Cranberry Puliyodarai

Ingredients

• Cranberry - 1 cup
• Rice - 1 cup
• Channa Dhal - 1 tspn
• Coriander seeds - 1 tspn
• Fenugreek powder - a pinch
• Red chillies - 3 nos
• Sesame oil - 1 tbspn
• Hing - a pinch
• Mustard, Urad dhal & Curry leaves for seasoning

health tip

Cranberries are rich in Vitamin C. Studies show that Cranberries lowers LDL (Bad cholesterol) & increases HDL (good cholesterol) & also helps prevent urinary tract infection.

Cranberry Puliyodarai

method

1. Cook the rice separately. I used Basmati rice but you may use raw rice too. If using raw rice, you might want to increase your cranberry volume by half a cup.
2. Dry roast channa dhal, coriander seeds & 2 red chillies & make a coarse powder.
3. Heat sesame oil in a wide pan & season it with mustard, Urad dhal & curry leaves. Add one broken red chilli, hing, fenugreek powder & cranberry when mustard begins to splutter.
   

   You can also make this paste ahead of time & store it in the fridge for future use.

   
   
4. Add the powdered spices, salt & some jaggery when the cranberry starts to get mushy. Saute all for two additional minutes & turn off the stove.
5. Mix in the rice and add some salt if needed.

Modhagam

Ingredients

• Raw rice - 2 cups
• Moong Dhal - 1/4 cup
• Jaggery - 2 cups
• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Cardamom Powder - a pinch
• Ghee - 4 tspn
• Water - 6 cups

health tip

Modhagam dish has protein from moong dhal, carbohydrate from rice, iron and calcium from Jaggery.

Modhagam

method

1. Wash rice and dhal separately. Drain and spread them separately on a towel and let them dry for 2 hours.
2. Grind the rice and dhal separately to a course powder. Make sure the powder is bit bigger than that of rava or sooji. This mix can also be made ahead of a day but make sure to dry the rice and dhal completely for a day.
3. Heat ghee in a kadai and roast the rice dhal powder together.
4. In another pan heat 6 cups of water and dilute the jaggery. Filter it through a strainer to remove any impurities.
5. Add the filtered jaggery water to the roasted dry mix of rice and dhal.
6. Cover the mixture with a lid and let it cook. Open the lid and mix it from time to time making sure the mix is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.

You may speed up the whole cooking process by pressure cooking the mixture for 4 minutes or until you hear the hissing sound of the first whistle, whichever is earlier. Only two teaspoons of ghee is needed for the pressure cooking method.

7. Mix in the cardamom powder and grated coconut when the rice is cooked. Turn off the stove and let it cool.
8. When completely cooled, make them into small balls and steam it in a steamer or idli pan for 5- 8 minutes.