Hetal Vasavada a contestant on Season 6 of MasterChef and is the founder of the blog, Milk & Cardamom. Her recipes have been featured in Huffington Post, TASTE and The Times of India.  One day, I received a mail from her Manager “Andrea Susan” asking me to write a review about Hetal’s book “Milk & Cardamom”. They sent me a fresh copy of the book “Milk & Cardamom”. The book is so amazing and I’m so happy to share few words about her book and also I tried one of the recipes from her book which is Shrikhand Parfait. It turned out so appealing and yummy. First let me talk about her book and then I will go into the recipe.

Hetal Vasavada’s “Milk and Cardamom”

A classic Western and Indian fusion is enjoyed by all. Journey through these exquisite spices and flavours as you flip the pages of this engaging and interesting cookbook. From breads and jams to mouthwatering custards, each and every page holds a new and eagerly awaiting recipe. Convenient notes and tips can be found throughout the book. The author shares her experience of each one of these recipes which gives us a bit more idea and background information about this dish. The vibrant pictures are posted throughout this whimsical book. 

Glimpse from her book:

Hetal’s Creams, Custards, and Puddings chapter includes a Shrikhand Parfait, Caramel Custard, and Seero(Semolina Pudding). These deserts are perfect for a dinner party and they look stunning. The next chapter, Small Bites, features Banana Coconut Burfi, Dulce de Leche Penda, and Kajukathl, just to name a few. These easy to eat bites range from caramel fudge filled with chocolate to small and yummy ladoos. Hetal’s Cookies and Bars section is a collection of western recipes that have a punch from Indian spices. This section contains her delicious Mango Lassi French Macarons, Jaggery puffed Rice Crispies, Bourbon Biscuits, and many more.

Cakes and Tarts, withholds Masala Doodh Tiramisu, Gulab Jamun Cake, and even Rose and Pistachio Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Delectable Banana Custard Brioche, Green Mango Marmalade, and Orange and Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls fall under the Breads and Jam category. And of course, this book would not be complete without Hetal’s Drinks chapter. Just glancing at the Sapota Milkshake, Watermelon and Basil Seed Sharbat, and the other drinks make me thirsty for these cool refreshing drinks. I’m planning to try some of her cake recipes and use flax seeds as Egg substitute.

This book has definitely opened the doors to a whole new realm of delicious desserts, drinks, and pastry. Growing up as an Indian living in America, at first we might dream of beautifully frosted cupcakes, but as time flies, we tend to miss our Indian sweets. This book, Milk and Cardamom, has been an amazing way to showcase a unique way to make a dish that not only has finesse and frosting, but also a traditional and homely flavour.  

Shrikhand

We all know what is Shrikhand and how to make. Plain Shrikhand as well as Aamkhand or Amarkhand (Mango Shrikhand) are so popular in Maharashtrian cuisine. Now there are much more flavors available in Shrikhand. I once tasted Apple pistachio Shrikhand in one of my friend’s party , it was so amazing. Shrikhand is basically is dessert made with hung curd and powdered sugar enhanced with cardamom and saffron. We can incorporate different flavors like mango, apple etc to the basic Shrikhand and make it much more interesting. Aamkhand is a popular accompaniment for Poori in Northern India, especially in Maharashtra.

Parfait

Parfait is a rich cold dessert with layers of Ice cream/ whipped cream, fruit etc served in tall glass. This Parfait originated from French cuisine. Yogurt based parfaits are favorite dessert for kids. A Perfect  easy grab-to-go breakfast, quick snack or after dinner treat!

Shrikhand Parfait

Fusion of our authentic Shrikhand and plating Shrikhand as parfait is the beauty of this recipes. First Shrikhand has to be prepared and then we are going to plate the shrikhand along with biscuit crumbs, topped with chopped fruits and finally topped with whipped cream and nuts!

Recipe Card for :

Method with Step by Step Pictures

PROCEDURE TO MAKE SHRIKHAND

• Place a strainder over a bowl. Cover the strainer with 3 layers of Cheesecloth. Pour the Yogurt into the cheesecloth. Pull up all the corners of the cheesecloth and twist it tight. Place a plate and a heavy can or jar on top of the cheese cloth. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

• The next day, add the saffron to the warm milk and let it bloom for 5 mins.

• Remove the yogurt from the cheesecloth and place it into a medium bowl. Add the powdered sugar

• Add bloomed saffron with milk and cardamom

• Give a good mix till everything is incorporated well with the thick curd. Place a plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the yogurt and refrigirate for 4 hours

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Uppu Seedai (Salt Seedai) is another important and traditional neivedhyam dish for krishna jayanthi festival. In my childhood days, my mom used to prepare 5-6 batches of dough and me and my sister with my dad had helped my mom in rolling the dough into small balls. My dad has lots of patience and he used to roll it into very small ball and small balls are actually very crunchy than the bigger balls. It is a bit of tiresome process to make uppu seedai but the end result would be very delicious. We used to think why mom is making 5-6 batches but later we could see we have more seedai so that we could enjoy the delicious and crispy seedai atleast for a week.I know many people who are very scared of doing this uppu seedai. Many of us have a bitter experience in doing uppu seedai as sometimes it may burst while frying in the oil. The steps looks simple, but some points we need to keep it in my mind while preparing the dough to avoid bursting.  There are many reasons why it is getting burst in the oil. Please refer my notes for how to Avoid Uppu Seedai(s) from bursting in hot oil.

Quicker Video Version

Recipe Card:

Uppu Seedai | Gokulashtami Recipes

Seedai is one of the important offering to Lord Krishna on the auspicious occasion of Krishna Jayanthi | Gokulashtami. A little time consuming yet worth the effort for these crunchy and yummy snack!

• 1 Measure Urad Dal Flour (Measure is anything from ladle to cup)
• 11 Measure Homemade Rice Flour
• 1 tbsp Butter (at room temperature)
• 1 tbsp Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)
• 2 tbsp Grated Coconut (We can also use Finely Chopped Coconut)
• Salt (As Needed)
• ½ tsp Asafoetida (Asafetida / Hing)
• 2 Cups Oil (for Deep Frying)

1. Soak the gram dal(channa dal) in water for 10 minutes. 

Preparing Dough

1. Homemade rice flour is the best option for seedai than the store bought rice flour. The ratio of rice flour to urid dal flour is 11:1 (I have used ladle, so for 11 ladles of rice flour, we need to add 1 ladle of urid dal flour. You can use cup, tumbler or even spoon). We need to use the right ratio other wise the seedai will not turn out good. The more uriddal flour, seedai would be dark colour. Lesser urid dal flour results in very light color. So please maintain the ratio.

2. Pass the rice flour and urid dal flour through the sieve atleast twice to make sure they are perfectly smooth.

3. Take a bowl and add the flours along with butter, grated coconut, hing, salt and the soaked and drained gram dal and mix well with your hand so that all are nicely mixed up

4. Then sprinkle water little by little and knead them to a smooth and stiff dough. Do not add more water and make the dough sticky. The dough should be stiff.

5. Then grease your fingers and palm with oil and take small quantity of dough and roll it to a tiny ball. Do this for rest of the dough. Allow the seedai dough balls in clean cloth for atleast 5-10 minutes to dry. 

Frying Seedai

1. Heat oil in a pan. Check if the oil is hot enough to raise the seedai immediately by dropping a seedai. When it raises immediately, then our oil is ready. Take the tiny dough balls in batches. Do not overload the oil with more seedai.

2. Drop 20-30 balls at a time and deep fry them till they turn golden brown color and crispy. Remove the crispy seedai from the pan and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat the step for the rest of the seedai balls. 

3. Now the crispy, crunchy and tasty Uppu Seedai is now ready for neivedhyam or for serving!

How to avoid the bursting of seedai while frying ?

1. Smooth Flour :  The rice flour and urdal flour should be very nice and smooth. We need to pass the flours through the sieve atleast twice to get smooth flour. This will prevent breaking of seedai while frying in oil. Sometimes if the flour is wet or if it is not smooth, there may be chances of bursting of seedai while frying in oil which is very dangerous. So we should be cautious while doing seedai. 
2. Soft Balls: We just need to roll the dough to the soft ball and not a very rigid ball as the air particles inside the dough try to come out while frying and if the ball is very rigid, it may burst in oil.
3. Dry Balls: After making small balls, leave it in the newspaper / plate to dry before dropping in oil. The wetness or the moisture in the ball tend to burst. 

Method with Step by Step Pictures :

• Soak the gram dal(channa dal) in water for 10 minutes.
• Homemade rice flour is the best option for seedai than the store bought rice flour. The ratio of rice flour to urid dal flour is 11:1 (I have used ladle, so for 11 ladles of rice flour, we need to add 1 ladle of urid dal flour. You can use cup, tumbler or even spoon). We need to use the right ratio other wise the seedai will not turn out good. The more uriddal flour, seedai would be dark colour. Lesser urid dal flour results in very light color. So please maintain the ratio. Pass the rice flour and urid dal flour through the sieve atleast twice to make sure they are perfectly smooth. Take a bowl and add the flours along with butter, grated coconut, hing, salt and the soaked and drained gram dal and mix well with your hand so that all are nicely mixed up

• Then sprinkle water little by little and knead them to a smooth and stiff dough. Do not add more water and make the dough sticky. The dough should be stiff. Then grease your fingers and palm with oil and take small quantity of dough and roll it to a tiny ball. Do this for rest of the dough. Allow the seedai dough balls in the newspaper / plastic sheet / cloth for atleast 5-10 minutes to dry.

• Heat oil in a pan. Check if the oil is hot enough to raise the seedai immediately by dropping a seedai. When it raises immediately, then our oil is ready. Take the tiny dough balls in batches. Do not overload the oil with more seedai. Drop 20-30 balls at a time and deep fry them till they turn golden brown color and crispy. Remove the crispy seedai from the pan and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat the step for the rest of the seedai balls.

• Now the crispy, crunchy and tasty Uppu Seedai is now ready for neivedhyam or for serving!

Uppu Seedai / Salt Seedai

How to avoid the bursting of seedai while frying ?

1. Smooth Flour :  The rice flour and urdal flour should be very nice and smooth. We need to pass the flours through the sieve atleast twice to get smooth flour. This will prevent breaking of seedai while frying in oil. Sometimes if the flour is wet or if it is not smooth, there may be chances of bursting of seedai while frying in oil which is very dangerous. So we should be cautious while doing seedai.
2. Soft Balls: We just need to roll the dough to the soft ball and not a very rigid ball as the air particles inside the dough try to come out while frying and if the ball is very rigid, it may burst in oil.
3. Dry Balls: After making small balls, leave it in the newspaper / plate to dry before dropping in oil. The wetness or the moisture in the ball tend to burst.

Uppu Seedai / Salt Seedai

 

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1Vella Seedai or sweet Seedai is one of the important neivedhyam dish for Krishna Jayanthi festival and Thirukarthigai festival. This is one of the trickiest dish. Even for more experienced people, sometimes it wouldn’t be a successful attempt. Every time is an experience with this sweet seedai. Beginners may find it difficult in their first attempt. For beginners, you can see this another method for sweet seedai which will be easy for them for their first attempt. The other method of making sweet seedai would not be crispy. We just need to prepare adhirasam dough but make small balls out of it and make seedai. So you may not go wrong in that.

Coming to this method… This is the conventional method of making Sweet Seedai (Vella Seedai). Though the method is little tricky, if we practice then we would simply love this method as the vella seedai would be very sweet as well as crunchy. We don’t have the hassle of any string consistency of the jaggery. Its just the dough consistency we need to be cautious to prevent the seedai from getting dissolved or burst. So now lets focus on how to make this yummy and crunchy vella Seedai.

Other Gokulashtami Recipes:

1. Uppu Seedai
2. Aval Kesari
3. Aval Puttu
4. Nei Appam

Quicker Video Version

Recipe Card for Vella Seedai

Vella Seedai | Sweet Seedai | Gokulashtami Recipes

Vella Seedai is another Important Prasad we prepare on the auspicious day of Gokulashtami (Krishna Jayanthi). Rice flour is concocted with jaggery and cardamom and dumplings are made and deep fried to make this yummy Vella Seedia.

• 1 Cup Homemade Rice Flour
• 1 tbsp Urad Dal Flour
• 1 tbsp Butter (at Room Temperature)
• ½ Cup Grated Jaggery
• 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
• 1 tbsp Grated Coconut
• ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
• 2 Cups Oil (For Deep Frying)

Prepare the Flours

1. Prepare the rice flour as given in the link here. Heat a pan and dry roast the rice flour in low flame for couple of minutes. Do not fry the rice flour till they become over burnt. Just heat the flour till they are hot and if you take a pinch of rice flour you should be able to draw or put little kolam. Take the roasted rice flour in a mixing bowl along with uriddal flour. Dry roasting is an important step in vella sedai preparation. Do not use freshly ground rice flour as it contain some moisture which will make the seedai to burst. You can also use store bought rice flour. IF you are using store bought rice flour, then dry roast it for couple of minutes and then sieve it and again dry roast it for another couple of minutes without burning the rice flour. 

Prepare Sesame & Coconut

1. Take a pan, add sesame seeds and grated coconut and dry fry them till they become golden brown color. Add these fried sesame seeds and grated coconut to the rice flour along with butter. The butter should be in room temperature. Mix everything well.

Making Jaggery Syrup

1. Take grated jaggery in a bowl and add water just to soak the jaggery. I have added 2 tablespoon of water. Allow the jaggery to boil till it is dissolved. Pass this jaggery juice through a strainer to get rid of sand and other impurities

2. Add the strained jaggery juice to a pan and keep in flame till it comes a rolling boil. We don’t need any string or solid consistency. Add this jaggery juice to the rice flour and mix the rice flour well with a ladle or spoon. Make it to a right dough. If the dough is loose and soft then the seedai will dissolve in hot oil. So when you get a tough pliable dough then stop adding the jaggery syrup. Sometimes we might end up with dry dough where we may need to again sprinkle warm water and make it little soft. If the dough is too dry, then also the seedai will start to dissolve in oil. I have add 2 teaspoon of water to make the dough little soft.

Deep Frying Process

1. Make gooseberry sized balls out of the seedai dough. Keep it aside for few minutes before dropping in hot oil. Heat oil in  a pan. When the oil is hot enough, just drop a single seedai ball into the oil and in low flame deep fry them. Check if the seedai is not getting dissolved or not getting burst in the oil. If it does we may need to alter the seedai mixture. 

2. When you are sure that the seedai is not getting dissolved or burst, then drop 4-5 seedai in one batch and in low flame deep fry them till the seedai are crispy and light golden brown color. 

3. Remove the crispy seedai from flame and place it in a paper towel to drain the excess oil

4. Yummy and crispy vella seedai is now ready for neivedhyam or for serving.

• If the seedai is getting dissolved, it may be because of very dry ball and in that case, we need to sprinkle warm water little by little and make the dough little soft
• If the dough is already very soft, then sprinkle rice flour little by little and mix well. 
• If the seedai is bursting, then it may be due to the very coarse  rice flour or uriddal flour. 

 

Method with Step by Step Pictures :

• Prepare the rice flour as given in the link here. Heat a pan and dry roast the rice flour in low flame for couple of minutes. Do not fry the rice flour till they become over burnt. Just heat the flour till they are hot and if you take a pinch of rice flour you should be able to draw or put little kolam. Take the roasted rice flour in a mixing bowl along with uriddal flour. Dry roasting is an important step in vella sedai preparation. Do not use freshly ground rice flour as it contain some moisture which will make the seedai to burst. You can also use store bought rice flour. IF you are using store bought rice flour, then dry roast it for couple of minutes and then sieve it and again dry roast it for another couple of minutes without burning the rice flour.

• Take a pan, add sesame seeds and grated coconut and dry fry them till they become golden brown color. Add these fried sesame seeds and grated coconut to the rice flour along with butter. The butter should be in room temperature. Mix everything well.

• Take grated jaggery in a bowl and add water just to soak the jaggery. I have added 2 tablespoon of water. Allow the jaggery to boil till it is dissolved. Pass this jaggery juice through a strainer to get rid of sand and other impurities

• Add the strained jaggery juice to a pan and keep in flame till it comes a rolling boil. We don’t need any string or solid consistency. Add this jaggery juice to the rice flour and mix the rice flour well with a ladle or spoon. Make it to a right dough. If the dough is loose and soft then the seedai will dissolve in hot oil. So when you get a tough pliable dough then stop adding the jaggery syrup. Sometimes we might end up with dry dough where we may need to again sprinkle warm water and make it little soft. If the dough is too dry, then also the seedai will start to dissolve in oil. I have add 2 teaspoon of water to make the dough little soft.

• Make gooseberry sized balls out of the seedai dough. Keep it aside for few minutes before dropping in hot oil. Heat oil in  a pan. When the oil is hot enough, just drop a single seedai ball into the oil and in low flame deep fry them. Check if the seedai is not getting dissolved or not getting burst in the oil. If it does we may need to alter the seedai mixture. S
  • Seedai is getting dissolved, it may be because of very dry ball and in that case, we need to sprinkle warm water little by little and make the dough little soft
  • If the dough is already very soft, then sprinkle rice flour little by little and mix well.
  • Seedai is bursting, then it may be due to the very coarse  rice flour or uriddal flour.

• When you are sure that the seedai is not getting dissolved or burst, then drop 4-5 seedai in one batch and in low flame deep fry them till the seedai are crispy and light golden brown color.

• Remove the crispy seedai from flame and place it in a paper towel to drain the excess oil

• Yummy and crispy vella seedai is now ready for neivedhyam or for serving.

Vella Seedai Recipe | Sweet Seedai Recipe

 

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Appam is one of the important neivedhyam dish for Krishna Jayanthi festival. On the auspicious occasion of Krishna Jayanthi, especially in the evening when we plan to invite Lord Krishna home, we have to fry the sweet appam. Nei Appam is one of the famous dish in Kerala.  We usually make nei appam for many occasions like Avani Avittam, Karthigai Deepam and many auspicious occasions. Even we can prepare this as an evening snack and serve this as an after school snack for the kids!

The main 2 ingredients in appam is Rice and jaggery. First, the rice batter should be thickly ground then jaggery juice should be added to make appam batter. If the appam batter is very thin in consistency we can adjust the consistency by adding little wheat flour. We can also make appam with only wheat flour and jaggery without adding rice flour. Nei Appam is a very easy to make neivedhyam (offering) for any festivals or auspicious occasions.

You can also try:

1. Rava Appam

2. Vellai Appam

3. Aval Kesari

4. Aval Puttu

Quicker Video Version

Recipe Card for Nei Appam

Nei Appam | Ghee Appam

Nei Appam is a one of the common sweet made for the Thirukarthigai festival. The appam dough is made using rice flour and jaggery mix which is further cooked on the ghee. Let's learn how to make nei appam with step by step pictures and a video

• 1 cup Raw Rice (1 cup = 250 ml)
• 1 cup Jaggery (grated)
• 2 tbsp Grated Coconut
• 2 nos Banana (small size)
• ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1 pinch Baking Soda (optional )

1. Rinse the rice twice and Soak the raw rice in water for an hour. After 1 hour, drain the water and add it to the mixer

2. Grind it in mixer to a fine paste without adding water. Now add grated coconut,  banana, cardamom powder to the mixer

3. Grind it to a fine paste.  Finally add jaggery and give a pulse or two. If  you grind it more, the jaggery will dilute the appam batter. Now our appam batter is ready.

4. Now a days we have appakarai(Non stick Appam pan) which makes our job easier. Keep the nonstick appam pan in the flame and add little ghee to each kuzhi. When the pan is hot, take a small ladle and fill 3/4th of each hole with the batter. 

5. Let the Appam cook for a while and then when it turns golden brown color, remove the appam from the oil, and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat the above steps for the rest of the flour

6. The yummy Appam is ready for neivedhyam and for serving

•  Cooking soda helps in making appam softer and fluffy. We can also alternate with eno salt or we can also ignore this as this is only optional.
• If the appam starts to break in the oil, add 2 teaspoon of wheat flour or rice flour to the ground appam flour and then try again
• We used to get good quality jaggery few years back which do not need any straining of sand or stones. But nowadays most of the jaggery has stones or sand in it. So instead of grinding jaggery with the rice flour, we can add jaggery to pan and add just a teaspoon of water and allow it to dissolve and when the jaggery gets dissolved, we can strain the jaggery and add it to the rice batter and mix well. This way we can get rid of the stones. 
• Always first add ghee before pouring appam batter in each mould. that way the batter will not stick to bottom and after it gets cooked, it will automatically float so we can flip and cook on other side

Method with step by step pictures :

• Rinse the rice twice and Soak the raw rice in water for an hour. After 1 hour, drain the water and add it to the mixer

• Grind it in mixer to a fine paste without adding water. Now add grated coconut,  banana, cardamom powder to the mixer

• Grind it to a fine paste.  Finally add jaggery and give a pulse or two. If  you grind it more, the jaggery will dilute the appam batter. Now our appam batter is ready.

• Now a days we have appakarai(Non stick Appam pan) which makes our job easier. Keep the nonstick appam pan in the flame and add little ghee to each kuzhi. When the pan is hot, take a small ladle and fill 3/4th of each hole with the batter. Let the Appam fry for a while and then when it turns golden brown color, remove the appam from the oil, and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat the above steps for the rest of the flour

• The yummy Appam is ready for neivedhyam and for serving

Appam

Note: If the appam starts to break in the oil, add 2 teaspoon of wheat flour or rice flour to the ground appam flour and then try again

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Recipe Video by Mrs. Subbalakshmi Renganathan

Recipe card to make Aval Puttu

Method with Step by Step pictures:

	Grind the aval in mixer like rawa Take the grinded aval in a bowl and sprinkle some water and mix it well After 10 mins again sprinkle some water and mix well The aval should be soft and broken
	In a heavy bottomed pan, add the grated jaggery and little water When the jaggery starts to boil, strain the water to avoid stones and sand particles. Now add the jaggery mixture in the same pan, and add grated coconut and stir it well. After some tiem, add little boiling jaggery in water and check if it forms a ball This is the correct consistency.
	Lower the flame and add the aval little by little and stir continuously. Keep the flame low and allow for 3-5 minutes till the  puttu is broken down
	When the puttu mixture is broken down completelyy, add ghee and cardamom powder and mix it well
	The delicious Aval Puttu is ready for neivedhyam and for serving

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Modhagam / Fried Modak is a yummy snack and also widely used prasad as an offering for Vinayakar chaturti or other festivals. Also whenever we do other varieties of kozhukattai and if we have left over pooranam, then we can use that pooranam to prepare modhagam and this way we do not need to throw away the left over. Any kind of pooranam can be used to prepare modhagam. Here i have shown thengai poorana fried modhagam recipe.

 

Most of us have a tradition to make Steamed Modak instead of fried modak. Steam modak is easier to make. Not only for Ganesha Chaturti even for some homam like Ganapathy homam, we used to offer fried modak as a prasad. The fried modak is similar to suyyam. In suyyam we prepare maida based batter and we dip the Chana dal based puran instead of coconut jaggery filling and deep fry. Here in fried modak, we are going to make a dough like we make for Puran Poli and then make small poori shaped rolls and then place the filling and seal the edges and deep fry modak till golden brown.

Recipe Card for Fried Modak:

Modhagam Recipe | Fried Modak Recipe

Fried Modak is a traditional Prasad that we make on the auspicious day of Ganesha Chaturti. This is similar to the Modak, but we fry the outer cover to get the crispy Modak.

For Outer Cover

• 1 Cup Maida (All Purpose Flour) (1 Cup – 250ml)
• a Pinch Salt
• 1 tsp Ghee (We can substitute with oil)

For Filling

• 1 Cup Grated Coconut
• ¾ Cup Grated Jaggery
• ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder

Preparation Outer Cover

1. Take maida or all purpose flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt and ghee/oil and mix well.

2. Then add water little by little and make it to a soft dough. Let the dough rest for an hour. 

Preparing Jaggery Filling

1. Meanwhile, lets prepare our pooranam (filling). Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon of water and add grated jaggery. When the jaggery dissolves completely in water, strain it to remove dust and sand particles 

2. Add the strained jaggery juice again in the pan, and keep it in flame . When the the jaggery juice starts to boil, add grated coconut, cardamom powder and stir well continuously till it roll like a ball and does not stick the sides of the pan

Making Modak

1. This is the correct consistency to remove from flame. Take the coconut pooranam in a plate and allow it to cool off Make small balls out of the pooranam and keep it in a plate. Now make small balls out of the maida dough. Take one maida dough ball and grease your hand with oil and gently spread it to a small circle. Place the filling (puranam) in the middle of the spread dough.

2. Gently close the outercover so that the filling is sealed inside the cover and make it like a modagam (kozhukattai).Finish all the rest of the dough and puranam as per the step 5. 

Frying Modak

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. When the oil is hot enough, gently drop 4-5 modak in the oil. Deep fry the modak till they are golden brown color and outer cover turns crispy. Remove the fried modak from oil and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil. 

2. The yummy Fried Modak (Modhagam) are now ready to serve!

1. I have used maida, we can substitute with whole wheat
2. Coconut Jaggery filling is the traditional filling made for modak. But we can substitute with Chana Dal Jaggery or Green moong with jaggery or Sesame seeds with jaggery filling instead
3. Make sure to seal the filling completely so that the filling doesn’t come out while frying the modak
4. Keep the flame in medium hot while frying the modak to get crispier modak
5. We can bake the modak instead of deep frying. Brush each shaped modak with oil or ghee and bake it in pre-heated (180Deg C) oven till it turns golden brown.

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

• Take maida or all purpose flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt and ghee/oil and mix well. Then add water little by little and make it to a soft dough. Let the dough rest for an hour.

• Meanwhile, lets prepare our pooranam (filling). Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon of water and add grated jaggery. When the jaggery dissolves completely in water, strain it to remove dust and sand particles

• Add the strained jaggery juice again in the pan, and keep it in flame . When the the jaggery juice starts to boil, add grated coconut, cardamom powder and stir well continuously till it roll like a ball and does not stick the sides of the pan

• This is the correct consistency to remove from flame. Take the coconut pooranam in a plate and allow it to cool off Make small balls out of the pooranam and keep it in a plate. Now make small balls out of the maida dough. Take one maida dough ball and grease your hand with oil and gently spread it to a small circle. Place the filling (puranam) in the middle of the spread dough.

• Gently close the outercover so that the filling is sealed inside the cover and make it like a modagam (kozhukattai).Finish all the rest of the dough and puranam as per the step 5.

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. When the oil is hot enough, gently drop 4-5 modak in the oil. Deep fry the modak till they are golden brown color and outer cover turns crispy. Remove the fried modak from oil and place it in a paper towel to drain excess oil.

• The yummy Fried Modak (Modhagam) are now ready to serve!

Modhagam Recipe | Fried Modak Recipe

 

 

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Sambar Podi (Sambar Powder), is an important ingredient in most of our Kitchen, especially South Indian Kitchen. Sambar Powder is very handy and is helpful to make quick sambar and even for poriyal varieties, it would give a nice flavour. Even to make simple tomato rice, adding this sambar powder gives a unique taste compared to other masalas. If we need to make sambar for more persons, then it would be a good option to grind the sambar powder freshly and make Araithuvita Sambar instead of sambar made using sambar powder.

But for a family of 4, Homemade sambar powder is the best option. Making homemade sambar powder is very simple. If you are in India, then we have mill and hence we can dry all the ingredients under sun and grind them all in a mill. But, people staying abroad has no option of mills. So we can heat all the ingredients separately in a pan and then grind them all in a mixer to a fine powder. Now, lets see how to make homemade Sambar Powder…

I have given here two ways of making Sambar Podi. The first method is the way my MIL used to make Sambar Podi at home. The second method is the procedure given in the book “Samaithu Par” book by Meenakshi Ammal. I have given the proportions for the second method in the notes section of the Recipe Card. Both my MIL’s way of making Sambar powder and the legend Meenakshi ammal’s way are awesome and tastes so good. The proportion of dals differ a little but both the methods are fool proof way of preparing Homemade Sambar Podi.

Other Homemade Podi Varieties:

1. Rasam Powder

2. Kollu Podi 

3. Healthy Mix Powder 

4. Thengai Milagai Podi

5. Idli Podi

Recipe Card for Sambar Powder:

Sambar Podi | Sambar Powder

Sambar podi is integeral part of South Indian Kitchen. Earlier days we make Sambar Powder in bulk (in Kgs) as we get to the grinding mills to grind the ingridents. Now with Mixer Grinder in our homes, we we can make fresh small batches of Sambar Powder. Home made Sambar Powder is always fresh, tasty and cheaper compared to the store bought Sambar Powder

• 2 cup Red Chili (1 cup = 250 ml)
• 1 cup Coriander seeds
• ¼ cup Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)
• ¼ cup Toor Dal (Pigeon pea)
• ½ tbsp Fenugreek seeds
• 1 tbsp Jeera
• 1 tbsp Peppercorns
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1. Take a pan and add red chillies. Heat the red chillies in medium flame till they are hot. Do not burn them. Take these hot red chillies in a plate and set it aside. In the same pan, add coriander seeds and saute them till they are hot. Remove these roasted coriander seeds and add it to the plate having red chillies

2. Next, heat up the peppercorns and take it aside. Then, add channa dal and dry roast it till they are hot. 

3. Next, dry roast the thurddal till hot and finally dry roast the cumin seeds . Allow all the  dry roasted ingredients to cool off. 

4. Grind all the roasted ingredients to a nice powder in a mixer or you can also grind them all in a mill. If you are grinding it in home in a mixer, then do not overload the mixie. Grind it in little quantity and then mix them all.

5. Allow the ground sambar powder to cool off completely and then store it in an air-tight container. Do not use wet spoon or wet hand to have a good shelf life. 

1. If have a nice summer, then dry all the ingredients under the sun. If, we need to make sambar powder during winter or if we are staying abroad, then we have an alternate option of dry roasting each ingredients in a pan.
2. There is an alternate method of making Sambar Powder which I would like to share. This method is from the popular book “Samaithu Par” by Meenakshi Ammal

Alternate Method from “Samaithu Par” Book:

Ingredients:

Red Chillies	350gms
Coriander Seeds	350gms
Channa dal (Bengal Gram Dal)	1/2 Cup
Thur Dal	1 Cup
Fenugreek Seeds	2 teaspoon
Peppercorns	3 tablespoon
Cumin Seeds	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder*	1 tablespoon

* 1 Cup = 250ml

 

Method of making remains the same. We need to dry roast all ingredients and grind it to smooth powder.

 

Sambar Podi | Homemade Sambar Powder

Method of making Sambar Powder:

• If have a nice summer, then dry all the ingredients under the sun. If, we need to make sambar powder during winter or if we are staying abroad, then we have an alternate option of dry roasting each ingredients in a pan. Take a pan and add red chillies. Heat the red chillies in medium flame till they are hot. Do not burn them. Take these hot red chillies in a plate and set it aside. In the same pan, add coriander seeds and saute them till they are hot. Remove these roasted coriander seeds and add it to the plate having red chillies

• Next, heat up the peppercorns and take it aside. Then, add channa dal and dry roast it till they are hot.

• Next, dry roast the thurddal till hot and finally dry roast the cumin seeds . Allow all the  dry roasted ingredients to cool off.

• Grind all the roasted ingredients to a nice powder in a mixer or you can also grind them all in a mill. If you are grinding it in home in a mixer, then do not overload the mixie. Grind it in little quantity and then mix them all.

• Allow the ground sambar powder to cool off completely and then store it in an air-tight container. Do not use wet spoon or wet hand to have a good shelf life.

Sambar Powder(Sambar Podi/Masala)

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Madapalli Puliyodharai | Temple Style Tamarind Rice is one of the mouth-watering Prasad served in most of the Vishnu Temples or Hanman Temples around the world. Most of us make Tamarind rice in our homes but the temple Prasad has a unique taste that leaves us with an awe every time we get Prasad from temples. One of my friend share this delicious Madapalli Puliyodharai recipe. Her father-in-law is closely associated with  Divyadesams in and around Sirkazhi. They learnt it from the madapalli.  She was so generous to share the authentic way they prepare Puliyodharai in Tirumala Madapalli.

What’s Special about Temple Puliyodharai?

We always wonder how the temple prasad tastes so yummy and tasty. In most of the big temples, there will be a separate kitchen area where they cook the Prasadam in larger quantities everyday. I always feel like the blessing of God is the main reason for the tastier Prasadam they prepare in temple kitchen. Also when preparing large quantities of prasad, usually, they have big uruli (cooking vessel) and the rice, pongal or any other prasad is made in those urli. The open cooking process incorporates a smoky flavor that inturn enhances the flavor of the prasadam.

What are the variations in the ingredients in this Madapalli Puloyodharai ?

For the conventional Puliyodharai mix some of us use coriander seeds and also most of us use sesame seeds. We used to dry roast the sesame seeds and grind it to powder and add it finally. The sesame seeds gives a very nice nutty flavor. But here in this madapalli Puliyodarai we are not using coriander seeds or sesame seeds. Its pretty simple but the taste is awesome. Lets get on with the recipe now…

You can also try:

1. Puliyogare – Karnataka Style Tamarind Rice
2. Andhra Pulihora – Andhra Tamarind Rice
3. Conventional Tamarind Rice

Recipe Card :

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

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Inji Puli (Inji Curry / Puli Inji) is an important pickle being served in any Kerala feast.  It has a perfect blend and balance of sweet, salt, hot and sour elements and is accomplished by a combination of ginger, green chili, tamarind and jaggery. It’s one of the important food item served during Onam Sadya. We love this as an accompaniment to curd rice.  The combination of sweet from Jaggery and sourness from tamarind is amazing.

Sadya :

Sadhya means banquet in Malayalam. It is a vegetarian feast prepared by both men and women, especially when needed in large quantities, for weddings and other special events. Sadhya is typically served as a traditional dish for Onam, the state festival of Kerala.

Puli Inji is an Instant pickle variety  and it is mainly served with the Sadhya in Kerala, to balance the other preparations. It is a spicy tangy paste/ chutney to mix with rice or to have as a dip for dosas and other delicious South Indian snacks.

SEE Also :

Alternate way to make Puli Inji (Tamil Nadu style). 

Onam Sadya Lunch Menu

Recipe Card to make Inji Puli

Method to make Inji Curry

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Chakka Nei Appam is a sweet, flavorful and tasty Appam made using rice flour, jaggery and ripe Jackfruit. It’s a conventional Nei Appam, but with the addition of Jackfruit but the addition of Jackfruit brings very good fragrance and flavor to the appam. It’s very common in Kerala as the Jackfruits are abundant there.

SEE ALSO : Ela Ada | Ilai Adai – Steamed Sweet Rice Parcel with Jackfruit in Banana Leaf 

These Chakka Nei Appam are traditional sweets which are easy to make. All you need is a Appam Pan (Paniyaram Pan), the basic ingredients like Rice flour, jaggery and few jackfruit to make this flavorful appam. This appam can also be made using Chakka Varatti . Using Varatti this appam is more tasty because of the concentrated fruit pulp. In this version i have given an instant version of making appam using fresh Jack fruit

Recipe Card to make Chakka Nei Appam

Method to make Jackfruit Appam

SOAKING

• Wash the rice thoroughly and add fresh water and soak it for an hour

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Green Peas Rice is a simple and quick variety rice made using coconut ground spice and green peas. Colorful, flavorful and very tasty rice, perfect for the kids lunch box. I have given this recipe using one pot method where we add all the ingredients in the pressure cooker and cook it one go.  Basmati Rice is perfect for making this rice, but you can also use the conventional rice that you are using. You should adjust the water level depending on the rice that you are using.  For Basmati Rice, we just need to soak the rice for about 30 minutes, add just 1 cup of water (for 1 cup of rice) and cook it in low-medium flame for about 20 minutes with a whistle in the pressure cooker.  For other rice, you need to adjust the cooking time and water accordingly.

Recipe Card for Green Peas Rice:

Method with Step by Step Pictures :

PREPARATION

• Wash and Soak the Basmati Rice for about 30 minutes
• Finely chop the Onion and Tomato and keep it aside

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Kadai Paneer Gravy is one of the popular gravy made using Paneer and Bell Pepper in a spicy kadai masala. Most of the Indian Restaurants serve this delightful Paneer Gravy as part of their Accompaniments or Main Course. Kadai Paneer can be enjoyed with Roti / Chapathi / Naan or even with Jeera Rice / Pulao.

SEE ALSO : Dry Kadai Paneer for serving with breads 

Kadai Paneer Masala

The fresh Kadai Paneer Masala is a secret ingredient for this recipe. Perfect blend of whole spices makes well-seasoned spicy curry. Culmination of Coriander seeds, Red Chili, Cumin Seeds, Pepper corns and whole masalas makes the fresh Kadai Paneer Masala.

Perfect Party Recipe!

Kids always love Paneer gravy along with Roti. Paneer Butter Masala, Matar Paneer, Kadai Paneer, Paneer Kofta are some of their favorite Paneer gravies. Whenever there is a party of get-together at home, I always make Kadai Paneer because the gravy looks so appetizing with the rich color of the bell peppers along with golden colored paneer. I also add Kashmiri Red Chili powder to make the gravy look red and appealing. This gravy is enhanced with freshly Ground Kadai Paneer Masala and finally adding more richness with Fresh cream and Kasoori Methi.

You can also try Other Paneer Varieties:

1. Paneer Butter Masala
2. Matar Paneer
3. Moong Paneer
4. Paneer Korma
5. Reshmi Paneer 

Recipe Card for Kadai Paneer Gravy:

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

Sautéing Paneer & Veggies

1.  Heat oil/ghee in a pan. Add paneer cubes and sauté them till they are golden color in all sides. Flip them regularly so that they don’t get burnt.
2. Take out these fried paneer and add hot water to it and set it aside. Soaking paneer in hot water helps to retain their softness
3. In the same pan add the cubed onions and sauté till translucent
4. Add the cubed bell peppers and sauté them for 3 mins. Do not over cook. The crunchiness of the bell peppers enhance the flavor
5. Set these sautéed veggies aside

Preparing Kadai Masala

1. Heat a pan. Dry roast all the Masala ingredients given. Dry roast till the coriander seeds have become golden brown and you get a nice aroma.
2. Switch off the flame. Cool the roasted ingredients and add it to mixer jar
3. Grind it to smooth powder and set this powder aside

Preparing Masala

1. Heat oil and butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Add chopped onions, ginger-garlic paste and sauté till onions become translucent
2. Then add tomato puree to the pan. Add turmeric powder, kashmiri red chili powder and ground Kadai Masala Powder and give a mix
3. Allow the masala to cook till the oil gets seperated from the gravy.

Finishing Kadai Paneer Gravy:

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Ulundhorai | Urad Dal Spice Powder Rice, is a Prasad or offering made for Lord Vishnu during the Tamil month Puratasi. It is a a very famous Prasad served in “Melkote Temple” and its referred as “Ulundogare” in Kannada. Perumal Koil (Vishnu Temples) and Hanuman Temple Prasad are always very famous in Southern India. Some of us even like to visit temples because of the yummy divine taste of the Prasad served there :-). Ven Pongal, Tamarind Rice, Sakkarai Pongal, Sesame Rice (Ellu Sadam) and also Ulundhorai are some of the yummy Prasad being served for  Lord Vishnu and distributed to the people.

What is Ulundhorai?

Ulundhorai is Urad Dal and spice flavored rice variety. First we need to make a coarse spice powder using urad dal and spices and then we need to add the spice powder to the cooked rice along with tempering and tossed to serve. The procedure is much similar to Ellu Sadam where we dry roast the sesame and dals along with spices and then grind it to powder and mix with the rice. A quick and easy to make Prasad and also for Lunch box.

You can also prepare the Urad Dal powder once and store it in the air tight container. We can make the Urad dal rice with this powder.

Benefits of Urad Dal

Urad dal is also known as Split Black Lentils or Black gram. We can get this urad dal with and without skin. With skin Black gram are even more healthier and fiber rich than the skinless variety. Urad dal is rich in Proteins, Carbohydrates and Dietary Fiber. Being low in fat, high in Protein and Fiber, consumption of urad dal helps us lose weight by keeping us satiated for a longer time and prevent you from binge eating in-between the meals.

We SouthIndians, use urad dal in our day to day diet. Urad dal is considered to be a binding ingredient. For some of the sambar or kuzhambu or thogayal varieties we fry the urad dal and grind it with other spices which makes the gravy thicker. We also soak grind the urad dal and make Idli, dosa, vada or papad.

You may also want to see the other recipes made using Ulundu (Urad Dal)

1. Kali using Ulundhu – Ulundhu Kali 
2. Bonda using Urad dhal – Ulundhu Bonda
3. Ulundhu Vadai

Recipe Card for Ulundhorai | Urad Dal Spice Powder Rice

Method of making Ulundhorai with Step by Step Pictures:

PREPARING URAD DAL SPICE POWDER

• Heat a teaspoon of oil and add split urad dal. Add red chili, peppercorns, curry leaves and hing.
• Fry all the ingredents till the dal turns golden brown.
• Cool the roasted ingredients and grind it to coarse powder.
• Ulundhorai Spice Powder Ready!

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Bisibelabath means “Hot Lentil Rice” in Kannada. Bisibelabath is a popular recipe in Karnataka. We make Sambar Rice in Tamilnadu which is much similar to Bisibelabath. The uniqueness is its spice powder which has the tinge of masala. In our Tamilnadu version of Kadamba sambar, we also use the freshly ground sambar powder which has dal, coriander seeds, fenugreek, red chili and coconut. In addition to these spices, for Bisibelabath we use dry coconut, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and fennel. These few spices really add a nice flavor and makes this sambar rice even more special.

This recipe shows how to make this aroma rich Bisibelabath in Instant Pot. Making Instant Pot Bisibelabath is much easier than the conventional way. Conventionally we cook rice and dal together in pressure cooker and prepare the bisibelabath gravy in another pan and combine everything together. With Instant Pot, its straight forward. We can start with tempering and finish with garnishing in a single shot. The rice and dal gets cooked nicely along with the freshly ground spice powder and vegetables. Finally we can just add ghee roasted cashew. Serve hot with Boondi / Potato Chips / Onion Raita !

Click here to see the Conventional method of cooking Bisibelabath

We can follow this same recipe and use Poha or Oats or any millets in place of Rice. If we want to use poha, just wash it and sprinkle little water and mix till soft and add once the bisibelabath mixture is ready.

Recipe Card for Instant Pot Bisibelabath:

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

SOAKING TAMARIND

• Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water and extract juice and keep it aside

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Black Gram Jaggery Ladoo | Karupu Ulundhu Laddu, a very healthy and easy to make Ladoo variety. Conventionally we all love to make Maladu (Roasted Gram Ladoo), Rava Ladoo, Boondi Ladoo. All these ladoo varieties and other ladoo varieties are all sugar based. We use white sugar for the sweetness and we use ghee for binding and shaping these ladoos. But for this Black Gram Jaggery ladoo, the sweetness comes from jaggery and we need less ghee to shape them into ladoos.

Black Urad dal is one of the healthy and energy filled pulse. Rich in protein, fat and carbohydrates, urad dal is fully loaded with many health benefits. It’s highly recommended for the growing girls to include this at least once in a week. This simple lentil is full of iron, folic acid, calcium, magnesium and potassium, which makes this dal a perfect health package for pregnant women. Karuppu Ulundhu Laddu is one of the way to eat this healthy pulse.

Recipe Card to make Black Gram Jaggery Ladoo

Method with Step by step Pictures

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Pavakkai Pakoda is a deep fried snack made with Pavakkai (Bitter Gourd), Gram flour and other spices. Many people do not like Bitter gourd due to its bitter taste, but it taste awesome when it gets deep fried. It has a very distinctive taste, hence it’s quite popular. For making this Pakoda, we cut the Bitter gourd to the thin slices, mix them with gram flour spice mix and deep fry them. This bite sized crispy pakoda are sure to make even the bitter gourd hatters  fall in love with its taste & crunchiness.

In this recipe,I have only used basic ingredients and made it simple. But, you can enhance the taste and flavor by adding  ginger garlic paste, small amount of garam masala, crushed coriander seeds, amchur powder, chat masala powder etc.,

Serve Pavakkai Pakoda with hot Masala Tea or Coffee. You can also serve it with restaurant style green chutney.

How to get best tasting Pavakkai Pakoda (Bitter Gourd Crispy Rings) ?

• Slicing : Slice the Bitter gourd evenly so that it get cooked uniformly. Make sure that you don’t cut into bigger pieces, as it might take longer to cook and won’t yield crispier pakoras. Also ensure that you remove the seeds from the bitter gourd rings, otherwise while frying it will surface on top of the oil.
• Flour : We usually use Gram Flour to make Pakoras. In this recipe, in addition to gram flour, I have added rice flour as well to get the crunchy pakoras. You can also add a teaspoon of corn flour.
• Variations : Adjust the flavor based on your taste buds – You can add powdered fennel seeds, cumin powder and coriander powder to enhance the taste.
• Oil:  I have used coconut oil, however you can use any cooking oil.  Make sure that you fry the Pakoras in a same temperature. I would recommend to use Medium-High temperature for crispier and completely cooked pakoras.
• We want Pakoras and not Bajji – For pakora we need to first dry coat the flours and then sprinkle water to coat the flours properly to each vegetable piece. We will not make a batter out of the flours as we do for bajji

Other Pakoda Recipes to try:

1. Onion Pakoda
2. Palak Pakora
3. Semiya Pakoda
4. Paneer Pakora
5. Oats Pakoda
6. Kambu Pakoda | Pearl Millet Pakoda

Recipe Card for Pavakkai Pakoda | Bitter Gourd Crispy Rings

Method with Step by Step Pictures

CHOPPING BITTER GOURD

• Wash and cut the Bitter Gourd into thin circles. Take out the seed. Take this chopped in a wide plate or a mixing bowl

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Kadugu Sadam | Mustard Seeds Rice | Kadugorai is a traditional variety rice in the South India. It’s a no onion no garlic spicy rice  made using the Spice powder which consist of raw mustard seeds, dals, peppercorns, coconut and few other spices. Kadugu Sadam is packed with amazing flavor and aroma. It takes very less preparation time and comes in very handy for the days when we run out of vegetables.  All it requires is very simple and basic ingredients  which translates into colorful, flavorful spice variety rice.

This rice can be served with pappad / potato chips or even with cucumber raita. It is also perfect for the Lunch / Tiffen box and travel.  To make the preparation faster, we can make this spice powder in advance and store it in air tight container and use it when required.

How to get best tasting Kadugu Sadam ?

• Rice – Rice should be separate and not mushy. After the cooking the rice, spread the rice in a large bowl or plate to cool off before mixing with the spice powder.
• Adjust the spice – We are using Raw Mustard Seeds, Peppercorns and also Red Chili. All of them are source of spiciness. Based on your taste buds, adjust the quantity of the ingredients.
• Addition of Tamarind – I have seen people add a gooseberry size tamarind along with the frying ingredients (spice powder). However i have not used it. If you like a ting of sourness in the rice, then you can add small pinch of tamarind also
• Make it Crunchy ? – I prefer adding Chana Dal and Peanuts while tempering. This will help with crunchiness while eating the Kadugu Sadam. You can also fry Cashews and add with the rice
• Gingely Oil – Use Gingely Oil for tempering and mixing the rice. This gives unique flavor to the rice.

Other Similar Recipes that you may want to try

1. Ulundhorai (Urad dal Rice / Ulundhu Sadam) 
2. Ellodhorai (Sesame Seeds Rice / Ellu Sadam)
3. Puliyodharai (Tamarind Rice / Puli Sadam)

Recipe Card to make Kadugu Sadam

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

INSTRUCTIONS

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Kollu Thogayal and Kollu Rasam, seems to be a lot of Kollu for one day :-). But believe me this is one awesome lunch you could make and enjoy it too. This is a sort of 2 in 1 recipe. We are going to use the cooked kollu for Thogayal and we are going to use the cooked kollu water to make Rasam.

What is Kollu?

Kollu is called “Horsegram” in English. In traditional Ayurvedic cuisine, horse gram is considered a food with medicinal qualities. It is rich in protein and very less in fat. The cooked Kollu is not so tasty like other legumes. Thats the reason it was being very underutilized.  It is gaining popular nowadays because people are finding ways to include more healthier ingredients in their diet and stay fit.

Does Horsegram helps to lose weight?

Yes, as per the experts and nutrients it does helps in staying fit. The main reason is that the Kollu provides adequate nutrients to the body. Here are the 5 reasons how Horsegram helps to stay fit

1. Low in fat : This pulse is low in fat but high in carbohydrates that makes us feel full even eating very little amount of Kollu
2. High in Calcium, Iron and Protein: This is one of the pulse that has highest calcium content and also very rich vegetarian source of protein.

How to make better tasting Kollu Thogayal and Kollu Rasam ?

1. Selecting Ingredients: As mentioned earlier, Cooked Kollu tastes little bland. To make it more interesting, we fry dals, onion, tomato and grind it with cooked Kollu to a coarse paste.
2. Cooked Kollu Water: The water we add to cook Kollu is so nutritious and we don’t need to discard. We can use the cooked Kollu water to make Kollu Rasam
3. Combine Thogayal and Rasam – I prefer to mix thogayal with hot rice and also add rasam. This tastes much better than consuming thogayal and rasam separately.
4. Variations in Kollu Rasam: We can even take 2 tablespoon of cooked kollu and grind it along with pepper, cloves, jeera and add it to rasam. This ensure more kollu flavor to the rasam
5. Other Recipes we can make: Instead of Rasam we can make Kollu Soup. Also instead of making thogayal, we can make Kollu Sundal with cooked Kollu

You may also want to try:

1. Sprouted Horsegram Masala Curry
2. Kollu chutney
3. Kollu Podi Recipe
4. Drumstick Soup
5. Pumpkin soup

Recipe card for Kollu Thogayal and Kollu Rasam

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

COOKING THE KOLLU

• First we need to wash the Kollu (Horsegram) thoroughly. Add 2 cups of fresh water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.
• Once the Kollu is pressure cooked, strain the Kollu from the cooked water. Reserve the strained water aside. We are going to use this water for making Rasam. Keep the cooked and drained Kollu aside for Thogayal

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Tomato Pudhina Chutney is a spicy and flavorful chutney made using fresh mint leaves, tomato, onion and other spices. This is a good accompaniment for Idli, Dosa and other South Indian breakfast dishes. The flavor of mint and onion, spiciness from chilies, sourness for tomato makes this chutney irresistible  for anyone. Serve this with Hot Idly and Chutney

Variations in making of Tomato Pudhina Chutney

• Quantity of Coconut – I have added only two tablespoon of Coconut in the chutney. You can increase the proportion of Coconut to get slightly different texture and taste of this chutney.
• Addition of Coriander Leaves – Add Coriander leaves along with Mint leaves to get different flavor. Also you can replace mint leaves with coriander leaves.
• Color of the Chutney – This depends on various factors – proportion of Tomato to Mint Leaves and coconut, quality of the tomato, etc.,  Color doesn’t matter as long as you get the chutney as per your liking.
• Sourness in the chutney – I have not add Tamarind as i found the tomato itself gives required sourness. If you want more sourness then you can add a teaspoon of tamarind paste / very small pinch of tamarind.
• Garlic – If you are a fan of garlic, then you can add 2-3 garlic cloves.
• Green Vs. Red Chili – I have add both green chili and red chili in this chutney. But you can add either green or red chili as per your liking.

Other Chutney Recipes you may want to try

1. Bombay Chutney
2. Carrot Chutney
3. Kollu Chutney
4. Red capsicum Chutney
5. Kara Chutney

Recipe card to make Tomato Mint Chutney

Recipe with step by step Pictures

• Roughly Chop the Onion, Tomato and keep it aside. Also pluck the mint leaves and clean it in water.
• Heat a pan and add the cooking oil. Once the oil is hot add Urad dal, Green chili & Red Chili and start frying them till the dal becomes light brown and aroma comes out.  Add chopped Onion and saute them till it becomes glossy.

• Add tomatoes and saute them till the tomatoes are nicely mushy. As tomatoes are already tangy, I did not add tamarind. But, if your tomatoes are not tangy, then you can add a pinch of tamarind while grinding.

• Now add the Pudhina (Mint) leaves and saute them with the onion tomato mixture.

• Finally add the grated coconut and give it a good mixture and cooke this in a low flame for about 2-3 minutes. Take all these ingredients into a mixer grinder and allow it to cool. Add the required salt.  Once it’s cool grind it to a fine paste without adding water.

TEMPERING

• In the pan pour the oil and add the mustard seeds once the oil is hot. When the mustard seeds sputter add the curry leaves. Add these empering into the ground chutney.

• Spicy and flavorful Tomato Mint chutney is ready to serve.

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Karasev, a very crunchy and yummy and a very common and popular snack in Southern India, especially in Tamilnadu. Karasev is made with Besan, rice flour, butter and pepper. Pepper Karasev is the original and conventional variety. We are enriching the original recipe with garlic flavor.

Karasev is one of the easiest and quickest snack like Thenkuzhal and Omapodi. Some snacks needs more expertise in preparing the ingredients and some needs expertise in getting the right shape and texture. But even  beginners can make this snack without any mistakes.

How to get perfect Garlic Karasev:

1. Ratio of flours : The ratio of besan to rice flour is the first step to get perfect Karasev. If we reduce the rice flour the snacks will not be much crunchy and if we add more rice flour the taste will be compromised.
2. Consistency of the dough :  We need to make soft dough. The dough should not be sticky or too stiff. The sticky dough will absorb more oil. The stiff dough will crumble while frying and gives a hard karasev. Add more flour if it’s too sticky and mix it. If it’s too stiff sprinkle some water and mix it.
3. Grater or Press & mould : To get perfect small pieces we can use carrot grater and rub the dough holding the grater directly on top of the hot oil or we can use thenkuzhal mould and use it easily
4. Low flame Frying: Always for any deep frying snack, keep the flame low to medium so that the snack gets its time to get cooked in oil without getting burnt.
5. Do not overcrowd : Do not add too much dough at the same time. Do it in small batches.

You can also try:

1. Omapodi
2. Ribbon Pakoda
3. Thenkuzhal
4. Kara Boondi
5. Mullu Thenkuzhal

Recipe Card for Garlic Karasev:

Method with Step by Step Pictures

MAKING GARLIC PASTE

• Take 3 garlic cloves in a mixer jar and grind it to paste by adding little water. We can use that wet paste to bind the flours.

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