Palaharam: Recipes

Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Friday, April 6, 2018

Chengodilu

The weather has been so unpredictable recently. Last week, I thought that summer was almost here when it was too hot during the afternoons. And all of a sudden it is raining today and will be raining for the rest of the weekend too. So we are stuck at home.

Its spring break here and with the kid also at home, we have been doing so many activities together; even cooking. And he loves it. One way to make someone eat something that they hate is to make them cook it, so that they appreciate the effort it takes to make it and the thought of having worked on it makes it interesting. So the same is the strategy that I have been doing with my kid too. Thankfully he will not get to know, untill he learns to read it here so I am safe... he he.

Rice Murukku ~ Spicy version

With Diwali approaching, you might be spending a lot more time in the kitchen preparing all the snacks and sweets for your family and friends. Sweets are one important thing on the menu and so are snacks. I still remember having Dahi Vadas, Chaats, Chakli etc along with the sweets, which our neighbor aunty used to serve us for diwali. Yum they were. Years have gone by but those days and memories are still so fresh. This spicy version of chakli is something that you should try to add a little variety to usual murukku/chakli that you make. If your family loves spicy food then I bet this would definitely be a hit.

This recipe just happened when I was trying out some other snack and it usually takes a lot of time, but I had to head to some place in an hour and just thought of giving it the murukku avatar instead. It wasn't a flop at all. My lil one loves spicy food and when I made it, he kept coming back to me asking "Eruvulla murukku Tharamo" meaning "Can you give me the spicy murukku".

Making of Soft Idlis

Idlis - most well associated as the breakfast of the south Indians. Being easy to make and also being the most frequently prepared breakfast at home, there are only countable number of days that these are not found, either in the form of idlis or dosa or uttappam or anything that could be made with this batter. Well, now you may think that what is so special about this recipe. Its very easy to make idli batter by grinding the correct ratio of rice and urad dal. But the differentiating factor is whether you can make, them soft and non sticky, consistently.

It makes my day, if the previous night I would have ground the Idli batter or Appam batter and the next morning I find it perfectly risen, to indulge in soft Idli/Appam. There were days when we used to buy idli batter from shops. But gone are those days. Now, not only do we make it at home, but I have been lucky to get the batter risen perfectly every single time I make it. So I guess I have nailed it and would love to share the steps that I do take, to make soft and spongy idlis.

Coconut Macaroons

I am not a big fan of coconut, when it comes to curry. However, I like it in the form of sweets. May it be the Bounty or the coconut macaroon or coconut crunch etc. I was introduced to this form of coconut macaroon a while ago and I liked it. In the recent past, while I tried figuring out how to make these, most of the online sources sounded them to be pretty easy. Yes, they are easy to make, once you get a hang of making it. This was my 'third' attempt that turned out to be a success, having attained the perfect shape.

The first time I made them, everything seemed fine, until it was half baked. When I opened the oven, the very look of the macaroon, made my enthusiasm baked off in the oven heat. The conical shapes were all gone and the macaroons just went flat with little cones here and there. It took me long to separate them from the baking sheet and I don't even want to remind myself of the trouble I had cleaning up the mess.

Halloween Special - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies

During halloween, all shops decorate to bring out the holiday mood. I believe, the grocery shops have their own ways of doing so. They bring out a pumpkin touch to anything and everything. The pumpkins lined up in front of the shop, in different sizes and weird shapes - pumpkin pies near the deli - pumpkin cookies stacked up and what not.

This being the pumpkin season, everytime I visit a grocery store, I wondered what all I could do with pumpkins. Then came the very thought of one of our favourite cookie - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Snickerdoodle Cookie

Well, these cookies were unknown to me until yesterday, when I received a call from my husband from office. He told that he ate these, made by his colleague and were superb. Also, he asked,"Can you try making these :)." Now, how can such a humble request be rejected/ignored? Well, I made up my mind to make these.

The very name, snickerdoodle, is interesting and may lead you into false assumption that snickers might be one of its ingredients, like I did :). I googled them, to figure out if this name really does exist. It was interesting to know that these cookies had been known for quite some time but had been ignored, may be because these are not as fancy as the cookies made these days.

Stuffed buns ~ with chicken fillings

The smell of freshly baked buns and having them hot, just out of the oven...hmmm... Can you picture it? This was what exactly happened at our home, when we baked these stuffed buns. The speciality of these having little spicy filling in it, makes it even more mouth watering.

When my husband came back from work, he was received by me at the door, with camera in one hand and the other hand with a half eaten bun. These were so tempting in their look and smell that I couldn't wait for him to be back, to have it :).

Bread pudding ~ My mom's style of making it....

Another lazy day it was.Neither in a mood to cook, nor to eat heavy.

Deep in thought, figuring out a way to spend less time in the kitchen, and get something ready.

As I went wild in thoughts, my mind got stuck onto something that my mother used to make. The wonderful dessert - Bread Pudding! Now, this is one thing that has most of its ingredients found almost everyday at home, which makes it a super simple dessert to prepare.

I remember, during my school days, returning back home for lunch. Post lunch, mom would have a sweet treat, ready for us. On a hot summer afternoon, this chilled bread pudding would help soothe out the heat that might have burnt us.

Zebra cake

Baking was considered by me, to be a tedious task. I guess, it was just a matter of getting used to. Once you start loving it, it gives you ample opportunity to bring out the artist in you :). And, for me and my husband, the very smell of the bakery is tempting and leaves us mouth watering.

We have a grocery store next to our apartment. They have their bakery/deli located right at their entrance. Now, that is the strategy, you see, to make people buy their products. Today, while I went out for the weekly grocery shopping, I went so crazy at the smell of the bakery, that I made up my mind to bake a cake today - a quick but a special one. I had gone through this recipe quite a long time back, but had given up the thought of trying it, as it seemed complicated. But trust me, after trying it, it turned out to be the simplest among all the complicated cake recipes in my to-bake list. Okay, now lets get to business. So, here is the recipe for it.

Murukku / Chakli

Most of you might associate Chakli/Murukku with the festival of lights - Diwali. But for us, every other visit to the Indian store links to the very thought of Murukku :). Everytime we visit one, we would buy these and stock it. Well, this snack had been so dear to our heart, that these never lasted long at home and would get over the day, we bought it. So one day, I decided to give it a try.

Its not that murukku making involves a very complicated process, but just that the fear of not having tried earlier, kept me pushing it. I searched on the internet but couldn't decide which one to go with. Infact, the recipe that I was looking for, was just a call away. Yes, it was with my mother :). Also, it being the first blog post of Palaharam, I thought to keep it simple. So, here you go.