Beetroot Halwa

Today I plan to do some dessert and I saw a couple of beetroots in my fridge and instantly stricks halwa in it. Beetroot has a high nutritional and medicinal value. As most of us are adding very less quantity of vegetables to our daily diet, this is also one of the best way to include to our diet. With rich taste and color this invites all, especially kids who will enjoy this!

Ingredients :

Beetroot - 1 big
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Cashews - few
Cardamom Powder - a pinch
Ghee - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Peel the skin and grate the beetroot and pressure cook by adding milk to immerse it and keep it aside.
• Heat one tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan and roast the cashews till golden brown and set aside.
• In a same pan add the cooked beetroot and add sugar (depends upon your sweetness) to it and let cook on low flame until the sugar melts and get thicken.
• At this stage add cardamom powder and ghee and stir continuously till the mixture leaves the pan.
• Finally garnish with roasted nuts.

Serve warm or cold as a dessert.

Enjoy Making...

Tips:

• Keep the halwa in refrigerator and can use it for upto one week.
• When serving add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top.
• Instead of sugar you could substitute with sugar free to enjoy the dessert to reduce calories.

Potato Kurma

Though there is various choice of menu list for our daily breakfast and dinner the only comfortable and easy digestive dish is our south Indian dish “Idly”, and many side dishes compliments with Idly. Now I am comeback with drooling side dish “Potato Kurma”, this also goes well with “Dosa” too. Trust me this Hot and Spicy kurma is also tasty as its spiciness.

Ingredients :

Thoor dhal – ½ cup
Potato – 2
Onion – 2
Tomato – 1
Garlic -2 no
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Mustard seed – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves few
Ghee - 1 tsp
Salt – for taste

To roast and grind :

Red chilies – 1 no
Coconut Scrapings – 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp
Channa dhal – 1 tsp
Urad dhal – 1 tsp
Jeera – ¼ tsp
Ani seed – ½ tsp
Pepper corns – 4 no
Cinnamon – 1’’ inch
Cloves – 2
Garlic – 3
Ginger – 1 inch piece

Method:

• Pressure cook thoor dhal with garlic and turmeric powder and keep it aside.
• Cook the potatoes and mashed it and keep it aside.
• Roast and grind all the other ingredients in a mixie into smooth paste by adding some water to it.
• In a pan add a tbsp of oil and add mustard and curry leaves after they splutter add the onions to it ffry till onion turns golden brown and add chopped tomatoes and saute till tomatoes become soft and mushy.
• Now add the grounded paste to it and add enough salt and adequate water to it and keep stirring continuously till the raw smells leaves away.
• Once the masala is sauted well now add the cooked and mashed thoor dhal and potato to it and.
• You can test the spice level at this point.
• Once done switch off the stove and add a tsp of ghee and garnish with coriander leaves.

Potato Kurma is ready to Serve it with hot idly or dosa. :)

Tips:

• This Kurma should not be very thick when served.
• You could try this Kurma even without adding potato.
• You can adjust the spiciness by adding red chili powder to it.

Krishna Jayanthi Celebration

Krishna Janmashtami also known as Krishnashtami, Gokulashtami, Ashtami Rohini, Srikrishna Jayanti, Sree Jayanthi or sometimes merely as Janmashtami, is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Krishna, an avatar of the god Vishnu. The actual day of celebration can be on two different days as the star 'Rohini' and Ashtami may not be on the same day. This occurs between August and September on the Christian calendar.

It is a occasion to celebrate with children’s in the family, and dress them like up lord Krishna and marks their foot path from door to pooja room, symbolizing the Child God Krishna walking into the home / family. The best part is the joy on this festival day is achieved by sharing the rituals and naivedhyam with the family / friends.

Happy Krishna Jayanthi / Gokulashtami to all my blog readers, friends and relatives.Here i prepared for naivedhyam Peanut Balls, Sweet Aval, Tamarind Poha and Kara Seedai.

Peanut Balls :

Ingredients:
Roasted Peanuts - 1 cup
Grated Jaggery – 3/4 cup

Method:

• Grind the peanuts into coarsely. Now add the grated jaggery to it and run again for once. Mix well and Shape into round balls.

Sweet Aval/Poha:

Ingredients:

Aval (poha/rice flakes) - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Milk – ¼ cup
Cardamom – 1 no
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Cashews – few

Method:

• Wash Aval/poha in water and leave for 2 minutes then drain the water. Now add milk to it and keep it aside.
• In a pan, heat a tsp of ghee and add the broken cashews. Once they turn golden brown remove from flame and keep it aside.
• Now in a pan take jaggery and adequate water to immerse it. Once the jaggery melts and becomes thick (a sticky consistancy.) Simmer the stove and adds the poha into the jaggery and mix well until the aval/poha observe the jiggery water.
• Now add the cashews, coconut, ghee and powdered cardamom to it and mix well.

Yummy and tempting Sweet aval/poha is ready for naivedhyam.

Tamarind Poha/ Kara Attukulu:

Ingredients:
Aval /Poha - 1 cup (I used thin rice flakes)
Tamarind pulp – 1 tbsp
Jaggery – 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Green Chilies - 3
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Salt for taste
Curry Leaves
Coriander leaves
Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Wash the rice flaks in water and leave for 2 minutes. Then strain it well to remove all excess water and keep it aside. Now add turmeric powder, jaggery, and tamarind pulp, salt and mix well.
• Now take 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and season with mustard, urad dhal, channa dhal , 3 green chilies and curry leaves, asafoetida a pinch.
• When they start to splutter add the soaked rice flaks and mix well.
• Let it cook for 5 minutes on a medium flame and remove from the flame.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Tamarind Poha is ready for naivedhyam.

Kara Seedai:

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 cup
Urad dhal flour -2tbsp (roasted and powdered)
Water - 1 cup
Sesame Seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder – 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Salt for taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Mix sesame seed, cumin seed, salt, asafetida, red chili powder, urad dhal flour and rice flour and mix well and keep it aside.
• Now boil water by adding a table spoon of oil, once starts to boil simmer the flame and add the rice flour mixture to it for 10 minutes( don’t mix).
• Turn off the heat and Stir well without any lumps form.
• Keep the bowl closed and set aside for 1 hour. Again knead the dough well by adding some oil and divide the dough into peanut size balls and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat oil for deep frying and drop the dough balls into the hot oil until they are golden brown in color and the bubbles settle.
• Remove from the oil and allow it to cool down and store in an airtight container.

Crunchy kara seedai is ready for Naivedhyam.

Tips:

• For making Sweet poha and Tamarind poha you can use both thick and thin rice flakes.
• While using thick rice flakes you have to soak them in water for 2 hours and have to follow the preparations as said.
• Using thin rice flakes is easy and quick to do the dish wont consume time and it will be very tasty too.

Wish you all a very happy Krishna Jayanthi :)

Onion Chutney

Onions are my favourite & usually add more in cooking. Onion chutney variations are numerous and each one has its own uniqueness. The Onion Chutney has a perfect balance of sweet, spicy and tangy flavours. I often make this at least twice a month, also a good choice of chutney for travelling purpose. Whenever we buy onion bag from market we prepare this chutney and stock in fridge and use as side dish for many Tiffin varieties especially goes well with dosa, idly, adai, Paniyaram and chapatti.

Ingredients :

Onion - 10
Tomato -1
Red chilli - 6 or 8
Asafoetida – 1/4 tsp
Jaggery- 1/4 tsp (optional)
Salt for taste

For Seasoning:
Mustard seed – 1/4 tsp
Urad dhal – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Sesame Oil - 2tbsp

Method:

• Cut the onions and tomato roughly. In a mixer add all the ingredients mentioned above together and grind well to make a smooth paste, without adding water.
• In a pan heat oil and add the grounded onion paste to this and fry till onion is translucent for few minutes and switch off the flame.
• Now heat oil for seasoning and add the mustard seeds, let them splutter then add urad dhal and curry leaves.
• Pour over the chutney and serve it.
• After the chutney cool down to room temperature transfer to a bottle and store it in a fridge and can use up to a week.
Enjoy the chutney with your choice of dish. :)

Tips:

• Using sesame oil while tempering gives a nice smell and adds taste to chutney.
• Even you can grind the ingredients to coarse paste also, so while eating you well get a crunchy taste but have to take care for sautéing to leave onions raw smell.
• Instead of adding tomato can use tamarind paste for tangy flavour.

Masala Obbattu / Poli

After a week’s gap, here I am to introduce a recipe “Masala poli”. Yep, I heard your question. Poli a.k.a. obbattu, a traditional Maharastrian dish, basically done with sweet base. Obbattu / Poli are prepared at special and festival occasions, our ancestral origin is from Andra Pradesh, where on the day of Ugadhi (Telugu New Year) festival Sweet based obbattu / poli is famous. The meal course is incomplete without this.

This masala obbattu or poli can be made for a heavy evening snack. When I first tasted this, it was interesting with unpredictable taste. Making Obbattu is difficult in terms of making it with a prefect round shape. Practice makes perfect, so try and get to be perfect. Hard to prepare but at the end we get a tasty obbattu.

Ingredients :

Maida- 1 1/4 cup
Salt - a pinch
Cooking soda - a pinch
Oil - 2 tbsp

For Filling :

Potato - 2 medium
Green chilli - 2
Ginger - 1’’ finely chopped
Onion - 1 medium
Chilli powder - ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Method :

• Take Maida, salt and cooking soda in a bowl and mix well adding adequate water to it and make a smooth dough. It should be a little softer than chapatti dough.
• Now add 2 tbsp of cooking oil on top of the dough and cover it with a plate. Keep it aside for 3 hours.
• Pressure Cook the potato and peel the skin and mash up well.
• In a pan heat oil and add finely chopped ginger, curry leaves and green chilly sauté for 2 minutes. Then add chopped onions and sauté till golden brown.
• Then add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Mix well till it blends together. Then add the smashed potato to it and mix well.
• Finally garnish with coriander leaves.
• Once done, let it cool for a while and then roll out small balls of the filling. Divide into equal sized portions and keep aside.
• Take a plastic coated paper / Banana leaf and grease thoroughly on one side with oil.
• Now take a small portion of the maida mixture and patted by hand into a mid-sized circle.
• A small amount of stuffing is placed at the center of this dough, which is wrapped around the stuffing to make a ball.
• This ball is then rolled carefully using a rolling pin or your fingers tip to flatten it well into a large, thin circular disc shape.
• In a hot tava carefully lift the poli on it and roast until both sides are done and get a fragrant aroma released.

Masala Obbattu is ready to eat. :)

I pleased to submit this recipe for a cooking contest for “LGSS” – Lets Go Stuff Series on the theme of Potato @ Vatsala’s blog – Show and Tell. (http://showandtell-vatsala.blogspot.com/)

Tips:

• You could choose your own mix to make the stuffing.
• If the Obbattu / Poli batter is in excess, you could mix well with any pickle (my choice is mango pickle). Now flatten the mix and tava it like chapatti. This goes well as a side dish with tomato rasam.