Malai Kofta

Ingredients:

This is my second time making malai kofta at home.  I have invited few friends over dinner for the christmas eve.   So tried making malai kofta.

For the Kofta:
5- potatoes
2 cups of crumbled paneer
1/4 cup cashewnuts - for stuffing inside the kofta 
1/4 cup raisins - for stuffing inside the kofta
1 tsp - chilli powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp cardammom powder
Salt To Taste
3 tbsp cooking oil/ghee(clarified butter)
Oil for frying the koftas

For the gravy:

onions -2 medium chopped
garlic - 3pods chopped
small piece of inch ginger - chopped
tomatoes - 3 large chopped
red-chilli powder - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 1 small stick
cardomon- 3 small pods
cloves - 2/3
bay leaf - 1
jeera and sounf - 1/2 tsp
1/2 tsp dhania(corainder) powder
1 tsp powdered poppy seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cashewnuts

Method :

Boil the potatoes till tender and peel mash it.  Mix salt and little chilli-powder and keep it aside.  Mix paneer, masala ingredients along with cashews and raisins for the fillings.  Now take small amount of the potato dough make small circular discs and place a little prepared mixture in the center of each round.  Seal the edges and shape into stuffed rounds.  Heat oil and deep fry each kofta till golden brown. Drain and keep aside.

Now heat little oil and fry the raw masla along with cashewnuts, ginger, garlic, onions and tomatoes and blend together into a paste.  Now heat oil and fry the gravy till the oil separates and add malai , masala powders and sugar.  Let the gravy simmer and  thicken.   Mix in some water if necessary. Now add koftas and remove from the heat after a minute or two.
Note: The koftas should be added just before serving else they might turn soggy.

Palak Roti

Ingredients:

3 cups of wheat flour
salt to taste
1-green chilli
palak - 1 cup (I used frozed spinach)
garlic - 2 pods
ginger - small piece
jeera - 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder - little for color
water to knead.

First microware spinach at high for 2-3 minutes and grind cooked spinach, garlic, salt , ginger  and jeers with little water.  Then add the mixture to the dry flour and knead into a soft dough by adding water slowly if needed.  Let the dough rest for 30 minutes and take a pich of dough and roll into small cirlcles evenly.  Heat tawa and place the roti on the tava when its cooked on one side flip it.  And when you see small bubles directly throw it on the flame and let it cook.  Apply ghee if needed and roll them with paper towels.  Spinach roties are ready.  This can served with any vegetable dish or served with just plain raita and pickle.  Enjoy.

Tindora masala (Dry curry)

First time I tasted tindora was at Chennai. At my house we never cook tindora. Tindora is rich in carotene and is good for sugar patients.

Ingredients :

Kovakkai / Tindora - 3 cups (cut lengthwise or in circles )
Onions- 1 large chopped finely
Tomato - 1 large
Ginger - small piece (chopped finely)
Garlic cloves - 2 (chopped finely)
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Chili powder – 1/2-1 tsp or acc to taste
Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil- 4 to 5 tsp
For seasoning
Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp
Jeera- ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - few
sounf

Wash and cut tindora either lengthwise or in circles. Heat oil in a pan and add mustards and then jeera , saouf and curry leaves. Then to it add onions, ginger and garlic fry it until its cooked. Then add tomatoes and fry it until its cooked. Then add tindora and all the masala items along with salt and add little water and close it with a lid. Once the tindora is cooked remove the lid and let it fry for few minutes depending upon the quantity and the pan you are using it to fry. This sabji goes well with rice and rotti.

Karthigai pori (puffed rice) urrundai

The karithigai pori can be made with either aval pori or nel pori. When we buy pori for karthigai it comes with lot of husk. And during karthigai month preparation starts early. We kids around the house help mom to clean up the pori.

Ingredients:

Pori - 5 cups
jaggrey - 1 cupdried
ginger(chukku) - a piece
coconut pieces - few.
water

Prepare the syrup by boiling 1/2 cup of water with jaggrey. The syrup should be thick. To check the consistency pour few drops of syrup and try to make a small ball out of it. If it’s still soft then you need to boil further until the ball formed makes a thud sound when you throw it on the kitchen counter. Once the syrup is ready quickly add the pori, dried ginger and coconut pieces. At this point you have to be quick mix all the ingredients and make small balls. Pori urundai is ready.

Thattai / Nippatu - Deep fried South Indian snack

My mom is leaving to India next week. So before going she is busy making some goodies for this winter from all the podi's to snacks. She made thattai today. I love thattai as its crunchy and spicy. But as my husband doesn't eat anything that spicy she made thattai less spicy.

Ingredients :

Rice flour - 2 Cup
Urad flour - 2 spoons (heaped)
Hing - a pinch
Butter - 2 spoons
Red chili powder - 1/2 spoon (Adjust according to you taste)
Salt to taste
Pottu Kadalai (Roasted channa daal) - a handful
Oil for frying
Paper towel to make thattais
Water for making dough

Mix all the above ingredients to make a pliable dough. The dough should not be very watery else the thattai will soak oil. It should of poori- dough consistency. Take a small ball of dough and pat them flat on the paper towel to form small discs. This way the moisture from the thattai is absorbed. Make sure the thattai are not too thin else it might brake while frying. Now heat oil and fry them in batches, don't overcrowd the pan. Once it’s cool store it in air tight container.

Nenthranga chips / Banana chips

Nenthraga chips is made from nenthram palam(nenthram banana). This is very famous in Kerala. In Kerala usually this chips are fried in coconut oil. But at home I make it with normal vegetable or canola oil.


Ingredients:
Nenthram banana - 2
oil for frying
salt to taste.

To make chips first cut both the ends of the banana and peel the banana. To peel the banana first cut the banana into half and them make cuts on the skin and try to remove the skin using hand. This way the skin comes off fully so that the chips retains its yellow color when fried. If you use a peeler the chips has the black/brown rim around it. After peeling cut the banana in circular discs and place them on a paper so that each disc is separated and does not stick to each other. This also help to absorb any moisture that is available in the chips. Now season the banana discs with salt before you start frying in oil. Throw the cut pieces one by one so that they don't stick to each other. If you dump all of them together in the oil they stick to each other and becomes soggy. Fry the chips and drain them. This chips is less oily than our potato chips and tastes good.

Note: Some people instead of seasoning the cut banana spray salt water to the oil while frying. This also works, only thing is this makes lot of oil to splatter and is messy

Parrupu Adai

Adai is one of complete tiffin or snack with all the needed protein, carbohydrate and vitamins in case you add the vegetables. It’s very filling too.

Ingredients:
2 cup raw rice (or mix some boiled rice too)
1.5 cup dhals (mix of urud dhal, channa dhal, toor dhal)
Onions chopped
Green chillies -1
red chillies - 1
salt to taste
jeera - 1/2 tps.
black pepper corn - 1/2 tps.
hing a pinch.
Grated carrots - 2
chopped spinach - I use the frozen.
Grated cabbage.
water for grinding.
oil for making adais.

Soak rice and dhal separately for 4 to 6 hours. First grind the rice , green chili , red chili, pepper corns, water and jeera together to course consistency and then finally add all the dhal and grind it for few minutes. The batter should not be smooth like dosa or idly batter it should be course. Then add chopped onion, grated carrots, cabbage, spinach along with salt, jeera and asafodita and mix it well. Let it ferment overnight for best taste or you can start making adais without fermenting too. Heat griddle, smear it with oil and pour a ladle or two of batter and spread it around. Let it cook for a minute or two and then flip it with a spatula and let it cook for few minutes and its ready. Usually adai and avial is good combination, but I like it with normal molagai podi. It tastes good with jaggrey and butter.

Note: If you are making adai for neivadiyum (Karthigai), please omit the vegetables and the onions and the batter should be little thicker. And for neivadiym it is usually made with ghee.