Murukku / Chakli

Ingredients

Rice flour - 4 cups
Urad flour- 1/2 cup
Roasted split gram powder- 3/4 cup
(pottu kadalai)
Hing - 1/4 tspn
Ajwain - 1 tspn
Cumin -1 tspn
Chilli powder - 2 tspn
White sesame seeds - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 1/2 tspn or to taste
Butter - 2.tspn or 1/4 cup hot oil

Method
Mix all the ingredients together except butter. Warm the butter or oil & add it to the mix. Make a dough with warm water. The dough should have the consistency of chappathi dough. Make the dough into equal sized kozhukattai (rounds) & cover them with wet  towel.

Put a piece of dough into the murukku press & & press them directly over the hot oil. Dough should remain covered in wet towel all the time to not let them dry. I make murukku with 1/4 cup of hot oil instead of butter while mixing the dough & there is not much difference in taste between the two. Therefore, diet conscious people can use oil instead of butter.

Kootu podi

Ingredients
Coriander seeds - 2 tbspn
Channa dhal - 1/4 cup
Red chilli -3 nos
Urad dhal - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 2.tspn
Pepper   -  1/2 tspn
Poppy seeds - 1 tspn
Cinnamon - 1/2" piece.

Method
Dry roast all the ingredients separately till it gets golden brown & grind them all. That is all, kootu podi is ready for use. Store it in an airtight container.This podi can be used while making mixed vegetable kootu. Please refer the recipe for the mixed vegetable kootu in this link. This podi gives nice flavor  & thickens the kootu.

Pakoda Kuzhambu

Ingredients

For Gravy

Onion   - 1
Tomato  - 1
Red chilli - 4 nos
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Roasted channa dhal -1 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Coconut - 3 tsp

For Pakoda

Onion finely chopped - 1/2
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Besan - 1/4 cup
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves

Method
Dry roast all the ingredients for gravy except coconut. Let it cool. In the meantime make the pakoda by mixing all the ingredients from the "For Pakoda" section above with water. The mix should not be like a dough. It should be crumbly & should barely hold them together. Spread the pakoda mix over hot oil & fry them. You don't have to worry about shapes. Keep the pakodas aside.

Grind the roasted ingredients along with coconut. Heat some oil in a pan (you can use the fried oil as it gives nice flavor). Season it with hinge & curry leaves. Saute the ground paste & add salt & water to it. Add some tamarind juice & a pinch of sugar. When the gravy starts to boil, add the fried pakodas & simmer for another 5 minutes. Pakodas will absorb some of the gravy. So make the gravy little watery.

Oats Rava Dosa

Ingredients
Oats - 1 cup
Rava - 2 cups
Rice flour - 1 cup
Green chilli - 1 no
Curry leaves
Cumin - 1/2 tspn

Instructions
Blend rava & oats in a blender or mixer till oats gets ground to a coarse powder. Add rice flour & other ingredients. Mix it with water & leave it for 10-20 minutes. Make the dosa as usual. You can premix rava, oats & rice flour & store it in a container. You can have delicious dosa instantly with the mix.

Homemade oxyclean

Things you need

1. Baking soda or borax-1/2 cup
2. Hydrogen peroxide-1/2 cup
3. Hot water- 1 cup

Instructions
Dissolve either baking soda or borax in hot water & combine it with hydrogen peroxide. This mixture does a great job in removing stains from clothes to cleaning bathtub.You can substitute this for the chlorine bleach that you normally use. Test it in an inconspicuous area first before using.

Cleaning Silverware - Earth Friendly Way

Things you need

Aluminum foil
Baking soda
Silver wares to be cleaned.

Instructions

1. Place a sheet of Aluminum foil in a pan and add a teaspoon of baking soda and enough water to soak the silver wares & boil them for few minutes.
2. Soak the silverware to be cleaned into the boiling water. Let it sit for 20 minutes or till the tarnish dislodges.

3. Ensure silverware is in contact with the Aluminum foil on all sides. You should manually turn them time to time if that is not the case.
4. Tarnish will settle down in the foil leaving silverware gleaming like new again.
5. Take the items out and rinse in cold water.Wipe them dry.

Tips

• You can use old unused aluminum pans instead of foil.
• You can even recycle aluminum foil boxes which you get from takeout.
• Aluminum foil method is most helpful in cleaning smaller silver articles with patterns in them and silver jewels. You may use tooth paste for the bigger ones like plate or vessels. Rub the bigger articles with the paste (plain white paste & not the gel kind) using a sponge or nylon scrubber & wash them in cold water.