Akaravadisal-Sweet Milk Pongal

Akkaravadisal is a sweet dish similar to sakkarai Pongal but prepared with rice, jaggery, and milk. The rice cooked in milk is a typical Tamil Brahmin recipe (Iyengar recipe) and made during the Pongal festival. (During the process, I completely forgot to click pictures, kindly excuse)

Preparation Time:- 20 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Raw Rice- 1 tumbler

2. Split Yellow Moong dhal- 1/3 tumbler

3. Ghee – 3/4 tumbler

4. Milk- 4 tumblers

5. Jaggery- 2 and 1/2 tumblers

6. More love

– Roast the rice and split yellow moong dal in a pan until they turn golden brown. 

– Pressure cook the content mentioned above with three tumblers of milk up to 4 whistles. 

– Mix and mash the material to a thick consistency. 

– Meanwhile, Heat the jaggery in water and let it boil.

– 1 Tumbler of ghee to be mixed with the jaggery content and combine this with the pressure cooked items. 

– Season with saffron, raisins, and roasted cashews. 

– Serve hot with more love.

Roasted Bengal Gram Ladoo – Pottu Kadalai Urundai

The most easiest ladoo prepared within 30 minutes without any hassles. The ingredients are lesser in numbers, and one can vouch for being one of the healthiest Ladoo too.

Preparation Time:- 25 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Roasted Bengal Gram Dhal/ Potu Kadalai- 1cup

2. Sugar – 1 cup

3. Ghee – 1/3 cup

4. Cashews (Powdered)- 10 pieces

5. Cardamom- 2 pinch

– Powder Roasted Bengal Gram+Sugar+Cardamom+ Cashews, as per the mentioned quantity.

– Heat the Ghee in a Kadai. Once it is slightly warm, pour and mix it with the content as discussed above.

– Mix well and mould them into a ball shape. Ensure they don’t break apart.

NOTE:- You can substitute sugar with honey or Jaggery. The ladoo can be stored in ambient temperature for two weeks.

Roasted Beets Soup

I hate Beetroots and I hate carrots too. This soup has both! I thought having these in some form might be appealing to me. So, for tonight’s dinner I prepared roasted beets with guest appearance by carrots!

Preparation Time:- 30 minutes

Ingredients required:-

1. Peeled Beetroots- 2 finely cut in cubes
2. Peeled carrots- 2 finely cut in cubes
3. Garlic pods- 6 peeled (because, why not?)
4. Ginger- 1/2 peeled (don’t add more, as they can ruin the taste)
5. Onion- 1 peeled and finely chopped
6. Green chilies- 2 finely chopped
7. Turmeric powder- a pinch
8. Pepper powder- a pinch
9. Asafoetida- a pinch
10. Salt to taste
11. Sugar to taste
12. Olive Oil- 2 tsp
13. More love!

• You will be using both the stoves parallely. One for boiling the veggies and the other one sauteeing the onions+garlic+chilies, till they turn golden brown (with any oil you prefer).
• After boiling the vegetable content, seperate the stock and keep it aside.
• Add the vegetables in the pan and roast them till the rawness is completely gone. (add the spices- turmeric powder, pepper powder, asafoetida, salt and sugar)
• Cool down the content and blend them all in the processor. (only when they have cooled down)
• In the same pan, add a butter cube and add this mixed content.
• Add the vegetable stock and let it boil thoroughly.
• You will notice that the butter forms a thick creamy layer on top. You add some sugar if you want.
• Serve hot with garlic bread or bread sticks.

The color is so beautiful and all I kept saying throughout the process was WOW!

Christmas Special Rich Fruit Cake

Every year I pay a customary visit to my relative’s place to have her Christmas cakes. This year I also helped in making her delicious rich fruit cake. This is a variant of the typical plum cake in that it has a lot of other fruits as well. So, now I will take you all through the steps involved in making this cake. My collaborator in this article is Shekar Talkies. Who took all the photographs. 

Preparation time :- 1hour

Ingredients required 

For the Rich fruits (according to your requirement)

1. Tutti-fruity

2. Cherries

3. Candied peels 

4. Ginger preserve

5. Plums

6. Raisins

7. Cashews

8. Cucumber seeds/ walnuts (Optional)

9. Cake seeds (Optional)

For Cake mixture (for 1kg cake) 

1. 1/2 kilo Maida

2. 12 no of eggs / for eggless use milk(1.5l) +Oil

3. 1/2 kilo sugar (fine powdered)

4. 1/2 Butter or Margarine

5. Pinch of Salt

6. 500 ml Caustic Caramel / Burnt Sugar 

7. 2 TSP of Baking soda 

To begin with, mix all the fruits in a bowl and sprinkle some maida or some flour on top to ensure they don’t stick on the moulds. 

Keep the above mixture aside and now start to mix the butter and sugar in a processor to ensure they are soft to a paste consistency. If you feel butter is expensive you can use the margarine. For healthier option, I always prefer butter. Sugar has to be powdered well so that there’s no granules in the paste mixture. Add a TSP of salt. 

While processing keep adding the eggs and mix well

Ensure you whisk and beat the egg mixture well nefore you add to this mixture. 

Meanwhile, seive the maida to a fine powder and grade them to third level. 

Now keep adding this maida base on an alternate basis along with the whisked egg mixtures. Add 2 TSP of Baking soda. Let the processor continue beating the whole mixture until a soft paste (Batter) consistency. 

Transfer the above mixture to a big vessel and add the first rich fruits mixtures to this. 

Once after adding all the rich fruits and mixing them well, add the caustic caramel or burnt sugar (for the top layer turn brown after being baked) and mix them well. 

Now, pre heat the oven prior to baking atleast 20 minutes before. The oven used for this cake was an old fashioned chamber oven where you do not set any time or temperature; you light up the oven and you let the cake to bake. 

You can notice that the color being turned to this dark brown. Grease the moulds (add butter paper on the base) and add the mixture. 

After 25 minutes, the aroma of the completely baked cake will spread throughout the place. You can check if the cake is baked by placing a knife in between. 

Looks a smiley no?

Keep it and store in a cool and dry place for five days. 

Onion Vathakolambu

Which proud south indian doesn’t love this dish? It takes different names in different regions of South India: Kaara kozhambu and vetha kozhambu are the ones I am familiar with. I have always wanted to try this dish. Alas, when I did try,  I was delighted that the dish turned out to taste delicious, with the right balance of sweetness and sourness. I was also pleasantly surprised that a dish of such complex flavors was so simple to make.

Preparation time:-25 minutes

Ingredients Required

1. Split Lentil Gram dal-10g
2. Tamarind Paste- 50g
3. Vathakolambu instant powder- 50g (From Grand Sweets)
4. Onions (Juliene cut)
5. Asafoetida
6. Salt to taste
7. Sugar to taste
8. Chopped garlic- according to the requirement
9. Water- 250ml
10. Rice flour/ Atta- for thickening the content- according to requirement
11. Turmeric – a pinch
12. Coriander Powder- 1 pinch
13. Kashmiri Mirch- 1 pinch
14. Curry Leaves- hardly 4-5 leaves
15. More and more love

– Start by heating the pan with some oil and added the chopped onions and dal. Add the curry leaves too.
– Meanwhile, soak the tamarind paste in water and mixed the content
– Once the content in the pan has turned golden brown, add the tamarind water and allow it to boil.
– Add 2-3 Tsp of the Vathakolambu powder(From Grand Sweets) and mix well
– Add salt, asafoetida, turmeric, and some coriander powder. Keep mixing.
– Add some water and add some rice flour if you want the content to thicken.
– If you want the appearance to be bright red, add some Kashmiri Mirch powder.
– Now, allow this content to boil for at least 15 minutes.
– The more you boil, the more you’re allowing the contents to blend well and more will it be delicious!
– Serve with rice accompanied with crisply fried potatoes/ladies’ fingers.
– You can also have it as an accompaniment with curd rice!!

NOTE:-
– You can add Onions/Pumpkins/Brinjals/Small Onions/Drumsticks/Orange rinds.
– The thicker the content, the more the shelf life of the dish. You can add water as and when you use.
– To be stored at refrigerated condition and can be kept for at least 2-3days easily. Always use fresh spoons and do not use hands.

Cabbage Chutney/Thogayal

This chutney is one of my favorites from my mom’s recipes. I happened to have some cabbage in the fridge. I’m not a big fan of cabbage but could not throw it away. So prepared this chutney with apprehension, but after tasting, I could not believe that this chutney had cabbage. Tastes so light with a tinge of sweetness and bitterness in the end.

Preparation Time:- 10 minutesIngredients Required
1. Finely Chopped Cabbage
2. Tur Dal- 10g
3. Split Lentil Gram Dal- 10g
4. Red chilies-4 pieces
5. Tamarind Paste-10ml
6. Salt to taste
7. Sugar to balance the bitterness (If any)
8. Olive oil
9. Lots of love

Finely Chopped Cabbage

First Pan- Olive oil+Dal+Tamarind+Red Chilies

Second Pan- Sautee cabbages till glossy appearance

Mix the content

Process it until fine paste consistency

– You need two pans. One for frying the Dal, Tamarind and Chilies. The other one for sauteeing chopped cabbage
– Once the cabbage appearance turns to glossy, mix the content with the first pan at medium flame and keep tossing till the cabbage turns a bit golden brown.
– Over here, you can add some salt to taste, asafoetida, and sugar if required. Simmer.
– Cool the content before transferring to the processor/ mixie.
– Finely grind to a paste consistency.
– You can add very little water according to your preference.
– Store it in an air-tight container and keep it in refrigerated condition for two days.
– Have it as an accompaniment with dosa or idly. You can mix this with rice and have it with some papadams/chips. (Also, add more ghee!!!So filling!!)

Lettuce Wrap

It’s dinner time and it was raining heavily out. I realized I was left with only some lettuce leaves, tomatoes, and onions while browsing my vegetable stock and so was born the lettuce wrap. From that night on my husband and I crave this delicious (yes!) dish. As Famously quoted by Oscar Wilde ” To Expect the Unexpected” was the key ingredient here. I would love to name this dish as “The Best Bachelor’s Dish”, as this required hardly any ingredient and is simple to make.Preparation time:- 10 minutes

Ingredients Required:-

1. Frozen Lettuce leaves
2. Finely Chopped Tomatoes
3. Finely Chopped Onions
4. Garlic Pods- 2
5. Turmeric
6. Chilli Powder
7. Coriander Powder
8. Olive oil
10. Butter – as per your need
11. Salt to Taste
12. Toothpicks
13. More Love

• If you using fresh Lettuce, you can skip this step. For frozen Lettuce, dip in boiling water and dry them until they are soft and free of moisture.
• In a pan, add oil, garlic, onions and tomatoes, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, and coriander as per your taste. Sautee them well.
• In a flat pan, add some butter and toss the lettuce leaves (take the ones which are big and can easily be rolled/wrapped)
• After tossing, add this curry paste to these leaves and roll them. Make a small hole at the edges and fix a toothpick to hold the wrap well.
• Keep tossing the wrap front and back till they are roasted and visibly turn golden brown. 
• Serve the wraps with a Tahini dip or Hummus or have it with Tomato sauce and thank me later!

NOTE:-

1. Instead of vegetables, you can use Hummus for the filling. You can try the Green Moong Hummus recipe – http://www.lesssaltmorelove.com/2019/11/green-moong-hummus.html

2. You can use ANY filling- Panneer Burji, Egg Burji. ANYTHING!

3. If you don’t have Lettuce, use Cabbage. Tastes similar.

4. Ensure you use toss them well for better flavor and crispy texture.

5. You can also use your leftover gravies or vegetables for the filling.

6. Perfect substitute for Gluten allergic people and diet conscious.

7. Through this, you can slowly learn the skill of wrapping. That is a technique which I’m slowly getting used to.

8. Store under chiller condition for not more than 24 hours.
9. Heat only once before consumption.
10. Don’t have when it is cold.
11. If the filling is perishable, have it immediately the same day of preparation.

Trust me, after having this, you will never feel like having the wraps made of Wheat or Maida. You will definitely feel like you’re going to lose at least 5 kilos (because no carbs bro!!). Give it try and let me know how this worked!

Green Moong Hummus

During one of those boring Thursday’s, I happened to scroll down Shilpa Shetty’s Instagram post and I happened to view her IGTV on Green Moong Hummus. So intrigued and excited, I ended up searching for available ingredients in my kitchen and voila, I was all set to prepare the Green Moong Hummus!! (Ho-mus and not Hum-Mus, all these days I confidently pronounced it wrong!). I never tried the basic Hummus, so this is my first ever proper hummus I have made. I’m going, to be honest with the mistake I did in this attempt. I did not soak and pressure cook the Dal well and hence the end result of the texture became very coarse as it is visible through the picture. Please ensure you give importance to proper soaking and steaming, for wonderful texture result!

Preparation time:- 15 Minutes
Ingredients you require:-

1. Soaked and pressure cooked Green Moong Dal – 50g
2. Soaked and pressure cooked Bengal Gram Dal- Channa Dal- 50g
3. Tahini Sauce – http://www.lesssaltmorelove.com/2019/11/tahini-sauce-dip.html
4. Olive Oil
5. Salt to taste
6. Garlic Pods – 2 (not going to add too much of these pods, as I have already added some in my Tahini Sauce)
7. Lemon Juice – as per your taste
8. More Love

Soaked and Pressure cooked Dal

Grind them all in the processor

Add more Olive Oil and Love will only enhance the flavor!! Keep Adding more!!

Add the Tahini Sauce with a tsp of lemon juice to the mixture

• Start the process by soaking 50g+50g each of the green moong and the Bengal gram dal and boiling them, for softer texture.
• In a processor, add these soft dal with some salt, Tahini sauce, garlic pods and more Olive oil for super paste consistency.
• After every grind and rotation, add 1tsp of olive oil and lemon juice until you achieve the proper Hummus texture and consistency
• Don’t forget to add more love to this dish!

That’s how easy it was. Not much of complicated ingredients and everything from scratch with a twist. We had this with Kulcha and Phulka (don’t they rhyme?). But this is best served with breads and especially Pita’s. You can store this for a week under chiller conditions and use fresh spoons while serving. Give it a try and let me know how it worked out for you.

Tahini Sauce Dip

For the first time today I tried making Tahini Sauce at home without buying the expensive pastes available at the retail. It’s so simple and hardly requires any ingredient. Tahini Sauce Dip is best when made with white sesame seeds and not with the roasted sesame seeds. I had to make this from scratch to prepare Green Moong Hummus. The result turned out to be much surprising. The Dip was super tasty and we had it with Tomato Rice as an accompaniment.Preparation Time:-10 minutes

Ingredients Required

1. White raw sesame seeds- 1 cup (you can also use roasted sesame, there might be a slight change in color)
2. Lemon Juice- 10ml
3. Garlic Pods – 4 pods – as many as you want
4. Salt to taste
5. Olive Oil
6. Water- 250ml
7. More Love

Garlic Dipped in Lemon and Raw white sesame seeds

 

• Start with dipping the garlic pods in lemon juice for 10 minutes and strain the juice.
• Keep the garlic pods, do not discard them
• In a small processor, add the white sesame seeds, salt, Garlic dipped lemon juice and olive oil

Adding more olive oil will enhance the taste and flavor

• Ensure it’s of paste consistency, till then keep adding water and olive oil to the processor.
• While Serving place the Garlic pods on top, for enhancing the garlicky flavor.

 Tahini sauce is now ready. You can use this for the preparation of Hummus, substitute for Mayonnaise and can be served as a dip to crackers.

NOTE:- Mistake I did here was that I added too much of lemon juice. The end product tasted a bit sour and citric.

Not bad! This tasted really good for the first time and should be a good texture ingredient for preparation of Hummus. Now, let me get ready for Green Moong Hummus!!!

Kacchi Dabeli

Did you know that this Chaat costs just Rs.10? And it made me save a lot of pocket money which otherwise would have spent on food. It is cheap despite containing  such rich ingredients as Pomegranate, Groundnuts and loads of Sev covered in a butter toasted bun. 

With help of my mom (obviously!), we tried to recreate it for dinner. The result – completely satiated!! So filling and delicious. As purely a goodwill gesture am sharing this recipe below.

 We have prepared this without the Dabeli Powder mix- available easily in the market and it tasted much the same. (More saving :P)

Preparation time:- 30 mins
Ingredients Required:-

1. Tamarind chutney – 250ml
2. Mint chutney (as per requirement and need)- 250ml
3. Pav buns – 6 pieces
4. Mashed potatoes-2
5. Chopped Onions – 1
6. Butter/Oil -2tsp
7. Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
8. Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
9. Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
10. Chaat Masala – 1/2 tsp
11. Water- 1 cup/ 250ml
12. Salt – to taste
13. Coriander leaves – for garnishing
14. Pomegranate – for garnishing
15. Roasted Peanuts – for garnishing- one fistful
16. Garlic pods – as per requirement
17. Sev – 1 whole cup

Dabeli Gravy/Stuffing Recipe

 

• In a kadai add butter/oil and saute onions till they are golden brown
• Add chilli powder, turmeric, chaat masala and garam masala.
• Keep sauteing on low flame for 2 minutes
• Add 1 cup of water
• Add the mashed potatoes to the gravy and keep sauteing until the gravy turns to thicker consistency. 
• Add salt, some water and keep mixing/ mash well. 
• To this gravy, add tamarind chutney
• Transfer this to a plate and let it cool
• Layer with some pomegranate, roasted peanuts and coriander leaves

 

TAMARIND CHUTNEY

Dabeli Recipe

• Cut the Pav in between without slicing it whole. 
• Spread the green and tamarind chutneys on to the sides
• Take a spoonful of the stuffing and fill in between the pav (you can add some lemon juice, if you need)
• Sprinkle some onions and green chillies
• Toast the Stuffed pav on both the sides
• Roll the dabeli over sev, covering the edges
• Serve it hot with Tamarind chutney or have it just like that

SAUTEE THE ONIONS WITH GARLIC PODS

ADD THE MASHED POTATOES AND ALL THE NECESSARY POWDERS (TURMERIC, CHILLI, GARAM AND CHAAT MASALA)         PLATE THE GRAVY AND LET IT COOL KEEP THE POMEGRANATE SEEDS, ROASTED PEANUTS, ONIONS, CHILIES AND CORIANDER LEAVES READY TOAST BOTH THE SIDES, AFTER FILLING THE STUFFING   ` You can get creative with the stuffing. Do comment below if you have an interesting twist on Dabeli