Ragi Sweet Balls/ Ragi Inipu Urundai

This is a very simple recipe that I saw in aval vikatan magazine. It can be made in a jiffy once you keep all the ingredients ready. It is a very nutritious recipe too since it contains ragi and jaggery and both are rich in iron. It just melts in your mouth. Even kids will love it.

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 1 cup
2. Jaggery (powdered, I used achu vellam)- 1cup
3. Cashew - 10 to 12 broken
4. Cardamom powder - 1/2tsp
5. Ghee- just to grease hands

Method:

             1. In a kadai, dry roast the ragi flour in medium low or low flame. This is the most important step. It needs to be roasted till a nice fragrance arises. Take care not to burn the flour by stirring continuously. If the flour is not properly roasted you will get a uncooked flour taste in your balls. Transfer the roasted flour in a wide bowl.

            2.  Simultaneously, heat powdered jaggery along with little water just to immerse the jaggery till 3/4 level. Once the jaggery dissolves switch off the stove after a single boil. Strain the syrup and set aside.

           3.  Add the broken cashews and cardamom to the flour and mix well. Add the jaggery syrup little by little till you are able to form a big ball with the dough. You need to make sure there is no lumps formed in this step.

          4.  Grease your hands with little ghee and form small balls with the dough. Enjoy the tasty nutritious balls!

Banjara Gosht/Mutton curry in Gypsy Style

While I was browsing for mutton curry recipes to prepare for the weekend, I came across this recipe from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's website. It was so delicious and lip smacking. Its has such a simple procedure too.

Ingredients:

• Mutton- 350gm
•  Bay leaves -2
• Cloves -2
• Peppercorns - 5
• Dry red chilli -3
• Onion sliced - 1
• Ginger garlic paste - 1tbsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1tbsp
• Turmeric powder -1/4tsp
• Yogurt - 2tsp
• Salt -as needed
• Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp
• Coriander seeds crushed - for garnish

Method:

1. Cook mutton for 3 whistles in medium flame( or till half cooked) with salt and enough water. Drain and reserve the stock(mutton cooked water).

2. Heat oil in the cooker, add the bay leaf, cloves, broken red chillis and peppercorns. Saute for a minute.

3. Add the sliced onions, saute till translucent.

4. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute til raw smell leaves.

5. Add the red chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder and saute for 2 mins.

6. Add the half cooked mutton and mix well. Now add the mutton stock and pressure cook for 4 or more whistles on medium flame till it is cooked well. 

7.Open the lid and adjust salt. whisk yogurt separately and add in the gravy stirring well. Just give it a single boil and switch off.

8. Garnish with crushed coriander seeds and serve with hot steamed rice!.

Notes:

• You can cook the gravy in pan too but it takes quite sometime. So if you are patient enough you can go for it :).

Baby Corn Milagu Varuval/Baby Corn Pepper Fry

This is a recipe I saw in Chef Venkatesh Bhat's cookery show and is a wonderful snack. Its specially good to eat in rainy weather. If you love pepper flavour then this is for you.

Ingredients:

•  Baby Corn - roughly chopped (2 cups)
•  Rice flour - 1 and 1/2 tsp (see notes below)
•  Corn flour - 3/4 tsp (see notes below)
• Ginger Garlic paste - 1tsp
•  Pepper powder - 2 tsp
•  Curry leaves - few
•  Freshly ground pepper - 1tsp (for garnish)
•  Salt -as needed
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method:

1. Chop baby corn roughly. First we need to parboil the baby corn. To do this take about 3 to 4 cups of water in a vessel and let it boil. Then add baby corn with a pinch of salt and let it boil for about 3 minutes.

2. Strain the water, take the baby corn, rice flour, corn flour, pepper powder, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste along with it. Mix well. Finely chop curry leaves and mix well such that the curry leaves stick to the corn. Let this marinate for 10 to 15 mins.

3. Once marinated, heat oil in pan, and fry the baby corn till golden brown. Since we have already parboiled the baby corn, once it turns golden brown we can take it out. It will be very crisp. Drain in tissue paper and add freshly ground pepper on top. Serve hot!.

Notes:

• The corn flour and rice flour quantity should be in such a way that the pepper and curry leaves stick well to the corn. Adjust accordingly. Dont add too much also. 

               

• Adding freshly ground pepper towards the end gives a great flavour. I just used my mortar and pestle to make the freshly ground pepper for garnish.
• Curry leaves and pepper are a great combo.
• Always serve hot.

Gulab Jamun with Milk Powder

Gulab Jamun has always been my favourite sweet from childhood. These lovely balls make my mouth water whenever I see them in sweet shops. However, my favourite is what my Amma makes. Though she makes from a store bought mix, she makes it so perfectly that they melt in mouth instantly. When I was small, she used to make for my birthdays and diwali and I used to just relish them. Now after marriage, I tried the same store bought mix and got perfect results. But I have always wanted to try gulab jamun using homemade mix. I browsed the internet and got a recipe using milk powder. But my first attempt at the jamuns using milk powder turned out very hard :(. I was very disappointed.

However I got the courage to make them once again. This time I used a recipe I had saved long ago in a word document and the results were just perfect. I was so happy and even my husband loved it a lot. So here is the recipe. Just follow it exactly and you will get perfect results. Read the notes section for the hints to get the perfect jamun.

Ingredients:

• Milk powder - 1/2 cup
• Maida/all purpose flour - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1/4 cup (if needed add more or less. )
• Baking soda - 1/4tsp
• Oil and ghee(if using) - as required to deep fry

For the sugar syrup:

• Sugar - 1.5 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Rose essence - 3 to 4 drops

Method:

1. Mix milk powder, maida and baking soda in a wide bowl.

2. Add milk gradually and gather to form a dough. The dough will be sticky but soft. Just knead very slightly for 1 min or so. Do not over knead or knead too hard.

3. Now we can start making the sugar syrup. In a heavy bottomed vessel, take the sugar and water and boil it for few mins. Maybe for 8 mins in medium low flame. 

4. Once the sugar syrup is done, switch off and add rose essence. Heat oil in kadai, Grease your hands with little ghee and make smooth and small balls out of the dough. Deep fry them keeping the flame in low. Roll them gently to cook evenly.

5.  Cook 5 to 6 balls at a time till deep golden brown and drain them and add it to the hot sugar syrup. Wait atleast 1 hr or 2 hrs so that the jamuns absorb the sugar syrup well. Enjoy your jamuns!.

Notes:

• Dont knead the dough too much.
• Always fry the jamuns in low flame or medium flame maximum so that insides also get evenly cooked. The oil should be hot enough to cook the jamuns but not too hot as to burn them. If the oil temp is very low in between increase to medium if required.
• You can add cardamom powder instead of rose essence. Also some nuts in sugar syrup if preferred.
• The most important thing while shaping the jamuns is that the balls should be smooth without any cracks. If there are cracks the balls will open up on frying.
• Also, another thing to note is that, the balls should be shaped small as they increase in size when they absorb the syrup. Almost double. You can see the difference in size in the last two pics.
• You can also use ghee and oil in 50:50 ratio for frying. It sure adds extra taste. I always do it like that. 
• Give minimum 1 hr standing time.

Banana Appam/ Vazhaipazha appam/Banana Paniyaram

I saw this recipe in Dinakaran newspaper and wanted to give it a try. I dont like bananas yet wanted to try this as this was made with wheat flour and jaggery and seemed to be a very healthy recipe.

In the original recipe they had deep fried the appam but I wanted to reduce the calories in it so made it in paniyaram pan. The appams were so soft and spongy with a very nice banana flavour. Even the banana hater like me loved it. Tastes best when served hot.

Ingredients:

• Banana - 1
• Jaggery/Vellam - 1/2 cup
• Wheat flour/Godhumai maavu - 1 cup
• Rice flour/Arisi maavu - 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
• Cooking soda - 1/4tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Milk (optional) - 2tsp
• Oil/Ghee - as needed
• Water - as needed

Method:

1. Heat kadai, dissolve jaggery in 1/4 cup of water till it dissolves. Strain in a vessel to remove impurities.

 

2. Mash the banana well and add it to the strained jaggery syrup and mix well. Add the flours, soda,salt,cardamom powder and mix well.

3. Add the milk if using, and enough water to make a thick batter.

 

4. Heat paniyaram pan, apply ghee/oil on the moulds (I used ghee). Add a tbsp of batter to each of the moulds and cover the pan. Cook for about 2 mins till nicely browned and flip and cook without closing for another 1 or 2 mins till completely cooked. Do this on low medium flame for the inside to get cooked well.

Notes:

• You can also deep fry the appams.
• Ghee sure gives a nice flavour.