Puttu and Kadalai

This dish is a traditional Keralite dish served in most Malayali households as a healthy breakfast. Puttu is  steamed beaten rice and kadalai loosely translates to chickpea. This is a slight bent from the traditional dish as I have used beaten rice which is a MUCH more healthier option than normal rice.  The nutrition value of this dish is really high as it uses beaten rice and chickpea. There is also a sweet version of Puttu which is eaten with steamed banana.
This dish is easy to make and yummy to eat.

You will need:

For the Puttu
1. 4 cups thick Poha (beaten Rice)- available in all South Indian stores
2. One medium sized coconut-scraped
3. Salt

For the Kadalai
1. 1 cup black Chickpea, soaked and cooked.
2. 1 small potato, boiled
3. 1 onion-chopped
4. 1 tbsp of tamarind pulp
5. 1 tsp of pepper powder
6. 1 tbsp of dhania(coriander seeds) powder
7. 1 tsp of cumin seeds powder
8. 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
9. 1 tsp of corn flour/rice flour for thickening
10. Jaggery- Just a pinch
11. Salt to taste

METHOD:
1. Dry-roast the poha on medium flame till crisp.
2. Run this in a mixer to a coarse powder. (It should feel like rava)
3. Transfer it to a bowl, and add an equal amount of coconut and salt.

4. Sprinkle water and mix it to a wet-sand consistency. (Note that water must NOT be poured, but sprinkled)
5. Set aside for minimum of an hour.
6. Keep sprinkling water every 15 minutes.

For the steaming:
1. The mixture has to be steamed to get the final Puttu. Traditionally, a puttu kuzhal is used (a picture of which I'm attaching). Put the mixture inside the kuzhal and steam for 20-25 minutes.

2. An alternative to this device is steaming it in a muslin cloth. For this, heat water in a cooker and place a steel colander inside the cooker.Now transfer the mixture into a muslin cloth and tie it up. Place this cloth-mixture inside the colander and steam for 20- 30 minutes.

Kadalai:
1. In a kadhai, add  a tsp of oil, add musturd and cumin seeds (jeera). Once it crackles, add curry leaves and onions. Fry till onions turn pink.
2. Add the tamarind paste and allow it to it to boil for a minute. To this add, cumin powder, pepper powder, red chilli powder and salt and a pinch of jaggery and boil for 2 minutes. Add the mashed potatos and the boiled chickpea.
3. Add enough water for required consistency and allow it to boil away for 10-15 minutes.
4. Towards the end, mix the rice flour in little water and pour it in and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

Linking this to Kavi's Healthy Cooking Challenge and Smita's HCC. :-)

Malai Kofta

This is a dish which will make anyone drool. The yummy, soft koftas dipped in a rich gravy is mouth watering-ly good. I have been making this for many years now and have perfected a fool proof recipe to get soft koftas.

Koftas are balls made of vegetables or meat and are deep fried. Malai is cream and is usually used to garnish the dish at the end. This dish is usually made when guests visit, or for celebration. But I say, make it on a whim, and it'll come out great!
They can be eaten with a mild rice variety or rotis.
So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

For the Kofta:
1.100gms Paneer or Potatos
2. A slice of bread
3. Vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, beans (scraped)- half a cup
4. A pinch of soda
5. Green chillies (chopped)-1
6. 4 tablespoons Maida (refined flour) for binding
7. Coriander
8. Raisins- a few
9. Salt to taste
10. Oil for frying

For Garnish:  A teaspoon of fresh cream and and fried cashew nuts.

For the gravy:
1. 4 large tomatos- pureed
2. 1 tablespoons fresh cream
3.1 teaspoon red chilli powder.
4. Salt to taste

For the Paste (To be ground):
1. 2 tablespoons freshly grated coconut
2. Garlic-2 cloves
3. 1 green chilly
4. 1 red chilly
5. 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
6. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
7. 2 teaspoons khas-khas.
8. 1 piece ginger

OPTIONAL- 1 cup green peas

METHOD:
1. Mix the ingredients required for the koftas in a bowl.
2. Shape them into medium sized balls, cover them (otherwise they will dry) and put them in the fridge for around 10 minutes.
3. Mix all the ingredients for the paste and grind it to a smooth consistency.
4. Cook the peas and keep it aside.
5. In a kadhai, add a tsp of oil, and add the paste into it and cook till the rawness disappears.
6. Add the tomato puree, the fresh cream, salt, red chilli poder and a pinch of sugar and cook for 10-20 minutes on a medium flame.Add the cooked peas at the very end. The gravy is done.
7.Now,deep fry the koftas till golden brown on medium flame. DO NOT cook on high flame otherwise the koftas will break.

Just before Serving- Add the fried koftas into the gravy. Decorate with fresh cream and fried cashewnuts and fresh coriander leaves.


Handy Tip: If the koftas seem to break in the oil, add a tbsp of cornflour to the next batch

Voila! Your Malai Kofta is ready to be devoured! :-)

PS: Pardon the poor quality of the photo. I am very new to this. :-)

I'm linking this to Let's Cook Mughlai Cuisine and 'ONLY'- CURRIES and Pari's Foodelicious . 

My first Post

Hello everyone! I am a novice in this world of blogging. I have started out because my family encouraged me to start a cooking blog as cooking is something I've loved and done for ages!
Cooking is my passion and its my go-to hobby when I'm stressed or worried. It always gives me a calm that nothing other than gardening provides.

I hope this blog is helpful for starting-out cooks, experts and everyone else who just loves to cook and eat!

 

Bon Appétit!