Halwa-Puri (poori)

Happy Varamahalaxmi!

Varamahalaxmi virtha is an important Hindu festival  observed on the Friday before the full moon in the month of Shravana by  hindu women and is dedicated to Goddess Laxmi It is mostly celebrated in  many parts of South India and Maharashtra .Women either gather at a nearby temple or  at somebody's home where the puja is arranged. The main puja takes place with holy offerings of flowers, sweets and coins. A semi-circle is created and an idol of Goddess Laxmi is kept in the middle.When the puja gets over women offer fruits, flowers and other holy items and seek blessings of Goddess varamahalaxmi for marital bliss.

Like every year, we celebrate Varamahalaxmi virth with family and friends and lots of yummy dishes are served  and naivaidya in the evening.

So today on this auspicious occasion  i thought of making this easy to make dessert.Sooji ka Halwa /Halwa along with Poori i a indian breakfast delicacy . Halwa is usually served at breakfast with puris and when it comes to festivals like laxmi puja or any other indian festivals Sooji ka halwa is most famous dessert prepared though out india. There is a wide range of recipes for making sooji ka halwa, here is an easier one for you. 

1. 1 cup Semolina (Sooji )
2. 1 cup Sugar 
3. 4 Cardamom ,crushed
4. 2-3 cloves
5. Saffron a pinch
6.  21/2 cups Water
7. Raisins & cashew nuts for garnishing
8.  3/4 cup Clarified butter/Ghee

• In a medium size pot heat clarified butter and fry cloves ,let it splutter.
• Add semolina and stir constantly on low heat till its color turns pale gold and becomes fragrant.
• In  sauce pan add water, sugar, saffron and boil till sugar dissolves. 
• Now pour this sugar syrup over the fried rava and keep stirring and let it cook until most of the moisture is gone. Add the cardamom powder, mix it in, then cover and set on low heat to steam for 2 minutes. 
• Garnish with nuts before serving. 

For the Puris/pooris:

1. Sift the flour, add the baking powder, salt, yoghurt and oil. Gradually add in the warm water and knead to a soft dough. Let it sit for about 20mins, then divide the dough into 10-12 pieces. Roll each one out to about 4 inches diameter.

For soft puris proceed as follows:

1. Heat your oil, make sure it's quite hot. Put in a poori in the hot oil and immediately start splashing hot oil over the top of it with a spoon.
2. Gently press down on the poori with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula, and you will see it start to puff up. If the poori turns dark in less than a minute, the oil is too hot. Reduce the heat of the stove. Gently press down with the spatula, and wait till it puffs completely, it should take only few seconds.
3. Flip the poori over and cook the other side until golden brown.

For crispy Puris, this is what you need to do:

• Before rolling out your pooris, dip each ball into the rava and roll each one out to about 4 inch diameter. This will help puris to become firm and crisp. Fry them in the oil on both sides until golden and remove.
• Drain on paper towels.

Chef Miraj-Ul-Haque style Teekha Murgh

This is the sort of dish that can set your mouth on fire, make your heart beat faster. The punchy flavours of curry leaves, ginger, garlic,pepper and chillies and all the ingredients that make a happy Indian dish.

Source: Foodiestan/Food.ndtv.com

Ingredients:

1. 1kg chicken,cut into medium sized pieces 
2. 75 ml mustard oil
3. 1 tsp onion seeds/nigella seeds  (kalonjee)
4. 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
5. 2 Tbsp garlic, chopped
6. 200 gm onion, chopped
7. 150 gm tomatoes, chopped
8. 1 tsp ginger, chopped
9. 2-3 green chillies
10. 1 Tbsp tomato paste
11. 1 Tbsp red chilli powder
12. 1 tsp black pepper, crushed
13. 1 tsp cumin powder, roasted
14. Salt to taste
15. 1 pinch black salt
16. 20 gm fresh coriander
17. 10 gm mint
18. 2 Tbsp curry leaves 

Method:

• Heat mustard oil. Add onion seeds and fennel seeds. Once they release flavor, add chopped garlic. Saute for a while.
• Add the chopped onion, tomato, ginger and green chillies. Stir fry until the onion turns brownish. 
• Meanwhile, fry curry leaves and crush them and keep aside.
• Add the boneless chicken cubes, tomato paste and stir for a while till oil comes on top. 
• Now add the dry spices one by one from ingredients No11-15*and mix well.
• Cook on a low flame, with a lid on top for about 10 minutes or till tender.
• Add the crushed curry leaves and mix well. 
• Serve the dish garnished with fresh coriander and mint.
• Serve hot with roti or pulkas.

Crispy Churmura/puffed rice Dosa with cabbage chutney

I am a big fan of dosa,. When i was studying college in Mangalore, every other day i used to try different variety of dosa's in near by restaurants. After marriage I love to experiment a lot with Dosa. I make my dosa batter each time differently and this churmura dosa turned out to be so crispy and equally good to normal crisy dosa. I've served it with cabbage chutney and it was a total hit.

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 2 cups( I used normal  white dosa rice )
2. Urad Dal / Black gram dal- 1/2 cup
3. Churmura/puffed rice - 11/2 cup
4. 2tsp Fenugreek/Methi seeds
5. Salt to taste
6. 2tsp Sugar
7. Water as needed
8. Butter for Panfrying

Method:

• Soak the dal and rice and all the ingredients from 1-4 after rinsing rice and dal, minimum 3 1/2 to 4 hours of soaking is must.

• After sufficient soaking remove the excess water and keep it aside ,dont throw away the soaked water. Use it for grinding. Put all the ingredients into the wet grinder and grind by using little water at intervals.
• After you have done with the grinding ,add salt and  sugar mix well
• Transfer the batter to a big container as the batter is going to ferment overnight and rise in volume.

  Keep in a place away from too much heat .But for colder climates you need to keep near a warm kitchen counter.
• Just before making dosas, after heating the tava, sprinkle little water mixed with few drops of oil and it should make a sizzling sound to indicate the tava is ready , then spread batter...everytime you can sprinkle this lightly salted water , enhances colour of dosa
• you will notice the dosa getting small holes everywhere, add small dots of butter all over.
• When the dosa is getting browned and fold gently.Remove and brush it with a blob of butter on top.
• Serve hot with sambar and chutney
• If you do not like to make coconut chutney there are no. of other chutney recipes some of them I am including in this blog.

Thiranga idli...Happy 69th independence day!

Happy Independence Day!

A very Happy Independence to all the reader’s of this blog. Thank you so much for all the people who supporting this blog. 

Our Mother India is going to celebrate 69th Independence on 15 August,so I thought to post the recipe of tri-coloured idli which is made without putting any edible color...its yummy, delicious and nutritious ...I am sure you will enjoy to share it with your friends and family :)

Ingredients:
Idli Batter*- 11/2 litre,fermented overnight.
3 pinch of baking soda - Baking Soda

For the Green idli
1/4 cup Coriander leaves
10-12 Mint leaves
2 Green chillies
3-4 Garlic cloves
1'inch Ginger,chopped
1tsp lemon juice

For the orange Idli
2 carrots,grated
1tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

• First the prepare the Green idli paste by grinding all the ingredients to a fine paste and keep aside.
• For the orange paste, grind the red chilly powder, grated orange and lemon juice grind it to a coarse paste and keep aside
• Now separate the idli batter into 3 portions ie 1/2 litre each.
• Add green paste to one portion  of the batter and a pinch of baking soda, mix it well.
• Now add the orange paste to the 2nd portion of the batter and a pinch of soda,give a nice mix and keep it aside
• Finally add a pinch of soda to the last portion of the batter,mix it well.

Final procedure:

• Boil 3cups of water in a idli steamer.
• Grease desired shaped mould with ghee or coconut oil.
• First fill the mould with green coloured batter and let it steam for about 2 minutes on high heat.
• Now open the lid and pour the plain idli batter and steam again for 2 minutes.
• Finally pour the orange coloured batter and steam for about 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the mould.
• Serve hot with chutney or sambar.