A suitable sweet to enjoy eating especially during festivals like Deepavali.
Ingredients
Raw Rice (colam rice) - ½ kg
Jaggery - 1/4 kg
Edible oil for deep frying – As required
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
Method of preparation
Soak rice in water for about 3 hours.
Decant the water and partially dry the rice.
Grind into powder using mixer-grinder, sieve and get fine powder.
Prepare syrup (pagu) by boiling jaggery with required water.
Filter the syrup and continue boiling and stirring to wire like consistency (kambi padham).
Mix cardamom powder and dry ginger powder with the jaggery syrup.
Let it cool very well and thoroughly mix it with the powdered rice so as to make dough. The dough will become thicker on further cooling preferably over night.
Pat the dough into discs and deep fry in oil till brown.
Cook1 cup of raw rice (colam rice), spread evenly and sprinkle ½ tsp of turmeric powder.
Fry the seasonings consist of ½ tsp of mustard seeds, 1 tsp of black gram, 1 tsp of Bengal gram, 2 tsp of ground nut (peanut), Qty 2 red chilies (broken into pieces), one by one.
Add with rice.
Add required salt, lemon juice squeezed from 2 lemons, 1 tsp finely chopped ginger and 1 tsp asafetida and mix well.
Garnish with curry leaves.
Serve cold.
Suitable to carry packed and have it while traveling, packed lunch, etc.
Glossary
English ----- Tamil --------- Hindi
Raw rice -----Pacharisi -------------Kachcha chawal
Turmeric ---- Manjal ------------------- Haldi
Mustard ----- kadugu -------------------- Rai / Sarson
Black gram -- Uluttham paruppu -------Urad dal
Bengal gram -- Kadalai paruppu ---------- Channa dal
Ground nut -- Nilakkadalai / Ver kadalai -- Moong phali
Red chili -- Vara milakai / milakai vatral ---- Lal mirchi
Lemon / Lime-- elumicham pazham --- Nimbu
Ginger ------- Inji / Injiver -------------- Adharak
Asafetida / -- Perungayam ----- Hing
Curry leaves - Kary veppilai --------- Kary patha
Prepare about 2 cups of tamarind extract from a lemon sized ball of tamarind.
Roast 1 tsp each of coriander seeds, Bengal gram, Split gram, and fenugreek seeds until golden color and grind fine to powder (masala).
Prepare rice milk by mixing 1 tbsp of rice flour and a little water.
Cut 2 eggplants (brinjal) and fry soft in oil.
Fry 1 tsp each of mustard seed and Split Black gram in oil until brown. Add a few curry leaves, followed by a red chili, about 5 cloves of garlic, and a chopped onion. Continue frying until the garlic becomes soft. Add 1 tbsp of chili powder and fry.
Add the tamarind extract and fried eggplant and boil.
Add powdered masala and salt to taste.
Add rice milk and ½ to 1 cup of water.
Continue boiling under low flame for about 15 minutes.
Serve hot with rice, papad (appalam), and mango pickle.
Glossary:
Bengal gram is Kadalai paruppu in Tamil and Channa dal in Hindi.
Split gram or Pigeon peas is Tuvaram paruppu in Tamil and Tuwar dal or Arhar dal in Hindi.
Split Black gram is Uluttham paruppu in Tamil and Urad dal in Hindi.
Arrange all the items used for cooking, so as to be easily accessible.
Label the containers for quick reference.
Wash vegetables before cutting to avoid loss of soluble vitamins and minerals.
Peel vegetables as thinly as possible to preserve the minerals and vitamins.
Do not throw the water used to boil vegetables.
Soak onion in water before peeling it.
Soak rice for a while before cooking.
The order of preference of food should be steamed, boiled followed by fried.
To obtain maximum juice from lemon, soak it in luke warm water for a while before cutting.
To reduce fat in the chicken, remove the skin before marinating it.
The thicker the fish, the longer is the duration of cooking it.
Don’t overcook fish if you don’t want to lose its flavor and texture.
During non-season of tomatoes, tomato puree, ketchup or sauce can be used in gravies.
Use thick bottom vessels to avoid burning.
Before boiling milk, pour a little water in the empty vessel. This prevents sticking.
Add a pinch of salt on oil while deep frying to have less oil consumption.
To remove stains from cooking utensils, rub with a little salt while washing.
To prepare crisp, golden dosai (Dosa), add a teaspoonful of fenugreek while grinding for it.
To prepare soft dosai, add some old cooked rice while grinding for it.
Add a few drops of lemon juice and a tsp of oil while boiling rice to separate one another.
To remove the shell easy from boiled eggs, keep them in cold water for about 5 minutes.
Don’t keep stainless steel spoons permanently with pickles.
To Peel garlic easy, heat them for a while.
To store green chilies longer, remove stems from them before storing them.
To remove excessive salt in the dish being prepared, add a few pieces of potato.
To retain the green color of spinach while cooking, add a pinch of sugar.
To separate noodles immediately after boiling, put them in cold water.
To prevent foaming and spilling over of oil while deep frying, add a small piece of tamarind to the oil.
Keep your kitchen clean. It is essential to keep food safe. Otherwise bacteria can grow and spread.
Always wash worktops before you start preparing food.
Wash and dry kitchen cloths and sponges regularly and keep different cloths for different jobs.
Wash knives, spoons, tongs, etc. thoroughly after using them with raw meat.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water before starting to prepare food.
While boiling egg, add a little salt to prevent egg shells from cracking.
Rubbing a slice of raw potato will take food stains off your hands.
Carrots with green tops may be avoided as they are bitter to taste.
Add fresh or leftover cauliflower to soups or stews.
If soup is more salty, add small pieces of potato.
For long time preservation of pickle, Use dry container and dry spoon only.
To avoid wasting left over idlies and to have them later, cut them into pieces, fry in oil (Idly fry).
Slice watermelon thin to separate seeds easily.
To test whether honey is adulterated, take a glass of water, and add a few drops of honey. If the honey dissolves quickly, it is impure. Pure honey settles on the base of the glass.
Carrot Halwa is a dessert, also called Gajjar Halwa, Gajar Halva or Gajar ka Halwa. Carrot is a versatile root vegetable. We can eat carrot raw as well as cooked. Carrot contains ‘Carotene’, an yellow pigment, which converts itself into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is very effective in correcting night blindness. Consuming carrots give good color to our skin. Carrot also contains phosphorous, folic acid, sodium, potassium, vitamin C, etc. Carrots are also useful to get rid off anaemia / anemia and acidosis. It is a blood purifier. Method of preparation:
Boil 500 gm of grated carrots in 750 ml of milk.
Stir intermittently at the beginning and continuously when it starts thickening.
Reduce flame; add 200gm of sugar, a tsp of ghee and a pinch of cardamom powder.
Soak 1 cup of urad dal (husked black gram, ulundham paruppu) for ½ an hour.
Grind to a smooth paste and mix well with a tbsp of rice flour (arisi mavu) , 1/2 chopped onion, 1 chopped green chilli, 2 coarsely broken blackpepper, a handful of mixture of chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves and salt to taste.
Shape into vadais of preferable size and deep fry.
Put them in hot sambar.
They float,absorb sambar, and become smooth and tasty Sambar vadais.
Roast and grind 100 gm each of Black gram (ulundam paruppu,urad dal), Bengal gram (kadalai paruppu,channa dal), 50 gm each of red chilli, white sesame and a few curry leaves, separately.
Mix all with a little asafoetida (perungayam,hing) and required amount of salt.
Boil 100 gms of broken wheat with 100 ml of milk, a tablespoonful of coconut turnings (Tenkai thuruval) and a little water, till the broken wheat becomes soft.
Add 50 gms of jaggery (vellam) and a pinch of cardamom powder.
Food is the basic need of life. Good health and fitness mainly depends on nutrition. We need enough nourishment to grow and to maintain our good health. The intake of food largely determines the health. I had a few chances to cook during my childhood, several chances when I was away from my family members. My wife prepares hygienically, tasty and nutritive food. I would like to highlight the recipes of my home.
