Therattipal (Sweet made using jaggery and ground coconut)

Therattipal (Sweet made using jaggery and ground coconut) - Preparation time 20 mins.
Traditional sweet. This sweet is must during our marriage ceremony. Therattipal will be very yummy to taste. Mom used to make this sweet when she end up on more coconut. Select the medium thick endosperm deposit i.e. coconut flesh (not too tender or hard) because it might become paste or oily. Mostly when the shelly is slightly brownish and cream colour it will be a medium tender one.  Freshly ground coconut will be best for this sweet dish. It is simple and easy to make. As i used to say try in very little quantity and taste.

Do you know ? 
Coconut is a drupe and not a nut. Consist of 3 layers named exocarp, mesocarp which makes husks and endocarp which contains deposits of cellular layer of endosperm that is edible portion. Contains more water when tender when compared to mature state. Dried coconut is called copra. Every coconut contains 3 germination pores.

Ingredients:-
Half coconut - grated and ground to coarse paste. Use water to grind only it is required.
Jaggery - 1 cup or 150 gms(melt the jaggery remove the dirt and boil to thick syrup)
Cardamon - 2 (powdered/finely crushed)
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cashew nut - 5 (break to small pieces)

Preparation method:-
In a heavy bottom kadai or vessel add jaggery syrup, powdered cardamon, ground coconut. Mix well and keep in medium flame.
Keep stirring continuously else it will stick to bottom and get burned.
When all the water content is evaporated this will become thick.
Now add the chopped cashew nut and ghee. When all the ingredients are mixed. Switch of the flame and transfer to some bowl.
It will become bit more thick when it comes to room temperature.
Very tasty and healthy dish for kids. Elder people can take in limited quantity.

Pagarkai paruppu orundai kootu (Bitter gourd & bengal gram ball gravy)

Pagarkai paruppu orundai kootu - Prepartion time 20 mins
Mom make this kootu very tasty. Since I used to crush the bengal gram deep fried balls along with bitter gourd and little ghee this will be very tasty when consumed hot. Surely you won't get the bitter taste of bitter gourd that much. You try it out and taste it. Love bitter taste much so like all the dishes made using pagarkai

Do you know?
Only female bitter gourd flowers produce fruit. How to identify female and male flower? 
At the back of female flower a unfertilized miniature fruit exist, it will have a pistil which extends upward and has stigma at the end pale greenish yellow in middle of the flower. Male flower will have yellow anther loaded with pollen and powdery.

Ingredients:-
Pagarkkai - 1 cup (chopped and remove the seeds if it is hard)
Toor dal - 1/4 cup (pressure cooked)
Sambar powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - required amount
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Cumin seed - 1 tbsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Ginger - small piece
Bengal gram - 1/2 cup (soaked for 2 hrs and ground coarsely along with small piece of ginger as vada flour)Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Small onion - 4 (peeled, wash and finely chopped)
Water - required amount
Mustard seed - 1/4 tsp, Urad dal- 1 tsp
Vegetable oil - To deep fry the bengal gram balls

Preparation method:-
Mix ground bengal gram, salt, chili powder, chopped oil in a bowl like vada flour. Make small balls using this flour.
Heat vegetable oil in a kadai and in medium flame cook the balls. When more than half cooked remove from oil. Don't make it crispy because it has to be boiled little bit along with pagarkai gravy.
While you are frying in another burner heat a vessel with water, sambar powder, salt, turmeric and salt. When it is boiling add the pagarkai and cook till it is tender.
Now add the fried balls and cook for 5 mins so the balls will absorb the water and cook.
Slightly crush cooked toor dal with milk and add to pagarkai. Cook for few mins and switch of the flame.
Heat sesame oil, add mustard to splutter, urad dal to brown, cumin to splutter and garnish the kootu with grated coconut.
This goes well with hot rice and ghee. It will be slightly bitter.

How to pack rice for lunch box....

How to pack rice for lunch box....

This might not be great topic but the information i am going to share must be useful to few people. Packing sambar rice, rasam rice, curd rice , variety rice is different. So that the rice when consumed during lunch it will be in correct consistency (as we eat in home).
I use ponni raw rice so the rice and water proportion will be 1:3. Keep for 3 to 4 whistle and keep in low flame for 10 mins. Switch of the flame and wait till the pressure releases.

For sambar rice make sambar with medium thickness. In a bowl take required amount of rice add a bit of ghee, pour the sambar and mix gentle and well i.e. without lumps. Don't mash the rice a lot it will became like paste and hard during afternoon. It will consume more sambar to mix. After mixing leave the sambar rice to cool down for room temperature so that you can judge the consistency. Add little more sambar and pack this into the lunch box or hot pack box. Over the packed rice keep vegetables which you cooked in sambar. Try it out this is the method which i follow to pack lunch so the sambar rice will look like sambar rice (not like cake) during lunch time :-).

For daily curd rice. Keep boiled, warm milk for making curd rice. In a bowl take required amount of cooked rice and mash well with ladle. Add little milk to the rice and mix without any lumps. Now add more milk so that the rice will be of loose and pouring consistency or loose. Add little curd and mix with the milk rice by doing this the milk will ferment and become curd during lunch time (on hot Indian climate :-)). Minimum 3 to 4 hrs is enough to make the milk to curd. If it is not possible then you can mix more curd. I don't add salt because it might make the rice sour. If salt is must then add only a pinch.
　
For rasam rice in a bowl take the rice and mash the rice with little rasam using thick ladle so that the rice will become smooth. Now add more rasam and mix well till the rice is of pouring consistency. I will mash the rice for rasam because rasam will be very thin when compared to sambar so, when you add rasam will be mixed well with rice else the rice and rasam will be separate and sometime the rice will become stiff (verachamadiri ayidum).


For variety rice keep little less water and one whistle more. But I use the same proportion for variety rice also. In a broad bowl coat the bowl with sesame oil (this is the oil we use the most in cooking) so when we transfer rice to cool down for making variety rice it won't stick to the bowl. Now add 1or2 tsp of sesame oil spread the rice thin in the bowl using spoon or fork (take care don't do it hard because it will mash the rice). Now add the garnishing or paste of the variety rice (which ever you are preparing) and mix only when the rice is at room temperature or cool.

Vendhaiya keerai Kootu (Fenugreek Green leaf gravy)

Vendhaya keerai kootu - preparation time 20 mins
Health Tips : Green contains more iron, low fat, high protein, calcium, fibre and other vitamins so, include more greens. If possible you can make dishes using greens daily. Vendhayam is good for diabetic patient. It is good to avoid diabetic so include in your menu very frequently.

Ingredients:-
Vendhaya - 2 small bunch (wash, remove the root. chop the stem and leaves)
Turmeric - ¼ tsp
Sambar powder - 1 and 1/4 tsp (As vendhaya keerai is slightly bitter, more sambhar powder when compared to other keerai varieties)
Salt - to taste
Water - 1 or 1 ½ cup water (till the greens get immersed)
Cumin seed and black pepper - ¼ tsp
Roasted Cumin seed powder - 1 tbsp
Mustard seed - 1/4 tsp and Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Toor dhal (Thuvaram paruppu) - one cup (pressure cooked)
Grated and grind coconut - 3 tbsp (optional)
Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Preparation method:-
Boil water with turmeric, sambar powder and salt. When water boils add chopped vendhaya keerai and cook till the greens are tender/cooked. It will take only few mins to cook.
Add cooked dhal to greens and boil.
In a tawa urad dhal (turns golden brown), cumin seed (jeera will splutter) and crushed pepper or if you have thalikkum vadagam (which contains jeera, urad dhal, onion, mustard, castor oil, etc) it can be used. Add to kootu.
Add coconut, cumin seed, black pepper to mixer and grind to coarse paste with little water.
Finally add roasted cummin powder to kootu and serve.
Vendhaya keerai kootu goes well with rice and some spicy potato or plantain curry.

Note: While cooking greens don't cover the vessel with lid because greens colour will become dark. Don't cook in high flame and also for very long time. Immediately transfer to serving bowl to avoid further cooking.

Katharikai kothamali (Brinjal & Green coriander) chutney

Katharikai kothamali (Brinjal & green coriander ) chutney - preparation time 15 mins
One night for dosai I tried this chutney. When I made this chutney and tasted, it taste similar to peerkangai chutney. It is a difficult task for my husband to consume any green chutney. Actually after tasting he liked the chutney very much :-)


Ingredients:-
Brinjal - chopped 150 gms
Green chili - 2 (according to taste)
Tamarind paste - ½ tsp
Salt - to taste
Gingelly oil - 4 tbsp
Water - little to sprinkle and cook brinjal
Mustard seed - ¼ tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Green coriander (kothamali kattu - 1/2) - 1/2 bunch with stem (remove root and clean).
Preparation method:-
Fry the brinjal, green chili with oil and salt in a tawa. Sprinkle little water to cook.

Switch of the flame. Add chopped coriander and mix well. Leave to cool.
In a mixer add the cooked brinjal, tamarind paste, chili powder. Grind to paste using whipper button.
In a tawa add oil, mustard, urad dhal and roast till dhal is golden brown.
Add this to brinjal chutney. You can take this spicy chutney with idli, dosa or along with plain rice and gingelly oil.