Pure Serendipity

Recipes for Corn Usli, Peanuts- Alsi seeds Ladoo and Paneer Bhurji

I made an incredible discovery when I landed at this blog - http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/ on cooking. 

The website is a true haven for people interested in cooking vegetarian recipes. 

There are a variety of recipes that suit my interests particularly - lot of dry chutney powders, vegetable curries and wet chutneys, those that provide an insight into many traditional aspects of cooking. The blog is authored by a very senior person - Prathiba Rao who has served her family's gastronomical interests for over 30 years. 

By true serendipity, I landed at this blog and ever since the day of discovery, I have been itching to get back home in the evening post office work and aerobics classes, to try out some recipes from the website. 

I tried two of them from the blog on the same day in a span of two hours in pretty much a parallel computing and execution mode. 

I prepared Corn Usli and Flaxseed/Peanut Laddoo. Please feel free to access the complete recipes with illustrations at - 

1) Corn Usli - http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/corn-usli/

2) Peanuts Flax seed Laddoos - http://cuisineindia.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/peanut-flax-seeds-laddoo/

The Corn Usli, I used inside a dosa for filling and this made a superbly yummy combination. 

The Peanuts Flax seed Laddoo, I served as a prasadham for Ganesha idol at home, before his Visarjan (immersion) marking the end of Chathurthi festival. 

I used onion instead of mustard in Corn Usli as mentioned in the link above. I substituted Chat masala with Aamchoor powder in the list of ingredients. 

In making Flaxseed Peanuts Laddoo, I used lesser ghee (marked as optional in the recipe) than mentioned. I must say that I had to put some efforts to roll out the laddoos, they weren't as neat as seen in the source blog. My Philips mixer has got old after several years of use and I had to grind ingredients in batches.

There are the usual recipes of Dosa with Molagai Podi, Coconut Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Pudina/coriander Chutney and Sambar/Kothsu as accompaniments, then there is Masala Dosa with typical Potato masala as stuffing. I add little variations to dosa at home.

Below are pictures of Paneer Bhurji and Dosa roll using it as a filling I made during last weekend -

For Paneer Bhurji (quantity serves as stuffing for about 8-10 dosas) 
You need - 

250 g Paneer 

1 big onion 

1 ripe tomato (medium sized) 

5 green chillies 

Turmeric powder, chilli powder, dhania powder, aamchoor, garam masala and salt 

1 tsp Cumin seeds

Lots of coriander (finely chopped) 

Oil - 2 full tbsps

In a pan, add oil and wait for it to heat. Add cumin seeds, finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped onion and saute well. Add turmeric powder (1/2 tsp), 1 tsp chilli powder and 2 tsp dhania powder. Add finely chopped tomato with its juice into nicely fried onion in the pan. Mix well and add salt to taste. Saute well until the raw smell of tomato goes, the tomato and onion must shrink to make a nice mixture. 

Take 250 grams of cottage cheese (paneer, I usually buy it fresh from Karthik Mithai shop on New Tippasandra Main Road) and crumble it into small pieces using your hands. I personally feel there is no need to grate paneer. Use your both hands well to crumble up the paneer block. 

Mix well all the contents in pan and leave it for 3-4 minutes on less flame. Add 1 tsp of aamchoor powder and 2-3 specks of Garam Masala powder. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves, give a final mix and turn off the stove. 

The bhurji can be served with roti and a simple dal. This is a terrific combination for dinner. 

To give a twist to our usual dosa fare, we can use the bhurji  as a filling. Each filled dosa can be rolled over, cut into pieces and served hot with mint coriander chutney. 

Eating paneer occasionally/in moderation (say at least 2-3 times a month) is good and highly essential as it is a dairy product and provides the quintessential proteins, calcium and phosphorus.

In the last one week, there has been lot of learning as far as foodie's sphere is concerned, lots of experiments in the kitchen that turned successful and many more recipes in the "to-do" list. I would like to end with a note of thanks to Prathiba Aunty for the precious information she is sharing on her blog - Indian Food Court. 

Baking with Zest

Recipe for Orange Marmalade Cake 

After procuring a long list of baking essentials from Institue of Baking and Cake Art, Bangalore, I baked an orange marmalade cake during the weekend. 

(courtesy:  http://vegbowl.blogspot.com/2011/05/marmalade-bundt-cake.html)

I used a 6" round cake tin for baking the above cake. The procedure I followed is as prescribed in the above link/blog post with a change in that I did not add two eggs recommended. There were no eggs at home and after finishing the routine household chores marked for the weekend, I had no drive to go out to a shop and fetch them. I am sure I missed that extra fluff the addition of eggs provide me, nevertheless the cake came out nice golden brown and well baked. Water was added to get the cake batter to right consistency in the absence of eggs. Also, I added little extra (25g additionally) butter to the cake batter. 

I preheated the oven to 180'C and baked at this temperature for 35 minutes duration, a knife inserted came out clean as a check. I baked the cake post lunch around 3.30-4.30 pm and I must admit it turned out to be the perfect accompaniment for hot evening tea. 

Note: 

1) I used Kissan Orange Marmalade Jam to make this cake and I would like to point out that it has a strong smell of preservatives and taste of stabilising agents. This affects the taste of the cake mildly and can be noticed upon very keen taste analysis. Therefore, request readers to procure any other brand of orange marmalade jam and try out the cake. 

2) Here's a link to understand what is orange zest and how to acquire it - http://www.ehow.com/video_4790427_make-orange-zest.html . This link helped me lots.

To the set of gadgets in my kitchen, I added a NOVA N62M 250 watts, six speed hand mixer with whipping blades and dough hook attachments purchased from IBCA, Bangalore for Rs 850. This electrical hand mixer reduced my effort largely when folding in ingredients to make the cake batter. 

Below is the picture of a cake piece with a slice of orange on its top - 

I know it is a very very poor image, taken on Nokia 3110C mobile camera. I literally pulled out the last piece of cake to take a picture before the contents on the plate vanished.

The NOVA hand mixer N62M, my small, new baking wonder gadget looks like this  - 

Thanks to Mallika - owner of Veg Bowl blog on cooking for lending me this wonderful and zesty Orange Marmalade Cake recipe. 

Puttu with Kadala Curry - my strong favorite

Recipe for Puttu and Kadala Curry
Preface 

During each summer vacation, when I would return home from college, even before I unpacked my stuff, my mother would ask me what I would like her to prepare. With twinkling eyes and an effervescent smile, I would immediately utter - Puttu and Kadala curry. 

Puttu is a dish from Kerala made of rice flour. Traditionally, it is made by steaming rice flour on a rocket-like apparatus - a pot containing water with a long cylindrical tube attached to its mouth. The cylindrical structure contains the moist rice flour mixture and  is covered with a lid with holes to let steam escape. 

Kadala curry is the side dish for Puttu, a gravy of black channa. Typically, people have this dish for breakfast and pair up puttu with ripe bananas going the simplest way. 

On Onam day - Sep 9, 2011, I made Puttu and Kadala Curry along with Palada Pradhaman payasam. The festival did not fetch a holiday from work and I had no time to prepare the complete Sadhya/feast. 

My mother got me a cute looking apparatus much like the Aladdin's magic lamp to prepare Puttu. This small cup shaped apparatus takes the rice flour (puttu mixture to be steamed). It can be placed on top of a pressure cooker or any steam vent/source. The steam from the pressure cooker cooks Puttu in about five minutes. 

Below is a picture that shows the apparatus at work in my kitchen -

Puttu preparation

All we need - Puttu podi, grated coconut, warm water with little salt added to it.

Puttu podi or rice flour used to make Puttu is available in most stores in major South Indian cities. In Bangalore, brands like - Double Horse, Nirapara and Manna are available. I prefer Nirapara puttu podi, and there are two versions I buy - white rice flour and red rice flour. I prefer mixing them and so my puttu comes out a little reddish in color and not snow white. 

I usually mix equal quantities of white and red rice flour in a flat, big plate. Mean time, a glass of water with 2 tsp of salt is heated on stove till little hot. This water is sprinkled over the rice flour to make it moist, ensure that you don't over wet or create lumps. This moist puttu podi is left aside for 10-15 minutes.

Place the mini plate with holes inside the cup apparatus at its bottom. Add a layer of grated coconut on this plate. Fill the inside of cup with moist puttu podi. Add another layer of grated coconut on top of the rice flour. Close the cup with the lid. Add few glasses of water to an empty pressure cooker and heat it till a prominent plume of steam comes out. The set up is ready, place the lamp on the pressure cooker, right where you would mormally place the whistle.

Leave the set up for 5-7 minutes. Remove the cup from pressure cooker and invert its contents onto a plate.
The puttu, if cooked well, will fall as a single entity without breaking up. 

Repeat this process to make as many pieces of Puttu as required. 

The volume of Puttu this puttu maker makes in a single attempt is less, therefore this works well for a small family.The conventional rocket apparatus would save lots of time if you were making for many people.

Kadala Curry

To soak overnight (preferably 8 hrs atleast)

1 cup black channa (black chickpeas)

1/4 cup green gram whole (this helps in adding volume to the gravy - optional)

To begin with, cook soaked black channa under pressure (5-6 whistles).

A pinch of turmeric, salt and little (1/4 tsp) ghee is added to channa cooking it in pressure cooker. Ghee ensures that channa is soft and well-cooked and leaves a nice aroma as well.

For Gravy

1. 5-6 red chillies (for medium spicy)

2. 3 tbsps full coriander seeds (dhaniya seeds)

3. 2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)

4. 4-5 garlic pods  (add more if you like garlic)

5. 2 thin slices of ginger 

6. 1 medium sized onion (cut into big chunks)

7. 1 medium sized tomato (chopped into big chunks)

8. few sprigs of coriander

9. 3-4 full tbsps of grated coconut

Dry roast gravy ingredients 1-3 in a pan. Once the chillies change color and leave an aroma, transfer the contents of pan to mixer. Now in little oil, fry onion chunks with cut garlic and ginger until the raw smell goes. Add a pinch of turmeric and little salt. Once onion chunks are fried, add tomato pieces and saute well till the raw smell goes. Add coriander leaves. Transfer this to the mixer, allow to cool. Add grated coconut without frying. Add little water and grind well in mixer to get a smooth paste.

In the kadai

All we need- 1 small sized onion finely chopped, tamarind water, cumin seeds (jeera), oil, salt, chilli powder (if required), garam masala powder, finely chopped coriander for garnish, pressure cooked black channa, prepared gravy in mixer.

Process 

Add 3-4 tsp of oil, add little jeera/cumin seeds when the oil is hot. Add finely chopped onion into the wok and fry till golden brown. Add salt to taste.

Transfer the cooked black channa to the wok. Give it a good boil.

Transfer the gravy in mixer to the wok. Stir well and check for any adjustments in salt and spice.

Take a gooseberry sized ball of tamarind and makes its extract in luke warm water. Add this tamarind extract to the boiling mixture in the wok. Give the contents of the wok another boil.

Add just one pinch of garam masala powder. Garnish with finely chopped coriander and turn off the stove. Do not boil for a prolonged interval after adding tamarind extract, this increases sourness of gravy. Likewise, do not heat excessively after adding garam masala powder, it leads to loss of aroma.

Kadala curry is ready to be served with puttu. This gravy can also be served along side Idiyappam and Appam.

Footnote

My friends' mother has shared the recipe for kadala curry sans coconut in her blog with pictures, am sure i that will help too, please refer-
http://lakshmisindiancurry.blogspot.com/2010/08/kadalai-curry-black-chickpeas-curry.html

This is my first attempt in writing down a breakfast/main dish recipe. I work with hand approximations and barely use the spoon. So it was quite an ordeal to trace back/recollect how much tsp/tbsp of the ingredient I actually added. And for illustrations, I do not stop to click pictures while cooking. And even if I do, they are on my unimpressive Nokia 3110C mobile camera. 

I really appreciate the patience and efforts with which my friends' mother and owners of many food blogs I follow post their recipes with clearer details of ingredients and better illustrations I hope to churn out more recipes with more precise details and lively illustrations in future.

Additions to my Baking Paraphernalia

Information about IBCA, Bangalore, important for bakers in Bangalore

On Saturday, Sep 10, 2011, I made a visit along with my husband to the Institute of Baking and Cake Art, Bangalore. I wanted to purchase a few items that will help me bake better and more. The institute is well known in Bangalore for providing excellent courses in baking for both novices and experts. Through Suma's blog - Cakes and More, I learnt that the institute sells all essential elements for baking goodies.

I am providing the link to the post on Suma's blog below - http://sumarowjee.blogspot.com/2010/05/institute-of-baking-and-cake-art.html

The institute is tucked near and behind the Richmond Road flyover, on Mission road, in the direction one would take from Richmond Circle to approach KH road/Lalbagh, in the first floor of an old building.

When I first purchased my Microwave/Convection/Grill combi oven, I grabbed an aluminium square cake tin, an aluminium brownie tray, a hand/manual egg beater (coil shaped) and a sieve from a nearby Casio supermarket on New Tippsandra road. Most shops in Bangalore are well stocked with basic supplies like baking powder, cocoa powder, vanilla essence and self raising flour. With a limited inventory to start with, I made vanilla butter sponge cake, dates and fruit cake and chocolate brownies a couple of times, over and over again. All of the above were a thorough hit with my friends at work and my relatives.

I wanted to experiment more now and mature as a baker at home. Suma's blog provides diverse baking recipes with appropriate illustrations and can bring out the budding Nigella in each one of us.

Below is the list I prepared before hitting IBCA stores. It helped me as I did not test the patience of vendors at the store, the customer who went in before me had driven them nuts by guessing indefinitely on what she wanted.

1) Round cake tin - aluminium - 6 inch
2) Round cake tin - aluminium - 8 inch
3) Bundt cake tin - aluminium
4) Muffin moulds (single * 6) made of aluminium
5) Pie mould with removable base in aluminium
6) Bread tin (with lid made of tin) - makes bread 400g
7) Chocolate chips - 100g
8) Chocolate vermicelli - 100g (I bought the chocolate brown colored ones, these are available in many other colors and flavors too)
9) Cream of Tartar - 100g (this is the minimum quantity available)
10) Wheat Gluten 100g (minimum quantity available)
11) Gloripan yeast - 100 g
12) Morde compound dark chocolate (bar)
13) Morde compound milk chocolate (bar)
14) Vanilla super essence
15) Almond essence
16) Cling wrap foil (1 box)
17) Butter paper (5pcs)

Items 16 and 17 can be procured from most shops, I added them to the above list for convenience.
The purchase of all above items listed was made for a total of Rs 1300.

To have an insight into the courses that IBCA offers to a commoner, please refer to - http://www.ibcablr.com/school.html


Baker smart is the online stores of IBCA, Bangalore - http://www.ibcablr.com/bakersmart.html

You may refer to this link to have an idea of what the stores at IBCA sells, but the listing here is not exhaustive. Lots more is on offer at the stores, it is good to visit the place in person if you stay in Bangalore.

Caramel - is the cake store/outlet of IBCA located in Shanti Nagar - http://www.ibcablr.com/cakeorder.html. One can place an order for cake at this site as per ones' requirements.

IBCA can be followed on Facebook, they have a blog - iBake and a issue a publication - Bakery World  that provide vital information related to baking.

I would like to thank Suma (http://sumarowjee.blogspot.com/) heartily for providing me the right direction both in baking lessons and in procurement of baking essentials. Now, the baking mania shall begin!