Rava Kesari

This is another of my mother's recipe who is an expert in Rava Kesari. This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Rava
• 1 cup Ghee
• 2 cups Sugar (Adjust to taste)
• 2 cups Water
• A pinch of Cardamom
• A pinch of Orange-Red Food Colouring (Optional)
• 1/2 cup Raisins & Chopped nuts (Cashews/Almonds)

Method

1. Heat 1 tsp Ghee and roast the raisins and the nuts till they turn golden brown and keep aside.
2. Now roast the Rava in the same pan till it turns golden brown and keep aside.
3. Add water to the pan and bring it to a boil. Simmer the stove and add the roasted rava slowly and mix well so as to not form any lumps. Cook the rava till it is done.
4. Add the Sugar and mix well. Then add the remaining ghee and mix well till all the lumps are removed.
5. Add the cardamom and the food colouring and mix again.
6. Switch off the stove and garnish the Kesari with the roasted raisins and nuts.

Adai / Savoury Pancakes

Adai is a speciality of Tamil Nadu and is rich in protein. It can be had for breakfast, snack or dinner. It goes well with Avial, Chutney, Jaggery or just with Butter or Ghee.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Idli Rice
• 1 cup Toor Dal
• 1 cup yellow Moong Dal
• 1 cup Channa Dal
• 10 Red Chillies (Adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp Salt (Adjust to taste)
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
• 1 spring of Curry leaves

Method

1. Soak the Rice and Dals for 2-3 hrs.
2. Drain and add the Rice, Dals, Red chillies, Asafoetida, and Salt to the mixer and grind coarsely. Add only just enough water required to grind. The Adai batter should be thick and not watery.
3. Heat a girdle and add a laddle of batter in the center and spread it in a circular motion. Add a tsp of oil around it.
4. Once the bottom side is done (i.e. when it turns a light golden brown) flip it over and cook the other side too.
5. Once both the sides are done, remove from the girdle and serve hot!
6. Repeat for the remaining batter. The leftover batter can be refrigerated and used within 3-4 days.

Variations

1. Add 1/2 cup of chopped greens like Drumstick leaves, Methi leaves, Mint leaves or Coriander leaves in the batter to make tastier and healthier Adais.

Dilkush

My husband loves Dilkush and today being his birthday I made a Vanilla cake as that is his favorite but also wanted to make something special and I made this and surprised him! He misses this delicacy that is mainly a product of Kerala bakeries and so I made this today to take him back to his childhood days! I adapted this recipe from Erivum Puliyumm. Made a few modifications to the ingredients and the quantities to make it eggless and suit my taste. My husband and daughter loved this a lot!

Ingredients

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 1/2 pkt or 1 1/2 tsp Active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup Warm Milk (Around 115F)
• 4 tbsp Oil (preferably Olive oil)
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Butter (melted at room temperature)

for filling

• 3/4 cup Shredded Coconut 
• 4 tbsp Raisins
• 2 tbsp tutty fruity
• 2 tbsp Cashew nuts
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• A pinch of Cardamom powder 

Method

1. In a small bowl, add the warm milk and stir in the sugar and yeast into it and mix well. Keep it aside for 5 min or till it froths up.
2. In a big bowl add the flour, salt, oil and the yeast mixture and knead it into a smooth dough.
3. Grease the sides of a bowl with a little oil and place the dough in it and flip it till the dough is also coated with oil. Cover the bowl and keep aside in a warm place for 1-2 hours till it almost doubles its size.
4. Now prepare the filling by mixing coconut, sugar, tutty fruity, raisins, cashews and cardamom powder.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and roll each with a rolling pin by dipping in flour lightly. 
6. Roll one part of the dough into a circle of diameter 8'' and 1/2" thickness.
7. Spread the filling into the circle leaving 1/2-1" space at the outer border and keep aside.
8. Roll out another ball in the same way of diameter 9''and 1/2'' thickness. Cover it on top of the filling one and tuck the sides under the first one such that it properly covers the sides. Apply water to seal the tucked edges.
9. Leave aside to rise for 20-30 minutes. 
10. Preheat the oven to 375F.
11. Apply the melted butter generously on top of the dilkush and place it on a cookie sheet in a oven for 15-20 minutes or till done.
12. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes and Serve with tea!!

Suggestions/ Notes

1. The Dilkush can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Sending this to The Kerala Kitchen hosted at Erivum Puliyumm


 

Ribbon Pakoda

Ribbon Pakoda is the favourite in my house. My mom always makes this whenever we have guests at home. This recipe requires a special instrument called chakli/murukku press.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Rice flour
• 1 cup Besan
• 1 tsp Chilli powder (Adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp Salt (Adjust to taste)
• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
• 1 tsp Sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp Butter, softened
• 1 cup Water (use as required)
• Oil for deep frying

Strawberry Cake

We went Strawberry picking in a nearby Farm and got a lot of fresh Strawberries. So I had to think of a way to use them and decided to make a Strawberry cake as it is my sister's birthday too. The original recipe was for cupcakes but I made a round cake and decorated it with fresh Strawberries. We celebrated her birthday with this cake while she is celebrating with her family in Blore. Happy Birthday Divya!!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
• 1 1/2  tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 3/4 cup Milk powder
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 cup Strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup (slightly) hot Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• A few drops of lemon juice plus 2 tsp sugar for the strawberries

Method

  1) Wash and slice the strawberries. Mix in the lemon juice and the sugar and keep aside for about 15 minutes. This helps to bring out the flavour of the strawberries.

  2) In the meanwhile, preheat the oven at 350F and line a cake tin with Parchment paper and grease the sides with butter.

  3) In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and the vanilla with a hand blender or with a wire whisk, about 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in the sugar and the milk powder and beat until soft. Add the baking powder and baking soda and stir in half the flour, add half the milk and beat until soft, for about 2 minutes. Put in the remaining flour and milk and beat again until soft for 2 minutes. Mix in the strawberries with their juices.

  4) Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes or till done (until a skewer comes clean).

  5) Allow the cake to completely cool down while you prepare the strawberry cream frosting. (If the cake is hot the frosting will melt and not stay.)

  6) Apply the frosting on the sides and top using the back of the spoon / basting brush and decorate it with some fresh sliced strawberries.

Suggestions / Notes

1. I would suggest you keep the leftovers of the cake (if any) in the refrigerator as it may not keep well outside for more than a day since we have used fresh fruits here.

Strawberry Buttercream frosting

This is a delicious frosting made with fresh Strawberries.

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  Butter, softened at room temperature
• 2 cups Powdered sugar  / Icing Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• A pinch of Salt
• 1/2 cup fresh whole strawberries

Method

1. Puree the Strawberries in a blender.
2. Beat butter in a bowl for a minute or until smooth. Mix in the sugar and the Strawberries puree and beat until smooth and creamy. You can adjust the consistency by adding more sugar if frosting is too thin or strawberries if it is too thick.

Puliyodharai

This is my mother's famous Puliyodharai recipe. It tastes so similar to the puliyodharai prasadam you get at the temples. She always makes the Pulikaaichal her own random way with no specific spoon measurement but only eye measurement (kann alavu as she says) ;-) So I asked her to note down the measurements of how much she has used with the proper measuring spoons, the next time she made and she immediately did this the next day and gave me the recipe. Now I am revealing her secret :-)

Pulikaaichal
This is the Tamarind spice mixture needed to make the Puliyodharai. It is like a pickle or thokku that can be made and stored for later use.

Ingredients

• 200 gm Tamarind paste
• 10 long Red chillies
• 1 tsp Methi seeds
• 1 tsp Asafoetida
• 1/2 cup Oil
• 2 tsp Urad dal
• 2 tsp Channa dal
• 1/4 cup Peanuts
• 2 springs Curry leaves
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 5 Red chillies split into 2
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 (heaped) tsp Salt (Adjust to taste)

Method

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan/ wok and fry the methi seeds and the 10 long red chillies. Fry them on medium heat till they turn brown. Switch off and allow it to cool and grind these in a mixer to a fine powder and keep aside.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard starts crackling add the asafoetida, urad dal, channa dal, 5 split red chillies and the peanuts and fry them till they turn a light brown.
3. Now add the curry leaves and the water. Stand back while adding water as it will splatter. Then add the Tamarind paste, turmeric powder and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer it till the mixture thickens slightly (like a halwa).
4. Now add the ground powder and mix well. Switch off the stove.
5. Follow the recipe below to make the Puliyodharai and store the remaining Pulikaaichal in an airtight container once it is cooled.

Suggestions/ Notes

1. The Pulikaaichal keeps good at room temperature for a week and it definitely keeps good for more than 6 months in the refrigerator but be sure to use a clean dry spoon every time.

Puliyodharai
This is also known asTamarind rice and is made by mixing the Pulikaaichal with cooked rice.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp Pulikaaichal (Adjust to taste)
• 1 cup cooked Sona Masoori Rice

Method

1. Add the Pulikaaichal to the hot Rice and mix well with a fork.
2. Puliyodharai is ready to serve hot or cold!

Suggestions/ Notes

1. Once you make the Pulikaaichal, you can almost instantly make the Puliyodharai and this Puliyodharai tastes good even if it is cold. Hence it can serve as a nice picnic food or travel food. Also it keeps good for a day or two when kept at room temperature itself.
2. My Mom heats a little oil and fry more peanuts and add it to the rice along with a pinch of turmeric and mix the Pulikaaichal to make the Puliyodharai. But I am a little lazy and want to make the Puliyodharai instantly so added more turmeric powder and peanuts in the Pulikaaichal itself :-)