Sunday, February 1, 2015

HOW TO FREEZE GREEN PEAS | INDIAN KITCHEN BASICS

Wheni started this Indian Kitchen basics series, this post for how to freeze peas was in my list. I was waiting for the green peas season. Though i got lot of them during my vacation in India, i couldn't click as it was very busy. Last week, during my trip to little India market here, i got the fresh green peas and made this post. Though we get frozen peas in many cities , still when we make it at home we feel so happy and good. This frozen peas at home can be stored in the freezer for 6 to 8 months. We can just straight away use this frozen peas from the freezer . No need to pressure cook the peas.You can use this peas for pulaos, curry and gravy too.

PAAL KOOTU RECIPE | PARANGIKKAI PAAL KOOTU

Paal Kootu is prepared generally made with young pumpkin, also called as Elankottai. I remember one of my aunt brings this young pumpkin from her native village whenever she visits us during the season. Sometimes she manages to send this through somebody. I made this with yellow pumpkin which i bought for Pongal festival. It will taste slightly sweetish, but with spicy Vathakuzhambhu it tastes heaven. Do try this traditional recipe of paal kootu. You can try the same recipe with ashgourd, snake gourd and chow chow too.

PUNJABI KADHI RECIPE | KADHI PAKORA RECIPE

Punjabi Kadhi recipe is a traditional punjabi dish and the recipe of this i learned from my friend. She is the one who taught me the Lauki channa dal recipe too. Long back she sent the recipe of punjabi kadhi pakora to me via email. I have tried this couple of times but never clicked the main pictures due to time constraint. Finally last weekend i made this and clicked too.
I have already the posted of Methi kadhi pakora. A simple kadhi, chawal (rice) and Aloo jeera will be a wonderful combo.

MILLET UPMA ADAI | SAMAI /LITTLE MILLET UPMA ADAI | MILLET RECIPES

Millets recipes whenever i think about that, ideas keep flooding my mind. I am posting Millet recipes every Monday and today i have prepared an interesting recipe with Little Millet | Samai. I wanted to post pidi kozhukattai recipe using millet, but suddenly changed my mind and made these thavala adai. Generally my grandma makes this with raw rice. She drizzles loads of oil and make this so crispy. She has a lot of patience to make it for a big family too. I just made in small quantity just for this post and of course, we all had today during tea time. Try this healthy snack with any variety of millet like varagu, kuthiraivali and thinai too.
Look out for my Cook book on Millets published by Vikatan publications. Click the link to but the book online. The shipping is available worldwide.- http://books.vikatan.com/index.php?bid=2303

SWEET POTATO CURRY | SAKKARAVALLI KIZHANGU CURRY

Sweet potato curry | Sakkari valli kizhangu curry is one my mom makes during pongal festival. The version she makes is with jaggery and will be like a sweet halwa. Though i like that but i can't take it more as i feel it is too sweet for me. This version of making curry like how we make potato curry, i gave for the no onion no garlic recipes supplement, which i did for kungumam thozi.. So Since now the sweet potato is season and also pongal festival is coming up , thought of posting this sweet potato recipe today.

KADAI VEGETABLE RECIPE | RESTAURANT STYLE KADAI VEGETABLE

Kadai vegetable gravy is a similar recipe to the Kadai Paneer . But generally Kadai Paneer will a semi dry dish whereas this Kadai vegetable is a with a little thicker gravy. This is a perfect side dish for roti, naan, kulcha and even jeera rice and pulaos too. I have given this recipe for the supplement book given to Aval Vikatan in August 2014. But this recipe was left in choice as there are few more recipes with mixed vegetables. The mixed veg kurma, vegetable jalfrezi, Navratna korma were published. Yesterday when i was clearing my mail box, saw this mail in my folder and wated to try it out again. I vividly remember that everyone at home loved this Kadai vegetable. They all vouched that it tasted like the restaurant one too. I adapted the recipe from here.

MILLET HAKKA NOODLES | MILLET SEWAI RECIPES

Millet recipes are gaining so much popularity now a days. Recently i have got the Millet sewai packets from Bhairavi Naturals, supplier of Organic Millets in Singapore. They gave me a packet of Varagu Sevai and Kuthiraivali sevai packet to try it out. They deliver Organic millets at reasonable price at your doorsteps.. I have given a recipe for Aval Kitchen long back with the theme of Popular Singapore recipes. In that i have given the Rice noodles recipe too. When i got the millet sevai, i thought i will make this Varagu noodles in Hakka noodles style. It was a super hit and got ready so quickly. Stay tuned for more interesting recipes with Millet.
The recipe of Singapore Rice noodles is slightly different from this, will post that soon.
To buy a copy of my millet cook book (tamil) please follow this link - Cook book

GAJAR HALWA RECIPE | MICROWAVE CARROT HALWA RECIPE

Gajar ka halwa | carrot halwa, a very popular Indian sweet | dessert, though i have tried it few times, this is the first time i am trying in Microwave. Before going to vacation, i have few carrots lying in the refrigerator and half litre of milk too. Thought i will make carrot kheer but milk will not be sufficient to make for all of us. So planned to try carrot halwa in Microwave. It turned out so well and we all enjoyed this with Vanilla ice cream. Yes we all love this combo of vanilla icecream with carrot halwa. Check out my stovetop version of gajar halwa | carrot halwa with condensed milk. You can add condensed milk to this gajar halwa too to make it more rich.

MILLET SAKKARAI PONGAL RECIPE | PONGAL FESTIVAL 2015 RECIPES

Pongal festival 2015 is celebrated tomorrow and this year i wanted to post a sakkarai pongal with millet. I have tried sakkarai pongal with Thinai|foxtail millet for the supplement book i made for Mangayar Malar. So this time i wanted to try with Varagu | Koda millet . It is called Kodra in Hindi and Harka in kannada and Koovaragu in Malayalam . Check out the Pongal festival 2015 recipes. I made the normal sakkarai pongal but just replaced the raw rice with varagu arisi. As always the sakkarai pongal tasted divine and me generally don't prefer jaggery based sweets much, had an extra spoon today. Sometimes i pat myself on my back if any recipes turn out very well. Millet sakkarai pongal tasted the same and no one could make out that you have made this with Millets.
For buying millets in Singapore, check out Bhairavi Naturals an online shop. They do home delivery too.

Millet Sakkarai pongal

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 25 Mins |Serves: 3-4

Varagu arisi | Kodo millet 1/2 cup
Moong dal 2 tbslp
Jaggery | vellam 3/4 cup
Ghee 2-3 tsp
Cardamom powder a pinch
Cashew nuts few
Raisins few (optional)
Edible camphor | Pacha karpooram a pinch (optional)

Method:

Wash varagu arisi and moong dal and pressure cook this by adding 1 and half cup of water.
You can even soak this for 15 minutes and cook in the pressure cooker. Once done mash this nicely with the back of a ladle.

Add jaggery in a pan and add little water to this. Allow the vellam to boil and filter the impurities.
Boil this jaggery water for 5 minutes in a medium low flame.
Add the cooked varagu rice mixture to the jaggery.

Mix this well without any lumps.
Add cardamom powder, edible camphor(if adding) and ghee roasted cashew nuts.

Add 1 tsp of ghee in the last and switch off the flame.
Millet pongal is ready for neivedhyam.

Notes:

You can add 1/4 cup of milk to the pongal to make it more creamy. If adding milk add while mashing the rice.
Do not add milk once the rice is added to the jaggery. The milk will get curdled.
Samai, kuthiraivali and thinai will work out well for sakkarai pongal. Follow the same method for other millets too.

Technorati Tags: millet sakkarai pongal,sakkarai pongal recipe,pongal festival recipes,millets in singapore,varagu sakkarai pongal,varagu arisi pongal