Arancini

Made with left over Risotto

Rice balls stuffed with mozzarella cheese and deep fried.

This is served with Tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

Risotto

Mozzarella Cheese

Corn flour mixed with water to form a thick syrup

Bread crumbs

Oil for deep frying

Mash the risotto well.

Take a small handful of risotto and start forming a ball.

Stuff each ball with a piece of cheese and cover well on all sides.

Dip each ball in the corn flour slurry and then roll in the bread crumbs.

Deep fry on a medium flame.

Serve with Tomato sauce.

Avil vilayichathu / sweet poha

Avil / flattened rice / poha is very healthy and sweetened avil is supposed to be Lord Krishna's favorite.

The story goes that Sudama / Kuchela , a childhood friend of Lord Krishna was living in utter poverty and decided to visit Him to seek favours.

But being very poor Kuchela's wife could find only some flattened rice at home to gift The Lord. She packed this as a present.

Lord Krishna and his wife Rukmini, relished the avil and bestowed Sudama with many riches.

Today is Lord Krishna's birthday.

What better way to celebrate his kindness than by preparing sweet Avil?

Ingredients:

Avil / poha / flattened rice - 1 cup

Jaggery / sharkara - 3/4 cup

Coconut - 1/2 cup packed tight

Cardamom - 2

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Til seeds / Ellu - 1/2 tbsp

Cashewnuts broken - 1 tbsp

Pottu kadala / roasted gram dal - 1/2 tbsp

Heat ghee and first fry cashewnuts till golden brown and keep aside.

In the same ghee, next fry the pottu kadala and keep aside.

Fry the avil next. It will shrink considerably.You will find that all the ghee has been absorbed by the avil. Keep this aside.

Add the til seeds to the hot pan and when it pops move this also. 

Heat 1 cup water and add the jaggery. Melt and sieve.

To this sieved liquid jaggery add the coconut and ground cardamom.

Heat till all the water gets nearly evaporated.

Then add the fried avil.

Mix thoroughly and add the fried cashewnuts, til and pottu kadala.

Cool and store in air tight container.

This stays fresh outside for 2 days and when refridgerated for upto a week.

Since the coconut is fresh, it gets a stale smell after 2 days.

Nan katai

When I was a kid, bakery biscuit was a great treat. An eggless , easy to make cookie. Indian all the way!

My note on this recipe..

Yield : 20 cookies

Ingredients:

Maida / all purpose flour - measure 1 cup and remove 2 tbsp

Kadalamav / besan / chana dal powder - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Baking powder (optional) - 1/8 tsp 

Fat - either only dalda or only ghee or both together - 1/2 cup

Cardamom - 3 

Almond slivers for decoration

Powder the sugar and cardamom (without skin).

Mix in the fat. I used 1/4 cup ghee and 1/4 cup dalda.

Next add the flours and baking powder, if using.

Make a soft dough.

Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 minutes.

Make small rounds of biscuits and place them evenly with atleast 1 inch gap in between each cookie on a lined and greased baking sheet. 

( I used my silicon sheet.)

Make small crosses on top of each biscuit.

Insert almond slivers into each cross or use tooth pick dipped in colour for decoration.

Reduce oven temperature to 180 C.

Place the cookies inside the oven for 12 - 15 minutes.

Cool and store inside an airtight container.

Serve with coffee / tea.

Puliyogarai / tamarind rice

This is an all time favorite and my mother-in-law, Mrs.Rajam Ganapathy makes THE best puliyogarai!

The best part is this rice stays good for 2 days and thus ideal for travel.

The gravy can be made in advance and refridgerated for many months.

In our community, this rice is packed and given to guests who have come from far away to attend the marriages, so that they need not buy anything from outside.

Tamarind rice + a pack of crispies + a good book = great train journey!!

My mother loves this dish, but my dad who hates spicy food, loves - coconut rice.

In our houses, we use 2 varieties of tamarind - aged and new. Aged tamarind gives a dark juice and that is what gives the colour for the dish.

Ingredients:

Cooked and cooled rice - 2 to 3 cups

Tamarind - 1 golf ball

Til oil - 4 tbsp

Ground nut - 1/4 cup

Salt

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Asafoetida / kayam - 1 small ball or 1 tbsp powder

Mustard - 1 tsp

Red chilli - 15, broken

Channa dal / kadala parippu - 1 tbsp

Til seeds / ellu - 1 tbsp

Methi seeds / uluva / fenugreek -1 tsp

Curry leaf - 4 sprigs

Dry roast the til , methi seed and keep aside.

Fry the groundnuts in 1 tsp oil and keep aside for garnish.

Heat the til oil and splutter the mustard.

Then add the red chilli and channa dal.

Once the dal turns golden and red chilli gets dark add the curry leaf.

Take out 4 pieces of red chilli from the oil and add to the toasted til and methi.

The toasted til + methi + red chilli has to be powdered and added as garnish in the very end.

Into the oil , add the tamarind syrup.

Add the salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida.

Boil till the oil starts floating.

Cool and store this sauce for later use.
Always keep the granish powder separate.

When you want to consume, preferably, prepare an hour in advance so that the rice soaks in the flavors.
Mix in the rice and add the powdered spices.

Serve with pappad or potato chips.