Akkaravadisal

Happy Pongal / Sankranti / Lohri !!!

I have heard of Akkaravadisal when I used to be in chennai and have also tasted it in temples as prasadams. But after leaving chennai haven't heard of it. I saw the Akkaravadisal recipe in Rak's kitchen and it brought back memories. So this pongal instead of repeating the traditional Sarkarai pongal I made this Akkaravadisal.

As far as i know akkaravadisal is similar to sarkarai pongal. There are suttle differences like in sarkarai pongal the rice is visible but in akkaravadisal the rice and dal mixture is mashed completely. Also I remember akkaravadisal as oozing with ghee whereas sarkarai pongal doesn't have so much of ghee.

Enjoy this pongal festival with Akkaravadisal!!!

Ingredients:

Rice - 100 grams
Moong dal (pasi paruppu) - 20 grams
Milk - 3 * 150 ml
Water - 150 ml
Jaggery - 50 grams
Ghee - 25 grams
Cardamom - 2
Cashew nut - 10
Rasins - 10
Saffron - a pinch
Sugar - 25 grams

Method:

• In a pressure cooker, add a spoon of ghee and roast the cashew nuts and raisins - keep them aside.
• Soak saffron in a spoonful of warm milk. Keep aside.
• In the same pressure cooker add another spoon of ghee and fry the rice and moong dal together for about 2 minutes.
• Add 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of water.
• Pressure cook for some time until the rice and dal gets cooked well and are mushy.
• Once done mash the cooked rice and dal well and add the remaining 1 cup of milk. Mix well.
• Continue heating in low flame and add powdered jaggery and little ghee.
• Mix well till the jaggery is melted. Add cardamom powder, sugar and the saffron milk.
• Add the remaining ghee and mix well.
• The akkaravadisal will be little watery while turning off stove. Keep it that way - it will thicken after some time.
• Add the roasted cashewnuts and raisins. 

Akkaravadisal is ready!!! Serve hot!!!

You can reheat while serving. If at room temperature, the ghee may supress the sweetness, so serve hot.

Puzhuku

Puzhuku is generally made during Thiruvadhira day and served along with the sweet Kali. In Kerala people commonly have puzhuku along with kanji. In kerala kanji and puzhuku is also served in some temples as prasadam.

Puzhuku is a dish normally made during the winter season since most of the root vegetables used here is available in abundance. Its said that Kaavath (Kaichil) is a very important vegetable to be used in this dish. I don't know the exact reason behind this. Puzhuku is also called Thiruvadhira poduthuval or 7 kari koottu. Every household has their own way of preparing it. Some prepare it like a dry curry, some prepare like a kootu and still others prepare something like a Sambar with 5 or 7 different vegetables. Kaavathu, Mochai / pacha payar, Koorkai (Chinese Potato), Sweet Potato, kappa, chenai  are some of the vegetables that are generally used.

I am presenting the koottu version of it. This time I had most of the veggies home-grown. So all the more organic :-)

Ingredients:

Kaavath - 75 grams

Kappa (tapioca) - 100 grams

Chembu (taro root) - 75 grams

Koorkka (Chinese potato) - 100 grams

Chenai (elephant yam) - 75 grams

Vazhakkai (raw banana) - 75 grams

Sweet potato - 50 grams

Pacha payar (green gram) - 50 grams

Coconut - 50 grams

Jeera - 1 teaspoon

Green chillies - 4 nos

Salt - to taste

Coconut oil - 2 tablespoon

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Wash all the vegetables well.
• Separate out the kaavath and chembu. Cook them in a pressure cooker or steamer or with water and throw the water away.
• Cook the pacha payar separately in a pressure cooker,
• Toss the rest of the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder and place them in a steamer and cook till the vegetables are done. (If you do not have a steamer, place the vegetables in a vessel, toss with turmeric and salt and cook in a pressure cooker for one whistle. Do not add water to the vegetables)
• In the meanwhile, grind the coconut, jeera and green chilly into a coarse paste with very little water.
• Mix the cooked vehetables, cooked pacha payar and cooked kaavath / chembu. Check for salt.
• Mix the ground coconut and allow it to boil. 
• At the end add the curry leaves and the coconut oil. Boil it for another 2 minutes.

Puzhuku is ready!!!

Note:

We can also add other vegetables like peas, pumpkin, carrot etc to this.

Thiruvadhara Kali

HAPPY 2015!!!

2014 was a difficult year for me. Couldn't spend much time on my blog. Let me see whats in store in 2015.

I thought of starting this year with a sweet. Thiruvadhirai is around the corner and  brahmins in kerala / tamilnadu make this kali along with puzhuku ( a vegatble gravy). I find this combination very wierd - no idea who came up with this combination. I prefer to have puzhuku with rice and have this kali like a payasam. Over to the recipe

Ingredients 

Raw rice - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup

Water - 4 cups

Ghee - 3 tablespoons

Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon

Cashewnuts - 10

Coconut (grated) - 2 tablespoon

Method:

• In a pan dry roast the raw rice till it becomes reddish brown. Be careful not to get it burnt. Allow it to cool.
• In a heavy bottomed vessel (I used a uruli) add the jaggery and 1 cup water to it. Let the jaggery melt and then filter the impurity.
• Add the remaining 3 cups of jaggery and allow it to boil.
• Grind the roasted rice in a mixer into a rava consistency. Don’t grind it too much into a powder. It should be of semolina (rava) consistency.
• Add the grated coconut to the boiling jaggery. after a minute or 2 add the powdered rice and mix well. Add a spoon of ghee and keep stirring.
• Once all the water is absorbed by the rice, add another spoon of ghee and the cardamom powder. Mix well.
• Roast the cashewnuts in one teaspoon of ghee and garnish the kali with it.

Thiruvadhira Kali is ready!!!

Note:
The Kali can also be made in a pressure cooker.
The jaggery I use is the dark black colored which is very sweet. Hence I used 1:1 ratio. Generally 1.5:1 ratio of Jaggery:Rice is used.