CHOLAFALI FOR ICC

Dear readers, sorry for the long break. Exams for kid, vacation joys, etc put me on silent mode almost for a month.Every women will be craving to visit her mom's place during vacations, like our kids we'll also be counting the days when the exams will get over!!!! Just enjoyed my vacation this time as usual, finished my Deepavali purchases, had nice delicious food etc. And also learnt some new recipes from my fav  Annapoorani Atthai.
    Coming to ICC challenge for this month, the team has selected a Gujarati dish which sounded very new to me. I was skeptical in preparing this dish, as I haven't seen or tasted this snack. But gave a try, to my surprise the dish turned out tasty...I selected Preeti's blog. The recipe is easy and can be prepared any time. any day. Perfect for a rainy evening.
INGREDIENTS :
Besan flour        1 cup
Urad dal flour    1/2 cup
Chilli powder      1 tsp
Oil                     1 tsp
Soda                  a pinch
Salt                   for taste
Oil                    for frying

Black salt          for taste

METHOD:
Boil 1/2 cup of water with oil, salt and soda. When warm add to both the flours along with chilli powder to a dough.Keep aside for 15 mins.Roll into thin chappathis, cut into strips and deep ry in hot oil. Sprinkle salt and black salt as for taste.Serve plain or with coriander mint chutney.
NOTE : In the original recipe chilli powder is used  for sprinkling after frying, here I have used  to the dough itself.

GODHUMAI HALWA

This month ICC focussed on the famous Thirunelveli Halwa - the King of Halwas.ICC has selected the halwa recipe from few blogs and made us to select the recipe from any of those blogs. I was very much impressed from this blog - a wonderful place with good recipes.

Apart from regular ingredients we need to sacrifice TIME and DEDICATION to stand near the stove and stir continously.

INGREDIENTS :

Samba wheat grains    1 cup

Sugar                         2 cups

Ghee                          150 gms

Cardamom                 4-5 no

Cashews                   a handful ( broken )

Red Food color          a pinch (opt)

METHOD :

Soak the grains in 3 cups of water overnight. Next day  grind  finely with a cup of water.

Strain the milk and again grind the residue.Repeat thrice.

Collect the milk in a big vessel and keep undisturbed for an hour. The thick mass will settle down and thin milk on top.

Discard the water and retain the thick mass.

Heat sugar with 3/4 cup of water and bring to one string consistency.Use pressure cooker or pan.

Add the milk and red colour to sugar syrup.

Now start stirring continously,heat ghee in another stove and start adding little by little to the halwa.

The halwa will intake all the ghee, add cardamom powder and cashews.

After 30-35 mins of stirring the ghee will start oozing out and halwa will form a ball while stirring.

Pour in a greased plate and cut into shapes or serve in a cup.

PUDACHI WADI OR CORIANDER ROLLS

This month ICC challenge focuses on a Maharashtrian snack item called Pudachi Wadi. At first I found difficult  to pronounce the dish name itself, but after reading the recipe it was interesting. The recipe is adapted from here. The aroma of fresh coriander lingers in our month after each bite.The actual recipe illustrates us  to  make a roll and fry in oil, but here I have made like the usual samosas.
INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:

Besan flour   3/4 cup

Wheat flour  3/4 cup

Redchilly powder  1/2tsp

Turmeric powder  1/4 tsp

Salt    to taste

Hot oil     3 tbsp

Stuffing:
Fresh coriander    2cups
Dry coconut    2tbsp
Khus Khus    1 tbsp
Sesame seeds  1tbsp
Garlic             3 cloves
Ginger           1/2" piece
Green chillies   2-3 no
Onion            1 no
Sugar            3/4 tsp
Oil              1 tbsp
Salt           to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime.

For the paste:
Oil   2tsp
Garam masala  1tsp
Thick tamarind pulp   2tsp

Oil  to deep fry

METHOD:
Combine all the items given for dough. Add  enough water and make a stiff dough.
Wash and chop the coriander leaves finely. Dry fry khus khus, sesame seeds and dry coconut,and make a coarse powder.
Grind ginger and green chillies to a coarse paste.
Heat a tbsp oil and saute chopped onions, ginger chilly paste and garlic.
Add this to the chopped coriander along with coarse powder,lime juice,sugar and salt.Mix well and keep aside.
Mix oil, garam masala and tamarind to a thick paste.
Take little dough and roll into a thin chappathi.Cut the sides to a square shape.Apply the paste.Keep the filling in the center and close  to form a triangle.Apply water and seal the sides.
Fry in medium heat to golden colour.
Serve with tomato sauce or katta meeta chutney.

Notes: In the actual recipe the Pudachi Wadi is made into rolls, lightly roasted in tawa and finally fried in hot oil. But here I have directly fried in oil.Also for the stuffing Archana has added red chilly powder, which I have omitted and increased the spiceness with green chillies itself.

VATTAYAPPAM

Very proud to announce that I have joined the ICC. For this month challenge they have selected Vattayappam a Kerala delicacy. The ICC focuses on traditional Indian cooking which are unaware to many of us.Thanks for bringing in such contests and making Indian cooking more popular and bringing us an opportunity to know about those recipes.The recipe is from here. This is the first time I  am tasting this dish. The recipe is simple and does uses only limited ingredients. Since its a steamed food it is very healthy to people of all ages. Though the texture resembles the traditional idli, there are variations in  preparing the batter.Good for evenings with tea or coffee.
INGREDIENTS :
For the batter:
Raw rice   1 cup( soaked for 6-8 hrs)
Coconut    3/4 cup(grated)
Cooked rice   2 tbsp
Water    1/2  to grind the above
To Proof Yeast:
Active dry yeast   1/2 tsp
Sugar                  2 tsp
Water                1/3 cup
To make porridge:
Coarse ground paste   2 tbsp
Water                 1/2 cup
To sweeten:
Sugar          1/2 cup
Cahews      1 tbsp
Raisins        1 tbsp
Ghee           1 tbsp
Cardamom    3-4no
METHOD:Grind the items given for batter along with cardamom. When batter is coarsely grinded take 2 tbsp of the batter for  the porridge. Continue grinding by adding coconut  to a smooth batter. Add the cooked rice towards the end of grinding.
Prepare warm water and add sugar along with yeast. Place this in a warm place for about 15-20 mins or till the yeast raises.
Prepare porridge with the ground paste and water. The porridge must be cooked and thick. Cool this and add to the batter and blend once again.Now add the yeast mixture and pulse once or twice to mix evenly.
Transfer the contents to a big bowl.Leave to ferment for 4-6 hrs or overnight.
When the batter is doubled add sugar and mix well. Leave for  about 2 hrs.
Heat ghee and fry cashews and raisins. Add this to the batter.

Apply oil to the bowl in which the batter is to be steamed. Here I have used the bundt cake pan.
Steam cook for about 20 mins.Run a knife around the vessel and invert to a plate.
Cut into desired shapes and serve hot

.

Here, I have  added cardamom  at the grinding stage itself. So the flavour was wholesome.