Vazhakkai | Raw banana chips is a rare one which i make at home, though my grandmother makes a super crispy chips often. One day i had a sudden craving for this chips and i decided to make it out and asked my mom for the exact procedure of making it(though i know roughly). The raw banana chips came out super crispy and yum and we enjoyed with hot rice and Paruppu urundai kuzhambhu for a weekend lunch. Will be posting the recipe for parrupu urundai kuzhambhu in my next post.
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Peel the skin of the raw bananas and slice them using a slicer (mandoline slicer)and immerse it in salt water for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, take out the slices and pat dry in a kitchen towel.
On the other hand heat the oil for deep frying.
When the oil is hot, carefully put in the dried and sliced raw bananas.
Fry it in batches. Do not put too much at a time. Also carefully put them and ensure everyone is separate . If the raw banana slices are together then it will get cooked evenly and will become soggy.
When the sizzle sound of the oil subsides, take them out and drain it in a kitchen towel.
Repeat this for the rest of the slices.
Transfer it to a wide airtight container. Add pepper powder and chilli powder. Do not add salt as we added while immersing them in water.
Shake vigorously for even mixing of spices.
Enjoy crispy Vazhakkai chips with Rice and sambar or with tea | coffee.
Note:
Just before frying take out the sliced raw bananas from water and pat dry. Else the color will become dull.
After frying and draining the excess oil in the kitchen towel, a minute later transfer it to a air tight container. Repeat this for all the batches . If the chips stays outside till the entire batch gets over it will loose its crispiness.
For a healthy version you can bake it instead of frying.
In my in laws place the cook mami will take out the skin of the vazhakkai ( as we do for ripe banana) and directly slice them in the oil. though i have seen that I never tried as i don't think i can bear the heat!!
Though I am not a fan of chocolate, very rarely i get cravings for chocolates and few days back suddenly i have a craving for some hot drink with chocolate i made this hot chocolate at home adapting the recipe from here. It tasted very yum and i thoroughly enjoyed it and sharing the recipe today.
This posted i drafted a few weeks back . As i was extremely busy with the kiddos exams and other routine work, couldn’t visit any of the blogs and missed all the super recipes. I will be back to routine from next week.
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(KADALAI MAAVU URUNDAI)- Recipe updated with video
Till date i have i have never tasted or made besan ladoo, but when a reader asked me the recipe for this few days back, I thought i will learn and post the recipe of besan ladoo before diwali. But, she again insisted me to post before Ganesha Chaturthi, I tried this two days back. When i asked my mom about the recipe for Besan ladoo, though she never made this, but makes a yummy ladoo with green gram flour(Payatham urundai) ,didn’t say the exact measurements for this besan ladoo. So i called up my friend’s MIL, who stays in our apartment,and asked her for the recipe. Aunty is an expert in making sweets and she told the recipe and the way to make the besan ladoo too. It came out extremely well and super perfect and we all enjoyed it a lot.
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Though i packed few ladoos for my friend too but here is a visual treat for her MIL (who taught me the recipe) who is celebrating her birthday tomorrow.
Video of how to make besan ladoo
INGREDIENTS: (YIELDS 10 LADOOS)
BESAN |KADALAI MAAVU
1 CUP
SUGAR
3/4 CUP
GHEE(CLARIFIED BUTTER)
1/4 CUP
CASHEWNUTS
8-10
CARDAMOM POWDER(optional)
A PINCH
METHOD:
In a heavy bottomed pan, add a spoon of ghee . Chop the cashew nuts into small pieces. Fry them in the ghee till golden brown and keep it aside.
In the same add the besan and roast it in a medium low flame till it emits a nice aroma and the colour of the besan must have changed by now.This took approximately 20 minutes.
Be careful not to get it burnt.
Melt the ghee in a separate pan .
Transfer the roasted cashew nuts and besan to a wide bowl .
Powder the sugar finely and add it to the bowl.
Add the ghee slowly. The ghee should be hot.
Mix everything well with a spoon. When it becomes warm, make medium sized balls with your hands.
The ladoos were moist in the beginning but after an hour it was perfect.
If by any chance you can not make ladoos just melt a tblsp of ghee and try making ladoos.
Note:
Always roast the besan nicely else it will give a raw taste to the ladoos.
Do not add too much ghee ,else you will get very soft ladoos instead of a firm one.
Do not lessen the quantity of ghee too as the mixture will be dry and you cannot make balls.
You can sprinkle few drops of milk to bind the mixture, but this will lessen the shelf life of the ladoos.
This tasted super yum on the next day.
The quantity of ghee depends on the texture of the besan. when i made it again it took 2 tblsp more ghee.
Potato masala for poori| Poori Kizhangu, a popular South Indian restaurant style gravy, pairs well with poori, dosai and also Rava idli. The Poori masala which they normally serve in restaurants especially in Saravana Bhavan is one of my most favorite. Whenever Varun order Poori in Saravana bhavan here, he will just dip the masala and eat the poori, so me a big fan of Poori masala will eat it as it is and Varsha will sometimes share with me too. Though i tried Poori masala | Poori kizhanghu at home many times , but mostly i will be making for kids lunch box only and i never had a chance to click the pictures. Yesterday i made poori and kizhangu for evening tiffin and i made this before the kids are back from school and clicked the pictures too.
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The savory version of kozhukattai , which is made by stuffing urad dal poornam, made for ganesha chaturthi. Last year itself i wanted to post the recipe of ulundu kozhukattai, but somehow i couldn’t make it out. In my mom’s place she makes this savory version of kozhukattai more than the Modakam, where as in my in laws place every one likes Modakam a lot. Though making of kozhukattai is a bit time consuming i love to make it and of course to eat it too. Check out my ganesha chathurthi recipes
Ammini Kozhukattai , made from the left over kozhukattai maavu(outer layer) while making Modakam for ganesh Chaturthi. This ammini kozhukattai itself makes a tiffin or snack and it is a quite a healthy and addictive snack too. Though there are different version of making this ammini kozhukattai I am sharing the one which my mom usually makes at home. Check out the notes to see the different ways of making ammini kozhukattai.
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Description: Ammini Kozhukattai , made from the left over kozhukattai maavu(outer layer) while making Modakam for ganesh Chaturthi.
Rice flour 1 cup Salt 1/2 tsp Water to make the dough Sesame oil 2 tsp Coconut oil 1 tblsp Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp Urad dal 1 tsp Curry leaves few Idli milagai podi 3- 4 tsp Coconut 2 tblsp
Method with step by step pictures :
Boil the water by adding salt and sesame oil to it.
Keep the rice flour|idiyappam flour in a wide bowl.
When the water comes to a rolling boil,slowly add the water to the flour.
Normally for idiyappam flour it will take 1 and 1/4 cup of water for 1 cup of flour. But for store bought rice flour it will be little less.
Just mix with a spoon while adding water.
This should be of a smooth dough consistency.
When it is warm knead it with your hands and add a tsp of sesame oil if you want.
Cover with a moist cloth to avoid dryness.
Grease your hands with oil and make a small size balls out of the rice flour dough.( I am not good in making even sized balls)
Steam this in a greased idli plates for 8 minutes in medium flame.
Heat a pan and add the coconut oil.
Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Add the steamed balls to this and add the idli milagai podi.
Gently mix it well.
Add coconut to this and mix well.
Check for salt.
Enjoy this guilt free snack for evening tiffin.
Notes:
Do not over steam this kozhukattais as it will turn hard and chewy.
Instead of Idli Milagai Podi you can add redchilli powder while kneading the dough and make balls. the rest of the procedure is same.
You can add pepper powder to the seasoning and make it as pepper ammini kozhukattai.
Thengai molagapodi can be added and in that case you can skip the coconut.
Alternatively while tempering mustard seeds chopped green chilies or red chilies can be added to give spicyness to the ammini kozhukattais.
When Varsha told me to bake some cookies for Teacher’s day celebration at her school, I was searching for some eggless cookies and my google search ends when i saw these eggless Vanilla custard powder cookies in Sowmya's blog. I like her baking recipes a lot. I loved the recipe as it is doesn’t have butter too. For me taking out the butter before hand and handling them in the measuring cup is a lazy job!!. This recipe has used oil and they turned out totally awesome. No where i could find the oil taste in the cookie.
The place where I did the mistake was i over baked the first batch , though she mentioned in the recipe not to do that, and i got many of them burnt. But the second batch i took out in the right time and they really melted in the mouth.Click here for the original recipe. She used whole wheat flour too but i used only All purpose flour.
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Channa sundal , though we make usually during Navaratri or Ganesha Chaturthi , i make this whenever i am running out veggies or whenever i soak for Channa Masala or Channa pulao I soak a handful extra to make this sundal. This way of making sundal I learnt from my mother in-law and i like this one as it is loaded with nice flavors of fresh ground masala.
INGREDIENTS:
BOILED CHICKPEAS
1/2 CUP
CORIANDER SEEDS
1/2 TBLSP
CHANNA DAL
1/2 TBLSP
RED CHILLI
2
COCONUT(FRESH)
2 TBLSP
COCONUT OIL
1 TSP
MUSTARD SEEDS
1/4 TSP
CURRY LEAVES
FEW
ASAFOETIDA
A PINCH
SALT
AS NEEDED
Method:
Soak the chickpeas over night and pressure cook for 3 whistles by adding little salt to this.
Drain the water and keep it aside.
In a pan, dry roast the coriander seeds, channa dal and red chilly till golden brown.
When it is cool, make it into a fine powder.
In the same pan, add the coconut oil and mustard seeds and when it splutters add the curry leaves and the cooked chickpeas.
Take a tblsp of ground spice mix and add to the chickpeas.
If you have remaining, store it in a dry container and use it whenever required.
This same spice mix can be used for bisibelabath and arachuvitta sambar.
Saute this for a minute and add the scrapped coconut.
