Semiya payasam recipe | Payasam recipes

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous NEW YEAR !! 2012 has been a great year for this blog, has come a long way with all you support. Thank you friends for your continuous support and all your comments, suggestions, appreciations. Let me start this new year with a sweet post – Semiya Payasam/ vermicelli Payasam. I already have a microwave version of vermicelli payasam. But wanted to post this basic recipe in my blog for a long time. So made and clicked this last week. I have given the basic recipe here, but we can do a lot of improvisations to this to make it in your own style. Refer the Notes section for some ideas. And as of now you all would have noticed the change in the looks of my blog, yes! I gave a NEW look to my blog for this New year. Thanks to Vj who made this possible. I still have few changes to make, which I will do slowly one by one.

Semiya payasam recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Dessert
Prep Time: 5 mins    |  Cook time: 20 mins    |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Semiya/ Vermicelli - 1/2 cup heaped

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Sugar - 1/2 cup levelled

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Milk - 1/2 cup

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Ghee - 2 tsp

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Cashew nuts - 6

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Raisins(optional) - 12

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Elachi - 1

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Salt - a pinch

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Water - 2 cups

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Method

1. Heat a pan, add ghee and fry cashews into golden yellow in colour. If using raisins, fry them as well in ghee until it fluffs up. Keep aside. In the same pan, roast vermicelli in Medium-low flame with constant stirring.
2. The vermicelli should turn golden here and there. Set aside. Bring water to boil in a large bowl Add the roasted vermicelli. Cook for 4-5 minutes until soft.
3. Add sugar. Powder the elachi and add to it. The cooked vermicelli turns transparent at this stage. Boil for 2 minutes. Add the milk. 
4. Add milk and bring to boil. Boil for a minute, add a small pinch of salt and switch off the stove. As it cools down, it gets thicker. Garnish with fried cashews and raisins. 

Notes

• The payasam recipe given here will give you a ‘Spoonable’ Payasam. As it cools down, it gets thicker. So if you want ‘Drinkable ’payasam, add more milk accordingly. 
• You can serve hot or cold. You can add rose essence in place of elachi if you like.
• If you want to make the payasam more richer, reduce sugar and you can add condensed milk. Or evaporated milk also can be added.
• Instead of cooking vermicelli in water, you can use milk to cook it. Makes it more rich.
• The ratio for cooking vermicelli in water for this payasam is 1 : 4. That is if you take one cup of vermicelli, boil and cook in 4 cups of water (just a guideline for beginners)

The evergreen semiya payasam is ready! I love it both hot and cold. Pure deliciousness!

Technorati Tags: Semiya payasam recipe,Vermicelli kheer recipe,Semiya payasam,Vermicelli kheer,how to make

GRANOLA RECIPE (HOMEMADE GRANOLA RECIPE)

I love granola for breakfast a lot. It tastes great simply with low-fat milk and no need to add sugar even. What else we need for a lazy morning? I don’t exactly remember where I had this, but only somewhere we stayed when we went for a holiday. Then once I bought muselix and loved that too. The best things I love about granola is, its crisp, has nuts, dates, raisins that comes here and there that satisfies all my chewy cravings . And when I wanted to try this at home, I liked this recipe from Ramya’s blog –Hot from my oven. I just adapted the recipe to the availability in my kitchen pantry and my taste. Though rolled oats is the main ingredient, its healthy, but we have to keep in mind that its high in sugar with all those honey,brown sugar, raisins and dates. Don’t panic. Its just an information for those who are in diet and count their sugar they eat. Otherwise its normal to have this for breakfast. And I almost forgot! This is a perfect snack to. You can munch on this in the evenings as such without milk.

Granola recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Continental  |  Recipe Category: Breakfast
Prep Time:10 mins    |  Cook time: 28 mins     |  Makes: 2& 1/2 cups

Ingredients

Rolled oats - 2 cups

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Almonds, chopped - 1/4 cup

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Dates, chopped - 1/4 cup

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Raisins - 2 tbsp

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Brown sugar - 1 &1/2 tbsp

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Honey - 3 tbsp

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Salt - a pinch

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Vanilla essence - 3 drops

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Cooking oil - 2 tblsp

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160 deg C. Meanwhile, place oats, almonds(1 chopped into 3) dates, raisins,salt and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix well and then add honey to it 1 tbsp at a time and mix well.

2. Add oil and vanilla essence and mix well. Line a baking tray with butter paper/ parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly.

3. Bake it for 25 - 28 minutes or until you get a golden coloured granola. After 15 minutes of bake, every 5 minutes stir the mixture thoroughly to ensure even baking. After done, fluff it with big fork.

Notes

• You can add your choice of nut. I love almonds, so added it. Walnut or pecans also works fine.
• The dried fruits also can be your favourite.
• you can replace vanilla with a pinch cinnamon powder too.

As it cools down, it becomes crispier and store in an airtight container. I love it with cold milk a lot for breakfast. The oats coated with caramelized honey, brown sugar....bliss with milk :)



One more shot of dropping granola to justify the number of shots I tried to capture it . Thanks for the motivation Sharmi :)

THAKKALI KULAMBU/ THAKKALI KUZHAMBU RECIPE

Thakkali kulambu/ thakkali kuzhambu – I drool even when I say that. I like this a lot but never got chance or had a recipe to try. When I was going through the recipe book mom gave me, this suddenly fell in my eyes. I have scanned this book several times with my eyes for recipes to try, but somehow this recipe has been ignored by me. So at last I tried this and loved it to the core. I had this two times with hot rice the day I made it. Its so yummy and rich with coconut milk in it. Usually the tomato kuzhambu recipe will be with ground coconut and fennel, this one was totally different. And I am sure I would make this often here after. I just followed the recipe as such in the book as I was making it for the first time.

Thakkali Kuzhambu recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 20 mins    |  Cook time: 20 mins    |  Serves: 2

Ingredients

Tomato - 4

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Small onion (shallots) - 12

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Green Chillies - 10

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Sambar powder - 2 & 1/2 tsp

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Coconut from - 1/2 of a coconut

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Salt - as needed

To temper

Oil - 2-3 tblsp

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Mustard - 1 tsp

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Curry leaves - A sprig

Method

1. Boil enough water in a vessel and add the tomatoes to keep immersed for 20 seconds to half a minute. Take it out and you should be able to peel off the skin like just we do for potatoes.
2. Grate coconut and grind it with 1/4 cup water and strain/ squeeze to get first milk using a broad metal strainer. Again add 1/4 cup luke warm water to the coconut remain and grind again to extract second milk.
3. Keep both extracted milk separately. Mash the peeled tomatoes well with your hands. Peel the shallots and slice them lengthwise.
4. Heat a kadai/pan with oil and splutter mustard. Add curry leaves,green chillies and onion. Fry until golden spot appears over the onion.
5. Add the second extracted thin coconut milk, 1 & 1/4 cup water, the mashed tomatoes, sambar powder. Boil for 5-6 minutes in medium flame or until desired thick consistency is reached.
6. Lastly add the first extracted coconut milk,salt and boil until oil separates and floats on top.

Notes

• Use red ripe and tangy tomatoes for best results. (Naatu thakkali)
• If you feel the tomato is less in tanginess, you can add a tblsp of thick tamarind extract in this.
• Dont think 10 chillies are too much for this, it will be needed to balance the tanginess.
• You can replace sambar powder with 1 tsp red chilli powder and 1 & 1/2 tsp of dhaniya powder.
• If you want it on more spicier side, add more chilli or chilli powder.

Thakkali kuzhambu ready! Who wants tangy, yummy thakkali kuzhambu?


Tags: Thakkali kulambu recipe,Thakkali kuzhambu recipe,tomato gravy,Thakkali kulambu for rice,Thakkali,Kulambu,Gravy,for rice

BROCCOLI PESTO PASTA RECIPE ( PENNE PASTA RECIPES)

    

        I am not a big fan of broccoli. But Aj loves it. I make broccoli stir fry every week. When I saw this in the cook book, I wanted to give it a try.  I tried a bit after I finished making and just loved the taste a lot. It was lemony and tangy which I loved the most. Its very easy and made quickly as well. Try this healthy pesto for an alternate for the usual pesto. Here the weather is chilled and it rains everyday and when ever I touch the camera, its becoming dark as if its 6 o’clock in the evening. Sigh. Yesterday also I was photographing something for the blog and until I prepare, it was bright, the moment I went to click, it started raining. I was praying it should not rain atleast until I finish, but no. Its going to be like this for a while here in SG as its the rainy season now!

 

Ingredients 

Pasta (I used Penne)	1/2 cup
Broccoli cut into small florets	1/2 cup
Parmesan	2 tblsp
Lemon zest	from a lemon
Lemon Juice	from half of a lemon
Pine nuts	1 tblsp
Salt and pepper	As needed
Red chilli flakes	1 tsp
Olive oil	1 or 2 tblsp

Method

Boil water and cook pasta as pet the package instructions. Drain and keep aside. Scrap the lemon to gather lemon zest. Boil water with a tsp of salt and add the broccoli and boil for 4 minutes. Drain and keep aside. Mash it with potato masher or fork roughly and mix in the pine nuts, red chilli flakes and lemon zest. In a pan, place the pasta, add the prepared broccoli pesto. Squeeze the lemon over it. Mix well and  sprinkle salt and pepper as per your taste,drizzle olive oil and lastly spoon in the grated parmesan and mix well to coat the pasta.

                                        
                                               Yummy lemony broccoli pesto pasta is ready!

Notes

No need to heat the the pasta after we add broccoli pesto. Olive oil helps to bind the pesto and pasta. The quantity given will serve 2 kids.

Vendhaya dosai recipe | South Indian breakfast recipes

Vendhaya dosai is made often at my mom’s place. MIL also makes the same way as mom. They say this is very good for health. So I too make it once a month atleast. At home, we eat it with coconut milk or  milk with jaggery. If we want it with spicy side dish, we make poondu milagai podi. With curd and poondu milagai podi, the dosa tastes great.  The healthy sponge dosa recipe. We use only less methi/ fenugreek seeds. So you need not fear that it may be bitter, its not. Its really delicious and melt in you mouth.

Vendhaya dosai recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Breakfast
Prep Time: 25 mins grinding time + Overnight soaking     |  Cook time: 1 min per dosa     |  Makes: 18 dosa

Ingredients

Idli rice - 3 cups

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Urad dal - 2 tblsp

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Fenugreek seeds - 3 tblsp

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Salt - As needed

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Method

1. Soak everything except salt together for 3 hours. Grind it until smooth with water as needed. It should be a teeny bit watery than the idli batter. Not too watery. It takes some time to get ground smooth because of the methi seeds(fenugreek). Use a plastic spatula that comes along with the grinder to wipe off the methi seeds that gets stuck to the walls, hand and the stones while grinding.
 
2. Lastly add the salt while grinding and transfer to a large vessel, enough to hold the fermented batter. Leave it overnight if you grind around evening.

3. Next day morning, mix the batter gently with a ladle and add water if needed. Heat a dosa pan and grease it with few drops of sesame oil. Spread the batter to a thick dosa and cook it covered in medium flame until gets cooked. Takes very less time to cook.
 

Notes

• No need to flip the dosa and cook as we cook covered.
• The dosa comes out super soft and porous.  If its hard, either it has not fermented properly or the water quantity is less.

Serve the steaming hot dosa with poondu milagai podi or any podi of your choice.

Lemon rice recipe | Quick lunch ideas

     Lemon rice and all other mixed rice varieties are my favorite. I can eat without getting tired even every day for lunch. I just hate the usual cooking sambar, poriyal,kootu, rasam . Give me a mixed rice and some vadams, I will be the most happiest person in the world. But I know most of the guys and kids hate this lemon rice. One main reason could be they got bored out of the lemon rice lunch box. Even I have heard elders speaking about a wife giving lemon rice for the hubbys/ kids lunch box like a sin!  At my home also no exception. Vj never like variety rice, so do Aj. Aj dont even touch lemon rice or tamarind rice/ coconut rice. He likes only spicy, masala kind of rice like tomato rice/ pulao, biryani. Ah, look at the taste of this guy! Spicy lover .
   But one fine day, when I was talking to Vj something about lemon rice, he told, who said I dont like lemon rice, I do like if I get thenga chutney as side dish. First I thought he is talking about thenga thogayal. Then he again said thenga chutney ground with pottu kadalai and a bit water to add. I was surprized as I heard that for first time. Then when I was talking to Jey, I was expecting her too to get surprized by that combination. But when She too joined and said yeah I too like that combination and people DO eat like that, then I knew I only had no idea about that combination. And yes I tried it twice after that with chutney, its really awesome. So you too can try this. May be you love it?!
    

Lemon rice recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 5 mins    |  Cook time: 20 mins    |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Cooked rice - 2 & 1/2 cups

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Lemon (I used Indian lemon) - 2

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Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

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Salt - As needed

To temper

Sesame oil - 2 tblsp

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Mustard - 1 tsp

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Urad dal - 1 tsp

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Channa dal - 1 tbsp

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Peanuts - 2-3 tblsp

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Red chilli - 3

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Green chilli - 4

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Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp

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Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method

1. Cook rice with water ratio 1 :2 for 3 whistles. After done, transfer to a broad bowl and add a tsp of oil and a tsp of salt and mix carefully once and keep aside.
2. Squeeze lemon and collect the juice. Heat a kadai/ pan with oil, add mustard, once spluttered, add urad dal, channa dal, peanuts and redchilli. Fry till golden.

3. Then add green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric. Give a quick stir and add the lemon juice. If you want you can add a tbsp of water and switch off the stove. Add salt and mix well.

4. Add it to the cooled rice and mix well. Adjust salt, sesame oil as desired.

Notes

• After tempering, just switch off the stove and add lemon juice if you don’t want to loose the vitamins. You can also directly squeeze the lemon over the cooked rice like my mom does.
• Add turmeric generously. Then only you may get the colour.
• Adding red chillies and green chillies help a lot in flavour + spiciness.
• I used basmati rice , but you can use any rice or even do with left over rice.
• Give some standing time for the lemon rice to get the tastes incorporated well.
• Usually the tanginess should be more when you taste immediately. But later it will get absorbed and taste balanced.

I totally love this simple quick lunch – Lemon rice, curd rice + mango thokku and homemade javvarisi vadam (thanks mami). And ofcourse Vj’s favorite side for this is Coconut chutney!

Technorati Tags: lemon rice recipe,lemon rice,elumichai sadham,elumichai satham,quick lunch recipes,quick lunch,quick lunch ideas,easy lunch ideas.