Puranache Dive

Dish type: Traditional Indian Dessert

Time taken: 15 min approx

Roasting time: 10 min

Quantity: 100 gms

Ingredients

Bengal gram dal                   125 gms

Jaggery                                 150 gms

Directions:

Cook dal in a pressure cooker with enough water (say twice the quantity of dal) till it is soft. Drain water completely. While dal is cooking….pound jaggery to powder form.

Mix both powdered jiggery and cooked dal in a kadai. Heat till jaggery melts. Continue stirring and heating the mix on low flame till water content disappears and mix turns into ball like consistency. It also starts leaving the sides of the kadai.  Grind this mass in a “puran yantra” or in a mixie. When done with a mixie, it becomes liquidy.  Keep it in the fridge for a few hours to allow it to cool down and become tight. Now shape them into diyas, place wick inside each of the diyas, fill diya with ghee . Use it to perform “Arati”

Tete – a – Tete:

Recipe Contributor Smitha Kiran Desai says “We pray to Goddess jivati to protect our children… on Friday of Shravan month. On Nagapanchami we Deshastha Brahmins make a recipe called Dinda. This is also made with puran. Puran is placed on a wheat roti. Roti is then folded into pocket shape and it is steamed. It is eaten with ghee.”

BOONDI LADDOOS

Waving to the dawn of this daintily drizzling day, while Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy, Cream Contributor of
recipes to Mangala’s Potluck wakes up to turn a new leaf in her life…Page 1 - Age 91, may we too enjoy the privilege of partaking in this celebration with…..

A flour that floors you no end, used not just in cuisine but also as facepack for dead cells to disappear and make one’s skin glow.  A mask that can make even a doggedly canine look swiftly shift to a humanly feminine look! Wow you age old glowy tip…Do take a bow!!

Ubiquitous in a variety of cuisines, be it as farinata in Italy, fritter in Sicily, tortillitas in Spain or Koliva in Greece and back home, in our very own Mahan Bharat, wah wah list is Maha Bruhat!! Bhajji, Bonda, Boondi, Bhujia, Dhokla, Patra, Pakora, Puri, Pancake, Pak (of Mysore fame) or Sev (of street food fame!) Uffh….and now, can you guess which among these is “The Dish of This Day”? Draw your luck right here! 

Dish type: South Indian Dessert

Time required: 2 hours
Yield: 90 nos. (approx. ) 

Ingredients for making Boondi

Besan                                     875 gms (3 ¼ cups – cup measure 250 gms)

Water                                     Just enough to bring besan to Idli batter consistency

Salt                                         1 tsp

Ingredients for making Sugar Syrup

Sugar                                     750 gms (3 cups – cup measure 250 gms)

Water                                     Just enough to cover sugar level in a bowl

Few other Ingredients

Oil                                           250 ml (approx..) for frying each batch of boondi

Pure ghee / Oil                     50 gms for frying rasnins and cashews

Cardamom                            2 or 3 tsps. powdered

Clove                                      5 to 6 nos. powdered

Borneo camphor                  1 no. powdered (also known as edible camphor, pacha karpuram)

Cashewnuts                         100 gms

Raisins                                  50 gms

Directions:

For preparing Sugar Syrup:

Boil sugar in water. Let sugar dissolve and boil for a few minutes till the syrup reaches sticky consistency. Keep it aside.

For preparing Boondis:

Mix besan, water and salt. Beat it or mix by hand and bring it to idli batter consistency. Make sure lumps in besan are removed. Let it stand for about 10 min. (You will fall in love with its goldielooks….so custardish it is!)

Heat oil in a kadai. Using one hand, keep boondi ladle a little above the kadai. Using the other hand, pour batter on to the boondi ladle so that it drops down into the oil in the kadai through the holes in the ladle. Unlike standard frying procedure, here you don’t have to continuously keep stirring while boondis are being fried. Once in a way is fine and enough. Transfer fried boondis either to a colander and later into sugar syrup or directly into sugar syrup. Choice is yours.

Add raisins and cashews (both fried in ghee), cardamom powder, edible camphor powder and clove powder to fried boondis soaked in sugar syrup. Let it stand for a while say, 10 min. Transfer it to a plate, make portions and then form laddoos. Start making rough balls from these portions. Repeat 3 times. At this stage, they will take the form of full round tasty tempting laddoos.

Boondi Laddoos are now ready. Pick them up fast…stock won’t last!!

Tete a Tete:

In the process of making boondis, if you find the holes in the ladle blocked, wash the ladle, wipe them dry and dip it back into the batter.

Clove can either be used whole or in powdered form. If using it in powdered form, better to lightly heat the cloves for easier powdering.

It is important that sugar syrup reaches sticky consistency. No more no less.

If batter is too thin or if ghee is not yet hot, boondi will absorb more ghee. At the same time, don’t overheat the oil lest boondis too will be overfried and turn brown too quick.

It is better to heat just the required amount of oil for every batch of frying rather than heating larger than required quantity at a time.

Take out a ladleful of soaked boondis, powder them in a mixie and add it back to the rest of soaked boondis before froming them into laddoos. This helps in bonding boondis better with each other.

Difference between boondi and laddoo: Can be compared to atom and molecule.

Recipe contributor: Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy, nonagenarian and expert cook.

Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy seated in the heart of this pic is also firmly rooted in the hearts of those around her!

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog  

Few other recipes contributed by Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy:

Heralekaayi Gojju (Citron Lime Sauce)

Pulgura (Huli Soppu) or Greens Chutney

Sambar Powder

Rasam Powder
Hasi Majjige Huli

Menthyada Hittu (Fenugreek Powder)

Bisi Bele Baath

Vangibath Powder

Dantina Soppu Bassaaru
Dil Leaves Sambar (Sabsige Soppina Kootu)

Rava Cake (Semolina Cake)

A fine find when you fall down with fever, yummy when you are upset with your tummy J, loaded with Vitamin as complex as B, also high in Vit E you C. A popular ingredient for pudding or pilaf, when cooked as cake puffs up to become fluffier than farina. Cook it as coucous as in North Africa or as our own humble Upma from South India. Are your spirits soaring up to a plane as high as spiritual? Steam it then as sheer kheer, serve it to a seer and see him cheer! Look yourself in the mirror. Aha that smile… So Crystal Clear!

On this auspicious morning of Sep 27th 2017, while nonagenarian and expert cook Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy meanders her way into the Kalyana Mantapam on the dot of Muhurtham to shower her choicest blessings on Vinitha, her grand daughter when she ties the sacred knot with her beloved, let me enjoy the privilege of posting Rawa (Semolina) Cake, a traditional dessert recipe gifted with love by Smt. Lalithamma to readers who can digest Mangala’s Potluck ! :)

Dish Type:  Traditional South Indian Dessert

Time taken:  1 hour

Yield:  10 pcs (approx.)

Ingredients – Option 1

Cream Milk                         1 cup

Chiroti Rava                        1 cup (Semolina fine quality)

Sugar                                     ¾ to 1 cup

Salt                                         A pinch

Sour curd                             1 cup

Saffron                                 A pinch

Baking Powder                  1 tsp

Baking Soda                        ¼ tsp

Dry fruits                             Few nos. cut to fine pieces (optional)

Directions

Mix first 6 ingredients listed above in a bowl. Beat the mix to bhajji batter consistency. Leave the batter for about half an hour. Check taste for sugar. Add more if required. Add dry fruits of your choice: Raisins, chopped cherry, cashews, walnut, pumpkin seeds, dry dates (optional), baking powder and baking soda to the batter at this stage (i.e, just before baking). These also contribute to sweetness of the cake.

Keep an old cooker over a gas stove. Put 1 cup salt or enough to cover the bottom of cooker. (Instead of salt, sand can be used. Fill upto 1 1/2” height enough to cover the bottom of cooker)

Place a steel grid. Close the cooker with its lid without using gasket or weight. Switch on the flame. Preheat cooker for 5 min. Spread banana leaf/baking paper/aluminium foil at the bottom of the vessel in which you wish to put the batter for making cake. Place few pieces of chopped dry fruits spreading it all around. Over this pour the batter. Keep this vessel in the preheated cooker. Leave in medium flame for 5 to 10 min. and in low flame for about 40 min. Cake will be baked by now. Let it cool down. Then carefully remove the cake from vessel, slowly separating the sides first.

Rava Cake is ready to serve. Time to Celebrate!!

Tete a Tete

Oven can be used instead of pressure cooker. Preheat oven in high temp. for about 5 min. Bake the cake in low temp. for about 40 min.

To check if cake is fully cooked, prick a tooth pick deep into the cake. If nothing sticks to the the stick, then cake is done.

Recipe contributed by nonagenarian and expert cook, Smt. Lalithamma Ramamurthy 

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog  

7 CUPS BARFI

Are you game for a race (nah, not the rat kind please!) to brace up for the day?

Ready, steady, 1.2..3…4….go for this miniathon that’s sweetly different…just 7 laps long! Chase those cups… all same size, 7 of them. 1 of rava, 2 of sugar, 3 of ….. Oomph! Off you zoomed to the finish line in no time!! Tip yourself to a delicious dessert you duly deserve!

A dessert that tempts you to devour, yet sweet signals sent from it simply say “Taste me… just a bite and I shall see you savour me bits by bit by wee bit”. 7 ingredients coming together to submerge in a syrup prepared “with no strings (consistencies) attached” and lo! watch those diamonds emerge flat on a plate, glittering. Are u scaling up to seventh heaven all ready!  

Dish Type:  South Indian Dessert 

Time required:  30 min approx.

Yield:  16 pcs (approx.)

Ingredients

Chiroti Rava                        1 cup (Semolina fine quality)

Sugar                                  3 cups (2.5 cups is enough if you don't want it too sweet)

Ghee                                   1 cup

Milk                                    1 cup

Raw Coconut                      1 cup (grated)

Cardamom                          2 pcs. (powdered)

Essence                               very few drops (pineapple / vanilla flavour)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients except milk in a kadai. Now add milk, mix again and let it stand for about 10 mins.

Before you begin boiling, keep a clean, flat plate or tray ready. Grease it by smearing ghee uniformly all over including the sides.

Now keep the kadai for boiling on low flame. Keep stirring the contents at intervals. Continue stirring till it starts bubbling. Ghee will start oozing out and flowing on the sides of the kadai. Keep mixing….oh can’t mix any more? Well, that’s a good sign to transfer contents from pan to plate!

Pour the contents in the kadai on to the greased plate. Spread the mixture evenly on the plate. Slowly and gently flatten and smoothen the top surface with a spatula. After a minute or two, using a sharp knife, mark lines to divide them. Mark either diagonally into diamonds or straight to from squares or rectangles. When it is warm, run the knife deep over the marked lines to slit them to pieces. Let it stand uncovered till it reaches room temperature (takes about an hour). Remove the pieces carefully and stack them on a plate. 7 cups barfi is now ready. Serve them rightaway.

Store them in an air tight container. Store in fridge if needed for later use.

Tete a tete

While stirring, every time make sure spatula reaches right down to the bottom of the kadai and all round the sides for uniform frying.

Texture of the mixture is perfect when it appears smooth and shiny sans any bubbles.

Adding cashewnuts is optional. If used, it can be powdered and added towards the end while frying.

Cup of any size can be used. No. of pieces vary accordingly. I used cup size that holds 100 gms and treated my family to atleast 16 diamonds!
According to my friend Smt. Padmini Prasanna, using coconut milk (1 cup) instead of just raw grated coconut enhances the taste and flavour of barfi.

While there are few other ways and options for making 7 cups barfi, I found this way to be the easiest.

Recipe contributed by octagenarian Smt. Meena Lakshminarayana, an expert cook and aunt in law of my dear friend Arati Rangaswamy

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog 

HALDI LEAF ADA (Sweet Rice Dumplings /Patoli /Panaga /Namkeen Ada)

Tak Tuk Tak Tuk…Hurry Hari Hurry Harry…Quick quick! Off to the farm….pluck please those lovely leaves that look like a lance yet make you dance to its fragrant flavour! A flavour that seeps deep in as you cook and lends a tad turmerish tinge to the finished dish when you look. Leaves that make dishes in your kitchen feel so divine! Widely favoured in food preparations for its herbal use in traditional cooking, cook with these fresh, broad leaves that are green in colour. Get the taste of a rhizome that’s yellow in colour.

Called botanically as Curcuma Longa but known popularly as Indian Saffron (though never a substitute for saffron), these leaves when layered with rice flour dough, filled with coconut-jaggery mixture and steamed in a steamer doles out dumplings with a sweet stuffing…do you now have an inkling what could this dish be? Read recipe right below.

Dish Type: Traditional Dessert

Time taken: 45 min. approx.  (15 min. for steaming + 30 min. for preparation)

Yield: 12 to 15 nos. approx.

Ingredients for Haldi Leaf Ada

For making dough:

Rice flour                    1 cup (200 gms. approx.)

PC: Dr. Harimohan Pillai

Salt to taste                 1 tsp

Water                          ¼ cup approx. (enough to convert flour to chapathi dough consistency)

For filling:

Jaggery powder          1 cup (200 gms approx. for high sweet taste)

Raw grated coconut    1 cup (200 gms. approx. or 1 medium size coconut)

Cardamom Powder     ½ tsp (optional)

Nutmeg powder          A pinch (optional)

For steaming

Turmeric leaves           10 to 12 nos.

Rice flour dough         10 to 12 lime size balls

Jaggery Coconut mix  2 to 3 tsps for each

Directions:

Pour rice flour on to a bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Mix well. Now start adding water little by little. Keep mixing the flour and water till you get chapathi dough consistency. Knead well and keep aside.

Spread turmeric leaf on a steaming vessel. Spread rice dough (1 lime size ball) on turmeric leaf . Thinner the layer of spread, better will be the taste. Fill in with jaggery coconut mix. Fold one half of the leaf over the other (either horizontally or vertically). Steam it in pressure cooker for 15 to 20 min on high flame. Make sure there is enough water in the pressure cooker. Switch off the flame. Take out dumplings from the cooker. Peel off the turmeric leaf from each of them. Top up these dumplings with loads of ghee!

Haldi Ele Adas (Sweet Rice dumplings using Turmeric Leaves) are now ready.

Tete – a – Tete

Recipe contributed by nonagenarian and expert cook, Smt. Parvathy, mother of Architect, Dr.

Harimohan Pillai

Instead of jaggery, salt can be used along with grated cucumber, ginger and green chillies to make the spicy version says Smt. Radhika Nair Pillai.

Similar dish is made in Bengal during winter for Pongal festival

Known by other names like Patholi in Konkani, Arasina Ele Kadabu in Kannada and Ela Ada in Malayalam

Banana leaf may also be used instead of turmeric leaf

In Maharashtra, cooked food is wrapped in turmeric leaves lending dishes a distinct aroma.

Soaking turmeric leaves in water for some time helps in easier folding.

Other options for making outer cover:

        Rice soaked in water for about 3 hrs and ground to a smooth, thick batter using minimum water. Add salt to taste

       Rice flour mixed with water to a thick batter consistency and kept aside for about half an hour. Add salt to taste.

If the outer cover is very thick, Ada looks like this. You dont see any shades of filling. Looks wise it's neat n nice. Not so taste wise since the bland taste of dough overpowers the delicious taste of filling. Also it requires more time for steaming.

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog  

ARAVANA PAYASAM

Payasam popular naivedyam of Lord Ayyappa at Shabarimala.

Sharanam Ayyappa! Let’s start

Dish type: Traditional Desert

Time required: 45min

Yield: 1 bowl (200 ml approx.)

Ingredients

For boiling:

Rice                                        60 gms

Jaggery                                 120 gms

Water                                      150 ml

Ghee                                        45 to 50 gms

Edible Camphor (paccha karpoora) tiny pinch

Cardamom                            2 or 3 nos.

For garnishing:

Dry coconut  finely chopped   4-5 tsp (few small pieces)

Black til                                ½ tsp

Cashewnuts                            1 tsp

Raisins                                 2 tsps.

Directions:

Dry fry organic handpound raw rice for two mins. Stop when grains start spluttering. Add a tsp of ghee. Do not allow rice to splutter too much or turn crispy. Now add water and let it soak for 15-30min depending on the rice which you are using. Close with a lid. Let it boil. When rice is cooked, no water should remain and you should be able to mash the cooked rice with mild pressure between your fingers. Transfer rice from kadai to a vessel. Add half portion of ghee. Let ghee coat the rice well.

Now put jaggery into the kadai. Add water (quantity enough to dissolve jaggery). Boil till jaggery melts. Open or lightly crush the cardamom and add. When the syrup starts frothing, add cooked rice to it. Keep stirring till the contents in the kadai thicken (not too thick, as it will further thicken when it cools). Let the payasam cool down in the kadai a bit say 10-15 min. In the Naivedyam offering bowl, add remaining ghee, camphor. Mix well. Now transfer the payasam to offering bowl.

Now, let’s garnish. Let it look stylish!

Fry chopped dry coconut pieces in ghee. Let it turn golden brown in colour. Now add black til, cashewnuts and raisins. Add it to the payasam and mix well. The real aroma is in the garnishing !

Aravana Payasam is now ready for offering. Leave the payasam for 1-2 hrs and the ghee will thicken back. Best tastes this way.

Tete a Tete

Red rice, handpound rice, Rajamundri rice or any raw rice can be used.

Blackest possible variety of jaggery is preferred. (paak bella)

Important : Best tastes when cooked in an iron or brass kadai / pan

When jaggery melts completely on boiling, sieve if required to filter out any impurities and pour the filtered jaggery syrup back into the kadai and resume boiling.

In case too much water is left out after cooking rice, drain out the water

Can reduce the ghee, if you can compromise the taste a bit

Rice can be pressure cooked, provided it doesn’t get smushy

Recipe contributed by my dear friend Ms. Sreeja M

Recipes viewed here are a part of  "Mangala's Potluck" section in this blog