Coconut-Oats Ladoo’s - Guest Post by Lubna Karim

Today I'm very happy to announce about guest post series "Something Sweet". For my first post I invited Lubna Karim of Yummy food  who is well known in blog world for her "Food Photography" series. She is here to share her yummy recipe with all of us. 

Narration by Lubna: 

This is my first ever guest post in the blog wold and I thank Sreevalli of Ammaji Recipes  for this. When Sreevalli asked me to do a guest post on her blog, she said she wanted a traditional dessert or sweet or cake for the post. With no further thinking, I settled with this recipe…as this recipe is sweet and traditional too….

Before going further into the recipe...I want to share something sweet associated with the recipe. I am not so very sweet/dessert loving person. I rarely make them…but my sweet little sister is a huge fan of sweets. She can munch on sweets at anytime of the day or even at night. It is only because of her…I try to learn new sweet recipes….. However they might turn out…she is the only one who appreciates, admires and relishes. Upon calling for help in making sweets….she does grating/mixing/frying…..and with much patience waits for me to complete the recipe…. So that she can attack on. 

Some days back when she was here, she had this urge to eat something sweet and I was in no mood to make something elaborate. So I thought of making this simple and gratifying sweet. When I told her what I was going to make…she jumped with joy and even got ready to help me out with scraping the coconut…such a sweet girl…As more than half of my work was done by her….it took very less time for me to whizz up these golden ladoo’s….before I start to shape the second one, the first one was already taken by her….saying….let me taste it….to that I can tell you if everything is in proportion or not..….Jshe was very happy to eat it off and she complimented me saying she has never tasted such yum ladoo’s…there are more tastier than the store bought ones….may be because you made them with love for me….with mouth filled with ladoo she planted a kiss on my cheek….my kiddo little sweet sis….Scroll down for the recipe…

Kobbari Louz/Kobbari Undalau/Coconut-Oats Ladoo’s:

The original or traditional recipe doesn’t include oats and nuts. It is purely optional. It is your choice to add or not to add. But the nuts will give nutty taste and texture to the juicy and chewy coconut ladoo’s.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of fresh grated Coconut

¾ cup Jaggery, grated

¼ tbsp. green Cardamom powder

4 tbsp Oats, optional (I used Quaker Brand Oats)

3 tbsp Dry nuts powder, see notes

Ghee, for binding

PREPERATION:

Dry roast oats on low flame, cool and grind to fine powder.

Combine grated coconut and jaggery in a heavy bottom cooking vessel and keep stirring on a low flame.

After sometime jaggery starts to melt and gets combine with fresh grated coconut, add cardamom powder and mix well.

Cook until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the vessel. Turn off the flame and add oats powder along with dry nuts powder. Mix well.

Leave it to cool for sometime and when the mixture is still warm, grease your palms with ghee and shape into ladoo’s of your desirable size.

Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'. J

STORAGE:

You can store them for a week in an air tight container.

NOTES: For ‘Dry Nuts Powder’, I used 1 tbsp. of each cashews, almonds and walnuts. Tossed in microwave on high for 1 minute and powdered coarsely. You can even make a fine powder. I did coarse powder to get that nutty flavor.

To round off I would love to thank Lubna Karim for accepting my invitation to this event & for her prompt response too :)

 

Carrot Cabbage Poriyal | Carrot Cabbage Stir Fry

Sometimes it takes very simple ingredients to blend into a tasteful recipe. This is one of those recipes which takes less time to cook & turns out yumm. I love trying cabbage with green beans,peas & carrots or even mixing all together. 

This month I was paired with Santosh Bangar of Santosh's Kitchen. She has lots of flavorful dishes & it was very hard for me to choose a single dish from them. I chose "Cabbage peas easy stire" & I did made some changes to it according to my taste.

Ingredients 

2 Cups chopped cabbage 

1 Cup chopped carrot

2 Green chilli's sliced in to half

2 Tbs curry powder

1 Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tsp jeera seeds

1 Tsp channa dal

1 Tsp urad dal 

2 Tbs oil

Salt

Curry leaves for flavor

Curry Powder
2 Tbs channa Dal 
2 Tbs urad Dal 
1 Tbs peanuts 
4 Red chilli's
Dry roast the above ingredients & allow them to cool.Grind them to a smooth powder.

Heat a pan with oil, channa & urad dal. Fry them till they turn light brown & add mustard, jeera to pan. Once the mustard starts jumping mix green chilli's & curry leaves to pan. Then mix cabbage,carrot & salt to pan.Close it with a lid & allow it to cook. Check carrots if they are cooked & then stir in curry powder.Cook for 5mins & switch off heat. 

Curry is ready to serve with rice or roti. 

 Note:

You can adjust the spiciness by removing green chili's.

I got a good critique from everyone who tasted it. So give it a try.. :) 


 

Pala Pindimiriyam | Mix Veggie Curry

Ingredients:
2 Cups of Opo Squash & Carrots ( Cut them in to small pieces)
1 Cup milk
1 Tsp sugar ( optional)
Salt for taste
To Grind
1 Tbs channa Dal
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbs urad Dal
1 Tsp black peppers
1 tsp rice
2 Red chilli’s
1 Tsp dhaniya
1 Tsp sesame seeds
1 Tbs oil


Take a pan and add oil to it. Allow it to heat & add all the ingredients to the pan. Fry them till
channa & urad dal have fried well. Turn off heat & allow it to cool. Once cooled, grind to a
smooth paste & add little milk to it.
( Or )
You can just dry roast the above ingredients without adding oil. But I felt there was an enhanced
flavor when you fry them with oil.


For seasoning
1 Tsp Mustard
1 Tsp Jeera
1 Red chilli
2 Tsp oil
Pinch of Hing
Curry leaves

Steam cook the veggies first. Take a wide bottom pan with veggies & add milk to the bottom
along with the ground pate. Sprinkle little salt & allow it to cook. Slowly the milk starts breaking & the mixture becomes thick. Add sugar & balance the salt. 
Heat a pan with oil. Add mustard, jeera & red chili’s to it. Once the mustard starts jumping add hing to the pan & switch off heat.
Add curry leaves to the hot oil & mix it with curry.

Pindimiriyam is ready to serve with rice & roti’s.

Vanilla cake with mocha pudding

           Happy Valentine's Day

"Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit." Kahlil Gibran

For this wonderful valentine's day I made a cake which was filled with love ( Vanilla Flavored Cake ) & affection ( Mocha Pudding ). Vanilla cake recipe was same as my previous post. But the pudding was borrowed from food network website.

I was just crossing fingers for the recipe to come out perfectly & it was just yummy....

In my husbands words "Itz very delicious..Reminded me the taste of my fav pudding in my uk days"

Ingredients

For Cake

11/2 cups of all purpose flour

11/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt 

2/3 cup sugar 

2 Large eggs @ room temperature 

3/4 cup unsalted butter melted

1/2 cup milk ( Used 2% fat milk)

2 tsp vanilla extract

For Pudding

4 Egg yolks 

2/3 Cup sugar

1/8 Tsp salt

2 Tbs corn flour

1 Cup milk ( 2% milk)

1/2 Cup black coffee

1 Tbs Vanilla extract

1/2 Cup choco chunks

Cake recipe
Preheat oven @ 350 degrees F.
Dry Ingredients
Sift all purpose flour & mix baking powder,baking soda,all purpose flour & salt together in a bowl. 
Wet Ingredients
In another bowl beat eggs & sugar together till the sugar has dissolved.Then add melted butter & Vanilla one after another to the same bowl & keep mixing it with a hand mixer.

Mix the dry & wet ingredients along with milk.Once the batter is ready grease a pan with butter & pour the cake batter init.

Place cake in oven and bake it @ 350 degrees F for 20mins or till the stick comes out clean. ( I used a tooth pik)

Once done cool it on a rack.  

Pudding
In a bowl beat egg yolks,salt, sugar & corn flour to a smooth paste.Heat a bowl with milk,black coffee,vanilla extract & Choco pieces. Mix them till chocolate is melted & then slowly add the yolk mix to it. Keep mixing it till the pudding comes together. Refrigerate it for min of 1hr or over night. 

Later I used pudding as frosting to cake....
The leftover cake crumbs I arranged them in a cup with layers of pudding & njoyed it.... :)

Note:

1. Instead of butter you can use corn oil as a replacement. 

2. For more rich pudding replace 2% milk with whole milk or half creme & half milk.

Poached Egg Curry | Shakshouka | Anda Curry

Talking about poached egg they are just yummm to me.Aren't they ??? Call me crazy or whatever I Lovee Eggs...Just not that I do research on different recipes based with them too.While one of the researches I came across this Libyan recipe "Shakshouka". This is very much similar to Indian egg gravy but instead of boiled egg we add raw egg to pan & allow it to cook with the curry juices & steam.

Shakshouka with a Indian twist. 

Ingredients

2 Eggs 

1 Medium onion chopped 

2 Tomatoes cut in cubes

2 Green chilli's sliced

1 Garlic minced 

1 Tsp cumin powder

1 Tsp chilli powder

Corriander leaves finely chopped 

salt 

For a Indian twist I added a seasoning to the dish with... :) 

2 Tbs oil

1 Tsp mustard 

1 Tsp jeera 

1 Tsp channa dal 

1 Tsp Urad dal

Heat pan with oil add urad ,channa dal to pan & fry them till they turn light brown. Then add mustard & jeera to pan. Once mustard starts jumping add garlic, green chilli & onion to pan. Fry them till onion turns transparent. Then add tomato to pan with salt. Close pan with lid & allow tomato to cook. 

Once tomatoes are cooked add cumin powder & chilli powder along with 1/2 cup of water. Bring it to boil & break eggs directly in to pan.. Allow them to cook for 3 mins & switch off heat. Garnish it with coriander leaves & curry is ready to serve. 

* Serve with rice or roti... 

Note: 

1. If you want to you can cook them for some more time for a hard boiled yolk. 

2. Avoid adding green chilli's if you feel it's too spicy. 

Kandi Pachadi | Thuvaram Paruppu Thogyal | Toor Dal Chutney

As I mentioned in my previous post I'm stuck with arranging my house for In-Laws. All I want to do is make them feel comfortable in our house. I'm all most done & gearing up on making some recipes ahead to blog uninterruptedly. 
Today I wanted to share a Andhra delicacy "Kandi Pachadi"with you all. This chutney goes well with rice & dollop of ghee. I love it having as a side for roti & naan too.

 I have some more to share with you all too.... I have started my own photography page on Facebook - Sree's Photography.  Do check it out friends. I would love you all dropping by there & reviewing me.

Ingredients 
1 Cup toordal 
Red chilli 4 or 5 ( Depending on your spice level)  
1 Tsp jeera seeds 
1 Tbs tamarind pulp 
1 Tbs oil
Salt 
Seasoning 
1 Tsp mustard 
1 Tsp jeera 
1 Red chilli
1 Tbs oil
Hing 
.....
Heat a pan with oil & add toordal, red chilli's, jeera. Fry them till toor dal slightly changes it color Remove from heat & cool them for some time. 
Grind fried ingredients along with tamarind & salt.Grind it coarsely by adding little water.
Heat a pan with oil & to that add mustard, jeera & red chilli's to it. Once mustard starts jumping add hing and switch off heat. 
Take chutney in a bowl & mix seasoning to it.Chutney is ready to serve. 

Note: 
1.You can add little more water while grinding chutney if it is too dry. 
2.Chutney can stay good for 3-4 days when refrigerated. 

Pudina Idli / Mint Idli

I thought of making some thing special for this republic day.. But you know I'm all time busy with cleaning & setting house for my In-Laws who are coming next month.This is a old post I made for Independence day & reposting it for republic day. 

Coming to recipe these Idli's are filled with flavor of pudina/mint in every bite. If you allow the batter to ferment a bit for one day it tastes even better. 

You can serve them for breakfast or dinner along with coconut or peanut chutney.

Ingredients

For Idli

11/2 of urad dal

3 cups of Idli rava

Salt

For Stuffing

1 Cup pudina finely chopped

2 green chili's

1 cup finely chopped onion

Carrot for garnishing (optional)

Soak urad dal overnight or attest for 6 hrs to 8 hrs. Soak the rava for 1hr.

Grind dal to a fine paste. Now squeeze water from rava and add to the batter. Now add salt to the batter and mix it well.

*** Allow the batter to ferment for 1 day to get better taste. You can make atleast 40 Idlis with this measurement. 

For Mint Idli  

  

Mix mint, onion & green chili's to the batter. 

Now greese idli plates with little ghee ( Idlis won't stick to the plate. They come out clean.) and fill plates ith batter.Garnish with carrot on top if you like.

Heat the idli cooker with 11/2 cup of water & place the idli plates inside. Close it with a lid. & allow it to cook for 20mins to 30 mins.

Switch of heat and allow it to cook. Now remove the idli's and serve them with Ghee. 

Out Come: Those Idli's were heavenly. 

Egg Shells

This pic goes to Susan's Black and White Wednesdays !

Besan Ladoo

Happy Sankranti/ Pongal Friends... 

I was just breaking my head on what should I do for Sankranti. Giving a end to my thoughts I decided on making " Besan Ladoo" becoz hubby dear loves them. 

My mom use to make "Ariselu & Murukulu" for this festival. I don't know if there is any relation to "Ariselu" & to this festival, but all our neighbors would be busy making them. 

I was planning for drawing some "Rangoli" tomorrow in my balcony so that I won't be missing any part of the festival in US. I know we can't replace India, still got to adjust with our customs in new environment.

Adapted this recipe from Manjula's Kitchen.I followed her recipe & it came out perfect. 

Ingredients :

1 Cup besan/ Senagapindi / Kadalai Maavu flour

1/2 Cup ghee melted 

1/2 Cup sugar

1 Tsp elachi powder

2 Tbs sliced cashew

1 Tbs sliced almond for garnish (Optional)

Heat a pan with 1 tbs ghee. Add besan to pan & keep stirring it. Besan will turns golden color or a nice aroma comes once it starts turning golden color. 
Switch off heat and cool besan till you can handle it with your hand.Mix sugar, elachi & cashew to besan. Now add the rest of ghee to the mixture & mix the ingredients well.Now take a hanfull of mixture & shape it in to a ladoo. Repeat the same with rest of the mixture.Now dip them Garnish them with almonds on top & ladoo is ready to serve. 

Note :
1.Some time the mixture will be to dry to roll on, sprinkle little say 2tsp milk and it will be easy to roll on. 

3. Once ladoo are rolled you can dip them in ghee for a perfect taste or you can just add the ghee as I have done.
4. Add 3/4 tsp of sooji if you are using plain besan.

Gobi Manchuria

Here comes my first post of 2012. I have to say whole heartedly that 2011 was a blast & we (Me & Hubby) rocked every minute of it.On my personal end I have blogged for most of the year, improved in photography & top of all I lost 7kgs of weight. Got to see what's there in store for me this year :)

Ingredients:
For crisp gobi 
1 Medium Gobi
2 Tbs all purpose flour
2 Tbs corn flour
1 Tbs rice flour
1 Tbs ginger garlic & chilli paste
Salt
Oil for deep fry
For gravy 
1 Tbs garlic minced 
1 Tbs ginger sliced 
1 Medium onion
2 Green chilli's finely chopped
3 Tbs tomato ketchup 
2 Tbs chilli sauce
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs soya sauce
2 Tsp vinegar
1 Large tomato puree
2 Tbs chilli powder (Adjust acc. taste)
Salt
3 Tbs oil
Spring onion for garnish

For crisp gobi
Heat a vessel with water.Meanwhile cut gobi into florets & add  gobi to hot water & boil them for 10mins.Stain water & allow gobi to cool. 
In a bowl mix rice, corn, all purpose flour. Add salt & ginger-garlic & green chilli paste to bowl. Mix all ingredients with little water till you get a paste consistency.
Heat oil in a pan. Dip gobi florets in flour mix and add them to oil. Deep fry them crisp & stain them on kitchen towel. 

For gravy
Heat a pan with 3tbs oil. Add garlic & fry it till the raw smell goes. Then add ginger, green chilli & onion to pan.Fry them till onion becomes transparent.Then add ketchup, vinegar,soya sauce, chilli sauce & sugar to pan. Mix them well & allow it to cook for 3mins. Add tomato puree to pan along with salt & chilli powder.Cook for 10mins with a closed lid.
Now add the fried gobi to gravy & mix it well.Garnish it with spring onion on top and serve it warm. 

Note: 
1.You can add capsicum with onions for a crunchy bite. 
2. For a less fat version avoid deep frying of gobi. Grill them or microwave them till they become crisp. 
3. You can avoid frying of gobi totally & can replace it with boiled gobi.

I made ghee roti's & served with onions on side. 
***To round up it was irresistible & just tasted like a dhaba version.