Millet Nei appam recipe | Karthigai deepam recipes

Nei appam | Unniyappam is a traditional sweet generally prepared in our homes for Karthigai deepam, Janmashtami,Ganesha chaturthi, Onam and avani avittam. I have already posted nei appam, wheat appam and many more Karthigai deepam recipes. Two years back, when i learnt the recipe of Traditional Mysore pak from my friend's mom, she told me the recipe of Nei appam too.Though i noted down the measurement of rice:jaggery, i didn't note down anything else. But i remember the way she was explaining to me. So i tried the same using millets instead of rice. Varagu and Thinai will work out very well for sweet appams. I used Samai(little Millet) for making this nei appams and they turned out very well. Check out my full collection of Karthigai deepam recipes.

Karthigai vella adai recipe | Karthigai deepam recipes

Karthigai deepam 2017 is on Dec 2 this year. I have posted many recipes for Karthigai deepam festival. Traditionally pori urundai, appam, milagu adai is made for Karthigai deepam. Vella adai is made with rice, toor dal, channa dal and jaggery as the main ingredients. You can soak in more quantity for both milagu adai and vella adai and in the last divide the batter and add jaggery to vella adai and pepper to the milagu adai. These adais turned out so well and the sweet was just perfect for the taste buds.
Check out my full collection of Karthigai Deepam recipes. 

Mor rasam recipe | Rasam recipes

Mor rasam, is a simple rasam made in just 5 minutes with minimum ingredients. This rasam is made with butter milk. I have heard about this easy rasam from many friends, but never tried or tasted it anywhere. Recently my friend's mom gave me this recipe and told that she makes this quite often. As the rasam has ajwain | omam  as one of the ingredient, it is perfect for winter. I tried this last week and was totally addicted to the taste and simplicity of the rasam. Try out this simple and easy mor rasam recipe and let me know how you liked this.
Check out my

• Garlic rasam
• Ginger lemon rasam

How to make Ghee | Kitchen basics

Ghee | Clarified butter is a staple ingredient in Indian kitchen. We use Ghee for making sweets and mix with rice and use to cook parathas too. At South Indian homes, mixing up dal, hot rice and ghee and having this as a first meal is a common one. During my childhood days i remember my mom and grandmother takes out malai from curd and makes home made butter. From that big ball of home made butter, she makes ghee and i could still recollect that aroma of the ghee. After i got married, one day when i mother in law told me to melt the butter for ghee and she went out. I never know what is the right stage to switch it off. With total confusion i just started the process but somehow felt that i will be able to do it right. When it was almost done, my co sister came and she taught me how to switch it off at the right stage. After coming to Singapore,most of the time i used to buy store bought ghee. But on and off i make ghee at home. Some time back, when a friend in our apartment, was explaining the details of making ghee from the scratch, i thought i will share the process of making ghee at home, in Jeyashri's kitchen. Yesterday i made ghee with butter and took the video of how to make ghee. Share any interesting tips if you follow at your home, while making ghee, in the comments section.
P.S: This Post is just for basic beginners. Experts please excuse me😀

Spring Onion pakoda recipe

Spring onion pakoda is a crispy tea time snack. Generally we use spring onion for garnishing fried rice. I also use this to make Spring onion besan Zunka. So i rarely buy spring onions. When i visited the wet market yesterday, found these fresh spring onions and got a bunch of them too. While returning from the market, was thinking as what to make for today's post, suddenly this idea of spring onion pakoda flashed my mind and took a video of the same. It turned out so well and everyone at home loved it. If you are looking for Thanks giving recipes,then you can try this out for sure. Check out my

• Thool pakoda
• Pattanam pakoda

Maravalli kizhangu adai recipe| Tapioca adai

Maravalli kizhangu| mara seeni kilangu|மரவள்ளி கிழங்கு(in tamil) also called as Kappa in Kerala, Tapioca in English is a root vegetable. I have always eaten maravali kizhangu chips during my childhood days, fondly called as kuchi chips. I have never tasted maravalli kizhangu in any form. My sister was telling me from last year to try maravalli kizhangu adai. I am clueless of the recipe and didn't attempt to try at home. Last week while casually searching for something else in the book shelf, came across the recipe of Maravalli kizhangu adai, in Revathy shanmugam madam's cook book. I learnt the method of how to take the skin of cassava | maravalli kizhangu, from my helper. Check out my

• Adai recipe
• Milagu adai
• Millet adai

Bajra vadi | Gujarati bajri vada recipe

Bajra vadi , a tea time snack made using Bajra flour and other spices. Bajra ni wadi is a traditional Gujarati snack, which i recently learnt from a friend who visited us. I am a huge fan of Gujarati and Maharastrian cuisine. Though i have not explored much in trying out gujarati recipes but whenever i come across the recipes i feel like eating them. This bajra vadi i have seen many times in various blogs and always wanted to give it a try. Recently our friend, who are gujaratis, visited us, i asked her few gujarati recipes and this bajra vadi is one among them. Finally i tried this yesterday and it turned out yum. The taste was similar to bakarwadi and matri. Thank you so much Heena for the recipe. Try this tea time snack using bajra flour | kambu maavu| pearl millet flour and let me know how it turned out.
Check out my
                       Kothimbir vadi
                       Millet muthia recipe 

Paruppu rasam recipe | South Indian rasam recipe

Paruppu rasam recipe with video. Rasam is  a staple food in South Indian cuisine. We make different varieties of rasam in South India and the way we make the same rasam varies from house to house. Even we make rasam without rasam powder, rasam without tamarind too. Already i have posted few varieties of rasam in Jeyashri's kitchen, this paruppu rasam i recently tried at home, so wanted to share the recipe with you all. As it is mostly raining these days, i am making rasam almost 3-4 times in a week. This recipe of paruppu rasam doesn't call for sambar powder or rasam powder. And i can say it is a perfect Bachelor recipe.

Event Announcement| Dining vouchers Giveaway

Zaffron Banana leaf, Dr.Chef Damu

Zaffron Banana leaf, the South Indian restaurant in Singapore, I have visited the restaurant and gave a review about that in Jeyashri's kitchen Instagram. Recently i attended a cookery class by Chef. Damu, in Zaffron banana leaf. Have a look at the pictures which i have shared in the post. For the first time i am announcing a give away, open for my readers in Singapore. You have a chance to win 10$(Ten Singapore dollar) Gift voucher from Zaffron banana leaf, (valid till Feb 2018)the South Indian restaurant located at Jurong point.

What you have to do is:

• Try a recipe from Jeyashri's kitchen and share the picture of that, with me via mail(jeyashrikitchen@gmail.com) or message me on Jeyashri's kitchen Facebook page.
• Only readers from Singapore are eligible to take part in this event.
• While sharing the picture, please mention the name of the dish and tell me a few words about how you liked the recipe.
• Winners will be selected using random picker app.
• We have 5 vouchers to give way(valid till Feb 2018), so there will be 5 winners.
• One entry per person is allowed, so one voucher per person.
• Entry through mail and facebook page are only valid.
• Please ensure that the entries should reach us November 30,2017. You can send your entries till Nov 30, 11.59 pm Singapore time.
• Winners will be announced on December 4 2017.

For further queries please free feel to mail to me or message in Jeyashri's kitchen Facebook page.

Few pictures from Chef Damu's class, which i attended recently.

Follow Jeyashris kitchen on Instagram and facebook to get updates.

Varuthu aracha Kuzhambu recipe| Varutharacha kuzhambu

வறுத்து அரைச்சகுழம்பு  

Varuthu aracha kuzhambu| Varutharacha kuzhambu as we call, is a sambar like gravy but made using fresh ground spices and traditionally toor dal will not be added, as we add in sambar. Kuzhambu and sambar are different, for kuzhambu generally no cooked dal is added. When my amma visited me in September, she was telling me that my Athai makes a sambar without toor dal and without sambar podi too. I was surprised and asked my mom the recipe for that. Amma couldn't recall the exact way athai makes. I messaged my cousin later and insisted that i want a voice note from Athai for this recipe. Within a week i got the message from my cousin with the recipe of Varuthu aracha kuzhambu in my athai's voice. At this age of 80, i really admire the way they remember everything and able to recall it the moment we ask for that. These traditional heirloom recipes are treasures and i am privileged to document the recipes and pass on to all. If you have any traditional recipes in your family, which you learnt from your mom or grand mom or anybody else, you can share with me, if you wish to.
This recipe is not the Kerala Varuthu aracha sambar. 

Varuthu aracha kuzhambu

  Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 Mins |Serves: 4

     Mixed veggies*  1 cup
     Tamarind   a small goose berry sized
     Cooked toor dal  2-3 tblsp (optional)
     Red chili  6
     Coriander seeds  2 tsp
     Rice  1/2 tblsp
     Toor dal  1 tblsp
     Venthayam | methi seeds  1/2 tsp
     Coconut   1/2 cup - 3/4 cup
     Jaggery  a tiny piece( sundakkai size)
     Sesame oil  2 tsp
     Cooking oil  2 tsp
     Asafoetida  2 pinches
    Curry leaves  few
    Turmeric powder   1/2 tsp
    Salt as needed
    Mustard seeds   1/2 tsp 
* I used drumstick, carrot and brinjal. You can use yellow pumpkin, broad beans(avarakkai)and chow chow too.

Method:

• Cut the veggies and keep it aside.
• Soak tamarind in hot water and extract 1 and 1/2 cup of tamarind water.
• If using cooked toor dal, cook that and keep aside.
• In a pan add the veggies.
• Add the tamarind water, salt, asafoetida and turmeric powder.
• Boil this in a low flame till the veggies gets cooked.
• Meanwhile let's roast the ingredients for the kuzhambu.
• In a pan add 2 tsp of cooking oil and add the coriander seeds, toor dal,venthayam,red chili and rice. (i used normal cooking rice)
• Roast till it becomes nice golden brown colour.
• Take out and keep aside.
• Add the coconut to the same pan and roast till it becomes brown. Do not burn it.
• As mentioned by my athai, no traces of white should be visible in the coconut. (vellaiae theiryapadadhu😃)
• Allow this to cool completely and grind this into a fine paste. Use water to grind the mixture.
• Once the veggies are soft, add this ground paste. If needed slightly dilute this and add.
• If adding cooked toor dal add it now. You can skip adding toor dal as the ground masala  itself thickens the kuzhambu.
• I added 2 tblsp of cooked toor dal as i had some after making dal for kids. 
• Mix well and let this boil for 2-4 minutes. Stir well.
• Add water if needed to bring the right consistency.
• Add tiny pinch of jaggery. (As athai said, sundakkai alavukku vellam)
• Switch off the flame.
• In a pan add sesame oi, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• When the mustard seeds splutter, transfer this to the kuzhambu.
• Mix this just before serving.
• Varutharacha kuzhambu is ready to serve.
• We had this with urulai kizhangu kara curry.

     

Method with step by step pictures:

• Cut the veggies and keep it aside.
• Soak tamarind in hot water and extract 1 and 1/2 cup of tamarind water.
• If using cooked toor dal, cook that and keep aside.
• In a pan add the veggies.
• Add the tamarind water, salt, asafoetida and turmeric powder.
• Boil this in a low flame till the veggies gets cooked.

• Meanwhile let's roast the ingredients for the kuzhambu.
• In a pan add 2 tsp of cooking oil and add the coriander seeds, toor dal,venthayam,red chili and rice. (i used normal cooking rice)
• Roast till it becomes nice golden brown colour.
• Take out and keep aside.

• Add the coconut to the same pan and roast till it becomes brown. Do not burn it.
• As mentioned by my athai, no traces of white should be visible in the coconut. (vellaiae theiryapadadhu😃)

• Allow this to cool completely and grind this into a fine paste. Use water to grind the mixture.

• Once the veggies are soft, add this ground paste. If needed slightly dilute this and add.
• If adding cooked toor dal add it now. You can skip adding toor dal as the ground masala  itself thickens the kuzhambu.
• I added 2 tblsp of cooked toor dal as i had some after making dal for kids. 

• Mix well and let this boil for 2-4 minutes. Stir well.
• Add water if needed to bring the right consistency.
• Add tiny pinch of jaggery. (As athai said, sundakkai alavukku vellam)
• Switch off the flame.
• In a pan add sesame oil, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• When the mustard seeds splutter, transfer this to the kuzhambu.

• Mix this just before serving.
• Varutharacha kuzhambu is ready to serve.
• We had this with urulai kizhangu kara curry.

Notes:

1. Rice and toor dal brings the thickness to the gravy, but do not add more than the quantity mentioned.
2. You can add small onions if you want, but traditionally onions are not added in this varuthu aracha sambar.