CLICK Crust (Sep 2008) – I am empty without u!

Crust is an interesting theme but I am no good in baking breads. Thought of pie/tart crusts but not so intuitive for myself to make one.

Recently tried to make this fascinated by the pics but it was a total failure on the looks(the crust did not come out as a whole) even though it tasted heavenly!

So this strike my mind when I saw triangle shaped sandwich bread loaf in th nearby super market. I toasted the slice to make the crust a bit hard. Before that I sliced the crumb with a sharp knife. Since its shaped as a triangle it was easy to make it stand straight. But I used a little strip of cello-tape to hold it firm. And Jai, this was shot with the tabletop light I did little touch-ups with gimp and here you go!

And what title have I given to this shot ? I am empty without u!

Thengai paal kesari – Coconut milk kesari

If you are a regular reader you would have noted my love for coconut milk. I love the subtle creaminess it imparts to the dish and totally addicted for its mild sweetness. Whenever I make dish for the kids I make sure I add thick coconut milk to enhance the taste. Except for sambar I used to add this to any gravy I make.

This sunday morning I woke up with the craving for rava kesari. Its long that we made it and wanted to add a twist to it. Tried to make it with coconut milk and it turned to be a wonderful dish. We made rava kichdi and coconut chutney to go along with and it made out a grand breakfast on a Sunday morning!

Here comes the recipe!

Thengai paal Kesari

Ingredients:

Freshly grated coconut – 2 Cups (packed)
Sooji / Rawa – 1 Cup
Sugar – 1.5 Cups
Cardomom – seeds grounded 1/2 tea spoon
Salt – a pinch
Water – 2 Cups
Ghee – 1 Table spoon (Use vanaspathi it for a vegan version)
Cashew – 6 (broken into small pieces)

How to make it ?
Reserve 3 Table spoon of grated coconut and grind the rest with 1/2 cup of water in a mixer or stone grinder. In a colander squeeze the ground paste and extract the milk. This is the first milk. Reserve it. Grind the paste again with 1 cup of water and squeeze aagin. This is called the second milk. Reserve it separately.

In a thick bottomed kadai heat the ghee and fry the cashews golden until brown. Drain them and reserve it. In the same kadai fry the Rawa stirring continously in low heat until a nice aroma comes up. Switch off the stove and reserve the rava.

In the same kadai boil 1 Cup of water with the second coconut milk with the salt. When it comes to a rolling boil add the fried rawa and keep stirring continously. At this point the mix will be pretty thick. Now add the sugar and mix well. Add the ground cardamom. Add the first coconut milk now and keep mixing. It will tend to form lumps but mix well and it will becomed smooth in the end. Keep the heat in moderate during the whole process. When you find there are no lumps simmer the stove and keep it covered for 3-4 minutes. Keep checking in between if the bottom is not getting sticky.
It will be done by this time. Add the reserved grated coconut and mix well. Add the cashews give a final stir. Keep it warm until serving. I am sending this to Vaishali of Holy Cow’s Sweet Vegan Event

This weekend I finally made this. Thanks to Jai for the foolproof steps. But I was not able to find the plastic sheet in all the nearby shops. Need to try out in other places next week. But will that stop me from trying out this ? I made use of a “dhoti” which my father generously gave me for my trials. Have posted the sample picts taken from it. I made some orange jelly for my elder one and that has posed for the trial.

(With the normal lighting – means the poorly lit room)

(With table top lighting)

Isn’t it looking good? Will post the picture of the entire setup soon.

Kalakkai Oorukai – (Karaunda pickle)

The festival season starts with the wonderful Vinayaka Chathurthy. To sort out the offerings for God Ganesha all were simple produces of the season thus making Him a simple person to reach for and both the rich and poor can do the celebrations without much of hustle.

To name a few on the offerings side there were arisi pori, sundal, kambu, Pirappam pazham, karumbu, erukam poo and kalaakai.

I am coming to the kalakaai berries (Carissa congesta ) now. They were tiny sour little things which cannot be eaten on their own. They taste so much sour. But putting them into a spicy pickle makes morsels of curd rice as simple heaven!

When we bought items for the pooja a bag of these berries too came into our kitchen. Amma made these delicious pickle and here goes the recipe!

Kalaakai (Karaunda) pickle
Ingredients:

Kalakkai – 1 cup (cut into 2 and pit them)
Gigelly oil – 1 T spoon
Salt – 1 tea spoon
Chilly powder – 1 T spoon
Mustard seeds – 1/4 tea spoon

How to make it ?

Add the kalakkai in 1/2 cup of boiling water and add the salt and simmer for 15 minutes. Check in between if the water dries up. Drain and keep aside. Heat the oil in a thick bottomed vessel and once hot add the mustard seeds and when they start spluttering add the boiled kalakkai and chilly powder. Mix well and check for salt and if required add to taste. Simmer and stir it often until the oil separates. Switch off the stove and let it cool. Store it in a dry aritight container. Keeps well for a month.

Serve them with Curd rice!