ASOKA HALWA

 

 

 

 

Asoka is a mouth melting sweet usually done for marriages. It consumes little extra ghee than usual for its softness. It is worth to try once in a while as it needs little patience for stirring halwa. But I bet it will surely a big hit if done for occasions or party. Just it needs little arm exercise otherwise it will get burnt .The main ingredient of this is moondhal.

 

Now lets see the method of making halwa.

 

STAGE 1  PREPARING  MOONGDHAL:

 

Moong dhal    (pasi paruuppu )  1/2 cup.

 

1. Take 1/2 cup of moondhal.Dry fry until it gets warm.
2. Soak the fried dhal for 1/2 an hour.
3. Pour only little water (1/2 cup) for boiling in pressure cooker.
4. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and simmer it for 5 mins and switch it off.
5. Let the cooker cools down.Open the lid after 15mins or so.
6. Now mash the cooked dhal with potato masher or give a run in the mixie.

 

Frying the dhal makes it more flavorful. Soaking it will hep to get boiled soon.Adding little water for cooking makes the dhal to be non mashy and the texture will be soft gainy.

 

STAGE 2 :



 

Wheat flour - 1/2 cup

Sugar- 1 cup

Mixed nuts/almond/cashew - 2 tbsp.

cardomon - 3 nos.

 

Dry fry the wheat flour until the raw smell goes off.

 

 

 

Take 1 cup of sugar in  a pan and add 1/2 cup of water to it and let it melt.

 

                                                                                        until you get one sting consistency.

 STAGE 3

 After getting one sting consistency add fried wheat flour and let it cook in the hot sugar syrup.Stir continuously without forming lumps. Now add little ghee to the whet flour.It will give a nice flavour.

After this step add the gound moong dhal.

 

 

 

Add some more ghee and fry until the ghee oozes out.

 

 

 STAGE 4:

 

Adding nuts. In another  pan add the remaining ghee and when its heated up add the nuts.

 

 

 

Now transfer to the moong wheat halwa.

 

 

 

Now Asoka halwa is ready to serve or eat.Enjoy

This Asoka halwa is without adding any colour.

VENPONGAL WITH SAMBHAR

 

Venpongal is a tradition south indian breakfast as well as festive food. It is easy to do and comfort for stomach also. It is very famous in hotels along with idly,sambhar and medhu vada. Recently I ate this as a part of mini tiffen in a hotel (AAB)in Bangalore. The taste of pongal in the hotel was splendid. It was in my mind for quite a long time and when I did this at home  next time I tried to bring that taste by adopting several changes. So this recipe has the authentic  taste and consistency if we follow each step carefully.

 

 

 

STEP 1 INGREDIENTS:

 

Raw rice - 1 cup

Moong dhal - 1/4cup

Ghee+oil -4 tbsp.

Jeera - 1 tbsp.

Peppercons- 4-5 nos.

ginger - 1"

Cashew - 10 nos.

Pepper   Jeera powder - 2 tsp.

Curry leaves.

Salt- 1 1/4 tsp

 

 

In this picture, I have fried moong dal with little ghee. Meanwhile soaked rice for 1/2  hour.

 

1. Fry moongdal with 1/2 tsp ghee until the aroma comes and transfer it to a plate before it turns brown.
2. Soak rice for atleast 1/2 hr so that the rice will get boiled soon.
3. Prepare the other ingredients as mentioned above.

 

STEP 2 COOKING RICE:

 

 

 

 

 

1. Take a cooker vessel add soaked rice after draining that water.
2. Add 41/2 cups of water to that.
3. Add fried moong dhal to the rice.
4. Pressure cook the mix for 3 whistles and simmer it for 8 mins.
5. Switch off the stove after simmering.
6. Let it cool for 15 mins or until the pressure is released. Open the cooker and mash it well and let it cool down  completely.

 

 

MASHED RICE

 

 

STEP 3 TEMPERING:

 

 

 

Take a pan add full ghee +oil.

Add Jeera,pepper,curry leaf,cashew and fry till cashew changes light brown.Now switch off the gas and add pepper jeera powder.

Immediately  pour it on the mashed rice.

 

 

 

When the rice gets cooled off well  and if you feel that  the consistency has become thick, add 1/2cup of boiled hot water to it at this stage and mix vigorously so that lumps do not form.

Next important tip is serve hot.

 

 

 

 

SAMBHAR

 

Though I didn't take the stepwise picture of sambhar, I want to mention that,  the  sambhar which accompanied pongal that day is a regular sambhar sans toor dal and it so  went well.

 

Method:

 

Tamrind extract thin - 1 cup

Sambhar powder - 1 tsp

Drumstick/ carrot - 1 number

MTR kuzhambhu powder - 1 tbsp

coconut - 2 tbsp.

daniya powder - 2 tsp

 

As usual tempering of mustard,curry leaf and chana dal.

 

Take tamarind juice boil, add sambhar powder and veg.Boil it for 10 mins. Add mtr powder add water if the tamarind water is evaporated. Let it boil. Now grind coconut to fine  paste.Add it to the boiled sambhar mixture. Sprinkle daniya powder. Yummy sambhar is ready.Temper in ghee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES

 

This is the first eggless baking I learnt from indusladies. I am not at all familiar with using oven but later I developed interest in  the usage of oven only by this recipe because my entire family loves this cookies. I do it often though it has high calorie content. Its very easy and tasty. Now lets go through the preparation.

 

STEP 1 INGREDIENTS:

 

All purpose flour/Maida - 1 1/2 cup

Rice flour-1/4 cup

Almond powder - 1/4 cup

Salt - pinch

unsalted butter - 1 1/2 stick

Castor sugar - 1 cup

 

 

 

STEP 1 BUTTER @ROOM TEMPERATURE:

 

 

Take butter at room temperature and whisk it with electric or hand mixer vigorously.

 

Add castor sugar to it and whisk until fluffy.

 

 

 

 

Now add all the rest of the things under ingredients sections into the sugar+butter mixer.

 

 

 

Now again whisk using the mixer.You will get bread crumb consistency. Than using hand make a soft ball.

 



 

 

 

Meanwhile prepare the cookie sheet with little oil. Make small balls and flatten it.

 

 

 

 

keep it in the pre-heated oven for 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

 

 

 

After 10 mins keep checking the ovenas it may vary from one gadget to another.Insertknife to check ifit comes out clean.

 

Then let it cool for 1/2 hr to get cripy, crunchy cookies.

 

 

 

PLEASE HAVE A BITE.

 

 

 

 



TOMATO SOUP - RESTAURANT STYLE

 My family is not a big fan of toup, so I rarely make soup. If at all I am  making one, its definitely the tomato soup. I tried different methods, but this one fits our taste bud more than others. I have followed this recipe from a tamil magazine and had some alteration to suit our style. Lets see how to proceed with the procedure. 

 

 

STEP 1 INGREDIENTS:

 

 

Tomato - - 5 nos (medium sized RIPED RED)

Garlic - 3 pods

Green chilli - 1 slitted

Big onion - 1 (small size)

Beetroot - 1 small piece.

 

 

 

STAGE 2 TEMPERING

 

 

Butter - 3 tbsp.

Clove - 2

Cinnamon - 1 "

 

 

STAGE 3 COOKING

 

Take a pressure pan add butter.When the butter gets melted add cinnamon stick, cloves, green chilli, onion, finally tomato. Add 4 cups of water to it.

 

Let the cooker on for 3 whistles. After cools down and the pressure releases, slowly open the cooker lid and let the mixes cools down completely.

 

 

STAGE 4 GRINDING

 

 

 

STEP 4 ASSEMBLING

 

 

The final process needs the requirement for

 

corn flour -  1 tbsp.

tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp.

garam masala - 1 tsp.

salt 3/4 tsp

pepper powder.(adjust to your taste)

 

 

Add water (1 tbsp.)to corn flour and make a paste.

Take a spoonful of tomato ketchup.

 

Now take the ground soup mixe in a pressure pan and slowly add corn flour, ketchup and garam masala one by one without letting it to make lumps. Let the whole process be in medium and when it starts boiling switch it off. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder at the end. Approximately it takes 8 mins in medium. Now you get a thick creamy restaurant style yummy tomato soup like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PESARATTU

 

 

Pesarattu is a  protein rich delicious Andhra dish which can be taken as dinner or breakfast. It is very ideal during weight loss due to the abundance of  protein. Its also very delicious and I try to make it atleast once a month . The flavour  of ginger makes this dosa a  more aromatic. Its very filling also. Now we can directly go into the method of making pesarattu.

 

 

STEP 1 INGREDIENTS:

 

 

Green mong dhal (pasi payaru) - 1 cup

Rice -1tbsp

Ginger - 1 "

green chilli-3-4

Coconut - 1 tbsp.(option)

Onion - 1 nos

coriander leaves - 2 tbsp.

 

 

 

Soak dal with rice for 8 - 10 hrs.

 

STEP 2 GRINDING:

 

 

Initially grind ginger and chilli.

 

 

 

 

Then add payaru/green gram dhal to the ground chilli ginger paste and grind it finely. If you are adding coconut you can add after 1 run. 

STEP 3 MAKING DOSA

 

 

 

 

Add onion and coriander leaves to it and make a thin dosa.

 

 

Goes well with any spicy chutneys. Have a bite and be healthy. Thanks.


 



PHOTO EDITING IN PICMONKEY

 

 

When I started blogging recently my intension is to post  mainly on  recipes but just in ten days I am realising  that blogging is not just posting the recipes but to add dimensions to it there are many add-ons to learn and adopt like photography, editors, html, css etc etc. I have added pages to share and record my learning process.One such is the photographic editors.

 

Till now for my pictures I have been using PICASA , PHOTOSCAPE now my new buddy has entered into this section PICMONKEY. Its a simple and free editor which turns our picture so bright and cheerful.

 

Here is the sample of a  picture done.

 

 

 

 

The four basic tools I used are

 

1. CROP
2. EXPOSURE
3. EFFECT- ORTON
4. SHARPEN

This is a quick and simple way to make everyday snaps without cost. It has some other cool functions like collage, adding borders, frames, which you can play around it.  Will come back with some other functions too.



WEIGHT LOSS QUOTES

 

 

 

DAY 1 DIET PLATE

Here is my diet plate. Chukka roti, capsicum raitha, pees sundal and onion chutney. When I eat this I remember the slogan "No gain, no pain".  But anyways im eating consciously right now. Thanks for being supportive.

NAVRATNA PULAO

 

 



Navaratna pulao is very tasty and rich vegetarian rice dish which is garnished with nuts and paneer. Its very nutritional as it contains all kinds of vegetables and nuts. It is very ideal for parties, get-together or such occasions. In our house we prefer to have this on week-ends. It over-rides fried rice in  its mouth watering taste. Lets have a look at the preparation method.

 

 

STEP 1 INGREDIENTS

 

Vegetables - 1 cup (cut into small cubes)

                      I added carrot, potato, green pees, beens.

                      Cauliflower can be added. (We wont use it much in our house)

                     Avoid capsicum for this recipe.

 

 

Nuts  - 1 cup

            I added cashew, badam, Raisin(kismis)

 

Paneer - 8-10 cubes

              I added amul paneer (cubed)

 

Basmati rice - 1 cup

 

Ghee - 3-4 tbsp

 

 

 

 

COOKING BASMATI RICE

 

Basmati Rice - 1cup

Water - Little less than 2 cups

Oil - 2 tbsp.

Cinnamon - 1 " (for flavour)

Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

 

 

Soak Basmati rice for 1/2 an hour in water and drain ot completely.Let it stand in the drainer for 10 min.Shake the drainer in between so that the water gets stained completely.

 

Take water in a big bowl.The water ratio will be approximately lesser than 2 cups and more than 1 3/4.If the water is too less the rice will become grainy. So  don't make it very less.

Add a stick of cinnamon to the water, lemon juice (to enhance bright white for rice) ,add oil to it (to prevent stickiness) and add 1 tsp of salt.

 

 

Let the water boil until bubble is formed. Add the soaked,drained Rice in the boiling water and cover that vessel. Now reduce the flame to medium low.

 

Set the kitchen timer for 10 mins.  After 10 mins open the vessel and check the rice.By now the rice should have completely cooked without water in it.If it is not so leave it for 1-2 mins and check. (This is entirely depends on the rice you use and the gas you cook.)So you are the right judge to extend timer.

 

When it is properly cooked and no water left behind, open the vessel and let it rest for 10 mins.  Take a flat rice plate/bown and spread the rice with fork so that the rice will become fluffier due to aeration.  Aromatice basmati rice is ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets start doing for Navratna pulao now.

 

Take a pan. Heat 2  tbsp of Ghee. Add cashew fry it until golden brown. Remove only cashew  and place it  in a plate. In the same ghee add Almonds(badam) fry it and add with cahew. Next add kismis and remove it. Add green peas, fry it until it splutters and remove it. Next add  paneer , wait until it gets brown and remove it. Add veggies one by one in the same way and remove it. This is the only work for navratna puloa. Now mix all the fried items.

 

 

Take  a big size pan for assembling. Add the rest of the ghee and put the above fried nuts and vegetables.Add required salt to the veggies (say 3/4 tsp) for the amount of veggies used here.

Add 1tspof garama masala to the veggies. Give a slow, nice stir for 2-3 mins in medium heat. Add boiled/cooked basmati rice slowly to incorporate with the vegetable mixture. Don't add any salt for this(Note - already added while cooking rice). Decorate it with spring onion and coriander leaves.

Goes really well with any raita.

 

DONT WAIT UNTIL IT GETS  TOO LATE!  EAT FAST !!!EAT HOT!!!!!

 

 

BYE.

 

 

 



CURD RICE/THAYIR SADAM


In our house we never end our food without curd rice. For daily use we just add curd/buttermilk to the rice. But for special occasions, hosting guests, lunch boxes, or even when I have lot of rice left over on previous day's  tempered flavorful curd rice will be present in our house. Though it doesn't need that much explanation since we cant live without this food variety I cant omit from posting in the recipe section. So lets have a quick recap of this favourite food.

 

 

CREEMY AND RICHER VERSION

INGREDIENTS:

Boiled rice (thin variety) - 1 cup
curd - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 tbps
Milk - 1/2 cup


TEMPERING

Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp.
hing - 1 pinch
Curry Leaves
Green chilly - 1
More milagai (optional) - 4 numbers.


GRINDING

Green chilli - 1
Ginger - 1/4"


DECORATION

curry leaves - 1 twig
coriander leaves - 2 tsp
Grated carrots - 1 tbsp.
Mango ginger/Mango - 1 tbsp.

Method:

Mash the cooked rice and let it cool. First start tempering one by one as given above.  Then add the ground paste and tempered things to the rice mixture. Add curd to the rice, then milk and mix without any lumps. If it is little thicker add water to it to get the right consistency. Little amount of hot/warm water will enhance the taste of curry leaves.


Now decorate the curd rice and Enjoy!!!!

 

EXERCISE

 

DAY 1 EXERCISE

 

 

Iam starting with these simple exercise for day one. Each step is 5 times at a time.

 

 



 

 

BRINJAL GOTSUL

BRINGJAL GOTSU/ KARA KUZHAMBHU

 

 

 

Brinjal Gotsu is a south indian side dish suitable for pongal, usili, or even it goes very well with curd rice.Today we will learn how to make karakuzhambhu or gotsu in easy steps. Even bachelors can try this.

 

 

STEP 1 Preparation

 

 

Tamarind - 1 lemon size.  Soak tamarind for 10 mins in warm water and extract the juice.

Brinjal  - 5 nos. cut into small pieces.

Garlic 2-3 pods Remove the skin and cut it vertically.

Green chilly - 4-5nos. slit green chilli lengthwise.

Shallots/small onion - 10 nos. Peal and cut into two pieces.

 Salt - 1 tsp

 

STEP 2 TEMPERING AND SAUTING

 

Gingilly oil - 3-4 tsp

Mustard -      1 tsp

Chana dhal-  1 tbsp.

Urad dal -    1/2 tbsp.

Curry leaf -  1 stig

STEP 3 DRY ROAST

Coconut -  2 tsp
Dhaniya -   1 tsp
methi -     1/4 tsp


Jaggery - a piece to add at the end.


Dry roast Coconut,daniya and methi as given under step 3 till it gets light brown and grind it .  It may take just 1- 2 mins. Not more than that and keep it aside. This is done in first stage which is required only at the final stage.

We are done with all the preparation works.  Now the rest is all the cooking time.
 

 

Take a Pan and add oil to it. When the oil gets heated add mustard, wait until it splutters , then add the rest of  the above given tempering ingredients in step 2  one by one  carefully without burning it.

 

Now add pealed and cut small onions,  slitted green chilly, garlic, brinjal and fry for 2- 3 mins in medium heat  until all the tempered ingredients mixes with  each other.

.

 

 Now pour the extracted tamarind water add salt to it and boil for 10 min in medium high for 6 mins or until the raw smell goes and it reduces to half in volume. Now add the dry roasted coconut mix and add jaggery and switch off the gas. The yummy kuzhambhu is ready.

 

 Hope it turns out good for you. Enjoy!!!