Sabbakki mathu Shavige Paayasa/Sago and Vermicilli Kheer

A fairly simple yet tasty paayasa for your less-guilt indulgence. We had been to a restaurant to celebrate Christmas with a friend and we all enjoyed this less sweet, chilled dessert. Though I have had this umpteen number of times as 'ele-tudi' (corner of the leaf) paayasa at many weddings, the restaurant paayasa was very different and I could not recreate the taste. It had 3-4 ingredients - milk, sago, vermicilli and sugar. A green colored flavored  sauce was drizzled over it. I could not make out which sauce it was....Here is what I could make imagining the contents which turned out to be good. 

Ingredients:

Sago : 5tbsp

Vermicilli: 1/2 cup

Milk: half litre

Condensed Milk: 1 small tin

Pistachios and Almonds for garnishing

Rose water for flavor

Optional: Pandan leaf (which I guess restaurant had used it)/Pandan Essence

Note: If you want a very sweet paayasa, add sugar.

What is Pandan Leaf (Screw Pine Leaf)? Read here.. and images here

Method:

1. Roast sago on low flame in a pan. When they sart popping, switch off the stove and leave the sago on the pan. Cook in water till it is soft.

2. Roast vermicilli till it turns light brown color. Cook in water al-dente. Drain water. and keep it aside.

3. Bring half litre milk to boil. Boil the milk for 3-4 mins. Switch off the stove and add the milk, condensed milk and vermicilli to sago. Mix well. Bring the mixture to boiling point and switch off the stove. When the paayasa is warm, add rose water and mix well. Refrigerate till you serve.

4. Before you serve, add pistachios and almond flakes and serve.

5. If you are using pandan leaf, you can put it in hot milk and let it seep for 20 mins before you mix it with sago. Before you serve, remove pandan leaf and then serve.

6. If you are using pandan essense, add few drops of essence before you refrigerate the paayasa.

7. Enjoyy! less-sugar dessert ...

Awards Time:Rekha of thekeybunch has passed me 'stylish blogger award' and asked to write 7 things which you all don't know about me. I have done this kind of MEME in the past, and will try to write as many as I can here.

1. I love to bake but always end up having something 'no-so-good' kind of end products. I have been lucky only few times.
2. As much as I love to bake, my husband does not like to eat baked goodies. He loves dishes which has  balanced qunatities of 'uppu, huli, khara' esp desi stuff.
3. 'Eating healthy' has given me to retry desi dishes in a new style, but none of them make it to my blog. Blog is strictly for tasty food.ahahahaa.. does not mean that healthy food is not tasty, but I am bit scared that others may not like it!
4, 5, 6, 7 are still on thinking mode!

I have to pass this to 7 bloggers. I would like to pass it to Priyanka of Asan Khana, Priya of Priya's EasynTasty recipes, Smitha of Kannada Cuisine, Bangalore Baker, Deepa of Hamari Rasoi, Sowmya of Creative Saga, Pratibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen 

Kadalebele Mosaru sasive/Chanadal in yogurt ~ a salad

Easy, tasty and quick to make salad. ...

You need :

Soaked Kadaleble/Soaked Chanadal: 2tbsp
Fresh plain yogurt: 1/2 cup
Onion,finely chopped: 1heaped tsp
Coriander, finely chopped: 1 tsp
Chilli paste and salt for taste
Oggarane

Mix everything and serve.

Sending this to Pratibhas ONLY SALADS event started by Pari Vasisht of Foodelicious.

Fresh Chickpeas Salad/Kadalekaalu Kosambari

Salad box has become integral part of my lunch bag these days. The salad picture posted here is taken from my handphone before I happily relished chickpeas salad in office :) . Sometimes salad replaces my main meal. It all depends on the type of ingredients which go into salad. Here is a simple chickpeas salad. Fresh chickpeas are now in season in Karnataka. I am sure many homes make it.

You need:

Fresh chickpeas : 1 big cup
Cucumber: 1/2
Chilli paste: little
Salt: to taste
Coriander leaves finely chopped: 1tbsp
Shredded fresh coconut: 1tsp (optional)
Lemon Juice: as required

Take all ingredients in a bowl and toss. Add oggarane. and serve immediately.

Sending this to Pratibhas ONLY SALADS event started by Pari Vasisht of Foodelicious.

Complete My Thali - KATHOL, all beans party :D

Complete My Thali (CMT)-Kathol will run on Taste of Mysore. Complete My Thali is a tasty concept coined by Jagruti Dhanecha of Joy of Cooking blog. Every month a co host will host 1 dish of the thali. Having varieties of these and customising your thali is itself a wonderful thought! You can go through her blog for past and future co hosts and their round ups for a customisable thali.

I am co hosting one of the item on this thali. Kathol or an item prepared from beans. Atleast from Karnataka's thali view I can think of few quick items like kadalekaalu guggri, hesarukaalu guggri etc. There are many varieties prepared from beans and I would love to have them all. Bloggers, Non Bloggers everyone can participate. More the merrier!!

All you need to do to join the all beans party :

1. Blog any dish made with beans with a picture on your blog. (Link as many posts as you wish.)
2. Add your permalink to 'inlinkz' at the end of this post.
3. Link this event announcement on my blog and Jagruti's event announcement page to your page.
4. Are you a nonblogger? No worries, send in your recipe with the picture to lakshmi(@)tasteofmysore.com and I will post your entries.
5. Your entries should reach me by 2 Feb 2011.

What are you waiting for? Sleeve up and ready to rock the party the beany party.

Palak Paneer

This time palak paneer had come out very well, thanks to Pratibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen Blog. Color and taste were awesome.

Requoting the recipe from her blog for this blog :

Ingredients:

250 gms paneer,cubed

1 regular fresh corn instead I used Paneer cubes. Paneer Cubes were kept in warm water to keep them soft and moist.

1 big bunch spinach

1 big onion,diced

1 medium onion,finely chopped

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

4-5 green chillies

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala

a pinch of sugar

1/2 tsp kasuri methi(optional)

1/2 tsp amchur powder

2 tbsp fresh cream(or 1/4 cup milk)

salt to taste

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp oil


Method:


Boil water in a big pot and add cleaned spinach leaves and whole green chillies and blanch for a minute.Add a pinch of sugar while blanching it in order to retain the green color of spinach.Strain the spinach(save the water to dilute the gravy later) and quickly run the blanched spinach under running water and squeeze out extra water.You can even saute the spinach but you should be really quick in doing it otherwise you will loose the beautiful green color of spinach.

In that hot water(in which we blanched the spinach)soak the paneer cubes until its uasge.This way the paneer will be soft.

" I Skipped this Step as I used Paneer.
Grill the corn on the flame until light black spots appear all over the corn.Quickly rub it with lemon wedge dozed with salt all over the corn and let it marinate for some time,aproximately 10 mins.Take a knife and cut the corn to get the corn kernels. "

Grind diced onion with ginger and garlic paste and keep it aside.

Grind the spinach and green chillies to a fine paste.Open the mixer and keep it,otherwise it will change the color.

Heat oil and butter in a big kadai and crackle cumin seeds,add finely chopped onions and fry until translucent and add ground onion mixture and fry well.

Add coriander powder,cumin powder,amchur powder,slightly crushed kasuri methi and mix well.

Add spinach puree and cook over medium flame.Add salt,grilled corn kernels,paneer cubes(slightly squeeze them after removing from hot water) and garam masala and mix well.If required add the strained water to dilute the gravy to get the required consistency and ook for 2-3 minutes.Do not cover the kadai while you are cooking,otherwise you will loose the green color of spinach.

Add cream(or milk) and mix well and cook for a couple of minutes and remove it from stove.Add lemon juice and give a quick stir.

Serve it hot with roti/kulcha/naan/jeera rice.

And Enjoy!!!

Sankranti - 2011 Preparations

Gone are the days when we saw this 'habbada sadagara' at home. These days life has become so simple(??). You get jaggery, coconut cut into small squares which can be store bought and mixed at home. Even better (or worse?) we get ready made ellu bella mix at your nearby grocery stores in India. Just buy them, pack and distribute it.

I grew up watching my mother 'passionately' cutting bella/jaggery and kobbari/coconut in front of 'eeligemane' (a knife tucked to a wooden plank). This is a job which needs utmost patience. Hours would go by while you wait for these bella and kobbari to become crisp in sun in the month of December! Jan first week would go by making sakkare acchu/sugar figurines. Closer to the day we packed the ellu bella mixture with sakkare acchu and neatly packed it in a box. Keeping this box away from ants was another task!

On the day of Sankranti we eagerly waited for the exchanged ellu bella to taste them. We carefully opened each packet so that the sugar figurines are intact and beemed with smile if we got any special design. The whole month every one in school had sakkare achu in their pencil box.

Now, things have got so mechanical..I wonder if we still have the same spirit to celebrate the festival? hmm.. I have to cut coconut, jaggery coz I don't live in India! so the festive spirit is forced down? (Laughs) either ways I love it!

I am a follower of the 'Bhargavasarma' , a blog written with utmost passion for Astrology and related subjects. The blog wonderfully describes the signifance of "Uttarayana Parvakala"/ Makarasankramana. I would like to re-quote few things for the benefit of the readers of this blog :

What is to be done on this day?

Generally during any Parvakala one has to take sacred bath, perform prayer, Japa, penace, and give Charity/Dana (donation). Those who have lost their parents should also give Tharpana to their forefathers. This day one should desist from sensual pleasures, should not apply oil to the body/head, and should take only vegetarian food.

Shat thila karma: It is said that on this day one should use Thil (Sesame) seeds in six ways viz…Thila Snana, Thila Deepa, Thila Homa, Thila tarpana, Thila Dana and Thila Bhakshana. Worshipping Lord SriMann Narayana and Lord Sun is highly meritorious during this time. Parayana of Vishnu Sahasranama sthothram, Aaditya Hridayam, Purusha Sooktham, Sri Rama Raksha Sthothram and Gayathri Japa, are useful prayers suggested at this time.

Thila Dana: Donating Thil seeds on this day with dakshina is considered as very sacred and meritorious

Vasthra Dana: As per Masa dharma being Pushya Masa donating clothes to a Brahmin is sacred and meritorious.

Kushmanda Dana: Donating of Pumpkin on this day is also meritorious.

                                                   Uttarayana (2011) - Schedule

As per the Almanac followed in South India, Uttarayana Punya-Parvakala (Makara Sankramana) transit of Sun into Makara Raasi (Capricorn) is taking place this year on Friday,14th of January 2011 at 23.40 hrs (11.40 pm) and hence, performing of rites relating to the punya-parvakala will be held on Saturday, 15.01.2011 starting from Sunrise up to 11.40 am. For Sunrise time, city specific please check the local calendars."

Don't forget to pray and feast on Sankranti. Between related sankranti posts on Taste of Mysore can be found here :

1. Ellu Bella
2. Ellu Bella Burfi
3. Sakkare Achu
4. Khara Pongal and Sihi Pongal
5. Uddinahittu Gojju for Pongal
6. Godhi Rave Pongal (for diabetics)
7. Rava Pongal (coming up soon)

SriLakshmi Anand, a reader of this blog wants to share the way she recycles her containers to distribute ellu bella. Take a look at the picture and rest is quick to understand. Simple yet so impressive! Thank you SriLakshmi for sharing your creative side with us.

P.S.
Readers/Bloggers, if you have any preparation posts or celebration posts related to Sankranti, please post your link in the comment section. I would love to know how you celebrate/celebrated Sankranti.

 

Shenga Holige/Peanut-Jaggery Stuffed flat bread

"Wishing all readers and visitors of Taste of Mysore

a very happy, prosperous and joyous new year-2011"

Time flies! how true it is..we lived another year filled with good memories. If there were any unpleasent ones I would like to forget them after taking few lessons from it.  As the new year arrived, it gave TasteofMysore an immense joy as it got mentioned in "A Handy list of Desi Blogs" an article on Times Crest,Jan 1 edition. The article was focused on Food and talked about many types of food options available in India and around the world. It was pleasure reading the article and also felt happy to see that my blog made news in one corner of the magazine by getting listed there. You can log in to Times Crest thro facebook log in and read the article. My hearty thanks to Yosee of JALAN JALAN blog for taking time to write to me about this news. Congratulations to all listed bloggers :). Thank you Times of India :)

And, isnt it a wonderful reason to have some celebration and sweets? So, here you go with a tasty recipe of Shenga Holige/Peanut-Jaggery stuffed flat bread. This is a tasty North Karnataka recipe where groundnuts are grown.  

Ingredients:

Shenga/Peanuts : 1 cup

Bella/Jaggery: 3/4 cup (for optimal sweet version, add equal measure of peanut and jaggery for a sweeter version)

Godhi Hittu/Wheat Flour : 2cups

Alternative: Use Maida/Plain Flour or Chiroti rava for makign holige as shown here step by step

Tuppa/Ghee for brushing on holige

If you like cardamom you can add cardamom powder, since we like it without cardamom I did not add them here.

Method:

1.Fry Peanuts and let them cool. Cooling makes them crunchy. Powder jaggery into small bite size pieces. Mix Peanut and Jaggery. Blend this to a smooth powder. You may get sticky/tacky powder which is fine. Spoon it to a plate. (The jaggery I bought in Singapore was dry and firm so the powder I had was very dry. see picture below)

2. Mix Whole Wheat flour by adding little water at a time to make a stiff yet soft dough.

3. Pinch a lemon sized ball of the dough and roll it down with a rolling pin. Place peanut jaggery mixture in the centre. Stuff as much as the dough can hold!!! It can vary between 1 spoon to 2 spoons. fold the edges of the circle to lock the dough in. Make a ball and press it down gently. Roll it again to make 5" diameter circle.

4.Fry it on the frying pan on both sides. Take it out on a plate and brush the flat bread with ghee generously. Serve hot. and enjoyyy! Maja maadi :)

I receive emails from subscribers/readers requesting a Kannada version of the recipes. How I wish I had more time to do it! I am a busy professional, part time mother (full time in office :( ) and a wife. After fulfilling all these duties, the time I get for my hobby is very less. I will try to type up my recipes in Kannada whenever I get some extra time.

Kannada Version of the recipe:

ಬೇಕಾಗುವ ಸಾಮಗ್ರಿ :

ಶೇಂಗ/ಕಡಲೆಬೀಜ - ೧ ಬಟ್ಟಲು
ಬೆಲ್ಲ - ೩/೪ ಬಟ್ಟಲು (೧ ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಬೆಲ್ಲ ಹಾಕಿದರೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಸಿಹಿ ಹೋಳಿಗೆ ಆಗತ್ತೆ, ನಿಮಗೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಬೇಕಾದಲ್ಲಿ ೧ ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಬೆಲ್ಲ ಹಾಕಿ)
ಗೋಧಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು - ೨ ಬಟ್ಟಲು
ತುಪ್ಪ- ಹೋಳಿಗೆ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಚ್ಚಲಿಕ್ಕೆ
ಏಲಕ್ಕಿ - ಬೇಕಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಕಿ,

ಗೋಧಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟಿನ ಬದಲಿ ಮೈದಾ ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಅಥವಾ ಚಿರೋಟಿ ರವೆ ಕೂಡ ಬಳಸಬಹುದು. ಹೋಳಿಗೆ ತೆಳುವಾಗಿ ಗರಿ ಗರಿಯಾಗಿ  ಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಹೋಳಿಗೆಗೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಎಣ್ಣೆ ಅಥವಾ ತುಪ್ಪ ಹಿಡಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಆರೋಗ್ಯದ ದೃಷ್ಟಿ ಇಂದ ನಾನು ಗೋಧಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ.

ಮಾಡುವ ವಿಧಾನ:

೧.ಶೇಂಗ ಹುರಿದು ತಣ್ಣಗೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. ಬೆಲ್ಲ ಪುಡಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ.
೨. ಚಪಾತಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು/ಗೋಧಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು ಕಳಿಸಿ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ.
೩.ಶೇಂಗ ಹಾಗು ಬೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಜೊತೆಯಾಗಿ mixer ನಲ್ಲಿ ಪುಡಿ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. ಹೀಗೆ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಪುಡಿ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ನಿಮಗೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಅಂಟು ಆಗಿರುವ ಪುಡಿ ಬರಬಹುದು. ಯೋಚನೆ ಇಲ್ಲ.
೪.ಅದನ್ನು ಒಂದು ತಟ್ಟೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ.
೫.ಒಂದು ನಿಂಬೆ ಗಾತ್ರದಷ್ಟು ಹಿಟ್ಟು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಅದನ್ನ ಲತ್ತಿಸಿಕೊಲ್ಲಿ read as Lattisikolli. ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಪುಡಿ ಮಡಿದ ಶೇಂಗ ಮತ್ತು ಬೆಲ್ಲದ ಮಿಶ್ರಣವನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟು ಚಪಾತಿ ಕೊನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮಡಿಸಿರಿ.
೬. ಹೀಗೆ ಮಡಿಸಿದ ಹಿಟ್ಟನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೆ ಚಪಾತಿ ತರಹ ದೊಡ್ಡದಾಗಿ ಒತ್ತಿ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. ಕಾವಲಿ ಕಾಯಿಸಿ ಚಪಾತಿ ಬೇಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. ಬೇಯಿಸಿದ ಚಪಾತಿ ಮೇಲೆ ತುಪ್ಪವನ್ನು ಹಚ್ಚಿ ಬಡಿಸಿ. ತಿಂದು ಮಜಾ ಮಾಡಿ :)

Sending these delicious holiges to Chitra Ammas Kitchen for the blog event Kadlekayi Parishe.