Sakkarai Pongal

This was made on Pongal. I wanted to make Pongal, but not the authentic way, which is difficult if you dont know the correct measures. This recipe below suited fine and I tried it. The result was surprising, delicious Pongal, which all of us liked a lot.

 

Ingredients:
Rice - 3 cups
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 3 cups
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Water - 9 cups
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Raisins - 1/2 cup

Steps:
1. Wash and pressure cook the rice and dal.(9 cups water).
2. In a pan, add 1 -1/2  cups of water and brown sugar.
3. Keep stirring until you get one string consistency. To check this, take a drop of the syrup between your thumb and finger, press and release the fingers, you'll see a single string of the syrup. If you dont see any string, stir the syrup for some more time.
4. Once the single string consistency is achieved, add the cooked rice and dal in this syrup and mix well.
5. Keep the flame low and mix well for 2-4 minutes.
6. Fry the raisins and cashews in the ghee and pour this on the pongal.
7. Add more ghee if required and remove from heat.
Serve hot.

Note:
You can use jaggery instead of brown sugar.Make sure to strain the syrup before mixing the rice and dal.
Fry the raisins and cashews separately.

Puran Poli/Obbattu/Holige

Festivals remind us of family, friends, fun and food... Im a born foodie and enjoy cooking especially on festive occasions. This year I prepared Puran Poli, Urad vadai, Sakkarai Pongal and murukku for Pongal.
Puran Poli is a must in all the festivals celebrated in Maharashtra. This recipe is not an authentic one, but nevertheless outstanding. I saw a video on youtube for this, by an elderly lady. Her name is not mentioned in the video. But I would like  to give the credit to her, cos otherwise I would not have made these. I have not used nutmeg powder and made some few changes.

Ingredients:
Puran(Filling) :
Dal - 2 cups
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp

Dough:
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Maida/All purpose flour - 2 tbsp
Besan/gram flour - 2 tbsp
Oil - 6 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Steps:
1. Wash and soak the dal for 2 hours in 4 cups of water.
2. In a pan add all the flours and using little water knead the dough. Knead it well. Cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes.
4. Take a plate, add oil, salt and 2 tbsp water and knead the dough again. It will become a bit gooey and after sometime, the dough will become very soft. Cover it and keep aside.
5. Pressure cook the rice for 1 whistle.
6. Remove excess water from the dal. Let it cool.
7. Add sugar and brown sugar/jaggery in the dal and mix well. Blend it in a mixer/blender to a fine paste.
8. In a microwave, cook the mixture for 5 minutes on high, remove, mix well and again microwave on high for another 3 minutes. The dal will be cooked. Cook the mixture in a non-stick pan if you dont want to microwave.
9. Tie a muslin cloth to the rolling board. Make round balls of dough and puran. Fill the puran in the dough and roll it using little rice flour.
Note:  I tied a handkerchief to the rolling board, it was very easy to roll the polis. 
10. Cook the polis carefully on a skillet on both the sides.
Serve hot with ghee, amti or milk.

Egg Kurma

Had made this egg kurma on Sunday, but updating it today. Better late, than never. :) This egg kurma is a favorite at home. It's a simple and easy recipe which tastes divine. Try it to believe it.

Ingredients:
Eggs - 6
Onion - 2 finely diced
Tomato - 1 finely diced
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chicken masala - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp apprx.

Grind:
Clove -5
Cinnamon - 1 round stick
Cardamom - 1
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Fennel seeds/Saunf - 1 tsp
Coconut - 1 cup
Pepper - 2 tsp

Steps:
1. Heat oil and fry all the things under 'Grind' for 4-5 minutes. You can stop when you get a good smell of all the spices, coconut becomes brown in color.
2. Let it cool and grind it to a fine paste using water as required.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes.
4. Add onions and cook them well.
5. Once onions are cooked, add chilli, turmeric, chicken masala and coriander powder and saute well for 3 minutes.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook till they get blended well with the onion paste.
7. Add the coconut paste and saute well for another 5-7 minutes.
8. Add salt and check for the taste, add masalas if required and cook well.
9. Add 1 cup water let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
10. Put the boiled eggs and let it cook for another 5 minutes in low flame.
Serve hot with rice, dosa or paratha.

If you are a vegetarian, substitute the eggs with potatoes or any vegetable of your choice.

Christmas and New Year Cake

Had a very good time during Christmas and New Year. Hubby's cousin Dr. R and wife Dr. D had  visited us and we all had a guudddddddddd time(would like to presume :) ). D is a good cook and I assisted her in making the cakes.

We brought store made cake mix and with few modifications, made the cake even more tastier.
The  first cake for Christmas was Double Chocolate Fudge.The recipe called for 1 eggs, vegetable oil and water. We substituted vegetable oil with applesauce and added almonds and cashews(
D's suggestion). It was a wonderful treat for us and our friends. Take a look at the cake.

The second cake, is a Chocolate Caramel Cake. This one came with two pouches, one cake flour and the other caramel syrup. Again we use applesauce and almonds. Pouring the caramel on the cake was a tedious task, which D managed very well. This cake was yum  too. Have a look.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2010. Wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Had taken a break from blogging, back with new recipes. I will start posting new recipes soon.
Through this blog, not only did I explore my cooking skills, also gained many friends. I would like to thank you all for visiting my blog and going thru my recipes and giving feedback about them. I appreciate your feedback and comments.
I wish all of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year. May all your dreams and wishes come true.
Happy Blogging...