Kothamali puli (Coriander leaves with tamarind)

Kothamali puli (Coriander leaves with tamarind) - Preparation time 10 mins
Mom used to make when she buys fresh coriander leaves. This will be very spicy and sour. Goes well with curd rice. Can be refrigerated and used for week.

Ingredients:-
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch (Washed well , remove the yellow leaves, dry the water and chop finely)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sesame oil - 1tbsp
Roasted and powdered red chili  - 1 tsp

Preparation method:-
If you do this using ammi and kozhavi it will be very tasty but, i used mixer because i don't have ammi in my home.
To a kadai add oil and chopped coriander. Sortae for few mins (till the water content goes off) and leave to cool.
In a mixer add coriander leaves, tamarind, salt and red chili powder. NO WATER.
Grind this coarsely. It should not be fine powder. It will be dry and coarse.
You can feel the unique taste of tamarind and chili along with the coriander leave. It will be a good replacement for pickle and easy to make.

Puli Aval (Flattened rice with tamarind)

Puli Aval (Flattened rice with tamarind) - Preparation time 10 mins
When I went to mom's home last month she made it. After returning from market with dad and my nephew we were tired and hungry. Mom gave this snack it was too good, tasty and filling. I tried this in my home when i returned. My husband also liked this snack. You feel filling and light after eating this puli aval. Try i out in next get together.

Ingredients:-
Aval - 1 cup (75 or 100 gms)
Tamarind juice - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Red chili - 3 (Split and remove the seeds if you dont want too spicy)
Mustard seed - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 5 
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Water - to wash the aval

Preparation method:-
Wash the aval and drain the water (leave few tsp of water to soak the aval). After few minutes the aval will become soft and slightly big than dry aval.
Heat a kadai. Add oil, mustard to splutter, urad dhal to become golden brown. Now add the red chili and roast till it becomes deep red. 
Add the tamarind juice, turmeric, salt to the roasted ingredients. When raw smell of tamarind goes off add the soaked aval and mix well.
Garnish with chopped curry leaves and serve hot.

Wheat and Ragi paratha

Wheat and Ragi paratha - Preparation time 2 hrs
Let us start the week healthy. Last week i thought of making ragi paratha. Usually when we use ragi alone the output might be hard and dry so to make the paratha soft i tried taking 3/4th portion of wheat flour and 1/4th portion of ragi flour. Actually the paratha/chapathi come out well and soft. We consumed hot and straight from tawa so it was good it wont be very soft when it is cool.

Health benefits
As my doctor friend suggested to take ragi more to bring up the vitamin level (b12) up i am thinking different ways to include in our diet. I already gave the ragi dosa recipe in this blog. This is also good for bone. So you can include this partha/chapathi in your weekly menu.

Ingredients:-
Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - as required
Ragi - 1/4 cup
Water - to make soft dough
Sundrop/vegetable oil - 2 tbsp

Preparation method:-
In a mixing bowl add wheat flour, ragi flour, salt and 1 tbsp oil. Mix all the ingredients well and add required amount of water to make soft dough for paratha.
You have to keep crushing the dough so it will become smooth dough.
Leave the dough to rest for 2 hrs. Make small balls from the dough and spread using rolling pin to paratha's. You can try even immediately but chapathi's will be slightly hard.
It is a healthy paratha (use of oil to cook the chapathi is very less). For this i made manja pattani gravy (dry yellow pea gram gravy)

Crispy ulunthu milagu vada(perumalvadai/anjaneyar vadai)

Crispy ulunthu milagu vada(perumal koil/anjanayer vada) my version
A Big thank you everyone for following and reading my blog. This is my 300th post.
We used to make this during puratasi madham when we make mixed rices (pulisadam, thenkai sadam, thayir sadam,etc) along with sakarai pongal to offer lord venkatachalapathy. This will be crispy vada. If cooked properly the milagu vada will be crisp for more than a day. People used to make in different method but i found this method to be easy and quick for me.

Ingredients:-
Urad dhal - 1 cup (Grind to coarse powder i.e. like rava)
Cumin seed - 1 tsp (Grind coarsely)
Black Pepper - 1 tsp (crushed)
Salt - required amount
Water - little
Oil - to deep fry

Preparation method:-
In a bowl mix ground urad dhal, cumin, pepper, salt along with required amount of water. 
Leave the dough to rest for 30 mins so the urad dhal will become soft.
Make the dough slightly loose because urad dhal will absorb some water while resting process

Wet a cloth and spread over on back side of a small plate. Wet your hand and place a smaal ball of ulunthu dough. Flatten to thin circle and pierce a hole in the middle.
You have to be very careful while removing the flatten ulunthu milagu vada and dipping in the hot oil.
Heat the oil and bring down the flame. The milagu vada will be crisp only when cooked in slow flame and it should be cooked slowly to become crispy.

This will be a healthy and tasty snack. 

Strawberry & mint jam

Strawberry & mint jam - Preparation time 15 mins.
We used to take orange marmalade and strawberry jam for bread toast. So i want to make strawberry jam in home using fresh strawberries and mint. When i tried out the jam came out well so thought of sharing this recipe with you all. If strawberries are sweet the amount of sugar we add will be less else we have to add more sugar. I haven't added any preservative so jam have to be refrigerated and used if used for more than 2 days. 

Ingredients:-
Fresh strawberries - 15 (cleaned and made into small pieces)
Sugar - 1 cup (or more if strawberry is bit sour)
Mint leaves - 10 

Preparation method:-
In a pan add the strawberry pieces along with mint leaves and start cooking. When it is almost cooked add the sugar and cook.

Check whether the sugar level is enough if not you can add and adjust now.

Cook strawberry, mint and sugar till this becomes thick paste. 

Cool the jam and transfer to a bottle. This goes very well with bread and chapathi.