Badusha using Idhayam Mantra

 

Badusha is a traditional Indian Sweet recipe. I have used Idhayam Mantra Groundnut oil and ghee to deep fry the badusha. Idhayam Mantra Groundnut oil is pure and unrefined and good for health. I have used a combination of groundnut oil and ghee as its very good for health and heals joint pains. Traditionally all deep frying was made using groundnut oil in days back during my great grandmother. From the time Idhayam introduced Gingerly oil, my family is using it for cooking. It is pure and heart healthy. You can visit them @Idhayam for more details.

Badusha

No. of Servings : 10

Ingredients

Maida – 2 cups

Salt a pinch

Baking Powder – ½ tsp

Baking Soda – ¼ tsp

Ghee – ¼ cup

Curd – ¼ cup

Cardamom essence – ¼ tsp

Water as required

Idhayam Mantra Groundnut oil for deep frying

         Ghee – 5 tbsp for deep frying

For Sugar Syrup

Sugar – 2 cups

Water – 1 cup

Cardamom essence – ¼ tsp

Orange food colour a pinch

Preparation Method

1.   In a mixing bowl add maida, salt, baking powder and baking soda and mix well.

2.   Add ghee, curd and cardamom essence and mix well.

3.   Make stiff dough with required water.

4.   Do not knead too much, just mix in slightly.

5.   Cover with a lid and let it rest for 15 minutes.

6.   Meanwhile, in a kadai, add sugar and water and bring to a boil and continue boiling till the sugar syrup is one string consistency. Add cardamom essence and food colour and mix well. Keep aside.

7.   Mix the dough slightly and make balls, flatten it and make a thumb impression in the center.

8.   In a kadai, heat Idhayam Mantra groundnut oil and ghee and deep fry the badusha till golden brown.

9.   Add them to the warm sugar syrup.

10. Badusha is ready to serve.

Ulunthankali / Urad Dal Kali

A traditional South Indian dish with high nutritional value. Its mainly prepared for young girls and women. The main purpose of consuming this is to strengthen the hip bones for ladies. This recipe of mine was published in the magazine "Discover Chennai" http://www.discovercity.in/. Photo Courtesy my younger sister Angeline Paul.

UlunthanKali

No. of Serving : 7-8

Ingredients

Split Black Urad Dal - 1 cup

Raw Rice - 4 tbsp

Palm Jaggery / Karupatti - 2 cups (crushed and tightly packed)

Wood Pressed Gingerly Oil / Virgin Gingerly Oil - 3/4 cup

Water - 4 cups

Dry Ginger Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt a pinch

Preparation Method

1. Wipe clean the dal and rice with a kitchen towel.

2. Dry roast dal and rice in a non stick kadai or heavy base aluminium kadai over a medium flame till a nice aroma comes. This takes about 8-9 minutes. Cool it and grind to a fine powder. Sieve it. 1 cup dal and 4 tbsp rice will yield 1 1/2 cup of powdered mixture.

3. Add a pinch of salt and dry ginger powder to the dal mixture and mix well.

4. Heat 4 cups of water in a pan and add the crushed palm jaggery / karupatti. Stir to dissolve and bring it to a boil. Filter and keep aside.

5. Heat a non stick kadai or heavy base aluminium kadai and add wood pressed gingerly / virgin gingerly oil.

6. Add the dal powder mixture and keep stirring for about 3 minutes.

7. Slowly and carefully add the filtered jaggery liquid little by little, stir continuously to avoid formation of lumps.

8. Keep stirring the mixture continuously for about 12 minutes till it thickens and forms kali.

9. Serve hot.

Notes:

Split black urad dal has more nutrients than the plain urad dal.

Split black urad dal fries up well than the whole black urad dal.

Wood pressed gingerly oil is good for health. It is widely available in shops nowadays. For ulunthankali they traditionally use wood pressed gingerly oil because it has a cooling effect on the body. Regular gingerly oil can also be used. Avoid other oils. Ghee is not necessary.

Dry ginger powder is optional but adds to flavour and also useful for digestion. Some of the palm jaggery / karupatti comes with ginger powder added to it.

Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

An easy and quick fix side dish to serve with rice and roti. Very nutritious too with the veggies. Great for a quick lunch box package and good for a light night dinner.

Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

No.of Serving : 2

Ingredients

Chicken Sausages – 4

Garlic – 4 cloves

Onion – 1 medium

Tomato – 1 medium

Capsicum – 1 medium

Chilly powder – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation Method

1.    Heat oil in a kadai, add chopped chicken sausage. Stir fry for 5 minutes.

2.    Then add finely chopped garlic and fry for a minute.

3.    Then add chopped onion and fry till golden brown.

4.    Then add chopped capsicum and fry for 2 minutes.

5.    Then add chopped tomatoes and fry for 2 minutes.

6.    Then add chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt.

7.    Stir fry for 5 minutes.

8.    Serve hot.

Eggless Cake

"Merry Christmas" , I baked a eggless cake for this Christmas and it turned out perfect, hence liked to share it with you all folks. 

Eggless Cake

No. of Serving : 7 inch diameter cake

Ingredients

Butter - 100 gms

Sugar - 1 1/4 cups

Curd - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Maida - 2 cups

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Preparation Method

1. Sieve maida, baking powder and baking soda. Keep aside.

2. Whisk curd and milk to a smooth mixture. Keep aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix melted butter, sugar and curd and mix well till the sugar dissolves.

4. Add vanilla essence and mix well.

5. Add the maida mix little by little and mix well but gently.

6. Grease a 7 inch diameter cake mould with butter and dust it with maida.

7. Put the cake mixture in the greased mould and bake in a preheated oven 170 degree for 35 minutes. Check after 25 minutes if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is done.

Note:

You can also add tutti fruiti to the cake mixture.

Red Aval / Poha Pongal

Red rice aval / poha has got a lot of health benefits, its gluten free and rich in iron, vitamin B, protein and carbohydrates.

Red Aval / Poha Pongal

No. of Serving : 3

Ingredients

Red Aval / Poha - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Cashew few

Raisins few

Salt a pinch

Preparation Method

1. Mix jaggery with little water, bring to boil, cool and filter it, keep aside.

2. Bring about 3 cups of water to lukewarm heat and turn off the flame, soak the aval/ poha in it for 5 minutes. Drain it.

3. In a pressure pan add milk, water, salt and soaked aval/poha and pressure cook for 4 whistle.

4. When pressure subsides, add jaggery mixture, cardamom powder and the nuts and raisins fried in ghee.

5. Serve warm.

Note:

You can also add coconut milk instead of regular milk.

You can also add grated coconut fried in ghee.

Bread Chicken Croquettes

A delicious evening snack for all age group on rainy days. A healthy snack for school kids when they come home hungry.

Bread Chicken Croquettes

No. of Croquettes : 20

Ingredients for Croquettes

Sandwich Bread - 20 slices

Maida paste thick - 2 tbsp

Egg - 1

Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Ingredients for filling

Chicken breast meat - 250 gms

Onion - 1 medium

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Yogurt - 5 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil -3 tbsp

Capsicum - 1 medium

Carrot - 1 medium

Preparation Method

For the filling

1. Cut the chicken breast meat into tiny bits.

2. Marinate the chicken bits for half hour with yogurt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.

3. In a kadai heat oil and add finely chopped onion and fry till golden brown.

4. Then add ginger garlic paste and fry till a nice aroma comes.

5. Add the marinated chicken and cook for 5 minutes, add a little water and cover and cook till the chicken is done.

6. Add garam masala and finely chopped capsicum and grated carrot and cook till the carrots are cooked.

7. Turn of the stove and let the mixture cool down.

To make the Croquettes

1. Mix maida with little water and make a thick paste, keep aside.

2. Beat egg and add pepper and salt and keep aside.

3. Cut the corners of the bread slices and roll out with the chapati roller and flatten it.

4. Take each slice and damp it with little water with the finger tips and keep the chicken mixture in the center and apply the maida paste on all the borders. Roll and seal it.

5. Repeat for all the slices.

To bake the Croquettes

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees at mode "bake" for 10 minutes.

2. Place the croquettes on the baking tray and egg wash each with the egg mixture.

3. Bake for 20 minutes in mode "bake" at 180 degrees.

4. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Nungu Sarbath / Palm Fruit Sarbath

Nungu is the fruit of the palm tree. Its seasonal only available during summer. It's a coolant for the body and very nutritious. It can be eaten as the whole fruit after peeling the skin off or we can make sarbath by adding milk to it.

Nungu's health benefits are : it prevents chicken pox, improves digestion, keeps the body cool, good for acidity problem, it is high in potassium and its good for liver and spleen disorders.

Nungu Sarbath / Palm Fruit Sarbath

No. of Serving : 4

Ingredients

Nungu / palm fruit - 10

Milk - 300 ml

Water - 100 ml

Sugar - 10 tsp

Rose essence with colour - 5 drops

Preparation Method

1. Peel the skin off from the nungu / palm fruit and mash it.

2. Add to the mashed nungu, boiled and cooled milk and water.

3. Add rose essence and sugar , mix well.

4. Serve chill.

Notes

Only rose essence will suit the nungu / palm fruit.

You can add essence with colour or without colour.