Kolam by Sudha Balaji

  Pitla recipe  This variety of pitla as it called can be prepared for festivals like Navratri, Varalakshmi Vratham or Ugadi. The ingredients required are t wo teaspoons of urad dal, one teaspoon of gram dal, pepper, red chillies asafoetida and curry leaves. All the ingredients are roasted in little oil; curry leaves can be roasted separately also. Then grated coconut is added and the mixture is ground into a fine paste. Sauté with mustard seeds, urad dhall in a tava, add solution of tamarind soaked in water, allow it to boil. Then add the cooked vegetables - peanuts, beans and carrot slices and let the solution boil. Finally add already cooked thoor dhall and add salt to taste and boil for a few minutes We can use different vegetable combinations like yam and chickpeas, bittergourd ( pavakkai ) and peanuts or ground nuts to make this delicious dish.   Pepper gives a fine flavour to pitla Pitla recipe South Indian Maharashtrian style pithla recipe Urad dhal quantity shou...

  Varamahalakshmi vratham  recipes - Ambode for naivedyam Ambode ( amaivadai in Tamil) in an important recipe for Ugadi festival. The following pics show the steps in making this traditional dish for this festival.    Soak gram dhall and red chillies in water for 45 minutes.   Drain the water, grind it coarsely as shown in the second photo. Add salt to taste while grinding.  Then add asafoetida, finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves. I have used grated coconut.  It is optional.  Make a medium sized ball, flatten it with your palm and fry to get the ambode shown in the third photo.   On auspicious days and festivals some do not add onion.   (If onion is added it becomes masal vadai ! and we don't add onion or garlic for festivals)  This is one of the important recipes along with poli for festivals . Recipe for ambode, the ingredients Preparation of the recipe through pictures  Ambodi recipe pictures Som...

Toor dal kofta recipe | Side dish for rice  Most blog posts are on rangoli designs, festivals and festival related recipes.  Occasionally, I post recipes needed for our day to day menu.   Of course, some viewers on social media have also asked. This dish is called paruppu urundai kuzhambu.   I have translated (!) it in English to toor dal kofta for easy understanding.  A very tasty and healthy side dish for rice.  I think you may love it.  Have you tried it yet. Ingredients are - one measure toor dhal Two green chillies Dhania or coriander one table spoon Cumin or jeera one tea spoon Grind all ingredients in a mixer Add salt required for the dough only . Then knead well to get dough Divide the dough into two parts One part grind with coconut in a mixer Keep the paste ground with coconut aside Roll the other part into spherical shapes Apply oil on a idli plate Keep it in a pressure coo...

Paal Poli or Milk Poli Fridays    How to prepare? For one measure of maida (refined wheat flour) add one tablespoon fine sooji ( or rava ).   Mix thoroughly to get dough. After 30 minutes, make small balls of dough as we do with poori.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into circular or triangle shapes.   Boil the milk well, stir continuously to prevent milk from boiling over.  Add required quantity of sugar according to individual's taste, cardamom powder, saffron while stirring the milk.    Remove from the stove, to reduce the heat - however the milk should not become cool. Fry the pooris in oil.   Using a fork prick the dough in one or two places so that air is not trapped inside (so pooris will not puff).   It is important in this recipe that puris do not get inflated (!).  After frying, soak the pooris in the boiled milk for a few seconds (till the next poori is fried) and remove it.  Place it on a plate. I...

Phonnicha kadhi - thalicha Mor kulambu without coconut  This recipe is prepared particularly during festivals like Ugadi, Varamahalakshmi Habba when mor kulambu is invariably part of the menu. Since already many items are there , a simple recipe is preferred The ground paste for ambode is used for this and fried like small bondas Take thick curd without adding water and add salt Add the fried small bondas to the curd Sauté using mustard cumin seeds asafoetida, turmeric powder , curry leaves and few red chillies Add to the bonda curd mixture and stir well A simple and easy mor kuzhambu is ready for the festival menu.  Also read Thanjavur Marathi lullabies  Chinch bath or tamarind rice or puliodharai Traditional chinch bath or tamarind rice prepared by Tanjore Maharastrians.  This recipe can be prepared  in many ways, this method is one of them. Let us see How to prepare tamarind rice mix or puliyodharai paste There is a video i...