Rice and Milk Kheer/Pal Payasam

Our festivals are incomplete without we making something special. The most laborious work of all is making delicious kheer or Payasam.

It was my mother's birthday and Vishu (A harvest festival)

I have promised Aru that I will make her favourite Payasam. 

Here we go the simple, quick and delicious Payasam recipe which I have made yesterday. 

Rice kheer 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup basmathi rice ( I have used a very small cup)

1 cup water

1/2 liter milk

1/4 tsp crushed green cardamom

1 tin milkmaid 

Method 

*Wash, and keep aside basmathi rice for about 20 minutes.

*In a pressure cooker, add rice, 1 cup water and half a litre milk, close lid, allow it to cook for 3 whistles. Remember we are not adding sugar or any other things at this stage.

*Once it reach room temperature, open the lid, check whether the rice is soft and well cooked, you can slightly smash it, or run a hand blender for few seconds. 

* Crush 4 to 5 green cardamom, use the peel in your tea, we are taking out the small fragrant cardamon, add the crushed cardamom to the kheer.

*Open the milkmaid tin and pour in the content to the kheer. Mix in well, a little more warm water if needed to remove any leftover residue from the tin. Gentle use a spatula to mix all the ingredients.

*Keep the cooker back to the stove, we will further cook the kheer for 2 minutes. Off the stove.

*The Payasam will have a mild pinkish colour. 

* Serve it warm or chill it in refrigerator and serve cold, both ways its delicious.

Notes

We generally don't add cashew nuts or ghee to milk kheer/Pal Payasam.

*You can use red broken rice instead of basmathi, but it will take more time to cook.

Gajjar Halwa

Gajjar Halwa

Today I am going to share with all of you readers my recipe for Gajjar Halwa.

 It is an India sweet savoured by all. It is mainly prepared in the Winter season, when Delhi carrots (red, long, thin) are available. 

 I hope you can make a very good halwa using this recipe. 


Gajjar Halwa

Ingredients:

2 kg Carrots 
1 litre Milk 
400 grams Sugar 
3 crushed Cardamom 
10 nos. Cashew nut  (broken into halves)
100 gram Ghee 

Method 

*Wash, peel and grate carrot. 

*In a thick bottom vessel ( I used pressure pan) pour milk and add the grated carrot. 

*Allow it to cook at a low flame for about 45 minutes.

* Stir it gently. You will see the milk reducing to 1/4 of the amount it was before. 

*Now add the sugar and the cardamom. Allow it to cook further for about 30 minutes. 

*Stir the halwa and simultaneously add a spoonful of ghee.

*By now you will notice that the ghee is separating  from the halwa in the vessel.

 

*Remove it from stove. In a small pan add a spoonful of ghee and the broken cashew nuts and allow it to roast till it turns golden brown. 

*Add the cashew nuts to the halwa and serve hot. 

*The aroma of the fresh ghee and the luscious halwa makes it a tempting dessert.

Bisibele Bhath, curd rice and beans thoran

Bisibele bhath is a traditional Karnataka cuisine which is relished with boondi, chips or mixture.

We being from Palakkad loves to enjoy this delicious dish with subzi, Raitha and other accompaniments.

Curd rice is an integral part of our daily meals, so with bisibele bhath we make curd rice also. 

Bisi in kannada means hot. So hot hot bisibele bhath for you. It's also called 3 B's as a short form! 

Bisibele bhath

Ingredients 

  1 cup Basmathi  rice

  1/2 cup Tuvar dal 

  1 teaspoon gingly Oil 

  5 tablespoons of ghee 

  1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder

  10 shallots     

  10 French  beans 

  10 avarakkai / hyacinth beans

  2 medium sized  carrots

  2 medium sized  Potatoes 

A few curry leaves 

1 green Capsicum chopped into small pieces 

1/2 cup fresh peas/frozen

 For dry roasting (This powder goes into bisibele bhath towards the end of the process and it taste good) 

 1 teaspoon Coriander  seeds

 6 to 7  Red chillies (I use 4 for colour and 3 for spice) 

 2 teaspoon   Chana dal 

 1 teaspoon  Urad dal 

 1/2 teaspoon methi seeds (you can skip this as we will adding methi seeds in the tadka) 

A small piece of heeng cake 

 1 inch piece Cinnamon 

 3 to 4 Cloves

 3 green cardamom 

 2 Bay leaves

 

Dry roast and make coarse powder 

(You can use MTR bisibele bhath powder 2 tbsp instead of making roast masala powder,  as I did yesterday) 

  For the Tadka

   1 teaspoon Mustard seeds 

   1/2 teaspoon Methi seeds

   A few curry leaves 

   Salt as required

tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp (soak and cook tamarind and extract pulp), 

yesterday I have soaked lemon sized tamarind in warm water, extract the liquid by squeezing out the tamarind, which was later boiled for about 10 minutes till the raw smell goes away. 

Method 

*Wash and mix tuvar dal and rice togther. Keep aside for 20 minutes in the meantime you can do rest of the preparations. 

*Cut potato, beans, capsicum carrot and onion into cubes. In a heated pan add cinnamon stick, clove, bay leaves and elachi allow it to release its aroma.

* Add chopped vegetables, green peas, onion first then other vegetables. 

*Just saute for 5 minutes. In pressure cooker add washed rice, dal and add vegetables.add turmeric powder, Add  5 cups of water(I used room temperature water) and cook till two whistles.

* Now add tamarind pulp /( boil tamarind juice for a good 10 minutes till the raw smell goes away) and further boil for about 5 minutes, at this stage you can add 2 cups of boiling water to adjust the consistency of your bisibele bhath which is served semi solid. 

*Add bisebele bhath powder. Mix well. 

*In a small heated pan pour ghee add mustard let it splutter,add methi seeds,  Add chopped capsicum,  curry leaves and coriander leaves. 

*Saute for two minutes and add to prepared bisibele bhath. 

*Serve Bisibele bhath garnish with Kara boondi, Raitha, beans thoran/ bhindi subzi and crispy potato or banana chips. 

Beans and carrot thoran(where grated coconut is used) 

Ingredients

250 grams Beans 

2 medium sized carrots 

1 green chilly 

2 tbsp coconut 

A few curry leaves 

salt to taste

For frying

2 tsp coconut oil/ sunflower oil 

1/2 tsp mustard seed 

1/2 tsp urad dal 

1 broken red chilli

Method 

*Wash, trim the edges of beans and carrot  chop into small pieces. 

*In a heated kadai pour oil add mustard seeds,urad dal allow mustard to crackle. Add broken chilly. 

*Now add chopped beans and carrot. Allow it to cook in high flame, stirring occasionally. 

*You can add or sprinkle a little water if you wish to beans so that it gets cooked faster. In a mixer grind coconut and green chilly add this to the cooked soft, tender beans. 

*Mix well add curry leaves. Serve with Bisibele bhath.

Curd rice

Ingredients

1/2 cup Rice 

1/4 cup boiled and cooled milk 

3 cups curd 

salt as required

For tadka

1 tsp gingly oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp urad dal 

curry leaves - a few

green chilly - 2

ginger - a small piece

4 curd chilli/tayir molagai

Method 

*Wash and cook rice adding 2 cups of water in pressure cooker. 

*Remove from stove allow the rice to reach normal temperature. 

*You can spread rice on a plate for cooling down. 

*Place the rice in a bowl add 1/4 glass of milk(boiled and cooled) and 3 cups of tayir(curd) use your hand to smash the rice. 

*If you wish you can use a hand blender in low speed. 

*You can also add a cup of water if the curd rice is too thick. 

*The curd rice should be semi solid state.

*In a small heated pan pour oil add mustard and urad dal, allow mustard to crackle.

* Now add chopped green chilly, ginger and heeng powder and curry leaves. Saute for a while add the tadka to prepared curd rice. 

*Add fried tayir molagai. Serve it with choice of your favourite pickle. 

Gooseberry pickle

Now I am going to show you how to make an all time favourite- Gooseberry Pickle. This pickle is usually eaten with curd (yoghurt) and rice.

Gooseberry / amla / nellikai pickle

Ingredients:

Gooseberries - 1/2 kg

Turmeric powder -1 teaspoon

For dry roast:

Dried red chillies - 150 gm ( I used 50 gm long, 50 gm badigay n 50 gm gunttur chilli)

Kayam / heeng - 20gm( a large piece)

Methi / fenugreek leaves - 1 teaspoon

Salt - as required

For tadka (tempering)

Gingelly (til) oil - 3 table spoon

Mustard seeds -1/2 teaspoon

Method of preparation:

In a thick bottom vessel cook the amla along with half a teaspoon turmeric powder for about 10 minutes, while adding water.

Make sure the amla is completely soaked in water.

Once cooked remove it from water. Do not throw the boiled water, keep it in a cup. Now de-seed the gooseberries and cut them into small pieces. Keep aside.

In a clean kadai/pan at a slow fire put the dried red chillies, methi and hing and the rest half of the teaspoon of the turmeric powder. Fry it till all ingredients release their aroma. 

Note:  fry each ingredient separately for best flavor.

 Grind to a fine powder in a mixer.

Now place a thick bottom kadai and pour the oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for it to crackle. Now carefully add the chopped gooseberries and mix well.  Make sure the oil has been coated on all the pieces by mixing it with a dry,clean, ladle.

Add salt and the roasted powder. Mix it well. Allow the gooseberries to completely get coated in the ground spices. Remove the pan from the flame and wait for the gooseberry pickle to reach room temperature.

Store in clean glass jars and make sure they are air tight. For a long shelf life, refrigerate it. 

 Remember!! never leave steel spoon inside the pickle...

How to grow moong dal sprouts and microgreens at home.

Growing moong dal sprouts.

Ingredients

100 grams whole moong dal

2 cups water to soak it

Method

*Wash and soak the moong dal for about 6 to 8 hours.

* Drain the excess water. Close the bowl with a lid. Let it sprout. First day a little, second day it will still grow, mix it and put a napkin on top of the bowl. It will absorb excess moisture.

*Day 3 and 4 you can start using the sprouts in salads, parathas and other dishes.

Day 5 to 7 it will become bigger and longer, use it as an ingredient in soups, and salads.

Day 8 to 10 you will get fully grown up microgreens, enjoy with your choice of dishes.

Notes

I have not added any water to the bowl. I think once they ate soaked for 6 to 8 hours on the first day, they don't require any further spraying of water.

Ginger coffee sponge cake

GINGER COFFEE SPONGE CAKE

225 grams of self raising flour

4 brown or white eggs

1/4 lemon or orange zested 

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used grated ginger so skipped vanilla extract) 

225 grams of softened butter/unsalted butter

225 grams of caster sugar /jaggery powder 

2 tbsp milk to splash

2 tbsp crushed almonds 

1/2 tsp baking powder (optional) 

Spices

A pinch cinnamon powder 

A pinch of clove powder 

A pinch of crushed elachi /green cardamom 

2 tsp coffee powder 

An inch of ginger grated 

For the filling (I have skipped this also) 

You can fill the slices with jam, cream or lemon curd before serving 

Icing sugar can be used for dusting 

Method

*Set the temperature of oven to 180 C, use butter or ghee for greasing the cake tin, dust it with a little flour, (I have done that) use a sieve to do it, or you can line the base with baking parchment paper. 

*Beat the butter and sugar or jaggery until its pale and fluffy or use an electric whisk( I used the whisk) 

* Break the eggs, all the four and whisk well, make sure you scrape the sides of the mixing bowl after each addition of ingredients. 

*Sieve the flour and baking powder. Add cinnamon, clove, elachi, coffee powder, grated ginger, flour and mix in. Further whisk until just combined. 

*Sprinkle crushed almonds on top of the batter and the cake is ready to bake. 

*Bake it for 25 to 30 minutes and do the skewer test, when you insert a skewer through the baked cake it should come clean. 

*After 10 minutes remove the cake, leave it in the wire rack, let it reach room temperature for you to do any filling. 

* The tin I am using is quite large so I baked the quantity in one go. 

*The cake will remain fresh for 3 days, I am sure nothing will be left, as my container is already half consumed, a few pieces are left! 

Happy baking! 

Lauki [bottle gourd) stuffed with paneer

Aru's lunch today is Lauki (bottle gourd) stuffed with paneer and spices, roasted on tawa, one carrot thinly sliced cooked in the bottle gourd juice and seasoned with thyme, black pepper and salt.

Recipe for this dish requires little bit of preparation, so start it half an hour before your kids come back from school or college.

Making our kids eat some of the vegetables is quite tricky, lauki is such a versatile vegetable which can be served with rice and phulkas as kootu, gravy or as subzi. But my daughter would almost eat any vegetable if I could come up with some ideas and not to serve it with rice or phulkas!

Today as I entered the kitchen for making evening snack for her, I stumbled upon a half piece lauki which was leftover from the kootu I made. 

Then the recipe automatically started flowing... One by one I kept on assembling the ingredients for paneer stuffing, chopping carrots and tada! 

The delicious dish is ready, total time taken for cooking is about 8 minutes. Isn't it interesting? 

Lauki stuffed with paneer 

Ingredients 

1/2 a piece of small lauki(bottle gourd peeled) cut into big slices, scoop out the seeds.

1 carrot peeled, sliced into thin stripes 

For the stuffing 

150 grams paneer crumbled

1 tsp jeera powder 

1 tsp coriander powder 

1/2 tsp red chilli powder 

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1 tsp chopped coriander leaves 

Salt as required 

2 tbsp Peanut oil/olive oil for shallow frying 

For the seasoning

A pinch of dry thyme 

A little crushed black pepper 

A little salt 

Method 

*Wash, peel and cut lauki into thick circular pieces, about 10 pieces you can cut half a lauki into. Scoop out the seeds, we need space to fill in the stuffings. 

*In a small bowl mix in crumbled paneer, jeera, coriander, turmeric, red chilli powder, chopped coriander, salt and mix in using a fork or clean hands. 

* Spread the bottle gourd circles and fill in the stuffings inside, use a flat spatula to press the Lauki slices so that the stuffing is well filled in. 

*In a preheated tawa pour oil and arrange lauki slices, make sure there is enough space for you to flip the lauki pieces. 

* Cook one side until golden brown, flip and cook the other side. Adjust the flame, allow lauki to evenly cook in medium flame until golden brown both sides. Off the stove. 

*In the same tawa/griddle add thinly sliced carrots, add thyme, freshly crushed black pepper and salt, mix in and cook it in the lauki's juice and other spices till tender. 

*Serve hot with hari chutney. I am sure you and your family is going to love this simple dish as a starter. 

Notes

*select fresh tender paneer. 

*Use soft lauki for this dish and its very important to enjoy the nutrients present in the freshly cut lauki, which otherwise gets overcooked in the traditional dishes. 

* Keep everything ready before you start heating the tawa.