CLICK Cookies

I made some 2-3 varieties of cookies. I tried lemon meltaways, macaroons and some choc cookies. All were edible but not photogenic. I then came to an opinion about myself. Even though I dream to act like a pastry chef I am nowhere near and will take a long time to reach there.

So CLICK cookies can’t wait till that and hence decided to buy some good looking cookies and try out. I clicked the Lotte’s Chocopies. Even though they looked lovely I am talented enough to make them ugly in the photo After the first session when viewed the results in my computer I thought those clicks can be trashed right away.

Then I bought some Sunfeast Orange cream biscuits. I ried to include an orange in my shot but couldn’t buy one and its already 10 PM yesterday. Today and tomorrow I will be reaching home late from office and hence I need to wind up yesterday night. So I setup the props and finaly got a few clicks. After the makeover they all looked like Bollywood stars coming out of the green room and the below pic is my entry to CLICK – cookies May 09.

Here are the other trials I have done

Ah…I am done Thanks Jai and Bee for this wonderful monthly excercise!

Seeraalangari – a long forgotten delicacy

I have heard many times Amma talking about “Seeralangari” but never she had made it at home. I too was not fascinated by the name and just skipped the conversation many times. This morning she asked me if I would like to take a shot as she had made that dish.

I immediately set up a place (now everybody at home got used to it, even the kids) not much fancy but near the balcony and clicked a few shots. But I could not get to have a taste of it till lunch time. It tasted wonderful. Not very spicy and fancy its a simple protien rich delicacy which was made all these years in the northern part of Tamilnadu. I am not sure why it got its name but my Grandma seems to be an expert of making it. With no vegetables around this is an easy dish to go.

Ingredients:

Yellow moong dal – 150 gm

Onions chopped (divided) – 1/2 cup

Green chillies chopped – 2 T spoon

Ginger chopped – 1 tea spoon

Garlic – 6-8 pods chopped

Sprig of curry leaf

Peanut oil – 2 – 3 T

Mustard, Urad dal – each 1 teaspoon

asafoetida – 1 pinch

How to make it ?

Dry roast the dal for 5-7 mins in low flame until a nice aroma comes. Soak the dal for atleast 2 hours (preferaby overnight). In the mixie grind the soaked dal (after draining it) along with half of the onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaf to a course paste with very little water. Add salt to this as per taste.

In an idli steamer spread this batter in an indli plate and steam cook for 15 minutes or till the batter is cooked well. Let it cool completely and crumble them so that there are pieces of 1/2 inch size (make it more chunkier).

In a thick bottomed vessel heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start crackling add the asafoetida and urad dal and curry leaves. Add the garlic pods. Saute till the urad dal turns golden. Add the remaining onions, green chillies and ginger and saute till onions turn translucent. Now add the crumbled cooked moongal mix and saute till the mix turns slightly golden. Do the entire sauteing in low flame to get good crispiness. Serve with rice and a spicy kulambu.

Kool Kool Kulfi

Last week I had kesar kulfi when we went out for lunch with friends. The kulfi was very flaky, not that creamy but the kesar aroma was too strong. But it tasted ok. As Chennai is seeing “Agni Natchathiram” there is lotsa demand for icecreams at home. To manage my elder one who can live on icecreams for breakfast, lunch and dinner I very much wanted to make kulfi at home.

Immediately after getting back I searched for a kulfi recipe. Many demanded fresh cream in a large quantity which is difficult to get here. After reading few recipes I settled to try my own. Even the milk skin gives the wonderful taste to kulfis my elder one doesn’t like it. If something like that hinders in his tongue he would stop eating it immediately. So when grinding the soaked cashews and almonds I filtered the boiled milk and added the skin to the nuts and ground it to a creamy texture. This made a distinct effect in the kulfis. I was collecting the tiny clay pots in which these wonderful delicacy is served since past few months, I made good use of them now

And after spending little time to set up the tiny studio (in the total 20 mins I had to come out to attend my kids 4-5 times ) I managed a few shots which I really liked. And here’s my recipe! Shoo away the heat with these heavenly creamy pots!

Cashew Almond Kulfi

Ingredients:
Full cream milk – 1 Ltr
Sugar – 4 T spoon
Cardamom (seeds only) – 4 pods
Saffron – a pinch
Cashew – 1 handful
Almonds – 5-6
Pistachio slivers – 2 T spoon

How to make it ?
Boil the milk in low flame till it reduces to 1/3 rd of its original quantity. It takes almost 20-30 minutes. Stir in between to make sure its not scorching in the bottom. Use a thick bottomed vessel. In the mean time soak the cashews and almonds in a cup of hot water. By the time the milk is ready the nuts would have soaked to soft. Let the milk come to lukewarm temperature and filter it using a cheese cloth / tea filter. Grind the soaked nuts along with the milk skin and grind to a smooth creamy mass. If needed add a spoon or two of the boiled milk while grinding. Take the milk back to the stove on a medium flame and heat for 1 minute. Add the cardamom seeds, nut paste and sugar and mix well with a long spoon till the milk becomes thick and creamy. Keep stirring for another minute or two and then add the pistachio slivers and mix well. Let it come to room temperature and fill this in small clay pots for a traditional touch or fill them in kulfi molds. You can in turn use the ordinary cups too. Freeze them overnight. Enjoy kulfi to your heart’s content. The above measurements made 8 such pots as shown in the picture.

Poornam kozhukattai

Kozhukattai sounds to be odd at this time of the season but what can stop a sudden craving for the soft dumplings with sweet fillings ? Last Sunday evening called for a craving for these little sweet pillows when I discovered the kozhukatai mold I bought long back during a cleaning process.

Myself and amma immediately jumped into action. Amma made the poornam and I made the dough. All the moldings done by me in lightning speed (the craving drove me ) and within an our we had steaming hot poornam kozhukattai ready to savor. Now you know from where I got the gene of a foodie yes its from my dearest Amma.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

Rice flour – 1 cup

Water – 1/2 cup

salt – a pinch
For the filling:

Chana dal / Kadalai paruppu – 1/2 cup

Jaggery grated – 1/4 cup

Cardamom – 1 crushed with the skin

Salt – a pinch

How to make it?

The poornam should be made first. Cook the chana dal with water till it falls apart in a vessel with adequate water and a pinch of salt. Drain and cool. Add the grated jaggery, cardamom and mash it with a wooden spoon. Don’t mash it thoroughly but some of the dal should remain whole.

In a thick bottomed vessel boil 1/2 cup of water. When it comes to a rolling boil add the salt and dump the flour all at once. Using a wooden spoon mix it keeping thoroughly until you get a solid mass. Mix on the stove top for a minute and then take the vessel off the stove. Let it cool until it is luke warm.

Take a small lime sized ball of the dough. Oil your palms and press the dough softly to make a disc in your palm. Place half a spoon full of the filling and carefully close the disc to make a ball. Let the filling not seep out. Instead you can make use of ready made molds sold in shops (the one below is made usin the coconut shaped mold). Steam them for 10 minutes. Enjoy when they were still warm.

And do you want to have a look at my failed almond macaroons ? Here it is.

They ended up looking like tuiles and my elder one commented “Enna Amma un macaroon dosai maadhiri iruku?” (Mom u’re macaroons are looking like dosas?). But these kind of comments are not going to stop me from further trials. And did I say that all of them I made disappeared in a day? Thanks to Helen for all her guidance. Will soon try again.

A jelly that never firmed up

What are food blog events for? To inspire to kindle our imagination ? To get ourselves creative? Explore new cuisine ? or revisit an old-time favorite ? There might be so many but when Priya of Akshayapaatram announced Thai cuisine I was very much intrigued to try some new recipes.

After much learning I enlightened myself that no where in my neighborhood I can find the right ingredients and my routine life will never allow me to travel different parts of the city in search of them. So I in a humble tone settled down with a simple dessert from the cuisines of Thai which I found in Tarladalal. Its a layered fruit jelly. The ingredients and combinations were very inviting but somehow my taste buds could not pair up the coconut milk with any other fruits (a conservative foodie ) Hence I thought I shall make a coconut jelly alone with my favorite flavorings.

I bought some agar agar to make my jelly intact and sampled with 1 cup of thick coconut milk. I don’t know where I missed. Did I not like the flavor it rendered ? Did I not cut the agar-agar tiny enough ? psst. Not sure! Some how my jelly never got firm. So the second time I completely omitted the agar-agar and just took a thick first milk from a whole fresh coconut. I got just this much (the photo below). So imagine how thick it should be. And this time instead of refrigerating I put the cups in the freezer for 2 hours. Wow, when I taste it from the spoon it not only tasted fabulous but was creamy enough like a milkshake. I loved it so much and liked the cups clean. So I wanted to share this cool refreshing treat with a floral note that is perfect for this summer.

Ingredients:

Fresh grated coconut (packed) – 2 cups

Fresh rose petals (the Indian variety ) – 10-15 petals

Sugar- as per taste (I used 1 T spoon)

How to make it ?

Boil 1/2 cup of water and pour over the grated coconut. Use two shallow cups dividing the grated coconut between them and pour the water evenly between the two. Cover them and leave them for half an hour. Now squeeze the coconut with your hand or use a hand blender run it till you get a thick paste. Run the paste through a sieve and you will get the thick milk. Add little more water if required and do this process again until you get 1.5 cups of thick coconut milk. Now this coconut paste can be used in curries or stews.

Mix the sugar to this and bring it to the stove top and simmer for just a minute in low heat. On seeing the first bubble take it off the stove and add the rose petals and cover. Let it come down to room temperature and fill them in two cups and cover and freeze for 1 hour. It will not solidify as there is nothing to encourage the same but it will become thick and creamy and the floral scent of the rose petals getting infused deeply. Have it as a refreshing dessert or pour it over a piece of cake and relish!

And this how I missed the deadline for the event but I should be thankful to Priya for being the inspiring point of this refreshing cooler!

Note: Priya has generously accpeted this as an entry for her <a href=”http://akshayapaatram.blogspot.com/2009/03/its-vegan-world-thai.html”>It’s a Vegan World – Thai</a> which is a brainchild of <a href=”http://earthvegan.blogspot.com/”>Vaishali of Holy Cow</a>. I am so happy! Thanks a ton Priya!

Kamarkat – a childood favorite

Summer not only brings heat and sultry but also fond memories of vacations, visiting relative’s houses, mingling with the fellow age group etc. even though its not regular during childhood days we often visit Cuddalore (as appa is a Govt. employee we used to get transferred to different parts of Tamilnadu every 3 years) to visit my maternal Grandma’s sister’s house. Her’s is a huge family with 7 chithis and 2 mama’s all are dear to us as we are the little ones among the group.

On every such visit my chinna paati would make these kmarkuts. These were very chewy sweet balls of jaggery speckled with coconut bits. Wow, what a treat they are ! I still remember my face and arms stained with the jaggery melts and my eyes lit with the simple joyfulness when the balls melt in your mouth. Its soooo very chewy as to finish one marbled size ball it takes time for ever.

Last week when amma tried to make a jagery syrup for Vella aappam (oh, the next candidate recipe ) she left it unnoticed that it cooked till soft ball stage. Oh isn’t that good. We played with the semi-solid syrup (remains so even after cooling) pulling it to strings, making balls etc but did not forget to lick the bowl clean And this is the recipe !

Ingredients :

Jaggery – chopped and packed 1 cup

Water – as needed

very thinly sliced coconut – 2 T spoon

How to make it ?

In a tick bottomed kadai place the chopped jaggery and add water to it in additions of a T spoon at a time till all the jaggery is submerged in water. Stop adding water at this stage and heat it in medium low heat. When all the jaggery is melted carefully filter it in a tea filter / cheese cloth to remove any dirt. Again take the filters liquid in the kadai and heat it in medium low. The syrup will start boiling with golden brown bubbles and its a delight to watch it. Check the syrup with a wooden spoon. For this take cold water in a shallow plate. Dip the wooden spoon into the hot syrup and hold it above the plate with water till a drop falls down. When you touch the syrup drop in the water it will feel like a soft ball. This is the right stage and now switch off the stove and take the kadai from the stove and plate it on the kitchen counter to cool down. Sprinkle the coconut slices and mix with the spoon. Watch carefully and when its warm to touch it is right time to shape them to marble sized balls. The tick syrup when scooped out will form thin strings but thats the funny part. With wet hands try to shape them into balls. But you know, when shaping after much effort if you could make it nearest to the shape of a marble you can’t resist but pop it in to your mouth. More than half of it went to our mouths before getting in to a container

I am submitting this to Srivalli’s Mitha mela which is a belated entry. Hope dear Valli would accept this humble mittai of Tamilnadu