and dry fruits. I bet you after eating it I really felt people can easily skip eating meat, if this is how vegetarian food is going to taste. It was wonderful, it tasted better with yellow pepper than green pepper. I didn't have red pepper so I used yellow and green. Please try with red pepper because I know it will taste much better.
This recipe is so filling and such a good and healthy comfort food.

Ingredients:

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2 colored Peppers (I prefer to use Red and Yellow or just red)

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/4 Italian Bread Crumbs

1/2 cup dried mixed berries and cherries

1 onion chopped

1/4 Italian flat leaf Parsley chopped

1/2 + 1/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese grated

1 pod garlic crushed

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tbsp + 1 tsp Olive oil

Method:

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1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Cut the peppers length wise keeping the stem, remove the seeds. Brush with 1tbsp olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper and arrange it on a baking sheet.

3. In a small sauce pan add 1 tsp olive oil, add garlic and onions and saute it until the onions get translucent and off the flame.

4. In a mixing bowl add 1/2 cup water and add oats to sit, stir and keep it for about 5 mins.

5. Add bread crumbs to oats mixture, add dried fruits, 1/2 cup cheese, sated onions, salt and pepper and parsley and mix well.

6. Now stuff this oats mixture in the pepper cups and over the top sprinkle the rest of 1/4 cup cheese and bake it around 50-60 mins or until the peppers are cooked and the cheese is melted and starting to brown up a little on top.

7. If you need the cheese to brown up more you can also broil it for more 3-4 mins and serve it hot as a one cup meal.