Archive for June 2011

Coconut Sweet

June 13, 2011 Indian Cooking, Indian Vegetarian, Quick Eats, South Indian No comments

Ingredients:

Coconut – 2 (grated)

Sugar – 2 1/2 cups

Semolina/Rava – 1 cup

Food coloring – 1 drop (optional)

Cardamom powdered – 1 pinch

Water – 1 cup

Salt – 1 pinch

How to:

In a non stick pan, dry roast the coconut till light golden. Remove and keep aside.

Dry roast the semolina in the same pan and keep aside.

Bring to a boil 2 1/2 cups sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 cup water, keep stirring until the sugar reaches a syrupy consistency. Add the food coloring to the syrup. Next add the roasted semolina and coconut, stir for about 5 minutes, sprinkle powdered cardamom. Turn off the heat and spread the mixture evenly into a greased tray.

Let it cool in the fridge for a while (about 30 minutes). Cut into diamond shaped pieces and serve.

Uzhunnu Vada (Medu Vada)

June 6, 2011 Indian Cooking, Indian Vegetarian, Quick Eats, South Indian No comments

Ingredients:

Urad dal – 2 cups (Soaked for 6-8 hours)

Semolina/Rava – 2 tablespoons

Onions – 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Green Chilies – 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Curry Leaves – 2 sprigs (finely chopped)

Chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Asafetida – 1 pinch

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

How to:

Drain the water from the urad dal, and grind to a coarse paste. Add a tablespoon or two of water while grinding (do not add a lot of water). Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl.

Add the semolina, chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves, chili powder, salt and asafetida to the dough. To make the vada light and fluffy beat the dough with your hand to incorporate air into the mixture. The vada mixture should turn from a pale yellow colour to white colour after mixing. To check if the dough is ready, make a cherry sized ball with the mixture and drop it into a bowl of water. If the dough floats on the surface then its ready to fry.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan, pour enough oil, when the oil is hot, wet your hand with a little water, make lime sized balls with the dough, make a small hole in the center and drop it into the oil. Fry till one side becomes golden brown, then turn and cook the other side. Remove from oil when both sides are golden brown. Drain oil by placing the vadas on a paper towel. Serve warm with coconut chutney or sambar.