Murungai keerai adai (Moringa leaves and rice, pulses pancake) - preparation time 3 hrs
According to me adai is a wholesome food or tiffin because it is rich in protien content due to the pulse which we include while preparing the batter. Also lots of small onion which is added for taste and richness to adai. To all this now in this recipe i am adding fresh moringa leaves while making the adai. Surely you will love the taste of the adai.
This adai is packed with health benefits so don't leave without trying this when you get fresh drumstick tree leaves.
Ingredients:-
Boiled rice - 2 cup (wash rice and soak for 2 hrs)
Bengal gram(Kadalai paruppu) - ½ cup (wash dal and soak for 2 hrs)
Toor dal (Thuvaram paruppu) - ½ cup (wash dal and soak for 2 hrs)
Mustard seed - ¼ tsp
Sesame oil -4 tsp
Urad dhal - 3 tbspn
Chili - 8 (can increase according to your spice)(soak in water)
Coriander seed (Dhaniya) - 2 tbsp
Cumin seed (Jeera) - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water - to grind
Asafoetida - ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - 10 (finely chopped)
Moringa leaves (Murungai elai) - 1 cup
Small onion - 20 (peeled and chopped fine)
Preparation method:-
In mixer grind little rice along with coriander seed, cumin seed, chili, required water (don't add too much water) to coarse paste (like rava).
For detail refer adai making
Likewise grind the soaked dal's and mix with ground rice mixture. We have to be careful while grinding the dal else it will become like a paste.
Now in a kadai 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.
Add the garnishing ingredients to ground rice & dal mixture along with required amount of salt.
Mix all the ingredients well.
Take required amount of adai flour, add required amount of water, add the moringa leaves as you like (some might like large amount some like just few leaves) to make adai in tawa.
Use this adai flour (mavu) and make adai in heated tawa. You can use sesame oil or coconut oil to cook adai.
It will be soft to eat. Goes well with coconut chutney.
Sigappu Ponnangani keerai Kootu (Dwarf Copperleaf, Sessile Joyweed leaf gravy) - preparation time 20 mins
This green contains cooling properties and rich source of vitamins and minerals. Can be consumed as soup, curry or kootu. Any greens should not be cooked for long time because it will loose its medicinal properties and nutrients. So take care while cooking greens.
Ingredients:-
Sigappu ponnangani keerai - 1 bunch (wash, remove the root. chop the leaves)
Turmeric - ¼ tsp
Sambar powder - 1 and 1/4 tsp (As vendaya 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)
Mustard seed - 1/4 tsp and Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1/4 tsp
Pepper- 10
Toor dhal (Thuvaram paruppu) - one cup (pressure cooked).
Grated and grind coconut - 3 tbsp along with cumin and pepper
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Preparation method:-
Boil water with turmeric, sambhar powder and salt. When water boils add chopped ponnangani keerai and cook till the greens are tender/cooked. It will take only few mins to cook.
Add cooked dhal to greens and boil.
Add coconut, cumin seed, black pepper to mixer and grind to coarse paste with little water and add to the kootu. Switch off the flame.
In a tawa urad dhal (turns golden brown), cumin seed (jeera will splutter)or if you have thalikkum vadagam (which contains jeera, urad dhal, onion, mustard, castor oil, etc) it can be used.
Add the garnish to kootu.
Finally add roasted cummin powder to kootu and serve.
Mix this healthy sigappu ponnangani keerai kootu to rice along with a tsp of ghee and some spicy bitter gourd dry curry or potato poriyal or even a roasted pappad is enough as a side dish.
Crushed sesame and flaxseed balls (Alivedai and ellu podi orundai) - Preparation 25 to 30 mins
Wish you all happy thamizh new year - Villambi
This type sesame ball preparation will be made during celebration rituals and when praying certain god's. I watched making this in one of our family goddess praying. Only if you do this patiently the end result will be good. Now coming to this ball i tried making is little bit more healthy by including flax seed also. Actually it came out well. You can also try it out. Use 50 or 100 gm of the seeds each (sesame and flax) and try preparing.
The sesame is rich in calcium and flax seed in omega 3. We are using jaggery, cardamon and grated coconut for more flavor and goodness.
Ingredients:-
Sesame seeds - 100 gm (cleaned)
Flax seeds - 100 gm
Jaggery - jaggery syrup 1/2 cup (we will use only few tablespoons of jaggery)
Grated coconut - 1 tbsp
Broken cashew - 1 tbsp
ghee - 1/4 tsp
Preparation method:-
Dry roast the sesame seed in low flame (take care don't burn it). When it starts spluttering and nice aroma comes remove it and add flax seed.
Roast flax seed till it changes the color. When splutters transfer to another bowl. Leave it to cool.
Grind the roasted sesame and flax seed separately. After grinding mix both the powders well.
Melt the jaggery with water. Filter and remove the dirt (if any) and boil the syrup with grated coconut and cardamon to thick consistency (next to sticky consistency but less than 1 string consistency)
To the powdered sesame seed add cashew pieces (optional), ghee, tbsp of jaggery syrup and mix.
Try making small balls. If the syrup is not sufficient add some more syrup and make the balls.
Healthy, nutrition balls are ready to taste. Don't give more than one ball to eat because it is better to stay in limit.
Note: While make balls apply little ghee in your palms so that the mixture won't stick too much in your hand. It will be stick only you have to remove the mixture with a spatula or spoon from your palm.
Making of kothavarangai vathal (Cluster beans fryum)
When i was kid I used to visit grandma's home for annual holidays (our summer camp in which our grandparents or THE BEST teacher and mentor). She used to prepare the flours, vathal, appalam,etc for next year. It will be interesting to watch the making process, help her in making (of course by tasting also:-)), questioning her a lot. The vegetables for making vathal will be in large quantity 20 kg or 25 kg because after all the process the end result will contain around 5 kg because after cooking and drying in sun the size will become very small. This vathal is one which grandma used to make.
The process begins by removing the unwanted vegetables (infected, ripen,etc). In the large vessel wash the vegetable 2 or 3 times in water to remove the dirt and remove the kothavarangai vathal.
I tried making vathal with less than a kg of fresh vegetable so it came around 150 to 200 gms (i think so) of vathal. In a large vessel boil 3 cups of water (u can use less also because after boiling we will discard the water) when it starts boiling add the whole cluster beans. Add little salt for taste.
After 10 to 15 mins check whether the vegetable is cooked well. When you take one cooked cluster beans and pressed between your fingers it should mash. Color will be slightly changed
When the vegetable is cooked filter the water and spread the cooked kothavarankai (cluster beans) in a big clean plate. Dry this for 2 to 3 days. It will turn to dark colour and shrink in the size. If it is fully dried store in a container and use.
For frying this cluster beans heat some soil. When oil is hot bring down the flame and put few dry cluster beans it will fry immediately and turn into brown color. Remove from oil else it will be burnt to black color and will taste bitter.
This is a healthy alternative fries for kids. If you want you can try by adding little chili (but i haven't tried that one :-))
Kambhu adai (Pearl millet pancake) - Preparation time 10 to 15 mins
Bought kambhu in the shop, ground to flour and kept to include in our recipe. This pearl millet (kambu) contains a unique flavour which people may or may not like. I just want to try some recipe but dunno how to suppress the unique taste or flavour which this flour contains.
I tried making in small quantity for me because i don't know whether my husband like it. When i tasted after making it was good in taste and filling also. This doesn't require any side dish because i made it spicy. I actually flattened the kambhu adai flour directly over the hot tawa which might not be possible for some so you can oil a silver foil or plantain leaf flatten and put in the hot tawa. Remove the sheet or leaf from the flattened adai.
Ingredients:-
Kambu flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 tbsp (optional)
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp (or to your spice level)
Curry leaved - 10 (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1 tbsp (grated or finely chopped)
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Water to make the dough
Salt - to taste
Green chili - 1 (finely chopped)
Oil - to cook
Preparation method:-
Take a vessel add kambu flour, salt, chili powder, salt, curry leaves, onion, ginger,green chili.
Mix well all the above ingredients and sprinkle water to make dough .
The dough should not be tight as we make for puri or chappathi. Let it be slight loose so a small ball can be made using the dough. Add little chopped curry leaves.
Heat a tawa (i use iron tawa for making dosa/adai so that dish will be much more tasty than non stick).
In a bowl take water. Dip your hand in the water (to avoid the dough sticking to your hand) and then make small ball from the dough.
When tawa is hot bring down the flame.Keep the dough ball in the middle and slowly flatten the ball and make a circle. This will be thick only thin won't taste that much tasty.
Make small ball so the flattening process will be easy. After few mins turn the adai and cook. The color will become slightly whitish when it is completely cooked. add little oil in the side.
The oil should be added at this stage only else the pan cakes will become soggy.
You serve healthy, spicy and tasty kambu adai hot to all your family members.
Ellu orundai (Sesame balls)- Preparation 15 to 20 mins
This won't be like as we are getting in shops. I tried it in small quantity with more jaggery so it came like in shop but i like the way my mom used to make which is with less jaggery coating. Next time i have to try that way. I used black sesame seed to make this ellu orundai. I didn't do with perfect measurement.
Ingredients:-
Sesame seeds - 100 gms (cleaned)
Jaggery - 1/4 ball or melted jaggery syrup 1/2 cup
Broken cashew - 1 tbsp
ghee - 1/4 tsp
Preparation method:-
Dry roast the sesame seed in low or medium flame. When it starts spluttering and nice aroma comes switch of the flame.
Melt the jaggery with water. Filter and remove the dirt (if any) and boil the syrup to thick consistency (next to sticky consistency but less than 1 string consistency)
When roasted sesame is cool. Grind it in a mixer.
To the powdered sesame seed add cashew pieces, ghee, little jaggery syrup and mix. Try making small balls. If the syrup is not sufficient add some more syrup and make the balls.
Note: while make balls apply little ghee in your palms so that the mixture won't stick in your hand.
Sambhar rice in easy method:- Preparation time 20 mins
When i have to cook food for myself then i want it to be quick process and the food should be filling. Usually i used to make puli sundal or pepper jeera rice or some quick lunch. This time i had cooked toor dhal handy so i wanted to try sambhar rice (not like bisibela bath just our regular sambhar rice).
Actually every thing rice and sambhar got prepared in one go as i had cooked dhal with me. It have to be consumed hot and all the vegetables used should be cut in same size to cook evenly.
Ingredients:-
Carrot - 1 (chopped to 1 inch pieces)
Beans - 10 (chopped to 1 inch pieces)
Potato - 1 (small size, peeled and cut to an inch pieces)
Green chili - 1 (Vertically slit in the middle )
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Small onion - 6 to 8 peeled
Plantain - 1/4 (peeled and cut to 1 inch pieces)
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 string
Coriander leaves - 2 string chopped (both stem and leaves, exclude roots)
Tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp (or juice as you take for sambhar)
Sambhar powder - 1 tsp or according to you taste
Rice - 1/2 cup (dry roasted in pan till it becomes whitish and washed)
Cooked toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli - 2 broken and seeds removed.
Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
Milk - little
Preparation method:-
In a kadai add sesame oil (1 tbsp) along with chopped vegetables carrot, beans, potato, green chili, small onion and plantain (vazhakkai). Sortae the vegetables for 5 mins.
After 5 mins add the turmeric powder, sambhar powder, salt and tamarind juice.
In vessel take the dry roasted rice and wash 2 or 3 times.
When the gravy starts boiling switch of the flame transfer this to the vessel containing rice.
Mix the cooked toor dal to the rice and gravy mixture. Check the tamarind, salt and spice level and bring to the correct taste.
Pressure cook the rice for 4 to 5 whistle and slow down the flame for 5 mins.
When pressure got released take the cooked sambhar rice outside.
In a pan add ghee , remaining oil, mustard to splutter, red chili, fenugreek seed, asafoetida, chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves or you can do while sortae the vegetables as i did.
Add this garnish to the sambhar rice and little milk and mix well.
Ready to eat sambhar rice is hot and tasty to eat. You can serve this with potato chips or fried pappad.
Note: Consume when it is hot else it might become like hard cake :-(
Making of Ellu podi sadham (Sesame seed powder rice) - Prepartion time 20 mins
I love to take ellu satham with moor kuzhambhu which is an excellent combination. Mom used to make this rice occasionally mostly it will be on a saturday of puratasi month. The taste will be good so you cannot resist this rice along with moor kuzhambu.
For so many years i thought of making this rice but my husband once told that he don't like ellu sadham. Once i even bought to make that but didn't try in my mom's home also my brother hate this rice and say some reason to avoid this rice. I tried in little quantity and came out well.
Now i thought of trying this rice atleast for me so bought sesame seed and kept. When my husband travelled for business i tried this podi and made ellu rice using the podi. It came out well. So now i am sharing this health and tasty recipe to you all. Another important health tip, Sesame seed (Ellu) is a very rich source of calcium. Do you know sesame seed per 100 gms contains more than 1100 mg of calcium i.e. the richest source when compared to milk, ragi, almond and chickpeas
Ingredients:-
Sesame rice powder - 2tbsp (refer making of ellu podi)
Green chili - 1
Curry leaves - 1 string
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Rice - cooked and cooled (1 cup)
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Preparation method:-
In a vessel spread the cooked rice, add little sesame oil and leave it to cool then only the variety rice will not be sticky.
Take a kadai heat little oil. Add mustard to splutter, urad dhal to brown, green chili and curry leaves. Switch of the flame.
Add the rice to the kadai along with 1 tbsp of sesame rice powder and mix. If you want more rich you can add little more ellu podi and mix. Check the spice level and salt.
Serve this variety rice with fried papad or as i said with delicious moor kuzhambu.
Chow chow and carrot sambhar for rice - Preparation time 20 mins.
Sambhar, kootu, rasam and poriyal will be the regular dishes we used to cook for our lunch either one of the gravies with some vegetable curry and curd for our every day meal. Sambhar will have a unique taste and if cooked with right ingredients and proportion it will be yummy with main dish like white rice, idli, dosa, chapathi, puri etc. It contains the taste of slight tangy, sweet, spicy, salt in each and every bite/spoon of rice.
During summer the same spicy sambhar will be cooked in slow flame to make it to a solid consistency of the sambhar which we used to call as sunda kuzhambhu which is the best partner for rice soaked in water along with small onion, curry leaves, salt and curd (Thanni sadham). This will taste a step above than the sambhar.
Now let use see how to make the sambhar for rice. Mom used to make and give me the sambhar powder which is the main ingredient for sambhar. I will update the making of sambhar powder after asking her. Below is the way how my mom used to make sambhar and serve. I follow the same because mom is first teacher and the best as always :-)
Ingredients:-
Sambhar powder - 1and 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 string leaves chopped
Coriander leaves - 2 string leaves and stem chopped
Tamarind - small ball of 1 inch diameter soaked in little water (or goose berry size . i prefer tamarind slightly sweet else we have use 1/4 tsp of sugar )
Boiled milk - 1 laddle
Cooked toor dhal - 1 cup
Chow chow & carrot - chopped to slightly thick slices 1 cup
Water - 2 cup
Mustard seed - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Red chili - 1 (broke to pieces and remove the seeds)
small onion - 6 (Chopped to thin strings)
Preparation method:-
Pressure cook one and half ladle of toor dhal with a tsp of mung dhal and required amount of water (1 cup) for 3 to 4 whistle. Mix this with the milk and keep aside.
After mashing the tamarind well and extracting the juice filter the tamarind water to vessel in which sambhar is going to be made.
To the tamarind extract add salt, turmeric, sambhar powder and mix. Check the spice and salt, adjust according to your taste. Boil the mixture.
In a pan add the chopped vegetable with 1 tsp sesame oil. Fry till raw smell goes off and slightly the color will change.
Add 1 cup water to the vegetable and leave to cook the vegetable till it becomes soft. Now transfer cooked vegetable to boiling sambhar mixture.
Let the vegetables boil for 5 mins to absorb the taste of sambhar. Add boiled toor dhal with little water and milk mixture to boiling sambhar.
In a tawa add sesame oil, mustard to splutter, fenugreek seed along with red chili, half of the chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves, chopped onion. Fry till the onion is cooked or you can add the full onions while frying and cooking the vegetables as i did.
Finally add the asfoetida to the garnishing and transfer this to boiling sambhar. Add the remaining curry leaves and coriander leaves. Let this boil for 2 seconds.
Check the consistency of the sambhar if too thick add little boiling water and transfer to the serving bowl. Taste and see whethet the salt is correct and adjust.
Tasty and traditional sambhar is ready to eat. I used to cook sambhar, rasam and vegetables in mud utensil so the taste of sambhar will be excellent and more tasty.
Happy and healthy cooking. I am cooking the gravies like kootu, sambhar, rasam using mud utensil in gas stove over 10 years. I feel cooking is fast and the gravy is hot for little more time.
If you cook dhal, vegetable and gravy for sambhar in parallel it will take even less time.
Also please don't pressure cook the vegetables as you cook dhal because the vegetable will be over cooked. Cook the vegetables as i didn't you will really the credit for the tasty sambhar. Vegetable to be cooked according to the hardness.
Cooking is an art which is to be completed with passion and patience. Required time should be given to get a tasty dish.
