Nellikai Oorugai , a spicy pickle made with gooseberry wedges, red chili, mustard and fenugreek powder.  The method of making gooseberry pickle is quick and simple. Very recently I shared the recipe of Nellikai Thokku.  In Thokku, we usually grate the fruit/vegetable and cook them in the oil with required spices whereas in Pickle we add the spices directly in the cut vegetable/fruit.  For thokku, either we need to grate or grind the gooseberries, but for this pickle, its simple and straightforward. Fresh gooseberries we can get in most of the Indian Vegetable shops. For the Indians who live in abroad, we don’t even get fresh gooseberry most of the times in Indian vegetable shops. So we have left with no choice of getting frozen gooseberry. Even with the frozen gooseberry, this pickle tastes good. Frozen gooseberries are available in whole and also in wedges itself. So if you get the frozen wedges, it’s just really quick and easy.

Like Lemon pickle and mango pickle, this Nellikai thokku (Amla Achar) is also one of the traditional pickle variety made in Southern India. Amla is an excellent source of Vitamin C and E.  It increases immunity and fights off free radicals. It is beneficial in preventing aging, cancer and cell damage. However, this fruit is slightly sour in taste, but it leaves sweetness in the mouth after eating it raw. It is very healthy and has the power to control many ailments. Try this very easy and quick nellikai oorugai recipe which tastes heavenly with Curd Rice. For more Traditional PickleVarieties, click here.

Video Version of Nellikai Oorugai (Gooseberry Pickle)

Notes:

1. Dry roast 1 teaspoon of Fenugreek seeds till they turn red color. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool and then grind it to powder. For any pickle Fenugreek powder is mandatory. It adds lots of flavor. Even for Lemon rice, Tomato rice, Tomato Chutney we can add 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek powder
2. Store the pickle in air-tight container and refrigerate for longer shelf life.
3. Always use dry spoon while taking the pickle. If the spoon is wet, the pickle easily gets fungus and we can no longer use it

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Kumbakonam Kadappa / Kadapa is a special stew made with moong dal, potatoes and whole spices. Kadappa otherwise called as Kumbakonam Kadappa is a very scrumptious side dish for Idli or Dosa. This is one of the popular dishes in Tanjore district.Most of us conventionally make Sambar and chutney varieties for idli / dosa. Every restaurant in kumbakonam and other areas of Tanjore district serves this yummy dish for the breakfast. Very simple to make and a best combination for Idli and Dosa.Unlike Sambar Kumbakonam Kadappa / Kadapa have strong masala flavor as we are using key masala ingredients like Fennel Seeds, Bay Leaves, Cinnamon. This goes very well hot Idli and Dosa and even with Poori/Chapati.

Quick Video Version of Kumbakonam Kadappa / Kadapa

The video shows below the making of Kadapa.

Another version of Video Recipe (with voice over)

How to make Kumbakonam Kadappa

1. Wash the moong dal and add water and pinch of turmeric and pressure cook it. Also pressure cook the potatoes along with the dal and allow for 3-4 whistles. Mash the cooked dal and also mash the potatoes and keep it ready
2. Soak the poppy seeds in hot water for 10 minutes. Finely slice the onions and chop the green chillies. Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf and cinnamon stick and also add mustard seeds
3. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add green chillies, curry leaves and fry for 10 seconds. Then add the sliced onions along with a pinch of salt and saute them till the onions turn transparent
4. Meanwhile, take the grated coconut, fennel seeds, soaked poppy seeds along with garlic cloves in mixer and grind it to a nice paste
5. When the onions are transparent, then add 2 cups of water and add necessary salt for the dish. Then add mashed dal with mashed potatoes and mix well and allow the mixture to boil for 5 minutes in medium flame
6. Finally add the ground paste to the boiling kadapa mixture and again keep the flame in low for 5 more minutes and then remove from flame. Finally add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves and mix well
7. The yummy Kumbakonam Kadappa is ready to serve with Idli / Dosa

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Ulundu Bonda Recipe | Urad Dal Bonda, is one of the  popular evening snack in Southern India. This Bonda is a round shaped crispy snack made with urad dal along with other spices. It’s a great tea time snack and usually served with Coconut Chutney.  Its also referred popularly as “Mysore Bonda”. I have always been known that Mysore Bonda is made with Maida. But also I keep hearing that Mysore bonda is made with Urad dal. All I have ever known is this delicious Ulundu Bonda is a always a popular snack in Tamilnadu too and whenever we go for any chaat shops or pantry or any restaurants in the evening, this Ulundu Bonda will be on top of the menu.

The procedure for making Ulundu Bonda, is just similar to Medhu Vadai. Soaking Urad dal and grind it to a fluffy batter, same as Medhuvadia. For Bonda, we generally add peppercorns, finely chopped coconut pieces in addition to all the other ingredients. Also we don’t need to shape the bonda like vada with a hole in the center. We just need to drop the batter like a dumpling in hot oil. It’s quite simple than the vada. We don’t have to worry about the shape 🙂 . Though this is not an instant version as it involves soaking, still a pretty easy and simple recipe.

Video Version of making Ulundu Bonda

 Method to make Ulundu Bonda

(For the detailed step by step instructions along with pictures and more details, please scroll down further to Steps section below)

1. Soak the Ulundu(Urad Dal) and rice in water for 2 hours.
2. Strain it and grind it in a grinder by adding 3 tablespoon of water. Grind it till the urdhal is smooth without any lumps.
3. Take out the batter in a vessel. Add green chili, peppercorns, ginger, coconut pieces, curry leaves and coriander leaves along with salt and give a good mix
4. Heat oil in a pan. Check the hotness of the oil. If you drop a pinch of batter, it should raise immediately in the oil. Then the oil is ready. Wet your fingers and palm with water and take a dollop of batter, roll it like a ball and then gently drop in oil. In each batch add 3-4 pieces and deep fry the bondas till they are crispy and golden brown. Flip the bondas so that they get evenly fried up and make sure the flame is low while frying the bondas.
5. Serve the crispy and yummy Ulundu Bonda with Coconut Chutney and enjoy the evening with this wonderful snack!

Notes:

1. We should always grind the urad dal with very little water at a time. We really need a fluffy batter but at the same time not runny
2. If you are grinding the batter in mixer, then the batter will not be aerated naturally, so take out the smoothly ground batter and beat the batter with a ladle or whisk for atleast 5 mins to manually incorporate air in the batter. This will make the batter to be light and the bondas will be soft inside
3. We can also enrich the bonda with mixed veggies

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Keerai Avial Kuzhambu is rich and healthy Kuzhambu made using Keerai and coconut ground masala.  As you might know Aviyal is a popular stew made using many vegetables in Tamil Nadu. Aviyal kuzhambu is the Kuzhambu version of Aviyal stew. Whenever we have left over vegetables in small quantities we make Avial or Avial kuzhambu by including all the vegetables. As this Kuzhambu has rich vegetables, we usually don’t make any other curry/side dish. We can mix it with hot rice and consume it with an Applam.  Keerai Aviyal Kuzhambu is the same Aviyal Kizumabu, replacing Vegetables with Keerai (Spinach).

We can also make Spinach (Keerai) and make different type of Kuzhambu. Refer on the link here for the Keerai Kuzhambu Recipe

Video version of Keerai Avial Kuzhambu

 How to make simple Keerai Avial Kuzhambu ?

1. Clean the spinach in hot water to remove all the sand from it.  Also the soak raw rice in water for 10 minutes.
2. Soak tamarind in water and extract the juice and set it aside.
3. Cook the spinach in little water in a heavy bottomed pan with turmeric and add salt. Mash the cooked spinach
4. Grind the grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chilies and red chilies along with soaked raw rice by little adding water and grind it nicely to a smooth paste.
5. Boil the tamarind juice along with salt for 5 minutes to get rid of raw smell. To the tamarind juice, add the cooked  and mashed spinach. When the mixture starts to boil add ground spice paste, bring it to boil and switch off the flame
6. Add the coconut oil to the keerai avail kuzhambu and also add few curry leaves
7. Now the yummy Keerai Avial Kuzhambu is ready to serve with plain rice

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Gingerbread cookies are such a Christmas classic. These gingerbread cookies are sweet, crispy, and lightly spiced. This is the perfect cut-out cookie recipe and will quickly become a family favorite for the holidays! Welcome to Christmas Cookie season! Fill your house with the best-ever aroma by making spicy gingerbread cookies. We can adjust the spice used in this recipe according to your need. Generally, we bake these cookies just to light brown so that these cookies are crispy outside and soft inside. But we can also cook for longer time to get a perfectly crunchy cookie. Also, for gingerbread cookies, traditionally Molasses is added. This is easily available in grocery shops. But if this molasses is not available, still we can make these yummy cookies with either honey / maple syrup or thick jaggery syrup. Try these cookies for this Christmas and share your experience!

There are other Christmas special recipes are available in this link. You may be interested to see them.

Video Recipe

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Mexican Wedding Cookies are traditionally given as wedding favours. It’s also be called as Snowball cookies or Russian Tea Cookies. The names may be different but the cookie is basically the same. Mexican wedding cookies can also vary by the type of nuts that are used. I use almonds, but walnuts and pecans can be substituted. The nuts give the cookie a great texture and flavor.  Because of the powdered sugar this cookie basically melts in your mouth.  It’s a soft, tender cookie. These cookies traditionally are made with finely chopped pecans. But I like to chop the almonds really finely so that the dough inside is smooth. You can keep the almonds in bigger chunks if you’d like. As far as ingredients, wedding cookies usually consist of ground nuts, flour, butter, sugar.

HOW TO STORE MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES?

I like to store these cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. They can be frozen, but you may need to reroll the cookies in powdered sugar before serving as sometimes the powdered sugar “melts” into the cookie.This recipe is fairly easy to make and a great one for kids to try with your supervision. They will have a ball rolling them in the powdered sugar and then popping them in their mouths.:) .

You may also want to try these cookies

Similarly You can also try Hazelnut Tea Cookies which is also very similar with just the variation of Hazelnut in place of Almonds. Also you can try Whole Wheat Cookies, Raagi Cookies, Pearl Millet Cookies.

Notes:

1. We can use any nuts like walnuts / pecans. Also instead of grinding nuts to a coarse powder we can chop it roughly. I ground the nuts so that this will help hold the cookies together and the cookies won’t be dry.
2. Roll the cookies in confectioners’ sugar twice to make sure the cookies are well coated.
3. You can freeze these cookies. Defrost and roll in confectioners’ sugar again before serving.
4. We can Blend 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into the flour before you add it to the butter mixture.
5. We can Add 2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon zest to the butter mixture and omit the vanilla.

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Methi (Vendhaya Keerai)

Vendhaya Keerai (Methi) is a healthy greens and we can make many different dishes using this keerai. Vendhaya Keerai is called “Methi” in Hindi and Fenugreek Leaves in English. Dry fenugreek Leaves are called “Kasoori Methi”.  Methi leaves has lots of medical benefits especially for women. I have a practice of using methi leaves once a week. Thoran (Thuvaran) is a Stir-Fry Poriyal made in Southern Tamilnadu and in Kerala. Vendaya Keerai Thoran is one of my family favorite Thoran.

How to clean Vendhaya Keerai ?

Discard the thick stem and roots. Pluck only the leaves.  Wash it thoroughly in the water. You can also store the leaves in the refrigerator upto 3-4 days by wrap it loosely in a paper towel and keep it in a ziplock bag

Vendhaya Keerai Thoran

This Vendaya Keerai Thoran is a very delicious and easy to make Stir-Fry. First Moong dal is cooked till soft but firm. Also since its a stir-fry, coconut is ground along with red chili and cumin seeds to a dry powder. If you use desiccated coconut, you will get a smooth powder. But I used freshly grated coconut and hence due to moisture in the coconut, I did not get a smooth powder. The main rule is we should not add any water while grinding. Because this Methi thoran is not a stew. Vendhaya Keerai cooks so fast and also as a rule of any greens add less salt. Within minutes, this Vendhaya Keerai Thoran will be ready!

What Other Recipes that we can make using Methi Leaves ?

I used to make this Vendhaya Keerai Thuvaran often. Vendaya Keerai Thoran tastes very nice with any South Indian Kuzhambu or Rasam Variety. I also make methi poori, methi dal and other recipes too Vendhaya Keerai. Try these yummy Vendhaya Keerai recipes and share your comments!

Video Version of Making Vendhaya Keerai Thoran

Notes:

1. Spice it up with Onion and Garlic – I made this recipe as “No-Onion-No-Garlic”. We can also make it with Onion and Garlic.  After tempering, you can add half cup of onion and 1 or 2 finely chopped garlic and saute the onions well until it turns light brown. Then add the Methi Leaves and continue the process mentioned in the Recipe
2. Avoid the Grinding process and simplify it  – For Thoran (also called as Thuvaran), we usually grind coconut with Jeera and Red Chilli and add it to the Thoran as i mentioned in the recipe. We can avoid the grinding process by simply adding a teaspoon of Sambar Powder and grated coconut instead of grinding Red Chili and Coconut. Jeera can be added along with Tempering process.

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Beetroot Kurma, nutritionally rich beetroot is cooked in coconut based masala gravy. This is a simply delicious gravy and is a perfect accompaniment for chapati, poori or any Indian bread varieties. Rich color of beetroot makes this dish completely appetizing and appealing.  It’s totally rich in quantity and the taste is delectable.  This can be  one of the Party dish as it gives  good quantity  and also attract the guests with its color.  Usually, many of us make Vegetable kurma or Paneer Kurma, but try this beetroot kurma and you would surely enjoy it!

Usually we add Cashews to the  Kurma to get creamy texture. However i have not added Cashews here and followed the recipe of my MIL. Check the notes below if you wish to add cashew to make it richer.

Video Recipe of Beetroot Kurma

Notes :

1. You can add 7-10 cashew along with the grinding ingredients  which would give nice creamy texture (and increase Calories) and thickness to the Kurma.  In that case reduce the Roasted Bengal Gram quantity to 1/2 table spoon.   Another Tip – Cashews are always creamier if soaked overnight.
2. If you don’t like/don’t get Poppy seeds, then replace it with Coconut (additional 2 tablespoon of Coconuts)
3. You can replace Beetroot with the vegetable of your choice and make Vegetable Kurma using the same method.
4. Adjust the consistency of the Kurma by adding required amount of water

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Pumpkin Kootu is made using Yellow Pumpkin (Parangikai), Moong dal & ground coconut.  The nice aroma and flavor of Pumpkin with coconut, cumin ground paste is very appetizing and tasteful.  Pumpkin fruit is one of the widely grown vegetables that is incredibly rich in vital antioxidants, and vitamins. This low-calorie vegetable contains vitamin A and also rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus. Pumpkin added in vathakuzhambu, sambar brings a nice aroma and flavor to the dishes. Same way, Pumpkin Kootu  (Parangikai Kootu) are very delicious and can be served as side dish for sambar or other kuzhambu varieties. We can also mix this yummy stew with white rice and have it.

Note :

1. You can ignore the dal and make the stew only with Coconut-Jeera- Red Chili Paste
2. Spice it Up – Instead of plain Coconut Jeera paste, you can fry the chana dal, coriander seeds & Red Chili in a teaspoon of oil and then add with Coconut -Jeera, to give additional flavor and taste
3. Some people add the Tomato puree to the Stew. If you like Tomato, then you can add it while adding the pumpkin.

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Rasam is a South Indian soup, traditionally prepared using tamarind juice as a base, with the addition of tomato, chili pepper, pepper, cumin and other spices as seasonings.  Milagu Rasam is a traditional and healthy rasam made using peppar and cumin seeds.  Since its a great remedy for cold and sore throat it’s often being seen a Rasam which is being made when someone in the family is sick.  But I make this very often as I like the taste of pepper jeera mix and I love to have this with hot steaming rice and a spoon of ghee.

There are few different variations of the Milagu Rasam can be made.
1. Adding a spoon of Toor Dal and 1 Red chilli to the grinding ingredients.

We can fry the toor dal and red chili in a teaspoon of ghee and either we can fry the peppercorns or we can add it raw along with raw cumin seeds and grind it to a powder and add it to tamarind juice.

2. Adding Garlic also to the same rasam. Some of you like to add garlic, we can crush 2-3 garlic and add it to the tamarind juice and allow it to boil along with the tamarind juice.

I am giving here the very plain basic Milagu Rasam that i make often in my home. We can even serve this healthy rasam as a starter soup.

Video Version of Milagu Rasam (Pepper Rasam)

Notes:

1. We can grind 1/4 cup of pepper and 1/4 cup of cumin seeds and powder it and store it in an air-tight container and we can use it easily whenever we want to do this healthy rasam
2. Generally for milagu rasam, we don’t add tomato or coriander leaves. But if we want we can add it.

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Thandai is one of the popular summer drink in Maharashtra. It is the special beverage especially made on Mahasivaratri & Holi Festival. I tasted this awesome drink in one of my friend’s house who is a Maharashtrian, I got this recipe from her and I loved this chill and flavorful drink especially during hot day. The rich flavor of fennel seeds and peppercorns along with nuts gives a nice taste to the drink.

Its also called as Sardai, literally translates to coolant or cold in Hindi. It is a refreshing drink that has a cooling effect and gives instant energy in scorching Indian summers. It contains various cooling nuts and spices like almonds, fennel seeds, magaz (kernel of Watermelon seeds), cardamom, khus khus (poppy seeds) etc. A generous pinch of Saffron threads provides it a distinctive taste & colour. Rose petals, pepper, cashew nuts are other items that are many times added to it. It is also rich in calcium & vitamins.

Try this flavor rich Thandai and I m sure you will like this drink for this hot summer!

Video Version of making Thandai (Sardai) Recipe

Notes:

1. I used Dry Rose Petals. You can substitute with 4-5 drops of Rose Essence or 2 Teaspoon Rose Water
2. Traditionally Melon Seeds are also along with nuts and rose petals. But if we can’t get it, we can skip
3. Use more peppercorns and fennel seeds for a stronger flavor in thandai.

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Today, I tried this delicious Eggless Coconut Cake in Pressure Cooker and it turned out so yummy. The main uniqueness is its rich flavor of coconut. Many of us would have tasted Coconut Cake with rich icing on top atleast once. I personally don’t prefer Icing and also my daughters will any way remove the icing and eat only the crust. So I decided to make a plain Eggless Coconut Cake. Also some of us don’t have Oven, so I made this cake using Pressure Cooker.

In this Eggless Coconut Cake, I have used dessicated coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil to incorporate rich coconut flavor to the cake. We can make coconut flavored creamcheese frosting and decorate the cake. We can also prepare a glaze and pour it over the cake or we can use a jam spreading on top and sprinkle with sweetened coconut.

We can also make this delicious Cake in Conventional Oven. The method of making batter remains common for both pressure cooker and oven method. For Oven baking, Pre-heat the Oven at 350 deg F or 170 deg C and then bake the cake for 45-55 mins. The baking time may differ depending on the brand of oven. For me in pressure cooker, it took nearly 55 mins for the cake to bake completely. A delicious and moist Eggless Coconut Cake is a wonderful dessert for any occasion. Try my other Pressure Cooker cakes like Mawa Cake, Pistachio Cardamom Cake, Ragi Banana Cake and other Baking Recipes.

Video Making of Eggless Coconut Cake in Pressure Cooker

Notes:

1. We can use sand or fine salt at the bottom of the pressure cooker before pre-heating
2. Make sure to keep a perforated plate or a bowl inside the salt/sand layered pressure cooker. We don’t want the baking tray to touch the salt directly
3. We can slice the baked cake and apply a layer of frosting or jam in-between the layers and also on the top

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Rasavangi is one of the traditional and authentic Tamil Brahmin recipe made using brinjals. We can also make rasavangi with white pumpkin. Rasavangi is much similar to Arachivita Sambar. The main difference in the proportion of spices used. Rasavangi has a dominant flavor of coriander seeds and peppercorns. Also Brinjal Rasavangi is thicker in consistency than Sambar. Also for Arachivita Sambar we don’t need to fry the coconut but for Rasavangi we used to fry the coconut. Honestly there is not big difference between pitali, arachivita sambar, this yummy rasavangi. Its just proportion of ingredients.

My MIL used to make this yummy Brinjal Rasavangi once a week. Some of the kids have an aversion for brinjal, but they would love this Rasavangi.  Simple and easy to make kuzhambu variety. We can mix this yummy Brinjal Rasavangi with hot rice and enjoy with any veg stir-fry of your choice.

My MIL also make Rasavangi in a different method which is very simple. We can use this method of Rasavangi as a Stew (Kootu). In this method no grinding required. We simply cook Brinjal along with green chillies and add the cooked dhal at the end. Finally we add lemon juice and serve. Please refer this method of cooking rasavangi here.

Video Version of making Kathirikai Rasavangi (Brinjal Rasavangi)

Notes:

1. I have made this to rasavangi to be mixed with rice. We can also make it much thicker and serve it as stew
2. Also instead of tamarind, we can add lemon juice at the end
3. We can use Ashgourd (White Pumpkin) instead of Brinjal

The post Kathirikai Rasavangi | Brinjal Rasavangi appeared first on Subbus Kitchen.

I got fresh Butternut Squash from market and I was tempted to do this delicious curry. So I decided to soak the chickpeas overnight and got started the next day. Generally this curry is made with Butternut Squash, chickpeas and spinach. But my spinach was not so fresh so I decided to skip spinach and used only Butternut Squash and Chickpeas. Bring an exotic taste to your table with this totally vegetarian Butternut Squash Chickpea Curry. Would be a perfect mix for hot steaming rice or an accompaniment for Roti/naan.

We just need to plan a little to make this scrumptious curry. Chickpeas has to be soaked overnight, a day before and has to be cooked before starting to make this curry. We can use store-bought chickpeas tin that would make this whole curry very easily and quickly but I prefer soaking dry chickpeas and cooking the chickpeas. Because canned food items has preservatives so I prefer to cook chickpeas at home. We are going to enrich the Butternut Squash Chickpea Curry (kaddu Chole Subzi) with coconut milk.

For Korma / kurma, we usually grind coconut with all spices and add it to the curry. But, here, in this yummy subzi, we are going to add coconut milk instead of grinding coconut with spices. This subzi is mild and kids would love the delicious flavor of coconut milk along with butternut squash and chickpeas. I served this yummy Butternut Squash Chickpea Curry with Roti and my kids loved and devoured this scrumptious curry. You can also try other Curries and Gravies that would be a great accompaniment for Roti / Naan or any Indian Breads!

Notes:

1. We can cook spinach and add it to the curry along with squash and chickpeas that would make this curry much more nutritional
2. I freshly grate 1/2 coconut and added it to mixer jar along with 1/2 cup of warm water and grind it to a fine paste and then squeeze it to get coconut milk.
3. We can also use canned coconut milk and canned chickpeas

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Thayir vadai is a very delicious south Indian snack. I love to make this dish very often and even i would always order this when i go for any hotels. Many people think that preparing Dhahi vada in house is not delicious as we eat in hotels. But i bet, if we follow the below method, we can get the same taste and i could say that ours is too tasty compared to the hotels.

Ulundhu(Urdhal) vadai/Medhu vadai is a great and tasty appetizer. Also, we make this vadai for most of the festivals for neyvedhyam (offering to the god). Medhu vadai with idli, pongal, sambar & Chutney is a famous breakfast combo in Southern Part of India. Almost all restaurants serve this vada for breakfast and also during evening snacks time. Making a perfect batter is the secret of this recipe. The batter should be thick and also fluffy then only the vadas will be crispier outside and soft inside. For Dahi vada (Thayir Vadai), we need to first prepare ulundhu vadai (medhu vadai) and then soak them in diluted buttermilk+spice mixture and then serve with thick buttermilk +spice mixture along with garnishing.

In the similar way, we can dip the ulundhu vada in diluted sambar and then serve the soaked vadas with fresh hotel style sambar and that would make lovely Sambar Vada.

Try this and let me know your comments!

Video Making of Thayir Vadai (South Indian Dahi Vada)

Notes:

1. We should always grind the urad dal with very little water at a time. We really need a fluffy batter but at the same time not runny
2. If you are grinding the batter in mixer, then the batter will not be aerated naturally, so take out the smoothly ground batter and beat the batter with a ladle or whisk for atleast 5 mins to manually incorporate air in the batter. This will make the batter to be light and the vadas will be soft inside
3. We need to make the size of the vada smaller than we do for usual vada as we are going to dip in diluted curd-milk mixture and because of which the vada tend to become fluffy
4. Some of us usually do this by dipping the vadas in hot water before topping up with curd, but i personally feel that hot water is making the vadas more softer and reduces the taste. So try to take smaller quantity of curd topping in a bowl along with milk and water and stir it well with a pinch of salt and then dip the fried vadas in this
5. We can keep the dipped vadas and the curd mixture separately in fridge for atleast 2 days and we can take them whenever we want to serve. This way we can plan for a wonderful starter/dessert for our guests

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Karadayan Nonbu Adai (Sweet Adai) is the special neivedhyam dish we prepare for Karadayan Nonbu. On this auspicious day, we concoct this sweet adai using rice flour and jaggery. Sweet adai and Kara adai are the dishes we generally prepare for the Nonbu and women has to eat the adai as their fasting dish.

We can make Sweet Adai (Vella Adai)  using both the home made rice flour or with the store bought rice flour (i prefer the Idiyappam flour) available in the market. The Sweet Adai come good with any of these flour, however I prefer the home made rice flour.

Click on the other links below related to Karadayan Nonbu

1. Karadayan Nonbu – How do we celebrate Nonbu and its significance
2. Uppu Adai – Savory version of the Vella Adai

Video Recipe for Karadayan Nonbu Adai | Sweet Adai | Vella Adai

Notes :

1. You can use grated coconut instead of sliced coconut pieces.
2. The ratio to Rice flour to Jaggery is 1:1 (not Raw Rice to Jaggery)
3. The water:jaggery:rice flour ratio should be correct to get a soft and unbroken adai. If the water added to jaggery is less than mentioned, then mixing up of the rice flour will not become like dough, rather it will break down. So water should be added correctly to the jaggery. If the adai flour is broken, we can keep the flour in a pan and keep it in low flame and add little water and mix well again and then try out the patties.
4. You can also use the store bought readymade idiappam flour if you don’t have time to make home made rice flour. When you use store bought flour, dry roast the flour till it is warm and then continue with the rest of the process.

The post Karadayan Nonbu Adai | Sweet Adai | Vella Adai appeared first on Subbus Kitchen.

Uppu Adai (Uppadai) is another neivedhyam done on Karadayan nonbu. Uppadai and vellaadai are the neivedhyam dishes and women has to fast on karadayan nonbu and as per tradition after wearing the holy thread(nonbu kayiru) they have to eat only the adai they did for neivedhyam.

Vella Adai is the sweet version of rice flour+jaggery adai and Uppu Adai (Uppadai) is the savoury version of rice flour adai. The preparation of rice flour along with cooking of karamani remains same for both vella adai and Uppu Adai (Uppadai). Rest of the preparation is so easy. This is so similar to our conventional upma, where we do the tempering, bring water to boil along with salt and add rava or broken wheat and allow it to cook in boiling water. Similarly, here, after we prepare the rice flour and cook the karamani, we need to do the tempering in a kadai and add water and bring it to boil. To the boiling water, we need to add the roasted rice flour and keep stirring till it thickens and then make vada like patties and steam cook.

Click on the other links below related to Karadayan Nonbu

1. Karadayan Nonbu – How do we celebrate Nonbu and its significance
2. Vella Adai – How to make Vella Adai

Video Version of Uppu Adai (Karadayan Nonbu Uppadai)

Notes :

1. You can use grated coconut instead of sliced coconut pieces.
2. You can also use the store bought readymade idiappam flour if you don’t have time to make home made rice flour. When you use store bought flour, dry roast the flour till it is warm and then continue with the rest of the process.
3. We can also add grated ginger.

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Marble Cake is a cake that has both vanilla and chocolate flavors swirled in it. It can be a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, in which case it is mainly vanilla, with streaks of chocolate. Other possibilities are strawberry or other fruit flavors, or (particularly in marbled coffee cakes) cinnamon or other spices. This is an Eggless Marble Cake in Pressure Cooker. Another popular variation is checkerboard cake. Early recipes used molasses and spices to achieve the dark-colored batter, but now we are using cocoa powder for chocolate swirls.

Marble cakes are both homey and festive. A marble cake looks slick when you slice into it and reveal the delicate pattern created when the two batters are swirled together. As with my other cake recipes, I baked this cake using Pressure Cooker.

We can also make this delicious Cake in Conventional Oven. The method of making batter remains common for both pressure cooker and oven method. For Oven baking, Pre-heat the Oven at 350 deg F or 170 deg C and then bake the cake for 45-55 mins. The baking time may differ depending on the brand of oven. For me in pressure cooker, it took nearly 55 mins for the cake to bake completely. A delicious and moist Eggless Marble Cake is a wonderful dessert for any occasion. Try my other Pressure Cooker cakes like Mawa Cake, Pistachio Cardamom Cake, Ragi Banana Cake and other Baking Recipes.

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Sprouted Horsegram Masala curry is a delicious Indian recipe served as a Side-Dish for Roti or mainly with Ragi Mudde (Kezhvaragu Kali). This is a a very healthy and tasty curry. Horsegram itself is so full of nutrients and we are making them sprouts which is even more healthier. Also this curry has a rich flavor of coconut and coriander leaves. Most of the SouthIndian knows Horsegram helps in weight reduction as it is rich in protein and it will make us feel heavy thus preventing us to take any junks or other snacks.

Horse Gram (Kollu), is one of the healthier legumes normally recommended as part of a iron rich diet. Sprouting the horsegram will enhance the protein content in it. Most of the Indian Vegetable shops sell sprouted Horesegram, we can get those and make this curry in a very quick time. Or we can make the horsegram sprout at home. If the season is winter, it will take atleast couple of days for the horsegram to sprout. If you have a convection oven, we can keep the wet potli of horsegram inside oven and switch on the oven light to keep it warm so it will sprout quickly. If it is summer, we can keep the potli in a warm place and it will sprout quickly.  This Sprouted Horsegram Masala Curry is a perfect side dish for idli, dosa, roti and also for rice.

You can also try Kollu Chutney, Kollu Podi.

Video Making of Sprouted Horsegram Masala Curry | Kollu Masala

Notes:

1. We can get sprouted horsegram from Indian Vegetable Shop
2. We can make the same masala curry with other sprouted legumes

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