Hi Everybody, Hope you are all doing well, thank you all for still visiting me and leaving your valuable comments which has always been a big inspiration for me to come back to blogging. It's been more than a year and I haven't blogged ever since, been through lot of things and, as they say “Old wine in a new bottle” finally here I am with a new domain name and my own website, which is still under construction.

As the days go by I will try my best to make this site more user friendly and post all the things I have cooked and baked this past year which I have captured with my new found love, yes that’s right, my new camera which my Hubby presented me with on my last birthday, I am slowly learning everything about it, still toggling around, trying to learn how things work. WordPress and Canon are two new things I need to master... ahem, not really but, I will try my best!

I was pondering about what to write about in my first post, and wasn’t sure when this was going to happen either, and I guess everything seemed to take its own course. Today is somebody’s birthday; this person is very special to me in every way, so I decided I will dedicate my first post to this person in my life.

I hadn’t decided of cooking anything special as that person will not be able to eat what I have cooked, but my daughter decided otherwise, saying “It’s ok mum, you make something sweet and I’ll eat it”. So I decided to make this sweet (as a last minute plan) and had to take a quick photo of this (Photo courtesy: my dear daughter) and she decided I should post it today, start with a sweet note and make this my first post on the website!

Some things are my favourite when it comes to food; I love all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but, if somebody asks me which fruit you like I always say its Pineapple, I love pineapple and it is a versatile fruit for me, I just use it all kinds of sweets and savoury dishes I prepare, I just love the smell when it is cooked or baked or just eaten raw. How much do you love this fruit? Tell me how you use it in your cooking I would love to learn more ways of using it. Pineapple is one such fruit which is very good for your health too. Will update a few things I have read and googled about it soon watch this space.

Coming back to this recipe this is the usual Rava Kesari we make at our homes,  Here I have used Rice and instead of Rava(Semolina). It’s easy to make and tasty to relish.

Recipe Source: Original
Cooking time: 30 to 40 minutes
Serves: 3

INGREDIENTS:
1/3rd Cup Rice
3/4th cup Grated Pineapple
1 ½ cup Sugar*
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
Few strands of Saffron
Pinch of edible camphor
1 ¼ Cup Water
½ Cup Milk and 3/4th cup water
¼ cup Ghee

Garnishing:
2 tbsp Ghee
8 to 10 Dry Grapes (raisins)
8 to 10 Cashew nuts Broken

METHOD:
I used ½ of Pineapple and I got around 3/4th cup of grated pineapple, heat a tbsp of Ghee and add the pineapple with the juice and allow it to cook in a low flame, meanwhile in a pressure cooker cook the washed rice with ½ cup milk and ½ water and keep aside.
While you are preparing these in another bowl add sugar and 1 cup water and allow it to boil to a single thread consistency. Once it has reached single thread take it out and pour it into the wok which has pineapple cooking in it, Meanwhile your cooker would have cooled down as well, add cooked rice into it and keep stirring add another 2 tbsp of Ghee and cardamom powder and edible Camphor into it, a few minutes later you will notice they all come together and leave the side of the wok, just like a halwa consistency. Take it out immediately from the stove and keep aside.
In a small wok heat one or two tbsp of Ghee fry dry Grapes (raisins) and Cashew nuts once they change colour add it to the pineapple Rice Kesari
Serve warm or cold as you like.

NOTES:
*Increase or decrease Sugar depending on the sweetness of the pineapple
Edible Camphor should not be used more than a pinch as the smell is quite strong, if you don’t get it where you live you can omit it.

This recipe is linked to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop of Swathi, check out this link for loads of Recipes linked.

The post Pineapple Rice Kesari appeared first on My Veg Fare.

As I have said earlier, even though being an Iyengar, born and brought up in Bangalore has changed a lot of things in our life, that is how Amma brought us up, we celebrate both Kannadiga and Iyengar festivals equally, yes I know we used to enjoy loads of goodies to eat when we were young, later stages it became too much for us to eat so many sweets and savouries amma prepared for the festivals as everything was double, the same goes with  this festival, even though we do not have Krishna Janmashtami ( that is the day Krishna was born that is the Ashtami ) which is celebrate through out kannadigas and the rest of the regions, and we Iyengars celebrate the Krishna Jayanthi, which is falling on the 8th of september this year because of the Adhika maasa (extra month) according to the Hindu calendar, otherwise it usually falls a day after the Janmashtami, This Krishna Jayanthi is a very big festival for Tamil speaking Iyengar community.  But then as I said being brought up in Bangalore, mum celebrated Krishna Janmashtami as well, not like preparing too many Bakshanams (sweets and savouries), she used to make kheer or some kind of sweet.  I have adopted too many of the things she practiced and I do the same thing.  My MIL never said anything about these things as even she by heart felt too much inclined to the Kannadagi culture and tradition and appreciated it too much.

So, as today was Krishna Janmashtami, I made this rather I could say I usually make this sweet as Krishna loved poha, as we all know from his stories, and for the rest of the world who do not know about this you should read about his stories if you are interested may be on online or if you could get hold of any books.  Avalakki / Poha is very important ingredient in Krishna's life connected to Sudhama's story.   I will try tell you in a shorter version what the story is about, Sudhama, Krishna's friend was very poor and sudhama coming to know that krishna had become a prince meets him in his palace to tell him about his problems, his wife would have given poha in a small pouch to give it to the Lord as they had nothing else in the house to eat except this as the couples feel not to go empty handed to meet him.  Krishna embraces his old friend asking him if everything was well at his end, sudhama becomes too shy to tell him his problems and says everything was fine, just then Krishna notices the pouch hanging in his waist and asks sudhama what his wife has sent for him, sudhama says he has brought poha, which krishna adores, but was hesitating to give him.  Krishna playfully snatches the pouch and takes a handful of it and puts it in his mouth and goes for a second and then for a third when Rukmini stops him from eating it and says that's enough and says she also has the right to share it and tells krishna, whatever he has given would last for generations to come. Sudhama never understands anything but bids goodbye enjoying his day with his childhood friend and returns home sadly thinking what to tell his wife as he couldn't ask any help at all from his friend.
Funnily when he comes back to his village and to the place where his hut stood he finds a big palace, he looks around and thinks what has happened to his family. when he walks up to the front door to find out, his wife comes out dressed like a princess, astonished sudhama asks what happened and his wife describes how everything suddenly changed like a Maya ( Magic ), that's when sudhama remembers Rukmini's words and why she stopped him. His two fist full of Poha had given him all the riches in the world, so even today Poha and butter ( his favourite ) is kept in front of the God for Neivedhyam ( prasad).
I sometimes when time was short would soak poha in milk then add fruits, sugar and cardamom. sometimes just keep poha soaked and squeezed, adding sugar, cardamom and fresh grated coconut. like this I keep making something with poha to make it more interesting, but this has become our favourite.. Avalakki Pineapple Kesari... want to know how I make it... do read...

BEATEN RICE / POHA / AVALAKKI  PINEAPPLE KESARI BATH
Cuisine: South Indian
Cooking time: under 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup coarsely crushed thick Poha / Avalakki
3/4 th cup Sugar
2 cardamom pods crushed nicely
1/4 Ghee  ( Clarified butter )
1 tbsp of Khismish ( Raisins )
1 tbsp of Cashewnuts
1/2 cup milk
1 Cup water
1/4 cup Chopped Pineapple ( or grated pineapple )
few strands of saffron soaked in 1 tbsp of hot milk

METHOD:
First you need to crush or coarsely powder thick poha, If you are using a mixie (Indian grinder), pulse it for every three seconds so its broken coarsely.
In a tbsp of warm  milk soak few strands of saffron
Wash crushed poha quickly - what you need to do is pour water clean it quickly let it sit for a second immediately drain the water, do it at least twice so you get rid of the dust, drain the water completely if needed you can press the water out of them and leave it until needed.  The process of doing this should be quick.
Check my notes ...
In a Non stick wok / pan , In the given amount of  water add chopped pineapple pieces and cook for approximately 10 minutes in a medium flame with a closed lid, after few minutes  add sugar let it dissolve completely, add milk then mix it well together, Bring the flame to low then add the coarsely crushed poha / Avalakki. Start bringing them all together, it starts cooking and starts thickening close the lid for few minutes.

until poha gets completely cooked and absorbs everything and the flavours.

Meanwhile in 1 tbsp of Ghee, fry chopped cashews and Raisins, and keep aside.
Open the lid, add dissolved saffron, cardamom powder and and rest of the ghee**., combine well together close the lid keep it in a low flame for few more minutes until it is well cooked, and almost dry.
Garnish the Poha Kesari with cashew and kishmish (raisins)
Serve it warm or cold and enjoy...
It is totally delicious and addictive.

NOTES:
First time when I made I hadn't washed the Poha, which I was not happy with, you can see the photos just like that, which I have posted.
Next time I cleaned poha quickly because  if you leave it for more than 5 minutes it will swell up and  it absorbs water  as it is already crushed or broken. Just the same method used for Gojjavalakki (spiced Poha with a Tangy flavour)
This way of cleaning it also helps in cooking well, and absorbs everything well.
After you soak saffron, leave it for sometime that is until it is needed , then with your finger tip, keep pressing and  kind of squeezing it in the bowl , this helps in realizing the colour to its full extent.
You can also add more ghee if you want.

Linking this to :
South Indian event #1 by Anu
30 minutes mela of Srivalli's

The post Beaten Rice / Poha / Avalakki Pineapple Kesari Bath (Sweet Rice) appeared first on My Veg Fare.

ELLU - BELLA / SANKRANTI MIXTURE (A Mixture of Sesame - Jaggery)

INGREDIENTS:
500 gms Jaggery (Acchu Bella)
500 gms Dry Copra/ Dry Coconut
500 gms Peanuts
500 gms Hurigadale/PottuKadalai/
100 gms White Sesame/Til SeedsMETHOD:
To make this Mixture Jaggery (Palm Sugar) must be an Acchu Bella, Just like this

Courtesy: http://www.towness.com/xcart/product.php?productid=40586

First for one day keep the Jaggery in the sun, Then with the help of Nut cracker cut the Jaggery into small cubes. Every day once you need to put it in the sun to dry :). There might be some wastages as every time you will not be able to cut them into equal cubes, this needs a little practice. You don't need to throw the wastages you can always use it for something else.  Drying it in the sun helps the end product to stay fresh for long time.

Then Comes the Dry Coconut /Copra / Kobari

Courtesy: http://www.towness.com/xcart/product.php?productid=40436

You need to scrape the outer covering of this, which you can see from the photo, then cut them again into small cubes with the help of knife on a cutting board same as that of the Jaggery and keep them in the sun for few days this will help the copra keeps good for a long shelf life.

Once these two are sorted out - that is you must dry them well in the sun, this helps them keep them for at least a month.

Next are the Peanuts, Roast fist ful of peanuts in a wok, lightly , don't burn them then once they are a bit cool not completely cool this way we can rub the skin of the peanuts quickly, put them in a cloth and rub between your palms or we have Mora ( a basket like thing made with bamboo) and rub on them. Once the skins are removed then pick up the peanuts and throw away the skin, Pick up lovely nice white ones no discoloured peanuts !!, then break open the peanuts.

Once when you split open the peanuts can you see the little nodes you must remove them, Mum says they give a bitter taste, so carefully with all the good ones picked up remove all the nodes and keep the peanuts separately. So that is one job done 🙂

Next comes the Dharia Dal / Chutney Dal / Pottukadalai

This is not too bad You just have to pick up nice round beautiful ones without any cracks.

Next are the White Sesame or Til seeds

In a low heat roast fistful of White Til seeds very slightly it should not change too much colour.

So Now everything is done, Now we can mix all of them together and Lo! your Sankranti Trail Mixture is ready.
With this, we need to give Karumbu/ Sugarcane stick, Banana, Elchae Hannu (This is fruit which has a sweet and sour taste in it- Jujube fruit (Elchane Hannu also called Indian Jujube / Indian plum / Ilanthi Pazham / Ber fruit).

On this day  In the evening,  we make little children in the house sit and we put the Sankranti Mixture, Elche Hannu and  cut small pieces from the sugarcane and some coins in a Pavoo ( pronounced Paa - voo A kind of measurement used in olden days which is made of Brass or Iron, you get them in steel as well these days).  Woman of the house fill this Pavoo with the pot pouri and pour this on the head of the children and do Arati to them in the evening of Makara Sankranti.  This is a tradition followed in most of the houses this is done to bless the children for longevity, good health and a prosperous life with Aarathi and songs.

In Karnataka People say : Yellu Bella thindu Olle Maathanaadu meaning eat Jaggery and sesame seeds and speak only  good words...

A wonderful festival with Lots to give and welcome the New year with happiness.........

Mum gave me a sari for this festival...

May the God Bless you all with all the prosperity, Wealth, health and Happiness.....

The post Ellu Bella / Ellu Beerodu - Recipe for Makara Sankranthi mixture from Karnataka ( Sesame seeds and Jaggery Mixture) appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Recipe Source : Original
Prep time: 25 minutes
cooking time : 
Ingredients :
For Making  Orange Chenna/ Paneer :
6 pints milk (approx 3.408L) Full fat 4%
2 Oranges
2 tbsp Vinegar/Lime Juice

Method :
Take Milk in a bowl (I usually put a small spoon immersed in it and allow it to boil, immersing a wooden spatula in it.
Meanwhile scrape out the zest of one orange and cut it half and squeeze out all the juice and keep it aside, with the other orange cut it again in any way you want, and take out the slices nicely with out any pith (the white portions between the wedges), and keep them aside.

As you can see once the milk starts to form a layer around , mix it with the ladle add Orange juice and one or two tbsp of Vinegar/Lime juice, grated zest of the orange and the chopped Orange slice to it, You can see in each step the how the milk starts curdling and gives out the whey to this point you can add a 1/4 tsp of Orange food colour, if you want. well it gives a lovely colour to the dish in the end.

Once the curdled milk separates out take a muslin cloth/cheese cloth or any cloth from which you can separate out the whey and chenna/paneer.
Tie this cloth around a bowl or just put this cloth in a strainer and keep this strainer in the bowl, which helps to hold the cloth firmly then pour this on it, the whey separates out and the chenna/paneer stays in the cloth, keep the paneer in cold running water for few seconds just to get rid of the lime/vinegar smell, Now tie this cloth tightly and keep a heavy something,( I kept my granite mortar and pestle on top of it), I remove the whey water from the vessel use an other vessel keep my strainer again on top of it, then I keep my tied paneer cloth on it and the heavy weight on top of it, so the left over water in the paneer and cloth should come out completely, leave it like that for 1 or 2 hours.

Here take a look at my Orange Paneer.... Looks gorgeous isn't it 🙂

with little specks of Orange segments peeping through :).....

well, coming back to the recipe...
So once your Chenna/Paneer is completely drained out,  you have to make Rasgullas out of it so what you have to do is.....
Ingredients:
To make Orange Rasgullas:
Orange Chenna/Panner (recipe above)
1 tbsp Soji/1 tbsp Maida or APS ( I added a bit more )
1 tbsp sugar
To make Orange syrup for the Rasgullas
5 to 6 Cups of Water
3-4 cups of sugar (depending upon how much sweet you like)
1 tsp of Crushed cardamom
1/2 tsp of Saffron (pre-soaked in warm water)
1 tbsp Orange essence
1 tsp of Rose water

dissolve 1tsp of APS/Maida 2 to 3 tbsp of water

METHOD:

Now to this paneer and add the above said ingredients and knead till the dough is soft and smooth, you may add a bit more to get the right consistency, don't knead too hard as you can see that there are bits of orange segments.
Make small balls out of these they might not become too big as the normal Rasgullas do, but don't make the balls too big as they are going to expand when on cooking. Do make sure the balls are crack free.

Now on to make the Rasgullas ( sweet balls)
Take a wide bottom vessel/Pressure cooker/Stock pot, Add water and sugar, allow it to boil, until the sugar dissolves, keep stirring, so the sugar dissolves quickly and sugar water starts boiling to this add the rest of the Ingredients, and bring it to low flame.

Add the balls one at a time, you should not forget to keep the flame low and allow it cook for 30-35 minutes with a closed lid, check now and then, it is good you have a see through lid on :), just makes life easier!

One more little tip dissolve maida with water as mentioned above and add this to the water and pour it into the vessel/cooker you can see Rasgullas floating on top soon.
If you are using a pressure cooker close the lid and put on the weight, keep it on a low flame and check every 15 minutes to be sure that they don't break up (remember because you have orange segments in them!).

you can see that they have grown big :), that's delightful isn't it...

NOW TO MAKE RASMALAI (JUICY CREAM)
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 to 2 lts milk (whole milk)
1 cup of the sugar syrup ( from the above recipe, In which you have soaked and cooked the Rasgullas)
1 cup of Sugar (because we have sweet tooth! increase or decrease as you like it)
2 to 3 tbsp of chopped almonds and pistachios ( I love nuts so the extra helpings )
1 tsp of Saffron (Pre-soaked in 2 tbsp of warm milk)

You can start making this when you drain and hung your paneer to completely drain, as Malai takes a little longer and more gas consumption :).
In a wide vessel boil milk ( I put a steel spoon just to make sure that it doesn't burn the bottom), put a ladle in too, allowing it to boil, stirring now and then as it keeps forming layer, the milk should get reduced to half and becomes more thicker that is the water content in the milk is gone.
1.Other wise to make the process much quicker you can add 2 to 3 cartons/tins of evaporated milk with 2 to 3 cups of milk and allow it to boil this becomes fairly quickly thicker, but I prefer my old method
2. Otherwise you can add a tinned of condensed milk with ordinary milk make a thicker consistency of the Rasmalai for a quicker version but remember to reduce the quantity of sugar when you add as condensed milk is already sweet

You can see the malai in these clicks how much fat content it has!.
So Once the milk gets thicker, add the rest on the list of the Ingredients, and allow it to boil for few more minutes so that they all combine and give a lovely flavour to the milk.

Now take out the Rasgullas and squeeze out a bit ( try not to break it!) so the water content is gone ( or reduced), put these balls into the Malai that is the creamy milk and leave it an hour or so, you can even soak it overnight and place the container in the Refrigerator and serve this delicious, Gorgeous looking Orange Rasgullas ( try not to eat it when making it, I couldn't resist so gobbled a couple).
Hope you go and try them and tell me how it turned out... and I will be very thankful to you, if you left me a comment about it!
Here is one last look of my sweet little dumplings....

ORANGE RASGULLAS/RASMALAI  FOR YOU ALL,  A VIRTUAL TREAT FOR MY LOVELY FRIENDS....

verdict: If you love oranges just like me, you will love this sweet, my family and friends were very happy and loved it very much, the best was I had my old land lady Emma visiting me on Diwali day, and I had cooked my formula festive recipe and I couldn't give her anything to eat, except for some savouries, she is not fond of our sweets as they say our sweets are too sweet for them...., I thought let me give her this a try.., she was delighted at the orange flavour so much she emptied her bowl and gave it back to me!, she told me, I don't know  how the original Rasgulla tastes like, I like this Orangey flavour, stick to this I love it ..... :), hahaha .
She is my favourite, even though I don't live in her house anymore, she never forgets to come to my place when ever she is in town :), she is 10 yrs younger to me!, I love her to bits, she always tells me whenever I enter your house the curry smell makes me hungry, she loves Indian  food (as it is difficult for her to eat spicy food) she loves  the combos I make her for her to enjoy our food and  make it less spicy for her to enjoy.
This time she even burst some crackers with us, and said  as it was the first time ever in her life she was bursting crackers and she enjoyed it so much, she was ever so delighted....., Oh! bless her.., thanks Emma..., Love you always...

C u soon with an other recipe , take care.......

The post Orange Rasgulla with Orange Rasmalai appeared first on My Veg Fare.