ADHIRASAM RECIPE - DIWALI RECIPES

     Adhirasam is my all time favourite. In my childhood, I used to like adhirasam made with sugar instead of jaggery. My mom never forgot to make a special batch of adhirasam with sugar specially for me. So I always wanted to try out myself and make a step by step post detailed for keeping it as record and for the readers too. To be honest, for past 4 years, for every diwali, I tried, tried and tried, but some how I made some silly mistakes and flopped. But each time I learnt my mistake. As we dont make adhirasam other than for diwali, I had to wait for an year every time.
     It is very easy to make for my mom and MIL, so its all about experience. This time, I tried very carefully and followed my moms instructions. And now I can also confidently make adhirsam every year. This post is sure a record for me. If you are also like me who loves adhirsam and want to make at home, I would recommend to buy jaggery (paagu vellam) that is slightly with red shade rather than yellow. Also raw rice (maavu arisi) from the local shops. But any jaggery and raw rice works for this recipe. Just saying if its available in your living area, then you can make best use of it :)

Adhirasam recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Sweets
Prep Time: 2 Hours + doughresting time    |  Cook time: 30 mins    |  Makes: 20

Ingredients

Raw rice	1 & 1/2 cups
Jaggery	1 cup
Sesame seeds	1 tblsp
Dry ginger powder	2 pinches
Elachi powder	2 pinches
Ghee	1 tblsp
Oil	as needed for deep frying

 

Method

1. Wash and soak rice for 2 hours atleast. Drain, spread in a white cotton cloth for 30 mins. Do not let it fry for long time as it will give rubbery adhirsam. Moisture should be there.

2. Grind it in 2 batches in a mixer to a flour. Not really fine like store bought rice flour.

3. Sieve it (optional,if you know your flour is fine, then no need). My MIL and mom uses rava jalladai for this, so I understand its important for the flour to be slightly on coarse side. While you sieve, keep the flour pressed and covered. That is after you sieve, press it gently so that it locks the moisture and doesn't  get dried.Meanwhile, powder the jaggery and heat it with water just to immerse the jaggery.

4. Once its completely dissolved, filter it to remove impurities. Again start heating the jaggery syrup.

5. Boil in medium flame always and stir occasionally. Keep checking the syrup consistency by pouring in water kept in a small bowl. At beginning stage, the syrup dissolves as you pour in water, then at next stage, it will lay a fine thread in the water, but gets dissolved when you touch. After this, at one stage, the syrup gets thicker and when you pour in water, then it wont get dissolved and you will be able to gather it with your fingers and form a loose ball. This is called soft ball consistency and this is the stage, you have to put off the fire. Immediately pour it to the flour little by little. Add sesame seeds, elachi powder and dry ginger powder to the flour.

6. You may need not all the sugar syrup for sure. So be careful after you add 3/4th of the syrup and keep mixing with a ladle or spatula. The dough will be gooey and on sticky side and it will be very very loose. Don't worry. After some hours, it will get absorbed and get stiff. It is a must for the dough to be gooey and loose as after some time it gets thick.

7. Keep it overnight at room temperature in an airtight container. You can keep it as such for 2-3 days. If more than that, keep refrigerated. But let it be out overnight atleast for a day. At the time of making, divide into equal sized balls, each of small lemon sized. You can use sesame oil when you roll as the dough will be slightly sticky.

8. Heat oil in kadai and once it is hot, reduce the flame to low. In a zip loc, grease it with a drop of ghee and flatten the dough thick. Carefully drop in oil.

9. Once it rises up, immediately flip it and cook. Once it turns golden brown, drain from oil.

10. You must use another laddle and press it to sqeeze out the excess oil as shown, as it may retain some oil in it. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough. Oil should always be in low or medium if needed.

Notes

• The dough should be very loose when you make adhirsam. If it is stiff, then your adhirsam will become hard and chewy. So you have to add a tblsp of milk and knead the dough well again and try making. This will ensure the adhirsam to be soft.
• Keep the dough ATLEAST  overnight at room temperature. Do not take our from the fridge and make immediately. Bring to room temperature.
• The rice while grinding should be moist, retain water(need not drip) also the sieved flour also should not get dry. Otherwise the adhirsam will get crisp and hard.
•  Even the syrup consistency is very important. If sugar syrup passes the soft ball consistency, it will get hard or get dissolved in oil.
• Sieving is not necessary, but make sure it is powdered fine.
• If you flatten so thin, the adhirsam will turn very crisp. So make it thick.
• Cook in low flame to make sure it gets cooked evenly and also make sure not to over cook. It makes the adhirsam harder.
• Flip immediately once the it rises up after you add the adhirsam in oil.
• Use ghee when flattening each adhirsam. It will be sticky.
• The jaggery syrup will be needed depending upon the quality of rice, some need more, some need less. So for safer side, make more. So the given quantity will be more, so keep that in mind.
• In case, you adhirsam is chewy or hard, steam it for 3 minutes in idli plate/ steamer. It becomes soft. Just for trouble shooting.
• Will add more tips as I remember or more from my MIL and mom :)

You can store the dough for months if keep refrigerated and use it whenever needed. Even fried adhirsams can be in shelf for a week.

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SWEET DIAMOND CUTS / MAIDA BISCUITS RECIPE

     I always love making maida biscuits right from childhood. Me and my bro used to help my mom by rolling and cutting them into diamond shapes. The best part I like to do is rolling the cutter to make the diamond shape. My mom has a special spoon especially for this (also for cutting sweet somas-recipe soon!). Its called ‘Somas karandi’. It is made of pithalai, one side with a spoon and other side with a wheel with ridges to make design while it cuts. It will be similar to pizza cutter, only that this is small.
    I will post the spicy version, which my mom makes with ginger/garlic and red chilli later. This sweet version is also a bit different from others as we use sugar powder to coat the biscuits instead of adding it to the dough. I love it a lot this way. Simple to make too. So you can try it for this Diwali :)

Diamond cuts/ maida biscuits recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Sweet
Prep Time: 15 mins    |  Cook time: 20 mins    |  Makes: 6 cups

Ingredients

Maida/ all purpose flour	2 cup
Sugar	1/2 cup
Ghee	1 tsp
Oil	To deep fry
Salt	1/2 tsp

 

Method

1. Mix flour, salt, 1tsp of sugar and ghee in a bowl. Add enough water to make it a pliable dough. Dough should not be too soft. It should be just right.keep aside for 20-30 minutes. Powder sugar to fine powder and keep a side.

2. Knead the dough again after some time and divide dough into 6 equal parts. Roll as thin as possible evenly with generous dusting. With the use of the cutter/ knife, cut out thin strips as shown below.

3. Again cut diagonally to make little diamonds. Use a thin dosa spatula to take it out  from the rolling board. Dont worry if everything gets together.

4. Heat oil in a kadai and when it is hot, gently gather the diamonds and drop in a sprinkled way as much as possible. Once you drop in hot oil, the diamonds that got together will separate as it gets cooked. Cook in medium flame with constant turning to make sure it is evenly cooked.
5. Once the bubbles and sound completely ceases, then take it out from oil and immediately add 2-3 tblsp powdered sugar to it and toss well to coat everything evenly.

Notes

• You can use an elachi while you powder the sugar.
• You can use store bought icing sugar too.
• You can use knife or pizza cutter to cut into diamonds.
• Use a metal spatula to take out from the rolling board. If the dough is too sticky, then it will be difficult to take out. So use generous dusting.

Repeat the process for remaining dough. Cool down and store in airtight box. Enjoy as a snack at tea time.

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      Its a long time wish for me to make pasta sauce at home. I love pomodoro, arrabiata sauces from Pasta mania and love the pasta sauce with carrots that they serve in IKEA. I like IKEA sauce better as it has veggies and its sweet in taste too. So after browsing few recipes, I took an idea from this post and tweaked the recipe to suit my taste buds. It came out great, tasted and smelt so good. So here is the recipe. Its very easy to make with simple ingredients you have in your pantry. Now a days kids love pasta more, so why not make your own pasta sauce? Will be handy for your kids when they come back from school!

Homemade pasta sauce recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Italian  |  Recipe Category: Main course
Prep Time:20 mins     |  Cook time: 30 mins     |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Red ripe tomato - 4

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Tomato puree(canned) - 1/4 cup

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Yellow onion - 1

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Carrot - 1

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Brown sugar / white sugar - 1 tblsp

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Mixed Italian seasoning - 1 tsp

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Crushed red pepper(chilli flakes) - 1 tsp

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Crushed black pepper - 3/4 tsp

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Olive oil - 4 tblsp

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Garlic - 4

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Corn flour(white) - 1/2 tsp

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Salt - As needed

Method

1. Boil enough water and drop the tomatoes and wait for a minute. Take out and cool down. Peel off the skin.

2. Blend this tomato and keep a side. Chop carrot into tiny bits. Chop garlic and onion finely. Heat a pan with oil and add garlic, give a quick stir taking care not to change the colour of garlic.

3. Add onion and give it a stir. Add the chopped carrots. Add a tsp of sugar.

4. Fry for 2 minutes in medium flame, add ground tomato and the canned tomato puree.

5. Transfer to a sauce pot. Add 1/4 cup water and bring to boil. Add salt, remaining sugar and the Italian seasoning. Crush between your palm while adding. Add crushed red and black pepper.

6. Simmer for 5 minutes and lastly add corn flour dissolved in 2 tblsp of water. Boil until oil separates and the sauce becomes shiny and thick.

Notes

• Use red ripe tomatoes. I used canned puree for the colour.
• Adding carrots is optional, but I love the sweetness it adds to the sauce.
• Adding brown sugar or white sugar reduces the acidity of tomatoes.
• Add olive oil generously as mentioned.
• Adding corn flour is for thickening and its purely optional.

Cool down and transfer to a jar and keep refrigerated, use within 4 days.

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ELEPHANT YAM FRY/ SENAI KIZHANGU ROAST

Elephant yam roast/ yam fry/ senai kizhangu roast is my favourite fry. But I make it very rarely as Vj doesn't like it. Many people doesn't like it as it gives an itchy feel in your tongue while eating. But when properly cooked, it can be eliminated. I referred Kribha’s blog for this, but adapted the recipe to suit my taste buds.

Elephant yam fry recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Sides
Prep Time: 15 mins    |  Cook time: 25 mins    |  Serves: 4

Ingredients

Elephant Yam/ Senai kizhangu	1/2
Tamarind	1 tblsp thick extract
Gram flour/ kadala mavu	1 tblsp
Sambar powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	1 tsp
Fennel powder	1/2 tsp
Turmeric	1/8 tsp
Salt	1 tsp
Oil	As needed

Method

1. Peel off the skin of the yam and wash it. Cut into thick slices.
2. Boil enough water with tamarind, turmeric and salt. Add the sliced yam and parboil. (Half cook). Drain the water.
3. Spread the boiled yam in a plate and add the other ingredients except oil. Mix well to coat evenly. Sprinkle little water if needed(1 tblsp).
4. Heat an iron dosa pan, drizzle over some oil and arrange the yam and cook in medium flame until golden brown spots appear. Flip and cook similarly.

Notes

• You can add crushed garlic along when you mix the powders. Also curry leaves while frying.
• Cooking in iron grill works best. Cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and browning.

Serve as sides for rice. I had with rice, Keerai kootu and pepper rasam.
I am off to a short vacation, so hold on if you have queries, will reply to it once back.

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Sakkarai pongal recipe (Sweet pongal recipe)

     This is my favourite sweet pongal recipe. Rice and dal cooked with the ingredients like edible camphor,elachi, nutmeg and elachi make it smell and taste DIVINELY. This is my  mom’s staple recipe. I made this few times now and got appreciation too from everyone when I made it for our home Grahapravesham at Kumbakonam. So from then I wanted to post it here in my blog. I already have a sakkarai pongal recipe in my ulundu vadai post. But its plain and simple without all those special spices.
 
      I have made this in pressure cooker, but can be made in the traditional way by boiling rice and dal and adding jaggery to it too. Before marriage, me, my mom and our neighbour used to do this pongal in pot in a temple (Kottai mariyamman koil) in Salem. Every month we used to carry the ingredients and make pongal back of the temple, offer it to god and after that we distribute all the pongal there itself in the temple. We just take a ladle full for ourselves. Other than that we distribute everything there. The vengala pot gets empty in no time. We come back home with heart full of satisfaction.

Sakkarai pongal (sweet pongal) recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Sweet
Prep Time: 5 mins    |  Cook time: 40 mins    |  Serves: 4

Ingredients

Raw rice - 1/2 cup

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Moong dal/ pasi paruppu - 2-3 tblsp

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Jaggery - 1/2 cup heaped

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Water - 2 & 1/2 cups

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Ghee - 3 tblsp

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Salt - pinch

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Cashews - 5-6

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Raisin - 1-2 tblsp

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Elachi - 1

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Cloves - 1

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Nutmeg powder - 1 pinch

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Edible camphor * - A tiny pinch

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* Use edible camphor very little, if you add more, it may spoil the whole taste with over flavour. Use a fenugreek seed size alone.

Method

1. In a pressure cooker/ pan, add 1/4 tsp ghee and roast the moong dal.
2. Add water, washed rice and salt. Pressure cook for 4 whistles. Mash it once done.
3. Powder jaggery and heat it with water just to immerse it and bring to boil. Let the jaggery completely dissolve and  filter it and add to the  mashed rice in the cooker.
4. In a separate pan, heat a tsp of ghee and roast cashews to golden and add raisins to it. Once it fluffs up, transfer it and keep aside. In the same pan, add cloves, elachi and switch off the stove. Add nutmeg powder, give a quick stir. Take out elachi and powder it, add the powdered elachi, edible camphor, cloves along with nutmeg powder to the pongal.
5. Mix well and cook in medium flame for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water or milk if it gets dry while cooking. Add ghee little by little while cooking. Lastly add the fried cashews and raisins.

Notes

• I used old rice, so needed water at the ratio of 1 : 5. If your rice is new and gets cooked easily, 1 : 4 is enough for this pressure cooker method.
• After opening the cooker, if the rice is too dry, add 1/4 cup water or milk while mashing.
• After cooling down, gets thick, so switch off the flame accordingly.
• I grate nutmeg and roast it in ghee while I roast cloves/elachi / cashews. When you do so, you should make sure to add the grated nutmeg after you switch off the stove. Otherwise, it may get burnt.
• Use good quality ghee. I always use homemade ghee.
• The colour of pongal differs with the colour of jaggery.
• ‘Paagu vellam’ works best. It is slightly darker in shade. (Urundai vellam)

Divine smelling + tasting pongal is what you have now! The whole house smell divinely

.

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RAVA KICHADI RECIPE | SOOJI KICHDI RECIPE | BREAKFAST RECIPES

   Rava kichadi is one of my top most favourites. I can live with it. I always love all the recipes with rava/ sooji/ semolina. Upma, dosa, kichadi, pongal…everything . Though Aj and Vj are not big fans, they can eat once in a while. I too make rarely because its greasy and I prefer wheat rava upma for health reasons. I make this along with other tiffin items if friends/ relatives visit. The soft texture and the ghee smell in the kichadi tastes and smells out of this world. Also the yellow colour and vegetables we add makes it colourful.

Rava kichadi recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Breakfast
Prep Time: 10 mins    |  Cook time: 10 mins    |  Serves: 4

Ingredients

Rava/ sooji/ semolina - 1 cup

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Onion - 1

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Tomato - 1

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Carrot - 1

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Green peas fresh/frozen - 1/4 cup

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Green chillies - 5

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Ginger, chopped finely - 2 tsp

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Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

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Salt - As needed

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Water - 4 cups

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Ghee - 1 tblsp

To Temper

Oil - 2 tblsp

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Mustard - 1 tsp

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Channa dal - 1-2 tblsp

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Urad dal - 1 tblsp

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Curry leaves - a sprig

Method

1. Soak channa dal and urad dal for an hour(optional). Slice onion lengthwise, chop tomatoes,carrot and slit green chillies. In a big kadai/ pressure pan (I used my mini cooker) heat oil and temper with the items given under ‘To temper’ table. Fry for a minute and then add onion, green chillies, ginger and fry until onion turns transparent. Side by side, boil 4 cups of water.

2. Roast rava well in a  tsp of oil with out changing colour.I used roasted rava,so skipped this step. Add the vegetables and fry well for 2 minutes in medium flame. Add ghee while frying. Add rava and mix well. Add turmeric and salt.

3. Mix well and add the boiling water carefully to this, with flame lowered. Check for salt.

4. Mix well, wait until the water gets absorbed by the sooji. Once it gets thick, cook covered in low flame for 8-10 minutes. Give it a mix.

Notes

• You can add your choice of vegetables like beans, potato.
• For me, the finley chopped ginger is a must in my kichidi as it makes it smell great and also helps in digesting the oil and ghee in the kichidi. If you finely chop the ginger, it will not be coming in mouth as it gets mashed while cooking.
• Ghee also adds a great flavour, so dont forget to add.
• If you reduce oil and ghee in the recipe, the kichidi may not have the same texture as in the picture.
• I dint add tomato that day when I clicked. But I usually add.
• You can boil water by adding it after you fry the vegetables and bring to boil in the same vessel and then add roasted rava to it too.
• Boiling water side by side reduces cooking time, so I do that. 

Serve hot with chutney and sambar. I love it with both. Bliss! Nothing to explain!

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