Mullu Murukku | Butter Murukku | Chakli

Mullu murukku is what I call this snack.... This is my favourite among murukkus. But from the blogging world I got to know that it is also called as Butter Murukku or Chakli. I have always tasted this murukku from marriages (Iyer mariiages). As part of marriages we get kai murukku , mullu murukku and bhoondi laddu and I used to lay my hands on mullu murukku. 

I tried making this murukku 2-3 times but failed miserable because I was not able to keep the murukku in the shape. It always used to break. Finally I found out that the secret was to slightly dry roast the powders. Now over to the recipe

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 2 cups (250 grams)

Gram Flour (Besan) - 4 tablespoons (50 grams)

Bengal gram powder - 2 tablespoons (25 grams)

Butter - 4 tablespoons (50 grams)

Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon (10 grams)

Asafoetida powder - 1 teaspoon (4 grams)

Salt - to taste

Water - 1 glass 

Oil - for deep frying

Method:

• Grind little roasted Bengal gram in a mixer to form a smooth powder. In a pan dry roast the besan  and the gram flour so as to remove the raw smell. 
• Sieve all the powders (rice, besan and roasted bengal gram) 2-3 times to combine them well.
• In a bowl take the sieved powder. Add asafoetida powder, salt, butter and cumin seeds.  Mix it well.
• Slowly add water and combine everything together to form a soft and firm dough.
• Leave it aside for about 30 minutes.
• Take the murukku press. Add the mould. I used the mould with one star in the middle. 
• Then add the dough inside the press. I took some plastic sheets, greased them with oil and made the shape of the murukku in the plastic sheets and slowly dropped them in oil.
• The other way is grease the laddle with oil, make the shape of the murukku in the laddle and slowly drop them in oil.
• Deep fry them over medium flame and fry them on both sides till they turn golden brown.  Drain excess oil using a paper towel.
• Allow it to cool and then store them in an airtight container.

Wonderful tea time snack is ready!!!! Be sure to include this in your next set of Diwali recipes.

Mathan Erissery | Yellow Pumpkin in Coconut Sauce

Erissery is a special dish which finds its place in the Sadhya.. It is prepared using Pumpkin, Yam, Jackfruit or with a combination of Raw Banana and Yam. Vegetables are cooked and simmered in a coconut paste and then again topped with roasted coconut. A very flavorful curry that can be enjoyed with rice and some pickle 

Ingredients:
Pumpkin – 2 cups, cut into bite sized cubes
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
To Grind
Scraped Coconut – ¾ cup
Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp
Dried Red Chilly – 1

To Roast
Scraped Coconut – ¼ cup

To Temper
Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
Urad Dal – ½ tsp
Dried Red Chilly – 1 (optional)
Curry Leaves - few

Method

• Cook the pumpkin pieces in 1.5 cups of water with salt and turmeric powder, until soft.
• Grind coconut, cumin seeds and red chilly to a smooth paste using little water.
• Once the pumpkin pieces are cooked, add the ground paste to the cooked pumpkin pieces, mix well and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until it starts boiling.
• Remove from heat.
• Now heat a small frying pan, add a tsp of oil and roast the coconut  until dark brown.
• Add this browned coconut to the pumpkin coconut mixture and mix.
• Finally temper with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilly and curry leaves.

Serve this delicious Mathan Erisserry with white steamed rice and thogayal or any pickle.


Linking this recipe to the event South-Indian Cooking conducted by anuzhealthykitchen and hosted by nandooskitchen.

Chole | Channa Masala | White chickpeas in rich masala gravy

Chole is a very famous dish from the North Indian cuisine and generally finds its place in the first set of orders placed in a restaurant. I have heard many cooks complaining that they were not able to make a perfect chole. Either their gravy was too watery or the chickpeas used to be disjoint. Well I atleast haven't faced this problem.

The famous combination for Chole is Bature - A poori like dish made out of maida and yeast. But we generally consume less of Bature or Poori since it is very rich in oil. I serve Chole with chapathis or Appams. Believe me chole tastes great with Appams.

Channa Masala - I generally use store bought powder. If I do not have it, I use garam masala + amchur powder. But Channa Masala in addition to the standard garam masala ingredients, also has amchur powder and pomegranate powder. That gives the characteristic tangy taste. Also, remember that Channa Masala has some amount of saltiness in it. So add salt accordingly




Ingredients:

Chickpeas dried - 1 cup (125 grams)
Onions - 4 (150 grams)
Tomato - 4 (125 grams)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (10 grams)
Garlic - 4 pods (10 grams)
Green Chillies - 4 (10 grams)
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamom - 2 Clove
Star Anise - 2
Cumin/Jeera - 1 tsp (5 grams)
Channa Masala - 1.5 tbsp (15 grams)
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp (10 grams)
Coriander leaves for garnish



Method:

• Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain water. Add 4 cups of water, turmeric powder and a little salt. Pressure cook till it is cooked well, but retains the shape. I cooked for one whistle and simmered for about 10 minutes. Drain the cooked water and save it. 
• Heat oil in a pan. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon, clove, cardamom. star anise and cumin. When it sizzles, add finely chopped onions and a little salt. Saute till the onion starts to brown. 
• Make a paste of Ginger and Garlic. Add to the pan along with turmeric powder. Saute for some more time. 
• Add chopped tomatoes and green chillies. Cook till the tomatoes are cooked well. Don't stop when the tomatoes are done. The trick is to keep cooking till there is no trace of tomato and we have a smooth paste. 
• Add the channa masala. Mix well. 
• Add the drained water to the pan and bring it to a boil. Simmer for a little bit. 
• Add the cooked channa and chilli powder (Add as per need. I added 1 tsp and felt it was enough since sometimes the channa masala has some amount of chilly). Or you could add more green chilli at the beginning. Add salt if needed. 
• Simmer for a little while. Switch off and garnish with coriander leaves. Add a little lime juice if you like it more tangy. 

Serve this hot with Chapathi / Roti/ Appams / Idiappams / Poori or even rice..



Note: 
If the gravy is too watery, grind little chickpeas and 1/2 a tomato and add to the gravy and boil.
If the gravy is too disjoint, it might be that the chickpeas have not cooked soft. Once the gravy is ready just pressure cook it for one minute.

Linking this recipe to the event Dish it out-light dinners event organized by Vardhini and hosted by Preetha Soumyan

Liebster Award

Today - January 26th is the Republic Day in INDIA. In India, Republic Day honours the date on which the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950.

The main Republic Day celebration is held in the national capital, New Delhi, at the Rajpath before the President of India. On this day, ceremonious parades take place at the Rajpath, which are performed as a tribute to India.

Another important part of the Republic Day celebrations is that various awards are given away to the Indians honouring their service and exceptional achievements/service in all fields of activities/disciplines, such as Art, Literature and Education, Sports, Medicine, Social Work, Science and Engineering, Public Affairs, Civil Service, Trade and Industry etc.

What a good day to share that I have received the LIEBSTER AWARD from Sathya Priya of http://mykitchenodyssey.blogspot.in/. Thanks a lot Sathya!!!!!

Now this is the first time I am hearing about this award and I did a bot of research to find out what is this all about and how it started. Well I couldn't get the exact answer to the second question as to how it started since I lost my patience searching for the answers. :-) Anyways the earliest I could find was in 2010. Now LIEBSTER is a german word meaning "Dearest". So obviously this system should have started in Germany.

Anyways the rules have changed over time. The current rules when I received this award is that:

1) This is an award passed on to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. A means to identify new blogs and create more friends.
2) Thank the blogger who have passed on this award to you.
3) Answer the questions that the blogger has posted for you.
4) Identify some other new bloggers to whom you would like to pass on this award.
5) Identify some questions that you would like your fellow bloggers to answer.

So Here goes my answers to Sathya's Questions.

What brought you to blogging? your passion or passtime?
                My Passion in cooking brought me into this blogging world.

Give a little introduction about your family?
                 Little - Its just the two of us :-)

What is your favourite food ?
                 Noodles - That reminds me - I haven't yet posted a noodle recipe.

 Apart from indian food what is your most favorite food?
                 I like Pizzas - So Italian

Are you open to try other cusines ?
                Yes

Who is your inspiration ?
                 That goes without saying - My Mom and my Mom-In-Law

You like blogging or cook and click?
                  Basically I like to note down my recipes so that I don't forget in the future and of-course to share with others. So blogging...

Your signature dish ?
                  Biriyani - http://endekushini.blogspot.in/2013/02/malabar-chicken-biriyani.html and http://endekushini.blogspot.in/2012/12/egg-biriyani.html

Favourite recipe in your blog?
                  Kushka - http://endekushini.blogspot.in/2013/02/khushka-biriyani.html

Your cooking guru?
                 No such guru as such.

How well you know your kitchen ? If you lose electricity can you take everything from the right place?
                 Kitchen - Yes , Store room - No


I would like to pass this award to the below mentioned bloggers.

Asiya of http://asiyama.blogspot.in
Supriya Nair of http://mykookbook.blogspot.in
Smita Kalluraya of http://smithakalluraya.blogspot.in
Bhawya Sankar of http://bhawishkitchen.blogspot.in/
Sundari Nathan of http://mymagicpan.com/

My Questions to Nominees are

1) Few words about yourself and your blog
2) Which is your favourite food
3) Any dish which you haven't yet prepared but would love to prepare
4) Do you have any obstacles to blogging? How did you overcome them?
5) Your inspiration?
6) What was the first dish you prepared by yourself.
7) The dish which you love to cook and why?
8) Your signature dish?
9) Any two recipes which you would like to try from my blog (provide link)
10) some words to budding bloggers.

Phew!!!! Haven't written such a long post in recent times...

Pudhina Rice

Pudhina is a very easy to grow plant at our homes. I started in one pot and now they are growing in 3 pots. Every week I get a bunch of Pudhina leaves and now I am hunting for recipes with Pudhina. Here is my first one.

Actually in my childhood days I used to Hate Pudhina - never liked the smell of it. Might be also because my mom bever used pudhina in her cooking. I started using it once I started making pulav/biriyani etc... Now I am a fan of Pudhina.

Ingredients:
Pudina or Mint Leaves – 1 small bunches
Basmathi Rice/Raw Rice– 1 cups (125 grams)
Onions – 2 Sliced (100 grams)
Green Chillies – 2 to 3 (10 grams)
Grated Fresh Coconut – 3 Tblsps (10 grams)
Jeera – 1 tsp
Cashewnuts – a few
Oil – 2 tsps
Ghee – 2 tsps
10.Salt to Taste

Method:

• Wash and drain basmathi rice/raw rice. Keep aside. 
• Wash and clean the mint leaves. 
• Now, grind the mint leaves, grated coconut, and green chillies into a paste without adding any water. 
• Heat a pressure cooker, add the oil and ghee, and then add the jeera and cashews. 
• Once cashews turn golden, add the sliced onions and fry till translucent. 
• Next add the ground pudina paste and sauté for 2 mins. Next add the rice, sauté for another minute. Now add 2 cups water, salt to taste and mix well. Cook till 1 whistle.

Sweet smelling Pudina rice is ready to be served with a raita/papad of your choice and some nice fried vegetables.

Home made Sambar Powder

This is a long pending post in my drafts. Sambar powder is very useful and handy for the preparation of everyday sambar, we use it for making kootu, poriyal, sometimes for specific rasams too, what not? I also add this to roast potatoes and brinjal fry. Some may find it weird, but it lends a great flavour to these. After all this is nothing but mainly dhaniya (coriander seeds) and red chillies, which we use separately in other recipes, so I replace those with sambar powder. Many of us don’t know the multi purpose use of it, but I find it very useful to me.

My mom used to make sambar powder at home earlier but now she uses store bought ones as well as her preparation. I have actually combined MIL's and mom's sambar powder and made one. 

Sambar powder is kerala and Tamil nadu are made different. And the difference is coconut. Yes roast coconut is added to sambar powder in Kerala but not so in Tamil Nadu.

Ingredients:
Red chillies (long red variety) 35 grams
Coriander seeds (Dhaniya) 50 grams
Channa dal 10 grams
Toor dal 5 grams
Pepper (black,whole) 5 grams
Jeera 5 grams
Fenugreek seeds (vendhayam) 5 grams
Asafoetida - 10 grams
Coconut - 15 grams

Method:

• Roast all ingredients individually until nice aroma comes. Roast the coconut until it turns brown. Let them cool.
• I powder all the ingredients except coconut and then at the end add coconut and powder.
• The powder resulting from the above mentioned quantity lasts for about 50-60 days for me. So I prepare in small batches.
• If you want to prepare huge batches (like 1KG) then I would recommend to sun-dry the ingredients and powder them in a mill.
• We can also add turmeric to this powder but I generally have fresh home-made turmeric powder separately. 
• After powdering allow the powder to cool and store in air tight containers. I usually store in  One big and one small container in which I transfer weekly for everyday use. By that way, even if we touch it with wet hands, it will get over soon and the big container sambar powder is saved.
• Just add 2 spoons of this powder to make sambar for serving 4.

Notes:
Do not use wet hands while handling the sambar powder, always use clean spoons.
Adding channa dal more in the above recipe will make the sambar overflow while boiling and also the sambar will turn too thick after some time.

Ellu Sadam

My dear blogger friends - My blog has crossed 20,000 page views. Thanks to you all. Please keep visiting and sharing and motivating me to update more innovative recipes. Aaah what a wonderful note to start the year with!!! Well I have made a resolution to post atleast one recipe every week. Let me see how far I can keep up with this resolution.

Now over to today's recipe. As promised in Kaanum Pongal post here I am with the recipe for Ellu Sadam. I first found this post couple of months back in Palakkad Chamayal blog and had bookmarked it immediately. What better day than Kaanum Pongal to try this recipe.

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup (200 grams)

White Sesame Seeds – 2 heaped tbsp (30 grams)

Urad Dal – 1 tsp (10 grams)

Dried Red Chillies – 1 or 2

Scraped fresh coconut – 1 to 2 tbsp (optional)

For tempering:

Oil – 1 tbsp (gingelly oil preferred)

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Peanuts – 2 tbsp

Curry Leaves – few sprigs

Method

• Cook the rice with little salt. Spread on a wide plate and separate the grains with a fork, sprinkle one spoon of oil. Allow to cool.
• Heat a pan, dry roast the sesame seeds in low flame till light brown in color. I used white sesame seeds. Black ones can also be used.
• Heat ½ tsp of oil and fry the urad dal and red chillies.
• Powder the sesame seeds. While grinding, do not run mixer for a long time. Give short pulses.
• Powder fried urad dal and chillies. Keep aside.
• Heat rest of the oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and peanuts. Fry till peanuts are roasted. Then add the curry leaves.
• If adding coconut, add now and fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add cooked rice, the powders and salt to taste. Mix well.

Yummy Ellu Sadam is ready to be served!!! Serve it with papad/vadams or roast potatoes. This would be a great lunch box idea!!!

Kaanum Pongal

The first festival in the new year is the Pongal. Initially we never used to celebrate Pongal. I got introduced to this festival in Tamil Nadu. Yeah in cities people basically make Venn Pongal and sakkarai pongal along with other niceties like vadai and enjoy the food. Also new clothes and crackers are the other attributes.

I have heard in villages it is awesome. Some day when I visit a village during Pongal time, I would be able to update the details. After pongal we celebrate the Kanu Pandigai (Kaanum Pongal). Kanu falls on the same day of Maatu Pongal. On this special Occasion, sisters in the family will pray for the welfare of their brothers. This is a special festival for ladies. And ladies serve various foods to crows. So crows have a feast on these days.

Like Adi perukku, on this day also various rice varieties are made. This year my addition is ellu sadam.

Here goes the recipe list:

Lemon Rice - http://endekushini.blogspot.fi/2013/02/lemon-rice.html

Thengai Sadam - http://endekushini.blogspot.fi/2013/02/thengai-sadam.html

Ellu Sadam - Recipe coming soon

Vadai - http://endekushini.blogspot.in/2012/12/medhu-vadai.html

Enjoy this Kanu with various rice varieties and papads/vadams!!!