Kitchen Chronicles

Sheermal

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 11:42:00 +0000

Sheermal or Shirmal is a saffron-flavored slightly sweet traditional leavened flatbread that is found in various countries on the Asian sub-continent including Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Sheermal is a Naan-like milk bread, apparently of Persian origins, and it is suggested that the name comes from the Persian word for milk which is “sheer”. In India, this “milk” bread is predominantly found in Muslim neighbourhoods (another reason to suppose it came to India with the Mughals) of Kashmir, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

My friend here in Sharjah had introduced me to "Sheermal", which we get from the bakeries. Almost every other buiding in Sharjah has a bakery shop. We get all the type of Rotis, like Pakistani Roti, Aghani Roti, Roghani Kulcha, Lachcha Paratha, Sheermal and many more. And out of these I buy only Sheermal from them. I liked the mild sweetness in them. So whenever I am craving for some mild sweet, I go down get a Sheermal.

We from the "We Knead to Bake" Group are baking Sheermal this month. And today is the last day for the post so hurrying up. I enjoy the "We Knead to Bake" Group. Under the expert guidance of Aparna, I almost come near to what is expected. Made Sheermal at home for the first time and it came out very excellent the frist time itself. The home Sheermal tastes much much better than the bakery bought ones.

I followed the recipe given by Aparna exactly, except that I have increased the amount of sugar used. Otherwise the recipe remains same.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp active dried yeast

3 tb.sp sugar (But I think maybe about 2 to 3 more tb.sp of sugar would equal the store bought ones)

1/4 cup lukewarm water

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup ghee

1/2 cup milk (or more, as required for kneading)

1 tsp kewra water (screw pine essence) or rose water

A few strands saffron soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk

Melted butter, for brushing

Method:

1) Mix the yeast and sugar in luke warm water and allow it to froth for 5 to 10 minutes. Keep it closed in a warm place. Check it, if it doesn't froth up then repeat the step again with another t.sp of yeast.

2) Take the flour in a bowl, add salt, the yeast mixture, the remaining sugar, milk and the beaten agg. Mix together. Add ghee in two lots and mix, till it forms a crumble.

3) Now add the milk and kewra water and knead it into a soft and slightly sticky dough. Transfer this to an oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 to 2 hours, till the volume is doubled.

4) Remove the cling and push down the dough. Knead again.

5) Pre heat the oven at 180°C.

6) Divide it into equal balls and lightly coat all over with a little ghee. Cover and let it rest for about 10 to 15 min.

7) Now using your fingers and palms shape each ball to a roti shape. Keep it little bit thick in size. You can also use a rolling pin.

8) Place the rounds on a greased parchment baking tray and prick the rounds using a fork, almost through out the whole surface. So that the air trapped in the dough is released and it will not rise much when it bakes.

9) Brush generously with saffron-milk. Bake in the middle rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, keep checking in between. Once they turn to a lovely golden brown, remove them out.

10) Taken them out of the oven and immediately brush them with melted butter or ghee. Serve warm.

Thanks

Lakshmi Venkatesh

Kerala Christmas Fruit Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 10:49:00 +0000

Kerala Christmas Cake is a very famous cake which has fruits soaked in rum and is flavored with spice. It has a dark brown colour and is loaded with loads of fruits. My dad and my son are very big fans of this cake. My dad often buys it from shops. But somehow, I didn't much like the shop brought ones. Used to taste too much of spice and was dry and only had raisins and very few nuts. So I decided to bake the cake at home. The home made ones are soft, loaded with lots of fruits and nuts and has a balance of the spices. I make it a point to soak them one month before I bake the cake. I have been making them since last 3 to 4 years. And they have been always a hit. When I decided to bake the cake I googled for the recipe. Read many of them, but what clicked me was Mariasmenu Cake. But she is using Rum to soak the fruits and nuts. Since I didn't want to use rum, I have use orange juice for the soaking.

So here comes the recipe for the Kerala Christmas Cake.

Ingredients

For soaking

Mixed Dry Fruits - 3 cups (Normally I use apricots, dates, raisins, sultanas, cranberries) Mixed Nuts - 1 cup (cashews, almonds)

Orange Juice - 2.5 cups

Soak the dry fruits and nuts in orange juice about a month before you want to bake the cake. Keep it refrigerated. Give it a stir once in 10 days. Remove it out just on the day of baking and bring it to room temperature before baking.

For Caramel

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 tb.sp

Warm Water - 1/4 cup

Combine the sugar and water in a nonstick pan and heat it. Let the sugar melt. It will slowly start turning brown in colour. When it is reached a caramel colour remove the pan from heat and pour warm water in it. Becareful since the pan and caramel both are very hot, it may splash as soon as you add water. Put it back on stove and boil for about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and cool. After it cools down, transfer it to a bottle and refrigerate. This step can be done in advance itself.

For Spice Mix

Cloves - 2

Cardamom - 2

Cinnamon - a small piece

Nutmeg - little

Grind it all together in a mixer to form a very fine powder. You can use a little of sugar if it is not grinding to a very fine powder.

For Cake :

All Purpose Flour - 2 cups

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 t.sp

Baking Soda - 1/2 t.sp

Castor Sugar - 1 cup

Unsalted Butter - 250 gms

Eggs - 4

Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp

Jam - 1 tb.sp

Method

1) All the ingredients used should be at room temperature. Eggs, Butter, Caramel, Soaked Fruits all should be at room temperature. Pre heat the oven about 30 minutes before u want to bake the cake.

2) Drain the soaked fruits and retain the drained juice.

3) Sift the flour with Baking powder and Baking Soda.

4) Seperate the yolks and white of the eggs.

5) Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Keep aside. For beating egg whites make sure the bowl is clean, free from oil and is dry. Otherwise the eggs won't beat.

6) Nowbeat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat. After it gets fully incorporated add the vanilla essence, cooled caramel and spice powder and beat again.

7) Now add the sifted flour in batches and mix it using the cut and fold style. Add the jam and mix again.

8) Fold in the beaten egg white in two batches till all the white has mixed up well.

9) Rub the soaked fruits in about 2 tb.sp all purpose flour. This will keep the fruits from soaking down while baking.

10) Fold in the soaked fruits and 4 tb.sp of the retained juice.

11) Pour the batter in a greased baking dish,lined with a parchment paper.

12) Bake it at 180°C for about 20 to 25 min and then bring down the temperature of the oven to 150°C and bake for another 25 to 30 mins or until the skewer comes out clean.

13) Make a light sugar syrup and mix with the remaining juice.

14) Transfer and the cake to a cooling rack. Make some holes with the skewers here and there and pour little of the sugar syrup. This is to keep the cake moist.

15) You can store the cake in a box and leave it outside. It tastes great 1 or 2 days after the cake is baked. Pour the sugar syrup once or twice inbetween to avoid it from getting dried.

Try it out in your kitchen and let me know how it turned out in your kitchen.

Lakshmi Venkatesh

Doughnuts / Donuts

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 11:46:00 +0000

I was introduced to doughnuts when I was in Germany. Me and my children used to like the Aldi's Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts very much. We used to buy it very often. Then I used to often wonder how do they make these soft fluffy doughnuts. So, from then, I had always wanted to try making it at home. But never got the guts and time, to even search for the recipe. Recently in a TV program, I saw Chef Sanjeev Kapoor making these small round delicacies. It seemed easy and required very less ingredients. So then I thought of giving it a try at home. And the result was very fantastic, much better than the store bought ones. Since it was the first time i was trying to make Doughnuts at home, I made them using eggs and yeast. Though when I googled for the recipe of Doughnuts there are many versions of eggless, yeastless and also baked Doughnuts.

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 3 1/4 cup
Butter - 110 gm
Egg - 2
Active Dry Yeast - 15 gms
Milk - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 t.sp
Oil - For frying

Method

1) All the above ingredients should be at room temperature.

2) Sieve the flour for about two times.

3) Add sugar and yeast to luke warm milk, and give it a stir. Let it rest for about 5 to 10 minutes till it becomes frothy.

4) Till then beat butter till soft.

5) Add the eggs one by one to the butter and beat.

6) Now add the flour, frothed yeast and salt. And mix.

7) Knead a little with you hands for some time.

8) Keep the dough in a oiled bowl and cover it. Let the dough rest for about half an hour or till the dough has doubled in volume.

9) Once the dough has proofed, punch it down and knead again.

10) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a thick sheet (about 8 to 10 mm).

11) Cut with a doughnut cutter or if you don't have a doughnut cutter, then use a big cup for the outer ring and a small bottle cap for the inner ring.

12) Place the cut doughnuts in a tray, leaving enough space in between for the doughnuts to expand.

13) Cover it and let it expand in volume. At this stage, if you are short of time, then you may also keep it covered and leave it in the fridge, till further use.

14) If you have kept it in the fridge remove it and keep it in a warm place for about 2 to 3 hours till it has visibly doubled in volume.

15) Heat oil in a pan. To check the heat of the oil drop a small pinch of the batter in the oil,it should go down, stay there for about a few seconds and then come up and float. This is the right temperature.

16) Put in the doughnuts and fry till golden brown on both sides. Keep flipping in between.

17) They will increase in size while frying.

18) Remove it and keep it in a tissue paper.

For the glaze

Melt the dessert chocolate using a double boiler.

Dip the doughnuts in the hot chocolate and place it in a sheet.

Let it cool down.

Store it in a air tight box and enjoy the soft

Torcettini di Saint Vincent (Sugar Crusted Twisted Cookies from the Valle d’Aosta)

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:54:00 +0000

This month in We Knead To Bake group Aparna had decided to bake Torcettini di Saint Vincent (Sugar Crusted Twisted Cookies from the Valle d’Aosta). In the We knead to Bake group, we are all experimenting with baking using yeast, under the expert guidance of Aparna. Loved making these cute small biscuits this time. Below is the information about Torcettiini, in Aparna's own words. It was very interesting to read the origin of these biscuits.

Torcettini are smaller versions of the Italian Torcetti (meaning small twists), and these pear/ teardrop shaped twists are made of a dough of flour, yeast and butter which are shaped and then rolled in sugar before being baked.

The origin of these biscuits is believed to be from Grissini (breadsticks) which were made from the leftover scraps of bread dough. According to one story, a Grissini baker had some leftover butter which he needed to use up. Inspiration struck and he decided to add the butter to the last batch of his Grissini dough for the day. To be able to differentiate this lot of “breadsticks”, he rolled them in sugar and shaped them into loops, and the Torcetti was born. Torcetti/ Torchettini taste even better when they’re flavoured with lime/ lemon zest or anise.

These biscuits are crunchy, not very sweet and pair very well with cold milk, hot chocolate, tea/ coffee or wine. They are delicious served warm and equally good cold, and keep very well if stored in airtight containers.

Torcettini di Saint Vincent

(Adpated from A Baker’s Tour by Nick Malgieri)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water, about 110F

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 tsp instant yeast)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp lime/ lemon zest (replace with orange zest for the chocolate version)

40gm unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces

about 1/3 cup sugar for rolling the cookies

Preparation:

1) Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, in a small bowl and keep aside.

2) Put the flour and the salt in the food processor bowl (or a largish regular bowl if kneading by hand) and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the butter is well mixed and the flour-butter mixture looks powdery.

3) Add the yeast-water mixture and pulse till it all comes together as a ball. Do not over process or knead.

4) Place the ball of dough in a oiled bowl, turning it so it is well coated with the oil. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise quite a bit.

5) This dough does not really double in volume, but it should look “puffy” after about an hour or so. When you pinch off a bit from the top you can see the interior looking a bit like honeycomb. Press down the dough and deflate it, wrap it in cling warp and refrigerate it for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.

6) When ready to make the cookies, take the dough out and lightly roll it out into an approximately 6” square. If the dough feels sticky, scatter a little sugar on it.

7) Cut the dough into four strips of equal width. Cut each strip into 6 equal pieces, by cutting across, making a total of 24 pieces. The measurements are not very critical.

8) Roll each piece into a pencil thick “rope” about 5” long. Sprinkle a little sugar on your work surface and roll the “rope” in it so the sugar crusts the dough uniformly. Form the “rope” into a loop crossing it over before the ends.

9) Place the Torcettini on parchment lined baking sheets, leaving 1 1/2" between them. Leave them for about 20 minutes or so till they rise/ puff up slightly. They will not “puff up” much.

10)Bake them at 160C (325F) for about 25 minutes till they’re a nice golden brown. Remove them immediately from the parchment and cool them on a cooling rack. Store them in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Know Your Dairy Series : Ghee

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:21:00 +0000

Its going to rain Ghee here in Kitchen Chronicles this month. Know why?

Because this month I am hosting "Know Your Dairy Series : Ghee" here at Kitchen Chronicles. Know Your Dairy Series was started by Jagruti of Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey.

Rules to be followed :

1. Post any vegetarian /non-vegetarian recipe prepared using Ghee as an important ingredient between 1st March and 31th March 2013.

2. Link to my event page and Jagruti's event announcement page. Logo is appreciated.

3. Multiple recipes are welcomed .Archieved recipes are accepted only with their reposts with event links and logo.

4. Link in your entries to the linky tool given below.

5. Non - bloggers are also welcome and Send your entries to kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject line as "Know Your Dairy Series : Ghee" furnished with the following details:

Name :
Recipe Name :

Recipe :
Picture of your recipe :

Also friends do not forget to send in your entries to the "Tried and Tasted : Chettinad Cuisine". Here is the link for it http://elvisalakshi.blogspot.com/2013/02/tried-and-tasted-event-chettinad-recipes.html. The event is from Feb’15^th to March’15^th.

Also I need guest hosts for the future "Tried and Tasted Event". If you are Interested in guest hosting the event please mail me at kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com or leave me a message in the comment section below. You can here more details about the event.

I will be adding the linky tool soon.

Matar Kachori with Dum Aloo

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:58:00 +0000

Matar Kachori is maida puri stuffed with Green Peas masala. And Dum Aloo is a cooked using small baby potatoes which is simmered in a gravy of Curd and Tomato. Dum Aloo is serves a best combo for all sort of rotis, parathas and puris.

This month Sonali of Sonali's Kitchen from the Northern Team had challenged the Southern Team with Matar Kachori and Dum Aloo. For more about the SNC challenge visit Divya Pramil's space You Too Can Cook - Indian Food.

Matar Kachori

Ingredients

For the Filling
Matar / Green Peas - 4 cups (I used frozen peas)
Green Chillies - 6 to 7
Ginger - 1" piece (peeled and washed)
Roasted Jeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 t.sp
Salt - as required
Oil / Ghee - 1 tb.sp
Sugar - 1/2 t.sp
Besan (Bengal Gram Flour) - 1 - 11/2 tb.sp

For the dough
Maida / All purpose flour - 3 cups
Salt
Oil - 2 to 3 tb.sp and more for frying the Kachoris.

Method

1) Clean and drain the Green Peas.

2) In a mixer grind together the ginger, green peas, green chillies. Add little water only if required.

3) Heat oil / ghee in a Kadai. Add the roasted jeera powder. Do not allow it to burn. Immediately add the grinded paste.

4)Add the salt and sugar and mix well.

5) Stir till you feel the raw smell of the peas has gone. Add the besan and mix well. This will help in binding.

6) Transfer it to plate let it cool.

7) In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the dough. Knead using warm water. Knead till you get a soft pliable dough.

8) Make into small balls and keep closed.

9) Make the Green Peas masala also into small balls and keep covered.

10) Heat oil in a Kadai, for frying the puris.

11) Dust the working surface with some flour and place the dough on it and flat it a little with the help of a rolling pin.

12) Stuff with the green peas rounds and close. Now roll into thin puris as much as possible, taking care not to tear the puris.

13) Fry it in the oil. Cook on both sides till golden colour and drain and remove the Kachoris. Place it on a tissue paper so as to take away the extra oil.

14) Fry all the Kachoris in the same manner.

Dum Aloo Recipe

Use small baby potatoes as far as possible for this recipe. I couldn't get the small baby potatoes and hence brought small potatoes, peeled them and cut them into half.

Baby potatoes - 1/2 Kg
Cumin Seeds - 1 t.sp
Fennel Seeds - 1 t.sp
Asafoetida / Hing - a pinch
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/4 t.sp
Tomato - 3 to 4 medium
Cumin Powder - 1/2 t.sp
Coriander Powdr - 1 t.sp
Kashmiri Mirchi Powder / Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tb.sp
Sugar - 1/2 t.sp
Garam Masala - 1/2 t.sp (optional)
Curd / Yougurt - 3/4 cup
Ginger - 1" piece
Fresh Cream - 1/4 cup
Clove - 1 to 2
Green Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon Stick - 1" piece
Oil - 4 -5 tb.sp

Method

1) Peel the skin of the potatoes. Prick it with a fork here and there, all around. Soak the potatoes in salt water for about 2 to 3 hours. Remove and drain them on an absorbent paper. Let them dry for about 15 to 20 min. Heat some oil in a non-stick pan and fry the potatoes till golden in colour. Remove and drain.

In a mixer, grind together the tomatoes, ginger, cloves, green cardamom and cinnamon stick. Grind to a very fine paste.

2) In a bowl mix together beaten curd, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and sugar.

3) Heat oil in a kadai. Add the Cumin Seeds and Fennel Seeds.

4) Add the green peas. Saute for a minute. Add the curd mixture and the potatoes.

5) Cook till the mixture starts just to boil. Simmer and close the kadai.

6) Let it cook till you start seeing some signs of oil on the top. Keep stirring in between.

7) Add cream, mix well. Cover and cook, till it leaves out the oil.

Serve with hot Matar Kachoris.

Utterly Butterly Flaky Croissants

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:14:00 +0000

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen had chosen to bake "Croissants" this month for the "We Knead to Bake" group. And so it was Croissants and Macaroons all over blogosphere this month.

My children and I have always enjoyed croissants. Many a times I have used the readymade sheets available for Croissants and baked it at home. So it has always been in my trial list. But because of loss of a perfect recipe and directions I never attempted to do it. But this month Aparna gave a very detailed instruction and a good recipe. So it all worked out fine, without any problem.

The process of baking croissants in this recipe is for three days. We do a little work on it all the three days. You can find the detailed recipe at Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen. Please give me sometime to put the detailed recipe here. The original recipe was from Jeffrey Hammelman's at Fine Cooking.

Friends you all know that "Tried and Tasted : Chettinad Cuisine" is going on in Classic Chettinad Kitchen. Please link back your Chettinad Recipes to the event. The event will be over by 15th March.

Tried and Tasted - Chettinad Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:12:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

This time I am hosting the "Tried and Tasted" Event in Classic Chettinad Kitchen. This time the "Tried and Tasted" Event has a new and unique twist. Since it is the first event I am hosting there I have decided upon topic relevant to my site. This time it is all about cooking Chettinad Food. There is option of about 3 to 4 sites from where you can choose the recipes and try them. The event is from the 15th of February to the 15th of March. I am accepting both Veg and Non-Veg Recipes.

For more details on this months "Tried and Tasted" event please visit Classic Chettinad Kitchen. I request you all to participate and make the event a success like the previous ones.

Badhusha - Soft and Flaky

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:45:00 +0000

Badhushas are very famous Indian sweets and is my favourite too. It is a soft, flaky and layered sweet. I love them very much and can't resist them. They are mildly sweet. I make them for every Diwali since last 4 years and nowadays more often. It is made using maida dough which is fried in ghee and then dipped in sugar syrup and dried. The perfecion of the Badhusha is obtained when you get a very soft and a very flaky Badhusha. Believe me it is not at all difficult to make these delicious sweet. The thing is that you have to be very exact in your measurements and the method to the "T". I found the original recipe here in Raks Kitchen. And it is a never let down recipe. Sowmya of Nivedhanams is hosting the Tried & Tasted event this month. And Raks Kitchen is the blog being tried and tasted. So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Rajee for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients

For the Badhusha

Maida - 3 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 t.sp
Curd - 3 t.sp
Cooking Soda / Sodium Bi Carbonate - 3 pinches (1/2 t.sp)
Water - 1/2 cup (approx.)
Oil - for deep frying

For the Syrup

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - just to immerse the sugar
Elaichi - 2 pinches (optional)
Saffron - a pinch (Optional)
Lemon Juice - 1 t.sp

Method

Melt butter in a pan.

Add oil

Add sugar, curd and sodium-bi-carbonate to it.

Use a whisk and mix it well. Make it almost frothy.

Add the flour to it.

Mix well to make it crumbly.

Add water to make it in the form of a dough. Be careful while adding water, about 1/4th cup of water is enough, add water little by little form it into a smooth dough.

Keep kneading for another 10 minutes to get smooth shiny, soft and pliable dough. Knead till you get the smooth texture. Do not cut short this process.

Make small lemon sized balls of equal size. Now take a ball and keep on pinching the edges and folding it inwards. And go on doing this in a round fashion. So that you get the beautifully decorated rims.

Otherwise just flatten the smooth ball a little between your palms and press in the center with your finger, to form a small depression. But I never do this, I always like doing the decorated rim. Finish all shaping all the balls and keep them covered.

Meanwhile add sugar to a pan and just add water to immerse it. Stri till the sugar dissolves and starts boiling. At this point add about a tb.sp of Milk. This helps in removing the impurities in the sugar.

Then boil the sugar solution to reach one string consistency. That is if you pour it in little water it should not dissolve and should form a fine thread. Put off the flame once the right consistency is achieved. Add saffron if desired and then add the juice from the lemon. Add powdered Elaichi if needed. I mostly don't add elaichi to Badhushas.

Heat oil in a kadai. Check whether the oil has heated up well. To do this add a pinch of batter into the oil, if it rises immediately, then its ok. Do not let the oil heat up too much.

Add some 4 to 5 badushas depending upon the size of the kadai, into the oil. Put off the fire or remove from fire and let them cooked in this pre-heated oil.

After sometime (about 5 minutes) the Badushas will start floating, then again keep the kadai on fire and cook on medium-low flame till the badhushas turn into beautiful golden colour.

Remove them into a strainer and let the excess oil drain off for about a minute. Then put these hot badhushas in the sugar syrup. If they don't get fully soaked inside the sugar syrup then pour some syrup over the badhushas with the help of a ladle. Let them remain there for about 3 to 4 minutes. Till then you can prepare the next set of badhushas.

Transfer the badhushas from the syrup to a plate or to an aluminium foil. Place it one by one. And not, one top of the other. Let it dry for sometime. Once it dries then it becomes non-sticky. Transfer it to a clean container. I personally like to eat it after some hours, or better the next day. So that the badhushas soak the syrup inside them and then they taste sweet from inside too.

Sending these delicious, soft and flaky Badhushas to Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting Tried and Tasted this month.

Dear Friends, I am also looking for future hosts for Tried and Tasted Event. Interested Bloggers please contact me at venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. For further details about the event and host list on Tried and Tasted, see here.

Manasi of A Cook @ Heart is holding a event called "I Must Make That" and she also has a giveaway. And after seeing her announcement I realized that the CupoNationIndia is catching up faster. And so sending this entry to her.

Sending this to Sumee's culinary Bites where she is hosting Bon Vivant - Quixotic Fixes.

and to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Kaju Katli

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:39:00 +0000

Kaju Katli, is basically a North Indian sweet, but now popular throughout India. There is no sweet shop in India which does not keep Kaju Katli. Kaju Katli is like a sort of burfi made using Kajus i.e. Cashewnuts. My children luv them a lot whenever I used to buy it for some guests I used to get one for them also a small box, otherwise they will not allow me to gift it. But again Kaju Katli is one of the most expensive sweets in the shop, so I wanted to find out a way to make it at home so that it is not so expensive and at the same time more good than the store bought ones.

So then I found out a recipe at last which gives the same texture and taste like the store bought ones. My children loved them, I never got a chance to photograph it, though I have been making them for years now. This recipe I got from Raks Kitchen. So I thought of posting it now, since this month its Raks Kitchen who is being "Tried and Tasted". It is a sure shot recipe and a never let down recipe. So go ahead and try it.

Making Kaju Katli is very simple, infact the simplest of most of the sweets. And gets ready in very less time and does not involve laborious work. So ahead and make these Kaju Katlis in your kitchen itself, rather than buying it from the shop. The total cooking time is just about 10 to 15 minutes, depending upon the quantity of the Cashews. The ingredients are very very minimal just Cashews and Sugar, thats it nothing else.

Ingredients

Kaju (Cashews) powered - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 & 1/2 cup
Ghee - for greasing your hands

Method

Powder the Cashews in a dry mixer. Grind it to a smooth powder at a stretch and not at intervals. Do not keep it coarse. If during the process of fine grinding, the cashew powder sticks to the wall of the mixer it is ok.

In a non-stick pan put in the sugar and add just enough water, so that the sugar gets immersed in it. Boil it. The sugar gets dissolved and then starts forming a thick syrup. Keep a small bowl of water nearby to check for the consistency of the sugar syrup.

The sugar syrup should be 1 string consistency or when you pour a little sugar syrup in the bowl of water it should stay in the water and should not get dissolved.

At this stage add the cashew powder and keep stirring. Slowly the mixture starts boiling and thickening. Switch of the flame. To test whether it is ready for the Katlis, wet your fingers with water, pinch a small piece of the dough and try to roll it between yours fingers. If you are able to roll a ball without getting your fingers sticky, then it is done. If you feel its not done then put on the stove again and start stirring.

When it is done, put off the stove and still keep stirring in the same pan itself, till the mixture forms like a dough. Then when it is still warm transfer it to a working board and clean working platform and start kneading the dough.

At this stage the dough will have a grainy texture. Smear your hands with ghee and keep on kneading till you get a smooth dough.

Roll the dough into a thin layer and cut it diagonally. First just draw the lines ligthly on the dough with the knife and then cut it. This helps you in getting even size pieces.

I used about 3 cups of the powder and it gave me about 40 to 45 whole pieces. So I said making Kaju Katlis at home is very easy and light on our pockets too.

Note :
Try to choose good quality Cashews. It creates a lot of difference in the taste and texture.

Never use the cashews directly from the fridge or freezer. Bring it to room temperature and then grind it.

The consistency of the sugar is very important, if it doesn't reach the right consistency then the dough will remain sticky.

If the consistency of the sugar has more farther than the one string consistency then add some water let it reach again the required consistency.

After transferring to the counter keep on kneading and kneading till you reach smooth textured dough.

Sending this Kaju Katlis to Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting Tried and Tasted this month. Dear Friends, I am also looking for future hosts for Tried and Tasted Event. Interested Bloggers please contact me at venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. For further details about the event and host list on Tried and Tasted, see here.

and to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Rajasthani Ghevar with Kesar Rabdi

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:25:00 +0000

It was Divya of You too Can Cook Indian Food who is the hosting the South North Challenge (SNC). And in SNC this month the South Team was challenged to prepare the Rajasthani Ghevar with Rabdi. I think I am the last in the group to post it.

The recipe for Rajasthani Mini Ghevar is from Desi Fiesta. She has given a detailed instruction on how to cook the Ghevars. There is also a nice video by Nisha Madhulika on how to cook Ghevars which will be helpful.

And so here is my Rajasthani Ghevar with Kesar Radi. It was very tasty and delicious. I want to put down the recipe on my own but for now please refer to DesiFiesta for the recipe.

Also sending it to the Sweet Luv - CJ#4 hosted by Cooks Joy

Herb, Cheese and Veggie Pull Apart Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:41:00 +0000

I am baking a bread today after a very long time. Even though I like baking and making my own breads, somehow kept running away from baking breads for quite somewhile now. So from this new year I have decided to bake as much as possible, atleast for this year. And to my luck Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen started Bread Baking event for this year. So I wanted to participate in it and sent a request to her yesterday. She was very grateful to let me participate. But since this month is already on going to end, so she wanted me to post it immediately.

And here I am baking this months Bread, that is, The Pull Apart Bread. I have followed the same recipe she gave us. Except that for the filling I added some veggies. Thats it.

I was so excited about baking a bread after a long time that I totally forgot I didn't have a Bread load tin or the normal rectangle high raised tin. So I looked and looked for sometime all my baking tins and then decided to bake it in this oven proof glass dish. And that is why my bread got flattened because it took spread and took the shape of the container during the second proofing.

For the Dough:

1/2 cup warm milk

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 3/4 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

25gm butter, soft at room temperature

3/4 to 1 tsp garlic paste (I used 1 t.sp Garlic Powder)

3/4 cup milk (+ a couple of tbsp to brush over the bread)

For the Filling:

15 to 20gm melted butter

2 tsp dried Italian mixed herbs

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 medium carrot grated

1/2 cup olives chopped

Crushed pepper/ red chilli flakes to taste

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Method:

As almost always, I used my food processor but you may knead the dough by hand.
In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep aside for about 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.
Put 2 3/4 cup of flour, salt, softened butter, and garlic paste in the food processor bowl (or a large bowl) and pulse a couple of times to mix. Then add the yeast mixture and the 3/4 cup of milk and knead till you have a soft, smooth and elastic/ pliable dough which is not sticky. Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticking,but only just as much as is necessary.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it completely with oil. Cover and let it rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until almost double in volume.
Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and roll the dough out into a larger square that is about 12’ by 12”. Brush the surface of the square with the melted butter.
Evenly sprinkle the herbs, pepper/ chilli flakes, the veggies and then the grated cheese. Use a rolling pin to very lightly press the topping into the dough to ensure the topping doesn’t fall off when you are stacking the strips.
Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips – they do nothave to be perfect. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips.
You can put the 2 strips cut from the sides in the middle of the stack so it looks neater. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).
Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” (or 5”) loaf tin. Butter and lightly flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Layer the square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin. I didn't have a loaf pan and so baked it in a glass dish.
Cover the loaf tin dough with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour.
Preheat the oven a 180C.
Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf.
Bake the dough at 180C (350F) for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is goldenbrown. It took me 60 minutes to bake, maybe because of the glass dish.

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:05:00 +0000

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

A group of home bakers helping each other to achieve perfection.

Baking a home made Baking a homemade bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love and want to learn more about the nook and corners of baking. We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows. Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group.

Main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic the procedure if there are ways to improve, and to eat a delicious food.

Rules are simple, we will choose one recipe and send it out to the group by 16th of every month and the reveal date will be 15th of the next month. On that day we will blog about it. A linky tool will be open during that time and each member can link their post.

First month we are going to do a recipe, 2nd and 3rd month will be a theme and the 4th month we will be back at a recipe. By doing in between recipes, we will able to learn more.

All enthusiastic bloggers interested in baking are welcome, please email Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen at favoriterecipes12@gmail.com.

We will appreciate the use of logo or worded link that will help to spread the word. A bunch of thanks to Tina for designing this beautiful logo

If you want to make it a gluten or vegan free diet, you can do those modifications also.

Tried and Tasted Revamped

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:58:00 +0000

Dear Friends as I had already mentioned in my posts in my Facebook Page for the past few weeks I have been in an effort to revamp my long forgotten event "Tried and Tasted". What is it about? The event is all about bookmarked recipes.

There are 1000s and 1000s food blogs and food websites. Each and every site is unique in its own kind. Many recipes are new, some of them old, some of them are presented in a tongue tickling style, some of them have drooling photographs of food, some traditional, some are dedicated to their loving mother, many national and international recipes.

Many a times it happens that I start somewhere searching for a recipe or maybe going through someones new post. And from there keep continuing, jumping from one blog to another fully immersed in the recipes, beautiful photographs and so on. And after the end of about 1 hour, I would have bookmarked 100s of recipes. And not only are these recipes bookmarked but several times also "Tried and Tasted".

And many a times it happens that we start liking recipes of some particular blog, for many reasons. Firstly because we Tried a recipe from this blog and the 1st time itself we would received a great round of applause from our family members. Sometimes because we like their way of instructions, sometimes because of their tongue tickling photos and so on. So then we start frequenting this blog, try out many recipes from this particular blog. And so this is the whole idea behind this event.

The event "Tried & Tasted" (T&T) is all about appreciating our fellow blogger for their hard work. And how can we honour them for their work? Best way is to try their recipes and letting them know that their recipe had been of great success to us by showcasing their recipes in our blog. And by doing this we will not only appreciate them but also confirm that their recipes are worth it.

"Tried & Tasted" (T&T) is a monthly event started by Zlamushka of SpicyKitchen and was taken over by me. Every month recipes from one particular blog will be "Tried and Tasted".

Tried and Tasted was going on successfully for quiet sometime but then because of lack of time I couldn't conduct it for sometime in between. And now since I am able to find some time for me and my blogs and the event "Tried and Tasted", I would like to get it back going again. So with all your support I started back the event again this month.

This month the event is hosted by the very famous Priya of Priya's Versatile Kitchen. And she has chosen another beautiful blog which needs no introduction to many of us. Its Sharmis Passion which has many beautiful photos, healthy recipes, many eggless recipes and step wise instructions.

So go ahead folks, prepare as many dishes as you want from Sharmis Passion this month, post it in your blog and link it back to Priya's Versatile Kitchen. For more details about how to link back please refer to her post. Use of logo is appreciated since it helps to spread word about the event. So please I request you all to use the logo.

So here is the host line up for the event.

Dec'12 : Priya of Priya's Versatile Kitchen - Sharmis Passion

Round up

Jan'13 : Sowmya of Nivedhanams - RAKS KITCHEN

Round up

Feb'13 : By Lakshmi Venkatesh(Me) at Classic Chettinad Kitchen - Chettinad Cuisine

Mar'13 : Sona of Spill The Spices

Apr'13 : Madhuri of Satya's Cooking Experiments

May'13 : Rafeeda of A Big Sweet Tooth

Jun'13 :

Jul'13 :

Aug'13 :

Sep'13 :

Oct'13 :

Nov'13 :

Dec'13 :

I request all my friend bloggers who are interested in hosting the event in the future to leave me a message here as a comment or you can also send me an email with subject "T&T" to venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. Otherwise you can also leave a message in my Kitchen Chronicles facebook page.

January - 2013

This month it is Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting the T&T event. And RAKS KITCHEN is the blog being Tried and Tasted. For more information on the event please visit Nivedhanams. Please send in your entries and make the event a success.

Veg Fried Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:49:00 +0000

Veg Fried Rice is very common in our house. Simple and Fast. All you need to have in hands are some veggies like Carrot, Beans, Peas, Corn, Cabbage etc. And it is ready in a jiffy. Many a times I prepare this for my children's and hubby's lunch box.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium size (chopped)

Veggies of your choice - 1/2 cup ( Grated Carrot, Finely choped beans, boiled peas and corn, shredded cabbage, small cauliflower florets etc)

Green Chillies - 2 to 3 (slit into half)

Salt to taste

White Pepper Powder - 1/2 t.sp (optional)

Spring Onion Greens - a handful

Oil

Method

Wash and cook the rice till it is 90 percent done. Add about 1 tb.sp of oil and some salt to the rice while cooking. Transfer it to another vessel and allow it to cool. Heat a fry pan, pour some oil in it. When the oil is hot toss in the onions and green chillies. When the onion becomes translucent add in the veggies and saute it till the veggies are almost done. Add salt while sauting. When the veggies are almost done add the white pepper powder and mix well. Then add the cooked rice and mix well. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring in between for about 2 to 3 minutes. In the end add the spring onion greens and mix well. Serve hot with Papad and Raitas.

Here I have skipped green chillies and added Tobasco Sauce and hence the orange colour.

Godhumai Halwa / Wheat Halwa

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 04:22:00 +0000

Easy, traditional and tasty Godhumai Halwa / Wheat Halwa.

For recipe please visit my other blog Classic Chettinad Kitchen - Wheat Halwa

Candied Fruit Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:38:00 +0000

This month Priya had chosen Sharmis Passion for the Tried and Tasted event. So when I read Sharmis Passion, the first thing that came in mind was the "Tutti Frutti Cookies". They look so yum in her photos I wanted to try it. And since the time of the year was also so apt for trying out these cookies, I made them for these Christmas. I made three batches of biscuit and I just got the 3rd batch for the photographs, all others vanished in no time.

And so they were very tasty and were hassle free to be made. Took very less time for preparation work and the baking time is also very less. "These Tutti-Fruitty cookies are sure worth a try".

I just followed the same recipe as Sharmis, just used Candied fruits instead of Tutti Fruitty since they were not available here nearby.

Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup
Candied Fruits - 1/3 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 6 tb.sp (room temperature)
Milk - 1 - 2 tb.sp (only if and as required)

Method

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, till light and fluffy.
Use of a hand wisk is enough, no need of any machines for the mixing.
Mix together Maida and the Candied Fruits.
Add milk little by little to make a soft and little sticky dough.
Roll it in a wax paper and freeze it. You can dust the wax paper with maida if needed so that the dough will not stick to the paper.
Freeze the rolled dough along with the wax paper for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C.
Remove the dough cut into even slices and place them on a butter paper lined tray.
Bake it for 10 to 15 minutes.
Once the sides start browning a little, remove it and cool it on a wire rack.
Once it cools down it will become crisp.
Store it in a air-tight container.

Points to remember

Use milk carefully since adding more milk will make it very sticky.
Freezing is necessary. If you are not planning to bake it immediately then keep it in the fridge.
Be careful of overbaking, since they tend to get burnt soon.

Sending it to Priya's Versatile Kitchen for the "Tried and Tasted" Event.

Sending it to also
Quick and Easy Recipe Event hosted by Ammaji Recipes
Favourite Recipes Event - Christmas Recipes Hosted by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
Lets Cook Edible Gifts For Christmas Hosted by Simply Food

Cookies and Cakes for Xmas Hosted by My Culinary Creations
Mission Bake With Fruits Hosted by Yashodha's Kitchen started by CookCookandCook and by Cook-Eat-Burp

Celebrate Christmas hosted by Divyas Culinary Journey started by Jagruti

Eggless Bakes and Treats Hosted by Nivedhanams

Friends, I am also in need of hosts for this Tried and Tasted event in the future. You can find the host line up here in this announcement page.

Mysorepak

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:18:00 +0000

Mysorepak is a traditional south indian sweet which has a porous and melt in the mouth texture. It is made using a generous amount of Ghee. It has just three ingredients and takes just about 20 to 30 minutes to prepare it. The traditional Mysorepak has three beautiful layers, the top and bottom layers are light brown in colour and the middle layer is little dark brown.

The beauty of Mysorepak is that even after we have poured it in the greased plate its cooking process in not over. Because of the heat which gets trapped inside it the cooking process continues. Many a times people face lot of problems with the preparation of this traditional sweet. Its just that the art of making it has to be perfected. Here I have tried to explain the procedure as far as possible. For making a perfect Mysorepak first you will have to perfect the art of sugar syrup and its stages. Thats it and life becomes easy as far as Mysorepak is concerned. And please try to use a non-stick pan as far as possible.

The tamil version for this recipe is here in my other blog Classic Chettinad Kitchen.

Ingredients

Gramflour (Besan) - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 + 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 tb.sp

Method

Sift the gramflour so that it becomes free of lumps.
Grease a tray and keep it ready.
Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a non-stick pan. Heat just till the ghee melts and the gramflour and roast till you get a nice aroma. Roast it on medium or low heat.
Add sugar in a non-stick pan and add water till it just covers the sugar. Maybe about 1/4 cup or little less should be enough here.
Heat it over medium heat till the sugar dissolves.
Side by side heat ghee in another vessel in low heat.
Add the milk to the sugar syrup and allow the scum to surface up, remove it with a help of a ladle. Reduce the heat and make a sugar syrup of one string consistency. Here is a nice post on stages of sugar syrup written by Chitra of Ratatouille - Anyone can Cook, which will be very useful here.
At this stage add the roasted flour and keep stirring, do not stop stirring or distract your attention from the pan.
Once the flour gets incorporated well with the sugar syrup add 1 the ghee one ladle at a time.
Every time you add the hot ghee it will become frothy and go back to its normal stage again.
In the whole process never stop stirring.
When you are finished with the last ladle of ghee. Keep stirring, it will become frothy and set back. Again after a few seconds it will froth again and move around in a single mass. It will also slightly start changing its colour. This is the right stage you have to pour it in the greased tray.
Smooth the surface without pressing it to hard, because this is the time when the air bubbles form in between to make it porous, so don't press it too hard.
If you like sprinkle some sugar crystals on top and cut it into pieces.
Don't remove them from the tray at this stage, let it cool down and then remove it from the tray and serve.

Points to remember

Very important point to remember is that once you start with the process do not divert your attention till you are finished with it.
As far as possible try to make it in a non-stick pan.
The stage of the sugar syrup is very important. If you are a first timer with making sugar syrups then maybe you can have a trial session of the stages of sugar syrup with about 1/4 cup of sugar before you begin with the process. It will be worth the effort and lot of knowledge will be gained.
Keep all the things measured and ready and then start.
Remove it as soon as it starts changing it colour otherwise the mysorepak will become very dark in colour and give a burnt taste.
Last but not the least, follow each and every step to the wee bit.

Vanilla Cup Cake with Chocolate Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:15:00 +0000

Back to my passion of baking after a very long time. Have been baking for quiet sometime now but couldn't manage to get a click.

This Vanilla cup cake is very simple and the delicious chocolate frosting will keep you licking.

Ingredients for the Basic Vanilla Cupcake

200 gms Butter

8 oz Castor Sugar

8 oz Maida

1 tb.sp baking powder

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Milk about a tb.sp

Sieve the dry the ingredients and keep it aside.

Line the cupcake pans with the cases.

All the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Preheat the oven at 180° C.

Beat the butter lightly and then add the castor sugar and beat well.

Incorporate the eggs one by one.

Add the vanilla essence. Mix and add the dry ingredients. And fold in.

Add milk as required and only if required.

The batter should be of dropping consistency and not pouring consistency.

Spoon the batter in the cupcake cases.

Bake for 15 to 20 min at 180° C.

Remove and cool on a wire rack when its done i.e. the skewer comes out clean.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Frosting :

2 tbsp cream
100 gm Chocolate
50 gm Butter
100 gm Icing Sugar

In a pan heat butter add the chocolate and cream, stir till combined.
Remove from heat and add in icing sugar, stir till smooth.
Fill it in a piping bag attached with a star nozzle. And pipe it on the cooled cupcakes.

Sent the cupcakes to the event Merry Christmas Celebration hosted by Sheelu Agarwal at Ghar Ka Khana

Khasta Kachori

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Khasta Kachori is a deep fried snack of North India. These kachoris are given a spicy moong dal filling.

Khasta means flaky. And these flacky Kachoris originate from Rajasthan and very famously known as Rajasthani Kachori. It is a very famous road side snack in Bombay. In Bombay they are served with a filling of dahi, sprouts, sweet chutney and a spicy chutney. Those kachoris used to be bigger in size and was a very filling snack. I was a great fan and a great addict to these Kachoris. There was a famous Kachori wala in a small lane near the Mulund Railway station. There used to be always lot of rush for his Kachoris and we had to take coupons and wait for our turn.

I am posting this recipe for the Indian Cooking Challenge - September conducted by Srivalli in her blog Spice Your Life.

You can find the recipe for it here.

Cauliflower Fritters - Indian Version

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 06:38:00 +0000

Cauliflower Varuval, well, that is how we call them. Cauliflower Fritters are everybody's favourite. In most of the Chettinad marriages and functions you can find this Cauliflower Varuval. People of all ages love it. I make it for my children whenever Cauliflower is in season. They eat it up without murmuring or making fuss. Today prepared this for their lunch box. Both of them were very happy, early morning their face lit up like 100 watts bulb as soon as they saw it in their lunch box.

Normally they are made using just using Besan i.e. Kadalai Maavu, Bengal gram flour. Here I have made some changes. It is very versatile, just add or remove any of the ingredients keeping Cauliflower as the base veggie.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1 big sizes (Cut into small florets)
Haldi / Turmeric Powder - 1 t.sp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 to 1 1/2 t.sp
Besan / Kadalai Maavu / Bengal gram flour - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 3 to 4 tb.sp
Makai Flour / Corn Flour - 5 to 6 tb.sp
(Note : This is not the usual Cornflour which we get, this is just corn grinded to a little coarse powder)
Salt - As per taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

Boil water in a pan add salt to it. Put in the cauliflower florets. And put off the gas. Let the cauliflowers be in the water for about 3 to 4 minutes, depending upon the size of the florets.
Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add salt here also.
Drain the florets, remove the excess the water completely.
Add them to the mixed flour. Carefully mix them together. Add water very slowly as required.
Important : After mixing it the florets should be well coated with the batter. The batter should not be dripping from the florets and it should also not coat the florets very thickly.
Deep fry them in oil till done. Remove them on kitchen tissues or tissue paper so that it absorbs the excess oil.
Serve it hot with Tomato Sauce or Pudina Chutney or Vara Milagai Chutney or Tomato Chutney.

For Homemade Tomato Sauce please have a look here.

Aval Upma / Poha

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Poha, a very common breakfast in North India. Mostly in Maharashtra, Gujarat etc, you mostly get only Pohas for breakfast in most of the hotels. Poha is Beaten Rice in English. Its very easy and very simple and mostly liked by many. Many a times I make it for night dinner also.

Here is a Wikipedia explanation for Poha alias Aval in Tamil.

Flattened rice (also called beaten rice) is a dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. These flakes of rice swell when added to liquid, whether hot or cold, as they absorb water, milk or any other liquids. The thicknesses of these flakes vary between almost translucently thin (the more expensive varieties) to nearly four times thicker than a normal rice grain.

This easily digestible form of raw rice is very popular across Nepal, North East India and Bangladesh, and is normally used to prepare snacks or light and easy fast food in a variety of Indian cuisine styles, some even for long-term consumption of a week or more. It is known by a variety of names: Poha or Pauwa in Hindi, Baji in Newari, Pohe in Marathi, Aval in Tamil,Chindé in Bengali, Chira in Assamese, Phovu in Konkani, Chudaa in Oriya, Avalakki in Kannada, Atukula Poni in Telugu, Pauaa/Paunva(પૌંઆ) in Gujarati, and Chiura (चिउरा) in Nepali, Bhojpuri and Chhattisgarhi.

It is a very versatile dish, add or remove the ingredients according to your tastebuds.

Ingredients

Poha - 3 cups (Choose a little thick Poha and not the very thin ones)

Onion - 1 small

Halved Green Chillies - 2 to 3

Tomato - 1 big

Grated Carrot - 1/4 cup

Grated Potato - 1/4 cup (wash it in water after grating it)

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 t.sp

Mustard - 1//4 t.sp

Urad dal - 1/2 t.sp

Channa dal - 1/2 t.sp

Peanuts - about 1/2 a handful

Curry Leaves - 4 to 5 leaves

Oil

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for Garnishing

Lemon Juice - from 1 lemon

Sugar - 1 t.sp

Method

Cut all the veggies as required. Keep all the things ready.

Wash lightly the Poha in a colander by showing it under running water for a few seconds only. Don't over do it. Keep it aside, let the excess water drain off.

Heat oil in a kadai, add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, Peanuts, turmeric powder. Fry for about 1/2 a minute.

Toss in the onion and green chillies.

Once the onion becomes translucent toss in tomatoes. Stir a little and add some salt. Cook in medium flame.

After the tomato has let out its juice and is fully cooked add in the veggies. Keep stirring till the veggies are almost cooked.

Adjust the salt, according to your taste.

Add the sugar and stir for a minute.

Separate the washed and drained Poha with your hands and add them to the kadai. Mix well in slow flame.

Add the lemon juice and mix well.

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

You can also use veggies like Peas, Cauliflower, but cook them in salt water before using them. In the end if you like you can also add fresh grated coconut for garnishing.

Microwave Easy Cooking (MEC) Event - Calcium Rich Food Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:40:00 +0000

MEC Event was a long awaited event by me to host it at Kitchen Chronicles here. At last have it here for this month. Thanks a lot to dear Srivalli for this opportunity, who had started this great event. I have chosen the theme Calcium Rich Foods.

Image Source - IOF

We all know to some extent that Calcium is very important in our day to day food. But how much is it important is the question. It is very important for growing children and also equally important for all the adults, men and women. So we give a lot importance for calcium in our foods. But for this calcium to be absorbed in our body we need an essential Vitamin i.e. Vitamin D. So we have to give importance to both Calcium and Vitamin D. You can find some information on Calcium here. Please go through it since it gives a lot of vital information.

Since this event is specially for Microwave Cooked Foods, cook up some special Calcium Rich Food or Vitamin D Rich foods in your Microwave. Post the recipe and the instructions in your blog.Then send it to me @kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com along with a picture attachment (essential).

Now here are some points to be remembered.

The dish should be completely cooked using Microwave only, no cooking or preparation should be done on stove top.
The entries should compulsorily be linked my announcement page i.e. here and to Srivalli's MEC post. (http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2007/08/announcing-microwave-easy-cooking-event.html).
Multiple recipes are permitted.
Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted.
Recipes from archives are accepted ONLY if updated as current posts.
Use of logo is very much appreciated.

Non-bloggers, please send your entries with your recipe to me kitchenchronicles1atgmaildotcom.

Last but not least the last date to receive entries is 31st May, 2011.

Here is a link to help you all to cook some mouth-watering Calcium Rich Dishes. Please note that the dish should be cooked 100% using Microwave only. So please all of you cook up some, easy and fast Microwave Calcium Rich recipes and send them to me before 31st May.

Palada Payasam

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year to all the Tamilians and Keralites. I am writing a post almost 4 months after the English New Year. I made Palada Payasam for this new year.

Please check @Classic Chettinadu Kitchen for the Recipe.

Thattai - Crispy Rice-Lentil Wafers

noreply@blogger.com (Kitchen Chronicles) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 10:39:00 +0000

Thattai is a traditional South Indian snack. It is an all time favourite one. It is always welcomed and relished by people of all ages. Available in the sweet and snack shops round the year. But still always home-made ones get a thumps up compared to the shop brought ones. It is very difficult to resist our temptation from Thattais.

This recipe is from a blogger friend. When I was searching for a Thattai recipe some years back I came across this recipe. Didn't keep a track of the bloggers name and web address. This recipe is very wonderful and a never let down recipe. The Thattais always come out crisp.It is very simple and easy to make. Doesn't involve any strenuous process.

Thattai

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 3 cups
Black gram - 1/2 cup
Roasted Bengal Gram dal - 1/2 cup
Bengal gram - a handful
Dry Red Chillies - 15
Shredded Coconut - 2 cups (optional)
Asafoetida Powder - 1 tsp

White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method

Soak the rice for 1 hour, drain the water and grind the rice in a mixie to a fine powder. Sieve it twice.
Soak Bengal gram in enough water for about 2 hours.
Roast the black gram in a dry pan to a golden brown colour. When cooled, grind it to a fine powder and sieve it once.
Grind the Roasted Bengal Gram with the red chillies, asafoetida & coconut to a fine paste.
Add the ground paste, powder, ghee, curry leaves and the soaked dal to the rice flour with enough salt & knead to a soft dough.
Take a clean plastic sheet. Grease it with oil. Take a small ball of the dough and place it in the center of the plastic sheet. Place another greased clean plastic sheet.
Flatten the ball placed between the plastic sheets with a rolling pin. Flatten it as thin as possible.
Cut it with a round cookie cutter.
Make a small batch of it and fry it in the oil. Remove it and place it on a tissue paper.
Allow it to cool for some time. Preserve them in an air-tight box.