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Sharkarai Pongal

Sharkarai Pongal made in my antique venkala panai.
On festival days or on special occasions such as Devi puja, sharkarai pongal is the sweet dish offered as neivedyam. Sharkarai means jaggery in tamil and malayalam, and when mixed with rice it is called sharkarai pongal.

Ingredients
Rice -- Short grained raw rice 1 cup
Water - 2.5 cups
Jaggery (powdered) - 2 cups
Ghee -- 3 tbsp

For Garnish
Cardomom pods -- 5 pods
Cashewnuts -- 6-7nos broken

Method
  1. In a heavy bottomed vessel cook the rice with the water.
  2. Once the rice is cooked add the powdered jaggery. Mix well. The jaggery will make the mix watery.
  3. Add 2 tbsp if ghee to the rice and let the mixture simmer for a few more minutes. All this while keep the heat at medium and keep mixing the rice so that the bottom does not burn.
  4. Powder the cardomom in a mortar and add to the rice. By now you will see a layer of ghee at the top, and the mix will be more solid consistency.
  5. In a separate vessel fry the cashews in the remaining ghee and add to the mixture. Mix well. Let it cool a bit. Serve warm.
Note: Add jaggery only after the rice is cooked. Rice will not cook once the jaggery is added and will be hard to bite into.  

Happy Pongal

Wish you all a Happy Pongal and Makara Sankranti.

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated mainly in Tamilnadu. It is like the thanksgiving festival, thanking the Sun God for a bountiful harvest. The festival is celebrated in 3 days. The first day is called the Bhogi. On this day houses are cleaned and old unwanted items are thrown out. In the evening after dinner, the ladies come out and decorate the front yard  of the houses with Kolams or rangolis.

The next day is called Pongal. On this day the people get up early take a bath. Set up the hearth where the pongal will be made. In an earthen pot rice is cooked and jaggery is added to form sweet rice or sharkarai pongal. The earthen pot is decorated and tied with freshly plucked turmeric plants with roots intact. The sharkarai pongal is then offered to the sun god as neivedyam along with sugarcane.

The third day is called Kanu Pongal. On this day young ladies seek the blessings of elderly ladies with a piece of turmeric root in hand. The turmeric is then touched on the forehead by the elder and the young lady gets blessed for a happy life ahead. After this small rice balls mixed with turmeric, coconut, jaggery (each 7 in number) are placed on the turmeric leaves and offered to the birds with these words "Kakka podi vecchen, Kanu podi vechen, kakkai kootam kalanjalum en kootam kalaiyamal irukkatum" meaning i have kept kakka podi and kanu podi, even if the crow family splits up, let my family never split. It is a prayer for keeping the family united through both good and bad times. This day is also celebrated as Maatu Pongal (Maadu means cow) where cattle are bathed and prayer for their well being is said so that they are healthy for the next planting season.

I have many sweet memories of celebrating Pongal at my parents home. On the day before Pongal my father would buy sugarcane, flowers, turmeric plant and fruits for neivedyam. On the day of Pongal my mother will make sharkarai pongal at the designated time and after puja will offer it as neivedyam. The rest of the day is spent visiting friends and relatives with packets of pongal as gift. I will post the recipe for sharkarai pongal in the next post.

Thayir Sadam (Curd Rice/ Yoghurt Rice)

At my home we all love thayir/curd/yoghurt. Every meal is rounded off only after eating at least a handful of thayir sadam. I prepare curd/yoghurt at home every alternate day. Usually couple of ladles of rice is mixed with thayir and eaten along with the side dishes and pickles.

Every once in a while I prepare thayir sadam in advance by adding a few different ingredients that make it very tasty. This recipe is also good for any leftover plain rice to be used the next day.

Ingredients
Rice - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Plain yoghurt - 3/4 cup
Green Chillis - 3 nos finely sliced
Pomegranate seeds - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

For Tempering
Oil - 1 tbsp any cooking oil
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

For Garnish
Curry leaves - 6 leaves (shredded)

Method
  1. Wash rice in running water until the water runs clear. Cook the rice in 3 cups of water. Fluff with fork and let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Transfer the rice to a bowl. Add yoghurt little by little and mix until it is well blended. Add little water if you feel its too thick.
  3. Add salt, green chillis, pomegranate seeds and mix again.
  4. Add the tempering and garnish with curry leaves.
Serve with spicy lemon or mango pickle. Pomegranate seeds can be substituted with quartered grapes for this delicious entree.

Couscous with mixed vegetable and nuts salad

Salads are a great way to add a dash of healthy freshness to an everyday meal. I have been trying out and adding different grains and pasta to the meal times at home to broaden my little one's palette. Couscous, quinoa, bulgar wheat are just some healthy alternatives to rice that can make mealtimes interesting.

Couscous is a type of pasta made from semolina rolled in finely ground wheat flour. When paired with cucumber, avocados, pomegranates and almonds, it makes a delicious salad that can be eaten on its own. The avocado gives a richness, while cucumbers give some crunchiness and the pomegrantes give sweetness to the salad.

Ingredients
Couscous - 1 cup
Avocado - 1no diced
English Cucumber - 1/2 diced
Pomegranate Seeds -- 1/2 cup
Almonds -- 10 nos crushed

Dressing
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice -- 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper - 1tsp

Method
  1. Cook the couscous as per the instructions given in the packaging.
  2. Fluff with fork and let it cool to room temperature. Add diced avocados, cucumber, pomegranate seeds and crushed almonds.
  3. Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Serve at room temperature for a crunchy main or as a tasty side dish.

Lip smacking Idli : Steamed Rice Cakes

Idlis have always been the norm for breakfast at least once a week at my house. It is a wholesome breakfast dish as it is steam cooked and during any of the travels it is one of the best dishes that you can carry with you. It is the most famous dish coming from southern India.

Ingredients

Idli rice -- 4 cups
Urad Daal -- 2 cups
Fenugreek seeds (Methi/ Uluva/ Menthayam) - 1 tsp
Salt - 3 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Idli mould.

Wash the rice and daal separately until the water runs clear. Soak urad daal and rice separately with enough water to cover them. Add the fenugreek to rice and let it soak for 4 hours.

The proportion of rice to urad daal is 2: 1 if you are grinding in a blender. If you have a wet grinder then the ratio is 4:1. This is because the grinder does a good job of fluffing up the urad daal as it grinds giving a larger quantity.

The dish does have a long preparation time. Idli rice is a special type of short grained and round rice with a distinct white core. It is meaty and once soaked and ground will give a thick batter. The trick to making soft spongy idlis is in the grind and the ambient heat with in the house. Drain the urad daal and grind by adding water little by little to a fine smooth paste. Do not add too much water. The water added must be just enough to let the blender grind without difficulty. Take a bit of the urad daal paste and test it between your fingers. If you cannot find any grainy texture and it feels creamy and smooth to touch than it is well ground. The batter must be of a thick creamy soup like consistency. Transfer this to a deep container. You may have to do this twice if you are using a blender.

Drain the rice, and add a cupful to the blender. Just as before add just enough water so that the blender can grind without difficulty. Take a bit of the rice paste and test it between your fingers. It should feel like you have added rava or semolina to a smooth creamy soup or a grainy texture in a smooth thick rich soup. Transfer this to the same deep container. You may have to do this a couple of more times if you are using a blender.

Mix the two batters well and add salt and mix well again. Cover the vessel and keep in a warm place overnight. During winters grind the batter in the afternoon when your house is the warmest. Many recommend placing the batter in the oven but I have felt a kind of a stuffy smell coming from the batter the next day. The mix needs atleast 15 hours of fermentation time when the quantity increases. Make sure you place a large plate under the vessel so that any spill out from the fermented batter does not overrun your kitchen counter top.


Method

Actually the easiest part of making idlis is its preparation the next day.
1. The fermentation would have caused to urad daal to rise to the top while the heavier rice lies in the bottom of the vessel. Mix the batter 3-4 times so that the rice and daal mix well. Make sure not to overmix it as all the air pockets will go away and your idli will be hard. If you do not mix after fermentation your idli will fall flat.
2. Grease idli moulds with a drop of sesame oil each. Drop a ladle full of batter in the moulds so that only 3/4th of the mould is covered. This is because idlis will enlarge in size when cooked. Store the rest of the batter in the fridge if not be using immediately. The same batter can be used to make dosas or crepes the next day, when it has become more sour.
3. Pour about a couple of centimeters height of water into the idli steamer or the water level indicated.
4. Place the mould into the steamer, close the lid and steam the idlis for 6-7 minutes on high heat.
5. To check if the idlis are done, open the lid and if the topmost idlis have cracked as shown in the picture above, the idlis are cooked. Switch off the stove.
6. The idlis will be very hot and it is dangerous to try take the mould right now as you can get scalded by the steam. Cover the steamer with the lid and let it stand for 10 minutes to cool down.
7. Carefully take the mould out. Remove each plate and let it rest for a few minutes.
8. Use a spoon to remove the idlis from the moulds. Since you have greased the moulds the idlis will come out easily.

Serve with sambar, coconut chutney or molagai podi for a delicious breakfast.

Gujarati Daal (Lintels)

In one of the recent dinner parties we went to, a good friend of ours served this amazing dish. It was so light and tasty that I had rice and naan as an accompaniment to this as a main dish!!! This daal is a common dish in a gujarati household but is definitely an indulgence in my home which I will keep making time and again. I have made some small changes to the traditional method of preparation like adding moong daal and since I did not have kokum I substituted with amchur powder (dried mango powder) and lemon juice.

Ingredients
Toor Daal -- 1 cup
Moong Daal - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1 no medium size
Green chillis -- 2 nos chopped
Turmeric - a pinch
Ginger -- 1 tsp grated
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Amchur Powder - 1/2 tsp
Perungayam (Asofeteida/ Hing) - a pinch
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Jaggery (gud/ vellam) -- 1 tsp powdered
Salt to taste
Curry Leaves - 4-5 leaves chopped
Coriander Leaves  to garnish
Water as needed

For Tempering
Oil/Ghee - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds (Jeeragam) - 1/2 tsp

Method
1. Wash the daal and pressure cook the daal along with chopped tomatoes, green chillis, turmeric, water and a couple of drops of oil. The oil will not let the daal to overflow when cooking.
2. Once cooked remove the daal mixture from the cooker. Add water if necessary to make a soup like consistency.
3. In a deep vessel, add the cooking oil or ghee and mustard & cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the cooked daal.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients except lemon juice and coriander leaves. Cook for 5 minutes until all the ingredients blend together nicely. If needed add more water to daal to maintain the soup consistency.
5 Remove from flame and add lemon juice, mix well and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve warm with rice, chappati, naan for a simple yet delicious meal.