Though i was in idea to prepare traditional christmas plum cake, my Gemini mind as usual took a left turn and here you see is Christmas pudding. This is such a easy recipe and the mixing part takes less than 15 minutes. you can even prepare this pudding without soaking the dry fruits in rum or brandy.


You know that the traditional pudding calls for steaming, i did not have enough patience to steam. it was  impossible for me to steam for 3 or 5 hours by constantly checking! easier way is to bake them for an hour and half. i made this pudding in two batches, one for steaming and the other for baking. thats when i discovered baking takes less time and effort.


serves: 6
baking time: 90 minutes
preparation time: less than 20 minutes
200 gms = 1 cup
recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

To Prepare fruit mix:

Candied peels mix - 100 gms
Candied peel of a citrus fruit - 50 gms
Dried Fig - 7
Dry grapes / kishmish - 50 gms
Dates - 7
Apricots - 5
Dry Black grapes / Sultana's - 50 gms
Glazed cherries - 50 gms
Tutti fruitti - 1/4 cup
Zest of 1 orange- 1 tbsp
Orange juice - 1/2 cup

Method:

Finely chop the candied peels into small chunks. chop all the other dry fruits, fig, kishmish, dates, apricots, sultana's, cherries and mix with the tutti fruitti and the zest of orange in a pan.

Mix orange juice with the dried fruits and place the pan in medium flame. keep stirring till the orange juice is completely absorbed. it may take uto 3-5 minutes. remove the pan from flame.

If you wish add 40 ml. of  Rum or Brandy, when the mix gets cooled down.

Ingredients for Pudding:

 Fruit mix - 400 gms / 2 cup's
 All purpose flour / Maida  - 200 gms / 1 cup
 Baking soda - 1 tsp
 Baking powder - 1 tsp
 Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
 Nutmeg powder - a small pinch
 Dry Ginger powder - 1 tsp
 Brown sugar - 100 gms / 1/2 cup
 Butter - 100 gms
 Eggs - 2 small

Method:

Brush some melted butter in small aluminum bowl's in which the pudding is to be baked. line the bottom of the bowl's with butter paper and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven at 180C / 350F for about 10 mins.

Sieve the all purpose flour with baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder, nutmeg and dry ginger powder. sieve atleast twice so that all get mixed up evenly.

In a small pan, melt the brown sugar with a tbsp of water. need not caramelise. just the sugar crystals has to get dissolved. in another seperate pan, melt the butter and set aside.

In a wide bowl, put the 2 cup's of fruit mix and add flour to it. mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula, next add dissolved brown sugar and melted butter. mix well. finally break in egg's one at a time and mix well. 

Once the pudding mix is ready, divide and transfer to the small individual greased aluminium bowls. fill the bowl's 3/4th so that there is enough space for the pudding to rise while baking.

Finally grease a aluminum foil sheet with butter and place the greased side facing the pudding and cover the pudding bowls. With a thread tie over the neck of the bowl so that the aluminium foil is tightly tied to the neck of the bowl.

Now bake the pudding at 180C for about 90 minutes, till a tooth pick inserted to the centre of the pudding comes out clean. if you are placing a large bowl of pudding, time may differ.


In case if you are interested in steaming the pudding the traditional way, you can steam in a large pan of boiling water or in a wide pressure cooker filled with boiling water. place a small bowl turned upside down in the pressure cooker and pour 6 cup's of boiling water and place the pudding bowl(with aluminium foil tied) carefully over the bowl turned upside down. close the pressure cooker and do not put the weight/whistle. steam the pudding for about 3-4 hours in medium flame. every 1 hour check the water level and keep adding boiling water so that half of the pudding bowl is in boiling water always. steam till the pudding is done. check by inserting a toothpick to the centre of the pudding comes out clean.

Notes:

Once the pudding is baked, remove the pudding from oven and place on a wet towel, so that it easily comes out of the bowl when pudding get cooled down.

This pudding keeps well for a week after baking, if you want to mature the pudding, keep adding 1/2 tsp of rum or brandy over the pudding  once in 2 days.

This pudding is served along with custard, so you can try serving that way too.

This is such a easy pudding recipe and it turns out perfect. just follow the ingredients. the ratio is 2 cups of dry fruits : 1 cup flour : 1/2 cup sugar : 1/2 cup butter.

 

First i need to scream and tell you, that i am doing a work continously, it is - i am blogging here for the past five years!! Sounds Great right? Things that keeps me hooked in blogging is, mails from my readers who write up after trying recipes from here. it's like drinking some enegy drink when you read your readers mail. i wanted to share a comment which i could never forget and makes me smile, whenever i think about it.

Thank You Anonymous!!!! 

Very recently, i learned to make authentic vathakuzhambu, and this murungakkai kuzhambu recipe is the same recipe of vathakuzhambu. i have tried this recipe quite a lot of times and it always came out so good. absolutely this is a finger-licking curry. If you miss your home, then you must definitely try this curry. 

I hate variety rice to the core, right from my childhood. If my mom packs me any variety rice other than tomato rice and curd rice for lunch, I come home in the evening without even tasting a spoon of it. I am so much adamant on this. Even now, i hate tamarind rice, lemon rice and this coconut rice to the core! Then if you ask me, why i am posting the dish i hate the most, then its because now i started to feel my mother feelings, when my son come home without eating few food which he do not like. and the next reason is my mom makes this coconut rice interesting by adding appalam to it. so i just want to share it here, So you could try and make the kids eat coconut rice! 

We call it as appala poo sadam, may be because it has appalam and thengaai poo in it. You can prepare this in a jiffy, if you have grated coconut and appalams ready in hand. You should serve this appala poo sadam / coconut rice with liquid coconut chutney and also with potato roast or potato chips. Serving this plain will not be so good and may develop haters like me!

I served my appala poo sadam with baby potato roast. It was such a good combo. 

Finally the pictures are shot with my new Canon 600d. starting auspiciously with the coconut!! I made a mistake with white balance and the pics started to look pale. I am still learning the new camera, hope i learn quick!! over to recipe now.

Choosing ready made gulab jamun mix and making jamuns are easy now a days. but making gulab jamun from scratch gives great satisfaction and we know how pure and good it is, when we make at home. also the texture and taste should beg with the popular ready made gulab jamun mixes. i have decided early, that this diwali i should be preparing khoya jamun and also i know i will be following cilantro's recipe! it turned out perfect and its a flawless recipe, so do try this khoya gulab jamun and enjoy this diwali! friends and family tasted the jamuns and it won everyone's heart! those who tasted, asked the recipe for it. so it proves!

My son got overjoyed on seeing the bowl of jamuns, when he returned from school, he also helped me in clicking pictures!

If the oil is too hot, jamun's break in oil. also use sufficient oil to fry so that the jamun balls immerse in oil while getting fried.

If buying khoya from store, grate the khoya and start mixing with the flour, so that no khoya lumps are formed.

Writing up the first sentence or the first paragraph here always takes time for me. that too after a break, it still gets worse. what to write here, whether to write about my son getting hurt on his tooth and kept me busy or to tell you all, how i have grown lazy in the past days! Yes my kid got hurt on his tooth  and lips while he was playing running race downstairs. though now it seams to be a small wound, the boy could not chew or use his teeth for a week. so it was just baby food time! feeding spoon by spoon of liquids every hour. oh..it was a big relief for me, when he started to take food back! now all is well with him. this reminds me how i got my lips hurt in my childhood. It should have bothered my mom just as i bothered! so finally after few backspace and delete key efforts from me, here you finish reading my first paragraph of this post!

Mutta curry, i make this curry, when me or my hubby get cold. its because lots of pepper goes into this curry. this is a simple yet delicious dry egg curry.  If you want to have a vegetarian version of this dish,  you can make it with cauliflower or baby potatoes or with paneer. i even want to try this masala with cauliflower, i will try and post it soon here!

Egg - 3

Shallots / small onions - 5

Tomato - Half

Pepper - 10

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Corriander leaves - 2 tbsp (chopped)

Boil the egg and remove its shell. slice them into half and keep aside.

Heat a small pan, add 1 tbsp of oil, add the small onions and fry till it turns translucent. add the tomatoes too and saute it for a minute. remove the onions and tomatoes to you mixer jar, add grated coconut, corriander leaves and pepper. add just 1 or 2 spoons of water and grind into a smooth and thick paste. 

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add mustard and let it pop, then add curry leaves and the gounded masala. saute the masala in oil for a minute in medium flame. add the egg's and wrap them with masala's. let it remain in medium flame for a minute and remove to the serving bowl. 

Garnish with chopped corriander leaves and grated coconut if you wish!

Serve with hot rice and rasam. it makes a delicious combo!

arisi paruppu sadam served with brinjal podi varuval and karandi omelette

First i hate to name this has Appam. we call it as ஆப்பம்(aappam), in english it may be read / means burp. so without heart i call it appam now! My great grand mom used to make appam with coconut toddy (kallu) for us. the flavor and taste of those appam is just unbeatable. forget the drowsiness after eating appam. and just for the drowsiness, we kids won't be fed appam on school days!! 

How to eat the appam is, sprinkle 2 or 3 tsp's of sugar in the centre of the appam and pour coconut milk/ just plain milk, let the appam soak for few seconds and eat! It will be a divine break-fast!

appam served with veg stew and milk 

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 2 cup's (400gms)
• Par boiled rice / Idly rice - 2 cup's (400 gms)
• Urad dal - 1/2 cup (50 gms)
• Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
• Luke warm water - 1/4 cup
• Active dry yeast - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Rock salt / kal uppu - 1 tsp

After fermentation, its time to add yeast and let it ferment for the second time. so prepare for this second fermentation, ahead of 2 hrs of preparing appam. In a small mixing bowl, mix yeast, sugar, rock salt in Luke warm water and stir well with a spoon so that the yeast get's dissolved. close the mixing bowl with a plate and let it rest for about 10-15 minutes. this is to prove the yeast for its activeness. once the yeast mixture turns frothy, add it to the fermented appam batter and stir well. Now let the appam batter ferment for the second time for about 1 and half hrs to 2 hrs. once the batter ferments. its ready to make appam.
                  this pic is taken after first fermentation. it actually ferments more after adding yeast!



Mix little water, if the batter is too thick. heat a appa kadaai, i use my non-stick appam pan. smear the pan with a drop of oil. with a sliced onion, just spread the oil on sides of the pan(repeat this when preparing each and every appam). Pour 2 heaped ladle full of appam batter in the center of the appa kadaai / pan and swirl the kadaai / pan, this makes the batter spreading towards the sides of the pan. close the pan with its lid. let the appam get cooked in high flame for just a minute.

if you want the centre of the appam to be thick(like in the above pics) and the sides thinner, you should add another ladle of batter, this makes the excess batter get into the center. but you have to put the flame in medium and close the appam pan. it may take more than a minute for the appam to get cooked. you can test, by touching the center of the appam. if it sticks, its not cooked! then wait for some more time.

The left over appam batter can be put back in fridge, actually it ferments again and that gives still good appam 's in the next batch. do not forget to finish up the batter in 2 day's. its not like our idly batter, which keeps good for 5-7 day's.

Notes:

If you want to prepare appam without yeast, just let the appam batter ferment for about 16 hours. take half a cup of water, add 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp rock salt and 1/4 tsp of cooking soda and mix well. now add the mixed water to the fermented batter and mix well. let the batter rest for 30 minutes before you start making appam.

You can also add Instant yeast and add it to the batter, without proving the yeast. if using coconut toddy, add 1 cup of toddy, for this recipe.

Me and hubby love pesarattu. whenever we eat out at a andhra hotel, we order this. I love to prepare pesarattu on weekends as it involves less job and extra credits goes for this healthy break-fast. when you have little of last batch of the dosa batter, mix it along with pesarattu batter. that yields good dosa's.

I just love to eat these pesarattu without any side-dishes. the onions and green chilli on every bite will simply be good. Pesarattu is normally served with upma. It can also be served with simple coconut chutney and sambhar. 

• Whole moong dal - 1 cup / 200gms (soaked in water overnight or 3 - 4 hrs)
• Green chilli - 2
• Cumin - 2 tsp
• Ginger - 1' inch size

for topping:

• Onion - 1 finely chopped or 10 small onions finely chopped.
• Green chilli - 1 finely chopped

Method:

Wash and soak the whole moong dal in water for about 3 - 4 hrs or overnight. if soaked for overnight, it may also sprout and that makes the pesarattu more nutritious.

Grind the soaked moong dal along with green chilies, ginger, cumin, 1/4 cup of water & salt to taste into a smooth and fine batter.

Now the batter is ready to make pesarattu. yes you need not ferment! Heat a dosa tawa, take a ladle full of batter and make dosa's. if you prefer thin make thin dosa's.

Drizzle oil on sides, if you prefer toppings, add the finely chopped small onions and green chilli over the dosa and wait for a minute and flip the dosa, to let the other side of the dosa to get cooked. after half a minute remove the dosa to serve.

          Serve plain or with coconut chutney or sambhar.

Notes:

1. As mentioned, you can mix this pesarattu batter along with left over dosa batter and make dosa's.
2. If serving pesarattu for kids, make sure to reduce one green chilli, it will reduce spice.