Kalkandu Pongal
This is a special recipe of my MIL, which she makes on Thai Pongal day. It is very different from the regular Sakkara Pongal. Raw rice is cooked in milk to which kalkandu is added to get white, creamy and tasty Kalkandu Pongal. Enjoy ….
Posting this recipe for Let’s cook #11-Rice event hosted by Radhika of Tickling Palates.
Also posting this recipe for ABC series : Desserts event hosted by Ramya of Ramya’s recipe.
Kalkandu Pongal
Ingredients:
2 cups raw rice
4 tsp split moong dhal
3 cups milk
2 cups water
2 cups diamond kalkandu ( sugar candy )
3 pods cardamom
2 tsp ghee
10 no. cashews
Few raisins ( optional )
Method:
- Clean and wash the rice and dhal.
- In a heavy bottom pan pour 2 cups of boiled milk and 2 cups of water. When it boils add the rice and dhal.
- Keep the flame in sim mode and allow the rice and dhal to cook. Add the rest of the milk little by little as the rice gets cooked.
- Keep stirring intermittently to avoid burning at the bottom. Cook till the rice becomes well cooked and creamy. This will take 30 to 40 minutes.
- Now add the kalkandu and cardamom powder. Let the kalkandu melt and merge with the rice.
- Garnish with cashews and raisins fried in ghee. Hot or cold,Tastes good either way.
Naarthangai Pachadi / Citron Pachadi
When I saw naarthangai at the local market last week, bought them on an impulse because where we live it is a rare sight to see. When I came home MIL told that we already have a big jar of naarthangai pickle. So I decided to make some other recipes using naarthangai – made pachadi and uppu naarthangai.
This naarthangai pachadi is a saiva pillai special which I learnt from my mom, but this is the first time I am trying it on my own. This sweet and sour pachadi tastes different from your regular pickle and tingles your tastebuds. This recipe is conventionally had as a side dish with idli, dosa and curd rice. I have tried them with rotis and they taste as good. This easily provides you with your daily dose of vitamin C, which in turn helps in better absorption of iron. No wonder moms and grandmothers always served a piece of citron/lemon pickle with lunch 
This stays well in the fridge for 2-3 weeks in a sterile closed container. When needed, take the required quantity of pachadi in a separate bowl using a clean dry spoon. Reheat if you want. Outside the fridge it stays well for a week.
P.S. Use only gingelly oil, which is important for the flavour of the pachadi. It also acts as a preservative.
Naarthangai Pachadi / Citron Pachadi
Ingredients:
1 naarthangai / citron big size
1 big lemon size ball of tamarind
2 small lemon size balls of jaggery
6-8 red chillies ( adjust according to taste )
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 pinches of hing
salt as required
2 tsp + 1/2 tsp gingelly oil
For tempering:
1 tbsp gingelly oil
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp urad dhal
1 sprig of curry leaves (optional)
Method:
- Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of hot water and extract a thick juice.
- Roast the red chillies, fenugreek and hing separately in 1/2 tsp oil. Cool and make it into a powder.
- Wash and cut the naarthangai into small bite size pieces.
- In a pan add 2 tsp gingelly oil and saute the cut pieces. Add 2 cups of water or water till the pieces are immersed. Cook in a medium flame for about 10 minutes till the naarthangai pieces are soft.
- Now drain the excess water and keep the cooked naarthangai pieces aside. This step is very important because the water in naarthangai is cooked is very bitter and should be discarded.
- Now add the naarthangai pieces to the tamarind juice along with the chilly powder mix and the required amount of salt. Pour this into the pan and allow it to boil.
- Now add the jaggery and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Finally do the tempering in generous amounts of gingelly oil. This acts as a preservative.
- Store in a dry, sterile container with a tight lid in the fridge. Enjoy with idli, dosa and curd rice.
Thattu Vadagam/Elai Vadagam
This is a very tasty vadagam, but the procedure takes more time. The specialty of this vadagam is that this is stemed on banana leaves before driying, which gives it a unique flavour. Some people also call it elai vadagam.
Thattu Vadagam
Ingredients:
1 cup boiled rice
1 tsp raw rice
salt as required
1 tsp black sesame seeds
few banana leaves
Method:
- Soak the rice for 30 -45 minutes.
- Grind into a smooth and watery batter along with required salt.
- On the banana leaf pour a small ladle full of batter and spread it thinly into a round shape. On half a banana leaf you can pour and spread 4 such vadagams.
- Steam them in a idly steamer for 5 -7 minutes.
- After steaming these vadagams can be peeled from the banana leaf.
- They are then dried in the sun. They are so thin that dry in a single day.
- Store in a clean airtight container.
- When fried these vadagam enlarge to double their size. They are so melt in the mouth that they can be given even to 1 year babies and toothless elders. They taste just as good after steaming and can be eaten as such or with idli milagai podi or milagai-poondu chutney.
Ulundhu Vadagam
When you miss vathal/vadagam making in summer season, sun god gives you a second chance during the tamil month of Purattasi (sep-oct). We decided to make hay sorry! make vadagam while the sun shines during this season…
This ulundhu vadagam is a very simple recipe and does not take much preparation time . I learnt this from my MIL and this is again a specialty of chetti households. This is kind of a sun dried version of urad dhal vada.
Ulundhu Vadagam
Ingredients:
1 cup urad dhal
1 tsp jeera
5-6 flakes of garlic
Salt to taste
Method:
- Soak the urad dhal for 20-30 minutes.
- Grind into a smooth batter with jeera, garlic and salt. (consistency similar to vada batter)
- On a clean white cloth spread on a plate, drop the batter with your hand into small vadagams.
- Dry well in the sun. 3-4 days is sufficient.
- Store in a clean airtight container and use when required.
- This is deep fried and added in kuzhambu like puli illa kuzhambu and uppu saaru at our home. When added to the kuzhambu it absorbs water and tastes more or less similar to urad dhal vada.
Kumbakonam Kadappa
Though I have been a foodie all my life, I have never heard of kumbakonam kadappa till I entered the world of blogosphere. Well… I have been wanting to try this recipe for such a long time. Got the recipe from my friend Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetit.
For people who don’t know what is kadappa ….
Even though the name sounds similar to a place in AP or a variety of stone for making slabs, to the people of kumbakonam,tanjore and surrounding areas it also means a flavorful side dish for idli and dosa made from moong dhal and potatoes in a mildly spiced gravy. In my family’s opinion it tastes good with chappatis and puris too. It is a very easy recipe to make and after tasting this I was thinking- OMG! why haven’t I heard about this recipe earlier…
Kumbakonam Kadappa
Ingredients:
2 medium sized potatoes
1/3 cup of moong dhal
2 medium sized onions-thinly sliced
1 green chilly-slit into half
Salt as required
To grind :
1/2 cup grated coconut
1-2 green chillies ( adjust according to taste )
2-3 garlic flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 medium sized tomato
1 tsp roasted gram ( optional )
For tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 cardamom
1 star anise
2-3 cloves
Method:
- Pressure cook the dhal and potatoes till soft. Mash well and keep aside.
- Grind all the ingredients given under to grind into a fine paste.
- Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. Add the whole spices and sauté.
- Next add the sliced onions and green chilly.
- Now add the ground paste and sauté for a minute or two.
- Now add the mashed dhal and potatoes.
- Add required salt and allow it to simmer for 5-7 minutes.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with idli or dosa.
P.S.
Instead of grinding the tomato, you can chop and sauté them along with the onions.
Instead of adding tomato, you can also add juice of half a lemon after you switch off the stove.
Mango Rice
I learnt this recipe from my dad. Didn’t know from whom he learned this. It is a simple and tasty dish. We used to make this in mango season. But nowadays most of the vegetables are available in supermarkets through out the year. The hybrid type of mango is preferred ( ottu mangai/kili mooku mangai ).
Posting this recipe for Rice Recipes event hosted by Sameena Prathap of My Culinary Creations.
Mango Rice
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup raw rice
1 medium size raw mango
salt as required
1 tsp gingelly oil
For tempering:
3 tsp oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chilly cut into small pieces
1 red chilly broken into pieces
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp urad dhal
2 tsp bengal gram
a pinch of asafoetida
2 sprigs curry leaves
Method:
- Cook rice with 3 cups water.
- Mix a tsp of gingelly oil with the cooked rice and spread on a large plate to cool.
- Grate the mango and keep aside.
- In a pan heat the oil. Add mustard seeds, urad dhal and hing. Next add the chillies, gram dhal and curry leaves.
- Now add the grated mango and turmeric powder and saute till the raw smell is gone.
- Add this mix to the cooled rice and mix thoroughly.
- Tasty mango rice is ready.Have it with your choice of papad.
Aval Payasam
This is a very easy recipe which I learnt from my mother. This aval payasam is given as prasadam in some guruvayoorappan temples. If you have the ingredients ready, it can be made in a jiffy.
Posting this recipe for Any one can cook series hosted by Ayeesha of Tasteofpearlcity.
Aval Payasam
Ingredients:
3/4 cup Aval/poha/beaten rice
1 cup sugar
3 tsp+2 tsp ghee
10 no. cashews
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Method:
- Run the aval in a mixie for few seconds, so that the flakes are little bit broken. (This step is optional . You can use whole aval also.)
- In a pan add 3 tsp ghee. After it gets heated, fry the aval well. This step is important, because it gives this payasam its special flavour.
- Add 1/2 cup milk to the fried aval and let it cook on a low flame for few minutes. The aval will absorb the milk and become soft. Dont let it become too mushy.
- Now add rest of the milk , sugar and cardamom powder. Simmer it for few minutes and switch of the stove.
- In another pan heat 2 tsp of ghee, fry the cashews to golden brown and add to the payasam. Tasty aval payasam is ready.
Note:
You can add few spoons of condensed milk to the payasam to enhance the taste.
Alternatively the milk can be reduced to 2/3 its original quantity before adding to aval.
My blog baby’s first birthday:)
Hurray! July 31 was my blog baby’s first birthday….
- Thank you Karthi for giving me the push to start my own food blog , christening it and for helping with the photos.
- Thank you Raju for loving my cooking experiments and helping with the photos.
- Thank you Amma and Athai for sharing your wonderful recipes.
- Thank you blogger friends for your encouragements and comments.
- Made a simple and sweet dish – Aval Payasam to celebrate this..will share it soon:)
Kurunai Dosai/Mulu Ulundhu Dosai/Whole Black Gram Dhal Dosa
This is a speciality from my mom’s cuisine. This is recipe is a regular in many of the pillaimar households. This recipe uses whole black gram with its skin intact instead of the white deskinned one to make dosa. In olden days, when the reap from the fields used to come home, only the broken black gram was used for the dosa and whole ones are deskinned for regular idly/dosa. And hence the name “Kurunai Dosai”. My grandma also calls it “Karutha Dosai” because of its greyish black hue.
The batter preparetion is similar to regular dosa. But this Dosa tastes very different from the regular dosa and is healthy too because of the whole grams. Taste it to believe it…
Posting this recipe for ‘show me your dosa’ event hosted by Divya of Dilse.
Also sending this recipe to “Food palette series Black” hosted by Torviewtoronto.
Kurunai Dosai/Mulu Ulundhu Dosai/Whole Black Gram Dhal Dosa
Ingredients:
4 cups boiled rice
1 cup of black urad dhal
1/2 spoon fenugreek seeds (optional)
salt as required
Method:
- Soak the rice and dhal for 3-4 hours separately.
- First grind the dhal into smooth batter.
- Next grind the rice into a fine consistency.
- Mix both and add required salt. Allow the batter to ferment overnight.
- Next morning make dosas in the dosa griddle. These dosas taste good when made either soft or crispy.
- The ideal combination is vengaya thuvaiyal or vadaga thuvaiyal.
Neer Dosa
Me and DH are regulars at Udupi Hotel Mathsya in T.Nagar. We tasted Neer Dosa there for the first time. We became fans of this white lacy dosa . So I googled the recipe and got it from Padma’s Recipes. It is a very easy recipe and does not need much preparation time. It needs no fermentation either. DH was impressed. So here we go..
Posting this recipe for ‘show me your dosa’ event hosted by Divya of Dilse.
Neer Dosa
Ingredients:
4 cups boiled rice
salt as required
Method:
- Soak the rice for 2 to 3 hours.
- Grind it into batter of fine consistency. Adjust the water content so that your batter is watery thin.
- Heat the dosa griddle and pour into thin lace like dosas. Cover and cook.
- You need not cook on the other side.
- Serve Neer Dosa with tomato chutney and shredded coconut mixed with jaggery.
