Ukkali / Sweet Broken Rice

This is my 25th post, I feel very happy and delighted that I was able to get 25 different recipes in my kitchen notes and share with everyone. It was a flick of a thought to get this idea of saving my recipes in a blog. It also serves as a quick reference. It gives a commitment towards perfection.

Ukkali is one of the popular sweet prepared in the southern part of India. In our community we prepare it for Karthigai Deepam festival. This festival always reminds my mom making kolams using rice flour and also rice flour dough. This kolam is a quite difficult one to draw, but she draws it with good excellence. We get to light beautiful lamps made of mud in between the kolam. It is kind of a nice experience. 

Ukkali

Preparation time - 1 hour

Serves - 4

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 2 cups 

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 11/2 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 cup

Cashew - a fistful

Raisins - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1 tbsp

Method:

Ukkali

Soak raw rice with moong dal for 4 hours. Grind it smoothly with salt. 

Heat a sauce pan and pour the grounded mixture. Keep stirring it will get hard, now pour 1 tbsp of ghee and then stir. It will start to get separate, in a powder consistency. Now add sugar + remaining ghee cardamom powder + cashew and keep stirring. 
It should be looking separate and not stick in the finger almost in the consistency of Upma. 

You can have it plainly or with warm milk. I like to have with milk.

Note: 
You can replace ghee with oil (in that case 1/4 oil + little ghee) - sweets wont look good without ghee
You can replace rice with channa dal or moong dal completely
Instead of sugar, you can use 1 cup of jaggery- it kind of gives different taste 


Thanks for reading 
VP

Simple Bottle guard curry

Today was doing things in a little crazy way, dragging the things in and around. I was absolutely not in  mood to do any cooking. Whenever I get crazy I just keep my mind open and check my refrigerator for options. I found that Bottle guard. Hurray !! I thought of making a simple subji for roti .

Bottle guard curry 

Serves - 4

Preparation time - 40 minutes 

Ingredients: 

Whole masoor dal - 1/2 cup ( you can use masoor dal without skin / moong dal)

Channa dal - 1 tbsp

Bottle guard - 1 M

Cumin seed - 1 tsp

Sambhar powder - 1 tbsp

Tomato - 1 big

Red chili - 1 small 

garlic - 2 cloves

Paprika - 1 tsp

Almond powder - 1 tbsp 

Water - 2 cups 

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt- as per taste 

Options : Instead of almond powder, you can use grated coconut or cashew paste or coconut powder)

Method:

Masoor bottle guard curry 

In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil add cumin seeds. (check by adding one seed, if it splutters add remaining) followed by red chili. Cut bottle guard and tomato into squares. Wash the dals and keep it separately.

Add tomato and stir it until it becomes soft. Once it gets soft, add sambhar powder. Stir it for a minute, then add Bottle guard + dal + salt + water + oil and close cook the pan on medium low.

After 10 minutes, open the pan add almond powder + paprika and stir and wait till water evaporates. Finally, mash it with potato masher or at the back of the lid. 

Serve with roti

Thanks for reading 
VP

  

Sprouting at Home

Bean sprouts are very popular in the asian cuisine. I live in a place where it can be considered as a mini china town, where in all the grocery store you can find sprouts. ( mainly soy). I have seen people adding alfa alfa sprouts to salad. 
In India, we have sprouts made using whole moong beans, black channa even finger millet (ragi). I made it using the sprout maker. Earlier I used to soak moong dal for 1 one day in water to get sprouts, it gives some kind of bad odor. Hence using sprout maker is the best option. Sprout maker is available in all the Indian grocery store.

Sprout maker

Method:

Moong Sprouts

Soak the whole moong dal for 6-8 hours . Then transfer it to a sprout maker or you can cover it in a clean wet cloth ( cloth dip it in water and squeeze the water completely) this is supposed to be the ancient method. 

 Leave it in the sprout maker or wet cloth for another 6-8 hours. You can see beautiful sprouts coming out of the moong bean. You can use similar method for finger millet (ragi) , garbanzo beans (channa) or even fenugreek. 

For ragi sprouts dont use the damp cloth, it gets the brown color of ragi and cloth gets spoiled

Steps to use the sprout maker:

• Wash the sprout maker and make sure it is dry (mainly the bottom level)
• Strain the soaked moong dal, it should not be watery
• Add it to the upper level 
• Leave it for 8 hours in dark space for better sprouts, it takes 8 hours for sprouts 

If you require more sprouting leave it for some more hours in the day time no issues :)

Roasted garlic mint and peanut chutney

I am a huge fan of mint, when ever I find fresh mint at the grocery store I grab one. I add it to the pulav or for side dish. Mint chutney is my favorite, my amma used to prepare this most of the time for breakfast since childhood. Peanut give great taste and flavor to this chutney. Garlic provides a stint of flavor, that everybody loves.

Some people dont like the flavor of garlic, in that case it can be skipped. Chutney will taste good even without garlic.

Mint chutney

Ingredients :

Mint - 1 bunch (Small)
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1/2 M
Green chili - 1
Urad dal /Black gram - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Garlic - 2 cloves
oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - as per taste 

rich Green mint :)

Method:

Dry roast peanuts and remove the skin. Cut green chili & tomato into pieces. Grate the garlic.

In a pan add oil, then urad dal. Dal turns slightly brown add the mint leaves. (You should remove the leaves from the stalk, leaves are the only edible part). Saute it till the leaves changes the color to dark green and tomatoes are cooked - water should be evaporated and it should be dry. Allow it to cool.

Grind it adding green chili + mint mixture (urad , mint , tomato) + Peanuts and salt in a blender smoothly.

In a tadka pan, heat a tbsp of oil add mustard seeds after it splutter add the grated garlic. Roast it for a minute. Do not burn it. Now add it to the chutney. 

Enjoy with dosa or roti or even rice. 

Thanks for reading 

VP

I

Sprouted Whole Green Moong dal curry

Sprouted whole moong bean is a rich protein packed dish. Its easy to prepare the sprouts at home. It is also available at most of the grocery stores. 

  

Moong curry

Serves - 4

Preparation time - 30 minutes 

Ingredients: 

Whole moong dal (Sprouted :) ) - 1/2 C

Onion - 1 M

Tomato - 1 1/2 M

Ginger - 1 inch 

Garlic - 2 cloves 

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tbsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Kasoorimethi - 1tbsp 

Oil - 2 tbsp 

Cilantro - a handful 

Salt - as required 

Method :

Cut onion and tomato into finely. Grate the ginger + garlic and keep aside. Heat pan and add 1 tbsp of oil. Add cumin seeds wait till the crackle sound disappear. Add ginger + garlic and fry for 10 seconds and add onions and fry it till turns golden brown. 

Mix the tomatoes, once it gets soft add the chili + coriander + cumin powder and remaining 1 tbsp of oil. Keep stirring on medium until the oil floats on the top. 

Then add the sprouted moong beans and two cups of water, salt and close the pan. Wait till the moong bean gets soft. It gets cooked in 15 minutes. Now open the lid and cook it for 10 minutes until the extra water evaporates. Mash it slightly using back of lid or potato masher for good consistency. 

Crush the kasoormethi between palms and add it . Let it cook for 2 minutes. Switch off the stove and add coriander leaves. 

Serve with roti. 

Thanks for reading 

VP

Note: You can use ginger garlic paste instead of grated ones. I always prefer to use fresh ones, it gives additional flavor. IF you use, ready made paste first fry onions and then saute with the paste for 2 minutes. 

Moong bean can be cooked using pressure cooker separately, If you do no need to cook for 10 minutes. Add it,cook for 2-3 minutes and then proceed with kasoormethi step.

Coconut /Thengai Chutney

This is the most common dish in Southern India. It is in the regular breakfast menu in TamilNadu, for Idly, dosa , Pongal and so on. Every family has their own version of this chutney with + / - of certain ingredients ( but no one can skip coconut :) , just kidding !!). Here is another version of this chutney. 
My hubby and many of his friends like this chutney. They ask for this when we invite them for dinner. 

Coconut chutney

Serves - 4 

Preparation time - 10 minutes 

Ingredients :

Coconut grated - 3/4 cup or 1/2 cup small pieces

Roasted gram dal/ pottu kadalai - 1/2 cup 

Green chili - 1 

Ginger - 1/2 inch 

Small onion - 1 

Salt - as per taste 

Water - 1/2 cup

Seasoning: 

Oil - 1 tbsp 

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp 

Curry leaves - few

Method: 

Coconut chutney

Add the coconut, roasted gram dal, onion, ginger, green chili with salt and water. Grind it smooth. 

You can use red chili for the red version of this chutney 

I used 1 spring of coriander for the green version of this chutney. 

In a tadka pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds after it spluttering sound ceases add urad dal until brown add hing and curry leaves and pour and mix in the chutney. 

Note : Add it after  tadka gets cold, otherwise it may lead to tiny explosions and it can hurt.  

Semolina (Rava) Pongal

I love rava in any form. Rava dosa is my favorite. Every time I go to a restaurant I pick rava dosa. My hubby used to comment on me for selecting the same thing every time. Rava Upma, Rava kesari are most common dishes in southern India. I love rava upma which my mom makes. Only after marriage, I miss many dishes my mother prepares. I try all the things she makes but couldn't bring level of taste in it. Ofcourse, its mom's preparation- It has always got a special place.
Semolina (I used the rice semolina) are nothing but the broken parts of rice kernels. I has got its presence with different wheat and rice combinations all over the world. 
Rava pongal I first experimented it after marriage for breakfast without vegetables , it was good. But,My hubby insisted the food should contain vegetables, being vegetarian we have got limited number of food that gives the essential nutrients. 

Ahhh... He is correct right !!!. 

So this makes a cute history for this new version of pongal. Isn't it :)

Rava Pongal

Serves - 4
Preparation time - 40 minutes 

Ingredients :

Idly rava - 1 cup
Split moong dal - 1/3 cup
Carrots - 2 medium 
Green Beans - 5 
Green Peas - 1/2 cup ( I used frozen)
Potato - 1 small 
Green Capsicum - 1/2 
Ginger - 1 inch
Oil - 1 tbsp 
Ghee - 2 tsp 
Salt - as per taste 
Water - 41/2 cups

Seasoning :

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp 
Whole pepper corns - 5 
Cashew nuts - handful (broken)

Method :

Vegetable Semolina Pongal

Roast the rava in ghee or oil ( I used ghee) till it gets hot. Transfer it to a plate and allow it to cool.
Wash the moong dal and keep it aside. Cut the carrots into small squares, Beans,capsicum and potato. 
Chop the ginger into small pieces. 

In a sauce pan, add the moong dal + all the vegetables (carrot + beans + peas + capsicum+potato) and 2 cups of water and salt. Close the pan and allow it to cook for 10 minutes.
Note: the dal produces foams and bubbles while boiling so keep it half open. Be careful as water flows out and may switch off the stove. So stand nearby and keep stirring in-between.

After it the vegetables and dal has got cooked, add the rava. Keep stirring while adding the rava as it can form lumps. I added 2 1/2 cups of water along with rava as I used Idly rava which is very coarse. You can adjust water based on the type of rava. 

In a tadka pan, heat oil and once it gets heated up add one cumin seed. Check if it splutters, add the remaining , then pepper corns, ginger and stir for a minute. Finally, add cashews and keep frying until it turns brown. Make sure you do not burn the cashews.

It tastes great with coconut chutney or Idly sambhar. 

Enjoy with any kind of side dish of your choice and do share if you find any interesting combination for this pongal. We had it with coconut chutney. 

Thanks for reading 
VP