Thavalai vadai (Rice and pulse vada)

Thavalai vadai (Rice and pulse vada) - Preparation time 20 mins (For soaked rice)

This traditional recipe will be filling and tasty. Due to different variety of pulses it will also smell good. It is a very good evening snack when consumed hot.

Ingredients:-
Boiled rice - 1 cup (wash rice and soak for 2 hrs along with below mentioned dal)
Bengal gram(Kadalai paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Toor dal (Thuvaram paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Mustard seed - ¼ tsp
Sesame oil -4 tsp
Urad dhal - 3 tbsp
Chili - 6 (can increase according to your spice)(soak in water)
Coriander seed (Dhaniya) - 2 tbsp (soak in water)
Cumin seed (Jeera) - 2 tbsp (soak in water)
Fennel seed (perum jeeragam ) - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water - to grind
Asafoetida - ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - 10 (finely chopped)
Coconut - finely chopped into cubes or you can grate and use
Small onion - 20 (peeled and chopped fine) or you can use big onion

Preparation method:- In mixer grind soaked rice,dal along with coriander seed, cummin seed, chili, required water (don't add too much water) to coarse paste (like rava)
Now in a tawa heat oil and add mustard seed. Once it splutters add urad dal and roast till golden brown.
Add asafoetida, chopped small onion, curry leaves and fry till onion is cooked.
Finally switch off and add grated coconut and mix. Add this to grounded rice & dal mixture.
Mix all the ingredients well.
Take required amount of adai flour, add required amount of water so that it can drop in vada consistency when poured using ladle or you can flatten in hand and drop in oil.
Heat the oil in a kadai for deep frying. When oil is hot pour the flour using a ladle and cook in slow flame so it will be cooked evenly.

Sorakkai Halwa (Bottle gourd Halwa)

Sorakkai Halwa (Bottle gourd Halwa) - Preparation time 20 minsIn my mom's home we dont cook vegetables like Sorakkai, Pudalangai, poosanikkai as they are watery vegetable (as my mom had cold and severe headache problem). My dad brought few vegetables from village. He brought this sorakkai also. I started making sorakkai sambar after tasting in my relative home. It tasted similar to chow chow sambar.
Now i tried making halwa using sorakkai in a very less quantity and kootu both came out very well. I am going to share the halwa recipe here. You might also like it. So with one sorakkai we can try sambar, kootu and halwa. First try in little quantity.
Ingredients:-
Sorakkai - Grated 1 small cup
Milk - To cook the sorakkai (1/2 or 3/4 cup) (I used boiled milk)
Sugar - 1/2 cup or 1/4 cup according to your taste
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cashew - 5 (break to small pieces)
Preparation method:-
In a heavy pan add the sorakkai along with 1 tbsp of ghee and roast till the raw smell goes off.
Now add the milk and boil the sorakkai. Cook in slow flame so the water evaporates and becomes solid. Add sugar and mix well.
When all the ingredients is cooked and come to halwa consistency add the ghee and chopped cashew (this time i tried adding cashew without roasting. This also tasted good).
This will be in natural colour of sorakkai (bottle gourd). This will taste as rich sweet.

Sorakkai kottu (Bottle gourd gravy)

Sorakkai kottu (Bottle gourd gravy) - Preparation time 15 mins
I tried this kootu. It will be tasty and goes well with rasam rice or chapathi or roti. Make Sorakkai kootu with mild spice.

Ingredients:-
Sorakkai - 2 cup (chopped small cubes)
Turmeric - ¼ tsp
Green chili - 1
Salt - to taste
Water - 1 or 1 ½ cup water (till the vegetables get immersed)
Mustard seed - ¼ tsp
Cumin seed - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Bengal gram (Kadalai paruppu) - 1tbsp
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Cumin seed & Pepper - ½ tsp each (optional)
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 6 (finely chopped)

Preparation method:-
In a vessel add water, turmeric, salt and heat. Once water starts boiling add bengal gram, when it is slightly cooked add chopped vegetable.Cook till tender/cooked.
Grind coconut, cumin, pepper & chili to coarse paste.Add coconut paste, curry leaves to kootu.
You can also try pressure cooking the bengal gram and sorakkai for 1 whistle and use.
In a tawa add mustard seed, urad dhal to golden brown, cumin seed to splutter then add to kootu.
Instead of grinding green chili along with coconut you can add to sorakkai and boiling so, the spice will be less.
Take with rice/roti.