FAST KULFI
by Shanthi Mohan
Preparation time: 5 minutes.
Cooking time: about 6 hours in freezer.
Ingredients
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 small cartons of heavy cream
200 grams of shelled pistachio nuts
A few pistachio and almond flakes to garnish on top
Method
Blend the first three ingredients in a blender until finely mixed. Pour the mixture in molds or tiny cups and pop them into the freezer for 6 to 7 hours. Before serving, garnish with pistachio and almond flakes.
BANANA IDLI
by Shanthi Mohan
Ingredients
3 ripe bananas
¾ cup semolina
4 tablespoons coconut, grated
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
Ghee to taste
Method:
Peel and chop bananas into small pieces.
- Heat ghee over a low flame and fry semolina till light brown. Cool and keep aside.
- Mix chopped bananas with grated coconut, semolina, bicarbonate, salt, sugar and one cup water.
- Stir well. Cook like idlies in an idli mold for 10 – 12 minutes. Serve hot with ghee or chutney powder.
CHAKLI
by Rangamani Iyengar (from Mysore)
Ingredients (for 40 pieces)
4 cups rice flour (slightly coarse for more crispiness)
1 cup urad flour (black gram)
2 teaspoon white sesame seeds
1/8 teaspoon asafoetida (peringayam or hing)
½ stick butter (for mixing)
Salt to taste
2 cups cooking oil for frying
Method
- Fry urad flour in a dry pan on the flame until there is a fragrant smell.*
- Dissolve salt and asafoetida in a cup of water.
- Mix the rice flour, urad flour, butter and sesame seeds in a large container.
- Add sufficient quantity of water, salt + asafoetida solution to the mix prepared in step 3.
- Mix all the ingredients by hand to make a soft dough. Knead the dough well.
- Using a chakli press, press the dough to make round chaklis on a plastic sheet.
- Deep fry the chaklis until brown over slow heat.
Chaklis are usually very crisp, if you make urad flour at home by washing the urad dal, drying in the sun, frying slightly and grinding to a fine powder.
KODVALE
by Rangamani Iyengar (from Mysore)
Quantity – 40
Ingredients (for 40 pieces)
3 cups rice flour
½ cup cream of what (rava)
½ cup coconut powder
4 teaspoons red chili powder
¼ teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 tablespoons butter or cooking oil (for mixing)
Salt to taste
Cooking oil for frying
1 twig curry leaf or coriander leaves finely chopped (optional)
Method
Dissolve asafoetida and salt in a cup of water.
- Mix well the rice flour, rava, chili powder, coconut and cumin seeds in a suitable container.
- Add butter or hot oil and the chopped leaves to the mixed ingredients from the previous step. Mix well.
- Add sufficient quantity of water, and the salt + asafoetida solution to the mix prepared in step 3.
- Mix all the ingredients with hand to make a soft dough. Kneed the dough well
- Prepare suitable size kodvale rolls out of the dough(by hand), on a plastic sheet or on a convenient plate.
- Deep fry 4 to 6 kodvales at a time slowly until it is brown. Use a wooden or steel prong to lift through the center hole.
LADDU
by Rama Patel
Ingredients (for 40 pieces)
2 cups besan (Gram flour)
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
2 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cardamom powder (elaichi)
1/8 cup almond pieces
2 tablespoons white raisins
Method
After it cools, make small balls of laddus by hand.
Make a thick batter from gram flour and water.
Make boondis by frying the batter in hot oil using a laddu chalni (sieve).
Make sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water in a vessel until slightly sticky.
Mix the boondis, raisins, cardamom powder, and almond pieces in a big vessel.
History of Pulihogare/Puliyorai by S. Veeraraghavan, Bangalore
“Pullihogare” or “Puliyorai” is a traditional South Indian rice dish prepared by Shri Vaishnavites (Iyengars) on auspicious occasions and also as an item for lunch, dinner or snack. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, it is known as “Puliyorai” (puli or tamarind + orai or rice), while in Karnataka, it is referred to as “Pulihogare.” During the past several centuries, Sri Vaishnava Achryas and their followers moved from state to state in Southern India. As people moved, the Puliyorai recipe has also undergone changes in different Indian states.
- Iyengars in Tamil Nadu use more tamarind pulp and sesame seed (til) oil, and as a result the Puliyorai tastes more sour. It lasts at least two days and tastes better on the second day, especially when combined with yogurt. If you want to taste the authentic Tamil Nadu variety, visit Sri Parthasarathy Temple in Chennai (Madras).
- In Andhra Pradesh, the puliyorai is hot and rich as it seasoned with extra chilies, ghee and fried cashew nuts. Visit Tirumalai temple or Sri Ahobila Matham for a taste of Andhra puliyorai.
- In Karnataka, the pulihogare tastes hot and sweet. Jaggery, til powder, grated dry coconuts and extra chilies are used to season the dish. Peanut oil is used as the base, with fried peanuts being used for garnish. This type of pulihogare can be tasted in the Melkote temple
PULIHOGARE (Bangalore style) by Shanti Mohan
The preparation of this item in Bangalore varies with each household. There are two main steps in this recipe. The first is to prepare the tamarind gojju (Chutney) and the second is to prepare the tamarind rice. The tamarind gojju can be prepared in advance and stored for months in the refrigerator.
Step1:
Preparing the Gojju Gojju
Ingredients
1 lump tamarind (size of small orange)
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons jaggery (powdered)
Salt to taste
Masala Powder (Pudi)
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup coriander seeds
½ cup red chillies
½ teaspoon asafoetida powder
¼ cup black pepper seeds
½ cup cumin (jeera) seeds
½ cup fenugreek (methi) seeds
¼ cup mustard seeds
Fried garnish (0ggarane)
6 tablespoon gingelly oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
Gojju Method
- Soak the tamarind in 1 cup water and extract the tamarind juice. Set aside.
- Separately fry in oil each of the masala ingredients and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.
- Heat 6 tablespoons gingelly oil. Add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add the tamarind juice, salt, turmeric powder and powdered jaggery.
- Simmer till everything thickens almost to a jam-like consistency.
- Add the powdered masala and mix well.
Step2: Making the PULIHOGARE rice PULIHOGARE Rice Ingredients
1 cup long grained rice
3-4 tablespoons tamarind Gojju
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoon gingelly oil
Salt to taste.
FRIED GARNISH(OGGARANE)
3 tablespoons gingelly oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon bengal gram dhal
1 tablespoon black gram dhal
½ teaspoon asafoetide powder
1/4 cup peanuts
A few curry leaves
Dry Garnish
½ cup sesame seeds
1/4 coconut grated
Method
- Roast without oil the sesame seeds and grind into a fine powder.
- Cook the rice and spread on a platter to cool.
- Add 2 tablespoons gingelly oil, turmeric powder and salt to the rice and mix well. Allow the rice to cool.
- Heat 1 tablespoon gingelly oil and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add all the other fried garnish ingredients except the curry leaves. After the peanuts splutter (or become golden brown), turn off the heat. Add the curry leaves (when it is still hot) and the gojju.
- Add the above mixture from Step 4 to the cooled rice from Step 3 and mix well. If needed, add extra salt and jaggery.. Finally add the dry garnish and mix well.
- Serve with fried applaams or potato chips.
