Onam Ashamshagal - A mini lunch

My heartfelt Onam wishes to all fellow malayali's in the blogosphere. Since my father hails from palakkad, I am half keralite. Nonetheless, onam is celebrated with equal grandeur at our place.

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala and is also celebrated to welcome King Mahabali - the most beloved king of kerala. It is believed that on this day his soul visits Kerala. To welcome him, ladies draw colorful flower patterns (pookalam) and prepare variety of dishes with 'Avial' and 'Paladaprathaman' topping the must have list.

One onam event that I enjoy the most is 'Kaikotti kali'. This event is usually held in a Guruvayoorapan temple near our place. It's a kind of group dance where women attired in the traditional gold bordered saree, dance around a pookalam & vilakku, clapping their hands to a song in rhythmic manner. Sometimes the first round of dance is performed by little girls in beautiful pavadas (a traditional skirt & blouse).

This year I couldnt cook much as I had to devote substantial time to little K's morning activities. And since it was only me and mother in law for lunch, I managed a rather mini 'saddhi' with a pumpkin sambhar, raw mango carrot salad, flat beans subzi and dates payasam.

Raw mango & Carrot salad:

Carrot (Grated) - 3 small

Raw Mango (Skinned & Grated) - 1

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 3 to 4

Asafoetida - a pinch

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Mix grated carrot & raw mango. Add salt to taste. Temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida.

Flat beans (Papdi) Subzi:

Flat beans - 2 cups (finely chopped)

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Black gram dal - 1/4 tsp

Chana Dal - 1/4 tsp

For the powder:

Chana Dal - 2 tbsp

Red chillies - 2

Curry leaves - 2 to 3

Dry coconut - 1 tbsp

Preparation:

In a pot splutter mustard seeds, add all the dals and chopped flat beans. Cover the pot with a vessel containing little water. Meanwhile for making the powder, roast all the ingredients (except dry coconut) in very little oil. Dry grind the same with dry coconut into fine powder. Once the beans is cooked, remove the vessel and leave the pot on slow fire till all the water evaporates. Once the beans is relatively dry, add the powder & mix well.

Dates Payasam:

Dates - 10 to 12

Ghee - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp (alternatively jaggery can be used)

Milk - 1 cup

Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup

Cardomom powder - a pinch

Preparation:

Soak dates in warm water for about half an hour. Grind them into a smooth paste. Heat a non stick pan, melt ghee and add the dates paste. Cook for about 5 minutes. Thereafter switch off the gas. Add sugar, milk, fresh cream and cardomom powder (I added the pod). Mix well and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

Give this a try...very simple but healthy meal.

Golpapdi

Here's another dessert from the land of Gujarat. Of late, I have been making lot of desserts and most of them for the first time. Golpapdi is one such dish. I have always enjoyed those made by my gujarati neighbours. Its a perfect tea time snack - mildly sweet and slightly crunchy like a cookie.

I picked this recipe from Tarla Dalal's baby cookbook. According to her, its always a hit with teething babies (I havent tried it on little K yet. These days he tries to gum every possible stuff - from his toys, our shoulders to my big toe!).

Golpapdi is full of energy, carbohydrates, calcium, iron and Vitamin A. Beware of the quantity of ghee though :)

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Ghee - 3/4 cup (unmelted)

Jaggery - 1 cup (grated)

Cardamom (Elaichi) powder - 1/4 tsp

Dessicated coconut - 1 tsp (Optional)

Poppy seeds - 1 tsp

1. Grease a thali / plate / tray with ghee. Sprinkle poppy seeds and set aside.

2. Melt ghee in a pan. Add whole wheat flour. Stir till the mixture turns golden brown in color and loses its raw smell.

3. Remove from flame. Add jaggery, cardamom powder and dessicated coconut. Stir well immediately.

4. Once it mixes well (and jaggery melts) pour it into the greased thali and spread it evenly with the help of a ladle or base of a small bowl.

5. Cut into diamond shaped pieces while still warm.

6. Store in air tight container.

Semiya Kheer

'Rain rain go to Spain' or wherever - was how i greeted the rain gods early this monsoon. Come on, I didnt want to miss those evening walks with hubby and little K. Besides K was just beginning to get a hang of what dogs look like, how trees sway and how my momma drools at the sight of the cake shop...LOL

Well, eventually the rains did an about turn and mumbaites writhed like a fish out of water with daily powercuts and watercuts. My hubby used to glare at me everytime he had to bathe in cold water. Oh come on, it can't be because of me.

And yes finally the good news. It had been pouring since the last three days only for people (and news channels) to wonder whether there will be a encore of 26/7. Alas! men will be men.

This weekend, the weather had become extremely pleasant. It was raining through out and the temperature suddenly dipped. I remembered my school / college days when the only thing I loved to do when it rained was to sit by the window, put on warm clothes, sip chai and read a book. Now I had no time to stand and stare (or eat!) for we had guests over and I was busy making tea & onion bhajiyas (That's another story, another post).

Late in the evening I craved for something sweet. Kheer perhaps...warm and mildly sweet...to sit by the window, stare and eat. I chanced upon the vermicilli packet in the pantry and quickly got into the task.

Here's what you need....(serve size- 3)

Vermicilli - 50 gms

Milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 5 tbsps

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Few saffron strands

Almonds, Cashews, Pistas - slivered

Fry the slivered dry fruits in ghee and set aside. Fry vermicilli in ghee till golden brown. Add milk little by little till the vermicilli is completly cooked. Switch off the gas and then add sugar. Garnish with saffron strands and dry fruits.

Few points:

1. This method is for those who love thick, creamy kheer. If you like the consistency to be more watery then you can cook the vermicilli in water and then add to the milk.

2. The reason behind adding sugar after removing the vessel from the flame is that, sometimes (in rare cases) the milk might curdle. Anyways, since the kheer will be hot, sugar will dissolve.

3. You can add more sugar as per your taste. I like my kheer to be mildly sweet.

4. You can also add raisins to the above list of dry fruits ( I am not too fond of raisins in kheer)

Doodhi Halwa

I am a halwa buff. Carrot halwa, doodhi (bottle gourd) halwa, moong dal halwa...name it and i love it. However never attempted to make them myself. I have always liked it the way my mum made . Today i decided to try my hand at it.

So here's the doodhi halwa...which i managed to make in about 20 minutes. I took about 1/2 a doodhi (medium sized) to make a cup of halwa (since i was preparing it for the first time... decided to keep the portions small)

Ingredients:

Doodhi (Bottle gourd)
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 4 tsps
Milk - 1/4 litre
Sugar - 5 tsp (can vary as per your requirement)
Rose essence
Cashews

Remove seeds and grate doodhi. Melt ghee in a pan. Add the grated doodhi and saute till it turns translucent.

Add a little milk. Let it cook till the milk gets absorbed. Then add some more milk. Let it cook for some time again. Then add all the milk and let it cook till the entire mixture blends in a smooth consistency. (This process of adding milk little by little is to make it more creamy).

Then add sugar and cook for some more time till it blends into one smooth mixture. Top it off with a drop of rose essence and season it with chopped cashews fried in ghee.

I did not add any food colour though you can add some green food colouring to make it look authentic.