Kaaradai - Sweet and Salty (Rice Flour Vada With Black-eyed Bean)

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Kaaradaiyaan nonbu...sweet and salty kaaradai.

Tamilians celebrate a festival/nonbu/vrat on every March 14th, i.e. the day when the Tamil month Maasi ends and Panguni starts.  It always falls on 14th March.  This is like the 'karvaa chauth' festival/vrat of the northern India. This is celebrated for the well being of the husband!

We make this Kaaradai (Kaaraamani adai - Black eyed peas vada, you can say!) which is in the above picture. We make both sweet and salty adais.  No frying business for this, just steaming.  So, is very good for our health.  The nutrition value of Kaaraamani is here!

<sup>We make sweet and salty kaaradais. Let me tell you how to do it now:

Ingredients:</sup>

Kaaramani/cow peas/lobia

<sup>Now, let me give the recipe separately for Vella adai (sweet adai with jaggery) and Uppadai (salty adai). 

First, let me tell you how to make Uppadai/salty adai:

1.  2 cups rice flour
2.  50gms. Kaaraamani seeds
3.  4 cups water
4.  Salt as needed (2tsp.)
5.  4-5 Green chillies, chopped</sup>
6.  1" piece of ginger, chopped

7.  Curry leaves, chopped

8.  5 tbsp.Chopped coconut (or grated)

9.  1/2 tsp. or less Hing/Asofotida powder

10. A little coconut oil
11. Mustard seeds and Urad dhal for garnishing.

Method: 

Common steps for both Uppadai and Vella adai:

First, dry roast the kaaraamani seeds (all 100 gms together)  in a small kadai. Take a cup of water, boil it and put the roasted seeds into it.  Enough water should be there to cover the beans.  After it gets half cooked, add half tsp. of salt, bring it to a boil and keep aside.  

Grate/chop one half of coconut and keep aside.

Dry roast the rice floor (I use 2 cups for sweet adai and 2 cups for salty adai) and keep aside in two plates - 2 cups in each plate.  Roasting for 2 mts. is enough. We draw lines with the flour to check...it should not be sticky or wet!

Uppadai:


<sup>Pour 2 tsp. of coconut oil in a kadai. Add 1/2 tsp. of mustard seeds and 1 tsp. of urad dhal (black gram dhal).  After the mustard seeds flutter, add the chopped curry leaves, ginger and green chilli pieces.  Fry a little and add hing. 

Then pour 4 cups of water and a tsp. of salt. Add 50% of coconut and 50% of cooked beans.  Let it boil well.  Reduce the flame and pour the flour slowly into the boiling water, mixing it constantly with a ladel.  You can see how it looks in the picture.  The consistency should be like a paste - not very watery or very solid.  No lumps should be there. If you notice some, mash them with the ladle. Imagine that you are preparing the dough for cutlet!</sup> 

Uppadai water is boiling.  Flour is added to this now.

Dough for Uppadai

<sup>After the dough cools down a bit, make small small balls and flatten it like it is shown in the first picture. Place them in the idly plates.

Boil water in the idly making vessel and keep the idly stand with adais.  Water should boil first! Let it get cooked for 5-7 mts.  Open and see if a glaze has formed. It means, it is cooked.  Arrange in a basin.  Clean the idly stand and use it for making sweet adais!

Ingredients for Vella adai:</sup>

^{Rice flour, beans and coconut are common for both the adais.  Jaggery and cardomom powder (Ingredients for the cardamom powder are here) are used for vella adai (sweet adai).}

1. 2 cups of rice flour
2. 4 cups of water
3. 1/4 tsp. salt
4. 2 cups or a little less or more of grated/mashed jaggery (According to taste)
5. 1/2 tsp. of cardomom powder
6. 1 tsp. of ghee (for flavour)

^Method:

^{Pour 4 cups of water in a heavy bottomed kadai/vessel. Let it boil and add mashed/powdered jaggery. Let the jaggery dissolve in the water.  Pour the water in a tea filter so that the sand or other things in the jaggery is removed.  You can dissolve jaggery in one or two cups of boiling water and filter it, which will be easier and then add the rest of the water.  Let it boil again. Add a tsp. of ghee and salt.  Ghee will give flavour for the sweet and helps the four from getting into lumps.}

^{Add the rest of the coconut pieces and kaaraamani seeds.  Let it boil again.  Slow down the fire and add the roasted rice flour into it slowly.  Mix properly with the ladle for 5 mts.  Remove, let it cool and make adais.}  

Jaggery and coconut water is boiling for Vella adai.  Add flour now!

Mix for Vella adai

Vella adai! Apply some coconut oil on the palm and make adais like this!

 

Ready to steam!

^{Cook/steam them in the idly vessel for 5 to 7 mts.  Check for the glaze and remove.  Let it cool for a few mts. Remove them from the idly plates.}

^{TIP:  Remember to swab the idly plates with coconut oil so that the adais don't stick to them. Keep some oil in a small cup, touch your fingers (3 must be OK!) and apply on the plates!} 

<sup>This post might look long, but the recipe is easy to make.  Since not much oil is used, this is a good, healthy snack for the children.  You do it twice and you will become a pro, the third time.  

According to the custom, we have to eat it with butter, which is optional during normal days (the adais taste better with butter - wink!).  One more custom is we, ladies eat first from the banana leaf after making the pooja and tying the thread (husband can tie if he is there or we ourselves do it!). One thread is placed on any goddess's photo after pooja.  If daughters are there, we place one more serving in front of the god and then tie the thread in the daughter's neck. 

Then we women eat while husband watches! We can give him after we taste it! Fun, right?!</sup>

Badaam-Kaaju Burfi - This Year's Deepawali Sweet!

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Badaam-Kaaju Katli (Almond-Cashew cake)

 

 

First let me wish you all a very very happy Deepawali!  Tomorrow is Deepawali and I did this sweet today!  It came out well and thought I would upload the recipe so that others can also try it! It is quite easy!

Kaaju-Badaam (Cashew-Almond)

Ingredients:

1. Kaaju/Cashew paste- 1 Cup

2. Badaam/Almonds paste - 1 cup

3. Sugar- 2 cups

4. Milk - 1 cup

5. Saffron - a few strands

6. A pinch of salt

7. Ghee - 3 - 4 tbs.
 


Method: 

Soak badaam and cashew in a little warm water separately for 10 mts.  Peel the skin out of Badaams and grind them in a mixer into a coarse paste with as much as milk is needed to grind it properly.  Keep the paste in a vessel.  Now, grind the cashews with milk into a coarse paste and you can add this paste with the badaam paste.  Clean the jar with the rest of the milk and add it to the badaam cashew paste.  I am asking you to grind them separately because almonds take time to grind but cashew needs a minute or two to grind! Soak the saffron strands in a quarter cup of milk for a few minutes.  Apply a tbs. of ghee in a tray into which you are planning to pour the burfi mixture. 

Take a heavy bottomed vessel and switch on the stove! Drop a tbs. of ghee and spread it at the bottom of the vessel with a ladle.  The flame should not be high.  Add the paste into it immediately.  Add sugar into it.  Start stirring with the ladle. Add the saffron too.  Keep on stirring it so that the paste doesn't stick at the bottom.  You can increase the flame a bit but be careful. Add the rest of the ghee and continue the stirring!

First step...

After around 20 mts. the mixture will be like this.  Add a small pinch of salt. I got this consistency after 20 to 22 mts. The paste should start leaving the sides.  It should not get crystalised...then the burfi will be hard to bite! As soon as the paste starts turning with the ladle, leaving the sides, pour it into a greased plate.  Shake the tray so that the mixture fills it up evenly.  If it doesn't spread easily, do it with a fresh flat ladle (dosa ladle) with a little ghee smeared on it.  You can use that to slice the burfi later..after 5 or 10 mts.! You should do it when the burfi is hot! You can make square or diamond shaped burfis with a knife too!

Second step...

 

 

 

Third step...

Last step!

You can use any type of measure for the ingredients...small cup or big cup.  This burfi doesn't need much ghee.  You can add or reduce as per your wish.  You can reduce the sugar by quarter cup... i.e. 1 cup paste to 3/4 cup sugar. We need that much sugar so that it binds the burfi together. 

Hope my recipe is clear.  If you have got any doubt, please write to me.

Happy Deepawali to all!

Nendrampazha sweet

 

Nendrampazha sweet

When we were school going children, my mother used to make different types of sweets, mostly with jaggery.   I remember raagi dosai, wheat flour dosai etc. with jaggery (sweet dosai!).  Nowadays, we seem to use a lot of white sugar which is not good for health.  Jaggery retains its minerals, wikipedia says and my mother used to say that it is full of iron!  I loved this sweet when I was young and love it even now!  Now, to the recipe:

Nendrampazham/Kerala banana

Vellam/Jaggery/Gud

Elakkaai/Cardamom

Kraambu/Clove

Jaadikkai/Nutmeg

Ingredients:

1. 6 Ripe Nendrampazham (slightly blackened and soft ones)

2. 1/2 cup powdered or mashed jaggery

3. 1 tbsp. Ghee

4. Cardamom, clove, nutmeg powdered together - 1/4 tsp. 

5. A pinch of salt

Method: 

Cut the ripe bananas as shown in the picture.

Take a non-stick pan, pour the ghee and spread it to the whole pan with a ladle.

Put the cut pieces of banana and heat it in a slow flame, turning them often.  Let them become slightly brown. Remember, the heat should be low. Keep it aside.

Put the jaggery with a quarter cup of water in the stove.  After it dissolves (keep stirring with a spoon), strain it in a filter (tea filter will do) so that the sand or sugarcane pieces are removed. Add the pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp. of cardamom powder (if it is with sugar, make it 1/2 tsp.). Heat it again until it is thickened to one string consistency.  Check it like this:  Take a drop of the syrup in the spoon, leave it for a second to cool, touch it in the forefinger and check with the thumb as shown in the picture below.  One string will be visible.  It should be slightly thick.  Don't burn your fingers! 

Pour the thick syrup into the roasted banana pieces and mix it with the stove on.  

Keep frying/turning the pieces for some more time, until it looks like it is in the first picture! Leave it to cool for a minute and then gobble up! I literally do it!

Cardamom powder mix:  Take 2 tbs. of cardamom, 1 tsp. of clove and a small piece of nutmeg.  Dry it (not roast, but just heat) in a pan.  Take it out and when it is not very hot, grind it in a mixer with some sugar (1 tbs.).  Store it in a tupperware/air tight SMALL container.  The flavour is more when you add the other two ingredients with cardamom!

Try this sweet and remember to tell me if you like it or if you have any doubt or if I should make any improvement in my presentation!

P.S.: If you don't have jaggery or feel lazy to do the syrup, just sprinkle 1/4 cup or less (if you are not a sweet person!), after you fry the fruit for sometime.  Keep stirring until the sugar blends with the fruit.  This is very easy!

Walnut toffee!

I tried this recipe once and it came out well. Here, in India, during the Navrathri pooja season, we get boxes of nuts as gifts. We can collect the walnuts from them and try this!!!

Ingredients:

• 10 whole walnuts - without shells
• 100 gms sugar
• 1 tsp. butter

Method:

Take the sugar in a small kadai and fry without water in a slow fire. Keep on stirring and the sugar will start melting slowly and turn brown in colour. Sugar caramel is ready now. Add the butter and stir for a few seconds. I like to add a pinch of salt also - salt enhances the taste of sweets! Some people do not like to add salt. Both ways are good. Switch off the fire.

Take the walnuts and dip in the caramel, one by one, with the help of a tooth pick. We should finish doing this when the caramel is hot. Line up in a greased plate. Let it cool down.

We can break the walnut into two halves and make two toffees in one nut too! Walnut has got a slight bitter taste. When it is coated with caramel, it tastes yummy!

We can try this with ghee roasted cashew nuts too! Children will love these toffees, I guarantee!!!