Aval Payasam

One day while I was discussing with my husband about what payasam to prepare for our friends who were coming for dinner. Most of the times, after this kind of discussion, I end up making semiya payasam, since that is the easiest and there is very less to mess up with. And I can concentrate on the other dishes of the menu. And hubby is all happy for semiya payasam. But I was bored of preparing it. And I decided to go for aval payasam. Its long time since I prepared it. The preparation is almost similar to semiya payasam.

Aval/Beaten rice/rice flakes (thick variety) - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 cup

Milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 1/2 cup (Add a heaped cup if you want it very sweet)

cardamom powder- 1/2 tspn

cashew/raisin

ghee - 1 tblspn

Yellow color - a pinch (optional)

Heat ghee in a pan. Roast cashew and raisin. Drain them and keep it aside. In the remaining ghee, roast aval till brown. If you find some bran in the aval, rinse it in water after roasting. Add a cup of boiling water to the roasted aval. When aval is fully cooked, add milk. Bring to a boil and allow it to simmer till milk reduces in volume to 3/4 of the original quantity . Add sugar. Boil till the sugar is fully dissolved and blended well the liquid mixture. Stir in the roasted cashew and raisins and half a teaspoon of cardamom powder.
Remove from fire. Serve hot/cold

Note: To get an even texture of the rice flakes, you can pulse them in the mixer for few seconds after roasting.

Delicious Masala Milk

I have had masala milk in hotels in Chennai. It is a mixture of milk, aromatic spices and nuts! Priya of priyaeasyntastyrecipes posted this recipe sometime back and I was sure about trying it. As Priya said, this drink helps to get a good night's sleep.

Ingredients:
Milk(I used 1%fat)-2 cups
Sugar-2.5 tsp(or as per taste)
Cinnamon-1 inch stick
Cloves-3
Cardamom-2
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Powdered Pistachios-2 tsp
Saffron-a few strands

Method:
Combine milk, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves together(or you can grind them coarsely and add it to milk) and boil in a vessel. Switch off the stove.
Discard the spices by filtering the milk.
Add rest of the ingredients and serve hot after dinner.
I can guarantee that you will sleep well:)

Note: You can also powder almonds and mix with hot milk. But I personally like pistachio powder and milk combination.

I am sending this to Sunshinemom's FIC-Yellow event.
Also sending this to Trupti's winter treat event.

The Kitchen Sisters Interview

Poet C. D. Wright

For those of you in the Bay Area, poet C.D. Wright is speaking at City Arts & Lecture series at the Herbst Theatre, in San Francisco, Wednesday evening January 7, 2009 at 8PM.

We'll be interviewing Wright as part of a story we're producing about photographer Deborah Luster for our series about the secret lives of girls.

Luster and Wright collaborated on One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana, a book featuring a collection of haunting, sepia tinted photographs taken by Luster of Louisiana's incarcerated men and women. Wright's poems accompany the self-posed portraits to "ward off forgetting."

This photo was taken
by Luster at a women's
prison in Louisiana.

Here's one of Wright's poems from One Big Self.

Dear Prisoner,

I too love. Faces. Hands. The circumference

Of the oaks. I confess. To nothing

You could use. In a court of law. I found.

That sickly sweet ambrosia of hope. Unmendable

Seine of sadness. Experience taken away.

From you. I would open. The mystery

Of your birth. To you. I know. We can

Change. Knowing. Full well. Knowing.

It is not enough.

Poetry Time Space Death

I thought. I could write. An exculpatory note.

I cannot. Yes it is bitter. Every bit of it, bitter.

The course taken by blood. All thinking

Deceives us. Lead (kindly) light.

Notwithstanding this grave. Your garden.

This cell. Your dwelling. Who is unaccountably free.

Photographer Deborah Luster describes her her collection of inmate photographs in video by Doug MacCash, Times Picayune Art Critic.