KARTHIKAI - NEIYYAPPAM, PORI ....

‘Kaarthigai’ is the festival celebrated in South India on the full moon day (Poornima) falling in the month of Vrishchigam (between 15 Nov & 15 Dec). This festival celebrates the brother-sister relationship – ladies light lamps in front of the house and in their yard / balcony and pray for the welfare of their brothers and offer Neyyappam, pori and adai as ‘neivedhyam’.

Appam

Neyyappam / Appam is prepared on most functions and pujas and festivals like on Kaarthigai and Janmashtami. It used to be fried in ghee as the name suggests but calorie-conscious ladies these days fry it in oil.

Makes around 30 appams

Ingredients –

Raw rice – 2 cups

Jaggery – 2 cups

Wheat flour – 2 tbsp

Banana – 2

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Fresh coconut – 1 ½ tbsp (cut in thin strips or grated)

Ghee – 2-3 tsp

Ghee / oil for frying

Method –

Soak rice in water for 2 hours.

Dissolve jaggery pieces in minimum quantity of hot water and set aside.

Wash the rice and drain off the water.

Grind the rice in a mixer, adding the jaggery water instead of water and grind well. Add the wheat flour and mashed banana and blend well.

Add coconut pieces/ grated coconut and cardamom powder and melted gee and mix well.

Set aside for at least 4-5 hours.

The batter should have a pouring consistency – almost that of besan batter for bhajji.

Heat oil in an appam mould (paniyaram mould) and pour one tbsp of batter into each semicircle.

Start turning them one by one - after a minute.

Allow to brown on medium heat. Turn them over once again so that the other half also browns.

Poke them with a knitting needle / pointed knife – if the batter doesn’t stick to it, you can remove them one by one and spread on a tissue paper to soak the oil.

Tips –

If you turn the appams soon you will get the appams in the shape of spheres. If you are not able to as it sticks to the mould, rest satisfied with hemispheres!

Also see that you fill each hole of the mould with the batter to get spherical ones.

Invest in a non stick appam mould – it is worth it.

If the jaggery is in excess, appams will stick to the mould.

If the appams turn out hard, add a piece of mashed banana and mix well.

The appams will turn out better if the batter is kept in the fridge overnight and taken out and left for a couple of hours to attain room temperature.

Add a tsp of urad dal to the rice while soaking it for softer appams. Alternately grind for appam in same the grinder / mixer soon after grinding for dosa/idli.

Don’t be overwhelmed by these tips – your appams will turn out good in all probability.

Nel Pori

nel pori (malar

Ingredients –

Puffed rice (nel pori) (cleaned) – 51/2 - 6 cups

Jaggery – 1 heaped cup

Coconut – cut in teeth-like strips - 2 tbsp

Water – 2-3 tbsp

Method

Take 3 tbsp of water in a big kadhai.

Add the jaggery and heat till it dissolves.

Add the coconut pieces and continue to heat till the syrup becomes really thick.

Lower the flame and add the nel pori and 

stir well.

Turn off the heat.

Cool for 10 minutes.

Wet your palm and make balls with the still hot pori.

When cool, store in an airtight container.

Tips –

Cleaning the 'nel pori' is time-consuming - so buy it and clean it in advance. In North India it is available only during Diwali - so buy it then itself. 

To test the syrup, add a spoon of the thickened syrup to half a cup of water - you should be able to roll it up as a marble.

If you are unable to make laddoos with the pori, store in container just like that – it will be equally tasty!

Aval Pori

 The same ingredients (except the pori variety) and same procedure as for nel pori is to be followed for ‘aval pori’ too.

Adai

Ingredients
Raw rice - 2 cups
Urad dal (with skin) - 1/2 cup
Chana dal - 1/2 cup
Tuvar dal - 2 tbsp
Whole red chilli - 1- 2
Pepper corns - 8-10
Green chilli - 1
Asafetida - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - 10-12
Oil

Method
Soak the rice and dals together for 2 hours.
Grind the mixture coarsely in a mixer along with red chilli, green chilli, and pepper corns.
Sprinkle asafetida.
Add salt and chopped curry leaves and mix well.
Set aside for 6-7 hours.
To make adais, heat tava and grease it with oil.
Make a thick adai (as thick as uthappa) and add oil all around it.
Allow it to cook on medium flame.
When it is ready, flip it and add anothe spoon of oil all around it.
Cook the second side too.
Remove when done.

Tips
The adai should be cooked well - don't be in a hurry. 
It will taste great with more oil - but you know where to draw the line, don't you?

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.

MIXTURE

South Indian ‘mixture’ and Maharashtrian ‘chivda’ and North Indian ‘farsan’ are all similar yet a little different. And as the name suggests, it is a mixture of several items.

Agreed it takes time to prepare it but the taste makes the efforts worthwhile!

Ingredients

Groundnuts – ¾ cup

Pottukadalai (Futana dal) – ¾ cup

Aval (thick poha) – 1 cup

Curry leaves – 3-4 tbsp

Besan (gram flour) – 2 cups

Rice flour – 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder – 2-3 tsp

Asafetida – ¼ tsp

Cashew nuts (optional) – 2-3 tbsp

Oil for frying

Method

Microwave the groundnuts for 2 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir them and again microwave them for another 2 minutes. Set aside.

Microwave the ‘pottukadalai’ for 2-3 minutes – till it is crisp. Set aside.

Use 1 cup besan for making ‘omappodi’ and the other cup for ‘boondi’.

Omappodi (sev) – To one cup of besan, add 1 tsp of rice flour, ½ tsp red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Add water little by little and make a dough which is a bit loose so that it falls through the ‘omappodi naazhi’ easily.

Heat oil in a kadhai.

Fill the dough in ‘nazhi’ (chakli maker) using the ‘omappodi’ plate.

Squeeze it in circular motion into the hot oil. Lower the heat.

After a minute, flip the omappodi. After another minute, when both sides are uniformly golden brown, drain off from the oil.

Prepare omappodi with the entire dough. Set aside.

Boondi – To one cup of besan, add ½ tsp of rice flour, and salt and mix well. Add water to make a smooth, thick batter.

Use boondi-maker to make boondis in hot oil and drain off. Set aside.

Use a big steel strainer to fry ‘aval’ (poha) in batches – take 1 tbsp aval in the strainer and dip it in the hot oil in a kadhai and drain off onto a tissue when done. Repeat with the entire ‘aval’. Sprinkle required salt and mix well.

Next take a tbsp of curry leaves in the strainer and dip in hot oil till they turn crisp. Drain off onto a tissue.

Fry cashew nuts till light brown.

Now all items are ready to be mixed.

Heat 2-3 tsp oil in a big kadhai. Add 2-3 tsp red chilli powder, asafetida and salt (required for the micro waved groundnuts and ‘pottukadalai’) and mix well. First add groundnuts and pottukadalai and curry leaves. Mix well.

Next add the boondi, omappodi, aval and cashew nuts and mix well. Check the taste.

If you feel it needs to be more spicy, heat 1 tsp of oil, add red chilli powder and add it to the mixture and mix well.

Tips
Use of strainer for frying 'aval' and curry leaves makes the job easier and saves time as well.

By the time you are done with the frying, you will be tired! To save some of the hard work, I do a bit of cheating – I use ‘boondi’ available at the store. The rest are home-made!

If you want to increase the quantity, you can ‘adulterate’ the mixture with 1 cup of ‘murmura’ micro-waved for a minute – it will taste as good but won’t look like the authentic South Indian ‘mixture’.
                                                
© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.

RAVA LADOO

At home, 'Rava ladoo' has been considered a poor cousin of all Diwali sweets  – in spite of the addition of cashews and raisins! My father loved it and he’d go for it; the rest of us would ignore it for better options like Gulab Jamuns, Jangiri, and Laddu. Very rarely would Rava ladoo be made at home just like that. Believe me - it tastes good, has very little ghee and is easy to make.

Ingredients

Rava (semolina) (fine) – 250 gms – 2 cups

Powdered sugar – 250 gms – 2 cups

Cardamom – 1 ½ tsp

Cashew nut pieces – 2 tbsp

Raisins – 2 tbsp

Milk – 6-8 tbsp

Melted ghee – 8-9 tbsp

Method

Heat 1½ tbsp ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins separately and set aside.

Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a kadhai and fry the fine rava on medium heat for 2 minutes. Then lower the heat and fry it till very light brown – it will give out an aroma. Turn off the heat and continue to stir for 2 more minutes.

Add powdered sugar and mix well so that there are no lumps.

Add fried cashews and raisins and cardamom powder and mix well.

Take 4-5 tbsp of melted ghee and 8-9 tbsp of hot milk and sit down to make the ladoo.

Use half portion of the ladoo powder, add 2 tbsp ghee and 3-4 tbsp of milk and mix well. It should not be too soggy but a bit dry.

Start making ladoo while it is still hot. See that the ladoo is tight and doesn’t have cracks.

Repeat with the second half of the powder.

The ladoos are prepared in two batches - otherwise the mix will turn cold and making ladoos will be difficult.

Tips

Don’t over-fry the rava – you will see some of it turning brown as you are stirring it. Keep the flame low and heat it stirring all along for one or two more minutes. Turn off the heat and continue to stir for two minutes more.

If you add more milk, making the ladoos will be very easy but it will be very soft and won’t last.

Use both hands (I mean one finger of the right hand too) for making the ladoo - as shown in the video. 

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.

(RIBBON) PAKKODAM

Pakkodam or Ribbon Pakodam is another variety of murukku – using rice flour and gram flour (besan). This is prepared during Diwali or as an any-time snack.
As all the ingredients are easily available in the market anywhere in the world, it is worth a try!

Ingredients

Rice flour – 2 ½ cups

Besan (gram flour) – ¾ cup

Red chilli powder – 1tsp

Asafetida – ¼  tsp

Salt to taste

Butter – 25-30 gms (1/4 of a 100gm butter pack)

Oil for frying

Method

Mix rice flour and besan. Add salt, red chilli powder, asafetida and butter and mix well.

Add ¾ cup of water and mix well. Add more water gradually and make a slightly loose dough. (Put a tbsp of the dough into the chakli-maker and try squeezing it onto a plate – if it comes out effortlessly, it is fine. If it is t too tight to squeeze, add a little water and mix well.

Heat oil in a kadhai.

Fill the ‘naazhi’ (chakli-maker) with the dough and squeeze it in the hot oil moving your hand in a circular motion.

After 2 minutes, flip it gently.

When both sides are golden brown, remove and drain off the oil and place on a tissue paper.

Prepare pakkodam with the entire dough.

After cooling, store them in air-tight containers.

 © Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.

LADDU

Laddu is an elaborate sweet prepared all over India – especially for Diwali and weddings. It is also known as Boondi laddu in North India - of course the boondis are smaller!

It was my maternal grandma who taught me to make this – way back in 1974! She was visiting me when my son was one and a half. She couldn’t remain idle – she was itching to prepare special items for us. I suggested ‘Laddu’ and she was as excited as me. I observed the way she prepared the batter and sugar syrup – their consistency. At the end of it I noted down the recipe in my recipe book. I would try it out once in a while – and successfully – I had observed its preparation you see! That is the best way to learn a recipe.

It’s after a long gap that I ventured to make ‘laddu’.

Ingredients

1. Besan(gram flour) – 2 ½ cups
2. Rice flour – 1 tsp
3. Orange food color - a drop
4. Water - about 1 cup
5.  Cashew nuts – 2 tbsp
6. Raisins – 2 tbsp
7. Cloves (optional) – 8-10
8. Ghee – 1 tbsp
9. Oil for frying

For sugar syrup

1. Sugar - 3 cups
2. Water - 1 1/2 cups
3. Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
4. Saffron strands - 1/2 tsp / Rose water - 1 tsp

Method

1. Mix besan and rice flour and add water to make a fairly thick batter, making sure there are no lumps.
2.  Add a drop of orange color and mix well.
3. Heat 1 ½ cups of water in a big vessel and add sugar. 
4. Stir and keep boiling till you get a thick syrup. 
5. Add a few strands of crushed saffron strands / rose water. 
6. Add a drop of orange color and mix well.
7. Heat oil in a large kadhai. 
8. Use a boondi maker (you can even use a steel colander) to make the boondis.
9. Hold it above the hot oil, lower the flame and add 3-4 tbsp of batter and allow the boondis to fall in the oil, making sure they don’t stick together.
10. Gently turn the boondis till they are done ( when the bubbles in the oil almost disappear).
11. Drain off the boondis and drop them in the hot syrup.
12. Clean the bottom of the colander before making each batch of boondis.
13. Keep adding hot boondis to the warm syrup till the syrup is completely absorbed.
14. Warm the vessel at the end to melt and mix the thickened syrup sticking to the sides of the vessel.
15. Heat ghee in a small kadhai and fry the cashew nuts and raisins separately till they are golden brown and add to the laddu.
16. Sprinkle cardamom powder too and mix gently.
17. Cool for a little while and make laddus. 
18. If you are unable to make laddus, don’t worry – leave it as boondi – they taste really great too!

Tips

1. The boondis should be round and not flat. You can try to rectify by adding a little more water / besan to the batter.
2. If the sugar syrup is extra-thick and boondis don’t absorb it, try to add a tbsp of water and heat on low flame, scraping the thickened sugar sticking to the sides.
3. The syrup should not be very watery – laddus will be too soft and will not last.

 © Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.