ADHIRASAM

Soak 1/2 kilo raw rice in the water for 1/2 hour and then drain the rice in a colander. You can grind the rice even when the water is not fully drained up.
Then grind it to a nice flour.
Sieve the flour only once.
Then immediately make syrup from 300gms of jaggery to a pearl-like consistency.
When the syrup is simmering, reduce the flame to low heat. Drop a little syrup in a cup of water. If we could form the syrup into a smooth ball, [not a stiff ball] then put off the fire.
Sprinkle the rice flour little by little in the syrup and mix well.
Sprinkle 1/2 sp of cardamom powder and mix well.
The batter must not be very thick. If we make a small ball from it, then it must be a very smooth ball.
It must not break.
That is the correct consistency for adhirasam.
Keep the batter in a greased bowl[greased with ghee]and pour and spread 11/2 tbsps of ghee on top of the batter and cover it.
The next day you can prepare the adhirasams.
When you prepare the adhirasams, heat the oil on a medium fire and make adhirasams

THAVALAI VADAI

There are a few varieties on ‘Thavalai vadai’. This is my favourite.

Ingredients:

Lentils- 1 cup
Black gram-1 cup
Bengal gram- 1 cup
Raw rice- 1/2 cup
Par boiled rice- 1/2 cup
Green gram- 1.21/2cup
Sag0- 1/2 cup
Chopped coconut-1 cup
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Peppercorns- 2 tbsp
Curry leaves- a handful
Red chillies-6
Salt to taste
Gingelly oil- 2 tbsp

Procedure:

Soak the rice varieties and other dal varieties separately in enough water for 2 hours. Grind all the ingredients with the red chillies and enough salt to a thick dough. Add the coconut, and the curry leaves. Heat a small pan and pour the gingelly oil. Add the mustard seeds and the peppercorns. When they splutter add this to the vadai dough. Mix well. Take a big ball, flatten it, make a hole in the centre and fry it in the hot oil to golden brown colour. Thus finish all the dough.

PAAL PAAYASAM

Frying the rice in ghee makes the payasam into a delicious one
Ingredients:

Raw rice- a handful
Milk- 2 liters
Saffron- a pinch
Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp
Sugar to taste
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Ghee- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Fry the raw rice in 1 tbsp of ghee on slow fire to a light golden colour. When cooled add it to the milk with the saffron and cardamom powder and pressure cook it for 3 whistles and then continue to pressure cook it on slow fire for 15 minutes. Then open it and pour the cooked rice in a kadai. Add sugar according to taste and allow it to cook to the desired consistency. Lastly add the fried cashew nuts and raisins.

SARKKARAI PONGAL

Fry 1/4 cup of split green gram dhal in a kadai in 1sp ghee to a light brown colour or until a nice aroma floats on the air. Soak this dhal with 1 cup of raw rice in water for 1 hour. Soak 2tbsps of almonds in hot water and then remove the skins. Slice them nicely. Fry the almond slices, 2tbsps of split cashew nuts, and 2tbsps of seedless raisins separately in ghee. Fry 2tbsps of shredded coconut in a tbsp of ghee. Soak a pinch of saffron in ¼ cup of warm milk. Powder 2 cups of jaggery. Pour enough water to cover the jaggery. Let it boil. Make thin syrup of it and put off the fire. Pour 3 cups of water and 2 cups of milk [full cream] in a cooking vessel. Let it simmer on heat. When it starts to simmer, add the rice and the dhal. Cook under medium flame. When they are almost cooked, add the jaggery syrup and mix well. Again cook for a few minutes. Now add all the remaining ingredients and 1/4 cup of ghee. Mix well and cook until the pongal is set well.

VEN PONGAL

Soak 1 cup of raw rice for /2 hour. Boil 3 cups of water and 2 cups of full cream milk in a cooking vessel. When it starts simmering, add the rice to it and cook on a medium flame until the rice is almost cooked. Add 1 cup of shredded coconut and a little salt. Mix well and cook until it is done.

[This ven pongal is eaten with sweet thick curd which is prepared from cow’s milk. In villages, the remaining pongal is immersed in water and kept overnight in the same mud vessel. In the morning it will be a heavenly taste to eat this with sweet curd and one day old pongal kuzhambu. ]

PONGAL KUZHAMBU

Pressure cook 3 handfuls of lentils. Soak a small orange size of tamarind in warm water. Extract the juice after ½ hour. Roast a handful of boiled rice, 1 tbsp of raw rice, 1sp of cumin seeds, 1sp of peppercorns and 1sp of aniseeds in a dry pan to a nice brown colour. Grind them to a nice powder. For this kuzhambu, 6 important vegetables are needed. Add a handful of chopped tomatoes, a handful of avaraikkai[cut into 1” pieces], a handful of red pumpkin pieces[cut into 1” pieces], 2 handfuls of sweet potatoes[cut into 1” pieces], a handful of brinjal pieces[cut into medium pieces], 2 raw bananas[cut into cubes] and most importantly 2 cups of mochaikkai in a cooking vessel and add enough water to cover it. Cook them with enough salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder. When the vegetables are half done, add the tamarind juice, 2tbsps of chilli powder and 1 tbsp of coriander powder. After cooking them for some minutes add the dhal and mix well. Again cook for a few minutes. Now add the powder and mix well. Add 1 cup of shredded coconut and mix well. Cook under slow fire for 5 minutes. Garnish with curry leaves.

Black gram pooranam

Ingredients:

Split black gram- ¼ cup
Green chillies-2
Asafetida powder- half sp
Mustard seeds-half sp
Black gram- half sp
Chopped coriander- 1 tbsp
Curry leaves-a few
Shredded coconut-half cup
Lime juice-1/4 sp
Salt to taste
Gingelly oil-2 tsp

Procedure:

Soak the black gram for 30 minutes.
Drain the water and then grind it with the green chillies, salt and the asafetida to a coarse paste.
Make small balls and then steam them in the idli moulds for 15 minutes.
When cooled, mash them to a crumbled texture like we do for the usili.
Heat a pan and pour the oil.
Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter add the black gram with the greens and fry them for a few seconds.
Add the black gram usili and fry for a few seconds.
Put off the fire, add the lime juice and the coconut and mix well.

Variation-1:

When soaking the black gram, we can mix 3 tbsp of Bengal gram with it. This will give a different taste.

Variation-2:

When the above mixture is cooked in the frying pan in the usili form, ¼ cups of rice flakes[ aval] which is already soaked and drained can be added.

Variation-3:

Instead of the dals, rice flakes and shredded carrot can be cooked with the same ‘Thaalitham’. For this, extra green chillies can be added when frying.

Kozhukkattai Maavu

For the kozhukkattai flour, raw rice should be soaked for an hour, then the water must be drained and the rice must be dried on a cloth.
When it is still lightly wet, it should be ground to a fine flour.
It must be sieved thrice and then steamed in a cloth bundle for 15 minutes.
When cooled, again it must be sieved .
Now the kuzhukkattai maavu is ready.
Some people would fry the raw rice flour to slight brown colour.
If we draw a line with the flour on the floor, it should come out as a clean line.
That is the correct ‘padham’ for the flour.
Then it must be cooled, again sieved and stored.
At the time of making kozhukkattai, the flour must be mixed with hot water and a tsp of oil to make a soft dough.