Mysore Pak

Ingredients

• Channa dal flour(Besan) - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2 cups (Can be substituted with one cup of ghee and one cup of oil)
• Sugar - 2 cups

Mysore Pak

method

1. Roast the besan in a tava for 2 minutes.
2. Melt the ghee or ghee and oil to lukewarm. Add half of the mixture to the roasted besan and make batter without lumps. Let the remaining ghee sit in low flame till needed.
3. Pour the sugar in a non stick vessel with half a cup of water and turn the heat to medium. When the sugar is dissolved (no need to boil for longer time) add the besan batter and stir continuously.
4. Pour the hot ghee into the basen and sugar mixture at regular intervals. Pour two ladle full of ghee at first and stir continuously till the ghee gets absorbed. Repeat the process till all the ghee is emptied out. When you pour the hot ghee into the batter, it sizzles and bubbles at the top. This process helps to cook the batter from the top.
5. Keep stirring for another 5 or 10 minutes till the batter doesn't stick to the vessel. From time to time pour a drop of the batter into cold water and check if it reached soft ball consistency (At around 235° F–240° F the batter dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand).
6. When it reaches soft ball consistency turn the flame to low and let the batter sit for another one minute. Keep stirring till the end.
7. After a minute transfer the batter to a greased plate and let it cool for 10 minutes.
8. When it gets cooled a bit, cut it into pieces using a greased butter knife or regular knife. Don't wait for the batter to get completely cooled. This recipe yields around 16 to 18 pieces.

Tamarind Dates Chutney For Chatt

Ingredients

• Tamarind Pods - 1/2 cup or Tamarind paste (store bought) - 1 tspn
• Dates - 1/2 cup
• Chatt Masala - 1 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Jaggery - 2 tspn
• Salt - 1/4 tspn

Tamarind Dates Chutney

method

1. Soak the tamarind pods in 1/2 cup of hot water for 20 minutes and squeeze out as much pulp as possible. Thick pulp is needed for this recipe. To get the consistency soaked tamarind can be blended in a blender and the pulp can be extracted by running it through a sieve. If using tamarind paste, dilute it with 1/4 cup of water.
2. Soak the dates in another bowl and grind it to fine paste
3. Mix tamarind and dates pulp together along with other listed ingredients. Add some water if needed. Taste the chutney and adjust the ingredients to your preference.
4. Cook the chutney in stove top or in microwave till the chutney starts to boil.
   
5. This chutney can be stored in fridge for 2 weeks.
For longer shelf life store the chutney in freezer. It is easy to scoop out using an ice cream scooper.

Handuvo Or Vegetable Cake

Ingredients

• For batter
• Raw Rice - 2 cups
• Channa dhal - 1 cup
• Yogurt - 1 1/4 cups
• Vegetables
• Shredded Ash Guard or Bottle Guard - 2 cups
• Chopped methi Leaves - 1 cup
• Onion And Shredded Carrot (Optional) - 1/2 cup each
• Chopped coriander leaves (Optional) - 1 cup
• Green Chili Paste - 3 tspn
• Ginger Paste - 2 tspn
• Eno(fruit salt) or Baking Soda - 1 tspn
• For Seasoning
• Oil - 4 tbspn
• White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbspn
• Dry Red chillies - 4
• Hing - 1/2 tspn

health tip

This is a balanced food with protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals.

Handuvo Or Vegetable Cake

method

Handuvo is a Gujarati dish made with shredded vegetables, rice and channa dal. This can be compared with adai from Tamil Nadu. Just like adai, you can also use a combination of toor dal and channa dal in this recipe. The handuvo batter can be made into a uttappam or baked as a cake. In India, Handuvo is prepared on a coal stove with coals placed on top and bottom of the vessel for even crust formation on both ends. If using oven, you may use the broil setting at the end of cooking to achieve the same effect.

1. Wash and soak the rice and dal for four hours.
2. Grind it into a coarse paste with little water.
3. Mix the yogurt and salt to the ground paste. Let it ferment overnight. It won't rise to the top as idli batter. Just letting it sit in a warm place is enough.
4. Next day add all the ingredients listed as vegetables including baking soda or eno.
5. In another pan season the oil with the listed seasonings.
   
   Be wary of adding water while grinding. The batter should not be thin. Adding shredded veggies will make the batter even more thinner. The final product should be at the consistency of cake batter. If lot of water stands at the top after adding veggies, remove some of it with a spoon.
   
6. Mix a tablespoon of the seasoned oil to the prepared batter.
   Handuvo flour can be prepared for future use by grinding dry rice and dal and store it in powder form.
   
7. Grease a baking pan with oil and fill up 3/4 of the pan with the mix. Spread the remaining seasoned oil evenly on the top(Optional- You can sprinkle some more sesame seeds at this time to give the cake a textured look). Bake it at 375 degrees for 40 minutes and turn the oven to broil for 5 minutes. Depending on the oven and altitude baking time may vary. Check it from time to time by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the Handuvo is done. Then you just need to let the crust form by turning the oven to broil.
   

Rasam

Ingredients

• Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
• Tomatoes - 2
• Tamarind - 3/4 tspn(Paste) or small lemon size pods
• Garlic - 5 pods
• Coriander Leaves - For garnishing
• Rasam Powder - 2 tspn
• Jaggery - a pinch
• Black Pepper, Cumin Seeds, 2 Dry Red chillies and Curry Leaves for seasoning

health tip

Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin C & anti-oxidants.Spices in this recipe induce the secretion of gastric juice, which helps in digestion. Toor dal has protein. Garlic has anti bacterial properties.

Rasam

1. Cook the toor dal with some turmeric powder & water till the dal gets mushy. I usually make bigger batch and freeze it in ice cube tray for later use. Two cubes would be enough for this recipe. Having the frozen toor dall and rasam powder at hand helps me to make the rasam in a jiffy.
2. Chop the tomatoes, & extract tamarind juice if using tamarind pods.
   Using little bit of ghee along with oil for seasoning also gives a nice flavor.
3. Heat some oil in a pot & season it with cumin,black pepper, broken chillies & curry leaves. Add the bruised garlic & chopped tomatoes. Saute it with salt till the tomatoes gets mushy.
   Instead of sauteing the tomatoes, microwave the tomatoes for two minutes & add it to the seasoning
4. Add the rasam powder and let it cook for few more minutes. Now add water and cooked toor dal along with tamarind extract and a pinch of jaggery. Add more water if needed. When the rasam is about to boil turn off the stove. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves & serve it hot.

Pongal Kuzhambu Aka Kootukai Kuzhambu

Ingredients

• Plantain - 1
• Sweet potato - 1
• Broad beans(Avaraikai)- 15
• Cooked Mochai- 2 hand full
• Eggplant - 2
• Pumpkin - 1
• Green jack fruit - 1 cup
• Cooked toor dal - 1 cup
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Garlic - 7
• Sambar powder - 3 tspn
• Tamarind - 2 pod

health tip

This recipe has protein and vitamins and minerals.

Kootukai Kuzhambu

method

Kootukai in tamil means mixed vegetable. Any type of vegetable except English vegetables like carrot, cabbage..can be added. This kuzhambu is made only during pongal with the vegetables available during that season. Flavor and taste intensifies a day after this kuzhambu is made. It goes well with rice, dosai and idli.

1. Wash and dice the vegetables.
2. Mix the vegetables, onion, tomato, sambar powder, salt, fennel seeds, cooked dal, garlic, some oil and water together. Cook it covered with a lid till the vegetables get tender.
3. Add the tamarind pulp and some sugar. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

Idli And Dosai Batter

Ingredients

• For Idli and Dosai batter
• Idli rice or parboiled rice - 3 cups
• Raw rice or Long grain rice - 3 cups
• Poha (Aval) - 1/2 cup
• Whole urad dhal - 1 cup

health tip

Idli is a fat free food. It is easy to digest, so it can be given to people of all ages. It has carbohydrate and protein.

Idli And Dosai Batter

method

Idli and dosai is a south Indian delicacy made by fermenting the batter for 10 - 12 hours and then steaming the batter. All the ingredients are very important for making soft idli. Rice has two types of sugar called amylose and amylopectin, which helps the yeast in the air to breed and work on the batter to rise. Yeast in the air is called wild yeast, which is different from bakers yeast. Some people add a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds or a cup of cooked rice while grinding the batter to attract the wild yeast. Yeast needs warm temperature and sugar to thrive on the batter. That is why the batter it fermented at a temperature of 75 - 80 degrees. Enzymes in the yeast and the rice cause large starch molecules to break down into simple sugars. The yeast metabolizes these simple sugars and releases carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol into the batter. Protein from urad dal helps to hold the air bubbles. As more and more tiny air cells fill with carbon dioxide, the dough rises and we're on the way to make spongy idlis. Adding bakers yeast or baking soda does not do the trick as wild yeast does. I found that adding poha (Aval) to the batter makes softer idlis and utthappam. If you are making the batter solely for crispy dosai you can eliminate poha. I use the same batter for both idli and dosai.

1. Wash the two types of rice and poha together and soak it for four hours.
2. Wash and soak the urad dhal in a separate bowl for four hours.
3. Grind the urad dal into a fine paste using a blender or wet grinder. The urad dhal batter should be ultra fine and have a silky texture. If you scoop it with your hand the batter holds up like whipped cream. It take about 30 - 40 minutes to get to that consistency. Transfer the batter to a container big enough to mix urad dal and rice.
4. Add the rice and poha mixture and grind it till rice is broken down to fine rava. This process also takes another 30 minutes.
5. Transfer the rice batter to the urad dal container and add 6 teaspoons of salt. Mix them both together by hand by beating and swirling till the urad dall is completely blended to rice. This process also helps to attract yeast in air.
   
   Be wary of adding water while grinding. The batter should not be too thick or too thin.
   
6. When both the mixture is blended completely, cover it and let it ferment in a warm place for about 10 - 12 hours.
   During winter, heat the oven at 200 degrees for 5 minutes and turn it off. Let the batter ferment in the oven. If needed, take out the batter from oven and repeat the heating process once or twice.
   

How to make Ghee

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter - 1pound
• Curry leaf - 5
• Dry red chili - 1

How to make Ghee

method

Ghee also known as clarified butter is actually made by removing milk solids and moisture content in the butter. Since the moisture content has been removed, ghee can be stored without refrigeration for longer time. It stays semi solid in room temperature and solidifies in cooler weather.It has higher smoking point than butter.

1. Unwrap the butter sticks and melt it in a heavy bottomed vessel at a low heat. Butter tends to burn at high heat. Heat setting at 3 is ideal for first timers.
2. When the butter gets liquefied, froth appear at the top with boiling sound. Butter at this stage tends to splutter, so it is better to make the ghee in a deep vessel. Do not cover the vessel at anytime while making ghee.
3. In about 5 minutes froth will start to subside. The temperature at this time will be at around 160 to 170 degrees. Add 5-6 curry leaves and a broken red chili to the butter. Curry leaves and red chili give flavor to the ghee.
4. At about 190 degrees or after 5 minutes froth will mostly subside. If you blow the liquid, you might be able to see the bottom of the vessel with some sediments settled down. The boiling sound will fade and you will hear a hissing sound. When the sediment colour turns to golden yellow, turn off the stove and move the vessel away from heat and let it cool.
5. The whole process takes about 25 - 30 minutes. When the ghee is leukwarm, filter it to a glass or metal container. Do not close the lid till the ghee is completely cooled, otherwise moisture gets trapped in the ghee and shortens the shelf life. 1 pound of butter yields 1 1/2 cups of ghee.

Butter cream embroidery on fondant covered cake

I made this cake for a friend of mine. I always get fascinated by butter cream embroidery on cakes. Since this is my first project in butter cream embroidery, I wanted to try it on fondant. Fondant is easily stretchable and can be molded into any form. It gives a smooth and silky appearance. You can find the fondant recipe here. Butter cream embroidery is done by outlining the designs with thin consistency butter cream icing. For further details and tutorials visit wilton's website

 

 

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Ingredients

• For smaller batch
• Mini marshmallow - 1 cup
• Crisco vegetable shortening - 1 tbspn
• Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups
• Water - 1 tbspn
• For bigger batch
• Mini Marshmallow - 16 oz package
• Crisco vegetable shortening - 1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar - 2 pounds
• Water - 2- 5 tbspn

Marshmallow Fondant

Method

Melt marshmallows and water in a microwave or double boiler. To microwave, place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.

Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking.

If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

Prepare the fondant icing for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.

MM Fondant icing will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks.