Banana Huggi Recipe | Banana Pongal : Unique pongal recipe

Wishing all of you a very happy Makara Sankranti | Pongal | Lohri.

 

 Did I mention before that we are moving again? Hold on.., this time we are moving to another house near by and not to another Country. I have made good friends here at my apartment and am definitely gonna miss them. Banana pongal is one of the recipes that I learnt from my friend here. I am planning to get as many recipes possible from her and try before I move. Keep watching this space, there's more coming :)

The color of the pongal will be anywhere from light brown to very dark brown depending on the type of jaggery used. However, the color does not alter the taste of the pongal in any ways.

Other pongal recipes 

Oats Pongal

Khara Pongal

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
Raw rice: 1/2 cup, refer notes
Water: 1 cup,
Banana: 1 medium sized, refer notes

Jaggery | Brown sugar: 1/2 cup, refer notes
Water: 1/4 cup, more or less
Ghee | Clarified butter: 3 tbsp + 2 tsp
Grated coconut: 1 tbsp, fresh or frozen
Cardamom powder: a pinch
Cashew nuts: 1/2 tsp
Chopped almonds: 1/2 tsp
Raisins: 1/2 tsp

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly and let it soak for 30 mins.
Add the water to it. Pressure cook the rice for 4-5 whistles.Allow the cooker to cool for 10 mins.
Meantime, add water to the roughly pound jaggery and heat it on a medium heat.

When the jaggery is dissolved in water, strain the jaggery water. (Refer notes below)
Put the water back in the same sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
Mash the cooked rice.
When water starts boiling, add the cooked rice to it and mix well. Add 2 tbsp of ghee and allow the rice to cook again for 3-5 mins on low-medium heat.

Finely chop the banana and add the chopped banana to the rice mixture along with a tbsp of ghee.

Mix well and cook again for couple of mins.
Mash the bananas along with the rice and add the cardamom powder, grated coconut. Cook for 3-5 mins.

Meantime, heat about 2 tsp of ghee in a small sauce pan. When ghee is hot, throw in the chopped cashews and almonds.

When nuts turn golden brown, turn off the heat and add raisins. When raisins plump up, pour the nuts over the cooked pongal.

Mix well and serve it hot.

Notes:

• Raw rice is preferred for the pongal. But, if you do not have it, you could make is using ponni or sona masoori rice (or any small grain rice). I suggest adding a little more water to the sona masoori rice as they dont turn soft or mushy easily. (My rice did end up grainy as you can see in the pictures. I did not have raw rice).
• When the rice is still hot, mash the rice so that the huggi/pongal becomes mushy. 
• A well ripened banana is what we need for this huggi. Do not use the green ones.
• Our family prefers huggi to be sweeter. You could reduce the amount of jaggery to a little more than 1/4 cup (for the quantity mentioned above).
• Jaggery has lot of impurities. Hence, it is advised to strain the jaggery water before making anything using jaggery.

Ribbon Pakoda | Ribbon Murukku | Indian deep fried snack: Gokulastami Recipes

Are you wondering why I am posting a Gokulastami recipe now, when the festival was over about a month ago. Hold on.., for few of us... the festival is not over yet. We are celebrating the Gokulastami (Krishna Janmastami) on the coming Monday (15th September 2014).

I noted down the ribbon pakoda recipe during my visit to India. When I searched the internet, I found many recipes for ribbon pakoda. Each of them was different. Hence, I went ahead with what I had noted down. It came out very crisp.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: About 30 mins

Ingredients:
Rice flour | Akki hittu: 1 cup
Gram flour | Kadale hittu: 1/2 cup
Butter: 1.5 tbsp, melted or softened
Salt: As needed
Asafoetida | Hing: a pinch
Pepper powder: 1 tsp
Water: As needed

Other ingredients:
Oil: For deep frying

Method:
Add the rice flour, gram flour, salt, asafoetida, pepper powder to a mixing bowl.Add the softened butter.

Mix well. The flours should get coated with the butter.
Add water little at a time to the flour mixture and make soft, non sticky dough. The dough should be smooth but non sticky.

Heat the oil in a wok for deep frying.
Grease the murukku maker. Use the ribbon pakoda plate. Add the dough to the murukku maker.

When oil is hot, press the ribbon murukku directly on to the oil. Cook it on a medium high heat until it turns golden brown.

Flip the pakoda & cook on both sides.
Drain the ribbon pakoda on a paper towel. Repeat pressing the pakoda & frying until the dough is over.

Cool the pakoda & save it in a air tight container. Can be stored for about 10 days.

Notes:

• As soon as the murukku is dropped in oil, the oil makes a "shh" sound and you see lots of bubbles in the oil. As the murukku gets cooked, the sound reduces to zero & the oil becomes clear.
• You could use about 2 tbsp of hot oil instead of butter to make a vegan version.

6 easy kheer | payasam recipes for Diwali 2013

Here are some of the easy kheer | payasam | payasa recipes that can be prepared for the coming Diwali Festival. Have a fun filled & a safe Diwali.

Click on the image for the recipe.

  
Appi Payasa                                 Paal Payasam | Rice pudding
       


Sabudana Kheer                                       Akki-kadlebele payasam
       
Banana Payasa/Rasayana                 Vermicelli Kheer

Vermicelli Sabudana Kheer | Seeme akki Payasa | Sago Payasam : Tapioca Pudding Recipe

Have no time for cooking ahead this Diwali? Then, you can try making some simple kheer | payasam like this one. This kheer doesn't need any fancy ingredient & can be cooked in about 30 mins max.

Here goes the recipe.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 20-25 mins
Soaking Time: About an hour.

Ingredients:
Sago | Sabudana | Seeme akki : 1/3 cup
Vermicelli | shavige : 2 tbsp
Milk: 2.5 cups, more or less
Water: 1 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp
Clarified butter/ghee: 1 tbsp
Raisins: 1 tsp
Broken cashews: 2 tsp
Slivered almonds: 1 tsp

Method: 
Wash the sago thoroughly in running water. I recommend washing it at least 3 times until the starch is removed.
Soak the sago in enough water for 20 mins. Then drain the water completely from the sago.
Sprinkle 2-3 tsp of water over the drained sago & keep it covered for a minimum of 45 mins to an hour.

Add the soaked sago to a sauce pan. Add water + 1 cup of milk to the sabudana.
Cook the sago on a medium heat (stirring in between) until they become transparent & soft. Takes about 10-13 mins.
Meantime, heat ghee in a small wok. When oil is hot, throw in the cashew nuts & almonds. When the nuts turn golden, add in the raisins. When raisins plump up, put the vermicelli to the ghee & saute till the vermicelli turn golden. This will not take more than 3-4 mins.

Add the vermicelli + nuts mixture, remaining milk, cardamom powder to the cooked sago mixture & mix. Boil this mixture on a medium heat until the vermicelli is cooked.
Add the sugar & boil it for a couple of minutes more.Keep stirring in between.
Remove the sauce pan from the heat.
Let the kheer rest for 5-10 mins. Serve this kheer warm or cold.

Notes:

1. Rinsing the sago thoroughly in water removes the excessive starch. Too much starch will make the sago sticky & slimy. We want the sago pearls to be separate. 
2. This kheer thickens as it gets cools. If it gets too thick & hard, add a cup of hot milk with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Mix it & serve immediately. 
3. We prefer our kheer warm, hence I do not refrigerate it. If you want to serve it chilled as a pudding, reduce the sugar to 1/4 or 1/3 cup (as per you choice). We like our kheer more on the sweet side! 

Quick Gulab Jamun | Ricotta cheese gulab jamun | Diwali Sweets

A quick gulab jamun recipe using milk powder & ricotta cheese....

Gulab Jamun is a classic & a  traditional Indian sweet/dessert. It is deep fried milk balls soaked in rose essence sugar syrup. The mawa or thickened milk (similar to ricotta cheese) is deep fried in ghee (clarified butter) & dipped in the sugar syrup. If you have mawa (or khova) with you, making the gulab jamun is a breeze. As it is not easy to get mawa here, I always make the gulab jamuns using the milk powder. This time around, I thought of adding ricotta cheese as I had them in my pantry. They were yummy & hence sharing the recipe with you guys.

Why don't you guys give it a try during this Diwali? I'm sure it will be a hit.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Resting time: About an hour

Ingredients: (Makes about 30-35 jamun)
For the cheese balls/milk balls/jamun:
Ricotta cheese: 1/4 cup
Mawa powder or Milk powder: 1 cup (refer notes)
AP flour/Maida: 1/4 cup
Baking powder: 1/4 tsp
Ghee: 1 tsp
Water: As needed

About 2 cups of oil for deep frying the jamuns

For the sugar syrup:
Sugar: 1.5 cups
Water: 1.5 cups
Rose essence: few drops
Cardamom powder: a pinch
Lemon juice: 1/4 tsp

Method:
Add all the ingredients mentioned under the cheese ball section (except water) in a bowl & give it a mix.
Slowly add a tbsp of water at a time to make a soft and non sticky dough. You will not need more than 3-4 tbsp of water. Never knead the dough.

Keep the dough covered for about 15 mins.
Meantime, prepare the sugar syrup. Add the water & sugar in a sauce pan. Add the lemon juice, rose essence, cardamom powder to the water. Heat on a low-medium heat. Keep stirring to ensure the sugar is dissolved completely.

Increase the heat to medium & boil it for 12-15 mins until you get a sticky consistency syrup(1/2 thread consistency).
Remove the syrup from the heat.

Heat the oil in a medium wok.
Make marble sized balls of the dough. Make the balls smooth, else the dough balls will crack while they are getting fried. I got about 28 dough balls.

Add a small pinch of dough to the oil. If the dough settles in the bottom for few seconds only & then rises up, the oil is at right temperature. Oil should not be hot, when we fry these dough balls. They need to get cooked evenly. Add the dough balls to the oil & fry them on low-medium heat for about 5-7 mins. Do not touch the dough balls. Instead keep moving the oil to ensure even cooking & coloring of the balls.

Once they are golden brown, drain the fried balls on a paper towel & repeat the above procedure with the remaining dough balls.

Add the warm deep fried balls to the sugar syrup & cover it with the lid.
Rest it for a minimum of 30 mins. Allow the deep fried balls to soak the sugar syrup.
Serve it warm, cold or hot.

Notes: 

• I always use the mava powder or the milk powder available at the Indian stores. You could easily find the mava powder at the Indian stores anywhere. 
• It is important to shape the dough balls smooth & without any cracks. If there are cracks, then the gulab jamuns will disintegrate in the sugar syrup. 
• You could smear a drop of ghee to you palm for shaping the dough balls. 
• I'm repeating again. Do not deep fry the dough balls on high heat & also in very hot oil. The dough balls get browned quickly & is uncooked in the center. They become very hard & the deep fried dough balls will not absorb the sugar syrup. 
• You should never knead the gulab jamun dough. You need to mix it gently & make a dough. 
• Traditionally gulab jamuns are deep fried in ghee (clarified butter). If you wish, you could deep fry in ghee too. 
• I have added water to make the dough. You could replace water with milk. I have made them with milk before. Both taste equally good. 
• You could replace baking powder with baking soda too. If you are adding baking soda, add less than 1/4th tsp (may be about 1/8th tsp). Do not add too much baking powder or soda. If soda is more, the dough balls will disintegrate in oil. I have made that mistake once & all the efforts went waste.

Chakkuli Recipe | Murukku | Easy and Quick Chakli Recipe : Festive foods.

Wishing you all a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi. 

Looks like September 2013 is a happening month for my blog. I am hosting the 'Only' Sandwiches, Burgers & Panini event, participating in one (signed in for VeganMoFo) and announcing a winner for my very first give away too. So, stay tuned....

I make chakkuli often but always get lazy to take step by step pictures to post it. Chakkuli preparation is not as hard as you think. It's just time consuming & needs some patience. I make chakkuli in many ways & this one is the easiest of all.

Preparation Time: 30-45 mins
Cooking Time: 30-45 mins
Makes around 60-75 chakkulis
Shelf Life: 10-15 days

Ingredients:
Rice flour: 4 cups
Gram flour/besan/kadle hittu: 1 cup
Hot oil: 3/4 cup (I used Crisco Vegetable Oil)
Salt: As needed
Chilli powder: 1 tsp
Asafoetida: 3/4 tsp
Sesame seeds: 2 tsp
Water: As needed

Oil: For deep frying the chakkuli.

Some tips to get perfect chakkuli:
Never skip sieving the rice flour & the gram flour.
Always prepare a small batch first to try.
I add 3/4 cup of oil & get perfect chakkuli every time. If you feel the chakkulis are turning out hard, try adding 2-3 tbsp more of oil.
Always keep the batter covered, else the batter would dry. If you use dry batter, the chakkuli will become brittle.
Do not press all the murukku/chakkuli at a time. Make it in batches.
Do not use very less oil for frying. These cannot be shallow fried.

Method:
Sieve the rice flour & gram flour separately. Mix the flours & sieve them again.
Add the salt, sesame seeds, asafoetida, chilli powder to the flour & mix well.

Heat the oil & add the hot oil to the mixture.

Mix it using a spoon first & then proceed to mix the flour using your hands thoroughly.
Add couple of tbsp of water at a time & prepare a smooth yet stiff dough.

Heat enough oil in a saute pan or sauce pan. (oil should be about 1 inch deep)
While the oil is getting hot, prepare the chakli mould.
Use the chakli plate.
Divide the dough into 5-6 parts (this depends on the mould used).
Add one part of the dough to the mould & press it. Close the mould & start pressing the chakli.

         

You could press the chakli directly on the hot oil or you could press it on the wax paper & flip it carefully in oil.

I prepared it on the wax paper & flipped it on to the oil. (Grease the wax paper if needed)
Do not press all the chakli at one go. Make it in batches. Depending on the amount of oil used for deep frying, press the murukkus. I could fry 5 chakli at a time & hence pressed only 5 chaklis each time.
Slowly slide in the pressed chakli to the hot oil.
Do not disturb the chakli for the first minute. Later you could slowly move the chakkuli.
Fry it both the sides on medium heat.
While the chakli is getting fried in oil, press the next batch of chakli.
Each batch took about 4-6 mins for me. Drain the chakkuli on a kitchen towel & allow it to cool.
Repeat the above procedure of pressing & frying the chakli.
Allow the chakli to cool completely. Once cool, store it in a air tight container. They stay good for 10 days.

Notes:
Generally the rice flour is prepared at home too. However, I use store bought rice flour.