Jihva for Ingredients (JFI) - Toor dal

This was like the simplest event I could take part in. Which humble south Indian would not use toor dal in everyday life to make that humble yet scintillating rasam or sambar. But I remembered an earlier post about a gori kayi (cluster beans) curry that I had in north Karnataka style and felt it was the recipe that I would submit. You can view the recipe post here

Puri Pal (Puris in milk)

I came across WYF-Dessert/Sweet on SnackORama so decided that this would be my contribution to it.

Diwali Day 3
This is another favourite of mine. Sigh I love all sweets! This particular dish is also a favourite with my grandma. She loves it when my mom makes this at home. I dedicate this post to my grandma who we all fondly call Manni.

What you need to make Puri Pal
For the dough

• Maida - 1 cup
• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Ghee/Butter - 2 tbsp
• Water - 1 cup

For the sweet gravy

• Milk - 6 cups
• Sugar - 1-2 cups depending on how sweet you want it, can add as you progress with dish
• Cardamom - 2
• Saffron - 4-5 strands
• Cashewnuts - 10
• Raisins - 10

Preparation to make Puri

• Mix the maida and the wheat flour together in a bowl.
• Add the ghee/butter to this (a little at a time) and knead well.
• Add water if required, and little by little, we dont want a flood in the bowl.
• At the end of the process you must have well kneaded dough ball (non sticky). Keep aside for ten minutes

Method to make Puri
There are two ways of doing this :

First (Shankarpoli)

• Flatten the dough till its a thin base. You could do this with hand (like you do pizza base, I did this for lack of a rolling pin) or with a rolling pin.
• Use a pizza cutter to cut this thin base into 1/2'*1/2' pieces.
• Get the pieces put and layout on a tray.
• Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
• Deep fry the pieces till its golden brown. Do not make it too brown or crisp.
• Remove when fried and put it in the tray layered with the tissue paper.

Second

• Make regular palm sized puris
• When cool tear the puris into small pieces and keep aside.
• Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
• Deep fry the puris till its golden brown. Do not make it too brown or crisp.
• Remove when fried and put it in the tray layered with the tissue paper.

Method to make Puri Pal

• Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel.
• This is one of those "patience" dishes.
• You need to allow the milk to boil on simmer till it condenses to 3/4 its quantity and starts thickening.
• Add required amount of sugar to it.
• Add the puri pieces to this milk and allow it to boil for some time till the puris soften (you should be able to break the piece with least effort).
• Add the cardamom, saffron, cashewnuts and raisins and get it to a final boil.

My fundas

• In case the milk does not thicken add a handful of Rava (Semolina / cream of wheat).

Shankarpoli

Diwali Day 2
ROTFL. I spent the whole of the previous day, ok am lying, 2 hours the previous day googling for the word- Shankarpoli and I must admit I found it even if only in one food blog. I used to laugh everytime I heard that name and I somehow felt that my mom might be getting it wrong. What could a God's name be doing alongside the rhyme for "koli" (chicken in kannada)? :) As it turns out what you get down from generations is never usually wrong, I found out that many people in the party I went to actually knew the sweet ! Inspite of my wisecracks this was something I have loved as a kid. A bowl full of Shankarpoli, tv and a cloudy day...heaven!

What you need to make Shankarpoli

• Maida (all purpose flour) - 1 cup
• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Ghee/Butter - 2 tbsp
• Water - 1 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Oil

Preparation to make Shankarpoli

• Mix the maida and the wheat flour together in a bowl.
• Add the ghee/butter to this (a little at a time) and knead well.
• Add water if required, and little by little, we dont want a flood in the bowl.
• At the end of the process you must have well kneaded dough ball (non sticky). Keep aside for ten minutes
• Powder the sugar in a mixer

Method to make Shankarpoli

• Flatten the dough till its a thin base. You could do this with hand (like u do pizza base, I did this for lack of a rolling pin) or with a rolling pin.
• Use a pizza cutter to cut this thin base into 1/2'*1/2' pieces.
• Get the pieces put and layout on a tray.

• Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.
• Deep fry the pieces till its golden brown. Do not make it too brown or crisp.
• Remove when fried and put it in the tray layered with the tissue paper.
• Immediately sprinkle some powdered sugar on the fried pieces. This way the sugar sticks to the pieces. (If you wait for it to cool down, the sugar does not stick.)
• Your Shankarpoli is ready to be eaten. And this one is not too sweet either so spice lovers will also like the crunchy semi sweet taste.

My fundas

1. Incase the sugar did not stick to the fried pieces, no need to fret, there is another way to make the sweet stick - Mix sugar in water and boil in a heavy bottomed vessel till syrup like consistency is reached. Spread the syrup on a bowl of the Shankarpoli pieces and eat.
2. This could also be made into a "Puris in milk" sweet which I will outline in my next post.

Carrot Halwa

Diwali Day 1
Diwali dawned this year with a flutter of excitement for me. I had spent the previous two days planning the sweets that I would make for the festival (with help from my mom ofcourse). I had come up with the final three. The first of the distinguished line up was carrot halwa. Carrot is naturally sweet which makes it a good choice, even as a vegetable, to be used in making a sweet dish be it a halwa, payasam or cake. Due to the lack of grater I had to use some innovation - used the peeler and blender combination to get thin, small flakes of carrot. Lack of some dressy ingredients dint put a dent in the taste of my halwa (but I am going to give you a complete list of what should go in). Go ahead and try this dish, you will be left with sweet satisfaction.

What you need to make Carrot Halwa

• Carrots - 4 big ones
• Milk - 2 cups, the size u would serve in a thali
• Sugar - 1 cup, more depending on the sweetness you can take
• Cardamom - 2
• Saffron - 4-5 strands
• Cashewnuts - 10, broken into small pieces
• Raisins - 10
• Ghee/Butter - 1 tbsp

Preparation to make Carrot Halwa

• Peel the skin off the carrots, cut off the edges and then Grate the carrots.
• Break the cardamom pods and get the innards out
• Break cashewnuts into small pieces. Fry till golden brown in ghee/butter.

Method to make Carrot Halwa

• Place a heavy bottomed vessel on a lighted stove. Put the ghee/butter into it and heat a little till it melts.
• Add the grated carrots to this and sautee for some time, say 5 minutes. Mix such that ghee is spread over all of the carrot.
• Add the milk to this and allow this to boil on simmer. Keep the mixture boiling till carrots become real soft.
• Now add the sugar and mix well. Continue to boil this till the sugar is well blended.
• At this point of time you must not have any milky liquid in te vessel. (If you do, my trick is to pour it out into a glass, its a tasty drink).
• Put in the cardamom, saffron, cashewnuts and raisins.
• Keep boiling (all the time keeping the stove on simmer) till all is blended well.

(This is the work-in-progress photograph of Halwa)

My fundas

• You can add condensed milk or even khoya when most of the milk has evaporated. This gives an excellent rich taste to the halwa.
• You could add roasted almonds and pistachio also the halwa for that special something.

Get to know the Ingredients I use

English Name : Bay Leaf Hindi Name : Tej Patta Kannada Name : Masala Yele
English Name : Beaten Rice Hindi Name : Poha Kannada Name : Avalakki
English Name : Black Pepper Hindi Name : Kali Mirch Kannada Name : Menasu
English Name : Red Chilly, Green Chilly, Red Chilly Powder Hindi Name : Lal Mirch, Hari Mirch, Mirchi Powder :p Kannada Name : Vona Menasinakayi, Hasi Menasinakayi, Menasinakayi Pudi
English Name : Cinnamon Hindi Name : Dalchini Kannada Name : Chakke
English Name : Clove Hindi Name : Laung Kannada Name : Lavanga
English Name : Dry Coconut Hindi Name : Copra Kannada Name : Vona Cobri
English Name : Fresh Coriander with some Coriander seeds Hindi Name : Dhania Patta with Dhania Kannada Name : Kothumbari Soppu with Kothumbari Beeja
English Name : Coriander seeds Hindi Name : Dhania Kannada Name : Kothumbari Beeja
English Name : Cumin Seeds Hindi Name : Jeera Kannada Name : Jeerige
English Name : Garlic Hindi Name : Lahsun Kannada Name : Bellulli
English Name : Green Gram Hindi Name : Moong Kannada Name : HesaraKalu
English Name : Groundnut Hindi Name : Moongphali Kannada Name : Kadlekayi
English Name : Jaggery Hindi Name : Gud Kannada Name : Bella
English Name : Split yellow Chickpeas Hindi Name : Chana Dal Kannada Name : Kadle Bele
English Name : Mace Hindi Name : Javithri Kannada Name :
English Name : Black Cardammom Hindi Name : Kala Elaichi Kannada Name : Dodda Yelakki
English Name : Fenugreek leaves with Fenugreek seeds Hindi Name : Methi with Methi Dana Kannada Name : Menthyada soppu with Menthya
English Name : Mustard Seeds Hindi Name : Rai Kannada Name : Sasive
English Name : Yellow Moong Beans Hindi Name : Moong Dal Kannada Name : Hesarbele
English Name : Puffed Chickpeas Hindi Name : Dalia Kannada Name : Hurugadle
English Name : Puffed Rice Hindi Name : Kurmura/Murmura Kannada Name : Kadlepuri
English Name : Rice Hindi Name : Chawal Kannada Name : Akki
English Name : Semolina/Cream of Wheat Hindi Name : Rava Kannada Name : Rave
English Name : Fennel Seeds Hindi Name : Somph Kannada Name : Dodda Jeera
English Name : Star Anise Hindi Name : Badal Phool/Anasphal Kannada Name : Hoovu
English Name : Tamarind Hindi Name : Imli Kannada Name : Hunsehannu
English Name : Yellow Lentils Hindi Name : Toor Dal Kannada Name : Thogari Bele
English Name : Turmeric Powder Hindi Name : Haldi Kannada Name : Arasina Pudi

This blog has a new URL

As you may have noticed if you are reading this post the URL to my food blog has changed.
For reasons of global understanding

(I had to explain to many people what Bendekayi = Lady's finger and Karimb = curry meant, that doesnt say a lot about clarity)

I have changed the url of this blog to http://thebravecook.blogspot.com
I request you to update all your favourite links and blogrolls to this new url (Yeah right, like I have that many visitors)
But Pleeeeze do update your links gang!