Ompodi – Chickpea sev

Things we need
Besan (Chickpea flour) 1 ½ cup
Rice flour ½ cup
2 spoond of ghee or butter
Omam (Ajwain) 2 spoons
Chilli powder
Asafoetida Hing
Salt
Curry Leaves
Oil to fry

Method
Soak the Ajwain in water for half an hour. Then grind it well & extract the juice off it.


In a convenient bowl, add ghee/ butter, salt, chilli powder, asafetida & mix them well. Then add both the flours& mix. The butter should be equally distributed on the flour. Then add the ajwain Juice & add water as & when necessary to knead it into dough. The dough's consistency should be very soft. It will be sticky.


Take the murukku maker & fit it with the ompodi plate. It has the smallest holes. Grease it a bit with oil. If the dough is too tight, it won't go through the holes. So make it accordingly. Fill the murukku maker with the dough.


In a kadai, take oil. When the oil is hot enough, press the murukku maker in a circle which will disperse the dough well into the oil.


Once they are done turn over the ompodi. Once they r a little brown, take them out & let the oil drain out on a tissue.


These become crispy & yummy.Once you are done with making all of them, fry some curry leaves & put it in the box where you store it. It adds to the flavour. A nice snack that one can seel with any age group. Its much easier too.

Mulli Paratha/ Mullangi paratha

This is an easy dish. Mulli is fibrous & good for health too.

We need

Mulli - 1 well grated

Green chillies - 4 Finely Chopped

Ginger - finely grated

Chilli Powder

Salt

Wheat flour

Water

Oil/ ghee

Take the grated mulli, add the green chillies, ginger & salt to it. Set it aside in an air tight box for 2 hours. (It doesn;t smell great if we keep it open). Then Squeeze the liquid out of the mulli. Make small balls of the mulli and keep it aside.

The water extracted from the mulli can be used to make the dough with the wheat flour. Or it can be made with normal water. Remember to add a little chilli powder & salt to the dough.

Now make small balls of the dough. Lay it & make a small chapatti. keep a little ball of the mulli in it. Pack it into a small stuffed ball & then roll it again with the rolling pin. Don't be too hard. Make it softly. In a skillet that is heated up a bit & toss the paratha. When done on one side, turn it on the other to get both the sides cooked well. Take it out and then add some ghee/oil on both the sides. It is served with curd (with a pinch of chaat masala, chilli powder & salt) and some pickle.

Puliorai / Pulihora / Puli sadam/ Tamarind rice

My anytime favourite.

Things we need

Tamarind / Tamarind extract - about 10 table spoons

Corriander seeds - 2 spoons

Methi/fenugreek seeds - 1/2 spoon

Red chilli 12

Asafoetida
Salt

Water

Oil

For seasoning

Oil

Mustard Seeds

Red chilli 2/4

Urad Dal

Channa dal

Peanuts

Curry leaves

Turmeric - 1/2 spoon

Cashew nuts

First we have to make the paste (Pulikaichal).

Take the tamarind add 1 1/2 glass of water and the necessary salt to it. Do not add a lot of salt, as the water would evaporate. In a thick bottom vessel or a kadai, take a little oil. When it is hot, add the methi seeds, 12 red chillies & corriander seeds roast them. When done, put it aside & allow it cool. When cool, grind them into a powder.

Then in the kadai, take 2 spoons of oil, when hot add the mustard seeds & let them sputter. Then add 2/3 Urad dal, Channa dal, Peanuts. When they are golden brown, add the tamarind mix. Then allow it to boil till the paste solidifies to half of the quantity.

Tip: When the tamarind boils, it would spill all over the gas. So use a lid to cover it.

Now the paste is ready. Cook 2 cups of rice. Allow it cool. This makes the rice non sticky. Add a little oil. Then in a kadai, add some oil, when hot add a little mustard seeds & allow it to sputter, then some turmeric. Add this on top of the rice. Then some paste. Mix it well with the rice. Then taste if it needs more salt andd add accordingly. Fry the cashews in ghe & add them. Then at last garnish it with curry leaves. The aroma is good when added at alast.

Now some alternatives. Instead of adding the dals & allowing it to boil, we can actually season it along with the turmeric and add it to the rice. This keeps the lentils crisp.

Pulihorai is done. Awesome with any fried pakoda/ Masala vadai

Upma Kozukatai / Broken Rice Balls

This is one of my favourite tiffens. My mom's special.

Things we need

Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Oil - 2 1/2 spoon
Mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Red chillies - 6/7
Urad dal - 1 spoon
Channa dal- 1 spoon
Asafoetida
Water

Grind the rice coarsly.
In a kadai, take oil. Once it is hot, add the mustard Seeds, red chilli, channa dal, urad dal, asafoetida. When the lentils are golden brown, add 3 1/4 cups of water. then add the coconut. Allow it to boil, then add the rice rava (broken rice) & mix them well. They absorb water & become a little solid. It doesn't need to be cooked. This is how it would look (uncooked).




Then allow it cool & make small balls out of it. Take a pressure cooker and place them inside a vessel. It has to be steam cooked (without the weight) for 12 mins.
IT can be steam cooked using a electric rice cooker too.

Its done. Its very yummy with Katrikai Gotsu or Coconut chutney or idli sambar.

Mixed Paneer Fry/ Indian Cheese Fry

Things we need

Paneer - 1 packet

Tomato - 2

Onions - 2

Green peas - 1 cup

Corriander Leaves

Oil

Green chillies - 3/4
Curry leaves

Cumin seeds

Cumin powder

Corriander powder

Chilli powder

Ginger garlic paste

Turmeric

Garam Masala powder

Salt

Preparation

Cut the paneer into small cubes. Then in a kadai, take a some oil fry the paneer until they are little brown. Then put them on a paper towel to get off the excess oil. After sometime, put the fried paneer in water for 2 mins. Then taken them out & squeeze them gently. We do this to ensure that the paneer is soft.

In a skillet, take 2 spoons of oil. When hot, add cumin seeds, curry leaves, chopped onions.

When they are translucent, add a little salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, tomatoes & green peas. Then add the cumin powder, chilli powder, corriander powder. When they are cooked add the paneer and then the garam masala powder.

Mix then well. And finally add the chopped corriander leaves to garnish.

It tastes good with roti.

Mundiri urundai/ Cashew Balls

This is an item I learnt from my Mom in law. We so this for the festival of Karthigai.

Cashew is an all time fovourite for many of us. So lets explore.

Things we need

Cashew 1/4 kg

Jaggery 200 gm

Cardamom powder

Ghee to fry

Water

In a kadai, fry the cashew and keep them aside. Dissolve the jaggery in 1/2 glass of water & aloow it to boil. After 2 mins, when the jaggery is disso;ved, drain it into another vessel till the residue is left in the kadai. Most of the jeggery we buy contains some sediments of mud. Clean that out & put the liquid back in kadai & boil it well. Add the cardamom powder.

Now boil it till we get the right consistency. For that, have a small cup of water beside. Then add the jaggery syrup to the water. The jaggery will sink & not dissolve. And if you are able to make a small ball with it, its done.

Add the syrup to the cashew. Mix well. Have a little water beside. Make small balls with it.

That is all. Cashew Balls are done.

Paruppu Adai/Lentils Dosa

This is pretty similar like Dosa but since its made of dal, I can say its rich in protein.

Things we need

Idli Rice/ Puzungal aruci (in tamil) - 2 cups

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

Urad dal- 1/2 cup

Channa Dal-1/2 cup

Red chillies -5

Asafoetida

Salt

Green Chillies -4

Corriander leaves

Curry leaves

Grated Coconut - 3 spoons

Wash & Soak the rice & the lentils together for 3 hrs. Then grind salt, red chillies, green chilles, asafoetida, the soaked dals & rice, Salt . Grind them coarsly. Then add the coconut, chopped corriander & curry leaves. the batter is ready

Then in a tava/skillet, take 2 ladle full of batter, spread them around like one would do for a dosa. Add a little oil around. When one side of it is done, turn it over to get the other side cooked.
Its done. It is served best with Avial. some like it well with just jaggery. Even Coconut chutney would do good.
Chopped onions can be added to the batter too.