Seepu Murukku / Seepu Seedai for Diwali

I believe everyone is busy making sweets and savories for Diwali. Well, I just started with this seepu murukku. Seepu murukku as the name implies resembles the ridges of a comb (seepu is comb in tamil). Though the process is little more time-consuming than the other murukku, it is worth the effort. It has moong dhal flour unlike other murukku which uses urad dhal flour. And it is subtly

Milagu Kulambu / Black Pepper in Tamarind Sauce

When I am writing this post, my mind is thinking about my mom, my childhood days and how she struggled to feed few healthy recipes to my sis and myself. Those days, whenever my mom cooks this milagu kulambu, we both run away and hide somewhere to skip the meal. Hiding under the bed is our favorite place where she feels little difficulty to bend and pull us. As we both feel the gravy is too hot and simply say 'NO' to her and go for some curd rice. But she never leave us and feed the food with gravy using her hand. So, with no other go, we eat them.



Days passes and we started to realise the health fact behind it, we slowly started to eat and now whenever we visit our home town, we ask her to prepare it and it has become one of the most wanted gravies from mom. But, she still mixes this gravy with hot rice and makes balls and feed us. She is always great. Love you Mom!!! 



Did you know? As black pepper helps digestion and avoid intestinal gas, it is mostly prepared after any festival treat and considered as pathiya saappadu(A light meal which is usually taken after a heavy feast to help/lighten the digestive system)here in Tamilnadu, India.



Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <10 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 5-8 people

Ingredients:



For Gravy:



Tamarind - 1 lemon size

Water - 1.5 cups

Salt - to taste



To Dry Roast and Grind:



Black pepper corns - 1 tablespoon

Channa dal - 1 tablespoon

Urid dal - 1 tablespoon

Coriander seeds/ coriander powder - 1 tablespoon

Dry red chilli - 1 or 2

Curry leaves - 1 string

Asafoetida - 1/8 teaspoon



For Seasoning:



Oil - 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 string



Method:



1) Soak tamarind in half cup of warm water. Set aside. let it be for 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, dry roast all the ingredients given for dry roast till the mixture releases nice aroma and the dals became golden brown. It might take 7-10 minutes.

3) Transfer the roasted ingredients to a dry plate and allow it to cool.

4) Now, extract juice from tamarind by adding the remaining water and boil it in a saucepan.

5) When it starts to boil, grind the roasted ingredients to fine powder and add to the tamarind juice. You can also add little water for grinding and make a paste.

6) Add salt and stir properly to avoid forming lumps.

7) Cover and cook till the gravy thickens.

8) When the gravy's consistency reduced to half, remove from heat and add the seasoning.

9) Milagu kulambu is ready.

10) Serve with steamed rice and pappadam.

Note:

1) If you feel the gravy is taking time to thicken, mix a tablespoon of rice flour to water and add to the gravy to get thickness. but make sure to avoid lumps while adding.

2) You can also store this gravy up to a week or more.



Sending this recipe to Srivalli's  Cooking without Onion and Garlic event.

Deepaavali Sweet - Pandhari Laddoo - A Sweet Prepared With Flour, Milk Solids And Sugar

PANDHARI LADDOO

I happened to go through a food article in a travel magazine which was very interesting and informative for a food lover like me. When I grazed through the ingredients required for the melt in the mouth Pandhari Laddoo mentioned in the article, it struck me that the ingredients were very much the same as the ones used for making Maavu Urundai. The secret ingredient which converts the delicious Maavu Urundai into the special Pandhari laddoo is khoya.
Here is the link for the article mentioned -
http://travel.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?278685

                                                


INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Bengal gram flour/ besan - 2 cups
Powdered sugar - 4 cups
Khoya ( milk solid ) - 200 gms
Ghee - 3/4 cup
Fried and powdered clove - 1/2 tsp OR
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts or almonds - as required

METHOD

1. Heat two tbsps of ghee and roast the nuts , drain and keep aside.
2. In the same ghee roast the besan until it gives out a very pleasant aroma, remove into a plate and keep aside.
3. Heat two more tbsps of ghee in the same pan and roast the wheat flour till it gives out a very pleasant aroma and remove it on to a plate.
( Roast the flours on low heat taking care not to burn them.Quickly  remove when the flour turns slightly reddish in colour.)

                                                 

4. Heat two tbsps of ghee and add the khoya to it and fry on low flame  till it turns pink in colour.

                                                 

5. Add the powdered sugar and stir for a minute  and then immediately add the roasted flours.

                                                 

6. Blend in the remaining ghee and switch off flame.
7. Mix in the fried nuts and the cardamom or clove powder.
8. Allow it to cool down a little.
9. Grease your palms with ghee, scoop out a small portion of the warm laddoo mixture moist with ghee, and make lemon sized laddoos.

                                                 

Cool them thoroughly before storing them in a clean air tight container.

                       

A festival is not a festival without laddoos ! Make this Deepaavali very special with the delicious Bikaneri version of Maavu Urundai known as The Pandhari Laddoos !