Dry Ginger Coffee

My amma used to prepare this powder. It's very good for digestion and cold. Adding milk is optional but when you add, it tastes good.

 
Ingredients:

• Dry ginger powder - 1 tbsp
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Jaggery or cane sugar - 1 tbsp

Method:

In a sauce pan add jaggery with water, when boiling add dry ginger powder and reduce the flame and let it stand for 2 to 3 mins. Then add the boiled milk. Ready to serve. Do not boil the milk with jaggery, the saltiness in jaggery will spoil the milk.

Dry ginger coffee powder :

Ingredient:

• Dry ginger - 3 pieces
• Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup
• Pepper - 1 tbsp
• Jeera - 1 tbsp

Method: 

In a skillet, heat the dry ginger, coriander seeds, pepper and jeera. No need to roast, just heat it.
Break the dry ginger into pieces with the help of any hand tool. Then blend all together in mixer to fine powder.

Bottle gourd kofta curry

Bottle gourd called sorakkai in tamil has a lot of health beneficial. The bottle gourd koftas will be very soft inside and crispier on top. Grate the bottle gourd and mix with salt and leave for 30 mins. It has a tendency of  leaving more water when mixed with salt. Remove the water and it can be used in gravy.

Ingredients:

For Koftas:

• Bottle gourd - 1 (medium size grated)
• Gram flour - 2 tbsp
• Corn flour - 3 tbsp
• Bread crumbs - 3 tbsp
• Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

For Gravy :

• Onion - 3
• Tomato - 2 
• Ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 3 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Cashews - 5 
• Khus Khus - 2 tsp
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp

Method:

To prepare Koftas :

Mix all the ingredients given for koftas. Shape into small balls and deep fry them. If the balls cannot be shaped add more gram flour and corn flour.

To prepare gravy:

Dry roast the khus khus and grind with cashew and milk.

Boil tomatoes in water, remove the skin and puree them. Grind the onions with Cardamon powder. Heat oil and butter in a skillet, add jeera. Add onion paste, ginger and garlic paste and tomato paste.

After the raw smell goes add red chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Stir and cook for a min. Add water left from bottle gourd if needed.

Add the cashew and khus khus paste. Add the remaining milk. Add the crushed kasuri methi .


When serving add the koftas to the gravy.



Note :


If the gravy is not thick, add cornflour mixed with milk.

Koftas should be added last to have it crispy and mixing more bread crumbs makes it even more crispier.

The cashew and khus khus paste can be altered with cream.  Kasuri methi enhance the flavor of gravy so don't miss it.

Eggless Raisin Bread

I want to prepare bread for a long time, google searched and got this recipe and did some modifications. The bread combined with banana and flax seed makes very soft texture. This Raisin  bread is moist and delicious with loads of banana and raisin flavor. The raisin bread is perfect for tea time. This bread is prepared without yeast and can be done quickly.

Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• APF or Maida - 1 cup
• Brown sugar - 1 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Butter + oil - 1/4 cup
• Mashed banana - 1.5 cup
• Flax seed powder - 1/4 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Raisin - 1/2 cup

Method :

Preheat the oven at 300 deg F for 10 mins.

Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Combine flax seed powder in 1/4 cup of milk and rest for 15 to 20 mins.

In a big bowl combine oil, butter, mashed bananas, brown sugar, salt, soaked flax seed powder and rest of the milk and whisk nicely till it comes fluffy.

Add the flour last, mix. Pour in the loaf pan. Bake for 30 min. Cool and slice.


Note:

For tastier crust you can coat bread with butter and brown sugar when it is half cooked.

The cooking time really depends on the oven you use. So check with the tooth pick to see whether it is cooked or not.

Poopudi

Poopudi is made of rice and dhal. It will be very soft to eat. 

Ingredients:

• Idli rice - 2 cups
• Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
• Red chilly - 4
• Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
• Onion -2

For  tempering:

• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Urad dhal - 2 tsp
• Curry leaves - 1 string
• Hing - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Soak rice and toor dhal together for 2 hours. Chop the onions finely.

Grind rice and dhal coarsely in the blender with red chilly, salt and coconut. The batter should not be so thick or watery, should be in the consistency of idli batter. Add chopped onions in the batter and mix well.

Steam the batter in idli plates for 10 to 15 min till it cooks. After it cools, use your hands to scramble into small pieces.

In a pan, add 3 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhal, hing and curry leaves.Then add the scrambled pieces and fry for 2 minutes.

Note:

• The batter should be coarse. Do not skip coconuts it gives softness and taste.
• Tempering with coconut oil adds good flavor.

Sending this recipe to the event  Serve it series- Steamed @ Krithi's kitchen

Green Rice

My kid Ro names this rice as green rice. The difference in this recipe is I did not add any masala to the rice, seasoned with mustard and urad dhal, for richness we can add cashews. The mint and coriander leaves adds flavor and taste to this rice .

Tofu masala

This is a nice variation of panner but purely vegan. The important steps you have to follow before using tofu is, remove water from it and fold tofu in paper towel or a muslin cloth and keep a weight on the tofu for an hour. The more time you keep the more soft you get. Try this rich curry......you will sure love it. 

Mixed Fruit Jam

Making and canning the jam is very easy. The jam will be very soft, easy to spread even if u refrigerate them. You can use the seasonal fruits. The main is strawberry which gives you the color. It’s so easy and super delicious, you will never buy store jam again!

Ingredients:

Strawberry - 1 cup
other fruits - 1 cup ( i used apple,banana and grape)
Sugar - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Method:

Grind the fruits or chop it if you need them chunky. The fruit and sugar ratio should be 2:1.Start with a really heavy, large stock pot. The heavier the pot is, the less likely you are to burn the jam.

Add fruit pulp and sugar. Bring it to a boil and then stir it frequently, although not constantly. It nearly takes 10 mins. When its done, you can see starting to thicken, especially around the edges. Add lemon juice and stir for a minute.

After it cools, add the jam mixture into a sterilized container.

Masala papad

A easy snack to prepare

Ingredients:

Papad -  1
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Green Chilly - 1
Guacamole - 2 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Chat masala - little

Method:

Chop onion, tomato, coriander leaves and green chilly finely and mix with little chat masala and lemon juice. Spray or brush some oil in the papad and microwave it for a min.Apply guacamole on the papad and add onion and tomato mixture and serve immediately.

Spicy Asian Salad

When you crave a spicy, satisfying main-dish salad, everything you need is ready in your kitchen. This recipe is so simple to prepare that you can easily double or reduce to feed for your family.

Poondu morkuzhambu | Garlicky yogurt

When we have to do something suddenly, my amma do this. I really love this garlic flavor in the yogurt. An instant way of morkuzhamu which can be done in 5 minutes. It can be served with rice and potato curry (best combo).

Sweet Kozhukattai

Happy Birthday to Lord Ganesh


Ingredients:
 

• Raw Rice - 1 cups
• salt - 1/2 tsp
• Peanut - 1/2 cup
• Powdered Jaggery - 1/4 cup
• Cardamon powder - a pinch
• Ghee - 1tsp

 Method:

For Dough

Soak the rice for 2 hrs. Grind the rice smoothly, add salt. The consistency of the batter should be very liquid. (say if the rice batter is 1 cup add 2 cups of water)

In a nonstick pan, add little oil and pour this batter and mix nicely till the batter gets thicker and make sure that does stick in hand. Cool them. Apply oil in hands and mix nicely to form a smooth dough.

For Stuffing

Roast the peanuts and remove the skin. Then powder the groundnut. Mix the powdered jaggery and peanut powder in a bowl, add cardamon and a tsp of ghee.

For Kozhukattai

Make small balls with the dough and flatten thinly with hand and keep the stuffing inside and shape them as you desire. Steam the kozhukattai in a idli plate for 10 mins.

Taste very nice if you steam the kozhukattai in banana leaf.