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How can you include calcium in your daily diet? I am sure without wasting a second we will say Milk, Cheese and all dairy products that flashes in our mind. Of course this thought found its way into our brains, with every sip of milk we were made to drink right from our childhood.
Yes its a pretty good source of calcium, but there are studies which say that its not really the best source of calcium as it has high proteins and animal proteins interfere with calcium absorption.
No stop.. Do not panic.. you can still drink your milk (preferably organic and low fat ) and also eat proteins, but make sure you get plenty of plant based proteins and calcium.
You can find the list of plant based protein sources here and for most nutrients here
These list do not include Raagi , what a pity… Raagi is a wonderful source of calcium too and you can eat it wihtout being guilty of harming any other animal or its bones 
I am trying to incorporate Raagi into our weekly food menu regularly.. When I try to make something with Raagi I will be kind of tensed about the reactions I would get on the big kid’s face (hihihi I mean DH) rather than the little boss. Little boss is used to eating raagi right from his baby food stage so he is not so fussy about Raagi if its soft and doesnt make his jaws work very hard . I added broken cashew nuts… you see there should be something of DH’s choice to make a deal.
This recipe sans Cashewnuts will definitely be a wonderful DIET RECIPE and a blessing for Diabetics too. BUT YOU NEED NOT BE ON DIET OR HAVE DIABETES TO EAT THIS …NO LAME EXCUSES either… Its so quick and healthy… You can make it faster than the Pizza delivery guys speed of delivering your ordered pizza. and I promise its 1000 times healthier than that Pizza you order
I should thank Usha for her wonderful Raagi idli recipe …It was amazing and the best part is all three of us liked it… I just altered the recipe slightly.
Here is the recipe for my records
INSTANT RAAGI & OATS IDLI
What’s needed:-
Dry ingredients-
- 1/2 cup cracked wheat powdered to rava consistency or wheat rava
- 1/2 cup quick oats powdered coarsely
- 1/2 cup ragi flour (finger millet flour)
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
For the seasoning
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp chana dhal
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 4 Indian or Thai variety green chillies cut fine (or to taste)
- 4 tsp broken cashew nuts
- 1 tsp chopped curry leaves
Wet ingredients
- 1.5 cups of low fat plain yogurt (curd/ dahi)
Other ingredients (optional)
- handful cilantro cut fine
- Grated carrots
How To’s:
- Coarsely powder the cracked wheat to semolina or rava consistency
- Mix all the dry ingredients together
- Heat oil in a small pan, add the mustard and chana dal and fry for a few seconds.
- Next add urad dal and after a few seconds add the green chillies, cashews and curry leaves. Once the cashews are toasty add this entire mixture to the flour mixture
- Just before steaming the idlis add yogurt (almost 1:1 ratio with the flour mixture), carrots and cilantro.
- Grease the idli plates and steam them in the Idli cooker for 7 to 8 minutes. Alternatively you can steam it in pressure cooker without the weight for the same time.
- Cool for a few minutes and then take them out and serve with the chutney of your choice. We had ours with Onion chutney
How Not To’s :-
- Do not make the oats and wheat into fine powder, it needs to be coarse
- Do not burn the dals in the seasoning, just fry them in exactly the order mentioned.
- Finally do not run away because its a RAGI RECIPE, even if you hate Ragi I bet you will love this recipe
As I always say eating healthy is not difficult if you have your heart in it. That Cashew peeking out of the Idli isn’t she inviting you to take a bite?
Cheers
Koki
Can memories be delicious? Can memories be fragrant? I will always say (even if you wake me up in the middle of night) the answer is a big YES.
One such delicious, fragrant and nostalgic memory attacks me whenever I see that whole coconut in the grocery store.
My Mom has a special way to shower us with love… no not hugs or kisses or even words but through actions. She believed actions spoke more than words..She was remarkably good at it … Infact she had wheezing problems, joint pains and other pains that womenhood brings along but she still would wake up at 3 or 4 am in the morning and cook us delicious breakfast and lunch. Lunch would have atleast 2 or 3 vegetable curries. Weekends would be culinary treats.
When I left home for my graduation and stayed in the hostel …naturally I craved for home food. When I came home for a vacation, the menu will be filled with my favourites the topper in that list will be “AAPAM THENGAI PAAL” Oh GOD those spongy centers with crispy edges soaked in fresh coconut milk. It was a combination to die for…. Now when I am a mom I realise, more than what I did before, how difficult it is to be like my mom She was a super mom I love you amma
ok now back to the grocery store .. as the craving for AAPAM THENGAI PAAL sets its foot on my brain, one of the coconuts will travel home for sure. It will stay in the fridge till the planets and stars fall into the perfect position ..I mean the day comes when I don’t forget to soak the rice for aapam Bless my memory power
Next will be the battle between Vicky and the coconut. It’s quite a challenge you know staying here in an apartment.. He does not have the equipment required to break the coconut, so the rubber mallet is used alternatively. He cannot hit it on the floor or make lots of noise either. Anyway somehow he manages to break it every time .
Then comes the turn of the extracting the milk out of the coconut, make aapams ..soak them in the milk and eat them … Its HEAVEN on plate for me
Vicky loves to eat Aapams with Chicken curry, its good too.
Actually next to my mom I guess Nalas Aapa Kadai in Chennai make wonderful Aapams. When we were in Chennai we used to visit them regularly
hmm ok now to the recipe
AAPAM & COCONUT MILK
What’s needed:-
Aapam
- 1.5 Cups of Raw rice
- 0.5 cup of Parboiled rice
- 0.5 cup of Urad dal
- 1 Tbsp of Fenugreek seeds
- a Pinch of baking soda
- Salt to taste
Coconut milk
- 3/4 th of a fresh coconut – Grated or dice the flesh into small pieces ( have some mercy on the blender or the mixer grinder)
- Water
- a pinch of salt
- Sugar to taste
- 2 cardamoms
How To’s
The Batter-
- Wash and soak all the ingredients together for 2 to 3 hours.
- Grind to a smooth batter, not very watery as we will add coconut milk to it later.
- Take batter in a large bowl. Add 1 tsp salt and beat together.
- Let it rest and ferment overnight or atleast for 8 hours
The Coconut Milk
- Place the coconut flesh and equal amounts of water in a blender jar ( I use Preethi)… Add cardomoms and puree well
- Pour the mixture into a strainer and press the pulp through the strainer, catching the milk in a bowl below.
- Squeeze the leftover pulp to extract any leftover milk.
- Reserve about 1/2 to 1 cup of the milk to add to the Aapam batter before cooking
- Add sugar and salt to the rest of the milk.
Now comes the fun part – Making Aapams
- Take the amount of batter that you will like to use and add the reserved coconut milk and baking soda to the batter and mix well. (The amount of batter can serve 4 to 5 people so decide accordingly, always add the milk and soda only when you are going to use the batter immediately)
- Now heat the aapam kadai ( or even a normal one should do) just that the aapam take the shape of the kadai.
- Slightly grease it if its not non-stick.
- Pour a ladle of batter into center of the kadai, pick the kadai in your hands promptly, holding to the handles and give the whole kadai and good nice swirl
- This will make the aapam batter spread, but newtons law plays the wonderful part..the batter on the sides tend to flow to the center.
- The result you have crispy edges and a spongy center. Close the kadai and let the aapam cook. Now hats off to our ancestor for this wonderful recipe
- You can be little creative and make Flower shaped or candy wrapper shape aapams tooo
I used to watch the aapam chef at NALAS AAPA KADAI with my eyes wide open in amazement, my GOD he makes aapam in 4 to 5 kadais simultaneously ..I am quite challenged when it comes to multitasking so no wonder my eyes open so wide
How to eat the aapam
Style 1 – Serve the coconut milk in a bowl , tear the aapam into small pieces dip in the milk and eat
Style 2- Pour the coconut milk on the aapam, while the spongy center soaks eat the crispy edges first and then eat the soaked center
Hope you will love this delicous duo too…Take a bite if you want
I am sending this terrific combo to “THE COMBO EVENT” at Pari’s Foodelicious blog
Cheers
Koki
It was MAHASHIVARATRI yesterday. This day brings back fond memories of my late maternal Grandma.
I have seen and learnt about this wonderful day from her, she was an ardent devotee and very sincere with everyday pooja rituals and fasting. Let me share with you whatever my Grandma taught me
How is MAHASHIVARATRI celebrated:
MahaShivaratri or the Night of Shiva is celebrated with great fervour to honour Lord Shiva. Shiva temples have ritual worship and abhisekham every few hours on this day where LORD Shiva in Lingam form is bathed with milk,honey,yogurt,sugar and water. It is pure bliss to watch these abhisekams.
Devotees observed a day and night fast. A few fast with consumption of milk and fruits while I remember my Grandmother used to fast even without drinking water. They do not sleep on the night of MahaShivaratri, instead they keep chanting “OM NAMAHA SHIVAYA” throughout the night and singing in praise of the LORD, only early in the morning they break their fast with the prasadam offered. Observance of this fast and keeping awake during the night is believed to liberate us from this sinful cycle of birth and death as mortals.
Legends behind the Celebration:
( source http://www.mahashivratri.org/)
According to one of the most popular legends, Shivaratri marks the wedding day of Lord Shiva and Parvati.
According to another version of the legend, Goddess Parvati performed tapas and prayers on the auspicious moonless night of Shivaratri to ward off any evil that may befall her husband. Since then, womenfolk began the custom of praying for the well being of their husbands and sons on Shivaratri day. Unmarried women pray for a husband like Shiva, who is considered to be the ideal husband.
The legend of Shiva Linga or Lingodbhavamurthy is deeply related to Mahashivaratri. The legend narrates the story of vain search by Brahma and Vishnu to discover the Aadi (beginning) and the Antha (end) of Lord Shiva. The legend thus proves the supremacy of Lord Mahadeva over other Hindu Gods and explains why the lingam is believed to be one of the most potent emblems in Hindu ideals. Since it was on the 14th day in the dark fortnight of the month of Phalguna that Shiva first manifested himself in the form of a Linga, the day is extremely auspicious and is celebrated as Mahashivaratri - the grand night of Shiva.
Ok now to my story.. My husband’s work has been crazy for a long time now. Yesterday he had to work late (he is the reason behind this posts delay  ) , nothing surprising..hmm So I just had to make a simple offering to Lord Shiva – Semiya Payasam. For me Shiva is always the most forgiving and wonderful. Legends say he accepted even wild boar a hunter offered him with pure devotion , so I am sure he accepted my payasam too He sure was double pleased with the way my 21 month old did pooja to him and offered him the Paayasam .. so pure and so innocent …
Now to the recipe
SEMIYA PAYASAM
What’s needed :-
- A fistful of vermicelli
- 4 cups of milk
- Sugar to taste
- 1/2 tsp of Cardamom powder (I used 2 cardamom pods roughly smashed as I didn’t have the powder)
- 2 tbsp Ghee
- A fistful of cashewnuts n raisins
How To’s:-
- Heat 1 tbsp of ghee in a thick bottomed pan. Fry cashews in the ghee to a golden color, remove.
- Add the raisins fry them until they are fluffy, remove.
- Add the remaining ghee and fry the vermicelli to a golden brown. Add ½ of milk and boil, stir occasionally so that the milk doesnt get burnt a the bottom.
- When the vermicelli has absorbed all the milk, add some more milk and allow the vermicelli to cook well.
- When the vermicelli is fully cooked , add the sugar and remaining milk. Boil for some more time until the payasam reaches the desired consistency(thich but not too thick
 )
- Add the cardamom powder. Remove from heat. Garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins
How Not to’s
- Do not be generous with adding the vermicelli, lesser the better as it literally drink the milk as it cools. If you add a lot then you will have to be more generous in adding milk to make it thinner everytime.
- Do not forget to stir frequently else milk might burn.
- Do not add the sugar before the vermicelli is cooked well as sugar retard its cooking.
How simple is that ?
May LORD SHIVA bless all of us.
Cheers,
Koki
My dear vegan and vegetarian friends /readers, sorry that this post is not for you. Couple of my friends and relatives have been requesting for Chicken recipes and somehow I kept delaying it… Reason I am not a big meat lover … Any given day I would prefer fruits and veggies over meat.
DH Vicky is a Chickenitarian…He will come to the kitchen all of a sudden and tell me ” You know what I smell the E-seth biryani .. and its so tempting”. Now this single sentence has a lot of inbuilt meaning to it… Yes it actually indicates that Chicken has not entered my kitchen for weeks… (This is the treatment that food items receive when they are not of high interest to the chef at home )Then I promise and console him that the coming weekend he will get his biriyani.
Well as promised I make the briyani and a couple of weeks later he will again come back with the same dialogue but probably a different chicken dish… his brain has an amazing capacity to store the flavours and smell of Chicken recipes and electronic gadgets.. names of people and other stuff don’t have space there.. space crunch in grey cells
Now if you are wondering what is E-seth briyani… In Chennai there is a place called “Tambaram” where I grew up and this place has a small briyani stall called E-seth. You must taste the briyani they serve, it is absolutely amazing.. My husband got hooked to the taste the day he tasted ..as if its a big thing for a Chicken lover hihihi
The briyanis we get in the Indian restaurants here oops they are not even half as good as the ones we get back home. India has countless number of briyani recipes… I keep telling my western friends that Indian restaurants here can never to do justice in representing the Indian cuisine..I don’t blame the restaurants because that’s an impossible task. For those of you who are wondering why I say so here is a geographical fact that could help you understand better and of course help me tell you how much we Indians are proud of MOTHER INDIA
“India – 31 states, 1618 languages, 6,400 castes, 6 religions, 6 ethnic groups, 29 major festivals, and One Country-INDIA ..As Mark Twain said India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most artistic materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only and as said by Albert Einstein “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!” India is the best place one can be born to.”
I am and I will always be proud to be an Indian. Ok now back to our discussion on cuisine, each state has multiple regions and each region has different cuisines … So I can see you nodding your head in agreement with me. Perfect, now I can peacefully go back to our E-seth briyani.. I tried recreating their magic here with my pressure cooker style briyani. After several attempts I got one that is close to that taste and I stick to it because Vicky loves it His opinion matters to me the most when it comes to Chicken recipes
All those chefs out there who define briyani as rice and meat/veggie cooked in layers in dum, please forgive this lazy gal and her short cut pressure cooker biriyani. It saves fuel, time and effort and of course it tastes great so no worries ….Here is my recipe :-
PRESSURE COOKER CHICKEN BRIYANI ESETH STYLE
What’s needed :-
- 2 Lb Chicken
- 3 cups Basmati Rice
- 2 Cups Onion chopped
- 2 to 3 Cups chopped Tomatoes(depending on how tart your tomatoes are)
- 6 Thai green chillies Slit open into two
- 1/2 cup of mint leaves loosely packed
- 1/2 cup of cilantro chopped
- 2 Tsp of Ginger garlic paste
- 2.5 Tsp of Chilli powder
- 5 to 6 Tsp of Corriander powder
- 3 Tsp of salt
- 3 to 4 Tbsp of Oil
- 2 inches of cinnamon
- 4 Cloves
- 5 cardomom pods
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup of yogurt
For Marination
- 5 Tsp of lemon juice
- 1/2 Tsp of turmeric powder
- 1 Tsp chilli powder
- 1 Tsp Corriander powder
- 1 Tsp Ginger garlic paste
- 1/4 tsp Salt
How to’s:-
- Wash and cut chicken(with or without bones) into small pieces and marinate for atleast half an hour using all ingredients listed for marination
- In a Pressure cooker heat oil and fry bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves and cardomom
- Now add onions and saute really well because fried onions really add to the taste of this dish.
- When onions turn slightly brown and crispy add ginger garlic paste, along with chopped green chilli, chopped corrainder and mint leaves.
- When the raw smell of the ginger garlic paste is gone, add tomatoes , marinated chicken along with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, corriander powder and salt.
- Saute till you get a nice thick gravy.
- Rinse 3 cups of Basmati rice and drain all water from it add this to the gravy to the rice. Also add 4 cups of water and 2 cups of diluted yogurt and mix well.
- Allow 2 whistles and swtich off.
- Now you can add little corrainder/cilantro leaves and mix carefully without breaking the rice.
- I usually serve it hot with boiled eggs and cucumber raita. E-seth serves it with bhagara baingan which Vicky doesn’t like so why take pains
How NOT to’s:
- Generally for dum biriyanis or layered biriyanis you should rinse and soak the rice for half an hour, for pressure cooker biriyanis skip the soaking else you will not have the grains separate in the end result. We dont like mushy pongal briyani.. I bet you would not either.
- Always use the measuring cups for measuring rice and water for your biriyanis, eyeballing does not work all the time.
Note:
I have tried this biryani in Electric Rice cooker and turned out equally good
When Arundhuti of Gourmetaffairs announced the event “Serve with Love” the only dish that won in the running race between various favourite dishes of my sweetheart Vicky is the Chicken Biriyani. So this clear winner races off to “Serve with Love”
Cheers
Koki
There is an animation series “The super sleuths” which has my son’s favourite POOH and Tigger in it. There is an episode which is about “COOKIE TREE”. Finally they conclude there is no such thing as Cookie tree…..Pooh was correct it would be a great idea to have a cookie tree in the backyard … Silly old bear got me into this cookie craving:)
Reality hit me hard when there were no cookies left in the cookie jar. Living in an apartment I had no backyard first of all and of course no cookie tree. What is the option left …bake some cookies.
I was staring at my pantry and fridge alternatively thinking of what cookie to bake. I found a couple of organic oranges which had almost 3 to 4 stickers on them saying or should I say screaming that they were organic..as if one was not enough to convince me. Then I saw a packet of almonds and my brain suggested ” Orange Almond cookies” … my heart immediately fell in love with the idea.
When the cookies were baking my GOD the smell was heavenly and at last when we tasted it wow they were delicious… It was a midnight baking episode as usual.That’s the ideal time when I can be assured that I don’t have my toddler tugging my pajamas or running inside the kitchen to see how an oven works..
Coming back to the recipe Oranges add heavenly flavour to cookies…almonds are too good for your health and in addition I made the cookies with light whole wheat flour from King arthur brand…I guess it is made with spring wheat instead of regular wheat.. so its light. I am sure the recipe will work just fine even with the regular wheat flour or atta. I promise you that these cookies are totally guilt free..
Here is the recipe
CRISPY ORANGE ALMOND COOKIES
What’s needed:
- 1 cups blanched sliced almonds + a few more to top the cookies
- 2 cups light whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand)
- 1 tbsp flax seed meal
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 tbsp oil
- 5 tbsp of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 7 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
How to’s:-
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Grind the remaining almonds to a coarse powder in a food processor or in small batches in a coffee grinder. (You can toast them slightly before grinding if you want to ..)
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and sift in the flour,flaxseed meal, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In another bowl, mix the oil and sugar well.
- Add the egg next and beat well, then beat in the orange zest, juice, vanilla, and salt.
- Stir in the flour-almond mixture.
- Line the baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them.
- Pinch off a little dough at a time, roll into a ball and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Flatten the balls to form cookies ( I made square cookies too ).
- Press a sliced almond into the center of each cookie.
- Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Please start watching them like a hawk after the first 15 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans, then cool on a rack.
These cookies became very crunchy as they cooled off… so I thought they are the best tea time cookies. My son loves to dunk them in milk and munch them away to glory
It’s no more our tea time cookies its ALL TIME COOKIE… We eat it after meals as dessert too .. and eat one whenever we go to the kitchen
This is my entry for Sugar High Friday : Sweet comfort hosted by Kate at A Merrier World
I am all set to make my next batch of Orange Almond cookies..
Happy baking you all,
Koki
This is a post without any recipes but I promise a virtual feast for your eyes
Well as I told in my previous post that Kaanum Pongal is all about meeting and greeting people. Now how do you manage to meet and greet when you are stuck with bone chilling cold outside and snow covered upto the horizon??? Only way we could think was to invite people home.
After all it was not a bad idea. We decided to invite my husband’s co-workers, a selected few. How did we select a few? Well the criterion was simple “bachelor guys who will definitely miss Pongal or Sankranthi being far away from home“.
We decided we will give them a nice treat ..a PONGAL FEAST..Bachelors rejecting an invitation for homemade food is near to impossible.. so we received acceptance from all of them promptly.
As the theme was Pongal, we kept the menu strictly vegetarian and South Indian. The menu that we finalized was
- Medhu vadai(appetizer)
- Idli
- Dosa
- Uthappam
- Arachu vitta sambar
- Tomato Chutney
- Coconut Chutney
- Ven Pongal
- Sakkari Pongal (Dessert)
My friend Krithika called up and said that the menu sounded like “MURUGAN IDLI KADAI” menu…now that is for sure a wonderful compliment… thanks gal:D
She said she wanted to come to Chicago from Dallas immediately… its not practical I know… That is the reason I decided to post the pictures ” a virtual treat for my best friend and other blogger friends ”
Enjoy the feast…
We cut the veggies the night before and packed them up neatly in the fridge.
I spent the next day in front of the stove happily…
All the cooking (except dosa) and the cleaning was complete before the guests arrived 
That was quite an achievement for us with a toddler challenging us throughout…
Finally when the feast was declared open you should have seen the big grins on those faces..that’s the magic that idlis and dosas can do to tamilians away from home They were asking us we made our idli and dosa batter at home with such astonishment as if it were some rocket science…
Anyway it was a feast with a very happy ending … the guests and hosts were equally happy and satisfied.
After all we Indians believe in
“Athithi Devo Bhava” (Guests should be treated like GOD)…
I also want to request all my readers that if you can please donate for Haiti …
You can find more information at
Redcross
Jugalbandhi
Cheers,
Koki
Here I am wishing all of you a wonderful and delightful PONGAL.
PONGAL is tamizh Thanks giving. Yes this is a 4 days celebration to thank nature for all its timely shower of blessings that helps us get a good harvest and ofcourse good food for a long time after that…
Day 1 is BHOGI – Its actually a trick I believe that our ancestors did to make us drag our lazy bones to clean the house “properly” atleast once… by clean up I mean total decluttering of the house and throwing away all that stuff that we collect over the past year ( and more than half of it is junk…) … People make a sweet dish called Boli or Puran poli on this day to appreciate all the hard work gone in cleaning …
Day 2 SURYA PONGAL – As the name suggests this is the day we pray to SUN GOD and offer him our thanks for a good crop this year and pray for another good year ahead. On this day we make “SARKARAI PONGAL” a sweet rice pudding made with freshly harvested ( or atleast new ) rice and dal (and lots of gheeeeee and milk)… Its absolutely yummy I promise. This Pudding is traditionally made in a open Pot which is decorated with fresh turmeric root tied around its neck and then with vibhuti kumkum etc.. the milk and the water is first allowed to boil and rise real high … when this happens people shout “PONGAL O PONGAL” and then the rice and dal is added. When the rice is overcooked, nuts and raisins sauted in ghee are added along with jaggery. Nowadays technology and convenience have taken away Pots and replaced them with “PRESSURE COOKER” so people call it Cooker pongal .Well well its seems like I have given a recipe here though that was totally not intended in this post.
Every family has a different tradition and they make different dishes to go with PONGAL to make a big feast.
DAY 3 MAATU PONGAL – Maadu is a tamizh term used to refer all COWS n BULLS in general. This day is celebrated to thank all the cattle friends who helped the farmers in the farm. Now this is limited to households that really own cows and bulls. I have seen people wishing their friends “Happy birthday” on maatu pongal to tease them… I have question to all these hyper intelligent people “Did you ever think if all the cows and bulls on earth where born on the same day for us to celebrate MAATTU PONGAL for their bdays:P?”
DAY 4 KAANUM PONGAL- Kaanum means “to see”.. Its a day set aside to meet and greet friends and families… Go out and have fun.. My GOD you should go see how the Cinema halls and Beaches in Chennai will be bursting with crowd..
Anyway thats in short how much we Tamils love this long weekend of Thanks giving and the tradition it brings along.
My sister and I loved drawing those huge kolams in the frontyard for the whole month of chilly margazhi. Everyday we would spend quite a good amount of time deciding on the pattern and theme of the kolam and then drawing it.. on Pongal the month changes to Thai so we would end our creative journey of kolam for the year on PONGAL drawing a huge Color Rangoli in the frontyard… While we did this Amma will be busy in the kitchen .. ya she used to make traditionally a feast which will always be served on Vazhai Izhai (Banana leaf) and will include
- Sakkarai Pongal ( Open pot not Cooker)
- Steamed rice
- Sambar
- Pumpkin kootu
- Sweet potato poriyal
- Sugar cane
- Pachai Mochai kootu
- Vadai.
My favourites being the last two .. Pachai Mochai is seasonal green beans, it quite looks like lima beans but is not the same. We used to love it and hog it …becoz its seasonal and we love it… well the redundancy was intended to convey the message. I can make vadais here so thats not a problem but I MISS PACHAI MOCHAI … boohohoh 
You must think I am crazy that I dont miss sugarcane during pongal being here in the US. Think whatever you want …but I miss the mochai more ..
So how can I go to bed today in peace with this craving… so I decided to fake and convince the mochai craving teeth of mine to get satisfied as now with “Lima beans” made this way…
Well the recipe was Amma’s so it turned out pretty good enuf to rest the cravings for a while
PACHAI MOCHAI KOOTU:
Whats’s needed:-
- 1 Cup of frozen Lima beans ( or Pachai Mochai if you are lucky enough)
- 2 to 3 Tbsp of grated coconut
- 1 tomato
- 1/2 tsp of saunf or fennel seeds
- 1 tsp of ginger
- 1 clove of garlic
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp of chilli powder ( or more )
For seasoning
- a small piece of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds or saunf
- couple of cloves
- 1 tsp of oil
How to’s:-
- Pressure cook the beans. Dont make them mushy , they should be just cooked
- Grind coconut, saunf, ginger, garlic, chilli powder and tomato
- Heat oil in a kadai or pan, add the seasonings and then add the cooked beans
- Now add the ground masala and salt.
- Mix well and cook till the raw smell of the masala is gone
- You can have the masala a little like gravy or make it dry.. As you like it…
- Serve as side dish with Rice and sambar ( or curd rice or rasam rice)
Hope you like this simple yet lovely recipe of my amma. I am now gonna have a spoonful of this kootu, close my eyes and travel back home for savouring those wonderful PONGAL moments ….
I am sending this to
Cheers,
Koki
This post had been in draft for a long time.. . I thought of posting it now before PONGAL comes knocking on my door… You see I believe in “Better late than never”..
“Namaha Shivaya vaazhga Naadhan thaal vaazhga
Imai pozhudhum en nenjil neenga dhaan vaazhga”
(Blessed is the name Na Ma Si Va Ya ! blessed are the Lord`s feet !
Blessed are the feet that part not from my bosom even for the time, the eyes take to wink !)
These are lines from Shiva puranam. I love reading Shivapuranam because it spreads such peace and serenity in my heart. I am glad we entered 2010 on an auspicious day “THIRUVADIRAI” aka “ARUDRA DARISANAM”
- Thiruvadirai is celebrated on the day of Thiruvadirai star in Marghazhi ( a month in tamil calendar between dec to jan).
- There are only two stars that have the prefix “Thiru.” One is Arudra THIRUVADIRAI, favored for Shiva. The other is Thiruvonam, favoured for Maha Vishnu.
- It is believed that Arudra is the largest of the stars and it denotes a red flame. It is believed that in the form of light the Lord performs his functions of creation, protection, destruction and concealment. Nataraja is considered the manifestation of the Lord as light.
- In the month Marghazhi, on the day when Thiruvadirai star and new moon coincide, people celebrate the ecstatic dance of Shiva.
- Why do we make Kali for Thiruvadirai?- A devotee called Sendanar had the habit of eating only whatever was left of the food offered to the Lord and then distributed among other devotees. On Thiruvadirai day in a Marghazhi, he could offer to the Almighty only some pittu and kali. With much regret that he could get nothing better, he offered these to the Lord. As he stood a little later in Nataraja’s sanctorum, the Lord effected a shower of pittu and kali on Sendanar, in recognition of his deep devotion. Since the day of that miracle, kali is the special offering to Lord Nataraja on Marghazhi Thiruvadirai. I read the above details from http://www.bhattar.com/html/nov_dec.html
My maternal grandmother is from Rameshwaram and she was a very spritual person. She was the one who has told us so many stories from Hindu mythology. She once told us about the SHIVA TEMPLE in a place called Utharakosamangai near Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu. This temple has a Natarajar idol made entirely from Maragadam (Emerald). The idol is always kept in sandalwood kaappu ( a layer of sandalwood paste covers the idol). This kaapu protects the residents of the town from the strong radiations from the idol. Only on the day of Thiruvadirai this sandalwood kaapu is removed and a new kaappu is applied. It is considered very auspicious if you can get Lord Nataraja’s darshan wihtout the kaappu.. its very difficult as the temple will be bursting with the crowd.
I have had the desire to visit this temple since my childhood days, dunno when it will materialise..
Now to the recipe. By the time I decided to prepare kali it was too late to wake up my mom or periamma for the recipe so I decided to follow Susvaad Ramya’s recipe. I just altered it slightly to suit our taste buds.
THIRUVADIRAI KALI
What’s needed:-
- Raw rice 1 cup ( I used long grain rice)
- Moong dal 1/4 cup
- jaggery (crushed) 3/4 cup
- crushed cardamom(take out seeds from) 4
- grated coconut flakes 2 cups
- cashews(broken) 5-6
- Ghee 1 tbsp
How To’s:-
1.Wash and dry the rice and moong dal under the fan.Dry roast the rice and dal in a heavy bottomed pan till it is slightly pink and aromatic.
2.Cool and grind it in a mixer until is coarse powder.
Roast some cashews in ghee and keep aside.
3.Heat about 3 cups of water in the pan and dissolve jaggery in it.After it completely dissolves ,filter it in a fine sieve to remove impurities in it.Put the filtered Jaggery water, back on heat.
4.When it starts boiling, put the ground rice little by little and keep stirring.Add coconut, cardamom and cashews.
5.When everything is mixed together. Pressure cook this mixture like you would cook rice or keep stirring like I did until the rice is cooked in pan
Verdict:-
My husband is just skeptic about anything that is called KALI.. He will just refuse to touch anything with that name Kali So I just told him its a sweet prasadam. When he had licked his bowl clean .. I told him its “THIRUVADIRAI KALI” hihihi
Its really good to have such situations when your husband is dumbstruck and you are the clear winner that too when it happens on a new years day hihihi the joy is tripled
Thanks a lot Ramya … all of us loved the kali
Catch you all on Pongal..
Cheers
Koki
If you had grown up in India, I am sure you will remember the Maggi Ad telecasted in 90’s “Ma bhook lagi… bas do minute bete… Maggi Maggi Maggi”. Well thats how they marketed Maggi and it made its grand entry into the Indian kitchens,altering the traditional food practices, with its promise of convenience .. 2 minutes evening snacks for hungry kids returning from school. They knew the psychology and marketed it right to attack the mother and child indulgence. Highly successful marketing strategy coz even now Vicky n I cook Maggi at times.
Well as a kid even I wanted maggi for snacks. After all it was easy to get carried away by the such advertisements when you are a kid and blissfully ignorant of the health factor. I was even a member of the Maggi club.
In this post, stay assured, I am not going to tell how to make Maggi noodles but instead it is a quick snack – a traditional one.
Maaladdu is just a laddu made with flours like those of moong dal or chickpeas (besan) or roasted dal with sugar, ghee and cashews. The maaladdu I am going to talk about in this post is the one made with Dalia or Pottukadalai or Roasted dal coz thats the quickest maaladdu I know of. If you remove ghee then this recipe is nothing, yes that will be pure injustice done to it. So I have tried my best to reduce the ghee.
Talking of this laddu and ghee reduction I am reminded of my sister. It was long back during our school days, whenever she came back from the school and wanted a snack, she would not waste a minute thinking. She would go run the mixer grinder with some pottukadalai and sugar, fill a bowl with it and eat it as if it were the only thing on earth that tasted so good. She absolutely loved it and just to avoid any health related advices she would skip the ghee and eat the pottukadalai maavu instead of the laddus
I made these laddus a couple of weeks back, Vicky loved it cause it has ghee and is sweet; very simple criteria for him to like a snack or sweet. A sweet start in 2010
Here is the recipe
POTTUKADALAI MAALADDU
What’s needed:-
- 1 cup of Pottukadalai or Roasted gram
- Sugar to taste
- 1/4 tsp Cardomom powder
- Ghee say about a Tbsp
- Few cashewnuts broken
- Reduced fat milk to help roll the laddus.
How To’s :-
- Grind the sugar and the Roasted gram together to a fine powder. Transfer it to a bowl
- Melt the ghee and fry the cashewnuts (Avoid the cashewnuts if preparing for toddler(s))
- Add the ghee and nuts to the gram mixture
- Mix well, add a couple of spoons of milk. Try to take a little of the mixture and roll it into a ball.
- If you can make balls (what we call as laddus) go ahead and roll the rest of the mixture
- If not add a couple more teaspoons of milk and try rolling again…
How Not To’s:-
- Do not add too much milk. Add little by little testing everytime for the right consistency for rolling the laddus. Else you might end up with a gooey porridge and not Laddus.
Enjoy the laddus.. Nobody can eat just one Grab one if you want 
Cheers
Koki
I hope all of you would have watched the Movie AVATAR by now, if you have not I would highly recommend that you do. It is totally an amazing experience. James Cameroon has won again… He has used technology to bring to screen a delicate love story with a deeper message. The message is extremely spiritual about conservation and peaceful co-existence with nature. A message sent at the perfect time. When Jake Sully talks to the holy tree in Pandora, he says ” There is nothing green left on Earth.” Cameroon is telling you “Time is almost running out… do something to save our Planet”
Sekhar Kapur for Green peace organisation says
” Millions of people across the world have been telling the politicians that this is too important an issue to ignore – the future of the planet is at stake ..The US has done the most to cause climate change, and is doing the least to try and stop it – Obama can make a difference – yes he can! Tell him that he needs to be a climate leader and not a follower.
This week, India announced that it will reduce its carbon intensity by 20% – 25% by 2020 – an important step in the right direction. By announcing this before the Copenhagen summit, we can come to the negotiating table with our heads held high: we’ve made that first gesture, and we’re willing to go further. The developed world should now feel ashamed if they don’t do more than the pittance they have offered to do so far. “
Well I am really not sure if we should wait for World leaders to come to a consensus on this issue. To cut the long story short … the point is we are the last generation who has to act fast so that this EARTH does not undergo more damage before we hand it over to the next generation.
If we Marathon runners could cook up so many dishes together… VOICING TOGETHER for a GREENER TOMORROW could work wonders. So I will be highly delighted if you could add one more resolution to your list this NEW YEAR 2010… “LIVING A GREENER LIFE” … It doesn’t cost a dime believe me .. you can check my post “You can save the world” for a few tips.
If you already follow them… keep up the good work and please spread the message.
Now coming back to the Marathon its the final day of the Marathon and hurray we have managed to touch the finish line. Pat yourself on your back on my behalf. Now to appreciate all my fellow runners for this wonderful achievement and the great treats they have shared in this week, I have a jar of Orange and Chocolate Chip Cookies as we all welcome the year 2010 together. Let us hope it brings “Good health, peace and all wonderful things for everyone on Earth…”
Now to the recipe… this cookie recipe was bookmarked from Sunita’s world. The moment I saw the recipe I knew I would be baking it… I did .. the verdict —-Wow Orange and Chocolate together…it tasted yummilicious..
My son had his fair share of joy by pulling out the choc chips and throwing them around before he ate the cookies.
I did a few minor changes to the recipe like adding whole wheat flour and more orange zest.Here is the recipe for my records
ORANGE N CHOCLATE CHIP COOKIES
What’s needed:-
(Makes 18-20 cookies)
This week, India announced that it will reduce its carbon intensity by 20% – 25% by 2020 – an important step in the right direction. By announcing this before the Copenhagen summit, we can come to the negotiating table with our heads held high: we’ve made that first gesture, and we’re willing to go further. The developed world should now feel ashamed if they don’t do more than the pittance they have offered to do so far.
- 1.5 cupswhole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup APflour
- 1 tbsp orange zest(Preferably organic orange)
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 3 tbsp of smart balance vegan butter ( use butter instead if you want to)
- 4 tbsp honey
- 3 Tbsp of oats
- a big handful of chocolate chips
- 2 to 3 Tbsp of milk
How To’s
- Pre-heat the oven to 320 F.
- Grease a Cookie Sheet.
- In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and the oats.
- Add the honey to mixture and mix well
- Now add butter and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips.
- Add the Orange zest, chocolate chips, milk and orange juice and gently mix, just mix DONT KNEAD.
- Make equal sized balls and flatten them on the cookie sheet.
- Put your rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake till the sides begin to brown, but they are still soft in the center. It took me about 20 minutes
- Remove them from the oven, Cool them in the sheet for a few minutes and then cool them on a cooling rack
- Eat some and store the rest in air tight containers.
I cannot resist a Choclate chip cookie now with the the flavour of Orange and Choclate ..no way that the Cookies go straight to their storage area.
Hope all the runners love these cookies.
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR. MAY GOD BLESS YOU N YOUR FAMILY WITH THE BEST OF HIS BLESSINGS. LET US ALL PRAY AND WORK FOR A GREENER TOMORROW FOR OUR CHILDREN AND GENERATIONS TO COME
Cheers
Koki
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