Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Pachama Podi Upma






Usually at 4 PM during work-days, I go out for tea break with my colleagues Prathima and Bharat. We used to discuss or talk about many things. This is totally relaxing in an otherwise hectic working day. During one such tea break, Bharat started asking me about few recipes. First, he asked me whether I know to prepare Morkkali which I knew anyways. He then enquired about Pachama Podi Upma. I blinked and replied "No" to him. With a smile, he replied that his Amma(Mom) prepares this dish at home for breakfast /evening tiffin. As the name and dish were totally new to me, I immediately asked him about the recipe. He called his mom over phone and got the recipe for me. Last weekend, I prepared it as per Bharat mom's instructions. The procedure is as simple as corn flour upma (I am yet to post this) which we usually make at home. However in this dish we add curd to the flour which we normally don't add while making corn flour upma. I felt happy for knowing yet another traditional breakfast dish and thanks to Bharat for sharing this recipe.

Pachama Podi Upma literally means Pacha Mavu(Raw rice flour) Podi(Crumble) Upma, A upma that is prepared using raw rice flour which gives a small crumble texture as an end result.

The upma tasted really good with nice flavor from more/moar (curd) milagai and asafoetida. Point to mention here is that the crust of the upma which forms in the bottom part of the pan tasted very very good, but be careful not to burn it, otherwise you can't enjoy its taste.



Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1 cup
Curd / Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
More Milagai / Dahi mirchi / Curd marinated dried chillies - 2 nos (optional)
Dry red chillies - 3-4 nos
Curry leaves - 1 string
Channa dal - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Oil - 2 tablespoons



Method:

1) Take the rice flour in a mixing bowl and add salt.
2) Add yogurt/curd gently to the rice flour and make a dough of it. Keep aside.



3) Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, add mustard seeds, channa dal, curry leaves, dry red chillies, more milagai and asafoetida. Fry for a 3 seconds without burning anything.
4) Add the prepared dough to the pan. Start stirring it. Adjust the salt if required.



5) Keep on stirring the dough for another 10 minutes. You'll notice that dough will start turning into crumbles. Keep on doing it till the rice flour mixture completely cooked. After some time, it will have soft and crumble texture.
6) Once cooked, transfer it to a serving bowl and enjoy. It won't stick to your fingers once it is properly cooked.



7) Best eaten with more milagai (curd milagai).



Notes:

1) Reduce the salt quantity if you are using more milagai as this itself has salt in it.
2) Increase or decrease the curd as per your taste.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Eggless No Bake Biscuit Brownies




I am not the person who is fond of biscuits. I eat them only when nothing is available. But after tasting this chocolate pinwheels, I started buying biscuits to prepare recipes using them.



One fine day, when I was randomly browsing through various food blogs, I came to know about this biscuit brownies from DV's site and after some time, it was posted in Nags place too. After seeing the same dish twice, it increased my chocolate craving and forced me to buy Marie biscuits again. Can you believe that the entire brownies were finished just by me? These are truly addictive!



Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Idle Time: 4 hours

Makes: ~ 10 brownies



Ingredients:



Marie Biscuits - 20-25 nos

Unsweetened cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons

Sweetened condensed milk - 1/2 tin (200gm)

Unsalted butter - 1 tablespoon

Cashew nuts - 15 nos / 1/4 cup, roughly chopped

Sugar - 3 teaspoons (I used brown Sugar)



Method:

1) Take a pan and melt the butter. Roast the nuts till it turns golden brown. Keep them aside.

2) Crush the biscuits and make a smooth powder using mixer/ food processor

3) Transfer the powdered biscuits to a mixing bowl.



4) Add the cocoa powder to it. Use more cocoa powder if you want. Mix well.

5) Add sugar now. Mix again.

6) Add the roasted nuts along with butter to the powdered biscuits. Slightly mix again.

7) Add the condensed milk now and mix till you get a moist mixture. I got a help from my husband to do this as I found it difficult to mix it. It really requires some extra effort. So don't hesitate to take help from others.



8) Grease any flat tray with butter or cover it with aluminum foil or butter paper. I used my round baking tray for this. Transfer the mixture to it. spread it evenly and make smooth surface.

9) Keep the tray inside the refrigerator for minimum 4 hours.

10) After 4 hours, cut them into squares and enjoy.



Notes:

1) Add more condensed milk, if you don't get moist mixture.

Xmas Log Cake 2012





To all my dear readers,

Thank you for all your email and support throughout the year when I was away. Although I did not update and post anything here but your concern  is very much appreciated. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you have a great Christmas and blessed new year!



PS : recipe of the log cake please refer to the xmas log cake 2010. Cheers!