Rice and Coconut payasa/Pudding-Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali to every one

I hope you all are having a great time I really miss all the fun we had during diwali back in India. Had made big plans this year to make diwali sweets but unfortunately couldn't make anything. I thought, the least I could do to keep up my spirits was to post a sweet dish on my blog. I made this sweet dish during navrathri but never posted it. So here it goes for diwali.

This is one of the traditional dishes my mom makes often. I like this kheer (payasa in kannada) more than the semiya kheer, so mom often made this on my request. I thought it's too much work and never dared to make it. I was surprised that it was so simple to make. Mom makes it with rice, coconut and poppy seeds. I wanted to add some twist so I ground up some dry nuts instead of frying them and using for garnish.

This has poppy seeds in it so it aids you get better sleep, that's the reason I like it more :).

What you need:

1/4 cup White raw rice (you can use any variety)

1/2 cup grated coconut fresh / frozen  

2 table spoon brown sugar/ sugar/ jaggery

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon ghee

5 almonds

5 whole cashewnuts

20 raisins

3 cardamom pods

How I made it:

Soak rice, almonds and cashews for 30 min in warm water.  Once well soaked grind it coursely along with coconut. Crush the poppy seeds seperately with little water. In a thick bottomed pot, add the ground rice and coconut mixture along with 1.5 cups of water. Add sugar and cook until it thickens and the raw taste is gone. Keep stirring it often or else it tends to thicken at the bottom. Add powdered cardamom. Garnish with raisins fried in ghee. You can make the thicknesss according to your liking.
Serve warm with ghee over it or serve it chilled.
I like to make it thick and eat it chilled.......just love all the flavors of poppy seed, coconut and cardamom, reminds me of home and mom ... :(

Tips:
You can use milk to get the right consistency.
You can also add brown and polson custard powder to it to get a different flavor

Ganesha story and my little one's version

This happened last night. I thought it was so hilarious wanted to share with everyone.

My little one who is 2 yrs 4 month old was insisting I tell her a story. I told her some than she asked me for Ganesha story. She is a big Ganesha fan. The first one to strike my mind was the birth of Ganesha, but than I decided it's not appropriate for her age. So decided to keep it simple and started with this story ;

Me - Ganesha visited everyone's house and ate lot of mommom (food in my little ones language).       What did Ganesha eat for Mommom ?
Baby - crackers, rice, dal, Paathi( chapathi), noodles, apple juice and chicken.

Me- Ganesha doesn't eat chicken
Baby - why ?
Me- he doesn't like it

Me- Than ganesha sat on his rat and was riding back home
Baby- No mummy, Ganesha ride big Bike ( she is obsessed with motor bikes these days).
Me- Ok lets make ganesha ride a bike. He was riding and than fell down and got a booboo.
Baby- Oh Noooo, what to do now?. Ganesha cry , mummy mummy. We give magic rub to Ganesha.

Me - ok, than ganesha saw a snake on the road  and took it and tied around his belly.
Baby- oh that's scary, I don't like it.

Isn't Ganesha cool, Image : source

Now, I am wondering should I even dare to tell all the mythological stories that we grew up listening too. I was wondering what else she will come with if I tell her ganesha was initially beheaded and than got a elephant head, will she ask if she can have a caillou head or Barney head  :).

Thyme flavored Pan roasted potatoes

I was at my friend's place and happened to smell freshly grown thyme in the yard. It reminded me so much of ajwain. I was so tempted that I picked some to try in my cooking. Of course the first vegetable that immediately striked my mind was potatoes. Hmm, I had never tried fresh thyme before . I had some baby red potatoes that I had bought from the farmers market and decided to combine the two. I kept the seasoning simple to enhance the thyme flavor. It turned out to be good, and I liked the mild lemony flavor of the thyme in the potatoes.

 

What you need:

20-25  red baby potatoes

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon red chilly powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

1-2 twigs of fresh Thyme

salt to taste

1 tablespoon canola oil

I love the red potatoes, not only for their taste but the red color looks so appealing

How I made it:

Clean and cut the potatoes in half. I microwaved them for 2 minutes. This released the starch out, I did this for 2 reasons, it cooks faster and the starch released gives it a nice crisp on the cut side. 

In a pan heat the oil, add the cumin and fennel seeds, wait till they pop add the potatoes and few thyme leaves and roast for a while. When the potatoes are half done add salt, red chilly powder, garlic powder and mix well. Roast for some more time till the potatoes turn nice n crisp. Finally crush the remaining fresh thyme leaves a bit by hand and add to the potato fry. Serve hot as side dish.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

                                        Wishing you all a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Water melon rind gojju

My little one loves watermelon and every week I buy a huge one, so that it lasts for a week. This time the one I bought had a thick rind, So decided to make some use of it. I know they normally use in sambar but I had never tasted it, so wasn't sure of the taste. I used few pieces in sambar and couldn't tell the difference between lauki and the rind. So I used the rest to make gravy with coconut or Gojju as we call in kannada.

What we need:

2 cups cubed Water melon rind
1 large onion
1/2 cup coconut
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
2 cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon
Few strands of cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoon red chilly powder
2 tablespoon tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 table spoon oil

How it's made:
Peel the green portion out of the rind, cut the white portion into small cubes. Grind onions, coconut, cilantro leaves, clove n cinnamon into a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add the ground masala, ginger garlic paste, tomato puree and cook for a while. Add chilly and coriander powder, salt and the cubed water melon rind and cook till done.
The fastest  way to cook this is in pressure cooker, put every thing together and cook for one whistle.
Serve with roti or white rice. It tasted like bottle gourd/ lauki to me, I am surely going to try more recipes with this now.

Andhra Chicken Fry

We had been to an Indian restaurant 2 years ago with my inlaws and had ordered this andra chicken fry as a starter. We really liked the flavors and the spiciness of it and wanted to try. Was wondering what spices to use, I thought of asking my brother inlaw who is a great lover  of chicken and from andra. He gave me this recipe and wow it really turned out to be spicy and delicious, much better than the one we tried out in the restaurant.  

What You need :

1 lb Chicken with bones - cut into bite size pieces.
1 large onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon Ginger garlic paste
Dry Masala : 3 Cloves , 1/2 inch cinnamon sticks,  2 teaspoon black pepper, 1-2 dry chillies, turmeric powder and  1/4 cup dry coconut.

Grind to coarse powder.

1 big Tomato boiled, peeled and Pureed.

How it's made:

Heat oil in a pan and add the onions. Fry till onions turn golden brown in color. Add chicken, fry for a few minutes and add salt to taste. Close the lid and cook til the chicken is almost done. Open the lid and let the water evaporate. Add ginger-garlic paste, cook for a while and than add tomato puree and fry for some more time. Now add the dry masala and fry for 4-5 minutes till you get a nice aroma.

serve as starter or as a side dish. 

Note: use the red chilly depending on your taste and the heat of the chilly, My BIL suggested I use 10-12 chilly, I used just 2 red chilly and it was still hot.

I sometimes use crushed canned tomatoes instead of tomato puree.

Healthy carr-lett juice

The heat and humidity is just soaring and its been really hard on my health. To top that haven't been getting enough sleep. However, I need to keep myself up and have enough strength to run behind my little one. I have been gulping down juice every few hours on weekend. Wanted to try something new and healthy. I had this iceberg lettuce in the fridge which needed to be used, I am not the one who likes salad, so I used it along with some carrots and made this nutritious refreshing juice.

How I Made :

Took Half iceberg lettuce and 1 big carrot along with some water and blended it. Strained it and added some honey and a pinch of salt, added some ice cubes and enjoyed the drink. May be next time I will add some mint to make it more refreshing. By the way iceberg lettuce is known to have mild opiate like effect which aids sleep, which I was in badly need of.

What happened to the strained pulp, it went into my dal.